Copywriting Ad #1

Simply Epicureous

Simply Epicureous

 

Chocoladatop left, Rich Chocolate Ganache top right, Tiramisu bottom left and Brownie Cake lower right (Erin Pembroke/April 7, 2013)

Erin Pembroke

Freelance Writer

April 8, 2012 | 4 p.m.

HOLLYWOOD, Florida – Tasty morsels for the soul of epicureans can be found at Chocolada. Chocolada is a café and a bakery in which people can either eat breakfast or lunch or choose to take their desserts to go with them. Among these options, the desserts are the most highly recommended. One such dessert that is highly prized and named after the café is the Chocolada.

The Chocolada is a very intense, creamy and rich chocolate mousse brownie with hints of hazelnut that merely add to the dessert’s outstanding taste. This dessert is not only palatable but leaves your taste-buds always wanting to return to taste it. It is recommended that the consumer drink plenty of water with this or a cup of milk because it is very sweet. On a scale of 1 being the worst and five being the best, the Chocolada deserves a rating of 5 stars and may even surpass the rating scale of excellence because of its pleasing saporific taste.

The next dessert, the Rich Chocolate Ganche is similar to the Chocolada but with a bit of a difference. The Rich Chocolate Ganche is also creamy, rich and intense in taste but without the hazelnut. Unlike the Chocolada, nothing else is added to enhance the taste. Using the same rating scale above, the Rich Chocolate Ganche is rated 4 stars and not 5 because of the lack of an extra added flavor such as hazelnut, almond or vanilla.

Contrary to the desserts stated above, the Amaretto Cake is strong, bold and soft. It reminds one of biscotti and is suggested to eat this with an espresso, latte or a cappuccino to enhance the taste. The Amaretto Cake does not need any additional flavors and does fine on its own. Using the same scale above, the Amaretto Cake is rated 3 stars because of the bold and powerful acquired taste in which the dessert may be too strong for most to handle.

Lastly, fourth treat is the Tiramisu. The Tiramisu is creamy and milky and comes with a cookie at the top. It also has a sponge-cake at the bottom of the dish. The consumer may taste the Mascarpone cheese and/or the sweet condense milk and hints of cinnamon that is sprinkled on top. Unfortunately, the rating of the Tiramisu is low. It is rated 2 stars out of 5 because it lacked the espresso or coffee liquor and mocha taste. However, the mocha can be tasted in its similar counter-part, the Tiramisu Cake.

LOCATION

1923 Hollywood Blvd., FL 33020, (954) 920-6400, http://hollywoodchocolada.com/contact.html

PRICES

Breakfast, $3.50-$6; Lunch, $6.75; Desserts, varies

DATAIL

8 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Monday to Sunday

First Time

First Time

              Freelance Writer, Erin Pembroke attempts snowboarding

              (Courtesy of Adam Jones / March 23, 2013)

By Erin Pembroke

Freelance Writer

April 7, 2013 |10 p.m.

KEYSTONE, Colorado – Despite the initial falls of snowboarding for the first time, you leave with an exhilarating blood-pumping-thrill in your veins that leaves you wanting to come back to not only the sport but to Keystone Resorts. First, you tumble for several miserable and lousy times until your knees, arms and legs get sore and banged-up but then everything changes. You start to get the hang of it. You put one foot forward and the other back, strap yourself in and let yourself rapidly descend a mountain. Imagine, the cool, icy winds rushing to meet your face at 40-50 mph. Your heart is racing, fear is upon you and yet, an overcoming feeling of achievement sets in your mind.

First, before you experience all of this excitement, you need to know some of the essentials to be prepared for this sport. You should have a well insulated jacket, long underwear and snowboarding pants. In addition to this, a person will require goggles, a helmet, snowboard boots, a snowboard and only one pair of thick snowboarding socks.

The reason why you need one pair of properly thick socks is because if you wear two, your toes will be jammed and hurt in your snowboarding boots. You also need thick and well insulated mittens and may want to consider purchasing hand-warmers to place inside your mittens, a ski mask or a well insulated hat with flaps that protect your ears from the cold. It is a recommendation to wear sun-screen, chap-stick and drink sufficient amount of water before you start snowboarding to avoid dehydration, dried skin and chapped lips.

