african women and music essays

african women and music essays The purpose of this report was for me to research and explore the connection between African American women and music. Since prior to the slave decades, music has been an integral part of African American society, and served as a form of social, economic, and emotional support in African American communities in the past and present. This paper will cover three different types of secular music that emerged during the slave days, through the civil war, reconstruction, and depression periods. They are blues, jazz, and gospel music. Each of these forms of music are still in existence today. In addition to exploring the history of each of these genres of music, this report will identify three African American female music legends, Bessie Smith, Emma Barrett, and Mahalia Jackson. Blues emerged in the period between the end of the civil war, and the beginning of the 20th century. Originating in the fields of the rural south, it became popular after the emancipation of the slaves. In this form of music, the singer and composer is one in the same, a characteristic not evident in the spiritual songs of the slave communities. Spirituals were somewhat of a passage way for blues. Blues followed blacks to urban societies as spirituals followed the slaves onto the plantations. The differences between these types of music were that spirituals were collective, whereas an individual sang blues. Blues attributed to the evolution of black society toward individualism after the collective society of slavery. Blues became know as the music of the black working class. It was a way for African Americans to express the modern problems of economics, social errors, and poverty and power struggles they faced after they became free. African Americans were still living in unjust s ocieties, where jobs were hard to find. They began to migrate north, but the case remained the same. They used music for economic gain in nightclubs, corner halls, publishing, and rec...

The 5 Ws (and an H) of Journalism

The 5 Ws (and an H) of Journalism The  questions  a journalist answers in the lead of a conventional newspaper article are  who, what, when, where, why and how. Also known as  Five Ws and an H  and reporters questions. The 5Ws H formula has been attributed to English rhetorician Thomas Wilson (1524-1581), who introduced the method in his discussion of the seven circumstances of medieval rhetoric: Who, what, and where, by what helpe, and by whose,Why, how and when, doe many things disclose. (The Arte of Rhetorique, 1560) Examples and Observations It is not often one finds a walk-in refrigerator in a private home. When it happens, even the most hard-boiled of home reporters may be so flummoxed that she reverts to the journalism basics: Who? What? When? Where? Why? In this case, the who is simple enoughNeal I. Rosenthal, founder of the wine importing business that bears his name; the where is his newly renovated house in Dutchess County, about two and a half hours north of New York City.But why a fridge you can walk into?Another moment of excesses, Mr. Rosenthal says of the refrigerator, which cost $23,000. He has, after all, just completed the last step in a $3 million-plus renovation.(Joyce Wadler, In Dutchess County, a Wine Merchant’s Renovated Home. The New York Times, June 19, 2008)News stories are about providing information, and there is nothing more frustrating for the reader that finishing a story with unanswered questions still hanging. Journalism students are taught about the five Ws: who, what, when, where an d why. They are a useful tool to check you have covered all the bases, though not all will always apply.(Peter Cole, News Writing. The Guardian, Sep. 25, 2008) Journalists questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? or the questions that are referred to as the five Ws and one H, have been the mainstay of newsrooms across the country. Likewise, these questions have not lost their value in classroom instruction, regardless of the content area. Having your students answer these questions focuses their attention on the specifics of a given topic.(Vicki Urquhart and Monette McIver, Teaching Writing in the Content Areas. ASCD, 2005) S-V-O Sentences and the 5Ws and an H Subject-verb-object is the preferred sentence organization pattern in journalistic writing. Its easy to read and understand. . . S-V-O sentences pack in enough of the who, what, where, when, why and how for readers to have an overview of the story in one sentence. . .These 5 Ws and an H leads from wire services tell the whole story: AUSTIN- Texas ( where) Destinee Hooker, the two-time defending NCAA high jump champion ( who), will skip track ( what) this season ( when) to train with the U.S. womens national volleyball team ( why) before the Olympics.SALT LAKE CITY- Tag Elliott ( who) of Thatcher, Utah, was in critical condition one day after surgery ( what) to repair extensive facial injuries sustained in a collision with a bull ( why).Elliott, 19, was riding a 1,500 pound bull named Werewolf on Tuesday ( when) in the Days of 47 Rodeo ( where) when their heads smacked together ( how). S-V-O is the preferred sentence order in broadcast as well, because it creates easy-to-say units of thought that listeners can understand and absorb while the sportscaster is speaking. Online readers read in chunks: a blurb, a lead, a paragraph. They, too, are looking for easy-to-read, easy-to-understand information, and thats what S-V-O sentences deliver.(Kathryn T. Stofer, James R. Schaffer, and Brian A. Rosenthal, Sports Journalism: An Introduction to Reporting and Writing. Rowman Littlefield, 2010)

Human Activities on Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human Activities on Environment - Essay Example they either overestimate the size of earth or the problem of global warming. Increase in the level of CO2 in the air has been scientifically proved. CO2 has already increased up to 380 ppm in the atmosphere and may reach 600 ppm in the next fifty years. Its symptoms have shown up in the melting of glaciers and an overall increase in the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere since the American Civil War. In 2003 alone, 20000 people lost their life as a result of the unexpected heat wave in Europe. Fifty years are not very far meaning what shouldn’t happen is already happening thus coining the term, climate emergency. Global warming has altered our relation with Earth as we have changed the look of the world and made it warmer. Facts presented in this article are all reliable as they are supported with research. With our conscious efforts, we can control global warming like we have controlled CFCs in the past and solved the ozone hole problem. Works Cited: Al Gore. â€Å"The Climate Emergency.† 13 Apr. 2004. Web. 28 Jun. 2011.

