Management and auditing Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management and auditing - Article Example iability of the information that IT system supports and the system operate with the required intention to produce reliable outputs (GFS Consulting, 2014). ITGC comprises of the following control types: Secondly, I recommend that the agency adopt IT Application controls. The application is designed and operates automatically in ensuring accurate and complete processing of data. They vary with the type of business and the purpose. Similarly, they are very essential in ensuring the privacy and security of information which are transmitted between applications (GFS Consulting, 2014). There are many types of IT applications and they include: Moreover, there is a need to have IT controls and Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) who will oversee the accuracy, security as well as the reliability of the systems managing and reporting the organizational data. Enterprise Resource Planning System and financial accounting are integrated with the initiation and authorization, processing as well as reporting of financial data. Therefore, they may involve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance to mitigate particular financial risk that the agency may face (GFS Consulting, 2014). I believe additional IT control of the 22 employees will benefit the organization as it will be able to control access to the organizational data. Authorization will be essential in controlling the personnel who are required to access company information. Additionally, the agency will be able to have an automated system which detects and fix problems hence minimizing human interference. Every personnel will have a history on how he or she uses the system, hence helping in making further recommendations and adjustments on how to control the agency

Enhancing Dementia Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Enhancing Dementia Practice - Essay Example w of the most important strategies in Northern Ireland include: educating people about the possible signs and symptoms of dementia, creating a friendly community for people with dementia, creating public awareness about the importance of early diagnosis, integrating a wide-range of services that will support the specific needs of people with dementia, and extending necessary trainings and support of carers of people with dementia. Dementia is often characterised by having memory impairment and increased risk of having aphasia – language deficit, agnosia – perceptual disorder, and apraxia – motor functioning disorder (Mendez and Cummings, 2003, p. 6). Aside from having progressive memory loss, people with dementia can be very much disoriented (Gilmour and Brannelly, 2010). Likewise, there are cases wherein people with dementia experience cognitive deficit when it comes to comprehension and reasoning (Gilmour and Brannelly, 2010). Among the common types of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease (62%) followed by vascular dementia (17%), mixed dementia (10%), lewy-body dementia (4%), fronto-temporal dementia (2%), Parkinson’s dementia (2%), and others (3%) (Alzheimers Society, 2015a). As of 2015, roughly 20,966 people in Northern Ireland were diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimers Society, 2015a). By 2051, the number of people with dementia in Northern Ireland is expected to increase between 60,000 (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2011) to 61,000 (DSDC, 2015). (See Figure I – Types of Dementia below) Almost half the number of people with dementia is receiving care and support in care homes (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2011). To help improve the quality of health and social care services given to people with dementia, the Health Minister of Northern Ireland received a funding of  £6 million from the state government last September 2014 (Northern Ireland Executive, 2014).Through state funding, it is

Community behavior Essay Example for Free

Community behavior Essay African American spirituality has woven collectively the best of African Anglo cultures to creatively shape their own African American identity. While black peoples have not been socially, politically or economically free in the history, the practice of spirituality has facilitated the development of different forms of cultural and spiritual freedom by interpreting, transcending and embracing, the constraints of an oppressive culture. Furthermore, the development of their own beliefs, norms, forms, practices, and structures has given rise to a culture and life that is a distinctive form of human survival, existence, and, freedom most importantly. The black churches as the centers of freedom influenced the praxis of African-American spirituality. They have become safe places where blacks gathered to embrace their combined concerns as a community of faith. They have been the only institutions in the African American experience that has continued relative independence from the domesticating influence of white pressure and overlords. Some black churches consider may be the last place to see integration due to the need to maintain a power base not available to black people elsewhere. After reviewing some aspects of worship as the context for cultural and spiritual freedom, black preaching in and out sides of the black churches are one of the most powerful expressions of freedom for black people in America. The ability to produce a soul