Experience

Personal Cultural Background A person’s identity is unique and has a foundation of various sources. These sources may be different for every person, ranging from a person’s upbringing to a person’s religion. This paper will define cultural background and examine the multiple sources that make up my own personal cultural background that helped mold my individual identity. Furthermore, the paper will speculate on the extent to which my current identity has been molded by assimilation, acculturation, or climate of pluralism. People are unique because no one identity is the same.

Every person has his or her own unique identity, which are created by a person’s cultural background, or personal experiences. Cultural background is a primary source of identity. Self-definition, expression, and sense of group belonging are aspects of a person that derives partly from his or her cultural background. An individual’s cultural background, or personal experiences, influences the individual’s behavior, attitude, values, and way of thinking. Although numerous people can experience same situations, the individuals’ perceptions of the events are what make the experiences different from one another.

For example, two students take the same test and they both fail; however, one student decides to start studying harder and the other student drops out of school. Both students had two experiences that were the same (e. g. the test and failing), however, the students had two different outcomes (e. g. studying harder and dropping out of school). Next, the paper will examine the multiple sources of my cultural background. My personal cultural background that makes up my identity consists of multiple sources. These sources have influenced me to live the type of lifestyle I live; to behave the way I behave; and to perceive the world the way I do.

Several environments have contributed to my cultural background. These environments consists of my family and upbringing, school, church, past relationships, work, and past life experiences. Each of these environments played an important role in how I view the world and have instilled in me morals, ethics, and values. Although these sources have been influential in my life getting me to the point I am currently at in my life, life experiences have the potential and power to change how I perceive the world and my behavior, ethics, and values.

My upbringing and the various environments I have been in have helped me evolve into my own individual person. These sources have allowed me to be able to “think outside the box” of societal norms. My family and other interpersonal relationships have been the most influential part of my current identity. These relationships have taught me respect, ethics, values, and, communication skills. Additionally, these relationships have taught me to be able to adapt successfully to change; to strive for the best and to be the best person I am capable of being; and to not settle for less than my own standards.

A person’s cultural background is created by personal experiences individuals go through. However, the individual’s perception of those experiences is what makes every individual different and unique. My own personal cultural background consists of sources such as my personal upbringing, personal religious beliefs, personal values, and personal ethics. My current identity has been molded by pluralism and multiculturalism, or processes that except experiences that alter existing behaviors and beliefs. As cultures continue to interact and intertwine, cultural identities and personal identities will always be constantly changing.

Why Horror Films Rule the World? More and more horror seekers are willing to line up to buy tickets for a scary movie and sit in the front of the screen to watch with blood and terror, all to enjoy the intense experience of being afraid. Scary films provide a terrifying experience of fear in many moviegoers; however, not everyone is willing to take time to enjoy the feeling of being scared and such, instead viewers reject horror movies because they do not want to spend money to feel afraid, threatened, and uncomfortable.

On the other hand, many moviegoers are so attracted to watch those horrible scenes, which provide a channel for them to ace their inner emotions without telling anyone else. The increasing popularity of scary films raises an interesting question: if fear is a natural survival response to a dangerous, threatening, or painful situation, why will a lot Of moviegoers desire to seek out that feeling? The answer is obvious.

Even though horror movies reveal something disgusting and terrible, the appeal of being afraid is one way for viewers, especially young audiences, to achieve spiritual fulfillment. Watching horror movies leaves moviegoers feeling a rush of excitement when they explore their fears, like the experience of riding a leer coaster. Allegro Ring, in her article “Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? ” describes how the excitement of self-scaring comes from the history of roller coasters.

She explains that constructing the tracks and carriages to carry screaming riders across the mountains, which instead of sitting in sleds and speeding down the mountain with additional man-made bumps (Atlantic. Com). The improvement of roller coasters was making riders more excited. Scary movies, are similar to roller coaster, although viewers feel terrified, they enjoy the experience of screaming out and new thrills. The automation satisfies many viewers’ emotional enjoyment when the appeal of horror films reaches their inner fears.

In addition, Stephen King, author of “Why Crave Horror Movies”, argues that “An horror movies, like roller coasters, have always been the special province of the young” because they have higher desire “to show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster”, an observation that compares the idea of scary movies to roller coasters that design are for people, particularly young adults, to seek excitement and build confidence (29).

Horror movies are most poplar with the young generation, but middle-aged and older adults have less need for getting their scares from horror movies because their real lives are scary enough, such as facing layoff, losing loved ones, dealing with poverty. In other words, young viewers are drawn to the appeal of being scared because they are more likely to look for intense experiences and confirm their capacity of facing their fears.

