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Music in the Shakespearean Era Elizabeth I took the throne of England after a period of considerable unrest. As Suzanne Lord writes, "She inherited a confused, frightened, dispirited nation" (xxi). Under her rule, the nation's culture went through a golden age, especially in the emergence of its greatest playwright, William Shakespeare. An important component of all of his plays was music. The Music of Shakespeare's Day Music was everywhere during Shakespeare's time. It was an important part of the culture, the church, and daily life, as well as the theatre. Michael Best reports: Shakespeare would have heard in the Court and in the houses of the educated the sophisticated madrigals and instrumental music of Thomas Morley; in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's he would have heard the masses of William Byrd, and around the streets of London he would have heard ageless folk music: the street cries, the ballads, the love songs (1). Access to music

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Emergency Room Wait Times: Evaluation Tool Summary and Critique An evaluation tool for measuring the effectiveness of the implementation of the business plan for reducing ER wait times can be implemented to monitor the success of the plan. The three approaches combined into the plan that are expected to reduce wait times include the incorporation of lean production techniques, reconfiguration of ED space, and the use of the Rapid Medical Evaluation Program for getting patients seen more quickly. The evaluation tool will assess ER wait times with a view toward measuring the impact of each of these changes. Lean production techniques such as value-stream mapping and just-in-time delivery will not only reduce ER wait times, they will also improve the flow of patients through the ER, reducing bottlenecks. To measure the extent of this impact, the evaluation tool will use the ER computer system to tabulate times. When an ER patient arrives, this will register in th

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Emergency Room Wait Times: Evaluation Tool Summary and Critique An evaluation tool for measuring the effectiveness of the implementation of the business plan for reducing ER wait times can be implemented to monitor the success of the plan. The three approaches combined into the plan that are expected to reduce wait times include the incorporation of lean production techniques, reconfiguration of ED space, and the use of the Rapid Medical Evaluation Program for getting patients seen more quickly. The evaluation tool will assess ER wait times with a view toward measuring the impact of each of these changes. Lean production techniques such as value-stream mapping and just-in-time delivery will not only reduce ER wait times, they will also improve the flow of patients through the ER, reducing bottlenecks. To measure the extent of this impact, the evaluation tool will use the ER computer system to tabulate times. When an ER patient arrives, this will register in th

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Across humanity's long documented existence, members of the human race have developed a range of attitudes to experiences that extend beyond a single generation. Issues surrounding love, dreams, values, race, culture, and gender have been weathered and documented by human beings for centuries. Authors such as William Wordsworth, George Gordon Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurst, and Virginia Woolf have all eloquently spoken of the human condition and all it entails. Each in his or her own way describes the trials and triumphs of being human in accordance with his or her experiences and the state of world affairs. William Wordsworth's Ode; Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood was published in 1807. This and all of Wordsworth's works were deeply influenced by nature (he is, after all, a naturalist who believed in the power of nature). In the poem, Wordsworth proposes that life on Earth is second to a previous celestial life rich in natur

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Difference Between Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudice is having particular attitudes about an entire group of people, such as all Mexicans are lazy or all Asians are good at math. While prejudice is most often associated with negative stereotypes, it can also be associated with positive stereotypes, such as being good at a particular activity. In both cases, the prejudice limits t

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Today, imperialism is routinely pinpointed as the cause for western involvement in foreign affairs. The recent missile crusades in Libya and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are three examples of western involvement in foreign affairs that are allegedly rooted in imperialism. There is no doubt that imperialism has played a major role in a number of western military operations; however, people disagree about when exactly imperialism became a primary foreign policy goal of western nations. More specifically, some people question whether imperialism played a role in World War I. Some, by contrast, believe that imperialism was not just an after thought, but a primary cause, of the war. In The ABC of Communism, Nikolai Bukharin silences the naysayer by insisting that "only an idiot can continue to believe that the war took place because the Serbs killed the Austrian crown prince or because the Germans invaded Belgium" (Bukharin and Preobrazhensky). In other words, Bukharin is insist

