Battle Royal Essays - Nigger, Profanity, , Term Papers

Battle Royal The narrator of "Battle Royal," lived his life under the illusion that everybody had an equal chance in life. He desperately wanted and tried to please everyone, thinking that if he did he would eventually rise and become somebody great. He was a great speaker and his speeches won him great recognition, but he did not realize that nobody took him seriously. He was trapped in a body of inferior qualities and would never amount to anything. The setting of "Battle Royal," was recently after slavery had been abolished. A time where blacks were free, but looked upon and treated with less than equality. The narrator was praised by the whitest of white men in the town, and looked upon as an example of desirable conduct. What he did not understand was that they did not think any more of him than any other black man, he was just another nigger to them. The magnificent blonde that paraded around the middle of the boxing ring was more than just amusement. This was everything that these black men wanted, but would never have. She represented the American dream of power, wealth, and fame. The narrator knew he could never have her, but he looked anyway. "Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked." Pg198. The author had devoted his life to pleasing the white men, so he could speak, to be somebody, but he would never amount to anything. He was their toy. The "Battle Royal," itself was a thorough example of the power that the white man had over the blacks. All ten of the boys were made to go through acts of humiliation before and after they had fought and made to wear blindfolds during the actual fight. The boys were degraded and humiliated throughout the whole event and didn't once think that they were being mistreated. They were scared of the white men and what might happen if they did not cooperate. The boys had been brought in to fight for the men and be nothing more than an amusement. After the fight was over the boys were led to an electrified rug, covered in piles of money, which they were told was to be their reward. There appeared to be quite a sum of coins, crumpled bills, and gold pieces, which turned out to be next to nothing considering the gold pieces were actually brass advertising tokens. The boys had been misled, lied to, and physically abused, but never spoke out against the white men once. The white men knew the could do whatever they wanted and they did. A few days after the fight the narrator had a dream that he and his grandfather were at the circus. "...I dreamed that I was at the circus and that he refused to laugh at the clowns no matter what they did." Pg. 205. This dream was an image of what had happened that night at the "Battle Royal." He was one of the white men sitting in the crowd looking at what had been him and the other boys which were represented by the clowns. His grandfather was trying to show him what he had really looked like that night in the ring. Then he opened his briefcase to read what was inside. He opened the envelope stamped with the state seal only to endlessly find envelope after envelope. His grandfather explained to him that these envelops represented years of his life. Finally the last envelope contained a letter which read, "To Whom It May Concern, Keep This Nigger Boy Running." Pg. 205. This letter represented what the white man wanted for him. They wanted him to become educated and to eventually le ad his people. They figured that they could keep him busy leading his people in circles. To keep them ever chasing their dreams to which they would never catch up with. The narrator had lived his whole life chasing his dreams and continually ignoring the reality of his situation. He thought the white men were helping him to achieve his goals and eventually he would get to where he wanted to be. What he did not realize was that he was doing everything the white man wanted him

Buying Diamonds the Right Way and for the Best Price Essays

Buying Diamonds the Right Way and for the Best Price Essays Buying Diamonds the Right Way and for the Best Price No matter what you see on the internet or read in books, you will never know enough about diamonds. Diamonds are the worlds most precious stones developed over billions of years under the earths surface. The enormous pressure and heat of the earths mantle transforms carbon into diamonds, the worlds most cherished gem. Diamonds are what join two people together in marriage. They are used for special occasions such as, engagements, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, Valentines Day, and so on. But what it comes down to is money. Diamonds probably rank number five in major expenses in your life after housing, college tuition, wedding expenses, and cars. After all of these expenses, wouldnt you want to save some money wherever you can? What many people dont realize is how much they overpay for diamonds. Do you want to overpay for diamonds that sometimes arent even the best quality? I dont think so. This is why you should buy diamonds at a wholesale price from Crystal Gems Inc. My dad is the owner and president of this diamond company. He has been working in the diamond industry for 25 years and has a tremendous amount of experience. He purchases loose diamonds directly from the largest manufacturing companies in India. He is knowledgeable on