Praise of Chain Stores by Virginia Postrel Essay example -- wal-mart, e

â€Å"So what’s wrong if the country has 158 neighborhood California Pizza Kitchens instead of one or two?† Virginia Postrel inquires in her In Praise of Chain Stores essay (Postrel 348). In rebuttal, I plan to answer her question with more reasons than one. However, the responses I intend to offer apply not only to the CPKs of America, but for all the national retailers, big box stores, chain stores, and the like. National retailers destroy the local character of small towns. Chain stores should be limited to only run in a few highly populated urban areas. Furthermore, the costs saved in the convenience and familiarity of chain stores do not outweigh the negative economic impact and damaging effects that they can have on a community’s well-being. Postrel develops her support of national retailers throughout the essay, offering the opinion that it isn’t the stores that give places their character, but instead, aspects like the terrain, weather and culture that do (Postrel 347). While terrain, weather and culture can set apart regions, such as New England from The Deep South, and Southern California from the Midwest, it’s the community that gives each town their own special character. A community consists of the residents, their restaurants, hardware stores, pharmacies, ice cream parlors, farmers markets, and so on. These places, and the interactions that occur daily at each establishment, are the fabric that differentiate them, and create the breeding ground for diverse characteristics to flourish. While Postrel argues that wildly different business establishments across America in the past is a myth , it’s actually not necessarily that the products that varied from store to store, but more the aforementio ned factors that truly set ... ...he amount of a certain retailer’s establishments constructed within a certain amount of mileage. For example, a Wal-Mart on the north side of town and the south side of town is excessive. There is no question that chain stores have a detrimental effect on the measurable character and community of small towns. Not only are residents effected economically and collectively, but the character of the area is also threatened or compromised. In conclusion, we should all take a step back and see how we can give back to our community by leveling the playing field for local businesses. The first step in doing so is to realize the negative influences chain stores impose on small towns. Works Cited Postrel, Virginia. â€Å"In Praise of Chain Stores.†Model Essays: A Portable Anthology. Eds. Jane E. Aaron and Ellen Kuhl Repetto. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 345-49

