How successful is the ending of Rattigans The Browning Version Essay Example

How successful is the ending of Rattigans The Browning Version Paper Almost more beautiful than the original-Andrews comment about his own translation of the Agamemnon. This just about sums up The Browning Version- the troubles of a husband struggling with illness and the infidelity of his wife. The Browning Version is the Agamemnon with a twist at the end giving it a very effective anti-climax. The era the play is set in is important to some of the plays points and messages. It is set in post-war Britain sometime around the late 1940s. At this time the country was under rationing and money was very important to the vast majority of the populace. So Taplows stealing of the chocolates at the beginning shows the rationing at the time-he feels bad about taking the second chocolate and puts it back. Public schools were very strict at the time and very backward. They refused to change very much and were very backwards in some cases for example it is never revealed what Taplows first name is; they only called boys by their surnames. This is evident in Andrews conversations the only person he does not call by their surname is his wife, Millie. Also Millies incessant mentioning of her inheritance and her uncle Sir William Bartop is to show that she has money and it is almost a boast. This is her fai ade to improve her social standing and she uses it to imply that she is better off than your average schoolmasters wife. This is evident when the Head says Your wifes remarks had lead me to imagine something a little more extensive. At this time divorce was frowned upon greatly. We will write a custom essay sample on How successful is the ending of Rattigans The Browning Version specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on How successful is the ending of Rattigans The Browning Version specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on How successful is the ending of Rattigans The Browning Version specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Divorcees were ostracised completely from society- for example divorcees were not allowed in the royal enclosure at Ascot and even the late Princess Margaret was not allowed to marry a RAF war hero because he was a divorcee. That is why Andrew says he does not want to do Millie a second grave wrong and why they do not even discuss splitting up or divorce. The divorce would ruin all of Millie aspirations of social climbing and joining the aristocracy. The Browning Version is named after a translation of the Agamemnon, written by Aeschylus as one third of the Oresteia, by Robert Browning (1812-1889). This particular book is given to Andrew by Taplow in the play and plays an integral part in the story. The plot itself contains many similarities to the Agamemnon: a cheating wife, the lack of love between the married couple and the death of a husband. To make it even worse in Millies obvious spite for her husband she tells him all the details of many affairs. Andrew is so worn down by this that he is referred to as dead by Millie This is the killing of Andrew by his wife as is in the Agamemnon and he says later I fear it [the manuscript of his version of the Agamemnon] is lost like so many other things. The so many other things refers to the lack of faith in his wife and the lack of love and joy in his marriage. Personally I think that The Browning Version is a version of the Agamemnon with a change of scenery and a twist at the end. Andrew admits that he himself wrote a version of the Agamemnon when he was a teenager in rhyming couplets and says when I had finished it, I remember, I thought it very beautiful almost more beautiful than the original. Almost, but not quite in my opinion Andrew means that you cannot beat the original therefore numbing the success of the ending of The Browning Version. The characters of The Browning Version are very stereotypical of the times and the setting. Crocker-Harris for example is the characteristic draconian old schoolmaster- by the book to the letter and ruthless. He is built up in the short time of the play to give the impression of a disrespected and unlovable man without feeling, fully deserving of the title the Himmler of the lower fifth as bestowed on him by Frobisher. He changes throughout the second half of the play and we as the audience see him to be pleasant, friendly and bullied by his evil wife. This means that the emotions displayed at the end are all the more surprising and cathartic. His history with Millie is outlined in sketchy little facts linked into the conversations. He has always had a stormy marriage and it has never been fulfilled for either party. Millie hints at all the affairs she has had and she has always told Andrew the sordid details. This has worn Andrew down and he is referred to as dead, an utter failure, a Henpecked husband and he is thought to be by Taplow to be all shrivelled up inside like a nut. Again this makes the ending much more emotional. Andrew believes his life is a subject for farce, but in fact he has misread his life and it is more like a tragedy. He also believes that his life is a common occurrence worldwide. Millie is a social climber and is completely evil. She dashes Andrew feelings about the book with a completely evil comment about it being appeasement so that Taplow can get his remove. She is so mean to him to the point of resentment because he cant provide her with what she needs and she is a free spirit. She has to find this kind of love through other channels for example affairs. Frank is typical of young teachers- lively, vigorous and liked by the boys in his care. In the 1994 film version he is made to be American; a rarity in the time period and it makes him even more of a wildcard. But Frank changes over time to regret his actions with Millie and suddenly sees her true colours and recognizes that Andrew is in fact a very admirable person indeed. Taplow the epitome of a schoolboy, a lively character and he recognizes that the Crock is not liked. He notices Andrewss fai ade and sees through it and furthermore admires him for what he is worth. There are two film versions of The Browning Version one made in 1951 by Anthony Asquith, staring Michael Redgrave as Andrew, and a 1994 version directed by Mike Figgis, with Albert Finney in the leading role. Both are very good in their own respects but they both change a good deal in their adaptations. The 1951 version is closer to the original in the plot and setting . The end is similar to the 1994 version with Andrew making a triumphant speech at prize day after Fletcher and providing the several minutes of applause the head master predicted while winning the respect of the boys. The 1994 version is set in a slightly different time but is similar in many ways to the 1951 version. The endings of these are cathartic and the audience goes away feeling very pleased that Andrew has finally done something to please himself and gained the respect of his pupils. On the stage it is kept nicely in a one room set and there are no scene changes making it very compact. It manages to cram a lot of information into a very small time without leaving the audience asking background questions about the play. It leaves the audience pleased that the underdog has come out on top but still asking questions in the backs of their minds about what happens next. The ending is calm and simple compared to the other emotional and physical turmoil of the previous conversations making it very successful in not leaving the audience weary of the characters. The stagecraft is simple and easy to carryout and therefore works to not confuse or change the perspective of the audience. I doubt its effectiveness for a group of teenagers in this modern world of loud music and huge climaxes, but I myself then must be an exception. In their opinion, The Browning Version is very dull, slow and boring play indeed but I actually enjoyed reading this play. It is very effective to the Aunt Ednas of the audience as Terrence Rattigan himself used to call them. The name Edna conjures the image of middle aged women of a certain upbringing and social standing. A tragedy is a play ending with a serious action such as death or defeat in a crescendo of sorrow. The Browning Version almost accomplishes this but accomplishes an anti-climax instead, with the audience expecting the cathartic ending of a tragedy. The tragic themes and motives of The Browning Version are occasionally cut with humour; most of the time provided by Taplow, for example are his golfing skills and his impressions of the Crock. Andrew claims that an anti-climax can be very effective and this is true of The Browning Version in these circumstances. The way the anti climax is executed and the preamble to it makes it a very successful way of ending the play. The ending is kept under wraps in a very simple and straightforward way with the ambiguity of a telephone call, which is very anonymous. At the very end, the meal is almost the picture of an ideal marriage but with a twist of bitterness in the expression on the face of Millie. As The Browning Version is based on a tragedy it could have ended like one, but it does the reverse and finishes in the way you would least expect if you had no knowledge of the play beforehand. If it had ended like a tragedy would likely be less successful in its message and the ending would not mean so much to the audience in the same way. The ending of The Browning Version is a very strange one compared to the other plays I have read or seen, and I find the ending a pleasant surprise. With all things considered, I think the anti-climax is as effective as Andrew claims it to be. Rattigans use of tragedy and anti-climax, and his characters, make the ending of The Browning Version a very good one undeniably.

