Pierre Trudeau Essay Example for Free

Pierre Trudeau Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pierre Trudeau an eternal Canadian nationalist could be rightfully ascribed for building the strong foundations of federalism in Canada in the turbulent period of the 1970’s and the 1980’s. He represented the quintessential Canadian liberal politician of his times, hobnobbing with the likes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono while imposing what some say the draconian War Measures Act in 1980 to quell the wave of terrorism unleashed by the separatists in Quebec. Unafraid to speak and act as per his personal proclivities in a World which was adjusting to the rise of Communism, Trudeau prevented its backlash into Conservatism and ultra nationalism as seen in Quebec, affect the country as a whole. His vision of nationalism included acceptance of plurality in a multi cultural state, represented by introduction of bilingualism in Canada at his behest. The force of his personality supported the strength of his ideas thereby making him a strong object of worship as well as revulsion. It was thus but natural that Trudeau would be finding many detractors particularly amongst the Francophone of Quebec. Pierre Trudeau is seen as a villain in French Canada due to his vitriolic contrarian personality, his espousal of the liberal ideology representing the virtual counter culture of the 1970’s and his strong espousal of federalism which came in direct confrontation with Quebec nationalism. Contrarian   Personality Trudeau’s flamboyant personality, his disrespect for formal authority represented by the famous pirouette behind the Queen of England’s back provided reasons to his detractors to run down his achievements. Trudeau born in a French Scottish background and educated in the College Jean-de-Brebeuf perhaps was well set to be a nationalist as well as a clerical fascist.[i] Fortunately the vistas of his personality opened as he traveled widely and came into intellectual contact with liberals as Jacques Maritain and John Locke. The influence of these years of travel and study, in France, UK including the London School of Economics and the United States bore an undefinable imprint of political liberalism on his personality. It also strangely brought him closer to figures as the British pop band Beatles. His rejection of the Second World War did not go too well with nationalists and believers who continued to have faith in the values for which the War was being fought. He is also reported to have spoken at an anti draft rally thus being expelled from the Canadian Officer’s Training School for indiscipline.   All this was not suited to endear him universally and provided fodder to the French Canadians.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the War he became the leading dissident against the ideas of conservatism from both sides of the Anglo French divide in Canada which was expanding each day. This along with his dabbling in trade unionism with a Marxist touch was anathema to the political class of the times. The Marxist leaning was evident with the ban imposed on him in the United States for attending a conference in Moscow. However his extreme liberalism and cantankerous personality led him to even throw a snow ball at the statue of Stalin in the Russian capital much to the chagrin of his hosts. The oddities in his personalities were evident when he continued to criticize the Canadian Liberal party despite being one of its ideological supporters for arming missiles in Canada with nuclear warheads. The wave that swept him to the leadership of the Liberal party in 1968 perplexed many as a left wing politician with liberal ideas, people were quite skeptical about his approach. Yet the need for   sweeping changes in a nation which was shaping its identity found him heading the Liberals in 1968. The predominant support of the nation’s youth also resulted in an antagonism developing against him in the older, more conservative generation. His defiance of the rioting mobs on the Annual Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in 1968 moved many voters to bring him to the centre stage in national politics. The fiery personality was one reason for the large body of antagonists that developed against the liberal, youthful, defiant and unafraid Prime Minister of a nation in the midst of a crisis of identity in people of two highly dominating cultures, the Anglophonic and Franco phonic, as if the supremacy in Europe post Second World War was being fought in Canada.   Pierre’s invocation of the War Measures Act in the crisis riven month of October 1970, won him detractors even within the Liberal Party, such were the strong reactions that were invoked by his personal leanings and proclivities. Trudeau’s detractors frequently called this behavior as a deliberate attempt to grab the attention of the media. Thus his personality had a major role to play in Pierre’s unpopularity amongst the French Canadians. Liberal Counter Culture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a leader of the political and social counter culture in Canada, Trudeau was well poised to invite many detractors. Truadeau’s liberal antecedents can be traced back to his days in the University of Montreal as an associate professor of law, where he developed his personal proclivities to support individual rather than state rights. Persuaded by friends, Pierre Trudeau was elected to the Canadian house and soon became a Minister for Justice in the Liberal cabinet of Pearson. The liberal in him saw repealing many conservative laws such as on homosexuality and divorce, earning the ire of the conservatives some of them influential personalities as the Quebec Premier, Daniel Johnson, Jr.   