Family and Cousin Essay Example for Free

Family and Cousin Essay Human behavior can be explored by taking a look at the different aspects of a person’s life. These aspects include the biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual. These aspects can help social workers better understand the background history of a person’s life and gather information in order to do an accurate assessment of a person. This paper does not intend to make an assessment but it’s rather an informative paper in order to discover and understand the various systems of a person’s life. Furthermore this paper will also focus on how these systems interact with one another. I chose to do this paper on my cousin who just became a mother and she is currently learning how to adapt to her new way of life. I think she is in an interesting stage in her life and that is also why I chose her. My cousin and I are only a year apart in age and she chose a different path from the one that is expected after she graduated from high school. She decided not to go to college and began to work doing random retail jobs until she found a permanent job as a hostess. We are so different now but a few years ago we did get along and had a lot of things in common. Her relationship with her mother has also changed and now that my cousin is a mother, they seem to understand each other better. BIO-PHYSICAL My cousin’s name is Carla Sanchez and she is twenty two years old and the youngest of three. She is 5’5 and before she had the baby she had lost so much weight but now she regained some of that weight back. She has dark long hair and dark brown eyes. Before she became pregnant she fell in love with her baby’s father and lost a lot of weight. During her teenage years she was not as determined to lose weight as she was when she was nineteen when she met her significant other. During her pregnancy her body went through some physical changes. She did not have impulsive cravings and she ate the foods she normally eats but in larger portions. She gained around sixty pounds and now she looks like the way she did before she lost the weight. Her weight when she was a younger child before the teenage years resembles that of her mother. My aunt had an average weight because she was not skinny but she was not overweight either. My cousin’s weight then was average like her mother’s because due to the genes that were passed down to her through her mother. My cousin’s baby is a girl and looks more like her father but she has my cousin’s straight hair. Now that it has been several weeks after childbirth my cousin plans and is determined to lose the weight again. She looks like her mother and both have a healthy mother and daughter relationship. She is very open-minded and very out spoken. Her mother is also an open-minded person. According to the biological determinism theory it is evident that a person’s personality and physical appearance is embedded into a child from birth trough genetics. My cousin’s parents divorced when she was a young child and therefore she has always been close to her mother and that is why my aunt has been able to greatly influence my cousin’s behavior. Most of her life she has been more attached to her mother. PSYCHOLOGICAL According to Erikson’s theories of psychological development my cousin is in the intimacy versus isolation stage. My cousin’s childhood and teenage years have passed by. All that is left of her childhood and teenage years are memories. She began working at restaurants during her high school years and has stayed with that career. She has gone from being a waitress when she was sixteen to a hostess. However she is thinking of going back to school because she was her daughter to look up to her when her daughter is older. My cousin did not get married and she is not living with her boyfriend. She lives at home with her baby and her mother. All her time is devoted to her baby however there have been times when she is overwhelmed with the task of raising a child and her mother helps her so that she can at least have some time to rest. According to Paiget my cousin is at the stage four which is based on formal operations. At this level problems are now approached using logic, reason and combinational thought. Also individuals at this stage with formal operations can think about their own thoughts, feelings and think about thinking. I think that at this point Paiget is focusing on how we can look back at our past and reflect. My cousin is able to do this now and she now reflects on how her mother raised her so that she can raise her daughter the same way. My cousin constantly worries whether or not she is raising her child in a proper way or to the extent that it is expected of a mother to raise her child. She lives with her mother and her mother helps her by giving her advice from how to comfort the child to how to give the baby a bath. My cousin’s friend had her baby before my cousin and when her friend met my cousin’s child she was also giving her advice on hoe to take care of the baby. She is acquiring knowledge on how to raise her child from people such as her mother that have had years of experience raising children. Her friend told her that she worries to whether she is taking care of her baby the right way. My cousin has to endure a psychological as well as physical adaptation. Paiget describes adaptation as the process by which structures of the mind develop over time to achieve a better fit with the environment and external reality. My cousin is still eating food in large portions as she did when she was pregnant but now she is drinking more milk because she chose to breastfeed her baby. Therefore she keeps gaining weight and is also stressed out. As far as her mental state she is stressed and cannot focus