The Theory Of The Choice Theory - 1652 Words

I see that there are multiple criminology theories as I read this book and one of the first theories that I’ll be discussing is the Choice Theory. Now for this theory I believe that the character, Jessica, fits perfectly into it. I believe this because for the Choice Theory it is about the belief that people choose to commit a crime. Seeing the opportunities before them and knowing the benefit is better versus the consequences and to decide whether to continue to commit the criminal activity or not to proceed to commit it. This mainly focuses on the idea that we all have the choice in life to do our actions. Now because of the punishment involved, people are more cautious of committing the crime. We see this theory happening by fifth†¦show more content†¦This theory is also somewhat similar to another theory called the Classical Theory. For those that do not understand what this theory is about. It is that a person thinks before they commit the actions of criminal activities. However, they still commit the crime because of their own free will to do so. Going back to Jessica in the fifth chapter seeing that she has her own free will to choose to commit the crime. It’s not that Boy George is holding her against her own will. No she’s willing to commit these criminal acts for the purpose of self-gains. Just like when I discussed on the second paragraph, Jessica was living a terrible environment until she met Boy George. After meeting him and believing that they were â€Å"together† she been having a better life, even though she’s still in poverty. She’s been getting her own clothing, her family is receiving good amounts of food, Jessica and her family are able to go out to places. She was never able to do any of that before and why is that? It is because she chooses in her â€Å"own free will† (Classical Theory) to accept Boy George into her life. Knowing about his criminal activates that he commits and she accepts the consequences of it in order to have personal gains, which is what the Choice Theory is about. Another criminological theory I can think about coming into play for Jessica role is the Social Disorganization Theory. This theory is about a person’s physical and social environments as one

Leadership and Change Free Essays

The element of change remains a factor in everyday life within the organization. How to handle change begins with a decision to embrace the implications into an organization’s vision. Incorporating change and a healthy attitude toward change as a core value begins with leadership. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership and Change or any similar topic only for you Order Now A good leader like John Welch provides vision and clarity for the employee. He even instills inspiration in the employee allowing them the freedom to explore and create out of their every day job tasks. Such a leader will be able to communicate issues of change and create a bond with their team. This creates a comfort level that allows for creative thinking resulting in an environment that easily accepts change as a factor. This connection begins at a fundamental level of human sociology where the use of story is central. Howard Gardner reflects, â€Å"the ultimate impact of the leader depends most significantly on the particular story that he or she relates or embodies, and the receptions to that story on the part of the audiences† (14). By telling stories, allows for a certain level of openness or vulnerability on the part of the leader and makes them human. By opening the line of communication, gives the employee knowledge of their environment and develops trust. The leader’s role is to sell the idea of commitment within a culture. Odiorne suggests, â€Å"if employees knows what is expected, and what help and resources are available, they can then be relied upon to govern their actions to achieve the commitments they have made† (138). This sets the stage for goals and achieving high performance. The culture in turn feeds off this energy and excitement. There are three reasons why leaders are important. First they are responsible for the effectiveness of organizations. Second, the change and upheaval of past years has left us with no place to hide. We need anchors in our lives as a guiding purpose. Third, there is a national concern about integrity of our institutions. Being mindful of own context is difficult for us. (15-16) Managers with a keen understanding of leading represent these three key attributes and create a foundation from which to act. A leader must also display curiosity and have the guts to be daring. They must be a dominant force within the team. Bennis reflects, there are two kinds of people â€Å"those who are paralyzed by fear, and those who are afraid but go ahead away. Life is not about limitation but options† (185). A healthy culture inspires options and the innovations that grow out of creativity. Still one cannot ignore times of fear. Management sometimes creates fear on purpose or misuse to work employees harder. From personal experience, fear can drive an employee to try harder at a better job or completely kill worker confidence. This does not create positive outcomes but promotes conflict and an unstable team. It is clear for management to be successful, it must communicate its vision but also create positive reinforcement. Once key members understand people’s needs, then action can be taken to improve management’s role. Only then will a leader be taken seriously. Recognizing positive traits in a team member builds trust, integrity and also meets an important need. Finally, there are many things a leader can do to motivate their team members and inspire excellence. From personal experience there are many recommendations that come to mind. At a company wide level, a recognition or awards program is effective in maintaining culture by motivating employees. Being noticed for a job well done instills pride. How to cite Leadership and Change, Essay examples

Impact Of Celebrity Endorsement On The Business Performance - Samples

Question: Discuss about the Impact Of Celebrity Endorsement On The Business Performance Of Retail Industry. Answer: Introduction Involvement of celebrity in the business promotion is a good practice for rendering the business performance in comparison to the other performers in the same market segments (Appiah Missedja, 2016). However, actors and athletes serve as the celebrity in product promotion. Despite the high cost, celebrity endorsement is used rapidly in the recent years in the business industry. This research study deals with the impact of celebrity endorsement on business performance of the retail sectors. However, critical factors of celebrity endorsement and its effect have evaluated in this study. Apart from this aim and objectives of such study has discussed in this section. Background of the Study The marketers to develop a contract for celebrity endorsement have spent the enormous amount of money in every year. However, they think that celebrities are the good spokespeople and are able to influence the people towards the product or service (Reimann Reisinger, 2017). According to the marketers by involving celebrity in the advertisement process, they will be able to get a valuable position in their customers mind. However, the brand gets the touch of glamour by celebrity endorsement. In today's era, the celebrity endorsement is considered as the billion-dollar industry. On the other hand, celebrity endorsement is associated with the high risk and high reward. Problem Statement Use of the celebrity in the advertisement process to promote products or service is a common trend in the recent years (Mckenzie Chiliya Chikandiwa, 2016). However, the business organizations need to motivate the customers towards their new products however, many customers overlook the innovation of an organization. Hence, it is a big issue for such organizations to improve their brand image in the customer domain. However, advertising of the products through the celebrity easily influence the customers towards such products, as a result, the sales have been increased. Hence, celebrity endorsement is a good practice to maximize sales revenue generation as well as the customer loyalty for an organization. However, if the customers see that their favorite celebrity advertises a new product or service then they are easily motivated by them and become interested in the products. As a result, the issues of improving the product image on the customer mind will be reduced through the celeb rity endorsement (Haque, 2016). Research aim The aim of the current study is to evaluate the impact of celebrity endorsement on the business performance in the context of retail sectors. Research objectives To understand the significance of celebrity endorsement in the product promotion through advertisement To identify the potential factors of celebrity endorsement To evaluate the effect of celebrity endorsement on the business activities in context of retail industry To provide recommendations to bring improvement in the celebrity involvement in product advertising Research Questions What are the important aspects of celebrity endorsement that need to be considered by the retail industry? What are the potential impacts of the celebrity involvement in the advertising process? Why has involvement of celebrity in the product promotion been increasing rapidly? What are the recommendations to improve the celebrity endorsement process? Literature review This literature review section reveals an evaluation of the role of celebrity endorsement in influencing the consumers towards the product of an organization. However, the involvement of the celebrity on the advertisement process leaves a positive impact on the sales of the retail industry. Hence, this literature review gives an overview of the celebrity endorsement and its effect on retail business. Conceptual Framework Figure 1: Conceptual Framework (Source: Created by Researcher) Notion of celebrity endorsement The advertisement is a process to attract the consumers towards the product or service of an organization. Endorsers use celebrity to improve the brand image as well as to promote their products. Trustworthiness and likeability are the basic properties of celebrity endorsement. Hence, to gain the consumer trust marketers hire the celebrity to advertise their products (Azevedo, 2016). Celebrity endorsement is a process through which the top celebrities are hired by the business industries to against high price for the advertisement of the products. In this process, celebrities influence the people by showing the importance of the products or service in their life. In the fashion industry celebrity, branding is used to gain the customer attention and to maximize the sales revenue generation. Potential factors of celebrity branding Trustworthiness is a big factor of celebrity endorsement that allows the organization to hire celebrities for their product promotion. However, people have a trust on their famous celebrities that influence them positively to purchase a product or service that is advertised by the celebrity (Khamis, Ang Welling, 2017). Marketers of the retail industries are aware very well about such thought of consumers that leads them to hire celebrities by offering them the high price for the advertisement of their branding. Matching of the celebrities with the target audience is another factor that influences the celebrity endorsement practice in the retail industry (Jimnez-Zarco, Gonzlez-Gonzlez Gonzlez-Rodrigo, 2016). However, every industry has a target market and every people have their favorite celebrities. Hence, the marketers try to hire the popular celebrity that will match with their target audience, as it will enhance the product promotion. Expertise is another factor of celebrity endorsement as people think that a celebrity possesses more knowledge for a fashion item as they are associated with the fashion world (Fillis, 2015). This concept leads the business organizations to hire the celebrity for the advertisement of their products. Celebrities who use the brand are good for the advertisement for such specific brand (Khamis, Ang Welling, 2017). However, if the celebrity uses a brand then this specific brand always tries to hire such celebrity for their advertisement. However, such specific celebrity will be reliable for their product as well as for such organization. Attractiveness is a crucial factor of celebrity branding, however; the style of a celebrity attracts their fans. Hence, people have a common wish to look their celebrity by adopting their styles. This factor influences the marketers to advertise their products through involving the celebrity as it may attract the customers easily and influences the buying behavior of the consumers (Azevedo, 2016). Models of Celebrity endorsement Application of Meaning Transfer Model in context of Celebrity endorsement Celebrity endorsement process can be evaluated by the transfer model as this model highlights on the basic elements of the celebrity endorsement (Prentice et al., 2017). This model includes culture, consumption, and endorsement, as these are the basic elements of such model. An advertisement process for a particular brand and for a particular product will be meaningful by the involvement of the celebrity. In order to influence the people and to change their purchasing behavior, the celebrities are considered as the strong endorsers rather than the anonymous actors. Consumption process is a method of searching new objects by the consumers. Application of the transfer model is helpful for the retailers to select reliable celebrities those are perfect for their product promotion through advertisement. This model enables the marketers to choose the celebrities those are able to develop a meaningful communication with the customers based on the product feature (Nelson Deborah, 2017). The source credibility model of celebrity endorsement According to this model in delivery of a meaningful message depends on the credibility of the endorser (Ding, Y., Qiu, 2017). Among the several factors of persons credibility, trustworthiness and perceived expertise are the vital factors of endorser credibility. Perceived expertise insists the people, changes their perceptions regarding the products, and delivers the reliable message to them. On the other hand, trustworthiness refers to the believability, integrity, and honesty of the endorser that is based on the perspectives of the consumers. However, by applying this model the retail marketers are able to improve their celebrity endorsement process in the context of product promotion. Evaluation of the effect of celebrity endorsement on the performance of retail business Celebrity endorsement leaves a great impact on the sales revenue generation of a business. According to Portia, Li, and Philip, (2017), celebrity branding has been increasing rapidly in the recent years despite the rising price in the business industry. However, the increase of the media coverage is the prime factor of celebrity branding. However, according to the research, it has been found that celebrities those are hired by the different brands have more demand. As a result, the business organizations need to pay the high price to hire such celebrity for their advertisement. This high cost often affects the sales as well as the profitability of the business as the hiring cost of the celebrity becomes more than the product price. On the other hand, the involvement of celebrity enhances the sales in the context of any business. As for example, Volvo has hired Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the advertisement of Volvo model XC70. This celebrity branding was a great approach for such organization that gave it high profit from sales. Therefore, Nike has got $2 million from its sales by hiring Tiger Wood for the advertisement of their products (do Vale Matos, 2017). Hence, it can be said that celebrity endorsement increases the sales for the retail sectors and other organizations. Purchasing behavior of the individuals is a practice of searching a suitable object that they want to purchase among the different alternatives (Zhou Tainsky, 2017). Hence, celebrity branding is one of the crucial ways to influence the buying behavior of the consumers regarding any product or service. Since the 19th century, the use of a famous person in business promotion is continuing. In the recent years, the mass media plays an important role to deliver messages regarding a brand by the advertisement of celebrity. However, the opinion of the community can be changed by the celebrity branding as the famous person possesses distinctive trait and high repute. On the other hand, eye-catching personality and style of the celebrity easily gain the attention of the consumers and influence their purchasing decision. Celebrity branding influences the brand image, as it is the most popular tool of the advertisement (Roy et al., 2017). However, fashion products, households, food, and beverages are the main products of retail sectors. There is a good relationship between the fashion market and the famous person. Hence, the involvement of the celebrity in the advertisement process of fashion industry improves the brand image of an organization. Retailers use the celebrity endorsement as a promotional technique to enhance their brand value. Celebrity creates the buzz that allows the retailers to make their brand famous in the public domain. On the other hand, celebrity delivers meaningful messages and organizational promise to the customers that enhance the customer loyalty and their expectations. This also improves the brand image of an organization. Discussion of the challenges faced by the marketers during celebrity endorsement The retailers and the other industries use celebrity branding to create brand awareness in the public domain. However, often this celebrity branding affect the business of an organization as the marketers spend huge resources to hire the celebrity to endorse their service or products (Knoll Matthes, 2017). Both government and non-government organizations use celebrity branding to deliver messages to the public and to influence their attitudes. Marketers invest huge money to align their product and service. Hence, celebrity endorsement includes the high cost that is the big challenge for the small business. On the other hand, often misleading of information occurs due to celebrity branding that may affect the brand image. Therefore, popular celebrities are not available this is the great issue of hiring celebrities for the product promotion. Celebrity branding influences the brand preference of the consumers. Unleashing the power of the celebrities to generate the brand image easily gains the attention of the consumers (Zhou Tainsky, 2017). However, it is very common for the consumers to buy product form the particular brand that they prefer to use. However, such preference comes from the celebrity branding. However, if the consumers watch their favorite celebrities in advertising a brand then they become interested towards such brand. Keeping this in mind the marketers launch new product or brand and hire the popular celebrity for the advertisement. Research Methodology This current research study focuses on the secondary information analysis. Hence, secondary data collection method has been selected in this study. Different government journals, company websites, and articles are selected to collect secondary information. However, inclusion and exclusion criteria have been used to select articles from the various databases. Secondary data analysis gives authentic and reliable information on the topic (Bergkvist, 2017). Hence, data are collected by reviewing different reliable articles. Positivism philosophy has been selected in this research methodology to gain better marketing knowledge over the impact of celebrity endorsement on business. Therefore, the deductive approach has been selected in this methodology. Deductive approach is associated with the hypothesis and selection of theories (Dwivedi, Johnson McDonald, 2015). Hence, for this research, the deductive approach is appropriate as it highlights on the theoretical evidence. In this study, the researcher has selected the descriptive design method as it makes a relationship between the objectives and the findings. Probability sampling method has been used in this study and the data are collected through the secondary data collection technique. However, some ethical considerations are also done in this methodology. Data should be obtained from the valid sources and no manipulation can occur while representing the data. Findings of the secondary analysis Secondary analysis includes the collection of secondary information from different valid articles. Article review is the main part of the secondary analysis (Chan, Leung Luk, 2013). However, from the above secondary analysis in the literature review section, it has found that celebrity branding is crucial for the retail business to enhance their brand awareness. Therefore, it can be said in the recent years to gain competitive advantages celebrity branding is essential. However, trustworthiness, attractiveness, expertise and celebrity matching with the target audience are the major factors that influence the marketers to hire the celebrity for the advertisement of their brand. Celebrity endorsement influences the purchasing behavior of the consumers. For the improvement of brand image, celebrity branding plays an important role. It has been received from the secondary analysis that celebrity branding leaves a big impact on the sales revenue generation. Therefore, brand preference of consumers is associated with the advertisement through celebrity. Apart from the positive impact of the celebrity endorsement, it has been received that several challenges are associated with celebrity branding. One of the most important is increasing the cost of hiring the celebrity (Arsena, Silvera Pandelaere, 2014). Therefore, misleading of information regarding the product is another vital challenge of celebrity endorsement. Discussion of the findings from literature review According to the above literature review, it has been received from the findings, that celebrity is a common and popular trend in the business industry (Fleck, Michel Zeitoun, 2014). It has found that trustworthiness is a big factor of celebrity endorsement as if the customers cannot rely on the messages of celebrity then they will not be able to purchase the products. On the other hand, style of the celebrities attracts the customers most towards a brand. Therefore, there is a belief in the people that their famous persons have depth knowledge about the fashion products, as they are associated with the glamour world, which leads them to change their buying behavior. However, application of transfer model and credibility model enable the marketers to understand the celebrity endorsement process and its significance in the business. Purchasing behavior of the individuals can be influenced through the celebrity branding as if the consumers watch their favorite persons in promoting a new brand then they easily attracted to this brand (McCormick, 2016). According to the above findings, celebrity branding is an effective tool of marketing that enhances the sales of an organization by motivating the customers. Improvement of the brand image is also associated with the celebrity branding as celebrities act as the spokespersons to communicate with the brand. Famous persons deliver the product related messages in the consumer domain that increase the brand loyalty. Apart from this, it is important for the markers to cope with the rising cost of celebrity endorsement to utilize it properly to maximize the business performance. From the above findings, it has been received that celebrity branding is significant in generating brand awareness and brand value in the customer domain while it includes some barriers also. Wrong product information often reaches to the public domain through the celebrity branding is the organizations fail to give proper product information during the advertisement. This issue related to celebrity branding affects the business performance of the retail sectors. Recommendations To make a proper contract for a certain period with celebrities: Establishment of a contact with the celebrity for a certain period can be helpful for the business organization. However, marketers have to invest more for the celebrity branding and often the celebrity change their demand based on their popularity. This may lead the business organizations to face a huge loss. Hence, development a contract will resist the celebrity to change their demand and they are able to work with an organization as per the contract rule. To provide specific product information during the celebrity branding: the marketers should give clear information to the celebrities regarding the product or service during its advertisement. This will reduce the misleading of product information through the celebrity branding in the public domain. To give the proper presentation: The marketers need to arrange proper presentation during their product promotion through celebrity endorsement. This will influence the consumers towards the particular brand, as they will get the clear idea about the brand. Conclusion The entire piece of work highlights on the different aspects of the celebrity branding and its effect on the business performance in the retail industry. However, the celebrity endorsement is significant for the business organization to increase their brand awareness. On the other hand, it also influences the consumers and their decision-making process while purchasing a product. Interest regarding a product grows in the customer mind by watching the advertisement that is generated by their celebrities. Apart from this, some challenges also occur to the organizations during the celebrity branding that they need to overcome. References Appiah, M. K., Missedja, K. (2016). The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement and Customer Perception on Customer Buying Behaviour.International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing,6(3), 65-72. Arsena, A., Silvera, D. H., Pandelaere, M. (2014). Brand trait transference: When celebrity endorsers acquire brand personality traits.Journal of Business Research,67(7), 1537-1543. Azevedo, A. (2016). Celebrity Branding Advertising Processing: A Conceptual Model. InRediscovering the Essentiality of Marketing(pp. 599-611). Springer International Publishing. Bergkvist, L. (2017). Celebrity trait transference: when brands pick up endorsers' personality traits.International Journal of Advertising,36(5), 663-681. Chan, K., Leung Ng, Y., Luk, E. K. (2013). Impact of celebrity endorsement in advertising on brand image among Chinese adolescents.Young Consumers,14(2), 167-179. Ding, Y., Qiu, L. (2017). The impact of celebrity-following activities on endorsement effectiveness on microblogging platforms: a parasocial interaction perspective.Nankai Business Review International,8(2). do Vale, R. C., Matos, P. V. (2017). Is It Worth Adding a Celebrity? The Importance of Brand Familiarity and Celebrity-Product Congruency Across NBs and PLs. InAdvances in National Brand and Private Label Marketing(pp. 35-42). Springer, Cham. Dwivedi, A., Johnson, L. W., McDonald, R. E. (2015). Celebrity endorsement, self-brand connection and consumer-based brand equity.Journal of Product Brand Management,24(5), 449-461. Fillis, I. (2015). The production and consumption activities relating to the celebrity artist.Journal of Marketing Management,31(5-6), 646-664. Fleck, N., Michel, G., Zeitoun, V. (2014). Brand personification through the use of spokespeople: An exploratory study of ordinary employees, CEOs, and celebrities featured in advertising.Psychology Marketing,31(1), 84-92. Haque, C. A. (2016). The impact of celebrity endorsement on the buying behaviour of students towards personal care products. Jimnez-Zarco, A. I., Gonzlez-Gonzlez, I., Gonzlez-Rodrigo, E. (2016). Old Strategies for Positioning in a New Market Segment: Co-Branding and Celebrity Endorsement in the Development of New Mobile Apps for Tweens. InEncyclopedia of E-Commerce Development, Implementation, and Management(pp. 611-624). IGI Global. Khamis, S., Ang, L., Welling, R. (2017). Self-branding,micro-celebrityand the rise of Social Media Influencers.Celebrity Studies,8(2), 191-208. Knoll, J., Matthes, J. (2017). The effectiveness of celebrity endorsements: a meta-analysis.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,45(1), 55-75. McCormick, K. (2016). Celebrity endorsements: Influence of a product-endorser match on Millennials attitudes and purchase intentions.Journal of retailing and consumer services,32, 39-45. Mckenzie, M., Chiliya, N., Chikandiwa, C. T. (2016). The impact of celebrity endorsement on attracting customers in the health and fitness industry.African Journal for Physical Activity and Health Sciences (AJPHES),22(2.2), 635-650. Nelson, O., Deborah, A. (2017). Celebrity Endorsement Influence on Brand Credibility: A Critical Review of Previous Studies.Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies,7(1), 15. Portia, O. B., Li, G., Philip, A. (2017). The Effect of Personality (Brand Ambassadors) on Advertisement and Consumers Purchase Intentions in the Telecommunication Industry.International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM),8(4), 1-11. Prentice, C., Prentice, C., Zhang, L., Zhang, L. (2017). Celebrity endorsement and stock market return.Marketing Intelligence Planning,35(4), 529-543. Reimann, O., Wagner, U., Reisinger, H. (2017). The Impact of Celebrity Endorsement and Celebrity Co-branding on Perceived Quality: The Role of Celebrity Application Frequency Within a Brand. InAdvances in National Brand and Private Label Marketing(pp. 55-63). Springer, Cham. Roy, S., Roy, S., Jain, V., Jain, V. (2017). Exploring meaning transfer in celebrity endorsements: measurement and validation.Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration,9(2), 87-104. Zhou, Y., Tainsky, S. (2017). Enhanced Brand Credibility of American Athletes with International Teammates.Sport Marketing Quarterly,26(2).

