In his article ‘’The Great Divide: Male vs. Female’’, Audrey Chapman mentioned ‘’the old adage that there’s no romance without finance’’. [Revelations, 280) While I am usually against such general statements, this time I would have to agree. However, as opposed to Chapman who writes this off as a flaw in our society, I see nothing wrong about it .This world has so many interesting things to offer and money is your ticket to the show.
Not only does money enable you to do pretty much anything you want, but it also opens your eyes to new realms of pleasure. It is important, however, to preserve some form of modesty and moderation, for money can be a double-sided blade. As we have all seen countless times through the example of celebrities (actors, singers or otherwise), running rampant with unhealthy sums of money can turn out quite ugly. Nothing remains interesting forever, and when there are no more realms of pleasure to discover and explore, lots of ‘’stars’’ take a downturn to depression. A very common next step for them are drugs, and as rich as they are, coming up with ridiculous amounts of the latter does not pose any kind of problem. Quite ironically, the same thing that practically gave them life turns out to be their undoing later on.
Money can’t buy happiness, but true happiness is not possible without money. While it serves as means to various kinds of pleasure, this is not its main purpose. Money also provides security, a feeling very important to every human being. Without security, people are very easily irritated, constantly tensed, anxious and thus unable to enjoy even the pleasures that are available to them. Put two people together, and you will just get the same anxiety and tension times two.
Happiness doesn’t come automatically with money; it’s not guaranteed. However, at least it’s possible, whereas without money there is no true happiness. That is reality.
neděle 18. dubna 2010
čtvrtek 15. dubna 2010
Issues of Cook Hall
I am a freshman at Howard University and a resident of Cook Hall. As my first semester here draws to an end, I must say I was delighted with the faculty, as well as the whole learning experience. However, life on campus is not nearly as impressive. Visitation and Internet restrictions are my main concern.
Every now and then, there would be a notification at the entrance to the dorm saying that visitation would be taken away from us for a certain period of time. In fact, this happens so often that when it is given back, most students don’t even become aware of it until it is taken away again. While the Internet connection is very fast and dependable, some very important applications are rendered useless by an overly-protective network.
Visitation is of vital importance for some students, including myself. It’s my freshman year, and I’ve already worked on 2 group projects. These projects require a lot of research and teamwork and sometimes, very strict visitation hours make it hard for us to work out a convenient time for a meeting. I am aware of the fact that the I-Lab is open almost 24/7 and that it can be used for such meetings. However, for some of us, studying in a room with 200 other people is far from an ideal solution. Also, what bothers me is that visitation is biased in terms of sexual orientation. Having a person of the opposite sex in your room is a bit of a problem; having him or her spend the night- out of the question, even though this person might even be a blood relative. This policy is also unfair towards heterosexual people, and ‘’favours’’ homosexuals.
Cook Hall is a dorm predominantly reserved for student-athletes, and as such it is full of international citizens. The Internet restrictions I was referring to disable the use of various applications and programs, along with the most important one- Skype. This is a very useful program that allows people from all over the world to talk to each other online for free. For foreign students, using a phone would be ridiculously expensive, and that is why Skype is their only connection with family and relatives. Robbing us of Skype, of our only means of talking to our loved ones, is a crime.
I urge the Residence Life staff to reconsider their visitation policies and make them more uniform with the other universities in America. At the same time, I’d like to ask of you one more time to change your Internet Network Settings and allow us to use Skype. Opening the necessary ports is a one-minute job, and yet it would mean the world to all Cook Hall Residents.
Every now and then, there would be a notification at the entrance to the dorm saying that visitation would be taken away from us for a certain period of time. In fact, this happens so often that when it is given back, most students don’t even become aware of it until it is taken away again. While the Internet connection is very fast and dependable, some very important applications are rendered useless by an overly-protective network.
Visitation is of vital importance for some students, including myself. It’s my freshman year, and I’ve already worked on 2 group projects. These projects require a lot of research and teamwork and sometimes, very strict visitation hours make it hard for us to work out a convenient time for a meeting. I am aware of the fact that the I-Lab is open almost 24/7 and that it can be used for such meetings. However, for some of us, studying in a room with 200 other people is far from an ideal solution. Also, what bothers me is that visitation is biased in terms of sexual orientation. Having a person of the opposite sex in your room is a bit of a problem; having him or her spend the night- out of the question, even though this person might even be a blood relative. This policy is also unfair towards heterosexual people, and ‘’favours’’ homosexuals.
Cook Hall is a dorm predominantly reserved for student-athletes, and as such it is full of international citizens. The Internet restrictions I was referring to disable the use of various applications and programs, along with the most important one- Skype. This is a very useful program that allows people from all over the world to talk to each other online for free. For foreign students, using a phone would be ridiculously expensive, and that is why Skype is their only connection with family and relatives. Robbing us of Skype, of our only means of talking to our loved ones, is a crime.
