J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a Fantasy Epic Essay -- Tolkien Hobbit Es

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a Fantasy Epic    "Long ago in my grandfather Thror's time our family was driven out of the far North. . . . It had later been discovered by my far ancestor, Thrain the Old, they mined and they tunnelled and they made huger halls and greater workshops-and in addition I believe they found a good deal of gold and a great many jewels too. Anyway, they grew immensley rich and famous, and my grandfather was King under the Mountain again. . . . Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know. . . . There was a most specially greedy strong and wicked worm called Smaug. . . . [W]ell, from a good way off we saw the dragon settle on our mountain in a spout of flame. . . . and has been there ever sense. . . . we have never forgotten our stolen treasure. . . . we still mean to get it back, and to bring our curses home to Smaug" (31-33). This is the goal of all the main characters that J.R.R. Tolkien portrays in the novel, The Hobbit. It starts as any normal day for Bilbo, sitting in his quiet home, enjoying the piece and quiet and having a good smoke. The next thing Bilbo knows, an old friend named Gandalf appears before him. They reminisce for awhile about past times and lost adventures. Gandalf finally decides to leave Bilbo in piece, but not without convincing him of the journey they should soon embark on. Bilbo wakes up the next day to find thirteen knew faces in his home. Thirteen dwarves to be exact. They continue to propose to Bilbo the plan of stealing back the gold and treasures that was once theirs. Before Bilbo knows what's going on, he sets out, with his new friends, to conquer the Dragon that stole not only their riches, but also the lives of many men who d... ...e found. . . . That is why I settled on burglary. . . . And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar" (30). This quote is a perfect example of how The Hobbit is unusual. Not only is Bilbo not a fierce warrior, but he is also a thief. Heroes usually have the record of being loyal and honorable, but because Bilbo is a burglar, he isn't quite as honorable as most would think. In The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien takes the reader on a unique fantasy epic without the traits of previous epics like Homer's Illiad. By using the different traits, the hobbit has set a new standard for modern epics, and will continue to inspire future authors to compose classic yet groundbreaking novels.       Works Cited    Harmon, William, and Holman, C. H. "Epic," Handbook to Literature. New York: Macmillian, 1992.    Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966.

A Prisoner’s Re-Entry into Society

Prisoner re-entry is a vitally important issue today which has yet to reach its full impact on the minds and lives of voters. However, with every passing year the importance of this topic becomes more evident. Since the eighties, every passing year has brought more pressure for harsher and longer imprisonment and more streamlined mandatory sentencing rules. This has not only resulted in an exploding prison population, but also in a drastic increase in the number of prisoners re-released into communities. Additionally, the push towards more punitive measures has decreased educational opportunities in prisons and the availability of rehabilitation programs. This means that released prisoners are increasingly unable to reintegrate into their communities, increasingly prone to recidivism, and increasingly violent in each release and re-capture cycle. Even the conservative Bush administration has recognized the threat posed by unprepared prisoner re-entry and responded with a series of grants to private and public organizations involved in rehabilitation and easing prisoner transitions. However, merely making government money available to private, religious, or state-based programs is not enough. These funds are only likely to reach a minority of prisoners who are already being aided by the aided programs. Prisoners whose communities and systems do not already take measures to help their rehabilitation will not be seeing any increase in re-entry programs or preparation. A nationwide set of standards is needed to assure that every prisoner eligible for re-release into the community will be inoculated against recidivism and prepared to become a useful part of the society in which they will reside. It is time for the Democratic Party to back away from the conservative model of crime prevention through fear and towards social responsible model of crime prevention through the creation of healthy communities. This can be done in large part by reforming the prison system from a gulag of social control and intimidation into a truly educational experience in which prisoners are put on a moderated track towards social responsibility, respect for the rights of others, and preparation to take a beneficial role in society. Joan Petersilia wrote an insightful book on this subject documenting a series of studies in crime and public policy, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. After presenting many pages of carefully documented research, Petersilia provided four suggestions for future reform which could drastically reduce recidivism and change returning prisoners from presenting a public threat to being a boon to society. These suggestions were as follows: 1. Alter the in-prison experience. Provide more education, work, and rehabilitation opportunities. Change the prison environment to promote life skills rather than violence and domination. 2. Change prison release and revocation practices. Institute a system of discretionary parole release that incorporates parole release guidelines. These parole guidelines should be based primarily on recidivism prediction. 3. Revise post-prison services and supervision. Incorporate better parole supervision classification systems, and target services and surveillance to those with high need and risk profiles. 