What Factors Control Carbon Mineralization and Flux in Bog Soils and Ho

I. Presentation: What is a Bog? Bog, from the old Gaelic bogach, is normally used to allude to any stretch of waterlogged, muggy ground. The words, fen, moor, muskeg, peatland, and soil are additionally used to portray these territories, which can prompt some disarray over phrasing. In particular, a swamp is a peat collecting wetland that has no huge inflows or outpourings and supports acidophilic greeneries, especially sphagnum (Gosselink and Mitsch 1993). Most by far of marshes are situated in the wet, cool boreal locales of North America and Eurasia. Swamps are additionally called peatlands as a result of the peat they aggregate, however peatland is a progressively broad term that incorporates minerotrophic and change peatlands. These wetlands additionally aggregate peat, yet they vary geologically and hydrologically from lowlands. Genuine marshes (ombrotrophic peatlands) are portrayed by peat layers higher than their environmental factors; they are frequently called raised swamps. They likewise get supplements and minerals only by precipitation, for example they are hydrologically secluded (Gosselink and Mitsch 1993 p.374). They structure in an assortment of ways, however once ombrotrophic (downpour sustained) peatlands create they are steady under genuinely wide ecological change (Gosselink and Mitsch 1993 p.372). This conversation will be restricted to the genuine lowlands, and they will be alluded to as swamps or peatlands. II. Peat Soils and Carbon Mineralization Peat is the name for the dirt that structures in lowlands and different peatlands. It is a natural soil (Histosol), made essentially out of somewhat rotted plant matter. The high level of natural filaments in peat makes it a fibrist, which is a Histosol containing short of what 33% rotted natural issue... ... the peat. Journal of Ecology 81 (1993), 615-625. Siegel, D. I. et al. Atmosphere driven flushing of pore water in peatlands Nature 374 (6 April 1995), 531-533. Vocalist, Michael J. what's more, Donald N. Munns. Soils: An Introduction. third ed. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall 1991. Soil Taxonomy USDA Soil Conservation Service Agricultural Handbook No. 436. 1975. T.R. Knowles and R. Moore. The impact of water table levels on methane and carbon dioxide levels from peatland soils. Canadian Journal of Soil Science 69; 1 (1989), 33-38. Woodwell, George M. Biotic inputs from the warming of the earth. Biotic Feedbacks in the Global Climatic System. New York, Oxford University Press 1995, p3-19. Yavitt, Joseph B. et al. Control of carbon mineralization to CH4 and CO2 in anaerobic, Sphagnum-got peat from Big Run Bog. Biogeochemistry 4; 2 (1987), 141-157.

The Commercialization of Football Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Commercialization of Football - Assignment Example The English Premier League is one of the most sumptuous wearing groups on the planet. This class draws in football crews, for example, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, and so forth (Soderman and Dolles, 2013). Players in this alliance are winning a huge number of dollars, and this is through their week by week pay rates, and supports that they are getting from enormous organizations, for example, AIG, Nike, Samsung, and so forth (White 2013). Due to the immense measure of cash that is utilized by English groups to take care of their players, the vast majority of these clubs are consistently in obligations. A model is a club, for example, Manchester United, Liverpool and even Chelsea who are working their asset reports out of deficiencies. The fundamental partners to a football club are the proprietors, football chiefs, fans, the administration, players, the legislature and the Football Association. These partners accomplice to assume a job that has a degree of control on a club . The impact of each can be immediate or circuitous to the club. On the off chance that a club changes proprietorship like on account of Liverpool football clubs securing, the obligations of the club are moved to the new proprietors (Chadwick 2010), and it is their duty to support the obligation. In the responsibility for club, the legislature can choose to control the procedure and cutoff the effect of the group acquisitions on the presentation of the proprietorship. The Football Association is likewise a significant partner in the alliance, and this is on the grounds that it is answerable for setting up rules, and apparatuses for the games. Truth be told, without the FA, at that point the English Premier League would not be there (Kennedy and Kennedy 2014). These partners ordinarily have various interests, and as a result of these distinctions they regularly conflict on most events. Explain that the significant wellspring of contention between football directors, players, and the administration of the association lies on target.

