Blue Ocean Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Blue Ocean Report - Essay Example This shall be done by decimating the trade-off between the parameters of differentiation and low cost. This shall be done to help in the alignment of values of the product, as well as the proposition for profits. This book is a creation of a study, which is decade old. It is based on the analysis of a repository of moves that is based over thirty industries: and spread over a large period of over one hundred and twenty years (the period ranges from 1880 to 2000). There is a mixture of respective case studies, with the book offering a huge range of approaches which are theoretical in nature: and also a host of practical tools for capitalizing on all the growth opportunities. This shall play a very important role in the capture of market spaces which are uncontested and also present avenues for viable profit. The authors argue that the companies in coming years cannot survive in the market space by engaging in competition with each other, but by developing â€Å"blue oceans†. Th e book has been a best seller, having sold more than a million copies in the first year of its publication. It is also in the process of being published in the almost thirty nine languages. ANALYSIS    There   is a way of defining the concepts that form a part of the book. The red and the blue words that are used, represent the position of the market. The red oceans are representative of all the markets that are in existence today. The boundary of these organizations and the functioning is specified. The competition is also defined in these markets for all the companies. The companies are in a constant struggle to perform better than their competitors. This means that the initial services that define the nature of the market and competition become blurred. This leads to a heightened sense of competition among all the players. This has an impact on the products or services, rendering them niche. So, as a result, the firms fight fiercely with each other; eating away into the bound aries and profits of one another (Cohen and Eimicke, 1995). This bloodies the â€Å"ocean†, a metaphor for the marketplace; leading eventually to the term as the â€Å"red ocean†. The â€Å"blue ocean† is indicative of the industries that are not existence at the current point of time. These are the market spaces which are not touched by any kind of competition from the markets. There is a creation of newer demand, rather than a fight over the market space. There is a lot of opportunity for a growth vector in the market. In the oceans that are â€Å"blue†, the rules present as a part of the game have to be set and defined. The â€Å"blue† serves as an analogy for describing the potential of the market spaces that have not been explored by any of the players in existence. The main point that governs the Blue Ocean strategy is the innovation in value among the companies. There is the creation of value innovation, when any company achieves additional value for the buyer as well as the company. The rise in the value of innovation should have a positive impact on the market and raise the value of the market players. On the contrary, the values that are not deemed as being important for the market: would be reduced as a result of the new creation of value. The authors are critical of the idea that the successful players either operate on low cost; or are players that play in niche markets. There is a proposition to find value which is independent of the conventional types of market segmentation. It should also offer a

Hand Hygiene in Surgery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Hand Hygiene in Surgery - Essay Example It is obvious that more washing and scrubbing damage ecology and health of the skin and harm resistance of the skin flora, rather than reducing the risk of harbouring and transmitting infectious agents. Taking into account the increase in vulnerable patient population, effort should be made to identify proper antiseptic products that provide adequate protection from transmission of infecting agents, at the same time that does not damage skin health. Recent studies propose use of alcohol-based hand rinses as an alternative to detergent-based antiseptic products, because they have 'rapid and broad-spectrum activity, excellent microbicidal characteristics, and lack of potential for emergence of resistance' as well as require no washing or drying. In addition, alcohol-based formulations are found to be superior to antiseptic detergents for rapid microbial killing potential and addition of appropriate moisturizers make it milder and skin friendly. Extensive studies of use of antimicrobial soaps and skin care products in skin hygiene and role of hand-washing in reducing rates of infection abound in number, whereas studies to assess benefits in reducing transmission of infection without added risk or cost of using antimicrobial soaps and to compare efficacy of aqueous alcohol based preparations over plain or antimicrobial soap and water are still in nascent stage. Since outbreaks of Surgical Sight Infections are linked with transmission of micro-organisms from surgical personnel to patients, policies and guidelines for strict adherence to the principles of asepsis by all surgical workers is paramount in preventing surgical site infections. Background: Surgery is aimed to eliminate suffering and prolong life and the principles of antisepses introduced by Joseph Lister in the late 1860s helped reduce 'post operative infectious morbidity'. Healthcare delivery system in the United States has undergone dramatic changes recently with the opening up avenues for long-term