15 LGBTQ Audiobook Memoirs Narrated by the Author

15 LGBTQ Audiobook Memoirs Narrated by the Author I wasnt a big fan of memoirs until I discovered audiobooks. Now I cant get enough of them. In fact, I rarely read memoirs in print anymore. Ive come to crave that extra dimension of hearing a person tell their own story.  A good audiobook narrator adds emotional depth to the work, and when it is the author narrating, it can be especially poignant. Here are fifteen LGBTQ audiobook memoirs that Ive loved, all narrated by the author. These LGBTQ audiobook memoirs cover a lot of territory. Some of them have to do with being queer, and some of them dont. They are about coming out and transitioning, about parenting and dealing with illness, about grief. Some of them are straight-up memoir, and some of them blend memoir with other forms and genres: true crime, poetry, history and social justice, politics and activism. They are at turns heartbreaking, funny, devastating, and insightful. These authors represent a wide range of LGBTQ experiencesâ€"the one thing they have in common is that they are all truly exceptional narrators of their own stories. Fire Shut Up In My Bones by charles m. blow Blows powerful coming-of-age memoir is about growing up poor and black in a small Louisiana town, surviving sexual abuse, and his journey away from home to college, where he begins to explore his sexuality and wrestle with his past. She’s Not There: a life in two genders by jennifer finney boylan In this funny, honest, and moving memoir, Jennifer Finney Boylan writes about her transition experience, while also beautifully exploring so many human truths about sex, love, identity, and family. The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin In this memoir, poet and performance artist Staceyann Chin writes about growing up in Jamaica, coming out as a lesbian, and her journey to finding her voice as an activist and poet. Born unexpectedly to a mother who did not want her and a father nowhere in sight, she spent much of her childhood bouncing from home to home. She tells her story with humor, warmth, and the raw honesty and keen observation of a  poet. When They Call You a Terrorist: a black lives matter memoir by patrisse khan-cullors This book is so much more than an account of the founding of Black Lives Matter. Khan-Cullors writes beautifully and courageously about her childhood and young adulthood, and about the ways that mass incarceration and police brutality have deeply hurt her family. Its hard to read at times, as Khan-Cullors describes so many atrocities committed against black people in this country. But its also full of fierce queer love. This is a book that centers black women and black queerness, and though much of it is painful, it is ultimately a celebration of reliance and resistance. Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming In this funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking memoir, Cumming recounts his experience uncovering long-held and unexpected family secrets during the filming of a reality TV show about genealogy. He seamlessly weaves together childhood memories about growing up in Scotland with an abusive father and snippets of his present-day life as a celebrated film and TV actor. Cumming is so open, so inviting, so funny and insightful that listening to him tell this story its hard not to fall in love with him a little bit. Hunger by Roxane Gay Roxane Gays memoir about living with her unruly body (as she puts it) is perhaps the most painful, vulnerable, and astoundingly honest books I have ever read. Its about sexual violence, trauma, being fat, and living in a world that despises bodies that refuse to conform to societal expectations. Listening to her read it was almost unbearable at times, but always, always worth it. A Cup of Water Under My Bed by daisy Hernández Tackling a diverse range of subjectsâ€"race, money language, family, queernessâ€"Hernándezs far-ranging memoir about growing up a bisexual Cuban-Colombian American woman is told in a series of poignant and powerful thematically-related sections. She writes about the importance of honoring the past while also making space for change in her own life. Being Jazz by jazz jennings Jazz Jennings transitioned in childhood, with the support of her family, and became a national celebrity and vocal advocate for trans rights after she was interviewed by Barbara Walters. In her memoir (written when she was fifteen), she tells her own story with heart, warmth and the exuberance of a young teenage girl. The Fact of a Body by  Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich Marzano-Lesnevichs breathtaking book, part memoir and part true crime, is unlike any other work of nonfiction Ive ever read. She expertly weaves together the story of her own childhood trauma with the story of Ricky Langley, a young man who murdered a six-year-old boy. The result is a powerful meditation on trauma, truth, narrative, and, ultimately, the astounding power of stories. This book is graphic and upsetting; it goes into details about child murder, pedophilia, and sexual abuse. If you can stand to read about these horrors, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Tomorrow Will Be Different: love, loss and the fight for trans equality by sarah mcbride In this memoir,  Sarah McBride,  national activist and press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, recounts her journey from young college student struggling with her gender identity to national transgender activist. Against the backdrop of the national movement for transgender rights, she tells her own story of self-discovery, as well as the heartbreaking story of the death of her partner shortly after they were married. Redefining Realness by Janet Mock Janet Mocks moving memoir is about growing up black and poor and trans in Hawaii, about the deep power