4 pieces of career advice no one will give you

4 bits of profession exhortation nobody will give you You’ve heard all the works of art previously (counting from us!): revamp constantly your resume. Practice your non-verbal communication. Keep your system evergreen, since no one can really tell when you’ll need it. These are extremely significant and valuable tips for anyone’s vocation, regardless of what the business. In any case, if you’re simply beginning, there are some more†¦off-the-record things that everybody learns the most difficult way possible, however individuals don’t truly talk about. Let’s take a gander at a portion of the things that happen to a large portion of us, however aren’t fundamentally in the profession guides. 1. You’re going to fall flat (sometimes)That sounds very unforgiving and cynical, isn't that so? Be that as it may, it’s likewise evident. You’re not going to flop constantly, or more often than not don’t stress. In any case, some of the time, things will go severely, and you will run into the large â€Å"F.† It happens to us all the straight-An overachievers, the person who doesn’t care, the prepared proficient. Once in a while things just aren’t going to work out in a good way. And keeping in mind that it very well may be upsetting, particularly in the event that it prompts negative input or expert results, you must have the option to assimilate it, take what exercises you can, and proceed onward. Furthermore, when it occurs, recollect that you’re not the only one, and that probably the most significant exercises originate from falling all over once in a while.2. Set work-life limits earlyAt the beginning of any new position or profession way, you need to set an extraordinary initial introduction. The person who begins early (or is perfectly on time each day), remains late, deftly reacts to a nightfall email. Here’s the issue with that approach: it can transform into business as usual rapidly, as individuals begi n to expect that your hard-charging ways are only the manner in which you work and what they can anticipate from you. This isn't to state you should relax, or attempt to set desires low. Or maybe, ensure you’re marking out close to home limits and that you have individual outlets that equalization out the activity. On the off chance that you don’t have an exercise schedule, or de-focusing on movement, or something that keeps you upbeat and satisfied outside of work, that’s a most optimized plan of attack to burnout.3. Don’t take everything so seriouslyYes, your vocation is significant. Truly, you ought to be a solid supporter for yourself and not take poo from anybody. Be that as it may, if you’ve got your Game Face on constantly busy working, you risk estranging associates, supervisors, anybody on the less than desirable finish of your â€Å"don’t play with me† vibe. Being adaptable (and ready to make a stride back and relax) when im portant will assist you with keeping a sort of harmony at work.4. It’s alright to have fraud syndromeYou’ve most likely caught wind of â€Å"imposter syndrome,† where individuals feel like they’re insufficient at their occupations and that every other person is on the cusp of making sense of that they don’t have a place there. Turns out, a little instability can go far toward helping your profession. On the off chance that you feel a staggering feeling of inadequacy, that could imply that you need all the more preparing or direction. In any case, on the off chance that you have an inclination that you could take that feeling and direct it into proficient turn of events, or working all the more productively, at that point it tends to be a shelter to your career.No matter what your identity is, regardless of what work you do, the most significant profession counsel of everything is â€Å"don’t worry.† As long as you’re striving t o develop yourself at each progression of your vocation, you don’t consistently need to stress over whether you’re following the best possible exhortation it simply must be appropriate for you and your objectives.

Stop Frisk free essay sample

Racial Profiling in the Criminal Justice framework. Racial Profiling has been contended to be an extremely ineffectual style of network policing in the criminal equity framework. Utilizing the New York City Police Department, â€Å"Stop, Question Frisk† Policy as a model, I will show that profiling has prompted lower crime percentages which is appeared from a present and recorded perspective. Utilizing history as a device, in timespans where New York City seen the most noteworthy pinnacles of wrongdoing, through meetings and authority records, I will show information on various races being profiled for violations in various networks. Some would contend this is a bad form where law authorization offices have made approaches focusing on the networks of shading or various ethnicities. As expressed by a NYPD representative in 2011, â€Å"Blacks made up 53 percent of the stop subjects and were 66 percent of the rough wrongdoing suspects in 2011 For Hispanics, 34 percent were stop subjects and 26 percent were savage wrongdoing suspects. We will compose a custom paper test on Stop Frisk or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page † (Stop And Frisk Facts | New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) American Civil Liberties Union of New York State) The inquiry can be raised is profiling an apparatus or a treachery? Does it upset police and network connections? does it help lower wrongdoing? The New York City Police