Going to a horror film may not result in immediate excitement like riding a roller coaster, but those scary plots will lead most viewers to gradually feel excited by building the suspense or the audience. Watching horror movies not only offer a wealth of stimulating feelings for audiences to explore their fears, but the monsters in those scary scenes are relatable on a very human level. According to Jason Kinsman, author of The Critique of Pure Horror, states the theory of the philosopher Nol Carroll, a staunch critic of the psychoanalytic approach, “One virtue of Mr..

Carol’s theory is that it captures the paradoxical nature of horror’s allure: the very oddity that makes monsters repulsive is precisely what makes them attractive” a observation that monsters so attracted to the ewers because those monsters as symbolisms reflect the darkest feelings of humanity (31 ). Many people put on masks to conceal their darkest fears when they around others in their daily lives.

People may often have the same feelings as monsters who want to change the world in some ways. They also want to break the unfair rules without following the law. Even though some of them have those evil ideas, they cannot really do this. Watching horror movies provides a chance for them to expose emotions that society considers unacceptable. Monsters like zombies and ghosts are the horror and disgust elements of scary genres let evil thoughts, wrong decisions, opposite emotions totally expose.

When people are brave enough to sit in front of a movie screen that shows the bloody and terror, they can understand their darkest side of themselves. In other words, film producers create monsters, which sketch out the most natural darkest fears of human, to help moviegoers accept and face their fears. Enjoying scary condition is a safe way to earn emotional release that help viewers temporarily escape from the real world.

Kinsman mentions that “while these scholars argued that horror taps onto positive emotions that are otherwise repressed, other psychoanalytic theories saw horror in the opposite light: as a safe and cathartic way to deal with darker feelings” an observation that suggests that scary genres are the safe paths leading to emotional relaxation and on escape from the real world (31 Moreover, Sharon Begley, in her article “Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies”, mentions that “we know that, in an hour or two, we’re going to walk out whole.

We’re not going to have any holes in our head, and our hearts will still be in our bodies” (Deliberates. Com). This illustrates why fans of horror ivies are willing to spend one or two hours to sit in the theaters. They know horror movies allow them to explore their fears without placing them in real danger. In other words, the viewers are comfortable with dealing with their darkest fears when they watch those scary genres because they are in a protected state of their minds; they understand that no real harm can come to them. To really enjoy a horror movie, people have to know that they are in a completely safe space.

The appeal of horror movies goes beyond thrill- seeking and emotional relief because it serves as an effective way to learn how to handle terror. As Begley suggests, “by learning to suppress feelings and display mastery or cling to others in a dependent ploy for protection, a person learns to cope with another aspect Of his or her environment, a skill that may be useful in dealing with more than just horror pictures” (Deliberates. Com). Scary genres help people learn to manage fears, particularly for teenagers and young adults.

More and more moviegoers are willing to line up for the tickets of horror movies, and place themselves in a fear inducing situation for one or two hours. After they expose their forbidden emotions in the cinema, they should try to control those feelings hat society consider unacceptable in their real lives. Although people can happily face the best aspect of themselves; at the same, they need to learn how to deal with their worst and darkest inner emotions. The horror movie genre allows horror seekers to gauge their respective capacities of facing their undesirable feelings.

People sometimes love to watch horror films with their friends, families, or lovers because a scary situation helps them to build stronger relationships. Shelley Taylor, in her article Tend and Befriend: Behavioral Bases of Affiliation Under Stress”, shows that “in addition to eight-or-flight, humans demonstrate tending and befriending responses to stress-?responses underpinned by the hormone extinction” (psych. UCLA. Deed). When people feel afraid, they can release hormones, like cytokine, that solidity the scary moments in their memory.

Sometimes audiences care more about the experience Of going to a horror movie with the person, who they consider important, than the scary movie itself. If those viewers have a good movie experience with their friends, families, or partners, they are more likely to build a special closeness in stressful and scary situations. In reticular, horror movies help build relationship between partners. Benjamin Lee, author of “Scream 4: A Good Date Movie”, believes that “it may seem odd, but theres good reason to expect that watching a horror movie could increase attraction between partners” (counterrevolutionaries. Com).

When a couple enjoys the thrill of fear, they share their reactions of being scared with each other, which leads to a stronger feeling of intimacy because the mutual uneasiness naturally tends to develop stronger bonds between two or more individuals. As I have shown, horror movies present stress inducing subjects, UT those scary images provide a special way for moviegoers, especially young people, to experience psychic satisfaction. Those horrific experiences offer viewers an opportunity to look for stimulation similar to riding roller coasters and a means to deal with the feelings that society consider unacceptable.

