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Basic Research Concepts: Qualitative, Descriptive, and Experimental Research Designs

Student’s Name

Institution Affiliation

Course Name and Code

Professor’s Name

Date

Question 1

According to Imed Bouchrika, a research design is a framework containing the methods and procedures for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. It outlines how an investigator would approach the main research question. Furthermore, a research design defines other elements of a study, including hypotheses, variables, statistical analysis, experiments, and methodology.

One characteristic of a good research design is that it is neutral. A research design must be neutral because it allows researchers to analyze and interpret data that are free from bias. Secondly, a good research design is valid. A valid research design is important because it ensures that the techniques and tools for measuring results are fit for the job and allow the correct measurement of the study results. The third characteristic of a good research design is that it is reliable. A research design should be reliable to create an opportunity to form a basis for collecting data and analyzing results. Lastly, a good research design can be generalized. Notably, a research design should be generalizable so that it allows the researcher to cover any part of the study with a similar measure of accuracy.

The main difference between research design and research methods is that a research design is logical while a research method is logistical. This means that a research design is a plan, while the method is the way to realize that plan.

Question 2

One of the three most important characteristics of a qualitative research approach is that it includes a small sample to allow the investigator to collect narratives, interview responses, texts, and stories and analyze these data to generate patterns, themes, or reasons why a problem or a phenomenon exists. Secondly, a qualitative research approach utilizes an inductive way, commonly known as a bottom-up approach, to reach a conclusion. Thirdly, in a qualitative research approach, data is recorded in textual format from interaction with and observation of subjects.

I can locate an example of qualitative research in my annotated bibliography. An example is:

Weinberg, I., & Ronningstam, E. (2020). Dos and don’ts in treatments of patients with a narcissistic personality disorder. Journal of personality disorders, 34(Supplement), 122-142.

In this qualitative study, the authors use secondary qualitative data to identify the guiding principles in effective psychotherapies of patients suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) and describe cautions against common pitfalls.

Question 3

One important characteristic of a quantitative research approach is that it uses numerical data or data that can be easily transformed into usable statistics. The second important characteristic of a quantitative research approach is that it utilizes a larger sample population. Thirdly, a quantitative research approach entails determining the strength of, or presence of, a relationship between variables of interest in a study.

An example of quantitative research from my annotated bibliography is Alexander, M. B., Gore, J., & Estep, C. (2021). How the need for power explains why narcissists are antisocial. Psychological reports, 124(3), 1335-1352.

In this quantitative study, the researchers examine the relationship between narcissism and antisocial behavior with the mediating role of the need for power. The authors use a large sample of 408 subjects.

Question 4

The three important characteristics of true experimental research are that they involve random selection of subjects, random assignment of participants to groups in the study, and the researcher’s complete control over the extraneous variables in the study.

An example of true experimental research is:

Gangadharanđ, S., & Venkatesanē, L. (2021). Effect of Yoga on Somato-Vegetative Symptoms of Menopausal Women and its Association with Demographic Variables among Yoga and Non-Yoga Groups. Nursing Journal of India, 112(5), 225-232.

In this true experimental research, the researchers sought to determine and compare the impact of yoga on somato-vegetative women’s menopausal symptoms before and after administering Yoga between Non-yoga and Yoga groups to compare the somato-vegetative menopausal symptoms after the test with the chosen demographic variables in two groups. The study was true experimental research comprising both control and treatment groups.

Question 5

A qualitative research design seems to best help address my currently proposed research question, which seeks to uncover how narcissism contributes to antisocial behavior in men. A qualitative research design is ideal for this study since it is utilized to comprehensively understand the underlying reasons for a problem. Thus, this research design will allow me to uncover the reasons for antisocial behaviors in narcissistic men.

Basic Windshield Survey- Sentinel Town®

Lucreshia Jackson

American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences

Dr. Teri Logghe

20th September 2022

Basic Windshield Survey- Sentinel Town®

After touring Sentinel Town, I collected information about the area and the community living there. I found the geographical area of Sentinel Town to be a rural community. The overall population in this town is 609 people. The town has people of different ethnic groups. The group that comprises the majority of the people in this town is the whites who make up 91.8% of the total population, the Latinos follow with 7.6% of the total population, African Americans at 2%, and the least population is that of American Indians at 0.3%. To break this down further, the population of Sentinel City comprises 599 whites, 46 Latinos, 12 African Americans, and 2 American Indians (Sentinel, 2022). The majority of this population is between the ages of 24 to 44 years which is 24% of the total population. Further breakdown of the population is that those below the age of 5 years constitute 3.6% of the populace, those between the age of 18 and 24 at 7.5% of the population, those between the age of 45 and 65 years at 23.2% of the population, between the age of 65 and 84 years at 21.8%, and those beyond the age of 85 years constitute 1.5% of the total population (Sentinel, 2022).

The average household income in this town is $27,024 while the median family income is found to be $35,625 annually. 73 individuals in this town live below the poverty level which is estimated to be 12% of the total population (Sentinel, 2022). There were no statistics with regards to unemployment levels or unemployment which means that these rates are low in this town.

Sentinel town consists of a very small community with four dirt roads surrounding the whole town. There are also two streets in Sentinel town with the major streets that go up through the interior of the town and with poor street lights, no sidewalks, and with potholes. There were also bridges across the local river that enabled the residents to cross over. The town is also surrounded by mountains and hundreds of acres of farmlands. At the center of Sentinel town are historical buildings like hotels and SMEs that are poorly structured. One of the hotels is said to have been structured in the year 1935. I could observe many pickup trucks, a gas station, a school, a single general store, a wood mill, a single produce stand, and a single furniture store that seemed to be running out of business.

I could not see so many children on the streets but there were many adults. I did not see stray animals in the streets but I could observe many animals while taking the tour such as horses, dogs, skunks, pigs, and cows that were in the yard of their owners. I also observed a single church that looked to be non-denominational.

The overall social and health services of Sentinel Town are poor. The town has a single clinic, Sentinel Health Clinic which closes at 5:00 pm and does not offer weekend hours. Therefore it has limited hours of service. There are no other medical facilities such as doctor offices, wellness centers, hospitals, and urgent care. Therefore, in case of emergencies, the residents would travel to Sentinel City to seek medical care. There is no pharmacy locally and the town depends on the General store that has some over-the-counter medications for assistance. Home Grown health services also provide mobile medical assistance twice at the beginning of each month, every Friday and Saturday at the beginning of the month. The fire department is composed of part-time volunteers who help in emergencies which leads to delays in providing emergency services by around 30 minutes since the volunteers have other jobs.

As I continued with the survey, I noticed that there were fewer apartment complexes in the town. There were however many single-family homes which most were in a good shape but some needed masonry attendance or some paintings. I could not notice any destructed property or houses abandoned. There was a trailer park present in the town whose population was earning around $20,000 annually (Sentinel, 2022). There was also a huge farm that is located just outside the town. There are a few community spaces like parks, a single café, and a single grocery shop. There are also a few trees along the streets and a few road walks. The main hangout neighborhoods are the local church and the schoolyard. The main means of transportation is by use of a car since there is no public transportation in the town and with the roads being unpaved, the residents can’t use bikes or other transportation means. Therefore, the Sentinel town community lacks the recreation and community spaces that would help them in their recreational activities.

The air in this town is not polluted and the residents can access clean water. There are also many cases of burglaries since the street lighting is poor. After a stop at the Sheriff’s office, I accessed some of his file reports and the report indicated a total of four robberies and at least seven cases of aggregated assaults in the previous year. The report also showcased that the town lacks the disaster response plan that is readily available. The town lacks firemen and EMT specialists. However, this town does not seem to be disaster-prone as the Sheriff’s report indicated no reports of disasters.

This rural town is also limited in opportunities for economic growth which in turn affects the accessibility of its residents to healthcare. Some of the residents are not able to afford basic things like shelter or food. Other factors that contribute to the health concerns of these residents are the clinic not being open during the weekends and no local pharmacy. Health concern in this town is therefore linked to the health disparity within the target population as the town has not had enough resources to provide healthcare services that are adequate to the residents. The community is the one that provides the solution to this problem. For example, the local clinic provides medical resources and the local church provides the room for community gatherings and other activities. Therefore the church and the clinic are the only health-promoting places in Sentinel Town.

The largest health concern in this town is diabetes with most of the services being focused on treating the condition. Cancer follow-ups and treatment also have the most referrals in the Sentinel City hospital. There are also many concerns among the residents due to increased alcohol and drug abuse and also increasing problems concerning mental health. Controversial matters provided through reports from local sources include neglect and lack of immunization of the children, especially among the immigrants into the community. Minor injuries are the main contributor to the visits to emergency departments.

My target population in this town is children under the age of 5 years who constitute 3.6% of the total population in Sentinel Town (Sentinel, 2022). The major health concern among this age group is the lack of immunization. According to the 2021 health report By WHO, the number of children that were completely vaccinated had increased by 5 million children as compared to 2019 (WHO, 2022). Another health concern of this target population is the lack of space in the town for recreational and exercise activities for these age groups. According to a report by CDC, physical exercises help reduce chronic diseases among children, build endurance and strong muscles, and improve their memory and attention. The town, therefore, requires campaigns to address these two concerns

The tour to Sentinel town, therefore, provides me with the knowledge and the skills to the analysis of the link between the community demographics and health concerns. This will therefore equip me with the skills of analyzing my community and coming up with issues of concern that need to be fixed and improved.

References

CDC. Health Benefits of Physical Activity for Children. Retrieved 21 September 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/health-benefits-of-physical-activity-for-children.htmlSentinel, C. (2022). Getting on the bus: evaluation of Sentinel City® 3.0 virtual simulation in community/population health clinical placement. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 17(1).

WHO. (2022). Immunization coverage. Retrieved 21 September 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/immunization-coverage

Life and educational history of James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson was born in the year 1871. He was a great artist who wrote several songs and poems in the late eighteenth century. James Weldon Johnson was born in the city of Jacksonville in Florida. In his life periods, he attained several major achievements in life. Weldon was born of a father who was a headwaiter in one of the luxurious hotels in the city of Jacksonville, Florida (Johnson and Rudolph, 47). Other than being a headwaiter, Weldon Johnson’s father was a schoolteacher in one of the schools in the city of Jacksonville. This made Weldon Johnson to undertake his studies in the City of Jacksonville. Weldon finished his high school studies in one of the institutions in the City of Jacksonville, Florida upon which he was admitted to Atlanta University.

After graduating from Atlanta University, Johnson Weldon got the job of being a principal in one of the former schools that he had learnt. As a principal, Weldon progressed with studies. He took further studies in law, a fact that made him be admitted to the Florida Bar. It is of critical importance to highlight the fact that alongside the academic achievements, Weldon Johnson was also a gifted artist. He wrote several songs, poems and other literary works. It is prudent enough to note that his art of composing songs started way back in the eighteenth century. In the year 1900, Weldon Jackson wrote the song was titled “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (Johnson and Rudolph, 74). Weldon Johnson’s brother by the name John Rosamond, in the school event that was scheduled to celebrate the birthday of Lincoln, set this song to music.

