7 Steps to Creating a Great Personal Brand

7 Steps to Creating a Great Personal Brand Whether you’re selling products or your own services, it’s important to cultivate your own brand, consistent across your online presence. Your brand creates the image of you and your work that you want out in the world. Still confused? Here are a few no-nonsense strategies for building your brand online.1. Make it pretty.The first thing you’ll need to think about is the visual. You won’t necessarily need a professional logo design, but you’ll want to think about colors, illustrations, fonts, and icons that you’ll use and how they support what’s most meaningful about your brand. Try to keep all these details consistent across all your media platforms.2. Keep it organized.No matter how gorgeous your website is, it’s not really well designed unless it’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. Don’t make a boring version of a cookie-cutter template, but try to make sure your bells and whistles aren’t interfering wit h lots of different users learning more about what you do.3. Stay simple.Brevity is the soul of wit, after all. You might have a real wealth of information to share, but try to keep your content lean and mean. Make your sentences do triple work to get your message across in as little space as possible.4. Make it personal.Don’t just use stock photos or withhold any photos of you on your sites. Unique images and personal flourishes and detail can go a long way towards making people feel connected to your story and your brand.5. Find your voice.You want to not only be yourself, but the best version of yourself. Whether you’ll be speaking to your audience through words or images, figure out an authentic way to communicate that’s succinct and charming and will make people interested in what you have to offer. Be authentic and real and show and let whatever makes you unique shine through.6. Your work should speak for itself.Showcase whatever you are trying to promote- first and foremost. Make whatever you do obvious within the first few seconds of someone visiting your site.7. Make a statement.To make a vibrant and useful personal brand statement, you’ll want to answer a few questions first. What are you most passionate/care most deeply about? What top three attributes define how you get things done? What are your top 3 strengths and skills? And, finally: What differentiates you from your competition? What do you have going for you that no one else can offer? Use your answers to these questions to fashion a personal brand statement for yourself. Put this on your site.Put the time into crafting your brand and then it will speak and work for you!

Passive Voice Definition and Examples

Passive Voice Definition and Examples In traditional grammar, the term passive voice refers to a type of sentence or clause in which the subject receives the action of the verb. For example, A good time was had by all. Contrast with active voice. The most common form of the passive in English is the short passive or agentless passive: a construction in which the agent (that is, the performer of an action) is not identified. For example, Mistakes were made. (In a long passive, the object of the verb in an active sentence becomes the subject.) See the discussion of the passive gradient in Examples and Observations below. Often the passive voice is formed by using the appropriate form of the verb to be (for example, is) and a past participle (for example, formed). However, passive constructions arent always made up of be and a past participle. For example, see the discussion of the get-passive. Though many style guides discourage use of the passive, the construction can be quite useful, especially when the performer of an action is unknown or unimportant. Passive constructions can also enhance cohesion. Examples and Observations Last week our dogwood tree was struck by lightning.Pandora, from Greek mythology, was given a box with all the worlds evils in it.(Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture, 2008)It is believed that in the elementary school a class of fifteen pupils for one teacher gives better results than either a class of three or a class of thirty.(Psychological Foundations of Educational Technology, ed. by W.C. Trow and E.E. Haddan, 1976)[Fern] found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilburs pen.(E.B. White, Charlottes Web, 1952)America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else . . .. America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy.(Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, 1965)Her bones were foundround thirty years laterwhen they razedher building toput up a parking lot.(Maya Angelou, Chicken-Licken. Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well, 1975) In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.(Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, 1979)Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.(attributed to Gabriel Garcia Marquez)The young gentleman was later seen by me in front of the gare Saint-Lazare.(Raymond Queneau, Passive. Exercises in Style, 1947) In Defense of the Passive Voice The proportion of passive verbs varies with the type of prose: scientific prose, for instance, may show far more passives than narrative prose. But to point this out is not to denigrate scientific writing. The difference merely reflects the different natures of content, purpose, and audience. . . . Not only is the passive voice a significantly frequent option in modern prose, but it is also often the clearest and briefest way to convey information. . . . Indiscriminate slandering of the passive voice ought to be stopped. The passive should be recognized as a quite decent and respectable structure of English grammar, neither better nor worse than other structures. When it is properly chosen, wordiness and obscurity are no more increased than when the active voice is properly chosen. Its effective and appropriate use can be taught. (Jane R. Walpole, Why Must the Passive Be Damned? College Composition and Communication, 1979) True Passives, Semi-Passives, and the Passive Gradient The statistic from corpus analyses that four-fifths of passive sentences in texts occur without the agentive by-phrase makes a nonsense out of deriving passives from actives. In the active subjects are obligatory; there can be no active sentences without a subject. So where do all these passives with no agent come from whereby the agent is unknown? Not from an underlying active, obviously. It is common practice to assume a dummy subject in such cases, equivalent to someone, i.e. underlying My house was burgled is the sentence Someone burgled my house. But that is stretching a point beyond credibility. . . . [Randolph] Quirk et al. [in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, 1985] attempt to get over this problem by presenting a passive gradient and the notion of semi-passive, exemplified by the following sentences: (33) This violin was made by my father.(34) This conclusion is hardly justified by the results.(35) Coal has been replaced by oil.(36) This difficulty can be avoided in several ways.- - - - - - - - - - -(37) We are encouraged to go on with the project.(38) Leonard was interested in linguistics.(39) The building is already demolished.(40) The modern world is getting more highly industrialized and mechanized.(41) My uncle was/got/seemed tired. The dotted line indicates the break between real passives and semi-passives. Those above the line are real passives, those below the line are increasingly remote from the ideal passive with a unique active paraphrase, and are not real passives at allthey are semi-passives. (Christopher Beedham, Language And Meaning: The Structural Creation of Reality. John Benjamins, 2005) Rise of the Get-Passive The passive in English is usually formed with the verb to be, yielding they were fired or the tourist was robbed. But we also have the get passive, giving us they got fired and the tourist got robbed. The get-passive goes back at least 300 years, but it has been on a rapid rise during the past 50 years. It is strongly associated with situations which are bad news for the subject- getting fired, getting robbed- but also situations that give some kind of benefit. (They got promoted. The tourist got paid.) However, the restrictions on its use may be relaxing over time and get-passives could get a whole lot bigger. (Arika Okrent, Four Changes to English So Subtle We Hardly Notice Theyre Happening. The Week, June 27, 2013) When to Use the Passive Voice in Journalistic Writing Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald [in When Words Collide, 8th ed., Wadsworth, 2012] offer two situations in which the passive voice must be used. First, passive voice is justified if the receiver of the action is more important than the creator of the action. They use this example: A priceless Rembrandt painting was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday by three men posing as janitors. In this case, the Rembrandt should remain the subject of the sentence even though it receives the action. The painting is obviously more importantmore newsworthythan the three men who stole it.Kessler and McDonalds second reason for using passive voice is if the writer has no choice. Thats when the writer does not know who what the actor, or the creator of the action, is. The example they use: The cargo was damaged during the trans-Atlantic flight. Air turbulence? Sabotage? Was the cargo strapped in properly? The writer doesnt know, so the voice must be passive. (Robert M. Knight, A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity, 2nd ed. Iowa State Press, 2003) Evasive Uses of the Passive Voice: Mistakes Were Made [W]hen [New Jersey Governor Chris Christie] said mistakes were made, did he know he was quoting Nixon press secretary Ron Ziegler, or did that particular obfuscatory use of the passive voice just pop into his head? (Katha Pollitt, Christie: A Bully’s Bully. The Nation, February 3, 2014)Mistakes were made. I didnt make them. (Chief of Staff and later Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Jr., on the Watergate scandals, January 1981)We did not achieve what we wished, and serious mistakes were made in trying to do so. (President Ronald Reagan, regarding the Iran-Contra affair, January 1987)Clearly, no one regrets more than I do the appearance of impropriety. Obviously, some mistakes were made.† (Chief of Staff John Sununu, when caught using government military aircraft for personal trips, December 1991)Mistakes were made here by people who either did it deliberately or inadvertently. (President Bill Clinton, when it was discovered that he had invited the countrys senior bankin g regulator to a meeting with the Democratic Party’s senior fund-raiser, January 1997) I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, March 2007)We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voicethat is, until we have stopped saying It got lost, and say, I lost it. (Sidney J. Harris, On the Contrary, 1962)

