Rita Dove

The poet that I have chosen to do is Rita Dove. In her newest collection of poems, Sonata Mulattica, there were many to choose from. However the two that I wanted to look deeper into were Exit and Golden Oldie. In both poems she is able to convey strong emotions in the characters she described. Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio. Her father, Ray A. Dove, was a chemist, and a pioneer of integration in American industry. Both of her parents encouraged persistent study and wide reading. From an early age, Rita loved poetry and music. She played cello in her high school orchestra, and led her high school's majorette squad. As one of the most outstanding high school graduates of her year, she was invited to the White House as a Presidential Scholar. At Miami University in Ohio, she began to pursue writing seriously. After graduating summa cum laude with a degree in English in 1973, she won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Germany for two years at the University of Tubingen. She then joined the famous Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, receiving her Masters' Degree in 1977. At Iowa, she met another Fulbright scholar, a young writer from Germany named Fred Viebahn. They were married in 1979. Their daughter Aviva was born in 1983. From 1981 to 1989, Rita Dove taught creative writing at Arizona State University. Appearances in magazines and anthologies had won national acclaim for Rita Dove before she published her first poetry collection, The Yellow House on the Corner in 1980. It was followed by Museum (1983) and Thomas and Beulah, (1986) a collection of interrelated poems loosely based on the life of her grandparents. Thomas and Beulah won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 1993, Rita Dove was appointed to a two-year term as Poet Laureate of the United States and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She was the youngest person, and the first African-American, to receive this highest official honor in American letters. In the fall of 1994, she read her poem, Lady Freedom Among Us, at the ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the U. S. Capitol. Other publications by Rita Dove include a book of short stories, Fifth Sunday, the poetry collections Grace Notes, Selected Poems and Mother Love, and the novel Through the Ivory Gate. Her verse drama, The Darker Face of the Earth had its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 1986. Another production of the play appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D. C. , in 1997. Dove has brought her poetry to television audiences through her appearances on CNN and NBC's Today Show. Public Broadcasting has devoted an hour-long prime time special to her life and work. She has shared television stages with Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers and Big Bird. On radio, she has hosted a National Public Radio special on Billie Holliday, and has been a frequent guest on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. She joined former President Jimmy Carter top welcome an unprecedented gathering of Nobel Laureates in Literature to Atlanta, Georgia for a Cultural Olympiad held in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games. That same year, a symphonic work for orchestra and narrator — â€Å"Umoja — Each One of Us Counts,† — was performed at Atlanta's Symphony Hall with Rita Dove's text performed by former Mayor and U. N. Ambassador Andrew Young. Dove's lifelong interest in music has taken other forms. She has provided text for works by composers Tania Leon, Bruce Dolphe and Alvin Singleton. Her song cycle Seven for Luck, with music by John Williams, was featured on a PBS television special with the Boston Symphony. In 2009, she published Sonata Mulattica, a book-length cycle of poems telling the story of the 19th century African-European violinist George PolgreenBridgetower and his turbulent friendship with Ludwig van Beethoven. Rita Dove is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she lives with her husband, the German author Fred Viebahn. They have one daughter. In her spare time, she studies classical voice and practices the viola da gamba, a 17th century forerunner of the modern cello. Now that a little more about her life is understood it is time to examine the poems themselves. In Golden Oldie Dove tells a narrative about her getting home. The emotions in this poem are clearly evident, and show that the speaker is confused about her life. The first thing I noticed was a irregular rhyming scheme. Often times poetry follows certain patterns, but in this case there is none. The words that rhyme are: swaying and playing, and sentiment and lament. Also, the words â€Å"alive† and â€Å"live by† are very similar sounding. Thus by having some things rhyme, in an irregular manner she shows that there is some consistency within randomness. This is similar to the girls life – very confusing. Moreover, her word choice is quite important in the poem. For instance, swaying is a specific choice because it has connotations of being lost or indifferent. Later on she reaffirms this thought by comparing herself in a simile to a blind pianist caught in a tune meant for more than two hands. The scenario she compares herself to is somewhat humorous to think about, because the pianist is basically completely helpless. Obviously the feat described is quite confusing. In the next few lines she describes the song playing on the radio in her car. It is being sung by a young girl who, in her opinion is dying to feel alive. Dying to feel alive is a pretty intense statement to make. It seems that to make such a drastic statement she may be feeling that same issue. It continues to say â€Å"to discover a pain majestic enough to live by. † This line is very interesting because most people don’t require a pain to live. Rather they try to avoid pain. But it appears that the girl singing, and possibly the author, want to feel something rather than nothing at all. She was getting very intimate with the song, as proven by her turning off the air conditioning, despite the hot temperatures. Also, she leaned back as if to block out everything else but what she heard. The line in the song so closely paid attention to is described as a lament. A lament is described as a way to express sadness, grief, or sorrow. Then, upon hearing the melancholy statement, the speaker says she greedily took in without a clue who my lover might be. This was the most confusing part of the poem to me. At first I didn’t understand how she could greedily take something in, when there was no actual object to get. However, it appears that she is hoarding the idea of having a lover who wants to know where their love went. Thus, it leads me to believe that she is in search of love when she concludes with â€Å"or where to start looking. † Searching for love can be really confusing. Therefore a theme statement for the overall meaning of the poem can be derived: Often times human beings can be very confused in their emotions. Sometimes they can find understanding in other confusing things because it is easy to relate to. The second poem by Rita Dove that I analyzed was Exit. In this case the author conveys that the emotion being felt by the speaker is anxious hopefulness. It is written from the speakers perspective about the reader, which I thought was very interesting. It's about â€Å"you†, the reader, who is going somewhere. There is no rhyming scheme and it is one large stanza. The speaker starts off by saying that a visa is granted. This tends to imply hat someone is going somewhere outside of their current country for an extended period of time. This can cause some anxiety. Moreover, it is said that the traveler wanted to get it, because there was hope that it would arrive. Then upon leaving, there is the realization that it is actually happening. The author compares the exit to that of in a movie. More information about the visa follows. It is has been granted, â€Å"provisionally. † Meaning temporary or conditional, the speaker describes it as a fretful, or scary word. Then a reference to the windows of the house is made. I think the author included this to reinforce the mindset that your leaving home, a very special place. However, an immediate contrast is made by saying â€Å"here it’s gray. † This is in regards to the fact that a feeling of sorrow is present due to leaving. A suitcase is described as the saddest object in the world, which seems odd because the person wanted to travel according to the hope for a visa. Although it may be the case where the traveler knows that it is best to go, but is still upset about leaving. The final few lines reference the childhood of the reader. A metaphor is used to compare the windshield of the vehicle too cheeks of the reader. â€Å"And now through the windshield the sky begins to blush as you did when your mother told you what it took to be a woman in this life. † This is a much more positive angle on the journey they're about to embark on. After reviewing the poems many times a general theme statement can be constructed: Often times human beings feel anxious about something they're going to do. However, despite their concerns they can still have some feelings of hope that they will be successful.