His left leanings were a permanent stigma that he had to carry in a Western country which was attempting to fight Communism through out the World.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The contrarian liberal in Trudeau however was seen doing an about turn, when confronted with the problem of separatist terrorism in October 1980. The firm action to quell terrorism through invocation of the War Measures Act was anathema to liberals, who never seem to have forgiven him. The creation of a multicultural society has been frequently construed as the creation of a British society with a Canadian identity. The other cultures in Canada including the French were deemed to be assimilated within this primarily anglophile culture of the country.[ii] This facet has rankled many French liberals, who deem that such a society has not emerged naturally but some how created by the likes of Trudeau. Some liberals even accuse him of creating stereo types with a view to construct an over arching structure of a nationalist government in the garb of liberalism.[iii]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However Pierre’s strongest opposition came from the Francophone of Quebec, who saw in him the principal opposition to their movement.   During the October Crisis of 1970 when the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) carried out a series of kidnappings in the province including the British Trade Consul and the Quebec Labor Minister, Trudeau did not hesitate in invoking the War Measures Act to give the government powers to ensure that the movement was brought under check by arrest and detention without a trial. This was an affront to the liberals but Pierre found it sound policy instead of giving in to the demands of radical elements in the country. While it was Trudeau who introduced official bilingualism in Canada, giving equality to French and English in all official services of the Federal government, the Francophiles saw it to be a measure towards a multi cultural society which was seemingly anathema to them. The liberals continued to ignore the fact that Trudeau ensured through his personal charisma and espousal of free ideals that the social transformation in Canada was brought about without causing revolutionary change.[iv] It is this social dynamism represented by Trudeau that could alter the polity in the country without any civil war. Quebec’s Sovereignty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The final issue which created antagonism against Trudeau amongst the French is the immensely emotive issue of Quebec’s sovereignty.   As a champion of federalism and being in the office of the Prime Minister, Trudeau was able to influence the course by championing the cause of federalism against the call for Quebec nationalism given by Parti Quebecois led by Rene Levesque. While it goes to his credit that he ensured that the issue of sovereignty was resolved through the democratic process, it was his call for a new constitution in case Quebecois stayed with Canada that is said to have gone in favor of a majority vote for sovereignty. The Quebec nationalists could never forgive Pierre, especially so when his background was French. Moreover many believed that it was due to his forceful oratory, bilingual approach and clever articulation he had caused the mood swing even against an opponent as tough as Rene Levesque. However this was the enduring legacy that he was to provide to Canada at the cost of personal popularity amidst the French in the country. Pierre Trudeau saw in his mission a need to assimilate the French and British aspirations within the Canadian national structure by reducing inter community hostilities and provide the country an effective government.[v]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This antipathy of the French in Canada towards Pierre was to remain and has somehow emerged as his lasting legacy in Quebec, obfuscating his major achievement in creating a federal structure which prevented fracturing of the nation, which would have proved disastrous for Quebec reducing it to a minority state. The French Canadians ascribe his strong measures by invoking the War Measures Act as central to break up of FLQ. However they frequently ignore, that the other options were hardly viable, return of chaos and mayhem of terrorism in the country which would have been detrimental for Canada’s political and economic growth. The route of democratization provided by him to the French Canadians and a peaceful path to their aspirations is frequently forgotten. Thus these detractors of Trudeau ascribe their defeat by democratic forces to the force of his personality, which may to an extent be partially true, but the birth of great nations has seldom taken place without the efforts of leaders of his caliber. The support that Pierre’s federalism had been consistently receiving in Quebec was frequently ignored by the French. This was evident with the capture of a majority of seats in the federal elections of 1980 by the Liberal party, though provincially the Parti Quebecois continued to remain dominant. The Quebecois also feel that it was Trudeau’s ultra nationalism which destroyed their ambitions of seeking a unique relationship with the mainstream Canadians without necessarily renouncing their rights for sovereignty of Quebec.