Stockwell Street, The Business Case for Sustainability Research Paper

Stockwell Street, The Business Case for Sustainability - Research Paper Example Environmental concerns relate to aspects of ecology and physical surrounding (Vallero 2008, p. 98). In sustainability, the project should enable the current entities to achieve their objectives without compromising on the quality of lives of future users of the given structures. Environmental conservation, social well being and intergenerational equity are possible objectives as a country achieves economic potential within the resource base. The most essential aspect of environment, as pertains to the construction industry, is the resource base for construction. Construction involves employment of natural elements such as timber and soil. In the end, uncontrolled use of timber would lead to the depletion of forests. It is vital to exercise control or seek for alternatives of timber in construction. A sustainable construction project would seek for a strategy that minimizes on the use of timber. A related environmental concern relates to water use. The new structure should incorporate a construction strategy that aids water harvesting and preservation. The project has constructive options that could lead to sustainability. To begin with, the project has initiated strategies of managing thermal performance. The structure should have proper control of heat and cold in order that it protects the given buildings from destruction by expansion and contraction of a building’s components (Clark 2010, p. 76). In addition, the proposal has indicated plans of incorporating rain water recycling and harvesting systems. This strategy is beneficial in the sense of cutting down on the schools’ cost of water. Rain water is a free resource that only leads to incurring of costs in its harvesting. In the end, the initial costs would be spread in the subsequent years until they become significant. In close relation to this, the sustainability options would involve use of bio-fuels. It is notable it is less costly to construct bio-fuel energy systems in the particular s tructures. However, they cut down on the general costs of energy in the school. However, this proposal has its constraining aspects. To begin with, it consumes significant time and labor to put up a bio-fuel system. In addition, the system has several hitches that drag a project for a substantial time. Other strategies entailed building monitoring and management. Additionally, there were proposals of evaluating buildings on evacuation of occupants. It is not a feasible strategy to wholly use bio-fuels in the energy system of a school. However, bio-fuel energy system is feasible for the lighting system of school since it utilizes low energy (Brebbia 2012, p. 102). An additional strategy relates to use of solar power systems. CPV systems will be strategies of providing clean power that does not require use of oil fuels in their generators. However, such systems have to possess high ability for generation of power. In addition, the plan would involve the employment of readymade concret e that do not consume higher amounts of cement and sand. In addition, glass fibers are strong are robust support systems that replace the use of timber. The core place of consideration, as pertains to energy use, would relate to the schools’ IT systems. The advent of a technological revolution has triggered substantial use of electricity and other forms of energy. However, electricity would be of critical concern because it is a convenient form of energy

Violence in Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Violence in Schools - Essay Example Whether public or private, unfortunately, the rate of violence is schools is escalating. "School violence exists along a lengthy continuum, at one end marked by minor incidents involving everyday fighting, name-calling, bullying, and minor property destruction and at the other end marked by extortion, rape, homicide, and mass murder." (Gerler and Gerler, 2004, pg. xxxii) To asses the current problem of violence in schools it is necessary to know how big the problem is. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the statistics for violence in schools and colleges reveals that "Of the 17,065,074 incidents reported through the NIBRS by law enforcement from 2000 to 2004, 558,219 (3.3 percent) occurred at schools." (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) The most offenders belonged to the 13 to 15 age group and the next highest number of offenders was in the 16 to 18 age group. "By looking at only those offenders for whom the age was known, offenders 18 years of age or younger were 4.5 times more likely to be involved in crime at schools than older offenders." (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) Looking at offenders according to gender it was presented that males were more likely to be offenders than females at a 3.3 ratio. In categorizing according to by race, "white offenders accounted for 71.1 percent (280,178); black offenders, 27.4 percent (107,878); and all other race s combined, less than 2 percent (6,117)." (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) Another factor important in understanding the reason why these crimes exist is to examine 'victim-to-offender relationship'. "By far, the relationship type most often reported for crime in schools was Acquaintance, with 107,533 instances occurring during the 5-year study period." (Noonan and Vavra, 2007) All of these statistics combined give us perspective into the current problem of why school violence takes place. It helps us target middle school and high school going children as the group of people who need most attention in battling this type of violence. It also reveals pertinent facts related to gender, race and relationship issues when violence is inflicted. Recently, the issue of violence in school has been getting a lot of attention from the media. The first big incident related to school violence committed by the generation Y's is Columbine where two students went around on a shooting rampage killing about 13 students and a teacher. The incident kindled a huge debate over the use of guns in America and became the inspiration for director Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine. According to psychologist Arnold Lazarus violence occurs due to several reasons once of which is behavior. This aspect of his theory discusses the fact that certain kinds of behavior receive attention. "Extraordinary misbehavior, for example, often elicits significant attention from peers, from teachers and school administrators, and -in especially noteworthy cases- from the media." (Gerler and Gerler, 2004)On the other side of the coin, accomplishments in academia are sometimes not given as much importance. In other words, although school accomplishmen ts get attention they are

