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Spanish Inquisition

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Spanish Inquisition

Between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, non-Catholics in the kingdom of Spain faced a lot of prosecution, and they were forced to accept Catholicism or leave Spain. The actions were taken by the rulers of Spain at the time, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, in collaboration with the Pope came to be referred to as the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition officially began in 1478. The Spanish Inquisition was a form of religious discrimination meant to safeguard the Catholic religion in the Spanish Empire. The Inquisition was formally abolished in the year 1834 by Isabella II (Rawlings 15). Throughout the period, more than 150000 were tried, and roughly 3% of the total number was executed.

The main religion of the Spanish empire was Catholicism, although the empire also had significant populations of Jews and Muslims. The Spanish had also conquered other lands as it expanded its territory into the Americas as well as Naples, Canary Islands and the Netherlands. Before the Inquisition, non-Christians all over Europe had suffered from prosecution for their religious beliefs. The Spanish Inquisition was created to root out heresy especially among newly converted Catholics. An example of this is the French bishop Pope Lucius III who organized the persecution of Catharists as alleged heretics were referred to (Kamen 21).

The Inquisitions were led by inquisitors appointed by the monarchs. The inquisitors visited different cities in the kingdom, with the offer that self-confessed heretics would receive a lighter punishment such as whipping or pilgrimage. They were forced to testify to their alleged crimes, and most of the time, there was no evidence presented against them. Some of the reasons why people would accuse others of heresy included revenge, jealousy, economic reasons, among others. The ruling class used the Inquisition to abuse their power; for example, Count Alphonese of Toulouse would confiscate the land and property of the accused, while his predecessor Count Raymond VII burned the accused even after they confessed (Rawlings 41).

The fifteenth century was the most intense for the Inquisition when the newly converted Catholics, named Conversos, were suspected of bringing corruption into the Church. For many years, Jews had to suffer from anti-Semitism and to avoid this they converted into Catholicism and gained the title Conversos. However, Ferdinand and Isabella still did not trust these converses and continued to prosecute them. They were accused of secretly practising their former religion while outwardly pretending to be Catholic. The Christian community also mistrusted the conversos and wanted the ruling class to take a harsh stand against them. In the year 1481, conversos were forced to live in camps apart from the Christians, and hundreds of them were burned at the stake despite their confession.

As the Spanish expanded their kingdom into the Americas, the Inquisition followed. In the year 1556, Phillip II took the throne, and this increased the rate of prosecution of the Conversos. In 1574, the Inquisition in Mexico led to the burning of Lutherans at the stake, and similar incidents happened against the Protestants in Peru. Between 1609 and 1615, a new king, Phillip III, forced Muslims to leave Spain including those who had earlier converted into Catholicism (Rawlings 58). The Spanish Inquisition came to an end after Napoleon conquered the country in 1808 and abolished the practice, which formally ended in 1834 under Isabella II.

The Spanish Inquisition can be compared to the Holocaust in Germany in which millions of Jews were killed for their religious beliefs. The systematic persecution of the Jews began in 1933 when Adolf Hitler became the German Vice-Chancellor. Adolf belonged to the Nazi party, which believed that Germans were superior to other races. The Jews were considered to be inferior and a threat to the Germans and the Nazis decided to completely obliterate the Jews as a solution to the Jewish Question. Before the Holocaust, Europe had a significant population Jewish population of over nine million, but afterwards, less than a third of these remained.

Along with the Jews, other groups of people deemed inferior such as the disabled, homosexuals, and soviet war prisoners were executed. The Jewish prosecution began with a boycott of Jewish businesses in 1933, ending in the destruction and ransacking five years later in the Kristallnacht (Crowe 31). As World War II began, the Germans took the opportunity to declare Jews a threat to Germany and send them to concentration camps in Germany and Poland including Chelmno, Auschwitz, Sobibor and Belzec . The main methods that the Germans used in the executions were gas chambers, mass shootings, gas vans and starvation. Overall, the German Nazis killed more than eleven million people between 1933 and 1945 (Crowe 53).

In conclusion, history has seen the systematic persecution of several groups of people on different grounds, including religion and politics. The Spanish Inquisition was sanctioned by the ruling political and religious class in Spain, with the main aim of ensuring the purity of the Catholic religion in the empire. Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism or leave the empire. Even after this, they were still accused of heresy and contaminating the Church, and many of them were tried and executed. The Holocaust follows a similar trend, beginning with segregation of the Jews and other groups of people labelled as inferior by the Nazis. The Nazis then destroyed property owned by the Jews and sent them into concentration camps across Germany and Poland. By the end of 1945, the Nazis killed more than 11 million people.

Works Cited

Crowe, David M. The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath. Routledge, 2018.

Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: a historical revision. Yale University Press, 2014.

Rawlings, Helen. The Spanish Inquisition. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

Stealing, Theft and Robbery

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Stealing, Theft and Robbery

People in any society experience some form of crime, hence the need for law and order. Some of the most common crimes in the world are stealing, theft and robbery. Although many people use the terms interchangeably, there are some differences between the three. Stealing refers to the act or process of taking something that belongs to someone else. Theft and robbery are the legal terms used to define the crime of stealing, though there is one main difference. Robbery involves violence or coercion in the process of taking something, while theft does not involve force. In fact, one may not realize till much later that they have been the victim of theft, and a perfect example of this is identity theft. Due to the violence involved, robbery is taken as a more serious crime than theft under the law. Stealing, theft and robbery are common occurrences in society. In examining this topic, some relevant areas include statistics, punishment under the law, effects of the crimes and preventive measures.