language that defines truth into systems of meaning gives power and purpose to black people. Subsequently, Black community successfully adopts and adapts the structures of the much larger culture for their own purpose this practice comes from a double consciousness or translating. African Americans translated the experience of one kind to that of another which leading them to freedom. Therefore, black people spirituality gave freedom to the spirit and mind that the external condition could not take away. The religious approach is due to a deep faith in the sacredness of life that reaffirmed a personal dignity in blacks which resulted in the practice of nonviolence and mercy. Black community determines themselves how they responded to oppression. Various forms expressing improvisation and innovation from black soul forces constituted black culture. These forms under the subtitles black music, literature, humor, folk tales, sports, art and dance; and their worship forms under the headings of prayer, shouting, healing, dancing, singing praising and instrumental music transformation, teaching and preaching. These forms express that what is true and valuable will be determined by black community itself and will subvert and defy attempts of the larger culture to discern. Churches can prove to be of great importance as it helps in providing a psychological and physical assistance to their congregants by providing treatment and prevention oriented programs in the society. A great example from the history is the Black Church that has served through decades as an informal social guider. And its effectiveness posed people to research on the formal means. Substance abuse, support, health screening and education were some of the fields where the Black Church provided its services. Individuals and churches that are associated with it hold significant importance in the history as it created a chain between informal and formal system of care that benefited the society specially those who are marginalized or underserved. These programs were encouraged by many others like lay persons, natural helpers, and religious leaders. As far as these religious leaders are concerned, they made their finding in the treatment of mental illness and they made everyone realize that paraprofessional counselors are in no way less then the professional counselors. They made their achievement in four areas of community medicine: primary care delivery, health promotion and disease prevention, community mental health and health policy. The church had great potentials. It provided and outstanding performance in collaborating with formal care systems to maximize its programs. Eng et al. helped a great deal in promoting the church’s health care programs. Such â€Å"natural helpers† have gone through a training program where they learnt how to interact with the health professionals, resource mobilization, primary self-care skills and prevention, organization of educational and services-oriented activities. Whilst the lay advisors were supposed to foster social support, they were expected to promote a healthy general well-being of people and were asked to keep a close link with the formal care system. As far as the roles of religious leaders are concerned, they are not fully described in the health care literature. In the early 1970’s, a need for psychiatrics developed in rural areas, as these individuals were recognized the more underserved population. These investigations evolved and helped in the contribution of understanding the mental health status between the urban and the rural individuals. Social, economic and geographical factors are the attributes of such rural problems. The main difficulty in the rural life of South was to separate the effects of poverty from the effects of race, color, cast etc. but after some time the solution was discovered. But later it was discovered that only 3% of the licensed psychiatrics were practicing the rural areas and the rest were gone to nowhere. Rural populations were again left to the same position as it was before. â€Å"The Black Church has no challenger as the cultural womb of the black community. Not only did it give birth to new institutions such as schools, banks, insurance companies, and low income housing, it also provided an academy and an arena for political activities, and it nurtured young talent for musical, dramatic, and artistic development† (1990, 8) The factor of race still existed between these populations no-matter if it’s urban or rural; it also greatly affected the mental healths of each individual. Many theorists believe that White American have been always against the black consumers, because they have no understanding of black’s culture, traditions, beliefs etc. But on the other hand blacks are not either interested in consuming goods or services from the Whites. They are less likely to trust White therapists and try not to interact with them in any case. Studies proved that Blacks are interested in consuming goods and seeking services from the blacks due to the understanding of same culture and traditions, it is also based on the preference of similar attitudes and racial compatibility. The research grew further and further. The research helped in understanding the need to change and acceptance of cultural and attitudinal differences and system-levels barriers. Studies proved that racial identity can be a part of success. Here racial identity means that identification of diverse racial backgrounds; it includes the