The Life Of Lincoln West :: Essays Papers

The Life Of Lincoln West "It comforted him. For almost four years it meant a lot to him," ends the short story, "The Life of Lincoln West" by Gwendolyn Brooks. This quote suggests that the eleven-year-old Lincoln commits suicide. Why would he do this? Because of the crushing rejection of Lincoln by his parents, teacher, friends, and strangers, he ends his life. Although it may be hard to believe, Lincoln was rejected by his own family. His father couldn't stand to look at Lincoln. He tried very hard to please his father but was not successful. His mother put him with her hairpins and sweethearts, dance slippers, and torn paper roses. She didn't think of her own child as anymore important than these insignificant objects. His parents didn't love him because of the way he looked. Holidays with his family were ruined because his family members couldn't believe that he was so ugly. They felt resentment about him. Lincoln loved his kindergarten teacher but her only concern for Lincoln was one part sympathy and two parts repulsion. It was even difficult for her to be polite to Lincoln because of the way he looked. She did a nice thing for Lincoln one day after school by walking him home. The only reason she walked Lincoln home from school was because she felt pity for him. After she started walking him home she regretted it. Children need other children to grow up with and have fun with. Lincoln only had this with his neighbor friends when there wasn't anyone else around. They were nice to him and played with him but when other kids were around they acted like they weren't his friend. The kids on the playground wouldn't let him touch them and wouldn't be it when he caught them while they played tag. Lincoln had no real friends. No one liked him. Even strangers walking down the street would look at Lincoln and point and stare. In the movie theatre with his mother one day a man pointed Lincoln out and called him "Black, ugly and odd." They said that he was "The real thing." Lincoln found happiness in this statement. "The real thing" made him feel like he was special, a somebody.

Kubler Ross Essay

After reading Kubler-Ross’s On Life after Death, I must say, it’s definitely opened my eyes to a new perspective, and made me realize, that I too, will leave this earth one day. Kubler-Ross was the first in her playing field to open up the subject matter of death. She was able to bring about her ways of ideas through her seminars on what life, death, and transition is. In her counseling of and research on dying patients, Kubler-Ross brings about five stages of dying that an individual experiences when they leave their cocoon. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I think many different individuals can benefit from reading this book, no matter who you are and no matter what your profession is. In this book, Kubler-Ross has mini chapters that are basically a discussion with patients and clients to express the key issues surrounding their illness, where some of the patients know they are certain they will die, and this is where Kubler-Ross exercises one to one therapy to assist throughout the process. A few different topics come up throughout the book about incurably sick patients, near death experiences, and incomplete business. I remember when my grandma passed away, prior to her dying, she’d been through several open heart surgeries, a leg amputation, Parkinson’s disease, and a tremendous amount of stress. Everyone in the family observed and just watched my grandma as she went through Kubler-Ross’s stages. Before something else would arise with my grandma, you can just tell she was in denial about whatever was next to happen. Everyone in the family was very down and out, especially my mom, and she was the strongest one and was the one to take care of my grandmas the most. But she would never let my grandma see her upset; she’d wait until she got home before she cried. Kubler-Ross mentions that it is usually a temporary guard and will eventually be able to reach the stage of acceptance (p. 21). Kubler-Ross points out that when you are angry, it can’t really be sugar coated. And when you have an upset or angry