Greek And Roman Art Essays (1346 words) - Ancient Greek Painting

Greek and Roman Art Art has changed a great deal since it began many centuries ago. Centuries, however, are not necessary to notice the small changes that are evident even between cultures of similar times. Such is the case with the Greeks and Romans. Both cultures had exquisite pieces of art, but they were very different from each other. The amazing thing about art is that no matter how many differences exist, it is still beautiful in its own sense. There are also a number of similarities that are evident with these two cultures as well, but the point that will be focused on is the differences that are found between Greek and Roman art. The pieces that will be focused on from the Greeks are Black-Figured Psykter and Red-Figured Kylix Depicting a Young Athelete, and from the Romans are Mummy Portrait of a Man and Mummy Portrait of a Young Woman. The Roman Portraits are located at The Menil Collection in Houston. The Mummy Portrait of a Man is from the Fayum region in Egypt. It was painted about 150-200 B.C. It is painted in encaustic on wood, and is a Fayum portrait. The Mummy Portrait of a Young Woman is also from the Fayum region and painted in encaustic on wood. This portrait was painted about 150-200 B.C. The term Fayum portrait is actually derived from a Coptic word meaning The land of the lake, which refers to the artificial Lake Qarun. This lake was a project of the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, and it was this lake that made a desert area of about 100 kilometers into one of the most fertile areas in Egypt. It was such an amazing feat that the lake still to this day provides this region water keeping it fertile. The purpose of the Mummy Portrait of a Man as well as the Mummy Portrait of a Young Woman was to identify the mummy. These portraits were paintings of the person that they identified. The edges of the paintings have paint missing, due to the fact that these portraits were placed over the face of the mummies. The fact that both the artists of these portraits are unknown is due to gravediggers and collectors. When a mummy was found, the main objective was to find out more about the mummy itself, and many times the paintings were disregarded and considered to be of no value. The technique used with Fayum paintings is called encaustic. This style of painting involves combining the paint with hot wax in order to obtain more resilient colors and also to be able to contrast light and dark better. The only problem with this style of painting is that the wax would get cold and dry up in a short period of time. The artists had to work quickly in order to keep the pigment wax mix wet and able to spread across the canvas or wood. In order to work faster, the painters used wide brush strokes not paying a great deal of attention to the fine lines and details. One major advantage of using the hot wax with the pigment is that the artist was able to capture a dark or thick appearance as well as a light appearance to the wood while keeping the paint smooth and silky looking. Because of the rushed way in which the portraits were painted allows for similarities between the two. The Portrait of a Man is at a slight angle as compared to the Portrait of a Young Woman, but l ooking beyond this fact and looking at close detail, it is easy to see the similarities between the ears of the man and woman in each painting. The eyes on both of the paintings are very similar as well. Both the man and the woman have their eyes deep set in their head, and appear to be staring out into space. Yet another similarity between the two is the eyebrows. Both the man and the woman are depicted as having thick eyebrows as well as a small mouth. Both portraits have long and thin noses. The portrait of the man, as said earlier, is set at an angle as compared to the portrait

