Shirin Neshat & her work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Shirin Neshat & her work - Essay Example This paper will discuss some of the exemplary works of Shirin Neshat. Research asserts that Neshat is one of the renowned filmmakers and photographers from Iran (Abramovic and Danto 12). Earlier on, she had started as a painter, but she later shifted and started exploring the Iranian Islamic roots and photography. Therefore, she used her films and photos in order to reveal some of the basics of the Iranian culture. She also experienced the effects of 9/11 when she was in New York with her son. The effects of this event had a vast impact on her as an American citizen from the Muslim culture. Currently, Neshat is working on photographs and poems that reveal various facts in the Iranian Muslim culture. During her interviews, Neshat highlights that she recently made three film installations entitled Passage, Pulse and Possessed (Abramovic and Danto 89). She also claims that most of her works are based on the Iranian society and their Muslim culture. Through most of her films, her audience can easily understand the Iranian culture from various perspectives. In Turbulent, Neshat presents two singers (Sussan Deyhim and Shoja Azari) who create a musical metaphor for the complexity of cultural power and gender roles according to the ancient Persian poetry and music. The voice of the woman in the video installation is rather evoking, but she does not have an audience as compared to the man whose music is appreciated. In fact, Neshat offers duality and complexity in the Iranian culture. This is incorporated by a realistic and mystic approach that is achieved by the use of films and photographs to portray the Iranian Muslim culture (Abramovic and Danto 187). In the other interview that was hosted by David Ross, Neshat also talks about her work in photography and the film industry. She extensively discusses the role of women especially in the Islamic society. In addition, she also talks about the

Calculating Our Impact on the Global Culture Essay

Calculating Our Impact on the Global Culture - Essay Example Using the same carbon footprint calculator, I changed the number of miles I drive annually to 10,000 miles and got a carbon emission reading of 4.88 metric tons of CO2 for car usage. This still gave me a total emission reading more than twice the national average. Aiming for a lower CO2 emission count, I next changed the type of car I drove to a 2006 Toyota Corolla with manual transmission and used the same mileage reading (10,000). For this type of car with this mileage, the calculator gave a reading of 2.85 metric tons. Reverting to my current mileage reading but with the Toyota, I was able to get a reading of 8.54 metric tons. The changes shows that the amount of C02 emission for my car usage actually depends on how many miles I drive or how often I use my car. Needless to say, I can decrease my CO2 emission by also decreasing my car usage. My total household CO2 emission reading of 27.00 metric tons is primarily composed of flights, car usage and secondary sources. After reviewing the Climate Crisis website, three easy measures I can adopt would be to a) start carpooling with my co-workers, b) take other means of transportation whenever I can to avoid driving and c) try meatless Mondays or other days. Three complex measures that can further reduce my CO2 emission from the same website can be a) insulating my home, b) switching to green power and c) protecting and conserving forest worldwide. After seeing the results of the Carbon Footprint Calculator, I am motivated to implement the measures I have enumerated above as soon as possible. Whenever I avoid driving, I can actually accomplish two good things. I spend less on fuel and generate less carbon dioxide. (Levinson, W. & Rerick, R., 2002) I not only help myself but I help nature as well. I am also willing to try using less meat when cooking for my family. â€Å"Another way to reduce the amount of energy needed

