April 30th, 2008
I couldn’t snap Billy out of his trance.
It happened over thirty years ago. I was a teenager fascinated
by the powers of the mind. I read about spirituality, psychic
phenomena, UFO’s, past lives, present problems, the magic of
believing, and yes, even hypnosis.
And that helps explain why I had my best friend, Billy, in a
deep trance in the basement of my parent’s home in Ohio. I had
regressed him from the age of 16 back to the age of four or
five. I had no business doing it. But I was curious and Billy
was game. It was a remarkable morning until something truly
terrifying happened.
I snapped my fingers—the prearranged command to wake Billy
up—but he stayed in the chair, smiling, eyes closed, and
laughing loud and hard.
“How old are you?” I asked, wanting to check his age level.
“Seventy-two, how old are you?!” he replied, laughing like a
wild, untamed, truly obnoxious child.
You can’t imagine my fear.
“When I slap my hands together, you will awaken,” I commanded.
Billy laughed long and loud.
I slapped my hands together.
Billy laughed louder and longer.
I’m panicking now. I’m barely sixteen years old. I have my best
friend in a trance, regressed to a young age, and I can’t bring
him out of it. I could see my parent’s rage. I could see Billy’s
parent’s rage. I could see myself locked up, still a teenager,
all because I practiced hypnosis like other kids played baseball
or monopoly.
I waited. I held my breath. I snapped my fingers. I slapped my
hands. I perspired. Billy wasn’t coming out of his trance. He
was locked into another time period. And I was responsible.
Some kids borrow the neighbor’s car and wreck it. I borrowed my
best friend’s mind and put it in park.
What was I going to do?
I don’t recall how much time went by before I decided to call
for help. I remember going to the phone book and desperately
searching for a hypnotist to call for help. I found one in
Cleveland, Ohio, a hundred miles from my home. I called him, got
him on the phone, and acted as cool as I could.
“Doctor, my name is Joe, and, well, I’ve been learning about
hypnosis. I was just wondering, what would happen if you put
someone in a trance and they, well, er, ah, you know, never came
out of it?”
There was silence on the line.
Then I remember the voice bellowing at me.
“Are you practicing hypnosis there?!”
“Oh, no,” I lied. “I was just curious what would happen if, you
know, you put your best friend under, regressed him, and he
wouldn’t come out of it. Is that a bad thing?”
“Is your best friend there now?”
The hypnotist was on to me.
“Well…yes.”
“Will he come to the phone?”
“He won’t do ANYTHING I ask,” I said. My voice was cracking
now. I was scared and it showed.
“Don’t worry about it,” the hypnotist advised me. “He’ll either
naturally awaken shortly, or he’ll fall asleep and then wake up.”
“But he thinks he’s five years old,” I added.
“YOU KIDS HAVE TO STOP PLAYING AROUND!” he roared.
“But I want to be a hypnotist someday,” I explained.
“GET TRAINING FIRST!” he blurted.
“Okay, okay, I will,” I said. “But what do I do about Billy?”
“Put him on the phone.”
I went to Billy, somehow got him to get on the phone, and the
hypnotist said something which helped Billy awaken. To this day
I don’t know what he said. And since I haven’t seen Billy in
nearly twenty years, I have no idea how old Billy really thinks
he is. I understand he’s now a State Trooper in Ohio, so I
imagine he’s stable and well. Still, I’m staying in Texas.
I learned something profound that day in my parent’s basement
when my life stopped for an afternoon.
I learned that trances are powerful. They are real. And we are
all in them.
That’s right. You’re in a trance. Yes, right now. So am I. We
may not think we’re five years old, but we think we are writers,
or marketers, or salespeople, or some other “trance.” As long as
we believe the trance we are in, we will play it out perfectly.
When we wake up, we’ll just be in another trance. Even the “I’m
now awake” trance is just another trance.
Stay with me here. Whether you disagree or not, there’s a
valuable lesson here—one that can help you increase your sales
and your profits.
In short, your prospects are all in trances. If you merge with
their trance, you can then lead them out of it and into the
“buying trance” you want them to be in.
I’ll repeat that:
“Your prospects are all in trances. If you merge with their
trance, you can then lead them out of it and into the “buying
trance” you want them to be in.”
Let me explain with an example:
Say you want to sell a new software program on how to
incorporate your business. How would you do it? The average
person might send out a sales letter that says “New program
makes incorporating a snap.” That approach would get some sales,
especially from people already wanting to incorporate.
But a more hypnotic approach would be to run a headline such as
this: “Tired of paying too much in taxes? Read this surprising
way out of the maze!” This new approach would merge with the
existing trance in a business person.
In other words, they are in the “taxes suck” trance” and the
“small businesses get screwed” trance. Agree with them. Merge
with them. Accept that trance as your door. Then lead into what
you want to sell by tying it back to their trance.
Let’s break down this process into 3 steps:
1. What do your prospect’s believe right now? (Current trance.)
2. Agree with their beliefs to merge with them. (Rapport.) 3.
Lead their beliefs into your offer. (New trance.)
That’s it. That’s the real secret to “hypnotic selling.”
What? Oh. You want another example? Here goes:
Say you want to sell a pair of pants. How would you use our
“Hypnotic Selling” 3-step process to move them?
