Life And Works Of Robert Mapplethorpe Film Studies Essay

Life And Works Of Robert Mapplethorpe Film Studies Essay The third of six children, Robert Mapplethorpe was born into a working-class Catholic family in Floral Park, Long Island on November 4th 1946. His childhood and adolescence were difficult because of his gawky physicality, his brothers athletic and academic success and his own early demonstration of artistic talent. After an accelerated career in high school, Mapplethorpe entered the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to study technical illustration and where he became a member of the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) in a bid to placate his father who disapproved of his artistic ambitions. Because of his experimentation with hippy culture and his fathers hostility, he never completed his degree at Pratt; instead he moved to Manhattan just before the summer of 1969. Mapplethorpes early artistic endeavours focused on collage work with found objects and jewellery design. In 1970 a fellow resident of the Chelsea Hotel introduced him to photography with the gift of a Polaroid camera and Mapplethorpe started by experimenting with self-portraits. Mapplethorpe had his first one-man show in November 1970, but did not achieve recognition in the New York art world until 1977. On February 4th 1977, Mapplethorpe had joint shows at the Holly Solomon Gallery and the Kitchen. Although both shows were organised by Solomon, the mainstream exhibition featured his flowers and portraits while the avant-garde exhibit consisted of his sex pictures. This segregation of subject matter would continue throughout Mapplethorpes career. Just over a decade later, Mapplethorpe was the subject of retrospectives in Amsterdam, London and the United States. In July of 1988 the Whitney Museum of American Art honoured Mapplethorpe with a retrospective exhibition, their first for a photographer. In December 1988, a slightly larger retrospective, The Perfect Moment, opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Mapplethorpe was able to experience his rise to the pinnacle of the art world, but, as he commented to numerous interviewers, he was unable to take advantage of the fame. He died from complications related to Aids on March 9th 1989. Memorial services were held at the Catholic Church Mapplethorpe had attended as a child in Floral Park and at the Whitney Museum in New York. Populated mainly with members of New York Citys social and artistic elite, Robert Mapplethorpes book of portraits, Certain People, has a title with more than one possible meaning as noted in Susan Sontags essay. There is certain in the sense of some and not others; and certain in the sense of self-confident, sure, clear. Certain People are, mostly, people found, coaxed or arranged into a certainty about themselves. That is what seduces, that is what is disclosed in these bulletins of a great photographers observations and encounters. Although they are not famous in the same way as Annie Liebovitz, Philip Glass or Bruce Chatwin people who appear in Certain People Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter are exceptional in their own right. In their stance and with their defiant gaze, they have the same self-assurance as the celebrities that Mapplethorpe photographed. His camera treats them with the same dignity as that reserved for Lord Snowdon or Louise Bourgeois. Their portrait exemplifies many of the formal and thematic concerns that inform Mapplethorpes larger body of work. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter (1979) (fig. 1) is a portrait staged according to the conventions of the royal couple portrait of Enlightenment Europe or the formal family portrait of the Victorian Age. Ridley and Heeter are centred in the frame and positioned frontally with respect to the viewer. Ridley is seated with Heeter standing at his side. The setting for the portrait is clearly domestic, presumably the living room of the couple. The heavy buttoned wing-backed leather chair in which Ridley is seated, the Oriental carpet beneath his feet, the modern lines of the console table to his right as well as the objets dart on the various surfaces indicate a degree of taste and wealth. The just-so arrangement of the furniture clearly signifies a gay male aesthetic of a particular kind. The parallel costuming of Ridley and Heeter indicate a gay male aesthetic of a very different but equally stylised kind. Heeter stands to Ridleys left casually holding two metal rings from which hangs a chain connected to the studded leather collar around Ridleys neck. In his left hand, Heeter holds a riding crop, angled toward Ridley, resting inside the arm of the chair, in ominous proximity to Ridleys body; much as a rider would hold it against the flank of his mount. Heeter is adorned in full leather drag: cap, jacket, studded belt, cod-piece trousers and biker boots. To emphasise the confidence with which he carries his power, he leans against Ridleys chair and crosses his right foot over his left in a relaxed, semi-swaggering stance. Ridleys leather uniform is virtually identical to Heeters biker boots, leather chaps, biker jacket. The differences between Ridleys and Heeters costumes indicate their respective positions in the relationship: instead of a cap, Ridley wears a collar, instead of a riding crop, he sports chains; these differences, along with the pairs physical positions gesture toward the power differential that the couple perform. From this description of the photograph, Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter could be characterised as a family portrait of a sadomasochistic couple. Although hardly as shocking as many of Mapplethorpes other sadomasochistic-themed photographs, the image is still unsettling. First, the portrait disturbs the classificatory terms it invokes. Is it possible for family, sadomasochism or portrait to mean the same thing independently and jumbled up together? If the picture grants Heeter and Ridley a certain kind of elegance, beauty and dignity, is this evidence that notions of family, domesticity and coupling are sufficiently elastic to incorporate sadomasochistic eroticism? If Ridley and Heeter are able to pose their unconventionally adorned bodies according to the codes of the conventional family portrait, is this evidence that family, domesticity and coupling have always already incorporated sadomasochistic eroticism? Second, aside from complicating dominant narratives of familial relationship s, this portrait exposes something about the relationship between the practices of photography and self-presentation. What does the staging of Ridley and Heeter in full leather drag show about the ideological work of portraiture