Personal Narrative Short Story - 1415 Words

When I first walked into Cook’s Coffeehouse, I called out aloud, to see if anyone was there to help me with my situation. Eventually, a young woman walks towards me and asks angrily, â€Å"Why are you here so early? We haven’t even opened the shop for the day. It is too early in the morning.† â€Å"I’m sorry, my parents died this morning, and I am left to figure out my life on my own.† â€Å"I’m sorry about your parents. My friend, her name was Polly Logan, died recently. People are saying that it is a fever. Do you know if your parents died or a fever?† â€Å"My parents were diagnosed by Dr. Benjamin Rush himself. He bled both my mother and father, and said, â€Å"I will send someone over, they shall be sent over every day for two more weeks, and to take†¦show more content†¦While I was thinking, someone yells from the back of the coffeehouse, â€Å"Hey, Matilda. Get to work. The customers are coming soon.† Yelled a woman. I then asked the girl, supposedly Matilda, â€Å"Your name is Matilda?† â€Å"Oh, yes. I guess I never really told you my name did I?† she paused for a moment as I nodded, then continued. â€Å"Back there is the kitchen, and the people in there are my mother and Eliza, our cook. My mother was the person telling me to work, so I got to go.† As she finished I just waved goodbye and sat down at a table, and watched people swarm into Cook’s Coffeehouse. Sitting at the table, and watching everybody else reminded me of the bars that my father would take me to. I’ve only been to a couple bars with my father, when nobody else wants to spend time watching me. Although, in the bars, contrary to popular belief, my father never let me have alcohol, and would only get me some water. At the end of the day, I had seen many people and the many occupations they all had. I saw man y people from different jobs including, fishermen, merchants, importers, and bankers. I heard many stories of people’s families. As night approached, I walked out of the coffeehouse in search of somewhere to sleep. I did not want to go back to my own house because I did not want to catch yellow fever myself. So I decided to leave town, and walk all the way to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Deciding I was doneShow MoreRelatedPersonal Narrative Short Story1153 Words   |  5 PagesI still remember that fateful day, the day I was Stolen. It started out as a normal day at school. I’ll take you through the whole story. There is one thing you should try to figure out, who kidnapped me. â€Å"Joey, Wait up!† I yelled out. Why was he walking so fast, and not responding? It’s almost like he’s ignoring me. I started to jog, but he was already gone. I turned the other way to walk home. It was a long walk, for I lived in the country part of town. I noticed leaves crunching behind me, andRead MorePersonal Narrative Short Story1191 Words   |  5 PagesIt was a warm summer day with good air, most kids were out riding their bikes, scooters, etc. or running around, playing tag, yet I was huddled inside, reading a good book. The sun was shining bright, yet the clouds were blocking it, acting like the filter in a juice machine, separating the good stuff from the bad stuff. The clouds let the light come in just enough so it can light up everything, but not enough to make you sweat when not doing draining activities. This made it the perfect weatherRead MorePersonal Narrative : A Short Story1301 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"Aww is little Airi hurt?† he says with a sarcastic tone. His let’s out his evil laugh and picks me up. â€Å"L-leave me alone.. DON’T TOUCH ME!† I scream out. â€Å"Okay† he says as he immediately drops me on the floor and drags me through the snow by my short brown hair. My legs are numb so I can’t feel my legs being cut up by the wooden porch. He lets go of my hair in the middle of the living room. This is the first time he’s ever put his hands on me and I don’t like it. My mother comes back and takesRead MorePersonal Narrative : A Short Story1598 Words   |  7 PagesShadows The leaves blowing, the wind was whistling. The moon shined brighter than the sun did that morning. I looked like no other normal teenager, But I was wearing all black. Black leggings, Black jacket, Black shoes, black shirt. My hair looked like caramel, my eyes looked like a yellowish brown that shined in the moonlight. My name was nothing important to people. People say â€Å"Angelys† is a nice name but i think differently. Nothing seemed to happen, I was coming home from a friend’s house.Read MorePersonal Narrative Short Story1538 Words   |  7 Pages Seventh grade, probably dumbest person in the school. Not kidding, take a look at my report card from last semester and you’ll be shocked about how many F’s there are. I also have a really active imagination, so I just love to write and imagine stories in my head. Eileen and I start walking home from school, as I’m trying to look at all of the bruises on my face using my phone’s camera whi le we walk. â€Å"Okay, girl, you may not be the smartest person in the school, but that was probably the dumbestRead MorePersonal Narrative Short Story1598 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Noooooooooo, I don’t want to!† I yelled. â€Å"I don’t care Emma, I’m going to be gone all night,† my mom said. â€Å"I am not babysitting Ally. I have track tonight.† â€Å"I bet you can make it up another day. You are babysitting your little sister tonight no matter what.† â€Å"No I’m not!† â€Å"I don’t like your attitude Emma! If you don’t babysit your little sister tonight, you can’t do track anymore!† â€Å"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!