Red Plaid Shirt Essay -- essays research papers

Red Plaid Shirt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Where are the memories of our pasts held? In scrapbooks full of photographs, or perhaps written on the pages of a locked diary? Picture though, something as simple and ordinary as a closet full of clothes. Think about its contents, where they have been worn, what they have been through, the stories attached to each item. The nameless protagonist of Diane Schoemperlen’s short story Red Plaid Shirt does this as she recalls a snippet of her past life with each article of clothing she picks up. Red plaid shirt, blue sweatshirt, brown cashmere sweater, yellow evening gown, black leather jacket†¦each item has a tale of its very own, and when combined they reveal the full story of the main character’s life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This story is fairly unique, as it is made up of several smaller tales. It starts off simply enough, as the main character fondly recalls a red plaid shirt that her mother bought for her one summer. Schoemperlen further builds up the plot as the main character discloses every detail that she can remember about the shirt, as well as many other articles of clothing. These details are gradually strung together into the sometimes unfortunate memories that form the story line. The reader cannot help but become involved in the story, for it is such a personal account of the protagonist’s life. Many of the readers have probably felt the same way about a few select articles of their own clothing, and attached the...

africa Essay -- essays research papers

African Cultures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa. There are more than 800 languages spoken in the continent of Africa. Most Africans speak two or three languages, their primary language, or â€Å"mother-tongue†, and a second or third language to communicate with people from other close by areas (Fetzer A-102). African languages are broken up into four individual categories: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khosian. The most commonly heard two categories are Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. Both of these groups can modify the meanings of words by the tone of the speakers’ voice. Niger-Congo languages are spoken of the people in West Africa, below the Sahara desert, Southern and Central Africa. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken mainly in Central Africa. Afro-Asiatic languages are mainly spoken in Northern and Northeastern Africa. This group includes Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and Arabic. Khoisan languages are spoken mostly in Southern Africa by Bushmen, members of traditionally roaming hunting people, and Hottentots, members of pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa. Khoisan languages are communicative through clicking sounds (Fetzer A-102). Some South Africans speak Afrikaans, a language that was developed from Dutch. Europeans in African speak Portuguese, French, and English (Fetzer A-102). English is becoming very recognized in the countries of Africa. The 1991 South African Census concluded that 45% of the people in South Africa have a speaking knowledge of English. It also concluded that 10% refer to English as their â€Å"mother-tongue†. The most common languages in South Africa are Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu, and Swahili (African Languages). Zulu is one of nine Bantu languages spoken in East Southern Africa. Approximately 8.8 million people speak t... ... language of Africans (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ceremonies are held when someone changes their social status and social relationship with those in the community. There are about six ceremonies in ones life. The first is their birth, the second is their maturity, third is their marriage, fourth is their child bearing, fifth is their elderliness, sixth is their death. Ceremonies are simply socially approved methods of participating in pleasurable events (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africans view body modifications as beauty. Body modifications, such as piercing, have been practiced in Africa for centuries. People there believe that one is not fully human and cannot be distinguished from animals if not pierced. Piercing is brought with royalty and portrays courage of a person (African Cultures Piercing). African cultures are different from any other culture in the world. The languages of Africa are unique in their own way. The arts of Africa are beautiful and different from any other arts in the world. African people are creative and like to express their individuality. Africa is a very original continent with lots of culture. africa Essay -- essays research papers African Cultures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa. There are more than 800 languages spoken in the continent of Africa. Most Africans speak two or three languages, their primary language, or â€Å"mother-tongue†, and a second or third language to communicate with people from other close by areas (Fetzer A-102). African languages are broken up into four individual categories: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khosian. The most commonly heard two categories are Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. Both of these groups can modify the meanings of words by the tone of the speakers’ voice. Niger-Congo languages are spoken of the people in West Africa, below the Sahara desert, Southern and Central Africa. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken mainly in Central Africa. Afro-Asiatic languages are mainly spoken in Northern and Northeastern Africa. This group includes Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and Arabic. Khoisan languages are spoken mostly in Southern Africa by Bushmen, members of traditionally roaming hunting people, and Hottentots, members of pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa. Khoisan languages are communicative through clicking sounds (Fetzer A-102). Some South Africans speak Afrikaans, a language that was developed from Dutch. Europeans in African speak Portuguese, French, and English (Fetzer A-102). English is becoming very recognized in the countries of Africa. The 1991 South African Census concluded that 45% of the people in South Africa have a speaking knowledge of English. It also concluded that 10% refer to English as their â€Å"mother-tongue†. The most common languages in South Africa are Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu, and Swahili (African Languages). Zulu is one of nine Bantu languages spoken in East Southern Africa. Approximately 8.8 million people speak t... ... language of Africans (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ceremonies are held when someone changes their social status and social relationship with those in the community. There are about six ceremonies in ones life. The first is their birth, the second is their maturity, third is their marriage, fourth is their child bearing, fifth is their elderliness, sixth is their death. Ceremonies are simply socially approved methods of participating in pleasurable events (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africans view body modifications as beauty. Body modifications, such as piercing, have been practiced in Africa for centuries. People there believe that one is not fully human and cannot be distinguished from animals if not pierced. Piercing is brought with royalty and portrays courage of a person (African Cultures Piercing). African cultures are different from any other culture in the world. The languages of Africa are unique in their own way. The arts of Africa are beautiful and different from any other arts in the world. African people are creative and like to express their individuality. Africa is a very original continent with lots of culture.