care, home-care, and managed-care industries, leading to decrease in number of acute-care facilities. Whereas, there is increase in hospital acquired infections proportionate with the increase of patients requiring intensive care in acute-care facilities, and the number of surgical procedures performed in outpatient settings or surgical centres. "Because of the severely ill and immunocompromised populations in these settings, prevention of infections and other adverse events is a major component of providing quality care." (Emerging Infectious Diseases 173). Despite improved operating room ventilation, sterilization methods, barriers, surgical technique, and availability of antimicrobial prophylaxis Surgical Sight Infection (SSI) is the most common nosocomial infection causing morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients all over the world. Hospitals are breeding ground for pathogens and spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, because of inefficient hand hygiene by hospital personnel and frequency of bacterial carriage by

The Past And Present Of Immigration

The Past And Present Of Immigration Everyday news outlets report on topics and trends that correlate to our history. Following these news outlets gives a better understanding of these trends in todays America. This paper will look at these trends from our past and compare is to the present condition. It will analyze differing viewpoints on the topic, and it will explain the change over time. The world hears of America as the land of opportunity. Because of this, millions of people flock to the US each year. Some come through our borders legally, eventually becoming neutralized citizens. Some come here as tourists or students and decide to stay when their visas expire. Others are so desperate to better their lives they paddle onto our shores in bathtubs and homemade rafts. People want to get here in any way they can. This paper will specifically analyze two major migrations of people: the Irish from the 19th century and the current Mexican migration. In 1845 Ireland experienced the greatest potato famine up to that date. The source of food wiped away from the population, this event catalyzed a mass migration. Five weary years of undependable crops plighted the country, throwing the lowly peasant class into starvation. All hope gone, survivors only wished to flee. The only way out was emigration. Starving families could not pay landlords and had nowhere else to turn except for America. America, the land of opportunity. Irish immigration into America was already a rising trend. However, in the 1940s the number of immigrants skyrocketed. Nearly 2 million Irish came into the country in that decade. The flow increased for five years. Slowly, the first immigrants saved the money to bring family over the Atlantic, increasing the number of immigrants exponentially. There began a slight decline for ten years after 1855 until 1865. Nonetheless, small groups of families still continued to arrive after the Civil War. Between 1820 and 1880 nearly 3.5 Irish men immigrated to the United States. Emigrating to the United States was not an easy feet, and it was not the easy life some had expected. However, it did offer a better environment than the barren old country. Poor refugees arrived with nothing. They had little to no resources to start a farm or business and had a grueling time providing for the family at all. Very few immigrants were put into a position that allowed them to make their own decisions on their way of living at all. Fortunately for them, the expansion of the American economy created heavy demands for muscle grunt. The great canals, which were the first links in the national transportation system were still being dug in the 1820s and 1830s, and in the time between 1830 and 1880, thousands of miles of rail were being laid. With no bulldozers existing at the time, the pick and the shovel were the only earth-moving equipment at the time. And the Irish laborers were the mainstay of the construction gangs that did this grueling work. In towns along the sites of work, groups of Irish formed their small communities to live in. By the middle of the nineteenth century, American cities began to rapidly expand and began to develop an infrastructure and needed personnel to run these cities. This is the Irishs first break in America. Irish men filled the ranks of citys police force and firemen. The Irish all almost monopolized these jobs as soon as they were created. Irish workmen not only began laying the horse car and streetcar tracks, but were some of the first drivers and conductors. The first generations worked largely at unskilled and semiskilled occupations, but their children found themselves working at increasingly skilled trades. By the turn of the century, Irish made up nearly a third of plumbers, steamfitters, and boilermakers. Irishmen soon found themselves being given positions as managers as unskilled laborers began coming from other areas of Europe. While immigrants can change the shape of a culture, as seen with the Irish migration, those same immigrants are benificial to industrial growth. That same idea also holds true for Mexican immigrants. Now this research paper will take a look into the Mexican migration that this country is witnessing now. It will begin with a historical background. Fifty-five thousand Mexican workers immigrated to the United States between the years 1850 and 1880 to become field hands in newly won regions of the US that had been Mexico a few years previous. This is the time period in which commercial agriculture, the mining industry, light industry and the railroad all became dependant on