When the Curtain Goes Up free essay sample

When the Curtain Goes Up I was probably 8 years old. And now as I stood behind the curtain the weeks of preparation finally made sense. The hairspray coma and the fury of lipstick made sense. The changing and re-sizing of my â€Å"oh so adorable† gun holsters that swayed in time with my frayed cowgirl skirt when we did the coveted gun twirl†¦ All. Made. Sense. â€Å"Two minutes to stage!† The syllables bellowed from stage manager to stage manager in the backstage while we were shuffled into our places. â€Å"What if I mess up?† I had asked my mom on the car ride to the show. â€Å"No matter how you do tonight daddy we’ll still be very proud of you,† she had said. Those words had to be in a parent handbook somewhere. â€Å"One minute to stage!† Now my stomach was churning at a supersonic speed. The Voorhees Theatre Company’s production of Annie Get Your Gun seemed to be the cornerstone of my young life. We will write a custom essay sample on When the Curtain Goes Up or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The crawling in my stomach got stronger with. All the cowgirls had been arranged in a semi circle around Annie. The instructions seemed simple, but now with the curtain about to rise I wasn’t so sure. When Annie exited from stage left, the first cowgirl was to kick her toy gun up with her right heel and swing it with her left arm onto her shoulder. One swift movement. And this would continue until the end of the semi circle, passing from cowgirl to cowgirl. Of course I had been placed dead center because of my overactive pituitary gland. â€Å"30 seconds to stage! Good luck girls!† I stood dead center stage with my stomach bugs and my cowgirl fray and the confidence I had over weeks of rehearsal melted off of my body. The cowgirl on the left and on the right, they might be fine. But me, I was terrified. But then something happened. The glow of camcorders and the opening notes of the song told my feet what to do. My head was still around the corner, but as my body moved with the music my confidence began to build back up. â€Å"GO ALEXA!† my dad yelled from the back of the auditorium, treating my show like a basketball game, just a little quieter. Usually the embarrassment would have crippled me, but my feet liked the compliment and went a little faster. When the gun twirl began, it wasn’t a question of whether or not I could do it, or if left cowgirl or right cowgirl could; it was a question of if this cowgirl could. And when left cowgirl got nervous and was unable to make her swift kick, this cowgirl kept on going. Because when the curtain we nt up on my face the nerves turned into grace. The weeks of rehearsal, choppy and annoying, and sometimes ending in tears, were converted into movement that swayed with ease from limb to limb. The words to â€Å"show business† were mechanical in my mouth, later but at the same time, left a magical aftertaste making me hungry for me. When the curtain went up, I wasn’t Alexa anymore; I was that little cowgirl dancer. The lipstick and the hairspray and the fray all formed into one single cowgirl. To me, acting isn’t just a hobby; it isn’t a way to kill time. Acting liberated me from the girl I once was into the women I am today. The all night rehearsals, the memorization, the commitment. Not only have I learned to organize myself, but I have learned to value every second I get to do what I love. That gun twirl has followed me throughout my life, proving to me that I can handle a little bit of mayhem if it’s thrown at me; that being scared of my next move won’t move me forward. When the curtain went up on me that first time it taught me that a stage without me on it, well that just wouldn’t make sense. That 8 year old girl only six years of dance and some fray to cling onto, she has grown up to see that life without a little drama isn’t a life she wants at all. When the curtain went up on that little girl and the lights bore into skin she realized that all she’s ever wanted was on that stage with her.

