Italian-American Traditions In Film Essays - Masculinity

Italian-American Traditions In Film Work Ethic A Bronx tale is a story of a father who tries to win back the love and pride of his son from a showy neighborhood mob boss. In my opinion this film is the best portrayal of work ethic. Lorenzo, played by Robert DeNiro, plays a father who tries to teach his son that discipline and hard work pay off from working, in the long. His son Calogero, played by Lillo Brancato, is exposed to the life of a mob boss Sonny, played by Chazz Palmenteri,, and doesnt understand why he should live a life of difficulty when he can have a life of luxury. He tries to explain to his son that the men in the community dont look up to him, but rather they fear him He also tries to make clear that its easy to do what he does, but try waking up every morning and working everyday, thats a real man. Throughout the film Sonny and Calogero develop a very close relationship. More than just a friendship, Calogero looks up to him as if he were a father figure. Sonny tells Calogero that he does not want him to do what he does, he does it because he has to; he has no other way out. He wants Calogero to finish school and make something of himself, and not to follow in his footsteps. Sonny feels like theres always someone out there out to get him and never feels safe. He doesnt want Calogero to have to go through the same thing. In the film Sonny murdered another person because of the fact that he took he took his parking spot. This haunting feeling he has throughout the film finally comes true in the final scene of the movie as the son of the father that was murdered earlier comes back for vengeance and kills Sonny. This action of revenge is another stereotype of Italian-American men. As the film ends Calogero is in the prime of his life so we do not know how his life continues. The viewer, in this case me, thinks that because of this dreadful ending Calogero will follow the advice of Sonny and his father to complete school and life his life like every other hard working individual in America, because as his father mentioned earlier hard work pays off in the end. Comparing and contrasting the use of food in two separate films The first film that shows the use of food in a film is in fatso. As the title implies the main character is a little overweight. He feels that food is the center of his life; everything he does revolves around food. The opening scene is the wake of his cousin that takes place in his home. In the next scene he goes to the kitchen and has himself some bread with sauce. This is a perfect example of when he is depressed he relies on food to cheer him up. Food has become an addiction for him, whenever things are not right he needs some food to make things better. The same way some other people run to alcohol to solve their problems. In the film he meets a girl and she changes his life drastically. He feels he has to impress her and look his best. In order to complete this task he must give up food entirely. Even though this seems impossible for a person in his position he has the discipline and will power to overcome this feat. The second film, entitled Big Night, is about two brothers who try and run a business together, specifically a restaurant. Since they are trying to run a restaurant, the food is the center of the film, without the food there is no restaurant. The older brother Primo, named so because he was the first son born, tries to make the food very traditional and tries to give the customer what he wants. The younger brother Secondo, named so because he was the second born, tries to think of it from a business perspective. He tries to explain to his brother that he has to give the customer what they want not what he (Secondo) wants.

Effects of Social Groups on Personality and Behavior Essay Example

Effects of Social Groups on Personality and Behavior Essay Example Effects of Social Groups on Personality and Behavior Paper Effects of Social Groups on Personality and Behavior Paper Sociology social groups Social groups an Important feature throughout life, your own social group could potentially decide how you were viewed by others and could affect personality and behavior as most humans crave the acceptance and good standing a group brings. There were moments in my life where although I didnt completely agree with what my social was doing the influence that they exerted bested my own moral Judgments. During elementary school my group of 5 or 6 boys always felt like we ran the school, tit our own prestigious little group we had gathered the coolest kids to be a part of, in order to gain good standing in this group you had to be exceptionally cruel to other students, although I didnt agree with it at first I quickly learned to throw that aside to be accepted. One case was making fun of a boy who was handicapped, I didnt really want to do It but I was at a point where I was the leader of my group so as to not be ostracizes I Joined in and didnt think about till years later where I realized how wrong I was. The power of my group led me to behave immorally but once I gained good standing I used my power to possibly cause others to behave Immorally. I remember living in what many would consider to be the ghetto earlier in my childhood; gangs littered the streets of my small neighborhood, shady drug dealers and their drudge counterparts were in abundance, and my mom never wanted me outside. Although cops frequented my neighborhood occasionally harassing one of the teens nothing serious ever truly happened until someone brutally attacked another person over a dispute about money or something similar. I was outside at he time against my mothers wishes playing with friends when I saw a man being chased by 2 officers, all my friends followed so I went along. Although the memory Is hazy now I remember the man being tackled and beaten by the two officers for a very long time. The officers beat the man because of the length of the chase and the violent crime he committed to assert their authority, the length and severity of the beating to them is a normal reaction while to a bystander such as me and my friends a beating of that nature is unwarranted and excessive.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 29

