Economics Commentary - U.S quota reduction on textiles Essay Example for Free

Economics Commentary U.S quota reduction on textiles Essay China is an industrialized country and it exports lots of goods to other country. International trade involves the exchange of goods and services across international boundaries. The country depends on its sales abroad to develop its country. The textile industry is a massive industry in china, depends a lot on its exports to make its profits. But the United States (U.S) also has a text tile industry and so to protect their industry they use quotas to protect its industry. The quota is worth $6 billion annual quota and U.S is reducing its quota on the import of Chinese textiles by $9 million because U.S thinks that China is using a third country to get its goods to U.S. Chinas government is not pleased with this and it is try to protect its industry. U.S is using protectionism, which is the restriction of international trade. It prevents consumers and producers reaching the equilibrium price and quantity that would happen in a free market. One way to enforce protectionism is Quotas take the form of a physical limitation on the quantity of a commodity which is allowed to enter the country in a given year. What U.S is doing to Chinese textiles is that it is dropping its quota by $ p million dollars from the $6 billion annual quota. The world supply falls; and this gives the Chinese firms to supply more to the U.S market, directly. The decrease in the quota also leads to consumer surplus to rise. Consumer surplus is the difference between the prices that a consumer is prepared to pay the actual price paid. This is because the consumers were willing to pay for the Chinese textiles price with the quota and so now it is cheaper. Therefore the consumer surplus rises from ADE to ABC. Consumer surplus which is gained is areas 1, 2, 3 and 4. Area 1 is the loss of domestic producers benefit from selling more at a higher price. Area 3 is the windfall gain; it is part of the revenue that the foreign traders get, in this case China. The total revenue for Chinese textiles sold in the U.S is are area 3, 5, 6 and 7 together, before dropping the quota, area 3 was the only amount that China was allowed to sell. Area 2 and 4 are a net loss to society (deadweight loss). China has comparative advantage over U.S in the textile industry. A country is said to have a comparative advantage in the production of a good if it can produce it at a lower opportunity cost than another country. The labor-intensive industry is one where China has an advantage over other producing nations, therefore China has specialized in the textile industry and they would import other goods into the country. The Chinese officials are not pleased with the quota reducing; this is because the textile industry in China is a strategic industry and is trying to protect it. To protect a strategic industry is to protect an industry that employs a large proportion of the population and/or maybe the industry has strong roots in the country and it contributes to the nations identity. These are the two reasons why China does not like what U.S is doing to them, because other country might lose its trust to China and would try to prevent trading with them. Another reason for China not liking the actions taken by U.S is because china hopes anticipated gains in the textile industry will offset huge losses in employment capacity in other economic sectors. China wants all of its industry to grow at the same time and equally, and so this reduced quota will harm their industries, this is why China takes this matter very seriously. China does not like what U.S has done to their textile industry as this might break trade relations, and this may well be loses for both sides. Their relation would get worse, and then China would retaliate as they want to protect its industry and this would lead to more problems. As exports represent an injection into the circular flow of income and are subjected to the multiplier effect. And also unemployment would rise in other industry within China, and even some firms in U.S, as they might not be able to compete with the Chinese industries.

Heroin Harm Reduction Strategies in the US

Heroin Harm Reduction Strategies in the US The Northern Kentucky (NKY) Independent Health Department represents four different counties in Kentucky: Boone, Campbell, Grant, and Kenton. This region is often referred to as District 8 and it is made up of 381,153 Kentuckians. In 2008, a startling 18% of individuals in the region were diagnosed with depression and 9.8 % of individuals were living below the poverty level. Yet, the most pressing issue in this district is the heroin epidemic and its association with HCV. According to the NKY Drug Strike Force, three of the four counties in District 8 are the most problematic in the Northern Kentucky Area Development District. Boone, Kenton, and Campbell counties represent 60% of Kentucky’s heroin prosecutions for trafficking and possession. Data shows between 2008 and 2012 the heroin court cases in these three counties increased from 257 cases to 1339; an alarming 500% surge. These alarming statistics influenced the NKIHD to partner with various organizations to form the NKCRHE. Although a comprehensive community wide plan is now under development through the Response Team, there are major political, social, and economic factors to consider before reducing and stopping the epidemic. Social Factors The Heroin Impact Response Team sees stigma is the primary reason for the silence associated with heroin in NKY. Stigma is defined as a mark of disgrace with a particular circumstance, quality or person. This mark can be alienating and oppressive to individuals and can lead to prejudice and discrimination. People with a history of drug use are highly stigmatized and often become outcasts in society. Some groups argue this stigma helps reduce the drug problem in communities because it shows society’s disapproval of drug use. However, this argument is flawed because it does not consider that stigma can lead to shame and can lead people to hide their unacceptable and undesirable behaviors. Hiding and silencing drug use not only leads to delays in seeking help, but also leads to barriers in recovery and reintegration into society. NKY is a prime example of silence resulting from stigma. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of heroin overdoses in NKY doubled from 31 to 61 and the rates of HCV were more than double Kentucky’s rate.Despite this alarming statistic, until October 2012, communities in NKY were silent about the epidemic. The map below shows NKY is rooted in a historically conservative state, and thus NKY’s social and cultural environment strongly reflect conservative ideologies. These ideologies promote the silence, because speaking out would constitute condemnation, it would depict the family-unit as inadequate, and the community as a hazardous waste land. Finally, families in NKY are speaking out about the epidemic. They are sharing their personal stories and those of their lost loved ones. Through advocacy and education, they are working to break down the barriers associated with the stigma of drug use. Yet stigma is a powerful barrier, and education and community participation may not be enough to reduce the social barriers associated with heroin use. An additional powerful approach may be to remove certain legislative and administrative restrictions that reinforce stigmatization. The removal of these restrictions can lead to drug-user harm reduction strategies and programs, which could be considered the first steps to stop the spread of HCV and the first steps to recovery. Political Factors One of the most effective harm reduction strategies to consider is sterile Needle and Syringe Programs (NSPs). In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on the effectiveness NSPs in which they confirmed studies in the report presented â€Å"a compelling case that NSPs substantially and cost effectively reduce the spread of HIV (and other infectious diseases) and do so without evidence of exacerbating injective drug use at either the individual or societal level† (World Health Organization, 2004). Not surprisingly, the CDC, the National Institute of Health (NIH) and most of the medical and scientific community are advocates of NSPs because the scientific data supports the efficacy of these programs. In addition, these types of programs are seen as the first steps to recovery because they provide abusers the opportunity to seek help and obtain necessary primary health care Although the federal government does not ban the use of NSP’s, since the late 1980’s federal funding for NSPs was prohibited in the United States. In 2009, President Barack Obama removed this ban and allowed states to use federal funds for Syringe Exchange Programs (SEPs). The ban, unfortunately, was reinstated in 2011 due to a change in the federal spending package for 2012. As a result of the political controversy, this type of harm reduction strategy will be difficult to promote in NKY because despite the scientific data, Kentucky legislation continues to prohibit the use of NSPs. The controversy arises from the common misconception that NSPs promote drug use, encourages abusers to stay addicted to drugs, and fosters criminal behavior. Others argue these types of programs are a costly waste because they do not stop addiction. Scientific data, however, shows both of these arguments are invalid. The efficacy of the programs is evident in various studies and the cost be nefit analysis’ shows that â€Å"a full-coverage program that exchanges all used syringes in the United States would cost approximately $423 million but avert 1.3 billion in medical care and treatment costs† The development of an exchange program is not explicitly prohibited in the Kentucky statutes, however the Kentucky Revised Statute 218A.500(3) addresses the prohibition of distribution of drug paraphernalia: â€Å" It is unlawful for any person to deliver, possess with intent to deliver, or manufacture with intent to deliver, drug paraphernalia, knowing, or under circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will be used to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture, compound†¦inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, 2010). In 1992, Dr. John Poundstone wrote a letter to the Kentucky Attorney General requesting an opinion on NSPs in the state of Kentucky. The Kentucky Attorney General advised urban-county health departments could be guilty of criminal offence and liability if they were to pursue development of a needle exchange program Economic Factors If successful in changing Kentucky legislation to allow harm reduction strategies such as SNP’s, the next issue NKY will encounter is the economical component. In 2005, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported an estimated $1.9 billion was spent on mental health and substance abuse (MHSA) treatment in Kentucky which is approximately 1.5% of all the MHSA treatment in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 2012). However, the most pressing economic problem in NKY is the low federal and state funds distributed to the region for drug abuse and mental health; in fact, Northern Kentucky receives the lowest funds of the 14 regions in the state. Since federal funding cannot be used for NSPs the NKY region would be completely dependent on state and local funds. Yet, NKY receives only 8.16% of the state’s general funds for MHSA despite making up more than 10% of Kentucky’s general population. To make matters worse, NKY Health Department continuously faces budget cuts and the reduction in funds results in an uneven distribution of monies for various programs. In 2012-2013 the health department faced a 5% decrease in revenue due to cuts in state, federal and Medicaid funding; figure 1 shows this represented approximately $739,247. Figure 2 shows the decrease in revenue resulted in a 7% decrease in expenditures, approximately $1,050,043. These cuts make it difficult for the health department to address the heroin and communicable disease issues in a more robust manner. Notwithstanding these economic setbacks, the heroin and HCV epidemic has spiraled out of control and has become a monster that can only be tamed by organizations coming together to address the issue.

