St. Catherine of Siena Essay -- Essays Papers

St. Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena was born in Italy in 1347 at a time when political and religious changes were affecting the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Dedicating her life to the Holy Spirit from a very young age, Catherine pursued a life of purity and simplicity that served as a background to her great literary work, The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Her work focuses on the importance of prayer and its transcendent power in human life. In the early stages of Catherine's life the surfacing modern age was bringing with it social turmoil which spread throughout Europe (Giordani 3). During Catherine's lifetime, according to Mary Ann Sullivan in her essay â€Å"St. Catherine of Siena,† the center of Catholic rule fluctuated between Rome and Avignon and contributed to a schism between popes in Italy and France (1). Catherine was born 23rd in a line of 25 children and, according to Sullivan â€Å"even at a young age, [she] sensed the troubled society around her and wanted to help† (1). While her parents were not exceptionally religious, St. Catherine's biographer Blessed Raymond of Capua discusses Catherine's early zeal for Catholic practices: â€Å"When she was about five she learned the Hail Mary, and repeated it over and over again as often as she could†¦she was inspired by heaven to address the Blessed Virgin in this way whenever she went up and down stairs, stopping to kneel on each step as she di d so† (24). Her devotion to the Virgin Mary would become especially important in a vision she had around this time while walking with her brother to visit one of her sisters. When Catherine was six she saw a bridal chamber up in the heavens with Jesus Christ who bestowed upon her the sign of the cross and his eternal bene... ...e University of Georgia Press, 1984. 252-255. Blessed Raymond of Capua. The Life of Saint Catherine of Siena . Trans. George Lamb. New York: P.J. Kennedy and Sons, 1960. Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 . www.ccel.org/c/catherine/dialog/dialog.html Gardner, Edmund G. Saint Catherine of Siena . London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1907. Giordani, Igino. Catherine of Siena: Fire and Blood . Trans. Thomas J. Tobin. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959. Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death . New York: Princeton University Press, 1979. Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda. Medieval Women's Visionary Literature . New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Sullivan, Mary Ann. St. Catherine of Siena . 1996. 29 Feb. 2004 . www.op.org/domcentral/trad/stcather.htm

Food Inc Notes

Animals and workers are being abused. * Why many things are deliberately kept from us. * We are only allowed to know what the companies want us to know. * Farmers are not allowed to talk about many things. * We eat things every day without thinking about where they come from * Why is McDonalds is the largest purchaser of ground beef in the united states * This changes how ground beef is produced * Companies basically control our food system * In the 1970’s the top 5 beef packers controlled only 25% of beef. * Today the top 4 control more than 80%. Birds are now raised and slaughtered in half the time they were fifty years ago but now they are twice the size with large breasts. * All birds that come from farms must be almost exactly the same size. * â€Å"If you can grow a chicken in 49 days why grow one in three months? More money in your pocket! † * Chickens never see sunlight! Is this fair?* Tyson makes farmers change their minds about letting people tour their chicke n houses. * What are they hiding? * Tyson declined being interviewed. * Bones and internal organs of chickens can’t keep up with all the weight they gain. * Antibiotics are no longer working. They catch the chickens at night time so they give less resistance. * The farmer states that the catchers were mostly African-Americans but she is now seeing more Latinos which are undocumented workers. * They have no rights or choices. †¢Fast food is cheap and feels you up compared to cheap food in the market. †¢Cheaper calories are heavily subsidized †¢industry blames obesity on crisis of personal responsibility †¢We are hard wired to go for three tastes: Salt Fat and Sugar †¢These things are very rare in nature †¢We wear down how our body metabolizes sugar Type 2 diabetes used to only affect adults and is now affecting children.

The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship DB

My view of entrepreneurship is that you don’t need to have exceptional skills to be successful when you decide to start a business. All one needs to have is the desire to work in order to achieve his goals. According to my understanding of the word entrepreneur, it is a French word which means to undertake, so in business it is to start a business. To say that you must have superior qualities that a few have in order to be an entrepreneur is not only far fetched but also erroneous, I simply don’t agree with that kind of thought. Strategic planning is a direction or strategy that a business is going to follow in certain period of time. It is so important to a small business in because it keeps it on the edge of competition with big companies. A business with no strategy has no direction. Strategy outlines the direction of the business. Without a strategy it is difficult to achieve goals in a business and small businesses therefore ought to formulate viable strategies that can cope with competition and at the same time make the business focused in scope. To me strategic planning is a process that does not only requires good management skills but also it requires the will and commitment by all persons involved in order to attain the set goals. (McDonald, 2001) There are several factors that an entrepreneur should consider before choosing any form of ownership. There are: The risks involved which are normally high in entrepreneurship, purpose of the business, its goals, strategies for achieving each goal, a plan to implement each goal and the way of monitoring the implementation plan. Other   factors includes the influence one have in the running of the   business and one must also know the responsibility for debts, the amount of   tax payable to the government and the county or the local government, one must also know the   government policies of that particular business. A person must also consider the amount of profit to expect and the time he or she spends on that business. I disagree with educators who thinks that student in colleges should not engage in business, this is simply because the students engage in this for they have been taught its fundamentals and they cannot wait to put them in practice. Once students get the desired knowledge they become innovative and hence they cannot wait to test their skills as entrepreneurs. Research indicates that entrepreneurship should include innovations such as; new products, new production methods, new markets and new types of business among other innovations. In my own perspective wealth is created when such innovations are utilized since it results in new demand of commodities. The purpose of an entrepreneur is to build a lucrative, moral, and a sustainable business organization. I am of the opinion that one must adhere to factors such as: 1. Profitable business practices that satisfies and attract new customers, pay employees fairly and rewards innovation and diligence.2.Ethical business practices that include the protection the privacy of the clients and employee financial and personal information, to respect ethnic, political and religious backgrounds of the customers.3.Sustainable business practices that can withstand the dynamics of the world, these involves establishing markets not exploiting them, doing away with abusive working conditions and keeping   basic labor rights, replacing non-renewable energy sources with renewable energy sources, encouraging developing countries to improve labor and environmental standards amongst suppliers. (Cullen and Boteeah, 2005) Reference Cullen, J. and Boteeah, K. (2005) Multinational Management: A strategic Approach: 3rd Edition: Thomson South-Western; Mason McDonald, M. (2001): Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. 4th Edition: London, Butterworth Heinenamm