Thursday, May 14, 2020

Wild, Near The Beginning Of Cheryl Strayed s Adventure On...

In the book Wild, near the beginning of Cheryl Strayed’s adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), two of her trail mates quickly became bedridden with a waterborne parasite and had to be taken to the hospital (Strayed 114). This scene reminds us the dangers of drinking water when among nature. Even experienced hikers can spend weeks finding the perfect water filter, only to end their adventure early, crippled by a waterborne disease. Without the safety of civilization, simple things like safe drinking water, staying warm, eating enough food, and staying on the trail can prove difficult. Why exposure oneself to these dangers? As seen on the adventures of both Cheryl and Chris, they travel away from society in order to deal with their own, personal inner-conflicts. Cheryl travels the Pacific Crest Trail and is faced with many life-threatening situations, hoping to find peace after her mother’s death. In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless travels to the Alaskan bush where he attempts to live off the land, hoping to understand both himself and society better through the experience. These characters gain confidence, knowledge, and inner peace through their time alone with nature. If we note the sections of these books where the characters are alone in nature, we can read both books as parallel statements on the peace restoring power of traveling alone through. In the book Wild, Cheryl Strayed removes herself from society in order to travel the PCT alone. She faced

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Importance of Roger Spottiswoode’s Screen Adaptation...

The Importance of Roger Spottiswoode’s Screen Adaptation of And The Band Played On [1] Hollywood is no longer just a name, it is a business, a living entity holding America’s people in its grasp, and it is not about to let them go. Gradually taking on more responsibility and trying to build up its reputation over the years, Hollywood has progressively assumed the position of history-teller for the American public. This role, whether or not an appropriate one for an industry such as Hollywood to tackle, has catapulted actors and actresses into high paying, high visibility positions. History has and will continue to be one of the main subjects that the movie industry has been fascinated with. It is an alive and very fragile†¦show more content†¦The debate over cinematic history still remains, and it will continue to challenge Hollywood, constantly forcing the industry to make the best possible movies, producing historical epics on the big screen, making history a universal and personable subject. [3] In 1993, a small-time director at HBO Productions thought it was about time that a movie was made discussing the broad, taboo topic of the AIDS epidemic. Roger Spottiswoode was the director, and he took author Randy Shilts’ controversial journal And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic (1987) and turned it into a movie. Spottiswoode took the challenge facing Hollywood straight on and was bold enough to attempt a project that had been passed over and rejected for six years straight. From the beginning to end And The Band Played On was a fight. Spottiswoode fought for HBO to take the project on, and he fought with Hollywood to try to entice actors to participate in it. The fight continued after the release of the cable TV movie, with critics and the public simply not wanting to know or be informed of the truth. [4] With controversy surrounding the production of the movie, the fight seeped into the movie and its evidence in the story. The portrayal of the actors and the fight that each character undergoes is an illustration of the fight that AIDS forced our country to face in the early 1980’s. With Richard Gere’s