The Ultimate Gift

The Ultimate Gift Free Online Research Papers I have seen a lot of movies with different plots, themes and meanings, but the â€Å"The Ultimate Gift† film by stood out among the others. It had a very special plot and took me a while to fully understand the meaning the film gave. The movie began with the funeral of Red Stevens, a very wealthy and successful entrepreneur. But it was interrupted by the loud engine of his grandson that showed up late, Jason Stevens. Jason a self centered person who has no respect for himself and his family. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and never had to work for anything in his life. Jason has a lot of hatred toward his grandfather because his father died in a plane crash working for Red and Jason blamed it on him After the funeral, the relatives of Red Stevens gathered in a room to hear the will and what they would receive. Red Stevens had four children, a daughter and three sons, but one of his sons, the father of Jason, died in a tragic accident. The lawyer reading the wil l is Red’s best friend that he met fifty years ago, Mr. Hamilton. As Mr. Hamilton began to read the will, the children of Red were anticipating receiving complete ownership of their fathers businesses, but were shocked to hear that they were only given salaries, not ownership. After hearing the disappointing news, they barged out of the room frustrated. Then once again, Jason shows up late to hear the will. Mr. Hamilton haves everybody in the room leave besides Jason. He tells Jason that his grandfather has a very special gift and plays a video of his grandfather. His grandfather tells Jason that he has been given everything and is taking the important things in life for granite. Red has set up a series of challenges for Jason; each challenge should teach him twelve very special gifts that will lead to the ultimate gift. The first gift that Red wanted Jason to learn was the gift of work. Since Jason had to never work a day in his life, he was sent to Texas to help one of Red’s friends, Gus, to help do some work on his ranch. When Jason arrived at Gus’s house, he thought it was a waste of his time. There was no TV, no cell-phone service and nothing but open land for fifty miles. The next day Gus woke up Jason at five o’ clock to begin his work on the ranch, but Jason called him crazy and went back to sleep. That was probably the first time he woke up that early in his life. When Jason finally got out of bed and got dressed in work clothes, Gus drove him out in the ranch to plant post. Gus showed him how to plant the post and told him they had to be even and eight feet apart from each other. When Jason finished setting up all the post he would be finished and will receive the gift his grandfather had for him. The first few days Jason did not work. Then Jason realized that maybe if he did the work he was supposed to do he would receive the gift. So Jason decided to plant the post. When he was finished, Gus came to see how he did. As soon as Gus saw the post he pulled them out and told him to do it again because the posts were uneven and not eight feet apart. Then the next day Gus walked down stairs to have breakfast and he sees Jason finishing up his plate. Gus was shocked to see Jason awake before him. After breakfast Jason was determined to the set posts correctly. He did not stop working until he finished the job which shows that Jason has the capability to accomplish his goals if he applies himself. After Gus sees Jason’s finished work on the posts he congratulates him and told him he was finished here. Gus drove Jason to the airport and as soon as Jason got out of the car he asked Gus for the gift. Gus laughed and drove off. Jason returned to Mr. Hamilton’s office and watched another video of his grandfather. The video told Jason that you can do anything if you work for it. After the video he started to complain that he had to physical labor and received nothing for doing it. After learning the gift of work Jason asked Mr. Hamilton what his next challenge was and he told Jason that he would find out. The next day Jason drove in the parking garage of his apartment. He went up stairs, opened his door and saw that everything inside his apartment was gone. He ran downstairs and saw a tow truck towing his car away. Jason went back to Mr. Hamilton’s office and watched the next video from his grandfather. His grandfather said that he was the life of the party but he had no true friends. Mr. Hamilton told Jason to come back at the end of the month with one real friend and he would learn the gift of friendship. One night, Jason took out his girl friend to a very nice restaurant for dinner. When the bill came Jason gave the waiter his credit card. The waiter came back and told Jason that the credit card was rejected. He shrugged and pulled out another one of his many credit cards to pay the bill. But the waiter came back again and told Jason the same thing h e did before. Realizing that he couldn’t pay the bill because he was broke, Jason asked his girl friend to cover this dinner. She looked at Jason and felt insulted that he asked her to pay the bill and left. After dinner, Jason started calling his fake friends for a place to stay and some money, but everyone ignored him and hung up on him. Later that night Jason went to his mother’s house for a warm place to sleep. When his mother answered the door she denied him a place to stay because she was told not to. Jason wondered around the park and had no other option but to sleep on the bench in the park. The next day Jason met this little girl named Emily and her mother and acted ignorant towards them. He asked them if they could be his friends for a while to help him out and in return he would take them to Disney World. Emily called Jason pathetic and left. Emily and her mother return to the par the next day to eat lunch, but they were disturbed by a homeless man. Jason s ees that the homeless man is harassing Emily and her mother, so he gets the homeless man to leave them alone. In return for helping to get rid of the homeless man, Emily and her mother invite Jason to lunch. During lunch they talk about Jason’s the challenges his grandfather has arranged for him to receive his part of the will. He tells them that he needs a true friend to come with him and they agree. Emily and her mother go with Jason to Mr. Hamilton’s office. Mr. Hamilton was shocked to see that Jason has made a friend. After the meeting Emily told Jason to meet her at the same time tomorrow for lunch, but he laughed and walked away. Jason didn’t want to be friends with her; he used her to get him through to the next gift. The next video that Jason’s grandfather talked about was the gift of money. Jason was given a bill for the work he did on Gus’s ranch and he was to spend it on someone with a real problem which is also the gift of giving. Jason goes out and heads to the park planning on giving some of his money to the homeless man that wonders around there. But when Jason finds the homeless man, he runs off and drops a women’s purse. Jason goes over and looks through to see who it belongs to. He finds out that the purse belongs to Alexia, Emily’s mother. While looking through the purse Jason saw bills that are from the apartment rent for large amounts due. So Jason went to the hospital to return her purse. He asked around for her and was sent to Emily’s room. Jason walked in and saw Emily and noticed that she had a cancer because she had no hair. Shocked to see Emily with no hair, he placed the purse down and left the room. Leaving Emily’s room, Jason ran in to Emily’s mother. She asked why Jason was here but she saw the look in his eyes and new that he saw Emily. Jason asked what was wrong with Emily and Alexia told him that she had leukemia. Jason offered to help her pay their bills but she didn’t want his help. But Jason decides to donate the money to Emily and her mother to anyway. This shows that Jason can think about others besides himself. Jason returns to Mr. Hamilton’s office and ask to see the next video of his grandfather right away. Mr. Hamilton plays the video. Red tells Jason that he should get the whole family together for Thanksgiving dinner for the gift of family. Red also says the best way to solve a problem is to confront it and the problem Jason has is his family and Jason will learn the gift of the problem. Jason immediately denies doing it but he has too. Instead of going by himself to Thanksgiving he decides to ask Alexia. He goes to the hospital and finds her there. They started to talk and Emily’s mother said that someone paid her bills. She knew that Jason paid her bill and she told him thank you. That simple thank you she gave to Jason is an example of the gift of gratitude. Then Jason asked her to join him at Thanksgiving but she told him no because she wanted to spend the holiday with her daughter. Later that day Emily and her mother are reading in the hospital until Emily saw the s mirk on her mother’s face and asked her what was on her mind. Emily guessed that her mother was thinking about Jason. Her mother told her that Jason invited him to Thanksgiving dinner with his family but told him no because she wanted to spend it with her. But Emily wanted her mother to spend Thanksgiving with Jason and made her go with him. So Jason and Alexia went to Thanksgiving dinner at Jason’s uncle’s house. During the dinner all the family talked about was money and who has the most. Jason grew tired of hearing his family and there selfishness and left. He realized that his family will never care about anything else besides money. To solve the problem in his family, Jason tells them that they are all pathetic. Another video is played for Jason. Red talks about learning and how Jason needs to learn to learn, he doesn’t know everything. There are more things in the world to learn besides knowing how to spend money. So Jason decides to visit a library that his grandfather owns in Ecuador. He flew down and met up with a tour guide. The tour guide took him to the village where the library was and Jason entered the library and started reading. Later that night some of the village people invited Jason to a bond fire in honor of Red Stevens. They shared stories and laughed most of the night. Jason learned the gift of laughter at this bond fire and learned how it feels to have a fun time without spending money and being surrounded by fake friends. The three gifts that Jason learned are the gift of love, laughter and the gift of the day. The best example I saw during the movie when Jason expressed these gifts was the day he dedicated to Emily. Jason grew very close to Emily and Alexia over the months. Since Jason missed Christmas because of some series of unfortunate events, he wanted to make it up to Emily and Alexia. He flew Emily and Alexia out to Texas for a surprise. When they got there, they drove to Gus’s ranch to see his yard covered with snow and his house lighten up with lights. During the day Jason did everything that Emily wanted to do. One of the activities that Emily did was go horseback riding. While horse back riding Jason told Alexia that he didn’t know that Emily liked horses. Alexia started to cry and said she doesn’t like horses; she’s the one who does. This touched me to see a girl of her age show so much love and unselfishness towards her mother. Later that night, Jason and Emil y were sitting on the couch by the fire talking. Emily told Jason that she wanted her mother to have someone after she passes away and wanted Jason to be that someone. Jason then asked Emily what her dream was and she told him that her dream was to have a perfect day and that she was just finishing it. Even though Jason didn’t have any dreams for himself, he helped someone who really needed it to complete their dreams and make the last day of her the life the best day. Emily dies the next day in the hospital of her cancer. Jason felt a lot of pain when she passed because that was his best friend, his real friend. She accepted him as a friend for who he is, not the number of credit cards he has. At the end of the year Jason came in to watch the last video of his grandfather. Red told Jason that he was sorry for everything he has done to him and hopes that what he learned over the year will help him live a more spiritual life. Red tells Jason good bye and that’s the last Jason will hear from his grandfather. At that moment, Jason felt bad that he acted like a moron towards his grandfather and wishes he could take it back. Jason shows the first sign of love towards his grandfather when he cries at the end of the video. As said Jason would receive a prize if he succeeded his grandfather’s challenges. Mr. Hamilton gave Jason an envelope; Jason opened it, and found a one million dollar check and was given control of his entire grandfather’s estate. Jason decides to build a cancer center for those who are diagnosed with cancer. He called it Emily’s home. All the gifts that were taught equal up to answer the question what is the Ultimate gift. The answer is that there is no correct answer; all the gifts are needed to live with a complete soul. Research Papers on The Ultimate GiftThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NicePersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayWhere Wild and West Meet19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Fifth HorsemanTrailblazing by Eric AndersonQuebec and Canada

The Skimmers Guide to CoSchedule (Overview of the Best Features)

The Skimmers Guide to (Overview of the Best Features) Managing an entire marketing strategy†¦ well, it can feel like your head is spinning. Just as one campaign gets out the door†¦ Another thousand content requests come flying in (on way too short of notice) Your team members are frantically working on a million different things†¦ your social strategy is less-than-optimized your own to-do list is longer than should be legal And honestly†¦ You’ve come to the point where you need some HELP. As the #1 marketing project management, content organization AND social scheduling tool†¦ we’ve got the solutions you need to make your life a billion times  easier AND  get your entire marketing strategy back on track. ðŸ™Å' And since youre a busy marketer with *no* time to spare Ive put together  The Skimmers Guide To (so you can find the solutions you needfast). Table of Contents Project Management + Content Organization Custom Color Labels Projects Tasks, Task Templates, AND Task Approvals Saved Calendar Views Read-Only Views Tags Integrate With Your Favorite Tools Marketing Campaigns Team Performance Reports Social Media Scheduling Social Campaigns Social Helpers Bulk Social Upload ReQueue Best Time Scheduling Social Scheduling â€Å"On The Fly† For Mobile Social Engagement Report Social Campaign Report Social Network Reports (for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest) So let’s jump right into all the ways can stop your head from spinning and turn YOU into an ultra-organized, cool-as-a-cucumber (because you’ve got everything under control) marketing pro. Lets go! The Skimmers Guide to (Overview of the Best Features) Managing an entire marketing strategy†¦ well, it can feel like your head is spinning. Just as one campaign gets out the door†¦ Another thousand content requests come flying in (on way too short of notice) Your team members are frantically working on a million different things†¦ your social strategy is less-than-optimized your own to-do list is longer than should be legal And honestly†¦ You’ve come to the point where you need some HELP. As the #1 marketing project management, content organization AND social scheduling tool†¦ we’ve got the solutions you need to make your life a billion times  easier AND  get your entire marketing strategy back on track. ðŸ™Å' And since youre a busy marketer with *no* time to spare Ive put together  The Skimmers Guide To (so you can find the solutions you needfast). Table of Contents Project Management + Content Organization Custom Color Labels Projects Tasks, Task Templates, AND Task Approvals Saved Calendar Views Read-Only Views Tags Integrate With Your Favorite Tools Marketing Campaigns Team Performance Reports Social Media Scheduling Social Campaigns Social Helpers Bulk Social Upload ReQueue Best Time Scheduling Social Scheduling â€Å"On The Fly† For Mobile Social Engagement Report Social Campaign Report Social Network Reports (for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest) So let’s jump right into all the ways can stop your head from spinning and turn YOU into an ultra-organized, cool-as-a-cucumber (because you’ve got everything under control) marketing pro. Lets go!

