Metaphor Assignment Essay Example for Free

Metaphor Assignment Essay Image by Josiah McElheny This pieced together sculpture by Josiah McElheny is like one of the mother stars which can be found in the galaxy. At first glance, the sculpture seems to be one of those science apparatuses which generate electricity. But on closer scrutiny, the sculpture just becomes one of those well-thought of displays found in stores or malls which seeks to call for the busy shoppers’ attention but which it fails to do so since the sculpture is just a m eregiant mass of spikes and lights put together meant to look like a star. Stars are meant to be admired at night and are meant to exhibit some form of magical and mystical light; however, this particular man-created star is admired because of its ability to be complicated in its simplicity. It exhibits magic and mystic in its ability to be menacing in its beauty. 2. Image by Marek Petryk – This painting by Marek Petryk is like a confusing and unsolvable puzzle—there seems to be no beginning and no end to its construction as if there was no concrete point in its creation. Though the colours are beautifully vivid that reminds a person of a teenager’s room or retro art or even of summer vacations spent by the beach, the painting does not create a solid and specific object. The painting can be anything from a cabinet door that was mercilessly experimented on by an artist or it can be anything that was created by an innocent child who drew an object out of sheer boredom or a complicated painter who aims to confuse people with his artworks that have some form of profound meaning hidden beneath its depths. 3. Image by Unknown Photographer – This last image which was found as a background of a website is a photograph that is like the gateways of heaven. Clouds with all its fluffiness would sometimes be associated with cotton candy, plain white cotton or a sheep’s wool but because this photo captures such breathtaking beauty, it can only be likened to the gates of Paradise itself or even to the homes of the Olympiads that interferes with the lives of mankind. But there is also a darker force in the photo which is the navy blue colour gathering in the background—and those are the forces of some evil Titans that seek to disrupt Zeus and his family. While this may be a farfetched interpretation to a mere photography of clouds amongst clear blue skies, it is more enjoyable and interesting than likening it to mere cotton or wool.

The Private Choice Essays -- Education Schooling Essays

The Private Choice Think of all the notable people you may consider as highly educated. If you look deep enough, chances are you can find out about their education, which is often private. Why do some people prefer a private education? What even classifies as a private school? One definition given by the Encyclopedia of American Education is â€Å"in modern American education, any school not operated or directly funded by a governmental agency† (793); these include religious, non-sectarian, military, postgraduate, and special education schools. Private Education is beneficial because it provides specialized programs, presents higher standards, includes more involvement of the parents or guardians, and may soon be available to more people through government vouchers. Private institutions are wonderful for those pursuing a specific field of education. A child who has a goal of becoming a scientist will learn more about that career choice at a school that emphasizes science than if they were to only take the classes offered through their local high school. There is only so much that can be taught in the public setting that still maintains the attention of the majority of the students in the class. In his book Choosing Equality, Joseph H. Viteritti states that â€Å"private school curricula offer students a narrower range of educational options and are more focused on academic, as opposed to vocational, subjects† (81). With the help of the more concentrated learning in a specific area, the students may even get through school faster and on to better things. I think that it is a great option for those who do not want to waste their time doing things in school that they deem meaningless. In addition, some privat... ...eir autonomy†¦[and] are unlikely to participate in a voucher program that would require them to meet accountability standards in [certain] areas† (Liberator 2). These opposing views are primarily why the issue is still in debate. Whether you were privately educated or attended a public school, you still were able to obtain an education. Private schools often offer opportunities that you may not be able to find in every public school. Some individuals are quite satisfied with their local public school and find nothing wrong with their child being taught there. For those who can afford it (unless the voucher option ever passes), they choose to take advantage of everything private institutions have to offer, from a better quality staff and atmosphere to more in-depth studies to more satisfaction on the parents’ part. It is all a matter of personal choice.

