Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Cultural Identity Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cultural Identity Interview - Essay Example Peter says that Bulgarians are the Caucasian type, almost all of them are ethnic Bulgarians, but also there are minority groups like Turks and Roma populations. According to Peter, many Southern regions in Bulgaria are heavily populated by people who have Turkish ethnicity, in some villages even only Turkish is spoken. A double check with the Wikipedia (2006) shows that Turks amount to 9.4% of the population. The other Bulgarian minority are Gypsies. Peter shares that Gypsies in general are the poorest among all Bulgarians and are not at all integrated in the dominant Bulgarian culture. - Languages Peter’s native language is Bulgarian, and this is the only official language, although there are other languages minorities speak, like Turkish, Roman, or Macedonian. The Bulgarian language belongs to the group of Slavic languages (Wikipedia, 2006). In the United States Peter speaks English, especially at work. He has little accent and in my opinion he has no difficulties in communication in English. Still, he says, â€Å"In the US there are many other languages that can be of use for you. I would say that US is a bilingual country, because Spanish language is also very popular, even sometimes is it widely spoken†. He uses Bulgarian every day at home or when talking to his friends via the Internet. He adds that he is also trying to improve his Spanish, and Russian, because both languages are useful for him at his work as a guard at a local mall. Peter has learnt English and Spanish at his secondary school. This partially explains why he knows Russian and is eager to improve his speaking abilities in the language. Religion Peter is an Orthodox Christian. He says that most people in Bulgaria belong to the Orthodox Church. Further investigation into the Orthodox religion proves that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Church (Wikipedia, 2006), but minority groups have other religions, like Islam, adopted mostly by the Turkish population; some Protestants and Roman Catholics (less than 1,5% together, according to Wikipedia, 2006). When talking about religion, Peter mentions that Bulgarians in general are not very religious. He says, this varies from region to region, but the communist period that ended in 1989 did not tolerate religious beliefs, partly because of the high influence the Church used to have, and because its financial strength that threatened the status quo. Today, the Southern and Western regions of the country are more religious than the Northern and Eastern regions. Also, where Turkish population is predominant, there are villages with no Christian churches, and it is a normal thing, he says, for any village to have a church. Food Peter mentions a variety of national favorite foods - foods containing various meat types, potatoes, rice and different types of vegetables. It seems bread is something Bulgarians do not miss at the table. Peter says that fruit and vegetables are much cheaper in Bulgaria, than they are in the United States, and are much tastier, having fewer conservatives. According to Peter, the Bulgarian cuisine today is heavily influenced by the Arab cuisine and is closer to

Monday, October 28, 2019

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Essay Example for Free

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Essay 1. How do you  explain the Mariner’s killing of the albatross? I would describe the Mariner’s killing of the albatross as very ungrateful. If the albatross had not come along, the entire crew would have most likely died in the ice field. The Mariner was completely senseless in shooting the albatross; therefore, of course there was going to be very bad consequences. The consequences tend to be even worse than death at some points. The albatross did the Mariner and his crew a favor, by saving their lives, and the Mariner ungratefully shoots and kills his own savior. The lonely sailors treat the albatross like a person, a â€Å"Christian soul.† In Christian symbolism, Christ is sometimes metaphorically compared to a bird; hence, the albatross can be a symbol for Christ. Since the Mariner senselessly shot the albatross, he was persecuted, which is why the rest of his trip did not go very well. The poem describes the bird as a holy thing â€Å"hailed in God’s name.† The Mariner is like the Christian who commits sins, causing Christ to die on the cross. It’s God’s rules that Man should respect all of His creations; the albatross is part of God’s creations. In respecting the albatross, the Mariner would be respecting God himself. Furthermore, if the Mariner decided to respect God, and his creations, he may have had a better remainder of a trip. 2. One literary critic has said that the poem begins in despair and ends in hope. Telling the tale leaves the Mariner â€Å"free† for a time. Another critic has called the Mariner â€Å"the voice of experience that transcends what man can learn in space and time.† Discuss the validity of these ideas in relation to the poem as you understand it. Lastly, connect the theme of redemption to another literary work we have studied. 3. The idea of one’s life beginning in despair and ending in hope reflects the idea of redemption. The mariner begins the poem in despair and guilt after he has killed the sacred albatross. The guilt is present in both the natural and the super natural world and is clearly depicted in the albatross that hung around his neck. It is not until the mariner appreciates both nature and prayer that he has found the road to redemption. The mariner is condemned to a life in death situation placing him in a different world than everyone else. He teaches us through space and time in his new form of living. He learns from his sins and searches for the path of redemption. The Christian allegory shows the bridge between the idea of fate being chosen for you and the ability to redirect fate. Like in The Scarlett Letter, Hester Prynn was searching for redemption from the sin she committed. She was forced into another world in which no one could quite understand. She had to overcome the judgments of another society and achieve her redemption in which she found in the natural world, her house in the woods, and the supernatural world, he redemption with God. 4. One scholar believes the Wedding Guest is chosen because he represents â€Å"unsophisticated innocence preoccupied with pleasures of the moment in a universe of whose full dimensions and population he is quite ignorant.† As a result of hearing the Mariner’s tale, the Wedding Guest changes, becoming â€Å"a sadder and wiser man.† Of what has he been forlorn (deprived)? Address this criticism in light of your understanding of Coleridge’s narrative. I believe that the Wedding Guest becomes, in a sense, under the possession of the Mariner. The wedding-guest sat on a stone,/He cannot choose but hear;/And thus spake on that ancient man,/The bright-eyed mariner (Rime 1.17-20). The Mariner even refers to the guest as immature when he says that he â€Å"listens like a three years child.† After the Mariner’s story comes to an end, it is affirmed that the Wedding Guest has taken in knowledge that dramatically changes him as a human. He went like one that hath been stunned/And is of sense forlorn:/A sadder and a wiser man,/He rose the morrow morn (Rime 7.622-625). I believe that the Wedding Guest is the type of person who tends to take everything in his life for granted; hence, he wanted a change in his routine life. This story was one of the many instances that changed a person. I definitely see this as a point of reflection in his life, of what his life used to be. It can also be seen as a prevention to change his way of thinking before it becomes much too late.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

