Psychology and Multitasking Talent free essay sample

In the current society, numerous people of various sex means on doing performing various tasks by completing the undertaking in a flash. Both performing multiple tasks and separated consideration have tantamount ramifications. Some researcher’s ready to evidence that between the two sexes, there are no critical contrasts in their performing various tasks. Be that as it may, ladies are normally better at performing various tasks as they shuffled a greater number of assignments than man. There are a few reasons that ladies perform various tasks superior to man in way of natural contrasts, recurrence on shuffling assignments and capacities on performing multiple tasks. Right off the bat, lady leads towards a more noteworthy natural distinction than man. Women’s have huge piece of â€Å"Corpus callosum† in the cerebrum which animates two discussion at the same time (Halpern, 2000). Next, lion's share of man would prefer to center utilizing single insight while lady blended various thoughts from the air (Williams amp; Meck, 1990). Indeed, the operational IQ in man decline altogether contrasted with lady while performing requesting assignments (Wilson amp; Packard, 2005). We will compose a custom exposition test on Brain science and Multitasking Talent or then again any comparable subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Furthermore, ladies are fit in shuffling enormous measure of errand much of the time. Ladies for the most part carry on the lion’s portion of house errands and looking after children holding down their own vocation work (ABCScience, 2011). At that point, as their own family turn on the warmth towards them to shuffle extraordinary measure of undertaking thus they become normally better at performing multiple tasks (Spence, 2012). Besides, lady achieve for the most serious classes of performing multiple tasks in the local work, for example, scutwork and looking after children, (2007). At long last, lady outperforms man because of prevalence in performing multiple tasks capacities. Most explicitly, ladies will in general accomplish task at impressively higher stage than man as they exhibit their normal ability for performing various tasks (Bratley, n. d). Next, ladies may inborn the capacity to be progressively unique and precise by doing task productively when contrasted with man (Criss, 2006). What's more, ladies are proficient in throwing for only a short time of period while they are shuffling with different undertakings (Richard, 2010). Taking everything into account, lady has a more prominent bit of leeway at performing multiple tasks as in natural contrasts, recurrence on shuffling assignments and performing multiple tasks capacities than man. With their atural capacities, it permits them to be uniformly beneficial and effectively achieve task at the same time. No ifs, ands or buts, ladies may have controlled by these favorable circumstances to improved capacity to perform various tasks. In this way, ladies are greater at performing multiple tasks than m en as ladies are normally skilled at it. Procedures Based on the undertaking accomplished for this report, a few sources were gotten considerably from the web and online databases. Larger part of the sources were appropriate as the theme has been chosen. The data assembled was made out of two diaries, six articles and three books as the sources examine about performing various tasks between two sexual orientations. Truth be told, the dependability and believability are sensible for all sources acquired that demonstrates suitable proof to help my contention. All the sources are viewed as believable and precise as the sources are being refreshed and the author’s are all around experienced in the specific field. Subsequently, it is sheltered to expect that the sources are trusted and exact as indicated by the validity. Notwithstanding, a few sources are sketchy in light of the fact that it didn’t relate with the contention, for example, composed by a few creators about disclosures from motion pictures and games, negative impacts and sexual orientation contrasts between kids on performing multiple tasks.

Hidden intellectualism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Shrouded intellectualism - Essay Example She affirms that the best technique for moving toward thoughts, discussions is as a discussion. She represents these with instances of organization news, the organization that searches for the reporters who can show amazingly odd perspectives so they can introduce the different sides of the circumstance. She contends the way, such a culture is the everyday schedule that the open communications are utilized, and to them, they accept the way one thinks. As per her, an individual needs to represent a discussion so the others can concur or differ with the point. In any case, control ought to likewise be applied with regards to a discussion. This is on the grounds that even the discussions have their own motivation, however they are not by any means the only alternatives for comprehension and review the world. As per Tannen, people’s culture depends on the individual propensities and contentions that look for the triumphant and losing end. She expresses that with regards to the con tention, for example, there must be a contradicting and proposing side, and for this situation, there must be a difference and understanding. As per her, it just obliterates the general public and sets individuals in the fight mentality circumstances whereby each fight must prompt harming. She underscores that it just makes individuals consider immaterial expository restrictions from the contradicting end, rather than tuning in to the significant issues. She contends and sees anguishing reaction as the arranged antagonistically, pre-designed, without speculation, and includes battling so one can arrive at their objective.

