America: The Modern Day Athens :: essays research papers

America: The Modern Day Athens "We do not copy our Ancestors, but are an example to them. It is true we are called a Democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not in the few. " This is the foundation for which democracy is ruled. Without this democracy does not exist. In this essay there will be comparisons of Athenian democracy and our modern day democracy Greece, in ancient times, was not a united land. There existed many little provinces of control, called city-states. Two examples of the more powerful and lasting city-states were Sparta and Athens. Sparta, whose people lived an austere and militaristic form of life, based its government on the needs of the army which things centered around this. Athens, another powerful city-state, developed a more balanced life for its citizens. Central to this development was the rise of democracy. Called the "cradle of democracy," Athens developed a direct democracy. Those citizens that were eligible could speak at forums and vote on issues. These people were known as the Council of 500; they were chosen annually. To be elected they had to be at least 25 years of age and a citizen. They directly had a voice. This is why Athens is an example of a direct democracy. A point should be made here that Athens, for all its noble ideas about men being able to govern themselves, excluded most of the people that lived within its cities walls. Women, for example had no say in government. They were subjected to running the homes, raising children, and tending to the needs of their husbands. Slavery, which existed in Athens, also caused a blot on the noble experiment of democracy. Slaves had no vote, no participation in government, and no recourse from a cruel master. Athenian government relied upon direct democracy to raise taxes, make laws, and gather armed forces when necessary. The American experiment in democracy differs significantly from the Athenian form of government. America utilizes a representative form of democracy. Because of the huge population, when compared to Athens, a direct democracy is impractical. Americans vote for representatives to the Legislative and Executive branches of government. It is hoped by the citizen that the representatives that are elected protect their constituents interests. There are, however, some dark spots on our form of government. Like the Athenians, America did not grant slaves the right to vote. It took a Civil War that nearly destroyed our nation before slavery was abolished and that portion of the population could have a say in our government. Additionally, women, who

John Keats techniques to evoke the readers senses Essay -- essays pape

John Keats techniques to evoke the readers senses Question: Examine various techniques a poet can use to evoke reader response to a subject in reference to two or more poems Answer: John Keats uses various techniques in his compositions to evoke a reader’s response to his theme. In Keats’s poem, â€Å"On first looking into Chapman’s Homer† depicts Keats’s emotions and feelings after being read Chapman’s Elizabethan translation of the Odyssey. To show the magnitude of his delight, Keats compares his feelings to those of many explorers, who discover the wonders of the world and universe. On first looking into Chapman’s Homer is an Italian sonnet, with 14 lines, in the classic rhyme pattern of abbaabbacdcdcd, and is written in an iambic pentametre which gives the poem a lyrical flow. The poem begins with a calm beginning, in the voice of ripe experience. â€Å"Much have I traveled in the realms of gold. And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;† The calm beginning then mounts to the excitement of the climax towards the end. â€Å"Wild surmise† which is then confirmed by the ne...

Compare and contrast the presentation of oppressionin I Am Not That Ess

Compare and contrast the presentation of oppressionin I Am Not That Woman and Still I Rise. The poems I am studying are 'I Am Not That Woman' by Kishwar Naheed and 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou, both in the twentieth century. Both poets have based the poems on their own experiences of suppression in their different cultures and they both continue to end with feelings of hope.The poems show the different reactions and attitudes of two very different women who in similar circumstances. In 'I Am Not That Woman', the poet has been oppressed in her culture of the Asian society. By this she has been oppressed by the traditional values of the Eastern culture but especially by her father and husband. She is also trying to overcome this suppression but is not really sure where she wants to go next with her life. In 'Still I Rise', she has been suppressed by the white people of South America but she has overcome this and thinks of herself as superior to the white racists. I will begin by discussing 'I Am Not That Woman'. The main theme to the poem is set in the Asian society, Eastern culture. Although there is a new theme introduced in every verse, they all add to the main theme of oppression. The woman is in the situation of being forced into having an arranged marriage and not having any freedom because of it. The poet seems bitter towards her father and husband. She seems strong because she has got through her problems so far and is angry and resentful about the whole situation. She seems adamant to not let it happen to her for much longer. The poem has no structure and no rhyming scheme, therefore written as free verse. Each verse of the poem is directed towards a certain person in particular - her fath... ...ks around with pride and dignity, with the reference to the oil wells as her acting as if she is rich, with the imagery of her literally having oil wells in her living room. She expresses herself effectively by the repetition of the title, 'Still I Rise' in the poem, where she means she is rising above the white racists. In conclusion I like both poems equally but think that 'Still I Rise' is the more effective poem. I think this because the poet is stronger and more confident in what she has written about. The language used in 'Still I Rise' is easier to understand at first glance than 'I Am Not That Woman' which would also make people prefer 'Still I Rise' because not as much needs explaining or working out. Although I prefer the imagery in 'I Am Not That Woman' such as the 'garden' which was used early on in the poem and then mentioned again later on.

