Managed care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managed care - Essay Example The graphical representation below illustrates that in the year 2013, employer-sponsored health insurance has been registered at less than 1% of employees in traditional fee-for-service plans. In the recent years, high-deductible health plans have gained popularity wherein the share of managed care registration has declined proportionately. Additionally, it has been noted that traditional health insurance has been in the stage of extinction today. It has been also identified that High Deductible Health Plans paired with a saving option (HDHP/SO) has been included in the survey of health plans registration from the year 2008 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). The health care service, i.e. managed care, has its origin in the United States, but the tools of managed care have spread on a global context. Identifiably, in most of the European countries, general practitioners are entitled with the task of regulating access of the specialists and have responsibilities over a per capita annual budget (Deom et al., 2010). In the United States, managed care has evolved as necessary principally because employers are facilitated with the opportunity of strengthening the health insurance premiums, as compared to the struggles faced by the employers in terms of unaffordable excesses due to the uncontrolled delivery of services. In the insurance system that has existed before the managed care, insurance companies are recognized to overlook the need for any incentive for managing different aspects that included service delivery and payments related to the same. In this respect, due to the lack of controls in factors such as over delivery and payment, it has been identified that the employers had to face the issue relating to costs. Subsequently, a system is needed to be developed with the aim of controlling excessive costs by integrating delivery as well as payment with functions

The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody Essay Example for Free

The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody Essay The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody portrays the dark side of human nature. It shows that mans behaviour does not vary over long periods of time and across different cultures. It shows that each and every single person has an evil or dark side to them and it is whether they succumb to this evil or follow the paths of light and goodness that decide what kind of person they are. Cheshunt, where the story is set appears to be a fairly normal town. When Nathanial and his mother arrive, Nathanial instinctively knows that something is not quite right. Nathanial is there for a reason. He and the other members of The Chain must learn the power of friendship to defeat the evil Kraken. The dark side of human nature is seen in many characters: Cheshunts headmaster Mr Karle is a truly evil person. Although Mr Karles only role in the community is Deputy Principal of Three North, he has manipulated those who do have a major role in the community into making himself the main power over all Cheshunt. His goal is to become the ruler of the world, starting with Cheshunt. To make sure that The Chain does not defeat him, Mr Karle defeats one member at a time. Mr Karle portrays the dark side of human nature he has attained power that he then uses to control all those around him. He has become corrupted by this power and with it he is able to manipulate the other characters to perform vicious acts. Mr Karle taunts and mocks in an attempt to emotionally destroy those around him he takes pleasure in others emotional pain. He causes distress in Nathanial when he tells him of his cold hearted father who was Insanely jealous. Unstable. Violent (page 263) and how Nathanials mother learnt not to speak to anyone or smile in fear of what his father would do to her. When Mr Karle reminds Indian that his sister is brain damaged because of Indians own mistakes he does this knowing the heartache this will cause. He mocks Nissa calling her unfeminine and unattractive and how no one could love such a creature except out of pity (page 246). Mr Karle defeats one character at a time. He is physically cruel and used force to hurt them. Mr Karle embodies all that is the dark side of human nature, he is cruel both  emotionally and physically Then the Kraken stepped forward and slapped her across the face. A trickle of dark blood ran from the corner of her mouth (page 249). He is corrupted by po wer, he is manipulative and in all this he takes pleasure. He is a true sadist. The dark side in human nature is also portrayed in many of the other characters, this is evidenced in Buddha Isobelle Carmody has used the name Buddha that represents peace and harmony and made him a killer. He burns Nathanials dog, The Tod, who is Nathanials only true friend and Nathanial loves. The match landed in his tail and flames swept forward up over him. Devoured him. He arched and coiled, yelping in pain and fright, and then he screamed, a long inhuman howl of agony and terror.