basic knowledge of one’s culture and traditions. Accepting the non normative behavior of minorities can also help in dealing with societies; therapists play a big role in understanding the culture background. Lack of understanding of cultural responsiveness may result in disturbance between racial differences and help seeking environment. As compare to white blacks are more tolerant of psychological distress. They are very quick in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychosis and control such diseases in their premature stages. Individuals, interpersonal and system-level factors promote understanding of service utilization and psychiatric morbidity. They focus on individuals because individuals predict reasonable outcomes related to services and treatment. Researchers always pick out individuals to get correct outcomes; the individual factors include race, religiosity, beliefs about mental health and copying styles. Social support, stigma and social distance are included in interpersonal level. â€Å"The Black church tradition provided an environment for reapplying already learned processes for interdependence. Embedded within the individual were past experiences, traditions, values, and norms for emotions, cognitions, and behaviors conducive to relatedness and interpersonal ness that reflected a collective sense of belonging with, rather than to, caring, similar others† (2001, 40) Management of mental illness is essential to the social support in rural areas. An alternative to expensive or inaccessible impatient or out patient services are neighbors or extended families. Researchers have also identified the contributions made by natural helpers in promoting positive changes to the environment. Mental illness and health care systems motivated natural helpers to provide social support to the rural black communities. A powerful indicator of poor utilization of care is Stigma that is influenced by individuals and interpersonal levels. It discourages the search for formal services but encourages the social support and informal care systems. The study says that Blacks have higher levels of tolerating psychological distress; the main reason behind this is stigma and fear of hospitalization. This sometimes results in help-seeking from specialty providers but this happens only in extreme cases. This hypothesis shows the higher emergency level among Blacks compared to Whites, Asians and Hispanics. Informal systems are fostered by fear and stigma amongst the rural Blacks. It was noticed that poorer Blacks were more likely to experience distress, physical, mental and interpersonal problems as compared to wealthier Blacks. But as compared to Whites, 15% Blacks are less likely to seek help for emotional problems than their physical or interpersonal problems. Furthermore, Blacks seek help for their financial problems but this is limited to their geographical boundaries and economic barriers. The above study has made it clear that, urban counterparts provide more social and mental services as compared to the rural churches and it also have less links with the formal system and promote the informal systems of care. We also analyzed that White churches have more links with the formal system of care than Black Churches but Black Churches provide more social and mental health service.

Salvation Army: Stakeholder Analysis

Salvation Army: Stakeholder Analysis EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This essay is basically about the stakeholders of the Salvation Army case study written by Alex Murdock. It involves a breakdown of the work of the Salvation Army and the different stakeholders involved in the organisation. The first section is an introduction on the works of the Salvation Army and then moves on to discuss the different stakeholders of the Salvation Army in terms of their interest and power in the organisation. The next section discusses the major stakeholders and what they expect from the Salvation Army in terms of how there handle things. The last section presents a critical review on the importance of stakeholder management to any organisation and how to maintain an effective stakeholder relationship. THE SALVATION ARMY, A GLOBAL NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATION INTRODUCTION The Salvation Army can be described as an international movement and as an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. It is also seen as a global non-profit organisation which was founded by William Booth and his wife Catherine in 1865 in London and has spread to other parts of the world. The primary aim of the organisation is to preach the good news about Jesus Christ and persuade people to become his followers. The Salvation Army shows care and concern for the needs of people despite their sex, age, race, status or colour. The mission statement of the Salvation Army (2004) The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by love for God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination. The movement works in 109 countries and provides services in 175 different languages. The army also has some distinctive characteristics which set it apart from other Christian organisations one of which is its adoption of a quasi-military structure which is derived from spiritual warfare and reflects in the use of ranks, uniforms and flags. The actual work of the Salvation Army is not just evangelistic but is deeply focused on the relief of poverty and the provision of practical, cost-effective and skilled