Monday, January 27, 2020

Cultural Traits Of Lysistrata Analysis Religion Essay

Cultural Traits Of Lysistrata Analysis Religion Essay It is interesting to see how much culture varies from one civilization to another across the world and throughout history, but amazingly enough they all have many similarities. By reading these ancient poems and stories, I can relate too many of their cultural traits. I find the Greek culture to be the most interesting, and through the literature such as Aristophanes Lysistrata, I can see many cultural similarities. From the story Lysistrata, the women of Greece join together to voice their opinion that they should be treated as equals. The Peloponnesian War is taking place during the story and all the women are left at home alone because their husbands are off fighting in the war. The women are tired of their husbands being gone and want the war to end before all of Greece is destroyed. Led by Lysistrata, the women of Greece join together and take over the Akropolis and devise a plan to end the war by withholding sex from the men. From this culture we see that women are presumed to be kind of a slave for the men. Their duties should be the care of the house and the children. Cooking, cleaning, sewing and pleasing the husband were their jobs. Even in our culture today these things are considered to be the womans responsibilities. Their opinions did not matter to the men and were better left unsaid, the same as our culture in earlier years. Even today the opinion of a woman does not matter to som e men. They are believed to be not as intelligent as the man and should only concern themselves with house hold chores, caring for the children, and pleasing the husband. The men of this culture were dominant over the women and fought the wars, took care of the finances and headed the government. All of the decisions for Greece and the people of Greece were made by the men. Through Lysistrata, we can clearly see that the woman of Greece are tired of being treated as thought they were inferior, a common problem that we have had throughout our culture and history and probably always will. They believed they should have some influence in the government as well as the household, and that their opinion should be taken into consideration. In order for the women to be taken seriously, they withheld sex from the men and locked themselves in the Akropolis, vowing not to return home until the war had ended and their opinions be heard equally alongside the men. This fight for womens rights has been seen throughout our cultural history as well and seems, in a way, to still be going on today. The Greek culture and most of our culture has been dominated by the man. Our country was founded and ran by the men, with the women having many of the same responsibilities as the Greek women did in the story of Lysistrata. The Greek men did not believe the women had the right to have a say in the government or with matters of war, the same as the men throughout our cultural history. The same battle that is being fought by the women in Lysistrata for their rights has been fought by the women of our culture. The Greek men finally learned a lesson. They gave into the women and listened to what they had to say and ended the war, vowing that the women would have a say in things. This is similar to our culture in that, since the fight for womens rights has begun, they are now allowed to be government officials, hold jobs outside of the home, and even fight in wars. Another cultural trait of the Greek people was the worship of many Gods. Many of the ancient cultures back then believed in and worshiped more than one God. The people built their lives around these Gods. They lived in fear of these Gods and obeyed all of what they were told. They would have dreams and visions of these Gods or events of the future and believed they would come true since the Gods put it before their eyes. All that they did revolved around the worship of these Gods, even in their battles, they fought the way they believed the Gods wanted. They fought for the Gods with all they had never to do them unjust or have them disgraced. Unlike today where many people in our culture do not even worship a God or either show little in their respect or love for him. Our culture differs from the ancient Greeks, in that we are a monotheistic culture. We only believe in one God where as the Greeks had a dozen or more Gods. While the Greek culture revolved around the Gods, our religiou s culture, it seems, is slowly dying. You can see the importance of these Gods to the Greek culture by the many different statues and monuments they built to honor them. They made separate statues and monuments to worship each one of these Gods. You can also see the importance of the Gods through their literature. Almost every story or poem that I have read from the ancient Greeks has references to the gods and many are written about the Gods. We do not see this in our culture today since most of our literature contains nothing about our God. Our culture as a whole probably shows less respect or loyalty for our God than the Greeks did even for the least important God they had. Though many years apart, it is interesting to see how the cultural traits vary from one culture to the next throughout history. It is clearly seen, by reading the ancient poems and stories of the Greeks, how our culture and theirs compare and contrast. Although there are many different beliefs between our present culture and the ones of the past, many of their traits seem to have been carried over and are still present in our culture today.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

How William Shatner Changed the World

The documentary â€Å"How William Shatner Changed the World† is about the global effect that the original series of Star Trek had on technology throughout the world. The documentary talks about the technology that currently existed when Star Trek originally came out in 1966 and its comparison to the ‘futuristic' technology that was onboard the Star Trek ship the ‘Enterprise'. This ‘futuristic' technology onboard the enterprise sparked a revolution in the world's technology and inspired many to make technology similar to the ones on Star Trek.Many film techniques are used in this documentary not only to make the documentary interesting, but humourous as well. Some of these film techniques include various camera shots, archival footage and montages to name a few. In the beginning of the documentary, William Shatner is talking and is driving his car and whilst he is driving it there are many jump shots between his car and segments of Star Trek. The effect of thi s gives you insight of what the documentary is mainly about.In this documentary many inventors make an appearance in the documentary and talk about how Star Trek inspired them to invent their technology e. g. Martin Cooper who was the inventor of the cell phone the shots used when all of them are talking are medium shots that capture their face and upper torso. This gives off the feeling that the people look close and also so that the camera men can capture them using arm gestures. The use of archival footage is used a lot throughout this documentary showing mainly clips of Star Trek relating to the topic that William Shatner is narrating about.This makes it easy to show what the ‘futuristic' technology Star Trek had at the time so we can see and compare it to today's modern technology that we take for granted. One of the more interesting film techniques that was used in the documentary was a segue which was used when William Shatner walked up to a giant rock, then an edit was used to show archival footage of him as an younger actor in a Star Trek episode fighting an alien, and as an alien throws the rock, the current William Shatner comes back into view and catches the rock.This use of one motif being the rock used in two scenes to link each other is a slightly humourous segue. Other film techniques used in this documentary are camera angles where William Shatner deliberately moves the camera up and down making him look slightly different from both angles. Editing is also used throughout the documentary a lot for example when William Shatner was narrating and the camera was upon him, jump cuts are used switching to different shots of him like close ups, long shots and crane shots.This editing makes William Shatner's narration more interesting and funny. â€Å"How William Shatner Changed the World† is an example of a great documentary that uses its film techniques wisely and with good timing, not to mention the documentary has a very good context that appeals to many viewers because of its witty humour.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: A Few Reflections Essay