writ large? What does this photograph expose about the relationship between power, eroticism, theatricality and image making? Given that both sets of questions relate to the tension between the pictures subject matter and its representational codes, is it fair to conclude that the relationship between content the sadomasochistic couple and form the family portrait makes Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter such an arresting photograph? More precisely, is it the photographs combination of form and content which helps us to see the never-before-related phenomena sadomasochistic couple and formal portrait in a different way, that makes this photograph worthy of critical analysis? In the following chapters I will focus on the relationship between form and content in Mapplethorpes images, with attention to his sex pictures. The interaction of form and content in these images, I contend, trains the viewer to see in a new way: not only to see the specific subject matter differently, but to see the practice of image making in art or in life differently. The beauty of Mapplethorpes images renders culturally unpalatable subject matter attractive and desirable. The stylised composition of Mapplethorpes images also reflects in the forms of self-stylisation within the images, using photographic style to expose personal styling as an equivalent staging, construction and performance. Form and content, then, function sometimes co-operatively, sometimes in opposition to make the spectator aware of the assumptions they bring to the photograph. The analysis of Mapplethorpes images will attend not only to how he represents masculinity and the performance of gay male ident ity but also to how his images draw attention to the dynamics of representation itself. Most commentators identify the curious disjunctionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ between the visual appeal of his photographs as pictures and the discomforting nature of his subject matter as the quintessential element of Mapplethorpes pictorial style. Arthur Danto, one of Mapplethorpes staunchest defenders characterises the artists work as both Dionysian and Apollonian at once. According to Danto, the sexual energy of the images content has a dialectic relationship to their chastely classic style of presentation; this tension is so profound, Danto finds Hegels notion of aufhebung a useful concept with which to addressà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Mapplethorpes images. The forbidden and unsettling content of Mapplethorpes images is not erased by their pristine and mannered formalisation, and even the most sexually explicit of Mapplethorpes images both go beyond and fail as pornography, precisely because of their crisp beauty and clean elegance. The content is preserved. But it is also negated, and it is transcen ded, and that means the work cannot merely be reduced to its content. Ingrid Sischy, one of the most eloquent writers on Mapplethorpes sexual imagery, identifies this tension between form and content as the source of shock in Mapplethorpes photographs: What shocks isnt just the material, but how it is so artfully presented. The content, lighting, composition, sense of order and aesthetics all combine to give the photograph an unforgettable impact. The photographs impact depends on the audacious choice to present the forbidden, the transgressive, the underground, the violent, and the repressed in a beautiful manner. As Sischy goes on to observe, Mapplethorpes eye for beauty enables the pictures to challenge, among other things, prevailing notions about sadomasochism and homoeroticism. Germano Celants essay in the catalogue from a Guggenheim exhibition compares Mapplethorpes photographs with Mannerist paintings. He argues that Mapplethorpes style works to both defuse and legitimise th e content of his images by linking them to aesthetic codes of the past. Extending Dantos observation about the importance of the tension between form and content for understanding Mapplethorpes work aesthetically, Sischy and Celant argue that this tension is the key to evaluating Mapplethorpes images politically. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter illustrates how the relationship between form and content functions across Mapplethorpes body of work. As already noted the tension between the mundanity of the portraits setting and style and the atypicality of the subjects costume and identity generates the images energy and arrests the viewers attention. As Danto observes: They look as though this were the most natural thing in the world for them to be doing in their middle-class living roomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. [But] what is a sexual slave doing sitting that way in a comfortable armchair? Form and content also generate tension with respect to time. To what historical moment does this photograph r ightfully belong? As several commentators have noted, Mapplethorpes sex photographs are important, if for no other reason, because they document a certain gay male subculture whose adherents failed to survive the ravages of Aids. This subject matter, closely tied to the sexual exploration of the 70s, was captured, however, using a visual aesthetic associated with late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century photography, if not older notions of symmetry, order and perfection. As Joan Didion observed in her introductory essay to Mapplethorpes collection of female portraits, Some Women: Robert Mapplethorpes work has often been seen as an aesthetic sport, so entirely outside any historical or social context, and so new, as to resist interpretation. This newness has in fact become so fixed an idea about Mapplethorpe that we tend to overlook the source of his strength, which derived, from the beginning, less from the shock of the new than from the shock of the oldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. There was, above all, the perilous imposition of order on chaos, of classical form on unthinkable images. Didions comments clarify that Mapplethorpes images are neither without historical context nor fixed within a single historical context. Instead, subject and style belong to different, and seemingly disparate, historical moments and social milieu. The form of Mapplethorpes photographs, however, renders the content of his images thinkable, palatable, legitimate. Mapplethorpes combination of form and content, then, is anything but dilettantism. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter also plays with the distinction between public and private spaces. The space of the picture is a living room, a domestic space, a space hidden from the worlds prying eyes and attendant judgements. The sexual identity evoked by the subjects costumes also signifies private space; they are culturally understood as taboo, necessitating secrecy. The space of the portrait, both generally as a visual form and specifically as an artefact in a book or gallery, is, however, public. The staged presentation of these subjects underlines that they are opening their private space[s] to public scrutiny. This picture is not a snapshot; it is not a candid photo; it is not an image captured on the sly as in the work of Garry Winogrand. It is, instead, a formal portrait that required preparation and planning. As Danto points out, when emphasising the relationship of trust that Mapplethorpe must have developed with his photographic subjects, indicated by the settings, the sta ging, the careful execution and the use of names, in the photographs titles, it is clear that Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter, like Mapplethorpes other subjects, have consented to having this image made. They have admitted Mapplethorpe (and, consequently, the viewer) into their lives, such that the photographer [and, consequently, the viewer] shares a moral space with them. Heeter and Ridleys consensual act of opening their home works to situate the spectator non-consensually in a common, private space. This exposure of the taboo to public scrutiny compels the viewer to accept this intrusion into the public sphere; by voluntarily opening the walls of their private space, Ridley and Heeter have challenged the boundaries of what is acceptable in the public space. The form of the photograph as a posed portrait, then, sharpens the political challenge of its content. The troubling of the boundary between public and private establishes a complicated relationship between the image and temporality. As a portrait, Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter is the memorialisation of a single instant in the life of this couple. At the same time, given the disconnection between their regalia and their setting, the portrait necessarily invokes a before and an after. Insofar as Heeters and Ridleys costumes signify a particular set of sexual practices, they are not practices that likely take place (primarily) in the space in which they are photographed. Their costumes suggest the space of the playroom, the dungeon, the sex club places significantly different from the one they occupy. The portrait evokes a place and time outside the environs of the setting for the erotic activity it suggests. Because the sexual activity suggested by this photograph is understood as taboo, as requiring a private space, even though it is being exposed to a public viewing, the portrait als o intimates that these costumes and these roles are not the totality of the lives of these portrait subjects. Just as the picture suggests other times and places for sexual activity, the specificity of the intimated sexual activity, by negative implication, suggests non-sexual times and places in these subjects lives that require different styles of self-presentation. The temporal and spatial limitations on this particular self-stylisation are underlined by the incongruity of costume and setting. The form/content distinctions of this image, then, invest it with a temporal dimension. The photograph suggests a relationship of dominance and submission; the power dynamics at play in the image, however, are neither simple nor singular. On the most basic level, there is the power of the gaze, a power generated by the image that situates both the spectator and the pictorial subject. This gaze arguably belongs to Mapplethorpe and the spectator and is exercised against Heeter and Ridley. Even if Heeter and Ridley have been costumed, posed, lit and framed by Mapplethorpe, to claim that they have been objectified by his gaze fails to account for the complexity of the image. Ridley and Heeter both look at the camera with hard and fixed stares; they are not giving over their bodies, their lives or their subjectivities to the spectator. Ridley and Heeter each adopt a physical pose that underpins the defiance of their respective looks; Heeters nonchalant stance and Ridleys open-legged seating position situate them in the full solidity of their corporeal frames. When looking at Heeter and Ridley, the spectator is just as likely to feel intimidated, challenged and threatened as in control of the image. In this way, the power Ridley and Heeter retain vis-à  -vis the gaze relates to and underscores their consent to the image-making process. At the same time, their tight leather outfits draw attention to the precise contours of their bodies. The silver studs on Heeters codpiece and the positioning of Ridleys legs and hands also draw visual attention to their respective genital regions. In this way the portrait trades in traditional mechanisms of eroticising and objectifying its subjects. Because they have been trapped in the image, and because this photograph will now circulate freely outside of their control, however, their resistance to the power of the scopic regime is limited and partial. The photograph, then, transforms Heeter and Ridley into objects for contemplation. The spectators visual inspection of them, however, is disrupted by their respective l ooks, their physical poses and the iconography of sadomasochism within the photograph. The gaze that structures this image is neither straightforward nor unidirectional. The power dynamic between the portraits subjects is also complex. Heeters superior vertical position along with his grasp of the riding crop and Ridleys chains are evidence of his dominance. At the same time Ridley is foregrounded in the pictorial space and his face is both more clearly visible and more brightly lit, making him the focus of visual attention. Ridleys name is also given priority in the portraits title. While this priority is consistent with Western left-to-right titling practice, it runs against the perceived practice of many sadomasochistic practitioners who often deny the submissive partner the referential use of a name, personal pronouns or even capital letters. As Richard Meyer observed when arguing that the formal properties of Mapplethorpes photographs often work to undo the power dynamics of his images content: The contradictions of this portrait defeat any essentialist interpretation of Ridley and Heeter in (or as) their sadomasochistic roles. Building on a clo se reading of the Meyer article, I would add that it is the compositional elements of the picture that serve to disrupt the meaning of its specific iconography. In other words, with respect to how the picture trades in the erotics of dominance and submission, the form of the image undercuts its manifest content. The incongruity of costume and setting