Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Example for Free

Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Since the first task is to find students who are willing to ask questions and seek help, it is imperative to build a working and trusting relation with the students. Knowing students and understanding their learning style should help them and the proponents of the study in meeting the collective obligation towards acquiring knowledge and preparing both parties for any challenge which include school testing or the state required Standard Testing. Further, it is expected to find cooperative teachers who are willing and able to work together to meet all of the student goals and the curriculum requirements. As mentioned before, if no cooperative work will take form among students, teachers, administrators and parents, the chances for students to be successful may diminish. There is an easy way for every teacher to help their students in preparing for the FCAT. In essence, teachers can include FCAT-like questions into the regular class lectures, activities as well as assessments. Primarily, teachers can use questions that necessitate students to elucidate their responses to the questions. Teachers can also have the students to relate their Reading and Mathematics skills utilizing challenging content from the various subject areas. The test questions included in the FCAT employ the content areas prescribed by the SSS which include the Arts, Language Arts and Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Social Studies as well as School-to-Work areas. Hence, every student must be handed the chances to apply their reading and mathematics skills in the content fields other than the plain customary mathematics as well as language arts. The majority of the text students after Grade 6 are needed to read and understand on FCAT is informational text which does not necessarily imply it as literature. Another way is for teachers to employ questions in which their formats are open-ended which are similar to the ones identified in the FCAT. AT least three distinct types of open-ended questions are used on the FCAT. These include the extended-response format, short-response type, and the gridded-response type. The first two formats (ER and SR) are applied only on the students of Grades 4, 8 and 10 Reading and Grades 5, 8, and 10 Math. The tests from Grades 5 to 10 in the Mathematics part of the FCAT apply the gridded-response format in the questions. The real amount of questions for every type differs a bit annually. Nevertheless, the percentage of the questions will fall just within the range illustrated in the table below: Percent of Questions for the FCAT Question Formats Subject and Grade Question Format Percent of Questions Read. — 4, 8, 10 Multiple Choice (MC) 85-90% ER and SR 10-15% Reading — 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 MC 100% Math — 3 4 MC 100% Math — 5 MC 60-70% GR 20-25%. ER SR 10-15% Math — 6, 7, 9 MC 60-70% GR 30-40% Math — 8 10 MC 50-60% GR 25-30% ER SR 10-15% In the Reading section of the ER questions in the FCAT, students are provided an answer space which consists of 14 lines. On the other hand, students are provided with a blank workspace for Mathematics where the students are required to illustrate their work and a few lines provided for their explanation part. Every student is required to write answers or illustrate their work in the spaces yet it is not a requirement to completely fill the spaces. Next, in the SR questions, students in reading are provided with another answer space which consists of eight lines. Students are provided with a blank workspace in Mathematics for their explanation or illustration of their work. Filling up the spaces completely is, again, not a requirement. In the GR format, every student is provided with an answer grid to fill. Students are required to fill the grid with the right answer with the use of one of the few right formats. Numerical answers resulting from specific questions can be solved by the use of a response grid and not mere questions of mathematics. In essence, the constant use of these formats of questions in every regular activities and appraisals within the classroom and will aid students become familiar to answering in the same manner they will be asked to answer in the actual FCAT. Teachers can also opt to grade and rate the work of the students using the rubrics based on the FCAT as well as the rubric from Florida Writes. By employing this approach, students can become more accustomed to what is expected from them on the actual test in FCAT. Aiding students comprehend what is expected of them on FCAT is perhaps one of the most effective approaches in helping these students to prepare for the actual FCAT. Most of the time, students ask â€Å"will I have to perform this one on the actual FCAT? † If the teacher considers using the FCAT rubrics in scoring the responses to the classroom test questions, subject papers, reports, projects among many others, students will harness a clearer comprehension of the degrees of performance expected of them during the FCAT. Last but not the least, teachers can opt to utilize and develop questions for classroom discussions and tests that are of similar cognitive firmness as the ones presented in the FCAT test rubrics. The SSS contains standards for the content as well as benchmarks that are challenging for every learner as it also includes the expectation that these learners become more creative as their critical thinking capabilities are likewise developed further. Every class has the size of approximately 32 students with a various degree of academic levels. Most students come from a lower socio-economic class and many of their parents speak another language apart from English and cannot provide enough help the proponents with any of the homework. With the help from other teachers, a â€Å"Mock FCAT Test† will be conducted which is going to be based on the materials the students have covered for the year. The test will consist of a multiple choice section, a true or false part, and several essay type questions. One of the co-teachers in the science classes will have to modify the test for the ESE students just as it has been practiced during regular test or quizzes. Some of the ESE students have a modification clause in their Individual Education Plan or IEP and the test questions have to be read to them so that they will be able to understand better the test questions and answer them to the best of their knowledge. Further, it will provide the students with the guidance for studying and preparing for the real FCAT test. Two periods per week can be used for the test preparation which serves as a review time and after four weeks the test will be given. The teachers should make themselves available before and after school for students who feel they need some help. Also, letters must be sent to the parents of the students which will serve as letters asking for their help, if possible, with students’ practice work. In addition to the help that is to be obtained from both the teachers and the parents, the students themselves will also participate and cooperate in order to further advance the help they can receive. That is, students will be paired, carefully selecting their pairs according to their academic level. All of these activities will be conducted in the regular classroom during the third quarter of the school year. A journal will be maintained which will serve as the record for all of the observations obtained as well as the progress of the students throughout the course of the scheme. Dates will be analyzed in order to predict any changes in the students’ progress so that it will be easier to identify where help is most needed for the students. The journal will also include information gathered from parents on the progress of the time spent with their children who are studying at home. Moreover, the journal will contain a comparison column to see the results from all of the quizzes and serve as a guide for intervention when needed. The information that will be obtained will be thoroughly shared with the students so that they ca follow their progress and pinpoint any deficiencies in which they have to work on. Lastly, the journal will provide information on what and where the needs are to be