1. What do your prospect’s believe right now about pants? A
little research would help. Let’s say they believe all pants are
the same. They are in the “all pants are alike” trance. That’s
their current trance, or mind set. You would not be very wise to
argue with it. Instead, accept it and go to step two.
2. Agree with them. In person, on the phone, or in your
headlines, say something that let’s your prospects know you are
in the same trance. Use statements such as “I thought all pants
were alike, too” or “No pants are different–so why even look at
this pair?” This creates rapport. You can’t sell anyone without
creating rapport. So, step two is a way to meet people where
they are. Consciously join their unconscious trance. Then go to
the next step.
3. Now lead them into your offer. You might say something like,
“Why are people saying these pants are different? Here’s why.”
This is taking them into a new trance—a trance that says “Some
pants are different”—a buying trance. Because you acknowledged
the trance they were in, and merged with them, you are now in a
position—a very powerful position—to sell them.
There are numerous ways to find people’s trances, merge with
them, and then lead them into a “buy from you” trance. I won’t
be able to go into all of them in this short article. I’m just
giving you the tip of the iceberg here. But before I end, let’s
look at possible existing trances your prospects may be in when
you call, or send them a sales piece. They include:
“I’m worried about money” trance “I’m lonely” trance “I’m
afraid of people” trance “I’m sick and tried of my job” trance
“I’m fed up with my kids” trance “The world sucks” trance “I’m
hungry” trance “I need to lose weight” trance
And so it goes. You’ll notice that each of these trances are
self-serving. That’s the nature of people. They are interested
in their well-being first. They are pre-occupied with their own
needs, desires, pains and more.
Any inward state is a trance. Naturally, everyone is in one
trance or another when you call them or write them. Your job is
to note it, merge with it, and lead them out of it.
Here’s one final example to make this process clearer for you:
Let’s say you want to sell a music recording. We’ll make it a
classical CD.
Step 1. What trance are people already in? You can imagine they
come home from work, find your sales letter in their mail, and
are NOT in the mood for it. Your headline might say, “Just got
home from work?”
Step 2: Create rapport by acknowledging their trance. You might
write, “Since you just got home from work, are probably tired
and ready to toss this mail in the trash, wait one second before
you do it.”
Step 3: Now introduce your new trance. Maybe write: “Imagine
putting a CD on that fills your mind with soothing, relaxing,
healing music…the kind of heavenly sound that helps drift far,
far away from your day…”
To end this article, let me remind you of what Billy taught me
when I was a kid: Everyone is in a trance and everyone can be
brought out of it. The idea is not to ignore this quirk of human
nature, but to use it for the well being of all you
touch—including your own profit!
Just don’t age regress any of your prospects!
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April 30th, 2008
St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland and St Patricks Day is the 17th March. It’s celebrated not just in Ireland but around the World.
Now, if you want an excuse for a party, but don’t fancy champ and colcannon - and I don’t blame you if you don’t - then here’s a themed St Patricks Day Menu that you might like to try.
The colours of the Irish flag are green, orange and white.
For starters, try a creamy basil tomato soup, garnish with a swirl of cream and chopped basil and there you have the beginning of your theme - green, orange and white.
For main course, I would favour a poached salmon with watercress sauce, served with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and new potatoes - that puts two orange, two green and two white items on your plate.
For dessert, try a mixed fruit salad - kiwi, mango, lychees, green grapes, orange segments and sliced pears - top it with whipped cream, chopped angelica and a shake of cinnamon or ginger - lots more green, orange and white.
Finish your St Patricks Day Menu with Irish Coffees - sweetened black coffee with a shot of Irish Whiskey and cream floating on top - delicious - and you might find you want more than one.
Continue your colour theme with a white tablecloth and green and orange candles and napkins.
White tableware would be nice - I always think food looks better served on white crockery.
Play some Irish music - if you don’t like the traditional folk music, then maybe Thin Lizzy will do as Phil Lynot was proud of his Irish ancestry and there’s normally ‘Whisky in the Jar’ on most compilation CDs  Or you might even go for The Nolan Sisters or Val Doonican - only joking.
Dave Allen was an Irish comedian and there are CDs available of his shows. He was very funny, one of my favourites and it would really entertain your guests if you could find a recording.
To drink, you can have Guinness - which is very good for you, so they claim - Irish Whiskey is freely available, but of course neither of these are suitable for serving with your poached salmon.
I’ve researched heavily for Irish wines - and they do exist, but you’re unlikely to find any on general sale.
Ireland doesn’t have the climate to support large commercial vineyards - those that exist are very small - 5 acres or less and all around Cork (well, if you’re going to produce wine, you need cork).
One of the vineyards makes wines for its own restaurant and the others just supply local shops and restuarants.
The largest produces a mere 3000 bottles a year.
If you search though, you can find Irish people who have emigrated to wine producing countries and the vineyards will have Irish sounding names - the best I can do as a wine recommendation for a themed St Patricks Day Menu.
I like champagne with salmon - a nice, medium dry fizzy wine is great and it adds to the celebration to have champagne corks flying.
If you don’t like fizz - then go for a medium dry white - Nierstein, Piesporter or similar.