Narrative Experience Essay

Being a foreign student whose first language is Chinese, I had a hard time pushing myself into the world of English. I started to learn English at age six, which is rather a young age for Chinese to study a second language. At that time, English only meant the alphabet to me. I felt quite easy playing with my 24 friends all day long. However, I planned to escape from the English world when I met grammar, vocabulary and sentence structures. I tried my best to memorize the grammars, to use the various different kinds of vocabularies. Nevertheless, what I wrote still looked boring; lacked content and theme. It was just like having all the right pieces for a puzzle called English Composition, but the process was so hard that I did not know where to put each of them to get the final picture. Like a baby who falls via learning how to walk, I totally had no idea how to walk on a road called academic writing. To be specific, I â€Å"fell† every time I wrote argumentative essay. Last year, as a foreign student who wanted to study abroad, I need to attend a language test called TOEFL. Writing an argumentative essay is a part of the test. An argumentative essay should consist of a mean topic and several logical theses to support the mean theme. I memorized this instruction but felt rather confusing. I had no problem clarifying which sentence should be the topic but was bad at giving detailed arguments. When I did a simulative test for the first time, I was required to write my opinions about homeschooling. Suddenly plenty of stories about homeschooling came up to my minds. â€Å"Well, it is just like a piece of cake since I can use the story from Helen Keller, Edison and etc.! † I told myself while writing down four stories about homeschooling. However, I only got 10 out of 30 for my first try. I was shocked by the comment, â€Å"Lacking clear theses to develop the topic. Although there are several beautiful sentence structures, there is no connection between each sentence. † said by the English teacher. To be honest, I am also bad at writing compositions in my mother tongue, Chinese. Not being logical is a problem existing both in my Chinese and English composition. It is a problem about my way of thinking indeed. I could hardly find a proper way to learn how to writing an argumentative essay and I paused around the starting point. In order to understand how to write English compositions and get a better score, I took a summer course for preparing for the TOEFL test. It was when I met my god of logic, who totally changed my attitude towards English composition. He is my writing teacher Brian. Brian never used a textbook, what he need was just a marker and a blackboard. His syllabus was never about what we would learn each day but full of topics. I still remember he wrote â€Å"automobile† on the blackboard for the first class. â€Å"Trust me; we can finish a 1000-word essay about this topic within the next 2 hours. † Then he said. â€Å"One thousand?! † I repeated. At that time, I thought he was bragging because it was just the first composition class. And based on my understanding, we were supposed to study some words and sentence structures which can be used as templates rather than looking at a topic. Hence, I turned to be curious about what he was going to say next. I had a strange feeling that I would gain something special from him. â€Å"What will people usually think of when talking about automobile? † He continued without pausing, â€Å"The history of automobile. † †The concept of automobile,† students replied. â€Å"Then, let us Google a definition for automobile to start this topic,† he opened the monitor and typed the word while speaking. The prior choice was the definition from Wikipedia, â€Å"An automobile is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. † He used it as the first sentence. He went on capturing another sentence illustrating the history of automobile just from the same page. â€Å"Ok, since automobile has such a long history as we can see from the second sentence, what can you think of after it? † â€Å"It must have brought lots of changes to the daily life of our people! † I replied naturally, â€Å"Bravo! So girl, give me some more details that you can think of,† He moved to my front and start to ask me constantly. Well, we can travel to some place we have never been to and we can start off whenever we want! † â€Å"Give me an example! † While I was telling him the story after my father bought his first car, he turned back to the blackboard and wrote down what I had just said. I started to be much interested in what he would ask next since this was definitely a new teaching method to me. Brian interacted with us during the whole two hours. Dramatically, we really finished a 1000-word draft at the end. I totally could not believe it and continued looking at the blackboard filling with all the sentences we came up with during the two hours. They are just the stories and ideas from our brains. In my view, they are just what we would say when chatting with others. Brian used a magic rope to tie them up and change them into a composition! â€Å"Being logical is not that hard. The only thing we need to do is connecting your sentences while spreading out your topic. Every time you wrote down a sentence, ask yourself, ’what do I think of it,’ ‘what should I write next. ’† Brian said at the end of the class. I used to be busy searching for fancy but meaningless words or skillful but useless phrases without knowing why I use it. Hence, my essay had no logic and no content. It is just a bunch of irrelevant sentences. Just like a chic lady without a clear face. Brian used simple questions to lead my logic and develop the theme of the essay naturally. Every sentence in the draft suddenly made sense to me. I had no problem understanding the connection between two sentences and why we need to give examples for explaining the benefits of automobile. The method of inquiry lifts me to another level of understanding what literacy is. At first, I though literacy was just about different types of writing formats, like narratives, argument essays, poetry, etc.. But I deny them all now. In my point of view, making sense is the priority. If a passage lacks logic, we can learn nothing from it although we read numerous difficult sentences. Since then, no matter what kind of essay I am required to write, I start from the words and sentences which make sense to me. Then I follow the instruction to modify them. Yes, I see my door to the world of English. I want to end my literary experience with an interesting story happened last week, my brother Dill asked me to help him with his TOEFL composition. As I was reading his draft, all the old memories of my learning process just came back. This time, I had a clear purpose. While modifying each thesis and point arguing about what the mobile has brought to our daily life, I just used what my teacher, Brian told me to do. I know I should ask myself the connection between each sentence from the beginning. My brother started his essay with a story about his first cellphone. But I think it would be clearer if he pointed out his theme first and use this story as an argument example. Although it has been a year since I took the TOEFL course, this method for literary writing is just like what I just learnt yesterday. Writing an argumentative essay does not seem to be a barrier to me anymore.

