A Critical Analysis Of The

A Critical Analysis Of The This essay will present a reflective account of communication skills in practice whist undertaking assessment and history taking of two Intensive Care patients with a similar condition. It will endeavour to explore all aspects of non verbal and verbal communication styles and reflect upon these areas using Gibbs reflective cycle (1988). Scenario A Mrs James, 34, a passenger in a road traffic collision who was not wearing a seatbelt was thrown through the windscreen resulting in multiple facial wounds with extensive facial swelling which required her to be intubated and sedated. She currently has cervical spine immobilisation and is awaiting a secondary trauma CT. Mr James was also involved in the accident. Scenario B Mr James, 37, husband of Mrs James, the driver of the car, was wearing his seat belt. He had minor superficial facial wounds, fractured ribs and a fractured right arm. He is alert and orientated but currently breathless and requiring high oxygen concentrations. Patients who are admitted to Intensive Care are typically admitted due to serious ill health or trauma that may also have a potential to develop life threatening complications (Udwadia, 2005). These patients are usually unconscious, have limited movement and have sensation deprivation due to sedation and/or disease processes. These critical conditions rely upon modern technical support and invasive procedures for the purpose of monitoring and regulation of physiological functions. Having the ability to effectively communicate with patients, colleagues and their close relatives is a fundamental clinical skill in Intensive Care and central to a skilful nursing practice. Communication in Intensive Care is therefore of high importance (Elliot, 1999) to provide information and support to the critically ill patient in order to reduce their anxieties, stresses and preserve self identity, self esteem and reduce social isolation (Joà £o: 2009, Alasad: 2004, Newmarch:2006). Effective communic ation is the key to the collection of patient information, delivering quality of care and ensuring patient safety. Gaining a patients history is one of the most important skills in medicine and is a foundation for both the diagnosis and patient clinician relationship, and is increasingly being undertaken by nurses (Crumbie, 2006). Commonly a patient may be critically ill and therefore the ability to perform a timely assessment whilst being prepared to administer life saving treatment is crucial (Carr, 2005). Often the patient is transferred from a ward or department within the hospital where a comprehensive history has been taken with documentation of a full examination; investigations, working diagnosis and the appropriate treatment taken. However, the patients history may not have been collected on this admission if it was not appropriate to do so. Where available patients medical notes can provide essential information. In relation to the scenarios where the patient is breathless or the patient had a reduced conscious level and requires sedation and intubation, effective communication is restricted and obtaining a comprehensive history would be inappropriate and almost certainly unsafe. The Nursing Midwifery Council promotes the importance of keeping clear and accurate records within the Code: Standards of Conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives (NMC, 2008). Therefore if taking a patients history is unsafe to do so, this required to be documented. Breathing is a fundamental life process that usually occurs without conscious thought and, for the healthy person is taken for granted (Booker, 2004). In Scenario A, Mrs Jamess arrived on Intensive care and was intubated following her facial wounds and localised swelling. Facial trauma by its self is not a life threatening injury, although it has often been accompanied with other injuries such as traumatic brain injury and complications such as airway obstruction. This may have been caused by further swelling, bleeding or bone structure damage (Parks, 2003). Without an artificial airway and ventilatory support Mrs James would have struggled to breathe adequately and the potential to become in respiratory arrest. Within scenario B, Mr James had suffered multiple rib fractures causing difficulty in expansion of his lungs. Fractured ribs are amongst the most frequent of injuries sustained to the chest, accounting for over half of the thoracic injuries from non-penetrating trauma (Middle ton, 2003). When ribs are fractured due to the nature and site of the injury there is potential for underlying organ contusions and damage. The consequence of having a flail chest is pain. Painful expansion of the chest would result in inadequate ventilation of the lungs resulting in hypoxia and retention of secretions and the inability to communicate effectively. These combined increase the risk of the patient developing a chest infection and possible respiratory failure and potential to require intubation (Middleton, 2003). The key issue of Intensive Care is to provide patients and relatives with effective communication at all times to ensure that a holistic nursing approach is achieved. Intensive care nurses care for patients predominantly with respiratory failure and over the years have taken on an extended role. They are expected to examine a patient and interpret their findings and results (Booker, 2004). In these situations patient requires supportive treatments as soon as possible. Intensive Care nurse should have the ability and competence to carry out a physical assessment and collect the patients history in a systemic, professional and sensitive approach. Effective communication skills are one of the many essential skills involved in this role. As an Intensive Care nurse, introducing yourself to the patient as soon as possible would be the first step in the history and assessment taking process (Outlined in Appendix A). Whilst introducing yourself there is also the aim to gaining consent for the assessment where possible, in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Councils Code of Professional Conduct (NMC, 2008). Conducting a comprehensive clinical history is usually more helpful in making a provisional diagnosis than the physical examination (Ford, 2005). Within Intensive Care the Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure/Examination (ABCDE) assessment process is widely used. It is essential for survival that the oxygen is delivered to blood cells and the oxygen cannot reach the lungs without a patent airway. With poor circulation, oxygen does not get transported away from the lungs to the cells (Carr, 2005). The ABCDE approach is a simple approach that all team members use and allows for rapid assessment, co ntinuity of care and