Advocacy Skills essays

Advocacy Skills essays ADVOCACY SKILLS AND AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS For this essay I have chosen to discuss the issue of legal recognition of same sex couples, which I feel has become a major welfare issue affecting many couples within the gay and lesbian community. 1. In the past few years in Australia there has been a major push by members of the gay and lesbian community, lobby groups and some political parties to fight for the legal recognition of same sex couples. Requests and action plans have been put forward by these groups for change to some of the current Australian government legislation. As it now stands, the current legislation puts same sex couples at a severe disadvantage both financially and legally in regards to issues such as superannuation, death benefits, immigration, adoption, child custody, health funds, taxation and many others. A change to the current legislation to recognize same sex couples (whether it be through marriage or a relationship registrar) would bring them to an equal financial and legal stance as their heterosexual counterparts and put an end to what these couples and other members of the community believe is blatant discrimination of their right to equality. 2. Same sex couples and their children (if they have them) who have been in loving, long term, committed relationships are now facing the devastating and crippling effects of this discriminatory legislation when they separate, a partner dies or they want to conceive or adopt children etc. Sadly, in the past, their needs and concerns have only fallen on deaf ears and I now feel that new, positive and constructive advocacy is the only way to give this minority group a louder voice to have their needs and concerns listened to, understood and changes made to the current legislation to include same sex couples. Couples who now say they feel like second rate citizens, unequal, disheartened from previous losses and powerless to act. I believe this is definitely ...

Common Graduate School Admissions Essay Topics

Common Graduate School Admissions Essay Topics Without a doubt, the admissions essay is the most challenging part of the  graduate school application.  Fortunately, many graduate programs provide some guidance by posting specific questions for applicants to answer. However, if you are still in need of ideas for an admissions essay, look no further. Composing the graduate admissions essay will never be easy but considering the range of topics ahead of time may help you in planning an effective essay that aids your graduate school application. Experience and Qualifications Academic Achievements: Discuss your academic background and achievements. Of which are you most proud?Research Experiences: Discuss your work in research as an undergraduate.Internships and Field Experience: Discuss your applied experiences in this field. How have these experiences shaped your career goals?Personal Experience and Philosophy: Write an autobiographical essay. Is there anything in your background that you think would be relevant to your application for admission to graduate school? Describe your life up to now: family, friends, home, school, work, and particularly those experiences most relevant to your interests in psychology. What is your approach to life?Strengths and Weaknesses:   Discuss your personal and academic skills. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. How will these contribute to your success as a graduate student and professional? How do you compensate for your weaknesses? Interests and Goals Immediate Objectives: Why do you plan to attend graduate school? Explain how you expect graduate school will contribute to your career goals. What do you plan to do with your degree?Career Plans: What are your long-term career goals? Where do you see yourself, career-wise, ten years after graduation?Academic Interests: What would you like to study? Describe your academic interests. What areas would you like to research?Match to Faculty: Explain how your research interests match those of the faculty. With whom would you like to work? Who would you choose as your  mentor? Essay Advice Most of your grad school applications will require similar essays, but you not should write a generic essay for all of the programs to which youre applying. Instead, tailor your essay to match each program. This is especially true when describing your research interests and their match to the training provided by the graduate program. Your goal is to show how your interests and abilities fit the program and faculty. Make it clear that you are invested in the program by identifying how your skills and interests match specific faculty in the program as well as the grad programs stated objectives.

Offshoring And Outsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Offshoring And Outsourcing - Essay Example Once the operation is outsourced to a given service provider, they will take the responsibility of conducting the operation and maintaining the management assets.When a company offshores, it just shifts the location of production or a service abroad. Examples of such are companies who outsource to foreign companies - for instance, Wal-Mart offshores production lines of a certain part of Chinese firms. Likewise, offshoring also refers companies who transfer specific lines of products or services to a location abroad without outsourcing the job. When a company offshores, it just shifts the location of production or a service abroad. Examples of such are companies who outsource to foreign companies - for instance, Wal-Mart offshores production lines of a certain part of Chinese firms. Likewise, offshoring also refers companies who transfer specific lines of products or services to a location abroad without outsourcing the job. Most of the times a company may never handle all aspects of organization's process internally or times they lack capacities to do so thus the need to outsource. Moreover, some processes are temporary, and the company may not intend to hire in-house experts to perform the tasks. These are some of the considerations including concerns for the economic accusation of labor and cost of production generally. For instance, instead of Wal-Mart paying more to acquire labor and raw material in a Specific line of production, they would rather outsource in China and in the long run obtain more gains.

