21 Firsts

21 Firsts It’s been 3.5 years since I came to the United States from Nigeria, to study at MIT. In 2017, this ongoing chapter of my life promises to close. I graduate in June, if all goes well. A short while afterward, I celebrate my 21st birthday. Just a week ago, I imagined one version of what the future may look like. I suppose this is a sequel of sorts, one that threads through the pages of an established past. The years since my coming to USA, to MIT, have been some of the most monumental years of my life. I came to experience several things for the first time. These are some of them. ** 1. First time using a washing machine. My first time in the States was prefixed by living with my aunt and her family in Virginia, prior to starting orientation at MIT. Even then, I was still experiencing the first signs of culture shock: jetlag manifesting as odd sleep cycles and slight unease, buildings and roads whose structures were recognizable yet somewhat alien, intensely fast internet. And washing machines. In Nigeria, washing machines exist, but they aren’t common, and they certainly weren’t present at home. As such, like alien spaceships and McDonalds, they were relegated to Hollywood cinema for me. We washed our clothes by filling two buckets with water, one in which we soaked the clothes in detergent, and the other in which we rinsed them. Each fabric was picked up, scrubbed diligently, transferred to the rinse bucket, then pegged to a clothesline in the backyard to dry in the sun over the course of days. Rainy days were especially annoying, as they would prolong the drying time, or in cases of strong wind, would unpeg clothes, sending two hours of work flying into the sand. This was a fun, if monotonous, weekly ritual. I always used this opportunity to plug my tangled earphones into my MP3 player and rock out to P-Square and Styl-Plus, two of my favorite Nigerian musical groups. That first week performing laundry in the US was a little like magic, staring at this alien device, this thing of the movies. With the strange buttons and knobs and labels. My aunt helped me figure out how to use a washer and a dryer, and some tiny part of me was doubtful of the entire process. Then, two hours later, I was pulling clean, sweet-smelling clothes out of the dryer. It was mindblowing. Fast forward to the present, and my lazy head now considers doing the laundry mildly stressful. But once upon a time, it was magic, and if I think about it long enough, it still is. 2. First time pulling an all-nighter. I’d never stayed up for more than twenty four hours, not to my recollection anyway, until my very first night on the MIT campus. But I’d been up all day soaking in the endless activities freshmen could partake in. I ate free food from every dorm and living group I could traverse, a nontrivial chunk of which was liquid nitrogen ice-cream. I jumped on a large bouncy house and listened in on upperclassmen, who at the time had the aura of mystical gods, talk about why they chose their majors. Then, around six p.m., I retired to the basement of Walker Memorial, where a bunch of freshmen and other MIT students were hanging. I would end up spending the next fifteen hours there, in effect pulling my first all-nighter. We devoured several bars of chocolate and talked about where we came from, how we were finding MIT so far. Then we played multiple games, from Never Have I Ever, in which I discovered I was missing out on a lot of life experiences, to an improvised version of Hide and Seek. Around 9 A.M., we decided to grab breakfast, and I zoned out while munching on waffles at the Simmons dormalso a first-time treatseeing white nothingness for a moment. I realized I needed to sleep, so I ate a little more, and made it back to my room, where I collapsed on the bed, overwhelmed and very, very happy. I passed out pretty quickly and woke up early evening. Ever since then, I’ve pulled several all-nighters. Many of them have been less fun, usually trying to complete a challenging problem set, or studying for an upcoming midterm. But many of them have been in the same spirit of that first all-nighter. On some good nights, my floormates and I at Random would just stay up, watching silly YouTube videos and arguing about silly nonsense, and I would glance at the window; lo and behold, the sun was rising. 3. First time building a robot. During Orientation Week at MIT, I took part in a program called DEECSDiscover Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, meant to introduce freshmen to the world of EECS. We were split into groups of three, and for an entire week, we were in charge of writing software and assembling hardware for a lego robot capable of navigating a color-coded maze, using photo-sensors. I would later get to play more with robots in full-fledged EECS classes during my time at MIT, at a higher level of sophistication, but you know what they say. You never forget your first robot. 4. First time eating a burrito. A mexican restaurant called Beantown Taqueria sits diagonally across Random Hall, my dorm, and I ventured in there during Orientation Week. I didn’t have to; every location at MIT was blessed with steak and ice-cream and nachos and pancakes (one moment while I heavily sob in memory of all that free food), but it was near enough and I was curious. I ordered a small, spicy chicken burrito and cut down the whole thing in seconds. I discovered I loved burritos. And tacos. And chimichangas. Since coming to the States, I’ve tried a variety of cuisinesThai, Indian, Chinese, Mediterranean, Ethiopianand as a self-proclaimed foodist, it’s been one of my greater pleasures and I’m constantly in discovery mode. Please e-mail me pictures of tasty-looking non-traditional meals. I’ll either seek them out in Boston, or have no choice but to eat my screen. 