the Mexican laborer. Needless to say, working conditions and salaries of the Mexicans were poor. After the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the new Mexican government was not able to improve the lives of its citizens. Soon after this event became a crisis, the fields of Mexico harvested increasingly smaller bounties and employment soon became hard to come by. Much like his Irish counterpart, Mexicans had to move to survive. World War I also stoked the fire of Mexican immigration. Mexican workers worked well in industry and service professions, working as machinists, mechanics, painters and plumbers. These years fostered employment opportunities for Mexicans because much of the existing U.S. labor force was across the Atlantic fighting in France for the Allies. Entrepreneurs came to Mexico searching for workers who could fill jobs in the railway and agriculture industries of the United States. Mexican workers complaints about the abuse of their labor rights eventually led the Mexican government to action. Led by Venustiano Carranza in 1920, the Mexican government composed a model contract that guaranteed Mexican workers certain rights named in the Mexican Political Constitution. The contract demanded that U.S. ranchers allow workers to bring their families along during the period of the contract. No worker was allowed to leave for the United States without a contract, signed by an immigration official, which stated the rate of pay, work schedule, place of employment and other similar conditions. Thus, this became the first de facto Bracero Program between the two countries. In 1924, the U.S. Border Patrol was created, an event which would have a significant impact on the lives of Mexican workers. Though the public did not immediately view Mexicans as illegal aliens, the law now stated that undocumented workers were fugitives. With the advent of the Border Patrol, the definition illegal alien is born, and many Mexican citizens north of the border were subject to much suspicion. The Mexican work force was critical in developing the economy and prosperity of the United States. The Mexican workers in numerous accounts were regarded as strong and efficient. As well, they were willing to work for low wages, in working conditions that were questionably humane. Another measure of control was imposed on the Mexican immigrant workers during the depression: visas were denied to all Mexicans who failed to prove they had secure employment in the United States. The Mexicans who were deported under this act were warned that if they came back to the United States, they would be considered outlaws. It seemed whenever the United States found a reason to close the door on Mexican immigration, a historic event would force them to reopen that door. Such was the case when the United States entered World War II. In 1942, the United States was heading to war with the fascist powers of Europe. Labor was siphoned from all areas of United States industry and poured into those which supported the war efforts. Also in that year, the United States signed the Bracero Treaty which reopened the floodgates for legal immigration of Mexican laborers. Between the period of 1942 and 1964, millions of Mexicans were imported into the U.S. as braceros under the Bracero Program to work temporarily on contract to United States growers and ranchers. Under the Bracero Program, more than 4 million Mexican farm workers came to work the fields of the United States. Impoverished Mexicans fled their rural communities and traveled north to work as braceros. It was mainly by the Mexican hand that America became the most lush agricultural center in the world. The braceros were principally experienced farm workers who hailed from regions such as Coahuila, la Comarca Lagunera, and other crucial agricultural regions in Mexico. They left their own lands and families chasing a rumor of economic boom in the United States. The Bracero Program contracts were controlled by independent farmer associations and the Farm Bureau, and were written in English, and many braceros would sign them without understanding the rights they were giving away nor the terms of the employment. The braceros were allowed to return to their native lands only in case of emergency, and required written permission from their employer. When the contracts expired, the braceros were mandated to hand over their permits and return to Mexico. The braceros in the United States were busy thinning sugar beets, picking cucumbers and tomatoes and weeding and picking cotton. At the end of World War II, Mexican workers were ousted from their jobs by workers coming out of wartime industries and by returning servicemen. By 1947, the Emergency Farm Labor Service was working on decreasing the amount of Mexican labor imported. By the 1960s, an overflow of illegal agricultural workers along with the invention of the mechanical cotton harvester, diminished the practicality and appeal of the bracero program. These events, added to the gross humanitarian violations of bracero employers, brought the program to an end in 1964. Once we step back from our emotional opinions, we should see that the Mexican migration is much like the Irish migration. We can choose to embrace that, or we can choose to fight it. Either way it will be very hard to stop if it can be stopped at all. But we must ask ourselves a simple question. Why stop it? America was founded on people like these, struggling to survive. They came and made America what it is. The Irish came and transformed America. Why shouldnt we allow these immigrants to do the same (if they enter legally of course)? Is our pride getting in the way of progress?