Human Nature and Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Nature and Government - Essay Example Seventeen centuries later, another philosopher Thomas Hobbes invites us to his theory that decribes the society as a state of nature, a condition without government (Richard 1971). Both philosophers defend their theories in their works and prove that people might live better in the state where either they are coordinated "from above" by the government or where each decides for himself how to act, judge and live in the society. Thomas Hobbes and Plato have given us some highly acclaimed philosophical works providing us with their views on various aspects of life ranging from politics to the rights of citizens. Both writers had voiced their opinions in their works in a substantially strong and unfaltering manner. Hence it comes as no surprise that the two had and continue to have a phenomenal affect on the past and present populations. Thomas Hobbes was a master draughtsman who attempted to rearrange the political assumptions of the Renaissance. In Hobbes' vision, sovereignty was the exclusive property of the state, no meaningful distinctions existed between subject and citizen, and liberty was in no way contingent upon self-rule or participation in making the laws that bind polity and populace (Kavka 1986) Plato was a philosopher who believed that human beings possess intrinsic knowledge, which may never affect their senses unless they seek and acquire enlightenment. This is an interesting concept, which dispels the notion that educators can impart knowledge to their students. According to various philosophers, human nature is guided by superego and a relative state of morality. Plato believed that human nature is determined by reason and absolute standards of morality. Through his philosophical works of literature and philosophy, Plato explains the characteristics of good human beings serving their nation well and their respective responsibilities. Harping on the same string, the legendary figure highlights that it is of paramount importance that people of the world comprehend the need to apply wisdom and truth in deciding all vital matters of life. Plato believed that man is a rational being and because of this, reason plays the most important part in developing his nature and assisting him in discovering the highest good or finally attaining self-fulfilment. Plato held the view that man is seen as guided by reason to reach the highest good and attain self-fulfilment (Stevenson 1987). He asserted that changes in human nature are hierarchical in nature where man goes through different stages guided by reason. According to Plato reason is one of the most important components in determining human nature. Plato's deep insight on this issue was that a state consists of individuals and the conduct of these individuals depends on their character. Plato also describes his state of living in peace and harmony due to the fact of having everyone in connection with one another. Upon being asked if they would be united just by lip, as such," For example, in the use of the word 'father,' would the care of a father be implied and the filial reverence and duty and obedience to him which the law commands; and is the violator of these duties to be regarded as an impious and unrighteous person who is not

Stereotyping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Stereotyping - Essay Example Huntington's theory, in other words, remains true because it is primarily supported by the countless stereotypes which are embedded in the human consciousness and which people tend to use to define the world around them. Stereotypes are dangerous both because they function to impose false images on racial, ethnic, gender, cultural, social and religious groups and because those false images often motivate the imposition of harm on others. Perry R. Hinton(1993), a social psychologist who has researched and studied the phenomenon of stereotyping, confirms the harmfulness of stereotypes. As he writes in The psychology of interpersonal perception, "stereotyping can be seen as a more extreme form of typing where we see a whole group of people as homogeneous, with the same characteristics" (Hinton, 1993:56). The implication ere is that stereotyping involves the identification of certain characteristics in members of a specific group of people and then applying those characteristics to the whole. For example, because just over a dozen of the 1.6 billion Muslims across the world undertook a terrorist act against the United States, all Muslims are subsequently stereotyped as anti-Western terrorists whose prim ary objective is the destruction of the West. Stereotypes, in other words, are generalizations which tend to ignore all available evidence to the contrary. Stereotypes and stereotyping are persistent despite the fact that many recognize both their falsity and harmfulness. Their persistency, in light of their harmfulness, has rendered the study of stereotypes and stereotyping, important activities. Following a definition of the concept and phenomenon of stereotypes and an overview of its theoretical parameters, the research shall present the results of a survey which was conducted on a test group of twenty of the researcher's colleagues, as a means of determining whether theory and reality coincide and, more importantly, as a strategy for acquiring a more concrete understanding of the practical and theoretical parameters of the phenomenon. The primary focus of the research shall be on gender stereotyping, considering its prevalence in the Middle East. 2 An Overview of the Concept of Stereotyping/Stereotypes This section of the research shall review literature on the definition and theory of stereotypes/stereotyping for the purpose of articulating both a comprehensive definition of the phenomenon and explicating its theoretical framework. 2.1 Definition The first to seek the academic and scientific understanding of the phenomenon of stereotyping and, indeed the first to both theorize and define the concept was Walter Lippmann (1991). In 1922, Lippmann commenced his lifelong study of the phenomenon and introduced the following definition of stereotypes: For the most part we do not first see, and then define,

