...“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” * John C. Maxwell My leadership philosophy is real simple and straight forward. One value that stands very close to my heart is the one that my Dad has drummed into me: Don’t cheat yourself, you know exactly what you can and can’t do. In order to succeed as a leader, one must know his or her strengths and weakness. Secondly, we have finite amount of time and energy. If we have time to whine and complain about something then we definitely have time and energy to do something about it. In simpler words: Don’t complain, just work harder! Furthermore, look for the best in everyone. If you wait long enough, people will show you their good side, just keep waiting and be patient. But on the other hand, it is a leader’s responsibility to know how long, is long enough. Within the past year and half, I have learned that experience is the most precious thing you can offer someone. So do not be afraid of making mistakes and sharing your experiences. Last but not least, never give up! As Randy Pausch, the author of the book Last Lecture says, “Brick walls are there for a reason. And once you get over then, even if someone practically had to throw you over, it can be helpful to others to tell them how you did it.” And in order to be an excellent leader, I believe these concepts are valuable to have in handy. * Don’t cheat yourself- Seek first to understand and then to be understood. * Don’t complain; just...
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...Test Review from Of Plymouth Plantation 1. What is the “First Encounter”? 2. Please summarize “The Starving Time”. 3. How did Squanto help the colonists? 4. What conditions did the Pilgrims face on the First Thanksgiving? 5. Who is the author? from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God 5. What feeling does the author hope to inspire in his listeners? 6. Who is the audience? 7. Who is the author? from The General History of Virginia 8. How was Smith saved form death in Powhatan’s court? 9. Why were the Native Americans important to the colonists? 10. What does Smith’s description of giving gifts to the Native Americans reveal about his attitude toward them? 11. Who is the author? from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano 12. How can we tell that the slave traders wanted to keep the captives alive? 13. Why did Equiano fear the sailors? 14. In what ways were the sailors cruel? 15. Why was Equiano whipped? 16. According to Equiano, what added to the horror of slavery? 17. Who is the author? The World on the Turtle’s Back 18. Why does the man go to the Great Tree at the beginning of the myth? 19. Why is the Great Tree important to the Iroquois’ creation myth? 20. What does this creation myth explain about the Iroquois dance rituals? 21. What do the arrows that the man brings to the girl represent? 22. What does the twins’ competition to make animals in this creation myth explain? ...
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...Olaudah Equiano was a man that went through hell and back. Throughout his life time he experienced slavery, pain, and loneliness. Equiano wrote of this amazing and detailed journey and shared the things he saw and experienced throughout his life. In this essay I will be talking about his journey in two ways. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, he explains his detailed experience and in his biography it explains less details about Equiano but it goes into detail when it comes to location, facts, and slave work force. In my essay I will compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the interesting narrative of Olaudah Equiano and his biography. I will prove that Equiano interesting narrative is true based off the comparison of his biography....
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...Olaudah autobiography was very inspirational but very disconsolate. Olaudah speaks about being deprived from education, most slaves presented their stories to ghost writers. Equiano was very intelligent, honest, well spoken. Many believed that Africans were not human, and they endured many hardships. Equiano’s story would be sufficient to wipe off the stigma attached to Africans (73). Equiano life was very fascinating to European and Americans spectators. The book proves that Africans are capable of reading and writing. Equiano’s writing goes far beyond anthropological interest: combing elements of the travelogue, spiritual autobiography, and antislavery argument, Equiano, Equiano combined genres to create a new prototype which slave narratives...
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...Why it matters? It's a mystery of literature involving a man of words. Words which caused uproar back in 1789. The British readers were captivated by his personal experience of being enslaved at age 11, kidnapped from Nigeria, and brought into slavery of a New World in a terror-filled ship. Equiano's tale is viewed as an authoritative description of the villainous Middle Passage, one of the very first narratives from a slave, a story that gave the hatchling abolitionist movement a buzzing moral influence; except it may not be exact. Therein lays the mystery: Because if the gentleman who penned "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African" was not born in Africa, but rather born into slavery in South Carolina -- as Vincent Carretta suggests -- then who was he? Where did he learn to speak fluent Igbo? And how did he obtain such agonizing details about life aboard an 18th-century slave vessel? The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains. . . . The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. (Equiano, 1789) In that lies the controversy: Carretta's findings, detailed in his biography of Equiano, have ignited a blaze...
