Legalization of Marijuana Essay Example for Free

Legalization of Marijuana Essay One of the major issues that Texas and the rest of the States governments are facing right now is the debate on Marijuana, whether or not to legalize it or decriminalize it. The questions are being asked and discussed, what are the effects? Will legalizing marijuana lead to increased use? Is it a gateway drug? And how many people are getting arrested for minor possessions each year? The illegality of marijuana in Texas is a problem because it is causing users to resort to supporting the black market; it’s a drain on taxpayer’s money and causing major overcrowding problems in the prison system. I propose legalization of medicinal and recreational use of marijuana, and decriminalizing charges associated with marijuana along with age and quantity restrictions to solve this problem. Texas legislature and the rest of the States are all debating this issue, but most of the common public is misinformed or has a stigma on what marijuana is and how it affects you which can lead to many misinterpretations on the plant or a stigma against users. Most of the time it can lead to loss of a job, prison and permanently stains your criminal record. So, what is Marijuana? It’s a drug made from the dry shredded parts of the Cannabis sativa hemp plant. This plant contains a chemical called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or more commonly known as THC. What studies have discovered is that it’s very similar to chemicals that the brain naturally produces but it disrupts the natural function of these chemicals in the brain by overloading your senses. Marijuana smoke can also irritate the lungs and frequent smokers can have the same respiratory problems experienced by those who smoke tobacco. Any type of smoking leads to risk of lung cancer. Marijuana has many effects on the brain, this includes but is not limited too short-term memory loss, motor coordination, slow reaction time, mood swings and in some cases can cause severe anxiety. Because of these effects it is believed to be one of the leading causes of car crashes, second only two alcohols. One of the greatest questions asked about Marijuana, is it addictive? While most people believe no, the truth is  statistically 9% of those who try Marijuana will become addicted. Youth are more susceptible than adults and about 2.7 million people in the U.S alone meet the criteria for marijuana dependence. (lung.org) THC stimulates brain cells to release the chemical dopamine, which creates a euphoric feeling and can lead to a physical addiction. Similar to tobacco withdrawal, people trying to quit marijuana report irritability, sleeping difficulties, craving, and anxiety. While there are certainly benefits and proven cases of medical marijuana helping people cope with epilepsy as well as cancer patients using the plant to cope with nausea and other symptoms, we must ask ourselves, do these benefits outweigh the risks? Yes the symptoms from smoking marijuana regularly aren’t good, but the symptoms received from marijuana are some of the same symptoms that people get from excessive smoking of tobacco products. Or you could say that the loss of motor function, short-term memory loss and slow reaction time are also symptoms of alcohol abuse. Yet both tobacco and alcohol is legal, with not one medical benefit. Marijuana is illegal even though it has been proven to help some people cope with their disease in some cases, yet its possible to get jail time for one gram of weed. Marijuana is a multi billion-dollar industry, but because marijuana is illegal on the Federal level, taxpayers are seeing none of that money put back into the economy. Instead all the profits are going straight into drug dealers pockets through the black market. Its estimated that the market for marijuana in California is about 3 to 5 billion and that Cali makes up roughly 10% of the national drug market so it could be estimated that the National market is about 30 – 40 billion dollars a year. (Canorml.org/) If marijuana was legalized on a National level all of that money would be pouring in and stimulating the economy, which has been on a steep decline for the past decade. The fact is that â€Å"roughly 750,000 people are arrested for charges of minor possession of marijuana each year, which is roughly 48% of all drug arrests in the United States† (drugpolicy.org) The taxes required the citizens of the U.S to just maintain the prisons alone cost a fortune. â€Å"The cost of prisons was $39 billion in fiscal year 2012† (vera.org/) This means that its costing regular citizens $18.7 billion to put marijuana users behind bars. This is not only a drain on U.S resources but it’s also a major source of overcrowding of the prisons systems. Currently the U.S incarcerates 1 in nearly 100 American  Adults. (alec.org) There are better ways of dealing with crime than mass incarceration. Now how does all this relate to Texas? Currently there are 8 bills in Texas’s house of representatives regarding decriminalizing or legalizing medicinal and recreational use of marijuana. However nothing has been officially decided in the current legislative session. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that lawmakers would not approve legislation that would legalize marijuana. â€Å"I don’t think decriminalizing marijuana is going to happen this session,† Abbott said during a news conference. â€Å"I will see Texas continuing to lead the way of diverting away from activity that involves drug use and helping people lead more productive lives.† (Dallas News) But although laws have not been passed to decriminalize possession of marijuana, Abbott did acknowledge efforts to get people off the herb rather than slamming them in jail and crowding the legal system. â€Å"Texas has really been a national leader with regard to drug diversion courts and drug diversion programs,† Abbott said. â€Å"Our goal is not to stockpile prisons with people who are arrested with minor possession issues, our goal is to help those who are found with minor possession take a pathway that is more productive than what jail provides.† This potentially means that there is a source of agreement in Texas legislature that there are some abuses that are happening within the justice system regarding marijuana laws. The â€Å"War on Drugs† has is a waste of Texans taxpayers money and legislative resources as well as causing an overcrowding issue in our prison systems. Not to mention that Texas alone could bring in $166 million in revenue from medicinal marijuana alone which would give a huge boost to the economy. (dallasobserver.com) Legalization would eliminate almost half of the criminal population in Texas resulting in clean records and better chances of getting a decent job in the Texas work force. It would nearly abolish half the black market drug trafficking since about 50% of drugs being brought in from other states such as California or countries like Mexico is marijuana. Without the stigma and the illegality of marijuana that money would go to the states and the economy rather than supporting the criminal underground. All of these problems could potentially be solved through legalization of marijuana for recreational use but subjected to the same age and quantity restrictions as alcohol or tobacco. The sound evidence for legalization of the herb is causing marijuana opposition arguments to go up  in smoke. Work Cited; Annotated Bibliography â€Å"10 Facts About Marijuana† Drug Policy Alliance, 25 July 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. 10 common facts about Marijuana. Will legalization lead to increased use? Fact: There is no evidence that implementing medical marijuana laws impacts the rate of adolescent use. How many people are arrested for marijuana each year? Fact: Roughly 750,000 people are arrested for marijuana each year, the vast majority of them for simple possession, with racial minorities over-represented. Misinformation and misrepresentation are the leading causes for the debate on marijuana legalization. ERIC SCHLOSSER INTERVIEW. PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Frontline Interview of Eric Scholsser who has written several articles on impact of marijuana enforcement and how it affects the legal system. Schlosser makes the point n a lot of its internal dynamics to the McCarthy era witch-hunts, which I had studied in college. And the deep unreason to it and the hysteria surrounding it seemed very similar. And what concerned me most was how it seemed like another scapegoating. This country traditionally has gone thorough periods of intolerance where we look for scapegoats blame scapegoats and avoid dealing with our real problems. And the war on marijuana seemed like a classic example of that national tendency. So the question that I address myself to in the articles Ive written is how does society come to punish a person more harshly for selling marijuana than for killing somebody with a gun? Under the laws of 15 states you can get a life sentence for a 3rd non-violent marijuana offense but the average prison sentence for a convicted killer is about 6 to 8 years. Henrichson, Christian, and Ruth Delaney. Vera Institute of Justice: Making Justice Systems Fairer and More Effective through Research and Innovation. The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers. VERA Institute of Justice, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. The main argument for this source is the price of prison and what incarceration is costing taxpayers. Among the 40 states that participated in a survey, the cost of prisons was $39 billion in fiscal year 2012. Prison Overcrowding American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC  American Legislative Exchange Council. American Legislative Exchange Council, 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Prison Overcrowding: The United States currently incarcerates 1 in nearly 100 