What Is An American Essay -- Definition Essys Expository Papers

Since this great country was first established many intuitive minds have tried to answer the question; "What is an American". This country is full of individuals of many backgrounds, and diversities and each person has a different opinion on this question. In my opinion, an American is someone who values freedom and equality and pursues the "American dream." Every American exercises these rights and these are great adjectives to describe our country. Each of the seven readings, and the one image I compiled help mold this broader definition into a more precise description of an American. Robert Creeley, an influential American writer and poet, lived the ideal American dream. He wrote about his struggles early in his life. He lost his father at an early age and went away to school at the age of fourteen. He overcame all adversity to work hard for a living and, in return, live the American dream. He also wrote that the United States is a place where all people want to go because it offers a chance at renewal and making their lives better (Creeley). This, in its essence, is the American Dream; A happy and successful life to which all may aspire. My image represents this through the picture of the big house and the expensive car. Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of America, in a letter to John Adams, wrote about the benefits of America. He wrote about people coming to America and pursuing any profession they wanted and they were protected by the law (Jefferson). At that time this was the American dream; hard work could lead to a better life. This led to having enough earnings to support a family and it transformed into something totally different. Henry James, a European, around the same time criticized this id... ...ction. Works Cited Adams, John. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Alvarez, Julia. The Woman I Kept to Myself. Algonquin Books, 2004. Creely, Robert. The Collected Essays of Robert Creely. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage, 1995. James, Henry. Works of Henry James. Including The Portrait of a Lady, The Turn of the Screw, The Ambassadors, The Bostonians, The Europeans, The Wings of the Dove. MobileReference, 2009. Mayers, Florence. A Russian ABC: Featuring Masterpieces from the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (Mayers, Florence Cassen. ABC.). ABRAMS, 1992. Nye, Naomi. Fuel: Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. BOA Editions Ltd., 1998.

Rhetorical Analysis of “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Essay

Being proud of one’s culture and language is often times lost when immigrating to a new country. Although criticized and attacked for her culture, Gloria Anzaldua describes in â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† that she refuses to let others force her to reject her culture for the sake of belonging and informs Americans and Latinos attempting to suppress Chicano culture specifically that she will persevere through the hardship to keep her identity alive and thriving. Anzaldua calls her readers to understand that the Chicano language and heritage should be recognized and that they be identified as a distinct people; that they are more than nothing. Anzaldua begins with engaging the reader by providing a personal experience of when she was sent to the corner of the classroom for â€Å"talking back† to her teacher when her intention was just to tell the teacher how to pronounce her name (374). In her second section â€Å"Overcoming the Tradition of Silence† (37 4), Anzaldua adds internal incite on the culture of the Chicano and the barriers of her language, supporting her credibility and supporting ethos with another personal account. She displays these different scenarios from her point of view, showing her audience what it feels like to live through these situations as a Chicano. Switching back and forth from English to Spanish, Anzaldua cleverly uses this form of diction to establish ethos with the reader. She puts the reader somewhat in her shoes when growing up in America, not knowing every English word she was read or heard. It makes the reader feel rather awkward or embarrassed for not knowing what the Spanish words mean. Another form of ethos is present when she states, â€Å"If you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language† (378). Anzaldua uses ethos again to demonstrate that what people value highly, their language, is what she values sincerely, claiming â€Å"I am my language† (378). Anzaldua establishes logos by enlightening us as to why Chicano Spanish is different from Standard Spanish, explaining that the significant differences in the Spanish Chicanos speak developed after 250 years of Spanish/Anglo  colonization (376). She again uses logic in determining that even though by the end of this century Spanish speakers will embody the largest minority group in the U.S, English will be the mother tongue of Chicanos and Latinos due to the fierce influence of the degradation of the use of Spanish (378). Works Cited Anzaldua, Gloria. â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue† From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Stuart Green and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2012. 322-36. Print. Documentation Statement: I received no help on this assignment.