The Contract Law of Australia Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The Contract Law of Australia - Article Example In the meantime, a typhoon hit Hong Kong during those two days and many of the boxes of porcelain vases got wet and after arriving of MV Bardon in Brisbane Aussie Dcor, only 2500 out of 3000 boxes with vases inside were delivered and 100 of these were in very bad condition and not suitable for sale. But other 500 porcelain vases were not delivered by the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong. For the delivery of only 2500 out of 3000 porcelain vases is the violation of the contract, in this matter, the Aussie Dcor will get remedy under Article 51 of the Convention of the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Article 51 says that if the seller delivers only a part of the goods or if only a part of the goods delivered is in conformity with the contract, articles 46 to 50 of the Convention apply in respect of the part which is missing or which does not conform. Since the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong did not fulfill all part of the contract for non-delivery of the 500 porcelain vase s, the Aussie Dcor may declare the contract voided under Article 49 of the CISG. The Aussie Dcor Company will notify the Porcelain Vases Company of Hong Kong about the part delivery of porcelain vases. The Aussie Dcor Company loses the right to rely on the provisions of article 41 or article 42 if Aussie Dcor does not give notice to the seller specifying the nature of the right or claim of the third party within a reasonable time after he has become aware or ought to have become aware of the right or claim.1 So, the delivery of the 3000 porcelain vases do not conform with the contract and the price has already been paid, the Aussie Dcor Company may reduce the price of 500 porcelain vases equal to 10000 Australian Dollar. Would the use of an alternative Incoterm affect the outcome and if so, how The INCOTERMS 2000 bears for the trade contract responsibilities and liabilities between buyer and seller. It is invaluable and a cost-saving tool. The exporter and the importer need not undergo a lengthy negotiation about the conditions of each transaction.

Quench as World Leading Soft Drinks Brand Case Study

Quench as World Leading Soft Drinks Brand - Case Study Example According to the paper, Quench’s market position was particularly threatened by the media identifying their product as one of those with excessive levels of sugar. Given their customer base’s preference for healthy products, coupled to the focus on obesity as an urgent global health issue, Quench’s turnover has declined sharply and the company now faces an uncertain future. In this paper, solutions to the current problems faced by Quench will be identified and expert recommendation on how to regain lost market share given to Quench’s board of directors. The first alternative solution for Quench focuses on the company increasing their promotional and marketing strategies, specifically in consumer segments that are untapped. Quench could capitalize on their brand image within the sector, such as their good business practices and environmental initiatives and promote these to the consumers. By promoting their positive social and environmental initiatives, the y could gain an advantage with consumers who may dismiss Quench as another corporate entity out for profits. Rotfeld identifies comfort, simplicity, local sourcing, and going green as the food and beverage trend of 2013, which are aspects that Quench may use to advertise their environmental initiatives, in turn enticing consumers who are eco-conscious. With regards to comfort and simplicity trends, consumers are seeking to return to normalcy after the recent recession, as well as to resume pre-recession consumption habits. Quench could take advantage by re-energizing their brand and marketing its achievements in the social and environmental arena. However, this strategy has several limitations for Quench, including the magnitude of controversy around the company regarding unhealthy ingredients that may not be undone through promotion of its good deeds.

Discuss the staging of Act 1 Scene 4 and Act 5 Scene 3 Essay Example for Free

Discuss the staging of Act 1 Scene 4 and Act 5 Scene 3 Essay Macbeth was written in 1606 for the current King James I. 1606 was in the Jacobean period, a time when people believed in the Divine Right of Kings. This is the belief that Kings were chosen by God. They also believed that the worst possible crime was to kill a King and this would result in being dammed to hell. They also believed in the Great Chain of Being, the importance of beings from highest to lowest. At the top was God and below him were the different positions held by Angels. Below Angels, the King was positioned above all other human beings. Because of this the King was given the title Gods Deputy On Earth. During the Jacobean period there was also a strong belief in witchcraft; this being present in the play greatly intrigued the audience. Act 1 scene 4 and act 5 scene 3 both show examples of Kingship. The Kingship shown in these two scenes are very different. In order to understand these differences we must focus on the way in which the scenes are staged and the audiences opinions generated by the script. Duncan is a very well respected and admired King. The people of Scotland admire and bow down to him, as they believe he is a good ruler. Duncan praises and rewards those who do well to him. He congratulates Macbeth in winning the battle against Norway and promotes him to Thane of Cawdor. Its ironic how Duncans two most trusted companions betray him. Macbeth had gained the title Thane of Cawdor off the previous traitor that turned against Duncan and fought for Norway. Duncan truly believes in loyalty and trust. This implies that Duncan is an extremely confident man. When he walks into a room, he knows people are watching him and this does not bother him. Macbeth rules very differently to Duncan. After killing Duncan, Macbeth begins to fear that this could easily happen to him. Macbeth does not praise those who do well, but punishes those who do bad or even nothing. If he feels they may be a threat to him he will immediately take action and eliminate them. Macbeth has no loyal friends, simply scared servants that do what they are commanded, fearing for their lives. The first scene shows Duncan as King surrounded by his loyal company, whereas the second scene shows Macbeth as King without the company of anyone except his servants which are treated with very little respect. In both of these acts the Kings are displayed in the same room of the castle. In act 1 scene 1, Duncan is informed about the death of Thane of Cawdor who is found to be a traitor and sentenced to death. The atmosphere presented is shameful but Duncan knows that the decision he made was right. In act 5 scene 3 Macbeth hears that the English army is heading for the castle. He also finds out the unstable condition of his wife. He jokes to the doctor and asks what the condition of the country is. The doctor replies very honestly saying that he would want to be as far away from Dunsinane as possible. In this scene Macbeth realizes that he will never be the King that Duncan was, he can see that the honor he receives is merely from the mouth and not from the heart. To show the different views from each scene I would present them similar to each other, as this would allow the audience to compare and make a connection between the scenes more clearly. In act 1 scene 4 I would arrange the characters in order to show their status. I would place Duncan in center stage and make sure that he is the main focus. In order to enhance this idea his position on stage must be raised above others. I would have his loyal accompanists by his side. By doing this it would create the sense that Duncan is a man of high status and respected and honored as a King. To create a connection between the two scenes I would place Macbeth in the same position as Duncan in act 5 scene 3. Duncans reaction to the betrayal and sentenced execution to the once loyal Thane of Cawdor should be very calm. He could also show a slight sadness by shedding a tear, this would show the audience that Duncan is shocked and upset by the acts of mistrust. Macbeth is faced with a similar situation in which could endanger his position as King, I would make him react violently and irritated. To create an obvious link between the tow scenes I would use a large throne as a distinctive prop. This throne would be grand and covered in red velvet. In act 1 scene 4 I would have Duncan using this throne in a proper manner, sitting up straight and proudly, where as I would have Macbeth slouching with one leg on an armrest. By using this prop it would display their differences in Kingship. In act 1 scene 4 Macbeth displays his loyalty towards Duncan by crying out O worthiest cousin! as Macbeth and Banquo approach. As he says this line I would make him have his arms wide open reaching out towards Macbeth. In line 31 Duncan says let me infold thee and hold thee to my heart. On this line I would make Macbeth kneel down and kiss Duncans ring. Rings were worn by Kings as symbols of their positions. Kissing this ring would show Macbeths respect towards Duncan. In part 3 of act 5, line 11, a servant informs Macbeth about the English armys approach towards the castle. Macbeth is worried, he shows great disrespect towards the servant by addressing to him with thou cream-facd loon. Whilst Macbeth says this line I would make him use violence towards the servant, hitting or shaking him. This would show an evil and uncaring King that is simply using his status to place himself above everyone else. Towards the end of this scene a doctor talks to Macbeth about the condition of his wife. Macbeth looks down to the doctor even though the doctor knows more about his wife than he does. Macbeth often reassures himself by referring back to the witches prophecies, while he does this I would have him pacing back and forth. The witches never told Macbeth what to do; they simply predicted the future and left it in the hands of Macbeth. This raises the idea that Macbeth might not have been King if he did not kill Duncan, or he could have become King at a later date from the natural death of Duncan. Dressing both of the Kings in each scene differently can compare their differences in personality. I would dress Duncan in a large pure white robe to show his clear conscience. I would also adorn him with gold jewelry to display his high status. Macbeth would be dressed very differently; I would have him in more common clothing in the colour black. This black would show the evil hidden within him. This evil side is suggested when Lady Macbeth describes Macbeth as looking like the innocent yet being the serpent under. By using different lighting I would be able to display what the Kings are feeling in each scene. In act 1 scene 4 I would use an orange light, this would create a feeling of warmth, as Duncan is kind, caring and in great company. In act 5 scene 3 I would have a blue light, this will give the scene a cold, empty and negative feel. All of these stage techniques would enable the audience to compare and contrast the two scenes of Kingship. If these were not used it would make the story harder to understand, hidden within Shakespeares script. In both of these scenes the Kings received high amounts of respect whether it was truly from the heart or falsely from the mouth. Macbeth was seen to be simply an unfit King by those who knew him closely as apposed to a bad King. This is because in the Jacobean period, whomever becomes King, has been elected by God, God being the top of the Great Chain of Beings. Back then Gods opinion meant everything, and could fix peoples opinion on a bad King.

