Is Organic Food the Problem?

A trend that has recently taken over worldwide is the ?Organic Food Trend'. Everyone has heard something about organic food, good or bad, but most people have no idea what organic food even is. Many individuals purchase the organic options because they've heard it's better for them, while others choose the non-organic options because it's cheaper. It turns out, organic food might be the best bet. Is Organic Food a Scam? was written by Vani Hari and discusses the importance of choosing organic foods. While reading through her article, there were many things that stood out, but three main points in particular. The first was that pesticide usage has many harmful effects, second was the importance of pregnant woman eating all organic, and third how all livestock should be bought organic as well as produce. Pesticide usage is a very high concern for many consumers today. According to this article, in conventional food, pesticide residues are often left on food even after it is washed (Hari 2017). With organic food, the use of pesticides is very rare because other methods are required to be used first (Hari 2017). Organic farmers incorporate a mixture of different techniques such as crop rotation, mechanical weeding, and cover crops in order to prevent the growth of pests (Gorrell 2011). This article also mentions how pesticides aren't the only thing that hides within conventional foods. When choosing certified organic food products, people are automatically straying away from many dangerous food additives (Hari 2017). Organic standards have prohibited all useless and harmful food additives when processing organic foods (Muscanescu 2013). This means that we can guarantee that people won't be ingesting the harmful toxins of pesticides and dangerous additives they would be consuming in conventional foods. Another topic that Vani Hari emphasizes is the importance of pregnant woman eating organic foods. It stated that mothers that were highly exposed to organophosphates, a commonly used pesticide, conceived children with a thinner grey matter than most children (Hari 2017). Insecticides are of such high concern because of their targeting of the nervous system and their potential to increase the vulnerability of children's developing brains (Fortin MC and others 2013). Hari also brings up the fact that women who ingest high amounts of organophosphates during pregnancy had negative effects on their children's neurobehavioral development and intelligence quotient (IQ) levels, as well as possible development of ADHD (Hari 2017). This was tested by measuring the amount of dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites in urine that was collected from the mother during pregnancy, as well as from the children until the age of 7 (Bouchard and others 2011). Children who were exposed the highest amount of maternal DAP concentrations showed an average deficit of 7.0 IQ points in comparison to those with lower amounts of DAP (Bouchard and others 2011). Eating a diet of organic foods when pregnant has turned out to be the optimal way to go in order to keep the baby safe before giving birth. Lastly, Vani Hari mentions the importance of buying organic meat and dairy products, exclaiming that conventional livestock can be contaminated with even more pesticides than produce is contaminated with (Hari 2017). The largest difference between organic and conventional animal products is the ban on synthetic amino acids and GMOs (Galgano and others 2016). Hari also states that most conventional animals are raised on growth-promoting antibiotics and steroids that have been found in meat too (Hari 2017). Organic products on the other hand won't contain these residues. Organic livestock, such as meat and dairy, must be strictly fed only organically grown crops and are prohibited from using antibiotics (Gorrell 2011). Lowering the amount of chemicals and antibiotics that are going in the body is as easy as buying organic foods. Is Organic Food a Scam? by Vani Hari was a completely accurate article based on the topics that were pointed out within this paper. With many peer-reviewed journals that were found based off of the information she claimed, every single one of them backed what Hari was saying throughout her article. Although organic food might be slightly more expensive, it is ultimately worth the price. We don't want to be ingesting the high amounts of pesticides in produce and especially don't want to be consuming the antibiotics present in conventional livestock. We have the resources to not ingest these harmful toxins through organic foods and people should take advantage of this. Many pesticides that are used on conventional products are strongly linked to harmful diseases and health issues, from obesity to cancer (Hari 2017). As time goes by, more pesticides will be made, and this could have a very dangerous outcome. If we don't deeply assess the effects these pesticides might have on our health, implementing them on conventional products could be a serious issue. The use of pesticides, antibiotics and hormones will always be used, but it's up to us to make the right choice for our health.

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President Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth

In the year 1865 on the 15th of April, President Abraham Lincoln became the first President of the United States of America to have been assassinated. President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, was not only an Anti- Slavery Republican but also a simple and passionate man. In fact, many Americans saw him as a father figure. People tend to hold famous individuals to a higher standard however Abe Lincoln was truly a man of the people. He grew up like them, talked like them, and walked like them, which gained him respect from the people. President Abraham Lincoln was not like any other president considering that he would often walk miles by himself while in office, which was why the task to murder him was not difficult. He was both fearless and reckless. Wilkes Booth, the son of a well-known actor and also an actor himself, was the very man to murder the president with a pistol. In all reality, John Wilkes Booth was a self- centered man. For example, although the Booth family is from the Northern part of America and maintains strong Northern political views, John himself spent most of his life in the South and was actually a strong advocate for the South. It is believed that the reason his political views were completely different from that of his family was because it was his own way of becoming independent from his family and making a name for himself. He actually believed that he was entitled to more wealth and fame because of his family, but he could not have been more wrong. Eventually, John Wilkes Booth failed as a stage actor because of bad timing since America began to lose interest in the entertainment industry and began to become more focused on the war at the time. He soon lost all hope in life and believed that the only way to get his way was in fact to shed blood. He believed that the reason for all of the South's troubles was because of one single man, President Abraham Lincoln. All the anger that was pent up inside John Wilkes Booth drove him to pull the trigger and allow a bullet to fly into the head on a somewhat innocent man. Booth must have felt empty when he finally pulled that trigger. He should have known that one man's death, no matter whether he is the President of the United States of America or not, does not change the fact that the South and their wrong- doings will not go unpunished or that everything he had ever wanted would become, just like that. John Wilkes Booth knew he was done for and he wanted to take someone down with him. He wanted to go down in infamy and he did not care whether what he was famous for was moral or corrupt. The tragic murder and death of President Abraham Lincoln will not be forgotten- neither will John Wilkes Booth.

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The Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln was a thought desirable who was born on February 12, 1809, in a normal family in Kentucky. His family moved to Indiana seven years later; during that time, he had to farm work to support his family until he was twenty-two years old, so his education was limited. In1832, Lincoln joined the Legislature in Illinois after his family moved to Macon County in Southern Illinois in 1830. He taught himself laws, practiced and successfully passed the examination in 1836. Since then he worked as a lawyer and earned trust from the residents of his small town to the whole country. Lincoln won the election to the Congress in 1846 and started his tough journey to become the Great Emancipator of America. The first thing made Lincoln be a great emancipator is his personal hatred of slavery led to his belief that slavery compromised the Republican purpose of the country. He gave many arguments to prove his point. In a speech at Peoria, 1954, "This declared in the difference, but as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I can't but hate criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest."(This Fiery Trial, 29) As this point, he attacked slavery with reason that its existence within the United States could make American democracy became a hypocrite in the eyes of the world. In his fragment on slavery, 1857-1858, he said "If A can prove, however conclusively. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you" (This Fiery Trial, 42). During this period, he opposed argued that slavery was demonstrated based on color and intelligence. In letter to Joshua Speed, 1855, Lincoln expressed his hatred of slavery and later on Lincoln“Douglas debates, 1858; he claimed that slavery ran counter to American democratic principles because to some Americans, the Declaration of Independence's phrase "All men are created equal." applied only to somebody but to Lincoln, it applied to everyone include African-Americans. And much more the speeches and writing of Lincoln in history expressed his hate and struggle with slavery. Beside Lincoln hatred of slavery, his opposition to the Dred Scott decision (1958) is also evidence that makes his name became unforgettable. Many feelings against slavery of Lincoln were presented in seven Lincoln-Douglas debates. Through debates with Douglas, Lincoln expressed his disagreement with the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court. "As Lincoln showed in these debates, politically, Republicans were now locked in conflict with the Dred Scott decision" (12-9b, Abraham Lincoln and the Slave Power, A People and A Nation) Lincoln actually adhered to the Declaration of Independence that refers to the equality of all people. Therefore, the Dred Scott decision was against the Declaration and Lincoln did not agree with it. As he said in seventh debate with Douglas And when this new principle - this new proposition that no human being ever thought of three years ago, - is brought forward, I combat it as having an evil tendency, if not an evil design; I combat it as having a tendency to dehumanize the negro - to take away from him the right of ever striving to be a man. I combat it as being one of the thousand things constantly done in these days to prepare the public mind to make property, and nothing but the property of the negro in all the States of this Union (This Fiery Trial, 61) Lincoln believed that black people had the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although Lincoln and the Republicans denied any intent to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed, they stood firm against the extension of slavery into the territories. (13-1 Election of 1860 and Secession Crisis, A People and A Nation) shows that in the debate with Douglas, Lincoln did not try to do anything related to slavery but he believed that the Union could not function as half-slave and half-free. The U.S. would have to be a slave nation or a free nation; it could not be both. ("They Have Encouraged" Lecture Notes) Therefore, he would try his best to stop slavery extend to the Western Territories. Douglas won the debate, but Lincoln gained much recognition that eventually helped him won the presidential election two years after. In addition, Lincoln began as against slavery and end with finally issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 which liberated all slaves in states that are in civil war and they had the ability to serve in the Army or Navy of the Union. Before the Emancipation Proclamation, the purpose of the Civil War was fighting for the Union. Lincoln said "I would save the Union", "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union." (13-5b Confiscation Acts, A People and A Nation). With the Emancipation Proclamation, the purpose of the war changed, the war was not only fighting for the Union but also for the freedom of slaves. However, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many states at South but not all area; therefore, the Emancipation Proclamation just released about half of Americans slaves on 1865 and later Lincoln strongly supported the 13th Amendment Thirteenth Amendment, the Law of State freed the rest of slaves which removed slavery in America. As this point, Lincoln supported the abolition of slavery to become the constitutional law which made him be the Great Emancipator of America.

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Abraham Lincoln and his Legacy

Born on February 12th,1809 to parents Nancy and Thomas Lincoln is Abraham Lincoln, America's future president. He was born in Hardin County, Kentucky. His mother later died on October 5th, 1818 from tremetol, a milk sickness. All Abraham had left was his father. His schooling was brief as he had to work to help support his family. Abraham hated the hard work he was subjected to at such a young age. While Abraham was completely devastated by his mother's death, his father moved on quite quickly. Lincoln's father married a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston on December 1819. Abraham bonded with her in no time because of the affection that was given to him. Abraham and his family had to move to southern Illinois because of a land dispute which took place in 1817. They ended-up squatting on the new land as his father had no money to purchase it. In 1830, the family moved to Macon County, Illinois and again to Coles County. At the age of twenty-two, Lincoln got a job to haul freight down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a river flatboat. After he moved to New Salem, Illinois on his own and got a job as a shopkeeper, postmaster and then general store owner. It was there the journey began. Lincoln acquired the necessary social skills and popularity from his story-telling. In 1832 the Black Hawk War broke out between the Native Americans and the United States and the people in the area chose Lincoln to be their Captain. He then became very interested in Politics and a supporter of the Whig Party. In 1834, he was elected as a member of the Whig Party. Lincoln had this great plan for the United States where they focused more on cities and commerce. Abraham Lincoln passed his bar exam in 1836 from teaching himself law. He worked as a lawyer in Springfield and made himself the reputation as ?Honest Abe'. The next important event in his early life is his marriage because on November 4th, 1842 he married Mary Todd.

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Abraham Lincolns Presidency

President Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He was elected in the year 1860, beating out Stephen A. Douglas in the election of 1860. Lincoln would be the first republican president the country would ever have. He would have Hannibal Hamlin as his Vice President during his first term as commander in chief . President Lincoln was probably one of the presidents that went through the most ups and downs during his presidency , him getting through all these things is why he is considered to be one of the greatest presidents to ever serve. In 1861 Lincoln was inaugurated as the sixteenth president of the United States and as the nations first republican president. A lot of the southern states saw his victory being won with votes from the free states. From the time of our new presidents election against Douglas and his inauguration seven of the countries lower southern states had already succeeded. During Lincolns inauguration Lincoln tried to persuade the south that he would not interfere with slavery, so that those that have slaves would not want to succeed, because the main reason for the south wanting to leave was the fear of Lincoln ending slavery around our country. With the succession of the seven southern states they went by the name the confederacy. The confederate congress without a doubt decided they want to adopt the Confederate Constitution. Which declared them sovereignty of states , which meant they were able to for forbid passage of any bills passed to abolish slavery. During Lincolns attempt to resupply Fort Sumter, the confederate army, under the command of General P.G.T Beauregard decided to open fire on Fort Sumter. At exactly 4:30 am Confederate President Jefferson gave order to Beauregard to open fire in the Charleston Harbor, sparking up the beginning of the Civil War. The American Civil War began on April 12,1861, at approximately 4:30 a.m., when General Beauregard opened Fire on Fort Sumter. Beauregard's bombing lasted for about thirty-three hours. It would be until the Union Major Robert Anderson Surrendered the Fort to the south, with that the Confederate would take down the American flag and raise their own, to show they had taken over Fort Sumter. Following the Fort Sumter attack, President Lincoln called for about seventy five thousand voluntary troops to help put down the rebellion, in which the south was. He declared the official beginning of the Civil War. In four and a half years about five million Americans would serve during this war and more than six hundred thousand would fall fighting for what they believed in. This would make The American Civil War the bloodiest war in our countries history. In response of the Declaration of the Civil War between the North and South , the state of Virginia decided to succeed as well from the union. This was followed by the succession of three other Southern states like, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas, this meant that there were only four border salves states left. Lincoln not really worried because the south only had about forty-two ships and thirty thousand five hundred fifty miles of coastline . Knowing this he ordered a blockade of southern ports that will weaken the Confederacy by them not being able to have importation of supplies. With this happening, the first casualties of the Civil war was occurring in Maryland. During the time of the war the House of representatives decided to pass the Morrill tariffs . This law signals a new impulses toward protection and it would increase centralization of the counties federal government. Congress would become regulators of imports, would double duties, and levying taxes on goods associated with manufactures. Other thing that were happening during this time was the move of the Confederate Capital. With the joining of the four states into the South, the capital that was previously in Montgomery, Alabama, would make its move to Richmond, Virginia. This being because Virginia was the most populated in all the southern states . The first battle of bull run would be the first battle of the civil war. With the orders of Abraham Lincoln the Union would attack Richmond in July of 1861. With General McDowell leading the union army and Beauregard leading the Confederate during this major battle. The confederate army would meet the Unions trooops at a creak known as Bull Run, giving the battle its name. General Jackson waited with his troops for McDowell's troops to make the first move, giving Jackson his nickname of the Stonewall. With this the confederate gained control and the unexperienced union troops had no choice but to retreat from the battle. This would give the victory to the South. During the Civil War, General Winfield Scott would retire as the commander in chief of the union army, this only meant for a searching of a new one. So after the regiment of General Scott , President Lincoln would name George McClellan , as the new commander of the union army . But not only was the Civil war a big thing that happening during Lincolns presidency, he also lost some of his children along the way. His son William Wallace Lincoln would die from typhoid fever, this would be Lincolns second son that would have died. The Iconclad warfare would be the first duel between two iconclad warships. This would occurs because of the lack of supplies coming into the south, happing because of the blockade that President Lincoln ordered for earlier in the war. The southern Virginia and the unions Monitor would battle off to a standoff. In May the union was forced the confederacy to abandon the Norfolk given that victory to the North. During the time of the standoff slavery would be abolished inn the District of Colombia (D.C). But also General Robert E. Lee would be made the new commander of the Confederacy army after his predecessor was wounded. The second battle of Bull run was taken place as well. General Stonewall Jackson and Lee would be proven to be way to much for the Northern Troops under the command of General Pope, and would retreat back to Washington D.C.. The battle would give a huge victory to the Confederacy . The battle of Antietam was the first major battle of the civil war that was take place in Union soil. Being taken place in Sharspburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek. It is considered to be the bloodiest single-day battle in American victory, with a combination of twenty-two thousand seven hunkered and seventeen dead, wounded, and missing. The union would get the victory over the Confederacy in this war and the battle was lead by General Lee of the south and General McClellan of the north. The emancipation proclamation was one of the biggest events that happened during out 16th presidents presidency. The Emancipation Proclamation was an announcement or order for Lincoln that would free the slaves in the American Civil War. On the day the announcement was given all the slaves that were in the ten states that were in the rebellion with the Union would be freed forever. Though this did not free all the slaves immediately it only freed those that were in the South that were not under the norths control. But in time the proclamation would free over a million slaves. After the Midterm elections, which would give republicans control of both the House of Representatives and Senate, the Battle of Fredericksburg would happen. This battle was fought in Virginia , with the Confederate army defeating the Union, Lee's troops will come on top of Burnsides troops. With the union losing about thirty thousand men, and the South would rise to five thousand. With the Battle of Chancellorsville near Washington D.C. . General Lees, amazing plan would give the confederate a brilliant very over Unions General Hooker and his troops. Following Lees success, Lee wanted to begin his second invasion into Unions territories. But with the victory of the Confederate in the battle Chancellorsville came a big defeat when General Stonewall Jackson was shot by his own troop, having his left arm taken away from him. Jackson would eventually die eight days later from pneumonia. The battle of Gettysburg would be the turning point of the American Civil War . It would be the Confederates best change to achiever victory, but it would give the union the new life and the victory at the end of the battle. The union would stop the invasion of the confederate army and would force Lee to withdraw to Virginia. Although the battle did not have the largest number of troops that fought during the war, it did have the high number of fatalities of any other battle during the Civil War. Th battle became the most decisive battle of the war because it drove the confederate out of the north, chanting the whole momentum of the war , what is now known as the turning point of the civil war. Lincoln also after this battle would give his historic Gettysburg address at the battlefield. The Gettysburg address would be a short speech given by Abraham Lincoln, it would pay tribute to all the lives of soldiers who scarified for the union and equality. The Union would eventually come to and end in the spring of April 9,1865 when General Lee surrender at the McLean house in the village of Appomattox court house. The civil war would put and end in slavery. In 1865 Slavery would be a polished everywhere in the United States by the 13th amendment. The civil war would be a big event in American history but it showed that that the country was one nation, whose parts could not separate it. The 13th amendment stated that slavery would not exists in the United States of America or in any of it territories. So slavery would be abolished not only in the north but all around the United States. The 13th amendment was passed by the House of Representatives on January 31,1865. President Lincoln would be re-elected in 1864 during the civil war. His new Vice President would be Andrew Johnson. They would beat out Democratic candidate George McClellan. Lincoln would win with fifty five percent of the popular vote, and 212 electoral votes. Our 16th president inauguration as president for his second term would come in March 4th of 1865. Following President Lincolns re-election came a big disaster. Our 16th president would be shot in the back of his head by an actor/ confederate supporter John Booth, at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C.. President Lincoln would die early the next day, with his death President Andrew Johnson would be sworn in as the 17th president of the United States. President Lincoln would have to had gone through a lot during his presidency, because of him believing that slaves shouldn't be slaves anymore. He went through deaths of this children and of course The American Civil War. With him beating all odds he became one of the best presidents this country has ever had and with all his accomplishment would help our country out in the future.

