ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Several variables have shaped and influenced the course of the African American. This essay explores three of these variables namely race, class and location. Coming from slavery and being considered as equal to animals without rights made African American race to be frowned upon by whites (Washington p.8-9). African Americans had limited opportunities for work, study, political rights and free movement because of their race. Race has also created a form of stereotyping that recognizes the African American as ignorant, stupid and without civilization. Being black or colored meant that one could not access several privileges in the society, and this made the whites advance through education and enterprise while leaving the black to his uncivilized ways of existence (Dubois p.60). African Americans even after the end of slavery had a difficult time of progressing economically as they lacked proper education. They became of a lower class in the majority of America, only able to do jobs that did not require education and therefore only able to secure very little in terms of pay. The lack of capital also restricted African Americans from developing their own institutions. The time to socially organize and deliberate on their future was limited because both adults and children were preoccupied with working for the white farmers and merchants who paid little coins at the end of a day’s toil. In the cotton fields it was evident that even meal times were not proper for discussions and signified the hard effect of the toil had on the African Americans. Class segregation also resulted to differences in the funding of institutions by blacks and white, for example white schools received about three times federal funding than black schools (Dubois p.112). There were fewer schools available for blacks, and those wishing to pursue education at first had to leave their towns for other towns (Washington p.42). Secondly the few schools that were in existence were mostly established as a result of pity for the African American, and were only meant to teach them basic of reading and writing without emphasizing on the application of that education to their life. As such, there were blacks studying French even though they could not use that anywhere, because their class meant that they were prohibited from the social places that French whites might frequent, and make their learning of French worthy (Dubois p.29). Differentiation by class became visible in the churches, which were mostly Baptist. The songs adopted mainly were promising of a later time when emancipation would happen to make them of equal class to other Americans. Movements calling for equality sprang from churches, since this were the only places to gather enough numbers of the African Americans while they were not working in the fields (Dubois p.120). African Americans were mainly coming from the
China’s online lending companies are having tough times because of the further slowdowns of economic development, tighter regulatory measures, and the heating of competition. The online lending sector in China is hot, and the industry, in general, is battered. The primary concern is that they usually raise the capital from the rich investors and invest it in smaller companies. This scheme of work may be beneficial in times of economic prosperity but, for the most part, these online financing firms go bankrupt because they do not have proper risk assessment and control mechanisms and are not adaptable to new economic realities. Moreover, some of them are grey and involved in the schemes of financial fraud. Online lenders started operating some half decade ago, and their quantity grew spectacularly from some 880 in 2014 to 2,595 at the end of 2015. Such increase is challenging as most companies collapse leaving their investors short of the invested funds. It leads not only to shake-ups in the industry but also to the necessity to tighten regulations. There are many people who are interested in investments into the Chinese economy, and online firms have become one of the easiest ways to do it. There are numerous reasons for China’s investment attractiveness, but the instances of online lenders collapsing and the cases they turned out to be grey, not credible, decreases the level of China’s investment potential. If the country is interested in preserving its leading positions in capital raising, then the government should conduct tighter policies of regulating the online lending industry. What is more, it would help solve the problem of capital outflows because if people know that only credible online lending companies are operating, they will not be afraid of losing their money and will invest into the Chinese economy.