Department was built up in 1845 and is the biggest Municipal law requirement organization in the United States. The office has more than thirty 6,000 cops in which watch New York City lanes and serve in other particular obligations locally and universally. The NYPD has made extraordinary steps to be the branch of approach creation and furthermore the maker of their wrongdoing battling measurement apparatus known as Compstat. Compstat was created in 1993 and reports violations inside the city dependent on the FBI Uniform Crime Report groupings and have been copied in different organizations all through the nation. (NYPD Official New York City Police Department Web Site) The NYPD Stop, Question and Frisk Policy (otherwise called â€Å"250’s†/UF-250 alluding to the structure Officers must round out concerning halting, addressing and searching a resident) is an approach made under the Bloomberg organization with Raymond W. Kelly as the magistrate of the division throughout the previous ten years. â€Å"Stop Frisk is the training by which NYPD officials starts a stop of a person in the city, in light of alleged sensible doubt of criminal activity†. (NYPDs Stop and Frisk Practice: Unfair and Unjust | Center for Constitutional Rights) This arrangement came to fruition in 2002, when Mayor Bloomberg alongside the Commissioner Kelly made â€Å"Operation Impact†. The activity put newcomer officials straightforwardly from the institute to watch a foot post in a horror territory. With the accomplishment of the program inside the principal year, the program was extended to incorporate more officials and new procedures to bring down wrongdoing. Stop, Question and Frisk is a discussion on the move call of each area inside the city in which I have seen firsthand. Before the period of Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD embraced a style of Policing which was referred to as Community Policing or as it was alluded to as â€Å"C POP†. As per the United States Department of Justice Community Policing is characterized as: a way of thinking that advances hierarchical methodologies, which bolster precise utilization of organizations and critical thinking procedures, to proactively address the prompt conditions that emerge to open wellbeing issues, for example, wrongdoing, social issue and dread of wrongdoing. (COPS Office: What is Community Policing? ) From the late 1960’s to mid 2002 the NYPD embraced this type of policing and set up it as a regular occurrence inside their area of expertise. The police office extended its Community Affairs Division (which was made in 1967), which encourage positive police and network relations. (NYPD Official New York City Police Department Web Site) The division additionally made a unit in each order known as C POP unit. In a meeting with an official who was an individual from this unit for a long time, he expressed that the unit was a gathering of minority officials in which the network would become acquainted with. The objectives of the unit were to watch a characterized zone inside the order and have connections with youth, entrepreneurs, and the old. He expressed that the objective was to have an official that the network knew and furthermore to have an official that knows the individuals that dwell inside the network. The division likewise positioned greater Community Affairs officials, who wore an unmistakable uniform who was otherwise called the proactive officials. These officials would meet with the network to address concerns, give introductions on posse savagery and security. This official said with another police chief and city hall leader in 2002, the objectives of the division moved. An apparent move from this style of policing can be found in a 2010 Fourth of July occurrence. Where four cops in the Bronx was hurling a football around with a young man in the recreation center. The officials were â€Å"verbally castigated and punished for their activities. The officials were officially restrained and gotten lost five excursion days for their activities. One official, Mariana Diaz expressed â€Å"There’s a great deal of pessimism toward police†¦I need kids in the network to take a gander at us in a positive manner. † (Moving Forward in the NYPD: Community Policing is the Response to Community Outrage Security Center) In 2002 Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made a NYPD Operation known as Operation Impact. This was a trying instrument to decide whether setting newcomer officials legitimately from the foundation to pre-decided effect zones to help lower wrongdoing. Foreordained effect zones where zones inside the city that has a horror rate. These areas included Brownsville, Red Hook, and Carroll Garden all in Brooklyn. The Upper East Side, Harlem all situated in Manhattan, the South Bronx and south Jamaica, Queens. With the organization of more than 1,000 officials into this recently framed Operation Impact, in 2003 the primary estimated year, the city seen a 33% drop in wrongdoing in the Impact Zone citywide. This came about to 3,612 less wrongdoing casualties. This sensational drop in wrongdoing has not been seen in New York City since the 1960’s. In that one year of audit this activity came about in more than 32,000 captures and right around 376,000 summons. (Effect Zones Expanded After Successful First Year, 2004) Thus the accomplishment of Operation Impact from 2002 to 2003, Operation Impact was extended to now cover 52 Impact zones. Of these fifty two zones, twenty five are inside twenty two areas, in twenty six