October Questions Omnibus 2

October Questions Omnibus 2 Its time for another Questions Omnibus Mike wrote (re: MIT flexibility), Wow, thats really cool that MIT shows some leniency toward victims of natural disasters. I myself am from Naples Florida and just got power back from Wilma. And Justin wrote, I am from New Orleans and my biggest concern right now is hot to get my recommendations to MIT in time for Early Action because the post office is messed up currently. I can get the materials postmarked for November first but I am not sure if they will ever reach MIT nonetheless reach MIT in a reasonable amount of time. How long should I wait to receive confirmation that my recommendations got through before sending them again and will MIT realize that if I have to send them again they will be postmarked past the deadline? Remember that as I recently wrote, we are very willing to be flexible for students who have been adversely affected by recent events. To all of you affected by one of the hurricanes or by the earthquake in south Asia, I wish you the best. Let us know what we can do for you. Justin, in general, we recommend allowing approximately 2 weeks from postage date for processing. After that time, it is appropriate to send any documents again, by fax or my mail. In that case, you should attach a brief note explaining your circumstances. wilma wrote, Hi Matt, what should I do if my teachers rec is late? She cant mail it out because of Wilma. Also, if I used paper application, can I still check its status on MyMIT? We are completely understanding that some pieces of your application may be late. Please let us know what kind of flexibility you may need. Also, yes, all applicants, paper or electronic, can (and should!) track their application online. After you send in your Part I you will receive more information about the tracking. Best of luck to you and all who were affected by Wilma. Sendie wrote, Hi Matt, I am a permanent resident but my parents dont live or work here in the United States. Am I still eligible for financial aid? If so do I apply as domestic or international student? Every student who is admitted to MIT is eligible for financial aid, regardless of citizenship or residency. As a permanent resident, you should apply as a domestic student. Victor wrote, I know you can include pictures in your essays but other than the first 500 word essay, you cant upload a file. This means I cant put pictures in for the other ones. I would like to submit pictures with my other essays is it ok if I put in a web link in the essay to refer to the picture? If you wish to include pictures, it would be better if you sent in the documents via US Mail rather than online. We do not always read applications with a web connection nearby. Ronty wrote, I am a student from India and have passed my 12th from CBSE board this year. I had an All India Rank of around 6000 in Manipal Medical Entrance Exam (MAHE UGET), in my First attempt, in which I guess around 100,000 students appeared. Many candidates who wrote that exam were repeaters, who had passed their 12th exam earlier than 2005. So, will my MAHE UGET rank be considered as a good one or just an average achievement? P.S.- Manipal was ranked 3rd in Medical College Rankings done by India Today Group in 2004. And Shikhar wrote, aha..so the resume I explained about to someone earlier is exactly what MIT wants. So basically MIT does not want a list of activities but an explanation to the activities listed on the apps is fine. Thanks a lot as there is a strong need for explanation of certain competitions and awards held in foreign countries which are not easily interpretable otherwise. So I should not hesitate to send in explanation should I matt?? Ronty and Shikhar, you should definitely send in explanations and contexts of parts of your application that would not be clear to us. It is the best way for us to be able to evaluate you fairly. Yoonju wrote, Im currently taking classes through EPGY, but they will not be listed on my high school transcript. Should I go ahead and list them on the Self-reported course work section? Yes, you should list your EPGY on the Self-reported Courses form, along with any other non-high school college courses. Robb wrote, MIT Recommends having four english courses, I skipped english II because there was a hybrid English III American History Course available and it seemed much more intresting. This leaves me with English I, II, and IV at the end of my junior year (For anyone who might read this that is not familiar, I am applying at the end of said year) is it neccesary to take a fourth english course? It really would not be much of an issue to take an additional english course second semester however I would much rather add another math or science course. We do recommend (not require) 4 English courses, though in your situation it seems more than reasonable to not take the fourth English course. Clark wrote, 1. In the first question you recommend that the person write an essay instead of submitting the report itself. In my circumstance, I conducted research in physics at Washington University through a program that judges the papers of everyone in the project. My paper was chosen for the award and consequentially I was given six bound copies of my research paper with the intent that they were to be sent to colleges. Yet, in the context of the first question, should I submit the full 40 page paper, write an essay about the process and whatnot, or both? 2. For the extracurricular activities, would it be prudent to lump together such things as jazz band, musicals (pit orchestra), and musical ensembles into one lump group labelled music, or to leave it as each individual item? Im guessing the latter, but would appreciate confirmation. 3. Would it be acceptable to list volunteer work under jobs provided I mark it as such, or should I list it solely under extracurriculars? 4. Finally, I intend on submitting a small portfolio of photographs Ive taken. Should I submit an additional essay/explanation with them? 1. You may submit the bound copy of the paper if you wish. Your best opportunity to tell us about your experience, though, is still through an essay or letter from your mentor/supervisor. 2. Sometimes, it does make sense to lump similar activities into a meta-category such as music. Either option is fine; do what you feel best presents you to us. 3. You can list it either place, though if you do list it under jobs, be sure to clearly mark it as volunteer work. 4. You need not submit an explanation of your portfolio, though you may if you wish to do so. Tracy wrote, If Im going to write about my research in the optional area of the essay, should it be more technical or more why Im interestedand what if those two things kind of meld together? Its difficult to write about research without using specific terminology, which, I assume, should be accompanied by brief explanations. Ooh, and one more thing: Are the supplements also due on November 1st if were applying early action? My research mentor is probably going to send in a recommendation; should I tell him to postmark it by Nov.1, or can he send it in earlier? Thanks a ton! And Rushil wrote, I am working on a Geometry project on an interesting problem(with great applications) and its equally interesting solution I have found! However, it is not complete, and I doubt it will be in time for the application submission to MIT! However, I have an interesting story behind how I got interested in this and what I have been doing regarding the problem. I was thinking of writing a breif synop sis of the problem and what all I have done and working on AND to write something about how I was motivated to solve this! Do you think that will be worth including in the Optional section? ( I hope you would rate it better than just an 8-page report!) Also, I live in India where resources like books, journals and even teachers willing to help a high schooler go beyond his syllabus are very hard to come by!!! Can you recommend some MIT Math Professor who will be willing to see my work and help/guide me in solving some problems I have come up working on the above project and other problems in Math??? Id be grateful and excited if some MIT Prof. / grad student etc. would help me!!!!! Were an admissions office, not a scientific journal. Often, the story of your research involvement is much more interesting to us than the results themselves. This is what we will be most interested in. Rushil, as for a mentor, I cant help you there; I might recommend checking out the forums on The Art of Problem Solving. Tracy, it is best to have anything you wish to be considered to us by the deadline or as close as possible to it. If it is submitted later, it will be reviewed, but may not be reviewed with the same thoroughness. Phil wrote, To better prepare myself for my future major in engineering, I conducted a research on Chinas first Energy Efficient Building at Tsinghua University under the professor whos in charge of the project. My intended major is eletrical engineering, yet I was unable to find any research opportunity for EE. I couldnt fit my research summary in the appliation, but Im wondering whether you think my research summary would help you guys making a decision. And Alvin wrote, Hi Matt, regarding research, youve answered part of my question before. But lets say the research that Ive done isnt original because I didnt think of it, but was assigned to a research doing it, can I still talk about it? Plus, I didnt really make any *HUGE* discovery or anything, just adding small amounts to this huge body of knowledge. As I wrote above, it is the story of your research involvement were most interested in, though the results can be a part of that story. Well be interested in hearing about your experiences. zoogies wrote, A few questions, although I do realize everyone and their rubber duck is pelting them at you by the hundreds. First, I want someone to write a third interview, but that someone is neither a math/science or humanities teacher; not a teacher at all in the normal sense. What would I do in this case? Second, my interview scheduling is not quite working out. I contacted my EC just before october, I believe, but the first scheduled date was cancelled due to an emergency. I was hoping to schedule it Saturday, but my EC hasnt gotten back to me all week. Just supposing it doesnt happen, how does that affect me? Finally, I notice a lot of people are writing their second optional essay about research theyve conducted in big university engineering labs, or such. This scares me a bit, because Ive written mine about whistling. It was a paramount accomplishment for me roughly five years ago to learn to whistle and Im still proud of having finally pulled it off after several years of angst, but Im worried that it will seem to trivial to these recountings of great scientific research. Better to leave it blank? 1. Extra/third recommendations are often in the form of letters. Have your extra recommender send us a letter about you. 2. If you have contacted your EC and attempted to have an interview but were unable to complete the interview, please let us know through the application tracking system on the website. Youll be treated in the same way as those students who had an interview or who had their interview waived. 3. Its your call whether or not to send in the essay. But I can say dont be intimidated by the folks who you hear about having done research in high school; I didnt do any, and I got in; the majority of MIT admits have not done any research in high school (though, of course, almost everyone will do research at MIT). y2kit wrote, Hi Matt, I have just finished my optional essay?K but I was just wondering something?K Everyone seems keen to write about his or her research experience for the optional essay. I guess majority of the applicants will have about the same experience, moral of the story, content (anything under sun!) as mine. Don???t you think it is very difficult to differentiate the good ones from thousands of similar essays? It makes those who have the real passion and talent difficult to stand out from the crowd. But I think you are very experienced in picking talent! What SPECIAL factors do you look out for in these research essays? Can you share with us some examples of research essays that are uniquely different and stand out from the crowd? Again, it may seem like everyone is writing about research, but in reality thats not the case. Even with those who do write about research, it is important to realize that successful results must not be the only indicator of meaningful experiences. Well want to know how you obtained your research opportunity, why you chose it, what you learned, how it has inspired you, how it has changed your outlook, and so on. tan wrote, Hi Matt, I wonder if I could send a journal which documents my daily research observations and conclusions instead of the research paper I have written? Firstly, the journal (something similar to a diary) is shorter than the research paper and secondly I feel that the admissions committee can get a feel of my passion after reading the journal. However, to get the whole complete picture, one has to finish reading the journal (it is about 6 pages long; and its reader-friendly). I am afraid that the admissions committee will not have enough time to finish reading it. What do you suggest then? tan, you are right in fearing that we wont necessarily be able to fully read and evaluate a 6 page journal. If you can condense things to a page or so, that might be more helpful. I recognize that its hard to summarize so much work in a page, and that it may seem to trivialize it, but it is an important life skill to be able to summarize things of great importance. Eric wrote, Matt, what kind of a resume are you referring to in this case? I remembered that we dont need to attach one if we filled up sections 7-10 properly. You are right, we neither require or expect any kind of resume or brag sheet. In most cases, a well filled out Part II helps us more than any resume. Edward wrote, 1.I intend to apply to MIT this year but I graduated from High school a year ago-I missed last years application deadline. Will this affect my chances of admission in any way? 2. I took part in a secondary schools science fair and made it to the finals of that competiton. I want to send in my project report along with my application to MIT-under which section of the application should I include it? 3. Is there a limit to the numbers of essays you can submit as part of the application to MIT? Thanks for the help. 1. We will be interested in how you spent your year after high school, be sure to discuss that in your application. Otherwise, your admission should not be greatly affected. 2. There is no specific section for a project report, and we will not necessarily evaluate it, but you may send it to us and it will be a part of your admissions folder. 3. In theory, there is no absolute limit to the number of essays you may send, but most students can express themselves adequately within the bounds of the application as it exists. We do not have unlimited time in this process. Learn to express yourself as succinctly as you can. Shikhar wrote, Also regarding my speech..Although I do think it is one of the most prestigious thing I ever did I just cannot discuss it in my compulsory essay.I really want to discuss something else there. What do you say should I write my experience in another essay or actually just give a description in my resume. Shikhar, I dont know what would be best make the best call you can. Im sure it will be fine. Mahsa wrote, I sent you a question about this ,in my country SAT and ACT exams have not taken what should I do? You answered me :We require that all applicants take either the SAT, or the ACT, or the TOEFL, and also take SAT IIs. Please let us know if that poses a hardship for you in your country. How to tell you this?from email?? in MyMIT or?? You can send me an email (you can look up my email address on the MIT homepage) or you can send an email to [emailprotected] Ian wrote, Hello matt :D I have a few personal questions I would like to ask you. Would it be possible for me to email you? Yes, you can send me an email; you can look up my email address on the MIT homepage. Samira wrote, I want to ask a question: What is your program for International olympiad of informatics(IOI) or Iranian olympiad of informatics?? If Im an olympiad medalist ,should I take SAT exams,ACT or ?? Im from iran. Congratulations on your IOI medal. All MIT applicants must take either the SAT I, the ACT, or the TOEFL, and also SAT IIs. I am aware that there are issues with standardized testing in Iran, so if you have problems, please let us know. murasame wrote, Im an international applicant from India. I dropped a year to pursue my interests and Im applying again this year to MIT. I have a few questions 1) I sat for the SAT II Writing Test in 2004.Now this test is no longer available. Will MIT accept the SAT II Writing test of 2004 as a valid third optional SAT II subject in addition to Physics and Math IIc, provided that I also sat for my SAT I last year which had no writing component? or should i take an emergency SAT II subject currently available? 2)Ive already had my grade XII final examinations (board examinations), so should I use my board exam results for my mid-year report or should I use my grade 12 mid-year report, (as my board results were much better). 3)For the math/ science teacher evaluation can I get the evaluation done by my Computer Science teacher or does science specifically mean Physics/Chemistry/Biology? I would love to send a recommendation from my computer science teacher though because she knows how much importance i place on logic in programming and not on memory work 1. We will accept the Writing SAT II as a third SAT II. You do not need to take an emergency SAT II. 2. Use the midyear report to report to us any new grades/marks since the application deadline. Before the deadline, you should send along all of the marks you have received to date, and if your school system produces any new marks for you after you submit the application, then you should send those along on the Midyear Report. 3. Yes, a Computer Science teacher may fill out Evaluation A (the math or science teacher). raghavendra wrote, I am an undergraduate applicant from india . i have a huge question to ask you. i took my SAT II recently(oct) and i think i will get an ideal MIT score. however, my name as in the collegeboard.com system is [redacted], whereas my name in the MIT online application is [redacted_sub_2]. (its actually a change in the order of the name, this is quite common in indian english,people tend to mix up first names with last names) however I am confused. considering th thousands of applications you guys deal with, is there a chance of losing my score, or will it be assigned to my name? this name mix up is killing me. And Alvin wrote, The name I registered with Collegeboard for SAT isnt exactly the same as the one I used for MIT because Collegeboard didnt give me enough space. Will that be a problem? Send an email to [emailprotected], and in the body of the email, say that the information is for the attention of the Records Office, and fully explain your naming situation. Our Records Office folks deal with dozens of cases like this each year with little problem. tan wrote, I feel that I could convey more about my personal character and passions in the optional essay. Which do you think is more important, the main essay (the one with choice A or B) or the optional essay? Finally, is it possible to submit part 2 of my application first without the SAT 2 scores? I may be unable to make it during Dec. Well consider everything that you send us. Im not sure that either essay is uniformly more important. And yes, many students submit their application without a full complement of test scores in yet; dont worry. The scores we will use when evaluating your application are the official score reports we receive, not what is written on the application. Leon wrote, I just have a quick question. From reading your previoius posts I learned that I can submit my highest scores on each section of the SAT I. But as I was completign part two of the application, the direction reads, If you took the SAT or ACT more than once, please list the test date for your highest combined/composite score or your highest math score. So does that mean that I can only submit my highest combined score from one SAT I, or I can still submit my highest scores in each section, though I only put one date that I had the highest combined total? You can write down your best single sitting scores, but when we actually evaluate your application, we will be using only the official score reports from the testing agencies. In short, dont worry too much about what you write for this section of the application, as long as you are accurate and truthful, and have taken your required tests. Shikhar wrote, Tell me one thing if I do retake that SAT II Math (or any other subject for that matter) is only the best score taken into consideration. I mean does the previous and presumably lower score act as a harmful factor or is it completely ignored. Yes, your new higher score would replace your old lower score. Clark wrote, As a question about that, my SAT was not good. My ACT was far better. Should I submit both or just the ACT? Is openness (and one bad test) better than showing myself in a better light? Please have all of your test scores sent to us. We will focus on those scores that make you look best, in your case the ACT instead of the SAT I. Emi wrote, Hi! I have a question regarding SAT I and SAT II scores. How much do they count towards acceptance? Because I just got my SAT II scores back today, and my college councellor says that theyre okay, but I have a feeling that they might be a bit on the low side compared to the scores Ive heard MIT students normally have so Im a bit worried about that. Test scores are a considered part of the process, but do not make or break an application. Ive written pretty frequently about test scores, so read the archives for more information. Sam wrote, Do you guy take AP scores into account as well as SAT scores? I got a 5 in BC Cal but my SAT II score is 710. Will the 710 hurt my chance or willl the 5 on the AP even it out? We will consider many things in the application process, including SATs and APs. Remember that one bad score will not by itself disqualify you, but nor will one good score save you. Your application is evaluated holistically and in context. Shikhar wrote, I have been struck with disaster too. My SAT MATH II score is 660,it came out today. NO idea how I could have got so low. I have good grades in school in Math but do I still have a chance at MIT being an international (that too from India). Or is it bye-bye MIT for me. and my chem score is 730. It is unlikely that one bad test score will be responsible for not being admitted. Test scores are but one of many aspects considered in the admissions process. Sanjay wrote, Sir, I am a student from India.I have just got my SAT I Score. My scores are Maths-670,CR-560,Writing-570 (10 in essay). Will my bad SAT score affect my application a lot, even with a SAT II score of 750+ in Maths2C, Physics and Chem each? I got 89 in English in my 12th CBSE exams. Most probably I will write the ACT in December. Please Comment. Sanjay, the SAT II scores certainly help you, though the SAT I scores dont help you much. I would recommend sitting for the TOEFL instead of the ACT; the TOEFL will then take the place of your SAT I. y2kit wrote, Hi Matt! Just one more question Can i submit part 2 without the SAT2 results first? Im taking it on Dec. But Im early to submit my application! Yes, you can, and you should. If you are missing some test results, but everything else is complete, you should submit the application. Be certain to designate MIT as a recipient for your scores and all will be good. Shikhar wrote, Is there any chance MIt can get the Jan test score of the SATs. Yes, we can take January scores on a case-by-case basis. Email [emailprotected] to make a request in your case. Neha wrote, random question: do you have any pet peeves when it comes to reading apps (ex: excessive use of ! marks, mispelled words, colloquial acronyms, cliches, common grammar errors)? My biggest pet peeve is when people dont follow directions on the application, such as submitting an essay that does not actually address the question being asked, or sending in a resume instead of completing the Part II, or not filling out the Self-reported Grades form properly. Someone wrote, Hi Matt, I have a question about the Sloan school. On U.S New and World Report, this school is ranked as number 2 for undergraduate business. Can you provide me with some more info? such as how does it compare to Wharton School of Business? or can I acquire the same business education in colleges that do not offer business as an undergraduate study (such as Harvard, where students take econ classes instead)? Thank you so much. Sorry, in addition to my previous comment on Sloan, do you by any chance have any cross-study of Wharton and Sloan? and hows Sloan as a graduate school? Hey Matt, after looking at Sloan school website, I dont quite understand the admission process. Do freshmen declare that they want to be in Sloan as if they were declaring their majors after freshmen year? And how hard is it to be placed into the school after declaring it (is there a quota for number of students)? Or that any students who want to be in Sloan will get in? I cant really compare Sloan and Wharton, as Ive only been a student at one but not the other. Both provide a great education; if you are excited by both educations, I would apply to both and see what happens. If you are admitted to both, choose the school that is the best fit and match for you, as Penn and MIT are very different schools. Also, remember that to be a businessman, you do not need to major in business; many of my friends who work on Wall Street majored in physics or electrical engineering or math as undergraduates. There is no cross-registration between MIT and Penn, though we do have cross-registration with Wellesley, Harvard, the Massachusetts College of Art, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Sloan is an excellent place for both an undergraduate and graduate education. You do not apply directly to Sloan as a freshman but rather apply to the whole of MIT; freshmen are all undeclared, and choose whatever major they like at the end of the freshman year. There is no quota for Sloan; any students who wishes to major in Management Science may do so. Anna wrote, [Matt said] send in slides (CD/DVD files, such as Powerpoint, preferred) of your work It means .jpg or Powerpoint files on CD or actual slides in standart plastic sheets? nurlan wrote, i wanna send one supplementery rec paper butthe problem is that must it contain the same question as in the main rec papers. Laura wrote, I sent my supplementary recommendation in the same format (humanities teacher evaluation form) as my main form. One is English, the other is art both are on form B. Form A is physics, but it doesnt pertain to my problem. What do you suggest I do? Sukrit wrote, Can my mentor send in his recommendation via email? If so, to which address? Evelyn wrote, May I send a music tape instead of a CD? I used my piano teachers recording equipment to record my piano playing, but his equipment only allowed me to record on cassettes. I wrote as a comment to answer the above five questions, Quick answers: Anna, either electronic or digital files are okay (see my edited text). Shikhar, send it in, no worries. Nurlan, the extra rec need not answer the same questions as those in the application, though often they are a good guide. Laura, dont worry about the two form Bs this is fine, no worries. Someone, you dont apply to a specific school/major, you apply to MIT; all freshmen come in undeclared and declare any major they choose at the end of the freshman year with no additional admissions requirements. Sukrit, I believe under certain special circumstances we can accept emailed recommendations; email [emailprotected] for more info. Evelyn, yes, you may send in a tape (see edit above). More in depth answers in a forthcoming Omnibus. As I reread my answers, I think they may be sufficient let me know if I can elaborate. Anonymous wrote, Hi Matt, You probably dont remember me, but I met you a at one of the MIT informational sessions in California awhile back. Im the guy who finally asked about the social life/parties at MIT ;P Ive been browsing through your blogs for awhile, but this is my first time posting. Anyway, Im applying EA to MIT this year and Ive got a question about a supplemental letter of rec. Its just an idea that popped into my head-I was thinking of having one of my close friends write about me. Yes, I know, its probably not considered the most objective of recs. :P haha. The reason it occured to me was that there are some personal/family issues that Id like to get across, and while Im planning on writing about it in the essay, I was thinking maybe an outside perspective might help since she knows much of what Ive gone through. Also, she can attest to my person in ways that teachers might not be able to, such as my willingness to forego sleep in order to make sure my friends, or thos e who need my help, are alright (be it ready for a test or a need to talk about personal issues). Basically, I feel that she can show a more personal side of me that might be unknown to teachers. Of course, I know how it sounds. Having one of your best friends write you a rec letter, right? haha. But this is why I ask. What are your thoughts? (BTW, when I say close friend that is what I mean, shes not my girlfriend :P)Again, Im definately planning to write my essay on some of this (question B seems perfect), but I thought this might be something to reinforce or introduce information that might not be present in a 500 word essay. So tell me Mr. McGann, in or out? :P Thanks for your help. Anon, that sounds very interesting, and well thought out I look forward to reading her letter. Edward wrote, Hi Matt. I hope youre doing great Thanks for all the usefull information I was wondering, could an athlete contact more than one coach(different sports) in hope of being recruited by all of them? There are a number of multi-sport athletes at MIT, and if you aspire to be one of these, you may certainly contact the multiple associated coaches. Anna wrote, One more little question about art supplement. How many works I can include in my portfolio (on CD, in .jpg format)? You may provide as many art pieces as you like, but you will probably want to choose a select number to focus on, probably no more than, say, 20 (ballpark guesstimate). Kyle wrote, Im curious if we can submit a computer application and source code to show evidence of programming talent. What are the rules for things like that? If you do examine code, and if its a large program, I could point out several sections that I think are examples of my ability. You may submit some code with your application, but unfortunately we cannot guarantee that we will be able to evaluate it. If you do submit code, be sure that your code is well commented. Josh wrote, I read on your previous posts that there is no auto-word counter on the online application essays. But today when I was saving my optional essay about my research(which was 800 words) it displayed: Your answer exceeds the allowed length. Please edit your response. (in red, at the top). I cut my essay down to 600 words and it still displays this, and I found it stopped displaying this at exactly 530 words. There is also a box that says: Check here to ignore errors and save data anyway. What happens if I check this and submit it? Will my extra words be cutt off? I dont know the exact details of the online application, but I do know that what you see when you preview your application is the same as what well see when we read your application. If what you preview is different from what you want us to see, I recommend sending the version you prefer via snailmail. Faiqah wrote, Hi, I tried to contact my EC through his e mail and contact no. but got no response, so I e mailed MIT about the situation, but still I have no idea what should I be doing. I am for regular decision by the way. And Casey wrote, I am having trouble contacting my interviewer. The e-mail address in the orange box is no longer in service, and the e-mails I send keep coming back to me. When I called the number given, I was told it was the wrong number. I e-mailed admissions, but they have not responded. I know the interview is optional, but I still want to do it. Any suggestions? If you are a regular decision applicant, and have emailed [emailprotected] about your situation, be patient for a week or two; I assure you that you will receive a response. As you can imagine, the EC Office is quite swamped right now. We will do our best to respond to you as quickly as we can. anonymous wrote, Since were kind of on the topic, how does MIT evaluate academic growth? For example, going from a B- to an A, and maintaining an A in that subject. Is the growth enough to balance out the intial low grade? I dont know quite how to answer your question, since I dont have any context, but in general an upward trend is better than a downward trend. Also, remember that were not looking for perfection having some Bs on your transcript is not a kiss of death. zoogies wrote, The Green Card copy, which we sent in over a week ago (I live in MA) hasnt registered, and neither has the Oct 8th SAT scores, for which I designated MIT as a recipient. Should I wait, or call? Are either of these cause for concern? We will receive your October test scores, do not worry. (We will also receive November test scores in plenty of time for early action consideration; again, dont worry). Also, as I wrote above, we recommend allowing approximately 2 weeks from postage date for processing. After that time, it is appropriate to send any documents again, by fax or my mail. In that case, you should attach a brief note explaining your circumstances. Georg wrote, By the way, why is everyone talking about the admission of the 2010 class. Do I have to apply 5 years before I enter? In the US, when we talk of the Class of 20XY, we mean the class that will graduate in that year, and who would enter in the year 20XY-4. Victoria wrote, Hi Mr. McGann! Im Victoria, that girl that offered to help at the San Diego information session the one that goes to Torrey Pines. I just wanted to let you know that I popped into the counseling office on an errand today and all of the MIT stuff is gone! I assure you there is no lack of student interest. Hi Victoria, thanks! Its good to hear from you, and good to hear that people are interested in the MIT materials =) Ruth wrote, how does one sign up to talk to admitted students back home? Is there a party bus of some sort we get to paint and tour around the country? Swing by my office sometime, Ill tell you all about various programs =) Zack wrote, Recently, Ive been reading a book that was referenced in some economics models I was studying. The title of the referenced book: Simple Algebra. Does MIT have any hilariously understated math courses? You can check out the titles and the descriptions of all the courses at MIT in the Online Course Catalog. Let me know what you find Sara wrote, Please accept Seth Cohen when baseball is over and he can complete the college process. Look at him taking AP physics as a sophomore!! Ill see what I can do ;)

