Gwendolyn Brooks, the Peoples Poet

In many ways, Gwendolyn Brooks embodies the black American experience of the 20th century. Born into a family that moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration of blacks to the north of the country, she made her way through school during the Great Depression and pursued a traditional role for herself; when she submitted poetry to magazines she usually listed her profession as housewife. In the postwar era, Brooks joined much of the black community in becoming more politically aware and active, joining the Civil Rights Movement and engaging with her community as a mentor and thought leader. Throughout her experiences, Brooks produced beautiful poetry that told the stories of ordinary black Americans in bold, innovative verse, often inspired by the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago where she lived most of her life. Fast Facts: Gwendolyn Brooks Full Name: Gwendolyn Elizabeth BrooksKnown For: American poet whose work focused on the lives of urban African AmericansLiterary Movement: 20th century poetryBorn: June 7, 1917 in Topeka, KansasDied: December 3, 2000 in Chicago, IllinoisSpouse: Henry Lowington Blakely, Jr.Children: Henry Lowington Blakely III and Nora Brooks BlakelyEducation: Wilson Junior CollegeMajor Works: A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, Maud Martha, In the MeccaInteresting Fact: Brooks was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize (in 1950 for Annie Allen) Early Years Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1917. Six weeks after her birth, her family moved to Chicago. Her father worked as a custodian at a music company, and her mother taught school and was a trained musician. As a student, Brooks excelled and attended Hyde Park High School. Although Hyde Park was an integrated school, the student body was majority white, and Brooks would later recall she experienced her first brushes with racism and intolerance while attending classes there. After high school she attended a two-year degree program and took work as a secretary. She decided against pursuing a four-year degree because she knew from a young age that she wished to write, and saw no value in further formal education. Brooks wrote poetry as a child, and published her first poem when she was 13 years old (Eventide, in the magazine American Childhood). Brooks wrote prolifically and began submitting her work on a regular basis. She began to publish regularly while still attending college. These early poems attracted the attention of established writers such as Langston Hughes, who encouraged and corresponded with Brooks. 1960: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks on the back steps of her home in Chicago. Slim Aarons / Getty Images Publishing and Pulitzer By the 1940s, Brooks was well-established but still relatively obscure. She began attending poetry workshops and continued to hone her craft, work that paid off in 1944 when she published not one but two poems in Poetry magazine. This appearance in such a respected, national periodical brought her notoriety, and she was able to publish her first book of poems, A Street in Bronzeville, in 1945. The book was a huge critical success, and Brooks received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946. She published her second book, Annie Allen, in 1949. The work was once again focused on Bronzeville, telling the story of a young black girl growing up there. It too received critical acclaim, and in 1950 Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, the first black author to win a Pulitzer Prize. Brooks continued to write and publish for the rest of her life. In 1953 she published Maud Martha, an innovative sequence of poems describing the life of a black woman in Chicago, which is regarded as one of the most challenging and complex of her works. As she became more politically engaged, her work followed suit. In 1968 she published In the Mecca, about a woman searching for her lost child, which was nominated for the National Book Award. In 1972, she published the first of two memoirs, Report From Part One, followed 23 years later by Report From Part Two, written when she was 79 years old. In the 1960s, as her fame grew, her writing began to take on a sharper edge as she observed society, exemplified by one of her most famous poems, We Real Cool, published in 1960. Teaching Brooks was a lifelong teacher, often in informal settings like her own home, where she frequently welcomed young writers and held ad hoc lectures and writing groups. In the 1960s she began teaching more formally, street gangs as well as university students. She taught a course on American Literature at the University of Chicago. Brooks was remarkably generous with her time, and spent much of her energy encouraging and guiding young writers, and eventually held teaching positions at some of the country’s best schools, including Columbia University and Northeastern Illinois University. Gwendolyn Brooks, poet, seated in the poetry room at the Library of Congress. Bettmann  /  Getty Images Personal Life Brooks married Henry Lowington Blakely, Jr. and had two children with him, remaining married until his death in 1996. Brooks is remembered as a kind and generous woman. When the Pulitzer Prize money gave her and her family financial security, she was known to use her money to help people in her neighborhood by paying rent and other bills, and funding poetry anthologies and other programs to give opportunities to young black writers. Death and Legacy Brooks died in 2000 after a brief battle with cancer; she was 83 years old. Brooks’ work was notable for its focus on ordinary people and the black community. Although Brooks mixed in classical references and forms, she almost uniformly made her subjects contemporary men and women living in her own neighborhood. Her work often incorporated the rhythms of jazz and blues music, creating a subtle beat that made her verse bounce, and which she often used to create explosive climaxes to her work, as in her famous poem We Real Cool which ends with the devastating triplet we die soon. Brooks was a pioneer of black consciousness in this country and dedicated much of her life to helping others, educating younger generations, and promoting the arts. Quotes â€Å"THE POOL PLAYERS / SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL / We real cool. We / Left school. We /Lurk late. We / Strike straight. We / Sing sin. We / Thin gin. We / Jazz June. We / Die soon.† (We Real Cool, 1960) â€Å"Writing is a delicious agony.† â€Å"Poetry is life distilled.† â€Å"Believe me, I loved you all. Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you All.† (The Mother, 1944) â€Å"Reading is important—read between the lines. Don’t swallow everything.† â€Å"When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you’re telling them that they’re less than somebody else.† Sources â€Å"Gwendolyn Brooks.† Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Aug. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks.Bates, Karen Grigsby. â€Å"Remembering The Great Poet Gwendolyn Brooks At 100.† NPR, NPR, 29 May 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/05/29/530081834/remembering-the-great-poet-gwendolyn-brooks-at-100.Fà ©lix, Doreen St. â€Å"Chicagos Particular Cultural Scene and the Radical Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks.† The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/chicagos-particular-cultural-scene-and-the-radical-legacy-of-gwendolyn-brooks.Watkins, Mel. â€Å"Gwendolyn Brooks, Whose Poetry Told of Being Black in America, Dies at 83.† The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2000, https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/04/books/gwendolyn-brooks-whose-poetry-told-of-being-black-in-america-dies-at-83.html.

