The Disease that Infests The District Essay -- Essays Papers

The Disease that Infests The District There is a disease that is sweeping across this country. From this disease, no one person has immunity. It strikes the poorest of families and the richest of families. It has the ability to harm the old and young, male and female. It does not care what your sexual preference is, if it wants to infect you, it will. What is this disease that does not care who it harms? It is the acquired immune deficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS. Even the capital of the most powerful country in the world has a problem with AIDS. In fact, Washington, DC has a major problem with this disease. The rate of new AIDS cases in the District and its surrounding areas is twelve times higher than the national average. â€Å"By the end of 1998, [†¦] there are 19,086 cases of AIDS in the DC greater metro area and 10,750 deaths from the disease (Whitman-Walker Clinic). One of the groups that is most heavily affected by this disease in Washington, DC as well as across the country is homosexual men, though in recent years that trend seems to be changing. It is for this reason that concern was growing in the District about the AIDS problem amongst the homosexual community. This is where the Whitman-Walker Clinic steps in. Located in the Northwest area of Washington, DC, this clinic has been serving the community as early as 1973. The clinic has an array of services mainly for the homosexual population that include testing for HIV and AIDS, support groups, legal services, the list goes on and on. One of the major aspects of the Whitman-Walker Clinic is providing prevention education to those who have not yet contracted the disease. One of the divisions ... ...ed their services to different areas not just here in The District. Primary care clinics are also located in Northern Virginia and most recently Maryland. â€Å"One of the biggest things we just accomplished was expanding primary care to a new Maryland facility. Every here [at the Whitman-Walker Clinic] is happy to see it happen, notes Chip Lewis. The hours that the clinic is open is also changing. â€Å"We realize that people have lives outside of having HIV and AIDS. We are working to expand the hours that all of our clinics are open. Convenience is always an issue; we want to serve as many people as possible† (Chip Lewis) It is about time that â€Å"as many people as possible† are being provided with service to combat AIDS, because too many people have been neglected from services for too long simply because they did not fit the nation’s stereotype of who contracted AIDS. The Disease that Infests The District Essay -- Essays Papers The Disease that Infests The District There is a disease that is sweeping across this country. From this disease, no one person has immunity. It strikes the poorest of families and the richest of families. It has the ability to harm the old and young, male and female. It does not care what your sexual preference is, if it wants to infect you, it will. What is this disease that does not care who it harms? It is the acquired immune deficiency syndrome, better known as AIDS. Even the capital of the most powerful country in the world has a problem with AIDS. In fact, Washington, DC has a major problem with this disease. The rate of new AIDS cases in the District and its surrounding areas is twelve times higher than the national average. â€Å"By the end of 1998, [†¦] there are 19,086 cases of AIDS in the DC greater metro area and 10,750 deaths from the disease (Whitman-Walker Clinic). One of the groups that is most heavily affected by this disease in Washington, DC as well as across the country is homosexual men, though in recent years that trend seems to be changing. It is for this reason that concern was growing in the District about the AIDS problem amongst the homosexual community. This is where the Whitman-Walker Clinic steps in. Located in the Northwest area of Washington, DC, this clinic has been serving the community as early as 1973. The clinic has an array of services mainly for the homosexual population that include testing for HIV and AIDS, support groups, legal services, the list goes on and on. One of the major aspects of the Whitman-Walker Clinic is providing prevention education to those who have not yet contracted the disease. One of the divisions ... ...ed their services to different areas not just here in The District. Primary care clinics are also located in Northern Virginia and most recently Maryland. â€Å"One of the biggest things we just accomplished was expanding primary care to a new Maryland facility. Every here [at the Whitman-Walker Clinic] is happy to see it happen, notes Chip Lewis. The hours that the clinic is open is also changing. â€Å"We realize that people have lives outside of having HIV and AIDS. We are working to expand the hours that all of our clinics are open. Convenience is always an issue; we want to serve as many people as possible† (Chip Lewis) It is about time that â€Å"as many people as possible† are being provided with service to combat AIDS, because too many people have been neglected from services for too long simply because they did not fit the nation’s stereotype of who contracted AIDS.