Final Strategic Plan

Final Strategic Plan Final Strategic Plan PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 21Final Strategic PlanPatricia BernardBUS/475 Integrated Business TopicsDavid NimmoDecember 21, 2009CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY: I certify that the attached paper, which was produced for the class identified above, is my original work and has not previously been submitted by me or by anyone else for any class. I further declare that I have cited all sources from which I used language, ideas and information, whether quoted verbatim or paraphrased, and that any and all assistance of any kind, which I received while producing this paper, has been acknowledged in the References section. This paper includes no trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet, which I do not have written permission to include. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have the same validity as my handwritten signature.Student's signature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): ____Patricia Bernard____________ __________Final Strategic PlanOrganizations in today's competitive business world must include a strong and effective strategic plan.Acocks Green Primary School - Westley Road, Acocks...We offer cars that are comfortable for everyone, TV's in all the vans, and full-size cars for the individual passenger that still wants to enjoy their space.Mission StatementThe purpose of Be Safe, Catch a Ride Service, Inc. is to provide customers with a solution to their transportation needs, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week, faster and better than anyone else, while still rewarding the stakeholders: consumers, customers, colleagues and shareholders.Vision StatementOur vision is to provide our customers with a service that surpasses everyone else. In order to do so, our company offers over 300 full-sized cars with satellite tracking which provides safety and security for all passengers. Everything is computer dispatched which means...

Perception of The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Perception of The Vietnam War - Essay Example However, America’s involvement in Vietnam began long before the decision to send troops into the region. Near the beginning of 1950, the Ho Chi Minh regime in Vietnam had been recognized as the governing body by Communist China, and the Soviet Union3. Thus, the Truman administration was faced with the decision of whether to allow communism to extend throughout Vietnam, or to attempt to fight it. Three key sources will be examined as part of this discussion, which take different perspectives and approaches to discussion on the war. These are, Vietnam Wars 1945-1990, A Rumor of War and the movie Platoon. This article focuses on the perceptions of the Vietnam War as portrayed in these three sources and argues that to understand the way that the Vietnam War occurred, and its true cost, it is important to examine many different perspectives. The first aspect of this argument is to understand the way that Vietnam veterans were treated, and the attitudes of the country to war. Becaus e of the high controversy that surrounded the Vietnam War, many veterans felt ostracized and mistreated on their return to America. To help mitigate this, some books and movies, such as the ones being discussed in this article, attempted to portray the Vietnam War in a different light. Platoon attempted this by showing harsh reality of the war from the American perspective, without glamorizing the events through propaganda. The film tells the story of a young, naive soldier, Chris Taylor, who enters the war full of high hopes and the desire to serve his country. The director uses the experiences of Chris to enlighten the audience about the confusion that soldiers felt during the war, and to create a connection between the people that viewed the movie, and the soldiers. The approach of personalizing the soldier that was used in Platoon, was also used in the book A Rumor of War, which is a war memoir written by Philip Caputo about his own experiences in the war. Both of these sources take a highly personal and emotionally charged approach to explain the difficulties that soldiers faced during the war. In addition, this perspective helps viewers to sympathize with the soldiers, and to better understand the role that they played in the war. One of the biggest contentions about Vietnam is the politics, specifically, whether the United States should ever have become involved in the war. This approach is considered differently in the sources. In Platoon, Stone does not address the morality of the presence of Americans in Vietnam. His characters do discuss the desire to go home, it is not because of the morality of the war, but because of how bad it is for them. As Chris comments â€Å"Someone once wrote: â€Å"Hell is the impossibility of reason.† That’s what this place feels like. Hell.† Thus, for the soldiers, the politics of the war matter little; they are all involved in their own personal, and deadly, hell. In A Rumor of War, the author expr essly states â€Å"This book does not pretend to be a history. It has nothing to do with politics, power, strategy, influence, national interests or foreign policy†4. In contrast, The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990 focuses almost exclusively on the political aspect. This is indicated by the fact that the author opens the introduction with the question â€Å"Why are we in Vietnam?†5 This question suggests a very different focus to the book, one that is expanded on throughout the introduction and then the rest of the