[vi] The War Measures Act is also seen as going against the principles of democracy. However Trudeau was a realist liberal with a reality rooted strain of liberalism which decreed that tough times required hard measures and the results achieved of suppression of FLQ in its nascence proved the righteousness of Trudeau’s cause. The Constitutional Act of 1982 has also been one of the causes of his downfall amongst the liberals in Quebec. They ascribe their inability to win elections in Quebec after the Act was introduced at the behest of Trudeau. Ironically the bilingualism introduced by Turdeau some how rankled the Francophone as well. It was a sound basis for the creation of a multi cultural society, giving the strongly predominant French voice in Quebec extension to other parts of the country. Here again the aspirations of the Franco phones were not fully met as they found that they could not really use French in all parts of the country as freely as they did in Quebec, thereby they continued to bear a grudge against him in this sphere. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada, overlapping the critical period of over a decade from 1968 to 1984, with a brief interregnum of over nine months, Trudeau had an important role to play in the country’s dilemma of seeking a cultural identity.   Trudeau was primarily responsible for seminal national charters such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which preserved Canadian identity and virtually single handedly redefined the national agenda.   Above all he provided the moral foundations to the Canadian nation state denoted by LaSelva, roots of   which will only add to its superior nationalist character as the years go by.[vii] [i] McCall,   Christina. Clarkson, Stephen. Trudeau and Our Times Volume 1 (Paperback). Toronto, McClelland Stewart.1997. [ii] Legare, E. Canadian Multiculturalism and Aboriginal People: Negotiating a Place in the Nation. Identities 1 (4), 1995. [iii]   Larocque, E. Racism Runs Through Canadian Society. In O. McKague (Ed.), Racism in Canada., Saskatoon: Fifth House Publishers. 1989. [iv] P. Russell, Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People?, 2d ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1993. [v] R. Cook, Canada, Quebec and the Uses of Nationalism, 2d ed. Toronto: McClelland Stewart. 1995. [vi] Laforest, Guy. Translated by Paul Leduc Browne and Michelle Weinroth Trudeau and the End of a Canadian Dream.Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995. [vii] Samuel V. LaSelva, The Moral Foundations of Canadian Federalism: Paradoxes, Achievements and Tragedies of Nationhood. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996. Bibliography    Butler, Rick, Jean-Guy Carrier, eds. The Trudeau decade. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1979. Butson, Thomas G. Pierre Elliott Trudeau. New York: Chelsea House, c1986. Clarkson, Stephen. Trudeau and our times. Toronto: McClelland Stewart, c1990 c1994. 2 v. Cohen, Andrew, J. L. Granatstein, eds. Trudeaus shadow: the life and legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1999. Couture, Claude. Paddling with the current: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Étienne Parent, liberalism and nationalism in Canada. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, c1998. Issued also in French: La loyautà © dun laà ¯c. Griffiths, Linda. Maggie Pierre: a fantasy of love, politics and the media: a play. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1980. Gwyn, Richard. The northern magus: Pierre Trudeau and Canadians. Toronto: McClelland Stewart, c1980. . Laforest, Guy. Trudeau and the end of a Canadian dream. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, c1995. McDonald, Kenneth. His pride, our fall: recovering from the Trudeau revolution. Toronto: Key Porter Books, c1995. McIlroy, Thad, ed. A Rose is a rose: a tribute to Pierre Elliott Trudeau in cartoons and quotes. Toronto: Doubleday, 1984. Peterson, Roy. Drawn quartered: the Trudeau years. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1984. Radwanski, George. Trudeau. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, c1978. . Simpson, Jeffrey. Discipline of power: the Conservative interlude and the Liberal restoration. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1984. Stewart, Walter. Shrug, Trudeau in power. Toronto: New Press, 1971. Vastel, Michel. The outsider: the life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, c1990. 266 p. Translation

Justice in Environmental Geography

Justice in Environmental Geography Outline what you understand by the term justice, and critically assess how it has been integrated into the field of environmental geography. In relation to the essay title, environmental justice as a concept emerged in the 1980s, and since then, the concept of environmental justice has been closely linked to and integrated into the field of environmental geography, in describing and explaining the spatial aspects of the interaction between the environment and humans. In this essay, before assessing how it has been integrated into the field of environmental geography, I will first have to define the concept and meaning of environmental justice. Furthermore, by referencing to several academic studies and case studies, I will attempt to highlight the significance of the connection between term justice and environmental geography, in providing evidence to demonstrate how