Individual Management and Leadership Plan

Introduction This brief is aimed at investigating and reporting my own individual management and leadership plan. It covers identifying and owning my individual leadership development requirements using a range of appropriate diagnostic tools. Alongside with this is the planning of the development of these skills, supporting such plan with appropriate use of academic and leaning theories. Such plans are placed in an organisational or industry context, in which clear links to organisational strategies are created. Appropriate professional reflection at relevant intervals is incorporated. According to Gallos (2008), leadership is a complex social process that is grounded on the values, knowledge, and skills of leaders and followers. Adaptive change is always involved in the concept of leadership. Leaders are able to see new opportunities and facilitate a multifaceted interactive process that reinforces individual and collective growth. Ladkin (2010) states that understanding leadership as a lived experience requires studying it within the specific context in which it operates. It is important for leaders to relate to followers where they must work together within a specific context and work towards a clear purpose. Kezar (2009) has articulated that leadership is a property of whole systems rather than of individuals, which means that effectiveness in leadership is a result of those associations or relationships amongst parts rather than of any one part of such system (i.e. the leader). This will be illustrated in the devised plan and placing such plan in an industry context. Identifying and Owning my Individual Leadership Development Requirements This part of the paper effectively identifies my own individual leadership development requirements through the use of a range of appropriate diagnostic tools such as Belbin Test, Four Temperaments Personality Test, and Myers Briggs Assessment. These individual leadership development requirements consist of what one knows about himself, what he does not know about himself, and how to find it out. The reason why one must identify and own his/her individual leadership development requirements is because of the need to examine where his skills, behaviour, and attitudes are placed within leadership and collaborative continuum and how he/she helps in building leadership in the organisation. It is also important to link personality and character with leadership because personality and character determine how one leads a group or organisation (Adair, 2007). According to Kezar (2009), team and collaborative leadership models highlight the significance of focusing on organisational relationships, processes, and structures that foster collaboration, instead of emphasis on identifying and cultivating individual leadership skills. The Myers Briggs Assessment tends to yield accurate type results through the use of administered and scored questionnaire (Quenk, 2009). (Since this test is not available online, it is only cited here as one of the assessment tools that assesses personality/behaviour and is not utilised in actual assessment.) The Belbin Test, on the other hand, measures the behavioral contribution of an individual through Belbin team role theory, making this test a behavioural test rather than a personality test. Team role preferences are identified in Belbin reports to enable the individual to know and appreciate the extent of their strengths and the behaviour that must be developed for the benefit of the team (Riding and Rayner, 2001). From the Team Roles Test, which is part of the Belbin Test that I have taken, my strengths are identified as the ability to effectively resolve conflict with teammates and ability to plan and coordinate with teammates. The potential strengths, on the other hand, are satisfactory interpersonal skills, ability to communicate with others with relative ease, and ability to manage various tasks and other aspects of teamwork. The limitations I exhibit, which require further improvements for my team role performance, are lack of team-based problem-solving ability, setting only few goals for team projects, and preference for individual work instead of team work (Psych Tests, 2014). The Belbin Test clearly shows the strengths, potential strengths (which can turn into real strengths in the future, given one’s increased maturity), and limitations (which can also turn into strengths, given their realisation through the test) for one’s undertaking of the team roles. On the other hand, the Four Temperaments Personality Test yields for me a 75-per cent score for each of the Sanguine, Choleric, and Melancholic aspect, whilst 58 per cent for the Phlegmatic aspect. This would mean that I am a people-person who likes socialising and exhibits optimism, enthusiasm, compassion, impulsiveness, and self-indulgence. Being choleric, the results show that I am extroverted, task-oriented, and seek competition and success at all cost, with strong leadership skills and passion for work. Being melancholic, I am respectful, compassionate, and possess intuitive traits. My phlegmatic traits, which are underplayed by the three other traits -sanguine, choleric, and melancholic- are passive aggressiveness and calmness (How Much Do I, 2014). These traits play an influential stance on how I approach leadership and teamwork. My sanguine, choleric, and melancholic traits can be used in how I undertake leadership and team roles in my work towards achieving set goals. My kno wledge of both these dominant and negligible traits based on the four temperaments supports my knowledge of my skills based on the Belbin Test. Planning the Development of Mentioned Skills This part of the paper includes planning for the development of the skills mentioned above. These skills are the potential skills and limitations identified in the Belbin Test. The Four