...Chap Heap’s Slumming, is a historical book that reveals the reality behind sexual and racial encounters in American nightlife during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Provoked by the Gilded Age in the U.S. and all of its technological innovations, urban areas began to develop into commercialized spaces with new demographics: as the middle and upper class whites were moving out, new immigrants and lower-class workers were moving in. This new, ethnically diverse population lived in tightly packed conditions referred to by many as slums. Beyond the cramped tenements and unsanitary living conditions that existed, the slums had much more to offer. Here existed an array of nightlife attractions including “red-light” districts, saloons, dance halls, nightclubs, cabarets and opium dens. What made these areas so much more exhilarating was the fact that the middle and upper class used them to travel beyond the borders of their own neighborhoods and unveil their sexual curiosities through the nightlife of the slums. According to Heap, the conceptualization of sexuality, race, and urban life was altered through this act of slumming, in which the higher class people stepped beyond their boundaries into the world of the lower class and engaged in behavior far more experimental than the more conservative lifestyle that people were used to. Heap divides his book into two general sections. The first focuses mainly on the spatial organization and cultural geography of slumming, as well as...
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...Question 1: What was General Motors’ strategy, and why did General Motors acquire EDS in 1984? General Motors (GM) is a multinational, publically traded corporation that specializes in automotive production, distribution, sales and maintenance. The technological boom experienced within the manufacturing industry in the later part of the 20th century created an opportunity to implement various Information Technology Systems and services to monitor all internal activities within a given organization. With the slumming stock prices and increasing pressure from international competition, GM’s only option was to automate its ongoing operations in hopes of becoming more effective and efficient in delivering top-quality products to the end customers. There were two possible options to proceed with automation of various services within the organization - outsourcing IT services to an independent body, or branching out current operations in order to have an in-house service provider. Due to specific time constraints and obligation to its shareholders to improve the stock performance, corporate managers in GM have decided to look for a strong, medium-sized IT service provider which could accomplish the much needed transition. At the time, in mid-1980’s, EDS was considered to be a mid-level provider of IT services, with expertise and corporate culture matching the GM needs. This resulted in GM acquiring EDS in 1984 for $2.55 billion, ensuing in the subsequent modernization of operations...
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...'Enough,'' a jarring thriller packed to the gills with cheap shocks, suggests the emergence of a new Hollywood subgenre: the male yuppie horror film. The unspoken premise behind it suggests that a new generation of cold young men has arisen who are so obsessed with fattening their portfolios and chiseling their abs that they have forgotten to grow souls. And yes, that premise probably contains a tiny grain of truth. Out of this grain, however, the movie has conceived a caricature even more monstrous than Glenn Close's voracious Medusa in ''Fatal Attraction.'' On a certain tit-for-tat level, ''Enough'' might even be seen as a feminist revenge for the stereotyping in ''Fatal Attraction,'' even though both films were written and directed by men. The movie, which opens today nationwide, also exploits an ugly undercurrent of class warfare. Its star, Jennifer Lopez, plays a spunky working-class woman suckered into marriage with a rich yuppie master of the universe who brutally abuses her. In the movie's climax, she faces down her husband in one-on-one combat, armed with brass knuckles and fortified by a crash course in martial arts. Will honest working-class pluck and self-reliance triumph over spoiled upper-class privilege? You don't have to ask. Throughout, Ms. Lopez holds the screen in a star performance that has less to do with acting than with embodying a forceful, streetwise woman who stands up for herself. The movie's yuppie monster, versions of which you may have...
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...Robert Riskin in his long collaboration with Capra became known as the chronicler of the nobility and decency. Riskin’s reputation rings hollow now, as does the lip service given to democratic philosophy in It Happened One Night. Blackthorne 3 There is a lot of attention paid to the camaraderie of the “little people,” particularly in this charming scene that takes place on a long distance bus trip. The passengers spontaneously get involved in a communal sing along, then the bus driver joins in and soon the bus ends up in a ditch. Working class solidarity doesn’t get anyone anywhere, however charming it may appear. In the end, only the power the elite have is to accomplish and hold things together. Elly feels she is slumming. There is nothing but relief when she is reunited with father and consequently will never again have to face the rigors of ordinary life. Almost eighty years ago, the Academy Awards saw this movie sweep all its top five categories - best screenplay, best actor, best actress, best director, and best picture. The film consolidated Gable’s screen image as a tough/tender independent man with sex appeal to spare. It rescued Colbert from her earlier typecasting setting as a big-eyed, half-naked vamp and led to many roles for her as a vivacious romantic comedy heroine in her later years. Many actresses had turned the role down by the time Columbia pictures turned to her Myrna Loy, one of the stars who rejected the part, claimed when she saw the...