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality. Answer: Introduction The following essay is about the ethical things in Christianity and the relevance of politics in connection to politics. There are certain matters on why should the Christians always be cautious in participating in politics. The Christians have to be very much ethical in whatever things they do and justify their actions to the state and the church. There is an up and down relation between the church and state all through. This relationship has to be viewed in this essay as well. The state is the governing body or the state takes care of the people of the country and the Church instigates in the way the people should act, behave and present themselves in front of the others. There have been many conflicts between the state and the church regarding their viewpoints about certain things (Kim, McCalman Fisher, 2012). The church sees and views an issue from the prospect of the Bible or the sayings of Jesus but the state views the issues from the humanistic perspectives because they have to be justified about their activities all the time. In this case, the issue of homosexual marriage has to be discussed in connection to the relationship between church and the state. There are certain ways by which a Christian can get engaged in politics (McGrath, 2016). It has been said that religion and politics do not mix with each other. Therefore, the believers must not engage in direct politics According to the Bible, people can have two stands between the politics and government. The Bible has said the God has the right to take the decision about the various aspects of life. Not only has everyone, God had the right to take the decisions about everything as well. It has also said that the plan of God is static and it cannot be altered by any means (Inge, 2017). The will of God will be implemented by any means and the government has no power to stop that from being implemented (Daniel 4:34-35). Even it can be said that kings are set up and deposed by the will of God as well (Daniel 2:21). It can also be interpreted in this context that politics is nothing but an instrument through which god imposes His various wishes on the human beings and the society (Elio t, 2014). Many times it has been seen that God some people have always used politics to gain power and use it for the evil purposes. God has always meant it for the good purposes only (Romans 8:28). Another aspect that may be considered is the aspect that government cannot save human beings from the hands of damnation but it is only in the hands of God that mankind can be saved. It has never been seen in the New Testament that Jesus or any of his apostles had been engaged in the planning ways to reform the pagan world of the evil practices in the Christianity (Brown, 2015). The apostles of Jesus never had wasted their times in protesting against the unjust and unlawful actions of the Roman Empire or the brutal things they had done. It is the duty of the subjects to obey the rules and regulations of the government and they should always be the examples of the good citizens (Romans 13:1-2). Such things have been discussed in the context of the politics and how the Christians should be engaged (Johnson, 2012). The church has some God-given purposes that is not that much appropriate in the age of the political activism. The believers in active Christianity should not engage in or sp end their time, money and energy in practicing the governmental affairs (Marshall, 2014). The Christian believers have lived and made their ways in the repressive pagan governments till they gained the supremacy in their fields. Some people had been successful to regain their cultural and religious faith despite the political and governmental pressures in several countries (Cochrane, 2015). The active participants in Christianity must believe that they had been the ones chosen for showing the light to the people towards salvation and it is not the government who does so. However, according to the teaching of one of the apostles, Paul, it has been said that the Christians should always obey and honor the governing authorities. Besides, they should also keep faith in Christianity and work according to its sayings. Relationship between the church and the state The church and the state have been the two pillars of the country where the dominant religion has been Christianity (Williams, 2017). Both of them have some specific roles according to which they perform their duties to serve the mankind. They are the chief religious and political institutions respectively. It is from the advent of Christianity that the relationship between the church and the state has been a great matter of concern. This issue has been the one in which the Christians have been very worried and concerned over the ages. The main conflicting thing that has been prevalent in this issue is the one between political activism and religious freedom (Yancey Williamson, 2012). This relationship is very crucial since the people have been confused over this matter. In the earlier centuries, church did not rely on the powers of the state in most of the matters but in case of some of the matters they had to rely on it like the removal of the Bishop. The conditions had changed ra dically and a situation had come when the Church had no financial independence so they had decided to take the financial help from the State. The Church needed to have a support from the King using the money of the state. At one time, Crusades began and the Church had its own army because the Pope had called the war (Asbridge, 2012). Some theories can be attributed to this relationship between the church and the state. After the Christianity was promoted 4th C.E the Roman Empire had begun to form itself as a Christian Empire soon. The state affairs began to be connected with the Church in a big way and the Church began to develop some theological aspects related to politics to understand the situation better (Sorauf, 2015). According to the primary things of this theory, it is believed that it is the Church who has to cooperate with the state. Eusebius himself had said that Christian Empire should be looked at positively. He also adopted the concept that there should be only one society. That society will be run under the governance of the emperor. One thing must be regarded in this aspect that the emperor must be a Christian (Sorauf, 2015). This theory also shows that the empire should be considered as the victory of Jesus Christ. Idolatry was not that much appreciated in those days. The Empire had promoted the true religion and pressed down the idolatry. The Christian Empire had all the responsibility to look after the church. According to this theory, the churches had very little independence in the world. The Churches in the Eastern part of the world had accepted these theories (Sorauf, 2015). Ambroses theory