Softball Discourse Community Essay Example

Softball Discourse Community Essay What determines a discourse community, described in chapter two â€Å"The concept of discourse community,† in the book â€Å"English in academic and research setting,† written by John M. Swales, has multiple factors in qualifying a discourse community. â€Å"Use of the term ‘discourse community’ testifies to the increasingly common assumption that discourse operates within conventions defined by communities, be they academic disciplines or social groups. The pedagogies associated with writing the curriculum and academic English now use the notion of ‘discourse communities’ to signify a cluster of ideas† (21).Swales clarifies the exaggeration that there is much more to a discourse community other than just a group of people. Communication and language are just two of the six key terms used to qualify a group as a discourse community. In each specific group, a common goal is shared along with a set of objectives. In this essay, Swales six important characteristics are described and explained in detail contrasting to the Humboldt State Softball program to succeed as a discourse community. Methods The methods specified include an observation of a live game and a complete reflection of a practice within the group, a primarily conducted interview given to the assistant coach of the softball program, paperwork qualifying a new member and establishing sponsorship of the group, and a social media webpage. To begin, I am a member of the softball team, so it was no problem asking my coach to observe one practice. The objective of the observation was to grasp an understanding of the set communication skills within the group, the ways the groups works as a unit towards an objective, and the organizations of the skills of their practice. As for the live game, we have our game stream live on the Humboldt State Softball website, I recorded the live stream and watched it later to take notes and reflect. I conducted my interview based off of th We will write a custom essay sample on Softball Discourse Community specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Softball Discourse Community specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Softball Discourse Community specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

From Memory and By Heart

From Memory and By Heart From Memory and By Heart From Memory and By Heart By Maeve Maddox A headline on the National Public Radio (NPR) site prompted this post: A Self-Taught Artist Paints the Rain Forest By Memory The more common idiom for doing something that is recalled and not seen is to do it â€Å"from memory.† From is more appropriate than by in this idiom because memory may be regarded as a receptacle and not as an agent. For example: Painting from memory can be just as productive as painting from sight. If youve ever repeated a rhyming poem from  memory  in front of an audience, youve given a  recitation. Pewsey clergyman Canon Gerald Osborne is to perform a remarkable feat of faith and memory by reciting in public the whole of Mark’s Gospel from memory. George Doi, a nisei,  reconstructed  the  map from memory  in March 1993. The process of committing something to memory for later recall is â€Å"to learn it by heart.† Learning texts by heart once held a more valued place in the elementary and high school curriculum than it does now. When I was a child, school children were encouraged to memorize poems like Longfellow’s â€Å"Paul Revere’s Ride† and speeches like Lincoln’s â€Å"Gettysburg Address.† In her 90s, my mother could still recite poems she learned as a child in the Chicago public schools. Visiting a family in France one summer, I was treated to the experience of hearing members of three generations recite a tale of Fontaine- in unison and with great mutual pride. Poems learned â€Å"by heart† in childhood enrich the rest of life. Here are some examples of the idiom â€Å"by heart†: Learning poetry by heart ignites the imagination- Andrew Motion. Miss Allan  encouraged us to learn poetry by heart, for which I am everlastingly grateful now that I am registered as blind and still have memories of some of the  loveliest poems ever written. In  Poems to Learn by Heart,  Kennedy stresses the importance of memorizing poetry and presents a collection of poems that she believes everyone should internalize. [David Cameron] said his youngest daughter Florence was so obsessed with the movie [Frozen] that he found he’d learned it off by heart. Note: Learning â€Å"by heart† is not the same thing as learning â€Å"by rote.† Rote learning is more or less mindless. Learning a poem one neither likes nor understands for the sake of reciting it one time for a grade is a pointless exercise. Learning a poem or a speech â€Å"by heart,† on the other hand, is a process that engages the mind and the emotions. Bottom line: We recite from memory what we have learned by heart. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Good At, Good In, and Good WithIn Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisThe Difference Between "Shade" and "Shadow"

