Who Was CELIA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Who Was CELIA - Essay Example Celia participated also in singing contest where she won many of them. As she grew up, she realized that her career was in music and assumed that her music created awareness to the world about the Cuban culture and the happiness of living life to the fullest (Tatum, 1002). In 1947, Celia enrolled to study at the Cuban Conservatory of Music and was discovered by one of the most famous orchestras called music group La Sonora Matancera. In 1960s, Celia moved to United States where she became a citizen due to political changes in Cuba. A few years later, she married Pedro Knight who was a trumpet player in her group. Celia recorded and performed with many musicians and became the voice of Salsa. While performing, she would wear colorful clothing and bright makeup on her face. Also, her dancing was energetic like her voice. Celia died in 2003 as a result of brain cancer (Tatum, 1003). In conclusion, it is evident that Celia was the Queen of salsa. Also, she had the passion of music since her childhood. Also, Celia created awareness to the world about the Cuban culture and the happiness of living life to the

Atmosphere and Fossil Fuel Inputs Essay Example for Free

Atmosphere and Fossil Fuel Inputs Essay 1. Weather and Climate. Discuss the concept of energy/mass conservation as it pertains to the climate system. Be sure to address each component of the climate system in your example and feel free to use multiple examples if necessary to address each component. 2. Facts and Fiction. Explain the figure below. Be sure to address the three key components discussed in class as well as the overall (net) anthropogenic impacts on global warming. 3. Atmospheric Composition Structure. Draw a diagram labeling the five atmospheric layers discussed in class as well as the ozone layer. On your diagram, list the significance of each layer. 4. Atmospheric Circulation. Calculate the residence time of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere given the figure of the carbon cycle below. You can assume that the ocean, soil, vegetation and fossil fuel inputs together make the rate. 5. Ozone. Compare and contrast the two types of ozone depletion. Be sure to discuss the cause(s) of each, the impacts of each and the location of each at a minimum.