(page 214). When Buddha burns The Tod it is a vicious, cowardly act and is evidence of how dark mans nature can be, that he can murder a poor, defenseless creature that is incapable of fighting back, also that the act was carried out in front of Nathanial to cause him immense grief and feelings of powerlessness. What is even more disturbing is that this is such a real act that could happen in our everyday life. How the people who are in a position to protect us and how they use this authority in a destructive way is also shown. The police, who are supposed to be good and honest are corrupt and evil. They protect the evil leaders and enforce their law, The pamphlet stuck under the door the day we arrived had welcomed us to the neighbourhood and urged my mother to join the Community Committee. It had a lot of by law information and the bit about the curfew was last. It said no one was to be out in the streets after ten at night without a specific reason. (page 20). The police either stood aside and let the people of Cheshunt be intimidated and bullied or were doing the intimidating and bullying themselves. Seth is a part of the chain that is needed to defeat the evil but Seth has given in to his dark side. He has a very weak character. Despite Seth being a brain (page 10), looking like one of those perfect guys off Coke ads (page 10) and coming from a good family, His father is a policeman (page 55) he is pathetic. He is sneaky and drinks alcohol to escape facing  reality. He cant deal with his own problems (his parents are divorced and he cant deal with being in the Chain and the effort it takes to defy Mr Karle) and uses his weaknesses as an excuse to attempt to commit suicide, Seth lay on his back between them, his face dead white. (page 142) He breaks promises You promised, Nissa said icily. (page 138). He also betrays those around him Mr Karle gave Nissa a radiant smile. Got him? But you misunderstand, Nissa. I didnt get Seth. He came to us.' (page 250). Nathanials father is a character who shows that mans dark side does not vary over long periods of time. Nathanials father was a violent jealous man who liked to have complete control over everything. He was jealous of Nathanial and the attention he got from his mother, especially when Nathanial was a baby I had to sometimes hold your mouth to stop the crying (page 264). Mans darkest nature was shown when his father attempted to kill Nathanial, Children should be seen and not heard, he said, and his big hands closed around my neck. And squeezed. (page 247). This is absolute evidence of innate evil that a father could try to murder his own son. In conclusion, The Gathering shows us the dark side of human nature and it is vividly portrayed. It has a realness that shows that evil is present in the past and in the future and is occurring right now, in all parts of our life. It shows that power can corrupt you and consume you absolutely. It also shows us that cruelty, deceit, jealousy and manipulation are just some of the many ways evil can be shown.

Reflections on The Tao Te Ching Essay -- Ancient World Culture

Reflections on The Tao Te Ching When the early Christians had to keep their faith against the persecutions of the Roman Empire, they had -- obviously -- a visible enemy. Once their religion was legalized and established, however, they had new questions to ask concerning who they were, what could hurt their souls and their way of life. Some of them, at least, concluded that the materialism of the dominant Roman way of life was a non-agressive, but equally corrosive force that would destroy them -- not physically, but spiritually. These Fourth Century Christians, men and women, then left their societies and withdrew into the desert to be able to find true "paradise," not in a safe, secure niche in society, but in their relationship with God. That is, they had to escape the values that so comprehensively enveloped them that they could not think or feel clearly about deeper matters. Thus "freed" in the desert, they could know what a full human life was in practice. These spiritual discoveries of a "way" to live, to be, could then be used to challange the complex and tempting materialism that seemed to dominate the culture of the time. In a much briefer, easier, and less focused way, Henry David Thoreau, someone better known to our own time, tried his "experiment" by living for two years in the woods by Waldon Pond in order "to drive life into a corner" and find out just what it really was worth and what it essentially meant. According to Thoreau, people too readily accepted one already established set of ideas or another, good or bad assessments of life, and didn't seek answers for themselves. He too in his course of events wanted to make known what he learned, wanted to "publish," as he said, the essential "goodness" or "meanne... ...ind hits it. Those who by the age of eighteen have thick calendars organizing their too-complicated lives, those who have learned that a branch does not have real meaning, those whose religion tries to teach simplicity but does not get heard ("consider the lilies of the field, they do not spin nor toil, yet Solomon in his glory was not so brightly arrayed") -- can we enter the vision of the writings of one of us who lived 2500 years ago and left the city of confusion to find wisdom? Can we find in the tensions of his writings -- as they are the shapes of the tensions of living in a confused world -- the "way" of life that is most natural? Can we be at home in the universe that produces us and mirrors so readily what we are when we stop and look, wary as those crossing the ice, listening for cracks that might freeze them before they drowned, we see and hear the signs?

