Abstract
In this philosophical analysis of the film "Don't Look Now", the dynamics of the film are discussed. The writer examines the impact upon parents upon the accidental death of their child. The writer employs the philosophies of Sartre, Plato and Aristotle in order to explore how subjective views can create their own reality.

From the Paper
"The film 'Don't Look Now' is a moody suspense story about a couple's life after the accidental death of their child. The child, Christine, dies in the first few minutes of the film, yet she haunts it for the next hour and a half. Although the film suggests at first that the couple has moved on from their child's death, it eventually becomes clear that they have not in fact done so. As a result, the film provides an opportunity to explore the concepts of subjectivity ... "

Tags:aristotle, sartre, plato, don't look now

Abstract
The paper discusses "Why Don't We Listen Better? Communicating and Connecting in Relationships" by James C. Petersen that highlights the difference between listening and hearing and between really engaging with others in meaningful communication versus simply exchanging words. The paper looks at Peterson's view of the self and shows how Paterson offers effective strategies to improve our personal communication processes.

Outline:
Introduction
You and I: A Personal Reflection
A Look at Peterson's View of the Self
Doing and Living the Peterson Approach

From the Paper
"Of course, I know how to communicate--I know how to talk, and I can hear everything people say to me, what more do I need to do? Why do I need to read a book, in isolation, in the privacy of my study that attempts to tell me how I should communicate with others? However, individuals who have such a reaction to the title of Why Don't We Listen Better? Communicating and Connecting in Relationships by James C. Petersen (2007) should remember that there is a difference between listening and hearing, between really engaging with others in meaningful communication versus simply exchanging words. Peterson's text attempts to give the reader effective strategies to improve personal communication processes. His approach can be useful to pastors, counselors, teachers, or simply everyone involved in a relationship who wants to improve his or her communication skills."

Tags:listening, hearing, dialogue, interaction

Abstract
'Boys Don't Cry' has a basis of truth. Teena Brandon, the leading character, is a woman who longs to be male. She binds her breasts and uses a prosthesis to achieve this goal. As the story unravels, Teena is murdered by her lover. Murder is believed to be the definitive violation of a person's human rights. This paper takes a look at this human rights violation, as well as others that are portrayed throughout the movie.

From the Paper
"The movie Boys Don't Cry is based on a true story. The main character, Teena Brandon, is a woman who wants to be a man. She binds her breasts and uses a prosthesis to "become" a man. Under this guise, Teena, or Brandon Teena, as she prefers to be called, lives the life of a man. Through a course of events, Teena meets Lana, with whom she begins a relationship. It is this relationship that ultimately ends with her rape and murder. It can be argued that murder is the definitive violation of a person's human rights. For that reason Teena has been selected as the main focus for this paper. However, other human rights issues appear in this movie as well. These issues will be discussed as they relate to the end of Teena's life. "

Tags:teena, rights, transsexual

Abstract
This paper examines the movie "Don't Say a Word", directed by Gary Fleder, and focuses particularly on its deeply disturbed protagonist, Elizabeth. The young lady manifests a number of mental problems, so many and so variable that her psychiatrist becomes suspicious that she is faking. The paper points out that she is indeed partially faking her symptoms. At the same time, she is a troubled young woman and does suffer from depression and related problems because of certain traumatic events. The paper adds that the link between the events and her reaction is clearly made and serves to show her portrayal to be realistic. The paper takes a close look at how well she mimics certain problems so convincingly, enough to fool even medical professionals. Ultimately, she is diagnosed with counterfeit schizophrenia. The paper concludes, however, that the severe traumas in her life might have led to the onset of real disorders.

From the Paper
"Schizophrenia may be the most severe of the psychiatric disorders, and this problem leads to a disability resulting from negative symptoms and cognitive deficits, which may at times include delusions and hallucinations. These symptoms are in keeping with what psychiatrists in the film see when they examine Elizabeth. The modern conception of schizophrenia was made first by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin at the beginning of the twentieth century, and in 1959, Schneider offered a set of first rank symptoms of the disease. These symptoms included audible thoughts, hearing voices arguing, hearing voices commenting on one's actions, the feeling of influences on the body, thought withdrawal, delusions, and the belief that one's feelings and volitional acts are influenced by others (Stefan, Travis, & Murray, 2002, pp. 12, 15)."

Tags:schizophrenia, manic, depression, trauma, psychiatry, cognitive, distortion, catatonia

Abstract
This paper analyzes the impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on homosexuals in the military and considers policy alternatives. The paper discusses the necessary objectives of a new policy and looks at how the policy should meet the needs of homosexuals in the service, meet the needs of the military, and bring the policy more in line with the current legal and social standards regarding the status of homosexuals.

Table of Contents:
Purpose
Summary
Background/Discussion
Policy Goals
Alternatives
Recommendations

From the Paper
"It is critical that the legislation that will replace Don't Ask Don't Tell meet all of our policy objectives. For this to occur we need to make sure that the issue has been given adequate study. The sensitive nature of the subject demands that all possible objections and problems be met with informed, reasoned responses immediately. At present, we are not convinced that this is the case - the focus seems more on repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell than on how it would be replaced."

