American General Corporation Essays (1022 words) - Systemic Risk

American General Corporation American General Corporation Evaluating the Risk of the American General Corporation we started from looking at company's market standing from potential investors point of view. First we take a look at the companies profile. American General Corporation is a diversified financial services organization, provides retirement services, life insurance, and consumer loans. The company offers retail financial programs through fifteen thousand merchants. American General Corp. operates in 41 states. Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Well, first we find out that American General Corporation is a blue chip, multibillion dollar company. This tells us right from the beginning that this financial giant is really worth looking at as a potential candidates to be added in our stock portfolio. Considering that this is a financial company dealing with investments, pension funds and life insurance we have to be very careful because these industries are most sensible to overall economy changes, and we know that at this point US economy is going through the period when recession is most expected. To get a better understanding of how this might affect companies risk we have to know how diversified companies investments are. For that we have to evaluate companies performance compare to market performance. ( for this purpose we use chart on returns for American General Corporation to S&P 500 ). As we can see from the chart behavior of the company is almost identical to the behavior of the market, this observation becomes more obvious when we take a look at company's beta which is .95. Well this is not such a great sign because as I already mentioned recession is expected., and as we know with recession overall market returns go down this is knowing the relationship between market and AGC we can predict that American General Corp. performance will decrease as well. The question is how deep will the market fall, and how long the recession would last, of course, if the recession will occur. There were no recent revelation, as far as, companies financial structure is concern, well, may be the only exception is a slight change in companies management structure which so far did not make any significant impact on companies market value, so the only major aspect in evaluating of how risky the company is how correlated it is with the market. Of course there are other things to be considered. There are couple of good signs that should lower the risk of AGC. For instance, the decrease in the charge off and delinquency ratios compared to prior periods reflect the positive impact of the company's credit quality improvement program, which included an increase in thee proportion of real estate secured loans and higher underwriting standards. The decrease in the allowance reflects the improvement in charge-off experience, partially offset by an increase in the allowance to support the growth in receivables. Also, company's operating expenses as a percentage of average finance receivables decreased to 5.8% for thee first six month of 1998 from 5.98% for the same period of 1997, and to 5.73% from 5.99% for the same comparable second quarter periods, due to the increase in average finance receivables, which more than offset the increase in operating expenses. Company rapidly grows in value. A decrease in interest rates and resulting increases in bond value in second quarter 1998 caused a $555 increase in the fair value adjustment to fixed maturity securities and related $335 million positive adjustment to shareholders' equity from December 31, 1997. So, the interest rate would be a very important fact to consider in evaluating this company. According to the latest news Federal Reserve has no intention to decrease interest rate any further, there is actually a great possibility of increasing it in defensive move against coming recession. Having such prediction for the future and keeping in mind how greatly American General Corp. influenced by the interest rate, AGC becomes more of a risky investment. The company is very careful with it's investments. AGS decreases its investments into the below investment grade securities ( have credit rating below BBB- ) from 5% at June 31 of 1998 to 4% at December 31 of 1997%. The company invests in below investment securities to enhance the overall

buy custom Murder Law in the United Kingdom essay

buy custom Murder Law in the United Kingdom essay Introduction Since World War II in 1945, there has been a continued controversy regarding capital punishment in the UK. Various abolishment campaigns were actually launched after the war and the Homicide Act was passed in 1957. The Act introduced restrictions to the capital punishment law in an attempt to reserve the punishment in law for those who actually deserve it. However, several controversies erupted after the review and there was widespread dissatisfaction from the public regarding murder laws. In fact, convictions in capital punishment became less common. The last persons to face the murder law in Britain were executed in 1964. After continued campaigns from various human rights groups, the death penalty was abolished in 1999 when Home Secretary signed the 6th protocol of European Convention of Human Rights. The main debate has been that capital punishment denies a person a right to life, which is a democratic right of any individual. However, crime is everywhere and there is always loss of life due to criminal activities or in most cases psychological torture and decrease in the quality of life. Some of these crimes include rape, murder