Shades of Black Essay Example for Free

Shades of Black Essay â€Å"Shades of Black† is an excerpt from Mary Mebane’s first autobiographical volume. In it, Mebane writes about the different types of black and the depictions of them in society. More specifically, how women of color are viewed and treated. Views of black woman have changed since the civil rights movement. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the views of black beauty have changed from one of reverence to one of disgust. Many different problems and obstacles present themselves to woman of color. Mebane writes about the ways in which black black girls and lighter skin African American girls were treated and viewed. Mebane stated, â€Å"by the twentieth century, really black skin on a woman was considered ugly†(Mebane 239). During the early 1900s, black woman were not really desired. At one point, they were though. Around the civil rights movement, black men considered black woman beautiful. As Mebane mentions, there is no definite date for the shift from beautiful to ugly, but it is undeniable that a shift did occur. This shift from desired to no desire could be referred to as the black consciousness movement. Between the 1960s and the 1970s, darker skin woman were not looked at much. Instead, black men chased after lighter skin woman and woman of a different decent. Woman of a darker shade faced a new problem. They were already part of the minority, now they were placed even lower. Because of their color, darker women had difficulty finding partners as well as jobs. In order to be recognized, darker women had to either befriend a light skin â€Å"beauty†, or turn to sex. According to Mebane and others, sexual acts were the only advantage a black woman had in getting ahead. Because they were no longer considered beautiful, black women were only good for sex. In regards to having a career, or even a job, black women actually had to have skill. Since they were not very appealing to the eye, darker skin women had to be appealing on paper. Training was the only way in which a darker shade of African American woman could land a job. She had to be trained better than the lighter skin women in order to be hired. Sometimes, training was hard to receive since they were not very wealthy. If darker skin women were able to receive training, they were not treated fairly because of their color. Therefore, black black women had to fight through in order to get enough training. African American woman faced a lot of problems in society during the twentieth century. Although they were once thought of as beautiful, for most of their lives their color took away from what they could have been capable of. Lighter skin African American women were not as burdened by their color as black black woman. Being educated, finding a partner, and landing a job were amongst some of the problems darker skinned women faced between the civil rights movement and the black consciousness movement. Again, there is no definite point of change, but there is no denying that there was a shift and unfortunately it wasn’t a positive one.

Job Outsourcing Essay -- Globalization essays, research papers

The economy is one of the most varied topics on the political frontier that is constantly debated, though there is no obvious solution to the United States perpetual economic problems. Held within the crumbling economy of today, are many ongoing controversial issues that plague our once healthy nation. One such problem is job outsourcing, an issue with many schools of thought giving the topic its controversial nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The exportation of jobs offshore is job outsourcing. This, to some, is believed to be a benefit to our economy. According to a brief report from the National Center for Policy Analysis, â€Å"Increased economic globalization has caused jobs to move to the United States as well as away from it, and because of the higher, increasing productivity of American workers, the jobs that move here pay more than the ones that leave†. In addition, the report stated an increase in product availability, stronger demand for United States jobs, competitive gains for small businesses and a rising standard of living as a benefit from outsourcing. A common detail among sources on job outsourcing was, those who are laid off commonly received higher paying jobs than previous jobs. â€Å"Over the past 15 years, corporations report an eighty-two percent increase in in-sourced jobs compared to a twenty-three percent increase in outsourced jobs.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The problems of outsourcing are it has immediate and constant affect on the unemployment ra...

