Friday, January 24, 2020

Shakespeare - Definition Of Love :: essays research papers

Shakespeare’s definitions of Love and Lust When there are women and an omnipotent force to procreate there will be a number of resources that a man will use in order to attract the opposite sex. Often with the use of the notorious whistle/mating call, the perpetual use of lies about income, the stench of musk cologne, or the ever-popular use of the love poem, men strive to appeal to women with the intent to see his way to her heart. William Shakespeare, a man who, based on his works, was full of passion for the opposite sex – whether it had been honest love or perverse lust. Nonetheless, Shakespeare, like most men, wished to charm women. With this having been so, Shakespeare’s weapon of choice to be inwrought to a woman’s heart was the powerful love poem. He understood love and how to attain love and demonstrated this in his often praised sonnets. Writing about the joys and tragedies while also writing about the trials and tribulations of love was Shakespeare’s objective in select sonnets †“ Sonnet 116 and Sonnet 129. His views on what is love put into prose enables all that read his sonnets to interpret Shakespeare’s definitions of love and lust. Throughout his sonnets, Shakespeare discusses the conflicts that men have with time, such as time vs. the body and time vs. the mind. Although time withers the body and eventually the mind, Shakespeare writes that time has no effect, however, on love. Love prevails throughout time and is forever young when it is shared by two hearts that have become one. Love is a substance of the hearts united and calls for two individuals to commit to each other – commitment being marriage. Having committed one’s self through marriage both individuals now turn a blind eye to the other’s faults. To Shakespeare, this means that if one of the mates in the relationship cheats, the other should understand, forget, or forgive since adultery was the fault of one of the mate’s and love cannot see faults. This is best exemplified in Sonnet 116 when Shakespeare writes: Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: (1-4) Love is not only forgiving of faults but is also invincible in the eye of any storm. Whether it is hostility in the marriage or the death of one of the individuals in the marriage, love will continue to persevere between the two involved.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

What is the Impact of Downsizing

As the studies below indicate, layoffs have a number of negative effects not only on workers in different industries, but also on their communities and the market as a whole. Although it has been said that downsizing can be economically beneficial to companies, the following shows that there are two sides to this issue. Over the past decade, the workplace has altered considerably in terms of job stability. People have either experienced layoffs firsthand or directly known someone else who was impacted by re-engineering, downsizing, outsourcing or acquisition. For employees adversely affected by these changes or for those who do not completely understand why these changes are occurring, the effects can be very disturbing and impact both their personal and job life. A variety of different industries have been impacted by layoffs, not only manufacturing. For example, hospitals like other companies and nonprofit organizations have experienced downsizing that has negatively impacted healthcare employees with varying degrees of psychological distress and poor health. In a 2002 study, Greenglass, Burke and Fiksenbaum showed that restructuring and its changes can result in lower job satisfaction and job insecurity. The researchers studied the relationship between impact of restructuring, job satisfaction, job insecurity and absenteeism in nurses. The results were similar to earlier studies indicating that job insecurity can often have harmful consequences for individuals. Job insecurity has frequently been reported to lead to decreased psychological well-being (Dekker & Schaufeli, 1995; Ferrie et al. , 1998). In a study of Finnish employees, Kinnunen et al. 2000) reported that job insecurity, which led to negative relationships with colleagues and superiors, was still being noted at least one year after the event. The respondents of the Greenglass study, who consisted of 1,363 nurses employed in hospitals that were undergoing extensive restructuring, first filled out a self-report anonymous questionnaire. Results of this study demonstrated that the impact of hospital restructuring had a direct effect on job satisfaction, which in turn then had a pointedly negative impact on absenteeism and on job insecurity. In addition, the study found that the more the nurses believed hospital restructuring had lowered the quality of health care and had had a negative impact on working conditions, the less likely they were to experience job satisfaction and the more apt to report feelings of job insecurity. Findings further demonstrated that job satisfaction functioned as a intermediary between the impact of restructuring and job insecurity: That is, lower job satisfaction resulting from a greater impact of restructuring led to decreased job security. The impact of restructuring also placed an indirect effect on absenteeism through job satisfaction. The lower the job satisfaction, resulting from restructuring, the more likely the nurses were to be miss work. These results were similar to prior studies that linked layoffs with an increased amount of job