individual in a family, it will make its rounds and the mood will just linger amongst those that are there. During this time it’s important to be very liberal to the way others feel. The process of being open-minded to others will aid in expressing the wishes of the dying patient. I now understand that in more cases than not, the rationale for dying is connected with bargaining for more time. Bargaining, which is one of Kubler-Ross’s (5) stages, is when the individual thinks that if they would have done something differently, God would have given him/her more time to live. I feel we can learn a lot from this section in our day-to-day lives. We all ask ourselves if only and if we are struck with an illness, would we fight for the time we have and try to make it worthwhile. If we did not live with such suffering, like my grandmother had, we may lead different lives. The ways each person individually lives him/her life may be focused on materialistic values or it can be of faith in who we are and faith in God. I do believe that when any individual comes into contact with going through someone passing, it’s ok to be upset, and it’s expected for one to suffer from a heightened state of depression. As human beings, we can make a decision to let that depression take charge of us, or we can choose to accept death. To resolve most conflicts in our lives when we are dying is when we are able to accept the unavoidable events that transpire. It’s very important to be able to come to some terms of agreement with events that happen in our lives not just when death occurs, but also in our day to day lives in this world. If nothing is absorbed in one’s mind after reading these short essays in this book, you will learn to take what each day brings as a new day starts, and to live for the moment. My mom always tells me to not take things for granite, be grateful, because we never know when it’s our time to go, and that God brought us into this world, and he can take you out. I think this book mentions several personal stories, which is a good thing because whoever is reading the book has the ability to identify with the experiences. The book gives you an opportunity to become stronger reading about others experiences as you go through unforeseen events in your own life. One example from the book is the mother whose husband left her with the needy children, and she struggled with the word â€Å"retarded†, and tried to understand the purpose of having a child that was like a vegetable. She goes through several stages with God, and then finds a true meaning to have the child. She identifies herself with her child and talks to her godmother, and she writes a poem, titled â€Å"To My Godmother† (p. 23). The poems express the mother’s feelings of acceptance and her will to continue with her life even though she had a very needy child. An individual that is experiencing similar experiences may read this book and feel comforted in reading the poem, knowing that if someone else could show such strength and hope during hardship then they can as well. These readings clearly can be therapeutic to clients who are  experiencing and dealing with these issues in their own lives. However, this book presents a weakness in that Kubler-Ross can at times display a mixed tone that may come across as her showing more empathy in one story and more clinical in others. I think this book can be woven into psychotherapy a few different ways. The therapist could implement different parts of the book as reflection exercises for clients. Some experiences shared in this book can help clients gain insight into their feelings as they face dying either themselves or through some else’s experience. As mentioned previously, this book will have you taking one day at a time, and dealing with what each day brings as it comes. Kubler-Ross was an innovator in her field and opened the doors to communicating about death. I learned that death is a process and mostly filled with grief, and when loved ones are suffering from an illness, or whatever the case may be, we need to be aware of Kubler-Ross’s five stages as the individual goes through them, and think about how it is going to have an effect on us in the process.

