Sports Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sports Management - Essay Example This paper tells that countries have made teams of popular sports and each has their own representative in each respective sport. It has become a multimillion-dollar industry, to say the least (Aaron Smith and Bob Stewart, 1999). Sports like football and formula one are followed more regularly and enjoyed more by people that their religious festivals. Obviously, this means that things have become much more complex. Who will manage the team for instance Who will select the team in the first place from the thousands of talented individuals who have turned to give trials All this calls for some form of organization and proper management of sports. This is where sports management comes in. It is basically there too, well, manage sports. More specifically, this looks at sports from a more business point of view. How can you cash in on sports How to promote certain kinds of sports in the best way possible and which sports to stop chasing because they are just not worth spending a fortune o n? Entering into this field has many options to choose from. You can become a sports agent, who will basically provide you and your team opportunities to come on the stage and prove your worth. From there on then the whole thing will be your own talent. You can go on to become a sports manager, who in a nutshell will manage your team making sure that no member harms the team in any way such as getting caught in match-fixing and so on. If you are good with words then you can become a publicist where you can publicize the team and make it sound better than they really are, in many cases.

Management skillsDiversity within in the Workplace Article

Management skillsDiversity within in the Workplace - Article Example The manager should be able to makeup teams comprising of people with various differences and nature theses relationships to create cohesiveness. The manager should also be a good problem solver because conflicts are bound to occur. The manger should be versed in social psychology so that he can be able to establish how different people act and think. He should be a good negotiator so that conflicts in the workplace are solved promptly. People’s perceptions of each other affect their relations and for an organization to be run effectively, the management must be able to assess diversity by ensuring communication, adaptability and flexibility to accommodate change. A manager should be a good communicator so that he passes this skill to the employees. Communication in the workplace is also pivotal in ensuring that diversity is directed towards achievement. Communication between employees will make them learn about each other and the values they uphold, and this will increase cohesiveness because conflicts will be easily managed. Therefore, mangers need to know how to manage diversity by learning to work with people from across cultures and impact this knowledge on employees, and this will be beneficial in ensuring organizational success. Globalization has made people from different cultures to be employed in the same organization and there is need to integrate these cultures so that there is easy flow of operation. the manager should be able to set out rules that will ensure the different cultures blend in together for the common good of the organization (Shakhray, 2009). The manger should be aware of diversity training during recruitment, and this will ensure that employees learn to work and accommodate people from cultures that are different from theirs. Managers need to focus on diversity and look for ways of making their organization totally inclusive, and this will increase competitiveness and

Sports Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sports Management - Essay Example This paper tells that countries have made teams of popular sports and each has their own representative in each respective sport. It has become a multimillion-dollar industry, to say the least (Aaron Smith and Bob Stewart, 1999). Sports like football and formula one are followed more regularly and enjoyed more by people that their religious festivals. Obviously, this means that things have become much more complex. Who will manage the team for instance Who will select the team in the first place from the thousands of talented individuals who have turned to give trials All this calls for some form of organization and proper management of sports. This is where sports management comes in. It is basically there too, well, manage sports. More specifically, this looks at sports from a more business point of view. How can you cash in on sports How to promote certain kinds of sports in the best way possible and which sports to stop chasing because they are just not worth spending a fortune o n? Entering into this field has many options to choose from. You can become a sports agent, who will basically provide you and your team opportunities to come on the stage and prove your worth. From there on then the whole thing will be your own talent. You can go on to become a sports manager, who in a nutshell will manage your team making sure that no member harms the team in any way such as getting caught in match-fixing and so on. If you are good with words then you can become a publicist where you can publicize the team and make it sound better than they really are, in many cases.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing - Essay Example Marketers have to pay close attention to different aspects of marketing both in real and digital marketing techniques; therefore their key responsibility is to develop an integrated linkage between the psychological images of product portrayed through various marketing techniques. In summary, customer should be provided with a realistic view of the product through marketing, so that he does not feel betrayed while utilizing the product for the first time, thus nullifying the possibility of overpromising. 