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Introduction

Pornography and conventional films are closely related. The bottom line is that a movie star and a porn star are fun for the audience and you have to give them credits. But do you know that there are many famous celebrities who started their pornstar career?

In this Internet world today a pornstar is almost as well recognized as a movie star. But it was time for a porn star to be recognized and nobody noticed, an unrecognizable pornstar who did not develop into big movies, and who was on the list of celebrities, has survived many battles. That's why we thank the porn industry for giving us some of our famous stars.

We bring you some famous Hollywood stars who started their pornstar career. This will surprise you!

Famous personalities

Stormy Daniels

Stormy began her career at the age of 17 as a stripper who is an award-winning American porn star. She has also appeared in such films as "The Virgin of 40", Knocked Up and Finding Bliss.

Joan Laurer

Joan worked as a professional fighter, whereupon she started her porn career in 2004 and made several pornographic films. He has worked in many television shows and major films. Unfortunately, Laurer was found dead on April 20, 2016 due to an accidental overdose at home.

Ron Jeremy

You do not need a presentation because he was the most famous porn star of his time, where he turned to Hollywood films and appeared in films like Ghostbusters and Boondock Saints Detroit Rock City, which often play a fictional version of themselves.

Shu Qi

His first film was a Hollywood film The Transporter with Jason Statham, then The Eye 2, New York I love you and was also a jury member at the Berlin International Film Festival. But long before that happened, she was a sensation as a soft doll that appeared in the Hong Kong Penthouse and the Chinese edition of Playboy. He also appeared in Viva Erotica, a movie about the porn industry and Sex and Zen II.

Traci Lords

Traci always exploded when he appeared on the screen, started at Penthouse at the age of 16, and had over 100 porn movies on his account. Today she is on the celebrity list for her role in Zack and Miri, a porn, Blade, Mom series, Cry Baby account. On the small screen, Lords appeared as a guest star on Gilmore Girls, Roseanne, Married ... with children, Melrose Place, The Tales of the Tomb, and Will & Grace.

Jenna Jameson

Jenna is perhaps the biggest pornstar in the porn industry and deserves the title of "the queen of porn". During his career he has almost 187 films on his account. She appeared in the private parts of Howard Stern, Family Guy, and provided her Grand Theft Auto vocal talents: Vice City and Pro skater Tony Hawk 4.

Ginger Lynn

Ginger is a household name in the 80's and was famous for his endless Dirty Talk and many scenes with John Holmes porn legend. His career in Hollywood was not great, but he was impressed when he appeared with his friend Emilio Estevez in the 90 Western Young Guns II, Rejects, Devil's Rob Zombie and the role of Nurse Sanders in the American Cake: Camp Band. She does porn from time to time.

Paul was the first man to appear on the cover of Hustler, making a series of pornographic films during his career in the 1980s, and running his own gay porn series, which was popular with celebrities for their participation in multiple sex scandals. He has appeared in several films, including John Travolta's Perfect Vehicle and John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars.

Celie has been a victim of female oppression throughout her life, never believing in herself, and living in fear of men. However, when Shug Avery enters her life, Celie’s quality of life starts to improve on the whole, and her newfound self-belief allows her to challenge societal expectations. Their relationship is based on storytelling, an outlet for Celie to talk of her past hardships, their constant communication is a contrast to Celie’s previous silence and solitude. The sexual relationship between Celie and Shug is important as we see that Shug’s arrival influences Celie greatly, Celie builds a defiance and graving rebellion, and since Shug arrives, it is a climax of Celie standing up for herself.

A good example of a small act of rebellion is when Celie spits in her father-in-law’s water, “I drop little spit in Old Mr__ water”, this is a sign of disrespect in a world where women were supposed to always respect men. Women were continuously oppressed by men in between wars, and Celie was certainly a victim of this, however Celie admires Shug for being different, and tries to follow in her footsteps, it starts with small steps, however it is a positive influence on Celie’s self-belief. Shug and Celie’s relationship is responsible for Celie’s sexual awakening, as this is the first affectionate relationship that she has had. Celie tells Shug “nobody ever love me”. This short simple sentence sums everything up for Celie, and suggests that she is looking for love and comfort after all of her hardships. The relationship is more about love for Celie, that is why some critics received the text thinking that the relationship was more maternal, Celie even says “us sleep like sisters me and Shug”, this simile shows that it is a more familial love, someone to protect Celie. However you could argue that the sentence “Shug don’t actually say make love. She say fuck” tells us that Shug looks for sexual pleasure in the relationship as we see a great contrast between “make love” and “fuck” in terms of connotations. This shows that their relationship is important as it satisfies both needs. Interestingly, ‘Search of our Mother’s Garden’ discusses how Celie would have been looking for a loving, comforting relationship due to her lvoeless marriage, which is compared to being like prostitution, because she was, like many other women, used to bear children and for male sexual pleasure. Along with her sexual awakening , her growing independence is a result of her relationship with Shug as she ends up leaving Mr____ and moving to Memphis independently, and doesn’t hold back when she tells Mr____, she calls him a “lowdown dog”, this derogatory insult shows how Celie’s fear of men has disappeared due to her influence from Shug. Celie even threatens Mr__ by saying “us together gon whup your ass”. The use of the 1st person plrual pronoun “us” shows that Celie feels like she has a family and people to defend and help her, she finally feel a part of something that she didn’t have before, and this self-belief and confidence is because Shug entered her life.

The threat of violence from a black woman to a black man in the 1920s was unheard of, as black people had no power, but black women were at the very bottom, as the only way black men could only exert power on black women through beating and rape, and Celie accepted this throughout her life. Now, she is rejecting the racial stereotype and is trying to change her own situation and actually gains control from this. Celie’s independence is also shown through her Trouser Business, fighting the odds of being a black woman, she manages to create her own successful business and be self sufficient, without a need to rely on a man to live. Celie says “I got love, I got work, I got money, friends and time”, the repetitiong of the possessive verb “got” shows how much Celie has earned now that she has left her husband, her life is now so much richer in happiness, as well as materialistically. The asyndetic listing shows the essentials that we take for granted, that Celie never had up until Memphis, making us realise how positive Celie and Shug’s relationship is, and its impact on Celie’s quality of life. Contextually, women would never have dreamed of being financially independent at the turn of the 20th century, as thee would grow up awaiting to marry a man in order to live comfortably, they would be handed from father to husband, not even given a chance to live for themselves.

