Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Feeder 3.1
For most people, the term artist conjures such names as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and maybe the more recent, Andy Warhol. While these classic artists are widely known, often the artistic talent around us is ignored. A prime example of this is known as street art, a growing movement including artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, K47 and many more. Their art isn’t found hanging in galleries, but instead pasted, stenciled and stuck to our everyday surroundings. Large metropolises have traditionally been in the forefront of this new movement but more recently the Middle Eastern city of Tel Aviv in Israel has been targeted. The article Bursting the Bubble: Street Art in Tel Aviv is an insiders look at the cause and effect of street art in such a conflicted and restricted society, especially following the artist K47.
Mya Guarnieri is a writer who is based out of Tel Aviv, which allows her insight into the appearance of K47’s art in the bubble of Tel Aviv that an outsider could not possess. Her article is based around the thesis, “If Israel’s mainstream art is a creative result of the Arab-Israeli conflict then its street art is a more urgent product of this same environment” (Guarnieri). She goes on to further say that street art is a more raw version of Israeli art. It allows a peek into the “complicated psyche” of Israel much more than the gallery art (Guarnieri).
The article centers on the art of K47 and his most notable work in Tel Aviv, the Kiss of Death. This is an image of two men face to face, one with a Palestinian flag and the other with an Israeli flag covering their heads. The two men are almost kissing but cannot due to surgical masks covering their noses and mouths. She includes quotes from K47 explaining that an impenetrable but removable barrier separates the two. The article explains that this centers on the most obvious political issue in Tel Aviv, the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Although the author does fairly well being impartial towards either side in this conflict, she fails at being completely impartial. Through out the article there are small snippets of pro-Israel propaganda. The most obvious is towards the end when she is describing another street artist’s work on the same wall as the Kiss of Death, and says “hopeful- like Israel” (Guarnieri). Although her position on the Palestine conflict is subtle, it can be felt by a reader.
The author also enters another, larger conflict with in the article, which is the separation of politics from art. Obviously much of art has some sort of political root or message but sometimes art is simply that, art. It is apparent that Guarnieri feels that all the street art in Tel Aviv has some sort of political message. She includes quotes from the artists featured in the article that say the exact opposite: that their work is not political, but simply to brighten the very grey landscape of the city.
Another Israeli street artist, AME72, paints whimsical images on dilapidated buildings through out the city purely to beautify it. As the artist said, “the setting affects the art” (Guarnieri). The author feels that the intention was not just beautification because some of the whimsical scenes are on buildings that were bombed or on buildings that were next to bombed buildings. She feels that these scenes are statements against the struggling Israel, and this opinion comes through with in the article. An example is when she turns the artist’s words around saying, “the artist impacts the setting” (Guarnieri). She continues to say that these unexpected images make the viewer question their world and what is around them.
Although Guarnieri’s evidence and arguments are convincing, the direct quotes from K47 and the other artists that basically contradict her, derail her position on the totality of politics in street art. Her acumen of Israel and its problems strengthens her article, but her opinion on the dispute between Israel and Palestine weakens it. Overall, she brings an interesting view of street art in such a closed society, but her article is conflicted.
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml;hwwilsonid=LHODDCRURIZJDQA3DINCFF4ADUNGIIV0
Mya Guarnieri is a writer who is based out of Tel Aviv, which allows her insight into the appearance of K47’s art in the bubble of Tel Aviv that an outsider could not possess. Her article is based around the thesis, “If Israel’s mainstream art is a creative result of the Arab-Israeli conflict then its street art is a more urgent product of this same environment” (Guarnieri). She goes on to further say that street art is a more raw version of Israeli art. It allows a peek into the “complicated psyche” of Israel much more than the gallery art (Guarnieri).
The article centers on the art of K47 and his most notable work in Tel Aviv, the Kiss of Death. This is an image of two men face to face, one with a Palestinian flag and the other with an Israeli flag covering their heads. The two men are almost kissing but cannot due to surgical masks covering their noses and mouths. She includes quotes from K47 explaining that an impenetrable but removable barrier separates the two. The article explains that this centers on the most obvious political issue in Tel Aviv, the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Although the author does fairly well being impartial towards either side in this conflict, she fails at being completely impartial. Through out the article there are small snippets of pro-Israel propaganda. The most obvious is towards the end when she is describing another street artist’s work on the same wall as the Kiss of Death, and says “hopeful- like Israel” (Guarnieri). Although her position on the Palestine conflict is subtle, it can be felt by a reader.
The author also enters another, larger conflict with in the article, which is the separation of politics from art. Obviously much of art has some sort of political root or message but sometimes art is simply that, art. It is apparent that Guarnieri feels that all the street art in Tel Aviv has some sort of political message. She includes quotes from the artists featured in the article that say the exact opposite: that their work is not political, but simply to brighten the very grey landscape of the city.
Another Israeli street artist, AME72, paints whimsical images on dilapidated buildings through out the city purely to beautify it. As the artist said, “the setting affects the art” (Guarnieri). The author feels that the intention was not just beautification because some of the whimsical scenes are on buildings that were bombed or on buildings that were next to bombed buildings. She feels that these scenes are statements against the struggling Israel, and this opinion comes through with in the article. An example is when she turns the artist’s words around saying, “the artist impacts the setting” (Guarnieri). She continues to say that these unexpected images make the viewer question their world and what is around them.
Although Guarnieri’s evidence and arguments are convincing, the direct quotes from K47 and the other artists that basically contradict her, derail her position on the totality of politics in street art. Her acumen of Israel and its problems strengthens her article, but her opinion on the dispute between Israel and Palestine weakens it. Overall, she brings an interesting view of street art in such a closed society, but her article is conflicted.
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/external_link_maincontentframe.jhtml;hwwilsonid=LHODDCRURIZJDQA3DINCFF4ADUNGIIV0
Monday, December 6, 2010
Diego Rivera: A True Artist for His People
By: Ashley Contreras
Diego Rivera was a very influential Mexican artist that graced the world with large murals and his art. According to Bertram D. Wolfe, in his article Diego Rivera—People’s Artist, “Diego Rivera is one of those monsters of fecundity such as occur only infrequently in the history of mankind.” His art spoke to people; Wolfe repeatedly compared Rivera’s art to the literature of Lope de Vega, who was a very important playwright and poet that shared the similar fruitfulness. Even as a young child Rivera had shown a keen interest in art, but little did he know that he was going to have such an impact on the world. Wolfe describes that art in the Western World was isolated from the public life, the beauty of art had “withered” and the private patronage had also reached its lowest point. Due to Rivera’s fruitfulness, Wolfe states that Rivera was a significant example of “cultural interchange” in the Good Neighbor Era. Rivera showed America that there was much to learn from Mexico.
Rivera was born an artist and from an early age showed the immense talent that he had possessed. As the years passed by his interest grew and his art had granted him a scholarship to work abroad in Spain. He had learned from great artists while in Europe like El Greco and Goya, Pissarro and Manet, Henri Rousseu, Renoir and Picasso, among others. He had transitioned his paintings from being impressionist; with small, thin, but visible brush strokes with an emphasis on the accurate depiction of light, to cubism where objects were broken up, analyzed and re-assembled in an abstract form. These different styles of art had given him the skills to accomplish his own spirit.
On his return to Mexico was when he truly found his calling, frescoes. Frescoes are mural paintings done on plaster on walls and ceilings. Rivera used this form of painting to depict a very important event in Mexico’s history, the revolution. According to Wolfe, Rivera’s services of the Mexican Revolution was to make it aware of the Mexican people, of the subterranean but still living currents of indigenous popular taste and to help painters in breaking the circle of private patronage. His Mexican Communist political views inclined him to celebrate his nation’s victory and influenced him to adapt his own native style. He based his style on large, simplified figures and bold colors with portraying the Aztec influence.
His murals became popular around the world and were the inspiration that the United States need to open their eyes to that style of painting. Rivera was invited to the US to paint his murals first in California then his work was known and wanted throughout the United States. Wolfe sums up Rivera’s success by stating that the “ ‘politics’ of Diego Rivera will be seen to lie in this: that he learned from and painted for his people.”
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Feeder 3.1
Kelsey Kolojejchick
Feeder 3.1
Vincent van Gogh was a very accomplished Dutch post-Impressionist artist who created many masterpieces that are now known worldwide. Van Gogh’s influence on expressionism and early abstraction made a large impact in the world of art and can be seen in many other aspects of 20th century. Although van Gogh has had countless amounts of success through his artwork, this success did not happen during his lifetime. In the article, “The Illness of Vincent Van Gogh”, Wilfred Arnold acknowledges how van Gogh suffered from a debilitating illness. He mentions that his productivity was remarkable under these tough circumstances because his medical crisis was devastating. The highlights of van Gogh's life and artwork are reviewed and discussed in an effort toward better understanding of the complexity of his illness.
Vincent van Gogh’s roller coaster of a life was marked by episodes of self-mutilation and crises of hindering illness. His ailment was separated by periods of lucidity and creativity that were created by episodes of acute mental derangement and disability. He also had periods of harmful depression and physical discomfort that were so serious they provoked self mutilation and his eventual suicide. He complained of frequent gastrointestinal problems that caused fits with hallucinations and stirred up seizures. Arnold mentions conditions that have potential to be associated with his sickness. He states, “His ailment was exacerbated by overwork (letter 173), malnutrition and fasting (letters 440, 571), environmental exposure (letter B15), excessive ingestion of alcoholic beverages (letter 581, etc.), especially absinthe (letter A16), and a proclivity for camphor and other terpenes.” Arnold argues that these problems associated with van Gogh’s illness did not have proper diagnoses.
Vincent van Gogh was a patient at Saint Paul de Mausole Asylum at St. Remy for a little over a year with increasing neurologic problems. During his stay, Arnold writes that he was conversing freely and moving around the hospital which sent him home to work on his artwork. He created a famous painting “The Yellow House” but told his family there would be nothing wrong with him for a long time to come which showed a period marked by complete lucidity and impressive productivity. Arnold mentions van Gogh’s developed “affinity” for absinthe. The mood-alternating chemicals involved with this alcoholic drink are reasons of van Gogh’ use of large amounts of camphor to try and fight his insomnia. It was also an attempt to drink essence of turpentine and gives reason to his nibbling at oil colors which help explain his illness. Although he was battling alcohol, it obviously did not stop his productivity because he painted “The Night Café”, staying up for 3 nights in a row and sleep during the day. Arnold states he had a few glasses during this painting process.
