U.s. Federal Government Reform - 1886 Words

Introduction As the United States enters another presidential election year in 2016, the subject of tax reform has taken central stage to many of the issues being discussed. Today, many Democratic lawmakers continue to support rising tax rates under the current progressive tax system, while Republican lawmakers are making a push for a flat-tax system. As concerns over slow economic growth, high unemployment rates, and large government spending deficits grow among millions of Americans, the idea of a Eastern European modeled flat-tax system has grown. Some presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, have experimented with the flat-tax system, but Eastern Europe has provided the essential model of success for this type of†¦show more content†¦Historically, the flat-rate tax system has been popular throughout many Eastern European countries, and has recently become a topic of discussion in the United States. The growing popularity of a Flat-Tax System Stanford Professors Robert Hall and Alvin Rabushka initially established the concept of the flat tax system in December of 1981, under what they called a â€Å"postcard† tax in an article for The Wall Street Journal. In 1985, both Hall and Rabushka wrote The Flat Tax that was regarded as â€Å"The Flat-Tax Bible† by billionaire Steve Forbes. According to Andrei Grecu, â€Å"the proposal achieves simplicity, economic efficiency, and fairness- the traditional measures of effective taxation- while also collecting the revenues required to finance the government† (Grecu, 2004, pg. 10). The support for the flat-tax rate system grew amongst Republican lawmakers throughout the 1980s under the office of President Ronald Reagan, and continues to be supported by Republicans as an alternative to the current progressive tax system in place today. In addition, multiple Eastern European countries began adapting the concept in the late 20th/early 21st century. The flat rate tax system initially gained support in Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War

How To Tame A Wild Tongue Summary - 999 Words

A few months ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, a young women named Heather Heyer, was killed at a protest against a white supremacy rally. She was standing up for others who were different then her. She was making sure her fellow citizens felt welcomed and knew they were loved by others in this country. This happened less than two hours away from Lynchburg, our home. We, as a nation, need to start embracing one another because at the end of the day, we all bleed the same blood. My wish is that one day we can all live together in peace. It starts at home. We have to begin a dialogue with our friends and family about the struggles others go through. Accepting one another is so much deeper than simply saying, â€Å"I support you†, although thats†¦show more content†¦A group of individuals trying to take away someone else’s freedom of expression, trying to make this country divide even more. Gloria talks about these divisions all throughout her story. Certain peo ple groups are taught at a young age, that if someone looks or sounds different then you, they shouldn’t be welcomed in this country. Trying to take away or restricting someone from certain rights because they’re different from you is illegal. This can also go back to Gloria’s quote about attacks on the first Amendment. Everyone that is a citizen has the right to feel safe in this country and has the right to express their beliefs. Accents are one of the many things that make us different. As a free country, we should embrace them not suppress them. Some groups of individuals still, to this day, hate others because of their skin tone or language they speak. I personally think that those people are jealous and wish they could speak that way or share the culture. To me, each and every culture in this world is beautiful. The way they speak, the way they dance, the way they sing, and the way they dress, are all beautiful. For native english speakers we are taught in school that we have the most superior culture in the world, but that is statically wrong. Today, Chinese (more specifically mandarin) is the most common language spoken, according to Babbel.com. Can you imagine what it would feel like for you to goShow MoreRelatedHow to Tame a Wild Tongue1952 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"My Perspective of a Wild Tongue† â€Å"How to Tame a Wild Tongue†, by Gloria Anzaldua, is a very expressive story about a Mexican American women’s struggle to preserve her culture. Her main fight revolves around a struggle to keep a form of Spanish, called â€Å"Chicano Spanish†, a live. In the short story she says, for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard (formal, Castilian) Spanish, or standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language?