My Future in the World Wrestling Federation :: Personal Narrative Essays

My Future in the World Wrestling Federation Before I even entered the swinging doors, I could hear the force saw inside. My warm breath went to mist vulnerable, January night, and I made the stride that would transform me. Going into an enormous room, the smell of sawdust nearly made me wheeze, and I saw the wrestling ring in the extreme right corner. I passed the men cutting the 2 x 4s, and advancing towards the ring, was welcomed by an outsider. Are you Jesse?, a 350-pound man inquired. Yea, are you Ray?, I asked back, calculating this was the man whom I had spoken with on the telephone the past night. He was Ray, and he was the man who might be preparing me throughout the following a while. He ran this specific expert wrestling school, and when the night was finished, I was unable to turn my head sideways and had two colossal purple and yellow wounds on my back. I at that point drove the 90 minutes back to my home, savoring the way that I was en route to satisfying my fantasy about turning into an expert grappler. I proceeded with this preparation routine three times each week for a quarter of a year, paying 20 dollars for each meeting I joined in. Indeed, wrestling is phony. Counterfeit, in any case, is a misrepresntation. Fixed would be a superior term, since wrestling isn't rivalry - it is diversion. The well known term begat in the 1980's is Sports Entertainment. Endings of matches are foreordained, yet it is the way to that consummation that is the genuine activity. Wrestling isn't a game, however grapplers are competitors. The ring has cushioning, however it isn't delicate. Grapplers are instructed how to fall, however there is just so much one can do to battle gravity. The vast majority think the ring ropes are delicate and springy, however those individuals are off base. The ropes are made of steel link with a slender vinyl covering, and they leave welts and wounds until a grappler's skin is adapted to take it. It would be uncalled for of me to anticipate that everybody should appreciate proficient wrestling, yet any individual who doesn't regard the exertion that goes into it most likely doesn't think a lot about it. I, similar to each other expert grappler, went to a wrestling school, which is less similar to a school and increasingly like games camp. This school is intended to show competitors the uniform technique for wrestling with the goal that they can wrestle any rival and still be in the same spot.

10 Social Networking Safety Tips for Women and Girls

10 Social Networking Safety Tips for Women and Girls As person to person communication and online networking have developed, weve followed through on a cost not many saw coming: the loss of individual protection. The motivation to share has made a significant number of us unintentionally uncover ourselves in manners that can bargain our wellbeing and security. While person to person communication destinations may feel like a greeting just assembling of companions that is available all day, every day, its not really a shut and safe universe. Others might have the option to get to your own data without your insight. In spite of the fact that cyberstalking went before the approach of person to person communication, internet based life makes it simpler for a stalker or cyberstalker to find and track a potential casualties each move. Harmless individual goodies gathered over weeks, months and even years frequently indicate an entire image of what your identity is, the place you work, live and mingle, and what your propensities are for the most part important data to a stalker. Dont figure this can transpire? At that point you should realize that as indicated by the Centers for Disease Control, 1 out of 6 ladies will be followed in the course of her life. The most ideal approach to ensure yourself is to not make yourself defenseless in any case. At whatever point you take part in online life, recall this: what occurs on the web remains on the web, and its up to you to ensure what shows up regarding your name and picture doesn't can possibly hurt you now or later on. The accompanying 10 hints offer rules in dealing with the data that gets out there about you by means of person to person communication and can help protect you: Nothing of the sort as Private The web resembles an elephant it always remembers. While expressed words leave little follow and are immediately overlooked, composed words suffer in the online condition. Whatever you post, tweet, update, share regardless of whether its erased quickly a short time later can possibly be caught by somebody, some place, without your insight. This is particularly valid for long range interpersonal communication destinations including private messages shared between two individuals and postings to a private gathering. There is nothing of the sort as private in the realm of internet based life since anything you set up can conceivably be gotten, replicated, saved money on somebody elses PC and reflected on different destinations also hacked by cheats or summoned by law implementation organizations. A Little Bird Told Me Every time you use Twitter, the administration keeps a duplicate of your tweets. Sounds insane, yet its actual. As per the Library of Congre ss blog: Every open tweet, ever, since Twitters beginning in March 2006, will be documented carefully at the Library of Congress.... Twitter forms in excess of 50 million tweets each day, with the absolute numbering in the billions. Furthermore, specialists anticipate the data will be looked and utilized in manners we cannot envision. (This shines a different light on the expression A little winged creature told me...) X Marks the Spot Be wary about utilizing geo-area administrations, applications, Foursquare, or any strategy which shares where youre at. At the point when it was first presented, Facebooks Places include gave tech author Sam Diaz delay: Guests at a gathering at my home could transform my personal residence into an open spot on Facebook and my lone plan of action is to signal my location to have it expelled... In the event that we’re all at a concert...and a companion checks in with Places, he can label the individuals who he’s with - similarly as though you were labeling an individual in a photograph. In