James Loewen

To describe this work overall is rather a monumental task because there aren’t many other books out there like this one.   Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen takes on really two tasks.   One is to question and answer the concept of why students dislike history classes.   The second is to prove the idea that much of what students learn in American history classes is wrong and that there are many omissions.   The author can be described as a teacher who challenges the role of revisionist history in American schools. He says that much of American history alienates children of color by ignoring the fact that many of the people who contributed greatly to this country were indeed, non-white.   Because of the nature of textbooks in American high schools, much of college history classes are taken up â€Å"fixing† the subject matter that students have learned in high school history classes. Being a college history professor, he asserts this with confidence.   Loewen does not deny the importance of knowing history for one minute, but he does question what we know.   Loewen is a university professor of history at the University of Vermont, and his study in preparation for writing this book consisted of studying twelve textbooks covering a range in American history.   He set about to â€Å"analyze the process of textbook creation and adoption to explain what causes textbooks to be as bad as they are† and the effects of using them. So, why is history boring according to Loewen?   History is made up of nothing but stories which should not be boring, but textbook companies have left out anything that â€Å"might reflect badly upon our national character† (Loewen).   As Loewen says, there is no sense of drama in history taught in schools, and there is every sense that things will work out in the end.   This alone makes history boring.   It is also boring because â€Å"textbooks almost never use the present to illuminate the past† (Loewen).   Therefore, students have a difficult time understanding the relevance to their daily lives. History is portrayed as a â€Å"morality play,† in which the touchy areas are never taught or discussed.   Publishers tend not to acknowledge problems of today or use the past to shed some light.   They also never speak of the factors that contributed to problems; rather a â€Å"blame the victim† approach is used.   As Loewen says, â€Å"While there is nothing wrong with optimism, it does become something of a burden for students of color, children of working class parents, girls who notice an absence of women who made history, or any group that has not already been outstandingly successful† (Loewen).   This â€Å"burden† turns students off to history because it does not accurately address any of these things nor does it tell the full stories. Textbooks ignore many historical realities for a variety of reasons.   The biggest reason is that publishers believe that students must develop a sense of nationalism or patriotism.   To acknowledge troubling areas in our nation’s history is to run the risk that patriotism will not be developed.   A â€Å"happy† view of history leads Americans to believe that everything is okay, so students are not troubled.   This view of history embraces the American idea of individualism rather than looking at the many factors that affected lack of equal opportunity.   Textbooks make us believe that equal opportunity was and is an option for all. As for other reasons, Loewen does a thorough job pointing these out.   Facts are presented â€Å"as one damn thing after another† (Loewen).   Books â€Å"suppress causation† (Loewen).   In fact, many of the facts included are flat out wrong and many of the books are clones of each other, which means the facts are wrong over and over again.   They rarely include primary source documents, which Loewen compares to students taking a course in poetry without reading a poem.   Plus the books are just so darn big that students hate carrying them and reading them. In his Table of Contents he discusses all the false information or omissions based on his study of textbooks, such as the study of Christopher Columbus, Thanksgiving, Native Americans, the invisibility of racism, the absence of social class, the disappearance of the recent past, and the myth of progress to name a few.   These chapters contain much needed information about the true stories. The results of his study conclude that students are bored with or alienated from history or both.   They are also not able to use the past in order to think about the future.   He proposes this book partly in order to discuss how to assess all the various sources of knowledge about history and to help teachers think about how to learn history more accurately. As he ponders the idea of â€Å"truth† in revisionist history in every chapter, I will use one chapter as an example.   In the chapter entitled hero Making Heroes, examples are given of how textbooks leave important ideas or at least controversial ones out of the books.   For example, Loewen tells us that Helen Keller was a radical socialist.   Books leave out all mention of Woodrow Wilson’s racism and the fact that there was a new surge of racial violence in this country after his presidency. And last but not least, discussion of Christopher Columbus has been totally slanted.   He took land from the Native Americans and engaged in slave trade or forced labor.   He alone destroyed entire nations of Native Americans.   Only six of twelve textbooks even mentioned the idea of forced labor at all.   And yet, most of what is taught does none of these things. Loewen concludes with the statement that â€Å"students will start learning history when they see the point of doing so, when it seems interesting and important to them, and when they believe history might relate to their lives and futures† (Loewen). I believe the author does accomplish his goals.   He absolutely adequately sums up why students hate history.   The study of history seems all about facts and dates that have no relation to each other or to our lives.   History books are chock full of names and dates but not material that challenges the student to really think about and analyze history.   These facts are expected to be taken at face value and not to be questioned.   Any controversy is left out of books.   Students need to be taught history in a more meaningful way so that they can use the past to illuminate the future or even the future to illuminate the past. To me, understanding is the only reason to teach anything, not rote memorization of facts that aren’t even true.   I understand that standardized testing puts a lot of pressure on history teachers, but American schools should at least be able to find a way to present both sides of issues.   Students could truly be more interested in history that way.   Teaching only the wonderful qualities in American history and ignoring the disturbing parts is not a way to push students to become leaders of tomorrow.   If one truly wants to fix problems, one must first identify what the problems are.   For example, in terms of equal opportunity, it is important for students to realize that phrase was always a dream propagated by white people. People of color in this country have never had even a remote chance to thrive the way white people have.   Therefore, current practices like affirmative action might not seem so terrible if they understand the history all the way down the line.   There has always been affirmative action; it was just only for white people.   Now that we give it a name and make it policy to benefit nonwhite people, society is up in arms.   Teaching about the historical laws and rules that made it impossible to receive a fair chance if one was non-white is at least a step in the right direction.   Maybe that would help illuminate the present by using the past.   It would also highlight high level skills like synthesis and critical thinking. I detest the idea of revisionist history.   I understand that there are places where a thorough understanding is just not possible.   For example, teaching about our genocide of the Native Americans to elementary students is not a good idea.   However, we can teach about such things from primary source documents.   Falsities do not have to be taught.   We certainly do not need to reinforce the idea that Indians have all vanished or that they live in teepees still.   If all else fails, leave the study of these people or events out of history classes where students are too young to understand the ramifications. Loewen would not propose this as it would be yet another omission.   Loewen’s book should be required reading for any person planning on teaching anything.   Loewen gives a very thorough account of the many inaccuracies and omissions that are currently taught.   A lot of people have not had enough history after high school to even realize that this is the case or to put all the information together, to synthesize it in such a way that the light bulb finally comes on. And while it is much easier to take the safe route, that one is rarely the best.   In this culture we need more critical thinkers, not more people who can memorize facts.   In this information age, it is more crucial than ever to teach others how to think, not what to think.   Any fact we will ever need is at our fingertips on the Internet.   What we aren’t taught is how to analyze and evaluate or how to come to a conclusion based on thorough understanding of both sides (informed decisions).   In addition, teaching the truth of some of these historical inaccuracies might go a long way in helping racial inequities or other avenues where we â€Å"blame the victim† in our culture.   Certainly we would change our definition of America, but we might be more apt to become part of the solution. Works Cited Loewen, James, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Simon and Schuster, 1995.