Liz Alderson is the webmaster of http://find-a-seafood-recipe.com which is a free fish and seafood recipe site giving advice on buying, preparing and cooking fish and seafood. She also has a herb website - http://the-herb-guide.com which has advice on growing and cooking herbs.
You are free to use this article on your site, but this Resource Box the article must remain unaltered.
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April 30th, 2008
Mirror (Zerkalo) was made in 1974 and is the perfect
illustration of Andrei Tarkovsky’s genius as a director.
Mirror provides the viewer with vivid images of unbelievable
power and beauty and is an evocation of childhood which is
without equal in cinema.
Tarkovsky said of Mirror:
“There are no entertaining moments in the film. In fact I am
categorically against entertainment in cinema it is as degrading
for the author as it is for the audience”
Don’t let this put you off, Mirror may not be an easy film to
watch, but has much for the viewer to experience and enjoy.
The plot
A with all Tarkovsky’s films it is nostalgic and deals with
innocence lost and the film focuses on the futile struggle to re
visit, or hold onto to the past.
Mirror is a gripping, beautiful and sometimes horrifying film.
Mirror focuses on the regrets of a man that is dying in his 40’s
and the film changes time constantly between his harsh childhood
in the war and the present.
In fact, the viewer is never sure whether their in the present
or the past.
Mirror has no conventional plot; it is simply a collection of
images strung together.
The film effectively lets the viewer draw his own conclusions
from what they have seen and there is no direction from
Tarkovsky at all.
In addition to the flashbacks between childhood and the present
time, there are interludes of newsreel footage which serve as
the narrator’s silent commentary on the events influencing his
life.
Tarkovsky obscures time by using the same actors to portray the
two separate phases of the narrator’s life.
For instance, Margarita Terekhova puts in a stunning performance
as both the wife and mother of the narrator.
To attempt to conform these images into some coherent plot or
universal conclusion is pointless, but this does not detract
from the film.
What makes the film so special is the imagery and visual
splendour of the film.
Imagery
Andrei Tarkovsky’s films are all characterised by metaphyical
themes and Mirror is a perfect example.
Tarkovsky stated
“words cannot express a person’s emotions”.
However, imagery can and does in Mirror.
This is the true genius of the film and Tarkovsky’s mastery of
the camera is unrivalled.
The film features extremley long takes, and images of stunning
beauty.
Recurring themes in Mirror are dreams, memories and the
innocence of childhood.
Running water is always present accompanied by fire, rain,
reflections, and characters reappearing in front of long panning
movements of the camera.
Tarkovsky developed a theory of cinema that he reffered to as
“sculpting in time”.
By this, Tarkovsky meant that the unique characteristic of
cinema as a medium was to take the experience of time and alter
it.
By the utilization of long takes and few cuts, he tried to give
the viewers a sense of time passing, time lost, and the
relationship at specific periods in time.
Connection with the audience
It is the intentsity of the imagery that makes Mirror such a
beautiful film and forms the connection between Tarkovsky and
his audience.
In many instances simple images are seen in way we have never
seen them before, with an intensity that grips the viewer and
draws them into Tarkovsky’s world.
Rain dripping from a window, a milk jug as it falls and shatters
on the floor, wind gusting through a house or field, simple
images but filmed in a unique way.
The intensity of the shots reflecting perhaps how we would view
these images if we were close to death.
The film also makes simple scenes seem dramatic, such as the
excitement of the children watching a burning house, or the joy
of the fathers visit.
The imagery while beautiful still reflects the isolation and the
emotions of the characters.
For example, the dacha of Tarkovsky’s childhood stands in deep
and brooding countryside and the camera lingers on the
characters faces constantly throughout the film probing their
emotions,and lingering on their pain and anguish.
Tarkovsky said of Mirror:
“The facts are so simple; they can be taken by everyone as
similar to the experience of their own lives”
This is the power of Mirror; we can relate to the images in the
film in our own way and also get an insight into the tortured
genius that was Andrei Tarkovsky.
“It is no more than a straightforward, simple story. It doesn’t
have to be made any more understandable”
Simple, complex, beautiful and haunting Mirror has it all and
much more.
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April 29th, 2008
Yachting has grown to become an astonishingly attractive past time and is a hobby which both old or young peer groups nowadays want to partake in. Yachting as an activity, leisure pursuit personal challenge or firm instrument is eminently agreeable for anybody who gets involved. It makes an exciting group experience whilst helping to reinforce existing links, in addition to constructing brand new links. With such an accepted and worthwhile sport it is recommended that you find a suitable and well-known enterprise to go on a power boating course with or go yachting training/ school with. These might often be hard to find, nevertheless, there is one well-recognised & established school around, which is Ondeck Sailing.
Ondeck have been operational as a reputable sailing school for over 6 years now. The new purchases in sailing boats means the firm has increased upon the existing sea school business to additionally offer a large group of boating activities aboard high performance boats. These activities comprise of: skippered charter, company sailing, race charter, mile building opportunities, cruising, adventure yachting trips, ocean passages as well as Caribbean charters.