Reasons Behind the Case for School Choice

Reasons Behind the Case for School Choice When it comes to education, conservatives believe that American families should have the flexibility and the right to a variety of school options for their children. The public education system in the United States is both expensive and under-performing. Conservatives believe that the public education system as it exists today should be an option of last resort, not a first and only choice. A majority of Americans believe that the education system is broken. Liberals say that more (and more and more) money is the answer. But conservatives argue that school choice is the answer. Public support for educational options is strong, but powerful liberal special interests have effectively limited the options many families have. School Choice Shouldn't be Just for the Wealthy Educational options should not only exist for the well-connected and wealthy. While President Obama opposes school choice and props up the education-affiliated labor unions, he sends his own children to a school that costs $30,000 per year. Though Obama likes to portray himself as having come from nothing, he attended the elite college prep Punahou School in Hawaii, which today costs almost $20,000 per year to attend. And Michelle Obama? She attended the also-elite Whitney M. Young Magnet High school. While the school is run by the city, it is not a typical high school and it closely resembles the way a charter school would operate. The school accepts less than 5% of applicants, highlighting the need and desire for such options. Conservatives believe that every child should have the educational opportunities that the entire Obama family has enjoyed. School choice should not be limited to the 1%, and the people who oppose school choice should at least send their kids to the school th ey want the regular folks to attend. Private and Charter Schools School choice would allow families to choose from a number of educational options. If they are happy with the education that the government provides, and admittedly some public schools are excellent, then they can remain. The second option would be a charter school. A charter school does not charge tuition and it survives off of public funds, however, it operates independently from the public education system. Charter schools offer unique educational opportunities but they are still held accountable for success. Unlike with the public education system, a failing charter school will not remain open. A third main option is private schooling. Private schools can range from elite prep schools to religiously-affiliated schools. Unlike with the public school system or charter schools, private schools do not run on public funds. Typically, expenses are met by charging tuition to cover part of the cost, and reliance on a pool of private donors. Currently, private schools are the least accessible to lower-income families, despite the per-pupil cost to attend typically being less than both the public school and charter school systems. Conservatives favor opening up the voucher system to these schools as well. Other educational opportunities are also supported, such as home-schooling and distance learning. A Voucher System Conservatives believe that a voucher system would be the most effective and efficient way to deliver school choice to millions of children. Not only would vouchers empower families to find the best fit for their children, but it saves taxpayers money as well. Currently, the per-pupil cost of public education is close to $11,000 across the nation. (And how many parents would say they believe their child gets an $11,000 per year education?) A voucher system would let parents use some of that money and apply it to a private or charter school of their choosing. Not only does the student get to attend a school that is a good educational fit, but charter and private schools are typically far less expensive, thus saving the taxpayers thousands of dollars every time a student leaves the status quo educational system in favor of a parent-chosen school. The Obstacle: Teacher's Unions The biggest (and perhaps only) obstacle to school choice is the powerful teachers unions who oppose any attempts to expand educational opportunities. Their position is certainly understandable. If school choice were to be embraced by politicians, how many parents would choose the government-run option? How many parents would not shop around for the best fit for their children? School choice and a publicly-supported voucher system would inevitably lead to a mass exodus of students from the public school system, thus endangering the currently competition-free atmosphere that teachers currently enjoy. It is also true that, on average, charter and private school teachers do not enjoy the salaries and benefits that their public counterparts do. This is a reality of operating in the real world where budgets and standards exist. But it would be unfair to say that lower salaries equal lower quality teachers. Its a valid argument that charter and private school teachers are more likely to teach for the love of teaching, rather than for money and benefits offered as a government employee. Competition Could Improve Public Schools and Teacher Quality It is likely true, similarly to how capitalism promotes private programs and diminishes public programs, a competitive private school system would require fewer public educators, but it would not mean a wholesale firing of public school teachers. Implementing these school choice programs would take years, and much of the reduction in the public teacher force would be handled through attrition (the retirement of current teachers and not replacing them). But this could be a good thing for the public education system. First, the hiring of new public school teachers would become more selective, thus increasing the quality of public school teachers. Also, more education funds would be freed up because of the voucher system, which costs thousands less per-pupil. Assuming this money is kept in the public education system, it would mean that struggling public schools could financially benefit as funds become more available.