reviewed, revisited, or reinforced. This is to keep a sustained check on the progress of the project. With the cooperation of the other teachers, information will be shared and concerns will be exchanged concerning the progress of the students. The members of the project will be involved in monitoring, discussing, and helping students to stay on track. There will be daily discussions with the students about the difficulties of the study material or to share the successes and ideas about the methods of studying. Student’s input is most important as their suggestions will be shared with every student in both class periods. Also, students who have already taken the FCAT and have successfully passes the test will be introduced into the group of students in order for the former to be able to relate to the students their previous experience with FCAT. The techniques used by these previous students who have already successfully passed the FCAT will be shared to the current students so that the latter will be able to obtain any important information or insights into the FCAT. The data will be interpreted in terms of an analysis of all the information obtained before, during, and after the project has culminated. Input from the teachers involved will be greatly considered inasmuch as the conference with the parents and the participating students will provide the data that will be analyzed. Students will be given a self-survey to assess their own progress from their personal viewpoint and provide guide for reviewing the material for the test. Also, with the cooperation of the other teachers, notes will be compared and pinpoint the relation of time, the involvement of the parents and the scores obtained from the test. All obtainable manpower will be used in completing the project. The findings of the study or project will be shared with the entire staff of the school, specifically the administrators and the teachers, as well as with the parents and the students. The success of the project will be shared with other schools as it will be important and useful information in preparing their students for testing via the regular curriculum. The goal presented is to make the students aware of the possibilities of learning through organized effort and the learning intelligence that most befits each student. Also, the information obtained from the project will be shared with other teachers in order to reinforce the methods and styles and teaching practices that will be used. The parents will realize that their involvement with their children in learning is of great significance as they keep in contact with the teachers and monitor the progress of their children. The next phase is to work on continuous cooperation with the parents and other teachers and to provide the maximum help to the students. An open relationship with students will also be developed through an action plan where everybody is involved in the educational process working together for a common goal. This will help and encourage students in their future study as they will be able to comprehend the positive outcome of their efforts and the cooperation they maintain with their fellow students and with their parents and teachers. The bulk of the critical colleagues in the entirety of the project will be comprised of fellow teachers as well as the assistant principal of the school who will provide the support and approval for the implementation of the project. Permission will be sought after the school principal as well as from the parents of the students as both parties will have to invest time and a few other resources for the initiation and completion of the project. The permission of the other teachers will also be obtained primarily because classes will be conducted in their respective classrooms and class sections that they handle. CONCLUSION By monitoring the test results obtained from the FCAT and comparing these results with the previous years, the knowledge of the students can be relatively increased specifically in the domain of science. By guiding the teachers find the specific areas where the students needs some room for improvement especially their weaknesses as well as their strengths that need reinforcement, teachers can correspondingly adjust their lesson plans. Further, since the work aims at expanding the skills and knowledge of students based on FCAT results, the work also shares a relevant contribution to the overall academic and holistic development of the student as relationships are established and strengthened between students, parents, teachers, and the school administrators. References FCAT Fact Sheet. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 5, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatfact. pdf. FCAT Myths vs. Facts. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/myths-facts. pdf. What every teacher should know about FCAT. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatguid. pdf.

Ethno Musicological Analysis of Music of a Greek Sub-Culture

Ethno Musicological Analysis of Music of a Greek Sub-Culture Rembetika is the Greek urban song that emerged during the 20th century. The aim of this dissertation will be to approach, explore, evaluate, and compare rembetika as cultural art expression and as heritage art expression. It will explore the roots of rembetika, the historical and political forces that influenced its development, and the changes that have transformed it into what it has become today. It will seek to address the question of how this Greek musical tradition managed to develop and survive on Turkish grounds. In addition, it will study the role that rembetika has played in Greek society, and explore what made this form such an important vehicle of expression for the people who lived during the years in which it flourished the most (the period after the Asia Minor Catastrophe).Finally, it will discuss the ethnomusicological aspects of rembetika by comparing it with the music of similar subcultures, such as fado,tango, and flamenco. Literature Review Researching rembetika has presented special challenges, as its acceptance into society is relatively recent. In addition, its existence as a legitimate subject of academic investigation is relatively new. The work of Gail Holst (later Holst-War haft) was tremendously helpful in researching rembetika, as her work spans a number of years. Her earlier writings are enthusiastic and passionate, although unfortunately much of the information she presented was not quite accurate, as the sources she relied on did not have the correct information to begin with. She discusses this in the preface to third edition Road to rembetika Her later writings, particularly the essayRebetika The Double-descended Deep Songs of Greece, are written in a much more scholarly fashion, and are carefully researched and documented. In general, her work was an invaluable resource. Elias Petropoulos book, Songs of the Greek Underworld: The Rebetika Tradition, was another helpful source. Petropoulos first-hand knowledge of the world of rembetika gives him an insiders perspective that is difficult to find in the literature that is available on this subject. As a source, however, it tends to be uneven, as the mythology of the rebates is intermingled with his notes on musical modes and lyrical style. In addition, some of the information is contradictory. For example, although Petropoulos asserts that the practitioners of rembetika were basically law-abiding people, he spends a great deal of time talking about their prison hierarchies. He does this without explaining why these law-abiding people would spend so much time behind bars. Of course, over the course of doing this research, one is able to devise theories to explain this contradiction. As a marginalized people and members of a subculture, practitioners of rembetika were often vulnerable to authorities. This would certainly explain the fact that they spent a great deal of time in prison, since they would be persecuted for this and for their rebellious attitudes as well. In addition, the excessive use of hashish, although not at the time illegal, may have been a factor that would contribute to this. At any rate, the lingo of prison figures prominently in many of the rembetika lyrics, and the lyrics are so closely associated with the actual lives of the rebates that the merging of myth and man seems inevitable. Petropoulos also points out that lack of availability of rembetika records makes a thorough ethnomusicological analysis of rembetika as a musical form very difficult. He asserts that in order for there to be an initial compilation and transcription of songs, more resources would have to be made available. Petropoulos also states that as of 2000,there were no moves in this direction, although he points out that he has deposited all of his rembetika archives in the Gennady’s Library in Athens. Recent journal publications on the social and cultural aspects of rembetika, though not as plentiful as those available on more mainstream musical cultures, are generally well-researched and carefully documented. The work of Sand, Ste ingress, and Tunis were all very insightful. There is every indication that this is a growing field of study that merits further research. 