Saturday, January 25, 2020
Storms :: essays research papers
If you know where and when to look, you can treat yourself to a colourful display of atmospheric haloes, spots and pillars. These images can tell you something about the clouds overhead and possible changes in the weather. All of these images are created by light shining through cirrostratus clouds. These clouds occur at an altitude of 6,000-12,000 metres. They appear as a thin sheet or layer (strata) that is pure white. The layer of cloud is so thin (only 100-450 metres) that is doesn't obscure the sun or moon, so you should be able to see your shadow. Cirrostratus is made of many types of ice crystals. However, four crystal shapes are responsible for producing most of the commonly see haloes-plate crystals, columns, capped columns and bullets. The most obvious halo is found around the sun. If the layer of cirrostratus is extensive, you'll see an entire ring. Within the layer of cloud, sunlight is striking and passing through the sides of randomly-oriented ice crystals. As the sunlight passes through each crystal, the light changes direction, or refracts. The radius of the hale depends on the amount of change in the direction of the sun's light. Usually this is 22 degrees. Since the sun is 1/2 of a degree across, the radius of the halo is 44 sun-widths. Occasionally you may see a second halo at 46 degrees from the sun (that is, with a radius of 92 sun-widths). This is produced by sunlight passing through both the side and bottom of each crystal. Moonlight will also produce a halo, around the moon, with the proper layer of cirrostatus. Another common optical effect is known as "mock suns" or "sun dogs" or "parhelia" (Greek for "with the sun"). These bright spots on either side of the sun, outside of the halo, occur when sunlight passes through the sides of capped columns, bullets and plate crystals, when these crystals are arranged with their sides vertical. The crystals wobble, diffusing and smearing the colours of the mock sun. You can see haloes and mock suns more clearly if you block out your view of the real sun by holding your hand in front of it at arm's length. Another spectactular optical effect is the solar pillar. This is a vertical shaft of light the same colour as the sun stretching upwards from the sun and is most often seen at sunset or sunrise. It's produced by sunlight reflecting of the base of plate and capped column crystals in the clouds.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
English As Official Language In United States Essay
Introduction            The United States of America is the melting pot of cultures and values permeated to its â€Å"American†way of life. Along this line, this cultures and values bring with them its languages so unique with each other culture that as such ethnic people grew over times; the language also conquers the different corners of the great American Dream. Now, English language is in a precarious situation whether or not it is still viable to allow it to remain as US’ official language. And since a significant number of US nationals feel comfortable speaking a language other than English, the federal government should reconsider English as the official language of the United States. This paper will examine the evolution of â€Å"English†as an American language. Also, it will explore the dimension of the English Only Movement (EOM) and the Melting Pot Theory in relation to â€Å"English†as an official American language. English Language In 2001, Harrop reported that from the recently concluded 2002 U.S. census revealed that â€Å"49 percent of Hispanics in America are not fluent in English.†As the fastest growing United States’ minority, the Hispanic population represents 12.5 percent of the population. Harrop also revealed that the Hispanic’s legal picture is astonishing as EEOC data revealed that the complaints lodge before it have more than doubled in 5 years and settlements have risen to over $50 million (Harrop, 2001). The United States’ inhabitants have never had any official language to speak of. Over 6 % of United States’ primary school children were instructed in German until the World War I and now over 45 million American nationals still state that their forefathers spoke German. The large scale immigration of the 20th century led to the inhabitance of multilingual people inside the US, thus, around 336 different languages are presently spoken which comprise 176 endemic dialects. Also, more than 47 million American nationals use a language other than English within their homes including 30 million Spanish speakers.            When the US Senate voted to select English as the official language and prohibited the use of other languages for federal government orders and services with a vote of 63-34, the US Senate it self was placed in a dilemma as the law barred effectively other languages is the US documents. Thus,  Oklahoma Republican Senator James Inhofe offered an amendment to remedy this problem because it split the Senate along largely party lines, with only nine of the 44 Democrats voting for it, and just one Republican voting against (Cornwell 2006). On the part of former Democratic minority (now Majority) leader Harry Reid, he  identified this amendment as â€Å"racist†whereas Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat of Hispanic origin, described it as â€Å"divisive and anti-American†(Cornwell, 2006). The rationale for these two statements issued by US Senate’s distinguished members hinges on the fact that law passed neglects any provisions for services in languages other than English. This would be a problematic situation for those Americans who cannot speak English fluently. Also, the law in effect would also force new immigrants to have considerable knowledge of English language before they get US nationality. On the historical hindsight, English language was voted out German by a difference of just one vote when it was selected as the official language of the US by Congressmen in the year 1795 (Cornwell 2006).            