Come Hell Or High Water Hurricane Katrina And The Color...

Book Review: Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster by Michael Eric Dyson Tyler Funk â€Å"George Bush doesn’t care about black people†- Kanye West The look on Mike Myers’ face when these words were uttered on National Television was enough to encompass the reaction that everyone who was watching the special had. But maybe the look wasn’t one of realization that what West had said was absolutely ridiculous, but perhaps the opposite. In Come Hell or High Water, author Michael Eric Dyson makes an extensive argument that whether directly or indirectly, the issue of race had the biggest impact before, during, and in the aftermath of the disaster. While reading this book, I became immediately captivated by the passion and emotion that were in the words of Dyson, and I discovered that not only was Dyson giving his view of the pain that was endured, but he was putting himself inside the pain and feeling it for himself. The research methods of Dyson were versatile, from extensive research to firsthand account analysis. I have the utmost respect for Dyson and his testimony to the atrocities and sufferings that were Hurricane Katrina, and I do believe that this book should be a requirement for classes in the future. As I give my review of Come Hell or High Water, I am going to touch on the most important segments and chapters of the book, in an attempt to convey the emotions and points of emphasis that Dyson is trying to make. To begin the book, Dyson explainsShow MoreRelatedMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 Pagesenvironment of the classroom, students can hone their analytical skills and also their persuasive skills—not selling products but selling their ideas—and defend them against critical scrutiny. This is great practice for the arena of business to come. NEW TO THIS EDITION In contrast to the early editions, which examined only notable mistakes, and based on your favorable comments about recent editions, I have again included some well-known successes. While mistakes provide valuable learningRead MoreExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 Pagesfor a high growth diversified Russian conglomerate? Alliance Boots – a major merger in the pharmaceutical distribution and retailing sector. Police Mergers – are mergers the best way forward in tackling major crime? Ericsson – innovation from the periphery: the development of mobile telephone systems. Direct Care – strategy development in the multistakeholder context of public sector services. BBC – structural changes to deliver a better service. Sony (B) – more structural changes at the high-techRead MoreInternational Management67196 Words   |  269 Pagesemerging markets, global corporate responsibility, and offshore outsourcing of services. His most recent books are Multinationals and Development (with Alan Rugman, Yale University Press, 2008) and NGOs and Corporations: Conflict and Collaboration (with Michael Yaziji, Cambridge University Press, 2009). He is co-Editor-in-Chief of MRN International Environment of Global Business (SSRN Journal) and an Associate Editor of Academy of Management Learning and Education, Business Society, and Long Range PlanningRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 PagesNew York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Editor in Chief: Eric Svendsen AVP/Executive Editor: Bob Horan Editorial Project Manager: Mary Kate Murray Editorial Assistant: Jason Calcano Director of Marketing: Patrice Lumumba Jones Senior Marketing Manager: Anne Fahlgren Production Manager: Debbie Ryan ArtRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 Pagesproject managers orchestrate the complex network of relationships involving vendors, subcontractors, project team members, senior management, functional managers, and customers that affect project success? What factors contribute to the development of a high-performance project team? What project management system can be set Preface ix up to gain some measure of control? How do managers prepare for a new international project in a foreign culture? How does one pursue a career in project management

PVC Plastics Polyvinyl Chloride

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a popular thermoplastic that contains high levels of chlorine which can reach up to 57%. Carbon, which is derived from oil or gas is also used in its fabrication. It is an odorless and solid plastic that is white, brittle and can also be found on the market in the form of pellets or white powder. PVC resin is often supplied in the powder forms and its high resistance to oxidation and degradation make it possible to store the material for long periods. Some authors/activists that oppose the manufacturers of PVC often refer to it as the Poison Plastic due to the toxic pollutants it might release. When plasticizers are added it becomes softer and more flexible. Uses of PVC PVC is predominant in the construction industry due to its low production cost, malleability, and light weight. It is used as a replacement for metal in many applications where corrosion can compromise functionality and escalate maintenance costs. Many of the worlds pipes are made from PVC and these are used in industrial and municipal applications. It is also used to make pipe fitting and pipe conduits. It does not have to be welded and can be connected with the use of joints, solvent cement and special glues--key points that highlight its installation flexibility. The material is also present in the electrical components such as electrical insulation, wires, and cable coatings. In the healthcare industry, it is used to make feeding tubes, blood bags, intravenous (IV) bags, parts of dialysis devices and many other items. This is only possible when phthalates are added to it. Phthalates are used as plasticizers to produce flexible grades of PVC (and other plastics), thus making it better suited for the aforementioned applications due to improved performance characteristics. Common consumer products such as raincoats, plastic bags, toys, credit cards, hoses, doors and window frames and shower curtains are also made from PVC. This is not an exhaustive list of the many products that can be found around the household with PVC as its main constituent. Advantages of PVC As mentioned earlier, PVC is a low-cost material that is lightweight and as such, is easy to handle and install. Compared to other types of polymers, its manufacturing process is not limited to the use of crude oil or natural gas. Some use this point to argue that it a sustainable plastic since these forms of energy are known to be nonrenewable. PVC is also a durable material and is not affected by corrosion or other forms of degradation.   It can easily be converted into different forms making its use across various industries an evident advantage. Being a thermoplastic it can be recycled and converted into new products for different industries, but this is not an easy process due to the many formulations used to manufacture PVC. It also presents chemical stability which is an important factor when PVC products are applied in environments with different types of chemicals. This characteristic guarantees that it maintains its properties without undergoing significant changes when chemicals are added.   Other advantages include: BiocompatibleClarity and transparencyResistance to chemical stress crackingLow thermal conductivityRequires little to no maintenance Disadvantages of PVC PVC is often referred to as the Poison Plastic and this is due to the toxins it can release during manufacture, when exposed to fire, or decomposed in landfills. These toxins have been linked to health problems that include, but are not limited to cancer, birth development problems, endocrine disruption, asthma, and lung problems. While many PVC manufacturers point to its high content of salt as being a major advantage, it is this main ingredient along with the possible release of dioxin and phthalate that are possible contributing factors to the hazards it might pose to human health and the environment. The health concerns of PVC plastics, if any, are still highly debatable. Future of PVC Plastics PVC plastics account for a lot of plastics that are used in the world today. This material is ranked as the third most used plastic falling behind  polyethylene  and  polypropylene. The concerns regarding its threat to human health have prompted research around the use of sugarcane ethanol as the feedstock for PVC instead of naphtha. Additional research is also being conducted on bio-based plasticizers as a solution for phthalate-free plasticizers. These experiments are still in their initial stages, but the hope is to develop more sustainable forms of PVC that do not affect human health or threaten the environment during the manufacture, use and disposal stages. With the many excellent characteristics that PVC presents, it continues to be a widely used plastic across various industries.

