Audre Lorde Essay Example for Free

Audre Lorde Essay On page 388 of the class’s anthology there is a work by Audre Lorde entitled â€Å"Power. † What interests me about this work is how Lorde expressed her poem(s) with a meaningful purpose; she expresses and explores pride, love anger, fear, racial and sexual oppression, urban neglect and personal survival. In connection, the question that I want to research is, where does Audre Lorde get her inspiration to write? Audre Lorde a self-styled black, lesbian, warrior, poet; dedicated her life to addressing the injustices of racism, sexism and homophobia. She had a creative talent of confronting these issues through her writing. Audre writes poetry, essays and autobiographies, she has a great impact on American and African-American literature, feminist theory, and gender studies. Audre, whose original name was Audrey Geraldine Lorde; at the age of four she learned how to talk while she learned to read. Audre’s mother taught her to write and during that time Audre dislike the way her name was spelled, she didn’t like the tail of the â€Å"Y’ hanging down below the line, so she would omit it; she loved the evenness of Audre Lorde. This inspired Audre to write a part autobiography and part revisionary myth called Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. I loved the way she opens with a beautiful question of spiritual and intellectual indebtedness, â€Å"To whom do I owe the power behind my voice, what strength I have become, yeasting up like sudden blood from under the bruised skin’s blister? † Zami tells the story of- as Audre said it â€Å"coming out blackened and whole,† in the story she expresses her identity as a fierce black lesbian woman, she talks about becoming a loving woman, a poet, a creator of self-authored words and perceptions. In Lodre’s words â€Å"Zami† is a â€Å"biomythography† which is combining history, biography, and myth. She also focuses on her developing lesbian identity and her response to racism in the white feminist and gay communities, and to sexism and homophobia in the African American community. The elements that make the book so good are its personal honesty and lack of cockiness, characteristics that shine through her writing. When reading about her experiences and her life story she shows an exquisite imagery, she talks about her West Indian heritage and its shows in her pictures and use of words. In Lorde’s poem â€Å"Power† she uses her poetic prose to express her feelings of anger and fury over an unfortunate incident that happened in New York City in the late 1970’s. She expresses her outrage and disgust at a racist society that allowed a child’s death to be buried with no true justice. Growing up in Harlem Lorde understood the difficulties that people encountered when race was involved. In â€Å"Power† it seems like she is trying to use her poetic gift to stand up for these racial injustices and try to make a difference. She wanted to be heard, instead of just using rhetoric and the use of effective writing, it was like she was searching for the â€Å"power† she has as an African-American woman poet, to make people hear and really think about racial injustices. â€Å"Power† is a poem that has two different levels of meanings, literal and nonliteral. Literal because the narrative poem is literally about Clifford Glover, a ten year old African- American boy from Queens who was shot by a Caucasian police officer that was acquitted by a jury. Nonliteral, because it has a more poetic intent; Audre’s reaction and feelings of fury and disgust over that incident. She mixes this racial injustice with her own furious and unsatisfied feelings in this piece. When reading this poem I had to reread it a few times so I could really understand the emotions and meanings in each stanza. The first two stanzas are about Lorde’s feelings and images she sees due to this violent tragedy; she expresses her natural woman instinct that children must come first in a blunt and short poetic verse. The third stanza tells the story of Clifford Glover’s death and the proof of the racial insensitivity displayed by the police officer. The fourth stanza talks about the trial of the officer and the jury that granted him an acquittal. It was a jury made of mostly white men and one African- American woman. The last stanza goes back to Lorde’s feelings about the injustice that the boy received and her fury over it. She shares her thoughts of what awful acts she might perform if she doesn’t use her own power as an African- American woman with a poetic gift to find the difference in poetry and rhetoric. When Lorde heard the verdict she was so furious about the incident she thought she was going to drive her car into a wall, so she had to pull over and jot down her thoughts, which inspired her to write this poem. In conclusion the answer to my question is that Audre Lorde gets her inspiration to write from her personal life experiences, the wrongs that are being done around the world and the injusticeness that occurs till this day in our society. She feels the need to express her thoughts so that other people around can actually open their eyes to see what’s really going on in the world. I like that Lorde wasn’t afraid of what people may have thought about her writing as long as she expressed what she felt was right and honest. Anatol, Gisele Liza. Border Crossings in Audre Lordes Zami: Triangular Linkage of Identity and Desire. MaComere: Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars 4 (2001): 130-41. Landy, Alice. The Heath Introduction to Literature sixth Ed. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print The Lorde Compendium: Essay, Speeches, and Journals, introduction by Alice Walker, Pandora (London), 1996.