Marketing - Essay Example Chinese culture is an apt example of a high-context culture. Business meetings in China revolve around group choices and the agreed upon decisions are mostly finalized in advance, courtesy the instinctive and listener responsible approach of group members (Browaeys & Price, 2008). The low-context cultures tend to be direct with the meaning inherent in any communication (Mead, 2004). They cherish individualism and are not very proficient in the non-verbal exchange of meaning and information (Mead, 2004). Low-context individuals predominantly rely on logic then on emotion to convey ideas (Mead, 2004). The communication patterns in low-context cultures are very structured with a preference for strategies that are rich in details (Mead, 2004). Low-context cultures value linear logic (Mead, 2004). US is a low-context culture where communications are direct and individualistic that are more targeted at specific situations and outcomes, rather than intending to communicate with the entire group (Browaeys & Price, 2008). Factor Analysis: Factor analysis tends to statistically determine variability amongst the observed variables, in relation to a small number of unobserved variables (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). Factor analysis can be suitably used in a situation when the data to be analyzed is quiet large (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). Cluster Analysis: Cluster analysis is ideally suitable for analyzing data having some natural groupings (Lehmann, Gupta & Steckel, 1997). It helps group raw data into clusters. This type of analysis helps determine similarities and variations between local and regional markets. Multidimensional Scaling: Multidimensional scaling is a statistical technique, which facilitates information visualization, thereby allowing for the sifting of similar and dissimilar patterns in a data (Grover & Vriens, 2006). This technique could be exploited, when a marketer is required to select between varied alternatives.

Why does America have a two-party system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Why does America have a two-party system - Essay Example The classification of the party system is on the grounds of the number of relevant parties and the amount of fragmentation that is seen in the governing bodies (McKeever and Davies 2012). A two-party system is seen where two major political parties are at the time dominating the votes. Within the two-party system, one of the parties gets to hold the majority in the legislation (Bailey et al 2010). The United States is noted to have started the system of having two parties in its governance. There are many reasons as to why it does continue to have its system like that (McKeever and Davies 2012). When the history of the United States is considered, it is found out that its roots are based on the two-party system itself. This force behind the form of tradition, where that the state itself began with, has become very important to the Americans. It has had a lot of influence on the American government (Gerring 2001). Other nations have numerous political parties whereby the candidates ge t to be elected to the offices, and when the data is analyzed, minority parties give out great contribution to this. Over the course of political history in the United States, minor third parties have come up several times (Bibby and Maisel 2003). For example, the Poor Man’s party, the liberty party, and the free soil party have come up within the American history and get to influence the politics of America slightly. But, the worst part is that the names of most of them get forgotten easily and very quickly (Bibby and Maisel 2003). Two-party system is the only system where the county gets to have ideological parties with broad political beliefs and good values that can see the country forward to a better stand (Herrnson and  Green 2002). The minor parties only tend to be economic protests, and this is not what the nation needs at the moment (Campbell 2006). It needs to see progress from one stage to another in terms of a better solution to the problems and matters they are facing (Bibby and Maisel 2003). The minor parties do act as splinter parties in most situations. This paper is going to analyze the reasons why United States of America still has two party systems. Historical influence When the past political system is reviewed, the progressive party of 1912 splinted from the republicans gaining 88 electoral votes. Later on the same progressive party of 1924 gained 13 votes after splinting from the republicans (McSweene and Zvesper 1991). These groups always do not take up the goal of winning the election and transforming the nation, but conversely, they concentrate on changing the view of the current state of the electoral votes (Bowles 1993). One of the major reason as to why United States of America still continues to engage in the Two-party system is due to the reason of the great force of historical tradition (Sundquist 1983; Smith 2003). For a very long time, since the nation started with the Two-party system, the anti- federalists and the fe deralists have become used to the system so much that they cannot let go of it (Milkis and Rhodes 2007). When this system is trace, it is found that there have been five distinct party systems. These are: first party system, which was during 1796 to 1816: federalists and Jeffersonian republicans; second party system, which was during 1840 to 1896: democrats and Whigs; third party system, which was during 1860 to 1896; democrats and republicans; the fourth party system occurred during 1896 to 1932: republicans and democrats, and finally the fifth party system includes the democrats and the republicans: from 1932 to date (Sartori and  Mair 2005). American political Beliefs and Values One of the other factors which have greatly inclined the two party

