Aeneas and Fate

My life was full of despair and remorse. The only thing Ihad to look forward to was the quest for the land thatwould become the famous Roman Empire. During my life, I wasbut a pawn of the gods in the effort to secure thisdestiny. Occasionally there were happy times but mostly Ihad been filled with suffering, the victim of circumstanceafter circumstance, and my family was also made to suffer.I am Aeneas, a great Trojan warrior and king, and unable todeter the unhappiness that Fate had brought upon me. After the great war we fought against the Greeks, over awoman, I was forced to leave. In my dreams and by mymother's will, my family had to leave Troy in order for theTrojans and their gods to live. Against my will I left thebattle and collected my family, including my father whoneeded added encouragement from the gods above on Olympus,and we departed that land we had always called home. Inthat process, I lost my loving wife, Cruesa, to thosemurdering Greeks. I tried to retrieve her but her wish aswell was for me to continue on my journey with our son,Ascanius, to ensure the population of the Trojan people ina distant land. With my son, my father, and the rest of the survivorswilling to follow me to a new land, I went over themountains and set sail for Italy. The first place wevisited was the great island of Sicily, with its "famousking of Trojan blood, Acestes", where we were welcomed andinvited to stay on to make this place our home (VirgilI:169-170). It was during this visit that I lost my father,Anchises. We politely declined this offer and again set sail. Littledid we know Juno, having known of the future Romedestroying her favorite city of Carthage, set up a storm totry to avert our passage to what would become our newhomeland and was temporarily successful. I did end up inCarthage and, oh, the beauty of the Queen. Dido, a woman tobe admired, had lost the love of her life by her brother'shand and was able to go on and begin the framework of avery successful city. She had, however, sworn never to loveagain but was guided by the goddesses, Juno and Venus (mymother) to give her heart to me. I returned her love fully,but reminded by the god Mercury that my destiny awaited inanother land, was forced against my will to leave Dido'sside which caused her death. Towards my destiny I then moved, and after a dream visitedby my father, I landed on Italian soil and consulted TheSibyl to take me to the world of the shades. There I sawmany of my comrades and Dido, who was still so angry shewould not speak to me, and finally what my father intended:the Great Romans that were to come of my ancestry. As thesettlement of Italy begins, a war breaks out and I wasvisited by my mother who is bearing gifts of armor to keepme safe from harm. Her husband, Vulcan, hand crafted thearmor and the shield on which I finally was able to see whyall the anguish I had endured was necessary. There on theshield was the entire story of the Rome to come and mydescendants that would ensure its existence and maintainits power for generations. I married Lavinia, after having to battle and defeat Turnuswhich was not an easy task with Juno on his side. I livedwith war and trouble and died before my time, as Dido bidme as her death wish after I left her, but it was all forthe greater good. Our Trojan ways were eventuallyincorporated into the Latin culture also granted to Dido bythe gods, but that was just one more sacrifice to be made.Although not mortally by his side, I was able to see my sonand his descendants go on to found the city of Rome and thegreat Roman Empire. I was immortalized and able to see thehappenings as foretold to me by my father and on the shieldcarefully crafted by Vulcan and I was, probably for thefirst time, able to be happy with Fate. Bibliography Virgil, The Aeneid. The Norton Anthology of WorldMasterpieces. Vol. 1. 6th ed. Ed. Maynard Mack, BernardM.W. Knox, John C. McGallaird, P.M. Pasinetti, Howard E.Hugo, Patricia Meyer Spacks, Rene Wellek, Kenneth Douglas,and Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. 841-917.Bloom, Harold, ed. Virgil: Modern Critical Views. New York:Chelsea House Publishers. 1986.