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Economic Decisions There are four principles associated with individual decision making: facing trade-offs, giving up something to get something else, decision making is done at the margins, and people respond to incentives (Mankiw, 2009). An example of decision making comparing marginal benefit and marginal cost is driving farther to pay less for gas. Gas close to my home is usually 20 cents per gallon more than at a station 8 miles away. My car gets 22 mpg, so if I buy 10 gallons, I save $2.00 and drive 16 miles out of my way. If gas is $4/gallon at the "cheap" station, the drive costs me $2.90 (16/22 * 4) plus the t

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The article by England (2003) is concerned with the issue of language loss among the Mayas. It is noted that children are not learning the language in some of the Maya communities. In addition, a growing number of Maya people are becoming bilingual (with Spanish as their second language), which may be seen as a step toward increased language loss (England, 2003, p. 733). Globalization and the interconnection of cultures have contributed to this situation. However, there is also a movement of cultural reaffirmation occurring in many Maya communities. This movement has emphasized the revitalization of the language (England, 2003, p. 733). As noted by England, Maya linguists (linguists who are native speakers of the Mayan languages) have played an important role in this movement. The article is very informative. It includes some useful background on the Mayan languages as well as the cultural revitalization mo

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The Effects of Poverty on Children While medical researchers and scientists are working around the clock to halt the progress of diseases that often destroy or severely inhibit young lives, the one greatest "disease" has not yet found even the hint of a cure. That disease is poverty. It is as prevalent in Third World countries as it still is in supposedly wealthy nations like the United States. Poverty not only often prevents children from a good education but, sadly, it often excludes them from the social progress and activities of their peers- children from homes not teetering on the brink of physical, fiscal and emotional disaster. Recent research figures are devastating. The report states that there was a 3% rise in the number of children ages 6-11 living in poverty between 2000 and 2009. The report cites the following statistics for the United States in 2009: "25% of the population were children * 36% of all people in poverty were children * 42% of the children be

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This paper is an examination of four environmental forces that have brought about social change: technological innovation (the Internet), economic meltdown (the current housing crisis), ideological imposition (the attacks of 9/11), and the environment itself (Hurricane Katrina). It considers how in each case a powerful change in the surrounding circumstances altered the way in which the social structure operates in America. Each challenged society's values, coping mechanisms, ability to process information, and personal interactions, among many other constructs, and had transformative effects such that it is nearly impossible now to remember how things were before. Change itself is a constant, even in the most stable, closed society. While it is a natural human tendency to resist change, it is also out of the question. Societies "are increasingly challenged to both respond to and anticipate continuously changing competitive, market, technological, economic, and social condition

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Los Angeles Gang Memoirs Introduction Social problems are often caused by allocation of resources. These problems are often exacerbated in dense, constructed environments. In many cases, social spaces are constructed to isolate social problems. William Julius Wilson, an African American sociologist, is most noted for his theories on the black urban "underclass," where life chances for blacks are now more a function of their "economic class status" than of "race relations" (Wilson 1). In the Easy Rawlins era after the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, race relations were the primary reason for oppression and the anger in blacks such as Rawlins: "the angry voice in my heart that urged me to go out and fight after all the hangings I had seen, after all of the times I had been called nigger and all of the doors that had been slammed in my face" (Mosley 18). In ghetto communities in urban areas, like South Central Los Angeles, social isolation occurs that segregates b

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Analysis of Little Scarlet Walter Mosley's book Little Scarlet begins at the end of the Watts race riots of 1965, in which race, power, class, and crime overturned the city of Los Angeles and forever changed the dynamic between black and white. Power, especially, changed. The Watts riots transformed the landscape of black-white interaction from one in which whites controlled and dominated everything and blacks were the scapegoats, bullied and misused, to one in which blacks recognized that the iron-clad social prison in which they had been living was not so impenetrable after all and that they could walk out from under some of the oppression they had become so accustomed to. As Mosley (17) writes, the change in blacks that arose after Watts was like "a virus that made people suddenly unafraid of the consequences of standing up for themselves." Even more importantly, Easy Rawlins-and by extension, other blacks in and around Watts-discovered that there had been a power shi