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response - Essay Example In the analysis provided below, it is posited that perceived beauty or physical attractiveness is influenced by the individual’s culture, which means that self-images formed from these perceptions of beauty are also culture-based. â€Å"The ugly truth about beauty† by Dave Barry is an example of the cultural differences between men and women when talking about beauty or physical attractiveness. Evident in Barry’s discussion is the greater attention to detail that women give in assessing their beauty as compared to men, who seem to have a rather shallow or simple criteria in assessing their physical attractiveness to the opposite sex. Inherent in Barry’s analysis of the female perception of beauty is the influence of popular culture in the formation of females’ standard of beauty or attractiveness. Referring to this as the â€Å"Barbie† culture, the author implied how Barbie, as an icon of beauty in the early childhood among females, has provided the â€Å"ideal† yet unrealistic standards of beauty. A woman’s inability to meet these ‘Barbie standards’ would then feel inadequate and incomplete, as explicated in women’s attitude (generally) to being dissatisfied about a man’s assessment of her beauty—whether this assessment is a positive one or not. â€Å"The Scar† by Cynthia Audet, meanwhile, provides a thought-provoking and implicit interpretation of beauty, as perceived by a ‘scarred’ woman. The author had not only expressed pride in having the scar in her left cheek, but she also felt uniqueness in her personality in that her scar made her feel proud â€Å"as a reaction to the assumption that I should feel embarrassed.† Her scar functioned not as a source of embarrassment, but instead as a source of pride and courage to assert her individuality. The scar became Audet’s reason to become different from the people in her society—simply because she is different because of her scar. Like Barry’s analysis of beauty

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 93

Assignment Example The news from countries that are at war is now transformed to assume a face that is more human. Women changed the local stories that have made then public to respond to homelessness, child prostitution and domestic violence and abuse. Women were determined to change the traditions that had dominated the newsrooms for a long time (Chambers, Steiner, and Fleming 11). They argued that [people see what they are seeking and what they are adapted to. Women see perceive things differently from men, and they inclusion in the newsrooms adds a lot of value to the news coverage. They complete the news the content of the news by making all parts of the society visible. They also facilitated the redress of the discriminative nature of newspapers that perceived them as citizens who were in the second class (Chambers, Steiner, and Fleming 8). They now report about those women who are in exceptionally high ranks in any organization, not just using them in adverts to demonstrate the strength of a detergent that can remove all form s of stains. This essay is in total agreement with the fact that women have brought a major transformation in journalism, and the evidence for this is clear. In conclusion, women have brought a new face in the newsroom, by completing the news coverage to all spheres of society. However, they still have not been fully integrated to occupy the top ranks in the journalism

Three Views on Islamic Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three Views on Islamic Finance - Essay Example They point out that it is necessary for Islamic fiancà © to avoid riba by ensuring that differed debt payments are similar to the amount of loan. Islamic finance is also perceived by some to essentially be in a transitional state as it is somewhat in disunity with Shari’ah laws and as such, there are still a number of amendments that need to be made before it can finally be considered as being a primary financial mainstream. In my opinion, I support the first postulation that points out that it has been necessary for Islamic finance to replicate some of the conventional structures (El-Gamal, 2006). This is because failure to adopt such structures will essentially result in their returning minimal profit margins. On the current trajectory pointing out that Islamic finance is currently flying high albeit on what can be considered to be borrowed wings, I am of the opinion that this statement is essentially true. The popularity of Islamic finance has seen it quickly become quite popular in Islamic countries. However, the minimal profit margins that Islamic banks stand to make due to Shari’ah policies that cause them not to maximize on interest charges means that these banks are largely expensive, and not able to effectively compete with the more conventional banks which are well established not only in Islamic countries but also in the non-Islamic countries (Henry & Wilson, 2004). Speed should never be perceived to be a virtue in the event that it is determined that Islamic banking is going in the wrong direction. This is because it will be prone to make more errors whose eventual consequences might either cripple or completely destroy its structure.