Psychology for Law Enforcement Essay Example for Free

Psychology for Law Enforcement Essay 1. Describe the standard policy regarding confidentiality for a police psychologist. Be sure to address handling records, being a counselor versus evaluator, and your role during critical incident debriefing. Different legal foundations have set standards regarding the standard of confidentiality for every police psychologist. Psychological services for the police have considerably grown providing a number of clinical and occupational functions. They include operational support services, training, research and counseling services. However, handling confidentiality matters have grown recently and an evaluation between counseling roles and evaluation abilities. By and large, the police psychologist is an evaluator and therefore at liberty in making independent and fair assessments. He/should should prove high levels of confidentiality in records concerning work fitness. This is to imply that a police psychologist should be professionally sound in matters of handling records. Any disclosure of the records pertaining physical fitness can only be done during times of necessity. The evaluation process should avoid discrimination or unfair justice to the assessed. Like an evaluator, he should posit high morals concerning fair assessment of the fitness to work by the police officers. This is presumed important because the assessment regarding work fitness is what shows whether an officer can perform or not. They should maintain highest caution in protecting the confidential information that is stored in various media forms and the regulation for such disclosures should be within the limits of the law. Above been record keepers, police psychologists should obtain adequate permission before recording any images or voices from individuals with whom they are giving services. The confidential information that is obtained from the people is only useful for professional or scientific purposes allied to the concerned persons. Police psychologists are also counselors. They should offer counseling services to client who has various social problems such as family matters, unfitness for work and other issues. Like a counselor however, he is supposed to ensure confidentiality in all matters under concern for a particular person under the counseling service. Conceptually, a police psychologist should have the professionalism for addressing critical incident debriefing. This should involve encounters that relate to urgent matters. In the debriefing process, he should be professionally tactful to avoid arousing discomfort, instability of the mind, stress, shock and social inadequacies to the person he is offering the service. Critical incidence debriefing should therefore be structured in a manner that is comfortable to the client and which should not destabilize the state of the client’s mental stability. 2. What elements in an assessment are required to ensure reliability in a pre-employment screening? How do these factors predict performance? Evaluations by psychologists for pre-employment test for physical fitness have grown to be subject of extreme importance. This has been a concern that arises from police violations and misconduct from the civil rights. The pre-employment evaluations have been described as a tool for evaluating a police physical fitness in his/her duty. However, this growing demand for pre-employment and comprehensive psychological evaluation has stood in conflict with values about disability and privacy accommodating issues. Pre-employment evaluation has been argued as a cornerstone factor towards guiding the safety of the public. This is because only officers who are physically fit for the profession are the one offered with employment at the expense of those who show no substantial qualifications into their physical fitness. Physical fitness for the police officers is a growing requirement from state of the modern police departments which are allied to various law and order provision that does not hesitate physically fit and able professionals. Elsewhere, since the selection, hiring and training process of the police officers is a highly costing exercise, it would rationally be uneconomical to incorporate officers who have no substantial qualification in to the profession.   Ã‚  When these officers have consecutive personal crisis that come along their way such as family and marital problems, depression and stress, divorce, memory lapses and accidents, their physical insufficiencies may have negative influences in their functionalities. They are paused with various risks and stress factors that often keep them astray from their work. Officer’s physical fitness remains a mandatory factor in their service delivery. However, impaired officers have showed higher chances of identification while at demanding situations, have high probabilities of removal from their working positions and have more referrals for treatments. However, this evaluation should not violate the individual’s psychological requirement and perhaps violating their privacy. Therefore, some physical complications should be addressed in specific organizational development and management techniques. Various police agencies use contract and in-house services in conducting this fitness evaluation. In the process, they involve in psychology counseling in evaluating possible psychological stigma that may be held by the evaluation. It is therefore of great substance for evaluation of physical fitness in response to fitness for work. 3.   Ethical issues in fitness for duty evaluation. The psychological test for fitness of work in the police department is a compliment of various ethical issues. At one level, every information whether collected through tapes or images should be done at the request of the individual in service. No forced sourcing of information for record purposes should be from forced attribute of the individual in the evaluation. Either, every information obtained from the evaluation process should be used solely for research work in an adequate area of concern or coined towards an issue related to the police professionalism. The collected information should not be for personal use by the evaluator. Either, it demands professionalism that personal information retrieved in the evaluation process of fitness for duty should be treated with a lot of confidentiality. No personal information should be retrieved, disclosed or magnified for any public use unless for the interest of the sake of professional good which includes the individual him/herself. (h ttp://www.danielrybicki.com/wfstud3b.htm) Inquiry for the evaluation should be guided by fundamental limitations of the requirement of the disclosures of the confidential information. The counselor/investigator should not be inquisitive of confidential information which is of no substance to the profession. The psychologist should ensure the most minimal levels of intrusion into privacy as possible. Oral and written reports should only include the information that is relative for the need for which the inquiry was constituted. In any external consultation with his/her colleagues the psychologist should ensure that the no disclosure of confidential information with which it can easily lead to client disclosure unless with a prior authority of this client. The psychologist should take all the reasonable steps in minimizing and correcting misrepresentation or misuse of the professionalism. He/she should avoid any unfair discrimination that comes up against the respondents. He should not act in a manner of denying the respondent possible chance of promotion to the SWAT team. His/her mode of conduct of the evaluation should not have conflicted with the law and regulations. His evaluation process should be guided by the requirements of law and professionalism. 4. Lopez’s process of counseling bears various ethical concerns. It should concur with the provision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At one level, homosexuality should be understood as a social matter and not surgical. It is a situation which affects the social and psychological attitudes of Lopez. The feeling of homosexuality may mean aspects of depression and tress which is complimentary psychological attributes associated which her sexual situation. Generally, this psychological depression may be a factor towards the rationale for been physically unfit for the work. However since homosexuality is among the many senses of disability, the provisions of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would require that she still continue in her capacity. One important factor/attribute that she should embrace is personal acceptance of her situation. Since this is not a surgical problem but social issue, unfitness for job would only occur due to the levels of depression and low self-esteem which comes as a result of low self evaluation. Personal acceptance would give her strength and therefore restore her fitness for work.

