Maya Angelou Essay Example for Free

Maya Angelou Essay As a woman you are created with a special gift, it’s like little extra ingredients that all women have within them. The poem â€Å"Phenomenal Woman† by Maya Angelou, she speaks about the elegance of a woman, her inner being the way she glow without saying a word Maya expressed how men are amazed by her presence â€Å"men themselves have wondered what they see in me† (line 31-32). It’s hard to put your finger on it all women were born with the power. In the poem â€Å"Still I rise† by Maya Angelou she described the struggles of life trials and tribulations you face in society and the way people may judge you. As if she was writing about a woman â€Å"does my sassiness upset you? †She also wrote in another stanza â€Å"does my sexiness upset you? †She used this comparison to show she is a sexy woman who demands respect. Maya’s attitude in this poem is portraying a confident black African American woman. She is really laughing at men challenging them. They cannot stop her from rising above all expectation. This poem gives you not only inspiration encouragement to be fearless; to the end of it all you must believe you still rise above it all. The title gives a sense of entity and power. This masterpiece the poem â€Å"phenomenal woman† has also empowered women to get more in touch with their inner beauty. Maya describes in great detail the mystery of women and the behavior of men and their reaction. It shows women to not only love your-self but to embrace every aspect of your mind, body and soul. Maya show that sexuality isn’t only related to outer beauty, or by the way you dress it more about how you feel within your own skin . she shows you instead of hating your body love it from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet. In society today women enhances their body by doing plastic surgery to feel accepted. She feels inferior clearly stating that every part of a woman is beauty. In comparisons to â€Å"Phenomenal Woman† and â€Å"Still I Rise† both poems Maya speaks about not bowing to the â€Å"oppressor†. You can feel her compassion in every word in Phenomenal Woman â€Å"now you understand why my head’s not bowed† (lines 47). Still I Rise forth stanza â€Å"with head bowed and eyes lowered? †Within these lines she stresses that she will not conform to what society made her out to be, that she will soar above and beyond everyone expectations. The little gives a sense of entity and power. In conclusion these two poems have few similarities; Maya characterized the strength of an African American woman. By using powerful words she described the emotional aspect of inner beauty, standing proud professing no one will ever bring her down not by the color of her skin nor the fact of being a woman that there’s more within.

Service Learning Helped My Career Decision :: Community Service, Volunteer Work

My community service experience was great! I learned many new things that I can use not only in the workplace but also in life. The people I had the opportunity to work with were very generous with their time and talents. They helped me to gain insight into what I want to do with my life. During high school, I was indecisive on what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to work either as a firefighter or an engineer. I performed my community service at the City Utilities Company. I worked with people who were water engineers and they gave me great advice on becoming an engineer. I was told that there were many different types of engineers. I didn’t even know which type of engineer I wanted to be. Then I told him that I was thinking about being a firefighter as well. That’s when I learned his son was a firefighter and loved being one. When I heard about how his son loved the job, I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. I was their secretary for the week from 8am to 5pm. I had to pick up the phone and take messages when they were out of the office, I had to organize some of their paperwork, and talk to the people who walked in looking for information of for one of the other workers. I had learned the responsibility of being on time and following directions. This experience helped me be more comfortable around people I didn’t know and able to interact with them. That came in handy in my job now, I work at American Eagle and I have to interact with people every day but I’m already comfortable doing so. It helped me in life because I’ve been able to meet new people around the college because I’m comfortable talking to complete strangers. The chance I had to work with these people was amazing. I always had the feeling of me being welcome there. In the time I was there I received many gifts from them but not for volunteering for them but because I was a friend. They let me take home leftover candy and popcorn home to my family, even though my mom and sister never knew because I ate it before I got home.