August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson first performed in 1987 is still up-to-date, for it evokes contemplations on the issues which are still under discussion, and they are regarded as eternal questions. The main theme of the play under consideration is the importance to understand, accept and cherish our past, which is symbolized by the family heirloom piano. The events of the play take place in the late 30s, during the depression in the United States. And in those grave times one of the African-American families tries to find reconciliation with the ghosts from the past and move on. And almost every character of the play serves to reveal the main theme. For instance, Boy Charles, the main characters’ father, is the first one in the family to become concerned with their family past preservation which he sees in piano with his ancestors’ images carved on it: “Boy Charles used to talk about that piano all the time” (Wilson 45). This man perceives the piano as “the story of our whole family” and can’t stand the fact that someone possesses their history, as if they were “still in slavery” (Wilson 45).He even steals it from his ancestor’s master Sutter and he brings their future to his family to show the future generation what it was like. In this case the man paid a very high price for his past revealing to the next generation, which didn’t deny the importance of the past understanding but enhances it. But already his siblings don’t want to accept this past: his da
The efficiency of various organizations, including hotels, depends on the ability of employees to take initiative and solve problems without having to ask the permission of senior management. This is why business administrators have to focus on the empowerment of workers. In this context, the term empowerment can be defined as allowing employees to take independent decisions so that they can better cope with their workplace duties (Tschohl, 2003, p. 25). Overall, this issue is of great concern for hoteliers who have to increase the revenues of their organizations and ensure their sustainability. It is believed that this strategy can help companies establish better relations with clients (Tschohl, 2003, p. 25; Yukl & Becker, 2006). This issue is particularly important for service organizations like hotels that have to meet the needs of customers with different interests, values, and attitudes. More importantly, employees have to take initiative to respond to the requests of clients as quickly as possible (Mohsin & Kumar, 2010, p. 43). Furthermore, one can say that the policy of empowerment can be important for resolving or avoiding possible conflicts with customers (Baum, 2006, p. 93). As a rule, clients can become dissatisfied with the quality of services, if they see that it takes a hotel too much time to address their requests (Baum, 2006, p. 93). So, by empowering employees, managers can minimize the risk of such problems. In this case, the task of business administrators is very complex. On the one hand, they should establish rules ensuring the fair treatment of every client. This means that the welfare of a customer should not be ensured at the expense of other people because this behavior can ruin the reputation of a hotel. Nevertheless, they should remember that some of the clients can be more loyal to the hotel, and they can be more valuable for the organization (Tesone, 2012, p. 333). This is why employees can sometimes comply with some of their demands, even when such an action contradicts some of the rules (Tschohl, 2003, p. 25; Barlow & Maul, 2000). Thus, business administrators should be able to reconcile these conflicting priorities since this issue is vital for their profitability and customer relations. This issue can be closely related to the pricing policies of hotels. These organizations tend to vary prices for rooms to increase their occupancy rates and profitability (Chen, 2009, p. 22; Sfodera, 2006). This approach is beneficial during those periods when the decline for the services of hotels declines (Sfodera, 2006). Nevertheless, this strategy can be successfully implemented provided that frontline employees can take decisions without asking the permission of their senior management. For example, they should be allowed to give discounts to returned customers. This is why empowerment is of great relevance to hoteliers. Overall, it is possible to say that empowerment of workers can greatly improve the performance of hospital
Over the past few decades, the idea of sustainable architecture seems to have become a common trend in the development of the world’s major cities. Allowing for more reasonable use of the natural resources and a way for people to coexist with nature without destroying it with the final products of the existing industries, sustainable architecture seems to be the only way out of the existing environmental problems. The emergence of green cities, which a sustainable environment has spawned, is a major breakthrough; however, despite the fact that the creation of green cities seems to be the solution to the current environmental issues, there are still certain issues to be solved. The development of green cities has sufficient grounds to base on and is quite reasonable in the light of the current emphasis on technological development and the boost of industries all over the world, while the environmental issues remain unresolved. According to the results of the green city policy which has been conducted in several world’s major megalopolises, the local authorities have managed to stress the necessity in the arrangement of the green spaces rather successfully; moreover, the so-called environmental harmony has been discovered. According to the UNO Habitat 2008, there are three basic types of harmony that the residents of big cities must strive for, i.e., spatial harmony, social harmony, and environmental harmony. UNO Habitat emphasized that “A city cannot be harmonious if some groups concentrate resources and opportunities while others remain impoverished and marginalized” (UNO Habitat, 2008, p. x), which means that, to achieve full growth and impeccable development, the city authorities have to focus on the environmental harmony as much as they do on the social aspects of people’s lives. However, the given statement raises a number of essential questions. There is no reason to deny that most cities are already pushed to the breaking point with developing their industries in order to take the