Following this, the song gained remarkable popularity and was later on declared the “Negros’ National Hymn” by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. However, in the year 1901, Weldon Johnson went to visit his brother who was living in New York and stayed with him there for a while. In their stay, they composed and wrote more songs with the Broadway Shows (Johnson and Rudolph, 59). Five years later after joining his brother in New York, Weldon Johnson gave up the issue of songwriting in a move that saw him become a United States Consul in the country of Venezuela. However, three years after being posted to Venezuela, Weldon was later transferred to Nicaragua. This was in the year 1909. That is the time Weldon Johnson started writing about his novel. This was in form of an autobiography and it was entitled “Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”. The book was published in the year 1912 following a unanimous approval.

In the autobiography, James Weldon Johnson tells of a story of a young biracial man by the name Ex-Colored Man. This story majorly dwells on the racial prejudices as well as the discriminations that befell the blacks in America from the eighteenth century. The songs that characterize this autobiography are those full of paradox of race and color as was experienced in the earlier days of America (Johnson, 39). The songs depict a sense of encouragement in the perception of the readers, as well as, the fictitious subjects who were the victims of racial discrimination. The people being referred to in the autobiography, though in the form of a fictitious story, are the Black Africans who found their roots in America. At the time, racial prejudice was so strong in America. This brought a major drift between the blacks and the whites. The blacks were so much alienated and regarded as mentally inferior. The general perception of the whites in America was that the Black Americans had relatively low mental capacity to aide them in progressing in life. This was quite evident in the way Weldon Jackson descried some instances when the blacks were discriminated upon.

The story centers on a major character just referred to as “Ex-Colored Man”. This offers a paradox of reason in determining the balance of perception on the issue of racism relevant to Ex-Colored Man. This follows that the main character, Ex-Colored Man, is a man who claims a biracial origin (Johnson, 56). He is a white by skin color but black in descent. In this regard, it is quite had to tell where the man belongs with regards to race. However, the Ex-Colored man is shown to embrace the issue of being a white more than that of being a black or a Nigger. This follows that he never wants to identify with the racial stigmatism that is hurled on the blacks. This is evident when the Ex-Colored Man passes to become a white. The main character, the Ex-Colored man is depicted as a person who values the sense of individualism. He never wanted to associate so much with the fact that he was partially of black origin. It seems as if this was contributing a lot towards causing some form of annoyance. He did not want to associate so much with the blacks since he considered them also less superior. A good example is depicted when Weldon was discussing with him on the way and generalizing his speech.

” I, in referring to the race, used the personal pronoun “we”; my companion made no comment about it, nor evinced any surprise, except to slightly raise his eyebrows the first time he caught the significance of the word. He was the broadest minded colored man I have ever talked with on the Negro question. He even went so far as to sympathize with and offer excuses for some white Southern points of view. I asked him what were his main reasons for being so hopeful. He replied, “In spite of all that is written, said and done, this great, big, incontrovertible fact stands out,–the Negro is progressing, and that disproves all the arguments in the world that he is incapable of progress. I was born in slavery, and at emancipation was set adrift a ragged, penniless bit of humanity. I have seen the Negro in every grade, and I know what I am talking about. Our detractors point to the increase of crime as evidence against us; certainly we have progressed in crime as in other things; what less could be expected?.” (Johnson and Rudolph, 36)

The fact that black man raises eyebrows when Weldon used the personal pronoun “we” referring to the black leaves a lot to question. It means the Ex-Colored Man did not want to associate with the blacks following the inequities, discrimination and racial prejudice that have befallen them since they found their way to the United States. This is also depicted in his ironical talk when he describes the possible outcomes associated with progresses made by the Blacks in life (Johnson and Sondra, 56). Any progress made by Negros is seen as an opportunity geared towards causing social harm in the future. This is too controversial and depicts a high degree of racial prejudice as well as racial discrimination.

It is of crucial importance to highlight that music always plays a critical role in enhancing knowledge amongst individuals. Music may be used to inform people on certain things. In addition, music can be used to rebuke certain wrongdoings of different individuals within the society. Moreover, music can take the role of offering encouragement to the individuals who may be oppresses with certain situations in life. Several music always have certain tunes that are quite enlightening (Johnson, 36). Moreover, some tunes and lyrics are always full of the grievances shared by the populations forming the environment in which the composition draws basis. Such may involve tones of grief, rebuke, appraisal and discrimination. It is of critical importance to highlight the fact that regardless of the content of the music, most music are always composed with regards to the current or emergent situations as well as the oppressive histories that the population may have underwent.

Other than the oppressive histories in the past, music can also dwell on the constructive histories, thereby enlightening the listeners as well as informing them of the way things should be done. It is an indisputable fact that there are different forms of music. Some of these forms of music may include rap songs, gospel music, pop music as well as blues (Johnson, 56). In addition, the other forms of music include jazz and ragtime. Jazz and ragtime are some of the music types that draw their roots from the African Americans in the United States of America. These forms of music came in to the music industry following the oppression that the Black Americans or the Negros underwent when they were in United States in the earlier days.

There are several similarities that exist between the music in the Autobiography of Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson and that of “The Blues I am playing” by Langston Hughes. The music in the autobiography of James Weldon is of three different forms. First, the similarity comes in the forms or types of music used in the two autobiographies. There are secular music, ragtime and jazz forms of music. These two individuals use these forms of music in different ways (Johnson, 36). Both James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes, in order to shun the form of racial discrimination and prejudice that the Negros underwent in the earlier times when they were in the United States of America, use these forms of music. The songs bring a sense of enlightenment and sensitization concerning the historical injustices that faced the black race in the United States.

In concern to the above, it is of critical significance to highlight that Langston Hughes bears the greatest responsibility of brining to existence the Harlem Renaissance in the African-American literature (Hughes, 32). The tunes of the songs, rhythms as well as composition in Langston Hughes’ music, “The Blues I am Playing” brings a form of genre that depicts the life of Negros with some form of cultural development (Johnson and Rudolph, 46). It is of crucial importance to note that the two types of music namely the jazz and the blues characterizing the music of Langston Hughes are the major elements enveloped in the Harley Renaissance. However, on the contrary, the major forms of music that characterize the works of Weldon were the jazz and the ragtime (Johnson and Rudolph, 47). In his artistic works, a number of music have been composed by Langston Hughes that portray his sentiments, feelings and opinions on the issue of oppression, discrimination and racial prejudice that the Black Americans underwent.

The music touches on the racial discrimination that the white Americans practiced on their fellow black citizens (Johnson and Rudolph, 74). Hughes Langston issues a strong sense of criticism on the forms of oppression that the Black Americans underwent in the United States. He provide several evidences in the music “The Blues I am Playing” that shows the issues and realities that his fellow Black Americans faced within the American society (Johnson, 36). The music portrays that the racial oppression, prejudice and discrimination against the Black American people was evident and became extremely dominant in the twentieth century. Langston Hughes succeeds to bring his sentiments through the music by bringing in two women characters namely Oceola Jones and Mrs. Dora Ellsworth (Hughes, 32). These are the two main characters in his artistic work in the music “The blues I am Playing”. Dora Ellsworth in her part is depicted as a white American. She is still at her middle age and is already a widow. On the other hand, Oceola Jones is depicted as a Black American who is of African origin (Johnson and Rudolph, 51). Both the women had shared different perspectives with regards to marriage. The white woman, Mrs. Dora, becomes upset at the fact that Oceola wants to get married, thereby trying to discourage her.

On the same note, James Weldon Johnson also depicts a strong sense of racial prejudice, discrimination and oppression in his music autobiography entitled “Ex-Colored Man”. He depicts several forms of oppression and injustices that the blacks underwent in the earlier days in America under the hands of the whites. The oppression, discrimination and racial prejudice were so dominant that even in schools, the blacks and whites had two different groupings (Johnson and Rudolph, 71). In addition, even conversation between blacks and whites was hampered following the strong sense of discrimination that the blacks were subjected to. James Weldon Johnson’s music majorly dwelt on two forms namely jazz and ragtime. He majorly used these forms of music following the fact that they gained prominence and fame amongst the people of America who were his major subjects in writing the songs (Johnson and Sondra, 56). With this advantage, he gained the opportunity of sharing his sentiments and opinions with regards to the issue of racial discrimination, racial prejudice as well as oppression. He used this opportunity to enlighten the people on the several cases of racial prejudice that was subjected to the Negros in America. This helped in informing the people of the negatives that were associated with the issue of racial prejudice.

Works Cited

Top of Form

Hughes, Langston. The Blues I’m Playing: A Story. New York: C. Scribner, 1934. Print. Bottom of Form

Johnson, James W, and Rudolph P. Byrd. The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson. New York: Modern Library, 2008. Internet resource.

Johnson, James W, and Sondra K. Wilson. Along This Way. New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 2008. Print.

Johnson, James W. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Radford, Va: Wilder Publications, 2008. Print.

Marketing Plan for Relaunching Brewed Coffee: A Case of Maxwell House

Introduction

Coffee, which is known by a variety of names in different parts of the globe, is quite popular. According to the most current numbers compiled from simply the general population of the United States, each day, Americans consume a total of 400 million cups of coffee, which works out to an average of 3 cups per person (Vest, 2021). One thing is for certain, coffee is here to stay, and it is good for business. Whether one thinks of it as a routine drink, a means to wake up in the morning, or simply a way to relax, one thing is definite that it has many uses. Coffee businesses like Maxwell House have made a fortune from the love people have for coffee. Even then, some of the products have failed to pick up in the target markets. Organizations like Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Dunkin’ are examples of the largest multinationals dealing with coffee and coffee products (O’Keefe, DiNicolantonio, & Lavie, 2018). The aim of this marketing plan is to detail the reasons – through the analytical lens of the marketing environment – Maxwell House brewed coffee failed.

Description of Business, Product and Target Customer

In terms of the overall business, Maxwell House Coffee continues to be a major player in the global coffee industry. One of the subsidiaries of Kraft Foods, which is the parent business of General Foods Corporation, is responsible for the production of the Maxwell House brand of coffee. The Maxwell House Hotel, located in Nashville, Tennessee, provided the inspiration for its naming, which occurred the same year, 1892 (University of North Florida, 2010). Up until the late 1980s, it dominated the market as the most sought-after kind of coffee in the United States.

On the product under review, Maxwell House Ready-To-Drink Coffee was first introduced to the market by General Foods in the year 1990, a significant amount of time after Mr. Coffee’s initial conception and just before to the meteoric rise of Starbucks and other major competitors (O’Keefe et al., 2013). The distinct packaging of Maxwell House could be found in the cold storage area of the shop. It offered a new method to experience the full flavor of Maxwell House Coffee that was simple to use and it came with a lot of great perks.