services. The Salvation Army provides a variety of programme-based services worldwide and their social service has become very important to the extent that the UK annual report affirmed that it was the second largest provider of social service after the government. One of the major services they provide is the residential service which is widely provided in different forms and the largest form is the facility for homeless people. They also provide residential accommodation for eve ry possible individual ranging from mother and baby to elderly and disabled and in 2003, there were altogether over 600 separate facilities with a total capacity of nearly 32,000. Mostly for the elderly people, they provide remand homes and day care for the little ones. Due to the armys focus on addiction dependency, lots of residential and day care resources have been developed to help extensively in addiction problems. The Salvation Army has been very helpful in a lot of other aspects apart from providing structures there provided counselling services for clients whom other agencies are reluctant to assist such as alcoholics, drug addicts. In especially the UK, the Salvation Army has been fully involved in the missing person services. The Salvation Army is a holiness movement and says that Salvationists should: Earnestly strive to become wholly devoted and obedient to God, strong and upright, true, pure, kind, loving and humble in one word, holy, like Jesus. Salvation Army (2009) IDENTIFY ALL STAKEHOLDERS AND CONSTRUCT A POWER/ INTEREST MATRIX A stakeholder is any entity, internal or external, who could directly or indirectly affect your organization or be affected by your organisation (Romeo 2008). This means any person or organisation that can positively or negatively impact the actions of a company, government or organisations. They are people that have shares or interest in an organisation and are also involved in the control and decision making of the organisation. There different types of stakeholders are: Primary Stakeholders these are people that are ultimately affected either positively or negatively by an organisations actions. Secondary Stakeholders these are intermediaries i.e. those indirectly affected by the organisations actions. Key Stakeholders people that have significant influence within the organisation and there can belong to the two groups above. The stakeholders of the Salvation Army are listed below: Employees, Government, Volunteers, Donors, Board Members, Other Non Profit Organisations, Funders, Church and Members, Media, Armed Forces, UK National Lottery, The Public, Competitors, Clients/ Consumers, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Religious Groups, Individual Government bodies, The Councils. When looking at the stakeholder analysis, we need to consider the level of interest and the level of power the stakeholders have. Power depends on how much the stakeholder can bring to promote the army and Interest depends on how important the stakeholder sees the army. A stakeholder analysis is a process of systematically gathering and analyzing qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into account when developing and implementing a policy or program (Best 2007: 2). It is useful in identifying key actors and assessing their knowledge, interests and power in relation to the organisation. These stakeholders or interested parties can usually be grouped into the following categories: international, public, national political, commercial/private, nongovernmental organization (NGO)/civil society, labour, and users/ consumers (Schmeer, 2000 cited in Best 2007: 2). STAKEHOLDER POWER/INTEREST MATRIX A matrix is used to organise or classify the stakeholder data. It provides a short analysis of which stakeholder will gain or lose from the organisation. Low Level of Interest High B Keep Informed A Minimal EffortLow D Key Players C Keep Satisfiedpower High This map is divided into four sections: low interest/low power, high interest/low power, high power/low interest and high power/high interest. Group A- low power and low interest in the Salvation Army so there require little or no effort and attention e.g. people, UK national lottery which has no interest or power in the organisation. Group B- low power and high interest in the organisation so there need to be kept informed by the Salvation Army because there have high interest but little power to control what goes on in the organisation e.g. volunteers, armed forces Group C- high power and low interest so the Salvation Army has to keep them informed on a regular basis and satisfied e.g. NGOs, media Group D- high power and high interest in the Salvation Army so there require loads of attention and effort because of their importance e.g. government, councils. The Salvation Army needs to be aware of a key player with a strong opposition. The analysis consists of the identified stakeholders bring arranged in a table according to the extent and level of power and interest there have in the organisation. According to Johnson and Scholes (2002:208), power/interest matrix imply the political priorities for managing stakeholders relationships by assessing the level of interest and power for each stakeholder. ASSESS THE EXPECTATIONS OF EACH GROUP OF STAKEHOLDERS Non profit organisations are often thought of as seeking effectiveness and efficiency in equal measure (Drucker 1990). The donors, public agencies funding this organisations, employees and managers who work for these organisations