Next, snowboarding lessons are highly recommended. It is not necessary if you have a friend or know someone that can teach you for free. The first-time snowboarder must figure out if they are “goofy footed” or “regular footed,” meaning which foot are you going to put first; left (“regular”) or right (“goofy”). It is important to know this because your body and its weight will use which ever foot you put forward to steer down several slopes.

Lastly, the key secrets or elements to the actual act of snowboarding are all about posture, knee position and toe/heel movements. A first-time snowboarder’s goal is to have a stance as if you are a goalie playing in the game of soccer. You should have your knees slightly bent while not flailing or moving your arms. Following this position, the person has to slightly move your toes as if you are slightly scrunching them in a ball but not quite curling your toes. Third, while doing the step above, the beginner must add somewhat move your knee. To stop, tilt your heels back so that the board tilts back in the same way a butter knife slightly scraps against a piece of toast.

All this fun can be possible for you, the traveler at Keystone Resorts where the style of the hotels resemble warm and cozy cabins and night skiing is possible until about 8 p.m. (when the gondolas and lifts close). Keystone Lodge offers skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, snowbiking, tubing, and a dinner sleigh ride. The resort also offers several restaurants, shops and different spa options to choose from on your stay.

LOCATION

22864 U.S. 6, Keystone, CO 80435, (970) 496-4155, http://www.keystoneresort.com/

PRICES

Please see website or call the ticket office for details; prices change with the number of days, people and rental gear available

DETAILS

8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (for mountain activities) on Nov. 2^nd – April 7^th.

Speak Up Against World Hunger

Speak Up Against World Hunger

A very creative & engaging PSA (video clip) on world hunger for Bread for the World

Secret Delicacy Found: A Book by its Cover

Secret Delicacy Found: A Book by its Cover

Erin Pembroke

Freelance Writer

March 31, 2013

(To properly view, go to: http://http://www.scribd.com/doc/133326781/Secret-Delicacy-Found-A-Book-by-its-Cover)

Vail, Colorado – Delicacy at Sonnealp Hotel’s Swiss Chalet Restaurant is odd to order but taste buds say other wise.

Do not let this aesthetically unappealing entrée named the Zuricher Geschnetzeltes fool you. It may look like a plate of blob or a soup for that matter but what the person actually receives when eating this dish is far more pleasurable than expected.

The Zuricher Geschnetzeltes consists of veal that is cooked to perfection and is sautéed with Oyster Mushrooms, Button Mushrooms and Chardonnay Cream sauce that plays a delectable role on one’s tongue. The dish is rich and creamy and the medium-strong notes of Chardonnay can definitely be tasted on a person’s palate. Overall, the veal is tender, juicy and well flavored.

Both the Oyster and Button Mushrooms merely add to the flavor and although the entrée is served with Rösti Potatoes, you will forget all about them because the exquisite veal takes all the show here. On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best, the Zuricher Geschnetzeltes surpasses 5 on the scale. If the entrée must have a number, it would be a 10 but because the sale must be used, the dish deserves all 5 stars. What a highly recommended delight and the chef must be commended.

LOCATION

 20 Vail Road, Vail, CO 81657, (970) 479-5429, http://swisschalet-restaurant.com/

PRICES

Open bar, $3-$6; Dinner, $9-$38; Desserts, $10-$14

DETAILS

 Open bar: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday to Sunday and Dinner: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. also Monday to Sunday

Passion Abounds Bastille

Passion Abounds Bastille

Food & Travel Review

The ADD Culture

by: Erin Pembroke; written on June 29, 2011

            Have you noticed a certain trend in society? This trend I am talking about seems to have some sort of effect on both the youth and adults. Guess what trend I am talking about; ADD or ADHD. Yep, you are reading this correctly. ADD.

I have noticed that everywhere I go, pre-teenagers and teenagers discuss a topic and then five minutes later they forget what they were discussing or laugh for no reason (perhaps because they forgot what they said). I have also noticed that adults seem to rock back and forth or waver in the chairs they are sitting on when they have to wait a long time for something. For instance, when I was at a DMV, I noticed that an older Jewish man sat down and five minutes later, he wavered back and forth in his chair for about thirty minutes. I do not think that this man was aware of what he was doing because if he were, I think he would stop rocking back and forth in his chair.