Arnold argues that van Gogh’s was diagnosed with epilepsy. This is a sudden and recurring disturbance in brain function that has episodic impairment and allows someone to lose consciousness, have psychic or sensory disturbances or problems with the nervous system. Van Gogh recovered from this psychotic state and was able to paint a “Self-Portrait with Bandage Ear and Pipe” which actually shows him in calm composure. Although he was bouncing in and out of these episodes he managed to create hundreds of works of art. “Starry Night” was a masterpiece during this time period that started the recognition of his artwork. Arnold mentions this was also the start of his brother’s severe illness that put even a bigger burden on van Gogh. This made him work even more and faster creating different paintings and drawings during his stay at St. Remy. These paintings expressed his sadness and loneliness which describes one of his last paintings. Van Gogh painted “Wheat Field with Crows” which has black birds flying in a starless sky with three paths that lead nowhere. His illness is highlighted when he asked to borrow a gun to “scare the crows away” when he was painting but rather used that gun to shoot himself in the lower chest. The illnesses had reached an all time high and he could not take it anymore. “Field with Stacks of Wheat” can be argued that it is his last painting because it’s a bright picture that is a symbol of work completed.
Vincent van Gogh was not a “mad” artist but rather a brilliant man who suffered from illnesses. He was creative because of intelligence, talent and great productivity. He was a smart man in spite of his illness and proved that these complex illnesses would not affect his creative side toward his now famous artwork.
Feeder 3.1
Vincent van Gogh was a very accomplished Dutch post-Impressionist artist who created many masterpieces that are now known worldwide. Van Gogh’s influence on expressionism and early abstraction made a large impact in the world of art and can be seen in many other aspects of 20th century. Although van Gogh has had countless amounts of success through his artwork, this success did not happen during his lifetime. In the article, “The Illness of Vincent Van Gogh”, Wilfred Arnold acknowledges how van Gogh suffered from a debilitating illness. He mentions that his productivity was remarkable under these tough circumstances because his medical crisis was devastating. The highlights of van Gogh's life and artwork are reviewed and discussed in an effort toward better understanding of the complexity of his illness.
Vincent van Gogh’s roller coaster of a life was marked by episodes of self-mutilation and crises of hindering illness. His ailment was separated by periods of lucidity and creativity that were created by episodes of acute mental derangement and disability. He also had periods of harmful depression and physical discomfort that were so serious they provoked self mutilation and his eventual suicide. He complained of frequent gastrointestinal problems that caused fits with hallucinations and stirred up seizures. Arnold mentions conditions that have potential to be associated with his sickness. He states, “His ailment was exacerbated by overwork (letter 173), malnutrition and fasting (letters 440, 571), environmental exposure (letter B15), excessive ingestion of alcoholic beverages (letter 581, etc.), especially absinthe (letter A16), and a proclivity for camphor and other terpenes.” Arnold argues that these problems associated with van Gogh’s illness did not have proper diagnoses.
Vincent van Gogh was a patient at Saint Paul de Mausole Asylum at St. Remy for a little over a year with increasing neurologic problems. During his stay, Arnold writes that he was conversing freely and moving around the hospital which sent him home to work on his artwork. He created a famous painting “The Yellow House” but told his family there would be nothing wrong with him for a long time to come which showed a period marked by complete lucidity and impressive productivity. Arnold mentions van Gogh’s developed “affinity” for absinthe. The mood-alternating chemicals involved with this alcoholic drink are reasons of van Gogh’ use of large amounts of camphor to try and fight his insomnia. It was also an attempt to drink essence of turpentine and gives reason to his nibbling at oil colors which help explain his illness. Although he was battling alcohol, it obviously did not stop his productivity because he painted “The Night Café”, staying up for 3 nights in a row and sleep during the day. Arnold states he had a few glasses during this painting process.
Arnold argues that van Gogh’s was diagnosed with epilepsy. This is a sudden and recurring disturbance in brain function that has episodic impairment and allows someone to lose consciousness, have psychic or sensory disturbances or problems with the nervous system. Van Gogh recovered from this psychotic state and was able to paint a “Self-Portrait with Bandage Ear and Pipe” which actually shows him in calm composure. Although he was bouncing in and out of these episodes he managed to create hundreds of works of art. “Starry Night” was a masterpiece during this time period that started the recognition of his artwork. Arnold mentions this was also the start of his brother’s severe illness that put even a bigger burden on van Gogh. This made him work even more and faster creating different paintings and drawings during his stay at St. Remy. These paintings expressed his sadness and loneliness which describes one of his last paintings. Van Gogh painted “Wheat Field with Crows” which has black birds flying in a starless sky with three paths that lead nowhere. His illness is highlighted when he asked to borrow a gun to “scare the crows away” when he was painting but rather used that gun to shoot himself in the lower chest. The illnesses had reached an all time high and he could not take it anymore. “Field with Stacks of Wheat” can be argued that it is his last painting because it’s a bright picture that is a symbol of work completed.
Vincent van Gogh was not a “mad” artist but rather a brilliant man who suffered from illnesses. He was creative because of intelligence, talent and great productivity. He was a smart man in spite of his illness and proved that these complex illnesses would not affect his creative side toward his now famous artwork.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
“Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine”
Davis Rainey
11/16/10
Paul Bergin wrote an article about Andy Warhol, a leader in the visual art movement known as pop art, who also happens to be one of my favorite artists, called “Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine”. In the article, Bergin, who has committed much of his time to studying Warhol and his works, seems almost more intrigued by Andy Warhol as a human being than by his works of art. He states how Warhol’s image is more important to him than his art, the image that is Andy Warhol. This emphasis on his stylistic view and lack of concern for peoples perspective of him plays a major role in Warhol’s work.
“Andy Warhol has managed to keep himself apart. A kind of enigma, a striking enigma, it is true, with his artificially grey hair, dark glasses, and leather clothing, but an enigma nonetheless.” Bergin explains how Andy Warhol offers his mask and his image to the public eye, but does not offer anything else. The author even explains how once Warhol was asked about his background and replied with “Why don’t you make it up?” This remark makes up Warhol’s character. This shows that Warhol would rather be known as an entity, something that appeared one day doing his work, then will one day vanish, rather than a human being. Warhol is a difficult creature to grasp.
After Bergin talks about Warhol’s unique being, he shows how his character is portrayed in his art. He states how “all of Warhol’s art takes shape and exists close to the unconscious. It is not conceived in a conscious mind; neither is it intellectually precise.” Warhol leaves his viewers with an image, nothing more. His work is free of personality and emotions, concentrating only on the emotions. This is where Bergin ties in the title of his article to the article itself. “It is art of the machine, not about it.”
Bergin then goes on to explain to the readers what the machine is. He says that the machine is a way of life to the artists represented by the field of twentieth-century visual artists and their experience. The thing about Warhol is that all of his art is striving to express the machine in terms of the machine itself. Bergin says that Warhol attempts this through two devices. The first is his reproduction of the subject. Warhol’s emphasis purely on the reproduction of the subject itself, and not of the conscious, is the act of a machine. Secondly, his use of mechanical aid in his sculptures and paintings, which are now considered his famous silkscreen method. There are many advantages to a silkscreen, the first is that it is much easier to reproduce an object on a silkscreen than to paint it free hand. Also, it makes it just as easy for one of Warhol’s assistants to develop an Andy Warhol just as easily as he can.
Bergin then explains Warhol’s four different stages of his career. The phase that Warhol is probably best known for is his “commercial product’ phase. His main interest in these works was food. Like his very popular Campbell’s Soup Cans. Warhol had the ability to be satisfied by hunger with food untouched by the human hand. Bergin calls it “machine food”. Warhol’s flower painting stage expresses the machine differently, calling upon the viewers to distinguish between his flowers and “real” flowers. His third stage of paintings are his death-image paintings, which Bergin finds the most interesting. In these are many of Warhol’s famous automobile accidents and suicides. These use black and white news photographs that Warhol would blow up on a silkscreen, making them a complete visual experience. Finally, Warhol’s portraits. His famous portraits include celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Mao Zedong, and his most expensive piece that sold for $100 million, Elvis Presley.
Warhol’s work displaying other peoples public mask, best describes his own mask. His mask does not seem unlike the masks in the portraits when you consider the commercial aspect, it becomes one in the same. His character and his appearance are all a part of his public mask, and his portraits make it almost impossible to distinguish the man from the image. Bergin shows how Warhol’s character and his mask make up who he is as an artist. His mask is what drove him and inspired him to do the works that he did. It is hard to argue Bergin’s point, contemporary art has become an advancement in the world of art we would not have without the help from Warhol. Warhol is an inspiration to new artists and there is no better place to be an upcoming artist than in Chapel Hill. Many students have visited and are able to visit Ackland, where some of Warhol’s artwork is available. Warhol is a great artist, paving the way for new artists to follow their own path, not worried about what others think of their mask.
11/16/10
Paul Bergin wrote an article about Andy Warhol, a leader in the visual art movement known as pop art, who also happens to be one of my favorite artists, called “Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine”. In the article, Bergin, who has committed much of his time to studying Warhol and his works, seems almost more intrigued by Andy Warhol as a human being than by his works of art. He states how Warhol’s image is more important to him than his art, the image that is Andy Warhol. This emphasis on his stylistic view and lack of concern for peoples perspective of him plays a major role in Warhol’s work.
“Andy Warhol has managed to keep himself apart. A kind of enigma, a striking enigma, it is true, with his artificially grey hair, dark glasses, and leather clothing, but an enigma nonetheless.” Bergin explains how Andy Warhol offers his mask and his image to the public eye, but does not offer anything else. The author even explains how once Warhol was asked about his background and replied with “Why don’t you make it up?” This remark makes up Warhol’s character. This shows that Warhol would rather be known as an entity, something that appeared one day doing his work, then will one day vanish, rather than a human being. Warhol is a difficult creature to grasp.
After Bergin talks about Warhol’s unique being, he shows how his character is portrayed in his art. He states how “all of Warhol’s art takes shape and exists close to the unconscious. It is not conceived in a conscious mind; neither is it intellectually precise.” Warhol leaves his viewers with an image, nothing more. His work is free of personality and emotions, concentrating only on the emotions. This is where Bergin ties in the title of his article to the article itself. “It is art of the machine, not about it.”