† Then I ran out of the house slamming the door behind me. My momRead MorePersonal Narrative Story Short Story1619 Words   |  7 PagesSarah and Roger with their twins, Jules and Kendra. All of us cousins were very close in age. Stewart was the eldest, at age fourteen he was four years older than the youngest but he still hung out with us on the beach after dark. He had the best stories out of all of us. Andrew and I were the next oldest, six months apart in age in fact. The twins and Eric were the youngest. I remember the twins had just celebrated their 12th birthday that earlier that summer, while Eric’s birthday wasn’t untilRead MorePersonal Narrative Short Story1787 Words   |  8 Pagescaught by one of the S.W.A.T. officers. I remember being in a helicopter and being brought to a tower. I was led to a room with a gun pointed at my back, I wanted to run and get my life over with but I knew that my job was more important than my personal wants. I saw a man his face was handsome but his eyes held the death of hundreds. I knew that my time here was not going to be leisurely. This man began asking me questions such as what I was doing here and why I was running from the S.W.A.T. I ofRead MorePersonal Narrative Essay : A Short Story936 Words   |  4 Pageswhen I open the door of my grandma’s house my grandma asks â€Å"Are you ok?† â€Å"Your face is all red† â€Å"I’m fine,† I say. Then I run to my room trying to hide my tears. Whenever I feel bad I would always read a bedtime story book but not the ones with happy endings. So I grab are small story called anger. There was once a man who kept all his sadness and anger in him waiting to explode and finally one day he couldn’t take it anymore and all that anger exploded the end. After I read it I realized it remindedRead MoreAlice Munros an Ounce of Cure1548 Words   |  7 Pagesstudies make the link between literary techniques such as narrative and storytelling and several other disciplines. Thus, one may find the theories of narrative and storytelling extending up to several major disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, and literary criticism. In the view of different experts in literary analyses, there is a close connection between narrative or storytelling and the definition of the nature of self and personal identity. The former has been understood as influential

Say You’re One of Them Free Essays

In many respects, the world’s attention has shied away from modern Africa in recent years, most likely due to the unsteady domestic situations in other parts of the world. Recently, however, the collection of stories written by Uwem Akpan, Say You’re One of Them, has brought back to the forefront all of the pain and challenge of life in Africa at the present time. The humanity that comes through the words not only tugs at the heartstrings of the reader, but also makes strong statements about cultural conflict, class struggles and other social phenomena. We will write a custom essay sample on Say You’re One of Them or any similar topic only for you Order Now This research will not only discuss Akpan’s work, but also these intertwined issues within the work. Ultimately, the work will be better appreciated and understood, but also, modern issues will be brought to light. Discussion of the Various Issues of Cultural Conflict within the Story When the research was introduced, the point was made that Akpan’s work was not only deeply emotional, but also makes strong cultural statements. Taking that assertion a step further is possible when using specific examples from the work to identify and discuss the various aspects of cultural conflict to be found in the story. The first of the areas of cultural conflict which emerges in the work is the vast divide between the economic classes within modern Africa. An early story in the work tells of a young boy whose sister turns to street prostitution in order for him to be able to afford to attend school- a blatant attempt to escape the lower class and ascend in African society. So intense is this desire to advance that extreme measures are taken by poor Africans to make ends meet: â€Å"When Baby was born, we pawned three quarters of his clothes to defray debts† (Akpan, 2008, p. 13). Therefore, fellow Africans are in fact culturally divided along economic lines, despite hailing from the same homeland. Language is also a dividing factor in modern day Africa, or more specifically, the way that someone’s voice sounds not only could set them apart from others in a cultural context, but in fact could lead to bodily harm for those of one culture who encounter opposition from another, as seen in this excerpt from the work: â€Å"He was an easy target for the sporadic violence that seized the land†¦a simple thing like his accent could give him away† (Akpan, 2008, p. 93). This is an interesting element of cultural conflict in a highly diverse continent- it is a unique type of situation whereby someone who merely speaks in a different way than others could in fact set them apart and lead to fractured subcultures, but that is exactly what Akpan is portraying. Additionally, there is a subculture of violence that is prevalent in the Africa of today; to be m ore specific, much of Africa is ruled at the present by wealthy warlords, who essentially build their own armies and make their own rules for their own advancement. Basically, these individuals are using force to alienate and oppress their own fellow Africans, keeping the weak in a state of poverty and preventing them from possible improvements that would allow them to surpass their oppressors: â€Å"Our northern generals are responsible for the extreme poverty in the land† (Akpan, 2008, p. 314). Therefore, we see the establishment of a new culture of the powerful over that of the weak. This culture is likewise somewhat restrictive, as the penalty for trying to escape it would be brutality at best, and death at worst. Changes in the Culture in the Story In Say You’re One of Them, there are sweeping changes to African culture that can be seen when looking more closely at the points that are made in work; the culture is essentially shifting from one of proud traditions and an embracing of the