contrast to Diaz, Carrie Bugbee an online networking specialist had a ton of fun utilizing these administrations until a cyberstalking episode altered her perspective. One night, while eating at an eatery she had checked in at utilizing Foursquare, Bugbee was told by the leader that there was a require her on the cafés telephone line. At the point when she got, a myst erious man cautioned her about utilizing Foursquare since she could be found by specific individuals; and when she attempted to ignore it, he started obnoxiously manhandling her. Stories like this might be the reason far less ladies use geo-area benefits when contrasted with men; many fear making themselves increasingly defenseless against cyberstalking. Separate Work and Family Keep your family sheltered, particularly on the off chance that you have a prominent position or work in a field that may open you to high-hazard people. A few ladies have more than one long range informal communication account: one for their expert/open lives and one that is confined to individual concerns and just includes family and dear companions. On the off chance that this concerns you, make it understood to family/companions to present just for your own, not your expert page; and dont let the names of life partners, youngsters, family members, guardians, kin show up there to ensure their protection. Dont let yourself be labeled in occasions, exercises or photographs that may uncover individual insights concerning your life. In the event that they appear, erase them first and disclose later to the tagger; best to be as careful as possible. How Old Are You Now? On the off chance that you should share your birthday, never put during the time in which you were conceived. Utilizing the month and day are satisfactory, however including the year gives a chance to data fraud. Its Your Fault If Its Default Keep track of your security settings and check them all the time or if nothing else month to month. Try not to expect that the default setting will protect you. Numerous person to person communication locales habitually update and change settings, and regularly the defaults will in general make open more data than you might be happy to share. In the event that an up and coming update is promoted ahead of time, be proactive and explore it before it dispatches; it might offer a window during which you can secretly alter or evacuate content before it goes live. On the off chance that you hold up until your record consequently switches over, your data may open up to the world before you get an opportunity to manage it. Audit Before Posting Make sure your security settings empower you to survey content in which youve been labeled by companions before they show up openly on your page. This ought to incorporate posts, notes, and photographs. It might appear to be monotonous, yet its a lot simpler to manage a modest quantity every day than to need to revisit weeks, months and even a very long time to guarantee that all substance identified with you advances a picture youre happy with living with. Its A Family Affair Make it clear to relatives that the most ideal method of speaking with you is through private informing or email not posting on your page. Frequently, family members who are new to web based life dont comprehend the contrast among open and private discussions and how they occur on the web. Dont dither to erase something that is unreasonably close to home inspired by a paranoid fear of offending simply ensure you message her secretly to clarify your activities, or even better, call her on t he telephone. You Play, You Pay...in Loss of Privacy Online games, tests, and other amusement applications are fun, however they frequently pull data from your page and post it without your insight. Ensure that you know the rules of any application, game or support and don't permit it liberated access to your data. In like manner, be mindful about reacting to notes shared by companions along the lines of 10 Things You Didnt Know About Me. At the point when you answer these and post them, youre uncovering individual insights concerning yourself that may empower others to make sense of your location, your work environment, the name of your pet or your moms birth name (frequently utilized as an online security question), or even your secret word. Do what's necessary of these after some time and somebody who is resolved to get familiar with about you can peruse the appropriate responses, cross-reference data acquired through your companions pages, and gather an astonishing sum from thes e apparently easygoing disclosures. How Do I Know You? Never acknowledge a companion demand from somebody you dont know. This may appear to be an easy decision, yet in any event, when somebody shows up as a shared companion of a companion or a few companions, mull over tolerating except if you can solidly recognize what their identity is and how theyre associated with you. In numerous expert circles including huge associations, every one of the an untouchable needs to do is acquire one companion within and it snowballs from that point, with others imagining that a complete outsider with no close to home association is a new colleague or infrequent business partner. Web based life is fun that is the reason a large portion of the U.S. grown-up populace takes an interest in online informal communication locales. In any case, dont be quieted into a misguided feeling that all is well and good with regards to ensuring your own data. The objective of interpersonal interaction locales is to produce income and despite the fact that the administration is free, theres the concealed expense of your security. Its up to you to watch what appears and to restrict your introduction and ensure yourself. Sources: Dias, Sam. Facebook dispatches Places, geo-area administration that is both cool and frightening. ZDnet.com. 18 August 2010.GLOBAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATION: Texting, Social Networking Popular Worldwide. PewGlobal.org. 20 December 2011.Panzarino, Matthew. Heres what happens when the police summon your Facebook. TheNextWeb.com. 2 May 2011.Raymond, Matt. How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive. Library of Congress blog. 14 April 2010.Seville, Lisa Riordan. Foursquares Stalker Problem. The Daily Beast. 8 August 2010.

