L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur Essay -- Monster Autobiography L.A.

L.A. Gang Member by Sanyika Shakur Kody Scott grew up in South Central L.A. during the nineteen-sixties and seventies, soon after the creation of the Crips. Raised in poverty without a father, and a full family raised solely by his mother, Kody Scott led the stereotypical â€Å"ghetto† life, a poor and broken home. However he does not blame this on his own personal decision to join the Crips while only eleven year’s old. The allure of the respect and â€Å"glory† that â€Å"bangers† got, along with the unity of the â€Å"set†(name for the specific gang) is what drew him into the gang. Once joined, he vowed to stay in the â€Å"set† for life, and claimed that banging was his life. After many years of still believing this, he eventually realized that the thug life was no longer for him, and that gangs were a problem on society and the â€Å"Afrikan† race(page 382-383). In his book â€Å"Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member†, he tells of his life story and how he came and left the gang life. For thirteen years he was a member of the Eight Tray Gangsters, a set of the Crips, and throughout the book he explains, sometimes in full detail, the life he led while in the gang and his many times in jail and prison. These life stories he tells, include drive-byes, shootouts in supermarkets, parks, streets, houses etc., fist fights, group beatings, kidnapings, doing drugs, selling drugs, car-jacks, amputation, robbery, friend’s deaths, enemies’ deaths, being shot, knife fights, police abuse, jail riots, jail rapes and any other part of the gang life possible. Now if possible, imagine that this all happened within thirteen years, and to a teenager. These crimes, more specifically the brutal ones, are what got him his nickname â€Å"Monster Kody†. None of this really affected him though, until when in jail, he was c onverted to a Muslim, when he changed his name to Sanyika Shakur. However, it took him a while to realize that what he was doing was wrong and it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Although he now realized this, it wasn’t because of religion really, but more for the survival and advancement of the â€Å"Afrikan† race, as he was now becoming more and more politically and morally conscious(page 277). After coming and going out of prison, he was struggling between the two lives he was trying to lead, one as a banger and the other as a leader for the â€Å"Afrikan†... ...left the gang life behind in order to raise his family in a safer environment and also to settle his conscience down and feel better about himself. In conclusion, Kody Scott a.k.a. Sanyika Shakur, used this book as a tool to help let society know the dangers of the gang life, and possibly some advice to help prevent gangs from growing and spreading, and also to prevent his past from becoming somebodies future. Which is best summed up in his last paragraph from the book in which he states: â€Å"How do we come to grips with the fact that this thing has gotten way too real, out of control like some huge snowball running down a hill, threatening to smash and kill all in it’s path, including those who originally fashioned it? Time is of the essence, and every thinking person with a stake in life-especially those involved in the fighting-should put forth an effort, something more concrete than a â€Å"media truce,† to deal with this tragedy. The children deserve to have a descent childhood where they live. They shouldn’t have to be uprooted to the suburbs to experience peace. We cannot contaminate them with our feuds of madness, which are predicated on factors over which we have no control.†