Cryptography and Network Security Applications

Cryptography and Network Security Applications Part I Cryptography and Data Security Role of Cryptography in Securing Data Cryptography plays a key role in securing any company’s online data. Encryption is the most widely used method to implement cryptography on the companies’ data as it secures the data while simultaneously allowing it to be transferred to others. It is very difficult for an outsider to break into an encrypted file and access the sensitive information. Encryption acts as a crucial component of security for protecting the cloud storage data as it is vulnerable to being attacked by outsiders, for concealing the operating systems, and for keeping security on emails which are the most common method of communication in business. Purpose of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryptions In symmetric encryption, the message is encrypted by the application of a secret key which can be in the form of a number, a word, or an alphanumeric string. The key is applied to the message (also known as plaintext) by the sender, and as long as the recipient has the key, they can decrypt the encrypted message (also known as cipher-text). Confidentiality is achieved by this method of encryption. If the symmetric key is changed in every session of communication the key is known as a session key that is valid for one session only and this provides improved confidentiality. This is a traditional method of encryption, using it becomes frantic when secure communication is needed by a number of employees in an organization as everyone will have a number of keys to communicate with different individuals. Secure key distribution among all the members is another problem in using symmetric encryption. In order to resolve these issues, Asymmetric encryption should be used in this organization. Each member has two keys namely public and private key. Public keys are used to encrypt and decrypt messages which are to be shared among all the members of the organization. Private keys are for to secure a private communication taking place between two persons. In this way, the all public and private communication inside premises is secured using these authentication methods and the files shared with these messages as attachments are also secured. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Algorithm: This algorithm is trusted as a standard by most government organizations as it is tremendously efficient in protecting the data of 128-bit. However, it is also used for data of 192 and 256 bits.Message Authentication Code  (MAC) Algorithm: This is also known as a tag, it is small information used for  authenticating a message which means it confirms the authenticity of the message by checking that the received message has been sent by the authenticated sender of it. The MAC value helps in protecting a messages  data authenticity and its integrity, by allowing the concerned persons to detect if the content of the message has been changed. Digital Signatures Digital signatures are commonly used for verifying the authenticity of digital documents and messages. It ensures the recipient that the received message has come from a known sender and the integrity of the message has not been altered during its transmission process. Since all the paper documents in the organization are now replaced with the electronic documents, digital signatures can be considered as an alternative to ink signatures and stamps of authenticity. Application of digital signatures offers authentication, integrity, and most importantly non-repudiation, i.e. one cannot deny their signature later if they have signed the document. Hence, digital signatures should be considered as one of the security measures while planning data security in this organization. These features can improve the transparency and security among the businesses through communications. These are basically comprised of 3 algorithms namely key generation algorithm, signing algorithm, and a signature verifying algorithm. It is very easy to create digital signatures, one can just open the electronic document that needs to be signed in an electronic signature tool such as Docusign or Microsoft office tools. Further steps differ as per the tool and document and these steps are instructed to the user as he opens the document in the tool. Users just have to follow the instructions and verify their identity in order to add their digital signatures on the document. When messages are sent after being digitally signed, the hash value ensures that no changes have been made in the document. All of this handled automatically handled by a software tool, which shows warning if a decrypted hash value produces an altered output. The encrypted value of the hash is added to the bottom or as an attachment in the email. Part II Cryptographic Keys and User Authentication   Ã‚  Ã‚  A user authentication system can be recommended to provide strict authenticity for users to access the companys resources. In this system, an identity is stated by the users who then applies an authenticator such as a password or a security key or combination of both of these in order to validate their identity. The security key presented by the user to verify their identity must be unique so that it authenticates only one particular user. The keys should be made in such a way that they are easy to remember by the user but cannot be stolen, copied, or forged. The process of revoking the previous key and issuing a new key should be easy. It should be impossible for the users to transfer their security keys to another user. The system should be protected against any attacker during the transit of data. Asymmetric encryption methods can be used as one of the user authentication methods to validate this system. Since the information secured through cryptographic keys depends directly on the key strength, key mechanisms and protocols effectiveness, and afforded protection. It is important to have a proper key management system in order to ensure proper distribution of keys. The user authentication should be made in such a way that it offers key protection against any