Half Of A Yellow Sun Chimamanda Adichie English Literature Essay

Half Of A Yellow Sun Chimamanda Adichie English Literature Essay After reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies enthralling novel, Half of a Yellow Sun is not a conventional war story. It is a story whose characters live in a changing wartime atmosphere, doing their best to keep that environment at bay. And while the ravages of the Biafran war are well known, they do not manifest themselves in predictable or one-note ways here. From reading the reviews, I learned that this is the authors second novel. It is written with astounding empathy and the natural grace of a normal storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. In this literary analysis, I plan on examining aspects of the literary elements that Adichie incorporates as far as her writing style and her reasons for depicting certain elements in certain light. I also plan to break down some characterizations and cultural elements of her novel that I relate to in trying to understand inter-racial/class conflict. Finally, I l ook at how Adichie transforms her characters throughout the novel. Although this analysis may not follow a clearly defined stream, much like the novel does, rest assured that I cover all my bases. The characters and landscape are vividly painted -thirteen year old Ugwu is employed as a houseboy for a university professor full of revolutionary zeal. Olanna is the professors beautiful mistress, who has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos for a grimy university town and the charisma of her new lover. And Richard is a shy young Englishman courting Olannas twin sister, an enigmatic figure who refuses to belong to anyone. As Nigerian troops advance and the three must run for their lives, their ideals are severely tested and so are their loyalties to one another. In my opinion, the central theme revolves around moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, and about class and race. Adichie indicts the outside world for its unconcern and probes the arrogance and ignorance that perpetuated the conflict. Based loosely on political events in nineteen-sixties Nigeria, this novel focuses on Olanna who falls for the imperious academic whose political convictions mask his personal weaknesses; meanwhile, Kainene becomes involved with a shy, studious British white man who struggles to find his place within this conflict though he identifies with the Biafrans. After a series of massacres targeting the Igbo people, the proper world of the two couples breaks down. Half of a Yellow Sun is concerned with class and race and ethnicity which seem to play the biggest role in the relationships of characters to one another. Ugwu is only thirteen when he begins working as a houseboy for Odenigbo, but he is one of the most intelligent and observant characters in the novel. His presence throughout affects the readers experience of the story because he is initially a naive outsider looking in but by the end of the novel he comes into his own. Good or bad, life and the war situation change him into a veteran and he chronicles his experiences during the war. The ways in which Adichie reveals the differences in social class among her characters is also culturally relevant. There are the different cultural assumptions made by educated Africans like Odenigbo, nouveau riche Africans like Olannas parents, uneducated Africans like Odenigbos mother, and British expatriates like Richards ex-girlfriend Susan. Adichie seems to poke fun at certain aspects of her characters, take Odenigbo for instance; the war changes him from educated political debater to a squalid drunk and really displays the power shift in roles. Once he was the stolid figure in the novel, Olanna seems to take that place while he degenerates due to the war scenario. In reading the novel, I couldnt help but express a connection between the Holocaust and the Biafran situation. I found myself questioning why are the Igbo being massacred by the Hausa? I could only attribute their conflict to tribal resentments and rivalries. The novel makes clear that these rivalries have been intensified by British interference supplying the Hausa with money, weapons and ammunitions. Also conveyed by some excerpts throughout the book, the British had to preserve Nigeria as they saw fit a spite of France and to perpetuate their large market. They also rewrote the constitution to give the north control over the central government and even fixed the elections in their favor. Given the history of Nigeria and Britains support during the war, the defeat of Biafra seems a foregone conclusion but I can understand why a people oppressed would revolt. Adichie breaks the chronological sequence of her story so that she can delay the revelation that Baby is not Olannas child and that Olanna had a brief liaison with Richard. The effects of these revelations tell of a cultural dilemma. The babys mother rejects her, Odenigbos mother rejects her for not being a son, yet Olanna shows her true courage in accepting the baby as her own. Adichie makes a point of displaying Olannas middle-class frame of mind. She is disgusted at the cockroach eggs in her cousins house and is reluctant to let Baby mix with village children because they have lice, but by the end of the novel her privileged outlook changed by the war. It is remarkable that a woman so young could write a novel of this scope. There is a human face on these struggles, and being Nigerian-Igbo I can relate to them. Bearing witness to violence and death changes people in the story. Adichie handles descriptions of scenes of violence, death, and famine in an almost brutal and nonchalant way. I can only image what goes through Ugwus mind being that he participates in the rape of the bar girl then finds out that his sister was also gang-raped. Richard, on the other hand, seems like he wants to be African, learns to speak Igbo, and says we when he speaks of Biafra. Although the Biafran soldiers are not impressed, it seems a noble gesture to want to be an Igbo man. Reading this book has deepened my understanding of Biafra in particular and war in general each character make difficult moral judgments. I find myself being least sympathetic to Olanna when she cheats in retaliation, to Ugwu when he rapes the bar-girl, to Eberechi for exchanging favors for security from the soldier, even to Odenigbos mother when she chases Olanna out of the house. Each of the major characters also deal with the question of identity who they are, how they want to be? It is evident that the circumstance in any culture dictates how people act and react and justify their behavior. In this case, survival between two tribes was the catalyst in a previously stable country, language reinforce the novelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s themes of racial and social division. For example, Ugwuà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s love of the English language, or the mixing of dialects and words throughout the novel. Even in Richardà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s character, he seems like an outsider. I feel sympathy for him and a lthough his character adds extra insight into the Nigeria/Biafra war, I think that he is much like a ghost roaming the entire novel looking for a place to fit in. That is why it is particularly sad at the end of the novel when Kainene doesnt return as she would have been the only person to allow Richard to assimilate into the culture. In conclusion, the story is one of survival and remembrance from an Igbo perspective; it is important story to retell. The story begins as Ugwus aunty describes to Ugwu his new employer: Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair. It ends with Ugwus dedication of his book: For Master, my good man. I can only consider how Ugwus relation to his master has changed throughout the course of the story, it fitting that Ugwu, and not Richard, should be the one who writes the story of the war and his people. It was a surprise to discover that Ugwu was the author of The World was Silent When We Died? I found this a great twist and I didnt see it coming. Since loyalty and betrayal is one of the dominant themes throughout the novel, the key characters betray each other, or themselves repeatedly but the greater threat from an outside enemy helps to put things in perspective and enable them to forgive and move on and provides for unification. I found the end of the story sad but settling since the Igbos returned to their homes, I cannot image having to flee from my home due to racial or tribal persecution.