Stalking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stalking - Essay Example Most stalkers have been exposed, through social interaction or observation, to factors like violence. B Turvey (2002: 509) defines stalking as â€Å"a crime involving the behavioral intrusion of one person in the life of another that is maladaptive.† One incident of intrusion into an individuals live is not considered stalking, multiple incidents must occur. This is why delusional or paranoid schizophrenic individuals are not the majority stalkers. In fact, delusional or paranoid schizophrenic individuals are not defined as stalkers under the law and psychological definitions (Davis, 2001: 5). These individuals are diagnosed as having a mental illness, not being a stalker. Most stalkers live outwardly normal lives (Davis, 2001: 5). Stalkers fall into a few general categories. The majority of stalkers were in a relationship with their victim, but feel the victim has wronged them someway. Another common stalker is the secret admirer type. A man or woman who have a crush on an individual and wants to be noticed (Davis, 2001: 5). Most stalkers are men, but women can stalk as well. Control is a common issue with stalkers. Stalkers tend to feel out of control, so in response they try to regain that control through stalking. The first type of stalker is of a scorned lover or husband. When a spouse decides that it is over, the stalker feels the control slipping from their hands. The same goes with the secret admirer that does not get noticed. When the secret admirer does not get noticed through normal methods, stalking makes their victims focus on them, giving them more control. The most common stalker is one of an ex-spouse. While the man is stalking the woman or vice versa, the children are observing this behavior. In turn these children start exhibiting stalking traits (Pinals, 2007: 3). A child observing a stalking situation probably feel sympathetic with the stalker, because the stalker has the power. The child despises the victim, because

Space Tourism Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Space Tourism - Term Paper Example This cannot be ignored. Businessmen and government must come together and work out a technology that will lessen the carbon emission and also design a program for these space tourism companies to offset the carbon they are emitting. There is an unspoken mantra in technological space: build it and they will come (Taylor, 2006). For years, technological companies spend billions of dollars on research and development of new products and services with no clear market. It’s a risky move but one that almost always pays off. That, in essence, is the business principle followed by space tourism. Vienna has expressed plans on building a spaceport in Asia, Singapore and United Arab Emirate. It will tap Russia in building five space crafts to shoot man into space. Building it will cost anywhere between $115 million to $265 million to build (Malik 2008). The numbers, obviously, are big risks and the obvious concern is whether it is worth pursuing. This paper will examine space tourism from three angles: economic, environmental and cultural. Specifically, this paper will answer the following questions: A qualitative method will be used to collect information about the topic. Published articles, news articles, and published statements will be the main references to analyse the economic, environmental, cultural and educational potential and impact of space tourism. Figures on the target market and potential revenue will be gathered and analysed. The same procedure will be applied to environmental impact. Several studies have already been done that quantifies who space tourism’s economic potential will impact the environment. These numbers will be collected and interpreted. The first space tourist went to space in April 2001. Dennis Tito paid $35 million for the experience of seeing Earth from the space. Since then, only seven people