on herself because she is constantly thinking about the well-being of her baby. She worries just as much as other mothers do because she wants her baby to be happy. She said that her baby seems to be cranky most of the time and basically she is dedicating all her time to comfort the baby. My cousin had learned to adapt to her new role as a mother and she will need to keep up as the baby goes through different stages of her life. SOCIAL She has not been working since July and her social life is not as it used to be before she had the baby. However she was visited by her godparents and many friends when she brought the baby home. They have showered the baby with gifts and seeing how other people have acted towards the baby makes her happy. My cousin is trying her best to imitate her mother because she loves her mother and wants to follow her advice so that she can raise a happy child. According to the social learning theory behaviors are mediated by thoughts, expectations as well as emotions and stresses the importance of observational learning or modeling. In my cousin’s case she sees her mom as a model mom that she wants to imitate. As far as I know my aunt really sacrificed a lot so that my cousin’s could have a better life than the one she had. I have seen how selfless my aunt has been especially with my cousin Carla because she is the youngest one. My cousin wants the approval of her mother in everything she does because she has been very attached to my aunt. Her brother and sister live far away from them. My cousin has kept in touch with her fellow co-workers and many of them came to visit her when she brought the baby home. One of her friends who is a teacher and brought her a huge box of pampers. He also gave her some parenting advice because he, as a father of three, thinks that he has had enough experience with kids. He was very happy to see the baby and many of her friends came to see the baby as well. Even though my cousin has not gone out since she gave birth in November 30th, she has had her friends come over to her place to see the baby. However her weeks have turned into the same routine of just staying at home to take care of her baby. The baby’s father also visits her but not too often because their relationship is not in good standing. My cousin is trying to be the mother that society expects her to be but most importantly she is trying to imitate her own mother. My aunt is a fervent believer in the Catholic faith and she raised her children in the same faith as she was raised in. All of her three children were baptized, did the communions and attended mass on Sundays. Until this day my aunt does not miss a mass at her local church. Her children however have not been as devoted as my aunt has been. My cousin Carla stop attending church after her teenage years when she graduated from high school and spent her weekends working. However my aunt always tries to make sure that my cousin does not loose her faith. According to James V. Fowler’s theory of faith development my cousin is at the stage 5 which is the individuative-reflective faith. In this stage young adults question the beliefs and stories they have received from family, friends and other social groups. My cousin does not believe everything that my aunt was taught about Catholicism. For example my cousin did not get married and decided to raise a child as a single mother. My aunt did not approve of this because she was taught that a woman must be a virgin until she gets married. Her other daughter moved in with her boyfriend and then got married. My aunt did not approve of this either. My aunt believes that salvation is obtained by following the church’s sacraments but my cousin believes that no one really knows how to obtain salvation. She also thinks that God is everywhere and therefore she does not need to attend mass every Sunday. My aunt was raised in a very religious home and in her native country religion plays an important role in life but her children who were raised in the United States have found a way to practice their religion however way they think is the proper way. My cousin plans to baptize her daughter and she has picked the godparents already. My family is from Ecuador which is in Latin America so that makes us part of the Latino community. My cousin Carla was born in New Jersey. She had to learn about the Ecuadorian culture and the American culture. When she was a kid my aunt would travel with her and her other siblings to Ecuador so that they could visit their grandmother and learn their cultural roots. My cousin had to learn both languages English and Spanish. She now knows them fluently and this has helped her a lot because she was able to make a lot of friends. In Ecuador gender roles are so delineated. Men are expected to work and women are expected to stay at home raising the children. It is not common for females to work outside the home. Most females graduate from high school and after high school they start raising families. My cousin knows both cultures but since she was born and raised in the United States she identifies more with the American culture. When her baby gets older she expects to go back to work and even go back to school so that she can be able to provide a better living for both. She is a single mother but has learned a lot from her mother who got divorced from her husband when my cousin was a young child. In conclusion these several aspects of a person’s life help us understand how each one relates to the other and how they affect human behavior. Human behavior can be affected by the people we associate with and by the culture we are raised in as well as other factors. These several theories described in this paper are very helpful to understand why a person behaves a certain way.