Indus valley civilizations Essay Example for Free

Indus valley civilizations Essay The Indus Valley civilization is an ancient civilization that prospered along the Indus River and Ghaggar-Hakra River in present day Pakistan and India. The Indus valley civilization is sometimes called the Harappan Civilization in reference to the first excavated city called Harappa. The Indus Valley civilization was discovered in the 1920s. The existence of the Indus Civilization is only proved by excavations and maybe some Sumerian writings, e. g. The Mehulan, which is said to correspond with Indus Valley civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward reach to Punjab from east of the river Jhelum to Rupar on the upper Sutlej. Coastal settlements extended from Sutkagan Dor in Western Baluchistan to Lothal in Gujarat. Besides the western states of India, the Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at Shortughai in northern Afghanistan, at Sutkagen dor (Western Baluchistan, Pakistan), at Mandu on the Beas River near Jammu, and at Alamgirpur on the Hindon River, only 28 km from Delhi. Indus Valley sites have been found most often on rivers, but also on lakes, the ancient sea-coast and on islands. There is no documentary evidence that the Indus civilization really existed. What is known of it is the archeological evidence. The assumption that a civilization once existed and prospered in that valley is based on what was found there at the at the excavation sites. It is a well known fact, through out history, ancient Civilizations always started along the banks of rivers or water bodies. Archeologists create theories out of their findings. Most of the artifacts found on archeological sites are explained away with out any substantial recorded facts to back their explanations. The discovery of the Indus valley civilization proves that indeed there has been some human presence around there but the question is: is the Indus valley civilization exactly what we are being told it is today? Are the facts acceptable for scholarly pursuits? It has being recorded that the Indus valley civilization had elements of urbanism such as advanced sewerage systems, dockyards, warehouses, granaries such as we have today. One could clearly conclude from these facts that a great form of civilization indeed existed which might be the basis of what we have today. The lack of authoritative and verifiable written materials on the Indus civilization makes it very difficult to study. This is because the proof of it does not exist in writing in the first place so that at least they can serve as other sources for referencing when in doubt. Good scholarly conclusions can only be drawn from authentic facts which can be proven over time and this is not a very strong point of the Indus civilization.