Feminist Geographies: Applications and Theories

Feminist Geographies: Applications and Theories Modern feminism began in 1960s in the United States with the Women’s Liberation Movement. This political movement subsequently spread to Europe and initially focussed on equality between men and women. Women saw themselves as ‘subordinate’ and nothing more than â€Å"imaginary figures, the objects of another’s desire, made real† (Mackinnon, 1987) and thus tried to raise awareness of the social inequality experienced by women. Social feminist geography (adopting a Marxist ideology) revolved around the question of how best to articulate gender and class analyses, with the theorisation of a ‘sexual division of labour’. Haraway (1991) thus claims â€Å"a feminist is one who fights for women as a class and for the disappearance of that class†. From these roots drawing inspiration from women’s movements of the 1960s, feminist geographies have developed considerably and diversely over the last 30 years and now hold, without doubt, a considerable institutional presence. This essay will overview the development and progression of feminism as a ‘critical discourse’ and argue that although scholars such as Bondi, in McDowell and Sharp (eds) (1997), contend â€Å"†¦feminism has never achieved a high profile in geography†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and that the â€Å"†¦potential of feminism is ignored†¦Ã¢â‚¬  this is NOT necessarily the case. I will argue feminist theory has shaped theory and practise in geography through raising the awareness of gender issues, helping remove blatant sexism from academic journals and institutions and contributing hugely to the ‘cultural turn’ within the discipline. A huge volume of literature has amassed on feminist geographies over recent decades meaning that in the current era there are numerous ‘feminist geographies’ spanning across the discipline. This is clearly apparent in the number of books that have been published on the topic, the formation of the journal Gender Place and Culture in 1994 and the volume of articles that can be found in other contemporary human, cultural and social geography journals. Although feminist perspectives and outlooks vary in theory and content, common concerns cut across them all (Johnston et al., 2000). Developing out of the radical separatist ideas and oppositional politics associated with the ‘global sisterhood’ of the 1960s and 70s, came a more theoretical outlook associated with the ‘cultural turn’. Feminism thus developed as a critical discourse. The discipline of geography itself was criticised for its inherent masculine bias and for â€Å"excluding half the huma n from human geography† (Monk and Hansen, 1982). Haraway (1991) argued that women â€Å"do not appear where they should in geographical literature†. However, as part of the cultural turn, the shift away from grand theories and a concentration on diverse and interconnecting global micro-geographies, gender was understood to interact with race and class and therefore to understand gender, one â€Å"had to constantly go beyond gender† (Connell, in McDowell and Sharp, 1997). The massive literature on contemporary feminism thus reflects criticisms that ‘Western feminism’ has played down sexual, racial and class differences. Western feminism had been strongly criticised for being ethnocentric, as it obscured or subordinated all other â€Å"Others† (Haraway, in McDowell and Sharp (eds) 1997). Black women argued they were not constituted as ‘women’ as white women were, but instead constituted simultaneously racially and sexually as marked female (animal, sexualised and without rights), but not a women (human, potential wife, conduit for the name of a father). This critique expanded into development studies where it was argued although ‘cultural barriers’ can impede policy progress, many of these barriers may in fact have been magnified and reinforced by Western interventionist ‘gender blind’ development policies, through an ignorance of local traditions (Crewe and Harrison, 1999). The further development of ‘feminist geographies’ and the attempt to make women visible through ‘geographies of women’ has also resulted in a large literature on feminist methodologies (Moss, 1993; Nast, 1994, Farrow, Moss and Shaw, 1995, Hodge, 1995), including experimental writing and self-reflexivity (Rose, 1997). Work by Rose (1993) criticised geographical fieldwork as being â€Å"masculinity in action†, using historical examples such as Tansley’s (1939) ‘Man and Nature’. McDowell (1992) also details sexist biases in research methods, culminating in an absence of statistics about women, for example, detailing their unpaid labour (i.e. housework). In many studies there also seems to be a lack of women that were interviewed. For example, William Whyte’s Street Corner Society (1955), in which he seemed unaware that he had only interviewed men! There has thus been an application of feminist ideas to research and fieldwork. F eminist enquiry now works for an egalitarian research process between the researcher and her ‘subjects’. A further similarity between ‘feminist geographies’ is that they trace the inter-connections between all aspects of daily life, across sub-disciplinary boundaries of economic, social, political and cultural geography. From Linda McDowell’s extensive research on the feminist geographies of the labour force involving ‘glass ceilings’ and discrimination (McDowell, 1997), to Hoschchild’s (1997) ‘dual role’ women and the ‘second shift’ (women having to be carers and mothers as well as career women). There has also been a huge volume of literature over recent years regarding the rise of women workers in the service industry (for example, call centres) and women as the ‘new proletariat’. Conversely, as part of this new ‘identity politics’, gender is argued by some to be a competitive advantage for women in the current workforce in terms of their roles as ‘emotional managers’ (Hochschild, 1983). McDowell (2001, 2004) has also recently tracked the development of a ‘crisis of masculinity’ associated with the collapse of Fordism, unemployment and a ‘lost generation of males’. Thus, it is argued by some the best ‘man’ for a job is now a woman. This thorough, multi-disciplinary application of ‘feminist geographies’ at a variety of different scales in various sub-fields of the discipline clearly highlight its impact in shaping modern theory and practise within geography. From its beginnings of liberal feminism and oppositional politics (1960s and 70s), feminist geography has developed through feminist Marxism involving a gender/class interface (late 70s/80s) to feminist geographies of difference (late 80s-present) as part of identity politics and the ‘cultural turn’. Feminist geography now concentrates on gendered identities within a post-structural, post-colonial, cultural theoretical framework, studying gender relations across races, ages, ethnicities, religions, sexualities and nationalities. Most recently of all, the discipline has undergone further internal-critique, calling for more intensive study of relations and equality between women themselves. It is for these reasons I believe ‘fem inist geographies’ have had a huge ideological impact on geographical theory and practise over recent decades and will continue to do so for years to come. References: Crewe, E. and Harrison, E. (1999) Whose development?: an ethnography of aid, London, St Martin’s Press. Farrow, H., Moss, P. and Shaw, B. (1995) Symposium of feminist participatory research, Antipode, 18:2, 186-211. Haraway, D. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the reinvention of nature, London, Free Association Books. Hochschild, A.R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling, University of California Press, Berkeley. Hochschild, A.R. (1997) The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work, Henry Holt, New York. Hodge, D. (ed) (1995), Should women count? The role of quantitative methodology in feminist geographic research, The Professional Geographer, 47, 426-66. Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Pratt, G., Watts, M. (2000), The Dictionary of Human Geography, Blackwell. Mackinnon, C.A. (1987) Feminism unmodified: discourses on life and law, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press. McDowell, L. (1992) Defining women: social institutions and gender divisions, Cambridge, Polity Press. McDowell, L. and Sharp, J. (eds) Space, gender, knowledge: feminist readings (London: Arnold, 1997). McDowell, L.M. (1997) Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City, Oxford, Blackwell. McDowell, L.M. (2001) Father and Ford Revisited: Gender, Class and Employment Change in the New Millennium, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26, 448-64. Monk, J. and Hansen, S. (1982) On not excluding the other half from human geography, The Professional Geographer, 32, 11-23. Moss, P. (1993) Feminism as method, The Canadian Geographer, 37, 48-61. Nast, H. (ed) (1994) Women in the field: critical feminist methodologies and theoretical perspectives, The Professional Geographer, 46, 54-102. Rose, G. (1993) Feminism and Geography, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. Rose, G. (1997) Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics, Progress in Human Geography, 21, 305-20. Whyte, W.F. (1955) Street Corner Society: the social structure of an Italian slum, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