Temperaments Personality Test shows one’s personality based on temperaments, which greatly aids in my understanding of my inclination to developing the potential skills and cited limitations. The plan includes the following: Improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level Increasing my ability to communicate with others with relative ease Improving team-based problem-solving ability setting several goals for team projects instead of only a few ones Increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals Improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level The importance of increasing my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level is seen in the fact that effective leadership necessitates not only analytical and decision-making skills but also interpersonal skills (Grant, Rothstein, and Burke, 2010). Such importance is evidenced by leader-member exchange theory, which focuses on the low-exchange and high-exchange dyadic relationships between the leader and the followers (Rainey, 2009), and transformational leadership theory, which states that leaders must inspire followers towards more accomplishment by focusing on the value of the followers and helping them align these values with those of the organisation (Givens, 2008; Nohria and Khurana). Additionally, Robinson (2011) underlines the importance of interpersonal skills by linking them to goal setting, such that the quality of goal setting is always connected to the quality of (interpersonal) relationships. Goal setting will remain empty unless leaders are a ble to motivate the people who are required to achieve them. Grant and colleagues (2010) note the dichotomy between analytical and decision-making skills on one hand, and interpersonal skills on the other. It is important to delineate what constitutes interpersonal skills in order to place the significance of this skill to the wider leadership context. According to Grant et al. (2010), interpersonal skills development for leaders and managers refer to complex abilities of conflict management and negotiation skills, rater than just plainly focusing on engaging people in quality interactions, speaking and listening effectively, and providing positive feedback. As for improving my interpersonal skills, this will be done by attending a skills training seminar focused on interpersonal skills for effective leadership (e.g. Grant et al., 2010). Increasing my ability to communicate with others with relative ease The importance of communication to leadership is that it is the process used for setting and communicating clear goals (Robinson, 2011). Improving this skill is through constant practice; meaning, talking to people more often. This is however not a difficult stance to undertake since as my score in the Four Temperaments Personality Test shows, I have dominant extrovert behaviour shown by my sanguine and choleric tendencies, which indicate an interest to communicate with people (e.g. Ricketts and Ricketts, 2011). Management theory’s human relations movement highlights the importance of people motivation (Banhegyi, 2007), which is indirectly linked to communicating with them to foster smooth relationships. Improving team-based problem-solving ability In my plan to develop my management of various tasks and other aspects of teamwork, an important point to consider is that a leader cannot rely on teamwork to develop automatically without exerting some conscious effort on his/her part. Without the leader’s influence, it is still possible for teamwork to develop to some extent, but this setting is unlikely for the work group to develop member satisfaction and maximum task performance (Butterfield, 2011). In order to develop my team-based problem solving ability, my course of action is to read books on the subject. Applying into practice what I have learned conceptually and theoretically about it will yield positive outcomes, leading to desired improvements in my management of various tasks and other aspects of teamwork. Theodore Newcomb’s Balance Theory explains why people tend to be attracted towards group formation, and this is because of the similarity in attitudes in their pursuit for a common goal. Such similarity allows them to share ideas with one another and function as a team. Lack of similar attitudes leads to loss of balance, resulting in a team not being formed (Kandula, 2006). An important thing to consider is that team-based learning is a result of good team-based decision making and problem-solving ability (Michealsen, Sweet, and Parmelee, 2008). Setting several goals for team projects instead of only a few ones Goal-setting involves identifying the goals to be established, gaining the commitment of people who are tasked to achieve them, and communicating these goals to people who have interest in their achievement (Robinson, 2011). Having this renewed realisation that setting many goals rather than just a few ones is more preferable to effective leadership and goal attainment, the plan is focused on taking a conscious effort on enumerating several goals every time goal-setting is being undertaken, and suggesting to the group a more increased identification of goals each time the group tends to identify only a few ones. The point is consciously putting into practice this knowledge. The relevance of setting several goals instead of only a few ones is apparent; a team that identifies more goals is able to achieve more goals, compared to a team that identifies only a few goals, which becomes delimited to achieving only these few goals. The Goal Setting Theory explains the importance of goals in motivating people to work, and consequently, in making them behave with a purpose (Lussier, 2012). This would mean that not only is goal-setting beneficial for the organisation but for the people working on these goals as well. Increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals Since leadership is about leading people, individual work is not the paramount aspect of goal achievement, but teamwork. In a team, people work together towards achieving desired goals, have full and sufficient understanding in the importance of these goals, how these goals may be achieved successfully, and what each one and the whole team may contribute to their successful achievement. If the leader and even the team members are more focused on working individually rather than as a team, the essence of teamwork is lost. (Ricketts and Ricketts (2011) indicate that working as a team is more effective than working individually; thus, the motivation to utilise teamwork and the various literature on the importance of this concept (e.g. Dyer, Dyer, and Dyer, 2007; Morgeson, Reider, and Campion, 2005; Valle and Witt, 2001). Since the results of my Four Temperaments Personality Test indicate that I have an extraverted temperament, this temperament would help in my ability to build team wor k. The result of my Four Temperaments Personality Test on the phlegmatic aspect, specifically self-indulgence, is a good point to consider in my current preference for individual work over team work. On the other hand, since my dominant sanguine and choleric propensities show that I am inclined to being extraverted, this preference is likely to be changed with ease, given such initial knowledge for its imperative change. Heneman and Greenberger (2002) state that the facilitation of team work is through the efforts of some extraverted individuals. Placing the Plan in an Organisational or Industry Context/Strategy Having accomplished the plan, the next step would be to place this in an organisational or industry context, creating clear links to organisational strategies. First of all, leadership is an important concept in the success of an organisation, which is why organisations always gear for effective leadership or management in the workplace. Leadership is different from seniority or one’s position in the hierarchy of his or her organisation. It is an influential relationship that takes place between a leader and his/her followers as they pursue certain changes or objectives that mirror shared meanings, purposes, and strategies (Mills, Mills, Forshaw, et al., 2007). The potential skills and limitations, on which the plan has been established, will eventually add up to my series of strengths identified by the Belbin Test. After implementing the plan, the expected outcomes for me would be above-average interpersonal skills, ability to communicate with others with relative ease, improved team-based problem solving ability, setting many goals for team projects, and increased preference for team work over individual work. These skills are useful in an organisational context; specifically in managing people where the leader/manager needs to unify his/her team towards successful goal attainment. By being able to work in a team and foster good communication skills, problem solving ability, and other skills thus cited as my strengths, I and my team would together work on the necessary aspects of several tasks, which we are responsible to accomplish. The retail industry is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. This industry is characterised by several challenges in attaining competitive advantage because of the presence of new entrants, substitute products, bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and rivalry between existing competitors (Stonehouse, Campbell, Hamill, et al., 2004). These challenges serve as a factor for my pursuit for effective leadership and team roles, on which the plan is established. My ability to effectively resolve conflict with teammates and to plan and coordinate with them plays a significant role in smooth working relationships within the team. This importance is further seen in the claim that conflict and lack of team coordination serve as a barrier to attaining desired goals (e.g. Lencion, 2012; Rout and Omiko, 2007). Moreover, my improved interpersonal skills will enable me to communicate my ideas more effectively across people and departments. It has been noted that interpe rsonal skills refer to analytical and decision-making skills (Grant et al, 2010), which means that my possession of these skills will aid my team and the organisation in addressing the competition that retail companies commonly experience. These – together with my improved ability to communicate with others with relative ease, improved team-based problem-solving ability, setting many goals, and increased preference for team work over individual work – will help the company develop strategies for competitive advantage. Incorporating Appropriate Professional Reflection at Relevant Intervals This research has enabled me to identify my own strengths, limitations, and potential skills in leadership and team roles. Apparently, I had no prior ideas of these skills and limitations on a systematic basis, but the Belbin Test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test enabled me to find out approximately what these skills are. I certainly have an initial knowledge of myself, but these tests confirmed them and even added some more which I was not very aware of, such as my satisfactory level of my interpersonal skills, a need to communicate with others with relative ease, a need to improve my team-based problem-solving ability, and my inclination to set only a few goals instead of many goals for team projects. Some of the skills that I am already aware of are effective conflict resolution and ability to plan and coordinate with teammates. Moreover, the Four Temperaments Personality Test made me understand the ease that the potential skills and limitations may be improved. This is because of my dominant combination of sanguine, choleric, and melancholic temperaments, which have positive traits for leadership