Important Events in Louisiana History Essay Example for Free

Important Events in Louisiana History Essay The State of Louisiana has a colorful and important past unbeknownst to laymen. These events helped shape the picture of its culture and what is the present day United States. In the 18th century, this state was established as a French Colony and within a little over 30 years, was passed on to the Spanish after the French-Indian War. Control of Louisiana allowed ships from Europe or Mexico to dock from the ocean and move inland through the Mississippi river. The influence of the empires at the time, are still carried over to today. This state recognizes no â€Å"official language† but some residents speak French and Spanish. Aside from this, most of the population is made up of Christians due to the influence of its colonizers. During the 19th century the most important event was the inclusion of this state to The United States of America. The French held the territory at the time but the newly formed United States was worried that at any time, France could close off the Mississippi and form a chokehold on the existing trade routes. President Thomas Jefferson authorized the liaison to France to negotiate a purchase for the territory around the river to prevent a stranglehold. Napoleon at the time encountered too many setbacks with his plan for Louisiana and decided to sell the whole territory. The liaison, Robert R. Livingston, worried that approval from Washington might take too long decided to push through the talks and came to a price of fifteen million US Dollars. President Jefferson was surprised at first but decided to push through with the purchase since it would double the government’s current land area and make way for the expansion west. This served as a precedent fro the purchase of territory and did not spill a single drop of blood. It paved the way for frontiersmen in the years to come and paved the way for the United States to be connected to two great oceans. In1901, speculators in Louisiana discovered oil. Along with forestry, this introduced a wave of economic growth which introduced economic growth. This alleviates the United States’ dependence on foreign oil and places worth on this area of land which was previously valued only for its accessibility to the Mississippi river. Reference List 1. About Louisiana. Louisiana. gov. Last checked 06 May 2008 from http://www. louisiana. gov/wps/wcm/connect/Louisiana. gov/Explore/About+Louisiana/