Dr. Mengele Essay -- essays research papers

The life story of Josef Mengele is one that is filled many twists and turns that play out like a suspense story with an ending that does not seem to fit what one would expect. The authors of the book Mengele: The Complete Story, Gerald L. Posner and John Ware, wrote this book largely with information taken from diaries and letters of Mengele’s, and interviews with those who knew him. It is a look into the life and times of a man whose nickname was “The Angel of Death.'; Josef’s life and post-mortem fate could be divided into three different chapters. His pre-war life and life during World War II was one of privilege and freedom to satisfy his perverse desire to perform bizarre and mostly useless medical experiments on unwilling participants in Nazi death camps. His post-war life consisted of being constantly on the run; a lonely and depressed fugitive wanted by countries worldwide for the atrocities he committed against Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and others during World War II. His lonely death by drowning, in Brazil, and humiliating post-mortem fate suited the man well. Although this report might seem to follow a chronological order, it is not simply a telling of a life story. It is a look into who Josef Mengele was, and how he changed over the years. The authors underlying main theme, throughout the book, seemed to be to show that Josef Mengele was not who his infamous legend would dictate. It is true that he was a cold and ruthless killer who murdered thousands of innocent people. He earned the nickname “The Angel of Death'; for the way he would remain calm and composed while performing such torturous an act as a live dissection of a human being. He had a sick fascination with twins. He believed that twins held the secret to discovering how to perfect a master race. The following is a description by Vera Alexander, a witness of Mengele’s horrors, of a common experiment Mengele would perform on twins: “One day SS men came and took two children away. They were two of my pets, Tito and Nino. One of them was a hunchback. Two or three days later, an SS man brought them back in a terrible state. They had been cut. The hunchback was sewn to the other child, back to back, their wrists back to back too. There was a terrible smell of gangrene. The cuts were dirty and the children cried every night.';(P.37 par... ...t, he regretted not working harder to exterminate more people than he had. Mengele was presented as who he was. This makes it seem as though there is an unfair amount of negativity presented about him. Other than a few occasions where he showed compassion, such as with his son and cleaning lady, he really did not have many redeeming qualities. Mengele personified hatred, arrogance, and cruelty. Trying to keep a balance between the positive and negative of the man would have been impossible. At the end of his life, Mengele was still the same man he always was. He had been humbled by his life of simplicity, yet the arrogance and bitterness he showed as a young SS doctor were still present. Although Mengele evaded capture and was never brought to trial, it does not mean he was never punished. If Mengele had been put to death, his life would have been over, without any further suffering. Mengele lived, and his life of loneliness, isolation, and alienation from his family and the ones he loved was much more painful than had he been put out of his misery years earlier. With his life a waste, all his aspirations dead, and his spirit weakened, Mengele’s life was his punishment.