American adults. America’s incarceration addiction grew during the late 1980s and early 1990s as state and local governments passed â€Å"tough-on-crime† legislation. For example, California’s â€Å"three strikes† law called for mandatory sentencing of repeat offenders, and New York adopted the â€Å"Broken Windows† strategy that called for the arrest and prosecution of all crimes large and small. The solution to this problem is decriminalization of possession charges on a Federal level. Marijuana. American Lung Association. American Lung Association, 2 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015 what is Marijuana? It’s a drug made from the dry shredded parts of the Cannabis sativa hemp plant. This plant contains a chemical called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or more commonly known as THC. What studies have discovered is that it’s very similar to chemicals that the brain naturally produces but it disrupts the natural function of these chemicals in the brain by overloading your senses. The source states that many states are debating whether or not marijuana can be used as medicine. As of right now the FDA has not approved medical use because there is not enough evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks. Marijuana has also only been useful in a limited number of symptoms compared to the wide variety it has been promoted to â€Å"cure†. In addition it has been found not to be as useful in curing these symptoms as other FDA approved drugs for the same symptoms. THC stimulates brain cells to release the chemical dopamine, which creates a euphoric feeling and can lead to a physical addiction. Similar to tobacco withdrawal, people trying to quit marijuana report irritability, sleeping difficulties, craving, and anxiety. Economics: Drug War Facts. Economics. Drug War Facts, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Data tables of the US Drug Control Spending. Source: National Drug Control Budget: FY 2016 Funding Highlights (Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy) See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/economics#sthash.MWYakCDP.dpuf

Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata) and Pulp and Lumber Production :: Economic Analysis

Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata) and Pulp and Lumber Production Introduction Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) is commercially one of the four most important conifers in the southeastern United States. In fact, shortleaf pine has the widest range of all southern pines, spreading from Florida to New Jersey and from North Carolina to Oklahoma Sidney Investments, a firm based in Dallas, Texas, is considering the purchase of a 360 acre parcel of forested land located in the Quachita Mountains of eastern Oklahoma. This land has been under timber production through one rotation to this point. Sidney Investments would like to be advised on the possibilities of keeping that land in timber production and the operations necessary for the management of shortleaf pine. Sidney has come to Hall-Tree Silvicultural Consultants for a description of the silvicultural procedures involved, and the firm will then perform an economic analysis, checking the current market prices for the implementation of those procedures before making a decision on the purchase of this property. The 360 acre tract that Sidney Investments is considering is located in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. The elevation of the site does not vary much, ranging from 400 to 460 feet above mean sea level. The soil, being primarily composed of sand and silt, is quite mesic and highly drained. The annual precipitation in McCurtain County averages 48 inches. The average annual temperature is near 66Â °F and there are around 260 days in the growing season. Though shortleaf pine prefers a site with a little more moisture, it will, nonetheless, grow well on this site. Because of its characteristic tolerance of varying site conditions, shortleaf pine will outperform any of the other southern pines on this site. Shortleaf Pine Description Shortleaf pine tends to grow rather slowly in the early stages of its life when compared to its closest competitor, loblolly pine. Therefore it cannot compete for the best sites under natural regeneration, but, because of it's tolerance of a wide range of site conditions, shortleaf pine is found naturally in areas where loblolly pine will not grow effectively. It is for this reason that shortleaf pine was chosen for this site instead of loblolly. When planted artificially, it was found that after the first few years of development, shortleaf pine will match loblolly in height growth on the better sites and will surpass loblolly on the poorer sites (Harrington, 1987). Because of this, shortleaf pine is the most commonly regenerated pine in the northern and western parts of its range where the site conditions are not as ideal as in the southern part of its range.