tram stations and two zones in nine lodging advancements. This development made the arrangement known as Stop, Question and Frisk. (Effect Zones Expanded After Successful First Year, 2004) This arrangement help join a current NYPD activity known as â€Å"Operation Clean Halls†. Activity Clean lobbies has been in actuality since 1991 and has permitted police office to execute vertical watches, by going up into private and furthermore city claimed lodging advancements and leading stop and search look in corridors, with the proprietors authorization. Around the same time that Operation Impact was surveyed for it achievement, Operation Clean corridors in 2002-2003 alone cops directed 240,000 â€Å"vertical patrols† or stop and search look. (Mike Bloombergs New York: Cops in Your Hallways | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone) I join these two tasks together in light of the fact that with the extension of Operation Impact two zones presently spread nine horror lodging advancements in New York City. This old activity enabled officials to stop and search anybody in the lodging advancements while leading â€Å"vertical patrols†. A case of the impact that Operation Clean Halls has on Stop, Question and Frisk Policy is on June 15, 2011, three African American guys, where going out whose lives in a Bronx lodging advancement. The companions were halted in the flight of stairs by two cops. The mother of the companion who they were visiting saw them being halted in the flight of stairs and educated her child that they were being addressed by the Police. As her child went down steps, he seen his companions inclined toward the divider, cuffed and being looked. He told the officials that his companions were there to visit him and they were simply leaving. The three guys were taken to the 44th area, kept in holding cells for three hours and issues summons for intruding which was later excused. Under this Operation Clean Halls, the police can stop, question and search any resident that they accept to trespass and issue summons for intruding or neglecting to create government distinguishing proof. (Mike Bloombergs New York: Cops in Your Hallways | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone) Information discharged by the NYPD on the Stop Question and search approach has brought about shocking quantities of fighting stop and search, in which has seen a lot of network out sob for change of the police division or autonomous oversight. As per the Center for Constitutional Rights, in 2011 a most noteworthy record since 2003, 685,724 individuals were halted by the NYPD. 84% of that figure was African American Latino occupants. In review these two races on contain to around twenty three and twenty nine percent of New York City populace. Since 2002 NYPD stop and search has expanded by over 600%. Where in 2002 the absolute stops were 97,837 when contrasted with 2011 the all out stops where 685,724. In 2002 the all out number of Frisk was just 52,803 when contrasted with 2011 sums of 381, 704. (NYPDs Stop and Frisk Practice: Unfair and Unjust | Center for Constitutional Rights) Of the all out number of stop and search there was in 2011, o

Deontology and the Categorical Imperative Free Essays

To start with, let us analyze acting in a deontological way. Demonology is â€Å"the regularizing moral position that Judges the ethical quality of an activity dependent on the action’s adherence to a standard or rules† (â€Å"Ethics-virtue†, Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy). For somebody to act in a deontological way, he should follow a game-plan not on the grounds that it makes the best measure of good either themselves or others, but since it is the â€Å"right† activity. We will compose a custom paper test on Deontology and the Categorical Imperative or on the other hand any comparable point just for you Request Now A deontological accepts that it is their â€Å"duty† to follow these ethical objectives, and it is these qualities which are the premise which Emmanuel Kant puts together his Categorical Imperative with respect to. In Kantian, a hypothesis of demonology created by Emmanuel Kant dependent on his Categorical Imperative, we should settle on choices dependent on our obligation to other people and that it isn't the action’s outcomes which make it right or wrong, yet the thought processes of the person who is doing them (Kant, Emmanuel. 1780. â€Å"Preface†). For instance, on the off chance that I state, I don't kill other individuals since I would not wish others to kill, I am acting deontological in light of the fact that as a general public we would not wish murder to turn into an all inclusive principle. Likewise, I would not wish somebody to covertly swindle Investors and steal organization cash, however more on that soon. In the event that an individual is to act in this unequivocally UN;deontological way, they may have advocated it in one of two likely different habits. The first non-deontological hypothesis we somebody could work with is utilitarianism. In this ethical hypothesis, â€Å"the appropriate game-plan is the one that expands utility, explicitly characterized as augmenting bliss and diminishing suffering† (Utilitarianism. N. D. ) In Wisped. Recovered January 20, 2013, from http://requesting others, we despite everything don't wish this to happen however this time it is on the grounds that the demonstration of homicide doesn't augment satisfaction as a general public. The loss of a person as such would bring down the entire be it either from