Music of Cuba and Puerto Rico: A Comparison and Contrast Essay

Music is an important aspect of both the Cuban and Puerto Rican cultures because music forms part of everyday life. To the people in these countries, music is a way of expressing unity and belongingness. The European explorers, particularly the Spanish, who came to Cuba and Puerto Rico (Thompson, 1991) enriched music in both countries. The music in these countries also became rich because of the influence of African slaves in the plantations (Sublette, 2004) who eventually become part of the community after slavery ended. The fusion of these influences made community life and music more interesting. Type of Music The type of music in both Cuba and Puerto Rico evolved from the Spanish and African influences but the extent of influence differed. African percussion dance music has a stronger influence on Cuban music while Spanish classical and folk dance music had a stronger influence on Puerto Rican music. In addition, Puerto Rican music also borrowed much from Cuban music and music of the native Indians (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006). The single strong influence on Cuban Music and the more diverse influence on Puerto Rican music explained the similarities and differences in the type of music. The similar types of dance music in Cuba and Puerto Rico are son, salsa, mambo, and danzones (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006). The differences in the type of music include the livelier Spanish inspired bolero and zapateo in Cuba and the more laid back Spanish inspired narrative plena and folk dance music decima and seis in Puerto Rico. Another difference is the African inspired dance music rumba of Cuba utilizing only narration and percussion and the African inspired dance music bomba of Puerto Rico that utilized narration, percussion and other instruments such as the maracas. Sound The result of the combination of African, Spanish and indigenous culture led to diverse and enduring rich music. However, Cuban music has retained its original strong African percussion influence by findings its own path after the Spanish colonization ended while Puerto Rican music diversified further with the American influence. Cuba retained the traditional rhythms changing only with the use of modern instruments while Puerto Rican music further evolved into jazz, rock, rap and reggae (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006) using modern beats and instruments. Separation of historical development and modernization led to the divergence of music in these countries. Lyrics The lyrics of music in Cuba and Puerto Rico commonly focused on love and passion, courage and nationalism, and family and parental devotion (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006). Cuba and Puerto Rico experienced African and Spanish influences on music lyrics. The African influence is more on call-response lyrics with a leader singing a call and the listeners responding to the call. The Spanish influence refers to the arrangement of words and phrases in artistic form such as in love songs and the national anthems of both countries. However, revolutionary lyrics are more pervasive in Cuba since its national anthem is a call to battle while the national anthem in Puerto Rico is a celebration of independence. Musical Instruments There are three basic musical instruments common in Cuba and Puerto Rico, which are different types of percussion or drums, guitar or lute, and sticks tapped together (Thompson, 1991; Sublette, 2004). The difference is the widespread use of bass instruments and trumpets in Cuba that accompanied marches and dances and the more common use of flute and other indigenous musical instruments in Puerto Rico. Religious Influences Religion is a strong influence in the development of music of both Cuba and Puerto Rico but the influences differed. African god worship using percussion music strongly influenced Cuban music while Spanish catholic prayer chants strongly influence Puerto Rican music. In Cuba, Santeria emerged as a religion combining the indigenous god worship and Nigerian god worship (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006). With the Catholic influence, the saints had counterparts with the gods based on similar characteristics and worshipped similar to African gods. In Puerto Rico, the slaves in the plantations adopted the chants taken from the Spanish Catholic mass (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006) and used the lyrics or patterns for the call-response chanting in music. Furthermore, the fusion of the Spanish and African religious music led to religious music that is less solemn that in Catholic worship and less loud than in African worship of gods in Cuba. Political Influences Ideological or political struggle are common themes in Cuban and Puerto Rican music. However, the divergence in the political development of these countries created differences. The revolutionary movement in Cuba created music describing social issues and armed struggle while at the same time discouraging superstitious beliefs, but with little success in discouraging folklore in music (Manuel, Bilb & Largey, 2006). The independence movement in Puerto Rico also used music to inspire action but the American influence comprised a differentiating factor. After the success of these movements, music became a source of identity and national pride. In Cuba, music also became a weapon of influence amidst the embargo by the United States and its allies. Conclusion Music is a cultural artifact and cultural force for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. Music was a core part of the history of these countries. This will also accompany future direction. References Manuel, P. , Bilb, K. , & Largey, M. (2006). Caribbean currents: Caribbean music from rhumba to reggae. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Sublette, N. (2004). Cuba and its music: From the first drums to the mambo. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press. Thompson, A. F. (1991). Music and dance in Puerto Rico from the age of Columbus to modern times. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

The Relationship Between Carlos Castaneda and Don Juan essays

The Relationship Between Carlos Castaneda and Don Juan essays Carlos Castaneda was interested in collecting and studying medicinal plants, especially the uses of the hallucinogenic cactus- peyote. A friend of his had put him in contact with Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian that knew a great deal of plants. Their introduction lead him to believe that don Juan was a man that could appreciate directness and (he) decided to boldly tackle him with a request (1). He wanted him to become his informant in exchange for some sort of monetary reward. Don Juan quickly refused any type of monetary reward. I think that he felt that there was no need for monetary reward because he said that perhaps there is nothing to learn about plants, because there is nothing to say about them (6). It was unthinkable for him to take his money. Don Juan said to Carlos you can ask me anything you want. I will tell you what I know and I will tell you what to do with it (6). The teacher-student contract in the first several chapters of Journey to Ixtlan is one of an even exchange more specifically an exchange of times. Don Juan doesnt want money; he told Carlos pay me for my time... with your time (5). By exchanging times they are both at an equal level. Neither one is better than the other because they are on the same page. Exchanging money for knowledge implies that one person is better than the other either on a social scale or on an intellectual scale and the exchange is not even. Furthermore, by exchanging times, there are no expectations and there is an ambience of lesser constraints and more can come out of the experience. Carlos Castaneda expects to learn about medicinal plants, especially peyote from don Juan. After all, that was the purpose in approaching him. However, this is not the case. Thus far, all of his encounters with don Juan have involved something else other than plants except for the incident in the dessert where he is prompted to t...