The Devil in Dr Faustus Essay -- Doctor Faustus Essays

The Devil in Dr Faustus  Ã‚   In Scene 3 Mephastophilis appears to Faustus in his real form. Faustus reacts with disgust and asks the devil to come back in a shape more pleasant to the eye - as a Fransiscan friar. Faustus’s reaction is typically renaissance - he objects to ugliness and craves aestheticism. It also shows his sense of humour (or rather sense of irony) - as he says â€Å"That holy shape becomes a devil best† (l 26). What is striking is that when Mephastophilis appears first, Marlowe does not bother to describe him. True - he does not talk of the physical appearance of any of the characters as well, but a devil is a creature that, in our twentieth century opinion, is clearly in need of some footnote specifying what he looks like. But there is no such footnote. The early seventeenth century audience did not need a description of the devil like the twentieth century audience does. The Middle Ages had accustomed people to viewing the devil as a hideous, disgustingly ugly and frightening creature. The renaissance was a revolution in terms of imagery. The devil became more hu...

Managing with the Brain in Mind

strategy+business Managing with the Brain in Mind by David Rock from strategy+business issue 56, Autumn 2009 reprint number 09206 Reprint features special report 1 by David Rock Naomi Eisenberger, a leading social neuroscience Managing with the Brain in Mind researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), wanted to understand what goes on in the brain when people feel rejected by others. She designed an experiment in which volunteers played a computer game called Cyberball while having their brains scanned by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. Cyberball hearkens back to the nastiness of the chool playground. â€Å"People thought they were playing a ball-tossing game over the Internet with two other people,† Eisenberger explains. â€Å"They could see an avatar that represented themselves, and avatars [ostensibly] for two other people. Then, about halfway through this game of catch among the three of them, the subjects stopped receiving th e ball and the two other supposed players threw the ball only to each other. † Even after they learned that no other human players were involved, the game players spoke of feeling angry, snubbed, or judged, as if the other avatars excluded them because they didn’t like something about them.This reaction could be traced directly to the brain’s responses. â€Å"When people felt excluded,† says Eisenberger, â€Å"we saw activity in the dorsal portion of the anterior cingulate cortex — the neural region involved in the distressing component of pain, or what is sometimes referred to as the ‘suffering’ component of pain. Those people who felt the most rejected had the highest levels of activity in this region. † In other words, the feeling of being excluded provoked the same sort of reaction in the brain that physical pain might cause. (See Exhibit 1. ) Eisenberger’s fellow researcher Matthew Lieberman, lso of UCLA, hypothesizes that human beings evolved 2 features special report Illustration by Leigh Wells Neuroscience research is revealing the social nature of the high-performance workplace. SPECIAL REPORT: THE TALENT OPPORTUNITY this link between social connection and physical discomfort within the brain â€Å"because, to a mammal, being socially connected to caregivers is necessary for survival. † This study and many others now emerging have made one thing clear: The human brain is a social organ. Its physiological and neurological reactions are directly and profoundly shaped by social interaction. Indeed, asLieberman puts it, â€Å"Most processes operating in the background when your brain is at rest are involved in thinking about other people and yourself. † This presents enormous challenges to managers. Although a job is often regarded as a purely economic transaction, in which people exchange their labor for financial compensation, the brain experiences the workplace first and foremos t as a social system. Like the experiment participants whose avatars were left out of the game, people who feel betrayed or unrecognized at work — for example, when they are reprimanded, given an assignment that seems unworthy, or told to take a pay ut — experience it as a neural impulse, as powerful and painful as a blow to the head. Most people who work in companies learn to rationalize or temper their reactions; they â€Å"suck it up,† as the common parlance puts it. But they also limit their commitment and engagement. They become purely transactional employees, reluctant to give more of themselves to the company, because the social context stands in their way. Leaders who understand this dynamic can more effectively engage their employees’ best talents, support collaborative teams, and create an environment that fosters productive change.Indeed, the ability to intentionally address the social brain in the service of optimal performance will be a disti nguishing leadership capability in the years ahead. Triggering the Threat Response One critical thread of research on the social brain starts with the â€Å"threat and reward† response, a neurological mechanism that governs a great deal of human behavior. When you encounter something unexpected — a shadow seen from the corner of your eye or a new colleague moving into the office next door — the limbic system (a relatively primitive part of the brain, common to many animals) is aroused.Neuroscientist Evian Gordon refers to this as the â€Å"minimize danger, maximize reward† response; he calls it â€Å"the fundamental organizing principle of the brain. † Neurons are activated and hormones are released as you seek to learn whether this new entity represents a chance for reward or a potential danger. If the perception is danger, then the response becomes a pure threat response — also known as the fight or flight response, the avoid response, and , in its extreme form, the amygdala hijack, named for a part of the limbic system that can be aroused rapidly and in an emotionally overwhelming way.Recently, researchers have documented that the threat response is often triggered in social situations, and it tends to be more intense and longer-lasting than the reward response. Data gathered through measures of brain activity — by using fMRI and electroencephalograph (EEG) machines or by gauging hormonal secretions — suggests that the same neural responses that drive us toward food or away from predators are triggered by our perception of the way we are treated by other people. These findings are reframing the prevailing view of the role that social drivers play in influencing how humans behave.Matthew Lieberman notes that Abraham Maslow’s â€Å"hierarchy of needs† theory may have been wrong in this respect. Maslow proposed that strategy + business issue 56 features special report 3 David Rock ([email   protected] .com) is the founding president of the NeuroLeadership Institute (www. neuroleadership .org). He is also the CEO of Results Coaching Systems, which helps global organizations grow their leadership teams, using brain research as a base for self-awareness and social awareness. He is the author of Your Brain at Work (HarperBusiness, 2009) and Quiet Leadership: Six Steps toTransforming Performance at Work (Collins, 2006). Exhibit 1: Social and Physical Pain Produce Similar Brain Responses Physical hysic cal Pain ain solving; in other words, just when people most need their sophisticated mental capabilities, the brain’s internal resources are taken away from them. The impact of this neural dynamic is often visible in organizations. For example, when leaders trigger a threat response, employees’ brains become much less efficient. But when leaders make people feel good about themselves, clearly communicate their expectations, give employees latitude to make decisio ns, support people’s fforts to build good relationships, and treat the whole organization fairly, it prompts a reward response. Others in the organization become more effective, more open to ideas, and more creative. They notice the kind of information that passes them by when fear or resent- Illustration: Sam tion: Samuel Valasco muel Valasco Source: Eisenberger, Lieberman, and Williams, Science, 2003 (social pain images); Lieberman et al. , â€Å"The Neural Correlates of Placebo Effects: A Disruption Account,† : Lieberman, Science, (social Lieber rman â€Å"The N Neuroimage, May 2004 (physical pain images) mage, 4 features special report Social cial Pain ain Brain scans captured through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show the same areas associated with distress, whether caused by rejection or physical pain. cingulate (highlighted social rejection or physical pain. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (highlighted at left) is associated with the degree of distress; the right ventral distress. prefrontal cortex (highlighted at right) is associated with regulating the distre ntal ess. humans tend to satisfy their needs in sequence, starting with physical survival and moving up the ladder toward self-actualization at the top. In this hierarchy, social eeds sit in the middle. But many studies now show that the brain equates social needs with survival; for example, being hungry and being ostracized activate similar neural responses. The threat response is both mentally taxing and deadly to the productivity of a person — or of an organization. Because this response uses up oxygen and glucose from the blood, they are diverted from other parts of the brain, including the working memory function, which processes new information and ideas. This impairs analytic thinking, creative insight, and problem Neuroscience has discovered that the brain is highly plastic. Even the most ntrenched behaviors can be modified. Status and Its Discont ents Research into the social nature of the brain suggests another piece of this puzzle. Five particular qualities enable employees and executives alike to minimize the threat response and instead enable the reward response. These five social qualities are status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness: Because they can be expressed with the acronym SCARF, I sometimes think of them as a kind of headgear that an organization can wear to prevent exposure to dysfunction. To understand how the SCARF model works, let’s look at each characteristic in turn. eatures special report 5 ment makes it difficult to focus their attention. They are less susceptible to burnout because they are able to manage their stress. They feel intrinsically rewarded. Understanding the threat and reward response can also help leaders who are trying to implement large-scale change. The track record of failed efforts to spark higher-perfomance behavior has led many managers to conclude that human na ture is simply intractable: â€Å"You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. † Yet neuroscience has also discovered that the human brain is highly plastic. Neural connections can be reformed, new behaviors can e learned, and even the most entrenched behaviors can be modified at any age. The brain will make these shifts only when it is engaged in mindful attention. This is the state of thought associated with observing one’s own mental processes (or, in an organization, stepping back to observe the flow of a conversation as it is happening). Mindfulness requires both serenity and concentration; in a threatened state, people are much more likely to be â€Å"mindless. † Their attention is diverted by the threat, and they cannot easily move to self-discovery. In a previous article (â€Å"The Neuroscience ofLeadership,† s+b, Summer 2006), brain scientist Jeffrey Schwartz and I proposed that organizations could marshal mindful attention to create organizatio nal change. They could do this over time by putting in place regular routines in which people would watch the patterns of their thoughts and feelings as they worked and thus develop greater self-awareness. We argued that this was the only way to change organizational behavior; that the â€Å"carrots and sticks† of incentives (and behavioral psychology) did not work, and that the counseling and empathy of much organizational development was not fficient enough to make a difference. strategy + business issue 56 As humans, we are constantly assessing how social encounters either enhance or diminish our status. Research published by Hidehiko Takahashi et al. in 2009 shows that when people realize that they might compare unfavorably to someone else, the threat response kicks in, releasing cortisol and other stress-related hormones. (Cortisol is an accurate biological marker of the threat response; within the brain, feelings of low status provoke the kind of cortisol elevation asso ciated with sleep deprivation and chronic anxiety. Separately, researcher Michael Marmot, in his book The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity (Times Books, 2004), has shown that high status correlates with human longevity and health, even when factors like income and education are controlled for. In short, we are biologically programmed to care about status because it favors our survival. As anyone who has lived in a modest house in a high-priced neighborhood knows, the feeling of status is always comparative. And an executive with a salary of US$500,000 may feel elevated. . . until he or she is A Craving for Certainty he skills they have acquired, rather than for their seniority, is a status booster in itself. Values have a strong impact on status. An organization that appears to value money and rank more than a basic sense of respect for all employees will stimulate threat responses among employees who aren’t at the top of the heap. Similar ly, organizations that try to pit people against one another on the theory that it will make them work harder reinforce the idea that there are only winners and losers, which undermines the standing of people below the top 10 percent. 