The Devil Wears Prada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Devil Wears Prada - Essay Example Andrea is the "second assistant", the "first assistant" underscores to her, and that virtually makes her the "slave of a slave". Everyone in the organization and in that milieu tells her that, and yet in the same breath intimates that it is a job that every girl would die for. As the start, Andrea sees the job as merely her entry point into the more real world of journalism, and she hopes the training she would receive under her Dragon Lady of a boss would give her the qualifications and credentials for more serious work. Gradually though, she is fascinated by the glitter and glamour of the world that she has entered and finds herself struggling not only to survive but to conquer, using the very tools of the trade, so to speak, necessary to get ahead. She is, in fact, obviously also fascinated by the persona and aura projected by her boss, Melinda, a sleek, soft-spoken lady who inspires and commands respect and fear because she wields such power and influence within the industry. It likewise soon becomes obvious that while before, Andrea's goal is merely to please Melinda and thus secure her job, she eventually begins to fit into the mold of her boss. And therein lies her struggle - apparent in the change that her boyfriend Nath and two other close friend s observe. She tries to keep the friends and values she has known and cherished but now seems to find them in conflict with the new world she moves in and which, if she were honest with herself as Nath had asked her to be, she actually reveled in. Her crucial moment of truth and decision comes when she realizes that beneath the brittle veneer of might and power that Melinda Priestly presents to the world is a very human person - caring about family, protective of her children, hurt by the loss of a husband through divorce. Does Melinda Priestly really enjoy the kind of leader she has become, or has she been forced to fit into this mold - forced to be tough, work-oriented, utilitarian, uncaring - because that is what is expected of her as editor of the most powerful and influential fashion magazine, because that is the only way she can get the job done. Andrea gets a glimpse of this when Melinda explains why she had to sacrifice one of her oldest and closest friends and a most loyal associate - to ensure that she is not replaced as editor. Quite simply she explains that no one can take her place because the magazine cannot hold on to its coveted spot as fashion leader without her at the helm. On the surface, the movie seems to provide a literal example of the absence of servant-leadership as defined in the philosophy and concepts advanced by Robert Greenleaf and by the idea espoused by various religious traditions. By its title alone, "The Devil Wears Prada", it is obvious that the movie means to depict the lead character in the image of the antithesis of the archetype of servant leadership, the Christian's Jesus Christ. The Christ spirit in the Christian Scriptures manifests the values of leadership and a relationship that involves patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness,

The essay that compares and contrasts the two stories of Creation that

The that compares and contrasts the two stories of Creation that begin Genesis - Essay Example This shows God was in total command and is omnipotent as the creator. He just created living beings and everything else that would be required by man on earth. There were no restrictions imposed and left man to take care of the creation. In The Garden of Eden Story, â€Å"No wild plants exist, because God had not caused rain to fall upon the land† shows that God could use discrimination. God has the power but would use it when He thought best, while in the first story he just gave. In Garden of Eden Story, God proceeds to rectify the absence of cultivated plants by fashioning a man from the ground, (2:7) which shows that his creation was not perfect, as it required rectification while in The Seven Days Story, creation was perfect. It further reveals that the first man was a peasant responsible for tilling the ground (Yee). In the first story, when Robert Alter says, â€Å"When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste†¦.† , the word ‘welter’ has significance. It signifies a state of chaos or a body of turbulent water (Ackroyd, 2005). This again demonstrates the difference in God’s characteristics in the two stories. In The Seven Days Story, His command can calm the turbulent water and make things perfect, while in The Garden of Eden Story, he rectifies His own creation. God prohibits the man under pain of death from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden (Gen 2:17; 3:3). In The Garden of Eden Story, this clearly states that God expected man to commit mistakes. Desires and wants in man would distract him to commit mistakes and God would be the judge. He becomes the savior too, when man commits mistakes. He imposed restriction and punishment in case of failure, while in The Story of Seven Days, God says, â€Å"†¦ and to every beast of