a creation viewpoint, or due to the feeling impediment it brings others. Abuse of a corporation’s assets could be Jus tified in a specific situation, so we will add this to our tool kit of intentions in now. A second non-deontological moral hypothesis we should analyze is the possibility of pretention. With self love, a person’s essential drive is to improve their own advantages †be they scholarly, physical, cultural, or in any case †over the interests of others (Egotism. (n. D. ) In Wisped). Inside the setting of our model about homicide, an egomaniac doesn't want for homicide to exist basically in light of the fact that the person would not wish to be killed. Inside the extent of business tasks, this belief system would appear to frame the premise of most practices. While the headway of an enterprise would be central according to those with the most personal stake, this ethical rule can be appalling in a general public that doesn't share this conviction as the standard of the land. Let us currently take a gander at two of the moral issues raised by the Delphic Communications case. The main issue we will inspect is the way that Delphic was utilizing two distinct arrangements of bookkeeping books, one with doctored numbers that was given to financial specialists, and one which indicated the genuine funds and what was being controlled for the fake figures. This, as per declaration delivered by James R. Earthy colored, Dahlia’s previous VP of account (Grant, 2004, p. CLC). Individuals from the Riggs family were eventually prosecuted for plundering the organization of more the $100 million and supporting $2 billion under water. Despite a contention of either this being a concealment so as to shroud the Riggs family’s individual utilization of organization reserves, or simply a strategy to defer financial specialist shock so as to settle extraordinary obligations caused by Delphic activities, this can't be viewed as a deontological based move. Adherence to ones obligation to the organization and its center activities is in opposition to these sorts of conduct. Additionally, under no condition would lying scripturally about a company’s prosperity in a free enterprise society be considered as being attractive as a regularizing rule. Best case scenario, if this were done as to purchase the organization time to right its funds, this activity could be shunned as utilitarian if the basic objective was to forestall alarm on Wall SST. What's more, to expand society’s total assets. Likelier, this was a prideful based rationale all together for the Riggs family to proceed with their acts of utilizing the organization as their own â€Å"piggy-bank† figuratively speaking. There is proof of this being the situation dependent on the following moral issue we will address. Over the span of examinations did throughout this case, it was secured that individuals from the Riggs family had likewise utilized corporate cash to back a fairway on private family property of theirs (The SEC, 2002). Much like the recently referenced moral issue, it is hard to decide in what, assuming any, way this activity could be shunned as either a deontological or completely basic choice. In the event that it were the standard for individuals from any organization with access to corporate subsidizing to utilize them on private undertakings without earlier endorsement, there would be hardly any enterprises which would have the option to work in quite a bit of any limit. Predominant having abused subsidizes that were distributed for real business activities. In any event, when seen considering an utilitarian angle, the Jobs which would have been made through the development and activity of said green would not have justified an unapproved use of this greatness outside of the company’s ordinary business tasks. The individual from the Riggs family who approved the utilization of these assets ought to have rather decided to utilize his own capital so as to back this undertaking in the event that it was genuinely that essential. Using Dahlia’s none so as to construct this task falls completely inside the extent of a narcissist strategy for thinking. These couple models were nevertheless a couple of features that were revealed over the span of the Delphic prosecution. Individuals from the Riggs family probably won't have seen a conclusion to their realm had they made a stride back and assessed the outcomes of their activities, however the basis behind what they were doing. Demonology and all out goals, as most resolve systems, are hard to apply in each situation. Making the right decision for its rightness, or on the grounds that t is your obligation to act with a particular goal in mind can bomb in an occasion of grave social significance. As instanced in the strung conversation this week, if a developer of atomic rocket advancements learns of an assault by his boss against another country carries out their obligation lie with the assailant or the individuals who might be assaulted? Of the ethical dynamic instruments talked about in this paper, Egotism, Utilitarianism, Demonology, and Categorical Imperatives all give an alternate response to the inquiry close by. The individuals from the Riggs family may at present feel they are in the eight if their evil increases were more noteworthy than the agony of detainment from a carefully Egotistic model. The most effective method to refer to Deontology and the Categorical Imperative, Papers

The 13 Books Im Saving for My Daughter