Sex Issues Essays - Human Sexuality, Sexuality And Religion

Sex Issues Have you heard of sex before? I'm sure you have simply because it is a human part of life. Sex is natural and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever. You often hear of the "birds and the bees" and how reproduction is the point of life. Is sex made for more than that? Answer: ABSOLUTELY!!!(in my opinion) I believe sex is merely for married people who love one another and know what they are doing. Those who are married for such a commitment-eternity is quite along time,well not forever, but long enough to die with eachother. Marriage is made for those who are not afraid to commit, not afraid to make promises simply because they are not afraid to keep them. They are ready for anything that is dealt at them. Sex is made for those ready for marriage. Premarital sex is not the answer to love. Babies grown up in a situation where mommy and daddy aren't responsible enough to take care of their young. Sex is awesome. Why not wait for the right one?

Teen Sexuality Essays - Midwifery, Fertility, Human Sexuality

Teen Sexuality Essays - Midwifery, Fertility, Human Sexuality Teen Sexuality In our constantly developing society, it is not surprising to note that adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviours have greatly changed within the past two decades. Darling, Kallen & VanDusen, (1984) in their study of college students found a major increase in the number of young people reporting to have had sexual intercourse. They also found that college age females, who were once thought to be less sexually active than college age males, were now just as sexually active. In Canadian data from university studies, a dramatic rise from 1967 to 1979 in the percentage of students who had experienced premarital intercourse was shown (Fitzhonly & Whiteside, 1984). These findings of increased promiscuity among adolescents inevitably evoke a strong sense of curiosity and raise the question: which factors have been the most influential in regards to increased teenage promiscuity? Today, not only are there more youths who are sexually active but research shows that the majority of them do not use contraceptives on a regular basis (Chng, 1983). The reasons behind this lack of birth control use are equally important as the increase in sexual activity for the problem of unwanted pregnancy among the young in society is remarkably prevalent and continually on the rise(Cohan, 1983). The reasons behind adolescents engaging in sexual intercourse so early in life are extensive and yet it becomes increasingly evident that cultural changes within our society have played the single most influential role in this area. Society's attitudes towards sex have dramatically changed in the past two decades and this has directly influenced sexual activity among our youth but throughout all of society as well. Today, sex is exploited throughout the media in an attempt to increase business revenue. By catering to our basis sexual desires the media can easily manipulate and conform the attitudes and actions of its patrons. The youth of today seem to be the most easily manipulated group by sexual propaganda due to their conformist vulnerability. Young people have no choice but to deal with other's ideas about sexuality before they have been able to form their own opinions and beliefs. This liberalization is not necessarily bad in itself but rather it is sexual exploitation coupled with a lack of quality education that creates unhealthy attitudes and beliefs about sex within the minds of our youth. As a result of this extensive and powerful media, society has an increasing amount of influence in our children's decision making than it did in the past. In the past, the Church used to set the moral code which parents then enforced. Today, teens listen to their peers and the media much more than to their parents or religious affiliations (Carlson, 1985). Therefore, in a society where attitudes are strongly influenced and even controlled by the sexually suggestive powers of the media it is no wonder that sexual intercourse is increasingly prevalent among our adolescent population. Societal goals such as money and power have also had an enormous effect on the family structure. The increasing number of dual income families is directly proportionate to the decrease in parent/child time sharing. Also, the prevalence of divorce sometimes makes the family unit one of the most unstable forces in an adolescent's life. The saying do as I say, not as I do may be a common standard in many homes (Darling, et al., 1984). As a result of these factors that negatively effect parent/child interaction, children often lose out on positive role models who they can turn to with questions or problems. Rather, many have no choice but to talk with their friends about sexual matters or remain in the dark in the area of sexuality. It is an unfortunate reality that when youths do turn to their peers about sex, the message they receive is often very clear yet terribly misguided: sex is an expected and accepted part of any relationship. In fact, Darling et al. (1984) found that adolescents thought they underwent a distinct status change once they were no longer a virgin. Attitudes towards intercourse itself have changed as sexual activity increases and there is a noticeable decrease in sexual guilt, especially among females (Hendrick, Hendrick, Slapion-Foote, & Foote, 1985). As previously stated, when adolescents turn

