Journalism - From China with Love Essay -- Graduate Admissions Essays

Journalism – From China with Love    The purpose behind this personal statement is to not only gain admission to your well-established and highly respected Masters program, but to impress upon you my passion for learning and my tremendous desire to succeed in the field of journalism. I have based my decision to pursue an academic career not on purely practical reasons, but rather on my own natural interests and aptitude. My personal philosophy is that the biggest loss that a person can suffer is the loss of one's enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm, life becomes monotonous and boring. My enthusiasm for continuous, life-long learning - particularly in the field of print journalism - makes me a model candidate for your Masters program.    Many applicants may claim to be from an underprivileged family, but I freely admit that I was born into a middle class family. My parents are both ordinary citizens that worked for railway companies in China. Through the influences of both my father and my mother, I fell in love with reading at an early age. My mother taught me to read (in Chinese of course) when I was only four years old. This knowledge was the key to the entrance of entire new worlds that I never could have even imagined before I learned to read. By the time that I had entered primary school, I had already finished one of the four classic works of ancient Chinese literature - The Three Kingdoms. Although this was a difficult work of literature for such a young age, I was determined and persistent enough to not only finish the book but to understand and appreciate its deeper meanings. My parents had given me the best gift that a parent can give - the love of reading. My thirst for reading was nearly unquenchable. Fo r... ...I believe that I can become highly skilled and thus better prepared to provide a quality service to society.    Secondly, with China's entry into the World Trade Organization, there will be more demand than ever for information, intelligence and awareness of the underlying meanings of the world's happenings. International and cross-cultural news reporting will inevitably clash as the values and conceptions of Eastern and Western viewpoints collide. There is a gap that must be bridged by individuals that understand Western journalism but also understand Chinese cultural perceptions. I envision a future where there will be a great need of high-caliber journalists that are unafraid of cultural barriers and that are inspired to inquire into the truth of the matters being investigated. If I am accepted into your program, I believe that I can become that individual.

life during wartime :: essays research papers

There’s nothing I can say about the parade of still pictures, the faces on the television – except, perhaps, that they all seemed to share a fierce pride in their eyes, photographed for the first time in their Marine Dress Blues. Surely their families are proud of them. I certainly am, and I never got to know any of them. And now, I never will. Names scroll in little yellow letters across the bottom of our glowing screens: Sergeants, and Captains, and Privates. These men have died for us. More will follow. We asked them to go, and they went. All across this nation -- here and there, sparkling across the map like fireflies on a summer night – sedans are slowly rolling to a stop outside of small, modest homes. Men in uniform emerge, straighten their tunics, and walk slowly up driveways. Doorbells are rung. Maybe here and there smiles will evaporate in shock and surprise as doors are opened, but more likely the face will be one full of stunned realization that the very worst thing in the whole world has happened. And children will be sent to their rooms. And the men will speak in somber, respectful tones. And sons and mothers and fathers and wives will be told that the one thing they love more than anything in this world has been taken away from them, that their sons and daughters will not be coming home, that their fathers or mothers have gone away and will never come back, not ever. Why do we do this? What could possibly be worth this? The war is an abject and utter failure. What everyone thought would be a quick, decisive victory has turned into an embarrassing series of reversals. The enemy, -- a ragtag, badly-fed collection of hotheads and fanatics – has failed to be shocked and awed by the most magnificent military machine ever fielded. Their dogged resistance has shown us the futility of the idea that a nation of millions could ever be subjugated and administered, no matter what obscene price we are willing to pay in blood and money. The President of the United States is a buffoon, an idiot, a man barely able to speak the English language. His vice president is a little-seen, widely despised enigma and his chief military advisor a wild-eyed warmonger. Only his Secretary of State offers any hope of redemption, for he at least is a reasonable, well-educated man, a man most thought would have made a far, far better choice for Chief Executive.