1. Introduction The music of a society is said to be a reflection of that society, and this is true of sub-cultures of a society as well as it is of the mainstream of which they are a part. As this paper intends to demonstrate, rembetika reflects the subculture of the people who shaped and developed it. Although it has become part of the modern culture not just of Greece, but also of the diaspora and, as Tunis has suggested, the wider multicultural world traditional rembetika is not truly reflection of todays society. It reflects back on an early time. Thus, in a sociological cultural framework, though rembetika still exists, the rembetika we know today is a reflection of a marginalized group or subculture that no longer truly exists. Rembetika, as defined earlier, is the Greek urban song that emerged during the 20th century. It is closely identified with a Greek subculture that developed after the incident known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe an event that changed the course of Greek history and affected the lives of the millions of refugees and immigrants who were forced to leave their homeland. Section 2 of this paper, The History of Rembetika, discusses rembetika music by placing it in a historical framework This is accomplished by discussing the political and social atmosphere in which the musical form developed, as well as the events which shaped and directed its future. Also addressed are current theories of the derivation of the word rembetika. The section concludes with discussion of the language used to analyse rembetika. Section 3 analyses the components of rembetika music form itself: the lyrics, the music, and the dances. Although the three together comprise what is known as rembetika, by taking them apart for individual analysis, one is better able to understand the essence of the music form. The lyrics of all the songs, from the love songs to those that praise the freedom of escape through hashish, express a pervasive sense of loss. These are the authentic songs of rembetika these are not the lyrics that were written after rembetikas status had been elevated to respectable and eventually popular, levels. In terms of music, the melodies of rembetika conform to the modal types of Greek folk music as well as Turkish folk music, with strong ties to Byzantine church music. In addition, as Petropoulos points out, they have been influenced by a number of other sources which were brought to Greece by the gypsies. Therefore, the music also shows traces of influence from Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, southern Russia, the Caucasus, Syria, Egypt, and India (Petropoulos, 2000: 75). In Section 4, rembetika is analysed within a sociocultural framework. First is a discussion of the social acceptance of rembetika as it has waxed and waned over the years. Following this is a look at rembetika within an ethnomusicological framework in which it is compared to the music of similar subcultures, such as flamenco and fade. The ways in which rembetika music reflects Greek society are not simpleton determine, given the complex nature of its history. How, then, does one attempt to analyse rembetika music in order to understand it in a cultural sociological framework? Ste ingress offers a framework for doing this. He bases his theories on years of research on ethnic music styles associated with subcultures, including rembetika, as well as tango and flamenco styles. Using the data amassed from these studies, he offers a set of criteria by which each of these musical styles can be assessed. He also points out that traditional modes of study do not work for these non-traditional cultural forms, asserting that ethnocentric, nationalist or essentialist approaches to ethnic music-styles afford little insight into the social and cultural significance of postmodern popular art'(Ste ingress, 1998: 151). 2.. History of Rembetika This section discusses the history of rembetika music, placing it in ahistorical framework by discussing the political and social atmosphere in which the art form developed, as well as the events which shaped and directed its future. It also addresses current theories of the derivation of the word rembetika, and presents a discussion of the language used to analyse rembetika. 2.1.1 The Asia Minor Catastrophe Discussing the tragedy of the Greek-Turkey conflict, Holst-Warhaftwrites: so symbolic of tragedy is the defeat of the Greek forces in Asia Minor and the fire that destroyed Christian Smyrna in 1922, that it is simply referred to as The Catastrophe (Holst-War haft, 1972:114). Indeed, The Catastrophe was an event that forever altered the character of the newly independent country. In order to truly understand rembetika, one must understand the events that affected its development. The Catastrophe is one of them. According to the treaty of Sevres, Greece was accorded the right to occupy Smyrna. Despite the obvious difficulties this presented, the Greek army forged ahead and tried to do this in 1919 with the support of its allies. The apparent goal was to gain a foothold in Asia Minor; however, there was more involved than obtaining land to the Greeks. It was also a symbol, for most Greeks, of the cherished dream of recovering some part of their former Byzantine glory (Holst-Warshaft,1972: 114). Though initially things went well, the Greeks decided to march inland in an attempt to take Ankara. During this period, the French backed out, and eventually the Greeks were left to fend for themselves. The Greek army was forced to flee, joined by the Greek population of Smyrna Greeks who were unaccustomed to living in Greece. Thousands were killed in The Catastrophe, and the city of Smyrna was burned to the ground by the Turks (Barrett. Holst-War shaft, 1972). The outcome of the Turku-Greek war resulted in an international conference in which it was decided that a compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey should be put into place. This exchange was based solely on religion. Actual nationality was not considered at all. Hence, people who were Orthodox were considered Greek, and people who were Muslim were considered Turkish (Holst, 1983: 25). The effects of the Asia Minor Catastrophe were devastating and far-reaching. The refugees who had fled from Asia Minor were now penniless; in addition, they had left without a chance to take any belongings, so they were in a desperate state. Although they came from far more cultured, affluent land, when they relocated in Greece they were forced to live in poverty as inferior individuals. The huge and sudden increase in population led to the growth of huge shantytowns on the outskirts of Piraeus and Athens. It also created for the first time, as Holst-War shaft writes a sizable proletarian audience for songs that dealt with themes of poverty, nostalgia, hashish smoking, and low life. The expulsion of Asia Minor Christians also became enshrined in Greek popular culture as a metaphor for loss and grief'(Holst-War haft, 1998: 115). The refugees were literally living on the edge of Greek society. According to Holst, it was not surprising that many of them joined there bà ªtes or mange’s in their loosely organised sub-culture, or were attracted to the hashish-smoking takes, to which they were accustomed in Turkey (Holst, 1983: 27). This passage from Barrett explains the plight of the refugees with poignancy: Imagine yourself as a