Values Of Nationalism In Pakistan

Values Of Nationalism In Pakistan The ideology of nationalism has been defined as a feeling of belonging among the individuals of a nation and it is based on the religion, language, and ethnic origins. In Pakistan, the ideology of nationalism was first initiated with Islam as single religion. The Muslim of India was unified on the basis of religion to create a single national identity (Haqqani, 2005)Â  [1]Â  . However, nationalism can also be defined as feeling among group that is reawakened by modernity (Adeel, 2005)Â  [2]Â  , thus nationalism in Pakistan is a result of struggle to have separate identification from the Hindus in the region of sub-continent Asia. Since the creation of Pakistan, nationalism is related to expression of historical, cultural, religious, linguistic and political values which is further elaborated as showing pride in the historical culture, heritage and identity of Pakistan that also helps to formulate future vision of Pakistan. Problem with Nationalism in Pakistan Since its establishment, Pakistan has faced different difficulties and nationalism with concern to identity has been the most problematic national issue for Pakistan. Pakistan, being born from the old division of Indian civilization, has been struggling to construct its culture which gives it different identity, not much different from Indian culture but at the same time must be recognized as different by the world (Jaffrelot, 2002)Â  [3]Â  . After more than half century, nationalism in Pakistan has two faces or in other words there are two levels of values of nationalism exist. At first, there is nationalism which forms all Pakistani as one nation and according to that all Pakistanis possess one nationality and are citizen of Pakistan; similarly it is observed that government and media in Pakistan continuously attempts to prevail the value for nationalism among the citizen by showing threaten from India (Jaffrelot, 2002). Conversely, for more than five decades, it has been observe d that nationalism in Pakistan is disintegrated on the basis of linguistic, ethnicity and region. To Jaffrelot (2002), nationalism is an ideology which combines the people into a group and this formation occurs as a result of territorial, ethnic and social construction rather than on the basis of religion or language. Thus this definition excludes the linguistic group and religious communities. Pakistan, on the other hand, appears to be an unachieved nation on account of ethnic identities they have. Pakistan with disintegrated nation has been going through different problems. No matter what the nature of the problems is, media has long been playing its role in the creation of values of nationalism in Pakistan. This paper intends to examine the role of media in the creation of nationalistic value in Pakistan with especial reference to media as strong source or tool for creating the values of nationalism. Pakistani Media and Nationalism With the disruptive nationalist ideologies in the period of globalization, present nationalism is significantly different from the ideology of nationalism in nineteenth and early twentieth century. Today, it is seen that nationalism is impacted and increased by the mutual incompatibility between local as well as global world. However, nationalism has its deep root in diverse political, and cultures while different national trends impacts the way of media and journalists choose to demonstrate the news stories about national collective identities and the national interests. It is considered that national welfare development impacts the news coverage criteria towards a less narrow-minded and more responsible attitude on the part of the press. The role of mass media, since 1960s with the ideological state equipment, was able to organize the social image more concentrating on the ideology of national identity and national interest. Since national integrity and solidity have been core national issues of Pakistan, and press media has been rather active in analyzing these problem through generating the public awareness than electronic media. In Pakistan electronic media has long been missing its place to make significant influence to create national values. According to Price (1995)Â  [4]Â  , organized activity of media for social imagery was achieved by different controlling policies and it has directed to considerable and firm construction of consent in the name of the population within a nationality and nation state. The consent is taken from the symbolic and imaginary way of we and them, and it is implemented by the media event and the selection criteria of news and its presentation. To Dayan and Katz (1992)Â  [5]Â  , this consent is more prominent when it is about foreign policy issues and the international relations of a nation state. Gans (1979)Â  [6]Â  contends that nation is presented as a unified e ntity through TV news which is framed into anthropomorphic term. In addition, ethnocentrism is considered as one of the main journalistic values through which TV news is selected and presented. In the same way, since Pakistan has long been ally with the US state government and after 9/11 attacks the news coverage by electronic media in Pakistan had followed the international relation policy of Pakistani government through which Pakistani media showed sympathy with the people and citizen of the US (PÅ‚udowski, 2007)Â  [7]Â  . Generally people consider mass media as mean of determining the knowledge level and information about the national and international alliances, political players and foreign policy; similarly, news coverage both by press and electronic media also gives the geopolitical image of a country. For many decades nationalist movement was based on the typography and according to McLuhan (1987)Â  [8]Â  printed word make it possible to give the rise of national languages, producing common way of communication, and, as a result of it they have view of a common destiny. Urdu press in Pakistan, on the other hand, has been most careless and irresponsible in the world as it has always been indulge in promoting such conspiracy theories that could be harmful for the union of all provinces and its national image inside and outside the country. As discussed above that language communication is more powerful than picture communication with the view to have intimacy with the people using common language , Pakistani Urdu press media is deteriorating the national values by relying on the propaganda and prejudice views. However, here it is not significant to overview if the word of truth is promoted but more importantly that the news content is not relevant to promote the values of nationalism in the country (Gupta, 1999)Â  [9]Â  . However, the role of media with nationalism can also be observed in the time of war especially with reference to radio. Radio through broadcasting spreads the common words of fear and hate towards the other nations. Bias nationalism affects the selection as well as presentation of news stories and eventually results in outburst of nationalist mobilizations. The role of radio in Pakistan has similarly been motivated to promote the national values by the war threat from India in 1965 (Ali, 1995)Â  [10]Â  . Similar to theoretical concept about the role of radio with the context of creating the values of nationalism; radio