Beyonce by Beyonce free essay sample

Her name is everywhere, from magazine covers to highway billboards to television commercials. Although her album was released without any promo, its no surprise that Beyonce is taking over the world with her inspiring, soulful music. The R/pop stars innovative 5th studio album titled Beyonce proved that the number 1 spot on the charts belongs to her. Beyonce surprised her fans and the rest of the world with her new self-titled visual album on December 13, 2013. Unlike any other of her previous recordings, Beyonce presents music videos (recorded in New York, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Sydney) that go along with all 14 tracks, including three additional clips. With this album, the star exposes a side of her previously unknown to her fans, producing empowering songs with themes such as feminism, sexuality and family. Well-known rappers, Jay-Z, Drake, and Frank Ocean, are featured on 3 tracks, as well as her 3 year old daughter. We will write a custom essay sample on Beyonce by Beyonce or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This CD is by far Beyonce’s most experimental album, including the alternative RB genre in addition to electronic and soul elements. Her seductive and powerful vocals compliment the music very well as the singers silky voice goes along with the melody of the songs. Funky drum beats and grooves accompany almost every song, creating the perfect rhythm for tapping your foot along with the track. Beyonce’s creativity really shines through with the addition of audio snippets of beauty pageants in â€Å"Ghost/Haunted† and â€Å"Pretty Hurts† and camera flashes in â€Å"Partition.† â€Å"Drunk In Love,† â€Å"XO,† â€Å"Partition/ Yonce,†and â€Å"***Flawless† are easily the album’s most recognizable tracks with their infectious choruses. â€Å"Drunk In Love† is an alluring and provocative piece, beginning with a Middle Eastern-esque melody and transitioning to Jay-Z’s notable rap verse. ***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie makes everyone sing I woke up like this during the chorus and listening to Adichies influential feminist speech about how society perceives women towards the end. The first song on the album, Pretty Hurts,† and the second song ,â€Å"Ghost/Haunted,† are by far the most beautiful. Beyonce’s empowering tone in â€Å"Pretty Hurts† as she sings about the beauty standards women are expected to follow (Blonder hair/flat chest/ Vogue says â€Å"Thinner is better†) and then reassures listeners that â€Å"Perfection is a disease of the nation† is what really makes the song unlike any other self-confidence boosting song on the charts. â€Å"Ghost/Haunted† is a song that will surely give listeners goosebumps. This half-sung half-spoken piece has a haunting melody that supports the hair-raising, deep vocals that sing about the working class. Beyonce chants that people in the world â€Å"work 9 to 5 just to stay alive† to an electronic beat. Beyonce debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, making the icon the first woman in the music industry to have all 5 of her critically acclaimed albums take the top spot in the first week. Its clear that Beyonce rules the industry, and she won’t be stepping down from the throne anytime soon.

