Mid-Term Essay Essay Example for Free

Mid-Term Essay Essay This essay will focus on the influence family background and childhood memories have on writers and the theme of their writings. In both the essays chosen for detailed study here, we see how the authors’ philosophy of life and things that they chose to explore and write about was set way back in their childhood as a result of the traumas they faced. This paper will present an analysis of how the families of Sanders and Maduro shaped the way these authors understand themselves and relate to others. Scott Russell Sanders was the winner of the Mark Twain Award in 2009 and his work A Private History of Awe was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, to a family of cotton farmers, Sanders taught Literature and worked as Professor of English at Indiana University. The main vision behind his writing is the shift in cultures from a consumerist to a care-giving society (Sanders). In his essay, â€Å"Under the Influence: Paying the Price for my Father’s Booze†, Sanders had chronicled the trauma he and his siblings had to endure because of his father’s alcoholism. In this memoir Sander’s recounts the feelings of guilt, shame and helpless that he felt as a child of ten when he saw his father’s unstable and ferocious outbursts after getting drunk. He blamed himself for it and that feeling of guilt hounded him throughout his life. â€Å"I tell myself he drinks to ease [†¦] an ache I must have caused by disappointing him somehow† (Sanders). To atone for his perceived inadequacies as a child Sanders tried to turn to working hard and trying to keep the family together and taking on his father’s responsibilities, â€Å"by vainly seeking to erase through my efforts whatever drove him to drink† (Sanders). Sanders observes that his own children wonder at what drives him to be a â€Å"workaholic† and tries to allay their fears and any sense of guilt or pressure they may feel by being candid about his own feelings of guilt, hurt and shame at his father’s alcoholism. On maturity he realized that he had castigated himself needlessly as a child and that his father’s alcoholism was a disease and he had no reason to feel responsible for it. However, his fear of drinks and bad conduct that he had witnessed as a child had left a deep scar in his soul. He is reticent about going to pubs with his friends and drinking as much as he is afraid of causing hurt or disappointment to anybody. He is constantly watchful of any adverse reactions from people around him and still carries the shame of his father’s â€Å"sins† deep down inside him and shies away from having that facet of his life exposed in public. The name E. S. Maduro is a pseudonym under which the author talks about her feminist beliefs and her convictions on freedom of choice and awareness for women. She records how her own youthful feelings of rebellion against the social norms of marriage and raising children altered upon maturity but how she clung to her belief that women should have the awareness to make decisions for themselves. They should be allowed to choose their career paths according to their wishes and not be forced into stereotypical roles due to societal pressures. In the essay â€Å"Excuse Me While I Explode: My Mother, Myself, My Anger† the writer describes her feelings of anger, guilt and frustrations when she narrates the story of how her mother and women of that generation had to sacrifice their careers and all their life’s desires to accommodate their families and their duties as home makers and mothers. â€Å"Excuse Me While I Explode: My Mother, Myself, My Anger† first appeared in print as an article in a book entitled The Bitch in the House. In this article Maduro has written about her frustration at the inequality women face in society. It primarily deals with her angst at how she being a post-modern woman who was educated and liberated fell back and did the same things that she has found so loathsome in her mother. She had felt defiant at the way her mother and most women had to give-up their own dreams of a good and successful life to slave at household chores and raising children. â€Å"Years ago† a woman did not have a choice to voice her opinions and the role of housekeeper and dutiful mother was thrust upon her without so much as a thought about how she felt about it. Her toil was taken for granted and the spouse did not even think it inappropriate to allow his wife to do all the housework when he could very easily have offered to help. â€Å"I believed myself to be a feminist, and I vowed never to fall into the same trap of domestic boredom and servitude that I saw my mother as being fully entrenched in; never to settle for a life that was, as I saw it, lacking independence, authority, and respect† (Maduro 5). However, as she grew older and had her own experience of loving and living with her partner she was amazed that she followed the same pattern almost unconsciously and managed both house and work despite her partner wanting to help her with the chores. She puzzles over why this is so because she believed herself to be aware of her rights unlike her mother and in full command over her vocation and what she wanted out of life, yet she slaved at household chores: I feel an odd mixture of frustration and love. Together we have a wonderful, open, trusting relationship, but sometimes I wonder if the hostility already in me, and my need to be angry at someone or something, could eventually destroy our bond (Maduro 12). The article is an introspection of why she chose to do this. She comes up with the hypothesis that women chose to take on domestic responsibilities even if it meant forgoing some of their own desires because it made a woman proud to be an accomplished home maker and mother. She identified this need in a woman to excel in housekeeping as a source of pleasure and fulfillment. She reflects on the dichotomy between love and frustration, career and home, raising children and vocation and finally finds comfort in the fact that unlike her mother she was not forced into servitude. She did what she did because she wanted to do it, she had the option of turning away and that made a big difference. She is able to resolve her conflict and also that of many other women by reiterating that choosing to be a good housekeeper and mother was an option and you could choose to be one even if you felt strongly for the cause of feminism. Works Cited Maduro, E. S. â€Å"Excuse Me While I Explode: My Mother, Myself, My Anger†. The Bitch in the House. Cathy Hanauer. New York: Harper Collins, 2002. Print. Sanders, Russell Scott. â€Å"Under the Influence: Paying the Price for my Father’s Booze† Harpers Magazine Nov 1989: n. pag. Web. 2 Jun 2010.