Do miracles still happen and how do they compare with those of the Acts of the Apostles? Essay

When studying the subject of miracles they must be approached with objective reason and when questioning the existence of miracles we must first fully understand what the word ‘miracle’ means. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a miracle is described as an extraordinary and welcome event attributed to a divine agency, a remarkable and very welcome occurrence or as an outstanding achievement. The word miracle originates from the Latin word miraculum meaning ‘object of wonder.’ A miracle is a supernatural event that consists of divine intervention into the natural order as a demonstration of God’s power and mercy, all of these properties are seen in the Acts of the Apostles as God does intervene in human events and they can be seen as responses and as a reward for faith. The Acts of the Apostles contains many miracles however all of these miracles are not the healing of those with demons but the spread of Christianity through the early church in both Paul and Peter’s missionary journeys. St. Paul can be seen by some as a fake apostle because he was not one of the chosen twelve and therefore had not experienced a close relationship with Jesus, this is turn may have threatened the apostles at first. However St Paul managed to become one of the apostles greatest assets as he went on to teach to not only Jews but to pagans also. â€Å"Because this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel.† Acts 9:15. This allowed the Christian church to grow as more believers were joining thus the Christian church’s faith began to grow. Two of the best known definitions of a miracle are that of St. Thomas Aquinas who believed in miracles and that John Stuart Mill who did not. St. Thomas’s definition of a miracle is this: A miracle is something beyond the order of created nature. Therefore since God alone is not a created being, He also is the only One who can work miracles by His own power. In this the word nature can be used in three senses, it may mean â€Å"all that exists†, â€Å"all created things†, or â€Å"all material things†. John Stuart Mill’s definition of a miracle is: A phenomenon not preceded by any antecedent phenomenal conditions sufficient again to reproduce it. This definition implies that there is nothing but the material world in existence. It takes no account of the human will, still less of the will of God. The purpose of miracles in the new testament itself comes in two parts – the first part is that they were used for confirmation as they confirmed who Jesus was and that Jesus and his apostles message was that of God’s, the second part is that they were carried out in order to cause belief in the listeners in Jesus. In the New Testament we see confirmation that Jesus is in fact who he is said to be when we see the miracle in Acts 3:6 where Peter and John are going to the temple and cure the lame man who is sitting as the beautiful gate, Peter says to the lame man ‘I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ, walk! This incident brings us face to face with the question of miracles in apostolic times and shows us that Jesus had the power to perform miracles through his apostles. We also see within the New Testament that the miracles were carried out to cause belief in Jesus as in Acts 8:4-8 were those who escaped one of which was Philip from the arrest of Saul to Samaria proclaiming the Christ. â€Å"The people united in welcoming the message Phillip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves.† Acts 8:6. This helps us understand that miracles or even the stories of miracles help us to believe in Jesus as the son of God. However people who believe that miracles do not happen in today’s society may argue about the existence of miracles that miraculous power was passed on by the laying on of the apostles hands and as no-one today could possibly qualify as an apostle of Jesus then no-one today could possibly have the power to perform miracles. Those who believe this refer to Acts 1:21-22 where it states that the apostles â€Å"must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us – and he can act as a witness to his resurrection.† These three conditions therefore conflict with any hope of miracles happening today. It is commonly agreed that miracles are the reward and result of faith; however faith in God should not be based on miracles. They should be seen as the work of God rather than the essence of God. Moreover some people believe that if Jesus had not performed these miracles then their faith in him may not be as strong. In order to be able to perform a miracle the person wanting the miracle must have faith in God and those performing the miracle must have a strong relationship with God, in order to have such a good relationship with God a person must pray in order to strengthen their relationship. Many people may say that in society today, there are those who have a strengthened relationship with God such as Priests, Nun’s and Monks. This may mean that they have the power to perform miracles however the person wanting the miracle may not have enough faith in God in order to support the miracle. Another argument that could be used in order to prove that miracles do not occur today is that God confirmed his word through miracles, signs and wonders during Jesus’ life on earth; therefore he does not need to reconfirm his existence to this generation as we have enough proof in biblical readings in order to prove his existence. Although miracles benefited the individual, their true purpose was for confirmation, even though they were often motivated by compassion and belief of those observing. Today some people may believe that miracles still do happen but not in such a magnificent