(pageRead MoreRn Language1591 Words   |  7 Pagesprofession, as well as the importance of maintaining these elite level communication skills. In addition, this paper also includes a comparison between two minority authors that argue for the importance of their respective Chicana and black, â€Å"native tongues â€Å". The pros and cons of their arguments is contrasted against authors’ Allen, Chapman, O’Connor and Francis (2007), whom address the significance of language and writing within the area of professional nursing that upholds the elite verbal and writtenRead MoreA Picatrix Miscellany52019 Words   |  209 PagesA PicA Trix MiscellAny Underground Edition 2007 e.v. CONTENTS On the Picatrix I. Introduction to the Picatrix (The Aim of the Sage) of al-Majriti, Maslamati ibn Ahmad II. Summary of the Contents of the Picatrix III. Excerpt from a Lecture on Alchemy by Terence McKenna On the Moon and the Lunar Mansions IV. Extracts on the Moon V. The Mansions of the Moon: â€Å"On the Creation, Proportion and Composition of the Heavens for the Fashioning of Images† VI. The Picatrix: Lunar Mansions in Western AstrologyRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesprospective project managers with the knowledge and skills that are transferable across industries and countries. Our motivation for writing this text was to provide students with a holistic, integrative view of project management. A holistic view focuses on how projects contribute to the strategic goals of the organization. The linkages for integration include the process of selecting projects that best support the strategy of a particular organization and that in turn can be supported by the technical andRead MoreIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pagesfollowed by a second low tone in a complex stem (iii) change of tone on the complement E.g. Là ¬e jÄ « (Eat yam) 6.2.8 Aspect and tense in the indicative mood Tense denotes the time of a situation (i.e. of an action or state), whereas aspect denotes how a situation is spread over time. Most languages express both, but some give more prominence to one or the other in their grammar. In English, tense is more important than aspect. In Igbo, aspect is more important, but tense is also found 6.2.8.1 SimpleRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pagesunsuccessful practices are not unique. Information Boxes and Issue Boxes are included in each chapter to highlight relevant concepts and issues, or related information, and we are even testing Profile Boxes. Learning insights help students see how certain practices—both errors and successes—cross company lines and are prone to be either traps for the unwary or success modes. Discussion Questions and Hands-On Exercises encourage and stimulate student involvement. A recent pedagogical featureRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 PagesManagement Studies, Keele University, UK An unusually rich and deep philosophical book on organization theory with several new thinkers and ideas. Pedagogically a well-structured book with many clear learning objectives, cases, examples and good summaries for every chapter. Professor Martin Lindell, Hanken Business School, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland This book makes it easier to understand the current stand of organization theory. I strongly recommend it to anyone

A Profile of Facebook Essay - 1579 Words

Social media nowadays are bombarding people’s lives whether it is Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Groupon, and many more. Social media has changed how people interact with each other and how they express themselves on the Internet. Facebook, for example, has really altered people’s perception of themselves. We hypothesize that this altered perception in turn influences their behavior on product choices and involvement with particular groups. Facebook Background As of now, Facebook is the most trafficked social media site with over 600 million users in the United States and countries worldwide. It exceeded MySpace in January 2009 and has 58% of its users outside of the United States. It has†¦show more content†¦This lawsuit almost caused the company to shutdown but after Zuckerberg denied any claim, the lawsuit was dropped. It also went through privacy issues in 2009 when they changed their policies, which caused a huge controversy with users. Zuckerberg eventually reverted back to the old privacy policy and is still in the works of changing it. Even with all these controversies, Facebook is still widely used for social networking such as keeping in contact with friends by writing on each others’ walls, posting photos, updating statuses, writing notes, joining groups and attending events. Facebook and Self Theories With the widespread popularity of Facebook, people worldwide are becoming more involved online and this is changing the self-perception of many consumers. With social networking sites we are granted a feeling of validation and importance through how we interact online. Facebook is one platform that does this extremely well and this may be the reason why it has attracted (and kept) so many users. Facebook allows users to belong to certain â€Å"networks†, join â€Å"groups†, â€Å"like† interests, and share their thoughts with the world through status updates. These features all help users to feel validated by their friends and others whom they connect with. This is important because it facilitates what is known as self-categorization for the user. â€Å"Self-categorization theory focuses on the set of group norms that defineShow MoreRelatedA Study Of Facebook Profile Pictures1649 