refugee. In Asia Minor you may have had business, a nice home, money, friends, family. But in the slums of Athens all you had was whatever you could carry with you out of Turkey, and your shattered dreams. You went from being in the middle class toeing underground in a foreign country that did not particularly want you. Rembetika was the music of these outcasts. The lyrics reflected their surroundings, poverty, pain, drug addiction, police oppression, prison, unrequited love, betrayal and hashish. It was the Greek urban blues. (Barrett, 2005: nap.) As stated above, the refugees hailed from a far more cosmopolitan environment. This, naturally, included the musicians, who brought with them a sophisticated level of skill. According to Holst-War haft, the influx of refugees had an impact on the music, and there was a revival of the oriental, or what would come to be called Smyrna-style music. According to Emery, the effect of these forced migrations was to shatter the previously existing social and economic structures of Greece. Classes and hierarchies that had existed in the diaspora communities were turned topsy-turvy in the bedlam of flight and the ensuing struggle for survival (2000: 19). Furthermore, the refuges were plagued by unemployment, since the sudden population explosion made employment opportunities scarce. Finally, the issue of racism created yet another set of pressures for the newly transfixed refugees(Emery, 2000: 19). So the violent break-up of traditional social structures was accompanied by another violence, in the ways in which social spaces and living conditions were organized for the newly arrived migrants’, writes Emery (2000: 19). Formerly productive members of a more sophisticated society, the refugees were now living in squalid conditions, suddenly impoverished and traumatised. Considering these conditions, the only options open to them for survival were prostitution and crime. If they sought their escape through hashish, it seems harsh to condemn. The fact they also sought escape through their music is something later generations can be thankful for. 2.1.2 The Language of Rembetika Holst addresses the issue of spelling in her Preface to the third edition of Road to Rembetika, noting that she is frequently asked why her transliteration of the Greek word Ï ÃŽ µÃŽ ¼Ãâ‚¬ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ­Ãâ€žÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ºÃŽ ± is rembetika, instead of the frequently-used rebetika that tends to be favoured by foreign scholars and researchers. Explaining that phonetically, the English bis at best a close approximation of the Greek ÃŽ ¼Ãâ‚¬, she asserts that there is a strong case for transliterating both rembetika andzembekiko with an m. That is the spelling that is used in this paper, except when quoting the material of others who use different variations. In those cases, the spelling of the original document prevails. In his introduction to Petropoulos book, Emery offers a number of possible derivations for the word term rembetika, which is alternately spelled rembetiko, rebetiko and rebetika. Like all subculture music’s, rebetika poses difficulties of classification ‘writes Emery, noting that individual rebetologists each have their own explanations (2000: 16). It is his estimation that the most likely derivation is from the old Turkish word rebut, which means of the gutter. Other possibilities offered by Emery include the term rebetasker, which is what the Turks used to refer to irregular troops, or people who defied authority. The Serbian word reebok, or rebel, is another possible source, as is the Hebrew rab, which is the root word for rabbi (2000: 16). Holst concurs that there is no certainty about the beginnings of the word. She explains that it is not known where it comes from, or when it was first used. What is no longer in doubt’, she asserts, is that the type of song usually termed rembetiko derives from or has its origins in an oral tradition where improvisation played an important part in both the music and the lyrics of the songs'(Holst, 1983: 2). Other words that are part of the language of rembetika include rebates(plural rebates; also rebates with the plural rebates). This word refers to the original practitioners of rembetika the men who actually lived the life and formed part of the sub-culture in which rembetika developed. The word mangas (plural mange’s) is close in definition; it also refers to members of the sub-culture, but they may or may not have been directly involved with rembetika. In addition, mange’s were generally part of the underworld (Holst, 1983: 13–14). 2.1.3. The Figure of the Rebates Petropoulos asserts that you cannot talk about the rebetiko song without first talking about the rebates (2000: 42). Though often associated with the underworld, this classification is not fair, and it is often untrue. Petropoulos makes clear the distinction that members of the underworld are usually considered as acting outside the law, while rebates, for the most part, existed with it. Here is his colourful description of the rebates: the rebates was careful to safeguard his personal freedom. The rebates detested bourgeois ways, consequently he did not marry. The rebates was a fighter. The rebates smoked hashish. The rebates knew how to use a knife. The rebates spoke in slang (2000:43). Petropoulos goes into great detail about the rebates. As for physical appearance, the rebates was usually slender with no sign of a belly’. His hair was often greased with brilliantine, and he would probably sport a single curl that would fall over his eyes. He would usually have a moustache, which would also be waxed. Use of body paint was common, as were tattoos. There was usually a specific tattoo on the back of one of his hands. He would walk with a lop-sided, rolling gait, his left shoulder raised, and moving only his right hand. The look would be heavy and vaguely threatening, the voice hoarse from much smoking of hashish (Petropoulos, 2000: 49). As for clothing, the rebates seem to have been very particular. Perhaps this was a way in which these displaced individuals, torn from their homes without possessions, were able to re-invent their identities in this strange new land. It may also have been a secret form of communication within the closed group. For example, they would wear black republican hat with a wide black band on days of mourning and also on days when enemies were to be killed. The rest of their outfit included a black jacket with ivory buttons that were never buttoned up, as well as a peculiar type of trousers. According to Petropoulos, the trouser-bottoms were so narrow that the rebates used to say that they needed a shoe horn to get them on, and had to soap their heels to get them off, although he does not offer an explanation for this (2000:51). The trouser legs were also turned up at the cuff. This was done to reveal a patch of red velvet that was sewn on the inside, precisely in the style of the kapadaides of Istanbul (Petropoulos, 2000: 51). This, again, suggests a sense of sartorial solidarity. Petropoulos also states that the rebates had a fondness for a certain type of yellow shirt and would also wear a red tie known as achasapikes, which resembled a bow tie. However, at the start of the twentieth century, they stopped wearing ties, considering them too bourgeois. They continued to wear a sort of cummerbund, however. This was called a sonar Although it seems that this item of clothing would also have been rejected as bourgeois, Petropoulos explains that, on the contrary, it was usually arranged with great care, since it was both a way of transmitting messages as well as a convenient hiding place for weapons. For example, one end of the sonar would hang down, and to tread on the trailing end of a toughs sonar was equivalent to laying down a challenge (Petropoulos, 2000: 51). The sonar was also, according to Petropoulos, the last remaining vestige of oriental influence on the rebates clothing. According to Petropoulos, the rebates would carry a range of weapons, although they preferred the silence of double-edged knives and stilettos (2000: 53). They also had standard ways of both humiliating their enemies and killing them. To humiliate an enemy, they would chase him down and slash his buttocks. If the intention was to kill, they