Physiological life-long process Essay Example for Free

Physiological life-long process Essay Aging primarily is a physiological life-long process, starting at conception and ending with death (Kart, 1994). Persons grow old whether they like it or not. These changes, both positive and negative, place demands on the aging person’s abilities to cope with and adapt to new life situations. It is a challenge for any given society to assist their aged in coping with the new life situations they are facing. Unfortunately, the rapid social changes taking place in society do not always lend themselves toward helping the elderly meet the demands of their life situations. For one, the attitude toward this population is not helping them cope with it as well. According to historian Fischer, 1977 in Doress-Worters Seigel, 1994), the old is regarded as useless, unattractive, and unwanted especially in the west. Acknowledging these realities of aging, the current research has been undertaken to study the experience of subjective well-being of senior citizens of Gladys Spellan. This shall be from the point of view of their administrators, particularly on their views on well being and the factors that influence it. Objectives / Outcomes This study therefore, will strive to achieve the following objectives: 1) Understand the experiences of the senior citizens of Gladys Spellman in the home for the aged from the perspective of their administrators: a) Their understanding or idea of well-being b) And the components of well being and factors that influence it. I personally chose this topic because I believe that as more and more elderly are placed under institutionalized care in contemporary society, a study such as this is needed to explore this phenomenon. It would shed light into the subjective lives experiences of the aged from an administrators’ view point. This would also contribute to the literature in this area and serve as groundwork for further studies in this area. This study will explore the subjective well-being (SWB) of the elderly in Gladys Spellmen who opted to live in an institutionalized set up or in a home for the aged by choice. The following framework will be used as a guide in the study: Method The first step in the research was the gathering of secondary data that are pertinent to the current topic, collating literature on the concept of well-being, indicators of the cognitive and affective components, and the factors which contribute towards it. A case study will be used in the current study, focusing on Gladys Spellmen Specialty Center. A semi- structured interview guide has been used in gathering primary data from the administrators of the institution. Interviewing. All the interview sessions with administrators will be one-on-one or individual interviews, for which the researcher has jotted down notes. A session with the participants lasted about 45 to 90 minutes,sometimes with a break in between or without it. The personal information sheet will be completed before or after the interview session with them. The researcher will take down notes while interviewing which shall be thematically analyzed. References Kart, C. S. (1994). The realities of aging: An introduction to gerontology (4th ed. ). Boston: Allyn Bacon. Doress-Worters P. B. , Seigel, D. L. (1994). The new ourselves growing older. Women aging with a knowledge and power. New York: Simon Schuster.

