Biography of Willa Cather, American Author

Willa Cather (born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 to April 24, 1947) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer who gained acclaim for her novels capturing the American pioneer experience. Fast Facts: Willa Cather Known For: Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer whose novels captured the American pioneer experienceBorn:  December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley, Virginia, USADied:  April 24, 1947 in New York City, New York, USAEducation: University of Nebraska–LincolnSelected Works: My à ntonia (1918), O Pioneers! (1913), Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), One of Ours (1922)Awards and Honors: 1923 Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, 1944 Gold Medal for Fiction from the National Institute of Arts and LettersNotable Quote:  There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before. Early Life on the Prairie Willa Cather was born on the farm of her maternal grandmother, Rachel Boak, in the poor farming region of Back Creek Valley, Virginia, on December 7, 1873. The oldest of seven children, she was the daughter of Charles Cather and Mary Cather (nà ©e Boak). Despite the Cather family having spent several generations in Virginia, Charles moved his family to the Nebraska frontier when Willa was nine years old. After spending about eighteen months attempting to farm in the community of Catherton, the Cathers moved into the town of Red Cloud. Charles opened a business for real estate and insurance, and the children, including Willa, were able to attend formal school for the first time. Many of the figures in Willa’s early life would appear in fictionalized form in her later novels: most notably her grandmother Rachel Boak, but also her parents and her friend and neighbor Marjorie Anderson. As a girl, Willa found herself fascinated by the frontier environment and its people. She developed a lifelong passion for the land and befriended a wide array of the area’s residents. Her curiosity and interest in literature and language led her to forge connections with immigrant families in her community, especially older women who remembered the â€Å"Old World† and who delighted in telling young Willa their stories. Another of her friends and mentors was the local doctor, Robert Damerell, under whose guidance she decided to pursue science and medicine. Student, Teacher, Journalist Willa attended the University of Nebraska, where her career plans took an unexpected turn. During her freshman year, her English professor submitted an essay she had written on Thomas Carlyle to the Nebraska State Journal, which published it. Seeing her name in print had a huge impact on the young student, and she shifted her aspirations immediately towards becoming a professional writer. While at the University of Nebraska, Willa immersed herself in the world of writing, particularly journalism, although she also penned short stories. She became the editor of the university’s student newspaper while also contributing to the Journal and to the Lincoln Courier as a theatre critic and columnist. Quickly, she gained a reputation for her strong opinions and sharp, intelligent columns, as well as for her dressing in masculine fashions and using â€Å"William† as a nickname. In 1894, she graduated with her B.A. in English. In 1896, Willa accepted a position in Pittsburgh as writer and managing editor for Home Monthly, a women’s magazine. She continued to write for the Journal and the Pittsburgh Leader, mostly as a theatre critic while running Home Monthly. During this period, her love for the arts brought her in contact with Pittsburgh socialite Isabelle McClung, who became her lifelong friend. After a few years of journalism, Willa stepped into the role of teacher. From 1901 to 1906, she taught English, Latin, and, in one case, algebra at nearby high schools. During this time, she began publishing: first a book of poetry, April Twilights, in 1903, and then a short story collection, The Troll Garden, in 1905. These caught the eye of S.S. McClure, who, in 1906, invited Willa to join the staff of McClure’s Magazine in New York City. Literary Success in New York City Willa was extremely successful at McClure’s. She ghostwrote a notable biography of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, which was credited to researcher Georgine Milmine and published in several installments around 1907. Her position as managing editor earned her prestige and the admiration of McClure himself, but it also meant that she had significantly less time to work on her own writing. On the advice of her mentor Sarah Orne Jewett, Willa left the magazine business in 1911 to focus on fiction. Although she no longer worked for McClure’s, her relationship with the publication continued. In 1912, the magazine published, in serial, her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge. The novel was well-reviewed (although Willa herself would, later in life, consider it a more derivative work than her later novels). Her next three novels cemented her legacy. Her â€Å"Prairie Trilogy† consisted of O Pioneers! (published in 1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My à ntonia  (1918). These three novels centered on the pioneer experience, drawing on her childhood experiences of life in Nebraska, the immigrant communities she loved there, and her passion for the untamed land. The novels included some autobiographical elements, and all three were celebrated by critics and audiences alike. These novels shaped her reputation as a writer who used plain but beautiful language to write thoroughly American romantic literature. Dissatisfied with her publisher’s lack of support for her novels, Willa began publishing short stories with Knopf in 1920. She would eventually publish sixteen works with them, including her 1923 novel One Of Them, which won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. A subsequent book, 1925’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, also enjoyed a long legacy. At this point in her career, Willa’s novels were beginning to move away from epic, romantic tales of the American prairie to stories that leaned into the disillusionment of the post-World War I era. Later Years As the 1930s rolled around, literary critics soured on Willa’s books, criticizing them for being too nostalgic and not contemporary enough. She continued to publish, but at a much slower pace than before. During this time, she received honorary degrees from Yale, Princeton, and Berkeley. Her personal life also began to take a toll. Her mother and the two brothers with whom she was closest all passed away, as did Isabelle McClung. The bright spot was Edith Lewis, the editor who was her closest companion from the early 1900s until her death. Scholars are divided as to whether or not the relationship was romantic or platonic; Willa, a deeply private person, destroyed many personal papers, so there is no certain evidence either way, but scholars of the queer theory have often interpreted her works through the lens of this partnership. Willa’s personal life remained something she kept closely guarded, even after her death. Willa despaired over the coming conflicts of World War II, and she began to have issues with an inflamed tendon in her writing hand. Her final novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, was published in 1940 and marked a significantly darker tone than her previous works. In 1944, the National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded her the gold medal for fiction as a mark of her lifetime of literary achievement. In her final years, her health began to decline, and on April 24, 1947, Willa Cather died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City. Legacy Willa Cather left behind a canon that was both plainspoken and elegant, accessible and deeply nuanced. Her portrayals of immigrants and women (and of immigrant women) have been at the center of much modern scholarship. With a style that encompassed sweeping epics along with realistic depictions of frontier life, Willa Cather’s writings have become iconic pieces of the literary canon, both in America and worldwide. Sources Ahearn, Amy. Willa Cather: A Longer Biographical Sketch. Willa Cather Archive, https://cather.unl.edu/life.longbio.html.Smiley, Jane. Willa Cather, Pioneer. The Paris Review, 27 February 2018, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/27/willa-cather-pioneer.Woodress, James.  Willa Cather: A Literary Life. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.