Nursing research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 54

Nursing research - Essay Example Importantly, avoiding entrained thinking is crucial in eliminating conformist tendencies in a team. Consequently, this promotes the formation of a strong team in a healthcare facility with this team working together to achieve the objectives of a healthcare facility since nurses are equipped and well prepared to perform their roles. A nurse manager is an important component in the healthcare system’s overall objective of providing quality care to patients. In line with this, it is important that these nurses focused on engaging every staff member under their department in order to provide quality care to their clients. In line with this, a nurse manager should engage their staff members in practice by ensuring that members provided input on programs that the hospital implemented to promote quality care. By participating in development, implementation, and evaluation processes of programs, a nurse manager ensures a total engagement of all members of staff in practice since they participate in the development of program that promoted quality

Management Control System Essay Example for Free

Management Control System Essay Detector - measure what actually happening in the process being control. 2. Assessor - what is actually happening by comparing with some standard/expectation. 3. Affector - feedback. 4. Communication Network - transmit information between the three above. Management Control process is the process by which managers at all levels ensure that the people they supervise implement their intended strategies. Management Control process characteristics: 1. The standar is not preset - management decide what organization should do. 2. Management control is not automatic. 3. Management Control requires coordination among individuals 4. The connection from perceiving the need for action to determining the action required to obtain the desired result may not be clear. 5. Much Management Control is self control. System is a prescribed and usually repetitious way of carrying out an activity or a set of activities. Boundaries of Management Control: 1. Budget - conforming to budget is not necessarily good and departure from budget is not necessarily bad. 2. Goal congruence - it means that, insofar as is feasible, the goals of organization’s individual members should be consistent with the goals of the organization itself. 3. Tool for implementing strategy - organizational structure specifies the roles, reporting relationship and division of responsibilities that shape decision making within an organization. Human resource management is the selection, training, evaluation, promotion and termination of employees so as to develop the knowledge and skills required to execute organizational strategy. Culture refers to the set of common beliefs, attitudes, and norms that explicitly or implicitly guide managerial action. 4. MCS encompass both financial and nonfinancial performance measures. 5. Aid in developing new strategies. Strategy formulation is the process of deciding on the goals of the organization an d the strategies for attaining these goals. Management control is the process of implementing those strategies. Task control is the process of ensuring that specified tasks are carried out effectively and efficiently. Task control system is scientific, whereas management control can never be reduced to a science. By definition, management control involves the behavior of managers, and this cannot be expressed by equations. Impact of the internet on management control - difference between internet and phone: 1. Instant access. 2. Multi-targeted communication. 3. Costless communication. 4. Ability to display images. 5. Shifting power and control to individual.

Personal Narrative - A Hole In My Left Shoe :: Personal Narrative Writing

A Hole In My Left Shoe I have a hole in my left shoe. It’s on the inside of my left shoe, and it’s been there since the first week I had these shoes. It doesn’t grow or change, because the circumstances that begot it do not grow or change. It’s there because when I sword fight I drag that foot as part of my footwork. This hole in my shoe is a constant thing in my life. Even when I get a new pair of shoes it will still be back there within a week. Look closely at this hole and you can see into it, into me. You can see a story that begins several years ago. I can see him coming from a distance; we stand in a wide expanse of grassy field in the upper reaches of the North Carolina mountains. The boy is a friend of mine; his name is Lucuse, and I’ve known him for a week and already we have the makings of life long friends. But right now we are enemies of the most mortal kind. We circle each other, a stick in each hand, our sabers, and weapons of choice. We size one another up. He is much bigger than me in all aspects except our height, which I take him by scant inches. I’m faster, and he knows it, but if we should get into a lock and are forced to rely on force he knows he will win. Our plans formulated we begin, a slash, a stab. The world around us blurs; it’s still there, but only as a memory. All that exists is a fog, a fog and my opponent. I see him in his entirety, I see the way his body moves, how each piece of him works to form his bid for my demise. I’m aware of myself; I can sense every movement that wo uld at one time have been taken for granted. Now each step is a chapter in a novel that I can’t put down till the end. The adrenalin pounds in my mind as my opponent strikes at me trying to find a hole in my defense. It is in this feeling that I find true happiness for the first time in my young life. That was then and this is now, and I’m a different person now than I was then. Personal Narrative - A Hole In My Left Shoe :: Personal Narrative Writing A Hole In My Left Shoe I have a hole in my left shoe. It’s on the inside of my left shoe, and it’s been there since the first week I had these shoes. It doesn’t grow or change, because the circumstances that begot it do not grow or change. It’s there because when I sword fight I drag that foot as part of my footwork. This hole in my shoe is a constant thing in my life. Even when I get a new pair of shoes it will still be back there within a week. Look closely at this hole and you can see into it, into me. You can see a story that begins several years ago. I can see him coming from a distance; we stand in a wide expanse of grassy field in the upper reaches of the North Carolina mountains. The boy is a friend of mine; his name is Lucuse, and I’ve known him for a week and already we have the makings of life long friends. But right now we are enemies of the most mortal kind. We circle each other, a stick in each hand, our sabers, and weapons of choice. We size one another up. He is much bigger than me in all aspects except our height, which I take him by scant inches. I’m faster, and he knows it, but if we should get into a lock and are forced to rely on force he knows he will win. Our plans formulated we begin, a slash, a stab. The world around us blurs; it’s still there, but only as a memory. All that exists is a fog, a fog and my opponent. I see him in his entirety, I see the way his body moves, how each piece of him works to form his bid for my demise. I’m aware of myself; I can sense every movement that wo uld at one time have been taken for granted. Now each step is a chapter in a novel that I can’t put down till the end. The adrenalin pounds in my mind as my opponent strikes at me trying to find a hole in my defense. It is in this feeling that I find true happiness for the first time in my young life. That was then and this is now, and I’m a different person now than I was then.