10 Functions of the Comma

10 Functions of the Comma 10 Functions of the Comma 10 Functions of the Comma By Mark Nichol A comma is a versatile punctuation mark, serving ten basic functions. Here’s an enumeration, with examples. 1. Separate the elements in a series: â€Å"Groucho, Harpo, and Chico developed the philosophy called Marxism.† Many periodicals and websites, and most colloquially written books, omit the serial, or final, comma, but it is all but mandatory in formal writing and is recommended in all usage. As language maven Bryan Garner observes, â€Å"Omitting the serial comma may cause ambiguities, whereas including it never will.† 2. Separate coordinated independent clauses: â€Å"I like the Marx Brothers, but she thinks they’re too silly.† (An independent clause is one that can stand on its own as a sentence but is linked with another by a conjunction and/or a punctuation mark.) Exceptions include sentences with closely linked clauses (â€Å"Go to the window and see who’s there†) and those with a compound predicate (â€Å"The Marx Brothers are known for their puns and their sight gags†). 3. Separate an introductory word (â€Å"Naturally, I agree with you†), phrase (â€Å"Last summer, I went on a long vacation†), or subordinate clause (â€Å"If you’re too busy now, wait until later†) from the remainder of the sentence. 4. Separate an optional parenthetical element from the remainder of the sentence. â€Å"We have, in a manner of speaking, won despite our loss.† (The phrase â€Å"in a manner of speaking† could also be set off by em dashes or parentheses, depending on whether the writer wishes to emphasize the interruption of the statement â€Å"We have won despite our loss† or wants to diminish it as an aside.) 5. Separate coordinate adjectives from each other: â€Å"I could really use a tall, cool drink right now.† (Do not separate noncoordinate adjectives with a comma; this post explains the difference between these two types of adjectives.) 6. Separate an attribution from a direct quotation: â€Å"She said, ‘Neither choice is very appealing’†; â€Å"‘That’s not my problem,’ he replied.† (A colon may be precede a formal pronouncement or an attribution that forms a complete thought, as in, â€Å"He had this to say: ‘Her point is irrelevant.† Omit punctuation when the attribution is implied, as in â€Å"Your response ‘Her point is irrelevant’ is evasive.†) 7. Separate a participial phrase or one lacking a verb from the remainder of the sentence: â€Å"Having said that, I still have my doubts†; â€Å"The deed done, we retreated to our hideout.† 8. Separate a salutation from a letter (â€Å"Dear friends,†) or a complimentary close from a signature in a letter (â€Å"Sincerely,†). A colon should be used in place of a comma in a formal salutation. 9. Separate elements when setting off a term for a larger geopolitical entity from that for a smaller one located within it (â€Å"Santa Barbara, California, is located on the coast†) and for elements of street addresses (â€Å"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC†) (and dates (â€Å"January 1, 2013†). 10. Separate groups of three digits in numbers: (Let me tell you how to make your first 100,000,000 dollars.† (Because large numbers are difficult to scan, it’s usually better to use one of the following forms: â€Å"100 million dollars,† â€Å"one hundred million dollars.†) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsOne Fell SwoopPhrasal Verbs and Phrasal Nouns

How k-12 schools can benefit from growing their own fruits and Essay

How k-12 schools can benefit from growing their own fruits and vegetables - Essay Example l kids growing their own food). Unhealthy food habits observed among the students of K-12 schools seem to cause many serious issues to them and to the schools as well. These problems could be solved by promoting fruit and vegetable gardens in schools. K-12 schools can benefit from growing their own fruits and vegetables because it helps to keep their students healthy and fresh in order to produce better academic results and to inculcate social values in them. Health-related Benefits: Better nutritional food helps children to maintain good heath which is essential for their physical growth as well as to maintain mental readiness for the process of learning. An encouragement to healthy eating habits has been given by the Welch's Harvest Grand program which is a joint effort by the National Gardening Association and The Welch's magazine. They provide opportunities for students to learn the importance of a balanced diet, the role of vegetables and fruits in their food habits; the student s can also gain an understanding of what they eat and how the foods are cultivated. Fresh fruits and vegetables included in their diet made them healthy and brighter and as Holly Orians comments, "the food service only has to say 'This is from the garden' and the kids are lined up to get the veggies!† (Welch's Harvest Grants Help Children Enjoy Benefits of Growing Fruits and Vegetables and Reap Rewards in the Classroom) Welch's observed the participation of parents, teachers and even other members of the communities who worked on the gardens, and the students showed immense interest in the foods of which they grew and harvested. K-12 schools are thus benefited by providing opportunities to their students to have food which is made up of their own hands in keeping them under good physical condition. Academic benefits: The fruit and vegetable gardens of the school provide a 'learning by doing' experience to the children in the field of agriculture, which otherwise would have bee n only a verbal experience to them. The result of Welch’s program as Holly Orians states â€Å"we’ve seen improved science scores across the board and also students' reactions to the outdoors" (Welch's Harvest Grants Help Children Enjoy Benefits of Growing Fruits and Vegetables and Reap Rewards in the Classroom) was a great success and proved that the K-12 schools are benefited academically by the introduction of fruit and vegetable gardens in their premises. Seventeen percent of the participant schools of the program reported a remarkable improvement in the test results of their students. The successful story of The Welch's Harvest Grand program thus proves the relevance and importance of the necessity of such activities to be carried out in primary and secondary schools in order to bring about desirable changes in the eating habits of the children so as to make them ready to learn and to produce better academic outputs. The story of Martin Luther King Junior Middle School of

Frederick II (Frederick the Great) Research Paper

Frederick II (Frederick the Great) - Research Paper Example Majority of military strategists perceive him as a brilliant military thinker while critics accuse him of being a power-hungry tyrant willing to go to any length to calm his ego and enhance his reputation.1 This paper asserts that Frederick II epitomized what a military leader should be, especially based on his profound and enduring influence on other military strategists, leaders, generals, and statesmen who came after him.2 Frederick II noted, â€Å"A country should be ready for war, offensive or defensive and preparedness for war hinges on the condition of the army and the finances. Frederick II of Prussia was one of the â€Å"enlightened monarchs† (enlightened despots) based on the reforms that he was able to bring to Prussia. During his reign, he was able to expand the territories of Prussia to become a power house in Europe. Frederick modernized Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, besides promoting religious tolerance. Frederick managed to modify Prussia from European back water to an economically powerful and politically reformed state. One of the strengths of Frederick II lies in the fact that he was an enlightened absolutist and thus, could run the political side while simultaneously directing the army to achieve the objectives of the state. One of Frederick’s most outstanding quote details â€Å"a nation lacking an army is like an orchestra without instruments.†3 As a military leader, Frederick II focused on drill and discipline, besides stimulating initiative and inspiration in his military leadership. Frederick II maintained that common soldiers should fear their own officers more compared to the enemy, and he closely monitored his generals to ensure that none could be trusted to perform independently. As crown prince, Frederick II maintained that Prussia could not evade being drawn into conflict practically anywhere in Europe. However, his country was short of the

Good Night and Dance in America Essay Example for Free

Good Night and Dance in America Essay Death is inevitable and comes in different cases, and when it’s nearly there people has different ways on how they deal with it but the most affected of all are the people around them. Just like in Lorrie Moore’s â€Å"Dance in America† and Dylan Thomas’ â€Å"Don’t Go Gentle into that Good Night† both features dying people and how they live knowing anytime soon, they could die. Life is a gift from God; everyone should learn to value his life, maximizing what he can do while he is still alive, especially for his family, friends and other people around him, because nobody knows when will be the final hour. The poem â€Å"Don’t Go Gentle into that Good Night† is strongly emotional and by reading each line, you can feel the author’s anger or bitterness about death. Thomas used the term â€Å"good night† to represent death with respect to the Christian belief that death is a peaceful rest of the body as it enters the next life. Though it can be interpreted in different ways, as a personal note, the poem summarizes his thoughts about the inevitability of death and the way people deal with it. He states that people know that death is for certain, that people already accept the fact that everyone will come to their end according to the will of God but, at the end of the day, they fear leaving the world and regrets start to bother them. He mentioned in his poem about wise men that despite their wisdom cannot truly tell why death is inevitable and just accept the fact that they are dying; of the good men who did good deeds but still end up with death; and those men who lived with serious illnesses who should have enjoyed life more than just wait for their final hour. Then when their time comes, it would be too late to regret things and time wasted. Thomas also addressed there his father as he witness how his father suffered from blindness and illness, crying in pain but seems like just waiting for his end. He doesn’t like the idea that one should readily accept his death but instead, one should fight for his life and struggle against death, whether you are a wise, good, wild, or grave man. Gently accepting death, for him is narrowness, that God’s greater plan is being given up: there’s more to life. For him, death is not the end of life on Earth and the beginning of another life. Life could be more valuable and may be lived longer if people would never give up easily and fight death. (Thomas, Dylan) In Moore’s work, she also tackled the different issue in life including death. A seven year old boy named Eugene was born with a disease that affects the lungs called cystic fibrosis. He got the disease from his father. He also had some relatives who died with it. In the story, Eugene’s case had become more serious that he generated too much liquid in his lungs. But despite the graveness of the health condition, the researchers, doctors, and his family lose no hope that somehow he can survive. But like any parents, Eugene’s experience brings them sadness and grief knowing that their child is suffering from a very serious health problem. They don’t want to lose him not just because he is their only child but also because they believe he is such a good boy for God to let him die at a very young age. Eugene, himself, is also very open-minded about his condition. He understands everything and the disease didn’t pave the way to make him enjoy his childhood. He and his parents are making sure he is enjoying every moment of his life, making things seem normal. (Moore, Lorrie) The death of Simone’s first husband is also mentioned. That he killed himself after she dumped him. The author indirectly tries to say that life is unfair and ironic. There are people who longs and would do anything for a healthy life but then there are people who were granted with a normal life and healthy body would just give it all up and commit suicide. (Moore, Lorrie) In comparison, the two authors both discussed about death and the way people deal with it. Some readily accept their death and some even waste the opportunity to live, while some still fight as long as they are alive. They question its inevitability. They show that death comes unexpectedly. Life is unfair. Thomas argues about struggling in life, same as Moore as she presented the life of Eugene who is fighting against cystic fibrosis. Life is worth living and therefore it should be greatly valued by people. Their writings both presented a clear visualization of the scenarios. The works are both full of emotions and imagery. Thomas’ work is very conversational, that it is directly telling people to value life and struggle against death, especially in the part where he is talking to his father: â€Å"And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. † (Thomas, Dylan) He is saying â€Å"curse me for being still alive saying all these things, and bless me as well. You should have not readily accepted your death just like that. Life is worth living. † While in Moore’s, she leave the emotion and the message for the readers to interpret to themselves what she is trying to say by just presenting circumstances and issues. â€Å"Don’t Go Gentle into that Good Night† has an angry, sorrowful, and persuasive tone which strikes through the heart, while â€Å"Dance in America† has mixed emotions such as fun, sorrow, and anticipation which is more entertaining. The works of these two great authors agrees with the same thing, that life is worth living. Everyone is entitled to take care and value his own life for you’ll never know when it will end. Life can be very unfair and ironic. Live and enjoy your life as if everyday would be the last. Value it knowing there are some people who would have wanted to be in your shoes for having a normal and long life. For those who have serious illness or is determined to anytime soon, one should not lose hope for there are more good things to come and instead of getting bored in life or get yourself stuck on your room crying and just wait for the final hour, spend your time exploring the world with your family, friends and loved ones. There are just too many reasons for someone to stay alive and embrace life whole-heartedly. Do what you want before it is too late. Take care and value life just like what Dylan Thomas said in his poem, â€Å"Rage against the dying of the light! † You can make your light shine brighter. References: Moore, Lorrie. Birds of America. USA: Picador, 1999. Thomas, Dylan. Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night. 19 March 1999. 21 August 2007 http://www. cs. rice. edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/38. html.

History of the Sound Card :: essays research papers

History of the Sound Card: How it Came About The very first sound card every manufactured was a Sound Blaster card. Far West was the manufacturer of the first Sound Blaster sound card. Let’s step back a little in time to take a look back at when sound cards haven’t even yet existed. â€Å"Computers were never designed to handle sound.† Before sound cards were invented, the only sounds you would hear from a computer would be the beeps that would tell you if something was wrong with the computer. That’s all! No sounds would accompany any games, you couldn’t play music at all, nothing! Computer programmers wanted to use the beeps for games they created, and so they would program the beeps into their games. However, it would be â€Å"awful music as an accompaniment to games like Space Invaders†. Far West came up with the solution, thus the invention of the first Sound Blaster sound card. It still wasn’t good quality music, but it was a big step up from just the beeps. â€Å"It could record real audio and play it back, something of a quantum leap. It also had a MIDI interface, still common on sound cards today, which could control synthesizers, samplers and other electronic music equipment†. The first sound card was of 8 bit 11 kHz audio quality, similar to an AM radio. There are two parts to the â€Å"complicated piece of electronics†, the sound card. ADC and DAC were they. ADC is the analog-to-digital converter and DAC being the opposite (digital-to-analog converter). ADC took an analog signal from a device and converts it to digital signals for the computer to use, as DAC did the exact opposite, taking a digital signal and converting it to analog. However, in the future, there will be no use of ADC and DAC since â€Å"both speakers and microphones will be able to directly record and playback digital signals directly†. An example of ADC would be a sound through the microphone being recorded into the computer. A CD player is an example of a device that uses DAC.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Digital audio has its advantages. One would be that â€Å"no matter how many times it is copied it remains identical†. It does not degrade analogue sources. An example of an analogue source is vinyl. A leap up to 16 bit 44.1 kHz was a major development. This is the quality of a CD. This became a problem for the ISA bus.

