Leo’s Barber Shop
As the glass door opens, the din from Second Street fades from your ears. The clean crisp cut of scissors, the flick of combs through wet hair, the buzz of electric clipping shears, and the occasional blast of air from a blow dryer captivate your sense of sound. Joe, a large, bald man, wearing an aqua T-shirt and blue jeans tied up with an old brown leather belt, gives his customary greeting, “Howdy there,” to a man who has just entered. The sign above Joe’s mirror reads: “Hair cuts—ten dollars, Seniors—eight dollars.” It is Saturday morning, and at Leo’s Barber Shop business is brisk. Joe and two other barbers are working at a fast clip, keeping their eyes on the scalps of the customers and periodically throwing quick glances to the line that is forming in the waiting area. Hector, wearing a maroon wind-breaker and baseball cap, is putting an apron on a kid to the right of Joe. Chris is trimming a man’s sideburns, leveling her green, contact-lens covered eye to the shears. Four chairs near the entrance are occupied by men of various sorts. Some are reading newspapers or magazines, while others sit looking out the front window. One man clad in denim is standing outside the shop with a cigarette held to his mouth. The barbers at Leo’s have their work cut out for them today.
Inside, Joe puts the clipping shears to the locks of a slumbering child, whose head is being propped up by his mother’s hands. The child awakens to find his lamb-like curls falling to the checkered floor; his large chocolate brown eyes begin to swell with tears. Fortunately for Joe, the boy’s mother is able to shut off the water works with a few words of reassurance in Spanish. The youngster stoically endures the procedure. Ju...
... middle of paper ...
...s asks.
“That looks good,” the student replies, looking into the mirror.
“Here,” she gives him the comb, “brush it the way you like to.” Finding the part, he combs it down. Afterwards he compliments her on a job well done.
After paying, the student tells Chris that he will see her in another six weeks, and to take care. Before opening the glass door Joe throws the student a wave. “Hey, when you’re done with that English paper bring us a copy, I’ll put it up on my wall and make yah famous!” he says. Returning his wave, the student walks into the light of the setting sun; the sounds of the barber shop diminish. Looking through the shop window, he sees Hector sweeping up the hair of his last customer. Shouts from the nearby Cantina, interrupted by a blast from a car horn, take the place of the low, metallic murmur of the clipping shears.
Sanchez voices her fictional narrator with precipitous diction. As her tone fluctuates, she guides listeners into the narrator’s mind, granting them a second hand experience of the occurrence and aftermath of trauma. As the characters are humanized, they are recognized as victims of systemic violence rather than condemned and typified as weak or criminal. Finally, the consequences of addiction culminate when the child is sold, raped, and stripped of her sense of security. Surely, it would be absurd to hold her accountable for these acts.
Fletcher is not the only one obsessed with looks. Leota is a beautician after all. The setting of the story taking place in a beauty parlor is significant, as is Leota’s job as a beautician. Leota’s character is almost stereotypical in appearance from what is learned, she has black and blond hair, long red nails, and obsessed with a single pastel color, lavender (Welty 1094). Her occupation is to enhance the beauty of women but it is no secret that she lives up to the gossiper stereotype surrounding beauticians. There is not a single person who does not gossip with the person who cuts their hair, especially if they go to a beauty shop. In this shop, the ugliness of gossip and judgment rears its head, ironic is a place where women come to make themselves
As a child Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother; a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Dave dreamed of finding a family to love him and call him their son. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dreams and make something of himself. A Child Called 'It' covers the early years of his life and is an affecting and inspiration memoir of one child's determination to survive.
...u decently dressed when you come in here.” this man was entirely strict and conservative, as much was to be expected of a man around these part, he was most likely an avid church goer, Sunday school teacher, Boy Scout troop leader name your cliché. I started again “We are decent,” and before I could continue Lengel interrupted me, “Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.” and then he walked toward the clerk with a disappointed look and asks “Sammy, have you rung up this purchase?” with an astonished expression caused by the event that just occurred before his eyes, Sammy simply replies “No” and rings me up with a great deal of haste, as to get my friends and I out of this self-righteous store before we disgrace it any further. He hands me the change then we hurry out of the store rushing to the car.
The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home.
Socrates is an Athenian stone cutter in his late seventies with three children that is convicted of series crimes. The rationale that he considers to be wisdom is seen by the rest of society as rebellion and disrespect which is why he was managed to be the person of blame at the loss of a war. Socrates responds to the allocated charges in the court of law of Athens quite uniquely but the real reason for the charges placed was his use of wisdom.
If you're going to write an epic about great heroism, don't use the Aeneid as your primary guide. It's not that heroism can't be found in the Aeneid, it's just hard to prove. First off, Virgil writes a story in a fatalistic universe, wherein every action and every event is under Jupiter's divine thumb . Fatalism "is all-pervading in Virgil . . . in it [the Aeneid] the words fatum and fata occur some 120 times" (Bailey 204). And in the first three books alone "the word 'Fatum' or 'Fata' occurs more than forty times" (Sellar 334). Venus praises Jupiter as one who: "command[s] and govern[s] the events of gods and men . . ." (1:321-21). Furthermore, Phoebus tells Aeneas that "the king of gods allot the fates, revolving every happening . . ." (3:484-87). So whenever Aeneas wins a battle, whenever Aeneas needs help, whenever Aeneas catches a cold, Jupiter has control. And though not all events are fated (e.g. Dido's suicide), most events are under the control of the gods . Aeneas even admits that he doesn't have a free will (4:491-92), because he is bound for Latium. If a universe is fated, how can anybody be responsible for his or her actions? The very idea of fatalism obliterates any notion of heroism because it removes the potential for human responsibility .
