Lower Drinking Age

Today we live in a country that prides itself on being free, although there are a number of people that feel they do not have as much freedom as they deserve, such as the freedom to drink at a younger age. The legal drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18, where in the eyes of the law you are seen as an adult. Many different opinions are opened as the subject of lowering the legal drinking age is brought up. For most, if not all, teenagers in high school a situation that has to do with consuming alcohol has been put in front of them.A lot of the time this type of situation leads to illegally drinking underage. At this point these minors know that what they are doing and that it is completely illegal. When knowing they cannot drink all the time and have an opportunity to they take the drinking up to the next level. This is when the paths of social drinkers and binge drinkers cross and can become very dangerous. When someone drinks too much other people around them realize and don’t want to be in trouble for underage drinking so they tend to leave that person so they don’t get hit by the consequences.That situation is exactly the reason there are so many deaths in result from underage drinking. People may fight for a lowered drinking age for that exact reason. This side of reasoning makes people want the drinking age lowered because teens won’t be scared to get in trouble when trying to get help for a friend or just a fellow partier. There are also many other reasons why the legal drinking age should be lower. Many people say a teen is not responsible enough to drink alcohol so they shouldn’t be allowed to.This argument gets completely erased with the fact that 18 year olds have the ability to serve in the military and can even vote for the countries leader. These two facts alone show that they are responsible enough to make their own decisions as to what the can and want to do. As the responsibility factor gets pushed to the s ide it is then said that someone that is 18 does not have the tolerance as someone that is 21 does. This fact is proven completely false because tolerance has nothing to do with your age.The best way that people gain tolerance is by experience so the more experience you have with something the more tolerance you have. If you start your experience at a younger age while you still have a watchful eye over you such as parents and guardians you may be less likely to mess up because you want to prove to them that you have the ability to live in the real world. With no one watching over you while beginning a new experience you are more likely to make a mistake and pay for it.With more supervision the number of alcohol related problems, as serious as deaths, will decrease. This is proven in other places around the world such as Italy, China and even Greece. In these places the legal drinking age is lower and so is the amount of alcohol related incidents. This fight is not only pushed by th e population of underage drinkers but also by the main places this crime is done, Colleges and Universities. Many presidents from major colleges want the age lowered because the current laws encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.â€Å"This is a law that is routinely evaded,† said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont. â€Å"It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory. † With a legal drinking age under 21 the regulation of alcohol in colleges and universities will be around. This will help them make sure that less students are getting overly intoxicated. As the colleges and universities keep the number of intoxicated students down with their supervision they also keep the possibility of injuries and deaths down as well.There are also many opinions that are on the side of keeping the legal drinking age at 21 years of age. One of the major and to some the only valid reason for states to keep the legal drinking age at 21 is the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. This act was put into place in 1984. â€Å"The 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act, [23 U. S. C.  § 158], requires that States prohibit persons under 21 years of age from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving State highway funds.A Federal regulation that interprets the Act excludes from the definition of â€Å"public possession,† possession â€Å"for an established religious purpose; when accompanied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian age 21 or older; for medical purposes when prescribed or administered by a licensed physician, pharmacist, dentist, nurse, hospital or medical institution; in private clubs or establishments; or to the sale, handling, transport, or service in dispensing of any alcoholic beverage pursuant to lawful employment of a person under the age of twenty-one years by a duly licensed manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer of a lcoholic beverages†, [23 C.F. R.  § 1208. 3]. †This act helped keeping the legal drinking age in all states at 21 by imposing a penalty if the age were to drop under 21. This penalty states that 10 percent of a state’s federal highway appropriation on any state setting its drinking age lower than 21 will be taken away. That is a lot of money needed by states to keep their roads in the best shape that they can for us driving on them. Another reason to keep alcohol illegal for minors is because of its association with destructive or violent behavior.These behaviors range through a variety of offenses from fighting to robbery to drunk driving. All of which have the ability to hurt or even kill someone without the intent to when first making these decisions. The legal drinking age will always be an ongoing debate in our country. This will be whether the age is lowered, kept the same or even a possibility of rising. People of all ages and backgrounds will fight for t heir honest opinion with this argument.