Why Developing Your Own Leadership Skills Is Important

Why Developing Your Own Leadership Skills Is Important Developing leadership skills is important for me because given the circumstances that I have shifted to the field of Business Administration from a technical background that does not require having control over some one or to manage or interact extensively with others. Now I seek the future prospects of becoming a manager in an organization and therefore during my tenure of Masters Degree I need to develop leadership skills that would allow me to be a successful in my future endeavors. Not all leaders are managers but all effective managers have to be leaders. It is my self assessment that I am not a born leader and if you are not a born leader then there is only one option for you to develop your skills to become one. My personal values, vision and mission My mission is to develop a good balance between different skills that would help me become an effective leader i.e. problem solving skills, decision Making, planning, and managing my power and influence. Having a strong influence; in my opinion is very essential. If you have the ability to convince others with their manner of speech and action, then the possibilities of success are limitless. I want to be successful and professional. I believe in being authentic, words should match with actions and building trust with others. I believe is having success by hard work, even though most of the times I do not feel like it but it is under my conscious that without hard work there is a thin chance of success. Challenges/problems I want to address Being a leader involves an extensive interaction with people and developing essential skills to have an influence over them which is something that I have never been through so it is a primary challenge for me. I am used to solving problems haphazardly which seems to work for me but in the broader aspect I have to streamline the process and learn to deal with complex situations in a professional manner. Another challenge for me is to make decision under emotional stress; I always have to cope with the after effects of such decisions. I also need to figure out a leader icon that I should follow or maybe develop myself into one for the fact that I believe that what works for someone else might probably NOT work for me, every individual is unique and there is only the hit and trial method available to find the best fit. Measures of success My measures of success will ultimately be the fact of achievement of my goal of becoming an effective manager. But there needs to be milestones set to reach my final goal which would be how much my belief, morals and ethics match with my practices. I will measure my success with how satisfied I am with my performance at work and how satisfied I am with my actions with other people around me. Current assessment of yourself as a leader My current strengths and weaknesses as a leader My current strengths include good technical skills that come as a part of my current experience. If we talk about emotional intelligence, Self-Awareness is something I am quite confident about. In any situation I have a full understanding of my mood, emotions and I have the habit of visualizing scenarios prior to my actions. Self-Regulation is something I am not so proud about because my emotional grip becomes lose at times of anger, consciously I am fully aware of my situation but I`ll just do it anywaysà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ So this would count as my weakness. I have the habit of solving problems with my analytical instincts mostly that comes with experience. I am only hoping that I am correct which a weakness is in fact but at the same time I am never without a reason for my actions which is a plus. I am motivated by the fact of wanting to be someone who is known and not someone who is an unknown entity. I like to remain social and have a sense of empathy for the people around me, I have good listening skills for that matter that allows me to understand the emotional makeup of other people and I am able to treat people accordingly. Building networks with others is something I find hard to do as I normally do not find a common ground; I cannot persuade others nor have a very strong influence unless I am closely related. My greatest weakness by far is that I do not feel confident enough of myself for tasks that are new or have potentially high level of difficulty. The feeling of what if I`m not able to also haunts me in situations or tasks known to me. May be because I am a little too much aware of my weaknesses. I dont like to take initiatives unless I am very much sure of what I am standing up for. In a team I am rather willing to take part as a supportive entity rather than a leading one. Insights from my Management Behavior Traits Influence Behavior wise I see myself as both as Job centered and Consideration. As said in my strengths I am friendly and I want people to trust me and respecting. Although it is only my self assessment as I have never been in the scenario of practicing my leadership, I see myself as both. When it comes to work, I would want the job to be done, it makes me uneasy to have a task at my hand and it is not complete or seems like it might not be completed in time. The factor of weakness here about my self confidence comes into play. If I am able to counter this weakness, I can take my part as a leading entity in a team. Challenges and opportunities for improvement Challenges and opportunities for improvement are my weaknesses themselves. Coming over your weakness is itself a challenge and eliminating your weakness or figuring out an encounter for the weakness is an opportunity for ones betterment and growth with an increased chance of success. I would consider my weakness of confidence to be the greatest of all because once I am past that point they only task ahead would be to stretch my arm and grab my milestones for success. Feedback I have had from the class, work and other arenas I am not very sure about the signals I get from work, class or other arenas that would help me evaluate myself of being a potential leader. People seem to trust me once I have proven my abilities to them like for example being a multimedia artist; I had to prove my skills at various occasions. Once I had performed the task people would give allot of attention to what I had to say and would follow my advice. But this I think is pretty obvious because once I have proved then there is no point of thinking that I was influential or maybe I do not consider it very influential. I am considered opinion leader in the areas where my expertise lie. I have been given feedback may times about being trustworthy and helpful by my colleagues and this helps me a little with my confidence problem but becomes a problem again as I feel a sense of responsibility on my shoulders bearing the trust of others that I would not want to break. Leadership Development Plan Objectives of my plan Following are the key objectives of my Leadership Development Plan Identify critical areas of my personal characteristics that are required for grooming and essential to work on for becoming an effective leader. Identifying main obstacles in the way to achieve my ultimate goal and defining a plan to encounter those obstacles. Determining what traits and behavior specific actions needed to be worked upon for an effective execution of plan Defining what methods will be used for learning and improving my skills. Outlining a guideline that would act as a source of evaluation for every step I take towards my goal and letting me know how much distance I have covered and what is still there to cover. What inspires me about my plan/why am I willing to change My source of inspiration is that I want to be successful as an effective leader and this plan will help me define what needs to be done to reach my desired state. It is of great importance to me because I have decided to take a turn in my life; from a technical field limited to a narrow scope to the field of management that would open up a new horizon for me. I was determined to make this change with better prospects in the long run. It was a big decision for me and almost a blind leap, but if I do not develop the essential skills and train myself to be effective in the field of management, it will be of no good and I will only regret having to take a sharp turn from a fast moving lane. Behavior-specific actions I plan to take I will strengthen my communication and behavior according to values. I believe that there is nothing compared to an authentic leader, people admire and are inspired by leaders that behave consistently according to values, and in particular, the value of integrity. Opening myself up to others and influence people through my ideas and my behavior, rather than through the use of my position power or simply by the demonstration of my skill. I will show trust in the people and work on the consideration factor even further. I am not very good at showing enthusiasm for individual and group accomplishment. So I will try to learn how to react and praise positively. To supplement my employee centered behavior I have to learn to step aside and let others do their jobs, make people feel needed, important, and powerful so they can accomplish their objectives. Ensure that I have the right people in the right jobs to match their abilities and maximize success. Opening myself to accept changes and also learning to identify positive and productive changes and involve people at all levels of the organization in implementing a change initiative. I would help people around me to find a perfect fit between their skills and satisfaction level and giving them the authority to make the changes they need to be successful. Actively engage my role in teaching others and devote time to coach others to develop and improve performance. Anticipated resistance from self and others Bringing a change always attracts a sufficient amount of resistance from within self and people around. The behavior specific actions I plan to take highlight three factors clearly that I am looking forward to bring changes, autonomy and delegation, mentoring. Following my idea for behavior development, given a mechanistic situation I will have to face a lot of resistance for the first two. Even in a different scenario people are not always willing for changes and being delegated. Personally I would not feel any resistance with mentoring, I always like to share my knowledge with others and it helps build rapport. But when it comes to delegation and bringing about changes I feel resistance because at the moment I am not able to be much of an influence and not open to ideas I feel attached with. Developing a delegation skill will require to fight with my nature of getting the job done even if I have to get my own hands dirty. How I will monitor and evaluate results I will monitor my result based on the feedback from the people around me and keeping my plan as a reference checklist for what milestones I have covered and which ones still remain. And ultimately it comes down to how satisfied I am with my performance regardless of what stages I have checked out with respect to my behavior, traits and skill. Satisfaction will most definitely come along with these aspects but unless I am not satisfied, it will not really matter. Sources for learning Development of leaders tends either to be purely conceptual or purely applied. Little academic work connects the theory of leadership development to the interventions used in leadership development programs and initiatives. For a starting point I will first need to grab hold of concept of leadership and its implications and dependencies. I will have to study about successful leaders lifestyle, their values and ideas; match them with my own to see where I stand and what steps to take myself further. Another important source of learning would be the results of my actions and choices I make during my tenure of leadership development.