Statistics from The Pew Research Organization sheds some light on violent crimes such as robbery in the United States. Data shows that violent crimes have been on the decline since the 1990s, with a 51% decrease between 1993 and 2018, according to numbers from the FBI (Gramlich 1). The report also indicates that non-violent crimes such as motor vehicle theft, burglary and theft are far more common than violent crimes. Despite the steady decline in violent crimes, many Americans’ opinions do not reflect this. For example, a 2016 Pew Research poll found that 57% of registered voters at the time believed than rates of crime were higher than the year before, despite the FBI reports showing a double-digit decline. Stealing, theft and robbery fall under the category of property crimes, which have similarly been on the decline. For example, in the year 2017, robbery rates stood at roughly 99 robberies per 100,000 people, and this fell to 87 per 100,000 people in 2018 (Gramlich 2). This is according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Despite the promising outlook on cases of theft and robbery, identity theft remains a primary area of focus as instances of identity theft have become more common. Identity theft is a crime where a person obtains another’s personal information such as their social security number, then uses this information to impersonate the person for various reasons such as to obtain a loan, or pay for goods. The number of identity fraud cases is on the rise, mainly due to the digitization of all areas of life. With people working from home, shopping and placing orders online, and filling out various forms over the internet, their information becomes an easy target for hackers and identity fraudsters. Children have especially become an easy target for identity theft. In 2018, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported 14.4 million cases of identity fraud (BJS). Javelin Strategy & Research focused on cybercrimes and compiled a comprehensive report on identity fraud in the year 2019. Although numbers dropped from 16.7 million in 2017 to 14.4 million in 2019, consumers bore a heavier financial burden. For example, the out of pocket costs on the victims as a result of the crime doubled to $1.7 billion from 2016 to 2019 (Ahmed 21). Additionally, 3.3 million of the consumers who fell victim to identity fraud were found to be liable or partly liable for the crimes against them.

Americans remain the most likely victims of identity theft than people from any other country, with more than 791 million identities stolen in the year 2016 alone. Statistics from a Javelin poll give more insight into why this is the case. 60% of consumers report feeling that their information is safe when using public Wi-Fi networks, which makes them more vulnerable to attack. 43% of adults admitted to shopping online over public networks, and 33% of American adults also reported sharing passwords and account names with others (Zhang 55). A majority of small business, 52%, have no cyber protection investments as they do not believe they could be victims of attacks. One of the verified ways of increasing protection online is the use of a VPN, but 75% of customers still do not use it. Account takeovers are the most prominent form of identity fraud, where fraudsters access a person’s account and change their security information such as passwords. EMV-chip-based credit cards are mostly responsible for the decline in fraud as skimmers cannot copy them.

There are many reasons why people would engage in stealing, theft and robbery, the most prominent of which is material gain. Most thefts and robberies are motivated by financial gain. An excellent example of this is the case of identity theft, where account losses resulted in the loss of $5.1 billion in 2017 alone. Theft is an easy way to make money, especially in cases where the victims do not realize the crime immediately. Identity fraudsters can sell the information they steal in the deep web to criminals who want to use it for different things (Zou et al. 8). Material gain is also the primary motivation for violent robberies. This includes robberies on stores, banks and other commercial businesses. Robbers target cash and other valuable items from these premises. Criminals also engage in theft and robbery just because they can. Some hackers and identity thieves gain access to other people’s information to prove their skill and ability to get away with it.

To avoid falling victim to theft and robberies, there are different things that people can do. The law also protects people by punishing offenders, but the first step to protecting oneself is to be vigilant and proactive. The most critical step in dealing with the issue of theft and robbery is the awareness that anyone can be a victim. With this in mind, people should take care to protect themselves as much as they can. For example, homes and business premises should have alarms installed that one can access in case of any violent attacks. People should learn basic tactics on how to deal with robbers, such as compliance to avoid further injury or harm. On the issue of identity theft, people should improve their safety online by using VPNs to protect their information (Zhang 42). They should also avoid using public networks when sharing sensitive information, such as social security numbers or credit card information. Companies and business should also invest in protecting consumers’ information. The Equifax hack in 2016 led to the stealing of information of millions of Americans, which is a potential avenue for identity theft (Zou et al. 11). Companies should thus take adequate and proactive measures to protect their customers’ data as much as they can.

Under the law, robbery and theft are serious charges depending on the seriousness of the crime. Most states have divided robberies into categories such as simple, aggravated, first-degree or second degree. These categories dictate the punishment that an offender receives. In most cases, robberies are felonies that attract at least a one-year jail term. Punishment depends on the violence of the crime, the value of property stolen, the offender’s criminal record, among other factors. Identity theft carries charges similar to those of robbery, depending on whether the crime is classified as a misdemeanour or felony. Different states have different statutes for identity theft. For instance, Arizona classifies the trafficking in a stolen identity as a Class B felony. Having a record of such crimes of ‘moral turpitude’ can have a significant impact on an offender’s life. For example, a person with such a criminal record will usually have a hard time getting employed as these records show up in a standard background check. Theft and robbery also adversely affect victims of the crimes. They lose their valuable items, some of which may never be recovered. Victims of identity theft experience some financial losses as well as access to their personal information which opens them up to other problems. Being a victim of theft or robbery also comes with psychological effects such as paranoia, fear, and trauma (Golladay & Holtfreter 751).

In conclusion, stealing, theft and robbery are serious crimes ranging from petty offences to more serious ones. Some of the most common kinds of theft and robbery include identity theft, home invasions and motor vehicle theft. Statistics from the FBI and Bureau of Justice Statistics show the trend of crimes over the years, with a general downward trend in violent crimes. Identity theft is one of the biggest concerns for consumers as people shift to online activity such as shopping and banking for convenience. Anyone can be a victim of these crimes, and people should learn some necessary forms of defences. All kinds of crime are punishable by law, but individuals must take proactive measures to keep themselves and their property safe.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Syed R. Preventing Identity Crime: Identity Theft and Identity Fraud: An Identity Crime Model and Legislative Analysis with Recommendations for Preventing Identity Crime. BRILL, 2020.

Golladay, Katelyn, and Kristy Holtfreter. “The consequences of identity theft victimization: An examination of emotional and physical health outcomes.” Victims & Offenders 12.5 (2017): 741-760.

Gramlich, John. “5 Facts About Crime in the US.” Pew Research Organization. 17 October 2019. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/STATISTICS, BUREAU OF JUSTICE. “IDENTITY THEFT.” (2018).

Zhang, Joe. “Holster with protection mechanism facilitating Holstering and unholstering and protecting against theft and robbery.” U.S. Patent No. 10,041,762. 7 Aug. 2018.

Zou, Yixin, et al. “” I’ve Got Nothing to Lose”: Consumers’ Risk Perceptions and Protective Actions after the Equifax Data Breach.” Fourteenth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security ({SOUPS} 2018). 2018.