Global Civil Society Essay

Over the years the civil societies have increasingly played a major role in global governance. Their involvement has attracted a lot of attention where people are skeptical about what are global civil societies. The rate at which the global civil societies are emerging as well as their political role in the globe has received a lot of attention from scholars around the world. The big question has always been how the global social society which includes the social movement and not governmental organization can form a coalition and influence the global policies. Studies have also been focused on empirical as well as the normative perspective of the global civil societies. The normative perspective of these studies focus on whether the role of the global civil society is legitimate. Whether the global civil societies have a role in making global policies and policy making democratic has been the big question (Hofmann, 2005). With the current globalization and deregulation, the role of non governmental organizations and civil movement is becoming increasingly important in the making of global policies. There is increasingly high number of key policies directly affecting a country that is made outside the state where the process is likely to be undemocratic. For this reason many of the scholars view global civil society as a potential force that is essential in making the globalization process more civilized and democratic (Colas, 2002). Global Civil Society Over the years, the meaning of civil society and their political influence has varied from time to time. Moreover, they also vary theoretically and activities undertaken from place to place. While today civil societies are separate from the states, the political thought in the 16th century did not separate the civil societies from the state. In the 17th century, civil societies included profit making organization which is not the case today. The global civil society can be seen as the political space where nonprofit making organization voluntarily and deliberately influences the governance of the society. The voluntary and deliberate acts of the civil societies influence the rules which include the policies, norms and structures that are essential in the governance of the society. The actions of the civil societies focus on both the formal and informal structures in the society. For example, they may focus on the legislation as well as the gender roles in the society or the general social order (Scholte, 2002). However, it is difficult to draw a line between the voluntary activities that influence governance and formal or market activities. For example, some civil societies are involved in the implementation of formal policies while some others are involved in business activities to raise money that is used in the funding of their campaigns. Moreover, there many cases of government and cooperate organization that have incorporated some civil societies. In pure terms, the activities of civil societies should not include or be related to quest for power which excludes political parties from the list or any monetary gains which excludes cooperate organizations and commercial media houses. The civil society therefore has several actors which includes academic institution civil movements, social advocates, lobby groups faith based organization, human rights advocates and social networks. Philanthropic organizations and organization that profit humanitarian aids are also civil societies (Scholte, 2002). However, political scientists have been skeptical about the definition of global civil society. Some scholars have disagreed with the general assumption that all civil societies that operate in different countries can be termed as global civil societies. These scholars have argued that considering transnational civil societies as global civil society is an attempt to include all non governmental organizations operating transitionally in the bracket. This will include the quasi Christian movements which are the remnants of missionaries from Europe operating in different parts of the world. These skeptics have suggested that global civil societies those civil organizations uphold universal values in the globalizing world while effectively using globalization to promote universal values. They view global civil societies as movements and organizations that use globalization to universalize the world (Anderson & Rieff, 2004). Some political scientists have also been skeptical about the values symbolized by global civil societies and their supporters. Rather that taking democracy as the basic value in the society, majority of the global civil societies appear to have taken human rights as the basic society value. Despite this the democracy in the world is greatly dependent on the role of the global civil societies. As the civil societies promote human rights, it is important to note the loopholes for human rights violation created by the democracy deficit that is present in many parts of the world. However, it is indisputable that although the global civil societies have focused on promotion of human rights, they have played an important role in the support of democracy. Some people have argued that the civil societies have concentrated more on human rights in the global society at the expense of democracy but it is evident that the two values complement each other and are both indispensable in every society (Anderson & Rieff, 2004). Examples of global civil societies that have taken an active role in global governance are the non governmental organizations. These organizations were not active in the world affairs until the United Nations was founded in 1945. The formation of the United Nations introduced provisions that made private civil organizations stronger and formal as well as enhancing the role of the role of the United Nations in the social and economic affairs of the world. There are numerous organizations all over the world that are described as non governmental organizations. Some of them operate as transnational organization while other operates at the national level. However, these non governmental organizations have fundamental characteristics. They are all independent from political influence or control by the state. There are other characteristics that exclude some organization from NGOs such as political parties, profit making organizations, and criminal groups. These conditions must be met for the organization to be recognized by the United Nations as a non governmental organization. However, some recognized non governmental organizations have been linked to political parties while many others are involved in commercial activities such as selling publications and consultancy to generate income. Nonetheless, there are no cases where non governmental organizations are incorporated in the government bureaucracy, in political parties or commercial organizations. NGOs therefore are organizations that work together with a common goal and do not aim at attaining political power, accumulating wealth or being involved in criminal activities (Willets, 2006). Global Governance Global governance is one of the most important aspects of the modern world as a result of globalization. It is a political and social interaction between nationals and societies of the world with an aim of developing solutions to the problems facing a particular society or state as a result lack of compliance. Global governance has also been referred to as world governance. In the modern world, no societies can life under social and political exclusion from the rest of the world. The world societies are becoming more and more interdependent with the rise of globalization which is as a result of human societies interrelating with each other especially in international trade. This has created the need for global governance in the context of the global world which stipulates the regulations that govern the society at the global scale (Scholte, 2005). In simple terms, global governance is a stipulation of regulations that are set to organize different groups of people on a global scale. Historically, governance could not be separated from political authority and political institutions. The traditional definition of governance is based on the formal political institutions that organizes the relations between different societies and has the authority to enforce and implement policies. A formal global government with political structures and authority may not exist for global governance. Some scholars have therefore suggested that global governance is the act of managing the global affairs without a global formal government. It is a well organized cooperation between societies of the world with concrete arrangement used in solving problems. Many organizations are involved in global governances which includes principally the United Nations and global civil societies. Global governance involves formal institutions and processes as well as informal mechanisms and institutions that work together in complex environment. The collective interests of different societies, individuals, markets, nationals and organizations are articulated in the global governance while upholding the rights and obligations of individuals (Weiss, 1998). Democracy has been an important principle that governs the global governance. Democracy determines whether the exercise of power as well as the sources of power is legitimate. Legitimate exercise of power is mandated by the people being governed who have the democratic rights to determine how they will be governed. Moreover, the individuals or institutions that are given the political powers should be worth the confidence the society places on them. Democracy is important in the global governance to reduce the possibility of leaving important decisions affecting the world societies the world to some international undemocratic institutions which may not be legitimate. Global governance requires some levels of representation of the global societies from different states or administrative units who are elected directly by the society members to represent their interests. More importantly the role of global civil societies that promote human rights and democracy by influencing policy making is important in global governance (Scholte, 2007). The development of international organizations as a result of global governance has introduced vicious institutions in the world that make important decisions affecting the world societies. This has created some inadequacies in the ability of the global governance to meet the needs of the world society. This is basically due to absence of morality, economic powers, legal foundations, democracy and good leadership. The lack of adequate legitimacy due to lack of legal foundations is the major challenge that affects the ability of global