2.0 Literature Review However, this concept is ill-defined according to the present literature of marketing (Cornelisson, 2003), so more empirical study is warranted for concerning this important topic. IMC is reported to have a positive impact on the brand image of the product (Reid, Luxton, & Movondo, 2005), through this technique products can be advertised worldwide in minimal financial implications. Another study is of the view that marketing combines, historical evidence, presen t development and future implications of a product upon customer’s quality of life. But conventional advertisement methodologies were not able to communicate these aspects of the product (Finne & Gronroos, 2009). Therefore, the promotional activities focused on the present development of the product, in this way customer could not relate the past, present and future with the product, this caused the impact of marketing to drop in the past. However, the availability of electronic media, such as internet streaming video technology, provides a ground for marketers to integrate the three times of a product in front of customers and prospects. IMC is also believed to be highly flexible in nature and could be used to market wide range of products and services. (Luck & Moffatt, 2009). Hence this method for marketing is based on the concept of highlighting abstractive qualities of the product, such as good looks in case of clothing and ease of access for a website. The phenomenon und er study is also designed to build customer linkages on personal level, because advertisements appear touchy and very moving on internet and social sites (Smith, 2010). Thus help in building a customer base for a product. But at the same time the product which is advertised through IMC, must be available in the market, so that customer could be facilitated while making purchase decision. Advertisers are compelled to use various marketing channels to cater for various types of customers; however the intactness of message’s meaningfulness is a significant challenge for business professionals (Zavrsnik & Jerman). IMC is vastly accepted in the advertising of hotels and other services (Comm, Saura, & Rijeci, 2009) . This paper turns its focus towards analyzing the famous cases of implementing IMC in a real world setting by The See-board Energy and Ice hotel AB. These organizations belong to very different businesses, but the applicability of IMC could be highlighted by the analysi s of these two campaigns. First of all, this

The Effects of Lsd Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Lsd Essay LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland as part of a large research program searching for medically useful ergot alkaloid derivatives. LSDs psychedelic properties were discovered 5 years later when Hofmann himself accidentally ingested an unknown quantity of the chemical. The first intentional ingestion of LSD occurred on April 19, 1943, when Hofmann ingested 250 mg of LSD. He said this would be a threshold dose based on the dosages of other ergot alkaloids. Hofmann found the effects to be much stronger than he anticipated. Sandoz Laboratories introduced LSD as a psychiatric drug in 1947. Beginning in the 1950s the US Central Intelligence Agency began a research program code named Project MKULTRA. Experiments included administering LSD to CIA employees, military personnel, doctors, other government agents, prostitutes, mentally ill patients, and members of the general public in order to study their reactions, usually without the subjects knowledge. The project was revealed in the US congressional Rockefeller Commission report in 1975. In 1963 the Sandoz patents expired on LSD. Also in 1963, the US Food and Drug Administration classified LSD as an Investigational New Drug, which meant new restrictions on medical and scientific use. [ Several figures, including Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Al Hubbard, began to advocate the consumption of LSD. LSD became central to the counterculture of the 1960s. On October 24, 1968, possession of LSD was made illegal in the United States. The last FDA approved study of LSD in patients ended in 1980, while a study in healthy volunteers was made in the late 1980s. Legally approved and regulated psychiatric use of LSD continued in Switzerland until 1993. Today, medical research is resuming around the world. Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide (INN) and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synesthesia, an altered sense of time and spiritual experiences, as well as for its key role in 1960s counterculture. It is used mainly as an entheogen, recreational drug, and as an agent in psychedelic therapy. LSD is non-addictive, is not known to cause brain damage, and has extremely low toxicity relative to dose. However, adverse psychiatric reactions such as anxiety, paranoia, and delusions are possible. LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from ergotamine, a chemical derived by Arthur Stoll from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. The short form LSD comes from its early code name LSD-25, which is an abbreviation for the German Lysergsaure-diethylamid followed by a sequential number. LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, especially in solution, though its potency may last for years if it is stored away from light and moisture at low temperature. In pure form it is a colorless, odorless, tasteless solid. LSD is typically delivered orally, usually on a substrate