Homeless in America Essay

Families live, die and are born on the streets of vast cities of United States. Less attention are shown to those who are homeless, people focus more on bigger issues when this is a major problem that has occurred for years. Statistics shows that 1.6 million youth run away from home each year between the ages of 12 and 17. The predominant race for runaways is White non-Hispanic (57%), Black non-Hispanic (17%), Hispanic (15%), and Other (11%) follow (Blaha). Homeless children most likely leave their original homes because of the way of life and the hard pressure due to their living environment and family issues. Homelessness makes children sick, wounds young children, & homeless children often struggle in school. Homeless children are in fair or poor health twice as often as other children. They have higher rates of low birth weighted need special care right after birth for times as often as other children. Also have very high rates of acute illness, with half suffering from two or mo re symptoms during a single month. Despite state and federal efforts to provide homeless children with improved access to public school, at least one-fifth of homeless children don’t attend school. This is because they either have no transportation from the shelters to school or lack of school and medical records makes registration harder. Daily demands off finding food and shelter push children’s educational needs aside. Homelessness and poverty are linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, which must be dropped. Being poor mean being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets. Homelessness and street life have extreme effects on children. Their unstable lifestyles, lack of medical care, and inadequate living conditions increase young people’s susceptibility to chronic illnesses such as respiratory or ear infections, gastrointestinal disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV /AIDS. Children fending for themselves must find ways to eat; some scavenge or find exploitative physical work. Many homeless children are enticed by adults and older youth into selling drugs, stealing, and prostitution. Studies show that at least half of homeless youth has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse. This is hard to believe when first heard, but once one thinks about how much exposure they have to the world, criminals, and offenders the fact becomes more realistic and believable. Some studies have come up with two theories to examine the homeless youth which is the lifestyle-exposure theory and the routine activity theory. In these theories the youth’s proximity, exposure, guardianship, and target congruence are examined. They are more likely to get raped and end up with a sexually transmitted disease. Since they are always on the streets, this gives the predator’s easier access to their prey (the youth). Both the theories, lifestyle-exposure and routine activity theory, are associated together because they both pay no attention to criminal motivation, but focus on how what they do in the everyday lives are related to their exposure to many dangerous people and places. With the youth being so exposed many say this is high potential risk of being victimized. When the theories are combined they include the four concepts which is proximity to crime, exposure to crime, guardianship, and target attractiveness/congruence. The fault in these theories is that they both ignore the sources of criminal motivation. One a child is around a certain area enough, they most of the time adapt the characteristics of the environment and do as they see. If everyone around them is stealing then the child is more likely to steal, if everyone is having sex around them then they might get use to the fact of seeing sex and may not see it as bad. Drug use by children on the streets is common as they look for means to numb the pain and deal with the hardships associated with street life. Studies have found that up to 90 percent of street children use psychoactive substances, including medicines, alcohol, cigarettes, heroin, and etc. The mental, social and emotional growth of children is affected by their lifestyles. There are numerous reasons children chose to run away from home during the early twentieth century: death of parents, abusive home life, broken homes, and poverty. The majority of them go without shelter for varying lengths of time. Because homeless difference between runaway children and homeless children was that runaways chose to leave their home for the reasons above while homeless children were victims of social and economic factors that left and runaway children are too young to work and lack marketable skills, they are often recruited by criminals involved in the illegal drug trade, prostitution, and pornogr aphy. They are either active participants in these activities or serve as recruiters of other vulnerable children. Experts generally agree that homelessness among children is increasing in both rural and urban areas. The causes are social in nature. These children are often homeless along with their mothers and are victims of economic recessions, job loss, and high housing costs. Data on the extent of the problem is inadequate and can be found only in isolated case studies. Children become homeless because of the families. Families become homeless because there is an imbalance between the number of households that live in poverty and the amount of low-income housing availability. If there are more households that need assistance than the housing units can afford then some people become homeless. In some households, some families pay more than the 30 percent which is the required percentage that is required by the federal government for the family to pay based on which they can afford to pa y for housing. In some cases where the family cannot even pay the 30 percent this is when they become homeless. â€Å"In one study referenced by the National Network for Youth, 51% of runaway and throwaway youth responded physical abuse. The Department of Health and Human Services asserts that up to 40% have been sexually molested.