of trans sisterhood, about family and identity and her journey into herself. She writes with such honesty and also with a keen self-awareness that made this book a joy to read. She patiently delves into a lot of trans issues, making this a great book for readers interested in learning more transgender experiences. But this memoir goes much deeper than Trans 101 (which is still important), and is ultimately a book about identity, family, and the importances of what Mock calls our places of becoming. No Ashes in the Fire by Darnell L. Moore In this fierce and beautiful memoir, Moore recounts his childhood growing up black and gay in Camden, New Jersey, coming of age as a gay man and exploring his sexuality during the height of the AIDS epidemic, and ultimately finding his calling, as well as a home, as an organizer and activist in the Black Lives Matter movement. Im Just A Person  by Tig Notaro In this short but moving memoir, comedian Tig Notaro brings her brand of dark and honest humor to one of the worst years of her life. Over the span of a few short months, she was hospitalized with a terrible intestinal disease, diagnosed with breast cancer, went through a breakup, and lost her mother. Notaro writes about all this awfulness with humor, generosity, and a gift for reveling in the unexpected. Theft By Finding: diaries 1977â€"2002 by David Sedaris Ive enjoyed all of Sedariss work, but this book, a selection of entries from over twenty years of his diaries, is by far my favorite. Its full of his characteristic humor, but theres an honest and unpolished openness about it that isnt always present in his essays. These diaries were compulsively readableâ€"I laughed out loud through much of the book, but I was also often struck by a moments of true insight and wisdom. If you havent yet had the pleasure of listening to Sedaris read his own work, you are in for a rare treat. Brown Girl Dreaming  by Jacquline Woodson In this series of autobiographical poems, Woodson recounts into her childhood in South Carolina in New York, her first awareness of herself a black girl, and her lifelong love of words, stories, and writing. The poems flow together beautifullyâ€"at times it is almost dreamlike, but in a good way. Hearing her read it out loud, I could taste her wonder and love of the written word. What are your favorite LGBTQ audiobook memoirs?   Sign up for Audiobooks to receive the latest from the audiobooks world. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Medieval Renaissance Monarchs of England

Because Alfred the Great unified most of the various English kingdoms under one rule, the English monarchy traditionally begins with him. However, the House of Wessex, from which Alfred hailed and which served as the nucleus of the future kingdom, is sometimes considered the first royal house, with Egbert of Wessex regarded as the first king of all England; so it is included here as well. The House of Wessex 802-839: Egbert839-855: Ethelwulf855-860: Ethelbald860-866: Ethelbert866-871: Ethelred The Anglo-Saxons   871-899: Alfred the Great899-925: Edward the Elder925-939: Athelstan939-946: Edmund946-955: Edred955-959: Eadwig959-975: Edgar the Peacable975-978: Edward the Martyr978-1016: Ethelred the Unready (interrupted by Danish conquest)1016: Edmund Ironside The Danes 1014: Swein Forkbeard1016-1035: Canute the Great1035-1040: Harold Harefoot1040-1042: Harthacanute The Anglo-Saxons, Restored 1042-1066: Edward the Confessor1066: Harold II (Godwinson) The Normans 1066-1087: William I (the Conqueror)1087-1100: William II (Rufus)1100-1135: Henry I1135-1154: Stephen The Angevins (Plantaganets) 1154-1189: Henry II1189-1199: Richard I1199-1216: John1216-1272: Henry III1272-1307: Edward I1307-1327: Edward II1327-1377: Edward III1377-1399: Richard II The Lancastrians 1399-1413: Henry IV1413-1422: Henry V1422-1461: Henry VI The Yorkists 1461-1483: Edward IV1483: Edward V (never crowned)1483-1485: Richard III The Tudors 1485-1509: Henry VII1509-1547: Henry VIII1547-1553: Edward VI1553: Lady Jane Grey (queen for nine days)1553-1558: Mary I1559-1603: Elizabeth I Please note: all the individuals above can also be found through the Whos Who in Medieval History index of Royalty and the geographical index for Britain. Chronological Index Geographical Index Index by Profession, Achievement, or Role in Society The text of this document is copyright  ©2015 Melissa Snell. You may download or print this document for personal or school use, as long as the URL below is included. Permission is   not  granted to reproduce this document on another website. For publication permission, please visit  Abouts Reprint Permissions page. The URL for this document is:http://historymedren.about.com/od/whoswho/fl/Medieval-Renaissance-Monarchs-of-England.htm

Essay Life After Divorce - 1088 Words

Do you ever plan on getting married one day in the near future? Most will answer yes, well if you do it wouldn’t hurt you to know that the divorce rate is over 50 %! Marriage, sacred by religion and respected by older generations, doesn’t always last forever, within the last fifty years the divorce rate has increased by more than half of all marriages ending in divorce. There is many factors as to why two people divorce and its effects on the adults and children in the family. In my opinion the top three effects of divorce are former lovers losing feelings, economic troubles, and love issues. Many people do not see the massive effects that a large divorce rate can have on the economy on children’s life’s and the past spouse .I believe that†¦show more content†¦Single parenthood is not the only, nor even the most important, cause of the higher rates of school dropout, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, or other negative outcomes we see; but i t does contribute independently to these problems†(Berlin). As the research shows divorced families children tend to have lower self-esteem, a poorer self-image and have increased drug use .More often than not these same children act out ,also divorced families are more likely to go into poverty. â€Å"About a third of all children born in the United States each year are born out of wedlock. Similarly, about half of all first marriages end in divorce, and when children are involved, many of the resulting single-parent households are poor†(Berlin). That coupled with the fact parents usually fight for alimony of the kids to see who will have legal custody makes it clear that kids are greatly affected. After divorce whoever keeps the kid faces great economic upheaval and problems. When you only have one parent that parent is put under great economic hardships because the yearly budget is cut in half.