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology Essay

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples and show how these skills developed over time. Digital technologies were a crucial part of both of my productions; using digital technologies has also extremely developed over time and you can see a significant change in the A2 music video production as the piece was greatly developed in terms of technology and creativity. In the production stage of our AS piece we have used a Cannon DSLR camera in filming of our entire production. It was extremely helpful as it was easy to use, portable but also a major advantage of it was that it allowed us to an instant playback to aid our creative decision making. We did not use this feature enough in AS. However once we returned to produce our A2 music video, I have made sure that we checked all the footage at the location so we could immediately reshoot the scenes that weren’t good enough at the location, which also saved us time in going back into the location to redo it all. In our A2 production we have used the same camera (Cannon DSLR) due to a convenience of the camera and the high quality footage it was producing, it was portable, easy to use and easy to set up. Considering our filming had to take place in six different location it was very convenient to use that camera. However, we wanted to enhance our A2 production with other filming technologies in other to enhance our creative decision making, so therefore we decided to use JVC HDV 720p studio camera for our performance part. However we decided not to use it at the end due to the quality difference between the DSLR and the studio camera. That way we only used a footage from the DSLR, however the use of JVC HDV 720p gave us some practice using the high quality studio camera and also gave us an opportunity to explore different filming equipment, which also has played a part on our creative decision making. Our skills in audio technology we not well utilized at A2 as we were required  to create a music video for a contemporary artist. However, the use of Final Cut Pro allowed us to change the volume levels throughout the music video where needed (e.g. the volume levels were used at the start of the music video were we decided to fade the music in to slowly and nicely flow into the music video, and we have also used it at the end to fade out the audio.) Our competence with Final Cut Pro this year has enabled us to be more ambitious in terms of editing and as a result end up with more creative and individual piece. According to Goodwin, each genre of music has certain conventions that their associated videos should comply to. We have noticed, whilst studying and researching into our genre and the artists a common trend of cutting to the beat. We employed use of excessive jump cuts within the narrative in order to underline the feelings of the protagonist, which was also another example of complying with theorist’s ideology using digital technology in order to develop our creative decision making. Although out skills in Garage Band were not as fully utilized at A2 as they were at AS, were we used Garage Band to create a score. However, in most recent production of our music video I was required to use Photoshop in order to create a digipak and a poster. In order to be more creative instead of using the screenshots taken out of the video, I have decided to organize a separate photo-shoot, were I went out and took photographs myself using DLSR camera again, in order to get the high quality pictures. The fact that I also do Photography as one of my A-levels gave me an advantage of organizing a photo-shoot and also using Photoshop as my editing tool. Photoshop was definitely a software, which played a big part in using a digital technologies and the skills used in that department have definitely enhanced the creative decision making.