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...William Bradford and Olaudah Equiano write about their ideas and terrors to white settlers and new generations on their way to America. In “The Interesting Narrative about the Life of Olaudah Equiano” Olaudah Equiano did not have a choice but to come to America but in “Of Plymouth Plantation” William Bradford leaves America in search of new laws and ways of living. Olaudah Equiano somehow found a way to write down his descriptions about what happened and what he saw. At 11 years old, Equiano was kidnapped from his home. Being separated from his family you would think he would have been terrified. In The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, instead of being negative he explains the things he saw for the very first time in his life “I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much..” Equiano’s new journey was “heightened” he saw the land of the Barbados and the clouds looked like land to him as they sailed. (Equiano 174) Once arriving in America Equiano “We were conducted immediately to the merchant's yard..” (Equiano 175) had to begin working....
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...Vilma Torres Benjamin Franklin As we know Benjamin Franklin is known to be a very important person in American history. Benjamin Franklin was a successful person that never gave up and always followed his dream. Randy Pausch, author of “The Last Lecture” was also a person who never gave up and wanted to educate others. With this in mind we can see many similarities between Professor Randy Pausch’s last lecture and Benjamin Franklin’s life. The first example is when the professor says that you have to work hard to achieve your dreams. This has a lot in common with Benjamin Franklin because he always had to work hard to get what he wanted. Franklin liked to work long hours and he never complained. The second instance is when the professor says that you have to keep your dream no matter what happens. Benjamin Franklin, at the age of sixteen, wanted to be a printer. He focused on his dream and started to work little by little on his own company. When he started it was not easy. However, he followed his dream until he built his own printing company. The third similarity was when the professor said that brick walls are there not to make you sad but to show you how badly you want something. Benjamin Franklin faced a lot of brick walls when he was trying to discover the electricity. For example, he faced a lot of dangers in attempting to determine whether lightning was electricity or not. However he never got sad, he only worked harder. The fourth example is when the...
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...Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006. Pausch delivered his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University (where he was a Professor) on September 18, 2007. In the seminar series, professors were challenged to deliver the message of a lifetime as if it was their last lecture. The irony makes his words that much more poignant. The Last Lecture has become one of the most viewed lectures on the Internet. There is no denying that the context makes the speech memorable, but that quality is enhanced by five timeless presentation techniques exhibited by Randy Pausch. Each of these helps you connect with your audience and help them remember your words into the future: Introduce the elephant in the room, define the scope, conclude strong, show enthusiasm- immerse yourself, get personal. Randy Pausch opens his lecture in the best way possible for this lecture, this audience, and this venue — by relieving stress. Following an easy joke about the title of the lecture series, he introduces the elephant in the room; that is, he spends a minute discussing his pancreatic cancer. Then, he raises the emotion in the room by doing a series of pushups. If he had not opened this way, the audience would have been distracted for the entire lecture, and unable to fully immerse themselves in the powerful lessons to come. From my point of view he made a good start to get the audience attention and gave the audience a reason to listen to his topic. I think the key point over here...
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...15/09/15 DREAMS AND EXPERIENCES This essay will cover two important points of Last Lecture by Prof. Randy Pausch that I found impressive, and the brief description of how I dream. As a conclusion, I will criticize myself on the basis of Last Lecture. First thing that I learned from Randy Pausch is the importance of being an imagineer. People have a tendency to stop imagining when they start to think any of their dreams will not come true anyway. But as we saw in the lecture, even though seems like childish and irrelevant, if you try hard you can make it possible. Pausch did his best to accomplish his dreams before he died. It means before we gave up from our dreams, we can do the same too. The other critic point about Last Lecture is, it was a pretty influential speech to encourage people to think about the brick walls in their lives. According to Pausch, these brick walls are there to prevent some people from achieving their goals, and for some people walls are there in order to show them how far they can go for their dreams. Pausch did great to break his walls that he met while he wanted to achieve his zero-gravity dream. So why do not we break our walls in front of us? After the Last Lecture, when I think about my dreams, I realize that I do not have too much of them. Because they are keep getting true. The reason behind this is, instead of long-term, I used to aim short-term achievements. Such as; being successful in high school, being successful is university, earning...
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...Plantation the Pilgrims wanted to be able to practice their own beliefs so they went on a long and hard journey across the Atlantic to start a new and free life in America. The colonist almost didn’t make it but what kept them going was their dream of being able to live a life of freedom of religion. Another lesson that readers can learn is that people should be thankful because their situation could always be worse. Even though these stories don’t exactly talk about thinking positive and being thankful they still portray this message. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, this narrative is educating readers about the life of a slave. Equiano uses a lot of detail in his story to inform how inhumane and foul being a slave on a slave ship was. Readers learn to appreciate what they have through hearing this story because their situation is probably not as bad as Olaudah Equianos. La Relacion, Of Plymouth Planation and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano all include strong messages and lessons to the readers. One lesson is that you should never give up and always fight for what you believe in or believe is right. Another lesson that I learned is that I should be thankful for what I have and appreciate my...