the reduction of errors. Communication reflects our social world and helps us to construct it (Weinmann Giles et al 1988). Communication of information, messages, opinions, speech and thoughts are transferred by different forms. Basic communication is achieved by speaking, sign language, body language touch and eye contact, as technology has developed communication has been achieved by media, such as emails, telephone and mobile technology (Aarti, 2010). There are two main ways of communication: Verbal and non verbal. Verbal communication is the simplest and quickest way of transferring information and interacting when face to face. It is usually a two way process where a message is sent, understood and feedback is given (Leigh, 2001). When effective communication is given, what the sender encodes is what the receiver decodes (Zastrow, 2001). Key verbal features of communication are made up of sounds, words, and language. Mr James was alert and orientated and had some ability to communicate; he was breathless due to painful fractured ribs which hindered his verbal communication. In order to help him to breath and communicate effectively, his pain must be controlled. Breathless patients may be only able to speak two or more words at a time, inhibiting conversation. The use of closed questions can allow breathless patients to communicate without exerting themselves. Closed questions such as is it painful when you breathe in? or is your breathing feeling worse? can be answered with non verbal communi cation such as a shake or nod of the head. Taking a patients history in this way can be time consuming and it is essential that the clinician do not make assumptions on behalf of the patient. Alternatively, encouraging patients to use other forms of communication can aid the process. Non verbal communication involves physical aspects such as written or visual of communication. Sign language and symbols are also included in non-verbal communication. Non verbal communication can be considered as gestures, body language, writing, drawing, physiological cues, using communication devices, mouthing words, head nods, and touch (Happ et al:2000, Alasad:2004). Body language, posture and physical contact is a form of non verbal communication. Body language can convey vast amounts of information. Slouched posture, or folded arms and crossed legs can portray negative signals. Facial gestures and expressions and eye contact are all different cues of communication. Although Mr. James could verbal ly communicate, being short of breath and in pain meant that he also needed to use both verbal and non verbal communication styles. A patients stay in Intensive Care can vary from days to months. Although this is a temporary situation and many patients will make a good recovery, the psychological impact may be longer lasting (MacAuley, 2010). When caring for the patient who may be unconscious or sedated and does not appear to be awake, hearing may be one of the last senses to fade when they become unconscious (Leigh, 2000). Sedation is used in Intensive Care units to enable patients to be tolerable of ventilation. It aims to allow comfort and synchrony between the patient and ventilator. Poor sedation can lead to ventilator asynchrony, patient stress and anxiety, and an increased risk of self extubation and hypoxia. Over sedation can lead to ventilator associated pneumonias, cardiac instability and prolonged ventilation and Intensive Care delirium. Delirium is found to be a predictor of death in Intensive Care patients (Page, 2008). Every day a patient spends in delirium has been associated with a 20% increase ri sk of intensive care bed days and a 10% increased risk of morbidity. The single most profound risk factor for delirium in Intensive Care is sedation (Page, 2008) Within this stage of sedation or delirium it is impossible to know what the patients have heard, understood or precessed. Ashworth (1980) recognised that nurses often failed to communicate with unconscious patients on the basis that they were unable to respond. Although, research (Lawrence, 1995) indicates that patients who are unconscious could hear and understand conversations around them and respond emotionally to verbal communication however could not respond physically. This emphasises the importance and the need for communication remains (Leigh, 2001). Neurological status would unavoidably have an effect on Mrs Jamess capacity to communicate in a usual way. It is therefore important to provide Mrs James with all information necessary to reduce her stress and anxieties via the different forms of communication. For the unconscious patient, both verbal communication and non verbal communication are of importance, verbal communication and touch being the most appropriate. There are two forms of touch (Aarti, 2010), firstly a task orientated touch when a patient is being moved, washed or having a dressing changed and secondly a caring touch holding Mrs James hand to explain where she was and why she was there is an example of this. This would enhance communication when informing and reassuring Mrs James that her husband was alive and doing well. Nurses may initially find the process of talking to an unconscious patient embarrassing, pointless or of low importance as it is a one way conversation (Ashworth, 1980) however as previously mentioned researched shows patients have the ability to hear. Barriers to communication may be caused by physical inabilities from the patients however there are many types of other communication barriers. A barrier of communication is where there is a breakdown in the communication process. This could happen if the message was not encoded or decoded as it should have been. If a patient is under sedation, delirious or hard of hearing verbal communication could be misinterpreted. However there could also be barriers in the transfer of communication process as the Intensive Care environment in itself can cause communication barriers. Intensive Care can be noisy environment (Newmarch, 2006). Other barriers can simply include language barriers, fatigue, stress, distractions and jargon. Communication aids can promote effective communication between patient and clinician. Pen and paper is the simplest form of non verbal communication for those with adequate strength (Newmarch, 2006). Weakness of patients can affect the movement of hands and arms making gestures and handwriting frustration and difficult. Patients may also be attached to monitors and infusions resulting in restricted movements which can lead to patients feeling trapped and disturbed (Ashw orth, 1980). MacAulay (2010) mentions that Intensive Care nurses are highly skilled at anticipating the communication needs of patients who are trying to communicate but find the interpretation of their