5. First time seeing a movie in 3D. A few months after my first semester at MIT, I ventured into AMC, the movie theater in Downtown Boston, and saw Captain America: Winter Soldier in IMAX 3D. Perched somewhere in the back of the theater, wolfing down sadly under-buttered popcorn and drinking overpriced Sprite from an oversized plastic cup, I watched Captain America defend his country’s honor in backdrops of explosions. It was awesome. 6. First time performing below average on an exam. Back in my Nigerian high school, I had nicknames like “Doctor Math” and “2390”. I worked my ass off on every assignment and prepared for every examination, and it paid off: I attained high grades and usually ranked at the top of the class. This crystallized an informal rule in my mind: I could always expect to see my hard work pay off in similar fashion, even at MIT. This myth was busted my very first semester, after my first Biology midterm. I spent a fair amount of time studying for this midtermfrom rewatching lecture videos online, to poring through my handwritten notes, to taking practice midtermsbut ended up scoring well below average, a somewhat crushing experience in a gloomy week. I remember sort of staring blankly at the grade, just before starting a problem set, and feeling my stomach fall. It was the first time I was situated in the bottom half of a class, and I guess my brain had trouble parsing that. This situation would occur a few more times throughout my semesters at MIT, and I would learn to take it much better, especially if I knew I’d prepared the best I could. 7. First time in prison. My first semester in MIT, I found myself in prison. In particular, the Massachusetts Correctional Institute (MCI), Framingham, an all-female prison. I was there as part of a philosophy class in the Concourse program, taught by Professor Lee Perlman, who also taught a class at MCI. We met with six inmates in a small classroom, where we talked about everything from Ancient Greek Philosophy to life beyond the walls of that room. 8. First time skydiving. Well, indoor skydiving, but stop being nitpicky. IT FELT LIKE I WAS FLYING. This actually happened less than a month into my freshman year at MIT. It was Rush Week, in which fraternities and sororities put out a ton of eventsand free food, long live free food in those glorious eternal ecstasy-filled early weeks of the academic yearfor freshmen to participate in. I spent virtually all of that week at Alpha Delta Phi, a place where I would make some amazing first-time memories (from playing Rock Band to eating lobsteror at least attempting to, and having its innards spray all over me in a grotesque assertion of dominance). One of the highlights of that week was getting to go indoor skydiving with the frat brothers. A dozen freshmen and a dozen brothers piled into a bus. Two hours later, we were at SkyVenture, a facility in New Hampshire where the best kind of dreams are realized. Turn by turn, we spent a few minutes each in a vertical wind tunnel, suspended, floating. Each turn was divided into two rounds. My first round, I had all the grace and stamina of an amputee giraffe on rollerblades, and was knocked around the glass walls of the tunnel. The second time around, I was able to maintain my balance, arms spread out, legs tucked above me. It felt like I was flying, flying, flying. I would spend the rest of the night replaying those moments. Funnily enough, the best part of the week probably came from singing It’s the Best Day Ever by Spongebob Squarepants alongside ADPhi brother Ryan Shepard. I can’t sing for squat (and I dont mean this in the cutesy can-sorta-sing-but-is-just-saying-this way, no, I actually cannot sing one tiny bit), but I let that voice rip, and he didn’t stop me. He sang along.   9. First time experiencing overt, in-your-face racism. When I look back on my time in the States, it’s often with a sense of belonging and gratitude. Places like MIT and Boston have become a comfortable home away from home. I’ve created meaningful friendships and built a fulfilling life here. But the fairytale, Wonderland-esque lens with which I’d often regarded the States got busted one very bad evening in Central Square, when I was falsely accused of theft in an extremely racist encounter. Upon realizing I wasn’t the thief, the man let go of me and walked away without an apology for his slur or his accusations, leaving me screaming at his back like an idiot. It was one of the worst experiences of my time in the States, and complicated my sense of belonging and identity. 10. First time identifying as black. USA has a race problem, one I began to perceive in greater detail when I left a home country of predominantly dark-skinned peopleso that the term “black” was never part of one’s identityand moved to a place where this skin color was situated within a minority. For the most part, it made no difference, but when it did, it really did. I fought for a while with this label, largely because I wasn’t quite sure how to reconcile my “African-ness” with the “African-American-ness” blackness often embodied. Black culture is a prevalent term that encompasses a wide swath of general experiences constructed around African American upbringingfrom music to hair to unique sentence structures to navigation around authorityand growing up in Nigeria positioned me away from much of this commonality. But then I realized that whatever perceptions non-black people had of blackness, whether malicious or indifferent, depended not on their ability to pore through my mind and see what kind of culture influenced my upbringing, but on the color of my skin. It really was that simple most of the time, and it bore ripple effects, in many ways structuring the nature of my interaction with people here, and with their expectations, and with my experiences. I came to accept and own blackness, as constructed in the States, as part of my m ultifaceted identity, and one to be proud of rather than ashamed of. 11. First time spending greater than forty hours on a single (biweekly) homework. That’s pretty self-explanatory.I hit the Submit button, tired and feeling vaguely drunk, probably a combination of a mushy brain and exhaustion and annoyance and relief. Shortly afterward, I discovered the time-saving wonders of office hours. 