Pro-Life Essay

â€Å"Rescue Those Who Are Unjustly Sentenced to Death† Proverbs 24:11 Abortion is and always has been a major topic for debate in North America, due to the moral and legal issues surrounding it. Despite the Supreme Court making a landmark controversial decision in 1973, deciding that it is a woman’s right to choose abortion after the court case of Norma McCorvey, pro-life activists continue to thrive for new laws banning, or at least tightly restricting induced abortion. Due to that decision, abortion has become a safety net—preventing unwanted pregnancies, controlling whether or not parents have a handicapped child, etc. In Sallie Tisdale’s â€Å"We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse’s Story†, readers get an inside look on the actual procedure itself, giving them an idea of what goes on in the world of medicine. Although this essay may highlight the beneficial factors of abortion—ridding oneself of an unwanted pregnancy, or saving a family due to potential financial constraints—it is all irrelevant due to the undeniable immoral aspects of the procedure. In my opinion, abortion is unethical, and unnecessary. Despite 20% of the female population being unable to have children, this essay draws attention to the vast number of people that do have abortions, choosing rather to free themselves of the ‘burden’ than to pass the miracle along to a couple in need. Not only does this emphasize the selfishness of today’s youth, it demonstrates the unknowledgeable also have no sense of conscious guilt, proving further that society as a whole is focusing on the wrong issues and ignoring the ones that truly matter. Of course, there is the inevitable argument of human life—when does it begin? In Tisdale’s essay, I learned that the employees of an abortion centre forbid the use of the word â€Å"baby†, as they prefer to keep the depressing emotions of the mothers to a minimum. My take on this is, why are we doing this procedure in the first place if we have to manipulate people into thinking it is ethical? By sugar-coating it, the reality of the process gets lost behind false appearances, demonstrating the corruption of youth despite the growing availability of information resources. The pro-choice activists see this procedure as letting mother’s return to full freedom, achieving a life of no guilt since they rid themselves of the child. This approach to abortion is completely immoral, as you can spin it anyway you want—you are still, essentially, taking a human life—and there is no ethical way to defend that. The population of the world that believes in the legalization of abortions are more in favor of equality and women’s rights rather than the developing life that the woman currently possesses. They believe as the fetus is nonviable, which is before twenty weeks of gestation, then the process should be legal. However, upon conception, the fetus is going to be viable and is going to be a functional human being. To interfere with this process is violating the rights that the unborn child has to live. A fetus is incapable of determining whether or not it wants to live, so to not grant that fetus a chance to live is down-right unconstitutional. Although I do believe in a woman’s rights and am quite the feminist myself—their rights to do as they please with their bodies should not parallel the right to do as they please with someone else’s body. In â€Å"We Do Abortion’s Here: A Nurse’s Story† by Sallie Tisdale, the author often reflects on the variety of women that enter the clinic. However, she mentions that there are the â€Å"usual clients†Ã¢â‚¬â€particularly in their teenage years—that so clearly have no parental or financial support behind them. The argument that is made here by pro-choice activists, is that the when the ability to take care of the potential child is at stake—thus providing a lifestyle that is not fit for a baby—it is of greater nobility to clear the child and the mother of such burden. In my opinion, there is only one word for a person with this attitude: selfish. Having a personal relationship with someone who is struggling with the fact that she is incapable of having children of her own, I see the inevitable sorrow that goes along with having an incomplete family despite your greatest efforts. In the essay, it is said that there are over 100 abortions a day in that particular clinic alone. In this world, if all of those people chose to let a family who is capable of providing the child a stable homelife adopt the child, they would not only be saving the child’s life, but saving a family’s life. Infertility is a growing issue in today’s society, and adoption is sometimes the only answer. Families around the world who are struggling with this issue have to pray for a miracle, as sometimes it takes up to 10 years to finally adopt a child. This is all happening, whilst girls and women alike are making it a usual occurrence to use abortion as a safety net for unwanted pregnancies. Does this seem fair? Has the world become so corrupt that we cannot even look past our own wants and aid those with their needs? The way the world needs to view abortions now are to see a surprise pregnancy as a miracle, rather than a burden. If not a miracle to them, then a miracle to a family in need, struggling with infertility. Although there may be extenuating circumstances, I cannot begin to fathom how anybody can justify the glorification of a child’s death as â€Å"a choice†. Everyone deserves the right to grow up, laugh, make mistakes, and live their life fully. No one deserves to have their life brutally ripped from them. Abortion is the greatest act of cowardice, because it preys on those who cannot defend themselves. We have the right to make choices, but what are we choosing? We have an obligation to protect the weak and the innocent. There will never be a day when it is justifiable to take another person’s right to live, simply because we can. As previously stated, this act of exploitation emphasizes the selfishness of today’s society, demonstrating the unfortunate truth that the naive population also lack in conscious guilt. This proves further that humanity as a whole is focusing on the wrong issues and ignoring the ones that truly matter.

Odysseus’ story Essay

SOME ARE monsters, some are slaves, some are beautiful and cunning women and some are powerful kings. In Homeric literature, a character is either good or bad depending on their xenia or shape (e.g. Charybdis). However, from reading ‘The Odyssey’, one can see the admirable characters and the not so admirable characters. Such characters have either good or bad xenia, old or young, male or female, some can be a menial as a slave (such as Eumaeus) and some can be as great as a Troy hero and king (such as Nestor). This is an exploration of whether or not Eumaeus is the most admirable character in ‘The Odyssey’ or not. We first meet Odysseus’ swineherd in Book Fourteen in the porch of his hut. He had been caring for Odysseus’ property during his absence. Odysseus appears to him as a beggar and despite the status that such person has, Eumaeus being but a servant understands xenia and entertains Odysseus by preparing a feast for him.  In Book Fourteen, Eumaeus grieves not only for the loss of Odysseus but also for Telemachus who had gone to find his father. It is clear from Book Sixteen, that Eumaeus loves Telemachus like a father loves a son as when he returns he drops everything and kisses Telemachus and cries with pleasure of his safe return to Ithaca. He shows respect for his masters in Book Fourteen, another admirable trait, when he says to the disguised Odysseus that servants can’t give admirable gifts when they work in fear of their overpowering masters. This shows that Eumaeus understands his place an Odysseus and Telemachus both recognise this and treat Eumaeus with great respect. One could argue that Homer created Eumaeus as the most admirable character as there is a not in Book Fourteen that claims that Homer loved his created character and sometimes the literature speaks directly to Eumaeus.  After Eumaeus’ prayer that Odysseus may return, Odysseus feels that it is right that he should reveal his scar and prove that he is with them. The text says that Eumaeus is overwhelmed to see his master again and is weeping and kissing him so much, that if Odysseus hadn’t stopped them, it would have gone on all day and all night! This shows a great and respecting love for the King of Ithaca. Eumaeus speaks out, bravely (or foolishly some could argue) against the Suitors. This shows bravery in his character as well as loyalty and love. He is truly characterised as a noble and respectable person. He also helps in the execution of the maidservants and the mutilation of Melanthius.  All of the above describe how admirable Eumaeus is and there is not a point in the text when he is not admirable, loving, kind or brave. However, there are other admirable characters in ‘The Odyssey’. I would argue that King Nestor of Pylos, a hero against Troy with Odysseus, is an admirable character in ‘The Odyssey’. He is a very generous host and actually is so generous and so loyal to xenia that in Book Fifteen, Telemachus pleads with Nestor’s son, Peisistratus (Telemachus’ Patroclus type character) to not let him see Telemachus, as he will keep him against his will with his passion for hospitality! Some could argue that this in its self is an abuse of xenia. Nestor also stops Telemachus from sleeping on his ‘hollowed ship’ and says that he should sleep in the palace. This shows true loyalty to xenia. Before this however, Nestor believes that Telemachus even looks like Odysseus and tells Telemachus of his faith in him. This shows a caring for his friend’s family. Nestor is even kind enough to let his son act as a friend and guardian to Telemachus on his journeys.  Nestor’s character is one of great caring and compassion and he looks out for Telemachus as a father would look out for a son and I think that this is a truly admirable trait of King Nestor. Another admirable character is Antinous and Arete’s daughter, Nausicaa, princess of Phaeacia. She meets Odysseus when he has been washed up on the shore of the island and is wearing no more than a fig leaf over his genitalia. Anyone would have thought him mad or overly promiscuous, however, despite her first impressions, the young woman hears of Odysseus’ story and shows pity on the great man in his miserable state. She orders her ladies to bathe him and even tells him how to get into the city and speak with her father, Antinous through his wife Arete). With all this guidance she shows mercy on a man in a state where others would have either ran or jeered at him. This shows a merciful character in Nausicaa and for such a young girl she has an understanding of xenia. She falls in love with Odysseus and she is even offered by Antinous as a wife for Odysseus, but Odysseus is having none of it and just wants his presents and one of their good ships to go home in.  Nausicaa demonstrates mercy on Odysseus in the only time we see him as being so disparate and needy for help. The only time when he loses face and the only time really when all he has are his articulate words to help him out of situation. This shows that Nausicaa probably knew that Odysseus was a great man and that his state would have de-motivated him so the very fact that she shows such compassion towards him shows that she sympathises with his situation. This I believe is a very admirable thing to do and shows great intelligence for someone so young. Therefore, Eumaeus is one of the most admirable but not the most. Nestor and Nausicaa, both explored above are equally as admirable but in slightly different ways. Eumaeus’ admiralty comes from his loyalty to Odysseus and his want to defend his right to be loyal. Nestor is admirable for his hospitality and the way he speaks of Odysseus and the help that he gives to Telemachus on his journey to track down his father. Lastly, Nausicaa is admirable as she is able to trust a man that others would have thought bonkers. He appears to her naked and she accepts his honesty and mercifully helps him due to his articulate speech. Homer has truly created some of the greatest characters in the world of literature and these good and admirable persons are part of the huge enjoyment one has when one reads his ‘Odyssey’.

Understanging the Parallel Structure of English

Understanging the Parallel Structure of English One of the most common writing mistakes in more advanced English learners writing is parallel structure. Parallel structure refers to structures which are repeated because they are connected by words such as: and, but, and or. These connecting words are referred to as coordinating conjunctions. Here are a few examples of correct parallel structure. Tom enjoys taking hikes, riding his bicycle and paragliding in his free time.I went home, took a shower, changed my clothes and ate some lunch. Here are the same two sentences using incorrect parallel structure: Tom enjoys taking hikes, to ride his bicycle and paraglide in his free time.I went home, take a shower, change my clothes and eat some lunch. In both cases, there is a mistake in parallel structure. Notice how the verb forms in the correct version of the two sentences use the same verb form. In the incorrect version of the sentences, the verb forms are varied. Parallel structure refers to the same structure repeating throughout a sentence. In other words, if the gerund form (ing form) of a verb is used after one verb, all the listed verbs also take the gerund form. Remember:  If you are listing verbs after the main verb, keep the verbs in the same form. (verb infinitive, verb gerund) He hopes to play, eat and get some rest.She enjoys listening to music, reading novels and playing tennis.He would like to have some lunch, study and then play the piano. If you are conjugating a number of verbs to relate a story for the same subject, use the same tense. We went to church, bought some lunch, came home, ate and took a nap. There are also other types of parallel structure mistakes. Which two types of mistakes in the parallel structure do you think are made in these sentences? Bob drove carelessly, quickly and in a reckless manner.Peter mentioned that he wanted to go home, that he needed a shower, and go to sleep. ... and the correct versions of the sentences: Bob drove carelessly, quickly and recklessly.Peter mentioned that he wanted to  go home, that he needed a shower, and wanted to go to sleep. In the first sentence, adverbs are being used in a list and should continue, rather than injecting an adjective. carelessly, quickly, recklessly, ruthlessly, etc. RATHER THAN carelessly, quickly, and in a reckless (adjective) manner. In the second sentence, the dependent clauses are used that he wanted to go home... that he needed a shower, etc. and should continue in the same manner. Notice also that the verb used in the third clause of this string of clauses is in the present tense, rather than the past as the other clauses. Here is another example of a similar adjective mistake in parallel structure. Which adjective is incorrect? Why? Jennifer appears to be tired, distracted and upsetting. If you answered upsetting, you are correct. The first two adjectives tired and distracted refer to the state that affects Jennifer. In other words, she feels tired and distracted. Upsetting refers to the effect that she has on someone else. Jennifer is upsetting to Jim. In this case, the intent is that Jennifer appears tired, distracted AND upset. All three adjectives refer to how she feels, rather than the effect she has on someone else. Double-Check for Mistakes in Parallel Structure A good way to check for mistakes in the parallel structure is to look for anything you list using commas  and make sure the list of equal elements are all in the same form. Parallel Structure Exercise Identify and correct the mistakes in a parallel structure in the following sentences.   Alex decided to get up early, go jogging, eat a healthy breakfast and got ready for school.I wish he would listen to his father, take his advice, and applied for a job.James stopped smoking, drinking and to eat too much.Jason invited Tim, her, they and Peter to the wedding.He is an articulate, thoughtful, and meaningfully speaker.Alexander did her homework, cleaned her room, but doesnt play the piano.The politicians hope to clean up, and modernizing this city.Eating healthy food, drinking lots of water and get exercise improves your quality of life.The teachers had graded the tests, completed the reports and meeting with parents before they went on summer vacation.Sheila misses seeing Tom, going on long walks with her friends, and played football. Answers: Alex decided to get up early, go jogging, eat a healthy breakfast and  get  ready for school.I wish he would listen to his father, take his advice, and  apply  for a job.James stopped smoking, drinking and to  eating  too much.Jason invited Tim, her,  them  and Peter to the wedding.He is an articulate, thoughtful, and  meaningful  speaker.Alexander did her homework, cleaned her room, but  didnt  play the piano.The politicians hope to clean  up and  modernize  this city.Eating healthy food, drinking lots of water and  getting  exercise improves your quality of life.The teachers had graded the tests, completed the reports and  met  with parents before they went on summer vacation.Sheila misses seeing Tom, going on long walks with her friends, and  playing  football.

