Religion in James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justi

Religion in James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner and J.G. Lockhart’s Adam Blair â€Å"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death† (Romans 8:1-2). Given the highly charged religious environment of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Scotland, the above passage must have been discussed many times in Christian circles then. Some of the Reformed faithful, perhaps, took the first part too seriously, to the expense of any normal sense of morality, while others might have forgotten their freedom from condemnation and fallen into despair. Either way, both views pervert the orthodox Calvinistic view of guilt laid out in the teachings of the doctrine’s namesake and the standard confessions of the church at the time. While they may not make very good theology, these dogmas at least provided material for two nineteenth-century character studies, James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner and J.G. Lockhart’s Adam Blair. Written when much (but not all) of post-Enlightenment Scotland had taken an anti-clerical, anti-religious stance, these novels explore the faith of the previous generation and how fundamentalist Presbyterianism may have gone horribly wrong. The protagonists of each book react in completely opposite ways to their sinful acts; Lockhart’s eponymous character has a nearly legalistic view of his own sin, while Hogg’s Robert Wringhim follows a more antinomian path. Oddly enough, it is the former who ends up redeemed and the other damned, but their respective journeys toward those ends follow much of the same path. Robert Wringhim, Hogg’s cen... ... Studies Review Vol. 5 (2004): 9-26. Hogg, James. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969. Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Ed. J.I. Packer et. al. London: HarperCollins Religious, 2002. Lockhart, J.G. Some Passages in the Life of Mr. Adam Blair, Minister of the Gospel at Cross-Meikle. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1963. Mack, Douglas S. â€Å"‘The Rage of Fanaticism in the Former Days’: James Hogg’s Confession of a Justified Sinner and the Controversy over Old Mortality.† Nineteenth Century Scottish Fiction: Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Campbell. Manchester: Carcanet New Press Limited, 1979. 37-50. Richardson, Thomas C. â€Å"Character and Craft in Lockhart’s Adam Blair.† Nineteenth Century Scottish Fiction: Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Campbell. Manchester: Carcanet New Press Limited, 1979. 51-67.

Essay --

Morgan Pesante Professor Katherin Nolte English 2326 17 December 2013 Raymond Carver: Cathedral 1. In â€Å"Feather’s,† the somewhat silent and solemn dinner the two couples share impacts Jack and Fran’s lives, as that night transpires into an attempted â€Å"change† within their marriage. While Fran pinpoints that evening as an immediate shift, Jack believes the change came later, after their child was born. Jack recalls, â€Å"The change came later—and when it came, it was like something that happened to other people, not something that could have happened to us† (Carver). Throughout the dinner, the author parallels Jack and Fran to Bud and Olla. Together, Bud and Olla exhibit characteristics that Jack and Fran’s relationship lacks: love, affection and the family they have created with Joey and Harold. Jack and Fran strive for this type of bond, and although they attempt to achieve it after being given a glimpse at the dinner, they fall short. As much as Jack and Fran want to aspire to be like Bud and Olla, they never reach th at next level. They are never able to utilize the peacock feathers. 2. The ending of â€Å"A Small, Good Thing† results in Ann, Howard and the baker sitting together, eating and listening to the baker’s life story. Although Ann and Howard come into the bakery with fury, the baker opens up to them because he sees how much they are suffering from the loss of their son, Scotty. Ann is â€Å"suddenly hungry† not only because she has physical hunger, but also because she is aching for emotional connection after the loss of her son. The baker may not be able to understand their individual pain, but by revealing his own agony he is allowing Ann and Howard to begin to process their sufferings as well. It didn’t heal them, but his small g... ... of â€Å"Cathedral,† it becomes apparent that the narrator’s affection for the blind man has positively shifted as they sit down and begin to draw the cathedral together. After a failed attempt to explain what a cathedral is to the blind man, the narrator is surprised at the encouragement Robert gives. Robert asks the narrator to close his eyes, to ultimately trust him, and the narrator listens. â€Å"My eyes were still closed. I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything,† the narrator stated (Carver). This text suggests that the narrator was not necessarily concerned about what he was drawing, but on the feeling he was experiencing during that moment. The narrator is no longer isolated, but open to a new freedom (Esch). This freedom is beyond what is visible – and Robert, the blind man, reiterates this by his presence and lack of sight.

