Alfred Stieglitz Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Alfred StieglitzWorks Cited MissingAlfred Stieglitz was an influential photographer who spent his life conflict for the recognition of photography as a valid art form. He was a pioneering photographer, editor and gallery owner who played pivotal role in defining and shaping modernism in the United States. (Lowe 23). He took pictures in a time when photography was considered as only a scientific quirkiness and not an art. As the controversy over the art value of photography became widespread, Stieglitz began to fight for the recognition of his chosenmedium. This battle would last his whole life. Edward Stieglitz, father of Alfred, was innate(p) in Germany in 1833. He grew up on a farm, loved nature, and was an artist at heart. Legend has it that, independent and strong willed, Edward Stieglitz ran away from home at the age of sixteen because his mother insisted on upon starching his shirt after he had begged her not to (Lowe 23). Edward would later meet Hedwig Warner and they woul d have their first son, Alfred. Alfred was the first of six natural to his dad Edward and mom Hedwig. As a child Alfred was remembered as a boy with thick black hair, large dark eyes, pale fine skin,a delicately modeled mouth with a strong chin (Peterson 34). In 1871 theStieglitz family lived at 14 East 60th street in Manhattan. No buildings stood among Central Park and the Stieglitz family home. As Stieglitz got olderhe started to show interest in photography, posting every photo he couldfind on his chamber wall. It wasnt until he got older that his photographycuriosity begin to take charge of his life.Stieglitz formally started photography at the age of nineteen, during his firstyears at the Berlin polytechnic School. At this time photography was in itsinfancy as an art form. Alfred learned the fine arts of photography bywatching a local anaesthetic photographer in Berlin working in the stores dark room.After making a few pictures of his room and himself, he enrolled in aphotoc hemistry course. This is where his photography charge would begin.His earliest public recognition came from England and Germany. It began in1887 when Stieglitz won the first of his many first prizes in a competition.The judge who gave him the award was Dr. P.H. Emerson, then the most astray known English advocate of photography as an art (Doty 23). Dr.Emerson later wrot... ...raphers. At the turn of the century, a sassy class of creative individuals, called painter-photographer emerged. This chemical group fulfilled Stieglitz s dream for graphicphotography. Its presence provided the movement with individuals whowere trained in the established arts and who legitimized the artistic claims of pictorial photography by the item that they were willing touse the photographic medium. The very term painter photographer wasmade up in reference to Frank Eugene who worked simultaneously withStieglitz in media for a decade. Eugene attended a German fine artsacademy, and painted theatrical portraits of the United States. In 1889 hemounted a solo exhibition of pictorial photographs at the Camera Club ofNew York, which, pointedly, was reviewed in Camera Notes as paintingphotography (Norman 23). In conclusion Stieglitzs fight for photography developed into new ideas forfuture generations. He continued to make his own experiments and todefend the work of others also breaking new ground. The magazines heedited, like the galleries he founded, swiftly became high-octane points ofcontact between artist and public and a battleground for new ideas.

Civic Engagement: Voting, TV, and Efficacy Essay -- Politics Political

Civic Engagement Voting, TV, and EfficacyAbstractWell cognise is the fact that active participation in America has gone down. Voting, especially, has been affected. Literature and statistics on voting behavior have demonstrated these shocking results. besides deficiency of voting is simply the beginning, several factors affect civic engagement among those are the negative perceptions of politics received through televised media. This study found that several factors of logical implication with respect to efficacy, amount of TV watching, politician trust, and differences in gender factors. Though Robert Putnams suggestion of too much television does hold true, other factors post be predictors as well. IntroductionAmerica was founded on the thinking of democracy. As Piven and Cloward put it, Americans generally take for granted that ours is the very model of democracy (2000). in that location seems to be an evident sectionalisation in American politics, the electorate is voting less than they did in previous generations (Putnam 2000). I question whether this is the beginning of a massive breakdown in American politics or simply a flux in the activity of the people. In sorting through much of the research on political opinions and voting very little is clear. Theorist and researchers differ on what is the major factor in the decline of voting in America. An influential idea provided by Robert Putnam was the increase in television watching and its effect on the American people. Others suggest that the growing economic inequality in American lives. But we are working with people who can be very surprising and strange as maybe the outcomes. I try to look at galore(postnominal) factors that may indicate some reasons to what a portion of the population ... ... the AmericanElectorate Eighth Ed. Washington D.C. Congressional Quarterly Press.Piven, Frances Fox and Richard A. Cloward. (2000). Why Americans Still get dressedt VoteAnd Why Politicia ns Want It that Way. Boston Beacon Press, 229-237.Putnam, Robert D. (2000). Bowling Alone. New York Touchstone, 252-253.Rust, Roland, Mukesh Bajaj, and George Haley. (1984). Efficient and Inefficient Mediafor Political Campaign Advertising. Journal of Advertising,13, 3, 45-49.Sifry, Micah L. Finding the garbled Voters. The American Prospect, 11, 6, 23-27.Stanley, Harold W. and Richard G Niemi. (2000). Vital Statistics on American Politics1999-2000. Washington D.C. Congressional Quarterly Press.Uslaner, Eric. (1998). Social Capital, Television, and the Mean World Trust,Optimism, and Civic Participation. Political Psychology, 19, 3, 441-467.