Of mice and men - A comparison of the opening scenes of the film and the beginning of the book Essay Example for Free

‘Of mice and men’ – A comparison of the opening scenes of the film and the beginning of the book Essay Fiction (1033) , Book (985) , John Steinbeck (629) , Of Mice and Men (560) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints A comparison of the opening scenes of the film and the beginning of the book ‘Of mice and men’ is set in southern California at the time of the great depression (late 1920 and early 30’s), the basis of the story is about 2 men George and Lenny, who are two workers who travel from place to place finding work on ranches, so they can earn there 50 bucks a month. George is the leader out of the two he looks after Lenny, sorts out where they go and what they do and eat. Lenny is a very big and strong man, but he is very dumb and could not look after himself, he his at heart a nice, harmless man but likes colourful, nice feeling things, so he is just like a small child. Lenny gets them into trouble a lot, he likes to touch nice things and when he does people get the wrong idea and like at the start of the book and film gets accused of rape, and at the end causes a death of a woman. Like most writers or directors, John Steinbeck and Gary Sinise try to grab the readers or viewer’s attention. Even though the novel and film are based on the same story, they use different techniques and ways to try and get the audiences attention. In the novel John Steinbeck uses a lot of description of his settings and this is how he tries to keep the audience’s imagination going. For example in the first two pages of the novel, he uses a strong descriptive and a strong style of language to try and give an effect of a natural, calm and peaceful atmosphere, also when describing the willow pool he tries and puts as much detail in as possible, as this area of land is one of the most important places in the story as this is where Steinbeck starts the story and ends it in a similar place. It’s quite amazing how Steinbeck manages to turn a violent and threatening scene into a calm, relaxing place and an almost peaceful time. I think that the first set of settings is set in a spring/summer theme as they are talking about there dream which is seen as the American dream of this time, so this also relates to life in the late boom and depression of the 1920’s. The beginning is used to try and introduce the two main characters portraying Lenny as the leader and it seems that he is like a father to Lenny who is portrayed as a small child who cannot control what he is doing. George also knows he has to take the role as the father or older brother and has to keep rules and tells him what to do, e.g. when they are drinking from the lake Lenny keeps his head in the water and is just guzzling the water down, then George says; â€Å"For god sake don’t drink so much†, and also he checks if the water is safe by making sure that its is running although George is of little intelligence him self he knows how to stay alive and live well. Gary Sinise tries to grab the audience’s attention quite differently at the beginning of the film as he uses a dramatic sequence of George and Lenny sitting in the luggage holder of a train, and you see him thinking back to what happened at Weed. When this is happening the light fades over Georges face from the cracks in the compartments wooden walls, this effect of the light streaming across his face gives an imaginary sense of prison bars. During Georges flashbacks you see them running fast and out of breath down a field full of long grass, and it keeps flashing back on Georges face in the train giving you a sense of distress instead of the calming effect of the novel. It then flashes to a pretty woman in a red dress that has a rip going down the bottom of it, the air flows through her dress and hair as she is running down a field. This scene really is exciting and full of tension to the viewer, which contrasts totally to the calm and peaceful opening of the book. Next you she a bunch of workers in a field, and they hear the girl’s screams. The workers on horse follow carrying shotguns. This contrasts to the life of today against nearly a century ago, as nowadays Lenny would have been arrested and put to a fair trial but back then they would have just killed Lenny on the spot. This scene puts people on the edges of their seats giving a sense of suspense; this is how a good director is able to keep the audiences attention to the film. The scene of the willow pool is quite like the scene in the book it gives a more relaxed effect from the previous suspense scenes, as they hide neck deep under the overflowing bush weed, and luckily the workers lose them. When we see George and Lenny getting there work cards it proves the fact that this is in the 1930’s as there were a lot of job shortages and you had to go to a job office and see if any jobs were available, most people would take any job there was, because of the depression. This then gives us a slight historical background of the time they are in. George in the book is firstly described as â€Å"small and quick, dark of face with restless eyes and sharp, strong features†. George being described as having restless eyes gives an impression that he is quite alert and a quick thinker of what to do in troubled times. Lenny on the other hand is described quite differently: â€Å"Huge man, shapeless face with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders; and he walked heavily, dragging his feet a little, the way a bear drags his paws†. â€Å"†¦the way a bear drags his paws† Lenny is being described as an animal which shows that he is a slow and clumsy both physical and mentally. The characters in the film are unlike the ones in the book as they are not physically opposite. Lenny is only slightly taller than George, but the behaviours of these two characters do mirror that it is similar to the book as Lenny acts like a child and George is the smart, dominant one. This is often shown in the close ups of their faces and in their speech and movement. The clothes they wear are described in the book as workers clothes so rugged and tattered, so the movie is also based on this part as the clothes in the movie are like this. In my opinion I think casting John Malkovich was perfect to be Lenny as he was able to portray the child like brain of Lenny. He seemed to fit the right description of Lenny. The voice used by John Malkovich was very effective in giving the viewer a childlike impression of Lenny. Gary Sinise although he was director he himself played George and he obviously knew how he wanted George to be played and he did with an amazing attitude, he gave out the attitude and cunningness of George as is written in the book. In conclusion, the beginning of the book and the beginning of the film are based on the same storyline. The way the scenes are described and presented are really quite different. Gary Sinise is able to create a sense of action and suspense followed by the calm of the willow pool, whilst Steinbeck creates a very rich and calm descriptive opening scene, which contrasts with the violence of what is actually happening. ‘Of mice and men’ – A comparison of the opening scenes of the film and the beginning of the book. (2017, Oct 26). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Writing Truly Is Re-Writing Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Writing Truly Is Re-Writing - Personal Statement Example The exercises are particularly interesting because they cater to arousing critical thinking. I have to be more aware of everything that may indicate something in the comprehension of the text. It requires more than just shallow reading or scanning through the words. It is very much like being a detective and looking through the words to find out clues to solve a mystery. Critical thinking was among my favorite task to do because it is particularly interesting as it stimulates the brain. I have learned to be analytical in figuring out what the paper is all about and in trying to make sense of all that I read. The hardest part is trying to put thought into the paper. This, I learned, is an arduous task that requires time and effort. Writing truly is re-writing. The way that I see it, even the best of writers have editors. Being accepting of criticism and taking what you have learned from it to apply it in the future is the true measure of humility. Because it is next to impossible to say that your own piece of writing is perfect. If anything, to say so is either downright arrogant or foolish. Others are born with the talent to write and they only need very little editing as it comes naturally. But I have learned that it is also something that can be acquired. The secret to this is organization. One must first organize his thought as they may not make sense at first glimpse.  

Discriminating Can Save Lives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discriminating Can Save Lives - Essay Example s of suspicion and criminal activities that are more likely to happen while on the other hand, critics of racial profiling rejects the idea of racial profiling as an activity of violating human rights and greatly humiliates the race which has many drawbacks. This argumentative paper narrates the perspectives of both schools of thoughts in terms of racial profiling. United States of America is most notably being counted amongst the states that greatly contribute to the promotion racial profiling for the defense of state and security purposes. The mentioned action of United States is due to the fact that it suffered the heavy lost as a result of terrorist planes hijacks that de-structured world trade centre on 11 September 2001 (Muffler). At one hand, a great deal of Americans believes that racial profiling is necessary and productive because it reduces the chances of terrorist acts and suspicions. This account can be defended with the example from the history of hijacking in United States. It was observed that in 1972, about 28 US aircrafts were hijacked when there were no helpful techniques for screening were applied. After the implementation of racial profiling, hijacking was reduced to a greater extent. Thus defenders of racial profiling conclude that it is better to implement racial profiling in order to reduce the terrorist attack possibilities (Muffler). The criticism that comes against racial profiling is acceptable as constitution itself does not permit the law enforcement to separate some persons from rest of the crowd on the basis of race, religion or any other characteristic. The constitution does not even permits racial profiling on the basis of suspicion of criminals act. One more prosecutor account in terms of negativity of racial profiling is that the profiling of Arab is most strict and focused by the law and enforcement of Unites States because the terrorist who attacked world trade centre were Arab Muslims. As a result, it is more likely to

Strategy and Organizational Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Strategy and Organizational Development - Essay Example According to Ralph Lewis, organizational development is a new concept which is becoming popular with businesses. Ralph defines an organization as a conglomeration of more than 1 person with the same goals and objectives. There is usually a point where the members of an organization lose sight of what really brought them and appear disorganized. This is the part where organizational development comes in to bring an element of the organization. This can be achieved first by formulating a working strategy and implementing it to the members of that given organization.Based on Ralph, he classifies organizations basically into four quadrants. Each of the quadrants represents a given function performed by the organization. In his strategy to bring organizational development, will entail bringing this four quadrants of the organization to work in unison. The strategy was chosen basically has to engage in showing the organizational values, form an integrated link, task manage all people plus ensure resources are allocated to all quadrants. In ensuring the above, will be like re-energizing the four quadrants to work together in harmony. Ralph argues that the moment when the four quadrants of the organization are working with the same goal and everyone is contributing towards its achievement, that is how organizational development will be felt. Â  