Appearance vs Reality in More Strabberries Essay

Disguises can come in many forms, some of which are so carefully constructed one may not even realize that it is a disguise or, they can also be obvious to the person to whom you wish to hide. Eric Wright’s â€Å"Twins† and Nelson Bond’s â€Å"Vital Factor† are short stories whose central theme of appearance versus reality is seen through the analysis of the plots and its’ characters. Subsequently, both the murderer and Wilkins are not whom they speak, having a single minded focus can both save the wife and deceive Crowder, and using much time to conceive a master plan goes corrupt for the husband and Crowder. Through the analysis of the stories â€Å"Twins† and â€Å"Vital Factor†, deception plays a very important role in the methods used by both the husband and Wilkins. It is evident, through the comparison of these stories, that the husband and Wilkins never reveal or hint anything about their plans, rather they just seem to be doing it hoping that their schemes will arise into a reality. In the short story â€Å"Twins†, the appearance is that the husband’s devious and fool proof plan works and he kills his wife, but in reality, she discovers her husband’s real intentions, which eventually leads to her killing him instead. Using his identity as a writer as well as a loving husband, the husband leads his wife into his murderous plan, convinced that he is going to get away with it. This is apparent when the husband proudly says, â€Å"It’ll work all right. It’s going to work. † (Wright 216) The husband’s overconfidence leaves him vulnerable to the few mistakes he leaves behind. The appearance in â€Å"Vital Factor† is that the character, Wilkins, is just a brilliant engineer who has the plans to build a fantastic and working flying machine. In reality, Wilkins is an alien who uses Crowder and his money to fund his project to get home. As a wandering alien, Wilkins finds himself using others to get what he needs; a ride home. No one notices the strange little man, but rather his creative contraption, allowing him to slip away into an unseen reality. Crowder’s mind is too full of his money making plans that the idea of an odd person coming with no briefcase or blueprint but only a small metallic floating object does not appear bizarre. Consequently, this leads to an improvised vision of what others want rather than what is really desired. Accordingly, the husband and Wilkins both use their raw talents to hide their true selves using the brilliant awareness of deception. In the short stories â€Å"Vital Factor† and â€Å"Twins† there is dissimilarity in the idea of unclouded vision. In â€Å"Vital Factor†, Crowder only desires to be the best and greatest of all men in the world. He uses his â€Å"iron will and icy determination† (Bond 57) to guide him to his goal. With this as his main obsession, he clouds his own vision and does not think of the possibility that Wilkins will use him and his money to develop a way home. This gives Wilkins the perfect advantage of manipulating Crowder into providing him with an opportunity home. In â€Å"Twins† the wife has an unobstructed vision, unlike Crowder, of what her husband wants to do to her. She sees what her husband’s plan is when she finds his gun hiding in the fishing box. Using her clear vision, she makes her own plan on how to stop what her husband plans to do to her and flip it to kill him instead of vice versa. She exercises her wits and intelligence to notice the flaws in her husband’s cruel scheme and work her way through them and uses her traits to hide from her husband that she knows his plan and create her own plan to kill him. Therefore, in comparing the stories â€Å"Vital Factor and â€Å"Twins†, having a single minded focus can in some cases be detriment, blinding a clear threat to one’s life. On the other hand though, it can actually save one’s life, albeit through deception. In both stories â€Å"Twin† and â€Å"Vital Factor†, the appearance is that the characters have amazing plans that seem to foolproof and impervious to failure but in reality fail and are used against themselves. In â€Å"Twins†, the husband has a marvellous plan to murder his wife and to marry a girlfriend whom he really loves. He uses his profession as a writer to disguise to his present wife that he wants to kill her but rather uses the story he is writing as a plan to get away with the perfect murder. The husband is reckless and has flaws in his plan, for example leaving his gun in a place where his wife might be able to find it. Seeing as the wife did find the gun, she discovers her husband’s plans and goes with her husband into the thick brush seeing to know nothing, while in truth has a plan up her sleeve, the plan her husband wants to use against her. In â€Å"Vital Factor†, Crowder has a brilliant money making idea to send people to space. He finds a unique engineer who is able to build the spacecraft he dreams of. He spends months making this contraption with only money signs in his eyes. This brilliant engineer does exactly as his plans say and build the flying machine. Crowder is so involved in his money and ambition that he sees no other way one can use this machine but to fly from space and back to Earth. Wilkins was always a step before Crowder when he admits to Crowder that â€Å"Your money and ambition paved the way†¦but sentiment was the vital factor that sent me to you†¦I wanted to go home. †(Bond 61) Wilkins is in reality an alien who longs to return to his planet but has no way of getting there. When he meets Crowder, he sees an opportunity to use the power hungry man into paying his way back home. Clearly, when one creates a plan he must look at all the possibilities on how it will become and not just his own.