abilities (e.g. extraversion, being a people-person, optimism, and enthusiasm, being task-oriented, being competition-focused, and being success-specific and strong leadership skills). A further realisation that I have derived from this exercise is the importance of knowing oneself – strengths, skills, abilities, potentials, and limitations – since such knowledge serves as a prelude to being able to manage teams and the organisation as a whole. By being able to systematically identify my strengths, I have been personally assured of my abilities. By being able to also systematically identify my potentials and limitations, I have found out the areas that need improvement. These limitations and potentials allow me to better focus on what I must take an effort to improve on, whilst seeing them as a way for constructive criticism. In addition, no effective leader can function without self-realising his own strengths, skills, and limitations since only when he/she has fully realised them can they be able to function more effectively. Conclusion This paper has provided an investigation of one’s own individual management and leadership plan, using such diagnostic tools as the Belbin test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test. These tools helped identify and own my individual leadership development requirements. Through the Belbin Test, certain strengths were thus identified along with the potential skills and limitations. The Four Temperaments Personality Test also identified the dominant temperaments that helped in the assessment of one’s leadership propensities and abilities. The plan for development of the skills is centered on improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level; increasing my ability to communicate with others with relative ease; improving team-based problem-solving ability; setting several goals for team projects instead of only a few ones; and increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals. The retail industry is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. A professional reflection is conducted, focused on how the entire work is done. References Adair, J. (2007) Develop Your Leadership Skills. London: Kogan Page. Banhegyi, s. (2007) Fresh Perspectives: Management. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd. Butterfield, J. (2011) Illustrated Course Guides: Teamwork and Team Building. Mason, OH: Course Technology Cengage Learning. Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W, G., and Dyer, J. H. (2007) Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Gallos, J. (2008) Business Leadership: A Jossey-Bass Reader. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Givens, R. J. (2008) Transformational Leadership: The Impact on Organizational and Personal Outcomes. Emerging Leadership Journeys, 1 (1), 4-24. Grant, M., Rothstein, G., and Burke, R. (2010) Self-Management and Leadership Development. Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Heneman, R. L. and Greenberger, D. B. (2002) Human Resource Management in Virtual Organizations. US: Information Age Publishing Inc. How Much Do I (2014) What Is My Personality TypeFour Temperaments Personality Test. Retrieved on May 10, 2014 from http://www.howmuchdoi.com/personality/What-is-my-personality-type-Four-Temperaments-Personality-Test-70.html Kandula, S. R. (2006) Performance Management: Strategies, Interventions, Drivers. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Private Limited. Kezar, A. J. (2009) Rethinking Leadership in a Complex, Multicultural, and Global Environment. Sterling Virginia: Stylus Publishing. LLC. Larkin, D. (2010) Rethinking Leadership† New Look at Old Leadership Questions. Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Lencion, P. (2012) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: Intact Teams Participant Workbook. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Lussier, R. N. (2012) Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Michealsen, L. K., Sweet, M., and Parmelee, D. X. (2008) Team-Based Learning: Small Group Learning’s Next Big Step. New York: Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mills, J. C., Mills, J. B., Forshaw, C., and Bratton, J. (2007) Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context. Plymouth, UK: NBN International. Morgeson, F. P., Reider, M. H., and Campion, M. A. (2005) Selecting Individuals in Team Settings: The Importance of Social Skills, Personality Characteristics, and Teamwork Knowledge. Personnel Psychology, 58 (3), 583-611. Nohria, N. and Khurana, R. (2010) Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice: An HBS Centennial Colloquium. US: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Psych Tests (2014) Team Roles Test. Retrieved on May 10, 2014 from http://testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transfer Quenk, N. L. (2009) Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Rainey, H. G. (2009) Understanding and Managing Public Organizations. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Ricketts, C. and Ricketts, J. (2011) Leadership: Personal Development and Career Success. Mason, OH: DELMAR Cengage Learning. Riding, R. J. and Rayner, S. (2001) Self Perception. Westport: Ablex Publishing. Robinson, V. (2011) Student-Centered Leadership. NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Rout, E. and Omiko, N. (2007) Corporate Conflict Management: Concepts and Skills. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited. Stonehouse, G., Campbell, D., Hamill, J., and Purdie, T. (2004) Global and Transnational Business: Strategy and Management. Second Edition. NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Valle, M. and Witt, L. A. (2001) The Moderating Effect of Teamwork Perceptions on the Organizational Politics-Job Satisfaction Relationship. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141 (3), 379-388.