America: The Most Popular Girl in School

The United Stated is currently the most influential country on theface of the earth. Not only concerning the issues of money and businessbut also our choices of music clothes and recreational activities. Often times people think of countries such as Japan and China asbeing completely different. We think they have strange dress and oddcustoms, they are thought to have a completely different culture thanours. You will find that that is incorrect, the ir cultures are actuallyvery similar to ours. Because of the amount of clothing, food and otherproducts that we ship out of this country every day our culture has nochoice but to ooze out of our borders onto foreign soil. For example youcould walk i nto a modern Japanese society expecting a bunch of old peoplekneeling on dirt floors wearing kimonos and drinking green tea butactually find a society of youths wearing Levi jeans, trendy clothes,listening to American pop-rock music, and eating Big Mac s that they justbought from down the street at their local McDonalds. You could also finda group of people watching a football game and gossiping about the newmovie with "that really hot American chick in it". Of course allcountries have different h olidays and traditions, they eat differentfoods and have customs that seem strange to us but more and more theirways seem to be becoming like those of us here in the United States ofAmerica. The question asks if I think that the influence of our "popculture" will continue. I think that that all depends on weather or notwe remain the worlds "super power" in the future. I think that the reasonthat we are imitated by other countries is bec ause of our wealth andpower. It is sort of like the United States is the most popular girl inschool. She has a bunch of followers who dress like her, do their hairlike her and claim to like the same music and movies as her. But nomatter how hard th ey try they can never quite keep up to her everchanging style. Much like the patterns of the countries that try toimitate the U.S. If you look closely at these cultures you will noticethat the clothes that they wear were the clothes that we wore ten yearsago and I wouldn't be surprised if they are groovin' to the sounds of theeighties as we speak. I often wonder why we haven't picked up much of any othercountries culture. Sure, there have been fads like the Macarena and theon going like for foods such as tacos and chop suey, but every thing isalways somehow Americanized. I suppose it's beca use we are sopreoccupied with our own appearances and our countries image that we don'thave time to stop and look around. Or maybe its the fact that we aretrying to convince ourselves that everybody wants to be like us and thatis how it will always b e. No matter what happens though, there is always a new popular girlthat everybody wants to be like. Her power dies down and the followersfind some one else to imitate. I think that sooner or later, maybe not inmy lifetime, that the awe of the United S tates will die down along withthe influence and the power on other countries and they will find someoneelse to follow or maybe they will gain the power and self respect to betheir own nation, to not pay attention to what everybody else is doing andmay be people will start to follow them.

Lindsay Morgan Lohan Biography

Lindsay Morgan Lohan was born in New York City, on 2nd July 1986, to Dina and Michael Lohan. Her mum is a former Radio City Rockette & her father was in the pasta business after making enough, he went to Hollywood financing independent films. She is the eldest of four siblings. Lohan has been studying dancing and singing since age 4 & a model since age 3, Lohan has the distinction of being the first red-headed child to be signed by the prestigious Ford Modeling Agency. Her freckled face is familiar from more than sixty television commercials including spots for The Gap, Jello, Pizza Hut, and Wendy’s. At seventeen, Lindsay Lohan (Anna in "Freaky Friday") has already appeared on the cover of “Vanity Fair,” having been featured as part of the prestigious magazine’s “It’s Totally Raining Teens” July spread. She won the dual role of the two sisters in "The Parent Trap" after a six-month casting search in the United States, Canada, and Britain. She's also stars in Disney’s “Confessions of A Teenage Drama Queen.” Lohan was featured in the long-running role of Alli Fowler on the daytime drama “Another World,” as well as on “Guiding Light.” On television, she starred in two movies for Disney—the Wonderful World of Disney’s “Life-Size,” with Tyra Banks, and Disney Channel’s original “Get a Clue” — and in the sitcom “Bette.” Lohan’s first pop single, “Ultimate,” appears on the soundtrack of “Freaky Friday.” She will also perform on the soundtrack of “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.” A straight 'A' student at her local school, Lindsay excels at math and science. She also enjoys gymnastics, swimming, ice skating, roller blading, singing, biking, reading, writing, and playing with her siblings.