such as absorbent blotter paper, a sugar cube, or gelatin. In its liquid form, it can also be administered by intramuscular or intravenous injection. LSD is very potent, with 20–30 Â µg (micrograms) being the threshold dose. New experiments with LSD have started in 2009 for the first time in 40 years. Introduced by Sandoz Laboratories, with trade-name Delysid, as a drug with various psychiatric uses in 1947, LSD quickly became a therapeutic agent that appeared to show great promise. In the 1950s, officials at the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) thought the drug might be applicable to mind control and chemical warfare; the agencys MKULTRA research program propagated the drug among young servicemen and students. The subsequent recreational use of the drug by youth culture in the Western world during the 1960s led to a political firestorm that resulted in its prohibition. Currently, a number of organizations—including the Beckley Foundation, MAPS, Heffter Research Institute and the Albert Hofmann Foundation—exist to fund, encourage and coordinate research into the medicinal and spiritual uses of LSD and related psychedelics. LSD can cause pupil dilation, reduced or increased appetite, and wakefulness. Other physical reactions to LSD are highly variable and nonspecific, some of which may be secondary to the psychological effects of LSD. Among the reported symptoms are numbness, weakness, nausea, hypothermia or hyperthermia, elevated blood sugar, goose bumps, heart rate increase, jaw clenching, perspiration, saliva production, mucus production, sleeplessness, hyperreflexia, and tremors. Some users, including Albert Hofmann, report a strong metallic taste for the duration of the effects. LSD is not considered addictive by the medical community. Rapid tolerance build-up prevents regular use,[citation needed] and cross-tolerance has been demonstrated between LSD, mescaline[ and psilocybin. This tolerance diminishes after a few days after cessation of use and is probably caused by down regulation of 5-HT2A receptors in the brain. LSDs psychological effects (colloquially called a trip) vary greatly from person to person, depending on factors such as previous experiences, state of mind and environment, as well as dose strength. They also vary from one trip to another, and even as time pass during a single trip. An LSD trip can have long-term psych emotional effects; some users cite the LSD experience as causing significant changes in their personality and life perspective [citation needed]. Widely different effects emerge based on what Timothy Leary called set and setting; the set being the general mindset of the user, and the setting being the physical and social environment in which the drugs effects are experienced. Some psychological effects may include an experience of radiant colors, objects and surfaces appearing to ripple or breathe, colored patterns behind the closed eyelids (eidetic imagery), an altered sense of time (time seems to be stretching, repeating itself, changing speed or stopping), crawling geometric patterns overlaying walls and other objects, morphing objects, a sense that ones thoughts are spiraling into themselves, loss of a sense of identity or the ego (known as ego death), and other powerful psycho-physical reactions. Many users experience dissolution between themselves and the outside world. This unitive quality may play a role in the spiritual and religious aspects of LSD. The drug sometimes leads to disintegration or restructuring of the users historical personality and creates a mental state that some users report allows them to have more choice regarding the nature of their own personality. If the user is in a hostile or otherwise unsettling environment, or is not mentally prepared for the powerful distortions in perception and thought that the drug causes, effects are more likely to be unpleasant than if he or she is in a comfortable environment and has a relaxed, balanced and open mindset. LSD causes an altered sensory experience of senses, emotions, memories, time, and awareness for 6 to 14 hours, depending on dosage and tolerance. Generally beginning within thirty to ninety minutes after ingestion, the user may experience anything from subtle changes in perception to overwhelming cognitive shifts. Changes in auditory and visual perception are typical. Visual effects include the illusion of movement of static surfaces (walls breathing), after mage-like trails of moving objects (tracers), the appearance of moving colored geometric patterns (especially with closed eyes), an intensification of colors and brightness (sparkling), new textures on objects, blurred vision, and shape suggestibility. Users commonly report that the inanimate world appears to animate in an unexplainable way; for instance, objects that are static in three dimensions can seem to be moving relative to one or more additional spatial dimensions. Many of the basic visual effects resemble the phosphine seen after applying pressure to the eye and have also been studied under the name form constants. The auditory effects of LSD may include echo-like distortions of sounds, changes in ability to discern concurrent auditory stimuli, and a general intensification of the experience of music. Higher doses often cause intense and fundamental distortions of sensory perception such as synesthesia, the experience of additional spatial or temporal dimensions, and temporary dissociation. The potential uses of LSD end of life anxiety, alcoholism, pain, cluster headaches, spiritual, and creativity. These are the potential adverse effects: adverse drug interactions, mental disorders, and suggestibility and also psychosis.

How has US Immigration Policy been Criticized over Time?