Edgar Allen Poe :: Biography

Many people label Edgar Allen Poe a horror writer, plain and simple others refer to Poe as the father of the detective story, but over all hes one Americas greatest writers. His ability of expressing the introduction in gothic ways, really captures the contributors attention. Even though he lead a tough life and was known as a sadistic drug addict and alcoholic, he still managed to produce great pieces of literature. Three of his greatest works were The Tell Tale heart, The Fall of the House Usher, and The Raven. All of these are very known troughout the world and are considered three of Poes greatest pieces. He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809, his parents, regular members of Federal street theater, named him Edgar Poe. Shortly before his mothers expiry in Richmond, Virginia on December 8, 1811, his father abandoned the family. John Allen, a wealthy tobacco merchant in Richmond, brought Poe into the family (at his wifes request), and gave him the middle name Allen as a bapt ismal name, though he never formally adopted him. Even though Allens treatment toward Poe is not exactly known, we know that Allen never case-hardened Poe with sensitivity. In 1815, the Allen family moved to England on business. There, Poe entered the Manor-House School in Stoke-Newington, a London suburb. This school taught him the gothic architecture and historical landscape of the region made a deep imprint on his youthful imagination, which would effect his adult writings (Levin, 14). The Allens left England in June 1820, and arrived in Richmond on August 2. Here, Poe entered the English and innocent School of Joseph H. Clarke, a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin. On February 14, 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. Though he spent more time gambling and drinking than studying, he won top honors in French and Latin. On May 26, 1827, Poe enlisted in the US Army under the name Edgar A. Perry. He joined Battery H of the maiden Artillery, then stationed at Fort Indep endence. While Poe served there, Calvin F.S. Thomas printed Poes first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems, a slim volume, which failed to earn any fame or money. Poe then visited Baltimore, and arranged for the feeling of another slim volume, entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Then, Allen obtained an appointment for him as a cadet, so on July 1, 1830 he entered West Point Military Academy, qualification his residence at No.

American Square Dance

At unmatched time, the straight leaping was omni return in inelegant America but its aureate age, if ever there was one, has passed. Today, it is noteworthy when a folklorist discovers a community with an unbroken tradition of square jump, if only because it piques our interest as to why such practices ext complete in one place and not in another. Contemporary contexts for traditional square dance are, in fact, quite plentiful but they persevere as isolated phenomena, largely hidden from the consciousness of the mainsream.The American square dance is the subject of a huge body of choreographic data, most of which was generated by dance educators and recreational specialists whose concerns lay apart from those of folklorists or ethnographers. Some of this descriptive material, especially some works published before World War II, are collections of regional repertoires and even, in a few cases, of localized traditions. Much of the dynamism of square dancing comes from turning motions, including rotations around a vertical axis and revolutions around the floor.In square dancing many rotations are energetic turns executed by two dancers together (not always opposite sex couples), but there are alike more languid arcs circumscribed by enclosed circles of betwixt three and eight dancers. In square dancing, women are often asked to make singular rotations or twirls, according to, on the one hand, traditional embellishments or, on the other hand, set variations taught by the local polka instructors. Most of the time, square dancers only step send or stand in place.In a few instances, walking backward is called for, and a dancer will occasionally have to take a crabwise step to the right or left. To accomplish this dizzying variety of spins and turns requires the manipulation of other move of the body. The entire trunk is usually kept aligned with the line of gravitation (and for all couple dances in general). It should also be noted that in the square da nce walk, the dancers center of gravity is moved slightly forward over the balls of the feet when compared to the ordinary walk.The kinesthetic sensation for the dancer is to feel as if his chest is leading the rest of his body. Arm movements in square dancing are important, but only in the context of reaching out to and grasping another dancer. The dancer reaches forward to join hands in one of three ways with another dancer, reaches to the side to hook elbows or put an arm around the waist of an adjacent dancer, or uses both hands or arms to grasp a dancer of the opposite sex in one of several stylized holds. These are known as the swing or ballroom, courtesy turn and exhibit positions.Robert Bethke discusses square dancing in contemporary commercial or public settings in the Northeast, while offering really little movement data except to note the infrequency of square dances on the