The Holly Tree

The Holly Tree When I built my house almost nine years ago (friggin wow), I planted holly trees on two corners of the structure, one to the left of my study window. Because I love birds, I yearned for the day the tree grew tall and thick enough for me to see its bird visitors from that window. You see, my window is fifteen feet off the ground. I planted a three-foot tree. It would be a while. But I watered the tree, did some serious pruning on it every couple of years to shape it, and made sure it was free of disease. Its a beautiful plant with its shiny, deep green leaves and occasional berries. It grew, but I could only see it when I went outside and stood next to it. Sometime during 2013, I heard a mockingbird outside being particularly loud. On occasion a bird, usually a tiny wren or house finch, or even a rare goldfinch, will perch on my window sill seeking bugs. Since I write late into the night, my window holds the only light in the cove. Being in the country, we dont do streetlights, so dark is DARK out here. The bugs flock to my window, unfortunately for me, but fortunately for the birds that gobble them up the next day. Anyway, the mockingbird song puzzled me. Sliding to my window, I listened hard for the direction. Sure enough, he perched atop the holly tree. I could see him! I could hear him. It had been so long since I tried to see the tree from my window that Id forgotten it was even there . . . except when I went outside and watered it, and pruned it. I hope you can see that the point is obvious. We plant our butts in the chair and we plant words on a page. We keep at it, writing, creating, editing, even submitting. We do it, knowing it might be a long while before its matured. Then one day, and it might be several years from when you started, you look up and there it is. Your work has grown into mature, viable, and gorgeous stories. I hear so many writers talk about waiting for the right moments to write, or getting depressed about rejection, or reading so many ridiculous blog posts that tell them how long their odds are to get published. They write in spurts. They forget writing for the summer, or the winter, or the holidays. They are forgetting to water and prune their holly tree. Even if you cannot imagine success, you keep writing. Just as we love gardening, we love writing, and we tend them religiously, just the same. Because one day, well look up, and there it will be . . . that story we always imagined, sitting there, singing to the world.

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 17

Personal statement - Essay Example The vibrant and energetic environment, a learning environment that is very conducive, state of art facilities, research, and innovation in the institution provides a perfect gateway to success of the student. As a student at Iowa University, I have been able to learn and contribute in diverse areas outside the academic world. My leadership skills surpassed expectations when I was elected the vice president of Chinese Union in the University. This position required exceptional leadership skills, organization, and dedication. Holding such a senior position made me realize that focus and diligence are the keys to success in any endeavor. University of Miami is a multicultural center and therefore will be the most opportune place to further my interest in intercultural activities. I have realized that a student life must be enriched by participation outside the academic world. Therefore, I successfully initiated a band named â€Å"NO IDEA† that seeks and promotes musical talents through composing and performing songs. Certainly, I will be best placed in University of Miami as a music enthusiast through various talent exposition programs offered by the university. Additionally, Miami is located in an environment that is similar to my hometown and this will be a great advantage when adapting to the new environment. I have profound teamwork skills, which I gained as a volleyball captain. Indeed, I was able to train and improve the performance of the team up to national standards. Currently, I am the proprietress of the university photography club, which nurtures and promotes skills in photography among the student community. I believe these teamwork and interpersonal skills will enable me integrate with the culturally diverse community in Miami University. It will be a great opportunity to grow intellectually, personally, and culturally. However, I believe that my diverse