governance to organize and manage the world societies. The inadequacies in global governance are an impediment to the ensuring fair play in the world with the rise of globalization 9 Van Rooy, 2004). Examples of global governance agencies include the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization among others. These organizations were formed with the mandate of management of the social, economic and political affairs of the global world (Scholte, 2004). Global Civil Societies and Global Governance Democracy and accountability of any form of governance is essential. The case is not different in global governance. In governance guided by the principles of democracy and accountability, the leaders are answerable to their subjects for their good and bad acts. When democratic leaders perform well in their governance, they are supported by the general public. On the other hand, they are responsible for their errors and owe an explanation to the public which may force them to resign from office. However, there has been very little democracy and accountability when the arrangements in the global governance are considered. Over the years there has been unprecedented increase in the laws and institutions that affects societies in all over the world or in a given region of the world. Despite the increase in transnational policies, there regulation mechanisms are ineffective or inexistence. There is no democracy in the running of suprastate policies and institutions nor are the leaders accountable (Scholte, 2000). With this regard, there is a common belief that the global civil societies can save the situation. The world society who have been in one way or another affected by global governance due to lack of democracy and effectiveness believes that their help can only come from the organizations such as the united nations, the world trade organization and other global institutions that can influence the formulation and implementation of global policies. The disadvantages societies have also laid their hopes on global civil societies such as community based organizations, religious groups, think tanks, social and economic forums, trade unions, professional organizations and NGOs to increase their involvement in global governance (Wolf, 2006). Over the years, the civil societies have played an important role in influencing governance in the society. As the world changes the system of governance is also changing into a polycentric structure with the global and regional governance, state and substate governance. This has resulted into redirection of civil societies efforts from the traditional governance at the state level to other sites that have emerged in the complex society. The rise of globalization has made global governance inevitable which has created new needs for institutional accountability (Fraser, 2005). The involvement of global civil society in global governance has become an essential role of the civil society. A very good example is the anti globalization movement that protested against the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, think tanks and forums that have proposed various changes in the global economy as well as human right movements that have advocated for the enhancement of arms controls across the borders and management of conflicts in different parts of the world. An important role has also been played by women associations who have made numerous attempts with much success in the promotion on of gender sensitivity in the global society. In the rise of global environmental degradation, it is important to note the role of environmental movements who have played an important role in the formulation and implementation of strict global environmental regulations. Trade unions have also played an important role in the promotion of international standards in the workplace. There are a large number of civil societies that are involved in the promotion of health and development and have taken an active role in the management of funds allocated to healthcare. There are also involved in the control of diseases that are considered as transworld which includes Aids, malaria and other epidemics that require global attention. There are other global civil societies that are directly involved in global governance arrangements that affect vulnerable groups such as women, children and the consumers (Scholte, 2004). Majority of the global governance institutions and agencies have realized the importance of global civil society in effectively carrying out their roles and have devised different mechanisms that are intended to accommodate the civil societies initiatives. Many of the global governance structures have developed channels that improve communication with the public through their websites and other communication channels that are aimed at addressing the concerns raised by civil societies. The result has been more accountability and transparency as the global governance agencies release more and more information to the public through the civil societies. As a method of promoting democracy within, these agencies have created room for the participation of civil societies and interest groups in their activities including workshops and conferences. Briefings to the civil societies, appointment of liaison officials from the civil societies and adoption of guidelines in personnel recruitment as stipulated by interest civil group has also increased accountability in global governance. Some global governance bodies have had formal arrangement to incorporate civil societies and interest groups in the management of their affairs where they include them in their advisory boards and the process making and implementation processes (Scholte, 2004). An example of an active involvement of civil societies in the global governance is the briefing of the International Monetary Fund to over one thousand global civil society through a quarterly newsletter. This ensures that the regulatory body is accountable and effective in carrying out its mandate. The World Bank also ensures that the information on the activities of the agency is freely accessible especially to interest civil groups and the general public. The united nation is the largest and most influential global governance agency in the world. In every United Nations global summit, the views of the civil society is put into consideration with them holding a parallel forum in every summit. Notable global civil society includes the Non Governmental Liaison Service which works with different institutions in the United Nations and the International Labor Organization which represents workers organizations and trade unions. In the years 2003, the World Trade Organization noted the important role played by civil societies and appointed a civil society advisory board (Scholte, 2004). The civil societies have played an important role in the promotion of accountability, effectiveness and democracy in global governance. They have played an important role in the promotion of transparency in the global governance formal and informal structures (Rhodes 1997). They promote democratic governance by pressing the agencies to disclose more information on their activities. This has increased public visibility through mass media, publications and websites which makes these agencies more accountable for their activities. Civil societies not only advocate for transparency of global governance agencies but also effective transparency. They understand that releasing the information to the public is one thing and understanding the details is another thing (Scholte et al, 1999). Monitoring and review of global governance policy is also an important role of the civil societies in ensuring effective, accountable and democratic governance. They act as the public watchdogs in the formulation and implementation of the policies. They ensure that the agencies comply with the stipulated guidelines, the official resolutions and declarations. They have also been involved in the review of global governance policies and how they affect different societies of the world. These reviews have been instrumental in uncovering incompetent implementers, shortfalls and the dangers associated with such policies. The civil societies have also played a role in ensuring that the global governance structures and policies do not result into ethnic strife and uprising. This in many cases may result from the dissatisfaction of some society with the distribution and misuse of resources from global governance agencies such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. The civil society has also created channels through which different societies can forward their concerns, promoted formal accountability and in general advanced democracy in global governance (Scholte, 2004). Conclusion The global societies have played an important role in the promotion of democracy in the national as well as the global governance. However, political scientists are skeptical about the definition of global civil societies. In the current wave of globalization, global governance has become an important phenomenon due to the need to organize the world society as a result of interdependence. The role of the civil society is therefore essential in ensuring that the activities of the governance agencies are effective, accountable and democratic. Bibliography: Anderson, K. and Rieff, D. (2004) ‘â€Å"Global Civil Society†: A Skeptical View’, in Anheier, Helmut, Marlies Glasius and Mary Kaldor (2004) (eds. ). Global Civil Society 2004/5. London: Sage. Colas, A. (2002) International Civil Society, Polity Press, Cambridge Fraser, N. (2005) ‘Reframing Justice in a Globalizing World’, New Left Review, 36; pp. 69-88. Hofmann, J. (2005) â€Å"(Trans-) Formations of Civil Society in Global Governance Contexts – Two case studies on the problem of self-organization†, in: Gunnar Folke Schuppert (Hrsg. ): Global Governance and the Role of Non-State Actors, Band 2 der Reihe „Schriften zur Governance-Forschungâ€Å", Nomos-Verlag: Baden-Baden Karns, M. & Mingst, K. (2004). International Organizations: The Politics and Processes of Global Governance, Lynne Rienner, Boulder. Rhodes, R. A. W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability. Open University Press, Buckingham. Scholte, J. A. (2007). Civil Society and Legitimation of Global Governance. CSGR Working Paper No. 223/07. Scholte, J. A. (2005). Globalization: A Critical Introduction, Palgrave: Basinstoke. Scholte, J. A. (2004). Civil Society and Democratically Accountable Global Governance Government and Opposition Ltd, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK: 9600 Garsington Road, Scholte, J. A. (2002) ‘Civil Society and Democracy in Global Governance’, Global Governance, 8, pp. 281-304. Scholte, J. , O’Brien, R. & Williams, M. (1999) ‘The WTO and Civil Society’, Journal of World