There are a variety of toys scattered around the rug and the room where the infants can reach them. The child is on the rug in the middle of the room, playing with a plastic giraffe. She picks it up with both hands and shakes it in the air and then puts it down. She then crawls towards another child who is drinking his bottle in a bouncer. She reaches that child and puts on of her hands on the bouncer to hold herself up. With her other hand she reaches for the other child’s bottle pulling out of his hands. The teacher takes the bottle from her hand and gives it back to the child in the bouncer. The little girl sits down and begins to cry. The teacher consoles her telling her she will get her own bottle soon and gives her a blanket. The
I do believe that these Invasive and Exotic species have even altered the Chesapeake Bay region and that these alterations aren’t always predictable! For instance, Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay have suffered since their parasites Dermo and MSX were introduced into the area as exotics.(3) Oysters fundamental role is to abolish the algae in the water; yet with the decline of oysters there is a major demolish in the bay ecosystem. (3) This is not just affecting the bay, it is also affecting oyster fishery bringing much economic loss. (3) Other examples would include the mute swan; which acts aggressive towards other birds in the area. (2) Even though there are many downfalls to these species many could bring good.
Second, the plot of the Aeneid follows a similar layout to the books of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The only difference would be that throughout the first six books of the Aeneid Aeneas first goes on a journey to Italy to found a city, just as Odysseus went on a journey back to his homeland, for the remaining Trojans and in the last six books participates in an epic battle, just as in the Iliad, to found the city of Rome once he has reached Italy. In sum, Virgil took...
As one critic has suggested, nations themselves are narrations. The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them. (xiii)
A masterpiece of twentieth-century writing, Heart of Darkness exposes the tenuous fabric that holds "civilization" together and the brutal horror at the center of European colonialism. Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness, describes a life-altering journey that the protagonist, Marlow, experiences in the African Congo. The story explores the historical period of colonialism in Africa to exemplify Marlow's struggles. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is most often read as an attack upon colonialism. Marlow, like other Europeans of his time, is brought up to believe certain things about colonialism, but his views change as he experiences the effects of colonialism first hand. This essay will look at Marlow's negative view of colonialism, which is shaped through his experiences and from his relation to Kurtz. Marlow's understanding of Kurtz's experiences show him the effects colonialism can have on a man's soul.
The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007 has been termed as the largest single expansion of the EU with a total of 12 new member states – bringing the number of members to 27 – and more than 77 million citizens joining the Commission (Murphy 2006, Neueder 2003, Ross 2011). A majority of the new member states in this enlargement are from the eastern part of the continent and were countries that had just emerged from communist economies (EC 2009, Ross 2011), although overall, the enlargement also saw new member states from very different economic, social and political compared to that of the old member states (EC 2009, Ross 2011). This enlargement was also a historical significance in European history, for it saw the reunification of Europe since the Cold War in a world of increasing globalization (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). For that, overall, this enlargement is considered by many to have been a great success for the EU and its citizens but it is not without its problems and challenges (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). This essay will thus examine the impact of the 2004/2007 enlargements from two perspectives: firstly, the impact of the enlargements on the EU as a whole, and thereafter, how the enlargements have affected the new member states that were acceded during the 2004/2007 periods. Included in the essay will be the extent of their integration into the EU and how being a part of the Commission has contributed to their development as nation states. Following that, this essay will then evaluate the overall success of the enlargement process and whether the EU or the new member states have both benefited from the accessions or whether the enlargement has only proven advantageous to one th...
This paper discusses the different types of bullying, particularly cyberbullying, and the effects it has on children and young adults. Also we will identify the policies and programs that are already set in place to try and prevent bullying. Studies done on the effects of electronic bullying in middle school children found that, “on an annual basis in the USA, more than 3.7 million students in grades 6–10 engage in moderate or serious bullying while more than 3.2 million students are victims of moderate or serious bullying” (Moore, Huebner & Hills, 2012, p. 429). There are many strengths and weaknesses to each approach attempting to combat bullying but since it is such a complex topic with many subsections it is difficult to identify any significant change. On the other hand, it is important to know that as long as there are cyberbullies there will be people fighting to end the physical, verbal, and emotional abuse children and young adults endure every day but do not deserve.
Nowadays bullying has gone much farther than just physical violence. Most teens today have either been cyber bullied or have been witnesses to it. Cyber bullying is a form of bullying that is done over electronic messaging or over social media. This is very new to many people of the older generation, but is very relevant to the new generation. Cyber bullying is becoming an increasingly big problem in the U.S. every year. Being a kid who has grown up with technology and social media I have witnessed cyber bullying many times in my life. I have had many friends that have fell victim to cyber bullying and this is why I chose to talk about this topic. Since this topic of bullying is overlooked in our society as not being an issue I decided to choose