Chapter 22 The Unexpected Task

â€Å"Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?† Professor McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip through the Transfiguration class on Thursday, and Harry and Ron both jumped and looked up. It was the end of the lesson; they had finished their work; the guinea fowl they had been changing into guinea pigs had been shut away in a large cage on Professor McGonagall's desk (Neville's still had feathers); they had copied down their homework from the blackboard (â€Å"Describe, with examples, the ways in which Transforming Spells must be adapted when performing Cross-Species Switches†}. The bell was due to ring at any moment, and Harry and Ron, who had been having a sword fight with a couple of Fred and George's fake wands at the back of the class, looked up, Ron holding a tin parrot and Harry, a rubber haddock. â€Å"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age,† said Professor McGonagall, with an angry look at the pair of them as the head of Harry's haddock drooped and fell silently to the floor – Ron's parrot's beak had severed it moments before – â€Å"I have something to say to you all. â€Å"The Yule Ball is approaching – a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament and an opportunity for us to socialize with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above – although you may invite a younger student if you wish -â€Å" Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle. Parvati Patil nudged her hard in the ribs, her face working furiously as she too fought not to giggle. They both looked around at Harry, Professor McGonagall ignored them, which Harry thought was distinctly unfair, as she had just told off him and Ron. â€Å"Dress robes will be worn,† Professor McGonagall continued, â€Å"and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then -â€Å" Professor McGonagall stared deliberately around the class. â€Å"The Yule Ball is of course a chance for us all to – er – let our hair down,† she said, in a disapproving voice. Lavender giggled harder than ever, with her hand pressed hard against her mouth to stifle the sound. Harry could see what was funny this time: Professor McGonagall, with her hair in a tight bun, looked as though she had never let her hair down in any sense. â€Å"But that does NOT mean,† Professor McGonagall went on, â€Å"that we will be relaxing the standards of behavior we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrasses the school in any way.† The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders. Professor McGonagall called above the noise, â€Å"Potter – a word, if you please.† Assuming this had something to do with his headless rubber haddock, Harry proceeded gloomily to the teacher's desk. Professor McGonagall waited until the rest of the class had gone, and then said, â€Å"Potter, the champions and their partners -â€Å" â€Å"What partners?† said Harry. Profesor McGonagall looked suspiciously at him, as though she thought he was trying to be funny. â€Å"Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter,† she said coldly. â€Å"Your dance partners.† Harry's insides seemed to curl up and shrivel. â€Å"Dance partners?† He felt himself going red. â€Å"I don't dance,† he said quickly. â€Å"Oh yes, you do,† said Professor McGonagall irritably. â€Å"That's what I'm telling you. Traditionally, the champions and their partners open the ball.† Harry had a sudden mental image of himself in a top hat and tails, accompanied by a girl in the sort of frilly dress Aunt Petunia always wore to Uncle Vernon's work parties. â€Å"I'm not dancing,† he said. â€Å"It is traditional,† said Professor McGonagall firmly. â€Å"You are a Hogwarts champion, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Potter.† â€Å"But – I don't -â€Å" â€Å"You heard me, Potter,† said Professor McGonagall in a very final sort of way. A week ago. Harry would have said finding a partner for a dance would be a cinch compared to taking on a Hungarian Horntail. But now that he had done the latter, and was facing the prospect of asking a girl to the ball, he thought he'd rather have another round with the dragon. Harry had never known so many people to put their names down to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; he always did, of course, because the alternative was usually going back to Privet Drive, but he had always been very much in the minority before now. This year, however, everyone in the fourth year and above seemed to be staying, and they all seemed to Harry to be obsessed with the coming ball – or at least all the girls were, and it was amazing how many girls Hogwarts suddenly seemed to hold; he had never quite noticed that before. Girls giggling and whispering in the corridors, girls shrieking with laughter as boys passed them, girls excitedly comparing notes on what they were going to wear on Christmas night†¦. â€Å"Why do they have to move in packs?† Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls walked past them, sniggering and staring at Harry. â€Å"How're you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?† â€Å"Lasso one?† Ron suggested. â€Å"Got any idea who you're going to try?† Harry didn't answer. He knew perfectly well whom he'd like to ask, but working up the nerve was something else†¦.Cho was a year older than he was; she was very pretty; she was a very good Quidditch player, and she was also very popular. Ron seemed to know what was going on inside Harry's head. â€Å"Listen, you're not going to have any trouble. You're a champion. You've just beaten a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they'll be queuing up to go with you.† In tribute to their recently repaired friendship, Ron had kept the bitterness in his voice to a bare minimum. Moreover, to Harry's amazement, he turned out to be quite right. A curly-haired third-year Hufflepuff girl to whom Harry had never spoken in his life asked him to go to the ball with her the very next day. Harry was so taken aback he said no before he'd even stopped to consider the matter. The girl walked off looking rather hurt, and Harry had to endure Dean's, Seamus's, and Ron's taunts about her all through History of Magic. The following day, two more girls asked him, a second year and (to his horror) a fifth year who looked as though she might knock him out if he refused. â€Å"She was quite good-looking,† said Ron fairly, after he'd stopped laughing. â€Å"She was a foot taller than me,† said Harry, still unnerved. â€Å"Imagine what I'd look like trying to dance with her.