6 features special report ssigned to work with an executive making $2. 5 million. A study by Joan Chiao in 2003 found that the neural circuitry that assesses status is similar to that which processes numbers; the circuitry operates even when the stakes are meaningless, which is why winning a board game or being the first off the mark at a green light feels so satisfying. Competing against ourselves in games like solitaire triggers the same circuitry, which may help explain the phenomenal popularity of video games. Understanding the role of status as a core concern can help leaders avoid organizational practices that stir ounterproductive threat responses among employees. For example, performance reviews often provoke a threat response; people being rev iewed feel that the exercise itself encroaches on their status. This makes 360degree reviews, unless extremely participative and welldesigned, ineffective at generating positive behavioral change. Another common status threat is the custom of offering feedback, a standard practice for both managers and coaches. The mere phrase â€Å"Can I give you some advice? † puts people on the defensive because they perceive the person offering advice as claiming superiority.It is the cortisol equivalent of hearing footsteps in the dark. Organizations often assume that the only way to raise an employee’s status is to award a promotion. Yet status can also be enhanced in less-costly ways. For example, the perception of status increases when people are given praise. Experiments conducted by Keise Izuma in 2008 show that a programmed status-related stimulus, in the form of a computer saying â€Å"good job,† lights up the same reward regions of the brain as a financial windfall. The perception of status also increases when people master a new skill; paying employees more forWhen an individual encounters a familiar situation, his or her brain conserves its own energy by shifting into a kind of automatic pilot: it relies on long-established neural connections in the basal ganglia and motor cortex that have, in effect, hardwired this situation and the individual’s response to it. This makes it easy to do what the person has done in the past, and it frees that person to do two things at once; for example, to talk while driving. But the minute the brain registers ambiguity or confusion — if, for example, the car ahead of the driver slams on its brakes — the brain flashes an error signal.With the threat response aroused and working memory diminished, the driver must stop talking and shift full attention to the road. Uncertainty registers (in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex) as an error, gap, or tension: something tha t must be corrected before one can feel comfortable again. That is why people crave certainty. Not knowing what will happen next can be profoundly debilitating because it requires extra neural energy. This diminishes memory, undermines performance, and disengages people from the present. Of course, uncertainty is not necessarily debilitating. Mild ncertainty attracts interest and attention: New and challenging situations create a mild threat response, increasing levels of adrenalin and dopamine just enough to spark curiosity and energize people to solve problems. Moreover, different people respond to uncertainty in the world around them in different ways, depending in part on their existing patterns of thought. For example, when that car ahead stops suddenly, the driver who thinks, â€Å"What should I do? † is likely to be ineffective, whereas the driver who frames the incident as manageable — â€Å"I need to swerve left now because there’s a car on the rightâ €  — is well equipped to respond.All of life is uncertain; it is the perception of Relating to Relatedness given more control over decision making lived longer and healthier lives than residents in a control group who had everything selected for them. The choices themselves were insignificant; it was the perception of autonomy that mattered. Another study, this time of the franchise industry, identified work–life balance as the number one reason that people left corporations and moved into a franchise. Yet other data showed that franchise owners actually worked far longer hours (often for less money) than they had in corporate life.They nevertheless perceived themselves to have a better work–life balance because they had greater scope to make their own choices. Leaders who know how to satisfy the need for autonomy among their people can reap substantial benefits — without losing their best people to the entrepreneurial ranks. features special report 7 The Autonomy Factor too much uncertainty that undercuts focus and performance. When perceived uncertainty gets out of hand, people panic and make bad decisions. Leaders and managers must thus work to create a perception of certainty to build confident and dedicated eams. Sharing business plans, rationales for change, and accurate maps of an organization’s structure promotes this perception. Giving specifics about organizational restructuring helps people feel more confident about a plan, and articulating how decisions are made increases trust. Transparent practices are the foundation on which the perception of certainty rests. Breaking complex projects down into small steps can also help create the feeling of certainty. Although it’s highly unlikely everything will go as planned, people function better because the project now seems less ambiguous.Like the driver on the road who has enough information to calculate his or her response, an employee focused on a single, ma nageable aspect of a task is unlikely to be overwhelmed by threat responses. strategy + business issue 56 Studies by Steven Maier at the University of Boulder show that the degree of control available to an animal confronted by stressful situations determines whether or not that stressor undermines the ability to function. Similarly, in an organization, as long as people feel they can execute their own decisions without much oversight, stress remains under control.Because human brains evolved in response to stressors over thousands of years, they are constantly attuned, usually at a subconscious level, to the ways in which social encounters threaten or support the capacity for choice. A perception of reduced autonomy — for example, because of being micromanaged — can easily generate a threat response. When an employee experiences a lack of control, or agency, his or her perception of uncertainty is also aroused, further raising stress levels. By contrast, the perceptio n of greater autonomy increases the feeling of certainty and reduces stress.Leaders who want to support their people’s need for autonomy must give them latitude to make choices, especially when they are part of a team or working with a supervisor. Presenting people with options, or allowing them to organize their own work and set their own hours, provokes a much less stressed response than forcing them to follow rigid instructions and schedules. In 1977, a well-known study of nursing homes by Judith Rodin and Ellen Langer found that residents who were Fruitful collaboration depends on healthy relationships, which require trust and empathy. But in the brain, the bility to feel trust and empathy about others is shaped by whether they are perceived to be part of the same social group. This pattern is visible in many domains: in sports (â€Å"I hate the other team†), in organizational silos (â€Å"the ‘suits’ are the problem†), and in communities (†Å"those people on the other side of town always mess things up†). Each time a person meets someone new, the brain automatically makes quick friend-or-foe distinctions and then experiences the friends and foes in ways that are colored by those distinctions. When the new person is perceived as different, the information travels along eural pathways that are associated with uncomfortable feelings (different from the neural pathways triggered by people who are perceived as similar to oneself). Leaders who understand this phenomenon will find many ways to apply it in business. For example, teams of diverse people cannot be thrown together. They must be deliberately put together in a way that minimizes the potential for threat responses. Trust cannot be assumed or mandated, nor can empathy or even goodwill be compelled. These qualities develop only when people’s brains start to recognize former strangers as friends. This equires time and repeated social interaction. Once peop le make a stronger social connection, their brains begin to secrete a hormone called oxytocin in one another’s presence. This chemical, which has been linked with affection, maternal behavior, sexual arousal, and generosity, disarms the threat response and We now have reason to believe that economic incentives are effective only when people perceive them as supporting their social needs. The perception that an event has been unfair generates a strong response in the limbic system, stirring hostility and undermining trust. As with status, people perceive airness in relative terms, feeling more satisfied with a fair exchange that offers a minimal reward than an unfair exchange in which the reward is substantial. Studies conducted by Matthew Lieberman and Golnaz Tabibnia found that people respond more positively to being given 50 cents from a dollar split between them and another person than to receiving $8 out of a total of $25. Another study found that the experience of fairne ss produces reward responses in the brain similar to those that occur from eating chocolate. The cognitive need for fairness is so strong that some people are willing to fight and die for causes hey believe are just — or commit themselves wholeheartedly to an organization they recognize as fair. An executive told me he had stayed with his company for 22 years simply because â€Å"they always did the right thing. † People often engage in volunteer work for similar reasons: They perceive their actions as increasing the fairness quotient in the world. In organizations, the perception of unfairness creates an environment in which trust and collaboration cannot flourish. Leaders who play favorites or who appear to reserve privileges for people who are like them arouse a threat response in employees who are outside their circle.The old boys’ network provides an egregious example; those who are not a part of it always perceive their organizations as fundamentally unfai r, no matter how many mentoring programs are put in place. Like certainty, fairness is served by transparency. Leaders who share information in a timely manner can keep people engaged and motivated, even during staff reductions. Morale