How has US Immigration Policy been Criticized over Time? Directions: How has US immigration policy been criticized over time? Students need to consider public challenges to immigration policy. Write a paragraph using evidence from the sources that compares and contrasts the arguments made in opposition to three historical approaches to immigration policy. Use the Venn diagram to help organize your information Students will examine the actual legislation behind the three actions taken around immigration. Sources Used: Source A: Political cartoon, The Americanese Wall-as Congressman Burnett Would Build It Source B: Excerpt from a speech by Meyer Jacobstein Source C: 1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America Criticisms Source A Source B Source C List the criticisms of each immigration policy before writing your one page paper Featured Source Source A: Raymond O. Evans, cartoon, The Americanese Wall-as Congressman [John Lawson] Burnett Would Build It, Puck, March 25, 1916 Public domain. Available from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b00563/. Featured Source Source B: Senator Meyer Jacobstein of New York, congressional speech arguing against immigration restrictions, Congressional Record (excerpt),1924 Perhaps the chief argument expressed or implied by those favoring the Johnson bill [the Immigration Act of 1924] is that the new immigrant is not of a type that can be assimilated or that he will not carry on the best traditions of the founders of our Nation, but, on the contrary, is likely to fill our jails, our almshouses, and other institutions that impose a great tax burden on the Nation. Based on this prejudice and dislike, there has grown up an almost fanatical anti-immigration sentiment. But this charge against the newcomers is denied, and substantial evidence has been brought to prove that they do not furnish a disproportionate share of the inmates of these institutions.   Ã‚   One of the purposes in shifting to the 1890 census is to reduce the number of undesirables and defectives in our institutions. In fact, this aspect of the question must have made a very deep impression on the committee because it crops out on every occasion. The committee has unquestionably been influenced by the conclusions drawn from a study made by Dr. Laughlin. This is not the first time in American history that such an anti-foreign hysteria has swept the country. Reread your American histories. Go back and glance through McMasters History of the United States covering the years from 1820 to 1850. You will find there many pages devoted to the 100 per centers of that time. So strange was the movement against the foreigner in those decades before the Civil War that a national political party, the Know-Nothing Party, sought to ride into power on the crest of this fanatical wave. In those early days, however, the anti-foreign movement, strangely enough, was directed against the very people whom we now seek to prefer-the English, the Irish, and the Germans. The calamity howlers of a century ago prophesied that these foreigners would drag our Nation to destruction. The trouble is that the committee is suffering from a delusion. It is carried away with the belief that there is such a thing as a Nordic race which possesses all the virtues, and in like manner creates the fiction of an inferior group of peoples, for which no name has been invented. Nothing is more un-American. Nothing could be more dangerous, in a land the Constitution of which says that all men are created equal, than to write into our law a theory which puts one race above another, which stamps one group of people as superior and another as inferior. The fact that it is camouflaged in a maze of statistics will not protect this Nation from the evil consequences of such an unscientific, un-American, wicked philosophy. Public domain. Congressional Record, 1924. Featured Source Source C: Jennifer Ludden, transcript of All Things Considered program about immigration policy, 1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America National Public Radio, May 9, 2006 NOTE: Students should listen to the piece online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395. Transcript: 1965 Immigration Law Changed Face of America May 09, 2006 MICHELE NORRIS, Host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Im Michele Norris. ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: And Im Robert Siegel. As Congress considers sweeping changes to immigration law, nearly all the debate has centered on the problem of illegal immigration. Theres been very little talk about the concerns of legal immigrants, the estimated three to four million people who are, as its often said, already standing in line. NORRIS: Today were going to begin a three-part series about the process of immigrating to the U.S. legally. First, were going to step back and look at the history of our immigration law. The current system dates to 1965. It marked a radical break with previous policy and has led to profound demographic changes. As NPRs Jennifer Ludden reports, thats not how the law was seen when it was passed. JENNIFER LUDDEN: This is the kind of rally that was taking place back then. (SOUNDBITE OF CIVIL RIGHTS RALLY) LUDDEN: At the height of the Civil Rights movement, equality, democracy, freedom were the ideas that seized the nation. And against them, the way the United States decided which foreigners could and could not enter the country became an increasing embarrassment. STEPHEN KLINEBERG: I mean, the law was just unbelievable in its clarity of racism. LUDDEN: Stephen Klineberg is a sociologist at Rice University. KLINEBERG: It declared that Northern Europeans are a superior subspecies of the white race. The Nordics were superior to the Alpines, who in turn were superior to the Mediterraneans, and all of them were superior to the Jews and the Asians. LUDDEN: By the 