Evolution of Bipedality in Humans Essay

Bipedalism is a capacity, mostly associated to humans, to use two legs in locomotion. Its origin has been given importance and served as a topic of long debate among experts due to the possibility that this form of locomotion gave way for the development of modern human characteristics. Thus, a lot of theories were proposed and established in order to provide the logical explanation on its origin and development. The burden of dealing with this classical issue lies on the fact that locomotion is an activity that can not be fossilized. However, the Australopithecus afarensis fossils, the earliest hominid from Ethiopia and Tanzania, were found to live 3 million years after the appearance of hominid lineage around 6. 5 million years ago (â€Å"Bipedalism,† 2000). These fossils in a way may serve as evidence not only of bipedal locomotion but also hominid dental characteristics similar to apes. Bipedalism enabled humanoids to create tools used for the sustenance and defense of life and is also observed in other animal species (Dhingra and Jablonski, 2004). This trait is commonly attributed as a product of evolution for it coincided with the physiological development of the human brains. As such, bipedal locomotion has gone a very long and different history within animal kingdom. Bipedal Locomotion Human locomotion is described as a smooth flow of a series of actions including swing and stance phases (â€Å"Bipedalism,† 2000). In the swing phase, one leg shoves off through the toe then swings in slightly flexed position. As the foot creates contact on the ground through the heel, the leg becomes and remains extended to support the body. Then, as the leg moves in the swing phase, the body moves in the stance phase. On the other hand, chimpanzees are not capable of extending their knee-joints for a straight leg in the stance phase. They exert muscular power to support their bodies while their leg flexed gait denotes lack of toe off and heel strike in the swing phase. The human anatomical structure is fully developed for terrestrial locomotion while chimpanzee anatomy is adapted for climbing and knuckle walking (â€Å"Bipedalism,† 2000). Human anatomical adaptations include extensive and curved lower spine, a shorter and broader pelvis, a longer lower limbs and enlarged joint surface areas. In the swing phase, the weight of the body is shifted to the supporting leg while the balance is maintained at the unsupported side in the stance phase through contraction of gluteal abductor muscles in the hip. In chimpanzees, the gluteal abductors are not fully developed and their thigh bones do not slope inwards as in humans. Their feet are normally a little bit apart and in walking, they tend to shift their upper bodies from side to side so as to transfer the weight on each leg. It is a fact then that chimpanzees and gibbons can move through bipedal locomotion. Thus, as viewed by anthropologists, bipedalism is a hominid distinct adaptive capability (â€Å"Bipedalism,† 2000). Humanoids spend less energy through bipedalism than quadrupedalism because at a normal walking speed, the legs in a forward motion swing like pendulum then bringing back the forward momentum by slowing the swing foot before the fall (Hawks, 2005). Hence, this requires less muscular activity and energy than knuckle-walking. Moreover, bipedalism raises the head which gives a sharp range vision around the environment and making hands available for carrying tools, food items or other works. However, for early humanoids, bipedalism can offer disadvantages (Hawks, 2005). Without the ability to grasp through feet makes them unsecured from their predators. The loss of grasping foot made difficult for the early humanoids to climb through tress and escape predators, and for their young in clinging to their parents. Researches Findings Biologist and anthropologists have debated over bipedalism and proposed different hypotheses for possible explanation. However, these theories have their respective strengths and weaknesses on the plausible understanding with bipedal locomotion. Most of these theories correlated bipedalism to the animal species’ ventures on the savannah areas and was supported by the discovery of Lucy, a 3. 5 feet humanoid (Johanson, n. d. ). Standing up in savannah gives stunted humanoids a vigilant view on possible threat from their predators. Standing up in reaching out for foods is another possible explanation. In addition, an upright posture may also help our ancestors in cooling their bodies against the sultry environment. In the postural feeding hypothesis of Hunt (1994), bipedalism has evolved from the early habitual bipedal locomotion of humanoids due to arboreal food gathering. The behaviour of chimpanzees and the anatomical structures of australopithecine conformed to this ecological model. Eighty percent of bipedal locomotion in chimpanzee was observed during feeding with arm-hanging stabilizing the posture. In addition, the upper body anatomical structures of australopithecines were ascribed to arboreal bipedal fruit gathering adaptation. The behavioural model of Lovejoy (1981), on the other hand, attributed bipedalism to the social, sexual and reproductive behaviours of early humanoids. Their sexual characteristics and anatomical structures were believed to be an implication of monogamous mating. This sexual attitude led to provisioning behaviour of the humanoid male species wherein their upper limbs were used in giving food stuffs to their mates. Even Charles Darwin constructed a model in providing a logical explanation for humanoid origin and bipedalism. He postulated that bipedalism resulted from the terrestrial adaptation of quadrupedal species and the necessity for subsistence, required to giving freedom for hands to accommodate other activities such as making tools for food hunting (Hawks, 2005). Aside from this, he also assumed that the habitat change from woodland to savannah paved the way for the less importance of climbing. Then, other researchers augmented Darwin’s assumptions by elaborating that living in savannah made early humanoids to be vigilant over tall grasses and adapt in its sultry condition (Hawks, 2005). Thus, bipedalism provided them means for adjustments at these conditions by standing up leading to less sun exposure of the body. This model became the savannah model or killer-ape hypothesis. The aquatic theory and the theory on the use of tools are deemed to offer unreliable explanation (Johanson, n. d. ). Most of the time, primates avoid water due to ferocious predators. On the other hand, stone tools only appear around 2. 