Advocates for a New Social Order: Dickens, Marx, and the Trade Union i

Advocates for a New Social Order: Dickens, Marx, and the Trade Union in Hard Times For over a century, Charles Dickens has been praised as being the working man's advocate, and the lower classes have played a major role in peopling his vast world of characters. Always, the reader is left with a sense of sympathy and pity for these characters as Dickens' journalistic descriptions of their plight are often dramatic, stirring, and pathetic. Although he renders the living conditions of the poor in such a way that no reader can escape feeling sympathy for such characters, Dickens never once offers a solution to such distress. In Hard Times we find a man who suffers not only the degradations of the industrial city, but also the ostracism of his own kind when he refuses to join the ranks of a budding trade union. Dickens has often been deemed a reformer by many modern critics. However, if he truly sought reform for the treatment of the lower classes in Victorian England, why, then, does he refuse Stephen Blackpool a chance to take a part in that reform? Like Karl Marx an d Friedrich Engels, Dickens realized and reported upon the conditions of the working classes, but he chose to offer a more spiritual form of aid rather than to suggest a complete political reformation. Dickens published his views on labor issues in several of his journals, and he spoke on the subject frequently as well. Although he was moved by the plight of the workers, he could not understand why they would become violent at times. Peter Ackroyd cites a letter to Angela Burdett-Coutts, describing Dickens’ views on trade union violence. The reason for such violence, Dickens contends in the letter, is that the lower classes were being brainwashed and swindle... ... both a charitable and noble soul. He could not have joined the union as he did not believe it would help matters any, and he maintains his dignity even though he pays the ultimate penalty for it in the end. Works Consulted The Oxford History of Britain. Ed. Kenneth O. Morgan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984. Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Bowditch, John and Clement Ramsland. Voices of the Industrial Revolution. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1961. Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Ed. George Ford and Sylvere Monod. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1990. ---. "Locked Out.† Household Words 8 (1854): 345-8. Faber, Richard. Proper Stations. London: Faber and Faber, 1971. Marx, Karl. The Grundrisse. Ed. and trans. David McLellan. New York: Harper, 1971. Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society: 1780-1950. New York: Harper, 1958.

Appendix a – Meditation Worksheet

Appendix A – Meditation Worksheet Veronica P. Sally-Garner PSY/211 ESSENTIALS OF PSYCHOLOGY Thursday, October 20, 2011 Instructor: Terry Browning Appendix A Meditation Worksheet Directions: Locate two resources on the Internet that explain meditation techniques. Copy and paste the web address into the top of the matrix. After reviewing the website, provide a brief summary for each source. Below your summary, list two interesting facts you learned from each site. Try the techniques you located in your Internet search. Provide a brief description of what happened in your experience. Be sure to answer the two questions below the matrix also. Web Address (URL):| http://bestmeditationtechniques. org/the-basics-of-meditation| http://www. mum. edu/meditation. html? gclid=CKOsutyS-KsCFQ1U7Aod9HlUKw| Summary of resource:| Things happen so quickly in this fast-paced world. Decisions are made without thought. This could cause stress to build and affect the way people deal with life. Everyone needs to stop and take a few minutes to calm down. So if life is stressing you out, it’s time to slow down. Meditation can help relieve stress and worries. The practice of meditation is a way to be still for a while and let our minds become focused until we become calm enough to deal with the daily pressures of life. | Mediation can mean different things to different people. Mediation can be defined in three main types: focused attention- concentration, open monitoring-contemplation, and automatic self-transcending – the Transcendental Mediation Program. Transcendental Meditation also known as TM. TM is the most widely practiced, most researched, and most effective method of self-development mediation technique. Two interestingFacts: | 1. Meditation can improve Concentration. Two commonly used exercises are: Mantra – a phrase or a sound that is recited repeatedlyBreathing – achieved by inhaling through the nose, letting the diaphragm (not the chest) expand and exhaling through the mouth 2. Breathing is an integral part of meditation. Proper breathing is required in many practices of meditation and is therefore an im portant tool to be possessed by people who wish to mediate. The practice of proper breathing while meditating slows down a person’s heart rate which leads to a relaxed mood. While this may sound easy, it can be quite challenging when done for the first time. | 1. Transcendental Meditation is the most popular technique. It is practiced by people of all ages, cultures, and religions. More than five million people worldwide practice this simple, natural technique. 2. People who practice Transcendental Meditation find themselves more alert, calmer, more energetic, dynamic, yet somehow wiser, as if you have a broader perspective on their daily activities and experiences. | What happened after you tried each technique? | After trying each technique one should feel relaxed and a sense of heighten awareness. Meditation helps the mind become less distracted. | After trying Transcendental Meditation one should have more confidence and higher self esteem. | 1. Do you think meditation leads to heightened sensation and perception? Explain why or why not. ————————————————- Mediation can lead to heightened sensation and perception. Each is different but ————————————————- complements each other. Sensation is the process by which we sense through touch, smell, ————————————————- sight, taste and smell. Perception is our way of interpreting what these sensations mean and ————————————————- how to make sense of it. 2. Have you considered integrating meditation into your own lifestyle? If so, list one strategy for fitting meditation into your schedule. If not, explain why. ————————————————- I have integrated meditation into my personal lifestyle with physical exercise. Physical ————————————————- exercise promotes overall fitness, helps manage emotional stress and relieves tension.