A Project Report On Alcon Mercedes Benz Marketing Essay

A Project Report On Alcon Mercedes Benz Marketing Essay Alcon Mercedes Benz dealership was started in Goa by Aakash Khaunte, MD of Alcon Enterporises in association with Mercedes- Benz India on May 10, 2009. With this dealership launch, Mercedes-Benz India became the first luxury car maker in India to open a dealership, in Goa.Strategically located in Porvorim,the new facility has a total area of 11,100 sq. ft and features a valet service, plush customer lounge & full-fledged workshop with an independent service facility for spares and service advantageously located in Taleigaon having a spread across of over 7500 sq. ft. of space. With an initial investment of INR 2.5 Crores, Alcon’s state-of-the-art dealership represents all the brand attributes of Mercedes-Benz: a magnificent showroom, drive-in valet service, a luxurious customer lounge and well trained staff to complete the Mercedes-Benz experience. Also inaugurated was the service center, equipped with five mechanical bays with very well trained service personnel geared to en sure quick, efficient service delivery. With establishment of the facility at Goa, Mercedes-Benz now enjoys a network spread across 26 cities with over 55 touch-points in India and retains the distinction of being the luxury player with the widest and most intensive network of sales and after-sales services in India. Goa is an important market for us, with an established base of over 125 Mercedes customers already in this region.   Ours is the first and the only luxury auto dealership in Goa- a fact that reinforces our seriousness and commitment about this market. Enter our big world of luxury and convenience. Enter the Alcon Mercedes-Benz showroom and you’ll understand what size really means. The 3-S showroom is executed on a large scale, with a magnificent facia built such that it can be spotted from far away with 200 sq mts. of display area. This glittering space houses spanking new Mercedes-Benzes which show themselves off and additionally there is a huge, plush custome r lounge, where you can relax while your paperwork is done. The whole showroom basks in an exclusive lighting arrangement that gives you the feeling that you’ve entered another world. The Research Research objective: To measure customer satisfaction on sales service provided by Alcon Mercedes Benz. Research methodology: Research Tool: Questionnaire Sampling Technique: Random sampling Sample size: 100. Sample frame: The respondents of this survey are the consumers of Alcon Mercedes Benz. Sample location: Consumers from the property of Alcon Mercedes Benz. Data collection method: Primary data The primary data for this survey was collected from the consumers from the property of Alcon Mercedes Benz through the distribution of questionnaire. Secondary data research Secondary data was generated from internet, magazines and by discussion with the manager. Graphical representation Tools for analysis: Tools such as cross tabulations, percentages, pie charts, column charts are used fo r analysing the data and arriving at the conclusion. Following are the graphical representations and tabulations of the same. Greetings/ welcome at showroom No. of response Highly satisfied Satisfied 40 Not satisfied not dissatisfied 7 Dissatisfied 2 Highly dissatisfied 0    Can you please mention your initial needs of a car No. of respondents Car design 10 Luxury 25 Performance in terms of mileage, power.

Crucibles of Leadership by Warren G. Bennis Article

Crucibles of Leadership by Warren G. Bennis - Article Example In order to understand thoughts, opinions and impacts of the article it is important to first present a brief discussion about authors of ‘Crucibles of Leadership’. Warren Bennis who is the leading author of the article was born in 1925 and he is now recognized as the American scholar. He played a significant role in the development of modern leadership as a comprehensive field whereas he is also an organizational consultant (About Warren Bennis). He is renowned for his influence over people and also for introducing new concepts to the overall business approach. Robert J. Thomas is the fellow author of Bennis who contributed in the development of this article. He is a senior member and an associate partner with the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change. His profound thoughts have enabled him to understand the deeper concepts of leadership. On the basis of his knowledge and experience he has been able to help individuals to identify leaders within them. The message pre sented in the ‘Crucibles of Leadership’ can be categorized as following (Bennis):Differences and Learning: As discussed previously that a crucible is actually an experience which alters the sense of identity of an individual. One of the commonly known types of crucibles is prejudice experience. When a person fall prey to prejudice then he is particularly forced to project a vague image of her or himself. The experience is highly traumatic in nature which also sometimes leads to the development of anger.