Relationship Between Documentary And Reality Film Studies Essay

Relationship Between Documentary And Reality Film Studies Essay By exploring the relationship between documentary and reality define the genre. (Please note the term reality here does not mean the genre reality television). Documentary has become so scattered and diverse that it is hard to define the genre, Documentary film has often been looked at as that which communicates the real not the imagined, (Pearce McLaughlin 2007, p.47) it tells stories, makes claims or remarks about the real historical world rather than the contrived areas of fiction. The documentary filmmaker gathers, structures and edits the material in a manner that changes it from a simple record of actuality into a form which we can refer to as documentary dialogue. Therefore it is seen as an engaging sort of cinema but its customary techniques to enhance its aim or purpose has led to issues surrounding verisimilitude. I intend to analyse further the relationship between documentary and reality exploring the conventions and modes used to define the genre. Automatically when we view documentaries we feel closer to the truth for two reasons: first that there is a lack of fictionalised features and second because the events shown have not been coordinated by the filmmaker. But this is a naÃÆ' ¯ve approach we have to be aware that the account offered is one that is seen from a particular perspective. A documentary film is one that offers information about factual topics with a variety of aims, to record important events and ideas; to inform viewers; to convey opinions. To achieve these aims a number of common conventions are used including: actuality (occurrences in front of the lens be it events, people or places), voice-over (the filmmaker offering information, explanations and opinions), interviews (witnesses or participants directly relate their experiences), archival footage (show historical events or to add detail without additional filming), reconstructions (false scenes that provide the viewer with factual information and give a sense of realism), montage (visual representation of characters thoughts helping the viewer understand what the character is saying) and the exposition (creates the viewers first impression and introduces the content) these all create a sense of presence. The overall impact of these devices is to heighten the effect of realism for the viewer; making declarations about the real world and offering filmed evidence to support it. In order to explain documentary further Bill Nichols identified six documentary modes That function something like sub-genres of the documentary film genre itself: poetic, expository, participatory, observational, reflexive, performative. (Nichols, 2001, p.99) I will briefly consider these modes each in turn. The poetic mode is a skewed and creative expression; its desire is to grasp the hidden truth through poetic manipulation as seen in Walter Ruttmanns (1927) film Berlin: Symphony of a Great City which presents an extended montage chronicling the daily life of this German city. In the scenes such as the policeman guiding traffic followed by two rows of matching bobble head toys nodding suggests a tone of conformism and ashamed loyalty of the citizens. Expository documentaries on the other hand use rhetorical methods to create realism, this mode has a straight narrative structure with a direct relationship between the images and voice-over where interviews are only used to support the films argument An Inconvenient Truth is an example of expository documentary as it trusts on verbal commentary and challenging judgment to make its case about global warming. This frankness is similar to the observational mode known as Direct Cinema. Here it appears documentary is impassive, having an impa rtial attitude on its subject which can be seen in Richard Pennebackers Dont Look Back (1967). The participatory mode is where the filmmaker does not stay aloof but rather engages with it. Micheal Moores film Roger and Me (1989) displays this trait with a frankly moralistic documentary. The reflexive mode comments on the means of representation itself; it uses techniques that query the notion of documentary as a category or mode. For instance Errol Morris The Thin Blue Line (1988) an account of the breakdown of justice, urges the viewer to think about comparative points of truth and deceit by using reconstruction and repetition of scenes. Finally there is the performative mode which introduces concerns around the filmmaker and subject performance stressing the emotive and shared impact on the audience. In turn each mode uses the means of the narrative and realism in different ways, using conventional elements to create a range of text with ethnical matters, textual structures and ty pical expectations among the viewers. In the documentary genre, it is observed that reality is seemingly evident, wholesome without any manipulation; compared to fiction film however the margins between reality and fiction are indefinite Documentarys selection and ordering of the images and sounds of reality constitute an account of the world; however, it thereby becomes prey to loss of the real in its narratives of reality. (Cowie, 2011, p.1) It is the degree that these events are affected or directed by the filmmaker that causes concern for documentary. In Nanook of the North (1992) Robert Flaherty engrossed himself in the lives of the Inuit people, devoting a year living with them. This implies a participant observation attitude, where the filmmaker notes modestly and forms as impartial a record as possible. However for the purpose of dramatization Flaherty manipulated events, all of Nanook of the North is said to be one gigantic re-enactment (Nichols, 2001, p.13) for instance he filmed Nanook hunting with customary harpoon rather than the more modern weapons that he actually used. Such devices are actually central and perhaps inevitable practices in documentary production but the use of reconstruction has remained controversial raising issues on ethics as to whether a documentary filmmaker should engineer things in order to realising the truth of the subject matter. Documentary footage can only have a claim on the real if it is somehow taken unawares but this is untrue, all documentaries treat their material artistically. The experts in direct cinema alleged that the occurrence of the camera and filmmakers did not impact on their subject matter. Grey Gardens (1975) by the Maysles Brothers is a very famous fly-on-the-wall documentary about Edith Beale and Edie Beale, Jackie Kennedys aunt and cousin; it is a far cry from observational documentary. As the filmmakers constantly relate with these obviously psychologically troubled women which rears important questions about the morals of documentary filmmaking. Sometimes while filming they just want to clarify information, such as a photograph but frequently their contact is more difficult Because the womens hold on reality is so tenuous the Maysles walk a fine line in the film between examination and exploitation, foregrounding an issue that is always inevitably present in direct cinema (Grant Hillier 2009, p.74) Grey Gardens is a film that employs notions of performance and self-representation where both filmmakers and subjects are delighting in their individual presentations. There are different points to which the subjects of a documentary may be seen to be performing for the cameras A person does not present in exactly the same way to a companion on a dateand a filmmaker in an interviewà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦they modify their behaviour as the situation evolves. (Nichols 2001, p.9) The participation in shared roles has remained vital to the documentary project. Similarly there have been degrees of self-consciousness or acknowledgment by the filmmakers of the role they are performing in the production of a documentary. The fact that documentaries will always be about the real world, real people and real issues, the idea of enactment with them is hypothetically profound and spontaneous as it appears opposed to concepts of truthfulness and undistorted reality. However in Nick Broomfields films Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) we are time and again drawn to his role as the filmmaker and moderator. At the end of the day his films are much more about him and the process of filming as they are about Aileen this offers a sense of truth, as behind the story is an condemnation of the media and the legal system of America. Consequently Broomfields films focus the role of the documentarist and the wa ys in which the filmmakers contact with the reality they are capturing influences the subsequent film. Documentary has always had an awe inspiring outcome on its audience the relationship between documentary and reality is debateable as most documentaries do integrate particular fictional elements to elevate the visual effect and entertainment value of their film. Though they claim to present the world as it is and try to hold the attention of their audiences by the strength of their argument, documentaries can never accomplish the level of impartiality to which they from time to time desire it can tell the truth but not the entire truth. (Chapman 1988, p.23) Therefore by analysing some of the conceptual and practical issues involved in defining the genre along with its relationship with reality across a variety of documentary modes the genre of documentary will always cause debate regarding its definition. Therefore all we can expect is that it will be a fair and honest representation of someone elses experience of reality.