Mixed Schools Essay

Education is the most powerful weapon which people can use to change the world. Mixed school, also known as co-educational schools is seen to be beneficial for both sexes. Therefore academic performance in a mixed school is likely to be seen good as compared to a single sex school. This is due more social and academical interaction between the two sexes, and also students starts to get more self-esteem. However, it is important to recognize that a mixed school is not the answer to all academic purposes due to social interaction because it also presents some important disadvantages as well as the usual advantages. These essay theories the arguments against and for mixed school. Firstly, peer pressure is a common disadvantage found in a mixed school. Although interacting and socializing with peers is good, but into some extent it can be bad because some students can be easily lead to breaking rules. Therefore academic performances can suddenly decrease as students’ starts to con centrate on unnecessary things such as truancy. These shows lack of judgment and discipline thoughts and actions effects decision that a student have, thus peer pressure will contradict the set of behavior that is worth living. In many schools ,there are students indulging and involving themselves in peer pressure and their actions often reveals lack of moral and discipline in them (Toru, 2001). For instance, students start to play truant and follows friends to do unnecessary staff such as smoking or playing with other students etc. In these case students have to be monitored well by teachers in order to prevent students from playing truancy during school hours. Therefore students should be cautious, on how they interpret and socialize with their peers or otherwise they will be influenced and motivated by their peers that allow distractions into their academic curriculum. Additionally, the second point is Gender Violence .In mixed school students are more concerned with relationship than academic purposes. Some students, especially the senior students have in mind that it is necessary to have a relationship .This students will be concerned with how they look to make them attractive to others promoting their desires to the opposite sex. Having relationships is said to be an influential factor towards students’ academic work and relationship is present in all schools and teachers cannot do much about it for such an issue is not their concerned business. If we look precisely in the world that is constantly  changing ,students adapt to different learning environment that determine their capabilities of becoming a successful learner diminish at appoint when they starts to have relationships .With relationships students get to experiences sexual longings that turns negative at the end. For instance, statistics in schools in Canada show that we are two Canadian women will experiences at least one incident of physical or sexual violence in lifetime .Obviously the signs are there to in dicate a fragmented society, but students should drown in a sea of negativity and mobilize against sexual violence (Ann, 2012). Education is the key and it must be a vital part of awareness campaigns in mixed schools, our many neighborhoods and public meeting places for religious and cultural and recreational activities. Furthermore, the third point is that mixed school does not combat segregation. Mixing primary schools can only be successful if neighborhoods are mixed as well and only primary school is mixed and secondary are not. Mixing is hard to achieve because freedom is threatened by enforcing mixing schools. Mixing schools makes teachers work more complex, because politicians are afraid that too much attention is being paid to mixing and not enough to good education. Solving the problem of segregation is not the primary responsibility of education and society cannot be shaped, and class differences will therefore always exist (Gopal, 2013). Politicians think that mixing is unnecessary, a mixed school demands a lot from teachers: specific skills, affinities, time and energy and in addition to being an educator, teachers need to fulfill childrearing and social worker tasks. However, this essay has considered disadvantages (against) mixed school and will now consider the advantages (for).Mixed schools improves students’ academic performances through social interaction skills during school hours with opposite sex. Therefore mixing increases students’ opportunities to develop. Equally, the advantages of mixed school are that mixing increases student’s opportunities to develop. Weaker students can benefit from the support of stronger student’s and stronger students can learn more by explaining lesson materials to weaker students. Students will diverse backgrounds get the same opportunities for good education. Beside it increases opportunities for disadvantage students, while retaining these for advantage students. It can reduce the social and cultural gap between students where they contact with societies diversities at an early age. They  learn to get along with people of varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Another point is that parents want the best for their child to grow up in an environment that has the least amount of segregation possible. Parents feel that sending their children to a mixed school will help them learn how to cope with diversity. It also has advantage for parents, where they do not have to flee to a non-mixed school just for their children to cope with diversity. Parents from diverse background come in contact with one another that somehow promote cultural wellbeing for various cultural purposes. Mixing is a way of fighting segregation that promotes the acceptance of diversity in society. It also contributes to the emancipation of cultural minorities and disadvantaged groups. Finally, letting boys and girls go to mixed schools makes both genders mingle with each other and impose a positive influence on interpersonal relationship when being in front of the other. For instance, a female student in a mixed school would not have a feeling of shy or embarrassment, but instead have confidence when having a conversation with a male student. The experiences that students in a mixed school have is that, when the two opposite sexes are studying together in the same school, it will certainly be an advantage for them, when they start working since both of the sexes have many opportunities to work together in modern society. Thus, boys and girls would benefit from attending mixed schools because they can practice their social interaction skills. In conclusion, there are disadvantages and advantages of mixed school where by the disadvantages are peer pressure, Gender violence and combat segregation. The advantages of mixed school are that mixing increases students’ opportunities to develop; secondly parents want the best for their children and lastly students gaining more confidence .However, according to the advantages, mixed schools increase the progressing of students’ academic work by the social interaction between the two sexes. In addition, this helps students to gain more confidence in them. So as attending a mixed school students tend to get high self-esteem. As to finish off it is true that mixed school increase academic purposes.