Equality Is A Source Of Aspiration Or Achievement Essay

Equality—Definition Essay Many societies, in the past and present, consider equality as a source of aspiration or achievement. However, critics show that there is lack of demonstrable progress of equality, and as a result the life of humankind has remained complex. The principle of equality is one that seeks to arrive at condemnation of any form of discrimination; it is unjust to treat people differently in ways that deny to some the social benefits unless we can prove that there is a real difference between them that is relevant to the differential treatment. As such, equality considers it not acceptable to treat people differently on the basis of age, gender, or racial variations since these factors promote denial to social benefits, discrimination and harm. Various definitions of equality in the political, social, and economic realm have resulted in different interpretation which impact the way the society relates. Firstly, in a social context, equality refers to the entitlement of all citizens to enjoy equal societal status without any individual offered special privileges. This means that no one should be given distinct treatment from others due to class, tribe, clan, race, or color (Locke 37). There are key policies that promote equality such as the voting and driving rights. In the United States, for instance, driving schools will only accept children of ages fifteen and above and voting is strictly for children of above eighteen years in age in the American systemShow MoreRelated Strengths of Black Families Essay698 Words   |  3 Pages1999). This definition is contrary to the belief that the Black family is an adaptation to harsh conditions, instead of an ongoing establishment. Hill (1999) discusses some of the qualities as effective for the survival of black families: strong achievement and work orientation, flexible family roles and strong kinship bonds, and strong religious orientati on. 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According to the Equality Act 2010, education providers and employers have a duty to ensure the inclusion for the SEN learner in the wo rkplace. Reasonable adjustments must be in place; to ensure that the employee with SEN has the same accessibility in the workplace as typically developing employee. If the employee with SEN is at a disadvantage, there are three requirementsRead MoreThe Recent Engagement Of Contemporary Islamic Thought With Modernity875 Words   |  4 Pagessuggest that we should re-systematize and correct the classical theory of modernization in the light of multiple modernities frameworks because multiple modernities do not assume that global modernity is derived from the West as a single pattern (source) and describe the possibility of a plural modernity experiences. In fact, there are many modernities, not only one single patter of modernization. These developments forced sociologists for a paradigm shift in the dominant one-side understanding ofRead MoreAn Article The Fortune 100 And Their Fitness And Wellness Programs1272 Words   |  6 Pagesgender equality, good and flexible work organizati on permitting better reconciliation of working and personal life, lifelong learning, health and safety at work, employee involvement and diversity in working life.† (2012) . In an article The Fortune 100 and their Fitness and Wellness Programs, we can find the examples of such managerial attitude. For instance, Walmart provides its 1.1 million associates and family members with health care plans with access to affordable, comprehensive medical coverage

Research Aims and Objectives Free Essays

The following research for consumer preference regarding the choice for a particular Bank in the United Kingdom is done with the aim to analyze the consumer mindset and preference when they make a choice for something so essential like a Bank to whom they handover their hard earned money to. The aim of the research is to determine what consumers want and what the usually preferable features in the Bank are. In order to do so, a sample of the population would be analyzed who would be representing the entire population. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Aims and Objectives or any similar topic only for you Order Now The objective of this particular research to identify the consumer demands and their preferable features would be the understanding of consumer psyche in order to be in a better position to be able to provide them with what they require. However, this would be the prime objective but the secondary objectives would be to discover the hidden factors that mostly people tend to forget while devising a Bank or its strategies. This research would also enable the person formulating the strategy to have an insight to what consumer wants and requires of their efforts and endeavors. Apart from that, it is essential to conduct a research for what consumer wants rather than assuming their requirements and demands. This research would enable to actually find out that which strategies are to be continued by the Bank in the future while which strategies are meant for amendments or complete eradication. Not only banks, but any products or services that are highly dependent on consumer demand and preferences need to analyze their demands and choices before entering in the area to serve them. Hence, the primary Aim of the research is to determine the expectations and requirements of a customer from the place it entrusts its finances into. The objective is to make use of the research and make the result of the research the motive of existence. Rationale of the Research The rationale or the purpose of the research is to make sure that the consumers are receiving what they expect and require of the Banking services. It is to ensure that the current strategies adopted by the Banks in United Kingdom are appropriate or not. There are many sectors in which the Banking Industry of the United Kingdom is divided. The purpose of the research is to analyze the different customer present in each sector and the reason of their preference for a particular sector. The sectors for Banking Industry are Independent British Banks, British Banking Brands owned by British Companies, British Banking Brands owned by Foreign Companies, Foreign Banks in the United Kingdom and External Links. The Independent Banks in United Kingdom include HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank, HBOS, Lloyds TSB, Standard Chartered, Alliance and Leicester, Northern Rock, Cooperative Bank and Bradford and Bingley. The amount of independent Banks is few in the United Kingdom as compared to other countries. The research would also enable us to understand as to whether consumers want more independent banks or not. Quite a lot of foreign banks are present in the United Kingdom as well which are ING Direct, Citibank and Bank of Cyprus. This research would also enable in understanding the reason of the presence of such humungous amount of foreign banks in the country. In London, there is an investment and commercial branch of almost every big Bank in the world. Hence, the purpose along with determining the consumer preference and demand is to determine the purpose of the existence of different sectors and the consumer’s take on these different sectors. The research conducted would help in dividing the preference according to the sector under review