George Orwell and the Necessity of Honesty

Vladimir Lenin, the principal head of the Soviet Union, when expressed â€Å"A lie came clean with frequently enough becomes. † in the midst of comprehensive trickery, it is just inborn for humankind to be blinded by reality in a tremendous ocean of deceives the point in which the demonstration of coming clean gets progressive. In George Orwell’s 1984, society is driven by the manufacture of reality trying to make an ideal world. Be that as it may, this endeavor simply makes a general public based upon falsehoods and corruption.Through this novel, George Orwell remarks on the need for people to come clean and go up against untruths, trickery, and lie since mankind will confront inconvenient outcomes on the off chance that they don't. Orwell focuses on the significance of mankind to come clean by tending to the outcomes of unscrupulousness exacted on humankind. In the novel 1984, the Party’s trademark, â€Å"Who controls the past controls what's to come. Who cont rols the current controls the past,† uncovers the government’s interest to control all parts of peoples’ lives.By changing history, the Party has outright intensity of the present, restricting the mental freedom of its subjects by controlling their translations of the past. People are prohibited to keep any record of their past, for example, photos and reports, and all accounts, extraordinary or little blur â€Å"away into a shadow-world in which, at last, even the date of the year is dubious. † Therefore, the individuals from the general public are happy to have faith in any â€Å"truth† the Party takes care of them.Due to the dependence of power, mankind would turn out to be profoundly childish and stupid. Similarly as newborn children rely upon their parents’ direction, all of mankind would go about as meager youngsters, depending on power to guide them to reality. Individuals would for all intents and purposes have no memory of the past, so they would have no understanding of feelings and would not recognize what feelings genuinely are. Accordingly, Orwell recommends that individuals would not develop as people since they would have faith in anything authority lets them know, without questioning the deception of it.In turn, people would not have the option to separate right from wrong. Orwell remarks on the need for people to go up against falsehoods, trickery, and lie since people will confront madness on the off chance that they don't. In the novel, when Winston is restricted in the Ministry of Love, O’Brien holds up four fingers and orders Winston to state he is holding up five fingers, in spite of the misrepresentation of that announcement. However, Winston constantly says â€Å"four† and is truly tormented thus. Until he can no longer bear the agony, Winston at last fusses, â€Å"Five. Five. Five. Yet, O’Brien blames Winston for lying and perpetrates all the more horrifying agony on him. B y and by, O’Brien asks, â€Å"How numerous fingers am I holding up, Winston? † Winston then cries, â€Å"I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know†¦Four, five, sixâ€in all trustworthiness I don’t know! † This uncovers human encounter with untruths, double dealing, and equivocation prompts total craziness. Orwell remarks on the act of doublethink as indecent and mentally harming to the human psyche. This thusly will influence the satisfaction of people, leaving them without trust and motivation to live.Thus, the central matter of mankind would be serve the legislature and please authority. The quest for even the least difficult truth among the best lies can be deceptive on the grounds that it simple for people to be blinded by reality. Through the novel 1984, Orwell voices his detestation on the human endeavor in making an ideal world, and he enormously emphasizes the human requirement for people to come clean and stand up to fa lsehoods, double dealing, and equivocation. In the long run, if mankind doesn't do precisely this, the fate of society will prompt an extreme death.

Psychology Lifespan Essay

Ellen DeGeneres never believed that reporting she was a lesbian would have been a serious deal. She knew then that what she was doing would caused questions and contention however not in a manner where she would be viewed as the perfect example for the Gay Community. The way Ellen came out to the world was a greater stun to her than it was to her crowd. This is when Ellen understood that she changed more than her own life coming out. Her fan base got greater and her life opened up for more noteworthy's benefit. She wanted to come out ought not change what she would accomplish for mankind. On Ellen’s 50th birthday celebration, she chose to fund-raise and get notice to her old neighborhood, New Orleans, Louisiana, some assistance for the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina. This tempest was one of the most destructive tempests in United States history. During the tempest the government flood insurance framework fizzled and the levee broke, flooding 80% of the city and encompassing urban areas for quite a long time. Since Ellen had associations with numerous different superstars, she utilized those associations with find support for her city. Brad Pitt was one of the superstars that had an establishment going for revamping homes in New Orleans. With the assistance of Ellen getting out the establishment through her network show, Brad had the option to get 150 homes manufactured. She gave her enthusiasm for assisting when she explained to the world why this pledge drive was imperative to her. She shows that the spot she took a gander at as home and helped made her who she was Ellen DeGeneres has been a motivation to individuals for as long as twelve years. Ellen’s life had recently started. Ellen DeGeneres appeared on the scene January 26, 1956 in Jefferson, Louisiana at the Oschner Foundation Hospital. In the book, Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughters Journey (1999), Betty Degeneres, Ellen’s mother, said that she was a marvel. Ellen’s father didn’t need any longer chidren after her sibling was conceived, four years sooner. He believed that one kid was adequate enough. In any case, Betty was resolved to persuade him that they should attempt again for another kid. As per Lisa Iannucci (2009) Ellen was only a typical youngster, she played with her kin and played outside like some other kid would do at that age. She was a boyish girl that wore extravagant dresses and played with Barbie dolls. She once fantasized turning into a naturalist or zoologist. She had an affection and enthusiasm for creatures and needed to later join the Peace Corps to examine the primates in Africa. Growing up Ellen had an interest for incredible entertainers, for example, Jack Benny, George Gorbel, and the satire group Bob and Ray. Viewing these funnies engage swarms was a little casual preparing of Ellen’s profession in the later years. Ellen found the advantages of parody when her mom separated from her father. Her mom had been so down and discouraged that Ellen realized she could brighten her up with a giggle. Ellen utilized this equivalent comedic incentive to traverse the extreme occasions throughout her life. When Ellen was sixteen she began celebrating, getting insubordinate, and spending time with an inappropriate groups. In her modest community of Metairie, she would drink lager with her companions and remain out throughout the night. This was her response to her mom getting remarried in 1974 to a sales rep. Her mom needed to expel her from the city, so the sales rep found another line of work in Atlanta, Texas. The DeGeneres family got together and moved to Atlanta. While in Texas, Ellen began to fit into her new life there. Ellen began dating her first beau, Ben Heath. Her sibling Vance was in a band in secondary school and was accepting a great deal of consideration. Ellen needed a portion of this consideration that her sibling was getting and was beginning to fantasize getting popular. Ellen hungered for individuals to like her, she needed to attempt to figure out how to get acclaimed so individuals might want her and need to be her companion. Ellen’s family resembled the ideal family all things considered, however something dim and scary was going on inside. Behind close entryways the sales rep was unrefined and bossy and Ellen didn't care for what his identity was. During this time Ellen’s mother discovered that she had bosom malignant growth. She wound up having a mastectomy and needed to do non-intrusive treatment and recovery. Betty attempted to conceal her malignant growth from Ellen yet she required Ellen’s help to recuperate. This is when Ellen and her mom turned out to be close. During this season of recuperation, the sales rep attacked Ellen. She