Religion in american experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Religion in american experience - Essay Example ishing slave trade also saw support from the moderate social thinkers who taught that the Protestants initiated steps of abolishing slave trade would bear fruits. The Protestants encouraged the slaves to disobey their masters because they taught that the Bible would free the slaves. The Protestants believed that the civil war was a religious war and it was being predestined by God. According to Protestants in 1860s, the civil war marked a period of their influence in United States; however this also marked the end of the domination of Protestants in America (Noll 72). Abraham Lincoln, who was not a member of any religious church, had the same opinion as Protestants since he believed that the civil war was as a consequence of religious war. During his second Inaugural speech in 1865, he captured on the religious distress of the civil war than any protestant follower (Noll 72). He says those who fought were the same people who read the same Bible, and prayed the same God; however, these people turned against each other. Lincoln was assassinated just some days after the Civil War ended and many Protestants mourned and expressed their dissatisfaction for his death. These Protestants believed that Lincoln contributed immensely to the end of civil war, which also led to the abolition of slave that had penetrated most parts of the Northern America (God in America, Episode

Foundations and Earthworks Problems

Foundations and Earthworks Problems a) There are four types of foundation loads as follow: Firstly, live loads. Live loads is produced by the users of a home. Example, people, furniture, storage items. The affects of the load is exert force on almost all of a house’s. To design floor systems that limit deflection vibration. Secondly, dead load. That means, forces incurred due to the weight of all the materials used in construction of a home. For examples, roof, ceiling, floor, wall partition. The affects of the this load is a constant over the life of the structure. Big impacts on the long-term deflection/creep of framing members. Thirdly, wind load. Positives or negatives pressures exerted on a house when it obstructs the flow of moving air. The affects of wind load is depends on : location, height, and roof pitch. Fourthly, seismic load. Seismic load that means the inertial forces acting on a house due to earthquake-induced ground motions. The affects of seismic load all components of a frame and shear-resis ting elements are most affected. b) The two types of foundation are as follows: i) Pad foundation Pad foundation is normally used as foundation to building or residential building not exceeding four storeys on stiff soil such as gravel. Most of the said buildings are framed structure. The pad foundation is built if the load supported by the column is small. A pad foundation is the base of a column. The size of pad foundation depends on the size of load to be carried and load bearing capacity of the soil. The pad foundation is not suitable for large and high-rise building because it needs to carry high load, which is not practical and uneconomical. Pad foundation ii) Raft foundation Raft foundation are used to spread the load of the superstructure over a large base to reduce the load per unit one being imposed on ground and this is particularly useful where low bearing capacity soil are encountered and where individual column load are heavy. This types of slab is known as the foundation. Raft foundation can be constructed as follows: a) solid slab raft foundation Solid slab raft foundation is constructed at the entire base of the planned building. The thickness of slab depends on applied load and strength of soil at the site. b) beam and slab raft foundation Beam and slab raft foundation is required when thickness of the designed solid slab raft foundation exceeds 300 mm. The reinforced concrete slab is constructed on the ground whereas the beams are constructed on the slab at specific locations. c) cellular in raft foundation Cellular raft foundation is establishment is built on detached soil and on soil that operation to settle uncalled for case in point unmoving mining site. In such condition, the thickness of the constructed slab may exceed 1 meter, therefore the construction of cellular raft foundation is preferable. Task 2 a) The effect of water and chemicals in the soils are there is either too much water, causing the soil to swell, or not enough, or not enough, causing the soil to shrink. If all soil beneath a foundation swells uniformly or shrinks uniformly it is unlikely to cause cracks and other damage. Most differential movement is caused by differences in soil moisture. After construction, soil moisture. After construction, soil beneath part of foundation becomes wetter or drier than the rest of the soil. The chemical can seep is contaminated with toxic materials. These toxic materials can seep into ground and eventually contaminated the water. Therefore, it is important to conserve the ground water resource so that surfaces it can be used as an alternative resource in the event that surface water is contaminated or dried during dry seasons. The treatment can be done to avoid foundation failure is the treatment process depends on properties of raw water and this properties of water can be divide d into three categories; physical, chemical and biological properties. The properties of raw water depend on impurities in it. Impurities in water can be categorized into macro and micro impurities. Macro impurities are debris such as garbage, twigs, leaves and others. Micro impurities are very fine and cannot be seen by eyes. b) The effect of subsoil movement there are different constrains that cause the development of soil and rock. Furthermore that, gravity is a significant drives that draw rock parts down inclines in occasions called mass developments. Likewise, mass developments fluctuate in their rate, force, and section size. Besides, when mass developments happens quickly, they have a tendency to be the most ruinous and emotional. In this manner, rock falls happen when rock parts tumble from soak precipices. This is the speediest kind of mass developments. Along these lines, the pieces may be as small as stones or as enormous as titan rocks. Avalanches happen when a lot of detached rock joined with soil fall abruptly down an incline. Finally, The steepness of the slant may influences the sum and the span of the rock material in the avalanches. Bigger avalanches have a tendency to happen on steeper inclines and include bigger squares of bedrock. Task 3 a) The importance of underpinning work are to transfer the load carried by an existing foundation from its presents bearing level to a new level at a lower depth. Beside that, to replace an existing weak foundation. In construction, underpinning is the process of strengthening and stabilizing the foundation of an existing building or other structure. The reason for underpinning are as follows: the original foundation is simply not strong or stable enough. The usage of the structure has changed. The properties of soil supporting the foundation may have changed (possibly through subsidence) or were mischaracterized during design. The construction of nearby structures necessitates the excavation of soil supporting existing foundations. It is more economical, due to land price or otherwise, to work on the present structure’s foundation than to build a new one. b) The precaution steps before underpinning works are as follow before impleting suitable underpinning measures the accompanying vital focuses ought to be precisely went to : Firstly, the existing structure ought to be completely inspected painstakingly and proper underpinning strategy ought to be embraced. Besides, all poor stone work, for example, joints, breaks, putting ought to be amended in the recent past. Thirdly, fundamental shoring and struting ought to be carried out such that current structure is sheltered. Forward, Urgent repair like grouting of splits, insertion of pole between dividers. Other than, ought to be completed before beginning underpinning. Fifth, satisfactory consideration ought to be taken to guarantee that there ought to be no development of structure for which levels ought to be stamped. Sixth, underpinning procedure is not a science yet a symbolization ought to be practiced relying upon the circumstances. Underpinning works Task 4 a) i) Trench excavation Trench excavation in development industry is something that specialists ought to be prepared on keeping in mind the end goal to avoid disaster. So as to work securely in the region of trenches or unearthings managements and workers need to character perils connected with trenching and unearthing work, evaluate hazard and dispose of or minimize those danger in the recent past, throughout and after the execution of work. Trenches and unearthings  greatest danger is the likelihood of breakdown because of precariousness. Before starting work in a trench, unearthing or limited space on a development site laborers ought to perform an audit to figure out if it is completely important to work in the trench/exhuming, bound space. Trench excavation ii) Basement excavation A basement excavation is a development burrow performed for the mean of unpredictable out a cellar. There are a few settings in which storm cellar uncovering may be performed. This procedure is usually supervised by an experienced contractor or a basement excavation company, because it can be complicated in addition to labor intensive. While it is possible to excavate by hand, there are some serious risks which must be carefully evaluated before taking the plunge. Besides that, the best time to do a basement excavation is when a home site is being prepared. In this case, the site is already being excavated in preparation for laying the foundations. Therefore, if people want a basement, the depth of the excavation can be deepened to rough out the basement so that the basement and foundations can be form at the same time. Thus, this can be a way to add room to a structure without adding height, and some people leave the basement unfinished to cut costs while protect that they will have that space accessible at a later time if they need it. This basement was built to the same footprint as the house above, which in turn was the footprint of the pair of semis that had been there before, plus a room at the back. The planning permission limited the basement to a railway carriage-shape down the middle so the client said he would block off what he didnt have permission for to put it out of use. (No talking in the ranks, the cynical amongst you should believe that he did so). The area at this endwas for a stairwell. The area at the far end for a window well.