would use a double-bladed knife to stab the victim in the stomach. According to legend, the rebates would then pull the knife out and lick the dripping blood. Alternate legends indicate that the rebates would either bend over the dead mans body and do one of two things: either bite of an ear, or suck out an eye (Petropoulos, 2000: 53). Their other weapon of choice was the cudgel: the rebates would dangle their cudgels ostentatiously from the left arm. Transferring the cudgel to the right hand indicated the threat of a beating to come'(Petropoulos, 2000: 54). As might be expected, most of the fighting and killing took place in the evening hours. The format of the fight itself is described by Petropoulos as Homeric. The fight would inevitably begin with an outpouring of oaths, and it was considered unacceptable to kill someone without warning. In addition, the adversaries would wrap their jackets round their left arms, providing them with a kind of shield, somewhat like a medieval sword fight. . . No third party had the right to separate two feuding mange’s who ha drawn their knives'(Petropoulos, 2000: 54). Rebetes who were in prison had a very clear hierarchy. The leader was known as a tsirà ­bashi: the tsirà ­bashi who wanted to assert his authority would hold his knife high and force his fellow prisoners to pass beneath it. As a show of bravado, the mangas would use their knives to eat, shunning all forms of cutlery. In addition not unlike today anyone in prison who did not obey the tacit code might end up getting knifed himself. Although Petropoulos asserts that the rebates were basically law-abiding people, he spends a great deal of time talking about their prison hierarchies. He does this without explaining why these law-abiding people would spend so much time behind bars. Perhaps their existence as a marginalized people made them often vulnerable to authorities, and consequently, they spent a great deal of time imprison because of this persecution. Although this may be true, the excessive use of hashish, although not at the time illegal, may have been a factor that would contribute to this. At any rate, the lingo of prison figures prominently in many of the rembetika lyrics, and the lyrics are so closely associated with the actual lives of the rebates that the merging of myth and man seems inevitable. 3. The Essence of Rembetika This section analyses the components of rembetika: the lyrics, the music, and the dances. Although the three together comprise what is known as rembetika, by taking them apart for individual analysis, one is better able to understand the essence of the music form. 3.1.1 The Lyrics According to Petropoulos, some researchers labour to discover ideas in rembetiko song, and he is highly dismissive of this: the rebetes organized their life in their own particular way, and that is all there is to be said on the matter (Petropoulos, 2000: 68). He does present his own theories on the lyrics of rembetika music, however, and because he is so intimately familiar with the modes and style of rembetika, his insights may be considered rare and valuable. For starters, he breaks rembetika music lyrics down into a series of twenty categories, which are listed below: 1. Love songs 2. Songs of parting and separation 3. Melancholic and plaintive songs; songs of remonstrance 4. Songs of the underworld 5. Hashish-smokers songs 6. Prison songs 7. Songs about poverty 8. Songs about work and working-class life 9. Songs about TB and ill health 10. Songs about Charon and Hades 11. Songs about mothers 12. Songs about exile and foreign parts 13. Songs about dreams; orientalist songs; exotic songs 14. Tavern songs 15. Songs which sing of small sorrows 16. Satirical songs; songs which give advice about life; songs which threaten violence and retribution 17. Songs which are depictions drawn from life 18. Songs which sing the praises of various cities and their inhabitants 19. Songs of army life and war 20. Songs composed for specific individuals (Petropoulos, 2000: 69). Petropoulos also points out that many songs can easily fit under more than one of these categories, and sometimes several at a time. Of the categories above, Petropoulos states that approximately half of the recorded rembetika songs he knows of fall under two major categories. The first of these is love, including parting or separation. The other theme has to do with elements of the rebetic subculture, including the underworld, hashish, prison, tavern, and fights. The rebates never ventured to attack the established institutions of society, he asserts; the police remained the only real target for their aggression (Petropoulos, 2000: 70). As for the style, he explains that the songs were written in a simple style, with a fair smattering of argot (Petropoulos, 2000: 68). It is Petropoulos contention that since in Greece official folklore studies are considered the domain of academic professionals who lookdown on both rebetika and slang, it is highly unlikely that a thorough understanding of rebetika lyrics will not be available in an academic format. He also asserts that since many of the important rembetika practitioners have long since died, their memories and experiences are no longer available to be recorded (Petropoulos, 2000: 70). Because the rebates of this time lived in poverty and squalor, there are a large number of songs that deal with issues of poor health. Most of these, according to Petropoulos, focus on tuberculosis, which was responsible for taking many lives during this time. The high death rate among this subculture also led to quite a few songs about the afterlife, with images of Charon carrying off the dead and taking them down into the underworld, into Hades (Petropoulos, 2000: 71). There are also a considerable number of songs in praise of maternal figures, as well as an absence of songs about fathers. According to Petropoulos, the figure of the mother was very important to their betas, and if there was a hierarchy of women figures, the maternal figure would always be on top: where the mother appears simultaneously with the singers beloved, precedence always goes to the mother'(Petropoulos, 2000: 71). Here again, Petropoulos is dismissive of professional analysis of the lyrics: I shall avoid psychoanalytic clichà ©s and say simply that we don’t know the explanation for the rebates one-sided fixation on his mother (2000: 71). Underlying all the songs, from the love songs to those that praise the freedom of escape through hashish, is a pervasive sense of loss of this disenfranchised group. These are the authentic songs of rembetika these are not the lyrics that were written after rembetikas status had been elevated to respectable, and eventually popular, levels. According to Holst, As the lyrics of the rembetika songs and the descriptions of the rembetika musicians depict them, the mange’s were far from being the idealistic, daring young braves a number of modern Greek writers would have us believe. They were, however, an extremely interesting sub-culture, whose beliefs and habits remain in a rare state of preservation thanks to the words of the rembetika songs (1983: 45). 