didn’t need to get her mom upset so she didn’t notice it to her, while she was recuperating. At the point when her stepfather attempted to molester once more, she fled to a friend’s house. Ellen left Atlanta, Texas and move back to Louisiana with her dad after she graduated secondary school. Once Ellen moved to Louisiana, she selected into the University of New Orleans, to study Communications. Ellen before long discovered that school wasn’t for her and dropped out after one semester. Ellen began to look for a vocation since school didn’t go as arranged. During this season of finding a profession, Ellen was likewise getting herself. She was holding another mystery about her sexuality from loved ones. She was beginning to feel befuddled about her sexuality. This could have been an aftereffect of the nuture factor. Her homosexuality could have been activated from her stepfather attacking her. Sustain alludes to the adolescence and how an individual grew up (MacKinnon, 1962). She enjoyed young men first and foremost; she had a few sweethearts previously, however she was never truly pulled in to men. Once Ellen made sense of what sexual direction that she was, she begun dating ladies yet at the same time haven’t broke the news to her family. She chose to disclose to her mother one day while they were strolling along the sea shore. She began to cry, not on the grounds that she was apprehensive, but since she was presently liberated from this mystery that she was holding. Her mother grasped her and acknowledged Ellen’s destiny. During this opportunity that Ellen came out about her sexuality, it was prohibited doing those occasions. During the 1950s consensual gay sex was a lawful offense. The gay networks were attempting to battle for rights during the 1960s however were all the while getting tormented and avoided. Betty began to be apprehensive for Ellen. Being gay was viewed as a psychological wellness issue by the mental network. The National Gay Task Force Foundation was established in 1973, in New York, and attempted to change the American Psychiatric Association’s gathering of homosexuality as a psychological heath issue. Ellen’s sibling acknowledged the news well, however Ellen’s father took it quite well. He later showed Ellen out of the house, believing that she would impact her stepsiblings. He later helped her get a condo and conceded that he lamented what he did to her. Ellen procured numerous occupations; she sold garments, was a barkeep, washed vehicles, shucked shellfish, and wrapped blessings. Much the same as she realized that school wasn’t for her, these occupations weren’t fulfilling her neither one of the she, was eager to accomplish something else. She presently realized that she needed to make individuals snicker for an incredible remainder. She started performing at a couple of little settings in New Orleans. Her schedules were unique in relation to different entertainers of her time, for example, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor. The distinction among them and her was he bits didn’t have indecency and sexual references. Ellen kidded about her regular day to day existence and encounters. She did this to identify with her crowds. Ellen began to take off in her profession. She began contending in satire rivalry where she set first in the â€Å"Funniest Person in America† rivalry. She later went to open for a couple of acts in Las Vegas where the maker from â€Å"The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson† was there and requested that her please the show. When she performed on the Tonight Show, this put her vocation in overdrive and she turned into a whiz. She turned into the primary female comedic to situate on the large sofa on the Tonight Show. She wound up returning on six additional occasions in two years. She later got a minor job on Open House in 1989. It was a side project of the fox show Duet. She at that point proceeded to film her first HBO exceptional Young Comedian Reunion, in 1986. After two years she showed up in HBO’s Women of the Night. She got a little job in the film The Coneheads, and got her own sitcom on ABC called These Friends of Mine. Ellen uncovered her actual sexual inclination in Time magazine April 1997 issue. In this issue she discussed her life as a gay lady and concealing who she was in the entertainer network. She made her character on her network show Ellen additionally exposes the unadulterated truth. This caused some debate for the Christian religion associations. She showed up openly with her sexuality at the White House Correspondents Dinner with entertainer Anne Heche on her arm. In 1998 Ellen regarded at the ninth Annual GLAAD Media Awards with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. Ellen now was battling for her lesbian life on and off the TV. Her mom began to turn into a supporter to her daughter’s way of life. Betty began chipping in at the Human Rights Campaign. Her mom turned into the first nongay national representative for the Human Rights Campaign. She was assisting with empowering and help gay individuals in coming out and living sincerely. Her mom additionally turned into a functioning individual from Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). In 2003 Ellen began her own daytime TV syndicated program called The Ellen Degeneres Show. Individuals were worried about the possibility that that Ellen would simply raise gay topics all through the show and didn’t need it to go on air. When individuals got over the way that Ellen was gay, her show began to soar on TV evaluations. It was the network show that Ellen had constantly needed. She could make individuals giggle and each adored her. In season two the show won five daytime Emmys. In 2005 Ellen won a Grammy for having the best satire collection for the sound bit of her book. She likewise won some aw

Types of Lab Reports That You Can Use in the Laboratory

Types of Lab Reports That You Can Use in the LaboratoryThere are many different types of Biology Lab Report that can be used in the laboratory. These reports help people understand the biological procedures as well as various aspects that are involved in the laboratory setting. When you are looking for a Biology Lab Report that will help you understand different aspects, you will want to consider these report types that are available to you. This will allow you to get a report that is tailored to your needs.Biomedical reports are reports that are used by medical students and doctors who work in the field. They are used to help to ensure that they are keeping up with what is being done and what is going on. These are used to help to explain how to handle laboratory equipment and how to best use it.Laboratory reports are used in the lab to help people understand how to use the lab to its fullest capacity. These reports help to explain how the various machines and equipment to operate. They also explain why the equipment has to be used the way it is and what is involved in maintaining it. These lab reports will also help to show how to properly work with the chemicals that are being used in the lab.Laboratory reports can also help a person understand how to run the lab in its most efficient manner. The reports can help to explain the need for all the different pieces of equipment to be functioning in a certain way. When you look for these reports, they will help to teach you how to properly organize the equipment so that it will be most efficient.Biological reports include any report that is used in the field of biology. These are used to show the process of the cells and the growth that occur when a cell is created or grown. These reports will help to explain the various steps that are involved in the creation of life and how it comes about.Biological reports will also helpto explain how the growth of a cell is affected by the environment that it is working in. T hese reports will explain why it is important to create life in a certain way and how to accomplish this in a timely manner. These reports will help to show how cells should be used and handled in different ways.There are many types of biological reports that can be used in the laboratory. Some of these types include somatic cell biology reports, medical genetics reports, and experimental analysis reports. These types of reports are used to help to explain how different organisms function and grow.As you can see, there are many different types of reports that can be used in the laboratory. These can be used to explain the various methods that are involved in creating life or creating a certain organism. This type of lab report will help to show the different processes that are involved in creating life and can help to create a better understanding of the processes that are involved in the laboratory.