In the Color Purple, Shug gives Celie the chance of freedom, and it certainly has rewards. Shug is key to Celie’s connection with Nettie, as it is Shug that tells Celie that Mr_____ has been hiding the letters, and helps Celie to organise them by saying “I’m gonna put them in some kind of order for you”. The phrase “for you” shows us that Shug really cares about Celie, and that she is determined to find Nettie, Celie’s only blood relative left. Shug helping Celie by going behind Mr_____’s back is totally rebellious against men, as Shug currently has more power and control than Mr____ by invading his privacy, which shows that she is fighting male dominance. This rebellious act is reflected in the music that she sings - jazz and blues, which symbolises her fight against societal expectations and norms, despite her genre of choice could be punishable. Although we’ve discussed what Shug has done for Celie, Celie has also helped Shug in many ways, the most prominent being that she has shown Shug to be generous, which in turn results in Shug sticking by Celie. Shug “donate her old yellow dress” as scraps for the quilting, the use of this verb shows a generous side to Shug that we haven’t seen before, therefore shows that Celie’s kindness has influenced Shug whilst she has nurtured her when Shug was ill. As Shug is a very independant and self-empowered woman, she would have been seen as very harsh and cold, and this is displayed as Celie first meets her and Shug tells her “you sure is ugly”, which is of the semantic field of hate, in contrast to the verb “donate” that is in the semantic field of charity and kindness. The quilting is symbolic of joining together and of sorority, because quillting was something you did with scraps to try and make something better, which is what Celie is trying to do with her life, and the fact that Shug gave something towards it shows that she isn’t purely a rebellious jazz singer like the Preacher said. One of the most crucial parts of the novel, giving it its title, is when Shug introduces Celie to her religion that God isn’t one thing specifically, he is “everything”, this metaphor shows a very comforting philosophy, that ends up making Celie feel a lot happier in herself, adding to her quality of life because of Shug.

The way of life that Walker has set forward is Pantheism, in which you do not look for God in a church, like Celie once did, that you know that is is everywhere and in everybody. This reflects Walker’s personal belief and spirituality which is Pantheism. We must not forget that Shug is a huge catalyst for Celie, as she is the symbol for what woman could be. It is comforting also that at the end of the novel, even though they have gone their separate ways romantically, they still respect and admire each other, showing us how strong their bond is, and how vital it is to the plot of the novel.

Since the introduction of cell phones, the use of phones have come into question whether it’s usage could lead to an addiction. Day by day technology is taking over our lives and we don’t even realize how serious this can actually be. Our phones, computers, tablets and other forms of technology have become not just an object but our best friend and something we solely depend on. Research has been done on cell phone usage and its impact on all of us for so many years. It is not a new issue at all, but the increasing trend of cell phone addiction and how it affects our health is the big overall issue.

Cell phones. Something society all know of and has been essential to their daily lives, but are people overusing their cellphones to the point where it becomes an addiction? Also, is this form of technology affecting human communication? We are now calling this term Nomophobia. A phobia is an extreme fear of something. “Nomophobia is an abbreviation of no-mobile-phone-phobia, which is also called cell phone addiction”. In simpler terms, nomophobia is the fear of being without your phone. Some symptoms that are included in nomophobia are experiencing anxiety over losing a phone, constantly checking for emails, text, and calls, using a cell phone in inappropriate settings (business meetings, bathrooms, church, etc.) , and missing out on face to face interactions. While cell phones have its good benefits of connecting people from around the world, cell phone addiction is real because people are obsessively using their cell phones and it has affected our human interaction.

Today, it is estimated that more than 5 billion people in the world have cell phones and over half of the connections are smartphones. In some recent studies it has shown that “Fifty-eight percent of smartphone users don’t go more than an hour without checking their phones. Every morning you’d expect when someone wakes up they’ll tell whoever’s in the home good morning, or go straight to the bathroom, but “Eighty-nine percent of individuals reach for their phones within fifteen minutes of waking up” and would probably spend at least thirty minutes to half an hour using their phone before actually getting up and starting their morning routine. There are even times when people know a phone is not ringing or anything and they will still check it constantly to see if they missed any calls, emails, text, or any other notification. Sixty seven percent of people find themselves in that same situation. There is always an appropriate time and place to use a cellphone, and there are certain settings where a cell phone can be extremely distracting and people still have a habit of using them in these places. Statistics show that “Nine percent adults have used their phone during sex , Thirty-four percent used their phone in a movie theater, fifty-five used their phone while driving which is extremely dangerous and is against the law, and nineteen percent have used their phone during church”. The cell phone is not the problem, it’s the person’s behavior and obsessive usage.

A person’s obsession with technology is likened to an addiction. The way the phone makes individuals feel is a feeling like no other, it’s kind of like a virtual home. Cell phones make people feel connected, accepted, and engaged. It distracts people from the drag of the real world. Studies have shown that “levels of dopamine, the same happy chemical often released by food, sex and drugs increase in the human brain after a phone beeps or ring”. Dr. Ashely Sens, a pediatrician at the Dignity Health Medical Foundation Davis Care Center stated “Too much screen time can deprive us of much needed interaction with other humans as well as with the world around us”. Too much cell phone usage can actually hurt people not only mentally but physically. Neck pain, tired eyes, and headaches are just some symptoms of physical pain from spending hours on your cell phone. “Looking down at a phone puts about five times as much pressure on the neck as not looking down, according to a 2014 study from Surgical Technology International” Studies have shown that the neck already carries about twelve pounds just from holding up your head so when it flexed at a sixty degree angle it’s carries to as much as sixty pounds. Looking down at a screen can lead to accidents and not just car accidents. “Fifty-six percent of people have said they had accidentally tripped or bumped into another person because they were distracted by their phone.” Overusing a cell phone can also lead to obesity and trouble with sleeping. Sens, of Dignity health suspects that many of her young patients’ sleeping troubles are related to looking at their phones and iPads right up until bedtime, which leaves them unable to wind down.

It’s the middle of the night and someone reaches for their phone. They innocently tell themselves they just want to check the time. It’s still dark out so they will for sure go back to sleep, but before they know it, muscle memory takes over and they find themselves checking their emails, social media, text, calls etc. This has become a habit that is out of their control now. “The percentage of smartphone users who would actually be classified as addicted is estimated between [ten-twelve]%”, according to the director of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, Dr. David Greenfield. 

Cell Phone addiction isn’t classified as an official diagnosis, but it has almost the same effect as a gambling addiction. Cell phones can be compared to a mini slot machine. Cellphones, just like slot machines, operate a variable reinforcement schedule. Every once in awhile someone gets a “reward” like a text, call, or a social media notification, but they never know when they’re going to get it. That is the same reinforcement a slot machine has. Each of these “rewards” triggers a dopamine release. Dopamine is a hormone associated with happiness and serotonin regulates our mood. “It is released during pleasurable situations and stimulates one to seek out the pleasurable activity or occupation”. Alot of apps are counting on that drive to keep people constantly checking their phones. Social media apps that include things such as likes and comments so we get them in an unpredictable pattern and check our phones more.