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Documentary Photographs The upper class segment of American society dominates control of society's institutions (government, the media, etc.). Through these institutions they highlight and reinforce the values that most benefit their own interests and agenda. Progressive reformers often used photography as a means of projecting a certain point of view that reinforced the need for various reforms they sought. In the "before" and after "pictures" here, the photographer shows a Philadelphia one-room apartment in the early twentieth century. The "before" photograph shows a cluttered room, with drying laundry hanging across the room on jerry-rigged clotheslines. There is no window and the walls of the room are covered in wallpaper. Coo

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Ethical Culture Analysis at Thales Group Introduction All companies face ethical issues, whether it is a small family-owned company that faces nepotism challenges or large multinational corporations that have more complex ethical challenges. This research considers the case of Thales Group, a French defense and aerospace company with more than 60,000 employees around the world, including divisions that operate within the United States. Thales has a formal ethics program in place, yet still faces charges of corruption and bribery. The following analysis, based on published reports, the company's own statements and interviews with employees, evaluates and makes recommendations of the ethical culture and climate at Thales. History Thales Group is a major world electronics company with 2010 consolidated sales in excess of E13.1 billion from operations in more than 50 countries. Thales employs more than 68,000 people worldwide

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This paper is an analysis of the theme of alienation in Dagberto Gilb's short story, "Love in L.A." From its ironic title to its sense of continual longing for something "that would even make it better," this brief account of a traffic accident is infused with feelings of separation and disconnectedness. At the beginning, Jake, the central character, is "slouched" in his car, stuck "in the peculiar gray of concrete, smog, and early morning." The air and time around him are an amorphous mass that put him the mood to muse about the amorphous mass that is his life. Disdainful of those with regular jobs and regular routines, he waits for the traffic light to change while fantasizing about all the improvements his car ought to h

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Science: A Blessing or Curse? Is science a blessing or a curse? Judging from Nathaniel Hawthorne's two stories, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "The Birthmark," science is a curse posing as a blessing. This paper will discuss both stories as well as an example from real life to support its conclusion that science is a curse that only pretends to be a blessing. In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," the doctor invites several old friends back from the grave and invites them to drink water from the fountain of youth. He first demonstrates the water's abilities by putting a dried-up old rose in it and showing them how the water restores the rose, so they eagerly drink it. They feel the rush of youth come back, and they begin acting as they did when much younger, although the mirror nearby tells the true story-they are still just as old as ever. Ev

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Kate Chopin's Recurring Theme of Women's Oppression A recurring theme in Kate Chopin's short stories is that of drudgery and oppression in the lives of women, usually at the hands of men, but sometimes simply due to the circumstances in which they find themselves. Interestingly, in her own life Chopin was blessed with a husband who found her independence and intelligence admirable and who gave her far more freedom as a wife than women in that day were accustomed to enjoying in marriage, but she still felt their pain (Wyatt). In "Desiree's Baby," her husband's blind pride has him placing the blame on his wife for the discovery that their baby is a mulatto. Recognizing that he will never forgive her, Desiree takes the baby and walks off into the bayou to their death. In Chopin's ironic ending, Armand discovers as he is burning the baby's cradle and layettes that it was his own mother who had introduced the Negro blood into the lineage, as she writes that she "b

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Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography as Self-Improvement Introduction In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, he accomplishes several things. First, he records the circumstances of his life for the benefit of posterity, second-and most importantly-he documents his efforts at self-improvement, and third, he reveals his true character in the pages of the book. This paper will examine each of these three points and will conclude with a summary that synthesizes them into an assessment of Franklin from the pages of his book. Body One of the primary purposes of Franklin's autobiography was to record the circumstances of his life for the benefit of posterity. Franklin (10) says as much when he writes, "As constant good fortune has accompanied me even to an advanced period of life, my posterity will perhaps be desirous of learning the means which I employed, and which, thanks to Providence, so well succeeded with me." Here, Franklin's words indicate that he is no