What Was Revolutionary About the French Revolution

What was revolutionary about the French Revolution? Since the beginning of history itself, several and numerous people, inventions, ideologies or behaviours were immediately attached to a particular and self-explanatory concept such as revolutionary. As the time goes by its outreaching characteristics and meaning remains the same. A revolutionary is an individual who either actively participates in or advocates revolution.When used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, abrupt impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavour. The tern – both as a noun and adjective – is usually applied to the field of politics and is occasionally used in the context of science, invention or art. [1] One of the themes in modern European history which can be directly linked with this concept is the French Revolution.The main interrogation remains in â€Å"What was revolutionary about the French Revolution? † In order to answer to this qu estion it is necessary to acknowledge the reasons or origins of the revolution, which initiated or motivated this event and finally, which was the impact and importance of it. The French Revolution is considered one of the greatest social and political upheavals in European History and its tremors can still occasionally be felt.In the popular imagination, the magical figure 1789 conjures up conflicting images of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity alongside the â€Å"tricoteuse† and the â€Å"guillotine†, of a revolution that offered individual choice and freedom, but that was transformed first into terror and subsequently the caesarism of napoleon. [2] These events continue to fascinate historians and the causes and consequences of the French Revolution continue to be a rich source of debate. The revolution started in 1789 and the exact date of its end it is still uncertain but studies believe it lasted almost ten years. 3]A series of political and social crises led up t o it: widespread of popular discontent because of poverty which was highly influenced by the taxation system implement by the king Louis XVI in order to maintain his own luxurious and extravagant lifestyle, the wave of unemployment, the growth of the bourgeoisie , an agricultural crisis which left the population in a state of hunger and resentment, the royal treasure’s state became desperate because of help given to The American revolt against Britain which lead to drastic solutions such as educing the privileges of the aristocracy and clergy producing revolt on their part among several other origins.The king offered no lead and the result was a government trapped by the Estates General. The political initiative was not so much lost as given away, and it was considered the perfect opportunity to ambitious or radical deputies such as Mirabeau, Lafayette, Sieyes and Le Chapelier to come to the front. [4] Under their influence the third estate, representing a minimum of 98 per c ent of the population, declared itself the National Assembly on the 17th of June. 5] Due to this action, the deputies broke the umbilical cord connecting them to the society of orders marking the birth of the sovereign nation and the death of the old regime. The revolution had begun officially. By the end of June, effective power was draining away from the monarchy and the political failing of Louis XVI (who reigned from 1774-92) was observed once more after the violence in the capital culminating in the storming of the Bastille on the July 14th.The fall of the Bastille was nevertheless highly noteworthy equally as a political Symbol and as a result of the municipal revolutions that followed. In Paris, order was restored by the newly created National Guard, headed by another ambitious aristocrat – Lafayette – , and effective power passed into the hands of the elected municipality (leaving royal officials with little more than their titles). Throughout France, the conve ntional power of governors, parliaments and intendants dissolved.Between the 14th of July and the formal promulgation of a new constitution in September 1791 France was witness to an unprecedented wave of reform. As for Louis XVI, he was largely excluded from the process of national restoration and it symbolized one of the revolution’s most striking achievements: the transfer of sovereignty from the king to the National Assembly. [6] As calm was being restored in Paris, information regarding rural revolution began to reach the city.The peasantry proved itself to be much more persistent and determined than the revolutionary politicians and by July 1793 had won a complete victory as seigneurialism and tithes disappeared from the French countryside forever. The night of 4th of August was considered essential for the upcoming path of reform in a way that it removed the particularist obstacles and corporate mentality that had so often impeded the monarchy. Nevertheless, it was the Declaration of the rights of man, adopted by the National Assembly on 26 ofAugust, which most clearly indicated the new philosophy of government. Written by Lafayette, the Declaration was a manifesto for liberal revolution. Men were assured equal in rights and such fundamental values as freedom of speech and of the press, religious toleration, equality before the law, freedom from arbitrary arrest and open competition for public office, decreed in a series of imposing articles. No less imperative was the claim that sovereignty belongs to the nation, ideology that justified everything accomplished afterwards. 