Augustus foreign policy Essay Example for Free

Augustus foreign policy Essay After the battle of Actium at 31 BC Augustus had the full control over the legions of Rome and there was no one left to oppose him. However, his long absence from Rome made his position subtle and he needed to maintain high public profile within the city in order to restore the republic and strengthen his regime. Thus, in the years between 31 BC and 23 BC the possibility of foreign campaign seemed unreasonable and unnecessary. With the second settlement of 23 BC Augustus was granted maius proconsulare, which literary made him supreme commander of all legions and unlike before the senate and people of Rome forced him in this position. Indeed, the military status of Augustus at 23 BC is the same he had at 31 BC, but the important difference was in the image it created. Now, Caesars heir was more than everything a supervisor of the order and protector of the republic. Having such responsibility he decided to strengthen the existing borders of the Empire before expanding them. Evidence for this is Augustus saying in Res Gestae that he stationed more than 300,000 soldiers in the provinces as a way to protect the Empire against dangers. It is interesting that Augustus reduces the size of the army from almost 50 legions to 28 (Res Gestae 3). This is a clear indication that he did not consider the possibility of a great campaign in the east or north to expand the Empire. This actually is in accordance with his image of Pax Augusta. After the battle of Actium, Caesars heir came to power with the promise of prolonged peace. He even restored one of the forgotten republican traditions the closing of the Gates of Janus Quirinus when Rome was not at war (Res Gestae 13). It is also possible that Augustus felt temptation for a prolonged foreign campaign but he never found the right time to start one. As a mentioned earlier, after 31 BC the Princeps received the responsibility to restore the republic and after 23 BC he had to reorganise the provinces and create a system of defence. The years after 23 BC were marked by private and public calamities: the death of Marcellus and Agrippa was followed by the death of Gaius and Lucius and then a disastrous marriage between Julia and Tiberius. At the same time a serious revolt occurred in Pannonia in AD Â  and in Germany three legions under the command of Varus were wiped out in AD 9(Suetonius 23. And given all this it is not quite true that Augustus felt no temptation for foreign war. Indeed, he commanded the armies directly only in two foreign wars (compared to five civil wars) according to Suetonius 20, but many other wars were led by Romes generals under his auspices (listed in Suetonius 21). Drussus and Tiberius fought the Germans off the the river Elba which had to become the new northern border but this aim vanished after the massacre of Varus legions. Parthia, the big Roman enemy, was still very weak in 20s BC but Augustus never started a war with them. However, he threatened to begin one in order to get back the Roman standards lost by Crassus in 53 BC. Truly, fighting Parthia was expensive and dangerous but leaving the peace to the caprice of the Eastern king was unreasonable. Here Augustus came with the brilliant idea of creating buffer states which would defend the borders of the Empire. The most important of these was Armenia and Augustus often intervened there to strengthen the government as proven by Res Gestae 27. In conclusion, it is difficult whether Augustus did not feel temptation for foreign war or did not have the opportunity to start one. The Empire was so big that there were few territories worth fighting for and with the creation of buffer states there were even fewer. Augustus major responsibility was to build firm and lasting foundations for the commonwealth (Suetonius 28) and that is what he did. But war-lover or not, the Empire under Augustus was bigger than even before and for first time definite border were defined.