4. Foster collaborations with the community and enhance mechanisms of informal social control. Develop partnerships with service providers, ex-convicts, law enforcement, family members, victim advocates, and neighborhoods to support the offender. (Petersilia) These suggestions represent the best Democratic policy towards reform of the prisoner re-entry system. Petersilia's book on the subject provides documentation about the efficacy of these recommendations and their necessity in the current environment. The remainder of this paper will focus on the precise laws, policies, and programs which may be recommended to promote the implementations of these suggestions. Petersilia's first recommendation is to alter the in-prison experience. This may not be the immediately evident response to prisoner re-entry, but evidence suggests it may in fact be the most important response. As Petersilia points out in a separate article on the â€Å"Challenges of Prisoner Reentry and Parole in California,† the reason that returning convicts pose such a threat is not merely that they are dangerous criminals returning to the communities that they originally victimized, but that their time in prison has in all likelihood increased the dangers they pose to civilians! It is common knowledge that non-violent and inexperienced criminals entering the prison system are likely to emerge being both violent and experienced due to the brutal conditions that exist in most prisons. Male (and female) rape is extremely common in the prison system, with estimates placed between 13-70% of inmates suffering unwanted sexual conduct. (HRW) Such brutal experiences lead many inmates to experience post traumatic stress disorder, which has been positively linked to increased violent tendencies. The degree of dehumanization and stress common in prison can cause other problems as well. â€Å"Mental illnesses, particularly chronic anxiety and depression, may be caused by incarceration. Psychologists believe that incarceration often breeds ‘global rage,' an impulsive and explosive anger so great that a minor incident can trigger an uncontrolled response.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The Human Rights Watch's report on prison rape in America recommends several measures for preventing prison rape and brutality, and it is vital that policy focus on this aspect of the prison experience. In 2003 a bill was passed establishing a National Commission dedicated to studying prison rape, and several other measures to provide information and training regarding prison rape. However, these measures did not go far enough to assure that prison rape was both prosecuted and that victims received help and counseling. Neither mandatory prosecution nor counseling was included in the bill's measures. Though some constituents might hesitate to focus on preventing brutality to prisoners (indeed, if one pays close attention to the sorts of attitudes and jokes prevalent on crime shows such as Law and Order and NYPD Blue, many consumers may think that prison rape is a justifiable punishment for child abusers and pedophiles), it is important to remember that prison rape victims are likely to emerge with HIV and equally likely to become sexual abusers after their experiences even if they were not abusers before. Thus it is a public health and safety concern to prevent prison rape and other brutality between prisoners. The following policies should be instituted nationwide: 1. Division of prison population between violent and non-violent criminals, and between those who are eligible for parole and those who are not. (Parole-eligible prisoners have more incentive for good behavior) 2. Establishment of special court systems for prison population, mandatory investigation and prosecution of all incidents of hospitalization resulting from sexual assault, availability of independent prisoner-rights advocates, and segregation of all inmates convicted of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault to carefully regulated wards, and automatic termination for any employee convicted of sexual impropriety or battery of an inmate. 3. Mandatory counseling and AIDS testing for all prison brutality victims and the establishment of victim-positive protective custody arrangements. (Many victimized inmates are only offered solitary confinement as a protective arrangement, which generally means loss of other privileges and any human interaction, potentially worsening the trauma and decreasing reports) Condoms and retro-virus treatment should be made available to all AIDS/HIV positive inmates, so that future consensual prison relationships will be less likely to increase AIDS transmission. Additionally, the very arrangement of prisons tends to discourage personal responsibility and the development of positive social interactions. Petersilia describes how prison systems punish individual initiative and free-thought, and fail to prepare inmates for independence and responsibility within an open society. â€Å"When personal choice is eliminated, so is personal accountability because the system makes all decisions for prisoners.† (Petersilia, 184) A nationwide study should be undertaken regarding ways that personal choice and accountability can be safely established in prisons and a set of guidelines for national and private prisons should be developed based on the results of that study. Petersilia recommends some programs which have had success in the past which allow simple personal choice from requiring prisoners to decide for themselves when/how to clean their own cells, send their laundry to the cleaners, and so forth. Involving prisoners in some of the more mundane aspects of their confinement is likely to increase the sense of personal control and encourage responsibility. These changes should not be geared so much as ameliorating the punishment of prisoners as of assuring that the incarceration does not reduce their ability to function as a free person. One more important issue regarding prison experience is the availability of vocational and academic training. It is well known by those who study these issues that prisoners who are able to be employed after re-entry to society are significantly less likely to commit further crimes. Petersilia's second suggestion was to change prison release and revocation practices. The best recommendation for policy on this issue would be to adjust mandatory sentences so that they included the completion of certain educational and behavioral requirements. These adapted sentences would require the inmate to both complete a certain length of time and a set of release requirements to be established by a panel of experts on a case-by-case basis. These release requirements must be completed before the inmate was eligible either for parole or release based on time served. Requirements should include, as determined per individual case, mandatory counseling, addiction treatment, educational attainment, vocational studies, and good behavior. Petersilia points out that, based