A Cuban Reading of Psalm 137 :: Cuba Religion Bible Christianity Essays

A Cuban Reading of Psalm 137 There are two Cubas. On the Island are revolutionaries crusading to construct a Cuba that combats any attempt to subjugate her spirit to the US hegemony. On the (main)land are the modernists who look toward the United States as the guide and hope for revitalizing a Post-Castro Cuba. Consequently, the Cuban community is divided into two antagonistic camps: Resident Cubans living under Castro's Marxist regime, and Exilic Cubans living under a global capitalist system. Due to these political and economic differences, we Cubans are a people divided against ourselves. This division creates a unique space in how we read the Bible differently than the rest of Latin America or other U.S. Hispanic groups. Theologians operating from a liberationalist perspective focus on Exodus as a source of hope for their existential situation. The story of a God who hears the cries of the oppressed and personally leads them toward liberation is a powerful motif. However, Exodus is not the rubric from which we Exilic Cubans read the scriptures. It is the second exodus, narrating the Babylonian Captivity, that resonates within our very being. Like the Psalmist of 137 we sit by the streams of this country, singing about our inability to sing God's songs. †¢ BESIDE THE MIAMI RIVER WE SAT AND WEPT AT THE MEMORY OF LA HABANA LEAVING OUR CONGA DRUMS BY THE PALM TREES. In la sagà ¼esera (Southwest Miami), on Calle Ocho (Eighth Street), is a restaurant called Versailles, dubbed El palacio de los Espejos (The mirrored palace). What makes this restaurant unique are the mirrored walls. Sitting at the table in the crowded salon, I constantly see myself reflected on one of many heavily-gilded mirrors. As we Exilic Cubans look in the mirrors surrounding us, we are in fact searching for our ontological origin. Not so much what we are, but what we see ourselves as being. Versailles serves as a vivid illustration to Lacan's theory of the Mirror Stage. Lacan, the postmodern psychoanalyst, maintains that while I look at myself in the mirror, I assume that what I see is a reflection of a self ─ a secondary reflection faithful (more or less) to the likeness of an existing original self. Lacan would propose the opposite, that the image in the mirror is what constructs the self. My encounter with the mirror literally reverses the direction, and serves the function of forming my "I.