18. Lemonadhika Down in Lemonadhika, there was a fuss going on. Thomas was caught, together with Elias. Hey, Thomas, dont go making a fuss, because youll come off worst, with a load of bother. Down in Lemonadhika, there was a fuss going on. They caught two pickpockets, and they acted innocent. They stuck them in handcuffs and took them off to prison, and if they dont find the loot theyll get beaten up. Mr. Policeman, dont beat us, because you know that this is our work, so dont come looking for a kick-back. We steal purses, we knock off wallets, so the prison gates get to see us pretty regularly. Death doesnt scare us, only hunger does, thats why we steal wallets and lead the good life. [By V. Papazoglou] (in Petropoulos, 2000: 141) This song was selected because its lyrics strongly suggest the attitude of the rebates of this time. According to Holst, much of the anger and defiance exhibited by the mange’s was directed towards the police. She explains that they do not actually protest the way they are treated, although it seems they often had the right to. Petropoulos concurs here, asserting that when the lyrics of the rebates seem to be in the form of protest, the focus is vague and non-directed (Petropoulos,2000: 70). It was not so much that they protest their ill-treatment’, asserts Holst, stating that in fact they obviously feel some pride in having eaten wood (been beaten up) and served their time in jail; it is rather a refusal to change their way of life or to be submissive before the police, or to lose their sense of humour (1983: 45). The sense of futility and helplessness in the second verse, in the advice to Thomas: dont go making a fuss/because youll come off worst/with a load of bother. This is clearly the attitude of a segment of society that knows better than to challenge authority. They are aware of their low status in the social hierarchy and know better than to assert themselves in any way, for the consequences will be a load of bother. The lyrics of the fourth and fifth verses clearly indicate familiarity with what appears to be a corrupt police force. They know the routine: first their compatriots will be restrained with handcuffs, and then they will be further restrained locked away in prison. Furthermore, they know that if the police do not get their percentage ‘of the stolen goods, that the perpetrators will receive, in addition to everything else, a beating. The progression of thought from verses five through seven is also interesting to note. In verse five, the alleged pickpockets demonstrate perceptive knowledge of criminal life: they know a beating is to follow, and they try to prevent it. In verse six, they admit that they are used to this routine: the prison gates get to see us/pretty regularly. By the final verse, they seem resigned and tough: Death doesn’t scare us/only hunger does/thats why we steal wallets/and lead the good life. The last line is feisty and full of bravado, the kind of bravado that seems to have been the rebates defining trait. The Little Hanoumakia At Panayas on the beach, there was a little tekà ©, And I went there every morning to drive away my blues. Two pretty little hanoumakia, stoned the poor things, I found them there one morning, sitting on the sand. Come close my dervish and sit near me And Ill pour out the blues from my heart. Take your baklama and entertain us for a while, And light up a joint and smoke with us. First light up my narghilà ©, so I can smoke and turn on, And later, hanoumakia, Ill take my baklama. If you want to get high on the narghilà © with fine Turkish hashish, Its Uncle Yannis tekà ©, down in Pasalimani. These lyrics contain words that, as Petropoulos stated above, need tube explained if one is to grasp the gist of the song. Holst explains that the word hanuman, as well as its diminutive form hanoumaki (pluralhanoumakia) is a word with different meanings in Turkish and in Greek.Considering the mixed backgrounds of the rebates, this means that itwas probably used and interpreted in different ways by differentsingers and listeners. In Turkish, the word basically means female orlady. However, in Greek, the lady in question takes on verydefinite characteristics. The Greek usage usual

Hollywoods Life Saver Essay -- Entertainment Movies Papers

Hollywood's Life Saver For years Hollywood has been the land of stars and cinema; a place where dreams are made, and all of life seems perfect. However, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood has often masked some of Hollywood's biggest stars' alcoholism and drug problems. The string of never ending parties, and the increasing amount of drugs that are being used on club circuits, frequented by many of Hollywood's elite, became all too familiar for two of Hollywood's young rising stars, Drew Barrymore and the late River Phoenix. Drew Barrymore began drinking at the age of nine, and by the age of thirteen, was in the ASAP Family Treatment Center with an alcohol and cocaine addiction, which she eventually overcame. River Phoenix wasn't so lucky. Phoenix's drug use is not as well chronicled, but is rumored to date back to when he was fifteen years old on the set of "Stand by Me." What is known is that at 1:51 a.m. on October 31, 1993, River Phoenix was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. One begins to wonder how one Hollywood star was able to turn her drug problems around, while another eventually lost his life because of drugs. The answer lies in the fact that Drew Barrymore went to a rehabilitation clinic and received help with her problems while River Phoenix did not. Rehabilitation changes people's lives and even saves some. Rehabilitation clinics, like the ASAP Family Treatment Center Drew Barrymore was a patient in, provide a means of intervention into the life of a person who is addicted to drugs. According to the ASAP Family Treatment Center: This service provides a way to break through the denial of the chemically dependent person and their family. Often families are un... ...drug abuse. Drew is quoted in her autobiographical book about her drug addiction and recovery, Little Girl Lost, as saying "What I have to do is live, not one day at a time, not one hour at a time, but one minute at a time. I have to work my program. If I don't, I won't last. I'll be dragged down. I have to work it whether I need to or notÉthat's what it means to be an alcoholic or an addict. Recovery is an ongoing, lifelong process. Still, mine is a happy ending" (Barrymore, 302). Yes, Drew Barrymore's story does have a happy ending, but River Phoenix' does not. Both Drew and River gave in to the pressures of drug abuse, and both had family histories in drug abuse. Yet, because of Drew Barrymore's friend's and mother's intervention into her drug abuse she was able to receive rehabilitation, and she is still here with us today, taking it one minute at a time. Hollywood's Life Saver Essay -- Entertainment Movies Papers Hollywood's Life Saver For years Hollywood has been the land of stars and cinema; a place where dreams are made, and all of life seems perfect. However, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood has often masked some of Hollywood's biggest stars' alcoholism and drug problems. The string of never ending parties, and the increasing amount of drugs that are being used on club circuits, frequented by many of Hollywood's elite, became all too familiar for two of Hollywood's young rising stars, Drew Barrymore and the late River Phoenix. Drew Barrymore began drinking at the age of nine, and by the age of thirteen, was in the ASAP Family Treatment Center with an alcohol and cocaine addiction, which she eventually overcame. River Phoenix wasn't so lucky. Phoenix's drug use is not as well chronicled, but is rumored to date back to when he was fifteen years old on the set of "Stand by Me." What is known is that at 1:51 a.m. on October 31, 1993, River Phoenix was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. One begins to wonder how one Hollywood star was able to turn her drug problems around, while another eventually lost his life because of drugs. The answer lies in the fact that Drew Barrymore went to a rehabilitation clinic and received help with her problems while River Phoenix did not. Rehabilitation changes people's lives and even saves some. Rehabilitation clinics, like the ASAP Family Treatment Center Drew Barrymore was a patient in, provide a means of intervention into the life of a person who is addicted to drugs. According to the ASAP Family Treatment Center: This service provides a way to break through the denial of the chemically dependent person and their family. Often families are un... ...drug abuse. Drew is quoted in her autobiographical book about her drug addiction and recovery, Little Girl Lost, as saying "What I have to do is live, not one day at a time, not one hour at a time, but one minute at a time. I have to work my program. If I don't, I won't last. I'll be dragged down. I have to work it whether I need to or notÉthat's what it means to be an alcoholic or an addict. Recovery is an ongoing, lifelong process. Still, mine is a happy ending" (Barrymore, 302). Yes, Drew Barrymore's story does have a happy ending, but River Phoenix' does not. Both Drew and River gave in to the pressures of drug abuse, and both had family histories in drug abuse. Yet, because of Drew Barrymore's friend's and mother's intervention into her drug abuse she was able to receive rehabilitation, and she is still here with us today, taking it one minute at a time.