WWII and the homefront essays

WWII and the homefront essays Civil Defense and Race Relations in World War Two Civil defense and race relations were two current topics during World War Two. There was a plethora of racism throughout the country at this time. At the same time because of the possible threat of bombings by Hitlers Luftwaffe or his new age V-rockets there was the issue of civil defense. Certain races during the Second World War discriminated against. One of the races that faced this discrimination was the Japanese-Americans. The Japanese-Americans had done nothing wrong, but the biased views of many Americans of European heritage caused this terrible discrimination. Many Americans saw the Japanese-Americans as a threat to their national security. Most of the Japanese-Americans were United States born citizens. Even though the Japanese-Americans were discriminated against over 8,000 young Japanese-Americans were eventually drafted into service by the end of the war. Many Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps. These camps had many striking resemblances to the German concentration camps. There were camps in six states along the west coast. The Japanese-Americans were rounded up, especially along the west coast and put into these camps. These people had already been discriminated against before the war but with the attack on Pearl Harbor bitterness arose in America. The camps were usually old army tents set up in the desert. The people were fed little and held under strict watch. In early 1942 President Roosevelt gave into the military leaders complaints and gave the okay to round up the Japanese Americans and place them in the camps. These Americans were forced to sell there houses in a very short period of time. They usually had to sell their homes a very low price in order to sell them before they were put into the camps. Many Japanese-American business men were also forced to sell their business at very low prices to avoid the being seized by ...