Mary Schapiro and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Mary Schapiro and Leadership Essay In her role at the SEC, Mary Schapiro was known as one of the worlds most powerful female regulators. She was named chair in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. As chairman, she helped strengthen and revitalize the agency by overseeing a more rigorous enforcement program and shaping new rules for Wall Street. During her tenure, the agencys work force brought about a record number of enforcement actions and achieved significant regulatory reform to protect investors. Schapiro leaves behind an agency that has regained its footing, stature, and morale following desultory leadership under its previous two chairmen and its embarrassing lack of action preceding the financial crisis. Under Schapiro, the SEC, which is usually thought to be the most prominent and important financial regulatory body in the country, brought a huge number of enforcement actions against financial institutions. Her job was to assess what went wrong and to ensure it didn’t happen again. During four years as SEC chairman, Schapiro presided over one of the busiest rule-making agendas in the SECs history, during which the agency also brought a record number of enforcement actions, and executed a comprehensive restructuring program to improve protections for investors. Upon her departure, President Obama praised her leadership, saying the SEC became stronger and the financial system safer and better able to serve the American people-thanks in large part to Schapiros hard w ork. Change Management Change management is designed to ensure the effective transition of an organisation and its people from the current to future states, and in so doing support the realisation of business benefits. In the context of strategy, it is the realisation of the strategic plan. Change management is about effectively leading and managing individuals, teams, and the organisation to successfully adopt the changes needed to achieve required or desired business results. Success in Organisational Change Follows Recognisable Patterns – Kotter’s 8 Steps Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter is well known for identifying a pattern for leading successful organizational change. Yet, we cannot be sure that the President, members of Congress, and key Federal Reserve, Department  of the Treasury, and SEC personnel (including Chairman Schapiro) are familiar with this work and with other similar guidance from change leadership literature. And even if some or all of the change agents impacting a restructuring of the SEC are familiar with this work, it is unclear whether any of those change agents are consciously using this learning and incorporating useful elements from Kotters books into the SEC reorganization process. Studies of organizational change have shed significant light on the elements of a successful reform effort. Leaders effectuating reform at the SEC do not have to reinvent the wheel as they initiate, manage, and institutionalize organizational change. Kotters model is organized into eight stages designed to address e ight observed mistakes made in efforts for organizational change: establishing a sense of urgency; creating the guiding coalition; developing a vision and strategy; communicating the change vision; empowering broad-based action; generating short-term wins; consolidating gains and producing more change; and anchoring new approaches in the culture. Each stage has identifiable characteristics. 1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency Visible crises can be enormously helpful in catching peoples attention and pushing up urgency levels. To be sure, the SEC has experienced visible crises over the past few years. Admissions of significant failures at the SEC extend back over more than two years time and cover multiple areas of SEC operations. The natural superiority of the U.S. model for securities regulation is no longer an article of faith, and the credibility of the SEC as a financial regulator has never been lower. although the SEC has long been the crown jewel of the financial regulatory infrastructure, recent developments have called that characterization into question. The SEC has been the target of relentless criticism ranging from claims that it mishandled derivatives regulation, oversight of securities firms, and market risk, to assertions of delays and blunders and possible industry capture at the Division of Enforcement. These criticisms followed the Treasury Departments Blueprint of Financial Regulation-r eleased in March 2008-that criticized the SECs approach to regulation as obsolete and proposed a plan of regulatory consolidation that would effectively lead to the agencys demise. Most recently, the revelation that the SEC failed to discover a $50 billion Ponzi scheme at Madoff Investment Securities, despite having received allegations of wrongdoing for over a decade, suggests fundamental weaknesses in its core enforcement operations. To be successful at organizational change, however, a change leader must use the crisis to shake up the organization. This requires that the change leader remove sources of complacency or minimize their impact and take actions that are bold or even risky. Kotter uses the concept of fire in a building as a proxy for crisis in an organization, writing that conducting business as usual is very difficult if the building seems to be on fire.Interestingly, Chairman Schapiro invoked fire imagery in comments