Perspectives on Fear :: Personal Narrative Writing

â€Å"At the University of California at Irvine, experiments in rats indicate that the brain’s hormonal reaction to fear can be inhibited, softening the formation of memories and the emotions they evoke† (Baard). Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. I lie in bed for hours while my mind churns through endless streams of fragmented thoughts and memories, bits of brain matter that I do not have time for in my waking life. I have tried the homeopathic remedies. I drink â€Å"calming† teas, take showers, and inhale scents advertised to promote sleep and relaxation. I even have a lavender neck pillow. Nevertheless, when I am inflicted with a bout of sleeplessness, there is usually very little I can do but wait it out. I stay away from sleep drugs. The streetlamp outside paints shapes across the wall next to my bed. I can see them in the darkness, dull orange lines that have become familiar in my many restless nights. At the heart of their canvas, they intersect to form a rectangle. A rectangle? For months I believed in this reality of form with the inborn certainty that accompanies that which is obvious. I didn’t have to think about it. Nightly, I would study the shape in a sleep haze, unconsciously harboring knowledge of its regularity. Except that it is not a rectangle. Two forty seven. Nearly three hours after my first attempt at sleep, I stared up at the wall and realized for the first time the distortion within the orange light. Where the lines connected to form the shape, the rectangle, were angles. Obtuse and acute, they had none of the symmetrical regularity that geometry dictates of a true rectangle. The outline on the wall was crooked, skewed, an imperfect representation of the form. I tend to think of my memories as shoeboxes, precise, neatly uniform components that stack tidily in the mind. Somehow I have trained myself to believe that in regularity and order I will uncover the diagram of my true self, a clear-cut explanation for all that I think, say, and do. But in sleepless nights I realize that even old recurring thoughts can be strangely misshapen, and I am thrown into a tailspin. My memories of experiencing fear seem contorted. Among the most vivid of my recollections, they stand out with their potent doses of color, emotion, and experience. They have been with me so long that I rarely question the nature of their composition.

Lifes Lessons in The Once and Future King :: Once and Future King Essays

Life's Lessons in The Once and Future King "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing, which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn." Throughout The Once and Future King, Wart learns many lessons in some unlikely places. Young Wart is the adopted son of a nobleman when he meets Merlyn, a magician, who takes him on many adventures, turning him into several different animals and teaching him skills, both mental and physical. Wart learns to treat people with respect and kindness. Soon after, Wart pulls a magical sword from a stone, which proves him the rightful king of England. Merlyn, who knew this from the start, advises Wart-now called Arthur- on how to be a good king. What Arthur really wants to do is end the chaos that passes for law in his country. He wants his men-the knights of the round table- to help defenseless people and prevent the rich and strong from simply dominating everyone. Many young knights love the chivalrous idea and admire Arthur. Arthur's wife Guenever has an affair with one of Arthur's best knights, Lancelot. Since he is a just king, Arthur feels obligated to persecute them for adultery and treason. This went along with Mordred's plan to upset the court and, since he was the only son of Arthur (not with Guenever however), to become King of England. Lancelot kills Gareth, Gaheris, and Agravaine, all knights of the Roundtable. Mordred convinces a surviving knight, Gawaine that Lancelot killed them out of his own hatred of England. Life's Lessons in The Once and Future King :: Once and Future King Essays Life's Lessons in The Once and Future King "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing, which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn." Throughout The Once and Future King, Wart learns many lessons in some unlikely places. Young Wart is the adopted son of a nobleman when he meets Merlyn, a magician, who takes him on many adventures, turning him into several different animals and teaching him skills, both mental and physical. Wart learns to treat people with respect and kindness. Soon after, Wart pulls a magical sword from a stone, which proves him the rightful king of England. Merlyn, who knew this from the start, advises Wart-now called Arthur- on how to be a good king. What Arthur really wants to do is end the chaos that passes for law in his country. He wants his men-the knights of the round table- to help defenseless people and prevent the rich and strong from simply dominating everyone. Many young knights love the chivalrous idea and admire Arthur. Arthur's wife Guenever has an affair with one of Arthur's best knights, Lancelot. Since he is a just king, Arthur feels obligated to persecute them for adultery and treason. This went along with Mordred's plan to upset the court and, since he was the only son of Arthur (not with Guenever however), to become King of England. Lancelot kills Gareth, Gaheris, and Agravaine, all knights of the Roundtable. Mordred convinces a surviving knight, Gawaine that Lancelot killed them out of his own hatred of England.