The development and evolution of Gregorian chant

The development and evolution of Gregorian chant For centuries, Gregorian chant was considered the official music of the Catholic Church. Naturally, this degree of importance placed on the genre gives it considerable significance, both religious and cultural. Its exact beginnings, however, are not absolutely known. Also, chant has changed over time due to it being based on practices of the Church, which have also changed over time due to decrees by various popes, agendas of monastic orders, and the influences of and intermingling of cultures, such as the Franks, Romans, and Byzantines. Although the name of Gregorian chant is derived from Pope Gregory I â€Å"The Great†, it has its roots much earlier in history, predating Christianity. In fact, Christian chant is believed to have been originally derived from Judaism, as there was a considerable amount of common ground between Jewish and early Christian liturgies (Werner 20). This is seen through writings of the early church which show that the early Christian church was heavily influenced by Hebrew worship (Barton). However, there is little information available from chants of early centuries compared to Gregorian chant and other chants of later centuries (Hiley 478). One reason for this is that musical notation for chants of this time did not exist, for at this time chants were an entirely oral rather than written tradition. Also contributing to this lack of information is that early Christians were persecuted, forcing private worship until the Edict of Milan of 313, which gave Christians the right of freed om of worship in Rome (484). Due to this freedom, Christianity could afford to become more formalized and organized, its music included. There is further ambiguity surrounding the specific origins of Gregorian chant in considering Pope Gregory himself. What Gregorys influence was on Gregorian chant is debatable, as there is limited evidence supporting that he either had a great deal of influence on the genre, such as directly composing chants, or virtually none (513). However, two pieces of evidence support a common theory of his involvement in the creation of Gregorian chant that was known throughout the Middle Ages, which are two books written by Pope Gregory. These two books, entitled Antiphonarium and Graduale Romanum, are compilations of already existing chants that Pope Gregory designated for specific parts of Catholic mass which supports the theory that his involvement was limited to such compilations (D‘Silva). An example of Gregorys ordering to use specific music in liturgy is him mandating that the Allelulia be used during mass for an entire year (Apel 41). Despite the lack of specific information concerning the beginnings of chant that would later evolve to become Gregorian chant, the origins of Gregorian chant as it was known throughout the Middle Ages are more clear, as music books, although they still were not musically notated, of the genre were created by the Franks at around the 9th century, making the genre easier to trace through history to that point (Hiley 514). Note that it was not until the 10th century that sources were created containing musical notation, namely being musically annotated Graduals and Antiphonals from the Codex 359 (Apel 52). Also, it was not until the 11th century that music was annotated in a way so that tunes could be read (53). In addition to these musical books, various manuscripts were written that outlined liturgical proceedings, allowing for further clarification of the specifics of Gregorian chant (53). The peoples who ruled the area that is roughly present-day France played a large role in forming Gregorian chant to what it is, from the Franks to the Carolingians (Hiley 512). This started under the rule of the Frank king Pepin, who lead the Franks to control much of Europe through military conquest, spreading the culture of chant to the Franks, and also causing reforms to Gregorian chant by the Franks and their successors (513). In addition to causing chant to be more widespread, the intervention of the Franks also caused Gregorian chant to evolve from further influences (513). Not only did the influence of the Franks allow the beginnings of Gregorian chant to be seen more easily, as was described previously, but their musical texts also show the original motives behind its development, the main motive being to help control how the liturgy was run by assigning specific chants to certain parts of the liturgy, as was done by Pope Gregory (515). In the case of the Franks (namely Pepin and also Charlemagne), the reasoning behind trying to control the specifics of the liturgy was so that it would become standardized since many members of the church were influenced by their own local traditions in structuring the liturgy, which Frank leadership was trying to suppress (Barbon). Of course, due to the amount of time between Pope Gregorys writings and the adoption of chant by the Frankish church (300 years), it can be safely assumed that the liturgical assignments of the Franks were different than those of Pope Gregory. More changes were made as well in Gregorian chant, including the style of singing, such as the combining of both Roman and Frankish singers, although eventually a return to a more Roman styled liturgy and type of singing occurred among the Franks (Hiley 517). Since writing texts for the chants was still not common practice and musical notation for them did not yet exist, it follows that the Franks had