5 Paragragh Essay: The Catcher In The Rye :: essays research papers

From the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the youthful protagonist Holden Caufield, employs the word â€Å"phony† to describe the behavior of a number of characters including Mr. Spencer and Ossenburger, however it is not them who areâ€Å"phony†, it is the young main character. First, Mr. Spencer, Holden’s ex- history teacher, is not described as phony, but according to the adolescent, his choice of words are. Secondly, according to our main character, Ossenburger is not the generous philanthropist he portrays himself to be, but rather a greedy undertaker. Lastly, the protagonist could quite possibly be the authentic phony. All in all, the main character’s use to describe many other characters in the book is with the single word phony, when in fact the word phony would be the most probable word to describe the lead character. Illustrating Mr. Spencer as phony because of his vocabulary, is when Holden leaves Pencey Prep permanently, and goes to say good-bye to the ex-history teacher. The depicted fake tells the ex-Pencey student â€Å"I had the privilege of meeting your mother and dad when they had their little chat with Dr. Thurmer some weeks ago. They’re grand people†. The ex-Pencey student immediately impugns Mr. Spencer’s use of the word â€Å"grand†, and tells the reader: â€Å"Grand. There’s a word I hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I heard it.† To sum up, Holden disgusts Mr. Spencer’s utilization of the word â€Å"grand† and thinks it is fraudulent. Also, Caufield, describes Ossenbuger as phony because of what Holden perceived he did for a living. The wing where the central character lived at Pencey was called the â€Å"Ossenbuger Memorial Wing† named after a men who went to Pencey and later donated a substantial amount of money to the school. Ossenburger makes this income by the â€Å"business of undertaking†. Next, according to our youthful character, Ossenburger is phony because â€Å"he probably just shoves the dead bodies in a bag and throws them in the river†. As a result, Caufield feels that Ossenburger is phony because of his profession in undertaking. While observing the discription of many other characters in the novel as phony, it is safe to say that the phony character is indeed the protagonist. For example, the false character when lying to Mr. Spencer about going to the gym to clear everything out before leaving, is Holden. Once again we see this falsehood, when he tries to hit on some women in a bar, despite thinking the girls are not particularly extraordinary women.

Problem & Solution in Time Management Essay

Time management is a way in which a person can set a diurnal schedule and keep their events and dates in order, and accomplished in a timely fashion.   The daily schedule of any person who has multiple responsibilities is very tight. Choices of scheduling can be dominated by scholastics, family, personal time, and career responsibilities.   With a limited number of hours in each week, a person must make due how one can as Tracy states, Perhaps the greatest single problem that people have today is â€Å"time poverty.† Working people have too much to do and too little time for their personal lives. Most people feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and activities, and the harder they work, the further behind they feel. This sense of being on a never-ending treadmill can cause you to fall into the reactive/responsive mode of living. Instead of clearly deciding what you want to do, you continually react to what is happening around you. Pretty soon you lose all sense of control. You feel that your life is running you, rather than you running your life (Tracy paragraph one). Without premeditation and a set schedule that should be adhered to every day procrastination can be the daunting factor in a time frame reference.   Once the framework of a schedule is procured it must be adhered to not only every day but also every week.   Thus a personal daily schedule can be obtained and followed, and a diurnal routine can be established.   Time enough for everyday tasks must be included in such a routine. A personal schedule must be similar each day so that a routine can become habit.   Such a routine should consist of personal hygiene in the morning and before going to bed, regular meals and the entire days obligations which can include exercise, school, work or family events, not to forget personal time, and time for reflection (Time Management Guide paragraph five). Managing time can also be difficult when the weekend is considered a different avenue for scheduling than are the weekdays.   It is during this time that leisure and relaxation are in order unless a previous commitment to a job is required.   Time management on the weekends is very important because it allows for a person to unwind from physical and emotional stresses of the week. Daily routines, that is, time management, should maximize a person’s ability to achieve daily success out of necessity.   The efficacy of a daily schedule and adhering to that schedule can limit unwarranted breaks and wasted time such as back and forth trips to town when one trip is all that should be needed.   Also, on the note of procrastination, a daily schedule allows a person to more effectively control where they place their time and gives certain allotted amounts of time to specific tasks such as cooking, tv watching, or internet use.   