Memersion Reflection Analysis - 1593 Words

Next, I learned that there are tons of community resources available to support people in need and to protect human rights. I chose to visit two immersions to learn more about the services that they each provide to the public. The most memorable immersion experience was the Domestic Violence Center located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The services provided by this organization to victims of domestic violence are impressive. The second immersion was at the Food Bank of Delaware. It was great to tour the Food Bank facility and see workers in action to fight hunger in Delaware. Both immersion activities were enjoyable learning experiences. In addition, I enjoyed learning about some of the other immersions that my colleagues attended as†¦show more content†¦For instance, organizations can continue to build a diverse workforce through the hiring of qualified people who come from different cultural backgrounds, by offering ethics and diversity training, practicing equal and fair opportunity, addressing discrimination and harassment acts, and focusing on employee health and wellness, and more. An excellent example of safeguarding equity and diversity in the workplace are initiatives to raise awareness about mental health disabilities in the workplace or healthy workplace strategies as Carol Kivler (2017) shared in her presentation titled â€Å"Starting the Dialogue: Depression in the Workplace†. In addition, establishing checks and balances to monitor progress, and to put accountability mechanisms in place may be good internal practices to adopt as well. Liswood (2010) explained: When we put different people together – which diversity inherently does, we have to go to the next step, move beyond diversity and be conscious of who we are and others are. Only then can we get the true value of that diversity, make the workplace fair, keep the pipelines flowing, and have more effective global companies. (p. 134) In education, to safeguard equity and diversity many policies and strategies were implemented over the years. For example, two of the most popular that occurred was the No Child Left Behind policy and the desegregation of schools.

Correlations Between Abuse and Delinquency - 1162 Words

Abuse and delinquency have been linked together for many years. There have been many studies done to determine whether victims of abuse have higher rates of delinquency, as compared to those who have not encountered abuse. It has been found that adolescents who were victims of sexual assault were three to five times more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder, be abused again, be dependent on drugs and alcohol, or commit delinquent acts compared with adolescents who were not victimized (Impact of Child Abuse, 2011). In another study that was conducted to examine the relationship between abuse and delinquency, the data that was found, supported the data that was found in the study above; the authors of the study found that abuse nearly doubles the probability that an individual will engage in crime. This information was found to even be true with twins, one of whom was abused and other one was not (Currie Tekin, 2006). Data that was collected from the studies above are unimaginable. There is a high correlation between abuse and delinquent behavior. Many factors play into reasons why a child may be abused. Some of the factors that play into abuse are as follows: parent or caregiver factors, family factors, child factors, and environmental factors. Examples of parent or caregiver factors are: age, substance abuse, psychological well-being, and history of abuse. Family factors could include a child living in a single parent household. This type of situation mayShow MoreRelatedChild Abuse And Neglect Cause Juvenile Delinquency1156 Words   |  5 PagesChild Abuse and Neglect cause Juvenile Delinquency Strain theory describes the idea that there are certain events and conditions in an individual’s life that are disliked and involve the inability to achieve goals, loss of positively valued stimuli, and presentation of negative stimuli (Brezina and Agnew). Child neglect and abuse can be described by this theory, and often is, because of its elements and the effect it has on children. Before the idea of child abuse and neglect causing juvenile delinquencyRead MoreIs Religion An Effective Deterrent Against Juvenile Delinquency?1363 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Question(s): Is religion an effective deterrent against juvenile delinquency? If not then what are other effective deterrents? Intro: Children are characterized as being innocent or at least not responsible for their action since science shows that their brains are not yet fully formed. Despite this belief, there exists a branch of the criminal justice system that deals with juvenile offenders. There is much speculation about what causes children to go down a criminal path and if thereRead MoreAdolescence And Adulthood And The Factors That Promote Childhood Delinquency Essay1731 Words   |  7 Pagesa correlate of delinquency is anything that shows itself to have a relationship to delinquency† (Bates Swan, 2014). Our society has always put delinquency in the same category as school systems, but what is commonly overlooked are many other factors that go into the correlation between schools and delinquency. The label of delinquency in schools does not just get slapped on because the justice system is looking for an excuse. There are many articles over adolescent delinquency and less researchRead MoreEffects of Child Abuse on Juvenile Delinquency4283 Words   |  18 PagesThe Effects of Child Abuse on Juvenile Delinquency Tyshenia Gavin Virginia State University Dr. Hodgson Abstract This literature review explores existing literature and scholarship that outlines the effects of early child abuse (2-8 years old) on future acts of delinquency. Literature suggests that a correlation exists between the effects of child abuse and delinquency. Common problematic behaviors are socialization changes and learning abilities fromRead MoreAdolescence And Young Adulthood : Young Relationships And Delinquency1436 Words   |  6 Pages2013, pg. 253). The reason for this concern is that there is more research showing that there is an association between romantic relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood (Serafini Rye Drysdale, 2013, pg. 254). Based on personal opinion, there are free factors that support this core reason. The first factor is that young relationships can increase delinquency. There are a few reasons for this assumption to be true. One reason is that adolescents are still trying to figureRead MoreFactors Of Sociologist Robert Agnews General Strain Theory996 Words   |  4 PagesOverview Sociologist Robert Agnew introduced the General Strain Theory (GST) in 1992, which argues that strain is the leading factor that causes someone to be delinquent or criminally motived. He categorizes three major types of strain that produces delinquency: the failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and the introduction of negatively valued stimuli (Agnew et al., 2002, p. 44). These different forms of strain