Car Insurance Database

This task is related to creation and update of database which is going to contain the data of an insurance company. The database is developed in MS-Access. In order to create the database in MS-Access, the first step is to create the database from file menu of the MS-Access and provide any suitable name (e. g. the name chosen for this project is vechicle_insurance). The next step is to use the query option and execute the queries one by one (the queries are available in this document).All the queries provided in the document are compatible with MS-Access. Six tables are created by the Data Definition Language (DDL) query and the data is inserted into the table by the insert query or Data Modification Language (DML). In addition to DDL & DML, browse, search and update queries are also provided in this document. In the following section, Data dictionary is provided which is a mapping of the fields with the data type.The Entity-relationship (ER) diagram is provided on a separate documen t which shows the relationship amongst all six table tables and how they are connected to each other. In the ER diagram, Id is primary key for each table. All the tables are normalized to 3rd form of the normalization. Data Dictionary There are six tables in vehicle insurance database. Each table contains certain number of fields. Each field gives the information of related table.

A Study Of The Mormons Practice Of Polygamy

A Study Of The Mormon's Practice Of Polygamy My audience consists of African American women from the â€Å"Bible Belt,† that were born and raised in the Baptist Church. When it comes to Mormons, my audience believes that they all believe in polygamy and practice such. Anything different from the King James Bible is a gift from hell, and those who follow other religions are soon to be sent there. My culture knows little to nothing about the different types of Mormons there are, however, they assume that every Mormon is a fundamentalist Mormon. Therefore, my audience does not care about Mormons, especially not in a positive way. If my audience were to read my paper, they would argue that the creation of Mormonism tarnishes the history of Jesus Christ, despite Mormons being Christian as well. They would also not view fundamentalist Mormons as normal people with normal lives. Unknown to my personal culture, Mormons, whether fundamentalist or not, have values and beliefs in common with us. Along with a shared Protestant belie f, Mormons also believe in charity, family, and worship. Mary, Misty, Maya, and Marleen Are All Mine Four wives, seventeen children, and one man are all living under one roof, living day to day in a polygamous marriage. Reality TV shows that enhance the stereotypes of fundamentalist Mormons like TLC’s Sister Wives is the entertainer’s view on their way of life. However, not all Mormons believe in polygamy, and the few that do are called Fundamentalist Mormons. Despite their controversial beliefs, they are still a part of the Christian denomination and share some values with some of the mainstream religions. What led to the creation of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (also known as FLDS) was the difference in their teachings and rules which were based on the community’s shared values of dedication to their cause, understanding the role of family, missionary work in and out of the church, and the practice of polygamy to please God. The Mormon faith began in the early 1840s, and Joseph Smith was the founding father (see figure 1). Richard Wagoner argues that Smith privately advocated that polygamous marriages were â€Å"the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on earth,† and it was not until 1852 that Mormons publicly announced to the world their advocacy for polygamy (IX). However, Wagoner says that because of public outcry, the United States government banned the practice of polygamy in 1890 (IX). In fact, Wagoner addresses that the practice of polygamy continued on until 1904 when the Joseph F. Smith, president of the religion, was under immense pressure to begin excommunicating those who continued (IX). Refusing to change, certain Mormons still continued on to practice their polygamy as well as the teachings of the broader Mormon religion, and Wagoner believes this led to the creation of the FLDS (IX). Today, many people still believe that Fundamentalist Mormons and the Church of Latt er-Day Saints are the same. Therefore, other religions, including those of the Christian faith, have assumptions about polygamy being an important part of the Mormon faith. When Wagoner finally published his book in 1949, there were around one million Mormons in the world, and 30,000 Fundamentalist Mormons(IX-X). In 2009, the Census Bureau calculated that there were six million Latter-Day Saints and less than three percent were Fundamentalists (Section 1 