also works to complicate the readings of power in the image. In an essay largely critical of Mapplethorpes images, C. S. Manegold writes that the dreamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ promised by this portrait is one of pain, of submission, of servitude, a willing walk toward death. She goes on to claim that Mapplethorpes sadomasochistic photographs are funded by a fascistic aesthetic. While I agree that this image trades in the iconography of domination and submission, I would dispute that the leather gear is Nazi-esque, it is merely hyper-masculine and owes much more to the motorcycle cop or the cowboy than any sort of Nazi influence, there are certainly no badges or insignia to indicate such a position and is merely Manegold herself showing what her personal/political history brings to the table in terms of domination. Any characterisation of the image as representing only a single form of erotic or gendered self-presentation founders on the details of the ph otograph itself. Looking only at Heeters riding crop and studded cod-piece or only at Ridleys handcuffs and locked collar, Manegolds characterisation of the image as one infused with pain and death and fascinated with a fascistic masculinity may seem self-justified. What happens, however, when the spectator notices the antique brass clock, the carefully arranged books or the delicate figurines that are also part of the picture? Are these details irrelevant? Do they also signify death and embody fascism? Or do they expose the sadomasochistic self-presentation of Ridley and Heeter as convincing, chilling, arousing, and disturbing as it might be as, at root, a performance, a ritual, an enactment? Although it is implicit in what I said about the image and temporality previously, it bears emphasising that insofar as the portrait highlights the performative nature of (sadomasochistic or masculine) identity, this also relates to the temporality of the image. Because a performance require s a repeated bodily gesture, it also requires temporal duration. In other words, does the incongruity between the general setting and the specific costuming show that each signifies an alternative way to fashion a life? A less incongruous picture could have been crafted by stripping the room bare of furniture, positioning Ridley on his knees and painting the walls black. Equally less incongruous a picture could also have been crafted by stripping Ridley of his chains, positioning Heeter on the arm of the chair and dressing the pair in flannels and blazers. The posing of this master-slave duo in a well-appointed, to the point of chi-chi, living room, however, shows that the respective systems of decoration are fully parallel, even though they might imply different relationships to hegemonic masculinity. What Mapplethorpe has done is signify hyper-masculinity and then gone on to problematise it. By focusing the spectators attention on the stylisation of their clothing and props through its sharp focus and bright lighting, the style of the portrait underlines that Ridley and Heeters gear is drag, a costume, a mode of self-presentation, a performance. In addition, by staging Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter in a setting where their self-presentation as devotees of sadomasochistic eroticism would stand out in exaggerated bas-relief, the portrait calls attention to the artifice, the staginess of their chosen identity. The inherent theatricality of the picture is further emphasised by the dynamics of sadomasochistic erotic play itself. Given its emphasis on roles, costumes, props, scenes, the adornment of the body and implements of sexual arousal, sadomasochism despite the reality of the pain/pleasure experienced by its participants is a complex set of ritualised gestures. With these features in mind, it becomes easier to see how form and content are not merely in productive tensio n, but are virtually undone almost reversed by the portrait. Previously I identified the sadomasochistic couple as the content of the portrait, but the emphasis on performance, artifice and theatricality demonstrates that the term sadomasochistic couple is as much a formal trope enabling a reading of a situation as it is a pre-interpretive category with content. The viewer identifies Lyle Heeter and Brian Ridley as practitioners of sadomasochism not because their portrait contains sexual content, but because it trades in the signifying codes of the leather uniform. Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter provides no evidence that its subjects participate in sadomasochistic acts; it reveals only that they understand how to participate in sadomasochistic signification. If this portrait were placed next to one of a gay male couple in jeans and t-shirts posed in their living room and another couple in biker gear in a fetish bar, the mobility of sadomasochistic couple as an interpretive grid would be much clearer. By the same token, the classical and mannered stylisation of the image is not merely the formal code by which this portrait has been organised; it is the very subject matter of the photograph. On the one hand, Heeter and Ridley, as a sadomasochistic couple, are irrelevant i.e. negated and transcended. They are little more than one possible signifier that enables a set of meanings and associations to attach to an image. Other visual and cultural incongruities could have been used to achieve the same kind of shock and disorientation. On the other hand, Ridley and Heeters identity as a sadomasochistic couple is absolutely essential to the image, not because it is at odds with the domestic setting of the portrait, but because sadomasochism as a highly theatrical, self-aware, ritualised mode of erotic behaviour fraught with its own contradictions and tensions provides the most useful set of signifying codes for exploring the formal concerns about self-stylisation with which the portrait engages. The theatricality of sadomasochis m, captured in a highly stylised portrait exposes the performance of masculinity that Heeter and Ridley and countless others are attempting. In this way that portraits iconography both participates in and potentially disrupts certain fantastic constructions of the masculine self. Sadomasochism, then, is a useful point of entry into Mapplethorpes larger body of work not only because it is the subject matter of a large number of his photographs or it is the subject matter that catapulted him to fame, but because sadomasochism as a practice is so directly parallel to the notions of theatrical self-presentation with which Mapplethorpes images deal. As noted previously, it is not only the thematic of the photographs that are important, but also how they train the viewer to see.