The target consumer of the product for Maxwell House Coffee was very specific. Launched in a period where coffee products were only begin to gain popularity, the Maxwell House Ready-To-Drink Coffee targeted the entire household as the key consumer. Freese (2021) notes that a majority of coffee businesses selling off the store coffee products target households and offices in a bid to reinforce the coffee drinking culture. Maxwell House Coffee was hoping for a significant penetration of the household category of consumers.

Why the Product Failed? Marketing Environment Analysis

A. STEEPLE

Social People’s actions in the coffee industry are greatly influenced by the many economic circumstances (Keiko, 2018).

Maxwell House failed to act on when consumers had more disposable income to spend more on goods that enhance the quality of their lives.

Another concern was the expansion of the coffee drinking population growing up in an era of domestically brewed hot morning coffee (Heng, House, & Kim, 2018), which Maxwell House failed to segment properly.

Technological The headquarters of Maxwell House Coffee were located in a nation that had an advanced technology infrastructure (Keiko, 2018). When a nation’s infrastructure for technological advancement is robust, this made it difficult for the new product to be accepted since it was associated with failure.

Economic The capacity of businesses in the coffee industry to achieve financial objectives is directly impacted by a complex collection of circumstances referred to as economic considerations (Higgins et al., 2018).

High economic growth rates, on the other hand, make it simpler to spend money (Seninde & Chambers, 2020), a factor that Maxwell House overlooked in a time where spending in the economy was high.

Environmental The concept of a closed-loop and the circular economy quickly became the standard in a number of industries as well as the coffee sector.

When an industry has strong institutional backing, recycling and reusing materials may become more simpler practices to implement. In a similar fashion, citizens of several nations participate actively in the recycling process.

Political At any point throughout the year, governments may alter the tax policies and trade regulations that are in place (Chen et al., 2019), which in turn may alter the environment in which businesses operate for the coffee industry, a situation that has been observed with various import-export policies between China and the United States.

Because it is distributed in so many different regions, Maxwell House Coffee is exposed to a greater number of political, structural, and systemic issues.

Businesses in the coffee industry need political stability since it has an impact on the confidence of both customers and investors, which Chen et al. (2019) note has a broad variety of repercussions for the economy.

Legal Businesses like Maxwell House Coffee were able to operate with less risk when they properly adhered to the regulations governing intellectual property.

Better operations in the industry was due to the fact that their patents are shielded from being duplicated, which provides them with a durable edge over their competitors.

Ethical Bean prices versus the retail prices

Pricing to match costs of production versus profitability

B. Porter’s Five Forces

Competitive Rivalry

For starters, Maxwell House Coffee confronts severe competition from other brands. Maxwell House Coffee faces competition from the brewing business, food service sector, and coffeehouses since it sells coffee in addition to other drinks and food. Potential competitors include Nescafe and Lavazza (de Figueiredo Tavares & Mourad, 2020). It might be a major franchise like Costa Coffee, or a tiny mom-and-pop establishment. Restaurants and bakeries like Greggs, Starbucks, and McDonald’s Cafes are featured in this category. There is fierce competition since so many enterprises compete in the same market. Finally, there is more competition since switching providers is inexpensive. Due to the availability of coffee shops in the region, customers may easily swap coffee shops in the morning. To conclude, Maxwell House Coffee confronts fierce competition due to its numerous competitors, limited product selection, and low cost of switching brands. This shows a high degree of competitiveness in the industry.

New Entrants

Starting a business like Maxwell House Coffee requires little upfront capital. Prices may vary depending on whether the new firm wants to construct a single coffee shop or a large coffee chain. Smaller coffee shops generally have lower costs for supplies, labor, and space than major coffee companies. As a consequence, new boutique coffee shops and other businesses may more easily compete with Maxwell House Coffee. To build a bigger network of coffee shops, though, one would need to invest much on branding (Brizek, 2012). They’d need to invest money on supplies, personnel, and facilities, but also on a plan to outperform a worldwide coffee shop chain or brand like Maxwell House Coffee. This would be on top of the other fees. In conclusion, the low costs of starting a company like Maxwell House Coffee and the high costs of building a brand make new competitors a little danger to Maxwell House Coffee. New competitors pose a moderate danger to the company.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Changing service providers is easy and inexpensive for Maxwell House Coffee customers. Because there are so many places to obtain coffee, switching coffee shops is as simple as going to a new one first thing in the morning. It is easy for customers to switch coffee shops since there are many different types of coffee shops on nearly every street, especially in cities (D’Elia et al., 2019). There are also many options, so people may compare coffee suppliers and choose the one that best suits their needs based on availability and flavor. People may go to a coffee vending machine, swap brands, or buy a coffee machine to prepare coffee at home. They have all of these alternatives. Buyer power is important for Maxwell House Coffee since customers may easily switch suppliers, there are many alternatives, and the average purchase size is small. This shows that buyers have a lot of negotiating power.

Supplier Bargaining Power

First, since most suppliers are similar in size, they have similar negotiating strength. A small supplier indicates they only deal with a few firms and have a few clients (Patterson, Scott, & Uncles, 2010). They can’t suddenly boost prices or they’ll lose clients. Also, Maxwell House Coffee and other coffee shops wield influence, not providers, due to the diversity of vendors. Maxwell House Coffee may select from a variety of vendors and choose the most convenient. Finally, the abundance of coffee and tea makes suppliers weaker. Overall, Maxwell House Coffee suppliers have less leverage since they are small, provide a wide range of items, and are plentiful. Suppliers have little negotiating power.

Threat of Substitutes

Customers may choose from a variety of alternatives. We also know that switching coffee suppliers does not significantly raise cost burden. Finally, it seems that alternatives are not extremely expensive (Samoggia & Riedel, 2019). The cost of coffee from a vending machine or brewed at home is cheaper than coffee from Maxwell House. Maxwell House Coffee is also sometimes more expensive than other coffee shops, which may discourage people from using the company. The threat of substitutes is high for the firm since there are many possibilities, moving coffee suppliers is not costly, and substitutes are cheap. This suggests a high risk of replacement competition. The danger of new goods and competition appear to have weighed heavily on Maxwell House Coffee.

C. Consumer Behaviour

It was Maxwell House Coffee’s intention that the manner in which the coffee was packed, the ease with which it could be obtained, and the emergence of a new coffee culture would be the primary reasons why people would purchase their product (Fisher, 2004). If a company wants to market the ease of their product as an advantage, then the product itself has to be convenient in every aspect (Samoggia & Riedel, 2019). This is just good sense. The consumer population should have voiced their concerns over the foil-lined packaging during the focus group discussions that were conducted. If it had been packaged differently, this brand-new product may still be used today. Additionally, obtaining the freshly brewed coffee was not any simpler than making a pot of coffee at home or purchasing coffee from a cart at work.

Product Re-Launch – New Market Opportunity

It is important to note that the product failed mainly because of how it was marketed as a convenience product yet had no convenience when compared to the technological developments in the coffee industry at the time. Today, a new opportunity for Maxwell House Coffee regarding the same product would be completely repackaging it and rebranding it as a ready to drink beverage and packaged to compete with energy drinks such as Monster and Redbull. Coffee has already made a name as one of the best energy drinks to kick start a morning or to generally provide the steam required to keep on going (O’Keefe, DiNicolantonio, & Lavie, 2018). In America, it is a very trusted commodity. Therefore, rebranding the poor marketing, poor packaging, and poor branding on the original product will enable Maxwell House to reintroduce the product as an energy drink that can be consumed as is packaged, chilled, or even heated where necessary. These features will achieve the original ideas of trendy, convenient product, and an improved formula that is not confusing to the market (Freese, 2021). Additionally, the marketing will shift from the households only and focus on young people, offices, schools, and workplaces where coffee is supplied in vending machines (Higgins et al., 2018). can take advantage off. By completely altering the use of the product, the market will associate an already trusted brand to a relatable use.

Product Re-Launch – New Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

People are purchasing based on trends that stress increased quality in a range of things rather than affordability, and one example of this is the rise in popularity of higher-quality coffees. Both mass-market coffees and specialty coffees have their own distinct places in the consumer landscape of the coffee industry in the United States. Products that are, on average, sold at inexpensive prices and may be found at supermarkets and convenience stores. The consumption of coffee sold in mass markets has been decreasing at a rate of 5% per year as a direct consequence of the trend toward increased consumption of specialty coffees outside of the house by consumers of all ages (Lombardi, Chidiac, & Record, 2021). Grocery stores are working with specialty coffee roasters to broaden their coffee offerings of higher quality in order to capture a bigger share of the mass market sales channels. Coffee shops were the only places in which you could get specialty coffee in the past since it was a branded, high-quality product (Haskova, 2015). In terms of quality, cost, and distribution, there was a clear divide, five years ago, between the coffees sold in mass markets and those sold in specialty shops. It is now more difficult to discern which category a coffee falls into due to the existence of two subcategories known as Premium and Specialty (Cranfield et al., 2010). It is recommended that Maxwell House aim for the general consumer market. In addition, the product has to be positioned in such a way that it is consistent with the rising trend of consumers becoming more health-conscious.

Maxwell House Coffee should develop and market the brewed coffee as an energy beverage with less calories. The geographic segment targeted is mainly urban, ages 22-60, and regionally in high coffee drinking nations like the US, Canada, Europe, China, Africa, and Latin America. Demographics include young couples, bachelors, single males, single women, energetic young people, students, and employees. In terms of behavior, the new product should reach to hard core loyalist, coffee lovers, and regular users. The Middle and upper classes of society are also targeted in terms f the psychographic elements.

Product Re-Launch – New Consumer Behaviour

Cultures greatly impact people’s decision-making processes in a positive manner. There is a cultural connection between people preferring Maxwell House Coffee over other coffees. Social characteristics have a favorable and considerable influence on brand choices. Some people’s preference for the new Maxwell House product over the old may be due to societal factors (Patterson, Scott, & Uncles, 2010). The choice is significantly influenced by one’s own circumstances. Social factors impact people’s purchases of Maxwell House’s new product. Psychological factors have a large role in influencing a choice, both favorably and negatively. Thus, psychological factors play a part in why some people favor Maxwell House coffee over other brands. Consuming goods with a reputation like Maxwell House’s should be considered if they want to improve. People don’t buy coffee-related things based on their socioeconomic position. Instead, they buy them for reasons they can see and feel, such product quality (especially coffee), atmosphere, and service. Despite the fact that drinking coffee is a habit that should be maintained, more people are increasingly experimenting with a broad range of coffee products (Haskova, 2015). Many people now drink coffee every day (Lombardi, Chidiac, & Record, 2021). Those looking to buy coffee will always have a solid alternative if Maxwell House Coffee continues to make the best coffee possible.

Marketing Mix (4P’s)

A fresh, high-quality product that is simple for consumers to recognize as having value and a purpose should serve as the foundation for the product strategy that Maxwell House Coffee employs. A market that is already acquainted with coffee goods and that has embraced and depended on energy drinks to keep people going during the day and at other times makes a lot of sense for a coffee-flavored energy drink because of the combination of these two factors. Therefore, for each of its goods, Maxwell House has to provide an experience that cannot be beaten or replicated by its competitors.

