The Three Best Places to Start Your Journalism Career

The Three Best Places to Start Your Journalism Career When I was in grad school I had a part-time gopher job at the New York Daily News. But my dream was to be a reporter in a big-city newsroom, so one day I put together my best clips and walked into the office of one of the papers top editors. Id toiled at several student papers and had an internship under my belt. Id also worked part-time at a local daily paper when I was an undergrad in journalism school. So I asked her if I had what it took to get a reporting job there. No, she said. Not yet. This is the big-time, she told me. You cant afford to make mistakes here. Go and make your mistakes at a smaller paper, then come back when youre ready. She was right. Four years later I did return to the Daily News, where I worked as a reporter, Long Island bureau chief and eventually deputy national news editor. But I did so after getting solid newsroom experience at The Associated Press, experience that prepared me for the big leagues. Too many journalism school grads today want to start their careers at places like The New York Times, Politico and CNN. Its fine to aspire to work at such lofty news organizations, but at places like that, there wont be much on-the-job-training. Youll be expected to hit the ground running. Thats fine if youre a prodigy, the Mozart of journalism, but most college grads need a training ground where they can be mentored, where they can learn - and make mistakes - before they hit the big time. So heres my list of the best places to start your career in the news business. Weekly Community Papers Probably not a sexy choice, but short-staffed weeklies offer new hires the opportunity to do a little bit of everything - write and edit stories, take pictures, do layout, and so on. This gives young journalists the kind of broad newsroom experience that can be valuable later on.​ Small to Midsized Local Papers Local papers are great incubators for young reporters. They offer you the chance to cover all the things youll cover at bigger papers - cops, courts, local politics and the like - but in an environment where you can hone your skills. Also, good local papers will have mentors, older reporters, and editors who can help you learn the tricks of the trade. There are plenty of very good local papers out there. One example: The Anniston Star. A small-town paper in southwest Alabama may not sound like the most exciting place to start out, but The Star has long been known for solid journalism and a crusading spirit. Indeed, during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, The Star was one of few southern papers to support school integration. The states racist governor, George Wallace, nicknamed it The Red Star for its liberal stance. The Associated Press The AP is the boot camp of journalism. People in the AP will tell you that two years at the wire service is like four or five years anywhere else, and its true. Youll work harder and write more stories at the AP than in any other job. Thats because while the AP is the worlds largest news organization, individual AP bureaus tend to be small. For instance, when I worked at the Boston AP bureau we had maybe a dozen or so staffers in the newsroom on a typical weekday shift. On the other hand, The Boston Globe, the citys largest newspaper, has dozens if not hundreds of reporters and editors. Since AP bureaus are so small, AP staffers have to produce a lot of copy. While a newspaper reporter might write a story or two a day, an AP staffer might write four or five articles - or more. The result is that AP staffers are known for being able to produce clean copy on very tight deadlines. In an age when the 24/7 news cycle of the Internet has forced reporters everywhere to write fast, the kind of experience you get at the AP is highly prized. In fact, my four years at the AP got me the job at the New York Daily News.

The Purpose of a Resume - Resume Tips for Recent Graduates

The Purpose of a Resume - Resume Tips for Recent Graduates This article was originally posted at New Grad Life. A common misconception about resumes is that they are meant to describe what you did in your past jobs. In actuality, the most effective resumes are written from a FUTURE perspective. In other words, your resume will work if you think about what a potential employer would want to know about how you WILL perform. What experience do you have that will make you a contribution to their firm or organization? Photo by Ed Brambley, CC-BY-SA 2.0 If you are writing a resume from the perspective of the FUTURE, here’s what will happen: 1. Measurable Results. You will write detailed bullets that demonstrate your capability to achieve measurable results. That means: include numbers as often as possible. Don’t just say you tutored students; say how many and by how much their grades improved. Don’t say you were successful; tell us exactly what results you achieved. Don’t just say â€Å"increased;† tell us by what percentage. Your readers will imply that you can produce similar results for them. 2. Finding Relevance. You will think about the purpose and priority of each item on your resume. Does it matter that you worked as a bartender if you are now applying for marketing positions? Maybe, if you you were a student working 20 hours/week and still maintained a 3.8 GPA, or if you were the highest-tipped bartender at the establishment. Additionally, bartending demonstrates your ability to multitask and interact with a wide variety of people. But it does not need to take up three lines on your resume, just because it’s what you did; you can make it a short bullet under your â€Å"Education† section to show you were doing it while in school full time. 3. Deleting Irrelevant Items. You will delete anything that is irrelevant or of minimal importance to your future. These things include stuff you did in high school. High school activities are no longer relevant – you had 4 years of college to become who you are now, and if you did less in college than you did in high school, looking into the future, the logical conclusion is that you will do less and less as time goes on. Let us help you look your best on your resume and in all your writing. The Essay Expert provides writing help with LinkedIn profiles, resumes, cover letters, and other writing projects.