Criminal Behavior Essay -- Biology, Ellis and Walsh

Many scholars have attempted to explain criminal behaviour by identifying a genetic trait or other biological causes or indicator for criminality (Cullen and Agnew, 2011). Ellis and Walsh (2011) argue that while there is not a single â€Å"criminal behaviour† genetic trait, there are genetic trait that are associated with crime. They further suggest that these traits might provide evolutionary advantages to their holders in some circumstances. For example, traits such as deception and cheating would likely be evolutionary advantageous to maximizing a male's reproductive capabilities. Ellis and Walsh suggest that these traits might be genetically inherited. This theory of genetic influence does not however suggest that behaviours are genetically determined. Behaviours are still assumed to be learned, with specific genetic traits influencing this process (Ellis and Walsh, 2011).Rowe (2011) suggests a similarly biologically driven theory. He argues that through their impact upo n the central and autonomic nervous systems, genetic traits and biological harms can influence personality traits including those which are associated with criminality. In support of this notion are studies that have linked levels of testosterone and aggressiveness, low heart rate and criminality, weak skin conductance and criminality, as well as brain damage and lack of moral judgement (Rowe, 2011).Caspi, et al. (2011) present the theory that there are three super-traits which have various relationships with crime. The three super-traits they discuss are constraint, negative emotionality and positive emotionality. They note that the constraint and negative emotionality super-traits are related to self-control and with it criminality. This suggests that some indi... ...larly intimates. Both the methods and attributes associated with the crime are suggested to be learned. Learning of criminal and anti-criminal behaviour is thought to be similar to learning of other behaviours and attitudes in which the learner assimilates into the culture they are surrounded by (Sutherland and Cressey, 2011). This theory is similar to the Shaw and Mckay's explanation for criminality, but also ventures into the methods by which the attitudes are actually developed. Anderson's description of a culture of violence, that establishes a â€Å"code of the street† provides a vivid example of both the environmental conditions described by Shaw and Sutherland and Cressey as well as the learning processes described by Sutherland and Cressey. These clearly environmental and learned factors somewhat weaken the arguments of biological causes presented earlier..

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Veterans Essay -- PTSD in Military

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (commonly known as PTSD) is an important issue associated with military soldiers. The primary focus of this paper will be on the causes of PTSD and the effects it has on returning soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will attempt to elaborate on the soldiers' experiences through my own experiences in combat both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will explain what PTSD is, look at the history of PTSD, how people get it, and differences of PTSD between men and women, and treatment options. As far back in history as we can go, humans have been in a fight for survival. There have been battles with gigantic mammoths, soldiers charging the front line with swords drawn or teachers witnessing neighbors being gassed to death. These are all significantly stressful situations that can lead to PTSD and have been around for centuries. For as long as there have been humans fighting there has been PTSD, it just wasn’t a term yet. During the Civil war, problems with PTSD became so severe that the first ever Military Hospital for the insane was established in 1863 (Bentley). Before that, since Military officials didn’t know what to do, or what was wrong with these physically able men they just threw them on the street or sent them home. With so many insane soldiers walking around, it was the public who insisted that something be done to help these soldiers and keep them off the street (Bentley). It wasn’t until 1905 during WWI that there was a link made between the mental collapse and the stresses of war(Bentley). There were so many cases of PTSD at first that officials believed it was caused by the concussion of shells on the brain, so they called it â€Å"shell shock†. It was the Russians who f... ...t. Bellevue College Lib., Bellevue, WA. 15 May 2011 Greist, John H., James W. Jefferson, David J. Katzelnick Facts For Heath. 11 May 2011. . Hales, Dianne. Wellness at Bellevue College. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning., 2011 Tarrant, David. "Iraq veteran's PTSD is an unrelenting enemy but he's fighting back." The Dallas Morning News 22 Aug. 2010. 11 May 2011 United States. Department of Veterans Affairs. Treatment of PTSD. 05 Oct. 2010. 11 May 2011. . Unknown, Anthony. â€Å"Cognitive Behavior Therapy†. Online posting. 31 Mar. 2011. PtsdForum Supporting Trauma. 15 May 2011.

Hefty Hardware Essay

After reading Hefty hardware case study, I came up with the following analysis for this case: It is very clear that there is communication issues between the business and IT, there is no connection between the IT department and other business departments. To build good relationship between the IT Department and the Business department, the four foundation blocks needed, Competence, credibility, interpersonal interaction, and trust, which all are not considered between the departments. (McKeen & Smith, 2012). The business manager feels that the IT don’t have the enough competence for finding solution for solving business problems. And this is normal because the IT do not have the enough knowledge about Hefty Hardware business process and goals. The very important block in building good relationship between the IT and business department which is the interpersonal interaction is not available and usually the meetings getting failed because the IT people don’t understand the business talk and not ready to understand, also the business managers do not understand the technical talk when the IT start explaining the technical aspects of the solution. Hefty Hardware do not has solid foundation and good relationship between the IT and the Business department, and this issue became the main problem that