In protecting the minority’s right on education, the Majority (through the US Congress) passed into law the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. This act protects the immigrants who were limited English proficient and at the same time meet their needs as they assimilate to the American society.  Crawford revealed the law was enacted when the US was the apex of the Great Society and was signed into law by President Johnson without a single voice raised in dissent. In spite of this landmark legislation’s noble aims, the Americans public has spent the past 30 years debating what the law wants to accomplish. Thus, following questions were raised: â€Å"[w]as this 1968 law intended primarily to assimilate limited-English-proficient (LEP) children more efficiently? [t]o teach them English as rapidly as possible? [t]o encourage bilingualism and biliteracy? [t]o remedy academic underachievement and high dropout rates? [t]o raise the self-esteem of minority students? [t]o promote social equality? [o]r to pursue all of these goals simultaneously? These questions were never answered in the Congress’ journals of its proceedings (50).  English Only Movement The English Only Movement (EOM), a movement initiated in the 1980s, is a sequel of the procedure of domestic colonialism which leads to other languages which are spoken by minorities’ demolition. In 1979, a Carnegie Corporation’s report pointed out that â€Å"bilingual education was the preeminent civil rights issue within Hispanic communities†(Penna & Shepherd;  p. 147). Thus, the bilingual education became a key issue that create distress in the Mexican community inside the United States according to different researches carried out by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission ( 1967- 1975). The researches also reveled that the US academic system was thought of as being against the cultural traditions of the Mexican population resulting to a negative effects on the Mexicans including inferiority complexes. It is in this instance that the community traditions and customs’ eradication is no doubt, an abuse of the basic civil rights of these people in regard to community’s linguistic and cultural survival. On the domestic front, the English Only Movement’s amendment in the state of California was a triumph for those who support the use of English as an official language. It gave legal status to an issue that goes against biculturalism and bilingualism. The between 1986 and 1989, voters and legislators in thirty-nine states took into account plans analogous to that of Californian amendment. This led to the appearance of 17 states with English as the official language. The English Only Movement is successful in bringing bilingual education policy to the leading position of national debate that includes questions, the approach of scientific teachings of bilingual education and a federal resolution  that could shed light as to why English should be the official language of the United States.   Melting Pot Theory The current discussion over the bilingualism is hinges on the theory that the United States is an assimilationist society or a form of society embracing many minority groups and culture traditions. And this theory is very old. Though this was the case, there were some exchanging of views forcefully stating that United States is a melting pot, which theorizes that people of various nations settle in America and forced to resemble which means to become an American completely.  Lawmakers Push Official English reported in the Washington Post revealed that the March 14 to 16 poll of 1,007, with a margin of error of three percentage points showed that 63 percent of Americans would like to have their ballots and voting materials only in English as compared to those 35 percent who wanted them printed in English and other languages (Lawmakers Push Official English, A06). The results in this opinion poll adheres to the results of the Myths of the Melting Pot’s study which, though noble as it is, spread all throughout a wrong ideas about languages which are mostly not challenged  nor supported by historical records. In fact, US language policy’s history on the subject– or lack of one – both work at lower consequences than the logical basis for official English language and provide a warning lesson about any actions to restricting languages which are rarely in use. The following are points to ponder in this regard: Unfavorable to the myth, the United States has never been a basic speaking and/or using only one language country. By the period of time, one from eight of permanent inhabitants reported a languages background other than English in 1976, this is variety of nothing new but some skilled persons in languages or study of languages believe that the United States has been the habitant of more persons able to speak two languages than any other nation in the history of the world. As early as 1664, when the colony of the New Netherlands came into possession of British, eighteen different languages were spoken on Manhattan Island, not including the language spoken by the local inhabitants of America which were numbered more than five hundred in North America at the time. Considering the US history, the prevailing federal policy on languages has only maintained tolerance and adjustments. In spite of the language variety in 1787, the famous took no interest to protect or encourage English: United States constituents. Because discussion were held in private and