on prison records, recidivism predictions can be made that are 80% correct. Recidivism predictors should be made clear to inmates and they should be encouraged to work towards being eligible for release and parole. A nationwide set of guidelines regarding minimum achievements requirements in addition to the current nationwide set of minimum time-served requirements would return the focus to rehabilitation rather than mere punishment. In fact, the minimum time-served should be directly related to the minimum time necessary to complete the release requirements. Part of assuring that the prison system creates parolees who do not endanger the community is assuring that it creates educated parolees. It would do well in the future for ex-criminals to speak of â€Å"graduating† from prison, as it were, and going on to lead productive lives. In 1997 the Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture reported that â€Å"inmates with at least two years of college have a 10% re-arrest rate, compared to a national re-arrest rate of approximately 60%.† This is somewhat ironic, because just three years earlier in 1994 Congress passed a bill which virtually destroyed the prison undergraduate school system. This bill eliminated Pell grants paying for the education of incarcerated individuals. â€Å"Nationally, the only higher education program that's still publicly funded is for youthful offenders.† (Banks) So it is that since 1994 recidivism has increased by almost half, going from around 60% to nearly 90%. Today a mixture of volunteers, religious organizations, and state-funded programs have moved in to provide some college education for inmates. However only slightly more than 10% of prisoners will re-enter society with a college degree. A new bill should be sponsored which would fight to prevent crime by educating prisoners and thus slashing their chances of offending again. Even if Pell Grants were not extended to prisoners, perhaps a new system of educational grants should be developed that would pay for accredited college education for prisoners as part of their pre-release requirements. Our founding fathers all focused on the necessity of a free people being an educated people, and claimed that democracy was dependent on the education of the people. If we are to prepare prisoners to reenter a democratic nation and partake in it as citizens rather than as public enemies, then a liberal arts education which both prepares them for work and prepares them to understand the rights and responsibilities of all citizens is absolutely necessary. Petersilia's third point is that we need extensive post-release services. A new set of federal guidelines should require all released prisoners to be prepared with housing and income options. Halfway housing should be arranged for those who do not have families prepared to commit to providing housing. Job-placement services should be arranged before release and continued employment should be a condition of parole with job-placement provided at any point during the parole period at which the ex-inmate becomes unemployed. Continued medical treatment and counseling for prison-related problems (including AIDS and mental illness) should be provided, as well as mandatory counseling and guidance sessions. More federal and state funding needs to be available to increase the number of parole officers and services. Nationwide there is a shortage in parole officers. In California, for example, â€Å"the ratio is now 82 parolees to 1 parole officer†¦ even parolees who are motivated to change have little opportunity to do so.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ) According to Petersilia's research, â€Å"most inmates have a strong desire to succeed when they are first released.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) Therefore it is vital that re-entry services are provided. Additionally, as most inmates are re-arrested within three years, it seems vital that such services are available for a period of at least five years as the inmates adjust to the responsibility and freedom of life outside. Homelessness, lack of income and opportunities, and a return to addiction are among the main reasons for a return to crime — proper post-release supervision, counseling, and provision of housing and work opportunities can prevent this. Though such supervision would be expensive, it will be far less expensive to provide ex-inmates with housing, employment, and services within the community than to provide them with housing, constant supervision, and services inside our prisons after they re-offend. In conclusion, it appears that a national Recidivism Prevention Bill is absolutely necessary. This bill should include: 1) a commitment to stop prison rape by means of the creation of a special court system for in-prison crimes such as rape, the mandatory investigation of prison rape cases, and special custody arrangements designed to combat rape; 2) the establishment of a study resulting in national guidelines for prison reform aimed at fostering social responsibility and accountability; 3) the establishment and funding of an accredited national university of correctional facilities which provides liberal arts, vocational, and technical degrees to inmates; 4) Creation of national guidelines for sentencing to include individual minimum release requirements including (but not limited to) successful completion of addiction or other counseling, charitable service, educational and vocational training, evidence of good behavior, and treatment for mental health problems; 5) national guidelines and funding for parole services including housing, job-placement and training, medical services , and mental health/addiction/family adjustment counseling, and a low parolee-to-officer ration allowing for adequate surveillance and regular check-ups. A Prisoner’s Re-Entry into Society Prisoner re-entry is a vitally important issue today which has yet to reach its full impact on the minds and lives of voters. However, with every passing year the importance of this topic becomes more evident. Since the eighties, every passing year has brought more pressure for harsher and longer imprisonment and more streamlined mandatory sentencing rules. This has not only resulted in an exploding prison population, but also in a drastic increase in the number of prisoners re-released into communities. Additionally, the push towards more punitive measures has decreased educational opportunities in prisons and the availability of rehabilitation programs. This means