1959, The Year That Changed Jazz

1959, The Year That Changed Jazz The year 1959 was marked a monumental year in American music history. Many American jazz artists made recordings that influenced society profoundly and left a lasting impact that still is present to this day. Musical experimentation during this year is considered the apogee of American jazz achievement, and jazz reached new heights that were characterized by innovation, creativity, ingenuity, magnificence, groove, and much more. In essence, four major jazz albums were created that changed music forever: Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, Charles Mingus’ Ah Um, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue has attracted more people to jazz than any other jazz recording, even after being released more than fifty years ago. The album developed a new, powerful, and grand jazz musical statement. The Kind of Blue album typifies a modal jazz style, which is music based on the extensive repetition of one or two chords or music based on modes instead of chord progression. Kind of Blue’s â€Å"So What† improvised, no time-referenced, and without a clear beat opening with the bass and the piano sets an unclear and cloudy idea in where the song was heading, with a grand riff setting the energy and Jimmy Cobb performing an incredible cymbal crash following the introduction. So what’s main characteristic is Miles’ hippy and haunting trumpet sound, which was unique and special and was developed from his playing during the bebop era with musicians such as Charlie Parker, the main alto saxophonist of the bebop era. Kind of Blue is so importa nt when it comes to American jazz history because it has exerted a prodigious influence on jazz music and on the legacy of its band members. Moreover, it opened up to a new direction in jazz music, along with a more thoughtful viewpoint on creating jazz compositions. Three interesting facts about Kind of Blue is that it is the biggest selling jazz album ever made, shifting over five million copies, it regularly tops best jazz album polls and is featured high in lists of greatest albums of any category, and that it took Miles and the group seven hours to record Kind of Blue, with all but one of the tracks being first takes. A funny story about Miles Davis and the quartet was that when they are recording Kind of Blue the first time, an engineer told Miles Davis and the band that the drums were making a surface noise, and Miles Davis hollered back at him and told him that it was a part of the album while recording. Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album is known for the rhythmic experimentation of pianist Dave Brubeck. The style of Time Out is cool jazz, in which the music was not as jagged, unpredictable, and sophisticated in comparison to bebop, and was subtler and incorporated classical harmonic devices in composition. Take Five, one of the tracks in the Time Out album, was composed in 5/4 time, and was written around a drum solo. Time Out is so important when it comes to American jazz history because it was so easily accessible to the average citizen because it was not too complicated and appealing as the group represented America’s middle class. Three interesting facts about Time Out is that each track is written in a different time signature and tempo, it rose up in the pop charts and became one of the bestselling jazz recording ever released, and that it took Dave Brubeck several years to build the line-up of his quartet that recorded the album Time Out. An interesting story about D ave Brubeck’s quartet is that when the quartet added African-American bassist Eugene Wright and were touring universities in the southern states of America, the president of a college the quartet visited was concerned because the students were getting wild and loud and asked Dave Brubeck to place Eugene Wright in the back of the stage to avoid being noticed. However, during the second tune, Dave Brubeck asked Eugene Wright to come play his solo in front of the stage, and Eugene Wright performed in front of the whole audience, unaware before heading to the front of the stage that Dave Brubeck was plotting this move. Charles Mingus’ Ah Um album is known as a grand jazz musical statement that was incredible and influential around America. Charles Mingus, a bass player and composer, believed that time was alive at the same moment and wanted freedom in playing, writing, and encouraging his musicians to improvise in any musical style, and did not view jazz as a development of new styles as the years passed by. The style of Ah Um is post-bop, where it incorporates a variety of styles such as modal jazz, avant-garde, free jazz, and hard bop all together. Several tracks in the Ah Um album include â€Å"Better Git It In Your Soul,† which is known as the incredible opening track of the Ah Um album and Self Portrait In Three Colors,† which is known as a composed, multi-faceted composition without any solos. While Charles Mingus was known to be a temperamental, aggressive, and demanding musician and composer, he was an extraordinary player and improviser, and used music to express emotio ns and feelings, such as passion, tenderness, spirituality, and much more. Ah Um is so important when it comes to American jazz history because it expressed socioracial struggles and other political beliefs that served as an influential message against racism in America, which helped create an atmosphere which led people to respect a person beyond the distinctions of color. Three interesting facts about Ah Um is that it was one of four albums Charles Mingus had made that year, Charles Mingus allowed for the other musicians to incorporated different musical elements during improvisation in a colorful and provocative way, and it featured the track â€Å"Fables of Faubus,† which was based on an event in 1957 in which Arkansas Governor Faubus ordered the National Guard to prevent African-American teenagers from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and did not want to allow integration, despite a court case being settled on in the Supreme Court. An interesting st ory about Charles Mingus and the group is that one night in a little club on West 4th Street in New York City, Charles Mingus got furious in an argument with the pianist and yelled â€Å"You’re not playing yourself, you’re playing notes,† and put his arm inside the piano and grabbed the strings and pulled them out with one fist. Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come is known as a spectacular and bold musical statement unlike any jazz album every recorded before. One of The Shape of Jazz to Come’s tracks, Lonely Woman, is considered one of the greatest jazz compositions every written, which blended and brought Ornette Coleman and the quartet together as one. The Shape of Jazz to Come album exemplifies a free-jazz, a classification of the avant-garde style, where the music contains improvised solos which are free of preset chord progressions, and sometimes also free of preset meter. Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come is so important when it comes to American jazz history is was influential in such that the way that people looked at jazz and interpreted the style and sound of jazz music changed. Three interesting facts about The Shape of Jazz to Come is that Ornette Coleman used his signature plastic saxophone when the quartet recorded the album, the quartet did not feature a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar while recording the album, and it featured Ornette Coleman’s â€Å"harmolodic† philosophy, where the group simultaneously improvises around the melodic and rhythmic pattern in a tune, rather than one musician improvising on a underlying harmonic pattern while the other musicians play the accompaniment. An interesting story about Ornette Coleman is that he had trouble finding any musician who was interested in his unorthodox musical technique, and one day he entered a club by MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, and following that night, bassist Charlie Haden tracked Ornette Coleman down, which eventually led to the creation of the quartet that recorded The Shape of Jazz to Come. In conclusion, the year 1959 was a monumental year for jazz. The influential music played by some greatest jazz musicians in America reached all corners of the country and many parts of the global world. Each of the jazz musicians prominently helped shape the American society in many ways: the political statements made through Charles Mingus’ playing, the demand for respect by Miles Davis, the tour by Dave Brubeck as part a program of cultural dà ©tente to spread the word of American freedom in countries around of Soviet Russia such as Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, and Iraq and how jazz serves as a voice of freedom despite how the chains of segregation had divided the American society, and how Ornette Coleman’s playing changed how people viewed and interpreted jazz, despite the paranoia in the nuclear age. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue helped open up the horizon for jazz expression, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out was the acme for jazz innovatio n, Charles Mingus’s Ah Um spread his emotions about life and spread a message to always be yourself, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come served as the foundation for new forms of jazz music and defied the status quo.