Information System Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Information System Development - Essay Example   Ã‚  The third stage is system design, which specifies the functions and operations of the new system. The fourth stage is system acquisition, where an organization purchases the necessary components of the system. The fifth stage is system implementation, where the responsible personnel installs and tests the new system to make it operational (Papadopoulos, 2008). The final stage is system maintenance, where there are regular adjustments to maintain its operational status until the system’s life elapses.   The approaches to system development have their differences. The System Development Life Cycle uses stages of system development, and therefore requires a lot of time to implement. The other approach is prototyping, which involves the creation of an experimental model in a quicker and cheaper manner. The other approach is use of packages, where an organization purchases fully developed programs. The other approach is the End-user development, where an organization buil ds a system with less technical assistance, using the end-users. Finally, outsourcing is the other approach, where an organization uses external vendors for the development and operation of its information system (Davies, 2011).   In the conception activities of system development, there is the creation of a feasibility report and formulation of recommendations regarding a system. System analysis involves data collection, analysis, and documentation. For instance, the data collection occurs through interviews or observations, for the determination and documentation.

Multiyear Plans and Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Multiyear Plans and Analysis - Essay Example We analyze data as revealed by the City of Charlottesville 2009, 2010 Financial Ratios and also carry out ratio analysis that helps us discover more information about the business (Gibson, 2012). We compare the City of Charlottesville’s 2009 and 2010 performance using relevant ratios. Liquidity measures, or short-term solvency measures -measure the ability of the city to meet its short-term debt obligations. These ratios majorly focus on current assets and current liabilities (Denise, 2013). The current ratio shows how many times the current liabilities are included with the current assets. Higher ratios are recommended. The city retained its current rate for the two years under study. The ratios are above one which is a good indication of the city’s ability to pay its short-term obligation. The working capital is the difference between a company’s current assets and its current liabilities. A higher amount is required as it shows the excess of assets after accounting for all liabilities. The city’s performance in 2010 is hence more preferred as compared to that of 2009. Long term solvency measures the city’s ability to meet its long-term debt obligations. Debt ratio indicates the ratio of total liabilities to total assets. A lower percentage is more preferred (Denise, 2013). In 2009, 39% of every dollar of the city’s asset was debt while the ratio was 38% in 2010. 2010 is hence more preferable to 2009. The profit margin indicates that the city is not generating income. Its expenditure is higher than its income. From a dollar in revenue the city is making 11 cents loss. The city’s management is hence not useful in converting the available assets into sales. They should hence come up with new policies of raising revenue that will help the adequately meet their expenses. Days payable ratio are the number of days it takes a city to pay their creditors. The longer the period, the better

Role Play (Marketing Behavior Class) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Role Play (Marketing Behavior Class) - Essay Example The ideal is to remain with the same company until retirement around age sixty† (Countries: Employment, 2011, par. 1). The leather shoes for men will be durable yet affordable shoes for working and professional men; however it will have the comfort of a sneaker. I plan to conduct a venture between the athletic shoe manufacturer Nike and the designer shoe company Salvatore Feragammo. Feragammo will be the primary manufacturer; however Nike will contribute when developing the shoe and will be used for various purposes. Some of the material used will be the same that Nike uses in the production of their athletic shoes. The retail price will be about $400 (U.S.) obviously, the target market will be a men, aged 24-49 years old with a high disposable income. I selected this as a product to market to the Japanese because the subculture of Asians is more likely to be affluent (Lindquist & Sirgy, 2003).