Kpop and Hong Kong Teenagers

Kpop and Hong Kong Teenagers Introduction I want nobody, nobody but you. I want nobody, nobody but you No matter you are a Korean mania or not, you must have heard this song somewhere before, as its great popularity among Hong Kong teenagers. Korean pop music (K-pop), which attracted much debate in the past several years, is considered as a part of Korean wave. One issue that the success of K-pop is merely due to the Korean drama effect (à ¥Ã‚ °Ã‚ Ãƒ ©Ã… ¸Ã¢â‚¬Å"à ¥Ã…“†¹Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¡Ã…’à ©Ã… ¸Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ ¦-†¡Ãƒ ¥Ã…’-à §Ã… ¡Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ãƒ §Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ §Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ¶, 2009). Research done in Korea has indicated that the success was bolstered by anti-Japanese sentiment, government subsidizes and outstanding dancing ability (Cho, H. J., 2005). Other points to the great diversity of music genres (à ¦Ã… ¾-à ¦Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ «Ã‚ ­, à ©Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ·Ã‚ §Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ ©, à ¨Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¾Ã‚ Ãƒ ¥Ã‹Å"†°, 2010). The debate, however, has missed an important focus: Hong Kong teenagers di ssatisfaction with the Hong Kong music industry. While people keep admiring the others advantages without introspection what self lacks, it may likely lead to providing a chance for others to step in. The paper aims to argue that K-pop captivated Hong Kong teenagers as a result of dissatisfaction with the current Hong Kong music industry due to several inadequacies of the current Hong Kong music industry: lack of diversity of song genres, creativity and music TV programs. The paper is divided into five sections. Following the introduction, in Section 2, some background information of K-pop and its progress will be introduced. Section 3 then focuses on the reasons of popularity of K-pop among Hong Kong teenagers. Section 4 tries to discuss how Hong Kong can emulate this successful invasion. The paper concludes with a reminder for Hong Kong people not to repel the strengths of K-pop, but to absorb them into our own Hong Kong style. Section 2 Background Korean pop music became fashionable throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia in a phenomenon commonly dubbed Korea[n] Wave (Pease, 2006). K-pop is considered as a segment of Korean wave. Besides K-pop, there are TV dramas, movies, fashion and etc. In the past several years, there are continuously many discourse on this since its abrupt and comprehensive descent upon the other Asian countries with a systematic and tactical plan (à ¦Ã‚ ¢Ã‚ Ãƒ ¦- ­Ãƒ ¦Ã‹Å"Ã… ½, 2003). K-pop in fact could not the most representative item that spread Korean wave abroad, but TV dramas. If we trace the history back to the first Korean product that appeared in Hong Kong, that is the drama named Star in my heart in 1997. The drama obtained instantaneous popularity among Hong Kong people (Hyun, O. S., 2004; Cai, J., 2008). With the increasing popularity of Korean dramas, many people started curious about Korea and hence expanded the Korean wave to K-pop. The formation of popular music industry is quite different. In Korea, popular music industry tends to produce music groups rather than solo singers. However, in Hong Kong, popular music industry tends to produce solo singers. Thus it is fairly easy for K-pop to step in if Hong Kong teenagers seek substitutes. Section 3 In Hong Kong, with an increasing number of K-pop is imported and broadcast through two main broadcasting companies, the awareness of K-pop among Hong Kong people is booming. Ringtones in Korean songs, following the news of K-pop singers and watching K-pop TV programs could be considered as the typical characteristics of K-pop mania, Hahanzu in Mandarin. The proportion of K-pop mania in Hong Kong keeps rising rapidly. In the following, the reasons why K-pop is able to penetrate into Hong Kong will be introduced: (1) Great diversity of song genres; (2) Outstanding dancing ability; (3) Korean government subsidizes; (4) Anti-Japanese sentiment; (5) Drama effect original soundtracks; (6) Dissatisfaction with the stagnant Hong Kong music industry. Great diversity of song genres In K-pop, many different sorts of music style can be easily discovered, from ballad to techno, classic to rock, and even the traditional Korean music has also intermixed in the current K-pop. As the traditional Korean music contains diversified music elements and special cultural features, it gave a consolidated ground for the development of the K-pop. Moreover, after the Korean War, as South Korea became more liberal to the culture from foreign countries and frequently interacts with United States, a constant flow of western culture and instruments have been penetrated into South Korea. As a result, with the integration of Western and Korean music, diversified song genres were developed and eventually turned into the Koreans unique style of music (Sung, 2008). For that reason, it is easy for current K-pop to be accepted and liked by anyone in the world (à ¥Ã‚ °Ã‚ Ãƒ ©Ã… ¸Ã¢â‚¬Å"à ¥Ã…“†¹Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¡Ã…’à ©Ã… ¸Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ ¦-†¡Ãƒ ¥Ã…’-à §Ã… ¡Ã¢â‚¬Å ¾Ãƒ §Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ §Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ¶, 2009). However, as Cho stated, the Korean group music industry is in fact a duplicate of the United States (2005). This might be true when Western music first flew into Korea. Nevertheless, in the current situation, K-pop has already generated its own manner by absorbing and then reforming the features of Western music. Combining varied music elements together, K-pop, therefore, provides a fresh and distinct impression comparing to other countries music. Outstanding dancing ability The rise of K-pop is, secondly, advanced by the Korean singers outstanding dancing ability. In response to the question why Korean music attracted you, half of the interviewees replied with the same reason that Korean singers have outstanding dancing ability and deeply impressed them when Korean singers perform a live show. During 90s, the Korean music industry abounded with dance music and many people greatly enjoyed this kind of music, which lead dance music climb up to the peak and spread abroad. As Sang stated, [G]roups, such as NRG, Baby Vox, S.E.S. and Shinhwa began to penetrate China, Hong Kong and Taiwan(2006). The