which would make it easier for the Banks in different sectors to extract knowledge of their requirement. Theoretical Underpinning Several theories were evaluated to determine which would be best to analyze consumer behavior and their reason to choose a particular Bank for their transactions and activities. The major category which it was divided into was ‘Qualitative research’ as it had to do with consumer preferences and hence could not be quantified into any numbers. It would deal with qualitative data like questionnaires, Focus Group and In-depth Interviews. However under Qualitative research is further divided into three more types which include Positivists, Interpretive and Critical. The positivists takes the society at its face value and assumes that everything portrayed is for real and true, the interpretive assumes that the situation changes and so does human behavior as per the situation while on the contrary the critical approach takes a critical perspective on the society and everything present in the social reality is historically present and created by human minds so nothing is for real but a creation of people’s mind. The method that would be taken use of in this research would be the ‘Interpretive Research’ because it takes the most reasonable and rational approach to the data available in the social reality. As the primary data collected in a qualitative research is highly subject to personal views, therefore it is very important to take a rational approach on the analysis of data and its interpretation. For this kind of research theory, the most important aspect is the interpretation of the collected data as it is difficult to analyze the in-depth interviews and focus groups because of the presence of no right and wrong in the approach as it is highly dependent on human views and method of interpretation. Hence, the theoretical approach used is ‘Interpretive Qualitative Research Methodology’. Methodology Research Approach The research would be highly dependent on the data collected via primary as well as secondary sources. Since, the entire research is to determine human psyche and preferences therefore nothing can be assumed and neither is anything pre-determined. The data however would be achieved through primary sources via Focus Groups, In-depth Interviews, Questionnaire and Surveys as well secondary sources such as Internet sources, Journals, Articles, Past Researches, Magazines, and Books etc. The theory that is used as a methodology is as defined the Qualitative Interpretive method as the data received would be either the feedback from the customers or the secondary published resources. The data interpretation is where the methodology or the theory of the research would be utilized. The focus groups would be analyzed based on people’s verbal reactions as well as their attitude and gestures and so will be the In-depth interview which would be a one-to-one interaction with the consumer. However, the answers of the questionnaire would have to be quantified and displayed via graph to display the inclination of the answers. The research methodology used would be ‘Relational’, this is because one factor of the research would be analyzed as to whether it depends on the other or not. For example, if consumers prefer on-the-go Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Service then is it because of the low savings and high expenditures of the people in the United Kingdom. The relational approach would also help in analyzing and explaining the reason of several factors and demands by the target consumers of the Banks in the United Kingdom. It would be helpful in explaining a lot of consumer preferences and would be better in understanding the logic behind the Human Psyche. Research Strategy The research strategy has several steps which are being followed in the conducted research. It started of with defining a title for the research which was finalized to be stated as ‘How the people choose in U. K which bank to patronize? ’ After that came the step to analyze the background data which would be partially collected via primary sources as well as secondary published sources. The primary sources as mentioned would be the Qualitative Research tools such as the Focus Groups, Surveys and Interviews while the secondary sources would be the publishes material in the form of either past Researches in the relevant field, articles, journals or magazines. In order to get hold of the relevant sources several catalogs have been searches and the internet has been browsed in order to come up with as authentic and relevant material as possible. Even the internet sources that are being analyzed are the published authentic ones and not just the random material present. After the collection of data, it was critically analyzed to remove all loop holes from the procedures and find reliable material from which the research can take constructive help from in order to make it as productive as possible. The next step of defining the citation style has been done with utmost care keeping the professionalism and the research relevance in mind. Therefore, the citation style used in this research is Harvard style of referencing. The material used in the literature review and the entire research would be cited in the Harvard style of citation and so would be the in-text citation. The Harvard style has a professional work procedure and cites the work in an appropriate manner for the reader to understand where the work is taken from and along with that helps in giving the original idea provider the due importance by mentioning and recognizing their efforts. The strategy adopted in the process of the research has to be clear and defined in order to follow a research process that has a vivid objective and is able to reach its motives effectively and efficiently. Primary Data and Secondary Data Collection The primary data will be collected with the qualitative tools such as the †¢ In-Depth Interview: The one-to-one interviews with the few selected customers who would be questioned in detail and would have the option of answering open ended in order to gather the most data possible and then extract the one relevant. Along with the information the interviewee would also be analyzed of his/her gestures and body language. Hence, this would help in providing a deep insight in the consumers mind and preferences. †¢ Focus Group: This would be a method for a group of customers to express their opinion on a platform provided. Several minds when act together would give a clear view of what majority of the customers think. However, there are certain pitfalls to this procedure as well which would be tried and avoided as much as possible. †¢ Questionnaires: These are the only tools in the qualitative method that can be quantified and does not entirely depend on interpretation. The questionnaires would mostly contain close ended questions as the open ended ones would be there in the focus groups as well as the in-depth interviews of the customers. †¢ Surveys: As per this method, the customers in each sector would be randomly surveyed for their opinions and suggestion to improve the Banking service in the country. Hence, all the above mentioned primary data collected would not only help in devising as to what customers prefer but also would provide with a solution and recommend possible outcomes. The secondary sources would be from published sources. In order