The Life Of Adoor Gopalakrishnan Film Studies Essay

The Life Of Adoor Gopalakrishnan Film Studies Essay Moutatthu Adoor Gopalakrishnan Unnithan is a National Award winning Indian film director, script writer, and producer. Adoor Gopalakrishnan had a major role in revolutionizing Malayalam cinema. Adoor Gopalakrishnan first film Ones Own Choice (1972) pioneered the new wave cinema movement in Kerala. Over the last 40 years Gopalakrishnan has made films, short films, plays and documentaries in the Malayalam language spoken in the Kerala state located in the south west corner of India. All the 11 films he directed, from Ones Own Choice (1972) to A Climate for Crime (2008), were screened at several International film festivals and won him several National and International awards. He won National Film Awards fifteen times, Kerala State Film Awards seventeen times and also won several International Film Awards. He won the prestigious British Film Institute award for The Rat Trap (1981). Adoor Gopalakrishnan received the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2006. The Nation honored Adoor for his valuable contributions to Indian cinema by awarding him the highest cinema award of India, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2004. He is one among the very few Indian film makers who are well known in the international film fraternity. (Razdan ) During the 1970s a revitalized movement for good cinema called parallel cinema started in Kerala with Adoor Gopalakrishnan leading the cause. Parallel Cinema is an alternative to the mainstream commercial cinema, is a specific movement in Indian cinema, known for its serious content, realism and naturalism, with a keen eye on the sociopolitical climate of the times. A neo-realist film director by definition Adoor films tend to be much more than that. He involves the audience allowing them to become part of the film rather than just spectators. Adoors films and the characters in them are derived from real people and real situations. He uses his films to address underlying social problems presented in his home state of Kerala. Nothing is sugar coated, only the real stories of common social problems and how these problems affect people in their daily lives. His films dont necessarily try to solve these problems, but show the viewers the sacrifices and hardships those problems present to people that because of different social classes the viewers might not be aware of. By watching other peoples struggles, Adoor lets his audience experience and learn from these life struggles in hopes that the viewers wont repeat some of the mistakes that were made. Adoor Gopalakrishnan has been known as a director who completely dictates every fine detail of his films. From cinematography to acting, Adoor molds each frame of his films, inviting viewers to experience and discover new levels of thinking while still addressing the key overtone of the plot of his film. On the performance of actors in his movies, he stated that It is not the artists job to do the detailing. I do not want different interpretations of roles that may clash with each other. It has to be absolutely unified. According to Adoor in movies, the actor is not performing to the audience like the stage actor. Here they are acting for me. I am the audience and I will decide whether it is correct or not, enough or not. (Panicker) The film, Ones own choice (1972) is a film that portrays the middle class of Kerala as it transitions to a more modernist society. The emphasis of the film shows the economic and social crisis that young couples endure while trying to make a life for themselves. In the beginning there happy and together but as life plays out there world is turned upside down and in the end all we see is a woman, distraught, alone and overwhelmed starring into a unknown future by herself and her small child. This was the 1st feature film that Adoor directed and it went on to win many national and international awards. The film, Four Women (2009) tells the tales of four women in modern India. Each woman had their own roles in the film: the virgin, spinster, prostitute, and house wife. There is no real plot associated with this film or any type of closure enabling the Adoor to focus the viewers attention to the individual stories of the women. Each woman has her own social status in the film and their stories reflect their perspective in regards to their status during the time that they lived in. This film tends to show male domination of the women, but also gives way to a feminist rebellion brewing in each woman. Yet the film is not feminist in nature, since