Psy 1010

Psy 110, portions chap 5, 6 & 7M. Dwyer Fall 2009/ Exam #3 Chapter 5 1. What are the four kinds of reinforcers mentioned in your book? Define them and be prepared to give an example of each. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS INFORCE A STIMULI NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT IS TO REMOVE A STIMULI POSITIVE PUNISHMENT IS WHEN A TARGITED BEHAVIOUR IS REMOVED BY PRESENTING A STIMULAS shouting at the dog NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT IS WHEN TARGET BEHAVIOUR BY REMOVING A STIMULAS toy removal 2. What are the four schedules of partial reinforcement we discussed? Which produces the highest rate of responding and the most resistance to extinction and why?FIXED INTERVAL reward every 5 mins FIXED RATIO reward every 5 responses VARIABLE INTERVAL an avg. every 3 mins and varied VARIABLE RATIO an avg. every 5 behaviours 3. What is the significance of latent learning and observational learning? How did discovery of these two important types of learning change our definition of psychology? OBERVATIONAL LEARNING learning by l ooking at others by observing LETENT LEARNING learning that is not directly observable 4. Define conditioned taste aversion, instinctual drift, subliminal learning, discovery learning, direct instruction, learning styles.TASTE AVERSION it is when we recognize a taste and in the future we try to avoid it due to its effect to us INSTINCTUAL DRIFT is the tendency of an organism to revert to instinctive behaviors that can interfere with the conditioned response SUBLIMINAL LEARNING sub means below and luminal light it is the theory that states that a person can learn even with little information which if is continuously repeated DISCOVERY LEARNING is when we learn after experiencing something for our self DIRECT INSTRUCTION learning through given instruction e. g. ectures not experiments LERNING STYLE it the type of style that best fits a individual Chapter 6 5. When we have a memory of an event it is a reconstruction of the event. Explain what that means. What information goes into our reconstructions of the past? Previous info Trace memories of the event Past experiences Context of the person asking the question 6. What are the functions, span(capacity), and duration of each of the three types of memory processes? Sensory memory Short term memory Long term memory 7. What happens in sensory store? What does it mean when we say that these processes are preattentive?PREATTENTIVE –SO FAST WE DON’T KNOW WE ARE DOING IT IMAGE IS CREATEDLD WE SCAN IMAGE AND PICK UP INFORMATION THAT WE WANT FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS 8. The three types of processes that go on in short term memory (working memory) are.. I listed them .. beginning with the match-mismatch identification of incoming information, maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal—be able to give a number of examples of the latter†¦ GATHER INFO REHERCE INFO REHERCE IT TILL IT IS STORED IN LONG TERM MEMORY 9. What are proactive and retroactive interference? Be able to give examples.RETRO ACTIVE ability to recall something that you have learned in the past after lerning something new PROACTIVE ability to learn second lesson after learning the both lessons 10. Be able to name and give examples of all the different types of long term memory. SEMANTIC OUR KNOWLOGE ABOUT FACTS FO THE WORLD EPISODIC RECOLLECTION OF EVENTS OF OUR LIVES EXPLICIT MEMORIES WE RECALL INTENTIONALLY AND WHICH WE HAVE CONSTANT AWARENESS IMPLICIT MEMORIES FOR HOW WE DO THINGS PROCEDURAL ABILITY TO IDENTIFY A STIMULAS MORE EASILY OR QUICKLY AFTER WE ENCOUNTER SIMILAR STIMULI 11.Define encoding, storage and retrieval. ENCODING IS THE PROCESS OF GETTING INFORMATION INTO OUR MEMORY BANKS STORING IS THE PROCES OF KEEPING INFORMATION IN OUR MEMORY REVIVAL IS THE REACTIVATION OR RECONSTRUCTION OF EVENTS FROM OUR MEMORY STORAGE 12. What are the different forms of retrieval? Be able to identify one of each in the items on your test.. RECALL – IF U TRULY LEARN IT RECOGNITION- MULTI CHOICE SKETCHY INDERSTAN DING 13. What are the three ways in which the concept of â€Å"specificity of cues† apply to memory retrieval. RELEARN -REAQUIRING KNOWLOGE THAT WE PRVIOUSLYLEARNED BUT FORGOTTEN OVER TIME RECALL-GENERATING PREVIOUSLY GENERATED INFORMATION RECOGNISATION- SELECTIONG INFO FROM ARRY OF INFO THAT WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY LEARNED 14. What do we mean by levels of processing? MARE DEEP REPETITION PROCESS MARE BRAIN MARE 15. What are semantic networks, lexicons, and schemas? (define them). 16. Name five study tips that would improve student test performance. 20 MIN BREAK LONG TERM NO CRAMMING SAME STATE SIT IN SAM SEAT 17. How do we distinguish between false memories or true memories? MORE REHERSAL CONSIDER THE PROBE DISTINCT BW BIAS Chapter 7: 18. What is language?Define it and be able to discuss its basic components. PATTERN OF SIGNALS GENERATIVE AND IS COMPLECATED SYMBOLS WORDS GESTURES RULE BOUND ENCODING AND DECODING IT IS ARBITUARY 19. What are the early stages of language developmen t? The early stages comprise of babbling in children where they utter parts of words which they cannot pronounce but as the early stages pass gradually the child starts to utter words in a more meaning full pattern and the later on in life they interpret words give them meanings this type of behavior is coved in behaviorism where learning is done by observing. 0. Define phonemes, morphemes, babbling, syntax (Of surface and prescriptive grammar, which of these two is taught to us by our elementary and high school teachers? ) Phonemes is the smallest unit of sound Morphemes are composed of phonemes and a number of them to create meaning Babbling is the experimentation of noise making by the child trying to speak making vovel sound 21. Familiarize yourself with and be able to critiques the four theories of language development covered in your book.

