When We Were Kings

â€Å"When We Were Kings† directed by Leon Gast is a documentary about the boxer Muhammad Ali and the culture of African-American people. The music is used as one of the ways to provide information for the audience about what is happening within the film. The music helps the audience establish what it was like back in the 1970’s. It also shows African-American singers and how they are proud of their heritage like BB King and James Brown. The music also functions as a symbol to get information across, for example â€Å"The Succubus. The documentary songs relate to the theme of racial relationships and African-American identity. Setting: The film is set in the 1970’s within Zaire, Africa when Mobutu Sese Seko was in charge. It shows that the village life is very poor and crowded as it was a 2nd world country because it was still developing. There were power struggles e. g. Belgian Congo and also Mobutu was ruthless as he killed 10% of the criminals in Zaire. Even though this was all happening within the country the people of Africa were proud to be African. They showed this through the 3 day musical festival, where they had there traditional singing and dancing. The film shows footages of the African children and women dancing to the beat of the drum in their traditional clothing. During the 1970’s it was an insult to call African-American people African, but when Muhammad Ali came to Africa he saw how African people were proud of their heritage and that Africans and Americans shared similar loves for things like music. Ali then realised he should be glad to be African and apart of this exciting new way of life. The documentary depicts Ali to be the â€Å"Hero† in Zaire as he is seen as someone standing up for the African people. Similarities between Africans and African-Americans: African-American people were seen unequal to white people. Their social status was seen as unworthy and below the standards of white people. The musical performances, from James Brown’s screaming, soul singing and dancing, to B. B. King’s sweat, smooth strumming on the Lucille, inspired both the African’s and American’s who travelled there. The music united and influenced the people within Zaire to watch the fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Muhammad Ali started to realise that black and white people aren’t much different, they care and love similar things such as education and music, specifically, the drums. The drums provided a sense of communication and rhythm betw een the two different cultures. The drum was the oldest instrument that the Africans used and now the African-American singers like James Brown uses it in his songs. it in his songs. Miriam Makeba – Mama Africa: Throught-out the film Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) is singing the song â€Å"Am Am Pondo. † This is used to symbolise â€Å"Succubus. † Succubus is a women who has sexual intercourse with men in their sleep, until the tire out. This symbol was used since this is how Ali won agaist Foreman, as he let Foreman hit him until he became exhausted and then he striked with one punched and knocked him out. George Plimpton tells the story of the witch doctor who predicted that a â€Å"women with trembling hands† or a succubus in Zaire would take hold of George foreman and that he would not win the boxing match as the succubus will take all his strength and then bring Ali to victory. The filmmakers illustrate this by having Miriam Makeba perform the succubus. Everytime Foreman was shown on the documenty Miriam Makeba would be singing â€Å"Am Am Pondo† in the backgroud to indicate the Foreman does not belong in Africa and that he will get caught in Africa’s trap or being cursed by a female â€Å"Succubus. African children and women dancing to the beat of the drum in their traditional clothing. During the 1970’s it was an insult to call African-American people African, but when Muhammad Ali came to Africa he saw how African people were proud of their heritage and that Africans and Americans shared similar loves for things like music. Ali then realised he shoul d be glad to be African and apart of this exciting new way of life. The documentary depicts Ali to be the â€Å"Hero† in Zaire as he is seen as someone standing up for the African people. The film is he

American Welfare System

American welfare system is a supervision agenda that offers funds, health care, food, shelter, and other things that citizens want so as to stay alive. People who can receive help from these welfare programs are kids, elders, the disabled, and others who are not capable to sustain their family unit on their contemporary earnings. The welfare system of America has set off from a well-meaning program intended to sustain inhabitants who are incapable to work and afford for their children, to a program that has grow to be prolific to abolishing the continuous dependence of the beneficiaries.The American wellbeing structure will: ? help more welfare heirs accomplish self-rule through labor ? look after children and fortify families ? allow states to inquire about new and original solutions to help welfare recipients get independence Collapse of the System It must be understand that the American welfare system, as we discern it, ought to be unchanging over an extended period of time; but r egrettably this system was ineffective to do so. American welfare system was failed to achieve its objectives and in providing relieve to ordinary people.Yet those who are â€Å"pro-welfare† are disgruntled with the mechanism in isolation. Several problems that contribute their part in the collapse of the U. S. welfare system: Administrative Overheads: The administrative expenses of all the different welfare programs are certainly soaring. It is costly to appraise cases, manage civil services, allocate benefits, watch recipients, arraign fraud, sue disagreements, and examine performance. Incomplete Coverage: Numerous people who are eligible for benefits fail to obtain them because they either do not apply or are shockingly rejected.Even now more people are really deprived, but do not suitable because they do not fall into an apposite class. Complexity: The management of welfare is very convoluted. There are a great many initiatives. The key programs diverge by state; local li beration varies by province. There are accurately thousands of special welfare programs in the United States, covering the land like a frayed collage coverlet. The technical regulations of the crucial programs are discouraging. AFDC is so multifaceted that officials turn to review sheets to determine donations.The parameters are too intricate to comprehend (Bernstein and Greenberg, pp. 11-13). Despite of the aforesaid dilemmas, there are further matters which were foundations for the breakdowns of the American welfare system are: ? Ineffective to keep people beyond the poverty line ? Discrepancy state regulation ? Unavailability of occupations for welfare recipients in the private zone ? Recipients have requirements that widen beyond income upholding ? Too little advantages Proposals for Improving the SystemIt is time for welfare system to implement policies that will construct swift and noticeable development. Programs should be formulated to cope with people cut off or on wellbein g. The trouble of a great number of brood being born into poverty must be condensed to lessen the number of people needing welfare. States powerless to locate jobs for welfare recipients in the private region must be compelled to produce community service jobs and the like to support the unwaged (Bernstein and Greenberg, p. 14).The American welfare system will get better if it executes the following proposals: Create universal access to health care, establish a universal maternal and child health program, update the conditions for eligibility, make plans for sub-populations, enlarge economic efficiency support the family, support the society, provide greater social alternative and alleviate greater idleness insurance. Work Cited Bernstein, J. and Greenberg, M. (2001), Reforming Welfare Reform, American Prospect, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 11-14.