Words   |  7 PagesNous Sommes tous Unis A Study of Facebook Profile Pictures Following the November 2015 Paris Attacks The Introduction The topic of mass shootings and terrorist attacks has been of particular attention to the American public this year. But the huge event that has truly shocked Americans was the November 13th attacks on Paris. In just a half hour gunmen and suicide bombers hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars, and left 130 people dead and almost four hundred wounded. The attacksRead MoreNarcissuss Facebook Profile Essay1187 Words   |  5 Pagesintroduced into our affairs by each extension (McLuhan 7), we may examine any existing medium according to what has been autoamputated. I shall use this method to examine the new media of instant status updates such as Twitter and those on Facebook profiles. The instant status update is a web tool with which a user may inform his or her friends as to what he or she is doing at that moment. A single line of text, the status update is preset with the term (users name) is, and whatever is enteredRead MoreNegative Reflection Of My Facebook Pr ofile1485 Words   |  6 Pages As I started looking through my Facebook profile, it felt like my account was not very professional when comparing it with other people’s profiles. There are countless posts that might be perceived as aggressive, argumentative, assertive and responsive. I do not believe that my account reflects my shy, well-mannered public self as I am more vocal when I comes to my Facebook profile. Looking through the posts and comments I have made, it seems to be very clear that I have no worries about an employerRead MoreAn Opinion Article On My Facebook Profile1653 Words   |  7 PagesParis attacks, people have been showing solidarity by changing their Facebook profiles with the Paris Flag superimposed onto their main profile picture. When I heard of the attacks, as the rest of us did, over breaking news, I felt a range of emotions from anger to helplessness. There was nothing I could do at that moment to help those who were victimized senselessly by the hands of radical jihadist. Changing my Facebook profile was my small way of showing support for the people that were killed,Read MoreThe Facebook Profile: A Right or a Violation? Essay example1027 Words   |  5 PagesSocial networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook have created a new ethical dilemma for many businesses. Corporations, small businesses, and even universities are struggling create policies to manage their employees social networking behaviors. Social networking access, particularly for recruiters, can provide personal information about potential employees, which would otherwise not be available. A business must follow statutes and guidelines when disclosing information to the public. IndividualsRead MoreClassification Based On User Using Facebook Based Profile Implementation Essay1539 Words   |  7 Pagesof Classification Based on User Using Facebook Based Profile Implementation Jeevan Pisal1, Nikhil Tanpure1, Rahul Hinge1, Aniket Potdar1 Dept. of Computer Engineering, Bhivarabai Sawant Institute Of Technology and Reasearch, Wagholi, Pune, India 1 Mrs. Sonali A. Patil Asst. Professor inDept. of Computer Engineering, JSPM’s, Bhivarabai Sawant Institute Of Technology and Reasearch, Wagholi, Pune, india Abstract: Social Networking Portal like Facebook attracts more and more illegal activitiesRead MoreThe History of Louis Riel in Chester Brown’s â€Å"Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography† and in Sarah Ovcjak’s â€Å"The Facebook Profile of Louis Riel†1544 Words   |  6 PagesIn Chester Brown’s â€Å"Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography† and in Sarah Ovcjak’s â€Å"The Facebook Profile of Louis Riel,† the authors attempt to criticize historical representations by presenting the history of Louis Riel in conflicting lights. Both authors allow Louis Riel to have a voice in their respective works; however, Ovcjak’s Facebook profile allows Riel’s character to speak in the first person perspective narrating his own life, while the story within Brown’s graphic novel unfolds through a thirdRead MorePros and Cons of Facebook1557 Words   |  7 PagesFacebook, being one of the most famous social networking sites comes with its own pros and cons. Here in this article, I will try to show some of the  advantages and disadvantages of Facebook.   It’s No doubt, Facebook has helped a lot to cut down the physical  boundaries, and it has its benefits for personal or for business purposes. Read:  10 Facebook tips and Tricks you should know Facebook has helped a lot to create a personal brand for many individuals and for businesses. Moreover, it’s a majorRead MoreFacebook : My Sense Of Identity Essay1245 Words   |  5 PagesFacebook is a popular social networking site which enables people from various communities, with different identity threads to engage, communicate and form relationships as a sense of belonging. I decided to use Facebook as a place of significance to me because it contributes to my sense of identity and belonging. In this essay I will discuss the significance of Facebook to me and how people interact with each other by using norms, conventions and rules. Also how my interaction with people in thisRead MoreThe Truth about Facebook753 Words   |  3 Pages One of the most famous social networks is Facebook, which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. It is market as a new way to get connected with people all over the world. Facebook really revolutionizes the way people communicates with each other. But just like every things that came before it, Facebook also has its share of problems. Facebook gives people a false sense of security, does not make people happier and can ruin one’s future employment. Facebook is a threat to privacy. Billy Graham once said