greatly increase the chances for an individualRead MoreResearch On The Causes And Correlates Of Delinquency937 Words   |  4 PagesThis week’s article, â€Å"Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency†; the following research was created to improve the understanding of criminal behavior, violence, and drug use by looking at how youths develops within the framework of their environment such as family, school, friends, and their community. Each longitudinal study involved self-report surveys on a certain group of youths in high risk neighborhoods that were examined over six month intervals within three and a halfRead MoreChildhood Abuse And Adult Delinquency895 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom The National Institution of Justice have compiled very compelling data related to childhood abuse and adult criminality. Here are some statistics from their findings: †¢ 34 percent of female foster youth reported being arrested †¢ Researchers found that childhood maltreatment was a risk factor for officially recognized delinquency, violent self-reported delinquency and moderate self-reported delinquency. †¢ Being abused or neglected as a child increases the likelihood of arrest as a juvenile by 59Read MoreLiterature Review: Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency Essay1873 Words   |  8 Pages........................................................................... 3 Homelessness............................................................................................................................ 4 Abuse of Juveniles ................................................................................................................... 5 Incarceration .......................................................................................Read MoreJuvenile Offenders And Child Welfare Agencies Across The United States1271 Words   |  6 Pagesmillion juveniles were arrested in America (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention). According to the National Institute of Justice, juveniles who begin a life of delinquency early are more likely to continue that trend into adulthood, and that once they enter the adult criminal justice system; they are more likely to become worse in their criminal conduct. While most juveniles are likely to stop delinquency by their early twenties, those who continue are more likely to engage in increasingly

Autism False Words and False Hope Essay Example For Students

Autism: False Words and False Hope Essay Autism: False Words and False Hope Essay Steven Hajducko Prof. Sims MWF 10:00-11:00 29 November 1995 Autism is a childhood disease where the child is in a private world of their own. A description of an autistic child by her mother is: We start with an imagea tiny, golden child on hands and knees, circling round and round a spot on the floor in mysterious self- absorbed delight. She does not look up, though she is smiling and laughing; she does not call our attention to the mysterious object of her pleasure. She does not see us at all. She and the spot are all there is, and though she is eighteen months old, an age for touching, tasting, pointing, pushing, exploring, she is doing none of these. (Groden 2) This is the most important trait in an autistic child: They dont interact or socialize with other people. Other characteristics in autistic children are language retardation and ritualistic or compulsive behaviors. It used to be thought that children became autistic because of poor parenting and that the only solution was that the parents should be removed from the child (Baron-Cohen 26). Now it is known that autism is caused by biological factors due to: neurological symptoms, mental handicap, genetic causes, infections, and even difficulties in pregnancy. Even though autism is thought of as a disease or disorder, autistic children can demonstrate special skills. These skills are referred to as isolated islets of intelligence (Baron-Cohen 53). Some examples of these are found in an autistic childs ability to draw, play music, or recall a certain date. Nadia, an autistic child, has the ability to draw in an almost photographic way (Baron-Cohen 54). Autistic children can also play instruments, accurately sing songs, recognize structures of music, etc. A problem that arises when autistic children are going through therapy is that they start to lose their remarkable skills. For parents to find out that their child is autistic can be very shocking. They go from having a bouncy, livey baby to a having a total stranger as their child. Many therapies have been devised to help autistic children. Some of these therapies are: behavior therapy, speech and language therapy, holding therapy, music therapy, and the newest one, facilitation therapy. Since most autistic children are different and their behaviors are different, one therapy may be more effective than another one. Facilitation therapy is catching on, but is already becoming a controversy. Although facilitation therapy is one of the most popular used methods in communicating with autistic children, it is being downgraded because of the controversies where the children are being manipulated by the facilitators. A child with autism can be detected by the age of three. If treament is started right away, the child may gain their normal functioning. This is a critical factor in reversing the disorder (McEachin 105). Other elements in autistic therapy that are important factors in helping with the child are observations, establishing relationships, and changing behaviors (Simons 27). Once autistic children have made a relationship, they are brought closer to the outside world. That is why facilitation therapy is so popular. This kind of therapy helps the outside world to communicate with the lost child. The autistic child is supported by a facilitator who holds the arm, the wrist, or the hand. This support helps the child to control his/her movements in order for the child to point to words, pictures, etc. In this way autistic children can express feelings or thoughts that no one thought they had. So why is there controversy over facilitation therapy ? The autistic child is being observed, a relationship is formed between the child and the facilitator, and the gap is being closed. The problem with facilitation therapy is expressed by Dr. Sexual Harassment Essay Green from the New York Times, Facilitated communication seems tantamount to a miracle, but its more like a self-fulfulling prophecy you see what you want to see; (C11). There is always the chance that the child is not the one expressing the thoughts. Scientists in the New York Times ;are likening it to a Ouija board; (C1), because as people subconsciously move the message indicator to get an answer to their question, facilitators can move the autistic childs hand to what they want. Another argument against facilitation therapy was in an article, the Harvard Educational Review, where three concerns were mentioned: 1) facilitated communication manipulated the handicapped, 2) facilitation has never been proven valid, and 3) facilitation contradicts 50 years of research in autism and developmental disabilities (Biklen 110). It seems impossible that an autistic .