that released prisoners are increasingly unable to reintegrate into their communities, increasingly prone to recidivism, and increasingly violent in each release and re-capture cycle. Even the conservative Bush administration has recognized the threat posed by unprepared prisoner re-entry and responded with a series of grants to private and public organizations involved in rehabilitation and easing prisoner transitions. However, merely making government money available to private, religious, or state-based programs is not enough. These funds are only likely to reach a minority of prisoners who are already being aided by the aided programs. Prisoners whose communities and systems do not already take measures to help their rehabilitation will not be seeing any increase in re-entry programs or preparation. A nationwide set of standards is needed to assure that every prisoner eligible for re-release into the community will be inoculated against recidivism and prepared to become a useful part of the society in which they will reside. It is time for the Democratic Party to back away from the conservative model of crime prevention through fear and towards social responsible model of crime prevention through the creation of healthy communities. This can be done in large part by reforming the prison system from a gulag of social control and intimidation into a truly educational experience in which prisoners are put on a moderated track towards social responsibility, respect for the rights of others, and preparation to take a beneficial role in society. Joan Petersilia wrote an insightful book on this subject documenting a series of studies in crime and public policy, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. After presenting many pages of carefully documented research, Petersilia provided four suggestions for future reform which could drastically reduce recidivism and change returning prisoners from presenting a public threat to being a boon to society. These suggestions were as follows: 1. Alter the in-prison experience. Provide more education, work, and rehabilitation opportunities. Change the prison environment to promote life skills rather than violence and domination. 2. Change prison release and revocation practices. Institute a system of discretionary parole release that incorporates parole release guidelines. These parole guidelines should be based primarily on recidivism prediction. 3. Revise post-prison services and supervision. Incorporate better parole supervision classification systems, and target services and surveillance to those with high need and risk profiles. 4. Foster collaborations with the community and enhance mechanisms of informal social control. Develop partnerships with service providers, ex-convicts, law enforcement, family members, victim advocates, and neighborhoods to support the offender. (Petersilia) These suggestions represent the best Democratic policy towards reform of the prisoner re-entry system. Petersilia's book on the subject provides documentation about the efficacy of these recommendations and their necessity in the current environment. The remainder of this paper will focus on the precise laws, policies, and programs which may be recommended to promote the implementations of these suggestions. Petersilia's first recommendation is to alter the in-prison experience. This may not be the immediately evident response to prisoner re-entry, but evidence suggests it may in fact be the most important response. As Petersilia points out in a separate article on the â€Å"Challenges of Prisoner Reentry and Parole in California,† the reason that returning convicts pose such a threat is not merely that they are dangerous criminals returning to the communities that they originally victimized, but that their time in prison has in all likelihood increased the dangers they pose to civilians! It is common knowledge that non-violent and inexperienced criminals entering the prison system are likely to emerge being both violent and experienced due to the brutal conditions that exist in most prisons. Male (and female) rape is extremely common in the prison system, with estimates placed between 13-70% of inmates suffering unwanted sexual conduct. (HRW) Such brutal experiences lead many inmates to experience post traumatic stress disorder, which has been positively linked to increased violent tendencies. The degree of dehumanization and stress common in prison can cause other problems as well. â€Å"Mental illnesses, particularly chronic anxiety and depression, may be caused by incarceration. Psychologists believe that incarceration often breeds ‘global rage,' an impulsive and explosive anger so great that a minor incident can trigger an uncontrolled response.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) The Human Rights Watch's report on prison rape in America recommends several measures for preventing prison rape and brutality, and it is vital that policy focus on this aspect of the prison experience. In 2003 a bill was passed establishing a National Commission dedicated to studying prison rape, and several other measures to provide information and training regarding prison rape. However, these measures did not go far enough to assure that prison rape was both prosecuted and that victims received help and counseling. Neither mandatory prosecution nor counseling was included in the bill's measures. Though some constituents might hesitate to focus on preventing brutality to prisoners (indeed, if one pays close attention to the sorts of attitudes and jokes prevalent on crime shows such as Law and Order and NYPD Blue, many consumers may think that prison rape is a justifiable punishment for child abusers and pedophiles), it is important to remember that prison rape victims are likely to emerge with HIV and equally likely to become sexual abusers after their experiences even if they were not abusers before. Thus it is a public health and safety concern to prevent prison rape and other brutality between prisoners. The following policies should be instituted nationwide: 1. Division of prison population between violent and non-violent criminals, and between those who are eligible for parole and those who are not. (Parole-eligible prisoners have more incentive for good behavior) 2. Establishment of special court systems for prison population, mandatory investigation and prosecution of all incidents of hospitalization resulting from sexual assault, availability of independent prisoner-rights advocates, and segregation of all inmates convicted of prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assault to carefully regulated wards, and automatic termination for any employee convicted of sexual impropriety or battery of an inmate. 