When it comes to pricing, a premium pricing plan is the one that works best. This pricing strategy takes advantage, within the framework of the marketing mix, of the fact that consumers have a tendency to purchase more costly items due to the misconception that higher prices indicate greater value (Cranfield et al., 2010). The price of brewed coffee from Maxwell House that is packaged and promoted as an energy drink should be higher than that of the majority of its rivals, such as Red Bull and Monster.

When it comes to its geographic positioning, Maxwell House should make the most of the fact that their coffee is sold in more than 70 countries throughout the globe. The continents of Africa, North America, Oceania, South America, Europe, and Asia are represented as key coffee drinking zones (Lombardi, Chidiac, & Record, 2021). Maxwell House should use their well-designed website, which contains information on how to make coffee, the various kinds of coffee that are available, how to get the best quality coffee and help farmers, how to make the perfect coffee for you, details about the taste, recommendations for the best equipment, and how the energy drink will be manufactured.

The marketing and advertising strategy for Maxwell House energy drink has to center on promoting the company’s brand via several channels, including social media, television, print advertisements, and email marketing. Maxwell House should never forget its obligation to its clients, the value it provides for the price it charges, and the importance of giving back to society; this is true even if the company has a vast customer base.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The ready-to-drink Maxwell’s coffee, which first appeared on the market in 1990, does not seem to be much liked by Americans, despite a notable love for instant products. The cognitive dissonance was generated by the fact that the enticing cartons, which included an image of a coffee cup that was steaming hot, were placed in store freezers directly next to bottles of milk that were frozen solid, making it difficult for customers to make sense of the packaging. It was said in the promotional materials for the beverage that it would provide consumers with a handy new way to savour the rich flavour of Maxwell House Coffee. Without a doubt, this was an original and intriguing concept. Due to the fact that the ready-to-drink coffee was packaged in aluminium foil, the container that it arrived in could not be heated in the microwave. Having these restrictions worked to the disadvantage of the product and the brand. Additionally, it seemed as if consumers enjoyed pouring hot coffee as it was the popular thing to do at the time. There was no longer a need for ready-to-drink coffee as a result of the widespread availability of fully automated drip coffee machines. Over eighty percent of homes had a Mr. Coffee machine, which made it simple and fast for consumers to brew coffee at home. The Maxwell House Ready-To-Drink Coffee did not provide too many advantages to the consumers who were intended to purchase it. It is recommended that the product is changed to a coffee-based energy drink and packaged as a ready to drink product.

Reference List

Brizek, M. G. (2012). Coffee wars: The big three: Starbucks, McDonald’s and Dunkin’Donuts. Journal of Case Research in Business & Economics, 5, 1-12.

Chen, X., Liu, Y., Jaenicke, E. C., & Rabinowitz, A. N. (2019). New concerns on caffeine consumption and the impact of potential regulations: The case of energy drinks. Food Policy, 87, 101746.

Cranfield, J., Henson, S., Northey, J., & Masakure, O. (2010). An assessment of consumer preference for fair trade coffee in Toronto and Vancouver. Agribusiness, 26(2), 307-325.

D’Elia, L., La Fata, E., Galletti, F., Scalfi, L., & Strazzullo, P. (2019). Coffee consumption and risk of hypertension: a dose–response meta-analysis of prospective studies. European journal of nutrition, 58(1), 271-280.

de Figueiredo Tavares, M. P., & Mourad, A. L. (2020). Coffee beverage preparation by different methods from an environmental perspective. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 25(7), 1356-1367.

Fisher, C. (2004). Why Buy Fair?: Consumer Reactions to Fair Trade Coffee in a High-End Retail Venue.

Freese, L. (2021). Hungry minds: the visual and verbal language of taverns and coffee houses in early American periodicals. Word & Image, 37(4), 299-310.

Haskova, K. (2015). Starbucks marketing analysis. CRIS-Bulletin of the Centre for Research and Interdisciplinary Study, 1, 11-29.

Heng, Y., House, L. A., & Kim, H. (2018). The competition of beverage products in current market: a composite demand analysis. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 47(1), 118-131.

Higgins, J. P., Babu, K., Deuster, P. A., & Shearer, J. (2018). Energy drinks: a contemporary issues paper. Current sports medicine reports, 17(2), 65-72.

Keiko, O. (2018). Coffee as a global beverage before 1700. Journal of International Economic Studies, 32, 43-55.

Lombardi, C. V., Chidiac, N. T., & Record, B. C. (2021). Starbucks coffee corporation’s marketing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Innovative Marketing, 17(2), 177.

O’Keefe, J. H., Bhatti, S. K., Patil, H. R., DiNicolantonio, J. J., Lucan, S. C., & Lavie, C. J. (2013). Effects of habitual coffee consumption on cardiometabolic disease, cardiovascular health, and all-cause mortality. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 62(12), 1043-1051.

O’Keefe, J. H., DiNicolantonio, J. J., & Lavie, C. J. (2018). Coffee for cardioprotection and longevity. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 61(1), 38-42.

Patterson, P. G., Scott, J., & Uncles, M. D. (2010). How the local competition defeated a global brand: The case of Starbucks. Australasian Marketing Journal, 18(1), 41-47.

Samoggia, A., & Riedel, B. (2019). Consumers’ perceptions of coffee health benefits and motives for coffee consumption and purchasing. Nutrients, 11(3), 653.

Seninde, D. R., & Chambers, E. (2020). Coffee flavor: A review. Beverages, 6(3), 44.

University of North Florida. (2010). Maxwell House Coffee. Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/historical_architecture_main/2246/Vest, A. R. (2021). Can Two Coffees a Day Keep the Heart Doctor Away?. Circulation: Heart Failure, 14(2), e008297.

Marketing Plan for the Federation of Female Lawyers (FFL)

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

Introduction

The Federation of Female Lawyers is a non-profit membership organization for female lawyers that provides free legal aid to underserved women and children. Since its inception 30 years ago, FFL has reached over 3,000, 000 women and children and served them with free legal assistance. The organization has more than 1,500 women lawyers, advocates and law students. The organization is committed to attaining a society that upholds and respects women’s rights. Through its flagship Access to Justice program, FFL prides itself as one of the premier organizations committed to serving marginalized women through the provision of legal aid, legal advice, pro-bono scheme, self-representation and strategic impact litigation.

The Federation of Female Lawyers has its main office located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with four more branches in Missouri, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana. The reason for selecting Oklahoma state as the location of the hypothetical company is that the state records the highest rate of domestic violence Statistics show that about 49.1% and 40.7% of men and women, respectively have encountered domestic violence at one point in their lives, including intimate partner violence, partner rape and partner stalking. Discussed in this text are FFL’s mission statement, goals, environmental analysis and SWOT analysis.

Mission Statement

The Federation of Female Lawyers (FFL) has a mission to promote the individual and collective power of women to claim their rights in all spheres of life. The rationale for selecting this mission statement has to do with the values and goals that define the organization. The institution seeks to ensure the rights of women are upheld and respected. Additionally, the mission statement reflects the values of versatility, professionalism, transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness that the organizations hold close to its heart.

Goals

Over the next years, FFL will undertake programmes meant to address the challenges of women in accessing their economic, social, and political rights. Access to Justice (AJ) and Women and Governance (WG) form the bulk of the organizations activities. To implement these programs, the organizations will mobilize stakeholders and resources to deliver justice to women and children.

Long-term Goals

One of the long-term goals of the Federation of Female Lawyers is growing its membership. FFL realizes that there is strength in numbers as they are bigger membership means more resources in terms of manpower which goes a long way in attaining the mandate. To grow the membership, FFL needs to provide adequate communication and strictly adhere to the principles of fair play and equity. All FFL members must be treated with fairness and given a chance to be elected into leadership positions in the organization at the board level. The organization intends to keep track of its membership numbers by maintaining an updated digital membership portal and sending reminders for membership subscriptions. They also plan on conducting quarterly recruitment drives, particularly in higher institutions of learning to encourage law students to sign up as members and giving recruits incentives. Another long-term goal is reducing the level of inequality between women and men in their workplaces, politics, and family setups and overall access to social justice, which is quite significant. The Women and Governance docket which will be in charge of these programs will keep track of the goal by keeping track of the number of women elected to political positions and tracking online and in mainstream media the progress of women in family and work set-ups and taking necessary action.

Short Term Goals

One of the short-term goals that the Federation of Female Lawyers has is to increase the number of women accessing justice by 50% in the next three years. This short-term goal can be measured through tracking the number of women that contact and get assistance from the organization. The organization has a digital data collector employed when screening the clients where clients’ details are recorded. Keeping track of this digital register is a great way to know whether the number of clients receiving help is growing or not. Another short-term goal that FFL has is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. To measure this goal, the institution will undertake client engagement so as to know whether it is making an impact or not.

Environmental analysis

This section contains an analysis of the environment within which the Federation of Female Lawyers operates. It is intended to lay bare issues that the organization prioritizes for intervention. Discussed are also the strategies that the Federation of Female Lawyers intends to use to resolve women’s issues.

Competitive Analysis

The main organization that the Federation of Female lawyers consider as competition is the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The organization’s mission is to answer calls to provide support and shift power to victims of relationship abuse. The organization links clients who contact them to expert and highly trained experts that provide free, compassionate and confidential crisis intervention education, information, and referral services in more than 200 languages. In the last 25 years of existence the organization has responded to over 5.5 million calls, texts, and chats from survivors of abuse, pushed for policy change, forged lasting partnerships and shifted advocacy to best suit the ever-changing needs of survivors (McDonnell, Nagaraj, Mead, Bingenheimer, Stevens, Gianattasio, & Wood, 2018). National Domestic Violence Hotline is considered FFL’s biggest competitor seeing that it provides the same services that FFL does and has been in existence for nearly the same time as FFL.

Economic Analysis

Several economic issues are bound to affect the nature of business at the Federation of Female Lawyers. The United States is the richest nation in the world with a gross domestic product of $20.94 trillion as of 2020. Specifically, Oklahoma State which has a population of 4,002, 612 has recorded an annual growth of 0.3% in the past five years, ranking it position 32 out of the 50 states in terms of growth rate. In 2022, Oklohama’s GDP got to $197.0 billion. Businesses employed about 1, 595, 221 individuals in 2022 with manufacturing, mining, and real estate and rental leasing as the three top sector employers. In 2022, the current rate of unemployment across the state stands at 3.0%. With the current inflation rates skyrocketing and an anticipated stable political environment, FFL is looking to attain growth while at the same time executing its mandate. Despite being one of the richest country in the world, it remains unequal with a myriad of economic and social inequalities. Notably, wealth distribution varies across regions however, women still have the least shares of wealth even at a family level.