Not an Ayn Rand Essay

The fiction novel, The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand is based off of her philosophy of Objectivism. Ayn Rand defines and separates her philosophy of Objectivism into four different and distinct parts. The first part Ayn Rand explains is Metaphysics. Metaphysics is an objective reality where you only accept facts as reality and not fantasies or desires. The next part of Objectivism is Epistemology, which is reasoning by perceiving reality by using knowledge or facts as your guide. The third part is Ethics and self-interest.The final part of Objectivism is laissez-faire capitalism, which is equal trade while the government acts as a police force only. The third part of Objectivism, Ethics and Self-Interest, is explained by Ayn Rand as â€Å"Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life. † – Ayn Rand.This quote is best represented as Individualism in Objectivism. Ayn Rand’s book, The Fountainhead, compares the ideals of individuals in society and shows how the individualists act differently and, by the end, become identified and looked upon as good when they stick to their own ideals. Howard Roark is created as the protagonist of The Fountainhead. Roark is also the best representation of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism. Lois Cook is introduced into the book by asking Peter Keating to build an ugly house to her satisfaction, saying â€Å"Let’s be gods.Let’s be ugly† (Cook, 241) . Both Howard Roark and Lois Cook both make their own pursuit for self-interest and to their own happiness as the highest moral purpose of their lives. Even though Lois Cook can be seen as an individual, her self-interests can be seen as immoral, which can be concluded that Lois is not an In dividualist, while Howard Roark is best fit as an individualist in the eyes of Ayn Rand. When we look into the story The Fountainhead, we encounter the characteristics that both Howard Roark and Lois Cook portray.When Ayn Rand wrote The Fountainhead, she intended to keep the syntax simple so readers could get an understanding of Objectivism and individualism. We can clearly see that the protagonist, Howard Roark, is portrayed as an objectivist and individualist, who also rejects the worst of social standards, while Lois Cook is seen as a radical, who objects the best of social standards. When we go even further into The Fountainhead, we discover that Howard Roark loves his type of modernistic design in architecture rather than referring to the older and more identifiable types of architecture from history, such as Greek or Roman architecture.Because he prefers to modernize his own designs, he is suspended from Stanton’s institute of technology and has been removed from severa l jobs. Roark was offered a job to build a new bank, but he won’t change any of his own designs. The worst part about Howard Roark’s out of luck situation is that his designs are brilliant. Even Peter Keating refers to Howard Roark in needs of assistance, because Howard Roark’s designs are wonderful and unique to the eyes of people.Even then, when Howard Roark isn’t given credit for designing the buildings, credit was all given to Keating, who didn’t have enough faith for himself to, at the least, attempt to create his own architectural designs. While we continue to look at Howard Roark, we can see that while Ayn Rand created Howard Roark, he stays as his own without sacrificing or abandoning his own beliefs to gain himself a higher status in society, and Roark only pursues his own self-interests to bring himself to his highest moral purpose.Howard Roark has his own individual goals that others would see as foolish and stupid, while he stayed as an individual with his own ideals and succeeded. These are what Ayn Rand would consider individualized, because Howard Roark attempts to make a change within society and has his own values, while society wishes to remain the same and put down others who don’t follow what they believe in. Howard Roark seeks to create, not just his original designs and building, but also a sense of originality.Henry Cameron, Howard Roark’s inspiration, once told him that unless he changed his ideals of architecture, he would never make it big in the business. Howard Roark denied what he said anyways, saying that he wishes to continue with his own work. Even when he got hired by Francon & Heyer, Howard Roark continued to stick with his own modernistic designs over conforming on older architectural designs. Howard Roark even made his own architecture and building firm which was built on his own modern beliefs and ideals. Further on in the book, Howard Roark continued to stay with his own ide als and beliefs when he went to court twice.During the first trial, he was sued for the construction of a building, which was plotted by Ellsworth Toohey. Toohey did this so he could eliminate the innovative Howard Roark from the architect business, which was almost successful. Roark was found guilty and had to shut down his architect firm, but still had faith in his own ideals. The second trial was on the action of Howard Roark destroying the Cortlandt homes project, after his plans being changed. During the trial, Howard Roark made some statements about selfishness and about remaining individual with oneself.Howard Roark goes on about people who create and how they suffer from the corruptness of societies, which is in reference to Peter Keating when he asked Roark for help all of the times Keating asked Roark for help on certain designs, which made Keating famous. Howard Roark was later found not guilty and won the trial Howard Roark ended up marrying Dominique Francon after becau se he was confident with his own individual ideas while Peter Keating wasn’t able to be individual. Howard Roark is definitely created as an individualist by Ayn Rand, because he prevails through all of the situations he encounters with his own ideals with him.Whether or not the outcomes for Howard Roark were good or bad, he never changed his ideals or beliefs in every situation, making him an individualist. While Howard Roark is fully known to be an individualist, Lois Cook has a sense of individualism, but is too radical and immoral to be classified as an individualist. As we look into The Fountainhead, Cook has shown herself against most of the social norms. Even though Howard Roark doesn’t follow social standards, Lois Cook goes to the immoral extremes of denying good hygiene and conditions of living areas.She doesn’t think about the corrupt power of higher authorities or any of the other enormously poor social problems. The reason that Ayn Rand shows her re aders Lois Cook was to show a person who attempted individualism, but did not fully become individual. Lois Cook has characteristics like an individualist but isn’t exactly one. Lois Cook wants to be someone original, different, an individual, but her ideals are extreme and immoral. Is it not very easy to argue that poor hygiene is a good idea. It also isn’t easy to argue that anyone could enjoy poorly designed buildings.It is pointed out obviously that Lois Cook is radically immoral and isn’t an individual. Some might suggest that Lois Cook is a person who creates. Others might argue that her nonconformity makes her and individualist still. But, her ideals could be best organized as nihilistic. Nihilism is a want to destroy and rejection of morals. Lois Cook could be best compared with Ellsworth Toohey, who also wanted to destroy people’s reputations, people such as Howard Roark in the architectural business. Ayn Rand explained being individual also mean t to have morals.Lois Cook didn’t have many morals when she was introduced into the book for the short period of time, so she couldn’t be classified as an individualist under the ideals of objectivism and individualism. Ayn Rand intentionally placed Lois Cook in The Fountainhead in order for the readers to see a difference of characteristics between Individualism and Lois Cook. We can conclude from this that Lois Cook was merely an example of how Individualism is misinterpreted by the minds of people who haven’t really thought about the ideals of individualism or beliefs of objectivism.In conclusion, Howard Roark is indeed an individualist, while Lois Cook is not an individualist. Howard Roark shows the qualities and characteristics that Ayn Rand defines as an individualist. While Lois Cook shows some characteristics of being an individualist, her nihilistic and immoral ideals show that she cannot be an individualist and will never be with her ideals if she cont inues to not accept facts that there are some social norms that are needed for man’s survival and individualism.