Strong and Affordable Location Privacy in VANETS Identity Diffusion Using Time-Slots and Swapping

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Strong and Affordable Location Privacy in VANETS: Identity Diffusion Using Time-Slots and Swapping

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) need a way to help authorize messages, remove malevolent vehicles, and find valid vehicles. A public Key Infrastructure (PKI) can offer this operation using fixed public keys and certificates. However, the used of fixed keys allow an adversary to associate a key with a place and a vehicle, thus compromising the privacy of a driver. The use of Temporary Anonymous Certified Keys (TACKS) is a scheme management by VANET to improve diver’s privacy. The approach of this scheme efficiently hinders eavesdropping from associating different keys and gives timely revocation of participants misbehaving while sustaining less or the same overhead for car-to-car communication like the current IEEE 1609.2 standard used in VANET security.

The major concern for deploying VANET in the public is the achievement of effective and simple security mechanisms. Insecurity in VANET translates a broad system open to a number of security attacks such as suppression of real warning messages as well as propagation of false messages of warning, thereby leading to many accidents. The vulnerability of vehicles to security attacks in VANET makes security a major concern when coming up with such systems (Eckhoff).

Privacy is introduced into a VANET network system by using pseudonyms in the form of more block of private of public keys which are provided to the user. The keys are used for a short period and then become changed frequently. The keys are made in a way that they do not bear identity associated information but have the capability of being traced back to the user in the liability linked cases. The follow-up is usually done by Central Authorities (CA). Pseudonyms get used because they make sure that the vehicle a vehicle does not get attacked by an adversary or any other attacker and a message cannot be associated to its sender by other cars.

Instead of equipping vehicle nodes with a lot of pseudonyms, each node bears a time-clotted pool of pseudonyms with slot length t, so that p/t time-slots span the length period p. every single time-slot is assigned exactly one pseudonym, leading to p/t pseudonyms for each vehicle, and a single valid pseudonym for each arbitrary point in time. When a particular slot of time passes, a change of pseudonym gets initiated. This mechanism is usually achieved by use of clocks, which are synchronized with the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.

The use of non-overlapping pseudonyms, similar to time-slots, implies that nodes in this scenario have the advantage of reusing pseudonyms. When the last time-slot—p/t the time-slot—has passed, time-slot 1 will get activated again, meaning that periodic time will then reload from the beginning.

A good choice of the values of p and t is very important to make sure security is realized. For instance, if t= 20 minutes and p is one week, then the pseudonym generated becomes valid, such as, Monday 7:00 a.m. till 7:20 a.m. it is vital for one to notice that the above pseudonym is then, in fact admissible on every Monday for the said 20 minutes. It is clear from the above scenario that place privacy that comes with time-slotted pool alone depends not only on the time slot-length (t) that determines the frequency of change for a node pseudonym, but also on the reliability of the periodic behavior of the node, such as, beginning the work-commute every Monday 7:00 a.m.

The exchange of pseudonyms can improve the privacy of drivers in VANET by complicating tracking for an attacker. When nodes have the ability to exchange pseudonyms in secrecy by use of encryption and keep third parties at bay from tracking nodes, which have exchanged pseudonyms, then a possible way of mapping authority also becomes admissible. The time-slotted mechanism allows only valid pseudonyms for a particular time-period to be exchanged; otherwise there is usually no guarantee that each car has exactly one pseudonym per time-slot (Chaurisia and Verma).

A node usually scan its surrounding ( such as speed, heading of its neighbors, and vehicle number) and then comes up with a decision on whether change of pseudonym if important or not, so that attackers cannot infer node pseudonyms simply after the swapping by elongating their expected place according to their last known speed and heading.

By a careful choice of limits of similarity, people can increase the possibility of both swap vehicles being unknown in terms of place. An adversary can then never know whether a pseudonym swap took place or not. The efficacy of this approach, of course, is greatly dependent on the positional and frequency accuracy of the beacons emitted by each car. The driver privacy achieved by use of this mechanism can be augmented by using silent time-slots, meaning two vehicles will not send beacons for a while after a possible swap of pseudonyms (Sun et al.).

An advantage that comes with time-slotted mechanism over pseudonym pool is its characteristic of making sure that, ideally, a car always has a pseudonym to take part in the ITS as provided it has received its p/t pseudonyms during the setup period. Whether a CA is not reachable or the vehicle was not used for longer period the car will not exhaust the pseudonyms because it has the chance of reusing old pseudonyms.

The mechanism also comes up with upper bounds of disk space and, importantly, the volume of traffic. This simplifies the make-up of the on-board units and cuts the costs of communication, bring affordability to the deployment of an ITS. The size of the pool of pseudonyms is cut to a value of p/t * s bytes and, importantly, workload of the CA no longer depends on the number vehicular nodes taking part in the network but on the ones entering it.

The use of GPS synchronized clocks and time-slots, by every node will make sure that nodes swap pseudonyms at the same time. Density of traffic and rate of penetration dependency increases traffic driver’s privacy. Further use of pseudonym exchange much improves the security of drivers (chaurasia and verma).

A common problem associated with the time-slot mechanism is that when cars swap currently valid pseudonyms—their current identifier—each vehicle will begin using the same pseudonym every p/t slots, due to the fact that a new slot n + 1 has begun, the pseudonym previously used in the slot will then be reactivated. This way, an adversary, or authority, is able to associate two positions to a single node. The current one (such as, Monday 7:00:00 a.m.) and the one from the earlier time the slot was active (such as, 7:19:59 a.m.). Moreover, each time a new vehicle gets into a time-slot for the first time, which will occur p/t times after being attached with the ITS device, the operator can associate the first place in this time-slot to a vehicle.

A diagram to illustrate the swapping of pseudonyms by two vehicles

References:

Eckhoff, Dacid et al. Strong And Affordable Location Privacy In VANETS: Identity Diffusion Using Time-Slots And Swapping. Gaimersheim: University of Erlangen.

Chaurasia and verma. Optimizing Pseudonym Updation for Anonymity in Vanets. Allahabad, Indian Inst. Technol., 2008.

Sun, Jinyuan et al. An Identity-Based Security System for User Privacy in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee, September, 2010.

Chaurisia and Verma. Maximizing Anonymity of A Vehicle. Allahabad: Indian Inst. Technol., 2008.