â€Å"With the divorce rate being so high, it has negatively affected Am ericas potential for economic growth†(Haury). Because many people have chosen to divorce it has negatively affected the economy.â€Å"Healthy marriages have been proved to promote economic growth, while divorce adversely impacts the economy†(Haury). After a divorce most then-couples will hoard any money they can and not share forShow MoreRelatedWhat Do People Think About Life After Getting A Divorce?859 Words   |  4 PagesWhat do people think about life after getting a divorce? Is it hard? Is it easier? A person can only answer these difficult questions if they have been married and divorced. It can’t be easy on someone’s physical and mental state-along with family and finances, but one can adapt to the changes. We wonder time after time- Why are people getting married and then divorce. Why is divorce an option when getting married? Why is it granted? There are millions reasons why but this cause and effect easy canRead MoreThe Divorce And Its Effects O n The Family And Women s Rights937 Words   |  4 Pagesis the conjugal relationship was established by men and women as prescribed by law, divorce is the termination of that relationship. Family capital cell of society, the marriage was not a personal matter but also social problems. As the divorce rate so high and growing, the divorce is no longer a story of two people who become social phenomena Divorced can because of numerous reasons, each couple decides to divorce also comes from many different causes. But can easily identify some basic reasonsRead MoreEssay about Divorce: A Problem in Our Society714 Words   |  3 Pagesfacing today is divorce. The issue of divorce and increasing rates in the modern world is one of the most serious problem and social issues which influence people life to a great extent. Divorces are effecting on personal and social life very deeply. It causes stress and makes individual unsuccessful and changes lives. When parents get divorced they do not even think about what will happen with their children. Many students perform low in school because of their parents. Children of divorces parents haveRead MoreDivorce Is Becoming A Worldwide Occurrence1530 Words   |  7 PagesDivorce is becoming a worldwide occurrence, notably affecting children’s well being. It radically alliterates their future causing damaging effects. According to (Julio C à ¡ceres-Delpiano and Eugenio Giolito, 2008) nearly 50% of marriages end with divorce. 90% of children who lived in the USA in the 1960s stayed with their own biological parents, whereas today it makes up only 40% (Hetherington, E. Mavis, and Margaret Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Many children after a split of parents are exposed to a numberRead MoreDivorce And Its Effect On Society Essay1648 Words   |  7 PagesHalf of all marriages end in divorce. That means that between a person and their closest friend, one of them is likely to get a divorce (Stanton 3). That’s a shocking and scary statistic since divorce is so unhealthy for everyone involved. Sociology’s view, religion’s view, and even the effect of psychology all point to one end, divorce is not beneficial. Divorce is a topic that has been widely silenced because it has rocked so many people’s lives. A 50 percent divorce rate is a huge increase of whatRead MoreMarriage and Divorce1303 Words   |  5 PagesThese days, people are taking the issue of marriage and divorce very casually and not comprehending the actually consequences of these events, especially the effect it leaves on children. More like married couples get a divorce faster and easily than getting married. To add on to other extra problem, they have children without planning out and not being stable enough to even have extra member in the family. According to Oxford Dictionary, divorce is â€Å"the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court orRead MoreFamilial Support For Children During The Stressful Period Of Divorce Essay1605 Words   |  7 Pagesduring the stressful period surrounding divorce. One study by Amato (1993) noted that divorce is one of the life’s most stressful occurrences, and adults experi ence significant difficulty in their life adjustment after the divorce, which may impact their interactions with their children. Parents are less emotionally available during this time (Riggio Valenzuela, 2011), and the help and support from family members that are also experiencing distress from these life-changing events are less likely toRead MoreDivorce And The Divorce Process1471 Words   |  6 Pagesthe subject of divorce, it became very apparent that the stressors leading up to divorce, the entire legal process, adjusting to life afterward and everything in between, left little more than devastation in its wake. By and large, divorce is incredibly taxing on several fronts. We will discuss the emotional ramifications of divorce for spouses and children, what environmental factors contribute strongest to the dissolution of marriage, what percentage of marriages end in divorce, and the estimationRead