Work Free Essays

2nd Quarter Project Title: A Fever In The Heart Authors Name: Ann Rule Publisher: Time Warner Date of publication: October 1996 Plot: The main idea of this book was writing a true-life story and analyzing how two famous serial killers, James Ruzicka and Carl Harp, had very similar lives. They were mirror images of each other. â€Å"A Fever In The Heart† by Ann Rule, started off with their important facts and events from their childhood to their adulthood. We will write a custom essay sample on Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now These two serial killers were so similar that they were bond to be together. They met in a jail cell and soon became allies. Some similarities they had were that they both had mothers that weren’t really considered an adult figure and they both didn’t have a love of a father. Other examples were that they were only a year a part; both started having sexual interests at a very young age (6 or 7). These common situations both brought them to killing women. Both had the capacity to be charming and can have a harmless appearance. They both shared an alias known as â€Å"Troy Asin. James Ruzicka would catch women from the ages of 15 to their 20s by putting a sharp object around their neck and telling them that his brother had been shot by random people and that he needed help. He would then bring them to an abandoned place and then proceed to rape and kill them. Carl Harp was on a hill where you can see the view of interstate 405 freeway and started shooting random drivers. He also raped two hitchhikers threatening them that if they would not cooper ate he would shoot them with his riffle. After that he let the girls go and in a couple of days later he was arrested and convicted for life in jail. Main Characters: James Ruzicka and Carl Harp – convicted serial killers and rapists of the 1970s Table: Evidence| Test Preformed| Results| Fishing knife| Blood Testing | Same weapon used to kill the victim| White draperies| None| Proven Ruzicka had stolen it from his ex wife| Towels| None| One of the items Ruzicka had stolen from his ex wife| Riffle| None| Same gun Carl used to kill drivers on the free way| Evaluation: 1. The role of forensics science in this case was to collect enough evidence as possible to convict to serial killers that had used the same alias and to know who did what. 2. I think the police did as much of a god job as they could because their wasn’t a lot of advanced technologies as there is now like DNA testing. 3. If I headed this investigation I would of done a lot more with the evidence I had. I could of done blood testing, DNA testing, fingerprint analysis, and created an M. O. for these two killers. I would also make sure I had as much of security I could have around the areas where victims were murdered. Possibly a grid search when one murder scene was in the woods. 4. This crime was in the 1970s and new forensics tests that would have helped solve the crime would have been DNA and fingerprints testing. These two tests would of definitely help find the murderers and convict them in a lower amount of time it took them to. Evidence they found around the crime scenes were fishing knife that would of have enough fingerprints, clothes from the raped victims that would of have DNA evidence like hair, nails, semen, etc. 5. My suspects were guilty and the evidence was more than enough evidence to support the guilty verdict. Rate the book: Amount of evidence| 5| Appropriate use of evidence| 5| Accuracy of evidence| 5| Performance of police or CSI| 4| Writing style (ease of reading)| 5| Recommended for future forensic students| 5| How to cite Work, Essay examples Work Free Essays Generation Gap When younger workers are hired in the same department as older workers, the results can be frustrating or rewarding. What makes the difference is how management decides to blend the workforces. The 80 million Generation Y workers, called millennial, who were born after 1977 bring a host of talents to the office. We will write a custom essay sample on Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now They generally are skilled at hands-on, experiential learning and gain skills by attempting to perform a task rather than by reading a book or attending a lecture. They multicast, prefer to work alone, accept change readily, and access Information at all ours of the day. These work habits are contrary to what older workers have experienced during their careers. To blend the cultures, managers must devise methods of fostering coexistence. The project-oriented nature of IT work appeals to the bright, creative, energetic millennial, and they perform best when given new technologies and the freedom to experiment. Enjoying new situations and challenges, they excel at mentoring less tech-saws workers on using the Innovative hardware and software and rotating among various departments to meet new people. They also thrive in an atmosphere that encourages blobbing and testing, so the work environment should allow mobile social networking and communications. What are your thoughts? Do you find this to be the case at your place of work? I believe the current increase in new millennial further assist the older population. For example, as a professional in the Education industry the younger generations, in my opinion juggle various tasks. However, I feel the older population can benefit from most millennial by keeping an open mind to technology. Often times many baby boomers become resistant to change. Remotely no adaptation occurs, leading to undue stress of millennial. On another note, millennial may often be underestimated within the workforce due to autonomy. The world has emerged into a new era involving a high demand to remain abreast with frequent changes. I work alongside various baby-boomers and they are never updated with anything. Work By Lange-Wilcox multicast, prefer to work alone, accept change readily, and access information at all they excel at mentoring less tech-savvy workers on using the innovative hardware my opinion Juggle various tasks. How to cite Work, Papers Work Free Essays When analyzing a book, each point you make must have four points: Statement – you make a point Evidence – you include a quote (something from the text) which supports your statement Analysis – explain how the quote you chose proves your statement Is true Link ? explain how all of this answers the question S – Michael Morgue uses the technique of narrative voice effectively to portray the horrors and futility of war. He does this by showing us the war from the point of view of the horse, Joey. This shows us what the war was like for both the British and the Germans in an unbiased way. We will write a custom essay sample on Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now E -â€Å"l was busying myself at tearing the last of this away when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a man In a grey uniform clamber out of the trenches†¦ A small, helmeted figure In a flapping khaki greatcoat climbed up onto no man’s land. † A This helps us to understand that none of the men were horrible. They are described and recognized by their uniforms and nothing else. There are no differences between the men apart from their uniforms. L – This shows us the horrors and futility of war as these men were made to fight and did not know what they were fighting for. They were not angry at one another or prepared for war. Try to use this example and write your own version of this paragraph. This format Is used for all of your paragraphs, the Information you give Is the only thing that changes s technique of narrative voice show horror and futility of war Joeys first hand experience First person narrative shows things as they happen Choose one of the following quotes: â€Å"There were wounded everywhere – on stretchers, on crutches, in open ambulances, men cried and fell to the ground, and horses reared and screamed in agony of fear ND pain. The ground erupted on either side of me, throwing horses and riders clear into the air. The shells whined and roared overhead, and every explosion seemed like an earthquake to us. † â€Å"It was as I staggered out of one such crater that I lumbered into an invisible coil of barbed wire that first snagged and then trapped my foreleg. As I kicked out wildly to free myself, I felt the barbs tearing into my foreleg† â€Å"l saw the grey soldiers ahead of us raise their rifles and heard the death rattle of a machine gun † â€Å"Blind terror drove me on† â€Å"We looked back down the hill at the battle-field. How to cite Work, Papers Work Free Essays Introduction In this report, I will draw on theories into my work experience in a local English training school in my hometown, to analysis their communication system, and then make some recommendations to Improve their school performance. Description Last summer, I worked as a registration assistant in a private languages school called Younger; it is a small private English training school, which aims at improving student’s overall English ability to get higher score In English Test. Within Younger organization, the formal communication between school leaders and employees that Ely on paper-based format; the informal communication occurs teachers and students that prefer to face-to-face chats. We will write a custom essay sample on Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to the school communication study of Fred C. The formal communication which focuses on exchange the information regarding the work-related of school, and informal communication which emphasizes the unofficial message that unrelated to the schools education activities. For Younger school case, I will draw the classical approach theories to analyses formal communication, and using the culture approach to examine the informal communication. Through the analysis. I will find some problems about Younger’ communications, and give them some suggestions, to help them get improvement in the future. Analysis Theory 1 Younger formal communication system between employer and employee is familiar with classic approach. According to Weeper’s theory of bureaucracy, rules are priority for each organizational functioning; he believed all rules should be In written form. In Younger, to improve students’ English test score in short term, school leaders written specific daily routine and daily objectives to individuals, like when they would wake up, who can take what class and when, and the number of vocabularies students need to memorized each day. Under this system, all things rely on the rules, hierarchy was clearly established and the power was centralized within school leaders. In Younger, the school leaders built policies and communicate downward to group of managers, teachers and then students; this is a typically top-down communication. Managers, teachers and students need to follow their own Instructions, and do not have rights to change anything. Under bureaucracy management, teachers clearly knowing what the school’s goals, strategies, and objectives base on deferent rules; having a better understanding of how their Jobs contribute to other school activities Increase employees involvement; following the specific introduction could improve the work efficiency. School leaders have the big power to control and monitor day-to-day operations of school activities. On the other hand, top-down communication is hard to receive the feedback from lower level people, lacking of communication interaction lead to lost opportunities of making improvement. Sometimes, the hierarchy is complicated, some information lost since assistance from the school principal to students. In Tailor’s scientific management theory, † there is one best way to do every Job†, which means managers need to fit Job to individuals. Based on this view, Younger principal divided English teaching into three parts: reading, writing and listening, and only hired the people who specialized in one filed. This kind of teaching specializations lowers individual teacher’s responsibility for students’ test score, reduce working pressure; hired professional experts in that field, it could be provide high quality education services for students, rather more gained Younger’ competitive advantages in educational industry. However, Job specialization and teaching followed by instruction reduces the work autonomy and decrease employees’ skills, as a consequent, employee felt less passion for their Jobs. Moreover, it is hard to find the potential problems without communication among different course teachers. Theory 2 Through above analysis, we can conclude that Youngster’s formal communication system is based on classical approach that tend to be downward, paper based, and task-related. Unlike the vertical communication between the employer and employee, he horizontal communication occurs in teacher and students. Deal and Kennedy’s † Strong Cultures†, theory argued that if an organization has a strong culture, it will form the unique, hard to imitate intangible asset for that company, it would improve individual and organizational performance. This theory including four key elements: values and belief, heroes, rites and rituals, and cultural network. Since private languages education is a high competitive industry, Younger attempt to build their own school culture as their core competitive advantages. Younger used their slogan † Stay passion, Stay younger† as their belief to motivate students keep passion in their leaning, school mission aim to build the unique † Younger† sprit to attractive more students. Youngster’s principal is their Hero, for each new student orientation, principal gives the speech about how he builds Younger school to encourage student work hard. Both informal and formal communication made contribute to build the culture network. Majority informal communication during the lunchtime, teachers share legend stories to their students. To The top-leaders used downward immunization transfer school values, belief, culture, and school mission to employee and students. It is try to form a sense of belonging, commitment, and proud of being a part of Younger among the employees and students. In summary, for Youngster’s culture approach the strength is they build a strong culture connection through their passion values, principal as the legend hero, using both informal and formal communication channel to set the culture network made employees and students felt like school is a big family. Recommendation As I analyzed above, the biggest problem is the highly centralized hierarchy management system cause the weak communication system. To improve Younger communication system, my recommendation is diversify the direction of communication flows is most priority thing. Since analysis of Youngster’s structure, we can see the organization structure has influenced on communication system. Lundeberg Orenstein indicated, the structure of an effective communication Younger now has both downward and horizontal communication, I suggest building an upward flow communication. In the Younger school, upward communication is that some reflection from lower staff to the top leaders, this kind of communication an examine whether the bottom staff understood the messages from top-leaders, also can improve self-esteem of staff. Upward communication flow will make communication more effectiveness, listen more voice from different perspectives, and get more suggestions. In short, upward communication will provide a new communication channel of feedback to top-leaders, and make contribution to school’s performance. We can build the upward communication in three different types, the first type is class evaluation, gave rights to students which evaluate their teacher’s caching performance, this help leader to understand how the employees perform their Job. The second one is suggestions and improvement, gathering the ideas from staffs to increase the quality of work. The last type is exception describe the big problems to leader, make leader aware of how difficulties. To build a healthy upward flow communication there are some barriers need to overcome. Firstly, when low- level staffs try to reflect problems but sometimes, the administrators no time to respond. Secondly, the administrator’s bad attitudes or ignore the low-level staffs. Thirdly, the long-time gap between communication and reflection, it will take up to several months to accept the low-staffs’ suggestion. The last but not least, low-level staffs lacking of motivation to bring problems to the administrator’s office. There are some solutions to solve above four questions. Firstly, open door and open hours policy. To set a time, the administrator’s door open for those people who find some problems need to discuss. Secondly, school leaders can facilitate some consulting meetings to avoid bad attitudes, and also can rebuild the lower-staff confidence. Thirdly, building social media blob for gather problems, reply feedback as soon as possible. Last, setting some rewards for these useful recommendations, encourage low-level staffs give more suggestions. Conclusion In this essay, in the first part I simply describe the Younger communication strategies. In the second part, I draw the classical approach theories to analyses formal communication, and using the culture approach to examine the informal communication in Younger English training school. Through analysis, I can conclude that Youngster’s formal communication system is based on classical approach that end to be downward, paper based, and task-related. How to cite Work, Papers Work Free Essays Outline different viewpoints around an issue of public concern relevant to the sector. The different views the public have on certain cases are Lack of trust, the police and social services not doing their Jobs very well, Lack of training for example staff not knowing what they are doing and not being able to keep children safe. 5. We will write a custom essay sample on Work or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3 Describe how issues of public concern have altered public views of the sector. The public has seemed to start to lose faith in social services and police and nurseries as they think children should be looked after whilst at school. The public has stated owe care companies, social services and police have let the victims down and didn’t help enough to protect them, and didn’t take the cases serious enough. 2. 2 Describe the Information shown on own pay statement. The type of Information that Is shown on a pay statement Is a national Insurance number, the hours the employer works, the tax they pay, the amount of national Insurance the person pays, the persons address, employment number and their tax code. This exists to help protect both employees and the employer. It’s to stop explanation of workers by their employers. It’s also so workers do not get taken advantage of, if his didn’t exist there would be no rules to follow which means that some companies would do whatever they want. 1. Identify sources and types of information and advice available In relation to employment responsibilities and rights. -Contracts -Policies ;Line managers -Job descriptions -Terms and conditions 1. 2 Understand agreed ways of working that protect own relationship with employer. 2. 1 Describe the terms and conditions of own contract of employment Companies cannot Just sack employers with no reason, they have to have a reason. How to cite Work, Papers

Heart Of Darkness By Conrad Essay Research free essay sample

Heart Of Darkness By Conrad Essay, Research Paper Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a broad scope of mentions to jobs of political relations, morality and societal order. It was written in a period when European development of Africa was at a ghastly tallness. Conrad utilizations dual oblique narrative. A flame storyteller reports the narrative as told by Marlow, assigned to the bid of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an researching expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an of import trading station of tusk, located in the inside of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the world through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great outrage with people in the sepulchral metropolis after his journey to the Congo part because he discovered, through his work, the world of the existence, such as the great virtuousness of efficiency, the darkness in society and persons and the surface world. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said # 1027 ; gThe horror, The horror mentioning to his life in inner Africa, which caused him decomposition. Marlow emphasized the virtuousness of # 1027 ; gefficiency # 1027 ; H throughout the narrative because he thought of it as the lone manner to last in the wilderness. After seeing the deceasing indigens in the wood of the outer station, Marlow described them as # 1027 ; ginefficient. # 1027 ; h Under # 1027 ; gthe devotedness to efficiency, # 1027 ; h unqualified people were excluded from society. Merely efficient people can last. For illustration, since Kurtz was the most efficient agent, with respects to bring forthing tusk, his employers respected his accomplishment and regarded him as an indispensable individual. However, one time he fell into decomposition, he was considered no more the than deceasing indigens and therefore was treated as if he were dead. He was so buried in the darkness. The symbol of inefficiency was the colour viridity. Marlow illustrated a image of deceasing indigens, when he said, # 1027 ; g [ They were ] black shadows of disease and famishment prevarication confusedly in the light-green somberness # 1027 ; H ( 20 ) . Another illustration of inefficiency is shown in the description of the organic structure of Marlow # 1027 ; degree Fahrenheit predecessor as # 1027 ; gThe grass turning through his ribs was tall plenty to conceal his castanetss # 1027 ; H ( 13 ) . Marlow realized the existent darkness did non existed in Africa but in Europe, and non in Africans but in Europeans who engaged in colonial development, including Kurtz. Due to the indigens # 1027 ; f physical characteristics and imposts like cannibalism, Marlow defined Africans as the darkness. On the other manus, he considered Europeans as the visible radiation because of his semblances of civilisation. After witnessing the evil patterns of the colonisers in the Congo, Marlow discovered the moral darkness in Whites. European encroachers in Africa dehumanized indigens under the name of enlightenment for the interest of net income. They practiced no moral Torahs and inflicted indurate and barbarian inhuman treatment on autochthonal people. Marlow # 1027 ; fs description of the Company # 1027 ; fs offices in Paris revealed his find: A narrow and abandoned street in deep shadow, high houses, countless Windowss with Venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass germination between the rocks, enforcing passenger car archways right and left, huge two-base hit doors standing ponderously ajar # 1027 ; H ( 13 ) . Furthermore, the older adult female at the offices was like a gatekeeper of # 1027 ; gDarkness. # 1027 ; h These descriptions indicated that the existent darkness was in greedy Whites, who were without moral lt ; /p > sense, therefore colored indigens were victims of darkness of Whites. Through his work in the Congo, Marlow found merely # 1027 ; gsurface truths, # 1027 ; H which had been adulterated and concealed by European civilization, non core truths. The ground why # 1027 ; gthe significance of episode [ for him is ] non inside like a meat but outside # 1027 ; H ( 9 ) was that Marlow # 1027 ; fs point of view was trapped in these surface truths. He could non touch the interior of the meat because he did non travel deep plenty. Furthermore, he merely watched and judged things from the exterior. Marlow expressed, # 1027 ; htruth stripped of its cloak of clip # 1027 ; c -the adult male knows and can look on without a blink of an eye. But he must run into at least be every bit much as of a adult male as these on the shore. He must run into that truth with his ain true stuff-with his ain congenital strength # 1027 ; H ( 38 ) . Not merely did he hold a fright of indigens, but besides he refused to be like them. Since indigens were, for Marlow, barbarian and mean-spirited chaps, he would non corrupt himself. Marlow used work as a stalking-horse. Mowever, he acquired # 1027 ; gsurface truths # 1027 ; h in the Congo part by managing the steamboat in the # 1027 ; gfiendish row. # 1027 ; h On the other manus, Kurts went to indigens and found the bosom of darkness in him, which was the cardinal world of a deeper part of his head. Kurtz brought moral thoughts to the wilderness. He said early in his work, # 1027 ; gEach station should be like a beacon on the route towards better things, a centre for trade of class but besides for humanising, bettering, teaching # 1027 ; H ( 34 ) . However, he found immorality of Europeans in Africa. Moral thoughts, which formed Kurtz # 1027 ; degree Fahrenheit individuality, were destroyed. He lost his personality and rejected his humanity and the philistinism of the West. Shoes symbolized Western civilisation: Kurtz used a shoe lace to bind letters together. It showed that Kurtz renounced things related to the West. As a consequence, he became egocentric and ivory-obsessed. In add-on, his life became nonmeaningful and empty. Bing hollow at his nucleus, Kurtz was fascinated by # 1027 ; gthe heavy deaf-and-dumb person enchantment of the wilderness that seemed to pull him to its pitiless chest by the waking up of forgotten and barbarous inherent aptitudes by the memory of gratified and monstrous passion ( 65 ) . The wilderness has power to bend Kurtz # 1027 ; fs bosom black. Kertz made a treaty with devilish forces, which lurk within the jungle and so became perverse and deranged. Although he could non be wholly evil, he massacred autochthonal people and stole tusk from them without restraint. He alternated between being evil and fighting his former idealism. On his deathbed, Kurtz realized what he did to indigens and himself and found himself as an incarnate of greed that lacked temperateness. Hence, Kurtz cried # 1027 ; gThe horror, The horror. # 1027 ; h The # 1027 ; gdarkness # 1027 ; H of this novel # 1027 ; fs rubric refers to many sort of darkness: moral corruptness, ignorance, savageness. In the bosom of darkness in Africa, Marlow found the sordid development of haughtiness Europeans. They were non merely mere covetous but inefficient people in the jungle. Marlow did non happen truths, the darkness in him, whereas Kurtz discovered it. Although the find of such world was # 1027 ; gpaid for by countless lickings, by detestable panics, by detestable satisfactions ( 70 ) , as Marlow said. Kurts personified the evil latent in adult male. Under immorality and the diabolic force fortunes, the darkness of one # 1027 ; degree Fahrenheit head can be unleashed.