Solutions to Gang Violence in Society Essay -- Gang Violence Crimes Vi

Gang violence is a major problem in our society today. If nothing is done soon, gang violence could take place in our neighborhoods. MW Klein, a gang researcher, says that gangs are an aggregation of youths who perceive themselves as distinct, and that are viewed as distinct by the community. Klein also states that the gangs call forth a consistently negative image of themselves through their actions (Klein). To those involved in gangs however, gang membership provided a youth means of attempting to consolidate their gender identities (Douglas). Most of the early American street gangs have historically been ethnically based. Early gangs were mainly Irish, Polish, or Italian (Klein). Communities all over deal with gang violence. Criminologist and crime writer John E. Douglas, explained how the propagation of street gangs in America and the violence associated with them is disturbing. He mentioned that street gangs have a presence in 94 percent of all the U.S. cities with populations greater than 100,000 (Klein). A number of studies have been conducted dealing with gang violence throughout the world. One particular study in Chicago showed that five percent of elementary school children were affiliated with street gang, as well as 35 percent of high school dropouts (Klein). Elizabeth Van Ella of the Chicago Crime Commission, explained that in Chicago alone, 65,000 documented gang members account for 48 percent of the crime. A majority of the members thrive in business as a way to cover up their schemes (Hutson). They flourish in retail sales, computer sales, hospitals, office buildings, schools, transportation, and security firms. Practically, anywhere that pr ovides a cover for laundering money, and easy mobility (Hutson). Klein explains that another place that has been greatly affected is Los Angeles. Los Angeles has over 950 different gangs with more than 100,000 members. They are not just limited to inner-city ghettos, but are active in over 800 cities nation wide. Overall, nearly 100 cities with population’s less then 10,000 report active street gangs (Klein). Many stereotypes of gangs have been fabricated. The problem is that a majority of gang members do not fit these stereotypes, which, in turn, makes it hard for the to be caught (Klein). Traditionally they organize their group around a specific neighborhood, school or housing projec... ...versity Press. Fall 1995. General Reference Center Gold. 21 Jan 2007 Loeber R., and D.P. Farrington. â€Å"Serious and violent juvenile offenders: Risk factors and successful interventions.† Thousand Oaks. 1998. First Search. Feb 2007 Otero, Juan. â€Å"Curbing street gang violence,† National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007 Pfeiffer, Christian. â€Å"A toilet apart.† New Statesman. 2 Aug 1999. General Reference Center Gold. Mar 2007 Singer, Merrill. â€Å"Drugs, violence and moral panic in urban America,† American Anthropologist. Mar 1998. First Search. Feb 2007 Synder, Scott. â€Å"Movie portrayals of juvenile delinquency: part II—Sociology and psychology,† Adolescence. Summer 1995. First Search. Feb 2007 Walker, Hill M. et al., â€Å" The path to school failure, delinquency, and violence: Casual factors and some potential solutions,† Intervention in School and Clinic. Nov 1999. First Search. Feb 2007 Witt, Peter A. and Joni E. Baker. â€Å"Making A R.E.A.L. Difference,† Parks and Recreation. Mar 1999. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007 Wittmeier, Carmen. â€Å"Still no confession, but†¦,† Alberta Report. Aug 1999. General Reference Center Gold. Feb 2007

