Los Angeles Urbanism and Urban Landscape Essay Example for Free

Los Angeles Urbanism and Urban Landscape Essay Development and population movements begin and end in the city centers. It is in the city centers that various activities and concentrations of high degrees of social and economic communications and interactions converge. In fact, the city center is often a city’s historical core, susceptible to a series of major transformations in the process development. This space in the city symbolizes the dynamic and intensive congregation of diverse people interacting to satisfy varying needs and demands. However, the city center exists as an integral part of a broader urban system, which provides a context in understanding the characteristics and changes in the city center. At the same time the city center, as the hub of new ideas, influence developments in the broader urban system. Through the processes and systems of the city center, it can significantly influence urban structures and development perspectives. The transformation of a city starts and builds momentum in its city center because it is at the core of the city that changes often emerge to spread throughout the city’s periphery. Studying the urbanism and urban landscape of cities would reflect the manner and extent that city centers influenced the development of the cities of today. Los Angeles is a non-conventional city because it has more than one city center. This makes the exploration of the impact of city centers on the development of a city of significant interest. While a city center highly influences the urban landscape of a city, the existence of a number of city centers would mean greater diverse intersecting influences on the city’s urban landscape. The discussion focuses on the urbanism of Los Angeles as expressed through the periods of change in its urban landscape, based on the interrelationships of history, people, economy, and politics; and expressed through development, planning and structures, culminating into how Los Angeles looks and feels today. Periods of Urbanism Changes in the Urban Landscape of Los Angeles Los Angeles, as it is today, is the result of a series of historical, socio-economic and political developments expressed through structures as artifacts of the resulting urban landscape. There are five distinct periods in the urbanization of Los Angeles. The distinguishing factors of these periods are the key changes in the patterns of social life and key developments in the structural landscape of the city centers and the city itself. Development Period (1870-1900) The pattern of growth of Los Angeles was not from the creation and spread of a city center but through the simultaneous developments of different ranch communities. After California became an American state and Los Angeles incorporated as a city in 1850, massive migration occurred from the Midwest to make Los Angeles a majority Anglo territory, albeit there were Mexicans, American Indians, and even Chinese already forming part of the multicultural population . Economic activity revolved around the ranches that sprouted in three areas defined by the geographic landscape, which are beach areas, foothills and mountain ranges, and the plains . These geographic landscapes determined the varying development of these areas since the beach areas meant reliance on fishing and other water-based industries, the rich plains meant strong agricultural outputs, and the mountain ranges supported cattle herding, logging, and mining. The rise and fall of these economic bases depending on factors such as weather, socio-cultural issues, economic conditions, and political situations determined the direction and pace of development of these areas on which the city centers of Los Angeles formed. Economic opportunities in Los Angeles led to the massive migration of Chinese, Japanese and Mexican laborers into the city. The population grew from 20,000 in 1870 to 230,000 in just a decade. The great number of Chinese immigrants led to the establishment of China Towns contiguous the major ranches, which became the economic centers. The interaction of different cultures due to close proximity resulted in racial conflicts as exemplified by the massacre of twenty Chinese individuals in 1871. Competition for work and threat of encroachment into an urban space that is becoming smaller through the influx of people caused racial issues. There was need for development to keep up and accommodate the needs of the growing population. The surge in urbanization of these areas commenced during the 1880s and continued for two decades when the federal government subsidized the development of the ports in Los Angeles, railroads, roads, aqueducts and reservoirs, and other key facilities such as schools and hospitals. Prior to and during these periods, the federal government with the help of city officials also continued surveying lands and allocated these for public and private use. The allocation of land to the private sector established close public-private partnership that directed the areas for development and provided the local support for the various infrastructure projects that would serve both the private and public sector. The federal government then played an important role in spurring the urban development of Los Angeles. During these two decades, the structural landscape of Los Angeles involved the establishment of households around the key facilities such as roads and railroad or along the waterways. There were buildings for school and hospitals. Business was also thriving due to economic growth resulting to the establishment of structures for commerce and leisure. The emerging communities were also organized according to racial background as with the China Town for the Chinese and the Latino communities for the Mexicans. However, these structural changes were happening at the different city centers independently and these city centers do not necessarily have close ties. As such, this period expressed fragmentation. Progressive Era Roaring Twenties (1900-1920s) The end of the period of development came about in the mid-1890s due to the economic depression. This led to the realization that relying primarily on agriculture and real estate development as