great success of dance music provided a consolidated ground for development of contemporary K-pop, which is still principally occupied by dance music. Therefore, audience could have more chance to enjoying singers dancing. On the other hand, those singers also ought to raise their dancing strength to survive. In order to survive, long training period is necessary for being a singer in Korea. Normally, if someone would like to be a singer in Korea, he/she have to pass an audition and then receive several years of training organized by the company in terms of dancing, singing, instruments, and etc. Training of dancing is the part that will never omit because dance music occupies a great proportion of K-pop. Therefore, singers in Korea, almost everyone, are possessed of great strength of dancing. According to Seo, with outstanding dancing ability and a country that a number of people enjoy dancing, Korean dance music could be exported to the world successfully (2002). Subsidies from Korean government Subsidies offered by the Korean government is another reason that bolstered Korean pop music groups captivate Hong Kong teenagers.The subsidy policy was trapped and launched internally in South Korea before 1996. However, as times goes on, in order to recover from the economic downturn, the government tried to revise the subsidy policy to support producing and exporting Korean cultural products, which became more extroversive to other countries (2003). Hence, with the great support by the government, pop music groups or their music companies could produce songs or other related products without any worries and have a more smooth way to export their productions. Furthermore, as Cho stated, the [Korean] government moved quickly to increase the national culture industrys budget, to station government specialists in large cities in China and elsewhere and to set up a hall of the Korean Wave (2005). When the government noticed that great benefits could be made from exporting the cultural products, it speeded up to advance the progress of internationalization of Korean culture, which thus provided more resource for Korean pop music groups to entre other countries industry. Anti-Japanese sentiment Another factor that boosts the popularity of K-pop in Hong Kong is the anti-Japanese sentiment, which has been discussed in many articles regarding discussions on Korean Wave (Cho, 2005). Japanese cultural flow has entered into Hong Kong for many years. Before the widespread popularity of K-pop in Hong Kong, Japanese pop music groups were the most popular foreign culture. 19th century could be said as the peak period of the Japanese culture. However, with weary of the long-lasting Japanese culture, Hong Kong people started seeking something new, something different from Japanese. Therefore, started from 20th century, as Korean cultural product were broadcast or sold in Hong Kong, the popularity of Japanese culture declined. Nevertheless, some people indicated that it will not disappear completely. Cultural proximities Another reason is that similar cultural background and appearance brings people cordial feeling more than westerners. As globalization develops and cultural exchanges become more and more frequent, Asia is no longer dominated by American popular culture. Asians are choosing things that are more culturally similar. (Cai, J., 2008). In many aspects, it is obvious that there are many similarities between Hong Kongers and Koreans. For instance, we celebrate the same festivals such as Lunar New Year and Middle Autumn Festival and also the same ideology Confucianism that has been rooted in both Hong Kong people and Koreans mind. Besides, both places were also colonized by Japan and received great influence from Japanese culture. Drama effect original soundtracks The following reason is that the songs which come along with TV dramas generated people curiosity and interest on K-pop. In every drama, there must be at least one theme song. Almost all the hit dramas in Hong Kong, the theme song will also gain great popularity without any additional promotion but the drama itself only (2009). Once the drama succeeds, a chain reaction would normally occur. In other words, a popular drama would bring its theme song popularity too. Therefore, there could be a good chance for those, who never listen to K-pop before, get to know K-pop. Dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong music industry The last but the most important reason, that previous research and studies have missed, lies on Hong Kong teenagers dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong music industry. Normally, while people keep pointing out and admiring the others strengths, it may likely lead to less reflection on their own. Without introspection what self lacks, no progress would be made. It, hence, could be doubtlessly bombarded by the others. The Hong Kong music industry now is exactly in that situation. When K-pop was penetrating Hong Kong, the Hong Kong music industry just kept praising K-pops strengths but did not act to fight against the huge constant flow of K-pop. It, hence, is doubtlessly bombarded by K-pop. Nowadays, K-pop or other related products could be easily discovered everywhere. There are three inadequacies of the current Hong Kong music industry that contributed to dissatisfaction: lack of diversity of song genres, lack of creativity and lack of music TV programs. Firstly, the Hong Kong music industry contains few song genres. Lack of diversity of song genres could not satisfy all people in Hong Kong, which lead people seek their flavor in other countries. Secondly, lack of creativity Moreover, according to the innovation ranking of Hong Kong among the world is 23 only, lagging behind Korea, Japan and Singapore (2010), which implied that lack of creativity is another inadequacy. Lastly, lack of music TV programs Section 4 As the influence of K-pop is increasing day by day, if the Hong Kong music industry still does not act to contend with. Therefore, Hong Kong has to enhance the competiveness of our own industry to emulate this successful invasion. The first thing we should do is refer to the success of K-pop, learn the strengths and even try to duplicate it. Intermixing with our style, Section 5 Conclusion K-pop, a part of Korean Wave, successfully penetrated Hong Kong, especially among teenagers due to several reasons: great diversity of song genres; outstanding dancing ability; Korean government subsidizes; Anti-Japanese sentiment; Cultural proximities; Drama effect original soundtracks; and the main reason: dissatisfaction with the stagnant Hong Kong music industry.

