Duke Ellington Essay Example for Free

Duke Ellington Essay Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D. C. Ellington was an influential American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader. His popularity grew leaps and bounds after his death. The nickname ‘Duke’ was given to him by a childhood friend who admired his regal demeanour. The name caught on with audiences and he became famous for instrumental combinations, improvisation, and jazz. He started studying keyboard at the age of seven and by seventeen he had made a professional debut. His move to New York City in 1923 brought him one step closer to his worldwide success and recognition years later. Ellington and his band played for everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to President Nixon and teamed up with greats such as Miles Davis, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Louis Armstrong. His achievements include his honorary doctorate from Howard and Yale University. He was also a member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. He was elected as the first jazz musician member of the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm and won and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in America. In addition to this, he was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French Government. He became one of the most well-known African-American celebrities of the twentieth century. While recording with record companies he also appeared in several films. Ellington also joined the Alpha Phi Alpha, the first black Greek letter fraternity. The suave and witty Ellington described his musical style as American music rather than just jazz. Some very impressive musicians served in his orchestra and remained with the organizations for many years. Although, many of them were noteworthy in their own right but it was Ellington’s creativity and musical brilliance that made them into one of the best orchestral units in the history of Jazz. Some of his major compositions include Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Satin Doll, Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me and I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart. His music had the ability to change style, adapt and grow within each era. An example of this is The Hot Jazz of the 1920s which changed into the Swing music in the 1930s. This is one of the major reasons why the Ellington Orchestra was able to hold its own for so many years. When Jazz music became increasingly popular in America, Ellington spontaneously improvised his simple themes to more creative orchestration while uniquely combining tone quality. He innovated his music along the way by carefully attending to structure and balance within his jazz arrangements at the same time allowing for solo improvisations. He had an ability to create fresh sound by drawing instruments from different sections of the band and voicing them together as a unit. Piano players like James P. Johnson and Willie The Lion Smith influenced his incredible piano technique. He died on May, 24 1974, in New York City. Ellington will be forever remembered as an ambassador of American music and culture for his enormous contributions to American music. Jazz music could not have developed in America without Ellington’s efforts. His estimated two thousand compositions, arrangements, and collaborations continue to move people worldwide. WORKS CITED: †¢ â€Å"Duke Ellington. † Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 7 Feb 2007, 21:16 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 Feb 2007 http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php? title=Duke_Ellingtonoldid=106404877. †¢ â€Å"Edward K. (Duke) Ellington†. G. Shimmer Inc. April 2002. http://www. schirmer. com/default. aspx? TabId=2419State_2872=2ComposerId_2872=2311 †¢ â€Å"A Centennial Tribute to Duke Ellington†. Howard University Library. 28 June 1999. http://www. founders. howard. edu/ellington/default. htm

Hearts Under Fire in Centralia Fire :: Film Movies

Hearts Under Fire in Centralia Fire If you want a community interest story portrayed through a film, then Centralia Fire is the one. Centralia Fire relates to anyone that is connected to at least one type of community—weather it is a town, a sport’s team, or a family. No one wants to be forced out of his or her comfort zone. Centralia is a town—created in the 19th century because of the invention of coal—filled with diverse communities threatened from poisonous gas and toxin (deadly carbon monoxide and dioxide) after a trash burning fire spread underneath the town beginning in 1962 and is still under—or should I say above—fire. The documentary is about how the communities within Centralia were stripped of their lives and families from a place they called home. The producers, Anthony â€Å"Doc† Mussari and Kathleen â€Å"Kitch† Loftus-Mussari, set the tone an individual tone through no use of music or dissolving of pictures. Viewers are able to establish their own separate opinions and understandings about the community of Centralia. If dissolves and music were incorporated the message of Centralia would have been dissolved itself. If you want to know what small time life is like, then Centralia is the place where you can find the answers. You see video of town meetings where the committees disputed the inefficiency of the government’s help. There is also footage of the daily life of Centralians-riding dirt bikes, playing little league baseball, sitting on porches, or walking dogs—amongst the many pillars of pipes releasing toxins from beneath. The essence of community life was prevalent, so I agree with on of the town’s people who said, â€Å"You have to live in a small town to know how it is to live in a small town.† Doc pulls you in and makes you one of the community members within Centralia with his atmosphere exposure through not zooming. It seemed as though the film was following the lead of the television show, You’ve been Caught on Candid Camera; the interviewees and people at the town meeting had no clue there were video cameras taping them. It’s like they video camera was hidden in someone’s shirt pocket or in someone’s glass frames. I am amazed not one person in the film looked at the camera. In 2002 only fifteen people in ten homes are keeping their fires ablaze with their strong determination and love for Centralia. Even though the film was finished in 1992—30 years after the fire in Centralia began—it still picture perfectly depicts how the lives of the community members were altered forever and how their heart have been burned from the government.

