...When I was younger, my family didn’t go to church. Sunday mornings were the one day my parents could sleep in and they had conflicting views on religion so it was easier for both my parents if we simply didn’t go. My mother had grown up as a Christian but hadn’t ever been a member of a church. My father, however, was an atheist. He was adamant there was no God. Then, when I was eleven, my whole life changed. My brother and I went to Vacation Bible School with my grandmother. When the end of the week came, my brother and I asked our parents to go to the Sunday service so we could perform the song we had learned with the other kids from the church. Begrudgingly, my father agreed to go with us and my mother. This decision to begin going to church...
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...PERSONAL NARRATIVE 1 When taking a look at how my life has changed over the past five years I can truly and honestly say that I would never have expected the things that have happened. Back in June 2007 I was separated from my husband and moved into my own apartment. I was in the United States Navy for six and a half years at that time. My divorce was finalized in January 2008 and I deployed to Afghanistan in March 2008, for eight months. After coming home from a long deployment, I had orders to move to Lemoore, California. This area is nothing but farm lands and I did not like that at all. I was born and raised in Southern California and enjoyed the fast-paced life that I was living. It is amazing how things have changed. In July 2011 I was honorably discharged from the United States Navy and I moved back in with my mother and two younger sister. Growing up we lived in a condo in Diamond Bar, California, but that all changed over time. The same time that I got out of the military, myself, my sisters and my mother had to move out of our condo and into a two bedroom apartment. Talk about a huge change in life. This move has not been easy for any of us. There is no privacy and we all have to share the living space. I share a bed with my middle sister and my mother shares a bed with my youngest sister. I never thought that I would be unemployed for this long, but it has been over a year since I got discharged. It seems like nobody is hiring right now...
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...Ahmed Al-Matari Professor Marine English 111 October 30th, 14 Personal Narrative Life is all about making choices, but some of them can even change our life. Four years ago, I walked out the Washington Dulles International Airport for the first time. This was a significant event that changed everything about my life and me. Although leaving Saudi Arabia was a tough decision to make, I knew I would be leaving my family, my homeland, and my friends to go to a far-away place to seek for a better life. My parents supported my decision because they believe life is wonderful and the world was big. Arriving in a new country was exciting and discomforting. America is a wonderful place to live, which is full of adventure and challenge. I was highly fascinated by the Western culture. Although I lived in a westernized household and grew up in international schools, I learned English since I was a child. However, my writing and oral abilities tend not to be adequate. I had to study hard to improve my English, so that I can understand the people and the language more. Since I came to America, I made great progress not only foreign language but also adaptive capacity. I believe the most significant part of my life is when I was able to cope with the social differences I faced in two different countries. The most important social differences that affected me and made me who I am today are family, religion, and gender equality. Family is one of the most important parts of Arab culture...
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...the author is trying to tell you. When looking at Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Art Spiegleman, Resurrection by Frederick Douglas and What Sacagawea Means to Me by Sherman Alexie, it is very easy to miss the point that each author is trying to get across. Although each of these stories was written for a different audience the stories being told are very similar in nature. One purpose of each story is to tell a story, which is why both authors used narration in which to do so. Narratives are usually very sequential in nature. Using narration when telling a story helps to draw people...
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...Upon completing the course of biblical foundations, it has widened my understandings of biblical knowledge and has given me incite on what God expects of us, what he has planned for us and how we need to act on his word to acheave our salvation. By taking this course, I have been able to open my mind to exploring new concepts and theories from creationism to the theories of evolution and intelligent design concepts , I have been able to gain comprehension of biblical passages through critical thinking and analyzition of passages with deep meaningful messages. I have also been able to take my first step into starting my path to soul searching as well as becoming closer with our lord and savior. By reviewing the meta-narrative of the bible I have been able to more closely and attentively delve into the would of Christianity. This has propelled my thought process as to better analyze each passage and thus creating a better understanding what what was being proclaimed in the biblical scriptures. Before starting this class I would read the scriptures and have a vague understanding of the message hidden in the words. After reviewing all of the video lectures and hearing what the professor has had to say about the meanings of each passage, I have been able to redirect my though process to that of biblical understanding. Recalling week one of our biblical passage analysis, after reading the given passage I received and comprehended very little information on the passage. I began to...
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...making employability of the graduates the main goal of education. With two thirds of all majors being in business and finance, humanities don’t seem to play a big role in higher education overall. This work makes an attempt in defense of liberal arts education to our students, and the importance of teaching the subjects like English, Literature and Philosophy independent of a student’s major concentration. Even in our age of specialized and corporatized education, these courses are of great importance. These subjects can help young people find their way in this confusing web of life weaved out of pressure, expectations, failures, problems, fears. What other fields of study can teach them about history of cultures and languages, people who made history; who made contribution to the world in art, literature and science; what young people can learn from them. But most importantly, how to raise questions about life in...