please Let Us Skate :: essays research papers

"Please Let Us Skate" "Hey you guys! Skating is prohibited in this park. Would you please be so kind and leave. Thanks for cooperating and have a great day" exclaimed a security guard who worked for the park. Apparently the security guard's idea of a great day in the park means monk-like silence. With an area restricted on roller-blading and skate-boarding, we are forced to skate elsewhere. "As a security guard for the past year, I want to keep the park as safe as possible," says the security guard. "Skaters get in the way. Skaters are crashing into other people who are just here to relax. It is very dangerous and it is prohibited in this park." Well, for one thing, roller-blading hasn't been accepted as a sport here in Hong Kong and will continue to be that way unless something is done about the places where skaters are allowed to skate. There are many places where cycling is allowed but where skating is not allowed. Why is this? Maybe it is because people here don't feel that we skaters deserve the right any cyclists, or anything on wheels, have. All we ask for is a decent place to skate where we wouldn't have our rights denied. I have been skating for two and a half years now. Until recently, I have started to skate with a couple of my friends whenever we have the time to. There has never been a time where we haven't been stopped and kicked out. This has been very irritating for us and we still don't understand why we're not welcomed at any parks, other than the answer we always get, "You might hurt someone". Personally, I think the only people that are going to get hurt are the ones with the skates, us. Another big problem we Roller-bladers face here in Hong Kong is the fact that we are not only rejected by society but also by other skaters, skate- boarders. There are many places to skate here in Hong Kong and of those, 90 percent are dominated by local skate-boarding cliques. They don't like the idea of mixing with those have an extra 4 wheels stuck to their feet and usually get rid of us their way. Skate-boarders and Roller-bladers simply cannot get along. Personally, I enjoy the fine art of Roller-blading and

Flexible work options Essay

With our personal lives busier than ever, offering flexible work options to your employees could be the best way to keep the good ones around. By offering flexible work options, such as flextime, it will allow employees more family time, go back to school, if desired, to further education, as well as decrease absenteeism at work. Now, who wouldn’t want a job that offered the time allowed to do those kind of things? I know I would. Flexible work hours allow employees more time with their family. It allows more time to spend with their children, and to attend all school programs and plays. It allows a parent the opportunity to be able to take their child to school, and go back to pick them up from school. This makes for happy children which makes for happy parents, which in turn, makes for a happy employee. Happy parents working flexible schedules, are more productive at work and produce better quality of care. Not only does it allow for family time, but employees working flexible work hours are able to return to school on their own, and pursue that college degree they have always wanted. Not only does it allow to obtain a college degree, it allows one to go back to school to further the degree they already obtain. Working flextime allows the time to go back to school without interrupting the work schedule at work. This allows a person to work full time and attend school. Flextime allows the ability for employers to retain key, dedicated employees whose personal needs conflict with traditional work hours. By offering flextime, you’ll gain increased productivity and worker satisfaction, along with decreased absenteeism and turnover; all great money-savers for the company. Flextime helps create a happier, more satisfying workplace, too. Because employees are often so glad that their employers are willing to allow for a work-life time adjustment, they tend to work harder and in a more dedicated fashion to hold on to their now-perfect schedule and re-balance their lives, and actually enjoy coming to work. This is why no one calls-in to work. They love it. To keep happy employees, employers, fathers, mothers, or the entire family, offering flextime is the way to go. It allows for so many benefits, neither one can go wrong with working flexible work hours. It will produce happy parents, happy children, and happy employers. Work progress will improve so much as well as the quality of work provided. With the busy lives of people and everything that is required of some of them, flextime is the best way to go. Going with flextime makes everyone happy. Yay for flextime.