way as they did back in the time of Jesus. People do nevertheless believe that in order to receive a miracle you must have a strengthened relationship with God through prayer and acting on spirit. Some people may argue with the second circumstance in the sense that they cannot strengthen their faith in God because there are no miracles today that allow them to expand their belief. On the other hand some would say that miracles still do happen today through the work that Doctors, surgeons etc. can do which in apostolic times would have been regarded as miracles. A modern miracle story would be that of an atheist couple and their little girl, the couple never told their daughter anything about the Lord. One night when the little girl was 5 years old, the parents fought with each other and the dad shot the Mother, in front of the child. Then, the dad shot himself. The little girl watched it all. She then was sent to a foster home. The foster mother was a Christian and took the child to church. On the first day of Sunday school, the foster mother told the teacher that the girl had never heard of Jesus, and to have patience with her. The teacher held up a picture of Jesus and said, â€Å"Does anyone know who this is?† The little girl said, â€Å"I do, that’s the man who was holding me the night my parents died.† In my eyes this example can be seen as a modern day miracle as it shows Jesus helping a little girl through a time of mourning and grief. A miracle found in Acts that can be seen to contrast to this modern day story would be that of the shipwreck in Acts 28. In this Paul, the centurion and his men all rely on God for strength through his intervention to Paul in Acts 28:24 an angel appeared to Paul and told him â€Å"Do not be afraid, Paul. You are destined to appear before Caesar, and for this reason God grants you the safety of all who are sailing with you.† This contrasts with the modern day story of the little girl as they both show God giving strength to those in need. Another modern day miracle is this of Rowena Angell. Since 1982 Rowena was only able to walk short distances. By 1986 Rowena was using two walking sticks and to go any distance she had to use a wheelchair. The pain never went away. Life continued in this way until 1991 when Rowena was diagnosed as having Lupus. Just after Christmas in 1998 God told Rowena that she was going to be healed from the awful pain and a few weeks later Pastor Revd. Alan Clarredge told her that when she was baptised she would be healed. Rowena had told no one what God had told her so she knew Alan was confirming what God had already told her. On Sunday the 20th January 2002, she with others went up to the front for prayer. The pastor was directed by God to pray for healing for her. It was tremendous, amazing, the Holy Spirit was so strong! After the meeting ended her Husband Henry went to get the car and as she walked to meet him, a voice said to Rowena â€Å"why are you using your stick†. She thought about that voice all the way home, was it real? Did she imagine it? When she talked it over with Henry, his reaction was to go in faith he said. Rowena went in faith and the pain has gone away for the first time in 27 years, the joy of waking in the morning with no pain. A few months later a test showed that there was no trace of Lupus in Rowena’s body! She was totally healed! She will never forget the pain she had and she will serve God with whatever he leads her to do, with joy in my heart she dedicates her life to Him to do, as He wills. Praise the Lord for He is merciful. These modern day miracles are very different from those at the time of Jesus and shortly after. They can be thought of as a persons calling or saving, this can impact highly on a person’s life especially if they were not brought up with Christianity. In Acts 9:32-35 Peter heals Aeneas at Lydda. This miracle proves to Aeneas and all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon who were watching that Peter had a close relationship with Jesus and also shows how much power he had inherited from the Holy Spirit as instead of Peter saying ‘I cure you’ Peter said to Aeneas ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you get up and fold up your sleeping mat.’ In this such miracle people today may believe that Peter was taking the glory of the work that Jesus Christ has performed through him as he says â€Å"I cure you.† Also in the modern day miracle the shape of Jesus suffering for all of mankind on the cross can be seen to some as the sign that it was Jesus who performed this miracle. On the other hand in the miracle which Peter performed on Tabitha in Acts 9:26-43 the women is not healed in by Peter however it was in the name of Jesus which helps people understand that the miracles that are happening both today and in the time of the New Testament are performed through the power of Jesus. William Barclay argued that miracles can happen apart from â€Å"we think too much of what we can do and too little about what Jesus Christ can do through us.† Miracles altogether play a huge role on the church today as they are an important part of individual’s religion as it gives them something to believe in that only Christ is able to do. I personally believe that these modern day miracles allow peoples faith in God to be strengthened as it allows us to understand that if we need it – even if we do not want it God will be there for us. Both of these miracles found in Acts are important to Christians today as they are a sign of God’s power, they also show that Jesus lives and has power through the Holy Spirit and the invocation of his name. David Hume however is the arch-enemy of miracles who said that â€Å"A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature† he also said that â€Å"It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die suddenly: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. There must, therefore, be a uniform experience against every miraculous event; otherwise the event would not merit that appellation.† However I do not agree with David’s Hume’s views and myself I believe that a miracle is a God-powered supernatural event. Overall I believe miracles today and miracles in Acts of the Apostles contrast well with each other as they are both God centred and can be directed at both believers and non-believers. Bibliography www.oxfordonline.com http://religion.krishna.org/Articles/ http://www.byfaith.co.uk/paulmiracle William Barclay – the new daily study bible – Acts of the apostles The Jerusalem bible new testament http://www.katapi.org.uk/ChristianFaith/XVIII.htm