How does Coleridge tell the story in part 1 of Rime of the Ancient Mariner? Essay

As part 1 is the first of all parts in Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we are introduced to the characters in the poem and Coleridge establishes the setting of the poem. ‘It is an ancient Mariner†¦he stoppeth one of three. ’ The impersonal pronoun of ‘it’ suggests that this Mariner may not be human, however there is a change in pronoun with ‘he’, implying a liminal state of the Mariner; he is somewhere in between being supernatural and mortality, reinforced by the word, ‘ancient’. Coleridge’s use of archaic language is used to take the reader back in time to a bygone era, as well as acting as an indicator of setting. The Wedding Guest describes the Mariner in an other-worldly way, having a ‘long grey beard and glittering eye’; both the beard and the singular glittering eye possess connotations of wizardry and reinforce the idea that the Mariner may be a supernatural being. Coleridge creates a number of contrasts between the 1st and 2nd stanzas. The 2nd stanza is used to represent a ‘normal’ world, a world that the Mariner can never be a part of. In the stanza, ‘the Bridegroom’s doors are opened wide’, the word, ‘wide’, is juxtaposed by the Mariner’s unnatural obstruction to the Guest in the previous stanza, as well as to the potential story of the wedding. There is also a contrast between the tones of the stanzas, the atmosphere in the 1st stanza is particularly eerie, but we are presented with an upbeat tone and pace in the 2nd stanza, demonstrated through Coleridge’s use of internal rhyme, ‘the guests are met, the feast is set’. The festive imagery emphasises the upbeat nature of the stanza, ‘feast’, and ‘merry’. The 3rd and 4th stanzas are used by Coleridge to illustrate the extent of power that the Mariner has over the Guest. The Mariner ‘holds him with his skinny hand’, here, the Mariner has been able to physically obtain him against his will. The Mariner fails to answer the Guest’s question in the 1st stanza and begins, ‘there was a ship,’ here, this particular narrative gap creates suspense, adding to the poem’s tension. The Guest is unhappy and conveys his pain and anger through imperative sentence structure, ‘hold off! unhand me. ’ The structural device of exclamation also emphasises the pain felt by the Guest. We see Coleridge’s use of repetition in the 4th stanza, ‘he holds him with his glittering eye’, but this time instead of the Mariner’s hand; it’s his singular eye that is compelling the Guest to listen against his own will, suggesting that the Mariner possesses supernatural powers. The simile used by Coleridge, ‘listens like a three years child’, helps to highlight the true extent of the Guest’s vulnerability now that the Mariner has successfully transfixed him and ‘hath his will’, despite the fact that the Guest previously had more control over the Mariner; ‘his hand dropt he. ’ The Mariner’s begins his ‘rime’ in the 6th and 7th stanzas positively, using internal rhyme to create an upbeat rhythm and a more positive mood after the previous eerie stanzas, ‘the ship was cheered, the harbour cleared’. The imagery of security is what they are moving away from, creating a sense of foreboding. The sound created by the internal rhyme almost sounds crafted, helping to reflect the Mariner’s sense of familiarity with these objects associated with his home, ‘kirk’, ‘hill’, and the ‘light-house top’. The Mariner’s familiarity is emphasised by the anaphora, ‘before’. Coleridge uses further internal rhyme, ‘he shone bright, and on the right’, in order to maintain the positive mood and the upbeat rhythm. Coleridge also personifies the sun, perhaps to foreshadow the immense power of the sun that appears later on in the Mariner’s story. The consistent movement of the personified sun helps to indicate the passing of time within the story being told by the Mariner. The 8th, 9th and 10th stanzas act as a narrative break to the Mariner’s story, reminding the reader that a story within a story is being told. The story is interrupted by ‘the Wedding-Guest here beat[ing] his breast’; the animalistic imagery reflects the Guest’s primitive instincts to flee the Mariner’s grip, as well as his general frustration. This action from the Guest is in response to ‘the loud bassoon,’ creating a contrast between the mystical elements of the Mariner and the celebratory and festive event that the Guest is trying to be a part