Living Life to the Fullest essays

Living Life to the Fullest essays Giving up philosophy, exhorting the judges and declaring the truth to everyone whom Socrates meets is something he wouldnt sacrifice. He strongly stuck to his views, ideas and thoughts, which declared him as a strong independent person. Socrates believed that he should spend his whole life persuading people to give their first and greatest care to the improvement of an individuals soul. (XVII, 36) The author interpreted the soul as the building block of life; without believing in yourself as a person and sticking true to your views, you are simply no person at all. Throughout the Apology Socrates remains true to his way of life even though he is on trial for his life, and will probably be sentenced to death. We know nothing of death according to Socrates, and therefore it is irrational to fear it. (XX, 38) Fearing the unknown is a human instinct, but as human beings we have no idea what death is like; therefore its crazy to worry and stress on matters like such when enjoying life is the main priority. Socrates also states that his service to the God is more important than having the support of Athenians, money, or even a better lifestyle. The author does make it completely clear that Socrates never meant to impose his thoughts to anyone, but instead to simply enjoy the company of interesting people and the opportunity to learn from others thoughts and conversations. This passage really reached out and made me think about the meaning of life and being true to oneself. Once a person has found passion in life, as Socrates found in philosophy, it would be wrong to take into account the risk of life or death that such a passion might involve. A person should care more for being a good and upright person that being popular with the people. The novel tries to express that a person should care for the pursuit of knowledge over the pursuit of success and wealth. Without a doubt a perso ...

Discover 5 Essential Qualities of a Good Teacher

Discover 5 Essential Qualities of a Good Teacher Educational studies suggest that the essential qualities of good teachers include the ability to be self-aware of ones biases; to perceive, understand and accept differences in others; to analyze and diagnose student understanding and adapt as required; to negotiate and take risks in their teaching; and to have a strong conceptual understanding of their subject matter. Measurable and Measuring Most teachers are paid according to their experience and educational attainment, but as educator Thomas Luschei has demonstrated, there is little evidence that more than 3-5 years of experience boost teachers ability to increase student test scores or grades. Other measurable attributes such as how well the teachers did on their qualifying examinations, or what level of education a teacher has attained also do not significantly impact the students performance in classrooms. So although there is little consensus in the education profession about which measurable features make a good teacher, several studies have identified inherent traits and practices which assist teachers in reaching their students. To Be Self-Aware American teacher-educator Stephanie Kay Sachs believes that an effective teacher needs to have a basic sociocultural awareness of and acceptance of their own and others cultural identity. Teachers need to be able to facilitate the development of a positive self-ethnic identity and be aware their own personal biases and prejudices. They should use self-inquiry to examine the relationship between their fundamental values, attitudes, and beliefs, particularly with regard to their teaching. This inner bias affects all interactions with students but does not prohibit teachers from learning from their students or vice versa. Educator Catherine Carter adds that an effective way for teachers to understand their processes and motivation is to define an apt metaphor for the role they perform. For example, she says, some teachers think of themselves as gardeners, potters shaping clay, mechanics working on engines, business managers, or workshop artists, supervising other artists in their growth. To Perceive, Understand and Value Differences Teachers who understand their own biases says Sachs, are in a better position to view their students experiences as valuable and meaningful and integrate the realities of the students lives, experiences, and cultures into the classroom and subject matter. The effective teacher builds perceptions of her own personal influence and power over factors that contribute to student learning. In addition, she must build conceptual interpersonal skills to respond to the complexities of the school environment. The experiences of both teachers and students with individuals of differing social, ethnic, cultural, and geographic backgrounds can serve as a lens through which future interactions can be viewed. To Analyze and Diagnose Student Learning Teacher Richard S. Prawat suggests that teachers must be able to pay close attention to students learning processes, to analyze how students are learning and diagnose issues that prevent understanding. Assessments must be undertaken not on tests per se, but rather as the teachers engage students in active learning, allowing debate, discussion, research, writing, evaluation, and experimentation. Compiling results from a report of the Committee on Teacher Education for the National Academy of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond and Joan Baratz-Snowden suggest teachers must make their expectations for high-quality work known, and provide constant feedback as they revise their work towards these standards. In the end, the goal is to create a well-functioning, respectful classroom that allows students to work productively. To