1960s, Greeks, Poles, Portuguese and Italians were complaining that immigration quotas discriminated against them in favor of Western Europeans. The Democratic Party took up their cause, led by the new president. Heres John F. Kennedy speaking to the Italian migration in June 1963. JOHN F. KENNEDY: There are still a good many brothers and sisters of American citizens who are unable to get here, who may have preferences as members of families, but because of the maldistribution of quotas in the European area, we have this situation, which has become nearly intolerable. LUDDEN: After Kennedys assassination, Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Services Act. It leveled the immigration playing field, giving a nearly equal shot to newcomers from every corner of the world. The ceremony was held at the foot of the symbolically powerful Statue of Liberty. But if cable TV networks had been there, they probably would not have broken in live. Heres how President Johnson began his speech. LYNDON JOHNSON: This bill that we will sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives or really add importantly to either our wealth or our power. LUDDEN: Hearing that now, it is an amazing statement because it proved so wrong. So how could Johnson say that? Sociologist Klineberg says the governments newfound sense of egalitarianism only went so far. The central purpose of the new immigration law was to reunite families. KLINEBERG: So the Congress then said, well, nothings going to change, because were going to give preference to people who are already, who are related to people who are already here. Then it added another provision, if you were a professional of exceptional ability, if you have skills that are in demonstrably short supply, you, too, can come to the head of the line. Congress was saying in its debates, we need to open the door for some more British doctors, some more German engineers. It never occurred to anyone, literally, that there were going to be African doctors, Indian engineers, Chinese computer programmers whod be able, for the first time in the 20th century, to immigrate to America. LUDDEN: In fact, expert after expert had testified before Congress that little would change. Secretary of State Dean Rusk repeatedly stressed the issue wasnt the numbers. No more people were likely to come, it was simply the principle. Listen to this reading of an exchange between Secretary Rusk and a skeptical Senator Sam Irvin, Democrat of North Carolina. Unidentified Man #1: You have in India a lot of people who would like to get into this country, do you not? Unidentified Man #2: We dont have a long waiting list. Man #1: It is because they havent been able to get in. Even with a bleak opportunity to get in, as they have, they have 150 applications for every visa that could be issued. NORRIS: Yes, the present estimate, based upon the best information we can get, is there might be, say, 8,000 immigrants from India in the next five years. In other words, I dont think we have a particular picture of a world situation where everybody is just straining to move to the United States. OTIS GRAHAM: When I first started studying this, I thought, now theyre lying, because they want this thing to pass. LUDDEN: But historian Otis Graham, professor emeritus of the University of California at Santa Barbara, changed his mind. GRAHAM: I changed my mind because Ive found, in the research that Ive been able to do, that so many lobbyists that followed this issue, so many labor union executives that followed this issue, so many church people, so many of those involved said the same thing. So you find ignorance three feet deep. Maybe ignorance is the answer. KAREN NARASAKI: I often wonder whether some of the people knew, but perhaps werent sharing that with other people. Because it would scare them. LUDDEN: Karen Narasaki heads the Asian American Justice Center. She finds the 1965 immigration overhaul all the more extraordinary because theres evidence it was not popular with the public. NARASAKI: It was not what people were marching in the streets over in the 1960s. It was really a group of political elites who, I think, were trying to look into the future of the United States. And again, it was the issue of, are we going to be true to what we say our values are? MARIAN SMITH: Well here you are in the CIS Historical Reference Library, our history office and library. LUDDEN: Marian Smith is the historian for Citizenship and Immigration Services, one of the agencies that replaced the old INS. The files of documents here can be mundane, but the walls are framed with lovely older maps, population charts and demographic bar graphs. SMITH: Apparently we had money back then to actually pay for these kind of color lithographs that would be printed each year. LUDDEN: In 1965, the political elite on Capitol Hill may not have predicted a mass increase in immigration, but Marian Smith pulls out a little agency booklet from the 1966 that certainly did. It explains how each provision in the new law would lead to a rapid increase in applications, a big jump in workload and more and more so as word trickled out to those newly eligible to come. Smith says a lifetime of immigration backlogs had built up among Americas foreign-born minorities. SMITH: And so, they will petition for their family members and they will petition for their family members. And whether were talking about immigrants from Asia, Latin America, Africa, all these portions of the world where there is a demand for immigration. After World War II and with the post colonial status of many of these places, the shifting populations, the ability sometimes for people now to join their family in America, that maybe the only reason wasnt the inability to get a quota visa for the United States. Maybe they had trouble getting out before. LUDDEN: There were other things no one could have predicted, how