Buddhist and christian view on evolution Research Paper

Buddhist and christian view on evolution - Research Paper Example Eventually, evolution of organisms over time leads to presence of a stronger and a more complex species. Darwin’s theory of evolution erupted a great deal of debate as it challenged traditional religious explanations of the world and nature (Boeree 26). His work encouraged further research into the concept of evolution and other unsolved mysteries of life at the time. Therefore, it is important to explore the evolutionary theory from various religious perspectives in order to understand how the theory fits in. this leads to extensive knowledge on the various impact evolution has on world religions and what the reactions are. As such, this paper focuses on the Christian and Buddhist view of the evolution theory. It is a popular belief in the world that man and all of nature was created by a sacred deity for whom all mankind ought to be grateful. This is evidenced in Christianity with enormous reference to the story of creation in the Bible. Everything in the world was created b y God and is still under control of God. However, the evolution theory serves to upset this belief at the expense of most believers who find it imperative to defend and preserve it. Among Christian scholars and believers, the evolution theory denies the role by God as the sole creator of the world while most scientific research ignores divine activity. This is achieved by the proposition of antitheist theories by renowned naturalists who suggest the existence of the world is due to a less explored scientific phenomenon. As such, Christians have always voiced their concerns on scientific theories that contradict the creation theory. The clergy and the Christian community have always united to call for the rejection of the naturalism theories based on philosophical, theological, and historical grounds. As a result, Christianity and the scientific community have always being at loggerheads with each other. To them, it is a violation of what is divine and contrary to the widespread beli ef of a powerful God who is capable of doing anything including creating. Universally, Christians fail to understand how God’s involvement in creation is recognized in events that lack scientific explanations while His overall role is ignored. This illustrates how meaningful divine action is shelved only do be adopted where gaps in human knowledge prevail and a scientific description is lacking (Miller 8). As such, naturalistic proposals such as the evolution theory serve to belittle divine action thus fuel conflict between science and the Christian faith. For instance, Christians and scientists differ on the role of pain, suffering, and death in the world. Among Christians, it is widely accepted that God exercises His sovereignty, transcendence, and providence with regard to natural evil that creates pain and suffering. On the hand, the scientific community readily accepts the theory of natural selection in which Darwin believed that all species had a common ancestor, but ev olved to survive due to the process of natural selection. Organisms that fail to adapt to their habitat do not prevail under the new environmental conditions and hence, cannot survive, which explains natural selection where only the strong and mighty thrive effectively. While the scriptures present the evidence of God’

Research paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Research Paper Example In one of their photos, Brady and Gardner covered a scene where many soldiers lay dead following a struggle in the civil war front and it created an impression of the fierceness of the battle that took place between the people and the soldiers. From the photo of Brady and Gardner, it was clear that there killing that happened in the time of the battle were so many and it reflected that many soldiers from the southern and the Union army lost their lives. The photo, however, covered a small section of the war front as an indication of the issues of the civil war in the course of the antagonism between the government side that opposed slavery and the southern states armies that wanted to advance it. Following the American civil war, there were various events that followed in order to address the issues of that resulted as well as to establish frameworks to prevent any occurrence of a similar situation in future. A report on the events of the war was prepared that outlined the main issue s that caused the emergence of the civil war in an otherwise a peaceful country so that the future would be able to be better. In the report, the political stand about slavery of the then elected presidents of United States (US), Abraham Lincoln is said to have triggered the mayhem. In his presidential campaigns, Lincoln had promised that he would contain the spread of slavery and finally abolish it, a move that was not allowed by many people from the south who depended on slaves for their work (Clark and Neely 138-139). When the southern states that supported slavery realized the election of Lincoln as the US president would have a negative impact on slavery, they formed a group by bringing together armies from their different states to frustrate the attempt of the president. Immediately they attacked Fort Sumter, an army garrison at Charleston in South Carolina the Union army, that opposed slavery prepared to attack. This triggered the need to respond to the attack from the govern ment side led by the president Abraham Lincoln so that they can contain the forces that opposed the government’s attempt. This meant that war had to begin so that to abolish slavery, which became the main goal of the civil war after the contention of different soldiers from different states. In the war, southern states wanted to overpower the government so that to advance the slavery but the northern side focused on routing them and attain the abolishment of slavery in America. When the report of the war was written, it focused on the importance of the war in the US and it proposed various things thing that could be done in future so that the conditions could be better for other people. One of the suggestions of the report was the protection of the battlefields as important historical places in the lives of Americans who did not exist during the war and those who lived far from them. The report also gave highlights on the things that the government ought to do to ensure susta inability of the program of protecting the battle field so that they maintain the places for a longer time than they and to remain relevant to the future generation (Civil War Sites Advisory Commission 3-27). According to the photos of Antietam battlefield, many soldier died at the battle field and this could be an indication of the fierceness of war