Ondeck Sailing School concentrate on sailing courses in addition to actually have a yachting as well as power boat school. Originating in the Solent and London, Ondeck boating school offers your employees the complete RYA power boating education syllabus, ranging from absolute apprentices to Ocean racing leaders. With the Power Boating coaching, Ondeck Sailing focus on the personal approach. And with over 8 years of knowledge this company has got it down to a fine art. Ondeck still carry on to bring professional, pleasant, skilled, safe and fundamentally entertaining training. If you’re planning to learn to sail then check out Ondeck’s Yacht Sailing Courses.
The next big choice anyone will have to make is to decide which class to go for as there are heaps to decide from & even if your staff haven’t yachted previously there is a sailing class that is just right for you. Anyone can join in any lesson at any point depending on your skill & aptitude. Nonetheless, it’s critical to take into consideration that the yachting education, training times and charges can rise & fall and hence it’s valuable to read through the Ondeck Sailing School site to locate all of this information. Failing that there are phone numbers you can call and the Ondeck Sailing assistants will be thrilled to assist your company in any way you request.
If you have never sailed before and you want a training lesson that is going to take you through all you need to know sailing & it’s also going to bank you £100’s then Ondeck is the right choice. With their flexible lessons you can partake in at the stage according to your previous coaching. The sailing classes consist of modules that are learnt as individual elements, and this will allow all Ondeck Sailing School clients to learn the modules at there own haste and leisure but be charged as a package price which, benefits you. There is 2 main locations where you might do the yachting education these are the Capital in addition to Gosport.
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April 29th, 2008
The Harlem Renaissnace was such an important part of American
history and literary history, but it is woefully neglected in
‘traditional’ history courses. Naturally, I had read some works
of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance, such as
Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson, but the majority of
the participants were unknown to me. Also, I knew next to
nothing about the historical and social context from which the
Harlem Renaissance sprang.
In conducting my research, I consulted four books on the Harlem
Renaissance, many articles in The Oxford Companion to African
American Literature, and nine published articles. It would
be impossible to describe everything I learned about the Harlem
Renaissance in these essays. The aspects of the Harlem
Renaissance I will primarily focus on are the philosophical
debate between African Americans over how they should be
depicted in literature, the writers’ responses to the debate, a
brief biographical sketch of eight of the artists, a list of
their major works, and how their lives and works connect to
American Romanticism.
My first stop in my quest for the Harlem Renaissance was The
Oxford Companion to African American Literature. From the
article on the “Harlem Renaissance,” I learned there are many
ambiguities about the movement. Many critics and literary
historians dispute the time period of its beginning and ending.
The article states, however, that there is a wide consensus that
Richard Wright’s Native Son (1940) “heralded a new phase
of harsh realism in African American writing,” thus distancing
itself from the philosophy of the Harlem Renaissance writers
(Singh 340). The philosophy of the movement was also
controversial; the black intelligentsia and the artists had
opposing views on what the literary movement should be.
To explore these opposing viewpoints more fully, I then turned
to Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance by Cary D.
Wintz. Wintz offers a very detailed description of the social
and political forces that fostered the movement, the literary
roots of the Harlem Renaissance, an extensive list of the
people, both black and white, involved in the movement, and
their contributions towards it. I will not give a shortened
description of everything I learned from Wintz’ book; to do so
would be an injustice to the full scope of his work. But I will
point out a few points of his study of the Harlem Renaissance.
Wintz maintains that there was no consensus among the artists,
critics, and publishers over what the Harlem Renaissance should
be. He states there were two positions taken by the
participants: (1) those that thought art should be used for
political and propaganda purposes, and (2) those that insisted
art should be for art’s sake only and resisted attempts to limit
the freedom of artistic expression. Although all or most of the
participants in the movement came from a middle-class
background, they diverged into two groups that argued over how
the Negro should be portrayed in literature. On one side (the
‘promoters’), there was James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, and
Charles Johnson who promoted artistic freedom. James Weldon
Johnson argued that “it was far more important that a black
writer find a publisher than that his works embrace middle-class
standards of morality or that they consciously seek to uplift
the race” (Wintz 108). Alain Locke’s vision of art was purely
aesthetic; therefore, he “applauded the lusty vigorous realism
adopted by most of the young writers, and he praised their
struggle to free themselves from the dictates of their elders
who felt that art must fight social battles and compensate
social wrongs” (Wintz 113).
On the other side, that argued for the use of art for political
and/or propaganda means were such prominent men as W.E.B.
DuBois, William Stanley Braithwaite, Charles W. Chestnutt, and
Benjamin Brawley. These critics objected to the portrayal of the
Negro in what was termed ghetto realism. Braithwaite claimed
ghetto realism “praised degradation” and would “stereotype
blacks as immoral” (Wintz 132). Brawley viewed ghetto realism
and the depiction of Harlem local colour as providing “bigoted
whites with ammunition to use in their struggle against racial
equality” (Wintz 135). Brawley wanted black writers to use their
art as a means of “countering the prevailing prejudices and
depicting the race in a favorable light” (Wintz 135). W.E.B.