Child Abuse

 Essay

Many children suffer child abuse everyday at the hands of adults and it is often their own parents who are the ones to do this. They are beaten, kicked, thrown into walls, or burned with cigarettes. They have their heads held under the water of toilet bowls, are scalded by hot water or they are forced to stand in freezing or scalding showers until they pass out. A child could be stuffed into running washing machines or sexually molested and beaten so bad that they are unable to move. Some suffer from neglect in the forms of starvation and lack of medical attention, and still go unnoticed by outsiders such as child protective services or perhaps even their pediatricians. It is not unheard of that children die every day in the U.S. alone from one form of child abuse or another. It is a sickening practice that has no set standard of rules to finish off the persisting problem. Different states have different methods and agencies to help prevent abuse in the home, some work quite well while others bomb – a dangerous gamble when it comes to the life or mental state of a child. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨The precise number of deaths each year is not known because of the extent of most fatality investigations that could be suspected as child abuse but are seen as open and shut death cases. A report from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, however, depicts more than three million reports of alleged child maltreatment practices in the year of 1995 alone. Many more children are living with abuse rather than dying from it, too. So what steps are being taken to protect our nation’s children? All states have a Child Protective Services (or CPS) system. This is the governmental system responsible for investigating reports of child abuse or neglect. In state after state, the CPS agency lacks the resources to respond adequately to the overwhelming number of reports it is legislatively mandated to investigate. All fifty states have child abuse reporting laws requiring reports of suspected abuse to be made by specified professionals and others whose work brings them into regular contact with children. Any citizen may report suspected abuse as state laws provide for reports to be made to the CPS agency or its equivalent, or to a law enforcement agency. In most states, investigations are conducted by CPS personnel, although law enforcement officers may also be involved.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨The basic concern of child welfare workers is for the safety of the child. Assessment of the risks involved in leaving a child with its family must be made quickly because children cannot be removed from their families arbitrarily. Once a child has been removed, the goal of child welfare agencies is to return the child to the family. Ideally, caseworkers develop a plan to provide parents with the education of the care that children need, free from abuse or neglect.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨This plan is not always carried out to its full intention. No state has the financial resources to provide all the services to the children and families who need them. A problem is that in state after state, CPS workers have excessive caseloads, are paid low salaries, and lack adequate training for the sensitive work involved in investigating abuse reports, and participating in decisions to remove children from their families then placing them in foster care. The turnover rate among child welfare workers is exceptionally high. A report done by the United States Department of Health and Human Services showed the rate of 30 percent to be the norm, annually.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Whatever the reason – inadequate funding, unavailable services for children and families, high turnover rates, lack of training, overwhelming numbers of reports – questions are being raised about the CPS system. The system is based on the assumption that removal from a troubled family, followed by a return to the family when that can be done safely, is best for the child. A different approach to the problems created by child abuse involves Family Preservation Services (FPS). Removal of the risk, rather than the child, is the goal of Family Preservation Services. FPS programs seek to modify the home environment or behavior of other family members so that it is at least as safe for the child to remain in the household as to be removed. Family preservation is based on the assumption that out of home care hurts children, and on the recognition that most families referred to Child Protective Service can and want to learn new ways of coping with stress. Rather than breaking families apart in order to treat them, intensive family preservation services seek to protect children and heal families by keeping them whole.