† Hermione's words about Krum kept coming back to him. â€Å"They only like him because he's famous!† Harry doubted very much if any of the girls who had asked to be his partner so far would have wanted to go to the ball with him if he hadn't been a school champion. Then he wondered if this would bother him if Cho asked him. On the whole. Harry had to admit that even with the embarrassing prospect of opening the ball before him, life had definitely improved since he had got through the first task. He wasn't attracting nearly as much unpleasantness in the corridors anymore, which he suspected had a lot to do with Cedric – he had an idea Cedric might have told the Hufflepuffs to leave Harry alone, in gratitude for Harry's tip-off about the dragons. There seemed to be fewer Support Cedric Diggory! badges around too. Draco Malfoy, of course, was still quoting Rita Skeeter's article to him at every possible opportunity, but he was getting fewer and fewer laughs out of it – and just to heighten Harry's feeling of well-being, no story about Hagrid had appeared in the Daily Prophet. â€Å"She didn' seem very int'rested in magical creatures, ter tell yeh the truth,† Hagrid said, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione asked him how his interview with Rita Skeeter had gone during the last Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the term. To their very great relief, Hagrid had given up on direct contact with the skrewts now, and they were merely sheltering behind his cabin today, sitting at a trestle table and preparing a fresh selection of food with which to tempt the skrewts. â€Å"She jus' wanted me ter talk about you, Harry,† Hagrid continued in a low voice. â€Å"Well, I told her we'd been friends since I went ter fetch yeh from the Dursleys. ‘Never had to tell him off in four years?' she said. ‘Never played you up in lessons, has he?' I told her no, an she didn' seem happy at all. Yeh'd think she wanted me to say yeh were horrible, Harry.† â€Å"‘Course she did,† said Harry, throwing lumps of dragon liver into a large metal bowl and picking up his knife to cut some more. â€Å"She can't keep writing about what a tragic little hero I am, it'll get boring.† â€Å"She wants a new angle, Hagrid,† said Ron wisely as he shelled salamander eggs. â€Å"You were supposed to say Harry's a mad delinquent!† â€Å"But he's not!† said Hagrid, looking genuinely shocked. â€Å"She should've interviewed Snape,† said Harry grimly. â€Å"He'd give her the goods on me any day. ‘Potter has been crossing lines ever since he first arrived at this school†¦.'† â€Å"Said that, did he?† said Hagrid, while Ron and Hermione laughed. â€Å"Well, yeh might've bent a few rules. Harry, bu' yeh're all righ' really, aren' you?† â€Å"Cheers, Hagrid,† said Harry, grinning. â€Å"You coming to this ball thing on Christmas Day, Hagrid?† said Ron. â€Å"Though' I might look in on it, yeah,† said Hagrid gruffly. â€Å"Should be a good do, I reckon. You'll be openin the dancin', won yeh, Harry? Who're you takin'?† â€Å"No one, yet,† said Harry, feeling himself going red again. Hagrid didn't pursue the subject. The last week of term became increasingly boisterous as it progressed. Rumors about the Yule Ball were flying everywhere, though Harry didn't believe half of them – for instance, that Dumbledore had bought eight hundred barrels of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta. It seemed to be fact, however, that he had booked the Weird Sisters. Exactly who or what the Weird Sisters were Harry didn't know, never having had access to a wizard's wireless, but he deduced from the wild excitement of those who had grown up listening to the WWN (Wizarding Wireless Network) that they were a very famous musical group. Some of the teachers, like little Professor Flitwick, gave up trying to teach them much when their minds were so clearly elsewhere; he allowed them to play games in his lesson on Wednesday, and spent most of it talking to Harry about the perfect Summoning Charm Harry had used during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Other teachers were not so generous. Nothing would ever deflect Professor Binns, for example, from plowing on through his notes on goblin rebellions – as Binns hadn't let his own death stand in the way of continuing to teach, they supposed a small thing like Christmas wasn't going to put him off. It was amazing how he could make even bloody and vicious goblin riots sound as boring as Percy's cauldron-bottom report. Professors McGonagall and Moody kept them working until the very last second of their classes too, and Snape, of course, would no sooner let them play games in class than adopt Harry. Staring nastily around at them all, he informed them that he would be testing them on poison antidotes during the last lesson of the term. â€Å"Evil, he is,† Ron said bitterly that night in the Gryffindor common room. â€Å"Springing a test on us on the last day. Ruining the last bit of term with a whole load of studying.† â€Å"Mmm†¦you're not exactly straining yourself, though, are you?† said Hermione, looking at him over the top of her Potions notes. Ron was busy building a card castle out of his Exploding Snap pack – a much more interesting pastime than with Muggle cards, because of the chance that the whole thing would blow up at any second. â€Å"It's Christmas, Hermione,† said Harry lazily; he was rereading Flying with the Cannons for the tenth time in an armchair near the fire. Hermione looked severely over at him too. â€Å"I'd have thought you'd be doing something constructive, Harry, even if you don't want to learn your antidotes!† â€Å"Like what?† Harry said as he watched Joey Jenkins of the Cannons belt a Bludger toward a Ballycastle Bats Chaser. â€Å"That egg!† Hermione hissed. â€Å"Come on, Hermione, I've got till February the twenty-fourth,† Harry said. He had put the golden egg upstairs in his trunk and hadn't opened it since the celebration party after the first task. There were still two and a half months to go until he needed to know what all the screechy wailing meant, after all. â€Å"But it might take weeks to work it out!† said Hermione. â€Å"You're going to look a real idiot if everyone else knows what the next task is and you don't!† â€Å"Leave him alone, Hermione, he's earned a bit of a break,† said Ron, and he placed the last two cards on top of the castle and the whole lot blew up, singeing his eyebrows. â€Å"Nice look, Ron†¦go well with your dress robes, that will.