“Lone Star”-Borderlands America Essay

Hispano-Mestizo America/Borderlands America: â€Å"Lone Star† The film â€Å"Lone Star† is a murder mystery film based in Frontera, Texas which is a multicultural border town. The significance of the conclusion of â€Å"Lone Star† is based off of several contexts presented throughout the film. The portrayed contexts of the film have to do with relationships and conflicts between races, social classes and power struggle within a community and the border between Mexico and Texas. These contexts place significance throughout the film as a murder mystery is sort of a background to all the events and conflicts that take place. The phrase â€Å"Forget the Alamo† is an idea that is depicted throughout the film. The phrase refers back to the time when Texas was trying to gain independence from Mexico and also deals with a great conflict and broken promises between the Anglos and Mexicans. This idea significantly deals with conflicts between the borders. The phrase is meant to say that they should forget the border war and racial conflict. We even see the border issue between Mercedes Cruz who is a Mexican restaurant owner and a Mexican immigrant herself. She will make rude remarks to the Mexican â€Å"illegal aliens† as she presumes them to be. And to other fellow Mexican Americans, if they speak their language she will stop them and tell them to speak in English because they are â€Å"in America†. And she will even call the border control on other Mexicans she finds trying to sneak into the border town. The concept of cross-cultural relationships is shown in the film by the relationship between Pilar and Sam. Pilar is a Mexican-American school teacher and Sam is an Anglo police officer of Frontera. They had a past relationship when they were younger and in the film find a recent renewed romance between each other. This idea also contributes to the conflicts between races. There is some conflict between Anglos and Mexican-Americans. There is some hostility between them that we see in the film when we look at Pilar’s mother, Mercedes, and between Sam. She has not liked the idea of her daughter being with a â€Å"white† man even back when they were teenagers and still in their renewed romance as they are older. Another reason of her disapproval deals with a surprise later found that Pilar and Sam are half brother and sister. We also see the racial conflict with the questioned morale police officer, Charley Wade. While he was a police officer he was a tyrant to Mexicans and African Americans and would do whatever he can to make them afraid of him, to show whose boss since he was an Anglo. He harassed Otis’ who was an African American who owned a bar that was popular among African Americans. He also shot a Mexican man he knew was smuggling immigrants across the border. And also at the end of the film, he attempted to unjustly kill Otis. His character just showed racial prejudice and abuse of his positional power as a police officer. Another concept from the film is the conflict between the social classes within the community. This concept is portrayed in the film by the political election approaching and the involvement the Mayor Hollis Pogue in the murder mystery years ago. He struggles with dealing with his social and political status and possible loss of power as Mayor in the truth that he is the one who killed Charley Wade. There is also a part of the film that shows the class struggle as the talk of building a new jail as it is an issue of the upcoming sheriff election which is between Sam and a fellow Mexican colleague. And also from the issue about the school curriculum and the debate about which one teaches the â€Å"real† history of the area which one place the right race as the â€Å"good guys†. The teachers debate about this as they know they live in a community with different cultures, race, and classes. In the film â€Å"Lone Star† we see a struggle between the contexts of race, class, power struggle and border wars presented throughout the film. Although the murder mystery is the main plot of the film, these issues are really what the film is about. The film shows the cultural and racial struggles in the relationships  between Otis and other African-Americans and Mexicans against Charley Wade, Mercedes and Sam, Sam and Pilar, and Mercedes and â€Å"illegal aliens†. Whatever race or culture they may be, they have to deal with multicultural issues whether it may be against their own race or another race. Some deal with it in prejudice ways and some have the â€Å"forget the Alamo† mindset. â€Å"Lone Star† opens its viewers to the sometimes â€Å"hidden† issues that are often unforeseen in border towns. It shows the cultural, racial, power, class struggles and conflict present in border towns. It also shows the hardship that the community and people of the community deal with, not only with each other but also within themselves and identifying who they really are and trying to be multicultural and dealing with people of different race and cultures. REFERENCES * Rosa Linda, Fregoso. â€Å"†Gender, Multiculturalism, and the Missionary Position on the Borderlands†Ã¢â‚¬  Docutek Eres. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. . * Mckenzie, Shelly. â€Å"Teaching John Sayles’ Lone Star: A Guide for Teachers of Grades 10-12.† Mediapede.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. .