we must depend on James Madison’s informal notes, it is not clear, if any language issues came up during the federal agreement on social behavior in Philadelphia (Farrand 1913). But available facts strongly suggest that our early leaders regarded language laws of any type as a cause of harm to civil freedom from captivity. Recognizing about rarely spoken languages reflected bilingual and non-English – language schools which were ordinary in many districts until the long time period of World War I. In 1710, British missionaries were invited to maintain schools among the Iroquois League of Ally States, with the demand that students should be informed or taught with their national languages. Parts of bible which were translated in Mohawk language were included in the texts used. In 1802, Congress began a yearly devotion of ($15,000) to encourage â€Å"civilization among the old inhabitants (before the arrival of colonists).†This money was devoted to religious schools in which many schools were bilingual. The liberation policy on languages was the best and ideal policy for this country, but it is no upheld especially among people conquered and angry for supposed un-justice; people living in colonies and some racial people. Attitudes of the 19th centuries towards their right of language were considerably less tolerant than say towards speakers of German, French or Scandinavian languages   Conclusion Language is another example of making sure that the class’s position in society prevails. This paper has shown the many ways that minority languages are saved from oblivion in the US. For this reason, it is important to known by the baffling ways in which this is happening.  Official English/English Only’s websites revealed that â€Å"[e]nglish as the nation’s dominant language is no more threatened at the turn of the 21st century than it was at the turn of the 20th. To the contrary, it is all the other languages that are endangered – and would soon die out, if not for the replenishing effects of immigration†(Official English/English Only, n.p.). English as an official US language has been an issue for decades by which some influential groups/people have been trying to restrict other languages and promote English Language. On the other hand, this policy has not been accepted nor approved by the majority of Americans as it is discriminatory to other equal language. This idea is not hidden. Making English as the US official language is the agenda of White Americans – it also unveils the approach of White American as they don’t want more immigrants from the third world countries. It will be discriminatory to other language and this moved, if ever, is contrary to the hope and aspirations why this country was founded and continued to be strong. Works Cited Cornwell, Rupert. May 20, 2006. At last, America has an official language (and yes, it’s English) Independent, The (London) James Crawford. Language Politics in the U.S.A.: The Paradox of Bilingual Education. Journal Social Justice. Volume: 25. Issue: 3. Year: 1998. Page Number: 50 Maureen E. Harrop. Managing a Non-English-Speaking Workforce – Hispanic Americans – Brief Article – Statistical Data Included. Modern Machine Shop, Nov, 2001            http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3101/is_6_74/ai_79900955            Accessed, April 21, 2007 Lawmakers Push Official English; Bills Tied to Immigration Reform. The Washington Times. Publication Date: April 3, 2006. Page Number: A06. Official English/English Only . n.d. http://www.elladvocates.org/englishonly.html            Accessed, April 21, 2007 David Penna and George W. Shepherd Jr. Racism and the Underclass: State Policy and Discrimination against Minorities.Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: New York. Year: 1991. Page Number: 145. Â
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Short Story Girl By Jamaica Kincaid - 917 Words
A Short Story That Is Not So Short After All Jamaica Kincaid wrote a short story called â€Å"Girl†that had many influential meanings to it. She spoke with honesty and with a format that was eye opening and different from others. She made the girl come to life by allowing the mind to fill in the blanks for anything she left out. Kincaid also wrote in a way that made each time reading it, a new thing to infer or attach to as a reader. She allowed so much emotion to take place and grasped the reader’s attention by every sentence she wrote in such an organized matter. There were certain aspects of this short story that she used to make â€Å"Girl†come together such as, imagery, setting, and point of view. With every sentence that Kincaid wrote she created an image in the reader’s mind, she also kept constructing the character by starting with simple sentences like â€Å"Wash the white clothes on Monday†(Kincaid 1) and wrapping it up by saying, â€Å"After all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?