Should Assisted Suicide Be Legalized

Introduction The massive exploration and developments in the world of medicine have given human beings the power to rescue people from a wide-range of life-threatening situations more than before.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Should Assisted Suicide Be Legalized specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Through these discoveries, several diseases can be managed, even though some of them were known to be killer infections in the past. Besides these possibilities, other developments in medical technology have also made it possible for doctors to sustain and prolong the life of the sick. Oftentimes, this sustenance occurs yet physical and mental well-being of a patient may not be restored under any medical procedure (Quill, 2012). In such cases, the conditions are usually irreversible and the pain experienced by the patient cannot be controlled. This leaves the life of the patient in the hands of physicians, who may choos e to discontinue life-support procedures or maintain the patient up to the last minute. There is need to legalize assisted suicide in order to deal with rising cases of people suffering from terminal illnesses, who endure unnecessary pain before dying. Pro Assisted Suicide It is doubtless that the every human being has the right to live and enjoy life to the fullest without termination. Based on this, it is a criminal offense to end a person’s life, even when the patient has requested to be put to death. In promoting the dignity of a person’s life, it is equally important to consider the need of enhancing dignified death among patients, suffering from terminal illnesses (Quill, 2012). Why should suicide not be considered as a crime yet assisting a terminally-ill person to die is seen as a criminal offense? While this debate has raised a lot of controversy based on the ethical implications and violations of human rights, assisted suicide has countless benefits to the pa tient, family members, physicians, and the government. Regardless of the conditions of a person, it is imperative to appreciate the fact that people have the free will to decide what to do to their lives without causing any form of harm to others. Of great significance is the fact that this right allows one to terminate his or her life, without being pressured by any external forces. In other words, a person who requests to be put to death should be granted his or her plea without any form of pressure from a friend, family member or physician (Quill Battin, 2004). Even though a number of people may be willing to terminate their lives because of various health problems, some conditions make it impossible to die in an honorable manner. It is therefore essential that such people should be granted their wish to die once they call upon a physician or family member to assist them to die.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper w ith 15% OFF Learn More Besides responding to the pleas of the sick and assisting them to die, it is worth noting that human beings have a duty to relieve other people from pain and ensure that their dignity is respected throughout. Today, there are millions of people lying in hospitals, experiencing unbelievable pain and unable to function normally as human beings. In fact, some doctors know that the health condition of such patients cannot be reversed or managed in any way to allow them live their dignity as before. Under such conditions, patients do not see the hope of getting better but know that any extra day added to their lives means additional pain (Quill Battin, 2004). When people who are under irreversible medical conditions request for merciful death, it becomes inhuman for the physician or the person responsible to deny them their right to die honorably. As compassionate human beings, we are supposed to respect and obey the feelings of the sick in order to allow them to have a dignified death. No one can deny that some health conditions can drain patients to a point where they are seen as human shells. In some cases, patients become helpless, unable to take care of themselves, thus calling for assistance from family members or nurses. Other conditions like Alzheimer cause worse loss of memory, making one to forget the past regardless of how successful and happy it might have been (Battin, Rhodes Silvers, 1998). For instance, a president who suffers such an illness may not be remembered for his successful leadership, but for his devastating end-times. Assisted suicide would therefore allow people to die with self-worthiness and pride. Assisted suicide should also be legalized to reduce hospital bills and insurance premiums. While people suffering from terminal diseases may not survive at all, their treatment and sustenance is costly and may cause the family to spend beyond its limits. In order for a hospital to keep a dying patient alive, a lot of technology and resources have to be involved (Battin, Rhodes Silvers, 1998). Family members have to incur costs on lab tests, X-rays, oxygen machines, and other life-supporting equipment. These expenses may be too high for the family to meet and unbeneficial especially when the doctors are aware that the patient won’t live for long. It is important to ask if this is the best way of spending family resources when the patient has expressed the willingness to die. Based on this argument, it is vital to spare a person’s savings for his children and coming generations instead of wasting it on a dying patient in hospital. By legalizing assisted suicide, nurses and other medical practitioners will have ample time to attend to patients who can be saved from their illnesses. This can be quite beneficial based on the fact that the country faces a constant shortage of nurses to attend to patients in hospitals. In recent findings, it has been discovered that hospitals, w hich are understaffed are prone to offering poor quality services to patients.