3. Mandatory counseling and AIDS testing for all prison brutality victims and the establishment of victim-positive protective custody arrangements. (Many victimized inmates are only offered solitary confinement as a protective arrangement, which generally means loss of other privileges and any human interaction, potentially worsening the trauma and decreasing reports) Condoms and retro-virus treatment should be made available to all AIDS/HIV positive inmates, so that future consensual prison relationships will be less likely to increase AIDS transmission. Additionally, the very arrangement of prisons tends to discourage personal responsibility and the development of positive social interactions. Petersilia describes how prison systems punish individual initiative and free-thought, and fail to prepare inmates for independence and responsibility within an open society. â€Å"When personal choice is eliminated, so is personal accountability because the system makes all decisions for prisoners.† (Petersilia, 184) A nationwide study should be undertaken regarding ways that personal choice and accountability can be safely established in prisons and a set of guidelines for national and private prisons should be developed based on the results of that study. Petersilia recommends some programs which have had success in the past which allow simple personal choice from requiring prisoners to decide for themselves when/how to clean their own cells, send their laundry to the cleaners, and so forth. Involving prisoners in some of the more mundane aspects of their confinement is likely to increase the sense of personal control and encourage responsibility. These changes should not be geared so much as ameliorating the punishment of prisoners as of assuring that the incarceration does not reduce their ability to function as a free person. One more important issue regarding prison experience is the availability of vocational and academic training. It is well known by those who study these issues that prisoners who are able to be employed after re-entry to society are significantly less likely to commit further crimes. Petersilia's second suggestion was to change prison release and revocation practices. The best recommendation for policy on this issue would be to adjust mandatory sentences so that they included the completion of certain educational and behavioral requirements. These adapted sentences would require the inmate to both complete a certain length of time and a set of release requirements to be established by a panel of experts on a case-by-case basis. These release requirements must be completed before the inmate was eligible either for parole or release based on time served. Requirements should include, as determined per individual case, mandatory counseling, addiction treatment, educational attainment, vocational studies, and good behavior. Petersilia points out that, based on prison records, recidivism predictions can be made that are 80% correct. Recidivism predictors should be made clear to inmates and they should be encouraged to work towards being eligible for release and parole. A nationwide set of guidelines regarding minimum achievements requirements in addition to the current nationwide set of minimum time-served requirements would return the focus to rehabilitation rather than mere punishment. In fact, the minimum time-served should be directly related to the minimum time necessary to complete the release requirements. Part of assuring that the prison system creates parolees who do not endanger the community is assuring that it creates educated parolees. It would do well in the future for ex-criminals to speak of â€Å"graduating† from prison, as it were, and going on to lead productive lives. In 1997 the Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture reported that â€Å"inmates with at least two years of college have a 10% re-arrest rate, compared to a national re-arrest rate of approximately 60%.† This is somewhat ironic, because just three years earlier in 1994 Congress passed a bill which virtually destroyed the prison undergraduate school system. This bill eliminated Pell grants paying for the education of incarcerated individuals. â€Å"Nationally, the only higher education program that's still publicly funded is for youthful offenders.† (Banks) So it is that since 1994 recidivism has increased by almost half, going from around 60% to nearly 90%. Today a mixture of volunteers, religious organizations, and state-funded programs have moved in to provide some college education for inmates. However only slightly more than 10% of prisoners will re-enter society with a college degree. A new bill should be sponsored which would fight to prevent crime by educating prisoners and thus slashing their chances of offending again. Even if Pell Grants were not extended to prisoners, perhaps a new system of educational grants should be developed that would pay for accredited college education for prisoners as part of their pre-release requirements. Our founding fathers all focused on the necessity of a free people being an educated people, and claimed that democracy was dependent on the education of the people. If we are to prepare prisoners to reenter a democratic nation and partake in it as citizens rather than as public enemies, then a liberal arts education which both prepares them for work and prepares them to understand the rights and responsibilities of all citizens is absolutely necessary. Petersilia's third point is that we need extensive post-release services. A new set of federal guidelines should require all released prisoners to be prepared with housing and income options. Halfway housing should be arranged for those who do not have families prepared to commit to providing housing. Job-placement services should be arranged before release and continued employment should be a condition of parole with job-placement provided at any point during the parole period at which the ex-inmate becomes unemployed. Continued medical treatment and counseling for prison-related problems (including AIDS and mental illness) should be provided, as well as mandatory counseling and guidance sessions. More federal and state funding needs to be available to increase the number of parole officers and services. Nationwide there is a shortage in parole officers. In California, for example, â€Å"the ratio is now 82 parolees to 1 parole officer†¦ even parolees who are motivated to change have little opportunity to do so.