remains relatively high when people perceive that cutbacks are being handled fairly — that no one group is treated with preference and that there is a rationale for every cut. Putting on the SCARF If you are a leader, every action you take and every ecision you make either supports or undermines the perceived levels of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness in your enterprise. In fact, this is why leading is so difficult. Your every word and glance is freighted with social meaning. Your sentences and gestures are noticed and interpreted, magnified and 8 features special report Playing for Fairness further activates the neural networks that permit us to perceive someone as â€Å"just like us. † Research by Michael Kosfeld et al. in 2005 shows that a shot of oxytocin delivered by means of a nasal spray decreases threat arousal.But so may a handshake and a shared glance over something funny. Conversely, the human threat response is aroused when people feel cut off from social interaction. Loneliness and isolation are profoundly stressful. John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick showed in 2008 that loneliness is itself a threat response to lack of social contact, activating the same neurochemicals that flood the system when one is subjected to physical pain. Leaders who strive for inclusion and minimize situations in which people feel rejected create an environment that supports maximum performance. This of course raises a hallenge for organizations: How can they foster relatedness among people who are competing with one another or who may be laid off? strategy + business issue 56 features special report 9 combed for meanings you may never have intended. The SCARF model provides a means of bringing conscio us awareness to all these potentially fraught interactions. It helps alert you to people’s core concerns (which they may not even understand themselves) and shows you how to calibrate your words and actions to better effect. Start by reducing the threats inherent in your company and in its leaders’ behavior.Just as the animal brain is wired to respond to a predator before it can focus attention on the hunt for food, so is the social brain wired to respond to dangers that threaten its core concerns before it can perform other functions. Threat always trumps reward because the threat response is strong, immediate, and hard to ignore. Once aroused, it is hard to displace, which is why an unpleasant encounter in traffic on the morning drive to work can distract attention and impair performance all day. Humans cannot think creatively, work well with others, or make informed decisions when their threat responses re on high alert. Skilled leaders understand this and act accor dingly. A business reorganization provides a good example. Reorganizations generate massive amounts of uncertainty, which can paralyze people’s ability to perform. A leader attuned to SCARF principles therefore makes reducing the threat of uncertainty the first order of business. For example, a leader might kick off the process by sharing as much information as possible about the reasons for the reorganization, painting a picture of the future company and explaining what the specific implications will be for the people who work there.Much will be unknown, but being clear about what is known and willing to acknowledge what is not goes a long way toward ameliorating uncertainty threats. Reorganizations also stir up threats to autonomy, because people feel they lack control over their future. An astute leader will address these threats by giving people latitude to make as many of their own decisions as possible — for example, when the budget must be cut, involving the peo ple closest to the work in deciding what must go. Because many reorganizations entail information technology upgrades that undermine peo- ple’s perception of autonomy by foisting new systems on hem without their consent, it is essential to provide continuous support and solicit employees’ participation in the design of new systems. Top-down strategic planning is often inimical to SCARF -related reactions. Having a few key leaders come up with a plan and then expecting people to buy into it is a recipe for failure, because it does not take the threat response into account. People rarely support initiatives they had no part in designing; doing so would undermine both autonomy and status. Proactively addressing these concerns by adopting an inclusive planning process can prevent the kind of unconscious sabotage hat results when people feel they have played no part in a change that affects them every day. Leaders often underestimate the importance of addressing threats to fairness. This is especially true when it comes to compensation. Although most people are not motivated primarily by money, they are profoundly de-motivated when they believe they are being unfairly paid or that others are overpaid by comparison. Leaders who recognize fairness as a core concern understand that disproportionately increasing compensation at the top makes it impossible to fully engage people at the middle or lower end of the pay cale. Declaring that a highly paid executive is â€Å"doing a great job† is counterproductive in this situation because those who are paid less will interpret it to mean that they are perceived to be poor performers. For years, economists have argued that people will change their behavior if they have sufficient incentives. But these economists have defined incentives almost exclusively in economic terms. We now have reason to believe that economic incentives are effective only when people perceive them as supporting their social needs. Status can also be enhanced by giving an employee reater scope to plan his or her schedule or the chance to develop meaningful relationships with those at different levels in the organization. The SCARF model thus provides leaders with more nuanced and cost-effective ways to expand the definition of reward. In doing so, SCARF principles also provide a more granular understanding of the state of engagement, in which employees give their best performance. Engagement can be induced when people working toward objectives feel rewarded by their efforts, with a manageable level of threat: in short, when the brain is generating rewards in several SCARF-related dimensions.Leaders themselves are not immune to the SCARF and cognitive problem solving reside in the lateral, or outer, portions of the brain, whereas the middle regions support self-awareness, social skills, and empathy. These regions are inversely correlated. As Lieberman notes, â€Å"If you spend a lot of time in cognitive tasks, your ability to have empathy for people is reduced simply because that part of your circuitry doesn’t get much use. † Perhaps the greatest challenge facing leaders of business or government is to create the kind of atmosphere that promotes status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.When historians look back, their judgment of this period in time may rise or fall on how organizations, and society as a whole, operated. Did they treat people fairly, draw people together to solve problems, promote entrepreneurship and autonomy, foster certainty wherever possible, and find ways to raise the perceived status of everyone? If so, the brains of the future will salute them. + Resources Reprint No. 09306 John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection (W. W. Norton, 2008): A scientific look at the causes and effects of emotional isolation.Michael Marmot, The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and L ongevity (Times Books, 2004): An epidemiologist shows that people live longer when they have status, autonomy, and relatedness, even if they lack money. David Rock, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long (HarperBusiness, 2009): Neuroscience explanations for workplace challenges and dilemmas, and strategies for managing them. David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz, â€Å"The Neuroscience of Leadership,† s+b, Summer 2006, www. strategy-business. om/press/article/06207: Applying breakthroughs in brain research, this article explains the value of neuroplasticity in organizational change. David Rock, â€Å"SCARF: A Brain-based Model for Collaborating with and Influencing Others,† NeuroLeadership Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, December 2008, 44: Overview of research on the five factors described in this article, and contains bibliographic references for research quoted in this article. Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieb erman, with K. D. Williams, â€Å"Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion,† Science, vol. 302, no. 643, October 2003, 290–292: Covers the Cyberball experiment. Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman, â€Å"The Pains and Pleasures of Social Life,† Science, vol. 323, no. 5916, February 2009, 890–891: Explication of social pain and social pleasure, and the impact of fairness, status, and autonomy on brain response. NeuroLeadership Institute Web site, www. neuroleadership. org: Institute bringing together research scientists and management experts to explore the transformation of organizational development and performance. For more business thought leadership, sign up for s+b ’s RSS feeds at www. trategy-business. com/rss 10 features special report dynamic; like everyone else, they react when they feel their status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fair treatment are threatened. However, their reactions have more impact, because th ey are picked up and amplified by others throughout the company. (If a company’s executive salaries are excessive, it may be because others are following the leader’s intuitive emphasis, driven by subconscious cognition, on anything that adds status. ) If you are an executive leader, the more practiced you are at reading yourself, the more effective you will e. For example, if you understand that micromanaging threatens status and autonomy, you will resist your own impulse to gain certainty by dictating every detail. Instead, you’ll seek to disarm people by giving them latitude to make their own mistakes. If you have felt the hairs on the back of your own neck rise when someone says, â€Å"Can I offer you some feedback? † you will know it’s best to create opportunities for people to do the hard work of self-assessment rather than insisting they depend on performance reviews. When a leader is self-aware, it gives others a feeling f safety even in un certain environments. It makes it easier for employees to focus on their work, which leads to improved performance. The same principle is evident in other groups of mammals, where a skilled pack leader keeps members at peace so they can perform their functions. A self-aware leader modulates his or her behavior to alleviate organizational stress and creates an environment in which motivation and creativity flourish. One great advantage of neuroscience is that it provides hard data to vouch for the efficacy and value of so-called soft skills. It also shows the danger of being a hard-charging eader whose best efforts to move people along also set up a threat response that puts others on guard. Similarly, many leaders try to repress their emotions in order to enhance their leadership presence, but this only confuses people and undermines morale. Experiments by Kevin Ochsner and James Gross show that when someone tries not to let other people see what he or she is feeling, the other part y tends to experience a threat response. That’s why being spontaneous is key to creating an authentic leadership presence. This approach is likely to minimize status threats, increase certainty, nd create a sense of relatedness and fairness. Finally, the SCARF model helps explain why intelligence, in itself, isn’t sufficient for a good leader. Matthew Lieberman’s research suggests that high intelligence often corresponds with low self-awareness. The neural networks involved in information holding, planning, strategy+business magazine is published by Booz & Company Inc. To subscribe, visit www. strategy-business. com or call 1-877-829-9108. For more information about Booz & Company, visit www. booz. com Looking Booz & Company Inc.  © 2009 for Booz Allen Hamilton? It can be found at at www. boozallen. com