Political and Legal Analysis

The United States has a progressive Constitution that gives women with a broad set of rights. However, the laws developed to implement those rights still remain somewhat non-responsive to the needs of women. FFL and other interested parties have come together to advocate and made the laws responsive to the needs of women and children. Politics in the United States are highly divisive, with parties divided into Democrats and Republicans. With such an environment, it is easy for women issues to be forgotten as other agendas take center stage.

Technological Analysis

Technological developments create opportunities for enhancing organizational efficiencies. The Federation of Female Lawyers has already incorporated information technology particularly in its financing sector. The organization has opportunities to use information and communication technology (ICT) in its programmatic works, members and service beneficiaries, and in managing its operations. The organization, for instance, has robust website that facilitates interactions with beneficiaries by posting reports, newsletters, pictures, annual reports, and announcements of any other information that might interest the members of the public.

Socio-cultural Force Analysis.

The United States society is founded on western culture and has been evolving since long before the US became a country. It has its own unique cultural and social characteristics such as arts, music, dialect, cuisine, social habits and folklore. What is interesting is that the world’s greatest superpower has nearly the same great extremities of relative poverty and wealth just like other countries. The general open market has various legal barriers that make both downward and upward status change difficult. Broadly speaking, United States culture is characterized with moderate social mobility.

SWOT Analysis

This sector comprises an analysis of the internal environment within which the Federation of Female Lawyers operates. It covers an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing the institution. Worth noting the opportunities and threats facing the organization are considered external.

Strengths

Presence of a grants desk that handles resource mobilization challenge

Established a niche as a leading rights organization for women.

Partnerships and linkages that facilitate referral of cases to like-minded organizations such as the Children’s department or the police

Weaknesses

Funding challenge

Minimal involvement of men and other third parties in championing women’s rights

Overstretched staff, covering a wide area

Opportunities

Leveraging collaborations, alliances, linkages, and partners’ support in deepening program reach

ICT use in service delivery and communication

High demand for services Threats

Partner lethargy to fund the access to justice programme

Competing interests from other human rights organizations

Reliance on a limited poor of donors for a large percentage of funding.

Strengths

Having a grants office is a stronghold as it gives the organization a chance to put one or two persons in charge of fundraising. This is beneficial as the organization is better placed to implement programs without worry of fundraising. Having an established niche in the women’s rights sector is helpful as it indicates they come with experience as well as already established structures. Linkages and partnerships are helpful in facilitating referral cases that need additional support, such as from the police and the Children’s department.

Weakness:

Funding is a challenge for FFL just like other organizations. Meeting the annual budgets required to implement programs and cater to administration costs is not a walk in the park. It requires drawing constant proposals to potential donors as well as cold-pitching. Another challenge is finding men in support of women’s agendas as most of them shy away from such development agendas for women. An overstretched staff is another problem as the staff present there will be expected to cover a wide area that stretches them thin.

Opportunities

One of the opportunities is leveraging collaborations and support from donors to deepen the reach of their programmes. Additionally, also using ICT to communicate and delivery services would push the organization one step closer to its goal. Moreover, the high demand for their free legal aid services is another opportunity they should explore.

Threats

One of the threats that FFL faces is the lethargy of partners in funding the Access to Justice program which is the most demanding and also forms the bulk of the organization. Another threat is competition from other human rights organizations. Also, there is the reliance on only a limited pool of donors for high percentage funding.

Conclusion

In closing, the Federation of Female Lawyers (FFL) is a premier women’s rights organizations group with headquarters in Oklahoma, United States. Its mission is to promote women’s individual and collective power to claim their rights, the organization runs three program with the Access to Justice program as its flagship project. Facing many challenges, the institution trudges on in its mandate of providing women and children with free legal aid services.

References

McDonnell, K., Nagaraj, N., Mead, K., Bingenheimer, J., Stevens, H., Gianattasio, K., & Wood, S. (2018). An Evaluation of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and loveisrespect.

Life and Work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Name

Course

Tutor’s Name

Date

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Iiyich was a Russian composer who was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk on 7 May 1840 and later died in St. Petersburg on 6 November 1893. He composed several works such as symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber music and was among the most popular theatrical music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer who made significant influence internationally as well as making numerous appearances as a guest conductor such as at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1891.

Tchaikovsky’s work was recognized and honored b y very great people such as Emperor Alexander III who awarded him a lifetime annuity later in life. It was amazing that Tchaikovsky was not even a professional musician. The Great Russian composer had education in a particular career as a civil servant. Pyotr was born from a family that had a long military experience. His father who was mostly of Russian ethnicity worked as an engineer in the Department of Mine. All the parents were trained in arts including music which was very important especially considering that they lived in a very remote region. At the age of six, Tchaikovsky was already fluent in French and Germany through the help of the teacher who was hired to teach Tchaikovsky elder brother Nikolai and a niece of the family (Burt 2001, p. 410 -411).

At age of four, Pyotr took piano lessons where he proved to be an intelligent pupil who could clearly read music proficiently within three years. His parents were very helpful and engaged a tutor and buying him musical instruments such orchestrion. However, the parents changed their mind in around 1850 and sent him to Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg maybe because they grew insensitive towards musical gift for their son and perhaps lack of better musical career in Russia at that time. Pyotr’s father also became broke and may have wanted Pyotr to remain independent as soon as possible. Music career was considered to be a very low career in Russia (Kavanaugh 1996, p.50-51).

The fact that both Tchaikovsky’s parents schooled in Saint Petersburg, they felt it important to take their son to The School of Jurisprudence which they felt would prepare their son for a career as a civil servant at the age of 10 and this made him board for two years. It forced him to stay almost 1,300 km away from his family and later begun a seven year course of studies after his two years in preparatory school. Separation of Tchaikovsky from his mother made him have an emotional suffering that affected him for the rest of his life and was further increased by his mother’s death in 1854. Tchikovsky mourned his mother for the rest of his life as he termed it the “crucial event” and claimed that it was vivid to him. His mother’s loss also made him to make his initial stern composition called a waltz in her memory.

The father thought it wise to take his son back to school so that his mind can be occupied with academic work which later made Tchaikovsky made lifelong friendship with fellow students Aleksey Apukhtin and Vladimir Gerard. Music greatly unified them and they maintained an extracurricular activity where they habitually attended the opera. Tchaikovsky further went ahead with his piano lessons by the help of an instrument maker Franz Becker who made several trips to the school. In 1855, Tchaikovsky father employed Mr. Rudolph Kundinger as a private teacher who suggested to his father that Pyotr did not have any future as a musician but later confirmed that his decision was based on his negative experience as a musician. Tchaikovsky’s father remained receptive about music career and did not know what to do about it making him to advice his son to finish school and try for a post in the Ministry of Justice.

Tchaikovsky later graduated with a position of titular at the age of 19 in 1859 and was appointed five days later to the Ministry of Justice. He served as a junior assistant within 6 months before being promoted to a senior assistant director where he stayed for the three years he took in the civil service career. He then attended lessons in music theory in Saint Petersburg where the classes were organized by Russian musical society to foster native talent. His attendance to the music lessons transformed changed him into a musical professional with enough tools for composure as well as the sense that his art was more than Russian or Western culture. The fact that his style of composition was global boosted his morale and other Russian composers in building individual style. Although his first Symphony was well received in Moscow in 1868, most of the musical conformist did not love his style. Tchaikovsky continued with his composition as well as music denigration by endlessly addressing the pitiable situation of Russian opera (ChaĭKovskiĭ 2004, p. 64-70).

Tchaikovsky first met a Belgian soprano Desiree Artot whom he described as one of the most lustrous opera stars of the day.he later married a Spanish baritone Antonina Milyukova who wrote to him to declare her love for him but the marriage was hasty and could not stay any further in the marriage. He was later involved with a wealthy widow whom he did not meet but gave him financial support of almost 6,000 rubles a year to boost his musical career between 1877 and 1890. The rich widow, Madame Nadezhda von Meck abruptly cut off her support for him perhaps because of Tchaikovsky’s sexual preference (ChaĭKovskiĭ 2004, p. 204-210).

Pyotr stayed abroad for another year after his matrimony breakup where he fully came up with Eugene Onegin. He further orchestrated the Fourth Symphony and made a composition of Violin Concerto and later returned to Moscow Conservatory in 1879. Between 1889 and1890, Tchaikovsky worked as a director of the Moscow branch of the Russian musical society where he invited many international celebrities to conduct and promoted Russian music as a conductor (Kavanaugh 1996, p.50-51). He also made several attempts to form groups with composers and other likeminded musicians such as the Belyayev circle and the five. He was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree by the University of Cambridge after he was voted a member of the Academia des Beaux-Arts in 1892.At age 53, after Pyotr performed his sixth Symphony, he died of what was expected to be cholera and was buried near the graves of fellow composers.Reference

Burt, D, S, 2001, The Biography Book: A Reader’s Guide To Nonfiction, Fictional, And Film Biographies Of More Than 500 Of The Most Fascinating Individuals Of All Time. Westport, Ct, Oryx Press.

ChaĭKovskiĭ, M, I, & Newmarch, R 2004, The Life & Letters Of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Honolulu, Hawaii, University Press Of The Pacific.

Kavanaugh, P 1996, A Taste For The Classics, Nashville, Tenn, Sparrow Press.

Basics in Teaching Philosophy

Student’s Name

Name

Basics in Teaching Philosophy

Philosophy is a crucial discipline in human development that deals with ultimate nature of facts, reality, values, and existence. It significantly depends on the attitude and theories that are core in determining the behavioral response and acting as the guiding principle for general manners. Philosophy is interrelated to the psychological concepts by which one believe in and is challenging to put aside one these two aspects when studying the other. Psychology comes up with various theories and facts explaining the level by which the environmental, biological and the ecological factors primarily determine the human and non-human behavior. For instance, the Social Cognitive Theory is an essential element not only in psychology but also in the communication and education sectors. In this paper, aspects of self-analysis and reflection, the teaching philosophy, and personal fit and challenges are elaborated.

Reflection and self-Analysis

To start with is the bit of reflection and self-analysis regarding the critical aspects of this course and change its impacts to the individual’s conscience and psychology. There are many assumptions that people about teaching and psychological development during the learning process and social interactions. Philosophy is a crucial discipline that helps learners to appropriately interpret the fundamental factors affecting mind development and the learning theories that are associated with philosophy. When starting the course, there were some assumptions that I believed in that are entirely different to what I know now and the way if thinking. First is the assumption that philosophy was not in any instance interrelated with psychology. It was difficult to relate the two, and the belief was that these two disciplines could not at any instance correlate.

However, after studying the course, it comes to my realization that these two disciplines go hand in hand and one cannot do without the other. Philosophy widely deals with the curious facts concerning ethics, the nature of mind and knowledge. While on the other hand, psychology composes diversion of matters regarding social cognitive, childhood development, information processing and social interaction among many others. It surprisingly comes to my understanding that these two disciplines are connected, and to study philosophy there must first come the perspective of psychology. For instance, in learning about the nature of mind, there must come the attribute of the factors the lead to mental development, and this automatically comes from psychological aspects such as social interactions and the development of that particular child.