Negotiate and Take Risks in Teaching Sachs suggests that building on the ability to perceive where students are failing to fully understand, an effective teacher must not be afraid to seek out tasks for herself and the students that are optimal for their skills and abilities, recognizing that those efforts may not be successful. These teachers are the pioneers and trailblazers, she says, individuals who are challenge-oriented. Negotiation involves moving students in a certain direction, towards a view of reality which is shared by those in the disciplinary community. At the same time, teachers must recognize when some obstacles to such learning are misconceptions or faulty reasoning which need to be highlighted, or when a child is simply using her own informal ways of knowing which should be encouraged. This, says Prawat, is the essential paradox of teaching: to challenge the child with new ways of thinking, but negotiate a way for that student to not dismiss alternate ideas. Overcoming these obstacles must be a collaborative enterprise between student and teacher, where uncertainty and conflict are important, growth-producing commodities. To Have a Depth of Subject Matter Knowledge Particularly in the maths and sciences, educator Prawat stresses that teachers need to have rich networks of knowledge in their subject matter, organized around key ideas that could provide a conceptual basis for understanding. Teachers obtain that by bringing focus and coherence to the subject matter and allowing themselves to be more conceptual in their approach to learning. In this manner, they transform it into something meaningful for students. Sources Carter, Catherine. Priest, Prostitute, Plumber? The Construction of Teachers as Saints. English Education 42.1 (2009): 61–90. Print.Darling-Hammond, Linda, and Joan Baratz-Snowden. A Good Teacher in Every Classroom: Preparing the Highly Qualified Teachers Our Children Deserve. Educational Horizons 85.2 (2007): 111–32. Print.Goldhaber, Dan. The Mystery of Good Teaching. Education Next Spring 2002 (2002): 1–5. Print.Luschei, Thomas F. In Search of Good Teachers: Patterns of Teacher Quality in Two Mexican States. Comparative Education Review 56.1 (2012): 69–97. Print.Prawat, Richard S. Teaching for Understanding: Three Key Attributes. Teaching and Teacher Education 5.4 (1989): 315–28. Print.Robinson, Richard, et al. The Effective Teacher Revisited. The Reading Teacher 45.6 (1992): 448–48. Print.Sachs, Stephanie Kay. Evaluation of Teacher Attributes as Predictors of Success in Urban Schools. Journal of Teacher Education 55.2 (2004): 177–87 . Print.

Ideas and Religious Belief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ideas and Religious Belief - Essay Example What if religion confuses political power with the will of God which many preachers and men of church say we have to abide to to maintain the state of which God wants on earth,in England,to match the Elizabethan age's understanding of the ladder of being or the chain of being and how it occupies what the world in God's eyes should be like and be used to by people This idea is occupied in all cultures politically and has been an arguable discussion for people throughout the nations. Should the political powers be religious and under the church's supervision or should be secularthis rises with another fundamental question:should people accept the facts stated to them in a democratic country or should they accept the facts given them as forceful manner of living which they could and could not accept whether it is involving their union with the power's opinions of what is supposed to be in the state or should it be forced and the state of the country be 'the democracy of discussion and the dictatorship of opinion'in other words,should people when getting involved in elections and understanding the stated means of ideas by the intellect get involved or should their ideas be seen as a restricted form of understanding which does not elevate to those who are in power's understanding of the future of the country and state and what it carries from und erstandings for th people's welfare and what they see to be what everyone in the state wants for the nation (depending on who is stating what the 'nation' means and who 'everyone stating it 'is) A nation (nationa) is understood to be a group of disobedient or the least intellectual groups of people to govern in a state or country which are better known and notioned as those 'governed',since they least 'care','understand','have intellect' to be able to take a role in forming the understandings and the formulae of which the nation takes to progress forwards. Then who takes this form of understanding up and deduces and induces the laws In religions it is God and His propehst. In secular states it is the intellect of the mos intellectual. These people understand and under-0estimate what could be frivolous being in a better state of affairs and understanding and education being exposed to the highest and best types of education around the world which ensure a decent growing up of morals and understandings which inform the rest of the populated country's people how things should be working in a 'civilized' manner. This understanding forms the wake of the nation and the differences between the 'plates' of the 'grounds of understanding the ways and means of living' which the nation's youth and grown ups fight to obtain for various reasons. If this is true,the chain of being then has to be a way of controlling the world and understanding the frame of thinking that puts philosophers and political people on the top or middle of

E-Commerce and its impact on the Global Marketplace Essay