THE EFFECT OF ADDICTION PAPER 1 - 1245 Words

THE EFFECT OF ADDICTION PAPER Monique Reed BSHS/455 May 11, 2015 Debra MC Coy THE EFFECT OF ADDICTION PAPER The effect of addiction have consumed billions of individuals all over the world, not only consume but also killed. Individuals have relied on drugs to fill the void in their life that is missing. The addict is not only hurting themselves from the drug use but their families, friends, and their community. In this paper, it will give a description of a 21-year-old male named Anthony. Anthony started using marijuana at the age of 20, trying to hide the pain from the death of his sister. Eventually, marijuana was not enough to get Anthony the extra high he wanted which Anthony made the choice to try another drug and eventually it†¦show more content†¦No, matter what Anthonys family does as long as they shelter him from the truth they will continue to be Anthonys enabler. Because Anthony father was not there for him emotionally, and it affected Anthony mentally. Anthony stated In a certain sense, I do like how concerned my father is about me. My father never paid attention to me before the drugs. This situation have become dangerous for Anthony because he has fallen in love with a drug because of all the attention he is now getting. Anthony father have become his part time accountant he takes cares of his; bills, gas, pay his tickets, give the mother money for Anthony and make sure Anthony only spend 40 dollars a day for the drugs. While the father is doing this, Anthony grandma and mother shelter him at home. This have created Anthony to feel comfortable and happy to be on drugs. Anthony cannot see the wrong and the dangerous outcome because his family hands everything to him. Anthony brothers always makes sure he has a job to come to, even if Anthony have robbed them in the past. â€Å"Katy Mennell describes the dramatic effects that addiction can have on families and ‘concerned others, interspersed with personal tales of those who had such tough experiences. Family members may be helpful in the process of treatment, but may also be unwitting enab lers of continuing the addiction† ((Van Niekerk JP 2011). With the family condoning AnthonysShow MoreRelatedObesity And The Brain : How Convincing1154 Words   |  5 Pagesthe food addiction and it effect on an individual health. Food is necessary for the life and our body need the nutrient to produce energy and do everyday activity. Since we are talking about food addiction and health problem in our society; the first thing come to the mind is the obesity problem that is big issue in our society. Some researchers pose the question about obesity and tried to figure out if the obesity is caused by the process of food addiction that is similar to the addiction to drugRead Moredrug addiction1059 Words   |  5 PagesReseach Paper About Drug Addiction Introduction These days, drugs can be found everywhere, and it may seem like everyone s doing them. Lots of people are tempted by the excitement or escape that drugs seem to offer. But learning the facts about drugs can help you see the risks of chasing this excitement or escape. And just as there Premium4645 Words19 Pages Research Paper About Computer Addiction CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION A. Background of the study It is known that we are living in technologicalRead MoreAlcoholism : A Silent Killer1624 Words   |  7 Pagesreaction paper. This subject hits home for me. Alcoholism is a silent killer in today’s society. Research proves that alcoholism effects the whole family from the inside out. 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See you in hell Essay Example For Students

See you in hell Essay Outline1 The Orpheus myth never goes out of date  2 Jean Cocteau, Past Tense  3 Susan Sontag, The Way We Live Now   The Orpheus myth never goes out of date   In Robert Lepages solo turn Needles and Opiuman evocative odyssey into the drug addictions and lost loves that haunted Jean Cocteau and Miles Davis as they embarked on simultaneous transatlantic flights in 1949 the Canadian theatremakers alter-ego, a contemporary character identified only as Robert, reveals his own romantic travails to a hypnotherapist. I dont want to be Orpheus, Robert confides, but within moments he is suspended on wires high above the stage, spinning circles in the air, while below him a telephone sounds an incessant busy signal and the stage turns a deep, burnished red, a reflected vision of hell. Lepage may be a reluctant Orpheus, but he gives the ancient myth a satisfyingly modern twist; how many artists, after all, would illustrate a legendary story