In The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal Jonathan Mooney describes his experience of growing with impairments, which are commonly considered as serious obstacles to the educational process – dyslexia and ADHD. Despite them, he successfully overcomes his disability, graduating from Brown University with a degree in English. However, his overcoming is not the central point of this book. Willing to claim his solidarity with the other ones who have been labeled “disabled,” he undertakes a trip across America on one of those short buses, which take kids with impairments to schools. During his journey, he interacts with different disabled people, and what he learns from this interaction is the primary theme of the book. Although most of his meetings are beautiful and inspiring stories, some of the encounters represent the communicational issues that are inevitable in interaction with the people, who have been isolated from the society due to their disabilities. For example, Ashley, a deaf and blind girl, “has spent most of her life without natural language. Nor has she really been educated” (Mooney 117), and it seriously affected her ability to communicate according to common, “normal” patterns. Another factor, which vastly impacts the girl’s behavior, is Ashley’s experience in the public school, where kids treat her both with fear and rejection as if she is contagious (Mooney 111). This example represents a fundamental communicational problem because if people around Ashley perceived her as a unique human being, who deserves the same attitude, her integration into society would be a lot easier. If I were placed in similar situations represented in the book, I would have welcomed people to discuss different solutions that they can propose to eliminate issues of misunderstanding in communication. Accordingly, group counseling techniques such as seminars or coaching sessions on personal development can become optimal strategies for collectively finding appropriate solutions that enhance communication between people of different backgrounds and viewpoints. In general, The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal provides a lot of material for my professional growth. Throughout the book, Mooney is elaborating his general idea of imbalance and indistinctness of the definition of the norm. Disability is a complex phenomenon, which affects different spheres of social interaction, and it “can no longer be considered in isolation from the psycho-emotional aspects of disability oppression” (Hernandez-Saca and Cannon 6). The educational system should also be changed, and since many communicational problems derive from labeling people as disabled, “it is a moral imperative to destigmatize disability in our schools” (Valente and Danforth 56). Moreover, the steps should be taken in the direction of a broader inclusion of people with the imp
Introduction A narrative poem is supposed to be a narration of a definite story in the form of a poem; it is a piece of literature where a plot of the story is more important than the form. The impact of an awareness of narrative theory helps us to clarify the meaning of images, scenes, and events displayed in the narrative poem. The process of reading and interpreting a narrative poem can take more time than the interpretation of meaning of a verse because it is necessary to consider the relationship between story and narrative discourse, a narrator, a narratee, an embedded narrative, focalization, an implied or intended reader and an actual audience, an implied author, and a gap or crux. A narrative poem The Kid written by Al can be considered a bright example of relations between the narrative discourse, the story, and the narrative. The Narrative Poem the Kid Written by Al The narrative discourse should be considered in terms of an agent and a story (events). The main features of a narrative discourse are usage of the forms of first or third person pronouns, a definite agent is the center of the story, and the events are chronologically structured. We can observe all these features in the poem The Kid written by Al. This narrative poem contains description of events that took place in the past, though all verbs are used in the form of the present tense; this method helps to keep the reader in suspense till the end of the poem. The beginning of the poem lets the reader know about an agent, his sister, mother, and an old man who can possibly be his grandfather. After this, the agent hits an old man with an iron rod; when his mother comes to help the old man, he takes the rifle. It is not clear whether he wanted to shot them before or was trying to conceal consequences of his actions. He makes short work of all witnesses including his sister. When everything is over, he packs some things reminding him of the dead relatives and walks away. As we learn from the poem, the main character (agent) is a boy aged fourteen, he wants to imitate his father’s actions, and he seems to be proud of his father and of who he is: “I’m Jack, Hogarth’s son. I’m nimble, I’m quick” (Al 193). So, he acts cruelly, he does not realize that he is too young to do such things as shown in the poem. Jack, the main agent of the poem, states that “one bullet [is] for the black horse, two for the brown” (Al 193); in this way the reader comes to know that the boy has shot his mother, the old man, and then his sister who was trying to escape from the truck. He is cruel, though self-seeking and consistent in his actions. He does not feel sorry for what he has done; he continues his way. Conclusion The narrative poem is a poem which focuses on events and the agent rather than the patient or descriptions. The narrative poem The Kid written by Al demonstrates all distinctive features of a narrative poem: it is chronologically or