7] Jointly, the night of the 4th July and the Declaration of the rights of man are a symbol of a revolution that literally destroyed the old social and institutional map of France and sought to apply rational and enlightened principles to the construction of its successor. Internal tolls and duties were abolished, free trade in grain restored and guilds and professional monopol ies damaged, old provinces were replaced by eighty-three departments of comparable size and identical administrative structure.Those departments were divided into districts, which in turns were sub-divided in communes. In August 1790, the parliaments were abolished and legal hierarchy reconstructed. Under the old regime, offices in the parliaments and several of its inferior courts had been nought on the open market. That abuse was reformed and the democratic principle was put into place as future judges were to be elected. One final example of their power was the abolition of nobility in June 1790, which came to reassure that only equal citizens remained.Despite all these significant and revolutionary reforms, it was the financial crisis that had been the immediate cause of the monarchy’s collapse and the revolutionaries were expected to provide a solution. It became even more complicated to achieve it due to the integral collapse of the existing administrative and fiscal sy stem and the disturbances in the countryside where taxes were not being paid. In order to meet its obligations, the state began to print money which benefited from the public confidence in the National Assembly.Numerous tangible grounds for confidence were provided in November 1789, when the Assembly, voted to confiscate the lands of the church. The effective nationalization of between 5 and 10 per cent of the land in the kingdom provided collateral for state credit and a source of income when the decision was taken to sell these â€Å"biens nationaux†. By continuing to print paper money against the value of the land seized from the church, their financial worries were solved – at least in the short term. The revolution gained another primordial asset by selling the â€Å"biens natiounaux†.Those who had invested had a vested interest in the consolidation and defence of the new regime. [8] Another revolutionary reform included a complete transformation of the chu rch. Aided by Jansenist priests, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was drafted and unveiled in July 1790. Rational enlightened thinking was brought to bear upon the workings of the Catholic Church and like judges and officials in the administrative and political hierarchy, parish priests were subject to elections by district electoral assemblies.As this brief survey which clearly explained the significant changes occurring in France and the impact they possessed in society, has indicated, the National Assembly was responsible for a programme of reform which transformed the social and institutional life of France. â€Å"The patchwork quilt of particularist rights and privileges was replaced by a greater emphasis upon the rights of the individual and the concept of equality before the authority of the state. †[9] Although, revolutionaries were not satisfied as they wanted to merge the world into their sea of values, ideologies and revolution.The revolutionaries of 1792 began a war which extended through the Imperial period and forced nations to marshal their resources to a greater extent than ever before. Some areas, like Belgium and Switzerland, became client states of France with reforms similar to those of the revolution. National identities also began coalescing like never before. The many and fast developing ideologies of the revolution were also spread across Europe, helped by French being the continental elite’s dominant language. If the National Assembly had actually reinvigorated France, the constitution created to improve the country was a disaster.Within twelve months the monarchy had been defeated by the second revolutionary wave of August 1792 resulting in the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793. Another example of the extremely radical path the revolution was taking is the treatment of the church. The reality was that not satisfied, the revolutionaries proceeded to execute the nonconformists. As the revolution slid into Terror a fter 1792, the clergy was increasingly seen as the agent of counter-revolution. In the short-term, the religious policies of successive governments after 1790 created unnecessary enemies for the revolution.Revolutionaries started to then use war as a way of forcing the