to reporters as she made changes to SEC operations shortly after taking office. Moreover, in a recent speech, Chairman Schapiro noted the rapid pace of change at the SEC over the preceding year: I know that change is hard because within our agency we have been engaged in some of the most significant change in decades. When I arrived at the agency last January, we began a process of assessing our operations and determined we could do better. We determined that we needed to change. And tha t is the path we have chosen. The personnel changes instituted at the SEC may be seen as examples of sweeping change. The discomfort and discontent of the SEC staff in response to the personnel changes may be evidence of the brash nature of these personnel changes. Kotters work predicts this kind of reaction. He notes that bold moves that reduce complacency tend to increase conflict and to create anxiety, at least at first. 2. Creating the Guiding Coalition Leading change is not a solitary task. Because major change is so difficult to accomplish, a powerful force is required to sustain the process. No one individual, not even a monarch-like CEO, is ever able to develop the right vision, communicate it to large numbers of people, eliminate all the key obstacles, generate short-term wins, lead and manage dozens of change projects, and anchor new approaches deep in the organizations culture. Instead, what is required is a strong leadership team-a team with the right composition and sufficient trust among members. In terms of composition,  four key characteristics are important: position power- the entire group who will be charged with making progress in areas of needed change, expertise, credibility, and leadership. Trust is borne of activities that create . . . mutual understanding, respect, and caring. Trust is important because it can lead to the effective creation of a common goal or shared objective. Chairman Schapiro has changed th e leadership team at the SEC. We must question, however, whether the team has the right characteristics and the requisite trust. Certainly, the credentials of the SEC Commissioners are quite impressive in terms of expertise, credibility, and leadership skills. Chairman Schapiro has put a premium on attracting to the SEC people with an expansive set of experiences and skills. Moreover, the published remarks of new leaders in the Division of Enforcement-people with position power-are impressive in their indication of a collective change momentum. New leaders continue to emerge, making the membership of the guiding coalition unsettled and unclear. The executives who ignited the transformations from good to great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. In general, public information sources are not detailed enough to enable a comprehensive assessment of the suitability of the composition of Chairman Schapiros guiding coalition. For example, according to Kotter, you need both management and leadership skills on the guiding coalition, and they must work in tandem, teamwork style.He offers matrices that illustrate optimal compositions. Publicly available information does not enable us to determine whether or not the SEC guiding coalition has the optimal balance of management and leadership skills. Only as the exact identity of the leadership team emerges and the tea m takes concerted and coordinated action will we be able to evaluate its composition. As difficult as it is for us to appraise the teams composition, it is more difficult for us to assess whether the guiding coalition has the required trust. Although I have not found evidence that ostensible members of the SEC guiding coalition have engaged in team-building exercises or attended a retreat at which intra-group trust may have been engendered, the SECs recent self-assessment may be a sign that mutual trust is being promoted throughout the agency. As new people are identified for inclusion on the change leadership team, they will need to be effectively brought into the circle of trust. 3. Developing a Vision and Strategy To achieve successful organizational change, a leader needs to have both vision and a strategy to implement that vision. Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future. Vision serves to channel change in a particular direction and incentivizes and coordinates change in that direction. Chairman Schapiro seems to understand this aspect of change leadership, and she also seems to be incorporating it into the SECs operations. Her vision for a reformed SEC refocuses the SECs activities on one of the key policy underpinnings of the federal securities laws: investor protection Another lesson I have learned is to have a vision about where you want to take your organization and stick to your principles in getting there. Principles are not ideologies. They are different. Maybe its a question of degree. Maybe to some its semantics. But as I see it, unlike ideologies, principles dont seem to demand a particular answer to every problem that emerges. Weve seen how strict adherence to ideology played out over the last decade in the financial arena. Free market ideology together with rapidly changing technology, globalization and many other accidental causes led too many of us to forget hard-learned lessons from past crises and abandon basic common sense. Principles, on the other hand, help frame a question, an issue or a problem. Having a principle might highlight tensions and trade-offs of particular choices, but rarely do they force you to choose between