Adoor Gopalakrishnan is more concerned in portraying the era and the fine details it holds regarding the rituals and patterns of society than just to present a story regarding the power and will of womanhood. Irrespective of the fact, that he took his liberties in exercising what should be seen and what remains unseen and what remained- the ear thly nature of the film, which in all due, is as much powerful to what is portrayed (the role and growth of the woman). These women understand their roles, but are starting to believe that they can be something better. The film puts an emphasis on what constitutes living a life or just going through the motions of life. These women want to be something more than their social class structure allows them to be and without forgetting there place, they strive to be more than they are or at last dream they are. (Nitesh) Shadow Kill (2002) is the story of a hangman, Kaliyappan. The executioner is unhappy due to the guilt attached to his means of earning income. He realizes that the executions that he often carries out are a result of politics and not justice. To cleanse himself of the guilt, the King issues a pardon in the form of a clemency order, which deliberately arrives a few minutes after the hanging. However, Kaliyappan has no way to absolve himself from the guilt. As times change, the hangings grow increasingly few and far between. One day Kaliyappan receives orders to prepare for another hanging, which is due to take place in a couple of days. Kaliyappans preparations include rigorous prayers and penance; yet as the day draws closer, he becomes more and more perturbed. Just before the execution, Kaliyappan sits down with his friends for a traditional drink. To pass time, one of them starts telling a story about a young girl who was raped and murdered. As the story proceeds Kaliyappan begins to imagine the young victim to be his own daughter. The overpowering thoughts completely shatter his mental framework and he is unable to perform the execution. In this film Adoor shows the audience what its like to live in someone elses shoes. Would we make the same mistakes or come to the same reasoning as Kaliyappan did? As human beings are our lives controlled by fate or do we have control of what happens around us? These are some of the questions that after watching this movie become apparent. Adoor gives the viewers the opportunity to face these questions through the eyes of the Kaliyappan. The Rat Trap (1981) is a film about a middle-aged rural landowner, who has never had to do a thing for himself, loses the female relatives who wait on him, one after another, and watches helplessly as his estate, already ravaged by thefts and mismanagement, falls into decay. With his only known life in ruins he completely withdrawals to himself and becomes completely self absorbed, incapable of caring or showing any response to change. He is trapped in his own life. Instead of trying to find a way out he simply gives up all hope and does nothing. He is a man caught in a trap or as the movie title suggests a Rat Trap. This film went on to win many International awards and won the coveted Sutherland trophy at the 1982 London Film Festival. Adoor Gopalakrishnan films are drawn from real people, real lives. His cinema manages to frame details that often escape our everyday glance, turning the mundane into the magical, the commonplace into the startling. Adoors characters are extraordinarily varied. A couple living in defiance of society, trying to make ends meet; a rootless, rustic man unaware of his responsibilities; an ex-revolutionary wasting himself, sleeping and eating and drinking, much to the disgust of his old comrades; and a prostitute discovering love only to be separated from her lover by the guardians of society. He invites his viewers to open their minds to different experiences and life lessons that each character presents. As Adoor stated in an interview at the London Film Festival Ideas come from life, what you have been living through and what you have observed. Creativity defies simple definitions and explanations. The mysterious and unknown element of it is what make it ever exciting and interesting. (Bhaskaran) His work has motivated a new generation of film-makers to use their medium in bold new ways and to explore traditionally forbidden topics. Adoor Gopalakrishnan films are about humanity and what experiences we learn through living. He doesnt give the answers but his films guide us as viewers to an understanding that unfamiliar or uncertain aspects of life are just that, a part of life, which we can learn and grow from.