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬  ) According to Petersilia's research, â€Å"most inmates have a strong desire to succeed when they are first released.† (Petersilia, â€Å"Challenges†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) Therefore it is vital that re-entry services are provided. Additionally, as most inmates are re-arrested within three years, it seems vital that such services are available for a period of at least five years as the inmates adjust to the responsibility and freedom of life outside. Homelessness, lack of income and opportunities, and a return to addiction are among the main reasons for a return to crime — proper post-release supervision, counseling, and provision of housing and work opportunities can prevent this. Though such supervision would be expensive, it will be far less expensive to provide ex-inmates with housing, employment, and services within the community than to provide them with housing, constant supervision, and services inside our prisons after they re-offend. In conclusion, it appears that a national Recidivism Prevention Bill is absolutely necessary. This bill should include: 1) a commitment to stop prison rape by means of the creation of a special court system for in-prison crimes such as rape, the mandatory investigation of prison rape cases, and special custody arrangements designed to combat rape; 2) the establishment of a study resulting in national guidelines for prison reform aimed at fostering social responsibility and accountability; 3) the establishment and funding of an accredited national university of correctional facilities which provides liberal arts, vocational, and technical degrees to inmates; 4) Creation of national guidelines for sentencing to include individual minimum release requirements including (but not limited to) successful completion of addiction or other counseling, charitable service, educational and vocational training, evidence of good behavior, and treatment for mental health problems; 5) national guidelines and funding for parole services including housing, job-placement and training, medical services , and mental health/addiction/family adjustment counseling, and a low parolee-to-officer ration allowing for adequate surveillance and regular check-ups.

Heart and Cardiac Muscle Essay

What is the heart? The heart is the organ that supplies blood and oxygen to all parts of the body. It is about the size of a clenched fist, weighs about 10.5 ounces and is shaped like a cone. The heart is located in the chest cavity just posterior to the breastbone, between the lungs and superior to the diaphragm. The heart is surrounded by a fluid filled sac called the pericardium. Blood is pumped away from the heart through arteries and returns to the heart through veins. The major artery of the body is the aorta and the major veins of the body are the vena cavae. Chambers of the Heart The heart is divided by a partition or septum into two halves. The halves are in turn divided into chambers. The upper two chambers of the heart are called atria and the lower two chambers are calledventricles. The atria receive blood returning to the heart from the body and the ventricles pump blood from the heart to the body. Valves allow blood to flow in one direction between the chambers of the heart. The Heart Wall The heart is composed of cardiac muscle which enable the heart to contract and allow the synchronization of the heart beat. The heart wall is divided into three layers: the epicardium, myocardium, and endocardium. * Epicardium – outer protective layer of the heart. * Myocardium – muscular middle layer wall of the heart. * Endocardium – inner layer of the heart that is continuous with the inner lining of blood * Cardiac Conduction * Cardiac conduction is the rate at which the heart conducts electrical impulses. Cardiac muscle cells contract spontaneously and are coordinated by nodal tissue, specifically the sinoatrial node. There are other factors that influence heart rate as well. These include endocrine hormones, body temperature and exercise. * Cardiac Cycle * The cardiac cycle is the sequence of events that occur when the heart beats. There are two phases of this cycle which are the diastole and systole phases. During the diastole phase, the atria and ventricles are relaxed and blood flows into the atria and ventricles. In the systole phase, the ventricles contract sending blood to the rest of the body. A heartbeat is a two-part pumping action that takes about a second. As bloodcollects in the upper chambers (the right and left atria), the heart’s natural pacemaker (the SA node) sends out an electrical signal that causes the atria to contract. This contraction pushes blood through the tricuspid and mitral valves into the resting lower chambers (the right and left ventricles). This part of the two-part pumping phase (the longer of the two) is called diastole. The second part of the pumping phase begins when the ventricles are full of blood. The electrical signals from the SA node travel along a pathway of cells to the ventricles, causing them to contract. This is called systole. As the tricuspid and mitral valves shut tight to prevent a back flow of blood, the pulmonary and aortic valves are pushed open. While blood is pushed from the right ventricle into the lungs to pick up oxygen, oxygen-rich blood flows from the left ventricle to the heart and other parts of the body. After blood moves into the pulmonary artery and the aorta, the ventricles relax, and the pulmonary and aortic valves close. The lower pressure in the ventricles causes the tricuspid and mitral valves to open, and the cycle begins again. This series of contractions is repeated over and over again, increasing during times of exertion and decreasing while you are at rest. The heart normally beats about 60 to 80 times a minute when you are at rest, but this can vary. As you get older, your resting heart rate rises. Also, it is usually lower in people who are physically fit. Your heart does not work alone, though. Your brain tracks the conditions around you—climate, stress, and level of physical activity—and adjusts your cardiovascular system to meet those needs. The human heart is a muscle designed to remain strong and reliable for a hundred years or longer. By reducing your risk factors for cardiovascular disease, you may help your heart stay healthy longer.