Sweatshops

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Sweatshops

Globalization has opened up new opportunities for trade, and many companies have taken advantage of this to reduce production costs. American companies such as Nike, Apple, and many others have shifted their factories to developing countries, widely referred to as sweatshops. The debate around these sweatshops is a polarizing one, with supporters arguing that the factories offer poor people employment opportunities as a way out of poverty. On the other hand, opponents of the idea explain that sweatshops are exploitative mainly due to the low wages paid to workers, and therefore companies should raise wages or close shop in such developing countries. The main reason why companies choose to outsource production is because of lower costs. Developed countries such as the United States have high minimum wages, while developed countries do not have such laws. This means that companies can pay workers very little money in developing countries, which cuts the cost of production.

Outsourcing may be profitable for companies, but they have a negative impact on American workers. Low skill laborers stand to lose the most with outsourcing. Many of the outsourced jobs require very little training and skill, therefore having such factories in the country would offer employment opportunities for low-skilled workers. Because the majority of companies choose to outsource for economic reasons, such workers lose out on job opportunities. Outsourcing serves to lower the domestic prices of goods. The main reason for this is that lower costs of production allow companies to set prices lower. Other factors, such as lower taxes with outsourcing, further reduces the domestic prices of outsourced goods.

For the US government to reduce outsourcing, some policy changes required would be tax breaks and lowering the minimum wage (Sollars & Englander 19). Wages are the most significant impediment when it comes to setting up factories in the United States. Domestic law requires companies to pay employees a minimum wage that is comparatively much higher than those paid in developing countries. Most developing countries have no minimum wage laws, which allows companies to set their own wages for workers. Tax breaks would also be an incentive to reduce outsourcing, as companies would not have to pay as much taxes that further eat into their profit margins. Tax breaks involve lowering taxes that a company has to pay to reduce production costs.

From the two videos, the idea of sweatshops is quite different for different people. For example, the John Stossel video includes interviews from students protesting against sweatshops in developing countries. These students explain that sweatshops are exploitative, and take advantage of poor populations by paying them very low wages. On the other hand, people from these developing countries see sweatshops as beneficial to their lives, because the wages help them meet their basic needs every day. The video on the Apple factory in China presents the same idea. One point of criticism for the factory is that it employs teenagers, and workers live in a dorm as they cannot afford other accommodations (SocProf Jordan). Most workers have never even seen a working iPad, the item they work so hard to create every single day. The factory has also reported several suicides over the years. Despite this, people in the villages that the factory workers come from appreciate the employment opportunities brought by the sweatshops, and they believe that the factories have made their lives better. The conclusion from the two videos is that sweatshops are a good thing for foreign workers. Without these factories, the impoverished workers would have no other source of income.

Works Cited

SocProf Jordan. “Inside Look At Apple’s Chinese Sweatshops!” YouTube. 29 September 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unrZw5qZzwsSollars, Gordon G., and Fred Englander. “Sweatshops: Economic analysis and exploitation as unfairness.” Journal of Business Ethics 149.1 (2018): 15-29.

SWOT Analysis Tesla Model 3

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SWOT Analysis: Tesla Model 3

Tesla is one of the most widely recognized companies in the motor vehicle industry, although it also offers services such as solar panels, power battery packs, and financial services. The company as founded in 2003 by current CEO Elon Musk along with four other cofounders. Since its inception, the company has grown exponentially, reaching annual revenues of $24.5 billion in 2019. Because of its dominant position despite being a relatively new energy solutions company, Tesla has become the subject of multiple SWOT analysis. Companies use the SWOT analysis to examine how efficient its business model is based on both internal and external factors. Companies rely on the objective results of this analysis in making important decisions. The 2020 Tesla model 3 brings innovation into the motor vehicle industry as it is powered by electricity and has various other features not available in other companies. Just like any other motor vehicle model, Tesla Model 3 has different strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats.

Tesla Model 3 has several strengths that position it as a top choice for customers. The first strength is the fact that it powered by electricity, which means car owners will spend less money. This model needs 34kWh per 100 miles, and the average cost of electricity is $0.12/kWh. This is a much cheaper option compared to, say, a Toyota Camry that consumes 30 MPG at an approximate cost of $2.40 per gallon of gas (Eisler 39). Tesla Model 3 users will cut down on their gas bills significantly. A second strength of the Tesla Model 3 it the fact that it is an electric model. With the current levels of concern and awareness about climate change, the Tesla Model 3 is definitely the best choice for environmentally-conscious customers. The world is trying to cut down on emissions from fossil fuels, and electric vehicles are a step in the right direction. The Tesla Model 3 also features impressive acceleration speeds from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. The car’s battery is located under the floor, allowing for more stability. The car also has a driver-assist mode, which is not found in other cars in the industry. The Tesla Model 3 is the cheapest Tesla model available, with the Standard Long Range selling from $41,190 (Mas 11). One weakness of the Tesla Model 3 is that it is quite expensive compared to other cars available in the market. Although its high price tag is due to the fact that it is an electric model, many prospective customers still find it to be out of their price range.

Tesla Model 3 has a wide range of opportunities that it can take advantage of. The first opportunity is that Tesla is already the world’s leading seller of electric cars, and it should capitalize on its popularity to advertise even more. The company should also expand into other markets such as Asia to gain a wider customer base, given the fact that it is already quite popular around the world. Because it is the cheapest Tesla yet, model 3 should advertise its lower price tag to include customers who might not afford the other high priced models. As a company, Tesla has a lot of confidence in the market, as indicated by its stock price more than doubling since the start of 2020 (Eisler 41). As a highly innovative company, Tesla attracts customers on the lookout for something new and something modern.

Tesla Model 3 also faces threats from outside the company. One of these is about its driver-assist features. The company has been the subject of multiple lawsuits where the autopilot features failed in case of an accident. If the number of cases continue, the company could face financial setbacks. Tesla Model 3 is electric, and it faces threats from other competitors, such as alternative fuel vehicles (McCain 4). For example, a hybrid vehicle is more affordable and allows users to choose which type of fuel they want to use. The self-driving mode is still a cause for concern to the public, as well as the lack of regulations for autopilot modes in vehicles such as the Tesla Model 3.