12. First time building a snowman. Before 2013, snow and snowmen were abstractions sometimes shown on TV or mentioned in novels. They might as well have been made-up elements of a science-fiction universe. Then I saw snow for the first time while running late for Ancient Greek Philosophy towards the end of 2013. Ran outside prepared to sprint my way to class, when I stopped in my tracks. Powders of snow were falling from the sky, dripping off frosty leaves and covering the roads in white sheets. It was beautiful. Two days later, the sheets became puddles and snow became annoying. But then Frozen happened, and made snow great again. In January 2015, one early morning, Kevin and I ventured into Killian Court where we lobbed snowballs at each other, made snow angels and worked together to build Olaf, my first and only snowman. He most likely melted to death later that afternoon. Oh well. 13. First time getting a technical A+. Grades are an important part of MIT, and I always work hard to achieve good grades, but after my first semester here, I learned that they were hardly the whole picture. Nevertheless, a memorable highlight of 2014 was taking 6.042, Mathematics for Computer Science, a class of weekly mental workouts, one that reminded me why I’d come into MIT intending to major in Mathematics, and why Computer Science was a natural extension of that desire. At the end of the semester, I got the following e-mail: It was my first technical A+ at MIT, and did much to quell some lingering doubts about whether I belonged here, and whether Computer Science was the right track for me. 14. First time creating a Youtube video. It was this video, created for one of my early blogs: I was a freshman then, and you can totally tell that the pset-deadened eyes and stoic cynicism induced by several months of weird sleep, cold weather and grueling midterms had not set in yet. Oh sweet summer child of 2013, you have a lot on the way. 15. First time experiencing a technical internship. This probably deserves its own blogpost, and I’ll talk about it in more detail in the future, but I landed my first technical internship the summer after my sophomore year. My biggest fear jumping into MIT intending to major in Computer Science was that I was entirely unprepared. I had zero programming experience, but I was talking to freshmen in orientation week who had been writing code since they were babies, who had their own apps, who were steeped in a world of formalized logic and technical jargon that sounded alien to my ears. They seemed like the ideal candidates for a CS major, not me. This fear persisted when I began searching for internships. Outside of classes, I had no tangible programming experience. Turns out I didn’t really need any. I attended a Google event in which engineers talked about their experience at the company, including an engineer who, were I even slightly more superstitious, I would have sworn the gods created and inserted into the event just for me. He talked about his shaky background prior to applying, his uncertainty with even initiating the process, and his subsequent success with the application process. He was having a blast at the company, “doing cool things that matter”. After the event, I prepared a resume, used MIT’s career office to get feedback on it, and applied to Google. Several e-mails and three technical interviews later, I got an offer letter. I spent that summer interning in Google’s Los Angeles office. My mind had conjured a very specific picture of what I wanted and expected from that experience. The picture paled in comparison to the real thing, and that remains one of the most memorable three months ever. In particular, I remember one night, laying down on my air mattress, and thinking, in a giddy sort of disbelief, that everything I wanted from life was slowly coming true. I did exciting work that summer, and again the next, this time in their Cambridge, Massachusetts office. 16. First time attending a music concert. Right after my internship in Los Angeles, I took a Greyhound bus to San Francisco where I attended my first, and so far, only concert. I would spend that night screaming, crying, dancing, singing and losing my voice, a dot in a wave of fifty thousand gyrating fans, waving glowsticks and lighting up Levi’s Stadium. 17. First time experiencing 1 year of uninterrupted electrical power. In Nigeria, electricity is a matter of arbitrariness: at any point in time, there’s a 50% chance of electrical power, so much so that my siblings and I would scream, “UP NEPA!” each time a dead bulb suddenly flickered to life (NEPA standing for National Electrical Power Authority, although this is now a dated abbreviation). In the consistent absence of electricity, my siblings and I had to devise alternative ways to entertain ourselves. For some of us, reading novels were the way to go. We also invented weird, fun games we’d play with each other, and spent inordinate amounts of time napping. As such, my time at MIT produced the first year where I experienced zero incidents of power outages. Constant electricity is something I hardly even notice anymore, except when I call home to speak to family, and they tell me about how NEPA has gotten worse lately. It’s a fairly mundane-sounding first-time experience, but there was a time when if you told me I’d experience a year like this, I’d tell you to stop drinking and get help. 18. First time having a panic attack. Spring 2016 was one of my roughest semesters at MIT. I felt overworked,I was often locked in my room, I was dealing with personal issues, and my sleep cycle was