immigration from Europe dropped off because of lower birth rates and higher standards of living. How Africa imploded and wars and famine there and elsewhere produced waves of refugees. And then the millions of illegal immigrants. But its the system of family-based immigration thats driven this countrys profound demographic transformation. Over time, in a process critics call chain migration, entire families have reestablished themselves in the U.S. Historian Otis Graham thinks the policy has been a terrible mistake. GRAHAM: Family reunification puts the decision as to who comes to America in the hands of foreigners. Those decisions are out of the hands of the Congress. They just set up a formula and its kinship. Frankly, it could be called nepotism. LUDDEN: In fact, President Kennedys original proposal made skills-based migration the priority. But Graham says a broad lobby pushed for the greater emphasis on families. It included churches, ethnic groups whose members had family in the old country and the AFL-CIO. Graham says the union worried about competition from too many highly skilled newcomers. For Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center, the family focus makes sense. NARASAKI: If you think about families and, you know, if you think about the roles that, say, your parents play when you have children. And how they help you, you know, take care of the newborns and provide support for you or how your brothers and sisters in the Asian community, what often happens is brothers and sisters get together and they buy a home together. They pool their money and they buy a business together. And so it, you know, family is very important to not just the social, emotional wellbeing, but also the economic well being of these communities. (SOUNDBITE OF NATURALIZATION CEREMONY) LUDDEN: At a recent naturalization ceremony, 32 immigrants gather for their oath in the ornate rotunda of Washingtons National Archives. Of them, three are from Western Europe. The rest of those gaining citizenship here are overwhelmingly from Africa, Latin American and Asia. At a basement reception, the new citizens pose for pictures holding tiny American flags and a gift bag that includes a refrigerator magnet of the U.S. Constitution and an ATT prepaid calling card. One older woman is radiant in her Sunday best with a broad-brimmed hat. HANNAH INDOVISI: Im from Nigeria. My name is Hannah Indovisi. And you know the meaning of Indovisi? It means life is first. LUDDEN: And Indovisi was sponsored by her U.S. citizen son, Samuel. SAMUEL INDOVISI: Everybody in the world I dont know if you know this wants to come to the United States of America. All you need to do is go to the embassy, any embassy, and see long, long, long lines of people who want to come here. LUDDEN: In fact, Indovisi has a long line of relatives still in Nigeria whod love to come. Its the same with a brand new citizen munching cookies nearby. AMA BALI: My name is Ama Bali and Im from Sudan. Yes, I have my parents. I have sisters. I have brothers. And Im going to apply for them to come here soon. I hope so. LUDDEN: Are they excited for that?    BALI: Definitely, definitely. I hope they will be here soon. LUDDEN: It may not be soon at all though. The immigration system set up specifically to reunite families is so overwhelmed with applicants, relatives who wait their turn must endure being divided for years. Thats tomorrows story. Used by permission of National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395.

Computer Culture :: Technology Internet Essays

Computer Culture I registered for this capstone course simply because its description in the English Department course guide intrigued me. I never imagined that the central issues of the course would intersect so often and so dynamically with the postmodern ideas of truth and representation in which I was already immersed. I first articulated (for myself) the differences between oral and literate culture in a post to our class listserv on November 15, 2001. The major difference between oral and literate cultures is the primacy of the word itself. In oral culture, the words are everything; they are performance, they are meaning, and they are central to all understanding and memory. In literate culture, the words have been once removed by the representation of written language; they are now letters on a page. The sounds and actions are lost and the interpretation of language becomes more private and individual. Instead of being experienced, as in oral culture, words are simply absorbed in literate culture. These ideas are further illustrated by referring to Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. An obvious focal point of the book, and the idea that my first summary for this class explored, is the notion that the title implies: we live by certain dominant metaphors. This is a function of oral culture despite the fact that we live in a predominantly literate culture. After certain metaphors become commonplace to speak in and with, they begin to transcend speech; they enter thought processes and allow people to not only speak, but also think, in the dominant metaphorical concepts of the culture. The concept love, for example, is structured mostly in metaphorical terms: love is a journey, love is a patient, love is a physical force, love is madness, love is war, etc. The concept of love has a core that is minimally structured by the subcategorization love is an emotion and by links to other emotions, e.g., liking. This is typical of emotional concepts, which are not clearly delineated in our experience in any direct fashion and therefore must be comprehended primarily indirectly, via metaphor. (85) This excerpt from Metaphors We Live By aptly supports the idea that people think in terms of metaphor, and thereby experience metaphor in the structures of oral culture as much as (if not more than) literate culture.