Women in the Military :: Women in Military Essays

Men and women live in society jointly. According to the U.S. Constitution, all men are created equal, and thus includes women. Although everyone is considered equal, history of women in the military proves different. Many contributions have been given to the military by women for hundreds of years. 'Women's struggle for a place in the armed forces has been about seeking the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship' They have earned the right to the recruiting poster?s promise and challenge: 'Be All You Can Be'" Major General Jeanne Holm, USAF(Ret.) (Women 4 Mar 1998). Although the Military standards have been set, equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, or religion, "glass ceilings" are still in effect in the military. According to the Active Duty Military Personnel by Grade/Rank and Gender 1997 and 1995 chart, women are still stopped by a "glass ceiling". At the grade of O-10 from both 1997 and 1995, zero women had achieved this status. At O-9, two women and at O-8, three women respectively. For total officers in 1997 only 13.53% were women and total enlisted only 13.71% were women(Glass 4 Mar 1998). These facts and figures show the difficulty that women have had in breaking through the "glass ceiling" even today when women have proven themselves to be competent and successful. Women have served in the military for hundreds of years. The "official" history of the United States military begins in the 20th century with the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901 (American 4 Mar 1998). These women worked hard and dedicated to the troops and their country. They cared for the sick and wounded, identified and buried the dead, cooked, sewed, and laundered(American 4 Mar 1998). Although these women worked diligently and were dedicated, they were considered officially invisible and only earned half rations and earned the name Camp Followers(American 4 Mar 1998). Tending to the sick was considered woman?s work. Until 1901, they were civilian volunteers or contract workers who had no rank and received no benefits(American 4 Mar 1998). A bill was written by Dr. McGee to establish a permanent Nurse Corps of June 20, Congress passed this bill in 1901(American 4 Mar 1998). The United States Navy Nurse Corps was established on May 13,1908. At that time, no provisions had been made for rank and rating compensation equal to the Navy?s personnel(Women WWI 26 May 1999). In 1913 Navy nurses began serving on ships aboard the USS Mayflower and the USS Dolphin(American 26May 1999).

Hong Kong Moral and National Education

Do you think moral and national education should be abolished? Moral and national education had recently become a hot topic in Hong Kong. Moral and national education  is a school curriculum proposed by the  Education Bureau of Hong Kong, it s transformed from the current moral and civic education. The Education Bureau stated that it is to cultivate â€Å"positive values and attitudes† in students. Schools are forced to make it into an independent subject and teachers will teach according to curriculum given by the Education Bureau.However, the society suspected that it is brainwashing, they express their concerns through forming associations like Scholarism and marching. National Education should have included different perspectives for students to know more about their country and citizenship. Instead of letting students know about their country thoroughly, the information is carefully selected by the government. Of the 19 references, 18 of them were written by mainland Chinese. There are no references from local or foreign scholar, no diverse views and different interests.They are all one-sided view of China and neglected lots of important issues such as the development in human rights and democracy in China. Such references and handbooks are inappropriate to use as teaching materials. Hong Kong schools already have liberal studies, civil education and Chinese history, content of lessons are overlapped. Students are overburdened by homework, test and examination. Schools and teachers are rushing through the syllabus of HKDSE. Time is tight for both school and students, another compulsory subject is not needed. This creates more pressure and stress than the benefit it might have on the major stakeholders.The curriculum guide for the evaluation of student’s performance is also being worried. Students have to be emotionally touched in order to show their patriotism. It focuses students to dissemble or to fake their feelings in order to get hig her marks, it is not a proper way of education. Along with contents that praises the Communist China, â€Å"advanced, altruistic and united governing body† with characteristics that â€Å"ensuring stable governance, protecting wholeness of country†. Students are to be brainwashed and to love their country blindly. Extreme nationalism and patriotism can easily leads to war just because of a little conflict (WW1).In my opinion, a moral and civic education curriculum committee should be set to draw up guide lines and design the teaching materials. It should be consist of trained teachers, parents and people from different parts of the society. The curriculum committee can also monitor the implantation of this subject or whether it should become a subject at school. With all the rejections and disagreements from professional teachers, parents and even students themselves, the government should understand their concerns and go for a more opened approach.

A Vegetarian Diet Is Beneficial - 922 Words

A Vegetarian Diet is Beneficial to the Human Body and to the Planet Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was a vegetarian? He lived to be 80. As Mr. Franklin himself wrote: â€Å"My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I have been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for great clearness of head, and quicker comprehension.† (Cite) A vegetarian diet is healthier than you might think and benefits the environment as well. The health benefits of a plant-based diet include preventing heart disease, cancer prevention, weight management, and slowing the aging process. Additionally, there are added benefits in vegetarian proteins compared to animal proteins. A vegetarian diet is†¦show more content†¦Additionally, there is the problem of methane gas. Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gasses than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. These gasses are created by manure. (2) (Cite United Nations 2006 report, Livestock’s Long Shadow - Envi ronmental Issues and Options) Furthermore, forests are being bulldozed to make more room for factory farms and feed crops to feed farmed animals. The destruction of the forests causes soil erosion, pollution of streams, rivers and oceans, and destruction of wildlife. In making the following comments, The Nature Conservatory urges us to take this matter very seriously. â€Å"Thirty percent of the earth’s land mass is used for livestock pasture and production of livestock feed, causing mass deforestation compaction, and erosion from overgrazing. Water pollution from animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, fertilizers, and pesticides is an increasing worldwide concern.† (The Nature Conservatory). Ultimately what is at stake here is the well being of our planet for future generations. The American Dietetic Association reports that vegetarians have â€Å"lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; †¦ lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.† Many leading well-being experts agree that a balanced vegetarian diet is the greatest thing we can easily do for our families and also ourselves.