often have high expectations about their ability to make an impact on the areas in which there are involved. The extent to which there provide services and affect community issues is an important measure of the effectiveness of these organisations. There are difficulties when trying to identify stakeholder expectations in not- for- profit organisations (Fletcher et al 2003). The decisions about the purpose and strategy of an organisation are influenced by the expectations of stakeholders (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008). This could be a challenge because of the possibility of many stakeholders having different expectations which could lead to conflict especially in a large organisation like the Salvation Army. MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR EXPECTATIONS In this Salvation Army case, the major stakeholders are mostly those with high interest and high power which are: the church, donors, the government, army officers (uniformed and non- uniformed), media, individual government bodies, the high council, the generals consultative council, the international management council. Church The church could be seen as the major stakeholder because as the founder of the Salvation Army, they are in charge of most of the activities and services that the Salvation Army does. Media The media highlighted the governments views and added to the banning of the Salvation Army e.g. the press made attempts by the government to ban Salvation Army in Russia. Donors the Salvation Army is a non-profit organisation so it depends largely on donations and grants. The resourcing needs of the salvation army will likely increase as the demands increase so the donors support the organisation by making donations and there expect it to be put to good use e.g. Joan Kroc made a donation of 1.5billion dollars which was the worlds largest single charity donation. This donation however raised some questions and caused a bit of conflict between the donor and the organisation on the limits of acceptability. Government The government has supported the organisation and has attempted to support its needs. They have major expectations there want to see manifested in the Salvation Army. The government have high power and high interest because they are in charge of certain standards, and if these standards are not met, they carry out their penalties. Individual Government Bodies The government assists the Salvation Army in their fund raising campaigns. Some of these individual government bodies include social services like the Red Cross and various health organisations and they provide assistance when the Salvation Army needs it. This group of people are key stakeholders that can influence and affect the work of the organisation so it is important that their expectations are met. In the case study, the government body in Russia had the power to ban the Salvation Army from their country because they did not like the way things were going on and this brought about some problems. In the UK and USA, the Salvation Army is recognised and strongly supported which allows them to operate much easier. The individual government bodies have a certain ways things are done in their countries and expect the Salvation Army to adhere to it or it could lead to lack of support from the body which could hinder the work of the organisation. Army Officers These are employees of the organisation (professionals and non-professionals) who are paid very little for the work there do. There are expected to be very dedicated to the organisation and achieve their objectives. The High Council: The High Council consists of all active territorial commissioners and their major responsibility was to elect a new general when the present one who is the head of the army is unfit to continue. The second in command who is the chief executive has the responsibility of executing the policy decisions of the general and produce a relationship between departments. They meet anywhere convenient for them in the UK. The Generals Consultative Council: This council is made up of qualified people responsible for making sure policies are consistent on a national scale and advice on the mission, strategy and policies of the Salvation Army. They meet regularly and work electronically through the use of lotus notes, emails. The International Management Council: this council focuses on how effective and efficient the international headquarters operates and usually meet monthly. The councils expectations are somewhat the same and even though the headquarters of the Salvation Army is in London, there is autonomy in each territory and no interference from each of them. Regardless of this, there always put the mission of the Salvation Army first before they make their decisions. WHY IS STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT SO CRUCIAL TO ANY ORGANISATION? A stakeholder is basically an individual or a group of people that has one or more different kinds of stakes in the organisation and this makes their management very important (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). Managers have recognised that different stakeholder groups in an organisation have to be satisfied in other to meet their goals (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). Stakeholder management has long been recognised as an essential part of the effectiveness of an organisation whether public/private sector or profit making/non- profit making. It involves building and maintaining