America is not a better country than it was in the 1950s

There are many people in the United States that claim the country is better today than it has ever been. The country has undergone two centuries of transformation, as people have increasingly gained more and more rights and freedoms, technology has made the lives of all Americans markedly easier, and its citizens have elected its first African-American president only a century after slavery ended. However, despite all this progress, it comes with a significant cost as people are forced to deal with threats like terrorism, unchecked scientific experimentation, and the dissolution of the American nuclear family.It seems that much of the current line of thought in the American public came during the social revolution of the 1960s, when sex, drugs, and rock and roll were used in conjunction with far more important social issues. The social rebellion of the 1960s, along with the unpopular war in Vietnam, gave way to the depressing decade of the 1970s, and the selfishness of the 1980s, whi ch still seem to have the public in its grasp in the quest for empty consumerism. For a look back at a time when America represented the ideals that country was founded upon, one would have to look all the way back to the 1950s.During this decade, America took its place as a respected world leader, family values were still strongly in place, consumerism and technology were used to advance the country and humanity in general, and while there were still threats to the safety and well being of American citizens, there were far fewer threats than each American is forced to deal with today. In evaluating the position of the United States in the world today, it is still a world leader. However, many of the events of recent years have only made the country a target of derision, criticism, and worse, even from its allies.In the 1950s, the world was still reeling from the horrors of the Second World War. America emerged from the turmoil as one of the world’s great superpowers, along w ith the Soviet Union. America was seen as the champions of democracy, responsible for allowing the Allies to win the war and bringing freedom and peace to millions around the world. However, much of this good will and power have been slowly eroded in the decades since, and almost completely removed after the events of the past decade.After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, America had the good will and support of the entire world. However, poor leadership quickly led these same supporters to accuse America of being imperialistic and ignorant. President George W. Bush did little to help dissuade this view, and in fact contributed to America’s decline more than any president since Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. Though the election of Barack Obama has brought a fair amount of good will back to America, the damage done by Bush is long and lasting.While Christian conservatives supported Bush, his personal beliefs seriously held up scientific discoveries in the way of stem cell research by refusing to support federal funding; he denied social advancements to people fighting for equal rights; he spearheaded a renewed campaign to take away women’s rights; he also was instrumental in creating a new paranoia over immigration, despite being the president of a country made of immigrants; and, the gap between the rich and the poor continued to grow until the country found itself poised on the brink of depression.But, his greatest shortcomings were concerning the war on terror, which needlessly expanded, and his flippant abuse of federal power concerning the privacy of U. S. citizens. For a president that used the word â€Å"freedom† so frequently, he did more than most presidents to take it away from his fellow countrymen. A man who avoided serving in Vietnam, Bush learned none of the lessons and started a war in Iraq that has been compared by many as the Vietnam War of this generation. For someone that touted simple American values and hard work, Bush and his administration did a great deal to hurt America and make it weaker.This is very different than the strong leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower who used his military experience and knowledge to make sure that America remained strong and vigilant in the postwar world. Additionally, Eisenhower’s presidency also saw the emergence of a modern American system of strong family values that have all but disappeared in recent years. American family values have certainly fallen off since the 1950s, and things like divorce as well as drug use have grown to epidemic numbers.One of the key differences is the fact that couples are no longer staying together, divorce rates have gone through the roof, and the traditional nuclear family no longer seems to exist. According to an analysis of new census figures by The New York Times, married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of American households, have slipped into a minority in the Uni ted States. The American Community Survey, released in October by the Census Bureau, found that 49. 7 percent, or 55. 2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of heterosexual married couples — with and without children — just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier (Hurley). This trend shows that less and less heterosexual couples are choosing to get married, instead preferring to cohabitate and have children without marriage. These figures do not include divorce rates. In the United States, it is widely believed that one in two marriages will end in divorce, though these figures are debatable.This rate has since been revised downward to roughly 43% by the National Center for Health Statistics but was moved back up to around 50% by the Census Bureau in 2002. Most recently, according to the New York Times, it has been revised downward to just over 40% (â€Å"Divorce Rates†). This lower figure could b e due to the fact that less people are getting married, but it cannot be denied that in a society of increasing equality and civil rights, less people are getting and staying married than ever before.This is quite different than the 1950s, when the nuclear family was something that most people aspired to create: â€Å"Nearly all accounts of the 1950s stress the great importance attached to home, family, and children†¦ Indeed, widely read authors and commentators and well-known political leaders in the 1950s all extolled the virtues of a traditional family life. Women’s magazines published a steady stream of articles praising the homemaker and warning women of the perils of trying to combine marriage and childbearing with work outside the home† (Cherlin 35).Today, usually just to make ends meet, parents are often both forced to work, leaving very little room for the simple family activities that were so valued in the 1950s. This leads to a society that is increasin gly more isolated from each other and living with more fear and anxiety than ever before. This has also led to an increase in the amount of drugs that Americans consume, something which was virtually unheard of in the 1950s. The war on drugs was started in the 1980’s helped along by Nancy Reagan’s slogan, â€Å"Say no to drugs.† While this continues to apply to illegal drugs, in the years since Americans have answered with a resounding â€Å"yes† to legalized drugs. This displays how the war on drugs is not really how it sounds and is really a hypocritical creation. Drugs have become a part of the American fabric, and that is no more apparent than the recent explosion of popular legal drugs. Today, Americans use drugs to remedy everything from receding hairlines, to erectile dysfunction, to the boredom of everyday life.Federal regulations are strict in regards to advertisements of such legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol, but not pharmaceuticals. Ads for various legal drugs seem to be all over the television, print media, and the internet. In America, the war on drugs could really be renamed â€Å"the war on drugs deemed undesirable by the government,† because there remain many, many potentially harmful and addictive drugs in the public marketplace. In 1998, Americans spent $66 billion on these drugs, including $39 billion on cocaine, $12 billion on heroin, $2.2 billion on methamphetamine, and $11 billion on marijuana (ONDCP). During that same year, Americans spent more than $120 billion dollars on legal drugs, not including the staples alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine, and this number has only continued to grow. And while America is fighting a war on drugs that was not even a concept in the 1950s, it is also fighting an open-ended war on terrorism. Few things show the differences between today and the 1950s as the state of international terrorism and the fear it invokes in people. Even in the 1950s, where the U. S.fought i n Korea and there was a constant threat of nuclear annihilation, the level of fear that American citizens felt during that decade pales in comparison to what it feels in the post-9/11 world. The entire country has been in a frightened and angry state, with the threat of terrorism going hand and hand with government intrusion, religious hatred, and economic failure. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, â€Å"fear of terrorism became something of a way of life for government, first responders, and many citizens, even though no additional attacks on the American mainland have occurred† (Smelser 124).The threat of terrorism has not only affected the American psyche, but it has also led to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers who are busy fighting the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, unfortunately, there appears to be no end in sight for either war, and casualties only continue to mount on both sides. Despite all the international turmoil that followed the Second W orld War, there was always stability and confidence in America.Now that the confidence is eroding, one can only hope that stability can continue to be achieved. The United States was far better off in the 1950s than the country is today. While it had the Soviet Union to contend with, there was hardly more fear than there is today over the faceless and suicidal terrorists that threaten the very fabric of everyday life. In addition to all the added fears, there are not even the traditional support systems to help alleviate any of the anxiety, as family values are at an all-time low.People are choosing to no longer get married and when they do get married, they are getting divorced at a pace that continues to grow each passing year. With the drug epidemic, war, moral decay, and fear in the current America, one can only think back on the simpler and more stable times that marked the 1950s. Works Cited: Cherlin, Andrew. Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981 â€Å"Divorce Rates. † Divorce Reform Page. 2009. Americans for Divorce Reform. 12 July 2009. . Hurley, Dan. â€Å"Divorce Rate: It's Not as High as You Think. † The New York Times. 19 April 2005. 13 July 2009. . Office of National Drug Control Policy. â€Å"What America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988– 1998. † ONDCP Publications. 4 March 2002. 13 July 2009. . Smelser, Neil J. The Faces of Terrorism: Social and Psychological Dimensions. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007

