Urban and Rural Life (Collection) free essay sample

There has always been a sharp distinction between urban and rural living, with each having its particular advantages and disadvantages. From a personal perspective, I am more inclined to live in a small town rather than a big city. To me, it boils down to more peace and quiet; a better environment to live in; and family safety. To begin with, small towns are usually quiet and relatively calm. The pace of life is relaxed and the low number of cars and people makes for a peaceful setting without too much noise. Of course, not all small towns are idyllic in this fashion, and a slow and quiet lifestyle isnt every persons piece of cake. However, I personally enjoy it. As a child I lived in both a small country town and then later a large busy city. I vividly recall how much calmer the small hamlet was, and how relaxed and easy-going it made me and others there feel. We will write a custom essay sample on Urban and Rural Life (Collection) or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Conversely, the city with its traffic and crowds of people seemed constantly busy and noisy. In addition to peace and calm, small town living can usually be associated with a better environment. Apart from the fact that there is less traffic and associated pollution, small towns are mostly located in the countryside and have easy access to rural settings. By way of example, it is usually relatively easy to walk out into fields, forests, valleys or even to rivers and lakes (in their natural settings) when you live in a small rural town. The same cant be said of city living which of course has other appeals like entertainment, nightlife and a broader scope of amenities. If, however, like me you prefer the natural environment close to your doorstep, then small town living will be a more attractive option. Besides tranquility and environmental appeal, I also have to say that small hamlets are better for families and family safety in particular. Small towns have closer-knit communities where everyone knows and generally looks out for each other. I personally live in a very small coastal town these days, and I deliberately moved here because of my wife and two young children. I know they can go to and from school without being in danger from traffic or some of the nastier elements of society that tend to congregate more in big city locations. This is not to say that close-knit safe communities cant be forged in cities, but I think anyone who has lived in both settings knows the safety factor for families is more reliable in smaller community-based townships. To sum up, then, I think I have shown with some conviction that factors like peace and quiet; clean and natural environment; and family safety all amount to better living in small towns. And while I concede that big cities have their own special advantages that cant be matched in a lot of small rural settings, these are the factors that matter most to me.

The Influence of War on Music essays

The Influence of War on Music essays War is perceived by government as a means of solution between opposing nations. Since differences of opinion cause war, of course there will be differing opinions about war. A person in a country, whether directly or indirectly involved, must adept their ways of life according to the war. This could mean adapting to meet the needs of the government in favor of the war, or adapting in a way against the war; devoting their energy in attempt to end it. In America especially, the people use the arts to express their ideas. The most prevalent art form used in uniting masses and speaking out is music. Popular music is usually a direct reflection of the general society at a given period of time. Coming out of the depression, the blues were at their peak. Lonnie Johnson and Louie Armstrong were common voices that spoke to the ordinary man who could closely relate to the soulful melodic ballads. When World War II began, evidence of the war started showing up in the music. The glory of war was not as predominant in the music as it was in WWI, however there were still many that were feel good melodies that attempted to cheer up the soldiers in time of combat. Big bands played a huge role at this period. An example of this would be the Canteen Bounce by Henry Busse and his Orchestra. There were also songs that came out during that time that referred directly of the hardships of the war. Examples of this are No Name Jive by Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra and Ive Been Drafted and Now Im Drafting You by Chuck Foster and his Orchestra. A famous ballad during the time of World War II is White Christmas, first sung by Bing Crosby. White Christmas is a song of peace and yearning for the ones we used to know. It was released to a war torn public during the darkest days of WWII, and was written by Irving Berlin, who happene...

Gained Knowledge From Taking the English Composition Class Essay

Gained Knowledge From Taking the English Composition Class - Essay Example My learning outcomes as illustrated above have been diverse with the main motivation being the overall abilities acquired through the course. So far I have been able to exhibit a proper understanding of grammar which is captured through improved sentence structures and through grammar usage. My scope of writing has improved and I can be able to write effectively with the inclusion of thesis statement and other minor structural factors that define the success of an English composition class. Through the attendance of the class, I have been able to link up the different aspects of composition writing, through developing a proper beginning to an essay, developing the body of the essay and also in elaborating the conclusion which captures the entirety of the essay written. Reid (2000) Other additions have been in relation to the organization both derived from an individual basis and also as reflected on the essays I have written. The composition class has engaged my reasoning which has aided in the arrangement of my essays through the integration of different strategies ranging from transitional devices which guarantee improved flow and consistency in my presentations. Through the change, I have learned how to express different tones and level of formality in my essay examples which has proved vital in capturing the attention of the audience and improved individual awareness. In relation to the assertion above, through embracing diversity in writing, my cognitive skills have improved resulting in analytical thinking, critical reading and improved awareness of the subject matter.