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...In the essay prompt, number five explains, “How history is not just shaped by events that unfold, but also by people and how people can shape history through their actions through the recording of an event or by leading a revolution.” In my essay the person who will be the topic is “Olaudah Equiano”. I am to choose an individual and discuss their impact on world history. Olaudah Equiano, who was born 1745 in West Africa, contributed to a ton of accomplishments. He was an abolitionist and former slave who was the author of “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”; Written by Himself. Equiano’s Narrative told the story of his capture and life in bondage. At 11 years old, while caring for the family compound, he was kidnaped along with his sister. The two were taken away from the place where they grew up, and sold to the neighborhood slave traders. Following a concise time of remains in Africa, in 1755 Equiano was captured and sold to the European slave brokers, who then transported him over the Atlantic to Barbados in the West Independents in 1756. In Virginia, Equiano was bought by Michael Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Pascal gave Equiano the name of Gustavus Vassa, which stayed with him for the better part of his lifetime. Domestic slaves in...
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...The debate surrounding Equiano’s birthplace is also of great importance when determining which name he should be referred to as. Vassa preferred not to use his birth name, as was previously stated, except “for purposes of establishing his African birth” (Lovejoy 166), a fact that has been contested for centuries. In 1792, a London newspaper accused Vassa of not being born in Africa, but that he was in fact “born and bred up in the Danish Island of Santa Cruz (St. Croix), in the West Indies” (Lovejoy 173). However, not only does Equiano repeatedly state that he was born in Africa, the entirety of the first chapter of his autobiography is filled with anecdotes and cultural rituals he remembers from living in Africa that he would not have known about had he been brought up elsewhere; Lovejoy follows with this idea by accepting that “the weight of evidence still indicates that Vassa had firsthand knowledge of Africa” (Lovejoy 174). On the other side of the debate, it is argued that Equiano was born in South Carolina, with evidence to support this as well. The first piece of evidence is a baptismal entry in a parish record: “Gustavus Vassa a black born in Carolina 12 years old” (Lovejoy 170); the second is that “the muster book for the Arctic Expedition of 1773 lists a Gustavus Weston, identified as a seaman, aged 28, born in South Carolina” (Lovejoy 170). The first of these could be interpreted in two ways. The first is that he was born in South Carolina and baptised at the age of...
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...Personal Responsibility: the key to academic success Individuals that are being personally responsible take ownership of their actions and hold themselves accountable for their performance and the decisions they make. There are many factors that contribute to scholastic achievement, but each student has the power and capability to choose his or her own path that will lead to success or failure. Those students that look within and admit they have control of their accomplishments have a greater chance of reaching their academic goals than an individual that chooses to blame others when they are unsuccessful. Many students coming out of high school not emotionally or morally mature enough to manage the changes in their lives, especially those that live on campus. In addition to the day-to-day tasks, such as getting enough sleep, eating properly and arriving on time for their classes there are relationship issues and other distractions that cause a student to deter from academic studies. Ceplak (2012) repeated a student’s comments stating that the student liked school because of his classmates, socializing and friendships even though he received poor grades. An Individual that copes with his or her new found freedoms and all the distractions of college life are better equipped to do well and earn their Bachelor’s degree. Holding yourself responsible for your conduct and changing your behavior so school work is the primary concern are positive steps toward the personal responsibility...
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...The Review on the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Randolph Frederick "Randy" Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles. Pausch died from pancreatic cancer at his family's home in Chesapeake, Virginia on July 25, 2008, at the age of 47. The last lecture by Randy Pausch to the 400 students in Carneige Mellon University mainly focuses on how to live the prosperous life. It specifically talks about the childhood dreams and how to achieve those dreams and become successful in life. Following are the things that I have learned from the lecture. To achieve success in life we need to have dreams; be it a childhood dream or the dreams that we dream when we grow up but we always need to have dreams. And then we should work towards achieving those dreams. And when we work towards achieving those dreams we can never say that those dreams can be achieved at one go. We are going to face lot of failure and obstacles blocking our way. And then when we experience failure and other problems, complaining and wining is never going to solve our problem. Instead we should never think that it's the end of our dream and we should consider those failure as the inspiration to work harder and the we should keep on trying because everything is possible in life. Now to have...
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...Everyone has a dream and everyone would like to achieve this dream. But no one realises how much work they have to put to get there. There will be obstacles along the but if you are committed you will get there. In the video we watch called “The Last Lecture’’ by Randy Pausch’s does a presentation in front of a audience and talks about 3 main things. These 3 things are his childhood dreams,how he enabled other people dreams and lesson he has learned along his childhood and adulthood. He does this in order to teach and make the audience achieve their dream or help someone else accomplish their dream by using what they learned in his lecture. He tries to gives us good advice on how to live your life without regrets just work hard and don't complain....
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