Pros and Cons of Tracking in Our Education System

Tracking in education system refers to a concept of grouping learners according to their academic abilities (Education Week, 2004). In tracking system, learners are grouped and categorized into different classes according to their intellectual abilities (Education Week, 2004).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Pros and Cons of Tracking in Our Education System specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This means that a certain class will only have learners who have same abilities. In this paper, we will assess the advantages and disadvantages of the tracking system in education as we try to investigate whether the system encourages or discourages racism in the US. The tracking system has both strengths and weakness. Scholars argue that one of the advantages of the system is that it allows instructors to determine teaching methods and the teaching pace. For talented students, the system favors them in that the teacher is able to meet their needs based on their abilities (Education Week, 2004). For learners with equal abilities, the teacher can efficiently apply certain teaching methods at a certain pace. The system can be reliable for students with special needs since they need certain pace and certain teaching method. Secondly, since the system allows students to be categorized according to their intellectual abilities, it reduces chances of learners loosing self-esteem (Perrucci and Wysong, 2008). Once students are grouped according to their abilities, they only compare their performance with that of their peers reducing chances of lowering individual self-esteem, which may result from comparison of individual performance with others (Perrucci and Wysong, 2008).Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More If low-performing students compare themselves against highly performing students, they may lose confidence and reduces chances of improving academically. In addition to this, this system of education allows gifted students to improve in terms of academic achievements (Education Week, 2004). According to a research, when talented learners were tracked they produced better results than similar-ability learners in non-tracked system of education did (Kulik and Kulik, 1992). In a tracked system, when talented students spend more time with their peers with similar abilities, they tend to improve their attitude and consequently improving performance. However, when they are mixed with less gifted students, the high-ability learners tend to achieve lower grades. The system tends to be good for talented students (Education Week, 2004). On the other hand, the system has a number of weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that, the highly performing, successful, and experienced teachers are usually assigned to highly performing classes while inexperienced tutors are assigned low-performing classes (Perruc ci and Wysong, 2008). Therefore, the system favors unfair placement of tutors. Another major disadvantage of this tracking system in education is that it may lead to cases of stigmatization of low-performing pupils (Perrucci and Wysong, 2008).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Pros and Cons of Tracking in Our Education System specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Because of widespread stigmatization, such low-performing students tend to develop negative attitude worsening the situation. A research conducted revealed that such students tend to feel that they are â€Å"doomed† or it is their destiny to perform poorly. This is also because their teachers tend to impose this attitude upon them. Finally, the tracking system in education tends to group students according to social class, economical status, and ethnicity among other factors (Farley, 2009). It appears that high-performing class is only composed of stude nts from high-income families while low-track class appears to be composed of learners from low-income earners (Farley, 2009). Mostly, low-income earners are African Americans and hence the system is discriminating. This grouping of learning does not really reflect the academic performance (students’ abilities). In conclusion, the tracking system of education is one system that definitely supports issues of discrimination considering that it categorizes students based on race, social-status, and other minority aspects. In general, the system brings segregation among learners based on race and social-economics status, which is one form of discrimination. The opinion is that, low-performing students should be encouraged by raising performance standards for them and may be by using reward system to encourage them achieve academically.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reference List Education Week. (2004). Tracking. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/tracking/ Farley, J.E. (2009). Majority-Minority Relations. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice hall. Kulik, J., Kulik C. C. (1992). Meta-analytic findings on grouping programs. Gifted  Children Quarterly 36 (2): 73–77. Perrucci, R. Wysong, E. (2008). New Class Society: Goodbye American Dream?  Maryland: Rowman Littlefield. This essay on Pros and Cons of Tracking in Our Education System was written and submitted by user Paulina Herman to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

How to Use French Double Negatives

How to Use French Double Negatives Grammarians insist that two negatives make a positive. While this may be true in English, in French two negatives usually make a stronger negative. Double negation is very common in French, particularly informal French. However, there are some rules and regulations when using double negatives in French. Double Negation With N e... Pas When ne... pas is used in a double negative with rien, it negates rien so that the meaning is not nothing:Ce nest pas rien.Its not nothing Its something.Ne... pas cannot be used with aucun, jamais, or personne.Wrong: Je nai pas aucun ami.Right: Je nai aucun ami.I have no friends.Wrong: Je ne veux pas jamais grandir.Right: Je ne veux jamais grandir.I never want to grow up.Wrong: Je nai pas vu personne.Right: Je nai vu personne.I didnt see anyone. Double Negation With​ ​Ne... Jamais and Ne... Plus Jamais and plus can be used with one another and with the negative words aucun, personne, and rien.On ne voit jamais aucune perfection.One never sees any perfection.Literally, One never sees no perfection.Je nai jamais blessà © personne.I have never hurt anyone.Literally, I have never hurt no one.Je nai jamais rien volà ©.I have never stolen anything.Literally, I have never stolen nothing.Je nai plus aucun argent.I dont have any money any more.Literally, I dont have no money any more.Je ne peux plus jamais lui parler.I can never talk to him again.Literally, I cant never talk to him again.Je ne vois plus personne.I dont see anyone any more.Literally, I dont see no one any more. Ne... Pas Que Ne... pas que is a special case. The negative adverb ne... que means only, so ne... pas que means not only:Il ny avait que des hommes.There were only men. vs.Il ny avait pas que des hommes.There werent only men.Je ne regrette quune chose.I regret only one thing. vs.Je ne regrette pas quune chose.I dont regret only one thing.