modification. Private keys should be protected against any type of unauthorized disclosure. System Recommended for Employees to Get Discounts on Fruit Juice and Nut Bar The system recommended for the employees to make proper use of ijuice.com and nutbar.com is that when the employees click on the link given on the employee benefits page, a login or signup page should appear. If the employee is new to the system, they employee must make an account on the product website by signing up using their authentic credentials and their confidential employee ID along with a username or password that would be the key they use to access their account. As the user logs into the website, a session is created, and by the received login information of the user, special discount coupons unique to the employee is available to be added to their accounts so that they can use the coupon when they purchase any specific coupon applicable item. Once the user logs out from their account, the session is terminated, and the information about the session remains safe with the servers of ijuice.com and nutbar.com. Part III Secure Cloud Computing for Handling the Companys Data Implementation   John will want to implement most of the data used and stored for the company in a virtual cloud system. This will provide a certain effective measurement of security, efficiency, transfer methods, time saving and cost reductions. The first step in implementing cloud based storage is the replacement of physical infrastructures with virtual infrastructures. A software layer generates a virtual instance of the hardware as the controlling software point and is much easier to manage, interactive with, share and make changes too.  The second step, includes the decision making process of what cloud storage system would be best suited for the company. A common cloud service is ‘Google Drive’ ‘Oricle’ or IBM. These cloud services offer a greater visability into the usage and cost of virtual infrastructure as well as assisting in tracking and assessing shared computer resource usage accuracy. The third step of implementing cloud is realizing in companies where most of the work data flow demands server regularity without the interference of attacks and that’s where cloud security comes in. Blowfish, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), and RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) are some of the most commonly used cloud computing algorithms to provide efficient security to cloud platforms. AES encryption algorithms were described previously, but RSA encryption relies upon the computational difficulty of processing large integer values. The strength of this encryption is left up to the key size which are usually 1024- or 2048-bits in length, which is huge and is why it would be a great choice to implement upon cloud infrastructure storage security. Risks Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks: These attacks prevents the users from accessing the services by flooding the systems or networks with traffic to make the resources work on unnecessary data or inevitably crash which then prevents the user from accessing their data . Such attacks have more computational power in cloud computing.Malware Injection Attack: These attacks inject harmful software to the victims data in the cloud and takes control of it. The results of successful injection can be very disastrous, it can even allow the propagation of computer worms which then can potentially use the company’s data distribution methods as a platform to spread the attack to individuals or groups who authentically interact with the company’s data.Side Channel Attack: These attacks place a virtual machine with the victim’s virtual machine in order to target cryptographic implementation of the systems instead of using any theoretical weaknesses of the algorithms or any other force. Cache attack, timing attack, power – monitoring attack, electromagnetic attack, acoustic cryptanalysis, differential fault analysis, data reminisce, and software-initiated fault attacks are different forms of side channel attacks. Countermeasures The data stored in the cloud must be zipped up with either a password or AES encryption and the keys must not be shared with anyone.Login authentication should not be simple in terms of guess work and rather should implement multifactor authentication.A CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) should be hired to manage the cloud after installation.Data integrity must be verified by implementing data encryption and decryption over the wire. It is advisable to use cloud computing for the operational purposes in order to reduce the hardware infrastructure cost and maintain efficient management of databases and confidential data if all the vulnerabilities are taken care of by using proper countermeasures. Part IV Business and Blockchain Integration Blockchain technology has created a backbone for a new kind of internet. A blockchains store information across a network of computers making them not just decentralized but distributed which means no single individual or company owns a system but everyone can use it and help run it. It can be looked at in three different ways: technical, legal, and business (Nair & Sebastian, 2017).  