Ias 16 Property, Plant and Equipment

101 Ideas for Women’s Ministries Success in the church will come only when there are more ministries than programs. People don’t need more programs. They need ministries that will meet their needs where they are. 1. Check the Women’s Ministries website http://wm. gc. adventist. org for ideas 2. Buy a current Women’s Ministries devotional book 3. Plan a â€Å"Working Mothers† seminar to help women who juggle home and career 4. Be sure your church has a Women’s Ministries leader 5. Encourage diversity on your Women’s Ministries committee—age, race, education, affluence, and marital—single/divorced 6. Establish a mentoring program in your church 7. Write a devotional for the Women’s Ministries devotional book 8. Teach women how to have personal Bible study/devotions and to give a Bible study 9. Know what skills the women in your church have to share 10. Start or empower someone to start a grief support group 11. Have a ministry for women in your community who have lost a baby—stillborn or by miscarriage 12. Take time to listen when someone is hurting 13. Begin a literacy or second language program in your community 14. Begin a women’s Bible study group 15. Mentor someone personally 6. Attend a woman’s retreat 17. Help with a woman’s retreat 18. Be sure the Women’s Emphasis Day is on the church calendar 19. Teach women to do breast self-examinations 20. Be sure all women in your church know their value in Jesus Christ 21. Know what the Church statements are in regards to women 22. Be sure the Women’s International Day of Prayer is on your church calendar 23. Invite a neighbor to a Women’s Ministries event 24. Make certain your pastor understands Women’s Ministries 25. Start a car mechanics class for women 26. Disciple a new believer 27. Have a prayer chain—help women know how to pray when they get a request 28. Have an intentional reclaiming program in your church such as Heart Call 29. Have an intentional program for young girls regarding sexual purity such as True Love Waits 30. Ask your Conference to include women on the platform for all meetings at camp meeting 31. Be sure your church Women’s Ministries leader is involved on the church board 32. Ask that the Conference and Union Women’s Ministries directors are active on Conference and Union committees 33. Urge your Conference/Union to fund Women’s Ministries as other departments 34. Help your church’s Women’s Ministries to have a realistic budget and stick to it 35. Teach a Leadership Certification seminar 36. Help fund a mission project 37. Help your Women’s Ministries serve in a mission outreach 38. Receive and read the Women’s Ministries newsletter available to you 39. Attend at least one yearly leadership training seminar 40. Read at least one leadership book a year 41. Support the Women’s Ministries director over you 42. Tell a young woman about the scholarship program 43. Know your spiritual gifts and help other women know theirs too 44. Evaluate each program. Don’t get discouraged—learn from them 45. When your church elects officers and delegates, be sure women are included 46. When your Conference/Union or Division elects leaders, suggest women to be included 47. Make sure all women have opportunities to use their ministry gifts 48. Give opportunities for women to learn to speak in public 49. Help establish a women’s prayer group in your church or neighborhood 50. Help women to know the value of exercise and how to do it 51. Work closely with your pastor. Support him with your ministries 52. Fill out a data base form for the GC and invite other women in leadership to do so also 53. Educate your church board regarding all forms of abuse 54. Donate money to Women’s Ministries projects 55. Share the Women’s Ministries newsletters with your pastor, both those from your Division and Mosaic, from the GC 56. Offer 12 Things You’ll Want to Know about Women’s Ministries to your pastor and church board 57. Learn/teach parliamentary procedure 58. Give women opportunities to learn sound nutrition 59. Have a gynecologist talk to women about reproduction health 60. Help see that the women in your church have the opportunity to complete the Leadership Certification seminars 61. Have a retreat for teen-age girls 62. Have a stress reduction seminar/program 63. Have a gynecologist talk to women about menopause 64. Establish a Prayer and Loves Saves seminar series in your church 65. Start a women’s section in your church library 66. Plan and carry out a public evangelistic program 67. Prepare â€Å"Welcome Home Baby† gift baskets for new mothers in your community 68. Put the Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day on the church calendar 69. Organize a girls’ night out 70. Sponsor something special for the singles in your church 71. Pray for your pastor’s spouse 72. Send a report to your Conference and/or Union papers about what Women’s Ministries in your church is doing 73. Acknowledge the unique accomplishments of young people in your church 74. Write a note of encouragement to someone 75. Spend time with a sick or shut-in member 76. Organize helping teams to assist elderly or shut-in members with difficult tasks like raking leaves or shoveling snow 77. Report to your Women’s Ministries Conference and/or Union leader what your church Women’s Ministries is accomplishing 78. Begin a women’s prayer group to pray for your church leadership 79. Read stories in the Bible of how Jesus appreciated women 80. Sponsor a project to raise money to donate to the GC Women’s Ministries Scholarship Fund 81. Support the Women’s Ministries activities in your church 82. Have a perpetual prayer box at your church that Women’s Ministries members pray over 83. Have an afternoon prayerwalk in the community with your Women’s Ministries team 84. Have a self-defense class at your church and invite the community women 85. Host a fellowship meal and brainstorming session and invite all women in your church 86. Make quiet-time play sets for young children to use during the church service 87. Read a book about a unique woman who has made special contributions to women in society, in the Christian world, or in the Adventist Church 88. Teach or request a seminar on financial management for women 89. Attend a Women’s Ministries seminar at camp meeting 90. Have abuse pamphlets available to your church members 91. Help your local women’s shelter 92. Adopt a â€Å"sister church† in another division 93. Thank your Conference/Union president for funding and supporting the Women’s Ministries director in your Conference 94. Get acquainted with a young girl in your church and tell her that she is special 95. Learn about the history of Women’s Ministries and share this with someone else 96. Suggest that your church have a class on organization and time management and attend it yourself 97. Volunteer to give a Bible study 98. Offer to help your pastor with visitation 99. Help the women in your church understand that Women’s Ministries is not about more programs, but is about every woman being involved in some type of ministry 100. Pray for Women’s Ministries and its leaders around the world 101. Share additional ideas with us at [email  protected] adventist. org and we will add to this list

Chapmans Version of The Odyssey and the Iliad Essay

Chapmans Version of The Odyssey and the Iliad This poem is an expression of how the poet John Keats felt after rediscovering Homers The Odyssey and the Iliad when he read Chapmans English translation of this Greek classic. To express this he uses the form of a sonnet, with fourteen lines, every set of two lines rhyming. The first four lines are one long sentence consisting mainly as metaphors to summarize his full meaning in whole. Much have I travelld in the realms of gold, and many goodly states and kingdoms seen. This can be understood only in a literary and not a literal sense. I say this because he was relatively poor and probably had traveled very little when he wrote this poem at age 21.* But we know†¦show more content†¦Oft on one wide expanse had I been told That deep-browd Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Keats is telling us how he had heard about another great kingdom of writing, the serene air of which he had never breathed. (probably because he never learned Greek) * Perhaps Keats is stating Homers deep intellect with the term deep-browd. Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Even though this is mid-sentence, I see this, as the pivotal point of the poem, where Keats starts to express his emotions towards Chapmans version of Homers The Odyssey and the Iliad. Keats expresses his encounter with Homers Odyssey as powerful and impacting. He compares it to an Astrologer as a watcher of the skies, because for an astrologer to see a planet just come into existence and their impact on destiny is just amazing and powerful. Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stard at the Pacific In continuing the comparison, Keats uses the Explorer, Cortezs eagle eyes as a metaphor for far-sightedness as he discovers the Pacific, and how the far-sightedness helped him to see further even beyond the ocean into deeper discoveries. - and all his men Lookd at each other with a wild surmise - Silent, upon a peak in Darien In my opinion, Keats is describing Cortezs men as doubtful orShow MoreRelatedLiterary Group in British Poetry5631 Words   |  23 Pagesaround the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England, or poetry written in the English language. The earliest surviving poetry was likely transmitted orally and then written down in versions that do not now survive; thus, dating the earliest poetry remains difficult and often controversial. The earliest surviving manuscripts date from the 10th century. Poetry written in Latin, Brythonic (a predecessor language of Welsh) and Old Irish