and terrorism, just to name a few. This paper will evaluate various contexts of the current murder law in the UK to assess its acceptability. Elements of criminal liability Generally, the basis of liability imposition on a criminal is that there must be enough proof that the defendant is guilty of committing a criminal offence while in a guilty state of mind. This comprises of physical elements known as actus reus followed by the mental state referred to as mens rea. The prosecution has a fundamental duty to verify proof of these elements in the offence to the level that satisfies the judge or the jury beyond doubt. If the is no sufficient proof, the jury is required to acquit the defendant. The two elements are used to analyze criminal offences in the English law. They stipulate that a defendant is not necessarily guilt unless he or she committed crime with a guilty mind. The actus reus constitutes more than just a mere act. It determines whether the circumstances and the consequences of the crime are recognized for prove of liability of the criminal offence under evaluation. This simply means that every element of the offence apart from the mental element is encompassed by the actus reus. It is the external or physical element of a criminal offence and is the Latin word for guilty act. Therefore, if the defendant did something amounting to criminal offence, there are other situations of omission that may be sufficient for actus reus. However, under normal rule, omission cannot guarantee that the defendant is guilty of an offence. However, a criminal offender may incur criminal liability if the crime was committed as a positive act, for example, forcefully holding the head of another person in water leading to his or her death. In case of a stranger who watches as a victim drowns without interening, the stranger would not incur criminal liability sinc e the victim would have whatsoever. On the other hand, mens rea literally means a guilty mind contrary to actus reus which means guilty act. In any offence, both of these elements must be present for proof of criminal liability. The idea of fault proven resides in the mind of the offender when he or she is committing the criminal act. Most notably, the actual state of mind required may vary from one crime to another. For instance, in murder and manslaughter, the intention to kill must be proved for imposition of criminal liability. The only exception to this principle is the strict liability concept. Here, no mens rea is required to be proved prior to one or more elements of the actus reus. The rationale of mens rea is whether the crime was committed as voluntary action, intentionally or with knowledge of all elements of the crime. Voluntariness, causation and omission in actus reus Under actus reus, there are concepts of voluntariness and causation besides the previously discussed omission. In the features of Actus reus, a murder must be a voluntary act and in some cases, there must a consequence of the offence. For example, in other offences such as assault that results in actual bodily harm, there must be visible injuries inflicted on the plaintiff. The law of causation in actus reus stipulates that an act must cause the result. It shows that death would not have results were it not for the conduct of the defendant. However, irrational application of this rule can lead to unjust rulings hence legal causation is established before the defendant is convicted of murder. It means that the conduct that led to the plaintiffs death must be worth of blame. Nevertheless, there are difficult questions that arise regarding where to draw the line but the extremes are clear. For example, if someone invites the other to dinner and the invitee is run over by a car on his wa y to the dinner, it would be absurd to claim that the inviter is guilty of murder. A guilty case of causation would be an individual who points a gun at another with an intention of killing him and eventually pulls the trigger. His conduct has undoubtedly caused the death of the victim and both factual and legal causation are obvious. Actus reus omissions are only viable when there is a duty to act. In English law, a defendant can be found to be criminally liable if he has failed to act in places where he or she has a duty to act. For example, a railway employee who opens a railway crossing to let a cart pass but forgets to shut the gates leading to the death of the cart driver when ran over by a train will be criminally liable for manslaughter. However, in normal criminal law, a defendant may not be found guilty just because he or she merely failed to act. Nevertheless, there are limited exceptions to this rule. Actus reus must always be voluntary. This includes strict liability offences in relation to actus reus. A bus driver would not be convvicted with murder of passengers if he suffered a heart attack leading to a car crash that kills several passengers. His actions will be involuntary hence an essential element of actus reus will be missing. However, the British courts ensure strict boundaries governing invo luntary conduct to emphasize the importance of fault absence of the defendant. In the previous example, if the bus driver had experienced heart attack signs before driving and continued to drive, he would be liable of criminal offence of murdering the passengers since he would have deferred driving and sought help. Mens rea of murder and the problems with proving intention The jury is charged with the duty of deciding whether the accused has satisfactory mens rea or not. The meaning of the term intention has been met with reluctant expression from judges. It should be