John Wayne Gacy Essay -- essays research papers

John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 17 1942. Gacy had an uneventful childhood up until the age of eleven. While out playing he had been struck on the head by a swing. Subsequently he suffered fainting fits for many years. Gacy graduated from business school and went on to work as a shoe salesman for the Nunn Bush shoe company. Gacy met and then married work colleague Marilynn Myres in 1964. The marriage ended when Gacy was imprisoned for ten years at a correctional institute in Waterloo, Iowa for various sex and violent crimes against young men. In 1971 Gacy was arrested again for trying to rape a teenage boy. John Wayne Gacy was married for the second time in 1972 to Carol Hoff. He set up a business as a renovation contractor at this time. This marriage also ended partly because Carol was frightened of he husband's temper. Despite all this Gacy worked very hard at trying to be liked. He was an enthusiastic member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce as "Pogo the Clown" a children's entertainer. Gacy would use his contracting business to attract young men eager for work, many of whom were subjected to rape. Thirty-three of who lost their lives. At nine o'clock on the evening of 11 December 1978, fifteen year old Robert Piest went to a chemist's shop in his home town of Des Plaines, Illinois. He was going to see a building contractor who was working in the shop about a holiday job. Robert Piest was supposed to go straight home, where his family was holding a birthday party for his mother. When Robert had not arrived home by 11:30pm, his family contacted the police. Police investigating the case learned that the contractor hired by the shop was in fact John Wayne Gacy a name not unfamiliar to them. Gacy had been reported earlier in the year by a 27-year-old man named Jeffery Rignall. According to Mr. Rignall's story, a plump man with a flashy car had approached him. The man invited him to join him in the vehicle to smoke some marijuana. Once in the car the man pushed chloroform soaked handkerchief into Rignall's face and drove him, unconscious, to a house where he was beaten with whips and raped. Rignall regained consciousness then next morning where he had been dumped in Lincoln Park. In lieu of the fact that Rignall could not give them much information, the Police were unable to be of much help. In fact even wh... ...covered in the Illinois River. His body had supposedly been lodged somewhere along the river making it difficult to find his body. However, strong winds must have dislodged the corpse and carried it to the locks at Dresden Dam where it was eventually discovered. Autopsy reports on Piest determined that he had suffocated from paper towels being lodged down his throat. The family soon after filed a $85-million suit against Gacy for murder and the Iowa Board of Parole, the Department of Corrections and the Chicago Police Department for negligence. Police investigators continued to match dental records and other clues to help identify the remaining victims who were found on Gacy’s property. All but nine of the victims were finally identified. Gacy made three confessions, but declined to testify at his trial for murder. The Jury who tried him were told by a psychiatrist that Gacy was suffering from a personality disorder that did not amount to insanity. Seeing this, on the 13 March 1980, Gacy was sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was changed to a death sentence. Just after midnight on 10 May 1994 Gacy was executed by lethal injection at Stateville prison in Joilet, Illinois.

Time Capsule :: essays research papers

I would choose â€Å"A Rose For Emily† by William Faulkner and â€Å"Shiloh† by Bobbie Ann Mason to be put in a time capsule to be unearthed 100 years from now. Because â€Å"A Rose For Emily† was written in 1930, and â€Å"Shiloh† was written in 1982, I think that considering the two stories side by side would provide an interesting contrast between lifestyles of the early and late 20th century. By comparing setting and characterization in these two stories, people 100 years from now could get a feel for some of the things that have changed during the course of the 20th century and some of the things that have not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"Shiloh† are both set in the South, and both take place during times of change. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† the Grierson house was located on what had once been the â€Å"most select street† (80) but as the town changed the house had become crowded by â€Å"garages and cotton gins† (80). During the course of the story, the town of Jefferson gets its sidewalks paved, and free postal delivery is made available to all the residents. Emily, who â€Å"alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door,† (85) for the purpose of postal delivery, also refused to acknowledge the passage of time in any other way. The character of Leroy in â€Å"Shiloh† is much the same as Emily in that he fears and dislikes the changes brought by the passage of time. In the story â€Å"Shiloh,† Leroy notices with uneasiness that â€Å"subdivisions are spreading across western Kentucky li ke and oil slick† (69) and that â€Å"the farmers who used to gather around the courthouse square on Saturday afternoons to play checkers and spit tobacco juice have gone† (69). The â€Å"grand and complicated† (70) houses of the new subdivisions depress Leroy, and his wife Norma Jean thinks that the log house Leroy longs to build would be â€Å"inappropriate here in the new subdivisions† (70).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It would be interesting for people 100 years from now to compare the characters of Emily Grierson, Homer Baron, Leroy Moffitt, and Norma Jean Moffitt, and also it would also be interesting for them to compare the relationships between the two couples. Emily, who in some respects was a typical woman of her day, was dominated by the wishes of her father as a young woman, and later her treatment at the hands of Homer Baron became the main issue of her life.