New High-speed Connections Will Change How We Work And Play :: essays research papers

New High-Speed Connections Will Change How We Work and Play Online   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Society is becoming ever more dependent on being electronically connected with every other part of the world. Worldwide communication and commerce are just two areas where people benefit from living in an information age. Using the Internet, business can be conducted from anywhere in the world, and you can even talk to get to know other people, anywhere in the world. These online activities became possible only very recently. Applications, that utilize the Internet, are being developed every day. However, because of the nature in which most of us are connected to the Internet, there are limitations to what we can do online. Nearly everyone connects to the Internet using an analog modem. To get online, we boot up our PC’s, and using our telephone line, dial in to our Internet Service Provider. Because telephone technology is much older than the Internet, there have been limitations to how fast data can travel over existing copper telephone lines. Using an analog modem, data is translated from its digital form to an analog signal, to travel over the telephone lines. Once it gets to its destination, the data is converted back into its digital form. Line noise is a result of data being transmitted as an analog signal. The FCC imposed limitations, decades ago, to minimize the amount of line noise that was allowed. This law was imposed long before the PC ever existed. However, it directly affects how fast we can access the Internet today, at speeds of only 53kbps. Even that connection speed is theoretical. Depending on the quality of the telephone lines that run into your home, your connection speed may not even come close to 53kbps. Despite having ever-faster computers, we are limited to what we can do online by these relatively low connection rates. To make online activities, such as ecommerce, virtual meetings, and video conferencing, truly practical we need faster connections to the Internet. Two competing technologies may offer an answer to the bandwidth problem. Cable Modems and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) both offer the speed that consumers want. Both technologies are also potentially more user-friendly because with either you do not dial-up to get connected, you are always online. You simply plug-in to the network, like you plug-in your toaster to an electrical outlet. Using a Cable Modem, you connect to the Internet through the existing Cable-TV lines. New High-speed Connections Will Change How We Work And Play :: essays research papers New High-Speed Connections Will Change How We Work and Play Online   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Society is becoming ever more dependent on being electronically connected with every other part of the world. Worldwide communication and commerce are just two areas where people benefit from living in an information age. Using the Internet, business can be conducted from anywhere in the world, and you can even talk to get to know other people, anywhere in the world. These online activities became possible only very recently. Applications, that utilize the Internet, are being developed every day. However, because of the nature in which most of us are connected to the Internet, there are limitations to what we can do online. Nearly everyone connects to the Internet using an analog modem. To get online, we boot up our PC’s, and using our telephone line, dial in to our Internet Service Provider. Because telephone technology is much older than the Internet, there have been limitations to how fast data can travel over existing copper telephone lines. Using an analog modem, data is translated from its digital form to an analog signal, to travel over the telephone lines. Once it gets to its destination, the data is converted back into its digital form. Line noise is a result of data being transmitted as an analog signal. The FCC imposed limitations, decades ago, to minimize the amount of line noise that was allowed. This law was imposed long before the PC ever existed. However, it directly affects how fast we can access the Internet today, at speeds of only 53kbps. Even that connection speed is theoretical. Depending on the quality of the telephone lines that run into your home, your connection speed may not even come close to 53kbps. Despite having ever-faster computers, we are limited to what we can do online by these relatively low connection rates. To make online activities, such as ecommerce, virtual meetings, and video conferencing, truly practical we need faster connections to the Internet. Two competing technologies may offer an answer to the bandwidth problem. Cable Modems and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) both offer the speed that consumers want. Both technologies are also potentially more user-friendly because with either you do not dial-up to get connected, you are always online. You simply plug-in to the network, like you plug-in your toaster to an electrical outlet. Using a Cable Modem, you connect to the Internet through the existing Cable-TV lines.

Gun Control Essay -- Second Amendment The Right To Bear Arms

Gun control in the United States has been a controversial issue for some time now. So much so that the Supreme Court even refuses to address this issue directly. Gun control really boils down to the the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Many people have different interpretations of the Second Amendment and the trenches are dug in deep on this issue. The Second Amendment can not provide the right to bear all types of arms to protect the people from governmental tyranny. If the Second Amendment was absolute, then we would allow the public to possess nuclear weapons, missiles, and other such arms, because like the 9 mm handgun that is an arm, a nuclear warhead is also a type of arm. The more our government restricts our rights to own certain types of arms, the more freedom we lose. Should the government make citizens disclose information such as your views, associations, and personal history in order to obtain an arm? Which types of Arms should be prohibited? The Second Amendment c learly states â€Å"A well regulated Milita, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.† The question then is not if we should restrict arms ownership, but how much we should restrict arms ownership or how much freedom we are willing to sacrifice?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Second Amendment does not say that certain peoples with certain views are the only ones who are allowed to bear arms. The government must be very careful about what they ask in order not to infringe on our personal rights. I feel that it is wrong for government agencies to ask your political views in order for you to obtain a gun. It is not their right to decide which views are acceptable for gun ownership. The government must provide the right to bear arms equally to all citizens. If the government could completely regulate who had weapons and who didn’t have weapons there would be no equality among the people. The reason being is the government would abusively allow their supports to own weapons and the non supports would be without weapons to defend themselves. This would create an unbalanced society that would install fear in to the non supporters. So where should the government stop? I believe the government should only be able run a cross check wi th some database of repeat offenders and known terrorists. All who don’t raise a ... ...u may think that owning one of these weapons would increase shooting and so forth, but I believe that if you want to shoot someone you are going to do it regardless of what type of weapon you have, and you could possible in danger a lot more people with a now easily obtain legal sniper style rifle. In most states there is no check what so ever other than you age in order to obtain such a gun. On the other hand there are extensive background checks in order to obtain a .22 Cal handgun of much less power. I don’t think that we need to dictate what type of fire arms people own, instead let us set a some other type of limit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All things considered, I think criminals are obtaining more and more illegal arms with great diversity while the general publics’ choices in firearms are becoming much thinner and under matched with today’s criminals. We must change the laws to allow our citizens to actually protect themselves from these people. And the government should do only minimal background checks in order to assure society as a whole protection and not its own. Works Citied â€Å"ACLU Policy #47† http://www.lectlaw.com/files/con11.htm Copyright  © William Thomas

Economics: The Functions of Money