noticed however that it is possible to intend to do something without desiring it. This is referred to as oblique intent as was reinforced in Moloney case law (1985). In case of murder, the meaning of intention is not clearly defined but definitions state what it is not. This is not satisfactory as a mens rea consequence. In this context, a defendant may be regarded to act intentionally with respect to the circumstance that he or she hoped to exist would exist. Intention also entails recklessness which means taking an unjustifiable risk. However, it is wider than intention. The state of mind constitutes of intention and is one of the main elements of mens rea. In fact, in murder it is the only element of mens rea. The jury must make a decision using all available evidence whether the accu sed intentionally committed the murder intentionally. The jury has the responsibility to find out if the accused intended to bring about the consequences of his conduct or if he was virtually certain and recognized it as so. Intention should not be confused with motive or recklessness and for this reason; crimes are categorized as basic intent or specific intent. Murder law: sufficient or in need of reform? The current UK murder law is not satisfactory and has raised various controversies in a quest for review. The legislation is needed to be clear and ensure public confidence. There are calls for various degrees of murder which have been supported by the director of public prosecutions. This is in the wake of criticism towards the current life sentence to murder convicts. The cries are pressuring the jury to implement various degrees of murder charges. In fact, the government has been responsive and is considering recommendations. A similar approach was used in the US and such a change could result into the UK having a legal system with first degree murder having a life sentence on proof of intent to kill. Moreover, second degree murder as well as manslaughter with proved intent to kill would bear a discretionary life sentence. The law commission suggested that murder should be graded which is an appropriate reform to the murder law. Buy custom Murder Law in the United Kingdom essay

Strategic Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategic Analysis - Research Paper Example There are risks and advantages, however, to Google’s broad multinational presence related to the external business environment. Google’s target markets are broad due to the complexity of the business model that sustains multiple products and service catering to professional and household consumers. Google operates G-Mail, a webmail service with massive storage capabilities and accessibility to access G-Mail from virtually any mobile device (Google, 2012). Additionally, Google acquired YouTube, the social media service promoting user-generated video content, a service with 800 million different users domestically and internationally. Other products including cloud computing attract professionals in multiple industries while Adwords is targeted to consumers and business professionals alike. Google maintains mass market appeal in operating environments sustaining differing cultural preferences because the products and services the company provides are relevant to sustain the Web-based and software-based needs of diverse markets. However, to assess how customer markets impact business strategy development and operational direction, certain target markets can be deconstructed to better determine their impact on Google’s strategic direction. Google, for YouTube, had to develop its own segmentation strategy rather than following established marketing models. This is due to the fact that YouTube maintains 800 million users daily, making it nearly impossible to establish a singular, homogenous segmentation and targeting model. This segmentation strategy is based on behavior, taking into consideration important factors regarding the tangible purpose of patronage at YouTube, including for entertainment purposes, for education, for music appreciation, or for simply watching television (MSMR, 2010). Having such a massive, geographically-dispersed set of consumers with varying needs creates a

The Bedford Boys and D-Day Invasion Research Paper

The Bedford Boys and D-Day Invasion - Research Paper Example The men who were assigned to the D-Day invasion were some of the most valiant. Some died on the beaches, some fought on throughout Europe to secure peace. They made a lasting contribution to the world which we enjoy today. But few soldiers in the operation were as valiant as the Bedford Boys. They came to represent the very best of American sacrifice for peace in this world. They were ordinary, small-town men who made an extraordinary contribution. By 1944, World War II was grinding to a halt. Allied forced had a toe-hold in Italy; in the Pacific, the United States had turned the tide against the Japanese. The Germans and the Japanese were reeling from a series of defeats. On the Eastern Front, Hitler had lost his Sixth Army at Stalingrad, and the Russians were pushing back and taking the land that Germans had captured only a few years earlier. Still, there was no talk of surrender from Berlin. Hitler was in a delusional mood and intended to fight to the last man. Fortunately, the Al lied forced had earlier agreed that there was to be an unconditional surrender of Axis powers. It is not possible to say if this policy was definitively responsible for ending the war on the excellent terms that it was ended, but it seems probable (Armstrong, 86). The Allies were not going to make the mistake of permitting a rump Nazi regime to hang on with the