Harriet Beecher Stowe`s Uncle Tom`s Cabin Essay

In 1851-52 Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin appears. Her manuscript was first published serially in the Washington National Era, an antislavery paper, before appearing in book form in 1852. Today, in America, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is still one of the books in greatest demand at the counters of our Public Libraries. The narrator, as well as the characters, express the moral indignation that interracial, woman-centered abolitionist discourse made possible. This expression, however, is always in tension with gendered codes of middle-class respectability (Brown 102). Although women succeed in claiming righteous anger as a female right by the outbreak of the Civil War, in the public imagination, and even in the consciousness of some activist women, it remained a â€Å"manly† right and a masculine expressive mode. Later tradition described the novel as an accident produced by an amateur, but in fact Stowe was a professional writer who had been publishing for more than a decade when Uncle Tom’s Cabin began its serial run in an abolitionist journal. Republished in book form in 1852, it combined all the elements of fiction that American critics of the age were looking for: a diverse group of memorable characters, some hateful, some lovable; a tremendously exciting story; scenes of great pathos and scenes of humor; meticulous depiction of the customs, manners, and scenery of various regions in the country on a scale unequaled by any American work of fiction to that date. In addition, the book defined writing in general, and the novel form in particular, as a kind of visionary and prophetic mode, thus making women authors equal to the highest literary tasks. And beyond this, it dealt with an inflammatory political issue in a highly partisan spirit. The vision of Uncle Tom’s Cabin is deeply religious; Stowe was the daughter of one of the age’s most famous (and one of the last) orthodox Calvinist preachers, Lyman Beecher, and all five of her brothers became ministers in their turn, including another generation’s most famous, Henry Ward Beecher. The whole family was immersed in theological speculation; and Stowe came over time to reject the stern Old Testament God of wrath in favor of the New Testament God of love. Her opposition to slavery carries a particular theological charge, as she chronicles the defeat of charity by secular greed. We are to read Tom’s decision not to run away when he is sold downriver, and his eventual martyrdom standing up to Simon Legree, not as submission to the secular world, but as triumph over it. As well as â€Å"Christian† in this broad sense, Stowe’s book is â€Å"matriarchal† in the particular values it espouses – emotive over rational, relational over individualistic – and the repeated crises at its core: the breakup of families and the separation of mothers and children form the repeated matter of its suspenseful efforts. It does not, however, parcel out its good and bad qualities according to gender: the book is full of good men, and in Marie St. Clair it creates a memorably vicious woman. Moreover, beyond its Christian or proto-feminist protest, Uncle Tom’s Cabin mounts an attack on American capitalism, north and south: slavery is the ultimate expression of a culture dedicated to buying, selling, and accumulation. Stowe’s moving tale featured a loyal slave named Tom, an angelic young girl named Little Eva, and a wicked overseer named Simon Legree and included the melodramatic tale of the slave mother Eliza clutching her baby as she crossed an icy river, with dogs and slave catchers hot on her trail, literally leaping for her freedom. Stowe argued that her fictional story was culled from real stories she had learned from fugitives making their way to freedom along the Underground Railroad. This authenticity as well as its sentimental tone made Stowe’s novel a bestseller, with sales of over a quarter million copies in less than a year. Uncle Tom’s Cabin depicted slavery’s most brutal aspects for thousands of readers innocent of the cruelties slavery might impose. The accessibility and alleged â€Å"eyewitness† quality the book projected fueled grassroots support for the flagging abolitionist movement during the 1850s. Abraham Lincoln, when he met Stowe many years later, credited her with â€Å"starting the war. † Certainly the white South harbored special venom for Stowe, banning her book and charging her with â€Å"crimes against the South. † This work catapulted Stowe into literary celebrity, and she subsequently published A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853) and another antislavery novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856). In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, two unforgettably evil black slave drivers named Sambo and Quimbo personified the axiom which held that â€Å"the slave is always a tyrant, if he can get a chance to be one. † Trained in savagery