the active support and commitment of the stakeholders to facilitate the timely implementation of change in an organisation (OGC 2005). The important functions of stakeholder management are to describe, to analyze, to understand and finally to manage (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). Preston and Donaldson (1999) argue that stakeholder management can enhance organizational wealth and that economic benefits can be generated by positive relationships between an organization and its stakeholders. OGC (2005) is of the opinion that stakeholder management includes four things: stakeholder assessment and stakeholder mapping, identification of key concerns, risks and mitigating actions, monitoring stakeholder plan and using output of stakeholder mapping for communications and other interventions. It enables managers to ensure that the strategic and operational direction of an organization addresses stakeholder perceptions (Fletcher 2003). Stakeholder Management is very crucial to any organisation because it helps us to understand the important role of managing and informing stakeholders. It will ensure that key stakeholders and their interests are identified and strategies are developed to engage with them (NHS) Managers and organisations developed a set of principles of stakeholder management to provide managers with ways to treat stakeholders (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009: 111). These principles are known as the Clarkson Principles and in other to build an effective stakeholder relationship; managers need to adopt the following characteristics: acknowledge, monitor, listen, communicate, adopt, recognize, work, avoid and acknowledge conflicts (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). It helps to integrate a variety of perspectives and provides a guide to organisations on how to manage their stakeholders (Donaldson 2002). Stakeholders are recognised as very important people in public and non-profit orgs which commonly have a more diverse group of stakeholders than private for profit organisations making it more difficult to identify strategic issues (Bryson 1995). Having a good relationship with stakeholders unites organisations, fosters partnership working, helps organisations to prioritise and meet their aims. The three important elements necessary for effective stakeholder relationships are leadership, communication and staff (MORI 2009). Stakeholder management involves identifying and classifying stakeholders and as a result of this facilitates an engagement with them in a coordinated manner. This engagement involves identifying different categories of stakeholders, gathering information about them, identifying their missions in a project, determining their strengths and weaknesses, identifying their strategies, predicting their behaviour and developing and implementing a strategy for managing the se stakeholders (Cleland 2002 cited in Chinyio and Olomolaiye 2010). In conclusion, the stakeholder management is seen as a two way interaction or exchange of influence because just as the strategies, policies, decisions and actions of the organisation can affect stakeholders, so can the stakeholders affect the organisation (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). The key to managing stakeholders is a good understanding of their current circumstances and which factors influence them over others. This then allows the approach to managing stakeholders to be tailored to achieve maximum benefit. In particular feedback channels are crucial as this allows distinct management techniques to be utilized dependant on the feedback being received. One criticism of stakeholder management is that it is a very demanding and time consuming process to attend to each stakeholder needs and ensure their satisfaction. Also, it could be very complex when classifying each stakeholder and trying to determine whose claims takes priority in any situation (Carroll and Buchholtz 2009). In the case of the Salvation Army, it is important to maintain a good relationship with the stakeholders because they play a very essential role to the organisation. Organisations need to plan for the future which is what the Salvation Army has done and is still doing to ensure that the poor and needy are well catered to.

Hip Hop Culture Essay -- Rap Music Commercialization Essays Papers

Hip Hop Culture Since the early to mid 90’s, hip-hop has undergone changes that purists would consider degenerating to its culture. At the root of these changes is what has been called â€Å"commercial hip-hop". Commercial hip-hop has deteriorated what so many emcees in the 80’s tried to build- a culture of music, dance, creativity, and artistry that would give people not only something to bob their head to, but also an avenue to express themselves and deliver a positive message to their surroundings. What does the term â€Å"commercial† mean? It can take on various meanings, but in essence that term is used to label artists who have alienated parts of the hip-hop culture in their work. The High and Mighty, a duo from Philadelphia signed to Rawkus Records, summed up what commercial hip-hop is in their 1999 single release â€Å"The Meaning†. Mr. Eon says: â€Å"†¦they’re tryin’ to turn hip-hop to just plain rappin’/let the poppers pop/and the breakers break†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But the disenchantment with artists who don’t appreciate hip-hop as consisting of emceeing, breaking, graffiti art, beat boxing and dj-ing is not new. Underground artists, predominately hip-hop purists, have lashed out at biters and perpetrators for many years. For example, in 1989 3rd Bass released their first album, The Cactus Cee/D. Throughout the album, MC Serch and Prime Minister Pete Nice scold the commercialized booty shakers like MC Hammer for corrupting hip-hop, particularly on the track â€Å"The Gasface† they specifically call out Hammer for his antics. Inside the album jacket, Serch sums up hip-hop in ‘89: â€Å"There was a time when nothing was more important than the New York Rap Scene.