of. We see what the Guest is missing out on, ‘the bride†¦red as a rose is she’, although this simile is seemingly conventional, with closer inspection we are able to see that the bride is fully red, not just her lips, reflecting her full vibrancy, contrasted with the Mariner’s ‘skinny hand’. The wedding almost acts as a narrative backdrop; it demonstrates the joyous occasion that both the Guest and the Mariner are not a part of and serves to spotlight the tragic story that’s being told by the Mariner. Coleridge’s use of repetition, ‘he beat his breast’, is suggestive of the Mariner’s hypnotic ways and the guest’s continuous attempts to escape the grip of the Mariner. In the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th stanzas, the Mariner heavily depicts the weather and the environment. The capitalisation of ‘Storm’ is used to create a visual representation, and his use of personification, ‘he’, reflects the storm’s severity and power. He reinforces this idea by using predatory language, ‘his o’ertaking wings†¦chased us’, the storm is presented as some sort of dark, higher power. In the 12th stanza, Coleridge deviates from the traditional folk-ballad form, demonstrating the chaos at this particular point, as well as the Mariner’s heightened emotions. Coleridge reinforces the storm’s aggression through the use of onomatopoeic language, ‘roared’ and ‘blast’. In the 13th stanza, Coleridge returns to the traditional ballad structure to mark a sense of restored order now that the storm has stopped. ‘And now there came both mist and snow, and it grew wondrous cold’, the use of present tense, ‘now’, allows a shock for the reader, building tension. The use of assonance, ‘wondrous cold’, and short clauses forces the reader to pause and slow down, hindering the pace of the stanza, and therefore creating a contrast between the previous fast-moving and chaotic stanzas. The simile, ‘ice†¦as green as emerald’, marks the beginning of the Mariner and his ship’s problems; the green ice is peculiar and mysterious and hints at the supernatural. The Mariner describes the effects of the snow, ‘the snowy clifts did send a dismal sheen’, as ‘dismal’ possesses connotations with misery, and ‘sheen’ with impaired vision, the grouping of them creates a sense that there is no escape and no life wherever they are. These conditions are then emphasised through the personification of ice, ‘it cracked and growled, and roared and howled’, and the onomatopoeic language helps to show the possibly fatal effects of the ice. The anaphora, ‘the ice’, as well as the repetition reinforce this idea, and illustrate the true amount of ice they are surrounded by. In the final stanzas, we see the emergence of the Albatross, ‘at length did cross an Albatross, thorough the fog it came. ’ The capitalisation of ‘Albatross’ reflects his importance, as he is the only form of life that the ship can see. He emerges as a good omen from the ‘fog’, the fog having connotations of mystery and darkness, symbolising a newfound sense of hope, as the bird is like a gift sent from God. The religious lexical fields, ‘God’s name’, ‘hail’, ‘Christian soul’, reflect the Mariner’s gratitude towards God who he believes is responsible for the Albatross’ appearance. The internal rhyme, ‘cross’ and ‘Albatross’, conveys the uplifted mood of the Mariner now that the Albatross has apparently rescued their ship, ‘the ice did split’ and ‘a good south wind sprung up behind’. Further internal rhyme reinforces the upbeat mood of the Mariner, ‘the Albatross did follow, and every day, for food or play’, he is presented as almost anthropomorphic; he’s like an angel. The semantic fields about goodness and religion suggest that Coleridge’s poem is coming to an end, or at least leading in a different direction. Indeed, the story is quite upbeat until the mention of ‘moon-shine’, as moon often signifies near or distant change, a sense of foreboding is created. Perhaps the Guest realises this too, as the hyphen may represent another attempt to get away from the Mariner, or the Guest’s realisation that the Mariner is disturbed, ‘Why look’st thou so? †Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬Å"With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross’. The enjambment in the line helps to emphasise both the reader and the Guest’s honest reaction of shock. Coleridge ends part 1 with a cliff-hanger in order to create suspense in the poem, as well as a sense of mystery.