Monsters in scary films play an important role in creating a link with the feelings of an individual’s heart. Moreover, horror films develop an environment of being scared but in a safe environment People allow themselves to release their inner fears. More importantly, the purpose of itching scary genres is to learn how to manage ones fears because it as a skill to help people lead a better life. Experiencing fear together can lead people to build stronger relationships with each other.

The largest Indian steel industry was quite dynamic to business changes and was on the lookout for capturing better opportunities to gain large market segment for its products and services. The SAP solution was speaking volumes about their immediate response to the market challenges and has successfully captured all their business processes and integration of the functions.  Erpwire.com (2008) mentions that the company is now able to reap benefits in all aspect and make further progress in each and every operation of an enterprise.

The decision to implement SAP ERP 3 which was an exact match for their requirements and their business process integration. The future forecast was also on the cards while making the decision for SAP. The development and implementation took a lot of time and it was aimed at enveloping all the business domains and tapping the resources of the organization. Thus the final implementation took a lot of time.

The implementation was successful and enables them to safeguard against better techniques for getting the job done. The success rates are phenomenally high and enable one to make the most of the ERP software. The company never got bogged down by the reported failure rates and was quite successful at meeting up with the resource management issues.

The net result was in the form of not only profits but in increased productivity of the business processes. The speed of their operations enhanced with absolutely no error which deserves great appreciation and attributes for better synchronization with the factors of success (Amoako-Gyampah, 2005).

Essay 1 – The role that education plays in my life Education has been a key point in my life and it has opened me the doors to many different experiences. Thanks to education I have had the opportunity to choose what I wanted to do in my life and decide where I wanted to live. Education has given me more freedom to make decisions. Plato said that education should be mandatory for everyone because is the only way to develop a just society (The Republic).

The author defended that education is the process that enables man to become aware of the existence of another reality (Allegory of the Cave). I agree with Plato that there is another reality. In my opinion there are many realities as there are many perspectives of the world. However, I think that knowledge is not enough to understand the other realities and it is needed the experience to realize that there are more things behind our reality.

In my opinion knowledge allows me to make my own decisions with freedom but I am able to understand the other realities through experience. Although philosophers insist that education is the process of learning different concepts and skills required to understand another reality, I will argue that experience has played a more important role in my education than the knowledge learned from others. In addition, I think that education’s role should be helping the people to choose freely rather than developing a just society.

In my opinion, education and freedom are two very correlated aspects. I don’t understand education without freedom and vice versa. If I don’t have the freedom to study what I want I will not be able to make my own decisions in the future. My academic background started in Spain where I graduated from high school and I started studying Business Administration in college. The education that I received from school and family allowed me to decide that I wanted to study in another place…

As we know that the customer experience management helps by managing the experience of the customer with the product of the company and here in our case would be the catering service satisfying the needs of the customer, by strategically processing the experience of the customer with the food that has been provided by the catering company.  With the help of CEM the gap between the customer and the company start’s to decline and eventually comes to an end. It must be remembered that the CEM is based on five different experiences of the customer they are sense, feel, act, think and relate.

As we know that the experience is the major key to the customer experience management, experience basically helps the company to mange a customer’s experience with a company’s product or service so that the company is able to achieve the customer focused management concept. This can be accomplished with the help of a framework but based on company’s goals and objectives.

This framework is based on five steps, which are investigating the experiential world of the consumer (i.e. in the Socio-cultural perspective of the customer and examining the main business notion), creating and developing experiential platform (i.e. connecting strategy with implementation and satisfaction received by the customer from the service), designing the brand experience (for example, logos), developing the customer interface (i.e. attitude, behavior or value and/or dynamic exchanges and contract points with the customers) and lastly continuous experiential innovation (i.e. innovation in the customer’s product so that the customer does not get bored with the company’s catering service).  (Schmitt, 2006)

Design Proposal

Design is considered to be an activity that converts an idea in to a blueprint for something useful like a car, a building or even a catering business. Design is becoming very important not only for a product for a service like catering as well because it increases the customer experience. The design proposal is going to be based on two stages they are as follows:

• Stage 1: that is constructing the design orientation and that can be done with the help of qualitative research in the catering industry.
• Stage 2: that is going to be based on exploring, and analyzing the impact on the design orientation. It will be based on conceptual objective (that is awareness, use and impact) and empirical method (that is sampling). (Schmitt, 2006)