Creative writing: Mines

It had been war but on Saturday morning the war had stopped and the beach down the road stretched enticingly in a gleam and glister of sand and gleaming sea. Deep holes in which the men and women of war had hid in for protection from gunfire and dropping bombs. It now laid silent sound of waves lapping the shore. I was eleven and old enough to be aloud out where ever I wanted to go with my friends. Sean, Nick and I stood in our sandals with our eyes gazing at this watery paradise when to my fury I realized that my eight year old sister Sam had tagged along â€Å"Go away† I shouted † You are not old enough to go out with me† She looked smug â€Å"Dad's gone into town and mum has left us so you have to look after me remember!† I glared at her and pulled a face of pure sisterly hatred but Sean shrugged and said, â€Å"Are we going to the beach or what?† To tell the truth in the first place we were scared to go on the beach even before Sam had showed up in all of her curvaceous glory. It wasn't the fact that the whole beach had signs around it saying, â€Å"beware of mines keep out!† But no one had exactly told us we weren't aloud to go for a swim. In one way or another we did not want our parents to no that we had gone down to the beach for a swim but it was the fact that there was no fence there to keep us out from the gorges archers of sand and miles of sea. I glanced at Sam again â€Å"Go away† I shouted â€Å"Never† â€Å"Well don't blame me if you get hurt!† After that we all ran throw off our sandals and jumped into the cool refreshing sea. We surfed the giant crashing waves out to sea leaving Sam sitting alone on the beach. We wondered around the rocky floor of the cliffs and rock pools. We climbed up the cliffs, leaving a trail of falling rocks and mud we dumped off of the cliffs in to the sea and through stones at pesky Seagulls, We sat in rock pools and ate stale bread and drank bad water left over from the war. Sam's upset little face made us all feel a little bad inside. We dared each other to climb over the most dangerous rocks and into some of biggest rock pools that you could have ever seen. We also dared each other to look inside the pockets of the dead soldiers that lay scattered and dead all over the rocks from men desperately trying to climb the giant cliffs to safety. Soaked and covered with sand we began to head towards home. I than heard something that I will remember for the rest of my life I heard a giant explosion and me and my friends were knocked clean of are feet as we got up I felt a lot of pain I had bits of shrapnel shot into my legs and arms and stomach. Than Sean shouted â€Å"where's Sam† â€Å"I don't know† I replied â€Å"She's your sister go and find her† Than I heard her screaming for help. I was terrified I could not see anything there was too much smoke and dust from the explosion. Than I saw it a trail of blood in the sand and only half my sister Sam, laying there she had lost half of 1 leg and the whole of the other leg. She was screaming to me â€Å"help help oh please help† I shouted for help and only Sean had come because Nick had ran home in pain from the bomb. When Sean came we both had to pick her up Sean was also in a lot of pain from the mine Because he had broken his hand on the way down to the from the explosion we both pulled her up and carried her all the way home struggling trying to keep the blood from gushing from her legs. By this time she had fallen unconscious we didn't know if she was dead or not all that mattered to me was getting her to the hospital that had been set up during the war for injured soldiers. We finally got her there and there and the took her inside right away into another room we tried to follow but we were stopped and taken into an office to be treated ourselves. Than two hours later my dad showed up he was pale and looked sick. He saw me and sat down and started to talk to me † Your sister was very badly injured in the explosion† he said quietly † I know,† I said â€Å"Well she didn't make it she bleed to death in surgery† He said very sadly â€Å"I want you to show me were it happened and tell me everything† he said very sternly My mouth was dry I couldn't say a word I was to upset about the loss of my sister I just said very gently â€Å"ok† I took him down to the beach and showed him were it had happened and told him everything that we did that day leaving out some of the stuff that he would have told me off about like playing with the left over guns. He saw the blood and one of her legs with half of the mine wedged into it. His face turned wight and turned away from it and started to walk home.

The Average Student Plan Essays

The Average Student Plan Essays The Average Student Plan Essay The Average Student Plan Essay Having looked at various other methods of data collection I have come to the conclusion that I will base my work on the average student. Firstly I think it is appropriate that I define what the average student actually is. There are different interpretations as to what an average student is, for adults perhaps teachers they may base their ideas as to what the average student is on exam results. Other people may believe the average student is based on what sports they play, what genre of music they listen to or what type of books they read. However for the data collection I will be carrying out I will base my data on a students physical attributes, as this will enable me to use higher-level maths techniques, which will be later explained. Due to limitations in working time I have decided to focus on recording just the height and weight of males and females. I have decided to focus on height and weight because they are continuous data therefore it will be possible to apply higher-level maths techniques. Another reason for selecting this data collection is that the data is easily accessible. There are two hundred and seven pupils in my year and obtaining their measurements will not be a problem. I will hopefully have the opportunity to compare my results with the National Data from the Child Growth Foundation (1996), which my teacher has recommended we find and use because using this I will be able to compare upper and lower quartiles and the medians. Firstly my aim is to research and discover some hypotheses about an average student using statistical techniques. The three hypotheses I have selected will be later explained For my coursework I have the opportunity to select from four methods of sampling. Not all sampling methods will fit with my data collection as some may affect the reliability of the results. The term given to this is bias meaning if an item in a population does not have an equal selection opportunity from a sample, it is said to be bias. An example of this that I am aware of and may occur in my collection is, from a population of forty there would have to be twenty males and twenty females for it to be fair. If it were any different to this then it would be bias. Here are the four methods of sampling I can choose from when carrying out my data collection. Systematic Sampling An example of this sample would be the selection of a 10% sample by going through the population picking every tenth item or individual. The disadvantage of this method is this would only provide a representative sample if the population was arranged in a random way and not in a way that might introduce bias. Information taken from OCR Graduated Assessment Stages 910 Textbook. Attribute Sampling The selection of the sample is made by choosing attribute such as head size and height from a list of people on the basis of their birthday being the first of the month and trying to identify any relationship between the two. Stratified or quota sampling The population is divided into strata or subgroups and the sample chosen to reflect the properties of these subgroups. An example of this would be if a population contained three times as many people under the age of 25 as over 25 then the sample should also contain three times as many people under 25. Information taken from OCR Graduated Assessment stages 910 Textbook. Random Sampling This is when there is no knowledge about a populations characteristics, for example any knowledge about the ages and gender in the population. In this case a sample has to be selected on the basis that all items are equally likely to be chosen. To ensure the sample is random and as accurate as possible the sampling must be repeated several times and then have the results averaged. The sample I have decided to use is systematic and random sampling this is because it would save a lot of time because my population is of two hundred people. In addition to this I have decided to work out an average using a percentage of the population. I have decided to use twenty percent, forty people, twenty males and twenty females to ensure it is a fair test. The hypotheses I will be investigating will be, * You would assume that as heights increase so to will weights. * You would think that on average boys are heavier than girls. * You would think that on average boys are taller than girls. Having these hypotheses I will be able to test the relationship between height and weight and also to compare the results for males and females. When comparing genders I will be using cumulative frequency, histograms, standard deviation and normal distribution. Once I have obtained my results I will transfer them to a spreadsheet so I can clearly set my results out. I will select the pupils I need for my investigation, twenty males and twenty females and measure their height and weight. I considered working with another person to help me but I believe I can work just as well on my own and still be as accurate. Each pupil in the sample will be treated the same this is to avoid an unfair investigation. When measuring height and weight each person in the sample will remove their shoes as this increases height and weight. I am aware that there will be complications through the investigation for example I need to check equipment in case they are slightly inaccurate. Perhaps other mistakes such as the student moving slightly will alter the readings and therefore not providing true results. I intend to be as accurate as possible and consistent with my recordings treating each student the same. Once my data has been recorded it then has to be sorted in order, firstly I will separate the data into genders and by using spreadsheets on the computer I can arrange the data into ascending order therefore when I use Cumulative Frequency Graphs I will be able to find the range numbers easily. I will be able to compare the different sets of results and from this point highlight any potential anomalies. With the results I obtain I have the opportunity to compare my results to the National Data. The appropriate average differentiates with graph work for example with Cumulative Frequency I will be working with median however I can compare this value with the mean data and comment on the graph distributions. Once I have the collected data I will then look back to my hypotheses and determine whether or not I was correct. As I mentioned earlier I will attempt to use higher-level maths techniques. I will be using Pearsons Product Movement Correlation Coefficient to test for any relationships between data. I will also include evidence of Cumulative Frequency diagrams and Box Plots as an attempt to prove any relationships between sets of data. I will also be using Histograms and Standard Deviation to find certain things such as the spread about the mean and using these values to compare with each set of results.