Issues of War Monuments in Estonia

Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Empty Spaces and the Value of Symbols: Estonias War of Monuments from Another Angle * This article is the first published output from British Academy small research grant ref. SG-39197, entitled Public Monuments, Commemoration and the Renegotiation of Collective Identities: Estonia, Sweden and the â€Å"Baltic World† Since the summer of 2004, the new EU member state of Estonia has been in the throes of what is described as a War of Monuments. The events in question began in the town of Lihula in western Estonia, where a veterans group erected a stone tablet commemorating those Estonians who in World War Two donned German uniform and fought on the eastern front against the USSR. Bearing the inscription To Estonian men who fought in 1940 1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence, the Lihula stone became the latest of several monuments commemorating a group that most Estonians today regard as freedom fighters. In this case, however, the soldier depicted bore SS insignia. Hardly surprisingly, this fact elicited widespread international condemnation, notably from Russia, the EU and Jewish organisations. The groups behind the monument insisted that the men in question had had no truck with Nazism, and had only enlisted as a last resort in order to obtain access to arms w ith which to repel the Soviet invader. The display of the SS insignia nevertheless disregarded the taboo that surrounds the display of Nazi symbols in todays Europe. Also, while the vast majority of Estonian SS legionnaires did indeed sign up only in 1944 as the Soviet army advanced into their homeland, at least some had previously belonged to auxiliary police battalions which have been implicated in Nazi atrocities.1 Concerned to limit potential damage to Estonias international reputation, the government of the day ordered the removal of the monument. The police operation to carry out this order on 2 September 2004 nevertheless provoked clashes with local residents, while the political fallout from the episode contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Juhan Parts several months later. Critics of the government action argued that if the Lihula monument was to be construed as a glorification of totalitarianism, then the same logic should be applied to Soviet monuments that had been left standing following the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Singled out in this regard was the Bronze Soldier on T[otilde]nismgi in central Tallinn—a post-war monument erected on the unmarked grave of Soviet troops who fell during the taking of the city in 1944. For the vast majority of Estonians, the arrival of the Soviet Army signalled the replacement of one brutal occupying regime by another, whic h quickly resumed the arrests, executions and large-scale deportations previously witnessed during the first year of Soviet rule in 1940 41. This remains the dominant perception amongst Estonians today. The leaders of post-Soviet Russia, by contrast, have adhered steadfastly to the Soviet-era view of these events as marking the liberation of Estonia from fascism. The defeat of the Nazis during 1941 45 remains central to Russias self-understanding in the post-Soviet era; its  current leaders emphatically deny that the events of 1940 and 1944 in the Baltic states constituted a Soviet occupation, and refuse to acknowledge the suffering which the inhabitants of these countries experienced at the hands of the Soviet regime. Commentators in Russia have emphasised that they will brook no alternative interpretations of the Soviet Unions role in the events of 1939 45, and have therefore characterised calls for the removal of the T[otilde]nismgi monument as a manifestation of support for fascism. For many of the ethnic Russians who today make up nearly half of Tallinns population, the Bronze Soldier has also remained a locus of identification, providing the site for continued unofficial commemorations on 9 May, which was celebrated as Victory Day during the Soviet period. Red paint was thrown over the monument just prior to 9 May 2005, when several other Soviet war memorials were also attacked across the country, and a German military cemetery desecrated in Narva. The following year, this date again elicited tensions: local Russian youth mounted round-the-clock surveillance at the Bronze Soldier, while an Estonian nationalist counter-demonstration led to scuffles on 9 May (Alas 2006a). The monument was subsequently cordoned off by police pending a decision on its future. This formed the object of vigorous political debate ahead of the March 2007 parliamentary elections. Matters relating to the establishment and upkeep of public monuments in post-Soviet Estonia have for the mo st part fallen to local municipalities. In late 2006, however, new legislation was adopted giving central government the power to override local decision making in this regard. This provision was motivated expressly by a desire to remove the monument and the soldiers remains from the centre of Tallinn to the more peripheral setting of the military cemetery on the citys outskirts (Alas 2006a, 2006b, 2006c; Ranname 2006). The subsequent removal of the monument in late April 2007 provided the occasion for large-scale rioting in central Tallinn. On 9 May 2007 hundreds of people visited the monument at its new location in order to lay flowers. Issues of past or memory politics2 have assumed a growing prominence in recent scholarly work on Estonia and the other Baltic states, with a number of authors also highlighting the apparently divergent views of the past held by Estonians and Estonian Russians, and the obstacles that this poses in terms of societal integration (Hackmann 2003; Budryte 2005; Onken 2003, 2007a, 2007b). Publicly sited monuments are evidently central to any discussion of such issues: as recent events in Estonia have shown, they frequently act as catalysts eliciting both official and unsanctioned expressions of collective identity (Burch 2002a, 2004).3 Thus far, however, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to monuments within the relevant academic literature on Estonia. This article is intended as a contribution in this regard, but it approaches the issue from a slightly different angle. The War of Monuments has focused political and media attention upon two different cases, one involving a settlement that is predominantly ethnica lly Estonian by population (Lihula) and the other a capital city (Tallinn) that is almost equally divided between Estonians and Russians. This article shifts the focus to the overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city of Narva, which today sits on Estonias border with the Russian Federation. In particular, our study examines the local politics surrounding the Swedish Lion monument (see Figure 1), which was erected in the city in November 2000 on the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Narva between Sweden and Russia. The Lion monument relates to a past that is far less immediate than the events of 1940 45, but which, as we demonstrate, is still highly salient to contemporary identity politics within Estonia. How, for instance, was the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia framed and debated in a town where ethnic Russians and other Russian-speakers constitute 96% of the population? Equally significantly, todays Lion is depicted as the successor to a similar monument erected in 1936 during the period of Estonias inter-war independence. The reappearance of this symbol could therefore potentially be understood as part of a state-sponsored effort to banish the Soviet past and reconnect with a past Golden Age. Once again, one wonders how this was interpreted by a local population that was established in Narva as a direct consequence of the Soviet takeover and which, by dint of the legal continuity principle, mostly did not obtain the automatic right to Estonian citizenship after 199 1.4 Who then decided to erect the Lion monument, and why? What form did the commemoration of November 2000 take, and what are the main lines of public debate that have surrounded it? The current article will address these questions, and will also seek to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics and post-communist transition, particularly the current debate surrounding the possibilities for the development of a tamed liberal/multicultural nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.5 Past politics and post-communism The dramatic events that have occurred in Europe over the past two decades have entailed a profound redefinition of collective identities at a variety of scales—national, supranational, regional and local. The end of the Cold War, the demise of the USSR, and the consequent processes of EU and NATO enlargement, all occurring within the overall context of economic globalisation and growing movement of population, have led communities and groups across the continent to revisit existing understandings of who We are and where We are going. Since historical memory is an essential component in the construction of collective identity, this process has necessarily involved renegotiation of the Past as well as debates concerning the Present and Future. Like all forms of identity politics, such memory work is contested, being embedded in complex †¦ power relations that determine what is remembered (or forgotten) by whom, and for what end (Gillis 1994, p. 3). In a similar vein, Graha m et al. (2000, pp. 17 18) remind us that heritage is time-specific and thus its meaning(s) can be altered as texts are re-read in changing times, circumstances and constructs of place and scale. Consequently, it is inevitable that such knowledges are also fields of contestation.6 Publicly sited monuments offer a particularly useful way into researching this phenomenon, since they provide us with a tangible manifestation of some memory work process. The memorial function of such objects can take the form of carefully choreographed gatherings at times of heightened political awareness, or precise moments of commemorative anniversaries. Wreaths might be laid; silence observed; political rallies enacted; pageants performed. Other actions might be characterised more by spontaneity: collective grief at a sudden, tragic event, or an iconoclastic attack on a memorial construed in negative terms. Individuals and groups will attach different, often mutually exclusive meanings to particular monuments. Moreover, such meanings are shifting and contingent: what constitutes an eloquent memorial at one particular moment in time (for instance during an annual commemoration) might become a mute, invisible monument for the rest of the year. In this regard, being ignored is as s ignificant as being noticed.7 Political changes in the present can radically alter the import of a memorial, without any physical change on its part. This reiterates that the context of the monument is intrinsic to meaning. Context, however, can also be physically rendered, as with the shifting of a memorial/monument from some focal point to somewhere more peripheral and less visible. Issues of collective identity have proved especially challenging in those states that have been created or recreated following the collapse of the USSR. These are for the most part configured as classic unitary nation states, and yet in nearly all cases, processes of state and nation building have been effectuated on the basis of societies that are deeply polyethnic or multinational in character (Brubaker 1996; Smith et al. 1998; Smith 1999). Moreover, nearly all of the states in question have painful pasts with which they need to come to terms (Budryte 2005, p. 1). In relation to this region, Paul Gready (2003, p. 6) reminds us that stripped of the fossilising force of Cold War politics, nationalism has become central to political transitions, both as a means and an end. Narratives of history that focus exclusively on the titular nationality and its subjugation and suffering at the hands of former colonial regimes invariably elicit opposition from minority groups, which can easily f rame their own exclusivist narratives of history along the same lines. Indeed, as the Estonian case exemplifies very well, conflicting narratives of the past can be seen as an integral part of the triadic nexus of nationalist politics—the relationship between nationalising states, national minorities and external national homelands—discerned by Rogers Brubaker in his 1996 work Nationalism Reframed (Pettai 2006). In using the past for present purposes, political and intellectual elites in the Baltic and other Central and Eastern European states have also had to take account of the requirements of integration with the European Union, which in the Estonian and Latvian cases especially, has entailed significant changes to the direction of nation-building (Smith 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Budryte 2005; Kelley 2004; Galbreath 2005). EU-supported state integration strategies launched at the start of the twenty-first century have set the goal of creating integrated multicultural democracies which will enable representatives of the large non-titular, non-citizen population to preserve certain aspects of their distinct culture and heritage as they undergo integration into the polity and the dominant societal culture (Lauristin Heidmets 2002). According to a number of authors writing on the politics of the past and of memory, these efforts to promote an integrated multicultural society necessar ily require all the parties involved to engage with a process of democratising history. Democratisation in this context would imply that history is no longer used extensively for political purposes, alternative readings are allowed to challenge dominant master narratives, a plurality of guardians of memory is tolerated, and that rather than merely stressing the suffering endured by ones own nation, historical narratives recognise that other groups suffered equally, and that the nation in question served as both a bystander and a perpetrator as regards the suffering of others (see Onken 2003, 2007a; Budryte 2005). A significant step in this direction came during 1998, when all three Baltic states established historical commissions.8 Composed of academic experts from home and abroad (in the Estonian case exclusively the latter), these bodies have been called upon to produce an independent assessment of events during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of 1940 91, and have already begun to publish their findings (Onken 2007b). However, developments such as the Estonian War on Monuments and the Baltic Russian dispute over the commemoration held in Moscow to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War Two (Onken 2007a) underline the extent to which the past is still underpinning conflictual political dynamics in the present. In this regard, Russias increasing reliance on the Soviet past for nation-building purposes and its indiscriminate blanket accusations of fascist tendencies in the Baltic states prompt Baltic politicians to insist that Soviet communism should join Nazism as one of the great evils against which contemporary European values should be defined. As is the case with other aspects of post-communist transition, however, a focus on the state level tells us only so much about the renegotiation of identity in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. In this highly complex multi-ethnic environment, the sub-state regional level cannot be disregarded (Batt 2002). A focus on the sub-state level appears especially apposite as far as the study of Estonias public monuments is concerned, for, until now at least, decisions in this area have rested with local rather than with national government. Furthermore, one can point to different political logics that obtain at national and local level. As a result of the citizenship law adopted in the aftermath of independence, ethnic Estonians have constituted a comfortable majority of the national electorate during 1992 2007. The local election law of 1993, however, stipulates that while citizens alone can run for office, all permanent residents have the right to vote, regardless of citizenship status. This has meant that the ethnic composition of the electorate has in some cases been wholly different at municipal level. In this regard, the outright repudiation of the Soviet past displayed by local elites in Lihula stands in marked contrast to trends observable in the capital Tallinn, where Russian-speakers make up almost half the population, and Russian and pro-Russian parties, such as the Centre Party (Keskerakond), have been able to obtain a significant foothold in local politics. This contrast became evident not least in 1995, when the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II brought calls for the removal of the Bronze Soldier. The city council, however, tried instead to imbue this monument with an alternative meaning: a Soviet-era plaque referring to the liberation of Tallinn by the Red Army in 1944 was replaced by one that reads simply to the fallen of World War Two. This step can be read as an effort to inculcate some kind of shared understanding of a highly contentious past within a deeply multi-ethnic setting. What trends, however, can one identify in the more homogeneously Russian pe riphery that is Narva? Estonias new best friend. The rediscovery of Estonias Swedish past The return of the Swedish Lion monument to Narva, as one local newspaper described it (Sommer-Kalda 2000), can be seen in many ways as the culmination of a process of Swedish re-engagement with the eastern Baltic Near Abroad that began in 1990 with the establishment of a Swedish consulate in Tallinn. With considerable financial resources now being made available to support processes of economic and political transition in Estonia, Swedish cultural attach Hans Lepp began to explore how past cultural links might be utilised in the service of what he has termed soft diplomacy.9 Historic ties with Scandinavia have assumed an important place within the discourse of the ruling ethnic Estonian political elite since the 1990s, where they have been used to support the notion of a Return to Europe—or, more broadly, a Return to the Western World following the end of Soviet occupation (Lauristin et al. 1997; Smith 2001, 2003a, 2003b). Within this framework, the period 1561 1710, when Sweden progressively extended its dominion over much of the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia, is remembered as the Happy Swedish time, which is said to have brought about a considerable improvement in the lot of the Estonian peasantry, before serfdom was returned to its former rigour following entry to the Russian empire. Hans Lepp and his diplomatic colleagues were alive to the possibility of trading on this feeling of goodwill in order to make Sweden Estonias best friend in the Baltic region, with all that this implied in terms of political and economic influence.10 It quickly became apparent, however, that Swedish assistance was most needed in Narva and its surrounding region of Ida-Virumaa. Quite apart from the socio-economic and environmental challenges posed by this largely Russian-populated border region, rising nationalism in neighbouring Russia raised the prospect that the local inhabitants might look eastwards towards Moscow rather than westwards towards Tallinn, with drastic implications for regional stability and security.11 In this specific context history had particular potential as a resource, given the important place of the Battle of Narva of 1700 within the Swedish historical imagination. Although the opening salvo in a disastrous war that saw the Baltic provinces ceded to Russia,12 the first Battle of Narva was nevertheless a remarkable victory by the troops of King Charles XII (often referred to as the Lion of the North) against the numerically superior forces of Peter the Great. In this respect, Eldar Efendiev, who as Mayor of Narva planned the November 2000 commemoration of the battle, claimed in an interview with the authors that Swedes know three dates—the birthday of Gustav Vasa; the birthday of the present King; and the date of the Battle of Narva.13 The significance of the latter event had been seen already in the inter-war period with the installation of a Lion monument on the battlefield site in 1936.14 Already prior to his appointment as cultural attach in 1990, Hans Lepp—then Curator of the art collections at the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm—suggested to Efendiev (at that time Head of the Narva Museum) that the restoration of the Lion monument might help to foster closer ties between Narva and Sweden in the present. Lepp subsequently pursued the idea of restoring the Lion with Narva city council in his roles as Swedish cultural attach to Estonia and member of the Swedish Institute. Not surprisingly, however, planning the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia was a potentially fraught endeavour in a town where Russian-speakers now made up 96% of the population. Narva: Eastern, Western or in-between? The more essentialising geopolitical discourses of the post-Cold War era would see Narva as sitting on the westward side of the border that divides Western Christianity from Eastern Orthodoxy. Those who discern a Huntingdonian civilisational fault line between Estonia and Russia