Key Features of the Target Market

As we know that the target market is families with a double income. The key features of the target market are as follows:

• Where mutually husband and wife are  working full time jobs
• ·Families who prefer to eat homemade meals
• Who do not have the time to cook their own dinners or meal

Creativity

Creativity is a very important part of a catering business. Creativity in other words mean innovation, and for a business to thrive constant innovation is required especially in the food business, why, because it there is no innovation the customer or the clients of the business will take their business elsewhere because they can bored and tired of the food served to them over and over again. What the catering business can do is introduce different menus to their customer and then they can select from that what they would prefer to eat. This way the customers are not going to be tired and will remain loyal to the company. (Weaver, 2003) Read also research proposal on Forensic Accounting

Job Description

Job analysis can be defined as a way, through which information can be collected, evaluated and organized in a systematic way, and this is mostly done through a job analyst. Requirements must be very specific so that the specialists are able to recruit those individuals with the needed knowledge, skills and as well as abilities. The job description or the tasks that need to be performed by an employee or a staff member in the catering business would be preparing the food, food service, cleaning up, marketing and sales. (Weaver, 2003)

Training Needs and Staff Support Issues

The job tasks and employees’ capabilities must always be balanced through orientation and developing programs. Training and development efforts enable the employees to assume expanded duties and greater responsibilities. It must be remembered that training only helps the employees with their current job and develop the employee for the future whereas development helps the employees to handle their future responsibilities. Cooking skills are very much required in the catering business, without these skills an employee would not be able to survive. The training need and skills other cooking is as follows:-

• Culinary Ability and Creativity: it is a known fact that the carters need to excellent cooks and they should have the ability to produce foods in mass quantity and they need to have creative menus and then need to have the ability to collaborate with their customers so that the company is able to understand the choices, tastes and the food preferences of their customers. (Venture Catering, 2004)
• Social Skills: social skills are also very much need because it is due to a customer that a catering service runs and hence the employees need to have the ability with communicating with the customers. It is the task of the employee to attract potential customers and sell them the company’s product. The employees would need to listen to what customers needs are and deliver it.
• Business Savvy: the employees need to have this ability in them because they need to know about the industry and their target market and the company will benefit from some basic business skills and training. The employees will be able to work with customers more easily if they are business savvy. (Venture Catering, 2004)

Sustainability Dimensions

They are as follows:

• Selection of food goods offered
• Quality of customer service
• Innovation  (Venture Catering, 2004)

Code of Conduct

The code of conduct or ethical principles in the catering business would be:

• ·         Quality of food, i.e. the food should be fresh and cooked properly
• ·         No stealing of any items (like food items of petty cash)
• ·         Cleanliness when cooking the food
• ·         Accessibility of the service
• ·         Delivering the food on time
• ·         Pricing and affordability  (Venture Catering, 2004)

References

1. Schmitt, B (2006), How to Build Your Customer Experience Framework in Five Steps, Available from < http://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/62>, retrieved on 1st June’09
2. Venture Catering (2004), Venture Catering Business Plan, Available from <http://www.ventures.yale.edu/docs/Venture_Catering_Plan.pdf>, retrieved on 1st June’09
3. Weaver, J (2003), Food for thought: creativity is an acquired taste, so start your company off with small bites. Available from <  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DTI/is_3_31/ai_n12417428/>, retrieved on 1st June’09

Belonging as an abstract, transitory concept presents human beings with a sense of association with a particular environment, another individual, or other beings. Some argue that humans have this inherent nature to connect, to feel a sense of attachment and acceptance so that they may feel fulfilled and secure. This sense of belonging can emerge from the rapport formed with people, places, groups, communities, and the wider world. Such affinity may be social, physical, mental, emotional, psychological or spiritual.

However, different notions of belonging are heaped by or recognized in cultural, historical, personal and social contexts. It Is a perception, a state of mind which offers a sense of enlightenment, felt when an Individual gains an understanding of themselves In relation to others and the wider world. To be a natural member, a part of something, at ease, to have a proper or usual place, to be suitable or fitting, to have a home, a rightful place, those are some of the concepts that constitute belonging.

Such aspects may be considered In terms of experiences and perception of Identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding: Peter Crooknecks based his poems Migrant Hostel, 10 Mary Street and Ancestors on his own personal experience and resulted in deeply insightful recounts of his migrant past, his family relationship with their home in Australia and his trouble with connecting to his heritage. In these poems, Crooknecks focuses on the theme of not belonging.