6 million years ago as contrasted with the 4. 2 million year-evidence of bipedal locomotion. According to Johanson (n. d. ), it is much better for the theorists to look not into the reason for the upright posture of our ancestors but rather on the advantages for the early humanoids that resulted to a behavioral change from quadrupedalism to bipedalism. Videan (2002) tested the different hypotheses for bipedalism (cited in Dhingra and Jablonski, 2004). The Carry Hypothesis described bipedalism as an adaptive means in the exploration of natural resources while carrying children, tools or foodstuffs. The Forage Hypothesis viewed it as a means towards the food gathering facilitation. Also, the notion that bipedalism gives animal species a sharp sense of sight in order to find good habitats; prey or escape from a predator is called as Vigilance Hypothesis. Display Hypothesis on the other hand, explained bipedalism as a gesture of threat for animal species. Based on the result of this study, Videan (2002) successfully correlated Carry, Vigilance, and Forage Hypotheses towards environmental adaptation of animal species. Nevertheless, the Display Hypothesis gave explanation for the sexual attraction among animal species. Dhingra and Jablonski (2004) scrutinized the bipedalism in several animal species like lizards, birds, kangaroos, and dinosaurs. They concluded that bipedalism resulted from animal’s natural attempt to adapt to their changing environment such as in escaping from predators or catching a prey, and in giving way to bodily parts for other functions like the forelimbs in humanoids for feeding and wings of the birds for flying. According to Stanford (2006), arboreal bipedal gait is different from arboreal quadrupedal stance for he observed that while feeding in tree crowns, Bwindi chimpanzees changed smoothly from four-legged to three-legged and even two-legged posture. This shift may have occurred in early humanoids. Modern gorillas are terrestrially adapted but based on observations; even adult male gorillas climb into tall trees for food. Thus, it is also possible for early humanoids to adapt a variety of bipedalism based on their ecological conditions. More than this, few evidences speak for terrestrial adaptation of modern chimpanzees considering the fact that they used to travel primarily on the ground and stay on trees only for sleeping or feeding purposes. These observations may denote the possibility of behavioral plasticity and arboreality in early humanoids. Based on the review conducted by Richmond, Begun, and Strait (2001), about the different studies on bipedalism, humans evolved from knuckle-walking and climbing ancestor as portrayed by evidences. These include terrestrial characteristics in the hands and feet, climbing skeletal structure, and knuckle-walking attributes in the wrist and hands. These features narrowed down the list of theories concerning bipedalism. Evidences from the paleobiology and paleoenvironments weakened the postulates based on monogamous social structure and open savanna-based bipedalism hypotheses. Rather, they suggested giving more importance on hypotheses based on food acquisition and carriage and a deep anatomical examination on the extant anthropoid behaviors. Conclusion No single factor may completely explain the origin of bipedalism. Perhaps the concoction of the factors considered in each theory that are deemed to be valid may provide much reliable reason for bipedal locomotion. The lack of complete knowledge on the anatomical structure of the early humanoids is a great burden in gaining a complete understanding on the origin of this locomotion (Hawks, 2005). Perhaps, a simple way of explaining bipedalism is that bipedal locomotion evolved as a result from the changes in the environment or social structure that is due to the availability of dietary resources to sustain life. It is hypothesized that in the late Miocene period, hominid food sources dispersed in some areas which forced hominids to travel, thus, led to the development of locomotion anatomical structures (â€Å"Bipedalism,† 2000). References Bipedalism. Human Evolution. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from http://www. stanford. edu/~harryg/protected/chp15. htm Dhingra, P. and Jabslonski. (2004). Comparative Bipedalism – how the rest of the animal kingdom walks on two legs. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from http://www. philosophistry. com/static/bipedalism. html Hawks, J. (2005). Why be bipedal? Retrieved November 6, 2008, from http://johnhawks. net/weblog/topics/bipedalism/why_be_bipedal. html Hunt, K. D. (1994). The Evolution of Human Bipedality. Journal of Human Evolution, 26, 183-202. Johanson, D. (n. d. ). What the Evidence Suggests. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/nova/allfours/bipe-johanson. html Lovejoy, C. O. (1981). The Origins of Man. Science, 211, 341-348. Richmon, B. G. , Begun, D. R. , and Strait D. S. (2001). Origin of Human Bipedalism: The Knuckle-Walking Hypothesis Revisited. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 44, 70-105.