C ivil rights movements Essay

This is a two-page, APA formatted paper that summarizes the purpose of Leonard Crow Dogs, the purpose of the Ghost Dance and how the U. S. government works to undermine Native American communities. It is based on a true story and is in relation to the novel â€Å"Lakota Woman† by Mary Crow Dogs. The story speaks about the hardship of Mary and the Lakota Indians. Leonard Crow Dog was a very important character in the novel, â€Å"Lakota Woman. † He was Mary’s husband and also a spiritual leader as well as a political leader of the American Indian Movement of 1960s and 70s. His purpose was to help build Mary’s self-esteem. Through Leonard’s support, Mary was able to rebuild her self esteem by performing speeches and by supporting the American Indian Movement. Leonard gave her a way to do her own spiritual rituals which she believed helped strengthen her. Because of Leonard’s leadership participation in the AIM Movement, his son was raised freely in the traditional way of his Indian culture. Leonard was also the one who restarted the Ghost Dance even thought it was previously forbidden. Due to the oppression from the Whites, Indians started a spiritual dance which they believed would deliver them from the oppression of the white men. They called it the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was a way to relieve the American Native Indians from their extreme poverty, suffering and from the other hardships they encountered. They believed that the Ghost Dance would bring a messiah to them that would soon return the lands to the Indians, resurrect their dead ancestors, and restore their former ways of life (Richard P. Muniz 2006). White people feared the Ghost dance traditions believing that the dance was not proper and that the Indians would practice witchcraft on them. Therefore, the Ghost Dance was outlawed. The U. S. Government undermined the Indian communities through reservations. Indians were required to live a segregated life. They were treated as second class citizens and to make them â€Å"perfect† for the American’s way of life, the government forced their beliefs onto them. The government greatly attacked the Native American community way of life through sending the Native American children to an institution to break their ways of beliefs with the intention of molding them into a â€Å"respectful† American citizen of the white class. Using these schools were a great means to fix the Indian’s way of life. The government really believed that the schools were civilizing the Indian children and offering them a great opportunity for them to evolve into the white culture and Christianity. These schools were supposed to help them to become â€Å"first class† citizens instead of â€Å"second class. † However, the government did not understand that this was not the proper way or means to help the Indian children or Indian people at all. They were already oppressed by Indian Reservations and then placed into a school system to strip them of their cultural beliefs and then forced to accept customs that were not known to their forefathers. Mary describes the government as civilizing them with their stick or another way to say this is with discipline. Mary states that, â€Å"children were like the victims of Nazi concentration camps† (pg. 28). The Indian Sun Dance which is another common tradition of the Indian culture and their community was outlawed by the government as well as the Ghost Dance. The Government forced many Indians into slum housing after taking their tribal lands. These slum homes had no electricity, plumbing, or technology. Most of them would have to live in the dark and in small cabins. Their way of living was very limited unlike the White Americans who had electricity and plumbing. They were unable to find employment due to racial restrictions from white people which resulted in high unemployment for the Indian culture. Many Indians were killed due to being accused for murderers they didn’t commit. Mary mentions in the story that many Indian family members were killed. In addition, many Indian families were punished by the government for having civil rights movements with attempts to help their community to become strong. Mary’s husband was also one of the unfortunate one’s who was thrown in jail many times for his radical civil rights movements. References Dog, M. C. (1990). Lakota Woman. New York: New York.