In Migrant Hostel it’s particularly apparent, as he speaks about his family’s initial experience as migrants. The entire poem conveys a sense of isolation and dislocation on the part of the immigrants during this time. The mood of he poem is a dark, negative one, his description of it resembling a prison; Jerkiness’s effusive use of imagery allows his responders to effectively depict this particular setting – “No one kept count of all the comings and goings-arrivals of new comers in busloads from the station. In these first few lines we are able to detect that the poet is reminiscing by his use of past tense when he writes “kept”. Alliteration of KC in “kept count” provides a harsh sound, illustrating frustration and dislike, as well as highlighting the people’s dissociation, unease and tension; we also receive a sense of disorientation and insignificance as the migrants are referred to as numbers.

Because this was a temporary place they had to remain in indefinitely, nobody risked developing connections or setting up a sense of community due to a constant feeling of uncertainty and weariness; “Sudden departures from adjoining blocks that left us wondering who would be coming next” – this segregated environment has the feel of an air force base, which would’ve brought forth old, unpleasant memories of the unsympathetic military situation suffered In their home countries.

They came from a season of war to a season of peace, having Just escaped from a life they could no longer live to a place of supposed freedom and opportunity, yet the migrant hostel made them feel Like prisoners, with no sense of safety, thinking they belonged nowhere; the only thing they had was their family or other relations and the few possessions they had with them.

In the second stanza, Crooknecks describes the natural process to look for fraternally through the use of sound and sight to provide a sense of security and connection – “Nationalities sought each other people we can relate to, hence the simile, “Like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings”, talking about our innate and subconscious searching for any sign of home. This section emanates an erratic feeling, further emphasized by the themes it conveys.

The lines, “Partitioned off at night by memories of hunger and hate”, transports a sense of forced routine and separation of the physical and mental type. Night time would’ve been worse for the migrants because they wouldn’t have had anything else to do but being left with their own thoughts and memories of home tit no distractions to impede these contemplations from taking over their weary and emotionally frail minds, causing an increase of desperation and eagerness to be released.

The word “hate” carries some resentment, connecting back to horrific memories from the holocaust. “Always sensing change” illustrates their amplified feeling and emotion due to the tightly enclosed space they had to stay in; the environment they were in was a highly stressful one, which made people extremely sensitive to any type of change. In stanza three, Crooknecks repeats the bird motif, saying how they “lived like birds of passage”.

Birds are a symbol of freedom, which is why he continues to use it; he is emphasizing the fact that migrants were not able to make decisions; it was the government, that specific institution that made ‘resolutions’. It is the migrants’ wish to be let out into the better world they have yet to see. The line, “Unaware of the season”, highlights their uncertainty and lack of stability in this new country; the Australian climate is extremely different from the climate they would’ve had back home, and therefore they couldn’t have much of an idea about how much time had passed.

The days were also long for both the people n the hostel and the ones who went out to work, which meant the day dragged on; all they knew was that they were constantly waiting, so people remained highly alert, awaiting their turn to leave. The line, “Whose track we would follow’ shows how unsure they were about where they would be going once they left, whether they’ll see any of the people they met again, whether they will be following the same path as the others who left.

This last stanza works as a doleful conclusion; the “barrier at the main gate” is a symbol of bureaucracy and also emphasizes this sense of segregation. The line “Sealed off the highway’ is a metaphor for freedom, the Journeys they will be able to undertake once they are accepted and allocated. The “main gate” is personified “as it rose and fell like a finger pointed in reprimand or shame” as someone in power; their lives are controlled, and their treatment as refugees makes them feel belittled, patronized, guilty, like they have come into this new country illegally.

They are “needing its sanction”, continuously having to ask for permission and instruction; they have somewhat come to rely on it and have become accustomed it, in a way feeling a connection with this protective gate. The last three lines of the poem, “To pass in and out of lives that had only begun or were dying”, denote a new beginning for them and a second chance at finding a home; however the last line contrasts this through more negative connotations as it expresses a sense of loss of their past identity, culture, heritage and way of life.

Migrant Hostel is a deep personal insight illustrating a temporary sense of belonging, a transitional stage where people seeking change had to wait and be treated like prisoners in order to take their place in Australian society, likely causing lasting mental, emotional and or security, identity and place to belong was satisfied. The house protected them from the strange new environment that surrounded them. We are immediately able to detect that Crooknecks is reminiscing on past events by the first lines: “For nineteen years”; time has a huge impact on the sense of belonging to a place.