Cultural Awareness and Competence Essay

Cultural awareness and competence refers to the ability of an individual to postpone judgment and prejudice toward other people based on their religious background, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender, age, and such, and also one’s capability of understanding, accepting, and even adapting to unfamiliar culture, points of view, beliefs, ideologies, traditions, etc. Raising one’s cultural awareness and competence requires allocating time and exerting effort in learning and understanding the concepts of multiculturalism or cultural diversity. For instance, developing specific learning goals and a plan of action is an excellent start to promoting cultural awareness. My desire to raise my cultural awareness of two specific groups, particularly homosexuals and individuals belonging to the black population, require that I set personal learning goals and a plan of action that will guide how I am going to go about the process of learning and understanding culture based on race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. For this particular case, I believe that two of my learning goals should include reviewing the history of the African-American people, particularly the reasons why they are being discriminated upon, as well as the unfamiliar cultural practices and traditions and the meaning and significance that deepens or intensify their culture, and understanding the personal sentiments and emotions of homosexuals in order for me to recognize where they are coming from and be able to empathize with them in the process regarding their unfortunate situation especially when it comes to being judged or discriminated because of their sexual orientation. In order for me to realize the aforementioned learning goals, I plan to conduct research by reading books, magazines, newspaper articles, journal publications, research studies, online articles, and such, about black people and homosexuality. Moreover, I feel that there is a need for me to socialize with individuals belonging to the African-American culture and homosexuals in order for me to obtain first-hand information about their sentiments, experiences, knowledge, and such. I believe that through my willingness and determination to immerse myself into the African-American culture and the world of homosexuality, I will be able to promote cultural awareness simply by being conscious of the issues that they burden themselves with. EXODUS International is an online website that discriminates against homosexuals. It is a religion-based organization that provides assistance for individuals who want to â€Å"leave homosexuality. † The organization subtly reiterates that homosexuality is against the will and the word of God and that â€Å"leaving homosexuality† is a way for individuals to live a better life according to what God wants for His children. Moreover, within the lines of EXODUS International’s mission and objectives, the organization clearly mentions that homosexuals will not be able to live a fulfilling and holy life. (EXODUS International, 2005) The blog â€Å"Stuff White People Like† is an online website that discriminates against African-Americans simply because the site is devoted to discuss issues that generalize on the likes and dislikes of white people. The website lists more than one hundred things that white people like. I believe generalizing and labeling things or situations as something that is true or amenable only for a certain race is close to prejudice and bias since one is limiting these things and situations to a particular race only despite the fact that other individuals from diverse racial backgrounds may share the likes and dislikes of white people. (Stuff White People Like, 2009) I can honestly say that I am non-judgmental or prejudice in any way against any group of people in society depending on their race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender, and such. I am also proud to say that my parents raised me well. Although my family is American and adheres to Christianity as a religion, we do not judge other people from different racial backgrounds and religions. Because of my parents and family, I was able to understand that people are different from each other, and although we are different, I do not have the right to judge other people because of it. Moreover, I understand that people have different frames of mind or worldviews and we see things and situations differently. Handling the matter only requires respect and acceptance and the understanding of cultural diversity or multiculturalism. Judging from my self-assessment of my cultural awareness and competency, I believe I will be able to uphold moral and ethical principles in my profession, especially with issues that concern multiculturalism. Perhaps the only challenge that I would have to face is how I am going to develop and increase my cultural awareness to cope with multicultural trends and new information. References EXODUS International. (2005). Thinking of Leaving Homosexuality? Retrieved January 7, 2009, from Exodus International. Website: http://exodus. to/help/? option=com_content&task=view&id=327&Itemid=147 Harvey, C. & Alard, M. J. (2008). Understanding and Managing Diversity, 4th Ed. Prentice Hall. Stuff White People Like. (2009). Retrieved January 7, 2009, from Stuff White People Like. Website: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike. com/