Hispanic Groups Living in US Essay Example for Free

Hispanic Groups Living in US Essay It is very common for someone walking down the streets of any American city and hears Spanish spoken. The federal government of America coined this term ‘Hispanic’ way back in 1970’s to refer people tracing their origin in Spanish speaking countries which were former Spanish colonies or those who can trace their origin to Spain or its territory. This represents a varied range of countries and ethnic groups with different social, political and emotional experiences. A large part of Hispanics still try to characterize themselves in terms of their individual ethnic identity as Mexican, Cuban, and others rather the whole term ‘Hispanic’. Hispanic Americans, n. d. ) The wide range of the Hispanic group includes Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Columbians, Central and South Americans among others. The Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Cubans form the largest part of the Hispanics living in America. (Tienda and Mitchell, 2006) America’s cultural canvas is very vivid as each group brought their respective culture’s specialty with them which has totally mingled in the main force. The Hispanic community has left their mark over traditions, customs and cultures throughout the country and the bilingual education structure of America displays the growing importance in the country as they are the largest minority community. It has been noticed that people from the Hispanic groups have done well in various fields and their progress is something to be watched. The 2002 census showed the Mexicans forming the largest part of the population with 66. 9%, followed by Central and Latin Americans at 14. 3%, third position held by Puerto Ricans, others 6. % and last Cubans at 3. 7%. (The Hispanic Population, 2002) Majority of the Hispanics are native born neutralizes citizens or have acquired legal residency status. They are largely concentrated in the west part of the country especially the urban areas of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. There is a tendency among them to live in family units which are generally large in size unlike the non-Hispanic Whites. In comparison to Whites communities, the rate of unemployment and poverty is much more in the Hispanic groups. Mexican Americans are the one to form the largest part of the Hispanic population living in America and they are also the largest group of White Hispanics. The Mexican immigration could be traced in the past decades as they started establishing themselves in the 1600s in southwestern parts of the country who later became New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado and Texas. (Stacy, 2002) The work at railroads and steel industry of the Midwest America attracted them in the 1800s and this immigration is still continued to the present time. Today majority of Mexican Americans are U. S. born citizens. The major causes behind the migration of Mexicans to America are self-liberty, quality education, modes to improve economic condition and achieve good living standard. Spanish is the main language for Mexican Americans, some of them are monolingual. But most can fluently speak both English and Spanish. The attitude of the Mexican Americans is something to be watched as more than 90% of them are literate. Their respect towards others is also acclaimed as their communications are respectful in manner. They are one of the strict believers in the concept of familism (Nash, 2007) and value family considerations over individual as well very much rely on family in times of crisis. Patriarchy is the trend of Mexican American family. Earlier, they used to neglect family planning but at present time they have been active in that. Largely they are the followers of Roman Catholicism. They look at churches as powerful source of hope, faith and strength while spirituality and religion play significant role in times of illness, health and life. Their housing conditions are really bad as they live in colonies not appropriate for living to low-income. Central and South Americans stand second in the American Hispanic population. They owe their origin to different countries such as Guatemala, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, and Argentina among others. These groups of people display a vast diversity due to their different origins. Most of them migrated from their respective countries in the period of 1970s and 1980s when the region was going through political turbulence. Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala were suffering from civil wars that made their people to flee in search of stable life. In the present time too, the immigration is on due to different causes. Although many of them arrived in U. S. as refuges, gradually they acquired political asylum from the state. Cheap accommodation and easy immigrant services made most of the Central and South Americans settle in California. They speak other languages rather than Spanish, which is a main language, such as French and Portuguese. Though Catholicism is the main religion, Protestants and Jews as well as other beliefs are followed by this group. They have high religious values. Males are treated as the head of the family. Due to intermarriage among this group and other Hispanics or Europeans, they have become much diversified. The education level of Central and South Americans is much appreciable than other Hispanics but still they lack behind in employment tin respects of other groups. Third largest group belonging to Hispanic community are the Puerto Ricans as they became U. S. citizens after Jones Act of 1917. (Stacy, 2002) But they are not allowed to vote in U. S. Presidential elections. They are mainly settled in industrial areas such as the states of Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, and New York due to the availability of employment opportunity. Wherever they settled, they tried to hold on their tradition and culture and formed various groups and organizations to support them. Puerto Rican Americans pay huge respect to education but still they maintain a low level than other Hispanics which makes parents encourage their children to pursue good education for better future. They are bilingual speaking both Spanish and English. The expressive nature of Puerto Ricans and their hospitality is well known. They possess high respect for women, parents and elderly people and family units that they even allow more than one family living together. Puerto Ricans are followers of Catholicism and seek support from religion and spiritualism in tough situations. Their approach to health and illness is based on these beliefs. Cubans too comprise a significant part of the Hispanic community. Cuban immigration to America can be traced back to history but the major wave was created during the political turmoil of 1959 which still continues today. They have their bases at Miami, Florida and New Jersey. They can be considered as the most affluent among all the Hispanic groups due to their well performance in education, which led to better employment opportunities and a good quality lifestyle. Till recent past they faced problem in speaking English, but nowadays they have overcome that. The Cuban Americans are very much into their culture that they most often do not show much interest in the Anglo culture. They hold a rather conservative outlook towards politics due to their experience in their native country. They possess diverse beliefs of religion; still Catholicism is more prevalent among them. They stand against communism holds much important place in U. S. The Hispanic groups in spite of their various origins share some commonalities as well some major differences among them. Spanish is a bond that binds all of them, while most of them are bilingual. Approach towards education is another common factor between them as all the groups show very much respect to education as they know it is the only key to good living. Religion too makes them stand on a common platform as most of the Hispanic Americans are followers of Catholicism. Political perspective is one thing that creates differences among these groups as each of them has their respective political idea. Cuban Americans support Republicans as they are inclined towards conservative idea of politics whereas Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Central and South Americans have a liking for democrats. Still, Catholic faith, language and belief in their respective culture make them stand on a single platform.