Jennifer Jones Biography (1919-)

Actress. Born Phyllis Flora Isley (professionally known as Jennifer Jones), on March 2, 1919, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jones studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where she met and married aspiring actor Robert Walker in 1939. Shortly after, she won a six-month contract from Republic Pictures and moved to California. In 1944, Jones divorced Walker. Around the same time, she met Hollywood mogul David O. Selznick, who saw promise in Jones’ work and signed her to a personal contract. Selznick and Jones were married from 1945 until his death in 1965.
In general, Jones’ professional and personal involvement with Selznick has been given a prominence that has colored assessments of her distinctive contribution to 1940s cinema. Interestingly, the central issue is not that Jones lacked talent or screen presence. The longstanding criticism is that Selznick, because of his commitment to Jones, had no critical distance and, with King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (1946), tried to fashion an erotic identity for her, making Jones into a ridiculous creation. Previously, her screen persona was as an innocent child/woman, an image established by her first starring role in Henry King's The Song of Bernadette (1943). She had also given an intense and emotionally charged performance as a girl making the transition from youth to maturity in John Cromwell's Since You Went Away (1944).

As the sensual half-breed Pearl in Duel in the Sun, Jones succeeded in giving an audaciously conceived performance employing a degree of physical gesture having more in common with silent-screen acting technique than with the naturalistic behavioral mannerisms associated with the sound cinema. In addition, while her physical presence is intended to be provocative, she does not allow her physicality to undermine the complex psychological dimensions of the character. Duel in the Sun is thus a remarkable achievement but, like her performance, it has often been misinterpreted as degrading to female sexuality. Though conceived on a lesser scale, Ruby Gentry (1952) is equally successful in dealing with the same themes, and again Jones's sensuality is central to the expression of those concerns.

From the beginning, the screen persona of Jones was imbued with a degree of hysteria, and in Vincente Minnelli's underrated Madame Bovary (1949) this characteristic erupts with particular impact. Minnelli, a director very sensitive to the various aspects of Jones' sensibility, including her romantic indulgence, encourages her to give a subtle performance without relinquishing the extravagant conception the character has of her identity. These same elements might have been as fully articulated in the Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger version of The Wild Heart (1952), but unfortunately Selznick's reworking of their footage does not present a rounded characterization.

No matter with what coloration one paints the envied Selznick-Jones collaboration, her status as melodramatic princess of the 1940s is indisputable. If adjectives such as ethereal and luminous became excess baggage with the passage of time, these qualities were responsible for Jones' realizing the evocative fantasy of Portrait of Jennie (1948), the fortunes fools romance of Love Letters (1945), and the valentine to homefront frustration in Since You Went Away (1944)—projects in which this actress's breathtaking vulnerability aroused the audience's protectiveness. If Selznick overproduced Portrait of Jennie, he stayed out of William Wyler's way long enough for Jones to hold her own against Laurence Olivier with her superb characterization of an unwittingly destructive demimonde in the underappreciated Carrie (1952).

Jones’ career flourished in the 1950s, with the unexpected box-office bonanza Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), followed by Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) and The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957). Deftly imbricating the complexities in Jones' persona with F. Scott Fitzgerald themes, the flawed Tender Is the Night (1962) is the last film to resurrect her patented fragility to good effect. Afterwards, the neurotic mannerisms consume her performances in the unworthy The Idol (1966) and the cheesy Angel, Angel Down We Go (1970).

Ron(ald William) Howard

Born in Duncan, OK, actor and director Ron Howard gained fame as a child actor on such TV shows as Happy Days (1973?80). He made his directorial debut with Grand Theft Auto (1977), and went on to great success with suchBorn in Duncan, OK, actor and director Ron Howard gained fame as a child actor on such TV shows as Happy Days (1973?80). He made his directorial debut with Grand Theft Auto (1977), and went on to great success with such films as A Beautiful Mind films as A Beautiful Mind