NAFTA and Mexico Essay -- essays research papers fc

Mexico’s economy is undergoing a stunning transformation. Seven years after the launch of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is fast becoming an industrial power. Free trade with the U.S. and Canada is turning the country from a mere assembler of cheap, low-quality goods into a reliable exporter of sophisticated products from auto breaks to laptops computers. Although Mexico has seen economic growth lately, it still faces tremendous problems in the aftermath of the 1995 recession and the revolution that took place in the Chiapas which still wages on today. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects that NAFTA has had on the economy and it’s people during the implementation of NAFTA and in what NAFTA will bring in the future. The North American Free Trade Agreement was designed to open borders and promote free trade between three countries: Canada, the United States and Mexico. Signed in 1992, ratified by the U.S. Congress in November 1993 and implemented January 1, 1994, NAFTA reduced some tariffs immediately while others are scheduled to fall to zero over a 15-year period. NAFTA follows the prescription of liberalization- including the deregulation of government restrictions to allow increased trade, direct foreign investment, and foreign ownership of businesses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On January 1, 1994, a Mexico still sleepy from New Year’s celebrations awoke to discover a passionate new revolution sweeping across the state of Chiapas. The Zapatistas, a small, yet powerfully forceful group of indigenous people, exhausted from centuries of oppression, poverty and corruption, rose up to end this societal injustice, and most specifically, to battle the new tyrant that would be born that very day: The North American Free Trade Agreement. This revolt was viewed by the indigenous population of Chiapas as an essential act to stop the debilitating cycle of injustice and to prevent future harm to the Mexican people by opposing NAFTA. â€Å"The Zapatistas have pulled back the curtain that covered up the other Mexico. It is not the Mexico of eager entrepreneurs lined up to open Pizza Hut franchises or consumers eager to shop at Wal-Mart, but rather the Mexico of malnourished children, illiteracy, landlessness, poor roads, lack of health clinics, and life as a permanent struggle.† (Quoted in Russell, p. 1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NAFTA was ... ...nmental Issues Under the NAFTA. Canadian – American Committee. Toronto: 1993. Marinez, Elizabeth and Arnoldo Garica. (No Date). What is â€Å"Neo Liberalism†? [Online]. Avaible:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/corner/glob/neolib.html (June 27-29, 1997). NAFTA’s Failure to Deliver [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www/coha.org/pressr/naftapr/html Nelan, Bruce W. (April 4, 1994). Days of Trauma and Fear [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/archieves/1994/940404/940404.mexico.html Perlo, Vicotr. (March 4, 1995). The Rape of Mexico [Online]. Available:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/46/031.html â€Å"The President, the peso, the market and those Indians.† The Economist 24 Dec 1994: 43. Russell, Philip. The Chiapas Rebellion. Mexico Resource Center. Austin: 1995 Shadows of Tender Fury: The Letters and Communiques of Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Monthy Review Press. New York: 1995 Wise, Carol. â€Å"The Post-NAFTA Political Economy.† Mexico and the Western Hemisphere. Pennsylvania State University Press: September 1998.

Importance of Roger Mason in ‘The Spire’

Roger Mason is a vital character in the novel, without whom there would be no spire at all. Even before the reader is introduced to Roger there are hints that he will be important to the plot. Jocelin's first mention of the phrase ‘cost what you like' coincides with the first introduction to Roger; this foreshadows the sacrifice of Roger and the breakdown he suffers due to the pressure put on him by Jocelin, the spire and even his relationship with Goody Pangall. In many ways Roger can be seen as the strength behind the spire. From Golding's physical description of him, using phrases such as ‘bullet head', ‘like a bear' and ‘his heavy eyebrows', the reader gains the impression that he is solid and his expertise in building shows him to be very factual and rational. Nearly all of Roger's attributes are the antithesis to Jocelin's; where Roger is down-to-earth, Jocelin is spiritual and deluded. Both men are compared to animals in the novel, Roger is likened to ‘a bear' and a ‘dog' whereas Jocelin is described as ‘an eagle' and ‘beaky', Golding's choice of animals here show the reader how the two men have completely different views of the world. Roger's confrontation with Jocelin highlights the antithesis between them. Roger, as an earthy man, can see that the spire is dangerous and a nearly impossible concept and regards Jocelin's vision with ‘contempt and amusement', whereas Jocelin believes that it will be held up simply by his faith and prayer, ‘God will provide'. These contrary descriptions reappear throughout the novel and intertwine their lives until, ironically, it becomes clear that the spire only gets built due to a combination of Jocelin's delusion and insistence on his vision and Roger's skill. Roger and Jocelin not only have opposing natures but also relationships and interactions with women. Jocelin fails, or refuses, to understand women but Roger has an unusually equal relationship for the medieval