Internet is Gonna Get Me

Internet is Gonna Get Me Last week I had my first exam, shortly to be followed by two others, and Im happy to say that I suffer from this painful disease that seems particularly contagious at MIT procrastination. Symptoms are particularly deadly since there are little to no signs when youre first afflicted (mostly because you deny them), until the night before your exams hit. At this point, theres no cure except fervent studying and the occasional swearing that youll do better next time (unfortunately, the illness becomes asymptomatic again and the cycle repeats). So Im in the reading room. Its a beautiful study room in the fifth floor of the student center that was renovated shortly before I came to MIT, where sound goes to die except for the occasional Justin Timberlake ringtone. Basic politeness isnt even permitted: RANDOM GUY: (enormous sneeze) ME: Bless you! MY FRIEND MATT COHEN, AND THE GUY NEXT TO MY FRIEND MATT COHEN: (stare) ME: I mean.. uh.. (barely discernable whisper) bless you. Despite the silence, though, I can never seem to focus you know that Gloria Estefan song where she warns the rhythm is going to get you? The internet is going to get me. Thats why Im blogging right now. (Also, My Friend Matt Cohen and I are looking up funny words i.e. pogonotrophy (beardedness).) So in order to divide my short attention span even more ask me questions! Ask me questions. Better for you to come up with what I should write about rather than me; otherwise youll just end up having to read about what I did this weekend. (In case you were actually wondering, this weekend I made chocolate-chip pancakes. They were funky-tasting, because Id never tried the recipe before, but they had definite potential. Next time I will not use so much baking powder.) (The great thing about cooking in college is that regardless of how much you experiment with the ingredients, someone will always be around to eat it. Never underestimate the stomachs of hungry college kids.) This entry is a bit long, and without pictures because my camera is still broken (if you guys would like to remedy that, its a Canon Powershot SD600 and I take PayPal donations), but Ive quite a bit of questions to catch up on. So! Anonymous asks: Can you also give us some info about the grocery stores, department stores to buy warm clothing, furniture like lamps, fans, refrigerators and so on around MIT area and how far away are they, how to get to these stores and so on? Sure, Anon (can I call you Anon? I feel like were already good friends). Thats a lot to cover, but Ill do my best. Just off the top of my head: Grocery stores: Star Market is right next to the Hotel at MIT, near Central Square, and is a good standard supermarket its definitely within walking distance, but theres a Saferide in case you overload yourself and end up buying four bags of frozen peas (what? They were on sale. Also, they make good ice packs). Another option is Whole Foods, across the Harvard Bridge and a couple streets down into Boston, which has more organic options but tends to be a little more pricey. Coming from California, Im a big fan of Trader Joes theres one past Next House near the Hyatt and a small one across the street from the Pru (sorry for these approximate directions, you can Google them if youd like to know more). I think a study published in The Tech actually found that Trader Joes was somewhat cheaper on average than Star Market food, but it depends based on what youre buying. Department Stores: Ive mostly shopped at CambridgeSide Galleria, which is a pretty good mall in Cambridge, and theres even a free shuttle from Kendall Square every 20 minutes or so (its not too far to walk, but can be a bit heavy with bags). You can also take the green line on the T to Downtown Crossing in Boston, and if youre looking for warm clothes theres Filenes Basement, Macys, TJ Max, and a pretty nice HM. Furniture: Theres a Target in Somerville take the Red Line to Lechmere, and then I think theres a bus from there? if youre looking for lamps, fans, etc. Theres also a Sears in the Galleria, where Neha and I got our fridge last year. If you want cheap and totally hip Swedish furniture, though, you can go to Ikea, which is about half an hour away by car (youd need to rent a car; Next House rents a bus to go every fall). Plus, because its totally Swedish, you can have interesting conversations like this one: MY FRIEND ALBERT: Man, this juice is so good. ME: What is it? MY FRIEND ALBERT: Klingon berry juice. (He meant Lingonberry.) Emily ponders: Just how necessary are laptops? Like when you say youve known people to survive for a while in Athena clusters..how long is a long time? A long time is maybe like two months, after which he (the one person I knew) caved and bought a refurbished one. Laptops are pretty necessary, because youll most likely need to use MATLAB at some point, whether youre an engineering, math, or science major. There are also humanities requirements (called CI-H, or Communications Intensive in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences) that expect you to write several papers per semester. If you choose to do so with on papyrus with a sharpened reed, thats up to you, but you wont be able to quickly find the facts you need on Wikipedia (i.e. what pogonotrophy is). Isshak wonders: How big are the tables in the classroom ? Because my computer is the large screen 17 type, so its pretty massive. It depends on the classroom. Classes in Stata tend to have giant surfaces you sit behind, for both your writing pleasure and also in case of a major natural disaster, but the pull-out desks in the Brain and Cognitive Science building (46) are so flimsy that theyll shatter under four sheets of binder paper. In those classes, I generally just put my computer on my lap. In most of the main classrooms (i.e. 10-250 and 54-100), the pull-out desks are both sturdy and sizeable, so I think you should be fine with a 17 laptop; if not, theyre pull-out, so you dont necessarily need to use them. Isshak has a question: Jess, I had a question, could you explain to us what rush dorm really is ? Because I didnt really understand how they place you. Do you answer questions like I would like to have my own bedroom, near school, great view) things like that ? The housing process really is one of the coolest parts of being an MIT freshman. During the summer, Housing sends you a booklet with a page written by each of the dorms, along with a DVD with short movies made by each of the dorms (the i3 videos, or Interactive Introduction to the Institute, can be found here). You read, and