Understanding The Concepts Of Acculturation

Understanding The Concepts Of Acculturation It is very important to understand the concepts of cultural change before discussing acculturation. A bilinear model regarding the adaption to a new culture is proposed by John Berry and his colleagues . These authors theorized the following four acculturation attitudes: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization based on combining either high or low levels of acculturation and enculturation: (see Figure 3.1). The meaning of these four different attitudes is explained. As John Berry claims, integration involves immigrants accepting the new culture, while maintaining close ties with their original culture. These immigrants learn and follow local customs without losing their bond with their customs from their homeland. They are both highly acculturated and enculturated as shown in the diagram below . Assimilation, on the other hand, involves immigrants who totally accept the new culture, and reject their original culture. These immigrants will learn the language and follow local customs so thoroughly that no trace of their original heritage remains. People become assimilated in American society when they erased their cultural identity, unlearned their ethnic cultural practices and beliefs, and accepted the core values of mainstream American culture . Separation occurs when immigrants reject their new culture and live according to the customs of their original culture. These immigrants move to a new culture and find people from their homeland, and live as if they are still in their original culture, only in a different place . Marginalization represents immigrants who reject the new as well as their original culture. These immigrants no longer feel comfortable with their heritage, but the new culture does not appeal to them either . According to Berry, the attitude affects the process of acculturation. For example, as immigrants prepare to go to the U.S., they may have decided to assimilate into the culture. However, upon arrival they discover that they reject some customs of their new country. As a result they change their attitude from assimilation to integration. Thus, the attitude changes according to the various traits of the immigrants. Portes and Rumbaut argue for three major factors that can impact and change the attitude of immigrants. According to Portes and Rumbaut three factors are vital to understanding the acculturation trajectories of contemporary migrants. The first factor is their educational background, fluency in the English language, and economic and class status in their homeland. The second factor refers to the social policies of the host government and the historical and contemporary perceptions and attitudes of the mainstream society toward a particular immigrant group. The third factor is the immigrants social presence and networks and their family structure. The educational background of the immigrant groups and their social class back home are the social and cultural capital that they bring with them, which has an enormous impact on their economic assimilation. Although all three factors help determine how immigrants will acculturate into the larger mainstream American society, the second factor is the most relevant to shaping the acculturation outcomes of many nonwhite immigrants, especially of t hose immigrant groups who have little social and cultural capital and are not white. Even though the Indian Diaspora is racially distinct from the larger American mainstream, professional Indian Americans have an abundance of human-cultural capital acquired through their advanced education, knowledge of the English language, and social class in their home country. The low political profile of the Indian Diaspora also gives them a degree of invisibility that shields them from the scrutiny of the larger mainstream culture . The three major factors of acculturation presented by Portes and Rumbaut naturally change the course of the process for many immigrants. For example, an immigrant with poor English skills, who is determined to assimilate, may find it impossible because of the language barrier and decide instead to integrate into or even separate from the host culture. Bhatias work illustrates the process of how these factors affect Indian immigrants as they adapt to their new culture. Indians after immigrating to America, inevitably undergo some type of adjustment or acculturation process. Though inside the home Indian immigrants could maintain their culture, once outside the home, the system or society itself forced Indians into the acculturation process on all levels of culture. It is necessary to understand how immigrants acculturate in the U.S. As Waters and Bhatia suggest, unlike many Caribbean immigrants, most Indian professionals are middle class, live in suburban America, and are not subject to the structural inequalities of low wages, racism, and violent neighborhoods . However, there are some parallels in how both these groups of migrants come to terms with their racial and ethnic identity. On one hand, the Indian migrants are very proud of their Indian ethnicity and heritage. On the other hand, they invoke what Bhatia calls the discourse of sameness [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] and universal humanity to distance themselves from their racial and ethnic identity . I n other words, they realize that certain costs associated with being Indian are painful and hurtful and that invoking the discourse of sameness is meant to establish equivalence with the white majority. For example, Indian immigrants compare their experiences in the work place with those experiences of white Americans in an attempt to show equality with the majority. In one of Bhatias interviews an immigrant credits his own hard work and accomplishments for his position in the company, while: If I was a white American male, you know, maybe there would be prejudice because Im too short. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] So being an Indian, I dont think it put me at a different spot. Or at least, thats how I feel . Sunil Bhatias study demonstrates that the members of the transnational Indian Diaspora are more comfortable with a cultural identity than a racial identity because their insertion in the transnational Diaspora has transformed them from being Indian to being people of color . The research illustrates the complicated nature of the acculturation of Indian immigrants. As demonstrated above, the attitude of the immigrants toward their new host country is only a starting point for the process. As these immigrants experience their new culture, their own personal background reshapes their attitude, and changes the way they interact with people, regardless of nationality. Clearly Indian immigrants move through a process as they acculturate to their new surroundings. While Berry, Portes and Rumbaut and Bahtia all approach the subject from different directions and perspectives, and though they may not agree with one another, it is clear that each body of research illustrates a complicated process of acculturation. Taken individually the research results may appear to be contradictory, however, a closer analysis shows that their research actually supports one another. The attitude of the immigrants, studied by Berry, plays a major role in the process, but these attitudes may change in response to the three major factors affecting acculturation presented by Portes and Rumbaut. This ever changing process has been documented in Bhatias work, which demonstrates that immigrants adapt individually to their new culture, in this case the United States. That means there is no set formula for determining what will happen to an immigrant once he or she arrives. This process takes place within any immigrant to any country, therefore it will be beneficial to de monstrate specifically some of the elements unique to Indian immigrants, and how these elements influence the process. 3.2 Influencing Elements of Acculturation 3.2.1 Family Perhaps the most important element to consider for Indian immigrants is family. As these Indian immigrants relocate to the U.S., start a family and begin the process of finding their place in society, it is important to understand the processes which influence the impact of acculturation on their families. To first-generation Indian immigrants and their children, family plays a vital role in their lives. Hodge agrees with this assessment, and points out the stark difference between Indian culture and western culture. Western culture emphasizes the individual, material success and secularism. The Indian culture, by contrast, places much more value on community, especially the family, and on spiritual matters . Acculturation plays an important role in understanding about the family structure, including family conflict as well as differences between first and second-generations. For example, the process and outcomes of acculturation determine which values are important to the first-generation and therefore retained and passed on to the succeeding generations. In addition, the process of acculturation might also determine expectations for subsequent generations. For example an assimilated individual would expect the same from his or her children. Most of the work reviewed on acculturation includes some variables related to the family structure, including family conflict, specifically intergenerational family conflict. Some scholars dedicated their studies to South Asian families. Among them, for example, Mathews provided a more general consideration of South Asian families to explain how they function. First, she explains the relationship of the family in a social order, where the father is usually considered the head of the family, which continues to be the traditional way of Indian families in America. Furthermore, she describes the role of both father and mother in the family, in which the mother usually takes care of the household and raises the children and the father usually serves as decision maker and provider . Bringing up the children in a new and different culture, which often conflicts with their core ethnic values, creates problems for not only the parents but also for their children. As values may be extracted from both the native culture and host culture, it is inevitable that conflicts arise. Thus, in this case both parents and children struggle to balance family values of their own culture with the family values of the mainstream culture. In addition, according to the traditional Indian family, the eldest person is considered to be a decision maker such as career decisions for family members or approving marriages. This naturally means parents, especially in the first-generation, make the important decisions . Clearly the attitude of immigrants from India to the U.S. will be greatly influenced by the strength of their bond to their traditional family values. This attitude will steer them through their acculturation process. 3.2.2 Dress According to Khandelwal, Indian American immigrants have a mixed type of acculturation regarding dress. It is quite different for men as compared to women. In the case of men, they adopted western dress more easily than women due to the influence of colonialism. Indian American men started wearing a western style of dress even from the first-generation. However, most of these first-generation Indian immigrants do not have a correct idea of the weather and climate system of the U.S. For example, an Indian man, who came to America in the winter of 1994, was wearing a light silk suit and shivering outside. One old man saw him and told him: Son, this is not the time to show off your new silk suit. I told you how it is going to be cold here today. If you catch a cold or become sick, nobody will take care of you in this country. Here you have to take care of yourself. All the money your family spent on making this suit for America will go down drain in one doctors visit here. There will be