All of us, no matter what our station in life, have dreams. These dreams may be vibrant and alive, pulsating in our entire being; or they may be dead, perhaps worn down by the weight of the years and the affairs of daily life. For the people who nourish great, expansive dreams in their heart, each day is full of meaning and direction. But for those who have let their dreams fade, life, no matter how pleasurable it may be, is empty of real fulfillment. Only those who chase their dreams, no matter what the difficulty, will be able make something of themselves, living a life of their own choice. In Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, we have the story of Santiago, a young shepherd who dreams of buried treasure in the Pyramids of Egypt. He chases his dream, leaving behind all that he knew. He encounters difficulty after difficulty, and more than once comes face to face with his imminent death. Indeed, until the very end of the novel, it seems as if Santiago will perish in a distant land without having reached his goal. And yet, through circumstances that he could not have foreseen, he eventually obtains his treasure – both in gold and wisdom. The Religious Journey Called Life There are many parallels between Santiago’s experiences in the book and the spiritual journey that we all must take up. His journey, set off by a recurrent dream, speaks to us of the goals and aims that we hold dear to our hearts. And, like him, we may ignore the persistent voice of our inner self in order to pursue short-sighted objectives, being aware of our possibilities but afraid of leaving a familiar world behind. We all have a purpose in life that no one else can fulfill but us. We are put on earth to carry out particular mission, a task that we are well-suited to, in spite of our limited self-concept and our current circumstances. And, oftentimes, the most important thing we can do is to simply get started. Christians have no difficulty believing in a purpose set by God, and yet too many people shrink from what seems to be the Herculean efforts that will be required of them to see it through. When they do this, they show how little faith they have in the wisdom and grace of God. After all, would an all-knowing, all-powerful being set a task for a man that he cannot bear? In all actuality, it is man who doubts his capacity, seeking to make his life more manageable by circumscribing it, rather than making it the exquisite and meaningful adventure that it was meant to be. Like Santiago, we all have to be able to give up our day-to-day affairs in order to pursue a higher goal. In and by itself, the routine of daily life is not very meaningful, especially if we are aware that there is something greater that must be accomplished. The first time that we step out to do something about our goals, we will be hit by the fear of uncertainty, which will be aided in large part by the opinions of people around us. If, for instance, you feel called to travel the world for a few years, you will be hit by myriad concerns. Where will the money come from? Will I have a job when I get back? What will people think of me? These concerns, relatively trivial when beholding a one’s purpose in life, appear much more important to us than they should, in part because there will always be people around to convince us that what we propose to do is impractical – even crazy. Even Jesus’ injunction to â€Å"take no thought for the morrow,† though well-known by all who profess the Christian faith, has often easily been swept aside by more pragmatic considerations. The Alchemist: A Christian Book? Christian similarities notwithstanding, those who wish to see The Alchemist as a purely Christian book are bound to be disappointed. Indeed, the book makes as much out of Islamic principles as it does Christian ones. Also, the very title itself is suggestive of the occult, for established Christianity has historically viewed alchemy as little more than the work of the Devil himself. Putting these narrow considerations aside, however, anyone should be able to see that the true value of The Alchemist lies in the universality of its message. All religion, in it purest form, aims to transcend daily life and come into communion with the divine reality. In the end, connection with the divine cannot be distilled into practiced systems of moral behavior, or in the practice of rituals. One must learn to listen within, to get in touch with the divine spark that resides in each person. Only by persisting in this quest – this journey – can we gain the inner strength required to find our own individual â€Å"treasure. †

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Requirements For A Successful Accountant - 1609 Words

The Requirements to be A Successful Accountant Accounting, which has been called the language of business, includes different types of economic activities like preparing and checking the records that are related to finance. An accountant’s task is to make sure that the records are written accurately and the taxes are paid timely. Furthermore, the job is to examine the accounting books and accounting systems officially to keep them up to date. Nowadays, accounting is known as a popular business-related major. More and more people decide to become different types of accountants because of the successfulness that the jobs can bring. Nonetheless, a large amount of accounting college students is failed to find a position to work after their†¦show more content†¦It is possible to gain a job with a Bachelor degree; however, most candidates want to get the Master degree before they officially search for a place of work. Therefore, I need to transfer to an accounting university after I finish my associate degree in Busines s in Houston Community College. After I achieve my Bachelor degree of Accounting, I need to spend 2 more years to get a Master degree in Accounting. At this time, I will be qualified to take The Uniform CPA Examination and find a good position in high-demanding companies. It is also essential to take a look at the national rankings, CPA exam pass rates, and graduate employment statistics of the university I want to transfer. A good university will assist me on having a wide knowledge and enhance the potentials to have a great future. The examples of famous accounting universities that I should try my best to have an ability to transfer to are University of Texas, University of Florida, and University of Houston. Additionally, my performance in school has a great impact on my future career. When majoring in accounting, the required classes that need to be taken are Business Communication for Accountants, Introduction to Computer Applications and Systems, Principles of Accounting I, P rinciples of Accounting II, Contemporary Business Law, and Principles of Macroeconomics. These classes will give me the most helpful knowledge when I work as an accountant. Especially, I need to work as hard as