†(Blaha) â€Å"Emotional and mental stress also is common. According to the National Network for Youth, 50-56% of homeless youngsters report mental health problems over their lifetime. Staffs at runaway and homeless youth shelters paint an even bleaker picture. According to their data, 63% of the runaways they work with are depressed; 50% have trouble with school; 20% abuse drugs and alcohol; and 17% have been in the juvenile justice system. One survey found that 26% of those in shelters and 32% of those on the street have attempted suicide. A separate survey relates that nearly one-third of shelter youth have attempted suicide at some point in their lives.†(Blaha) Some youth use school as a safe place. It is times where they can get off the streets and actually feel like a regular child. They can get a free meal, they can interact with children their age and not predators. Some are so in to going to school because they see it as their way off the streets. They go to school and take it serious so they can move on to college and get a job so their own children will not end up in the same situation. â€Å"School is a place of safety, structure, and opportunity. Yet homeless children and youth face unique barriers to education. These barriers include being unable to meet enrollment requirements; lack of school supplies and clothing; and poor health, fatigue, and hunger. When these barriers are not addressed, homeless children and youth often are unable to attend school, which prevents them from obtaining the education that is both their legal right and their best hope of escaping poverty as adults.† (Facts about Homeless †¦ ) There are some places that the youth could go for safety, the National Safe Place. The National Safe Place is a program that provides safety and others services for youth in need. The NSP informs and educate youth about other things that they could do rather than be homeless. â€Å"National Safe Place is an outreach and prevention program that is uniquely designed to provide immediate safety and access to services for any youth in need. In partnership with over 360 youth serving agencies and over 10,000 businesses and community organizations across the United States, the Safe Place program educates youth about alternatives to running away and homelessness and provides easily accessible links to service providers. Ongoing data collection indicates that National Safe Place has been successful in reaching endangered youth at risk of abuse, neglect or serious family problems but that expanded program models remain needed. â€Å"(Walsh) In essence, children become homeless because of many reasons such as death of parents, abusive home life, and poverty. Homelessness has a major affect on children in America. This unstable lifestyle makes it difficult to afford things that a child need such as housing, food, and an education. There are many ways that one can help the homeless youth, a person must go out of their comfort zone and just try to help. â€Å"Homeless people need shelter, food and most importantly they need love. One easy way to help a homeless person is paying for a hotel room for the person. It will not benefit them for long but at least the will have a shelter for some days. Many people will not give homeless people money because they are afraid it will be spent wrongly on alcohol, drugs, etc. Not giving a homeless person any money because of that reason is wrong yet if you know without a doubt that the homeless person in question will spend it that way it may be wise to spend it for him on something he really needs, like a roof over his head. Simply give the homeless person the money. Instead of trying to be in control of what and how the homeless person spends the money give them the money and trust that that the person will spend it right. â€Å"(Tucker)

Life of Pi analysis Essay

Life of Pi â€Å"Life of Pi† written by Yann Martel is an incredibly philosophical novel that tells the story of survival. Pi Patel, a young Indian boy, is faced against the impossible when his familys boat is shipwrecked and he is left stranded in a lifeboat with an interesting and potentially harmful group of animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a vicious hyena, and the magnificent Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger with a human like name. Throughout the novel, due to his situation of being stranded, Pi had to take drastic measures in order to survive. Part of his need to survive resulted in Pi giving up his egetarian ways. Slowly throughout the book, readers witness the transformation from Pi’s civil eating habits to an animalistic devouring of food . His transformation of eating habits leaves readers to question how, after reaching such a gruesome point, is Pi able to return to the life he lived pre-shipwreck, and return to his old eating habits as if nothing happened? In the beginning of the novel, it is quickly established that Pi was vegetarian. With being so close to the zoo keeping industry allowed Pi to develop a love and understanding for animals that many carnivorous eaters don’t. His religion of Hinduism also played a part in Pi’s original eating habits. The strictness in his diet made it hard for Pi to, at first, get accustomed to life on the sea. Imagine going from eating a strict vegetarian diet to being required to eat anything in plain sight Just to survive. Pi’s first scene where he breaks his vegetarian diets occurred a days after the shipwreck. After realizing that the sea is full of edible life forms, Pi makes an executive decision and decides that, in order to survive, he must eat food that would defy his vegetarian ways. After unsuccessfully using a leather hoe as bait for fish, Pi is interrupted by a school of flying fish. Luckily for P’, some of the fish fall into the boat, making them readily available for Pi and Richard Parker to eat. Being the animal that he is, Richard Parker does not hesitate to eat his portion of the fish. However the same does not go for P’. Eating the fish meant doing what he considered to be the unthinkable. Pi â€Å"proceeded with great deliberation† (182) and