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Should Assisted Suicide Be Legalized specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The situation may further worsen especially with increasing life expectancy (Battin, Rhodes Silvers, 1998). At this point, it is essential to make a decision between attending to dying patients and assigning physicians to hospitals with savable patients. It is shocking to learn that one freed nurse or doctor can save hundreds of patients in a few days. This would also promote the quality of services offered to patients in hospitals around the country. In addition, assisted suicide would help patients to exercise their religious freedom. Since most religions believe in life after death, the government ought not to restrict its citizens from dying especially in cases where their health conditions cannot be reversed. Legalizing this wou ld also save families from pain, which they get exposed to when their loved ones are suffering (Hull, 2004). Early death of a loved one would guard against emotional drainage that accompanies the suffering period. It would also save body organs, which could be used to restore the health of living people. These include hearts, livers, and kidneys among others. This is because the life of the living is better than that of a dying patient. Against Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide should not be legalized, because some patients choose to die as a result of stress and not on the basis of an irreversible condition (Friend, 2011). Millions of people have suffered from depression before and recovered to become important members of the society. Therefore, terminating their lives would be unfair because depression is manageable. Additionally, human life is considered to be sacred from a religious point of view. In this context, assisted death is considered as murder and it is unethical in mos t communities (Hull, 2004). One should therefore be allowed to live since God is the giver of life. Instead of governments debating assisted suicide, they should invest in finding solutions to terminal illnesses like cancer so that patients are not killed mercifully. While every human being has the right to live, legalizing assisted death may undermine this provision. For instance, there is likely pressure on sick people to die instead of draining the family through hospital bills and other costs associated with sustaining the sick. The poor, old, and minorities are likely to suffer most and become victims of forced suicide, best on the fact that they depend on other family members for their survival (Hull, 2004). In fact, legalizing assisted death does not solve the problems of poverty and an ageing society. The government should consider better ways of supporting the minorities in the country.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Response to anti-assisted Suicide As stated before assisted suicide is important in cases where the physicians have tested beyond doubt that the life of a patient cannot be saved. In this context, the patient’s wish and the verdict of the doctor concur. This is to say that the decision to terminate a person’s life cannot be conceived without considering possible ways of saving his or her life (Friend, 2011). In other words, assisted suicide cannot be applied in every situation of illness; cases of terminal diseases are common. In addition, termination of one’s life on the basis of health does not undermine the fact that human life is sacred. Based on the fact that most religions believe in life after death, it would be better to terminate a dying person’s life instead of letting him suffer in pain. This can usher the patient into another world, which is unknown. Importantly, legalizing assisted suicide would cut the treatment cost felt by the government a nd families. The law would not focus on the aged or the poor, but on those in irreversible states. Conclusion Assisted suicide remains a debatable issue around the country, with no consensus having been reached. However, based on the advantages of this legislation, it is important for the life of dying people to be terminated. This lessens the burden of spending resources and family savings on a person who ends up dying after a few months or years. Besides the economical advantages, assisted suicide would ensure that families do not suffer emotionally in taking care of sick people that are in irreversible medical conditions. While this is the case, the implementation of such a law should curb against the exploitation of the poor and the aged, who might be pressured to consider merciful death. References Battin, M., Rhodes, R., Silvers, A. (1998). Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate. United Kingdom: Routledge. Friend, M. (2011). Physician-Assisted Suicide: Death with Di gnity. Journal of Nursing Law, 14 (4), 110-116. Hull, R. (2004). Phyician Assited Suicide, Pro and Con. Secular Humanism. Retrieved from http://www.richard-t-hull.com/publications/PAS.pdf Quill, T. (2012). Physicians Should ‘Assist in Suicide’ When It Is Appropriate. Journal of Law, Medicine Ethics, 40 (1), 57-65. Quill, T., Battin, M. (2004). Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care and Patient Choice. Maryland: JHU Press. This essay on Should Assisted Suicide Be Legalized was written and submitted by user Karina Finch to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Frost Poem Analysis

â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. One of Frost’s most common subjects is the choice the poet is faced with two roads, two ideas, and two possibilities of action. â€Å"The Road Not Taken† deals with the choice between two â€Å"roads,† and the results of the choice that the poet makes. It raises the evident question of whether it is better to choose a road in which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and explore it yourself. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken,† the speakers’ tone and setting help illustrate the struggle a person goes through in their lives to pick the right road to travel. It is possible to read this poem as a statement of some self-pity on the poet’s part, a feeling, perhaps, that he has been cheated and misunderstood because he took an unpopular path. To support this tone, one might point to the last stanza: The speaker will some day, sighing, tell others that he took the unknown road when faced with a choice. The reading, however, misses much of the significance of the second and third stanzas. At the end of the second stanza, the speaker states that there was really not much difference in the two roads; neither had really been w... Free Essays on Frost Poem Analysis Free Essays on Frost Poem Analysis â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. One of Frost’s most common subjects is the choice the poet is faced with two roads, two ideas, and two possibilities of action. â€Å"The Road Not Taken† deals with the choice between two â€Å"roads,† and the results of the choice that the poet makes. It raises the evident question of whether it is better to choose a road in which many travel, or to choose the road less traveled and explore it yourself. In â€Å"The Road Not Taken,† the speakers’ tone and setting help illustrate the struggle a person goes through in their lives to pick the right road to travel. It is possible to read this poem as a statement of some self-pity on the poet’s part, a feeling, perhaps, that he has been cheated and misunderstood because he took an unpopular path. To support this tone, one might point to the last stanza: The speaker will some day, sighing, tell others that he took the unknown road when faced with a choice. The reading, however, misses much of the significance of the second and third stanzas. At the end of the second stanza, the speaker states that there was really not much difference in the two roads; neither had really been w...