How does Shakespeare present the relationship between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the early part of the play Essays

How does Shakespeare present the relationship between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the early part of the play Essays How does Shakespeare present the relationship between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the early part of the play Paper How does Shakespeare present the relationship between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the early part of the play Paper Essay Topic: Romeo and Juliet In the 16th century a patriarchal society, where men dominated women, meant that women had very little say in marriages. When Shakespeare first introduced ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the first time their type of relationship was unheard of and controversial. Arranged marriages were very common at the time depending on your social status and love had no meaning. Women had no rights and were viewed as the ‘property’ of the husband. Men also had no respect for women and often raided other villages for wives. At the time marrying at the age of 12 appeared to be normal, however now is frowned at, yet viewing this from an undeveloped, cultural country would still appear to be normal. Shakespeare presented relationships by the way the characters interacted, using dramatic devices and also further enhanced it with the backdrop feud. The males in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ are usually portrayed as aggressive, competitive and violent; on the other hand women being the weaker and subordinate sex are dominated by the male. ‘Tis true; and therefore women being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall;† From this scene you can see that women are being seen as weak and are not worth the males time so will be pushed up against the wall. Women are perceived as the males ‘property’ and are expected to listen to them without question. Also the males are the more dominant gender throughout the play. Shakespeare was presenting the play as it was; the stereotypical image of men being boisterous and women who had no right or owned anything. Shakespeare portrayed Romeo and Juliet as equal instead of the stereotypical imbalance of equality of the 16th century. At the beginning of the play you can see a disheartened Romeo. He thinks he has fallen in love with Rosaline when in actual fact he hasn’t. â€Å"Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! † Romeo is depicted as a ‘typical Petrarchan lover’ where he loves Rosaline but she doesn’t love him back because she wanted to remain a celibate. Romeo does not actually love Rosaline as when he later meets Juliet he forgets Rosaline very quickly and shows a more passionate love towards Juliet. Shakespeare emphasises Romeo’s love by using an oxymoron, which creates a paradoxical image in the readers mind confusing them and generates a new concept or meaning. Romeo’s relationship with Juliet was love at first sight. Their love for each other was passionate instead of being forced like it usually was at the time. â€Å"If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this†. The social context at the time meant that love marriage wasn’t common however Romeo and Juliet immediately fall in love when they first meet each other. Juliets love for Romeo is innocent as she is inexperienced in the topic of love, whereas Romeo falls in and out of love easily and immediately wants to marry her. Romeo compares Juliet to a holy shrine and offers his lips as pilgrims to kiss her. Here, Shakespeare is using religious imagery to show that their love for each other is pure and good. He is also subverting the gender roles, undermining the established social context, where the male is dominant but here Juliet is the more dominant character. The famous balcony scene from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is one of the most romantic scenes in the play. â€Å"It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon†. Here Romeo is comparing Juliet to a sun; he is saying that she is a bright angel and more beautiful than the moon. Previously Juliet was compared to a shrine and now to a sun portraying how Romeo feels for Juliet and how what position he has for Juliet in his heart. Furthermore, Shakespeare is using a metaphor to portray that everything revolves around Juliet and she is a life-force. Again, Shakespeare is subverting the gender roles; he is making Juliet the powerful character. You can see this by the positioning of Romeo, on the ground, and Juliet higher up than him, in the balcony, symbolising she is more dominant. Further proof of this is Juliet making daring actions, such as asking Romeo to marry her. To conclude the significant thing I notice is the context during which the play was written. It was ground-breaking in the sense of how Shakespeare presented relationships and gender roles and portrayed them so realistically. It was rare for such a play to be released with such passionate romance. Personally, this play has highlighted how lucky we are in the modern society, to be able to have the freedom to fall in love with who we want. However, the fact remains that this still is an on-going problem in third world countries where they are retaining the tradition of arranged marriages. So this cannot come as a shock because gender stereotypes still exist in cultural families, even though we are unaware of it living in a developed modern society.

Report on article Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Report on article - Case Study Example There are four basic management styles described in the management literature: Each of these styles has certain advantages and drawbacks, and there is no way to objectively compare their effectiveness: in some organizations directive democrats may be more successful than permissive democrats, in other organizations directive or permissive autocrats may exhibit high effectiveness, and visa versa. Effectiveness of the management style directly depends on the type of organization and nature of work performed. The style of permissive democrats seems to be the best solution for the Department of Justice filled with highly skilled professionals. The involvement in planning and decision making provides them with the sense of belongingness to work and they demonstrate more commitment in performing their duties. However, the style of permissive democrats has one essential limitation: active involvement of the subordinates in the process of decision making, coupled with lack of strict control often produces a deceptive impression that the manager adopts a laissez-faire attitude and simply does not perform his direct functions, namely controlling (Muczyk, 2004). Probably this confusion can be held responsible (at least partially) for the failure of Eileen to keep obey the rules. However, the fact that 8 other members of the team did not have similar problems with discipline suggests that Eileen's case is unique in this organizational setting. Therefore, as a new manager for strategic planning and design within the department of justice, my first step will be to closely analyze the system of relationships established and maintained by my predecessors within the team. The analysis will largely focus on defining the style of management keeping in mind that highly experienced, skilled and responsible employees do not require excessive supervision and control, unless in emergency cases. The next step will be to work individually with Eileen and her colleagues in order to find out the reasons for her misconduct. A series of individual interviews is likely to provide rich and very useful information necessary to find out whether Eileen is a victim of some subjective prejudice or stereotype or she does have some personal problems which prevent her from becoming a full member of the team. Probably, there is a person within the team that maintains negative view of Eileen and successfully promotes this view among other members of the team. At this point the manager should keep in mind that his position does not automatically make him a leader - the most influential persons within the team. The so-called 'workers of influence' theory is particularly important to understand the distinction between managers and leaders. The key