The English sports Essay Example for Free

The English sports Essay The English sports council calculates that there are 70,000 pitches in England alone. Half of the total pitches are used for recreational football matches and practices. Another 1/4 for cricket. The remaining usage being for sports such as hockey and rugby. There are also 300 artificial grass pitches in addition. I have chosen a sports club called Esporta. It provides many of activities for its customers, such as: Crche, holistic activities, Pilates spinning, step, toning etc all through the week. For popular national sports such as football, rugby league, rugby union, cricket, golf, motor racing, and horse racing, spectating plays a large part.   Old Trafford home of Manchester United footballs club is not only a stadia / a venue for footie matches but has also hosted rugby league matches and even pop concerts. Its becoming more popular to have multi-purposes stadia, it saves space and money and maintenance costs. It has been developed by increasing its capacity, improving parking facilities and making it an all seater facility. They are privately provided by companies aiming to make a profit.  In 1998 consumers spent an estimated à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3,500 million on sportswear and equipment and manufacture such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, have all become household names. Spots division and JJB sports have 449 outlets between them throughout the UK. They are all private. Heritage sites and\attractions  There were 396 million people who visited visitor attractions in 1998.It is estimated that UK heritage attractions attracted over 50 million visitors in the same year.  There is a varied range of attractions such as historic buildings, e.g. Windsor Castle to local traditions e.g. Morris Dancing. Both these attractions are completely different but linked in that they are both heritage attractions. Some heritage attractions are sightseeing places and some are historic and some are cultural. Also know as outdoor pursuits, there are over a thousand in the UK that specialise in providing this type of holiday. Skern Lodge, Devon is an outdoor activities centre. It provides visitors with a range of services, including accommodation, meals, transport and instruction in a wide range of outdoor activities such as canoeing, sailing, raft building, climbing, archery, and plenty more. It also has swimming pools, games field, bar and recreation lounge. Home-Based Leisure  There is likely to be an increase in consumer spending in areas such as audio equipment and television by over 30% between 1998 and 2003. The decline lies on reading books and newspapers are with the recent development of DVDs and videos.  The private sector dominates the market for home-based leisure. The volume of UK spending on home-based leisure is around 40 billion.