communication time consuming and difficult. The University of Dundee (ICU-Talk, 2010) conducted a three year multi disciplinary study research project to develop and evaluate a computer based communication aid specifically designed for Intensive Care patients. The trial is currently ongoing, however this may become a breakthrough in quick and effective patient clinical and patient relative communication in future care. This assignment has explored communication within Intensive Care and reflected upon previous experiences. Communication involves both verbal and non verbal communication in order to communicate effectively in all situations. Researching this topic has highlighted areas in Intensive Care nursing which may be overlooked, for example ventilator alarms and general noise within a unit may feel like a normal environment for the clinians however for patients and relatives this may cause considerable amounts of concern. Simply giving explanations for such alarms will easily alleviate concerns and provide reassurance. From overall research (Alasad: 2004, Leigh: 2001, MacAuley, 2010: Craig, 2007) Intensive Care nurses believed communication with critically ill patients was an important part of their role however disappointedly some nurses perceived this as time consuming or of low importance when the conversation was one way (Ashworth, 1980). Further education within Intensive Care may be requ ired to improve communication and highlight the importance of communication at all times. Communication is key to ensuring patients receive quality high standard care from a multidisciplinary team, where all members appreciate the skills and contribution that others offer to improve patients care.

Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay

Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay The essay is a critical analysis from a sociological point of view of the book aint No Making it, third edition by Jay McLeod and published in 2008. The author divided the book into three distinct parts; part one The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers as Teenagers, part two Eight Years Later; Low income, Low income and the last part Aint No makin It. Through the eyes of the two groups used by McLeod, the brothers (black minority boys) and the Hallways (white boys) we are able to clearly see what transpires in an American societal setting. The two groups lived and studied in the same conditions but each has varied expectations and aspiration, this is on the basis of their race. The Brothers viewed an open society as the way life should be lived and held the opinion that the difficulties they are going through is due to racism their ancestors underwent. For this reason, they try as much as possible to engage in socially acceptable manners. This group does have high expectation as well as aspiration. On the other hand, the Hallways do not accept the same achievement ideology held by the Brothers. The individuals in this group have lost hope, do drugs, drop from school plus engaging in a myriad of other activities deemed illegal. From the author, the two groups did not get themselves out of poverty. The reason I bet is that there are numerous barriers in the society that blocked their quest of getting themselves out of poverty. It is worth noting that a number of other concepts from sociological point of view clearly emer ge. These include social conflict, poverty, gender and racial inequality, males as role model, political power, defeatism, education and society/elites and generational mobility (McLeod 17). Social conflict From social conflict theory which argues that human beings as well as groups in a given society do at any given time have varied amount of both material and non material resources. For this reason, those deemed wealthy or rich and more powerful exploit the less privileged. Another theory that will be analyzed along the social conflict one is Bourdieu social reproductive theory which asserts that those kids born by working class parents will automatically end up finding better jobs. It is evident that the Brothers did acknowledge that the difficulties in life they are facing at present are nothing but as a result of the serious racial discrimination their fore fathers went through. A typical example of social conflict is in the field of education in the book. Those kids from lower class families are treated in a manner by the teachers that suggest they (students) are less competent. Thus they are placed in a lower track as they lack opportunities to develop their language. In this category, these students are only trained to later in life take blue color jobs while those from affluent families are trained to take white color jobs. Additionally, the two kinds of school, public and private provide us with a clear distinction between where kids from wealthy and poor background attend school (McLeod 287). On the same note, students from less privileged families are disadvantaged by their manners, the way they talk, dress and deemed not to be fit and valued in the ed ucation systems Social conflict also arise when the Hallways view their skin as being discriminated against by the American affirmative action which aim at providing equal opportunities to all Americans. They are of the opinion that the black are favored due to their skin color and the whit boys even curse their color. Frankie said, Well I look today, and if anyone should had a chance to make it, its fuckin, its black people. They got a chance to make it. Cuz theres fucking quotas to be filled. (McLeod 187) It is from this perspective that the two groups hold varied achievement ideology. It is apparent that despite their hardship, the Brothers see themselves as individuals who will beat all odds and make it in life through education and taking part in constructive activities. On the other hand, the Hallways have no hopes of making it in life and are under defeatism. One thing seems apparent, that structural barriers block both the Brothers and the Hallways from getting out of poverty. From a close examination of events, it is in my view that hard work do pay while other factors such as race, sex among others are just secondary or play very minimal role in future success of individuals. Gender and racial inequality Gender and racial inequality is a concept that refers to unfair treatment of an individual because of his sex/gender and his/her race or skin color. In the book, the author through his well thought and painted characters bring out clearly discrimination in terms of race. From the view point of the Hallways, lacking male role model brings to their mind some aspect of gender inequality. They Lack the guidance as well as the opportunity to learn from them, and for that matter, they do not deem their mothers and