Self Reflection

Jacob Trettin Dr. Meehan April 28, 2005 Self Reflection When I think of my freshmen year in college certain things come to mind. The most important thing that I think of is my writing and communication skills. One class that helped me a great deal is Composition and Communication. The reason I think that class helped me is because I learned how too improve my thesis as well as my entire essays, also my process of how I write my essays, and how to give a effective speech. When I came to college one of my biggest fears was my writing skills.I knew my essays were never that great in high school and I feared that I was expected to have better writing skills then what I had at this point. Then I entered a class called composition and communication. Coming into this class at first I was nervous because I knew in was going to be heavy loaded in the writing area. Then we wrote are first essay about a musical performance on this essay I focused on my thesis because that was one of my goals go ing into this class to improve my thesis in my essays. I believe I was successful in my thesis for this paper. Over all I think this paper was my best out of all the essays we wrote for this class.On the next essay I really focused on my writing process I started with an outline then turned that into a pretty sketchy rough draft. I was a little skeptical at first about how it was going to turn out. Usually my rough drafts don’t really change a whole lot but that was not the case for this one. My final draft was a complete change it was like I wrote 2 different essays and picked the best one. I didn’t just change the essay I made it better and it just happened to completely change the essay. I soon realized that this process was a much improvement to my writing style and I decided to try it out on all my essays that I write.Another skill that I was definitely not born with is my ability to speak in front of a group. I will be the first to tell you that I am a horrible s peaker. With that said you can probably tell that I don’t have a lot of confidence in my speaking skills. This does not stop me from trying to improve in this area by any means. The first speech we gave in C and C class was quite frankly horrible. After this I decided I will improve little by little in my college career and the first step was to improve on the next speech that we will give in this C and C class.When I found out what are next speech was about I buckled down and came up with a magnificent plan of action. Although it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped I still believe I took a step in the right direction. There is definitely room for improvement however. All in All I believe that my experience with my composition and communication class was a defendant plus and I think it gave me a great base for what is to come in my higher writing courses. I feel there is plenty of ways I can get better but for now I am proud of where I am at as a writer. Self Reflection Self Reflection The task that was given to us at the start of the semester was to make a group consisting of 3-4 people and collaboratively work with one another to achieve the goal of a 15-minute speech. The topic that was presented to my group, which consisted of myself, Josh Chua, Jack Winton and Greg Scopes was that of Marketing Mix Strategy. Through the week’s leading up to the speech, the group formulated ideas and attempted to find ways to keep the audience interested while trying to express key points of information on our topic.Although we felt prepared before the speech as a group we were nervous because we knew there were many things that we hadn’t touched on. Within this reflection I will touch on positive aspects of our speech such as parts that we excelled in and I will cover parts that negatively affected our speech such as things that we failed to produce. Positives Through reading the feedback it has been highlighted the parts of the speech where we hav e excelled and the parts of the speech were we have lacked to produce quality.It is clear from the feedback that we have successfully organized the presentation in a way, which was easy to follow for the audience, we evenly balanced the workload of the speech and we provided good examples to our topic of Product, Price, Distribution and Promotion through sufficient theory. Successfully organizing the presentation and information was a major goal for our group, as getting this right means that audience will easily be able to grasp the concept of our overall speech.We conducted a survey and it paid of with primary information and data. Evenly balancing the workflow in the presentation of the speech is an obvious positive as changing the speaker keeps the audience interested. Providing examples to back up our points was another obvious positive as this helped the audience understand the concept of our speech. Negatives After reviewing the feedback it is clear that the group had a lack of enthusiasm, relied to heavily on our script and lacked interaction with the audience.When it comes to enthusiasm of delivering the speech this is a very important topic as it keeps audience engaged, without this the audience will lose interest and zone out. During the speech it was obvious in some cases that the audience lost interest, which is a major negative when trying to sell an idea or a product. It is recommended that to improve on this fault more practice needs to be spent in order to learn the speech and product better, to be able to confidently say the speech. Too better help enthusiasm it would be wise to better learn our speech as a group.Throughout the speech it was clear that most members including myself relied heavily on palm cards. In a real business situation this would not be acceptable and would not reflect well. To improve on this if we were to repeat the speech it would be wise to learn the speech’s major points and only have dot points on the palm ca rds. By doing this it will keep