E-Commerce and its impact on the Global Marketplace - Essay Example The main impact of E-Commerce is the fact that the global marketplace never sleeps and working 24/7, 365 days a year. It functions across different time zones as well as geographic boundaries. The integration of synergies leads to an extraordinary improvement in efficiencies. The presence of better and improved software enables the companies to conduct business online in an automated fashion leading to better productivity. It opens up a better competitive arena even to smaller companies with lesser resources at their disposal. It symbolizes the usage of the complete potential of the Internet and using it to gain profitability. Inter-business transactions or business-to-business (B2B) or e-commerce between businesses usually between manufacturers and suppliers. The other is the transaction between businesses and consumers (B2C) or electronic retailing. B2B type of E-Commerce is more common because of the usage of computer technology to a large extent by businesses, B2C in the form of online retailing has picked up exponentially. The success story of Wal-Mart has been extensively discussed and analysed. Sam Walton's guiding principles of "everyday low prices " have made Wal-Mart the world's largest retailer. The availability of the product when the customer looks for it on the shelf has to be accomplished, at the lowest possible cost without high overheads Using E-Commerce Supply Chain to Support Low Prices and Increased Customer Satisfaction "At Wal-Mart, we don't implement technology for its own sake," says David Flanagin, Director of Network Engineering. "It has to have a payback that helps the customer."(Quoted from http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/ibs/vertical/retail/Wal-Mart.PDF) So when the Wal-Mart network that unifies more than 100,0000 employees in more than 2400 stores and 100 distribution centres was undertaken, the Cisco network was chosen after great deliberation. Unifying and coordinating retailers and suppliers were of paramount importance. The number is staggering considering there are thousands of products and hundreds of suppliers and these are shipped to myriad destinations in the actual seasonal periods when they are sold. Wal-Mart ventured into EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in 1980 and used it to transmit data to its suppliers. By 1990 Wal-Mart had its own application called "Retail Linka" and suppliers used modems to dial into the network for sales and inventory data. This enabled better forecasting and planning, producing and shipping. With the growing E-Commerce scenario, Wal-Mart utilized the power of the Internet and using the Cisco network, Wal-Mart updated and reorganized the "Retail Linka" to a greater level of competence and usability. Logins are password protected and each supplier has a level to which he is able to access the information. "We

Aims and Purposes of Sentencing

Aims and Purposes of Sentencing Discuss, and comment, on the aims and purposes of sentencing. To what extent are they a reflection of sentencing currently practised by courts? A sentence in law, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Law (2006) is: Any order made by a court when dealing with an offender with respect to his offence now governed by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 Courts deal with sentences choosing from a mix of different aims for the sentence to have. There are six main types of aim when assessing the purpose of any sentence: Retribution, Deterrence, Desert Theory, Rehabilitation, Restorative Justice and Incapacitation Firstly, retribution is where The Old Testaments an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth form of justice is taken. It takes the view that offenders deserve to be punished and satisfies the victims need for revenge. This form of punishment is full of criticism, for example Mahatma Ghandi himself stated an eye for an eye will make us all go blind. This highlights the disproportionate nature of retributivism. In the case of Sargeant  retribution as a purpose of sentencing was de-applied in the criminal courts where the judge stated: The Old Testament concept of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth no longer plays any part in our criminal law This shows how judges and parliament have moved away from this form of justice to others. However, in cases not to do with criminal law, such as Tort law or other aspects of law that give damages, it could be construed that there is a retributive aspect of taking damages from someone who has wronged you. Granted this is a sort of reparative justice (discussed lower) but the principle is well the same. Deterrence is a similar form of justice to retributivism in that it attempts to maintain order through threats and fear. There are two forms of deterrence, general and individual. They are fairly self explanatory, general is where the courts sentence heavily to dissuade the general criminal public and individual is where the courts sentence heavily on the individual to supposedly make them not want to commit crime anymore. An example of deterrent sentencing can be seen in the case of Storey. It was an attempt to make an example of the offender so as to stop others committing the same crime, in this case, robbery, statistics show that it only worked in the short term. An issue is that deterrence is disproportionate, and does not take into account the cause of crime. It assumes that the offender thinks rationally of his choices, which is not always the case. There has been much legislation and policy to curtail judicial discretion with regard to deterrence in sentencing. For example the CJA 1991 stated that deterrence was not to be used as a means of lengthening a sentence. However, traditionally the courts have steered toward a deterrent policy of sentencing, and in the face of opposed legislation they were not about to give that up easily. The CJA 1991 was so poorly written that Lord Taylor in the case of Cunningham  managed to read section 2 (2) (a) of the 1991 Act as follows: The purposes of a custodial sentence must primarily be to punish and to deter. Accordingly, the phrase commensurate with the seriousness of the offence must mean commensurate with the punishment and deterrence which the seriousness of the offence requires. This enabled judges to effectively disregard the statute in such a manner that they could continue on business as usual.  