An addiction is a combination of two things. One it involves abuse or dependency on a substance or behavior that is beyond control and two it’s impacting people’s lives in a negative way, whether it’s work , school, or social relationships. Symptoms may include increased tolerance. Needing more time on a cell phone, updated technology or new apps to get a fix. Another is withdrawal. Feeling uneasy, ill, or anxious when they are away from their phone. Also mood changes. Using a phone to change one mood or state of mind. A person’s stress level will dramatically increase, their mind and body constantly remains under stress due to the habit of checking your phone. Lack of sleep is one of the biggest symptoms. Keeping a cell phone next to or on their pillow and constantly checking does a lot of damage to one’s sleeping schedule. When a person uses their phones at night, melatonin mistakes the light from the phone for daytime. As a result, it’s hard to sleep which causes sleeping disorders including insomnia.

Cell phones are slowly altering people’s brains. It messes with concentration, memory and more. “There is evidence that delegating thinking tasks to our devices could not only be making our brains sicker but lazier too. (Business Insider)”. The more tapping, clicking and social media postings and scrolling people do, the ‘noisier’ their brain signals start to become. “Researchers found that there is actually a link between relying on a smartphone and mental laziness.” For a phone, that energy carries information, in the form of calls or texts between phones and cell phone towers. That radiation can travel into people’s bodies as they use their phones. And some of its energy can be absorbed by the body. But, scientists have not shown that radiation from phones causes harm yet. As cell phones have become prevalent in modern society, some people have a significant issue with not being able to disengage from their cell phone. There are so many different ways to break the addiction of the cell phone. This is for those who feel like they are too dependent on their smartphones, it’s time to take a break and start paying attention towards better things. While a smartphone is an essential daily gadget in today’s world, it’s not something that one should be addicted to.

When downloading an app, there is always an option of enabling notifications with one simple click it can turn them off so it won’t be such a distraction. Turn off the notifications from apps like social media or game apps, those are the main root to spending an outrageous amount of time on a cellphone doing nothing when time could be used for something productive. But this isn’t enough, when customizing notifications it reduces the number of notifications one gets, but there are ones that will still demand attention. Next thing is to get rid of badges. Badges are the little red circle that draws attention and shows someone how many notifications they’ve missed. Badges should be used for more important things like missed phone calls, emails, or text.

Another way is finding out which apps on your phone are healthy for you or extremely toxic. When a relationship with an app is healthy, it makes one’s life better, it’s not a compulsion to use it. They’ll use it when they need it and the rest of the time don’t think about it. When a relationship with an app is toxic it makes one’s life worse. Using these apps gives someone little to no benefits. Healthy apps include the calendar , calculator, and banking apps. Unhealthy apps are all social media apps and free game apps. The goal is to de-emphasize all the apps which there’s an addiction too and emphasize the more healthier ones.

Keeping your phone away at night can also help. Cell phone addiction can affect sleep so when someone is charging their phone at night, they can charge it as far as they can away from them to keep them from being up all night. “U.S. teens are trading sleep time for screen time. That’s the finding of a new study. It analyzed survey data from hundreds of thousands of adolescents. And they showed that the share of teens who are losing more sleep and logging more screen time rose dramatically.” If someone checks their phone and read something upsetting it can cause them to be restless and make it way harder for you to fall back to sleep. So moving yjr cell phone to a different room or even just out of arm’s reach could better their sleep and overall health.

Lastly, finding a hobby. When people are keeping themselves occupied or when they are genuinely having fun and enjoying life outside of their cell phone it could make a person’s day way more productive and positive. People miss out on so much on their phone without even noticing, in a good way. When spending time on a cellphone, there is so much time being wasted and that time could go towards something. If a person don’t have a hobby they can spend time finding one or it doesn’t even have to be a hobby, just something that will keep them occupied and something that will also benefit you like homework or cleaning.

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Though there are good and bad influences of the smartphones, these social aspects are changing and making it more difficult to maintain regular social lives with the heavy reliance on smartphones. There are several impacts that these smartphones have on an individual’s life, and will continue to have as the capabilities grow every day. As cell phone addiction increases, more and more people feel trapped. As a society, people can all put a stop to these habits if they really tried. There was once a time when none of this technology was really important to us, from reaching the highest level on candy crush to how many likes have you received on your most recent picture. It could go back to where people lived a nomophobia free life. All they have to do is notice their obsession and get through all the steps to get over it.  

Works Cited

1. Clark-Polner, E., Johnson, T. D., & Reinecke, L. (2019). The reality of nomophobia: Behavioral addiction towards smartphones. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(7), 485-489. doi:10.1089/cyber.2018.0708
2. Elhai, J. D., Yang, H., Montag, C., & Elhai, K. M. (2020). Exploring smartphone addiction: Insights from long-term telemetric behavioral measures. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 1-14. doi:10.3390/ijerph17176323
3. Kwon, M., Lee, J. Y., Won, W. Y., Park, J. W., Min, J. A., Hahn, C., ... & Kim, D. J. (2013). Development and validation of a smartphone addiction scale (SAS). PLoS ONE, 8(2), e56936. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056936
4. Roberts, J. A., Yaya, L. H., & Manolis, C. (2014). The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(4), 254-265. doi:10.1556/JBA.3.2014.015
5. Salehan, M., & Negahban, A. (2013). Social networking on smartphones: When mobile phones become addictive. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(6), 2632-2639. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.003
6. Toda, M., Monden, K., & Kubo, K. (2004). Mobile phone dependence and health-related lifestyle of university students. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 32(2), 183-190. doi:10.2224/sbp.2004.32.2.183
7. Lopez-Fernandez, O., Kuss, D. J., Romo, L., Morvan, Y., Kern, L., Graziani, P., ... & Rousseau, A. (2017). Self-reported dependence on mobile phones in young adults: A European cross-cultural empirical survey. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 6(2), 168-177. doi:10.1556/2006.6.2017.020
8. Lee, S., Kim, M. S., Choi, D., & Kim, D. J. (2018). How smartphone addiction affects social interactions among university students in Korea: A mixed-methods study. PLoS ONE, 13(10), e0206930. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206930
9. Lin, Y. H., Chang, L. R., Lee, Y. H., Tseng, H. W., Kuo, T. B., & Chen, S. H. (2014). Development and validation of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI). PLoS ONE, 9(6), e98312. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098312

Cell phones have proven to be an addiction that is difficult to stop. So let's research have smartphones destroyed a generation in this paper. The current generation is engaging in increased use of smartphones and forgetting that they should also live life from a different perception. They need to interact more socially and physically without having to rely entirely on the use of cell phones. Cell phones are now destroying the current generation by taking most of their energy as well as time. This has a direct impact on how people live as well as how they interact with their social surroundings. The earlier generation, on the other hand, did not rely that much on the use of cell phones (Twenge, 2018). They did not even have the technological know-how of how they can be used, and this meant that they had to spend most of their time doing other constructive things in their lives. This is the perfect way of living as there should be a control in everything that one does. Use of smartphones by the iGen causes so many negative impacts such as the development of mental disorders, lack of social support and leading of an unhappy life.