could point by way of evidence to the presence of two great fortresses—one German, one Russian—on the respective banks of the Narova River that separates Narva from its neighbouring settlement of Ivangorod and which today marks the state border with the Russian Federation. Not unnaturally, however, the citys past is rather more complex. As noted on the current website of the city government, Narva has not merely served as a defensive outpost and site of struggle between competing regional powers, but has also constituted a locus for trade and interaction between West and East, not least during the period when the city belonged to the Hanseatic League.15 From its foundation in the twelfth century to 1558, Narva did indeed constitute the easternmost point of the province of Estland, which was ruled first by the Danes and later by the German Livonian Order. Neighbouring Ivangorod takes its name from Tsar Ivan III, who ordered the construction of a fortress on the western border of his realm following Muscovys annexation of Novgorod in the late fifteenth century. Muscovy subsequently conquered Narva during the mid-sixteenth century Livonian wars, controlling the city from 1558 to 1581. The city then came under Swedish rule for 120 years following the Livonian Wars, a period which is described on the webpage of todays city government as Narvas Golden Age.16 For nearly three and a half centuries, Narva and Ivangorod functioned in effect as a single composite settlement, first under Swedish rule and then later during the tsarist period, when Narva came under the joint jurisdiction of the Estland and Saint Petersburg Gubernii of the Russian Empire. The conjoined status of the two towns persisted after 1917, when the inhabitants of the Narva district voted in a July referendum to join the province of Estland created following the February Revolution.17 After a brief spell of Bolshevik control during late 1918 to early 1919, when Narva functioned as the seat of the abortive Estonian Workers Commune, both towns were incorporated into the Estonian Republic under the terms of the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. It was only after the Soviet occupation in 1945 that the border was redrawn so as to place Ivangorod in the territory of the Russian Republic of the USSR. Although this division was little more than an administrative formality within a Soviet cont ext, the frontier revision set the scene for the establishment of a fully functioning state border between the two towns after 1992. The Narva that emerged from the Soviet period is almost completely unrecognisable from the one that existed prior to World War Two. Previously characterised as the baroque jewel of Northern Europe, the city was quite literally reduced to rubble in 1944 during fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces in eastern Estonia. While at least some historic buildings—notably the castle and the town hall—were restored, the ruins were for the most part demolished and the city entirely remodelled on the Soviet plan. As was the case with Knigsberg (Kaliningrad), Narva was inhabited by both different inhabitants and a different ideology after 1945 (Sezneva 2002, p. 48). The previous residents, having been evacuated by the occupying Nazi regime, were not allowed to return by its Soviet successor, and were replaced by workers from neighbouring Russia, who oversaw a process of Soviet-style industrialisation in the region. Today, Estonians make up less than 5% of the towns inhabit ants. As part of Narvas transformation into a Soviet place, new monuments were erected to commemorate the fallen of the Great Patriotic War and of the brief period of rule by the Estonian Workers Commune.18 All remaining traces of the pre-war Estonian Republic were swept away following the Soviet re-conquest of 1944. The 1936 Swedish Lion monument, which had been erected at the approaches to the city during a visit by the Swedish Crown Prince, was destroyed by artillery fire and the bronze lion removed by German forces during their retreat. This monument did not reappear under Soviet rule. The authorities did, however, restore and maintain objects linked to the citys Russian past, such as the two tsarist-era monuments to Russian soldiers killed in the battles of 1700 and 1704. As the movement for Estonian independence gathered momentum between 1988 and 1991, Narva gained a reputation as a bastion of support for the maintenance of Soviet power. The city government that came to office in December 1989 set itself resolutely against political change, demanding autonomy for north-east Estonia within the context of a renewed Soviet federation and, in August 1991, voicing support for the abortive Moscow coup which precipitated the collapse of the USSR. The Council was promptly dissolved in the aftermath of Estonian independence; yet, remarkably, its former leaders were allowed to stand in new elections, and were returned to power in October 1991, albeit on a turnout of only 30%. As ethnic tensions mounted in Estonia between 1991 and 1993, and Narvas economy went into freefall, local leaders again set themselves in opposition to central government policies that were designed to engineer a decisive political and economic break with the Soviet past. The last stand o f the Soviet-era leadership came in the summer of 1993: with fresh local elections scheduled for the autumn, the city government organised an unofficial referendum on local autonomy, in which it gained a 97% majority in favour on an officially proclaimed 55% turnout of local voters. With the national government standing firm and refusing to acknowledge the legality of the vote, and no support forthcoming from neighbouring Russia, a growing section of the local political elite appeared to accept that intransigent opposition to the new state order was blocking any prospect of achieving much needed economic renewal. These circles now called upon the existing leadership to give up power peacefully, which it did in October 1993 (Smith 2002b). At the time, the referendum of July 1993 was widely regarded as secessionist in intent. Available evidence, however, would seem to suggest that redrawing physical borders was not on the agenda: the aim was rather to tip the overall political balance within Estonia in favour of the Russian-speaking part of the population and, in this way, to bring Estonia as a whole more firmly within the ambit of Russia and the CIS. In this way, the leadership hoped both to retain power and to restore the citys previous economic ties with the East as well as developing new links with the West (Smith 2002b).19 While Soviet constituted the principal identity marker for Estonias Russian-speaking population prior to 1991, this did not preclude the development of a simultaneous strong identification with the specific territory of the Estonian SSR (widely identified in other republics as the Soviet West or the Soviet Abroad), and with the local place of residence. Between 1989 and 1991, the movement to ass ert Estonian sovereignty gained support from a significant minority (perhaps as much as one third) of local Russian-speakers, who could subscribe to a vision of Estonia as an economic bridge between East and West. Such feelings were by no means absent in Narva, where the 1989 census revealed that seven out of 10 residents had actually been born in Estonia (Kirch et al. 1993, p. 177). Even so, the collapse of the USSR inevitably created something of an identity void as far as Estonias Russian-speakers were concerned. Despite perceptions of discrimination, recent survey work has confirmed a growing identification with the Estonian state (Kolst2002; Budryte 2005; Ehin 2007) as well as significant support for EU membership. Most Russians, however, have scarcely been able to identify themselves with any notion of Estonian national community, with local place of residence and ethnicity serving as the prime markers of identity (Ehin 2007). Despite having an obvious cultural affinity with Russia and with the transnational Russian community across the territory of the former Soviet Union, a population raised in the different socio-cultural setting of the Baltic has found it hard to conceive of actually living in Russia or to identify politically with the contemporary Russian state. It is with this complex identity that the post-1993 leadership in Narva has had to reckon. The Estonian law on local elections passed in May 1993 stipulated that non-citizens could vote but not stand for office. This excluded much of the local population from seeking election, including a substantial proportion of the Soviet-era leadership. Ahead of the October 1993 poll in Narva, however, the state was able to co-opt elements of the local political elite through a process of accelerated naturalisation on the grounds of special services rendered to the state. The elections of October 1993 saw a strong turnout by local voters, and brought to power a coalition of locally based parties and interest groups. The city governments elected during the period 1993 2005—a period when the national-level Centre Party attained the dominant position within local politics—were far more ready than their predecessors to embrace the new political economy of post-socialism, and thus better placed to cooperate both with central government and with Western partners within the wid er Baltic Sea area. In this regard, the commemoration of the Battle of Narva and the installation of the Swedish Lion can be understood as an attempt to create a narrative of the citys past capable of underpinning growing ties with Sweden in the present. These ties assumed a particular significance after 1995, when Swedish textile firm Boras Wfveri purchased a 75% stake in Narvas historic Kreenholm Mill, then the citys second-largest employer. According to Raivo Murd, the ethnic Estonian who served as Mayor of Narva from 1993 to 1996, the investment was proof that Narva was finally beginning to shed the Red image that had prevailed under the former political dispensation.20 In a clear sign of its determination to break with the Soviet past, the city government appointed in October 1993 removed Estonias last remaining statue of Lenin, which had remained standing in the central Peters Square in Narva during the first two years of Estonian independence. The subsequent period has seen the installation of new monuments commemorating—inter alia—the victims of Stalinist deportations during the 1940s and key moments in the transition to Estonian independence during 1917 20. The Old Narva Society founded by surviving pre-1944 residents of Narva also put up a number of commemorative plaques marking the sites of churches and other key buildings from the pre-war city. Yet the post-1993 political e Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Empty Spaces and the Value of Symbols: Estonias War of Monuments from Another Angle * This article is the first published output from British Academy small research grant ref. SG-39197, entitled Public Monuments, Commemoration and the Renegotiation of Collective Identities: Estonia, Sweden and the â€Å"Baltic World† Since the summer of 2004, the new EU member state of Estonia has been in the throes of what is described as a War of Monuments. The events in question began in the town of Lihula in western Estonia, where a veterans group erected a stone tablet commemorating those Estonians who in World War Two donned German uniform and fought on the eastern front against the USSR. Bearing the inscription To Estonian men who fought in 1940 1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence, the Lihula stone became the latest of several monuments commemorating a group that most Estonians today regard as freedom fighters. In this case, however, the soldier depicted bore SS insignia. Hardly surprisingly, this fact elicited widespread international condemnation, notably from Russia, the EU and Jewish organisations. The groups behind the monument insisted that the men in question had had no truck with Nazism, and had only enlisted as a last resort in order to obtain access to arms w ith which to repel the Soviet invader. The display of the SS insignia nevertheless disregarded the taboo that surrounds the display of Nazi symbols in todays Europe. Also, while the vast majority of Estonian SS legionnaires did indeed sign up only in 1944 as the Soviet army advanced into their homeland, at least some had previously belonged to auxiliary police battalions which have been implicated in Nazi atrocities.1 Concerned to limit potential damage to Estonias international reputation, the government of the day ordered the removal of the monument. The police operation to carry out this order on 2 September 2004 nevertheless provoked clashes with local residents, while the political fallout from the episode contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Juhan Parts several months later. Critics of the government action argued that if the Lihula monument was to be construed as a glorification of totalitarianism, then the same logic should be applied to Soviet monuments that had been left standing following the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Singled out in this regard was the Bronze Soldier on T[otilde]nismgi in central Tallinn—a post-war monument erected on the unmarked grave of Soviet troops who fell during the taking of the city in 1944. For the vast majority of Estonians, the arrival of the Soviet Army signalled the replacement of one brutal occupying regime by another, whic h quickly resumed the arrests, executions and large-scale deportations previously witnessed during the first year of Soviet rule in 1940 41. This remains the dominant perception amongst Estonians today. The leaders of post-Soviet Russia, by contrast, have adhered steadfastly to the Soviet-era view of these events as marking the liberation of Estonia from fascism. The defeat of the Nazis during 1941 45 remains central to Russias self-understanding in the post-Soviet era; its  current leaders emphatically deny that the events of 1940 and 1944 in the Baltic states constituted a Soviet occupation, and refuse to acknowledge the suffering which the inhabitants of these countries experienced at the hands of the Soviet regime. Commentators in Russia have emphasised that they will brook no alternative interpretations of the Soviet Unions role in the events of 1939 45, and have therefore characterised calls for the removal of the T[otilde]nismgi monument as a manifestation of support for fascism. For many of the ethnic Russians who today make up nearly half of Tallinns population, the Bronze Soldier has also remained a locus of identification, providing the site for continued unofficial commemorations on 9 May, which was celebrated as Victory Day during the Soviet period. Red paint was thrown over the monument just prior to 9 May 2005, when several other Soviet war memorials were also attacked across the country, and a German military cemetery desecrated in Narva. The following year, this date again elicited tensions: local Russian youth mounted round-the-clock surveillance at the Bronze Soldier, while an Estonian nationalist counter-demonstration led to scuffles on 9 May (Alas 2006a). The monument was subsequently cordoned off by police pending a decision on its future. This formed the object of vigorous political debate ahead of the March 2007 parliamentary elections. Matters relating to the establishment and upkeep of public monuments in post-Soviet Estonia have for the mo st part fallen to local municipalities. In late 2006, however, new legislation was adopted giving central government the power to override local decision making in this regard. This provision was motivated expressly by a desire to remove the monument and the soldiers remains from the centre of Tallinn to the more peripheral setting of the military cemetery on the citys outskirts (Alas 2006a, 2006b, 2006c; Ranname 2006). The subsequent removal of the monument in late April 2007 provided the occasion for large-scale rioting in central Tallinn. On 9 May 2007 hundreds of people visited the monument at its new location in order to lay flowers. Issues of past or memory politics2 have assumed a growing prominence in recent scholarly work on Estonia and the other Baltic states, with a number of authors also highlighting the apparently divergent views of the past held by Estonians and Estonian Russians, and the obstacles that this poses in terms of societal integration (Hackmann 2003; Budryte 2005; Onken 2003, 2007a, 2007b). Publicly sited monuments are evidently central to any discussion of such issues: as recent events in Estonia have shown, they frequently act as catalysts eliciting both official and unsanctioned expressions of collective identity (Burch 2002a, 2004).3 Thus far, however, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to monuments within the relevant academic literature on Estonia. This article is intended as a contribution in this regard, but it approaches the issue from a slightly different angle. The War of Monuments has focused political and media attention upon two different cases, one involving a settlement that is predominantly ethnica lly Estonian by population (Lihula) and the other a capital city (Tallinn) that is almost equally divided between Estonians and Russians. This article shifts the focus to the overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city of Narva, which today sits on Estonias border with the Russian Federation. In particular, our study examines the local politics surrounding the Swedish Lion monument (see Figure 1), which was erected in the city in November 2000 on the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Narva between Sweden and Russia. The Lion monument relates to a past that is far less immediate than the events of 1940 45, but which, as we demonstrate, is still highly salient to contemporary identity politics within Estonia. How, for instance, was the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia framed and debated in a town where ethnic Russians and other Russian-speakers constitute 96% of the population? Equally significantly, todays Lion is depicted as the successor to a similar monument erected in 1936 during the period of Estonias inter-war independence. The reappearance of this symbol could therefore potentially be understood as part of a state-sponsored effort to banish the Soviet past and reconnect with a past Golden Age. Once again, one wonders how this was interpreted by a local population that was established in Narva as a direct consequence of the Soviet takeover and which, by dint of the legal continuity principle, mostly did not obtain the automatic right to Estonian citizenship after 199 1.4 Who then decided to erect the Lion monument, and why? What form did the commemoration of November 2000 take, and what are the main lines of public debate that have surrounded it? The current article will address these questions, and will also seek to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics and post-communist transition, particularly the current debate surrounding the possibilities for the development of a tamed liberal/multicultural nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.5 Past politics and post-communism The dramatic events that have occurred in Europe over the past two decades have entailed a profound redefinition of collective identities at a variety of scales—national, supranational, regional and local. The end of the Cold War, the demise of the USSR, and the consequent processes of EU and NATO enlargement, all occurring within the overall context of economic globalisation and growing movement of population, have led communities and groups across the continent to revisit existing understandings of who We are and where We are going. Since historical memory is an essential component in the construction of collective identity, this process has necessarily involved renegotiation of the Past as well as debates concerning the Present and Future. Like all forms of identity politics, such memory work is contested, being embedded in complex †¦ power relations that determine what is remembered (or forgotten) by whom, and for what end (Gillis 1994, p. 3). In a similar vein, Graha m et al. (2000, pp. 17 18) remind us that heritage is time-specific and thus its meaning(s) can be altered as texts are re-read in changing times, circumstances and constructs of place and scale. Consequently, it is inevitable that such knowledges are also fields of contestation.6 Publicly sited monuments offer a particularly useful way into researching this phenomenon, since they provide us with a tangible manifestation of some memory work process. The memorial function of such objects can take the form of carefully choreographed gatherings at times of heightened political awareness, or precise moments of commemorative anniversaries. Wreaths might be laid; silence observed; political rallies enacted; pageants performed. Other actions might be characterised more by spontaneity: collective grief at a sudden, tragic event, or an iconoclastic attack on a memorial construed in negative terms. Individuals and groups will attach different, often mutually exclusive meanings to particular monuments. Moreover, such meanings are shifting and contingent: what constitutes an eloquent memorial at one particular moment in time (for instance during an annual commemoration) might become a mute, invisible monument for the rest of the year. In