elder sisters as being in a position to provide them the guidance they need in life. Lack of male role model have renders these guys (Hallways) to be hopeless in life and when asked what they will be in the next twenty, years, their response is amazing, they say they will be in jail or even dead (McLeod 341). The issue of racism has been facing Americans from as long as human race came into being and started migrating to America. From the onset of the book, the Brothers claim that they are in their difficult situation as a result of how unfair their forefathers were treated. This resulted to them (forefathers) being denied equal employment and education opportunities. The Brothers are brave enough to come out of this narrow kind of thinking to fight very hard so as to reclaim their status thanks to numerous reforms such as affirmative actions and equal employment opportunities. On the other hand, the Hallways despite the fact that they are white which would translate to being in a better position to get better education and jobs are in more anguish just like their black counter parts. They assert that the black are favored as they have taken all jobs due to the government policies, Hallways further claim that they see their skin color as working a against them, for this reason they are pr acticing racism as they do not see eye to eye with the blacks. Contrary to this, the Brothers upon seeing an element of racism just work away from it (McLeod 442). Generational mobility Generational mobility a concept used to describe how a given human generation finds their ways to the next social class has is evident in McLeod book. Historically, human race have struggled to make their live better by doing all things possible within their reach. One is the quest to climb the social ladder. Varied school of thought exist that try to justify how this is attained. There are those who hold that ones family background dictates how far an individual will rise in societal stratification. On the other hand, achievement ideologists strongly believe that all these societal aspects such as sex, race, family background are secondary and play no or minimal role in dictating how one generation will rise from one level to another. What is important is the desire and hard work of doing so. Both the Brothers and the Hallways are brought from impoverished family background. One group, the Brothers, the black minority in America society despite being brought up in a disadvantaged society; they are painted as individuals who are highly optimistic and work very hard to attain their dreams and desires. They engage themselves in activities that are in line with positive living as well as in line with the countrys law. They work very work very hard in school in order to attain better grades. It is worth noting that despite the fact that their parents were oppressed previously and did not get the opportunities to attend school, they against all odd support their kids in all ways possible. However, the Brothers failed to achieve their desired success and blame themselves for this failure (McLeod 271). On the other hand, the Hallways were demoralized by their self defeat and found themselves indulging in drugs, dropping from school. They blame all other individuals in the society for instance schools, parents, the community the society and every one around them but forget to see what role they have played in making their lives the way it is. It is for holding the idea of defeatism, pessimists and disregarding achievement ideology that the Hallways did not achieve any mobility that could have helped them and the coming generation to move up the ladder. From my point of view, for any future human generation to realize mobility, the present generation need not to focus on what was done wrong but to make improvement on what was done wrong. From my analysis, there is no one better social theory that can adequately explain sociological aspects in any societal settings. Due to the fact that all sociological concepts and perspective are closely linked to one another, ascribing one to be of more importance in my opinion is not being rational and sound enough in trying to address these effects. Poverty The author has laid an emphasis on the issue of poverty in the society. In the book aint no making it, excellent insights I to lives of teenage boys who live in a low income neighborhood Clarendon Heights where the reader is forced to reconsider ones notions and perceptions of poverty as well as its causes in the society. The book looks at the American ideology on achievement and puts into question its effect son the society. The book goes to justify the fact that people are not poor simply because they are lazy but rather as a result of numerous structural barriers in the society that traps them into the vicious cycle of poverty. It goes ahead to show how the social structure and the way the society is close-minded and the especially the upper and the middle class people who view that those who occupy the lesser social standing the lazy ones. The 11 year old Freddie is self-defeated despite growing in America perceived as a nation of dreams because he feels trapped in such position by the inherited poverty. The poverty handed down from earlier generations especially from their uneducated parent greatly impacted on the work, school and even shattered or limited their dreams and ambitions (MacLeod, 447). Defeatism The author mentions in his book about the hallway hangers which is predominantly whites and spend great deal of their time hanging in a specific hallway section of the housing project. This peer group is self-destructing and self defeating as its members poses a very narrow view of their futures being destined with expectations. They dont see any glimpse of hope and are very pessimistic of their future endeavors. On the other hand is the very optimistic per group the brother who despite their low income current life they detrimentally held the American dream close to their hearts. The hallway hungers have been isolated from the society and they feel bitter about it as they are the minority group. The alienation as a result of poverty has made them give up in a life and that they have dully accepted. The hallways hangers then engage themselves in criminal activities, alcoholics and become junkies who are addicted to losing. Way down the line they still dont realize any upward social m obility. On the other hand the group of the poor black catapulted by their optimism and American dream turns their desolate situation in to a better one by struggling very hard and this later earns them a slight upward movement in the social ladder. Through this the author embedded the Marxist theory which he argues against assuming that all educated people as Marx stated. MacLeod