to analyze the scenario of Multinational Banks in the United Kingdom, the book by Geoffrey Jones (1993) is used for referencing which present the scenario of international Banks in the United Kingdom’s market. Presenting the scenario it states â€Å"the leaders were five large American Banks which dominated the process of syndicated sovereign loans as they sought to achieve an accelerated growth of their assets. They pursued lending strategies that emphasized wide margins and large volumes of loans. † (Jones, 1993, p. 352). Another book by Francesca Carnevali called as the ‘Europe’s Advantage: Banks and Small Firms in Britain, France, Germany and Italy since 1918’ talks about the importance of small Banks. In the research the customer of small banks would also be a subject therefore this book would be of high importance as its states â€Å"small firms are part of local economies. These can be defined simply and loosely as spaces where most local saving found their way to local financial intermediaries and then back into the local economy† (Carnevali, 2005, pp. 2-3). In order to understand the Human psyche as well as competing for customer the help of a book called ‘Competing for Customers and Capital’ by Victor J. Cook Junior (2006). It talks about the competitive cut-throat environment that today every field has including products as well as services and bridges the gap between the marketing and the finance areas. It is also helpful for those who aspire to be the upper level management as it enables the reader to understand the consumer psyche and the reason behind their preferences. A very important book that is used in the literature as a reference is a book by John R. Weeks called the ‘Unpopular Culture: The Ritual of Complaint in a British Bank’ (2003). It talks about how unsatisfied culture of the employees spreads a negative energy in the entire organization and it effects on the performance of the employees which ultimately affects the customer service and produces unsatisfied customers. Book which talks about the history of the Banking Industry in the United Kingdom and the changing and evolutionary trends is a book by Ronald Myles Fitzmaurice (1975) called ‘British banks and banking: A pictorial history’. In order to understand British banking history and how it dealt with crisis in the past, a book by William Frazer (2000) is used called as ‘Central Banking, Crises, and Global Economy’ which states that â€Å"Governments in crises should not be surprised, however, when aid and coordinated private-sector support packages are extended on condition that problem-causing traditions and practices be changed† (Frazer, 2000, p. 315). Along with that the news article by Steve Pain (2000) indicates the importance of customers in the generation of profits by the banks. Hence, the satisfaction of the customers is of utmost importance and therefore they need to be given special attention to. Their needs and requirements have to be identified in order to be in a better position to provide them with better service which is up to their mark. Some companies or banks even misuse their customers by getting them into trouble so that they force them into calling the call center as â€Å"BANKS and power companies have been accused of making big money out of customers who ring their call centers† (Poulter, 2005, p. 6). Hence, there are all kinds of business running around the world and in order to have healthy business one needs to get rid of these unethical tactics. Data Analysis As mentioned above, the data collected through primary means as well as secondary means would be critically analyzed to ensure their importance in the research and to determine whether they are being utilized efficiently or not. However, due recognition would be given to any data that has been extracted from other sources and is not achieved via primary method. The entire data collected would not be used but only the important and highly relevant portions would be selected to gain knowledge from and cite in the original research. The data would relate to the original topic as to what are the criteria of the customers when choosing a Bank in the United Kingdom. Anticipated Limitations Despite the best of efforts there are certain limitations that would be faced by the people conducting the research which are as follows; †¢ Time Constraint: Although there my be a lot of time available but for the research of such magnitude there is no sufficient time as with new time new data arises which can be incorporated as well. So time acts as one of the constraints. †¢ Monetary Constraints: Due to the status of being students, there are certain financial limitations that have to be abided by, hence acting as constraints as there is not a sufficient or unlimited flow of funds. †¢ Knowledge: Although a lot of background research would be done and plenty of material would be read to make this research as authentic as possible but still there is some knowledge that would be unattained. Hence, that unattained knowledge would act as a constraint for further depth in the research. †¢ Secondary Data: The presence of secondary data regarding the given topic is scarce and hence proper information of several fields cannot be gathered which is a constraint for the production of an excellent research. Ethical Considerations The first and the foremost consideration as per the ethical boundaries would be the due recognition of the material or data taken from other authors by books, articles and journals. If they are not acknowledged, it would be included as plagiarism rather than help from various outside sources. Apart from that, what needs to be taken care of is that none of the Banks or financial institutions is allegedly claimed for poor performance. In short, there should be no incorrect data; all the data should have a back support to it in order to provide the proof of its authenticity. One thing that is often ignored by the researchers is the pre-developed biasness or prejudice. A personal experience or a past knowledge may lead the researcher to have a pre-conceived notion regarding a certain factor. This makes the entire research to be less authentic as its starts to involve personal opinion rather than rational views. For instance, in this case the researcher might have had a bad past experience with a bank and may prolong that biasness into the research making it less objective. Hence, in order for the research to be carried out in an ethical manner, all these ethical concerns have to be taken into account. Otherwise all the effort done by the researcher may result to be void. Conclusion The following research would be carried out with the Harvard style citation and the methodology would be ‘qualitative interpretive’ method. The primary sources of data would be the qualitative tools which include In-Depth Interviews, Surveys, Questionnaire and Focus group. The ethical constraints would be followed to make sure that the research is highly objective without the involvement of any plagiarism, incorrect information or personal biasness or prejudice. Hence, the research would follow all the pre-determined set patterns of following a research with a research theory and methodology. Although there are slight constraints which would act as a hurdle in the way but it would be made sure that it doesn’t have a drastic impact on the research. The hypothesis of the research would conclude as to what are the primary, secondary and involuntary (hidden) reasons for customers to choose a particular Bank in the United Kingdom. Bibliography Jones, G. (1993). British Multinational Banking 1830-1990. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019820602X. Carnevali, F. (2005). Europe’s Advantage: Banks and Small Firms in Britain, France, Germany and Italy since 1918. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199257396. Cook, V. (2006). Competing for Customers and Capital. South-Western Educational Pub. First Edition. ISBN-10: 0324405979. ISBN-13: 978-0324405972. United States of America. Crawfordsville. Weeks, J. R. (2003). Unpopular Culture: The Ritual of Complaint in a British Bank. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN-10: 0226878120. ISBN-13: 978-0226878126. United States of America. Fitzmaurice, R. M. (1975). British banks and banking: A pictorial history. Barton. ISBN-10: 0851531547. ISBN-13: 978-0851531540. Frazer, W. (2000). Central Banking, Crises, and Global Economy. Praeger Publishers. Westport, CT, London, United Kingdom. Pain, S. (2000). Customers Co-operate in Bank’s Profits Boost. The Birmingham Post. 19. How to cite Research Aims and Objectives, Essays

Shamanism Essays - Anthropology Of Religion, Supernatural Healing

Shamanism Shamanism is humanity's oldest form of relationship to Spirit. As such, it is the underpinning beneath all religion. But shamanism is not a religion. It is a complex set of practices, beliefs, values and behaviors that enable the practitioner to elect a shift from ordinary consciousness into a trance state with a specific goal in mind, such as healing, obtaining information, power, vision, divination, contacting the spirit of the deceased, soul retrieval or guidance for right action. Shamanic work is done with the aid of a helping ally of some sorts that the shaman has befriended. They work together as a cooperative team, with the ally being an intermediary between different levels of reality and the shaman, an engineer of altering states of consciousness. Shamans throughout the world and throughout time, recognize that the universe is alive, conscious, and filled with spiritual power. Shamans know how to access this web of power and work it skillfully and effectively to address their, and their community's needs. Shamanism is the use of shamanic practices within a shamanic value system. Traditionally a shaman goes through the experience of a ?calling?, usually through illness, accident or some unusual quality of being, then through an arduous apprenticeship of teaching, training, and testing, followed by some sort of passage rite into their new status. Typically shaman do not define themselves as such. Instead they are defined by their community based on what they do. Becoming a shaman and living as a shaman is a difficult and demanding life path that many indigenous people shy away from because of its formidable requirements. It is not about fun or glamour. Unskillful and uneducated acts can cause harm, or even be life-threatening, to the practitioner as well as others. For shamanism deals with power, and power can move in many different ways. It is important to move slowly with respect, humility and care. A vitally important aspect of the practice of shamanism is understanding right relationship with power, and the acts and implements of power, such as sage, cedar, feathers, the drum, ceremony, disincarante spirits, totem animals and allies. Shamanism is the intentional effort to develop ongoing relationships with personal helping spirits by journeying into realms where the spirits dwell. Shamanism is a way of perceiving the nature of the universe in a way that incorporates the normally invisible world of spirit. Shamans have different terms and phrases for the non ordinary reality, but most of them clearly imply that it is the realm where the spirits of the land and the animals, deceased ancestors, the gods and goddesses and other spiritual entities dwell. Shamans employ methods for altering consciousness so that they can send their spirits or souls (consciousness) into the non ordinary reality of the spirits who become their friends, guides, guardians, instructors, and allies. These helping spirits might be the spirits of nature, animals, plants, the elements, ancestors, gods, goddesses, or teachers from various religious traditions. The act of sending one's consciousness into the spirit world is called the shamanic journey, and it allows the journeyed to view life and life's problems from a detached, spiritual perspective, not easily achieved in a state of ordinary consciousness. One of the most universal methods for altering consciousness for this spirit journey is a persistent, mesmerizing drumbeat The reason for acquiring and nurturing ongoing personal relationships with helping spirits is to gain knowledge, wisdom, practical healing methods, and other vital information that can be brought benefit one's own personal benefit or the benefit of the others in the community. History of Shamanism The practice of shamanism is derived from ancient teachings and is practised throughout the five continents of the planet. Although ancient, (it is estimated that shamanism may have originated over 10,000 years ago) its practice is also contemporary, surviving in areas such as Tibet, North & South America and within various African tribes. Shamanism is used to restore balance and healing to both people and the planet we live in. The practice of shamanism involves shamanic practitioners making journeys or soul-flights to other realities in order to bring back advice, help or soul-parts for the individual/community. As such, the practitioner acts as a medium through which help is channelled. Shamanism has existed since the beginning of time on every continent of the planet. A shaman/shamanka (feminine) is an individual that can

Low PSAT Score Heres What to Do

Low PSAT Score Here's What to Do SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Did you get your PSAT score back and it was lower than you expected?The good news is that PSAT scores aren’t sent to colleges, so your low score will have no impact on your futureapplications. However, you’ll need to make some changes if you want a higher score when it comes time for you to take the SAT. This guide will walk you through the steps you need to take to get on the right path, including how to identifywhat errors you made on the PSAT, how to avoid them on the SAT, and how to develop the best study plan going forward. Step #1: Self-Study or Tutor? If you got a PSAT score you’re unhappy with, one of the first major decisions you need to make is to decide whether you want to study for the SAT on your own or with a tutor.If you’re unsure, you don’t need to make this decision right away, but you should keep it in mind as you go through the following steps to decide if hiring a tutor would be helpful in raising your score.We have an entire guide to help you decide if you should use a tutor or self-study, but here’s a brief overview of each option: Tutor A tutor can help you figure out where you made mistakes and what you should focus on to improve your score in the future. Tutors can be especially helpful for people who: Don’t know what they need to improve on. Struggle to develop study plans. Have problems staying motivated. A good tutor will work with you to develop a study plan that will target your weaknesses