Recent orders
The term middle class is not the same thing for black and white Americans.
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Discussion
The term middle class is not the same thing for black and white Americans. Middle-class blacks according to the distribution of opportunities in the nation, are the lower middle class while whites are in the higher middle class (Abelo). This is because of the disproportionate income distribution. Many African Americans working in white-collar jobs usually hold an administrative position such as office assistants, unlike their white colleagues. This means that the white person is able to pay for a house that is $48,000 worth the same quality in black neighborhoods (WPSU). There is no mortgage institution that is always willing to finance huge residential investments in an area where the risk is high and the value of the property is down not as much as in white neighborhoods. The result is a middle class of black people that gets the second-hand version of everything.
Current Affairs
New York is among the cities that are reaching overwhelming numbers of infections. This rise in infections has made it necessary to evaluate the cities preparedness for the epidemic. The state Commissioner for health in his briefing of the situation of the state’ preparedness with dealing with the issues of the novel COVID-19 outlines New York State’s action plans and key measures for the response to the virus (NYU). The Department has been preparing itself although for a different health pandemic but the facilities they created over these days are very futuristic and because they were developed in preparation for the influenza pandemic, which will from that point going forward replaced with Covid-19 to translate sleeping resources into actual assets. ]
The other thing is that the United States government is not heading in the right direction and the president’s inability to handle simple duties such as not making an inoffensive statement on live television is at all. It Is not okay for the president calling the novel Covid-19 Chinese virus because of its origin in China reinforcing the discrimination Asians are now facing across the nation and with even cases of violence against this group in certain areas. As always, President Trump’s opinion with the press gives a listener the idea that he is as clueless about the unrolling pandemic as the people he is supposed to be informing. When asked about what the right time was to lift the current lockdown and allow people to interact and move around in their societies, President Trump responded that he was thinking about lifting the lockdown during Easter and allowing people to congregate in churches and praise God. The person that will stay away from these gatherings will be really wise and the government plotting to encourage mass gatherings in less than 2 week’s time. The virus will not have subsidized in and this congregations will be the beginning of mass infections and death,
Works Cited
Abelo, O. P. “Why Black Neighborhoods Are Valued Less Than Other Neighborhoods.” Next City – Inspiring Better Cities, 2018, nextcity.org/daily/entry/why-black-neighborhoods-are-valued-less-than-other-neighborhoods.
NYU. “Understanding COVID-19: A Panel Discussion on the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak.” New York University School of Global Public Health | NYU School of Global Public Health, 2019, publichealth.nyu.edu/events-news/events/featured-past-events/understanding-covid19-novel-coronavirus.
WPSU. “Black Misssion Vern Conversations FrommPenn State.” YouTube, 2009, www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Black+misssion+vern+conversations+frommPenn+state+.
The term culture holds several, different meanings to different people
Definition of Culture
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The term culture holds several, different meanings to different people. For some individuals it might mean an appreciation if good music, literature, food or art. For others like biological scientists it might mean a colony of microorganisms growing in some nutrient medium in the lab. However, for behavioral scientists, especially anthropologists, culture can be defined as the whole range of pattern of human behavior that is learned. Edward Tylor, the pioneer English anthropologist in his book, first used the word to define such patterns. The anthropologist defined culture as that complex whole that includes belief, knowledge, law, art, custom, morals and any other habits and capabilities acquired by human beings as members of a community (Tylor, 1871). This is one of the most traditional definitions of culture that has since become the key focus of anthropology.
While culture is a strong and powerful tool for human survival, it is a fragile and complicated phenomenon, it is easily lost and it is constantly changing because in the minds of the people. The written languages, building, governments and other things made by humans are just the products of the phenomenon, but in themselves, they are not culture. It is for this reason that we cannot say that archeologists dig up pieces of culture when they do their excavations, the artifacts they find during their excavations of ancient people are only things and materials that reflect the cultural patterns of the ancient people or the things that were created through the cultural skills and knowledge of these people.
One can identify culture in urban plans and works of architecture. In today’s world, these two are excellent examples of culture and heritage in many cities. It takes people years to design and build buildings like these. People can tell what a society’s culture is or looks like by looking at different works of architecture and urban planning. For instance, it is easy to identify the work from the Renaissance period because the culture of the people from this period was marred with architectures adorned with magnificent oil paintings and glasses with different colors. Another example is the design of buildings in Washington DC. The buildings are short and uncomplicated but with clear design and structures. The skies are visible from the sidewalks, as exceedingly tall buildings do not harbor them. It is only culture that can result to such distinctive building styles.
Architecture and buildings is not the only thing that defines and illustrates culture. Diversity of people and their language and food is also another indication of culture, in diverse and complex societies like the US, for instance, where the residents come from different parts of the globe, people usually retain a set of their original cultures. As it follows, it is more likely that such people will develop and become part of a subculture in the new society. The shared traits of culture of subcultures differentiate them from the rest of the society. Examples of these subcultures in the US today include African Americans, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans. Members from each of these subcultures share similar identities, language, food tradition and other cultural characteristics that originate from their ancestral experience and background. However, as the differences in culture between the subculture members and the mainstream culture disappear, the subcultures cease to exist except as people who claim to share a common ancestry. An example is like with the Irish and German Americans in the US.