Uncommon Author - An Interview with Eliot Peper

Uncommon Author - An Interview with Eliot Peper Uncommon Author - An Interview with Eliot Peper â€Å"For someone who loves a book, would make their day? What would make them happy or make them think of it again or think that it’s cool? And I’m always struggling with that.†Update! We interview Eliot again for the release of the sequel to Uncommon Stock - come check it out!Eliot Peper is the nicest man in the world. At least, that’s how we felt coming away from our interview. His first novel, ‘Uncommon Stock,’ a startup thriller, is both an indie success story and the debut book from Colorado’s FG Press. Eliot’s background is in venture capital and consulting for the tech industry, including spells running his own startups. We met to talk about what it was like transitioning from entrepreneur to authorpreneur, and what it was like working with the newly-minted FG Press.Edit: As of 2016, FG Press has closed its doors. Eliot Peper is now a full-time indie author.- -REEDSYYour first novel is about startups. You’ve had pl enty of experiences in the business world, but had you written much before?ELIOT PEPERI hadn’t written fiction since high school, but I had experience with storytelling. My background was in startups -  I was a founder, then an early employee at a couple of different startups, and then an entrepreneur-in-residence at a VC fund. As you guys I’m sure know yourselves, the fuzzy front-end of building a business, most of it’s storytelling. You’re trying to pitch investors, you’re trying to bring in talent, you’re trying to tell people about the problem you’re trying to address; you’re always telling stories whether it’s to customers, investors, partners, team members -  that’s a lot of what you do on a day-to-day basis. So I’d been doing a ton of that, but I’d not been doing anything like writing a novel.REEDSYI thought it was interesting how widely your book was picked up by the b usiness community. A lot of business writing is generally non-fiction, right?ELIOT PEPERNon-fiction is interesting for obvious reasons. Most non-fiction is â€Å"Here are the lessons I learned doing something,† or with biographies â€Å"What did this person learn through living their life?† For business, I find fiction particularly interesting because it gives you this secret window inside the character’s head.There’s a boatload of non-fiction out there about business -  â€Å"I built GM, or I was the CEO of X company, so here are the things you should think about when starting a company or in your daily life.† But it doesn’t show you that, as I’m sure you guys are experiencing right now, when you’re building a business it’s a human experience, right? Especially for founders who are struggling through their first company or their first couple of companies. It’s a crazy emotional roller coaster. The hum an side of startups doesn’t get a lot of exposure because everyone wants to talk about advice and best practices. Few people want to talk about how it destroyed their relationship with their wife; or how they were sleeping with their co-founder; or how for their series B round they were about to get a ten-x valuation bump on the first round until lead investor had a heart attack the night before and it fucked up their entire company. That stuff happens all the time. I’ve been shocked by the shit that goes down in Silicon Valley.People don’t talk about that stuff publicly in a non-fiction context -  they don’t want to make that their sort of public life. The beauty of fiction is that you can experience that alongside the character. You can give people a window into what it’s like to be the startup or to be in business. And I think for people interested in learning about entrepreneurship that’s really special because there’s a lot more to it that just lean product development.REEDSYYeah, like you don’t need to have abstracted a principle for a story to be useful to someoneELIOT PEPERI’m sure you guys are experiencing this if you have advisors or mentors that you’re going to for advice. You’ll talk to one guy and he’ll say â€Å"Well, in my last business we did this, and we learned that you have to do X.† Then you talk to someone else and they’ll give you the exact opposite advice based on a totally different anecdote.A lot of business non-fiction is like that -  it’s a lot of anecdotes, and it’s really easy to mythologise people. So you look at the big names like Steve Jobs or whatever, and once they’ve achieved success it always feels like you can retroactively go back and say why they achieved success in the past. That’s a really weird thing to do. From a scientific process perspective that’s really bad, b ut that essentially covers all narrative non-fiction. You have to have that â€Å"What did you learn at the end of the fable?† ending, and I think fiction gives you a lot more freedom in that sense. You’re exploring just how humans wrestle with and overcome obstacles. Those obstacles could be killing Gilgamesh, or it could be taking a company public.REEDSYIt’s like parables, basically, or Aristotle’s version of Ethics. He doesn’t try to say what bravery is, he just says â€Å"Bravery is Achilles.†ELIOT PEPERI think the human mind is wired to understand complex problems through stories. It’s boring to read a complex problem that isn’t part of narrative.REEDSYHow have you applied your startup background to the daily routine of writing? I feel like a lot of startup advice is of the ‘work smarter, not harder’ variety. Can you apply that to writing?ELIOT PEPERI think the process of writing is very grinding, in terms of the actual drafting of the manuscript. I don’t even know how you would go about doing that smarter. I don’t really outline, I just spend time brainstorming constantly. On a walk I’ll think about where the characters are, where things are heading, what the next scene should be, what the final scene should be. I feel like I’m in good shape if I know the next scene I’m gonna write, and some kind of North Star that the climax will be. If I have more than that planned out it usually gets stale or I don’t stick to it anyway. I have to spend time immersed in the world psychologically, then I sit down, start writing, and there’s very little I can do aside from forcing myself to make the time, sit in front of Word, and not go on twitter. A lot of it is knowing how to be diligent and how to have discipline.That corresponds to business. It’s way too prevalent with my friends in tech and the startup world who are like â€Å"Oh my God I wa s up until 4am finishing this last release!