How To Use Content Marketing For Startups - CoSchedule

How To Use Content Marketing For Startups You’ve worked hard on your new startup. Launch day is here. Now what? Will anyone notice? Will the world be ready? What if you already had an email list of more than 5,000 engaged subscribers who were already interested in your company and product? What if you already had an audience to buy (or trial) your new thing on day one? This is exactly how we launched just a few short years ago.  We used content marketing to build a huge email list that contained thousands of potential customers who were already rooting for us when we finally opened our doors. To do it, we went  all in on content. In fact, we started creating content before we even started writing code! Heres why your #startup should be #writing blog posts before you even start writing code.Today, I want to share a bit of that story, but more importantly, I want to show you how you can use content marketing to launch and build your startup. I will outline the five key phases that we took to ensure that our product launched to a qualified audience, developed  a steady stream of new customers, and developed one of the most trafficked blogs in our industry- all using content marketing. I’ll start from the beginning and give you the step-by-step process you can use for yourself. Phase 1: Learn To Tell Your Story Startup phase = Minimum viable product; Content phase = Minimum viable blog Ever since I read Charles Duhigg’s book,  The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, I have been uniquely aware of the need for simple habits that will eventually lead to consistently correct behavior. Its a core part of how I now approach leadership and team development, and it’s exactly how I encourage people to approach content marketing. In the beginning, all you need to worry about is building the habit of publishing at least one blog post a week. That’s it. All you need to worry about is building the habit of publishing at least one blog post a week.I found that the easiest way to do this was by telling the story once a week, one blog post at a time. Each week, I would post about our progress in development, share recent product wireframes, or share a problem we were experiencing to  get our audience’s feedback. Not only was it a valuable (and easy) way to generate consistent content, but it was a great way to  gather feedback and get ideas from our potential customers. This blog post asked for survey feedback. This phase of content marketing for startups is about finding your audience  and attracting people who  may be drawn to your company or product over time. Don’t let yourself get bogged down in strategy. Think of it like finding product marketing fit for your blog. You should also be using this time to build an email list and audience by sharing your content regularly on social media. Of course, can help with this. :) If you want to see some of our first blog posts, here are a few: Weve Got A Big Job To Do How Your Feedback Influences What We Build The Minimum Viable CalendarUse this time to build an #email list by sharing your content regularly on #socialmedia.Phase 2: Transition To  Strategy Startup phase = Product market fit; Content phase = Content audience fit The second phase of content marketing for startups is to begin steering your content toward the ideas and topics that fit your startups mission and product. This phase is really  all about converting your regular publishing habit into a true inbound marketing approach where you use helpful content to build trust with your audience. Steer your #content toward the topics that fit your #startups mission and product.This phase  assumes that you have been able to identify an early form of product market fit. Now is the time to start directing your content toward their needs and testing your hypothesis. If you create content that is helpful for them, do they respond? Do they show  interest in your company and product? There are a ton of ways to actually develop your topics during this phase, but keep it simple. Keyword Explorer in Moz In the beginning, I would use Google and the recommended search phrases to find topics that I felt our users would care about. You can also use SEO specific tools like Keyword Explorer in Moz  and SEMrush (two of our favorites) to find important keywords and phrases. Buzzsumo.com can also be a big help. Again, while this stage is about shifting toward a defined strategy, don’t go overboard. Youre still learning, so you need to be agile enough to make changes if things are working. Your product may also be changing at this point, so be prepared to adapt. Be agile enough to make changes if things arent working. #startuplifeLastly, at this time, its still not about writing the 100% greatest content on earth. This is the minimum viable blog phase. Do just enough to prove your theories about what your audience wants and needs, then build on your successes. This phase is also a great time to double down on your email list building and social media promotion. This is the minimum viable blog phase. Your content doesnt have to be 100% Recommended Reading: 5 Easy Lead Conversion Tips For Your Email Marketing Program 8 Social Media Best Practices That Will Save You 25.5 Hours In A 2-Week Sprint Phase 3: Seek Help Startup phase = Hiring a team; Content phase = Hand-off content creation As a founder, I have always tried to do the job we are hiring for before we actually do the hiring. It helps me get perspective on the skills and talents a new hire needs in order to be successful to be successful.  It also helps me define the scope of the position so we don’t give someone so much to do that they can’t possibly be successful. This is exactly what you need to do in the third phase of content marketing for startups. During phase two, you are essentially proving your hypothesis- can you generate consistent traffic and build an audience with content? And what  exactly do you need to do it? Phase three is about taking those results and starting to scale them. At , this meant hiring a Content Marketing Lead and doubling down on staff that could create compelling graphics and downloads. This phase is about scaling your ability to acquire an audience. By adding a full-time team member, you will make sure the day-to-day management of your content is handed off to someone other than a founder of the team. This should improve consistency and overall content quality. Make sure your #content is consistently converting visitors into #email leads.After all, at this phase, your time available as a founder will continue to be marginalized. (That’s a good thing!) You should also use this phase as an opportunity to make sure that your content is consistently converting visitors into email leads or social media followers. Tools like OptinMonster and LeadPages  are great for this. We cover a bunch of tools that are perfect for converting leads in our post: 5 Plugins Guaranteed To Help You Collect More Leads. One word of caution: Adding new team members shouldn’t necessarily increase the amount of content you are producing. Ease into it, and use this phase to develop a consistent voice, quality standard, and working model of what things work and which things don’t. Phase 4: Get Analytical Startup phase = Optimizing your funnel; Content phase = Turning content into science Up until this phase, I recommend only tracking two metrics for your content marketing: page views and email subscribers. In the beginning, most content marketing is simply about developing an audience, bringing eyeballs to your product, and seeing what sticks. There are so many things in flux at this time, that it just doesn’t make sense to focus on anything else. But, at some point, that has to change. You have to start digging into Google Analytics to  understand  what  content is performing the best and why that is. You need to start digging into the analytics to understand what content is performing best and why.Up until now, you should have been writing about a wider variety of topics, even if it felt a little random at times. That’s good. It should give you a wide spectrum of data to consider and compare. If you have a product youre selling online, you should be looking at how your content is converting your visitors into users. Which topics covert the best? Use this data to write the  best possible content for your audience. Ask yourself which topics are converting the best? #content A good example of this phase for us was the use of the word ‘calendar’ in our blog post headlines. We found that blog topics that included the discussion of a calendar generated 2 to 3 times more interest in our product than topics that didn’t. This was a key insight for us that allowed us to convert our data into instant results by increasing the frequency of posts that included topics about editorial calendars. Build massive traffic. #startup #bloggingAnother major change that we made at during this phase was the inclusion of a free download or â€Å"cookie† with every blog post. We learned that by including a content-specific download in each of our posts, we could dramatically increase the number of email subscribers from those posts. This became a snowball effect. As our email list grew, so did our traffic and referrals on social media. The goal here is still fairly simple- build massive traffic. The only difference is that you want to start making sure it’s smart traffic, not just traffic for the sake of it. Recommended Reading: How To Increase Blog Traffic: 5 Ways To Make Contagious Content Phase 5:  Scale Startup phase = Scale; Content phase = Scale At this point you should have a small team of writers, designers, and editors dedicated to content marketing. You should be a total ace at shipping high quality content consistently and converting your visitors into loyal email subscribers. Your traffic should be growing consistently, and your influence in the industry should be skyrocketing. There’s only one problem. All of the instructions for making it happen are locked in your head. This means that you have a scaling problem. How long does it take to train in a new hire? How can you continue to execute at a high level while maintaining your obviously high bar of quality? The is the part of content marketing where you need to start writing things down. At , this included an intense series of documents that outlined our entire process. At any time, our content team would be able to reference the checklist and stay on par with our expected level of quality. Start #writing down your ideas so that you dont forget them.We stay on track with these task templates. Once we developed the checklist, we were able to convert it into a killer task template inside of . It made sure we never missed a beat  and allowed us to start taking on new challenges. Like: Developing a series of ebooks targeted at key customer pain points. Shifting our content to a stronger â€Å"demand generation† approach. Getting nerdy with spreadsheets and starting to develop a literal formula for perfect content. Increasing our content publishing schedule with confidence that it would provide the right results. Focusing entirely on content that generates demand for our tools, not just traffic. All of these sound pretty great, right? The point is that scaling allows you to grow, but it also allows you to make the leap from audience to acquisition with ease. Once you know how to build, maintain, and grow a blog audience, you can do the exact same thing with customers and your product. Of course, if you have been doing it right, your content should have been converting customers all along. I can say with confidence that our blog has also been our #1 driver of new customers. Now you can squeeze every last drop of value from the audience you’ve worked so hard to build. Recommended Reading: Heres How You Can Double Your  Blog Conversion Rate Right Now How To Create Content That Converts By Writing Your Reader Happy How To Delight Your Marketing Target Audience To Boost Conversions Go Forth And Market Your Startup Good content marketing for startups isn’t necessarily easy. It takes a ton of work, and more importantly, commitment. Its important to recognize that good content marketing is a long-term strategy and not a short-term boost in the arm. Realize that every step of the process is designed to prepare you for what’s to come just as much as it should benefit you right now. With the right perspective, content marketing should become the best investment your startup ever makes. I can tell you that without it at , we never would have made it as far as we have with it.