There was also a government White Paper in 1990 that came close to directly saying that deterrence was no longer a valid consideration when sentencing. However, despite all of this deterrence has once again emerged as a key aim of sentencing courtesy of section 142 (1) (b) of the Criminal Justice Act (hereon CJA) 2003 where deterrence is one of the only purposes mentioned directly. Desert Theory is a form of justice based around proportionality. The Swiss judiciary uses this as their main purpose for sentencing. It essentially means that the sentence must be proportionate to the culpability of the offender. The CJA 2003 includes culpability into judicial reasoning. A case of where Desert has been put into practice would be Lord Lane CJs justification of his lowering of the sentence for social security fraud. This is the case of Stewart  where it was given that the crime was non-violent, non-sexual and non-frightening. The Halliday Report  shows a large preference to Desert Theory as it emphasises the need to link severity of punishment with culpability and seriousness of the offence, so as to give a proportionate sentence. Problems with this form of principle are that there is an assumed blame factor on the offenders side, which does not take into account social situations when taken literally. The actual limits of proportionality are also contentious; the key concept of proportionality itself is too open to divergent opinion. However, it could be interpreted that desert is a main principle for our system as the CJA 2003 incorporates much of what desert stands for into it i.e. mitigation and culpability. The concept of rehabilitation is also mentioned directly in CJA section 142. This principle recognises the need to lower future crime and reconviction. This form of justice views the sentence and the associated loss of liberty as the real punishment; it puts forward the concept that through cognitive training during this time of lost liberty crime can be reduced, such as with the Think First program and the What Works ethos developed by Maguire and Priestley. It is particularly useful in cases dealing with drugs and alcohol abuse. However, long term studies have indicated that in other circumstances it is unlikely to be of much use, as was found by the nothing works  research project. A 1998 Home Office survey evaluated that: there have been very few well-designed and carefully evaluated studies in this country of the effectiveness of programmes designed to rehabilitate and reduce the risk of re-offending. This represents a warning that rehabilitation is a very niche area giving various so-called experts powers over who is let out and who is not, based upon loose assertions that the offenders are better or not. However, it does remain in the CJA 2003 section 142, but not as the sole rationale. The Mental Health Act 1983, despite the previous 1998 report, still gives the courts jurisdiction over the mentally ill, and as addiction can be construed as a mental illness then it is possible to infer that the government supports this form of sentencing in this context. The principle of making amends for ones crime is the idea of restorative justice. criminal justice should focus [on] restoring individual damage and repairing ruptured social bonds a truly reparative system would seek the holistic restoration of the community Some of these developments in this form of justice are to make sure the criminal does not profit from his crime, i.e. compensation. Others are more reparatory in nature, meaning criminals are put to work for little or no wages in an effort to rebuild a part of the community they have victimised, for example a vandal fixes broken street lights for his criminal damage. The Powers of the Criminal Courts Act 2000 can be seen to greatly support the use and amendment of differing forms of community reparative sentences and further evidence is given to support reparation in the CJA 2003. However, various problems rise up when this form of justice is used. Firstly, it is disproportionate in nature, where a minor offence is committed a seemingly longer sentence of reparation will be administered rather than a shorter jail term. The disproportionate side enters where if the offender does not conform then a much harsher sentence will be imposed upon them. This does not address the cause of crime and can never be used for violent offenders as to do so would be a gross injustice to the victim. Therefore as a rationale it can only ever be taken in certain circumstances. Incapacitation is where the offenders opportunity to commit crime is taken away, by removing key aspects of his liberty that facilitate the crime convicted. For example a dangerous driver is disqualified and electronically tagged. As a result of humanitarian issues, such as imposing a harsh curfew which may interfere with someones right to personal autonomy and personal life, this gives the result with this being a heavily prescribed form of rationale. It is mainly limited to repeat (career) criminals or those deemed to be dangerous courtesy of the CJA 2003 sections 224-229 criteria. Incapacitation could also be construed within mental illness cases as well. The Mental Health Act 1983 gives judges the opportunity to use various methods of incapacitation on mentally ill offenders. The primary power the court has is the Hospital Order in respect of section 37 of the 1983 Act. Despite the fact that this is a form of incapacitation in Birch  Mustill LJ explained that the intention of this was different and meant to be humane. This principle of justice is held to be in the favour of the defendant, even though all liberty is removed by an order of the court. Liberty can be further removed in the interests of protecting the public  using a Restriction Order as of section 41 of the 1983 Act. A Home Office report however supports this when used on the mentally ill where practicable and appropriate.  