MoreStruggling with the Idea of Divorce in Constance Matthiessens Article, Ha rry Potter and Divorce Among the Muggles747 Words   |  3 Pages Divorce it may be an Option! New research into the effects of divorce is slowly bringing around a more common belief that with the appropriate actions the effects divorce has on children can be minimized. Constance Matthiessen writes the article Harry Potter and Divorce Among the Muggles which helps to give a more personal view point into some of the thought processes and ways a parent may struggle with the idea of a divorce. The desire to shield children fromRead MoreDivorce and Its Impact on Cpuples and Children Essay932 Words   |  4 Pages The term divorce is a legal term that denotes the separation of two individuals in a legal manner that was once connected to each other as a result of marriage. Divorce can be a lifetime separation between couples and can even be a limited time separation between couples. Recently, the world has witnessed a surge in the number of divorces taking place and the occurrence of this event is even at its peak in the United States. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported during the period

Psych Profile of Kennedy Free Essays

During one of the most tumultuous times in United States history, our president John F. Kennedy exhibited his decision making style and leadership qualities such as vision, delegation, focus, and ambition. His term was short lived, lasting only two years and ten months, but in that time he made a great impact on the United States and even the world. We will write a custom essay sample on Psych Profile of Kennedy or any similar topic only for you Order Now He was so important because he was a great leader in a time when the United States was in dire need of one. John F. Kennedy’s leadership qualities and decision making style reflected in the ways he responded to such events as The Cuban Missile Crisis and The Bay of Pigs Invasion. John F. Kennedy was a strong president; he showed vision, decision making style, and delegation through his enactment of policies and the decisions he made while he was president. These three aspects of his character provide a framework for how he handled situations. â€Å"’Vision’ mobilizes external support for the leader’s overarching goals, and charts out a national direction. ‘Decision making style’ focuses on the ‘internal’, process-oriented aspects of leadership. The Delegation factor assesses what competence and perspectives that will bring input into the decision-making which will carry out the vision. Kennedy was concerned with the national security of the country and did everything he could to ensure the safety of its people. One of the decisions carried out by John F. Kennedy was the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba by special CIA trained Cuban exiles in an attempt to o verthrow Fidel Castro. The decision was ultimately made by John F. Kennedy and it failed in just a couple of days. Many men had died and others were taken as prisoners of war. Kennedy would eventually have to negotiate for the release of well over 1,000 survivors. The invasion failed for a number of reasons. Kennedy’s Presidential advisory committee made six false assumptions regarding the Bay of Pigs Invasion: no one will know that the United States was responsible for the invasion of Cuba, the Cuban air force does not pose a threat, the Cuban exiles have high morale and are willing to carry out the mission without any support, Castro’s army is weak, the invasion will spark a revolution among people in Cuba, and if the brigade doesn’t succeed then they can retreat to the Escambray Mountains. Kennedy admitted later that he had his doubts about the mission but kept them to himself. â€Å"†How could I have been so stupid?   President John F. Kennedy asked that after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He called it a â€Å"colossal mistake. †Ã‚  It left him feeling depressed, guilty, bitter, and in tears. One historian later called the Bay of Pigs, â€Å"one of those rare events in history — a perfect failure. â€Å"† So why then, did Kennedy not voic e his concerns? There was an underlying force that was apparent while Kennedy was discussing the invasion with his advisors, it is known as Groupthink. Irving L. Janis wrote a book explaining group think and failures that occurred in history as a result of it, The Bay of Pigs invasion being one of them. Janis describes Groupthink as â€Å"An excessive form of concurrence speaking among members of high prestige, tightly-knit policy making groups. It is excessive to the extent that the group members have come to value the group (and their being part of it) higher than anything else. This causes them to strive for a quick and painless unanimity on the issues that the group has to confront. To preserve the clubby atmosphere, group members suppress personal doubts, silence dissenters, and go along with the general consensus of the group. † This theory of groupthink has affected many groups in history negatively. Had groupthink not been present then the Bay of Pigs Invasion may not have even happened. All it would’ve taken was for the closed mouth president to speak up and voice his opinion about how it could go wrong. Mongar argues that it appeared as though â€Å"Kennedy experienced difficulty separating the administrative and political functions of the presidency, which would have been understandable in view of the fact that the Bay of Pigs was his first important political decision. † As far as the Bay of Pigs is concerned, Kennedy started out as a simple decision maker or foreign policy leader. He would since become a more complex decision maker, using carefulness and strategy to implement policies and decisions. Kennedy later revised his group decision-making process to encourage more dissent and debate. This change would later help to avert a potential nuclear disaster. Even though the Bay of Pigs Invasion turned out to be a complete failure, Kennedy demonstrated that he was ambitious. He was a new president and wanted to start off strong, so given the opportunity to attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, he took it. This showed in his actions following the invasion as well, for he had to negotiate for the lives of over a thousand survivors or POW’s that were captured during the failed invasion. The psych or individual attributes of any given leader are important in the decision making process. Some situations even encourage leaders to fuse their own attributes with the problems they’re dealing with. The Cuban Missile Crisis can be attributed as being one of those occasions. The Cold War Rivalry had been extremely high between America and the Soviet Union for years. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an event that had the entire world standing in fear and attention. In October of 1962, aerial photos showed Soviet nuclear missile sites that were armed in Cuba. If the program were to continue, their nuclear warheads would be able to reach most of the United States. John F. Kennedy’s first inclination was to launch an air strike to take out the missiles; but upon further speculation and debate with his advisors he concluded that it would be a poor idea, thinking back to the debacle of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He instead decided to use soft power through negotiations and blockades. Soft power is the use of alternatives to military conflict such as treaties, negotiations, and policies. Kennedy was offended by what he believed were false assurances from Khrushchev that the Soviet Union was only introducing defensive weapons to Cuba as a means to defend the country from a potential attack from America. Kennedy said that the missiles would have to be removed because he did not want it to have a negative effect on the â€Å"global political balance. He took the action of making a quarantine or blockade around Cuba, which was considered an act of war but he did not think that the Soviet Union would launch an attack from a mere blockade. What this meant was that every ship entering or leaving Cuba was to be inspected by the U. S. Navy, mainly for offensive weapons of any kind. The failure that Kennedy faced from the Bay of Pigs Invasion was not something that he was willing to face a second time , especially since in this case it could mean the fate of the world. He was diligent and focused in his plan with the Cuban Missile Crisis. â€Å"†¦Kennedy’s succorance need and his obsession for competence: demonstrable expertise. In general, the implementation groups brought together in crisis situations were superior to any the White House has ever known. The indirect effects were largely cognitive, involving the manner in which his operational regulators structured and expectations of his advisers: Kennedy’s pessimism about he probability of failure sharpened their sense of professional craftsmanship and dedication to sound judgment; his sense of caution produced a reluctance to act prematurely which usually gave them more time to work; his natural skepticism encouraged them to thoroughly question every conclusion and item of information encountered. † This shows that through Kennedy’s personality traits, he was able to influence the people around him and thus making everything run smoothly. He had a sense of cauti on and thoroughness that enabled him and his advisors to handle the situation without any hiccups. How to cite Psych Profile of Kennedy, Papers

Purpose of literature; what can literature do

Still Falls the Rain by Edith Sitwell is a poem on the sufferings in the world. The poem, written during World War II after the Germans bombed England, begins with the reference to the event.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Purpose of literature; what can literature do? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It then spins to describing the sufferings on humankind throughout the history of the world. The theme of the poem is on human suffering through the ages. The poem’s theme is the pain and suffering that futile war inflicts on humankind. The poem depicts war as the possessor of pain and sin that humankind cannot bear. The religious undertone of the poem is evident: Still falls the rain At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross. Christ that each day, each night, nails there Have mercy on us – On Dives and on Lazarus:Advertising Looking for essay on british literature? Let's see if we can h elp you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one. The poem is dominated with themes and ideas from religion and the mingling of war, showing war as the creator of human sin. Man cannot endure the suffering caused by war and it can be washed away through the sufferings of Christ. Rain is used as a metaphor for war and bloodshed through war. In the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the most intriguing part is the setting of the novel in the Victorian London and it’s binding with the plot of the novel. The duality in the character of Dr. Jekyll through his â€Å"Other† in form of Mr. Hyde expresses the lingering revolting attitude of the Londoners in the Victorian age, which was essentially an age of conformism to the prevalent ways of the time. The duality in the protagonists is actually a revolt to the constraining social discourse and norms of the Victorian era. Realism in literature is an es sential part as this shows what part of the real world is close to the fictional world shown in literature. For instance, in case of the novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the realism lies in the frustration of Victorian intelligentsia with the constraining norms of the era. Masao Myoshi points out that the idea of the social ideals of the Victorian era and literature is reinstated in the novel wherein the book is essentially a â€Å"vision† of the late-Victorian â€Å"wasteland† to remove all Hyde-like elements from the society to establish â€Å"an honorable public life and a joyful private one.