General Motors/UAW :: essays research papers

GM/UAW What Can We Expect? In the past, General Motors (GM) has been the top seller of the three major automakers and had one of the strongest unions in the United States. Today, GM is decreasing in rank due to other automakers. The moral among the members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) is diminishing. If things continue on this current path, GM may be of the pass. Even with all the discounts GM is advertising, this may not be enough to pull them out of their financial burden. Could the answers to GM worries be the UAW? The UAW was organized in the late 1930’s. The purpose of the organization was to protect the workers rights. GM was not in agreement with the workers forming a union. After much debate, the workers staged a sit down strike that lasted about six weeks. This tremendously affected GMs’ profits and they decided to give recognition to the UAW as having the right to represent workers who are union members. The UAW and GM are both strong organizations in their own rights. They must put aside their past disagreements and come together to help GM out of this financial situation. GM has threatened to make cuts on their own, causing breakdown in the relationship with the union. UAW is willing to make concessions, but not to the extent of what GM is demanding. UAW needs to open a contract talk before 2007, in order for GM to survive. Without a GM there will be no UAW, and UAW needs to remember that. GM and UAW seem to be playing a dangerous game that can destroy many people’s lively hood. GM is hurting financially and instead of asking for help from the UAW, GM prefer to threaten them about health care costs. GM chairman, G. Richard Wagoner Jr., said recently that he prefers to collaborate with the UAW on health care issues rather than a fight. Mr. Wagoner stated that he would press the issues for health care cost cuts with or without the union’s approval. It is crystal clear that we need to achieve a significant reduction in the health care cost disadvantage and it needs to be done now (Welch, 2005). GM is seeking to slash health care cost and the stakes are massive. Billion in potential savings for GM if their demands are met, but if not GM will have lost billions if the UAW strikes.