Routine was a big part of their life, it was comforting for them this predictability as it helped establish a sense of solidarity and certainty, exemplified in the simile, “We departed each morning, shut the house like a well-oiled lock” and the line “Back at up. M. ; it focuses on the re-found regularity of their existence, and the use of “we” highlights the family sense of belonging to each other after the disrupted and traumatic life they previously led.

The lack of change is emphasized by the “still to narrow bridge”. In the second stanza, the rich imagery of the garden helps to further establish the overall positive tone of empowerment and progress. The growth and passion for the garden is contrasted with their work life – “Of washing clothes, and laying sewerage pipes, my parents watered plants”; Crooknecks maintains a tone of respect and admiration for his parents’ commitment.

The garden’s importance and its role in the family is highlighted in the simile “Like adopted children”. To his parents was like a second child as it provided them with a cultural connection to the old ways thus keeping them in touch with their heritage -Jerkiness’s parents underwent a process of naturalization, but were too attached to their culture and heritage to assimilate, which impacted on their ability to belong in the new environment.

The garden represents development and connection within the family to show that they are individuals, demonstrating their personality, identity, passion, and creativity as a family. Crooknecks contrasts his parents’ care and dedication towards the garden with his own childish attitude; “I’d ravage the backyard” illustrates the approach – he takes and they give. His love for the garden as a kid comes from his ability to indulge in the goods it provides abundantly; “bursting at the seams” communicates his greediness and provides comical, cartoonist imagery.

The mention of the “SST Patriot’s College cap” clarifies setting, that he superficially belongs to place, suggesting that he has covered from the experience in the migrant camp. The next stanza begins in present tense, “The house stands”, signifying that the poet has gone back to the family home to ensure it is still there; the house is personified in the following line, “Its china-blue coat”, and the pride in presentation is clarified.

The other half of the stanza articulates the apprehension regarding the fate of the house as “the whole block has been gazettes for industry’, foreshadowing future changes. The fourth stanza starts with the repetition of “For nineteen years”, bringing us back into the sat with a sad tone as he reflects on how they “kept pre-war Europe alive with photographs and letters”, valued and treasured because they are a remnants of a history that will not replicate itself.

The family trust and sense of relation to fellow compatriots is illustrated in the “heated discussions and embracing gestures” as they shared their attachment to a peaceful Europe. Crooknecks lists traditional foods and drinks which instigate and encourage social communication between community members and maintain a sense of connection to their Polish heritage.

The last stanza switches back to present time, depicting the garden as a symbol of kinship, “We became citizens of the soil which was feeding us”, using a metaphor to emphasis its lines, “Inheritors of a key that’ll open no house when this one is pulled down”, concludes that they need to remember their culture and history and maintain a connection to each other and the earth, because this key to their home is unique and cannot be replaced by any other house due to the memories that surround it.

Departure is symbolizes by the key, moving on from what used to be and into the true; the Crooknecks had to leave their carefully looked after home, this place of protection, and look towards a new life and future possibilities of belonging and adapting. Even though their home might be gone, what they had there as a family will never be destroyed. 10 Mary Street illustrates Pewter’s confusion about where he belongs; he has lived two lives, and even though he is able to access both, neither is meaningful to him.

He does not remember Poland, so he cannot associate with his parents on that; he takes for granted his family sense of belonging to the home and the garden and gives it less significance. Peter Jerkiness’s sense of identity could be seen as fractured because due to his lack of connection to Polish heritage, the only links he has are memories and stories which are not his, and therefore he cannot help but be more influenced by the newfound Australian culture which he is constantly surrounded by.

People’s desire for a home is expressed in our need to belong; it is the constructions of society which tell us what to be and the right thing to believe. However in the end it’s the people who make a home, Just like the Crooknecks. Feldman said in 1990, “The home place becomes the place of comfort ND security, care concern and commitment, and the place in which the personal meanings of home become tied to the individual’s concept of self. ” Ancestors is a dark, enigmatic and highly emotive poem which continues the motif of not belonging and cultural isolation.

In this poem he poses numerous rhetorical questions which mirror his confusion in regards to his heritage and culture. This dream is a metaphor for his reflections which focus on self-development and how his family immigration has interfered with significant identity forming communications, given by the first two nines, “Who are these shadows that hang over you in a dream-“. In this dreamboats his subconscious has created, he speaks in second person, illustrating his detachment or desire to be disconnected and disassociated from this surreal experience.

This is almost a self-reflection, a way for him to desperately try and see things more clearly, to understand his past and those responsible for his existence. In this dream, his ancestors are trying to speak to him, to inform and illuminate him, to complete him so that he may feel the sense of belonging that he should. However e cannot identify, understand or communicate with them and that causes him to feel guilt and frustration, as well as a sense of uncertainty as “they whisper into the darkness”. He is denied shared cultural experiences and history, and by the end he is left with a sense of dissatisfaction and impotence.