Importance Of Semiotics In A Film Film Studies Essay

Importance Of Semiotics In A Film Film Studies Essay Semiotics in film is always an important and perplexing element in any picture. It is the    signification and communication of signs and symbols to develop a plot and define certain events that happen within the plot.    Popular Films such as The Sixth Sense and The Matrix have unbelievable amount of reference to aspects previously mentioned. The film The Sixth Sense uses great color and different shots to represent and imply meaning and patterns in the story. Where as The Matrix    is referenced more toward the Bible in this analysis and uses much religious references and color to develop its story and meaning.   In the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense made by M. Night Shyamalan, extreme symbolism is used to mystify and personify the feeling of fright to the viewer.    Each symbol in the picture is an important contribution to the film. In this film, and eight year old boy named Cole is haunted by a gift of seeing ghosts.    Cole is terrified by visitations from these ghosts that want him to help them resolve things left undone in their previous lives.    Cole, with no one left to turn to, goes to a psychologist named Dr. Malcolm Crowe that helps him though out the movie deal with his haunting gift. One important symbol in this film is shadows and reflections.    Shadows since the beginning of time have been known to symbolize spirits.    At various points in the film, the camera reverts to shots of shadows that signify the presence of spirits around Cole. Doors and windows are also extremely important in this film.    Dr. Malcolm comes across many locked doors throughout the film.    Doors are said to signify entrance into other dimensions and realities.    Dr.    Malcolms encounters with locked doors are a way of clueing the audience in on his severed connection with the real world.    At one point in the film Dr. Malcolm is looking through a glass window at his wife with another man.    The glass is used to help signify the strain in Malcolm and his wifes relationship. The church, religious figurines and plastic toy soldiers are all also significant symbols in the film.    Cole searches for a place of peace to hide from the ghosts, and Malcolm directs him to the church.    Religious figurines such as figures of Jesus and various saints are focused on which all remind the viewer of death. The cold temperature also signifies the coming of sprits.    In each scene the temperature drops, and the characters breath is able to be seen when a ghost is going to approach Cole.    Possibly the most reoccurring and important symbol through this film is use of the color red.    I have heard various interpretations of red as a symbol in this film.    In probably the most semiotic filled scene, Cole is traveling up a spiral staircase following a red balloon.    In the shot, you can see Coles shadow on the wall of the staircase which we already have established as a symbol of relevant spirits.    The spiral staircase is said to symbolize the journey into the afterlife, while the red balloon is supposed to symbolize a spirit as well.    Another source of red in the film is the box that a dead girl gives to Cole to deliver to her family that has a video tape in it bound in a red ribbon.    We later find out that the video is a tape of her step mother poisoning her and when he delivers it to the family the murderer is dressed in what else but a bright red suit.    Coles safe place, the tent he built, is also red and also surrounded by figurines.    When Cole confides in his mother to tell his secret to, she is also dressed in a red sweater which suggests that she is now Coles safe haven.    Also, the church that I have previously spoken about has red doors, and the door knob of the basement that Malcolm is locked out of is red.   Ã‚   A totally different but interesting take on the use of the color red in the film is that in the Catholic religion red is worn on Pentecost.    Pentecost is said to be the birth of the church, and a time when Jesus could communicate and pass on his faith with the disciples.    Every time there seems to be an important conversation in the movie someone is either wearing red or surrounded by red which could signify important communication as Pentecost does to Catholics.    Another movie that holds great semiotic symbolism as The Sixth Sense is The Matrix.   There are several signs and symbols that occur during the movie that have references to Christianity. An important scene is where Neo is given a choice between two pills: one blue, which would enable him to wake up safe in his bed but never learn the truth about the Matrix; the other red, which would allow him to see how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Here the color red could be used to symbolize action. The pill is used to rescue him from the Matrix representing him being saved from the world. Another example is the name Trinity who is one of the main characters. This can be considered as a symbol for the Holy Trinity. The name of Morpheus ship is the Nebuchadnezzar. This is a reference to King Nebuchadnezzar mentioned in the book of Daniel in the Bible. In The Matrix, Zion is the underground home of the free humans. Zion is used as a generalized metaphor for a mythical city which could be considered to be the last hope for humanity. It receives mention in the Bible in the book of Revel ations. Zion is often used metaphorically, to symbolize Jerusalem and the Promised Land to come, in which God dwells among his chosen people. Neo is The One. The Oracle has prophesied that The One would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war and bring freedom to the people. In short, he is the saviour of the human race. This can be compared to the story of Christ. He was the Saviour who had been prophesied about and would bring about the freedom of mankind. Neo is an icon as he represents the saviour.Christ was betrayed by one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot. In the film, the role of the betrayer is represented by Cypher. Towards the end of the movie, Neo is killed and comes back to life. This represents the Death and the Resurrection of Christ.    Aside from the religious views of the film there is reference to a childrens story. There are several references to Alice in wonderland by Lewis Carroll. When Morpheus first contacts Neo, he tells him to follow the White Rabbit. According to Lewis Carrolls book, Alice stumbles into Wonderland because she follows a White Rabbit. When Neo and Morpheus finally meet, Morpheus says I imagine that right now, youre feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole? He then gives him a choice between two pills one blue, which would enable him to wake up safe in his bed but never learn the truth about the Matrix; the other red, which would allow him to see how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Here again is a reference to Alice in Wonderland. Alice falls down the rabbit-hole into wonderland. It is important to note that Alices entire adventure is just a dream. This could have significance in the fact that Neo is right now trapped in a dream from which he has to awaken. The Matrix is not limited to just one philosophical issue alone. There are numerous issues and concep ts that can be drawn from the Matrix, including the purpose of life, the existence of a self and personal identity, and the question of the meaning of life    Film makers like M. Night Shyamalan and Andy and Larry Wachowski have made it thrilling to go back to the movies again when it comes to looking for symbolism and meaning in movies. As one watches movies over and over again, some may find that they missed things in the movie they hadnt noticed before. It is sometimes exciting and fulfilling to find and notice things you never knew were symbols later on.    Signifiers and symbols can make a film so much more interesting to watch and figure out, and thats precisely the function they hold in these movies.    Without the sensational symbolism, either film would not hold half the brilliance and genius that they have.    Semiotics is so obviously significant to the making of films.   The major fault in semiotic analysis is its complete dependence on societies pre-existing shared knowledge. The media relies on the fact that its viewers already know current background information on their topic of choice. Without this pre defined knowledge, signs and their signifiers mean nothing and are obsolete. However that doesnt mean one cannot pick up on these signs, it would just be a bit more difficult than it would for a person who has previous knowledge of how and what the creator is using. Semiotics can be used for any type of medium to produce a meaning.    It is not limited to just films for which this essay has used but, for radio, television, written text, and illustrated pictures along with text, such as comics. All have semiotics and all have its advantages to display meaning and use symbols best fit for the form.

