The House at the Center of the Family free essay sample

Birds chirping, wind blowing, balls bouncing. My grandparents’ backyard situated in North Andover, Massachusetts is the ideal place to visit during the dog days of summer. It lies between a quaint neighborhood park, which has recently been remodeled, and Sutton Street, the town’s busiest road. Children on bikes and babies in strollers race down the connecting road in front of the house waving to neighbors as they pass by. The delicate structure of the house is intricate. It is painted red with a wall of rusty red bricks wrapping around a wide rectangular window in front of the living room. Above the white front door are engraved swirls that roll over each other like waves in the ocean. Behind this dainty cape style home lies a sparkling blue pool. The radiant red orange light from the searing summer sun floats above this pool’s crystal blue waters creating a milky orange juice appearance. We will write a custom essay sample on The House at the Center of the Family or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My younger cousins wearing blue and green printed trunks fly high into the air as they jump from the diving board nearest the fence deep into the pool’s cooling water. Large water droplets dance through the air whenever one of their small scrawny bodies smacks the water. They reappear, shaking their heads back and forth, before swimming off to the shallow end to regroup with their cousins. Throughout the afternoon, they swim, laugh, and talk as our parents watch from green lawn chairs at the rear of the yard next to the black intertwined fence separating my grandparents’ yard from their neighbors’. My cousins, Emily, Ally, and Lucy, and I, surround the badminton court at the right of the pool. We break into teams- Lucy with Emily, myself with Ally- before we chase after the white feathered birdie, then hitting it with our elongated rackets as many times as we can in a row. We loop the birdie through the air, keeping it lifted off the ground. Every other week during the summer, my family gathers at my grandparents’ house for family cookouts. We all like to get together during the summer; not just because the weather is ideal in the summer but also because that is the only time we are able to see them, besides Christmas of course. My immediate family and I live about two hours away from the rest of our family. Therefore, it is inconvenient for us to travel up to my grandparents’ house on the weekends. We can only visit on occasion due to these time reasons. So when we all get together, we treasure every moment. It is as if we had been together nonstop; we talk as if no time has passed. For instance, my cousin Ally and I have been best friends since we were born. We are only seven months apart; she was born in October 1997 and I was born in May 1998. And when we see each other, we give each other a big hug and go off into the my grandparents’ living room to discuss everything new and important that is occurring in our lives at the given moment. We have grown close over the years; we are almost inseparable to this day some might say. When the sun sinks below the horizon after a long day of laughing in the pool and fooling around on the imaginary badminton court, my cousins and I adventure off to the basement with our wet chlorine drenched hair tied back in ponytails and our clothes anew. We sit in a circle on a soft red carpet that stretches across the entirety of the floor. This is when we play games. One of our favorite games is called â€Å"commercials.† Commercials is a game which requires us to create our own product and create a convincing commercial for it. The goal of the game is to create the funniest, most entertaining commercial we can possibly think of. We only get a 30 second time slot and only two minutes to think of how we will advertise the imaginary product given to us. We can use anything we can find in the basement to better suit the commercial. Whoever comes up with the most entertaining commercial receives the privilege of being first in line for my grandfather’s fresh-off-the-grill cheeseburgers. It’s not much, but it’s definitely worth it when there are 20 other family members already lined up ready to gobble up his juicy cheeseburgers. Other games we play are â€Å"Dance 101† which is a game we play that showcases our stylish dance moves, and â€Å"House† which is a game we play with our youngest cousins and roleplay life as adults with children. However these games do not call for a winner, so no free cut-the-line passes are given. Our imaginary games of make believe have always been a great bonding opportunity for all of us. North Andover, Massachusetts is a very important town in my life. It’s where immediate family originates from and my extended family currently resides. If it wasn’t for my grandparents’ house, I wouldn’t be so close with my family. Almost every family gathering takes place at their house. I have countless memories of my family at my grandparents’ house: swimming, badminton, walks to the neighborhood park, eating my grandfather’s juicy homemade burgers, or having silly competitions with my cousins. All of these have a special place in my heart. My family is very important to me and if it wasn’t for my grandparents’ house, we wouldn’t be so close.