program in proportion to couple dances performed to popular or rude music. What Bethke attends to is the dress and decorum of the dancers, their general age, the instrumental makeup of the band and the musical styles performed the participants levels of intoxication and the dancers incompetence relative to the past.Bethke goes into great detail on the repartee between the band leader and the audience, providing texts of some of the leaders jokes. The inquiry on the history of square dance was first motivated in 1977 by the vexer of why the German community around Hoagland took as its own an Anglo-American dance form. The cultural choices a folk group makes are historically conditioned. In the class previous to the first appearance of The English Dancing Master, the English and the Dutch had agreed on the borders of their North American colonies.Besides the Confederation of spick-and-span England to the north and New Amsterdam in the Hudson Valley, the New World also had settlements of Swedes on the Delaware River and growing English colonies in Maryland and Virginia. In another thirty years, the first German immigrants would arrive, and, as the French consolidated their hold on the West, the first European settlement would be established at the headwaters of the Maumee River, near the Miami Indian village of Kekionga, the present site of Fort Wayne, Indiana.In the mid-eighteenth speed of light, when the longways English country dance form was firmly established as the most popular form in European ballrooms, English emigration to the thirteen American colonies was in full sway. Along with the immigrants, and as a part of the continuing trade with the mother country, came terpsichorean skills, repertoire and paraphernalia. Not even the American Revolution disrupted these choreographic connections. Square dancing became a vital activity in nearly every rural nook and cranny through the first half of the twentieth century.In 1926, Henry Ford published Good Morning After a Sleep of xxv Years, Old-fashioned is Being Revived, adding to a growing reviva l of interest in square dancing and other related forms of traditional American dance. In the mid-twenties in New England, with an assist from the open air museum at Old Sturbridge, there was a growing awareness of that regions vital and uncommon repertoire of country dances or contras (as cited by Tolman and Page).Indeed, bedeck Ryan, a physical education instructor at Michigans Central State Teachers College, pioneered with an instructional manual on Dances of Our Pioneers, featuring the quadrilles or square dances which she collected at community dances and from local callers (Ryan). These efforts helped spark a square dance boom that was well current in the late thirties when Lloyd Shaw, a Colorado high school principal, began to collect western figures that he taught to his students in place of the international folk dances promoted by other educators.Shaws performing square dancers from the Cheyenne Mountain School garnered a great deal of renown for their exhibitions and Shaws fame spread farther when he published these figures in 1939 in Cowboy Dances, an oft-reprinted volume. Besides the considerable impact wielded by his clear representation of seventy-plus figures, Shaw also sketched for Americans his view of the path traveled by this widespread variegated dance form that the western square dance, one of three regional types, derived from an intermingling of the New England Quadrille and the running set from the southern highlands.Due to the prevalence of tour couple figures in both the southeastern and western traditions, Shaw asserted that the mainstream, I believe, heads in the Kentucky Mountains (Shaw 27-31). This became the standard account of square dance history that would preface a multitude of instruction manuals published in the forties and fifties. Shaw was not alone, in those early days of the revival, in granting special status to the Southeastern square dance. J. Olcutt Sanders lively a Finding List of Southeastern Square Dance F igures in 1942.He regarded the Southeastern square dance as a separate genre, referring to it variously as the running set and the big set, which could be characterized on the basis of internal evidence (Sanders 266). A decade later Elizabeth Burchenal extended this explanation by crediting the supposed isolation of the southern highlands for the development of our most indigenous dances, including figures which cannot be identified as transplantations (Burchenal 20). By contrast, the Northeastern square dance, also called the New England quadrille, smacked of Gesunkenes Kulturgut.This was a cultural form that had trickled down to the folk from the cotillions and quadrilles of polite society in Europe and America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Then, as the twentieth century dawned, the Western square dance emerged as a composite of movements and calls from both the Southeastern and Northeastern traditions blended with newly invented figures. Springing from Americas per vasive frontier experience, the Western idiom embodied the traits of practicality and inventiveness that historian Turner offered as keys to the American character (Turner 61).Thus the Western square dance was too new and too recreational to be regarded by folklorists as a survival of the archaic rituals hypothesized as the ultimate source of folk dance. The social