As per technical aspect, it could be seen as a backend database which has a distributed ledger. As per business aspect, it is an exchange network that can be used by peers for transferring value. This mechanism validates a transaction and may validate it from a legal point of view. There is no requirement of any middlemen to make a transaction valid. In order to ensure proper functioning of blockchains at such a corporate level, a consensus algorithm is required which must be secure, functional, and efficient. â€Å"Proof of work†, â€Å"Proof of Authority†, and â€Å"Proof of stake† are some of the consensus algorithm which are considered as potential for blockchain integration. However, the use of a â€Å"Proof of Work† algorithm has already been started for blockchains in Bitcoins. Blockchains can enhance the security in three different forms which are: blockage of identity thefts, prevention from denial of service attacks, and prevention of data tampering. Advantages It allows people to sell or buy anything they like to and or from anybody in the world, without letting any other party to interfere and impose rules upon them.Every consumer can choose their identity in transactions, such can remain anonymous, public, or private as per their choice.Approach used in blockchains for storing DNS entries could increase security by eliminating the single target that can be attacked by the hackers. This will not cause the entire system to be compromised by the attack.Blockchain will also eliminate the network fees on DNS reads and will only charge for new entries and updates, of course depending upon the DNS provider that John chooses to go with. Drawbacks Financial services will be impacted as blockchain is defined as everything that a bank does.Government services as one can choose to buy or sell anything to anyone without any geographical boundaries. No one will go to government departments for completing the formalities.Blockchains will require a lot of computational power as compared to centralized database processes. Blockchain provides the ability for every node in the network to process the request independently.Existing currencies are regulated and created by the national governments, but blockchain and a product of blockchain such as Bitcoin will face hurdles in being adopted by the already existing financial institutions if the regulation status of the governments remain unsettled. References Stallings, W., & Tahiliani, M. P. (2014).  Cryptography and network security: principles and practice  (Vol. 6). London: Pearson. Jonsson, J., Moriarty, K., Kaliski, B., & Rusch, A. (2016). PKCS# 1: RSA Cryptography Specifications Version 2.2. Salomaa, A. (2013).  Public-key cryptography. Springer Science & Business Media. Hernandez, K. (2017). Blockchain for Development–Hope or Hype?. Nair, G. R., & Sebastian, S. (2017). BlockChain Technology Centralised Ledger to Distributed Ledger. Rittinghouse, J. W., & Ransome, J. F. (2016).  Cloud computing: implementation, management, and security. CRC press. Stojmenovic, I. (2014, November). Fog computing: A cloud to the ground support for smart things and machine-to-machine networks. In  Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (ATNAC), 2014 Australasian  (pp. 117-122). IEEE.

MP3 - A Controversial Technology Essay -- Expository Essays

MP3 - A Controversial Technology Technology is constantly changing and reinventing itself. With every new invention there will be controversy on how it affects the industry it is within. There will also be those who exploit the new technology is some way or form. MP3’s is an example of a controversial break through in technology. The question arises should the music industry embrace the opportunities MP3’s can offer or fight it. MP3 is an audio compression that speeds up the transfer of digital music files. By shrinking the size of the track, downloads take only a fraction of the time that they used to. MP3’s also feature solid-state technology, flash memory and the ability to download and store high fidelity music. With an MP3 you not only create your own personalized music soundtracks you can email them to friends all around the world. MP3’s change the way that music is distributed. Only marks the start of a new market in Portable Digital Audio Devices (DAD) By simply logging on to your favorite music portal site you can use MP3 playback software at no char...

Viriginia Woolf :: Author Viriginia Woolf feminism relationships

Viriginia Woolf (this essay has problems with the format) One of the greatest female authors of all time, Virginia Woolf, produced a body of writing respected worldwide. Driven by uncontrollable circumstances and internal conflict, her life was cut short by suicide. Her role in feminism, along with the personal relationships in her life, influenced her literary works. Virginia's relationships throughout her life contributed, not only to her literature, but the quality of her life as well. Perhaps the greatest influence in Virginia's life is her mother, Julia Stephen. "Julia Stephen was the most arresting figure which her daughter [Virginia Woolf] tried to resurrect and preserve" (Gordon 4). Woolf, a manic-depressive, found herself constantly searching for approval. "Virginia needed her mother's approval in order to 'measure her own stature" (Bond 38). Battling with a sense of worthlessness, Virginia's mother helped her temporarily rid herself of self-criticism and doubt. This however was short-lived. When Mrs. Stephen rejected Virginia, she felt her mother's disapproval directly related to the quality of her writing. "Virginia Woolf could not bear to reread anything she had written†¦ Mrs. Stephen's rejection of Virginia may have been the paradigm of her failure to meet her own standards" (Bond 39). With the death of her mother Woolf used her novel, To the Lighthouse to "reconstruct and preserve" the memories that still remained. According to Woolf, "the character of Mrs. Ramsey in To the Lighthouse was modeled entirely upon that of her mother" (Bond 27). This helped Virginia in her closure when dealing with the loss and obsession with her mother. Although Virginia clung to the relationship with her mother, she favored her father, Leslie Stephen. Virginia resembled her father uncannily in character traits, in her writing and self-doubts, in her great and malicious sense of humor, in her marriage, in her frugality, in her fear of aging, and in her social consciousness. (Bond 59) They were both extremely outspoken while sparing no one's feelings with their comments. Virginia and Leslie both had strong personalities and rapid mood changes. Woolf portrayed her father, like her mother, through characterization in To the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsey captures her father as a man of "baffling mutability, a lightening switch from the m ost lovable of men, to a 'famished wolfhound' and back again" (Gordon 22). This portrayal of Leslie Stephens relates to his uncontrollable rages and mood swings. Leslie Stephen not only controlled Virginia's mental development, but her intellectual development as well.