†(Kincaid 42-43). By the last sentence the reader has their own appearance of who girl is and what her life is like as a grown woman, that has been given all of this advice. Kincaid wrote with a method that allowed the reader to imagine the parts that they wanted too, such as ethnicity, age, time period or in more detail, who is telling her this advice and what are their intentions? This short story was humble and complex at the same time. Her sentenceShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Short Story Girl By Jamaica Kincaid844 Words  | 4 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Girl†by Jamaica Kincaid, a mother gives her daughter strict and organized set of verbal guidelines that teach her how to be a proper woman in that society. These guidelines focus primarily on how to act and behave as a wife. However, these guidelines and rules set out for her daughter’s future have an underlying sense of stigma and judg ement. I believe the way the cultural tradition in the depicted society treats women is very different compared to how men are treated. TheRead MoreEssay on Short Story Analysis of Girl by Jamaica Kincaid873 Words  | 4 PagesShort story analysis of Girl by Jamaica Kincaid Have you ever wished that someone had given you a guide on how live the right way? Jamaica Kincaid does just that in her short story, Girl. The narrative is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly in Antigua in the 1980’s. While the setting of the story is not expressly stated by the author in the narrative, the reader is able to understand the culture for which Girl was written. Jamaica Kincaid seems to beRead MoreProvoking the Inevitable Change: an Analysis on Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl901 Words  | 4 PagesGirl, a narrative written by Jamaica Kincaid, is a short story written in a dialogue style and stream of consciousness narration. The speaker is an authoritative female figure who teaches a girl about traditional living and the obligations of a girl to society. The narrative is basically one large sentence. Its ideas are separated by semicolons instead of the usual periods. Jamaica Kincaid’s short biography found in www.english.emory.edu by Vanessa Pupello: â€Å"Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 as ElaineRead MoreLucy by Jamaica Kincaid Essay1613 Words  | 7 PagesJourney into Discovering My True Self Jamaica Kincaid’s success as a writer was not easily attained as she endured struggles of having to often sleep on the floor of her apartment because she could not afford to buy a bed. She described herself as being a struggling writer, who did not know how to write, but sheer determination and a fortunate encounter with the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn who set the epitome for her writing success. Ms. Kincaid was a West-Indian American writer whoRead MoreSummary Of Girl By Jamaica Kincaid1204 Words  | 5 PagesRepresentation in Girl Throughout history women have been an oppressed group of individuals and therefore have had to find ways to satisfy society. Women have at times needed to follow particular guidelines in order to maintain standing in society. Jamaica Kincaid’s in her book â€Å"Girl†conveys a mother and daughter to represent particular social issues during post colonialism. In Girl the daughter serves as a representation of what the mother believes to be society’s ideal woman. Through the stories use ofRead MoreFemale Sexual Freedom In Lust By Susan Minot, Jamaica Kincaid, And Lust Theme843 Words  | 4 Pages Female sexual freedom is a predominant theme in three short stories by author’s Susan Minot, Jamaica Kincaid, and Junot Diaz. The messages in Lust by Susan Minot, Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, and Nilda by Junot Diaz the reader is introduced to three girl’s coming-of-age and the dangers they encounter with female sexuality. In these three stories, the author s convey the message that sexual freedom, for females anyway, is not so free; in fact females often, ultimately pay a price of loneliness, shameRead MoreEssay about Contrast of Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl†and John Updike’s â€Å"AP†687 Words  | 3 Pagesof Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl†and John Updike’s â€Å"AP†â€Å"AP†and â€Å"Girl†both symbolized the protagonists’ oppression by an older, more experienced generation. However, Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl†was artistic with an undercurrent of selfless love and hope while Updike’s â€Å"AP†was uninspiring with selfishness and lust. The protagonist of â€Å"Girl†discouraged her daughter’s dreams out of love. The protagonist of â€Å"A P†encouraged the antagonists’ out of a selfish desire for self-promotion. The short story â€Å"Girl†Read MoreThe Victimization of Teenage Girls1553 Words  | 7 PagesWhat does it mean to be a girl according to society? How does society see it? In many countries, a girl is seen as powerless, uneducated, and too emotional to handle a man’s job. For example, women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive. In the past, writers used to describe a woman’s role as the victim of many forms of discrimination in the United States of America. In other words, women were only involved in things that men thought were not important. For instance, women did not have any otherRead MoreAnalysis Of Drenched In Light By Zora Neala Hurston853 Words  | 4 PagesHurston and Jamaica Kincaid, both black women writers, give advice to their potential readers. Each writer comes from a different background and time period, yet both writers offer advice for every woman who reads their stories. The stories â€Å"Drenched in Light†by Hurston and â₠¬Å"Girl†by Kincaid provides advice for the woman who needs to understand how to behave and protect her reputation. The reason for this article is to think about mother/daughter connections in Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"girl†Zora NealeRead MoreGirl By Jamaica Kincaid : What A Good Mother Is953 Words  | 4 Pagesobligations it shows that you are a mature minded person, and responsible. In the short story Girl by Jamaica Kincaid shows what a good mother is. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson shows what a bad mother in Tessie Hutchinson putting her kids in the line of fire first. In my experience growing up with a single mother, I had to have a little more responsibilities in the house, which shows that I am mature. In both the stories and my personal experience all have responsibilities but all them don’t take
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)