Hefty should deal with it to make sure that the current and future projects will success. Also it is important that the IT department spend the enough time to explain their plan to support the business functions and make sure that they will work to achieve the organization goals. There is no information sharing between the departments or even between the executives because of the lack of communication. Information sharing will help in reach common goal which will help the organization to be more efficient and productive. Mr. Vogel suggestion was very good to have two from IT and business department travel together as this will improve the relationship between the two departments and make better understanding for the organization goals and will give them the chance to see how Hefty stores operate. The IT department seems to be understaffed and under budget, as Farzad was complaining that he cannot send some IT staff because they have a lot of work to do at the head quarter, the IT department is mainly to perform the support and keep the network and the systems stable but they don’t have the ability to think strategically. In order for the IT and the business can work collaboratively to deliver the Savvy Store program  successfully the below recommendations need to be considered: 1- Hefty Hardware should invest in building a good relationship between the IT and Business department this can be achieved by conducting team building training program where both department can interact and work together. As this will build a trusting and functional environment. 2- Developing the communication skills for Hefty employees and between the different departments, which will help in implementing successful projects. 3- IT and Business managers should work together for removing any communication obstacles to have a successful communication going. (Gartenstein, 2012). By having a weekly meetings which will strengthen the communication more . 4- Interpersonal interaction between the IT and business departments should be improved in the meetings, as most of the time the business team feel that they are lost as then don’t understand the technical points, this can be achieved by train the IT team to improve their communication skills and let then have the ability to communicate with non-technical people (which is not easy) and explain to them in simple way. Visual presentation may help in explaining the technical concepts . 5- Business team should also share the organization business needs and goals with the IT team to let them understand how is the business going and what is the goals of the company. By this cooperation, the gap between the two departments will be bridged and both teams will be able to think more efficiently in finding solutions that will enhance customer experience and will implement competitive solutions. 6- Outsourcing the projects that need to be immediately implemented and do not trouble the IT department while they are overloaded and don’t have enough staff. 7- The Time management & Planning is very important for both departments, the organization should invest in having them trained in time management and planning, which will help them in doing the work efficiently and on time. 8- Do a market research for the same industry and try to implement a competitive solutions that will be a very good advantage for the organization. 9- Hiring more IT staff as the CIO is understaffed and has no ability to accept any new system development, so as to be able to work on Savvy store program. 10- The corporate should not be disconnected from the retail shops. References: McKeen, J. and Heather, S. (2011) IT Strategy – Issues and Practices. 2nd Edition. ISBN-10: 0132145669. Boston: Prentice Hall. Gartenstein, D. (2012, January). Solutions for effective communication. Retrieved from eHow Family website: http://www.ehow.com/way_5765631_solutions-effective-communication.html. Baum, J. (2011, March 18). Team building exercises in the workplace. Retrieved from Livestrong website: http://www.livestrong.com/article/221732-team-building-exercises-in-the-workplace/.

Against School Uniforms Essay

I understand that many schools around the nation wear uniforms for a good reason. Such as if kids could not purchase enough clothes normally. I completely respect that and the schools which choose to do so. However, I do strongly believe that children have the right to wear whatever they want to school as long as it is appropriate. I myself have never attended a school in which uniforms are required. But I do know kids who have and a lot of them say they don?t like it. I mean I can see why. Who wants to wear a school uniform every day? For kids who go to schools that require uniforms, there is no style present. Everyone looks the same. In a normal school where kids can where whatever they want, sometimes you can tell if someone is having a good day or not. You can learn things about people just by looking at how they dress themselves. Someone?s personality is represented by their outward appearance. I bet that whoever decides to make a school have uniforms went to a school that did have uniforms as a kid and just never realized how much better it would have been without uniforms. If that person went to a school without uniforms as a child, they never would have made a school have it required. Seriously, for all you people that thinkschools should have uniforms, think back to when you were in high school or grade school. Did you really want to have a uniform to wear to school? Did you really hope that everyone wore the same exact thing every day? Did you wish back then that when you woke up in the morning to go to school, everyone would look and act and be the same? No, I don?t think so. You wanted to express yourself and see what people were wearing each day. You liked style. But now that your job makes all the employees wear the same thing, you want to drag everyone else down with you. Just because you have to suffer, doesn?t mean everyone else has to as well. I mean think about it. Other than a few exceptions, school is basically the only time in your life when you can dress freely in a work environment. I want to make that count and express myself while I still can. For me at least, that right will be taken away in a few years. But for kids who have always had to wear uniforms, they never even had that right. So I say if you don?t give kids the right to wear what they want while they learn. Then you don?t have the right to teach them.