The obligations of life in general can sometimes become daunting, but with problem time management, the day’s priorities are accomplished and the next day’s priorities are sure to follow suit (Pavlina paragraph two). Due to procrastination being such a difficult thing to overcome, managing time wisely doesn’t only allow for work to be accomplished but also sets aside time for rumination, family, and this in turn lowers a person’s stress rate because they won’t feel as though they are spreading their selves thin and can rest at the end of the day because that day’s tasks were accomplished. People would rather spend their time away from work or academics leisurely and time management allows them to do this, as Torres (2005) states in In Good Time, â€Å"To get any system to succeed, you’ll have to make an effort–whether it’s organizing your incoming e-mails and voice mails or clearing out your inbox into to-do files. All that takes undivided attention, notes Clark. He suggests using a bulk of time in the beginning of your day (say from 9:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.) to organize and plan your schedule. Let everyone in your office know you’re unavailable during that time. â€Å"After a while, when [people] see you’re really efficient, they’ll start respecting that [unavailable time window].†Ã¢â‚¬  (Torres) Everyone probably would like to spend less time at work; especially jobs which require overtime and work at home projects.   Although in such jobs a person is rewarded monetarily, they are also compromising their personal time.   Unrealistic job goals such as working eighty hours in one week don’t bode well for personal venues and family time.   Thus a set scheduled time allowable for after hours work would greatly benefit a person.    The goal in managing time is not only to permit for work but also to know when too much work is being done, as Torres states, â€Å"Divide your list into action items by order of importance and the time it’ll take to complete each task, says Clark. If you look at something in your e-mail inbox, ask yourself, â€Å"Can I complete this task in two minutes?† If so, do it, because it will take you longer than two minutes to file it. If not, take that time to file it and put it on your calendar.† (Torres) Managing time wisely can lead to a more fulfilling lifestyle; such aspects of this lifestyle include more time to devout to ones health such as working out, and nutritional watch.   The ability to attend a gym regularly is very much dependent on managing time.   Certain set dates must be put into practice and these in turn must be considered in respect to other pressing obligations, as Tracy states, Personal time management begins with you. It begins with your thinking through what is really important to you in life. And it only makes sense if you organize it around specific things that you want to accomplish. You need to set goals in three major areas of your life. First, you need family and personal goals. These are the reasons why you get up in the morning, why you work hard and upgrade your skills, why you worry about money and sometimes feel frustrated by the demands on your time. (Tracy paragraph six). A strong factor in time management is the ability of a person to dedicate a half hour to one hour segments to working out, and this can only be done through proper time management as Kallen (1999) states in Just Say Now,   â€Å"This kind of procrastination is no big deal if it happens only once in a while – but if it becomes a regular occurrence, it can seriously interfere with your workout goals. How do you keep an occasional bout of laziness from gradually pulling you toward the outskirts of couch-potato-land? We asked procrastination experts for some timely advice on the matter. Put the strategies they describe to work, and do it now† (Kallan)   Kallen also states that , â€Å"Chronic procrastinators tend to have high levels of anxiety, and Worrying about YOur workouts will just add to the pressure.   When you dwell on the sessions you’ve missed, exercise can start to seem like an odious chore. Instead, concentrate on enjoying your next Workout more than the last. Think about the â€Å"high† you’ll get when endorphins flood Your body, or anticipate the feeling of accomplishment you’ll have when you’ve gotten one step closer to your goal.† (Kallen). The article Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is actually a synopsis of the book â€Å"Is About Time: The 6 Styles of Procrastination and How to Overcome Them† by Linda Sapadin, PhD.   The first style is dreamers.   These are people who live a dream world and want a pain-free life with no rules.   Their solution is to ground themselves in the present.   Worriers are procrastinators who fear risk or change.   They should focus on the possibilities of each new situation to overcome procrastination.   Defiers resent authority, albeit covertly.   They do not follow through with their promises, which gives them a sense of power.  Ã‚   The solution for them is to realize that true power lies in action (Sapadin).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Those procrastinators who create drama by waiting until the last minute are labeled crisis-makers.   