Lovely People do Stupid things essays

Lovely People do Stupid things essays How is love to influence our lives? Love-struck people do crazy things to express how they care for that particular person yet it is a long and windy road to these actions. It is down this path that experience spawns and trouble and happiness are felt. Janie Crawford of Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows the road through the steps of her three relationships. These relationships, though not fulfilling ones, conclude in bettering Janies search and understanding of life. Johnny Taylor, Janies first kiss and gatekeeper to her future, When Janie was sixteen, she embarked on a sexual awakening. Johnny Taylor was a poor young man who lived in the Florida area. Janie allowed him to kiss her over the fence. Unfortunately, Nanny saw everything. With Nannys horrendous background of sinful deeds done to her, she wanted the best for Janie. As she saw the kiss, the doors of life opened for Janie and Nanny wasnt going to have her make the same mistakes that she had. Yet, Nanny had been impregnated under the circumstances of being a slave and this was not the case for Janie. Nanny stated that black women were the mules of the world, but she didn't want Janie to be a mule. She wanted to see Janie in a secure situation before she died, and Logan Killicks could provide that. Janie did not want to marry Logan, but she did so because Nanny told her that she would eventually come to love him. Ironically, Logan wanted to force Janie into the servitude that Nanny feared. Also, he was disappointed that Janie never returned his affection and attraction. If he could not possess her through love, he would possess her by demanding her submission. At heart, his actions arose from the fear that Janie would leave him. Two months after her marriage to Logan, Janie visited Nanny to ask when she would start loving him. Nanny berated Janie for not appreciat ...

Compare the characteristics of an operational database and a Essay

Compare the characteristics of an operational database and a dimensional database - Essay Example The data normalization for the operational database is required at a very high level to avoid the data redundancy. This type of databases is also referred to the â€Å"On-Line Transaction Processing† OLPT. This type of database is updated after every transaction and also represents the snapshot of a very current business situation. In an operation database, records are changed, updated, added and replaced. Relational model is used to compose operational systems with update and insert operations. Current databases are multidimensional, and technology is applied to distributed data. Large, complex, and high performance data is only facilitated by the dimensional database. For example, a sale manager wants to view the sale of a product for the particular region over a period. This is the dimensional view of data as higher dimensionality requires the high volume of data. The â€Å"On-Line analytical processing† known as OLAP enables the managers, analysts and professional to gain insight in view of information. An OLAP server supports the structures of the dimensional database. For dimensional databases, the multidimensional model is used to model the system. A company has multidimensional database of products, sales, finance, and employees. (IBM

Individual Research Project Sustainability and Food Essay

Individual Research Project Sustainability and Food - Essay Example This is because human beings are dependent to nature for its survivability. Thus, the need for human beings to preserve ecology and maintain it by regulating a healthy environment to live. Brundtland  (1987) stressed this when saying that sustainability is about maximizing resources without compromising the needs of future generations. This is recognizes the fact that nature is limited and that to sustain resources, people should be stewards of ecology. Harwood (1990) explicates that sustainability relates to agriculture where production of farm produce be done in methods or processes that ensures balanced utilization of resource and environment. Its should be complemented with social and economic design that upholds the standard of quality life (Pearce, Makandia & Barbier,1989) This is often manifested by producing goods that are organically-driven to preserve the fertility of the soil against commercial fertilizers and pesticides. Organic foods are perceived healthy and will not produce toxic enzymes that may affect human physiological system. Thus, sustainability is about preservation of ecosystems that are essential to life. This desire to sustain life substantially correlates with the kind of food served every meal. There were robust arguments which deliberated the vital significance of enhancing life by adopting a vegetarian lifestyle. Vegetarianism is a personal option, an ethical choice and a political statement. Often it is misperceived and thus, must be explicated in a wide range of health, ethical, religious, and historical issues on this perspective. The three basic vegetarian diets are lacto-ovo (milk, eggs included), lacto (no eggs), and vegan (no eggs, diary products or any foodstuffs made with eggs or dairy products). They abstain from food sourced from animal’s meat. Vegetarians were described as with lower weight, cholesterol level and blood pressures. Studies among dieticians

Commentary on the questionnaire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Commentary on the questionnaire - Essay Example Due to this fact, I oftentimes predisposed to being more of an evaluator of a situation and/or a particular issue. Although I realize that the test is not capable of analyzing or measuring each and every aspect of my personality, it is quite possible that I have overestimated my skills as an evaluator and should instead focus upon improving this particular aspect of my approach as a function of affecting a more positive outcome in the future. Interestingly, and somewhat surprisingly, the test denoted that irate and 11 out of 12 as far as being an â€Å"ideas person†. Whereas I have long prided myself with respect to the fact that I come up with potential solutions to issues and seek to engage teams in a positive way, the ranking of 11 out of 12 with respect to this category was not expected. In such a manner, this encourages me to continue this particular approach and engage team members with potential solutions and ideas as a means of effecting positive outcomes in the future. Furthermore, due to the fact that I have long held an interest in creativity and focused upon approaching issues from a standpoint that is uncommon to others, the potential for maximizing efficiency and benefit of being and ideas person comes to be represented to an even more full and complete degree. Additionally, as has been noted above, I have long understood myself to be both shy and somewhat in approachable in a situation that is defined by group interaction. Because of this, my scores with respect to leadership are rather low/moderate. Although ranking 6 out of 12 does not denote the fact that I am fearful of any level of leadership, it most certainly underscores the fact that I am not at ease or within a zone of comfort engaging with a position of leadership and directing others with respect to how they might best engage the tasks at hand. What was additionally noted had to do with the fact that I ranked relatively