Archplot in the film Die Hard Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Archplot in the film Die Hard - Movie Review Example These struggles must represent the protagonist's particular desire to achieve his objectives against the antagonistic force. There is a linear time frame which characterises the temporal features of the story. This linear time frame is produced as a result of discrete and causally related events. The final feature of the Archplot is the nature of the story's ending. The ending leaves no room for doubt as to the fate of the characters. The ending, in short, is characterised by a finality which cannot be altered. This essay will argue that, in nearly all respects, the Die Hard screenplay conforms closely to the main features of the Archplot. This screenplay pursues the fundamental features noted by McKee, and a textual analysis of the screenplay will be employed to analyse each of these features of the Archplot, respectively. There is a preliminary question as to whether the main protagonist is active or passive. The protagonist in Die Hard is John McClane, a New York City police officer. The script introduces him as "mid-thirties, good-looking, athletic and tired from his trip" (Die Hard: 3). He has a Beretta pistol visible through his open jacket and, in an early attempt to establish the protagonist as an active character, the script contrasts him with a fellow airline passenger when "McClane turns, looks at the Babbit clone next to him. Caught, he tenses, holds his armrests in exaggerated fear" (Die Hard: 3). The Babbit reference is to a famous American literary work which bemoans the passivity and the helplessness of the working man. The physical description of the protagonist, the gun, and the explicit literary reference seek to immediately establish McClane as the anti-Babbit, or the opposite of passive and helpless. McKee establishes various guidelines, or commandments if you will, for creating an active protagonist within the Archplot framework. First, the action must always be within the control of the protagonist. This does not require that the protagonist drive the action forward, indeed the protagonist may be placed in a reactionary role, but that the protagonist is always connected in some way to the plot as it unfolds. Second, the plot must pose challenges and obstacles for the protagonist; in this way, an active protagonist is one whom is presented with barriers to the achievement of certain goals and objectives. Finally, the active protagonist is characterised by an event or a situation which throws his life out of balance or in some other way renders him vulnerable to an antagonistic force. The John McClane character conforms extraordinarily close to McKee's notion of an active protagonist. Die Hard begins and ends with the protagonist. John McClane comes to Los Angeles, becomes embroiled in an adversarial conflict, reigns supreme in the conflict, disposes of the adversary, and then continues to enjoy the original purpose of his visit. As an initial matter, McClane is perfectly tailored for the conflict which he encounters, describing himself as "a New York cop who used to be a New York kid, and I got six months backlog of New York scumbags I'm still trying to put behind bars. I don't just get up