Five Forces Model for Industry Analysis Essay

New Entrants The online bookstore industry that Amazon.com has pioneered in was, at first, very hard to penetrate. There were different barriers such as distributing capabilities and the variety of the selection offered that are supposed to be hurdled. Amazon successfully solved the tricky parameters as being the first one to get into the whole idea of online retail. With being the first, they had the luxury to set what were the norms for the industry. Factors that may lower these barrier tactics would be a wider selection and the ability to go to an actual bookstore to exchange or return books or other products. This network of â€Å"actual† retail spaces makes it easier for the consumer to return or exchange the products they were not satisfied with. These handicaps of Amazon were the basis for the emergence of book retail giants Barnes and Noble and Borders in the online shopping industry. Industry Competitors The major competitors of Amazon are Barnes and Noble and Borders. Barnes and Noble is a retail giant offering books and CDs both in their outlets all over the country. It opened their online industry in 1997 and has become the fourth largest e-commerce sites today. Focused largely on the sale of books, music, software, magazines, prints, posters, and related products, the company has capitalized on the recognized brand value of the Barnes & Noble name to become the second largest, and one of the fastest growing, online distributors of books. Their â€Å"advantage† to Amazon is the brand name and the availability of actual retail outlets in which consumers could go in to exchange or return products easily. They also have an established book selection based in their retail operations. Borders is another multi-media retail store found in major cities around the country. Started out as a small bookshop in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, it has since expanded into one of the finest bookstores. In 1992,  Borders was bought by the Kmart group which further flourished the company into a Multi Media Giant with a wide selection of Audio, Video and Books found throughout the United States. The Online Bookstore industry have become a fierce business which involves discounts, varied selections and fast delivery in which all three companies are challenging each other. Buyers The consumers of this industry can be found in every corner of the population. These are mostly people who have had some form of higher education and have access to the Internet and computers. The segment of online shoppers has increased dramatically in recent years due to the convenience of shopping in the comforts of the home and the accessibility of the Internet. These developments have made it easier for consumers to log on and buy on the Internet. Consumers also tend to compare prices among the retail leaders such that buyers are able to buy products with very big discounts compared to ones bought in â€Å"actual† retail outlets. The bargaining power of the consumer is based on the competitive strategies of each active firm in the industry. Thus, consumers can challenge one firm for charging more than the other one such that the firm will beat the price of the competing firm. Suppliers Amazon’s suppliers range from the publishing and media houses to electronics’ manufacturers. Amazon buys all their books, videos and audio CDs from the multi media houses and publishing giants such as Time Warner, Doubleday etc. Amazon also has alliances with other bookstores to cover orders that they cannot serve. Substitutes The substitutes for Amazon and other online bookstores are the â€Å"actual† book  retailers and music stores such as Barnes and Nobles, Virgin Megastore, Tower Records, Sam Goody and other small mom-and-pop outlets. With the rise of online retail, there will be little impact from these substitutes. One impact would be some consumers who would like to hold or listen to their purchases prior to buying and those who are into the whole â€Å"shopping experience†. Barnes and Nobles have jumped into online retail and have succeeded into diversifying into the new e-commerce industry. Industrial Organization Model Degree of Competition Due to the shift of focus for Amazon, it has become the â€Å"Earth’s biggest anything store†. Its competitors have expanded from just online book retailers Barnes and Nobles and Borders to top audio retailers CDNOW.com and online auction house EBAY.com. Amazon has an overall lead of 40% market share against the other online retail firms. Their international business has more than doubled over the past 2 years and this growth increased Amazon’s share in the online business market. Life Cycle Amazon, in it’s first years, had negative income but the rise of e-commerce sites and being the pioneer made the succeeding years led to boom time for them. Their growth period was during 1994 to 1995 when they were the first of its kind in the world. They incurred very high costs in terms of distributions to customers. Still with a negative income, Amazon went public in 1997 and had one of the biggest IPOs of the time. With investors banking on future positive cash flow for this company, Amazon’s