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity

6 Life Tips For Bloggers To Boost Their Personal Productivity According to  s Better Blogger survey, their audiences biggest challenges are: 22% say it’s finding time to create content. 20% say it’s planning content. 16% say it’s creating really good content. 11% say it’s creating consistent content. 6% say it’s meeting blogging goals. 6% say it’s proving blogging success. 4% say it’s using new content formats. 4% say it’s relying on team members to get things done. It is interesting to note here that 7  out of the above  8 primary  challenges are things that can be achieved if consistently high personal productivity is introduced in the mix. Now I know its difficult to be productive all the time. Its not a switch that can wishfully be toggled on or off. As a blogger myself, these are problems that even I face and know how annoying they can get when they regularly stop me from achieving my goals. But I cant afford to give up and neither can you. Fortunately, science and professional experience over the year has done us a solid by coming up with proven productivity tips that can help any person become more efficient and consistent at their work. All it requires is some self control and discipline. With that in mind, here is a countdown to six  of the best life tips that will boost your personal productivity (oh, and Ive included some bonus life tips with each point so check them out, too)! 6 Life Tips That Will Help Every #Blogger Boost Their Personal #Productivity via @SujanDeswal6. Drop That Smartphone, Now It's interesting to know that director Christopher Nolan, who has helmed movies like Inception, Interstellar, and the Dark Knight Trilogy, does not own a smartphone because he feels that it distracts him. And research agrees with him. The smartphone stress emanates from the need to constantly check your phone for any notifications or messages that people might send you. The reason for such behavior is a social phenomena called the fear of missing out (FOMO). We fear that we might lose out on so many important social happenings and events and the company of friends around us. Since a smartphone  is the quickest way to get access to such information, we spend time obsessively checking every â€Å"bleep† or â€Å"tin tin†,  with  social media fueling the angst even more. It takes your mind 64 seconds to return to work after distractions. #bloggingProfessor Larry Rosen, from California State University, talks about a small experiment  he conducted  on this obsessiveness. He asked 100 of his students to install a custom app which would check how many times they unlocked their phones and the usage statistics, during their final exam week. What he found was  quite astonishing. Students unlocked the phone, on an average, 60 times a day for a total of 200 minutes. Which roughly translates to 3.3 minutes usage for three times an hour every day. Just enough time to check their social media (this, when they should be studying for the final exam). In fact, after checking an email, it takes your mind 64 seconds to get back to whatever it is you were doing earlier. Now since we’re all different, I’m not going to share generic pointers to help you not check your phone constantly. Instead I’ll share tactics that have worked for me and it would be swell if you shared some of yours in the comments, too. Here they are: I've uninstalled all social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. I now only have WhatsApp (with all notification sounds and popups disabled). I've made it a rule to never use my phone while driving. Luckily, in the last four months, I’ve just received two calls that actually deserved my immediate attention. When I’m working, I keep my phone on vibration mode (I guess we all do). I go on ‘no smartphone check’ marathons where I don’t check my phone for an hour, three to four times a day (this has helped me the most). I don’t keep my phone in my hands or at the desk. It’s always where I can't see it, which is mostly my pocket or my backpack. Takeaway: Your smartphones are making you more stressed and hence, more incompetent at your job. Practice rigorous discipline to beat this addiction. Bonus life tip:  Play more video games because they improve reflexes, reasoning, problem solving, memory, multi-tasking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and a lot more. 5. Save Time By Automating Routine Tasks Tim Ferris, author of the highly successful blog fourhourworkweek.com  deems automation as one of the pillars of his ground-breaking book The 4-Hour WorkWeek. In it, he describes how his preferred  automation function is fulfilled by outsourcing. He outsources all non-work tasks to his virtual assistants who then get them done while Tim can concentrate on major work-related tasks. Automate or outsource repetitive tasks to improve your #PersonalProductivity.To add to the above- Randall Munroe, mathematician and creator of the webcomic XKCD- drew a cartoon which details how much time would you save if you learned how to automate routine work: So to lend some perspective from a blogger's point of view, find tools and processes that  enable automatic  completion of repetitive tasks so that you can get the time to concentrate on your actual work objectives: Send bulk emails with  GetResponse. Schedule content, blog posts, and social media  with . Automatically share updates and blogs with Buffer  and . Come up with ideas and topics in the beginning of every month with HubSpot Topic Generator  (use this along with 's Headline Analyzer to review and create better  headlines). Use Keyboard shortcuts. Brainscape, a  Web and Mobile  study platform, did an interesting calculation and found that a person  can save almost 8 complete days in an year if they didn't  have to switch one hand between a keyboard and a mouse. Create Google Alerts around topics that you care about  so that you're automatically notified about any new updates related to them. Personally, I  use Google Alerts to keep track of places where I've just been mentioned. I can then immediately head over to that community/comment/post and engage with the audience. Like above, there are hundreds of tools that you can use to automate boring grunt work. Not only will this save time, it will help you stay productive by keeping your mind free of the clutter. In fact, you can even save up to 10+ hours a week if such menial tasks were off your hands. Takeaway: Wherever possible, save time by using applications to automate repetitive tasks. Bonus Life Tip: Listening to music can make boring tasks enjoyable and increase on-task concentration. 