audience more engaged as eye contact would remain constant. The third major negative to our speech was our lack of effort to interact and engage the audience with any activates or questions, which would of helped them better understand our topic.By not doing this simple task it reflects badly on us as a group, as audience lose interest. If this were to happen in a real business scenario there would be no chance in selling our product or idea. It is suggested that in order to better ourselves and our group’s chances of successfully selling our product, it is of vital importance that we keep audience engaged through activities, such as questions and discussion as a group. Conclusion From the feedback given it is obvious that there are places to improve on.By making the adjustments stated above it will reflect greatly on our group as we would not only be organizing our presentation well, evenly distributing the workload and providing examples but we would also be enthusiastic about our idea, through learning and understanding our speech better, we would be keeping eye contact with the audience more often, as a result of not using palm cards and finally we would be getting the audience involved, through activities such as regular questions to wake them up and deep discussion to make them understand.If these major negatives were touched on and made into positives I believe that our group could give a information filled speech while keeping audience entertained and engaged. Self Reflection Self Reflection The task that was given to us at the start of the semester was to make a group consisting of 3-4 people and collaboratively work with one another to achieve the goal of a 15-minute speech. The topic that was presented to my group, which consisted of myself, Josh Chua, Jack Winton and Greg Scopes was that of Marketing Mix Strategy. Through the week’s leading up to the speech, the group formulated ideas and attempted to find ways to keep the audience interested while trying to express key points of information on our topic.Although we felt prepared before the speech as a group we were nervous because we knew there were many things that we hadn’t touched on. Within this reflection I will touch on positive aspects of our speech such as parts that we excelled in and I will cover parts that negatively affected our speech such as things that we failed to produce. Positives Through reading the feedback it has been highlighted the parts of the speech where we hav e excelled and the parts of the speech were we have lacked to produce quality.It is clear from the feedback that we have successfully organized the presentation in a way, which was easy to follow for the audience, we evenly balanced the workload of the speech and we provided good examples to our topic of Product, Price, Distribution and Promotion through sufficient theory. Successfully organizing the presentation and information was a major goal for our group, as getting this right means that audience will easily be able to grasp the concept of our overall speech.We conducted a survey and it paid of with primary information and data. Evenly balancing the workflow in the presentation of the speech is an obvious positive as changing the speaker keeps the audience interested. Providing examples to back up our points was another obvious positive as this helped the audience understand the concept of our speech. Negatives After reviewing the feedback it is clear that the group had a lack of enthusiasm, relied to heavily on our script and lacked interaction with the audience.When it comes to enthusiasm of delivering the speech this is a very important topic as it keeps audience engaged, without this the audience will lose interest and zone out. During the speech it was obvious in some cases that the audience lost interest, which is a major negative when trying to sell an idea or a product. It is recommended that to improve on this fault more practice needs to be spent in order to learn the speech and product better, to be able to confidently say the speech. Too better help enthusiasm it would be wise to better learn our speech as a group.Throughout the speech it was clear that most members including myself relied heavily on palm cards. In a real business situation this would not be acceptable and would not reflect well. To improve on this if we were to repeat the speech it would be wise to learn the speech’s major points and only have dot points on the palm ca rds. By doing this it will keep audience more engaged as eye contact would remain constant. The third major negative to our speech was our lack of effort to interact and engage the audience with any activates or questions, which would of helped them better understand our topic.By not doing this simple task it reflects badly on us as a group, as audience lose interest. If this were to happen in a real business scenario there would be no chance in selling our product or idea. It is suggested that in order to better ourselves and our group’s chances of successfully selling our product, it is of vital importance that we keep audience engaged through activities, such as questions and discussion as a group. Conclusion From the feedback given it is obvious that there are places to improve on.By making the adjustments stated above it will reflect greatly on our group as we would not only be organizing our presentation well, evenly distributing the workload and providing examples but we would also be enthusiastic about our idea, through learning and understanding our speech better, we would be keeping eye contact with the audience more often, as a result of not using palm cards and finally we would be getting the audience involved, through activities such as regular questions to wake them up and deep discussion to make them understand.If these major negatives were touched on and made into positives I believe that our group could give a information filled speech while keeping audience entertained and engaged.