Plato And Aristotle Essays (2179 words) - Ancient Greek Philosophers

Plato And Aristotle Plato, a Greek philosopher was among the most important and creative thinkers of the ancient world. He was born in Athens in 428 BC to an aristocratic and well-off family. Even as a young child Plato was familiar with political life because he's father, Ariston was the last king of Athens. Ariston died when Plato was a young boy. However, the excessive Athenian political life, which was under the oligarchical rule of the Thirty Tyrants and the restored democracy, seem to have forced him to give up any ambitions of political life. In 388 BC he journeyed to Italy and Sicily, where he became the friend of Dionysius the ruler of Syracuse, and his brother-in-law Dion. The following year he returned to Athens, where he devoted his time to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences. Most of his life thereafter was spent in teaching and guiding these activities. In 347 BC Plato died, while he's published writings all still live. They consist of some 26 dramatic dialogues on phil osophy and related themes. The philosopher Socrates was a close friend of Plato's family as well as his teacher. Plato's writings attest to great influence on him. This could be a good explanation to why Plato uses Socrates to voice his own opinions about his Ideal State. Book I of Plato's Republic, beings with Socrates, Cephalus, Polemarchus and Thrasymachus discussing justice. Each give their own meaning of justice or dikaiosyne. Cephalus says justice is truth telling and debt paying. He views justice this way because he is an honest and just businessman. Polemarchus, who is Cephalus's son, agrees with Cephalus's definition, but continues by saying justice, is giving each his own due. By this he means, helping one's friend. Finally, Thrasymachus, who is a sophist, defines justice as the advantage of the stronger. Justice is not to the advantage of everyone but to the advantage of the rulers. Socrates proves that justice brings unity to any group of people, because it allows them to trust and rely on one another. The discussion of justice is continued in the beginning of Book II. Glaucon enters the conversation and he divides all things into three categories: 1) Those that are pleasurable for themselves and their results, 2) Those that bring good results, but with difficulty, and 3) Those that bring no results, but are pleasurable. Glacon then asks Socrates which category justice falls within. He replies by placing it in the first category. ?I myself put it among the finest goods, as something to be valued by anyone who is going to be blessed with happiness, both because of itself and what it comes from? (Republic, Book II 358a). Glaucon claims that the general view of justice lies in the second category, the mean between two extremes. Glaucon defends his argument by using the example of the ?Ring of Gyes,? a magical ring that turns its wearer invisible. He continues to argue that if humans were given the opportunity to be unjust without getting caught or without suffering any punishment or l oss of good reputation, they would naturally choose a life of injustice, in order to maximize their own interests. Now the issue at hand is to prove whether it is more beneficial to lead a just or unjust life. In an attempt to provide a satisfactory definition of justice, Socrates tries to make an analogy between the justice of an individual human being and of an entire society or city. He then begins to build and imaginary city. Socrates defines the basic city as the Health City opposed to a Feverish City. Socrates states that the fundamental needs of human beings in the society are food, shelter, and necessary clothing and things needed for production. However, Socrates is aware that the people of this city will want more then just the bare necessities. He continues to build this political correct city by manipulating a number of different things such as; adding a specialized class of soldiers, adding guardians, controlling any false information (censoring), creating men and women equal, and balancing their education between philosophy and physical training. Finally, Socrates just city is built. Now that Socrates has built his just city

Free Essays on Bruce Dawe

Poetic techniques allow the experience to be represented in an intense and compressed way. Discuss how ‘The Raped Girl’s Father’ in light of this statement. Subject Matter The poem ‘the Raped Girls Father’ Bruce Dawe talks about the grief that the father of the victim of a vicious, unprompted rape goes through. The poem also describes the victim’s loneliness and vivid recollection of the rape as she is on her own as her mother tries to console her father. Purpose/Theme The theme is as much on the event of the rape but of the damage it causes to the victim and and the people around them. There can also be a gender reading to this play the fathers pride and maybe social standing has been challenged, this, I think the poet is trying to say, and be it very sarcastically, that the condolence should be shown to the father instead of the victim, the daughter. Emotion The extreme anger that the father shows is expressed when the poet says, The buzz-saw whine of righteous anger rose Murderously in his throat throughout the night, The metaphor used when he compares his anger to that of a ‘buzz-saw’ gives the poem another dimension when sound or the comparison to sound is introduced. The whine of a buzz-saw is intense, so much so that anyone around it would want to put ear muffs on in fear of becoming deaf. The comparison to this piece of machinery and the fathers rage creates a powerful image of the fathers intense anger. The loneliness of the victim and her need to be comforted is shown when Bruce Dawe writes, long after she had watched her mother close the door to, and the honeyed wedge of light was eaten by the dark, his voice whirred on, and in that darker dark in which she lay she felt rasp on the naked bone the personification used when Bruce Dawe writes ‘and the honeyed wedge of light/was eaten by the dark and his voice whirred on’ is starts to put an emphasis on the girls loneliness and t... Free Essays on Bruce Dawe Free Essays on Bruce Dawe Poetic techniques allow the experience to be represented in an intense and compressed way. Discuss how ‘The Raped Girl’s Father’ in light of this statement. Subject Matter The poem ‘the Raped Girls Father’ Bruce Dawe talks about the grief that the father of the victim of a vicious, unprompted rape goes through. The poem also describes the victim’s loneliness and vivid recollection of the rape as she is on her own as her mother tries to console her father. Purpose/Theme The theme is as much on the event of the rape but of the damage it causes to the victim and and the people around them. There can also be a gender reading to this play the fathers pride and maybe social standing has been challenged, this, I think the poet is trying to say, and be it very sarcastically, that the condolence should be shown to the father instead of the victim, the daughter. Emotion The extreme anger that the father shows is expressed when the poet says, The buzz-saw whine of righteous anger rose Murderously in his throat throughout the night, The metaphor used when he compares his anger to that of a ‘buzz-saw’ gives the poem another dimension when sound or the comparison to sound is introduced. The whine of a buzz-saw is intense, so much so that anyone around it would want to put ear muffs on in fear of becoming deaf. The comparison to this piece of machinery and the fathers rage creates a powerful image of the fathers intense anger. The loneliness of the victim and her need to be comforted is shown when Bruce Dawe writes, long after she had watched her mother close the door to, and the honeyed wedge of light was eaten by the dark, his voice whirred on, and in that darker dark in which she lay she felt rasp on the naked bone the personification used when Bruce Dawe writes ‘and the honeyed wedge of light/was eaten by the dark and his voice whirred on’ is starts to put an emphasis on the girls loneliness and t...

Public Administration 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Administration 2 - Essay Example With any career, ethics will always play a crucial role. People come across many ethical circumstances and it trickles down to the individual to decide on how to act. In Tenet’s situation, it was not any different. In his political profession, Tenet faced numerous ethical predicaments. A number of these ethical impasses comprise him acting as a mediator rendering his work politically intricate. Tenet was unable to directly communicate and disagree with the associates within the President Bush’s administration. Tenet would even back the President knowing very well that the President was wrong. This placed George in a cross road between being loyal to the President and executing his duties (Boyle, 2008). Tenet had continually viewed CIA’s role as an â€Å"authentic broker that eluded direct participation in formulation of foreign policy†. In 1998, Tenet acted as a â€Å"mediator† for Binyamin Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister) and Yasser Arafat in a peace dialogue hosted by the Head of state Clinton. This action contradicted Tenet’s statement that the Central Intelligence Agency was the single entity, which both parties could entrust. The CIA acting as a mediator instead of a spymaster, rendered those at the inside somewhat uncomfortable (Stillman, 2000). When the actions of 9/11 transpired, Tenet was aware it was al-Qaeda’s work and he held the full backing from President Clinton to do whatsoever he deemed necessary to have the job completed. The problem arose when Chaney (Vice President) declared at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) conference, that Saddam Hussein possessed the armaments of annihilation. George did not approve that assessment; indeed, he indicated that the speech had gone fittingly beyond what CIA analysis could hold. Since George had not engaged in that discussion with Chaney (Vice President) concerning his speech, it ignited the

Compare and contrast male and female perspectives, and the Essay

Compare and contrast male and female perspectives, and the encompassing cultural prejudices and presumptions which define and determine the analyst's analysis o - Essay Example Despite the significance of the case with hindsight, the analysis was never completed, and many see this case history as an example of the way in which Freud misinterpreted the problems which his patients had, instead forcing their case to fit his theories, and not the other way around. It is clear, although again with the benefit of hindsight, that in the case of Dora, Freud was seriously mistaken about the situation she found herself in. He may even have willfully interpreted her very real sufferings at the hands of her father, and his friends, the ‘K’s as imagined in order to treat her symptoms as hysteria. The event which triggers Dora’s unhappiness, and which leads to her analysis by Freud, concerns Dora and one of her father’s friends, and man named ‘Herr K’ by Freud. There are two versions of this event; in Dora’s version, the man accosts her by the lake, and makes sexual advances. According to Dora, this is the second time that Herr K had pressed himself upon her; on the first occasion, she was fourteen, and the friend of the family had first tricked her into meeting her alone, and then kissed her. Although modern society will understand the girl’s revulsion, Freud says â€Å"the behavior of this child of fourteen was already entirely and completely hysterical† (Freud, 1990, page 59). Herr K and, after initial belief, Dora’s father, rubbish the story; Herr K even suggests that she has read too many books on sex, and had been ‘over-excited’ in Freud’s phrase. Dora’s father agrees: It seems very strange that Dora’s own father should take the word of a man whom he does not hold in high regard, above that of his only daughter. As the case history unfolds, we can see clearly that Herr K is a womanizer and a liar, as well as a cuckold. Dora is a young, intelligent and truthful woman from a good family; yet her account of the event by the lake is dismissed in favor of the man’s version.