king, and any other â€Å"enemies†, to declare themselves whole-heartedly for the revolution. It was therefore; with mixed motives the French began their battle to export revolution to Europe. It can be considered that the use of Terror was simply a form of political strategy but in the minds of the revolutionaries it had a deeper reason. They believed they were creating a new society, a new man and to do so they needed to destroy the idea, beliefs and patterns of behaviour of the old.Terror was paving the way to a republic virtue and those who would stand in the way of the march of progress would be discarded. It was the integral part of the vision and ideology of a revolution. [10] Between 1789 and 1799, the French Revolution offered a spectacle which inspired and horrified the people of France and Europe ever since. The overthrown of the monarchy, the attack on the church, the declaration of the principles of civic equality and national sovereignty along the destruction of seigneurialism were an admonition to the other monarchies in Europe and an example to their rivals.For liberals the values and ideas of 1789 and the Declaration of the rights of the man continue to possess repercussions nowadays. Throughout the nineteenth century the radical revolution was the source of inspiration for republican and left-wing movements all over the world. On the other hand, conservatives remained fearful of a further outbreak of revolutionary passion. It influenced and leaded to other revolutions in most of the European nations, America and several other countries around the world.The French Revolution was a defining moment in the development of all shades of political opinion, changed views and val ues, implemented new laws and behaviours. It left no one indifferent and for that reason it can be considered one of the most revolutionary procedures of modern history.Bibliography †¢ Soanes, Catherine, Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2008 †¢ Hillis, William, A metrical history of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1896 †¢ Blanc, Louis, History of the French Revolution of 1789 – Volume 1, 1848 Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European History 1780 – 1830, Routledge, 1995 †¢ Baker, Keith, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, University of Chicago Press, 1987 †¢ Gardiner, Bertha, The French revolution 1789-1795, Longmans, Green, 1893 †¢ Lough, Muriel, An introduction to nineteenth century France, Longman, 1978 †¢ Salvemini, Gaetano, The French Revolution, 1788- 1792, Holt, 1954 ———————– [1] Soanes, Ca therine, Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2008 [2] Hillis, William, A metrical history of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1896, page 48 [3] Blanc, Louis, History of the French Revolution of 1789 – Volume 1, 1848, page 480 [4] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European History 1780 – 1830, Routledge, 1995, page 19 [5] Baker, Keith, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, University of Chicago Press, 1987, page 148 [6] Gardiner, Bertha, The French revolution 1789-1795, Longmans, Green, 1893, page 46 [7] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in modern European history 1780-1830, Routledge, 1995, page 22 [8] Lough, Muriel, An introduction to nineteenth century France, Longman, 1978, page 55 [9] Pilbeam, Pamela, Themes in Modern European History, New York, 1995, page 24 [10] Salvemini, Gaetano, The French Revolution, 1788- 1792, Holt, 1954, page 186

Green Tea Essay

Green tea is an essential part of people’s everyday life around the world; it is tasty and healthy but is that all there is to it? Most people in Europe and Asia prefer green tea over other beverages as it is light and energizing. China, where tea came from, is the center of green culture; Chinese people have much higher life expectancy due to living healthy and drinking green tea. As many people know â€Å"the history of green tea began in China† (Learn all about the History of Green Tea). Some sources claim that there are references to green tea as far as 5000 year ago. It can be true because many ancient Chinese artists portrayed wealthy people drinking tea (Painting). Also tea in ancient China was a treat for the wealthy so it could’ve taken some time to develop. There are two legends about where tea came from circulating the world. First one says â€Å"an old man accidently stepped on a fallen tea leaf and tasted its juices, he thought it tasted great and had some special properties† (Learn all about the History of Green Tea). Second one tells that an â€Å"Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea when a blossom fell in his cup† (Learn all about the History of Green Tea). With time tea became more than just a drink but a part of the Chinese culture. Drinking tea wasn’t just about the tea, a whole new â€Å"tea art† was developed. â€Å"Tea and tea wares should match surrounding elements such as breeze, pines, bamboo, plums and snow. All there show harmony of human and nature† (Tea Culture). It is easy to understand