insecurity. Campbell-Jamieson, Worrall, & Cooper (2001), for instance, compared responses from managers in three different business settings: organizations that restructured and downsized in the previous year, those firms that restructured without downsizing, and companies that had not restructured. Managers in organizations that had downsized had less job security, lower organizational commitment and reduced morale. Research has also demonstrated that reorganization can lead to greater emotional turmoil, including such feelings as anger, anxiety, cynicism and resentment (O'Neill & Lenn, 1995). Burke & Nelson (1997) found that this is most likely the result of a variety of negative observations throughout the restructuring, such as the belief that workers were treated unfairly, the psychological contract was eroded, and future employment would be insecure. The findings by Greenglass additionally showed that the restructuring impacts job insecurity in both direct and indirect ways. In other words, an effect of downsizing is lower satisfaction with one's job. This is most probably the result of disillusionment as well as feelings of being let down by the company and uncertainty about one's employment in the future. Decreased job satisfaction then leads to lower job security. The researchers do note, however, that these increased feelings of disillusionment and decreased feelings of job satisfaction and job security can be reduced if the organization's administration does its best to offer support, information sharing, and input into decision-making. To the degree that healthcare workers believe they are important to the hospital and that the institution cares about them and their opinions, the effects of restructuring can be considerably decreased. The impact of downsizing on workers is a combination of both the psychological and physical. Kivimaki et. al (2000) conducted a study to explore the underlying mechanisms between organizational downsizing and deterioration of health of employees. He found negative changes in work are associated with the declining support from aspouse, and increased prevalence of smoking. Sickness absence rate from all causes was 2. 17 times higher after major downsizing than after minor downsizing. Adjustment for changes in work, for instance, physical demands, job control, and job insecurity, diminished the linkages between downsizing and sickness absence by 49 percent. Adjustments for impaired social support or increased smoking did not change the relationship between downsizing and absence from illness. Such conclusions were unaffected by sex and income. Kivimaki concluded that the exploration of potential mediating issues offers new knowledge concerning the possible causal pathways connecting organizational downsizing and health. Downsizing results in changes in work, social relationships, and health-related behaviors. The noticeable increase in certificated sickness absence was partially explained by simultaneous increases in physical demands and job insecurity and a decline in job control. A reduction of employees leads to a number of negative effects; the closing of an entire plant or business can even result in greater problems. The recent economic history of Cleveland County, North Carolina, has been distinguished by factory closings, business layoffs, and significant unemployment rates. More than 3,500 workers have lost their jobs in this area in the last four years. This, in fact, may even be an underestimation, since it applies to events that involve 50 or more workers at a time. Many other smaller firms have fired workers as well. Such numbers are extremely significant since the county's labor force only numbered around 42,000 workers to begin with. Layoffs have been devastating to workers and their families. In the very best cases, unemployed workers were able to find other work, but normally there was a temporary loss of income and a reduction in pay. In the worst situations, these workers remained unemployed forever, either because they lacked the necessary skills for available jobs or believed themselves too old to move or go back to school. In such situations, economic dislocation also creates problems for the greater community. When unemployment rates rise, there is an increased demand for services at a time when communities are experiencing sharp declines in tax income. These decreases often result in poorer quality education, a deteriorating infrastructure, and larger welfare rolls, which make it more difficult to attract new businesses to the area. Thus, it is not always just the employees who are impacted when there is restructuring. A literature review of downsizing studies by Farrell (2000) also showed the connection between downsizing and the impact on market orientation. Specifically, his report gave evidence that (1) trust and commitment are keys to understanding the exchanges between a company and its workers; (2) the form of restructuring strategy will impact upon the degree of trust between personnel and senior management (Mishra and Mishra 1994) and will also directly effect the firm's market orientation; (3) the type of downsizing strategy and trust level will directly impact worker commitment to the firm's goals of creating high-quality customer value; and (4) employee commitment to such company values will impact the level of market orientation (Narver, Slater and Tietje 1998). Survivors of downsizing are impacted as well, as seen in a number of studies. In a longitudinal study, Moore, Grunberg and Greenberg compared 1,244 white- and blue-collar workers