Bird's Individualism and Escapism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bird's Individualism and Escapism - Essay Example Since Oe wrote the novel shortly past the world war, he portrays the state of the Japanese people after the war (Adhikari 1). The individualism and escapism in Bird leaves the readers frustrated that anyone would abandon responsibility and seek self-gratification in the way Bird does. Although portrayed extensively in only one character, individualism and escapism takes the toll of the novel and is worth the reader’s attention. Individualism and escapism drive the actions of the main character, Bird. The author introduces Bird as a character who seeks to fulfill his fantasies and selfish ambition neglecting the responsibilities of a family man. Bird craves to go to Africa and experience the wild life in a land, away from the devastating effects of civilization (2). It is clear that he does not like the real life situations in his homeland and would rather disappear to another continent and experience change. This is an individualistic and selfish venture. Instead of seeking to rebuild his nation and create a favorable condition after the world war aftermath, he busies himself with getting familiarity of Africa from maps. Bird takes the situation as a personal matter. He seeks to actualize himself some day and discover true happiness in a world away from the ill-fate life presents. The author paints a picture of the situations in Bird’s life as he fantasizes about Africa. ... Instead of anticipating the new responsibility in his life, he only sees how the indulging family life will hold him from living his African dream. The situation worsens when an abnormal baby comes into their life (2). The author exposes Bird’s inner feelings about the birth of the abnormal child. Instead of accepting the child and committing to work towards saving the innocent child, Bird wishes that the child could just die. He does not realize that all life is equal and does not display fatherly concern. He seeks to evade the situation. He does not consider the pain of the other family members and give them the right support. He does not even think about the baby’s welfare. His individualistic attitude prevents him from showing any empathy. In a bid to pursue happiness and contentment for himself, he deserts his immediate family. Bird embarks on finding ways of escaping the painful realities of his life. The baby needs an operation in order to survive and that means that Bird must sacrifice his savings for the baby’s health. For Bird, it is not easy to make this sacrifice because that would force him to forget about his African dream. This reasoning surprises the reader because a father should be willing to make any sacrifice for the welfare of his children. Bird lets individualism hinder his fatherly instincts. He decides to starve the child to death. In his view, the savings are just enough to allow him to travel to the foreign land and start a more fulfilling life. He drifts to a deceptive world where sorrows and pains do not exist. He cannot handle the thoughts of what is happening to him. Bird finds himself trapped in loneliness and cowardice and he seeks refuge in his ex-girlfriend Himiko. Himiko is lonely and desperate after the death

Sustainable Construction, Management and Professional Studies Essay

Sustainable Construction, Management and Professional Studies - Essay Example Moreover, there is also need to ensure that the repair works goes on well in accordance to the design. These expectations will actually be guided by the contracts between Uxbridge Water plc and the designer as well as the contractor for repair works. Consequently, this report outlines the procedure that will be used during the procurement and contract matters for the repair works. Procurement method Since Uxbridge Water plc is aware of the construction process and more over it has a professional team who will play a significant role in the repair works, it is therefore crucial that the company uses design and build procurement method. Although the method is very important in cases where the client, or the company is not familiar with the construction process, the design and build contracting method works well on the projects which has no design and there is need for a design before commencing with the repair works (Macaulay, 2002). It is also crucial when the project contains a high level of technical complexity and will therefore require complex designs. Consequently, the current project involves the repair of a sewer line which evidently is complex. Moreover, the method is good since it calls for a quick start of the project as well as the company can prioritize on time, price or quality. This is very important in this particular project since it needs to be completed as fast as possible owing to the detrimental effects associated with broken sewers. This directly affects the hygiene and brings about pollution of land and air, therefore it can be costly to the company. Consequently, it is important to use the design and build procurement, since it will also give chance for having single point responsibility of the repair works. The method also transfers most of the risks to the contractor. The risks include those associated with money, default, completion and time. Moreover, the risk associated with quality will not only give an opportunity to state the expec ted quality but also it lies with the contractor. Other contracting methods Notably, there are other contracting methods which despite the fact that they are good they are not relevant to this specific project. These contracting methods include the design and build method, management contracting

The Corporate Culture of Zappos Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

The Corporate Culture of Zappos - Assignment Example Considering the importance which Zappos gives the relationship between corporate culture and personal values, it is possible for the company to ask questions that measure the core value of an individual. While measuring an innate quality is difficult, it is easy to get a hint of what an individual perceives a situation (Nelson & Quick 541). This way, through the graduated rating scale, the company’s Human resource team can use the answers given t to evaluate the core values of the person. It is essential to mention that the interview focuses more on personality than technical capabilities. For this reason, the comparison between the core values of the organization and the individual perceptions of the applicant can tell their philosophies. Lack of a formal feedback might bring up issues in the organization. Formalities and bureaucracies have paramount importance as far as communication and consistency are concerned (Nelson & Quick 521). For instance, where an employee does not receive regular feedback, especially in writing, it is likely that any disciplinary action leveled against them will be treated as constructive discharge. As such, formal feedback is essential as it provides inspiration and a basis for employees to improve on their weaknesses as they judge themselves. To avoid such issues, the human resource group at Zappos should always issue a formal feedback. Over time, there are many signs that can be seen in an employee that fits into the corporate culture of Zappos. One of the signs of a character that fits the culture is the subordination of personal interest to organizational interest. Additionally, such an employee will be motivated and satisfied with their job. On the contrary, an employee that does not match the corporate culture of Zappos will be less concerned about organizational interests and will usually be a poor performer whose job is characterized by non-punctuality, and less formality.