Bergin then goes on to explain to the readers what the machine is. He says that the machine is a way of life to the artists represented by the field of twentieth-century visual artists and their experience. The thing about Warhol is that all of his art is striving to express the machine in terms of the machine itself. Bergin says that Warhol attempts this through two devices. The first is his reproduction of the subject. Warhol’s emphasis purely on the reproduction of the subject itself, and not of the conscious, is the act of a machine. Secondly, his use of mechanical aid in his sculptures and paintings, which are now considered his famous silkscreen method. There are many advantages to a silkscreen, the first is that it is much easier to reproduce an object on a silkscreen than to paint it free hand. Also, it makes it just as easy for one of Warhol’s assistants to develop an Andy Warhol just as easily as he can.
Bergin then explains Warhol’s four different stages of his career. The phase that Warhol is probably best known for is his “commercial product’ phase. His main interest in these works was food. Like his very popular Campbell’s Soup Cans. Warhol had the ability to be satisfied by hunger with food untouched by the human hand. Bergin calls it “machine food”. Warhol’s flower painting stage expresses the machine differently, calling upon the viewers to distinguish between his flowers and “real” flowers. His third stage of paintings are his death-image paintings, which Bergin finds the most interesting. In these are many of Warhol’s famous automobile accidents and suicides. These use black and white news photographs that Warhol would blow up on a silkscreen, making them a complete visual experience. Finally, Warhol’s portraits. His famous portraits include celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Mao Zedong, and his most expensive piece that sold for $100 million, Elvis Presley.
Warhol’s work displaying other peoples public mask, best describes his own mask. His mask does not seem unlike the masks in the portraits when you consider the commercial aspect, it becomes one in the same. His character and his appearance are all a part of his public mask, and his portraits make it almost impossible to distinguish the man from the image. Bergin shows how Warhol’s character and his mask make up who he is as an artist. His mask is what drove him and inspired him to do the works that he did. It is hard to argue Bergin’s point, contemporary art has become an advancement in the world of art we would not have without the help from Warhol. Warhol is an inspiration to new artists and there is no better place to be an upcoming artist than in Chapel Hill. Many students have visited and are able to visit Ackland, where some of Warhol’s artwork is available. Warhol is a great artist, paving the way for new artists to follow their own path, not worried about what others think of their mask.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Potential of an Artist: Andy Warhol
Ashleigh Dorman
Andy Warhol has a unique image, which is seen through his abstract artwork. In “Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine,” Paul Bergin emphasizes Warhol’s potential to be a talented, successful artist. Bergin thinks that all Warhol has to do is transform his potential into activation to make him an even more successful artist. He thinks that he should apply himself in this way not just every now and then but in every single artwork making each one memorable and irreplaceable, just like his own personal artistic image. Bergin says that Warhol’s art has some good aspects that will help him reach the status of being a brilliant artist but there are some features of his work holding him back from reaching his full potential.
According to Bergin, Andy Warhol has a gift of portraying his images in a way that catch the viewer’s attention and make them question the difference between the image Warhol has created and what the image looks like in real life. Warhol has a unique way of looking at things, such as a flower, and he recreates the image in his head then illustrates it on paper to share with the rest of the world. For example, in his artwork, Flowers, Warhol uses silk screenings on canvas to depict his vision of flowers of the twentieth century. Warhol also uses silk screenings to illustrate death-image scenes, like suicides and automobile accidents.
In his death-image paintings, Bergin describes Warhol to be the most harmonized with himself and his painting. He says that Warhol truly conveys the meaning of his painting in a way that puts him in the character of a “machine.” Warhol’s painting of wrecked car with people standing around it is used to exemplify Warhol as the “machine.” However, while Warhol excelled at portraying his strong message of cars being a danger to a human’s life in one painting, Bergin believes that he didn’t reach his full potential in creating a commercial aspect in his portraits.
Bergin uses Warhol’s painting, Liz, a portrait of Elizabeth Taylor, to show the failed attempts of Warhol at creating the commercial property to be the center of his painting. The viewer of this painting is too confused and concentrated on seeing where the actual identity of Taylor is shown and where the mock image is being displayed. Bergin compares Warhol’s difficulty to clearly distinguish the line that separates the two images to himself not being able to show the difference in his own personal image versus his artistic image. His artistic image has enveloped himself and his artwork to leave his viewers with only one way of looking at him: artificially gray hair and dark glasses.
Throughout his article, Paul Bergin explains the ways that Andy Warhol’s artwork displays both good and bad aspects, which contradict in his ability to be the best talented, successful artist that he has the potential to be. Because there are the negative aspects of Warhol’s paintings affecting the final outcome of the effect of the painting on the average viewer, in general it could be said that Andy Warhol’s artwork is either good or bad. But it’s up to him to change the bad features of his paintings into better effective characteristics that better show his viewers his true artistic skill.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/775065?seq=1&Search=yes&term=history&term=warhol&term=andy&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3Dandy%2Bwarhol%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3Dhistory%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26ar%3Don%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3Deng%26jo%3D&item=5&ttl=1120&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null
Ashleigh Dorman
Andy Warhol has a unique image, which is seen through his abstract artwork. In “Andy Warhol: The Artist as Machine,” Paul Bergin emphasizes Warhol’s potential to be a talented, successful artist. Bergin thinks that all Warhol has to do is transform his potential into activation to make him an even more successful artist. He thinks that he should apply himself in this way not just every now and then but in every single artwork making each one memorable and irreplaceable, just like his own personal artistic image. Bergin says that Warhol’s art has some good aspects that will help him reach the status of being a brilliant artist but there are some features of his work holding him back from reaching his full potential.
According to Bergin, Andy Warhol has a gift of portraying his images in a way that catch the viewer’s attention and make them question the difference between the image Warhol has created and what the image looks like in real life. Warhol has a unique way of looking at things, such as a flower, and he recreates the image in his head then illustrates it on paper to share with the rest of the world. For example, in his artwork, Flowers, Warhol uses silk screenings on canvas to depict his vision of flowers of the twentieth century. Warhol also uses silk screenings to illustrate death-image scenes, like suicides and automobile accidents.
In his death-image paintings, Bergin describes Warhol to be the most harmonized with himself and his painting. He says that Warhol truly conveys the meaning of his painting in a way that puts him in the character of a “machine.” Warhol’s painting of wrecked car with people standing around it is used to exemplify Warhol as the “machine.” However, while Warhol excelled at portraying his strong message of cars being a danger to a human’s life in one painting, Bergin believes that he didn’t reach his full potential in creating a commercial aspect in his portraits.
Bergin uses Warhol’s painting, Liz, a portrait of Elizabeth Taylor, to show the failed attempts of Warhol at creating the commercial property to be the center of his painting. The viewer of this painting is too confused and concentrated on seeing where the actual identity of Taylor is shown and where the mock image is being displayed. Bergin compares Warhol’s difficulty to clearly distinguish the line that separates the two images to himself not being able to show the difference in his own personal image versus his artistic image. His artistic image has enveloped himself and his artwork to leave his viewers with only one way of looking at him: artificially gray hair and dark glasses.
Throughout his article, Paul Bergin explains the ways that Andy Warhol’s artwork displays both good and bad aspects, which contradict in his ability to be the best talented, successful artist that he has the potential to be. Because there are the negative aspects of Warhol’s paintings affecting the final outcome of the effect of the painting on the average viewer, in general it could be said that Andy Warhol’s artwork is either good or bad. But it’s up to him to change the bad features of his paintings into better effective characteristics that better show his viewers his true artistic skill.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/775065?seq=1&Search=yes&term=history&term=warhol&term=andy&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3Dandy%2Bwarhol%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3Dhistory%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26ar%3Don%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3Deng%26jo%3D&item=5&ttl=1120&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
feeder 2.1
All competitive athletes around the world are always trying to find strategies to enhance their performances in their respective sports either on the field, on the court, on the track, etc. Many people assume that these athletes are putting extras hours in the weight room, doing extra fitness after practices, and changing their diets all for the purpose that could possibly help their performances. According to the article, “Competitive Sport Environments: Performance Enhancement through Cognitive Intervention written by John M. Silva, a simple strategy called cognitive intervention has helped enhance ‘problemed’ athletes performances in actual competitive play.
Cognitive intervention has modification strategies that focus on identifying where the athlete struggles within their thought processes. These strategies are developed to modify and sometimes replace the cognitive set of the individuals. This is to try and help change the improper behaviors that athletes have issues with their performances. There are many different approaches that can be taken during an intervention such as relaxation, coping imagery, covert conditioning, behavioral rehearsal and real life behavioral demonstrations. Imagery and mental rehearsal are commonly used in sport related skills. These strategies have been seen to improve behavioral input and performance. Using these strategies and adding to the behavior modification strategies can positively highlight performances.
Cognitive intervention has modification strategies that focus on identifying where the athlete struggles within their thought processes. These strategies are developed to modify and sometimes replace the cognitive set of the individuals. This is to try and help change the improper behaviors that athletes have issues with their performances. There are many different approaches that can be taken during an intervention such as relaxation, coping imagery, covert conditioning, behavioral rehearsal and real life behavioral demonstrations. Imagery and mental rehearsal are commonly used in sport related skills. These strategies have been seen to improve behavioral input and performance. Using these strategies and adding to the behavior modification strategies can positively highlight performances.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Reduce your chance of becoming obese and over weight by removing the TV set from your bedroom
The average U.S adult watches TV an average of 5 hours per day, this behavior has become very prevalent in the sedentary lifestyle that most Americans adapt to. Sedentary lifestyles of Americans have contributed to the increase of obesity across the country. Obesity is a state in which a person is well above their normal healthy body weight, depending on their age, height, gender, and build. Clinicians more accurately state the meaning is a person with a BMI (body mass index) above 30. Obesity is a condition that should not be taken lightly due to its enormous health risk associated with this condition such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Most Americans have a television in their bedroom which causes them to have shorter sleep durations which leads Americans especially children to become over weight. Since TV viewing contributes to the sedentary lifestyle and the sedentary lifestyle contributes to the prevalence of obesity, removing the television from the bedroom could in fact decrease the amount of obese and overweight adults in America.
TV viewing has become more than just a pastime it is also a form of bonding among families and friends. The increase of importance TV viewing is lowering the amount of people taking part in other more active activities. After a long day of working the average American likes to relax and unwind in front of a TV set usually located in their bedroom. Studies show that those who have a TV set in their bedroom watches more TV than those who do not. By watching more TV during the night and shortening the sleep duration has been shown to increase one’s chances of becoming overweight.
Most Americans do not view the many dangers that are associated with being overweight and the problems they will cause their children if they continue to adapt to a sedentary lifestyle. By simply removing the TV set from the bedroom could eliminate some risks of becoming obese. By eliminating or reducing the amount of TV time will in turn cause an increase in energy expenditure in obese and overweight adults. People that remove their television from their bedroom have shown to decrease their time watching TV overall. This is a start to a better choices and life styles.