the major economic activities was not sufficient to support continuous urban development. Promoters or prospectors of Los Angeles from the government and the private sector looked at industrialization, with manufacturing as the more sustainable economic base. It was during the 1920s that Los Angeles experienced growth from its manufacturing sector . During this time, the petroleum industry experienced major breakthroughs in search of black gold. Rise in production led to the growth of petroleum processing firms or refineries. The petroleum industry financed motion pictures leading to the establishment of Los Angeles as the leader in the production of movies. Hollywood developed as early as 1910 but it was during the 1920s that motion production rapidly increased and eighty percent of motion pictures shown worldwide came from Hollywood . In addition to petroleum production, other manufacturing industries also emerged in Los Angeles. The aircraft manufacturing industry developed through the pioneering efforts of the Lockheed brothers and Donald Douglas. Expansions of the ports in Long Beach and San Pedro also supported the growth in commerce and trade with products coming in and going out of Los Angeles. These economic developments paved the way for further changes in the urban landscape of Los Angeles. The renewed economic growth led to the further migration of Mexican laborers into Los Angeles together with Chinese and Japanese immigrants. The massive flow of workers made Mexicans the largest non-Anglo group in Los Angeles. The larger population of non-Anglo groups in Los Angeles made the city more culturally and racially diverse than other cities in other regions of America. At this time, the population reached 1. 24 million . Diverse cultural influences affected the development planning and structures of Los Angeles. The factor that truly incorporated Los Angeles was the boom in automobile use , with massive consumption supported by the petroleum and other industries. During the 1920s, Los Angeles was the top city in terms of car ownership and registration. The development of roads interlinked the various city centers within Los Angeles, which at this time already numbered forty. The new city centers were formerly small communities that developed from the discovery of petroleum reserves. Concurrent, with the integration of Los Angeles as a city, its massive thirty-two story city hall was erected in 1928. It symbolized the integration of the different city centers as key contributors to the development of Los Angeles. Urban planning revolved around the city hall as the hub. Nevertheless, the different city centers continued to pursue different paths of development expressing the persistence of fragmentation . Concurrently, Los Angeles started to experience problems in traffic and parking. The influx of people also created the problem of urban space resulting to the expansion of land development outward. This led to the development of communities in San Fernando Valley towards the north and lands near San Pedro port towards the south. In the city centers, development looked upwards to create space leading to the construction of taller buildings for residential and business purposes. Emerging social problems also spurred the rise in leftist politics that challenged the current direction of development. The challenges were intensified by the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. Period of Renewed Metropolitan Development (1930s-1950s) The developments during this period were in response to the Great Depression as well as the accumulating problems experienced by Los Angeles, particularly traffic and parking with more cars bought and population congestion with massive influx of people even during the economic downturn, although at a lower rate than during the roaring twenties. The solution to the Great Depression was to boost further industrialization via incentives for business growth. During the 1930s, the local government set out to develop and control its own electric and water companies. The price of electricity was relatively lower when compared to other major cities. The development of the city’s own water supply also eased the difficulties experienced by the labor force, resulting to a less leftist relationship with companies. These incentives led to the establishment of other industries such as rubber and tire manufacturing and iron and steel production in the 1940s, also partly in response to the demands of the Second World War. The aviation industry also experienced further growth. Many manufacturing plants were built in the city centers and fringes of Los Angeles as 479 new manufacturing plants were added to the already one thousand existing ones. The rise in new industries alleviated the declining socio-economic conditions of the growing population of workers. The solution to population congestion in the city centers was to build outwards and upwards. During the 1930s, there remained enough land space, comprising fifty percent of surveyed jurisdiction of Los Angeles but these lands were in the fringes and undeveloped. Residential areas were built in the eastern and southern areas of Los Angeles primarily to cater to the working class. Communities such as Beldevere, Maywood and South Gate emerged. The houses were usually one to two stories with large lawns and steep inclines relative to road built on mountainous areas. In the city centers, residential buildings, which are modest in height, also emerged; but scattered across different areas unlike the rows of apartment building that emerged in other major cities. These parallel developments led to different directions of development in downtown Los Angeles and the primarily residential suburbs. The solution to traffic and parking was initially the regulation of parking areas and time but this did not alleviate the problem . The private sector was left to provide solutions to this problem, which resulted in scattered and piecemeal responses from the business sector. Surface parking lots emerged by demolishing small and old buildings. Then multi-story parking lots also emerged. Basement parking garage of department stores accessible directly through the elevators also formed part of the solution. More