Tesla should work towards converting weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities. One of Tesla’s Model 3’s weaknesses is its high price point compared to its competitors and other market players. To change this into a strength, Tesla should leverage the advantages of the model, such as cheap fuel, as it is powered by electricity. It should also focus on the innovative and environmental-friendly features in advertising. Tesla faces stiff competition from other manufacturers of electric vehicles which are much cheaper than the model 3. To convert this threat into an opportunity, Tesla should focus on increasing efficiency in its models. For example, the company should perfect its driver-assist technology to eliminate any malfunctions and gain public confidence. As innovation is Tesla’s main selling point, the elimination of such issues will position it as one of the most reliable electric vehicles in the market.

In conclusion, Tesla model 3 is an exciting entrant into the electric-vehicle market. The main point of attraction for the model is the fact that it is cheaper than other Tesla models, along with environmental-friendliness. As an electric car, the Tesla Model 3 is the top choice for consumers looking to play a part in reducing climate change. Although Tesla model 3 is quite pricy, its unique and innovative measures live up to the expectations.

Works Cited

Eisler, Matthew N. “A Tesla in every garage?.” IEEE Spectrum 53.2 (2016): 34-55.

Mas, Santiago Mas. Tesla Motors. SWOT analysis and corporate strategy. GRIN Verlag, 2018.

McCain, Cody. “A Strategic Audit of Tesla, Inc.” (2019).

Syntactic Intuitions Exercise

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Syntactic Intuitions Exercise

The grey kitten/ unrolled a ball of yarn.

The grey kitten- subject …unrolled a ball of yarn- predicate

The- determiner; Grey- adjective; kitten- noun; unrolled- verb; a- determiner; ball- noun; of- preposition; yarn- noun.

Lawrence/ seems annoyed with the decision.

Lawrence- subject…seems annoyed with the decision- predicate.

Lawrence- noun; seems- verb; annoyed- adjective; with- preposition; the- determiner; decision- noun.

There were/ seven ducklings in the pond.

There were- predicate… seven ducklings in the pond- subject

There- adverb; were- auxiliary verb; seven-adjective; ducklings- noun; in- preposition; the- determiner; pond- noun.

The Yellow Wallpaper Character Analysis

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The Yellow Wallpaper: Character Analysis

The yellow paper is an interesting short story uses the construction and style of a diary. It is a narration of the life of a woman trapped in a domineering male society that does not allow her to do things differently from the instructions of her husband. The Yellow Wallpaper is such a story that uses the effect of shifting narrative between typical past tense and to the more unfamiliar present tense. The present-tense narration is one that helps with the depiction of female consciousness. The reader experiences the events with the narrator as they unfold allowing the reader to avoid forming judgments on the characters involved. The readers are subconsciously forced to wait for how things will play out before making a judgment. An analysis of the narrator (the main character in the text), her background and her conflict is provided in this essay.

Madness

At some point, the narrator says, “I wonder if they all came out of the wallpaper as I did” as she sees creeping women through her window (Gilman 11). This idea of coming out of the paper reflects some kind of freedom and concurs with her descent into madness. She rips off the paper, locks herself in the room and starts going at the static bed with her teeth. There are various pointers to her character. She states somewhat astonishingly, “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight” (9). At this point, she turns into the creeping woman. Her shoulder fitting into the grove on the wall can mean that she is the creeping woman, the one tearing out the paper and creeping around.

The madness is not her fault and can mostly be associated with John’s treatment of her so the shoulder fitting into the groove can also be interpreted to mean that there are other women like her. After John faints towards the end of the text, she goes on tiptoeing around the room and stepping over him each time in a manner that is rather disturbing.

Background of the character

The character is a woman as indicated by her being married to a man-John- and the setting of the story being 1890. There is a huge likelihood that she and John are merely ordinary people most likely middle class. All these aspects are actually bellicosely anonymous: the narrator is not named and her husband John has a name that does not really give clues about who he is or his origin. The circumstance that all of these characteristics-her class, gender, and marriage- are all mentioned in the first sentence and her name does not appear may be an indication that these general features may be crucial to the unfolding of the plot more than her identity or personal history are. The reader does not even get to know her personally as the plot unfolds.

The importance of these traits as mentioned provides the background central conflicts that provide direction for the story. the narrator is a writer with a sensitive temperament and has been ill, an illness that has made her weak and under a domineering husband. Today it would not be okay to have a husband be the wife’s physician, but John is the narrator’s physician who makes all the decisions for her which really makes her cross. “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?’ (1).

Conflicts

There is a lot of information about the character and her conflicts from the passage where she discusses John and his belief of her not being sick. The first thing the reader gest is that the narrator is quite withdrawn from her treatment. “So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, (1). If she really had faith in her treatment then she would not forget what her medicine is called. She is antagonized by almost every person which is very clear when she says, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” (1)

Her mental ailment creates tension in their marriage. John does not buy into “..things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (1). Whenever the narrator raises a concern about her health to John, he responds by stating her body is getting better and better. It is not apparent why her body is weak though but might be she had a difficult birth. John refuses to acknowledge that her suffering might be mental.

Conclusion

The Yellow Wallpaper is an important account of a woman and her conflict with a society that is domineering and puts women in a different social status. The author creates a picture of women’s struggles with disregard for their consciousness. The story does this using a character that is dealing with mental problems that are not considered an illness. Her background is set in a manner that informs the plot and direction of the story. She is held in conflict and seeks freedom she supposedly gets in the end.

Works Cited

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935. The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader: The Yellow Wallpaper, and Other Fiction. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980. Print

Themes in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

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Themes in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’

Oscar Wilde’s novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is one of the most intriguing books of all time. Dorian Gray, the main character in the story, is a handsome young man who wishes that he could retain his good looks forever. Dorian’s desires reflect those of many human beings. People treasure youth and beauty above all else, and many wish they would never age or lose their beauty. Dorian wanted to engage in hedonism, selfishness, and all kinds of earthly pleasures, but he did not want the effects of these pursuits to show on his body. The human body shows signs of deterioration when misused, for example, excessive consumption of drugs or alcohol will result in disease, and alterations to the physical body. The main question that readers ask themselves when reading the novel is whether, given a choice, they would have chosen Dorian’s path. Dorian’s portrait absorbed all the effects of his crazy lifestyle, allowing him to remain young and good-looking. Dorian remained thus youthful while his peers aged, earning him their admiration. The main themes in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ are the purpose of art, the superficiality of society, the effects of negative consequences, and the emphasis on youth and beauty.