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...UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE MODULE: IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES ASSIGNMENT 5 INTRODUCTION When you are the second to last out of fifteen children, being a leader is something that is hardly ever expected or demanded of you. There is always someone older, wiser and more experienced who is more capable and willing to take charge of whatever situation may arise. However, in spite of all those siblings, at the fairly young age of fourteen years, I found myself in the unusual position of being in charge of all my mother’s finances and household activities. Due to a separation of my family, I became an only child with my mom working double shifts three to four times weekly. During that period of my life my level of maturity had to be drastically elevated to allow my mom to maintain her sanity, for the bills to be paid and things kept in order at home. I took on this challenge and thus my desire to go into accounting and finance was developed. However, at this point in my life, could I have considered myself as a good leader? What exactly does it take to be called even a great leader? According to Draft(2006), “Leadership is the ability to influence people toward the attainment of organisational goals.” He also continues by stating that, “Leadership is dynamic and involves power to get things done.” The people element in the definition of leadership plays an extremely important role since a leader is the motivating factor that drives individuals to...
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...In the article “Alien World” by Alexander Zaitchik (2009), the author makes a logical argument about how Mexico’s impoverished economy is heavily dependent on migrant workers and how it has affected an indigenous people. Zaitchik is a freelance journalist who is affiliated with Poverty Law, a U.S. organization that supports ethnic and racial tolerance. He also has published articles in the Prague Post, the Prague Pill, Reason, and the New Republic. Zaitchik’s article attempts to convey the idea that Mexico’s economy is forcing people to take desperate measures in order to survive. He uses his experience with a border crossing simulation as a way to lure the reader into the article. Zaitchik then proceeds to use statistical evidence to enlighten the reader about Mexico’s economic dependency on migrant workers. Zaitchik travelled to Mexico to learn about and participate in the border crossing simulation. He effectively uses his experience with the border crossing simulation, its participants, the Otomi people and his knowledge of the Mexican economy to effectively present his argument. Zaitchik’s personal experience and knowledge of the Otomi’s plight supplement his argument. He provides a series of facts and anecdotal evidence to show the emergence of a border crossing simulation in Mezquital Valley as a prelude to a bigger problem, Mexico’s economic dependency on migrant workers. Zaitchik states that the Otomi, the indigenous people of Mezquital Valley, lost 90% of their...
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...Ford Motor Company Strayer University BUS 302 Professor Doreen Rainey October 31, 2010 Ford Motor Company located in Dearborn, Michigan has an alarming problem. Ford Motor has lost money in its North American sector of operation in the past years, despite its increase of models. In an attempt to attain a larger portion of the car market Ford Motor acquired some luxury models. Ford Motor moved some what away from Mr. Ford’s vision to produce cars affordable for the masses when acquiring luxury models. In order to reduce loses that are being acquired each year Ford must come up with a solution. There are four options that must be viewed to reduce losses. First is the reduction of older plants. Second produce only practical small cars. Third focus on the international market where Ford has been very successful and reduces it present in North America. Fourth dump the Premium Automotive Group (week 4, nd). Ford should use the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (Management, 2011, p.79). Let’s take a look at the second option and view it with the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines. Ford specific goal using this option would be producing practical small cars to reduce the revenue lost. The American people are becoming more conscience of the rising gas price environment. SUVs and large car increase the usage of gas causing an increase in out of the pocket expense for personal vehicle. It is a proven fact that SUVs and large car use...