the 4 Cs, cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. He knows the industry and monitors the market conditions. He purchases diamonds in large quantities so he can get the lowest prices from the cutters. He then sells the diamonds to jewelry stores and the big chain stores at competitive prices. Crystal Gems is a highly reliable organization in Chicago with a great reputation. At Crystal Gems, taking care of customers is their number one priority. They will give you the best quality diamond at a wholesale price. So dont you want a great bargain? Well, good news, you can get that bargain. He can also help you connect with some of the biggest diamond dealers around the world because he has many overseas relationships with other businesses. Getting the right price for your products is very important and is often overlooked. Many times people just grab what they see right away instead of actually doing their research and looking for the best quality at the best price. Dont be an average Joe and hop on the bandwagon. I am a strong believer of getting what you pay for. Blindly overspending money when a little research could save you thousands in the diamond market upsets me. People are throwing away money they have worked hard for without even knowing it. So when you are looking for that perfect diamond make sure you go to Crystal Gems. They will get you the diamond you are looking for at a wholesale price guaranteed. Thank you.

Escherichia Coli bacterium Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Escherichia Coli bacterium - Research Paper Example This bacterium is not completely aerobic that is it can survive in the presence of oxygen and it also has the capability to exist in the absence of oxygen by the process of fermentation. E. coli also has the property of movement though there are certain forms of the bacteria that form exceptions and do not move. The mobility is provided to it by flagellum, which is referred to as peritrichous flagella that is present on all sides of the bacteria. The bacterium does not have the property of forming spores. The bacterium has three antigens present. The antigen which is present on the cell wall of the bacteria is the â€Å"O† antigen, the antigen which is present on the flagellum is the â€Å"H† antigen and the antigen which is found on the capsule of the bacteria is the â€Å"K† antigen. These antigens have great variability with each of them existing in many different forms. This is the reason that E. coli exists in many different forms (Charles Davis; This bacter ia has been associated with many pathological conditions which include the inflammation of the gall bladder, inflammation of the biliary tract, infections of the urinary tract and the blood as well as diarrhea particularly traveler’s diarrhea.... E. coli is also listed as an infection which occurs in the hospital settings and has been associated with an average of 31 percent hospital acquired infections in the United States as well as a cause of diarrhea in 4 percent of the people. The meningeal inflammation that results due to E. coli should not be overlooked because it accounts for 8 percent of the deaths due to this condition and it can also result in pathological conditions of the nervous system (Science Daily; WHO 2005). Pathogenesis: The diarrhea that occurs due to the E. coli is caused by four classes of this bacterium which function in different ways. The first one is the Enteropathogenic E. coli that affect usually infants below the age of two years and hence occurrences are mostly reported from maternity homes. This group of E.coli has the capability of binding to the cells of the intestine and destructs its microvillus which leads to diarrhea. The spread occurs through the consumption of water or via the food that infants consume. (Charles Davis; WHO 2005). The next group of E. coli is Enterocytotoxigenic E. coli. This group is the major cause for traveler’s diarrhea in all age groups. It produces exotoxins which are known as heat labile and heat stable exotoxins. They have an effect on adenylate cyclase and guanylate cyclase respectively. These enzymes lead to a cascade of reactions which cause retention of fluid and electrolytes with the passage of the intestine. This is turn results in diarrhea. The cause for this infection is also via the dietary intake. The world health organization has reported that this group of E. coli accounts for a mortality rate which is very

We Wear the Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

We Wear the Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar - Essay Example This paper will present an analysis of the poem highlighting its meaning and some of the devices used by Dunbar to enhance the theme he developed throughout the poem. From the title of the poem, We Wear the Mask, Dunbar introduces the theme that he wishes to discuss in his poem. In the first stanza, he highlights that the mask they wear serves to help them smile, and deceive the world that they are happy. The same mask serves to keep away their cheeks and eyes from the worlds closer analysis. However, beneath the mask, they are suffering intense pain and grief because of the â€Å"human guile† mentioned in line 3 of the first stanza. Evidently, Dunbar speaks in reference of African Americans suffering from the exploitation of slavery and other evils perpetrated by slave masters