I have also noticed that as young adults and teenagers get more absorbed in pop-culture and television icons, they tend to imitate them or act like them, thus taking in the lack of ability to concentrate and pay attention because the celebrities do not seem to concentrate or pay attention. This lack of concentration can be found on “Jersey Shore,” “Jerseylicious,” and any other reality T.V. Show. The viewer ends up taking in this lack of focus and concentration and making it their own personality trait. Not only that, but people’s minds seem to wonder off more often than perhaps in the past. A person is more likely to stare at a person walking by than look at the person they are talking to. It seems like the world is just not paying attention.

It is a new culture we are living in. This culture is the ADD culture. This is the era where kids can’t pay attention and focus on their homework; the time where kids can’t focus on anything but video-games and it is the video-games and computers that have caused this so called “ADD Culture.” Children all the way to young adults play so many video-games or use so much technology that nothing but those items can hold their attention. A child does not listen to a parent when playing a video-game nor does he or she want to get up during one. Doing any other activity during a video-game or work on a computer makes one lose a game or die in a video-game or lose track of their progress and work on a computer. This is the era and the culture where many dinners are actually eaten in front of a T.V. or on a computer. This is thus, the “alone culture.”

When a man or a woman goes on several dates with each other and get comfortable with each other, one of them is likely to pull out a cell phone and start “texting” during a conversation at dinner when dining out. Yes, it is disrespectful but in this age, people do not realize how disrespectful it is because they are attached to their electronics. Either sex would view it as a sign of boredom while the other may view it as I have to catch up on work or the latest gossip, news etc. However, it can be a sign of both boredom and catching up on things. When we immediately pull out that cell phone, we do not realize how we affect that person and what it says about us and what the other person means to us. This easily accessible electronic scatters out mind because we end up in our own world. We do not listen to what the other person is saying. It is as if we push them aside and do not appreciate what is in front of our eyes; the person with whom you are on a date!

It just seems like people these days cannot sit still, listen, pay attention, focus, or concentrate on one task at a time. It seems like our minds and attention is always diverted elsewhere. We never question what is so important that is diverting our attention. We just let it happen on a regular basis without a care; as if it is ordinary.

What makes a culture ADD? I believe when a large group of people (not one here or there) start acting in such a manner that they get bored or distracted easily and have difficult paying attention. ADD consists of poor listening skills, struggling to complete tasks, tendency to overlook details, and zoning out in the middle of a conversation. Not only is our culture ADD but also ADHD, meaning our culture shows classic symptoms of one that is ADHD such as: trouble sitting still or fidgeting all the time, and doing several things at one time. Both of these put together in society or in the masses perhaps makes civilization prone to its own downfall by producing people and offspring that cannot contribute well to society nor survive because of the lack of ability to concentrate and get important tasks done (in order to survive). This is not the case now, however, it cannot be over-looked.

The trend is increasing and there is nothing being done to decrease this problem because society does not realize that this is even a problem. All, I have done is make the readers aware of the problem but it is up to the audience to spread the word and stop this “ADD culture” madness through awareness and word of mouth. All-in-all, we live in an “ADD culture,” where people cannot pay attention, concentrate or focus on much of anything because of technology and something must be done about the situation before it is too late.

Research & Case-Study on: Maternal Deprivation and Neglect on a Child

MATERNAL DEPRIVATION

Research & Case-Study on: Maternal Deprivation and Neglect on a Child

Erin Pembroke, March 5, 2013

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between parents of both sexes and their children but more-so, the relationship between mothers and their children. I hypothesized that the less parents in general and mothers are equipped and were nurturing to their children, the more maternally deprived the children became and the less emotionally, socially and physically developed they became. I also hypothesized that the more nurturing, love and social interaction a child receives, the more intellectual they became or able to understand higher intellectual concepts.