and more, the perks of buildings and competitiveness of establishments were in response to the demand for parking, particularly the contiguous location to parking amenities. In the case of department stores, hotels and other business establishments, there were frequent movements to new locations, further away from downtown, in response to the traffic and parking problems since customers prefer stores close or with parking spaces. As such, the business and commercial center stretched to cover a wide area unlike the closely packed business and commercial center in other cities. Restructuring Era (1960s-1990s) Economic growth in the manufacturing sector continued in the 1960s up to the late 1980s. The growth in manufacturing was due to the inflow of military or security related contracts due to the Cold War. Aviation, tire manufacturing, and car production industries remained key industries. In addition, new industries, particularly garments manufacturing also emerged with the flow of overseas, mainly Asian capital into Los Angeles. The ports of Los Angeles also comprised a convenient incentive for merchants or traders. In comparison, while the economies of Chicago and New York de-industrialized in the 1970s, the economy of Los Angeles continued to grow. The economic growth led to the further growth in population, which now reached 8. 5 million in the 1980s. However, towards the end of the 1980s, manufacturing slowed down due to the withdrawal of security-related contracts with the end of the Cold War. Federal spending on security decreased or shifted to other priorities. This led to the significant rise in unemployment. In 1992, the extent of the problem found expression in the riots of laborers, since the fragmentation of manufacturing opportunities also weakened unionization. Nevertheless, the services sector providing white-collar jobs remained strong. This led to the socio-economic divide with racial underpinnings. Most of the laborers were Mexicans, Asians and Blacks while most of the white-collar workers were Whites. The urbanization of Los Angeles involved two aspects, one is continued economic growth and the other is fragmentation of socio-economic class. This led to the restructuring of the city. The rise in the services sector and the development of the technology-based industries led to a different path in urban landscape. More architectural infrastructures emerged displaying advancements in both art and technology while the restoration of old architectural works expressed the developments in urbanization of Los Angeles . However, fragmentation was apparent in the development that centered only on certain areas such as the business and commercial centers while the residential areas surrounding these developed areas, which minority groups primarily populate, remained unchanged and continued to deteriorate. In the suburban areas, two streams of development emerged. On one hand, the established residential communities retained the historical look of low buildings with wide lawns and the white picket fences. On the other hand, newly established communities expressed the new trends in artistic and architectural designs to express a diverse visualization of structures captured in the term edge city . Modern Period (2000-Present) The modern Los Angeles is a diverse and fragmented metropolis. While the urban landscape has changed, diversity and fragmentation remained the static characteristics of Los Angeles. Diversity finds expression from the fusion of different cultures starker in the city than in other major cities. The interaction between cultures affects the psyche of urban society and finds reflection in the fragmentation of its urban landscape. In addition, the diversification of economic base of Los Angeles from agriculture to manufacturing to services has an impact on the diversification of the activities and movements of people reflected in structures. Even fragmentation is diverse and multi-tiered. One reflection of fragmentation is the layering of the population of Los Angeles based on socio-economic class, which continues to widen. Another reflection of fragmentation is the classification of Los Angeles into four distinct ecologies, each representing different social networks and diverse infrastructures. The first ecology is surfurbia, which refers to the beach areas expressing the more laidback aspect of Los Angeles. The beaches developed into high-end communities of private residences and exclusive resorts as well as open beaches linked to hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and other commercial shops catering to both locals and tourists. The second ecology is the foothills, primarily consisting of residential areas reflecting the fragmentation into traditional and modern structures. On one hand, the older communities in the foothills reflected the traditional monotony of similar looking houses. On the other hand, the new communities reflected variances in architectural design. The third ecology is the plains of id, comprised of residential areas also reflecting the fragmentation between the old and the new, patches of agricultural land, and some remnants of the manufacturing factories. The fourth ecology is the autopia characterized by the mechanized features of the city including its interconnected roads and freeways. However, fragmentation is not only in terms of ecological space but also of the perspectives of the residents of Los Angeles, explained through the concept of social fragmentation and the widening cultural gap. In addition, the common experience of fragmentation and changes in economic structure created networked co-dependence among these four ecosystems with employment centered in the sufurbia, plains and autopia but expansion in real estate concentrated in the plains and foothills. The intersection of people between these ecologies increased. As such, the building of infrastructures no longer sufficed as catalysts of development because of the need to consider the impact on other ecologies and the need to address the deeper issues of socio-economic fragmentation and cultural gap. The focus of urban planning started to move from decentralization dependent on the private sector to centralization, under the management of the local government. Conclusion The urbanism of Los Angeles shows the manner that four city centers evolved into distinct ecologies to create the diversification and fragmentation of Los Angeles. These city centers also dramatically transformed the urban landscape of Los Angeles in a manner that maintained diversity and fragmentation. The moving force of these city centers are the changing activities and dynamics of people in response to natural and manmade challenges. However, Los Angeles never ceased to change and it continues to experience rapid change, particularly moving towards the growing co-dependence between the city centers due to socio-cultural, economic, political and environmental challenges requiring greater centralization in urban planning. With this current trend, Los Angeles would experience another period of urban renewal and restructuring in the future. Bibliography Abu-Lughod, Janet. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles: Americas Global Cities. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1999. Banham, Reyner. Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2009. Fogelson, Robert and Robert Fishman. The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1859-1930. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1993. Garreau, Joel. Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. New York: Random House, Inc. , 1992. Gottlieb, Robert, Mark Vallianatos, Regina Freer and Peter Dreier. The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2005. Longstreth, Richard. City Center to Regional Mall: Architecture, the Automobile, and Retailing in Los Angeles, 1920-1950. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997. Mitkovic, Petar and Milena Dinic. â€Å"City Center Organization and its Influence on the City Structure. † Architecture and Civil Engineering 3(2004): 41-56. Scott, Allen. â€Å"Resurgent Metropolis: Economy, Society and Urbanization in an Interconnected World. † International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 32(2008):548-564. Scott, Allen and Edward Soja. The City: Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the Twentieth Century. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1998. Sitton, Tom and William Deverell. Metropolis in the Making: Los Angeles in the 1920s. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2001. Varnelis, Kazys. The Infrastructural City: Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles. New York: Actar, 2008.

A Normal Guy Biography Of Julius English Literature Essay

A Normal Guy Biography Of Julius English Literature Essay Normality is often hard to define. A French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, indicated in his book that normal is the most common behavior in society. Julius Tamara runs a jewelry store which is well known through the city in one of the streets that is full of competitors, Jl. Pasir Koja. And this is about how normal he was and he is. Born in the City of Flowers or Bandung, the third largest city in Indonesia. Julius grew up in not so small family, he had 3 brothers and 3 sisters. Being in a moderate family, he seems to enjoy his childhood where he rode bicycle with his friends, playing with sticks, stones and whatever they have at that time. Its really different from these modern times, there was no television, let alone computer. Radio is likely to be the only electronic based media they have. One funny thing is he seems to broke it a couple of times. Julius is a bad tempered person, even as a child. He loves to angry very much, this is maybe because he was always being accused of breaking things when he didnt, so it is some kind of inner defensive mechanism. Say one thing that might offended him, you wont get it away just like that. Apart of being a bad tempered person, he was actually just a normal child. Julius laughed when he said he was afraid of dark, ghost and supernatural things. He also wanted to be like what other child wanted to be like doctors, astronauts, soldiers, and many more, even though he never achieved one of those and become something else. While other families find their children to be troublesome when they are in their teens, Julius is an exception, losing his older brother at the age of 15 is not one simple thing, its a trivial matter to a grown up teens but he never found himself troublesome to others except with the bullies. He was talking like a grown up when he was in his teens and he never asked question like why he was born like many other teenagers would probably do. He said that his friends were just finding themselves as they are in their development age. Strange thing, he doesnt seem to include himself in it. Despite of what other might say, growing up from a normal child, he was still a normal teenager, he hate bullies but he never afraid of one, he said that he got into trouble with the bullies once and have some childish fight, but he didnt hit even once, he just let them hit him as much as they like cause he knows that the if he fights back, hes just getting himself into more troubles and that will made him looked childish. Apart from the bully things, he also fell in love like other teens, he smiled when he said about this, but he never revealed the name. Like a normal teens, he used to hangout with his friends a lot. If someone asked about who is his best friend, he would probably answer his whole classmate. We love to do crazy things together, he said. They used to play a game, The rule is simple, after the break time when the teacher hasnt come to the class, we need to drag people from other class to our class and force them to stay in our class until the teacher chase him out and its a score Julius explained further. By the look of his, he really enjoys his adolescence very much, the way he explain things and more. Apart of that, growing up in a moderate family, losing a brother sure was a difficult thing for Julius, this is maybe the cause why he doesnt seem to like talking about his family as he likes talking about his friends. He always talked to the point and straight forward in a short sentence. Even though he said it was okay, but for a normal person, it wouldnt be okay to lose a brother. On the other hand, the loss of his brother