According to Ambrose, it can be said that the Church has to be independent from the state. The church has to be able to take all the decisions irrespective of the opinions of the Empire or the state. In this theory, the model of the Old Testament had been used. In this model the concept of the high priest and king was used to showcase the relation between the bishop and the emperor (Sorauf, 2015). This theory says that the empire should not possess any control over the church and the Church must have completely independent powers. This should be especially valid on the issues of doctrine. Instead, the Bishop should have the power and call the king so that king can repent for the misdeeds and follow the laws of God. According to Augustine, it can be said that the church and state are the two invisible institutions or forms of the human association. It is believed that the city of God is the earthly city. The people who live in this city love God and love themselves as well. These cities are not visible social institutions so they can be defined by their intention only (Scherer, 2013). In this aspect, it can be said that Christian Church cannot be recognized as something like city of God because the residents of Church are sometimes evil as well. On the other hand, the state does not need to be evil since they have some special duties to perform (Scherer, 2013). The objectives of a state are to secure the goodness of its citizens and the church as well. Christians should be working within the state to help the state so that the state can obtain its objectives. Homosexual marriage and Christian ethics There have been endless debates on how the issues of homosexual marriage or gay marriage should be looked at. From the earlier times, it has been believed that sex has been a gift or blessing of God that has been presented to the human beings or the fulfillment of love (Hill, 2016). This fulfillment of love must be enjoyed between husband and wife. There is no confusion or ambiguity in the interpretation of homosexuality in Bible. The concerned Scripture discusses about it in both implicit and explicit manners and describes it as being falling outside the desire of God. It has been said that all the human beings must speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). The Bible has depicted that there should not be any hatred and or hurting comments towards the people who have experienced the attraction for the same-sex people who recognize themselves as to be gay, lesbian or bisexual people (Hill, 2016). Jesus Christ has taught the people to be sympathetic to everyone as every human being has the basic features of humanity with value and dignity (Jordan, 2013). The people who commit the sexual sin like those of the same-sex couples should be shown dignity also. In Christianity, the priority is bestowed upon pure love itself; the gender factor is not a big matter in that case (Jordan, 2013). The truth about the love should be expressed in a graceful manner properly. However, in case of marriage, there is no room for homosexual marriage since the act of marriage is believed to be a heterosexual activity. There is a divine purpose and design of marriage that has been an integral part of it. It says that God has made male and female for the creation. The man should leave his father and mother and stick to his wife and thus become one flesh. (Mark 10:6-8). It has been observed that there has been many people who believe that heterosexuality is not the one and only legitimate marriage relation that can be transformed into marriage. The sexual preference is an inherent feature of every person and he or she was not given this choice to select between the homosexuality and heterosexuality (Masci Lipka, 2015). All kinds of sexual promiscuity have been prohibited in the Bible. There have been some hermeneutical methods that could help the theological experts to justify the homosexual behavior. This viewpoint about the homosexual marriage belongs to the theory of Augustine because being an invisible institution; Church has fixed some rules about the homosexual marriage. Moreover, there have been no supports from Christian Scriptures about the sexual immorality like homosexual marriage (Masci Lipka, 2015). Conclusion It can be concluded that Christianity has many ethical considering that can be held as essential things in the relevant contexts. Politics is one of the most important things that have been seen with great significance over the time. The engagement in politics for the Christians has many Biblical interpretations. These ethical considerations have been discussed in this scenario. Other important things that have been discussed in this context are the relationship between the church and the state. The church and the state are the two most important pillars in the Christian society. Apart from that, the various theories in the church and state relationship have been discussed in this matter as well. The situation of homosexual marriage in the Christian context has been discussed and it has been found that Christianity does not support any immoral sexual connection that exploits the serenity of man-woman relationship. References Asbridge, T. (2012).The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land. Simon and Schuster. Brown, R. E. (2015).An introduction to the New Testament. Yale University Press. Cochrane, C.N., 2015.Christianity and classical culture. Ravenio Books. Eliot, T. S. (2014).The idea of a Christian society. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Hill, W. (2016).Washed and waiting: Reflections on Christian faithfulness and homosexuality. HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Inge, J. (2017).A Christian theology of place. Routledge. Johnson, P. (2012).history of Christianity. Simon and Schuster. Jordan, M. D. (2013).Blessing same-sex unions: The perils of queer romance and the confusions of Christian marriage. University of Chicago Press. Kim, D., McCalman, D., Fisher, D. (2012). The sacred/secular divide and the Christian worldview.Journal of Business Ethics,109(2), 203-208. Marshall, R. (2014). Christianity, anthropology, politics.Current Anthropology,55(S10), S344-S356. Masci, D., Lipka, M. (2015). Where Christian churches, other religions stand on gay marriage.Pew Research Center. McGrath, A. E. (2016).Christian theology: An introduction. John Wiley Sons. Scherer, M. (2013).Beyond Church and State: Democracy, Secularism, and Conversion. Cambridge University Press. Sorauf, F. J. (2015).The wall of separation: The constitutional politics of church and state. Princeton University Press. Williams, J. O. (2017).Church State. Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. Yancey, G., Williamson, D. A. (2012).What Motivates Cultural Progressives?: Understanding Opposition to the Political and Christian Right. Baylor University Press.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