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...the 20th century Robert Frost’s influences that made him the honored American poet of the 20th century Robert Frost was the most widely admired and highly honored American poet of the 20th century. His occurrences throughout his life inspired his poetry, most of which were inspired by his own life story. For that reason many of Frost’s poems have the same or similar topics to what Frost was dealing with in his life. Robert Frost’s main influences for his poetry came from his experiences in life. He used his relationships, nature, and the religion that surrounded him to create the poems that have made him the recognized poet that he is today. Robert Frost had many important relationships throughout his life that affected many of his choices as well as his poetry. In several of his relationships he suffered devastating losses including the death of his father, his mother, his sister, two of his children, and his wife. The loss of each of these important relationships influenced his career and affected poetry in a different way. Robert Frost’s relationship with his father, William Frost Jr., impacted Frost’s life which in result affected his poetry. Frost’s father was a journalist and a teacher that moved his family out to San Francisco to earn his fortune as a journalist (Poirier and Richardson). His dreams of becoming wealthy didn’t come true and he began gambling and drinking excessively. During this...
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...The essay “I Killed Britney Spears” was written by the London based journalist Jean Hanna Edelstein, in 2008. Edelstein was born in New York, 1981 to an American father, and Scottish mother. She later moved (1999) to London, where she studied economics and political science. She has also lived in Montreal, Berlin. She has an online-based blog, where she uploads a few essays and inputs – inputs that are all backed up by her academic background. Despite the online essays, her first official published book was in 2009. “I Killed Britney Spears” is a (non-fiction) personal essay, with a first person narrator which makes the essay identifiable. Edelstein clearly wrote this essay to highlight a few consequences and flaws in the relationship between fan and idol. Most of these flaws are shown in the age 13-18. These years are filled with the confusion that follows the transition from child to adult. Edelstein might have thought about this particular transition and thereby, intending the text to be read by these confused adolescents. The text “I Killed Britney Spears” was written in 2008, a year of great turmoil for the star Britney Spears. She was fighting over the custody of her children, she had been in rehab and just cut off her hair. All these events generated a lot of public attention. Mostly negative attention. Many of the “Spears” fans (including Edelstein herself) who identified themselves with her, were emotionally hit by Britney’s instability. The intention of Edelstein...
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...Women: A Personal Worldview Narrative An individual’s worldview may originate from how and manner through which knowledge and understanding are offered and obtained. A world view in my opinion, worldview is an introspective view on how everyday activities are color, organized, filtered, and interpreted in regards to personal cultural perceptions. Additionally, my worldview, which continues to develop, is an interpersonal process, which began when I was a young man in rural society of Africa and subsequently in civilized society of Europe, Asia and America. Thinking about the concept of worldview found me rendering deep thoughts about my life so far. Why? One may ask; well, the total sum of my worldview is directly and indirectly shaped by the different assumed and certain roles women plaid in my life. These experiences gave me a unique interpretation of the world. Fifteen years was the age I realized that my culture is one that discriminates against women. It is a culture where women are viewed as property and used only to satisfy the sexual libido of their male counterparts; a culture where women has no opinion either in the family or society, except for that of their husband if married and father’s if unmarried; and finally a culture where female genital cutting is still practiced. Ultimately, there is no potential for women to actually have and fulfill a dream. In such culture, there were three women-my mother, and two grandmas. Domestic violence, abusive behavior, and...
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...Thucydides and his method of historical inquiry, and early Christian life. Each of the focus documents we reviewed this semester contained elements of ancient civilizations and our interpretation of the document furthered our knowledge and understanding of the civilizations. It is also important to observe historical documents as components to understanding contemporary life and how they can help you understand your own personal experiences and future...
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...Experience: Design Approach to Human-centered Jodi L. Forlizzi Submitted to the Department of Design, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Interaction Design Abstract My thesis attempts to understand experience as it is relevant to interaction design. Based on the work of John Dewey, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, and Richard Carlson, I identify two types of experience in user–product interactions: satisfying experiences and rich experiences. A satisfying experience is a process–driven act that is performed in a successful manner. A rich experience has a sense of immersive continuity and interaction, which may be made up of a series of satisfying experiences. Based on this definition, I identify a set of design principles with which to create products that evoke rich experiences. These principles are intended to encourage designers to think about how to create user–product interactions that suggest values and communicate meanings that enrich the quality of life. Narrative plays a key role in these design principles. Our series of life experiences form a narrative; the values that designers impart in an object form a narrative which is elaborated...