Pushed, Chosen, And Choosing :: essays research papers

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, was a novel about one woman’s self-revelation. It began when she was a very young girl, first being pushed, then chosen, and finally choosing. Born a victim of circumstance, Janie was subject to her position in life. She was raised to uphold the standards of the early African American generation. From the beginning, she was taught to be passive and subject to whatever life gave her. As she grew older she began to realize she must give in to her desires and not suppress them. Janie, the main character of the story, was set up for her journey of self-discovery by her grandmother. Nanny set a goal for Janie’s life by saying, â€Å"Ah wanted you to look upon yo’ self. Ah don’t want yo’ feathers always crumpled by folks throwin’ up things in yo’ face.† Janie’s grandmother pushed Janie into a marriage, which she considered a ‘safe’ place for Janie. Though hesitant, Janie agreed to marry Logan Killicks. He was a farmer who married Janie shortly after she completed school. Killicks was the first antagonist that Janie encountered in the story. He was there for one purpose, to destroy Janie’s new sense of self-awarenes. Logan demanded things of Janie that she did not wish to do and tried to push her into his mold of a perfect wife. Janie did not love Logan nor did he love her. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew that she didn’t want Logan Killicks. Joe Starks appeared in Janie’s yard one afternoon. He said the sweet things that Janie wanted to hear. Though Janie hardly knew the man, she was chosen by his words—being young and gullible. She took another step in her journey, leaving Logan the next day and traveling to Eatonville with Joe Starks. Aspiring to be the mayor of Eatonville, Joe Starks was a man concerned with little except power. He wanted it, and he was going to use Janie to get it. She wore nice dresses during this marriage because Joe wanted her to stand out from the rest of the town; he used her as an icon of his prosperity and power. He was cruel to Janie and stomped out all of her free will. He built his town of Eatonville, became the mayor crushing all in his path, and made many enemies along the way, including Janie. During the period that she was married to Joe Starks, Janie was not allowed to talk and act as herself, but she began to think for herself—never revealing to Joe how she felt until just before he died. Pushed, Chosen, And Choosing :: essays research papers Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, was a novel about one woman’s self-revelation. It began when she was a very young girl, first being pushed, then chosen, and finally choosing. Born a victim of circumstance, Janie was subject to her position in life. She was raised to uphold the standards of the early African American generation. From the beginning, she was taught to be passive and subject to whatever life gave her. As she grew older she began to realize she must give in to her desires and not suppress them. Janie, the main character of the story, was set up for her journey of self-discovery by her grandmother. Nanny set a goal for Janie’s life by saying, â€Å"Ah wanted you to look upon yo’ self. Ah don’t want yo’ feathers always crumpled by folks throwin’ up things in yo’ face.† Janie’s grandmother pushed Janie into a marriage, which she considered a ‘safe’ place for Janie. Though hesitant, Janie agreed to marry Logan Killicks. He was a farmer who married Janie shortly after she completed school. Killicks was the first antagonist that Janie encountered in the story. He was there for one purpose, to destroy Janie’s new sense of self-awarenes. Logan demanded things of Janie that she did not wish to do and tried to push her into his mold of a perfect wife. Janie did not love Logan nor did he love her. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew that she didn’t want Logan Killicks. Joe Starks appeared in Janie’s yard one afternoon. He said the sweet things that Janie wanted to hear. Though Janie hardly knew the man, she was chosen by his words—being young and gullible. She took another step in her journey, leaving Logan the next day and traveling to Eatonville with Joe Starks. Aspiring to be the mayor of Eatonville, Joe Starks was a man concerned with little except power. He wanted it, and he was going to use Janie to get it. She wore nice dresses during this marriage because Joe wanted her to stand out from the rest of the town; he used her as an icon of his prosperity and power. He was cruel to Janie and stomped out all of her free will. He built his town of Eatonville, became the mayor crushing all in his path, and made many enemies along the way, including Janie. During the period that she was married to Joe Starks, Janie was not allowed to talk and act as herself, but she began to think for herself—never revealing to Joe how she felt until just before he died.