The Chosen Essays (878 words) - American Literature, The Chosen

The Chosen Plot Summary of The Chosen The action of The Chosen unfolds in the immigrant community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, against the backdrop of World War II. It is seen through the eyes of Reuven Malter, a boy who would appear to have much in common with Danny, for they are both brilliant, Jewish, closely tied to their fathers, and near-neighbors who live only five blocks apart. Still, they attend separate yeshivas and inhabit very different worlds. A baseball league is begun. When Danny Saunders school plays Reuven Malters, the Hasids are determined to show the apikorsim a thing or two and the competition is fierce. Dannys murderous hitting is remarkable, but when Reuven comes to pitch he does not back away. A hard ball shatters his glasses and smashes into his eye, sending him to the hospital for a week. At his fathers insistence, Reuven permits the repentant Danny to visit him, and they become friends. Danny dazzles Reuven with demonstrations of his photographic mind, with the quantity of scholarly work he bears each day, and with the intellectual prowess of his English and Hebrew studiesqualities greatly revered in traditional Jewish culture. Dannys revelations startle Reuven; he confesses he would rather be a psychologist than accept his inherited role as spiritual leader of his fathers sect. Reuvens confessions surprise Danny; he reveals his desire to become a rabbi, though his scholar-father would prefer him to follow his talent and become a mathematician. Danny cannot understand how anyone would choose the very position he secretly wishes to reject. At a time when conflicts are churning within him, Danny finds Reuven as an empathetic listener who is highly intelligent yet safenot a Hasid, but a Jew who follows orthodox religious traditions without rejecting the secular possibilities in the world around them. As the boys become friends, Reuven begins to learn about Hasidism. He learns that there are tzaddiks who were believed to be superhuman links between the people and God. In some sects it was believed that a leader should take upon himself the sufferings of the Jewish people. Such a leader is Reb Saunders. His ways and his teachings are the ways of seventeenth century Hasids and it is this role that Danny is expected to fill when he becomes the tzaddik. In the long initial visits that Reuven pays to Reb Saunders congregation to be approved as fit company for Danny, Reuven observes the way Hasidic philosophy permeates his friends life. Weeks before the accident which brings the two boys together, Mr. Malter meets Danny in the public library and begins to guide him in his search for knowledge of the world through the forbidden books prescribed by his father. Mr. Malter tells Reuven of Dannys brilliant mind, his insatiable appetite for learning, and the amazing speed with which he digests information. When the Germans surrender and the existence of the concentration camps becomes known for the first time, the two mens reactions are characteristic. For Mr. Malter, overwhelming grief is followed by a determination to counter the senseless suffering of the millions who died with something meaningful: the creation of the state of Israel. While Reb Saunders suffers, Danny struggles to educate himself in the ideas of Freud and in the problems of contemporary Judaism. He combines the load of schoolwork and the study of Talmud which forms the basis of his relation to his father, with his own attempts to educate himself in his quest for identity. Reuven, too, is seen to spend many hours of his day in study. The novel begins with Danny and Reuven as high school boys and concludes with their graduation from college. Danny has decided to get out of the life that imprisons him; he will take off the clothing and shun the trappings of the Hasid, go on to graduate school, and become a psychologist. When he has resolved to do this, Mr. Malter tells him he must prepare what he will say to his father. An arranged marriage will have to be broken, the inheritance of spiritual leadership will go to Levi, the tradition of six generations will have been broken, and Reb Saunders will have lost to the world he hates and fears