Embracing cash flows Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Embracing cash flows - Dissertation Example Even the liquidity of a firm is well understood by these ratios. 4g: Key readings for your research design? Internet sources Part 5: Time Management and Location: 5a: Location: UK 5b: Schedule and time planning: for a week Internet book reading for 3 hours every day I have gone through the financial statements of the companies and their analysis for the next 5 hours per day. Introduction: Businesses of late are experiencing many ups and downs in their longevity. The amusing truth is the non-explanation of such contingency to the investors till the last minute as in the case of W.T. Grant which declared its bankruptcy within months of healthy financial reporting. Finally, the investors, creditors and other stakeholders stand to lose because of such non-delivery of information. The onus could be rested on the Income statement and Balance Sheet which form a part of financial statements. They are based on the accrual form of accounting due to which real income figures are somewhat disrup ted. To avoid this confusion, Cash Flow statements were included into the Financial Statement reporting. However, mere statement of facts cannot help as long as meaningful conclusions are not derived from such reports. Hence, ratios have to be derived of such statements. Cash Flow Ratio as a Measure of Performance: Understanding the fact that mere statement of facts is not enough, financial ratio analysis was developed long back and many accountants excel in such measures to this day. But, it has been observed that the regular current and quick ratios are all the more dependent on the base of accrual system as the financial statements themselves. As such, their analysis is not depicting the right picture at... Businesses of late are experiencing many ups and downs in their longevity. The amusing truth is the non-explanation of such contingency to the investors till the last minute as in the case of W.T. Grant which declared its bankruptcy within months of healthy financial reporting. Finally, the investors, creditors and other stakeholders stand to lose because of such non-delivery of information. The onus could be rested on the Income statement and Balance Sheet which form a part of financial statements. They are based on the accrual form of accounting due to which real income figures are somewhat disrupted. To avoid this confusion, Cash Flow statements were included into the Financial Statement reporting. However, mere statement of facts cannot help as long as meaningful conclusions are not derived from such reports. Hence, ratios have to be derived of such statements.Cash Flow Ratio as a Measure of Performance: Understanding the fact that mere statement of facts is not enough, financial ratio analysis was developed long back and many accountants excel in such measures to this day. But, it has been observed that the regular current and quick ratios are all the more dependent on the base of accrual system as the financial statements themselves.As such, their analysis is not depicting the right picture at crucial points. To develop the right analysis, it is understood that the base itself should be transformed. Instead of accrual accounting base, if the cash flows realized were taken as a base, then the analysis would be more expressive.

Hiromi Goto and Natalka Husar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hiromi Goto and Natalka Husar - Essay Example Keiko, the mother, has rejected Japanese food (language and other cultural connections) in an attempt to assimilate her family after the trauma of the wartime internment. And the stories she tells are either about Japanese myths or about her own experiences. And they strengthen this connection; they make a sense of home inside of her no matter where she is. By trying to hold onto her past she attempts to overcome the loneliness she experiences bound to the chair in a foreign country. And finally, in Hiromi Goto's works, restaurants, grocery stores, and supermarkets also help to clarify issues of ethnic identity in the city or country landscape. In Chorus of Mushrooms, two scenes, one in a supermarket and one in a Japanese grocery store, help Murasaki to explore what it is to be Japanese-Canadian. In The Kappa Child, the protagonist is a collector of abandoned shopping carts; she meets the Kappa at a restaurant, and her eventual lover at a Korean market. The urban food locales thus become key moments in the exploration of female Japanese-Canadian identity that lies at the heart of the novel. These comments offer only a quick and partial glimpse into the ways in which community and urban/rural physical and cultural spaces are opened up for discussion by the use of food motifs in these literary works. Ethnic identity in these settings can be seen to be tied not only to what is eaten, but where it is eaten; that is, how the food locale connects to communal social and cultural spaces and the complex issues found there. On the other hand, Natalka Husar is someone very interesting. For Natalka Husar the engagement provokes ethnic anxiety (Fischer 1986), a prevailing condition of estrangement and conflict, as she struggles for recognitions and connections between the place of her parents' birth, as a memory of Ukraine that is not her own, and the place she now inhabits. Born in 1951 to parents who came to the United States in 1949 under the Displaced Persons' Act, Husar grew up in New Jersey before moving to Canada in 1973. In the series, Black Sea Blue (1992-1995), the effect of returning to Ukraine with her mother for the first time since 1969 leads to uneasy, discomforts places in relation to the designation "home." In Torn Heart (1994) a portrait of her mother juxtaposed with a Ukrainian aunt is unsettling for, except for outlines (the noses are the same), the yellow crooked teeth and crude make-up of her aunt speak of impossible differences between the land of riches (America) and the land of poverty (Ukraine). Husar reminds us that we never see our own faces, one of the most compelling signs of who we are as subjects except as they are reflected in a mirror, photograph or painting, or as they are metaphorically projected in the responses other people have to us and we to them. From the disparities of identification, communication and inheritance, a tension arises, in that the face that reflects her mother's features should be, but is not, a meaningful part of Husar's self-understanding. Sentimenta l deers peering out from the landscape behind are reminiscent of mediocre animal paintings (e.g. Karl Blechen's Forest Ravine with Red Deer, 1828), parodying the experience of the romantic hoping to reconnect with primordial ties. Referring specifically to the painting Pandora's Parcel to Ukraine (1993) Husar