Nutrition and Fitness Paper

First step to a healthier new me would be to change my current fitness habit, which is not much other than teaching dance and walking to adding more activity to my week without losing sleep. After looking at what my current fitness routine is teaching two and half hours of dance a week and walking a week for two and half hours I noticed I needed to add more activity to my week. Within that first step is to set a goal of how much time is needed to be achieved a week and how much time is available to achieve that goal. Know at least thirty minutes every day is a healthy goal of activity.So adding at least one hour a week of an activity Is what I need to do. So adding WI Dance Routine twice a week for one hour will help out and give me an extra amount to achieve the goal and go above and beyond the goal. Second step is to improve the area of nutrition, I eat the three meals a day and I even snack a bit for the extra energy kick needed for the day. But nutritional habits are a lot like f itness habits, it focuses on eating right and exercising right. Habits are created to improve or even decrease who we are.So creating a healthy habit is essential to achieve the goal set in front of us. Poor nutrition can lead to obesity which can lead to medical problems in years to come. A normal family's lifestyle can result to unhealthy eating habits with stops at fast food chains. Families need that cooking time together to eat In a healthier way and create positive habits among the parents and the children. I know my eating habits still to this day are affected by my eating habits as a child. My mother worked day and night and my dad also worked long days and sometime nights.So dinner was to a none cooked meal, sometimes It was McDonald's or pizza. So now Tanat I work more than the average forty hour work week, I sometimes slip and eat that fast food because it is there and easy. Knowing that I know I need to make the changes to change my bad habits. Fitting healthy habits int o a hectic life is not easy but following a few steps to get more nutrition and fitness in a hectic life is necessary for any person who wants to make their fifth birthday. Here are a few things that can be put into play right now that can make healthy habits an easy part of the day to day routine.Areas that I have started to make improvements in my own health is in red and highlighted to show how little steps can make big steps later in life. Guarani Ph. D (n. D. ) 1. Drink water throughout the day (doing my best currently) 2. Cut back on the amount of soda and coffee drank in the day (already made some cut backs) 3. Replace high sugar foods with low sugar versions 4. Stock up on healthy, portable snacks (eating better snacks during my day) 5. Take the time to plan healthy meals for the week 6. Purchase frozen, ready to cook ingredients 7. Pack your lunch the night before 8.Cook double batches of what your cooking 9. Give yourself some slack 10. Fit in exercise as much as you can ( trying to add more fitness in during a busy work week) 11. Take a walk break during the day (getting up at work and Just walking around the office to stretch) 12. Whenever possible, walk (parking further in parking lots when I can to increase walking) 13. Get enough sleep (trying for more than six hours, tough but trying) Now going through this list I see many areas I can do to improve my health and I also see those ways can help improve my fitness levels and my stress level at the same time too.By adding some or all of these new healthy habits into my lifestyle today, it can improve the way I feel in no time at all. Making small steps for me can help promote a new look on my weight management and by doing that it will give me more energy during the day to increase my fitness plan for adding more fitness to my week. Those new habits would help diminish the old habits that have been taught or created over the years by my parent's poor habits. My mother and her mother were not small p eople and I don't want that type of life. They were not obese people but they were not healthy either, obesity is not Just being overweight.Obesity can lead to medical problems beyond weight. Obesity can lead to heart conditions, leg problems, back problems, and even mental problems. This is onto life I want and I want to make the changes now before it changes me. While reading the New York Times today, I came across this article that the government tells people how to eat better is to eat less. â€Å"The latest nutrition guidelines released Monday by the federal government reiterates of the advice from previous years: eat less salt and saturated fats, eat more fruits and vegetables and hole grains† (Martin, 2011, Para. ). With this information they tell us by eating the Dad we wall never lose ten welling Just Keep It on, unless you cut Deck Ana eat some more of the better. At the end of the article the writer states it simple â€Å"Cut back on the cheese, hamburgers, pizza, cookies and pastries† (Martin, 2011, Para. 23). So Just cutting back can change your life. Conclusion Like kids, adults need to make the right food choices to be healthy and must exercise to be healthy. Even in a busy lifestyle they need to make the correct choices f they, plan to live pas the age of fifty years old.My family created poor habits for myself and my brother and both of us noticed the problem and knew it had to change now rather than later. More adults are battling obesity today more than ever and that is because of the busy lifestyle we all lead. By making the changes now as young adults or adults in their mid thirties they can learn how to eat properly and exercise, better to make it to fifty years old healthier than they could of before the changes. Adults must exercise as much as they can, even with a busy lifestyle.