Family Genetic History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Family Genetic History - Assignment Example Type your answers on this form. Click â€Å"Save as† and save the file with the assignment name and your last name, e.g., â€Å"NR305_Family_Genetic_History_Form_Smith†.When you are finished, submit the form to the Family Genetic History Dropbox by the deadline indicated in your guidelines. Post questions in the Q&A Forum or contact your instructor if you have questions about this assignment. Develop a family genetic history that includes, at a minimum, three generations of your chosen adult’s family, including grandparents, parents, and the adult’s generation. If the adult has any children, include them as the fourth generation. **PLEASE NOTE: This assignment is to reveal the potential impact of the family’s health on the adult participant. You do not need to identify anyone who is not biologically related to the adult except for a spouse or significant other. You do not need to use symbols, but instead write brief descriptions for each person. Each description should include the following information: first name, birthdate, death date, occupation, education, primary language, and a health summary, including any medical diagnoses. An example is below: This example points to common problems among this generation on both sides of the family. Consider the implications this would have for the adult participant’s health if these were that person’s family members. Complete the family genetic history form below. Indicate if any information is N/A (not applicable) or unknown. Indicate any information the person did not want to disclose by noting â€Å"Does not want to disclose.† Evaluate the impact of the family’s genetic history on your adult participant’s health. For example, if the adult participant’s mother and both sisters have diabetes, hypertension, or cancer, what might that mean for the adult participant’s future health? From the information obtained from the adult person interviewed it was found that his paternal