hurting the slaves. Despite their suffering, they mask their true feelings and pretend that they are content with the situation just as it is (Dunbar). The second stanza begins with an ironing tone because Dunbar asks why the world should make efforts of being â€Å"over-wise†. This is a pure irony because Dunbar makes it look like considering the grievances of African Americans is going overboard in the realm of wisdom. In his opinion, the world should only remain wise enough to be able to see their smiling faces because they wear the mask. This means that the world will never recognize the deep suffering experienced by the African Americans and will always consider them satisfied with their position as slaves. This also brings in the aspect of racism and the negative effects suffered by the minority groups specifically the African Americans. Although they are discriminated against, they are not allowed to voice out their suffering or even their ideas. In the last stanza, Dunbar highlights that African Americans seek intervention from Jesus Christ, who is the only one who can perceive their true suffering. On the other hand , the world never recognizes their cries

Characteristics Of Good Readers

Characteristics Of Good Readers I can remember those days clearly. As a student in English Teaching major, I always had problems with English literature and it was hard for me to finish reading an English story like elephants like white hills without trouble and difficulty. Once our literature teacher was asking students comments and suggestions about English literature and it was a good time for me to talk about my horrors and troubles with English literature. Whenever Im reading an English story or poem, a sense from deep inside my heart tells me that give it up! You dont have to shoulder this heavy burden! I said. While he had a smile on his face, our dear master answered me: have you ever seen people who are waiting for sunrise in a dessert to see the beauty of twilight? Do you know that their tolerance is rewarded by the most beautiful scene they can have in whole their lives? This statement was so masterly stated that forced me to think of the hidden part of the iceberg! So instead of giving up this beauty of twilight, I tried to get familiar with different reading skills and different processes affecting it and manage the hard task of reading. In fact, reading is a complex skill and good readers should approach reading from three major points of view: From teaching point of view, from different strategies needed, and from different processes required for the selection of materials. Primarily, reading is a skill which is mostly required in academic institutions. To analyze reading from teaching point of view, you should have a clear definition of reading. Different writers and different researchers have different definitions for reading. Christine Nuttall (1996) has given three groups of ideas for reading definition (p.2). The first group deals with reading as a decoding, deciphering, and identifying process. The second one sees it as an articulation, speaking, and pronunciation. The third one has some ideas like understanding, responding, and meaning for reading. We can see that this group of ideas deals with some loaded cognitive processes for reading and it is somehow related to the definition of reading by Perfetti (1984) who defines reading as thinking guided by print (qtd. in Chastain 216). Some people think that reading is a passive skill, because there is no production from the readers side, but Chastain (1988) is against this kind of definition and oppo ses this groups ideas by stating that: Referring to reading as a passive skill perpetuates a misconception that can only mislead students and harm their perceptions of what their rule in their reading process is. Reading is a receptive skill in that the reader is receiving message from a writer. In the past various writers have also referred to reading as a decoding skill. This terminology derives from the idea of language as a code, one which must be deciphered to arrive at the meaning of the message. Although this term points out the active role the reader must play in reading describe the reading process in a way that implies active reader intent upon using background knowledge and skills to recreate the writers intended meaning (p.216). Sengupta(2002) in her longitudinal study tracing conceptual change in developing academic reading at tertiary level has given an interactive model for academic reading in which the readers background knowledge, his risk-taking, and meaning making through this interaction are of primary importance in academic reading. Figure 1 clearly illustrates this relation. H:M.A1st sem researchtahririindex_filesfigure1.gif Undoubtedly, in order to be able to read in a foreign language, before anything, one has to be familiar with the signs and sign systems of that foreign language. Like the children learning their first languages signs, a person who wants to read in a foreign language has to know for example what an X sign stands for. But we should have in mind that children go under several preparatory processes before being able to read a text or a story. To get familiar with some of these multilevel processes, Smith and Elley (1997) conducted a study on teaching reading for children in New Zealand and they reported that: Children are