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 2

Business Plan - Essay Example to everything in life: whatever is fast requires something slow, it emphasizes yin and yang balance, a relaxation, static and dynamic binding.Tai Chi Center will try to help people absorb knowledge from our ancestors, and understand the wisdom to find a healthy and happy lifestyle, and share them with others. The purpose of the Tai Chi Center is to help people interested in its practices to enjoymental and health benefits.The Tai Chi Center will also reach out to the rest of the community. It will also serve as a bridge to help people from different countries learn about the culture of Tai Chi and integrateChinese culture toAmerican culture. Furthermore, theTCC will cultivate excellent athletes to participate in international competition to win national prestige andpromote theculture of Tai Chi. When people practice Tai Chi, they can improve cardiac health (special for people with a history of coronary artery disease);promote cardiovascular function and energy metabolism;increase the ability to resist disease; relieve psychological stressto prevent the occurrence of physiological disorders;improve older peoples mood, thinking, personality, memory, and motion stability, and can improve everyone’s quality of sleep. The TCC can achieve these goals with three important aspects: To understand what is the origin of Tai Chi, people should understand the meaning of Tai Chi. Tai Chi is taixu. The world â€Å"tai† stands for absolute vastness. The other word,â€Å"Chi† or â€Å"qi†, means emptiness. Therefore, taixu describes the environment of emptiness where there is a void. However, it is in this void that there is the true existence of qi( internal energy). This kind of energy reaches everywhere and changes of the universe and real driving force of all movement just like air we breathe to survive. Tai Chi is a way to describe the emergence of yang (positive energy) when qi is in motion, and the settlement of yin (negative energy) when qi stays motionless. This is the

Literacy narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literacy narrative - Essay Example Further, even writing an essay about our experiences after a school trip was also difficult for me for the same forgetfulness. More recently after high school, I decided to get a casual job and save some money since I was not keen to join college immediately. However, that is when I realized the seriousness and implications of my reading and writing challenges. Although I was only seeking casual jobs that did not require strict academic of professional qualifications, I did not pass a single interview. The questions asked were directly related to what I was supposed to do on a day to day basis and had very little academic significance. However, in as much as I had the correct answers, I could not organize them in a logical and comprehensive manner. I later came to learn that my answers were received with skepticism because they were considered a reflection of the way I would conduct myself and perform my duties. After a third interview at the same job, a friend of mine who worked in the human resources of the company advised me to consider improving my communication skills. This came as a surprise, because although I knew I had researched enough on the job I had applied for, I had realized that the problem was how I presented my ideas. I inadvertently found myself remembering the problems I had speaking in front of the class and while at it, I strangely remembered my days as a younger kid when I enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss. Somehow, in those earlier days I could tell the story to other kids without a problem. Reflecting on that, I convinced myself that it is something I can do again despite the many years that had gone by. As an adult who has missed several jobs because of being unable to communicate my ideas, I realize that it is costly not to address the problem. Therefore, I have decided to go to college particularly to learn communication skills. Equally important, I need to learn how to

