Abstract The paper looks at "Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream" that shows how parents, schools and the community adulate student athletes and celebrities. The paper explains Bissinger's belief that this stress on athletics in high school is a disservice to students since it does not give them any preparation or footing for future life. The paper discusses Bissinger's example of James "Boobie" Mills, the young running back injured during a pivotal game and left to a lifetime of underachievement, failure and poverty.
From the Paper "Early in the book, Bissinger notes his thesis regarding the importance of high school athletics in the Odessa community. He writes of one father of an athlete, "He saw the irresistible allure of high school sports, but he also saw an inevitable danger in adults' living vicariously through their young. And he knew of no candle that burned out more quickly than that of the high school athlete." Anyone who has experienced the allure of high school athletics knows the ways it permeates just about every aspect of high school culture. The pep rallies, cheerleaders, coaches, parents, and most staff all support the team members, and when the team members win, they become the conquering heroes of the school and the school community. In Odessa, high school sports rises to almost a religious activity, with almost the entire town participating in those Friday night lights events, whether or not they have a child on the team."
Abstract This paper reviews "The Monk's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" with an emphasis on the themes of religiosity and women representation. It uses extracts of the tale's text in order to comprehend fully the significance of these themes. It looks at how Chaucer uses the character of the Monk to serve as the symbol of religiosity and Christianity and how his account of the different feats and eventual downfall of the great characters he had enumerated in his tale shows the weakness of humans despite their greatness and contributions to human civilization. It also examines how Chaucer extends to his audience the message of how greatness becomes useless because of Man's weakness and self-adulation.
From the Paper "The first theme, which is greatness without religious guidance and the eventual fall of Man because of this, is illustrated through the stories of great rulers of human civilization such as Nebuchadnezzar, Balthasar, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Alexander the Great. Nebuchadnezzar, prominently known as the greatest leader of the Babylonian Empire. The Monk shows Nebuchadnezzar's fault when he became overindulgent in his power and wealth; his greatest weakness is when he asked his people to pray before a large gold statue. When a religious figure disobeyed him, Nebuchadnezzar was ashamed, and received his downfall when he lost his sanity: ?This king of kings right proud was and elate/ And thought that God, Who sits in majesty/ Could not bereave him of his high estate/ Yet suddenly he lost all dignity.? However, despite his faults, Nebuchadnezzar is pardoned by God, humbling the once great leader."
Abstract Through a reading of her memoir "Living History", this paper assesses Clinton's rise to leadership and her various strengths and weaknesses as a leader. The first part of the paper studies the first leadership roles of the young Hillary. The next part then evaluates Clinton's actions in light of the various theories discussed in Peter G. Northouse's "Leadership" and Lee G. Bolman's "Reframing Organizations". The next parts examine how she has gone on assuming new roles, from her political conversion to a Democrat and her early career as a lawyer in Arkansas. Much of the paper is necessarily devoted to her leadership role as the First Lady amid much scandal, public adulation, and public censure. In the last section, the paper summarizes how the theories on leadership help shed light on the processes and decisions made by Clinton through various points in her career.
From the Paper "Unlike them, Clinton was clearly not interested in this delicate, secondary form of leadership. Rather, she became an active participant in several of her husband's most important campaigns ? from health care to welfare reform. When her term as First Lady ended, she extended her leadership role further in her new position as New York's junior senator."
This paper examines the stories surrounding Pocahontas, the so-called Indian "princess" (1595 to March of 1617), daughter of Powhatan, head of the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia, and her association with the early colonist, John Smith, and other people.
Abstract The paper explains that, among the many stories, truth or fiction, Smith places Pocahontas on a pedestal by explaining that had it not been for her, the Virginia colony may have perished ?from death, famine and utter confusion". The author points out that all of the praise for Pocahontas, the first Christian ever of the Powhatan nation, and the first Virginian ever to speak English, tends to raise the proverbial bar in relation to the realities of her life; however, the myths seem to endure, as they usually do with famous historical figures. The paper concludes that it is clear that Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan and the allegedly first "savage" to marry an Englishman, is far more real than could ever be imagined and stands today as one of the most influential women in American history.
From the Paper "As king of the Indian tribes from the Atlantic seaboard and down through the wilds of Virginia, Powhatan was naturally distressed by the arrival of the English colonists in 1585, and he and his fellow tribesmen were probably instrumental in the extermination of the early colonists, especially those connected with Sir Walter Raleigh whose colony mysteriously disappeared. On April 30th, 1607, a second colony, sent out by the Virginia Company of London, anchored in what is now Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic seaboard. These fresh colonists, who settled in Jamestown, soon entered into friendly relations with the natives, which spurred additional English colonists to brave the high seas and sail to the New World."
This paper compares the hypothetical controlling governments in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451: The Temperature at Which Books Burn".
Abstract This paper explains that the governments in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" have fed so many lies to the denizens that the commoners no longer know right from wrong, truth from fiction. The author points out that the government of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" goes so far as to change history as recent as the previous day to adulate the current state of the ever present all-knowing Party; the powers in "Fahrenheit 451" do not merely change written history, they ban it altogether. The paper stresses that these governments control the common people through the manipulation of language. Quotations.
From the Paper "As in the novel "Animal Farm", there is a small spark of rebellion in "Nineteen Eighty-Four". The situation is the same as the one that exists in "Fahrenheit 451" -- the exile against the whole system. Orwell wrote this way because this is how he viewed present society. The point of view is exactly the same -- the hated [pigs, politicians] are in charge, while the dumb illiterate mass [animals, proles] goes on in very much the same in its own ways, protected by its very stupidity. "Nineteen Eighty-Four" is written in such a desperate tone because Orwell realized that on such a construction the exile had no possible chance of winning."
Abstract This paper explores the reasons and events that led to the introduction of Bhagavad Gita, which means 'Song of the Lord,' a religious branch of Hinduism. In the evolving world of Indian religion, the Bhagavad Gita, and with it the adulation of Vishnu, can be seen as a reaction to previous and concurrent forms of worship. The Bhagavad Gita built itself in partial opposition to the older teachings laid down in the Upanisads, yet another branch of Hinduism. The writer of this paper discusses the Bhagavad Gita's revolutionary text that grew out of the Hinduism that came before it and which compared favorably with emerging traditions in its own period. The writer of this paper examines the similarities and differences between the Upanisads, Vishnu and Bhagavad Gita belief systems as well as the historic significance of each form of religion.
From the Paper "In its most basic form the Bhagavad Gita is exactly what the title translates to-'Song of the Lord'. Though in her introduction to the translation Barbara Stoler Miller writes that it is more of a "philosophical poem" than a song. This poem, then, relates the philosophical conversation of Arjuna the warrior and his chariot driver Krishna (an avatara of the god Visnu) on the battlefield. Divided into 'teachings' the poem moves through the methods in which one can best serve the lord god Visnu. Almost every teaching reiterates the ones that come before it in miniature and then elaborates the teaching from something old and recognizable into something new and reactionary."
Tags: hinduism, theology, religion, krishna, india, history, culture