Rookie of the Year Essay Example for Free

Rookie of the Year Essay We face racism, prejudice and stereotypes every day in our lives. We may not initially recognize these three acts, but subconsciously we know they exist. At some point in our lives, we have all experienced racial slurs, segregation and grouping of people one way or another. These ignorant feelings are portrayed well in the movie Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film depicts racial and social tensions in Los Angeles and involves several characters of different races. The plot evolves quite rapidly and shows just how their seemingly different lives intertwine. The movie’s title is not based on a simple car crash; it actually originated from cultures and races â€Å"crashing† or colliding with each other. Crash is the perfect analogy of how the human race deals with the intricacies of life. These intricacies are felt by interacting with the people around us and those experiences shape our views and actions. Experiences can certainly change our racial views. A prime example of this is viewing all Middle Eastern people as terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. This example significantly shows the lack of tolerance of racial differences that are formed based on generalizations and stereotypes. This difference is displayed throughout the movie Crash. Officer Tommy Hanson, a white rookie cop played by actor Ryan Phillipe, is originally the partner of veteran Officer John Ryan, played by Matt Dillon. As a policeman serving and protecting all of the people of Los Angeles, Officer Ryan is a white â€Å"racist prick† and this bothers Officer Hanson. In their first scene together, the two policemen were off on their evening patrol when they came upon a black Lincoln Navigator. The interesting part was that a Navigator had been reported stolen earlier. Despite discrepancies in both the descriptions of the carjackers and the license plate numbers, Officer Ryan shone his bright lights on the car. As a result, they observe an African American women jump up suspiciously. Ignoring Officer Hanson’s plead to refrain from pulling them over, Officer Ryan proceeds anyway. The driver, TV producer Cameron Thayer, was cooperative but his wife, Christine, had a few drinks earlier and became argumentative with Officer Ryan. Christine exclaims that she and her husband were merely pulled over by the color of their skin. Thus, Christine continues to fight with Officer Ryan. This frustrates Ryan so as the situation escalates, he purposefully makes Christine uncomfortable in a routine pat down. Ryan touches her inappropriately and put his hands inside her dress. Cameron, completely embarrassed, does nothing to defend his wife. After this incident, Officer Hanson becomes disgusted with Officer Ryan. Officer Hanson becomes so appalled that he visits his Lieutenant, Dixon, and requests a new partner. Dixon fearful of losing his job over a rookie cop informs Hanson the only way to get away from Officer Ryan is to use a medical excuse that will allow him to drive his own patrol car. After Officer Hanson and Lieutenant Dixon come to an agreement, Hanson runs into his old partner Officer Ryan in the parking lot. Officer Ryan emotionally tells him, â€Å"Wait till you’ve been doing it a little longer. You think you know who you are. You have no idea! † This foreshadowing farewell hints that the rookie’s untarnished views may soon change with more experience and time in the police force. After Officer Hanson is on his own patrol, he receives a police scanner â€Å"call† about a black Navigator. Officer Hanson arrives at the scene and quickly realizes it is Cameron again. Unlike the first time, Cameron becomes uncooperative with the police and begins threatening them. As a result, police threaten to shoot the TV producer but Officer Hanson steps up to radically defend Cameron. Officer Hanson asks for a minute to talk with Cameron saying he is an old friend. It seems Officer Hanson felt bad from the first time he stopped Cameron, and he tries to make it up to the producer. Officer Hanson tries to calm Cameron down and guides him back to his car. In this encounter, Cameron acted like a completely different person than Hanson had met the first time. Officer Hanson could not understand why Cameron was acting this way towards the officers. The only idea Hanson could think of was that Cameron was acting out to the policemen because Officer Ryan had acted inappropriately with his wife Christine. Officer Hanson saved Cameron’s life since the other officers were threatening to shoot him but Cameron was let go with another warning thanks to Officer Hanson. In the final scene, Officer Hanson finds a man hitchhiking on the side of the road. The man’s name is Peter and Hanson stops and offers him a ride. The two begin having a normal conversation until Peter sees Hanson’s St. Christopher figurine on the dashboard. Peter instantly starts giggling and starts reaching into his pocket; Hanson does not understand this reaction and demands Peter to explain. Peter, however, continues to giggle and puts his hand in his pocket. Consequently, Officer Hanson feels threatened by the movement and shoots Peter. This fear may in fact emanate from a stereotypical view. Officer Hanson may not feel he is racist, but he has developed stereotypes during the course of his career. These stereotypes and conflicting views are obviously what Officer Ryan was referring to in their final meeting. It turns out that Peter was only reaching in his pocket for his own St. Christopher figurine and wanted to show Hanson that they had the same one. Unfortunately, Officer Hanson panics and dumps Peter on the side of the road, then sets his own car on fire and escapes from the scene. Although Officer Hanson may not have been as racist as his ex-partner Officer Ryan, he developed a certain prejudice or stereotypical attitude towards African Americans and obviously random hitchhikers. Racism is not tolerated in our society; in fact it is severely looked down upon, yet people are unable to change their feelings and judgments of people. Even though we are all â€Å"God’s children,† we are distinguished by certain characteristics like the color of our skin. Every race and culture can be viewed differently in society and this certainly applies in Los Angeles. The movie Crash depicted many of these racial views and relayed a resounding message about the negatives of society. Racism and segregation should be eliminated from the real world because all people are created equally. Crash was an influential wake up call to viewers that all people are in fact not treated equally, especially here in America. As shown by Officer Hanson’s negative character progression, even good people can change for the worse depending on their environment and situations. Hopefully in the future this progression is instead positive, and the attitudes toward people of different race, culture, or gender are both improved and accepted with a more open mind.