sure was a hell of an experience for him. This life is cruel, he said. He knows it very well that he was still fortunate to live in such a family and in such a time, at least it was better than before 1945 which was the Japanese era. This might be another reason why he could develop such a personality in such a small age. One random fact, he never wanted to run away from house and its because he knows that theres no other place to go beside home, and what could he possibly do as a teenager anyway. Julius was old enough to see the incident in 30th September 1965. An attempted coup led by anti-communist party in Indonesia. This incident cause more than half million of people to die. It was one of the fearful times of all incidents in Indonesia. Not only that, Julius lives through the New Order era where all the Chinese people would need to hide in fear because of the anti-chinese laws made by the government. As other people would likely to feel, Julius hated the government very much. People live in fear, there is no place for Chinese people to stay in Indonesia, the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta was burned down by a mob. Several of the anti-chinese laws were to limit/restrict the Chinese culture like celebrating Chinese New Year and civil rights, including the adoption of Indonesian sounding names. This is the reason why Julius named himself as Julius which was not Julius before the New Order era. On the flipside, there were fewer corruptions than nowadays. Julius did finish his senior high, but he couldnt afford to continue his study to the university as he still has his brothers and sisters. Even if he could afford it that time, it would be impossible to get in a university because of the anti-chinese laws. Not going to university, no problem, he studied business by himself and doing some little business at the same time. This little business of his is actually a simple business trick, buying something at a lower price and sells it again at higher price to gain profit. After some time, he dares himself to open up a jewelry business which is quite a dangerous thing to do at that time. The place where he opened up the store is quite dangerous, there was an incident, a competitor of his was robbed and 3 people were shot. It was not far from his place, about 3 blocks away. The impact was so strong that he closed his business for a week. God really did his job to protect this man at that time. The robbers were actually targeting Julius sto re, but when the robbers asked a person who was selling meatball in front of his store about which one has more profit, he randomly answered the one that was 3 blocks away from Julius. Speaking of God, his family has a complicated belief. Julius and his wife are Buddhist, some of his siblings are Catholics and some other are Buddhist, and his oldest son and two daughter move to Protestant while the smallest moves to Catholics, this applies to his siblings son and daughter also which is very complicated. This is the reason why he doesnt like to talk about religious stuff very much. Despite of having different beliefs, they actually are a very harmonic family. They always support each other when they are in need. Julius loves to travel to China more than any other place. This was not because he is a Chinese. This is because that China is really a great place to go. The scenery is very beautiful there, its like youre in a fairy tale, he explains. Having two sons and two daughters, Julius still has something that troubles him. Apparently, his sons and daughters are not interested in this jewelry business of his. The oldest son is taking international law, while the daughters plan to make their own business. Hoping for the smallest, but it seems he is interested in IT. It would be such a loss if this business died he sighed.

Catcher :: essays research papers

Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfied: Saint, Snob, or Somewhere In-between? Although J.D. Salinger has only one novel to his credit, that novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is recognized as an exceptional literary work. The key to the success of The Catcher in the Rye is the main character, Holden Caulfield. There are many different critics that view Holden in many different ways. Some believe Holden to be a conceited snob, while others see Holden as a Christ-like figure. It is my opinion, however, that Holden is somewhere in the middle. Holden Caulfield is a character who has a definite code of honor that he attempts to live up to and expects to as abide by as well. Since the death of his brother Allie, Holden has experienced almost a complete sense of alienation from the world around him. This alienation is evident in every part of his life. Holden is unable to relate to anyone at the three prep schools he has attended. While standing on Thomsen Hill, Holden cannot help but feel isolated when he observes t he football game, â€Å"you were supposed to commit suicide or something if Old Pencey didn’t win† (Salinger 2). Not only does Holden feel isolated at the schools he has attended; he has this feeling when it comes to his family as well. Upon his return to New York City, Holden does not go home. Instead, he chooses to hide out from his family. According to Ernest Jones, â€Å"with his alienation go assorted hatreds – of movies, of night clubs, of social and intellectual pretension, and so on. And physical disgust: pimples, sex, an old man picking his nose are all equal cause for nausea† (Jones 7). Holden feels Previts 2 as though all of these people have failed him in some way or that they are all â€Å"phonies† or â€Å"corny† in some way or another. It is Holden’s perception of those around him as â€Å"phonies† and again according to Jones; â€Å"Holden’s belief that he has a superior moral standard that few people, o nly his dead brother, his 10-year-old sister, and a fleeting friend [Jane] can live up to† that make him a snob (7). Presenting Holden as â€Å"snobbish† hardly does him justice. Critics such Frederick L. Gwynn, Joseph L. Blotner, and Frederic I. Carpenter view Holden as a character who is â€Å"Christ-like in his ambition to protect children before they enter the world of destruction and phoniness† (Carpenter 24).