† To me that’s like saying â€Å"Oh my God, I’m terrible at managing my time!† You know, that’s basically what you’re saying. It was less that I tried to take the lesson ‘work hard at all costs,’ and instead take the lesson ‘only do what matters.’ That’s really difficult to do.As an author it’s so easy to spend all my time blogging and emailing and pitching journalists or influencers to try and get more coverage for the book, to do events, to do signings, to just be on Twitter and Facebook or whatever promotional tools you’re using. You can let that suck away all your time. But at the end of the day the people who read my books, my actual readers, they just want the next book -  they don’t give a shit what I post on Twitter. To an extent, me having a public face, at least they can feel like they’re getting to know me.But you rea lly have to look back and say â€Å"I need to be spending at least the majority of my time doing what actually matters.† In business it’s just as difficult. It’s very easy to spend your time just being external facing when the only reason people are going to be interested in you is to improve their lives by solving a problem. If you’re not solving that problem in what you’re doing every day, that’s a problem.I think that’s probably the one lesson I took from business. The ‘work smarter, not harder’ side’s more relevant in the PR side of things and how you connect with readers. We’re trying to experiment with that. I have a twitter account for the protagonist of ‘Uncommon Stock.’ We built a real website for the fictional startup in the book. We got Foundry Group, the VC firm, to announce an investment in them on April Fools day. That’s sort of fun. My dearest hope is that if I do something that delights my readers, that when they’re at happy hour tonight and they’re quaffing a beer, they’ll say to their friend â€Å"OK, they actually did this.† If that happens that’s one more word-of-mouth referral. Anything I can do to inspire or delight my readers, that’s what I’m going for.REEDSYIt seems like delighting a reader is much healthier than growth hacking.ELIOT PEPERYeah. If you look at the public discourse about how to get readers, the majority of it is the growth hacking kind of stuff. It’s all about how can you engineer your own success and manipulate people into liking you, and I don’t know -  I don’t really like to be manipulated as a reader, so I don’t really want to do that as a writer.REEDSYDo you have any role-models in the self-publishing space?ELIOT PEPERI like Hugh Howey. He’s the wà ¼nderkind, right? But he’s also really personal and personable. He shares what he does, and it feels real. Or, you know Neal Stephenson? He’s a prototypical Big 5 author; he’s been a best-selling author for decades, he has a huge audience, in that sense he’s very mainstream. But he writes on Slashdot and other random forums all the time. The people writing for the New York Times Book Review would never have heard of these places. He’s interesting because if you go to his website, it’s pretty minimal. It’s sort of lame. But he’s also on Slashdot and all these random place, writing super in-depth, honest answers to forum questions from trolls. I find that compelling because it’s like â€Å"That’s pretty cool, you’re just being real, that’s who you are, you’re a sort of goofy nerdy guy, you read Slashdot so you started writing there too.† It’s been very popular. His forum posts turn into memes that people share around writing blogs -  I think thatâ €™s fun.You don’t even have to stick to publishing. Macklemore self-published his first albums, was never signed by a major label, and was able to build a fan-base because his songs are awesome and he made funny videos for them. Now he’s turned that into having some of the top-listed songs over the past couple of years. That’s pretty cool, that’s pretty fun. With the writers I admire most the biggest thing is they write really good stuff, but the other part is in the rest of their lives they come across as really genuine.REEDSYWhat sort of relationship are you building between yourself and your readers?ELIOT PEPERI try to think of writing as literally storytelling. I don’t just hand over the manuscript and that’s that. I try to think of it like I’m literally sitting at a campfire talking to people. If you’re sitting at a campfire with your friends, you don’t want to be awkward, right? It’s better to tell a sto ry they want to hear. And afterwards you’re still their friend. It’s not like the relationship is over -  you’re going to roast marshmallows over the fire and have a conversation about it. That’s how I look at being a writer. I can connect with my readers in a new way or share something with them they might not otherwise know. Like on my blog I write about business because some of my readers are interested in startups and that’s part of why they read my stuff, but I also share personal stuff because if they like my book they might want to know more about me.Do you know Joss Whedon? I find him really interesting. I’m not very sophisticated about films, but what he’s famous for is that while many of the shows he’s made haven’t been that popular in terms of ratings, the people who did watch it were obsessed with it. He’s had the highest aftermarket sales of anyone. The prototypical guy for this is George Lucas. He turned a weird 70s sci-fi movie into the underlying mythology of America, and represents some enormous amount of toy sales and other crazy external licensing sales.The guys who are now doing all these superhero movies are obsessed with Joss Whedon because they’re trying to do the same with these comic book franchises. So they’re trying to take X-Men and turn it into these multiple blockbuster movies but also have video-games and all these other ways fans can experience the story. Joss says he has one question in mind that I think applies to every authors, and that’s â€Å"What can you do that would really delight your fans?