shows another evidence that poor people stay poor because of the generational inheritance of poverty because there are numerous pressures that act against them especially when the struggle to lift themselves sup and these end as limiting their rise in the society so far ant rise in social status effort of several generations have to be considered. The defeatism portrayed by the Hallway Hangers in the book aint a making it making is explained by the social learning theory which argues that students are often socialized from their early ages and thus hold various values and own experiences based on their social situations. It further argues that students raised from backgrounds characterized by failure and under achievement always see their parents or preceding generations as failures and tend to often internalize such values at end up perceiving their own success also as unlikely. This theory thus justifies the action and decisions that are made by the peer group Hallways Hangers who saw their uneducated and poor parents and became self -defeated for the rest of their lives. The author also describe the consequences that result when the poor are false defeated and do nothing if not worse by making wrong decisions in their current lives. The Hallways hungers saw falsehood in the American dream and believed that everything they ought to have done to salvage their situation as was empty ventures and turned to be absolute losers who in their future lives had crummy jobs, poor living standards and many regrets like if they had been serious in getting educated they would have bee leading better lives with better past. Macleod proves that nothing good comes for free and one has to keep on struggling to attain it just as the way the brother never gave up on their dreams despite their poverty and alienation from the rest of the society. It proves that if one is to succeed. The author shows how the lives of the poor in a well off society are self-defeated by their poverty levels and end up worsening their situation as they are alienated from the rest of the society (MacLeod,347).The brothers stayed focused in their struggles to see their dream of progressing into the social ladder into the middles class coma true and later reaped its benefit of their optimism and handwork, their behavior is supported by the ideology of achievement called Need for Achievement theory which argues that the level of ones achievement is the product of their motivation to succeed and hence avoid failure thus individual tend to weigh their expectancy of success by the values placed on that success. The brothers despite being from poor families kept their dreams alive by motivating themselves with good thoughts of enjoying better life when they rose to the middle class. The values they placed in middle social class motivated them to keep on struggling hard and being optimistic of a better life ahead. Drugs use The Hallways hangers see falsehood in the education system and thinks that teachers no nothing and sees no values of getting educated and if they go to class they get expelled and are teachers nightmare. There parents work in low paying jobs and for them to get quick bucks they get themselves is doing drugs like selling of crack cocaine in the neighborhood. In addition to doing drugs the group engage sin alcoholism and other forma of crimes. Doing of drugs inhibits the group members from getting educated and obtain their goals as it makes them concentrate on them and as they get high they care less of their lives hence limiting their progress in life. The hallways hangers derived their name fro always found hanging in a specific hallway in the project, a place they would get drunk and high. They have given up in life and dont see any possibility of getting out of the housing projects so they opted to doing drugs hence becoming depressed and eventually hindering their motivation (MacL eod, 147). This peer group use drugs as a shortcut to happiness and a way of avoiding the effects of poverty. Doing drugs also made them quick money which they believed could not be obtained from work. From doing drugs one could get more than twenty dollars as compared to seven dollar salary from work. Hangers saw drugs as an n easy way out of debt but this denied them an n opportunity of going to school to better their future lives and for those who attempted to school always got in problems with their teachers and administration as result of drug use. Male Figures Role Models Most of the male parents of the hallways hangers are either gone and brothers are dead or in jail and this denies such them a male role models in their upbringing .On the other hand the brother have more male authority figures and they therefore respect their families more than their counter parts hallways hangers (MacLeod,47).The brothers also are more optimistic in life and hope to get their families out of the housing projects by graduating from school and getting white jobs which are well paying. This shows that the male role models in the family plays a critical role in the lives of the younger siblings or their kids as they instill some values that the male figures ca not. For example the skills of appreciating family are related to the role played by the male family figures as seen from the brothers who show some love and respect towards family members and this is attributed to the numbers of male figure in their lives as compared to the Hallway hungers whose fathers were dead and big brothers dead or in jail. The male figures in the families of the hallway hungers showed a bad example influencing the members also get engaged in activities that would lead the to imprisonment or even lead to their death. Conclusion The book outplays the idea of doing away of ideologies that deny acknowledgement of ones social conditions for instance the achievement ideology which made the brothers to believe that by ignoring their impoverished conditions they can make in life by trying harder and they ended up in limited progress. Most teachers believe the ideology motivates all students but that is not true as there halfway hangers needed a support in self esteem in order to get motivated. Ina addition to that in order for students to get motivated in schools materials should be provided especially those in inner-cities where schools have deteriorated to a dangerous point. In addition, a social change is not achieved overnight but takes sometimes and appreciation of ones social problem leads to a progressive change and through education one is able to critically understand such social problems. Finally to make any political change in the society people especially the dormant dogma should discard the long time held belief that poverty is caused by personal vices and cultural pathologies of the poor.