The benefits of increasing womens participation in top management Essay

The benefits of increasing womens participation in top management teams - Essay Example However, more importantly, there is the question of the reasons as to why women are still assuming relatively fewer of these critical positions in corporations. Despite the fact that women account for about 33.3 percent of the players occupying managerial positions, in general, the 2007 survey by the bureau of labor statistics gave surprising statistics (Bureau of labor Statistics, 2007). The statistics include that, from the statistics of 2006, less than a third of the top one thousand and five hundred firms in American had one woman player as a top managerial executive. Further, less than 6 percent of the top firms reported having more than one woman in executive position, and less than 3 percent had a female CEO (Bureau of labor Statistics, 2007). Through this paper, the writer will review the arguments reported through different sources that women are better at executive management than their male counterparts, which will amplify the question of the huge gender gap (Castanias and Helfat, 2001). Through the review of the subject, and reviewing the factual nature of the information showing that women make better executive managers, recommendations will be offered – which are expected to improve the management of different firms and organizations. These aims will be realized through the essay, through reviewing available data, to verify whether the more effective executive managerial capacities can be verified – which will lead to the formulation of recommendations to remedy the situation (Deszo and Ross, 2008). Through the recommendations advanced, the executive managerial staffs of firms and organizations will seek to exploit the varied managerial outlook of male and female executives, which is anticipated to improve the performance of these organizations (Castanias and Helfat, 2001). This paper will cover a literature review, which will give account of sources supporting the excellent managerial outlook of female players, and then offer a case study of an organization that has benefited from female participation in managerial practices. Precisely, the paper will use the case study to support the information supporting the standpoint of the discussion, while at the same time integrating theory into the discussion, towards the formulation of informative inferences and conclusions (Deszo and Ross, 2008). Theoretical background Castanias and Helfat (2001) argue that there is a wide range of literature and research reports giving the information that female managers are not only as good at performance as their male counterparts, but are also more effective in the executive management of organizations. The arguments go ahead to discuss that woman executive managers tend to be less hierarchical in their management of organizations, and their managerial outlook is often found to be more interactive, which increases the engagement and the output of employees (Carter, Simkins and Gar, 2003). Apart from increasing the possible effe ct of increasing the productivity of the organization, the role of executive female managers is likely to increase the levels of teamwork realized across the organization, and is likely to increase the intrinsic motivation of employees – and the two lead to an increase in the creativity of the workers of the organization, at their different roles (Book, 2000). Eisenhardt, Kahwajy and Bourgeois (1997) support the same point of view that having female members in the executive managerial function is likely to improve the performance and the outcomes of an organization. They discuss that female participat

Services Based Organisation Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Services Based Organisation Report - Essay Example These developmental processes include coaching, mentoring, eLearning, action learning and blended learning (Becker and Gerhart, 2009). This paper is focused on the employee development of a firm on the grounds of eLearning and how it has been improved over the years to foster employee development and using organisational resources efficiently. The purpose of the human resource management department is not only to look after the employee acquisition and performance level, but also to ensure that the firm is able to improve the employees’ skills and knowledge. An organization with a high skilled employee base is most likely to yield a higher performance level than its competitors. Therefore, it is vital for a firm to engage in employee development to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals (Baumruk and Gorman, 2009). The advent of globalization has made the global business market a more open place; this as a result has also increased the competitiveness of the industry. Therefore the companies constantly seek out new ways to improve their operational and production process so that they can stay ahead of their competitors (Eunmi, 2009). The traditional way to achieve this is to invest in high end manufacturing process and infrastructure. The firms often overlook the importance of the individuals who run the opera tional process. Moreover, owing to the myopic vision of the organization, it is caught up in achieving short term goals only, which as a result deviates the focus from the employees. This as a result reduces the productivity and efficiency of the firm as well as the chances of its sustainability (Sugumaran, 2008). Currie and Kerrin (2010) have stated that one of the effective ways of improving the productivity of the employees is to provide them with proper training. It can be defined as the planned effort of the organization to improve the competencies and knowledge base of the employees, which includes the

Macro Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Macro Project - Assignment Example Attributed to their low population, the two countries have achieved one of the highest employment rates in the world. As the statistics have it, the two countries have achieved above 90% employment rate and hence the economy grows rapidly. The rate of inflation in the two countries is very low, though some disparities are clear. When it comes to exports, the two countries export petroleum products as their principle source of foreign exchange. However, Qatar exports fertilizers and raw aluminum while Kuwait exports cement and ships. Their chief imports include cars, jewelry and aircraft; and food, construction material and vehicles for Qatar and Kuwait respectively. Qatar has favorable balance of trade as the difference between the export and import is very high. This means that the currency in Qatar is very strong against that of the trading partners. This implies that the country earn a lot in terms of foreign exchange. As such, it is important for the country to maintain its export at a higher level as it directly impacts its economic growth. Other significance of a higher net export is that the country will have better terms of international trade and higher bargaining power in international trade and other affairs, Hightower

Interest and goal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interest and goal - Essay Example Other general job requirements of aviation management are similar to general management. As an aviation management I will need to establish communication with both junior level and senior level staff as I will be responsible for the supervision of overall functioning of the airport. I will also need to plan and organize different job levels. As an aviation manager I will also be responsible for decision making and financial budgeting, and looking after the health and safety of all employees. Initially, when I had completed my school and was about to join college I was not sure about my future career. I joined college with the goal of becoming electronics engineer since I was quite proficient in mathematics and physics. Although I had great interest in aviation industry I was not sure whether there were enough opportunities in the field of aeronautics. As I was studying electronics, my interest gradually shifted to aircrafts and aviation management. I began to take time off for subscribing to and reading journals and magazines on aviation industry, flight management and airport activities. Management as profession is very common in my family. My father, my brother and also most of my cousins are in this profession. There is lot of potential in this profession along with lucrative salary. Even as a kid I was interested in making different kind of airplane models with paper and my room was always littered with paper models. I used to be fascinated by sci-fi movies based on space and travel. My favorite move is the 1977 American movie Star Wars which tells the story of freedom fighters who plot and successfully destroy a space station which had the capability of destroying the earth. My interest struck on aeronautics since it is all about aircrafts to cars and ships, and includes designing and maintenance of the same. However, when the time came to choose my profession, my focus shifted more to the management aspect rather than the technical aspect. As an