John Rocker :: essays research papers

"Imagine having to take the (No.) 7 train to (Shea Stadium) looking like you're (in) Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing. "The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners," the 25-year-old Georgia native said. "You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?" These were the words spoken from Atlanta Braves Pitcher John Rocker in a December issue of Sports Illustrated. Those powerful lines are what people are chatting over. "Should we forgive him, or should we throw him in jail"? Those are only a couple opinions that are swirling around on what Major League Baseball should do. I, in no way agree with what Mr. Rocker is saying, however he is being treated is fair. In order to fully understand where Mr. Rocker was coming from, we have to go back to the MLB Playoffs. The Cinderella New York Mets take the Braves into extra innings in the 5th game of the National League Playoffs. In comes John Rocker, bursting with energy to try and shut the Mets down and take the Braves to the World Series. The Mets had other ideas and laced a couple base hits off Rocker, which eventually lead to the homerun that ended the game. Then when the Braves made it to the World Series, Rocker faced more harsh words from the New York Yankee's fans. The yelling and objects cascaded down from the stands whenever Rocker was out there. This threw his game off, and once again the Braves got beat in the series 4 - 0. So What? The fans where not very affectionate to Rocker, that's their job. Rocker should be able to deal with it like a true sportsman. He had to turn around and offend every human that is not like him. Was it wrong? Yes. Did he apologize? Yes, at least a dozen tim es, but to some ethnic groups that have been wronged like this for hundreds of years, this is what they have been dealing with. 	 As the people's outrage became more evident, Bud Selig, the commissioner of MLB, got involved.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Pestel Analysis of Burger King Essay

Environmental factors may contribute to the increasing prevalence of obesity, especially in black and low-income populations. In this paper, the geographic distribution of fast food restaurants is examined relative to neighborhood sociodemographics. Methods Using geographic information system software, all fast-food restaurants within the city limits of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2001 were mapped. Buffers around census tracts were generated to simulate 1-mile and 0.5-mile â€Å"shopping areas† around and including each tract, and fast food restaurant density (number of restaurants per square mile) was calculated for each area. Using multiple regression, the geographic association between fast food restaurant density and black and low-income neighborhoods was assessed, while controlling for environmental confounders that might also influence the placement of restaurants (commercial activity, presence of major highways, and median home values). Results In 156 census tracts, a total of 155 fast food restaurants were identified. In the regression analysis that included the environmental confounders, fast-food restaurant density in shopping areas with 1-mile buffers was independently correlated with median household income and percent of black residents in the census tract. Similar results were found for shopping areas with 0.5-mile buffers. Predominantly black neighborhoods have 2.4 fast-food restaurants per square mile compared to 1.5 restaurants in predominantly white neighborhoods. Conclusions The link between fast food restaurants and black and low-income neighborhoods may contribute to the understanding of environmental causes of the obesity epidemic in these populations.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