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The Life and Presidency of Abraham Lincoln

I've read a lot about the president of the United States of America through, The Life And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln, by Allan Nevins. This book helped me learn a lot about him that I did not know so let's begin. It all started in a log cabin, his mother was in labor and on February 12, 1809 a child was born Near the village of Hodgenville, Kentucky. Abraham Lincolns parents came from pioneer stock and he ended up growing up on a farm. Abrahams Lincoln was raised on Sinking Spring Farm Lincolns father bought the farm for two hundred dollars and he received 300 acres of land, the farm land was known for a great water source and fertile soil. Lincoln had it rough as he was growing up. Yet again title trouble for the land rights drove the father to build a raft and put his whiskey and tools and left for Indiana. There he found his spot and came back for his family to take them down to Indiana and they took off in 1816 so they could have a new start. When they arrived in Indiana it was nearly Winter, and they had to act quickly to not die of the cold. Abraham and his father built a shelter that was half built and half open where a fire was to heat the interior of the shelter. Relatives came to join the Lincolns and they took more than half the half-faced shelter the Lincolns had to move to their other unfinished shelter where they had to live again in hardship through the winter and the cold. Abrahams mother passed away due to sickness that hit the family because of the cold and them not being warm enough and the shelter not helping with heat. Years later when Abraham was older he ran for Congressmen and won even though he was small he made a name for himself and worked his way up to have a legacy for himself. Nearing the end of Abrahams term at congress he threw all his support in to the Whig party, and he worked to elect Zachary Taylor he travelled throughout Europe looking to do better. Even though the party died out in 1852 all the members found a new party, at the end of his term Abraham started to think of himself as an old man who married many times mainly due to his wives dying of disease and illness. Abraham Lincoln started his campaign for office of presidency, he travelled all about giving speeches and talking to the people and how he was going to change their lives and that he did. Abraham was a great president including he was a great father Abraham motivated every single person at every speech and town, village, and city Abraham touched every single hand and heart and whoever he talked to. He built the nation from ashes and in remembrance he is a national monument. But that happened in the future let's get back to the past and find out more about Abraham Lincoln. Abraham was a man of great respect, responsibility, and integrity to where everybody loved him and felt him touch their lives. Abraham was a man of curiosity and through all the biographies we will never have a complete history on Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln became the president of the United States of America because his speech touched the lives of every single kid women and man. Lincoln successfully was able to win due to his speeches and his opponent not touching every women child and man but how he was courageous and brave Lincoln won over the troops and as able to give each one of them pride and dignity of his braveness to help them move forward through the darkness and to stager forward to the end of the light. So, In short there is much to be said about Abraham Lincoln he surely did make a impression on the American public and he surley was a great president who had a great impact on slavery as he was the head to stopping slavery and the American public who used slavery as it was a big adjustment for the American people to stop the slavery resigned and that ended up closing slaver,. and that is what Abraham is most commonly known for in American history through the decades since he abolished slavery.

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The Proven Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln prize winning book by Doris Kearns Goodwin Team of Rivals aims to prove the secondary title of the book. The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Goodwin in her introduction opens the book showcasing the soon to be comrades who at the present time were rivals for the nomination for president in the brand new Republican party in the the election of 1860. Goodwin states that out of these team of rivals and future cabinet members in the Lincoln administration Lincoln would emerge the undisputed captain of the most unusual cabinet. Goodwin, also dispels the myth that Lincoln had battles with depression. I had assumed that Lincoln suffered chronic depression. On the contrary even during the worst days of the war, he retained his ability to function at a very high level. However, while Goodwin explores and dispels multiple myths in the introduction she establishes her thesis This, then, is a story of Lincoln's political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enable him to form a friendships with men who had previously opposed him; to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates; to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes. Goodwin proves her case throughout the 754 page book and this is shown in three time periods of Lincoln's life Lincoln his strategy during the Republican Convention in Chicago, his campaign for president including the forming of his cabinet, and both his foreign and domestic relations during his presidency. Goodwin weaves a thread of 249 pages of introduction to the cabinet members of the Lincoln administration who in 1860 were vying for the chance to be president. New York Senator William H. Seward, Ohio governor Salmon P. Chase, and from Missouri Edward Bates who was a statesman and a judge. Goodwin establishes a lengthy case that these other gentlemen were made ready for the office of president in those 249 pages. But one fact is laid hidden in those pages about Lincoln and his way with people to make them smile, forget, and laugh. When Lincoln was a travelling attorney in Illinois travelling the circuit trying cases. When the day of trying cases was over No sooner had everyone settled in than the call would come for Lincoln to take center stage. He would start weave stories for the onlookers in attendance they were in full laugh till near daylight. This characteristic would prove critical and win the nomination for Lincoln during the Republican convention in Chicago in 1860. Lincoln knew that the way to winning the nomination was to play it cool and keep a leveled head. He told those who were working to get him the nomination leave the delegates in the mood to come to us, if they shall be compelled to give up their first love. The other three nominees Bates, Seward, and Chase may have been better suited by others for the office of President. Each one had offended someone or not had enough votes to win the nomination from the Republicans for President. Only one man had thought through the long game of the convention and the subsequent path to nomination Abraham Lincoln the Republican nominee for president in 1860. Once the events at the Republican convention had occurred, Lincoln set about organizing his campaign to become the sixteenth president of the United States. A task which he knew was one that he could not accomplish on his own. He would need to the help of his former rivals Chase, Bates and especially Seward who would later become his right hand man Goodwin would observe. During, the formation of his presidential campaign surrogates Lincoln would experience a foreshadowing of a political thorn in his side from the future Secretary of Treasury Salmon Chase. Lincoln displayed his political prowess by not replying to letter from Chase asking him to feel sorry him for his home state did not vote for him at the convention. While Lincoln worked to enlist the cooperation of all his rivals he knew that the active support of William Henry Seward would be pivotal to the his campaign. Not only did Lincoln need his rivals for his political for his presidential campaign but also his cabinet. Goodwin displays Lincoln's genius when he was asked why he fought to get his rivals in his cabinet. We needed the strongest men of the (Republican) in the Cabinet. We needed to hold our own people together. I had looked the party over and concluded these were the very strongest men. Then I had no right to deprive the country of their services. The diplomatic skills of Lincoln were on full display Goodwin states during the his presidency by his treatment of generals, his dealing with loss, and his political prowess to end slavery. Before Lincoln's first inaugural address, Seward looked it over and found it to be lacking in tact. Sewards revisions are evident in nearly every paragraph. He qualified some (statements) removed rough edges in others. Lincoln received his first lesson in diplomacy from his Secretary of State before his inauguration. Lincoln would quickly return the favor before Seward would send an incidary letter to the British in fear that they would back the Confederate States of America. The incidary letter had the potential to open the Civil War on two fronts. The quickly learned art of foreign relations of Lincoln avoided a war with France and Britain. Lincoln's unseen hand had shaped critical policy. Only three months earlier the frontier lawyer had confessed to Seward that he knew little of foreign affairs. When dealing with his Generals was able to aptly manage the job of being both a diplomat and a Commander-in-Chief. During an interaction with General Butler, Lincoln requested, When you see me doing anything that for the good of the country ought not be done, come and tell me so and why you think so. The statement made to Butler was indicative of how he handled his Presidency. While Goodwin points out in the book that Lincoln was not without flaws for not firing the head of the War Department Simon Cameron until a year after his installation and place Edwin Stanton. A lawyer who humiliated him (Lincoln) in Cincinnati six years earlier. Despite the remarks Stanton made about Lincoln he was able to get past them for the good of the nation. After nearly a year of disappointment with Cameron, Lincoln had found in Stanton the leader the War Department needed. According to Goodwin the lethal threat to his administration did not come from the Civil War but from within his cabinet. Salmon Chase proved to be a cruel thorn in the side of Lincoln since Chase who constantly was working to usurp the president in his own administration. While the Diplomat-In-Chief was aware of Chases' presidential desires he knew he needed him for the Secretary of Treasury. In two months since congress adjourned, Chase had sold more than $45 million in bonds and the demand for the bonds was steadily increasing. However, Chases prowess in treasury could not overpower his desire to be president. When Chase submitted his resignation for a third time as an act of symbolism hoping Lincoln would refuse it. Lincoln accepted, and Goodwin points out Chases' flaws He thinks he has become indispensable to the country He also thinks that he ought to be president. The Lincoln administration and life can be summed up by a conversation Lincoln had with a colleague Joshua Speed after the Executive Order of Emancipation Proclamation. During the conversation, the two discussed a dark depressing period in Lincoln's life just some 20 years prior and his thoughts of suicide and why he didn't. He had done nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived. Goodwin proves towards the end of her book after Lincoln's death as a result of an assassination by John Wilkes Booth Lincoln's place in history. The deathless name he sought from the start had from the start had grown far beyond Sangamon County and Illinois, reached across truly United States, until his legacy as Staton had surmised at the moment of his death, belonged not only to America but to the ages-to be revered and sung throughout all time. Despite Lincoln's lack of foreign and domestic policy experience, and military strategy and interaction with Generals. Goodwin proves Lincoln was a political genius who adapted to situations and brought rivals together who in return would hold a fractured Union together.

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Hancock at the Battle of Gettysburg

Contents

July 2nd
July 3rd

On July 1st General George Meade learns the armies were engaged at Gettysburg and learns Gen. John Reynolds was killed. Meade sends word to Major General Winfield S. Hancock and wants him head to Gettysburg and assume command of the 1st, 3rd and the 11th corps. He arrives at to find General Howard, commander of the XI corps, who is also the man in charge on the scene, and explains that General Meade had sent him to take command of the III corps. Howard promptly replied to Hancock by informing him who was senior. General Hancock said, "I am aware of that, General, but I have written orders in my pocket from General Meade which I will show you if you wish to see them." General Howard said, "No. I do not doubt your word, General Hancock, but you can give no orders here while I am here."(Stackpole, 1956). At this time no one really knows if the two had seen eye to eye on this matter or who actually cowered down to the other. He goes on to explain that General Meade has also chosen him (Hancock) to select a suitable field to fight a battle in the rear of Pipe Creek. Hancock stood there gazing across the landscape and decides the best strategic course of action would be to fight from Culp's Hill to Round top Hill, about a 6 mile stretch.

Hancock dispatches troops to secure Culp's Hill and Little Round Top and then sends word to Meade that this is the place to fight. General Meade holds a meeting later that night with his Field Commanders to discuss battle plans. Meade asks Hancock if this was a good place for a fight and Hancock replies with, a very good place for a fight. Mead turns to him and says that's good because it's too late to turn back now. Meade, at this point, having no idea what the battlefield even looks like, takes the word of a junior officer on what becomes one of the bloodiest battles in American History.

July 2nd

Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles fails to follow orders and gets his line decimated near the Peach Orchard and is wounded in the process. Meade orders Hancock to assume command of the III corps. Hancock arrives to find the line broken, the troops in disarray and in a state of confusion. He promptly ordered roughly 280 men from the 1st Minnesota to make a full frontal assault. Their mission is to close the gap and push the advancing Confederates back long enough for the reinforcements to arrive and reset the line. This is basically a suicide mission and in the next fifteen minutes or so, the brave men from Minnesota would lose roughly 80% of their regiment, the tactic worked, and the line is once again intact. Later that night General Meade holds a secret meeting at the Leister House, with all the corps commanders to decide the next day's events. Hancock is the only one, of all commanders present, that urges Meade and eventually persuades him to stay and fight.

July 3rd

The union line is set up from Culp's Hill to Little Round top, roughly a six mile stretch, and General Hancock with his men holding the center portion of the line. While the Confederate cannons are sounding off in the background, sending lead flying towards the center of the Union lines, Hancock rallied the moral of his troops by riding his steed into battle during Pickett's Charge. As he rode his horse along the battle lines a Union Soldier, who feared for the commanders life, asked him to take cover in the rear. Hancock replies with There are many times when a corps Commanders life does not count (Jordan, 1995). During the retaliation of Pickett's advancement a bullet goes through Haycocks saddle horn and strikes him in the upper thigh area. Officers from the 12 and 13 Vermont help the wounded Hancock from his horse to the ground and attend to his injury. One of the officers digs his finger into the wound removing an iron nail and pieces of wood from the saddle but no bullet is found. Luckily for Hancock the bullet had missed the femoral artery but it is lodged somewhere inside. As he lay there, now out of the fight, passing by to attach the confederates was Colonel Oscar Beasley commanding the 16 Vermont. Hancock summed Beasley closer, he grabbed the Colonels hand and said go in Colonel and give it to them on the flank. He refused to leave the battlefield until he knew the Union had prevailed and the Gettysburg battle was over. Hancock sent word to Meade of the victory, upon receiving the message Meade replied with " Say to General Hancock," said General Meade, "that I am sorry he is wounded, and that I thank him for the country and for myself for the service he has rendered to-day. (Leslie, 1880) General Hancock is loaded into an ambulance and hauled away for medical treatment.

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The Battle of Gettysburg between the Union and the Confederates

The Battle of Gettysburg fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. Where Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee and the Union army led by General George Meade. The battle left more than 51,000 wounded, killed, captured, or claimed to miss. The wounded soldiers were crowded in nearby buildings, and many of the dead bodies lay in scantly graves in the ground (https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/never_forget/battle.htm). Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the northern states. His goal was to defeat the Union army on Northern soil; in which, he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. He sought out to take the war out of the Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Lee used the Shenandoah Valley as cover for his army. He was approached by two Union Major Generals, first General Joseph Hooker, and General George G. Meade (who was then replaced by Hooker). Lee's army crossed into Pennsylvania in mid-June, and the opposing forces meet head-on at the crossroads towns of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the morning of July 1, 1863. The Confederates surge over the Federals from the fields West and North of town, but were unsuccessful to secure Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill to the South. The next day, following, reinforcements arrived on both sides. Lee's army then attacked the Federals on the heights and Little Round Top (further South), but they failed to dislodge the defenders. Lastly, on July 3rd, Lee attacked the Union on Cemetery Ridge and was repulsed in what is now known as Pickett's Charge. His second attempt on the invasion failed and resulted in large casualties on both sides. There was an estimated 51,000 that were listed as missing, captured, wounded, or dead (https://www.battlefields.org). The ending results of The Battle of Gettysburg were a victory for the Union. The commanders of this battle were as previously stated for the Union General George G. Meade, and for the Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The forces engaged were 165,620 making up for the Union were 93,921 and for the Confederate at 71,699. The numbers were much larger for the Union; therefore, anyone could see why they had their victory. The confederate was clearly outnumbered by the Union. The total estimated casualties were 51,112. The Union alone had 23,049, of which 3,155 were killed, 14,529 wounded, and 5,365 missing/captured. The Confederate had 28,063 of the 51,122 causalities; of which 3,903 were killed, 18,735 were left wounded, and lastly, 5,425 were listed as missing/captured (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/gettysburg). Pennsylvania's Governor Andrew Curtin responded to the crisis by purchasing 17 acres of land for a proper burial ground for the Union dead. Within four months of the battle, reinternment began on the land that became Gettysburg National Cemetery. Today the cemetery is the final resting place for over 6,000 honorably discharged servicemen and their dependents from the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War (https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/never_forget/battle.htm). The 22,000 square foot Museum and Visitor Center is a great place to visit. They have the Soldiers National Cemetery and the David Wills House in town as well, where Abraham Lincoln stayed the night before he gave his Gettysburg Address. The people of the North and the South after The Battle of Gettysburg were sick of war and wanted skirmish to come to an end. In the summer of 1864 (a year later), the Civil War had been rampant on for three years now. Events on the battlefield, just before the election coming that fall, would cover the South's defeat, catapult Abraham Lincoln to victory and provide momentum for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, permanently freeing all slaves in America. Lincoln was expected to lose the election. Late August 1864, most expected former Union General George B. McClellan to defeat Lincoln, yet two months prior General William T. Sherman overpowered Confederate defenses and captured Atlanta. After leaders of his own political party had already considered replacing him on the Republican side, Lincoln won the most known victory in history when he defeated McClellan in the Electoral College with a 212 to 21 vote. His victory in 1864 was made possible by the Union's victory at the Gettysburg in July 1863. When the Confederates were accumulating for another battle charge up the hill, Chamberlain realized he didn't have enough ammunition to survive one more defeat. Most Americans are very familiar with the Battle of Gettysburg; however, it is very difficult to appreciate the savagery fight or the sheer volume of bloodshed that is distressed with both sides of the North and South. What happened on the field of battle after the two sides moved on to continue the fight elsewhere may be most symptomatic of the horrendous experience there. The author of A Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg, The Aftermath of a Battle, (written by Gregory Coco), exhaustively researched what happened on the Gettysburg battlefield in the three years following the flight. His descriptions are somewhat difficult to comprehend. He explained that there were thousands of dead soldiers but also three thousand dead horses and other animals. It was a down-right bloodbath. He stated: There was every type of corrupting, decomposing corpse you could imagine. The stench was horrifying for those tasked with the cleaning up the land. (Coco, Gregory. 2018. A Strange and Blighted Land. Havertown: Savas Beatie). The speech is known as the Gettysburg Address given by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, dedicating to the Soldier's National Cemetery, or also known as the battlefield cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The cemetery for Union soldiers killed at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. The speech was written by himself in Washington and revised after his arrival at Gettysburg. His speech was a sheer 271 words and took about only two minutes. This speech is one of Lincoln's best-known speech. Lincoln states, Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new, conceived in liberty ad dedication to the proposition that all men are created equal. (https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm). Lincoln began to envision not just a reunited United States, but a nation freed once and for all of slavery. In conclusion, the Battle of Gettysburg was a battle during the Civil War between the Union and the Confederates. (The north and the south). The Battle of Gettysburg brought over 51,000 soldiers from both the north and the south in a bloodbath, leaving those 51,000 either dead, wounded, captured, or listed as missing. The battle lasted three days beginning on July 1st, 1863 and ended on July 3rd, 1863. The ending resulted in the big victory for the Union over the Confederates, and President Abraham Lincoln winning the presidency by the Electoral College Vote.

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Anabolic Steroids and an Individual’s Sex Drive

Anabolic steroids are one of, if not the most powerful performance enhancing drugs someone can put in their body. Used in proper doses they can help people suffering from AIDS and other muscle wasting diseases build muscle again. They can also help older males suffering from testosterone deficiency, and help with delayed puberty. When abused by weightlifters and athletes they can produce tremendous muscle gains that may be impossible to reach without the use of steroids.

Anabolic steroids work by binding to receptor molecules which activate specific genes to synthesize proteins (Fahey, 1976.) This affects the muscle by inducing hypertrophy, causing the muscle tissue to grow much faster than it would naturally. Anabolic steroids have anabolic and androgenic properties. The anabolic effects result in growth of muscle tissue, bone, and blood cells. The androgenic properties cause changes in primary and secondary sexual characteristics (Fahey, 1976). Sexual characteristic changes steroids may cause include testicular atrophy, deepening of the voice, increased aggressiveness and the increased growth of hair on the face, underarms, and genital regions. The effects steroids may cause a person differ between males and females. While the negative effects of increasing synthetic testosterone, a male sex hormone, in women may be very significant it does not stop women from using the drug.