Better Community and Build a Healthier Life Essay

Better Community and Build a Healthier Life,† yesterday. Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit, ecumenical Christian community, has been created to make adequate housing a matter of conscience and action. Since its creation in 1976, it has built and improved more than 300,000 houses, sheltering more than 1,500,000 people in thousands of communities in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Habitat’s work is made possible by affiliates or people who are dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. As of this writing there are 132 affiliates in the Asia-Pacific region and 2,291 worldwide. Habitat’s work is far greater than the current number of affiliates and supporters nonetheless. Hence as it continually strives to achieve its mission Habitat is likewise constantly calling more volunteers to take their part in re-building the world. Anchoring on a statement made by Dr. Stephen Post, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and co-author of the forthcoming book Why Good Things Happen to Good People: The Exciting New Research That Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life that, â€Å"There is now a convergence of research leading to the conclusion that helping others makes people happier and healthier. So the word is out – its good to be good. Science increasingly says so,† former President and co-founder of Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy –more– relates volunteering to building a healthier life. For more details on how to participate to the Habitat’s action for a cause, please visit http://www. habitat. org/. Contact Name: Phone: Website: E-mail: ###

Explore the ways E.A. Poe uses his narrators to create a sense of terror and suspense Essay

Throughout all the stories I have read during the course of studying Edgar Allen Poe, the narrating has been fairly similar and a great sense of tension, fear and believability have been created inn all of them. The stories are all written in the first person, so it is more like a story is being told to you by some one, which makes them all more believable. In ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Tell Tale Heart’, it is something that drives the narrator mad that forces him to commit the murders, and in ‘The Premature Burial’ his fear, being buried alive, is driving him mad. In fact he is being driven over the edge of insanity in all the stories we have studied except two – ‘The Fall of the house of Usher’ and ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, both in which he is nearly killed. In all of them we learn a lot about the narrator, for example, in ‘The Premature Burial’, we learn about his background, and a lot about catalepsy and his fear of being buried alive. The narrators are very descriptive of the other characters in the stories and this really adds atmosphere, and makes the reader feel as if they are part of the tale. For example, in ‘The Tell Tale Heart’, Poe describes the old man- â€Å"One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture- a pale blue eye, with a film over it.† He often uses similes and metaphors, which also helps and makes symbols using characters or objects he mentions, for example, in ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, he describes the candles on a table, as angels, next to the jury that was about to sentence him to death by torture, as images of the devil. In all of the stories we studied, I can’t remember the narrators describing any of the other characters as ‘good’; they were all evil or bad. I don’t know whether this portrays that Edgar Allen Poe stereotyped people as bad or evil, but all of the narrators he wrote about did. The emotions that were felt by the narrators were very varied, at times they were scared, at other times, they were afraid, but whatever emotions they were feeling, they were very well portrayed and very detailed vocabulary was used. For example- ‘I was sick- sick unto death with that long agony; and when that at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me’. The emotions that the narrators felt affected the stories and the more descriptive they were, the more you could picture them and the more the story came to life in your imagination. This could be why Poe was such a successful writer. The narrators always describe their surroundings and the position they are in very well and this also makes it a lot easier to picture the story in your head. For example, in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ the opening page is only the narrator describing, in detail, the house and it’s surroundings: – â€Å"During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens.† This amount of description continues for over a page and sets the scene very effectively. You feel like you are there, almost as if you are telling the story from personal experience. All of the stories we have studied have had very good description in them and all scenes were set very believably. For another example, in ‘The Pit and The Pendulum’, the introduction is in Latin, which gives you the impression that the story was set or written a long time ago. After that, there is a long, descriptive page, setting the scene of the story- â€Å"It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution – perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill-wheel† The narrators’ reactions to either the murders they had committed or events that were about to happen to them were different every time, unlike the narrator’s feelings about other characters, which were often similar. In ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ the narrator did not seem particularly concerned when he saw the sight of his own certain death swinging above him – â€Å"While I gazed upwards at it (for it as position was directly above my own) I fancied that I saw it in motion†. But as the pendulum dropped, his language became much more descriptive and intense – â€Å"Down – still unceasingly – still inevitably down!† It gripped you more and makes you want to read on. Maybe this is why he had so many occasions in his stories when he was irate or mad, so the reader became gripped and more interested. The endings of Poe’s stories are often the most memorable part as it is often in the last part of the story where the main murder or event occurs. For example, in ‘The Black Cat’, ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ and ‘The House of Usher’, the main event/murder is at the end of the story, with little said after it. In ‘The Black Cat’ for example, after the murdered cats and wife are found, there are only about twenty lines left of the story, which is not much, considering the huge amount of description Poe uses- † I walled up the monster within the tomb† In a sense it is really only the narrators in his stories that create all the tension, terror and suspense. If it was written in anything other than first person, the same effect would not be given and I don’t think his stories would be as good, or as effective.