Research & Case-Study on: Maternal Deprivation and Neglect on a Child

Introduction

            Toddlers and children need emotional, physical and social contact with not just their environment, but their parents as well. These fundamental needs contribute to emotional and social development and can be brought out by their mothers. The problem occurs when the mother is not equipped to promote such needs.

According to Rhawn Joseph’s “Attachment and Maternal Love during Infancy and Childhood,” There are babies who love to cuddle and mothers that do not (p. 12). When a mother does not like to cuddle, she does what is necessary as a mother such as feed, clothe and nurture her child or baby and then continues on with her tasks and needs (p. 12). The mother will hold and touch the child when necessary but not give as much nurturing as what the child desires. A mother such as this one will only physically nurture her child as a positive reaction to her child’s nurturing need or response (p. 12).

Methods: Observation

Participants

In my own case-study, I have observed a female child at the ages of 5 ½ and 6 and the child’s (single) mother. Based on the facts presented to me by the mother, the mother did not receive adequate emotional, physical and social nurturing by her own mother. She claimed that her mother did not hug her or hold her and that she does not know how to do so for her daughter. She also said that her mother did not adequately nurture her and that she needs someone to show her how so that she can do it for her own daughter.

Drawing upon such statements, I have witnessed in her own actions, that she did not hold her daughter long enough but only what was necessary for the daughter. She also kept the child at arm’s length when she went to her bedroom or while conversing on the cell-phone. The mother did not tuck her daughter in bed, kiss her goodnight and yet did nurture her daughter when she got sick from a cold. Also drawing upon actions and statements, the mother has never changed her daughter’s diapers but has always had another care-giver in the form of a baby-sitter, nanny or friend do it for her and take on the role as a maternal care-giver or mother in her place.

My finings can be supported by the American Psychologist, Harry Harlow and his experiment with young rhesus monkeys. In the first part of the experiment, Harlow separated some monkeys from their mother upon birth. He placed them with two false surrogate mother monkeys where one monkey was wired and had a nipple that provided nourishment and the other was warm and covered in soft terry cloth. The young monkeys clung to the cloth surrogate yet reached over to get their food (while being in the arms of the cloth surrogate) from the wired surrogate (Schultheis, ¶6).

In another part of the experiment, Harlow isolated some young female rhesus monkeys and when they grew up and became mothers, they were negligent or abusive. The negligent mothers did not comfort, nurture or protect their babies nor did they harm them (Schultheis, ¶9). Thus, “deprivation of emotional bonds to live mother monkeys (as infant monkeys) these (now adult) monkeys were unable to create a secure attachment with their own offspring,” proves that children seek love, affection and acceptance from their mother or caregiver (Schultheis, ¶9). This part of the experiment more-so than the first part, is what I have witnessed where the lack of attachment from the mother to the daughter deprives the daughter of love, affection and acceptance.

First Result

In these accounts, the child is not receiving adequate maternal care. The daughter is in some realistic sense and while beneath the superficial nurturing, being maternally deprived. However, the child may not fully know or understand it now because it only receives “an adequate amount of stimulation, but not as much as it desires.” The daughter may see that the mother is providing love and care and yet may also feel she needs more and does not or cannot express that need and so chooses to remain silent or do nothing.

In conjunction with the idea that some mothers are not nurturing types or not equipped to handle the emotional and physical needs of their child, is the idea of unintentional neglect. The neglect may be unintentional because the parent may be too busy at work or with their own lives that they fail to notice the needs of their child or children. “Children who have parents who were always too busy and thus tended to neglect and ignore them create an environment which is just as abusive as those homes where the children are screamed at and beat (Joseph, p. 14).” Thus, children become impaired and lose the ability to feel worthwhile as a person and to give and receive love (Joseph, p. 14).

Although parents can be caught up in working too many hours, being on the PTA or beautifying their home, they do not perceive their actions as neglectful but as a good and caring parent. However, sometimes their motivations and intentions may be skewed and “designed to ward off closeness which the parent feels uncomfortable with. Thus, being at PTA is a convenient excuse for not being home hugging and loving their children (Joseph, p. 15).”