4 Problems With the Goals Youre Setting

4 Problems With the Goals Youre Setting We all set goals. Some are big and juicy and inspiring. (I want to be an astronaut when I grow up!) Others are more mundane. (I want to floss!) But regardless of the size and scope, our goals will never be anything more than a source of guilt if we can’t make them happen. Whether you’re dreaming big or just trying to make steady progress, if you don’t set the right goals you’ll never get to the place you want to be. In order to do this, sometimes you have to admit that what you’re doing isn’t working and tackle the source of the issue. That being said, here are 4 problems with the goals you’re setting:1. Your motivation sucksDon’t just set a goal because you think it makes you look good on social media or because you’re trying to impress someone. Set goals that are meaningful to you and achievable with the right balance of sacrifice so you make sure to complete them.We all want to be cool, and we all struggle with wanting to do things we see other people do. But goals ought to be personal. Make sure you know why you’re doing what you’re doing and it will make your goal that much easier to achieve.2. You’re all talk and no actionIt doesn’t matter how good your goals look on paper if you never manage to reach  them. Don’t be one of those people who declares your intention and then doesn’t follow through. Nothing is more annoying or transparent. Everyone can tell if you’d rather get the credit than actually do the work. Set your goal, take steps to complete it, and then don’t solicit too much praise.3. You quit too oftenIf you’ve set your goals correctly- and you have the passion to persevere- then you should have a pretty clear idea what your goal is going to require. You’re prepared to struggle and to stare down doubt. You’ve seen the hard parts coming. Part of this means setting goals that matter to you enough to keep up your devotion to them when the going gets toughest.4. You’re intimidatedMaybe your goals aren’t grand enough. Are you too scared to try for what you really want? Does fear of failure (or success) hold you back from what you truly want to do? If so, take a lesson from the most fearless entrepreneurs and set off boldly into the unknown. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the what-ifs. Steer into the dizzying direction of your wildest dreams. Do what scares you most- it’s often exactly what you should be doing.

Australian National Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Australian National Cinema - Essay Example Hollywood draws its actors from different races and nationalities, with talent being the qualifying factor. However, there are other cinemas in the world, which, despite not being as big and profound as Hollywood, play a significant role in the film industry. These are non-Hollywood cinemas, which hold close responsibilities just like Hollywood in their own capacity. National cinemas play a major role in providing a means of identifying, assisting, legitimizing, polemicizing, projecting, as well as creating space both nationally and internationally for non-Hollywood filmmaking activity. Discussing these important roles of these cinema industries, this essay will draw specific reference to the Australian film industry. National film industries, despite not sharing similar popularity as Hollywood, play a big role in non-Hollywood filming activities; their tools and equipment could not match up to that of Hollywood (Yecies, 2004). The industry, though having a low capacity and low inves tment capital has high levels of creativity, providing hopefuls with an opportunity to display their talent to the world (Ward, 2004). Most of the national actors exhibit high levels of acting skills at the national cinema industry. National film industries, despite not sharing similar popularity as Hollywood, play a big role in non-Hollywood filming activities; their tools and equipment could not match up to that of Hollywood (Yecies, 2004). The industry, though having a low capacity and low investment capital has high levels of creativity, providing hopefuls with an opportunity to display their talent to the world (Ward, 2004). Most of the national actors exhibit high levels of acting skills at the national cinema industry. ... ction crew, production fees as well as casting fee and marketing expenses are part of the costs that movie producers and makers incur in the business. As these activities require a lot of capital, for any successful film industry, investors should show readiness to finance (Hoskins, et al. 1999). Some of the national investors show readiness in investing in the industry, with some financing even some of the films fully. Other financiers offer grants to film producing companies in order to promote proper filming in the country. The US studio New Line partly financed The Dark City (1998), despite being an Australian movie, directed by Alex Proyas. These are activities, which take place at the Hollywood movie industry too. Polonsky, et al. (2002) agree that since overhead production costs for a movie are relatively high, companies seek for financing from different sources, which they later repay from sales and loyalties rom the movie. Confidence in the sector is one of the main reasons why such investors heavily invest in the Hollywood film industry. They are sure of receiving back their invested capital from the film, if sales for movies such The Matrix (1999) is anything to go by. This film received an international audience, topping the international charts, and thus put its director, Andy on an international map. While the Australian film industry is yet to reach at such great standards, some movie ideas are worth the risk. Some of the most successful films in the Australian industry cost a fortune, which necessitates financing. Additionally, the growth and potential of the industry encourages investors, as they are optimistic in the success of the film industry. The fact that most of the Australians watch films produced at the national levels is proof enough that