the term justice is applied in the field of environmental geography, as well as limitations in relation to the concept of environmental justice, which limits the usage and significant of the concept in the field of environmental geography. The core concept of environmental justice suggests that, no one regardless of their demographics, should bear a disproportionate amount of the negative environmental hazards or risks induced by commercial, industrial and governmental decisions or actions in relation to their operations, development and the implementation of environmental laws and policies (Holifield 2001; Schlosberg, 2007; EPA 2012).It also signifies that people should be involved and entitled to have a chance to form or provide opinions on activities that can impact their environment, and that the regulatory agency will consider the opinions provided by the public when decision-making (EPA, 2012). In relation to that, environmental geographyis a school of geography, which primarily focuses on examining the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the environment; to understand the dynamic, ever-changing relationship between human activities and the environment (Castree et al.,2009). As pointed out by Reed George (2011), environmental justice as a research theme are popular among other subjects and schools, and are not solely researched by environmental geographers. However, they argued that geographers position is rather unique, as their role is to understand the dynamic human-environment relations, to consider the social and spatial distributions of environmental effects, risk, impacts or hazards, and to identify the cause and factors that contribute to the continued occurrence of inequality (Reed et. al, 2011). One case study example which can demonstrate how environmental justice has been integrated into the field of environmental geography is the study carried out by Pastor, Sadd Hipp (2001). In the study, by referred to the earliest work in this field; researchers had identified that in predominantly industrialized societies, a disproportionate share of environmental hazards often occur in minority neighborhoods (Bullard, 1990; Been 1995; Pastor et al., 2001). One of the location highlighted by the studies is Los Angeles County in the US, as evidences suggested that disproportionate exposure to toxic storage and disposal facilities and toxic air releases associated with the industry is present (Burke, 1993; Sadd, Pastor, Boer, Snyder 1999; Pastor et. al, 2001). With the findings as a foundation, and Los Angeles County as a case study location, the researchers proceeded to address the minority move-in or disproportionate siting question; to find out whether the disproportionate exposure of minorities to toxic storage and disposal facilities was due to the moving- in of minority residents, triggered by the siting of the facility which increases perceived risks of exposu re to environmental hazards, and reduces the actual quality of the environment, which causes land values to diminish, or whether it was solely due to disproportionate siting of these facilities (Pastor et. al, 2001). Subsequently, after statistical hypothesis tests and census data were utilized, they were able to confirm that demographics of the population within an area affects the siting of the facilities, and areas with a high low-income and minority population were most likely to be subjected to the implementation of toxic storage and disposal facilities (Pastor et. al, 2001). However, toxic storage and disposal facilities do not tend to attract minorities to move-in; in-fact, unexpectedly, the facilities tend to repel and not attract minorities to move in (Pastor et. al, 2001). This suggests that there is a need to implement policies and changes to protect the minorities subjected to hazard, as the results seemed to suggest that disproportional exposure was not due to minority moving-in to take advantage of cheaper housing, but in-fact the facilities were actively causing the disproportional exposure due to their siting decision (Pastor et. al, 2001). The concept of Environmental justice and related case studies were integrated in environmental geography, as it provided an explanation to geographers, on the implication of human- induced activities and decisions on the environment, and to provide theories in attempt to explain why spatial variations on level of pollution across different parts of the environment occur, in relation to spatial inequality and injustice (Castree et al., 2009; Reed et al., 2011). Furthermore, by referring to the spatial distribution of pollution, policy- makers could use Statistical Methods to monitor Environmental Pollution and calculate the risks involved, which aids the introduction and implementation of emergency measures, or redevelopment plans for contaminated land, to focus on minimizing the increased risks of environmental hazard and reduce the overall level of pollution that minorities are exposed to, in order to reinforce environmental justice (Gilbert, 1987; Alloway et. al., 1997; Smith, 2013 ). However, one could argue that the concept might not have been perfectly integrated in the study of environmental geography. Reed George (2011) had highlighted the fact that the concept of environmental justice stemmed from America in the 1980s, and researches revolved around the concept had since then, remained centralized in the United States of America, supported by the fact that out of 114 articles on environmental