Direct Managers Letter of Recommendation for an Employee

Direct Manager's Letter of Recommendation for an Employee SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips What does a good recommendation letter look like? Below you’ll find a sample letter written by a direct manager for an employee who works in software sales. If you’re responsible for managing or leading a team, chances are you’ll be called upon to write similar letters. Read on to see how this manager endorses one member of his sales team, and then check out the breakdown of what this letter does well. Sample Letter #1: Written by a Manager for a Full-Time Employee Ms. Greta JohanssenSales ManagerStreambase Corp.66 Western BoulevardSanta Fe, New Mexico 87500 Dear Ms. Johanssen, It’s my pleasure to provide this letter of recommendation for James as he seeks employment in software sales with Streambase. As James’s sole direct manager at Waretech, I’ve worked closely with him over the past three years, sharing the same open office space the majority of the time. James showed excellent communication skills and consistently exceeded company quotas. On a personal level, he’s charismatic and well-spoken, both qualities that have served him well in his role as software sales professional. Due to his wife’s cross-country transfer, James is seeking employment out west. All of us at Waretech will be sad to see such a valuable employee go, but our loss is truly your gain. Allow me to point out three examples of James’s strengths. First, James brought great value to Waretech by consistently exceeding quotas and selling in the top 15% of his peers. James has an understanding of market trends and instincts for identifying and pursuing qualified leads. Not only does he provide stellar service to existing clients, but he’s established a number of new business-to-business and business-to-customer accounts during his time at Waretech. Last fall, for instance, he added Voxacorp to our client list, a huge acquisition, and has been working closely with its IT department ever since. James has the combination of business acumen and communication skills that makes him an outstanding salesperson. Second, James has a very strong grasp of technology. He knows our software inside and out and helps relay technical information to customers in an accessible way. He explains our products clearly to customers and makes the most of technological avenues to gain new leads and customize his sales pitch to clients. During an early review, I observed him discuss in detail with a prospective client the specific ways that our software could boost the sales of her online bakery. By monitoring clients’ presence across our website and blog, he provides each one with personalized service to meet his/her needs. James makes the most of technology to find new prospects, provide modern solutions, and drive results. Finally, James has proven himself to be a strong cultural fit here at Waretech. He’s always ready to lend a helping hand to his teammates and contributes during brainstorming sessions and meetings between the sales and marketing teams. Last month, James co-led an enlightening meeting on content marketing and account management. Outside of official events, James also takes turns leading weekly spin classes at our in-house gym. James is an active member of the Waretech team and supports his colleagues professionally and personally (not to mention athletically!). In closing, I’d like to restate my strong support for James’s application to the role of software sales professional with Streambase. I’m confident that he will surpass your expectations in this new role. James is driven, self-confident, proactively helpful, and smart, and I know he will continue to find success in sales. Please feel free to contact me at (866) 8-5546 or ssaasman@waretech.com with any other questions. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Samuel SaasmanSales ManagerWaretech, Inc.ssaasman@waretech.com(866) 8-5546 Based on this letter, should James pack his bags and get ready to move out west? Recommendation Letter 1: The Breakdown This first recommendation letter sample represents a common type of letter,one written by a direct manager for an employee who’s applying to a new company. Right off the bat, the writer gives a strong statement of support for James by saying that it’s his great pleasure to provide the recommendation. If he started by simply saying, â€Å"I am writing this letter of recommendation for James,† it wouldn’t have quite the same impact. Samuel Saasman incorporates the first key feature of strong letters by stating who he is and how he got to know James. He also indicates the reason that James is applying elsewhere. Including this information can be useful for the hiring manager, especially if it’s followed by a statement of support like, â€Å"Our loss is truly your gain.† Samuel structures his letter by presenting three of James’s major strengths: his sales record, his use of technology, and his relationships with his co-workers. This structure can be an effective one for recommendation letters; some writers might choose to use bullet points to clarify their thinking. Samuel writes about James’s qualifications while incorporating specific examples in each paragraph to illustrate his work performance. Since James is applying to a similar position in software sales, all of the strengths described relate directly to the requirements of his target job. Samuel recommends James with highly positive language. He repeats his strong support of James several times and his confidence in his future success. He seems to have chosen with words carefully, using strong descriptors like â€Å"charismatic,† â€Å"driven,† and â€Å"proactively helpful.† As is the custom for recommendation letters, he concludes by inviting the hiring manager to contact him with any further questions. Overall, Samuel writes a glowing letter for James’s application to a new job in software sales. His high opinion is evident, and his examples prove that James has the qualifications to excel in his next position. What's Next? Ready for the next recommendation letter sample? Click hear to read a sample letter written by a principal for a teacher applying to a new school. Want to learn more? If you want to readabout what goes into a strong letter of recommendation or find additional samples, you can head tothe full guide here. Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today: Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Rebecca Safier About the Author Rebecca graduated with her Master's in Adolescent Counseling from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has years of teaching and college counseling experience and is passionate about helping students achieve their goals and improve their well-being. She graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University and scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Healthcare Job Opportunities and Career Trends Research Paper