a good solution and a worldview. For me at the SEC, my main principle is putting investors first. And, I try to stay focused on that every day. And the goal is to build an SEC that is deeply expert, nimble, and aggressive-that gives investors confidence. In fact, as Bob Glauber can attest, I have a sign posted on my door that says How does it help investors? Its a simple question, but it guides all that I do at the SEC. And, all those who enter my office understand that is the p rism through which we will consider all issues. It doesnt necessarily dictate the outcome of every issue that lands  on my desk-because there are many solutions to any problem that could aid investors. But, the principle helps to shape our thinking and steers us in the right path. Vision is implemented through strategy. Without vision, strategy making can be a much more contentious activity. Even more so, without good vision, a clever strategy or a logical plan can rarely inspire the kind of action needed to produce major change. Chairman Schapiros vision has guided structural and operational change at the SEC as well as substantive rulemaking. Some credit her clearly conceived vision and the related rapidly employed strategy for saving the SEC from more significant structural or operational change. 4. Communicating the Change Vision According to Kotter, the larger the audience for the change vision, the more powerful it may be. A great vision can serve a useful purpose even if it is understood by just a few key people. But the real power of a vision is unleashed only when most of those involved in an enterprise or activity have a common understanding of its goals and direction. That shared sense of a desirable future can help motivate and coordinate the kinds of actions that create transformations. A leader must be careful to communicate the change vision broadly, frequently (repeatedly), and consistently. The message conveying the vision must be direct, clear, simple, and geared to its targeted audiences. Metaphors, analogies, examples, and florid prose may be helpful in this regard. The means of conveying the message should be varied: oral and written, large forum and small group, and through words and actions. Finally, to ensure understanding, the communication of the vision should be a two-way street, involv ing both give and take as well as conveying and listening. Chairman Schapiro has engaged in significant public speaking in which she has regularly and repeatedly informed and reminded the SEC staff and various elements of the public about the SECs recommitment to investor protection and the linkage of that vision to structural and operational changes at the SEC. Chairman Schapiro regularly appeared before congressional committees and subcommittees, and she has communicated her vision in these arenas as well. She used memorable analogies, examples, and words to convey the SECs organizational change message. Evidencing an appreciation for two-way communication, soon after  her appointment, Chairman Schapiro took action in response to staff suggestions that enforcement efforts against corporate violators of the securities laws were too difficult. Moreover, the self-assessment process and related ongoing staff communications are evidence of two-way communication about the structural a nd operational changes that have been taking place at the SEC. And Chairman Schapiro has continued to express belief in capturing a variety of viewpoints in decision-making. 5. Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action To implement the leaders vision, employees need to be able to take action. This may mean clearing away structural barriers, skill deficiencies, systemic obstacles, and supervisory impediments that may forestall effective employee participation in change efforts. Many of the structural and operational reforms implemented by Chairman Schapiro appear to be designed to empower SEC staff members for action that carries forward the change vision of the SEC. The efforts of Chairman Schapiro to listen and respond to staff concerns about unnecessary enforcement hurdles are examples of initiatives to streamline structure. In addition, the restructuring of the Division of Enforcement is geared to clear structural barricades to effective enforcement efforts. The decision to retain staff with non-traditional skills and the implementation of new staff training are examples of efforts to remedy skill deficits. Human resources and information systems have been or are being improved in response to de ficiencies identified in the SECs self-assessment and the OIGs investigation, report, and recommendations. In the Division of Enforcement, supervisory positions are being eliminated, supervisory personnel are being replaced, supervisory responsibilities are being realigned, and supervisory attitudes that may have impeded investigations are being corrected. 