irregular. At some point, it became easier to ignore the signs of the decay than to face them head-on, and I spent every waking moment either buried in a problem set or on Netflix. One Friday afternoon, I got back to my room feeling strangely good, happy even. I microwaved some chicken, drank some Red Bull and took a nap. I woke up two hours later feeling a little weird. I realized I couldn’t feel my heart beat, and for a moment, was sure it had ceased to pump blood. But when I put a finger to my neck, I felt a steady pulse. You’re fine, I told myself. Except I didn’t feel fine. In fact, I felt worse. It felt like I was losing air, like breathing had switched from being a background process to a task of concerted effort. You’re not fine. What if you’re dying? Like right now? As soon as I thought it, it felt true. I could suddenly feel my heartbeat, and it was out of control, racing so fast, Something was very wrong. I left my room quickly and made it to the kitchen on my floor. It was empty. I ran up the stairs, completely freaking out at this point. People were on the floor above me; I blubbered what was going on to one of them. She told me I was probably having a panic attack, and had me sit in front of a TV and watch episodes of Family Guy until I calmed down. The panic attacks recurred a few times over the next several weeks, but between the first and the second, I stopped by MIT Medical, where I was referred to a psychologist Rebekah Kilman. We worked through several sessions, in which she assured me that the panic attack hadn’t been induced by the Red Bull (my initial and frankly dumb suspicion). It had everything to do with processing the different aspects of my life that I had subjugated to under the radar. I learned how to cope with my demons, even if it meant pushing back on schoolwork for a little bit, and an extended period of intense anxiety became milder by the summer and is (mostly) nonexistent now. I’ve heard mixed stories about people’s experiences with MIT Mental, but my experience with them was one of complete empathy, understanding and comfort. They helped me work through my issues the best way they could, and it made a positive difference. 19. First time having dinner at a professor’s home. I took my first creative writing class ever at MIT: Reading and Writing Short Stories with Professor Helen Lee (I also ended up taking Fiction Workshop and Advanced Fiction Workshop with her). Those classes significantly shaped the nature of the stories I wrote and how I structured them, and she is undoubtedly one of my favorite teachers ever. Even during low points of the year, she remained a beacon of light, often checking on how I was doing even in semesters I wasn’t taking any of her classes. I had dinner a few times with her and her family, most recently November of last year during thanksgiving, and in those times, it was like stepping into a bubble, where worries ceased to exist, leaving only room for good food and meaningful conversation, often about race and about writing and about life. 20. First time getting a novel published. I took a gap year between high school and college, in which time I worked on a novel. It got published my freshman year at MIT, and I returned to Nigeria the following summer to help promote it. Reading it again now, I see how differently I would structure the book were I to rewrite it, but it sold well, made several thousand dollars and people liked it. That was more than enough for me, and I’m proud of it. I’m currently working on another novel, Nkem, a word in my language that translates to Mine. It’s been gathering dust in the cobwebs of my mind for a while now, but I’m excited to spend a good chunk of this month working on it, before the next semester rolls around and starts kicking. 21. First time trying to chart the rest of my life. and realizing that I don’t have to. When I think about my life thus far, I realize there’s been a great degree of structure to it, six years of grade school, followed by six years of secondary school, followed by a gap year filled with writing and eating, followed by four years of MIT. And then whatfifty years of work, followed by retirement? I’ve never really deeply thought about life after MIT beyond the high-level desires of wanting to write stories and write code and travel. There have been some aspects that (until now) I took for granted, as certain to happen, and thus never fully inspeced. Like having a family. But as graduation draws closer, and as I start to think of the “real world” awaiting, I’ve been wondering about stuff like this. Isn’t it weirdhaving a little version of Vincent in my arms? Some dorky-looking baby reaching for my cheeks with tiny little fingers. Isn’t that surreal? And sure, I don’t have to think about having kids yet, but at some point, I will, and I don’t think I can get over that strange notion of what it would mean to bring a child into planet Earth. Or to share a bed with a soulmate for decades. Someone to love and wake up next to each morning and fight over optimal blanket appropriation. Should we divide the blankets equally? Would going by approximate body weight be more reasonable? A duel perhaps? Can we just get several gigantic comfy blankets and lay snuggled under ALL OF THEM? Can adults just do that, just buy a ton of comfy blankets? And what happens if ten years into the relationship, things start to fail and I start to hate them, or they start to hate me? What if it’s two-sided? What if it’s not? One-sided is way worse, resentment buried under a forced air of love, truth held back by the paradoxical need to preserve their happiness. And how much truth should ever be sacrificedhow much of your truth, for the sake of their happiness? I’m having all these weird ruminations about everything, from the kind of career I will have to the kind of place I will live. Ten years from now. Twenty years from now. It’s all very theoretical, and all very unnecessary, because at this point in the space-time continuum, I’m a 20-year-old kid in college trying to get a degree. 