prepared for reading at an early age by listening to stories, being read to, and interacting with adults and others about the stories they hear. This is done not with the main purpose of preparing a child for reading but as a way that parents and others interact with, show affection for, and entertain and educate children. The interaction involves asking questions about what is going to happen in the story, getting the child to complete sentences in a known story, talking about the interesting and scary parts of the story, and generally having fun (qtd. in Nation 3). As you can see in this example, children primarily pay attention to the meaning the sentences have and the form and pronunciation of the sentences may be of little concern for these little children. This awareness of sentence meaning and the techniques used to teach reading makes this kind of reading interaction largely meaning-focused and Nation (2009) states that it includes shared reading, guided reading and independent reading. In shared reading, the learners gather around the teacher and the teacher reads a story to the learners from a very large blown-up book while showing them the pictures and the written words. The second type is Guided reading which can be done silently or with a child reading aloud to a friend, parent or teacher. Before the reading the learner and teacher talk about the book (pp. 3-4). Several researches have shown the effectiveness of this kind of reading. One of them is the research done by Wong and McNaughton (1980): Research by Wong and McNaughton (1980) showed that for the learner they studied, pre-reading discussion resulted in a greater percentage of words initially correct, and a greater percentage of errors self-corrected. The teacher and the learner look at the title of the book and make sure that all the words in the title are known. Then they talk about the pictures in the story and make predictions about what might happen in the story and talk about any knowledge the learner already has about the topic. Important words in the story are talked about but need not be pointed to in their written form. So, before the learner actually starts to read the story, the ideas and important words in the story are talked about and clarified. Then the learner begins to read (qtd. in Nation p.4). The third kind of meaning-focused reading is the independent reading in which the learner chooses a book to read and quietly gets on with reading it. During this quiet period of class time, the teacher may also read or may use the time as an opportunity for individual learners to come up to read to the teacher (Nation, 2009, p. 5). As you saw, learning to read in the first language seems quite easy, but the way in which you learn reading in second language has its own problems. Taken from Nation (2009), some of these problems are illustrated in table 1(p.7): Table 1.1 L1/L2 Differences for an Individual Beginning to Read Characteristics General effects Particular effects L1 beginning readers already know a lot of the language they are beginning to read (sounds, vocabulary, grammar, discourse). L2 learners do not. Learning to read an L2 involves a great deal of language learning. L2 learners need very controlled texts. L2 learners need a greater amount of pre-reading activities. L2 beginners can already read in their L1. L2 beginners have general cognitive skills. They have preconceptions and attitudes to reading. They have language specific skills. There will be interference and facilitation effects between the L1 and L2 L2 beginners do not need to learn what they can transfer from the L1. They may need to change their attitudes to reading. Learners may have to learn a different writing system. L2 beginners are usually older than L1 beginners. L2 learners have greater metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness It is easy to transfer L1 skills. L2 learners can use more explicit approaches and tools like dictionaries. This table has been kept simple by focusing on only one learner who is just beginning to read. It is more complicated if you have several learners with different L1s, different L2 proficiencies, different L1 reading proficiencies, and different motivations for reading. Reading also requires having different strategies. These reading strategies are grouped into different categories, according to the preference of their writers. For example, www.readinga-z.com (n.d), has given the list of following strategies: Making Predictions Visualizing Asking and Answering Questions Skimming and Scanning Retelling and Summarizing Connecting the Text to Life Experiences, Other Texts, or Prior Knowledge Word-Attack Strategies The first one is making predictions. By making predictions, you can make the reading more interesting. Incorrect predictions can signal a misunderstanding that needs to be revisited (www.readinga-z.com). In making predictions, you should have these points in your mind: Look at the pictures, table of contents, chapter headings, maps, diagrams, and features. What subjects are in the book? Write down predictions about the text. During reading, look for words or phrases from those predictions. While reading, revise the predictions or make new ones (www.readinga-z.com). The second strategy is visualizing. In visualizing, the reader uses his mental power effectively and using shapes, spatial