Gallardo’s Goes To Mexico Business Analytics Essay

Situation: â€Å"Growing but not winning†- The US market for Gallardo’s sauces, salsas and seasoning had saturated. Having seen immense potential for its product, it entered the Mexico market in 2001. They have grown 20% every year, and their share has grown from 12% to 15%. They have positioned their products on the basis of the jobs carried out by customers, which was a success in the US. Despite all of their efforts to discover separate, distinct jobs to be done and to position their brand on these jobs, they are not growing fast enough and have not been able to overtake California. Gallardo tried to position itself as a distinctive aspiring brand that commanded a significant price premium, however this has not worked and they have not been able to differentiate their products from that of California. Gallardo’s discovered the job-to-be-done, the market leader already had a product in the market that could readily do the job. Objective: To formulate a winning strategy so as to make it a market leader in Mexico. Hypothesis: 1. Gallardo has not been very successful in forging a strong link in the consumers’ minds between the jobs carried out by them and Gallardo’s brand. 2. The communication strategy is a major challenge and there is a need to re-position the brand in the minds of the consumers. 3. Gallardo has not been able to provide value to Mexican women, who are very passionate about cooking. 4. Gallardo holds only 10% share in general trade which accounts for 90% of the overall sales of salsa, sauces and seasoning. Evaluation: 1. Gallardo 2. Gallardo has positioned itself as a product to get a job-done; however, it is equally important to consider the user while positioning the product especially where the demographics of the new market are so different from the company’s market in USA. As per the case, the women in advertisements were not representing the common women in Mexico. Hence, making the brand distant from its users. 3. Although Gallardo could picture the passion for cooking, it couldn’t provide the value to its consumers. This was mainly because of their premium pricing. For example, a small deficiency in California products can be compensated by a little amount of salt or pepper. For this minor adjustment, consumers didn’t find it justified to pay 30-40% more. They were not getting any additional value of the product offering. The product attributes and usage experiences required to do the â€Å"jobs† were not well distinguished from each other, further enlarging this gap. Their products were designed on experience, which the consumer was already having. In short, we can say that value propositions offered by Gallardo were not unique enough to sell it. 4. The figure of 10% shows that there was very less penetration in the general market. This needs to increase as it shows the huge amount of untapped market for Gallardo. This would include distribution and household penetration beyond urban.