Industrial Growth in the United States for 1860-1900 Essay

Many important factors helped to promote America’s huge industrial growth during the period from 1860 to 1900. Before the blossom of this industrialization, the United States consisted of mostly farms and small towns. The development of factories and urban cities soon changed all of this. The railroad system expanded and eventually turned into a goldmine for commerce in the United States. Machinery started to decrease the amount of animal labor used, which allowed the consistency and production of goods to rise. As it reached the brink of the 20th century, America had surprisingly become the world’s greatest industrial nation in history. The Civil War, caused by Southern states seceding from the Union, sparked the beginning of the United States’ industrial growth. As the war came to and end, reconstruction within the country began to take place. Many new ideas and inventions began to pop up and American business leaders recognized them. One of these ideas was a railroad that would run from coast to coast. In 1862, the building of this Transcontinental Railroad began. It was finished by 1869 and drastically increased cultural diffusion. The Republican party of the Federal Government was in control during most of the country’s industrial boom. Their platform wanted to impose tariffs, or taxes, on foreign goods to keep America’s spending within its own borders. They also supported the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad allowed goods to be sold throughout the whole country, which in turn increased production and sales. At that point in time, as well as today, time equaled money. Travel times were cut, and therefore money was raked in more than ever before. By 1900, there was almost 200,000 miles of railroad track in America. This was an increase of over 160,000 miles from 1860. The United States was â€Å"on track† to becoming a huge industrial nation. During the period of time between 1860 and 1900, there were many needs in industry. These needs included communication, natural resources, power sources, cheap labor, and applied technology. In the 1850s, 52% of all power came from animals while only 35% came from water and coal. By the 1900s, the use of water and coal more than doubled to 73% of all power sources. Many business tycoons realized his growing use of resources. One man by the name of John D. Rockerfeller created a monopoly over the entire oil industry  through his plan of Horizontal Consolidation. With this plan he was able to bring together many firms in the oil business and combine them into a single unit called a trust. Another man, Andrew Carnegie, had similar views on gaining total control of a commodity. In 1882, he used the idea of Vertical Consolidation to gain control of the growing steel industry. His business, the Carnegie Steel Company, therefore controlled every factor in the production of steel. Rockefel ler and Carnegie both became very rich men, and the United States Congress soon recognized this. They responded by drafting the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed the combination of businesses that would destroy competition. As more and more people moved to the West in search of better lives, the need for communication grew. Systems of sending messages through wires and electric currents soon began to appear. These inventions were called the telegraph and the telephone. People in the West could now communicate with the friends and loved ones in the East that they moved away from. In turn, their fear of isolation soon disappeared. Although the trouble of communication was diminished, life on the job continued to be a problem. Workers demanded better working conditions. Factories soon began to run faster and more smoothly than in the past. Working conditions also improved and provided less risk of injury and strain on workers. (Document 1) Conditions were only getting better, but the need for lower wages was a growing problem for factories. Immigration rates to America began to increase. From the 1860s to the 1900s, the number of immigrants rose to over eight million people. This allowed wages for workers to go down because immigrants would work for less money. The factories could now spend more money on the production of goods. The many demands of industrial growth were met throughout America’s industrial boom. During the second half of the 19th century, the United States shocked the world by transforming into a dynamite industrial nation. It’s population increased from six million people in 1860 to over thirty million in 1900. Power sources played a major role in industry at this time. Communication devices and railroads also increased commerce. Big businesses were on the rise and American’s soon left their farms for factories. These factors helped to promote the United States’ successfully rapid industrial growth during the period from 1860 to 1900.