20. People have lived my life five times over that are still alive. I don’t know squat. I don’t need to figure out squat. But yet, the thoughts, the questions, are in my head fairly often, and I’m increasingly resigned to just winging it. Just seeing where things go. All I know is, I’ve experienced a lot of good things for the first time over the last few years. Coming to MIT has inarguably, definitively, made my life better and more fulfilled, often in ways I could have never anticipated. To a point, anticipation is overrated. Hope is more important. Knowing you have things to look forward to, even if you’re not quite certain of the shape they’ll take. And I know this. I can’t wait to discover what new experiences will populate my life. Whatever they are, I do know that they’re on the horizon, and as far as questions about the future go, maybe that’s all I need to know. For right now at least. Here’s to a life of many more firsts. Post Tagged #mental health

Why I Play Basketball - 675 Words

Why I Play Basketball Basketball. A great game that was originated in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891. Basketball was created by a canadian gym coach who used peach baskets when it was raining and snowing outside. Now the sport is played all over the world. One of the most popular sports in the world, and I hated it. I hated this God given sport, until 4 years ago. When something great happened to me on April 17 2010 I turned my perspective on basketball. I really hated basketball from the beginning but then I changed throughout the way. When I was really young around 4-10 I really loved soccer because it required endurance, speed, and it was really fun to play. And from that time I really didnt like basketball. I thought that this sport was the epitome to the league of sports. I thought that tennis was way better at the time. And I wasn’t a big fan of tennis. But I really didn’t like the sport at all. I was athletically gifted at the sport, like most other sports. 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The Field Of Journalism And The Civil War Essay - 1852 Words

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The technology is also allowing for hobbyists and other enthusiasts to become avid drone operators, albeit on a relatively smaller scale. During the American Civil War, an inventor patented an unmanned balloon that carried explosives that could be dropped after a time-delay fuse mechanism triggered the basketRead MoreUnification of Italy Dbq Essay example773 Words   |  4 Pagesstrength of the various princes without damaging their independence; it would remove the causes of disruptive wars and revolutions at home, and make foreign invasions impossible. (DOC 3) Some civilians of these states also agreed that the unification of Italy would be just fine. Jessie White Mario, an English journalist who is obviously an opinionated individual being in the field of journalism said, â€Å"†¦Italy would have been free from foreigners, would have been free, independent, and united, had not

Tqm (Total Quality Management) Free Essays

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Total Quality Management formally known as total quality control emphasizes the crucial role of management in the quality process and utilizes a combination of methods, theories, techniques, and quality guru strategies for achieving world-class quality. TQM is not a complete solution formula as viewed by many but a lasting commitment to the process of continuous improvement. Total quality management is not a fad of the times, but rather a correction of the previous failures in management combined to produce a better management style when used appropriately (http://www. We will write a custom essay sample on Tqm (Total Quality Management) or any similar topic only for you Order Now ejs. com, retrieved August 1, 2009). The word â€Å"total† in Total Quality Management means that everyone in the organization participates in the overall effort in process improvement. Quality means meeting or exceeding customer (internal or external) expectation and management means improving and maintaining business processes or activities. Communications, cultural transformation, participative management, customer focus and continuous improvement are the five basic elements of TQM. Communication is the exchange of information and understanding between two or more people. There is communication if the information is received and understood. A company will not be successful if it will not listen to employees and to its customers. If there is on fundamental principle of TQM, it is that quality is what the customer defines it as, not what the organization defines it to be. TQM calls for a cultural transformation which requires a high level of workforce engagement wherein people do their utmost for the benefit of their customers and for the success of the organization. Cultural information implies that all employees must change their traditional way of thinking about business. It is a cultural change for everyone to be responsible for quality. For the past years, quality was viewed as a manufacturing problem only, but it has now become a service issue as well. TQM is a philosophy that prevents poor quality in products and services. A company vision that defines and supports quality must be shared by anyone in an organization. TQM also involves Participative Management Style where managers develop genuine partnership with the workforce and they both contribute to achieving quality. This management philosophy is often misused by management as a way of avoiding responsibility. Managers using this philosophy must be leaders, take the initiative, and accept responsibility for giving orders or making decisions. Participative management can be best achieved through empowerment and involvement. Every member of the organization gives their views and suggestions regarding improvements and the combined thoughts and ideas will be evaluated by the empowered associates who have the authority to make decisions and to take actions in their work areas without prior approval while willingly supported by the executives and managers. The pursuit of TQM must emphasize customer focus which is an important factor in an organizational survival or demise. Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations. The last element of TQM is the continuous improvement which should be a permanent objective of the organization in its overall performance. Applying the principle of continual improvement typically leads to employing a consistent organization-wide approach to continual improvement of the organization’s performance, providing people with training in the methods and tools of continual improvement, making continual improvement of products, processes and systems an objective for every individual in the organization, establishing goals to guide, and measures to track, continual improvement, and recognizing and acknowledging improvements. Bibliography: A. Books Aquino, G. V. (2005) Fundamentals of research. Mandaluyong City: Cacho Hermanos, Incorporated. Cruz, Myrna. (2007). Statistics and probability theory, Makati City: Cruz Publishing. Evans, J. R. Dean, J. W. (2000) Total quality management organization and strategy. Australia: Southwestern College Publication. How to cite Tqm (Total Quality Management), Essay examples

Why I Want to Become a Teacher free essay sample

The reason I want to become a teacher is very simple. Teacher of the year (2011) noted that its not what you make but what you make possible. I believe that I can make a difference with the children. They inspire me to show them the possibilities in life and how to make it possible. Showing them the way in life, showing them that I do care what life brings them and how I can help them in their Journey. The thing that inspired me to teach is children. I have always loved children and also have two of my own. Teacher of the year (2008) stated l teach because I love kids and they know it. Is also how I feel because when I work with children they know that I love them and care for them and their future, I have been inspired to teach by many different teachers from my past growing up because they showed me what I could become and how I could make it possible Just by setting a goal and sticking to it, and that is what I want to show the children that I teach. We will write a custom essay sample on Why I Want to Become a Teacher or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I want to teach the children that are in kindergarten through third grade because I believe that is one of the most radical times for a child to learn and I always wanted to be a part of that.Teacher of the year (2008) l teach because I want children to know they have limitless opportunities that are available to them. This goes along with what I am saying I want to do. I want to show the children that there are so many opportunities In life as long as they chose what is best for them and what they want. I want them to learn that nothing should stand in their way of their dreams, because If you set your mind on doing what you want in life nothing Is Impossible.The characteristics I possess that would make me a good teacher Is I am loving, caring, and very honest. I want the children to know that I am there and care for them and no matter what I will be truthful to them and I will help them In any way I can. Children make me happy, I cherish and love them and want to help them choose the path they want to take In life.

Ritual Human Sacrifice free essay sample

The use of human sacrifice in different rituals has featured largely in many cultures for thousands of years. To better understand this one must first consider and define what is actually meant by the term ‘ritual’. According to The Oxford English Dictionary, ritual is described as ‘the series of actions used in a religious or other rite’. Renfrew and Bahn (1991, 408-9) indicate that ritual activity can be identified by the observation of four contributing components, such as the focusing of attention on the location, a sacred place; the presence of a possible liminal boundary between ‘this world and the next’; evidence for the worship of a deity and the participation and offerings made by individuals. The term ‘sacrifice’ as defined by The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Archaeology (Darvill, 2003, p371) as the slaughter of an animal or person or the surrendering of possessions to a deity. It goes on to say, Although seen as ceremonial in context, sacrifice may have a functional ends institutionalized in the practice itself, for example the regulation of a population and the creation of an instrument of political terror. We will write a custom essay sample on Ritual Human Sacrifice or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ancient Egypt Kings of the first 2 dynasties (3100-2686BC) were not buried alone. Since death was regarded as a mirror image of life in Ancient Egypt their graves needed to contain all that they had needed when alive. This included members of their household, their servants and their slaves. When the tomb of King Wadji (c. 2980BC) (Wilkinson, 1999) was excavated 455 bodies were discovered. Members of the king’s personal household numbered 338 (Shaw, 2000, p68). Also, the bodies of 77 female and 41 important male employees shared the grave of Wadji’s queen, Mernieth. Many of the servants buried with their employers were deliberately killed for the purpose often by poison. Others, not so lucky, were buried alive as attested to by their contorted bodies when they where excavated (Lewis, 