One of the first countries to implement anabolic steroid use to women athletes was Germany in the 1970's (Franke & Berendonk, 1997). They experimented with the use of steroids on women shot putters. Frank and Berendonk (1997) found a German woman shot putter, from released results of an East German sports program, to increase her throwing distance from just under seventeen meters to nineteen and a half meters over a twelve week cycle of anabolic steroids. This is a huge increase over a very short amount of time. The woman studied could throw nearly 15% further while using anabolic steroids compared to her maximum throwing output prior to taking anabolic steroids. Malarkey and coworkers (Malarkey et al. 1991) reported elevations up to 30-fold of normal levels of muscle strength and size in women who self-administered anabolic-androgenic steroids. Although these studies do show an increase in muscle strength with administration of anabolic steroids, there are various studies that show otherwise. Wilson (1988) found anabolic steroids to have no effect on muscle growth, and stated the effects were purely psychological. This is a hard statement to accept knowing the chemical properties of anabolic steroids. While some users do see increase in muscle growth and athletic performance it is important to take into consideration all the potential negative side effects steroids may cause.

One of the most prevalent behavioral side effects reported by steroid users is increased aggression. Roid rage is the common term given to this increased aggression some steroid users may experience. Morrison and co workers (Morrison et al. 2015) found male syrian hamsters treated with anabolic steroids ten times more likely to express aggressive behavior compared to non steroid injected hamsters. While hamsters may not be the most accurate representation of how a human would react to a drug, this is the most ethical way of testing a drugs affects. Choi and Pope (Choi & Pope 1994) found anabolic steroid users, while on a steroid cycle, report significantly more fights, verbal aggression, and fights with significant others compared to periods of non use. Choi and Pope also stated, It is the taking of several steroids simultaneously that is causally related to violent behavior. A cause and effect relationship between steroids and aggression has not been confirmed through any studies, but the growing evidence in this field is suggestive there might be a relationship between the two. However, Lindman and colleagues (Lindman et al. 1992) found that hormonal changes in testosterone levels were not specifically associated with violent behavior. Lindman's study was conducted on males arrested for spousal abuse. Even though Lindman found the testosterone levels to be similar between the sober subjects and the referenced males, there are flaws in how this study was conducted. There is no timetable of when the arrested males are tested for their testosterone levels, as the stopping of consistent steroid usage can cause changes in testosterone production. Rasmussen and co workers (Rasmussen et al. 2016) found 27% of former anabolic steroid users studied had low testosterone levels (>12.1 nmol/l), none of the control group reported levels this low. While some studies may find testosterone levels not to be associated with violent behavior, many users report experiencing increased aggression while using anabolic steroids. This increased aggression can be dangerous and potentially lead to violent behavior. While aggression is a potentially dangerous behavioural trait it can be beneficial for athletes competing in physical sports.

Anabolic steroids are still prevalent in sports today. However they are not used as commonly nowadays as they were in the mid to later 1900's. Between the time periods of 1950-1974 anabolic steroids were commonly used among athletes to improve performance. It wasn't until 1975 that anabolic steroids were banned in sport competition (Verroken & Mottram, 2005). When anabolic steroids were banned by the IOC, International Olympic Committee, their use in sport decreased. Although this did not stop all athletes from using anabolic steroids. Many professional, collegiate, and high school athletes still use anabolic steroids to improve their performance today. All of the four major sports leagues (NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB) require regular drug testing to all athletes. However this does not stop them from using steroids and trying to beat the drug tests. Anabolic steroids are prevalent among all four major sports leagues and track & field athletes, however the majority of athletes who have gotten caught using steroids are baseball and track & field athletes. This may be due to harsher drug tests, or a higher usage of the drug among these sports. Over the last decade many big names in the MLB have been caught, or admitted steroid usage in their playing careers. A few big names being Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Manny Ramirez, and Ryan Braun. The fact that there are so many more steroid usage cases in baseball compared to some other sports may be due to the physical characteristics that lead to baseball players success. Baseball is a power sport, the faster you can swing a bat the harder you can hit a ball. Anabolic steroids can increase muscle strength which in turn help a baseball player swing a bat faster. The increase in strength steroids may cause can greatly tempt an athlete to use the substance. Although professional athletes still use anabolic steroids to enhance performance today, they are less prevalent than they were in the past.

The use of anabolic steroids has expanded to a new population than seen in the past. Non-athletic recreational steroid use has become fairly prevalent all across the world. Bolding and co workers (Bolding et al. 2002) studied the use of steroids and health risks among homosexual men in Central London gyms. Their questionnaire asked questions regarding age, ethnicity, education, employment, steroid usage, and HIV test information. Bolding and his colleagues found 13.5% of men used anabolic steroids in the past twelve months. They also found 59.6% of users injected steroids, while 40.4% took them orally. Anecdotal reports from the study suggested the majority of anabolic steroid users took them to try and achieve their desired body shape. This has become a very common reason for people to use anabolic steroids. The muscle you can potentially gain in such a short period of time through the use of steroids is practically impossible to achieve without them. This ideology of using anabolic steroids to achieve a more desirable body image can cause self-esteem issues. While a steroid user might be trying to improve their body image, anabolic steroids can cause serious mental effects that may be irreversible.

The abuse of anabolic steroids can lead to many metal health effects. Some effects being depression, anxiety, insomnia, and mood swings. Depression can be caused by many factors, one of which is hormone imbalance. Taking steroids can potentially create a hormone imbalance, the main hormone affected being testosterone. Lindqvist and colleagues (Lindqvist et al. 2013) looked at the mental health of anabolic steroid using elite Swedish athletes vs. non anabolic steroid using elite Swedish athletes. The study took place thirty years after the end of their careers. 13% of the steroid using athletes sought professional help for depression, and 5% of the non-users sought professional help for depression. 13% of anabolic steroid users sought help for anxiety, and 6% of the non-users did the same. When asked if they worried for their own mental health, 8% of the anabolic steroid users said yes they did worry for their health, along with 3% of the non-users. Rasmussen and co workers (Rasmussen et al. 2016) also found 24.2% of anabolic steroid users studied felt depressive symptoms. Athletes are looked up to all across the world and glorified for their accomplishments. While these athletes may have been some of the best in their sport, the mental effects steroids may cause can be irreversible and these athletes will live with them the rest of their lives.

Along with the mental health effects steroids may cause, there are plenty of undesirable physical changes as well. Physical effects steroids cause can be desirable for example; increased muscle growth. However there are many negative physical effects that come with it. One common side effect of anabolic steroids is acne. Melnik & Grabbe (Melnik & Grabbe 2007) found 43% of anabolic steroid users studied reported an increase in acne while taking steroids. Acne is treatable and there are many precautions steroid users can take to try and lessen the severity of acne. However an effect that can be caused by steroids that isn't so easy to treat is gynecomastia. Gynecomastia is the swelling of male breast tissue due to a hormone imbalance. Melnik & Grabbe (Melnik & Grabbe 2007) found 637 (14.7%) of anabolic steroid users reported gynecomastia as a side effect of steroids. The only treatment for gynecomastia is surgery to remove the excess breast tissue. Or someone suffering from this condition could wait for it to regress on its own without treatment. However it could take a very long time in a long term steroid user, as they'd have to wait for their hormones to rebalance on their own, eventually leading to the decrease in breast tissue. Testicular atrophy is another potential negative side effect of using anabolic steroids. Bolding an colleagues (Bolding et al. 2002) found 51% of anabolic steroid users reported testicular atrophy caused by steroids. Rasmussen and co workers (Rasmussen et al. 2016) conducted a study on testicular volume in current anabolic steroid users, former steroid users, and non-users. They found current anabolic steroid users to have the smallest testicular volume at 12.2ml, former users had a volume of 17.4ml, and non users had a volume of 22.2ml on average. These differences in testicular volume are very significant, as non users have almost two times the testicular volume compared to current users. As testicular atrophy is a common physical side effect of steroids, users libido may be affected as well.

Anabolic steroids have potential to cause an increase or decrease in an individual's sex drive. Melnik & Grabbe (Melnik & Grabbe 2007) found 61% of anabolic steroid users surveyed reported changes in libido. However these changes varied in the participants, some experienced increased sex drive, and some decreased. Anabolic steroids affect everyone differently so it's impossible to say they will increase or decrease your libido but they definitely can have an impact on it. As comparison Rasmussen and co workers (Rasmussen et al. 2016) found 40.1% steroid users surveyed experienced decreased sex drive. Anecdotal reports suggest that while using steroids most users experience enhanced sex drive, but after the withdrawal of the drug sex drive tends to decrease. Although there are no studies directly on this issue, the decrease in sex drive after the withdrawal of anabolic steroids may be due to hormone imbalance. When putting synthetic testosterone into your body your natural testosterone production decreases due to an influx from an external source. After taking steroids for an extended period of time your body must adjust to not receiving that influx of testosterone anabolic steroids give it. Thus leading to a lower production of testosterone and decreased sex drive. While decreased sex drive may be a side effect of steroid withdrawal among abusers, if used properly steroids can increase sex drive in men with low testosterone.

Testosterone therapy is the treatment of middle-older aged men with synthetic testosterone in order to treat hypogonadism, decreased libido, mood, cognition, muscle mass, bone density, and red blood cell production (Morgentaler, 2009). Allan and co workers (Allan et al. 2008) found men, with low testosterone levels, treated with testosterone experienced significant improvement in sexual desire. The men studied and treated with testosterone were all men with low testosterone to begin with. There was also a placebo group who believed they were receiving testosterone treatment as well, they did not experience any increase in sexual desire.

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Anabolic Steroids Can Change a Person

Dear School Board, As the new high school in Indiana, there are a couple of issues to discuss to maintain a healthy and successful environment for our students to excel in their education. It has come to our attention that anabolic steroids are becoming an issue among students, yet there are not many policies in place for this type of abuse. If by any chance the words Gear, Juice, Roids, and Stackers are used please stay alert as they are common names for anabolic steroids. I am writing to the school board to inform about how deadly the use of anabolic steroids can be and how we should work to eradicate it from our schools. Medical prescriptions for anabolic steroids are emplaced for patients who need help to gain weight after a severe illness or injury. It can also be used for certain types of breast cancer in women, anemia, and hereditary angioedema. Although, anabolic steroids can be prescribed, when they are abused the dosage is about 10 to 100 times higher. Anabolic steroids may be misinterpreted as a positive life changing drug in the eyes of high schoolers as it can take away pain and improve performance and appearance physically. When athletes are inflicted with the idea of needing to always take home first place then they may resort to things such as steroids to better their chances in achieving the goals placed on them. In the same way if students are placed with exorbitant amount of pressure it can be an outlet to relieve pain. There are different ways that people can abuse anabolic steroids such as taking them orally, through a needle, or applied to the skin as a cream. The use of anabolic steroids raises many harmful effects since it is adding extra male sex hormones, testosterone, into the body. Steroids are different from other types of drug abuse as they do not increase the chemical dopamine in the brain that creates the high making it addictive. Although, a long term use of steroids can disrupt the pathways in the brain, for dopamine, serotonin, and opioids. In the short run it can cause paranoia, jealousy, irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment which are all mental problems. If it is habitually used then long term effects like kidney problems, liver failure, and heart problems can arise. It can lead to a high blood pressure and put students at a higher risk of stroke or heart attack. All of these effects can derail students from focusing on what matters in these important four years of their lives. Another issue also arises since this drug can be injected into the muscles using a needle. If needles are being shared and not cleaned properly that can cause students to transmit HIV/AIDS. After gathering all this information on how anabolic steroids can change a person completely there should be policies in place to avoid them. Since it is a drug that can enhance performance level all sports players should be required to take a urine test before making their respective teams. Effects of anabolic steroids should be something everyone is required to learn about; it will educate the students on how harmful this substance abuse can be. Even though there are rules being set in place to avoid this abuse, if a student breaks any of the rules there will be consequences. The student will be immediately taken out of their sport and given detention. All steroids will be confiscated from the student and parents will be alerted. If the substance abuse is very severe it can even lead to suspension or expulsion from our school. I would hope to see these policies be put in place as soon as possible since it is a major topic that this district takes very seriously.

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Using Anabolic Steroids by Athletes

Contents

Context
Proposed Program
Imperative
Conclusion
Work Cited

There are many different perspectives, opinions, and views of anabolic steroid use among athletes. Regardless of whether athletes view them as good or bad, anabolic steroids are illegal, and harmful to the body. According to Biology Reference, sixty-one out of every 200 athletes in America use anabolic steroids (Anabolic Steroids). According to doctor Malve, in 2018 the World Anti-Doping Agency removed several banned substances from the Prohibited Substance List (Malve). Regardless of the substances that have been removed from the list, several performance enhancing drugs still remain there. Often, there are many steroid-using athletes who are still able to trick the system, and pass the drug test. According to the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, steroids can cause many cardiovascular abnormalities and problems such as; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypertension, and aortic stenosis, (Ismail, Tevfik, et al. 1) Research has shown two main methods that help athletes avoid or stop the use of steroids. The first method is to, inform young athletes of both the positive and negative effects of the drugs. The second method is to offer prevention and rehabilitation programs for adults. With this information in mind, a grant is desperately needed from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University to launch an education, prevention, and rehabilitation program for male and female athletes of all ages. These funds will help provide a chance for athletes to learn the harmful effects of these drugs, and give them the tools they need to fight the temptations that steroids pose.

Context

When most people think of steroids, they usually think of drugs that increase an athlete's muscle mass. The issue with this is, steroids are not a finite object. Steroids can come in many different shapes and forms. There are plenty of herbs, fruits, and other natural organic substances that can increase an athlete's performance. The main issue today is, what separates steroids from other performance enhancing substances? To give an example, creatine is a non-essential dietary protein, that helps muscles hold more water content. Creatine is not considered a steroid, although it can help an athlete's physical performance. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines anabolic steroids as A synthetic steroid hormone that resembles testosterone in promoting the growth of muscle. Such hormones are used medicinally to treat some forms of weight loss and, illegally, by some athletes and others to enhance physical performance,(Anabolic Steroid).

Mankind has always been trying to find ways to better themselves. In fact, the Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences recalls one of the first ever documents that related to someone using a performance enhancing substance was a painting of the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung from 2737 BC. This painting shows the emperor with leaves of machuang (Ephedra as qtd. in Malve 127). There are even records of athletes using herbal tea, and mushrooms to enhance their performance in the ancient, third century Olympics. Sports Illustrated issue of 1997 showed a report, when 198 aspiring US Olympians were asked, if they would take a prohibited performance enhancing drugs if they were promised to win and not get caught, ninety-eight percent confirmed that they would, (Malve 126). Even though performance enhancing substances are nothing new to humans, there seems to be a growing trend of illegal anabolic steroid use among athletes.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than half a million eighth and tenth graders, in the United States, use steroids. (Tolliver). Based on these facts thirty and a half percent of all athletes use anabolic steroids, regardless of the rules prohibiting performance enhancing drugs in sports. Not only is this not fair to all of the natural athletes, who are following the rules. It also puts all of the athletes who are taking steroids at serious health risks. Anabolic steroids are commonly known to cause several heart problems such as; heart attack, strokes, ventricular fibrillation, enlarged heart, hypertension, and much more. Not to mention all of the psychological effects that steroids have on the body. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, psychological problems include; mood swings (including manic-like symptoms leading to violence), impaired judgment, depression, nervousness, extreme irritability delusions, hostility, and aggression (Tolliver).

Congress passed the Anabolic Steroids Act of 1990, as an attempt to reduce steroid use among athletes in the United States. In 2001 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a survey on high school students across the United States, and their study found that approximately nineteen percent of high school students reported a lifetime of illegal steroid use (Tolliver). Steroid use among young high school athletes has been a growing trend over the past twenty years. The school systems even run anti drug use campaigns to try and combat this trend. Research has proven that simply teaching teenagers about the negative effects of steroids is not enough. Most schools and sports programs just simply educate young athletes over various dangers and risks that steroids can cause. The problem with this tactic is, it is only meant to scare athletes into not using these drugs. It offers no alternative for athletes who want to build muscle mass. Weight training, and dieting programs, specifically aiming towards body building could serve as a positive alternative. Research has also found that one key factor that helps prevent steroid use in today's youth, is when the athlete's parents and peers disapprove of anabolic steroid use, (National Institute on Drug Abuse). This helps create an environment that discourages performance enhancing drugs, and also rewards an athlete's success for bodybuilding the natural way. These two factors would not only warn athletes of the effects of steroids, but it would also offer them a healthy alternative option, and it would decrease the overall appeal of these substances.

Proposed Program

With all of this information in mind, one may accurately conclude that anabolic steroid misuse has the greatest impact among high school athletes. This particular group of people are extremely important. They are the future of American society. They are in desperate need of help. Most of these athletes are too young to get help by themselves. It's even harder for them to admit they need help, especially when they are surrounded by people who look down on steroid use. Most schools try to help prevent this issue, by educating students over the adverse effects that steroids can have. This clearly is not doing much to prevent the issue though seeing that anabolic steroid use has been a rising trend since 2007, and schools have been running anti drug use campaigns since 2004 (National Institute on Drug Abuse).

One possible solution to prevent steroid use, is a weight training, and dietary program. This will help educate athletes on the effects of steroids, and offers them a strong alternative. The public school system could offer this program to all of it's athletes. Health teachers, and athletics coaches who work at the school can assist in leading students through this program. A great place where this program can start would be Houston School District, particularly in the inner city area. Steroid use is more abundant in low income areas with high populations. The program could take off in the fall of 2019, at the beginning of the school year. This would help give plenty of time for the coaches and teachers to prepare for this program to launch it's campaign.

Imperative

It is imperative that the Caring School Community provides a grant, so that this program, can take flight. The health of America's future is deteriorating the longer this problem plagues young athletes. The longer this program waits, the more these young athletes will be corrupted by the harmful physical and psychological effects that these substances have. This program will not only just benefit young athletes, but it will also help benefit athletes in professional sports, and it will help american society in general. These young athletes are the future of america, regardless of whether those athletes will move on to be professional or not.

Conclusion

Anabolic Steroids are on the rise, and they bare a heavy burden. Not only do they harm the athletes who abuse them, but they also affect the loved ones and peers of those who have succumbed to these substances. It is only a matter of time until the torch is handed down to the next generation. What kind of generation are you about to pass the mantle onto? We still have a duty to our country as Americans, and we have a duty to our children, to provide the care that they need.

Work Cited

Anabolic Steroid. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anabolic%20steroid.
Anabolic Steroids. Biology Reference, www.biologyreference.com/A-Ar/Anabolic-Steroids.html.
Ismail, Tevfik F., et al. Effects of Anabolic Steroid Use on Myocardial Perfusion in Body-Builders: A Quantitative Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Study, Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (BioMed Central), vol. 15, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-2, Academic Search Complete, 10.1186/1532-429x-15-S1-P145.
Malve O. Harshad, Sports Pharmacology: A Medical Pharmacologists Perspective, Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences, vol. 10, no. 3, July-Sep. 2018, Academic Search Complete, 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_229_17.
Matthai S. M. et al. Collapsing Glomerulopathy Following Anabolic Steroid Use in a 16-Year-Old-Boy with IgA Nephropathy, Indian Journal of Nephropathy, vol. 25, no. 2, spring 2015, pp. 99-102, Academic Search Complete, 10.4103/0971-4065.1407.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. What Can Be Done to Prevent Steroid Misuse? NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/steroids-other-appearance-performance-enhancing-drugs-apeds/what-can-be-done-to-prevent-steroid-misuse.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Who Uses Anabolic Steroids? NIDA, Feb. 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/steroids-other-appearance-performance-enhancing-drugs-apeds/who-uses-anabolic-steroids.
Tolliver, James. Steroid Abuse in Today's Society. SECTION V, Mar. 2004, www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/brochures/steroids/professionals/.
Usman, Hassan, et al. Knowledge, Awareness, and Practices of Harmful Effects of Anabolic Steroids Among Body Builders in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan Armed
Forces Medical Journal, vol. 65, no. 2, April 2015, pp. 282-285, Academic Search Complete.
Yankey K. C. et al. Effects of Body Condition: Score on Steroid and Eicosanoid Metabolizing Enzymes in Various Horse Tissue, Journal of Animal Science, vol. 95, 2017, pp. 59-60, Academic Search Complete, 10.2527/asasann.2017.120.