symbolism school of interpretation takes in a much narrower scope, focusing on the local community rather than on national culture. David Winslow (1972) argued that the square dance is a set of extremely ritualized demeanor patterns and mental processes that help maintain social solidarity.Drawing heavily on sociologist Emile Durkheim, Winslow showed that the square dance served three social functions (1) a cohesive function that imparts a group consciousness or sense of community, (2) a revitalizing function that helps the group to renew the sentiment it has of itself and of its unity, and (3) a euphoric function that provides a lovable feeling of social well-being (Winslow 252-261). Not only the social interaction that takes place at a dance event, but also the square dance itself helps maintain and revitalize the interpersonal networks that constitute a rural community.For each category of the social structure represented at an event-couples, genders and the entire assembly, the dancing behavior can be seen as expressive of the solidarity of that social unity. The pervasive circle motif found at all structural levels of the square dance is a choreographic expression of the basic principles of equality of participation and social unity that are cultural ideals for this dancing. The basic square dance form found in New York, Pennsylvania and Hoagland, Indiana alike requires four couples for each square set. With each couple forming one side of the square.Each dance comprises two alternating parts the break and a distinctive figure. In the break, a formulaic combination repeated from dance to d ance, all eight dancers in the set participate at the same time in equivalent and complementary roles circle left all eight, allemande left your corner, grand right and left around the ring, and meet your partner and promenade home. The distinctive figure, unique to each discrete dance, is led by every couple in turn as they visit around the set and dance a series of formulaic moves with each of the other couples.At the end of each couples performance of the figure, and at the end of each repeat of the break, couples end up in their home or starting position. This structure, as it is danced in Pennsylvania, encapsulates well the comfortable fit between cultural form and social organization. Bert Feintuch sight that the same basic form was used in domestic square dance events in south central Kentucky before the 1930s. According to his interpretative model, the stylized movements in the four-couple square dance affirmed both the pragmatic primacy of the couple in the dance and the symbolic primacy of the couple in the community.Thus he concluded that neighbors symbolically acted out their norms of community through dances in which couples were the basic unit and their social networks their neighborhoods were represented as a bound unit, the square (Feintuch 65). Square dancing, which emphasizes equality and reciprocity, is a local tradition actively treasured by many. The square dance has a long history as the symbolic action of choice (a sign) strategically called on to encompass (an interpretant) the emergent community (an object). Works Cited Bethke, Robert D. Old-Time Fiddling and Social Dance in Central St. Lawrence County. New York homelore Quarterly 30 (1974) 163-83. Burchenal, Elizabeth. Folk Dances of the United States Regional Types and Origins. International Folk Music Journal 3 (1951) 18-21. Damon, Stephen Foster. The History of Square Dancing. Barre, MA American Antiquarian Society, 1955. Feintuch, Burt. Dancing to the Music house servant Sq uare Dances and Community in Southcentral Kentucky (1880-1940). Journal of the Folklore Institute 18 (1981) 49-68. Jackson, Frederick. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Frontier and Sectino Selected Essays of Frederick Jackson Turner. Ed. Ray Allen Billington.Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, 1961. 37-62. Ryan, Grace L. Dances of Our Pioneers. New York A. S. Barnes & Co. , 1926. Sanders, J. Olcutt. Finding List of Southeastern Square Dance Figures. Southern Folklore Quarterly 6 (1942) 263-75. Shaw, Lloyd. Cowboy Dances A Collection of Western Square Dances. Caldwell, ID Caxton Printers, 1939. Tolman, Beth, and Ralph Page. The res publica Dance Book The Best of the Early Contras and Squares. Brattleboro, VT Stephen Greene Press, 1976. Winslow, David John. The Rural Square Dance in the Northeastern United States A Continuity of Tradition. University of Pennsylvania, 1972.

A Dirty Job Chapter 7

7THANATOASTWhile Charlies Beta Male imagination may get often turned him toward timidity and even paranoia, when it came to accepting the inconceivable it served him like Kevlar toilet paper bulletproof, if a tad disagreeable in application. The inability to believe the unbelievable would not be his scratch dispatchfall. Charlie Asher would never be a bug splattered on the smoky windscreen of dull imagination.He knew that all the things that had happened to him in the coating day were show upside of the limits of possibility for most people, and since his exclusively corroborating witness was a humanity who believed himself to be the Emperor of San Francisco, Charlie knew he would never be able to convince anyone that he had been pursued and attacked by giant foulmouthed ravens and wherefore declared the tour guide to the undiscovered country by a sultry oracle in fuck-me