† It was Fred and George. They sat down at the table with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as Ron felt how much damage had been done. â€Å"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?† George asked. â€Å"No, he's off delivering a letter,† said Ron. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because George wants to invite him to the ball,† said Fred sarcastically. â€Å"Because we want to send a letter, you stupid great prat,† said George. â€Å"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?† said Ron. â€Å"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too,† said Fred, waving his wand threateningly. â€Å"So†¦you lot got dates for the ball yet?† â€Å"Nope,† said Ron. â€Å"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone,† said Fred. â€Å"Who're you going with, then?† said Ron. â€Å"Angelina,† said Fred promptly, without a trace of embarrassment. â€Å"What?† said Ron, taken aback. â€Å"You've already asked her?† â€Å"Good point,† said Fred. He turned his head and called across the common room, â€Å"Oi! Angelina!† Angelina, who had been chatting with Alicia Spinnet near the fire, looked over at him. â€Å"What?† she called back. â€Å"Want to come to the ball with me?† Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look. â€Å"All right, then,† she said, and she turned back to Alicia and carried on chatting with a bit of a grin on her face. â€Å"There you go,† said Fred to Harry and Ron, â€Å"piece of cake.† He got to his feet, yawning, and said, â€Å"We'd better use a school owl then, George, come on†¦.† They left. Ron stopped feeling his eyebrows and looked across the smoldering wreck of his card castle at Harry. â€Å"We should get a move on, you know†¦ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls.† Hermione let out a sputter of indignation. â€Å"A pair of†¦what, excuse me?† â€Å"Well – you know,† said Ron, shrugging. â€Å"I'd rather go alone than with – with Eloise Midgen, say.† â€Å"Her acne's loads better lately – and she's really nice!† â€Å"Her nose is off-center,† said Ron. â€Å"Oh I see,† Hermione said, bristling. â€Å"So basically, you're going to take the best-looking girl who'll have you, even if she's completely horrible?† â€Å"Er – yeah, that sounds about right,† said Ron. â€Å"I'm going to bed,† Hermione snapped, and she swept off toward the girls' staircase without another word. The Hogwarts staff, demonstrating a continued desire to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, seemed determined to show the castle at its best this Christmas. When the decorations went up. Harry noticed that they were the most stunning he had yet seen inside the school. Everlasting icicles had been attached to the banisters of the marble staircase; the usual twelve Christmas trees in the Great Hall were bedecked with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. It was quite something to hear â€Å"O Come, All Ye Faithful† sung by an empty helmet that only knew half the words. Several times, Filch the caretaker had to extract Peeves from inside the armor, where he had taken to hiding, filling in the gaps in the songs with lyrics of his own invention, all of which were very rude. And still. Harry hadn't asked Cho to the ball. He and Ron were getting very nervous now, though as Harry pointed out, Ron would look much less stupid than he would without a partner; Harry was supposed to be starting the dancing with the other champions. â€Å"I suppose there's always Moaning Myrtle,† he said gloomily, referring to the ghost who haunted the girls' toilets on the second floor. â€Å"Harry – we've just got to grit our teeth and do it,† said Ron on Friday morning, in a tone that suggested they were planning the storming of an impregnable fortress. â€Å"When we get back to the common room tonight, we'll both have partners – agreed?† â€Å"Er†¦okay,† said Harry. But every time he glimpsed Cho that day – during break, and then lunchtime, and once on the way to History of Magic – she was surrounded by friends. Didn't she ever go anywhere alone? Could he perhaps ambush her as she was going into a bathroom? But no – she even seemed to go there with an escort of four or five girls. Yet if he didn't do it soon, she was bound to have been asked by somebody else. He found it hard to concentrate on Snape's Potions test, and consequently forgot to add the key ingredient – a bezoar – meaning that he received bottom marks. He didn't care, though; he was too busy screwing up his courage for what he was about to do. When the bell rang, he grabbed his bag, and hurried to the dungeon door. â€Å"I'll meet you at dinner,† he said to Ron and Hermione, and he dashed off upstairs. He'd just have to ask Cho for a private word, that was all†¦.He hurried off through the packed corridors looking for her, and (rather sooner than he had expected) he found her, emerging from a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. â€Å"Er – Cho? Could I have a word with you?† Giggling should be made illegal. Harry thought furiously, as all the girls around Cho started doing it. She didn't, though. She said, â€Å"Okay,† and followed him out of earshot other classmates. Harry turned to look at her and his stomach gave a weird lurch as though he had missed a step going downstairs. â€Å"Er,† he said. He couldn't ask her. He couldn't. But he had to. Cho stood there looking puzzled, watching him. The words came out before Harry had quite got his tongue around them. â€Å"Wangoballwime?† â€Å"Sorry?† said Cho. â€Å"D'you – d'you want to go to the ball with me?† said Harry. Why did he have to go red now? Why? â€Å"Oh!† said Cho, and she went red too. â€Å"Oh Harry, I'm really sorry,† and she truly looked it. â€Å"I've already said I'll go with someone else.† â€Å"Oh,† said Harry. It was odd; a moment before his insides had been writhing like snakes, but suddenly he didn't seem to have any insides at all. â€Å"Oh okay,† he said, â€Å"no problem.† â€Å"I'm really sorry,† she said again. â€Å"That's okay,† said Harry. They stood there looking at each other, and then Cho said, â€Å"Well -â€Å" â€Å"Yeah,† said Harry. â€Å"Well, ‘bye,† said Cho, still very red. She walked away. Harry called after her, before he could stop himself. â€Å"Who're you going with?† â€Å"Oh – Cedric,† she said. â€Å"Cedric Diggory.