When the novel opens, Dorian Gray is in London getting his picture painted by an artist, Basil Hallward. Dorian is in London, in the home of his aunt, Lady Brandon. Basil is intrigued by Dorian’s beauty and youth and insists on painting him. However, Basil feels that his portrait betrays too much emotion on how he feels about Dorian. Basil speaks to his friend Lord Henry Wotton about his concerns, but Lord Henry tells the portrait is a masterpiece. Lord Henry supports the pursuit of pleasure in life, and Basil worries that he will be a negative influence on Dorian (Wilde 7). Dorian finds the two of them in the studio, and Basil is forced to introduce them. They become fast friends, with Lord Henry making an impression on the gullible Dorian. Lord Henry’s ideas about the transience of youth and beauty affect Dorian, who says that he wishes he could remain young forever. Lord Henry wants to own Dorian’s portrait, but Dorian insists on keeping it. Dorian wishes that the portrait could absorb all the aging and loss of beauty so that he could remain young and good-looking. His wishes soon came true.

Dorian Gray became an avid follower of Lord Henry’s beliefs in new hedonism and pursued all earthly pleasures. He falls in love with an actress named Sybil, who is enamored by his good looks. The actress named Sybil then decides not to act anymore because of her love for Dorian. However, Dorian only loved her because of her acting skills and decides to break off their engagement. Sybil’s brother, James Vane, warns her that Dorian would bring her trouble, but she refused to listen. Dorian goes home after his encounter with Sybil and sees that the portrait has taken on a sneering expression, following his wishes that it should absorb the effects of his actions. He regretted his behavior towards Sybil and decided to make up with her the next day. However, before he can do that, Lord Henry informs him that Sybil killed herself.

Lord Henry tells Dorian to view Sybil’s death as a form of tragic art. He later gifts Dorian a book that defines his very thoughts and actions. As the years went by, Dorian’s reputation suffered. Dorian remained young and good-looking as the portrait aged in his stead. Basil confronts Dorian about his reputation, but Dorian kills him in a fit of rage. James also confronts Dorian about Sybil’s death. Dorian then feels guilty about his actions and tries to destroy the painting. By stabbing the painting, Dorian killed himself, and the next day he was discovered dead. His body was transformed into an old, ugly man while the painting reverted to the handsome young man Dorian had once been.

The first theme evident in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is the superficiality of society. Most people like to dwell on the superficial characteristics of others rather than on important human virtues. In the case of Dorian, the society knew about his hedonistic exploits, and they disapproved. However, because of his looks, they were willing to overlook all his faults. They did not care what he had done; they only focused on his outward appearance (Drumova 4). Such an idea is quite dangerous because it encourages people to disregard harmful and toxic behavior and focus on petty things such as looks. What matters most in a human being is their character, and a person should be judged based on their actions rather than physical appearance. An example of this superficiality in the novel can be seen in the words of Lady Narborough, “you are made to be good—you look so good.” (Wilde 153) Everyone with whom Lord Henry and Dorian interacted with valued good looks above ethics. Although these people knew how Dorian’s actions ruined lives, such as Sybil’s, they overlooked all of this because of Dorian’s good looks.

The purpose of art is another central theme in Wilde’s novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’ The most important piece of art in the story is the portrait of Dorian. At the beginning of the novel. Basil paints the portrait of Dorian in all his beauty and youth. However, for Dorian, the picture becomes a reminder that he will one day lose his good looks and grow old (Gültekin 51). This relationship between Dorian and his likeness reflects the relationship between an individual and the world. Dorian explains, “The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.” (Wilde 24) He felt that in having others look at the picture, they would see his soul. True to his words, Dorian’s portrait later becomes a reflection of himself. He kept the picture hidden away at the abandoned room in the house so that no one would see how it transformed over time. At the beginning of the novel, Wilde reflects on the purpose of the art, coming to the conclusion that “all art is useless.” (Wilde 1) However, as the story progresses, readers can see that art occupies an integral part of many characters’ lives. The first is Basil, who worries that his painting of Dorian would absorb his soul. Basil believed that art should be taken too deeply as it exerts power over people. This proved to be true in Dorian’s case, where his whole life came to be defined by the portrait.

The supremacy of beauty and youth is another theme evident in the novel. Dorian is an excellent example of this. Basil is intrigued by Dorian chiefly because he is young and good-looking. Dorian also prized his beauty above anything else, and he was terrified at the thought of growing old. This is the main reason why he was so concerned with his self-portrait. He would give up anything so that he could remain as beautiful and young. “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young……If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything!” (Wilde 37) When speaking to Lord Henry about Dorian’s portrait, Basil explained that his work might show too much emotion about the subject. Lord Henry was quite taken by Dorian precisely because of his beauty and youth. Lord Henry praised these qualities as the most important for a person (Clifton 287). One surprising opinion from Lord Henry is that beauty and intellect do not go together. He says, “But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.” (Wilde 77) This line of reasoning where youth and beauty are prized above all else encourages vanity and encourages people to become superficial. Intelligence is a virtue that all people should strive to attain. Intellect and beauty should not be mutually exclusive.

The friendship between Lord Henry and Dorian brings out the theme of the negative effects of influence. When Dorian first met Lord Henry, Basil was quite reluctant to introduce the two because he feared that the latter would influence Dorian with his ideas. Sure enough, Dorian’s life was soon completely influenced by Lord Henry’s influence. Lord Henry believed in hedonism and the pursuit of self-interest at all costs (Stern 751). He also greatly admired Dorian’s youth and beauty, and this was enough for Dorian to follow Lord Henry’s opinions. When Sybil died, Lord Henry urged Dorian to think of her death as an artistic tragedy. Dorian soon convinced himself out of his grief and guilt for the part he played in Sybil’s untimely death. Lord Henry encouraged Dorian to give in to his every desire. He said, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.” (Wilde 113) Lord Henry also gifted Dorian a book about the exploits of a nineteenth-century Frenchman. This book influenced every aspect of Dorian’s life, and he sank deeper and deeper into a life of pleasure and sin. Throughout the novel, it is clear that Lord Henry exerts the most significant influence on Dorian. One wonders whether Dorian might have taken a different path had it not been for their friendship.