The 13 Books Im Saving for My Daughter Obviously, I hope my daughter someday loves every single book I also love. That way, I can look forward to a future in which we sit around in our matching cat slippers and fleece pajama pants while braiding each others hair and debating the relative merits of psychological horror versus supernatural horror. In reality, I know my daughter will develop her own interests, wholly distinct from mine. How else to  explain her obsession with  poop-themed picture books and her enjoyment of the outdoors? Still, there are some books I read and enjoy  and immediately think: Emily will love this someday. Or: Emily will  need  this. For the moment, Em is at the stage (2 and a half) where shes still merely memorizing all the words to  The Saddest Toilet in the World,  rather than actually reading them. But in preparation for the day when she no longer needs me to read aloud to her, Im stockpiling the following books: Dana Simpsons Phoebe and Her Unicorn. I was charmed by this comic about a young girl and her best friend: a magical unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (teehee). Like Calvin Hobbes, but with an infusion of girl power, Simpsons comic tackled loneliness and blooming friendship in a way that gave me the warm fuzzies when it wasnt making me snort laughter. Noelle Stevenson and Grace Elliss Lumberjanes.  Of course, Phoebe is merely the precursor to my true obsession. I am madly  in love with Lumberjanes,  a middle grade comic about a group of BFFs  battling supernatural beings at a summer camp vaguely reminiscent of the one I attended as a Girl Scout. Im saving every single volumeâ€"about friendship and loyalty and kicking assâ€"for my future warrior. Michael Endes  The Neverending Story.  Before I started reading horror and only horror, and before my parents started worrying that their daughter was a bit morbid, my favorite childhood book was  The Neverending Story. For one, its a book about a bookâ€"irresistible for a book nerd. For another, its epic tale of  bravery and the magic of imagination was one I couldnt help coming back to again and again. I saw myself in Endes lonely, bullied, bookish young narrator, and it was wildly gratifying to see his growth throughout the course of the book. Sandra Cisneross  The House on Mango Street.  Endes book was all plot, but Cisneross writing is pure poetry. It came into my life at the perfect time for a young girl who was growing to love words, and gave me a window into the life of someone whose day-to-day looked very different from my own. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies  Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.  This letterâ€"which is being released as a book this coming Marchâ€"was initially a response to a friend who wondered how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. The suggestions Adichie came up with are pure brilliance, and the perfect road map for any mother / daughter duo to follow on the way to full-fledged womanhood. Alida Nugents  You Dont Have to Like Me.  I mentioned in a previous post that this book reminded me of my own feminism primer back in the day, Jessica Valentis  Full Frontal Feminism.  Obviously, I plan to pass it along to my daughter. Roxane Gays  Bad Feminist.  And since were on a roll with essential feminist texts, she just  has  to read the book that made me feel better about  being an imperfect feminist. I first claimed the identity of feminist for myself when I was 22. Then, over time, I started to suspect I was too flawed to be a  true  feminist. Gays essay collection has helped me reclaim feminism at a time when womens rights are facing a devolution. Cheryl Strayeds  Tiny Beautiful Things.  This is the book I gift to every woman in my life. And Em is the most important woman in my life (and also the most adorable). I find that this book is the perfect balm when Im going through a rough patch. It imparts both perspective and wisdom. Heather Corinnas  S.E.X.  You may have noticed in past posts of mine that Im a huge proponent of sex ed from an early age. When Em has graduated from the board books, Ill pass along this book from the founder of Scarleteen for her to read in her own time. Laurie Halse Andersons  Speak.  And because fiction can also impart important lessons, Ill also suggest  Speak.  I read this one at the end of 2016.  It’s a YA about a year in the life of a teenage girl who is sinking under the weight of a big, terrible secret: her rape at the hands of a high school senior the summer before. This book was gripping and true and heartbreaking and insightful, and the narrator is exactly who Id want my daughter to be going on this journey with. Claudia Rankines  Citizen.  I waited far too long to read Rankines much-lauded prose poem about experienced racism in our culture. I wont let Em make the same mistake. Isabella Rotmans  Not on My Watch.  This comic artist regularly does artistic collaborations with Scarleteen. But I actually learned about her myself when I interviewed Erika Moen of  Oh Joy, Sex Toy.  This slim graphic manual is the perfect how-to on consent and responsible bystander-ship. Jolie Kerrs My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag and Other Things You Cant Ask Martha.  Finally, in the event Emily ever moves out (a reality thats difficult to imagine at a time when Im counting down the days til we send her to preschool) shell need this. Because she certainly wont learn how to clean from me. Im useless in that department. At least Im teaching her how to cook. And to read, for that matter.