The Concept of Privacy in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Concept of Privacy in the Workplace - Essay Example All the employees of the company must be given a corporate email account. The account will have a password known only to the user of the account. This control mechanism ensures that the only person that can enter the account is the employee. The concept of privacy in the workplace is a widely debated topic. A lot of employees feel that despite being paid a salary during work hours they are entitled to certain basic levels of privacy including the right to personal emails with confidential information. The company’s policy should be to allow personal emails to occur, but its content cannot be confidential due to the possibility of a traitor leaking confidential information to outsiders using the email system of the company. The email content will be audited every 30 days for quality assurance purposes. An important element of the email system of the company is the usage of email to provide customer service. All major companies provide its customers an email address for support. It takes a lot of labor to read through these emails. The company must hire an additional 50 employees to increase the speed of its email customer service support function. The new standard should be to increase the customer service response of the company to every 24 hours. To achieve this goal the customer service department must be redesigned to run a 24-hour operation composed of three daily 8-hour shifts. The email system and customer service function could be streamlined through the use of advances in information technology. The company could spend a few thousand bucks to incorporate an artificial intelligence that filters customer support emails based on necessity and customer inquiry. The system could be used to provide faster support to customers that have major issues that require immediate attention. All the emails that are sent and received by employees will be stored in a database for five years. The customer's emails the company receives will be also be saved for at l east five years. The system will automatically save the emails in a database upon being sent or received. Safeguarding the employees and customer information is very important for the company. The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 increased the compliance costs for public companies in the United States. The stored capabilities of the system will help the company comply with the Security and Exchange Commission and other governmental agencies regulations. The internal email policy of the company includes the following stipulations. The employees of the company must answer all emails within 24 hours of receiving the email. The employees can only access the information system of the company from within the physical facilities of the company. The employees must not take any digital documents of any information. The employees can use the corporate email for personal emails, but they must realize that an audit may read the contents of the email for quality assurance purposes. The email has becom e a primary communication tool that everyone that is online uses for personal or business purposes. Due to the delicate nature of information transfer in corporate America companies have become stricter about security measures regarding electronic tools such as emails.

Quality education Essay Example for Free

Quality education Essay For years, I have witnessed how the art of teaching had evolved and it keeps on evolving. Every year, the teaching practice is revised; old techniques are changed with new approaches suiting the new generation. Unknowingly, teachers are pressured to cope with all these changes yet with their dedication, they find means to give quality education to us students. With this article, teachers are given a new way to teach young minds. I strongly believe that a child’s first steps to learn language and literacy are the most crucial ones. His first learning and experiences in school will serve as his foundation throughout his life. I could see the importance of teachers in this stage. Thus, teachers should be competent enough to develop the child. The new approach discussed in the article promotes interactive teaching and interactive learning and as a student, I agree with this approach. By using this approach, students are encouraged to talk and participate and as a result given more chance to express their thoughts and ideas in class well making it easy for learning. As I see it for the teachers’ side, it would be more convenient for them to listen to their students’ responses and so they could understand their knowledge and thinking, as well as correct some misunderstandings and misconceptions. On the other hand, it was stated in the article that other teachers might be hesitant to apply this new approach with their fear of losing classroom control, and I understand that since some students, when given freedom to speak, misuse it. Nevertheless, as a learner, I am very open to this approach and I appreciate this article for helping teachers in acquiring new techniques for their profession and also for helping students learn language better which is their foremost step to literacy and quality education.

