Poetic Understatement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Poetic Understatement - Essay Example In crafting â€Å"99 things to do before you die†, Nila northSun selects a title that draws the readers’ attention with the promise of learning about those things that are imperative to accomplishing fulfillment in life. The poem references a list published in â€Å"Cosmo mag† of â€Å"99 things to do before you die†, and goes on to explain how the magazine targeted a specific audience—rich people (northern). The poem lists several of the line items included in the cosmo list including â€Å"div[ing] off a yacht in the Aegean†, â€Å"go[ing] to Monaco for the Grand Prix†, and â€Å"buy[ing] around the world air ticket† (northern). However, the purpose of the poem is less about how to live a fulfilling life than it is about the socio-economic and cultural disparities that exist across regions and ethnic groups within the United States of America. The author communicates this disparity directly as well as indirectly. The question, â€Å"so what’s a poor Indian to do?† is a direct way of indicating that the Indian may not be in a financial situation to accomplish the goals listed by Cosmo. northSun indicates that many of the line items on the Cosmo list are â€Å"things only rich people could do† (northern). The cosmo mag list appears to assume that readers will have access to a certain level of wealth. The magazine ignores the fact that many may never be able to pursue the activities described due to financial constraints. northern highlights this point in the statement, â€Å"we certainly know you don’t have to be rich before you die†, indicating that many are born poor and die never having had a change in financial status. To communicate disparity indirectly, northSun creates a list deemed more â€Å"culturally relevant† (northern).  

Exclusionary rule Essay Example for Free

Exclusionary rule Essay The exclusionary rule is one that continues to stir up conflicting opinions not only between political parties, but also among the members of the judicial machinery and scholarly community. Professor Yale Kamisar argues that the exclusionary rule which exempts illegally solicited evidence from being used in court is the cornerstone to protecting innocent citizens’ civil right, since it would discourage the police from using morally questionable methods to gather evidence. Judge Guido Calabresi, on the other hand, feels that the said rule serves as a loophole for criminals to get away scot-free (2003, pg. 112). He also acknowledges the fact the police officials often have concealed or twisted facts to escape from the exclusionary rule. However, he suggests that direct action or tort suits maybe pursued against police officers that wrongfully gather evidence. Kamisar feels that these alternative remedies are often ineffective since the jury process is not very transparent and clear. We have witnessed government agencies including the police force almost assuming absolute authority, as the pressure to enforce homeland security has gradually increased. The law of search and seizure is broadening by the day, as new court judgments push the boundaries of conducting a search. Hence, the police are almost free to conduct a search based on â€Å"reasonable suspicion† which is quite a subjective term. Thus, it is highly improbable for a real criminal to get away clean, unless there has been gross negligence or incompetency on the part of the police force (Kamisar, 2003). Some members of the judiciary also argue that the exclusionary rule has itself served as a barrier to development of a suitable alternative. However, Kamisar feels that many states that had not adopted exclusionary rule for several decades are yet to come up with a proper solution. Kamisar’s concerns are certainly valid as the police force which is supposed to enforce the law, have been bending the law to meet their ends. Hence, he concludes that the exclusionary rule is only existing fair solution, until a working alternative is developed.