Population). However, Fundamentalist Mormons still hold the traditional values of Protestant beliefs close to them, just with the addition of polygamy. Being dedicated to one’s religion through belief is a small value that the FLDS church holds close. Believers think that the Fundamentalist Mormon faith will not work unless the members want to be there. Volunteer work, mission trips, and charity are done by people who want to do it, for the work is hard and has little reward. Conducting an interview to properly understand the dedication of missionary work in the FLDS, Nate Tabak introduces Daniel Harlow, a young man from Europe, who spent many months in Kosovo, with limited communication back home (â€Å"The Mormon Missionary†). Harlow’s dedication to his faith pushed him through the isolation and distance from the people he knew and loved. Richard Foltz reveals that at age twelve, Fundamentalist Mormons allow their male children to work to become priests and encourage them to spend two years of their life to either missionary work or studies (5). Foltz also shows that all Mormons believe that there are lost â⠂¬Å"souls† that are waiting to be born, and that parents dedicate themselves to bringing them down to earth (5). This is why Fundamentalist men take on so many wives who bear them many children: to bring back the lost souls. The Book of Mormon’s Mosiah tells his people â€Å"Are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have† is the reason why the fundamentalists are so dedicated, for God is the reason why humans are here (Mosiah 4:19). However, Foltz discloses that some believers think that through much devotion and dedication that they, themselves, can become gods (5). Therefore, fundamentalist Mormons give their all and dedicate themselves to their faith for fulfillment and bright afterlives. Having large families that consist of more than a man, his wife, and his two children is why the importance of family is a strong value in the Fundamentalist Mormon culture. The more people in the family, the more sacrifices have to be made. Members of the FLDS understood that and added their own special religious spin. â€Å"Any sacrifice we made for each other was rewarded tenfold. We learned to worship together, sorrow together, play and rejoice together, to unselfishly pool all our resources for the good of the family† is a quote by a polygamous wife (qtd by Wagoner in 94). The wife is a symbol of the love one had for their family and the importance it had on their everyday life. Parents of these large polygamous families sacrificed for the entire family, and wives sacrificed for the other wives children as well. Once entered into the sanctity of the first, second, even third marriage, Wagoner emphasizes how men were obligated to take care of their wives and children even if they divorced (48). Wagoner continues on and quotes Apostle George Cannon, who explains that â€Å"not only is the man bound to respect the expressal of her wish to that effect,† meaning divorce, ‘but he is bound also to give her and her offspring a proportionate share of his whole property† (qtd in 93). The Polygamy and its Impact Journal says that in polygamous marriages, the man may have one wife who is infertile and others that can bear many children (â€Å"Polygamy and its Impact†). Therefore, the couple does not have to look at divorce as an option. William Jankowiak says that the â€Å"sister wives† believe that the family bond extends beyond the grave, and that the entire family should have one mind (166). Jankowiak brings more research to the table by explaining that the father-son relationship is the most crucial in the Fundamentalist Mormon culture (166). This is how the social and cultural rules of the faith are passed down through gen erations. An example Jankowiak gives is Abraham passing down the keys to the kingdom to his son Isaac, who passed them down to his sons and so forth (166). Families are valued in that everyone has a purpose and a role in the family. Fundamentalist Mormons show that dedication to family is not an option but a full time responsibility, no matter what happens. The FLDS believes that all members of the church should involve themselves in missionary works, to model after the Lord. Consequently, missionary work is a massive value that is shared within this culture. In the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord commands his people to proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city†¦ bear testimony in every place, unto every people (Doctrine and Covenants 66:5). From this, members of the fundamentalist faith send out missionaries to spread the word of the Mormon faith as well as to increase the population. Missionaries usually are dressed in business attire and are never seen in casual attire while on the job (see figure 2). Tabak’s interview with Daniel Harlow recounts the young