The children of such parents are only left with a void that is felt when their parents are not home. They are not aware of the intentions that their parents deem as good. When a child expresses such an absence in their needs, their parents may tell them their needs are not justified and the child may feel guilty (Joseph, p. 15). Neglect can also occur when the parents are busy at home as well. They may not communicate to their child or their body movements portray that they are too busy and should not be bothered.

For instance, in my own case-study, the child’s mother was on the PTA, had a beautiful home and worked many hours yet when she was present at home; she barely gave the child any attention. She may have used these activities as an excuse to ward off closeness that she did not feel comfortable with and in her absence, the child did greatly express a longing for her mother and to quote in her own words, “a fear of being alone.” The more the mother was away from her daughter, the more the daughter latched on to me and sought out love, affection and nurturing from me. It was natural for her because I was the next thing to a mother she could have at that particular moment in her life.

The child started hugging me before bed and expressed great sadness and a fear of going to sleep. Little by little, the girl’s behavior changed. Her behavior was not the same as it was when I first met her. When I first met her, she never had such fears or strongly sought out affection. When I dropped her off at elementary school, her behavior changed from wanting to rush into school with an excited look on her face to wanting to be held longer. One day, as she refused to let go of me, “why do I have to go to school? (Circa February 2013).” I knew for certain that her behavior had changed because of a lack nurturing from her mother. She was in fact, maternally deprived underneath the façade of her mother’s good intentions to take care of her.

Children may not be aware of the neglect because they may remember the nice materialistic things that they have had and the nice things people have said about them (Joseph, p. 16). Unfortunately, they lack one of the most basic needs, which is love. They will feel an internal void or numbness (Joseph, p. 16). They will also feel that they are not important and lack self-worth (Joseph, p. 16). They make think that their feelings are not important to others and may not recognize that they are missing something. Maybe, they will recognize it if they see another child or classmate receiving love from that child’s parent but chances are, they probably will not.

In my experience with the girl, I saw the void in her eyes, actions and in the words she spoke. After having a pillow fight with another little girl that was at her house, she said to me with a sad expression on her face, “I wish we can have a pillow fight.” I knew that her mother did not engage in fun and playful activities with her. Her mother hardly allowed her to go on playgrounds because she did not have the time or they were too dirty. Her mother just wanted her daughter to sit for several hours in front of the Wii and as I quote her, “like a good girl” and do nothing else but play the Wii.

Her mother thought arts and crafts “are crap that is meant to be thrown in the trash,” since they make messes and aren’t of any important use. The reason for these thought processes and actions are because the mother never did these things as a child nor watched cartoons and did not understand that all of these things help promote social and emotional development in her child. She has not realized that by materially depriving her child of fundamental needs, she is also hindering her child’s social, emotional and physical development.

In contrast, when I was in contact with another child and that child’s parent, the child’s emotional, social and physical needs were beyond met and thus beyond developed.  The parent did everything in their power to not only provide but to give an abundant amount of love, affection and nurturing. I have witnessed on many accounts when the girl hugs either one of the (separated/unmarried) parents, that they return the hug back. They give and receive a hug to and from their daughter that satisfies her until she is ready to enter the school with an older school mate for reassurance.

One of the child’s parents takes her to birthday parties, playgrounds, parks, and fairs. The parent plays with the child both indoors and outdoors. They color, horse around, and play with her toys. The other parent takes the girl shopping and deals with the feminine aspects of being a girl. Ergo, this girl receives social interaction from her parents (primarily from one more than the other) that promote and advance her social development.

This girl has been introduced to a repertoire of concepts such as spirituality, meditation, and meanings of words and actions. It is of no wonder and to any person’s amazement that she is at an advance stage of not only social interaction and development, but also in intellectual development for a child. This girl has also recently made the honor-roll with the help of one parent’s unique teachings and guidance.

Discussion and Final Results

Interestingly enough and in disparity to my hypothesis, when I asked this child’s parent (circa: March 2, 2013) if the love, affection and nurturing has made their daughter more intelligent, the parent replied, “no, because she is going to get the intelligence from outside sources like school, but the love and nurturing will allow her to use her intelligence in a constructive manner.” The response not only sounds plausible, but makes it seem like social development more-so than emotional and physical development contribute to how a child uses their intelligence in the present and how they will use it in the future, whether for the right or wrong means. Yet, social, emotional, and physical developments all still go hand in hand with how a child uses their intelligence in the present moment and in the future.