† â€Å"Oh right,† said Harry. His insides had come back again. It felt as though they had been filled with lead in their absence. Completely forgetting about dinner, he walked slowly back up to Gryffindor Tower, Cho's voice echoing in his ears with every step he took. â€Å"Cedric – Cedric Diggory.† He had been starting to quite like Cedric – prepared to overlook the fact that he had once beaten him at Quidditch, and was handsome, and popular, and nearly everyone's favorite champion. Now he suddenly realized that Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup. â€Å"Fairy lights,† he said dully to the Fat Lady – the password had been changed the previous day. â€Å"Yes, indeed, dear!† she trilled, straightening her new tinsel hair band as she swung forward to admit him. Entering the common room, Harry looked around, and to his surprise he saw Ron sitting ashen-faced in a distant corner. Ginny was sitting with him, talking to him in what seemed to be a low, soothing voice. â€Å"What's up, Ron?† said Harry, joining them. Ron looked up at Harry, a sort of blind horror in his face. â€Å"Why did I do it?† he said wildly. â€Å"I don't know what made me do it! â€Å"What?† said Harry. â€Å"He – er – just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him,† said Ginny. She looked as though she was fighting back a smile, but she kept patting Ron's arm sympathetically. â€Å"You what?' said Harry. â€Å"I don't know what made me do it!† Ron gasped again. â€Å"What was I playing at? There were people – all around – I've gone mad – everyone watching! I was just walking past her in the entrance hall – she was standing there talking to Diggory – and it sort of came over me – and I asked her!† Ron moaned and put his face in his hands. He kept talking, though the words were barely distinguishable. â€Å"She looked at me like I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer. And then – I dunno – I just sort of came to my senses and ran for it.† â€Å"She's part veela,† said Harry. â€Å"You were right – her grandmother was one. It wasn't your fault, I bet you just walked past when she was turning on the old charm for Diggory and got a blast of it – but she was wasting her time. He's going with Cho Chang.† Ron looked up. â€Å"I asked her to go with me just now,† Harry said dully, â€Å"and she told me.† Ginny had suddenly stopped smiling. â€Å"This is mad,† said Ron. â€Å"We're the only ones left who haven't got anyone – well, except Neville. Hey – guess who he asked? Hermione!† â€Å"What?† said Harry, completely distracted by this startling news. â€Å"Yeah, I know!† said Ron, some of the color coming back into his face as he started to laugh. â€Å"He told me after Potions! Said she's always been really nice, helping him out with work and stuff- but she told him she was already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn't want to go with Neville†¦I mean, who would?† â€Å"Don't!† said Ginny, annoyed. â€Å"Don't laugh -â€Å" Just then Hermione climbed in through the portrait hole. â€Å"Why weren't you two at dinner?† she said, coming over to join them. â€Å"Because – oh shut up laughing, you two – because they've both just been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!† said Ginny. That shut Harry and Ron up. â€Å"Thanks a bunch, Ginny,† said Ron sourly. â€Å"All the good-looking ones taken, Ron?† said Hermione loftily. â€Å"Eloise Midgen starting to look quite pretty now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you.† But Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light. â€Å"Hermione, Neville's right – you are a girl†¦.† â€Å"Oh well spotted,† she said acidly. â€Å"Well – you can come with one of us!† â€Å"No, I can't,† snapped Hermione. â€Å"Oh come on,† he said impatiently, â€Å"we need partners, we're going to look really stupid if we haven't got any, everyone else has†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I can't come with you,† said Hermione, now blushing, â€Å"because I'm already going with someone.† â€Å"No, you're not!† said Ron. â€Å"You just said that to get rid of Neville!† â€Å"Oh did I?† said Hermione, and her eyes flashed dangerously. â€Å"Just because it's taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn't mean no one else has spotted I'm a girl!† Ron stared at her. Then he grinned again. â€Å"Okay, okay, we know you're a girl,† he said. â€Å"That do? Will you come now?† â€Å"I've already told you!† Hermione said very angrily. â€Å"I'm going with someone else!† And she stormed off toward the girls' dormitories again. â€Å"She's lying,† said Ron flatly, watching her go. â€Å"She's not,† said Ginny quietly. â€Å"Who is it then?† said Ron sharply. â€Å"I'm not telling you, it's her business,† said Ginny. â€Å"Right,† said Ron, who looked extremely put out, â€Å"this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll just -â€Å" â€Å"I can't,† said Ginny, and she went scarlet too. â€Å"I'm going with – with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought†¦well†¦I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year.† She looked extremely miserable. â€Å"I think I'll go and have dinner,† she said, and she got up and walked off to the portrait hole, her head bowed. Ron goggled at Harry. â€Å"What's got into them?† he demanded. But Harry had just seen Parvati and Lavender come in through the portrait hole. The time had come for drastic action. â€Å"Wait here,† he said to Ron, and he stood up, walked straight up to Parvati, and said, â€Å"Parvati? Will you go to the ball with me?† Parvati went into a fit of giggles. Harry waited for them to subside, his fingers crossed in the pocket of his robes. â€Å"Yes, all right then,† she said finally, blushing furiously. â€Å"Thanks,† said Harry, in relief. â€Å"Lavender – will you go with Ron?† â€Å"She's going with Seamus,† said Parvati, and the pair of them giggled harder than ever. Harry sighed. â€Å"Can't you think of anyone who'd go with Ron?† he said, lowering his voice so that Ron wouldn't hear. â€Å"What about Hermione Granger?† said Parvati. â€Å"She's going with someone else.† Parvati looked astonished. â€Å"Ooooh – who?† she said keenly. Harry shrugged. â€Å"No idea,† he said. â€Å"So what about Ron?† â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Parvati slowly, â€Å"I suppose my sister might†¦Padma, you know†¦in Ravenclaw. I'll ask her if you like.† â€Å"Yeah, that would be great,† said Harry. â€Å"Let me know, will you?† And he went back over to Ron, feeling that this ball was a lot more trouble than it was worth, and hoping very much that Padma Patil's nose was dead center.