Feeder 2.1
Feeder 2.1
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
The population of sports psychology has increased significantly as an academic regulation and an applied practice over the past two decades. Chris J. Gee wrote an article in Behavior Modification titled “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding” that explains this increasing psychological study.
As any athlete would tell you, mental preparation before a sporting event as well as the in-game mental preparedness is vital in chances for success. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that given the need for this particular mindset, many athletes, coaches, and sports administrators are still reluctant to seek out the help of sports psychologists. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the lack of understanding of just how important mental skills are in determining performance. “The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a simple framework depicting how mental skills training translates into improved within-competition performance. This framework is intended to help bridge the general “understanding gap” that is currently being reported by a large number of athletes and coaches, while also helping sport psychology practitioners sell their valuable services to individual athletes and teams.”
Gee then talks about terminology such as Absolute Performance, “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor” and Relative Performance, “what a person’s 100% performance potential would be in a perfect world or ‘on paper.’” Gee uses figures and tables of athletes performances to explain these terms.
The article then transfers over to the mental side of sports performance. The idea that mind and body are inherently intertwined has been around for centuries. Our emotions and attitudes can directly affect our actions and instincts. These principals also govern sports performance. The main psychological issue facing competitive athletes is precompetitive anxiety. All athletes have experiences pre-game gitters or butterflies before big competitions at some point in their career. Elevated anxiety levels cause many changes in psychological mindset that have the ability to impede athletic performance greatly. High anxiety impairs fine motor functioning, disrupts blood flow patterns, impairs decision making abilities, and causes muscle to become more tense. The primary difference between these psychological factors and impending environmental factors is that the psychological factors are in the athletes control, unlike headwind or perhaps rain, thus explaining the importance of mental skill training.
Gee then talks about strategies to reduce precompetitive anxiety. Anxiety is both cognitive and somatic and both aspects negatively affect an athlete’s performance. Strategies addressed for fixing cognitive anxiety should appraise how athletes view the competitive habitat before competition. The main outcome desired with somatic anxiety is to minimize the psychological performance inhibitors and to help the athlete perform the relative skills to the best of his or her abilities.
Before concluding, Gee talks about sport psychology skills and relative performance. He states how it is clear that sports psychology cannot make someone a better athlete in the absolute sense, but what I can do is help someone performance at a level closer to their absolute potential. Psychological impediments differ greatly from competitor to competitor. Since these are very individualized, the relative impact on performance varies greatly between athletes. Gee uses an example of two athletes with headwinds and psychological impediments to show how different athletes are affected by the same inhibitors.
There are a number of psychological factors that have the potential to negatively affect the outcome for athlete’s ability to perform optimally. The role of sports psychology is to provide athletes with the necessary tools and strategies to address these psychological factors as they arise and thus minimize their negative impact over performance. The framework that Gee presented should be treated as preliminary at this point. However, he says that it should serve as a starting point for addressing the common concerns facing sports consultants in the field. Gee states that framework is an oversimplified explanation of sports psychology that he hopes will be expanded in the future.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
The population of sports psychology has increased significantly as an academic regulation and an applied practice over the past two decades. Chris J. Gee wrote an article in Behavior Modification titled “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding” that explains this increasing psychological study.
As any athlete would tell you, mental preparation before a sporting event as well as the in-game mental preparedness is vital in chances for success. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that given the need for this particular mindset, many athletes, coaches, and sports administrators are still reluctant to seek out the help of sports psychologists. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the lack of understanding of just how important mental skills are in determining performance. “The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a simple framework depicting how mental skills training translates into improved within-competition performance. This framework is intended to help bridge the general “understanding gap” that is currently being reported by a large number of athletes and coaches, while also helping sport psychology practitioners sell their valuable services to individual athletes and teams.”
Gee then talks about terminology such as Absolute Performance, “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor” and Relative Performance, “what a person’s 100% performance potential would be in a perfect world or ‘on paper.’” Gee uses figures and tables of athletes performances to explain these terms.
The article then transfers over to the mental side of sports performance. The idea that mind and body are inherently intertwined has been around for centuries. Our emotions and attitudes can directly affect our actions and instincts. These principals also govern sports performance. The main psychological issue facing competitive athletes is precompetitive anxiety. All athletes have experiences pre-game gitters or butterflies before big competitions at some point in their career. Elevated anxiety levels cause many changes in psychological mindset that have the ability to impede athletic performance greatly. High anxiety impairs fine motor functioning, disrupts blood flow patterns, impairs decision making abilities, and causes muscle to become more tense. The primary difference between these psychological factors and impending environmental factors is that the psychological factors are in the athletes control, unlike headwind or perhaps rain, thus explaining the importance of mental skill training.
Gee then talks about strategies to reduce precompetitive anxiety. Anxiety is both cognitive and somatic and both aspects negatively affect an athlete’s performance. Strategies addressed for fixing cognitive anxiety should appraise how athletes view the competitive habitat before competition. The main outcome desired with somatic anxiety is to minimize the psychological performance inhibitors and to help the athlete perform the relative skills to the best of his or her abilities.
Before concluding, Gee talks about sport psychology skills and relative performance. He states how it is clear that sports psychology cannot make someone a better athlete in the absolute sense, but what I can do is help someone performance at a level closer to their absolute potential. Psychological impediments differ greatly from competitor to competitor. Since these are very individualized, the relative impact on performance varies greatly between athletes. Gee uses an example of two athletes with headwinds and psychological impediments to show how different athletes are affected by the same inhibitors.
There are a number of psychological factors that have the potential to negatively affect the outcome for athlete’s ability to perform optimally. The role of sports psychology is to provide athletes with the necessary tools and strategies to address these psychological factors as they arise and thus minimize their negative impact over performance. The framework that Gee presented should be treated as preliminary at this point. However, he says that it should serve as a starting point for addressing the common concerns facing sports consultants in the field. Gee states that framework is an oversimplified explanation of sports psychology that he hopes will be expanded in the future.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Feeder 2.1
Obesity in America has become a pressing issue that has all different types of people concerned. The rise in the number of obese Americans has been called an epidemic, and while some may consider this to be somewhat dramatic, the supporting statistics surrounding American obesity are staggering to say the least. According to the National Institutes of Health, in 2004 32.2% of adults suffered from obesity, while another 30% were considered overweight. This number has not declined since, and in fact has drastically increased over the past six years.
According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. (A BMI of 30 is about 30 pounds overweight) However, a person is generally considered obese when they are at least 20% over their ideal weight when height, sex, age, and build are taken in to consideration. Obesity is incredibly dangerous and can lead to a number of health issues including type two diabetes, coronary heart disease, high LDL or “bad” cholesterol, stroke, hypertension, osteoarthritis (degeneration of cartilage and bone of joints), sleep apnea and other breathing problems, complications of pregnancy, and even some forms of cancer (breast, colorectal, endometrial, and kidney).
Several factors can lead to obesity, including heredity, diet, culture, lack of exercise, and generally “unhealthy” lifestyles. In Katherine E. Jones, Jennifer J. Otten, Rachel K. Johnson, and Jean R. Harvey-Berino’s behavioral study entitled “Removing the Bedroom Television Set: A Possible Method for Decreasing Television Viewing Time in Overweight and Obese Adults,” two of these factors, lack of exercise and unhealthy lifestyle, are apparent. In this study, a group of adults aged 21-65, with BMI’s between 25 and 50, who reported watching at least 3-8 hours of television a day, had their television viewing, and sleep habits recorded. Special monitors attached to the television sets were used to record when and how much television was viewed, and participants recorded when they went to sleep and woke up, both including naps and excluding naps. These monitors were attached to all television sets in the household; however, only the data collected from the bedroom television sets was observed. Television viewing in the bedroom contributes to less exercise along with disruption of sleep habits, both main causes of obesity.
At the conclusion of the study it was found that those with bedroom television sets viewed significantly more television per day. (5.4 hours with compared to 3.6 without) This study reveals that if television sets are not present in the bedrooms of both adults and children, there is a possibility that obesity may be reduced due to more time spent not watching television and improved sleep habits. This is supported by other studies that have shown reduced television viewing time leads to greater energy expenditure, as much as 119 kcals/day. It is essential that the America’s obesity rates drop significantly and while large-scale steps toward this goal are most important, small steps, such as the removal of bedroom television sets, can also help stop this epidemic from spreading.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/4/290.full.pdf+html
According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. (A BMI of 30 is about 30 pounds overweight) However, a person is generally considered obese when they are at least 20% over their ideal weight when height, sex, age, and build are taken in to consideration. Obesity is incredibly dangerous and can lead to a number of health issues including type two diabetes, coronary heart disease, high LDL or “bad” cholesterol, stroke, hypertension, osteoarthritis (degeneration of cartilage and bone of joints), sleep apnea and other breathing problems, complications of pregnancy, and even some forms of cancer (breast, colorectal, endometrial, and kidney).
Several factors can lead to obesity, including heredity, diet, culture, lack of exercise, and generally “unhealthy” lifestyles. In Katherine E. Jones, Jennifer J. Otten, Rachel K. Johnson, and Jean R. Harvey-Berino’s behavioral study entitled “Removing the Bedroom Television Set: A Possible Method for Decreasing Television Viewing Time in Overweight and Obese Adults,” two of these factors, lack of exercise and unhealthy lifestyle, are apparent. In this study, a group of adults aged 21-65, with BMI’s between 25 and 50, who reported watching at least 3-8 hours of television a day, had their television viewing, and sleep habits recorded. Special monitors attached to the television sets were used to record when and how much television was viewed, and participants recorded when they went to sleep and woke up, both including naps and excluding naps. These monitors were attached to all television sets in the household; however, only the data collected from the bedroom television sets was observed. Television viewing in the bedroom contributes to less exercise along with disruption of sleep habits, both main causes of obesity.