watch, and then fill out a preference sheet online with a few words about yourself (no need to re-copy your college essay; think more of a personal ad). Youre also asked if youd prefer a single, double, triple, or quad, but while your preferences are taken into account, they dont necessarily mean youll get what you want (as its a lottery). You get temped in a dormitory, where you live for a week (or two if you choose to do a pre-orientation program) which is a time period called REX, or Residence Exploration, during which youre highly encouraged to check out the other dorms available to you. After that week you fill out another preference sheet, during which you can try to lottery into another dorm or elect to stay in your current dorm. This is not the case for Next House and McCormick, which are Residence-Based Advising dorms and thus will not allow you to move out of those dorms if you pref one of them. And now that Ive fully blown off an entire evening of studying, Im going to stop listening to Gloria Estefan, turn off the internet, and try to do some work. But please keep asking questions!

The Ideal Man and the Flawed Pursuit of Perfection - Literature Essay Samples

Both Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun and Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved are works that deal predominately with race, but feature vastly different subject matter. Beloved features a group of people haunted by the memory of slavery and learning what it takes to begin to overcome it, while A Raisin in the Sun features a family in the late 1950’s grappling with systemic racism and trying to figure out whether to challenge it, or to submit to it. However, despite their differences in plot, both works deal with the subject of masculinity in the same way. Both Beloved (147-148) and A Raisin in the Sun (108-109) portray the image of the ideal man as a double-edged sword; while the image of the ideal man is well-intentioned as a standard for perfection, the pursuit of that perfection drives men to make decisions and take on character traits that are flawed, and in some cases contradictory, to the very image they are trying to epitomize. Walter Lee Younger gives his definition of what it means to be an ideal man on pages 108-109 in A Raisin in the Sun. He begins by telling his son â€Å"When you ‘bout seventeen years old, I’ll come home pretty tired, you know what I mean, after a long day of conferences and secretaries getting things wrong the way they do†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Cause an executive’s life is hell, man.† (Hansberry 108). Although he describes an executive’s life as being â€Å"hell†, it is in fact exactly the sort of life he wants because it includes several elements he perceives as necessary in order to be a man. First and foremost, Walter Lee dreams of coming home â€Å"pretty tired†, indicating he has put in a rather difficult day at work. The image of going out, working hard, and coming home tired is reminiscent of the image of men going out to hunt and coming home with food. Although there is nothing wrong with aspiring to work hard, using an image of men that is thousands of years old to define modern men is unhealthy as it puts undue amount pressure on Walter Lee to be the sole provider for his family, and leads him to see Ruth and women in general as being beneath him. His sexist view that women are less capable, which likely stems from the archaic idea of men needing to be the provider, is evident in the line, â€Å"secretaries getting things wrong the way they do† (Hansberry 108). Considering the fact that most secretaries were women in the late 1950’s, the line shows that in his ideal world women are less capable than him and more prone to making mistakes. While his ambition to climb to the top of the ladder of success is admirable and gives his life positive direction, the same image that makes him ambitious makes him sexist, and is what ultimately causes him to invest so much money in the liquor store deal, which he did in order to feel fulfilled as a provider. As Walter Lee continues to talk about how his life as a n ideal man would be, he reiterates his desire for success as well as his view of the place of women, but he goes a step further when he says, â€Å"And I’ll pull the car up on the driveway†¦ just a plain black Chrysler, I think, with white walls—no—black tires. More elegant. Rich people don’t have to be flashy. Though I’ll get something a little sportier for Ruth—Maybe a Cadillac convertible for her to go shopping in† (Hansberry 109). In this line, the reader is introduced to the ostentatious aspect present in the image of the real man. For Walter Lee, it is not enough to only be successful in his work; he has to make sure everybody knows it. He says he would just want a â€Å"plain black Chrysler† but the cost of buying a Chrysler in 1959 would be comparable to buying a Camaro in 2015 (adjusted for inflation). He also makes a point of saying he would want the car to show off his wealth in saying â€Å"black tires†¦ Rich people don’t have to be flashy.† This sentiment leads the reader to the conclusion that Walter Lee is not only ambitious, but competitive, and that he needs to feel other people are below him before he can feel fulfilled. Furthermore, he comes off as sexist again in saying he would provide Ruth with a car â€Å"for her to go shopping in.† Walter Lee’s desire to have nice cars and provide for his family because he wants to be a real man is by no means deplorable; however, the way that desire to be â€Å"a real man† manifests itself in his attitude towards women and his need to be better than those around him leads Walter Lee to make poor decisions and makes him a flawed character. Walter Lee expresses his competitive nature again in discussing having a gardener. Walter Lee says that when he is successful (or feels that he is a man) he will â€Å"come up the steps to the house, and the gardener will say, ‘Good evening, Mr. Younger’ And I’ll say ‘Hello, Jefferson, how are you doing this evening?