Analysis of Changes in Wage Rates in India

Analysis of Changes in Wage Rates in India CACP – The data source which is an important source for wages in rural India unfortunately does not publish the wage data from these studies. The cost of cultivation scheme collects data from the selected household at regular intervals on all aspects of farm business. The valuation of human labor has always been a problematic issue for the CACP. There is however a number of limitations associated with this data such as lack of data for many crops, problem in aggregating the data from the state level, unavailability of data at the state level etc. The four reference points have been used to look at a change in the wage rate. However, the choice of reference points in the study have been limited to the years 1983 and 1987-88 in the 80’s and 1993-94 in the 90’s. AWI Wage Rate: It is the most widely used source for analyzing trends in wage rate for rural India. However, one given problem noticed by the researcher with respect to AWI is the time lag in the data and the method of aggregating all the data for th states and all India level. There were many studies performed to check the average wage rate of labourer in different parts of India by many previous researchers. However in all these studies used simple average of wage rates in different months to arrive at the annual figures. Also, all these studies used population of agricultural labourers’ from the census as weights to arrive at the wage rate. The average AWI wage rate is 30-40 percent higher as compared to the RLE/NSS estimates of wage rates. It was also studied that the AWI wage rates were found to be marginally upwards biased as compared to the FMS estimates of wages. A look at the wage trends from AWI since 1980-81 suggests that the wage rates have generally been higher in Punjab, Haryana, and Kerala as compared to the other states in the 80’s. However, by the end of 1990, Gujarat and West Bengal have seen to have made a significant contribution and is closer to the traditional high wage rates. Rajasthan, on the other hand which was closer to the traditional high wage rates has fallen behind and is considerably lower than Kerala, Punjab and Haryana. The states on the lower ends of the wage rate are Orissa, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh. Kerala’s wage rate is found to be three times those in Orissa and in Punjab and Haryana they are twice the wage rate in Orissa. Wages have continued to grow in all three time periods but there was a significant slowdown in the wage rate during the period 1987-88 and 93-94. For the period 1987-88 to 1993-94, which also included the year of the financial crisis and the conseque nt economic reforms, wage rates show a deceleration in almost all the states as well as the all India level. This decline in the growth of wages is sharper for Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, and Karnataka. Wage trends from CACP – In the study it was found out that this wage rate had been created by aggregating over crops using crop specific weights for individual states. Wage rates from CACP are generally found to correlate well with the AWI series in spite of the differences in methodology of collection of data. In fact, for both 1983 and 1987-88, wage rates from CACP show a very high correlation coefficient of 0.95 with the AWI wage rates. It was also analyzed in the study that wage rates from CACP show better growth rates in 1987-88 and 1993-94 as compared to the AWI series. Rajasthan turns out to be an exception which showed markedly improved wage rates as showed by AWI wage series. Even for other states, CACP does not show as sharp a deceleration as AWI. Maharashtra on the other hand shows sharp deceleration in the wage rate during 1987-88 and 1993-94. NSS – These wage rates were found to be statistically more significant and reliable than that of AWI or CACP because of their consistent and superior sampling framework but they also allow for a much higher level of disaggregation. The wage rates reported by NSS for males for agricultural occupations are considerably lower than the wage rates reported by AWI. It was further studied that the NSS rates were very well correlated with the rates of AWI series with a correlation coefficient of around 0.9 in the 1980’s, 0.87 in 1993-94 and 0.95 in 1999-00. However, again for most states there was a deceleration in the growth rate during the next sub period that is, between 1987-88 and 1993-94. Except for the state of Gujarat, deceleration was seen for almost all states. Gaps between agricultural and non agricultural wages narrowed down considerably in Punjab and Rajasthan. West Bengal and Karnataka were found to be the states having the lowest divergence between agricultural a nd non agricultural activities. Comparison between agricultural and non agricultural activities gender wise was also performed. It was analyzed that the growth rates in these activities in males suggested that in 1983-84 and 87-88 agricultural wages grew faster than non agricultural wages. For females, however non agricultural wages grew faster than agricultural wages. RLE/ALE wage trends – RLE uses a subset of households from the NSS employment and unemployment quinquennial surveys. The household types are either self employed in agriculture, non agriculture, agriculture labour, other labour and others. A comparison of the wage rate from the NSS and the RLE reveal that there is a high degree of correlation between them especially in the 1990. This is true not only at the all India level but also at the state level. For the period from 1983-1987, growth rates from RLE were shown to be 70-80 percent higher than the ones shown by the NSS series in the study. The growth rate of the NS were similar to those studied by AWI or CACP for many states, however the RLE suggests growth rates higher than any of these. Further it was also studied that the growth rate of wages in agriculture are much higher than those suggested by NSS or CACP or AWI. There was also an inter range comparison done in this study to check the difference in wages under the RLE scheme. It was analyzed that comparing the 1977 RLE scheme to that of 1983, real wage rates declined by almost 10 percent for the latter. Such a decline in wage rate is not accompanied by any other wage estimates including those from NSS. WRRI Wage rates from eleven agricultural operations and seven non agricultural operations. For wage rates for agricultural operations, simple average of sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, winnowing and threshing was taken as the representative wages. The analysis in the study was based for the years 1990-2000 and 2002-03. It was studied that the wage rates from WRRI for agriculture than those reported by NSS and RLE for males and almost 60 percent higher for females. WRRI estimates of wage rates are found to be closer to the CACP or AWI estimates because of similarity in methodology and sources. WRRI is the only estimate that is available after 1999-00. It was further analyzed in the study that the wage rates between male and female for agricultural occupations as well as non agricultural occupations have grown in real terms. Coming to the state wise analysis, Bihar and Orissa are the states that saw the highest growth rates of wages for both males and females. The other st ate that achieved close to 10 percent per annum growth rate of wages is Kerala. Apart from Kerala, the other two states – Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu saw slower growth rates of wages. Uttar Pradesh having a large concentration of poor and rural labourers witnessed growth rates of less than two percent in both agricultural and non agricultural operations.