this regard, being ignored is as s ignificant as being noticed.7 Political changes in the present can radically alter the import of a memorial, without any physical change on its part. This reiterates that the context of the monument is intrinsic to meaning. Context, however, can also be physically rendered, as with the shifting of a memorial/monument from some focal point to somewhere more peripheral and less visible. Issues of collective identity have proved especially challenging in those states that have been created or recreated following the collapse of the USSR. These are for the most part configured as classic unitary nation states, and yet in nearly all cases, processes of state and nation building have been effectuated on the basis of societies that are deeply polyethnic or multinational in character (Brubaker 1996; Smith et al. 1998; Smith 1999). Moreover, nearly all of the states in question have painful pasts with which they need to come to terms (Budryte 2005, p. 1). In relation to this region, Paul Gready (2003, p. 6) reminds us that stripped of the fossilising force of Cold War politics, nationalism has become central to political transitions, both as a means and an end. Narratives of history that focus exclusively on the titular nationality and its subjugation and suffering at the hands of former colonial regimes invariably elicit opposition from minority groups, which can easily f rame their own exclusivist narratives of history along the same lines. Indeed, as the Estonian case exemplifies very well, conflicting narratives of the past can be seen as an integral part of the triadic nexus of nationalist politics—the relationship between nationalising states, national minorities and external national homelands—discerned by Rogers Brubaker in his 1996 work Nationalism Reframed (Pettai 2006). In using the past for present purposes, political and intellectual elites in the Baltic and other Central and Eastern European states have also had to take account of the requirements of integration with the European Union, which in the Estonian and Latvian cases especially, has entailed significant changes to the direction of nation-building (Smith 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Budryte 2005; Kelley 2004; Galbreath 2005). EU-supported state integration strategies launched at the start of the twenty-first century have set the goal of creating integrated multicultural democracies which will enable representatives of the large non-titular, non-citizen population to preserve certain aspects of their distinct culture and heritage as they undergo integration into the polity and the dominant societal culture (Lauristin Heidmets 2002). According to a number of authors writing on the politics of the past and of memory, these efforts to promote an integrated multicultural society necessar ily require all the parties involved to engage with a process of democratising history. Democratisation in this context would imply that history is no longer used extensively for political purposes, alternative readings are allowed to challenge dominant master narratives, a plurality of guardians of memory is tolerated, and that rather than merely stressing the suffering endured by ones own nation, historical narratives recognise that other groups suffered equally, and that the nation in question served as both a bystander and a perpetrator as regards the suffering of others (see Onken 2003, 2007a; Budryte 2005). A significant step in this direction came during 1998, when all three Baltic states established historical commissions.8 Composed of academic experts from home and abroad (in the Estonian case exclusively the latter), these bodies have been called upon to produce an independent assessment of events during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of 1940 91, and have already begun to publish their findings (Onken 2007b). However, developments such as the Estonian War on Monuments and the Baltic Russian dispute over the commemoration held in Moscow to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War Two (Onken 2007a) underline the extent to which the past is still underpinning conflictual political dynamics in the present. In this regard, Russias increasing reliance on the Soviet past for nation-building purposes and its indiscriminate blanket accusations of fascist tendencies in the Baltic states prompt Baltic politicians to insist that Soviet communism should join Nazism as one of the great evils against which contemporary European values should be defined. As is the case with other aspects of post-communist transition, however, a focus on the state level tells us only so much about the renegotiation of identity in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. In this highly complex multi-ethnic environment, the sub-state regional level cannot be disregarded (Batt 2002). A focus on the sub-state level appears especially apposite as far as the study of Estonias public monuments is concerned, for, until now at least, decisions in this area have rested with local rather than with national government. Furthermore, one can point to different political logics that obtain at national and local level. As a result of the citizenship law adopted in the aftermath of independence, ethnic Estonians have constituted a comfortable majority of the national electorate during 1992 2007. The local election law of 1993, however, stipulates that while citizens alone can run for office, all permanent residents have the right to vote, regardless of citizenship status. This has meant that the ethnic composition of the electorate has in some cases been wholly different at municipal level. In this regard, the outright repudiation of the Soviet past displayed by local elites in Lihula stands in marked contrast to trends observable in the capital Tallinn, where Russian-speakers make up almost half the population, and Russian and pro-Russian parties, such as the Centre Party (Keskerakond), have been able to obtain a significant foothold in local politics. This contrast became evident not least in 1995, when the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II brought calls for the removal of the Bronze Soldier. The city council, however, tried instead to imbue this monument with an alternative meaning: a Soviet-era plaque referring to the liberation of Tallinn by the Red Army in 1944 was replaced by one that reads simply to the fallen of World War Two. This step can be read as an effort to inculcate some kind of shared understanding of a highly contentious past within a deeply multi-ethnic setting. What trends, however, can one identify in the more homogeneously Russian pe riphery that is Narva? Estonias new best friend. The rediscovery of Estonias Swedish past The return of the Swedish Lion monument to Narva, as one local newspaper described it (Sommer-Kalda 2000), can be seen in many ways as the culmination of a process of Swedish re-engagement with the eastern Baltic Near Abroad that began in 1990 with the establishment of a Swedish consulate in Tallinn. With considerable financial resources now being made available to support processes of economic and political transition in Estonia, Swedish cultural attach Hans Lepp began to explore how past cultural links might be utilised in the service of what he has termed soft diplomacy.9 Historic ties with Scandinavia have assumed an important place within the discourse of the ruling ethnic Estonian political elite since the 1990s, where they have been used to support the notion of a Return to Europe—or, more broadly, a Return to the Western World following the end of Soviet occupation (Lauristin et al. 1997; Smith 2001, 2003a, 2003b). Within this framework, the period 1561 1710, when Sweden progressively extended its dominion over much of the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia, is remembered as the Happy Swedish time, which is said to have brought about a considerable improvement in the lot of the Estonian peasantry, before serfdom was returned to its former rigour following entry to the Russian empire. Hans Lepp and his diplomatic colleagues were alive to the possibility of trading on this feeling of goodwill in order to make Sweden Estonias best friend in the Baltic region, with all that this implied in terms of political and economic influence.10 It quickly became apparent, however, that Swedish assistance was most needed in Narva and its surrounding region of Ida-Virumaa. Quite apart from the socio-economic and environmental challenges posed by this largely Russian-populated border region, rising nationalism in neighbouring Russia raised the prospect that the local inhabitants might look eastwards towards Moscow rather than westwards towards Tallinn, with drastic implications for regional stability and security.11 In this specific context history had particular potential as a resource, given the important place of the Battle of Narva of 1700 within the Swedish historical imagination. Although the opening salvo in a disastrous war that saw the Baltic provinces ceded to Russia,12 the first Battle of Narva was nevertheless a remarkable victory by the troops of King Charles XII (often referred to as the Lion of the North) against the numerically superior forces of Peter the Great. In this respect, Eldar Efendiev, who as Mayor of Narva planned the November 2000 commemoration of the battle, claimed in an interview with the authors that Swedes know three dates—the birthday of Gustav Vasa; the birthday of the present King; and the date of the Battle of Narva.13 The significance of the latter event had been seen already in the inter-war period with the installation of a Lion monument on the battlefield site in 1936.14 Already prior to his appointment as cultural attach in 1990, Hans Lepp—then Curator of the art collections at the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm—suggested to Efendiev (at that time Head of the Narva Museum) that the restoration of the Lion monument might help to foster closer ties between Narva and Sweden in the present. Lepp subsequently pursued the idea of restoring the Lion with Narva city council in his roles as Swedish cultural attach to Estonia and member of the Swedish Institute. Not surprisingly, however, planning the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia was a potentially fraught endeavour in a town where Russian-speakers now made up 96% of the population. Narva: Eastern, Western or in-between? The more essentialising geopolitical discourses of the post-Cold War era would see Narva as sitting on the westward side of the border that divides Western Christianity from Eastern Orthodoxy. Those who discern a Huntingdonian civilisational fault line between Estonia and Russia could point by way of evidence to the presence of two great fortresses—one German, one Russian—on the respective banks of the Narova River that separates Narva from its neighbouring settlement of Ivangorod and which today marks the state border with the Russian Federation. Not unnaturally, however, the citys past is rather more complex. As noted on the current website of the city government, Narva has not merely served as a defensive outpost and site of struggle between competing regional powers, but has also constituted a locus for trade and interaction between West and East, not least during the period when the city belonged to the Hanseatic League.15 From its foundation in the twelfth century to 1558, Narva did indeed constitute the easternmost point of the province of Estland, which was ruled first by the Danes and later by the German Livonian Order. Neighbouring Ivangorod takes its name from Tsar Ivan III, who ordered the construction of a fortress on the western border of his realm following Muscovys annexation of Novgorod in the late fifteenth century. Muscovy subsequently conquered Narva during the mid-sixteenth century Livonian wars, controlling the city from 1558 to 1581. The city then came under Swedish rule for 120 years following the Livonian Wars, a period which is described on the webpage of todays city government as Narvas Golden Age.16 For nearly three and a half centuries, Narva and Ivangorod functioned in effect as a single composite settlement, first under Swedish rule and then later during the tsarist period, when Narva came under the joint jurisdiction of the Estland and Saint Petersburg Gubernii of the Russian Empire. The conjoined status of the two towns persisted after 1917, when the inhabitants of the Narva district voted in a July referendum to join the province of Estland created following the February Revolution.17 After a brief spell of Bolshevik control during late 1918 to early 1919, when Narva functioned as the seat of the abortive Estonian Workers Commune, both towns were incorporated into the Estonian Republic under the terms of the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. It was only after the Soviet occupation in 1945 that the border was redrawn so as to place Ivangorod in the territory of the Russian Republic of the USSR. Although this division was little more than an administrative formality within a Soviet cont ext, the frontier revision set the scene for the establishment of a fully functioning state border between the two towns after 1992. The Narva that emerged from the Soviet period is almost completely unrecognisable from the one that existed prior to World War Two. Previously characterised as the baroque jewel of Northern Europe, the city was quite literally reduced to rubble in 1944 during fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces in eastern Estonia. While at least some historic buildings—notably the castle and the town hall—were restored, the ruins were for the most part demolished and the city entirely remodelled on the Soviet plan. As was the case with Knigsberg (Kaliningrad), Narva was inhabited by both different inhabitants and a different ideology after 1945 (Sezneva 2002, p. 48). The previous residents, having been evacuated by the occupying Nazi regime, were not allowed to return by its Soviet successor, and were replaced by workers from neighbouring Russia, who oversaw a process of Soviet-style industrialisation in the region. Today, Estonians make up less than 5% of the towns inhabit ants. As part of Narvas transformation into a Soviet place, new monuments were erected to commemorate the fallen of the Great Patriotic War and of the brief period of rule by the Estonian Workers Commune.18 All remaining traces of the pre-war Estonian Republic were swept away following the Soviet re-conquest of 1944. The 1936 Swedish Lion monument, which had been erected at the approaches to the city during a visit by the Swedish Crown Prince, was destroyed by artillery fire and the bronze lion removed by German forces during their retreat. This monument did not reappear under Soviet rule. The authorities did, however, restore and maintain objects linked to the citys Russian past, such as the two tsarist-era monuments to Russian soldiers killed in the battles of 1700 and 1704. As the movement for Estonian independence gathered momentum between 1988 and 1991, Narva gained a reputation as a bastion of support for the maintenance of Soviet power. The city government that came to office in December 1989 set itself resolutely against political change, demanding autonomy for north-east Estonia within the context of a renewed Soviet federation and, in August 1991, voicing support for the abortive Moscow coup which precipitated the collapse of the USSR. The Council was promptly dissolved in the aftermath of Estonian independence; yet, remarkably, its former leaders were allowed to stand in new elections, and were returned to power in October 1991, albeit on a turnout of only 30%. As ethnic tensions mounted in Estonia between 1991 and 1993, and Narvas economy went into freefall, local leaders again set themselves in opposition to central government policies that were designed to engineer a decisive political and economic break with the Soviet past. The last stand o f the Soviet-era leadership came in the summer of 1993: with fresh local elections scheduled for the autumn, the city government organised an unofficial referendum on local autonomy, in which it gained a 97% majority in favour on an officially proclaimed 55% turnout of local voters. With the national government standing firm and refusing to acknowledge the legality of the vote, and no support forthcoming from neighbouring Russia, a growing section of the local political elite appeared to accept that intransigent opposition to the new state order was blocking any prospect of achieving much needed economic renewal. These circles now called upon the existing leadership to give up power peacefully, which it did in October 1993 (Smith 2002b). At the time, the referendum of July 1993 was widely regarded as secessionist in intent. Available evidence, however, would seem to suggest that redrawing physical borders was not on the agenda: the aim was rather to tip the overall political balance within Estonia in favour of the Russian-speaking part of the population and, in this way, to bring Estonia as a whole more firmly within the ambit of Russia and the CIS. In this way, the leadership hoped both to retain power and to restore the citys previous economic ties with the East as well as developing new links with the West (Smith 2002b).19 While Soviet constituted the principal identity marker for Estonias Russian-speaking population prior to 1991, this did not preclude the development of a simultaneous strong identification with the specific territory of the Estonian SSR (widely identified in other republics as the Soviet West or the Soviet Abroad), and with the local place of residence. Between 1989 and 1991, the movement to ass ert Estonian sovereignty gained support from a significant minority (perhaps as much as one third) of local Russian-speakers, who could subscribe to a vision of Estonia as an economic bridge between East and West. Such feelings were by no means absent in Narva, where the 1989 census revealed that seven out of 10 residents had actually been born in Estonia (Kirch et al. 1993, p. 177). Even so, the collapse of the USSR inevitably created something of an identity void as far as Estonias Russian-speakers were concerned. Despite perceptions of discrimination, recent survey work has confirmed a growing identification with the Estonian state (Kolst2002; Budryte 2005; Ehin 2007) as well as significant support for EU membership. Most Russians, however, have scarcely been able to identify themselves with any notion of Estonian national community, with local place of residence and ethnicity serving as the prime markers of identity (Ehin 2007). Despite having an obvious cultural affinity with Russia and with the transnational Russian community across the territory of the former Soviet Union, a population raised in the different socio-cultural setting of the Baltic has found it hard to conceive of actually living in Russia or to identify politically with the contemporary Russian state. It is with this complex identity that the post-1993 leadership in Narva has had to reckon. The Estonian law on local elections passed in May 1993 stipulated that non-citizens could vote but not stand for office. This excluded much of the local population from seeking election, including a substantial proportion of the Soviet-era leadership. Ahead of the October 1993 poll in Narva, however, the state was able to co-opt elements of the local political elite through a process of accelerated naturalisation on the grounds of special services rendered to the state. The elections of October 1993 saw a strong turnout by local voters, and brought to power a coalition of locally based parties and interest groups. The city governments elected during the period 1993 2005—a period when the national-level Centre Party attained the dominant position within local politics—were far more ready than their predecessors to embrace the new political economy of post-socialism, and thus better placed to cooperate both with central government and with Western partners within the wid er Baltic Sea area. In this regard, the commemoration of the Battle of Narva and the installation of the Swedish Lion can be understood as an attempt to create a narrative of the citys past capable of underpinning growing ties with Sweden in the present. These ties assumed a particular significance after 1995, when Swedish textile firm Boras Wfveri purchased a 75% stake in Narvas historic Kreenholm Mill, then the citys second-largest employer. According to Raivo Murd, the ethnic Estonian who served as Mayor of Narva from 1993 to 1996, the investment was proof that Narva was finally beginning to shed the Red image that had prevailed under the former political dispensation.20 In a clear sign of its determination to break with the Soviet past, the city government appointed in October 1993 removed Estonias last remaining statue of Lenin, which had remained standing in the central Peters Square in Narva during the first two years of Estonian independence. The subsequent period has seen the installation of new monuments commemorating—inter alia—the victims of Stalinist deportations during the 1940s and key moments in the transition to Estonian independence during 1917 20. The Old Narva Society founded by surviving pre-1944 residents of Narva also put up a number of commemorative plaques marking the sites of churches and other key buildings from the pre-war city. Yet the post-1993 political e