other occasions when you can use this suit! . Indian women immigrants are recognized mainly by their traditional dress called sari. Accordingly many female Indian immigrants try to preserve their culture by continuing to wear this kind of traditional dress. Saris are considered works of art due to the careful design and color combinations. However, in the workplace they alternatively wear western style clothing. An Indian woman who immigrated to America during the 1990s was forced to wear Western dress due to her job requirements as a cashier in a store. She said the following: See, I have to wear these mens clothes here. Its ok because I am doing mens job here. Our clothes do not fit in this American culture. To feel Indian, we can wear our own clothes when we are not on the job Before coming to America, she had never worked outside of her house and wore only traditional clothing. However, she adapted to the Western dress because American culture forced her to do so . Khandelwal continues to suggest that US born immigrant children are unlikely to continue wearing traditional dress. For example, young female immigrants in America prefer having readily made kurta-pyjama outfits to the saris, because they do not know how to wear these saris . At the same time, weddings among Indian Americans still continue to be traditional, in which the couple wears traditional dresses either bought in America or brought from India during a visit to the home country. However, due to some specific reasons, some of the Indian American immigrants and their children mostly use western styles only. For example, Nikki Haley, a daughter of Sikh Indian immigrants and one of the current rising stars in the Republican Party, wears mostly a suit, rejecting the sari in order to gain greater public acceptance while running for governor of South Carolina in November 2010 . There is a significant difference in clothing style between India and the U.S. Immigrants who desire to retain their cultural style of dress will have different experiences with acculturation than those who are willing to accept western standards. This plays a bigger role in the lives of women immigrants than for men. 3.2.3 Religion Religion plays a major role in the life style of Asian Indian Americans. Religious beliefs and practices are intricately interwoven with the aspects of acculturation and cultural identity of these immigrants. So it is important to understand the influence of religion on the acculturation of Asian Indian immigrants. India is a country of diverse religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Among these religions, 82.6 % of Indians practice the Hindu religion which makes up a clear majority of the population, while the remaining 17.4% of the population practices Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Judaism and Parsis . These percentages reflect the population of India; however, Pakistan and Bangladesh have larger percentages of population which practice Islam. The existence of many religions in India indicates that religion plays a major role for Indian people. Thus, most of the Indian people have one religious belief, whether it is Hindu, Islam, Christianity, etc. Each immigrant community brought its own sociological traditions from its place of origin, including ethical and religious behaviors. In the same way when Indians first started to migrate to the United States, they essentially had to carry out religious practices and teachings on their own . As the population of immigrants practicing Hinduism increased, so increased the number of religious organizations. With the development of a greater Hindu population practicing religion at home and in specific religious organizations became the norm. Leonard also noted that as the number of Indian immigrants has increased, religion has naturally become more important, as it has become a part of Indian American identity. Hinduism helps Indian Americans differentiate themselves in the United States, from mainstream U.S. culture as well as from other Asian and South Asian groups . Like earlier immigrants, the post-1965 Indian immigrants maintained their belief system, which provided an important way to keep and transmit their values to following generations . Most of the Indian immigrants in America can practice their religion. As an Indian immigrant Rupu notes: I think thats what it is about America. Thats what brought everybody here. Its that being American you can be who you want to be and still be an American. Theres a freedom of religion, a freedom of expression . In America, the practice of Hinduism reflects its American surroundings. For instance, most related religious activities take place on weekends in order to suit work schedules and priests explain sacred texts in English, rather than Hindi or Sanskrit . Asian American immigrants faced lot of challenges due to strong religious beliefs which influenced their acculturation. For example, their religious beliefs may be challenged or even given up as they are exposed to the religious beliefs, practices, symbols, and rhetoric of the mainstream culture. For Asian American immigrants who are faced with prejudice, racism, and discrimination, religious conversion may provide a sense of refuge and facilitate processes of assimilation and acculturation, which may explain why the majority of Asian Americans in the United States identify themselves as Christian . But one should not assume that Asian American immigrants adopt Christianity merely as a way to be accepted by the majority culture. Indeed, for some Asian American immigrants, Christianity is their religion of choice. However, it is different in the case of immigrants from India. As Khandelwal claims, unlike other Asian immigrants, Indians who are mostly from Hindu religion, have displayed little questioning of their faiths and they are unlikely to convert to another religion. Moreover, Hinduism, the dominant religion in India, faces the challenge of being a minority religion in America, where