2006, p267). Mesopotamia The Sumerians were one of the first cultures to arise in Mesopotamia, in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates on the Persian Gulf now known as the Middle East. In 1920 Leonard Woolley led an archaeological excavation to dig in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Woolley (1954) recorded that he found tombs of local kings that were not recorded in the Sumerian king-lists, these King-lists are written lists of kings who reigned for long periods of time (. Woolley discovered nearly 2500 graves in this cemetery along with 16 royal tombs (Van De Mieroop, 2004, p41) that consisted of underground chambers often with vaulted roofs with a ramp or pit for entry. Identified by cuneiform inscriptions, these were the tombs of Meskalamdug, Akalamdug, the queen Pu-abi and others, members of the ruling house of Ur around 2500BC (Bahn, 1996, p144). These tombs contained the skeletons of many attendants and soldiers alongside the remains of Oxen and wooden carts. These royal servants and soldiers numbering in their hundreds were willing victims of a religious rite that would take them into the ‘next’ world where they would be able to serve their chosen king or queen. They had willingly so it appears taken poison and laid down their lives for their rulers. Mesoamerican Aztecs The culture that most people automatically associate with ritual human sacrifice is of course that of the Aztecs of Mesoamerica. These Mesoamerican people believed in a creation story where the gods in order to make humankind used their own blood that in turn created a debt of blood owed by mankind to the gods that had to be repaid. The Aztecs, according to Meyers Sherman (1995, p65) were constantly at war with their surrounding tribes purely to capture live prisoners so they could then be sacrificed to appease the God Huitzilopochtli and The Flowery Wars began with a mutual agreement between the Aztecs and the Tlaxcalans to capture live men for future sacrifice. The god Huitzilopochtli was believed to take on the likeness of the sun and it was thought that in order to insure the suns arrival each day, a steady supply of human hearts had to be offered in holy sacrifice (Hogg, 1966, p43). They believed that the sun and earth had already been destroyed four times, and in their time of the 5th sun, final destruction would soon be upon them. In order to delay this happening and appease Huitzilopochtli the practice of human sacrifice became quite a major element in Aztec society (Meyer Sherman, 1995, p67). The actual ritual would take place outside, on the top of a great pyramid. The victim was spread-eagled on a round stone, with his back arched. His limbs would be held firmly by four priests whilst the officiating priest (known as the Nacom) used an obsidian knife to cut under the rib cage and remove the victims still beating heart. The heart was then dedicated to the sun before being cremated with incense in a brazier and the victim’s body was subsequently thrown down the steps of the pyramid to be beheaded, flayed and then the head defleshed and placed on a specially built rack. The man who captured the victim would then take parts of the body to be eaten during a ceremonial feast (Smith, 1996, p222-5). In the 1487 re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan some estimate 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed (Harner, 1977, p46-51), Another rather gruesome but very symbolic sacrificial ritual was performed by the Aztecs to a deity called Xipe Totec (translated, Lord of the flayed skin). According to Moctezuma Olguin (2002, p54-5) and Fernandez (1996, p60-63) Xipe Totec was an important symbol of fertility; war and the coming of age of young warriors a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and of the seasons. There were two documented types of ritual sacrifice to Xipe Totec, both ending in the same way but the manner of the victims ritual slaying being different. These were the gladiator sacrifice and the arrow sacrifice. The arrow sacrifice consisted of tying a victim to a wooden frame with his arms and legs spread (the frame represented a corn plant) a priest would then fire arrows at the victim to kill them thus making the victims blood then flow onto the ground represented the cool rains of spring (Meyer Sherman, 1995, p69). In the gladiator ritual, the captive was tied to a large stone, given a sword with a mock blade made of feathers, and forced to fight a fully equipped opponent. After these ceremonies, the victim’s skin was removed so that it could be worn by the Xipe Totec priests (Smith, 1996, p225) who would then wear it for 20 days before removing it to symbolising rebirth and a new season of fertility for the crops and people like a new skin covering the earth. Aztec human sacrifices were performed firstly because the Aztecs felt they owed a debt of blood to the gods. Common Aztec creation myths state hat the gods sacrificed themselves to ensure the continuity of the solar cycle, and they had to be repaid with regular offerings of blood. Secondly Sacrifice also carried out a political function. Rulers and priests used sacrificial rituals as a way of publicly demonstrating and strengthening their connection to the gods. Additionally, sacrifice was a form of â€Å"propaganda by terror† using conscious displays of intimidation aimed at external rulers and common subjects – discouraging any ideas of violence, resistance, or other non-cooperation (Smith, 1996, p226-7). European examples The various groups of tribes that occupied mainland North-Western and Southern Europe from around 600BC to 1000AD were collectively known as Celts. There is very little documentary evidence to go on. In particular, we have no actual sacred texts of the ancient Celts, as their texts were transmitted orally only to initiates and disappeared forever when the last Druid died (MacCullough, 1911), MacCullough