â€Å"unwrapped the fish carefully’ (182). It was apparent that killing the fish went against all of Pi’s morals because â€Å"the closer the fish was to appearing, the more afraid and isgusted† (182) he became. Pi’s contemplated a lot before making his decision because â€Å"a lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between and the willful beheading of a fish† (183). After deciding that the best way to kill the fish was to break its neck, Pi had â€Å"tears flowing down his cheeks† (183). The simple killing of a fish left Pi in an emotional state. Now instead of an innocent sixteen year old boy, Pi was a killer and guilty of taking a life away. In other words, Pi now â€Å"had blood on [his] hands† (183). Despite Pi’s utter disgust and emotional breakdown, he continued to fish using the dead fish’s head as bait. As a result, Pi was able to attract the attention of a hungry Dorado bird. Once Pi realized that he had his next victim, he began to reel it in. However, the Dorado bird was not going to go down without a fight. Although it was a struggle for Pi to reel in the distressed bird, â€Å"killing it was no problem† (185). Pi beat the bird vigorously witha atc et n n . Unlike the tisn, Pi nad no issues witn killing the Dorado. He maintained emotionally stable and didn’t really care whether or not the bird suffered while it was being beaten. At this point in the novel, readers begin to see how Pi’s eating habits are transformed. In such a short time, Pi went from â€Å"weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death of a Dorado† (185). This is proof to the believe that â€Å"a person can get used to anything† (185) regardless of what it is. In Pi’s case, he got accustomed to killing. As time passes by, Pi’s eating habits only become more brutal. After discovering the simplicity in catching turtle, Pi began to eat them. More specifically, Pi butchered the turtles and drank the â€Å"sweet lassi† (212) that would spurt from the turtle’s neck. Not only did turtles become Pi’s â€Å"favorite dish† (212), but it also ate everything that urtles had to offer, whether it be their liver, heart, lungs, flesh, or intestine. Pi’s methods for killing the turtles and his behavior when eating the turtles showed how Pi was slowly transforming into a version of Richard Parker. His eating habits were becoming animalistic and they continued to worsen as Pi spent more time stranded out in the Pacific. In addition to ravenously eating his prey, Pi’s mood began to reflect the amount of food he ingested. Once Pi’s rations were gone, â€Å"anything was good to eat† (213). Instead of using his morals and sense of reasoning, Pi would Just eat nything he could find, regardless of the taste. Even Richard Parker’s feces caused Pi’s mouth to water. Pi’s need for food numbed his mind from making reasonable decisions. In Pi’s mind, everything was edible, much like how animals perceive everything to be edible. On top of atrociously killing turtles, Pi began to kill small sharks that would swim by the lifeboat. Instead of fishing for these sharks, Pi would â€Å"catch [the sharks] with [his] bare hands† (219) and eat their flesh. This sort of behavior Pi demonstrated further proves how his eating habits resemble those of Richard Parker. Whenever Pi would throw the tiger its ortion of the prey, Richard Parker would â€Å"attack immediately’ (219) by striking the animal with his forepaws. Similarly, Pi is beginning to â€Å"attack† his prey with his hands, and then devour it. Pi also reached a point where he, himself, realized how his eating habits resembled Richard Parker’s. He became known of â€Å"how low [he] had sunk† when he compared his eating to the tiger’s. Both ate their food with a â€Å"noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down† (225) nature. Even though at that point of Pi’s journey he seemed to have become a completely new individual, Pi still had some of his morals intact. When Pi became temporarily blind, a French cook boarded the lifeboat and began to talk to him. At the time, Pi thought that he was talking to Richard Parker. Pi and the cook discussed food, and the cooks view on food caused Pi to feel â€Å"sick† (245). Unbeknown to Pi, the cook was actually a cannibal and had every intention to eat Pl. Luckily for P’, Richard Parker was there to save him by killing the French cook. However, although Pi was sickened by the thought of eating another human being, Pi’s actions following the death of the cook showed how hunger truly numbed his mind from remembering his morals and his vegetarian ways. After â€Å"catch[ing] one of [the cooks] arms with the gaff’ (256), Pi used the Frenchman’s body part as bait. Pi’s extreme need for food also drove him to eat some the man’s flesh. Although the amount ot tlesn Pi ate was small and went â€Å"nearly unnoticed† (2 still ate the flesh of another human. That by definition is cannibalism. For Pi to go to such an extreme Just to satisfy his hunger confirms that he was willing to do anything to survive, even if it meant disregarding all of his religious and moral believes. Even if it meant that he had to become an animal, Pi was willing to do anything to survive. In the end, despite the food Pi was exposed to while stranded in the ocean, Pi did return to his peaceful life as a vegetarian. When the interviewer went to hear Pi’s incredible story, the interviewer made note of the fact that Pi was an â€Å"excellent cook† (25). Pi happily made the interviewer some vegetarian tacos and zesty macaroni and cheese. It would seem as if Pi never viciously slaughtered turtles or sharks, or had eaten the flesh of another human being. It was as if Pi had forgotten the horrid things that happened on the lifeboat. However, that was the case. Those memories were forever mprinted in Pi’s memory, but Pi was able to move past the killings and continue with the lifestyle that truly made him happy and comfortable before his misfortunes. As Pi stated before, â€Å"a person can get used to anything†. In regards to his eating habits, once Pi returned back to normal civilization, he became accustomed to the habits he had before the shipwreck.