† Fiction is â€Å"a shield with two sides, the silver and the golden: the study of manners and of character, on one hand; on the other, the description of adventure, the delight of romantic narrative.† . Realism in literature is apparent through the works of Stevenson, Haggard, Lang, and others . Realism in literature was very high in the Victorian era in British li terature, which many believe was due to the Victorians’ desire to show the â€Å"mimetic capacity† of literature.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Purpose of literature; what can literature do? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Realism is often described as the desire of the Victorians to frame the plot and ideas of the novel in order to contradict the reality. In other words, realism was stressed by the Victorian writers in order to present a â€Å"parallel or subjective truth† that can be considered as â€Å"no truth at all† . Therefore, realism in literature in the Victorian age was essentially a way to contradict the reality, which has been defined as â€Å"the excesses, both stylistic and narrative, of various kinds of romantic, exotic, or sensational literatures† . Therefore in a novel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that would make one feel that it is unrealistic, actually br ought forth the realism of the novel by portraying the lingering dualism in the Victorian minds . Literature is a history book that shows the mind and heart of the people of the time and not just the events. Literature has the capacity to demonstrate the heart of the age and the interpretations of the conditions of the time. As observed in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, there was a constant dilemma in the protagonists and the duality is essentially the duality in the character of Jekyll to Hyde allows the former to do things that the polite society would consider scandalous. The movie adaption of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reviewed in the earlier essay shows the changes brought forth from the Victorian era to the modern times in order to infuse the vibe of realism . The language of the literature and the closeness of literature too is an important aspect as this result in the development of realism in literature . The parallel drawn between the movie and the novel shows that there is a case for â€Å"witness literature† as in case of the Victorian social rigidity is apparent in the novel however, is lost in the film . However, it is apparent that in Stevenson’s novel the drive was to bring forth the anti realism through the development of the duality in the Dr. Jekyll character . Therefore, the purpose of literature as a bearer of realism, even if through the portrayal of anti-reality is essentially to bring forth the reality in the fictional world. Works Cited Brantlinger, Patrick. Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914. New York: Cornell University Press, 1988. Print. Byerly, Alison. Realism, Representation, and the Arts in Nineteenth-Century Literature. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Advertising Looking for essay on british literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Corkin, Stanley. Realism and the Birth of the Modern United States: Cinema, Literature. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996. Print. Graff, Gerald. â€Å"The Politics of Anti-Realism.† Salmagundi, 42 (1978): 4-30. Print. Jakobson, Roman, Krystyna Pomorska and Stephen Rudy. Language in Literature. New Yrok: Harvard University Press, 1987. Print. Miyoshi, Masao. â€Å"Dr. Jekyll and the Emergence of Mr. Hyde.† College English, 27(6) (1966): 470-474. Print. Sitwell, Edith. Still Falls the Rain. 1940. Web. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. London: Harper Collins, 1895. Print. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . Dir. John Carl Buechler. Perf. Tony Todd. 2006. DVD. White, Hayden. â€Å"Figural Realism in Witness Literature.† Parallax, 10(1) (2004): 113-124. Print. 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How to Create and Use Hashes in Ruby

How to Create and Use Hashes in Ruby Arrays are not the only way to manage collections of variables in Ruby. Another type of collection of variables is the hash, also called an associative array. A hash is like an array in that its a variable that stores other variables. However, a hash is unlike an array in that the stored variables are not stored in any particular order, and they are retrieved with a key instead of by their position in the collection. Create a Hash With Key/Value Pairs A hash is useful to store what are called key/value pairs. A key/value pair has an identifier to signify which variable of the hash you want to access and a variable to store in that position in the hash. For example, a teacher might store a students grades in a hash. Bobs grade would be accessed in a hash by the key Bob and the variable stored at that location would be Bobs grade. A hash variable can be created the same way as an array variable. The simplest method is to create an empty hash object and fill it with key/value pairs. Note that the index operator is used, but the students name is used instead of a number.​​ Remember that hashes are unordered, meaning there is no defined beginning or end as there is in an array. So, you cannot append to a hash. Values are simply inserted into the hash using the index operator. #!