relationships, movement, and colors can benefit greatly from this strategy. This strategy also requires having the following points in mind: Imagine a fiction story taking place as if it were a movie. Imagine the characters features. Picture the plot in time and space. Imagine processes and explanations happening visually. Use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to create pictures, diagrams, or other mental images. Use graphic organizers to lay out information. Make sketches or diagrams on scrap paper (www.readinga-z.com). Lets go to the third strategy which is asking and answering questions. Using this strategy you have to ask different questions from yourself while reading and then by answering these questions you can direct your reading. Like the guidelines given in the previously mentioned strategies, readinga-z.com gives the following guidelines to us: Before reading, think about the subject based on the title, chapter heads, and visual information. Make note of anything you are curious about. While reading, pause and write down any questions. Be sure to ask questions if there is confusion. Look for the answers while reading. Pause and write down the answers. Were all the questions answered? Could the answers come from other sources? Then we come to the skimming and scanning. Lindsay and Knight (2006) give credit to these skills by saying that: the ability to read something quickly and efficiently is an important skill for learners to acquire. Skimming and scanning are two of this (p.71). They define skimming as the reading for gist without trying to understand everything in it. In this process, you read through the text to get a general idea of what it is about, while in scanning you want to find out about something specific, for example get a particular piece of information from a text (Lindsay and Knight, 2006, p.72). The next reading strategy is Retelling and Summarizing during which you have to paraphrase the written materials and summarize it and be able to discriminate between main ideas and minor details (readinga-z.com). In this strategy, readinga-z.com recommends us to pay attention to the following points: During reading, note the main ideas or events. Put a check mark in the book or write a note to point out a main idea. At the ends of chapters or sections, review the information or story. Note main ideas or events and the details that support them. After reading, retell or summarize the text. Focus on the important points, and support them with relevant details. Refer to the book to check the retelling or summarization. The last point to mention in the reading strategies refers to the use of word-attack strategies which help students decode, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words. They help students attack words piece by piece or from a different angle (readinga-z.com). Using word-attack skills, you can reduce the difficulties of reading process. Reducing the scale of the problem by ignoring inessential words is the first step. Next, students must require strategies for dealing with lexical items that really block comprehension (Nuttall, 1996, p.69). Here we shall discuss three kinds of them: the first is the interpretation of structural clues by looking at the position of a word in a sentence, inference from context is the next which is a skill we have in our L1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and for less fluent students conscious use of it is valuable. By using it, they can get a meaning not necessarily completely accurate, but enough for their purpose (Nuttall, 1996, pp.69-72). Using a dictionary is the last skill the use of which is both discouraged and encouraged. It is discouraged because of the usual tendency to use them far too often (Nuttall, 1996, p.76). I think there is no need to explain why a dictionary is encouraged. For using a dictionary, Nuttall (1996) emphasizes the implementation of the following steps: The first step towards using the dictionary as a tool instead of a crutch is to decide which word to look upand to accept that they should be as few as possible. Having decided to look up a word, we want to do it quickly and to make the best use of the information in the dictionary (p.76). It is necessary to have continual insistence on the use of this skill. This means you should make frequent use of the dictionary in class (even though it is quicker to give the meaning yourself); and that it should be the student who select the appropriate definition (Nuttall, 1996, p.76). Among the others, Krashen and Terrell (1983) outline the following communicative reading strategy: 1. Read for meaning 2. Dont look up every word 3. Predict meaning 4. Use context (qtd. in Chastain 225) Finally, we come to the selection of materials for reading. Selection of appropriate reading materials is a crucial component in the establishment of a productive reading program (Chastain, 1988, p.231). Defending the place of the selection of the materials, Doff(1988) has given some factors for the selection of materials to consider: In normal life, we do not normally read because we have to but because we want to. We usually have a purpose in reading: there is something we want to find out, some information we want to check or clarify, some opinion we want to match against our own, etc. We also have a purpose in reading when we read stories for pleasure: we want