Political science. Palestine and Orientalism Essay

Political science. Palestine and Orientalism - Essay Example In his study Said blended political polemic and literary excursion. He writes: "The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other" (Said, 1979, pp.1-2) Said claims that Orientalism is an academic area which causes interest in a variety of academic institutions, because all teachers, sooner or later begin to research Orient and apply their knowledge in the areas of their competence. Said holds that since the end of eighteenth century the scholarly and academic meanings of Orientalism have been quite 'politically correct' and the related efforts have been restricted. Furthermore, Said believes that Orientalism reflects Western style of domination and is close-knit with Western mind, usually related to perceiving Orient as a 'younger brother' or 'poorer kin'. Said holds that the antagonistic political relationship between the Sast and the West lies in the earliest development the struggle between Islam and Christianity. According to Said, Orientalism, which presents Christian world as 'higher', is used as a demonstration of European power and is seen as a comparative theory, in which two eternal rivals - the East and the West - make an 'argument' with predicted conclusion which is to sum up that European beliefs and culture are more humanistic and more suitable and more appropriate for harmonious development of an individual. Similarly to other '-isms', Orientalism has been ill-treated from the ancient times up to the present. From the other angle of view, Orientalism is a natural movement, whose toughness is quite sufficient in its universal authenticity. This movement is a product of synergy, which takes place among different studies, accumulated by different followers, who are interested in one of the richest world cultures, and Oriental culture. Moreover, Said's study has itself caused a number of responses, either positive or negative.Lewis attempted to criticize Said's approach -in particular, in his article ' The question of Orientalism', which defended Middle Eastern studies, and in particular, Palestinian studies. On the other hand, Lewis was a newcomer to the United States, and his refutation - a forceful defense of the European and Palestinian traditions (which sometimes converts into an attack) - did not canceled Said's complaints about the problems and complications of American Middle Eastern studies. Lewis, for instance, writes that, in fact, Europe hasn't yet experienced (or probably, hasn't noticed) such considerable influence of Orientalism on its tradition. Lewis's main notes were following: 1) Firstly, it would be wrong to claim that Oriental studies are limited to the study of Muslim culture, while in fact Biblical research is an essential and substantial element or Orientalism. Palestine as the country of diverse religions supports both religious doctrines, so it needs more profound inquiry than Said has done. 2) Secondly, there is no doubt that an identifiable part of Western studies was stimulated by either political or religious propaganda "and appeared throughout the ages with distorted images of Islam, the East and its cultures; however, this movement cannot be termed "Orientalism", rather it is "False Orientalism" (Lewis, 1982,

Windows Server Backup Essay Example for Free

Windows Server Backup Essay There are several ways to work with and use backup data sets when working with DCs in Windows Server 2008 R2. Backups are performed with Windows Server Backup or through its corresponding Wbadmin.exe command-line tool. Both are Windows Server 2008 R2 features and must be added to the server to be made available. They are not installed by default. Backups are not discrete. They capture critical volumes in their entirety. On a DC, these volumes include the following: The system volume The boot volume The volume hosting the SYSVOL share The volume that hosts the AD DS database The volume that hosts the AD DS logs If you want to protect only the system state data, you must use the Ntdsutil. exe command-line tool. To do so, you must use the new IFM subcommand available in Ntdsutil.exe to capture this information for Install From Media installations. If the installation is for a read-only DC, this tool automatically strips AD DS secrets from the data to create secure installation media. Backup operators cannot create scheduled backups; only members of the local Administrators group have this privilege in Windows Server 2008 R2. In most cases, this means being a member of the Domain Admins group on DCs. If a server is down, you must use a local copy of the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to restore the system. WinRE can either be installed locally or found on the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media. I would recommend that you perform backups every night while employees are not working to avoid having a slow system.

Comparing Good and Evil in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rin

Comparing Good and Evil in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Imagine yourself in a pre-industrial world full of mystery and magic. Imagine a world full of monsters, demons, and danger, as well as a world full of friends, fairies, good wizards, and adventure. In doing so you have just taken your first step onto a vast world created by author and scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien became fascinated by language at an early age during his schooling, in particularly, the languages of Northern Europe, both ancient and modern. This affinity for language did not only lead to his profession, but also his private hobby, the invention of languages. His broad knowledge eventually led to the development of his opinions about Myth and the importance of stories. All these various perspectives: language, the heroic tradition, and Myth, as well as deeply-held beliefs in Catholic Christianity work together in all of his works. The main elements of Tolkien’s works are Good versus Evil, characters of Christian and anti-Christian origin, and the pow er of imagination. In Tolkien world, evil is the antithesis of creativity, and is dependent on destruction and ruin for its basis. Conversely, goodness is associated with the beauty of creation as well as the preservation of anything that is created. The symbolic nature of these two ideologies is represented in the Elven Rings, which symbolize goodness, and the One Ring, which is wholly evil. A main theme of "The Hobbit", then, is the struggle within our own free will between good will and evil. "Early in the (Lord of the Rings) narrative, Frodo recalls that his uncle Bilbo, especially during his later years, was fond of declaring that†¦ there was only one Road; that it was lik... ...Pity 2. Self-sacrifice B. Evil 1. corruption (Gollum) 2. greed (Smaug) II. Characters, Christian and anti-Christian A. Christian 1. Comparing to Christ a. Bilbo b. Gandalf B. Anti-Christian 1. Satan a. Saruman b. The Ring III. Power of the Imagination A. Creates secondary belief B. Escape through imagination Works Cited  · Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine, 1982.  · Wood, Ralph C. "Traveling the one road: The Lord of the Rings as a "pre-Christian" classic." The Christian Century Feb. 93: 208(4).  · "Eucatastrophe." Time September. 1973: 101  · Evans, Robley. "J. R. R. Tolkien" Warner Paperback Library. 1972: 23-4, 41-2, 202  · Urang, Gunnar. "J. R. R. Tolkien: Fantasy and the Phenomenology of Hope" Religion and Fantasy in the Writing of C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and J. R. R. Tolkien. United Church Press, 1971