They must increase their motivation thereby decreasing the emotional damage caused by waiting until the last minute in order to change.   Perfectionist are those who fear not measuring up, thus procrastinating is a way for them to put off judgment.   They should focus on the realistic and allow themselves to err occasionally and realize that life goes on.   Overdoers are procrastinators who try to do it all without any balance in their lives.   They need to learn to say no.   In summary, the article states to stop trying to do everything, but to do what you can. The article Putting An End to Putting it Off identifies underlying issues in procrastinating and gives steps in dealing with each one. The first source of procrastination is that of fear.   Becoming aware of this fear can help the procrastinator to dissolve it. Counteract the fear with remembrances of past successes.  Ã‚   Turn a weakness into a strength.   Another source is perfectionism. They fear they won’t measure up to their own standards. Perfectionists need to examine their values and recognize whose they are; their own or someone else’s, and to reset their goals accordingly.   Crisis making, yet another source, envelope those who thrive on deadlines and feel they can’t get motivated until the last minute.   They need to bring balance to their lives and increase their productivity and quality of work.   Another source of procrastination is expectation anxiety.  Ã‚     This person needs to accept themselves.   Overextending.   Those who overextend need to recognize what is most important and set goals.   They should under-promise and over-deliver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are steps one can take in overcoming procrastination once the source is recognized.   They should schedule tasks by prioritizing a list.   Do a task daily and then reward themselves.   Taking action is another step (Chapman paragraph one).   This can be accomplished by visualizing they are not a procrastinator.   They should do an unwanted task for a least ten minutes and then decide to continue or not.   Procrastinators do well to be held accountable to a friend when lagging on a project.   Journaling is also a useful tool.   Here one can stroke their own ego for accomplishments, record mistakes to learn from, and write one’s frustrations. The article Beating the Big Put-Off begins by defining procrastination as the epidemic that can even cause an early death because people put off seeing their doctor.   The author continues by offering strategies to combat procrastination.   First, a person must understand what is wrong with procrastination (i.e. it stunts professional and personal growth).   The author then goes on to say that a person should stop procrastinating immediately.   Don’t allow any excuses.   He quotes a Middle Eastern proverb â€Å"Do today what you want to postpone till tomorrow†.   (Parachin)   Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Realistic goal setting will bring more success than setting your sights too high.   One should also expect difficulties along the way as change is a challenge.  Ã‚   One must keep moving ahead.   Procrastinators need to prioritize responsibilities and objectives (Bates paragraph two).   Sharing their commitment to overcoming procrastination with a friend who will be supportive is a great aid. One should visualize their goals as completed. For this, the author gives a three-point plan: â€Å" visualize the steps needed to complete the task, see yourself carrying out those steps, and picture yourself with the end product in hand† (Parachin).   Rewarding themselves will help the procrastinator to continue.   The author concludes by stating that it is never too late to break the procrastination habit and a person will by happier by doing this.   Once procrastination is broken, and the once procrastinator follows these time management rules from dedicating segments to time to self, family, work, etc. then procrastination and not having time become problems in the past tense. Work Cited Bates, R.   Take Control of Your Day!.   Jewelers Circular Keystone.   September 2006.  Ã‚   Online.   Retrieved 23 November 2007.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3195/is_200609/ai_n18946809 Chapman, A.   Time Management Tips.   Business Balls.   2007. Online.   Retrieved 23  Ã‚  Ã‚   November 2007.   http://www.businessballs.com/time.htm Dominguez, L. R.   Putting an End to Putting Off.   HR Magazine.   1999. Heavey, B.   Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.   Men’s Health.   1997. Kallen, B.   Just Say Now. 1999.   Online.   Retrieved 23 November 2007.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Parachin, V.   Beating the Big Put-Off.   Listen: Hagerstown.   1998. Pavlina, S.   Time Management.   Steve Pavlina.   2006.   Online.   Retrieved 23 November  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2007.   http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/time-management.htm. Time Management Guide.   Personal Time Management Guide.   Online.   Retrieved   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   23 November 2007. http://www.time-management-guide.com/. Torres, N. L.   In Good Time: make the most of your precious minutes with a time  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   management system that works.   2005.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tracy, B.   Managing Your Time.   Money, Finance and Business.   2007.   Online. Retrieved 23 November 2007.   http://www.woopidoo.com/articles/tracy1time.htm