Psychological Contract Of Generation Y Management Essay

Psychological Contract Of Generation Y Management Essay The mutual expectations people have from one another in a relationship of employer employees are commonly referred to as a psychological contract. The content of these contracts can be changed over time and can affect the behavior of the two. The origins of these psychological contracts go beyond thousands of years back. Amidah (1998) was one of the initial writers who used the term psychological contract as the mutual understanding between employees and their employers. The psychological contract between employers and employees related to job security has been facing changes due to the economic down grading. The increasing rate of short term and contractual employment has forced employees to seek self actualization sort of psychological contracts. The changing nature of psychological contracts of generation Y has certain implications on organizations which have always been interesting to a workforce committed to the organizational goals and objectives. According to recent literature, psychological contract is an individuals beliefs necessary to perform commitment that may exist between employee and the organization (Lester, Turnley et.al. 2002). Individuals perception and expectations from the organization in terms of receiving benefits, wages and opportunities against the services provided to the organization by the employee used to form the foundation of any psychological contract (Lester, Turnley et.al. 2002). The inherent perceptual nature of the psychological contract between employers and employees may have contrasting implication about obligations of the contract (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Nowadays companies are more focused on the achievement of corporate goals and profit margins while noticing stock market prices because of the competitive business environment all around the world (De Meuse, Bergmann et. Al., 2001). This is because of the fact that world has seen the problem of corporate downsizing, restructuring and mergers since 1980s and 1990s (De Meuse, Bergmann et. al 2001). This current scenario of doing business has absolutely changed the nature of employee and employer contract and the demand of this relationship. In past, these psychological contracts were of long term where employees were committed with an organization where they continued to learn as well as they got high job ranking but now the psychology of the contract has seen changing nature because of the availability of short term employment with upscale designation for professionals and technical workers (Smithson and Lewis, 2000, Lester and Kickul, 2001). Hiring of high skilled professional(s) for specific task completion is one of the emerging trends in business community (Lester and Kickul, 2001) and consequent termination of the staff with the attainment of work objectives. This phenomena has made the modern workplace a source of stress and extra work load and job insecurity and decreased commitment to organizational goals and objectives in return (De Meuse, Bergmann et. al). The need of personal growth, development of transferable skills, networking opportunities and career management for immediate job has been gaining potential among professionals due to the current scenarios of job insecurity (De Meuse, Bergmann et.al., 2001, Lester and Kickul, 2001). The changing environment of employment has considered another driver of the change in nature of psychological contracts of generation Y. The previous employees to employer psychological contracts were relational in nature and their specific features were trust, respect and loyalty between the employee and the employer. But this new insecure job environment has randomly changed the nature of psychological contract from relational to transactional nature. This transactional exchange has been defined by De Meuse and Begmann et.al (2001) as an explicit or an implicit promise having capacity of maintaining information about monetary remuneration available to employee against his services to the organization. This periodical change in nature of psychological contract was predicted by Rousseau and Parks in a research conducted during 1993 with explanation of change in the nature of contract from relational to transactional in case of occurrence of any violation of the contract. However, it is important to maintain the equilibrium of trust between the employee and the employer either in relational psychological contract or in transactional psychological contract. But in present situation of job insecurity it is hard to have any trust on employer or employee. Therefore, the lack of job security has brought the concentration of employee to acquire transferable skills and techniques and contracts of transactional type (De Meuse, Bergmann et al). Impacts of the changing nature of psychological contract of generation Y on organizations With the emergence of new markets, competitors and technologies have been increasingly changing the behavior of organizations towards the hiring of skilled employees at every level of the organization (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Businesses of today are only selecting skillful employees for short term periods to make their projects accomplished by utilizing the skills and expertise of professionals (Lester and Kickul, 2001). It is because of the use of new technologies in business processes and to get competitive edge in the market. To achieve this desired level, organizations have to keep track of professionals and motivated and committed workforce to efficiently achieve their goals. It has been studied that changing nature of psychological contracts is because of the reducing commitment of employees due to job insecurity and enhanced competition faced by todays employers (Bunderson 2001, Lester and Kickul, 2001). However, high level of commitment and satisfaction is enjoyed by the employees who have long term psychological contract as per studies conducted during 1998. There are measures to be taken by the organization to retain and motivate their employees even on presence of economic pressure and new organizational structure (Lester and Kickul, 2001). The level can be achieved by just understanding the elements of psychological contracts as well as the fact that it is a continually changing and evolving contract and organizations have the right of making a choice regarding an employee to get committed and motivated workforce and employment. According to Maslows hierarchy theory, the highest need for humans is self-actualization. Lester