DuBois, editor of The Crisis, was more adamant in his
condemnation of art for art’s sake:
Thus all Art is propaganda and ever must be, despite
the wailing of the purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and
say that whatever art I have for writing has been used always
for propaganda . . . . I do not care a damn for any art that is
not used for propaganda. (Wintz 145)
Even though Alain Locke promoted freedom of expression of the
younger artists, he was well aware of the dangers of
stereotypical portrayals of African Americans in literature, as
were men such as DuBois. In his essay, “American Literary
Tradition and the Negro,” Locke identifies seven stereotypical
images of African Americans. It was these stereotypes that
DuBois and his school worked so hard to dismantle, but unlike
DuBois, Locke did not believe that African Americans should be
presented as possessing only middle class values but rather as
they existed in reality.
Both sides of this debate exhibit elements of Romanticism. The
use of art for propaganda side wanted to romanticize African
Americans by portraying only good qualities and middle class
values; in short, to show that they were just like everyone
else. The art for art’s sake focused more on depicting the
reality of Harlem’s lower class culture. In effect, this side
was rebelling against the idea that blacks must become like
whites to overcome stereotypes. They promoted the ‘blackness’ of
their culture, and sought a shared identity or racial
consciousness.
These opposing viewpoints are derived from the literary history
of African Americans. Between the time of Reconstruction and the
early period of the Harlem Renaissance, there existed three main
genres of literature, which were written by black writers and by
white writers who portrayed African Americans. These genres were
the Plantation tradition, protest literature, and novels of
“passing.” The plantation tradition was instigated by Southern
whites after the Civil War who were “seeking, through
romanticized images of Plantation life, to recover for the
nation the forms of power and racial order that the war and
Reconstruction had dismantled” (MacKethan 579). The North
embraced this type of literature:
Northern magazines such as Scribner’s, the
Century, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly invited syrupy visions
of the Old South delivered in dialect by its slave labor force
recast as family retainers and hovering mammies. Thus the
reunion of North and South, and the effective establishment of a
politics of white racial supremacy, were accomplished through a
literary design in which pastoral nostalgia masked the violence
of the slave past and stereotyped African American characters
became advocates for their own disempowerment. (MacKethan
579-80)
The second genre, protest literature, originated with Phyllis
Wheatley, around the time of the American Revolution. While
Wheatley’s style was of “genteel piety and classical verse,” she
used her poetry mainly to “assert human equality and freedom and
to express her opposition to slavery” (Bruce 601). Slave
narratives are a part of this genre of protest literature also,
such as Frederick Douglass’ autobiographies.
The third genre in the literary tradition is novels of
‘passing.’ While this genre sometimes is used for protest, other
times it is not. The characters in these novels who attempt to
‘pass’ for white are doing so for a myriad of reasons, e.g. to
escape slavery, avoid racism, or improve their economic
opportunities (Little 548). A few examples of this type of genre
are William Wells Brown’s Clotel, or The President’s
Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States
(1853), Frances Ellen Watkin Harper’s Iola Leroy, or Shadows
Uplifted (1892), Charles Waddell Chestnutt’s The House
Behind the Cedars (1900), and James Weldon Johnson’s The
Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912).
This genre shows romantic tendencies in that the novels usually
contain “the taboo of interracial sex, and the built-in dramas
of concealed identity, tangled deceptions, fear of exposure,
guilt, and the search for identity” (Little 548). The
protagonists are crossing boundaries and are on a quest to
define themselves. In these novels, the majority of characters
ultimately decide not to pass for white, and as such this genre
“has largely been used to promote racial loyalty and solidarity”
(Little 548). The young writers of the Harlem Renaissance will
utilize all three of these genres, but with the addition of
their own distinctive voices.
Like the elders of the Harlem Renaissance, the younger
generation of writers would also confront the issue of how
African Americans should be presented in literature. And also
like the elders, their viewpoints would diverge. While it is
difficult to place the poets and novelists of the Harlem
Renaissance into one philosophy on art or the opposite
philosophy (since at various times both views are present in
their works), they generally exhibit tendencies towards one of
the philosophies more than the other in the majority of their
works. Therefore while Countee Cullen, Jessie Fauset, Nella
Larsen, and Claude McKay mainly use their art for propagandist
or political purposes; and Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston,
Langston Hughes, and Wallace Thurman lean more towards the use
of art for art’s sake, I will not neglect to point out in the
following discussion where they diverge from those views.
In part two, I begin with examining Countee Cullen’s life and
contributions to the Harlem Renaissance.
Bibliography
Bruce Jr., Dickson D. “Protest Literature.” The Oxford
Companion to African American Literature. Eds. William L.
Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1997. 600-04.
Little, Jonathan D. “Novels of Passing.” The Oxford Companion
to African American Literature. Eds. William L. Andrews,
Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997. 548-50.
Locke, Alain. “American Literary Tradition and the Negro.”
The Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940. Ed. Cary D. Wintz. New
York: Garland Publishing, Inc, 1996. 79-86.
MacKethan, Lucinda H. “Plantation Tradition.” The Oxford
Companion to African American Literature. Eds. William L.
Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1997. 579-82.
Singh, Amritjit. “Harlem Renaissance.” The Oxford Companion
to African American Literature. Eds. William L. Andrews,
Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997. 340-342.
Wintz, Cary D. Black Culture and the Harlem Renaissance.
Houston: Rice University Press, 1988.