to learn Roman liturgy and chants by memory when this shift back to strictly Roman liturgy occurred. This also denotes that the number of chants that were used and popular were not too numerous at this point in time, as they could still be all memorized. Despite the shift back to a Roman style liturgy, over the years and into the 9th century to the start of the rule of the Carolingians, who succeeded the Franks, Gregorian chant continued to evolve as new musical elements were added to the genre by the Franks and more compositions were created (Hiley 517). Some of these changes were brought on by outside influences on Gregorian chant, such as by the Byzantines, who developed the eight mode system (529). The fact that the amount of compositions of Gregorian chant were increasing can be tied in with the development of written musical texts around this time period, causing Gregorian chant to shift away from a strictly oral tradition, for it would no longer be possible to memorize all of the chants necessary as their numbers grew. As the popularity of Gregorian chant grew, it underwent several more reforms and evolutions, mostly during the 12th and 13th centuries (Hiley 608). An example of such a reform was more specific notation being used in writing chant, which included specifying pitch, among other specific musical elements (608). Another reform was the tendency to drift away from previous melodies of the Middle Ages, creating a type of chant called â€Å"Neo-Gallican† chant (609). Many of these changes made to Gregorian chant were initiated by various orders, two major ones being the Cistercians, who believed in performing the liturgy as it was done originally, and the Dominicans, whose reforms, like the efforts of many before it, were aimed at standardizing the liturgy (612). Gregorian chant did not enjoy constant growth and popularity, however. After the 12th century, the popularity and growth of Gregorian chant started to wane, presumably due to a period of reduced popularity of the Catholic Church (DSilva). Also, around the 16th century the Catholic Church was threatened by Protestantism, which also played a part in decreasing the popularity of the church, thus affecting the popularity of traditional monastic liturgies and music (Hiley 615). Another such period of decadence for the church and for Gregorian chant was during the age of Enlightenment, as less emphasis was placed on the church and God and instead more on the individual and reason. As a result of this new ideology, the power and influence of the church began to decline. In addition to the general ideology of the time, another reason for the decline of the Church was the political struggle caused by the French Revolution, which caused a reform in the French church so that it no longer observed previous monastic traditions (Bergeron xii). Due to Gregorian chants close association with the church, its popularity began to decline as well (Barton). This causes yet another obstacle in acquiring information about Gregorian chant and thus makes it more difficult to interpret today as the knowledge of how to interpret various medieval musical notations was lost (Barton). A large factor of why Gregorian chant did not die out completely is the involvement of monks at the French monastery at Solesmes, and other such monasteries, who during the 19th century were commissioned by Pope St. Pius X to modernize Gregorian chant (DSilva). They achieved this by removing the strict association that Gregorian chant had with the church, secularizing it and adding a meditative, â€Å"trancelike appeal† (DSilva). In the end, Gregorian chant was changed to be more akin to classical Roman chant than the Gregorian chant of the Middle Ages. As a result, the chant that is known today as Gregorian chant is more similar to early plainchant rather than what was originally dubbed as â€Å"Gregorian chant† (DSilva). As a result of this change of the style of Gregorian chant, along with the declining power of the Catholic Church and thus the popularity of Gregorian chant, it is difficult to know what Gregorian chant of the Middle Ages exactly sounded like (Barton). Another factor that contributes to this is the lack of musical notation with text in the Middle Ages, and that some of the notation that does exist from the time period cannot be interpreted due to these periods of decrease in popularity. Overall, the fact that chant was originally a purely oral tradition that consisted of few enough chants that could be memorized, along with Gregorian chants affiliation with a religion that was originally persecuted and later declining in popularity, contributes to the murkiness of the origins of Gregorian chant. Also, the fact that Christianity underwent significant changes from the time of its conception to modern times results in equally significant changes occurring in the style of music that was so closely affiliated with its prominent church, even causing Gregorian chant to nearly die out on several occasions in history. However, despite the several bouts of decrease in popularity that Gregorian chant experienced, it is currently one of the oldest forms of music that is actively listened to today (DSilva). Also, the many changes that Gregorian chant underwent throughout history makes it very unique, as it cannot be entirely attributed to any specific event, person, or even nation or empire. Instead, as David Hiley states, â€Å"†¦Gregorian chant is neither of one specific time, nor wholly Roman, nor wholly anything else† (Hiley 513).