“Lone Star”-Borderlands America Essay

Hispano-Mestizo America/Borderlands America: â€Å"Lone Star† The film â€Å"Lone Star† is a murder mystery film based in Frontera, Texas which is a multicultural border town. The significance of the conclusion of â€Å"Lone Star† is based off of several contexts presented throughout the film. The portrayed contexts of the film have to do with relationships and conflicts between races, social classes and power struggle within a community and the border between Mexico and Texas. These contexts place significance throughout the film as a murder mystery is sort of a background to all the events and conflicts that take place. The phrase â€Å"Forget the Alamo† is an idea that is depicted throughout the film. The phrase refers back to the time when Texas was trying to gain independence from Mexico and also deals with a great conflict and broken promises between the Anglos and Mexicans. This idea significantly deals with conflicts between the borders. The phrase is meant to say that they should forget the border war and racial conflict. We even see the border issue between Mercedes Cruz who is a Mexican restaurant owner and a Mexican immigrant herself. She will make rude remarks to the Mexican â€Å"illegal aliens† as she presumes them to be. And to other fellow Mexican Americans, if they speak their language she will stop them and tell them to speak in English because they are â€Å"in America†. And she will even call the border control on other Mexicans she finds trying to sneak into the border town. The concept of cross-cultural relationships is shown in the film by the relationship between Pilar and Sam. Pilar is a Mexican-American school teacher and Sam is an Anglo police officer of Frontera. They had a past relationship when they were younger and in the film find a recent renewed romance between each other. This idea also contributes to the conflicts between races. There is some conflict between Anglos and Mexican-Americans. There is some hostility between them that we see in the film when we look at Pilar’s mother, Mercedes, and between Sam. She has not liked the idea of her daughter being with a â€Å"white† man even back when they were teenagers and still in their renewed romance as they are older. Another reason of her disapproval deals with a surprise later found that Pilar and Sam are half brother and sister. We also see the racial conflict with the questioned morale police officer, Charley Wade. While he was a police officer he was a tyrant to Mexicans and African Americans and would do whatever he can to make them afraid of him, to show whose boss since he was an Anglo. He harassed Otis’ who was an African American who owned a bar that was popular among African Americans. He also shot a Mexican man he knew was smuggling immigrants across the border. And also at the end of the film, he attempted to unjustly kill Otis. His character just showed racial prejudice and abuse of his positional power as a police officer. Another concept from the film is the conflict between the social classes within the community. This concept is portrayed in the film by the political election approaching and the involvement the Mayor Hollis Pogue in the murder mystery years ago. He struggles with dealing with his social and political status and possible loss of power as Mayor in the truth that he is the one who killed Charley Wade. There is also a part of the film that shows the class struggle as the talk of building a new jail as it is an issue of the upcoming sheriff election which is between Sam and a fellow Mexican colleague. And also from the issue about the school curriculum and the debate about which one teaches the â€Å"real† history of the area which one place the right race as the â€Å"good guys†. The teachers debate about this as they know they live in a community with different cultures, race, and classes. In the film â€Å"Lone Star† we see a struggle between the contexts of race, class, power struggle and border wars presented throughout the film. Although the murder mystery is the main plot of the film, these issues are really what the film is about. The film shows the cultural and racial struggles in the relationships  between Otis and other African-Americans and Mexicans against Charley Wade, Mercedes and Sam, Sam and Pilar, and Mercedes and â€Å"illegal aliens†. Whatever race or culture they may be, they have to deal with multicultural issues whether it may be against their own race or another race. Some deal with it in prejudice ways and some have the â€Å"forget the Alamo† mindset. â€Å"Lone Star† opens its viewers to the sometimes â€Å"hidden† issues that are often unforeseen in border towns. It shows the cultural, racial, power, class struggles and conflict present in border towns. It also shows the hardship that the community and people of the community deal with, not only with each other but also within themselves and identifying who they really are and trying to be multicultural and dealing with people of different race and cultures. REFERENCES * Rosa Linda, Fregoso. â€Å"†Gender, Multiculturalism, and the Missionary Position on the Borderlands†Ã¢â‚¬  Docutek Eres. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. . * Mckenzie, Shelly. â€Å"Teaching John Sayles’ Lone Star: A Guide for Teachers of Grades 10-12.† Mediapede.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. .