† For people who really like your story, how can you double down and give them extra stuff that they would just want more and more of if they really love that story? There’s a really wonderful essay on this, that’s also relevant for early-stage entrepreneurs, called ‘1000 True Fans’.I’m still figuring that out. If people read Uncommon Stock, what more would they want? I know they’d want the sequel because they’re all asking for it, so that’s good -  I’m working on that. But beyond that what are other things that, for someone who loves a book, would make their day? What would make them happy or make them think of it again or think that it’s cool? And I’m always struggling with that.If I was constantly thinking about how I could sell more books, I wouldn’t enjoy the experience of being a writer much. If I want to look at the world cynically, my experience becomes cynical.REEDSYIt’s a bad filter on the creative process.ELIOTYou’re going to have a filter no matter what. If your filter is ‘how can I create something that people will love,’ that’s a fun filter to have. If your filter is ‘how can I create something that people will buy, not only is that less fun from the creativ e perspective, but it’s also very difficult to ascertain. It’s not obvious what people will buy. If you’re trying to select for that, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have any higher chance of success than someone who’s just trying to create something that people will love, and they’re going to have a much better time doing it.REEDSYYou worked with FG Press on ‘Uncommon Stock’ -  what was that like? Did it free you from the commercial pressures traditionally published authors work with, like having to earn out an advance?ELIOTFirst of all, FG Press gives no advances. You have a 50/50 split on all royalties. A typical big-5 contract gives the author about 15% -  that’s fancy math, but that’s more or less what it breaks down to. FG Press is giving a much larger cut on royalties and they’re giving no advance, and I wanted it that way. I think the advance system sets up the wrong in centive. Then the author is writing a book and selling it to a publisher, rather than selling it to a reader. The people who are important to me are my readers. My publisher is important to the extent that they help me either produce something better or do something that makes my readers more happy. I would self-publish in a heartbeat if FG Press was not providing those things for me.The commercial pressures are tied to advances, but the reason that authors are subject to those pressures is because they want the advance. That’s where things can get messy, and that’s part of what FG Press set out to try to do differently. Does that create different challenges? Of course. If you’re not giving advances, the writer has to support themselves until book sales start coming in -  if they do. That’s not a universally good decision -  you need to choose which risk factors you want to take on to produce the kind of content you want to make. T hat’s what they’re doing, that’s their model, and that’s why it’s different. They’re betting that authors who publish through them willingly want to build a readership and want to earn money based on how popular the damn book is, regardless of whether a high-level editor thinks you have potential.REEDSYWhat is FG Press offering their authors in exchange for the initial 50%?ELIOT PEPERFirst of all they’re writing the checks for the initial production costs. It’s true, they take that financial risk, so that’s great for authors who can’t write the checks to take the risks for editing and production. That’s useful and it shows that they’re committed to the title. It just doesn’t cost that much to produce a book. The part where they really add value is through helping to establish a community of readers. As a -  very personal -  example I was sharing my book with Brad becaus e I thought he would like it, and he’s a well-known guy among people who might also like it. If he likes it and writes a review of it, it could be really useful for helping me connect with new readers.When I wrote the book and we released it, that was super useful. Not only did he post about it but he talked to TechStars. TechStars bought ‘Uncommon Stock’ on a license for all of TechStars -  present and future founders. So every TechStars person now gets sent a digital copy of Uncommon Stock. I’d have never been able to achieve that on my own because I don’t have those relationships and I don’t know those people. But working with FG Press it was really cool to be able to do things like that. Or as another example, Foundry Group issued a fake investment. Would they have done that if I was a random self-published author? Probably not, right? So there have been many opportunities working with them for serendipity in terms of working with them that have definitely benefitted me hugely and that I really appreciate that I think also benefit readers. That was a cute stunt, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that for readers.Honestly, the way that I see it at the end of the day and the way that I think FG press is trying to build themselves and the philosophy they take to the table is that they want to just create a publishing model that makes common sense for authors and book production, and then they want to treat everyone like a friend. I’m doing a panel at a tech event. I called FG Press and said â€Å"Guys, I have this opportunity with this big panel -  wouldn’t it be fun if we could like get excerpts of the book to everyone going?