This would show that incapacitation is a form of justice that most governments find irresistible to direct judges upon when issuing Acts and policies on sentencing. The point that Ashworth makes is that the CJA 2003 incorporates all of these rationales in the consideration of sentencing. This is true. It would then also be true that there is a pick-and-mix element to judgement with regard to this Act. However, it is untrusting of the judiciary to state that this invites inconsistency. While the main thrust of this Act could be seen to be the Desert Theory, as there is much mention of different levels of blame, this would show that this gives judges the discretion they will need to achieve justice for all. It would be the assertion of this paper that the CJA 2003 invites consistency of judgement but allows for the discretion of the inconsistency of crime in its own chaotic nature. Table of Statutes: Criminal Justice Act 2003 Criminal Justice Act 1991 Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 Mental Health Act 1983

Understanding the Production of Biofuels in the United States

The current situation in the global demand for fuel is definitely becoming a global phenomenon, which develops to be a worldwide problem that directly affects the global society and the lives of people. Thus, for the past years, the global oil industry has experienced shortage and/or a crisis, which has caused the international oil price to increase with more than twice its normal rate. This global oil crisis and the higher rate of oil prices are indeed detrimental and difficult for the people and in the global economy.This problem results to more difficulties in the financial burden of the people and makes the global society suffer from the expensive rate of the crude oil and affects other major industries in its operation. Hence, with the continuous increase in worldwide oil price and the broadening campaign for global crisis, the production of biofuels is now regaining fame and significance amidst all these global issues. In this regard, this research paper concentrates on the top ic about the production and use of biofuels in the United States as an alternative to the ones that is already in the global mainstream oil market.The paper would work on investigating the process of the United States in producing biofuels by utilizing natural materials such as plants that are rich with the needed substances in making such oil product. Thus, this research would also focus on determining the positive and negative implications of producing biofuels, as an answer to the growing oil and energy crisis, among the major industries that would directly affected by such process of manufacturing biofuels. Probable Plants to be utilized for the Production of BiofuelsAs seen to be one of the richest countries in the globe and with the present resources they have, the United States of America is regarded to be one of the leading countries that produces large amount of biofuels, more specifically ethanol fuel and biodiesel, which alternatively supplies the local demand for oil to power vehicles. It is seen that ethanol and biodiesel are the primary biofuels utilized in the United States and as such, the country uses mainly corn kernels and soybeans in producing respective biofuels for local transportation and industry consumption.As of the present time, the United States uses corn kernels in producing bioethanol, which also utilizes a little fraction made from sorghum (Hagens). As such, through the use of corn crops alone, the United States is able to produce 4. 9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2006. On the other hand, the production of biodiesel in the United States uses mainly soybean oil and other vegetable oils where in the same year of 2006, the country has produced 100 million gallons biodiesel out of these natural resources (Hagens).Moreover, other major countries that also produces biofuels as an alternative oil to power up their local transportation and industry also uses relatively the same natural resources with the ones that the United States has been using in their own production (Hagens). For instance, Brazil, one of the leading producers of bioethanol, also uses corn kernels being one of the countries which produces large amount of corn crops (Hagens).As for the developing countries such as the Philippines, the productions of biofuels just in their beginnings where the plants to be use for such process depends on the location and available plant resources. In the Philippines, plants like Jathropa Curcas or better known as Physic nut is given more attention as one of the potential primary natural resources in producing biodiesel and cassava perennial plant in processing bioethanol fuels (Varona). How this plants grown and processed to produce biofuelsPlanting and growing these plants in producing biofuels requires typical way plant farming, which only requires a certain demand for fossil fuel consumption for the entire process of producing biofuels. As for the plant that produces bioethanol such as the corn, the process of planting and growing is seen to be tricky that