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...individualism, heroism, religious and pursuit of freedom are all reflect in the Hollywood films. However, the American dream is a unique American culture and has inspired many Americans to rely on personal struggle to make their dreams come true. Films from different culture have their different cultural values, in turn, the different cultures have reflect and strengthen their own culture values in their films, so that audiences could get to know the mainstream American culture values from Hollywood films. Hollywood as the largest American film media has created many motivation films to express the importance values of American dreams to the world. The film The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) by Gabriele Muccino is a very classical Hollywood biographical film which is based on Chris Gardner’s life story. The film talks about how a homeless man success from the hardship and finally became a famous investment expert through his struggle step by step. The narrative of the main character Chris’s story refers to the key aspect of American Dream which is the equity opportunity of everyone in the society. It has showed the thought that happiness will come to everyone as long as we do not give up and make unremitting endeavor to our dreams. Moreover, the film has represented the special personality trait, religion culture, and the social history of American to the audiences. Culture is not only a social phenomenon, but also a historical phenomenon. The components of culture include beliefs, values...
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...Mothertongue Transforming Spaces Occupied by Women in South Africa through Theatre This paper sets out to explore how processes of theatre making employed by The Mothertongue project, provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Mothertongue works from the premise that the development and subsequent performance of stories in theatrical processes affords women the opportunity to re-write and remap their personal narratives and in so doing insert their voices into the landscape of South African Theatre. In an attempt to redress the gender imbalances and androcentricism prevalent in post-apartheid theatre, this paper speaks to the relationship between theatre, liminality and communitas. I am interested in unpacking how collaborative processes of theatre-making provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Remapping in this instance refers to processes of transforming lived experience through story. I address how, through engaging in ritual activities that are central to the stories performed, actors, audiences and the owners of the source stories are invited to physically participate in remapping and transforming lived experience. Linked to this is the choice of form(s) and how this affects or impacts on the performed stories as well as on the construction of performed rituals and ultimately on the processes of remapping personal narratives. I focus specifically on Mothertongue’s 2004 production, Uhambo: pieces of a dream. The production was an...
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...Introduction The Gospel of John is portrayed as a very theological book. It is written from a historical and narrative perspective. The Christology in the Gospel of John is high even though I question some of the things Jesus does. One thing I question is Jesus turning water into wine. The Scripture I will be discussing will be John 2:1-11. Is there Christology in giving wine that can make one that drunk especially when drunkenness can cause one to do dangerous things? However, the Christology is not in the drunkenness. My objective is to prove that there is humanistic side to making the water into wine and a Christological side of turning the water into wine. My rationale in accomplishing this objective is if Jesus does something, does it make it right for us to do the same thing. My plan on addressing this is to research wine physically and spiritually. Social Location I am a married African American southeastern United States of American, Pentecostal female. I also consider myself reasonably educated. I look at things also based on a small town and small city background. My social location causes me to question things and not accept everything at face value. Methodology The Methodology to argue my thesis statement is Reader Response Method and the method of Reader Response Criticism I will use is individualistic criticism. Background/History/Theological Foundation The Gospel of John has 21 chapters in the state it is in now. According to An Introduction to The New...
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...The Gods of Hospitality in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey In Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey, much is made of hospitality as a recurring theme. In Ancient Greece the gods demand it. The nature and extent to which society today follows in that tradition has changed in form only, but not in substance. Food, shelter and protection of strangers from cultural norms of today, as the people of Ancient Greece were more inclined to take in strangers worn weary by travel. In the Iliad, the reader sees that in times of war, hospitality is provided to even the enemy. Housing strangers in one’s home was very common then, as many weary travelers trod by foot or sailed by boat to reach far-off destinations, making stops along the way. Moreover, since the Greeks believed the gods walked the earth amongst them, then turning down a travelers request, could mean rejecting a god masked from view. The Greeks took no chances in this regard; and with only a few exceptions, Homer’s literary characters comply with this religious doctrine and cultural norm. Hospitality in Ancient Greece, as portrayed by Homer, accounts, in part, for their longstanding world dominance and aligns itself in many ways with the Christianity enjoyed by many peace-loving nations of today. The guest-host relationship in both The Iliad and The Odyssey remain constant, the differences between the two dependent only on the differing circumstances posed by each tale (Biggs, Joseph, Schrodt & Dustan, n.d.) Today, America’s...
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