describes Celtic belief in reincarnation and a spectral otherworld, he documents the the large number of now-obscure gods and goddesses, including many local deities, describing totemistic and animistic beliefs. In addition, MacCulloch also describes the darker side of Celtic practices, including the famous Burning Man human sacrifices and cannibalism. Macullough writes about the human sacrifices performed at Lugnasad, Lugnasad was a harvest festival, where the victims were ritually sacrificed to guarantee a fertile crop in the forthcoming season and the festival would also commemorate those who had died for this good cause, while it would also appease their ghosts should they be angry at their violent deaths. Triplism’ is one of the commonest Celtic religious symbols (Magilton, p184-5; Green, 1986) describing the three Celtic gods, Esus, Taranis and Teutates. These three gods relate to the ‘triple death’ usually associated with bog bodies. The triple death consisted of, Esus for hanging, Taranis to burning and Teutates to drowning (Green, 1986, p27). The Tollund man was discovered in Denmark in 1950 (Bahn, 1996, p114). The body of this man was found well preserved having been interred in an acidic peat bog some 2000 years previous to its discovery. The man had been hanged and the hemp cable tow was still in place around his neck. The very fact that he was laid in the foetal position suggests that he was specifically placed this way rather than just cast into a pit alluding to a ritual killing rather than an out and out case of murder or judicial execution. Many similar examples of bog bodies have been found all across Europe including Emmer-Erfscheidenveen Man, a bog body recovered in Drenthe, Netherlands in 1938 (Deem, J,. 1998) the remains were dating to around 1200BC. The Gundestrup Cauldron was found in Raeve Bog, Denmark in 1891 Deem (1998) states that the silver cauldron had been deliberately broken then the pieces laid on the surface of the bog where they slowly descended to a depth of almost 2ft with sphagnum moss overgrowing them. When pieced together the solid silver bowl is 2ft in diameter. The scene depicted on the bowl show a scene of human sacrifice with an apparent victim being held upside down over the bowl with their throat cut and bleeding into the bowl. Above this a line of horsemen ride away from the cauldron after their sacrifice to there afterlife. Deem wonders if this is scenes depicting a sacrifice to thank the gods for a victory or they are attempting to divinate the future. Conclusion Ritual human sacrifice appears to have been used in past societies for a number of reasons, with not all the victims being unwilling pawns at the mercy of unscrupulous priests. We have seen demonstrated here that loyal retainers gave their lives willingly to travel to an ‘after’ life and serve there master or mistresses there as they had done in life. This believe in an after life must have been exceptionally strong in the servants and followers of these kings and queens. Fertility rites were recognised and performed in the form of sacrifices from what would appear to be since there has been written records, some of these rites committed on such a large scale that like in the case of the Aztecs they would have had a noticeable effect upon the population numbers and were done in full view of the people with the blessing of the ruling authorities. Some of the human sacrifices were to thank the gods for strength in battle and a victory over an enemy (usually ending with the loser being sacrificed to the winner’s god or gods). Finally, and even though not always intentionally ritual human sacrifice committed by an all powerful priesthood or state would have instilled fear into the general population of a society making it people much more malleable and easier to control.

How Insulin Was Discovered

How Insulin Was Discovered The experiment that led to the initial discovery of insulin- the hormone manufactured in the pancreas that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood- almost didn’t happen. How Insulin Almost Wasnt Discovered For years scientists have suspected that the secret to controlling elevated levels of glucose lay in the inner reaches of the pancreas. And when, in 1920, a Canadian surgeon named Frederick Banting approached the head of the University of Toronto’s physiology department with an idea about finding that secret, he was initially rebuffed. Banting suspected a mysterious hormone was being produced in a section of the pancreas called the islets of Langerhans. He theorized that the hormone was getting destroyed by the pancreas’ digestive juices. If he could shut down the pancreas but keep the islets of Langerhans working, he might find the missing substance. Fortunately, Banting’s persuasive powers prevailed and department head John McLeod gave him lab space, 10 Langerhans hormone before it could be isolated. If he could stop the pancreas from working, but keep the islets of Langerhans going, he should be able to find the stuff!  experimental dogs, and a medical student assistant named Charles Best. By August of 1921, Banting and Best succeeded in extracting hormones from the islets of Langerhans- which they called insulin after the Latin word for island. When they injected the insulin into dogs with high blood sugar levels, those levels dropped quickly. With McLeod now taking an interest, the men worked quickly to duplicate the results and then set about running a test on a human subject, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson, who saw his blood sugar levels lower and his urine cleared of sugars. The team published there findings in 1923 and Banting and McLeod were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine (Banting shared his award money with Best).  On June 3, 1934,  Banting was knighted for his medical discovery. He was killed in an air crash in 1941.