Population Growth in the Philippines - 1412 Words

Introduction This research paper, Philippine Environment: Trends and Issues, aims to deliver summarized though informative information about our nation’s environment. It aims to inform decision making, research, and discussion on environmental conditions in Philippines, environmental issues of current and ongoing concern, environmental pressures of interest, and changes by drawing together up-to-date environmental data and analysis from both official and trustworthy sources. It also aims to support the review of progress towards environmental goals, changes in environmental conditions, and levels of environmental pressure. â€Å"Philippine Environment: Trends and Issues† comprises an issue. This issue explores something about environment†¦show more content†¦The census counts up to the barangay level were made official with the signing by President Benigno S. Aquino III of Proclamation No. 362 on March 30, 2012. The 2010 population is higher by 15.83 million compared to the 2000 population of 76.51 million. In 1990, the total population was 60.70 million. The Philippine population increased at the rate of 1.90 percent annually, on the average, during the period 2000-2010. This means that there were two persons added per year for every 100 persons in the population. Reference Period | Average Annual Growth Rate for the Philippines (in percent) | 2000-2010 | 1.90 | 1990-2000 | 2.34 | Population Density by Statistical Local Area CALABARZON, NCR, and Central Luzon comprise more than one-third of the total population Among the 17 regions, CALABARZON (Region IVA) had the largest population with 12.61 million, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 11.86 million and Central Luzon (Region III) with 10.14 million. The population of these three regions together comprised more than one-third (37.47 percent) of the Philippine population. 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Industrial Revolution Concept of Modern City

Question: Discuss about the Industrial Revolution for Concept of Modern City. Answer: Introduction: With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the concept of Modern City Ideal came in vogue. The key enabler of Industrial Revolution was technology as the various inventions and technological innovations essentially led to the revolution. The industrial revolution driven by technology caused a major change in social and cultural lives as well. Due to the big industrial towns which served as modern urban cities, there was mass wave of migration to cities in search of better employment which essentially led to the expansion of industrial cities as the various workers started living on the fringes. Gradually, as time progressed these industrial towns faced various issues such as high density, lack of transportation, extreme poverty especially amongst workers, problems of slums as no proper housing for workers and poor which constituted large sections in the society. Besides, the problem of industrial pollution also existed (Staudenmaier and John, 1985). These cities belonged to the 19th century and by the time the 20th century came, various technological innovations altered the idea of Modern City Ideal. The previous idea of modern cities was abandoned with the main issue being that those cities were too static and not in sync with the dynamic world driven by technological advancements. These were instead transformed into new urban cities which unlike the previous cities was better equipped. These were the suburban sprawls which typically became popular after 1920s. Unlike, the previous ideal cities, these were characterised by low population densities. Besides, there were wide open spaces and automobile dependence has developed due to ushering of the automobile revolution in the US. The developed areas of these cities were separated by haphazard developments at the outskirts through wide areas. Also, the areas were divided as per the exact usage, Also, the impact of the technological innovations was visible on the family life as we ll especially after the Second World War as the baby boom trend commenced. Also, due to frequent disruptions particularly due to war, these cities could not keep up the rising housing requirement and had to face mass housing shortages (Smith, Roe and Leo, 1994). As a result, the suburban sprawls paved way to the Levittown which were planned cities which had planned street patterns along with pre-fabricated houses that were sturdy and also affordable. These cities were highly dynamic and suited to meet the future needs of expansion as they were planned on greenfield sites taking into consideration expected inflow from other areas. Further, the means of production were also gradually altering with greater usage of automation which further enhanced the productivity of various industries. This was the era of consumer industries which aimed to provide the people with access to various items of luxury so as to make their life comfortable (Staudenmaier and John, 1985). However, the next technological change which acted as a potent change agent is the communication and informational technological revolution particularly the internet which has completely altered the modern way of life. Besides, affecting the economic domain, it has had a prominent in fluence on the social and cultural domain and has driven the society towards globalisation and formation of a global economy (Murphie and Potts, 2003). The pace of social and economic life has increased with the penetration of communication revolution. Further, due to globalisation, the economic growth in certain nations has been aided. Most importantly, globalisation has led to greater cultural interactions and thus there is intermingling of value systems and the cultures, With the presence of various MNCs in developing nations, the culture is undergoing a fundamental shift as the levels of standardisation is on the rise economy (Murphie and Potts, 2003). Further, there is realisation of