promise of peace. They knew that they could not trust the Nazis about anything. As a result, the Allies steeled themselves for a full-on invasion and plans were soon underway for an invasion of France through the beaches of Normandy. This would also make Stalin happy. For years now, he had been fighting tooth and nail with the Germans on the Eastern front, and badly needed relief from their viciousness. He wanted the United Kingdom and the U.S. to open up a second front in the west (Gilbert, 544). The operation was to be a secret from the Germans and was to involve overwhelming force. On the morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of Allied planes bombarded German defences on the beaches of Normandy; soon after, thousands of soldiers arrived by boat to begin the invasion. In preparation, Supreme Allied Commander, the American Dwight D. Eisenhower, wrote to his generals and soldiers: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world (Garamone). It is clear that inspiration was needed, as the fight to come was to be a brutal one. Eisenhower did his best to put things in perspective and encourage his men. It was important for them to understand just why they were fighting. D-Day was an incredibly bloody invasion fo r U.S. servicemen. More than 2500 lost their lives on the beach that day (Fry). The air cover that the generals intended to use as cover and to soften up the German artillery positions did not meet with much success. The result is that when the men landed on the beaches of Normandy, many had German weapons immediately trained on them. It was only through sheer fortitude and courage that they kept coming,

Cognitive Interventions Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Interventions Essay Introduction Cognitive behavior therapy includes many types of therapy and can be applied in a variety of circumstances. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is most commonly known for use on clients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, DBT is becoming more popular and often used when working with adolescents. Some adolescents participate in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Counselors find DBT is an effective therapy to help youth acquire the coping skills needed to stop NSSI. A review of DBT, and adolescents suffering with NSSI will better help one to understand why this technique is beneficial. NonSuicidal Self-Injury NSSI is defined as the direct and intentional destruction of ones own body tissue without an intent to die. Therefore, any form of self mutilation not intending to result in suicide qualifies as NSSI. The number of adolescents practicing NSSI is alarming. Youth practicing NSSI include both sexes and every racial and ethnic group. This alarming behavior is not secluded to any particular type of adolescent. NSSI often appears in the form of cutting with sharp objects, scratching, hitting, burning, and inserting objects under the skin. These behaviors typically develop between the ages of 12-14, indicating that adolescent years are particularly vulnerable to such practices. In addition to NSSI, these behaviors are often in conjunction with other self-harming behaviors like eating disorders, substance abuse, and depression. Puberty can be an extremely difficult time for many people and adolescents cannot reason and rationalize as adults can; therefore, youth often develop self-harming issues because they lack proper coping skills. Last, NSSI specifically refers to injuries not acquired while attempting suicide; however, 50-75% of those with a history of NSSI have also attempted suicide at least once. As one can see, NSSI is an alarming behavior that needs attention (Choate, 2012). Addressing the Issue NSSI is a prevalent and serious issue that must be properly handled. Counselors and people working with NSSI youth must have an understanding of the complexity of this matter and be familiar with treatment options. DBT is an excellent method to attempt to help adolescents overcome NSSI behavior. The effectiveness of DBT has been shown in at least seven controlled trials conducted by four independent research teams. DBT shows the most improvement, when compared to prior therapy options, to treat NSSI (Choate, 2012). DBT uses a comprehensive multimodal 16-week treatment approach for NSSI. The multimodal addresses skills for interpersonal effectiveness, self-regulation, and distress tolerance; provides structure to motivate, reinforce, individualize, and generalize these skills; and identifies and alters learned behavior patterns leading to NSSI. This therapy treatment includes individual therapy, family therapy, multifamily training groups, and telephone consultations for those involved in the process. Additionally, a support team for the counselors is a part of this process. Counseling NSSI adolescents is an extremely stressful position so it is important for counselors to have professional peers to share their thoughts. DBT therapy for NSSI adolescents can be practiced in many settings, including inpatient or outpatient treatment (Choate, 2012). Interventions and Techniques Individual Therapy A primary counselor is paired with the adolescent through the DBT process. The relationship between the primary counselor and the client is extremely important. The key goal for the counselor is to help the adolescent develop skills for coping with stressful thoughts, events, and emotions. An important aspect in the client therapist relationship is for the counselor to convey acceptance, validity, and trust. The primary counselor needs to remain calm and listen with interest yet without showing much emotion. A client