of descent by sending its hero hurtling upward through space? Lepages allusion to the story, however, isnt merely a clever sight gag. With a spate of recent and forthcoming works by contemporary artists, it seems that Orpheus is, indeed, in the air. Composer Philip Glasss adaptation of Jean Cocteaus 1949 film Orphee will premiere in May at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. Playwright Craig Lucass original opera theatre piece Orpheus in Love, written in collaboration with composer Gerald Busby, concluded its run at New Yorks Circle Repertory Theatre in January. Theatre director and video artist Johannes Birringer undertook what he describes as a postmodern deconstruction of the myth last spring at Chicagos Northwestern University. These three original works represent only a small number of the many and varied modern adaptations of the story, which has itself been continuously reinvented virtually from the moment Orpheus first appeared in the annals of Greek mythology. A source for Virgil, Ovid, Plato and Pindar as well as the basis of the first surviving opera, Monteverdis Orfeo of 1607, the Orpheus story has been a cornerstone of music, film and literature, enticing everyone from Rainer Maria Rilke and Tennessee Williams to experimental theatre artist Reza Abdoh, whose 1991 The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice propeled the myth into a bombed-out, gender-scrambled future. In most versions of the myth, Orpheus, a poet-musician capable of charming not only living creatures but even stones with his lyre, descends into the Underworld to rescue his wife Eurydice, who has died after being bitten by a snake. His music overwhelms King Hades, who agrees to release Eurydice on the condition that Orpheus not speak to or look at her until they have fully ascended. Orpheus fails on the very threshold of the world of the living, Eurydice returns to Hades forever, and Orpheus is left to his fate: death at the hands of the Bacchants, the female worshipers of Dionysus. Is the ongoing proliferation of adaptations simply part of a neverending cycle in which the myth is continuously resurrected? Several artists suggest that transforming the tale is a rite of passage. Its such a potent story, Philip Glass says, that in any generation there are dozens of them; people can approach it in so many different ways. Craig Lucas confides that he initially rejected the myth for that very reason. I said, We cant do Orpheus because everybody else in music has done it,' he recounts. And Gerald said, But thats the reason to do it; we should do it again.' The concerns put forth by the artists, however, indicate that these new works are haunted by the modern world in ways that will forever recast the way the myth is understood. New opera involves issues of seeing how music relates to ideology and culture, Johannes Birringer argues; in his rendering, titled Orpheus and Eurydike, multiple narratives, citational references and overlapping performances including 22 women who simultaneously but independently portray Eurydike serve Birringers attempt to break into the myth without having to repeat the story boy loses girl and tries to get her back. The creators of these new versions of Orpheus make reference to video and modern technology, to Freud and Jung, to the horror of AIDS, to disintegration and fragmentation. Even Glass (whose adaptation of Orphee promises to be the most traditional of the three works) was drawn to Cocteaus film because it emphasizes the artist in relation to his peers and his place in society, and because, in a twist of plot that the composer considers Cocteaus most striking contribution to the myth, at its end Orpheus is murdered by a fellow poet. I have the impression that my film of Orpheus would astonish if it were shown in Athens would scandalize. The keepers of the myths would not understand that myths die if they are not adapted to the times. Jean Cocteau, Past Tense   Opera has always been a hybrid for me, drawing its material from other sources, Philip Glass explains. It occurred to me to try to work somehow in the area of film and opera, which is something that hasnt been done; operas have never been made from movies, but at this point, movies have become like a kind of contemporary literature. If Glass isnt the busiest contemporary composer, he is certainly among the most prolific. Orphee, his eleventh opera (and the third to be produced at American Rep, after The Juniper Tree and The Fall of the House of Usher), is the first of a series of pieces the composer hopes to base on the films of Jean Cocteau. (I cant reveal the other plans because I dont have the rights yet, he says, but Im very interested in bringing actual film and live performance together, and Im heading in that direction.) Glass adapted the film scenario, noting that, although he had to change the scenic situation, he was able to preserve Cocteaus text almost entirely without changes. Its a perfect vehicle for an opera, he relates, because basically you have a classic opera situation with two star-crossed couples and two love affairs that are not going to work out. Its kind of wonderful, and yet it becomes a very practical piece too, because the focus is very clearly on these two