† So we’re creating this co-branded landing page where everyone can go pick them up if they want to. Then FG Press said â€Å"If you’re looking for people for the panel, here are a couple of CEOs in the Foundry portfolio that cou ld be a good fit.† So that’s awesome, it makes the panel even better. And so I get to meet a bunch of CEOs who give me good material for my sequel. It’s an all-around everybody-wins.REEDSYHow important was it working with an editor?ELIOT PEPERFirst of all, I need an editor, and I think anyone who thinks they don’t is crazy. If you want to produce something that’s really fun to read, it needs to be edited by someone who knows what they’re doing.I had a couple of different stages. I shared the drafts with Brad but he wasn’t providing on-going feedback and I didn’t want him to. When I’m working on my first rough draft feedback slows me down, it doesn’t speed me up. I need to basically vomit onto the page, and then take that sack of shit in Word format and try to make it better. My first filtration process to try to make it slightly better was sending it to a couple of beta readers who I’d been really selective with. These were people who I had to trust would both be super honest -  not just say it was nice or whatever. I had to know that they’d give me lot of constructive negative feedback.They also each had a specific perspective they could add. One of them for example was probably the top Angel investor in San Diego, and he also studied Literature at Stanford. And so he has this dual perspective of knowing a lot about the English language and loving books, but also being very involved in tech and early-stage startups. I had a friend from grad school, who ended up being my developmental editor, who used to be an editorial exec in Hollywood. She had the whole movie perspective on how those structured plot elements. Movies are incredibly structured stories, and I don’t know that stuff. Having her perspective to help inform where the story could be improved was really useful. They sent back feedback in different forms. Some sent an email with high-level thoughts, s ome people sent me page references. I thought it through, took it on balance, incorporated it.Then I wanted to do a more in-depth, structural look at it because, as I said, I don’t really outline. That’s how I feel comfortable in the creative process but it means more work at the end because you end up having things that don’t work or don’t make sense or aren’t tight enough in terms of plot and character development. So I did three rounds of developmental editing with my friend from grad school. We made a lot of notes, had a couple of phone conversations, and then I would go through and address the problems I thought were important. We did three of those, and each got more gritty. The first one, she didn’t even make notes. She read it, wrote down thoughts, talked through some of the high-level issues. The next one was more scene-oriented, and the final one was more paragraph-by-paragraph.Once we were done with that, I did one more round of b eta readers, different people, got different feedback, incorporate it†¦ and that’s when Brad was giving a lot of detailed feedback. Finally, once we were satisfied with the content we moved onto language. So I did a round of copyediting, then two rounds of proofreading before formatting it for Kindle and print and all that.REEDSYThanks for your time Eliot.

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 97

Assignment - Essay Example The website offered self-evaluation platform where I filled my thoughts on different issues. At the end of the trial, I realized I was strong in my vision but inferior in courage. My assessment outcomes were as follows. Vision 4.3, Ethics 3.9, Reality 3.5, Courage 3.2. The grading is on a scale of, five as the most developed and one the least developed leadership trait. According to the outcome, I am focused, understanding and intellectually creative towards meeting my goals. I am confident about new experiences and welcome change. The worst paper part is that I fear responsibility and consequences for my choices. The result of the assessments has made revolutionary changes in the way I perceive things. I for once never thought I was such a visionary person. I believe in the common good of all but never thought it was such strong. The realization that I am a person bestowed with a visionary mind has made me feel so good about myself. I fell I can become a leader and guide people, according to my vision. I feel superior when I see my high points being visionary since all great personalities I have read about in history were people of great ideas. However, my downside is weightier than my strength. How am I going to become a leader if I fear responsibility? Leadership is all about responsibility. If I have to lead, I will take the responsibility of others and shoulder them as they were my own, yet I am not strong enough. Lack of courage chills me and makes me feel belittled. I am having difficulties between advocating my vision and fighting my courage. I have a strong urge to achieve, but I fea r failure. When I look at my closest strength Ethics, I relate it to the vision and see a great leader. Leadership based on ethics is more beautiful than fairy tales. Ethics is the guiding principles of leadership (Bondas, 2006). Without ethics, one is subject to become a dictator or insensitive of others feelings. My personal values have saved me uncountable