The theme of love in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a complex one, and it is mostly destructive. Dorian loved himself more than anything, and that is why he treasured his looks. He never wanted to grow old or ugly, and he wished that the portrait would absorb such undesirable occurrences. Dorian’s self-obsessed love proved to be dangerous as he disregarded the feelings and opinions of all those around him as he sought his pleasure. When he met Sybil, he questioned his love for her. He loved her mainly for her acting abilities (Shea 132). He was quite curious as to what attracted him to her, and he sought to explore the new feelings. Sybil was obsessed with Dorian, whom she referred to as Prince Charming. Even when warned by her brother and Wisdom about the danger of their relationship, she would listen to none of them. Dorian and Sybil’s love eventually leads to death. The two felt differently about each other. Sybil made up her mind to stop acting because of her love for Dorian. On learning this, Dorian no longer felt the same way as he did before. He told her, “I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid.” (Wilde 142) The readers could imagine the effect that these harsh words had on the gullible Sybil. She killed herself when Dorian broke off their engagement. When Sybil died, Dorian brushed it off under the advice of Lord Henry. The ease with which Dorian shook off the whole incident makes one wonder whether he really loved Sybil.

In conclusion, Oscar Wilde’s book, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ proves to be quite a captivating read. The author weaves together a tale that reflects the wishes of many individuals and also brings to question the extremes that people would go to satisfy their desires. Society considers youth and beauty to be essential qualities of a person, which leads Dorian to pursue a destructive path in life. Through Dorian’s story, some of the most prominent themes in the book include the purpose of art, beauty and youth, love, and the negative consequences of influence. Dorian lived a life of sin and pleasure, but in the end, he succumbed to guilt. The portrait that helped him escape the reality of age eventually led to his death. One lesson from the books is that aging and death are inevitable, and people should lead a life of moderation to be more fulfilled.

Works Cited

Clifton, Glenn. “Aging and Periodicity in The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Ambassadors: An Aesthetic Adulthood.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 59.3 (2016): 283-302.

Drumova, Viktoria. The picture of Dorian Gray: eternal themes of morality, beauty and false values through centuries. Diss. Tartu Ülikooli Narva Kolledž, 2015.

Gültekin, Lerzan. “Art versus Morality: Oscar Wilde’s Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” One Day, Oscar Wilde (2016): 49-62.

Naratri, Aisya Rizka. Psychological Conflict of Dorian Gray in the Novel Entitled the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Diss. Diponegoro University, 2016.

Shea, C. Michael. “Fallen Nature and Infinite Desire: A Study of Love, Artifice, and Transcendence in Joris-Karl Huysmans’s Á rebours and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 17.1 (2013): 115-139.

Stern, Simon. “Wilde’s Obscenity Effect: Influence and Immorality in The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The Review of English Studies 68.286 (2017): 756-772.

Wilde, Oscar. The picture of dorian gray. OUP Oxford, 2006.

Theory- Case Study

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Theory- Case Study

With the merging of two hospitals, it is essential for the new unit formed to come up with strategies that will make the provision of services to patients as seamless as possible. As the HR manager, I am in charge of the employees working at the hospital, including medical staff and other supporting staff. All the units in the hospital must collaborate to increase the effectiveness of the hospital operations. Before the merger, the five units from hospitals A and B had different procedures, and now that they have merged, the hospital must come up with a new strategy that streamlines operations. I recommend that the hospital takes a service-oriented approach, and this will affect the technology and design of the hospital, and it will also ensure high interdependence among departments in the hospital.

Question One

The hospital should take a service-oriented approach because it is more focused on the provision of services to patients in need of medical attention. The healthcare industry as a whole is categorized under the service industry. The main reason why I have made the selection of service orientation is that the hospital belongs in the healthcare industry, which is service industry in general. The core business of a hospital is treating patients who suffer from different ailments, and this is a service. The doctors and other members of staff offer consultation services to the patients and then recommend the necessary course of treatment. The products offered in the hospital are intangible, and so is consumption. Patients do not have some quantifiable measure on which they can judge the service provided, but they can tell that they feel better and this reflects the quality of care in the hospital. Taking a service-oriented approach will allow the hospital to provide the best care for the patients that visit it. One of the reasons for this is that it will employ people with high levels of skill, which is necessary for a hospital. Service orientation will also concentrate on human contact which is the whole point of a hospital; patients want to be able to explain their problems to a doctor who then interprets the information and finds out more (Khatri 48). Other members of staff, such as nurses and technicians, guide patients on what to do and generally make them comfortable in the process of getting treatment, which can be quite challenging for some people. Service orientation will, therefore, allow the new hospital unit to come up with the most efficient processes to help it achieve its primary goals.

Question 2

The kind of technology that the hospital should adopt based on service orientation is core technology. The type of technology to be adopted determines the organizational structure and efficiency. The core technology is about transforming the process to provide services to the patients. The primary goal of the hospital is to provide medical services to patients, and the technology adopted will relate to this core mission. Despite the fact that hospitals A and B used to be different, they both had the same mission. After the merger, the processes of the new unit must then be streamlined so that any similar services are merged to avoid inefficiency and multiplication of services.

Some of the factors that define service technology are intangible output which is true in this case, a patient who gets treated feels better, but no one can touch or quantify this. Secondly, production and consumption take place simultaneously. The doctor or other medical staff are the producers in this case, while the patient is the consumer. In the consultation room, for example, a conversation and treatment between doctor and patient show simultaneous production and consumption. The process of providing services to patients in the hospital is both labor and knowledge-intensive. Before a person is qualified to work as a member of the medical staff in a hospital, they have to undergo years of training to make sure that they are well-versed in how to treat patients. Handling patients is a serious matter because the course of treatment determines if they get better or worse. Human interaction and customer service is a core part of service-oriented organizations. Patients have to interact with doctors and other members of staff one on one. While technology has led to various improvements in the provision of healthcare, doctors, nurses, and other medical staff still have the biggest responsibility in dealing with the patients (Martin 39). Rapid response time is required because this might be the determining factor as to whether a patient lives or dies. The patients perceive the quality of treatment, although this is hard to measure.