entails possible negative results in the environment (Biodiesel Edges Out Ethanol). Firstly, the corn is often globally regarded as a crop that is not environmentally friendly, which requires enormous quantities of fertilizers and pesticides in growing.Study shows that the impact of large-scale cultivation has negative adverse effects on the environment wherein the soil becomes uncultivable after the harvesting of corns that requires certain amount of time for recovery (Keim). As for the growing of soybean that is being used in producing biodiesel, the planting process is relatively easier but also environmentally unfriendly. To be able to achieve the greatest quality of soy beans for biodiesel production, though soybeans is adaptable to different conditions of soil, seeds must be planted in a top quality soil and in temperate weather.Thus, the impact of soybean large-scale cultivation entails negative adverse effects in the environmen t wherein through this entire process of planting and growing, the healthy and fertile soil and water are being polluted through the use of detrimental chemicals such as pesticide and fertilizer (Soybean Production). Production Process for Corn The process involved in producing ethanol out of corn involves several processes. The first step includes addition of water to grains which have been previously grounded (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†).The mixture of water and grounded grains is subjected to high temperatures under the liquefaction process and alpha-amylase are added (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†). After which, it goes through fermentation where yeast is used in order for the sugars to be fermented, which then produces ethanol and carbon dioxide (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†). The beer produced in the fermentation tanks proceed through a distillation system that separates the ethanol and leaves a â€Å"whole still age† (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†). In the â€Å"whole stillage† the solids are separated from the liquid through the process of centrifugation.Afterwards, an evaporation step is done for the liquid portion to remove any excess water and leaves condensed syrup (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†). This condensed syrup is placed back with the grains of wet distillers and is dried to come up with DDGS or â€Å"distillers’ dried grains with solubles† (â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products†). A diagram for this process is shown below: Production Process for Soybean The main process through which soybean can be turned into soy biodiesel is called transesterification, which makes soybean oil transform into esters (â€Å"How to Make Soy Biodiesel From Scratch†).In the said process, the oil of the soybean is separated and its glycerine sinks at the bottom and the soybean biodesel goes to the surface (â€Å"Ho w to Make Soy Biodiesel From Scratch†). When this happens, the soybean biodiesel is siphoned (â€Å"How to Make Soy Biodiesel From Scratch†). Efficient Producers of Biofuels In a sense, the fully developed countries like the United States and Brazil are regarded as efficient producers of biofuels as compared to the other developing countries that are having a hard time establishing and starting a reliable way of producing biofuels.Unlike any other countries, the United States and Brazil are the top producers of biofuels, more specifically the bioethanol, which made them successful in attending to their local demands for clean fuels for energy consumption. In addition to this, the European countries also are among the top and efficient producers of another biofuel which is that of the biodiesel that normally caters to the demand of clean diesel fuel for their local vehicle and transportation. In these countries, there is a reliable means of producing these biofuels due t o the available resources as compared to other countries.Plants Consumption for Biofuel and its effect in the Global Food Prices With the trend in using some of the major plants for producing biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, this entire process entails negative impacts in the supply and price of food in the worldwide market, more especially among the developing countries. Thus, there are reports that the consumption of plants, more specifically with corns and soybeans, creates shortage on the supply for human consumption as food. As such? in most of the countries across the globe, the production of biofuels is being blamed to be the number one cause of global food crisis.In addition to this, such consumption of plants for biofuel production generates shortage and difficulties for developing countries with the continuous increase in the price of food in the global market (Lovgren). Conclusion In the end, the production of biofuels as an alternative solution for the ever loo ming energy crisis is indeed a brilliant idea and a positive approach to resolve such global problem. However, the countries which serve as the major producers of biofuels must also ensure the welfare of the people and do this in such a way that is not harmful for the public and the environment.Thus, the major biofuel producers must also continue to do research with the purpose of discovering other ways of producing biofuels aside from consuming plants that are supposed to be allotted for human consumption to be able to avoid the competition between the interest of the public and need for resolving the looming global energy crisis. Work Cited Aoko, Sam. 12 World’s Largest Biofuel Plants. Eco Worldly. 