Poetry Analysis: Persimmons Essay

â€Å"See through.† Surely, most people have experienced this feeling before, the feelings of being seen, but not truly â€Å"seen.† As if every part of their being, their roots, their culture, and history meant nothing and holds no value to anyone but themselves, just as the speaker is raised in a bi-lingual, bi-culture atmosphere although most of us may be forgotten throughout our lifetime from daily encounters or short terms relationships; semester long classmates and professors, the poem â€Å"Persimmons† by Li-Young Lee reveals to us with his brilliant use of imagery, symbolism, and other literary devices, emotions so rooted, that they almost escape words. In the poem, the reality revealed is that we will someday fade away from people and this world. But that the true beauty lies during the events in our lives and until the finale, we are the ones to hold the sweet, ripe â€Å"Persimmon,† a sacred and distinct â€Å"sun inside [each of us]†¦ golden [and] warm.† Li-Young Lee implements imagery and symbolism to underline the metamorphosis of the early life of the struggles of social placement of a young American Chinese boy to the deep passions of a young man. â€Å"Persimmons† teach us that even if we may go blind, just like the speakers father in the poem, it comes to show that our experiences of life, that despite not everyone will appreciate, or understand fully, that it is something that will forever remain etched in our souls. At first the poem starts out a bit scattered. There were several pieces that did not seem to follow the time and meaning, but while seemingly scattered, his memories do in fact connect in several ways. As one specific device, most of his recollections involve the symbol of the Chinese fruit, persimmons. The poem begins with an unpleasant memory from the speaker’s sixth grade classroom where he recalls being slapped on the head and ordered to â€Å"stand in the corner for not knowing the difference/between [the words] persimmon and precision†(3-5). Right at that moment the speaker’s attitude is that of confusion. In the first stanza, we learn that Mrs. Walker was the speaker’s teacher in sixth grade: In sixth grade Mrs. Walker Slapped the back of my head and made me stand in the corner for not knowing the difference between persimmon and precision. How to choose   persimmons. This is precision. (1-6) To Mrs. Walker, the point is simple; the young boy, whose native language is Chinese, simply cannot attain and grasp the elements of English. Clearly he confuses the words that are seen from Mrs. Walker’s point of view to have nothing in common, but maybe only holds similar sounds and that is all. But in the boy’s mind, the two words are connected in a way that Mrs. Walker will never grasp without delving deep. A particular literary device that Lee uses is the choice of enjambment at the word â€Å"choose,† (6) which breaks the first stanza and draws attention to the act of selection, and the process of making choices. Although in the first stanza it is seen that the speaker, as a child and as a student is stripped from the power to choose in the process and codes of the incident of his classroom assimilation, he regains power by justifying his linguistic conflations of the words â€Å"persimmon and precision,† (5) by connecting the words through their sim ilar sounds and by symbolic association: â€Å"How to choose/ persimmons. This is precision† (6– 7) and â€Å"fight and fright, wren and yarn† (31). While justifying the melting pot of his words, he also re-claims control by demonstrating his command of the English language. In the second stanza, however, Lee elaborates on the correct way of carefully selecting and eating a persimmon, and along with that it is affirmed that the speaker does in fact know the difference between the two words. The speaker reveals his understanding of â€Å"precision† in the diction being used by Lee to describe how to pick out and eat a persimmon; the words â€Å"soft,† â€Å"sweet,† â€Å"sniff,† and â€Å"brown-spotted, are given to the fruit characterizing it and transcending the physical sense of the Chinese fruit and transforming it into an important element, and symbol. Whereas the character of Mrs. Walker  would fall in the category of the â€Å"teachers† that one may meet throughout life. It can be anyone: from a school teacher, a semester –long college peer, a random onlooker, or society itself. However, these â€Å"teachers† not judge one’s personality, but are also ignorant. In defined terms; a person may be treated as a sheep, when in fact, they are the ones fenced in, not able to reach, see or feel further; they do not bother to survey into the deep and enigmatic waters of people, Self, and emotions, in this case, the boy’s mind. The teacher is not aware that his mind is full of different worlds; the world or emotions, and his rich culture. The only thing they perceive is that the boy may have a problem; that the boy has trouble with words, which in a way he does, but for him, the words that tend to â€Å"stick out of the page† for him are because of the assimilations that they induce: Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted. Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one Will be fragrant. How to eat: Put the knife away, lay down the newspaper. Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat. Chew the skin, suck it,  and swallow. Now, eat   the meat of the fruit,  so sweet,  all of it, to the heart. Can Mrs. Walker and anyone belonging to this pragmatic world even care to imagine the world within him? To the speaker a persimmon is precision, because one needs the ability of perceiving a precise persimmon and the persimmon itself is precision by its existence; a soft fruit, the shape, the smell of a ripe one is an art; not everyone has the talent to spot one and the proper knowledge of how to eat one, just like Mrs. Walker incorrectly prepares the persimmons for the class, as she uses a knife to â€Å"cut it up† (41) as if she were â€Å"cutting up† this demonstrates her violation of the Chinese culture of the speaker. The poem takes on a dramatic turn at the third stanza, where the speaker fast  forwards through time. Here the speaker describes the moment of a passionate experience with his lover. Here by Lee’s use of symbolism and contrasting word choice is significant because of specific time and place it is being used. In this moment, the speaker has forgotten his Chinese, this could represent the past problems of assimilation to have faded in the aspect of the triumph over the English language. Although he has perhaps gained societal acceptance as an Asian American, he has also gravely lost, where his loss out wins his gain; the loss of his native language, the loss of his culture. As a second interpretation would be that when the speaker forgets about the â€Å"Dew† and the fact that they are â€Å"Naked,† but recalls the â€Å"Crickets: chiu chiu† and that â€Å"Ni, wo: [means] you and me† represents his total captivation in the moment, the moment when tw o lovers unite, creating a union, one perhaps forgets that fact of nakedness, because perhaps in that beautiful moment, one does not feel naked, because their significant other is there, and they are all they need to feel covered, a moment were all barriers are broken, both feel free comfortable in the bareness, where he even forgets the background sound playing. By the use of symbolism, it is known that â€Å"Persimmon† is