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay

Some say â€Å"home is where the heart is. † Home can be everything to some. Home is their safe comfort place they have in life. Home determines a sense of one’s identity. One poem called â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† by Cathy Song involves characters experiencing conflicting situations between the demands of their home and identity. One might think that this poem is simply about mothers versus daughters; however, this poem evokes a broader sense meaning that daughters are torn between either pulling away or pulling closer to home. In one sense, the daughter in this poem is frustrated with her current situation and aspires to do more with her life, rather than devote her time doing what her mother thinks she should be doing. Despite this feeling, she knows she should be caring for her sick mother. The role she has in her home has conflicting messages. Using the elements of tone, narrative poem, and word choice, the poem can be explicated to show how it creates and resolves the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† utilizes the narrative type poem, which helps create and resolve the conflict in the poem. The main conflict in this poem is that the daughter has to choose between obligations and desires, while finding her own role in her home. A narrative poem tells a story, and this poem tells a story about a daughter taking care of her elderly mother. The poem is about what the daughter’s daily life is like. This shows the â€Å"obligations† part of her life. The first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This implies that everything that has been going on with her taking care of her mother has been going on for many years. Since her mother became ill, it has been the daughter’s obligation to take care of her. This obligation is based on cultural expectations. In many cultures, children are expected to take care of their parents once they age. The poem is organized into stanzas that are associated with a certain part of the story. One stanza describes what has been going on lately. Another is about â€Å"this morning. † The last stanza is about what goes on â€Å"in the afternoons. † Through the narrative type poem, the daughter is able to express the feeling that her identity is basically taking care of her mother. This identity is also her role in the family. This role limits her own self-identity. Because she is busy caring for her mother, she is unable to develop a sense of self. She is torn between two things: growing away from her mother, and pulling closer to her mother. She knows she has to take care of her, so that aspect makes her seem to pull closer to her mother. Contrary to that, this daughter is a grown woman, and she has a very limited and conflicted life. Her life is devoted to the mother. This is seen by the story of the poem. She wants to grow apart from her mother and do things in her life that interest her. The reader can see that the daughter wants to escape this whole situation because towards the end of the poem it says â€Å"She knows I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The readers learn here that the mother doesn’t trust the daughter, for reasons unknown. The second line of the above quote shows the readers that this is what the daughter is currently doing to make her mother not trust her. The daughter also desires that her mother’s health improve, because in the poem is says â€Å"As I toast to her health. Love and pity toward her aging mother clash with the feelings of resentment and entrapment of herself. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† uses word choice to show the conflict of mothers versus daughters, and the daughter’s internal conflict of obligations and desires. The daughter uses middle diction to show her emotions. Like noted in a previous paragraph, the first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This shows that the daughter has been dealing with her mother’s illness for quite some time, and she hasn’t been able to see the sun. She hasn’t been able to do what she wants to do because she has been so overwhelmed with taking care of the mother and fulfilling her obligations. When describing the mother, the daughter says â€Å"her breathing was graveled / her voice gruff with affection. † The word choice of graveled and gruff is interesting. This demonstrates the effort required to breathe and be affectionate. It’s almost as if the writer of the poem wanted the readers to hear what her breathing and voice sounded like by including those two words in there. This implies in a way that the mother has an opinion with the situation too. These two words make these two lines more effective. The daughter says â€Å"I was almost tender / when I came to the blue bruises. † This shows that the daughter feels sorry for what the mother has to go through. Tender is another interesting word choice. The poem also says â€Å"I soaped her slowly,† meaning that the daughter takes her time when washing her mother, because her life has been accustomed to nothing. Another aspect of obligations is that the daughter says â€Å"I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth. The daughter obviously doesn’t want to scrub the mother, but it is obligation, her duty, so she must. Using the sentence â€Å"We eat in the familiar silence† shows that there is tension between them, because if there was no tension, they would be talking when they are eating. Despite this tension, this still occurs each day, and they continue to follow the same routine. If this line just had said â€Å"We eat in silence,† it would have a much lesser effect on the poem as a whole. By adding the word â€Å"familiar,† it allows the reader to understand that eating that way is a commonality and part of a consistent routine. The words â€Å"familiar silence† contrast each other. Familiar is something that has occurred so often that it becomes accustomed. And what is familiar in this poem? Silence. Silence, though it means quiet, is essentially nothing. Quietness, or nothing, has occurred so much that it is accustomed. The word choice is contrasting obligations with desires. The daughter is obligated to care for her mother. This is evident throughout the entire poem when the daughter describes