In opposition to the girl that made the honor-roll, the previous girl lacked social development in the spiritual and words and actions arena and cannot understand such concepts. Not only has her intelligence been mired because of a lack of introducing intellectual and social ideas, her social development have also been hindered with regards to playing with other children. When taken to a playground, the previous child would stand on the sidewalk and be afraid of sand getting inside their shoes.

Next, this particular girl would stand in the sand, still making sure that no sand got in her shoes. Followed by, asking me to play with her on the playground instead of with the other children. Afterward, this child would approach and stand around the other children or play with the playground’s equipment while other children walks pass her. Lastly, I or another adult will then encourage her to play with the other children and with several persuasions, she will then decide to talk to a child or two and end up playing with them.

Once again, my results can be supported by Harlow and his experiment with the young rhesus monkeys. When Harlow placed the young rhesus monkeys in a room with the surrogate mothers, they used the surrogate mothers as a secure base to explore the room (Cherry, 2013, ¶9). However, when the surrogate mothers were removed from the room, the monkeys did not want to explore the room and began to freeze up, cry, rock, crouch, and cry or scream (Cherry, 2013, ¶10). Like the young rhesus monkeys, this girl did freeze up and used me as a secure base to explore the playground and playing with other children.

However, if it were not for these persuasions and encouragement, she would have stood on the sand for either half the time or for the entire duration as she has on countless occasions. This particular girl lacks some social development and social interaction with her peers because she not only does not receive it from her mother, her mother does not show or encourage the social interaction among her peers. In retrospect, she barely attended birthday parties and playgrounds because her mother disliked them.

To conclude, some mothers and parents in general do deprive their children of maternal love either because they are not equipped or comfortable with doing so. They not only deprive them of such nurturing but also can unintentionally neglect them due to their busy lives. In the end, these children have voids that they cannot fix and either seeks too much love or they become too cold and deprive others of love, nurturing and attention. They also seek mates later in life that may also deprive them of such needs and affections.

References

Cherry, Kendra (2013). The Science of Love: Harry Harlow & the Nature of Affection.

Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://psychology.about.com/od/ historyofpsychology/p/harlow_love.htm

Joseph, Rhawn (n.d). Attachment and Maternal Love during Infancy and Childhood.

Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://brainmind.com/Attachment

MaternalLoveInfancyChildhood.html

Schultheis, Erin (n.d). Harry F. Harlow.

Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://muskingum.edu/~psych/ psycweb/history/harlow.htm

The Subjugator and the Oppressed

by: Erin Pembroke; written on February 29, 2013

There are professions that oppress more than others, especially that of stripping and prostitution. These occupations exploit women either indirectly by their consent or directly against their will. In these two jobs, there are two kinds of women; the oppressed and the one that over-comes being oppressed.

To begin with, the occupation of stripping indirectly oppresses women by capital means. When women enter an agreement with the strip-club owner and with the customers for money, they become addicted to the amount of capital they make per night. Most jobs cannot compete with the substantial amount that strippers make, thus, some strippers stop looking for other employment and solely rely on their profession. These women become bound by their job and enslaved by the money.

They work hard for their money and at odd hours, just to be enslaved by their addiction of making an ever flowing amount of cash that allows them to gain many materialistic objects. In other words, the strippers represent the concept of operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner where the cash becomes the positive reinforcement to their addiction or operant behavior. The strippers keep seeing that their actions have worked before and they were awarded for it by capital means and will keep stripping so long as they are awarded by a great amount of money.

Strippers are also imprisoned by their appearances or how they appear to others. One can witness that strippers constantly apply make-up on their faces several times in one full day and must appear to look beautiful at every given moment on a 24-hour clock. They are afraid to publicly go “natural” or without make-up. They are afraid to show their true selves. They are afraid of their natural physical flaws and must cover them up.

They are confined by how men view them. They are tethered by the natural beauty of other women they deem more beautiful than themselves. They are simply oppressed; chained by beauty and appearance that they appear vain and shallow. Everything is superficial about their appearance because in their occupation, they must learn to be fake and give and fit all the fantasies of every man they come in contact with or are around.