6. Generating Short-Term Wins Because the organizational change process is slow and constituents can be impatient, it is important for a change leader to accomplish certain limited objectives in the short term. Major change takes time, sometimes lots of time. Zealous believers will often stay the course no matter what happens. Most of the rest of us expect to see convincing evidence that all the effort  is paying off. Nonbelievers have even higher standards of proof. They want to see clear data indicating that the changes are working and that the change process isnt absorbing so many resources in the short term as to endanger the organization. To be effective in sustaining organizational change efforts, short-term wins must be both visible and unambiguous. They also must be clearly related to the change effort. And in an effective change effort, they are planned, not accidental. SEC Chairman Schapiro accomplished some highly publicized early wins after her appointment was confirmed. In particular, she swiftly m oved to remove perceived barriers to enforcement of the securities laws against public companies. She publicly promoted these changes, and they were picked up by the news media. These efforts generated support in and outside the SEC. The achievement of these short-term wins on a staggered but consistent basis has kept the SECs structural and operational reforms in front of the SECs staff and the public, building consensus around and momentum for the SECs self-initiated reform efforts and distracting attention from more substantial externally generated suggestions for change. 7. Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change The long-term time horizon for organizational change not only makes short-term wins advisable, but also may make early declarations of victory problematic. It is important that the sense of urgency created by the change leaders is sustained for the long haul. Short-term wins are essential to keep momentum going, but the celebration of the wins can be lethal if urgency is lost. With complacency up, the forces of tradition can sweep back in with remarkable force and speed. Although a rapid, consistent pace of change at the SEC was sustained over the first fifteen months of reform, Chairman Schapiro as well as other SEC change leaders, needed to maintain the change momentum by continuing to introduce reforms on a regular basis. Having gone so far, the SEC could have lost all of the gains it had made in organizational change merely by relaxing into complacency. Until changed practices attain a new equilibrium and have been driven into the culture, they can be very fragile. To reach that equilibrium, in addition to engaging in more and continuous change, the SEC should bring in additional change agents, continue to foster leadership from its senior managers, recruit and nurture project management and leadership from lower ranks in the hierarchy, and identify and decrease or eliminate unnecessary internal structural and operational interconnections that often make change efforts more complex. These types of efforts in change management are difficult and pervasive. 8. Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture Finally, to prevent regression, change leaders must address and resolve any incompatibilities between the changes that have been made and the organizations culture-friction in the groups system of behavioural norms and shared values. This is not as easy as it may sound. These norms and values may apply to the organization as a whole or only to certain parts of the organization, and it is important to achieve compatibility on both levels. Moreover, culture is change-resistant and nearly invisible. Yet, the failure to address inconsistencies between a change effort and the prevailing culture can undo years of reform. Accordingly, it was important that Chairman Schapiro understood the applicable behavioural norms and shared values of the SEC and the Enforcement Division and their respective relevant cultural sub-groups as they continue to reform the SEC and the Enforcement Division. Because the core vision of investor protection should not be entirely inconsistent with the SECs culture (in whole or in pertinent part), these and other change leaders at the SEC should be able to graft the new practices onto the old roots while killing off the inconsistent pieces. The important thing will be for the SECs change leaders to continue to remember the organizations heritage and link it to the organizations new and ongoing operations and objectives.

Observation Of Professional Social Work Practice

Observation Of Professional Social Work Practice Multidisciplinary working is work undertaken jointly by workers and professionals from different disciplines or occupations Pearson Thomas 2010:342 and it has evolved at varying speeds over the past 30 years or so in response to imperatives of central government. Mental health was among the first professions to adopt teams of workers from different professions. The community mental health team is widely regarded as the model for multi-disciplinary working. (Community Care, 2010). Relating this to social work the distinctive quality is demonstrating a holistic approach, by working with a range of situations, people and having an attribute for developing multi-disciplinary and partnerships,(Higham,2006:) c The crisis centre is run by a Local Council and NHS Trust based in a local community. Which corresponds with the 1975 White Paper Better Services for Mentally Ill, professions working together to provide a community based service. (Scie, 2010) The crisis centre provides beds for four adults suffering a mental health, social crisis, who have been referred to them by the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team, the service users for instance can be referred from in their home or accident and emergency. Next they complete an assessment inline with local authority guidelines and procedures, then produce a care plan and risk assessment. If they decide the service user is in crisis and cant return home, then they contact the crisis centre for a place with the goal of leaving the