The Economics Of The Great Depression - 1638 Words

The Economics of the Great Depression Tyler Brooks 4/19/2015 The great Depression was the worst and longest economic decline experienced by the industrialized western world. Economic cycles are continuous loops of periods of business expansion followed by business contraction. This is the way economics has always been in the industrialized world and extended periods of contraction was something people had seen before. However, the Great Depression was something people had never seen before. It wasn’t merely a temporary economic set back as experienced in the in the great recession of 2007, it was a period of extreme destitution, unemployment, and panic amongst the rich and poor alike across the globe that lasted 56 months (Swarup, 212). Although the Great Depression is widely remembered event in American history, it remains difficult to sum up why it happened in one breath. There were many factors at play that all sounded off of each other to create a perfect storm of Consumer panic and economic uncertainty. When people make simple decl arative statements about why the great depression happened it comes off as more telling about that person’s politics, rather than an objective analysis. While there is no clear scholarly consensus as to what started the great depression, there are a number of contributing market factors that people do agree upon. The popular narrative about the great depression is that it was caused by the stockShow MoreRelatedThe Great Depression And Economic Depression Essay3400 Words   |  14 PagesSummary The Great Depression was an economic depreciation in Europe, North America and other industrialized areas globally that commenced in 1929 and endured until about 1939. The depression stirred severe effects in the U.S.A that left its economy on the brink of a downfall. The research investigates the causes and reasons that influenced the great recession in the United States of America. The causes comprise of the hazardous decline of the Stock Market in that occurred in 1929 which sent theRead MoreThe Great Depression And Economic Depression1803 Words   |  8 Pages â€Å"The Great Depression† The Great Depression may be known to the world as the toughest economic period of the industrialized world that brought severe consequences to a vast number of countries in the west. It began six months earlier in the United States in1929 after the stock markets in the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, and it dragged on until 1939; in fact, historians describe it as the worst economic depression of all time given its scope and impact. Specifically, the effects of the GreatRead MoreThe Great Depression And Economic Depression1802 Words   |  8 Pages The Great Depression was a worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. 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