† (Hansberry 109). Walter Lee wanting to have a gardener working around the house is ironic because he works in a similar position as a chauffeur and hates it, but seems to be willing to put someone else in that situation in order to feel fulfilled as a man. Walter Lee having a servant also alludes to the masculine urge to dominate and conquer. Walter Lee’s willingness to â€Å"dominate† another person just as he has been, despite his feelings about his own situation shows how powerful the image of the ideal man is and far people can be driven to embody that image. In the last part of the passage in which Walter Lee describes what it means to be a man, he fantasizes about what he will be able to do for his son. Walter Lee tells Travis that on his seventeenth birthday, he will ask Travis â€Å"what is it you’ve decided? Just tell me where you want to go to school and you’ll go. Just tell me, what it is you want to be—and you’ll be it†¦ whatever you want to be—Yessir! You just name it son†¦ and I hand you the world! (Hansberry 109). Walter Lee’s promise to provide Travis with a better life than his is touching. It is the archetypal dream of father’s to want to provide a better life for their children. However, Walter Lee’s promise to give Travis the world is far from only attempting to give Travis the opportunity for a better life. The image of Walter Lee handing his son the world is reminiscent of Zeus forcing Atlas to hold the world on his shoulders, indicating that inheriting â€Å"the world† from Walter Lee, i.e. Walter Lee†™s hopes, dreams, and accomplishments, would put a heavy burden on Travis, much in the same way Walter’s legacy puts a great burden on Walter Lee. Additionally, the action of giving Travis the world seems to be another act of ostentation for Walter Lee, as â€Å"the world† encompasses everything, and while giving Travis the world shows Walter Lee’s devotion to his son, it also shows others that he has a lot to give away. As selfless as the act of â€Å"giving the world† to someone sounds, because Walter Lee is doing it to feel more like a man it becomes much more of a selfish act. Throughout A Raisin in the Sun, masculinity is portrayed as being both well-intended and being a corrupting influence. Walter Lee has the best of intentions when he talks about wanting to work hard, wanting to provide for Ruth and Travis, and wanting to be a good role model in order to be a real man. At the same time, in his pursuit of being the ideal man, he becomes more sexi st, competitive, condescending, selfish, stubborn, and impulsive than he otherwise would be. asserts that living up to the image of the ideal man is a difficult balancing act between being capable, self-sufficient, and secure, and constantly needing to reassert one’s capabilities in order to feel secure. Toni Morrison expands upon the idea of positive masculinity being difficult to attain on pages 147-148 in Beloved. Faced with consistent sexual abuse and emasculation from Beloved, Paul D reflects on his time at Sweet Home before Schoolteacher took over, before he was imprisoned in Alfred Georgia, and when he felt most like a man. In reminiscing, he thinks, â€Å"of all the Blacks in Kentucky, only five of them were men† (Morrison 147). He quickly makes a distinction between being male and being a man, as there were certainly more than five black males in the entire state of Kentucky, while there were only five men. This distinction informs the reader that it is not enough to only be a man physically. Rather, in order to truly be a man one must embody a certain set of special qualities or attributes, which he discusses throughout the rest of the passage. In making manhood a status exclusive to only a select group of males, being a man becomes an idea akin to being beautiful in the sense that they are both nearly unattainable though prescriptive states of being. Paul D goes on to support the idea that ideal masculinity is nearly unattainable when he mentions being â€Å"[a]llowed, encouraged to correct Garner, even defy him† made him feel like a man (Morrison 147). Although it granted him some feeling of independence and power, being allowed to defy someone is paradoxical. While Paul D speaks favorably about his feeling of independence under Garner, the fact of the matter is Garner owned him, which created a poisonous albeit peaceful relationship between the two in which Paul D felt that he had some independence and therefore could be a man while Garner knew that he owned Paul D and therefore felt no need to assert his dominance ove r him. Through this relationship Morrison submits that the idea of manhood is practically unattainable, as the only black males in Kentucky who felt like men never really had the independence that made them feel like men in the first place. As Paul D continues to describe his treatment at Sweet Home under Mr. Garner, he mentions many of the same elements of manhood that Walter Lee does in A Raisin in the Sun, as well as their double-sided nature. Paul D first reflects that he was encouraged â€Å"[t]o invent ways of doing things; to see what was needed and attack it without permission (Morrison 147). While the first part of the sentence which pertains to inventing involves production and making a positive contribution to the society at Sweet Home, the second half of the sentence describes â€Å"attacking without permission† which is an extremely violent image that draws the mind of the reader to assault and battery. While both invention and attacking without permission stem from capability and independence, which are the elements of masculinity that Paul D longs for throughout the book, one leaves a decidedly positive impact while the other leaves a very negative impact. The inclusion of inventing and attacking consecutively in the same line is Morrison qualifying what it means to be a man as an ideal that has the potential to lead men to do both great and terrible acts. Morrison then describes some of the terrible acts men have the potential to do in greater detail as Paul D lists a few more freedoms he had under Garner, which include the ability â€Å"to buy a Mother, choose a horse or a wife, handle guns†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Morrison 147). Paul D’s statement that the ability to â€Å"buy a Mother† made him feel more like a man not only shows that he shares Walter Lee’s sexist view that men are dominant over women, but it also points to how the institution of slavery impacted Paul D’s perception of what it means to be a man. The image of the ideal man suggests that men must always be in control of their lives. In the case of slavery, the only model of control that Paul D has to work with is the slave owner, Garner. In watching Garner buying and selling people, Paul D conflates the idea of being in control with having the ability to buy and sell people, causing him to think the ability to â€Å"buy a Mother† makes him m ore like a man. While normally gaining control of one’s life is an important part of the maturation process, it is here shown to be a corrupted virtue that negatively impacts Paul D’s worldview. His corrupted view of control is shown again in the next line, in which he says he enjoyed the ability to â€Å"choose a horse or a wife† (Morrison 147). Again, he has been convinced that he should see livestock and women as products to be bought and sold because Garner, the â€Å"real man†, sees them that way. He finishes the line with remembering being allowed to â€Å"handle guns† which brings the idea of men using war and destruction in order to assert their dominance the scene. Morrison demonstrates that the ideals that make up the ideal man can be distorted at an individual level and lead people who want to live up to that image astray. In the next section of the passage, Paul D begins to wonder whether or not he was really a man with Garner as he ask s himself â€Å"Is that it? Was that where manhood lay? In the naming done by a whiteman who was supposed to know? Who gave them the privilege not of working but of deciding how to?