relationships. I could do a piece that was really a chamber opera, using four principals and three other small parts, and a small orchestra of 12. Cocteaus film, set in modern-day Paris, focuses on the poet Orpheus and his wife Eurydice, and the Princess and Heurtebise, who represent Death and her chauffeur. It reflects Cocteaus fascination with mirrors and with modern technology (from roaring motorcycles to the car radio through which Orpheus communicates with the Underworld) and is famous as a landmark of surrealist cinema. Glass describes his adaptation as a French opera with a strange kind of abstraction to the vocal linestheyre very lyrical, but at the same time they dont quite fit the harmonies, and it leaves everything in a kind of misty, unsettled way. He was drawn to the film, he explains, because of the way Cocteau himself transforms the myth. The traditional questions that Orpheus raises are the ideas of mortality, immortality, art and life. Theres a line in the film where the Princess says, For a poet to become immortal a sacrifice has to be made. This is the basis of what Orphee is about: What is that sacrifice and how is it made, what do we give up to become immortal, what is immortality? How does a work become immortal and a person remain mortal? These are the questions, and of course for any artist these are intriguing questions. What Cocteau does is add another element which isnt there in the others, Glass attests. He emphasizes the relationship of the artist to society, and not just society, but the relationship of the artist to the world of his fellow artists. Cocteau has Orpheus killed by his fellow poets. The conflict that Orpheus has in the film is with his contemporary artists, with his colleagues. This is a point thats sometimes missed, but this is the special twist that Cocteau has given to it. the difference between a story and a painting or photograph is that in a story you can write, Hes still alive. But in a painting or a photo you cant show still. You can just show him being alive. The immortality and beauty of art Essay Susan Sontag, The Way We Live Now   Its a safe bet that something bad will happen in a play by Craig Lucas. In each of his best-known works (including Blue Window, Reckless, Prelude to a Kiss and the film Longtime Companion) relationships end with a cruel, unanticipated immediacy and the world proves tenuous, fragile, capable of being shattered in an instant. The Orpheus story, focusing as it does on love and loss, seems an ideal subject for Lucas, for whom even the most sentimental moment can be infused with pain. Discussing his work, Lucas disclaims the validity of recognizing any single interpretation over another. I think that people have the right to bring their own experience to plays and movies, he avows, and I think its disenfranchising for authors to say, This is what I meant.' But while Orpheus in Love is not overtly about AIDS, and the word itself is never mentioned (although in one affecting moment Orpheus wears a prominent red ribbon, the symbol of solidarity for persons with AIDS), its shadow is long and resolute. When I point out that just minutes into our conversation he has used the word plague three times in three different contexts, Lucas retorts, Well, were in one. Lucas and Busby developed Orpheus after collaborating on a series of concert pieces; Gerald pointed out to me, Lucas notes, that they are all about loss, about people trying to find their place in relationships, and all about death. Structuring the piece as a multilayered exploration of memory, the authors emphasized themes of passion and commitment, setting the opera almost entirely on and around an oversized bed designed by Derek McLane. The first act takes place on the threshold of the Underworld; in the second act, much of which takes place at a small community college where Orpheus is employed, the characters Orpheus and Eurydice, his father and childhood piano teacher compete to tell their stories, finally achieving resolution and peace. We wanted to put the audience through a journey that would be in some ways as inexplicable as falling asleep, as going into a dream place, Lucas states. Where do we touch the dead? In dreams. Although I dont believe that the dead respond to us, I do believe that we carry the dead with us. In an odd sense, he continues, theres only one character in this story; everybody else is dead. But there are conflicts that we have with those people that impede or in some way inform how we live. Eurydices sudden, inexplicable death (in this version, she steps in front of a car and is killed on her honeymoon) thus becomes a metaphor for knowing when to hold on, and when to let go. Lucas allows that audiences are understandably wary of dream states; they can be scarier than the audience wants them to be. The trick is to get them on the ride. With director Kirsten Sanderson, Lucas and Busby take the audience on a journey that is both gentle and jarring. For Lucas, the Freudian concept of primitive process underscores the work. I think what Freud means by primitive process, he explains, is something that comes from the unconscious that has an effectlike a smack, or a dousing with water, or the sudden appearance of smokeand that we cant necessarily