Death of a Salesman - Problems with the American Dream Essay -- essays

Death of a Salesman - Problems with the American Dream What specific ills does Miller diagnose in the America Dream? Discuss with reference to â€Å"Death of a Salesman†. The American Dream is an idea that originated from the Pilgrim Fathers and has remained in the American society. It is the belief that America is the land of opportunity where everyone can be â€Å"great†. The word â€Å"dream† is in fact probably the best way to describe the problems that Arthur Miller can see in this belief. The word â€Å"dream† can suggest something wonderful to look forward to achieving, or, it may imply that something is only a dream, something that is impossible to achieve. We can see Miller believes â€Å"dream† to mean the latter of these interpretations when we see the character Howard in Death of a Salesman. It is implied through the way that he disregards Willy’s past loyalty to his company, that he has only achieved his dream of success through moral compromises, and therefore, that few achieve the dream without doing this as well. The American society however, seems to support the first definition of the word â€Å"dream†. They have certain claims to self-perfection that are absent in a large part of the world: â€Å"I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume†, Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. Others tend to accept far greater, that conditions of life are hostile to man’s pretensions. It is thought that if they live by this dream, that there is a natural order in favour of them ...

Comparing Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Oedipus the King and Antigone :: comparison compare contrast essays

Oedipus and Antigone: Is Fate Determined? Is everything determined? This question has caused fierce debate and has plagued both the science and literary worlds. Fate and Prophecy have both appeared in literature, most notably in Ancient Greek and Roman plays. Two plays that stand out as being based on prophecy are Oedipus Rex and Antigone, both written by Sophocles. Sophocles may have eggagerated certain aspects of fate, but he had many correct observations concerning fate and destiny. I think that everything is determined because free will is just an illusion, time travel depends on it, probability dictates it. In the play Julius Caesar, Cassius tells Brutus, "Men at some times are masters of their fate." But is this true? Can we do anything we chose or is the universe's fate fixed? The answers to these questions we may never know. But we can guess. In Antigone, Creon is faced with a decision. Should he condemn Antigone to death or should he let her get away with a crime? He feels as if he has a choice between the two. But, he doesn't. It was determined that he would put Antigone in a cave and try to get her out after contemplating it carefully. No matter what he did, he could not have defied this. He had the choice between the two, but it was determined that no matter what advice he received from Haemon and Tieresius, he would inevitably choose to put her in the cave. As Oedipus portrayed, you cannot escape fate no matter how you try. The prospect of time travel depends on and proves that everything is determined. If you go back and find out you should have turned left when you turned right and change it, then you may think you have defied fate. But, you are utterly wrong. Most likely, like Oedipus, you will do exactly what was determined, and step right into the prophecy. Doing this will, in fact, create an alternate quantum reality in which it was fixed to happed that way! (If you want to understand this fully, read about Feynman's Sum Over Histories in any of Stephen Hawking's books). The prophet who had spoken to Oedipus about his fate knew what was predestined. If Oedipus had gone forward in time and seen what he had done, he would have tried to avoid that fate.