the main symbol, and so acts as a metaphor of the love scene, focusing on the passionate experience that marks the speaker for life. In the ninth stanza, a new scene is present and there is another shift in time, this time the speaker is a mature adult, visiting his parents, but also revisiting old memories, that arouse ancient feelings. In this particular stanza, Lee’s use of vivid imagery is openly present, where he describes the speakers elderly father who has gone blind: I rummage, looking for something I lost†¦. I find a box†¦. three paintings by my father: Hibiscus leaf and a white flower. Two cats preening. Two persimmons, so full they want to drop from the cloth. †¦.Which is this? †¦.Oh, the feel of the wolf tail on the silk, the strength, the tense precision in the wrist†¦. Eyes closed. These I painted blind. Some things never leave a person: Scent of the hair of one you love, The texture of persimmons, in your palm, the ripe weight. (62-88). Lee’s use of concrete details allows has a great impact and effect on this particular poem, because it draws the reader in, allowing them to engage and become more attune to the feelings the poet is trying to transmit: the sight of the Hibiscus, the movements of the â€Å"cat’s preening† (75). Although the speaker’s father has lost his eyesight, he can still â€Å"see† the world. When a person goes blind, they are shut out from the world, but the thing that stays with the person transcends the sense of vision; the smell, the texture, the weight of the persimmon that the father speaks of that will â€Å"never leave a person,† (85) that the feel of a ripe persimmon in the palm will remain a part of you , just like the speakers culture, his memories and experiences. This could also represent an important shift in the poems tone, in that the speakers finally accepts his culture or art of reminiscing of familiar emotions, both like being â€Å"back home.† His experiences, although not entirely positive, have helped him grow into the man he is now. Li-Young Lee, by using sensory imagery and â€Å"precise† diction along with the informal stanza structure, reveals to the reader that, despite the speakers his bi-cultural past, he has now realized, through his experiences, that some of the most important things will not always be â€Å"visible† and he is at peace with his culture. The obscurity of words that Lee demonstrates in this poem correlates with the obscure and that of which is not accepted in our materialistic, and practical world. But the bitter-sweet irony of it all is that at times, as soon as something like a marvelous feeling or thought is put into words, its mystical beauty may diminish. This poem is not only a self contained piece of poetry. It is art, a ticket to see, witness, and feel between our and the poet’s inner world. Li-Young Lee, knowing that words cannot directly express these feelings; he us es his poetry as a tool to evoke such feelings in us utilizing the informal poetic form and the advantage of symbolism and imagery, has allowed us to picture detailed, vivid scenes to show us how superficial and apathetic the world around us can be to the secretly immense, and passionate world in each of us. Citation Dmitry, Divov. â€Å"Analysis of Persimmons by Li-Young Lee.† Web. 25 Feb 2012. .

Nature of Work

Marine Biology also refers to Biological Sciences or Biological Oceanography. Marine Science is the general term for research conducted in oceans and coastal or inland waters connected to the sea. This particular field is probably the best known to the public. Marine Biology deals with the study of micro and living organisms such as plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria in oceans, estuaries, and other bodies of salt water. In the feild of Marine Biology you plan, participate in, and administer research programs for government experiment stations such as private research centers, manufactoring irms, and medical service industries. Tools and equipment for this career includes lab animals, X-Ray and other lab equipment, computers, spectrophotometers, collections of specimens, and a Starting no later than high school, a Marine Biologist should obtain a solid education in as many basic sciences as possible including chemistry, physics, and biology. Mathematics is essential. Plane geometry, trigonometry, solid geometry, and two years of algebra are recommended. Good English is no less important, for both written and oral reports are a big part of Marine Biology. The tudy of a foreign language, especially French, German, or Russian should begin early. Degrees in this study are offered only to college graduate students. Most entry level jobs minimally require a Bachelors degree in a natural science from an accredited college or university. Doctoral degree holders face competition for independent research positions. Those with a Bachelors degree or Masters degree in biological sciences can expect better opportunities for nonresearch In order to be a Marine Biologist or in any line of work, you have to be really dedicated to your job. This is the job I have always wanted ever since I was a little girl. I always loved the water especially the ocean. I think there is so much to discover about it and there are so many marine animals yet to be revealed. If I ever do become a Marine Biologist I either want to work in the laboratory or work in the field. I think it would be interesting to travel to different parts of oceans and discover what kind of plants and animals hide beneath the deep blue waters. Laboratory technicians and testers can acquire more education experience. They can work their way up through research ositions and may reach administrative posts in government or industry. As a rule, high paying postions of prestige go to those with a Ph. D degree and a history of successful research. C. Earnings and Working Conditions Marine Biologists may work in a laboratory, classroom, museum and industrial setting, a botanical garden or zoo, or in a field. They may either work alone or with engineers, technicians, and other scientists at various stages of research or product development. Working conditions vary with the kind of work they do. Indoor work areas may be quiet, well lighted, and air-conditioned. Those who work n laboratories or industrial settings must keep work areas very clean. Ventilation systems generally provide protection from dust, fumes, and odors. Special precautions are taken to protect those scientists who work with infectuous creatures or poisonous chemicals. While working in the field some Marine Biologists travel to coral reefs in tropical seas and ocean waters in cooler climates having to work a The earnings of a Marine Biologist are complicated. Most of these researchers recieve a salary directly from an employer. They write proposals in order to have their research ideas funded by private and overnment agencies. The quality of their results often determines whether they recieve money for future efforts, and consequently, whether they work and for how long. The salaries of a Marine Biologist comes down to each persons education, experience, and At the present time the profession of Marine Biology is one of the least crowded of the science fields. There are only a few thousand Marine Biologists in research, with less than three thousand graduates working and teaching in the United States. Since there is a limited number, opportunities in research are few and competition is stiff.