/usr/bin/env rubygrades Hash.newgrades[Bob] 82grades[Jim] 94grades[Billy] 58puts grades[Jim] Hash Literals Just like arrays, hashes can be created with hash literals. Hash literals use the curly braces instead of square brackets and the key value pairs are joined by . For example, a hash with a single key/value pair of Bob/84 would look like this: { Bob 84 }. Additional key/value pairs can be added to the hash literal by separating them with commas. In the following example, a hash is created with the grades for a number of students. #!/usr/bin/env rubygrades { Bob 82,Jim 94,Billy 58}puts grades[Jim] Accessing Variables in the Hash There may be times when you must access each variable in the hash. You can still loop over the variables in the hash using the each loop, though it wont work the same way as using the each loop with array variables. Because a hash is unordered, the order in which each will loop over the key/value pairs may not be the same as the order in which you inserted them. In this example, a hash of grades will be looped over and printed. #!/usr/bin/env rubygrades { Bob 82,Jim 94,Billy 58}grades.each do|name,grade|puts #{name}: #{grade}end

A Beginners Guide to the Renaissance

A Beginners Guide to the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural and scholarly movement which stressed the rediscovery and application of texts and thought from classical antiquity, occurring in Europe c. 1400 – c. 1600. The Renaissance can also refer to the period of European history spanning roughly the same dates. Its increasingly important to stress that the Renaissance had a long history of developments that included the twelfth-century renaissance and more. What Was the Renaissance? There remains debate about what exactly constituted the Renaissance. Essentially, it was a cultural and intellectual movement, intimately tied to society and politics, of the late 14th to early 17th centuries, although it is commonly restricted to just the 15th and 16th centuries. It is considered to have originated in Italy. Traditionally people have claimed it was stimulated, in part, by Petrarch, who had a passion for rediscovering lost manuscripts and a fierce belief in the civilizing power of ancient thought and in part by conditions in Florence. At its core, the Renaissance was a movement dedicated to the rediscovery and use of classical learning, that is to say, knowledge and attitudes from the Ancient Greek and Roman eras. Renaissance literally means ‘rebirth’, and Renaissance thinkers believed the period between themselves and the fall of Rome, which they labeled the Middle Ages, had seen a decline in cultural achievement compared with the earlier eras. Participants intended, through the study of classical texts, textual criticism, and classical techniques, to both reintroduce the heights of those ancient days and improve the situation of their contemporaries. Some of these classical texts survived only amongst Islamic scholars and were brought back to Europe at this time. The Renaissance Period â€Å"Renaissance† can also refer to the period, c. 1400 – c. 1600. â€Å"High Renaissance† generally refers to c. 1480 – c. 1520. The era was dynamic, with European explorers â€Å"finding† new continents, the transformation of trading methods and patterns, the decline of feudalism (in so far as it ever existed), scientific developments such as the Copernican system of the cosmos and the rise of gunpowder. Many of these changes were triggered, in part, by the Renaissance, such as classical mathematics stimulating new financial trading mechanisms, or new techniques from the east boosting ocean navigation. The printing press was also developed, allowing Renaissance texts to be disseminated widely (in actual fact this print was an enabling factor rather than a result). Why Was This Renaissance Different? Classical culture had never totally vanished from Europe, and it experienced sporadic rebirths. There was the Carolingian Renaissance in the eighth to ninth centuries and a major one in the â€Å"Twelfth Century Renaissance†, which saw Greek science and philosophy returned to European consciousness and the development of a new way of thinking which mixed science and logic called Scholasticism. What was different in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was that this particular rebirth joined together both the elements of scholarly inquiry and cultural endeavor with social and political motivations to create a much broader movement, albeit one with a long history. The Society and Politics Behind the Renaissance Across the fourteenth century, and perhaps before, the old social and political structures of the medieval period broke down, allowing new concepts to rise. A new elite emerged, with new models of thought and ideas to justify themselves; what they found in classical antiquity was something to use both as a prop and a tool for their aggrandizement. Exiting elites matched them to keep pace, as did the Catholic Church. Italy, from which the Renaissance evolved, was a series of city-states, each competing with the others for civic pride, trade, and wealth. They were largely autonomous, with a high proportion of merchants and artisans thanks to the Mediterranean trade routes. At the very top of Italian society, the rulers of the key courts in Italy were all â€Å"new men†, recently confirmed in their positions of power and with newly gained wealth, and they were keen to demonstrate both. There was also wealth and the desire to show it below them. The Black Death had killed millions in Europe and left the survivors with proportionally greater wealth, whether through fewer people inheriting more or simply from the increased wages they could demand. Italian society and the results of the Black Death allowed for much greater social mobility, a constant flow of people keen to demonstrate their wealth. Displaying wealth and using culture to reinforce your social and political was an important aspect of life in that period, and when artistic and scholarly movements turned back to the classical world at