evilmac Evil Defined in Shakespeares Macbeth and Beowulf :: comparison compare contrast essays

Evil Defined in Macbeth and Beowulf For centuries evil was defined by human preoccupation, and it was often indicated in the English literature. From Beowulf to Macbeth, people's perception on the nature of evil had matured and became more complex. In Beowulf's period, evil was simply defined based on outer appearances and actions. The author of Beowulf described the evil Grendel as a fearsome monster: "He(with sharp claws)...snatched up thirty men, smashed them." For the same reason, Grendel's mother was also considered evil although she merely wanted to revenge her son. The last evil character in the story was the Dragon. He killed the Geats and burned their homes with his breath of fire. Monster and evil certainly had the same meaning in the Pre-Christian time. As Christian was introduced, a new definition of evil that concentrated on human values and thoughts had emerged. The Christian believed that the seven deadly sins were the cause of evil. Thus in the play Macbeth, Macbeth's tragic flaws were actually the deadly sins. They were greedy and envy. Macbeth was not satisfied with his current position, "Thane of Glamis," and not even his newly gained "Thane of Cawdor" would please him. He had only one thing on his mind, the throne. When he became the king, he envied Banquo's having heirs who would be rivals for the throne. The Christian also developed the theory of the great chain of being. It basically stated that a person could not and was not allowed to change his social status. Thus in the play, everyone eventually turned against Macbeth, who had broken the great chain of being by taking the throne from the rightful king. At the end, Macbeth died as an evil being who had broken all the Christian rules. The nature of evil also became unclear as it got more complex. In Macbeth, the play began with the three witches' meeting. To a first-time reader, it would appear that these "weird sister" were the evil ones, because it was a common human perception. Who could be more evil than a witch who vowed to punish a sailor only because his wife cursed her and refused to give her some