times with his wife and they are often seen together around the cathedral, ‘inseparable'. His relationship with Rachel is important as it emphasises Jocelin's inability to deal with a woman who is ‘not like a decent reticent Englishwoman' or ‘silent Goody Pangall', Jocelin spends much of the novel trying to avoid Rachel and Golding continually describes her as a ‘body' or a ‘face'. The fact that Roger can have a friendship with a woman that Jocelin cannot stand outlines their differences. Roger's other relationship with a woman is with Goody Pangall. Unlike his relationship with Rachel, his affair with Goody is passionate and is portrayed as love; Roger watches her walking ‘as though nothing and no one in the whole world mattered'. When the reader first finds out about the affair, it is through Jocelin's perspective, ‘he saw this was one encounter of many. He saw pain and sorrow'. The pain and sorrow may be Jocelin's realisation that he will never have Goody or it may be sorrow in Roger for he has been forced into this by Jocelin. The novel has an inchoate structure that not only shows Jocelin's gradual descent into complete delusion and madness but the loose time frames with some chapters taking place over a month, others over six months also show Roger's growing dependence on alcohol. Golding finally turns the attention of the reader back to Roger when Jocelin visits him at the end of the novel. Roger has suffered a breakdown and is ‘moo-ing' and the reader can see the entire effect that Jocelin and the spire have had on his life. Roger's mental breakdown has turned him into a ‘crab', he is no longer the skilled and reliable ‘bear' he was at the start of the novel. This presentation of Roger shows that he, too, has an irrational side and that he is not in fact that different to Jocelin, Roger turns to alcohol in times of stress and Jocelin turns to prayers, neither of which aid the two characters and these actions eventually end in their downfall. Roger and Jocelin are also not that different in their visions either. The first description of Roger contains the phrase ‘he could see nothing else, or hear or feel nothing else' showing that when Roger is working, nothing distracts him and he becomes oblivious to those around him. The presentation of Roger in this way once more joins him to Jocelin, before the reader has even been given a description of him. This illustrates how important Roger is to the novel and to Jocelin as a tool to build his vision. Overall I think that Golding's language when describing Roger is important because he is antithetical to Jocelin and therefore provides a comparison point. This has been used by Golding to draw attention to Jocelin's delusion and to allow the reader to see Jocelin's growing madness more clearly; however as the novel progresses it also becomes clear to the reader that Roger and Jocelin's characters become less and less contradictory. This is significant as it makes Jocelin's revelation at the end of the novel more pronounced and allows the reader to see that pure facts or pure faith are not effective, but it is a combination of the two that is needed for anything to be achieved.

Memorial Day Thoughts - 1012 Words

I usually write a piece for Memorial Day. I didn’t write one this year because I had written a memorial piece just this past Veteran’s Day. But, within minutes of last week’s item posting on May 30, three things happened that made me regret my decision. First, I received word that a fellow Vietnam veteran had died a few days before. Then, I received a Memorial Day ecard from another friend. And, third, between May 31 and June 4, emails from regular readers filled my inbox wanting to know why I had not written one. It is ALWAYS fitting to remember our military personnel that have died in the defense of this nation. I could NEVER forget it. I rarely talk about my own ventures into the world of combat. In fact, most of us older coots go†¦show more content†¦I revere Memorial Day, but it isn’t the only day that I remember our war-dead. Not a day of my life has passed since then that I don’t recall the horrors of decades ago. And, while it doesn’t happen with persistency any longer, I still bolt upright in bed in a heart-pounding cold sweat. Only I’m clutching my pillow and, mercifully, I realize that the blood-soaked lifeless soldier’s body and the horrible stench of thick, sticky, bloody goo are, once again, only a nightmare. And, somehow, I’m able to fall back to sleep. An image of a young woman lying prone and sobbing inconsolably before the grave marker of her beloved at a veteran’s cemetery set me off big time. And, we’d better understand that this is only the tip of an emotional iceberg of deeply rooted grief that loved ones of fallen troops must somehow get through. It doesn’t go away. I still feel it after several decades. As I finish typing this, my eyes are trying to see through a wall of flowing water, a stark reminder that learning to live without our loved ones is not the same as forgetting them. As long as we live, we don’t forget†¦ EVER! We possess the most powerful and dedicated military in the world. We’re deeply indebted to all currently serving as well as to all that have had their lives taken from them in the battle to keep us strong and free—I’ve never met anyone eagerly awaiting the chance to â€Å"GIVE† their lives. I certainly know that I wasnt. But, with the same level of fervor,Show MoreRelatedA Day Is A Special Holiday For Those Who ve Lost A Soldier921 Words   |  4 PagesMemorial Day is a special holiday for those who’ve lost a loved one in military