Professional Articles Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional Articles Review - Essay Example In my discussion, I also provide a connection to today’s educational practice provided in each of these articles. The first article talks about adoption of an appropriate ELL program that would promote English learning among the students who do not have English as their first language. This article talks about the five-program models, which are English-language monolingual program, English-monolingual-plus ESL program, Transitional bilingual educational program, Maintenance bilingual education program, and structured immersion program (Hanigsfeld, 2009). The article also talks about how these programs were used in promoting English language learning among ELL students and also gives the situations in which each of the programs was applicable. This article also introduces another set of four programs that can be used with students who have ELL status. According to Hanigsfeld (2009), these programs are structured English immersion program, English as a second language program, b ilingual education program and dual language program. The programs have been more applicable and practiced in our today’s educational practices compared to the previously mentioned programs. ... The second article talks about some of the strategies adopted by different state to overcome challenges encountered in giving instructions to ELL students. The article starts by talking about the challenge of equitable education for ELLs and how it result due to practices that privilege some groups. According to this article, equitable education for ELLs should incorporate understandable language and curriculum that offers a variety of cultural perspectives as well as offering opportunities for parents to participate in the learning process of their children (Smith, 2008). It continues to talk about the instructional considerations for ELLs that can promote English language proficiency among ELL students. The article continues to talk about a case of the state of Massachusetts in which it talks about how diversity among ELLs in this state has made the task of instituting policies and practices to be rather more complex. In terms of instruction delivery to ELLs, the article talks abou t the use of Sheltered English instruction as a major way of promoting English language proficiency among ELL students. According Smith (2008), this kind of instructions are given in three main ways which include â€Å"sheltered† content instruction, English as a Second Language instruction, and bilingual (native language) instruction. The lesson created using these sets of instructions are always tailored towards the specific needs of English Language Learners’ needs. The article also talks about various training that has been done to the teachers in various stated to give them the capacity to give these kind of instructions to ELL students and also the kind of training that is yet to be done. The article shows that this kind of approach has been very applicable in today’s