† It’s dilluted, but not divided.† To hip-hop afficionados, Serch’s quote sounds like the equivalent to a Vietnam soldier’s letter home. Obviously, the group saw the possibility of the hip-hop culture being tainted. Another good example of a group combatting the increase in commercial hip-hop was The Boot Camp Clik, consisting of Buckshot, Helter Skelter, Cocoa Brovaz, OGC, Illa Noyz and The Representativz. The Clik’s slogan throughout the duration of their 1997 release Album for the People was: â€Å"Commercial rap get the gun clap†. A descendent of the early backpacker days, Buckshot has always been opposed to mainstream artists who sacrfice artistic integrity in the lure for more money. The underground hip-hop scene has e... ... ability to rock a crowd with sheer lyricism, explaining why you are doper than the other man, and having a Dj who could support you with dope beats were essentials in old school hip-hop and still are in the underground scene. Underground hip-hop is filled with groups such as The Pharcyde, The Roots, Jigmastas, and Jurassic 5 who use live instruments to not only enhance their lyrical talents, but also to give audiences a great show. All four of these groups are dedicated to preserving hip-hop culture. Emcees battle to prove they are iller, Djs do the same thing, and breakers, break dancers, poppers, whatever you want to call them, continue the tradition of mixing their dance art form of popping, locking and spinning using the music to help create different techniques. What has been great for the underground scene is its ability to sell more records now, and that is by and large due to the increase of smaller, independent record labels(see chapter 1). Labels such as Rawkus, Fondle ‘Em, Stones Throw, Goodvibe, ABB Records, and others can compete with majors like Bad Boy and Def Jam now because they are backed by people who have money and want to see hip-hop culture survive.

kung san :: essays papers

kung san Among the many cultures in Africa, one of the most well known cultures would be the Kung San. The Kung San are a very unique culture and are the most studied foraging society in the world. As with numerous other cultures around the world, the Kung San are faced with many problems. But one problem the Kung San don't face is that of being a nonentity, partially because of the popularized view of the Kung San shown in the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy. The Kung San are a hunting and gathering people living in southern Africa. Kung San are a varied people in terms of looks and language, and include people living Angola, Botswana, Zambia, and Namibia. The Kung San, like many human groups, have a rigid sexual division of labor, with women doing most of the gathering, food preparation and child care, and men doing hunting and some complementary gathering. There does exist a limited socioeconomic hierarchy by age, with adults controlling more resources and manufactured goods than children. The Kung San usually eat small meals during the day and eat a large supper with the whole family in the evening. Water is a limiting factor in the Kung San environment. The Kung San will disperse in the wet season, and aggregate in camps in the dry season around the few permanent water holes. A Kung San encampment consists of grass huts arranged roughly in a circle, constructed around an area of clearing in the center; these huts are constructe d quickly and rarely used for more than a few months at a time. The Kung San maintain a level of egalitarianism so that no one person is revered more than the next and so that no one thinks they are any better than the next. In the Kung San culture, many are married as young as eight years old in order to keep conflicts and extramarital relations down to a minimum. One of the Kung San's favorite activities is to sit in the shade talking amongst themselves. They are afraid of angry words and violence so the occasional dispute is worked out before it becomes a major one. Since competition might bring dispute, they try to live as equals. The Kung San effectively employ talking and joking to

Reaction Paperâ€Nonfiction Essay