Mary Ellen Mark

The term ‘photography’ originated from the Greek words â€Å"drawing with light† (Grundberg, 2005). None could be a more apt name for this human creation. Indeed, when it flourished in the early 19th century, we have finally discovered a way to draw upon light and use it to freeze the ups and downs of our curious race. The photographers among us have taken pictures of scientific advancements and artistic marvels, of the great men and women that had greatly influenced our society, of sleepy villages and breathtaking vistas, of family life, and of anything else that appeals to our desire to immortalize the parts of our existence. We have realized that photography is a useful hobby.But others find photography more than just a pastime. They are the ones who not only capture a moment, but also, more important, shed light to those few living beneath the cracks in society. Such photographers, for instance, would go to any war-torn country, where they will document the st ruggles of child soldiers and the people trapped in war, so that hopefully politicians would lend a sympathetic ear, or a sensitive heart.And still other photographers would go to any undocumented region around the world to erase the bigotry and scorn with which so-called social outcasts—like prostitutes—are treated. Diane Arbus, a renowned American photographer, once said, â€Å"There are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them†. We have much to learn from the kind of societies we, as a whole, have made—and through photography we could make a difference.Mary Ellen Mark, a photographer herself, embodies the same guiding principle in her line of work. She believes in the richness of humanity, no matter where it is found. Despite the lucrative promise in her kind of work, which some of her contemporaries enjoy, Mark often gets out of the corporate world and plunges into a more intimate one, to the kind of places where even taking a picture of a bystander might endanger her own life.Yet she is willing to trade her safety for the story she gleans from the people around her. Many times, in 1978, while attempting to photograph the prostitutes of Falkland Road, Bombay, Mark have had to endure verbal insults and cascades of garbage thrown by people who felt threatened by her (Long, 2000). Others might call her style of photojournalism reckless, if not suicidal, but Mark trusts people, and they to her in return. She has had a great journey so far, and she’ll definitely not stop.More than thirty years had passed in her noble career. But, like every altruistic person who had chosen to get out of the rat-race, Mark’s career started somewhat ordinarily, her revelation still at a distance. In the 1960’s she began the long climb upwards to building a career, working for distinguished magazines such as Look and Life. A somewhat glamorous job compared to what she is doing right now. Yet even at that time she was alre ady perfecting her photojournalism as she composed rich photo essays for both news and fashion periodicals. And her clients was impressive—Esquire, Holiday, The New York Times, Magazine, Vogue, and many others.1965 was the year in which she finally got the chance to get out of the restrictive office space. Mark received a Fulbright Scholarship, which she used promptly as a stepping stone to travel for two years in various countries such as Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, and England (Long, 2000). She was slowly removing the chains that bound her to just one place, a kind of freedom that would serve her later on.Within the same decade Mark began using her camera to illuminate the unseen-forgotten-neglected-prejudiced parts of society. Her viewpoint of things was changing. This time, instead of wallowing in glamour and news, she was immersing herself in the troubles of others—the transvestites, pro-women and anti-war demonstrators, and others which have often got less fro m the same society to which they give much of their empty cries for equality, justice, and understanding, and acceptance.She was in the frontlines, and she documented it all using her camera. â€Å"What I want to do more than anything is acknowledge their existence,† she once said. One is considered a courteous host if one acknowledges the presence of another. But Mary Ellen Mark, even as she was building a career, was more than just a courteous person. More than that. In fact, by acknowledging the existence of those around her, she was actually empowering them, putting them in focus and perspective, in the same way that a microscope examines the germs on a crucible—although in this case she was examining the wounds in society. Her camera became her metaphorical extended eye, one that opens her understanding. And with understanding she would also discover compassion.Production stills, used in Hollywood movies, came next in line for her. The work itself suited her photo journalism—on one hand she was taking pictures; on the other hand, telling the meaning behind the pictures. When she took stills of Milos Forman’s One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest, a film that was shot in an actual mental hospital, Mark delved deep into the minds of the deeply troubled. The year was 1973. Eventually, to bring herself closer to the patients, Mary Ellen Mark befriended the hospital’s director (Long, 2000).