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The Wife of Bath S Prologue and Tale or Wives Gone Wanton

After reading the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale, I can say this: Alisoun (the titular Wife of Bath) may be many things, but subtle is not one of them. If she thinks it, she says it. If she likes it, she loves it. If she doesn't like it, she's going to raise hell until she gets it exactly how she does like it. You can tell that Chaucer has a particular fondness for her, in the way that he writes about her, and yet she is far from being an angel on a pedestal like Dante's Beatrice. Personally, I still cannot decide if I adore her or hate her. On one hand, she is an acerbic caricature of everything medieval misogyny taught and thought about women; she's been known to lie, she's a borderline nympho, she's manipulative and controlling of her husbands (yes, husbands plural), a gold-digger, and she presumes to know better than the men around her rather than bowing down to their assumed superiority. However, for a work of medieval literature, she is about as close to a feminist icon as we are likely to find. While society might try to rein her in or put her in her place (like the Friar who starts throwing a little shade her way when he thinks her prologue has gone on too long), she doesn't listen, she just keeps on doing her own thing while defending and promoting the unique privilege of being a woman. Alisoun is proud to be a woman in every possible way. She even has a name for her lady bits (she calls it her bele chose or pretty thing'). She enjoys and exercises her sexuality to the fullest (reminding her audience that once husband number five joins the choir invisible, she's going to be on the lookout for husband number six, because she's not about to be chaste). She brags about her five marriages as a thing of honor rather than something of which she should be ashamed, a stance which she would defend to any seemingly pious critics out there with a slew of bible verses to back her up. She states that her many marriages have made her something of an expert in the ways of love, and that such experience allows her to tell her story. Then we finally actually get to the story she was going to tell in the first place. Upon first reading, I was confused by the time she spent introducing the story, thinking to myself, seriously woman, how damn long are we going to dwell on your love life here? Is there a point? Is this at all related to the story which you intend to tell? Once I read this section in its entirety though, I understood she was trying to set up the main point of her tale, that happiness in marriage for women means having mastery over their husbands and lovers and that men would be happier if they would just go along with it. Such dominion is ultimately what all women most desire supposedly, according to the Wife of Bath's Tale, although I would highly contest that idea both in my personal life and in the evidence given by the story itself. After all, the only husband that Alisoun supposedly married for love and physically desired the most was the one whom she initially couldn't dominate or control! To me, she makes it clear when she says in lines 513-519 that: I believe I loved him best, because he was of his love standoffish to me. We women have, if I shall not lie, in this matter a curious fantasy: note that whatever thing we may not easily have, we will cry all day and crave for it. Forbid us a thing, and we desire it He wasn't at her beck and call like every other man, and she loved him all the more for it. I felt that way about Jonathan. Believe it or not, I was once a hot commodity on the dating market and I had a veritable throng of guys hanging around hoping to either get a piece of tail or else hope to one day be my boyfriend, all of which were failing miserably in varying degrees. I was avoiding commitment like medieval pilgrims avoiding the plague. Then Jonathan stepped in. He was the only man who not only desired me for something more than a good time but also pursued me in a real way. He didn't follow me around like a lovesick puppy, nor did he try to put himself in my good graces by being a nice guy or by playing it casual while never really asking for a commitment like some of the guys I had been out to dinner with around the same time. He made his intentions clear and he treated me with respect. He made it clear he wasn't going to compete with a bunch of lunkheads and that he wasn't looking to just have a good time. If I wanted him, he wanted me, and he thought we ought to make a go of it if I did. Otherwise he wasn't going to waste his time. That made me want him like crazy, just by merit of the fact that I couldn't just string him along. That's why I just don't buy Alisoun's story, although now I understand all that misogynistic bullshit that Gawain was spouting in the end of his own tale in much better context. Sir Gawain is one sick mofo, who should have gotten his head cut off for his horrible crime of rape. He did not deserve a happy ending with a beautiful young woman. That really pissed me off.

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Research Paper about the Wife of Bath

The Wife of Bath's Tale begins and ends with power in the hands of men, suggesting that a world in which women wield power is only possible in the fantastical land of fairy. This tale only brings one question. What do women desire most? The Wife of Bath's sacrifice of power to her husband after he has proven his willingness to grant it to her to suggest that what women really desire the most is not power, but love. Another answer could've been sovereignty over their husbands or equal power in a relationship.

The Wife is a solid devotee for ladies' entitlement to have, and appreciate, sexual relations, all through marriage. Concerning marriage, she is a sequential monogamist (five and forgetting about), however she focuses numerous instances of polygamous relational unions in the Bible. Regardless of whether Chaucer was a feminist living well before his time, his picture of the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales is a convincing study of medieval women's freedom. Precarious and self-serving, the Wife, or Alison, deliberately challenges that women ought to be accommodating to their instructing partners. In Chaucer's time, the antifeminism of the church was a strong controlling segment. Alison protects her right to remarry in the wake of being widowed (multiple times) by describing the Biblical story of the Samaritan lady at the well who was living without any father present with a man in the wake of being widowed multiple times. Jesus told her to wed this fifth man. Alison uses this story and the cases of Solomon, Abraham, and Jacob, every one of whom had numerous spouses. She can't help contradicting the Church's teaching that virtue is desirable over second marriages; she trusts that by sharing herself, she is closer to the real lessons of the Bible.

After the Wife of Bath's five unions, she has discovered, through experience, that the main path for her to accomplish control is through financial autonomy. As Alison knows for a fact, the genuine products of marriage are set in the marriage bed. Marriage is the way to survival, and that is what Alison looks for and finds. The root of marital control is economic control... The idea is clear: control is the power of the purse. She gets economic control by her first four husbands. They were all rich and when they passed, she received their allowances. Her fifth husband was completely different from the rest. Seemingly, she had enough money, she expanded her horizons going for someone younger and less experienced.

The Wife of Bath seems to have control over her suitors and she is definitely a woman that is way ahead of her time. The tale begins and ends with power in the hands of men suggesting that women can only have power and control in fairytales. The Wife of Bath is smart, manipulative and always gets what she wants. She is proof of women having both power and love. She uses what she has, sex appeal, to be in control. During this point in time, this is huge because it was so frowned upon. The Wife of Bath softens her views of aid and love but continues the theme of self-sufficiency and power. Alison suggests that a man's true happiness can be reached when he allows his wife to have some level of independence.

The knight in the "Wife of Bath's Tale" is faced with answering the question of what women desire most. The fact that the knight does not instantly know the answer to the question proves that men are unaware to the feelings of a woman. Men do not realize the needs of a woman. The wife ends up giving the knight the choice of having her be either, beautiful and unfaithful or ugly and loyal.

"My lady and my love and my wife so dear,

I put myself in your wise governing,

Choose yourself which one may be most pleasing,

And most honor to both you and me too.

I do not care now which one of the two;

What pleases you suffices now for me (Chaucer 1898).

She is very pleased by his choice of leaving the decision to her and decides to be both beautiful and faithful to him.

And when the knight saw all this verily,

That she now was so fair and young too,

For joy he seized her within his arms too,

His heart was all bathed in a bath of bliss.

A thousand times in a row, he did her kiss,

And she obeyed him then in everything

And that was to his pleasure or his liking.

And thus they both lived until their lives' end

In in perfect joy (1899).

The sense of balance and equality are shown when the knight tells her he'd be happy with anything, but, he was hoping she would choose to be beautiful, but he gives her the power to decide and she chooses what he wants and they both end up happy and loving each other more. Ultimately, women want the ability to make decisions for themselves instead of being ordered around like servants. Women want to be respected as equal partners of men rather than their subordinates. Women do not want to dominate over men, but simply to be their equals to show that they are loved in that manner.

The Wife of Bath uses the examples of three different relationships to show her idea that the man generally abuses his power over a woman and that in an ideal relationship the man should concede control to the woman. In the article Conflict and Relationship, Sovereignty and Survival: Parables of Power in the "Wife of Bath's Prologue" by Barbara Gottfried, she states Even as she attempts a deconstruction of patriarchal literature in an experiential revision of it, the Wife necessarily falls short of the goal of overcoming authority because she can only define herself in relation to that authority. She does not speak simply about herself but realizes herself through her relationship to the various manifestations of patriarchy. Not only does she borrow her categories and the terms of her self-evaluation from the literature she condemns; patriarchal authority determines the fundamental bases for her self-definition. Along these lines, regardless of how much power the Wife of Bath thinks she has, she is constantly tied to patriarchy system. With the end goal to be completely powerful, she should throw away the world-views that she attempts to adapt to her specific situation, and replace them with her own beliefs, which in my opinion she does, but according to Gottfried, she doesn't accomplish this.

The Wife of Bath is a woman of passion, who desires most of all to be more powerful than any man, her husband, or her lover. When we look at the prologue and her tale we are able to see who she is and to get a real sense of idea of how she actually views herself. She is confident about her knowledge of love, virginity and marriage because she has been married five times and states that her experience is more important than knowledge derived from intellectuals and books. She is very unique for a traditional type of woman during the time that this tale was written because she does not feel shameful for her experiences in life, instead, she feels that living by experience is the best way to live.

Geoffrey Chaucer paints a very controversial picture of the Wife of Bath. On one hand she is crude, sexually explicit, and hypocritical, but on the other hand, she is humorous, brave, and fundamental. She is proud of her life and the fact that she has had five husbands "at the church door" does not dishonor her in any way. On the other hand, she truly believes in her viewpoint and her virtues and she supports them with quotes from the bible. That is ironic because she is differing women's oppression with the piece of literature that has been used by men as a justification for women's oppression. She questions if the Bible commands virginity and marriage only one time, but realizes that, in fact, many men in the Bible had more than one wife. Chaucer uses irony and sarcasm to test the church's oppression of women by allowing the Wife of Bath to speak freely about sex, marriage and women's desires. She brags about lying, cheating and misleading her husbands and she shows little compassion to any of the men in her life. Yet, she is a woman of a strong character, who knows what she wants and continuously fights against male dominance.

In modern times, The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy and the Wife of Bath's tale have a lot in common. Both involve a disturbing (or troubled) character whose past relationships with women are not entirely above par but finds redemption and eventually marriage in another relationship that has changed him into a loving and respectful husband. But both of these stories are fantasies so can't be seen as an accurate picture of relationships between men and women. In the end, only audiences can decide how they choose to read or interpret stories.

In conclusion, The Wife of Bath's Tale begins and ends with power in the hands of men, suggesting that a world in which women wield power is only possible in the fantastical land of fairy. In her Prologue, she has the determination to take on the male-centered thinkers of the Church and the wife-beaters of the overall population. The Wife of Bath knows how to work the male-dominant culture. This tale only brings one question. What do women desire most? The Wife of Bath's sacrifice of power to her husband after he has proven his willingness to grant it to her to suggest that what women really desire the most is not power, but love.

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Dante’s Inferno a Great Book of Nobility and Courage

Dante's Inferno is a great book of nobility and courage, I actually own a copy. Reading through you will find people who have sinned, being placed in different parts of hell. You can find Cleopatra in the second circle of hell for being lustful in her life. You can find Brutus, being eternally eaten by one of the three mouths of Lucifer for being treacherous. These places of hell with different figures from the life and history of Dante Alighieri, show of where he thought the sinners from his life should be placed. There are celebrities who could be assigned to the different levels of hell based on their actions. First circle, limbo, in this circle of hell you will find that people who were not baptized or did not believe in a higher being. Here we could place the famous scientist Richard Dawkins. It is known that Dawkins is an Atheist, he has written a book called the God Delusion in which he points out the flaws of religion. Dawkins would be forever stuck in limbo due to him not conforming to the ideas of religion. Second circle, lust, this circle of Hell is designated to those who have sinned of the flesh. In a tornado of sinful souls are forever thrashed around this place, never resting. This is a depiction of how one might think with lustfulness on their minds. We would encounter Tiger Woods in this circle, he was accused and found guilty of adultery by his wife. Having around 120 affairs with different women in his life, I believe that Tiger Woods would be among those souls that are punished the worse in this second stormy circle of Hell. Third circle, gluttony, forever raining from the sky is ice and all around our feet we can hear the moans and shouts of the dammed. Guarded by the beast Cerberus, a hound like creature who is constantly chewing at the flesh of the sinned and eating the souls that stay here. A stinking pit of vile slush on the ground much like that of a pig pen, but much worse. In this circle of Hell, we will find the ex-television show host Paula Deen. In gluttony she stays, due to her overindulgence of food. Fourth circle, greed, this circle of Hell is devoted to those in life who either are hoarders or spend thrifts. Divided into two sections this place is a constant brawl between the hoarders and the spend thrifts. Here we can find the ever-popular Kim Kardashian. She is stuck in this hellish place due to her constant spending in life. The two sides fighting in this pit are an analogy to ones' selfishness in life with their belongings. Fifth circle, anger, in this circle we will find the river Styx, which is a river filled with naked and muddy souls, all fighting one another for eternity. We would find the MMA fighter Coner McGregor. Though it is his job to fight, often times McGregor tries to pick fights with people outside the Octagon in which he fights. In his life, McGregor is always angry about losing or not being the best fighter in the world. Sixth circle, heresy, in this circle of hell the heretics are trapped in boxes and burned for eternity. This is the true look of hell I think, with the poem talking of fire and brimstone. Heresy in Dante's words were almost meant to be for people that didn't take a religion at all, but he also talked of religious people in his life in this circle of hell. We could find the famous actor Tom Cruise in the circle; his life was spent practicing scientology which directly goes against the Christian religion. Seventh circle, violence, in the river Phlegethon of boiling blood, we can find the most violent people of modern day society. Someone who I think would be suited for this circle is Chris Brown, he was accused of being violent toward Rhianna. In the poem, The Inferno, it is said that the dammed souls of the seventh circle are placed at different depths of the river Phlegethon of boiling blood in accordance to their violence in life. Dante said in his book that Alexander the Great is sunken up to his eyebrows, I think that Chris brown should be sunken to his head at the least. Eight circle, fraud, this circle is dedicated to those in life were fraudulent. Martha Stewart comes to mind when thinking of this circle of hell. Stewart was accused for fraudulent activity in a security fraud. She would be in the last of the 10 malebolges of the falsifiers. In this malebolge, the cursed are sickened with disease of the worlds. Ninth circle, treachery, this last and final circle of hell is meant for the worst of the sinners, the traitors. Much like the river of boiling blood, the sinners here are stuck in the ice in different positions due to the nature of sins in their lives. Here we could find Simon Cowell, he bedded with his best friend's wife. Not only did he sleep with her, but they had a baby together. I think Simon Cowell should be placed face down in the ice not being able to move, or speak. This can be a useful analogy in being ashamed of what one has done in their life. In life, most people will eventually do wrong in the eyes of some religion or another. The Inferno calls to our human nature to do better than you think you can if you believe in a higher power or not. I think Dante wrote a great poem that could change the way people think in 2018.

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Dante’s Interpretation of Hell

Granted, throughout the epic, it is evident that Dante has his own interpretation of justice and who should pay it. It is also evident that Dante doesn't like the Greeks, for several Greek heroes appear in the different circles of hell even though it seems like they're in hell for the sole reason that Dante didn't like them. In the start of canto twenty six, The Evil Counselors, in the Eighth Circle of Hell, Dante realizes the Greek hero, Odysseus, or Ulysses, and Diomede are in the form of fires. Both are said to be there because they helped on the attack in the Trojan War, and Ulysses created the idea of the horse. However, Ulysses, from The Odyssey, is a hero; in fact, he doesn't deserve to be placed there in the Eighth Circle of Hell. In like manner, its pequliar to read the Ulysses Dante has created, for he is portrayed very differently from the Ulysses in The Odyssey. Both are characterized and made out to be two completely different characters. Ulysses, in The Odyssey does everything in his power to be with his family, yet not only that but Ulysses is in despair because of the separation he endures from being away from his family for several years. Additionally, he leaves Ogygia when he has the chance to and undertakes a dangerous journey home; overall, he is a family-man. On the other hand, in Dante's Inferno, Ulysses died because he left home to embark on a journey in order to learn and experience different customs. Dante characterized him so differently, yet it wouldn't be in Ulysses' character to leave his family behind. Dante could have gotten away with placing Ulysses in hell despite the fact that he was courageous and a hero but to write him in a way that doesn't fit his true nature, to misrepresent his personality shows his distaste for Greeks. Furthermore, in Canto 30, The Falsifiers, Dante's interpretation of Hell, and how its justice should work, becomes strongly relevant as Virgil and Dante near the center where Satan resides. From the start, its evident that Dante created a system in which he organized an order of how he interprets the magnitude of the sin. There he places evil impersonators, counterfeiters, and false witnesses in the last patch of circle eight which is only a circle away from Satan himself, yet according to Dante's placement, a false witness is far worse than a murderer who is placed in the Sixth Circle of Hell. Bearing false witness is the same as lying, and though lying is still wrong, it does not compare to the act of murder. Moreover, Allen Mandelbaum, author of Lectura Dantis: Inferno: A Canto-by-Canto Commentary, explains that Dante wrote Hell like the human body. First, Dante and Virgil descended into Limbo which is the equivalence to the head since it represents the memory humanity has of the ancient world. Then they reach the City of Dis where there is a river of blood, the heart, and following that is the Seventh Circle of Hell, violence, which relates to the chest where he united both the intellectual and animal natures. Additionally, whenever a new part of Hell opens up, and Dante needs to be transported into the next circle, that part refers to a division of the human body. The walls of the City of Dis means to be the ribcage while Cocytus is the large intestine. Throughout the Inferno, Dante relates sin and its consequences with malfunction within the body and disease. The Eighth Circle of Hell corresponds to the belly where there is a parallel between food digestion and the mind, for truth is the food of the soul, fraud its poison; their concentric circles have an obvious relation to the labyrinth of the intestines (Mandelbaum, 398).