Tags:DADT, segregation, unit

Abstract
This paper discusses how the books "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl and "Warriors Don't Cry" by Melba Pattillo Beals are comparable on many levels. It looks at how both deal with oppression of a group of people because of religious and/or ethnic differences. It examines how Frankl's novel is a recollection of his experiences in the Nazi Death Camps during World War II, and how he found a way to survive not only physically, but mentally as well. It also looks at how "Warriors Don't Cry" is about Beals' experience as one of nine black children to be integrated into Central High School in 1957 and the persecution that she and her fellow classmates faced.

From the Paper
"When the school year ended for Melba, as well as when the prisoners were liberated from the camps, happiness was not all of the sudden restored, but it was an emotion that had to be relearned in both situations. On page 310 in Warriors Don't Cry, Beals states, "It would take years of sorting out my Central High experience before the pieces of my life puzzle would come together and I could make sense of what happened to me". The trauma that Melba and her fellow black peers had experienced robbed them of all emotion that could be connected to the situation. In order to stop the pain, they blocked out feeling all together. "

Tags:concentration, camps, World, War, Two, African-American, black

Abstract
This paper looks at the book "Warriors Don't Cry" which is the story of a young African American child who was one of the first who forced racial integration into the Little Rock school system. The writer analyzes how the book, which is written through the eyes of a child, helps people realize the stupidity of their bigotry.

From the paper:

""We are not these bodies, we are spirits, God's ideas," Grandma India explained to Melba Pattillo Beals one afternoon as they tended Grandma's garden of four-o'clocks. "You don't want to be white, what you really want is to be free, and freedom is a state of mind" (6). It was perhaps those words of wisdom spoken to a child only six years of age that helped create the courage that would one day be needed by Melba to fulfill her destiny. Melba Pattillo would, ten years later, be among the first Black children to attend and help integrate Little Rock's previously all-White Central High School."

Tags:freedom, integration, hatred, intelligent, Arkansas, mob, segregationists, victory, diary, innocent

Abstract
This paper discusses the government's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding sexual orientation in the military. The paper specifically discusses Aaron Belkin's article, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Is the Gay Ban Based on Military Necessity?" The paper argues that the lifting of the ban on the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy should be one that is quickly applied to the military.

From the Paper
"The appropriate reaction of a squadron leader is to decipher who physically started the altercation and to punish them accordingly without interpreting sexual orientation as the cause of the fight. For a squadron commander it should not necessarily matter the cause of the fight only the initiator of the fight and to ensure that the two members do not work closely together until they can settle their differences. In a tight group such as a military squadron, however, altercations should not be very common as has been stated prior, they all have a common goal that unites them. In some cases the squadron leader needs to make other members continually aware of this fact, and this can be accomplished through making both parties of an altercation responsible for the same work detail. This way the members have to communicate and are reminded of their common goals."

Tags:squadron, sexuality, soldier, leader

Abstract
Examines the history and current state of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which allows military officials to fire service members for revealing their homosexuality. The paper shows how the policy is ineffective and unjust by looking at personal accounts, spending policies of the military, and a wide array of research.

From the Paper
"The exclusion of openly homosexual individuals from military service reveals homophobic undercurrents to society, as well as raises questions about militarism being above the law. During the Clinton administration, President Bill Clinton attempted to overthrow the ban restricting gay and lesbian members from joining the army and allow them to serve openly. However, after "having promised in his campaign to extend this civil right to gays and lesbians, Clinton faced a difficult challenge when he attempted to fulfill his pledge, opposed as he was by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and prominent members of Congress" (Belkin 1). Instead, in 1993 Clinton passed the "National Defense Authorization Act" (Belkin 1), better known as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" policy, which allows homosexual people to serve in the army as long as they do not reveal their queer sexual orientation or engage in so-called "homosexual conduct.""

Tags:clinton, gender, queer, winchell

Abstract
This paper examines how robotics is now entering a phase where it's possible to create beings that are capable of learning and discerning for themselves. It looks at how film has broached this topic in different ways in recent years, first, in "Blade Runner", and then later on in the movie, "Artificial Intelligence". It discusses the premise that the creators in these movies don't appear to be making beings like themselves and how they appear to be making images of the human creator. It attempts to show that the characters of Tyrell Corp and Professor Hobby were not creating themselves as God, but rather were trying to create God Himself.

From the Paper
"In the movie BR, the gargantuan corporation, Tyrell Corp, is responsible for the creation and maintenance of robots. They are lead by the genetic engineer Eldon Tyrell. These robots, replicants, are given four years to live, and limited emotional response. The reason for this is to be able to test and determine who is human and, who is replicant. In the creation of these replicants, Tyrell seeks to make them "More Human Than Human." In doing so he is seeking for a way to make replicants divine. He seeks to use the Voight-Kampff test used by the police to detect replicants to better modify them to his own needs."

Tags:tyrell, corp, professor, hobby, robots