Title IX essays

Title IX essays In the beginning of the 1970s, there was an enormously growing frustration among the female athletes in the United States. A majority of both public schools and universities did not offer any type of competitive athletic programs for females. Most didnt even go as far as having intramural athletics for its female athletes. Urban myths at the time suggested that women should not play sports. They were instead intended to take on the role of mother, wife, and homemaker. To help young girls more appropriately adapt to this role learning how to cook and sew, playing with dolls, and playing house were all encouraged. Some girls who did not fit into this stereotype were negatively stigmatized with such damaging remarks as tomboy, and lesbian. But in the early 1970s these negative stereotypes were starting to change as the womens rights movement started to become stronger and stronger. Eventually the womens movement sent a ripple effect into the world of sports. This movement however was not seen in favorable light by many males. Institutions would open only partially open the door for womens athletics in order to avoid negative sanctions by the government. But, after many years of this openly sexist system, schools started to fund womens programs. Right around this time is where Title IX was passed in Congress. Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 stipulated that no individual shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education al programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance(Eitzen 176). When Title IX was passes it received an unusually quick and violent reaction from the male-dominated athletic arena. One of the biggest protesters was Father Edmund Joyce of Notre Dame University. When it was first passed he called the amendment asinine(185). There were other pr...

Case study #1 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

#1 - Case Study Example Basing on the company’s experience and an interview with one of the workers at the customer service center of Nike Inc, the paper examines the process of customer service within the company. Creation of strong brand equity has over the past four decades become major strengths for the enterprise. The structure and emphasis within the business ensure that the customer get the concept of the idea behind the brand and want to have a connection with the name. After identifying the importance of customer experience, the company is making major steps towards the creation of a competitive advantage. It is believed that seventy percent of purchasing trends and purchasing experiences among customers are a result of clients feeling regarding their treatment. The availability of strong competing brands like Addidas and Puma has led to the realization of the importance of handling customer experience within the company. Since customers are aware of the availability of strong brands competing with Nike, they enjoy the luxury of demanding better services and better treatment while their complaints are being resolved. Because customer brand experience directly correlates with the exper ience enjoyed by the client, ensuring an existence of authentic customer engagements before and after completion of a sale is essential (Frisch, 2009). The approach needs requires a personal commitment with the client throughout the period to ensure any needs or requirements of the client are handled. As Nike company operations involves engaging in direct contact with customers, the company emphasizes on the importance of customer interaction through these processes throughout its retailers worldwide. The organization has consequently created loyalty programs among customers to ensure continuous interactions with customers that in return lead to the development of customer experience. The company’s

Aids and it is obstacle to African development Essay - 1

Aids and it is obstacle to African development - Essay Example It can be noted that the effects of HIV/AIDS pandemic have a direct bearing on the development of the African countries. As such, this essay seeks to critically discuss the obstacles caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic to African development by analysing the situation in South Africa, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. The paper seeks to outline the direct effects of HIV/AIDS on development in these three countries as well as the measures that have been put by the respective governments to deal with the situation. Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is contracted through birth, sex, sharing sharp objects such as a razor blade and over time the virus will spread over the body and weaken its cells. The weakening of cells causes AIDS- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome which leads to illness and eventually death from related diseases such as tuberculosis or pneumonia and many others (Greyling, 2). HIV/AIDS is one of the most difficult catastrophes to deal with during the contemporary period given that a cure for this deadly pandemic is not yet available and may not be near in sight for quite some time hence the only option that is available at the moment is to strengthen the mechanisms to prevent, reduce the spread and minimise the impact of HIV/AIDS (Benjamin & Barry, 28). In the Sub Saharan Africa in particular, death rates have continued to rise because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic causing life expectancy to fall from an average of 50 years in 1990 to 46 years in 2002 (ADI, 14). AIDS related deaths were 2.2 million in Africa in 2001 and there were more than 30 million infected people. Both Ethiopia and Sierra Leone also have high HIV infection rates according to the report. In the same vein, South Africa is one of the countries with highest HIV infections in the Sub Sahara region regardless of its strong economic performance.