Why Many Americans Fail to Vote in Elections

Why dont more people  vote? Lets ask them. The California Voter Foundation (CVF) has released the results of a statewide survey on the attitudes of infrequent voters and citizens eligible to vote but not registered. The first-of-its-kind survey sheds new light on the incentives and barriers to voting, along with the sources of information that influence people when they do vote. Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Since the 1980s voter turnout has been decreasing steadily in the United States, as well as most other democratic countries worldwide. Political scientists generally attribute falling voter turnout to a combination of disillusionment, indifference, or a sense of futility – the feeling that an individual’s vote will not make a difference.   â€Å"For election officials and others working to maximize voter participation, these survey results provide clear direction on the messages most likely to get infrequent voters to participate in the upcoming election, and on the messages that will motivate more nonvoters to register,† stated the CVF, noting that there are 6.4 million Californians who are eligible but unregistered to vote. It Just Takes Too Long â€Å"Too long† is in the eye of the  waiter. Some people will stand in line for two days to buy the latest, greatest cell phone or concert tickets. But many of the same people will not wait 10 minutes to exercise their right to choose their government leaders. Besides, a 2014 GAO report suggests it doesn’t really take â€Å"too long† to vote. Just Too Busy The survey found that 28% of infrequent voters and 23% of those unregistered said they do not vote or do not register to vote because they are too busy. â€Å"This tells us that many Californians may benefit from more information about the time-saving advantages of early voting and voting by absentee ballot,† the CVF  said. Voter registration forms are available in post offices, libraries and the  Department of Motor Vehicle  offices in most states. The CVF said the survey’s findings might also benefit those campaigns trying to reach infrequent and new voters in advance of the election. The perception that politicians are controlled by special interests is widely shared among two-thirds of the survey’s respondents and represents a significant barrier to voter participation. A feeling that candidates don’t really speak to them was cited as the second leading reason why infrequent voters and nonvoters do not vote. Even Non-Voters Say Voting is Important Still, 93% of infrequent voters agreed that voting is an important part of being a good citizen and 81% of nonvoters agreed it is an important way to voice their opinions on issues that affect their families and communities. â€Å"Civic duty and self-expression provide strong incentives to get potential voters to the polls, despite pervasive cynicism about the influence of special interests,† said the organization. Family and Friends Encourage Others to Vote The survey found that family and friends influence how infrequent voters decide to vote as much as daily newspapers and TV news. Among infrequent voters, 65 percent said conversations with their families and local newspapers were influential sources of information when it comes to making voting decisions. Network TV news rated as influential among 64%, followed by cable TV news at 60%, and conversations with friends at 59%. For more than half of the infrequent voters surveyed, phone calls and door-to-door contact by political campaigns are not influential sources of information when deciding how to vote. The survey also found that family upbringing plays a strong role in determining voting habits as adults. 51% of nonvoters surveyed said they grew up in families that did not often discuss political issues and candidates. Who are the Non-Voters? The survey found that nonvoters are disproportionately young, single, less educated and more likely to be of an ethnic minority than infrequent and frequent voters. 40% of nonvoters are under 30 years old, compared to 29% of infrequent voters and 14% of frequent voters. Infrequent voters are much more likely to be married than nonvoters, with 50% of infrequent voters married compared to only 34% of nonvoters. 76% of nonvoters have less than a college degree, compared to 61% of infrequent voters and 50% of frequent voters. Among nonvoters, 54% are white or Caucasian compared to 60% of infrequent voters and 70% of frequent voters. Voter Turnout in 2018 Soared   On a positive note, voter turnout in November 2018 reached the highest level of any midterm election in over a century. According to the non-partisan, non-profit United States Elections Project, 49.3% of all eligible voters cast more than 116 million ballots nationwide. It was the best turnout since 1914 when 50.4% voted and surpassed the previous high turnout of 48.7% in 1966.   Better yet, 2018 reversed a troubling downward turnout trend. Turnout in the 2010 midterms was 41.8% before dropping to a miserable 36.7% in 2014—the lowest since 1942.   Of course, voter turnout in midterm elections will always lag far behind that of presidential election years. For example, in 2012, when President Obama was elected to his second term, the turnout was 58.6%. Turnout then jumped to 60.1% in 2016, when Republican Donald Trump defied the polls to be elected president over Democrat Hillary Clinton after an especially contentious campaign.