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...Requiem and Deviant Intentions For A Dream” The 2000 film, Requiem for a Dream, by Director Darren Aronofsky is a chilling look into the realities of drug addiction, disappear, and hopelessness. If ever their was an anti-drug film or Public Services Announcement cautioning people about the dangers and ills of drug use, this could most certainly serve as one of the canonical texts. One viewing of this film would cause Nancy Regan’s 1980’s warnings of “Just saying No” to duck and hide their insufficient faces in shame for simply not hitting home hard enough. According to Farber, in The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s, he contends that by the late 1960s, many young antiwar activities and others who were involved in a variety of social and political movements were in open revolt against what they considered “the American way of life,” believing that the “traditional” values of American life were what had produced the war in Vietnam, racism, and a lot of other ugliness. The shock troops in this “cultural war,” at least as most Americans saw it, were the longhaired “freaks” and “hippies” of what was then called the “counterculture.” It was the counterculture, more than the antiwar movement or Black Power groups, that seemed to many older Americans to be the most threatening to their family and loved ones. Far more young people would experiment with illegal drugs and counterculture lifestyles than would ever participate in the civil rights, antiwar,...
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...English 2328 Spring 2011 Unit Two: Early Twentieth Century Review Sheets |Survey Highlights |Modernism in American Literature |Imagism, Imagery, Image | |Major Authors |Some distinguishing characteristics— |From Pound's "A Retrospect": | |Historical Context |Rejection of traditional values and assumptions, in society and art. |—Three principles of Imagism: | |Intellectual Movements |Strong break with traditional literary forms and techniques of |1. Direct treatment of 'thing' whether subjective or objective. | |Genres, Elements of Literature |expression. |2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the | |Authors |—Avant-garde, innovative |presentation. | |Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot |—Frost's "old-fashioned way to be new" |3. As regarding...
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...I lived through the 1980s, but was not touched by them. They might as well have been the 1880s, for all the notice I took of the defining characteristics of the decade. I didn’t own a wide-¬shouldered jacket with rolled-up sleeves, a double-breasted suit, or indeed any item of clothing that cost more than a pot plant. I dressed myself from charity shops, right down to the socks and underpants. I didn’t own a watch or a television, got around by bicycle, cut my own hair, and was not acquainted with any person who owned albums by Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Sade or Spandau Ballet. (Maybe it was because the few friends I had were lesbians.) The prospect of buying that newfangled invention, a CD) player, was as remote as investing in a Picasso. A high-flying career in the corporate sphere, or a steady job of any kind, held no attraction for me. Who needs money when so much of the food in supermarkets is exactly the right shape to fit down the front of one’s trousers, hidden by a loose jumper? Who needs status when one is an Artist, already living on Mount Olympus? At the dawn of the 1980s, my first wife and I were in fact living in Fitzroy, a shabby inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Both of us were writers, misfits, snobs. In the grand intellectual tradition of Wyndham Lewis, Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot et al, we detested the common horde - lowbrow Philistines, the lot of them! We lurked in our tiny student flat, reading Four Quartets and In Memoriam, admiring shoplifted art books...
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...Michel Faber Me and Dave and Mount Olympus (2006) I lived through the 1980s, but was not touched by them. They might as well have been the 1880s, for all the notice I took of the defining characteristics of the decade. I didn’t own a wide-shouldered jacket with rolled-up sleeves, a double-breasted suit, or indeed any item of clothing that cost more than a pot plant. I dressed myself from charity shops, right down to the socks and underpants. I didn’t own a watch or a television, got around by bicycle, cut my own hair, and was not acquainted with any person who owned albums by Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Sade or Spandau Ballet. (Maybe it was because the few friends I had were lesbians.) The prospect of buying that newfangled invention, a CD) player, was as remote as investing in a Picasso. A high-flying career in the corporate sphere, or a steady job of any kind, held no attraction for me. Who needs money when so much of the food in supermarkets is exactly the right shape to fit down the front of one’s trousers, hidden by a loose jumper? Who needs status when one is an Artist, already living on Mount Olympus? At the dawn of the 1980s, my first wife and I were in fact living in Fitzroy, a shabby inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Both of us were writers, misfits, snobs. In the grand intellectual tradition of Wyndham Lewis, Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot et al, we detested the common horde - lowbrow Philistines, the lot of them! We lurked in our tiny student flat, reading Four...