Monroe Versus Madison.

Corey Salva Mr. Vieira APUSH 10/15/10 Marbury vs. Madison In 1803, a single case managed to change how America's government would be run forever. In John Adams' last few days as president, he appointed a small group of Federalists into power. When Thomas Jefferson was elected into office, and he told James Madison to not bring the commissions to an appointed â€Å"midnight judge† named William Marbury. This gave the newly appointed Chief Justice, John Marshall, a great opportunity to spread his Federalist influence deeper into the American government.When Marbury found out that his commission was being held back by Madison, he sued for its delivery. This event brought about the case of Marbury vs. Madison. Marbury v. Madison was the first time the Supreme Court declared something â€Å"unconstitutional†, and established the concept of judicial review in the U. S. (the idea that courts may oversee and nullify the actions of another branch of government). The landmark dec ision helped define the â€Å"checks and balances† of the American form of government. This case influenced how the government would establish laws forever.The biggest issue in the case was whether or not the commission could be forced on its delivery. The biggest questions of the case were: does Article III of the Constitution create a â€Å"floor† for original jurisdiction, which Congress can add to, or does it create an exhaustive list that Congress can't modify at all? If Article III's original jurisdiction is an exhaustive list, but Congress tries to modify it anyway, who wins that conflict, Congress or the Constitution? Most importantly, who is supposed to decide who wins?On February 24, 1803, the Court rendered a unanimous (4-0) decision, that Marbury had a right to his commission, but Congress did not have the power to force Madison to deliver it. This seemed like a loss for the Federalist people in the government, but in fact, it changed how the government wou ld work forever. Marshall was enable to enact Judicial Review, which gave the Supreme Court the ability to determine whether a law passed by Congress was constitutional or not. This was extremely influential in America's government, for this is still in use today. Marbury was never appointed a Justice of Peace in the District of Columbia.

Crime Increases on Campus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crime Increases on Campus - Essay Example It is essential for students to be provided a safe and secure environment at the campus they are studying. Such a secure environment may lead to an increased interest of students in their studies as they may feel the campus to be similar to that of their own home. So in order to ensure such an environment for learning, many aspects are needed to be sought out and taken in to consideration. One such important aspect is the safety and security of the students within the campus. In order to be safe and secure a campus requires being adequately equipped with emergency accidental cases as well as the ability to curb the crimes within the campus. The mishaps of campus fierceness have appealed notice of broad publicity recently due to the increased crime rate within campuses. To address this issue there are two ways of addressing the problem. The common law is the foremost that provides regulations regarding the conduct within educational institutions. These laws and regulations are common for all campuses. Another way is the use of administrative authority of the campus to enforce its own formulated regulations to control the campus violence. Besides the authoritative enforcement, the modern technology helps in the attainment of the goal of a safe and sound environment within the campus by bridging the gaps in the security by manual monitoring (Hyland, 2003). Upon completion of project the crime rate within the campus could be declined by 90% resulting in the resolution of campus violence completely. The safe and secure environment will result in increased admissions within the campus and better results. This security plan has been tested by Central Alarm Security Systems in a violent campus within States and the quoted results were attained as the crime rate was declined by 90% within the campus. The installation of CCTV camera system will require 2 days and