Friday, January 24, 2020

Magical and Sublime Characteristics of A Very Old Man With Enormous Win

Magical and Sublime Characteristics of A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings      Ã‚  Ã‚   "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" is a short fiction story written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1955. It has both characteristics of magical realism and of the modern sublime. Therefore, Magical Realism and the Sublime seem to be related in many ways depending on how a person looks at a story. From all of the research I have read, magical realism and the sublime help to explain the characteristics of one another. This story definitely meets the criteria for magical realism and the sublime because of the many elements described. The very old man with wings, the unusual miracles, the woman spider, and the crab infestation, represent elements of the sublime and magical realism. Marquez makes these magical elements seem like the natural thing to occur. Angels, miracles, crabs, spiders, and money -making events are very real, but in this story he makes them sound so real and normal, whereas in real life they would be crazy and hard to believe. I discovered that that this story is based on a spiritual subject rather than something that is just completely not able to be related to some certain thing or place. Longinus talks about different authors stating that "the import of the sublime is clearly that it plumbs the depths of natural, visible reality to evoke an aesthetic and psychological experience of its hidden and invisible dimension of mystery, magic, and spirituality"(461). Sublime, having spirituality as a characteristic, and magical realism, having magic as a characteristic, are mixed in the story. The very old man with wings is sublime and magical because of its spirituality and the magic he made as he lived in the town. It is a r... ...all based on opinion. I know that there will be many people will place the two genres in different categories based on what they see. When a magical element is given, not everyone gets the same view out of it. I stand by my point, though; magical realism and the sublime are more alike than different. Works Cited Arensberg, Mary. The American Sublime. Ed. Mary Arensberg. Albany; N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1986. 1-5. Faris, Wendy B. "Magical Realism : Post Expressionism. "Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community." Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 163-190. Longinus. On the Sublime. Cambridge. Harvard UP, 1995. Shopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Idea! Philosophies of Art and Beauty. Eds. Albert Hofstadter and Richard Kuhns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976. 448-468.   