At the conclusion of the study it was found that those with bedroom television sets viewed significantly more television per day. (5.4 hours with compared to 3.6 without) This study reveals that if television sets are not present in the bedrooms of both adults and children, there is a possibility that obesity may be reduced due to more time spent not watching television and improved sleep habits. This is supported by other studies that have shown reduced television viewing time leads to greater energy expenditure, as much as 119 kcals/day. It is essential that the America’s obesity rates drop significantly and while large-scale steps toward this goal are most important, small steps, such as the removal of bedroom television sets, can also help stop this epidemic from spreading.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/4/290.full.pdf+html
Why Sports Psychologists Should Be Employed
Ashleigh Dorman
The University of North Carolina is sometimes referred to as The University of Champions because of how much talent is displayed through the number of national championships its sports team is rewarded each year. A number of Carolina students will tell you how exciting it is to be able to call themselves a Tar Heel because UNC athletes are constantly coming out on top with their dedication, skill, and competitiveness. The athletes have a set practice routine and schedule and they have other training that might even include help from other people besides their coaches. Sports psychologists are used in sports to help improve an athlete’s focus and help them get their mind set on the task: scoring that basket or achieving that touchdown. Because of sports psychology being a more recent science, not many coaches and athletes are fully aware of how a sports psychologist could truly increase the chances of a team’s success by allowing the athletes to be not only physically trained but mentally trained as well.
Although it would be an extra expense for a sports team, a sport psychologist would be a smart investment for the success of a team. Sports psychologists help athletes improve their game through preparing them mentally, helping them focus better on the game. The only obstacle in the way of a sports psychologist helping an athlete is the way they are viewed by coaches and athletes. Sports psychologists are misunderstood but once coaches and athletes better understand how much the psychologists can really improve their mental preparedness for the game, there will be an increase in the number of sports psychologists used.
Because of it being new to the sports world, the idea of sports psychology is more popular than its practice actually being used. Sports psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology meaning that numerous coaches and athletes aren’t very knowledgeable of its purpose and objectives of mentally preparing the athletes for a successful game. If an athlete goes into a game with a clearer mindset, there’s a more likely chance the athlete will come out of the game with a victory.
Many coaches and even some athletes are unaware of how beneficial sports psychology is to the performance of an athlete. The connotation of the word psychology is just not helpful in the hope for an increase in use of their services. Coaches and athletes look at it and only think of a sports psychologist being able to help them sort through “problems.” Sports psychologists are compared to other mental practitioners by coaches so they are ruled out of involving the psychologists in their athletes’ lives. Athletes also have the wrong idea of sports psychologists. Athletes choose to avoid them because they don’t want a bad rep of needing a “shrink” to sort out their problems.
If coaches and athletes better understood the job of a sports psychologist, more would be used. Sports psychology is a positive advancement in science for athletes because its central goal is to help the athletes become better focused mentally and sustain that mental stability throughout the game, in turn increasing their chances of winning the game.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
Ashleigh Dorman
The University of North Carolina is sometimes referred to as The University of Champions because of how much talent is displayed through the number of national championships its sports team is rewarded each year. A number of Carolina students will tell you how exciting it is to be able to call themselves a Tar Heel because UNC athletes are constantly coming out on top with their dedication, skill, and competitiveness. The athletes have a set practice routine and schedule and they have other training that might even include help from other people besides their coaches. Sports psychologists are used in sports to help improve an athlete’s focus and help them get their mind set on the task: scoring that basket or achieving that touchdown. Because of sports psychology being a more recent science, not many coaches and athletes are fully aware of how a sports psychologist could truly increase the chances of a team’s success by allowing the athletes to be not only physically trained but mentally trained as well.
Although it would be an extra expense for a sports team, a sport psychologist would be a smart investment for the success of a team. Sports psychologists help athletes improve their game through preparing them mentally, helping them focus better on the game. The only obstacle in the way of a sports psychologist helping an athlete is the way they are viewed by coaches and athletes. Sports psychologists are misunderstood but once coaches and athletes better understand how much the psychologists can really improve their mental preparedness for the game, there will be an increase in the number of sports psychologists used.
Because of it being new to the sports world, the idea of sports psychology is more popular than its practice actually being used. Sports psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology meaning that numerous coaches and athletes aren’t very knowledgeable of its purpose and objectives of mentally preparing the athletes for a successful game. If an athlete goes into a game with a clearer mindset, there’s a more likely chance the athlete will come out of the game with a victory.
Many coaches and even some athletes are unaware of how beneficial sports psychology is to the performance of an athlete. The connotation of the word psychology is just not helpful in the hope for an increase in use of their services. Coaches and athletes look at it and only think of a sports psychologist being able to help them sort through “problems.” Sports psychologists are compared to other mental practitioners by coaches so they are ruled out of involving the psychologists in their athletes’ lives. Athletes also have the wrong idea of sports psychologists. Athletes choose to avoid them because they don’t want a bad rep of needing a “shrink” to sort out their problems.
If coaches and athletes better understood the job of a sports psychologist, more would be used. Sports psychology is a positive advancement in science for athletes because its central goal is to help the athletes become better focused mentally and sustain that mental stability throughout the game, in turn increasing their chances of winning the game.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Feeder 2.1
Feeder 2.1
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
The population of sports psychology has increased significantly as an academic regulation and an applied practice over the past two decades. Chris J. Gee wrote an article in Behavior Modification titled “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding” that explains this increasing psychological study.
As any athlete would tell you, mental preparation before a sporting event as well as the in-game mental preparedness is vital in chances for success. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that given the need for this particular mindset, many athletes, coaches, and sports administrators are still reluctant to seek out the help of sports psychologists. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the lack of understanding of just how important mental skills are in determining performance. “The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a simple framework depicting how mental skills training translates into improved within-competition performance. This framework is intended to help bridge the general “understanding gap” that is currently being reported by a large number of athletes and coaches, while also helping sport psychology practitioners sell their valuable services to individual athletes and teams.”
Gee then talks about terminology such as Absolute Performance, “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor” and Relative Performance, “what a person’s 100% performance potential would be in a perfect world or ‘on paper.’” Gee uses figures and tables of athletes performances to explain these terms.
The article then transfers over to the mental side of sports performance. The idea that mind and body are inherently intertwined has been around for centuries. Our emotions and attitudes can directly affect our actions and instincts. These principals also govern sports performance. The main psychological issue facing competitive athletes is precompetitive anxiety. All athletes have experiences pre-game gitters or butterflies before big competitions at some point in their career. Elevated anxiety levels cause many changes in psychological mindset that have the ability to impede athletic performance greatly. High anxiety impairs fine motor functioning, disrupts blood flow patterns, impairs decision making abilities, and causes muscle to become more tense. The primary difference between these psychological factors and impending environmental factors is that the psychological factors are in the athletes control, unlike headwind or perhaps rain, thus explaining the importance of mental skill training.
Gee then talks about strategies to reduce precompetitive anxiety. Anxiety is both cognitive and somatic and both aspects negatively affect an athlete’s performance. Strategies addressed for fixing cognitive anxiety should appraise how athletes view the competitive habitat before competition. The main outcome desired with somatic anxiety is to minimize the psychological performance inhibitors and to help the athlete perform the relative skills to the best of his or her abilities.
Before concluding, Gee talks about sport psychology skills and relative performance. He states how it is clear that sports psychology cannot make someone a better athlete in the absolute sense, but what I can do is help someone performance at a level closer to their absolute potential. Psychological impediments differ greatly from competitor to competitor. Since these are very individualized, the relative impact on performance varies greatly between athletes. Gee uses an example of two athletes with headwinds and psychological impediments to show how different athletes are affected by the same inhibitors.
There are a number of psychological factors that have the potential to negatively affect the outcome for athlete’s ability to perform optimally. The role of sports psychology is to provide athletes with the necessary tools and strategies to address these psychological factors as they arise and thus minimize their negative impact over performance. The framework that Gee presented should be treated as preliminary at this point. However, he says that it should serve as a starting point for addressing the common concerns facing sports consultants in the field. Gee states that framework is an oversimplified explanation of sports psychology that he hopes will be expanded in the future.
http://bmo.sagepub.com/content/34/5/386.full.pdf+html
The population of sports psychology has increased significantly as an academic regulation and an applied practice over the past two decades. Chris J. Gee wrote an article in Behavior Modification titled “How Does Sports Psychology Actually Improve Athletic Performance? A Framework to Facilitate Athletes’ and Coaches’ Understanding” that explains this increasing psychological study.
As any athlete would tell you, mental preparation before a sporting event as well as the in-game mental preparedness is vital in chances for success. Nevertheless, recent research has shown that given the need for this particular mindset, many athletes, coaches, and sports administrators are still reluctant to seek out the help of sports psychologists. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the lack of understanding of just how important mental skills are in determining performance. “The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a simple framework depicting how mental skills training translates into improved within-competition performance. This framework is intended to help bridge the general “understanding gap” that is currently being reported by a large number of athletes and coaches, while also helping sport psychology practitioners sell their valuable services to individual athletes and teams.”
Gee then talks about terminology such as Absolute Performance, “an individual’s theoretical optimal performance (i.e., 100% perfect performance) in a given athletic endeavor” and Relative Performance, “what a person’s 100% performance potential would be in a perfect world or ‘on paper.’” Gee uses figures and tables of athletes performances to explain these terms.
The article then transfers over to the mental side of sports performance. The idea that mind and body are inherently intertwined has been around for centuries. Our emotions and attitudes can directly affect our actions and instincts. These principals also govern sports performance. The main psychological issue facing competitive athletes is precompetitive anxiety. All athletes have experiences pre-game gitters or butterflies before big competitions at some point in their career. Elevated anxiety levels cause many changes in psychological mindset that have the ability to impede athletic performance greatly. High anxiety impairs fine motor functioning, disrupts blood flow patterns, impairs decision making abilities, and causes muscle to become more tense. The primary difference between these psychological factors and impending environmental factors is that the psychological factors are in the athletes control, unlike headwind or perhaps rain, thus explaining the importance of mental skill training.
Gee then talks about strategies to reduce precompetitive anxiety. Anxiety is both cognitive and somatic and both aspects negatively affect an athlete’s performance. Strategies addressed for fixing cognitive anxiety should appraise how athletes view the competitive habitat before competition. The main outcome desired with somatic anxiety is to minimize the psychological performance inhibitors and to help the athlete perform the relative skills to the best of his or her abilities.
Before concluding, Gee talks about sport psychology skills and relative performance. He states how it is clear that sports psychology cannot make someone a better athlete in the absolute sense, but what I can do is help someone performance at a level closer to their absolute potential. Psychological impediments differ greatly from competitor to competitor. Since these are very individualized, the relative impact on performance varies greatly between athletes. Gee uses an example of two athletes with headwinds and psychological impediments to show how different athletes are affected by the same inhibitors.