Meals

Meals on Wheels Meals on Wheels was a very good community service that taught me some good things. Meals on Wheels is a voluntary work service that deals with elderly people who are sick, from diabetes to cancer. We as voluntary workers drop food off to these sick people who are registered through the hospital. There are many different types of patients you meet. They all happen to be around the same area as well. As we stop by the meals on wheels headquarters we first sign in and then pick up cooler full of cold food and a warm lunch bag to put the hot meals in.We then drive over to SST. Jude hospital where we pick up the hot food that has the patients names labeled on them. From here we drive to each patients house or apartment complex and drop off their assigned foods, which is one cold food meal pack, one milk, and a hot meal pack. Some places are so easy as getting off and dropping it off in the ice box they have set in front of their house or apartment complex while other patie nts e have to ring the door bell and hand it to them.Some days we will talk to some of these patients. For instance, at one of the first stops an older lady would come outside as we drop the food off and explain to me as she's very sick and doesn't feel well. Then go to explain how we walk with Jesus because we are doing this for her and how we are very blessed for doing it. It goes to show me how lucky I am for being young and healthy at the age I am and not take life for granted.Another Instance loud be an elderly guy who sits outside with his dog everyday before we pull up to drop his food off. He always seems to be In a very good mood and explains to me how I should be at the beach and not here doing this service. It shows the different kinds of people that are out there and there perspective towards things. Most of the people have their kids or husbands answer the door for them to get their food. At the end of the day we have delivered the food to twelve different people and he ad back to theMeals on Wheels headquarters where we drop off the lunch bag and the cooler. That Is the typical day of the Meals on Wheels service work. Hopefully some day In the future I can do this again on my free time.

Supermax Prisons

Supermax Prisons and Their Adverse Effects Introduction Due to increasing crime rates and the extensive belief that rehabilitative programs for inmates do not work, a new and harsher method for prisons is being utilized. Instead of scattering the worst criminals, they are being consolidated into Supermax prisons. Supermax prisons are state of the art penitentiaries meant to hold only the worst of the worst criminals and inmates that cannot be trusted in regular prisons. There are strict regulations and policies to control inmates’ time for communication, recreation, visiting, religious practices, and education even more than regular prisons.More often than not, â€Å"inmates in supermax prisons spend 23 hours of every day locked in a small cell† (Hickey pg. 160). Supermax prisons work upon the premise that the most violent and disorderly inmates can be better controlled â€Å"by separation, restricted movement, and limited access to staff and other inmates† (Hick ey pg. 167). While supermax prisons are believed to reduce crime and increase safety, there are questions of whether or not this is actually the case. Compare/Contrast CritiqueSupermax prisons are considered effective because they consolidate the most violent criminals and allow for other prisons to function more safely and more normally for both staff and inmates. However the inmates cannot just be consolidated and held to the same standards as regular prisons, as was revealed at Marion in 1980 when the â€Å"operation began to show clear signs of the underlying stresses of using this quasi-normal system to deal with such aggressive offenders† (Hickey pg. 164). In response, a new and more sophisticated facility was created to cater to the high-security needs of a prison with extremely dangerous inmates.These newer facilities were created to â€Å"control the inmate’s behavior until they demonstrate that they can be moved back to a traditional open-population penitent iary† (Hickey pg. 165). While incarcerated at supermax prisons, the inmates are handcuffed around staff, eat and exercise alone, and are kept in their cells for most of the day. As prisoners behave well, they are given more and more privileges until they are deemed safe enough to return to regular prisons. Additionally, there is a much higher staff to inmate ratio than at normal prisons.All services that are required are available and â€Å"operations are consistent with constitutional requirements related to conditions and confinement† (Hickey pg. 166). After returning to regular penitentiaries from a supermax prison, 80% of former inmates behave well enough that they do not return to the supermax prison. Supermax prisons provide a level of safety and security for both staff and inmates that other prisons cannot provide. On the other hand, there is a dark side and harsh reality to supermax prisons besides the obvious high costs of maintaining the prisons that are funde d by tax payers.While supermax prisons claim to uphold the prisoner’s constitutional rights, there are many claims that state otherwise ranging from the denial of medical care to illegal censorship of mail—â€Å"prison guards have testified to shackling prisoners to their beds and spraying them with high-pressure fire hoses† (Hickey pg. 169). The placement of inmates at certain levels of security and confinement based upon behavior is arbitrary. The guards determine what is â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad† behavior, and their reasons could be as menial as â€Å"refusing to make beds or complaining about clogged and overflowing toilets† (Hickey