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

(Love you mom and dad in Romanian) A lot of people here today probably didn't understand what I just said because I am Romanian, but if you take a look at my parents face they know I love them. I am Romanian and my parents came to the U.S. and could have chosen any state but they chose Washington. For all the people who don't appreciate Washington as much as me let me lay down some vibes. After I went to Arizona and California and some other states I came to realize that everything here is so much greener. Washington has the best-tasting tap water and yes, there is a difference in taste of water. Did you know Washington has an awesome kelp forest? People from all around the world come here to dive in our ocean to see our kelp forest. If you want some investment tips invest in kelp cause there is going to be a big boom in that industry. The city of Seattle is one of the greatest. It is so artsy and everyone here is so nice. I just felt I should point out that we have one of the greate st states in the United States. The beauty of doing a graduation speech is you get to say what ever you want. I thought that was going to be easy but, as I look back through the four years of high school the only time I wrote something was when I was assigned it. So you would think such a young thriving mind would take advantage of this and spill his guts out. So I typed and typed and well, I kept getting nowhere. I watched other commencement speakers from the HBN archive talk about our future and realized that they had some pretty fancy words of advice. Now I know I cannot give you advice on the future because I don't have the experience. What I will give you people here today is some grade "A" knowledge about a place that you guys might not of ev... ...iday album. That's the beauty of The Simpsons, it doesn't matter how dumb you are everyone has their place in the city. They keep true to them selves and eventually there moment of fame will come. Everyone, know your Simpsons! Now I want to get out of here as much as all you people, it just seems as though the last day will never end. So I just want to say respect each other and never give up on any of your dreams because you get one life and you might as well make it a fun one. So as we leave I want you all to know that I have the best wishes for all of you and if any of you see my comic book, Stickmen Revolution, for sale go ahead and help me out a bit. I leave you with a joke, (Romanian Joke) I know some of you might have had a hard time understanding that but if you take a look at my parents' faces that was, that was a really funny joke. For The Revolution!

Poem #640: Interpretation :: essays research papers

I cannot live with You— It would be Life— And Life is over there__ Behind the Shelf The Sexton keeps the Key to— Putting up Our life—His Porcelain— Like a Cup— Discarded of the Housewife— Quaint—or Broke— A newer Sevres pleases— Old Ones crack— I could not die—with You— For One must wait To shut the Other’s Gaze down— You—could not— And I—Could I stand by And see You—freeze— Without my Right of Frost— Death’s privilege? Nor could I rise—with You— Because Your Face Would put out Jesus’— That New Grace Glow plain—and foreign On my homesick Eye— Except that You than He Shone closer by— They’d judge Us—How— For You—served Heaven—You know, Or sought to— I could not— Because You saturated Sight— And I had no more Eyes For sordid excellence As Paradise And were You lost, I would be— Though My Name Rang loudest On the Heavenly fame— And were You—saved— And I—condemned to be Where You were not— That self—were Hell to Me— So We must meet apart— You there—I—here— With just the Door ajar That Oceans are—and Prayer— And that White Sustenance— Despair— "I cannot live with You", by Emily Dickinson, is an emotional poem in which she shares her experiences and thoughts on death and love. Some critics believe that she has written about her struggle with death and her desire to have a relationship with a man whose vocation was ministerial, Reverend Charles Wadsworth. She considers suicide as an option for relieving the pain she endures, but decides against it. The narrator, more than likely Emily herself, realizes that death will leave her even further away from the one that she loves. There is a possibility that they will never be together again. "Arguing with herself, Dickinson considers three major resolutions for the frustrations she is seeking to define and to resolve. Each of these resolutions is expressed in negative form: living wither her lover, dying with him, and discovering a world beyond nature. Building on this series of negations, Dickinson advances a catalogue of reasons for her covenant with despair, which are both final and insufficient. Throughout, she excoriates the social and religious authorities that impede her union, but she remains emotionally unconvinced that she has correctly identified her antagonists." (Pollack, 182) Dickinson begins her poem by saying that she cannot live with her lover because their life together is an object that can only be opened with a key. The Sexton, or church officer in charge of the maintenance of church property, keeps the key. The reverend’s involvement with God and with a woman at the same time is like a porcelain cup that is easily broken. This is an example of Personification.