and also work with your schedule. A tutor may also be particularly helpful if you scored muchlower than you wanted (200+ points). However, hiring a tutor can be expensive, and not every tutor will be a great fit for you and really help you improve your scores. Self-Study Self-study doesn’t cost a thing beyond the prep materials you choose to buy, and it lets you have complete control over your study plan. However, self-study can be difficult if you aren’t sure how to fix your mistakes, choose what to study, or think you may have trouble staying motivated. Think carefully about which option is better for you. If you’d like more information, check out our guide on thepros and cons of each way to test prep. For some students, having a tutor can help them figure out what they need to focus on while others prefer to develop their own study plans. Step #2: Analyze Your Mistakes This is probably the most important step in this guide; without doing this you can spend hours on test prep but not see your scores increase at all.Analyzing your mistakes is critical because, if you don’t understand why you made a certain mistake, you’ll keep repeating it on each test instead of finding the problem and correcting it. There are four main reasons you may have answered a question incorrectly: Content Issue: You were missing fundamental skills or knowledge needed to answer the question (like being asked a question on the volume of a cube but not knowing how to calculate volume). Comprehension Issue:You knew the information needed to answer the question, but the wording of the question confused you or was too complicated, so you misread it and answered incorrectly. Time Constraint: You knew how to answer the question correctly but didn’t have enough time. Careless Mistake:You understood everything perfectly, but you made a silly mistake like filling in the wrong bubble or writing down the wrong number. In the next section, we’ll go over specific strategies for combatingeach of these issues. For now, you should take a practice PSAT or SAT, with the sections timed as they would be on the real exam. After you've finished the test, take a break, then correct the test and findall the questions you answered incorrectly.For each of these questions, you should figure out why you got it wrong. Take a piece of paper, and make four columns on it - one column for each of the reasons listed above. Each time you come to a question you answered incorrectly, put a tally in the appropriate column. When you’re finished, you should be able to easily see what your major reason(s) is/are for getting questions wrong. This may seem like a long and boring step but, trust me, it will save you a ton of time later, and it’s the only way to really make significant improvements in your score. If you have a tutor, they should guide you through this process, figuring out what your most common mistakes are and how to avoid them. Khan Academy Another resource you can use is Khan Academy. In partnership with the College Board, Khan Academy has recently released free SAT prep resources. One part of these resources include the ability to upload your PSAT scores and receive personalized recommendations on what you shouldstudy. You can do this by going to Khan Academy’s website and creating an account if you don’t already have one. Then choose to study SAT skills, and you will be given the option to upload your PSAT scores. This will be done by linking with your College Board account. You’ll be sent to the College Board’s website and asked to give permission to Khan Academy to access your PSAT results.Khan Academy will then use your results to determine which subjects you should focus your studying on. Be aware that, while this can be a useful and time-saving feature, Khan Academy only detects content errors. It can’t tell if you made a mistake due to time constraints or careless error. It’s only identifying one category of error, so it’s important to follow the above steps to make sure you completely understand what caused you to answer questions incorrectly. Khan Academy can be a useful way to review your mistakes on the PSAT and develop a plan for your SAT prep. Step #3: Learn How to Avoid Making the Same Mistakes on the SAT Now that you’ve figured out what mistakes you made on the PSAT, you need to develop strategies to avoid making those same mistakes in the future. Look at the list you created of your most common causes of error, and use the techniques below to start eliminating these mistakes. Content Issue If you made a lot of content errors, that means you have gaps in the knowledge needed to do well on the SAT.You’ll need to identify where these gaps are and work to fill them.Look to see whereyou answered the most questions incorrectly. Did you do well on the Math section but got tripped up on Reading? Then you should focus more of your study time on Reading. You should also take this one step further and look more closely within each section. If you got a lot of Reading questions wrong, were they mostly in the scientific passages? On the questions that asked you about the author’s opinion? The more you can narrow down where your content gaps are, the more focused and effective your studying will be. We have a ton of free guides to help you strengthen your content knowledge. Feel free to browse our blog, or you can get started with these thorough guides on the SAT Math, Reading, and Writing and Languagesections. Comprehension Issue The SAT is known for being notoriously tricky, and, although the new version of the test is less purposely confusing, it's still easy to get tripped up by what a question is asking, so being fooled by questionsis a common mistake.The key toreducing comprehension errors is making sure you understand exactly what each question is asking. If this is an issue for you, the next time you take a practice exam, read each question twice and underline the key information. This is particularly useful for questions that are long and complicated. A math problem may ask for the solution to 2x, and if you only find x, you may see that value listed among the answer choices and bubble it in, thinking you got the answer correct. Taking a bit more time when reading each question can help reduce errors like these. We also have a guide specially created to help you eliminate tricky and misleading answer choices and select the correct answer. Time Constraint Better time management is needed if you’re missing a lot of questions because you’re crunched for time.One of the best ways to move through test questions faster is to regularly take practice quizzesor full exams, always timing yourself of course. Practicing often will get you more familiar with how questions are worded, and you’ll figure out shortcuts to answer certain problems more quickly. Also, when you are taking the test, if you’ve stared at a problem for at least 30 seconds and you have no idea how to solve it, skip it and come back to it if you have extra time at the end of the section.Spending a lot of time on a single question and not getting to several other questions as a result is not a good test-taking strategy, and it can really hurt your score. Finally, try to leave about 5 minutes at the end of each section to look over your answers (doing this during your practice exams will help it become a habit for you). Use these last five minutes to look for any easy questions you haven’t answered yet, and