Free Essays on Antwone Fisher

Sigmund Freud founded psychodynamic theory. The primary focus of the psychodynamic theory is to understand how the client's past experiences affect what occurs in the present. Freud believed people repress or drive from their conscious undesirable or shameful thoughts. As a result, these thoughts become part of the subconscious (Billig, 1999). A major goal of the psychodynamic theory is to understand unconscious mental functioning, which includes a broad set of constructs of worldviews including Freud’s psychoanalytic thought and processes (Ivey, A., D’Andrea, Ivey, M. and Simek-Morgan, 2002). The major concepts of the psychodynamic theory are clearly represented in the film Antwone Fisher. The film displays many characteristics of the psychodynamic theory paying special attention to transference, resistance, repression, conscious, subconscious, free association, role-playing, and object relations. One of the major concepts of the psychodynamic theory is that our object relations, the people who have played major roles in our lives, are important and necessary to our developmental history. According to the psychodynamic theory, these relations may be family, friends, and peers. Understanding the client’s developmental history is necessary to fully understand the client (Ivey et al., 2002). â€Å"According to the psychoanalytic theory, how an individual relates to others is essentially based on how she experienced herself visvis family members. The vicissitudes of interpersonal relationships depend very heavily on transferences from the individual’s family structure† (Turner, 1996, p.534). In trying to fully understand Antwone’s character, one would have to know his developmental history how he related to others with the family structure. Many people influenced Antwone and played a major part in his developmental history, but the major person was Mrs. Tate. Mrs. Tate affected Antwone in more way... Free Essays on Antwone Fisher Free Essays on Antwone Fisher Sigmund Freud founded psychodynamic theory. The primary focus of the psychodynamic theory is to understand how the client's past experiences affect what occurs in the present. Freud believed people repress or drive from their conscious undesirable or shameful thoughts. As a result, these thoughts become part of the subconscious (Billig, 1999). A major goal of the psychodynamic theory is to understand unconscious mental functioning, which includes a broad set of constructs of worldviews including Freud’s psychoanalytic thought and processes (Ivey, A., D’Andrea, Ivey, M. and Simek-Morgan, 2002). The major concepts of the psychodynamic theory are clearly represented in the film Antwone Fisher. The film displays many characteristics of the psychodynamic theory paying special attention to transference, resistance, repression, conscious, subconscious, free association, role-playing, and object relations. One of the major concepts of the psychodynamic theory is that our object relations, the people who have played major roles in our lives, are important and necessary to our developmental history. According to the psychodynamic theory, these relations may be family, friends, and peers. Understanding the client’s developmental history is necessary to fully understand the client (Ivey et al., 2002). â€Å"According to the psychoanalytic theory, how an individual relates to others is essentially based on how she experienced herself visvis family members. The vicissitudes of interpersonal relationships depend very heavily on transferences from the individual’s family structure† (Turner, 1996, p.534). In trying to fully understand Antwone’s character, one would have to know his developmental history how he related to others with the family structure. Many people influenced Antwone and played a major part in his developmental history, but the major person was Mrs. Tate. Mrs. Tate affected Antwone in more way...