must not see a counselor react to stories of self-harm in the way a parent or peer might react. The goal for the counselor is to show an understanding of the self-harming behavior while conveying acceptance and validating the adolescents thoughts and actions (Choate, 2012). The counselor shows acceptance; however, the goal is to create change. Although the counselor balances acceptance and change, the counselor continually challenges the client to alter any negative behavior hindering ones life quality. Ultimately the thought is that acceptance and validation will facilitate self-change while change will facilitate self-acceptance. If the adolescent is reluctant to change the harmful behavior, the counselor may spend more sessions building trust and showing validation before attempting change. Additionally, a client may find it difficult to trust the counselor is the client believes the counselor will report NSSI episodes to the adolescents parents. A balance must be created between client trust, parental rights, and confidentiality. With a proper balance allowing the youth comfort, yet abiding by regulations, an adolescent will be able to build the relationship required to develop change (Choate, 2012). Assessments should be conducted during the initial interviews with the client. These initial evaluations are either conducted informally with an interview or formally with a structured interview and self-report tool. The DBT model allows the counselor to integrate assessment results into four DBT target treatment areas. Specific behaviors and areas are written into a treatment plan with goals for the client (Choate, 2012). Target areas: A) Decreasing life-threatening behaviors B) Decreasing behaviors that interfere with therapy C) Decreasing behaviors that interfere with life quality D) Increasing behavioral skills (Choate, 2012). As the treatment begins, the goal is to help the client determine the events, thoughts, or feelings one has prior to the NSSI occurrence. If one can determine factors contributing to the negative behavior, one can start to alter circumstances leading to NSSI and ultimately change the behavior. Clients are asked to maintain diary cards documenting behaviors and actions surrounding NSSI behavior. The diary cards address problem behaviors, immediate prior events leading to problem behavior, vulnerability factors, entire chains of events prior to problem behavior, and consequences from the behavior. Upon review of the cards the counselor can help the client identify triggers of NSSI behavior and find alternative life choices or thoughts to cope better with given situations (Choate, 2012). Multifamily Skills Training Groups The individual session emphasizes focus on assessment, client trust, and identifying the problem. Along with identifying problems, individual therapy does encourage behavior change. However, multifamily group therapy focuses on skill sets needed to facilitate change. To implement behavior changes and develop coping skills, the adolescents must be aware of thoughts, feelings, and actions; tolerate the pain and stress associated with unpleasant life events, regulate emotions better, and become effective at communicating emotions. The DBT approach focuses on building four essential skills: A) Mindfulness B) Distress tolerance C) Emotion regulation D) Interpersonal effectiveness Additionally, a fifth skill was added: Walking the middle path (Choate, 2012). Skill Sets Skill Set One: Core Mindfulness Mindfulness is acknowledging ones emotions, thoughts, and physical experiences without trying to end them, numb them, or avoid them. Learning to observe, describe, and experience emotions without judgment and while in control of ones attention is the core of mindfulness. As adolescents become more aware of emotions in the present, they develop a better understanding of their own emotions and reactions (Choate, 2012). DBT uses a model with three states of mind to teach mindfulness. The three mind-states are reasonable mind, emotion mind, and wise mind. Reasonable mind is controlled primarily by logic. Emotion mind is regulated significantly by emotions. Wise mind synthesizes all the ways of knowing to develop knowing through intuition, using deep inner wisdom. Often time groups sessions will use acting or charades to have participants learn to understand these types of mindfulness (Choate, 2012). Group members are taught to observe their thoughts by awareness. The clients are encouraged not to multitask but rather to focus on one task at a time. The exercise of focusing on one task at a time is referred to as one-mindfulness. Focusing on one aspect at a time allows the client to recognize and understand the emotions related to the specific task. Skill Set Two: Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation helps group members learn to recognize, observe, and describe emotions. Additionally, this skill set teaches one to regulate intense and painful emotions, regulate vulnerability to negative emotions, and increase positive emotions. The clients begin to realize they have control over their emotions and behaviors. When one learns to alter responses to emotions it is both empowering and liberating (Choate, 2012). Ways of teaching emotion recognition often include listening to music or watching a movie. The goal is to have the client react to something, recognize, and observe ones own emotion. As clients recognize emotions they are asked to discuss the responses both mentally and physically connected with the emotional reactions. Group members are taught to respond to ones own emotions with self-compassion and acceptance. Often one may believe an emotional