Daily Athenian life :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Famed for its literature, poetry, drama, theatre, schools, buildings, government, and intellectual superiority you have no doubt that your polis, Athens, is clearly the shining star of all Greek city-states.†(Daily life in ancient Greece) Athens was a mighty city-state of Greece. Even though it was a very intellectual and powerful city-state, it did not mean that it was necessarily a good city. Athens was the cause of the Peloponnesian War. It deceived the other city-states by making them send money to Athens, so Athens could build a powerful army to protect Greece from the Persians. Athens started to use that money on the city of Athens. Eventually the citizens of Athens did not have to pay taxes. The other city-states got angry, thus beginning the Peloponnesian war. The war lasted about 30 years, starting from 461-406 BC.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An aristocrat named Cleisthenes, who was trying to gain more power, invented a form of government called democracy. Democracy was used in Athens. Athens was lead by a great statesman named Pericles. He died during the war because of disease. Many people died of the same disease. After the war, Sparta set up a government of thirty tyrants. Two of the tyrants were students of the renowned philosopher, Socrates. That stirred up some controversy later with Socrates and the Athenian aristocrats. A year later the democratic form of government was restored, and the Athenian government went back to normal. Men were prominent figures of government. Women were thought to be foolish and irrational, which we all know is not true. â€Å"Men, in the Greek view, were rational, thinking, stable, normal creatures, while women were irrational, hysterical, and dangerous.†(History for kids) Women for that reason were not given political rights. Athens had good soil, since it was near the coastline. They also had just enough rainfall, not too much or too little. They grew grain, grapes, olives, legumes, lentils, beans and chickpeas. The Athenians believed in many gods, just like all the other people of Greece. They had 7 seven main gods. The most important of all the gods was Zeus, the king of the gods, who was married to his sister Hera. The gods had humanlike characteristics; they got jealous and would do stupid things just like humans do.