I urge the Residence Life staff to reconsider their visitation policies and make them more uniform with the other universities in America. At the same time, I’d like to ask of you one more time to change your Internet Network Settings and allow us to use Skype. Opening the necessary ports is a one-minute job, and yet it would mean the world to all Cook Hall Residents.
Free your mind. Open your eyes
More often than not, the word black is a synonym for something negative. There is a wide range of terms to choose from: Evil, wicked, malignant, unwashed, foul, dirty and so on. Despite the fact that white is often a synonym for clean, pristine, divine or other simmilar positive terms, I believe that it has nothing to do with racism.
These referrences for black and white originate from ancient history, when racism, at least in it's current form, did not exist. If we look back to, for example, ancient Greece, the gods that were considered protectors of humanity were believed to be living in the heavens. Thus, the light was associated with the gods-protectors, and white colour is an obvious symbol for light. Black on the other hand, is the polar opposite of white. Visually, white and black offer the highest possible contrast. That is why Hades, the master of the dead and the underworld, was always depicted as a god enveloped in darkness(blackness).
Night(darkness,blackness) is often associated with danger and evil, because of the connection of night's absolute darkness to the fear of the unknown and the fact that it hinders the sensory system that human beings rely on the most- sight. Humans have always been and always will be creatures of the day. Night is a time of danger and vulnerability for our species. As a result, mythical creatures such as the vampires, werewolves and ghosts are thought to be more active during the night. It's also interesting to note that as far back as the second century, the early Saxon tribes referred to the darkness of the night as the ''death mist''
All of this, as well as numerous other factors, contributed to the negative ring of the word black(blackness). It has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour or race, therefore I see no reason to get upset over the synonyms for the relevant term.
These referrences for black and white originate from ancient history, when racism, at least in it's current form, did not exist. If we look back to, for example, ancient Greece, the gods that were considered protectors of humanity were believed to be living in the heavens. Thus, the light was associated with the gods-protectors, and white colour is an obvious symbol for light. Black on the other hand, is the polar opposite of white. Visually, white and black offer the highest possible contrast. That is why Hades, the master of the dead and the underworld, was always depicted as a god enveloped in darkness(blackness).
Night(darkness,blackness) is often associated with danger and evil, because of the connection of night's absolute darkness to the fear of the unknown and the fact that it hinders the sensory system that human beings rely on the most- sight. Humans have always been and always will be creatures of the day. Night is a time of danger and vulnerability for our species. As a result, mythical creatures such as the vampires, werewolves and ghosts are thought to be more active during the night. It's also interesting to note that as far back as the second century, the early Saxon tribes referred to the darkness of the night as the ''death mist''
All of this, as well as numerous other factors, contributed to the negative ring of the word black(blackness). It has absolutely nothing to do with skin colour or race, therefore I see no reason to get upset over the synonyms for the relevant term.
čtvrtek 1. dubna 2010
Importance of Education
‘’ The schools are horrible and don't teach anybody anything’’- these are the words of one of Americas most important playwrights, August Wilson. Even though the rest of the interview was very interesting and enlightening in many ways, it was this sentence that had the biggest impact on me.
Wilson argues that from fifth grade on, teachers were essentially holding him back, telling him to ‘’shut up’’ instead of giving actual answers to his questions. This might very well be true, but I think he fails to realize that not everyone was as gifted as he was. Elementary schooling programs are not created to fit the most brilliant of children. They are more oriented towards the average mind, thus giving everybody a chance to learn and progress.
Some people, including Wilson, see the fact that ‘’you have to take all kinds of required courses before you can get to the subject that interests you’’ as a flaw in the educational system. Again, it appears he doesn’t realize that he was a very rare exception. Most children have no clue as to what they might be interested in, and that is why they need to go through such a wide range of courses. Hopefully, it will help them to recognize the areas of academia that suit them the most. Only after that can they make an informed decision, and choose what field of science to focus on.
Wilson argues that from fifth grade on, teachers were essentially holding him back, telling him to ‘’shut up’’ instead of giving actual answers to his questions. This might very well be true, but I think he fails to realize that not everyone was as gifted as he was. Elementary schooling programs are not created to fit the most brilliant of children. They are more oriented towards the average mind, thus giving everybody a chance to learn and progress.
Some people, including Wilson, see the fact that ‘’you have to take all kinds of required courses before you can get to the subject that interests you’’ as a flaw in the educational system. Again, it appears he doesn’t realize that he was a very rare exception. Most children have no clue as to what they might be interested in, and that is why they need to go through such a wide range of courses. Hopefully, it will help them to recognize the areas of academia that suit them the most. Only after that can they make an informed decision, and choose what field of science to focus on.
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