response is wrong, silly, or unjustified. Once one understands that every emotion is justified one can accept the emotion and find a healthy response to that emotion (Choate, 2012). Another aspect of emotion regulation includes reducing vulnerability by maintaining better physical health. Eating well, sleeping sufficiently, exercising regularly, and avoiding substance abuse will help one regulate emotions by maintaining physical health. Ones physical health can weaken ones mind-state, and the person will be more vulnerable to NSSI and other self-harming episodes (Choate, 2012). Skill Set Three: Interpersonal Effectiveness The goal of interpersonal effectiveness is for one to maintain personal values and beliefs while improving relationships. An example of teachings in this module is that group members are often asked to remember the acronym DEAR MAN to help remember the key components of this skill set. The components: Describe, Express, Assert, Reinforce, stay Mindful, Appear confident, and Negotiate. The best method for learning this skill set is role play. Often the facilitator will pair up group members and role play a variety of situations using DEAR MAN (Choate, 2012). Skill Set Four: Distress Tolerance Stress tolerance relates to ones ability to effectively accept emotional pain, in any given situation, that cannot be changed at the time. Once one can tolerate and accept unpleasant situations, one can more effectively cope. Further skills would help the client to self-soothe and distract from emotionally painful situations (Choate, 2012). Distress tolerance skills have two categories. The first category is skills for accepting reality, and the second is skills for crisis survival. Skills for accepting reality teach clients how to accept everyday life even when it is unpleasant. Deep-breathing is a common practice for this skill. Skills for crisis survival follows more of a distraction method. The goal may be for the client to find an alternative task, practice self-soothing, or take a break. Whatever the activity change is, the goal is to distract one from the crisis and prevent self-harming behavior (Choate, 2012). Skill Set Five: Walking the Middle Path This particular skill set works with the adolescent and family members to help those involved alter polarized thinking and live a more balanced lifestyle. The first step is to encourage participants to abandon black and white thinking and recognize the gray area. People often need to realize that any given situation can be viewed in multiple ways, and often everyone would benefit from viewing incidents through multiple perspectives (Choate, 2012). Common issues between adolescents and parents include strict or lenient parenting; thinking lightly of serious matters, or judging harshly common adolescent behavior; and pushing away, or holding too tightly. Adolescents and parents are asked to determine where they believe themselves and others to be regarding these topics, and try to come to an agreement regarding how to alter behavior and meet in the gray area (Choate, 2012). Communication and listening are key factors involved in developing this skill set. Positive reinforcement is taught to be used whenever possible as parents often think to punish negative behavior rather than reward the positive actions. Reconciling family differences can be a key component when attempting to help an adolescent stop NSSI behavior (Choate, 2012). Effectiveness of DBT for NSSI The treatment for NSSI that has the most positive support is DBT. DBT is the high standard of therapy for reducing suicide and self-destructive behavior among clients with BPD. The effectiveness of DBT has been shown in many trial studies. Not as many studies have been conducted regarding DBT and NSSI with adolescents; however, a DBT model has been created for adolescents and shows very promising results. DBT is the highest regarded method for at risk youth. Certainly, much can always be learned regarding human nature and therapy, and not all people will respond to the same treatment; therefore, this method is certainly not effective every time, but it does seem very beneficial (Choate, 2012). Summary Nonsuicidal Self-injury is a serious issue. As one can see, action needs to be taken to save youth from such harmful behavior patterns. Cognitive behavior therapy, specifically dialectical behavior therapy, has many excellent interventions and strategies to help adolescents facing NSSI (Choate, 2012). DBT uses individual therapy, group therapy, and family therapy to help adolescents with NSSI. Individual sessions focus on trust with the counselor, and identifying and acknowledging negative emotions, and behavior patterns. Additionally, the primary therapist will help the client find healthy ways to change behavior patterns and cope with life stressors (Choate, 2012). Group therapy focuses on building the skills needed to accomplish the desired changes. The five core skills sets include: core mindfulness, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, distress tolerance, and walking the middle path. Many methods are used to teach and practice these techniques (Choate, 2012). Studies continue to determine the effectiveness of DBT with adolescents involved in NSSI. However, DBT is the standard therapy for adults facing similar issues with BPD. Additionally, DBT seems very promising as an effective method for treating NSSI adolescents. References Choate, L. H. (2012, January). Counseling adolescents who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury: A dialectical behavior therapy approach.. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 34(1), 56-71. EBSCOhost.