Strategic Marketing :: essays research papers

Review of Performance: Year 2 By the end of year two Pangea Technologies had achieved great success. Not only did it rank number one in game 5 but it also ranked number one overall. Our management team worked well together and made well informed decisions. We achieved our goal to have at least 40% market share in at least two market segments. In fact, we had 52% market share overall and over 45% market share in every segment. Decision Aggressiveness If there was one thing that set us apart from the rest, it would be the aggressiveness of our decisions. By the end of the second quarter of the second year we had opened offices in every available city selling at least one product to every single market segment. We used our resources generously yet wisely in opening offices, and hiring and motivating salespeople, and it paid off. Financial Performance In year two Pangea has had an excellent financial performance, net operating profit has grown from $1.4 million in quarter 5 to $45.6 million at the end of the year. Our executive team was also willing to invest a lot in order to gain marketshare as well as profits. Our aggressive investments are demonstrated by the large sums of our operating expenses, which were as follows: $4.9 million when gross margin was $15.3 million in quarter 5; $6.9 million when gross margin was $20.7 million in quarter6; $9.9 million when gross margin was $36 million; $11.9 million when gross margin was $59 million. In addition to these second year expenses, we invested around $9 million dollars in the first two quarters each on research and development. Our executive team believed that these cost were necessary for the growth of our company and it proved to be a good strategy. Our investments were in such things as product improvements, opening sales offices, hiring salespeople, and rewarding and motivati ng sales people. Another important investment went to creating and revising our ads, and as a result our ad ratings have improved dramatically. We also increased our ad expenses from $700,000 early in the second year to $4.3 million at the end of the year, which increased our ad reach. Pangea ¡Ã‚ ¦s investments this year were instrumental in the great financial success of the company. This was demonstrated by the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s financial performance score of 26.95, which is well above that of the average and it is the highest score compared to our competitors.

2pac Shakur :: essays research papers

Tupac Shakur grew up around nothing but self-delusion. His mother, Alice Faye Williams, thought she was a "revolutionary." She called herself "Afeni Shakur" and associated with members of the ill-fated Black Panther Party, a movement that wanted to feed school kids breakfast and earn civil rights for African Americans. During her youth she dropped out of high school, partied with North Carolina gang members, then moved to Brooklyn: After an affair with one of Malcolm X's bodyguards, she became political. When the mostly white United Federation of Teachers went on strike in 1968, she crossed the picket line and taught the children herself. After this she joined a New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and fell in with an organizer named Lumumba. She took to ranting about killing "the pigs" and overthrowing the government, which eventually led to her arrest and that of twenty comrades for conspiring to set off a race war. Pregnant, she made bail and told her husband, Lummuba, it wasn't his child. Behind his back she had been carrying on with Legs (a small-time associate of Harlem drug baron Nicky Barnes) and Billy Garland (a member of the Party). Lumumba immediately divorced fer. Things went downhill for Afeni: Bail revoked, she was imprisoned in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. In her cell she patted her belly and said, "This is my prince. He is going to save the black nation." By the time Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, Afeni had already defended herself in court and been acquitted on 156 counts. Living in the Bronx, she found steady work as a paralegal and tried to raise her son to respect the value of an education. From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." For misbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times. But she had no answer when he asked about his daddy. "She just told me, 'I don't know who your daddy is.' It wasn't like she was a slut or nothin'. It was just some rough times."When he was two, his sister, Sekyiwa, was born. This child's father, Mutulu, was a Black Panther who, a few months before her birth, had been sentenced to sixty years for a fatal armored car robbery. With Mutulu away, the family experienced hard times. No matter where they moved-the Bronx, Harlem, homeless shelters-Tupac was distressed. "I remember crying all the time.