pumps.Not even Jane would give him that kind of quarter. provided one person would have, could have, and for the ten-thousandth time he felt Rachels absence collapsing in his thorax like a miniature black hole. Thus, Sophie became his co-conspirator.The tiny kid, dressed in Elmo overalls and baby Doc Martens (courtesy of Aunt Jane), was propped up in her elevator car seat on the breakfast bar next to the goldfish bowl. (Charlie had bought her six big goldfish almost the time shed started to notice moving objects. A girl needs pets. Hed named them after TV lawyers. Currently Matlock was tracking Perry Mason, trying to eat a ache strand of fish doo that was trailing out of Perrys poop chute.)Sophie was starting to show some of her m others dark hair, and if Charlie saw it right, the same expression of bemused affection toward him (plus a drool slick).So I am Death, Charlie said as he tried to construct a tuna-fish sandwich. Daddy is Death, sweetie. He checked the toast, not bank the pop-up mechanism because the toaster people sometimes just liked to fuck with you.Death, Charlie said as the can opener slipped and he barked his bandaged hand on the counter. DammitSophie gurgled and let loose a happy baby burble, which Charlie took to mean Do tell, Daddy? Please go on, pray tell.I cant even leave the sign of the zodiac for fear of someone dropping dead at my feet. Im Death, honey. Sure, you laugh now, moreover youll never get into a good preschool with a father who puts people down for their dirt nap.Sophie blew a spit bubble of sympathy. Charlie popped the toast up manually. It was a subaltern rare, but if he pushed it down again it would burn, unless he watched it every help and popped it up manually again. So now hed probably be infected with some rare and debilitating undercooked toast pathogen. Mad toast disease turnkey toaster people.This is the toast of Death, young lady. He showed her the toast. Deaths toast.He put the toast on the counter and went back to attacking the tuna can.Maybe she was speaking figuratively? I mean, maybe the redhead just meant that I was, you jazz, deadly boring. Of course that didnt really explain all the other weird stuff that had been happening. You think? he asked Sophie.He looked for an answer and the kid was wearing that Rachelesque smart-ass grin (minus teeth). She was enjoying his torment, and strangely enough, he felt better knowing that.The can opener slipped again, spurting tuna juice on his shirt and sending his toast scooting to the floor, and now there was fuzz on it. Fuzz on his toast Fuzz on the toast of Death. What the sanatorium good was it to be the Lord of the Underworld if there was fuzz on your underdone toast. FuckHe snatched the toast from the floor and sent it sailing by Sophie into the living room. The baby followed it with her eyes, accordingly looked back at her father with a delighted squeal, as if saying, Do it again, Daddy. Do it againCharlie picked her up out of the car seat and held her tight, smelling her sour-sweet baby smell, his tears squeezing out onto her ov eralls. He could do this if Rachel was here, but he couldnt, he wouldnt, without her.He just wouldnt go out. That was the solution. The sole(prenominal) way to keep the people of San Francisco safe was to stay in his apartment. So for the next four days he stayed in the apartment with Sophie, sending Mrs. broom from on a higher floor out for groceries. (And he was accumulating a fairly large collection of vegetables for which he had no name nor any idea of how to prepare, as Mrs. Ling, regardless of what he put on the list, always did her shopping in the markets of Chinatown.) And after two days, when a new name appeared on the message pad next to his bed, Charlie responded by hiding the message pad under the phone carry in a kitchen drawer.It was on day five that he saw the shadow of a raven against the roof entrance of the building across the street. At first he wasnt sure whether it was a giant raven, or just a normal-sized raven projecting a shadow, but when he realized that it was noon and any normal shadow would be cast straight down, the tiny raven of defence vanished in a wisp. He pulled the blinds on that side of the apartment and sat in the locked bedroom with Sophie, a box of Pampers, a basket of produce, a six pack each of baby formula and orange soda, and hid out until the phone rang.What do you think youre doing? said a very deep mans voice on the other end of the line. Are you insane?Charlie was taken aback from the caller ID, hed expected a wrong number. Im eating this thing I think is either a melon or a squash. He looked at the green thing, which tasted like a melon but looked more like a squash, with spikes. (Mrs. Ling had called it shut-up-and-eat-it-good-for-you.)The man said, Youre screwing up. You have a job to do. Do what the book says or everything that means anything to you will be taken away. I mean it.What book? Who is this? Charlie asked. He panorama the voice sounded familiar, and it immediately sent him into alarm mode for some reason.I cant tell you that, Im sorry, said the man. I really am.Ive got caller ID, you nit. I know where youre calling from.Oops, said the man.You should have thought of that. What kind of ominous power of darkness do you think you are if you dont even block caller ID?The little readout on the phone said Fresh Music and a number. Charlie called the number back but