18 November 2009 < http://ecoworldly. com/2008/04/23/12-worlds-largest-biofuel-plants/> Biodiesel Edges Out Ethanol. Last Updated July 18, 2006. RenewableEnergyWorld. com. 18 February 2009 < http://www. renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2006/07/biodiesel-edges-out-ethanol -45457> Hagens, Nate. The Implications of Biofuel Production for United States Water Supplies. The Oil Drum. 18 February 2009 â€Å"How to Make Soy Biodiesel From Scratch. † 2009. All Soy Products. 18 February 2009 . Keim, Brandon. Corn-Based Biofuels Spell Death for Gulf of Mexico. Last Updated March 13, 2008. CondeNet, Inc. 18 February 2009 Lovgre, Stefan. Hardy Plant May Ease Biofuels' Burden on Food Costs.Last Updated April 21, 2008. National Geographic Society. 18 February 2009 Soybean Production. Last Updated February 18, 2009. National Soybean Research Laboratory. 18 February 2009 â€Å"Utilization of Bio-fuel Co-products. † University of Saskatchewan. 18 February 2009 . Varona, Bernice. Power plants: University spearheads biofuel R&D. UP System Information Office. 18 February 2009 < http://www. up. edu. ph/upnewsletter. php? i=321>

Features of Symbolism, setting and conflict used in Woman Hollering Creek” - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1808 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/10/10 Did you like this example? Woman hollering Creek written by Sandra Cisneros is a short story that is very interesting because it narrates the destruction of a woman’s dreams called Cleofilas. It begins when she is given into marriage to Juan Pedro while her father telling her that, â€Å"there is no time I will abandon you because I am your father† (Cisneros, 50). Before her marriage, she had grown up with only her dad, the six-good-for nothing brothers and no mother. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Features of Symbolism, setting and conflict used in Woman Hollering Creek†" essay for you Create order Owing to the fact that there was no woman around her during the time she was growing up, she has to learn how to be a woman only through watching telenovelas on the TV. The telenovelas help her learn that she should expect passion to fill her heart and her life which will bring her great love into her life and guide her to â€Å"do what is supposed to be done, must be done, and at all costs† (Cisneros, 51). This makes her create a belief that life needs to be that way because when one suffers from love, it is good and makes one good because the pain goes with sweat in the end. This story has however used features like conflict, symbolism and setting to bring out the theme of suffering that Cleofilas passes through and it is described below in details. The setting of the story Woman Hollering creek takes place in both Texas and Mexico. The setting in this story is equally important because Cleofilas lived in a small town in Mexico where she had only six brothers and her father who looked after her (Payant, 95). The only thing that inspired her from this small town was the telenovela that was usually shown on the TV, and this made her get the belief that her life would be exactly as what used to take place in the telenovela. Cleofilas decided to marry Juan Pedro while in Mexico and moves to his place in Texas and she leaves her six brothers and her father in Mexico. According to Payant (95), after moving to Texas, she discovers that she did a mistake when she chose to marry Pedro but she had had a baby with him. She has to take responsibility of the child that is on the way as a mother and the best for it or stay make another decision of staying with her lover Pedro and get beaten by him constantly. The setting of this story was very important because it created the direction of the story and the way things were unfolding before Cleofilas.   As Brady (122) puts it, the places of this story showed a long road for her and everything that transpired along the way, which had its own meaning. Therefore, the borderland’s center is Woman Hollering Creek and it is in this place that the story unfolds. Cleofilas refers to Mexico as â€Å"a town of dust, despair and gossip† on the other side that is very similar to a Texan town called Seguin. Seguin was another town full of gossip except the fact that while in her father’s town in Mexico, she was very safe from the physical harm she was receiving on this other side. Therefore, the creek called Woman Hollering Creek is located in central Texas and at a certain time, it crosses the interstate between San Antonio Texas and Seguin Texas. The setting is also equally important because it describes the real environment surrounding Cleofilas, what she faces and the situations and hardship she passes through. For example, when she describes in her imagination â€Å"the same house as always, nothing new†¦ the faded housecoat was just in the same position where she had left it in the bathroom.† The description of her house showed the level of difficulty that she was passing through (Brady, 122). Additionally, the setting brings the picture of the environment with activities take place within the surroundings in the story. When the writer describes the town, in which Cleofilas was, as â€Å"a silly town full of pride and despair, there was nothing interesting where she was standing, only a TV repair shop, a drugstore, dry cleaners, hardware, empty store fronts, bail bonds, liquor store and nothing else of great interest (Jaynearose). It is true from the description that the town has nothing good to attract the e yes. However, it is touching to see Cleofilas describe it as a city build so that all women have to depend on their husbands entirely. No place to go in the city except to a neighboring lady’s house, but the rest of the time is solitary, on one side and the other side is Dolores. In story of Woman Hollering Creek, Cisneros has used several symbolisms to portray and demonstrate how women are powerless whenever trapped in a relationship that is very abusive to them. According