and Kickul (2001) states that today  employees are  becoming increasingly aware of the non-monetary rewards that companies are willing to provide  in exchange for their skills. This suggests that employees are now at a point in time where they are able to seek out the self-actualization. Self-esteem or self actualization is the highest need of humans as stated by Maslows hierarchy theory. Employees are increasingly getting awareness of the behavior of organizations of giving non-monetary rewards to employees against the skills of professionals and technical persons (Lester, Kickul, 2001). This is the time when it can be suggested that employees are gradually heeding towards the state of self actualization. Stalker (2000) stated that successful companies of the day are keeping balance between the needs of the employee and the needs of the organization. To achieve this, companies are needed to maintain a balance between their efforts and time investment. Managers are responsible to achieve this balance while keeping the workforce committed and motivated (Lester, Turnley et, al., 2002). It is a fact that nowadays job insecurity has made psychological contracts a dynamic and evolving one and can be handled by the organization by just understanding the causes of changes and timely changes in the contract according to the needs and demand of the sources (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Lester and Kickul (2001) shows that a  proactive approach to the psychological contract is likely to reduce an employees intention to leave since their needs are more likely to be met by the organization. The other step that can be an effective support to minimize the gap of psychological contract is communication. Better and timely communication between the contracting bodies can reduce the conflict and can reduce the gap of psychological contracts (Lester and Kickul, 2001). Open book management techniques are an effective communication tool between the organization and employees and help in the formation of an effective communication framework for the organizations. Successful organizations are required to start working on the psychological contract before the hiring of the employee. The organizations publications, interview processes, contract negotiation and orientation processes are some of the ways that can help the organizations to make better changes in the psychological contract and keep it up to date (Niehoff and Paul 2001). An organizations publications and literature creates the first impression of the values espoused by the employer.  The interview process then establishes an image of the organization for potential employees (Niehoff, Paul, 2001), while promoting expectations  ranging from the tangibles  such as pay and benefits,  to the intangibles such as  treatment of employees or degree of empowerment etc (Niehoff, Paul, 2001). As suggested by Niehoff and Paul (2001), by  providing Realistic Job Previews such as that done by Cisco Systems  (Lester and Kickul, 2001), candidates can be given a  clear and realistic view of the actual expectations of the duties, work hours and performance levels  (Niehoff and Paul, 2001).  The negotiation process after an offer is made to a candidate  provides a further  opportunity to clarify the specific details of the expectations of both parties  (Niehoff, Paul, 2001). Finally the orientation program (either formal or informal) gives an o pportunity to re-enforce the psychological contract that has been formed. By having all of these in line with each other and in line with the companys expectations allows the company to form a contract that is more likely to be clearly understood by both parties and has a less chance of being breached. Conclusion Changed psychological contract is the demand of the modern economic environment. It is the demand of both the organization and employees. The psychological contract of generation Y are more transactional and related to self actualization. This change in the nature of the contract has been considered by the management of an organization and employees with the increasing demand of giving more time and effort in the formation of psychological contract acceptable to the organization and employees. As it has been seen that psychological contracts are formed on the basis of trust but it can be strengthened by the two following factors: Internal factors External factors Internal factors can be the individuals perception that can be the outcome of his or her cultural behavior. But external factors include situations that how the organizations are shaping their policies in the interest of employees and how much they are acknowledging the perceived obligations according to the formal contract of employment with those professionals or skilled technicians. These measures can be used to determine the commitment of employees to the organizational goals and objectives and any violations can lead to job satisfaction depletions actions. However, the choice to be in employment contract can be up to individual employee. The long lasting employer to employee relationship can only be possible if there is a strong build up credibility between employer and employee. This credibility can give the contract more and more reliance and can be effective to build up a long lasting relationship. Psychological contract will remain strong till the time they remain in favor of the employees orientation towards the life and can be the source of strong commitment of the individuals to be or not to be the part of an organization. But with the change and any amendments in organizational structure, strategy, and the job role, the individual can shift to new works and job roles and this new work role can be the source of better return on relationship (ROR) than on return on investment (ROI). Strong and reliable psychological contract can provide the organization with a healthy and fruitful relationship between employee and employer that would be helpful in the sustainability of the organization. Whatsoever it can be better concluded in a way that changing nature of psychological contract of generation Y is only the result of changing nature of job environment and increasing insecurity to jobs. Therefore employees have transformed their interest from signing relational contract to transactional contract. This transformation of contract nature has caused the o rganization to bear the loss of committed and loyal workforce for long period of time on one hand while getting benefit of having highly skilled professionals for the completion of their project within short period of time.