to find out how the story develops, what happens next (p.170). As we can infer from the given text, it is the learners interests and needs which initially shapes the selection of materials, so the first factor to consider in the selection of the appropriate reading materials can be the interests and goals of the learner. Chastain (1988) emphasizes the importance of this point more than linguistic complexity by stating that: With the advent of the concept of reading as taking place within the readers head as he interacts with the words on the page, the readers willingness to continue the process of recreating meaning until the authors message is understood becomes central to reading process. Thus interest in the content rises to a level of importance higher than that of linguistic complexity because no reading will take place if readers are not interested enough to continue reading. However, if they are really interested in knowing what author has to say, they will make every effort to understand the reading (p.231). Here Chastain (1988) raises a question: students interests cover an enormous range of topics, trying to satisfy all would be impossible (p.231). Then, what would we do in selecting materials while at the same time we are going to consider the students interests? The answer is so simple. We can use a variety of procedures to select the reading materials from among the students interests. For example, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they (the teachers) can choose readings with which students have some familiarities, or they can use prereading activities to generate interest and even enthusiasm for the content of selected reading. They can even survey the students interests later in the course and attempt to incorporate into the course reading on some of the mentioned topics (Chastain, 1988, p.231). The second factor in selecting the reading materials is the factor of readability which is determined through linguistic analysis of the authors language (Chastain, 1988, p.232). Nuttall (1996) defines readability as combination of structural and lexical difficulty and further explains that since the language of a text maybe difficult for one student and easy for another, it is necessary to assess the right level for students you teach (p.174). It is obvious that if the text would be beyond the readers power of comprehension, soon he will be frustrated and he may put it aside and, like what I did with the the hills like white elephants! So the text should be analyzed through the factor of readability before being processed by the reader. Readability of a text can be analyzed from many ways. For example computer programs and the way they process the data you when you give the sample from the text. Some readability indexes like Harrison 1980 and Chall 1984 are frequently used to calculate readability (Nuttall, 1996, p.175). As you pay attention to the level of readability of the text, you should also be aware of the other detriment of reading comprehension: Syntactic simplicity. Bernhardt (1948) points out that syntactic simplicity may decrease text cohesion and thereby hinder comprehension (qtd. in Chastain 232). Now, we shall go to the last factor in selecting the reading materials which is the use of the authentic materials. Nuttall (1996) comments that they can be motivating because they are proof that the language is used for real life purpose by real people (p.172). Chastain (1988) defines authentic materials as follows: Generally, any text that an author writes to be able to communicate some message is authentic because it has an authentic purpose and it conforms to authentic language use (p.233). This definition of the authentic materials is different from the definitions given by some other authors who define authentic materials as those texts written for use by the foreign language community, not for language learners (Nuttall, 1996, p.177). Byrnes (1985) clearly explains the reason why some people only label the texts written by native speakers as authentic materials: Due to the problems students have with such texts because they are unfamiliar with the culture, one may think of material written by native speakers for language users as being authentic (qtd. in Chastain 232). Chastain (1988) comments on which types of authentic materials are good for L2 readers specially for students and which types are not by stating that: Supervisors and teachers of language courses may choose more academic types of reading such as articles, essays, short stories, plays, and novels, and these works certainly are important. One purpose of education is to expose students to high quality writing and to stimulating intellectual ideas from the cultures writers. However, never being exposed to some of the more common types of reading that they do in their native culture such as advertisements, notices, TV schedules, bulletins, manuals, programs, newspapers, and menus may result in students who are unable to read things they will need most to be able to read in the foreign culture (p.233). In this paper, we looked at reading from three major viewpoints and the impact they could have on improving the reading. I often use the reading strategies just mentioned in this paper, but whenever a story like elephants like white hills wants to irritate me, a sense from deep inside my heart tells me that give it up!