Issues of War Monuments in Estonia

Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Empty Spaces and the Value of Symbols: Estonias War of Monuments from Another Angle * This article is the first published output from British Academy small research grant ref. SG-39197, entitled Public Monuments, Commemoration and the Renegotiation of Collective Identities: Estonia, Sweden and the â€Å"Baltic World† Since the summer of 2004, the new EU member state of Estonia has been in the throes of what is described as a War of Monuments. The events in question began in the town of Lihula in western Estonia, where a veterans group erected a stone tablet commemorating those Estonians who in World War Two donned German uniform and fought on the eastern front against the USSR. Bearing the inscription To Estonian men who fought in 1940 1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence, the Lihula stone became the latest of several monuments commemorating a group that most Estonians today regard as freedom fighters. In this case, however, the soldier depicted bore SS insignia. Hardly surprisingly, this fact elicited widespread international condemnation, notably from Russia, the EU and Jewish organisations. The groups behind the monument insisted that the men in question had had no truck with Nazism, and had only enlisted as a last resort in order to obtain access to arms w ith which to repel the Soviet invader. The display of the SS insignia nevertheless disregarded the taboo that surrounds the display of Nazi symbols in todays Europe. Also, while the vast majority of Estonian SS legionnaires did indeed sign up only in 1944 as the Soviet army advanced into their homeland, at least some had previously belonged to auxiliary police battalions which have been implicated in Nazi atrocities.1 Concerned to limit potential damage to Estonias international reputation, the government of the day ordered the removal of the monument. The police operation to carry out this order on 2 September 2004 nevertheless provoked clashes with local residents, while the political fallout from the episode contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Juhan Parts several months later. Critics of the government action argued that if the Lihula monument was to be construed as a glorification of totalitarianism, then the same logic should be applied to Soviet monuments that had been left standing following the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Singled out in this regard was the Bronze Soldier on T[otilde]nismgi in central Tallinn—a post-war monument erected on the unmarked grave of Soviet troops who fell during the taking of the city in 1944. For the vast majority of Estonians, the arrival of the Soviet Army signalled the replacement of one brutal occupying regime by another, whic h quickly resumed the arrests, executions and large-scale deportations previously witnessed during the first year of Soviet rule in 1940 41. This remains the dominant perception amongst Estonians today. The leaders of post-Soviet Russia, by contrast, have adhered steadfastly to the Soviet-era view of these events as marking the liberation of Estonia from fascism. The defeat of the Nazis during 1941 45 remains central to Russias self-understanding in the post-Soviet era; its  current leaders emphatically deny that the events of 1940 and 1944 in the Baltic states constituted a Soviet occupation, and refuse to acknowledge the suffering which the inhabitants of these countries experienced at the hands of the Soviet regime. Commentators in Russia have emphasised that they will brook no alternative interpretations of the Soviet Unions role in the events of 1939 45, and have therefore characterised calls for the removal of the T[otilde]nismgi monument as a manifestation of support for fascism. For many of the ethnic Russians who today make up nearly half of Tallinns population, the Bronze Soldier has also remained a locus of identification, providing the site for continued unofficial commemorations on 9 May, which was celebrated as Victory Day during the Soviet period. Red paint was thrown over the monument just prior to 9 May 2005, when several other Soviet war memorials were also attacked across the country, and a German military cemetery desecrated in Narva. The following year, this date again elicited tensions: local Russian youth mounted round-the-clock surveillance at the Bronze Soldier, while an Estonian nationalist counter-demonstration led to scuffles on 9 May (Alas 2006a). The monument was subsequently cordoned off by police pending a decision on its future. This formed the object of vigorous political debate ahead of the March 2007 parliamentary elections. Matters relating to the establishment and upkeep of public monuments in post-Soviet Estonia have for the mo st part fallen to local municipalities. In late 2006, however, new legislation was adopted giving central government the power to override local decision making in this regard. This provision was motivated expressly by a desire to remove the monument and the soldiers remains from the centre of Tallinn to the more peripheral setting of the military cemetery on the citys outskirts (Alas 2006a, 2006b, 2006c; Ranname 2006). The subsequent removal of the monument in late April 2007 provided the occasion for large-scale rioting in central Tallinn. On 9 May 2007 hundreds of people visited the monument at its new location in order to lay flowers. Issues of past or memory politics2 have assumed a growing prominence in recent scholarly work on Estonia and the other Baltic states, with a number of authors also highlighting the apparently divergent views of the past held by Estonians and Estonian Russians, and the obstacles that this poses in terms of societal integration (Hackmann 2003; Budryte 2005; Onken 2003, 2007a, 2007b). Publicly sited monuments are evidently central to any discussion of such issues: as recent events in Estonia have shown, they frequently act as catalysts eliciting both official and unsanctioned expressions of collective identity (Burch 2002a, 2004).3 Thus far, however, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to monuments within the relevant academic literature on Estonia. This article is intended as a contribution in this regard, but it approaches the issue from a slightly different angle. The War of Monuments has focused political and media attention upon two different cases, one involving a settlement that is predominantly ethnica lly Estonian by population (Lihula) and the other a capital city (Tallinn) that is almost equally divided between Estonians and Russians. This article shifts the focus to the overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city of Narva, which today sits on Estonias border with the Russian Federation. In particular, our study examines the local politics surrounding the Swedish Lion monument (see Figure 1), which was erected in the city in November 2000 on the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Narva between Sweden and Russia. The Lion monument relates to a past that is far less immediate than the events of 1940 45, but which, as we demonstrate, is still highly salient to contemporary identity politics within Estonia. How, for instance, was the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia framed and debated in a town where ethnic Russians and other Russian-speakers constitute 96% of the population? Equally significantly, todays Lion is depicted as the successor to a similar monument erected in 1936 during the period of Estonias inter-war independence. The reappearance of this symbol could therefore potentially be understood as part of a state-sponsored effort to banish the Soviet past and reconnect with a past Golden Age. Once again, one wonders how this was interpreted by a local population that was established in Narva as a direct consequence of the Soviet takeover and which, by dint of the legal continuity principle, mostly did not obtain the automatic right to Estonian citizenship after 199 1.4 Who then decided to erect the Lion monument, and why? What form did the commemoration of November 2000 take, and what are the main lines of public debate that have surrounded it? The current article will address these questions, and will also seek to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics and post-communist transition, particularly the current debate surrounding the possibilities for the development of a tamed liberal/multicultural nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.5 Past politics and post-communism The dramatic events that have occurred in Europe over the past two decades have entailed a profound redefinition of collective identities at a variety of scales—national, supranational, regional and local. The end of the Cold War, the demise of the USSR, and the consequent processes of EU and NATO enlargement, all occurring within the overall context of economic globalisation and growing movement of population, have led communities and groups across the continent to revisit existing understandings of who We are and where We are going. Since historical memory is an essential component in the construction of collective identity, this process has necessarily involved renegotiation of the Past as well as debates concerning the Present and Future. Like all forms of identity politics, such memory work is contested, being embedded in complex †¦ power relations that determine what is remembered (or forgotten) by whom, and for what end (Gillis 1994, p. 3). In a similar vein, Graha m et al. (2000, pp. 17 18) remind us that heritage is time-specific and thus its meaning(s) can be altered as texts are re-read in changing times, circumstances and constructs of place and scale. Consequently, it is inevitable that such knowledges are also fields of contestation.6 Publicly sited monuments offer a particularly useful way into researching this phenomenon, since they provide us with a tangible manifestation of some memory work process. The memorial function of such objects can take the form of carefully choreographed gatherings at times of heightened political awareness, or precise moments of commemorative anniversaries. Wreaths might be laid; silence observed; political rallies enacted; pageants performed. Other actions might be characterised more by spontaneity: collective grief at a sudden, tragic event, or an iconoclastic attack on a memorial construed in negative terms. Individuals and groups will attach different, often mutually exclusive meanings to particular monuments. Moreover, such meanings are shifting and contingent: what constitutes an eloquent memorial at one particular moment in time (for instance during an annual commemoration) might become a mute, invisible monument for the rest of the year. In this regard, being ignored is as s ignificant as being noticed.7 Political changes in the present can radically alter the import of a memorial, without any physical change on its part. This reiterates that the context of the monument is intrinsic to meaning. Context, however, can also be physically rendered, as with the shifting of a memorial/monument from some focal point to somewhere more peripheral and less visible. Issues of collective identity have proved especially challenging in those states that have been created or recreated following the collapse of the USSR. These are for the most part configured as classic unitary nation states, and yet in nearly all cases, processes of state and nation building have been effectuated on the basis of societies that are deeply polyethnic or multinational in character (Brubaker 1996; Smith et al. 1998; Smith 1999). Moreover, nearly all of the states in question have painful pasts with which they need to come to terms (Budryte 2005, p. 1). In relation to this region, Paul Gready (2003, p. 6) reminds us that stripped of the fossilising force of Cold War politics, nationalism has become central to political transitions, both as a means and an end. Narratives of history that focus exclusively on the titular nationality and its subjugation and suffering at the hands of former colonial regimes invariably elicit opposition from minority groups, which can easily f rame their own exclusivist narratives of history along the same lines. Indeed, as the Estonian case exemplifies very well, conflicting narratives of the past can be seen as an integral part of the triadic nexus of nationalist politics—the relationship between nationalising states, national minorities and external national homelands—discerned by Rogers Brubaker in his 1996 work Nationalism Reframed (Pettai 2006). In using the past for present purposes, political and intellectual elites in the Baltic and other Central and Eastern European states have also had to take account of the requirements of integration with the European Union, which in the Estonian and Latvian cases especially, has entailed significant changes to the direction of nation-building (Smith 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Budryte 2005; Kelley 2004; Galbreath 2005). EU-supported state integration strategies launched at the start of the twenty-first century have set the goal of creating integrated multicultural democracies which will enable representatives of the large non-titular, non-citizen population to preserve certain aspects of their distinct culture and heritage as they undergo integration into the polity and the dominant societal culture (Lauristin Heidmets 2002). According to a number of authors writing on the politics of the past and of memory, these efforts to promote an integrated multicultural society necessar ily require all the parties involved to engage with a process of democratising history. Democratisation in this context would imply that history is no longer used extensively for political purposes, alternative readings are allowed to challenge dominant master narratives, a plurality of guardians of memory is tolerated, and that rather than merely stressing the suffering endured by ones own nation, historical narratives recognise that other groups suffered equally, and that the nation in question served as both a bystander and a perpetrator as regards the suffering of others (see Onken 2003, 2007a; Budryte 2005). A significant step in this direction came during 1998, when all three Baltic states established historical commissions.8 Composed of academic experts from home and abroad (in the Estonian case exclusively the latter), these bodies have been called upon to produce an independent assessment of events during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of 1940 91, and have already begun to publish their findings (Onken 2007b). However, developments such as the Estonian War on Monuments and the Baltic Russian dispute over the commemoration held in Moscow to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War Two (Onken 2007a) underline the extent to which the past is still underpinning conflictual political dynamics in the present. In this regard, Russias increasing reliance on the Soviet past for nation-building purposes and its indiscriminate blanket accusations of fascist tendencies in the Baltic states prompt Baltic politicians to insist that Soviet communism should join Nazism as one of the great evils against which contemporary European values should be defined. As is the case with other aspects of post-communist transition, however, a focus on the state level tells us only so much about the renegotiation of identity in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. In this highly complex multi-ethnic environment, the sub-state regional level cannot be disregarded (Batt 2002). A focus on the sub-state level appears especially apposite as far as the study of Estonias public monuments is concerned, for, until now at least, decisions in this area have rested with local rather than with national government. Furthermore, one can point to different political logics that obtain at national and local level. As a result of the citizenship law adopted in the aftermath of independence, ethnic Estonians have constituted a comfortable majority of the national electorate during 1992 2007. The local election law of 1993, however, stipulates that while citizens alone can run for office, all permanent residents have the right to vote, regardless of citizenship status. This has meant that the ethnic composition of the electorate has in some cases been wholly different at municipal level. In this regard, the outright repudiation of the Soviet past displayed by local elites in Lihula stands in marked contrast to trends observable in the capital Tallinn, where Russian-speakers make up almost half the population, and Russian and pro-Russian parties, such as the Centre Party (Keskerakond), have been able to obtain a significant foothold in local politics. This contrast became evident not least in 1995, when the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II brought calls for the removal of the Bronze Soldier. The city council, however, tried instead to imbue this monument with an alternative meaning: a Soviet-era plaque referring to the liberation of Tallinn by the Red Army in 1944 was replaced by one that reads simply to the fallen of World War Two. This step can be read as an effort to inculcate some kind of shared understanding of a highly contentious past within a deeply multi-ethnic setting. What trends, however, can one identify in the more homogeneously Russian pe riphery that is Narva? Estonias new best friend. The rediscovery of Estonias Swedish past The return of the Swedish Lion monument to Narva, as one local newspaper described it (Sommer-Kalda 2000), can be seen in many ways as the culmination of a process of Swedish re-engagement with the eastern Baltic Near Abroad that began in 1990 with the establishment of a Swedish consulate in Tallinn. With considerable financial resources now being made available to support processes of economic and political transition in Estonia, Swedish cultural attach Hans Lepp began to explore how past cultural links might be utilised in the service of what he has termed soft diplomacy.9 Historic ties with Scandinavia have assumed an important place within the discourse of the ruling ethnic Estonian political elite since the 1990s, where they have been used to support the notion of a Return to Europe—or, more broadly, a Return to the Western World following the end of Soviet occupation (Lauristin et al. 1997; Smith 2001, 2003a, 2003b). Within this framework, the period 1561 1710, when Sweden progressively extended its dominion over much of the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia, is remembered as the Happy Swedish time, which is said to have brought about a considerable improvement in the lot of the Estonian peasantry, before serfdom was returned to its former rigour following entry to the Russian empire. Hans Lepp and his diplomatic colleagues were alive to the possibility of trading on this feeling of goodwill in order to make Sweden Estonias best friend in the Baltic region, with all that this implied in terms of political and economic influence.10 It quickly became apparent, however, that Swedish assistance was most needed in Narva and its surrounding region of Ida-Virumaa. Quite apart from the socio-economic and environmental challenges posed by this largely Russian-populated border region, rising nationalism in neighbouring Russia raised the prospect that the local inhabitants might look eastwards towards Moscow rather than westwards towards Tallinn, with drastic implications for regional stability and security.11 In this specific context history had particular potential as a resource, given the important place of the Battle of Narva of 1700 within the Swedish historical imagination. Although the opening salvo in a disastrous war that saw the Baltic provinces ceded to Russia,12 the first Battle of Narva was nevertheless a remarkable victory by the troops of King Charles XII (often referred to as the Lion of the North) against the numerically superior forces of Peter the Great. In this respect, Eldar Efendiev, who as Mayor of Narva planned the November 2000 commemoration of the battle, claimed in an interview with the authors that Swedes know three dates—the birthday of Gustav Vasa; the birthday of the present King; and the date of the Battle of Narva.13 The significance of the latter event had been seen already in the inter-war period with the installation of a Lion monument on the battlefield site in 1936.14 Already prior to his appointment as cultural attach in 1990, Hans Lepp—then Curator of the art collections at the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm—suggested to Efendiev (at that time Head of the Narva Museum) that the restoration of the Lion monument might help to foster closer ties between Narva and Sweden in the present. Lepp subsequently pursued the idea of restoring the Lion with Narva city council in his roles as Swedish cultural attach to Estonia and member of the Swedish Institute. Not surprisingly, however, planning the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia was a potentially fraught endeavour in a town where Russian-speakers now made up 96% of the population. Narva: Eastern, Western or in-between? The more essentialising geopolitical discourses of the post-Cold War era would see Narva as sitting on the westward side of the border that divides Western Christianity from Eastern Orthodoxy. Those who discern a Huntingdonian civilisational fault line between Estonia and Russia could