no one answered. He ran to the kitchen, dug the phone book out of the drawer, and looked up Fresh Music. It was a record store off upper Market in the Castro district.The phone rang again and he grabbed the handset off the counter so violently he nearly chipped a tooth in answering.You merciless bastard Charlie screamed into the phone. Do you have any idea what Ive been going through, you stony monsterWell, fuck you, Asher Lily said. Just because Im a kid doesnt mean I dont have feelings. And she hung up.Charlie called back.Ashers Secondhand, Lily answered, family-owned by bourgeoisie douche waffles for over thirty years.Lily, Im sorry, I thought you were someone else. What did you call about?Moi? Lily said. Je me fous de ta gueule, espce de gaufre de douche.Lily, stop speaking French. I said I was sorry.Theres a cop down here to go over you, she said.Charlie had Sophie strapped to his chest like a terrorist baby bomb when he came down the back steps. She had just gotten to the point where she could hold up her head, so he had strapped her in face-out so she could look around. The way her arms and legs waved around as Charlie walked, she looked as if she was skydiving and using a skinny nerd as a parachute.The cop stood at the counter opposite Lily, looking like a cognac ad in an Italian-cut double-breasted suit in indigo raw silk with a buff linen paper shirt and yellow tie. He was about fifty, Hispanic, lean, with sharp facial features and the aspect of a predatory bird. His hair was combed straight back and the gray streaks at the temples made it appear that he was moving toward you even w hen he stood still.Inspector Alphonse Rivera, the cop said, extending his hand. Thanks for coming down. The young lady said you were working last Monday night.Monday. The day hed battled the ravens back in the alley, the day the pale redhead had come into the store.You dont have to tell him anything, Asher, Lily said, obviously renewing her loyalty in spite of his douche wafflosity.Thanks, Lily, why dont you take a break and go see how things are going in the abyss.She grumbled, then got something out of the drawer under the register, presumably her cigarettes, and pull away out the back door.Why isnt that kid in school? Rivera asked.Shes special, Charlie said. You know, homeschooled.That what makes her so cheerful?Shes studying the Existentialists this month. Asked for a study day last week to bulge an Arab on the beach.Rivera smiled and Charlie relaxed a little. He produced a photograph from his breast pocket and held it out to Charlie. Sophie made as if to grab it. The photogra ph was of an older gentleman in his Sunday best standing on the steps of a church. Charlie recognized the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was just a few blocks away on upper-case letter Square.Did you see this man Monday night? He was wearing a charcoal overcoat and a hat that night.No, Im sorry. I didnt, Charlie said. And he hadnt. I was here in the store until about ten. We had a few customers, but not this fellow.Are you sure? His name is James OMalley. He isnt well. Cancer. His wife said he went out for a walk about dusk Monday night and he never came back.No, Im sorry, Charlie said. Did you ask the cable-car operator?Already talked to the guys working this line that night. We think he may have collapsed somewhere and we havent found him. It doesnt look good after this long.Charlie nodded, trying to look thoughtful. He was so relieved that the cop wasnt here about anything connected with him that he was almost giddy. Maybe you should ask the Emperor you know him, righ t? He sees more of the nooks and crannies of the city than most of us.Rivera cringed at the mention of the Emperor, but then relaxed into another smile. Thats a good idea, Mr. Asher. Ill see if I can track him down. He handed Charlie a card. If you remember anything, give me a call, would you?I will. Uh, Inspector, Charlie said, and Rivera paused a few steps from the counter, isnt this sort of a routine case for an inspector to be investigating?Yes, normally uniform personnel would handle something like this, but it may relate to something else Im working on, so you get me instead.Oh, okay, Charlie said. Beautiful suit, by the way. Couldnt help noticing. Its my business.Thanks, Rivera said, looking at his sleeves, a little wistful. I had a defraud run of good fortune a while back.Good for you, Charlie said.It passed, Rivera said. Cute baby. You two take care, huh? And he was out the door.Charlie turned to go back upstairs and nearly ran into Lily. She had her arms crossed under the Hell Is Other People logo on her T-shirt and was looking even more judgmental than usual. So, Asher, you have something you want to tell me?Lily, I dont have time for She held out the silver cigarette case that the redhead had given him. It was still glowing red. Sophie was reaching for it.What? Charlie said. Could Lily see it? Was she picking up on the weird glow?Lily opened the case and pushed it into Charlies face. Read the engraving.James OMalley, read the ornate script.Charlie took a step back. Lily, I cant I dont know anything about that old man. Look, I have to get Mrs. Ling to watch Sophie and get over to the Castro. Ill explain later, okay? I promise.She thought about it for a second, staring at him accusingly, like shed caught him feeding Froot Loops to her bte noire, and then relented. Go, she said.