Christianity is dominant . These immigrants will therefore face the challenge of maintaining their belief system in the minority, which is opposite from their homeland. This in turn, will affect their acculturation process greatly as they struggle with their religious views. Clearly religion plays a major role in the process of adapting to a new culture. Religion is especially important for Asian Indian immigrants, who already place a high value on their own belief system. Whether holding fast to their own religion, or converting to some other religion, these immigrants will practice some kind of religion after their arrival in the U.S. 3.2.4 Food Indians who have a vast variety of food habits have a hard time adapting easily to Western food. One of the major causes for this lies in the great number of religions practiced by Indian immigrants. As a result of religious food laws many of Indias people do not consume animal products, which include eggs. The work of Bankston and Hidalgo shows that Indian immigrants are highly unwilling to change their food consumption habits. For example, most Indian Hindus avoid beef and pork, while Pakistanis avoid pork and alcoholic beverages. Most Indians prefer meals from their own culture. However, in households with children, American style meals have become more frequent . Indians have preferred home-cooked meals for a long time, and it has been a part of their culture. They believe that eating at home together with all members of their family is an important ritual for bonding with each other. Many Indian Americans continue to preserve their traditional food habits in America. However, most of the Indians are also adapting to Western food. One example is that pizza is the next alternative food in popularity when compared to their native foods, as well as a timesaver when cooking at home. Indian parents in America expect their children to appreciate home-cooked food more than meals eaten outside the home, although sometimes US born children have a hard time understanding why they need to eat homemade food . Some Indians run Indian restaurants, where they serve national food for not only Indians but also other Americans. As Indian food is mainly spicy, the waiters ask American customers if they prefer their food mild, medium or spicy. One owner of an Indian restaurant had the following to say: I have seen situations where Indian food can send them sweating all over [running to decrease their spiciness by drinking more water or juices] that is not good for our business, so we try to accommodate them . For many Indian immigrants food plays a major role in the acculturation process. While religion prohibits complete adaptation to American food, traditional spices and preparation of Indian cuisine varies greatly from that of Western cuisine. This also plays a role in preventing some Indians from accepting the new style of food. Naturally everyone must eat, therefore food plays a major role in the acculturation process. 3.2.5 Marriage Customs According to Indian tradition, Indians get married based on an arranged marriage usually within their own community. This tradition has been preserved from generation to generation. The selection of a marriage partner depends on a set of persons recommended by the partners families (with the full approval and consent of the parents). Family or community members continue to be involved in the selection of a suitable mate. The family and educational backgrounds of the potential partner are thoroughly examined before introductions are made. Indians believe that their children will be happier if they are married to someone who shares the same history, tradition, religion, and social customs and who will be able to impart these values to their children, thus ensuring the continuity of the community. They believe that such marriages made within the community tend to be more stable and long lasting than those that cross community borders . In fact, many American born Asian Indians encounter tremendous obstacles in dating and marriage. On the one hand, their parents warn them not to date until they marry and expect that the children get married according to an arranged marriage which is a custom brought over from India . Indian parents believe that sexual contact before the marriage is immoral and corrupt. On the other hand, the American born children have friends for whom dating is very common and normal. These immigrants desire to fit in the environment in which they find themselves. Accordingly there have been many cases where some Indian lovers are secretly married, and in the worst case, some couples have committed suicide as of result of their relationship being rejected by family. However, some Asian Indian American men and women still prefer to return to their homelands for arranged marriages. In these cases, family members at home seek out appropriate possibilities for marriage to their son or daughter. At the right time, the son or daughter returns home to choose from the candidates assembled by their family . Even the other religion practiced by these immigrants plays a role in the process of acculturation. For example Muslim parents usually accept interfaith marriages for boys, because children customarily follow the fathers faith. However, daughters face a greater challenge because parents do not want their grandchildren to lose their Islamic affiliation . Some Indians came after their marriage in India, whereas some came as students. Most of the students have returned to India for getting married. There are also a few instances where an Indian married an American because of the relationship between the countries and individuals. Other Indians have dated Americans. However, the fact is that dating is not a traditional Indian custom and Indian parents tend to warn their children not to date, although they are slowly yielding to their offsprings demands to be allowed to date . The situation of arranged marriages in India is changing too. As second-generation immigrants Sanjay