justice found in GeoBase in 2009, there are only 46 literature which involves case studies outside USA, plus there were only 15 pieces of literature which involved the research on two developing countries. The researchers had also pointed out that most environmental justice research conducted between the years of 2005 and 2009, were in-fact by American researchers, or researchers in America (Reed et al., 2011). Moreover, Reed George (2011) had also identified that, in 2009, about 50 percent of the authors involved in publishing articles related to environmental justic e, identified in Geobase, were associated with at least one American institution. In contrast, the amount of literature published by researches from New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Australia were significantly lower (Reed et al., 2011). Furthermore, the concept remained heavily skewed research, as less than 10 percent of all articles were published by researchers in the developing countries. Additionally, many studies were focused on a single country or an area within a country; Walker Burninghams (2011) study on flood risks focused on examples within the UK, whereas Pastor, Sadd Hipps (2001) study focused solely on the spatial differences and other factors within the LA county. As stated by the researchers, the finding mentioned in the research mentioned previously in this essay may apply for the LA county, but it might be far from accurate when applied to explain the spatial difference of hazards and risks within a different country, hence prevent researchers to apply the concept of environmental justice, and identify a model to highlight the spatial difference in hazards globally (Pastor et al., 2001). This is due to the variations in spatial distribution of the population and industry among different countries, as well as the difference in political policies which affects urban development and planning (Reed et al., 2011). These could imply that environmental justi ce is integrated in the studies of environmental geography in a regional scale, and not in a global scale. Also, the concept of environmental justice might not apply to other countries other than America, due to the fact that it contains a skewed representation from American researchers, meaning that the empirical and conceptual focus of environmental justice had only expanded marginally since the establishment of the concept, thus preventing environmental geographers to study the global spatial aspects on the interactions between human activities and the environment in a wider context (Reed et al., 2011). In conclusion, the concept of environmental justice and relevant case studies on the surrounding this concept are integrated into environmental geography. This is mainly because through using this concept, it helps environmental geographers in their research by highlight how environmental decisions induced by humans can induce a hazardous environment, and why some part of the population are more prone to be affected by the hazards as a result. However, the limitations as mentioned above, in regards to most of the researches on environmental justice were done focusing on America and are heavily skewed, means that environmental justice as a concept might not be significant to the study of environmental geography, as the concept cannot relate well to countries outside the US, nor is it significant when applied globally, for geographers to highlight global spatial difference, and to study the dynamics between human- induced actions and the environment on a global scale. Reference Alloway, B. Ayres, C (1997) Chemical Principles of Environmental Pollution, Second Edition. CRC Press. Arild Holt-Jensen (1999) Geography History and Concepts: A Students Guide. London: SAGE Been, V. (1995) Analyzing evidence of environmental justice. Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law, 11, 1–37. Bullard, R. (1990) Dumping in Dixie: Race, class and environmental quality. Boulder: Westview Press. Burke, L. (1993) Race and environmental equity: A geographic analysis in Los Angeles. Geoinfo Systems 44–50. Castree, N., Demeritt, D., Liverman, D. Rhoads, B. (2009) A Companion to Environmental Geography. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Gilbert, R. (1987) Statistical Methods for Environmental Pollution Monitoring. Wiley. Holifield, R. 2001. Defining environmental justice and environmental racism. Urban Geography 22 (1): 78-90. Pastor, M., Sadd, J. Hipp, J. (2001) Which Came First? Toxic Facilities, Minority Move-In, and Environmental Justice. Journal of Urban Affairs 23 (1): 1-21. Wiley-Blackwell. Reed, M., George, C. (2011) Where in the world is environmental justice? Progress in Human Geography, 35, 835–842. Sadd, J., Pastor, M., Boer, J., Snyder, L. (1999) â€Å"Every breath you take†: The demographics of toxic air releases in southern California. Economic Development Quarterly, 13(2),107–123. Schlosberg, D (2007) Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. USA: Oxford University Press. Smith, K (2013) Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster. Fifth Edition. Routledge. U.S. Environemntal Protection Agency (2012) Environmental Justice: Basic Information. [Online] Available from: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/basics/index.html. [Accessed: 22nd March 2014] Walker, G. Burningham, K. (2011) Flood risk, vulnerability and environmental justice: Evidence and evaluation of inequality in a UK context. Critical Social Policy 2011 31: 216. Sage.