Othello: The Destruction of Honor :: GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Othello

Othello:   The Destruction of Honor       In The Tragedy of Othello, William Shakespeare tells the tale of the â€Å"noble Moor† whose honor and innocence bring about his downfall. Shakespeare writes of the power of jealousy, and the art of masterful deception and trickery. The story primarily takes place in Cyprus, during a war between the people of Venice and the invading Turks. In this play Shakespeare shows the feelings of Othello’s embittered right-hand man of, Iago, who feels he is passed over for a promotion and swears his revenge. He proceeds to manipulate his friends, enemies, and family into doing his bidding without any of them ever realizing his ultimate goal. He makes Othello believe that his new wife, the innocent Desdemona, is committing adultery with his newly promoted officer Michael Cassio. After this seed of jealousy has been planted, Othello’s mind takes its course in determining the true outcome, with a little more nudging from Iago. The course of action he proceeds to follow is one that not only ends his own life, but also the life of his wife and others. In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Othello, Othello is a man who is still truly honorable, despite the course of action he takes to resolve his perceived problem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the novel, up until his insanity, Othello is described as a temperate man whose honor does not allow him to believe assumptions unless he has been shown proof. Firstly, when the men of Brabantio, Desdemona’s father, confront Othello’s men, Othello calmly says, â€Å"Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.† (10). Othello is confronted on the matter of his elopement with Desdemona with force and with words. Not only is he very cool about his dealings with violence, but also when he is asked to tell the story of how he had Desdemona fall in love with him he states the truth, and he doesn’t leave out any details of how he accomplished it. He openly admits that had any other man told his story, that man also would have won her heart. Only a truly honorable man can admit that it was a story, and not his personality that truly won the woman’s heart. Othello’s honor is shown by h is trust in the people he knows and loves. When Iago tells Othello that he believes Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair, Othello does not believe Iago initially.

finding neverland movie review Essay -- essays research papers

Analysis of Roger Ebert's â€Å"Finding Neverland† Film Review â€Å"Finding Neverland† is a recently released motion picture starring acclaimed actors Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and directed by Marc Forster ("Monsters Ball†) Personally, I loved the movie and It was hard to find a critic that gave the movie a negative review, so I stopped trying to find someone to argue with and I came across the king of all critics, Roger Ebert. I usually don't agree with his reviews, so I figured we would clash on this one, but surprisingly we came to agree on many aspects. He makes a point to mention Freddie Highmore and the remarkable job he did playing the angry but sad role of Peter. A very challenging role for a child that even most adult actors couldn't portray. He can make you feel so sad for him although he is acting like a brat most of the time, but he makes you feel the pain he's going through with the tears and sadness always running through his eyes. He also commends Johnny Depp for his â€Å"widely differing roles† bringing up characters Depp has played in the past which gives you a glance at how many different roles he has not only played, but was excellent in portraying. It is obvious Ebert was impressed by Depps performance but it seams he is giving the movie credit to Depp and ignoring the director. â€Å"For Depp, "Finding Neverland" is the latest in an extraordinary series of performances. After his Oscar nomi...

Diversity :: Title VI, Public Organizations, Race Relations

Diversity is an increasingly important factor in organizational life as organizations world-wide become more diverse in terms of the gender, race, ethnicity, age, national origin, and other personal characteristics of their members. By the year 2000, the American workforce is likely to be gender-balanced, with only 58% of the workforce comprised of White, native born Americans (Jackson et al., 1995). Due to the increasing globalization of business requires employees from different cultures to work together in cross-national teams. Firms are being forced to form cross-functional, inter-departmental, cross-divisional, and inter-organizational alliances in order to make maximum use of scarce resources and thus increase their competitive advantage. People tend to think of diversity as simply demographic, a matter of color, gender, or age. However, groups can be disparate in many ways. Diversity is also based on informational differences, reflecting a person's education and experience, as well as on values or goals that can influence what one perceives to be the mission of something as small as a single meeting or as large as a whole company. Diversity among employees can create better performance when it comes to out-of-the-ordinary creative tasks such as product development or cracking new markets, and managers have been trying to increase diversity to achieve the benefits of innovation and fresh ideas. Informational diversity stirred constructive conflict, or debate, around the task at hand. That is, people deliberate about the best course of action. On the other hand, demographic diversity can sometimes whip up interpersonal conflict. This is the kind of conflict people should fear.