the start of the fifteenth century there were plenty of patrons ready to support them in these endeavors to make political points. The importance of piety, as demonstrated through commissioning works of tribute, was also strong, and Christianity proved a heavy influence for thinkers trying to square Christian thought with that of â€Å"pagan† classical writers. The Spread of the Renaissance From its origins in Italy, the Renaissance spread across Europe, the ideas changing and evolving to match local conditions, sometimes linking into existing cultural booms, although still keeping the same core. Trade, marriage, diplomats, scholars, the use of giving artists to forge links, even military invasions, all aided the circulation. Historians now tend to break the Renaissance down into smaller, geographic, groups such as the Italian Renaissance, The English Renaissance, the Northern Renaissance (a composite of several countries) etc. There are also works which talk about the Renaissance as a phenomenon with global reach, influencing – and being influenced by – the east, Americas, and Africa. The End of the Renaissance Some historians argue that the Renaissance ended in the 1520s, some the 1620s. The Renaissance didn’t just stop, but its core ideas gradually converted into other forms, and new paradigms arose, particularly during the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. It would be hard to argue we are still in the Renaissance (as you can do with the Enlightenment), as culture and learning move in a different direction, but you have to draw the lines from here back to then (and, of course, back to before then). You could argue that new and different types of Renaissance followed (should you want to write an essay). The Interpretation of the Renaissance The term ‘renaissance’ actually dates from the nineteenth century and has been heavily debated ever since, with some historians questioning whether it’s even a useful word anymore. Early historians described a clear intellectual break with the medieval era, but in recent decades scholarship has turned to recognize growing continuity from the centuries before, suggesting that the changes Europe experienced were more an evolution than a revolution. The era was also far from a golden age for everyone; at the start, it was very much a minority movement of humanists, elites, and artists, although it disseminated wider with printing. Women, in particular, saw a marked reduction in their educational opportunities during the Renaissance. Its no longer possible to talk of a sudden, all changing golden age (or no longer possible and be considered accurate), but rather a phase that wasnt entirely a move forward, or that dangerous historical problem, progress. Renaissance Art There were Renaissance movements in architecture, literature, poetry, drama, music, metals, textiles and furniture, but the Renaissance is perhaps best known for its art. Creative endeavor became viewed as a form of knowledge and achievement, not simply a way of decoration. Art was now to be based on observation of the real world, applying mathematics and optics to achieve more advanced effects like perspective. Paintings, sculpture and other art forms flourished as new talents took up the creation of masterpieces, and enjoying art became seen as the mark of a cultured individual. Renaissance Humanism Perhaps the earliest expression of the Renaissance was in humanism, an intellectual approach which developed among those being taught a new form of curriculum: the studia humanitatis, which challenged the previously dominant Scholastic thinking. Humanists were concerned with the features of human nature and attempts by man to master nature rather than develop religious piety. Humanist thinkers implicitly and explicitly challenged the old Christian mindset, allowing and advancing the new intellectual model behind the Renaissance. However, tensions between humanism and the Catholic Church developed over the period, and humanist learning partly caused the Reformation. Humanism was also deeply pragmatic, giving those involved the educational basis for work in the burgeoning European bureaucracies. It is important to note that the term ‘humanist’ was a later label, just like â€Å"renaissance†. Politics and Liberty The Renaissance used to be regarded as pushing forward a new desire for liberty and republicanism - rediscovered in works about the Roman Republic- even though many of the Italian city-states were taken over by individual rulers. This view has come under close scrutiny by historians and partly rejected, but it did cause some Renaissance thinkers to agitate for greater religious and political freedoms over later years. More widely accepted is the return to thinking about the state as a body with needs and requirements, taking politics away from the application of Christian morals and into a more pragmatic, some might say devious, world, as typified by the work of Machiavelli. There was no marvelous purity in Renaissance politics, just the same twisting about as ever. Books and Learning Part of the changes brought by the Renaissance, or perhaps one of the causes, was the change in attitude to pre-Christian books. Petrarch, who had a self-proclaimed â€Å"lust† to seek out forgotten books among the monasteries and libraries of Europe, contributed to a new outlook: one of (secular) passion and hunger for the knowledge. This attitude spread, increasing the search for lost works and increasing the number of volumes in circulation, in turn influencing more people with classical ideas. One other major result was a renewed trade in manuscripts and the foundation of public libraries to better enable widespread study. Print then enabled an explosion in the reading and spread of texts, by producing them faster and more accurately, and led to the literate populations who formed the basis of the modern world.