Mother Night Essays -- Literary Analysis, Kurt Vonnegut

Life is a Snake which Bites its Tail Vonnegut uses the cyclical nature of life to counteract the perceived definitive nature of it. Vonnegut believes that all real life events, history, and time are circular; they have no determinable beginning or end. Each of Vonnegut’s novels stresses the notion that life is cyclical. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut states that time, â€Å"Is a serpent which eats its tail† (205). This imagery shows Vonnegut’s depiction of time as a circle. According to Vonnegut time has no beginning, middle, or end, thus it is impossible to depict it in any linear form. In Slaughter House Five, Vonnegut introduces the Tralfamadorians concept of time, which emphasizes the cyclical return embodied in Billy’s time travels (Wayne D. McGinnis, 118). Vonnegut believes that people perceive life in terms of an old fashion story book, â€Å"With leading characters, minor characters †¦ and a beginning, middle, and an end† (215). However Vonnegut proves in his novel, Breakfast of Champions, that this is certainly not the case. He states, â€Å"I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. Nothing would be left out† (215) and that is exactly what he does. Vonnegut believes that â€Å"People have this illusion that when beginning, middle, and end are strung together in one story, a causal and teleological development is implied, and the identification of the cause driving events is what gives meaning to the story† (Daniel Cordle). Vonnegut’s goal is to eliminate this illusion and attempt to prove to his readers that it is not the structure of time or events which gives meaning to the story, it is all the moments combined which give the story its meaning. Just as Von... ...ally rescued by his â€Å"blue fairy god mother† right when he finally accepts his fate as a war criminal. Vonnegut’s use of irony, exaggeration and ridicule in Mother Night is constant throughout the book, from beginning to end, this novel is told in Vonnegut’s unique satirical tone, which he uses to expose and criticize people’s stupidity and willingness to conform and throw their ideas out the window for the sake of survival and acceptance. Literary critic Peter J. Reeds states that Vonnegut’s â€Å"painful comic rendering of the form acknowledges not just the suffering that existence may impose, but the essential absurdity of the situation in which its randomness and incomprehensibility frequently place us† (37). The comedy in Vonnegut’s fiction is meant to express the depths and tragedies of the world in a way which is bearable enough for the reader to comprehend.

The Life of Oscar Wilde Essay -- Biographies

The Life of Oscar Wilde The year is 1884 and many things have taken place in the life of our literary giant, Oscar Wilde has been married years and his touring of the United States and other countries have shown his of success in his writing all over the literary world. Some of his most recent writtings are "The Picture of Dorian Gray"(1891), "A Woman of No Importance"(1894) and his most resent essay known as "The Decay of Lying" is Oscar’s story of his outrage about the current style of writing that is going into the art society. What has happened to the spectacularness of this art, it has come down to being as horrid as what is being published in the local newspapers. Is it true that " The Decay of Lying" has fallen to its deepest shadow of shame? It seems that in the words of Oscar Wilde, that is the shameful truth. How could this type of atrocity take place. It seems that the Victorian society in still under the belief that the Romanticism of life is still coursing through their veins, dead veins to be more specific. Wilde's views romanticism as a crude, childish and yet passive thing of the past and that it should remain there in the past. The romantics ideas of nature and realism need to be brought up-to-date. Wilde has criticized the likes of as Wordsworth and other writers of the Romantic Era, they would send us out to nature and say "The solutions to societies problems and can best be remedied out here, within the confines of nature, this is where you need to be. Walking, talking, being out in the great airy open and embrace what nature has to offer. Only here can you expect to amend and resolve any personal and troublesome problems." Wilde's interpretation of this remedy: outlandish, extreme and insane, society has e... ...t about a man, his character, morals and beliefs as a whole. At this moment, Jack becomes distressed about this problem his lady love had let him know that she could never marry a man that has the name other than Earnest. As a result of this occurrence our main character find that he must be christen with the name of Earnest in order for Gwendolyn to consider him as a husband. This situation is one of many that Wilde has created as a form of lying. When this play was first, performed and seen, people were outraged at this type of story. Wilde continues to explain in more plays, poems and other forms of writing that his plays and other forms of writing are just to be observed as entertainment. His goal was not to be a moralist and instill morals for the masses. That was the furthest thing from his mind, Wilde intent is to create art that is for what it is Art’s sake.