There are a number of psychological factors that have the potential to negatively affect the outcome for athlete’s ability to perform optimally. The role of sports psychology is to provide athletes with the necessary tools and strategies to address these psychological factors as they arise and thus minimize their negative impact over performance. The framework that Gee presented should be treated as preliminary at this point. However, he says that it should serve as a starting point for addressing the common concerns facing sports consultants in the field. Gee states that framework is an oversimplified explanation of sports psychology that he hopes will be expanded in the future.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Feeder 1.2
Kelsey Kolojejchick
“Sleep Debt” in the United States
Humans need sleep. Everyone knows how important the value of sleep is but why do we continue to decrease the amounts of sleep that we get? According to the article “The United States is a Sleepy Nation” on average, the average American needs eight hours of sleep a night. The lack of sleep within individuals can cause them to become short-tempered and decrease their abilities to concentrate. This lack of focus has lead to many accidents which has cost the nation billions of dollars. Teenagers are the main individuals who have reduced the amount of hours of sleep they need which has increased accidents as well as increased poor performances in school. These individuals are become the next generation to step into the real world but with the sleeping problems evolving now can have negative impacts later on. Adults on the job have had numerous occasions where they have been overly tired or feel asleep on the job which lead to accidents. This sleep deprived nation is a continuous struggle that is playing a role which is negatively impacting the United States individual performances.
People are increasing becoming more sleep deprived in the United States. This problem is increasing the number of accidents that are happening throughout the country. Many people are falling asleep at the wheel while driving, and falling asleep during their jobs which is costing money and even costing lives. When people are really tired from the lack of sleep, they become moody and unfocused which increases chances of having negative impacts within a specific situation. Teenagers are following asleep during school which is making the school lose its educational value because they are spending their time sleeping instead of learning. College students skip classes because they would rather be sleeping which can affect their grades poorly. On-the-job accidents are severe because of employees being sleep deprived. This article mentions incidents where a man’s lack of sleep played a role in a large oil spill. Another disaster could have been controlled if workers would have been able to respond quicker, when water pumps shut down at a nuclear power plant causing radioactive steam to be released which made the whole area evacuate.
The safety of individuals is a priority within the United States but with people becoming more sleep deprived has been increasing the chances of more accidents to happen. If people would get the proper eight hours of sleep, they would have better focus while driving, while at work and while at school to decrease accidents in the US. The proper amount of sleep is crucial to help increase individuals performances throughout the day as well as decrease the amount of sleeping problems within the US.
“Sleep Debt” in the United States
Humans need sleep. Everyone knows how important the value of sleep is but why do we continue to decrease the amounts of sleep that we get? According to the article “The United States is a Sleepy Nation” on average, the average American needs eight hours of sleep a night. The lack of sleep within individuals can cause them to become short-tempered and decrease their abilities to concentrate. This lack of focus has lead to many accidents which has cost the nation billions of dollars. Teenagers are the main individuals who have reduced the amount of hours of sleep they need which has increased accidents as well as increased poor performances in school. These individuals are become the next generation to step into the real world but with the sleeping problems evolving now can have negative impacts later on. Adults on the job have had numerous occasions where they have been overly tired or feel asleep on the job which lead to accidents. This sleep deprived nation is a continuous struggle that is playing a role which is negatively impacting the United States individual performances.
People are increasing becoming more sleep deprived in the United States. This problem is increasing the number of accidents that are happening throughout the country. Many people are falling asleep at the wheel while driving, and falling asleep during their jobs which is costing money and even costing lives. When people are really tired from the lack of sleep, they become moody and unfocused which increases chances of having negative impacts within a specific situation. Teenagers are following asleep during school which is making the school lose its educational value because they are spending their time sleeping instead of learning. College students skip classes because they would rather be sleeping which can affect their grades poorly. On-the-job accidents are severe because of employees being sleep deprived. This article mentions incidents where a man’s lack of sleep played a role in a large oil spill. Another disaster could have been controlled if workers would have been able to respond quicker, when water pumps shut down at a nuclear power plant causing radioactive steam to be released which made the whole area evacuate.
The safety of individuals is a priority within the United States but with people becoming more sleep deprived has been increasing the chances of more accidents to happen. If people would get the proper eight hours of sleep, they would have better focus while driving, while at work and while at school to decrease accidents in the US. The proper amount of sleep is crucial to help increase individuals performances throughout the day as well as decrease the amount of sleeping problems within the US.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Feeder 1.2
Davis Rainey
The research that I read over is called “Relevant Problems of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances”, written by M. F. Churbanov. As stated by the author, this article is “The conceptual base, current state, and relevant trends of investigations in the chemistry of high purity substances are examined.” High Purity Substances, also known as HPS, are complex and elemtary substances. Their characteristics are they have a “low content of all impurities”, and a “maximum number of impurity-sensitive properties.” These substances are able to enter their state through “purposeful purification of all impurities.” Substances are known as chemically individual when its properties are considerably different than another individual. “The chemistry of HPS is a field of fundamental science.” It is aimed to determine the genuine properties of individual sciences. According to Churbanov’s data, the driving force of producing these low-impurity substances are the development of science and practical demands. Even though the problem of pure materials and substances has been around for thousands of years, the problem came into the field of fundamental sciences in the 1960’s—1980’s. since then, the technologies and chemistry of HPS of developing fields of science and scientific practice.
Churbanov later writes about the conceptual base of modern HPS chemistry. He states that it can be formulated as “impurities affect properties of substances and the character and the limits of this influence on different properties of substances are unalike.” The author then states that the number of determined substances and properties grows in accordance with the development of science and engineering. For example, the discovery of laser technology has led to discussion of laser strength of materials. The main problems with HPS chemistry are how to determine the property values of the substance without impurities or defects and how to determine the position of the impurity sensitive regions, the “range of concentrations where the impurities an impurity contribution to a property is determined explicitly and reliably.
The HPS chemistry scientific indicators are: “complete and reliable data on impurity composition in the best and typical HPS samples; substance grade distribution. The discovery of monocrystalline monoisotopic silicon-28 and the development of scientific foundations of technology are two of the most important HPS chemistry successes in recent years. “There are over a million individual inorganic substances.” Thus the number of identified properties is high, but the grades of many of them are limited.
In conclusion to the research, the “mission of HPS chemistry is to develop scientific
principles and techniques of production and analysis of substances with a limiting content of all impurities and to produce these substances and determine their properties. Such fundamental knowledge forms a scientific base for many fields of materials science.” The latest trends with HPS investigations are as follows: “to produce individual substances, monoisotopic ones included, with a lower total content of impurities; to determine their impurity content and to modify their structure; and to reliably and accurately determine their properties aimed at revealing the character and limits of the effect of impurities.
The research that I read over is called “Relevant Problems of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances”, written by M. F. Churbanov. As stated by the author, this article is “The conceptual base, current state, and relevant trends of investigations in the chemistry of high purity substances are examined.” High Purity Substances, also known as HPS, are complex and elemtary substances. Their characteristics are they have a “low content of all impurities”, and a “maximum number of impurity-sensitive properties.” These substances are able to enter their state through “purposeful purification of all impurities.” Substances are known as chemically individual when its properties are considerably different than another individual. “The chemistry of HPS is a field of fundamental science.” It is aimed to determine the genuine properties of individual sciences. According to Churbanov’s data, the driving force of producing these low-impurity substances are the development of science and practical demands. Even though the problem of pure materials and substances has been around for thousands of years, the problem came into the field of fundamental sciences in the 1960’s—1980’s. since then, the technologies and chemistry of HPS of developing fields of science and scientific practice.
Churbanov later writes about the conceptual base of modern HPS chemistry. He states that it can be formulated as “impurities affect properties of substances and the character and the limits of this influence on different properties of substances are unalike.” The author then states that the number of determined substances and properties grows in accordance with the development of science and engineering. For example, the discovery of laser technology has led to discussion of laser strength of materials. The main problems with HPS chemistry are how to determine the property values of the substance without impurities or defects and how to determine the position of the impurity sensitive regions, the “range of concentrations where the impurities an impurity contribution to a property is determined explicitly and reliably.
The HPS chemistry scientific indicators are: “complete and reliable data on impurity composition in the best and typical HPS samples; substance grade distribution. The discovery of monocrystalline monoisotopic silicon-28 and the development of scientific foundations of technology are two of the most important HPS chemistry successes in recent years. “There are over a million individual inorganic substances.” Thus the number of identified properties is high, but the grades of many of them are limited.
In conclusion to the research, the “mission of HPS chemistry is to develop scientific
principles and techniques of production and analysis of substances with a limiting content of all impurities and to produce these substances and determine their properties. Such fundamental knowledge forms a scientific base for many fields of materials science.” The latest trends with HPS investigations are as follows: “to produce individual substances, monoisotopic ones included, with a lower total content of impurities; to determine their impurity content and to modify their structure; and to reliably and accurately determine their properties aimed at revealing the character and limits of the effect of impurities.
The Gap Between the Rich and the Poor
Davis Rainey
The gap between the rich and the poor widens daily. John Mutter states that natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and climate change cause this increasing gap. Mutter also states that through economic development one can best improve this gap. Yes, clearly the disparity continues to grow between the rich and poor, but do these really cause disparity and does improving economic development the best way to improve this gap? I believe other, more important factors exist that have caused this gap between the rich and poor and better ways exist to improve this problem.
John Mutter, author of “Disasters widen the rich—poor gap”, stated in Nature’s opinion section of an August issue that“In the face of a growing population of poor people, the environmental stresses of climate change and its potential impacts on future natural disasters, the rich–poor divide is set to increase. Of all the consequences of our warming world, this could be the most predictable and the most unjust.” He uses resources such as the effects of Hurricane Katrina, as well as mentioning Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and the Chicago heat wave of 1995 to support his idea that climate change increases the disparity between rich and poor countries. Mutter relates New Orleans to the disproportion of wealth in the rest of the world and how it is minute in comparison to the gap in other countries. Using examples such as the 30 year set back of Samoa’s economy due to numerous hurricanes that devastated the entire island; and of course, Haiti, who suffered one of the most demoralizing earthquakes ever, killing more than 220,000 people and injuring more than 300,000 (Watson). Mutter continues to present factual information leading to the idea that the future will bring a larger and larger gap between the rich and poor, such as: the expected world population growth to 9 billion or more by 2050, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claim that meteorological hazards are likely to increase, causing more frequent intense storms and rains, and more areas affected by drought (article 6 of Mutters bibliography).
After stating his claim and supplying his research, Mutter makes an argument to his claim that in some cases, natural disasters can be good for a nation. For example, some say that Alaska was better off after the damage from the 1964 earthquake due to the proposition of recovery programs. Finally, Mutter finishes with his solutions to the changing climate, “The underlying problems of poverty, poor construction and lack of economic security need to be addressed more comprehensively.”