Ceremony essays

Ceremony essays The protagonist of the story, Tayo, is struggling to keep balance in his life. He has difficulty maintaining a consciousness of what is dream and what is memory. He is torn by feelings of divided loyalty due to his mixed parentage and the loss of his "brother" and friends. In order to portray this sense of confusion between dream, myth, memory, and reality, the author combines prose and poetry throughout the book. Ceremony is not only a story about Native Americans; it is a Native American story. The younger Native Americans are caught in a conflict between their Native values and traditions and those of The United States. Tayo's case in particular serves as a perfect example. Auntie, Tayo's "foster" mother, and all of Tayo's friends experience similar conflicts. The Auntie character demonstrates that the conflicts between Natives and non-Native peoples are not the only source of confusion nor are they the sole division between right and wrong. While some of Auntie's problematic behavior originates in her attempts to negotiate between the two cultures, her longing for her dead son and her subsequent mistreatment of Tayo are also sources of her own conflict and confusion. While the novel supports and respects Native American views and morals, it does not glorify the race as superior nor perfect. Native American tradition includes some practices that some people of the United States cannot understand. However, the reverse is also true. One difficult struggle on the reservation is due to the fact that the old Native American medicine and ceremonies are less effective given the influences of American culture. However, some beliefs and practices endure but may be confusing when only partially understood or observed. For example, Tayo is influenced by the story of Pa'caya'nyi in which the people were tricked by his witchery into abandoning their mother corn, resulting in a great drought. In this poem, the people look for a way t...

Biography of Mary Anderson, Windshield Wiper Inventor

Biography of Mary Anderson, Windshield Wiper Inventor Mary Anderson (February 19, 1866–June 27, 1953) was hardly a likely candidate to invent the windshield wiper- especially considering she filed her patent before Henry Ford even started manufacturing cars.  Unfortunately, Anderson failed to reap financial benefits from her invention during her lifetime, and as a result shes been relegated to a footnote in the history of automobiles. Fast Facts: Mary Anderson Known For: Inventing the windshield wiper, before a single one of Henry Fords automobiles was madeBorn: February 19, 1866 on Burton Hill Plantation, Greene County, AlabamaParents: John C. and Rebecca AndersonDied: June 27, 1953 in Monteagle, TennesseeEducation: UnknownSpouse(s): NoneChildren: None. Early Life Mary Anderson was born on February 19, 1866, to John C. and Rebecca Anderson on Burton Hill Plantation in Greene County, Alabama. She was one of at least two daughters; the other was Fannie, who remained close to Mary all her life. Their father died in 1870, and the young family was able to live on the proceeds of Johns estate. In 1889, Rebecca and her two daughters moved to Birmingham and built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue soon after their arrival. In 1893, Mary left home to operate a cattle ranch and vineyard in Fresno, California but returned in 1898 to help care for an ailing aunt. She and her aunt moved into the Fairmont Apartments with her mother, her sister Fannie, and Fannies husband G.P. Thornton. Andersons aunt brought an enormous trunk with her, which when opened contained a collection of gold and jewelry that allowed her family to live comfortably from that point forward. In the thick of winter in 1903, Anderson took some of that inheritance from her aunt and, eager to make exciting use of the money, took a trip to New York City. The Window Cleaning Device It was during this trip that inspiration struck. While riding a streetcar during a particularly snowy day, Anderson observed the agitated and uncomfortable behavior of the vehicle’s cold driver, who had to rely on all sorts of tricks- sticking his head out of the window, stopping the vehicle to clean the windshield- to see where he was