and brutality by cotton planter Simon Legree, Sambo and Quimbo hated each other and in turn were feared and despised by the rest of the slaves. Ably illustrating Stowe’s contention that â€Å"brutal men are lower even than animals,† the demonic duo participated in orgies of drunken debauchery with their master, treated the slave women as sexual playthings, and gloated with â€Å"fiendish exultation† at the whippings that they meted out to errant field hands and house servants. In this manner, a northern reformist writer popularized the notion that black personality could be perverted or destroyed by white oppression. According to Stowe, African-Americans could be â€Å"unman’d† and turned into â€Å"things† through the normal operation of the slave regime (Stowe 56). When the novel was put on stage, a hush fell on the audience at the National Theatre in New York as Eliza escaped from her pursuers and reached the northern side of the river (Brown 18). An observer who turned to look was astonished to see that the entire audience, from the gentlemen and ladies in the balconies to the roughshirted men in the galleries, was in tears (Duvall 65). Stowe knew that if she could evoke this response on behalf of â€Å"property,† if she could bring her readers to see the heroism of a slave, she had begun a revolution in sentiment. Many things about this scene were tailored for her white audience: Eliza is so light-skinned she can pass for white. Like a true woman, Eliza runs away not because she desires freedom for herself, but to save her child. But the very ambiguity of her skin tone and Stowe’s inclusion of a black woman in the cult of true womanhood worked to break down the racial categories that contained moral feeling. The effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on American literature was, to foreign observers striking. In a public meeting held in Stowe’s honor in Scotland, one of the testimonial speakers credited Stowe with having revolutionized the British view of American literature: We have long been accustomed to despise American literature – I mean as compared with our own. I have heard eminent litterateurs say, â€Å"Pshaw! the Americans have no national literature. † It was thought that they lived entirely on plunder – the plunder of poor slaves, and of poor British authors. Their own works, when they came among us, were treated either with contempt or with patronizing wonderyes, the â€Å"Sketch Book† was a very good book to be an American’s. Let us hear no more of the poverty of American brains, or the barrenness of American literature. Had it produced only Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it had evaded contempt just as certainly as Don Quixote, had there been no other product of the Spanish mind, would have rendered it forever illustrious (Duvall 45). In a similar vein, Charles Kingsley (1852) called the book â€Å"a really healthy indigenous growth, autochthonous, & free from all that hapless second & third-hand Germanism, & Italianism, & all other unreal-isms which make me sigh over almost every American book I open. † Kingsley quoted a critic who found Uncle Tom â€Å"the greatest novel ever written,† reminiscent â€Å"in a lower sphere† of Shakespeare â€Å"in that marvellous clearness of insight and outsight, which makes it seemingly impossible for her to see any one of her characters without shewing him or her at once as a distinct individual man or woman, different from all others.† The British saw that the originality of the book sprang from Stowe’s grasp of the nationality of her material: an epic theme – republican ideals in conflict with a feudal institution – was enshrined in a narrative bristling with regional types. Stowe’s attribution of deeper feeling to African Americans â€Å"as a race† was consistent with what George Fredrickson has called â€Å"romantic racialism,† a blend of philanthropic and paternalistic attitudes (Wiegman 30). One of the earliest formulators of this ideology was Alexander Kinmont, who, in his 1837-1838 lectures in Cincinnati, proclaimed the moral superiority of African Americans: â€Å"All the sweeter graces of the Christian religion appear almost too tropical and tender plants to grow in the Caucasian mind; they require a character of human nature which you can see in the rude lineaments of the Ethiopian. † It is highly likely that Harriet Beecher Stowe, living in Cincinnati at the time Kinmont delivered his lectures, was exposed to his ideas. Such romantic racialism was widespread by 1851 (Duvall 98). The complexity and contradiction of Stowe’s novel lie in her use of a common theory of racial difference to effect a revolution in sentiment about the institution of slavery. In foregrounding sentiment as the most crucial and revolutionary political capital, Uncle Tom’s Cabin significantly questions the popular equation in nineteenth-century discourses between blackness and inhumanity, allowing the slave a psychic reality that challenges paternalistic views of the peculiar institution as protection for those unable to survive the rigors and responsibilities of civic society (and civilization itself) (Berzon 45). That the method for signifying the slave’s humanity is contingent on her tearful identification with the pain of enslavement, demonstrates, of course, the political limit embedded in the sentimental form (Stepto 65). For while Uncle Tom’s Cabin tries to forge a political alliance between slaves and white women by figuring subjectivities irreducible to the determinations of bodies in modernity, the transformatory hope attached to the analogizing function fractures under the inescapable priority accorded to white racial being. The political asymmetries attending the differences between the slave’s humanity and the white woman’s social subjectivity – and the