pg. 169).Additionally, the amount of control that the inmates are placed under (near 24-hour isolation, little to no physical contact between visitors and inmates and highly limited and scheduled outdoor recreation time) creates an environment that is psychologically debilitating and harmful to personal and social identities. Rehabilitation is set aside and replaced with competition between the inmates for privileges, fostering a hostile environment. The amount of frustration, deprivation, and despair that inmates endure do not create less violent inmates, but something much more dangerous (at the least, more angry).Fighting violence with more violence is not working—supermax prisons are not reducing crime or safety. Critique of the Debate Supermax prisons are a good idea on paper. However, in practice, supermax prisons do not work. In a contrasting example, there are many soldiers returning from war. They are greeted by family, strangers buy food for them out of gratitude for their service, and there are programs and support groups that help them return to normal ways of life. Still, the transition from the life of a soldier in combat back to the civilian world is not easy. However, these issues are recognized and respected in many forms of support.On the other hand, for the in creasingly large amount of criminals who are sent to supermax prisons for breaking the law, the preparation and actual transition from prison life back to regular society is not widely recognized or respected, with little or no support. There are few credible methods or support groups that truly help previous convicts return to normal life, especially in comparison to a soldier returning from war. Additionally, individuals that are accepted members of society greet the returning convicts with trepidation and suspicion because of the belief â€Å"once a thief, always a thief. Consequently, the convict’s return to society and â€Å"normal† life is nearly impossible and recommitting criminal acts is expected. While the return of a criminal from prison should not be honored the way a soldier is honored when returning from deployment, a criminal should have similar rehabilitative and re-immersion programs and support groups. With the levels of confinement being dictated by arbitrary rules and expectations set in place by guards, inmates behave well only because they want privileges and rewards rather than to actually improve themselves.Using a reward-punishment system does not develop character or help prisoners in their eventual assimilation back into society. When inmates are released from prison, they need to return better than they were before prison or else they will just end up in prison again. In order for this to be accomplished, â€Å"a more holistic view of crime control† needs to be set in order and there needs to be more of a focus â€Å"on community and restoration and less on imprisonment† (Hickey pg. 174). The United States has been using prisons for centuries now and imprisonment rates have only increased throughout history.Perhaps the answer to reducing crime is not in the traditional idea of fear of punishment, but the United States seems to be stuck on the idea of using prisons and imprisonment to thwart crime neverth eless. In a perfect world, criminals will be sent to prison, spend their time there wisely, and return to society a changed people. However, in reality, inmates are being released from prison worse off than when they entered the prison. Not seeing or interacting with another human being creates a disconnection from humanity.For the inmate, being kept totally separated and isolated from everyone, there must inevitably be a sense of anger and resentment towards the system that should be helping them and at the very least be showing them how to act properly in society upon their release from prison. Additionally, controlling every aspect of a person’s life is not productive or educational. Learning from mistakes is a part of life, but supermax prisons have nothing to offer in terms of learning. Since the inmates have clearly made mistakes (they are in prison after all), they should be educated on how to learn and grow from their mistakes.Instead, they are just put down as failur es and expected to continue failing. However, as supermax prisons become more and more popular, rehabilitative programs and the inmate’s humanity are being set aside for safer conditions and security. The idea that you have to sacrifice either the humanity of the inmate or the safety of the staff would imply that the system is severely flawed. There has to be a better way to punish criminals, but also rehabilitate them. Conclusion The current penal system that the United States has is flawed and supermax prisons are simply not as effective as was expected.The traditional use of prisons and imprisonment as a way to deter crime is not (nor has it ever been) actually successful at reducing crime, but for some reason we keep to the same plan and modify it rather than take a whole new approach. A person who goes to prison should not want or need to commit deviance after leaving prison—they should leave a changed person. Society should strive to help the person returning fro m prison similar to the way soldiers are aided upon their return to the United States.Instead, society remains adamant in continuing to punish and then ignore those who commit crimes which in end creates a never ending cycle of deviance. The system for punishing criminals needs to change, but how society views the punishment of criminals needs to change as well. Instead of focusing on revenge and justice, the focus needs to be on rehabilitation and development. Works Cited Hickey, T. (2012). Taking sides: Clashing views in crime and criminology. (10th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.