Expert Guide How Long Is the SAT

Expert Guide How Long Is the SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Studying for the SAT isn’t just about practicing math problems and passage reading- it's also an exercise in timing and pacing. The sheer length of the SAT test, as well as its difficult content, can make it an intimidating challenge. Read on for our guide to the SAT’s length, individual section times, and section ordering. Moreover, learn how to deal with fatigue during the test. Detailed Guide: SAT Test Length The SAT is three hours (180 minutes) long in total, excluding the optional essayand breaks. With the optional essay, the total test time increases to three hours and 50 minutes. Here's an overview of the SAT test length: Section Order on Test Total # of Questions Total Time (Minutes) Reading 1 52 65 Break 1 2 - 10 Writing and Language 3 44 35 Math No Calculator 4 20 25 Break 2 5 - 5 Math Calculator 6 38 55 Break 3 7 - 2 Essay (Optional) 8 1 50 The Math section is the only section separated into two pieces: a No Calculator and a Calculator section. As you can see, the No Calculator section comes first and asks 20 questions in 25 minutes, while the Calculator section comes second and asks 38 questions in 55 minutes. Altogether, then, you'll get 58 questions and 80 minutes for Math. You'll also get a total of three breaks (two if you're not taking the optional Essay): A10-minute break after the Readingsection but before the Writing and Language section Afive-minute break after the Math No Calculator section but before the Math Calculator section A very short two-minute breakafter the Math Calculator section (if you're staying for the Essay section, that is- otherwise, you're done and may leave!) The SAT Isn't Just Long- It's Also Intense The SAT is a long test- more than four hours, from check-in to the end (if you're doing the essay)! However, it can feel as though it moves fairly quickly because of the number of questions you have to answer on each section. Here is an overview of the number of questions you'll have on each SAT section, in addition to the approximate time you'll have to answer each question: Section # of Questions Total Time Time per Question Reading 52 65 minutes 1 minute 15 seconds Writing and Language 44 35 minutes 47 seconds Math No Calculator 20 25 minutes 1 minute 15 seconds Math Calculator 38 55 minutes 1 minute 26 seconds Even though your approximate time per question is usually more than a minute, on the actual SAT things will be a little more complicated. First of all, you'll likely move through easier questions much more quickly and need more time for harder questions. Secondly, if you want to leave time at the end of a section to check your answers, you'll have to spend less time on each question. Keep in mind that for the Reading and Writing sections, you will also have to spend some time reading the passages. In addition, note that stamina is incredibly important. While the old SAT broke up the test into 10 small sections, the current SAT forces you to tackle each subject in one large chunk. Two out of four sections are just about an hour long.So not only do you have to move quickly question-to-question, but you also need to maintain your test-taking speed for a long period of time. Building that kind of stamina takes practice! How to Prepare for the SAT Exam Length: 3 Tips Below, we go over our three best tips for preparing for the SAT exam length. These will help you feel prepared for test day and teach you how to stay focused during the exam. #1: Take Full-Length SAT Practice Tests The best way to prepare for the timing and intensity of the SAT is to take full-length, strictly timed practice tests.This way, even if you're someone who easily gets tired during long stretches of testing, you can get used to the SAT’s format and time expectations. Make sure you're usingofficial practice tests (i.e., those created by the College Board). Don't rely on old practice tests to help you out since these differ a lot from the current SAT structure. Be sure to print out your test ahead of time and find a quiet place to take it, such as a library. As you take your test, time yourself as you'll be timed on the actual SAT.This means no giving yourself extra time on a section and no skipping ahead if you finish one early! You should also take the breaks as described in the table at the beginning of this article. You need to build up endurance and practice your pacing for the SAT- just like training for a race. #2: Do Practice Tests on Weekends The best time to take official SAT practice tests is on a Saturday or Sunday morning so you can get a good idea of what your energy level will be like the day of the actual test. Sure, it might be easier to fit in a practice test late on a Sunday night, but you'll have to take the real test in the morning, so you should practice with that time in mind. Pretend you're waking up for the actual test. Waking up early and jumping into an SAT practice test probably isn’t your ideal way to start a Saturday,but it’s the best way to be prepare for the actual SAT. Plus, it'll preserve your Saturday afternoon and evening for more fun activities! #3: Time Yourself on Individual Practice Sections As you study for the different SAT sections, make sure to periodically take an entire practice section with only the time you're given on the test. For example, after a week of focusing on SAT Reading, take one or two Reading practice tests and give yourself 65 minutes- the time you'll have on the actual exam for that section. This will allow you to get used to the timing on the SAT and furtherbuild up your test-taking stamina. What’s Next? Now that you know how long the test will take, read about the best places to take the SAT. Want additional SAT help? Get tips on how to work quickly and save time during the SAT. Preparing for test day?Check out our top test-day tips so you can be both mentally and physically ready to take on the SAT. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today!

Grant Review and Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grant Review and Evaluation - Essay Example The scrutiny is necessary because I will not entrust an unknown organization (Sargeant & Lee, 2004) with my money and I need to ensure that I am giving my money to the people who will use it for human welfare only. Frankly speaking I do not trust the organization at this point and will need proof of its effectiveness regarding the ability to serve suffering children in the future. The human value of compassion has compelled me to grant you the money (Canda, 1988) because I have to respond to the noble cause of serving unfortunate children; but I can practice compassion by granting you the least possible amount and my compassion will grow as your operations will expand and become more effective in attainment of the objectives. I am talking openly in this regard due to my sincere intentions and wishes to see your organization in a better and respectable position and I want you to give me more reason to give you more funds. To prove your claim of serving the unfortunate children, you actions and their consequences should bring forth positive results; which are as yet lacking. Furthermore, I pardon about my extremely ruthless behavior but I feel that my actions are necessary in order to make you thrive as an organization. I would like you to work hard in order to win the confidence of donors, thus paving the way for further funding. I wish you good luck in your quest for excellence in the field of humanitarian relief activities. Additionally, I request you to arrange my visit of the facility you are running so that I can evaluate your outlook and performance as it may motivate me to offer more funding in the future. Moreover, to evaluate the living conditions of the children living at your establishment, I need to interview a few children. This will enable me to get a first-hand knowledge of the conditions of the children who are being supported by your