Head Nurse Essay Example for Free

Head Nurse Essay A head nurse has the following important duties and job responsibilities: * Planning and scheduling the work activities of junior nurses in her section. * Making sure that the medical reports and instruments are kept properly and safely. * Ensuring that the patients obey the instructions and advice of the doctors and follow their prescriptions sincerely. * Ensuring that the areas where the patients are admitted are sanitized properly on a regular basis. * Directing the patients to have their meals regularly and receiving feedback from them in case of faulty food items or other issues. * Making her patients relax in case of adversities and major surgeries being performed on them. * Comforting her patients and injecting them with the required medicinal doses as advised by the doctors. * Cleaning the areas that contained medical instruments, medicines and syringes in order to ensure safety for all those who visit these areas. * Sanitizing the rooms where the patients are dressed and changed in order to avoid microbial infections. * Assisting her patients with calling their relatives and helping the old ones move from one place to another. * Walking with the doctors during their routine rounds and check-ups and noting down the directions of the doctor with regard to the health and care of the patients. * Ensuring that she provides all the health care facilities and services to the patients with accordance to the rules, regulations and policies of the state. * Placing demands for new medicines and documenting their amounts properly and ordering fresh stocks of the medicines that have expired. * Ensuring that all the needs and demands of the patients are fulfilled during their stay in their hospitals. * Making sure that the patients are comfortable and feel at home. * Executing all other tasks that need her assistance and patient health care services. * Duties and Responsibilities of a Head Nurse: * Head nurses manage all the administrative duties of the departments which they are assigned to work in * They schedule shifts for the nurses and assign duties to them * They collect work reports from all the nurses regarding their day-to-day activities and maintains a record of them * They present the records collected from all the nurses to the respective doctorswho are handling cases of those patients * They assist and conduct training programs for the nurses who are new and need help * They also solve any issues related to the patients * Head nurses also come in direct contact with the patients and diagnose theirhealth problems * Inventory management is also one of the responsibilities of the head nurses * Head nurses review and supervise the pre-operative settings made by the nurses in the operating room and make sure that they have provided required equipments to the doctors * Head nurses often accompany the doctors when they go on their rounds to check the patients where they present the reports collected by them * They provide necessary help to the doctors such as carrying diagnostic equipments, etc., to the doctors while they are on round for check-up They maintain a log of the entries of the patients in their wards and their health Reports * Head nurses also look for the hygiene in the hospital and in the rooms and make sure that the patients are provided with enough facilities and entertain all types of complaints from the patients *