Tourism

In truth, the attributes of tourism have changed rapidly during the
twentieth century. Today, it is virtually impossible even to avoid the
effect that the tourism industry has on the world. On the following
lines I shall in an explaining voice treat the subject of tourism and I
wager you'll find it rather interesting. First and for most; Why do we
become tourists? What is this incredible force which drives us to leave
the safe shelter of our homes to travel to places some times thousands
of miles from our native lands? Well, in order to answer that, we need
to find out the benefits of tourism. It's usually us people from the
richer countries in the west that travel abroad as tourists. This
became possible during the early twentieth century, when the industrial
revolution had reached most western countries in a big way, and the
governments had begun to get more and more democratic. They started to
have governmental foundings with the intention of giving people who
worked in different sectors their wages in sp Although, most Americans
would probably not be so negative about it. The American Dream that
influences their society speaks for the strength of the individual.
That is, if you really want to be rich, you can be, as long as you're
not afraid of working hard. So, people obviously like being tourists,
and the even more obvious reasons for that can be the need for
something different to occur in ones life, not always being stuck in
the same old tracks, over and over again. Or, that we need to relax,
which you apparently can't do at home, only abroad. One classic reason
for tourism is of course that it is a social benefit; You'll get a lot
of attention from people back home both before and after the journey,
which indeed can be just as much, if not more of a pleasure then the
holiday itself. Tourism, according to the Department of National
Heritage, apparently outnumbers most any other line of business, from
construction industry to raising cattle. Today, it is more or less well
known to people that tourism has grown to massive proportions, being
almost the largest industry in the world. This of course brings along
with it heaps of problems, connected to the fact that where there is
money to be earned (and thus power to be controlled), man has neither
moral nor restrictions to prevent her from doing just about all she can
to exploit that source of wealth. In the compendium, there is an
article from the Morning Star that talks about how people in the 70s
considered the tourism a "harmless way to transfer wealth from the
north to the third world". Today there are evidence which speaks of a
terminal degeneration over the last 20 years, where the tourism
industry and tourists weakens third world countries standard as unique
territories into being merely "attractive spots", without either
culture nor sense of dignified nationalism. Another problem is the vast
prostitution, which follow in the steps of tourism like a swarm of
dragonflies around a heap of treasure. In the Philippines for example,
it is estimated that 60000 children are active prostitutes. Due to
this, dreams are shattered for many families as they see their children
fall victim to drugs and its consequences, thus breaking down the will
and spirit of the countries inhabitants, as they every day go to the
backdoor of the hotels to serve the very people who might be the ones
to rape their offspring. Du Tourism - 1, 2,
3

René Descartes

René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye,
Touraine. He was the son of a minor nobleman, and belonged
to an intellectual family. His mother died of tuberculosis
a few days after he was born. He inherited the disease from
her, and was continually sick throughout his infancy. The
only one who cared for him was his nurse, who gave him
warmth and nourishment from her body.(Durant pg.456
,Philosophy) He eventually came back to life, and perhaps
that is why he was named Rene, which means Renatus,
"reborn".

His early education began at the Jesuit school of La
Fleche in Anjou. Roman Catholicism was a strong influence
in his life. Upon graduating from school, he studied law at
the University of Poitiers, graduating in 1616. However, he
never practiced law, and in 1618 he entered the army of
Prince Maurice of Nassau at Breda in the Netherlands. His
intention was t have a military career. Here he had a
vision that encouraged him to focuses on a life of
learning, education and intellect. Descartes served in a
few armies, but his attention quickly turned to mathematics
and philosophy, to which he devoted the rest of his life.

Descartes lived in France for four years where he studied
philosophy and optics, and returned back to the
Netherlands. It was during his first year back in the
Netherlands that he wrote his first major work, Essais
Philosophiques. The work contained four parts: an essay on
geometry, one on optics, a third on meteors, and a fourth
titled Discors de la Methode, which described his
philosophical speculations. His other works include
Meditations on First Philosophy 1641, and The Principles of
Philosophy 1644, which was dedicated to Princess Elizabeth
Stuart of Bohemia., with whom Descartes had formed a deep
friendship. (Durant pg.456 Philosophy) In 1649 Descartes
was invited to the court of Queen Christina of Sweden in
Stockholm, to join an elite circle of intellectuals which
would instruct the queen in philosophy. Descartes died on
February 1, 1650 of pneumonia, which was caused by the
rigors of the Northern Swedish climate, and the rigorous
schedule demanded by the queen.(Durant pg. 398
Civilization)