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Specifically, FPS provides intensive services in the home to all the members of a troubled family for a relatively short time – four to six weeks. Professional staffs are usually assigned two, but no more than four, families at a time. Caseworkers are available to families twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. A worker can stay as long as necessary to stabilize the household, whether that means six, ten, or twelve hours. Ten states have initiated FPS programs by legislation including: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Homebuilders, an FPS program based in Tacoma, Washington, provides the longest running assessment of the effectiveness of family preservation services. From 1981 to 1994, Homebuilders saw 3,497 children. Evaluation data indicted that three months after completing the program, an average of 94 percent of the families had avoided out of home placement. Twelve-month follow up data showed that placement had been averted in 88 percent of the cases. Furthermore, the cost for Homebuilders’ family services was only $3000 per case while the costs for an average foster family home placement in the state was $7586.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨There is a down side to the Family Preservation Service, though. The track record of FPS seems impressive, but a closer look at another side reveals it’s not doing such a great job. According to the Clarke Foundation, there has never been a case of parental abuse or neglect causing serious injury or the death of a child while receiving family preservation services. But since the FPS provides services for a relatively short period of just a few weeks, there is no way of accurately predicting if after that short amount of observation that the parents are suddenly fit to care for a child. A worker only stays in the house for a maximum of twelve hours – that is not long enough to assess whether the child is in danger and the true nature of the parents. Of course no one is going to kill or seriously injure a child in front of a human services official. No studies are available that show whether the abuse reoccurred after the Family Preservation Service’s four to six weeks with the family was finished. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨The Division of Family Services takes another approach to preventing child abuse. The staff is divided into units, working a variety of shif ts and functions to best provide the services needed by the children and families. The response unit is responsible for receiving all reports of child abuse, neglect, and dependency. They determine the nature of the allegations and the appropriate response time for initiating investigation of the allegations. Once abuse or neglect is found or significant risk of its occurrence is identified, cases are transferred to the treatment unit. Workers in these units are responsible for assessing family needs and connecting the family with appropriate resources and services to address those identified areas. They are also responsible for monitoring the family’s success at utilizing the available services, and communicating with various service providers to assess the ongoing safety of the children and the progress of the family. They close cases when significant progress has been achieved to eliminate or minimize the ongoing risk of abuse to the children. The Statewide Unification Unit is responsible for providing intensive reunification services for children who can potentially return home within six months. Staff work closely with the children, their natural family, and the care provider to facilitate smooth transitions and successful reunification. When the goal of returning children to their natural families is no longer appropriate, the social workers write Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) petitions, which, once approved by Family Court, allow children to become free for adoption. They develop long term foster care plans for those children whose parental rights have been terminated, but for whom adoption or returning them to the home is not an appropriate goal. They are also responsible for providing assistance throughout the adoption process to support successful adoptive placements.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨It has been shown that through most personal accounts, that parents never really learn to take care of their children without usin g abuse. Because of this, it seems quite logical to make the main focus on protecting the child, then if returning them to their family is assessed as being completely logical, that is the way to go. I propose that a system of â€Å"three strikes-your out† be implemented. With this, the parent will lose rights to the child for a short time while they go through training and counseling. If they are deemed not insane, then they may care for the child again with the warning of what will happen to them. They will have a sort of parole officer that will check up on the family annually. On the second offense, there will be further counseling, jail time, and other means of reform. If they are granted custody again, they will be checked on frequently and unscheduled. If they can not handle the child without abuse from there, the child will be put up for adoption. There are very long waiting lists for parents who would love to adopt a child and will provide a loving family that should be utilized. The state would let the new parents take care of the child financially, but would pay for counseling of that child and training for the rest of the family on how to love on the abused. If in later years, the parent has redeemed him/herself, then they will be allowed to visit and take the child on trips and be allowed to be a friend. After the child has reached the age of eight-teen the will be allowed to decide who they would like to stay with.