driving. Following the trip, Anderson returned to Alabama and, in response to the problem she witnessed, drew up a practical solution: a design for a windshield blade that would connect itself to the interior of the car, allowing the driver to operate the windshield wiper from inside the vehicle. She filed an application for a patent on June 18, 1903. For her â€Å"window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice, or sleet from the window,† on November 10, 1903, Anderson was awarded U.S. Patent No. 743,801. However, Anderson was unable to get anyone to bite on her idea. All the corporations she approached- including a manufacturing firm in Canada- turned her wiper down, out of a perceived lack of demand. Discouraged, Anderson stopped pushing the product, and, after the contracted 17 years, her patent expired in 1920. By this time, the prevalence of automobiles (and, therefore, the demand for windshield wipers) had skyrocketed. But Anderson removed herself from the fold, allowing corporations and other business-people access to her original conception. Death and Legacy Although little is known about Mary Anderson, by the 1920s, her brother-in-law had died, and Mary, her sister Fannie, and their mother were again living in the Fairmont Apartments in Birmingham. Mary was managing the building where they lived when she died at their summer home in Monteagle, Tennessee on June 27, 1953. Mary Anderson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011. The windshield wiper, May Andersons legacy, was adapted for automotive use, and in 1922, Cadillac began installing the wiper as a piece of standard equipment on its cars. Sources Windshield Wiper Inventor, Miss Mary Anderson, Dies. Birmingham Post-Herald, June 29, 1953.  Carey Jr., Charles W. Anderson, Mary (1866–1953), inventory of the windshield wiper. American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries. New York: Facts on File, 2002.Mary Anderson: Windshield Wiper. National Inventors Hall of Fame.  Olive, J. Fred. Mary Anderson. Encyclopedia of Alabama, Business and Industry, February 21, 2019.  Palca, Joe. Alabama Woman Stuck in NYC Traffic in 1902 Invented the Windshield Wiper. National Public Radio, July 25, 2017.

The comparison of Kindred by Butler and Beloved by Toni Morrison Essay

The comparison of Kindred by Butler and Beloved by Toni Morrison - Essay Example Beloved is the story of former slave, Sethe, who lives with her daughter, Denever and mother in law. She has been excommunicated by her community as she killed her child named Beloved 15 years ago in order to save her from being a slave. Here slavery is so cruel that death has been preferred over it. Parents of would be slaves kill their own offspring instead of giving them to slave-catchers. But the choice made by Sethe is criticized and rejected by her own community. To them Sethe’s choice of freedom for her child is unacceptable. They think that a slave should submit to his fate. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved â€Å" the ghost is the reminder of how the phallus of slavery disrupted all bonds when it came down to the black family† ( Bloom 100) Butler’s Kindered also portrays a world where slavery and violence are the common practices. The racial divide has already determined the roles where white are slave-owners and blacks are the slaves. The White have power over the existence of their slaves and they use violence as their instrument. The slavery seems to be an inevitable institution in this society and violence of masters is a common happening. Commenting on this acceptance of reality by the salves Dana says, â€Å"â€Å"The ease. Us, the children . . . I never realized how easily people could be trained to accept slavery† (101). The world seems to deterministic where slavery is accepted as fate. Rufus is a ruthless master who has learned to use his authority since his childhood and treats his slaves cruelly. Sam and Nigel are mistreated. The slaves are victim of all forms of violence: lashing, rapes and other physical and mental brutalities. Slaves’ only refuge and solace against these brutalities is their family and home. Home is the binding force which is a symbol of safety and freedom for the slaves and their family is a binding