Descartes has been labeled the father of modern
philosophy.(Barrett pg. 53) He is classified as a dualist
because he claimed that the world consisted of two sorts of
basic substance- matter and spirit. Matter is the physical
universe, which our bodies are part of . Spirit is the
human mind, which interacts with the body, but can, in
principle, exist without it. Descartes theories were called
and refered to as Occasionalism. Descartes believed matter
could be understood through certain concepts that he
borrowed from geometry and his theories of motion.
Descartes invented the Cartesian Coordinate System, and
analytic geometry both of which are the fore ground for
more complex physics and math. In Descartes view, the whole
world, including it's laws and even the truths of
mathematics, was created by God. He believed that
everything functioned according to God. Descartes thought
of God as resembling the mind in that both God and the mind
think but have no physical being. But he believed God is
unlike the mind in that God is infinite and does not depend
on his existence from some other creator. This problem of
whether mental entities are different in nature from
physical entities continues to be a primary concern of
philosophers and phycologists. (Bell pg. 51)

In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes first
considered the strongest reasons that might be used to show
that he could never be certain of anything. These so called
"skeptical" arguments included the idea that perhaps he
might be dreaming, so that nothing he seemed to perceive
would be real. In another argument, Descartes reflected
that perhaps God or some evil spirit was constantly
tricking his mind, causing him to believe what was false.
Descartes responded to these arguments by saying that even
if he were dreaming, or constantly deceived, he could at
least be certain that he had thoughts, and therefore
existed as a thinking being. This, he wrote, was a "clear
and distinct" perception of the mind. Nothing could make
him doubt it. From this Descartes created the famous Latin
phrase "cogito ergo sum", which means "I think therefore I
am". Descartes then argued that he could also clearly and
distinctly perceive that an infinitely powerful and good
God exists. This God would not let Descartes be deceived.
According to Descartes, one cannot be certain of one's
reasoning unless one is certain good exists. To Descartes
this is why the physical world existed. Descartes also
believed that self evident truths could not be found
through the senses, they were innate. This is called
rationalism. Rationalism, as stated by Webster, is the
formation of opinions by relying upon reason alone.
(Randall pg.45)

In Descartes Discours on Method, I found two particularly
interesting quotes. The first one was; "For to be possessed
of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is
rightly to apply it". (Descartes Discours on Method pg.2)
This makes perfect sense to me. Just to be smart is not
enough, you must constantly be using your knowledge, and
always striving to gain more. If people state that they're
knowledgeable Descartes would responded by saying; "O.K.,
prove it." This quote showed Descartes in a more realistic,
human-like picture. The second quote in Descartes Discours
on Method is:

For it occurred to me that I should find much more truth in
the reasoning of each individual with reference to the
affairs in which he is personally interested, and the
issues of which must presently punish him if he has judged
amiss, than those conducted by a man of letters in his
study, regarding speculative matters that are of no
practical moment, and followed by no consequences to
himself.( Barrett pg.14)

One thing this quote tells me is that you learn more by
doing and experiencing then just by being lectured or
reading out of a book, especially if it is something you
are interested in. I also feel that this quote means that
you should study things that are practical and have
relevance to you. Of course there are things we all must
study, but why should an arts major have to sit through a
class of chemistry. For one to have great knowledge there
must be a strong desire of relevance to that knowledge.

Before his time, philosophy had been dominated by the
method of Scholasticism, which was entirely based on
comparing and contrasting the views of recognized
intellectuals. Rejecting this method, Descartes stated, "In
our search for the direct road to truth, we should busy
ourselves with no object about which we cannot attain a
certitude equal to that of the demonstration of arithmetic
and geometry." (Bell pg. 67)

Clear connections can be drawn between the philosophies of
Descartes and Socrates. Descartes clearly follows the
Socratic tradition. Both believe that our senses are not
good indicators of truth and reason. They lie to us, and
conceal the truth. Our senses cannot confirm empirical
data. Descartes believed that just by thinking we are
confirming what our senses tell us. Socrates and Descartes
both believed that we should find our truths and reasons in
other things. Descartes believed we could find them in
geometry and math, not our senses. Just by thinking we are
attaining the highest knowledge possible.