BASIC STATISTICAL MEASURES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

BASIC STATISTICAL MEASURES - Essay Example The descriptive statistics provided by the authors on their research findings forms a good basis for understanding the role played by these traits in influencing performance and efficiency of a virtual team. In the course of reading this article, I will apply myself to the issues brought about in the question paper. Consciousness variance affects virtual team performance performance in a negatively for extroversion incongruity values below 0.76/0.46=1.52. Since 77% of the sample that forms the majority falls is in this range, then it is evident that conscientiousness variance impacts negatively on performance of virtual teams (Turel & Zhang, 2010). This supports the second hypothesis which states that within-virtual-team conscientiousness variance will have a negative influence on performance of virtual team. Secondly, within-virtual-team extroversion variance does not have a positive effect on virtual team’s accomplishments since this measure did not receive any backing in the presence of a term of interaction. Thirdly, a variation in terms of extroversion helps reduce the negative impact of conscientiousness deviation on virtual teams’ performance to a great extent. Therefore, the interplay between within-virtual-team conscientiousness variations and within-virtual-team extrover sion variations will have a positive impact on virtual the performance of virtual teams. Lastly, variations on perceived problem solving methods within the team impacts negatively on performance of that particular team; hence members of a team who have similar levels of perceived of perceived requirements for problem solving make a positive contribution to group performance (Turel & Zhang, 2010). Therefore, team performance is negatively influenced by perceptions on requirements for solving problems within that particular team. In this study, nominal scale was used as seen in the selection of those interviewed, who