Social Stratification

Question: What are the causes of social stratification in the Caribbean? Throughout our lives, there must have been some form of categorization whether your complexion or financial status. Even in today’s society, people are judged and put into groups based on their race or even sometimes religion. This is known as Social Stratification. This however could not be possible without a diversed Caribbean that is present today. Cultural Diversity then speaks about the different ethnic traditions such as custom, race and language that are found in the society. Take for example Jamaica that has a motto â€Å"Out of Many One People†. This can be seen as a perfect example as many different races or ethnic groups reside in Jamaica and widely the Caribbean. As a result, a means of Social Stratification takes place in the society. Mohammad (2007) states that it is a ranking system which organizes or places persons in the society in a hierarchy. In addition, it can be classified as a characteristic of society as it appears to be present in most of our Caribbean islands. Although this is viewed as a form of inequality, the system was derived from events that took place some years ago. The main causes of social stratification are the Plantation System, Emancipation and Social Mobility. Historically, this system started on the fields of the sugar plantation. The persons who toiled in the hot sun in the fields were known as slaves and were viewed as the â€Å"lesser people†. Their masters however were the opposite as they had all the power and wealth so they were seen as more highly and respectable individuals. A distinction between them had begun as the gap between them had gotten bigger due to the mobility of the masters. A hierarchy was built and the slaves could be seen at the bottom due to the bias judgment of the pigment of their skin. During this period of history according to Greenwood (2003), a middle class was also developed owning to the fact that not all persons were classified as slaves or whites. Therefore a middle class was now a part of the hierarchy and they were called the mulattos. These sets of people were still judged on the colour of their skin and the materialistic things that they owned. This brought much segregation and division among them because of the differing cultures and the whites believing that they were better than others around them. Emancipation which took place years after the Plantation System with the slaves also helped with Social stratification that most Caribbean islands are experiencing now. Emancipation is the period in history when many of the African slaves got freed. Despite the fact that freeing the slaves was indeed an advantage to them, it brought a negative effect. With freedom came the advantage of schooling and getting educated, however not many persons were able to go forward with it. There was a division among the Blacks or the ex-slaves as only the better ones were able to get the chance to be taught. When this took place, many of the ex-slaves felt that they were lesser than even their own race or group and so there was categorizing present as even the whites were then divided into two groups, the Petite and the Blancs. This caused much hatred among them as social status made them feel as though they were superior to others. With the use of the hierarchy, there must have been some movement of persons whether up or down the ranking of the social ladder. This is known as social mobility; which even in today’s society it is taking place. It is even taking place as we speak. Mohammed (2007) states â€Å"Education is the primary means of accessing social mobility throughout the region† (p. 65). It is through education that most of the Caribbean leaders rise to such high authority or positions. Even in today’s society, it is the persons who are wealthy and are of light complexion that gets recognition for jobs and positions. Everyone else who falls below that, is classified as poor and is in the lower class on the hierarchy. Weber argues that social class is primarily based on power, prestige or status. In conclusion it can be said that social stratification all started from the days of slavery and even nowadays persons are still being ranked on race, colour, sex, religion and finance. References Greenwood, R. , Hamber, S. (1980). Arawaks to Africans. Macmillan Publishers Limited Mohammed, J (2007). Caribbean Studies for Cape Examinations. Macmillan Publishers Limited http://wps. prenhall. com/ca_ph_macionis_sociology_5/23/6031/1544046. cw/index. html http://www. youthlinkjamaica. com/cxc/sociology20030916. html http://stmarys. ca/~evanderveen/wvdv/class_relations/social_stratification. htm

Ethics And Sustainability Of The Skidmore College Honor Code

HONOR CODE: I have not witnessed any wrong doing nor have I personally violated any condition of the Skidmore College Honor Code while taking this examination. I attended a meeting last week with other faculty members. One of them let fly her/his opinion that â€Å"sustainability does not exist† or is, at best, a â€Å"bankrupt† notion that is basically a form of â€Å"greenwashing† and that sustainable development was a â€Å"joke.† Hmmm . . . . Please comment on that assertion. In the process, discuss the â€Å"big idea† of sustainable development, and more generally the concept of sustainability as applied to individual businesses. For that matter, what is a â€Å"sustainable enterprise?† Can being â€Å"sustainable† be good for business? Sustainability has achieved a more ecological tone in the past few decades in terms of a business model, but it originally derives from the concept that a business is successful due to the interconnected areas of economics, culture and ecology. Sustainability is now becoming a somewhat fad and thus it is understandable that it could be misconstrued by some as a form of â€Å"greenwashing†. Greenwashing is the idea that a company markets their â€Å"green† or environmentally friendly changes in policy and values, despite no actual concrete changes in these areas, for example some argue that Fiji Water greenwasher in terms of their marketing as an environmentally friendly water company despite their little effort to actually go carbon-neutral. Many companies are seeing theShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesBounded Rationality, and Intuition 175 †¢ Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making 177 Influences on Decision Making: Individual Differences and Organizational Constraints 184 Individual Differences 184 †¢ Organizational Constraints 186 What About Ethics in Decision Making? 187 Three Ethical Decision Criteria 187 †¢ Improving Creativity in Decision Making 188 Summary and Implica tions for Managers 190 S A S A S A L L L Self-Assessment Library What Are My Gender Role Perceptions? 166 glOBalization