Latino Culture is Growing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Latino Culture is Growing - Research Paper Example Latino culture is certainly changing, but it is the aim of this essay to provide evidence that Latino culture is growing within the United States and as such is becoming more influential and powerful than ever before. The hypothesis of this paper is that the literature will support the notion that Latino culture is growing within the United States, and as such the operational definition will seek to define the statement above by describing the number of Latin Americans in the United States and the areas in which their culture is growing. We will define the weight of the Latin American culture in terms of number and evidence provided within the literature that it is becoming more and more influential in all areas of cultural interest. According to our hypothesis, Latino culture is growing and as such we will expect the tests we do (in this case measuring qualitative and quantitative evidence for the growth of Latino culture) to support this, providing us with an operational definition . To understand the growth of Latino culture, it is important to understand what exactly comprises it. Latino culture at its most basic level involves anything cultural that can be found predominantly amongst those within the Latin American ethnic group. It also generally refers to movements that have come from Latin America directly, or modern adaptations of this. For example, Roman Catholicism is generally thought to be a large part of Latin American culture (Phol, 1998). Music is found within all cultures, and Latino culture is no different. Latino music generally refers to music made by those of a Latin American origin, whether it be traditional forms such as salsa or adaptations of more modern American trends such as hip-hop or rock music with a distinctly Latin flavour, such as involving traditional rhythms or singing in Spanish. Language is often associated with culture too, and we will look at how the Spanish language is the most important growing language in the United Stat es and how Spanglish (a fusion of Spanish and English) is becoming more common amongst Latin American and Anglo American teens. It is hard with Latino culture, as with any culture, to pin down exactly what makes it unique, as culture changes so rapidly. However, it is safe to assume that Latino culture can be attributed to those of Latin American origin and as such most of the cultural elements discussed within this essay will be those directly formed under the influence of people of this ethnic origin. It is widely recognised that Latino culture is growing, particularly within adolescent groups. Latino teenagers now have more spending power than Anglo teens, spending over $320 a month, which is 4% more than the average American teenager (Stapinski, 1999). This means that advertising companies have had to adapt and begin to target Latino adolescents to improve profit margins, and new advertising companies such as Lazos Latinos have started to appear, primarily targeting the Latino Y outh. With this increased targeted advertising, more elements of Latino culture have been reaching a wider audience, meaning that Anglo teenagers pick up on the trends that are currently defining Latino culture and as such the trends are spreading to a wider

International case 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International case 2 - Essay Example It operates in about seventy countries in the world. They incorporate the use of technology and innovation with the intention of building energy for future sustainability. The company aims at meeting energy demand across the entire world in a responsible manner in terms of economic, environmental, and social aspects. The company is committed to ethics and requirements of corporate social responsibility. In Nigeria, Oliver (2014) narrated that the company was involves in corruption scandal of $ 1.1 billion. Investors and stockholders were furious on the modalities the company had employed in Nigeria concerning how the capital was spent. The deal was perceived to be a shadow one as it was considered not only bad for the people of Nigeria as a developing country but for business as well. Corruption is considered unethical in the climate of corporate social responsibility (John, 2012). The reputation of the company was tainted and this would reflect on its performance. That was an issue that the shareholders would not sit by and watch since a drop in performance was tantamount to have a significant effect on their share value. Earlier this year, Miroslav (2015) illuminated that the government of Slovakia had contemplated enacting a law that was deemed anti-Shell due to the scandal related to the health procurement. The scandal outraged the citizens since the healthcare sector was one o f the most corrupt sectors in Slovakia. If this law is enacted then the value of the shareholders of the company is likely to drop. The other countries where the multinational corporation in discussion have faced similar corruption scandal are in the US, UK, and Ireland. Diseye (2014) explained that the company also was accused of double standards in its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) especially in countries where there are no strict laws. According to FOE (Friends of the Earth), Shell disregarded the environment, as well as the

Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Tourism - Essay Example Therefore, while evaluating tourism as a whole it is imperative to consider its dark and the bright side. Tourism just for the sake of leisure or fun may leave detrimental effects, thus educating tourists about their limits and rights is very important, to provide tourism a healthy form. In the following text some of the pros and cons are discussed with respect to their socio-economic implications. Tourism is involved directly as well as indirectly in economic activity of a place or a country, this is due to demands for services and goods that are needed to be produced and provided (Tribe, 2011). The direct effect of tourism on economics of a place is termed as tourism’s ‘economic contribution’ and it is determined by tourism satellite account or TSA. Meanwhile, the indirect economic impacts of tourism are determined through various models, and this type of modelling helps in determining the overall direct and indirect effects of tourism on the economy of a place. While considering the economic contribution of tourism it is imperative to understand the concept of tourism industries. Tourism industries are activities that typically produce tourism characteristic products. The criteria to characterize tourism product is that the production or availability of a product or service is sufficiently proportional to the extent of tourism, consequently the demand of these services or products develop a direct link with the presence of tourists. Some of the key characteristic tourism products include accommodation services, transport services, recreational services and area specific tourist services. Accommodation services refer to availability and management of hotel, motels and rest houses (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2009). Transport services include air, rail and road transport. Recreational services are usually specific from place to place, but some