Robert frost- the road not taken Essay Example for Free

Robert frost- the road not taken Essay Life is full of obstacles that have been throw our way to see who is the strongest to survive, some make it to the end and some suffer more in the process. When people open up to different opportunities, it is the initial response by human nature to pick the opportunity that will give you the most benefit. The concept of having to pick between two paths has been identified in the poem â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost. There have been times when a person had to choose a specific path that they though they should take but the truth of the matter was it ended up being the wrong choice. In life it is normal for people to make mistakes because we were not created and put in this world to be perfect. Nothing in life can be prefect because there is sadness along side happiness. When reading this poem it is as if I am in this poem and I was watching from the sidelines but I can read into the poets mind. Poems like this are rare; the way they are told with such vivid imagery sets the scenery up in the readers mind. The diction Frost uses to describe the fall season so adequately and imbeds it in the poem to run it more smoothly. In the first stanza, Frost says â€Å"And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth†, with such poetic significance that he is looking as far as he can into the two roads on one autumn day. He implies that he is sorry in the second line because he has a form of regret that he cannot travel both of the roads laid ahead of him at once. Not only are these the paths to another day but also they are the paths to his future. That is when Frost freezes and has to decide which one would most benefit him. Now he is forced by his own willpower to stumble upon the second road to which he continues to talk about. By using play on words such as â€Å"just† and â€Å"fair† he confuses the reader. Frost has a powerful way of making a poem become a story line by having the reader interpret his thoughts. Frost has the power of using similes when he compares the roads to being fair. Moving through the second stanza he explains that he chose the second road only because he thought it was the rode less taken by any other human. He uses vivid phrases like â€Å"it was  grassy and wanted wear† which makes it known to the readers of this poem that the path he chose to take was the path that not a lot of other people took because it looked fresh without any footsteps. Right when the reader thinks he has figured the poet out, Frost goes and complicates our understanding by comparing the two paths and declaring them equal to one another. Like every great poet, the reader finds everything out line-by-line, which makes his writing more of a mystery than a straightforward poem. In the beginning of the third stanza we learn that it is in fact morning when Frost decides to take the road he has chosen. We figure that out because he writes, â€Å"And both that morning equally lay.† Does he realize that the reason why the road does not look used is because he might be the first person that day to take that path down to success or failure? Frost uses more fancy words in the poem to confuse us but really when he states â€Å"In leaves no step had trodden black.† he mentions the leaves haven’t turned black because people haven’t stepped on them or crushed them. Just like how the leaves survive the night, he compared it to himself in hopes that he will survive as well. Including an epiphany in the writing by saying â€Å"Oh, I kept the first for another day!† not only shows us regret but also shows us some hopes he has in going back one day and taking the road he did not choose the first time around. The next two lines where Frost wrote â€Å" Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back.† really explain the chances of being able to go back are one in a million. It would be foolish of him to think he would have a chance at something that can change in a second. In the final stanza of this great and powerful poem, Frost changes the tense of this poem to where he is in the future looking back to his choices. He uses the word â€Å"sigh† that can portray many meaning as if he said it from happiness or sadness or he is just reflecting upon his experience. But when Frost states â€Å"Somewhere ages and ages hence:† it is obvious that this story he tells us, he will keep telling it many years from now. With a neat way of repeating the first line of the poem he brings his story to an end. The form repetition is used to help put emphasis on the importance of the poem and  with that he says â€Å"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—â€Å" in which he compares himself to the road where he is standing. Frost reflects on his decision of taking the one less traveled in confidences that it has made him more unique. And he ended the poem by expressing his experiences and looking back into his decisions. Frost realizes that if he were to take the road not traveled he would not have experienced all that he did. This ending of the poem shows ambiguity because he wants the richest experience possible. Thinking back on this poem helps us understand life much more, the fact that life is full of irony. In particular to this poem, the title of the poem itself is ironic because it is called â€Å"The Road Not Taken† where in fact he puts more emphasis on the road he DID take. This whole poem has been based around dreams, choices, hopes, and plans for the future. The fact that he uses nature as his surrounding he is metaphorically comparing it to life itself. If you were to dissect this poem further, you would realize that the poem is contradicting the way it is set up. While reading a poem about paths and choices it really it only leads you to think of your own struggles you have been through. I never realized how much I have regretted some of the choices I have made in my life. The only difference between my life and this poem was that I had to choose between not one or two paths but three. It also gets harder to distinguish which path you want when all the paths give you exactly one thing you treasure most. This poem connects to me personally because when I was starting high school I had to make a decision whether I wanted to stay with the crowd of friends I had that included some friends my parents didn’t like or to make new friends which meant I had to open up to people, or initially take it one day at a time even if it meant to hurt my parents and go against their decisions. Ultimately it was somewhat of a loss to me because in any choice I made I lost something that was most important to me. I value friendship so much but I value my parents and their opinion so much more. Until this day I think about how my life would have been different if I didn’t make the decision I did. Life is honestly too short to live with regret but that does  not mean that there won’t be moments where you wish you had done something differently. I am proud of the path I chose and made new friends because in the end I was able to make my parents proud because they liked my new group of friends and I became apart of a new social circle. I never had anything handed to me in my life, whatever I wanted and wished for I was the one in charge for it. Just like Robert Frost I had to stand there and look as far as I could into my future to be able to make the choice that would be most right for me. Even though I lost so many friends that I was once close to, it helped me mature and also became a strong person. In this world we live in, we have to lose certain things to be able to gain more challenges that become second nature to us. The outcome of my choice of choosing to make new friends was that I gained more of my parents’ trust, attention, and love. Love is the most important thing other than health for a family to share. Frost showed me that in order to move forward in life, no matter how uncertain, you just have to give it a try and see what the outcome is. Sometimes it won’t be the outcome in which you wanted to acquire but it wont necessarily be one that you dread for the rest of your life. There will be moments where you will dwell on the past and hoped you had taken another road but you have to focus on the future. Looking back now, I do not regret the choice I made even if it involved losing some friends that had turned into family. Not everything in life is meant to be regretful. There are so many wonderful aspects of life we never figure out because we are too busy worrying about how difficult an obstacle may be. God and life itself puts obstacles in our way to show us we can overcome any hardships. I knew by making my choice to make new friends I myself would become a better person. Just like the ending of Robert Frost’s poem â€Å" And that has made all the difference.†