The Ambiguity of Sacrifice Understanding Pis Change of Character - Literature Essay Samples

Equivalent exchange, an absolute law in nature, dictates that one must give up something so that one may gain something that is equal in value. By this logic, sacrifice is, at its very core, a necessity in life; however, it is also a gray area with no definite lines for good or bad. Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi illustrates this overarching theme throughout Piscine â€Å"Pi† Patel’s struggle to overcome the daunting task of survival in solitude. After a storm washes away all hints of life and hope, Pi, alone and scared, struggles to come to terms with the fact that the life he once lived is now gone, such that neither religion nor family can help him anymore. Equipped with sparse supplies and miles of water between him and land, Pi is set adrift on a lifeboat for two-hundred twenty-seven days, with only a Bengal tiger to keep him company and the constant threat of insanity and death shadowing his every action. Each sacrifice Pi makes is a price he must pay to keep himself alive, even if the outcome can be considered worse than the alternative based on differing perspectives of the situation. Despite his formerly principled lifestyle and faiths, Pi soon learns that he must leave behind or look past his core beliefs and step out of his comfort zone in exchange for survival, exemplifying the necessity of sacrifice and its ambiguous nature. Richard Parker is such an important figure to Pi’s survival that Pi purposely sacrifices his own safety and comfort to keep the tiger and, by default, himself alive. After the other animals are killed, Richard Parker offers Pi something that nothing else can during his lonely journey: companionship. Stranded in the middle of the ocean with no hope for rescue, it is in this deep loneliness that Pi realizes his fear of insanity spurred by solitude overpowers his fear of Richard Parker; this epiphany allows him to choose Richard Parker’s survival over his own immediate safety: â€Å"It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness† (Martel 162). In quelling Pi’s need for companionship and keeping him occupied and alert, Richard Parker fills Pi’s empty days with work rather than allowing him to dawdle his thu mbs. This allows Pi to focus on keeping both of them alive rather than waste away, hopeless. However, by keeping the tiger alive, Pi endures the constant fear of having Richard Parker turn on him and kill him; still, to him, this outcome is much better than being completely alone. Pi’s sacrifice to keep Richard Parker alive in the form of depleting supplies and psychological horror pays off in the comfort of knowing he might not die alone on the ocean. This toxic relationship between the tiger and Pi progresses until Pi admits that â€Å"without Richard Parker, [he] wouldn’t be alive today to tell you [his] story† (164). Despite Richard Parker constantly terrorizing Pi and making his life on the boat a nonstop game of paranoia and walking on eggshells, Pi realizes that his nemesis is also his savior. The fact that both of them are stuck in the same situation together brings comfort to Pi, who sees no hope in his survival, and Richard Parker is always there to mo tivate him to continue on—if not for the tiger, then for himself. He considers the tiger so valuable that he is willing to cohabitate in order to subvert the threat of loneliness that he predicts will kill him if left alone for long enough. Pi admitting that Richard Parker is a â€Å"good† thing for him despite the obvious discomfort he feels augments just how deep his trauma is, therefore highlighting the significance of his sacrifice. In this case, while his survival can be considered â€Å"good,† the trauma he receives because of it leads this particular sacrifice to err more on the side of negligence. In surviving, which is always a â€Å"good† thing, Pi now has to live with permanent trauma for the rest of his life. As such, keeping Richard Parker alive is both â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad,† thus illustrating the unclear nature of sacrifice. Pi also says while looking back on the events that transpire throughout the novel, â€Å"Richard Parker has stayed with me. I’ve never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart† (6). Pi’s dependency on Richard Parker throughout his time on the boat morphs his perception of him to the point where he looks back with fondness in spite of the tiger’s antagonistic role. Pi finds that despite Richard Parker’s nightmarish existence on the lifeboat, he remembers him as the one thing that kept him alive, busy and focused. This is proof that Pi has been p sychologically scarred by the tiger, so much so that he has recognized his own dependency on Richard Parker and openly accepts it as evidence that his decision to keep Richard Parker alive was a good one. However, this is not the case. Both scenarios of cohabitating with Richard Parker despite the mental strain and the alternative of solitude are classified as â€Å"bad† because they offer different types of anguish either way. Just because one choice seems better than the other does not mean that it is a â€Å"good† choice. Without Richard Parker, Pi would