Discuss Some of the Challenges Facing International Students in Higher Education Essay Example for Free

Discuss Some of the Challenges Facing International Students in Higher Education Essay As a growing number of international students who attempt to obtain a further education diploma or expand their horizons, has been increasing, it is often the case that they would face various challenges while studying abroad. The main barrier that they have to overcome is â€Å"academic learning that consists of strangeness, difference and integration (Teekens, 2006:17, cited in Hyland, 2008). According to Hyland et al (2008:29), to improve the quality of higher education not only the individual needs to endeavor, but also the departmental and institutional effort would be indispensable. This essay will illustrate that the main factors of overseas students who study for least one year result in academic learning challenges, are adapting to a new educational system’s assessments and English speaking only environments, then will provide possible solutions, for example, giving sufficient guidance from enrolled universities, revolutionising language certified test in reducing these difficulties. The first main factor that directly causes learning challenges is that overseas students would probably face different methods of assessment. Most postgraduate students wish their overseas journeys were the same as ‘back home’ (Pointon, 2009, cited in The Higher Education Academy, 2012). However,for those students who graduated in other educational systems, team projects, presentations would become the barriers they have to confront. Firstly team-based learning appears to be more strange and complicated to these students because it not only depends upon academic competence,but also has to be relevant to their abilities of communication and coordination. Group work can be even more stressful because a silent student is effectively excluded, whether voluntarily or not. It is also something that many international students have not really encountered before (Sovic,2008). Subsequently, quite a number of overseas students seem to be unfamiliar with presentations as well. According to (Sovic,2008:153), except for necessity of group work sometimes, to express their opinions via presentations international students who may be new have to be confidently confronted with classmates who would hold other cultural perspectives. These unacquainted assessment criterions would widely and considerably affect international students, especially at the beginning of their academic journey. For example, presentations would be often assigned in the first term, if the results seem to be quite low, they not only directly impact those students’ overall score, but also affect their emotions to some degree even might reduce their confidence and motivation with regards to continuing their studies abroad. The second major factor which would be around all overseas students,is the atmosphere of foreign language only. Sovic(2008:150)has demonstrated that for those students who are non-native speakers, even if they have obtained fairly high IELTS(The International English Language Test System)test grades, language is still singled out as the biggest obstacle for them to study abroad. The main reason, which causes that they passed the tests but could not adapt to the new language environment quickly, is that IELTS seems to be irrelevant to the demands within the universities. To begin with, when overseas students arriving the destinations, the first difficulty they have to face is local accent. Research (Sovic, 2008:151) reported that international students who are even native-speakers can still have significant problems with fast and heavy accents in lectures and tutorials. Another point which bothers almost overseas students especially at the beginning of study abroad is acquiring academic language, including discipline-specific vocabulary and academic expression. It is often overlooked, since students who obtained the required language scores always mistakenly believe that it is sufficient to complete their studies (Arkoudis, 2008). These unexpected barriers would be troubled for all overseas students to varying degree. It is notable that international students must spend quite a large amount of time and energy on solving language issues. In other word, they have to cut down the time from learning main curriculums, which would considerably affect them to absorb curriculum knowledge and make them feeling more stress. One feasible solution to help overseas students to face academic challenges is that enrolled universities need to make more efforts before international students’ academic journeys. Despite universities always remind students who have been confirmed acceptance to prepare relevant knowledge about their courses, there are few students who could prepare adequately. Zhai(2004:101)discovered that academic issue tend to be the most difficulty for international students, and there are around 60% students whom recommended that their college should provide more academic guidance. It is suggested that academic support should be provided to international students as soon as possible, since Pedersen (1991) had demonstrated that sufficient guidance should be initiated before they arrive. According to the factors mentioned above, enrolled universities may send an amount of materials to international students via email or even material object, including introduction of new educational system, samples of presentation and team project, videos of lecture and tutorial. Moreover, for students of different disciplines, universities may provide more specific background knowledge or required reading list. Although these will increase universities’ operating costs, it would be effective to help international students overcome academic challenges. Another solution which seems to be quite challenging is revolutionising language certification test. Lee (2009:23) claims that compared to other language certified tests, IELTS is most effective and reliable examination to assess students’ not only language skill but also academic ability. However, although international students obtain the qualified language scores, it does not mean that they can successfully finish academic learning (Schmitt, 2005; Murray and O’Loughlin, 2007; Arkoudis, 2008; Sovie, 2008), even the type of writing in IELTS seems to be â€Å"public non-academic genres† (Moore and Morton, 2005, cited in Hyland et al, 2008). Feast (2002:83) reported that between language proficiency and academic performance at university there is a positive and significant, but weak relationship. Thus, in order to better serve high education, IELTS may be adjusted. Firstly, academic IELTS test could be divided into three categories that consist of Arts aspect, Science and Engineering, Social Science. Secondly, increasing more academic topics in section1 and section2 of listening test could replace a considerable number of life topics. Thirdly, the type of task2 in writing could change to mini-academic essay. These adjustments could not only make the scores more valuable to be referred by universities, but also help and guide international students to accumulate more discipline-specific and academic knowledge which lead to reduce those academic difficulties after they arrive. In conclusion, as this essay has demonstrated, the main factors which lead to academic learning challenges are atmosphere of English speaking only and different educational assessment system. Feasible solution to these challenges including revolutionising language certified test and providing adequate support from enrolled universities. It seems that revolutionizing language certified test is most significant solution to help and guide students at the source. In the future, increased awareness of academic challenges via researching and reporting as a whole could arouse relevant departments’ attention to take action on resolving these problems.