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Dante and the Divine Comedy Inferno

In today's society, technology is so prevalent that if you were to go back 15 years in time, you'd probably think to yourself There is no way I could survive living in this time. When I say this, I say this because technology assists us in so many ways that it has become a part of our everyday lifestyle. When we wish to contact a loved one, or when we need quick and on the spot information from google, we instantly direct ourselves to some form of technology to cure us of our instant gratification. We even use technology to literally keep us alive. We forget that we are indeed primal creatures. We also forget that no matter what we do, we'll always have human tendencies that cannot be replaced or thrown out such as a mothers natural tendencies towards her children, or our fight and flight response, or how we automatically get sad when a loved one dies. Our human traits such as envy towards a person, being prideful, being gluttonous age all the way back to even Adam and Eve when Eve ate the apple when she had everything and more to eat. Our traits will never leave us. This is where I fasten the story of Dante and one of his most prominent works: Inferno. Dante and the Divine Comedy Inferno is a literature masterpiece made by Dante Alighieri and is considered to be one of the greatest works of world literature and Italian literature. What this prominent piece is about Dante and his travels through Hell and Purgatory to reach Heaven. In this hellish poem, Dante takes his readers through the depths of Hell and uncovers what scum and evils lie within. It is a spiritual journey expounding the evils of sin through the first-person narration of the aptly named main character, Dante the Pilgrim. In this first section, Dante ventures through multiple circles of Hell, specifically 9 layers of Hell that representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and being at the center of the earth where Satan is held captive after being thrown out of The Kingdom Of Heaven. The sinners, or people being held there in Hell for punishment are punished there for eternity in ways that fit their crimes, or sins. Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven. His journey is meant to impress upon readers the consequences of sin and the glories of Heaven. The Divine Comedy is also an allegory, a work in which characters, objects, and events have figurative as well as literal meanings. The composition is extremely religious, with its whole point being that individuals have committed wrongdoing going by what is just according to God. I will only be discussing Inferno. I am arguing that Dante and the Inferno looks down upon our natural human tendencies in the wrong way. What I mean by this is that in the Inferno the sins committed by individuals are obviously looked down upon but do not take into account that most of the sins are simply human nature. This matters because we forget that no matter what we do, as stated above, we will always have human innate traits that we can not get rid of and should not be punished Don't get me wrong, even to this day we still condemn gluttony and lust because these traits, in excess, are not something that is desirable amongst mankind. But even though excess of such things are still prevalent today, we do not punish those who commit these acts with eternal jousting of the greedy or the eternal entrapment in flaming tombs. We usually teach people to not do things in excess even though it is apart of genetic code to want something in excess. Not getting off track, the Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellow men." What I am arguing is that Inferno condemns what we are naturally predisposed to, our innate traits such as gluttony, violence, lust, and things of this nature. This is significant because Inferno veers us away from such things and condemns them as if they are supposed to be looked down upon. Again, not veering away from the point of Inferno which is someone's journey on their way to heaven there is a message to be gained from Inferno. Ezra Pound, who was an expatriate American poet and critic, and a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement critiqued the work. Ezra also wrote about the Comedy as a critic and engaged with it as a poet. Pound writes that Dante conceived the real Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise as states, and not places and recommends that readers regard Dante's descriptions of the actions and conditions of the shades as descriptions of men's mental states in life . . . that is to say, men's inner selves stand visibly before the eyes of Dante's intellect. If you read closely the interpretation is that Dante's descriptions of Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise as states and not places. A state of mind and not a state of physicality. Ezra continues and recommends that readers regard Dante's descriptions of the actions and conditions of the shades as descriptions of men's mental states in life . . . that is to say, men's inner selves stand visibly before the eyes of Dante's intellect. For Pound, then, the theology of the Comedy is of little importance; Dante's poem is an example of how poetry can engage with the living world of history by turning the reader's mind toward his or her own moral flaws. Moral flaws that can be traced back as traits that we try so hard to suppress. Don't get me wrong, there is a saying that goes Too much of anything is a bad thing. The good thing isn't what is wrong but too much of that specific thing can be wrong. Inferno kind of agrees with this in the fact that when Dante ventures through each circle, he sees that the sins committed were of those in excess. For example, in the poem, Dante and Virgil encounter fortune-tellers who must walk forward with their heads on backwards unable to see what is ahead because while they were on earth, they attempted to see the future by means of which are forbidden by God. Then there is another example in which Dante and Virgil stumble upon those who are suicidal and are punished by being turned into trees that Harpies feed upon. What I'm saying is what if someone was born with the ability to look forward in time? How are they able to know that what they are doing is wrong and sinful against God? With the case of those are have committed suicide, what if they were trying to escape a very harsh situation in which death was better than whatever they were going through? Why is Inferno denying the things that could be just but are denied because God sees this as wrong? Did He not create everything human in His image? Why is He punishing those in which He Himself flawed when He created them? In Inferno, there are vasts amounts of allusions. An allusion is an implied reference to a person, or thing that is a part of another text. Most allusions are based on the presumption that the author and reader both share a mutual understanding of the content and will understand the author's referent. In Inferno, you can see that Dante is a way of expression for Alighieri's own opinion about his life and times. Sarah Landas's analysis on Dante's Inferno and the allusions therein are that most of the allusions found in the Inferno were used to present a representation of different stereotypes associated with behaviors and attitudes that Dante felt were injurious to Italian society, as well as to the rest of the world. Each different allusion represents some aspect of political, social, or religious life that badly needed reform in Dante's time in his opinion so of course Dante would maneuver the poem to fit what he thought needed reform.. With this analysis in mind we come to the question of whether or not this was an actual discovery and journey towards the Heavens or just an opinion? Landas' analysis shows us that stereotypes exist in Dante which means that people have always had actions considered ordinary in the medieval times. What this also means is that Dante also wished to express his personal opinions about certain events of his time, and he wished to expose the political beliefs of his party without the risk of personal persecution that might have arisen if he had used some other means of expression. So maybe Inferno isn't even about a journey to the Heavens but about slight shade and a couple of shots at the Italian heads of his time. This also means that this isn't only about God and his condemnation of human tendencies but also about Dante and his obsession with the flaws of those above him. This still does not take away from the fact that our human tendencies are looked down upon and punished without mercy. We simply know now that it is also Dante who, in a way, is jealous of those above him and searches for a way to reveal the political viewpoints of his party without the risk of persecution that could have happened if he had used some other means of expression. Dante himself, without himself acknowledging it, was a hypocrite. His supposed reason of writing Inferno was to show the story of a man who has strayed from the straight and narrow path to God, he has to be shown the consequences of his actions. Although the reason for him being in Hell is to show how bad things are if you don't follow the right path, the fact that he is there means he has sinned to some extent. So for him to look down on another sinner shows hypocrisy because there is a verse in The Bible that addresses this with John 8:7 saying ...He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. No one was able to cast a stone because everyone is sinner. Before I continue, I would like to describe how there are displays of hypocrisy in Inferno. What I mean by this is that there are times in which Dante displays some of the sins that are condemned in Hell against the inhabitants of Hell. Is not this poem a religious one with Christian tendencies? Is there not a verse in the Book of Matthew that talks about treating others as you would like to be treated. The verse goes So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12). In some ways Dante also throws up a front to display his empathy and sadness towards to inhabitors of Hell. Don't get me wrong, a lot of his acts are genuine because Dante does not know all of the stories of the individuals who are in Hell, he only see their punishment which can be quite considering what they have to go through. In Inferno, Dante can be seen crying and showing pity to the damned multiple times throughout. This is a hint of Dante's Humanity. Dante's most known cry comes from when he hears the tragic story of Paolo and Francesca and comments ...Francesca, your afflictions move me to tears of sorrow and of pity (v, 116-117), a statement promptly followed by Dante's fainting. But we cannot look past this hypocrisy. Looking more into Inferno we can see Dante's rage and rants. Here is a discussion between Dante and one of the sinners known as Filippo Argenti, Dante to Filippo Argent: I've come, but I don't star; but who are you, who have become so ugly? Filippo answers: You can see-I'm one who weeps. Dante then replies saying harshly In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain; though you're disguised by filth, I know your name. And when Filippo tries to stretch his hands towards the boat in which they were in Virgil tells Filippo Be off there with the other dogs! and then proceeds to kiss Dante's face proclaiming Indignant soul, blessed is she who bore you in her womb!" (Inf. VIII, 34-42) Virgil is celebrating Dante's rage against Filippo. I thought being Christian and being of God was all about doing to others what you want done to you regardless of what the sinner has done. Does Dante want to be treated harshly as he does the same to others? Did not Jesus Himself sit at the table with sinners? Who is Dante to treat others harshly? This just goes to show that Dante himself has those innate traits that the poem tries so hard to condemn; hatred, rage, and anger. In Inferno you can see that Dante does not even stop here. You can also read Dante arguing with Farinata, ranting against Pope Nicholas III, threatening Bocca with violence, and even breaking a promise to Fra Alberigo. After each round of righteous indignation, Virgil claps Dante on the back and congratulates him for putting yet another sinner in his place. What kind of hypocrisy is this? The big revelation is that Dante is human, not some holier-than-thou spirit. He, too, is capable of sin. When worked up, Dante can lose it with the most wrathful of the Wrathful and mess with words' meanings just like those filthy falsifiers. The only difference is that Dante is doing it for the love of God, against people already judged as evil. The hero Dante is supposed to be is now Dante the punisher. Unfortunately, Dante's hasty pity shows a weakness of judgment and later, Dante's damning rhetoric is kind of hypocritical. My next point is Inferno even biblically accurate? If not this can mean that everything therein isn't accurate and can be used as an excuse that the innate traits we possess are not damnation-worthy. What I mean by this is that if Hell is not an accurate description that can be traced back to the actual creation that God may have built, then how do we know for that the sins described in Inferno are actually punished in Hell? Dante presents different levels of suffering in hell. For Dante, examples of punishment range from walking endlessly in circles to extremes such as being immersed in boiling blood. However hell ultimately works, the Bible is clear that it is a place of great torment for all and does not make such distinctions of punishment. Aside from the blatantly obvious fact that Purgatory is an unbiblical doctrine, the idea that sinners have another shot at salvation after death is in direct contradiction to the Bible. In the Bible it is clear that we must seek the Lord while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6) and that once we die, we are destined to judgment (Hebrews 9:27). In addition to this, the idea that a sinner can mend his ways before or after death is also contradictory to that of the Bible because the bible says that only Christ can overcome the sin nature and impart to believers a completely new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). What could this mean? This could mean everything that Inferno could be completely wrong. This could also mean that God actually knows that we have the traits that are condemned in Inferno and is willing to forgive those because He knows us because He created us. Dante's depiction of hell involved penalties such as people wallowing in mire, immersed in boiling blood, having heads on backwards, and chasing

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The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

I am the way into the city of woe. I am the way to a forsaken people. I am the way into eternal sorrow. Sacred justice moved my architect. I was raised here by divine omnipotence, Primordial love, and ultimate intellect. Only those elements time cannot wear Were made before me, and beyond the time I stand. Abandon all hope ye who enter here(Aligheri). No matter what walk of the world your mortal existence appears from, no matter the language of which you speak, the color of your skin or even the level of education you have; you have heard of the famous Dante Alighieri in some way, shape or form. Dante's life and works resound through our lives long after his death and his words echo in our speech more than most will ever realize. Dante Alighieri was born on May 21, 1265, in Florence Italy from his mother Bella degli Abati and father Alighiero di Bellincione. Dante was born into a family whom not only was very upfront about their beliefs on anything and everything but was also born into a family with strong political ties and influence, leading him into a very political lifestyle that equally influenced his everyday decisions as well as his writings. Dante's mother died only a few years after her son's birth and at the age of only 12 young Dante was set into an arranged marriage to the daughter of a family friend, Gemma Donati. However, the marriage was never meant to be as young Dante was madly in love with another young woman, Beatrice Portinari, who would later become his muse and main backbone of Dante's Divine Comedy. Dante and Beatrice met when Beatrice was only nine years of age and Dante apparently experienced love at first sight when he met her. They were acquainted for many years but Dante's love went unrequited by the young woman and he could love her only from afar. Beatrice died unexpectedly in 1290 effectively breaking Dante's heart and five years later Dante published Vita Nuova (The New Life) which details his tragic love for the now departed Beatrice. Around the time of Beatrice's death, Dante began to immerse himself in the study of philosophy and the machinations of the Florentine political scene. Florence at this time and age was a tumultuous city, with political factions that remained in constant war with each other, Dante held a number of political posts in these factions and was widely viewed for his political influence. In 1302, however, he fell out of favor and was exiled for life by the leaders of the Black Guelphs (among them, Corso Donati, a distant relative of Dante's wife), the political faction in power at the time and who were in league with Pope Boniface VIII(Sitar). Dante may have been driven out of Florence, but this would be the beginning of his most productive artistic period. After Dante was chased out of Florence he spent his time traveling and writing, during this time he wrote and completed one of his most famous works, The Divine Comedy. As well as during his exile he removed himself completely from the political scene as he no longer wished to be a part of the lifestyle he had been forced to leave behind. In 1304, Dante travels to Bologna where he began his Latin treatise De Vulgari Eloquentia (Eloquent Vernacular), in which he urged that courtly Italian, used for amatory writing, be enriched with aspects of every spoken dialect in order to establish Italian as a serious literary language(Kane). The work was unfortunately never completed and will remain a remnant of what could have been. In March 1306, Florentine exiles were expelled from Bologna, and Dante was forced out once more from a place he called home(Kane). Before long he ended up in Padua before his whereabouts were lost for a few years. There are reports he possibly was around Paris but nothing of those has been fully set in stone. In 1308, Henry of Luxembourg was elected emperor as Henry VII. Full of optimism about the changes this election could bring to Italy Dante wrote his famous work on the monarchy, "De Monarchia, in three books, in which he claims that the authority of the emperor is not dependent on the pope but descends upon him directly from God(Kane). However, this optimism was short-lived as enemies of the monarchy quickly gained ground and found new strength threatening his power and ascension to the throne. Dante learned that most of these enemies were actually members of the Florentine government, Dante's former home, and he was quick to call out their actions which in turn had him permanently banned from the city. Around this time, The Divine Comedy is a story about human life shown as a trip through the Christian afterlife. Dante wrote the book as a warning against the corruption of society that slowly was steering itself into destruction. The poetic work of The Divine Comedy was written in a first-person narrative and follows Dante's own journey through the Christian realms of the dead: Hell, Purgatory and finally Heaven. The famous poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory, while Beatrice guides him through Heaven(Kane). The journey lasts from Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300 (placing it before Dante's factual exile from Florence, which looms throughout the Inferno and serves as an undercurrent to the poet's journey)(Phillips). Dante's Divine Comedy has thrived through the ages, remaining a popular work for more than six hundred and fifty years and has been considered a major work of writing. Dante himself is revered by poets, authors, and people for his works and there was even a biography written on this great author by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1373(Sanders). The work is a major part of the Western canon, and T.S. Eliot, who was greatly influenced by Dante, put Dante in a class with only one other poet of the modern world, Shakespeare, saying that they divide the modern world between them. There is no third(Kane). Dante's works will continue to influence the world now and for many hundreds of years in the future and we will continue to pass on his story and works for many years to come.

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Scientific Literature on Homosexuality

Contents

Environment
Biological
Discussion

Over the preceding decades, there has been an upsurge in scholarship dedicated to the matter of sexual and gender minority within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ) community. The dialogue and research that has been exerted into the finding the link that that determines if homosexuality is determined by choice, genetics, or environmental associations, has given a platform for social, political, and religious debates that have created a divide in our society.

Environment

Research has underlined inspiring amendments in the school-based practices for some LGBTQ communities, such as the development of Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs; or as some now refer to themselves, Gender-Sexuality Alliances), the frequency and achievement of listed antibullying policies, the association of factors that endorse resilience and prospering among LGBTQ increased discernibility of heterosexual and cis-gender allies. Schools are a prime social setting where most LGBTQ individuals spend the majority of their time. However, schools present a key problem for individuals who traverse there daily. Specifically, schools are a site in which LGBTQ community continue to be at risk for experiencing hardship, but at the same time they are also one where LGBTQ community could obtain critical support and resources from their peers and adults (Heck, Poteat & Goodenow, 2016 p. 381). The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has encouraged school counselors to advocate for all students, predominantly those who have been historically ostracized, which includes LGBT students. Assessed research on Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) suggested that GSAs have been an essential part of social justice and school counselor advocacy, in that GSAs are student-led groups that foster advocacy and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students and their allies (Simons, Hutchison & Bahr, 2017 p. 30). Although school environments have been in favor of homosexuality, other environments have not been so favorable. Religious leaders have tussled with the materialization of homosexuality in the public globe. Some religious groups within the church have countered with intense opposition as many religious elites have drawn upon a selection of scriptural and doctrinal references of classify homosexuality. For example, a plague, an abomination, a disorder and a violation of God's design (Sumerau & Cragun, 2014 p. 335). Many ministries reveal their rejection of homosexuality and is certified in the Bible. Of the 66 books of the Bible, six often-cited verses (Genesis 1-2, 19:1-9; Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:26-27; and 1 Timothy 1:10) have been interpreted as evidence that homophobia are scripturally normative. Religious denominations use these verses to repudiate same-sex romantic relationships, to diminish homosexual genital experiences, and to decline ordination opportunities for gay aspirants (Miller, 2007 p52).

Biological

With newly classified sexually dimorphic regions of the brain having been discovered, additional studies need to be directed with reverence to sexual orientation. With enhanced techniques in both the structural and functional studies, a fresh round of methodologies that survey biological correlations of sexual orientations will prove extremely informative. These studies should continue to use the double confirmation method of establishing a sexual dimorphism prior to establishing sexual orientation differences (Alexander, 2000 p.248). In recent decades, more and more people in Western countries have come to endorse the theory that a person's sexual identity is determined by biological factors the belief that sexual orientation is biologically based predicts positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men (Boysen & Vogel, 2007 p.756). Some assert that if studies establish a biological basis for sexual orientation, it should lead to increased tolerance of homosexuals. However, others conveyed negative approaches extending from distress to outrage that the findings might be used to justify the view that homosexuality is a disease as well as to justify attempts to alter sexual orientation biologically (Greenberg & Bailey, 1993 p. 245). Biological information about homosexuality, can have the opposite effect on people who are already familiar with biology. Conceivable information about biological causes of homosexuality make individuals see homosexuals as more different from themselves, thereby increasing the likelihood of the expression of negative attitudes (Oldham & Kasser, 1999 p.124).

Discussion

With all the research for and against homosexuality in referenced to environmental and biological influences, there are compelling investigations that can argue for and against the notion of how and why homosexuality is formed. Within a Christian perspective no matter the stigma, misinformation, scientific studies, or personal ethical views on homosexuality, there still is one constant that remains the same irrespective of how one may personally feel, in Matthew 22:39 the second greatest commandment that was given to us is to love thy neighbor as they self. Homosexuality has and will continue to have a dissonance within our society and individuals will continue to challenge the theory as to how homosexuality is initiated, it should make no impact as to how we see and accept individuals as brothers and sisters within Christ. Although there are scriptures that speak against such an identity, we should respect them as individuals and extend love to the community not in acceptance of their lifestyle, but as them as human-beings that share a passion for being who they are despite what we consider to be a societal or scriptural disapproval.