Learning Patience and Responsibility at Hells Pizza Essay -- Peter Pi

Learning Patience and Responsibility at Hell's Pizza Even the job from hell can teach you patience and responsibility. When you hear the name Peter Piper Pizza, you may think a fun family restaurant. When I hear Peter Piper Pizza I get chills down my spine. Having worked there for about two years, I started to get annoyed over every little thing that was a part of my job. I had the worst position that they had, Game Technician. When I first applied for the job, the game guy was going to be the easiest job that I could find. Little did I know that this position taught me the more about being patient and responsible than any other experience I have had. It was mid sophomore year of high school when I started the job hunt. I applied to many places, grocery stores, restaurants, and even the movie theaters. No reply from any of them. It was about a month and a half when Bob from Peter Piper Pizza called me up looking for new employees. â€Å"Hey this is Bob from Peter Piper Pizza, is this Brandon† Bob asked. â€Å"Yes it is† I replied. â€Å"How would you like to come in and work for us at Peter Piper Pizza† asked Bob? â€Å"I would love to,† as I smiled with a huge grin on my face. â€Å"Well ok I will see you tomorrow for your interview† Bob stated. â€Å"Ok see you there† I said. I was so excited that I was finally going to have a job. I was a little nervous about the job interview, but that was a piece of cake. The interview lasted only about five minutes. An easy question here and an easy one there, and before I knew it I was the new game technician at Peter Piper Pizza. I was so happy once the interview was over; I was telling everyone that I had just got a job. Right after the interview me any my mom went and got me my food handlers card. ... ...Brandon there are customers at the prize counter† Bob stated. I would deal with this working environment every day. With so much responsibility and work to complete, my manager would sometimes think that it was fine if I would work the oven on my shift. So now I have to hand out all of the prizes, fix any broken game and ones that were acting up, hand out lost tokens to customers, get the pizza out of the oven to cut it and call it over the intercom to the customers. Working this job for nearly two years, it made me significantly more responsible and taught me many things about being patient. Having to deal with many different things at once, I learned how to balance things and take duties one step at a time and not get overwhelmed. This job was like taking a two year class on how to be responsible and be patient when difficulties are stacking up against you.

Critical Appraisal of Life Cycle Assessment

Having an understanding of environmental sustainability of the complete life cycle of products and services Is becoming Imperative for organizations so they can comply with environmental standards and to meet the growing public expectation regarding the organization's role in managing their environmental impacts.But this is a complex matter and this essay critically appraises Life Cycle Assessment (LLC) as a tool to provide decision-making support in improving production processes in order to minimizes their environmental Impacts. The definition of LLC, a review of its application In Industry and advantages will be discussed first to form a basis for Its critical evaluation. The usefulness of this tool and Its potential Limitations and weaknesses in terms of applicability, standardization, cost, complexity and requirements of expertise will be considered.As an example, the role of LLC in improving the environmental impact of milk production system will be used. In literature LLC Is d efined as a systematic approach to analyses the environmental burden through the whole life cycle of a specific product or service that In turn helps o reduce that environmental burden by triggering areas of Improvement so that better technologies, product materials and process options can then be adopted (Roy et al. 2009; ISO 1997, AAA; The Finnish Environment Institute, 2010).To critically appraise LLC it is imperative to see its application in a specific sector so milk production Is considered. Milk production Involves live stock, agriculture, dairy farming, dairy packaging and distribution (Household et al. , 2003). These systems are highly inter-related and their combined effect is very complex for the LLC first phase of boundary allocation. Milk is not produced in isolation but production of cheese, court and butter is also uses the similar inventory and production system that make it difficult to identify the system boundaries (Hospice et al. 2003). Multi-product system and d ifficulty of LLC in allocation of system boundaries Is also discussed by Warden et al. (2012) that relates the outcomes of LLC with allocation. In studies, contribute to transportation, packaging waste and CA emissions respectively (Thomas et al. , 2008). Roy et al. (2009) declare LLC as useful tool for various food industries that helps to reduce environmental load by suggesting alternate reduction, processing, packaging, and distribution and consumption patterns.LLC also provides quantitative information that ultimately helps to provide stakeholders with information about company steps that have been practically taken to minimizes the environmental impacts of their production activities (Roy et al. , 2009). However there are various issues like generalization of LLC results, its cost and time intensiveness, the required expertise, difficulties in allocation of system boundaries and lack of standardization in its