Essays on Staring

Today, they were burning books. These were the last books on Earth, found in the house on the outskirts of the city. They were creating and, at the same time, listening to the Symphony of Fire, in which every note was a burned paper with empty words, written once by someone.

Does it really matter?

Does it really matter what was inside these books when outside, there is so much fun glancing at dancing flames destroying a relic of the past? For them, it was more important to find every hidden book, throw down imaginary idols from their pedestals, tear apart books with ...

The first time I visited my girlfriend’s mother, I found a hole on my socks when I took off shoes The big day had come, finally my girl friend’s perfect strict mother took some interest in knowing more about me. I was invited to my rich girl friend’s bungalow. In fact palace would be the right word. I was busy rehearsing in my mind on my greeting lines which would impress Clara’s mother straight away. After all it was almost like impressing a queen. I wanted everything to be just perfect. I was telling myself ...

Introduction

The story that had impressed me in my recent readings is ‘Heal,’ written by Ankit Raj Bachchan on a short story website, because of its simple, concise, direct and clear narrative. The story was selected as story of the month in July 2012 and had been listed as the Editor’s pick. The theme as the name suggests is about healing. The story is about the narrator, a lady, whose name is not specified, bereaving the loss of Adi, her husband. The story opens with her standing at a seaside home, with coffee in her hand. It is then ...

One effective aspect of the story is the use of conflict between Sonny boy and his community. Examples of the conflict can be seen with the treatment of Grandma Sooky, Old Jason, and Clara. Grandma Sooky is always telling Sonny to stop looking at the moon, Old Jason tries to convince him to pick up a plow, and Clara is in love with him, yet he does not propose to her. These conflict all shape and give meaning to the story. First, Grandma Sooky want him to be conventional and follow religious rules not the moon "Devils". However, Sonny ...

Social Norms

The non-breaching experiment included being verbal during what were normally verbal orders in public places. The employee would have no knowledge of a disability on my behalf, and I would not use words or sign language of any kind to distinguish myself from those who hear and those who do not. Instead, I would simply enter various places and write my order down on a slip of paper, handing it to the employee without entering into a verbal exchange on my end. During my first interaction, the employee asked me how they could help me and I had written ...

Observation Sheet

Researcher: NAME Confederate: Steven (friend) Observational time period: approximately 35 minutes Norm Broken: reading an erotic magazine in a public transport Page #_________ Assumptions – hypothesis – research question “Norms serve a basic human social function, helping us distinguish who is in the group and who is an outsider” (Wang). Because norm breaking behavior threatens the society, it was assumed that during the observation and because of its’ sexual content, there would be several people, who would be willing to express their anger. The general mass was expected to keep silent, but to initiate visible responses; and approximately 10% of the ...

Q1. What were the three signs that the U.S economy continued to improve at the beginning of 2016? Ans: The three signs that showed that U.S economy improved is the consumer spending which grew from 1.8 % to 1.9 % from the previous year. The inflation rate increased by 0.7% from the year 2015 and the GDP growth rate increased from 2 % in the first quarter to third quarter(“U.S. Economy Staring 2016 on Solid Footing”,2016). Q2. How does the current state of the U.S economy compare to macroeconomic conditions in Japan and Europe? Ans: The U.S economy was more ...

Introduction

Mobile TV technology enables viewing of TV channels on hand-held devices so that people may watch their favorite programs, wherever they are; outdoors or inside speeding vehicles. On one hand the fixed TVs inside homes have evolved into home theaters with large LED screens and quality sound systems. The idea of having visual entertainment inside one’s pocket is appealing. A home television requires a consensus among the viewers on what program should be watched at any particular point in time, a mobile TV enabled viewing of favorite channels without competition. There are two ways of delivering this invention, ...

The fourth season of Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology horror series American Horror Story, subtitled Freak Show, resets its rotating cast of regular actors into a new setting – that of a fictionalized freak show in 1960s Florida. The series capitalizes on the overarching cultural discourse of freaks throughout 20th century media and culture, particularly inspired by the depiction of freaks in Tod Browning’s Freaks and Herk Harvey’s film Carnival of Souls. Over the course of the series, however, the freaks (many of whom are played by people with the actual disabilities and deformities they purport to have) ...

Introduction

Mobile TV technology enables viewing of TV channels on hand-held devices so that people may watch their favorite programs, wherever they are; outdoors or inside speeding vehicles. On one hand the fixed TVs inside homes have evolved into home theatres with large LED screens and quality sound systems and on the other hand the convenience of having visual entertainment inside one’s pocket is appealing. While the big TV required a consensus among the viewers as to what program should be watched at any particular point of time, the mobile TV enabled viewing of favorite channels without competition. There ...