Photography Research Paper

Section I A. Write the names of all the photography and photography-related careers that you are aware of. – Wedding photography, Under-water photography, Sports photography, General photo careers. B. Then do a preliminary research and write the names of at least 5 more photography-related careers. Commercial photography Portrait and family photography Pet, Animal and wildlife photography Police, Law enforcement and criminal forensic imaging photography Aerial photography C. Next, pick three of these careers and write three questions you have about each. Portrait and family photography- What makes a great family photo?What composition techniques are most important when considering family photo's. Is Family photography a good paying job? is it popular? Underwater Photography- What equipment is recomended for use underwater. What is your favorite object to take pictures of under-water. What challenges are presented when taking photos under-water. Aerial Photography- How do you t ake pictures from an aerial view? what methods are used to get higher up? What makes for a good subject from an aerial view? How much money would an aerial photographer make normally? Section II A. Marine Photographer: This job entails taking pictures under water. This job includes taking pictures underwater using either SCUBA or un-maned rovers with camera's. -Education and training requirements would include being SCUBA certified or certified to do whatever kind of diving needed to take the pictures. -The salary for a marine photographer in California is between 40, and 50,000$ -As an underwater photographer you are taking pictures of marine life for either research and survey purposes or simply to capture the beauty found in the ocean. Aerial Photographer: Taking photos from top views such as pictures from an airplane looking down. Training for this job includes a Four year degree, you must specialize in photography, Flight training is required as well as on-the-job sky photograp hy training. -Salary for this type of photographer ranges from 50,000 – 200,000. -As an aerial photographer you may spend your time personally contracting your work or taking pictures for a specific company. These photos may be used for Survey purposes or they may be per-request by a single person. This would be a difficult job to get into as it requires much training and experience. Portrait and family photography: These photographers take pictures of people, families, places, or events. photographers require a good eye for a picture and have excellent technical and photographic skills. They must have good communication and people skills. Photographers must be good with computer programs such as photoshop and be commercially aware and good at marketing themselves. -Salaries for family photographers range between 12,000 and 50,000 a year or more. -These photographers may fall under a specialized type of photography focusing on family photographery or they may be general photo graphers taking a wide aray of pictures including portrait and family photography. B.Marine Photographer: response from Robert Bailey Hi there, thanks for the kind words happy to help. How long have you been into photography? Since 1990, I've always been interested in photography since the age of 10 and when I took up diving there was no question that I would be taking a camera in the water to bring back the amazing scenes and show people my discoveries. How did you get your start in photography? As a youngster I always had the idea I would like to draw and was complete crap! I picked up a camera one day and realized I could express my artistic self through a camera.I've never looked back. I remember the first time someone referred to me as an artist as being very significant. What are your key interests within the business? Although I am not a professional my work has been published, and I have worked intermittantly on professional projects on land and underwater. I associate with a quite a few professionals. I am always interested to see what sells in the market. You'd be surprised by what sells, opposed to what people like to hang on their walls. Pricing yourself in the market is important. Many pros complain people give their images away and devalue the market.I am always interested in what companies are willing to pay for. I often consult with professionals before I sell images to magazines. Where do you do most of your work? The majority of my work is done in UK waters. I live and work in the UK so it makes sense to take advantage of all the area has to offer. I do work overseas periodically, but I prefer cooler climates. One goal I have is to dive under sea ice in the Arctic, or Antarctic. What do you enjoy most about this type of photography? Being underwater is like no other environment, there's no distraction with mobile phones, and people talking.I like the challenge of being able to dive in harsh environments and show people the beauty, especially in the UK, as many feel it's often dark and gloomy and there's no colour. What is the most important thing to remember to get a good image? The single most important element in getting a good underwater picture is to get close to your subject, generally a maximum of three feet for most subjects, sometimes inches away. It depends on the size of the subject you are shooting. Obviously a 30 foot basking shark is different than a one inch shrimp.The other thing is all about understanding light, whether you are using artificial light,, or natural light, or balancing the two. The next thing to consider is the background and whether the subject is accessible or not. We try very hard as underwater photographers to not damage the environment for the sake of a picture. What is your favorite photograph of your own and why? I don't have one particular favourite. This changes all the time as the obsession to keep creating new material. I like the close up pictures of Lemon sharks I have done in black and white. There are so many others, hard to say really.Some the ones which has won national competitions are no longer my favourites as I think I can do better now. What types of equipment would you recommend for use under-water? My wife shoots with a Canon S95 and a simple housing, and make great pictures. I use a Nikon D300, Inon Z240 Strobes, and a variety of lenses. My my most used lenses are the Nikkor 60 mm macro for close up and small subjects. For wide angle work I use a Tokina 10-17mm. I'd like to stress good pictures are not about the equipment, it's all about the photographer. People often look at a good image and say you must have a good camera.This isn't the case. The camera is a the tool, the photogapher is the craftsman. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get good pictures. You have to invest the time, understand the local conditions, and know your subject. What is your favorite object to take pictures of under water? There are too many to list. I like s harks, shrimps, seals, sea slugs, fish, divers, wrecks when the visibility permits. What challenges are presented when taking photo's under-water? First of all, we aren't designed to be underwater. We are land creatures. So the first challenge is you need to be a skilled diver.All your equipment, bouyancy control in the water, air management needs to be spot on, otherwise you will never make a good image. Then there's the currents, tide, visibility, the cold, and the weather. Then there's the subject, most of which are always moving, and hardly ever where you want them, when you want them. I can honestly say making pictures underwater is probably more challenging than any other environment. I think this is why I am so obsessive about doing it, it's not easy. I really hope this helps you. Am happy to discuss further after work of course. If you need some images I will help you out. Don't hesitate to call me.Regards, RB How I Found Robert Bailey: I found Robert Bailey on â€Å"Underw aterPhotography. com† C. Underwater photography as a career in photography seems like the most interesting choice. I am currently a diver and find I am most comfortable while in the water. The best thing about capturing an image of a diver in clear water is the fact that it looks as though the diver is flying. This is an unnatural environment for humans and can be dangerous and to be able to capture the beauty in it is amazing. Bibliography URL (www. robertbaileyphotography. com). Robert Bailey, 11-27-12 Bailey, Robert. Underwater photographer. 11-27-12