Mutter starts off his article with aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but there is no evidence that Katrina was the result of a human-caused climate change, and we don’t know that climate change will increase the disparity between the rich and the poor. This is a confused blend of ideological issues that Mutter bases on no clear evidence. If the policy makers had wanted to make New Orleans an opportunity, they shouldn’t have continued to weed out the population.
Mutter’s article is called “Disasters widen the rich—poor gap,” however, Mutter never really talks about the gap. Yes, he explains how the Central Business District of New Orleans, the richer side, had a high repopulation number and the Lower Ninth Ward, the poor side, had a sharp decrease in population after Katrina. All of this is true and I agree with Mutter that the gap is widening, yet is the disparity between the rich and the poor even relevant to his article? His article talks mainly about natural disasters and their impacts, but the gap between the rich and the poor has nothing to do with when and where natural disasters will occur, and how these disasters widen the gap. This disparity only seems to be relevant if you are under the impression that economic development is at zero-sum, meaning that in a certain situation, one participant’s gains result only from another’s equivalent losses (Investorwords.com), and that rich countries wealth somehow comes at the expense of poorer countries. Mutters lack of ability to connect his main claim with the topic of his article throws off his organization, therefore hurting his argument.
Rich country development has benefited poorer countries through trade, local aid, and technology transfer. By comparing costs and benefits of international commercial agreements, we can see that developing countries to benefit from trade with rich countries. Cline (2004), a leading reference of the subject of the World Trade Organization, WTO, projects that trade liberalization with rich countries would lift 540 million people out of poverty. At the UM Millennium Summit meeting of heads of state in 2005, leaders of wealthy nations committed to deeper debt relief and increased aid programs for developing countries (Birdsall). Also, there was a European Union pledge to spend 0.56% of Gross National Income on poverty reduction by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015 (Shah). Technology has benefited developing countries, for example UN information technology has benefited developing countries opening new business opportunities (Schlein).
All of Mutters ideas suggest that an excellent way to reduce the destruction of natural disasters is to maximize the economic development. However, maximizing the economic development means no more government aid, which can be harmful; it means promoting pro-growth policies, not the Western European regulation and redistribution; and it means no more attempts to reduce carbon emissions, which effects climate change—what Mutter believes causes the rich and the poor gap to expand.
Finally, Mutter ends with his solutions to the widening gap between the rich and the poor. “There are lessons to be learned from how wealthier nations respond to crises following man-made disasters, such as the financial slump.” However, poor regulation of the financial region was not the leading cause of the financial slump. The slump was caused by the lacking monetary policy of the Federal Reserve and the “guaranteed” mortgage lending of the federal government.
Mutter reveals a current issue in that the gap between the rich and the poor is drastically changing. However, his stand on the cause and effect of this gap is misleading and not thought out. Mutter brings to attention the harmfulness of natural disasters and the potential ways to reduce these harms. The effects of natural disasters and the rich and poor gap are two different topics that Mutter tries to cram into one paper. If each topic were to be centralized and focused on individually, this would be a much better argument and Mutter would be able to clearly support his main claim. I agree with Mutter, however, that something must be done before this monetary gap is too large.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7310/full/4661042a.html
Birdsall, Nancy. "How To Help Poor Countries." Foreign Affairs. N.p., July 2005. Web. 13 Oct 2010..
Schlein, Lisa. "UN: Information Technology Can Benefit Developing Countries." IWS- The Information Warfare Site 21 November 2003: n. pag. Web. 13 Oct 2010..
Shah, Anup. "Foreign Aid for Developement Assistance." Global Issues. N.p., April 25 2010. Web. 13 Oct 2010..
Watson, Ivan. "Six months after quake, Haiti still suffers." CNN July 12 2010: n. pag. Web. 13 Oct 2010.
The gap between the rich and the poor widens daily. John Mutter states that natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and climate change cause this increasing gap. Mutter also states that through economic development one can best improve this gap. Yes, clearly the disparity continues to grow between the rich and poor, but do these really cause disparity and does improving economic development the best way to improve this gap? I believe other, more important factors exist that have caused this gap between the rich and poor and better ways exist to improve this problem.
John Mutter, author of “Disasters widen the rich—poor gap”, stated in Nature’s opinion section of an August issue that“In the face of a growing population of poor people, the environmental stresses of climate change and its potential impacts on future natural disasters, the rich–poor divide is set to increase. Of all the consequences of our warming world, this could be the most predictable and the most unjust.” He uses resources such as the effects of Hurricane Katrina, as well as mentioning Hurricane Andrew of 1992 and the Chicago heat wave of 1995 to support his idea that climate change increases the disparity between rich and poor countries. Mutter relates New Orleans to the disproportion of wealth in the rest of the world and how it is minute in comparison to the gap in other countries. Using examples such as the 30 year set back of Samoa’s economy due to numerous hurricanes that devastated the entire island; and of course, Haiti, who suffered one of the most demoralizing earthquakes ever, killing more than 220,000 people and injuring more than 300,000 (Watson). Mutter continues to present factual information leading to the idea that the future will bring a larger and larger gap between the rich and poor, such as: the expected world population growth to 9 billion or more by 2050, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claim that meteorological hazards are likely to increase, causing more frequent intense storms and rains, and more areas affected by drought (article 6 of Mutters bibliography).
After stating his claim and supplying his research, Mutter makes an argument to his claim that in some cases, natural disasters can be good for a nation. For example, some say that Alaska was better off after the damage from the 1964 earthquake due to the proposition of recovery programs. Finally, Mutter finishes with his solutions to the changing climate, “The underlying problems of poverty, poor construction and lack of economic security need to be addressed more comprehensively.”
Mutter starts off his article with aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but there is no evidence that Katrina was the result of a human-caused climate change, and we don’t know that climate change will increase the disparity between the rich and the poor. This is a confused blend of ideological issues that Mutter bases on no clear evidence. If the policy makers had wanted to make New Orleans an opportunity, they shouldn’t have continued to weed out the population.
Mutter’s article is called “Disasters widen the rich—poor gap,” however, Mutter never really talks about the gap. Yes, he explains how the Central Business District of New Orleans, the richer side, had a high repopulation number and the Lower Ninth Ward, the poor side, had a sharp decrease in population after Katrina. All of this is true and I agree with Mutter that the gap is widening, yet is the disparity between the rich and the poor even relevant to his article? His article talks mainly about natural disasters and their impacts, but the gap between the rich and the poor has nothing to do with when and where natural disasters will occur, and how these disasters widen the gap. This disparity only seems to be relevant if you are under the impression that economic development is at zero-sum, meaning that in a certain situation, one participant’s gains result only from another’s equivalent losses (Investorwords.com), and that rich countries wealth somehow comes at the expense of poorer countries. Mutters lack of ability to connect his main claim with the topic of his article throws off his organization, therefore hurting his argument.
Rich country development has benefited poorer countries through trade, local aid, and technology transfer. By comparing costs and benefits of international commercial agreements, we can see that developing countries to benefit from trade with rich countries. Cline (2004), a leading reference of the subject of the World Trade Organization, WTO, projects that trade liberalization with rich countries would lift 540 million people out of poverty. At the UM Millennium Summit meeting of heads of state in 2005, leaders of wealthy nations committed to deeper debt relief and increased aid programs for developing countries (Birdsall). Also, there was a European Union pledge to spend 0.56% of Gross National Income on poverty reduction by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015 (Shah). Technology has benefited developing countries, for example UN information technology has benefited developing countries opening new business opportunities (Schlein).
All of Mutters ideas suggest that an excellent way to reduce the destruction of natural disasters is to maximize the economic development. However, maximizing the economic development means no more government aid, which can be harmful; it means promoting pro-growth policies, not the Western European regulation and redistribution; and it means no more attempts to reduce carbon emissions, which effects climate change—what Mutter believes causes the rich and the poor gap to expand.
Finally, Mutter ends with his solutions to the widening gap between the rich and the poor. “There are lessons to be learned from how wealthier nations respond to crises following man-made disasters, such as the financial slump.” However, poor regulation of the financial region was not the leading cause of the financial slump. The slump was caused by the lacking monetary policy of the Federal Reserve and the “guaranteed” mortgage lending of the federal government.
Mutter reveals a current issue in that the gap between the rich and the poor is drastically changing. However, his stand on the cause and effect of this gap is misleading and not thought out. Mutter brings to attention the harmfulness of natural disasters and the potential ways to reduce these harms. The effects of natural disasters and the rich and poor gap are two different topics that Mutter tries to cram into one paper. If each topic were to be centralized and focused on individually, this would be a much better argument and Mutter would be able to clearly support his main claim. I agree with Mutter, however, that something must be done before this monetary gap is too large.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7310/full/4661042a.html
Birdsall, Nancy. "How To Help Poor Countries." Foreign Affairs. N.p., July 2005. Web. 13 Oct 2010.
Schlein, Lisa. "UN: Information Technology Can Benefit Developing Countries." IWS- The Information Warfare Site 21 November 2003: n. pag. Web. 13 Oct 2010.
Shah, Anup. "Foreign Aid for Developement Assistance." Global Issues. N.p., April 25 2010. Web. 13 Oct 2010.
Watson, Ivan. "Six months after quake, Haiti still suffers." CNN July 12 2010: n. pag. Web. 13 Oct 2010.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Does Money Does Buy You Happiness?
What is happiness and what is the true definition of being happy? Are our lives really optimistic, cheerful and content like they seem? Do we determine happiness by our stress levels or our income? The controversy is whether human wealth or emotional well-being an individuals thoughts about happiness. The article, “The price of Happiness” by Phillip Ball states that people who state that they are content say “you need to be highly educated, female, wealthy, married, self-employed and not middle aged. And misery, meanwhile, comes from unemployment, low income, divorce and poor health.” Wealth for individuals can help measure their happiness because they are able to receive top notch health, education, relationships, etc. People gain satisfaction when they receive extra bonuses at work or unemployed people that find a job which pays better than previous jobs. Studies have shown that the sense of ‘self-righteous satisfaction’ hits a limit where it stops increasing. Emotional well-being is a key feature determining happiness rather than income. People can be happy while earning an average wage rather than a rich, old single man or woman. An individuals emotional well-being has more impact on happiness that wealth can’t buy.