Memory :: essays research papers fc

I. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   II. Dementia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Senility is a misused term for the loss of ability to think, reason, and remember in older persons. Senility is not a medical condition; it is not normal, natural, or inevitable with aging; it is not limited to older people either. The term senility is replaced in most of my pertinent research by the medical term dementia, which seems to describe a group of symptoms that represent a change or deterioration from an individual's previous level of functioning (Tueth, 1995). Dementia has specific causes, which impair long-term memory and quite relevantly;: language, judgment, spatial perception, behavior, and often personality, interfering with normal social and occupational functioning. Most dementias are evidently both progressive and irreversible. According to Cummings (1995) after the age of 60, the frequency of dementia in the population statistically doubles every 5 years: that is to say it affects only 1% of 60-64-year-olds but 30-40% of those over age 85 (Cummings, 1995).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The most common causes of dementia are Alzheimer's Disease (Tueth, 1995), and vascular problems or problems related to a stroke (Yoshitake et al., 1995) . Depression, believed to cause some symptoms of dementia, may be as common in early dementia as it is by itself and may improve with prompt treatment even in people with dementia. The risk of dementia increases with age. Although statistics concerning those who have dementias worldwide are not known, it is known that most dementias are not reversible but that people with dementia can function better with treatment of other medical or sensory problems , and optimal social and environmental support. From what I have learned, stimulation and activity can also help people with dementia. It is very important to note that minor memory problems in older people previously attributed to senility may have other causes, such as distraction, fatigue, grief, stress, alcohol, sensory loss, difficulty with concentration or inability to remember many details at once, illness, or medications (Cummings, 1995). Confusion and disorientation caused by these problems may apparently be reversible though. III. Examining Alzheimer's Disease By definition, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable degenerative disease of the brain. AD is a progressive dementing illness in which the core symptom is long-term memory loss (Tueth, 1995). Other associated symptoms include impairments in language, abstract reasoning, and visual spatial abilities as previously described in dementia. Personality changes are common and range from apathy to restless agitation. These are said to be directly related to memory difficulties (inferred from Elias, 1992). Psychiatric symptoms, including depression, delusions, and hallucinations, may also occur during the course of AD resulting somewhat from the severe loss of memory.

The Status of Single Mothers Essay -- Sociology

There is a stigma associated with women that are supported by government aid, especially single mothers. The women on welfare are often treated poorly because people think they are ‘working the system’. Tax payers feel as if the single mothers on welfare perpetuated their own poverty by having children that they cannot support, just for a bigger welfare check. They often assume that these women do not work and just live off government handouts. I know of mothers that fit this stereotype; adults still living in their parents houses, rent free, with several children from multiple fathers. The women I know do not work and they are hardly good parents. They fit the description of the stereotypically single mother on welfare; they are lazy and selfish and trying to get more aid than they actually qualify for. There are experts who have extensively studied the relationship between women and welfare. These experts have educational backgrounds in political science, economics, sociology, women and gender studies and law and policy. The authors that most effectively deal with the problem of societies condemnation of women on welfare have studied in the fields of women’s studies and sociology; Joanne Goodwin, Diane Purvin and Kathleen Mullan Harris, Charles Reich, respectively. Joanne Goodwin’s research and teaching interests are in 20th century U.S. history with a specialization in women and gender history. Her major publications include: Gender and the Politics of Welfare Reform the Encyclopedia of Women in American History, 3 vols. which she co-edited. Goodwin earned her Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Michigan (Goodwin). Kathleen Mullan Harris is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of N... ...c.edu. Aug. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. . Harris, Kathleen Mullan. "Work and Welfare Among Single Mothers in Poverty." American Journal of Sociology 99.2 (1993): 317-52. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. . Purvin, Diane M. "At the Crossroads and in the Crosshairs: Social Welfare Policy and Low-Income Women's Vulnerability to Domestic Violence." Social Problems 54.2 (2007): 188-210. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. . Purvin, Diane M. "Diane M. Purvin." LinkedIn. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. . Reich, Charles A. "Individual Rights and Social Welfare: The Emerging Legal Issues." The Yale Law Journal 74.7 (1965): 1245-257. JSTOR. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. .