Self-Reflection of a Teaching Project

Self-Reflection of a Teaching Project Self-reflection refers to an activity or process in which an experience is recalled, considered, and evaluated, usually in relation to a broader purpose. It is a response to past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and action. Self reflection is a thinking process in which an individual seriously considers and thoughtfully judges prior experience of the self. The consecutive engagement in reflection commonly leads the self to generate a change in conceptual perspectives My brief experience in the project allows me to understand and appreciate the art of self-reflecting. Recording lessons seems to be pretty much the ultimate method of self-reflection. Reflecting back on ones performance during a lesson is a great way of detecting and investigating the strength and weaknesses of a lesson. From preparing, recording the lesson and finally analyzing the video recording, I have learned a great deal of skills through this project. There are several mistakes that could be avoided in this project. During the recording of the lesson, the classroom should be a proper classroom with no interruptions such as technician and group members moving around. Regarding the attire, the students should have been better dressed as what a formal class should be. The recording of the lesson could have been better if by using one camera only with only one cameraman. That way we could avoid the unnecessary classroom interruptions with too much cameraman moving around the class. I am determined now that self-reflection in teaching involves changes in the way we usually perceive teaching and our role in the process of teaching. Teachers who explore their own teaching through critical reflection develop changes in attitudes and awareness which they believe can benefit their professional growth as teachers, as well as improve the kind of support they provide their students. Self-reflection is a valuable tool for self-evaluation and professional growth. I believe that experience alone is insufficient for professional growth, but that experience coupled with reflection can be a powerful momentum for teacher development. Self-reflection involves moving beyond a primary concern with instructional techniques and â€Å"how to† questions and asking â€Å"what† and â€Å"why† questions that regard instructions and managerial techniques not as ends in themselves, but as part of broader educational purposes. Asking â€Å"what and why† questions give us a certain power over our teaching. We could claim that the degree of autonomy and responsibility we have in our work as teachers is determined by the level of control we can exercise over our actions. In reflecting on the above kind of questions, we begin to exercise control and open up the possibility of transforming our everyday classroom life. The process Ive gone through in completing this project allows me to assess my understanding of what being a reflective teacher really means. Ive learned that the method of recording a lesson for deeper analysis is the best way to uncover information about our own teaching techniques in a lesson, information that is inaccessible through other method of self-reflection. There are several things that could have been avoided or improved regarding this project. I felt that the lesson needs to be more formal, or as similar to how a day-to-day classroom would be. In that sense, the students would be more in the mood of formal learning. I would also recommend the use of only one cameraman, as to avoid any other visual interference of the video recording, such as another cameraman moving around trying to record the lesson. After carrying out and completing this project, I learned that being a teacher is not a simple task that one can just sit back and do their job relaxingly. A good teacher needs to be determined and committed to their work in improving their teaching techniques. Self-reflection is not something to be taken lightly. It is a very important aspect of the step toward improving ones quality as a professional teacher. I understand now that the process of self reflection after teaching practice activities enables student teachers to benefit threefold, firstly, by acquiring contextual knowledge about interpretation of classroom situations; secondly, by discerning essential criteria for substantial self reflection; and lastly, by developing emergency responses for unexpected teaching challenges.

Arpanet :: essays research papers

The USSR launches Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite. In the late 1960's the U.S. military was desperately afraid of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. The United States formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense to establish a bombproof network to connect military bases. ARPANET's physical network was established in 1969 to enable universities and research organizations to exchange information freely. The first two nodes that formed the ARPANET were UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, shortly after the University of Utah was added to ARPANET. The Network Control Protocol (NCP) was initially used as the ARPANET protocol, beginning in 1970. By 1971, a total of 23 hosts at 15 locations were connected to the ARPANET. The following year, the first international connections occurred, linking the University College of London (UK) and the Royal Radar Establishment (Norway) to the ARPANET. The way ARPANET was set up is so that if one of the network links became disrupted by enemy attack, the traffic on it could automatically be rerouted to other links. Fortunately, the Net rarely has come under enemy attack. In the 1970s, ARPA also sponsored further research into the applications of packet switching technologies. This included extending packet switching to ships at sea and ground mobile units and the use of radio for packet switching. Ethernet was created during the course of research into the use of radio for packet switching, and it was found that coaxial cable could support the movement of data at extremely fast rates of speed. The development of Ethernet was crucial to the growth of local area computer networks. The success of ARPANET made it difficult to manage, particularly with the large and growing number of university sites on it. So it was broken into two parts. The two parts consisted of MILNET, which had the military sites, and the new, smaller ARPANET, which had the nonmilitary sites. On January 1,1983, every machine connected to ARPANET had to use TCP/IP. TCP/IP became the core Internet protocol and replaced NCP (old ARPANET language) completely. Thanks to TCP/IP MILNET and ARPANET remained connected through a technical scheme called IP (Internet Protocol); which enables traffic to be routed from one network to another as necessary. All the networks connected to the Internet speak IP, so they all can exchange messages. Although there were only two networks at that time, IP was designed to allow for tens of thousands of networks. An unusual fact about the IP design is that every computer on an IP network is just as capable as any other, so any