analyze or describe, something ineffable. Gerald and I talked about this in relation to music and the power of music, trying to get past the limitation of our mortality, sex as a place where the ego disappears. What ultimately drives Orpheus in Love, however, is desire, and what remains at its end is a sense of longingthat even if Eurydice cannot return from the Underworld, her death, however pointless and cruel, can be a salve for bereavement. We dont get to choose all the things that happen to us. The only thing we do get to choose is what we make of our fates, Lucas believes. I think the danger of being a survivor, of living with painof living with AIDS, for that matteris that its very awesomely seductive to close down, to stop engaging in the world. The only way to move on is to pass through that grief and anger. For centuries music was usedto represent and praise the many images of women, but she was always the creation of the male imaginationMale phantasies, longings and fears were projected onto her but the realities of womens everyday existence were ignored. The Orpheus story ends with a woman silenced forever and a man torn apart and destroyed. Johannes Birringers Orpheus and Eurydike begins what the director calls a ritual of screaming, while video screens play images of dismembered womens bodies and show body parts flying around as sound, text and image all compete for the attention of the audience. Dispensing with Orpheus as a character some 20 minutes into the production, Birringers opera is nothing less than a radical rethinking of the traditional interpretations and assumptions associated the myth. When I thought about the artist figure in the myth, Orpheus as composer/musician, Birringer explains, it was clear that this is a romantic concept that underlies a lot of stories we have in our culture about love and loss. Its a convenient male myth in that the loss always seems to involve the death or the sacrifice of a woman, which then is immortalized and aggrandized in the poetry and the music that the suffering poet writes. I did not want to make another Orpheus and Eurydice, he continues, but to create a new work without somebody having to die or needing to be sacrificed. And I felt the only way to do that is to create an opera that deals with womens stories and perhaps their myths. In other words, I tried to find the voice of Eurydice. A German-born director and video artist who worked with dance/theatre artist Pina Bausch in the early 1980s and has been on Northwesterns Performance Studies faculty since 1990, Birringer drew extensively on postmodern feminist and cultural theory in preparing the new opera. Working with an ensemble of performers who were collectively responsible for the choreography; three modern composersGwynne Winsberg, Patricia Morehead and Tim Tobias; and live action juxtaposed with video, Birringer set out to show critically the way the myth reproduces itself in terms of the way men look at women. The use of video (which included scenes from the rehearsal process, scenes filmed especially for the production and excerpts from films by Cocteau, Luis Bunuel, Sally Potter and others) to explode the conventions of the mythic narrative proved especially useful, Birringer says, to the women in the company. They were constantly having to ask themselves what it meant to them to be looked at on the stage or in film, and what this crucial turn in the mythin the Ovidian and Virgilian versions Orpheus is given Eurydice back under the guideline not to look at heractually means. Men are often not looking, he goes on, but seeing something they want to see. Thats why the opera also made a turn into investigating a compositional mode which would not be a linear story, as in many male myths and many conventional theatrical and operatic plots. Our piece is constantly moving backwards and forwards, and in a sense retrieving womens stories from alongside, inside and outside of this myth. Even as Birringer lists the many issues the opera explores the male gaze, the mythic narrative and its deconstruction, the deconstruction of opera conventions, sexual politics in opera and ones own sexual politics, the whole question of how you look, what do you look at when you have multiple visual narrativesand points to the collaborative nature of its production, his place as director at the top of the hierarchy of power cannot be ignored. His own role is something Birringer both acknowledges and disclaims. Instead of my looking at women I wanted to listen to them, he says. That was my contribution. If every age creates its own Orpheus, then ourswhich denies him the heroic stature found in most versions of the myth and the elevation to the gods accorded him in Monteverdi and Glucks operasmay be particularly bleak. If every Orpheus reflects a quest, however, then each of these new opera/theatre works may represent new developments in the ongoing critical discourse between creative artists and the world in which they live. Eurydice will never return from the Underworld, and Orpheus will never fail to seek for her with hope, longing and despair. Glass, Lucas and Busby, and Birringer reveal what his search means for the modern age by showing what must be given up, as well as what might be gained.