and Veera observed that: Even in India you see people pushing back and becoming more Westernized, more mainstream. Ive seen my cousins, and [by, #184] leaps and bounds, theyve gone past what is traditional. [Indian American young adults] dont drink and smoke and have lived a sheltered life. Theyve always lived at home and havent gone out much. My cousins in India are more advanced. A lot of my cousins married their boyfriends . Customs surrounding marriage can have a major impact on the acculturation process. Especially for those coming from India, where marriages are still arranged by family, the concept of dating before marriage creates an obstacle for many parents and their children. While customs among Indian immigrants are changing, allowing for young people to find their own spouse, many first-generation immigrants have a hard time letting go of old habits. For these families the acculturation process will be influenced by the marriage customs of the U.S. 3.2.6 Language Different languages are spoken in India depending on different regions. Some languages are quite independent and difficult to understand by the neighboring people who speak a different language. In spite of these language differences, most people are able to speak Hindi due to its status as a national language and English due to British colonial rule for two centuries in India. The Indian government recognized the English language as an additional official language. Language is one of the main norms that brings people together and helps them to adapt to the U.S. Proficient English knowledge is one of the reasons Indians migrate to America, and it also helps them to assimilate more easily into life in America . After 1965 most of the Indians arrived in America from different language groups. However, they all knew English. Most immigrants join Indian communities, where they can practice not only Hindi but also their regional language. As Khandelwal claims, first and second-generation immigrants practice different uses of language in America. As for the first-generation, they tend to speak English and at the same time they tend to maintain their native language. However, first-generation immigrants face linguistic problems to speak American English due to their thick Indian accent. The second-generation immigrants who are already born and brought up in the US are usually thought to speak English with an American accent and rejected their parents Indian accent, in turn; their parents considered their childrens English as too American. These second-generation Indian immigrants are involved with Indian languages through movies, songs or when they visit India. Though they understand their parents language, most of them are not able to speak or to write it . According to Khandelwal, the first-generation immigrants tend to be more integrated speaking both English and their mother tongue, whereas the second-generation grows up speaking English as a mother tongue and learn their parents language only to satisfy their parents wishes. Obviously, language plays an important role in the acculturation process for Indian immigrants. While many immigrants have already learned English before they arrived, their English proficiency affects their ability to assimilate into the new culture.

We Wear the Mask Essay -- Literary Analysis, Paul Laurence Dunbar

William Shakespeare once proclaimed that â€Å"the past is prologue.† Are we really bound by history? Is our present a mere continuation, a monomorphic continuation if you will, of the novel that is our existence, or can it be developed in a bifurcated fashion? Paul Lawrence Dunbar, prominently noted as the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race" (p 905) is a prime example of how the past can be depicted in a multifold manner. His two works " We Wear the Mask" and "An Ante-Bellum Sermon" illustrate the double-consciousness that Dunbar was most notorious for. It must be noted, however, that these two works, despite differing in forms of dialect, are conflations of one source, through an intrinsic connection. One will evidently see both the apparent polarity and hidden exemplification associated with the implementation of duality within the aforementioned poems. Dunbar's ability to conflate the standard English verse and the "Negro" dialect not only enables him to illustrate yeste rday's hardships but also tomorrow's promises, in which each poem in itself epitomizes the properties of bifurcation through juxtaposition and exemplification. To exemplify, Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask" utilizes the standard English verse to shed light on the hidden "tears and sighs" (p 918,1) of African Americans, particularly slaves. As one maneuvers through the poem, he/she will notice a transition of thought, not necessarily of time. In other words, the time frame does not shift throughout the poem. The past is not a date or a mark on a timeline, it is the previously held belief of the speaker. What shifts is the speaker's perspective of the mask. He transitions from mourning the conditions of those wearing it(past view), to perhaps noting its benefits( ... ...s. We have seen, through the two works analyzed above, how the incorporation and recognition of the past[both in terms of time(Biblical and Antebellum) and thought] depicted a metamorphosis within the "Negro" slave and his ability to transcend this institution of imprisonment. Du Bois, who coined the term double-consciousness, used it to label persons whose identities were multifaceted in nature. Of course we see Dunbar's use of two forms of verse as fitting pieces to the puzzle that is double-consciousness, but, we have yet to realize that we have not found all the pieces. The other pieces lie in the speakers within each poem, as exemplified in this essay. The transformation of perception, initiated and propelled by the acknowledgement of the past(in multiple forms), can certainly be at the crux of the double-consciousness that defines Paul Laurence Dunbar.