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April 29th, 2008
Most writing “experts” favor a particular way of looking at plot, and will adhere to it for years or an entire career. That’s all well and good, but its important to realize that any way of modeling story is just thata model, not the depths and living essence of story itself.
Problems arise when young (or experienced!) writers mistake a simplified structure for some deep and eternal truth. It’s much better to examine several structures, see what their strengths and weaknesses are, and try to glimpse the truth they are trying to convey.
The actual “truth” of story is beyond any structure, but they all point in the same direction, toward that misty, hidden metaphorical mountain all storytellers have been climbing since the beginning of time. As long as we don’t mistake the finger for the mountain, the structures can be quite useful indeed.
The worst story model that is at all useful might be” “It has a beginning, middle, and an end.” Well, yes, but so does a piece of string.
More helpfully, try: Objective, Obstacle, Outcome. In other words, a character wants something, and something stands in her way. She tries various things to resolve the difficulty, leading to an eventual climax.
This one is even more useful:
Situation, Character, Objective, Opponent, Disaster. Using the classic James Bond film “Goldfinger” as an model (action films are good for this, because their structure is usually crystal clear):
Situation: When gold is being smuggled from England in large quantities,
Character: Secret Agent 007 James Bond
Objective: Is assigned to find out how it is being done. But little does he know that
Opponent: Industrialist billionaire Auric Goldfinger
Disaster: Is smuggling gold to finance his real operation, the destruction of Fort Knox with an atom bomb!
Can you see how this model helps to clarify the different basic aspects of your story? The hero must have a goal, and there must be forces in opposition. Moreover, the hero’s initial goal and his ultimate goal may well change over the course of the story, as they grow to understand the situation more fully. A story structure like this one implies both internal and external motivations, and sets up a dynamic structure that almost writes itself!
The very best writing structure would be what is known as the “Hero’s Journey” created by Joseph Campbell, and explored by anthropologists and writing mavens around the world. There are numerous interpretations of it, but in essence, it can be represented as:
1)Hero Confronted With A Challenge.
2)The Hero rejects the challenge
3)The Hero accepts the challenge
4)Road of Trials
5)Meeting allies and gaining powers
6) Confront evil and defeat.
7) Dark Night of the Soul
 Leap of Faith
9) Confront Evil and victory
10) Student Becomes The Teacher
This pattern automatically implies the yearnings, fears, obstacles, efforts, deep depression and exultation of actual human lives. This is the reason that this pattern, more than any other, is useful to writers both new and experienced. Because it mirrors our lives, a writer can most easily adapt her own understandings of life and the universe into her work. If you organize your work into this pattern, readers or viewers all over the world will instantly recognize your efforts as “story.” Whether it is a “good” story will depend entirely on the skill and creativity that you bring to the taskthe unquantifiable quality of “art” that is beyond direct description.
There are, of course, many other patterns, and an ambitious writer or student would do well to list several of them side by side, and analyze what they are saying. None of them are “truth,” but all are useful fingers pointing toward that mountain.
NY Times bestselling novelist Steven Barnes has lectured on story and creativity from UCLA to the Smithsonian. He created the Lifewriting high-performance system for writers. Get a FREE daily writing tip at: www.lifewriting.biz and www.lifewrite.com
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April 29th, 2008
Have you ever eaten at an expensive restaurant in a foreign country and watched as the waiter sneered at your Visa or MasterCard? Believe it or not, this is a common experience for international travelers, especially those who finance the trip with their business credit card. In the United States, currency is currency, but in other countries, how you pay can have a direct effect on the service you receive. Founded in 1850, American Express has grown into the preferred financial center overseas, and provides a variety of options for international travelers.
Hotels, Retailers & Restaurants
When traveling internationally, it is always preferable to have your American Express card handy for purchases at hotels, retailers and restaurants. Business owners and their employees have come to trust the American Express name, and while some accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover, many establishments frown on the use of these credit cards. Since there are thousands of financial centers in nearly every country, business owners feel comfortable accepting American Express, which gives you an advantage when shopping, eating and sleeping in foreign countries.
If you have a card like the Hilton HHonors Platinum Credit Card from American Express, you can also earn reward points for free hotel stays, free airline tickets and discounts on travel vacation packages. The JetBlue and Blue Sky cards have similar advantages.
Cashing Checks
If you have an American Express Credit Card, your overseas banking will be made much easier. Most American Express financial centers will cash personal checks of up to $1,000 for regular card holders, and up to $5,000 for gold card members. They can also provide simple, fast currency exchanges and money transfers.
While it is always a good idea to have your bank information with you wherever you travel, having an American Express credit card acts like an extension of your personal bank. Running out of cash in a foreign country is terrifying, and something to avoid wherever possible. If you have your American Express credit card, you can receive cash advances and money transfers at financial centers.
Flights & Rental Cars
Business travel is one of the most stressful aspects of a professional’s career, and if travel is a large part of your career, then an American Express credit card can cut anxiety to a minimum. If you use the same card for your flights and rental cars as with other purchases in foreign countries, you have much less paperwork to sort through when it comes time to file expense reports. Using American Express can also make delayed and canceled flights less of a problem. When your flight is canceled, the airline can simply refund your money directly to the card, rather than forcing you to wait weeks or even months for a check to come in the mail.