point by way of evidence to the presence of two great fortresses—one German, one Russian—on the respective banks of the Narova River that separates Narva from its neighbouring settlement of Ivangorod and which today marks the state border with the Russian Federation. Not unnaturally, however, the citys past is rather more complex. As noted on the current website of the city government, Narva has not merely served as a defensive outpost and site of struggle between competing regional powers, but has also constituted a locus for trade and interaction between West and East, not least during the period when the city belonged to the Hanseatic League.15 From its foundation in the twelfth century to 1558, Narva did indeed constitute the easternmost point of the province of Estland, which was ruled first by the Danes and later by the German Livonian Order. Neighbouring Ivangorod takes its name from Tsar Ivan III, who ordered the construction of a fortress on the western border of his realm following Muscovys annexation of Novgorod in the late fifteenth century. Muscovy subsequently conquered Narva during the mid-sixteenth century Livonian wars, controlling the city from 1558 to 1581. The city then came under Swedish rule for 120 years following the Livonian Wars, a period which is described on the webpage of todays city government as Narvas Golden Age.16 For nearly three and a half centuries, Narva and Ivangorod functioned in effect as a single composite settlement, first under Swedish rule and then later during the tsarist period, when Narva came under the joint jurisdiction of the Estland and Saint Petersburg Gubernii of the Russian Empire. The conjoined status of the two towns persisted after 1917, when the inhabitants of the Narva district voted in a July referendum to join the province of Estland created following the February Revolution.17 After a brief spell of Bolshevik control during late 1918 to early 1919, when Narva functioned as the seat of the abortive Estonian Workers Commune, both towns were incorporated into the Estonian Republic under the terms of the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. It was only after the Soviet occupation in 1945 that the border was redrawn so as to place Ivangorod in the territory of the Russian Republic of the USSR. Although this division was little more than an administrative formality within a Soviet cont ext, the frontier revision set the scene for the establishment of a fully functioning state border between the two towns after 1992. The Narva that emerged from the Soviet period is almost completely unrecognisable from the one that existed prior to World War Two. Previously characterised as the baroque jewel of Northern Europe, the city was quite literally reduced to rubble in 1944 during fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces in eastern Estonia. While at least some historic buildings—notably the castle and the town hall—were restored, the ruins were for the most part demolished and the city entirely remodelled on the Soviet plan. As was the case with Knigsberg (Kaliningrad), Narva was inhabited by both different inhabitants and a different ideology after 1945 (Sezneva 2002, p. 48). The previous residents, having been evacuated by the occupying Nazi regime, were not allowed to return by its Soviet successor, and were replaced by workers from neighbouring Russia, who oversaw a process of Soviet-style industrialisation in the region. Today, Estonians make up less than 5% of the towns inhabit ants. As part of Narvas transformation into a Soviet place, new monuments were erected to commemorate the fallen of the Great Patriotic War and of the brief period of rule by the Estonian Workers Commune.18 All remaining traces of the pre-war Estonian Republic were swept away following the Soviet re-conquest of 1944. The 1936 Swedish Lion monument, which had been erected at the approaches to the city during a visit by the Swedish Crown Prince, was destroyed by artillery fire and the bronze lion removed by German forces during their retreat. This monument did not reappear under Soviet rule. The authorities did, however, restore and maintain objects linked to the citys Russian past, such as the two tsarist-era monuments to Russian soldiers killed in the battles of 1700 and 1704. As the movement for Estonian independence gathered momentum between 1988 and 1991, Narva gained a reputation as a bastion of support for the maintenance of Soviet power. The city government that came to office in December 1989 set itself resolutely against political change, demanding autonomy for north-east Estonia within the context of a renewed Soviet federation and, in August 1991, voicing support for the abortive Moscow coup which precipitated the collapse of the USSR. The Council was promptly dissolved in the aftermath of Estonian independence; yet, remarkably, its former leaders were allowed to stand in new elections, and were returned to power in October 1991, albeit on a turnout of only 30%. As ethnic tensions mounted in Estonia between 1991 and 1993, and Narvas economy went into freefall, local leaders again set themselves in opposition to central government policies that were designed to engineer a decisive political and economic break with the Soviet past. The last stand o f the Soviet-era leadership came in the summer of 1993: with fresh local elections scheduled for the autumn, the city government organised an unofficial referendum on local autonomy, in which it gained a 97% majority in favour on an officially proclaimed 55% turnout of local voters. With the national government standing firm and refusing to acknowledge the legality of the vote, and no support forthcoming from neighbouring Russia, a growing section of the local political elite appeared to accept that intransigent opposition to the new state order was blocking any prospect of achieving much needed economic renewal. These circles now called upon the existing leadership to give up power peacefully, which it did in October 1993 (Smith 2002b). At the time, the referendum of July 1993 was widely regarded as secessionist in intent. Available evidence, however, would seem to suggest that redrawing physical borders was not on the agenda: the aim was rather to tip the overall political balance within Estonia in favour of the Russian-speaking part of the population and, in this way, to bring Estonia as a whole more firmly within the ambit of Russia and the CIS. In this way, the leadership hoped both to retain power and to restore the citys previous economic ties with the East as well as developing new links with the West (Smith 2002b).19 While Soviet constituted the principal identity marker for Estonias Russian-speaking population prior to 1991, this did not preclude the development of a simultaneous strong identification with the specific territory of the Estonian SSR (widely identified in other republics as the Soviet West or the Soviet Abroad), and with the local place of residence. Between 1989 and 1991, the movement to ass ert Estonian sovereignty gained support from a significant minority (perhaps as much as one third) of local Russian-speakers, who could subscribe to a vision of Estonia as an economic bridge between East and West. Such feelings were by no means absent in Narva, where the 1989 census revealed that seven out of 10 residents had actually been born in Estonia (Kirch et al. 1993, p. 177). Even so, the collapse of the USSR inevitably created something of an identity void as far as Estonias Russian-speakers were concerned. Despite perceptions of discrimination, recent survey work has confirmed a growing identification with the Estonian state (Kolst2002; Budryte 2005; Ehin 2007) as well as significant support for EU membership. Most Russians, however, have scarcely been able to identify themselves with any notion of Estonian national community, with local place of residence and ethnicity serving as the prime markers of identity (Ehin 2007). Despite having an obvious cultural affinity with Russia and with the transnational Russian community across the territory of the former Soviet Union, a population raised in the different socio-cultural setting of the Baltic has found it hard to conceive of actually living in Russia or to identify politically with the contemporary Russian state. It is with this complex identity that the post-1993 leadership in Narva has had to reckon. The Estonian law on local elections passed in May 1993 stipulated that non-citizens could vote but not stand for office. This excluded much of the local population from seeking election, including a substantial proportion of the Soviet-era leadership. Ahead of the October 1993 poll in Narva, however, the state was able to co-opt elements of the local political elite through a process of accelerated naturalisation on the grounds of special services rendered to the state. The elections of October 1993 saw a strong turnout by local voters, and brought to power a coalition of locally based parties and interest groups. The city governments elected during the period 1993 2005—a period when the national-level Centre Party attained the dominant position within local politics—were far more ready than their predecessors to embrace the new political economy of post-socialism, and thus better placed to cooperate both with central government and with Western partners within the wid er Baltic Sea area. In this regard, the commemoration of the Battle of Narva and the installation of the Swedish Lion can be understood as an attempt to create a narrative of the citys past capable of underpinning growing ties with Sweden in the present. These ties assumed a particular significance after 1995, when Swedish textile firm Boras Wfveri purchased a 75% stake in Narvas historic Kreenholm Mill, then the citys second-largest employer. According to Raivo Murd, the ethnic Estonian who served as Mayor of Narva from 1993 to 1996, the investment was proof that Narva was finally beginning to shed the Red image that had prevailed under the former political dispensation.20 In a clear sign of its determination to break with the Soviet past, the city government appointed in October 1993 removed Estonias last remaining statue of Lenin, which had remained standing in the central Peters Square in Narva during the first two years of Estonian independence. The subsequent period has seen the installation of new monuments commemorating—inter alia—the victims of Stalinist deportations during the 1940s and key moments in the transition to Estonian independence during 1917 20. The Old Narva Society founded by surviving pre-1944 residents of Narva also put up a number of commemorative plaques marking the sites of churches and other key buildings from the pre-war city. Yet the post-1993 political e Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Issues of War Monuments in Estonia Empty Spaces and the Value of Symbols: Estonias War of Monuments from Another Angle * This article is the first published output from British Academy small research grant ref. SG-39197, entitled Public Monuments, Commemoration and the Renegotiation of Collective Identities: Estonia, Sweden and the â€Å"Baltic World† Since the summer of 2004, the new EU member state of Estonia has been in the throes of what is described as a War of Monuments. The events in question began in the town of Lihula in western Estonia, where a veterans group erected a stone tablet commemorating those Estonians who in World War Two donned German uniform and fought on the eastern front against the USSR. Bearing the inscription To Estonian men who fought in 1940 1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence, the Lihula stone became the latest of several monuments commemorating a group that most Estonians today regard as freedom fighters. In this case, however, the soldier depicted bore SS insignia. Hardly surprisingly, this fact elicited widespread international condemnation, notably from Russia, the EU and Jewish organisations. The groups behind the monument insisted that the men in question had had no truck with Nazism, and had only enlisted as a last resort in order to obtain access to arms w ith which to repel the Soviet invader. The display of the SS insignia nevertheless disregarded the taboo that surrounds the display of Nazi symbols in todays Europe. Also, while the vast majority of Estonian SS legionnaires did indeed sign up only in 1944 as the Soviet army advanced into their homeland, at least some had previously belonged to auxiliary police battalions which have been implicated in Nazi atrocities.1 Concerned to limit potential damage to Estonias international reputation, the government of the day ordered the removal of the monument. The police operation to carry out this order on 2 September 2004 nevertheless provoked clashes with local residents, while the political fallout from the episode contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Juhan Parts several months later. Critics of the government action argued that if the Lihula monument was to be construed as a glorification of totalitarianism, then the same logic should be applied to Soviet monuments that had been left standing following the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991. Singled out in this regard was the Bronze Soldier on T[otilde]nismgi in central Tallinn—a post-war monument erected on the unmarked grave of Soviet troops who fell during the taking of the city in 1944. For the vast majority of Estonians, the arrival of the Soviet Army signalled the replacement of one brutal occupying regime by another, whic h quickly resumed the arrests, executions and large-scale deportations previously witnessed during the first year of Soviet rule in 1940 41. This remains the dominant perception amongst Estonians today. The leaders of post-Soviet Russia, by contrast, have adhered steadfastly to the Soviet-era view of these events as marking the liberation of Estonia from fascism. The defeat of the Nazis during 1941 45 remains central to Russias self-understanding in the post-Soviet era; its  current leaders emphatically deny that the events of 1940 and 1944 in the Baltic states constituted a Soviet occupation, and refuse to acknowledge the suffering which the inhabitants of these countries experienced at the hands of the Soviet regime. Commentators in Russia have emphasised that they will brook no alternative interpretations of the Soviet Unions role in the events of 1939 45, and have therefore characterised calls for the removal of the T[otilde]nismgi monument as a manifestation of support for fascism. For many of the ethnic Russians who today make up nearly half of Tallinns population, the Bronze Soldier has also remained a locus of identification, providing the site for continued unofficial commemorations on 9 May, which was celebrated as Victory Day during the Soviet period. Red paint was thrown over the monument just prior to 9 May 2005, when several other Soviet war memorials were also attacked across the country, and a German military cemetery desecrated in Narva. The following year, this date again elicited tensions: local Russian youth mounted round-the-clock surveillance at the Bronze Soldier, while an Estonian nationalist counter-demonstration led to scuffles on 9 May (Alas 2006a). The monument was subsequently cordoned off by police pending a decision on its future. This formed the object of vigorous political debate ahead of the March 2007 parliamentary elections. Matters relating to the establishment and upkeep of public monuments in post-Soviet Estonia have for the mo st part fallen to local municipalities. In late 2006, however, new legislation was adopted giving central government the power to override local decision making in this regard. This provision was motivated expressly by a desire to remove the monument and the soldiers remains from the centre of Tallinn to the more peripheral setting of the military cemetery on the citys outskirts (Alas 2006a, 2006b, 2006c; Ranname 2006). The subsequent removal of the monument in late April 2007 provided the occasion for large-scale rioting in central Tallinn. On 9 May 2007 hundreds of people visited the monument at its new location in order to lay flowers. Issues of past or memory politics2 have assumed a growing prominence in recent scholarly work on Estonia and the other Baltic states, with a number of authors also highlighting the apparently divergent views of the past held by Estonians and Estonian Russians, and the obstacles that this poses in terms of societal integration (Hackmann 2003; Budryte 2005; Onken 2003, 2007a, 2007b). Publicly sited monuments are evidently central to any discussion of such issues: as recent events in Estonia have shown, they frequently act as catalysts eliciting both official and unsanctioned expressions of collective identity (Burch 2002a, 2004).3 Thus far, however, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to monuments within the relevant academic literature on Estonia. This article is intended as a contribution in this regard, but it approaches the issue from a slightly different angle. The War of Monuments has focused political and media attention upon two different cases, one involving a settlement that is predominantly ethnica lly Estonian by population (Lihula) and the other a capital city (Tallinn) that is almost equally divided between Estonians and Russians. This article shifts the focus to the overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city of Narva, which today sits on Estonias border with the Russian Federation. In particular, our study examines the local politics surrounding the Swedish Lion monument (see Figure 1), which was erected in the city in November 2000 on the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Narva between Sweden and Russia. The Lion monument relates to a past that is far less immediate than the events of 1940 45, but which, as we demonstrate, is still highly salient to contemporary identity politics within Estonia. How, for instance, was the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia framed and debated in a town where ethnic Russians and other Russian-speakers constitute 96% of the population? Equally significantly, todays Lion is depicted as the successor to a similar monument erected in 1936 during the period of Estonias inter-war independence. The reappearance of this symbol could therefore potentially be understood as part of a state-sponsored effort to banish the Soviet past and reconnect with a past Golden Age. Once again, one wonders how this was interpreted by a local population that was established in Narva as a direct consequence of the Soviet takeover and which, by dint of the legal continuity principle, mostly did not obtain the automatic right to Estonian citizenship after 199 1.4 Who then decided to erect the Lion monument, and why? What form did the commemoration of November 2000 take, and what are the main lines of public debate that have surrounded it? The current article will address these questions, and will also seek to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics and post-communist transition, particularly the current debate surrounding the possibilities for the development of a tamed liberal/multicultural nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.5 Past politics and post-communism The dramatic events that have occurred in Europe over the past two decades have entailed a profound redefinition of collective identities at a variety of scales—national, supranational, regional and local. The end of the Cold War, the demise of the USSR, and the consequent processes of EU and NATO enlargement, all occurring within the overall context of economic globalisation and growing movement of population, have led communities and groups across the continent to revisit existing understandings of who We are and where We are going. Since historical memory is an essential component in the construction of collective identity, this process has necessarily involved renegotiation of the Past as well as debates concerning the Present and Future. Like all forms of identity politics, such memory work is contested, being embedded in complex †¦ power relations that determine what is remembered (or forgotten) by whom, and for what end (Gillis 1994, p. 3). In a similar vein, Graha m et al. (2000, pp. 17 18) remind us that heritage is time-specific and thus its meaning(s) can be altered as texts are re-read in changing times, circumstances and constructs of place and scale. Consequently, it is inevitable that such knowledges are also fields of contestation.6 Publicly sited monuments offer a particularly useful way into researching this phenomenon, since they provide us with a tangible manifestation of some memory work process. The memorial function of such objects can take the form of carefully choreographed gatherings at times of heightened political awareness, or precise moments of commemorative anniversaries. Wreaths might be laid; silence observed; political rallies enacted; pageants performed. Other actions might be characterised more by spontaneity: collective grief at a sudden, tragic event, or an iconoclastic attack on a memorial construed in negative terms. Individuals and groups will attach different, often mutually exclusive meanings to particular monuments. Moreover, such meanings are shifting and contingent: what constitutes an eloquent memorial at one particular moment in time (for instance during an annual commemoration) might become a mute, invisible monument