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...Assessment could be defined as the “process of gathering, interpreting, recording and using information about students’ responses to an educational task. “(Harlen, Gipps, Broadfoot, Nuttal. 1992. P.214) It is a part of everyday life for all teachers; it is an integral part of teaching and learning and is a basis for planning lessons and schemes of work based on national curriculum. The main function of assessment is to support teachers and learners in achieving their objectives and aims; by providing information about the progress of learners and by helping institutions to improve and perform better. Assessment can sometimes be seen as something extra that teachers have to undertake, outside of their daily routines; such as invigilating exams or taking books home to mark after school; although assessment is not just marking and awarding grades. It involves identifying at what stage of learning each pupil or student is at, as well as highlighting any miscomprehensions within their learning. It is then possible for a teacher to fill these voids of knowledge and plan lessons appropriately by tailoring lessons to the academic needs of the learners. Using assessment is vital for any learning facilitator and it therefore underpinned by the governments teaching standards, which also make assessment very necessary. Teaching standard 6 requires that to “Make accurate and productive use of assessment”. (URL 5) Assessment itself is a very broad term and many variations exist with...
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...The Woman, The Myth, The Legend: Mae West—American Woman Abstract Born Mary Jane West in 1893, Mae was a strong, vivacious woman whose career spanned vaudeville, the small stage, The Great White Way and the silver screen. She is known for her over-accentuated figure and use of double entendres. Born the daughter of a prize fighter and immigrant, she grew up in the city of New York. She was doted on, as well as encouraged, by her mother, Tillie. She began performing at the age of four and was soon on stage where she came to life. She rarely attended school; getting her education on the stage instead. She became sexually active at a young age and learned to use her sexuality in her acts. After a number of years on stage and touring with various troupes, Mae began composing her own material. With the help of a writer, she produced a number of plays, many of which never made it to production. She always insisted on having control over her parts and lines, sometimes infuriating directors. Night After Night, her first movie, was her first foray in Hollywood and had her rewriting the entire role from its original version. The writer and director were against it, but Mae convinced studio heads to test both versions. They all agreed that Mae’s revisions were the way to go. While not a starring role, she stole the show as the hatcheck girl says to her, “Goodness, what beautiful diamonds,” Mae responds, “Goodness had nothing to do with it!” Mae continued making movies with constant...
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...Introduction Mass culture would have most readers and viewers believing that the Post-modern American male is a simple creature. Common stereotypes margin male satisfaction in a minimal setting – a Lazyboy armchair in a lounge with a flat screen TV playing ‘the game’ along with primal banter regarding women. More often than not, this is washed down with a beer. With this array of comfort and leisure we are inclined to believe that male lifestyle has reached its peak on the timeline of satisfaction. This was until David Fincher took Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Fight Club and made it into a big budget Hollywood blockbuster. With the male demographic being the hardest to pinpoint in the literature sense, David Fincher’s adaptation helpfully put Palahniuk’s thoughts into the cinematic forefront. This increased the popularity of Palahniuk’s other works and placed him in the cannon of Post-modern American fiction. It is the issues of modern masculinity that grasps critics’ attention more so than any other Palahniuk themes. It is very apparent that masculinity has changed as a natural progression of modernisation. This dissertation will analyse masculinity as it is depicted in Palahniuk’s writings and explore Palahniuk’s intentions and beliefs. I will interpret the responses of select critics in order to gain some understanding of what Palahniuk deems to be the ideal model of masculinity in the modern world, beneath his post-modern twists, transgressive characterization and...
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...Over the years I have developed a distaste for the spectacle of joie de vivre, the knack of knowing how to live. Not that I disapprove of all hearty enjoyment of life. A flushed sense of happiness can overtake a person anywhere, and one is no more to blame for it than the Asiatic flu or a sudden benevolent change in the weather (which is often joy's immediate cause). No, what rankles me is the stylization of this private condition into a bullying social ritual. The French, who have elevated the picnic to their highest civilized rite, are probably most responsible for promoting this smugly upbeat, flaunting style. It took the French genius for formalizing the informal to bring sticky sacramental sanctity to the baguette, wine and cheese. A pure image of sleeveless joie de vivre Sundays can also be found in Renoir's paintings. Weekend satyrs dance and wink; leisure takes on a bohemian stripe. A decent writer, Henry Miller, caught the French malady and ran back to tell us of pissoirs in the Paris streets (why this should have impressed him so, I've never figured out). But if you want a double dose of joie de vivre, you need to consult a later, hence more stylized version of the French myth of pagan happiness: those Family of Man photographs of endlessly kissing lovers, snapped by Doisneau and Boubat, not to mention Cartier-Bresson's icon of the proud tyke carrying bottles of wine. If CartierBresson and his disciples are excellent photographers for all that, it is...
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