The developmental stages of adolescence and adulthood

The developmental stages of adolescence and adulthood As a growth stage, adolescence is characterized by exponential and dramatic physical milestones which enable an individual develop from childhood to adulthood. It is during this stage that secondary sexual characteristics emerge due to a surge in production of testosterone in boys as well as estrogen in case of girls (Slee, 2002). These hormones continue being produced until total maturation is achieved. Onset of adolescence and puberty begins early in girls than in boys though individual differences exist due to hereditary and environmental factors like diet or exercise. Rapid increase in weight and height is achieved from as early as 9 years and peaks at around 14 years. Girls develop breast buds during early adolescence with full breast development being achieved at around 12 to 18 years. Hair growth in the pubic area and the armpits begins while the onset of menstrual periods (menarche) begins after two years of breast development. Girls assume a curvier body caused by development of more prominent hips. In males, hair development begins at the onset of adolescence with hair growth being exhibited on the face, pubic area, chest, armpits and on the legs (Slee, 2002). Rapid increase in height and weight is also witnessed in adolescent boys. Appearance of nocturnal emissions also known as wet dreams at the ages of 13 and 17 years primarily marks the adolescence period in boys. The boys notice a considerable enlargement of their sexual organs (i.e. testicles and scrotum). The lengthening of the penis closely follows this development. Deepening of the voice occurs almost along the same time as penile growth. A larger Adams apple then develops. Q2: Adolescences and cognitive development: Key Milestones Adolescence is marked with the development of formal logical operations which are more complex. This is unlike the concrete operations witnessed in childhood. During late childhood, the kind of concrete development achieved, enables the children to think in concrete ways since the actions and events performed during this stage can be evidenced or presented (Berger, 2004). A significant change is achieved during adolescence as the person is now able to undertake abstract thinking whereby he/she thinks about possibilities. The adolescence is also able to think about the occurrence of thinking (i.e. why does a person think?). The ability to derive reasoning from already known principles and ideas characterizes this stage. Considerable amount of time is used to make the transition from concrete thinking to logical operations in a teenager. During adolescence, an individual is able to think systematically and derive logical solutions to a problem. Every developing teenager progresses at a personal pace thereby developing personal view of the world. Here logical application of information especially when undertaking schoolwork is effected. Adolescents are largely emotional, thus when an emotional turmoil occurs, the teenager is unable to think in a complex manner. Before making decisions regarding a particular issue, the adolescent largely question authority as well as pre-existing societal standards. Adolescents form and verbalize their thoughts and forge their taste and preferences on such activities as the sports to play or the personal appearances to adopt. In middle adolescence, the persons cognitive development is geared towards philosophical and futuristic concerns (Berger, 2004). Instances of extensive thinking and questioning are exhibited with the individual establishing their own identity. Individuals begin to systematically think about their future goals and make plans to make the realization of the goals possible. During late adolescence, the individuals complex thinking is geared towards more global issues like pol itical views, history or justice. Thoughts of the role they will play as adults as well as career choices are exhibited during this period. Q3: Physical development: Key Milestones in Early, Middle and late adulthood Adulthood is not marked with physical and exceptional growth spurts. During early adulthood, the individual is transiting into adulthood from adolescence and continued physical growth is exhibited especially in shoulder width and chest width being exhibited. Early adulthood is a mark of adult life as body degradation has not started to occur (Kail Cavanaugh, 2008). The body experiences hormonal changes which may result to increased body build. Middle adulthood is characterized by slow physical changes. A considerable loss of sensory sharpness is exhibited. For instance, there are some level of hearing and sight impairment. Sensitivity to light as well as far sightedness begins to emerge a condition which can be corrected by wearing glasses. Gaining of weight in the abdominal region occurs in men while womens hips and thighs increase considerably. During late adulthood, noticeable impairment is seen. The bone mass dwindles while fertility levels decline. Graying of hair as well as sk in wrinkling is also evidenced. During late 40s and early 50s, women experience menopause whereby the ability to give birth again ends. Hormonal levels also drop considerable. Due to thinning of cartilage bones located at the spinal vertebrae, the posture may change (Kail Cavanaugh, 2008). It is estimated that womens height shrinks by about 5cm while that of men by 2cm. Illnesses like heart diseases result due to build up of cholesterol level on the blood capillaries, The brain shrinks due to the diminishing blood supply. Q4: Cognitive development: Key Milestones in Early, middle and late adulthood Cognitive development continues even during adulthood despite the continued brain aging. During early adulthood, alert old people continue to think and act rationally with a lot of alertness. While acting in situations requiring memory and learning prowess, their output is better than that of younger people. This is largely because of experience acquired while accumulating and organizing information (Howe Brainerd, 2009). During middle adulthood, cognitive abilities continue to improve. More adaptive and concrete thought line is exhibited within the adult, making possible several rational decisions procedures regarding personal relationships, emotions as well as social issues. Late adulthood which occurs at about 65 years is marked with considerable decline in intellectual abilities. The ability to execute unfamiliar tasks or finding a solution to a complex problem becomes troublesome to the aging adult. Slowed response to situations and information is exhibited during this period. This is because of considerable reduction in mental as well as physical activity. Emotional crises like depression and stress also play a major role in cognitive decline in late adulthood (Howe Brainerd, 2009). Brain weight reduces thus casing considerable loss in speed and memory losses. This ultimately increases the reasoning and understanding levels of older people causing them to exhibit wisdom. Q5: Adolescence and Socioemotional development: Key Milestones Brain segment which controls emotions is developed and matured during adolescence. Adolescents exhibit spontaneous emotional outbursts especially when dealing with peers as well as parents. This possesses a challenge especially to parents and teachers who may be overwhelmed on the manner in which to respond to such outbursts. A gradual process is undertaken in enabling the adolescents to learn how to replace the improper thoughts as well as actions with behaviors which are goal oriented (Pulkkinen, et al 2006). A major conflict which exists in adolescents development is the eminent desire to obtain more freedom than that allowed by parents and/ or guardians. According to Socioemotional development theory by Erikson, this phase is marked by the improvement on a sense of identity when in a relationship. Adolescents also desire to have independent thoughts regarding their desires especially when focusing of their abilities and goals. Peer relationships are emphasized by the adolescents since they are primarily looking for freedom from parental authoritativeness. Such behaviors as drug and substance abuse and risky sexual behaviors are developed during this period. Adolescent association with deviant peers is common hence the reason why parents need maintain open communication with their adolescent children so as to know when their children risk being involved with such peers (Pulkkinen, et al 2006). Bibliotherapy especially in social groups where literature is used to arm the adolescents with information regarding the changes occurring in their bodies, is vital in helping the adolescent cope with emotional turmoil. Q6: Socioemotional development: Key Milestones in Early, middle and late adulthood Massive Socioemotional changes milestones are exhibited during adulthood characterized by forging newer social relationships as well as positions. Depending on personal experiences, the Socioemotional sentiment differs from one person to the other. Such emotional activities as marrying, death, getting or losing a job, going to school or being abandoned by a spouse contribute to social development of individuals. During early adulthood, individuals decide on the career path to follow and they devote considerable a lot of their time in following their career path. Issues of love feature prominently during this period making many people want to establish their families. The thought of being parents is made evident during this period thus changes in personal and social orientation emerges (Berk, 2004). Middle adulthood is characterized by a midlife crises phase. This period is characterized by individuals trying to modify or even reappraising their lives as well as the relationships alre ady formed. The level of satisfaction and contentment upheld during this period is highly dependent on the type of accomplishments achieved. For instance the kind of job, finances, family and sex life upheld determine whether the individual will be happy or not. During the late adulthood phase, the emotional maturity is evident in many adults. Active participation in political and social scenes is common. Majority of the people who were in formal employment retire during this period. Life satisfaction and esteem is high during this period owing the achievements acquired. People adopt an inward looking and conforming lifestyle and enjoy interactions with other family members. Relationships become increasingly satisfying and fulfilling than any other period (Berk, 2004). According to Erikson, the Generativity vs. Stagnation stage is characterized by an increased interest in an individual to guide the development of the next generation. Through genuine care and productive social involvement individuals desires to produce something of real value which will positively impact on the society thereby achieving Generativity. On the contrary, individuals who are self-centered and do not engage in activities beneficial to society suffer from stagnation contributed by their lack of productivity.