Enron Corporation Essay Example for Free

Enron Corporation Essay I  Ã‚   The Beginning When Enron Corporation declared a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2001, it left the public especially its investors and stockholders reeling from such financial scandal and collapse.   Enron had allegedly overstated its profits by $586 million since 1997 in order to protect the firm’s balance sheet and practiced insider trading as well fraud and conspiracy. Enron had been the seventh largest company in the United States and had been one of the largest financial contributors to the Presidential elections, especially the Bush family. To the outside world, Enron portrayed a picture of success.   However, upon closure inspection on the inside, Enron was on the brink of collapse. When Enron’s stock price hit its highest at $90, the executives who allegedly knew of the offshore accounts of Enron started selling their respective shares and to encouraged the public to continue buying the said stocks.   However, the executives knew that the stock prices would not increase anymore but still reassured the public and its investors that the prices of stock would reach a high $130-140 per share. By August 2001, Enron’s stock prices had dropped from $90 to a measly $42. It became evident that the company had fraudulently induced and fooled the public, investors and stockholders to buying the company’s stocks and shares. Amidst all these, Enron founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay continued to reassure the public to remain calm, and asked the investors to buy the company’s shares as the company will regain its profits in the succeeding months. Nonetheless, in October of 2001, the stocks plunged to $15 but the investors saw this as an opportunity to buy Enron stocks at such low prices. But the truth about the company’s financial standing became public and the stock price finally hit rock bottom at $1 per share. II   Basis of the Charges Stockholders and investors gathered and instituted a class-action suit against Enron and its officers in order to recover the millions of investment they made on Enron as result of the false representation and fraud by the company. Enron top executives specifically its Chief Executive Officers, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were charged and convicted with the collapse of the energy giant. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy while Skilling faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position. In 1987, Enron auditors found out a billion-dollar oil trading scandal in its New York offices.   Traders had been engaged in this kind of practice – falsifying transactions in order to boost their volume and profit thereby fattening their bonuses as well. Although CEO Kenneth Lay knew of this, he did not fire the traders nor contacted the authorities in order to cover up their problems. But this incident did not deter the traders and six months later, competitors began to grow suspicious because if word got out, Enron’s trading partners could have demanded that the company cover its positions with cash, which the company did not have (Fowler).   Thus, the traders were fired and charged but not until they were able to transfer million of dollars into their personal accounts.   Enron for its part was able to get away by bluffing the market and reported $85 million in loss but sources claim that the loss totalled to at least $135 million. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who joined Enron in 1990, did not care much about the expenses incurred by the company as long as the margins looked good.   He was also more concerned with the revenues increases and widening profit margins instead of the cash flows which was practiced by his predecessor. So enamoured were the top executives in increasing business profit that when a deal failed or fell apart, more effort was placed into hiding the consequences instead of rectifying and owning up to the problem.   After taking over as chief operating officer, he renewed the almost non-existent post of chief financial officer and delegated many of the management responsibilities. In theory, Enron had mechanisms that would assess risk and accurately report financial numbers. These mechanisms required that deals should be strictly analyzed which included review by the legal department of the originating unit, the corporate legal department, chief risk officer and chief accounting officer.   However, due to the insidious practice of the company, auditors and accountants were bullied to over ride the system and departments were able to determine the total value of their proposals by manipulating the long-term price of whatever product was sold or bought.   The company also used a â€Å"mark-to-market† accounting system pushed by Skilling which allows a company to report as current revenue the total value of a deal over its projected lifetime (Fowler). This system made earning appear good which in turn pumped up the stock prices and increased the value of stocks which executives received as bonuses. III Trial As the stunned investors witnessed Enron’s stock prices plunged, the government began a massive crackdown on the executives who were responsible for the collapse of the company, and would end up in the conclusion of convincing and proving to the jury that Lay and Skilling, the two top executives of the company, where guilty of massive fraud and were thus guilty. Government prosecutors were at first overwhelmed with the girth of the corporate fraud.   Nevertheless, they began to take measures to respond to these kinds of crimes and a barrage of criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions began to surface.   Thus, in 2002, the Presidential Corporate Fraud Task Force filed criminal charges against more than 900 defendants, of which 60 are chief executive or president level and successfully prosecuted or convicted 500 of them. The case against Lay and Skilling were heard by US District Judge Sim Lake and lasted nearly four months while the jury deliberated for six days.   The defense counsel initially attempted to persuade the judge to move the trial away from Houston, Enron’s hometown as they were afraid that the jury might be influenced by anger due to the resulting loss of jobs and money and would see them as a way of revenge. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy fraud and conspiracy while Skilling on the other hand, faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position.   Although both asserted their innocence of the charges against them, they were convicted for a total of 29 criminal counts as well as conspiracy to hide the failing health of the company by selling boosterich optimism to Wall Street and the public (MSNBC). Lay, who was convicted to 6 counts of conspiracy, securities and wire fraud in the corporate trial and 4 counts on separate personal banking trial, surrendered his passport and posted a $5 million bond secured by the family.   His sentence also carried a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison for the corporate trial while 120 years in personal trial respectively.   Ã‚  Skilling on the other hand, was convicted by 19 counts out of the 28 charged as well as one count of insider trading while being acquitted with the remaining charges. The charges against   these Enron top executives prospered as other executives turned the table and plead guilty in their respective charges in order to receive lower sentences than that prescribed.   Among the former employees who testified against Lay and Skilling was Ben Glisan who is now serving a 5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy.   