1. What are the functions of money? (5) Money is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value, and occasionally, a standard of deferred payment. Money's most important function is as a medium of exchange to facilitate transactions. Without money, all transactions would have to be conducted by barter, which involves direct exchange of one good or service for another. The difficulty with a barter system is that in order to obtain a particular good or service from a supplier, one has to possess a good or service of equal value, which the supplier also desires. In other words, in a barter system, exchange can take place only if there is a double coincidence of wants between two transacting parties. Store of value. In order to be a medium of exchange, money must hold its value over time; that is, it must be a store of value. If money could not be stored for some period of time and still remain valuable in exchange, it would not solve the double coincidence of wants problem and therefore would not be adopted as a medium of exchange. 2. Explain why gold no longer performs the functions of money in the British economy? (5) The point of the gold-exchange standard is that it cannot last; the piper must eventually be paid, but only in a disastrous reaction to the lengthy inflationary boom. As sterling balances piled up in France, the U. S. , and elsewhere, the slightest loss of confidence in the increasingly shaky and jerry-built inflationary structure was bound to lead to general collapse. Thus the failure of inflated banks throughout Europe, and the attempt of hard money. France to cash in its sterling balances for gold, led Britain to go off the gold standard completely. Britain was soon followed by the other countries of Europe. The gold exchange standard was one of the elite collectivist bankers crowning accomplishments. But more coups were yet to come. In 1933 the bankers convinced Roosevelt to call in all private holdings of gold – essentially taking the money of the people. Gold was outlawed. Paper money was no longer redeemable in gold. This is why gold is not considered money in Britain. 3. Why are credit cards not money? (4) Money, in any form, is generally recognized as a very liquid asset, that is an asset that can be quickly converted to cash or used as cash Credit cards work in the same manner as a loan. If you buy an item using a credit card, the credit card company will pay the shopkeeper today and you will have an obligation to pay the credit card company when your credit card bill comes in. This obligation to the credit card company does not represent money. The money part of the transaction between you and the credit card company only comes into play when you pay your bill. So credit cards are not considered to be money. 4. Why is money in the current account of banks considered as money? (4) We have different types of accounts; savings accounts, current accounts and so on. But in this case, the bank rather takes the money you are supposed to receive as interest from you. That interest becomes a source of income to the bank. 5. What would you expect to happen to the rate of interest if money supply increases? Why? Draw a Diagram. (12) If money supply increases, the rate of interest will decrease. This is because the more money is available, the more loans are available. Competition for borrowers reduces the real interest rate. The NOMINAL interest rate may increase if the increase in the real money supply causes inflation. But in the short run, the interest rate falls, but as prices rise the interest rate will rise up again

Who I am

As I scroll through the unknown hallways of high school for the first time, anxious and worried of the unexpected I was about to anticipate, my palms start the tip of shaking heavily and sweating uncontrollably. Thinking to It, I knew It was a start, a new start of life as a beginning, new chapter of not just believing in finding myself, challenging more to my limitations, setting high bars, letting myself free to the world of judgments and doubts of others around me, and showing my heart to the world in the creation I knew was forming â€Å"my future† already.As in the future I knew would be he outcome of the things that old chosen to follow or present of today, I knew I would want to become and be the things that I desired or worked for. I was the kind of average teenager that was very practical and simple to my own age, as they describe it. In someone who was Just rousing around life and just living to the very last purpose, but that wasn't the person I wanted to be identif ied as.I was the kind of grown girl that was more prone than to Just being there for living, I was living it to the very Max of how I wanted to create an life that I took advantage of shaping It successfully, happily, and valued more than Just to myself. I am the kind of person who takes a stand in my life and to the opponents of speaking up for what I believe in strongly in whatever take in I have to, whether for the sake of my good, to speak out, or against an disagreement or for someone of any kind who struggles without an example of following, or helped along the way.I am the girl who finds more than an example of following someone In their steps to accomplish, like my mom, and using a motivation and dedication towards life of my own to fully provide the example to the environment and people around of everything I do or am. I am the girl who desires a accomplishment and long and short term goal, and challenge to be overcome and expected a lesson or outcome out of it to allow mys elf to keep improving whether I was defeated by those or won them, I would still keep pressuring myself to doing more each day.I am the girl that fully improves myself to keep understanding and lack of communicating skills, even for the times that many might not understand me in a way, but I am different. Deferent in a sense that nobody will be completely be eke the way I was or Is created today, in the sense of my doing, humor, personality, thinking, writing/ clothing style, or especially the person I made it to be remembered But before beginning.. I was Borneo in a family of strict, traditional, hard workers from Tray Blah, Vietnam. I was raised on books and the Asian doctrine that education Is the only way to success.Shortly being as an elite kid with so much fun filled childhood, life as I knew was going to drastically change. I started school as soon as I arrived at the beginning of second grade. I didn't know any English, I had no friends, and I was constantly picked on for th e way I dressed and talked. I could not complete any of my schoolwork because I didn't understand anything but aside that, my parents got divorced. I was so ashamed of the life I was living with. Worse, I was lonely and overwhelmed, and I felt so utterly lost.I knew In the example that my dad, a new life to provide her children, new house, and transportation, but she made it happen. Meanwhile at home my mom was pushing me to learn English, bringing mom worksheets and books to help me. My shame became my source of motivation, forcing me to work and relearn the basics until I mastered the language. As I began to grasp the mechanics of English, I made friends and my school life greatly improved. With my moms' encouragement and my own perseverance, within a year, by the end of third grade, I was getting straight As and even surpassing many of my classmates.From that day on, the language barrier became nonexistent. Looking back now, I fully appreciate everything that my mom did for me th ose first few months. While I was struggling to learn a language and to fit in, my mom was working even harder to learn a new lifestyle of her past struggle and to assimilate to a country whose values and culture are so drastically different from her own in which she didn't know how to handle individually living out alone. For her, her entire live were in Vietnam. She had grown up in that land, established successful career, and made a name for herself.In moving on to a new beginning, she gave all that up in the hopes that I, and my brother would have a chance at a better life. In which my mom sacrificed so much for me and my brother, she continued to put aside her own interests and wants, to provide for the two of us. She allowed me to live the life of comfort that I do today. From my mom, I have learned the meaning of hard work, integrity, and compassion. I truly believe that my drive, determination, and dedication in everything I do come from my mom, because I see it in her every single day. I respect my mom tremendously and I work hard to become successful to repay her for all she done.Of course, our relationship is not perfect. I am always frustrated and angry with her unreasonably high expectations, endless comparisons, and overbearing protectiveness. However, I have learned to fuel that anger into motivation to try harder and prove to her that I am good enough. Today, I work for my dreams, to provide for myself as an independent woman, and to travel the world and get lost in the chaos of busy cities. I work to give back to my family, to my friends, to my community around me, of all which have made me the person I am. I want to leave my mark on this world, to make a name for myself, and to become a somebody.