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Romeo And Juliet Essays (1105 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers

Romeo And Juliet Essays (1105 words) - Free Essays, Term Papers Romeo And Juliet This assignment is on a scene of Romeo and Juliet I have split the scene into thirteen different sections. These sections include what the music and sound affects will be and what the lighting will be and even what sought of characters I am going to have to play the part. In section one I am having a medium shot that is at eye level to show Benvolio and Mercutios conversation and to also see the expressions on their faces. The only music or sound affects I am having are the background sounds of a market and people muttering. The only symbols that are present are the clothes Mercutio are wearing which are red to symbolize he is loyal to Romeo and his family. For Benvolio I have picked an actor that is short, has brown hair, skinny, is caring and is always trying to have fun. Mercutios actor has to be strong, tall has to strong, fit, tall, has black hair, is outgoing, loud, rough and has a good sense of humor. In this section lighting is used to show that it is the middle of the day and is also very hot. In section two I am having an extreme long shot and a dutch angle to show where everyone is situated and also to show the shock showed by Mercutio and Benvolio. There is also dramatic sinister music showing that he is the bad guy and is not liked by Mercutio and Benvolio. There are also footstep sound affects while Tybalt is walking over to Mercutio and Benvolio. The only props that are of any real significance would be the swords showing that they are prepared to fight. The main symbols are the red clothing worn by Mercutio and the Blue worn by Tybalt to show that he is loyal to Juliet and her family. Like that last scene the lighting shows that is around noon and is very hot. In the third section I am going to have a long shot at an eye level to see everyone talking and to also see some of the market in the background. Sinister music is still playing to show trouble is lurking just around the corner. Again the lighting is to show it is around noon and is hot. A tall skinny strong man that is fit and looks very sinister plays Tybalts character. He also has a devilish attitude and not much of a conscious. In the fourth section of this scene I am having a close up on Romeo to show his surprising looks as he sees Tybalt. Innocent music is playing saying that Romeo has never done anything wrong in his life. There are still the background sound affects of the market. Again the lighting shows that it is the middle of a hot day, the lighting also shows all of Romeos features. There is one symbol that is present and that is Romeo wearing the red showing he is a Montague For Romeo the actor has to be tall, have fair skin, strong, out going, skinny, innocent looking, have fine features and attractive. The fifth section has dramatic scary music playing to symbolize trouble is lurking just around the corner. The camera angle is a high angle to show everyone in the scene it is also a medium shot. Again the lighting is showing the heat and that it is in the middle of the day. In the sixth section I am having a long shot with a high angle again to show all that is going on and to show the crowd of people watching the fight. There is sinister dramatic music playing because of the fight. There are background sounds of people talking about the fight. The lighting is showing that it is in the middle of the day and is really hot, the lighting is also showing that Tybalt and Mercutio are sweating by the light gleaming off their sweaty heads. The seventh section has an extreme close up of Mercutios face showing the pain and the expression on his face. Then there is another extreme close up of Romeos face showing his shock and despair. There is then a medium shot at eye level showing