Barbie Doll: Society’s Whims Are Not To Be Fulfilled

In the poem â€Å"Barbie Doll,† author Marge Piercy utilizes four well-developed stanzas to depict a scornful view of American society. Applicable to all time periods, â€Å"Barbie Doll† narrates the short-lived life of a young girl despised by society for her appearance. Barbie Doll is like a fairytale, full of plasticity, fakeness, and fantasy. However, unlike a fairytale, â€Å"Barbie Doll† ends with society applauding the funeral of a princess that was torn apart into pieces and then worshiped. Written with varying tones of sadness and depression, vivid imagery, and compact concrete details, â€Å"Barbie Doll† presents a fact that society for centuries has blinded from view. Women, from the development of civilization to present-day modern America, have always endured oppression and humiliation from a patriarchic society. In â€Å"Barbie Doll,† the young girl is repressed by society for her â€Å"great big nose and fat legs. † The society in which this young girl lives views a â€Å"perfect† woman as one who possesses flawless beauty, helps children grow, cooks food, and irons clothes. In fact, society is so intent on morphing young girls into motherly, selfless, and sympathetic individuals that they were only allowed to play with â€Å"dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves. † Despite being â€Å"healthy and intelligent and possessing strong arms, abundant sexual drive, and manual dexterity,† the young girl is seen by society as incomplete, and abnormal. It is because of this continuous repression that the young girl’s â€Å"good nature† runs out. She herself loses faith in her appearance as society mocks and mocks and mocks her looks. Only when the young girl finally killed herself by â€Å"[cutting] off her nose and her legs],† and was laid in a fake casket with a fake dress and a fake nose, did society finally applaud the â€Å"true† beauty that this young girl possessed. Men want women to have â€Å"perfect† bodies and â€Å"perfect† faces; as a result, the young girl in â€Å"Barbie Doll† sacrificed herself to society’s demands. It is this fake perception and these fake ideas, this idea of perfection that gives â€Å"Barbie Doll,† a term applied in our world to display â€Å"plastic perfection,† its title. Tone also plays a crucial role in â€Å"Barbie Doll. † Each stanza begins heartily nd subtly and ends with a blunt phrase that leaves shock in the reader’s mind. For example, the third stanza starts off like a normal fairytale, detailing the setting in which the protagonist lives. However, when this fairytale approaches its final resolutio n, it takes an entirely different turn; abruptly moving from an ideal, perfectionist world into a world of darkness and misery, the fairytale turns into reality. This repeated undulating motion of tone allows the reader to understand the young girl’s dilemma. The young girl, like the tone of the poem, is wading through a wave of emotions. She does not know whether society is telling the truth about her beauty or if she really possesses such unattractiveness. In a way, she is stranded between a tidal wave of repression sent by society and a wall of concrete built by her conflicting emotions. The young girl can neither swim away nor stand back; she can only surrender herself to society. The young girl possessed all characteristics any person in the modern world of today would value. However, society shunned her thoughts into a black hole and essentially transformed her mind to think contradictory to itself, like the idea of doublethink in 1984. Continuous blames upon the blemishes of her appearance and the insurmountable pressure from society were far too much for her to bear and as a result, she snapped. The last stanza of this poem gives the final say to the main idea. Despite the extent to which the young girl went to satisfy her peers, society only viewed the young girl with passion after a â€Å"turned-up putty nose† was placed upon her face. Placed in a â€Å"casket [made of] satin,† the young girl seems to have finally obtained the respect that she had wanted all of her life. Never did society satiate at the sight of a living, perfectly healthy person but instead society itself received satisfaction only when the young girl was created into a flawless toy or a â€Å"Barbie Doll. † Ironic as it may seem, the only option left for the young girl to obtain happiness was to face the saddest event in one’s life, death. It is for this reason that the young girl felt â€Å"consummation† only after her death. In her mind, it was a happy ending, freedom from the tortures that society had presented before her. â€Å"Barbie Doll† emphasizes that we as individuals should not allow others to judge for us but we ourselves should be the judges. Taking the young girl as an example, by letting society judge her beauty, the young girl became tangled into the web of society’s harsh words. These words were so sharp that the young girl’s entire state of mind was altered to think of herself as inferior and imperfect. If we allow others to judge for us, then we may very well end up in such a drastic situation. Society can lead a person to become unstable; that person can lead himself to become a doll, a plastic doll full of lies, without feelings, and without hope, a â€Å"Barbie Doll. †