Motivating collegiate student-athletes Essay

Motivating athletes is one of the major problems a coach faces. Even the most talented athlete will not perform to his full potential if not properly motivated. Coaches have sought to define what motivates an athlete and what hampers it for years. Motivation directly influences an athlete’s performance. It sets his mood and outlook towards the game or competition. It determines his level of dedication to the sport. Motivation does not only affect the individual player but also his team. It is important that all the members of the team be motivated individually to ensure team motivation. Motivation can also shift. An athlete who was highly motivated at the start of the season may find that his drive to play is dwindling. It is these problems that coaches need to address. This paper tackles the problem of motivating collegiate student-athletes. The key areas of focus will be defining the best type of motivation for collegiate student-athletes and building a structure to incorporate motivation into the coach’s overall program by using the proper tools of goal setting and visualization. A. Intrinsic Motivation Motivation can take two forms: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation involves â€Å"engaging in an activity as a means to an end† (Higgins & Trope, 1986). This end referred to by Higgins & Trope (1986), take the form of rewards. Factors like popularity, trophies, jackets or jerseys identifying the wearer as part of a sports team, extrinsically motivate student-athletes. While extrinsic motivation is a good start, it does not ensure the consistent and long term drive coaches seek for (Schone, 2008). Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, refers to the drive of a student to engage in an activity because he wants to (Taylor & Wilson, 2005). The satisfaction derived from playing the game itself is the motivating factor. As Burton and Raedeke (2008) put it, â€Å"intrinsically motivated athletes play for the love of the game. † It is this type of motivational environment that coaches should create for their athletes. How does a coach achieve such an environment? According to Martens (2004), sports psychologists have identified the two key needs of an athlete: having fun and feeling worthy. Having Fun Burton and Raedeke (2008) explained that having fun and developing skills were rated as the top reasons why athletes participate in a sport. On the other hand, Garret (2008) pointed out that one of the reasons why female student-athletes quit sports is because â€Å"the experience ceased being fun. † Having fun does not mean goofing around. Fun is striking a balance between skill and challenge (Burton & Raedeke, 2008). Without that balance, the result would either be boredom, where the skill outweighs the challenge, or anxiety, where the challenge outweighs the skill (United States Tennis Association, 2004). Therefore, it is the job of the coach to identify the level of skill of each player and develop a challenging training program that will develop the team’s skills but not overwhelm them. Following are some ways suggested by numerous writers (e. g. Burton & Raedeke, 2008; Garret, 2008; La Prath, 2008;) to keep training fun: ? Offer variety. Make practices stimulating by varying the exercises and drills given to the athletes. Do not make the training program a routine. Consistency is important however introducing changes will keep athletes sharp. It also helps to change the practice environment. Holding training sessions at the beach or in a park instead of the school gymnasium will be enjoyable for student-athletes. ? Keep all players busy. Make sure that everyone is doing something instead of waiting for long periods of time for his or her turn to practice. Breaks in between practice should be short as well. Giving athletes too much lag time increases boredom. To make sure everyone is participating break the team in to groups where each group is given a specific activity to do or made to compete against each other. Following the first tip, make the groupings diverse. Groupings can be done according to skill or even according to year level or favorite sports celebrity. ? Involve the team. Listening to the inputs or opinions of a student-athlete can help improve not only the performance of the team but also of the coach. It also gives the athlete a sense of investment in the team, ensuring the maintenance of his interest in the sport and in his team. Coaches can involve student-athletes by offering a practice day where the players themselves can devise their own training program. Giving the team an opportunity to formulate strategies to win the game is another way. Even simple things like letting them design their own jackets or jerseys will give them a sense of involvement in the decision making process. ? Give the team time to play. For every training session allot time for the team to play without receiving instruction or evaluation from the coach. Give the athletes a chance to engross themselves in the game. Hearing constant instruction hampers experience of flow. ? Train student-athletes to cope with stress. It is inevitable that an athlete will experience stress. Pressure to achieve in both sports and academics is high in a competitive college environment. The athlete must learn how to deal with this and manage the anxiety accompanied with it. Coping with stress can be done through affirmation, positive reinforcement, and teaching a student that down time is also vital to their health. An hour of rest can energize a student. Sleeping at the correct time and for the proper length of time, eating the right food and taking the appropriate vitamins are ways to minimize stress. ? Incorporate teambuilding activities. Important in team sports is getting the individual players in sync with each other. Without activities that foster friendships you would not have a team but a group of individuals playing together. Building camaraderie would not only enhance the performance of the team but the individual players as well.

My Youngest Of Three Boys - 878 Words

Starting my life off, things were great, I was the youngest of three boys; Alex is my oldest brother who is currently 24, my second oldest brother is 20. In addition to my two brothers I have both supportive and caring parents. My family and I practice Methodist, which started shortly after I was born with me being baptized while surrounded by my; aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, two brothers, and both my mom and dad. After being baptized as a family we would occasionally go to church but sadly as time pasted we when went less and less till we stopped shortly before we moved to Florida. The summer before we moved to Florida I was in the fourth grade and became good friends with a girl named Kristen and her family was heavily religious. Kristen and I started to hang out more and more one day she invited me to go to one of her churches services and I really enjoyed it, afterwards they had a youth group where they had a bonding activity. Kristen and I went to church a few more times before I left in late July to move to Jacksonville. Shortly after arriving in Jacksonville, my family and I started looking for a Methodist church there was just one problem there were no formal Methodist churches near us, so we tried a startup church that was held at a local elementary school on Sunday. The service was ok I think that we all found it a little on the odd side of having a church inside a elementary school’s cafeteria; despite this we continued to go a few more times tillShow MoreRelatedAdler And His Theory On Birth Order890 Words   |  4 Pagesearn my Bachelors in psychology. Secondly, I have a strong relationship with my parents and siblings. I am the oldest of four siblings. I have a sister who is a year younger that I am, a brother who is three years younger than I am, and a sister who is five years younger than me. We have often had discussions before about our family dynamic. 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