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Think of an incident in your life when you felt pressured to go Essay

Think of an incident in your life when you felt pressured to go against your parents or religion. tell what happened, who pressured you and why, why you confirm - Essay Example Whether this is an all-powerful God, an uninvolved Creator or some sort of ‘alien’ life form I will not discuss here. Just suffice it to say that the same is some sort of a more powerful being which probably takes at least some interest in the actions of those that He has created or placed here on this Earth. The incident which I want to share with you is one that literally shook the foundations of my life. It brought a sense of going against my parents and more specifically my father. My issue was with my father who was an alcohol addict and for that reason I literally abhorred the very idea that I was his child. He has realized that he could have let go on this bad habit of his. Yet somehow or the other he found himself stuck in a quagmire of which he cannot find any solace. Alcohol addition has completely ruined his life and it has left him in shambles in front of one and all. The extent of his involvement was so immense that he did not have any knowledge of what was happening around him. He had some responsibilities to fulfill, some loving people surrounding him who had expectations from him but all this just went out of the window when he got himself into this bad habit. I was taken aback in the whole situation since everything was going against me and this sounded as a pretty pathetic circumstance for me, so to speak. This situation made me feel pressurized too much, so much so that I started losing concentration on many things that I used to do. I did not have my mind and energies towards different projects and activities that I did. The incident completely broke me from inside and the worst part of it was that I was not ready for all this. My pressure came from the different relationships in which I was tied. I had to take care of my father as well as my mother and siblings who were equally troubled by my father’s distress.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

The Business Problem and Research Objectives Proposal

The Business Problem and Objectives - Research Proposal Example The Business Problem and Research Objectives The company has been offering supreme branded products in relation to fashion, home and beauty care markets. Moreover, the company with its rich quality products is recognised to be the oldest retailing departmental store in the global context for performing trading activities with its original name. After 175 years, the company is still renowned for its stylish and fashionable garments within the targeted consumer market. Furthermore, the company is well-known for employing some of the top designers and famous brand ambassadors like Jessica Gomes in its promotional tactics. The vision of the company has been to offer better shopping experiences to its customers each time they visit the departmental stores. Additionally, in order to flourish the business operations, the company is further required to maintain its brand through improved quality services. However, the company is observed to be involved with certain ethical issues in relation to its business operations. As a result, the company has also been recently criticised based on sexual harassment cases engaging its employees in Australia. The first case was identified as related to the promotional techniques used by the company in terms of advertisements which are considered to be unethical for eroticising as well as sexually exploiting children. In this regard, a case was filed with the Federal Court which is located in Sydney against DJs for sexualisation of children or minors in its promotional tactics. ... However, the company is observed to be involved with certain ethical issues in relation to its business operations. As a result, the company has also been recently criticised based on sexual harassment cases engaging its employees in Australia. The first case was identified as related to the promotional techniques used by the company in terms of advertisements which are considered to be unethical for eroticising as well as sexually exploiting children. In this regard, a case was filed with the Federal Court which is located in Sydney against DJs for sexualisation of children or minors in its promotional tactics. The executive director of Australia Institute also criticised the company for promoting its garment products by using sexualised images of children through ads on internet and flyers among others (Horin, 2007). There has also been a recent sexual harassment case lodged against the company by Kristy Fraser-Kirk, a 25 years old woman working as a junior publicist in DJs. She lo dged a complaint against the former chief executive officer of DJs named Mark Mclnnes for sexually harassing her. With respect to the complaint filed, she seeks to acquire 5% of the profit of DJs as well as 5% of the salary of Mclnnes which cost the company a considerable amount of expense to resolute the issue (Kontominas, 2010). 2. The Broad Problem Area The business problems which can be apparently observed with reference to the recent performances of DJs relates with its unethical business practices and management in relation to sexual harassment. It has been perceived that DJs was involved with promotional techniques or activities which included advertisements which were criticized as well as recognised to be unethical. These advertisings