Essay examples --

Test without Torture Remember that pig or frog you dissected in the 8th grade? You were probably either completely fascinated by it, extremely repulsed, or just indifferent. Nevertheless, the point was to help you learn about the scientific method as well as getting a hands-on experience in learning about a topic. Dissecting an animal was supposed to help the students with discovering information on their own. However, if this lab is done every year at hundreds of schools, the amount of wasted and discarded animals can add up to millions all for a middle school experiment. In a way, scientists approach the matter of testing on animals in a similar method. It allows for the discovery of new information to help humans progress in life. The subject of animal testing is a controversial topic that is deeply divided among the ethics and practicality of the practice. Scientists generally favor animal testing because it allows for the advancement in medicines and treatments, while animal rights activists question the ethics of testing on animals. When we are sick, we take antibiotics in hopes of getting better. However, there must be a way to ensure that the antibiotic is safe to take in the first place. Health is always an issue and is not about to go away any time soon. It affects not only the human population, but the entire world as well. New diseases and conditions are constantly appearing and in return, doctors and scientists must find a way to counteract these illnesses. Is testing on animals worth the discovery of a new treatment or medication? Without the use of animals for research, we may not have the luxury of vaccines, organ transplants, antiseptic surgery, or treatment for diseases. On the other hand, there is also the aspe... ...ates are inevitable. Is it ever okay for animals to suffer? Would you ever wish excruciating physical pain even on your worst enemy? If your answer is no, then why do we to it to innocent animals? With the new advancements in technology, it is unnecessary to continue exploiting animals in experiments. Computer programs have developed more accurate results on the effect of products on humans than animals have. While millions of animals must be used every year to test a single chemical, updated technology completely eliminates the need for animal testing. This is much more practical economy-wise as well as morally so. We as humans have a duty to preserve the rights of animals and come to the rescue when they are violated. Although the transformation from using live animals to digital computers may be lengthy, taking action is still progressing in the right direction.

Oral history essay

The Vietnam War effected the whole world in many ways. But when talking about wars in class only give you one perspective which is the big picture. But what about the small picture? The effect the war had on individuals and their families. Sometimes hearing the story from someone who was in the war can give you a better understanding about the conditions they faced. For this oral history paper interviewed my uncle Steven Mangled who was an engineer sergeant in the Vietnam War.During this time before the draft was abolished n 1 973, many troops were selected for service through the drafts but those who didn't want to go to war would sometimes flee to Canada or other places. 25 percent of the troops that served in this war were draftees. These people were called â€Å"draft dodgers. † My uncle didn't want to be one of these people and wanted to do his duty as an American citizen so he joined the army in the 1 ass's after graduating college. He went through NCO school, which is a course to becoming a non-commissioned officer.He then went through his training to become a sergeant and entered the U. S Army Corps of Engineers. Shortly after, around 1 970, he was sent to Vietnam. His mission there was to support an artillery unit that was stationed on the border of North and South Vietnam. He built and designed things like helicopter pads, flood protection systems, facilities for the army and many other things. During his stay he also had the opportunity to help build a hospital for the Vietnamese people.One of the things that affected my uncle during the war was the subject of races. At this time period there was a lot of civil rights movements going on. The Vietnam War had a very high percentage of blacks more than any war before it. Blacks made up about 13 percent of the troops that served. Before joining the war my uncle had a lot of prejudices about the different races, but started to think differently after working closely with people from all different r aces and ethnicities. He learned to live with them and became very close to a lot of them.The Vietnam War provided these African Americans and Hispanics their first experiences of white comradeship and really opened peoples eyes to the fact that they weren't all that different. Of course there was bound to be occasional racial tension but they tried to keep this tension from affecting the performance of the troops. My uncle started to gain respect for Hispanics in the war. He said that they were the hardest workers and had a great work ethic. His visions of the races totally changed.Another thing that really affected my uncle was when he was building the hospital for the Vietnamese. The hospitals in the Vietnam War were different from any other war. There wasn't a very good road system through Vietnam so transportation was very hard so most of the hospitals were semi-permanent. Before the hospital was completed they started treating patients. The patients were of all ages, from chil dren to elderly. Since he roads weren't very good the helicopter was a great help in getting patients to the hospitals and saved many lives.My uncle described the injuries as brutal and a lot of times fatal. Seeing all of the wounded really got to him. He expected to see some injuries but figured that because he was an engineer that he wouldn't be too close to a lot of them. He had time to talk to a lot of the Vietnamese, and was shocked at the fear that they lived in. Men his age had been living in war zones all their lives and grew up in very bad poverty. This made him appreciate where he comes from. He realized how lucky he as to have grown up not scared about having his home raided or burned down or his family torn apart.The American dream was a real thing and he was glad to be living it back at home. We read about wars all the time but almost always just look at the big picture. You hear about mass causalities and death rates. Talking to my uncle made me see the effects of war on a smaller scale. I now better understand how people felt while at war and the things they Saw. Know that he is very proud Of his service in the war, and I am too. If it weren't for the brave men and women who fought for our country we wouldn't have the freedom we have now.