There is a clear spiritual connection and a sense of belonging with them because they share the same blood, which shows that this poem is also about family belonging; it is an unavoidable relationship that he desperately wants to comprehend because he believes they hold the key to his identity and ability to create a sense of belonging. The line “The wind tastes of blood” reflects those notions but also refers to the natural elements, air, earth, fire and water, and how we are part of blood as we create our own through before he was about to gain some clarity; “Why do you wake as their faces become clearer-“.

This poem is both reassuring and disturbing, as it shows that these elders of the past want to help him and give him direction but there is an eerie, haunting presence about them made even worse by the fact that he cannot understand them – “Where do they point to” – he lacks knowledge and that prevents him from forming a peer than blood connection with his Polish ancestors. The line “To what star do their footprints lead? Portrays his confusion and the mysterious ways they are going about communicating with him, the word star having positive connotations showing that they are wise and their advice would help, but he cannot decipher their guidance. In the line “From the circle around you”, Crooknecks was alluding to the circle as a symbol of perfection and unity. The ancestors standing in a circle symbolism the circle of life, in my end is my beginning, the creation of life.

Water mess to be a running motif within the three poems – in Migrant Hostel there is the notion that the Crooknecks arrived to Australia by boat, that they had to cross the ocean to find a place of freedom. Water is one of the most powerful natural forces, able to both harm and heal. In Ancestors the line “Sound of a river” with the lines inform tongue dry as caked mud? And later “sand and grasses… Wind” provides with strong imagery, however here it’s about the lack of water. There is a clear element of water in 10 Mary Street in the lines in stanza two, “Of washing clothes, and laying ragged pipes, my parents watered plants”, so water is what kept the family garden alive and flourishing, and was an essential part in providing Pewter’s parents with a profession.

The element of water is mentioned both directly and indirectly, and plays a key role in the experiences the Crooknecks and Peter lived. Different notions of belonging are shaped and created by experiences we have undergone and those perceptions will be transitory. Change is inevitable, and different human beings will hold differing perceptions of what it is to belong to various people, places, groups, communities, and the wider world.

It is not commonly known that the brain is 90% developed by age five. Most people believe that at age five children are just starting to learn. In fact, the brain absorbs more from birth to age five rather than from age five on. Parents and family can do many things to aid in the development of a baby’s brain, ultimately assisting in their learning. The sequence and rate at which the brain develops predicts the optimal times for a baby to learn. Sequence and rate is measured by milestones that a baby may reach by a certain age. Experiences are one thing that helps promote brain development.

Our five senses give us these experiences. How in the first few years of life do we develop into the complex people we are today? We will look at how nature versus nurture; sensory perception; positive and negative experiences and both our social and physical environment contribute to and develop everything about whom we are as individuals. The brain is influenced in many different ways. The most important factors in brain development start with genetics, nutrition, and responsiveness from parents, daily experiences, and physical interactions.

Parents need to know that children are learning and accepting more information that a fully grown adult. Children need positive and sensitive feedback from family. In the past, scientist believed that the human brains development was determined by a biologically determined path (Brotherson, 2005). This means that the brain would develop genetically through family, but leading technology and science proved that the brain is not predetermined genetically by family. The brain matures through the five senses: smell, touch, vision, taste, and hearing.

The experiences that the five senses bring are very crucial to help build the connections that guide brain development. The importance of the parents understanding of the first few years of his or her child’s life is extremely important. As Titzer, P. H. D, (2008) uses a computer metaphor to explain brain development he put it this way “Your baby’s brain could be thought of as a highly responsive, self-programming computer. For the first few years, the hardware is still coming together – a baby is not a finished product, but a growing, developing individual, complete with organic “circuitry” – the central nervous system” (p. ). The brain will absorb more with more stimulation. At an earlier age stimulation for the brain circuitry is at its best. This will cause the brain circuitry to develop more effectively. The main function of the brain in the first three years of life is to create and support connections between neurons. The connections are referred to as synapses. Synapses could be envisioned as the limbs on the tree. Imagine a large family tree with its trunk as the original lineage. Then the main branches are the families as they grow and have children. Neurons are like the trunk and the main branches of the tree.