everything she does for her mother. Despite this, she desires to do something different than just solely care for her mother. This desire is evident when the poem says â€Å"She know I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The daughter wants to escape, and the mother is aware of it. This contrast between obligations and desires makes the reader of the poem feel that this is an either/or situation. The daughter can either take care of the mother, or she can go off on her own. The last two lines of the poem are very meaningful: â€Å"A thousand cranes curtain the window / fly up in a sudden breeze. These word choices are effective because the words allow the readers to see an ending image. It seems like the cranes flying away is associated with the daughter being set free and escaping her life. It’s ironic how the first line of the poem uses words that talk about the sky, and in the last few lines of the poem the cranes fly into the sky. This line is used as a way for the author of the poem to show that the resolution has occurred. By the end of the poem, the conflict of obligations versus desires is resolved. One of the last lines of the poem says â€Å"As I toast to her health. This shows that the daughter finally realizes that caring for her mother is what’s best for her at this moment. By toasting for her health, she reveals that even though she is sick of caring for her mother, she would rather care for her mother than have her mother be dead. The daughter realizes that there will eventually be a time when the mother dies, and at that time the daughter will be able to do whatever she desires, but right now, her focus needs to be on her mother. The cranes flying into the sky reiterates this fact. When this time comes, even though the daughter will be able to do what she wants, she will be without a mother. She will have no obligations, which in a sense is good for her, because she will be able to do what she wants, yet a part of her life will be missing. Death is always hard to deal with, and even though in the poem she talks about how she wants to escape, in reality she really would miss her mother. The tone is this poem is bittersweet and affectionate; children should care for their aging parents, yet children need to live their own lives. In a way, the tone is also both happy and sad. The way the tone changes correlated with both of the conflicting sides of the poem. It’s happy in the way that the poet shows that there is affection and love between mothers and daughters, yet it is sad in the way that it shows that sometimes conflicts arise between mothers and daughters. This also explains how it is bittersweet. The tone shows that there are moral ties between children and their parents. These moral ties tie in with the obligational part of the conflict. Morally, the daughter feels obliged to care for her mother. The speaker is the youngest daughter of a family, and her duty is to take care of her aging parent. As one can see, looking at a poem through elements can help a reader understand the meaning of it. In â€Å"The Youngest Daughter,† the poem creates the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters related to the daughter either pulling closer or pulling away from family and having to choose between obligations and desires. The elements of tone, word choice, and narrative poem together effectively create this meaning. In this poem, the home determines one’s identity. The daughter is conflicted between either pulling closer to her home life and her mother, or pulling away from it all and going after her own aspirations. Readers can relate to this poem because many people go through the same predicament in life: taking care of an aging parent. People do it because they love their family. Even though this daughter is having conflicting feelings about taking care of her mother, she does it anyways because family always comes first.

Audience and Purpose Essay

Write an essay in which you show how food–its production, preparation, and/or consumption–affects everyday life beyond its obvious role as one of the basic necessities; that is, try to explore in your essay the cultural, psychological, and social influences of food on you and those around you. For example, explain how your childhood was defined by the constant struggle between you and your parents to get you to eat healthy foods; or describe the most elaborate meal that you have ever eaten, perhaps at a fancy restaurant, and how it made you feel. Also, you might relate your first experiences with growing a garden and enjoying fresh vegetables or catching and cooking your own fish on a camping trip. If your family still maintains its ethnic origins by preparing food from the old country, you might use your essay to describe such a meal and how it connects you to your roots. This is not a process analysis paper on how to prepare a certain dish; instead, you should use you r essay to interpret the meaning of food in your own life and culture. Audience and Purpose. Food is a necessity for life, but it is so much more than that. It is used in social settings to help members of a group bond and to make parties festive; it is used to pass from generation to generation family and national customs; it is used to make friends and observe special occasions; and it is used to the express artistic values of those who prepare it for consumption. Writing about the role of food in our lives can teach us much about ourselves and our culture. Interpreting the meaning of food in our lives can help readers understand life in general. Development Strategy. To develop this kind of personal essay, use division/classification (like the sample essay), comparison/contrast, or narration/description. Begin by brainstorming some interesting experiences you have had with food, and make a list of potential topics. Try to list eight or ten topics, and then choose the one that seems the most interesting. To test drive this topic, do some free writing for five or ten minutes to see what you have to say. If this results in some interesting material, try some focused free writing in which you use a specific strategy, such as narration or comparison/contrast, to organize your thoughts. If this results in a detailed, creative look at the art of eating okra or why your Cajun