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Homosexuality in the Bible

Is the Bible meant to be taken literally in today's time? Or was it written in a historical framework of our holy ancestors and in some ways cannot still be taken literally by the modern bible reader? Religion and science do not pair together well all of the time. Christian biblical translators either respond to scientific findings in a positive or negative way, depending on the topic and issue at hand. Many studies of science seem to challenge a literal reading of the bible. This conflict is due moderately to confusion of what scientists are saying. Also, because it is an effort to parallel scientific declarations with biblical ones. (Bellis and Hufford 2002, 13) When the issue of Homosexuality in the bible comes up, many people are puzzled and don't know how to decipher right from wrong or a sin from a non-sin. For some communities, it's an equal rights movement and an overall issue to try and legalize same-sex marriage for homosexual couples. For many it is also a moral and religious topic because it is addressed in the bible multiple times. Unfortunately, debates, uproars, and even violence has occurred due to peoples opposing opinions. Human sexuality is determined in three general ways: the genetic makeup of the individual, learned behavior, and environmental influences (Bellis and Hufford 2002, 8). Homosexuality has created a vast emotional reaction from particular individuals, primarily from those that claim to be religious peoples. All or many refer to the Leviticus text You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination Leviticus 18:22 (NIV). The reaction towards that passage of the Bible has fundamentally been negative, portraying homosexuality as unethical, an abomination, and immoral. On the other hand, some feel it is fully natural and a present from God. From the faith perspective, statements from the bible point to entire truths that must be followed then and still need to be followed today, biblical scholars on the other hand argue that these testimonies are still open to decode. A few texts from the bible say that same-sex sexual relationships are wrong, and this alone settles it for some people (Borg 2014, 82). In early Christianity, Judaism, and some religious people still today believe that the decency of marriage and the main purpose of marriage is to procreate and feed the earth with new offspring. This is a valid argument due to the fact that God sent Adam and Eve to the Garden of Eden and that is how humankind all began. God made woman for man and they fit divinely in such a way that they can populate the world and therefore we will not become extinct. The unification of family created by God was that a man and his wife would come together and become one flesh Genesis 2:4-3:24 (NIV). To establish a sexual bond with a partner with no intent to create a new life is differing to what the bible tells us. This is one of the main points that comes up when speaking against homosexuality. Many of these individuals believe that homosexuality is a choice made by the person and they are willingly acting against God in this way. Conservatives are often even uncomfortable just hearing the word gay or homosexual due to their opinion that homosexual relations are wrong and an outright rebellion. Some believe in this so strongly that if they are a person of power in the church, often they try and heal or fix the same-sex attraction to meet the divine law of God. Another common belief people take very literally from the bible is Romans 1:24-25 (NIV) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised. From this, it is clear that literal readers of the bible believe any homosexual person is ignoring God and choosing to worship the created rather than the creator of all things. The bible is the words of God written by different human beings in historical periods of time. Back in that time period, the divine law was the only law. There was no other legal system or powerful structure of how life should be and how one is supposed to interpret right from wrong. Since Christians are taught to aim to be as alike to God as possible, many assume taking just about all things from the bible literally is still just as important today as it was back then. For those who believe this and whom are committed to literalism, faith includes believing in the facts of the bible regardless of what we might think on the basis of modern advances and knowledge. But is this what faith is truly about (Borg 103)? Paragraph 3 Homo is OK When Paul Wrote in Romans 1, he was attempting to evidently portray what the gospel faithfully means. The Goodness of God as well as the Wrath of God when one sins are both mentioned throughout Romans 1:20-32. This being said, an opposition has been projected against this text regarding homosexuality in the bible. Critics state that this passage merely refers to heterosexuals binding homosexual acts and that this would not be applicable if one's natural craving was for the same sex and that relationship carried out in a healthy monogamous manner with consent from both sides. Humankind changes drastically throughout time, specifically in the past 50 years. Things from human sexuality, to family roles, to so much more has evolved into modern normality structures depending on regions of the world, religious views, etc. The bible's negativity pointing towards homosexuality is based upon ancient beliefs and family structures, which modern pieces of knowledge is making somewhat out-of-date to how we live today. The bible is sometimes wrong for a certain period of time in certain aspects of scripture. Things like eating pork and wearing linen and wool (which is modernly absolutely acceptable) was prohibited by the authors of the bible. the authors of both Hebrew scripture and New Testament provide a model for adapting ancient scriptures to contemporary times- including the most extreme cases (Bellis and Hufford 2002, ). Because of this fact, it is confusing why homosexuality is still such a controversial topic especially in the religious world where we are supposed to accept all people regardless of their life choices and leaving the judgements up to God. When we judge others for their actions and sins, we ourselves are sinning and going against what God wants. It is not the job of humankind to play God. This being said, one does not have to let go of the fact that the bible forbids same-sex sexual relations, but the cultures fixation with the issue more likely says something about mankind rather than it being about the bible or our true devotion to God. We as people try to take power into our own hands to do good by God, when really we are being selfish and putting ourselves on an undeserving pedestal. From a mutual standpoint, Christians should hold back their outright negative opinions towards people's sexual preferences and instead focus on having a greater level of compassion for one another regardless of the circumstances. Love is patient,love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,it is not easily angered,it keeps no record of wrongs.Love does not delight in evilbut rejoices with the truth.It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.For we know in partand we prophesy in part,but when completeness comes,what is in part disappears.1 Corinthians 13:4-12 (NIV) In attempt to illustrate a moral lesson, The notion that biblical stories are about facts and not meaning has created great distortion in modern times and in modern religion. Modern biblical

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Homosexuality Rights

Homosexuality has been a controversial topic for many different reasons since the birth of established religion. Although, common in the ancient world, homosexuality and its acceptance radically dropped following the rise of Christianity. Therefore, by the time Eisenhower was President his views, as where most of the country, were negative to such sexual deviancies. It was believed that homosexuality was a condition that had to be treated by psychologies and furthermore that it was a national security threat to the nation because of how susceptible they were to be blackmailed. The backdrop of these events was the 1950's. A time of the ideal perfect family with 2.5 kids. Where the man was the breadwinner and the woman were to state home and take care of the children. In this extremely conservative family centric society is where this homosexuality trials and hunt took place inside the Federal Government. Believing that homosexuality was a threat to national security, Eisenhower through executive order 10450 sought to banish all gay man and woman from serving in the Federal government, through the use of interrogations, polygraphs and other dubious means. The threat of communism suddenly enveloped the whole of the United States soon after the war. There was a mass hysteria that there were people that were working to undermine U.S. interest and way of life. It was believed that communism wanted to destroy the core of American values, which at the time meant the family core. 1950's was a time were everything was done by tradition. This traditional way of living didn't have space for homosexual behavior. The fears of communism spreading offer the perfect cover for Eisenhower's clean the house policies. He believed that homosexuals were persons of low moral character. That homosexuality was an unforgivable lack of moral character, and therefore it opens the individuals to being blackmailed by agents of communism. It was believed at the time that their homosexual nature will make them reveal secrets under duress for fear of not being outed. Therefore, all Federal jobs had to be homosexual free for the security of the nation. This purge, nonetheless was based solely on sexual orientation and had little to nothing to do with the spread of communism. The belief in this was best summarized the following way: These perverts will frequently attempt to entice individuals to engage in perverted practices One homosexual can pollute a Government office. Homosexuality of course was illegal at the time, making it easier for Eisenhower to pass his national security reforms. The rationality at the time was that a person could be loyal to the country yet still posed a security risk. The reason to fire said individuals can be best summarized by General, Herbert Brownell Jr, when he stated: Employees could be a security risk and still not be disloyal or have any traitorous thoughts, but it may be their personal habits are such that they might be subject to blackmail by people who seek to destroy the safety of our country. In order to put in practice Eisenhower's desire for cleaning house there were special forces that were set up to deal with complaints, or suspicious of someone being a homosexual. Gestapo like practices were implemented as well, as thousands of mails where being opened to make sure there was no signs of homosexual behavior. The mission was to: eliminate all types of sex perverts from the rolls of the department. A unit was created called: The Miscellaneous M Unit This unit was involved both on interrogation where there was a good cop bad cop style of asking the questions and polygraph testing. If a person was convicted or thought of being sexually perverted, they could take a polygraph test to determine their innocence. After a member was accused of homosexuality there were only two outcomes, either he or she was cleared of all charges, or they were asked to resign. Sadly, most investigations ended in confessions and therefore firings. Homosexuality was perceived as a such a big threat that even after people were fired from the Federal Government they were blacklisted from international organizations as well. The main reason why they were perceived as such a huge threat to a family life was because it was believed to be sinful, perverted, the boring 50's were a time where America went back to Elizabethan family values. Tradition stated that a man was to marry a woman and then procreate and have children. The man will become the breadwinner and the woman will be the one in charge of the house. Tradition was so entrenched at the time that two kids was consider the perfect American family. In a world with so many uncertainties due to the Cold War, Americans found refuge in embracing old family values. Homosexuality was an aberration to this family values. In their minds, homosexuality seeks to corrupt and destroy the traditions they held so dearly, and therefore was in turn a national security problem. Homosexuality rights have come a long way since the days of the Eisenhower's administration. Not only is homosexuality not illegal anymore, but they even have the right to marry now a day. It is important to remember events like this so that this kind of systematic discrimination doesn't happened again. In an ever-changing world with new threats and alarming events it's important to make sure that basic human rights are always upheld. The Cold War in a lot of ways brought the worst of some people back in the 50's. It's important to make sure as a nation that this never happens again.

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Homosexuality and the Christian Faith

Homosexuality has always been a controversial issue in many religions and is increasingly becoming more relevant in society. Throughout the past centuries, homosexuals would hide their sexual orientation to prevent the cruel punishments and ridicule that would result from openly accepting themselves to the public. Today, more people identify within the homosexual spectrum as society gradually becomes accepting of same-sex relationships and marriages. However, religion is a factor that restricts the growth of homosexuality acceptance throughout the entire world. Homosexuality is often perceived to be taboo and an abomination to society in the eyes of many Christians. This causes a large divide between the two communities as both groups have conflicting views on the issue. Homosexuality and Christianity is divided due to the interpretations of Bible teachings, varying religious views on the matter, and the difficulty for one to be a part of both communities.

Many people who are affiliated with Christianity are opposed to the idea of same-sex relationships due to the interpretation that it violates teachings in the Bible. David P. Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University, discusses the most-referenced bible verses regarding the Christian ban on homosexuality in Evangelical Christianity and how they are interpreted in Reconciling Evangelical Christianity with Out Sexual Minorities: Reframing the Biblical Discussion. There are six main verses that are used to reference the intolerance of homosexuality in Christianity: Genesis 1-2, Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Matthew 19:1, Romans 1:26, and Corinthians 6:9 (Gushee 145). Evangelical Christians associate these verses with a male and female paradigm being the only acceptable form of relationship in society. The texts are often centered around sexual acts rather than relationships and offer harsh language towards the acts (Gushee 146). However, they do not relate to modern sexual identity and orientation. Gushee concludes his essay with the idea that many Evangelical Christians draw a moral line that causes people to be driven away from the church and God (Gushee 153). In The Bible on Homosexuality: Exploring Its Meaning and Authority, Kenneth A. Locke, a professor at Hsi Lai University, explains the importance the Bible has on morals for Christians, including homosexuality. The Bible is the fundamental resource for many Christians when it comes to inspiration and guidance. The Bible is still relevant because it can be related to life today, but still lacks information on social issues that are more prominent now than they were when the text was written (Locke 126). Locke also explains the biblical verses in relation to the historical and cultural context, discussing how many translated words are potential errors and how they can be interpreted in many ways. Many Christians can interpret biblical texts differently, causing some Christians to either oppose or accept homosexuality.

Another factor that causes a division between homosexuality and Christianity is the different views Christians have on homosexuality. Many Christians are taught to have certain beliefs on issues throughout society, including homosexuality, depending on who they are surrounded with and who they are raised by. Dawne Moon, a professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences at Marquette University, discusses the different views religious Christians have towards homosexuality in Beyond the Dichotomy: Six Religious Views of Homosexuality. There are two main sides to the argument consisting of the belief that an individual is born homosexual, and the belief that sexual orientation can and should be changed (Moon 1216). However, Christian views can be further divided into homonegative, moderate, and homopositive. Homonegative Christians view homosexuality as sinful and an abomination while homopositive ones view it as good and just. Moderate Christians have both negative and positive views towards the issue (Moon 1218). The difference in views shows how there is no one universal belief regarding homosexuality in Christianity. There are many ways to disprove both arguments for and against homosexuality; therefore, a Christian's view will be up to the individual's interpretation and beliefs. The varying views Christians have on homosexuality creates a division because there is not one common belief on the matter.

It is often difficult for an individual to be both a Christian and homosexual. Typically, homosexuals are pushed away from Christianity due to differences in views on same-sex relationships and commonly-occurring discrimination. Nasrudin Subhi and David Geelan studied the effects Christianity has on current and former Christians who identify as homosexual in When Christianity and Homosexuality Collide: Understanding the Potential Intrapersonal Conflict. The survey conducted revealed that eighty percent of homosexuals who were affiliated with Christianity experienced conflict between the two communities (Subhi 1396). The conflicts between the two have affected the participants through high rates of depression, guilt, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and isolation (Subhi 1399). In the essay 1Cross + 3Nails = 4GVN: Compulsory Christianity and Homosexuality in the Bible Belt Panopticon, Bernadette Barton, a professor at the University of Kentucky, discusses homophobia and discrimination based on sexuality in a region where Christianity is the primary religion, the Bible Belt. The area consists of the West South Central, East South Central, and South Atlantic regions of the United States where Christianity dominates the majority of the population (Barton 72).

Barton, a self-identified lesbian, discusses experiences where she was discriminated against for her sexual orientation and the Bible was used to justify it. She also includes a story of a homosexual man who knew he was same-sex attracted since the age of eleven but never came out due to the fear that he would be in danger and alienated from his family. Another story is also told of a woman who came out to her family who thought she had a devil within her that was causing her to be homosexual. Her family attempted to keep her captive in their house to have a preacher pray the homosexuality out of her (Barton 79). Barton's study of homosexuals in the Bible Belt shows that they are often placed in harmful situations where they are rejected from society completely or experience physical violence on the basis of their sexual identity. Individuals who identify within the homosexual spectrum experience difficulty when it comes to accepting their sexuality and Christianity as one and are typically forced to choose one over the other. This is due to the difference in beliefs on homosexuality and the dangers and discrimination that accompanies the sexual orientation.

The divide between homosexuality and Christianity is caused by the interpretations of biblical teachings, the difference in views, and the difficulty for an individual to be both a Christian and a homosexual. The issue is becoming more prevalent in society as more people are becoming more comfortable publicly identifying with their sexual orientations. The division between homosexuality and Christianity may persist in the future as the belief of whether homosexuality is morally acceptable is at the discretion of the individual.

Works Cited

Barton, Bernadette. 1CROSS 3NAILS = 4GVN: Compulsory Christianity and Homosexuality in the Bible Belt Panopticon. Feminist Formations, vol. 23, no. 1, 2011, pp. 70“93, muse-jhu-edu.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/article/429860. Accessed 24 Sept. 2018.
Gushee, David P. Reconciling Evangelical Christianity with Our Sexual Minorities: Reframing the Biblical Discussion. Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, vol. 35, no. 2, 2015, pp. 141“158, muse-jhu-edu.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/article/603262. Accessed 24 Sept. 2018.
Locke, Kenneth A. The Bible on Homosexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 48, no. 2,
Sept. 2005, pp. 125“156, www-tandfonline-com.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/doi/pdf/10.1300/J082v48n02_07?needAccess=true. Accessed 29 Sept. 2018.
Moon, Dawne. Beyond the Dichotomy: Six Religious Views of Homosexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 61, no. 9, Oct. 2014, pp. 1215“1241, www-tandfonline-com.libweb. lib.utsa.edu/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2014.926762. Accessed 22 Sept. 2018.
Subhi, Nasrudin, and David Geelan. When Christianity and Homosexuality Collide: Understanding the Potential Intrapersonal Conflict. Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 59, no. 10, 1 Nov. 2012, pp. 1382“1402, www-tandfonlinecom.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/doi/abs/10.108000918369.2012.724638. Accessed 22 Sept. 2018.

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Homosexuality Past Present and Future