Thesis story

Being smart on handling one’s money is one of the fundamental ways how to become rich. The fact that money, no matter how much it is, can flee from our hands even in just mere seconds is a thing to keep in mind. So we should learn how to save and invest our money in a trust-worthy institution with good facility with a service admirable in regards to its quality. Banking is indispensable in the modern world as it connects savers and borrowers. If you are a â€Å"saver†, where would you save your treasures efficiently?Saving it on a chest or a vault is bold stupidity. Banks pay you interest because they loan your money to those who have ideas to use it. This is where â€Å"borrowers† enter. Banks do charge them interest but they will have money for innovative business ideas, providing jobs for people, and stimulating the economy. If you are a consumer, you can use banknotes as a medium of exchange. Remember, without banks, there would be no money for The Bangko Sen tral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) is a bank as well who produces money for the nation.Banks are  financial institution  and a  financial intermediary  that accepts  deposits  and channels those deposits into  lending  activities, either directly by loaning or indirectly through  capital markets. A bank is the connection between customers that have capital deficits and customers with capital surpluses. In other words, it is the middleman to those who are in need and to those who can give. There are two forms of banking institutions. A banking institution can either be a Government or Private banking Institution.The difference between the two is A Government bank is a bank where the Government has a minimum 51% or more stakes in that bank. A Private bank is a bank where the Government does not have any stake. But, both types of banks have to follow the same laws applicable to them. In either way, a bank no matter what form it is, will always make sure that our savings earn int erests and make the money they have in their hands rotate on the economy to provide financial growth. Statement of the Problem This study aims to assess the pproduactivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction of selected banking institution in Metro Manila.Specifically, it answered the following questions: 1. 0 What is the profile of the participants in terms of the following variable; 2. 1 Name of the bank 2. 2 Campaign Advertisement 2. 3 Vision 2. 4 Mission 2. 5 Foundation 2. 6 Number of Branches 2. 7 Subsidiaries and Affiliates 2. 8 Number of Employees 2. 0 What are the things involve in the production of each respondents in terms of: 2. 1 Organizational Chart 2. 2 Management Plans and Principles 2. 3 Product and Services 3. 0 What is the status of the respondents with regards to the profitability of the institution under two conditions: 3. 1 Financial Statement Prior Year . 2 Financial Statement Current Year 4. 0 What is the standing of satisfaction of customers in the resp ondents’ way of production in terms of: 4. 1 Security of the customers’ deposits 4. 2 Interest return offered 4. 3 Effectiveness of respondents’ products and services 4. 4 Service Comfortability 4. 5 Affordability of Interest payable in loans 5. 0 Is there any significant relationship between profitability, pproduactivity, and customer satisfaction when the respondents are group according to their profile? Hypothesis There’s not much of any difference between the operations of a government and a privately owned bank.The factors that affect the iinvestors to choose are the offers, location, and services. Significance of the Study The purpose of this study is to provide information and answer the stated problems to help those who are in need if they will be investing. Through this study the future readers may find out what are the factors to consider when putting their investment in the line. This study conducted can be help in any of the readers: Iinvestor s / Potential Iinvestors – To identify and be aware how to invest their money and feel safe and lessen the risk about the decisions they will make.Job Seekers – be able to know where to file their application and put their talents and skills in full potential. Future Seekers – This study will serve as guide for future researchers who will conduct a study with about this topic. Further research should be made regarding this topic. Scope and Limitation of the Study This study was conducted to know the status of pproduactivity, profitability and customer satisfaction of selected banking institution in Metro Manila. The researchers focused on three banking institution which are MetroBank of Metropolitan Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Landbank of the Philippines.