Ellb3 King Lear Theme of Power

Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents attitudes to power in this passage. In your answer you must consider how the playwright uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices and conventions to create specific dramatic effects. The theme of power is explored extensively in the play and in this first scene the theme is already established. This scene takes place after Kent and Gloucester's conversation about Gloucester's illegitimate son Edmund, the dark subplot within the play draws out the theme of power in the main plot, for example the power Gloucester asserts as a father is parallel to the power King Lear has.Power is an important theme within the play because many of the characters abuse their power and use power as a tool for manipulation and control, other characters on the other hand, desire power and authority but ultimately power corrupts all. This scene is set in the king’s court and this extract is an example of family talk which at times is intimate but i t is also an example of public talk, the language in this passage is purely for regulatory and performative purposes.This highly formal public context creates tension and the speech itself opens with an important topic, the audience know that king Lear intends to divide his power and kingdom among his three daughters but demands they publicly profess their love for him. â€Å"Conferring them on younger strengths, while we unburdened crawl toward death†, the imagery in the opening of the scene here is of a feeble old man indicating King Lear's retirement and the loss of his power suggesting he is weak and vulnerable like an infant.Due to the public context the register throughout this passage is formal and the king’s speech appears to be rehearsed. In this passage the king is the primary speaker because he establishes the topic of conversation and sets the agenda, â€Å"meanwhile we should express our darkest purpose, give me the map there†. As we would expect hi s is the character with the most status and authority and his role as King allows him to open his speech with this imperative sentence. Furthermore, the modes of address used by the characters on stage also reveal more about the theme of power.Lear’s daughters address him as â€Å"Sir†, â€Å"your majesty† and â€Å"your dear highness† suggesting he is not only asserting his power as a king but as a father. We have character revelation here as Shakespeare reveals Lear's hamartia, by having his daughter quantify their love for him indicates that he is arrogant and hubristic. Lear takes the most turns and his utterances are generally longer than the other characters as he speaks for the longest amount of time. His short response to Cordelia â€Å"nothing, nothing will come of nothing† indicates that the he is trying to maintain control over the conversation.The adjacency pairs here are broken because â€Å"nothing† is a non-expected response, this suggests that this is an unsuccessful conversation and reveals more about their relationship. In this conversation the adjacency pair is subverted by Cordelia creating tension on stage: Lear and Cordelia are both flouting Grice's maxim of quantity as Lear says too much and Cordelia says too little which is further evidence of their conversation being unsuccessful. Goneril and Regan clearly abuse their father’s power as they try to deceive him.The declarations of love made by the two daughters have been crafted to flatter Lear, they are exaggerated and the insincerity of this is shown through Shakespeare's use of poetry. A good example of this is, â€Å"sir I love you more than word can wield, the matter dearer than eyesight, space and liberty. † In other words, the substance of Goneril’s love is too great or weighty to be expressed. Similarly, the phrase, â€Å"a love that makes breath poor and speech unable† is hyperbolical as Goneril again tries to make her love seem priceless.Regan’s declarations are even more exaggerated than her sisters', â€Å"I am made to that self mettle as my sister and price me at her worth†. She tells her father that her own pleasure lies solely in the enjoyment of his love but her sister’s love is only a means to an end. The synthetic language used here to manipulate Lear's vulnerability reveals that Regan desires to gain more power and control. It is clear that both their speeches are insincere and this creates tension because the audience can see that when the daughters declare their love for their father, they are in fact declaring their greed.This is then juxtaposed by Cordelia’s simple and minimal responses; â€Å"I love your majesty according to my bond, no more nor less† showing that she speaks of her love more honestly. Cordelia's asides allow her to build a relationship with the audience. These asides may appear spontaneous but Shakespeare has carefully cr afted them for her speech to appear sincere and honest. When Cordelia is asked to express her love towards her father, she answers with â€Å"nothing†. Lear’s interrogative reply â€Å"nothing? suggests her simple answer has comes as a shock to him and the court, this response instantly changes both the mood and the tone within the scene. The short exchanges between Cordelia and Lear and the caesura in this line disrupts the iambic pentameter and the regularity of the blank verse creating dramatic tension on the stage. Lear orders Cordelia to â€Å"speak again†, this imperative reveals frustration and anger at which point his volume would increase. Cordelia delays her speech as she refuses to take part in Lear’s ceremonial ‘love test' suggesting that she has some degree of power.Her long pause creates an awkward silence on the stage and adding further to the tension between the characters and creating suspense. Lear's attitude to power is clearly o ne of pride and arrogance which prevents him from seeing the true nature of Goneril and Regan’s appearances and their hypocrisy. He foolishly believes their excessively sweet and sentimental declarations and this is what makes this passage so dramatic. The power he asserts in this passage blinds him as he rejects the truthful Cordelia who he has banished from the kingdom.

Nonverbal Behavior in France

The culture which I have chosen to select for examples of nonverbal behaviors typically associated with that culture would be the French. The French culture proved to be rich and plentiful in a variety of interesting nonverbal behaviors. One of the more classical French gestures would be the French pout. The French pout expresses disgust, disdain and many of what was described as â€Å"just about any negative emotion beginning with â€Å"dis† (French, 2007). To pout or â€Å"faire la moue† one pushes their lips out while bringing them back in, in a facial expression like a smooch or what could look like a quick pucker. According to my research, a bored facial expression is common to accompany this pout look. The nonverbal action or behavior for â€Å"let’s get the hell out of here† is represented by holding one’s hands out, with palms down while smacking one hand down onto the other (French, 2007). The word for this nonverbal action in French is â€Å"On se tire.† One of the other nonverbal gestures in France is in expressing your disbelief at what another person is saying to you, one would use his index finger, pull down the skin under one of your eyes while saying â€Å"Mon oeil!† In the research I read on this expression it stated that it was the same as if to say in America, â€Å"my foot† (French, 2007).   I personally never heard this expression so perhaps it’s not as commonly used now as it once was. Lastly, I chose a nonverbal expression that seemed kind of unusual to me. According to one of the sites I used, in French if you were saying someone was lazy you would hold out your hands, pull on an imaginary hair supposedly growing out of your hand while saying â€Å"Il a un poil dans la main† (Welcome, 2000). In the French culture, their nonverbal language and behavior can be used for ordinary conversation or for vulgar gestures. Much of the nonverbal language can look familiar while some of their nonverbal language can look unfamiliar to those outside of France. However, it has to be stated that the French definitely have a variety of interesting nonverbal expressions that can be used to enhance their conversations. References (2007). French Language. Retrieved April 14, 2007, from Understanding and Using French Gestures Web site: http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa020901a.htm (2000). Welcome to the French website. Retrieved April 13, 2007, Web site:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.lerc.educ.ubc.ca/LERC/courses/489/worldlang/french/frenchcuHandcomm.html