Bob Saget :: essays research papers

Bob Saget is best known as the star of ABC's "Full House" for eight seasons and as the host of "America's Funniest Home Videos." Unfortunately, these shows were not able to show Lord Saget for who he really is: the dirtiest and, by far, funniest man alive (as anyone who has ever seen his stand-up routine can surely vouch). It was only because of Lord Saget's Godly powers that the Olsen Twins were able to become as popular as they are today; for without the guidance of a supreme being, they would probably be working the pole at some strip club! Saget also executive produced and starred in "Father and Scout" in 1995, a presentation of "The ABC Family Movie." In 1990, he wrote, directed and starred in the one-hour special, "In the Dream State," which earned him a Cable ACE nomination for directing. Saget also directed the movie "Dirty Work," a hilarious movie starring Norm Macdonald. He has also made numerous TV appearances, including "The Tonight Show," "Late Show With David Letterman," "Saturday Night Live", "The Larry Sanders Show," "Late Night," and "Comic Relief," a cause that is very close to his heart. He has also made cameo appearances in movies such as "Dumb and Dumber" and "Half Baked," in which he played a dick sucking coke head (surely one of his better roles). Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Norfolk, Virginia; Encino, California, and, of course, Heaven, Saget built his foundation in entertainment by performing and writing stand-up comedy, which he has pursued for almost 30 years. He supported himself during the early days of his career with stand-up gigs at The Comedy Store and The Improv, studying with acting coach Darryl Hickman for five years and spending a year with the Groundlings Workshops. He also toured with many top musical acts, playing at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the main showrooms of Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City. After moving to New York in 1987, he began a six-month stint as co-host of "The