Teacher Who Influential Your Life

The person who influential me to become a better writer was my sixth grade English teacher Ms. Campbell. Ms. Campbell was not a normal English teacher. She taught us many writing technique that I still use today. I remember this one day in English class; Ms. Campbell was teaching us the fan boys out of no where she started rapping the fan boys. Still to this day I can remember the rap that she taught us. Ms Campbell had different ways of each us. Ms. Campbell would suck your right in she made us think out of the box. Also, Ms. Campbell had this way to make writing exciting, and that you cannot live without writing. There never was a day that was not interesting in English class. Ms. Campbell was the one who inspired me to write everyday. She would always tell her students â€Å"when you have bad days write about it. † Ms. Campbell was one of the reasons why I wanted to become a writer. She had a way of make me feel that I can become anything. Ms. Campbell would teach us how to write complete sentence. Everything Ms. Campbell taught us she made it into a rap song. We would help her put the rap together. I remember Ms. Campbell was in front of the class we were learning about the writing process. Ms. Campbell went to her desk, and said whoever the first person to say what the steps of the writing process are would get this big chocolate candy bar. I never had seen so many hands go up so fast. Even through no one know the step of the writing process Ms. Campbell gave everyone candy. Ms Campbell never gave up on her students she always pushes us to finish what we started. There were so many things that I learned from Ms. Campbell, but this lesson I will never forget. The lesson was an essay question was what do you want to be when you get older? Ms. Campbell made us write whole paper about the topic, and then made us share with the class. After, that Ms. Campbell hangs them all over the class to see how other students write. Another lesson Ms. Campbell taught me was remember that everyone have different writing from each other all writes have different stories. Ms. Campbell had these little riddles fro example, sticks, and stone might break my bones, but words do hurt. Ms. Campbell had all these different sang for every problem. One of my favorite lessons that Ms. Campbell taught me was independent clause. We would sing it to Aretha Franklin song RESPECT. Another, favorite lesson that she taught me was run-on sentence and fragments. When Ms. Campbell taught us run on sentences her example was talking with out stopping. Then her other example with fragments she would write a fragment on the board and ask us is this complete sentence. Another, lesson that Ms. Campbell taught us was about transition words she had a rap for transition words too. Ms. Campbell is not normal English teacher she had this spark about teaching us about writing process, fanboys, run on sentence, fragments, independents clauses, dependent clause, and transition words. Everyday I could not wait for the bell to ring to go to Ms. Campbell English class room 106. Ms. Campbell never lost faith in her students she always had faith in her students. She always gives us good feed back. Ms. Campbell made writing exciting. Ms. Campbell lesson stayed with me. For example, fanboys rap, writing process, independent clause song, and last but not least comma rules. Ms. Campbell was an amazing English teacher she taught me so much. That I’ll never forget what an amazing teacher Ms. Campbell was.

Entry of the Brand Kensie into My Store Research Paper

Entry of the Brand Kensie into My Store - Research Paper Example I believe that the location of my store on this street is ideal for the most working class and middle-class parents can see the store and walk in to find clothes for their children. The location is also ideal to attract more customers as they go by their schedules. My store is located near office blocks and also restaurants. It is convenient for those going to work and also those going out for lunch or dinner. My decision to bring in the Kensie brand in my store stems from the fact that my sales and revenue have been steady over the past few years. Many customers come back to buy more junior clothes for their children. Since my store targets middle-income earners, it means that most can afford the prices of the Macy brand. It is important to understand that the merchandise I sell is localized as a reflection of the location where my store is located (Los Angeles). Having offered localized merchandise for some time now, I decided to expand my product choice by bringing in the Kensie brand. The target market of the Kensie brand is still young children. The introduction of this brand is certainly going to stir excitement and curiosity among shoppers at my store which eventually draws more customers. However, due to competition, it is necessary to note that other stores may decide to take on the same marketing strategy as me. To avoid this, it is critical that I make careful planning to ensure that my store stands out. One of my competitive advantages is the location of my store and my target market. My strategy involves the continued sale of exclusive and localized merchandise. Increasing my merchandise by bringing in the Kensie brand is a sure way to increase my sales. One of the challenges that I have to face with my target market of the middle and high-income earners is that these two groups are always seeking to get hold of the newest and most exciting thing in the market. This group is challenging and difficult to impress.

Academic Study Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Academic Study Skills - Essay Example Most academic work involves building on work that has been done by others. The provision of new insights about the specific area of research contributes to the building on what others in the field have done. To build on someone’s work might involve having to use their ideas to come up with your line of argument to support your new idea. It is in this instant of using someone’s ideas to come up with your point of view that it is important to use references. The use of references ensures that people who have contributed work to a particular field get good credit for their work. Besides, one learns to foster intellectual honesty by giving others credit for their work hence avoiding the vice of plagiarism.What is plagiarism and how can you avoid it?Plagiarism refers to the practice of stealing another person’s ideas or writings and passing them off as your own (Clabaugh & Rozycki, 2001, p. vii). Plagiarism is a fraudulent practice as it involves stealing someone's wo rk and then lying about it. Based on the severe nature of plagiarism, it is necessary to avoid it at all costs.One of the ways to avoid plagiarism is to learn the art of crediting the sources one uses. Whenever one uses phrases, data and other information that they did not come up with themselves, then one should give his sources the credit. To get better at crediting sources, one should analyze their sources critically to know exactly which author did what (Clabaugh & Rozycki, 2001, p. 56).