Government Corruption Essay -- Corruption in Government

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Over the last few years, the issue of corruption--the abuse of public office for private gain--has attracted renewed interest, both among academics and policymakers. There are a number of reasons why this topic has come under recent inspection. Corruption scandals have toppled governments in both major industrial countries and developing countries. In the transition countries, the shift from command economies to free market economies has created massive opportunities for the appropriation of rents, excessive profits, and has often been accompanied by a change from a well-organized system of corruption to a more chaotic and deleterious one. With the end of the cold war, donor countries have placed less emphasis on political considerations in allocating foreign aid among developing countries and have paid more attention to cases in which aid funds have been misused and have not reached the poor. And slow economic growth has persisted in many countries with malfuncti oning institutions. This renewed interest has led to a new flurry of empirical research on the causes and consequences of corruption. Economists know quite a bit about the causes and consequences of corruption. An important body of knowledge was acquired through theoretical research done in the 1970s by Jagdish Bhagwati, Anne Krueger, and Susan Rose-Ackerman, among others. A key principle is that corruption can occur where rents exist--typically, as a result of government regulation--and public officials have discretion in allocating them. The classic example of a government restriction resulting in rents and rent-seeking behavior is that of an import quota and the associated licenses that civil servants give to those entrepreneurs willing to pay bribes. More recently, researchers have begun to test some of these long-established theoretical hypotheses using new cross-country data. Indices produced by private rating agencies grade countries on their levels of corruption, typically using the replies to standardized questionnaires by consultants living in those countries. The replies are subjective, but the correlation between indices produced by different rating agencies is very high, suggesting that most observers more or less agree on how corrupt countries seem to be. The high prices paid to the rating agencies by their customers (usually multinational companies a... ...e role of other forms of institutional inefficiency. Corruption is most prevalent where there are other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, bureaucratic red tape, and weak legislative and judicial systems. This raises the question of whether it can be established that corruption, rather than other factors correlated with it, is the cause of low economic growth. Regression analysis provides some evidence that if one controls for other forms of institutional inefficiency, such as political instability, corruption can still be shown to reduce growth. Nevertheless, it is hard to show conclusively that the cause of the problem is corruption alone, rather than the institutional weaknesses that are closely associated with it. The truth is that probably all of these weaknesses are intrinsically linked, in the sense that they feed upon each other (for example, red tape makes corruption possible, and corrupt bureaucrats may increase the extent of red tape so they can extract additional bribes) and that getting rid of corruption helps a country overcome other institutional weaknesses, just as reducing other institutional weaknesses helps it curb corruption.

Dr. Heideggers Experiment: Reality Or Illusion Essay -- essays resear

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment: Reality or Illusion In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, one of the central ideas of the story revolves around the idea of reality versus illusion. Of course the overriding theme of the story dealt with the ethical dilemma of changing old age into youth, still a major part of how the story was interpreted involved a personal decision on how you took the story; as literal or figurative. The perception that appealed to me the most was reading the text as literal, and concluding the experiment as reality rather then a figment of imagination caused by the intoxicating brew. A couple of points that Hawthorne made led me to believe that the story was indeed a true testament of the powers of the magical water. The first is rather evident and straight forward because it happens before a single person even raises glass close to their lips. I am of course referring to the fifty- five year old rose that was given to Dr. Heidegger on the eve of his wedding by his bride to be. Heidegger places the rose in the water so there could be proof of the mysterious water's power, but in the same act of proving its power to his guests Hawthorne proves to us the power of the water because when the rose regains life nobody was drunk or had even attempted to drink the water. "The crushed and dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were r...

Character Analysis of John in “The Yellow Wallpaper” Essay

John is the typical Victorian husband. He is authoritative, strict, head of the household. He is a physician of â€Å"high standing†. He is very controlling and expects his wife to obey his orders which was quite normal for the time. He is a doctor but only understands physical illnesses. He cannot relate to any mental problems particularly as far as women are concerned. For him, it is something she will get over, mind over matter: â€Å"You see he does not believe I am sick!† He dictates how his wife should be treated and says she needs lots of sleep and quiet. He forbids her from writing her feelings down or from seeing anyone. We get the feeling this is more about him hiding her away rather than it being for her own good. He shows no empathy of how she is feeling and dismisses it as nervous depression or hysteria. He is very stiff and buttoned up: â€Å"John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not be felt and seen and put down in figures.† He is undoubtedly fond of his wife and loves her in his own way. However, he treats her like a child or a pet and sees her as something fragile to be protected: â€Å"He took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose.† He does not see her as an equal but as someone who should look up to him, to be meek and mild and not to be taken seriously: â€Å"John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in a marriage.† John is rather a cold character showing no understanding or even wanting to understand his wife’s illness. He does not see it even as an illness but rather as her needing to pull herself together. He is almost fearful of any mention of mental illness and when she suggests her body is well but not her mind he gives her â€Å"a stern reproachful look† and describes it as a â€Å"false and foolish fancy†. His prime concern is to keep his standing in society and does not want his wife to be an embarrassment to him.