Analysing the Concept of and Impact of Culture

Analysing the Concept of and Impact of Culture More than a half century ago noted American poet T. S. Eliot eloquently expressed the complexity of the term culture, a term that is used so freely and with so little aforethought today. As Eliot learned, culture is quite difficult to define. He succeeded in describing the term, as Lord Evans (2001) noted, but a definition eluded even someone with Eliots gift for words. But Eliot was not alone in wrestling with defining culture; experts in a variety of disciplines have yet to agree on a consensus definition and some even contest the concept of culture itself. As this essay will demonstrate, controversy surrounding the concept of culture can be attributed, to a large degree, to the failure by those who study the topic to adopt a widely-accepted definition that adequately captures the complexity of the term. After presenting the results of a literature review on various definitions of culture and the topic of culture as a contested concept, the focus of the essay turns to the significance of culture in conflict resolution, demonstrating that culture is a critical factor in successfully resolving conflicts and, further, that a consensus definition for culture that reflects the realities of modern society would facilitate the conflict resolution process. Culture Defined Experts may not be able to agree on a definition for culture, but they apparently experience no difficulty in agreeing that culture is a difficult term to define (Edensor 2002; Hall 1980, cited in Park 2005). Susan Wright (1998) reports the existence of at least 164 definitions for culture. Noted sociologist and anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn (1949) defined culture eleven different ways in his book Mirror for Man, and he and his colleagues (1952) catalogued more than 160 definitions for culture into six categories – descriptive, historical, normative, psychological, generic, and incomplete. Raymond Williams writes that, in the term culture, history has bestowed â€Å"one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language†, adding that culture can be used to refer to a wide range of phenomena and that the concept of culture has produced major political and philosophical disagreement (Williams 1983, cited in Chay 1990). Kluckhohn (1954) developed one of the most often cited definitions for culture in writing that it â€Å"consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts†. Culture has also been defined as â€Å"that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society† (Tylor 1871, cited in Kluckhohn 1952); â€Å"the human-made part of the environment† (Herskovits 1955, cited in Earley and Randal 1997); â€Å"shared meaning systems† (Shweder and LeVine 1984, cited in Earley and Randal 1997); â€Å"the sum total and organization of the social heritages which have acquired a social meaning because of racial temperament and of the historical life of the group† (Park and Burgess 1921, cited in Kluckhohn 1952); â€Å"th e mode of life followed by the community or the tribe [including] all standardized social procedures† (Wissler 1929, cited in Kluckhohn 1952); â€Å"the sum of mens adjustments to their life-conditions†¦attained only through the combined action of variation, selection, and transmission† (Sumner and Keller 1927, cited in Kluckhohn 1952); and â€Å"a product of human association† (Groves 1928, cited in Kluckhohn 1952). In the aggregate, the various definitions just presented express the theme of shared meanings acquired then passed from generation to generation. They also describe culture at group and societal levels. Other experts describe the term from the perspective of the individual or otherwise provide for differences in cultural attributes within a group or society. Hofstede (1980, cited in Earley and Randel 1997) defines culture as â€Å"a set of mental programs that control an individuals responses in a given context†. Park (2005) describes culture as a â€Å"marker for difference† in society. And Rohner (1984, cited in Earley and Randel 1997) defines the term as â€Å"the totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings maintained by a human population, or by identifiable segments of a population, and transmitted from one generation to the next†. The phrase â€Å"equivalent and complementary learned meanings† is critical to an understanding of Rohners definition, according to Earley and Randel, because it provides for individual variances in interpretations of â€Å"learned meanings† within a culture. Although these definitions represent only a small portion of those revealed from a review of the literature, they provide some insight into the range of thought on the topic of culture, especially perspectives on assessing culture at various levels – societal, group, and individual. As will be suggested, the difficulty experts have experienced in defining culture helps to explain why culture is a contested concept and why a solution to the definitional problem is important to resolving the debate about the role of culture in conflict resolution and, ultimately, to facilitating the conflict resolution process. Culture as a Contested Concept Fantasia and Hirsch (1995, cited in Ellis and Thompson, 1997) write, with a hint of sarcasm, that cultural theorists can take pride in their creation of a â€Å"contested terrain† in the study of culture. The literature review indicated that most experts who contest the concept of culture base their disputes on the belief that, in the modern world, there is no all-embracing culture in which everyone in a given society blindly holds precisely the same shared meanings, which is suggested by most traditional definitions of culture. The concept of culture has long been contested (Cooper and Denner 1998; Mathews 2000). Bhabha (1993) writes that, as people have increasingly migrated to other lands in modern times, they have only taken part of their total culture with them. The culture of these migrants becomes a mixture of the cultures from their native societies and those found in the society in which they entered. Heath (1997) writes that experts no longer consider culture to be a viable concept â€Å"in a world of volatile, situated, and overlapping social identities†, contending that various disciplines have taken issue with culture as a concept for various reasons. She writes that educators protest the concept on the basis of â€Å"its transmission of connotations of objectivity, discreteness, essentialism, and ahistoricism†; sociologists challenge the concept on the grounds of â€Å"production, mass consumerism, and popular entertainment†; and experts from the human sciences contest the â€Å"totalizing universalizing perspectives† of culture, replacing these â€Å"arbitrary constructions† with â€Å"permeable membranes† that are not â€Å"predictable or deterministic†. Heath (1997) also points to the â€Å"fuzzy boundaries† of culture, arguing that specific cultures are hard to isolate and claiming that variations are becoming apparent within groups that have been traditionally viewed as possessing unique cultures. Edensor (2002) writes that popular culture is having a major cross-cultural effect on traditional cultures. Childs and Storry (1999) claim that cultures are changing so quickly that â€Å"a snapshot of current cultural practices is inevitably going to be blurred†. Mathews (2000), in noting that even anthropologists are increasingly avoiding the term culture, poses the question as to whether â€Å"in todays world of global flows and interactions† cultural â€Å"labels† are appropriate and claims tha t individuals personally select which elements of a given culture to apply in their behavioural decisions. Brightman (1995, cited in Mathews 2000) notes that some experts are enclosing culture in quotation marks to indicate their â€Å"ambivalence, self-consciousness or censure† about the term. In closing, perhaps Earley and Randel (1997) offer the one of the more revealing insights into the controversy over the term culture: â€Å"We suggest that while the romance of culture as a grand concept capturing the complexity of society and life is tempting, this conceptualization is both limiting and misleading†. The Significance of Culture in Conflict Resolution Conflict resolution and culture are intrinsically intertwined. Rubin and colleagues (1994, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997) define conflict as â€Å"perceived divergence of interest, or a belief that parties current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously†. Hopmann (1998) contends that, in a complex world, conflict is unavoidable. Conflict is an inevitable consequence of the interdependence inherent in human interaction (Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997). Processes used to resolve conflicts must be considered within a larger cultural context (Just 1991). Conflicts are cultural events in every sense of the word, according to Lederach (1991). Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry (1997) write that â€Å"conflict resolution is a cultural phenomenon†. Avruch (1991) refers to conflicts and conflict resolution approaches as â€Å"cultural events†. Various studies have confirmed that conflict resolution processes are culture-specific (Avruch and Black 1991; Avurch, Black and Scimec ca 1991, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997). Ross (1993, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997) originated the term culture of conflict to describe the norms and institutions that a society applies in conflicts. Beliefs, attitudes, and patterns of behaviours about conflict are internalised by people in their cultural settings and, in turn, strengthened by cultural norms and institutions. And, because conflict is a cultural phenomenon, the methods used to perceive and respond to conflict are typically transparent to those involved because these methods are based on assumptions that they do not question. (Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997) Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry (1997) urge caution in applying conflict resolution approaches across cultural lines. For instance, they recommend that generic manuals prescribing conflict resolution procedures to be used in all cultural settings should be avoided (Avruch 1991). People involved in conflict resolution should be flexible and sensitive to cultural differences, according to Lederach (1991, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist) and Benvenisti (1986, cited in Avruch 1991). Benvenisti chastises conflict resolvers â€Å"who believe that communal conflicts are like a chessboard where one can think up the best arrangement of chess pieces and move them all at once†. Cultures vary in the mechanisms they use in resolving conflict with some applying formal mechanisms such as court systems and others using informal approaches such as gossip, teasing, and exclusion (Black 1993; Fry 1992, 1994; Hollan 1988; White 1991, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997). Versi (2002) suggests that â€Å"if you know where the other person is coming from culturally†, you can develop a more effective approach to resolving conflict. Rubin (1994, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997), articulates four generic strategies used in conflict resolution: (1) contending, which involves a high level of concern for ones own results and a low level of concern for the others results; (2) problem solving, which involves high levels of concern for ones own results and those of the other party; (3) yielding, which involves a low level of concern for ones own results and a high level of concern for the others results; and (4) avoiding, which involves low levels of concern for ones own results and those of the other party. Of these, the authors argue that problem solving is the most effective strategy because it permits both contenders to win. Fortunately, the problem solving strategy is effective across a broad spectrum of cultures. In problem solving, the use of a non-partisan third-party facilitator has also been found to be effective across cultures (Black 1993, cited in Bjà ¶rkqvist and Fry 1997). The Culture Definition Dilemma and Its Effects on Optimal Conflict Resolution Outcomes The debate about culture, specifically the controversy surrounding the validity of culture as a concept, is important to the field of conflict resolution because cultural factors are so inexorably linked to conflicts and their effective resolutions. Results of the literature review of definitions for the term culture and the review of literature on culture as a contested concept suggest that definitions describing culture as a group or societal phenomenon without allowing for variance within the group or society may be at the root of the cultural concept validity dispute. As Bhabha (1993), Childs and Storry (1999), Edensor (2002), Heath (1997), and Mathews (2000) proffer, modern societies are increasingly integrating and, as this occurs, their members are mixing their unique cultural attributes with one another thereby blurring the distinctions that once defined individual cultures. But does this mean that the concept of culture is invalid? The answer to that question lies in the definitions of culture that allow for individual variance in cultural attributes. For instance, the definition offered by Rohner (1984, cited in Earley and Randel 1997), who defines the term as â€Å"the totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings maintained by a human population, or by identifiable segments of a population, and transmitted from one generation to the next†, provides for individual variances in interpretations of â€Å"learned meanings† within a culture. This definition seems offer the flexibility to adequately define culture within the context of modern intermingled societies, thus revalidating the concept of culture. How, then, would a definition for culture that provides for individual variance relate to conflict resolution? Although a definition that considers everyone within a particular culture to share precisely the same cultural attributes would help to make conflict resolution a much more predictable process, such a definition does not reflect the realities of modern societies. However, knowing that members of a culture share â€Å"equivalent and complementary learned meanings†, as proposed by Rohner, permits a certain degree of predictability whilst simultaneously providing needed flexibility to accommodate individual variance. There may even be an additional benefit in this condition for practitioners in conflict resolution. Individual variance may actually serve to weaken strong cultural barriers that have, in the past, obstructed successful conflict resolution. For instance, as cultures integrate more fully, their members typically become more understanding of each others cultur al attributes. This understanding should provide an enhanced common basis for resolving conflicts and may even reduce the incidence of conflicts themselves. Conclusion In the modern global village, as opportunities increase for people and their cultures to interact, the need for effective conflict resolution has never been more critical or more difficult, yet experts in a variety of disciplines are engaged in seemingly endless philosophical arguments about the validity of culture as a concept, diverting their energies from what seem to be more productive endeavours such as developing new techniques for conflict resolution that could lead to a more peaceful world. Adopting a more flexible definition for culture – one that recognises individual variances and the realities of the modern world – would be a first step in achieving this worthy goal. References Avruch, K. (1991) Introduction: Culture and conflict-resolution, in K. Avruch, P. W. Black, and J. A. 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