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF BOOK PROMOTION

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF BOOK PROMOTION If you thought writing a book creates emotional upheaval, wait until you try to market it! Nope, people dont just step up and buy the book. You have to subtly, tastefully, skillfully remind them that this book is a tremendous investment without saying, Buy this book. Do you know how hard that is? It means chatting with people and mentioning youre an author, then having all these great one-liner answers to any questions they might ask . . . in hopes those answers convince them to buy. It means being available for signing events, sometimes driving hundreds of miles, only to sell eight books . . .and smiling through it all. It means answering every email with courtesy, cheerfulness, patience, and enthusiasm . . . EVERY email. It means being doubted It means giving away more books than you probably expected, and spending hundreds of dollars in postcards, posters, gas, business cards, website design and more, (much more if you self-publish) as you think maybe the next book will recoup that back for you . . . and hopefully much more. But it also means people gush over how the story resonated with them . . . and you almost cry at each and every time you hear a new person express their enjoyment. It means you dive into the next book, and the next, anxious to show how much better a writer you are now . . . because now you have readers asking when the next book comes out. It means you squeal when someone enjoys a phrase you spent hours perfecting, fighting so hard to make it look easy. There is no arrival in this journey of writing a book. Its always an uphill climb. About the time you have a momentous occasion, youre slapped with two stars instead of five, or some bookstore owner who says, Come back and see me once youve published a second book, or you send out review copies and the reviewer never delivers. About the time family and friends give you great responses, you learn of several who never find time to read it. And you learn to laugh about it . . . laugh about it ALL. You chose this path. Everyone told you it was difficult.Yet you travel it anyway, because seeing your precious stories born to the world is no different than having children. Once you birth those babies you have to commit to the good and the bad of the experience. Some are easier to raise than others, and all of them cause you angst sooner or later. But in the end, you love the heck out of them. Mainly because they are a part of you.

The Game of Love and Chance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Game of Love and Chance - Assignment Example The plot is appropriate in its context and makes sense. The plot has sense in it and very easy to follow. The plot also is very surprising and not that much predictable. â€Å"The Game of love and Chance† is charmingly written to show the inadequacies of the servant taking the masters’ role and the masters taking the servants’ role. The realism portrayed is how love can control someone once truly fallen in love by the other person. Silvia truly falls in love with Dorante not realizing that she has already fallen in love with the real suitor and the same is also true with Dorante; as Edwin Wilson puts it, â€Å"the manner in which a performance depicts the real world (Wilson, 46).† it is very hard for such a coincidence to take place in the real world; this is what contains the unrealistic portion of the same. The characters hoist their double standard in the entire play; in the first place, the mistress and maid conduct an expository dialog in a corridor to the accompaniment of much screaming and slamming. But while Trish as Silvia undergoes these motions with intelligence, a wit, and a command of changing tones that turn to be even keener as the day progresses; this is her excellent performance. Gemma as Lisette seems and sounds as if she was watching a carry on movie, all flutter and twitter and causal of innuendo. This seems to be a hit for equality; in most occasions, male comics have the monopoly on being crude and lewd. The costumes are ancient which suit the sexual and social context. The actors performed their roles appropriately which made the audience believe in the roles they were having. None of the actors seemed to miss the point while on stage; this was evident when the actors changed characters. The set drew the real world at the back of audiences’ mind which made t he performance be livelier (Marivaux, Pierre, and Neil 87). The play utilized enough space to host different scenes that made the play be interesting and made

The Key Differences Between De Beers Old And New Business Model Essay - 24

The Key Differences Between De Beers Old And New Business Model - Essay Example Kodak’s main strategy in this period was to avail to their customer’s high-margin film referred to as the razor blade strategy. This strategy involved Kodak’s development of inexpensive cameras as a way to an end: the company had the objective of facilitating lucrative film sales. In a heart shell, the invention of the digital camera was held back due to management’s worries about the negative effects on film sales. Nonetheless, the developmental dependencies on many other industries were extremely high as microprocessors, advances in electronic storage, and various communication soft wares for the camera and digital data transfer, soft wares for image processing, etc. Microelectronics was a problem for the company during the implementation of its strategy. However, the strategies that the company employed failed. Normally in a perfect market whenever disruptive technology exists, companies always fail to capitalize on the invention of the day for fearing cannibalizing current product sales. For instance, in 1981 when Sony introduced a filmless digital camera into the market, panic permeated Kodak company‘s executive suite. Explicitly, over the next years, the company invested about $5 billion in digital imaging. Through estimation, this was approximately 45% of the company’s R&D budget. Sadly, with disruptive technologies like digital cameras, whenever a company becomes the first-mover it has a lot of advantages and others who follow suit find it very difficult to overcome the competition. The strategy failed since by the time the company realized that their razor-blade strategy was not workable; the lions were by now out of the barn. Kodak was not able to match the competition.