diversity of the various nations of the continent to a more divided one, where differences in economic status, language and ability to fight back against those who have the power to destroy one another has taken precedence (Mwaria, et al, 2004). An important point needs to be made here- although what is happening in Africa according to Akpan is certainly distressing, it is not unique to Africa, nor is it limited to lands where opportunity is less than widely available. This can be pointed out with a look into other cultures where division is complicating matters at present. A Study of Other Cultures Like Africa, the United States is a melting pot of different cultures and also like Africa, has encountered its share of culture clash in recent years. This conflict has taken place in several diverse cultures and has divided people in several different ways. First, along lines of ethnicity, the US has seen a renewed level of awareness of the fundamental differences in human beings as a result of the horrific terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 on American soil. Because of this pivotal event, those wishing to immigrate to the US from other nations, whether legally or illegally, have met with opposition ranging from disdain to outrage and acts of unwarranted violence (Moser, 2000). It would seem that like Africa, the diversity of culture that made America such a unique place has been watered down in a flurry of prejudice, fear and false impressions about one ethnic group or another. Instead of introducing new cultures into the American landscape and then allowing them to assimilate into the prevailing American culture, people are being excluded from the opportunity to do so from the beginning, not only depriving them of opportunity, but also stifling the advancement of American society from within. Politically, Americans have also formed subcultures that of late have been in a great deal of conflict. Recent years have seen differences in political mindset become key issues that instead of bringing these individuals together for the sake of healthy debate, have in many cases divided individuals to the detriment of the political process (Shogan, 2002). From time to time, this difference has also turned volatile in more than one instance as wars of words sometimes turn into acts of violence. Lastly, class envy is also alive and well in America, creating cultural conflicts, especially given the current dire economic climate in the world. Tied closely to the political issues of the nation, economically diverse people are commonly divided by a lack of understanding of each other’s culture- a culture defined by money and privilege or the absence thereof. Overall Analysis of the Reading Akpan’s book opened the eyes of the researcher in many ways, not the least of which was in terms of gaining an understanding that cultural differences can either create a wonderful blend of different traditions and ideas or can divide people and lead them to destroy others. This realization evoked in the researcher the feeling that diversity must be embraced, lest its power consume and destroy one culture at the hands of another. Conclusion The research has made important points about culture, diversity, and the perpetual change of the human condition. In conclusion, perhaps the best point to take away from the research is the fact that without a tolerance at least and embracing at best of diversity, no one can truly be free. 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Corporate Governance and Risk Management for ASX Corporate

Question: Discuss about theCorporate Governance and Risk Management for ASX Corporate. Answer: Introduction The reflective essay will focus about my personal experience and the issues I faced related to corporate governance and risk management. Through risk assessment in my workplace, I got to learn how to deal with critical situation and accordingly effective strategies to reduce the organizations risk. Furthermore, the essay will also reflect on the issues related to social responsibility and corporate governance and accordingly learnt strategies for managing and governing workplace and enterprise risk. Discussion According to me, Governance in relation to workplace governance refers to the process how the organization can be effectively managed and organized by promoting healthy and safe environment to the employees. Prior to that, by implying Corporate Governance, an organization set certain rules and regulations that need to be followed by all the employees (Tricker and Tricker 2015). Whereas, what I understood through risk management is that identifying the potential risk and accordingly with better strategies will try to reduce it, in order to incur the loss resources. As per the ASX Corporate Governance Council, convened by ASX in Australia implemented certain principles, legislations and recommendations. This needs to be implemented by companies in order to promote confidence of the investors to meet the expectations of the stakeholders (Christensen et al. 2015). The organization in which I work is a beverage company that implemented the rules of corporate Governance so that our organization can manufacture health drinks by not impacting the environment in a negative way and besides that tried to meet the requirements of the stakeholders. Accordingly the organization I work incorporated certain non binding guidelines such as shifting towards the principles governance systems. There are certain guidelines listed in the ASX principles and recommendations that encouraged companies to follow in order to reach the global markets. S per the principles, our organization has implemented an ethical and responsible decision making board that examines that employee are working in safe and healthy environment (Ruggie 2017). Furthermore, by adopting the principle Encourage enhanced performance our organization from time to time evaluate employees reviews and performance and accordingly motivates them with monetary and non-monetary rewards. All the ten principles of the corporate governance are important for any business organization in order to reach the global market. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is an approach that deals with workplace risk and accordingly provides measures to prevent those risks to provide better services to the stakeholders and to achieve their goals (Olson 2015). For instance, one of my friends works in DP World in Victoria, and through him I get to know that the company was found guilty for polluting the atmosphere by releasing hazardous chemical and was charged $80,000 and extra $ 10,000 (Christensen et al. 2015). After analyzing the risk and the huge loss, the company implemented Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) approach to reduce the huge loss and to incur from that loss. One of the important tools of ERM is the brainstorming tool, through which various ideas and solutions to reduce the risk are being generated from the group. Apart from this, The Australian Securities Exchange Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Practice measures the risk appetite of every organization and accordingly tries to perform in relat ion to Key Risk Indicators. My personal experience from enterprise risk management is that, risks are inevitable for every business organization, but organizations should check the potential risk that the organization is likely to suffer from that and should implement ideas and strategies to prevent it. I myself being a HR Manager of a beverage company follow the same policies, so that there should not be any environmental risk from manufacturing of beverages. It is important to note that a good Corporate Governance promotes organization growth and at the same time tries to meet the demands of the internal and external stakeholders. Accordingly corporations tend to create employees that tend to increase the productivity of the organization and the profit that receives is used in paying the shareholders (Grayson and Hodges 2017). For instance, in my company, the profit and the extra wealth gained are used in the research and development (RD) process and sometimes invest in technologies for manufacturing high quality beverages. For instance, KPGM in New Zealand applied the concept of good Governance by involving the owners and the shareholders regarding the financial health of the organization. On the other hand, Corporate Social Responsibility mainly concerned in treating the stakeholders, in a responsible way and it also helps to prevent risk within the organization. As risk is inevitable, therefore, CSR activity will help to reduce risk t o a certain amount (Hoyt and Liebenberg 2015). Accordingly the higher authorities of the company initiated CSR activity through awareness campaign and also by acting in human rights for environmental causes to reduce environment footprints. By involving in CSR activity, we can get socially involved for creating a better and safe community. It is important to manage and govern the organization effectively for better productivity and for providing satisfaction the internal and the external stakeholders (Hillson and Webster 2017). However to manage and govern my organization I adhere to certain rules and guidelines such as it is important to be consistent that means every employees should be treated equally within the group. Apart from that, to retain skilled labour within the organization, I evaluate the work performance and accordingly give rewards such as incentives, gifts and more. This has proved an effective way to mange employees. However, to govern effectively, it is important to manage day-to-day operations and in case of conflicts in the workplace, I try to implement best strategies to prevent it as fast as possible. Prior to this, regulatory compliance is an important factor that ensures the implications of laws and guides such as rules related to Safety and Healthy Environment, to minimise the (S,HE) risk (Mac Dougall et al. 2015). Conclusion From the above reflective essay, it could be concluded that from my personal experience I got to learn about the principles of good Corporate Governance and the positive outcomes of Social Responsibility. Apart from this with the implication of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), it is possible to monitor the risk and within the implication of risk management tools, it is possible to reduce the risk. Prior to this, as an HR Manager I have started implicating the principles of good Governance for promoting better growth and customer satisfaction. References Christensen, J., Kent, P., Routledge, J. and Stewart, J., 2015. Do corporate governance recommendations improve the performance and accountability of small listed companies?.Accounting Finance,55(1), pp.133-164. Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017.Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge. Hillson, D. and Murray-Webster, R., 2017.A short guide to risk appetite. Routledge. Hoyt, R.E. and Liebenberg, A.P., 2015. Evidence of the value of enterprise risk management.Journal of Applied Corporate Finance,27(1), pp.41-47. MacDougall, A.E., Bagdasarov, Z., Johnson, J.F. and Mumford, M.D., 2015. Managing workplace ethics: An extended conceptualization of ethical sensemaking and the facilitative role of human resources. InResearch in Personnel and Human Resources Management(pp. 121-189). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Olson, D.L. and Wu, D.D., 2015.Enterprise risk management(Vol. 3). World Scientific Publishing Company. Ruggie, J.G., 2017. The theory and practice of learning networks: Corporate social responsibility and the Global Compact. InLearning To Talk(pp. 32-42). Routledge. Tricker, R.B. and Tricker, R.I., 2015.Corporate governance: Principles, policies, and practices. Oxford University Press, USA.