why tea is so important once you come across a tea ceremony or read one if the many books about it. In the painting you can see that wealthy people were drinking tea and the peasants were making it. The reason why only people of high class could afford tea is because the ceremony was a very complex practice which required pricy equipment and skilled laborers. A proper tea ceremony requires extensive training and spiritual discipline. Over time many people realized that pure green tea is a great far oxidizer, even too great, drinking pure green tea dangerously burned fat away, Chinese had to find a solution. â€Å"They switched to oolong tea which contained less fat oxidizing agents† (Learn all about the History of Green Tea). Oolong tea was the reasonable solution and now it is the most popular tea in China. All around the world tea is tea but that same tea carries different meaning in each part of the world. For example â€Å"in Japan, the rigorous tea ceremony reflects the nation’s character; in the West tea is made with milk and sugar to create romantic atmosphere and in every different part of China different people all have appeal to their own kind of tea which makes them unique† (Tea Culture). Now we can rule out that people love tea but why? Tea is a worldwide beverage whether it’s green or black, hot or cold, it’s healthy and thirst quenching drink that people around the world consume in numerous amounts to refuel their Becky). Many people replace coffee with tea to avoid crashes and coffee addiction. Antioxidants and flavonoids found only in green tea has shown that tea is very effective in improving mental alertness, reducing cholesterol levels and preventing low blood pressure. To get the full benefit from green tea you have to make your own tea at home, bottled tea isn’t natural and does not come with all the nutrients. As you can see green tea is very good for your body but as with every beverage there are some minor side effects. Green tea contains caffeine, which in excess can cause restlessness, irritability and sleeping problems (Green Tea Side Effects Warnings). It is safe to drink no more than 5 cups of tea a day; furthermore, one should not drink it during mealtime because green tea can reduce absorption of iron and folic acid. With that said, green tea is a healthy drink that came from ancient China. It does have some bad things to it but the benefits shadows them. History of green tea continues on even now, being number two most popular drink after crystal clear water, even more popular than Coca Cola and beer. Works Cited Ancient Chinese drinking tea. Sldinter. 18 Jan 2013. http://sldinter.com/upload_news/tea%20hist.jpg. â€Å"Green Tea Side Effects Warnings!† Amazing-green-tea. 20 Jan 2013. http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/green-tea-side-effects.html. Hand, Becky. â€Å"The Truth About Green Tea.† Sparkpeople. 20 Jan 2013. http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=107. â€Å"Learn all about the History of Green Tea† Green-teas-guide. 20 Jan 2013. http://www.green-teas-guide.com/history-of-green-tea.html. â€Å"Tea Culture.†. Travel china guide. 20 Jan 2013 http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine_drink/tea/culture.htm.

Free Essays on Chinas Battle On Overpopulation

CHINA’S OVERPOPULATION BATTLE China’s population policy, more commonly referred to as the One Child Policy, is one of the most controversial topics in the world, and the only one of its kind in history. It has been praised and criticized by many, and the world has yet to see what results it will have in the long run. The debatable one child policy of China has ultimately changed the views and stirred the emotions of many people on how to solve the population problem. The Chinese government has taken the enforcement of family planning and birthright laws to an extreme by violating the civil rights of its citizens, which has adversely affected the morale of its people. China implemented a one-child per family policy in 1979 in order to address the issue of unchecked population growth in a country with limited resources. While this policy was not enforced until 1979, population control actually began in the late fifties. This policy says all families are limited to one child unless that child is unable to work or dies. Only then are they allowed to have a second child without having to pay additional taxes on that child. Although China’s family planning efforts have dropped the population growth from 1970’s 33.43 percent per 1000 to 15.23 percent in 1999, abuse, forced abortions, and sterilization, and in some cases, even murder are the cause of what Chinese officials hail as a success. Many women have stated that they have been forced to have abortions due to declined applications for birth certificates. Some of these abortions are done just days before the mothers due date. There are also many women who tell of forced sterilization even after complying with the policy because they were accused of trying to hide their pregnancy. Destruction of property, including the destruction of