a global economy where there are certain issues such as climate change which need to be addressed on global level. Hence, there is no denying that technology has placed a key role of a change agent in bringing the society to its current level and the progress of the society is closely linked to technology. Besides, the impact of technology as a change agent has not been limited to a particular aspect but over the last couple of centuries has permea ted into various aspects of life. Surveillance has without doubt become a way of life in modern day society. In the name of national security and furthering of national interests, the incidence of surveillance with various state of art technologies is on the rise. With this rise in surveillance there are a plethora of concerns led by the privacy evasion. The state as is evident from ambitious programs such as PRISM has ignored the privacy of citizens despite the presence of stringent law to assure the same. In Canada, the phenomenon of surveillance is not limited to the government but also deployed by the employers. While the ambit of Privacy Law is limited only to government but Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is pervasive in its scope and application. One of the provisions of PIPEDA is that personal information of employees cannot be collected without their consent and further if collected the information should only be used for the purpose it is stated to be used (Cavoukian, 2013). However, the provisions of this law are bent and often abused due to which the personal information about the employers is obtained. Besides, there are other surveillance techniques which practically are quite expansive in their scope and tend to scan and view all e-mails and other material that may be shared. Clearly, such kind of grave surveillance measure do a great harm to the individuals privacy and in USA had resulted in job losses due to obscene content being sh ared over the e-mail. The result of this is that in the US privacy complaints to the employer form the single largest group of complaints (Taylor, 2002). When surveillance at the workplace is such a concern, the state is particularly armed with more resources in this regard and has a bigger agenda at hand which is national security. However, the state has cleared crossed the line with regards to surveillance and need to adhere to the following words of Benjamin Franklin in 1775 (Feldman, 1994). They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. In the US Constitution , the Fourth Amendment clearly restricts the powers of the state and provides a right to the individual to take action in case of intrusion. However, with the advancements of technology the process of surveillance is becoming more complex and covert. These tend to come to light only when there are some leaks or else these programs are run in a clandestine manner (Fewick, 2000). The usage of these technologies which are essentially hidden unlike a CCTV and uses sophisticated tools such as satellite imagery had led to a trust deficit between the people and the government which in the future is expected to widen only. This evident from a TIME magazine poll about 61% of the American people are more concerned about the restricting of civil liberties causes by the governments increasing security measures rather than the government not taking strict measures to ensure security (Taylor, 2002). Going forward, the debate is not whether and which surveillance technologies must be deployed but the question is how and when these must be deployed even for addressing national security concerns. The state must understand that even though national security is pivotal but same should be given without violation of civil liberties. This can be enabled by migration to a framework named as Privacy by Design where relevant technical and administrative controls are built so as to make sure that the usage of these intrusive technologies is done in an appropriate manner with accountability. It is imperative to maintain requisite transparency with regards to the data collected and circumstances under which it is collected (Taylor, 2002). This is essential as currently the surveillance activities are fast becoming a zero sum game where the debate is reduced to choosing one amongst privacy and security. This approach needs to be altered in the wake of new technological developments in the fiel d of surveillance that are expected to enhance the governments abilities in this regard. It is imperative that the various agencies should ensure national security while ensuring that the legitimate interests of the people are taken care of (Cavoukian, 2013). It is imperative that the government should look to address the privacy concerns of individuals with honest intent or else going forward the public opinion against use of such techniques may reach a tipping point. It is thus essential that the state deploys data gathering in a reasonable, open and accountable manner so as to achieve the various legitimate social objectives so that a delicate balance between security and privacy can be restored going forward (Cavoukian, 2013). References Cavoukian, A. (2013), Surveillance, then and now: Securing Privacy in Public Spaces, Retrieved on August 15 from https://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Resources/pbd-surveillance.pdf Feldman, D. (1994), Secrecy, Dignity or Autonomy? Views of Privacy as a Civil Liberty. Current Legal Problems, 47(2): 41-71. Fenwick, H. (2000), Civil Rights: New Labour, Freedom and the Human Rights Act. Harlow: Longman Murphie, A. and Potts, J. (2003). Culture and Technology., London: Palgrave. Smith, M., Roe, M. and Leo, R. (1994).Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism., Cambridge: MIT Press Staudenmaier, S.J. and John, M. (1985). The Debate over Technological Determinism: Technology's Storytellers: Reweaving the Human Fabric. Cambridge: The MIT Press Taylor, N. (2002), State Surveillance and the Right to Privacy, Surveillance Society 1(1): 66-85