One major impact of cell phone usage is the mental effects. One argument made is how it affects mental health. According to Twenge’s article, “The suicide rate is still higher for boys, in part because they use more-lethal methods, but girls are beginning to close the gap” (Twenge, 2018). This is an important and notable piece of information, however, Twenge does not state the mental health positive side of the spectrum. With every good, there does come a positive in some way, shape, or form. For example, in college now if I did not have my smartphone to keep in touch with my family or friends my mental health would be far worse due to how homesick I get while missing my friends, family, and the events back in my hometown.

Over usage of cell phones affects the functioning of an individual which leads to significant psychological effects such as depression. The iGen represents several kids who are growing in a world where they are super connected to their phones and especially the internet. Their entire life depends on the internet, and as a result, they tend to spend more time on their cell phones either watching content, playing video games, chatting, or video calling. All these seem to be fun activities, and that is a primary reason that has contributed to the increase in the prevalence of the use of cell phones (Price, 2018). However, most of these kids have been reported to drown in depression. They are less social, and as a result, they do not know how to solve their problems. They rarely interact physically with their parents, and this means that their relationship is not that great. As a result, they end up being depressed since they are stressed over so many social problems that they would have solved if they had a better relationship with their parents.

Continued use of smartphones is leaving most of these kids unhappy about life. They do not engage themselves in real-life activities that result in happiness. They end up living in a lonely world which is not functional at all. They make more online friends than physical friends. The world is now experiencing more psychological problems as they are living an abnormal life that cannot take them through their growth and development stages successfully (Twenge, 2018). This means that they are more vulnerable to psychologically. Most of these kids are developing a mental health crisis without their knowledge, and therefore there is a need for their parents to control the amount of time they dedicate to using their cell phones.

Other mental conditions include attempted suicide. It reaches a time when their overindulgence in using their phones becomes more stressful because they feel lonely. Their social needs continue increasing to an extent it causes so much depression and loneliness. Such effects end up convincing them that suicide is the only option (Price, 2018). Such incidences have been now consistent amongst teens, and the main reason is a lack of social aspect in their lives.

The social impact of using of cell phones by the iGen is that they lack the social support they should gain from having actual physical friendships. They spend so much more time on their phones than they do face-to-face with their friends. This is to mean that they are living a life with no social support and this is bad for their growth. They also lack time to engage in social activities such as sports, participate in events, or being active on family gatherings (Twenge, 2018). These events are essential as they help them to attain social cohesion in which they can easily protect themselves from negative social consequences. Proper social interactions protect them against mental health concerns.

On the other hand, the use of cell phones by the iGen is somehow advantageous to them. For instance, they are too busy to start engaging in evil acts such as drug abuse or having unprotected sex. They also have less time to drink alcohol, and this means that they are somehow safer than the previous generation who do not engage that much in using their cell phones (Cavanagh, 2017). They also hold off to having sex, and this means such things as unwanted pregnancies or STDs cannot be part of them. Additionally, the use of cell phones by teenagers enables them to access the internet which is rich in so many research materials. They can use the platform to research further on what they learn in school and perfect their performance.

In conclusion, it is the responsibility of the parents to take charge of controlling the amount of time their children spend on the phone. A balance needs to be obtained for them to benefit and lead a healthy social life that is free from depression or other mental effects. To go as far as to say that smartphones a ruining a generation when they are also beneficial at the same time to me, seems unjust. However, the verdict as to whether or not smartphones are truly toxic lies in the eye of the beholder.

References

1. Cavanagh, S. R. (2017). No, Smartphones are Not Destroying a Generation. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/once-more-feeling/201708/no-smartphones-are-not-destroying-generation
2. Price, C. (2018). HOW TO BREAK UP WITH YOUR PHONE: The 30-day plan to take back your life. S.l.: TRAPEZE.
3. Twenge, J. M. (2018). Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/

Cell Phones should be Included in the school experience because the cell phone is an extremely powerful tool; along with the purpose of school being to prepare the newest generation for the future, It is the school’s job to prepare us for everything we may encounter when we reach adulthood. Parents are trusting that their children are being given every opportunity to explore and learn with the time changes, With times changing rapidly, along with the world turning more and more to technology, children have to be taught at an early age how to use and technology.

Which is the direction our world is heading in, relying more and more on our cellphones to think for us. In the classroom, students have to be intrigued and curious in what they are being taught, as well as how they are learning. Cell phones should be brought into the school curriculum to give students another way to explore new ways of learning with the convenience of mobile devices. Most times, when it comes to technology, children tend to become very curious, intrigued and pay more attention to what is shown to them visually, whereas traditional teaching has the children learning from a whiteboard or textbook. Due to the world evolving and technology being a prominent source of survival, incorporating cell phone usage in our school’s curriculum will not only engage students with a new way of learning, but it will also prepare students for the world outside of school as well as their future.

Children love to learn! When parents and teachers take a moment to think about the best ways to engage children and students into learning, technology is usually the main resource used to pull children of all ages into active learning, and at times helps them retain more information due to the visual aspect of technology. ‘Kolb points to some schools in Michigan that adopted new straightforward rules and guidelines for educators that were designed to meet the needs of students while addressing educators’ concerns. Posted on classroom doors, for example, are signs indicating whether the students can use their devices. A green stoplight means they can use them; red means no’.This quote demonstrates how the cell phone can be put to use and not be a distraction at the same time. Students and children have grown up with technology along with multitasking, which has forced them into the habit of processing information quickly “We need to stop pushing against the technology and start embracing it,” says Amber Schaefer. On paper the cell phone ban works, realistically the students will find ways around the cell phone ban. Instead of fighting it, it should be embraced.

Teachers, even more so than parents, are a child’s main source of education. Parents teach what they can while the children are at home, but teachers spend an average of 900-1,000, hours with children five days a week excluding half days, sick days and breaks. Cell Phones should be Included in the school experience because the cell phone is an extremely powerful tool; along with the purpose of school being to prepare the newest generation for the future.

It is the school’s job to prepare us for everything we may encounter when we reach adulthood. Parents are trusting that their children are being given every opportunity to explore and learn with the time changes, With times changing rapidly, along with the world turning more and more to technology, children have to be taught at an early age how to use and technology. Which is the direction our world is heading in, relying more and more on our cell phones to think for us. In the classroom, students have to be intrigued and curious about what they are being taught, as well as how they are learning. Cell phones should be brought into the school curriculum to give students another way to explore new ways of learning with the convenience of mobile devices. Most times, when it comes to technology, children tend to become very curious, intrigued and pay more attention to what is shown to them visually, whereas traditional teaching has the children learning from a whiteboard or textbook. Due to the world evolving and technology being a prominent source of survival, incorporating cell phone usage in our school’s curriculum will not only engage students with a new way of learning, but it will also prepare students for the world outside of school as well as their future.