Thailand1 essays

Thailand1 essays IINTRODUCTION Thailand, formerly Siam, officially Kingdom of Thailand, kingdom in Southeast Asia, bounded by Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on the north and west, by Laos on the northeast, by Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand (Siam) on the southeast, by Malaysia on the south, and by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar on the southwest. The total area of Thailand is 513,115 sq km (198,115 sq mi). Bangkok is the capital and largest city. IILAND AND RESOURCES Thailand lies within the Indochinese Peninsula (see Indochina), except for the southern extremity, which occupies a portion of the Malay Peninsula. The country's extreme dimensions are about 1770 km (about 1100 mi) from north to south and about 800 km (about 500 mi) from east to west. The physiography is highly diversified, but the mountain systems are the predominant feature of the terrain. A series of parallel ranges, with a north-south trend, occupy the northern and western portions of the country. Extreme elevations occur in the westernmost ranges, which extend along the Myanmar frontier and rise to 2595 m (8514 ft) atop Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. The peninsular area, which is bordered by narrow coastal plains, reaches a high point of 1790 m (5860 ft) atop Khao Luang. Another mountain system projects, in a northern and southern direction, through central Thailand. At its southern extremity, the system assumes an east-west trend and extends to the eastern frontier. Doi Pia Fai (1270 m/4167 ft) is its highest peak. The region to the north and east of this system consists largely of a low, barren plateau, called the Khorat Plateau. Making up about one-third of the country, the plateau is bordered by the Mekong River valley. Between the central and western mountains is a vast alluvial plain traversed by the Chao Phraya, the chief river of Thailand. This central plain, together with the fertile delta formed by the Chao Phraya near Bangkok, is the richest agricultural an...