centre after the crisis, normally within two weeks. Once the service user is placed, there are numerous methods of contacts from the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team and social workers through emails, phone call s and visits. During this observation multidisciplinary working was witnessed between the crisis centre staff and the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team about a service user already in the centre through a phone call. The crisis resolution home treatment team seemed to be following the National Occupational Standards key roles section three, by supporting the individual, representing their needs, views and circumstances by acting as an advocate (Higham 2006: 98) as they were informing the crisis centre of what was happening. The crisis centre staff were asking questions in a way that was treating the service user as an individual by listening to their individual case, respecting and maintaining dignity by only asking questions relevant to the crisis centres needs and criteria. They also spoke clearly and discussed the dynamics of other service users (respecting confidentiality) already in the centre declaring any conflict or positive interactions that had arisen since their last visit (GSCC,201 0).These skills are fundamental to social work practice as they are valuing the individual and having a holistic approach. Furthermore, in the 1990s new labour recognised that problems cannot be addresses by people and organisations working in isolation. So the Department of Health 1998 introduced the white paper Modernising Social Services, which had multi-disciplinary working as a key objective. (Wilson, et, al, 2008:388). In 2000 No secrets actively promoted that multidisciplinary teams, empower and promote well-being of vulnerable adults, through the services they provide and the need to act in a way, which supports the rights of the individual to lead to independence. (Department of Health 2000) This was observed, by the service user, crisis centre and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team via staff communicating frequently throughout the day and providing an environment where service users can come and go freely, yet still have support, during their crisis, they were also encouraged to cook and clean for themselves .This was seen during the observation also in Tony Ryans (2010) evaluation of crisis centre and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team, asked service users what they valued best about their stay, their responses I was on the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of depression and self esteem. Now I can cook and iron. It has restored my get up and go. and It is given me a sense of life back and helped me to find myself. I couldnt have gone on any longer. Staff have taught me to cope better and manage my panic attacks. This demonstrates partnership working with the service user and multidisciplinary working. The White Paper Our health, our care, our say also emphasises the importance of people having more control over their lives and access to responsive, preventative services by working together in multidisciplinary teams. (Department of Health 2006). The crisis centre fulfils this. Throughout the day through discussions and observation it appeared that the crisis centre staff and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team encouraged emancipatory practice by involving the service user in their support which shows good practice also staff were not routinized as each day was different, they discussed how each individual was unique with a unique situation. If social workers become oppressed by working in routines this does not always benefit the service user, it is not good practice and is not fundamental to social work values. An example of this was observed when a member of the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team came to the crisis centre and completed a visit with a service user. During her visit to the crisis centre she was constantly contacted from her office through phone calls, one of which was a new service user needing to be assessed urgently, she had already one visit booked in after the crisis centre, but had to re -evaluate her cases as the new referral wa s seen to be more of a priority. She did this by speaking to her manager on the phone and re -arranging for another colleague to see her service user and then asked the office to let the service user know about this change. The above paragraph demonstrates multidisciplinary working and partnership working with the service users are fundamental and collaboration is needed for social work and the interpretation from the staff involved demonstrates good practice. To show the importance of partnership working with service users in the crisis centre Tony Ryan (2010) completed a service evaluation of the crisis centre and Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team, they asked service users how they felt about staff. Service users responses Any questions or anything you are upset over, you can go and ask the staff and Staff are very supportive and help sort problems out. As social work is about working with people to help them to sort their problems out. Also each individual brings unique skills and experience into the working professional relationship. (Thompson. N. Thompson, S. 2008:24) So far this essay has demonstrated positive multidisciplinary working through observation at the crisis centre. However, in reality multidisciplinary working