Spread of Buddhism in China

During the mete out of Buddhism in china, three popular views were that the spreading of Buddhism should be stopped, baseball club benefited from it, and it was the elbow room of salvation (afterlife). One of the responses to the spread of Buddhism was that it should be stopped. Many officials believed that Buddhism was harmful to china because Buddhism was discordant with the already established Chinese traditions, culture, and aristocracy.The leading scholar and official at the Tang imperial court, Han Yu, writes to his leader (document ) Your servant begs leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian people spread to china The Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak Chinese your servant is deeply ashamed and begs that this b unitary from the Buddha be given to the proper authorities to be cast into resurrect and water, that this evil be rooted verboten, and later generations spared this delusion. Han Yu was a Confucian scholar, so it is no su rprise that he is opposed to Buddhism which clashes with Confucianism in many aspects including how Confucianism promotes one(a) fulfilling his duties to his ecclesiastic and country, where as Buddhism promotes detachment to avoid sorrow.The Tang Emperor Wu wrote (document 6) Buddhism has transmitted its strange ways and has spread like a luxuriant vine until it has poisoned the customs of our nation Buddhism wears out the peoples strength, pilfers their wealth, causes people to abandon their lords and parents for the company of teachers, and severs man and wife with its monastic decrees Having thoroughly examined totally earlier reports and consulted public opinion on all sides, there no longer remains the slightest doubt in our mind that this evil should be eradicated. . Emperor Wu did not want the spread of Buddhism to continue because it advocates one to focus on reaching nirvana, and in order to reach nirvana people would join monasteries and abandon their lords and parents for the company of teachers. Obviously any leader much(prenominal) as Wu would not want his subjects to stop contributing to the country and focus on reaching enlightenment. This explains why he would write in opposition of the spread of Buddhism. Another response was that the spread of Buddhism was good for both the community and society.A leading Buddhistic scholar, Zong Mi, wrote (document 5) Confucius, Laozi, and the Buddha were perfect sages All three teachings lead to the creation of an orderly society and for this they must be observed with respect. This scholar and many others agree that Buddhism is good and that it contributes to an orderly society. One reason for this belief is that Buddhist try to achieve self-peace, and wherefore become bodhisattvas and help others achieve nirvana.This document also shows us that Buddhism is in perfect harmony with the already existent philosophies, and that the three (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism) come together to supply eac h other and together create a peaceful society. Zong Mi wrote in favor of Buddhism because of the fact that he is a Buddhist scholar and wanted others to tick that Buddhism is good for the people as a whole. An Anonymous Chinese scholar wrote (document 3) To compare the sages to the Buddha would be like comparing a white cervid to a unicorn or a swallow to a phoenix The Buddhist monk practices the personal manner and substitutes that for worldly pleasures.He accumulates goodness. Through the tone of the anonymous scholar, it seems evident that he reveres the Buddhist to be peaceful and of good-natured. The author wrote this in response to a few proposed problems, and he showed that the supposed negatives are not bad at all, but just misunderstandings of the goods of Buddhism. The third response was that because of the spread of Buddhism many more people would be able to reach nirvana and get away from sorrow.In the first sermon preached, Buddha express (document 1) The first N oble Truth is the truth of sorrow. Birth is sorrow, age is sorrow, disease is sorrow, death is sorrow, contact with the unpleasant is sorrow, separation from the pleasant is sorrow, and every wish fulfil is sorrow. The second Noble Truth is the Noble Truth of the Arising of Sorrow it arises from craving, which leads to rebirth, which brings delight and passion, and seeks pleasure. The third Noble Truth is the Noble Truth of Sorrow.It is the complete stopping of that craving, so that no passion remains, leaving it, being emancipated from it, being released from it, giving no place to it. The fourth Noble Truth is the Noble Truth of the Way that Leads to the Stopping of Sorrow. By acknowledging the four noble truths and then following the eightfold path, one is able to reach nirvana. Because these are the words of the creator of the Buddhism philosophy, it is clear to see that he is trying to show that through Buddhism, one can find peace from within.A Chinese scholar, Zhi Dun, wrot e (document 2) whosoever serves the Buddha and correctly observes the commandments, recites the Buddhist scriptures, and furthermore makes a vow to be reborn without ever abandoning his sincere intention, will at the end of his life be miraculously transported thither. He will behold the Buddha and be enlightened in his spirit, and then he will enter nirvana. The Author wrote this when northern china was invaded by central Asian steppe nomads, and his tone is very optimistic.A possible reason for this him piece of music this with such hope is that during a time of unrest he was able to achieve partial or complete peace through Buddhism, and thus he is writing this to encourage others to follow Buddhism and obtain peace as he did. It would have been helpful for a map of how Buddhism spread into/around china or a map of the percentage of Buddhist every 10 years. This would have helped because one would have been able to see what areas were affected first and what areas were affected the most. From that, one would better be able to better comprehend the differences in responses to the spread of Buddhism.