4. Visualizing Success Is Actually Counterproductive We’ve all done it because we borrow some of that future "after completion of task satisfaction", for right now. This positive feeling in turn motivates us more to actually get the job done. However, science says otherwise. In their study â€Å"The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies†, researchers Oettingen and Mayer ran a group of tests around four scenarios to examine the effects of fantasizing a positive outcome on participants. They write: As positive expectations reflect past successes, they signal that investment in the future will pay off. Positive fantasies, to the contrary, lead people to mentally enjoy the desired future in the here and now, and thus curb investment and future success. This behavior stems psychologically from self-efficacy which refers to your  trust in yourself  capability to reach your  goal. So what's happening? Basically once you’ve visualized that next blog post or that next profitable venture, your mind experiences some of that satisfaction and then tells your body to cool down. Your mental state becomes lethargic (of the goal having been achieved) as opposed to vigilant (of the goal has yet to be achieved). In fact, sharing your goals with your friends makes it even  likelier that you’re going to give up- a  research study involving college students found that the participants’ commitment to complete goals wavered once they publicly shared it with their colleagues.   This happens because sharing goals triggers a â€Å"premature sense of of completeness†. Do you share your personal #blogging goals? Research says it's time to stop.'So now onwards the name of the game is to just â€Å"zip it†: Takeaway: Keep your goals to yourself. Expect a positive outcome but don’t visualize or fantasize about it. Actually make it happen. Bonus life tip: Eye strain? Flex every muscle in your face and then hold. Relax. Repeat for a few more minutes. This muscle relaxation technique is called ‘Tense and Release’. 3.  Don’t Stress Over 'Originality' The one problem that writers face regularly is how to come up with original hard hitting ideas and topics that will excite or astonish their users. Those who effortlessly get original ideas regularly are considered to be lucky or having a gift, but this could not be further than the truth. Bloggers who get new ideas don’t just get them because they’re lucky but because they are experienced. Ideas and news have surrounded us left and right, and these bloggers  just know how to connect different dots to make a completely new idea. Remember- nothing is original. In his critically acclaimed book ‘Steal Like An Artist’, author Austin Kleon opines that: What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. In fact, Josh shared the following illustration to explain simply good theft versus bad theft: So if you’re not supposed to force yourself to be original all the time, then how do you come up with original ideas in the long run that hook readers to your content and provide new valuable insights in your niche? The answer is, you don’t. Originality is not a result of finding ideas  but connecting dots. Finding ideas stems from your knowledge of the field or subject that you write about. It is a result of theoretical learning but not practical application. Nothing is original. But you can  connect the dots with your own perspective. #bloggingConnecting dots, on the other hand, comes from experience in the field and seeing trends and things happen firsthand. The more you read and experience things, the greater you develop your ability to connect different things and build a new idea out of them (e.g. my comprehensive post on why you  need eye-tracking testing for your website). The core idea might not be original per se,* but how you present it is what makes it original. Blogger extraordinaire Maria Popova of BrainPickings.org sums it up best in her quote: The idea that in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new castles. Takeaway: Read more and read wide. The more you read, talk to new people or experience new things, the better you’ll become at connecting pieces of information together to spawn an original idea. Bonus Life Tip: You can remember lists of things more easily if you create a story or mental palace around them in your environment. 2. Stop Overanalyzing And Commit To A Decision It’s no secret that in any environment that you reside in, there is an information overload. Starting with unrestricted access to the Internet to  the number of same fruit juices, but  different brand options, at the local grocery mart. So many options and decisions eventually immobilize the brain’s capability to take the effort to stick to a single decision as a result of analysis paralysis. Now as a blogger, I can totally relate to this when you’re stuck between deciding which task to be given more importance. Should I finish that blog post due tomorrow evening? Should I send this week's email newsletter first? Should I set up and A/B test on the new landing page?  