How to Write Dialogue

How to Write Dialogue How to Write Dialogue How to Write Dialogue By Michael Dialogue refreshes. Seeing quotation marks on a page has been proven to increase readability, which means that readers find the page more interesting. And you want your readers to stay interested. Dialogue breaks up gray text and gives your eyes a break too. Dialogue uses basic rules for punctuating and formatting: When the speaker changes, hit Return and start a new line (which Maeve Maddox demonstrates in Formatting Dialogue.) Put punctuation, such as the closing comma, inside the quotation marks. A colon can be used in a script, but in other forms of writing, you dont routinely punctuate dialogue with a colon. TOM POLHAUS: Heavy. What is it? SAM SPADE: The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of. Here are some suggestions for more effective dialogue: Do something, dont just talk. Conflict creates action out of dialogue. If everything is dialogue, its a play. In real life, people do things while they talk, and they dont talk all the time. Dont be yourself. New writers need to find their voice, but when you write dialogue, its not your voice now, but anothers. If they all sound like you, they all sound the same. Figure out what makes your characters different from you perhaps age, life experiences, or social status and how those differences affect their speech. Whos speaking, please? If its hard to tell the characters apart, your reader will be confused, bored or frustrated. Ali Hale gives several solutions in Dialogue Writing Tips. For example, you can have each character speak at his or her own rate, fast or slow, terse or wordy, big words or little words, long sentences or short, rude or polite. Vocabulary can also distinguish characters. They may express agreement in different ways: Aye, Yup, Ja, Okey dokey, Absolutely, For sure, dude! Indubitably. Limit extreme dialect. In the 1800s, authors would represent a regional or cultural group by phonetically spelling their pronunciations, leaving out dropped endings, and so forth: Och, dat wuz frightnin an no dout!. Unfortunately, deliberately adding misspellings and apostrophes makes your writing harder to read. Maeve Maddox and Kate Evans provide a better way in Showing Dialect in Dialogue and Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect. You dont have them with Hello. In fact, start your dialogue after the greeting. Leave out the fluff, pleasantries, and repetition. Real speech can be so repetitious that professional transcriptionists have special keys to avoid typing words such as Okay and Fine. Some people can have an entire conversation using only the word Fine. But dont put it in your novel. Skip past the boring details. Really, its not the details that are boring, but the vague parts. How are you doing? Fine? Glad to hear it. How is your family? Fine? If a dialogue doesnt advance the plot or expand the character, omit it. People all over the world say Looks like rain every day everyone can agree on the weather but you dont need to do it in your story unless the rain would ruin an important action or object. You dont have to use complete or grammatical sentences. Real-life dialogue isnt like that. People interrupt themselves, pause, change their minds, and so on. Show their motivation. Or at least, show they have motivation, even if what it is remains a mystery. They may not be telling the truth or telling everything, but they have reasons for saying what they do. Dont have the maid tell the butler what he already knows. Yes, dialogue is a great way to feed details to your reader, but it needs to reflect what your characters would have actually asked. Is Heathcliffe Manor dark and dismal? Yes, as you remember from working here for the past thirty years, the previous owner had most of the windows painted over. Try it out, out loud. Reading your writing audibly to yourself (or someone else) helps you decide whether your dialogue is natural. It may cause you to shorten parts of it by showing you that you need to breathe. Avoid the info-dump. Sometimes at the beginning and the end of a detective novel, someone says: First, tell me everything you know about the murder. Tell me, how in the world did you figure out that the butler did it? But an info-dump isnt as much fun as revealing information naturally. This gold mirror must be four