Six thinking hats technique

Title (of the technique): Six thinking hats technique Purpose: The generation of new and innovative ideas is the main aim of using creative techniques. Often people fail to look at a problem from all angles and they may fail to look at the emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. The six thinking hats technique is a powerful technique created by Edward de Bono in the early 1980’s to look at decisions from different point of view.The purpose of applying this technique is that it encourages parallel thinking and helps people move away from their habitual thinking styles and towards a more well-rounded view of a situation. Description: The six thinking hats technique identifies six different modes of thinking that are meant to be directed at parallel to solve a certain problem on hand. Each thinking mode is represented by a different coloured hat and each colour is defined by the role that it plays in the process of problem solving.The process can be performed indiv idually or within a group environment and once the participants understand the necessary techniques involved they can proceed to address the problems at hand. They will all work together toward the same objective. When used correctly the hats separate ego from performance which allows everyone to work cooperatively toward a desired goal. Equipment needed: There are few things that are required to perform a successful six hats brainstorming session. Firstly the individual or group should have prior knowledge of the skills required.A pen, paper and innovative attitude and a simple and easy way of distinguishing people’s different colours at all times as the different coloured hats are metaphorical. Requirement for success . Educated audience (familiar with de Bono’s Technique) . Discipline from each person involved- while using the hat people need to stay in that particular mindset . Time under the hat should generally be short . Use any hat as often as needed . Set out to think in a certain direction . Don’t categorize people in a group beforehand (e. g. he is only a green hat). Everyone can and should use all hats . Be specific about where you want the thinking to go Process: Each hat represents a certain thinking style: White hat – Objective, neutral thinking in terms of facts number and information. With this hat you focus on the data that is available. Red hat- Emotional, with judgments, suspicions and intuitions. With this hat you look at a problem using intuition, gut reaction and emotion. Black hat- Negative sees risks and thinks about possible failure points. This hat looks at all the bad points of the decision to try and see why it might not work.Yellow hat- Positive, optimistic, clear, effective and constructive. This hat helps you think positively and to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Green hat- Creative, seeks alternative. The green hat is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. I t is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. Blue hat (Meta hat) – thinking about thinking, the blue thinkers role is to keep an overview of what thinking is necessary on the subject. Recommended use in innovation:Many successful people and companies have embraced de Bono’s six thinking hats technique as it allows the necessary skepticism and emotions to be brought into what would have been purely rational decisions. It opens up an opportunity for creativity within decision making. Plans developed using this technique will be much more sound and resilient than would otherwise be the case. Advantages or benefits: . Leads to more creative thinking . Improves communication and decision making . Allows a person to say things without risk . Provides a common language . Diversity of thoughts Saves time . Create, evaluate and implement action plans . Removal of ego (reduces confrontation) . Helps people work against type, preference . Help people use more of their brains . Focus (one thing at a time) Limitations: The technique is not good to solve short term problems as people need to first be introduced to the method and become familiar with it before it can be used. If it is not monitored correctly it can also become time consuming. You can’t get the right answer asking the wrong questions the group needs to be sure that they are focused in the right direction. references

Parents Are Best Teachers or Role Models Essay

Parenting is one of the most difficult and challenging tasks especially in this present generation. Parents play a very important role in the upbringing of children. They are the first and earliest teachers for the children. I myself as a parent must admit that my son behaves best when I attend to him the most. Though he’s just three years old yet I find that his behaviour is far better when I spend quality and quantity time with him. Parents have the capability of influencing and leading the child from the first day they are born until the age of 18 by being a role model. In other words, parents are the best teachers. Parents teach how to speak, how to behave, the basic etiquettes etc. thus help the child to grow into a morally responsible and sound individual. All the complications, challenges, barriers, obstacles a child encounters in her or his childhood can be overcome if it is correctly approached through their parents. No matter how hard the professional teachers in school strive, to rectify or mould the child, the child’s best place for correction is at home i. e. with the parents. In spite of the fact that teachers play a vital role in child’s life, it is equally important to note that parental leadership supersedes all. The nature’s bond, love and understanding between the child and the parent are so strong that the child can relate to the parents more effectively and they can lead the child to the correct path whenever he or she is wrong. This is equally applicable in academics as well. A child with a parental support and teaching performs far better than a child without it. A child is easily motivated in class when the parents are regularly checking their books and attending to academics. On the other hand, a child without support even if intelligent might not perform so well. Nevertheless, not all parents are best teachers. A parent controlling the child by beating him or her up or using some other negative reinforcement will certainly make the child lose the trust in parents thus weaken the parent-child bond. Similarly, parents with some bad habits will definitely harm the child if they do not give a right role model image to the child. So, it is extremely important that parents must learn to be role model for the child thus leading them by good examples. Besides, parents must also keep up their dedication by being a guiding spirit to their children and supporting them to be great individuals, as they are the assets of the future generation.