market value soared. Many people caught on with the idea of online shopping, thus, Amazon’s success. Amazon’s success as an online retailer prompted bricks-and-mortar rivals Barnes and Noble and Borders to join in. Competition decreased Amazon’s profitability so in the past couple of years, Amazon has expanded to more than books, audio and video to electronics and other retail concepts. Social Relevance Amazon’s products are marketed for every consumer possible. Books, audio, video and electronics are appreciated by majority of the population especially those who have access to the Internet. Amazon is active in pursuing literacy programs for young children by collaborating with the makers of the Dr. Seuss books. They have actively participated in the Dr. Seuss shops, story telling sessions and Dr. Seuss days. Degree of Globalization Amazon’s strength internationally lies within its networks in major ports and cities around the Globe. Amazon first started out in Seattle but as soon as they have established a niche market, they have opened shop all over the nation and in cities such as London, Berlin, The Hague, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and many more. These branches overseas improves their delivery service to a wide consumer base. Extent of Government Control There has not been many government regulations regarding online retailing. A group of CEOs whose firms that are engaged in such practices have formed an organization called Global Business Dialogue. This GBD group supports the development of a seamless global system that delivers the broadest array of goods and services to the largest number of consumers at the most competitive prices. This work effort will: offer recommendations to the WTO, including making the moratorium on online tariffs permanent; and collaborate with governments to target and eliminate discriminations against, or other non-tariff barriers to global trade in, electronic commerce. This working group will also provide an avenue for the GBDs to consider and promote the growth of the electronic marketplace in an environment unencumbered by detrimental taxation. Degree of Vertical Integration Amazon’s primary value chain includes purchasing/sourcing, marketing, distribution and after-sales services, which includes returns and exchanges from unsatisfied customers. Their main focus is in the purchasing/sourcing and in the distribution of the products to the consumers. Their investments are therefore, geared towards warehouses in key points of high consumer demand areas and an efficient delivery and distributing system to service all its consumers. Thus, Amazon controls most of its distributing system that spans across borders. Inter Organization of Network Economics Amazon in its efforts to sustain its market leadership in the online retailing industry has tied up with various online organizations. Netscape Navigator and Amazon will offer members of Netscape Netcenter a co-branded storefront where Earth’s Biggest Bookstore will be easily accessed through Netscape Netcenter (home.netscape.com). In addition, Amazon.com has multi-year exclusive and premier bookseller relationships with 5 of the top 6 sites on the World Wide Web: AOL.com, Yahoo!, Netscape, GeoCities, and Excite. These partnerships widen Amazon’s presence in the World Wide Web. Sensitivity to Business Cycles The Online retailing business has a very quick cyclical growth. Amazon being one of the firsts to venture in this type of commerce are all ready in what seems to be in their decline stage where market share is declining. Therefore, Amazon is expanding to different industries within online retailing. Amazon and other online retailing firms are very sensitive to business cycles due to the speed of technology involved in the services they offer. Dynamics of New Knowledge Generation Online retailing relies on the work of an excellent distribution system. Amazon has invested their money into expanding their network of distribution centers around the globe. They also have investments in creating better  technology for tracking orders and giving efficient delivery systems for their customers. Amazon.com has remained on top of the online retailing business despite the entrance of giants such as Barnes and Nobles and Borders. Their success is attributed to two factors; timing and continuing to invest heavily into the inventory and distribution systems. Amazon, by being the first of its kind, has a big lead over the nearest competitors due to their experience and its reputation as the first movers. Their thrust remains on improving efficient delivery systems across borders and to build name recognition as the number one retailing firm in the Internet. They have also ventured into different retail options to keep that lead. Marketing, Innovative inventory and distribution systems, and name recall have helped Amazon build a sustainable competitive advantage. In order for any online retail company to remain prosperous and income generating, they must invest a lot of time and money into research and development of more efficient operations and distributions systems. This proved to be key for the Market Leader in online retailing, Amazon.Com.