A Dirty Job Chapter 7

7 THANATOAST While Charlie's Beta Male imagination may have often turned him toward timidity and even paranoia, when it came to accepting the unacceptable it served him like Kevlar toilet paper – bulletproof, if a tad disagreeable in application. The inability to believe the unbelievable would not be his downfall. Charlie Asher would never be a bug splattered on the smoky windscreen of dull imagination. He knew that all the things that had happened to him in the last day were outside of the limits of possibility for most people, and since his only corroborating witness was a man who believed himself to be the Emperor of San Francisco, Charlie knew he would never be able to convince anyone that he had been pursued and attacked by giant foulmouthed ravens and then declared the tour guide to the undiscovered country by a sultry oracle in fuck-me pumps. Not even Jane would give him that kind of quarter. Only one person would have, could have, and for the ten-thousandth time he felt Rachel's absence collapsing in his chest like a miniature black hole. Thus, Sophie became his co-conspirator. The tiny kid, dressed in Elmo overalls and baby Doc Martens (courtesy of Aunt Jane), was propped up in her car seat on the breakfast bar next to the goldfish bowl. (Charlie had bought her six big goldfish about the time she'd started to notice moving objects. A girl needs pets. He'd named them after TV lawyers. Currently Matlock was tracking Perry Mason, trying to eat a long strand of fish doo that was trailing out of Perry's poop chute.) Sophie was starting to show some of her mother's dark hair, and if Charlie saw it right, the same expression of bemused affection toward him (plus a drool slick). â€Å"So I am Death,† Charlie said as he tried to construct a tuna-fish sandwich. â€Å"Daddy is Death, sweetie.† He checked the toast, not trusting the pop-up mechanism because the toaster people sometimes just liked to fuck with you. â€Å"Death,† Charlie said as the can opener slipped and he barked his bandaged hand on the counter. â€Å"Dammit!† Sophie gurgled and let loose a happy baby burble, which Charlie took to mean Do tell, Daddy? Please go on, pray tell. â€Å"I can't even leave the house for fear of someone dropping dead at my feet. I'm Death, honey. Sure, you laugh now, but you'll never get into a good preschool with a father who puts people down for their dirt nap.† Sophie blew a spit bubble of sympathy. Charlie popped the toast up manually. It was a little rare, but if he pushed it down again it would burn, unless he watched it every second and popped it up manually again. So now he'd probably be infected with some rare and debilitating undercooked toast pathogen. Mad toast disease! Fucking toaster people. â€Å"This is the toast of Death, young lady.† He showed her the toast. â€Å"Death's toast.† He put the toast on the counter and went back to attacking the tuna can. â€Å"Maybe she was speaking figuratively? I mean, maybe the redhead just meant that I was, you know, deadly boring.† Of course that didn't really explain all the other weird stuff that had been happening. â€Å"You think?† he asked Sophie. He looked for an answer and the kid was wearing that Rachelesque smart-ass grin (minus teeth). She was enjoying his torment, and strangely enough, he felt better knowing that. The can opener slipped again, spurting tuna juice on his shirt and sending his toast scooting to the floor, and now there was fuzz on it. Fuzz on his toast! Fuzz on the toast of Death. What the hell good was it to be the Lord of the Underworld if there was fuzz on your underdone toast. â€Å"Fuck!† He snatched the toast from the floor and sent it sailing by Sophie into the living room. The baby followed it with her eyes, then looked back at her father with a delighted squeal, as if saying, Do it again, Daddy. Do it again! Charlie picked her up out of the car seat and held her tight, smelling her sour-sweet baby smell, his tears squeezing out onto her overalls. He could do this if Rachel was here, but he couldn't, he wouldn't, without her. He just wouldn't go out. That was the solution. The only way to keep the people of San Francisco safe was to stay in his apartment. So for the next four days he stayed in the apartment with Sophie, sending Mrs. Ling from upstairs out for groceries. (And he was accumulating a fairly large collection of vegetables for which he had no name nor any idea of how to prepare, as Mrs. Ling, regardless of what he put on the list, always did her shopping in the markets of Chinatown.) And after two days, when a new name appeared on the message pad next to his bed, Charlie responded by hiding the message pad under the phone book in a kitchen drawer. It was on day five that he saw the shadow of a raven against the roof entrance of the building across the street. At first he wasn't sure whether it was a giant raven, or just a normal-sized raven projecting a shadow, but when he realized that it was noon and any normal shadow would be cast straight down, the tiny raven of denial vanished in a wisp. He pulled the blinds on that side of the apartment and sat in the locked bedroom with Sophie, a box of Pampers, a basket of produce, a six-pack each of baby formula and orange soda, and hid out until the phone rang. â€Å"What do you think you're doing?† said a very deep man's voice on the other end of the line. â€Å"Are you insane?† Charlie was taken aback; from the caller ID, he'd expected a wrong number. â€Å"I'm eating this thing I think is either a melon or a squash.† He looked at the green thing, which tasted like a melon but looked more like a squash, with spikes. (Mrs. Ling had called it â€Å"shut-up-and-eat-it-good-for-you.†) The man said, â€Å"You're screwing up. You have a job to do. Do what the book says or everything that means anything to you will be taken away. I mean it.† â€Å"What book? Who is this?† Charlie asked. He thought the voice sounded familiar, and it immediately sent him into alarm mode for some reason. â€Å"I can't tell you that, I'm sorry,† said the man. â€Å"I really am.† â€Å"I've got caller ID, you nit. I know where you're calling from.† â€Å"Oops,† said the man. â€Å"You should have thought of that. What kind of ominous power of darkness do you think you are if you don't even block caller ID?† The little readout on the phone said Fresh Music and a number. Charlie called the number back but no one answered. He ran to the kitchen, dug the phone book out of the drawer, and looked up Fresh Music. It was a record store off upper Market in the Castro district. The phone rang again and he grabbed the handset off the counter so violently he nearly chipped a tooth in answering. â€Å"You merciless bastard!† Charlie screamed into the phone. â€Å"Do you have any idea what I've been going through, you heartless monster!† â€Å"Well, fuck you, Asher!† Lily said. â€Å"Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I don't have feelings.† And she hung up. Charlie called back. â€Å"Asher's Secondhand,† Lily answered, â€Å"family-owned by bourgeoisie douche waffles for over thirty years.† â€Å"Lily, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else. What did you call about?† â€Å"Moi?† Lily said. â€Å"Je me fous de ta gueule, espce de gaufre de douche.† â€Å"Lily, stop speaking French. I said I was sorry.† â€Å"There's a cop down here to see you,† she said. Charlie had Sophie strapped to his chest like a terrorist baby bomb when he came down the back steps. She had just gotten to the point where she could hold up her head, so he had strapped her in face-out so she could look around. The way her arms and legs waved around as Charlie walked, she looked as if she was skydiving and using a skinny nerd as a parachute. The cop stood at the counter opposite Lily, looking like a cognac ad in an Italian-cut double-breasted suit in indigo raw silk with a buff linen shirt and yellow tie. He was about fifty, Hispanic, lean, with sharp facial features and the aspect of a predatory bird. His hair was combed straight back and the gray streaks at the temples made it appear that he was moving toward you even when he stood still. â€Å"Inspector Alphonse Rivera,† the cop said, extending his hand. â€Å"Thanks for coming down. The young lady said you were working last Monday night.† Monday. The day he'd battled the ravens back in the alley, the day the pale redhead had come into the store. â€Å"You don't have to tell him anything, Asher,† Lily said, obviously renewing her loyalty in spite of his douche wafflosity. â€Å"Thanks, Lily, why don't you take a break and go see how things are going in the abyss.† She grumbled, then got something out of the drawer under the register, presumably her cigarettes, and retreated out the back door. â€Å"Why isn't that kid in school?† Rivera asked. â€Å"She's special,† Charlie said. â€Å"You know, homeschooled.† â€Å"That what makes her so cheerful?† â€Å"She's studying the Existentialists this month. Asked for a study day last week to kill an Arab on the beach.† Rivera smiled and Charlie relaxed a little. He produced a photograph from his breast pocket and held it out to Charlie. Sophie made as if to grab it. The photograph was of an older gentleman in his Sunday best standing on the steps of a church. Charlie recognized the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, which was just a few blocks away on Washington Square. â€Å"Did you see this man Monday night? He was wearing a charcoal overcoat and a hat that night.† â€Å"No, I'm sorry. I didn't,† Charlie said. And he hadn't. â€Å"I was here in the store until about ten. We had a few customers, but not this fellow.† â€Å"Are you sure? His name is James O'Malley. He isn't well. Cancer. His wife said he went out for a walk about dusk Monday night and he never came back.† â€Å"No, I'm sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"Did you ask the cable-car operator?† â€Å"Already talked to the guys working this line that night. We think he may have collapsed somewhere and we haven't found him. It doesn't look good after this long.† Charlie nodded, trying to look thoughtful. He was so relieved that the cop wasn't here about anything connected with him that he was almost giddy. â€Å"Maybe you should ask the Emperor – you know him, right? He sees more of the nooks and crannies of the city than most of us.† Rivera cringed at the mention of the Emperor, but then relaxed into another smile. â€Å"That's a good idea, Mr. Asher. I'll see if I can track him down.† He handed Charlie a card. â€Å"If you remember anything, give me a call, would you?† â€Å"I will. Uh, Inspector,† Charlie said, and Rivera paused a few steps from the counter, â€Å"isn't this sort of a routine case for an inspector to be investigating?† â€Å"Yes, normally uniform personnel would handle something like this, but it may relate to something else I'm working on, so you get me instead.† â€Å"Oh, okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"Beautiful suit, by the way. Couldn't help noticing. It's my business.† â€Å"Thanks,† Rivera said, looking at his sleeves, a little wistful. â€Å"I had a short run of good fortune a while back.† â€Å"Good for you,† Charlie said. â€Å"It passed,† Rivera said. â€Å"Cute baby. You two take care, huh?† And he was out the door. Charlie turned to go back upstairs and nearly ran into Lily. She had her arms crossed under the â€Å"Hell Is Other People† logo on her T-shirt and was looking even more judgmental than usual. â€Å"So, Asher, you have something you want to tell me?† â€Å"Lily, I don't have time for – â€Å" She held out the silver cigarette case that the redhead had given him. It was still glowing red. Sophie was reaching for it. â€Å"What?† Charlie said. Could Lily see it? Was she picking up on the weird glow? Lily opened the case and pushed it into Charlie's face. â€Å"Read the engraving.† James O'Malley, read the ornate script. Charlie took a step back. â€Å"Lily, I can't – I don't know anything about that old man. Look, I have to get Mrs. Ling to watch Sophie and get over to the Castro. I'll explain later, okay? I promise.† She thought about it for a second, staring at him accusingly, like she'd caught him feeding Froot Loops to her bte noire, and then relented. â€Å"Go,† she said.