The History of Espn

$91, That’s all it cost to have ESPN incorporated back in 1978, when it was only run by three people, Bill Rasmussen, Scott Rasmussen, and Ed Eagan. Now if you take a look at ESPN today, you’ll see one of the world’s largest broadcast corporations. The History of ESPN is a long and pretty interesting story. Like stated above, the history of ESPN truly begins on September 7th, 1978, when the three founders paid $91 to have the company incorporated. After deciding to go with a 24-hour broadcasting schedule, ESPN debuted with Sports Center later that month, and then began to air a large variety of sports ranging from professional soft ball, to NCAA wrestling. Their fist dabble into a massive professional sport would be with the United States Football League, who’s games would be aired on the network. The league only survived for three years, but it gave the network the experience it needed when they gained partial rights to air Sunday Night football games, in 1987. Sunday Night Football would be on the network for nineteen years, till they switched to Monday nights. These are just the starting years to the massive behemoth that is ESPN. The 1990’s, a good a time period as any for ESPN. They gained rights to air MLB games, and also saw the founding of ESPN 2, in 1993. ESPN radio kicked of a year before ESPN 2, in 1992, making the company multi medial. 1996 saw the presence of Disney corperation, the parent company of ESPN, merge ABC sports and ESPN together. In 1997, ESPN started using SKYCAM to air it’s NHL games, and would soon put that innovative tech to use with the three other major sports leagues, MLB, NFL, and NBA. Company founders were long gone now, and things were looking really good for the future of the company.

God’s Long Summer

God’s Long Summer The novel Siddhartha and God’s Long Summer both show commonalities of religion as being an important part in the main characters of both books. In God’s Long Summer, each of the main individual characters in the first four chapters like the character Siddhartha, all were consistent with the statement, â€Å"What we believe matters. † All of the characters from both books used religion for giving them the strength to speak their minds, move on in their lives, and fight for what they believed in or wanted to accomplish.Also, in this book there is the statement of, â€Å"What we believe affects out vocation in relation to culture† and this pertains to the religious ideas and people’s courses of action through their faith and experiences they have went through. A person’s background determines his or her perspective on faith, so this shows how everyone is different. The statement, â€Å"What we believe matters† is the first point that sticks out to me. It is portrayed in the novel Siddhartha multiple times when Siddhartha goes through his different phases of being the son of a Braham, to living with the Samanas, to finally living on his own.He needed to try out different paths, so he would be about to find his own enlightenment or meaning of life. He would not feel whole as a person or have peace, until he found a path that caused him to experience enlightenment. The characters in God’s Long Summer were the same way. Fannie Lou Hamer, Sam Bowers, Douglas Hudgins, and Ed King all were fighting for something, and did not want to give up until they were successful. An example of this is when Mrs. Hamer was being beat in the county jail after trying to vote. Even after being beat, Hamer still used God as her guide to influence other people.She never backed down, but instead was comforted by God and instilled her faith for strength and acted in what she believed. Hamer was different than Si ddhartha though, because she was out to change the world, and he was more focused on himself. The second important point that I found relevant of my understanding of the people and issues in God’s Long Summer was the way the characters in the books went about accomplishing their goals and got past obstacles they were faced with. Hamer was a selfless person who used God as her strength to change things. She puts herself out there, just as Siddhartha had when he lost himself.Siddhartha had to lose himself to accomplish his goal of enlightenment. Hamer knew that if she wanted to win the fight for her voting rights that she would have to have others band together too, by using biblical stories and freedom songs to sell her cause. She believed that others like herself could be empowered by God and if whites and blacks could both believe in such a high power, and then they can believe and get along when they are on the Earth. To accomplish Hamer’s goal, she needed to improve the world, and Siddhartha wanted to escape the world to reach his goal.Sam Bowers and Siddhartha are also examples of obstacles being thrown their way. Bowers hit rock bottom just like Siddhartha did after almost killing himself by the river. In the book, God’s Long Summer written by Charles Marsh, Marsh provides input in his first statement in the book pertaining to, â€Å"What we believe affects our vocation in relation to culture. † This whole idea is explaining how everyone has there a different way of thinking about a higher power and Marsh wants people to be able to explore and accept the different types of faith.In the book these varieties of faith cause blacks and whites to have disagreements on issues such as the