The emergence of statehood in the territory that is now commonly called Ancient Egypt was mainly due to specific geographical conditions. Its location on the map is in many ways unique. Ancient Egyptian land is deep and narrow, a densely populated fertile river valley, bound on both sides by lifeless deserts. These characteristics also play a significant role in shaping the character of its inhabitants. The first geographical feature of Ancient Egypt is that its entire existence and development revolves around the Nile River. This river is rightly considered the basis of the existence of Egyptian civilization. Thanks to the flooding of the river, the Egyptians received irrigation of the land, and it was also used for fishing and hunting (Oestigaard 118). The impressive length of the river, separated by six rapids, determined the peculiarities of the state’s political development. Without the Nile, Egypt would have been a desolate, dry desert. The specific situation of the country was the key to the highest level of development of ancient Egyptian civilization. The next feature was that Egypt occupied the north-eastern part of the continent, and the Suez Canal connected with western Asia (Gregory 6). It was along this isthmus that active trade was conducted with various settlements via the great caravan road. Forced geographical isolation determined the distinctive and separate nature of the newly created state. This feature made people resilient and hardworking and taught them to adapt to various natural conditions. The third feature of Ancient Egypt is the vast desert areas. They played a significant role in the formation of favorable temperature regimes and acted as a natural boundary. Deserts were also most often used for the construction of burial complexes and fortifications. The conquest of these lands and the defense against enemies played a vital role in the formation of people’s character. In particular, the ancient Egyptians fought for islands of prosperity and fertility, oases. Lernia mentioned that “although oasis formation is a natural process, its maintenance and development is due to the human intellect and their painstaking efforts” (3). The constant struggle hardened the character of the ancient Egyptian inhabitants, making them more stable and hardy. As mentioned earlier, geographical conditions were a significant factor in the development of ancient Egyptian civilization. Thus, the annual floods, fertilizing the soil with fertile silt, made the Egyptians hardworking and industrious. Furthermore, the ancient Egyptians conditioned the perception and measurement of time by the rhythm of the flood of the Nile (Booth 6).On the other hand, the isolated geographical position of the country affected the lack of cultural borrowing and the authenticity of ancient Egyptian culture. In conclusion, it should be noted that geographical location plays a directly important role in the development of any nation. Using the example of Ancient Egypt, it can be seen how its unique location made people tough, hardworking, and slightly distant from other cultures. Geography is that part of the earth’s nature with which humanity dire
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian story that dates back to the ancient time; actually, it is supposedly the most erstwhile story on earth. Gilgamesh, the principal character has both godly and human features that elevate him above other people thus culminating his character as a rapist, cruel, domineering, and oppressive ruler. However, the intervention of gods leads to the creation of Gilgamesh rivalry Enkidu who lives in the forest but the two become best friends. Unfortunately, due to the wrath or disobedience to gods, Enkidu dies. The death of Enkidu and the premonition of Gilgamesh’s death becomes a turning point in his life, which prompts him to seek for immortality from the gods. Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu are liminal characters because their lives revolve around two different worlds. On one hand, Gilgamesh has human flesh, which coexists with godly features while on the other hand; Enkidu emerges from the forest where he lives and feeds like wild animals but ends up in the human world. Through the intervention of the gods or other key characters like Shamhat, Urshanabi, and Utnapishtim among others, Gilgamesh and Enkidu not only become civilized or humans, but also their character transform. Gilgamesh is a ruthless, oppressive but handsome and wise ruler with the ability to communicate or closely relate to the gods in his land. According to the author,” two-thirds of him was divine, while one-third of him was human” (Foster 5). Therefore, his body description or physical appearance gives him the ability to exist in the spirit or divine world. Furthermore, Gilgamesh lacks humanity because he harasses and torments his subjects by forcing them, especially men, to build his territory. Consequently, the cries and lamentation of his subjects to the gods lead to the creation of Enkidu who is as brilliant as Gilgamesh. Enkidu’s first interaction with Gilgamesh is through a fight but the match ends in a draw thus culminating into a friendship. In addition, Gilgamesh does not assault sexually the woman (bride) as he had earlier planned. Whence, the lamentation of h
Introduction Over the recent past, global society has been highly sensitized to the concept of global warming and the role of human activities in increasing the temperature of the Earth. It is apparent that the increase in the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by the various activities, including the manufacturing process, transportation systems, and other human activities have led to an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and this has led to a higher coefficient of heat retention in the earth. The resulting conditions include unpredictable weather patterns and general climatic changes in different parts of the world. Scientists have also revealed that one of the major causes of the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment is the intensive deforestation that has been witnessed in urban areas. Human settlements have forced the authorities to clear large tracts of land to build housing units. Naturally, forests are responsible for absorbing a large amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the process of photosynthesis, and the reduction of forests has led to a reduction in the absorption of CO2. The process of photosynthesis yields oxygen, which makes the air fresher for other living organisms. The contemporary world has seen many urban areas experiencing very poor quality of air. People in some cities are even compelled to stay indoors during the day to stay away from the smog-filled streets. Urban planners are, therefore, being compelled to enhance the integration of forests in urban areas to enhance the quality of air for urban dwel