in Pakistan is now less active is promoting integrated national values. Radio during the separation of East Pakistan from the West Wing had been remarkably positive and active in promoting integration between both wings on the other hand, radio in Bengal was active in disintegration of Bengal from the West Pakistan (Ghulam Kabir, 1994)Â  [11]Â  . Nationalism and Pakistani Media in the Era of Globalization Present nationalism is not the result of reemergence of past but rather integral and self-reliant. The ideology of nationalism is different from the ideology that existed in ninetieth and twentieth century. Nowadays, nationalism ideology is more influenced by the global trends. However, the process of globalization occurs both on the level of systemic integration and on the level of social integration. Systemic integration refers to economy, technology, and communications; on the other hand, social integration is life-world. The process of globalization takes place in a very systematic way and occurs from place to place. Thus, in modern period ideology of nationalism is taken into account as local reaction of political system and mutual identities to different number of national welfare development (Robins, 1991)Â  [12]Â  . New era of popular electronic media is Pakistan is more like autonomous body especially electronic media which seems to find different ways through which public of Pakistan is making a successful transition to a democracy. However, values of nationalism in Pakistan is complicated with the view of having multi-linguistic and ethnic population (Akbar, 1998)Â  [13]Â  but this complication is also related with lack of democracy in Pakistan and impartial judicial process which can remarkably overcome the disintegration (Akhtar, 2000)Â  [14]Â  . Pakistani media now seems to have role of watch-dog while holding the politicians and making them accountable and keeping the public informed of the situation. As far as role of television is concerned historically one of the evidence of media influence on the nationalism was observed in the late century when nationalist mobilization occurs owing to effects of TV pictures and power of media to construct the imaginary national community. According to Meyrowitz (1985)Â  [15]Â  , the presentation and directness of TV pictures allows focusing on the local event to change into event of national and international interest. The effectiveness of media impact in the creation of nationalism is not measured yet but TV has been observed effective for spreading a word at a distance. In last few years electronic media in Pakistan has grown well with the inception of private news channels and radio channels; therefore now media is much free but less responsible in terms of bearing the responsibility towards creating the values for nationalism in the country. Even though if it is assumed that electronic media in Pakistan is not effective or playing role to promote national values to integrate the country, yet Pakistani media has deep effect on the popular consciousness (Jaffrelot, 2002). To assess the historical role of television in Pakistan it is significant to overview the effectiveness of television in the creation of national values. Television with the coordination of demand and aims distant plays an important tool which forms the practical narrative and also creates group identity. Television is very friendly tool when it is used to address national minorities (Smith, 1990)Â  [16]Â  . Here it is essential to mention that current nationalism or previous nationalism is not the result of media communication but media has been used as such structure that aids to find the origination and development. However, once nationalism is created as on political ideologies, it can be effective or manipulative for media. Pakistan television which is government entity failed to maintain that integrity and promote the nationalism on account of government influence on the coverage of news (Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, 2000)Â  [17]Â  . To Altheide (1979)Â  [18]Â  , there could be two different trends in relation to nationalism or national identification and media. At first it is excess or fast moving changing picture and images, this is the result of logic behind the concept of television. The commercialization in TV forms nations identification the nation with indefinite, sporadic, and sometimes insecure identification. White (1992)Â  [19]Â  justifies it as citizen-viewers are with interrupted views and actions and usually have contradiction views. Thus, national dominancy over the social imagery is changed with diverse similarities. The last century (quarter of the twentieth century) is witness of the situation and was resulted as broadcasting deregulation and globalization of information and economy (Lash, 1994)Â  [20]Â  . Bauman (1993)Â  [21]Â  explains that it helps to promote the sense of co-belonging and also affects other mutual identity that is likely to conceal neotribalism. The relationship betwe en nationalism and media is affected by both materially and conceptually and it is changing and shifting cultural, political and economic configuration (Schlesinger, 1991)Â  [22]Â  . Therefore, nowadays nationalism ideology has become a mediatized and it is used through TV which through narrative language leads to change in understanding and views of an individual towards national identity and feelings of nationalism. To Luke (1995)Â  [23]Â  , nationalism is nowadays related to and reproduced as part of real life and more associated with the national identity. Similarly, there is another trend related to globalization of communication; since globalization of communication has directed the world towards limited cultural difference and viewers usually find it easy to maintain the nationalism and make selective interpretation of international message. According to Negrine and Papathanassopoulos (1990)Â  [24]Â  , paper and electronic media maintains their national integrity and in terest and this orientation is observed by the news presentation especially international news. Pakistan has been observing new era of modern communication in the country and local news channels within the country are more concerned about the national issues. Both electronic and press media in Pakistan is more focusing on the future of Pakistan as independent nation with different identity in the world. However, media in Pakistan is considered as effective entity with the perception to show the culture of Pakistan to the world and get them identified as separate nation. The news coverage of national issue, on one hand, is likely to support the national interest of the country, on the other hand national government and politics are more criticized by news channels. With such combination television in Pakistan is politicized and looks rather defocused on promoting the national integrity and national identification. As far as foreign policy is concerned the news media apply distinctive influence on the audience with the use of language and images. Since there is little contributio n of television in Pakistan as a result of limited personal experience and involvement in the issues the news presentation is commonly like cycle with popular expectations cultivated by national stereotypes especially in the time of nationalist enthusiasm.