Elements of Marketing Essay

There are several views and definition of marketing. The most widely accepted definition is that of the American Marketing Association, the professional organization for marketing practitioners and educators, which defines marketing as â€Å"the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives† Elements of Marketing Marketing Research Marketing is by definition a process of planning and executing to meet consumer needs. It understands what are actual consumer wants and needs. Marketing research is the process in which collection of data by systematically helps to identify consumer’s needs. The Four Ps The heart of marketing strategy is the development of a response to market palace. Marketing by definition explains the concept of execution, pricing, promotion and right placement of goods, ideas and services. To respond to customers, a good organization develop product according to willingness of its purchaser, identify appropriate place for availability and finally and promote its product to create familiarity in its customers mind. Product, Price, Place and promotions are four Ps of marketing which are use many organizations to define its marketing strategy. Product: Product represents goods, services, or ideas offered by a firm. Price: Price focuses on what customers are willing to pay for services. What price actually suits to consumer to buy goods? A company provides good or services and a customer willing to exchange dollars to satisfy its needs. Place: Place represents the way or specific area in which company will distribute its goods or provide services to its customers. This decision company takes after careful and effective marketing research. Promotion: The final P represents promotion. Historically it is renowned with advertisement which is mean marketing. Promotions activities involve creating awareness in consumers mind to understand how they can meet their needs. Second approach is to define STP’s STP (segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) Segmentation: It is Process of dividing the market according to similarities that exist among the various subgroups within the market. The similarities may be common characteristics or common needs and desires. One of the main reasons for using market segmentation is to help companies to better understand the needs of a specific customer base. Mass marketing assumes that all customers are the same and will respond to the same advertising. By looking at ways in which potential customer groups are different from each other, the marketing message can be better targeted to the needs and wants of those people. Market segmentation strategies that meet these criteria can cover wide range of consumer characteristics. Subsets may be defined by basic demographics like age, race, or gender, for example. Other qualities, like educational background or income can also be used, as can location. Some of the potentially most powerful variables by which to segment a market are behavioral ones, including social class, lifestyle, and interests.

Nike Sweat Shops - 1784 Words

The athletic apparel industry in which Nike is involved is a major money maker in the United States, but the fact that none of the factories are located in North America has brought some heat to the company. Nike controls more than 40 percent of the U.S. Market for sports related goods, but doesn’t have a single sneaker factory in this country (Miller 1). Nike continues to make millions of dollars yet exploits workers overseas by paying them very little, while requiring long hours without overtime pay in factories that are not up to â€Å"American† standard. Nike subcontractors employ nearly 500,000 workers in plants in Indonesia, China and Vietnam (Saporito 1). The exploitation of workers in Third World counties, where the majority of Nike’s†¦show more content†¦The short answer is no, because corporations pay the going rate for labor whereever they are.† (Saporito 1) If this statement is true Nike pays the wage for the country the factory is in, then what is the controversy about? Much of it stems from the overtime that these workers are forced to work without over time compensation. Here in the United States there are regulations placed on businesses that require then to compensate their workers with a higher wage for over time hours. So since Nike is an U.S. based company should Nike have to pay overtime? The answer is no. Nike doesn’t have to pay overtime like here in the U.S. so they don’t. In Vietnam â€Å"Workers so want a reduction in overtime, the length of annual leave for the Indonesian workers making Nike shoes is more than 30 days though dozens of workers interviewed in November, said the actual amount is 10 days.† (Ballinger 2) There has been evidence of Nike breaking at least nine labor laws in China according to AMRC; a Hong Kong based human rights group that has been monitoring the abuse of human rights in China for the last 20 years. â€Å"Children as young as 13, were found employed i n Nike factories, working from 144-192 overtime hours per month to make ends meet.† (Designer 1) Ernest and Young, an accounting firm, hired by Nike, to do research and the issue reported conditions in Vietnam â€Å"where young women toil sixty-five hour weeks for $10, in air so bad that 78 percent of the employees have respiratoryShow MoreRelated Nike Sweat Shops Essay707 Words   |  3 PagesNike Sweat Shops I am writing this letter to express my concerns over Nikes labor practices in Asia. 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