service. For me, the holiday is two-fold. Yes, I remember the passing of my military dad, , but it’s also the day I remember all the best things about my father. It’s when I celebrate Father’s Day. My father was always proud to be a soldier. Sure, he would grumble about Army politics or how the service caused him to have bad knees and feet. Yet. he was good at being a solider. This was ironic because he did not chooseRead MoreCoping With Chaos Of A Storm1803 Words   |  8 Pagesaromatherapy candle, a back rub and a hot yoga session. There are times - and if they haven’t happened yet, they will - when your work lives will be wrought with chaos and you have to figure out how to cope with crisis or disaster. For me, it was Memorial Day weekend 2015. This is my story, and these are my tips for finding your peace in a storm. My Storm Back in May 2015 I was four month into my new position as a communication director for a central Texas town when I came down with a terrible caseRead MoreThe 9 / 11 Memorial And Museum900 Words   |  4 PagesThe 9/11 memorial and museum in New York City, is one of the most brilliant, exquisite, and complicated memorials ever made. Even though the memorial sets out to commemorate the awful event that affected not only the people killed in the event but also all their friends and family members that were affected, the memorial does a great job to achieve that goal, but even still there is still some controversies surrounding the memorial. The Most prevalent controversy is with the names on the walls aroundRead MorePreserving Memory : The Struggle For Creating America s Holocaust Museum871 Words   |  4 PagesMuseum gives the reader an extensive overview in the development of the Holocaust Memorial Museum that is located in Washington D.C. In this edition of the book, Linenthal writ es a preface. In his opening preface, Linenthal discusses the importance of teaching the Holocaust. He writes about how over time, those in power saw it necessary for there to be a national memorial. Linenthal mentions how some thought that a memorial dedicated just to the Holocaust would cause people to ignore the rich historyRead MoreThe Poem Facing It By Yusef Komunyakaa744 Words   |  3 Pagesvisiting the Vietnam veteran’s memorial for the very first time. The author describes the emotional impact the visit has on him. The author uses lines such as â€Å"I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears.† (Komunyakaa, 1947, line 3-4) and â€Å"I’m stone. I’m flesh† (Komunyakaa, 1947, line 5) to drive home the emotion and deep feelings in the poem. Throughout the poem the author utilizes personification to add to the effect and tone of the poem as well. The author talks about the memorials stone as if it were aliveRead MoreCulture and Grief1667 Wo rds   |  7 Pagesfear is usually missing in the affective mnemonics of memorial sites, which, after all, are signifiers of some of the most horrific violence in human history? Do memorials dedicated to these attacks bring us together in terms of understanding, or is it just continual collective grief? This paper will cover the global complexity of the 9/11 attacks, the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park, NJ, and factors and theories that memorials do influence a sense of complexity. The ground of publicRead MoreThe World Trade Center Memorial1304 Words   |  6 PagesWorld Trade Center Memorial The World Trade Center Memorial commemorates the September 11, 2001,attacks and the bombing that occurred at the World Trade Center in 1993. The memorial can be found at the former location of the Twin Towers in New York. These fountains that rest in the footprints of the towers are a powerful reminders of our nations history and all the lives that were lost that day. This memorial is ultimately successful because it evokes emotion, whether that be sadness or possiblyRead MoreHistorical Memory Of The Memorial1525 Words   |  7 PagesSince the opening of the Emancipation Memorial in 1876, there has always been controversy regarding the accuracy of the message that the monument provides to its viewers. The Emancipation Memorial has become an example of the criticisms that many warped monuments face today, such as heroification. In order to have an effective monument, Loewen believes that the monument needs to be honest in the story that it shows, which includes not omitting any im portant figures, no racism, and no glorificationRead MoreThe Poem Facing It By Yusef Komunyakaa1077 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Vietnam veteran’s memorial for the very first time. The author describes the emotional impact the visit has on him. The author uses lines such as â€Å"I said I wouldn’t, dammit: No tears.† (Komunyakaa, 1947, line 3-4) and â€Å"I’m stone. I’m flesh† (Komunyakaa, 1947, line 5) to drive home the emotion and deep feelings in the poem. Throughout the poem the author utilizes personification to add to the effect and the tone of the poem as well. The author talks about the memorials stone as if it were aliveRead MoreAnalysis : The 9 / 11 Memorial 1381 Words   |  6 Pagesthe scene as we walked up to the 9/11 memorial. The first sight that is visible in the area as we approach the exhibit is a small, antique church. In a way, this church symbolizes God’s presence in the crowd of people taking in the scenery. Th is moment in time, my view of life was changed as I realized the phenomenal event that we recognize with a moment of silence every year is so much bigger than I thought. It’s not until a person explores the 9/11 memorial that they fully understand the sorrow