Income plays an insignificant role in an individuals day-to-day happiness. People assume that with more money in their pockets, they would be happier and do more enjoyable tasks until reality sets in. People think that with nicer houses, cars, and so forth, they will be happier but according to the article, “Money does not buy much happiness” states that “those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities” (Sarah Goudarzi). People with higher incomes were devoting more time working, traveling, and shopping rather than spending time with their families and friends. Parents that are off on business trips and away from their families for long periods of time can decrease the happiness within a family. The children will not experience the love and affection they deserve from their own parents they are never around. Is money worth leaving your children behind for long periods of time? Also, leisure in the United States is important and a government statistic claims “men who make more than $100,000 a year spend 19.9 percent of their time on passive leisure activities such as watching television and socializing. Meanwhile, men whose annual income was less than $20,000 spent more than 34 percent of their time dedicated to passive leisure”(Sarah Goudarzi). An individuals emotional state is important determining an individuals happiness where money reduces the importance of family, friends, social life and leisure activities during peoples day to day lives.
Wealth does not have a positive influence towards children’s emotional well-being of happiness. A large sum of money does not help teach parents how to raise respectful, responsible and happy children. Children growing up with large amounts of money do not learn the true value of money and its worth. Many take this amount of money for granted while average and poor children know the true value and work hard to earn their own. According to “What Money Can’t Buy”, social scientists who study the effect of income on children’s well-being emphasize different aspects of well-being depending on their discipline (Susan Mayer). People believe that children coming from poor households are more likely to drop out of school, have behavior problems and delinquency which in some cases can be true but many of these families are interested in their children’s moral character, happiness and social conscience to teach them proper values in life. If a child raised from a poor family is taught proper moral values throughout their life they can grow to have a happy, successful life that doesn’t involve a large income. A rich child can grow up with larger amounts of money but can never be taught proper values which can have negative effects in their life and make them unhappy in the long run. They are normally seen as being ‘spoiled’ because they get whatever they want and never take no as an answer. They will buy the most expensive things for no apparent reason and never experience the true worth and the true happiness that average children feel when they buy something they worked hard for. This type of behavior decreases the emotional well-being of these rich children. Money cannot buy the moral character, happiness and social conscience to help raise a child.
The emotional well-being can bring a constant sense of joy that an increased income cannot. Sure people get excited when they see $20 dollars on the ground but this moment only last about a minute. People who win the lottery or any amount of money are happy when they win but they will return to their previous level of happiness. These situations only have a small impact on long-term satisfaction. People who are wealthy take for granted or do not necessarily view happiness the way poor or average people do in life. According to “Money Won’t Buy You Happiness” believes that people aren’t very good at figuring out what to do with the money (Matthew Herper). People of average or low income use their money wisely and use it with purpose while wealthy people buy things they do not actually need, or buy some things that do not give them long-term pleasure. In some cases, people become less happy from the way they spend their money. People will quit their jobs early, buy a house that is very isolated with no neighbors, and normally find themselves lonely and depressed. Also a wealthy man buying a really expensive car at first seems like a happy experience that many people would kill for. The situation wealthy people do not consider is that the enjoyment of a fancy car with no one else in it slowly starts to wear off and make them less happy. Money can buy you a fancy car but it can’t buy you a partner you love to share and enjoy it with for a long period of time.
Money is an important aspect in today’s society when trying to be successful in life. The problem is many people believe that by being wealthy and successful, this will bring them happiness. Studies have shown that people who have a large income do not have a positive emotional well-being. Even though they are wealthy, their happiness does not add up to equal their amount of success. People of average or low income are seen to have good emotional well-being where money does not influence their happiness. Parent’s with a higher income can become too influenced by their jobs and forget that family happiness is first priority in life. Teaching and raising children proper moral values can help them become more successful in life and be happy while achieving their goals. Allowing children to become spoiled increases the chance of their happiness to only show when money is involved when realistically money should not matter to them at all. Money in all aspects is important for many people but this society should not be basing their happiness around the amount of income they receive.
Works Cited:
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/news/2010/100906/full/news.2010.447.html
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/060629_money_happiness.html
http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/21/cx_mh_0921happiness.html
Income plays an insignificant role in an individuals day-to-day happiness. People assume that with more money in their pockets, they would be happier and do more enjoyable tasks until reality sets in. People think that with nicer houses, cars, and so forth, they will be happier but according to the article, “Money does not buy much happiness” states that “those with higher incomes tend to be tenser, and spend less time on simple leisurely activities” (Sarah Goudarzi). People with higher incomes were devoting more time working, traveling, and shopping rather than spending time with their families and friends. Parents that are off on business trips and away from their families for long periods of time can decrease the happiness within a family. The children will not experience the love and affection they deserve from their own parents they are never around. Is money worth leaving your children behind for long periods of time? Also, leisure in the United States is important and a government statistic claims “men who make more than $100,000 a year spend 19.9 percent of their time on passive leisure activities such as watching television and socializing. Meanwhile, men whose annual income was less than $20,000 spent more than 34 percent of their time dedicated to passive leisure”(Sarah Goudarzi). An individuals emotional state is important determining an individuals happiness where money reduces the importance of family, friends, social life and leisure activities during peoples day to day lives.
Wealth does not have a positive influence towards children’s emotional well-being of happiness. A large sum of money does not help teach parents how to raise respectful, responsible and happy children. Children growing up with large amounts of money do not learn the true value of money and its worth. Many take this amount of money for granted while average and poor children know the true value and work hard to earn their own. According to “What Money Can’t Buy”, social scientists who study the effect of income on children’s well-being emphasize different aspects of well-being depending on their discipline (Susan Mayer). People believe that children coming from poor households are more likely to drop out of school, have behavior problems and delinquency which in some cases can be true but many of these families are interested in their children’s moral character, happiness and social conscience to teach them proper values in life. If a child raised from a poor family is taught proper moral values throughout their life they can grow to have a happy, successful life that doesn’t involve a large income. A rich child can grow up with larger amounts of money but can never be taught proper values which can have negative effects in their life and make them unhappy in the long run. They are normally seen as being ‘spoiled’ because they get whatever they want and never take no as an answer. They will buy the most expensive things for no apparent reason and never experience the true worth and the true happiness that average children feel when they buy something they worked hard for. This type of behavior decreases the emotional well-being of these rich children. Money cannot buy the moral character, happiness and social conscience to help raise a child.
The emotional well-being can bring a constant sense of joy that an increased income cannot. Sure people get excited when they see $20 dollars on the ground but this moment only last about a minute. People who win the lottery or any amount of money are happy when they win but they will return to their previous level of happiness. These situations only have a small impact on long-term satisfaction. People who are wealthy take for granted or do not necessarily view happiness the way poor or average people do in life. According to “Money Won’t Buy You Happiness” believes that people aren’t very good at figuring out what to do with the money (Matthew Herper). People of average or low income use their money wisely and use it with purpose while wealthy people buy things they do not actually need, or buy some things that do not give them long-term pleasure. In some cases, people become less happy from the way they spend their money. People will quit their jobs early, buy a house that is very isolated with no neighbors, and normally find themselves lonely and depressed. Also a wealthy man buying a really expensive car at first seems like a happy experience that many people would kill for. The situation wealthy people do not consider is that the enjoyment of a fancy car with no one else in it slowly starts to wear off and make them less happy. Money can buy you a fancy car but it can’t buy you a partner you love to share and enjoy it with for a long period of time.
Money is an important aspect in today’s society when trying to be successful in life. The problem is many people believe that by being wealthy and successful, this will bring them happiness. Studies have shown that people who have a large income do not have a positive emotional well-being. Even though they are wealthy, their happiness does not add up to equal their amount of success. People of average or low income are seen to have good emotional well-being where money does not influence their happiness. Parent’s with a higher income can become too influenced by their jobs and forget that family happiness is first priority in life. Teaching and raising children proper moral values can help them become more successful in life and be happy while achieving their goals. Allowing children to become spoiled increases the chance of their happiness to only show when money is involved when realistically money should not matter to them at all. Money in all aspects is important for many people but this society should not be basing their happiness around the amount of income they receive.
Works Cited:
http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/news/2010/100906/full/news.2010.447.html
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/060629_money_happiness.html
http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/21/cx_mh_0921happiness.html
Is PGD the right choice?
By: Ashley Contreras
Handyside claims that although controversy is inevitable, we should take advantage of what the technology has to offer. Families can avoid the pain and suffering of watching their child suffer because a genetic disorder consumes them, just by using this method to determine which fertilized embryo has the genetic disorder and implanting only those who do not have those genes. In vitro fertilization has helped so many people who have had trouble conceiving be able to have a baby. But now it’s been taken a step further and used to generate babies with no defects life threatening or not.
Basing on the benefits of this form of technology I would accept it more but not only do PGDs determine if the embryo has a genetic disorder, it can also determine several different characteristics such as eye color, gender and hair color. This is where I start to think if giving this information is the best thing to do. Even though this information is available, I feel more people will be interested in how the child will look as opposed to how healthy the child is or the parents will choose a child that has no disorders even if they are not fatal like asthma .
This method was to create a child that is considered to be a savior child, for example Handyside mentioned the set of British parents Shanana and Raj Hashmi that were given permission to select a child an embryo with tissue that matched the tissue of their son who was terminally ill with β- thalassaemia. This disease made him have less hemoglobin and fewer red blood cells in his body. By allowing him to have a donor he was able to live. These are the times that technology shines but one should also think of the other eggs that were fertilized and how they were just discarded not for having a defect but just for not being compatible with his tissue. This is going to be more prevalent if parent are informed more about the physical characteristics of the potential child.
According to Handyside’s article “Humans have an exceptionally high rate of pregnancy failure and loss, much of which derives from the inheritance of abnormal numbers of chromosomes in the gametes. Human eggs, which are formed before birth but do not mature until decades later, are five times more likely than sperm to develop an abnormality. This likelihood increases exponentially as a woman in her late-thirties and mid-forties approaches the menopause.” For that reason PGDs were recommended for women who had repeated miscarriage so that they could have a successful pregnancy but according to Mary D. Stephenson, M.D., M.Sc. from the University of Chicago and Mariette Goddijn, M. D., Ph. D. of the University of Amsterdam and authors of “A critical look at the evidence does not support PGD for translocation carriers with a history of recurrent losses,” claim that PGDs do not show any improvement in those women. If there is no improvement then there is no use in creating and discarding healthy embryos.
I believe that although PGDs is a very impressive form of technology, but it is not helping women have more successful pregnancies maybe it is not the best choice. And allowing parents to know the characteristics other than the health of the baby could incline parents to pick a designer baby.
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