A Wanderlust Blueprint for Taipei and Taiwan

Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan, and is known perhaps most prominently for its famous landmark skyscraper, Taipei 101. There's a multi-level shopping mall adjoined to the tower, containing hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants, and clubs. Being the bookworm that I am, I visit Page One first, a huge bookstore with both Chinese and English books. After that, I decide to treat myself to a shopping spree – after all, I am on vacation. When I'm through, I decide to visit the observatory on the 89th floor. I'd read somewhere that the observatory elevators here are the fastest in the world, capable of traveling from the fifth floor to the 89th floor in just 37 seconds. I squeeze into a crowded elevator and set my stopwatch. Exactly 37 seconds later, the doors open with a ping. Wow. Maybe I can get one of these for my apartment. Then I hear the tour guide informing a group of Japanese tourists that each elevator costs US$2.4 million. On second thought, I think I'll scratch that idea. Simply put, the view is amazing. There's no other way to say it. I take advantage of the fact that the observatory offers a full, undivided, 360 degree view, and take several panorama pictures. I dally at the gift shop for a couple of minutes, inwardly debating whether or not I should spend NT$1500 on an I'VE BEEN TO TAIPEI 101 t-shirt. In the end, I purchase it anyway, after managing to convince myself that NT$1500 is not that expensive for a souvenir shirt. I proceed to visit the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. It's an incredible monument that was erected in the memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. The whole thing is surrounded by a park and a large square, in which both the National Concert Hall and the National Theater are located. I set off for the National Concert Hall, but to my dismay, am told by the lady at the ticket office there that there are no performances scheduled today. Disappointed, I decide instead to walk the expanse of the park. There are large lakes with loads of fish in them, and I buy several handfuls of fish food from a nearby vending machine. It's fun to throw the food in and watch all the fish swarm together like bees towards pollen. Afterwards, I decide to head to Shihlin Night Market. I take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) from Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station, past Taipei Main Station, to Jiantan Station. The journey takes me about 20 minutes. I swear I'm in love with the transport system here. It's fast, it's cheap, and it's so clear. There are English announcements and notices all over the place. I've only been here for a couple of days, but the system is so easy to understand, I feel like an old-timer already. It's crowded at Shihlin Night Market, and I find myself travelling down what I would describe as the main alley. Shops of every kind line the two sides, and there are smaller alleys that branch off. The sheer amount and variety of products being sold are quite dazzling, as they range from clothes, novelties, and cosmetics, to toys, electronics, and food. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the wide audience that Shihlin receives, but I am, sort of. I've seen families with young children, big groups of laughing teenagers, middle-aged couples holding hands, and older people shuffling around. I've also spotted some foreigners, who, like me, probably just want to experience what the infamous Shihlin Night Market has to offer. I have to say, I'm quite impressed. I didn't expect this place to present any sort of entertainment for small children, but I must've passed at least 20 games of miniature hoops, ring toss, small pinball machines, and catch the turtles/ fishes by now. I sit down at a small table in a food stall, and tentatively order a plate of chou dou fu – stinky tofu; apparently it's a Taiwanese specialty. Two minutes later, a plate of steaming hot tofu is set in front of me. To my surprise, it's actually pretty good. Maybe tomorrow, I'll work up the nerve to try tian je – frogs' legs.

An Analysis of Movies Armageddon

Among the movies that were released and made it big at the box-office in 1998 were the Armageddon and Saving Private Ryan. Although the first is a science-fiction and the second is a war movie, making their presentation of the use of film technology different, both films are pictures of totally predictable elements – loud noises and frequent explosions. The two movies both presented battle scenes – against the asteroid in Armageddon while it is a battle among soldiers in Saving Private Ryan. Best remembered from the two films were the elements of sparks, noise, vibrations, shouting, running, screaming, fighting, fire, tremors, crashes and collisions. The difference in their cinematography and editing aspects depicted the use of their own film techniques and technology.Saving Private Ryan has Tom Hanks and Matt Damon as the main actors. The Steven Spielberg war film told about the character of James Ryan (Damon), who has parachuted into France during the Allied invasion of Europe, has just lost three brothers in combat. Government policy dictates that he should return home lest his family be deprived of its entire male offspring. A team of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Hanks) and fresh from the beaches of Normandy, is assembled to find and save Private Ryan.The use of film techniques was manifested with the way how Spielberg and his crew recreated the arrival of Allied forces at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, by using water-level and then ground-level handheld cameras during a 24-minute sequence of especially graphic carnage. McKenzie noted the use of seamless SFX and advanced film-making techniques, the terrors of battle massacre are splattered onscreen. The viewing public find themselves totally absorbed in the war horror, â€Å"with the dizzying and expert use of a variety of techniques, including hand-held cameras, the speeding up of the often unrelated images, frantic editing, and varying film stock. Spielberg's gifted Oscar-winning cin ematographer, Janusz Kaminski brought a compelling war-newsreel look to a lot of the images† (McKenzie, 2005).Another technique is when the film started off with the title Saving Private