novel’s attempt to both signify and rectify these disproportions – demonstrates at one level the very problem of the political in both nineteenth and twentieth-century American life. Take, for instance, the novel’s central figure, Uncle Tom. On one hand, Stowe depicts him in language that evokes a kind of noble masculine corporeality, as â€Å"a large, broad-chested, powerfully-made man,† but immediately she undercuts such characterization by alleviating its potentially threatening edge, referring instead to his â€Å"humble simplicity† and to a face of â€Å"grave and steady good sense, united with much kindliness and benevolence†. Interiority and exteriority are in this way conflicted, as Stowe seeks for Uncle Tom the characteristics of femininity that the corporeal delineations of a black masculinity might otherwise deny. In this she claims for him a â€Å"gentle, domestic heart†, marking his interiority within the discourse of the sentimental feminine that the novel most strenuously avow (Ammons 140). As Leslie Fiedler has aptly described him, Uncle Tom is a suffering heroine, masked by blackface and drag. In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, George Harris makes several statements comparing his own struggle for freedom with that of the nation’s founders. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a huge following and sold over 300,000 copies in this country during the first year after it was published in book form by J.  P. Jewett in 1852. Once dismissed as a sentimental novel of domestic fiction, contemporary critics universally agree that Uncle Tom’s Cabin, despite defects, remains an enduring and powerful literary creation, a symbol of its age. For Stowe, the political necessity lies precisely here: in finding a means both for Anglo-Americans to identify with a political project that challenges their own interests and for white women in particular to translate their racial privileges into a form or method for the slave’s freedom.

Research Proposal on Obesity

About one in five American kids is overweight enough to be considered obese (Parr 45). Obesity being 20% or more overweight, is considered a disease because it is associated with so many health problems, like heart disease and diabetes. Being obese as a child usually leads into being obese through adulthood. â€Å"One third of adults are obese, and a third of these got that way in childhood† (Parr 53). That is why it is so important to keep kids from becoming overweight and to help obese kids lose weight. The increasing number of obese parents, technology, children having no supervision after school, and the unhealthy content of school lunches are to blame for the increasing number of overweight kids in the United States. A majority of the information used in writing this paper came from obesity source books, magazine articles, and websites devoted to helping children lose weight. Decades ago children would play tag, ride bikes, and participate in other outdoor after school activities following a nutritious snack prepared for them by one of their parents. Today, most children come home to an empty house, snack on any junk they can find, and watch television or play video games until their parents get home hours later. With no supervision, who can blame them? The foods offered at schools have changed as well. Candy, chips, and soda are a favorite of most children when eating their school lunch. Vending machines are now in most cafeterias today too, making it even easier for children to snack before and after lunch. America is one of the most overweight populations in the world, and we all wonder why. The following paper examines the root causes of this public health problem, answers the question of â€Å"why†, and offers possible solutions, to this crisis. Society as a whole is more overweight than ever before, causing their poor eating and exercising habits to be passed down onto their children. Of course genetics plays a part in some cases of obesity children, but for the most part, it is really more an issue of the habits that kids pick up from their parents. If both parents are obese, their child has an 80% chance of being obese, if one parent is obese, their child has a 40% chance of being obese, and if neither parent is obese, their child has only a 5% chance of being obese† (Bray 68). Shared family behaviors such as eating and activity habits influence a childs body weight. When a child sees their mom or dad eating unhealthy foods all the time, and snacking throughout the day, that child will get used to that eating pattern and follow in the footsteps of their parents. Overweight parents also tend to cook high calorie foods and order out more than thinner parents. This is bad because not only does that child eat foods high in fat throughout their whole childhood, but they also pick up the high-fat style of cooking as well. If a parent is overweight, it might not be as huge of a priority for them to get their child into shape. Even if it is, the extent to which they can exercise with them is limited. It is a key factor when your child is overweight to get them active as well as to cut down the amount of fat in their diet. But you must carefully cut down the fat in their diet. Reducing fat is a good way to cut calories without depriving your child of nutrients. Simple ways to cut the fat in your family’s diet include eating low-fat or even better, non-fat dairy products, poultry without the skin, and lean meats, and low-fat or fat-free breads and cereals. Making small changes to your family’s diet is a good, healthy way to help your child lose weight. It is also good to involve your child in food shopping and preparing meals. This teaches children about nutrition, and gives them a feeling of accomplishment. Physical education is only