Unlike strippers, prostitutes are different. They sell their bodies because they desperately need the cash. They are less bound by addiction of money because the money is their source of food and housing. A prostitute can be bound by appearance but perhaps less than a stripper. A prostitute’s goal is to appear beautiful to get their client so that they can do their job and leave. They seldom get lost or invited to parties and other social events that strippers go to.

Dissimilar to strippers, prostitutes are directly and more-so shackled by men that repress them. Most of their clients and their client’s behaviors are shady. The prostitutes can be tied to men with abusive, violent behavior or may not even know what she is getting into until the last minute. Thus, they are oppressed from liberty and freedom of expression as well. These men may beat, abuse, misuse and kill prostitutes. Some prostitutes feel repressed from going to the police and others feel they cannot lead safe lives.

As men use their bodies for their own gratification, these women feel that they are only men’s play toys and nothing more. Their self-worth and confidence diminishes and they become broken. They become emotionally damaged. The more they seek money, the more they receive men of worthless substance and rely on those men as “sugar-daddies” to take care of their financial means.

Unfortunately, sometimes strippers can become prostitutes. For instance, when the strip-clubs that the stripper works at are not doing financially well and her options become limited, she might turn to prostitution as a second source of income. She may do this for many reasons such as: not saving money and running out of funds, having a large amount of debt that accumulated by her expensive materialistic tastes, and lastly, having a child that she cannot continue to support by such means.

In elaborate continuation of this topic, there are two types of women in these professions; one that becomes oppressed and the other that over-comes subjugation. In witnessing one account of each, I will now contrast these two kinds of women. The oppressed allows factors such as addiction to making money, gaining material wealth, appearance and men to continue to subjugate them.

They forget their real goals and get lose in the muddled illusions and details. They get lost in what their life at the moment provides for them, whether it be parties or food on the table. They get lost in the operant conditioning and positive reinforcement. They think their lives will always be like this and do not plan for the future nor make any changes. Women in these occupations accept where they are at or get too comfortable in their jobs.

Whereas, the once subjugated women in these professions enslaved by several means, becomes the subjugator of the situation and of their lives. These women may have had a goal and never forgot their purpose. They worked to full-fill their purpose and once it was accomplished, they simply stood up to the tyranny and left the situation. Another instance could have been that they saved up their money before having a lack of it (and while being pulled into different directions or different oppressors), finally realized that they have had enough of being restrained by several different means. Ergo, they left their occupation and their oppressors.

They could have also coped with their subjugators (with money saved) by continuously isolating themselves (such as staying home and not making an income or disassociating oneself) away from all the things that chained them. Thus, their isolation became a negative reinforcement against their oppressors which lead to the extinction of their behavior in relying on their subjugators for monetary means or as a way of living and the extinction of their occupation.

The subjected stay emotionally broken in their old occupations and become severely damaged. They repeat old patterns and behaviors. Contrary, the newly freed woman breaks all ties and starts a new career or goes back to school. There is a new sense of hope for his kind of woman. She can begin to repair what has been damaged when in her previous state, if she was damaged. In contrast, the other type of woman will go on living a dehumanized version of herself and a dehumanized life that will continue to break her.

To conclude, women in the occupations of stripping and prostitution can be held captive by money, appearances, and men. Several may turn for help in the wrong places and seek other sources of income. Some women may continue to be subjugated whereas others over-come their oppressors and lead new lives. The choice is theirs whether to face their oppressor or to continue to be the oppressed.

 

What Professors Don’t Teach

By: Erin Pembroke

When I graduated college and stepped out into the world, I realized that the professors did not prepare me for what was to come. I am currently dealing with shock, not necessarily culture shock but close to it. Why would professors do this to their students? Why are students not prepared for the world that they have to assimilate in?

I realized that the concepts that I was taught in school do not apply outside of the academic world. The concepts were fine to learn but that is just it; they are merely concepts that do not work in the world. The concepts that I have learned in my classes belong only in the books that I have read but they are merely theories that do not work in reality. To emphasize my point that not everything can be learned from a book, I placed parts of William Wordsworth’s poem, “Expostulation and Reply” below:

“Where are your books? That light bequeat’d

To beings else forlorn and blind!