civil rights movement. The first four chapters of the book support the illustration of what Marsh’s claim and task was. Hamer can see that the people who are discriminating against African American’s have a much different perspective on faith than she does. Bowers looks at his faith in a different way as Hamer because he doesn’t even believe that Jesus can be a Jew because if he were then he would be a part of the inner racial mix, which he was completely against. Ed King and Douglas Hudgins were also different from each other.King had been accused of straying beyond proper bounds of the Christian faith, and Hudgins had been accused of narrowing the bounds of Christianity. Hudgins was all about the understanding of Christianity through the cultural environment, while King thought you had to be prophetic and take action even if it was through just words. I believe that Fannie Lou Hamer is the best example of what Marsh is attempting to demonstrate about the various perspectives of faith. The example that comes to mind when explaining this is when Hamer was in the county jail and was talking to the jailor’s wife about faith and religion.Hamer used the verses from the Bible to go against the jailor†™s wife and her own feelings and ideas on faith. Hamer can see that the jailor’s wife thinks she is a Christian believer, but has a different way of acting as one of God’s children. Another example I found in the first chapter about Hamer was when she was in a disagreement with her pastor. She scolded him for not being willing to adopt her stance on the subject. This shows how you think someone who is interacting with your same faith, but when it comes down to it and his or her own lived experience, people react differently.I also found an example in Hamer’s chapter when Lyndon Johnson was running for office and he tried to tamp things down and shut up Hamer. Johnson was even supposed to be a civil rights activist and a believer in faith, but because of his the experience that he was having at the present time in his life, he was not able to be consistent with his beliefs. He said and acted, as he wanted, just so he could get elected into office. Fannie Lou Ha mer’s vocation is using God as her guide to influence other people. She feels like God appointed her, and this gives her a sense of closeness to him. She uses God as her strength to change things.Her goal is to improve the world, and help African American’s have an equal chance in the world as everyone else. Hamer is dedicated and relied on her faith for everything. The church and Christianity is a way for people to come together. Hamer feels that if both whites and blacks can believe in such a high power then they can believe and get along when they are on Earth. A contemporary social issue in which people use religion in opposing ways to support their views would be the topic of abortion. There are many similarities and differences between the issue of abortion and the civil rights issue detailed in Marsh’s book.Some similarities between the two issues are that people have very strong opinions on the issues and there are people out there that are fighting for one side or the other on the topics. People are having meetings on abortions talking about why it should be legal or not, and in the case of the civil rights movements there were meetings happening all the time like the meeting with the Credentials Committee in God’s Long Summer. There are also politicians out there like Lyndon Johnson who claim they are all for an issue such as the civil rights movement, but when it comes down to it they may have some restrictions about the issue.Johnson really did not want to have African American’s voting and having these kinds of rights because he didn’t want to make the larger population of people out there getting mad at him, so he could be elected into office. A difference between the two issues is the way people fight for what they want. During the civil rights movement many white people would go as far as abusing or killing blacks, so they could keep them as the lower class that is not as important. I have not heard abo ut people who are for or against abortion going to the extent of killing to get their way or point across.A person’s vocation usually shapes the way they think or feel about an issue. The issue of abortion means different things to different people because of their vocation. If a person feels that they have been put on this Earth to protect people and think that everyone should have an equal chance for living, then they are more likely to be against abortion. I am a Christian, and have been brought up by my parents to believe that everyone should be treated equally and can make their own choices. This means that I am not against abortions, and feel that it is the woman’s choice to make the decision.Reading Siddhartha and God’s Long Summer has brought a lot of insight to my beliefs in religion. I am more aware of other people’s feelings and the reasons for why they believe in what they do. Beliefs are formed from a person’s past experience. I also l earned how God or a person’s faith can play such a big role in being someone’s strength to fight as hard as they can in what the believe in, even when the greater population feels the complete opposite on an issue. Like in Siddhartha, everyone has different paths, and deciding on the right path is up to the person taking it.