President Bill Clinton Impeachment :: William Jefferson Clinton Essays

Interview: Views on Clinton’s Impeachment The impeachment of Bill Clinton is one of the “weirdest episodes'; in our political history. He is the only elected President of the United States ever to be resulted in the passage of impeachment (Johnson was not elected, Nixon resigned to prevent impeachment). The reason for his impeachment is that he lied under the oath during the testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit, and to grand jury during Monica Lewinsky investigation. He even abused power and lied to the Congress in an attempt to cover up a series of indiscretions, which resulted in the passage of four articles of impeachment. These incidents later turned out to be a political soap opera and ended with Clinton’s presidency preserved, but it is a soap opera that many believed it could be prevent from happening. Clinton’s impeachment made headlines news across the nation ever since it was revealed to the public. Unfortunately, many people still have a long way to know what went on behind the close door of the impeachment. The majority do not have an idea if the Congress is making the right move or not to impeach our President. Hence, many do not realize how the impeachment might affect our nation politically. To answer this, I conducted an interview with my high school physics instructor, Mr. Arnold Burkert. I interviewed him as a person who strongly dislikes the notion of Clinton’s impeachment. My goal of this interview was to write a paper about the impeachment by using public opinion and attitude toward one of the “weirdest episodes'; in our political history. As a supplement to this interview and to write this paper, news magazine articles related to this assignment were also used as in a supporting role. The first remark my instructor made in this interview was that the Congress had made a bad judgement to pass the impeachment. He reasoned that Clinton managed a healthy economy and gained strong approval in the national polls. He believes Clinton’s offenses were personal and minor. Although his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky was reckless behavior, the Constitution doesn’t have anything that says one should be impeached for reckless conduct. The Constitution can only impeach President Clinton if he commits treason, bribery, high crimes, and misdemeanors. Therefore, he believed Clinton’s impropriety is not related to the Congress or even us, the people, which means his faulty action is not impeachable according to the rules of the Constitution.