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Government Role Essay

The main role of the executive is to preform leadership like duties such as carrying out leadership roles, ceremonial roles, and preforming symbolic. The leadership role demand formulating, articulating, and implementing goals of the political system. The effective chief executive becomes the spokesperson for the people, attempts to invigorate the people’s support for these goals, and then develops strategies that ease their accomplishment. For the most part the chief executive takes the initiative in a policy form. The executive policy leadership is very crucial during times of crisis, because the executive structure has the potential for a level of coherence and consent of action, which is almost always lacking in legislature. In most political systems the chief executive officer has the power to veto the legislation that the legislature initiates, which may be directly or indirectly. The actors in the executive role usually function as the unifying symbol of the entire soci ety, becoming the lead figurehead for the people. The executive presence becomes a central to many of society’s ceremonies and rituals. In the majority of all political systems the executive has the primary responsibility for implementing the laws and policies of political order. Most systems have an executive cabinet in where each member is directly and personally responsible for some of the major areas of administration. However they are supposed to set a broad set of guidelines for policy and implementation and responsibility for any major mishaps that occur. In parliament for examples, the minster of a department will usually resign if there is a serious shortcoming in his or her area of responsibility. The chief executive must set policy and supervise the organization and utilization of the state’s military capabilities, which is a task that can have the most serious consequences for the security, and well being of the society. Along with this comes the supervision of foreign affairs that involves a complicated pattern of meeting officials from other states and deal with national dealings with other nations usually showing some form of cooperation. The British government and the United States government are different in many aspects but yet share many similarities. A prime minister who handles the majority of the executive responsibilities mainly holds Britain’s executive, and of curse the king or queen handles ceremonial responsibilities like a figurehead would. However the United States has a fused executive system in where the president handles both the  head of state and the head of government roles. 2. Democracy has a wide range of meanings, but true direct democracy is a government of and by the people. An alternative concept in which it is pretty clear is representative democracy. This is a system in which the citizens elect people to represent them in the political aspect of things and to express the values on their behalf of society. Another general term to describe this democracy is a republic even though not all republics are democratic and not all democrats are republicans. Electoral democracy is defined as a political system in where all citizens periodically vote in order to elect political leaders in their society. It also seems important to establish that the people have the power to retain or reject those serving as their political leaders. This additional condition, called the limited mandate, means that the electorate grants the authority to rule for only a short fixed period of time, and then the electorate has the opportunity to elect their representatives again. Meaning that if the political leaders do not gain sufficient votes the political leaders will voluntarily resign office. We can also classify a political system called liberal democracy when citizens enjoy not only electoral democracy but also substantial political rights and civil liberties regarding participation, personal freedoms, and oppositions. The United States is considered to have some like similarities in this regard for the notion that its citizens enjoy the freedoms and rights that come along with voting and individual values. A non-democracy is a concept by with all major decisions especially with those that deal with the state is handled by the person or political group in charge of the state in that time. One conventional concept used to define non democracies is a dictatorship. A definition of a dictator might be a ruler with absolute power and authority. Dictatorship may be further defined as the absence of a limited mandate- a critical factor in the definition of democracy. That is, the citizens of that state have no power to remove the person in office or political leadership period. This government type is often time seen as harsh to its citizens and harsh. Totalitarianism, which is a political system that the allocation of values and its control penetrate into almost every aspect of its citizen’s every day lives. The totalitarian political system demands complete obedience to its extensive  rules in culture, economics, religion, and most of all morality. All organizations are subordinated to the totalitarian state. Every activity is under scrutiny by the state in the name of the public interest. The state might define what is ok to watch or be produce in a movie, what acceptable to say in the media, and It even has acceptable behaviors and thoughts for its people. Another concept that falls under the category of non-democratic is Authoritarian regimes. Many authoritarian regimes such as dictatorships lack empowerment. What really distinguish authoritarianism are the political actions and decisions of the ruler, while the political rights and freedoms of the people are significantly limited. In other words under authoritarianism the population has very minimal political rights. An authoritarian regime places many severe restrictions on the activities of individuals and groups who advocate the people on the actions of the political system. The great majority of the populations are not allowed to participate in any political activities except in ways that expressly encouraged by the regime such as mass rallies and speeches. Citizens of such places are not allowed to question th e political intuitions, procedures, or public policies of an authoritarian regime. 3. There are a few different types of states, first there is the unitary state and then there is central government, which holds all legislative power. While the central government has indivisible sovereignty, it can delegate power or functional responsibilities to territorial units, which have names such as department or regions. These peripheral governments serve only at the convenience of the central government, which can revoke their power or functions at any given time. The majority of all citizens tend to identify with the country as a whole, rather than with regional authorities as they should. A federation is divided constitutionally and functions between a central government and the set of regional governments. On the other hand to a unitary state, there is an explicit sharing of power among the levels of government in a federation, and no level has legal power to dominate any other level in all policy domains. There are five major rationales that make up a federation: large size, prior existence of strong states, desire to create unity or accommodate diversity, the desire to concentrate power and resources, and the desire to disperse political power. A federation can be established to prevent the over centration of power in the central government. A confederation is an association in which states delegate some power to a supranational central government but retain primary power. Confederations emphasize on economic cooperation and or military cooperation’s. It is a loose grouping of states in which each state’s involvement membership, and compliance with the central government are conditional depending on the state’s perception of its own national interest.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Is Your House a Mirror of Who You Are