Perspectives of the Characters in The Young Housewife :: Young Housewife Essays

Perspectives of the Characters in The Young Housewife From the first stanza we decipher that there is a young housewife moving about her husbands house in negligee. Some important questions that come to my mind are: Is she alone?, and why is she moving? The answer to both of these questions we do not know. Is this young housewife dancing around the house in her negligee because her and her husband had a wonderfully romantic night, or is she merely shuffling along performing her wifely chores and duties? Better yet, does the young housewife really exist, or is she just a fantasy of the passer-by? This brings me to my next question . . .Is the narrator a man or a woman? It seems very easy to assume that the narrator is a man, because the author is a man, but other than that there is no real evidence proving narrative gender. In stanza one all we know about the narrator is that they are alone in a car. In stanza two all we know is that the narrator compares the young housewife to a "fallen leaf". And in stanza three, the final stanza, as the narrator passes on by, he or she bows, and smiles. As far as I am concerned the passer-by could be a female who is a close friend or relative who is merely commenting on the housewife as they pass by her house. To me The Young House Wife is about beauty, not beauty from a young fertile woman alone in negligee, but the beauty of everyday, the beauty of life. This driver, who is her passer-by compares the housewife to a fallen leaf. This fallen leaf could mean many things. The narrator could be insinuating that the young housewife is in a fallen state, maybe trapped in some kind of extra-marital sin perhaps. Maybe the narrator is trying to warn us that the housewife is sick and perhaps that is why she is not yet properly dressed though the morning is almost at an end. The meaning that I prefer to take with me is somewhat different from these perspectives. I would like to think of the young housewife as the beauty of autumn.

Cultural Diversity in America

Diversity is an important part of American culture. Cultural diversity has helped to shape the way we live everyday as well as the different foods we eat. What really thought me about diversity is that it is not limited just too racial or ethnic groups but other minority groups. The new information I have learned about diversity still has not changed my views. I think it is important to learn about others cultures and backgrounds. Without knowledge about other cultural groups we would only have stereotypes to go off of. Stereotypes without proper knowledge can lead to discrimination or prejudices.I did learn about my own ethnic background and how far we still need to go. The Hispanic people are still the lowest paid. Recently we are still fighting against prejudice in regards to immigration laws. There are many ignorant people that view all Hispanic people should not be in this country. Some automatically think we all come from Mexico. Which is not the case, both my parents are Ameri can and my mother’s parent are from the US. On my dad’s side my grandmother was from Mexico as well as my grandpa who fought in WWII, Vietnam, and Korean War.He is a real hero and it is unfair that he has fought for our freedom but some would want him deported. Trends in immigration are steadily rising and should continue to do so. In 2050 the White population will become a minority and the minority groups will become the majority. There are many cultures that strive to migrate to the United stated to live out the American dream. Our country was built by immigrants trying to escape a country they could no longer believe in. Those people wanted freedom to believe and live the way they wanted too.That is still the dream of all immigrants to move on to a new country and build a better life for themselves and their families. The major challenge the United States faces due the diversity of its people is losing the American culture in the mist of all the different cultural g roups. Also American will suffer from prejudice and discrimination against those immigrants because they are different. Even though American risks losing its culture due to diversity it is also a benefit. The diversity in American culture can teach everyone to be more tolerant of different ethnic groups.Also it helps improve American culture by adapting to new culture traditions and celebrations. In order to foster acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States, we need to start living with an open mind and heart. We also need to create an education program to teach everyone about each other and their cultural backgrounds. Also by adapting to different cultural traditions we can participate in that culture. For example, In the United States we celebrate the Chinese New Year and CInco De Mayo.Also we need to find a way to stop depending on stereotypes to teach us about different groups. The media is also portraying different groups of people a certain way. I have always found that the news media try to find the most ignorant person to interview or someone that could prove that ethnic stereotype correct. There are many examples of this in recent news for example, The interview with Sweet Brown and her famous line â€Å" Ain’t nobody got time for that† or the interview of Antoine Dodson and all the funny YouTube videos that it has turned out.The media also does some good for example all the media coverage they do on gay rights as well as coverage on the Travon Martin case. With the Travon Martin case we saw a man that was prejudice against a young black male and kill him. The media tried to do their best to show how wrong Zimmerman was in the situation. Showing these types of issues in the media it shows people it is not ok to hate or to take a young life because you are ignorant to their cultural background.Individually I know I have been prejudice against certain groups and knew the way I was acting was wrong. What I found I needed to work on is to be more accepting of everyone and treat others the way I want to be treated. I would not want to be discriminated against and I found no one else does either. I think we also need to live life and not judge people by the way they look but by their actions. The United States as a whole needs to teach its people that prejudice is still alive and discrimination is still happening.The United States also needs to review its anti-discrimination laws and make sure they are still valid and revise the ones that need to be improved with our changing times. I also think there should be cultural diversity appreciation month that teaches about different cultures not just African Americans or Hispanic culture but about, Asian cultures and Middle Eastern cultures as well. We also need to start teaching children young to be accepting of everyone since they are our future. You are a reflection of then and they are a reflection of you.