Children love to learn! When parents and teachers take a moment to think about the best ways to engage children and students in learning, technology is usually the main resource used to pull children of all ages into active learning, and at times helps them retain more information due to the visual aspect of technology. ‘Kolb points to some schools in Michigan that adopted new straightforward rules and guidelines for educators that were designed to meet the needs of students while addressing educators’ concerns. Posted on classroom doors, for example, are signs indicating whether the students can use their devices. A green stoplight means they can use them; red means no’. This quote demonstrates how the cell phone can be put to use and not be a distraction at the same time. Students and children have grown up with technology along with multitasking, which has forced them into the habit of processing information quickly “We need to stop pushing against the technology and start embracing it,” says Amber Schaefer. On paper the cell phone ban works, realistically the students will find ways around the cell phone ban. Instead of fighting it, it should be embraced.

Teachers, even more so than parents, are a child’s main source of education. Parents teach what they can while the children are at home, but teachers spend an average of 900-1,000, hours with children five days a week excluding half days, sick days and breaks.

Works Cited

1. Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. The New Media Consortium.
2. Penuel, W. R., Briggs, D. C., Davidson, K. L., Herlihy, C., Hill, H. C., Farrell, C., ... & Gallagher, D. J. (2017). Findings from a study of research-practice partnerships in education and implications for the future. William T. Grant Foundation.
3. Kirschner, P. A., & De Bruyckere, P. (2017). The myths of the digital native and the multitasker. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 135-142.
4. Boyd, D. (2014). It's complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
5. Heitner, D. (2017). Screenwise: Helping kids thrive (and survive) in their digital world. Routledge.
6. Baron, N. S. (2015). Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World. Oxford University Press.
7. Ito, M., Horst, H. A., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr-Stephenson, R., Lange, P. G., ... & Tripp, L. (2008). Living and learning with new media: Summary of findings from the digital youth project. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning.
8. Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2013). Is K-12 blended learning disruptive? An introduction to the theory of hybrids. Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
9. Warschauer, M. (2018). Learning in the cloud: How (and why) to transform schools with digital media. Teachers College Press.
10. UNESCO. (2013). Mobile learning for teachers in UNESCO member states. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

A cell’s ability to respond to its environment is essential to its survival. Short term-responses to environmental stimuli, which can occur rapidly and are usually reversible, most often result from modification of existing proteins. The long-term response, are usually the result of changes in the transcription of genes. Extracellular signals that induce long-term responses to affect many aspects of cell function; division, differentiation, and even communication with other cells.

Alterations in these signaling pathways cause many human diseases including cancer, diabetes, and immune defects. In order to illustrate the variety of mechanisms used to activate key transcription factors, the eight classes of cell surface receptors and the intracellular signal pathways that they activate area important. Ligand binding to many receptors causes activation by inducing two or more receptor molecules to form a complex on the cell surface. Most signaling pathways involve one or more protein Kinases.

Many extracellular signaling molecules are synthesized and released by signaling cells within the organism. In all cases, signaling molecules produce a specific response only in target cells that have receptors for the signaling molecules. Many types of chemicals are used as signals: small molecules, peptides, soluble proteins, and many proteins presented to the surface of a cell or found to the extracellular matrix. Most receptors bind a signal molecule are a group of closely related molecules.

Most signaling molecules, however, are too large and too hydrophilic to penetrate through the plasma membrane. These bind to cell surface receptors that are integral proteins on the plasma membrane. Cell surface receptors generally consist of three discrete segments: a segment on the extracellular surface, a segment that spans the plasma membrane and a segment facing the cytosol.

The signaling molecules act as a ligand which binds to a structurally complementary site on the extracellular or membrane-spanning domains of the receptors. Binding of the ligand induces a conformational change in the receptor that is transmitted through the membrane-spanning domain to the cytosolic Domain resulting in binding to and subsequent activation of other proteins in the cytosol or attached to the plasma membrane. The overall process of converting extracellular signals into intracellular responses as well as the individual steps in these processes is termed as Signal transduction. The molecules involved in the process is called Signal transducers.

Most ligands are responsible for cell-cell signaling (including neurotransmitters, peptide hormones, and growth factors) bind to receptors on the surface of their target cells. A major aspect in understanding the cell-cell signaling is understanding the mechanisms by which cell surface receptors transmit the signals initiated by ligand binding.

Cell surface receptors, including the receptors for peptide hormones and growth factors, act instead by regulating the activity of intracellular proteins. These proteins then transmit signals from the receptor to a series of additional intracellular targets, frequently including transmission factors. Ligand binding to a receptor on the surface of the cell thus initiates a chain of intracellular reactions, ultimately reaching the target cell nucleus and resulting in programmed changes in Gene Expression.

The largest family of cell surface receptor transmits a signal to intracellular targets via the intermediary action of guanine nucleotides binding proteins called G proteins. Nearly thousand such G protein-coupled receptors have been identified including the receptors for Eicosanoids, many neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and peptides hormones. In addition, the G-Protein coupled receptor family includes a large number of receptors that are responsible for smell, site, and taste

The G-Protein Coupled receptors are structurally and functionally related proteins characterized by seven membrane-spanning alpha helices. The binding of Ligands to the extracellular domains of these receptor induces a conformational change that allows the cytosolic domain of the receptors to activate a G-Protein associated with the inner phases of the plasma membrane. The activated G-protein then dissociates from the receptors and carries the signal to an intracellular target, which may be either an enzyme or an ion channels.

The number of people accessing information and communication technologies has reached a critical mass around the world, especially with an emerging media outlet like social media. As a result, governments and social media companies felt the need to enforce more stringent monitoring and suppress the circulation of content among Internet users (Stoycheff, Burgess & Martucci 2018), due to the major role it plays in exerting different influences on public’s attitude and perception (Soon & Tan 2016). Over the years, scholarly studies have been focusing on the content, usage and effects of social media on areas of political influence (Zhang & Lei 2019), hate speech (Anat & Fernadez 2016), terrorism (Melki & Jabado 2016), and many others. These studies tend to reflect that these contents may threaten social stability when circulated online, and thus were often labelled “harmful”.

However, despite knowledge of its danger, the unprecedented reach of social media and its content to audiences have made it largely impossible the governments to impose laws and tinker the sharing these harmful contents (Flew 2015). Thus, there has been a mounting concern for social media companies such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc. to take on the role of a gatekeeper of content, exercising a form of self-regulation on these platforms (DeNardis & Hackl 2015).

While social media censorship seems to be an imperative step to safeguard users from potential threats online, concerns on users’ right to freedom of expression and access to information cannot be ignored as well. With the decentralised structure of the Internet, users are then given the freedom to participate in information sharing and discussion that has long been viewed as an act of democratic advancement (Stoycheff, Burgess & Martucci 2018; Mossberger 2008). Therefore, social media censorship is a violation against the highly valued right to freedom of expression with the restrictions imposed on the content users post, view and share.