grandmother used food as bribery, try writing a  thesis (main idea sentence) that will help you shape the first draft into a purposeful, coherent essay. If this works, share your first draft with a preliminary audience before writing a final draft. Develop your topic with specific supporting material from personal experiences and use sensory language to help readers experience the food you describe. Sample Topics  my first experience with haute cuisine at the Commander’s Palace Restaurant in New Orleans learning to like liver  watching my little brothers eat dinner: not a pretty sight  dining on exotic foods during a mission trip to the Caribbean how my mother cooks for six very different people without going crazy why breakfast foods are my favorite  on refusing to eat anything slimy  fresh vegetables from my grandparents’ garden: the ultimate in dining pleasure grilling the steaks as a manly act: how to wear an apron and still look macho on learning proper table etiquette during the potluck suppers held at church the cultural significance of ___________ cuisine  in quest of the perfect junk food  on the importance of not letting your foods touch each other on the plate: confessions of an obsessive/compulsive vegetarianism: not a disease  on saying grace before a meal Aunt Virginia’s secret weapon, the best fried fruit pies you’ve ever eaten a total sensory experience: observing the kitchen on a busy night at Tavern on the Green putting the soul into soul food  why Thanksgiving dinner is more than a meal at the Salvation Army one of God’s most amazing inventions, the sweet potatoSample Thesis Statements 1. Passover is more than just a meal; it is a religious experience rich in symbolism and history. 2. Preparing a family dinner for the first time can easily turn into disaster. 3. Al fresco dining at the Catalina Restaurant in St. Augustine involves all of the senses. 4. The parents of finicky children have to be resourceful when tricking their kids into eating enough to stay alive. 5. People eat out of necessity but also as an important form of social interaction. Sample Essay Sandy Renfro Mr. Carter English I 14 February 2004 Eating as a Social Act Can you imagine a party without food? Have you ever bellied up to the buffet, even though you were already full, just to be sociable? Does the act of breaking bread with someone with whom you’re angry ease the tension? Is it easy to be quiet at a dinner party? If you answered no-yes-yes-no to these questions, you have probably noticed the social implications of eating. Yes, we eat to stay alive, but there’s much more to it than that. We eat with others to establish and maintain friendly relationships. Four main occasions illustrate this social reason for eating: parties, banquets, family meals, and funerals. By definition, a party involves more than one person and almost always includes food and beverage. My mom’s birthday party last August wouldn’t have been the same without the birthday cake, the homemade ice cream, and the large trays of finger foods that her two sisters prepared for friends and family. The focus remained on my mother, but the delicious food gave us something to do while she opened her gifts and joked with her sisters. A banquet is usually a catered affair at which a large group of people who are bound together by a special interest or endeavor sit down to a dinner to honor a person or persons who have contributed to their shared interest or cause during the year. The high school sports banquet last year gave athletes and their families a wonderful opportunity to form social bonds by reminiscing about the year’s games and track meets over filet mignon, baked potatoes, and green beans. Recognizing the outstanding athletes with short speeches and aw ards also created a social cohesion in the group that have made this year’s teams perform well. Family meals also perform an important social function when parents use these occasions to teach their children proper table etiquette, find out what’s going on in their children’s lives, and entertain interesting guests who can expose the children to new ideas and different cultures. My parents expect me and my two sisters to be present at every family meal, and some of our most enjoyable times as a  family have taken place around the dinner table. We also have some interesting discussions about politics, religion, and culture, especially if we have guests like our pastor and his wife, the Muslim family that lives down the street, or any of the international students from the university where my mother works. I have learned my conversational skills sitting at the family dinner table. Food also has a social function at most funerals or wakes. When my grandfather passed away two years ago, I was amazed at how much food poured in from neighbors and fellow church members . This was their way of saying, â€Å"We care about your loss.† During the home visitation time the night before the funeral, my grandmother made sure everyone had something to eat. After the funeral the next morning, the church ladies prepared a nice lunch for family and friends in the church’s fellowship hall. We used this occasion to share memories about Grandpa. Our dinner that night at Grandma’s house became a kind of impromptu family reunion when we caught up on all the news from aunts, uncles, and cousins who came in from out of state to attend the funeral. Of course, there are other occasions when eating together helps us form social bonds, but these are the ones that have helped me become the person I am today. Bottom line: people eat out of necessity but also as an important form of social interaction. Essay Reminders. Don’t forget: 1) a good essay consists of three basic parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion; 2) the main idea is stated clearly in one sentence called the thesis; 3) the topic is narrow and well developed; 4) the author writes about the topic from personal experience for an audience of readers who will benefit in some way from reading it; 5) the material is divided into paragraphs logically to make reading the essay easy; and 6) the topic is developed specifically, using one or more of the following development strategies: analogy, definition, description, cause/effect, comparison/contrast, division/