methodology that are imperative to resolve before adopting this metho dology (Reap et al, 2008).The complex interacting nature of the environment and highly different environmental scenarios in different industries and countries also affect the usefulness of LLC. For example, in a review by Rossi (2004) of the LLC of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic across its lifestyle found that LLC quantitative methodology is highly subjective to data collection which can mislead the outcomes and in toxic chemical determination LLC is cannot provide accurate measurement. This implies that pesticides, antibiotics and detergents should be carefully analyses as part of the farm impacts and should be considered as a ‘hot spot' in milk production (HogwashAide, 2002). Defining functional units is very important and errors can arise due to assigning functional units to multiple functions and when handling non-quantifiable functions (Cooper, 2003). However in milk production functional units are quantifiable but not standardized across various studies so that it is d ifficult to compare different results (Gao, 2012; Hogwash Aide, 2002). Similarly, boundary selection is subjective that could lead to less confidence in comparative studies of LLC (Such et al. , 2004).For example, in milk production if the packaging waste and the production of feed at the arm is ignored, that can generate highly different findings regarding environmental impacts. Omitting social and economic considerations in defining the goal and scope of LLC has also brought criticism that technical improvements cannot remove the need to make socially influenced decisions (Reap et al. , 2008). Therefore the lack of environmental and economic integration in LLC methodology can miss opportunities or limit the influence of LLC in decision making, especially in private sector (Norris, 2001).To conclude, despite the limitations and inability of LLC to incorporate social and economic factors in relation to product life cycle assessment, it is still a useful and highly established and ad opted methodology for the analysis of environmental impacts. However it is difficult to implement LLC in small scale firms due to its cost, time intensive nature and required expertise in executing LLC. Standardization of methodologies and generalization of results is also a natural flaw in this approach due to highly different environmental condition and technological use by organizations.However in milk production, LLC as been very successfully applied in any countries as it allows boundaries to be set and also the selection of functional widely used in the whole dairy industry and results are being used to minimizes the environmental impacts especially when selecting chemicals, packaging, transport and feeding. Finally, it is concluded that there are no other alternative highly established methods of finding a product or services environmental impacts than LLC but economic and social considerations should be involved in this process to make it more useful in improving environment al impacts.

Recommendation Letter Essay

In my opinion, I have never before written a recommendation letter where the candidate and the opportunity were such a perfect fit. I have known Janet Lerner for two years now, since she took my introductory course in dinosaurs during her sophomore year. In my long teaching career, I have never met an undergraduate student with such a genuine and focused interest in paleontology, and such a clear aptitude for it. I will demonstrate this by speaking to Janet’s ability as a communicator, her specific interest in dinosaur paleontology, and her maturity and integrity. Janet informs me that you are seeking a skilled communicator to give tours of your animatronic displays. Even during her sophomore year, Janet was a skilled communicator on the subject of dinosaur paleontology. In my class, for which she received an A, Janet wrote two compositions: one on the roots of the discovery and the characteristics of Deinonychus; one evaluating the defensive capabilities of Euoplocephalus. Janet proved herself not only exceptionally articulate and schooled on the subject at hand, but she also showed herself capable of wielding an argument—moving from premise to conclusion based on relevant evidence. Janet also did all this with style and flair. I cite excerpts from her papers: â€Å"Previously seen as cold-blooded, pea-brained lizards . . .† and â€Å"The toe muscles acted as a spring mechanism to flick the claw around towards the back of the foot.† For me, such articulations underscore both Janet’s authentic fascination with dinosaurs and her ability to communicate that excitement and knowledge to others. As an academic advisor to the dormitory where Janet lives, I frequently witness her interactions with others and know first-hand of her community service. Last year, Janet was the elected vice-president in the dormitory, and in this role she was responsible for numerous functions, including faculty/student lunches and a recruiting phoneathon. Janet is well-respected in the dormitory—a popular figure known for her honesty, calm, and kindness. I have seen her handle delicate situations with discretion, and she handles herself in all situations with poise. Finally, Janet has strong convictions tempered by good judgment and reason; she has firm spiritual roots and an active, diverse, social life; she is loyal, committed, and clear-sighted. It is a rare treat to encounter a student as impressive as Janet Lerner, and if you give her the opportunity I am sure you will find her equally impressive. Please do give her your most thoughtful consideration.