Is There Such a Thing as Bad Art? Essay

Perhaps bad art closes oneself to it. One sees something one doesn’t like, and without giving it a further thought one turns away. Or when one does give it a further thought, one thinks only about how the piece of art was, but not about oneself in relation to it. But is having no response a response within itself. Perchance the judging of art cannot be decided by responses. But rather if one cannot speak negatively of an artistic statement, instead one can only speak of one’s inability to find artistic merit. And therefore, to speak negatively of art is really to speak negatively of one’s own lack of imagination or emotional responsiveness. Or maybe one simply does not understand what the function of art is. However, maybe good art IS only good when it provokes a response. And when one looks back at ones response it is only significant if one notices a change in oneself. Still, these feelings may or may not exist when viewing a piece of art. And if those feelings do not exist it is not because the art is universally bad or good. Instead it is because the piece is bad or good to you. Conceivably art’s sole reason for existence is to provoke emotion. But then what type of emotion? One may see a gory painting that makes one revolt, but is that good art? Is a piece of art only good because it is popular or trendy? And if so then does bad art become good art when it is decided popular. Perhaps a painting is considered good measuring by how much money it costs. Or maybe it can only be considered good by the qualifications of the artist who made it. If so, would a finger painting by a kindergartener automatically be considered bad art while a blank canvas by a distinguished artist be genius? That is if in fact a finger painting can be determined as art at all. What even is art? Is it only considered art if it is on a canvas? Or can art be on the walls of a building in graffiti form? Is doodling in your notebook when bored in Philosophy class art? Or are all these creative forms of expression meaningless because they do not have to professionalism of an art gallery? I can say in confidence that I take a reformed socialist view on this. There’s no such thing as bad art but in return there is no great art either. Everything is subjective. There are billions of people living in different worlds, bad only exists to the person and groups of like people. But to be fair so does good. Perhaps instead of questioning, we should simply just let art be. Acceptance that without yin there would be no yang and without bad there would be no good.

Matthew Shepard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Matthew Shepard - Essay Example This paper examines the murder of Matthew Shepard with respect to the circumstances leading to his death and his legacy. Alongside his younger brother, Shepard led a normal childhood attending school in Wyoming since his freshman to junior years. Shepard completed his education at The American School, Switzerland after his parents moved to the Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran owing to his father's work. His experience abroad largely influenced his desire to travel, which led to an unfortunate incident during a school tour to Morocco where he was beaten and raped. This ordeal triggered a bout of depression and panic attacks that are attributed to his involvement with drugs during college. Shepard attended college in Casper, Wyoming to major in political science where his interest in politics sought him a position as a student representative at the Wyoming Environmental Council. Friends and family described Shepard as an overly optimistic individual looking forward to new chall enges. In addition, he held great passion for equality and acceptance as demonstrated in his roles at the community theatre and thus, was very approachable (â€Å"Matthew’s Story†). The tragic events that transpired shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998 followed the conclusion of a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Association (LGBTA). The organization comprised mostly of university students, but welcomed the indulgence of staff members as well as the townspeople. In spite of a low attendance during its meetings, the association’s email list was illustrated as a long one. The meeting on the night of October 6 was meant to organize last-minute details of the Gay Awareness Week slated for the following week. The association’s chair, Jim Osborn, had been attacked before the meeting where he described the events to fellow members and asked them to be vigilant. LGBTA traditions involve late night coffee breaks before adjournment. Shepard visited a lo cal bar where he was approached by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson who offered him a ride home. However, events took a dramatic turn after the two drove to a rural area and proceeded to rob, bind Shepard to a fence, and whip him with the butt of .357 Magnum in their possession. He suffered had severe brainstem damages, fractures on his head, and numerous lacerations on his face and neck. The combination of these injuries incapacitated his body’s ability to control the heart rate, temperature among other vital functions. Shepard was discovered over 12 hours later by cyclist who perceived his bound composure and comatose state as a scarecrow (Thernstrom). Found in a near death state, doctors described his condition as too severe to risk an operation and as such, Shepard was placed on life support. Meanwhile, the brutal attack attracted the attention of local, national, and later international media shaping the calls for legislations to include the sexual minorities to the list of protected individuals by the law. Shepard was pronounced dead about a week later with his family by his side at the hospital. All the while, Laramie authorities investigating the heinous crime sought to retrace the last events of Shepard’s life McKinney and Henderson were arrest after they were found in possession of Shepard’