The number of neurons a baby is born with remains constant in the first three years of life. Synapses (all those years of lineage on the family tree) are all the little twigs and branches that come off the main trunk. In the first three years of life our brains synapses increase to a number in the hundreds of trillions. However, after age three the number of synapses begins to slow until age 10. During this period there are more synapses created than needed. A person creates more synapses than needed and the “use it or lose it” theory applies to all the unused synapses.

The synapses being used the most, meaning the circuits that transfer information the most become permanent to the brain. The synapses not used are lost in a process called pruning. In fact, the ability to see light is lost if the eyes are not exposed to light within the first three weeks of life, hence “use it or lose it” theory (Hawley, 2003). This will happen because the synapses that can see light will be lost because they will not have been used. That is why we want to give our children as much experience socially and with learning as possible.

With this kind of experience these synapses will become permanent. Brotherson (2005) describes a baby’s brain at this point like a “”super sponge” absorbing everything given to it (para. 4) The first three years are the most sensitive for learning and development (Gable & Huntington, 2001). The brain takes in these experiences through our five senses. According to Gable & Huntington (2001) “an infant’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical and language development are stimulated during multisensory experiences” (para. 12) During these first few years of life is most rapid growth period for the brain.

At birth the brain is 25% developed, at six months it is 50% developed , at 30 months 75% developed and at age five it is already 90% developed. There have been many optimal opportunities for parents to teach their children many things from birth to this point already. Children at the age of two have been known to read at the reading level of a fifth grader because they were taught at the “prime time. ” Acquiring the knowledge of how a baby’s brain develops and what can be done to influence it in a positive way can make a world of difference for a child.

A positive influence during this critical period is very crucial. Let us take a look at nature versus nurture; sensory perception; positive and negative experiences and both our social and physical environment contribute to and develop everything about who we are as individuals. Take the study of nature, for example, our individual innate qualities versus nurture, and our personal experiences. As evidences by the recent Human Genome Project, it is currently believed that there is much more nurture than nature in the result of each of us.

With this, how does nurture become nature? Let us look at the example of ‘perfect pitch’ to show the relationship between genetics and environment. This is an example of how” heredity and environment can interact” (Davies, 2001, para. 3). Davies (2003) describes perfect pitch as “The ability to recognize the absolute pitch of musical tone without any reference note. People with perfect pitch often have relatives with the same gift and research show this is a highly inherited gift, possibly the result of a single gene.

However, studies also demonstrate a requirement for early musical training (before age 6) to manifest perfect pitch. Many personality and behavioral traits will not be exclusively the result of nature or nurture, but rather an inextricable combination of both” (para. 5). _ Nature versus nurture and the role that heredity and environment have in human development indicates that with almost all biological and psychological traits genes and environment work together in communication back and forth to create us as individuals . No one questions it; this is the ying and the yang, the Adam and Eve, the Mom and Pop of pop psychology and genealogy. Nature and Nurture is what made us what we are today and will determine what our children will be tomorrow. I have heard the expression that life is all about perception. We all know people who are positive and those who are negative. And each of us has either an optimistic or pessimistic personality. How we perceive the world around us is inherently a matter of our sensory perception of the world and largely that done in the first several years of life.

We have many senses but we most often refer to the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. We are born with the need for a multisensory environment. Research shows that interactions that are associated with many of emotion are more “readily remembered and recalled”_ __(Gable & Huntington, 2001, para. 17)_. With this, it is proven that with a multisensory environment we develop out temperament and emotions during an early the early stages of life. Developmental milestones are certain things that a child should be able to do by a certain age range.

A child’s doctor will use these milestones to assess the development of a child in the area of his/her gross motor, fine motor, language, cognitive, and social skills. Even though each milestone has an age range, each child is different and unique so the age can vary significantly. One child may start to walk as early as seven months old and another child may not begin to walk until 16 months old and both would be considered normal. They both would be within the normal age range.

In conclusion, we have looked at how genetics and environment in early brain development occurs as well as the importance of multiple sensory experiences, positive interactions, and social and physical stimulation in early development of a variety of cognitive and behavioral skills. It was briefly discussed that there are many interventions and treatments for improvement in many areas of interrupted brain development due to early childhood trauma, stress, and neglect with appropriate intervention.

Many agencies today focus on education for parents and caregivers to ensure a more positive and educational experience for the early brain development. References Brotherson, Gable,S. & Hunting, M. (2001). Nature, Nurture and Early Brain Development. Retrieved from http://extension. missouri. edu/publications/DisplayPub. aspx? P=GH6115 Hawley, T. (2003). Starting Smart. How Early Experiences Affect Brain Development. Titzer, R. Ph. D. (2008). Your Baby Can Read. Carlsbad, Ca