American Express also offers airline reward cards, such as the Gold Delta SkyMiles credit card. International travel earns the maximum number of bonus miles for future flights, and unlike other airline reward cards, your SkyMiles never expire. When you book a flight using the SkyMiles card, you never have to worry about blackout dates, which can be a wonderful bonus for frequent international travelers.
Business Credit Cards
American Express offers a variety of business credit cards, ranging from those fit for small businesses to cards that benefit large corporations. Foreign countries are just as respectful of business cards as with personal cards, and in many cases, the benefits are even better.
If your business or the company that employs you requires consistent travel, there may be more rewards available than when each employee uses his or her own credit card. For example, the Platinum Business FreedomPass Credit Card from American Express, each card earns points toward rewards, including free travel and accommodations. So if twelve employees have copies of the FreedomPass Credit Card, the business is rewarded twelve times over.
Having a business credit card from American Express can also make employees much more comfortable with International travel. Rather than charging expenses to their own account and filing an expense report later, the company is billed directly, allowing employees to feel safe.
American Express is not the only credit card company to offer travel and cash rewards, but it is the only one that is accepted by almost every overseas vendor. While international travelers will find that some businesses require cash, there is always a place to retrieve money when funds run low, and travelers can feel comfortable knowing that their finances are secure.
Copyright 2006 Ed Vegliante. Free online reprints of this article are allowed provided the resource box remains intact with a live link back to http://www.credit-card-surplus.com
Please click here to compare and apply for American Express Credit Cards.
Ed Vegliante runs the website http://www.Credit-Card-Surplus.com , a well organized credit card directory enabling the consumer to compare and apply for a variety of credit card offers.
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April 28th, 2008
Watching the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts on January 15, 2006 made me realize something. Ben Roethlisberger is a better quarterback than Peyton Manning. In fact, he is arguably the best quarterback in this league.
It is true that Big Ben does not have the numbers Peyton Manning has but when you have a coach that is dedicated to the run, two strong running backs, and one of the best defenses in the league, he does not have to put up the big numbers.
Peyton Manning is incapable of winning the big game but Big Ben wins every game. Manning has trouble when there is pressure but Big Ben is able to scramble and get out of trouble. Big Ben also uses the play action very effectively.
Big Ben showed me in the win that if he has to pass the ball, he can do so effectively and efficiently. If a team like the Eagles asked Big Ben to pass on every down, he would have no trouble doing so, he is as accurate as they come. No quarterback is going to get enough public acknowledgement on the Steelers as he deserves because of their committment to defense and running but Big Ben rivals any other quarterback in this league.
We recommend only a few trusted sports betting sites that we feel you should check out if you are interested in betting.
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April 28th, 2008
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Have you ever had an accident?
Do you value your personal safety and that of your family?
Most accidents may not be just accidents.
Some accidents may be caused by our personal lifestyle, carelessness, wrong reasoning, faulty decisions, bad habits, wrong actions of conscious and as well as unconscious origin.
Here are some personal safety insights to help you prevent accidents and live a longer, safe and happy life.
Even though the world we live in today is safer than the one known by our parents and grandparents, yet people are more prone to accidents now than ever.
In most large cities, it is easy to observe people doing more than one activity at a time.
It is a common sight to see some people who while driving are at the same time eating, talking on the cell phone and putting a make up on their faces too!
You’ll observe bicyclists riding on the sidewalk in the opposite direction.
Do you buckle your seat belt every time you get in the car? Do you cross the street at crosswalks instead of jaywalking?
Do you walk or jog on the left side of the road so that you are facing oncoming traffic?
We all must acknowledge the fact that we bear some of the responsibility for making our environment safe and safety is thinking about other people, too.
Because in this safety awareness, we can take steps to help others.
For instance, a jagged piece of metal and certain types of broken bottles on the street can cause tire problems to cars.
Broken glass on the beach might also send someone to the hospital for stitches. When you take time to clean up things such as broken bottles, etc., you’re taking a big step toward protecting others.
An accident is something that happens to you and to others. It’s easy to think that these accidents just happen.
They’re not just bad luck or bad breaks that come to you out of nowhere. An accident is never supposed to happen. It isn’t planned and it isn’t deliberate.
Accidents are caused!
An accident can be caused by an unsafe condition. Look at your automobile. It can be a typical example of an unsafe condition.
Bad brakes and unsafe tires, faulty headlights, loose steering, and, yes, even dirty windshields and side windows can cause accidents, and they are all unsafe conditions.
And along this same line, we need to consider unsafe acts as also contributing to the cause of accidents.
These are not “conditions.” They are what you, or someone else, does or doesn’t do.
A good example is jaywalking. You know it’s dangerous to walk out between parked cars to cross the street, but it’s easier than walking down to the next corner.
Both unsafe conditions and unsafe actions exist, and either one can cause accidents.
But you can put the two together, as well. That car with the poor brakes, and all the other unsafe conditions, isn’t unsafe at all until someone starts to use it.
It’s the act of using that causes the accident. Oh sure, the car was at fault, but the driver of that car was the ultimate cause of the accident.