entire homes, Are common among families who choose to disobey these laws. I am shocked and appalled at what I have read on the overpo... Free Essays on Chinas Battle On Overpopulation Free Essays on Chinas Battle On Overpopulation CHINA’S OVERPOPULATION BATTLE China’s population policy, more commonly referred to as the One Child Policy, is one of the most controversial topics in the world, and the only one of its kind in history. It has been praised and criticized by many, and the world has yet to see what results it will have in the long run. The debatable one child policy of China has ultimately changed the views and stirred the emotions of many people on how to solve the population problem. The Chinese government has taken the enforcement of family planning and birthright laws to an extreme by violating the civil rights of its citizens, which has adversely affected the morale of its people. China implemented a one-child per family policy in 1979 in order to address the issue of unchecked population growth in a country with limited resources. While this policy was not enforced until 1979, population control actually began in the late fifties. This policy says all families are limited to one child unless that child is unable to work or dies. Only then are they allowed to have a second child without having to pay additional taxes on that child. Although China’s family planning efforts have dropped the population growth from 1970’s 33.43 percent per 1000 to 15.23 percent in 1999, abuse, forced abortions, and sterilization, and in some cases, even murder are the cause of what Chinese officials hail as a success. Many women have stated that they have been forced to have abortions due to declined applications for birth certificates. Some of these abortions are done just days before the mothers due date. There are also many women who tell of forced sterilization even after complying with the policy because they were accused of trying to hide their pregnancy. Destruction of property, including the destruction of entire homes, Are common among families who choose to disobey these laws. I am shocked and appalled at what I have read on the overpo...

Keep the Fire Burning

Keep the Fire Burning C. Hope Clark entered my life 11 years ago, just when I had made a 10-year commitment to improving my writing: entering more contests, applying for more grants and submitting more applications to publishers and for artist residencies. Hope sits on my desktop every day. When I need to remember that I am not alone in this writing struggle, feeling like bursting into tears after another rejection, I open the computer document titled HOPE and my world is transformed from despair into opportunity with one simple click.    Here I find every snippet of fodder that I have carefully cut and pasted from C. Hope Clarks weekly FundsforWriters email. After doing this for several years, this document was pretty messy. One day I reorganized it: Book Publishers, Magazines, Grants, Jobs, Artist-in-Residencies, Workshops/Classes and Wisdom; perhaps the most important section because it included tips for remaining sane while striving for success. Within each category bold, italics and underline were added. I reduced the font size down to 9 and narrowed the margins so I can get more opportunities on one page. And I have developed my own style of shorthand so that each opportunity can be reduced down to just two lines if at all possible. Why? Because I learned that once the document is over 25 pages long,   it felt too cumbersome to peruse for the next opportunity. Some weeks I only do one category for the week, but about once a month I save an afternoon (usually Friday while Im waiting for her newest email to arri ve) and I read through the entire document, slowly and carefully. I use text colors to make things pop visually and for the best opportunities I add highlighting. Now I have bold, italics, bold-italics, colored text, underlines, a variety of font styles and highlighting. Deadlines passed. Offerings had to be deleted. I added a Submissions category where entries are carefully documented: fee, date, title and word count for each entry. Then the Rejected category which included any comments offered and finally my favorite; a YES/Accepted category. This list began to grow as I began to understand that writing is not a goal; writing is a process. Every week I carefully cut and pasted anything that looked appealing re: publication or growth. I asked for opinions, joined a writers group and began to teach. And I always kept the HOPE file updated every week. I sat at my computer late on Fridays waiting for the email to arrive. I learned to keep that document on my desktop because it added more kindling to my inner burning desire to write. More than a decade has gone I take Hopes email very seriously. When it has been late arriving (seldom), dinner is delayed. It is that important. Hope encourages us to dream and she gives us innumerable reasons to never give up. Happy Writing! Laura Lee Perkinswww.LauraLeePerkinsAuthor.com spiritualquest@earthlink.net