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨No system for child protection is going to be full-proof. There are steps that can be taken to improve them. Any system is only as good as the people who implement it. Representative Kaye Steinmetz of Missouri is proposing legislation to require additional training for Child Protective Services workers, establish a state team to assist with investigations of difficult cases, and provide for statewide protocols to ensure proper investigations. Representative Debbie Stabenow of Michigan advocates early identification of parents at risk of becoming abusers. Michigan Perinatal Coaching project is an example of this. Developed by the state’s Children’s Trust Fund, the project matches parent volunteers with parents of newborns. Through the child’s first year, the volunteer provides support to the parents, whether that involves advice about discipline or other areas that new parents may find difficult. A similar program called Family Skill-Builder is offered in the state of Massachusetts. It offers an in home case management series for families who are at risk of abusing and neglecting their children. It’s designed to prevent child abuse and neglect and to help families function independently.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Deborah Daro, director of research for the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, has several suggestions for legislators to consider. She maintains that states need to provide more services for victims of abuse, especially therapeutic, remedial and support services. She says, â€Å"States also need to look at the quality of foster care. Foster care ought to be more than just giving a child a place to live.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨The goal in preventing child abuse should be permanency and stability for the child, whether that means a return to the family or, in some cases, termination of parental rights and adoption. The sooner that can be achieved the better. This can be accomplished by setting up time tables for review of foster care cases, and by establishing specific criteria for permanency planning and termination of parental rights. Another key in preventing child abuse is evaluating each situation case by case. Placing a child in foster care may be the best decision for that particular case, while intensive family preservation services might be best for another. The best answer may lie in a combination of the ideas of different organizations. Individual attention to each case would personalize a plan to get each family on the road to a good, stable, and loving family life in less time.

Climate Change And Its Effects - 861 Words

Though the center of much debate, one undeniable fact is that climate change is occurring and affects every part of planet Earth. Some effects are actually positive, such as higher rates of photosynthesis in trees due to absorption of more abundant CO2 and warmer temperatures. However, most of the negative effects of climate change outweigh or counteract positive growth. Negative effects of climate change are affecting the land, water, plants, and animal life on planet Earth. Climate change has provided both gifts and curses for Earth’s forests. One of the most prevalent issues associated with climate change affecting forests are forest fires. Both the frequency and range of forest fires has increased in recent decades. In fact, information published by the EPA reports that, â€Å"burned area more than doubled between the 1960s/70s and the 1980s/90s.† (Backlund, p. 81) Extreme weather events, such as lightning storms, are increasing in number, causing the initiation of more fires, while higher temperatures and longer warm seasons are prolonging and promoting the wildfires. Another important effect of climate change is the temperature increases, which affect surface water. When the temperature of surface water sources such as streams, rivers, and lakes increases, fish and other organisms, which live in the water, are negatively affected. According to the EPA article, â€Å"Water Impacts of Climate Change,† fish species are negatively affected by rising water temperatures because,Show MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Climate Change On The Climate1091 Words   |  5 PagesClimate change means the fluctuation changes of the climate in a period of time, this period of time could means several decades or centenaries, the fluctuation could be regional or global. At present, what we talked most is the effect of the environment policy on the climate, in another words is the effect of human factor on the climate, especially the