According to Glisan, both Lay and Skilling knew that the company was in deep financial trouble but tried to hide it instead. Ultimately, the jury rejected Skilling’s defense that no fraud happened at Enron save for those committed by a number of executives skimming millions in secret side deals, while bad publicity and poor market confidence resulted in the collapse of the energy giant. III. Effects of the Enron Collapse As the jurors found that these once-wealthy and powerful executives repeatedly lied to cover up the real position of the company by covering up accounting and auditing failures which eventually led to its collapse in 2001, the left a devastating effect in the business world as well as the lives of the investors and shareholders.   The demise of Enron wiped out more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in retirement savings and costs more than 5,600 to lose their jobs. The anger of the public over the recent corporate scandals led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was designed to make company executives more accountable. Although public distrust for white-collar trial could not actually reverse the damage done to investor confidence, the Lay and Skilling trial however has become a start of a healing process for public-investor relations to be righted again. IV Timothy Belden Apart from the other key witnesses who were former Enron employees and who testified against the top two Enron officials, Timothy Belden particularly made the charges against Lay and Skilling stick, ending in their conviction.   Belden who was the first person to be charged in the manipulation of Western Energy markets, initially engaged in lengthy dance with federal officials over his plea and eventual cooperation in testifying against Lay and Skilling.   He pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy and admitted that he gave false information to California’s electrical grid operators.   Belden is also said to be the â€Å"mastermind behind the strategies described† in memos that spelled out how Enron manipulated the California market (Schreiber). Beginning in the mid-nineties, California was among the first states to deregulate electricity.   The deregulation occurred just as when companies were leaving the state in numbers thereby creating a recession. The deregulation was supposed to reduce the ten percent of the tax payers’ bill while breaking the old methods of greedy companies.   As California deregulated the wholesale side of its energy markets, it also kept price caps in the retail side. It coincided with the State’s decision to bar utilities from signing long-term cheap fixed prices which forced them to into an unpredictable market.   Thus, the utilities were made to pay exorbitant prices but were not able to pass on to their consumers the prices they incurred.   Enron promised to deliver power more efficiently and build new plants that can run on cheaper fuels. Commencing in 1998 until 2001, Belden as well as other executives from Enron devised a fraudulent scheme in order to obtain increased revenue for Enron from wholesale electricity consumers and other market participants in the State of California. The schemes perpetrated by Belden and the other Enron executives required them to submit false information to the companies supplied by Enron and misrepresented the nature of electricity which the company was supposed to supply. Despite being paid to relieve congestion, the company however, did not do so and instead imported as well as exported electricity in order to receive higher prices from the companies they supply. Of particular interest in the course of the trial is a transcript of conversation between Belden and one of the operators of the power plant wherein the two discussed shutting down one of Reliant’s power plants in California to create a shortage in order for the prices to skyrocket. As the scheme worked, causing the power prices to arrive at high and unjust levels in California, it thereby became illegal under the Federal Energy Policy Act. In his testimony, he called California’s post-deregulation power market dysfunctional and said his company bought cheap electricity in the Northwest to sell in California at a profit (Baker). This practice created the appearance among consumers that there was shortage of electricity, thereby having the need to jack up the prices. Enron was able to pocket off almost $1 billion in a period of nine months in 2000 and 2001. Belden admitted however, that he only met with Lay and Skilling once during a colleague’s party.   But nevertheless, Belden’s testimony proved to be a very crucial one as it confirmed and proved that Lay and Skilling knew of what was happening in California but turned to hide it instead. As company vice-president and head of Enron’s West Coast trading operation, Belden supervised a staff of 120 that went from $50 million in earnings in 1999 to $800 million in 2001, while Californias power markets disintegrated into panic and sky-high prices. When one of Enron’s lawyers started investigating these â€Å"irregularities† as a response to the investigation conducted by the California Public Utility Commission. The lawyers found out of Enron’s tactic of using advantage of the energy crisis and revealed through a memo that Enron created false congestion lines, transferred energy in and out of state to avoid price caps and charged for services the company never actually provided (Swartz).   And yet, inspite of the information the lawyer gave to the top executives, and traders have been told to return the money made on improper trading, the executives at Enron still decided against it despite knowing that the practice was illegal.   For Belden and the other traders, sending the money back would mean that the other companies will know what Enron was doing.   Nevertheless, Belden and Enron continued on with the practice.   Skilling, on the other hand, fully knew well of the said practice by the company in 2001 as he was already tipped by one of the executives who learned of the previous investigation. During examination, Belden admitted to US District Judge Martin Jenkins that he did it because he was trying to maximize profit for Enron. Belden claimed that he was only following Enron’s instructions as he handled his trades (CBS News).   According to Belden’s counsel, Enron knew fully well of Belden’s action but was never disciplined nor sanctioned at all. In fact, Belden may have reaped bonus for such practice as revenues from his trading unit climbed from $50 million in 1999 to $500 million in 2000 to $800 million in 2001.     When he was charged with conspiracy, Belden after a long time of dealing and negotiating with the federal government, decided to turn against Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, claiming that the two top executives knew of the practice he and other traders did as indicated by the internal company memos which described how Enron took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and how it sold out of state to elude price caps (CBS News).

My Uncle Killed Himself Essay -- Death, Suicide

As I grumbled and griped about having an honors band rehersal only hours before the concert - as i complained about the growing callus on my thumb, about the gay kid with the neckstrap who was first chair clarinet, as i lamented the fact I could NEVER play this music, that i wouldn't get any better in that small practice, so WHY bother- my uncle killed himself. in the basement of his very own house at that, with a gun. his two little girls and pregnant wife left him, and he took his own life. at the memorial, our pastor spoke of God, of how even "Jesus wept" at a friend's death (excuse my ignorance, i know not much of religion.). he said that he knew we were angry, that he knew we would harbor hate and such for a long time, that we would always struggle to understand what happened. i was fine until that point. because i had never really thought about it. I hadn't grieved, I hadn't cried, I wasn't even able to find a friend to cry to. it's our new dark family secret. A promising, handsome, charming young man, with two beautiful daughters, a third on the wa...