bubble in answers for any questions you skipped. Running out of time is a common issue on the PSAT and SAT. Careless Mistake People make careless mistakes when they aren’t paying enough and/or they’re trying to rush through the exam.The best way to combat this type of mistakeis to slow down a bit and really concentrate on the question you’re trying to solve. Rushing through questions just to answer them all won’t help your score if you’re making tons of careless errors. Like the comprehension issue advice above, you should read each question twice and underline any important words or phrases.For math questions, make sure you know exactly which value you are supposed to solve for, whether it’s x or 3x-5.For Reading and Writing, look out for the words â€Å"except† or â€Å"not†; it’s likely they’ll change the entire meaning of the question. Step #4: Start Studying! Now that you know why you answered questions incorrectly on the PSAT and have strategies to avoid making those same mistakes, it’s time to create a study plan! It’s helpful if you can schedule a regular study time, say Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 7-9pm. Knowing in advance when you need to be studying will make it easier for you to schedule other things and remember when you should be doing test prep. If you’re not sure how to create a study schedule, we have a bunch of guides to help you out. Learn when you should begin studying for the SAT and how long you should study for. How long you need to study for the SAT will in part depend on how large of a score improvement you’re looking for(check out this guide if you need help converting your PSAT score into an estimate of what you'd get on the SAT). The above guides have more details, but here’s a rough estimate of how much time you should study for the SAT based on how much you want to raise your composite score: 0-30 Point Improvement: 10 hours 30-70 Point Improvement: 20 hours 70-130 Point Improvement: 40 hours 130-200 Point Improvement: 80 hours 200-330 Point Improvement: 150 hours+ So, clearly, the more you want to improve your score, the more time you’ll need to spend studying. It’s up to you to decide how many hours you want to set aside a week for studying, based on what works best with your schedule. The more you're looking to increase your score, the more you'll have to study. Study Resources You’ll also need to gather the resources you need to study. There’s a huge variety of SAT prep resources available, including prep books and online resources. You may also choose to take a class or hire a tutor.We have guides for the best SAT prep books and SAT websites to help you with your studying. Your study plan will also definitely include taking some practice tests, and we have links to free and official practice SATs for you to use.Practice tests give you a chance to measure your progress and see where you still need to improve. Official practice tests are the best to use because you can be sure they are an accurate representation of the actual SAT, so use these tests wisely!Space them out over your study period and take them under conditions as close to the real test as possible.That means taking a complete test in one sitting and with the same timing the real SAT has. Step #5: Take the SAT OK, so you’ve identified where you made your mistakes, learned how to prevent them, and spent time studying and taking practice tests. Now it’s time to take the SAT!Ideally, you want a few months between the time you took the PSAT and the time you take the SAT so that you have time to study and improve. SAT test dates in the spring or following fall will probably work best for you. If you take the SAT and still don’t reach your target score, remember that you can take the SAT multiple times, so you’ll likely have at least one other chance.If you made improvements and just missed your ideal score ( within 50-100 points), you may just need to brush up on your studying a bit more in order to meet your target. It’s not unusual for a person’s scores to vary somewhat from test to test. If you have made little improvement and/or are still far from your target score, you’ll likely need to change your study methods. Check out our guide to the pros and cons of different study methods to see if something different will work better for you. If you’ve been self-studying so far, you may want to look into getting a tutor or taking an online class. Summary Getting a PSAT score lower than you wanted can be disappointing, but, fortunately, a low PSAT score won’t impact your college applications, and there are methods you can follow to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Whether you choose to get a tutor or self-study, you’ll need to identify the errors you made on the PSAT and follow strategies to ensure you don’t make those same mistakes on the SAT. With an organized study plan and regular practice tests to track your progress, you’ll be well on your way to raising your score when it comes time to take the SAT! What's Next? Looking for more SAT study tips?Check out these 21 quick study tips to boost your SAT score. Wondering what SAT score you need to get into your dream school?Setting a target score can be tricky, but our guide will help you easily figure out what SAT score you should be aiming for to get into your top colleges! Thinking about taking the ACT instead of the SAT? Learn about the differences between the two examsand whether you should take the SAT or the ACT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Submit Forms Using TWebBrowser in Delphi

Populate/Submit Forms Using TWebBrowser in Delphi The TWebBrowser Delphi control provides access to the Web browser functionality from your Delphi apps - to allow you to create a customized Web browsing application or to add Internet, file and network browsing, document viewing, and data downloading capabilities to your applications. Web Forms A web form or a form on a web page allows a web page visitor to enter data that is, in most cases, sent to the server for processing. The simplest web form could consist of one input element (edit control) and a submit button. Most web search engines (like Google) use such a web form to allow you to search the internet. More complex web forms would include drop-down lists, check boxes, radio buttons, etc. A web form is much like a standard windows form with text input and selection controls. Every form would include a button - a submit button - that tells the browser to take action on the web form (typically to send it to a web server for processing). Programmatically Populating Web Forms If in your desktop application you use the TWebBrowser to display web pages, you can programmatically control web forms: manipulate, change, fill, populate fields of a web form and submit it. Heres a collection of custom Delphi functions you can use to list all the web forms on a web page, to retrieve input elements, to programmatically populate fields and to finally submit the form. To more easily follow the examples, lets say theres a TWebBrowser control named WebBrowser1 on a Delphi (standard Windows) form. Note: you should add mshtml to your uses clause in order to compile the methods listed here. List Web Form Names, Get a Web Form by Index A web page would in most cases have only one web form, but some web pages might have more than one web form. Heres how to get the names of all the web forms on a web page: function WebFormNames(const document: IHTMLDocument2): TStringList; var   Ã‚  forms : IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  idx : integer; begin   Ã‚  forms : document.Forms as IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  result : TStringList.Create;   Ã‚  for idx : 0 to -1 forms.length do   Ã‚  begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : forms.item(idx,0) as IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  result.Add(form.name) ;   Ã‚  end; end; A simple usage to display the list of web form names in a TMemo: var   Ã‚  forms : TStringList; begin   Ã‚  forms : WebFormNames(WebBrowser1.Document AS IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  try   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  memo1.Lines.Assign(forms) ;   Ã‚  finally   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  forms.Free;   Ã‚  end; end; Heres how to get the instance of a web form by index.  