can be negative and can be totally dysfunctional. As when a group of diverse people with varied skills come together into a team, things dont always go smoothly. (Community Care, 2010) Cree, 2003:163 believes that multidisciplinary working can be positive but also frustrating, isolating and difficult. (Dalrymple Burke 2006:139) Wilson et al (2008) also agrees multi disciplinary working does not always work effectively and such failures have been documented in such finding of Victoria Climbie enquiry and baby Peter, lastly Thompson (2005) believes that multidisciplinary can do more harm than good and can make situations worse. During the course of the day it was bought to attention through a staff handover that one of the service users in the crisis centre had at first experienced a positive interaction of multidisciplinary practice, but sadly it turned into a negative experience. Conquesenlty, this seemed due to the breakdown of communication between multidisciplinary teams such as his social worker, Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team, crisis centre staff and medical staff. According to Thompson (2009) without effective communication the notion of multidisciplinary becomes unobtainable. Staff at the crisis centre believed it was due to lack of budgets and lack of communication. During this handover reflective practice was witnessed, as, as a team they spoke about what, why and how things had gone wrong for the service user and how they could approach the situation to get the best outcome for the service user. The staff at the crisis centre spoke about how they valued supervision meetings as it gave them the chance to voice any concerns they had and also gave the manger chance to deal with any systematic practice that was leading the staff to become unfocused. (Thompson. N. Thompson, S. 2008). As supervision meetings demonstrate good practice and in social work codes of practice, developing ones self through development opportunities to strengthen skills and knowledge. This essay has demonstrated through observation that it is important to work with other professionals as one person cannot solve another persons problems and dilemmas alone (Thompson. N. Thompson, S. 2008:19) and that multidisciplinary working is a fact of live for social workers and many other professionals also, this essay showed a balance outlook on multidisciplinary working as it has positive and negative points.

Chinese Pottery Essay -- essays research papers

Chinese pottery The earliest Chinese pottery of which we have any records is the Neolithic ware from the river plains and loess highlands of north and north-west China. It was made between 5000 and 2000 B.C. and contains bowls, jars, pots and beakers of low-fires earthenware. This pots were not turned on a wheel but were buildt up by what is known as the Coil Method. That is, a long sausage of clay was wound carefully up into a coil shape and this coil was smoothed and patted by hand into the shape of a pot.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the T’ang Dynasty China became the greatest and most widespread empire in the world . T’ang pottery is powerful and lively with sweeping sinuous curves while its decoration is often made up of flamboyant shapes and contrasting colours.   &...

The Missed Fly Ball :: Personal Narrative Essays

The Missed Fly Ball    It was only a fly ball, but I missed it.   I missed a fly ball in the final baseball game my 3rd grade year .   It was a beautiful day, a few clouds covering the extremely blue summer sky.   It was very hot. I remember this because of the tremendous amount of sweat that would run down my face while I stood out in right field.   When I heard that crack of the bat, all I could hope for was that the ball would not come my direction.   I have never had good luck, so the ball was coming right for me.   I didn't even have to move, all I did was put my glove in the air and again hope it hit my glove.   It did hit the glove but bounced right out and behind me.   Now all there was to do was pick up the ball and throw it.   It was not this simple for me.   I turned around, bent down for the ball, and after the third try successfully grabbed it and stood back up and prepared to throw.   Well the first thing that came to mind was just to fling it up in the air and hope it makes it to somebody around the base runner.   Considering my previous luck, I just threw it to the first basemen.   The throw was not any better then the catch.   It landed 5 feet short and by the time the first basemen recovered the runner had rounded third base and was at least halfway home.   The runner did score on a close play at the plate.   The run gave the other team a two run advantage going into the sixth inning, which was the last in midget league.   I knew at this point I was going to have a hard time facing the other guys on the team after this big let down.   It also made me decide to quit baseball all together.   Since quitting baseball at such a early age I missed on the opportunity to take part in what could have, at one time, been considered America's Pastime.    Once a few years later I started to learn how to play basketball for the first time.   It was just a few friends and myself down at the park shooting hoops.   I wasn't terrible, considering I had never really played before.   We played a few games of Horse and a few other simple shooting games.   I wasn't the best but I wasn't always last.   I was doing good until someone suggested we play twenty-one.