When reading I came across some interesting non-fiction story and letter written by well known authors. They were all good but there was two that I had the most reaction to. When I came across these two letters I felt like I had a connection with the author. The letter Salvation by Langston Huge, when I read could relate to it cause I to come from a christen background, and in the story by Lam about his mother I felt like keeping family tradition should always remain I a person life. So I thought it would be good to explain my reaction in detail by stating the strategies, themes and what makes these non-fiction stories. In the story â€Å"Who Will Light the Incense When Mother’s Gone† by Andrew Lam, the author Lam give the reader a personal account of his life. While at a birthday party for his mother who was turning seventy, he overheard his mother ask his aunt, â€Å"Who will light the incense we I’m gone†? This was a traditional thing that see did, the light of the incense was done to acknowledged the dead, and to talk to them and ask for help from them. He then struggles with himself wondering why he doesn’t feel the need to want to continue this life long tradition. When looking through this story I found out that Lam used biographic strategy to help the read fully understand his point of view. With this strategy lam was able to give the reader an indebt description of what it was like for him growing up, as a young Americanized Vietnamese man. He make mention that his mom often ask him to speak their native tongue, when he was a teen. His response was â€Å"what good is it to speak it? It not like I’m going to use it when I move out.† At end of the story the read is left with mixed emotion, will he every commit to his families tradition and start to light the incense or will he continue to live his life the same he always has. When reading the story â€Å"Salvation† by Langston Hughes I thing that he also used the strategy biographic criticism, which he uses to explain to the reader how he feels about h is childhood conversion. As he goes through his story he used this strategy as a base in which to convey to the reader the problem he had growing up. In the story he was twelve and was participating in his aunt’s church revival. It was the last day of the revival, which meant that the youth of the church was to be saved. During the days leading up to this event, his aunt tells him that to be saved he will see a light and Jesus appear and then he will be saved. He and the other youth was brought to the front of the church, Langston never saw Jesus and was pleasured to be saved. He explains to the reader that he was not sure what he was feeling. At the end of this story he explains that this event that he went through was a lonely one. He is then seen crying and his aunt again blames it on him being saved but Hughes says it was because he lied to God and to his aunt. This form of writing is seen throughout the whole story. The fact that is a form of biography show the reader a part of himself that otherwise would not been seen. While reading â€Å"Who Will light The Incense When Mother Gone† by Andrew Lam, I had several different type of felling. The way lam tell the story about mother and his family traditions, made think and try to relate to both him and his mother. In some way I could relate to Lam, I the youngest of five and in some sense my family had some tradition. Although are way wasn’t as intense as Lam and his family. It was too driven by religion. I grow up in a christen family with my father being a preacher. So I would have to attend church almost three times a day. During the summer I would go to church base camps. It was like a routine every year. As I grown older I started to form my own idea about life, and with this new found freedom I was able to pick what church I wanted to attend on Sunday, I also didn’t have to go at all. So as I stop going my d Dad would pressure even more to live the life he wanted. Even now I go to church, but I often thing it is because I was told to. On the other hand I can understand where is mother is coming from. I think that Lam’s mother only want to preserve what little bit of her legacy, and when she is gone she knows that there is no hope of that. Every sense she moved from Vietnamese her kid had become Americanized and is slowly losing all touch of their heritage. She just wants to know that not all things from her pass will we erased. As for the theme of from â€Å"Salvation† by Langston Hughes, the reaction I had was very personal. I have never been in that type of situation, I have been in places where people was in a sense forced to life changing decision. Like Langston I too attended week long revival, like Langston I was told what to look for and what feeling to expect while attending church. I was a little upset to see the way he was treated in this essay. As a preacher son I to know a lot about religion, and what I read was not the correct approach. To force you believes on any one like that is to me morally incorrect. He was told what to feel and see and he failed to see that, so he didn’t want to get up, like the other kids. I think that he should have just told his aunt how he felt and it would had saved him a lot of grieve. In these stories one most consider that they are non-fiction, simply for the reason that they are realistic account of the author’s lives. Both stories are narrated by the authors themselves, the authors write about certain events conflicts that they both went through at a young age. They then used their creative writing skill to get the reader interested with the subject they were writing on. Although based on a fact or actual experience, both writers have to use their imagination to rewrite their experiences, to make the feelings or ideas that were needed to convey to the readers. The authors have used their skills and styles to capture the audience imagination as the stories go on. Since the reader had not experienced what the author was going through, the authors were challenged to bring the reader into their lives when they were just young men. This was done to help the reader to understand the ages and, mental state of the two authors. On the other hand the reader must also use some sense of imagination to recreate the scenes in the stories.