who recalled either zero, one, or two exposures with layoffs; all participants were personnel of a major industrial company that had had several large episodes of layoffs. They found that employees with the greatest number of contacts with downsizing both direct, or personally targeted, and indirect, coworkers laid off, noted considerably lower levels of job security and higher levels of role ambiguity, desire to leave their jobs, depression and health concerns. Contrary to what some others had thought, their findings did not support the notion that workers more quickly recover as they encounter a larger number of downsizing episodes. They also found only partial evidence that the similarity-that is, either repeated direct or repeated indirect layoff contact–or dissimilarity-that is, a combination of direct and indirect contacts–of the form of repeated downsizing exposure played a role in the amount to which personnel noted changes in outcome variables. Similarly, Masi (2000) looked at several pervasive ideas: First, that negative effects on the employees' morale who have survived downsizing may be so harmful to overall productivity that they overshadow any immediate economic gains the workforce reductions may bring. Second, those managers who are capable of eliciting trust and organizational commitment among employees as well as generally good labor relations may largely reduce or even eliminate the possible ill-effects of downsizing. Third, is it true as a number of political economists who are critical of the free-market model in the U. S. have argued that a crucial factor in helping reduce the fears and anxieties caused by industrial layoffs is the degree of employment and/or income security available to employees outside their current place of work? Fourth, recent research concerning the presence of unions suggests that the overall character of the industrial relations system will strengthen or weaken the negative effects of downsizing. In his article, Masi reported findings from a Swedish-Canadian comparison of blue-collar manufacturing workers who had been exposed to various kinds of change, including downsizing. The results provided strong support for the belief that experience with layoffs has a strong negative impact on survivor concerns everywhere. Simultaneously, there is also some evidence supporting that the amount of externally provided security has some mitigating effect on survivor worries, and the presence of unions within a strongly adversarial system of labor relations can increase such concerns. However, the quality of labor-management does not seem to have much of a helpful effect on the negative impact of downsizing. In the future, as downsizing continues, additional studies will have to be conducted to determine long-range impacts on individuals, their families, communities and the economy as a whole.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

James Meredith, Civil Rights, and the Ole Miss Riot

James Meredith is an African American political activist and Air Force veteran who rose to prominence during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement by becoming the first black student admitted to the previously segregated University of Mississippi (â€Å"Ole Miss†). The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the university to integrate the school, but Mississippi state police initially blocked Meredith’s entrance. After campus riots occurred, leaving two people dead, Meredith was allowed to enter the university under the protection of U.S. federal marshals and military troops. Though the events at Ole Miss forever entrenched him as a major civil rights figure, Meredith has expressed opposition to the concept of race-based civil rights. Fast Facts: James Meredith Known For: First black student to enroll in the segregated University of Mississippi, an act that made him a major figure in the civil rights movement Born: June 25, 1933 in in Kosciusko, MississippiEducation: University of Mississippi, Columbia Law SchoolMajor Awards and Honors: Harvard Graduate School of Education â€Å"Medal for Education Impact† (2012) Early Life and Education James Meredith was born on June 25, 1933, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to Roxie (Patterson) and Moses Meredith. He completed 11th grade at Attala County, Mississippi Training School, which was racially segregated under the states Jim Crow laws. In 1951, he finished high school at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. Days after graduating, Meredith joined the U.S. Air Force, serving from 1951 through 1960. After honorably separating from the Air Force, Meredith attended and excelled at traditionally black Jackson State College until 1962. He then decided to apply to the strictly segregated University of Mississippi, stating at the time, â€Å"I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi.† Denied Admission Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address, Meredith’s stated goal in applying to Ole Miss was to persuade the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1954 ruling in the civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, the university persisted in admitting white students only. After being denied admission twice, Meredith filed suit in U.S. District Court with the support of Medgar Evers, who was then head of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP. The suit alleged that the university had rejected him solely because of he was African American. After several hearings and appeals, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meredith had a constitutional right to be admitted to the state-supported university. Mississippi immediately appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Ole Miss Riot On September 10, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Mississippi had to admit African American students. In clear defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Mississippi governor Ross Barnett, on September 26, ordered state police to prevent Meredith from setting foot on the school’s campus. â€Å"No school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor,† he proclaimed. Students hoist a Confederate flag into the air during Ole Miss riot. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images On the evening of September 30, riots on the University of Mississippi campus erupted over Meredith’s enrollment. During the overnight violence, two people died from gunshot wounds, and white protestors pelted federal marshals with bricks and small arms fire. Several cars were set on fire and university property was severely damaged. By sunrise on October 1, 1962, federal troops had regained control of the campus, and escorted by armed federal marshals, James Meredith became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi. Integration at the University of Mississippi Though he suffered constant harassment and rejection by fellow students, he persisted, and went on to graduate with a degree in political science on August 18, 1963. Today, Meredith’s admission is considered one of the pivotal moments in the American Civil Rights Movement.   In 2002, Meredith spoke of his efforts to integrate Ole Miss. â€Å"I was engaged in a war. I considered myself engaged in a war from Day One,† he said in an interview with CNN. â€Å"And my objective was to force the federal government—the Kennedy administration at that time—into a position where they would have to use the United States military force to enforce my rights as a citizen.† March Against Fear, 1966 On June 6, 1966, Meredith began a one-man, 220-mile â€Å"March Against Fear† from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. Meredith told reporters that his intent was â€Å"to challenge the all-pervasive overriding fear† that black Mississippians still felt when trying to register to vote, even after the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asking only individual black citizens to join him, Meredith publicly rejected the involvement of the major civil rights organizations. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images However, when Meredith was shot and wounded by a white gunman on the second day of the journey leaders and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) all joined the march. Meredith recovered and rejoined the march just before some 15,000 marchers entered Jackson on June 26. During the trek, more than 4,000 black Mississippians registered to vote. Today, Mississippi has one of the nation’s highest rates of black voter registration and voting. Highlights of the historic three-week march were famously recorded by SCLC’s photographer Bob Fitch. Fitch’s historic images include the voter registration of 106-year-old, born-in-slavery El Fondren, and black activist Stokely Carmichael’s defiant and captivating call for black power. Meredith’s Political Views Perhaps surprisingly, Meredith never wanted to be identified as part of the Civil Rights Movement and expressed disdain for the concept of racially-based civil rights. As a lifelong moderate Republican, Meredith felt he was fighting for the same constitutional rights of all American citizen, regardless of their race. Of civil rights, he once stated, â€Å"Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.† Of his 1966 â€Å"March Against Fear,† Meredith recalled, â€Å"I got shot, and that allowed the movement protest thing to take over then and do their thing.† In 1967, Meredith supported avowed segregationist Ross Barnett in his failed run for reelection as governor of Mississippi, and in 1991, he backed former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in his close but unsuccessful race for governor of Louisiana. Family Life Meredith married his first wife, Mary June Wiggins, in 1956. They lived in Gary, Indiana and had three sons: James, John and Joseph Howard Meredith. Mary June died in 1979. In 1982, Meredith married Judy Alsobrooks in Jackson, Mississippi. They have one daughter together, Jessica Howard Meredith. After graduating from Ole Miss, Meredith continued his education in political science, at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Returning to the U.S. in 1965, he went on to earn a law degree from Columbia University in 1968.   When his third son, Joseph, graduated at the top of his class from the University of Mississippi in 2002, after having also earned a degree from Harvard University, James Meredith stated, â€Å"I think theres no better proof that white supremacy was wrong than not only to have my son graduate but to graduate as the most outstanding graduate of the school. That, I think, vindicates my whole life.† Sources Donovan, Kelley Anne (2002). â€Å"James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss.† Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of Charleston.†Mississippi and Meredith remember CNN (October 1, 2002)..† June 1966: Meredith Marchâ€Å"SNCC Digital GatewaySigner, Rachel. â€Å".†On the civil rights trail with Bob Fitch Waging Non-Violence (March 21, 2012).Waxman, Olivia B. â€Å"James Meredith on What Todays Activism Is Missing.† Time Magazine (June 6, 2016)