Howard, Agarwal & Hussain (2011) also criticised censorship, particularly with shutting one’s post, as an extremely crude form of disturbance to information flow. In this modern-day society, where millions across the world rely heavily on social media platforms on news and information, censorship will affect how well-informed they will be.

Stevenson (2000) argues that the contradiction of censorship will always revolve between having an official guideline set to regulate content versus having audiences to decide themselves on the content they would like to see. Hence, there will be people who supports perspective such as DeNardis’s (2012) who perceives censorship policies as a necessary sacrifice to create a safe and operational platform, while others think that censorship would only compromise their right to speak freely when audiences are clearly able to filter information themselves even without the help of censorship policies (Gibson 2019). This opens an alternative for content regulation on social media by eliminating social media companies as a central control for information and replacing it with self-censorship, which could perhaps offer a balance between content management and free speech on social media platforms.

Facebook, as the largest and most influential social media in the world, was one of the very first to engage content censorship on its platform. Facebook’s increasing popularity over the past decade was largely due to its promise of a new type of communicative environment, where anyone could share their beliefs as and when they wish (Jørgensen 2018), and interact with the online community through sharing or modification of content provided by other users (Trottier & Fuchs 2014). However, this entitlement for users of Facebook could be lost as the Community Standards policies are being applied. This makes Facebook one of “the world’s most powerful editor” (Hasen 2016), “a platform with more power in determining who can speak and who can be heard around the world than any Supreme Court, king or president that existed” (Rosen 2010).

Although Zuckerberg (2018) argues that the Community Standards policies were established to tackle issues of harmful content such as hate speech, nudity, terrorism and others, and not to restrict users’ right to freedom of expression, it is still undeniably a challenge for the platform to determine the line to draw between safeguarding the community and the human rights to free speech (Anat & Fernadez 2016), and how the platform would intervene users’ content (Gilespie 2018).

Overall, extensive studies have been done on the societal effects of social media censorship, either supporting its call for a safer online discussion space or discouraging it for violating one’s right to freedom of expression. However, there is still a lack of empirical studies to explore a balance between content regulation and free speech. Hence, through adopting a content analysis as a methodology on from a Facebook group that was formed by users who were upset about Facebook’s Community Standards, this research aims to identify concerns of freedom of expression with the implementation of social media censorships, while proposing alternatives for content regulation on digital intermediaries without undermining users’ communicative interests. 

Works Cited

1. Anat, Z. & Fernadez, W. (2016). Countering violent extremism on social media: An analysis of communication campaigns. International Journal of Communication, 10, 5406-5423. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5345/1718
2. DeNardis, L., & Hackl, A. M. (2015). Internet fragmentation: An overview. SSRN Electronic Journal.
3. Flew, T. (2015). Communication and social media. Oxford University Press.
4. Gibson, R. (2019). Freedom of speech and the limits of social media censorship. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/freedom-of-speech-and-the-limits-of-social-media-censorship-125726
5. Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. Yale University Press.
6. Hasen, R. L. (2016). Facebook and the new face of media regulation. The University of Chicago Law Review Online, 83, 37-43. https://lawreview.uchicago.edu/sites/lawreview.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/83_u_chi_l_rev_online_37.pdf
7. Howard, P. N., Agarwal, S. D., & Hussain, M. M. (2011). When do states disconnect their digital networks? Regime responses to the political uses of social media. The Communication Review, 14(3), 216-232.
8. Jørgensen, H. (2018). Facebook and democracy: In defence of an extended understanding of freedom of expression. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), 1388-1403.
9. Mossberger, K. (2008). Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. Georgetown University Press.
10. Stevenson, J. (2000). Freedom of speech: The history of an idea. Penguin.

Central England Cooperative is an innovative consumer cooperative enterprise based in the UK. Consumer cooperatives are enterprises that operate independently of the state, are a form of mutual aid and aimed towards providing consumer services rather than profit. Founded in 2013, the Central England Cooperative has experienced tremendous growth since and ended 2017 with nearly two million members and nearly ten thousand employees. The Central England Cooperative has a diverse range of businesses in its portfolio. Known most commonly for food stores, the Central England Cooperative ranges from funeral directories, to travel branches and florists. The CEC is the second largest independent retailer cooperative in the UK after The Co-Operative Group founded in 1844. It recently reported a sales increase of six percent in their most recent financial report. Voluntary and Open Membership Cooperatives are open to all people who are willing and able to deal with the terms and conditions of membership. When analyzing using this principle, it is keen to note that the requirements of membership can somehow be used to have some individuals unable to gain membership.

Nonetheless, the Central England Cooperative is one cooperative that requires persons to usher an amount of £1 to gain membership. As expressed on their website, the cooperative is quite transparent in its membership requirements. It has an open membership policy whereby potential members are given the different ways in which they can become part of the organization. The first method is having a join in a card that is purchased from selected stores in the UK where an individual can directly start earning points. The card can then be used for the member to become a fully-fledged member by registering their cards with the organization’s headquarters. The second way is using their helpline for membership, and finally, they have a webpage purposed for member’s enrolment. With these channels of membership that are accessible to all and easy, it is clear that the organization in general highly emphasizes a voluntary and open membership.

Democratic Member Control The very core of democratic operations in any cooperative is the presence of board elections. Individuals running for the different positions in the board offer varying ideologies meaning that the polls are expected to show what the majority thinks is right. As a cooperative, the CEC holds elections every three years and offers the chance for all members who have held at least £1 for the prior six months before the election a chance to vote for their desired leaders. The meetings that are held twice a year at different venues to offer the members ample opportunities to attend. In these meetings, the members are given platforms to express their policy requirements to the board which is the executive body that analyses them.

Member’s Economic Participation The economic contribution of members is quite crucial for the running of a cooperative because the more they get involved in the financial affairs of the organization, the more it grows. The CEC uses the dividend policy to ensure that members with the highest amount of input in terms of points take a more prominent share. The member relations section of the dividend pay-out takes into account the involvement of the members in the different product offerings the organization has. When a member purchases from one of the organization's outlets, they gain points because they use their membership cards which come in handy during the calculation of dividends because one point is equated to 1 pence.

Autonomy and Independence

The meetings undertaken by the cooperative are formal in nature and seek to create frameworks that are to be used to enact legislation of the group as well as enter into new trade deals. The annual reports offer members the chance to see their proposals actualized by the board of directors. The CEC uses the publications to provide the member's knowledge of how it has distributed the finances. These publications are done yearly and are given consent by the elected members of the board. The meetings are openly attended, and eligible members are given platforms to air out their views, which are voted on by the members.