Secondly, the other assumption that substantially changed after the study of this course was about the relationship between social interactions and the development of language and mind. It was a belief that thought and fluency in language could only be achieved through studying if not natural. After the course, it came to my realization as one interrupts with others plays a vital role in the same. It is evident from practical experience that even the sharp students and the perfect ones in speaking are good social interactors. They will at all the time be attentive and active audience whether in class or other areas. As individual struggles to answer and ask a question or be involved in an instance that requires specific reaction, the minds are active leading not only to language improvement but also to their thought development as well as understandability. Therefore, it is essential to interact with others in every field that one is as it also enhances the development of self-expression ability. Parents and teachers should not impact fear to children as they develop so that they will grow with proper social interacting skills.

The third assumption that was there before acquiring the philosophical knowledge involved the effect of physical factors on the behavior of a person. Before, it was not to my recognition that the environment an individual is fostered to impact the psychology and behavior of that particular person significantly. There was a change after going through the education curriculum where I came to understand that environmental factors are critical in shaping the kind of a person that child will become at maturity. For instance, the children who mostly have challenges in language and poor understandability are likely to have nature in the unconducive environment to proper children growth. An excellent example of such physical factor is the torture of a child by the parents at home. The child will at all the time live in fear even to interact with others and to express himself all through unless a change occurs on the growth path. Hence, such a child will not be active in class and will at not instance think broader than what is stipulated to him. It will not only lead to significant retardation of the brain but also poor communication skills as the child will at no any time put into practice the aspects taught in class.

Teaching Philosophy

Furthermore, the other section to be elaborated in this paper involves the teaching philosophy. Considering the application of the knowledge and skills equipped throughout the course, as a teacher there will be perfection in putting in practice the skills to that capability of students understanding the concepts. The activities to be applied in the teaching process includes proper scrutinizing the philosophy learning models and students having practical sessions to put the skills acquired into practice. Also, the use of the psychological concepts is vital to enhance better understanding of philosophy. The learning theory that has shaped the thinking of how student learn best is the social cognitive theory. It postulates that the behavior of an individual is directly related to the environmental and personal factors. It applies to communication, psychology, and education, as it proposes that knowledge gaining of a person, is directly proportional to the observation of others regarding know-how, social media influences, and social interactions.

The social cognitive theory would look like the co-factor in ensuring proper development of the students’ psychology as it perceives learning as an internal process that is achieved through observation and response from the environment. The learning model enhances motivation which leads to attention in observing essential aspects of model’s behavior, retention of the learned ideas in the memory and reproduction where the students emulate the model’s actions. The students’ incentives according to this theory come directly from personal instinct, from the others, and self-reinforcement. In applying the theory puts self-regulatory process as a vital procedure in learning. It involves goal setting regarding one’s plan for change and conduct, self-monitoring through comparison of the performance with the targeted objective and evaluation by determining the quality of judgment and if possible providing self-gained impacts.

For instance, the practical activity to be used in class based on the social cognitive theory reflection and discussion. Each student will take an instance when he or she entirely self-regulated a thing and come up with factors which facilitated to the success of the self-regulation. After that each will present the individual findings to the rest of the class and discuss the psychological aspects related to enhancing effective planning, monitoring and evaluating. Also, self-reinforcement and vicarious are used as the motivational constructs in the class. Through self-reinforcement, the students will have the ability to carry out self-assessment on whether or not have achieved the expected goals. For example, through perfection in presentation, the student will know that the practical psychological aspects such as social interaction have a sound impact. Through vicarious, the student at an individual level will be challenged by the others hence having the incentive to work hard so that at a time to be better off.

Additionally, are the challenging and sensitive social and cultural aspects that affect the interaction of students within the classroom. They include ethnicity, race, sex, gender, family structure, religious identity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. The cultural differences that majorly affects social interaction in the classroom are religious identity and ethnicity. Considering religious identity, students come from various cultural backgrounds hence belong to different religious beliefs. It causes a significant effect during the class session and application of psychological aspects as some student claims some activities are bound their religion and others fear to interact with a specific race. For instance, many Muslims are segregated by their colleagues due to the Islamophobia that has emerged in the society relating Islam to assailants. Ethnicity to a greater extent also combats the interactions of the students. Depending on the instinct and the community where an individual is developed some behaviors are out of bond due to cultural restrictions. These students will strictly follow their principles even in class, and they are not willing to do critical things that might improve their skills.

Personal Fit and ChallengesFinally, is the segment involving illustration of the personal fitness and the challenges faced during the teaching experience? The college level is the best to teach in this case. The significant personal that facilitates perfection in teaching this grade level includes the skills and commitment. First, qualification in the philosophy field is accredited to tutoring a tertiary level class. It was evident with the results that were excellent and not only appealing to them but also their parents and other tutors. Secondly, my commitment and availability in providing the teaching services. College students are available at awkward time strategies, hence requires to be taught by a person who is flexible and can accordingly adjust the scheduled program.

According to the discussion above, philosophy is to a great depth related psychological aspects. In teaching philosophy believes, it is inevitable to use the learning theories that are substantially based on psychology. These two disciplines are essential in the society in controlling the socio-economic activities and cultural beliefs. Social cognitive theory is among the best modules that are effective in teaching philosophy and enhancing social interactions. Social interactions are crucial to every human life as they enhance brain and language development which are the critical features in children’s growth. Communications facilitate the development of self-expression skills that are beneficial to human beings social life.

References

Corbin, J., Strauss, A., & Strauss, A. L. (2014). Basics of qualitative research. Sage.

Friedrich, D. (2014). “We Brought It Upon Ourselves”: University-Based Teacher Education and the Emergence of Boot-Camp-Style Routes to Teacher Certification. Education Policy Analysis Archives/Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas, 22.

Muijs, D., & Reynolds, D. (2017). Effective teaching: Evidence and practice. Sage

Rogers, C. R., Lyon, H. C., & Tausch, R. (2013). On becoming an effective teacher: Person-centered teaching, psychology, philosophy, and dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon. Routledge.

Scholl, R. (2014). ” Inside-out Pedagogy”: Theorising Pedagogical Transformation through Teaching Philosophy. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 39(6), 7.

A Fooled Nation: Hitler’s Rise to Power

With a lock of hair falling over his forehead and a square little mustache on his often, somber face, Adolf Hitler seemed a comical figure when he first entered into politics. He was a public speaker who ranted and raved until his voice was hoarse and sweat dripped from his brow. Hitler was an evil genius. With the help of fanatic disciples and gullible masses, he profoundly changed Germany and the political face of Europe; unleashing the most terrible war in history and unprecedented genocide in which more than six million Jews died.

Hitler is called mad; but were the men around him also mad? They were cultivated, educated, learned men. Germany wasn’t a backward country, preyed on by ignorance, but one of the most advanced nations in the world; renowned for great scientific and cultural achievements. His program was one for evil and destruction and yet the majority of the people in Germany accepted it. How did Hitler come to power? His ideas have lived on, unfortunately. Many around the world still find inspiration in his words. Also have lived on, the memories. Time has not dimmed the terms storm troops, gas chambers, death camps, and holocaust. A new generation asks, why?

On the morning of September 15 1930, early editions of newspapers across Germany brought the first reports that Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) had scored a stunning electoral triumph. Only two years earlier, the party had languished in obscurity. The appeal of the Nationalist Socialists was so small that most commentators, those who recognized them at all, saw them as a minor and declining party. Yet, when the polls closed on the evening of September 14, 1930 the NSDAP had become the second largest party in the Weimar Republic.

The NSDAP was founded as “Deutschearbei Partei”, the German Workers Party (DAP) in Munich, during January 1919. It was one of a number of German political parties clustered along the outskirts of German politics in the immediate post-war period. Initially, it was hardly more than a debate society. It had less than thirty members, only three of which were active political speakers. The organization would probably have remained this way had it not been for the extraordinary leadership and propagandistic talents of Adolf Hitler who joined the party in 1919.

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. He stood out in no way as a boy and didn’t finish High School. He moved to Vienna in 1907 and applied to the Vienna Academy of Art, twice, but was rejected. The heads of the department felt he was not talented enough. They had no idea how this decision would affect history. When World War I broke out, Hitler enthusiastically enlisted in the German army. His life was going nowhere and the war provided him with something to fill the void. He was looking for an adventure. In the war, he proved a dedicated and brave soldier. He was temporarily blinded by poisonous gas and was shot on the leg. He learned a lot about violence and its uses. But he was never promoted to a leadership position. His supervisors claimed that he had no leadership qualities. They were quite wrong.

At the end of the war, Hitler was disillusioned and angry: Germany had lost. He became very nationalistic and anti-Semitic like many other disillusioned soldiers. He was sure, suddenly, that the purpose of his life was to lead Germany. Adolf the artist was the dead and Hitler the politician was soon to emerge. It was his remarkable energy and magnetism as a public speaker that first shot the party into the local Munich limelight and later catapulted the movement into national recognition.

From it’s beginning, the DAP was distinguished from other German parties. Like the others, it was extremely nationalistic, anti-Semitic, anti-Marxist and anti-Weimar Republic. But the DAP was determined to win the support of the working class for its cause. The party emphasized its commitment to “ennobling the German worker.” They claimed the Jews were controlling Germany and taking over. In reality, there were only about six hundred thousand Jews living in Germany and they represented less than one percent of the population.

From the very moment of his early entry into the tiny DAP, Hitler was determined to transform the party into a prominent political organization. He had great plans, most of which came true. His tireless activity (he was unemployed) and his surprising success as public speaker soon made him indispensable. By the end of the year, Hitler had become both propaganda chief and a member of the executive committee. At the same time the party changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP); or Nazis for short.

Hitler, ordinary as he seemed, turned out to be a mesmerizing speaker. During 1920, his reputation as a fiery and effective speaker continued to attract increasingly large audiences to his carefully orchestrated and powerful public appearances. His voice, his features, his words, the passion he displayed put a spell on his audiences. He was like a magician. But it wasn’t just magic: the meetings were always held in the late afternoons after his audiences had left work. They were more susceptible to what he had to say. The mood in Germany was grim and his public was depressed. Hitler took advantage of all their weaknesses. Doctors, lawyers, teachers and other members of the upper class, as well as workers began to join the Nazi party.

Hitler dressed up his creed with symbols of power. He put his early Nazi followers into brown-shirted uniforms and called them storm troops or SA. The name inspired fear. So did the way they looked and the sound of their boots. Hitler also created a Nazi flag: a red banner with a black swastika on a white circle. He did not invent the swastika and before he adopted it, the swastika was a positive, spiritual symbol that meant life and was used by many cultures.