to Doyle (55), the best symbolism used in this story is the telenovela, which was mainly an indication of Cleofilas’ life. She thought that her life would be like the flow of the telenovela that used to be shown on the TV. The contrast occurred because the episodes in her own telenovela were getting sadder with hardly any commercials between her episodes of life that would have brought comic relief and probably a happy conclusion. In spite of all these, she constantly made excuses about her husband and falsely convincing herself that as much as there were many abuses in her life like being beaten by her husband, things would soon get better. Originally, the word creek is in itself a symbolic word that meant a road that had not been taken by Cleofilas when she decided to staying in t he relationship where she suffered physical and emotional abuse. However, the origin of the creek is not known, it is still a mystery and most probably frightening just as the road that not taken. Additionally, there exist a number of symbols in woman hollering creek which Cisneros used as a helper in plotting the story line in addition to creating a literature impression in the story. For example, â€Å"the borders of all kinds† is a symbolic statement in the Woman Hollering Creek. It does not necessarily mean the physical border between US Texas and Mexico. In one perspective, it means linguistic borders that confine Cleofilas within a particular cocoon, like the gender and cultural borders. This is evidenced when she said, â€Å"this city is built in a way that women have to depend on men entirely† (Doyle, 57). In another perspective, the borders of all kinds means the border of confinement of past traditions, that restricted the actions of women and the violent poverty that encounters her and forces her to change her view on what is freedom and what is confining.   However, most of these borders were self-imposed, while others were imposed by the society, b ut both the borders despite their imposition were just as strong as a brick fence. In clear interpretation of the name creek, in the Woman Hollering Creek, is a border on its own in symbolic terms. Like instead of saying the word ‘Holler’, it can be translated as ‘yell’ in a deeper translation which means weep (Doyle, 55). Moreover, this symbolic border is so powerful, however natural it may seem. It is stronger than the passing of the creek and a representation of what it does to the surrounding nature with comparison to Cleofilas’ heartless and poor life that she faces away from the creek. In Mexico, the ice house was like a church where Cleofilas could meet with other women and gossip or as she described it, â€Å"engage in huddled whispering.† However, while she was in the United States in Texas, which was her marital home, the gossiping used to begin at sunset at the icehouse, the only difference is that in this new place, she had to sit and mute beside their conversation. Additionally, the laughter at the end of the sto ry was a symbolic of long awaited freedom finally achieved, the incredible feeling that one experiences when she/he attains the long awaited freedom. Sandra Cisneros uses conflicts to show several perspectives including Cleofilas’ expectations as contrasted with what happens in reality. As Phan (32) puts it, all she had ever wanted was a successful conclusion in her life, a loving husband and a pretty house, having sweet children around her and anything interesting that she had seen on the telenova. Never had the slightest though wink up her mind that things change in life, her conflict was what she wanted was not coming, a happy life is what she had thought all her life. In this story of Woman Hollering Creek, conflict is used to display the harsh realities of the patriarch world that Cleofilas finds herself in. she was silenced by the ways of this patriarch world but finally found her voice in the end. The writer brings out the conflict of Cleofilas, which is not only with her cruel and abusive husband, but also with the patriarch world (Doyle, 66). According to her, the world seemed to say that whatever was happening to her was okay and one day she will get what she expects in life. It is really a conflict within her heart for she has to keep on loving her husband that was betraying and abusive just to maintain the expectations of the patriarchal society. In addition to that, conflict is depicted in the viewpoint of Pedro’s understanding of marriage. In fact, it is the major source of conflict in the story of â€Å"woman hollering creek† as a result of adopting patriarchy (Phan, 34). Pedro adopted patriarchal rules where he was the head of the family and the final decision maker in the house, an issue that constantly broke out domestic violence in their marriage with Cleofilas. The domestic violence was as severe as explained by Cisneros, â€Å"when he came home and slapped her once, twice†¦ until her cheek split and bled, she did not fight back, neither did she run away as she had earlier imagined.† She is again faced with the conflict of making a hard decision as to whether she should escape with her child to Mexico so that she takes care of her or she should remain in her marital home and continue to face the cruelty of her husband. In conclusion, Cleofilas always saw herself as a woman who would have a destiny like the ones she used to view on the TV. She was however not given an imperfect storyline and she kept hoping things would change and turn out to be better. Cisneros has used epiphany, conflict, symbolism and setting to bring out the image of harsh realities that Cleofilas faced in â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek†.   The features bring out the real picture of the patriarch world unlike her expectations in life, which was part of her major conflicts.