Homosexuality is not of the norm in our modern day society with regards to one's sexual preference, but it is fast becoming an acceptable relationship. The family structure, as well as society in general, has had to deal with homosexuality on a personal basis and as a political issue as well. In the past, discrimination and barring of homosexual individuals from society was the norm; whereas in today's society there are men and women who are proud of who they are and don't hide. They hold positions of power in public office and are celebrities too. They adopt children and raise them in a same sex marriage family. Society no longer shuns them, but rather embraces them for their courage. However, there are still certain segments of the population that has little tolerance for homosexuality. Homosexuality is a term that evokes many different reactions and feelings in people. Sometimes these feelings can and do lead to many forms of discrimination and harassment which are unjustified. A person's sexual orientation and preferences, in no way, change the value of the person as a human being and should not be a basis for the judgement of that person's character. Don't be gay taunted the boy to his friend for not wanting to dive off the diving board at the town swimming pool. This homework assignment is so gay is shouted out from across the room as Mr. Clark hands out the topic of a term paper to his class. These are statements that underlie the negative attitude that being gay initially meant in society. There is a real problem today in America with anything that has to do with gay people; gay rights, gay culture, gay marriage, gays in the workplace, or even saying the word gay. It seems to bring up a whole lot of discussion and opinions anytime it is mentioned. Some feel that the discrimination of gay people is said to be comparable to the discrimination of African American people. Even as more people in society accept the ideas and lifestyles of gay individuals, there will still always be that segment of society who are find reasons to reject the gay agenda. The bottom line is that gay people are being discriminated against; there are hate crimes being committed, and there are feelings being hurt. A person's gender is predetermined before birth and to a degree so is their sexual orientation. Why should a person be shunned by society for something that's beyond their control? In different cultures and societies there are many different attitudes ranging from severe discouragement to acceptance and encouragement. In societies where it's not approved of and is looked down upon highly, to be gay is to be setting oneself up for all types of discrimination. Being labeled a homosexual in that type of society can result in the loss of friends, housing and a job. For example, the Pilgrims of Massachusetts declared homosexual activity to be a capital offense and made the people that practiced it suffer the consequences. Another more modern example is the topic of gays in the military. President Clinton announced the DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell) policy in July 1993. It tolerated lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBTs) in the military as long as they kept their sexual orientation and identity a secret. That is, they could stay as long as they hid in the closet. If caught, they would receive an honorable discharge or a disnonorable one if they fought against it. However, there have been some who have been turned around in their thinking and who are trying to turn the tide. In 2005, Representative Marty Meehan from Massachusetts, introduced a House Bill called The Military Ready Enhancement Act of 2005 which stated that no gay person could be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. 1 It never got passed. Lt. Col. Allen Bishop, a U.S. Military Academy Professor of philosophy at West Point, stated in an article in the Army Times that Despite our government's claim of liberty for all, we leave homosexuals out. If the American military sees and is allowed to see itself as the protector of some but not all Americans, democracy fails. 2 In a society where homosexuality is acceptable, such as among the ancient Greeks, it was considered to be a natural feeling and the society didn't make any attempts to explain why one man was sexually attracted to another. So too among the Roman society, where homosexuality appeared to have been common. The Romans felt the capacity to have homosexual feelings was universal in that everybody had them. In this day and age, there are states that don't come right out and prohibit homosexual activities but instead they make them into illegal and unnatural acts. Only recently is the tide turning. In 1980, the New York high court strikes down what is known as the sodomy law. In 1982, Wisconsin became the first state to enact statewide gay rights legislation. In 1984, Berkeley, California, became the first city in the U.S. to extend domestic partner benefits to lesbian and gay city employees. However, not everyone feels the same way. In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Georgia sodomy law. In 1988, Citizens of Oregon repealed a ban on antigay job discrimination, paving the way for the antigay initiatives in Oregon in the early 1990s. In contemporary society, many people regarded homosexuality as a disease and they came to see the homosexual as someone who needed treatment. The goal of that treatment was to bring about a change in that specific person's sexual orientation. Homosexuality is definitely not a natural act when viewed in terms of society's norms pertaining to sexuality between men and women. But it is not a disorder that should be treated as a disease requiring a cure. In an ideal world, the only basic problems that a gay individual should have should stem from his or her inability to become comfortable with his/her sexual orientation and to come to terms with the lifestyle accompanying it. They shouldn't have to deal with society's acceptance of them as well. In fact, discrimination based on one's sexual orientation is very similar to discrimination based on one's religion. There are many different religions practiced in our society today and tolerance is the key to co-existing with all of them. For example, in the Old Testament, Leviticus, Chapter 18: Verse 22 it states And with mankind thou shalt not lie as with womankind; it is an abomination.. It is the Judeo-Christian belief that homosexuality goes against g-d but it is still a personal opinion as religion is still one's personal opinion, and last I checked, there is a still a separation of church and state. People should be free to live as they would like. The low status that homosexuals have within the social context of society has made them aware of the fact that they are members of a repressed minority. They wanted to assert their rights and pursue their own way of life without any interference. These feelings among the gay community resulted in the establishment of the Gay Liberation Movement. In 1973 the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy recognized the right of homosexuals to live as they pleased. In the same year, the American Psychiatric Association voted to drop the category homosexuality from it's classification of mental disorders and labeled it as sexual orientation disturbance. In 1975 it then released a public statement that homosexuality was not a mental disorder. In 1994, two decades later, the APA finally stated, . homosexuality is neither a mental illness nor a moral depravity. It is a way of the portion of a population expresses human love and sexuality. 3 In our society today, discriminating against the sexual preference of who a person chooses who to have sexual contact with seems backward. People don't make a conscious choice to be gay, it is who they are. Those who are unaware should be made to understand that gay people are not out to convert all people to their way of thinking. According to Vern L. Bullough, Ph.D at the State University College at Buffalo, he feels that homosexuality is part of the human condition. The fact that it has always existed under a variety of circumstances emphasizes the importance of biology as a factor in homosexuality..It has had and continues to have survival value. As a good Darwinian I have to argue that anything that increases the potential survival of the race is important. 4 He's not willing to rule out biology as a factor in homosexuality and is of the opinion that it's biological and natural and not a mental disorder. For example, there are many cases of males who are isolated from females for a long period of time as in prison or in the army. There still remains the basic necessity to nurture and support each other. The homosexual relationship that may well develop under such circumstances are labeled situational homosexuality, but for it to exist at all there has to be a built-in biological potential to house the feelings. Vern Bullough is saying that homosexuality is a partly natural drive for it has to come within man himself to have survived so long. Chandler Burr is a leading scientist and theorist studying homosexuality and he is of the opinion that homosexuality is something that is innate in a person and one doesn't get the choice. They are born with it. In his article Homosexuality and Biology, he referenced a 1992 documentary film produced by a psychologist named James Harrison called Changing Our Minds that showed how the medical profession tried out any and all possible cures or treatments for helping homosexuals. In the film, both gay men and women were subject to all sorts of abuses like castration, lobotomies, and shock treatment. None of these could be shown to change the sexual orientation of the people involved. Burr also further stated that in the book Being Homosexual, written by psychoanalyst Richard Isay, after extensive research he was unable to find one person who naturally switched from being homosexual to heterosexual and if they did, they were suppressing homosexual feelings inside. Burr stated that psychiatry consistently failed to show that homosexuality was a preference or a pathology, therefore its roots are more biological and can't be changed. 5 In stating so, if one can't be changed and this is the way god made him, then why should he have to change or be discriminated against by society? Burr also cited many different studies that have been done to find the causes of homosexuality. There was a study done by Dick Swaab, a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research that showed a cluster of cells in the human brain known as the superachiasmatic nucleus was bigger in homosexual men than in heterosexual men. In another study done by Northwestern University psychologist Michael Bailey and Boston University's Richard Pillar, they looked at 56 identical twins, 54 fraternal twins and 57 genetically unrelated adopted brothers. They found a gay-gay concordance rate among the identical twins to be 52%, for the fraternal twins it was 22% and for the brothers it was 11%. The findings suggest that homosexuality is largely genetic in origin.5 Michael Bailey also states that I would-and have-bet my career on homosexuality's being biologically determined.5 If science plays such an important role in determining one's sexual orientation, then the main question to be asked is how can society justify discriminating against a people on the basis of a characteristic? The answer is: one can't. However, the issues of human rights, human freedoms and human tolerance can't be answered in a laboratory. People have to live and let live. They have to be contentwith themselves and let others live as they please without any interference about who or what's right or wrong. It is a long range goal that we, as a society, must endeavor to undertake and become more accepting of how others live their life. Bibliography The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2005, Thomas, at https://thomas.loc.gov/ Efforts Intensify to End Gay Soldier-Ban, Associated Press, 2005-June 14, at https://www.gate.com/ Johnson, Ryan D. Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture- All Psych Journal-April 30, 2003 Bullough, Vern L. Ph.D-Weighing the Shift from Sexual Identity to Sexual Relationships-Journal of Homosexuality-vol. 10(3/4)-Winter 1984 Burr, ChandlerHomosexuality and Biology-Atlantic Monthly-March 1993-Volume 272, No. 3

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Association of Homosexuality

Dance has been around for many years; a lot of people even pursue a dance career. There is not just one type of dance, there is a variety of different types of dances. Two of the most common ones are ballet and modern dance, which everyone believes to be a female sport. Many people are involved in dance since childhood and proceed throughout their life. Most people do not realize that males also find interest in dancing and do not see anything wrong in them wanting to join ballet. Some people will support their male friends and family to pursue a dance career and others will not since its known to be a female sport. It is often that males experience bullying for being in dance. There is a problem they face, it being a stereotype about male dancers and questioning their sexuality since everyone thinks that ballet, dance in general, is only for females.

One of the most common stereotypes is that if there is a male in dance, they are gay or that all male dancers are gay (Bailey and Obershneider 1997; Polasek and Roper 2011). Dance is defined as a culturally feminine activity or that it's just for girls (Polasek and Roper 2011; Risner 2014). Since almost everyone believes that dance is a female sport there are boys who choose not to join dance. They fear that being in dance is going to get them judged and there are some that even know the challenge of being in dance. They know that they are going to hear stereotypes and even experience bullying. The stereotypes limit the participation in dance by those who do not want to be a part of the stereotypes (Risner 2007). Bullying occurs every day in general without being in dance. Now imagine to what extent the male dancers experience bullying. A male dancer explained how he gave up dancing because of the harassment he experienced, fag. I think that was actually one of the reasons why I eventually gave up ballet was just because of the constant harassment. Some males also must prove their masculinity just, so people will not stereotype that all male dancers are gay, but most do not continue being in dance because they just don't like experiencing the harassment. Research was done to see how many males experience bullying. The bullying goes as far as teasing and name calling, verbal or physical harassment, verbal threats or threatening behavior, physical harm or injury (Risner 2014). I feel like males either stay away from joining dance or discontinue their dance career because they need support from someone else. It will boost their confidence in joining dance and it will make them fearless and careless of what others say or think. Males also stay away from dance because they do not have support from someone else.

On another side it's not just peers who believe the stereotype of dance being just for females, it also lies on the parents. The more supportive they are toward their son being in dance the more positive his attitude will be. Also dance teachers, since most of them are female directors they tend to have a negative attitude toward male dancers, they'll relate them to a fag. Some boys got support from their mothers and their sisters and some were introduced to dance by their mothers and sisters (Polsek and Roper 2011). Studies showed that the mothers and dance teachers were more supportive toward their sons than the fathers were (Risner 2014). It was always the males (fathers, male friends, brothers, etc.) who would give them the least support. The fathers would give them negative attitudes toward dance, their disapproval was due to the association of dance with it being feminine and because of homosexuality (Polsek and Roper 2011). Due to the pressure and the stereotypes that they feel because of their peers and their family the dancers isolate themselves, not only do some drop out of dance, but some hide it from others. Although there were some fathers who actually supported their sons being in dance, some fathers even joined a dance team just so their son would not quit.

Most of the assumptions of male dancers being gay is because there do exist some male dancers that are homosexual. A study suggested that gay men are overrepresented in professional dancers (Bailey and Oberschneider 1997). The reason where the homosexual assumptions come from are because like most people know, dance is a part of art and requires the participants to change into different outfits and for males wearing tights is not the norm. The most common type of dances that fall under that stereotype are ballet and modern dance, it falls under the way they dress (Polsek and Roper 2011). Seven of the participants suggested that such stereotypes were due to the costumes, make-up, and movements required of male dancersappearances and behaviors often deemed feminine (Polsek and Roper 2011). Not only the costumes, but also in the way that the male dancers moved and the way that they moved was known to be as feminine, eventually they would see other male dancers and got use to it.

In conclusion, dance should not be believed as just for females. In fact, males should be able to dance without being harassed or bullied. The association that exists within the assumption of homosexuality and males in female- dominated sports lies within the people and the way they perceive dance. Since dance is believed to be feminine there are stereotypes about males' sexuality. The males suffer from the homosexual/feminine stereotype because not only do they not feel comfortable joining dance, some families do not accept for a male to be in dance. It all lies on the fact that there do exist gay male dancers, the way they dress, and the way they dance. This is the basis as to why the people believe that all male dancers are gay.

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History of Homosexuality in Diagnostic Manuals

Scholars originally thought sexual orientation was a decision, which first led to the placement of homosexuality in DSM-I and DSM-II. Theories of homosexuality throughout history and culture generally fall into pathology or immaturity categories. Pathology theories regard adult homosexuality as a disease, a condition deviating from ?normal' heterosexual development. The presence of atypical gender behavior or feelings are symptoms of the disease or disorder to which mental health professionals need to attend. These theories hold that some internal defect or external pathological agent causes homosexuality, and such events can occur before or after birth. Theories of pathology tend to view homosexuality as a sign of a defect, or morally bad, with the belief homosexuality is socially evil. Theories of immaturity regard expressions of homosexual feelings or behavior at a young age as a normal step, often identified in the ?experimentation stage' toward the development of adult heterosexuality. Ideally, homosexuality is a passing phase an individual outgrows. However, as a developmental arrests, adult homosexuality is equated with stunted growth.

For much of Western history the meanings of same-sex behaviors viewed by religions deemed homosexuality to be morally bad. However, as 19th century Western culture shifted power from religious to secular authority, same-sex behaviors, like ?sins' received increased spherical scrutiny from: law, medicine, psychiatry, and human rights activism.

Richard von Krafft-Ebing, a German psychiatrist, offered an early theory of pathology, describing homosexuality as a ?degenerative' disorder. Krafft-Ebing believed although one might be born with a homosexual predisposition, such inclinations should be considered a congenital disease. Krafft-Ebing was influential in disseminating among the medical and scientific communities both the term ?homosexual' as well as its author's view of homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder. This theory influenced many of pathological assumptions regarding human sexuality in psychiatric diagnostic manuals of the mid-20th century.

Freud believed everyone is born with bisexual tendencies; expressions of homosexuality could be a normal phase of heterosexual development. Freud argued homosexuality could not be a degenerative condition as Krafft-Ebing maintained because, among other reasons, it was found in people whose efficiency is unimpaired, and who are indeed distinguished by specially high intellectual development and ethical culture. Freud saw expressions of adult homosexual behavior as caused by ?arrested psychosexual development,' a theory of immaturity.

Most psychoanalysts of the next generation came to view homosexuality as pathological. They offered a revised understanding of homosexuality as well as psychoanalytic ?cures.' In the mid-20th century, American psychiatry was greatly influenced at the time by these psychoanalytic perspectives. Consequently, in 1952, when APA published the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-I), it listed all the conditions psychiatrists then considered to be a mental disorder. DSM-I classified homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance. In DSM-II, published in 1968, homosexuality was reclassified as a sexual deviation.

Kinsey's research found homosexuality to be more common in the general population than was generally believed, and found in nature. Researchers and activists started to reject the pathological model as a major contributor to the stigma associated with homosexuality. It was this latter group that brought modern sex research theories to the attention of APA. In the wake of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, gay and lesbian activists, believing psychiatric theories to be a major contributor to anti-homosexual social stigma, disrupted the 1970 and 1971 annual meetings of the APA.

The APA started to question what constitutes a mental disorder. They reviewed the characteristics of the various mental disorders and concluded that, with the exception of homosexuality and perhaps some of the other ?sexual deviations', they all regularly caused subjective distress or were associated with generalized impairment in social effectiveness of functioning, (p. 211). Having arrived at this novel definition of mental disorder, the Nomenclature Committee agreed that homosexuality per se was not one. As a result, in December 1973, APA's Board of Trustees (BOT) voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM.

Psychiatrists did not vote, as is often reported in the popular press, on whether homosexuality should remain a diagnosis. As a result, opponents of the 1973 removal have repeatedly tried to discredit the outcome by declaring, science cannot be decided by a vote. The events of 1973 did not immediately end psychiatry's pathology of some presentations of homosexuality. For in homosexuality's place, the DSM-II contained a new diagnosis: Sexual Orientation Disturbance (SOD). SOD regarded homosexuality as an illness if an individual with same-sex attractions, which caused them distress and wanted to change. The new diagnosis legitimized the practice of sexual conversion therapies, even if homosexuality per se was no longer considered an illness. SOD was later replaced in DSM-III by a new category called Ego Dystonic Homosexuality (EDH). However, it was obvious to psychiatrists more than a decade later that the inclusion first of SOD, and later EDH, was the result of earlier political compromises, and neither diagnosis met the definition of a disorder. As a result, ego-dystonic homosexuality was removed from the next revision, DSM-III-R, in 1987. In so doing, the APA implicitly accepted a normal variant view of homosexuality in a way that had not been possible fourteen years earlier. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/

In 1948, WHO published ICD-6(International Classification of Diseases), which was the first ICD version to include a classification of mental disorders. ICD-6 classified homosexuality as a sexual deviation presumed to reflect an underlying personality disorder. Later in 1992, the ICD-10 defined sexual orientation by itself is not to be considered a disorder. Nevertheless, the descriptions of the categories suggest mental disorders exist that are uniquely linked to sexual orientation and gender expression.https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/9/14-135541/en/

The World Health Organization (WHO) only removed homosexuality from its ICD classificationwith the publication of ICD-10 in 1992, although ICD-10 still carries the construct of "ego-dystonic sexual orientation". In this condition, the person is not in doubt about his or hersexual preference, but "wishes it were different because of associated psychological and behavioral disorders". https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201509/when-homosexuality-stopped-being-mental-disorder. In June 2018, the IDC-11 removed gender incongruence from mental disorders into sexual health conditions. The rationale being that while evidence is now clear that it is not a mental disorder, and indeed classifying it in this can cause enormous stigma for people who are transgender or gender non-binary.

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Candide and Don Quixote Optimism and Idealism

The Stories ?'Candide'' and Don Quixote are Nobles based on unrealistic and make-believe thoughts or ideas.Don Quixote is a comic lampoon of the medieval romances that audiences of Cervantes's era Continued to devour. But beneath the parody. Don Quixote makes a poignant comment on universal human qualities. Even as we laugh at Don quixote, we realize that there is something of him in all of us. Like Don quixote, who wished he had lived in an earlier age,and like cervantes himself, who wished he were a military hero.Most of us cherish unlikely dreams.Voltaire's Candide tells the tale of the woes that befall a naive young man named candide.The novel's subtitle, Optimism,reflects the fact that Candide is brought up to believe that his world is the best of all possible worlds. In the story Candide he was the nephew of a German Baron, that grows up in the baron's castle under the tutelage of the scholar Pangloss. He started liking the barons Daughter which was his cousin. One day Someone Saw them both kiss in went in told the Baron.So one day he went off in 2 Gentleman Approached him in asked him would he like to be king in he told them he was broke but they still told him he doesn't need money. They fooled him in he ended up going to jail.The regiment was composed of two thousand men; that composed for him four thousand strokes, which laid bare all his muscles and nerves.They told him the Baron got destroyed & his daughter got raped.This story is characterized by its tone as well as by its erratic and fast moving plot.This story is Important because Candide reflects Voltaire's lifelong aversion to Christian regimes of power and the arrogance of nobility, but it also criticizes certain aspects of the philosophical movement of the Enlightenment. ... Voltaire strongly opposed certain Enlightenment ideas about social class. Don Quixote he was a middle-aged gentleman who spends all of his time reading books.As a result of his constant preoccupation with these fanciful tales. One day him in Sancho Panza was walking in he saw a windmill but from the books he read he thought they were Giants.He wanted to battle with the windmills in service to God to Remove evil of breed from the face of the Earth.Sancho Tried to tell him that the Giant was a windmill and what looked like their arms are the sails that are turned by the wind and make the grindstone move.He still didn't listen.So he got on his horse in was approaching it in before he could reached it he thrust his lance into the sail,the wind moved it with so much force that it broke the lance into pieces and picked up him in the horse then dropped to the ground and were very badly battered.Don could have broke his back from how hard he fell.Don Quixote was living in a Big Fantasy from the books he read in didn't know how the real world was. Don Quixote is important because you shouldn't Believe everything you Read,Hear, or See. People who believe things easily without having to be convinced are credulous.... A synonym for credulous is gullible, and both terms describe a person who accepts something willingly without a lot of supporting facts. Candide, who is naive, overly optimistic and is, in some sense, lost in the fantasy of his philosophy. In Don Quixote, we find a similarly naive protagonist after whom the novel is named. Don Quixote, after reading so many tales of chivalry, loses touch with his world and names himself a knight errant, upholding values such as honor, chastity, steadfastness, etc.. Don Quixote mediates the world through stories about giants, magicians, moors, etc., of which he sees himself as the protagonist.Even though Candide was a product of a relationship outside his mother's legal marriage, he was permitted to grow up in the castle of the baron. Once outside the castle, however, he quickly starts to learn about the harsh and violent realities of the world. In spite of his terrible experiences, he never loses his resolve to continue on and to do the right thing, even after making foolish decisions. One way to remember this protagonist's name is to think of 'candy,' which is related to his sweet and childlike nature. Both Don Quixote and Candide have loyal companions who follow them on their adventures. Sancho Panza accompanies Don Quixote across his medieval landscape just as Cacambo accompanies Candide across the Americas. The two novels share an interest in somehow tracing or imagining fantastic territories that are, in some sense, foreign or impossible.Both of these Stories Are Alike because both of the characters had their own ways of thinking that led them both into bad situations in the story.In Conclusion This is how both of the stories are alike & different.

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Depths of Irony in “Candide”: Voltaire’s Critical Narrative

The revolution era consisted of violent change in political order, government, social order. Candide by Voltaire was able to express a variety of ideas and popular themes during this era. Voltaire used humor and satire to make statements on controversial topics while maintaining historical relevance.