Education, training, and information

Education and training are regarded as lifelong requirements for individuals because they help ensure knowledge and performance for employees. The CEC understands this critical element by providing a unique appraisal of the Board and Individual Directors. In its statement of 2014, the cooperative was specific in mentioning that it does not appraise the board nor the individual directors because it does so by offering training to them (Central England Co-operative, 2014). The directors are required to regularly attend seminars for training that are mandatory for them in their leadership positions. The cooperative also has member groups that are open to all members that have classes ranging from dancing, keeping fit, sugarcraft, etc. that are designed for enhance skills to these individuals. Cooperation among Cooperatives The cooperative has channels in which it can cooperate with other like-minded organizations through its member’s activities. In specific, the organization allows its members to earn points when they trade with other cooperatives such as the Co-operative Group and the Midcounties Co-operative. When members engage in products from these other unions, they can earn points that are transferable to the Central England Cooperative.

Members of other co-operatives can also earn points when they engage in doing business with the different outlets of the cooperative. By so doing, the relationship between the two organizations is heightened when members can engage in interdependently. Concern for Community. The co-operative has a corporate social responsibility initiative that has channels in which the organization gives back to the community. The partnership with the Newlife Foundation is one such initiative that has seen the organization raise over £500,000 since 2012. The co-operative in 2017 decided to add into their mental welfare campaign by pledging 50 mental health champions to help with the initiative (Cooperative Press, 2017). It also has a partnership with the Salvation Army to the site for their clothing banks at their 72 retail stores. CEC has also set its foot on the health and wellbeing sector by having a connection with the National Obesity Awareness Initiative.

The organization was awarded 4.5 stars in the 2017 CR Index that is promoted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’ Responsible Business Network. Also, the co-operative has issued employment for students and ultimately commended for the 2015 Business in the Community Inspiring Young Talent Award (Business in the Community, 2015). The basis I am nominating this cooperative is because it has incorporated all the principles of such an organization to create value for its members as well as the community. It has received recognition and awards in the past making it a beacon in the cooperative sector of the country in general. In all sectors of quality of products, cooperate governance, planning, and inclusion, and transparency, the cooperative has shown tremendous effort.

'Introduction: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love' is a kind of peaceful lyric created by Christopher Marlowe in the late sixteenth century. This sonnet involves shepherds and country life. This ballad was written in a shepherd's field or settings. The data given is about the speaker who is a shepherd and thinks hopefully and impractically. Before Christopher Marlowe could print his work he had begun accepting different reactions about his work. One such reaction was composed by Sir Walter Raleigh in his sonnet 'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd' which was an immediate reaction to Marlowe. Marlowe doesn't put accentuation much on the character or setting however more on the case that the shepherd is endeavoring to make towards the young lady. The exceptional subject of this work is of joy and optimistic love.

Thesis statement: The poems “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir William Raleigh, and “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe have the same central theme, that love and nature are beautiful but don’t last forever. Both authors use literary elements to support this central idea.

Topic sentence: In “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, Raleigh uses imagery and conflict to convey his central idea of love and nature are beautiful, but don’t last forever. Evidence & citing: In line 6 of the poem, the Nymph replies “When rivers rage and rocks grow cold”. Commentary: This is an example of imagery and conflict at the same time. The nature won’t stay appealing forever. The leaves will wither away with winter, the rocks will be unused and covered in snow, and the river will rush by, moving too fast to be beautiful. The nymph could also be referencing the shepherd’s heart as the rocks, and the river as him, moving past her too fast, leaving her behind. This is an example of a metaphor, because it doesn’t use like or as in the phrase. His heart is the rock, because it grows cold and hard as time passes, and he is the river, getting over her and what drew him to her in the first place: beauty. Evidence & citing: Also, in lines 9 through 12, the nymph says, “The flowers do fade, and wanton fields, to wayward winter reckoning yields, a honey tongue, a heart of gall, It’s fancy’s spring, but sorrows fall”. Commentary: This is an example of imagery and connects to the central idea. It connects to the central idea that love and nature are beautiful, but don’t last forever because just like the few lines above, nature’s beauty will fade, leaving the dark and cold of winter. In the 16th century, shepherds were known to lie to the nymphs to get female company on their journeys so they weren’t lonely. The “heart of gall” is referring to the shepherd and how his heart will turn bitter in time. The honey tongue is the sweet talking of the shepherd, trying to woo her to come with him. This is an example of conflict because the nymph knows what the shepherd is trying to do, and she’s rejecting him. Evidence & citing: Another example of imagery is in line 5: “Time drives the flock from field to fold”. Commentary: The nymph knows that the sheep will move away from their field they reside in, and following the shepherd away from the view, so the couple can’t see them anymore. The nature isn’t beautiful anymore, and the love will eventually fade away.

Topic sentence: In the poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” the central theme of nature and love as beautiful but ephemeral is connected to the poem by literary elements such as imagery and conflict. Evidence & citing: For example, “And we will sit upon the rocks and watch the shepherds feed their flocks,” (Marlowe, Lines 5-6) ties into the central theme because the scene won’t last long. Commentary: The sheep move on, and the rocks get covered in snow, now unusable. This beautiful scene, just like the shepherd’s love for the nymph won’t last long. The seasons will change, and just like nature, their love will move on. Evidence & citing: An example of imagery is in lines 9 through 10. “And I will make thee beds of roses and a thousand fragrant posies”. Commentary: This is an example of imagery and ties to the central idea because the bed of roses is what the shepherd sleeps on, so he will give all he has to the girl to make her happy. Sooner or later though, the roses will fade and turn brown, looking displeasing to the girl, just like the shepherd’s love for her. The love will disappear and turn non-existent. Evidence & citing: Lastly, another example of conflict is in line 15: “Fair lined slippers for the cold.” Commentary: The shepherd is trying to woo the nymph with material goods, not telling her that he would keep her for the year, not letting her go for the winter. The shepherd would make beautiful and warm slippers hinting that he would keep her. He loves her, but mainly only for the company. He wouldn’t love her with all his heart, he just wants female compan

Conclusion paragraph: The theme of nature and love being beautiful but ephemeral is conveyed effectively by both Raleigh and Marlowe in these poems via common, important literary devices.