â€Å"I've just always been interested in mental health, mental illness,† she once said. But her interest didn’t border on a morbid fascination; she just did it out of her passion for her line of work. And instead of portraying the patients as an insane collective with no cure, Mark valued their individuality, their unique personalities that still hide beneath the deranged mask (Long, 2000).That is one of her styles, her believing that not all things appear exactly as they are in photographs. She believes something will appear aside fr om what she believes to be real. Her belief is itself a style, for she incorporates it into her work. She may take a picture of a smiling child, for instance, and yet not know what the child really feels; she might not know that the child may be hiding a sadness deep within. Nevertheless, she still takes pictures because part of her sees—whether consciously or subconsciously—a certain kinship with strangers, a human being seeing herself in others. And if that were the case, then perhaps one could even say that her style is more spiritual than personal, a way to find a place for herself in this world.To her, every person in the picture is a raconteur. A rodeo cowboy may appear masculine, but deep inside he tells a story of his struggles to maintain that machismo image, if only to bring food on to his family table. Or a female patient in a mental hospital may appear incapable of focusing on to anything and is merely limited to mumblings, but the clarity in her eyes or th e pose at which her photo was taken suggest otherwise. Stories—each of us has a story to tell, and one of the ways to telling it is through photographs.Mary Ellen Mark knows this well. Therefore, another of her style is to let her subjects tell their own stories, the attention away from her. â€Å"There's nothing much interesting about me; what’s interesting is the person I'm photographing, and that’s what I try to show,† she once said. The end result, of course, is pictures that show vividly the stories of people, who seem to leap out of the paper, telling â€Å"Look at my story† to viewers. Mark’s photographs show the humanity in every human being, no matter where the photo was taken (Fulton).Mary Ellen Mark also loves showing the ironies of life and its participants. Yet another of her style, which she has applied when she made a photo-essay of 8 different traveling circuses (Long, 2000). She focused on the outfits’ characters, the runners of the show—the animals and the bizarre attractions such as the dwarf and the contortionists. For the first time in her life, she felt young again, a woman transported into a magical world. She beheld everything as though she were watching it through the eyes of an infant. She described it aptly: â€Å"It was full of ironies, often humorous and sometimes sad, beautiful and ugly, loving and at times cruel, but always human.†Life is full of colors, each unique unto itself. A painter or photographer blends these rich colors to great effect, oftentimes combining the real with the surreal. But even some painters and photographers do put away their color palettes at times. And why shouldn’t they? After all, is it not true that the richness of colors can cause a sensory overload, too? Ellen Mark is such a person who thinks so. By using a black-and-white palette in her pictures, she enlarges the parts of life and reality that are often overlooked. In most of he r pictures, for instance, everything is made clearer by the lack of a rich palette, like a brief pause in life. The viewer then sees things that were once buried under colors.It is akin to the Zen concept of less is more—in this case, the lack of too many colors tells more story about the place, things, and people in the photographs. Mark once took pictures of the kind of life that goes on inside a home for the sick and the dying. Here, she stripped all the salient information brought about by clashing colors, and instead brought out quite extremely the shocking details of the metal cots, the emaciated bodies, and the human fancies in agony (Long, 2000).Mary Ellen Mark is as unique as the characters in her photographs. But some couldn’t help comparing her style to that of Diane Arbus. Both women enlarge life by reducing the colors to black-and-white; both sympathize with those living outside the accepted circles in society. But perhaps the thing that separates Mary Ell en Mark from her predecessor is her love of life, her constant looking forward to living. And it is perhaps for this same reason that she will continue acknowledging the existence of others—whereas Diane Arbus had already surrendered, after committing suicide in 1971 (Grundberg, 2005). Mark is now continuing where Arbus had left off.Fulton, Marianne (2000?). Mary Ellen Mark: Some Thoughts.Retrieved on May 30, 2007 fromdigitaljournalist.org/issue9903/mark01.htmGrundberg, Andy (2005). â€Å"Diane Arbus.† Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2006.Grundberg, Andy (2005). â€Å"Photography.† Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2006.  © 1993-2005 Microsoft CorporationLong, Andrew (2000). Brilliant Careers.Retrieved on May 30, 2007 from