Question Three

The structural design of the hospital is quite important. One of the characteristics of a service organization is that it is not necessarily large. The new hospital will be of average size, meaning that management will not be too difficult. The hospital is also divided into departments to make management easier and decentralized. A service organization such as a hospital also requires technical core employees who will be close to the customer. Examples of these professional core employees are nurses, doctors, technicians, and others. The customers of the services organization, who in this case happen to be patients, interact directly with the technical staff. In the new hospital, this will be true because patients usually meet with doctors and nurses who will give a diagnosis and suggest the best course of treatment. The customer and the technical employees have to be close to each other. One on one contact is crucial because it allows the technical staff to judge the state of the patient (Anderson & Warkov 26). When consulting with a patient, the nurse or doctor can be able to make additional judgments and inferences based on what the patient says and also what they don’t say. For example, the doctor may be able to notice symptoms such as tremors, sweating. The patient will then move to other technical employees; for example, if a person has a fractured leg, they may need an MRI which is operated by the relevant technical employees.

In addition to this, the employees have to be highly skilled, and to do this they usually have years of training in specialized institutions before getting a job as part of the medical staff at the hospital. Finally, employees must posse’s necessary knowledge, awareness, and interpersonal skills. For those members of staff who work directly with patients, they must have the required social skills to handle different types of people. Sometimes treating patients is not just about the symptoms they describe; the member of staff must also be able to interpret and bring up the unsaid issues in a way that makes the patient comfortable. At times, patients may also be hiding relevant information that makes treatment difficult, and the staff has to find a way to extract this information from them.

Some of the main characteristics of the design of the hospital will be formalization, centralization, communication, and coordination, as well as high level of skills among the employees. Because the hospital was previously made up of two units, there is a need for formalization in the new unit. The different departments must work together to provide the best care for patients. Some of the departments in the previous units will have to be merged to avoid the multiplicity of roles and improve efficiency (Martin, 61). When this has been done, the newly formed hospital will need to outline its core mission and goals and have all the employees read through these. One of the core objectives of the hospital; is to provide quality care at affordable costs for all patients, and members of staff need to know how they contribute to this. Centralization will affect the management of the hospital and hierarchy. The previous units of the hospital each come with their different styles and management teams, and to ensure seamless operations, these must be centralized. For example, the HR departments of the two will come together because the new hospital is a new company on its own. There needs to be centrality of administration so that all employees know who they answer to. This will also enhance coordination and communication. The different departments must work together in the most effective and productive manner possible.

Question Four

The hospital should have a high level of interdependence because the process of providing medical care to patients happens across different departments and levels in the hospital. In coordinating interdependence, the hospital must have basic rules and laws in place, and the employees must be aware of these. There should also be planning, such as scheduling regular meetings, for example once or twice every week. In addition to this, there have to be some areas of mutual adjustment such as unscheduled meetings where employees make time to address any urgent issues that cannot wait.

A high level of interdependence is necessary in a hospital setting because caring for patients involves the collaboration of different people (Ginter et al 36). When a patient walks into the hospital, they meet with triage nurses who then send them to a general practitioner. Here, the patient explains their problems, and if necessary, the patient is referred to a specialist. In case the patient needs additional tests such as blood and urine, or MRI, CAT, and other scans, they are sent to the relevant departments who then provide the results of the diagnostic tests. From there, the patient can be sent to the pharmacy to collect prescribed medications. Within one hospital visit, the patient ends up interacting with various departments in the hospital. For the process to be as seamless as possible, there must be high levels of interdependence. Ho single department can work on its own, and in case of a breakdown in the interdependence chain, patient care is compromised. The positives associated with this system of high interdependence is that it promotes the quality of care that patients get in the hospital because the different departments work together to find the cause of illness and the best course of treatment. High level of interdependence can also present a challenge when one department faces a problem, and the whole chain breaks down.

In conclusion, with the merging of the two hospital units, there needs to be a comprehensive strategy that includes orientation, technology, design, and interdependence. The hospital takes a service-orientated approach because its core mission is the provision of healthcare services to patients. Based on this orientation, the hospital then applies core technology, which relates to the mission of the hospital. Some of the structural design elements include highly skilled employees, direct interaction, technical core employees, and decentralized decision making where staff report to department heads. A high level of interdependence in the hospital setting will improve the quality of care because different departments have different core functions that together promote the provision of services to customers.

Works Cited

Anderson, Theodore R., and Seymour Warkov. “Organizational size and functional complexity: A study of administration in hospitals.” American Sociological Review (2001): 23-28.

Ginter, Peter M., W. Jack Duncan, and Linda E. Swayne. The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons, 2018.

Khatri, Naresh. “Building HR capability in health care organizations.” Health Care Management Review 31.1 (2006): 45-54.

Martin, Brian C. Strategic Planning in Healthcare: An Introduction for Health Professionals. Springer Publishing Company, 2018.

This Is It Soul Food

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This Is It Soul Food

This Is It Soul Food is undoubtedly one of Houston’s most popular restaurants. Patrons flock to the establishment every single day of the week to enjoy traditionally black cuisines which remind many of their histories. The restaurant also provides all visitors with the opportunity to learn about new kinds of food that may not be common for them. This Is It Soul Food has been around for more than fifty years and remains popular with all kinds of people from celebrities, politicians, locals to tourists. Visiting the restaurant is a chance for people to enjoy delectable dishes as well as celebrate the history of the restaurant.

Frank and Mattie Jones started This Is It Soul Food in Houston’s Third Ward in the year 1959. Frank was inspired by his mother’s passion for food. During his younger days, his mother would cook for boarders at her premises, who included famous names such as jazziest, Louis Armstrong. When Frank and Mattie set up their business, it was a simple A-frame, but it has grown to a thriving business recognized in the Houston community. Craig Joseph, the founding couple’s grandson, currently runs the establishment in the Third Ward.

A diverse range of customers flocks to the restaurant for its culinary delights. In past years, the restaurant only opened for three days a week to serve lunch, but as it grew more popular, demand increased. Today, it opens seven days a week for all meals, except for Sunday when there is no breakfast served. Residents of the neighbourhood, politicians, tourists, professionals and other customers all visit the restaurant every day. There is a wide variety of food offered in the restaurant including braised oxtail, fried catfish, smothered chicken, pork chops, mac and cheese, banana pudding, among many other delights. This Is It is a historical landmark for the African-American community in Houston and a welcoming place for residents and neighbours alike.

Works Cited

‘This Is It Soul Food.’ CultureMap. https://houston.culturemap.com/guide/restaurants/this-is-it-soul-food/