Kaiser Wilhelm II and The First World War Essay

The British postcard illustrates Kaiser Wilhelm II in a bath, where he is about to grab a bar of soap labelled â€Å"Europe†, with a caption quoting â€Å"He won’t be happy till he gets it.† This suggests he is willing to use force to capture Europe. Wilhelm is wearing a military helmet and has a greedy expression on his face, which gives us the impression he is willing to fight for what he wants. Sources B and C both differ, but both of them agree that Wilhelm’s attitude towards the war was very violent. In source B, Wilhelm’s speech seems to be taken over by his emotions: anger, aggression, passion and lots of determination. He refers to certain phrases such as â€Å"take no prisoners†, â€Å"must be destroyed† and â€Å"ruthless violence.† Words such as these show us that he wants trouble. However in source C, there is more talk of peace. It seems to be a more subdued and more thoughtful speech. â€Å"I was always a supporter of peace.† But then he goes on to say how peace â€Å"has its limits.† And he can â€Å"no longer just look on, but must draw the sword!† This giving the final conclusion that Kaisers attitude towards the war has not changed since 1900 although he has become more diplomatic. This postcard may be biased, as the British whom were about to go to war with him produced it. Britain wanted to portray him in as much negative light as possible, therefore this postcard might not be truthful. But using my own knowledge, I know that Kaiser Wilhelm II was an aggressive man who came from an aggressive country and to control Europe was his sole ambition. Also, Britain was aware of Wilhelm’s objectives and to some extent holds him responsible for the Moroccan Crises. They therefore have a good reason to portray him in this way. â€Å"The Kaiser was a warmonger and caused the Great War.† The evidence given in the sources supports this statement and also disagrees with it. Source A clearly supports this view. The cartoon shows Wilhelm greedily snatching Europe, along with the war helmet, which indicates war. Source B backs this statement too. There is no sign of peaceful man in his speech. In this he says he wants Germans to acquire a similar reputation as Attila’s Huns did in the fifth century. Attila was the King of the German tribe the Huns who ravaged Eastern Europe. But there is talk of peace in his later speech (1913), although this hopeful thought is dampened by the indications of war â€Å"Must draw the sword.† However, using my own knowledge I know that the Great War was not only the fault of Wilhelm’s, there was many other reasons. In my opinion, rivalries were the main factor, which brought about the First World War. Without rivalries, no one would have a cause to start a war. There were many rivalries; Britain and Germany; France and Germany; Austria-Hungary and Russia and Serbia and Austria. These rivalries helped to cause war between the powers of Europe because they all wanted to fight for one reason or another. Another factor was alliances. With alliances, everyone was dragged into war, whether they liked it or not. In this case, it couldn’t be avoided. And lastly, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the catalyst. This gave Austria a perfect opportunity to declare war on Serbia. With this, Austria and Serbia were at war along with their allies. It caused great destruction as most countries were involved. This is proof that the Kaiser did not cause the Great War, as you need two countries to have a war. Cause the war he did not, but a warmonger he may be.

Franchising Opportunities in McDonald

Operating since 1955, McDonalds is world’s leading food service retailer with approximately 30,000 outlets in 119 countries serving roughly 46 million customers per day. McDonalds holds a large share in the globally branded fast food restaurants practically in every country and is one of the most famous and valuable brands. Since the very beginning, McDonald has always been a franchising company with franchising as its business focus. Moreover, since it is a well established brand franchising with it will ensure business security. The company poses attractive franchising opportunities as it is spread globally franchisees can literally choose the city of their choice. The franchisee will be assured that the brand is strong and business would be steady as the brand knows how to survive through generations despite the cutthroat competition. There are advantages for the franchisee as working with a giant is lucrative and adds to personal business knowledge. McDonald takes personal interest and supports the business whether local or international especially in areas of training, operations,   advertising, marketing, human resources, real estate, construction, purchasing and maintenance. This would enable maintenance of standards and be a big support to the franchisee for running the business. The franchising process is quite flexible and attainable. A new McDonald restaurant varies from $466,000 -955,500 USD. Of course the size of the facility of the restaurant, area and locality, expenses of pre-opening, the inventory, equipment, signage, dà ©cor and the landscaping will impact the cost. An initial fee of $45,000 USD is paid to McDonald's Corporation for all new restaurants. The initial cash investment is $175,000 minimum for a conventional purchase or $100,000 for a Business Facilities Lease. However the company doesn’t offer financing to franchisees and the initial fee capital should be your own and not borrowed. This means that the franchisee has to have a solid initial capital of its own. McDonald itself will develop the location and will evaluate and select it. It acquires the property, improves the site and undertakes the construction. It is the responsibility of the franchisee to equip the facility. Once the sites are developed they are offered to prospective franchisees. This ensures that the business is set in the right place and will be lucrative and at the same time standards will be maintained. The profitably defers due to reasons like sales location of the restaurant, occupancy and the cost of operating and the individual ability of the franchisee to manage and control. 4% of monthly sales are given as royalty to the company which could at times be heavy for the franchisee. The prospects look good but from the point of view of the franchisee they may not be so. Firstly, McDonald being a world renowned firm has its exceptionally high standards of quality and services which have to be met by world standards. There is tough competition between outlets in terms of promotions and services which the franchisee has to keep up. Also, there is a heavy down payment and a royalty from monthly sales. The franchisee may not be able to open the franchise in the location of his choice. Lastly, obtaining a franchise may be difficult as there is a long wait in line. Nevertheless, because of the steady flow of business and prospective relations with a world renowned brand, franchisees choose McDonalds evident by their ever growing franchises globally. Reference [Online] Available at: http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/franchise/franchisinghome.html/