Weapon accountability free essay sample

The date was September 14, 2012. At around 10 p. m. Camp Leatherneck was attacked by 15 insurgents. These attackers, organized into three teams, began an assault on the airfield of Bastion. While wearing U. S. Army uniforms, the attackers toted automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and suicide vests. While aboard Camp Leatherneck/Camp Bastion, they inflicted incredible damage to the air-wing. Destroying six AV-8B Harrier jets and damaging two others, along with six aircraft hangers suffering damage, and six refueling stations were destroyed. While trying to fight the attackers off, two U.  S. Marines were shot and killed, along with injuring several others. Along with threats like base security, there is also, â€Å"Insider Threats†. This is an attack by an Afghan National Army (ANA) member, Afghan Police Department (APD), or an Afghan National working on base. These attacks come out of nowhere and usually occur because the Taliban has threatened their family or someone disrespected the attacking person at some point and wants retaliation. We will write a custom essay sample on Weapon accountability or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In these cases it is extremely important to have you weapon, whether it be an M16A2, M16A4, M4, or a 9MM pistol. You should have it on you for protection at all times and be ready for anything that comes your way. Weather it is an attack on base or an Insider Attack from an Afghan counterpart. This is why a condition 3 weapon (magazine inserted, no round in chamber, bolt forward, ejection port cover close, and weapon on safe) is implemented on Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion. You never know when the enemy will attack and should be ready with your weapon at all times. Leaving a weapon unattended can also lead to the enemy acquiring your weapon and using it against yourself, fellow Marines and U. S. Forces, and coalition forces that you work with. Preventing the enemy in every way of attacking us is our main mission and to protect those around us. The enemy is always looking for a way to attack, and any weapon unattended can be the way for them to do so. My weapon should be an extension of my body and mind; I should be able to automatically pick it up without thinking. If my weapon had been picked up by someone from someone else in the military on the Camp Leatherneck, then they would have turned it into their higher chain of command, in which would have been turned over to the military police. At that point, I would then be breaking UCMJ and most likely lose rank and pay. It could also lead to a higher punishment and being discharged from the Marine Corps. If my weapon had been picked up by someone outside of the military, it could have been sold to be used to harm other military members or used by an insurgent to hurt men, women, and children. Camp Leatherneck could be locked down and searched until the weapon was found. In which, for the convoys outside of the Forward Operating Base (FOB), would not be able to enter. This could leave them open to attack and could lead to cost of lives and money to the government. Losing a weapon could cost your unit and could cost a lot of people valuable time, which is precious in Afghanistan. What is accountability; the definition is simply liable to account for one’s actions, â€Å"A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct. Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, enforcement, responsibility, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. Article 108 (Destruction of Government Property) under the UCMJ states, â€Å"any person subject to this chapter who, without proper authority- (1) sells or otherwise disposes of, (2) willfully or through neglect, damaged, destroys, or loses his/her weapon, (3) willfully or through neglect suffers to be lost, damaged, destroyed, sold, or wrongfully disposed of, and military property of the United States, shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. † The maximum punishment for â€Å"through neglect, damaging, destroying, or losing, or through neglect suffering to be lost, damaged, destroyed, sold, or wrongfully disposed of, military property. † â€Å"A value or damage of more than $500, bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year. † This could lead to problems outside of the military with getting a job, the employer could deem you as not responsible and not accountable for equipment or persons.