A Blend of Tradition and the Contemporary

Music has always been a part of the rich Lebanese culture and has played a very important role in many religious traditions. The beautiful rhythm of Arabic tunes mixed with peculiar characteristics of gypsy music in the country proved to be a great blend which resulted to a rich production of intensity that captivates listeners.The characteristic soothing rhythm and wild beats made Lebanese music known around the world. Traditional Lebanese music incorporates instruments such as the oud, the derbake and the ney. These instruments are still being incorporated to pop music that the new generation is enjoying today.The traditional music of Lebanon is usually sung in either Lebanese or Egyptian language. Aside from this, musicians, artists, singers etc, differ on the way they incorporate music to their individual sound.   The artists differ in so many ways. Some artists were known to differ in their music because of their Lebanese dialects. Most are distinct because of their style, the ir sound and instruments.Very few Lebanese musicians try to remain loyal to the traditional music which is called Jabali (of the mountains). One of which is Mohammed El Helani more popularly known as Assi Helani, who is a major music force in the Middle East since the 1990’s. He is a strong musician and follower of the traditional music like mawall and dabke.Dabke, which is usually presented during important and joyous occasions such as weddings, family parties and competitions. This is a very energetic music which usually leaves the audience ‘stomping their feet’-which is the literal meaning of Dabke.Pop music on the other hand is not a new fancy among the Lebanese audience. The growing influence of the western culture made it’s way not only on Lebanese every day living but also on it’s music. Although western pop music is very distinct from Lebanese pop music because it fuses pop melodies and it’s pop-Arabic roots at the same time. The pop music of Lebanon also focuses on the melodramatic melodies and sad states of mind.  Nancy Nabil Ajram is also a popular singer among the Lebanese people. A multi-platinum folk artist, Ajram is considered to be one of the most important superstars ranking 3rd among the best selling female singers of Lebanon. Her style is incorporating the traditional Lebanese music with and infusion of Western culture. Her formula proved to be very potent since most of her followers are the young and old alike of the generation.

Interm Acct Essay

1. What is the defining distinction between for-profit businesses and not-for-profit, including governments? What are the implications of this distinction for financial reporting? Governments and not-for-profits provide services that are targeted to groups of constituents who advocate a political or social cause or who carry out research or other activities for the betterment of society. The objectives of governments and not-for-profits cannot generally e expressed in dollars and cents and are often ambiguous. Government and not-for-profit have relationships (unlike with a business) with the parties providing their resources. 2. Why is the budget a far more important document in both governments and not-for-profits than it is in businesses? Revenues and expenditures are controlled or strongly influenced through the budgetary process. 3. What is meant by â€Å"interperiod equity†? What is its consequences for financial reporting? The term interperiod equity is the concept that emphasizes that entities should not transfer costs eve to future years, let alone future generations. 4. Why may the â€Å"matching concept† be less relevant for governments and not-for-profits than it is for businesses? 5. What is the significance for financial reporting of the many restrictions that are placed upon a government’s resources? 6. Why is it difficult to develop accounting principles that are appropriate for governments within the same category and even more difficult to develop them for governments within different categories? 7. What is the significance for financial reporting of a government’s power to tax? How does it affect the government’s overall financial strength? 8. Why has it proven especially difficult to establish accounting principles that enable governments to satisfy all three elements of GASB’s first objective of financial reporting in a single statement of revenue and expenditures or balance sheet?