For a single form page the index would be 0 (zero). function WebFormGet(const formNumber: integer; const document: IHTMLDocument2): IHTMLFormElement; var   Ã‚  forms : IHTMLElementCollection; begin   Ã‚  forms : document.Forms as IHTMLElementCollection;   Ã‚  result : forms.Item(formNumber,) as IHTMLFormElement end; Once you have the web form, you can list all the HTML input elements by their name, you can get or set the value for each of the fields, and finally, you can submit the web form. Web pages can host web forms with input elements like edit boxes and drop down lists which you can control and manipulate programmatically from Delphi code. Once you have the web form, you can  list all the HTML input elements by their name: function  WebFormFields(const  document: IHTMLDocument2;  const  formName :  string): TStringList;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field : IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  fName : string;   Ã‚  idx : integer;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(0, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  result : TStringList.Create;   Ã‚  for  idx : 0  to  -1 form.length  do  Ã‚  begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  field : form.item(idx, ) as IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Continue;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  fName : field.id;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  fName : (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement).name;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  result.Add(fName) ;   Ã‚  end;  end; When you know the names of the fields on a web form, you can programmatically  get the value  for a single  HTML  field: function  WebFormFieldValue(   Ã‚  const  document: IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  const  formNumber : integer;   Ã‚  const  fieldName :  string):  string;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  field : form.Item(fieldName,) as IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Exit;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).value;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement).value;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  result : (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement).value;  end; An example of usage to get the value of an input field named URL: const  Ã‚  Ã‚  FIELDNAME url;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  doc :IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  fieldValue :  string;  begin  Ã‚  doc : WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  fieldValue : WebFormFieldValue(doc, 0, FIELDNAME) ;   Ã‚  memo1.Lines.Add(Field : URL, value: fieldValue) ;end; The entire idea would have no value if you would not be able to  fill in web form elements: procedure  WebFormSetFieldValue(const  document: IHTMLDocument2;  const  formNumber: integer;  const  fieldName, newValue:  string) ;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  field : form.Item(fieldName,)  as  IHTMLElement;   Ã‚  if  field   nil then  Exit;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName INPUT  then  (field  as  IHTMLInputElement).value : newValue;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName SELECT  then  (field  as  IHTMLSelectElement) : newValue;   Ã‚  if  field.tagName TEXTAREA  then  (field  as  IHTMLTextAreaElement) : newValue;  end; Submit  a Web Form Finally, when all the fields are manipulated, you would probably want to submit the web form from Delphi code. Heres how: procedure WebFormSubmit(   Ã‚  const  document: IHTMLDocument2;   Ã‚  const  formNumber: integer) ;  var  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : IHTMLFormElement;   Ã‚  field: IHTMLElement;  begin  Ã‚  Ã‚  form : WebFormGet(formNumber, WebBrowser1.Document  AS  IHTMLDocument2) ;   Ã‚  form.submit;  end; Not All Web Forms Are Open Minded Some web forms might host a captcha image to prevent web pages from being manipulated programmatically. Some web forms might not be submitted when you click the submit button. Some web forms execute JavaScript or some other procedure gets executed handled by the onsubmit event of the web form. In any event, web pages can be controlled programmatically, the only question is how far are you prepared to go?

Information Technology Service Yakka Tech Pty Ltd Essay

Information Technology Service Yakka Tech Pty Ltd - Essay Example It seems that despite having substantial employee strength, it is not being able to meet the standards as per the demands of its customers. The customer service department has been underperforming which is the present cause of concern for the company. The company has been stagnating and the number of customer complaints has been rising dramatically. This case provides a perfect situation for the identification of management loopholes. Accordingly, suitable recommendations have been proposed for rectifying the situation. The underperformance of employees can be dealt with by applying various theories of management. Employee motivation has a key role to play in this regard. The company has also been facing the problem of employee turnover. A similar issue was raised in Cadbury’s where the turnover rates remained high because of unfavorable conditions and malpractices in the areas of human resource management. However, the situation was brought under control by restructuring the HR strategies. An ideal working environment was provided along with sick pays, holidays and other benefits for the employees (Pinnington, Macklin & Campbel, 2007, p.39). This is a critical human resource issue which requires careful understanding of the causes why the employees have been leaving the organization. It is important to make an in-depth analysis of the reasons for employee dissatisfaction, insecurity and lack of commitment (Taylor, 2002, p.60). High turnover rates result in significant costs to the company in the form of recruitment, training and productivity loss (Reichheld & Teal, 2001, p.96). Research reveals that the organizational hassles often affect the quality of work. The kind of supervision, operational hassles or disagreement about of how something requires being done may be reflected through low productivity and poor performance (Basch & Fisher, 1998, p.6). The situation in Yakka Tech is also similar where the operational hassles results on lack of coordination of resources eventually lowering the level of performance.