References

1. Kirchdorfer, U. (2014). William Faulkner Does Christopher Marlowe: Textual Similarities of Courtship in A ROSE FOR EMILY and THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE. The Explicator, 72(4), 308-311. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.2014.962462?journalCode=vexp20)
2. Cheney, P. (2016). “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and Hero and Leander. In Christopher Marlowe at 450 (pp. 175-212). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315571959-12/specters-marlowe-state-debt-work-mourning-1-richard-wilson)
3. Hamlin, H. (2016). Replying to Raleigh’s ‘The Nymph’s Reply’: Allusion, anti-pastoral, and four centuries of pastoral invitations. In Literary and visual Ralegh (pp. 166-199). Manchester University Press. (https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526111470/9781526111470.00011.xml)
4. Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Walter Raleigh's" The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd". Gale, Cengage Learning. (https://www.scribd.com/book/385750006/A-Study-Guide-for-Walter-Raleigh-s-The-Nymph-s-Reply-to-the-Shepherd?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google_search&utm_campaign=3Q_Google_DSA_NB_RoW&utm_term=&utm_device=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiAorKfBhC0ARIsAHDzslts62vL6sVkjFOEPsKFOlEEsJPtg9dPByTpKGjwp4bydLuJVGpvLiUaAkmaEALw_wcB)
5. Gurney, E. (2017). The Nymph’s Reply: Kathryn Stripling Byer and Pastoral Romance. (https://mds.marshall.edu/asa_conference/2017/accepted_proposals/235/)

Introduction

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Thesis statement

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

Topic sentence

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

Evidence & citing

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

Commentary

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Conclusion paragraph

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad aboutthe topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

Images of the vampire over time show a cohesive relationship with the genre of gothic literature because of its complex and contradictory nature. Gothic literature’s rise as the artistic interaction between the scientific and the supernatural played with an enticing paradox that extended beyond just themes and motifs. It manifested into the characters themselves. Dating back to the 1700’s, the introduction of a paradoxical character derived from Lord Byron’s many works appears in many vampiric characters as the Byronic hero. Also an aspect of gothic literature, monstrosity served and is serving an important purpose in our culture. Whatever aspects of humanity and society are manifested into monstrosity reveal the deepest fears of said society. When it comes to vampirism, both violence and sexual liberation inform the reader a great deal pertaining to the current state of cultural principles. A comparison of modern vampire imagery and older images in literary texts suggests that our culture is simply enticed by paradox and can empathize with the complexity of vampiric figures. The difference in the components of the paradoxes reveals the ways in which our culture’s values have changed in their origins while a theme of contradiction has stayed present.

As established, gothic literature itself is founded in the paradox of science and the supernatural. The unwavering popularity for the complicated and multifaceted presence of the Byronic hero in our culture over time also supports the claim that we are engaged by paradox. The Byronic hero loathes the reality that he is a monster. He is both creative and destructive, human and monster, sensitive and angsty, and both us and the other. Most of Byron’s poems included versions of the Byronic hero and Byron’s sentiments also support the popularity of the paradoxical existential lens also present in gothic literature. In his poem “Manfred”, Byron writes: “Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most / must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth” (Byron 11-12). Byron's awareness in general was something burdening his thoughts, and while knowledge was valued and sought after, the truth was something “fatal” and had to be mourned. One typical example of a vampirical Byronic hero is Varney the Vampire who is tortured by his own monstrosity. Although Varney was present in the 1840’s, his archetype can be seen manifested in many of today’s characters which supports our culture's longstanding fascination with duality and paradoxes. In the Twilight series, the main character Edward Cullen faces a strikingly similar torture to Varney and even Lord Byron. His awareness of his current state weighs on him, and even though he is painfully aware of his monstrosity, he brutes on in a relatively existential way. He knows he should stay away from his love interest but cannot bring himself to do it because he is a pinnacle of the overlap of humanity and monstrosity. Even centuries later, this tragically yet fascinatingly torn character grabs the attention of our society while also evoking our empathy more and more.

An interest in this paradox tells us about our culture’s relationships with individuality and the other. Since the Byronic hero is a form of both pure expression of individuality while also personifying our culture’s fear of the other, its popularity suggests that society and individuals struggle to successfully experience and define ourselves. Because of the natural and often conflicting duality most people experience, becoming indistinguishable from the other is a reason our culture may embrace monstrosity so much. It expertly lends itself to appeal to our individuality. Another more modern and ambiguous version of the vampire appears in the television series Dexter. Dexter Morgan is extremely aware of his monstrosity yet chooses to express it by killing other killers. This raises an enticing ethical dilemma for viewers which supports that the complexity of monstrosity engages our culture. In the very first episode, he says: “Blood. Sometimes it sets my teeth on edge, other times it helps me control the chaos.” Blood is undoubtedly one of the greatest symbols of the vampire in literature and text which is why Dexter can be considered not only the archetype of the Byronic hero but a form of a modern vampire as well. The popularity of both the show Dexter and the series Twilight informs us that our culture can identify with monstrosity while also justifying it through empathy. Dexter battles with his monstrosity, need to kill, and fascination with blood while remaining a controversial figure in the minds of the public since his horrible actions may be resulting in a net positive. One of the reasons society is so enticed by this paradox is because individuals identify monstrosity in themselves while also using characters such as Dexter and Edward as vehicles to accept monstrous parts of themselves.

While the presence of the paradox is apparent through gothic literature and vampiric figures, the aspects that comprise these paradoxes go beyond just violence and monstrosity. The shifts in the paradoxical components are parallel in structure to the shifts in our culture’s fears and expectations. The way vampire images have always been portrayed is shown through the lens of that author’s and/or that society’s cultural standards. For example, Bram Stoker’s personification of the female vampire sends very clear messages about how women fit into society in line with the rigid structure and values they were meant to adhere to. The character Lucy in Dracula by Bram Stoker expresses intellect and sexuality in a way that was clearly threatening for the time since she is effectively punished in the text. Stoker then goes on to imply that since Lucy may have had sexual experiences with multiple men, her punishment for this sexual liberation is death. This text is clearly written by someone who believes in and is enforcing the ideals of a monogamous and patriarchal society. At the time, sin was easily classified as a simple disobedience against religious values: purity is godlike and sexuality is sinful. As the value for religion in our culture has declined since Stoker wrote Dracula, the source from where our culture derives and follows its values has altered following the decline of religion causing society to find ways to reinforce and dictate those values itself. Vampire literature has always contained an element of threatening sexuality, especially when it comes to the female monster. Lillith was extremely sexually liberated and described as being the mother of all monsters while Carmilla was an alluring vampire that drained and seduced those around her. Whether in the bible, in Stoker’s works, or even Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla, all threats of women’s sexuality were written at a time or through a lens of a culture with significant religious values. In the show The Vampire Diaries, Nina Dobrev’s character is portrayed as seductive and vampiric with little emphasis on religion or sin. The show is strikingly more graphic and violent than LeFanu’s Carmilla which suggests that while cultural fears used to be intertwined with violating religious standards of purity, our culture now fears violence much more but is enticed by the juxtaposition of sexuality and brutality. Violence is a form of entertainment today because it plays with the promiscuity that sin did during the times of earlier vampiric works.

Paradox is enticing because of more than just its complexity. It allows us to identify with both society and the other at the same time and also is an immersive view into the fears and standards of a culture at a given time, especially with monstrosity and gothic literature. As a value such as religion is losing its impact and power in modern day America, the rise of violence grows as a form of radical entertainment. Gothic literature and vampiric images have consistently played with more than just the other. This genre pushes individuality and challenges the norm in ways that reflect society’s fears, however, as our culture becomes more and more desensitized to violence, this raises the question: what aspects of society’s fears and cultural expectations will the genre challenge next?