Wilson Disease Essay example -- Health, Homeostatis

A patient presented with symptoms that suggested she might be schizophrenic. With many conditions mimicking schizophrenia, the doctor reviewed the notes from the family and noticed the patient had missed an eye doctor appointment. The physician, very aware an exam could confirm or refute a diagnosis, requested an eye examination be performed. Kayser-Fleischer rings were present in the cornea of her eyes. These rings are deposits of copper and sulfur granules and are greenish-gold in color. They are not always present; however, when they are, they are a classic identifier of Wilson disease. (Holtz, 2006, pp.108-109) Therefore, the eye exam confirmed a diagnosis of Wilson disease for this patient. While working in England during the early 1900’s, Alexander Kinnear Wilson, an American neurologist, described the disease. (Schilsky & Brewer, 2009) As with many things, because he was the one who originally described it, it is named after him. Wilson disease is also referred to as hepatolenticular degeneration. (Mayo Clinic, 2009). It is a genetic, chronic disease that stores up excess copper in the liver. Accumulation of excess copper begins at birth. (Children’s Hospital of Pittsburg, 2010) Copper is an essential trace metal vital to human health, requiring a small, regular intake to maintain homeostatis. According to Copperinfo (2011), â€Å"At least 20 enzymes contain copper and at least 10 of these require copper to function.† The brain, the skin, the heart and the immune system all need copper. Ingested copper is absorbed in the stomach and small intestine. From there, it enters the bloodstream, making its way to the liver. (Copperinfo, 2011) A healthy liver serves as a filter. Part of its functionality is metabolizing carbohydr... ...cinnati Children’s Hospital, 2009). A normal liver adequately filters and removes toxins from the body through the urine or bile. A lack of copper homeostatis in a diseased, damaged liver obstructs this process. This excess accumulation of copper in the liver is Wilson disease. Inherited mutated genes, one from each parent, cause the disease. If only one mutated gene is passed on, then the individual is just a carrier and will never be diagnosed with Wilson disease. It is prevalent worldwide, including several different ethnic groups. It most often affects children and teens from ages 10 to 20 years old. Occasionally there are exceptions and we see diagnoses of Wilson’s in children as young as three and adults over the age of 50. Treatment is available that, if continued for a lifetime, will maintain copper homeostatis and the patient will live a good life.