The main character in Voltaire's book is named Candide. He is the nephew of a German baron and grew up in the baron's castle located in Westphalia. Under the teachings of his scholar Pangloss, Candide lives life under the motto that he lives in the best of all possible worlds. Pangloss teaches that everything in life happens for a reason and has a very optimistic outlook. Candide falls in love with the baron's young daughter, Cunegonde. The baron catches the two kissing and ejects Candide from the castle. Candide is soon forced into the army of the Bulgars. Pangloss dies and during Candide's journey he comes across Martin, another philosopher whose teachings are very pessimistic compared to the late Pangloss. Candide's eyes open to reality. These opposite views revealed to Candide that there is more to this world then what Pangloss spoke of. His adventures are encouraged by his desire to find his beloved Cunegonde again. Throughout his travels he meets her off and on but always ended up losing her again. Throughout Candide's journey he meets many individuals and learns about their experiences that enriches Candide about other worlds. Voltaire's writing of Candide and his journey integrated historical relevance of the enlightenment while creating an entertaining story for the reader.

Politics, religion, philosophical optimism and wealth were just some of the controversial topics during the enlightenment era. Throughout Voltaire's Candide, he used tactics of humor and satire to deliver criticizing statements of these topics. For example, on page 40, And since pigs were made to be eaten, we eat pork all year round. Therefore, those who have affirmed that all is well talk nonsense; they ought to have said that all is for the best. Here, Pangloss uses logical connectives like therefore to link statements that have no logical relationship and reasonings that make no sense. Candide meets many individuals who have suffered and witnessed the suffering of many. Voltaire highlighting the pain shared by many emphasizes the ignorance and lack of sympathy of people with higher power. On page 44, dying rape victims are described as Young girls who had been disemboweled after they had satisfied the natural needs of various heroes, heaved their last sighs. Voltaire labels rapists as heroes and the act of being raped as a natural need. These quotes use satire to ridicule the idiocies of philosophical practices; and exposed the lack of moral rules and rights exerted during the age of the enlightenment.

During the time of the author, Voltaire experienced the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment which spread ideas involving traditional authority, natural rights, rational change, freedom, knowledge, experience and the pursuit of happiness. These different topics and other historical events were acknowledged throughout the text of Candide. Candide continuously referred to the teachings of Pangloss for direction and authority. Before the enlightenment traditional authority was surrounded by philosophical teachings. On page 71 Candide comments And what will the Journal de Trevoux say?. This journal was a Jesuit periodical that often-published articles critical of the philosophers of the enlightenment. On page 45 the author references to the protestant reformation, A man who had never been baptized, a good Anabaptist, During that time Anabaptists were protestants who opposed infant baptism. On page 64 Voltaire refers to suicide, But I have seen only 12 who voluntarily brought an end to their suffering... Robek. Robek (1672-1739), wrote a book justifying suicide and drowned himself. The morality of suicide was often debated during the Enlightenment. On page 89, A parish priest came and sweetly asked for a note payable to the bearer in the next world which referred to the billet de confession which was a theological oath that the clergy would demand a dying person to sign before performing the last rites.

In the beginning of Candide's journey, he is naive but throughout his adventure to find happiness, his candor allows him to receive an education through his experiences. As Candide learns so does the reader. Voltaire was able to write a story while including historical relevance of his time period which supplemented the readers understanding. Candide also including satire and humor attached an entertaining aspect to the reading while getting Voltaire's opinion on controversial topics during that time period.

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About James Mercer Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes, born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin Missouri born to his mother Carrie M. Langston, and father James N. Hughes. Both his parents were born of mixed race descent which made him not entirely black, but rather brown and of mixed race. His non-black ancestry included a white slaveholder who fathered children with a woman he owned, who was of a French and a Cherokee Indian woman. Hughes's mother came from a family of respected black educators and activists. His great uncle from his mother's side became the first black congressman who ran for Virginia. Hughes's grandmother Mary Patterson Langston, attended Oberlin College during a time where not a lot of women attended school to gain an education. Her first husband passed away in John Brown's Ferry which was a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry Virginia. Her second husband which was Langston Hughes's maternal grandfather was an activist for abolition and black education so that his people could get an education. Most of his family were educators which made him come from a family of scholars. After his parents separated, his father moved to Cuba then to Mexico. Hughes was mostly raised by his mother and grandmother, but later then raised by a couple named the Reeds. Growing up, Hughes attended public schools in Kansas and Illinois and was named the class poet for his outstanding writing skills, which sparked up his thirst for poetry. Furthermore, he remembered the value and importance his grandmother had taught him, she told him stories about heroic and courageous slaves who were abolitionists that struggled in order to get away from slavery and gain their freedom. Her tales impressed his nobility and views on black people and the importance of patience and laughter in the coming of hardships. After his grandmother had passed, Hughes didn't cry nor reacted. Something about her stories taught him the uselessness of crying. Instead, he used the value of laughter as a shield to hide his pain. After the death of his grandmother, Hughes often became a lonely and unsettled child, where he experienced an off childhood. He said he found the values of books as a coping mechanism. In 1916, at Hughes's 8th-grade graduation, he was elected class poet, where he later felt that he was a victim of a stereotype. He noted that there were only two Negroes in his class and his English teacher was always stressing about the importance of rhythm in poetry. That's when he felt that he wouldn't let his classmates down, and has been writing poetry ever since. Soon after, his mother and stepfather settled in Cleveland Ohio where he began high school. While attending school, Hughe's teacher, first introduced him to famous poet writers such as Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, which later became a significant influence upon his career. His high school classmates, (who were mostly white), referred him as a handsome Indian-looking youth, who was remembered by his natural abilities and respective behavior. Hughes was also an athletic individual who won athletic letters in track and was held office with medals and awards. After he had graduated from high school, Hughes decided to travel to Mexico to be with his father so that he could pay for his college tuition. His father James N. Hughes, had left the United States in order to escape and get away from racism. His father disliked black people because of the racism he encountered. When Hughes arrived in Mexico, but his father would constantly discourage him for his poetry, he wanted him to be an engineer rather being a writer. Hughes's poetry was beginning to show in the Brownies Book, which was a publication written for children edited by W.E.B Dubois. Hughes started to work on more ambiguous material for adult readers. His poem, A Negro Speaks of River," marked one of the main developments on his career, which later then appeared in the Crisis magazine in 1921. Hughes later moved back to America and attended Columbia University in New York City. Life in the nation's capital was filled with racial tensions, which made Hughes feel discontent about his decision staying there, however, he fell in love with a neighborhood called Harlem in just east of New York City. He felt that that's where he belonged the most. The people there enjoyed his work and his poetry. In 1923, he signed up to work on a large ship, so that he could travel and see the world. On his first voyage, he visited the west side of Africa where he stayed for a while. On his second voyage, he visited Spain. In 1924 he spent six months in Paris, France, and felt happy and put together. He felt that France wasn't as racist and discriminatory like America was towards the blacks. His racial rhythmic like poetry sparked up his coming of success. He later started to appear on many African American publications. He also appeared on Vanity Fair Magazine, which was relatively popular among middle, and upper-class woman. In 1924, Hughes went back to live with his mother in Washington, D.C. He hoped to earn enough money to return to back to college. Hughes then landed in a job where he was a personal assistant for a scholar that worked at the Association For The Study Of African American Life and History. He later realized that he was into more millennial jobs and preferred to focus more on his poetry as its the best thing for him. He got a job as a busboy, which paid very little money. One day as he was cleaning down tables, he spotted a poet writer named Vachel Lindsay, who is one of his favorite poet writers dining alone. Hughes was determined to get his work out there so he slipped a stack of his own poetry on to his table. Lindsey read his work and was amazed and kept him in touch with famous editors at a publishing house called Alfred A. Knopf. That was when Hughes knew he was gonna make it. He was able to write many poems. His poem called "The Weary Blues" won first prize in a literacy competition that was sponsored by a magazine published by the National Urban League. In 1926, that was when his professional life sped off. He was apart of a book published by Knopf which was a collection of poetries. He initiated a magazine titled Fire!! A Quarterly Devoted To The Negro, which was an outlet that talked about emerging the works of black writers. Hughes also published an essay called The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, which talked about his outline on the arts of philosophy and the problems that are among black artists. After the making of his second publication called Fine Clothes to the Jew, many Black critics didn't approve of his work because of how much Hughes focused on the negative aspects of Black culture. Hughes later responded with a quote from the essay The Negro Artist, "We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. [] If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves. In 1929, he graduated and received a bachelors from Lincoln University. Upon the following years, he published many poems in which he talked about the hardships and risks Blacks had taken. In 1932, he joined the Soviet Union with a group of African American Artists, in order to make a film about the treatment of black people throughout the United States. Although the film was never made, being there drew Hughes into the Communist party. He felt that their racial equality was more liberal than American Politics. Throughout his sophisticated life, Hughes's creative aspects influenced him into the very many genres that his work provided him with. In 1934, he published a short story collection called The Ways of White Folks which talked about the bitter reflections about the race relations that took place within society. Hughes traveled back to Spain to write about the Civil War as a journalist for the Baltimore Afro American newspaper. He traveled with another journalist named Zora Neale Hurston, in which they both wrote a play called The Mulatto which was a play that talked the cause and issues of racial identities. Hughes also founded three theatres, which were located in Harlem New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Most of Hughes's plays were commercially successful, which later became an outlet for many other Black editors. During World War 2, Hughes's politics had grown. He published a memoir called, The Big Sea in which he confessed his feelings towards his poetry. He also started to write a column for the Chicago Defender newspaper in which he created a fictional character that would talk about the racial issues and the observations in life that he would encounter. These columns eventually made their own 5 separate books. Hughes later published the book Montage of a Dream Deferred in 1951, which was remembered for its powerful imagery and language. In 1954, the book, Simple Takes a Wife, gained an award for the outstanding views on the racial issues among Black people. Over the next few decades, Hughes continued on with his work, doing the variety of projects that he had to get done in order to make improvements among the Black community. On December 30th, 1960, Hughes was presented with the Springarn Medal for achievement by an American. On May 22, 1967, Langston Hughes passed away because of abdominal surgery which leads to prostate cancer in New York City. His legacy still lives on for fighting for black rights through his works of poetry.

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Author Essay Langston Hughes

Contents

BIOGRAPHY:
BIG PICTURE:
Works Cited

BIOGRAPHY:

Langston Hughes faced many difficulties during his childhood. Born James Mercer Langston Hughes, his parents separated after his birth, leaving him in the care of his grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston. According to R. Baird Shuman, Hughes' mother's ambitions often kept her away from him, as she moved frequently to find jobs, and his father distanced himself from the young writer. Despite this, Hughes, under the care of his grandmother, familiarized himself with literature and art, particularly books and music. Despite his youth, he was passionate about his heritage, racial oppression and the importance of family. Martin Summer observes that Hughes was individualistic and fiercely independent from an early age.

Hughes' furthered his interest in poetry at school. Following the death of his grandmother, Hughes' mother brought him to Lincoln, Illinois, where he began writing poetry regularly (BHS). Hughes was nominated Class Poet, and was recognized by his peers as a talented writer. He continued to Central High School, where his poetry was featured in the school magazine. Despite his mother's relocation from Lincoln to Chicago, Hughes chose to remain at Central High School, nurturing his passion for literature and poetry.

Around this time, Hughes reconnected with his father again. Summer describes the relationship between Hughes and his father as volatile. The two attempted reconciliation in Mexico City in 1920, where his father was managing an American company. Disregarding his father's request to pursue a career in engineering, Hughes relocated to New York City, where he enrolled in Columbia University. Hughes' time at Columbia was brief, as he decided to acquire a more worldly education.

Hughes took time to explore the world and matured from his experiences. He traveled the world, taking jobs such as a seaman during his expeditions on the African Coast, and as a kitchen worker in Paris. It was during this period of time, Shuman explains, that Hughes published I Wonder as I Wander, an autobiography depicting his travels around the world. Hughes returned to Washington, D.C., reconnecting with his mother. He also reenrolled in Lincoln University, receiving a liberal arts degree in 1930.

Hughes was able to accomplish multitudes before his death in 1967. Despite his financial hardships during the Great Depression, Shuman comments that Hughes worked on multiple Broadway productions, was employed at the Office of Civil Defense during World War II, and even spread his ideas to the next generation through a number of children's poetry books. His work as a Harlem Renaissance leader made him famous, as he wrote about social issues and the Harlem everyman (729). Hughes was appointed as a cultural emissary by the U.S. State Department, due to his prominence in literature. He died a respected author and reformer on May 22, 1967, his reputation having grown on an international scale.

BIG PICTURE:

Femi Lewis associates Hughes with other writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr., and Claude McKay. He characterizes Hughes as one of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance, believing that Hughes' use of the everyday lives of African-Americans, is what makes his writing so successful. Lewis states that [Hughes'] discussion of themes such as assimilation, alienation, pride, and unity has impacted and influenced society, [creating] lasting stories.

Hughes is celebrated and recognized by the simplicity and efficacy of his words. His work as a Harlem Renaissance leader, political activist and peace advocate was recognized across the globe. His words inspired many and its effect can be seen in Renee Watson's piece for The New York Times:

When my English teacher introduced her poetry unit, using Langston Hughes as the first poet, my spirit leapt for joy just as it did at church. I recognized the vernacular in his poems. I knew that mother who told her son that life for her had been no crystal stair. I understood the stench of rotting dreams, I knew the longing of a people wanting America to make good on its promise. When Hughes called his people beautiful like the night sky, my grandpa and cousins and neighbors came to mind. I said amen in that classroom for the first time. The lesson spoke directly to me, about me.

This excerpt highlights the effectiveness of the simplicity of Hughes' expressions. Stating how the realistic aspect of his work resonated with her, Watson personifies her teacher's lesson, explaining how she could understand and relate to what Hughes was trying to explain. He provided clarity to many others, like Watson, by invoking strong messages through ordinary mediums.

Despite his unaccommodating childhood, Langston Hughes managed to become one of the most prominent and well-respected American writers in history. His pieces on social injustice and the lives of Harlem residents have influenced many African-Americans, and have impacted society greatly. Watson states: I hope we dig into his work, as we do Scripture, and find something that speaks to us, pushes us past comfort, makes us say amen. Readers will find themselves sympathizing with Hughes' words, as his work subtly explains the importance of cultural pride. Hughes' legacy is remembered through his poems and books, as well as the many generations he inspired, and will shape society for the better.

Works Cited

Langston Hughes. Greatest American Writers: Twentieth Century, edited by R. Baird Shuman, Vol. 6, Marshall Cavendish, 2002, pp. 729-745
BHS. Langston Hughes. Black History Now: Black History Biographies from the Black Heritage Commemorative Society. 28 Jul. 2011. www.blackhistorynow.com/langston-hughes/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. Web.
Summers, Martin. Hughes, Langston (1902-1967). The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. 19 Jan. 2008. www.blackpast.org/aah/hughes-langston-1902-1967. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. Web.
Kinzer, Stephen. For a Poet, Centennial Appreciation. The New York Times. 14 Feb. 2002. www.nytimes.com/2002/02/14/books/for-a-poet-centennial-appreciation.html Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. Web.
Langston Hughes. The Poetry Archive. 1 Dec. 2005. https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/langston-hughes. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. Web.
Lewis, Femi. 5 Writers of the Harlem Renaissance. ThoughtCo. Updated 5 Sep. 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/writers-of-the-harlem-renaissance-45326. Accessed 3 Nov. 2018. Web.
Watson, Renee. Remember Langston Hughes's Anger Alongside His Joy. The New York Times. The New York Times. 1 Feb. 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/opinion/langston-hughes-birthday.html Accessed 3. Nov. 2018. Web.

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Poetry by Langston Hughes and his Life as an African American

Langston Hughes poetry reflects his life as an African American and the time period in which he lived in.He was born in 1902, in Joplin Missouri. After his parents separated, he and his mom lived a life of poverty moving from place to place. After completing high school and attending a year at Columbia University, he worked in a series of low skill jobs. He became a merchant seaman in 1923 visiting ports in West Africa and living for a time in Paris, Genoa, and Rome before coming back to the United States. He then published some poems and an essay which earned him fame. In 1929 he graduated from Lincoln University. Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was a talented author in many areas including: fiction, drama, translation, criticism, opera libretti, memoir, cinema, songwriting, and poetry. He was also enthusiastic about African American culture and wrote down folklore and poetry.The 1920s was a time period called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the primarily African American Harlem neighborhood in New York City where black culture and the social and artistic boom happened. It is considered a golden age in African American culture, resulting in literature, music, stage performance and art. The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s.

Blacks wanted to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The civil war abolished slavery but it didn't end discrimination and segregation against African Americans. Blacks continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. In the mid-20th century, African Americans were fedup of the prejudice and violence against them. Blacks along with many whites, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.Langston Hughes Mother to Son poem reflects his life as an African American and the time period in which he lived. In this poem, a mother uses the metaphor of life being like a set of steps. This poem uses symbols like tacks, splinters, uncarpeted floor and dark, unlit corners to refer to hardships, challenges, and darkness in life. She tells her son that life is difficult but just as you walk up a set of stairs, you have to keep moving in life, keep going forward and upward. She tells him not to go back down even if climbing the stairs is difficult. She confesses that she is still climbing, still going up the steps, even though her life is still filled with hardships and problems. The mother has an inner strength which gives her perseverance and allows her to keep going against all odds.This poem also touches on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The poem talks about the painful history of African Americans. The poem is comparing a staircase to the many hardships in life. His poem has obvious tone of hopelessness, perseverance, and sadness. Langston is talking about a mother talking to her son and all young people suggesting they keep persevering when its hard too. Most African Americans during this time could relate to Hughes's poems.

They lived in these hard times, encountered these struggles he talked about. They felt Hughe's frustration. His words were affirming, challenging, and political. They spoke to all those trying to live up to his advice and reach for their dreams. Hughes showed that wisdom was passed down through generations when writing about the mother telling her son to never give up, even though times were difficult and hard. Wisdom is learned through experience and influences one's decisions to continue in the face of hardships.The poem I, Too by Langston Hughes reflects his life as an African American and the racism and unequal treatment of African Americans in the time period he lived in. He wrote this poem from the eyes of a black servant. He begins by saying that he too can sing America, meaning that he is claiming his personal right to feel patriotic towards his country, even though he is the darker brother who cannot sit at the table and must eat in the kitchen. This implies to the common practice of racial segregation during the early 20th century, when African Americans faced discrimination in almost every way of their lives. They were forced to live, work, eat and travel separately from whites. They had few civil or legal rights.

They were often victims of racial violence, and faced economic isolation in both the North and the South.He then claims that tomorrow he will join the others at the table and no one will dare send him back to the kitchen. Not only that, but the people will see how beautiful he is, even though he is black and will therefore feel ashamed of how they were treating him. This states the hope that African Americans have for tomorrow meaning the future. Poetry by Langston Hughes reflects his life as an African American and the time period in which he lived in. He condemned racism and injustice and promoted equality and celebrated african american culture. Langston Hughes accomplished many things in his life. He was a poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, social activist and more. His writings influenced people and helped shape american literature. He played an important role in many people's lives. People could relate to his writings especially African Americans.

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BIOGRAPHY:

BIG PICTURE:

Works Cited

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Poetry by Langston Hughes and his Life as an African American

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