The Lie of the Land :: Haydn Middleton The Lie of the Land Essays

The Lie of the Land This is a list of explications--things a North American reader might need to know in order to make most sense out of Haydn Middleton's The Lie of the Land. I re-read the novel and made a list of unclear references or ambiguous words or terms. I included the page number and a short explanation of the context; I then proffered each word with the definition I was able to find! Before delving into my textual explications, let me add a short "preface" first. As I re-read Middleton's novel, I found myself intensely interested in the cultural differences between North Americans and the English from (you guessed it...) England. My fascination with the inexplicable difference, yet explicable intertwining of our two cultures is probably provoked by a book I'm reading for another class, Cultural Misunderstandings by Raymonde Carroll, a French anthropologist. Carroll has extensively studied the differences between Americans and Europeans, mainly French. She gave an interesting analysis concerning Americans and our way of conducting or cultivating relationships. Well, I was reading the novel again, and if you caught it, Rachel offers Alasdair an invitation to dinner. This might not strike you as significant at all, but hold on--note that here in the United States, we will frequently end a conversation with, "Call me!" or "Let's get together, sometime, okay? I'll cal l you sometime!" These advances are never realized, of course, but are merely conversation climaxers. Rachel says to Alasdair, "Look . . . you should come round some time with Maggie. We'd love to see you . . . " (25). A couple of chapters later, the dinner scene is a very significant addition to the story, hmm? Carroll made the comment that Americans portray themselves as superficial and flighty with their many unrealized invitations. Europeans, on the other hand, tend to extend invitations and set the date in the proceeding avenue of discourse. Details. Dr. Gilgun taught my Fiction class last semester, and we learned that details develop ordestroy the story. Details divorce me from the story or seduce me, leaving me wondering where reality ends and the surreal begins. Details characterize the culture behind the author, the culture in and within where delight is reached, found, discovered and eventually shared. But anyway . . . enough of diversion! TEXTUAL EXPLICATIONS--please feign acquiescence, and pretend that this list is complete and can stand alone; there were so many more textual nuances that I wanted to include! Hmm .

Case Brief: London v. Directors of the DeWitt Public Schools

DeWitt Middle School teacher and coach Jeff Rader found Carl Avery and another student engaged in a â€Å"horseplay† in the school cafeteria. Rader asked both boys to leave the cafeteria of which the other student immediately complied. Rader again asked Avery to leave but the boy refused to comply the second time. At this point, Rader began to remove Avery from the cafeteria by force.The boy, however, fought back and slammed the coach into a table. During the encounter, Rader was able to drag the boy on the floor and banged the boy's head against the metal pole outside the cafeteria. They proceeded to the principal's office where each were asked for their version of the story, but Avery struck the hands of the principal in his frustration during the course of the interview, at which point the principal called the police.School authorities recommended for Avery to be expelled, of which DeWitt School District Superintendent Emerson approved. They informed Ms. London, mother of A very, and explained the procedures. A hearing was conducted and the school board decided to expel Avery for the remainder of the school year. Ms. London filed a lawsuit where the District Court granted the defendants' motion for judgement on partial findings, of which Ms.London filed for an appeal on three grounds, that the District Court erred: â€Å"(1) in holding that Rader did not violate Avery's substantive-due-process rights; (2) in holding that there were no procedural-due-process violations in Avery's suspension or in his expulsion; and (3) in not ordering the DeWitt School System to submit a remedial plan concerning discrimination in hiring† (United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit 1999). The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed with the District Court judgement and dismissed the appeal.They held that Rader could not have violated Avery's substantive-due-process rights as he has asked Avery to leave the cafeteria twice. Although Rader banged Avery's head on a pole, the injury which the boy may have suffered could not have been severe to shock judicial conscience due to the fact that the boy could not even remember which side of his head had been banged. There could also not have been any violation of procedural-due-process as Avery and his mother was appraised of the charges and was given the opportunity to present his side, first in the principal's office, then on the board hearing.The plaintiff has also failed in proving a condition of segregated schooling in accusing the DeWitt School System with discrimination hiring. The decision of the Court of Appeals stressed the importance of effective discipline and order to educational processes. This means that educators have their own discrimination how to discipline students but with restrictions that are provided by law. References United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit. (1999). London v. Directors of the Dewitt Public Schools, 194 F. 3d 873, 139.