† It is at this point at Paul D realizes that his idea of what a man is has been entirely based on Garner’s definition of what a man is. He wonders if, because Garner is a â€Å"whiteman† and a slave owner, he actually does know what it means to be a man. However, despite all the questions that Paul D raises, he brushes them aside when he maintains that â€Å"No. In their relationship with Garner was true metal: they were believed and trusted, but most of all they were listened to (Morrison 147). Paul D expresses the basic need for men to feel as if they matter. Because Garner believed, trusted, and listened to Paul D, Paul D is convinced that Garner saw him as a man. However, by using the word â€Å"metal† which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as being â€Å"[u]sually as a mass, noun. Hard, shiny, malleable material of the kind originally represented by gold, silver, copper, etc., esp. as used in the manufacture of objects, artefacts, and utensils† (Metal), Morrison suggests that Garner’s relationship with Paul D was one that appeared to be strong but was actually based in value, easily shapeable, and important to productivity. From this definition of metal the reader can deduce that Garner used the image of the ideal man to manipulate his slaves, and that by stroking their ego, feeding their pride, and making them feel like men, he was able to get more out of them, for if he really saw his slaves as men he would have likely set them free. This is another example of the image of the ideal man having a negative impact on Paul D, as his pursuit of it allowed Garner to easily take advantage of him. Paul D recalls the day he realized that the man he thought he was only existed on Sweet Home. He says that for he and the other workers at Sweet Home, â€Å"One step off that ground and they [would be] trespassers among the human race. Watchdogs without teeth; steer bulls without horns; gelded work horses whose neigh and whinny could not be translated into a language responsible humans spoke† (Morrison 148). Having realized that his manhood was simply handed to him out of convenience, Paul D felt as if it was not really a part of him, and immediately thought of himself as less of a person, which is another dangerous aspect about the image of the ideal man. It does not exist on a spectrum; either someone is or someone is not a man. In this case, Paul D feels that he cannot be the ideal man in the outside world, so he identifies more with an animal than a person, specifically a farm animal, and more specifically, a farm animal that has been rendered useless. Through this sentenc e, Morrison asserts that although having a standard for men to strive for is good, that same standard makes men feel useless for not being perfect, which is not good. As Paul D returns to thinking about the constant sexual abuse and emasculation he faces from Beloved, he becomes enraged. He recalls everything he had been through at Sweet Home, Alfred, Georgia, and on his journey northward and is ashamed that he feels so defeated now at 124. He recounts that it was he who had â€Å"eaten raw meat barely dead, who under plum trees bursting with blossoms had crunched through a dove’s breast before its heart stopped beating. Because he was a man and a man could do what he would† (Morrison 148). In these lines, Morrison uses the image of man eating raw meat to evoke images of the hunt, and ties it into man killing the peace dove to perfectly illustrate the duality present in masculinity. While it promises capability and independence, it can also carry a mercilessly destruct ive element. Morrison concludes the passage on Paul D’s masculinity with the reason for the ideal man’s duality, and what is arguably the most alluring yet terrifying aspect of the ideal masculinity: â€Å"Because he was a man and a man could do what he would.† Paul D longs for the freedom to do what he wants associated with â€Å"being a man† but tragically, as Morrison points out, the ideal man Paul D wants to be may not exist. Both Toni Morrison and Lorraine Hansberry approach the idea of the ideal man as a conceptually good idea that has the potentially devastating consequences for both the man aspiring to be ideal and those around him. Walter and Paul D both want to be providers, they both want to work hard, they both want purpose, and they both want to be people who are in control of their own destiny, independent, and capable. However, trying to live up to that image causes both Paul D and Walter to adopt unhealthy attitudes towards women, and to become at times more aggressive, egotistical, controlling and helplessly fragile, as their struggle to become men tears both of them apart. While their goal is not morally reprehensible, they become characters who at times are morally reprehensible because of how difficult society’s dream of masculinity is to realize. If being a man did not necessarily mean having to be a perfect man, it is possible that Walter Lee would not have made the same bad decis ions he did with Mama’s money, and that Paul D would not have to feel so ashamed of himself. However, they both feel such pressure to live up to the standard of the ideal man in order to qualify as a man at all that they are led to make poor choices they do not want to make and put in situations they do not want to be in. Morrison and Hansberry suggest that when men are allowed to be flawed, and when they can accept that they are flawed, they will likely come closer to being the men they want to be than ever before. Works Cited Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Random House, 1959. Print. Metal, n. OED Online. Oxford University Press, November 2015. Web. 23 November 2015. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987. Print.