Greek Inspired Architecture in Boston, MA

Greek Architecture in Boston My first discovery of classical architecture was made the moment I stepped outside my apartment, as my building has two Doric columns framing the front door. As I meandered over the hill and across the Common I realized exactly how prevalent classical architecture really is. Elements of classical architecture can be found on almost every building in the old residential neighborhoods and many commercial buildings feature columns and arches as well.I saw all three orders of columns, arches, and even a dome. The only architectural element I was unable to find was a iron vault. The Massachusetts State House, about half a block from my apartment, has many examples of classical architecture including a large gold dome, twelve Corinthian columns, and seven arches visible from outside. The State House, which houses the state legislature and the governor's offices, was built in 1798 by leading architect of the time Charles Bullfinch.The dome was originally made ou t of wood shingles but has since been sheathed in copper and covered in 23 karat gold. (http:// www. Satisfaction. Gob/formalities/mischievousness's. Asp) As far as I observed he arches and columns follow the rules of the classical orders except that the frieze above the columns is blank. I'm not sure if the frieze above Corinthian columns is traditionally blank or not. A pioneer, which signifies the importance of the logging industry in Massachusetts, tops the dome. Http://www. Satisfaction. Gob/formalities/ mischievousness's. Asp) I doubt this would be found on domes of the ancient world. Just as classical architecture was meant to convey power and grace in Ancient Greece and Rome, I'm sure Charles Bullfinch used elements are classical architecture n the design of the State House for the purpose of conveying the wealth, power, and beauty of the government and state of Massachusetts. Another building that incorporates classical elements is the Boston Museum of Fine Art.The current MFC building was built in 1909. There are rows of ionic columns and construction that looks like post-and-lintel. In the area that would be the frieze it says â€Å"Museum of Fine Arts† which could probably be loosely considered a continuous frieze. It was especially interesting to me to see the post-and-lintel type openings since most alluding seem to prefer the Roman's arches over the Ancient Greek post-and-lintel system. The Museum of Fine Art is another building that, due to its purpose, should convey an air of greatness.The last building I would like to use as an example is my apartment building, which was built in 1909. There are likely hundreds of residential apartment buildings in the area whose doors are flanked by a column on each side, particularly the apartments that were built in the early sass. The columns of my apartment building are of the Doric order but the abacus of each is rounded, not angular. (Strickland peg 15) There is a session but no cornice, pedimen t, or any other aspect of the Doric order. At night the columns are illuminated.It is clear by the emphasis the building management places on the columned entrance that they believe it to denote a sense of wealth, greatness, or class. While the State House and MFC certainly do this, I find my building does not quite succeed. It feels that without any other of the classical elements the columns are lacking. It is particularly interesting to me how long classical architecture has been in style. It as been used for centuries on everything from prominent government buildings to much more humble residences.Architecture that was once reserved for temples and important public spaces can now be found on everything from strip malls to pharmacies. An important difference in the use of the classical architectural elements is that Ancient Greeks built in their style partly for the logical purpose of creating a building that will stand. Today, even more so than in Ancient Rome, many aspects of t he architecture are purely ornamental. Http:// consistory. Schenectady. Org/temple-of-portions. HTML