An Acquaintance with Darkness

An Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi Ann Rinaldi has written a book that weaves history and fiction into a wonderful book, and this is why I have chosen this book. It covers some important parts of history and the reader sees it through the eyes of a thirteen old girl. The book is dark with intrigue and gross medical stuff, so students should love it. While the assignation and arrest of Mary Surratt is the major historical event around which the book is written, it is more about the state of medical science in the US at the end of the war and how it was impacted by the war.For instance, Rinaldi's author's note starts out focused on the history of medical dissections in the united states, and then goes on to describe its history in Europe. She then describes the history of hospitals, medical schools and medicine in the US. She doesn't turn towards the conspiracy to kill Lincoln till later. Emily's best friend is Annie Surratt, the daughter of Mary Surratt who was hung for her part in the conspiracy to murder Lincoln. Students will see this part of history through a different point of view, not just learning about it through their textbook.I also think students will relate with Emily, because she wants to see the good in everything. She wants to believe the world is a good place. She judges her Uncle for something she believes is horrible and doesn’t understand because of her young, innocent age. Then the reader sees her grow as into a young lady, where she isn’t so innocent anymore. Emily realizes the world isn’t perfect and she shouldn’t have judged her Uncle, because he was snatching dead bodies to help medical science and save more lives during a horrible time of war. At the end of Ann Rinaldi’s book, she has questions for teachers to discuss with their students.This will make it easy to have literature circles with students. This book relates to my content area because it is a historical fiction book. Ann Rinaldi ha s taken many facts from history and put them in a wonderful fiction book. If I was a teacher of History, I could relate this to our unit on the Civil War around the end of it when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. This book takes a look at the Surratt Family and how they were involved with John Wilkes Booth. This is usually a glimpse of history many students don’t know about. I don’t remember learning this when I was in school.I think kids are interested in anything related to death, and this book is full of it. They will learn about Lincoln’s assassination, the hanging of Mary Surratt, and how doctors snatched dead bodies to benefit medical science. This book ties a lot of factual information to the Civil War, and it is interesting to read. I think this is a way to supplement the main textbook, to give kids a different perspective of the war. Many of our discussions in class have centered on supplementing the main text. I think by adding interesting books about what they are studying will make them want to learn more about that era.So by picking this book that tells about a girl in the time of the Civil war, they will see certain aspects of that time period in a different way. They will be able to relate to it more because this girl is around their age. They will be seeing it through her eyes. I think this is so important when teaching, because I want kids to be excited to learn about history. I think to do that you have to find some way to relate it to them. Having kids around that age, I have found that they don’t care about it if it doesn’t relate to them, or they can’t understand it, or it’s boring. I know a lot in school will be boring to them.That is why it’s important to find certain things to â€Å"jazz† up the lesson. After reading this book, I found myself wanting to learn if doctors in that time really had to snatch bodies to study on. I think this book will be a way to get them interes ted in studying certain parts of the Civil War. I think they will want to learn more after reading this book. The two main activities that I could use in my classroom that relate to the book, are Literature Circles and List-Group-Label. I will introduce the book with the List-Group-Label activity to see what prior knowledge the students have.By doing this activity first it gets them thinking about the Civil War Era and discussing it. I hope for some students they will learn things they might not have know before the discussion. Then during the time that we are reading the book, I will have them split into groups every Friday and do literature circles. I will have discussion sheets that they will have to fill out as a group. This will give them a chance to learn from eachother and give them a since of responsibility. I think these activities will work well together in creating a fun unit.