The questions are countless, and not to mention that I haven’t yet gotten to the domestic and personal decisions that you have to make which, arguably, might affect your life more seriously. To beat this conundrum, you have to practice to think less and do more. In a recent study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found that fast learners don’t overthink. And why does this occur? Lead author of the study Danielle Bassett, replies: Sometimes your brain can actually get in the way when the information is actually already in your motor memory. If you stop thinking so hard, then you actually perform better. This is also the reason why children have a higher and faster learning rate because they don't possess the high level cognitive process that adults have. Which means that a child is incapable to overthink and is instead concentrating on quick information intake and its dissemination. Think less and do more. Analysis paralysis is stopping you from reaching your goals. #productivityIn an interview over at Barking Up The Wrong Tree, James Waters, ex Deputy Director of Scheduling at the White House and former NAVY Seal platoon commander reminisces: Wherever possible avoid paralysis by analysis. I think analysis and data are super important. No matter what organization you’re working in you’ve got to get things right and know the data that backs it up. But too many organizations get paralyzed because they analyze for too long and they haven’t developed the instincts to make decisions. They end up postponing things in favor of more and more analysis. That’s frustrating for everyone in the organization. Being able to make decisions when you know you have imperfect data is so critical. But how do you use this knowledge to commit to decisions? Further into his  post, author Eric Barker contacted Duke professor Dan Ariely, writer of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, to ask for his solution on taking critical decisions instantly. Dan advised that in such situations, the best thing is to look at the decision from an â€Å"outsider’s perspective†, in other words, â€Å"What would you do if you made the recommendation for another person?† This works because you give a recommendation dispassionately, minus your current emotional state. The decision in such a case is almost always a better one because we’re taking it from a distance. So the next time you find yourself taking more than a minute to decide which is a better header image for your new post, just take the plunge and move on to the next thing. Takeaway: Do not waste valuable working memory over analyzing decisions or options. Commit to a decision and then later on optimize, if the need arises. Bonus Life Tip: If you don’t overthink about the future, you will get better at everything. 1. Just Smile (To Yourself) Smile to yourself or even to others. I’m not saying you go out of your way to smile at everyone because people, on an average, can easily spot a fake smile. I’m not asking you to smile for or at someone. Think of it on the lines of a holistic approach. Smile generally when you’re listening to a song, or writing, or even while taking a bath. Radio and television writer Andy Rooney  put it eloquently when he said: If you smile when you are alone, then you really mean it. Speaking from personal experience, smiling is the single most effective and powerful tool in my mental inventory to boost my personal  productivity. Smiling  increases  confidence level and helps generate and maintain positive emotions. These positive emotions then have a trickle down effect on your work given that you’ll become more positive about reaching your goals and not stress so much even when things don’t go your way. Research has also shown that smiling can release endorphins (natural pain reliever) and even serotonin (natural antidepressant). Smiling is scientifically proven to increase your #PersonalProductivity. Here's how.It is interesting to note that doctors have proven and recommend that you should strive for a Duchenne smile rather than a fake â€Å"Say Cheese† smile. The former is controlled by the limbic system (emotional center of the brain, hence the smile is triggered by a genuine emotion) and the latter is controlled by the motor cortex (the smile is asymmetrical and fake). But sometimes, if the need arises, even faking a smile can lead to a better mood, lower your heart rate and facilitate faster cardiovascular stress recovery. Even Will Ferrell nailed it as an adorable elf with his viral quote: But I have trouble forcing a real smile! Well luckily, Marcia Purse from About Health, put together an amazing list just to help you smile. It involves: Jump on the bed Make faces at yourself in the mirror Bake cookies Dance Find a playground and swing on the swingset (I find this one wonderful) Look at your baby pictures Hug someone you love Take a walk in the sun- or the rain Watch cartoons you loved as a kid Imitate a celebrity- with exaggeration Visit a pet store Sing a happy song Blow bubbles and watch them (works for me every time) Watch children playing and laughing Eat a bit of your favorite junk food- slowly, savoring it Takeaway: Smiling is the single most powerful exercise you can do anywhere, anytime, and it will positively affect your mental and biophysical functions and increase your personal productivity. Bonus Life Tip: Exercise. It can uplift your mood for up to 12 hours afterwards. Finally, wrapping up with a tl;dr recap Drop  that smartphone. Now. Save time  by automating routine tasks. Visualizing  success is actually counterproductive. Don’t stress over 'originality'. Stop overanalyzing and commit to a  decision. Just smile (to yourself).

INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

INTERNATIONAL_BUSINESS - Essay Example Companies investing in foreign markets are ultimately inhibited by the underlying antipathy of the local firms and dearth of local traditions and norms awareness thus suffer constraints owing to their alien status. There are already many established foreign firms that have apparently penetrated the market hence will offer ready competition but also provide us with an insight of the market strength. Peng et al (2009) through their integrated global trade model propose two approaches in discerning global industry frameworks. These are the institution-based outlook in which overseas enterprise corporations concentrate on studying the domestic trade situation; and the resource-based outlook whereby the corporation uses its customary competitive advantages like advanced equipment or merchandise to add a toehold in the domestic markets. China as one of the top growth emergent markets offer a vastly developed latent platform for establishing an global market to cater for the many foreign travellers including investors and tourists in addition to the local traders. This will provide the firm a viable entry point into the nascent ASEAN regional market for ABC PLC. According to Porter (2009), a firm’s external competitive advantage is mostly dependent on location of the business. He observes that even with the advent of globalisation the cost of doing business in China has appreciated due to high energy and other logistical expenses. Beizhong (2009) cites three criterion used by firms intending to venture into foreign markets. These include â€Å"the competitive ability in the international market, the competitive advantages and competitive risks† (Pg.2). International development will enhance our hotel chain growth by cushioning the current economic recession in our other ventures with the sustained grow th always prevalent in China. The marketing model to be followed will be as outlined in Bothma (2008)

How do children develop pragmatic and conversation skills and how Essay

How do children develop pragmatic and conversation skills and how might their communication be affected by a disability at this - Essay Example Moreover, it was also observed that children tend to speak differently to their fellow children compared to how they converse with older people. Therefore, pragmatics also became an important aspect in the researches. The above-mentioned studies will be discussed further in this paper including the fact that there are also instances wherein conversation and pragmatic skills are affected by cases of disorders. In the modern world, children with disabilities are increasing. Nevertheless, instead of treating them as invalid, more and more advocates are suggesting that these special people should be treated as normal people who are able to do things just like the others who have no disabilities. Therefore, it is most important to look further into these conditions and consider how their communication skills are affected in order for normal people to adjust to their conditions and understand them, instead of worsening their situations. II. Children Discourse Parents are known to be the fi rst teachers of their children because as expected, they are the very first ones to be dealing with the child at home. They may not often be aware of it, but they are teaching children conversational and pragmatic skills with the way they treat them. ... tion is a dynamic interaction that consists of a source, who has a purpose that is understandable to another person, and an encoder, who is able to understand the meaning of the message† (2003). For instance, when a person asks a child what his father’s name is, he should be able to tell his father’s name and not his own name. In this case, the source is the person asking the question whose purpose is to know the name of the child’s father and the child is known as the encoder. Such skill however, does not automatically occur, but is gained through constant communication with the child, identifying and explaining his relationships with the people and things around him as the child grasps the information. This supports the nature and nurture theories that sought to simplify understanding of how children develop communication skills. Nature theory suggests that â€Å"humans have an inborn mechanism in the brain for mastering language called Language Acquisit ion Device (LAD)† (Santrock, 1988; Santrock, 1995; Schement, 2002; Sigelman & Rider, 2006). This so-called device is the innate factor that enables a child to learn and adjust his language skills as he communicates with the people around him. This is basically what makes a child able to acquire understanding of words, their meanings and uses. Eventually, as the vocabulary of a child increases, he learns how to converse with other people, using the words he acquired in manner that he is understood. Moreover, the conversation skills of a child are improved as he adjusts his understanding of phonology or sound system, semantics or word meanings as well as syntax or form and structure of language through the help of the LAD as his experiences increase (Santrock, 1988; Santrock, 1995; Schement, 2002; Sigelman &