have been alone and without much work to keep him occupied, which he admits to, but with Richard Parker around, Pi still receives trauma that does not disappear even into adulthood. Although Pi’s choice of sacrifice does bear fruit and proves to be crucial to his survival, it cannot be so easily colored black or white. It blurs the lines between â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad,† laying down a gray are a that concludes his sacrifice to be neither singularly good nor bad but, rather, both. Contrary to his religious beliefs, Pi turns a blind eye to his faith in order to survive. Born and raised a Hindu, Pi still conforms to the Hindu vegetarian values that disapprove the act of harming and eating other living animals, even after he accepts Christianity and Islam as a part of himself. These beliefs prevent him from killing or eating meat. On the lifeboat, however, as supplies dwindle and desperation sets in, Pi realizes that he must kill and eat sea life in order to survive: â€Å"It was simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even killing† (185). He ultimately forgoes his Hindu values and kills a dorado when he finally accepts that his life is at stake. He weeps in anguish at first, but he easily moves past his disposition towards killing and eating meat when it proves to be an invaluable act of survival. This keeps him alive, even at the expense of desensitizing him to violence and betraying his Hindu teachings. Even Pi himself considers his action s deplorable, but that does not keep him from repeating it. Any act of heresy is considered to be culturally shameful and â€Å"bad,† but Pi’s actions keeps him alive, which makes the sacrifice of religion both â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad† rather than one or the other. Eventually, when killing becomes second nature to Pi and he is able to cope by compartmentalizing survival and religion, he narrates, â€Å"I laid hands on so many fish that my body began to glitter from all the fish scales that became stuck to it. I wore these . . . like tilaks, the marks of colour that we Hindus wear on our foreheads as symbols of the divine† (196). He mentions his faiths very rarely after he begins his carnivorous diet, but he still ironically relates the proof of his misdoings to the tilaks of Hindus, as if to mock how far he has fallen. Even though Pi is willing to look past his religious beliefs to survive, it still makes him feel guilty, but that is not enough to make him stop. He subconsciously acknowledges this and always seems to feel ashamed in the back of his mind despite never officially confronting this conflict. Throughout the first part of the novel, Pi tells the audience that his religious beliefs are very important to him, enough to cause tensions within his family. Even so, not even his attachment to religion lasts in the face of starvation. In fact, this is one of the first things Pi overlooks, starting with his consumption of the biscuit made from animal fat, believing that the higher powers will overlook his act of desperation. As the novel progresses, Pi moves farther and farther away from religion until it is one of the last things on his mind. In sacrificing his devoutness, Pi ensures that he survives starvation. However, while Pi’s survival is a good thing in that his life is saved, he al so personally considers his actions â€Å"bad.† The reverse—Pi dying instead of betraying his religious beliefs—is also a â€Å"bad† outcome, but if he starves to death rather than eat meat or the biscuit, this can also be considered â€Å"good† because his devoutness stays true. In one case, he dies because of staying true to his Hindu values, and in the other, he stays alive by betraying them. Death is inherently â€Å"bad,† but so is becoming a heretic; thus, neither of Pi’s choices can be classified as wholly good or bad since both have their vices. Ultimately, either choice Pi makes is subject to different views of religion and life and, depending on which side one favors, can be seen as ambiguous in nature. Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi features an intimate take on the necessity and dual perception of sacrifice. Throughout his journey, Pi learns that the things he had once valued in the past are both worthless to uphold when his life is at stake and invaluable tools for his survival when betrayed. His sacrifice takes the form of keeping Richard Parker alive in order to satiate his loneliness and betraying his Hindu upbringing to eat meat. In both cases, Pi’s choice keeps him alive in mind and body; however, in keeping Richard Parker alive, Pi lives in constant fear and paranoia, stressed with every move the tiger makes, and eating meat causes him to betray his beliefs, which already have an established importance in his life. These trade-offs make his choices â€Å"bad† in that he attains deep psychological damage and turns his back on the lifestyle he lived. Even so, it is still â€Å"good† that he is ultimately kept alive. By this double standard, Pi’ s sacrifices and the outcomes they produce augment the fact that not all sacrifices are singularly good or bad but, rather, gray and subject to opinion. Works Cited Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.