Mary Anne Bell Trasformation

The assertion, â€Å"people never change,† can be disproven as people change differently in various environments. The chapter â€Å"Sweet Heart of the Song Tra Bong† in, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, shows how Mary Anne Bell is affected by the tough conditions of war. Mark Fossie, the boyfriend of Mary Anne, tells her to fly out to Vietnam so that they can be together. Once she arrives, Mary Anne quickly reveals her curiosity by taking an interest in activities to help the squad such as cooking, caring for the injured, night patrolling, etc.Essentially, she starts to become one of the soldiers. O’Brien conveys how the violent and warlike atmosphere transforms Mary Anne physically and psychologically from a civilized and innocent girl to a barbaric and ruthless woman throughout her stay in Vietnam. At the beginning of her stay, O’Brien portrays Mary Anne as a civilized and innocent girl by describing her physical and psychological characte ristics.As Mary Anne makes her first appearance, O’Brien describes her as, â€Å"an attractive girl†¦ [who has] terrific legs (p.90)† suggesting that she is innocent has not experienced harsh conditions. O’Brien presents her as a sexual object in order to emphasize her innocence and unfamiliarity to war. Also, the description of her â€Å"bubbly personality† implies that she is only sees the positive in everyone which displays her naivety and innocence. O’Brien describes that Mary Anne â€Å"love[s] the thatched roofs and naked children, the wonderful simplicity of village life† implying that she is completely unaware of the hostile environment that she is in.Her unawareness and immaturity is shown because she is speaking positively about a place of violence and warfare. Towards the beginning of her stay with Mark Fossie and the rest of the crew members, Mary Anne is described as innocent and naive. but as she continues to learn more ab out the war, and she begins to transform into a barbaric and ruthless woman. O’Brien is suggesting that even though she is from the city and is a part of the higher class, she has respect for and supports those who are not as fortunate.As Mary Anne begins to learn the skills that allow her to be helpful with the war effort, the warlike environment begins to physically and psychologically transform from a civilized and innocent girl to a barbaric and ruthless woman. As the casualties begin to come in, it is discovered that â€Å"Mary Anne [isn’t] afraid to get her hands bloody† suggesting that she has a violent side and is not a typical city girl who gets easily disgusted by blood and wounds. Her openness to the gruesome and wounded bodies is surprising considering that she is a pretty, city-girl.She starts to adapt to the role of the soldier and it shows when she â€Å"stop[s] wearing jewelry (p. 94). † She abandons her fun and innocent personality and be gins to adapt the more stern personality in order to be more effective with the war effort. The war causes her to change her personality into someone that is much more serious. She eventually â€Å"cuts her hair short† showing that she really wants to get away from the helpless, weak-girl impression that she has left of herself; she wants to be taken seriously.The warlike setting forces Mary Anne to become more serious; it forces her to change her physical and psychological characteristics from the civilized and innocent girl she once was into a ruthless and barbaric woman because of the warlike atmosphere she is in. After her transformation fully takes place, Mary Anne physically and psychologically turns into a ruthless and barbaric woman due to the effects that the warlike environment has had on her.When she returns from her three-week disappearance, her eyes are â€Å"not blue†¦ but a bright glowing jungle green (p.  101)† showing the transformation of her e ye color. At the beginning, her eyes are described as blue, the eye color that is generally of attractive people, but now her eyes are green, those of a person who has been in the jungle. She has completed her transformation into this violent and ruthless woman and her eye color shows this. The smell in the room that she was sitting in is described â€Å"like an animal’s den, a mix of blood and scorched hair†¦ and the odor of moldering flesh† showing the filth that she is living in.Comparing her and her environment to that of an animal’s gives the effect that she is no longer the beautiful and clean girl that she once was; she has become a filthier and more barbaric woman. Her â€Å"necklace of human tongues† is the final factor in revealing that her transformation is complete. Most people would find it appalling, but Mary Anne wore it proudly conveying that she had become much more violent than she was before. When she returns, Mary Anne describes h ow she â€Å"feels close to [her] own body† when she is out in the field, suggesting that she enjoys being in the midst of warfare.Her barbaric nature is completely transparent at this point; most people would be scared to be in a place of war where they could lose their lives, but Mary Anne gets pleasure out of it. O’Brien implies that war makes a person fearless because it is a place where one has nothing to lose. She has completed her transformation from an innocent and civilized girl to a ruthless and barbaric woman. Mary Anne Bell, the sweet, innocent city-girl is transformed into a violent and barbaric woman throughout the chapter, â€Å"The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong† due to the effects that war has on her.Towards the beginning she is portrayed as a very beautiful, attractive, blonde girl implying that she is not use to the rigorous work that the soldiers and paramedics do. However, she is very open to learning these things and she gets a joy from he lping in the war effort. She is almost forced to change because she will get hurt emotionally and physically if she is not tough. If she continues to live in Vietnam as an innocent and naive girl, she will be a burden on the group she is with. However, Mary Anne becomes tough; she becomes so tough that it is conveyed as violence and barbarism.