You dont have to be asleep to dream about architecture. Imagine if you could have any house you wanted. Money is no object. You can place the house anywhere in the world (or the solar system, or the universe), and you can build the house from anything you wish—construction materials that exist today or that havent been invented yet. Your building can be organic and alive, synthetic and futuristic, or anything your creative mind can imagine. What would that house look like? What would be the color and texture of the walls, the shape of the rooms, the quality of the light? Psychology and Your Home Do you ever dream about houses, office buildings, public spaces, or what architects call the built environment? What do house dreams mean? Psychologists have theories. Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestation.(Jung) For the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, building a house was a symbol of building a self. In his autobiographical Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Jung described the gradual evolution of his home on Lake Zurich. Jung spent more than thirty years building this castle-like structure, and he believed that the towers and annexes represented his psyche. A Childs Dream House What about the dreams of children, whose houses are shaped like cotton candy, swirling sweets, or doughnuts? Rooms could be arranged in a ring around a central courtyard, and the courtyard could be open, or covered with tensile ETFE like a circus tent, or have a glass roof to maintain the steamy climate and protect exotic endangered tropical birds. All windows in this house would look inward at the courtyard. No windows would look outward at the exterior world. A childs dream house can reveal an introverted, perhaps egotistical architecture, which no doubt expresses the child-self. As we age, our dream houses may become reshaped. Instead of an inner courtyard, the design might morph into sociable porches and big bay windows or large common rooms and communal spaces. The house of your dreams can reflect who you are at any point in time, or simply who you wish to become. House as a Mirror of Self Can we know more about who we are by looking at where we live?(Marcus) Professor Clare Cooper Marcus studied the human aspects of architecture, public spaces, and landscape architecture at the University of California in Berkeley. Shes written extensively about the relationship between dwellings and the people who occupy them. Her book, House as a Mirror of Self explores the meaning of home as a place of self-expression, as a place of nurture, and as a place of sociability. The emphasis here is on the word, home. Marcus is not writing about houses in terms of floor plans, architectural styles, closet space, or structural stability. Instead, she examines the ways these factors reflect self-image and emotional well-being. Marcus, an architecture professor, delves into the realm of psychology, exploring the profound relationship between humans and their shelters. Her ideas are based on interviews with more than a hundred people living in all types of housing. The book isnt just to read, but to play with, mull over, and dream about. Marcus presents a fascinating collection of artwork which illustrates how psychological factors shape the homes we build. Marcus spent years looking at peoples drawings of memorable childhood places, and her book draws on Jungian concepts of the collective unconscious and archetypes. Jung helps Marcus examine the ways children perceive their homes, and the ways our chosen surroundings change as we mature. Photographs of houses and artwork by their occupants are analyzed to explore the complex relationship between the spirit and the physical environment. Once featured on Oprah, House as a Mirror of Self may not be for everyone, but its author will take you to a dwelling youve never before been. The ideas in the book may seem weighty, but the writing is not. In under than 300 pages, Marcus gives us lively narrative and more than 50 illustrations (many in color). Each chapter concludes with an eye-opening series of self-help exercises. While psychologists and architects may benefit from the research findings, the layperson will be enlightened and enriched by the stories, drawings, and activities. A Quiet Dream House Made of natural wood and hovering in the sky, the treehouse above might appear in a dream. This home is no fantasy, however. With 26 timber ribs and 48 timber fins, the cocoon-like creation is a study in silence. The manufacturer, Blue Forest, dubbed the house Quiet Mark after the international organization that promotes noise abatement when designing homes, outdoor spaces, hotels, offices, and products. Blue Forest founder, Andy Payne, brought his treehouse ideas from Kenya, where he was born. The Quiet Mark house was built in 2014 for the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Even in the noise and bustle of London, the treehouse offered profound silence and a glimpse into a faraway place. Payne seemed to draw from his subconscious. What type of homes do your dreams inspire? Learn More: â€Å"How We Design and Build Our Treehouses.† Our Process, Blue Forest, 2019.Johnson, Robert A. Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth. Harper Collins, 1986.Jung, Carl G. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Edited by Aniela Jaffe. Translated by Richard Winston and Clara Winston, Vintage, 1963.Marcus, Clare Cooper, and Carolyn Francis, editors. People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. Wiley, 1998.Marcus, Clare Cooper, and Naomi A. Sachs. Therapeutic Landscapes an Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces. Wiley, 2014.Marcus, Clare Cooper. House as a Mirror of Self: Exploring the Deeper Meaning of Home. Conari, 1995.