part of the solution. â€Å"Just as parents reinforce good reading habits, they also should encourage their children to incorporate physical activity into their daily lives† according to Judy Young, executive director of NASPE. The national Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) in Reston, Va. , recently issued guidelines recommending that children ages six to eleven exercise a minimum of thirty to sixty minutes per day. The problem with this is that in today’s lifestyle, it is the norm for both parents to have careers and work full time. This means that they’re children will come home to an empty house after school. Our society consists of households where both parents work and their children are left to fend for and feed themselves after school. According to a new Urban Institute report, â€Å"An estimated four million grade-school age children are regularly without adult supervision. â€Å" Another shocking fact is that in California, six percent of 6-9 year olds and thirty two percent of 10 – 12 year olds average five hours unsupervised each week, or with a sibling under the age of 13. Research shows that children who spend a lot of time alone are more likely to have social and academic problems (HHS Press Office). When children come home from school the first thing on their agenda is food. What does the normal everyday child reach for when mom and dad aren’t around? A nutritious snack, or the cookie jar and a bag of Doritos. Marvin Moss, Capital-Journal columnist, states that â€Å"To many of you, This may not seem like a major event, but put yourself in a kid’s shoes. â€Å" â€Å"I know when mine come home from school, the first thing they want is food. â€Å" â€Å"I call their after school eating habit pre-dinner. â€Å"If one of us parents wasn’t home when they arrived home from school, how would they be made to eat a healthy pre-diner snack? â€Å" Snacks take up most of the calories in children’s diets and lead to them becoming overweight. â€Å"Total daily intake from snacks among children has risen from an average of 450 to 600 in the last two decades† ,according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While some snacks are healthy for children and give them nutrients and energy, most snacks are usually a source of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like soda, potato chips, and cookies. After they have picked out their snack, they go for the television and sit on the couch while all of their favorite shows come on. Its either the television or the computer or multiple video games. There are so many alternative choices for kids nowadays other than physical activities. There is always a new video game or an upgraded computer toy, and not to mention all of the new shows that come out every season. Along with the hundreds of shows that kids watch after school come the numerous food commercials advertising pizza, soda, and candy making kids minds turn to food yet again. Technology has advanced so much in the last few decades coming out with many new high-tech, entertaining things for kids to play with. All of the new technology is fascinating, but is it a coincidence that America’s weight problem is expanding along side all the new technology coming out? NO. It is no coincidence. â€Å"In America, kids spend an average of 21 hours per week in front of the television, and if a child adds 5 hours to that per week, he or she is ten percent more likely to become obese† (Parr 97). Children are larger because American life has changed. More children sit in front of video monitors than on bicycles or playing sports. According to a Nielsen Media Research Report, â€Å"Aside from the time kids spend watching television ,they spend another three to four hours daily with the internet and video games† (Karas 47). According to The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics, in 1999 over 9 million –or 15 percent– of American children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 18 were overweight, or triple what the percentage was in 1990† (Parenting Today ). This problem is going to continue to rise over the years if our country doesn’t put more effort into stopping it. Leaving your child unattended after school and during the summer is a factor not as harmless as everyone thought. Lois Salsbury, president of Children Now, states that â€Å"While the United States has restructured its economy, analysis of the impact on working families is still in its infancy. † â€Å"Hundreds of thousands of children are spending time alone. † â€Å"Is this what we want in terms of safety and developing our children? † Our nation is developing as our parenting skills are deteriorating. We want so much to be wealthy and powerful that we neglect to realize what it is doing to our children. Parents need to realize what is happening to their children and gain control over what their kids eat and how much time they spend sitting around if this problem is going to be reversed. Another area that needs focusing on is the food available for kids to buy while at school. U. S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, has declared childhood obesity a national epidemic (Mayer 23). The Oakland School District banned the sale of sugary drinks and candy in vending machines. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest in the country, followed several weeks later (27). School lunches are not meeting up to the nutritious standards that they should. Vending machines are in almost every elementary school offering kids the opportunity to eat candy, chips, and soda at any time of the school day. The lunches offered usually have one healthy meal and the rest consist of things like pizza, cheese steaks, and mozzarella sticks. Is this what we want our kids eating all day? Legislators introduced several bills aimed at eefing up physical education requirements and fixing up school lunch programs. Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill in October that prohibits the sale of junk food in elementary schools and bans soda at middle schools (32). This needs to be done everywhere. There is no questions that school meal programs have a powerful influence on children’s future food choices. † More than half of youth in the United States eat one to three major meals in school† (Owl 27). Adequate nutrition throughout the day plays an important performance at school and enables children to make wise choices when eating. Kids who go hungry or are only allowed a hurried meal through the morning or afternoon are likely to arrive at home after school extremely hungry. This can lead to overeating particularly high-fat, easy to prepare snack foods. This pattern of behavior is difficult to change and can lead to obesity. â€Å"Providing healthy meals at a pleasant environment at school is an important part of obesity preventionâ€Å" (29). Many school lunch programs offer fast food as an alternative. Limit your childs participation in unhealthy school lunch programs. Parents should ban together and speak with their school boards about improving school lunch programs. School districts should remove the vending machines from their schools and make the lunches offered healthier. So much money is spent every year on obesity programs for children and all that money could be saved if schools would just do their part in solving the problem. â€Å"There is no more compelling reminder of the health implications than the $127 million spent each year in hospital costs related to childhood obesityâ€Å", according to the Centers for Disease control and Prevention. Some things are being done to start solving the problem but not enough. If everyone works together this battle can be overcome. The increasing number of obese parents, technology, unsupervised children after school, and unhealthy school lunches are to blame for the increasing number of overweight kids in the United States. These factors can all be helped and prevented. This problem must be fixed before it gets worse. Our nation must united and work together for the sake and well being of our children.

Tennessee's Partner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Tennessee's Partner - Essay Example The characters, Tennessee’s Partner and Tennessee were known to be notorious at Sandy Barn, being termed as gamblers and thieves. The vagrant criminal activities of Tennessee involving accosting strangers and stealing weapons and money had finally cost his apprehension and trial. Tennessee’s Partner, as a token of their friendship, tried to bribe the court in exchange for his friend’s freedom. However, despite Tennessee’s Partner’s heroic stance to save his friend, the eventually conviction to death was not prevented. His loyalty to Tennessee was viewed by the townsfolk as exemplary and â€Å"cleared him of any complicity in Tennessee's guilt, and left only a suspicion of his general sanity† (Harte, 1899, last par.). The last discourse attested to Tennessee’s partner’s unstable mental condition believing to see his partner again. The short story, in its vividly written content, manifested the loyalty and fidelity accorded in fri endship despite challenges and unconventional endeavors. Harte has revealed the aesthetic value of standing for one’s friend, especially in times of trials and until the end. Despite the notoriety in character, that being perceived and typecast as criminals, there remains a touch of tenderness and love, a product of a bond of friendship woven through time.

Kudler Fine Foods Paper and Presentaion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Kudler Fine Foods Paper and Presentaion - Essay Example And choosing the proper one for the business is depending on the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat, of the choice that possesses in the available and the unavailable resources. The paper has worked on to address the issues regarding the choice of expansion being a private company and a projection of SWOT of the proposed expansion plans. The overall concept of any expansion plan is to raise fund that is needed to expand the company internally or externally. This is so, because the fund is the life line of any venture at the runway. The very first option that the company has projected is the floating of Initial Public Offer to raise fund from the public. This option of Initial Public Offering (IPO), also known as "public offering", is the concept of issuing common stock or shares to the public for the first time. This concept is pretty handy for smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand. In an IPO, the Kudler may obtain the assistance of an underwriting firm, which helps it determine what type of security to issue; that is common or preferred, best offering price and time to bring it to market. Weakness: The cost of complying with regulatory requirements can be very high. Some of the additional costs include the generation of financial reporting documents, audit fees, investor relation departments and accounting oversight committees are unwanted by the public (INVESTOPEDIA, 2008). Threat: The actions of Kudler’s management will become increasingly scrutinised as investors constantly look for rising bottom line. This may lead Kudler to perform questionable practices in order to boost earnings. After this brief insight of the IPO based expansion; the second expansion plan is the Acquisition. It is also known as a takeover or is the buying of one company by another (Spaeder, 2004). Here, the companies cooperate in negotiations of purchasing of a smaller firm by a larger one. There is another form of acquisition, known as