Hitler’s followers left the meeting halls after he spoke shouting “Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!” Fired by his words, they went out into the streets singing angrily, “When Jewish blood flows from our knives, things will be better!” Not only did they sing, they looked for Jews to beat up. With bully bravado between 10 and 15 of them would gang up on just one person. Hitler’s followers were everywhere. Out of fear or out of sentiment, the public hesitated to interfere.

Did the German government try to stop the brutality? It did, but by the time, the police got there, the aggressors had dispersed. In addition, the Weimar Republic was not very powerful. From it’s foundation during the coalition of 1918, two days before the end of World War II, until it’s demise with Nazi assumption of power in 1933, the Weimar Republic was burdened by a series of overlapping, political, social, and economic problems. A lot of hostility towards it was due to the Versailles Treaty.

Germany had agreed with the Allies to stop the fighting, believing that President Woodrow Wilson’s idealistic “Fourteen Points” would be the basis for a negotiated peace treaty. They found that the treaty was not negotiable and the German delegation was advised to agree or be taken over. The Allies, against President Wilson’s wishes, were determined to get their revenge on Germany. Under the terms of the treaty, Germany was charged with sole responsibility for the war, stripped of it’s colonial empire and a huge chunk of its land, and forced to pay heavy reparations. The treaty seriously disrupted German political and economic life and was considered horribly unfair by Germans and non-Germans alike.

By early 1923, Hitler was in firm command of the Nazi party. As he was responsible for the growth of the group, he could and did set himself up as its leader. Hitler was ready to test the political waters. He wasn’t willing to wait any longer and ruled out participation in electoral politics as the road to power. He was convinced that the Republic could be toppled by revolution. At the time, the Republic seemed vulnerable.

The Weimar Republic was determined to avoid the postwar recession and mass unemployment among the millions of demobilized veterans. It also had to pay pensions to millions of injured veterans, widows, sons and other surviving dependents of the war dead. It also, of course had to pay billions of dollars in war reparations. The result of all these economic demands was high inflation and the result of the inflation was a dramatic deterioration of the Reichmark’s (RM) value. In January 1922, a dollar was worth 8.20 RM. By December, it was worth 7,589.27 RM. In January 1923, it was worth 17,952 RM. By August the exchange rate reached an astronomical 109,996.15 RM to the dollar.

Economic life in Germany acquired an almost surrealistic quality. Imagine that in August you buy a ticket for a streetcar in Berlin for 100,000 RM. One month later the same ticket costs 4,500,000 RM and by November, it’s 150 million RM. In January you buy a kilo of potatoes for 20 RM. In October, the same kilo costs 90 billion. Bread was more than five times that, eventually at 467 billion. The price of one kilo of beef at 4 trillion simply defies imagination. Life was madness not to mention how it affected the cost of living. As prices went up, salaries went up but not quite as quickly as prices.

Meanwhile, the Allies refused to accept payment for the war offered in devalued German currency. They sent French and Belgian troops to occupy the Rurh. A broad political and economic crisis soon developed in Germany. There was rampant inflation, high unemployment, uprisings in the Rhineland, a communist coup in Hamburg, and mobilization of rightist forces in Bavaria. The Republic had the world on its shoulders.

This atmosphere of political and economic crisis inspired Hitler to enlist the NSDAP in a conspirational alliance with a number of other German, political parties and right-wing groups. They planned to overthrow first the Bavarian government and eventually the Third Reich. When at last the accordingly named Beer Hall Putsch went into action it was a fiasco. It was not very organized nor supported by the army. The conspiracy was immediately crushed, Hitler was arrested and the NSDAP was banned throughout the Reich. The humiliation of the Beer Hall Putsch taught Hitler patience. If he wanted to gain power, he would have to do it the hard way: by getting elected.

Although he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to five years in prison, Hitler was released within a year. During his short stay, he was given private quarters and allowed to receive visits often. While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), the bible of the Nazi party. In Mein Kampf, Hitler set forth his racial views. He said that Germans were the master Aryan race and deserved to rule the world. Actually, the Aryans were one of the first settlers of India and had nothing to do with Germany. He also said that the Jews were evil. The evil was in their genes and could never be eliminated.

While Hitler was in jail, the NSDAP participated in their first Reichstag election. Although the failure of the Putsch had sent the already shaky movement into disarray, some order was restored in the first few months of the following year. Shortly after the failed rebellion, Hitler had entrusted the leadership of the group to Alfred Rosemberg, a man with little organizational experience and less personal authority over the group; qualifications which may have highly recommended him to Hitler. The future Der Fuhrer didn’t want the Nazis to be entirely without leadership but he also didn’t want to be upstaged.

With it’s leader arrested and it’s organization banned throughout Germany, the NSDAP floundered. Before the Putsch, Hitler had given very little thought to any type of plan B should the plot miscarry. As a result, the party wavered on the brink of disintegration. But the election of 1924, nicknamed the “inflation election” because it was during a time when Germany was in a chaotic state due to hyperinflation, was a successful one. They brought in 6.5 percent of the vote.

Starting in 1925, with the institution of the Dawes Plan, Germany entered a period of relative prosperity and political stability. Just as economic turmoil and political unrest characterized the early postwar period, the years from 1924 to 1929 would be remembered as the Golden Twenties. It was the calm before the storm.

For the National Socialists, the next four years were filled with failed tactic after failed tactic to regain a foothold in German politics. After his release from the Landsberg prison, Hitler was determined to reestablish his control over the National Socialist movement. He was also still determined to climb to power the legal way. In practical terms this meant he needed to recruit more supporters for his Nazi party and needed to get them to vote for him.

But nothing worked. When the Reichstag that was elected four years earlier was dissolved, new elections were set for May 20, 1928. The NSDAP brought in 2.6 percent of the vote. It seemed that the organization was done with. Until Black Tuesday.

Half a world away from Germany was the US. But the distance didn’t stop the Great Depression in America from devastating the German economy just when it was getting back on its feet. In late 1929, industrial production began a steady slide. As production fell, unemployment rose. By January 1930, over three million Germans were unemployed. Once again the state of Germany was disrupted and there was misery.

Meanwhile, the NSDAP was better organized and better financed than at any other time in their brief history. Hitler had used the years spent in obscurity to firmly establish his leadership and came to be seen almost like a god to his fanatic followers. The Nazi machine began to take up steam and they began an extensive propagandistic campaign.

They promised debt relief to desperate farmers, new jobs for the unemployed and the perfect answer to very problem plaguing Germany. But it was more than that. Hitler and his Nazis provided hope. Hitler with his words wove a comforting picture of a united, prosperous Germany, which was exactly what they needed to hear.

He told them he would save them from the long chain of disasters. They had lost World War I and been forced to accept the brutal Versailles Treaty and then had to deal with inflation. Now this, the Depression. Screaming, his voice charged with emotion, he spoke of acquiring territory and winning glory for Germany. He told them they were not to blame for losing World War I, they had lost it because of their enemies, the Jews. Again and again he made the same points. Germans were a master race fit to rule the world. Nazis were a force of good in the world, Jews were a force of evil.

Soon, there appeared an upward curve in the Nazis’ electoral fortunes. They became incredibly popular and had a major breakthrough in the elections of September 1930. Their status as a major political party was instituted. As the depression deepened, the Nazi’s membership began to swell. By 1932, the NSDAP had a membership of 1.5 million. The most important election for the Nazis and for the whole world took place in 1937 after a very illustrious campaign. In its most dramatic stroke, Hitler took to the skies in a highly publicized tour appearing in 21 cities in six days. Their campaign was a great success. At this election, the Nazis took 37.3 percent of the votes. They had finally won.

The result put Hitler in a commanding position. But refused to name him Chancellor. This was a very unpopular decision. The Nazis were not yet the most numerous group in Germany but they were certainly the most active and rather most menacing. They desperately wanted Hitler to be chancellor. In January of 1933, President Hindenburg finally asked Hitler to become Chancellor. Because the Nazis did not have a majority of seats in the Reichstag, Hitler had to form a coalition government. In 1933 after the death of President Hindenburg, the German cabinets combined the offices president and chancellor to make Hitler, Der Furher. He had achieved his goal. He was supreme leader and unlimited master of all Germany.

Now he had the power to make war on the Jews. He wanted to make Germany Judenrein, free of Jews. He was going to scare them out.

As soon as Hitler took power he put his beliefs into practice. He abolished freedom of speech and assembly, banned all parties except for the Nazi party and had his political enemies murdered; including seventy-seven Nazis whose loyalty he questioned. Herman Goering, Hitler’s second-in-command, ran the Gestapo, the dreaded secret police. They arrested, tortured and killed any one who opposed Hitler. Joeseph Goebbels was in charge of propaganda and utilized all media to spread hatred of the Jews. The black-shirted SS wore on their uniforms the death emblem, a skull and crossed bones to signify that they were as obedient as corpses. Their duties were to conduct door-to-door searches looking for Hitler’s opponents. The list was a long one: Jews, communists, Gypsies, Poles, Russians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, socialists, unfriendly writers, homosexuals…. You could be arrested for anything or nothing at all.

Even his precious Germans weren’t always satisfactory. German cripples, the deformed and mentally ill, orphans, and the homeless marred his image of the master race. Hitler wanted to make all Germans perfect physical specimens. All of them tall and strong with blue eyes and blond hair though he himself was short, with brown eyes and hair. The Nazis controlled every aspect of German life. They organized Germany’s schoolchildren into “Hitler Youth Groups”. They wore swastika bands and were taught to hate Jews. They were also encouraged to spy on their parents and other adults and to report anyone who said anything against Hitler or his party.

And what of the German Jews? They were caught in a terrifying, situation. No one had ever expected Hitler to become Chancellor; and certainly didn’t expect him to become Der Furher. HIs raving speeches and messages of hatred were to be ignored in a civilized world. Right? The Jews had suffered from the war and the inflation and the Depression just like everyone else. Now their home was a strange, hostile, dangerous place no matter where in Germany they lived and eventually no matter where in Europe you lived.

The SS beat Jews in the streets, raided synagogues, trod on sacred Jewish objects, and burned holy books, laughing and joking as they did so. They mocked, humiliated and murdered Jews. Goebbels fed the flames of hatred. All over Germany, the press reported false acts of Jewish treachery. Stories about Jews drinking the blood of Christian children. The lies rang like truth when they appeared in bold, black ink on the pages of respected newspapers.

Moviehouses, cafes, concert halls and other public places began to put up signs reading, “Jews not wanted.” Signs at swimming pools read, “No Jews and no Dogs.” As if there was no difference. In cabarets, German entertainers put on mock weddings between a German and a pig that was wearing a sign that said, “I’m a Jew!” Hatred and suspicion were everywhere. Germans began to shun their former neighbors and friends. German mobs felt free to loot Jewish stores and homes. German children felt free to bully their Jewish classmates. April 1, 1933 there was a national boycott of Jewish stores. Armed, glaring, uniformed Nazis stood guard outside every Jewish store and allowed no one to enter.