Healthcare Job Opportunities and Career Trends - Research Paper Example Personal Life vs. Professional Life Today’s employees are appreciating the value of free time. This trend will not auger well with the job description of many health care practitioners in the coming decade. This is based on the fact that many physicians and nurses work for many hours under quite stressful conditions. Monetary compensation is hereby taking the back seat while concern over labor hours takes precedence. There is a growing need for employees to strike a balance between personal life and work. Labor hours are decreasing as time goes by and this trend will accelerate over the next 10 years. There is also the willingness for people to take up jobs that involve a lot of travelling and adventure than routine practice. It is essential to appreciate that today’s employees are self driven and wish to have as much freedom and autonomy as possible which is not the case in the health care professions which are plagued by bureaucracy and routine (Nevidjon and Erickson, 2001). With autonomy one is able to express their views freely thereby offering more loyalty to work than the employer. Abuse towards Healthcare Professionals When considering the nursing profession, a lot of risks are associated with it. Hospitals are visited by many people some of whom their intensions are not known. Abuse of nurses and physicians has been on the rise over the past decade where they are insulted, spit on, punched and kicked by either patients or their relatives or visiting friends. Aggression and derogatory tone towards these professionals also form principal forms of emotional abuse. Studies over the past decade reveal that rise in these cases has much to do with lenient laws surrounding abuse of health care professionals in their line of duty. Health Care Legislation The... It is stated that human resource managers are facing one of the worst times in their management history today as they are forced to downsize so as to keep organizations afloat. Health care institutions are in dire shortage of nurses and physicians. This understaffing has resulted into the few available workers operating for long hours thereby becoming susceptible to making grave errors. However, some reprieve has dawned on the employment prospects in this sector considering the 2010 health care legislation. There is also the issue of declining morale among the staff coupled with stressful working conditions and ever diminishing incentives. It is with this realization that this part of the paper will analyze these trends well into the next decade. Staffing shortage is earmarked as one of the principal challenges that will face health care in the next 10 years. Nursing profession, for example, is widely a preserve for women. The employment trends indicate that women are now liberal and many opportunities are open for them to exploit e.g. engineering, accounting, self employment and many more. Low pay and prestige, harassment and abuse coupled with poor working conditions will lead to low staff morale thereby exaggerating the shortage situation. For one to secure a job in the nursing profession, some skills, character traits, and qualities are essential. In this paper the researcher presents an analysis of a candidate that attempts to link her personal characteristics with her suitability as a nurse.

Reducing your Carbon Footprint Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reducing your Carbon Footprint - Assignment Example 2) As indicated above, my CO2 emissions are above the average of Americans mainly in home energy where they stand at 66%. There are different measures that I can take in order to reduce CO2 emissions at home. For instance, I need to resort to methods such as using solar power for heating purposes of water. I also need to make sure that I switch off all electrical gadgets that are not in use at a particular moment. I also need to seriously take into consideration elements such as recycling of waste products. The other important step that I can take is to avoid using fossil fuels for energy at home for different purposes such as heating water. These fossil fuels emit large quantities of carbon dioxide and these emissions negatively impact on the environment and climate at large. Instead of resorting to artificial cooling systems is homes such as air conditioning, I can resort to open windows during the day for fresh air since this helps to reduce the quantity of CO2 emissions into the environment. There are CO2 gases that are emitted into the atmosphere during the air conditioning process. 3) The emissions of the average American are way above that of the world average mainly as a result of industrial activity. America is a heavily industrialized country and a lot of fossil fuels are used as energy in the industries. America also has a large population of automobiles that use fossil fuels as their major source of power. Combustible fuels such as oil, petrol kerosene among others produce large volumes of carbon dioxide when they are used for different industrial purposes. Excessive amount of carbon dioxide in the atmospheres is detrimental since it leads to global warming (Waugh, 196). This entails that excessive heat is trapped in the atmosphere and this condition can lead to climate change. Perennial droughts and floods are likely to be experienced in different parts of the globe and