You will find many unsafe conditions in your daily life, but most of them become truly unsafe based on your own actions related to them.
What causes you to act in an unsafe way? Is it carelessness?
Poor judgment, were you at the wrong place at the wrong time?
There’s never a total absence of risks in our lives. Risks are voluntary actions and can be managed.
Emergencies can be met and handled, but it takes know-how and constant awareness.
What you can’t prevent, you can usually compensate for or protect against.
Safety experts classify accidents in four broad categories: Motor vehicle, work and job related, home, and public.
The public category excludes motor vehicle and work accidents in public places. It covers sports and recreation (swimming, hunting, etc.), air, water, or land transportation excluding motor vehicle and public building accidents.
On the average, there are 10 accidental deaths and about 1,000 disabling injuries every hour during the year.
About one-half of the deaths occur in motor vehicle accidents while about one-third of the injuries occur in and around the home.
It’s not hard to imagine adding yourself to the accident statistics. Any day of the week, you’ll be swamped with stories in the newspapers and on television about the many tragic accidents going on all over the country and it seems to be getting worse all the time.
And in every case the victim was somebody who did not plan or expect that they would be hurt or killed.
In a matter of seconds, everything you were ever going to do and be can be snuffed out.
At the least, you suffer pain and inconvenience from an accident.
At worst, an accident kills or damages you for life.
Safety saves you, but it does more than that. Mix each safety ingredient with all of your day to day activities. An use common sense in everything you do.
Safety in your home is a combination of mind and matter. You mind must be constantly aware of the home safety dangers. The matter is the safety condition of your home.
The safety condition of your home isn’t a case of rebuilding things to make it safe. It’s more the disposal of dangerous items, and a case of good housekeeping.
A safe home has a place for everything, and that along with the right mental attitude about keeping those things in place is just good housekeeping.
The home is the most frequent place for injury accidents to occur, and it is second only to motor vehicle accidents for the number of deaths in the country today.
Family members are busier than ever rushing in and out so it’s easy to understand how careless mistakes are often made.
When you read the daily newspaper or watch newscasts on TV, you’ll see that home accidents can be classified in two major ways.
There are things that can totally disrupt your entire community - - such as earthquakes, tornadoes, storms and floods.
And then there are those kinds of accidents that are centered in your own home, and not involving the whole community.
These are things like fires, local earth sliding, flooding and wind damage.
You will need to consider both types when thinking about safety at home.
For the community - wide disasters, you may or may not receive any outside help for a considerable period of time, and you must be prepared to survive on your own home resources.
With the second type, your home may be destroyed, but some help should be there from the outside, early in the experience.
Most cities and communities have some agencies and organizations in place to assist the public in times of severe emergencies.
It is wise for everyone to do a home safety check on a regular basis and get the family members involved.
Naturally, every family needs to develop its own plan because every house and every family is different.
May these personal safety tips help you to avoid accidents and other hazards in life and live a safe, longer and happy life.
Warmly,
I-key Benney, CEO
I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of “Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System”, (online forex trading), program which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.
Mscsrrr Millionaire Secret Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free “cash”…
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April 28th, 2008
Credit worthiness is usually measured by your credit history, which represents your financial reputation among creditors. Failing to pay off your credit card debt, not paying off the minimum monthly amount, missing a payment or not making your payments on time can lead you on a path with apparently no return: adverse credit history.
Because debt management is a process to reduce, and eventually erase, your outstanding credit card debt by dealing with creditors and managing your assets adequately, adverse credit history can be repaired and even obtain debt relief over time, in return. Adverse credit history is more commonly known as impaired credit, poor credit, or bad credit tracked by the national credit bureau.
If your credit card debt has led you to impaired credit and your debt management is unclear, take the step by step credit repair guide:
- Request your credit bureau report
- Review all the entries carefully, while checking for discrepancies
- Dispute wrong and missing entries by contacting the companies
- You can pay a credit repair company if for any reason you prefer they review your credit history or your credit card debt
- Beware of financial institutions requiring you to pay upfront for such services or promising debt relief
- Companies who advise you not to contact the credit bureaus directly to get your information are also suspicious
- If you prefer to repair your credit by yourself, make sure to send your disputes using certified letters
- Include copies of supporting documentation that help you to correct an erroneous entry on your credit report
- It is not necessary to dispute every credit item on your consumer report if you do not want, but those affecting your credit card debt
- Do not forget to send a copy of your letter for each disputed item to the three national credit bureaus
- Keep a record of the number provided by every credit bureau for follow up reference
Stick to your debt management plan and get the dispute form provided by any of the credit bureaus. Log the results of your disputes, keep a receipt of letters delivered and so on. Be aware of companies or individual suggesting you to do anything illegal or that sounds risky or shady, like building a new credit file or creating a new identity or using an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
The effort invested to repair your credit will be rewarded with the improvement of your credit score and debt relief in the long run. As for companies promising you credit repair keep in mind the old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Natalie Aranda writes about, credit, debt management and personal financing. Because debt management is a process to reduce, and eventually erase, your outstanding credit card debt by dealing with creditors and managing your assets adequately, adverse credit history can be repaired and even obtain debt relief over time, in return. CBT software is often available for help improve the skills of debt management.
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