feet wide! How will we get it downstairs? From this one piece of dialogue, we can surmise that strangers are moving rich people out of a multi-story house. Limit the cast. The more characters there are, the more confusing the conversation can be. If its hard to distinguish character voices spread through the story, its even harder to distinguish them when theyre all talking at once. About dialogue tags A dialogue tag tells you who is speaking. Writers and teachers disagree about what else it should do. Call a taxi, she said. Taxi! he shouted. Where you wanna go? the driver said gruffly. Some teachers want their students to choose from the hundreds of alternatives to said, telling them, Said is dead.: Stop the presses, he bellowed. Everything will be fine, Kate reassured them. Yall need to meet my grandson, she gushed. Only the Shadow knows, he whispered. J.K. Rowling is notorious for her adverbial dialogue tags, which she usually places in the middle of a dialogue. Three examples from a single page of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone: Oh yes, everyones celebrating all right, she said impatiently. You cant blame them, said Dumbledore gently. I know that, said Professor McGonagall irritably. On the other hand, Stephen King advises writers to avoid adverbs and use nothing but said: â€Å"While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.† He also says, â€Å"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Journalists are taught to use only two verbs in dialogue tags: said and asked. Adding adverbs or using more colorful verbs compromise their objectivity. I agree with Stephen King. The word said doesnt distract from the dialogue itself. It is unnoticed and unobtrusive. Dialogue is a character talking. A dialogue tag is you talking. The writers rule is show, dont tell, and when you add an adverb to a dialogue tag, you are telling. You are also drawing attention to yourself. When it comes to verbs, I distinguish between active verbs such as croaked or whispered and descriptive verbs such as threatened or urged. Saying he croaked shows your reader the sound of the speakers voice, something which they wouldnt otherwise know. Saying he threatened is a crutch the reader should be able to see the threat in the dialogue itself. I never say ‘She says softly.’ If its not already soft, you know, I have to leave a lot of space around it so that a reader can hear that its soft.† Toni Morrison More suggestions for dialogue tags: Dont use impossible verbs. Several commonly used dialogue tags represent actions that cant really be performed while speaking. Thats not necessary, laughed Bob. If this could happen in real life, this would sound more like: Thats (ha ha) not (ha) necessary (ha ha), said Bob. Laughing and talking simultaneously is not possible. Avoid Tom Swifties. The authors of the Tom Swift adventures of a century ago didnt limit themselves to said because they believed in elegant variation. As a result, dialogue tags with obtrusive verbs and adverbs have been parodied in a class of puns called Tom Swifties. Someone has let the soup boil over! Tom said hotly. Its pouring rain outside, Tom stormed. Ill hold the flashlight for you, Tom beamed. I prefer pancakes, said Tom flatly. Dont be like Tom. Is this dialogue tag necessary? Sometimes you dont need one. In a conversation between two characters, the reader can assume that alternate lines are spoken by the same character. Heres an example from Leo Tolstoys War and Peace with some of the dialogue tags removed: Forgive me! Natasha said in a whisper. Forgive me! I love you, said Prince Andrei. Forgive Forgive what? Forgive me for what I didid. Can you use an action tag instead of a dialogue tag? You dont need a dialogue tag if you have just identified the speaker in a different way. The detective abruptly snuffed out his cigarette. How about you and me working together? In this case, he reader understands that the detective is speaking. Dialogue is not just for fiction. Try including dialogue in everything you write, even scholarly papers and business memos. Seeing quotation marks brightens the eyes of an academician as much as anyone else. Instead of formally summarizing what your employers said to you, why not quote them word-for-word? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsThe Parts of a WordEbook, eBook, ebook or e-book?