Up! Up! And drink the spirit breath’d

From dead men to their kind.”

“You look round on your mother earth

As if she for no purpose bore you…”

“Nor less deem that there are powers

Which of themselves our minds impress,

That we can feed this mind of ours

In a wise passiveness…”
“–Then ask not wherefore, here alone,

Conversing as I may,

I sit upon this old grey stone,

And dream my time away.”

The poet basically states that he is learning more by going out and experiencing nature than in the books that he reads. In my own experience, that is what I am finding and learning to be true. I must go out and experience things as opposed to simply reading about them…

Furthermore, the professors live in the books that they read but they do not teach students to think beyond academics. How can I use what I have learned in the “real world?” Some students can but I personally cannot. There are just some things in life that cannot be taught in books and that a person has to learn by simply experiencing and taking a hands-on approach. Professors do not teach students how to use their skills beyond academics or to think at all. Parents stopped raising thinkers and teachers stopped nurturing the ability to think.

Professors and teachers stopped teaching critical thinking skills and started dictating to their classes. How can a student learn when they do not need to think? All a professor has to do is tell the student what to think and what to write about. I rarely had a professor that allowed me to pick a topic within a wide range of a topic. I was always limited or had a very narrow range in what the professor wanted me to write about or what the professor specifically knew. I also rarely had a professor that truly challenged my mind. I can only name two or three professors out of four fields that I studied in that truly challenged me.

Most of my professors never asked me about my ideas and opinions on a subject matter and that is a problem in itself. How would a professor know what their students are thinking or about ideas that they have on the subject matter if they simply do not ask? I dislike that some professors view some of their students as inferior when some are perhaps on the same thinking level. I remember stating many ideas to professors that have never thought about or pointing out many ideas and themes in a book that they have never seen and would not have seen had I not pointed it out and voiced my ideas to them. Therefore, professors do not realize that they are raising “mindless robots.” These “robots” are students who cannot think for themselves in society.

Professors encourage this robotic mind but perhaps to think is to rebel against the norm. Perhaps professors are afraid to teach others how to think and not what to think because it can possibly lead to a rebellion of some sort. For a culture and era that overcame a lot of learning obstacles, especially those of the 1940s to 1960s, we still have a lot to learn. It is a wonderful concept that women are now allowed think in America but what good was women’s movement when most female students now are not willing to think. It is not just female students, but male as well. What good was the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason, when male students do not want to reason anymore?

Professors do not teach students or allow students to challenge them because they think that they will lose their authority over their students. Guess what, I undeniably made it my prerogative to challenge them. I figured that some professors have a narrow-minded view of their students, as if their students do not know anything. I also figured that if they have the right to question the students, then why can’t I, as a student have the right to question them? Learning works both ways. I think it is beneficial for a student to question their professors so that the professor can think some more and learn from the students. However, this is not encouraged in classrooms and the professors do not teach this.

Moving on, not only do professors not teach students to challenge them, they do not warn them of the difficulties of finding a job in this economic crisis and the depression that they may suffer through. Professors and students may touch on the subject of the difficulties of finding a job but it should also be a professor’s duty to prepare them for what is to come. Students need to know and expect that there is an almost non-existent chance at the moment to find a job or career in their field of study. Students also need to statically know of their chances of succeeding in their field of study. Students need to know that they will undergo depression.

Some of these students may surpass their depression and some may commit suicide while others may turn to narcotics to alleviate their emotional pain. This is the dark and shady side of education and the transition from the academic world to the non-academic world. The students that were once optimistic have now turned pessimistic and without hope. Some do not have mentors to guide and encourage them and that is what a student needs from a professor. The professor has to learn to become more or be more for the student.

All-in-all, professors do not teach students how to think or use their skills out in the world. Concepts that one may have learned may not apply or “work in the real world.” Professors also do not teach their students to question or challenge them and the very real possibility of undergoing depression when job hunting. However, professors should be more open-minded and ask students opinions and listen to their ideas about a subject matter. Most importantly, professors should be mentors for their students.