English - Hazard Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

English - Hazard Communication - Essay Example The general public is relatively ignorant when it comes to information on hazardous chemicals. II. Description of the problem Manufacturers Chemical manufacturers and suppliers are at fault for failing to give adequate information to the public concerning the hazardous character of chemicals. This is despite the fact that, each and every chemical manufacturer is required by law to give sufficient information on the hazardous nature of chemicals. As a result, many people have suffered chemical accidents that have scarred their lives. The standard for hazard communication requires that information be made available, through material safety data sheets, training of employees and labeling of chemicals. Therefore, chemical manufacturers are required to document comprehensive literature on the hazardous nature of the chemicals they produce. Each chemical should have its name, synonyms, acronyms, Chemical Abstracts Services, as well as its chemical designation and substance composition. Inf ormation on substance composition should include active ingredients, inactive components, and impurities. In order to ensure that information on the hazardous nature of chemicals is easily comprehensible, manufacturers and exporters should also use texts and symbols. Employers and employees Most affected are employees working in chemical producing companies, who are oblivious of the hazards they are subjected to at the work place. This is the primary group that needs to have access to hazardous communication. This is because they come into contact with these chemicals on a daily basis, thus rendering them vulnerable to danger. Employers need to protect their employees from danger by conducting training programs on how to handle, transport, store, and dispose of hazardous substances. Once employees have access to such kind of information, they become increasingly aware of their rights, as well as how to best protect themselves. General public However, the general public should not be isolated, as they often come into contact with chemicals, and they deserve to know how to handle such chemicals. There have been numerous reports of people going health facilities to seek medical help after mishandling chemicals. Some chemicals have permanent effects on victims, for example carcinogenic chemicals. Public awareness needs to be conducted to prevent people from being harmed by these chemicals. III. Significance of inquiry It is the prerogative of manufacturers and suppliers to give adequate information concerning the hazardous nature of chemicals to target audiences. It is not humanly possible for employers to evaluate and document all the safety hazards a chemical can cause to its employees. Nevertheless, employees have the right to be informed of the dangers they are most likely to face, when they come into contact with these chemicals, as well as how they can protect themselves. However, this information is not always readily available, thus the essence of this pro posal, to champion for the rights of the public to be well-versed of the threats and risks of dealing with these chemicals. More needs to be done to ensure safety management is upheld in all areas concerning chemical handling. This will in turn, lead to a significant reduction in the number of people suffering from chemical related problems. IV. Relevance statement The

Boiler Room from legal perspective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Boiler Room from legal perspective - Essay Example The basic function of this firm is to sell illegal drugs like Cocaine to the public in order to make enormous profits. For a firm to achieve this function the movie used some normal residents to do the work of trafficking and selling drugs to the public that is illegal. Unreasonably, Seth falls in the trap of the firm by being a client. By doing this the firm abuses the law that one should not be found in possession, manufacturing or even sale of the illegal drugs. For the firm is to be accused of possessing and distributing of illegal drugs. The effects of the three steps are that those drugs may cause death to the users, may also cause serious health problems to the users also and may also cause violence, which may pose threats affecting everyone’s safety leading to a non-peaceful state. According to the law penalties on illegal drugs are based on three elements and which are: The quantity of the drug, the type of the drug and the purpose of possession. On the quantity of drug, there is a bigger penalty for people, organizations and firms who are found in possession of a large quantity of drugs than one got with just a small amount of the drug. Generally, possessors of drug selling organizations are supposed to get weighty charges like 25years in jail without parole. The second one is on the drug, which is based on their potential for dependency in contrast to medicinal drugs whereby possession of more potential drugs calls for a bigger penalty than just mere possessors of no potential drugs. According to the law, it is a more serious crime having illegal drugs for sale other than having them for subsistence use. Due to this, possession of drugs for sale to other will face more serious charges and penalty than possessing drugs for personal use. For instance possessing a small amount of drug for personal use the charges may yield to $10000 fine while possessing drugs for sale may