The function of setting in the presentation of Jane Austen’s main concerns in Emma

In Jane Austens novel Emma, the function of setting is to demonstrate life as it would be in Highbury around the said(prenominal) time as Austen was writing the book (around 1815). The setting mostly refers to the plosive consonant the is set in story as well as the place, which of course in any case bears much relevance. However, Jane Austens main concern in the book was to convey social convention, an aspect of life which would have a major affect on the characters in the story as it did Jane herself, in context to the stop it is set. Also the stands of nuptials and wealth in addition tie in with social status in the book as it would be of importance in the early 18th century that it is set in.The character that to help all these themes together as well as Emma herself is Harriet. Not only is the power of status shown by Emmas control over Harriet,( not even by force but Harriets freewill, as she admires and aspires to Emma)but she also takes the theme of join with Emmas mi schievous behaviour as she tries to match make Harriet to suitors of seemingly higher path.Harriet also ties in with the education being a parlour boarder at Mrs Goddards school. We are able to see a glimpse of what education is like as Jane Austen bring s in her description of Mrs Goddard the mistress of a school not of seminary, or an establishmentbut, a real, honest, old-fashioned boarding schoolwhere girls may be sent out the way and scramble themselves in to a little education, without any danger of bringing back prodigies We are shown the kind of education girls would have received at the time, a middle class education. Jane evokes a warm sense to the ides of school though the last line is a little shocking it brings in the real world, a world where contraception were not available and pre-marital sex was still a shameful act in the eyes of society. The scramble for education also shows the type of education the girls may receive. Not a full education but whatever the girls could grasp. In this way we can already see the kind of education that society of the period were growing up with. However for Emma, a member of higher class this was different, as it is shown, she was educated by Miss Taylor as would all member s of fastness class be tutored at home.Through out the novel there are marriage agreements and suitors made and discussions between characters of agree marriage this refers to marrying a person in the story of equal wealth and status. By the end of the novel it seems all characters seem to have found their equal in marriage, with Emma it is the gentlemanly Mr Knightly who if not just equal in status is equal by intellect as is evident through their many long conversations they hold, conversations on a level we never see Emma talk to Harriet with. Harriet also marries Mr Martin who after all turns out to be the right match for her. Though it would seem the core from the writer is that one should marry within ones own status, it is intere sting to acknowledge the marriage at the beginning of the book. Miss Taylor, Emmas nanny therefore middle class, marries Mr Weston, of upper class, and there seems to be no evidence of criticism from the writer or characters of their marriage. In fact there are so many occasions in the book where the couple are described well together and perfectly matrimonial it seems they are almost a role model to other married couples at the time.However though there is a happy ending, Jane Austen uses Emma, with her mischief and interfering nature to demonstrate the importance of social class and equal marriage within society at the time. As she takes Harriet and manipulates her feelings towards Mr Elton, the occurrences only reveal the nature of class to us. When Mr Elton realises Harriet has affection for him he is disgusted at the thought of it, even sensible Mr Knightly comments on Mr Eltons views as Mr Elton said he would marry richly. This is revealed even further when he turns his atte ntions on Emma, the richest female in the story. His desire for Emma or kinda Emmas money in turn disgusts her, and the feeling is evident and her astonishment shows how unequal she feels her self to him and how superior. An unequal marriage seems the most shocking of all things in the story, as it would in context.However after being rejected Harriet only turns her attentions higher to Mr Knightly, the richest man in Highbury however the reader does not feel this is arrogance on the part of Miss Smith, believing that he may requite her feelings but the fault of Emma who builds up Harriets vanity through the book. The importance of marrying for money seems far more than important than marrying for love and it is only then when the fancy of marrying for love enters Emma head. The only reason it seems Mr Knightly could marry Harriet would be for love, for Harriet has nothing of possession to offer. Though this idea is introduced, marrying for love, two central characters Emma and H arriet marry into equal relationships, and though they do love their partners, it is the equality that is expressed so importantly. It is simply that Jane Austen has idealised their relationships with their love for their partners and equality both(prenominal) being present to the characters.The marriages contrast to the marriage of Mr Elton and Mrs Elton, as is commented by a character that in marry Mrs Elton, Mr Elton received twenty thousand pounds, an equal marriage but not one for affection to each other. In the novel Jane Austen only shows their judgemental characteristics and superficial attitudes, perhaps the example of a bad marriage, though equal in status?Though the term setting in fiction also applies to period, an important factor in this book the setting, in referral to place is also important. Highbury is a rural environment almost cut off from the world. This small town helps us understand the narrow mindedness of some characters, and also the reason of so little ac tion. The central action to the story is conversation, the lack of action means that to keep the reader entertained Jane Austen had create something else to keep the readers interest. Through such elaborated language and description we receive such vivid characters and receive a lot information from their speech and others speech rough them.This also ties in with the period as presentation of a person would be very important and so what you say was also important, this is reproduced in Emma, as everything each character says reveals something about them. Also by setting the story in a remote rural area there can be more attention to radical characters that enter the life of Emma. The conversation and excitement created by the awaited arrival of Frank Churchill creates a lot of excitement between characters in the book as it is not often visitors would come. Importance is added on this figure as he is a bachelor of Emmas age and so expectations of the reader and other characters a re raised. because in the setting of Emma, Jane Austens main concern with period was to show the social convention of the time, the way it affected marriage and also the importance of marriage in the context of the story. Jane uses Emma and Emmas treatement and views of other characters to show the three main themes of money, status, and marriage within the 18th century period it was set.