Organization Theory and Design Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Organization Theory and Design - Assignment Example Its free-flowing management style makes it more flexible which encourages entrepreneurship and innovation more than larger organization due. Small organizations could easily act as a large organization with the use of the internet. Putting up a website enable itself to take the position in the global business arena. Full-service global businesses need a strong resource base and sufficient complexity to better serve its global clients. Moreover, financial service companies and multi-product industries are better to act like a big company/small-company hybrids. Due to its complexity of the task and the huge number of employees, a large organization has to install and use rules, procedures, and control system to organize and make things moving smoothly and keep task predictable and routine. In the process, however, the organization becomes too bureaucratic, lacking personalize management similar to that of entrepreneurship which is an essential element for continued innovation. Most college professors need to space to grow and develop their abilities. Each one of them has his own style of teaching. So it is advisable to have an organization that supports and encourages such individual identity and promote innovations. On the other hand, bookkeeping requires predictability, accuracy, and routine therefore, the organization should follow strict procedures and control system. It should opt for optimization of the work rather than focus on innovations. 4. Apply the concept of the life cycle to an organization with which you are familiar, such as a university or a local business. What stage is the organization in now How did the organization handle or pass through its life cycle crises Jollibee Corp. The Philippines began as a small ice cream house run by family members during the 1980s. It was at its entrepreneur stage where the main focus of the business is on customer satisfaction and managed informally by family members. As the business expands into restaurant and branches out, it enters its collectivity stage. Business is growing that family members can no longer handle. Thus the hiring of experienced executives becomes a necessity. As the fast-food chain expands to other parts of the country, the need for a control system is necessary. Thus entered its formalization stage. The company is now experiencing the highest peak of its life cycle. Solution to red tape is not necessary since its branches are run by the franchise. Â  

(anything is fine) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

(anything is fine) - Essay Example Black women have raised themselves from being considered beasts of labor, assigned to jobs typically considered to be male occupations, to gaining recognition to now leading a nation. Cooper explores how women of color have had a rough time in America, but there is hope for a better future because of their ability to fight back in an embodied way to disprove the public racist opinion. Brittney Cooper is an appropriate person to present a study of this nature as a professor with vast experience in Women’s Studies. Her experience as a black woman and as an expert in women’s studies gives her article a lot of credibility. Moreover, she has pointed out and referenced several articles written by fellow women and black women rights’ campaigners. Cooper gathers several pieces of verifiable evidence to support her arguments ranging from documented historical racism and the black woman’s position from slavery through the civil rights era into current events includi ng public opinion regarding Michelle Obama’s rise to the White House (Cooper, 2010). She has also included her own practical experience as a black woman and reveals telling encounters she's had with white people. There is a lot of evidence available throughout this study that is also generated from credible sources. The article is conclusive due to the quality of the evidence provided by Cooper. However, Cooper did not carry out any original research to prove her points. She could have done so using either questionnaires or survey forms to assess the black and white women’s opinions regarding the claims she was planning to make in her article. From the early days when Sojourner Truth felt it necessary to expose her breasts to a crowd of men to today's public appearances of Michelle Obama, one of the major claims Cooper makes is that the black woman's role in the public domain has been very focused on her body. According to Cooper (2010) black women have always used str ategies such as Michelle Obama’s dedication to presenting a fit body dressed in fashionable and appropriate clothing to defend their negative portrayals in public. Michelle Obama's appearance is a direct challenge to claims that black women are in poor shape and live in the ghettos. Like Sojourner Truth's bare breasts, the image of Michelle Obama cannot be easily argued away. These strategies play a major role in ensuring democracy because she is very clearly a lady of taste and refinement which she has shown in a positive and peaceful but uncompromising way. There are several arguments by Cooper, Darlene Clark and Evelyn Brooks regarding the bodily appearance of women in the public domain as well as their public self-representation and what it means to society as a whole. While the black man’s body has also been used to express concerns about racism and address some of the discriminatory and vulnerability issues that still exist, it is the woman's body that is most ef fective perhaps because the female form is most open for scrutiny in our society. Cooper (2010) attempts to give hope to black women who were initially subjected to sexual discrimination and other forms of exploitation through the use of these examples of black male oppression. Black women have always worried about their role in society as a result of their extreme oppression during slavery and through the forces of racism and discrimination that have