Microbes and Us Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Microbes and Us - Essay Example Perhaps Agaricomycetes are the largest and oldest individuals in any groups of organisms, and they include the largest fruiting bodies in fungi (PÃ ¶ggeler & WÃ ¶stemeyer, 83). Armillaria gallicajkb generate average-sized mushrooms though their mycelial networks have been approximated to cover areas up to 15 hectares. According to Miller et al. (26), Agricomycetes serve as decayers, parasites, pathogens and mutualistic symbionts for both animals and plants. They create their widest ecological effects via their activities like wood-decayers and ectomycorrhizal symbionts of forest trees. Agaricomycetes are extensive in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems, and a few have secondarily returned to aquatic habitats. Miller et al. (31) asserts that Agaricomycetes have a lifecycle similar to that of Basidiomycota. These fungi are nearly usually filamentous, with no yeast phase. Nevertheless, yeasts are produced by some agaricomycetes that are cultivated in an underground fungus gardens by attine ants in the neotropics. The hyphae are divided by septa which are infiltrated by a barrel-shaped dolipore that is bordered by membrane-bound parenthesomes in filamentous form. A dikaryotic mycelium is the dominant stage in the lifecycle although stable diploids have been reported in Armillaria. In some species, dikaryotic and monokaryotic mycelia have been shown to generate asexual spores though asexual forms are obviously not as extensive as in the Ascomycota. Mushrooms are multicellular fruiting bodies generated by dikaryotic mycelia under conducive. There are many forms of mushrooms including puffballs, crustlike resupinate, bracket fungi, and coralloid forms. The basis for the 19thC classification of Agaricomycetes and other fungi was gross morphology of fruiting bodies. The Friesian taxa are no longer viewed as natural entities although these groups remain essential for grouping fruiting body forms and they are emphasized in numerous essential field guides

Wal-mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Wal-mart - Essay Example The company has a wide customer base with over 200 million customers served on a weekly basis (Walmartstores). In 2010 Wal-Mart Corporation achieved sales of $405 billion. This sales figure represents an improvement of 1% in comparison with 2009 and 8.34% in comparison with fiscal year 2008. These figures are impressive considering that during this period the world was in the middle of a global recession. Typically the retail business in one of the hardest sectors hit during a recession. Wal-Mart was able to keep growing despite the recession. In 2010 Wal-Mart had a return on return on assets of 8.9%. Wal-Mart obtained a small increase in sales in 2010, but its profitability when up a lot. The net income of the company was $14,335 million. The company achieved an increase in net income in 2010 of 6.97%. The cash reserves of the corporation increased from $7,275 million in 2009 to $7907 million in 2010. The total assets of the company went up by 4.45% in 2010. The debt to equity ratio of the corporation in 2010 was 1.34. This figure is bit above the normal desirable ratio of 1.0. The industry debt to equity ratio of the retail industry is 0.48 (Dun & Bradstreet). This means that Wal-Mart’s debt to equity ratio is below the industry. Due to the fact that the company is such an established business the company has the ability to finance its operation beyond the norm. The ratio means that the company has chosen to more of its operations with debt than with equity. The current ratio which measures the company’s ability to pay off its short term debt is 0.87. The 8.9% return of assets metric of Wal-Mart is much better than the industry norm of 3.6%. In 2010 the company had a return on equity of 19.65%. This figure is much better than the industry norm of 4.2%. Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the most successful businesses in America. The common stocks of the firm are a good

Why is it important for educators to understand how to interpret test Assignment

Why is it important for educators to understand how to interpret test scores - Assignment Example Through this objective and measurable assessment, educators can then device effective methods for intervention to improve the student’s performance and then retested again to see if the intervention was effective. Interpreting test scores will also give educator’s the unique insight and ability to assess the efficacy of their own teaching method whether it has achieved its goal by comparing the actual scores of its intended audience to the their objective. It will also allow them to evaluate if the tools they use for teaching serve its purpose. This insight which test score interpretation provides enable educator’s to address any identified any weakness both in their teaching method and curricula and provides them the opportunity to improve. Thus, it is it important for educators to understand how to interpret test scores not only to rank or grade students, but more importantly, determine if their methods, tools and their selves are effective as educators and that their tools and methods serve the purpose of educating their