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Political Cartoons Almost all historical record, whether written or visual, is often tinged with the point of view, values or attitude of the creator of the record. The political cartoon, being a cartoon, often has greater license to satirize and critique prevailing policies, leaders or other issues of the day. The philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson argued that "caricatures are often the truest history of the times" (Recovering 594). In large measure, this is true because what is acceptable for a caricature might very well offend or even be considered treasonous in non-cartoon images. In the images here we see how shifting ideologies in society are often depicted on political cartoons. In "

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apple computer, inc.: maintaining the music business while introducing iphone and apple tv: case analysis 1. Describe the key strategic challenges facing Apple Computer. Apple Computer, Inc. (Apple Inc since January 2009) faced key strategic challenges at the time of the case (late-2007 or early-2008) related to its integrated strategy that involved the promotion of several products (related but different), each of which faced stiff competition (again related but different) in its own market. Further, each of the product markets (digitally-accessed music, portable digital music storage and playback, digitally-accessed television programs and films, mobile telephony, desktop computing, and tablet computing) was in a different stage of the product lifecycle, and Apple's participation in the several markets differed with respect to duration, scope, and market position (Chapman & Hoskisson, 2009). Strategically, therefore, Apple Computer was in the position of a

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Wu Wei and Western Urbanites The Wu Wei principle in Taoism refers to behavior arising from a sense of being connected to others and to the environment (Kardash, 2011). It is not in any way motivated by a sense of being separate and encompasses action that is spontaneous and effortless, embodying the notion of "going with the flow." For Western urbanites, learning to experience

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Postmodernism and Its Effect on Church and Culture Postmodernism is a philosophy that posits that we can choose whatever meaning we want to ascribe to reality. Postmodern philosophers argue that "Just as a text will be read differently by each reader...so reality will be 'read' differently by each knowing self that encounters it" (Grenz, 1996, p. 6). Thus, according to postmodern thinking, "there is no one meaning of the world, no transcendent center to reality as a whole" (Grenz, 1996, p. 6). Postmodernism is at the heart of moral relativism and situation ethics, and as such it exerts a deleterious effect on the church and on society. The church is predicated on a belief that there are absolute values of right and wrong. In Christianity, the moral standards detailed in the Bible make a clear distinction between what is right and what is wrong, and in many place in the Bible, the reader is even told exactly what t

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Film Review: Bride and Prejudice Gurinder Chadha's film Bride and Prejudice is an Indian remake of film versions of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice. While many of the plot details are similar in both stories, Bride and Prejudice is distinctly concerned with the intersection of Indian and non-Indian cultures, especially with respect to marriage. The anthropological themes of South Asia, including the shift from colonialism to cosmopolitanism, the Indian diaspora, familial belonging, and marriage are evident throughout the film and set up a sharp contrast between the Indian family of marriageable daughters and the Indian and non-Indian Americans that have come to visit. Many of the emphases in the two cultures are polar opposites, but at the end of the film, East and West are joined in a rapprochement marked by two Indian-American marriages. India's history as a colonial nation and America's image as a cosmopolitan one provide a clash of stereotyp

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Active Listening Response A comparison of Fred Rogers' 1969 Senate hearing on PBS funding for his program with that of Al Gore in 2009 on the global warming issue shows very distinct differences between the two men's delivery of their addresses. Mr. Rogers is earnest and impassioned about his subject, and the tilt of his head and the tenor of his voice indicate how profoundly he cares about the children. He reinforces that message by stating multiple times that he cares about what they see and hear on television. He prov

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According to Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality, the mind consists of three basic parts: the id, superego and ego. The id is the unconscious part of the mind that is driven by the "pleasure principle," or the desire for immediate gratification of our urges (Stangor, 2011, p. 339). The superego is the part of the mind that tells us what we should or should not do. The ego is "the largely conscious controller or decision-maker of personality" (Stangor, 2011, p. 339). One of the times when I felt these competing forces was when I had an afterschool job worki

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