My Box and Valentine Essays

My Box and Valentine Essays My Box and Valentine Paper My Box and Valentine Paper Essay Topic: Carol ann Duffy Poems Poetry My Box by Gillian Clarke is a poem about a box a lover produces himself for his lover. The box symbolises the couples relationship and memories as in my box are twelve black books, where I have written down how we have sanded, oiled and planed The box symbolises the memories and the joyous day they shared together. Although the lover has made the box, it has been created by emotions, feeling and love. The box becomes the romantic image within the poem. In this box are stored memories of the couples relationship. At the end of each stanza, the poet refers to a golden tree. This golden tree plays a significant part in the poem, as it reflects the solidness of their relationship. The tree represents the building and growing up of a beautiful relationship having the branches representing the ups and downs of their time together. Valentine on the other hand, has a far stranger meaning of love than My Box. The title tells you that the poem is a valentine a gift of love but straight away the poem makes it clear that it is not an ordinary type of valentine not a red rose or a satin heart, rejecting conventional presents, as she gives an onion. It seems rather strange that someone would give their lover such a worthless gift. However, when we realise what the onion symbolises, we understand that it actually is the perfect gift. The poet uses an extended metaphor. She writes about her relationship as if it was an onion. For example It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light This reminds us of the papery, brown skin of an onion, and the moist, shimmery moonlight glow of an onion when it is freshly peeled. Love is often associated with moonlit night, so this is a romantic statement. The onion is wrapped in brown paper, suggesting that her love is pure and simple; therefore the onion can say all she wants to say to her lover. It is interesting that where other poets might talk about their feelings for a lover using symbols, this poet uses a symbol to talk about her love. A brown paper wrapping has to be removed. So does the onion skin. When the different layers of the onion are revealed they are like the careful undressing of love, that is, the discoveries that love brings. In My Box, however, a similar picture is drawn, as the golden tree takes time to grow, it has to be nurtured, fed and looked after just like the relationship. Carol Ann Duffy makes you more aware of the poem by using an unusual image- it makes you curious therefore it persuades you to carry on reading. The poem shows how normal valentine gifts do not necessarily have to show you love someone. That is why she uses an onion to prove her point. She argues that an onion is a good symbol of the relationship she has with her partner. My box is more rural referring to harvested apples, gold crests and rare red kites, where as Valentine uses simple words and language. Both poems portray a picture of how the present symbolises love- both in a positive and romantic attitude. My box is made of golden oak, is the first line to My Box she tells us how her box is made of oak which is solid wood, suggesting the stability and strength of her own relationship. Valentine explains how an onion is a moon wrapped in brown paper and how it promises light, like the careful undressing of love. The poet creates a sexual yet delicate image in these lines sexual by the word undressing, yet delicate created by the word in front of it careful. In the first stanza of My Box, the poet stresses how beautifully the box has been made how the lover fitted hinges and a lock of brass and a bright key. She explains how he made it out of winter nights, sanded, oiled and planed, this box making it seem as though it took a long time to make it, and creates the box to be very precious to the woman. In the second stanza, she discusses some of the things they have achieved throughout long years of their relationship. She has written this all down in her twelve black books and keeps this in the box. In the last stanza, the woman wants her lover and/or people after her to come and read all of this- I leave it there for you to read or them when we are dead, e.g. good relationships, golden trees are slowly made in other words they dont come easily but have to be nurtured and worked out. Both poems explain how love is everlasting the golden tree represents the purity and value of love and the onion represents how you have to peel each layer of your lover to reveal a layer of them. The poet adds a note of caution too much commitment could kill off their relationship- Lethal. The vocabulary used in My Box is connected to nature- nature representing their love and feelings, where as Valentine uses words describing the onion, or words that are connected with love to the onion. The language and vocabulary is very simple perhaps to suggest that she wants a simple, uncomplicated love. She makes statements I give you an onion it will blind you with tears. They make the poet sound definite and authoritive. Carol Ann Duffy gives you the message that an onion is more than a soppy card or a cute teddy. My Box on the other hand is more conventional and explains how in my box are twelve black books- how we have sanded, oiled and planed the relationship. Gillian Clarke places her words in threes sanded, oiled and planed seen jays and gold crests, rare red kites harvested apples and words and days. The repeated structure of and emphasises what is going on. It is important to notice the spaces between the stanzas in Valentine. For example it is interesting that I am trying to be truthful is a statement on its own, (to emphasis how vital truth is in a relationship) but is followed by not a cute card or a kissogram. The second pause allows us to reflect that cute cards and kissograms (more usual valentine gifts) dont really reflect true love. In My Box, the beats in a line are regular- 8,6,8,6 etc, as are the lines. This suggests that she wanted her poem to be solid like her golden tree. Carol Ann Duffy uses a lot of I/you structure in Valentine. The I is the speaker and the you is the recipient of the onion. This allows Carol Ann Duffy to construct something like a one-sided dialogue. In My Box, Gillian Clarke also uses I, but she also uses we- referring to the couple, not just an individual. If we think of the metaphors for Valentines Day; the roses, satin hearts, and cute cards, it is clear to us by now that Carol Ann Duffs intention is to eliminate the pretty image of Valentines Day to make people realise that love is serious. Take it. Line 18 tells us that you have not taken the onion yet. The second offer of the onion takes us to the final stanza, where more metaphors are found. Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring. The poet used platinum taking a deliberately unromantic view. The speaker goes for the plainer look metal, but one of worth. The ring inspired by the onion is offered with if you like. The person to whom the whole onion is given to is offered the choice. There is no promise of hearts and roses. Lethal. Usually this word is linked with danger and deadly, yet it is used in the poem. The speaker cautions the recipient- that too much commitment could lead to the breaking off of their relationship. Most of the poem sounds as if the lines are natural and spontaneous, being written as the words came to her because there is no rhyme in the poem. However, some of the sounds are carefully arranged. Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips. The s sounds may suggest a couple kissing. I give you an onion is repeated it reinforces that it not a joke, that she is giving this person an onion and really means it. The poem does not have a regular beat or form as My Box. The lines and stanzas are of irregular length. This could be to give a sense of urgency, or that because traditional poems are often written very regular and may even rhyme, her decision not to confirm to this stereotype is further proof that her love goes beyond the ordinary, and so is that much more special. The tone of the poem is sad and negative, warning her lover not to get too close, yet realistic, but encouraging and warm. My Box has a warm and encouraging tone to it it is gentle and tender.