Culture, therefore, has different meanings to different people. It might mean people from a common ancestry, food, knowledge and even skills of a certain group.
Reference
Tylor, E. (1871). Primitive culture. New York: J.P. Putnam’s Sons
A turning point in life
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A turning point in life
Although I now have a career and a better life, looking back at my childhood events makes me realize how much my life has changed. Each individual has massive potential to make a remarkable turning point in his/her life (Ward 34). It always depends on the opportunity that crops up and how one exploits it (Ward 34). My life reached a turning point when I applied for an essay writing competition while in high school.
I was born in a family where the economic situation was not very stable. The family was made up of my mother and father, as a well as my two siblings. My father was an alcoholic and barely supported the young family since he was unemployed. As a result, achieving formal education alongside other basic needs posed an incredible challenge for me and my siblings. However, my mother used to do some manual work in order to educate my siblings and myself through high school. I remember the presence of my father would send chills down our little bodies as everyone feared him. On the other hand, it was ironical of him to keep telling me the benefits of reading and that he would be happy if I finished my education up to the university level. As the firstborn in the family, an enormous part of household chores fell on my shoulders alongside other responsibilities at home. My siblings were literary under my care. Although most of my time I enjoyed reading books whenever I got the opportunity, I could not see myself proceeding with the university education due to poverty in the family. The possibility of attaining this dream sank even more after my parents separated while I was still a young girl, after which my mother, two siblings and I had to relocate to another state and settled with our relatives. Initially, dropping out of school was inevitable and my mother forced me to do some volunteer works. Depression almost killed my mother but with time life had to move on.
While in high school, I knew my dreams of joining the university were crushed due to lack of fees and kept hoping that one day I would at least get a sponsor or even be lucky enough to be accepted for a scholarship. My biggest dream was to join the university and continue with my education and finally, settle down with a good career.
One day while in the school library, I bumped into an advertisement about an essay writing competition which had promised an attractive reward in addition to a University scholarship to the participants. Immediately I saw this advertisement, my heart leapt with joy and knew that my life was due to change forever if I participated. I believed in myself as a good writer and above all writing was my hobby. As a natural story teller, I often enjoyed the responses I received after narrating stories to some of my friends and family. Therefore, after briefly reading the directions on how to go about the competition I felt very comfortable and prayed that the prize and scholarship will be awarded to me ultimately. The editors required the entrants of the competition to write about moving personal experiences that had changed one’s life forever. I immediately rushed home and started planning on how to structure the story. Telling the story came naturally for me, and every word was flowing easily. I could not help feeling as if I was pouring my soul onto that paper. The writing process was more enjoyable especially considering that writing had been my hobby for a long time. In essence, filling the required five pages did not pose a serious challenge for me. In any case, pouring some details about my life (of course, mixed with some fictional details) breathed a new life in my soul. On the same note, this was a competition, and God knows that I really needed the funds. Even if I got the third position and prize, I undoubtedly could not have been so badly off.
The waiting period was the hardest for me. This was especially after learning that some of the people who had entered the competition had been writing for varied newsletters. Definitely, the chances of winning the competition or even coming close to the winner seemed to be from zero to none. However, waiting for the winner to be announced was all that we could do (or maybe some praying could help, as well). After some weeks of waiting, the winner of the competition was due to be announced. I was accompanied by my mother and two siblings to the hall where the winner was to be announced. All the winners were hopeful of winning the competition, and, of course, some seemed so sure of winning. I remember the apprehension that I felt after the name of the person whose essay ranked the third place was called out. Seeing as I was not the one, I knew then that my dream had been crushed yet again. I did not even need to pay attention to the announcement of the second and the first winners. After the cheers for the essay in the third place died down, the essay that took second place was announced. Coincidentally, the writer of that essay had a surname similar to mine. It goes without saying that millions of butterflies coursed through my tummy. And finally, the winner of the ultimate prize was announced. I could not believe my ears when my name was called out. For 16 full seconds, I could not rise up. The crowd was cheering and my mother had to lift me up so I could stand and head to receive my prize. Adding to the surprise was the presence of my dad, not only cheering with the crowd but coming up to the arena and giving me a bear hug. Suddenly, we were a family all over again.
This win is still etched in my mind. I am yet to believe or even see how I could have emerged the winner in such a crowded competition. This marked the turning point of my life. Of course, the money went a long way in catering for the needs of my family. However, what makes this the turning point of my life is the fact that it launched my writing career. I now had the self esteem to enter into other writing competitions (and win). In addition, it opened an opportunity for me as a guest writer in a local magazine, after which I climbed the ladder to become the assistant editor. Graduating from high school was undoubtedly within my reach, and the dream of getting to college was not farfetched either. Even better, worrying about my siblings was behind me as my family was back together again. Am I always grateful for that opportunity? Your guess is as good as mine.
Works cited
Ward, Koral. Augenblick: The Concept of the “decisive Moment” in 19th and 20th Century Western Philosophy. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Pub, 2007. Print.