missionary saying â€Å"Our purpose is to invite others to come to Christ. We don’t force anyone to try to do things† (â€Å"The Mormon Missionary†). Although most mission trip consist of handing out flyers and talking to people a bout converting, missionaries from the FLDS church find charity work to also occupy the months or years they spend away from their family. When going on the mission trips, the Tabak captures how missionaries have limited contact with friends and family and are trained to be very focused on their job (â€Å"The Mormon Missionary†). Harlow, only 19-years-old, has to wake up at six thirty in the morning and must be asleep at ten thirty at night, Tabak records. He is only allowed weekly emails and two calls per year to his friends and family back home. Tabak says that Harlow is only allowed to speak to a woman if it is about his missionary work, for he is not allowed to date as well. Another example of the importance of missionary work would be in the early 1830s, at the start of Mormonism. Kim Ostman says that the missionaries of the church who traveled from North America to Europe and from Europe, migrating to Finland and Sweden, began to have civil disputes with the authoritie s in these locations (268). Ostman writes about the civil authorities threatening missionaries in order to remove them from their land. Missionaries refused and Ostman pronounces that they continued to hold meetings in house to speaking to citizens about converting to the FLDS church (269). Willing to risk jail time and their lives, Fundamentalist Mormons genuinely believe in missionary work in order to make the world, as they see it, a better place. The biggest value that is associated with the faith of Fundamentalism in the Mormon religion is polygamy. Polygamy is defined as the practice or custom of having more than one wife at the same time (usually wives). The most popular modern polygamy practices have been turned into hit TV shows like Sister Wives, Big Love, and Escaping Polygamy (see figure 3). However, the original Church of Latter-Day Saints banned polygamy in the mid-1800s, and Wagoner exposes the few radical believers who decided to go their separate ways and form their own church, the FLDS. Joseph Smith was a believer in polygamous marriage but only in private (29). O’Kendall White and Daryl White explain that after his death, Joseph Smith had private journals that were published outing his private lifestyles, as well as a book that erased the damnation of polygamous acts (166). Wagoner adds to this by recalling Joseph Smith realizing that in the Old Testament, polygamy was okay to practice, therefore he deci ded that it was a â€Å"true principle† for his people (107). Fundamentalists took this new book and held on to it, therefore earning their name as Fundamentalist Mormons. Jankowaik reports that since the majority of Fundamentalist Mormons are now living in the western part of the United States, there has become a tolerance for them (164). The â€Å"public secret† of western communities that is polygamy shows the continued practice. Because polygamy has become illegal and rumors of sexual abuse and assault were around, Jankowaik says that the government raided towns and arrested men, but later made a deal that they would stop if there were no more reports about sexual abuse (164). This type of negative connotation led to another decrease in members of the FLDS church. Instead of using the decrease in the number of members that practice polygamy to separate, the Fundamentalists built communities to stick together. Colorado City/Centennial Park is a city, Jankowaik says, in which forty-five percent of households are polygamous (165). The town has little to no contact with the outside cities and towns therefore being left alone to practice their beliefs in peace. The Fundamentalist Mormon’s belief in polygamy never dwindled, and they adapted to every obstacle in their way to continue their faith. Fundamentalist Mormons do believe in polygamy, but they value so much more than that. The FLDS church also believes in dedication and the understanding of the role of family. The members who complete missionary work in and out of the church understand the previous values, and put them into action. The FLDS church is not just a part of its beliefs, it is the sum. The entire Latter-Day Saint population is increasing and has been called the fastest growing religion, beginning with a million members and increasing to fourteen million in thirty years, however the Fundamentalist Mormon population is slowly dwindling. However, they are working hard to prove that they are much like the rest of the world and are not the sexual deviants that they are made out to be. Despite having a house of one man, four wives, and seventeen children, they are still people who are trying to survive in the world, just like anyone else.