Ryan. It started off like this to show the title of the film and show what the film is going to be about. In some films they show a bit of the film and then show the title. But Spielberg didn't want to do this. This showed the film might be really exciting and interesting to watch. The Saving Private Ryan title was written in white lettering against a black background. The black background symbolizes the people who died in the war while the white lettering symbolizes those soldiers who fought in the war and emerged as winners.Cinematographer Kaminski employed many different techniques during filming to set the mood of a given scene. During the opening sequence, for example, the film is overexposed a bit to give a sense of a documentary-like feel to the scenes. The camera work is often hand hel d and jerky too, heightening the sense of realism during the scene. But the disc handles all this easily and is a testament to the work being done by the folks over at DreamWorks.Saving Private Ryan is nothing but a demonstration of cinematographic skills in a totally inappropriate context. Why does film documentary style, with a shoulder-held camera to capture the chaos, yet so formally stage the scenes and with bodies perfectly falling into full frame, dying perfect deaths? This is because everything onscreen told the audience what came first in the making of the movie: more than the war, its aesthetics possibilities.In Schlosser’s review, Spielberg and his skilled band of technicians studied the photo archives and documentaries very carefully. Then they carefully re-created the settings, the shootings, the sounds and furies. And on the seventh day, they decided to superimpose some silhouettes (Schlosser, 2000).The science-fiction film Armageddon, which top-billed Bruce Wil lis and directed by Michael Bay, started when the space shuttle is destroyed in outer space and NASA astronomers discovered that a meteor shower is pelting away at earth and that a huge asteroid, the size of Texas and capable of destroying the planet is headed for a direct hit with the planet. With all options too fantastic to implement before collision, NASA decides to recruit the world's best deep core drilling team (oil drillers) to land on the asteroid, drill a hole, drop a nuclear bomb into the hole, then take off and remotely detonate the bomb.For the drill team, they select Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and his crew that includes tough guy-softie Bear (Michael Clarke Duncan), brilliant smart-ass Rockhound (Steve Buschemi), A.J. (Ben Affleck) the overeager fiancà © of his independent daughter (Liv Tyler), and spacy Oscar (Owen Wilson). It's a race against time to get the drillers trained, land them on the asteroid and get the hole drilled before earth is destroyed.Aside from t he futuristic aspect of the movie, its other strong points are editing and cinematography. From sweeps around the NASA conference room to quick close-ups, from split-second backgrounds to the simulated, striking aerial view of the double launch, the camera work told the story with stylistic, often frenetic motion.The film’s use of advance technology saved the script which was the result of the well-shot but terribly clichà ©d montages, many showing Bay's vision of a type of classic America, people listening to news of the coming catastrophe, gathered in a Mayberry-like barber shop or sitting in vintage pickups, near American flags and farmhouses. Another technique evidence is the one shot of a group of boys who even runs past a clapboard store sporting a faded campaign mural of JFK.Bay directed this stuff with a sure hand and a lot of slow motion effects. His visuals are actually quite amazing, including the spectacular lift-off of the two shuttles. Side-by-side, the image i s from far away, as the spaceships race off, leaving a trail of smoke behind. Bay is a good director for color pictures, using oranges and yellows effectively. The cinematography is excellent, and the editing is fast-paced. The special effects are top-notch, blowing away anything seen in that other comet film. The opening sequence is one of the best moments in the film, and one shocking moment occurs when a meteor plows into a city and you see it completely wiped out from the top of Notre Dame.The work by Blue Sky|VIFX for the opening shot ARMAGEDDON is brilliant. In a single shot, asteroids pummel the earth, creating huge fireballs that envelop the camera, wiping on the film's main title graphic. The camera swoops by the earth, revealing the massive destruction of the meteor shower, allowing the audience to fully examine the effect of this disaster. Geological inaccuracies aside, the shot is quite memorable. Explosion elements seem in scale, and the slow camera movement is quite bo ld–all in all, an exciting prelude for things to come.The two films used the theme of human sacrifice. For Saving Private Ryan, it was the sacrifice of a team of soldiers for a single human being while Willis’ sacrifice in Armageddon was in order to save the world and all the people living in it. Although set in different societies – a community torn in war and a world face with asteroid, both showed the importance of having to sacrifice and even to be killed just to save either one person or mankind. Saving Private Ryan pictured that in a war-torn society, the soldiers are destined to sacrifice their lives notwithstanding if these are for the sake of only one or many people.Armageddon was also a manifestation of giving up a life but this time to save not only one single human but the whole mankind. The two movies told the lesson of a society of such human beings are worth sacrificing for and that it is only through the value of each and every human being that a society achieves value itself.The audience who liked these two films is assumed to be of giving value to human life. Although different in genres, the audiences were moved that the film gave credit not just to the technology and techniques used but more so of the theme and lesson behind the aesthetics of the films.ReferencesMcKenzie, Edward (2005). Saving Private Ryan (World War II Collection) (1998).Schlosser, Eric. (January 2000). On Saving Private Ryan. Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 27. Retrieved January 11, 2008 from http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/27/savingprivateryan.html