for the rest of the year. In this regard, being ignored is as s ignificant as being noticed.7 Political changes in the present can radically alter the import of a memorial, without any physical change on its part. This reiterates that the context of the monument is intrinsic to meaning. Context, however, can also be physically rendered, as with the shifting of a memorial/monument from some focal point to somewhere more peripheral and less visible. Issues of collective identity have proved especially challenging in those states that have been created or recreated following the collapse of the USSR. These are for the most part configured as classic unitary nation states, and yet in nearly all cases, processes of state and nation building have been effectuated on the basis of societies that are deeply polyethnic or multinational in character (Brubaker 1996; Smith et al. 1998; Smith 1999). Moreover, nearly all of the states in question have painful pasts with which they need to come to terms (Budryte 2005, p. 1). In relation to this region, Paul Gready (2003, p. 6) reminds us that stripped of the fossilising force of Cold War politics, nationalism has become central to political transitions, both as a means and an end. Narratives of history that focus exclusively on the titular nationality and its subjugation and suffering at the hands of former colonial regimes invariably elicit opposition from minority groups, which can easily f rame their own exclusivist narratives of history along the same lines. Indeed, as the Estonian case exemplifies very well, conflicting narratives of the past can be seen as an integral part of the triadic nexus of nationalist politics—the relationship between nationalising states, national minorities and external national homelands—discerned by Rogers Brubaker in his 1996 work Nationalism Reframed (Pettai 2006). In using the past for present purposes, political and intellectual elites in the Baltic and other Central and Eastern European states have also had to take account of the requirements of integration with the European Union, which in the Estonian and Latvian cases especially, has entailed significant changes to the direction of nation-building (Smith 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2003b, 2005; Budryte 2005; Kelley 2004; Galbreath 2005). EU-supported state integration strategies launched at the start of the twenty-first century have set the goal of creating integrated multicultural democracies which will enable representatives of the large non-titular, non-citizen population to preserve certain aspects of their distinct culture and heritage as they undergo integration into the polity and the dominant societal culture (Lauristin Heidmets 2002). According to a number of authors writing on the politics of the past and of memory, these efforts to promote an integrated multicultural society necessar ily require all the parties involved to engage with a process of democratising history. Democratisation in this context would imply that history is no longer used extensively for political purposes, alternative readings are allowed to challenge dominant master narratives, a plurality of guardians of memory is tolerated, and that rather than merely stressing the suffering endured by ones own nation, historical narratives recognise that other groups suffered equally, and that the nation in question served as both a bystander and a perpetrator as regards the suffering of others (see Onken 2003, 2007a; Budryte 2005). A significant step in this direction came during 1998, when all three Baltic states established historical commissions.8 Composed of academic experts from home and abroad (in the Estonian case exclusively the latter), these bodies have been called upon to produce an independent assessment of events during the Nazi and Soviet occupations of 1940 91, and have already begun to publish their findings (Onken 2007b). However, developments such as the Estonian War on Monuments and the Baltic Russian dispute over the commemoration held in Moscow to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War Two (Onken 2007a) underline the extent to which the past is still underpinning conflictual political dynamics in the present. In this regard, Russias increasing reliance on the Soviet past for nation-building purposes and its indiscriminate blanket accusations of fascist tendencies in the Baltic states prompt Baltic politicians to insist that Soviet communism should join Nazism as one of the great evils against which contemporary European values should be defined. As is the case with other aspects of post-communist transition, however, a focus on the state level tells us only so much about the renegotiation of identity in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. In this highly complex multi-ethnic environment, the sub-state regional level cannot be disregarded (Batt 2002). A focus on the sub-state level appears especially apposite as far as the study of Estonias public monuments is concerned, for, until now at least, decisions in this area have rested with local rather than with national government. Furthermore, one can point to different political logics that obtain at national and local level. As a result of the citizenship law adopted in the aftermath of independence, ethnic Estonians have constituted a comfortable majority of the national electorate during 1992 2007. The local election law of 1993, however, stipulates that while citizens alone can run for office, all permanent residents have the right to vote, regardless of citizenship status. This has meant that the ethnic composition of the electorate has in some cases been wholly different at municipal level. In this regard, the outright repudiation of the Soviet past displayed by local elites in Lihula stands in marked contrast to trends observable in the capital Tallinn, where Russian-speakers make up almost half the population, and Russian and pro-Russian parties, such as the Centre Party (Keskerakond), have been able to obtain a significant foothold in local politics. This contrast became evident not least in 1995, when the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II brought calls for the removal of the Bronze Soldier. The city council, however, tried instead to imbue this monument with an alternative meaning: a Soviet-era plaque referring to the liberation of Tallinn by the Red Army in 1944 was replaced by one that reads simply to the fallen of World War Two. This step can be read as an effort to inculcate some kind of shared understanding of a highly contentious past within a deeply multi-ethnic setting. What trends, however, can one identify in the more homogeneously Russian pe riphery that is Narva? Estonias new best friend. The rediscovery of Estonias Swedish past The return of the Swedish Lion monument to Narva, as one local newspaper described it (Sommer-Kalda 2000), can be seen in many ways as the culmination of a process of Swedish re-engagement with the eastern Baltic Near Abroad that began in 1990 with the establishment of a Swedish consulate in Tallinn. With considerable financial resources now being made available to support processes of economic and political transition in Estonia, Swedish cultural attach Hans Lepp began to explore how past cultural links might be utilised in the service of what he has termed soft diplomacy.9 Historic ties with Scandinavia have assumed an important place within the discourse of the ruling ethnic Estonian political elite since the 1990s, where they have been used to support the notion of a Return to Europe—or, more broadly, a Return to the Western World following the end of Soviet occupation (Lauristin et al. 1997; Smith 2001, 2003a, 2003b). Within this framework, the period 1561 1710, when Sweden progressively extended its dominion over much of the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia, is remembered as the Happy Swedish time, which is said to have brought about a considerable improvement in the lot of the Estonian peasantry, before serfdom was returned to its former rigour following entry to the Russian empire. Hans Lepp and his diplomatic colleagues were alive to the possibility of trading on this feeling of goodwill in order to make Sweden Estonias best friend in the Baltic region, with all that this implied in terms of political and economic influence.10 It quickly became apparent, however, that Swedish assistance was most needed in Narva and its surrounding region of Ida-Virumaa. Quite apart from the socio-economic and environmental challenges posed by this largely Russian-populated border region, rising nationalism in neighbouring Russia raised the prospect that the local inhabitants might look eastwards towards Moscow rather than westwards towards Tallinn, with drastic implications for regional stability and security.11 In this specific context history had particular potential as a resource, given the important place of the Battle of Narva of 1700 within the Swedish historical imagination. Although the opening salvo in a disastrous war that saw the Baltic provinces ceded to Russia,12 the first Battle of Narva was nevertheless a remarkable victory by the troops of King Charles XII (often referred to as the Lion of the North) against the numerically superior forces of Peter the Great. In this respect, Eldar Efendiev, who as Mayor of Narva planned the November 2000 commemoration of the battle, claimed in an interview with the authors that Swedes know three dates—the birthday of Gustav Vasa; the birthday of the present King; and the date of the Battle of Narva.13 The significance of the latter event had been seen already in the inter-war period with the installation of a Lion monument on the battlefield site in 1936.14 Already prior to his appointment as cultural attach in 1990, Hans Lepp—then Curator of the art collections at the Swedish Royal Palace in Stockholm—suggested to Efendiev (at that time Head of the Narva Museum) that the restoration of the Lion monument might help to foster closer ties between Narva and Sweden in the present. Lepp subsequently pursued the idea of restoring the Lion with Narva city council in his roles as Swedish cultural attach to Estonia and member of the Swedish Institute. Not surprisingly, however, planning the commemoration of a decisive Swedish victory over Russia was a potentially fraught endeavour in a town where Russian-speakers now made up 96% of the population. Narva: Eastern, Western or in-between? The more essentialising geopolitical discourses of the post-Cold War era would see Narva as sitting on the westward side of the border that divides Western Christianity from Eastern Orthodoxy. Those who discern a Huntingdonian civilisational fault line between Estonia and Russia could point by way of evidence to the presence of two great fortresses—one German, one Russian—on the respective banks of the Narova River that separates Narva from its neighbouring settlement of Ivangorod and which today marks the state border with the Russian Federation. Not unnaturally, however, the citys past is rather more complex. As noted on the current website of the city government, Narva has not merely served as a defensive outpost and site of struggle between competing regional powers, but has also constituted a locus for trade and interaction between West and East, not least during the period when the city belonged to the Hanseatic League.15 From its foundation in the twelfth century to 1558, Narva did indeed constitute the easternmost point of the province of Estland, which was ruled first by the Danes and later by the German Livonian Order. Neighbouring Ivangorod takes its name from Tsar Ivan III, who ordered the construction of a fortress on the western border of his realm following Muscovys annexation of Novgorod in the late fifteenth century. Muscovy subsequently conquered Narva during the mid-sixteenth century Livonian wars, controlling the city from 1558 to 1581. The city then came under Swedish rule for 120 years following the Livonian Wars, a period which is described on the webpage of todays city government as Narvas Golden Age.16 For nearly three and a half centuries, Narva and Ivangorod functioned in effect as a single composite settlement, first under Swedish rule and then later during the tsarist period, when Narva came under the joint jurisdiction of the Estland and Saint Petersburg Gubernii of the Russian Empire. The conjoined status of the two towns persisted after 1917, when the inhabitants of the Narva district voted in a July referendum to join the province of Estland created following the February Revolution.17 After a brief spell of Bolshevik control during late 1918 to early 1919, when Narva functioned as the seat of the abortive Estonian Workers Commune, both towns were incorporated into the Estonian Republic under the terms of the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. It was only after the Soviet occupation in 1945 that the border was redrawn so as to place Ivangorod in the territory of the Russian Republic of the USSR. Although this division was little more than an administrative formality within a Soviet cont ext, the frontier revision set the scene for the establishment of a fully functioning state border between the two towns after 1992. The Narva that emerged from the Soviet period is almost completely unrecognisable from the one that existed prior to World War Two. Previously characterised as the baroque jewel of Northern Europe, the city was quite literally reduced to rubble in 1944 during fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces in eastern Estonia. While at least some historic buildings—notably the castle and the town hall—were restored, the ruins were for the most part demolished and the city entirely remodelled on the Soviet plan. As was the case with Knigsberg (Kaliningrad), Narva was inhabited by both different inhabitants and a different ideology after 1945 (Sezneva 2002, p. 48). The previous residents, having been evacuated by the occupying Nazi regime, were not allowed to return by its Soviet successor, and were replaced by workers from neighbouring Russia, who oversaw a process of Soviet-style industrialisation in the region. Today, Estonians make up less than 5% of the towns inhabit ants. As part of Narvas transformation into a Soviet place, new monuments were erected to commemorate the fallen of the Great Patriotic War and of the brief period of rule by the Estonian Workers Commune.18 All remaining traces of the pre-war Estonian Republic were swept away following the Soviet re-conquest of 1944. The 1936 Swedish Lion monument, which had been erected at the approaches to the city during a visit by the Swedish Crown Prince, was destroyed by artillery fire and the bronze lion removed by German forces during their retreat. This monument did not reappear under Soviet rule. The authorities did, however, restore and maintain objects linked to the citys Russian past, such as the two tsarist-era monuments to Russian soldiers killed in the battles of 1700 and 1704. As the movement for Estonian independence gathered momentum between 1988 and 1991, Narva gained a reputation as a bastion of support for the maintenance of Soviet power. The city government that came to office in December 1989 set itself resolutely against political change, demanding autonomy for north-east Estonia within the context of a renewed Soviet federation and, in August 1991, voicing support for the abortive Moscow coup which precipitated the collapse of the USSR. The Council was promptly dissolved in the aftermath of Estonian independence; yet, remarkably, its former leaders were allowed to stand in new elections, and were returned to power in October 1991, albeit on a turnout of only 30%. As ethnic tensions mounted in Estonia between 1991 and 1993, and Narvas economy went into freefall, local leaders again set themselves in opposition to central government policies that were designed to engineer a decisive political and economic break with the Soviet past. The last stand o f the Soviet-era leadership came in the summer of 1993: with fresh local elections scheduled for the autumn, the city government organised an unofficial referendum on local autonomy, in which it gained a 97% majority in favour on an officially proclaimed 55% turnout of local voters. With the national government standing firm and refusing to acknowledge the legality of the vote, and no support forthcoming from neighbouring Russia, a growing section of the local political elite appeared to accept that intransigent opposition to the new state order was blocking any prospect of achieving much needed economic renewal. These circles now called upon the existing leadership to give up power peacefully, which it did in October 1993 (Smith 2002b). At the time, the referendum of July 1993 was widely regarded as secessionist in intent. Available evidence, however, would seem to suggest that redrawing physical borders was not on the agenda: the aim was rather to tip the overall political balance within Estonia in favour of the Russian-speaking part of the population and, in this way, to bring Estonia as a whole more firmly within the ambit of Russia and the CIS. In this way, the leadership hoped both to retain power and to restore the citys previous economic ties with the East as well as developing new links with the West (Smith 2002b).19 While Soviet constituted the principal identity marker for Estonias Russian-speaking population prior to 1991, this did not preclude the development of a simultaneous strong identification with the specific territory of the Estonian SSR (widely identified in other republics as the Soviet West or the Soviet Abroad), and with the local place of residence. Between 1989 and 1991, the movement to ass ert Estonian sovereignty gained support from a significant minority (perhaps as much as one third) of local Russian-speakers, who could subscribe to a vision of Estonia as an economic bridge between East and West. Such feelings were by no means absent in Narva, where the 1989 census revealed that seven out of 10 residents had actually been born in Estonia (Kirch et al. 1993, p. 177). Even so, the collapse of the USSR inevitably created something of an identity void as far as Estonias Russian-speakers were concerned. Despite perceptions of discrimination, recent survey work has confirmed a growing identification with the Estonian state (Kolst2002; Budryte 2005; Ehin 2007) as well as significant support for EU membership. Most Russians, however, have scarcely been able to identify themselves with any notion of Estonian national community, with local place of residence and ethnicity serving as the prime markers of identity (Ehin 2007). Despite having an obvious cultural affinity with Russia and with the transnational Russian community across the territory of the former Soviet Union, a population raised in the different socio-cultural setting of the Baltic has found it hard to conceive of actually living in Russia or to identify politically with the contemporary Russian state. It is with this complex identity that the post-1993 leadership in Narva has had to reckon. The Estonian law on local elections passed in May 1993 stipulated that non-citizens could vote but not stand for office. This excluded much of the local population from seeking election, including a substantial proportion of the Soviet-era leadership. Ahead of the October 1993 poll in Narva, however, the state was able to co-opt elements of the local political elite through a process of accelerated naturalisation on the grounds of special services rendered to the state. The elections of October 1993 saw a strong turnout by local voters, and brought to power a coalition of locally based parties and interest groups. The city governments elected during the period 1993 2005—a period when the national-level Centre Party attained the dominant position within local politics—were far more ready than their predecessors to embrace the new political economy of post-socialism, and thus better placed to cooperate both with central government and with Western partners within the wid er Baltic Sea area. In this regard, the commemoration of the Battle of Narva and the installation of the Swedish Lion can be understood as an attempt to create a narrative of the citys past capable of underpinning growing ties with Sweden in the present. These ties assumed a particular significance after 1995, when Swedish textile firm Boras Wfveri purchased a 75% stake in Narvas historic Kreenholm Mill, then the citys second-largest employer. According to Raivo Murd, the ethnic Estonian who served as Mayor of Narva from 1993 to 1996, the investment was proof that Narva was finally beginning to shed the Red image that had prevailed under the former political dispensation.20 In a clear sign of its determination to break with the Soviet past, the city government appointed in October 1993 removed Estonias last remaining statue of Lenin, which had remained standing in the central Peters Square in Narva during the first two years of Estonian independence. The subsequent period has seen the installation of new monuments commemorating—inter alia—the victims of Stalinist deportations during the 1940s and key moments in the transition to Estonian independence during 1917 20. The Old Narva Society founded by surviving pre-1944 residents of Narva also put up a number of commemorative plaques marking the sites of churches and other key buildings from the pre-war city. Yet the post-1993 political e