On March 12, 1938 German troops marched into Austria. They were met not with resistance, but with flowers. Here too, Hitler launched a campaign against the Jews. Soon, Austria hated the Jews too. Jewish stores were, again, boycotted. The SS made Jewish men get down on all fours and eat grass, then climb trees and twitter like birds. They made Jewish women run until they fainted.

Now Hitler wanted Austria to be Judenrein too. But they were so annoying he wanted them out of all Europe. Let the Americans deal with them. Then one day, he decided he wanted them off the face of the Earth. He would make the whole world free of Jews. He needed an excuse to do so and was given one by a very enraged Herschel Grynszpan.

The seventeen-year old was living in Paris when he received word from his Jewish family that, being Polish they had been expelled from Germany and sent back to Poland. But Poland no longer recognized them as citizens and they were wandering around, stateless with invalid passports in the “no man’s land” between Poland and Germany. On November 7, 1938, or Kristallnacht, “Night of Broken glass” the angry boy went to the German embassy in Paris and shot the first official he saw. The boy was arrested and the official died two days later. This act triggered off events the dimensions of which Herschel could not have begun to understand or even guess at. It led to the Final Solution, the systematic murder of millions of Jews all over Europe. The Holocaust.

Hitler committed horrible crimes against the Jews and many others in the concentration camps, and ghettoes but he was never punished. In anticipation of his downfall Hitler killed himself in 1945. Because he did it himself he had the last laugh. His book, Mein Kampf is banned in Germany and considered a dirty word. Most Germans want to forget any of it ever happened. But perhaps they shouldn’t. The holocaust was plain, undeniable truth of the horror of humanity. It has been immortalized in pictures, in visual and verbal accounts of those who experienced it and the horrified minds and hearts of the world. If we always remember it and learn to understand it, then we can prevent it from ever happening again; if we answer the question, how did Hitler come to power?

Perhaps it is the weakness of democracies that anyone can take control. Hitler came to power the legitimate way, through participating in elections. True he broke or bent a few rules and cheated and lied but probably no more than any other politician. It is common belief that had Hitler come along at another less desperate time for Germany, history would have played itself out very differently. Germany was weak. The people were miserable and Germans were scared after being hit with wave after wave after wave of calamity.

The Nazis provided the answer for impoverished farmers, ruined shopkeepers and small-business owners, workers disillusioned with the socialists and communist parties, and a host of frustrated and embittered young people of all classes, brought up in the postwar years and without hope of personal economic security. Hitler did a lot of good for Germany, fulfilling most if not all his promises. He provided employment and stabilized the economy. Hitler told Germans they were the master race and promised them the world. He also provided them with a scapegoat; someone to pinpoint their anger at: the Jew. If someone had to suffer and pay the price for Germany’s prosperity then let it be the Jew. Such was their mentality. History books should not portray the Germans as evil; their eager acceptance of Hitler’s ideas and policies is the product o human weakness and imperfection.

But Hitler was evil. Perhaps the most evil of men. An amoral man he viewed his fellow human beings as mere bricks in the political structure he wanted to erect. Hitler has hurt and permanently scarred the world with his destructive message, a message that still lives. But he too deserves understanding. He was born to a submissive, quiet mother and a cold, fearful father. When he was eighteen, his mother whom he was moderately close to, died. He failed at his life’s ambition, to become an artist and saw the country he loved torn apart in a million directions; saw the people he loved starve. Maybe he did believe in every crazy thing he said. Who knows? But we must never forget the Holocaust or Hitler. Both event and figure have something to show about humanity that is ugly but always there. Always ready to strike out. If we forget, it might happen again.

Bibliography:

Discussion

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Tittle

Professor’s Name

Date

Barton Fink

The greatest genre-bending of the Coens’ films, Barton Fink, is a system of a complete inside joke: an art motion picture that creates heartless fun of the affectations of art films. Cannes remunerated the film with a lot of rewards that the fiesta consequently decided to change its rules to avert such sweeps. The movie’s miscellaneous features have resulted in disregarding efforts at genre categorization, with the film being severally referred to as a horror movie, film noir, a Kunstler roman, and a buddy film. It has several fictional religious overtones and allusions, in addition to references to numerous real-life events and individuals (Stefon, 2016). Various elements of the movie’s narrative, commonly an image of a woman at the beach which reappears all the way through, have generated quite a few annotations, with the Coens acknowledging various intentional emblematic features while repudiating an effort to communicate any particular message in the movie.

Barton Fink uses some artistic conventions to emphasize the film’s mood and provide visual stress to specific themes. The features combined with several melodramatic pauses, strange discourse, and indirect violence threats make an atmosphere of great tension (Stefon, 2017). The Coens elucidated that “the entire film was supposed to feel like catastrophe or impending doom. And we certainly needed it to culminate with an apocalyptic feeling” Coen’s feeling is not about the coarseness of Hollywood, or reasonably it is, but then not merely, because Hollywood’s coarseness is corresponding and perhaps surpassed by the coarseness of Barton’s egocentricity, his entire tribune of the working man, call of the fishmongers’ trip. Like all of the Coens’ creations, “Barton Fink” has a thoughtful film style. The Hollywood of the late 1930s and early 1940s is observed here as a universe of Art Deco and long hotel corridors, profound shadows, and bottomless swimming pools.

Reference

Stefon, M. (2016). That” Barton Fink Feeling” and the Fiery Furnace: The Book of Daniel and Joel and Ethan Coen’s Barton Fink. Journal of Religion & Film, 12(1), 1

Thomas, L. (2017). The block attacks: Barton Fink. The Lancet Psychiatry, 4(2), 106

Assignment 6: Flooding

Name: FORMTEXT      myUH ID# FORMTEXT      In this assignment, you will investigate peak yearly discharges for Buffalo Bayou using data collected by a USGS stream gauge since 1949 (after construction of the Barker and Addicks reservoirs). Be sure to download the Excel file. You may need to get help from a TA in the GLC. Due Monday, May 2.

Rules Acknowledgement:

Before beginning the assignment, acknowledge that you know the rules of the assignment as listed above. Type “I understand answers need to be written in my own words in full sentences with the exception of values in tables. I also know screenshots/images need to be my own” (5 pts)

FORMTEXT      Part 1: Basic analysis of peak yearly discharge data for Buffalo Bayou

Using the Excel data on the “Buffalo Bayou Discharge” sheet, create a scatterplot with the dates on the x-axis and the peak discharge on the y-axis. Select the scatterplot option that only has points plotted, no lines. Copy and paste your graph below. (6pts)

[Paste graph here]

Describe what the graph is showing you (how would you explain this graph to someone else?). (4pts)

FORMTEXT      You may be able to notice a trend or pattern in your graph. To more accurately determine that pattern, create a linear trendline and display the R-squared value.

What is the R-squared value? (4pts)

FORMTEXT      Describe the trend in your data and what it means. (4pts)

FORMTEXT      Some people may be quick to blame climate change for this trend. The “Houston Rainfall” tab in the Excel document contains yearly rainfall totals for Houston since 2001. Create a scatterplot of the data with years on the x-axis and rainfall total on the y-axis. Paste your graph below. (5pts)

[Paste graph here]

Create a linear trendline for this data. Has there been any significant change in the amount of rainfall that Houston receives over the past 21 years? (4pts)

FORMTEXT      What else do you think is responsible for the trend you described in part a? (5pts)

FORMTEXT      READ CAREFULLY: There is a trend as to what month or months of the year Buffalo Bayou reaches its peak discharge, which indicates our rainy seasons. First, you’ll need to determine what month each peak discharge occurs. Using the empty column to the left of the Date column, type =TEXT(A2,”mmmm”). Copy this formula down the rows. This will extract the name of the month from each date. Now, you need to figure out how many times each month had a peak discharge on the bayou. We are going to use a new function in Excel, the countif function. The names of the months are in column G. Go to cell H2 and type =COUNTIF($A$2:A$75, G2). This will look at all the names of the months in column A and tell you how many times January (which is the G2 value) appears. Copy that formula down to December to see the data for each month.

Fill in the table: (6pts)

Month Number of Peak Discharges

January FORMTEXT      February FORMTEXT      March FORMTEXT      April FORMTEXT      May FORMTEXT      June FORMTEXT      July FORMTEXT      August FORMTEXT      September FORMTEXT      October FORMTEXT      November FORMTEXT      December FORMTEXT      Now create a line graph of this data with months on the x-axis and the number of peak discharges on the y-axis. Use the “Line with Markers”. Be sure to use the line graph, not the scatter plot. Paste your graph below. (4pts)

[Paste graph here]

Interpret your graph and discuss what time or times during the year Buffalo Bayou is most likely to reach its peak discharge. Which time or times of the year is it least likely to reach peak discharge? What does this say about our seasonal weather? (7pts)

FORMTEXT      Part 2: In-depth analysis of flooding recurrence on Buffalo Bayou

In the Excel file, complete the rank column on the “Buffalo Bayou Discharge” sheet by ranking all of the peak discharges from 1 to 74, with 1 being the highest discharge and 74 being the lowest discharge. What are the dates of the highest and lowest peak discharges? (6pts)

Date of highest discharge (1): FORMTEXT      Date of lowest discharge (74): FORMTEXT      Now calculate the recurrence intervals for each discharge. N is the number of years on record (74) and m is the rank. What are the recurrence intervals (R) for the following peak discharges? (6pts)

Date Discharge R

5/26/15 17,400 FORMTEXT      9/13/08 10,100 FORMTEXT      3/12/97 7,650 FORMTEXT      Create a scatter plot with recurrence interval on the x-axis and discharge on the y-axis.

Copy and paste your graph below. (6pts)

[Paste graph here]

Which type of trendline best fits this data? (3pts)

FORMTEXT      Add the trendline and show the line equation and R-squared value. What is the R-squared value for this data? (2pts)

FORMTEXT      You’ve probably heard that Hurricane Harvey was a 100+ year storm event. However, your current graph doesn’t show that. In your data, what is the recurrence interval for the flooding from Hurricane Harvey and why isn’t it over 100? (5pts)

FORMTEXT      

Using your trendline equation, we can calculate what the discharge of a 100-year event should be. You know what m, x, and b are in the equation, just substitute the values. What is the discharge for the 100-year event based on the trendline? (5pts)

FORMTEXT      The discharge in Buffalo Bayou for Hurricane Harvey was 32,600 cfs, which is very different from the 100-year discharge you calculated in question 10. So, what is the true recurrence interval for a discharge of 32,600 based on your equation? For this question, we’ll need to solve for x in the line equation instead of y because now we know what y (32,600 cfs) is and need to figure out x. You can manipulate the line equation variables to isolate x; we’ve done this on several previous assignments. Enter this equation in excel =exp((y-b)/m) and substitute the values accordingly. What is the recurrence interval for the stream discharge associated with Hurricane Harvey? (5pts)

FORMTEXT      Complete this questionnaire about assignments and the use of Excel and Google Earth in this class. You’ll need to be logged into your cougarnet account. (8pts)