The Nirvitarka Concentration as Represented In Narayans Mr Sampath Ess

The novels of R.K. Narayan reflect that Indian sensibility which has been acquired through the ages from the wisdom of Indian philosophical thought that has been continually enriched since the ancient times but which had receded since colonization. Narayan adopts this 'theoretical base of the Indian philosophical tradition to retrieve and reconstitute a sense of Indianness. Perhaps, this is why he has proved to be "the most lasting, highly rated and widely accessible, while his writing is the most consciously rooted in local circumstances, traditions and values" as claimed by Dennis Walde(694). Meenakshi Mukherjee had earlier recognized Gandhi as having reached the state of Jeevan Mukta as depicted in Waiting for the Mahatma (Mukherjee 99-100). Even V.P. Rao observed that "Krishnan practices some sort of yoga. He goes through the... The last three stages of Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi."(Rao 32)Taking this a priory. I attempt to evaluate Srinivas of Mr Sampath on the scale of Patanjal i's Nirvitarka concentration as mentioned in his Yogasutra. Before embarking on the venture of interpreting Srinivas's experience of undergoing Nirvitarka concentration during an exorcist's ritual, it is imperative to have an overview of Patanjali's Yoga philosophy, of course, in a nutshell. Throughout this paper I have referred to P.N.Mukerji's translation of Patanjali's Yoga-sutra as well as of the commentary on Yoga philosophy by Swami Hariharananda Aranya. In his Yoga-sutra Patanjali expounds the theory of controlling the mind in order to know the Self. As he says, ;ksxfpÙko`fÙkfujks/k% (Aranya 7) Yoga is the discipline of restraining the fluctuation or modification caused due to the occupation of the mind. The occupation of the mind is to create t... ...his family, at the crucial moments of their life by acquiescing to take care of his father in the absence of Ravi and his mother when she takes Ravi to the tantric's village Works Cited Aranya,Swami Hariharananda.Yoqa Philosophy of Patanjali Trans.P, N.Mukerji.Calcutta: University Press, 1963. Bowling,L.E. "What is the Stream of Conscious Technique." Critical Approaches To Fiction. Ed.Shiv K.Kumar and Keith Mckean. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2003.331-345. Mukherjee,Meenakshi. The Twice Born Fiction. New Delhi: Heinemann, 1974. Narayan,R.K. "Mr. Sampath." The World of Malqudi. Ed.S.Krishnan. New Delhi: Viking, 2000. Rao,V.P. "The Art of R.K.Narayan." The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 5(1968) 32-35 Warder, Dennis. Post-Colonial Literatures in English: History, Language, Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.Ind.Rpt.2002.

B. Will the Economy Falter? Essay

The U. S. is now in its fifth straight year of economic growth. (There was a brief recession back in 2001. ) It has been observed over the last 60 years economic that recoveries on average last only five years. Once the five-year mark is reached, an economy typically runs into trouble. Cracks and strains start to appear. Inflation pressures build, interest rates move higher, housing weakens and business inventories begin to swell. On the media pundits utter the â€Å"R† word (recession) more frequently at this juncture. So the obvious question is: If the present recovery is five years old, is this economy now in jeopardy? The answer, fortunately, is no. Some sectors, like housing, are showing signs of tiring. Even the pace of job creation has been slowing the last four months. However, when diagnosing the health of an economy, it is vital to differentiate between an economy that is merely slowing to a more moderate and sustainable pace — from one where fundamentals have so deteriorated that a recession is all but inevitable. All evidence this time points to the former, namely that the economy remains in sound health with the business cycle far from over. The economy has indeed performed very well so far in 2006. Growth surged an estimated 4. 5% annual pace in the first half — despite high energy prices and rising interest rates. Inflation, though slightly higher than what the Federal Reserve prefers, is still quite benign. Companies continue to focus on operating more efficiently and raising productivity levels. Job creation, which has been disappointing recently, is still running at an average of nearly 150,000 a month, very near the level of 165,000 per month seen in 2005. S&P 500 earnings are expected to increase by 11% in the second quarter, after a 15% jump in the first three months (Baumohl).