Otherness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Otherness - Essay Example The domination of Native Americans by European settlers, relegated them to no longer be masters of their identity. In films and books they were portrayed as savage and ignorant. They met the typical definition of the other in that in the eyes of the dominant group they lacked some â€Å"essential quality† (The Other, 2010). This othering of a group within society has very negative consequences. It is well illustrated in Sherman Alexie’s story â€Å"This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.† This stpry shows readers about life on a reservation. Identity is at its heart; especially the tension between an identity you make for yourself and one that is given to you by someone more powerful. Alexie's story tells the reader a great deal about what life can be like for Native Americans. It shows the serious social conditions on reservations and the breakdown of family relations due to substance abuse and other problems. The truth is that many Native Americans today live in the shadow of a trauma that was done to them many years ago. We have to have a sense of history if we are to understand people like Victor or Thomas Builds the Fire. These are men who are placed outside of society and whose sense of self is shaped not by their own dreams and ambitions but by a relentless effort to define them as others, as not full citizens. It is no wonder that faced with this kind of onslaught so many Native Americans struggle with substance abuse problems. The fact that much of the plot of this story takes place on a reservation is key. The Natives have been separated from the rest of society. They live on their small plots of lands with their own rules. They are not assimilated. In fact, few people know much about them. They are, in a sense, outside of history. History plays a major role in defining identities. What Alexie manages to show us, however, is how the characters in his story are more than blank canvasses or merely Other—they are real l ive human beings, facing their own struggles to shape their own place in the world. They are, for example, still able to forgive one another, as Thomas Builds the Fire is willing to forgive Victor. Thomas is passionate about storytelling—to him it is a ways to find his own place in the world and take some control over his circumstances. This is how a group defined as Others does its best to fight back—by telling its own stories about itself. In this story, it is Thomas who is ostracized on the reservation. Alexie represents otherness through the treatment of Thomas by the band. Anyone who is seen to have an imagination is considered to be different. Thomas tells the â€Å"same damn story over and over again† (Alexie, 62), and for this reason in part is seen to be different. When he breaks his leg, he is hated, for being imaginative enough to embrace his dream, even if only for a moment. This is how otherness is represented. Alexie’s perspective on otherne ss is surely a part of his own personal experiences growing up as an Indian in America. He grew up on a Washington reservation as part of a marginalized community. On top of that, he had a childhood disease which marked him out as different (Konigsberg). These things certainly shaped his relationships with others. He must have felt like an outsider looking in, a victim of other peoples’ preconceptions about him. It is useful to teach our children about these kinds of issues because they crop up everywhere in society. However, the discussion can be a little complex. The

Pet Cemetery :: essays research papers

Pet Sematary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis Creed is a doctor who moves his family to Ludlow, Maine from Chicago because of a job he accepted as an MD at some University. His family (Rachel, his wife, Ellie, his daughter, and Gage, his baby son) are happy about moving, thought they soon will come to have reservations. Both children are hurt on the first day of the move.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Louis makes friends with an old man across the road named Jud Crandall, who promises to show them where the path behind their house leads. It is with these three seemingly innocuous events that the spiral in toward darkness begins.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The path behind the house ends up in a place known to the locals as the Pet cemetary. It is a graveyard for children's pets, most lost to the Interstate Road which seperates the Crandall's and the Creeds' homes. The gravestones are set in a spiraling pattern.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ellie has questions about death terrified that her cat Church will have to go to the Pet cemetary. Louis answers her honestly and later Rachel and him have an argument. She was Scared by the cemetary, and was uncomfortable with the idea of deth in general because at the age of eight Rachel witnessed her sister Zelda die of spinal Problems, an incident which scarred her for life. It only gets grimmer from here.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Louis's first day as a university MD is a horror. A guy named Victor Pascow is run over by a car. Before he dies he gives Creed an message warning him about the Pet cemetary and the grounds beyond.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During Thanksgiving vacation, while Louis's family is away, the cat Church is killed by a truck. Jud offers to help Louis, and brings him to the Pet cemetary. They arrive at the Micmac Indian burial grounds. Jud has Louis bury Church and build a stone cairn over the grave. Slowly Louis realizes the cairns are arranged in a spiral, like the markers at the Pet Sematary. Later, when Louis is home alone, Church returns.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The burial grounds make the dead come to life, but it has greater powers as well. It is a dark and secret place, a place which actually controlls matters of life, death, and obsession. After Church the cat returns he smells bad and acts vicious towards people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the family returns they decide to go to the park for a picnic.

Hippa and Information Technology Essay

In this checkpoint I will be discussing certain questions that involve HIPPA and information technology. With technology growing every single day, there are questions that are always involved when dealing with medical record issues. One question would be what advantages could a standardized medical records database offer? What HIPPA issues could arise? And why do you believe technology in the medical records management industry is so far behind other industries? These are the questions I will be answering in this checkpoint. I will start off by talking about the advantages a medical records database could offer. The main advantage of a standardized medical records database would be the convenience. To be able to locate a file with the push of a button would make work for the staff a lot faster. With paper documents it could take hours for another physician or hospital to obtain the information they would need. Another advantage would be the time it would take for a person to travel to and from their physician office to obtain their records for another facility. What HIPPA issues could arise? The main issue when dealing with medical records being online would be their patient’s information staying safe. In these days too many people are able to access sites and databases that should be secure. With people being able to hack and steal identities, this is a major problem when it comes to HIPPA issues. Another issue that could arise would be a patient not signing the forms to allow information to be posted. If a patient does not sign their name, their information should not be put online or given to any other individual. Who do you believe technology in the medical records management industry is so far behind other industries? I believe that the medical record management industry is behind others is because of security. The information that this industry deals with is very sensitive and should be protected at all costs. There are several laws that are in place to insure the protection of the patients and if any of their information were to be leaked, the facility would be in a position for legal action.

Research Project Advocating For Social Change Essay

Scholar Practitioner Project: Advocating for Social Change A few extra pounds does not suggest one is obese. However it can mean that one does have a tendency to gain weight very quickly. This usually means that there is a more serious need for more diet and exercise. In order for a child to be considered, they have to weight 10 percent higher than what is recommended for their body type and height. Obesity occurs mainly between the ages of 5 or 6 and sometimes during adolescence. Many Americans go thorough being obese during childhood. Doctors have started calling childhood obesity an epidemic. This is because there are a large number of children diagnosed as being obese each year. A small percentage of children, 1% to be exact are actually obese due to health related issues. During the past 30 years childhood obesity has quadrupled in children and adolescents (Ogden, et.al., 2014). â€Å"The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period† (Ogden, et.al., 2014). During the year of 2012, there were one-third of children who were obese. Having an excessive amount of body weight has been defined as being â€Å"overweight.† The excess body weight is a combination of muscle, water, fat and bone (National Institute of Health, 2010). 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