How the Statue of Liberty Became a Symbol of Immigration

How the Statue of Liberty Became a Symbol of Immigration When the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, the ceremonial speeches had nothing to do with immigrants arriving in America. The sculptor who created the enormous statue, Fredric-Auguste Bartholdi, never intended the statue to evoke the idea of immigration. In a sense, he viewed his creation as something nearly opposite: as a symbol of liberty spreading outward from America. So how and why did the statue become an iconic symbol of immigration? The Statue is now always linked in the public mind with arriving immigrants thanks to the words of Emma Lazarus. Lady Liberty took on deeper meaning  because of the sonnet written in its honor, The New Colossus. Poet Emma Lazarus Was Asked to Write a Poem Before the Statue of Liberty was completed and shipped to the United States for assembly, a campaign was organized by newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer to raise funds to build the pedestal on Bedloe’s Island. Donations were very slow in coming, and in the early 1880s it appeared that the statue might never be assembled in New York. There were even rumors that another city, perhaps Boston, could wind up with the statue. Fundraising events were organized, one of which was an art show. The poet Emma Lazarus, who was known and respected in the artistic community in New York City, was asked to participate. Lazarus was a 34-year-old native New Yorker, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family with roots going back to the colonial era in New York City. She had become very concerned about the plight of Jews being persecuted in a pogrom in Russia. Newly arrived Jewish refugees from Russia were being housed on Wards Island, in New York Citys East River. Lazarus had been visiting them, and had gotten involved with charitable organizations helping the destitute new arrivals get a start in their new country. The writer Constance Cary Harrison asked Lazarus to write a poem to help raise money for the Statue of Liberty pedestal fund. Lazarus, at first, was not interested in writing something on assignment. Emma Lazarus Applied Her Social Conscience Harrison later recalled that she encouraged Lazarus to change her mind by saying, â€Å"Think of that goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder in the bay, and holding her torch out to those Russian refugees of yours that you are so fond of visiting at Ward’s Island.† Lazarus reconsidered and wrote the sonnet, â€Å"The New Colossus.† The opening of the poem refers to the Colossus of Rhodes, an ancient statue of a Greek titan. But Lazarus then refers to the statue which â€Å"shall† stand as a â€Å"mighty woman with a torch† and the â€Å"Mother of Exiles.† Later in the sonnet are the lines which eventually became iconic: Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Thus in the mind of Lazarus the statue was not symbolic of liberty flowing outward from America, as Bartholdi envisioned, but rather a symbol of America being a refuge where those oppressed could come to live in liberty. Lazarus was no doubt thinking of the Jewish refugees from Russia she had been volunteering to assist at Wards Island. And she surely understood that had she been born somewhere else, she may have faced oppression and suffering herself. The Poem â€Å"The New Colossus† Was Essentially Forgotten On December 3, 1883, a reception was held at the Academy of Design in New York City to auction off a portfolio of writings and artwork to raise funds for the statue’s pedestal. The next morning the New York Times reported that a crowd which included J. P. Morgan, the famous banker, heard a reading of the poem â€Å"The New Colossus† by Emma Lazarus. The art auction did not raise as much money as the organizers had hoped. And the poem written by Emma Lazarus seems to have been forgotten. She tragically died of cancer on November 19, 1887, at the age of 38, less than four years after writing the poem. An obituary in the New York Times  the following day praised her writing, with the headline calling her An American Poet of Uncommon Talent. The obituary quoted some of her poems yet  did not mention â€Å"The New Colossus.† Thus, the sonnet was generally forgotten not long after it was written. Yet over time the sentiments expressed in words by Lazarus and the massive figure crafted of copper by  Bartholdi would become inseparable in the public mind. The Poem Was Revived by a Friend of Emma Lazarus In May 1903, a friend of Lazarus, Georgina Schuyler, succeeded in having a bronze plaque containing the text of â€Å"The New Colossus† installed on an interior wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. By that time the statue had been standing in the harbor for nearly 17 years, and millions of immigrants had passed by it. And for those fleeing oppression in Europe, the Statue of Liberty did seem to be holding a torch of welcome. Lady Libertys Legacy Over the following decades, especially in the 1920s, when the United States began to restrict immigration, the words of Lazarus took on deeper meaning. And whenever there is talk of closing Americas borders, relevant lines from The New Colossus are always quoted in opposition. Still, the poem and its connection to the statue unexpectedly became a contentious issue in the summer of 2017. Stephen Miller, an anti-immigrant adviser to President Donald Trump, sought to denigrate the poem and its connection to the statue. Two years later, in the summer of 2019, Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Trump administration, sparked a controversy by suggesting that the classic poem be edited. In a series of interviews on August 13, 2019, Cuccinelli said the poem should be changed to refer to immigrants who can stand on their own two feet. He also noted that the Lazarus poem referred to people coming from Europe, which critics interpreted as a sign of current bias toward non-white immigrants.

Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States Essay

Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States - Essay Example Only 81% are able to eat the kinds of foods they want but majority also have to travel a far distance to reach the grocery stores of supermarkets (Larson, Story and Nelson, 2009). Research indicates that 8% of African Americans lack access to food while only 41% of the whites have access to food (U.S Department of Agriculture, 2009). The problem as indicated above is caused by food deserts. The other cause for these statistics are the fact that the supermarkets and groceries are not stocked with the kind of food people want and hence they end up not purchasing anything or just enough to eliminate their hunger but not get satisfied. Lastly is the main reason which is the socio-economic status of people. People fail to access food not because it is unavailable but simply because they cannot afford it. The healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables are expensive and hence they rely on unhealthy risking diseases. Over 46% of low income neighbors have limited household access to healthy foods dues to their high prices (Larson, Story and Nelson, 2009). When there is food desert in any neighborhood, the only people who will be able to purchase the desired and affordable food are those with readily available transportation and money for the food which means those in middle and high level of socio-economic status. Transportation in the rural areas is hard to come by and hence they lack access to healthy food. Majority of the city dwellers also face similar problem as their neighborhoods are filled with convenience stores and fast food joints and very few, sparsely spaced supermarkets and grocery stores. This translates to people within that neighborhood eating unhealthy foods majority of the time. The lack of access to healthy foods due to lack of access to supermarkets and grocery stores as well as the disparity in healthy food as a result of affordability calls for a policy to improve these low statistics if the US citizens are to start being healthy people and