questions about the global warming, and climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world, it’s extremely urgent, people wonder thatRead MoreClimate Change And Its Effects1095 Words   |  5 Pageson it for reasons ranging from denial to discomfort, has evolved from those unpleasant debates to today’s friendly conversations. The topic is climate change, and the controversy surrounding it has been rooted in disagreement on what exactly causes it. Some say that climate change is a hoax and the changes are part of a natural cycle of the Earth’s climate system. Others are positive that it is the direct result of human activities and without immediate action, the planet will become inhospitableRead MoreClimate Change And Its Effects1533 Words   |  7 PagesClimate change is a concerning problem that is happening to our planet right now, due to human activity. We are damaging our planet through the burning of fossil fuels which are causing greenhouse gases. We use these fossi l fuels every day in cars, planes and many other activities and the effects of this is the warming of the Earth’s surface and oceans – the surface temperature has increased 0.8 °C over the last hundred years. [1] Oceans range over 70% of Earth’s surface and have many important rolesRead MoreThe Effect On Climate Change1577 Words   |  7 Pagesauthority over addressing greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining presence in the international community. Such emissions make up a substantial portion of impact on climate change; therefore, the UNFCCC targets areas that produce the most emissions. The ways in which the UNFCCC minimally, but not adequately, regulates climate change is through two agreements. The two treaties are the Kyoto Protocol the Paris Agreement (COP 21). In 2016, the Kyoto Protocol expires which the Paris Agreement replacesRead MoreClimate Warming And Its Effects On Climate Change Essay1713 Words   |  7 Pagesdue to emittance of anthropoge nic carbon emissions. Scientists are uncertain of how much warming humanity can tolerate before experiencing the most destructive and dangerous effects of climate change, but most believe that two degrees Celsius is a good starting point to aim for. Thus, the stated goal of many international climate dialogs, such as the Paris Agreements, has been to stop the planet from warming an additional two degrees Celsius in order to mobilize the action need to get the whole worldRead MoreCause And Effect Of Climate Change Essay1220 Words   |  5 PagesCause and effects of Climate Change. General purpose: to inform. Specific purpose: After hearing my speech my audience will know what climate change is, what causes it and its effects now and in the future. Thesis Statement: Climate change is a very important issue that affects all of us. Organization pattern: Cause and effect. Introduction: I. (Attention-getter): How do you explain that 30 years ago we had a different weather than today? When you look at yourself in a dirty mirror; can you seeRead MoreCauses And Effects Of Climate Change1706 Words   |  7 PagesDiscuss the causes and effects of climate change. Present any solutions that are relevant to these issues. Probably the most anxious threat to our earth in these two decades is climate change. Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other saying, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer (Epa.gov, 2015). The rateRead MoreThe Effects Of Climate Change On The Earth1358 Words   |  6 PagesEurope. Climate change is classed as any alteration in global weather patterns over a period of time. However the climate change the earth is currently experiencing is far from anything ever experienced before and its 99% certain that it has been caused by human industrialisation. Like anything that affects the earth on a global scale it affects everything including microorganisms and therefore disease. Climate change is causing disease to spread and increase in severity. The main adverse effects causingRead MoreClimate C hange : The Greenhouse Effect1199 Words   |  5 PagesSince the beginning of the Earth’s existence, climate change has occurred. Temperatures, sea levels, quantities of gases in the atmosphere, and levels of precipitation have risen and fallen over a span of billions of years. However, over the last two centuries, climate change has been far too drastic to be caused by natural forces alone. Globally, the alterations in temperatures, sea levels, precipitation, melting of ice caps and glaciers, and violence of natural disasters are clearly caused by anotherRead MoreThe Effects Of Climate Change On The Environment1445 Words   |  6 Pagescooler climates all are impacts of increasing temperatures that are happening right now. Within the next century, sea levels will rise 7 - 23 inches, Storms will become much stronger, floods/droughts will become more common, and many, many other negative environmental changes (Cook). These changes in the environment have been the topic of de bate for decades, but has become more and more common over the past few years. On one side of the debate, there are the people who believe climate change