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

Art Review - Essay Example Most of the foot prints are in opposite directions or overlapping and crossing each other. The background has been further ornamented with colourful blocks and circular designs in bright blue, orange, green and yellow shades. The larger footprints are mainly in darker colours of blacks and greys while the smaller ones are dominated with brighter colours of orange and yellow. The painting has been used as a metaphor for Africa. The merge of bright, vibrant colours is used to represent the political clashes and instability in Africa. The artist has used two fragmented canvases which have footprint designs in different directions, crossing each other or in the same direction. This is a metaphor for the conflicting agendas and ideologies of the African people and the two canvases represent the fragmentation of the continent on the basis of politics, culture and social agendas. Isichei explains that the painting is a representation of the continent’s instability which has disabled them from discovering their beautiful land and succumbing to contradictory ideas, agendas and political mayhem, exploiting their beautiful land. The painting grabbed my attention at the Denver Art Mueseum because of its boldness and vibrant display. The beauty of the art lies in its simplicity to convey a social or a personal idea, yet in a visually attractive manner. Still Searching by Romanus Isichei appeared as an appealing display on the wall, screaming for attention with its vivacious colours and straightforwardness. To represent the African instability only with the crossing footprints in the background of contrasting shades is indeed a beauty in itself. I have always loved to play with different contrasting bright colours and paintings that use them in a shrewd manner to express feelings and meaning, always fascinates me. I observe the paintings in Denver Art Museum that try to reach out to the observer with

Critically analyse whether courts too readily intervene in the Research Paper

Critically analyse whether courts too readily intervene in the international commercial arbitration process, so that party autonomy is qualified - Research Paper Example that they want to settle their matter in way that is alternative to the courts, and, by agreeing to an arbitration clause, the parties have explicitly rejected the courts jurisdiction. This can occur for any number of reasons, including the unacceptability, unsuitability and the inappropriateness of the court. Whatever the reason, arbitration clauses make clear the parties intent, and this intent is to not litigate their dispute. 3 The arbitral tribunal has the responsibility in disposing of all matters that are subject to dispute.4 Therefore, court intervention in these matters is potentially problematic, and can even be said to be contrary to the parties intentions. Yet, courts routinely get involved in matters that are set to be resolved by arbitration. Although there are some advantages to court intervention, there are significant disadvantages as well. For one, court intervention introduces the complications that arbitration is designed to avoid – it makes arbitration expensive, lengthy, and less efficient. Arbitration challenges â€Å"result in parallel proceedings, create potentially lengthy appeals, and require parties to retain local counsel at the seat of arbitration.†5 Moreover, according to at least one commentator, court intervention is usually only seen when emotions are high,6 which means that court intervention would tend to have even more of a deleterious affect on arbitration proceedings. There are a variety of reasons why courts get involved, and the forms of court involved are also varied. At base, courts cannot be completely excluded from the arbitration process because they are required to enforce arbitration agreements and awards, and need to police and support the arbitration process with international standards.7 The power that the courts have in the arbitration process may be categorised as powers of assistance, powers of intervention, powers of supervision or control, and powers of recognition and enforcement.8 The courts

How German Conservative helped the Nazi Party to come to power Essay

How German Conservative helped the Nazi Party to come to power - Essay Example Hitler encouraged militarism, national pride and working wholeheartedly towards a racially â€Å"Pure† German. Initially, through conservatism approach, Hitler meant what he was for a racially pure German. The pure breed conservatism approach seemingly changed the general view of German Conservatives to the social-cultural existence of the German communities. Hitler, through the pure breed notion of the German race, condemned the Jews fiercely exploiting their anti-Semitic feelings than had in the time immemorial prevailed over Europe for centuries. He changed the name of the German Worker’s Party to the National Socialist German Worker’s Party and finally to the Nazi Party (NSPDAP). Towards the end of 1920, Nazi Party had registered 3000 memberships. By 1921, Hitler fully took control of Nazi Party as their conservative leader (Fuhrer). How did Nazi Germany treat disabled people? The Nazi launched a hugely innate propaganda campaign against mental and physically incapacitated Germans. The Nazi German, through all these propaganda, killed, persecuted and isolated that individual whose genes were incompatible with the ideal German populace genes. The disabled individuals in German culture did not fit into the Nazi typecast of the pure Aryan, which is a physically fit populace with an adversely loyal mind to oblige the Reich. Overly, the Nazi Party viewed the disabled part of a social system as a burden since were unproductive and unable to work thus, in most cases, drained the state resources.