102 Rhetorical Analysis Professor Ramos Blog

102 Rhetorical Analysis Essay 2: Rhetorical Analysis

McDonalds French Fries Are Still Not Vegetarian

McDonald's French Fries Are Still Not Vegetarian Most animal-rights activists follow a plant-based diet for ethical reasons and avoid places where billions of dead animals are served up every day. Still,  vegetarians or vegans  may be inclined to sneak into McDonalds on occasion for a serving of the famous Golden Arches french fries. If so, they should stop. In spite of numerous protests and even lawsuits, McDonalds french fries are not, and never have been, vegan or vegetarian. But how can that be? you might ask. French fries are made from potatoes and fried in oil, so theres no harm in grabbing a serving for the road. Right? Its All Good in India Sure. If you live in India. In that country, you can consume all the McDonalds French fries your heart desires because they are made of only plant-based ingredients. In fact, McDonalds in India does not serve pork or beef products at all. So if the fast-food giant can respect the fact that, in India, cows are sacred and not for consumption, as well as make veg-friendly fries, then why can’t they do it in the United States? Not in the U.S.A. However, French fries served at American McDonald’s locations are not vegetarian. Thats because for decades McDonald’s cooked its fries in beef fat- its supposedly what gave them their famous flavor. But when they switched to vegetable oil, the fries were no longer as tasty. The solution was to add natural beef flavor to the spuds. Class-Action Lawsuit In 2001, McDonald’s was hit with a class-action lawsuit, led by a group of Hindu customers who felt they were being duped into unwittingly consuming animal products, which is strictly against their religion. Other vegetarians and vegans joined the fight, pointing out that the company gave out misleading information. Customers were being told that the French fries were fried in vegetable oil- the inference being that the fries were no longer cooked in lard and were therefore veg-friendly. Admitting that the fries were coated in beef flavoring, McDonalds settled for $10 million, with $6 million going to vegetarian organizations. Whats in a Fry? But they didn’t change their recipe one bit. Their website still lists the ingredients for all to see. As a representative explained: â€Å"With regard to our French fries, any customer in the U.S. who contacts McDonalds USA to ask if they contain beef flavoring is told yes. The way it works is, McDonalds French fry suppliers add a very small amount of beef flavor to the oil in the par-frying process at the potato processing plant before shipping the spuds to individual outlets. Once at the restaurant, the fries are cooked in vegetable oil. That same representative went on to say that, In addition, we have no plans to change the way we prepare our French fries in the U.S. However, it is important to know that our French fries are prepared differently in other countries.† To vegans and vegetarians, this is insulting. How difficult would it be to just leave out the beef flavoring like they do in India? The likely answer is that because the majority of customers in India are vegetarian or vegan, not accommodating their ethics would mean a loss of billions of dollars. Here in the United States, the opposite is likely to be true. Leave off the beef flavor that has long given the McDonalds French fry its famous flavor, and Americans are likely to just say no to Do you want fries with that?

Marketing Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing Assignment - Essay Example â€Å"B2B transactions primarily target companies and other wholesale buyers† (Pollick). We can say that B2B marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to reach international customers. B2B transactions are generally high level and more logical as compared to C2B. In B2B marketing, marketers post a detailed offer regarding their products in order to find appropriate buyers for those products and the buyers decide to buy the products based on the offer. Whereas in C2B, sellers use online auction sites to place their products for bids and sell the products to the company who places the highest bid. B2B marketing is somewhat more complex as compared to C2B. The major difference between C2B and B2B is the types of parties involved in both modes of transactions. In C2B, a consumer sells something to some other business or a company, whereas in B2B, a business party, such as manufacturer or retailer sells products to other manufacturers or retailers using online auction sites in most cases. Works Cited Pollick, Michael. â€Å"What Is B2B?.† Wisegeek.com, 17 Apr. 2011. Web. 17 Jun. 2011.