off the BEATEn track

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DJP#12 

> Feminism by definition is the advocacy of the equality of the sexes.[1] It is the belief men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Gender equality and feminism go hand in hand. It was and still is women’s goal to be treated equally as well as to have the same opportunities and rights as men; especially concerning the working world.

 > Iceland has not only made increasing progress on economic participation, politics, education and family policies, but its pace of closing the gender gap between men and women, compared to other countries in the world is very fast. Moreover, Iceland is the leading country concerning gender gap in pay: It is the first country that requires by law equal pay for the same work. The government also introduced the introduction of legislation that requires employers to prove that they pay both sexes equally. [2]

 >moral case: women play an important part in economics, for example, leadership roles, if women are able to perform the same kind of job, but are not being represented in equal numbers and do not get the same chances to grow in their development, education and career position, it is a loss for organizations, politics and many other areas, not having women as possible leading figures.

 [1] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/feminism

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/business/economy/iceland-women-equal-pay.html

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DJP#11

The topic/subject of my persuasive essay is the importance of gender equality in today’s society of America and Iceland. To be more specific I narrowed the topic down to how women are treated in the workforce of those two countries.

I chose those two countries since the US is the country where gender equality effects us as citizens/residents. The reason why I chose to compare America with Iceland, was because this Nordic country has ranked first for nine years in a row concerning gender equality rights in the world.[1] So it is very interesting to go into more detail and find out where exactly the differences lie and what distinctions concerning women in the working world exist between these two countries.

Gender equality of men and women in the working world is of great significance. Since this is an omnipresent topic and affects everyone, men and women. There are many reasons for it. First of all, gender equality in the working world gives men as well as women the same opportunities, for example, to climb the career ladder. Moreover, there would not be a superior role of one of the two genders anymore nor disadvantages for women nor barriers to education or women. For example, through maternity leave after pregnancy. Gender equality would also include paternity leave. Another essential part in the workforce of women is the wage gap between women and men.

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/why-iceland-ranks-first-gender-equality/ 

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DJP #10

Topic: Gender equality

Gender equality is the right to equal opportunities as well as access to rights regardless of gender. It is not only a fundamental human right, but it allows equal opportunities for all.

And there is no doubt that gender equality benefits society as well as humanity at large. Over the last years the topic has become increasingly important and more and more present in public debate. Additionally, I noticed that more and more women, especially celebrities use their voice and stand up in order to encourage women from all kind of cultures, countries or religions to stand up for equality. You can find gender inequality in different areas of life, for example concerning payments for men and women for doing the same kind of work or finding women in leadership positions or for instance women’s football vs. men’s football is also an example of the difference between “same profession” and “same work”. (In sport, of course, income is usually determined by commercial success. If more people wanted to watch women’s football than men’s football then women footballers would earn more, regardless of whether they’re better footballers or not.)

My initial understanding about this ubiquitous topic is that, although we are in the 21st century, gender inequality concerning numerous fields in life is still of great concern. It seems to me that the problem of inequal pay for men and women for the same type of work is one of the biggest and hardest issues women have to face and fight against. However, there are some signs of progress. Iceland is the first country in the world where equal pay for equal work has been introduced or at least where pay for equal work is legally binding. It is also a country where political empowerment among women is nothing unusual anymore. Another problem is that concerning leadership positions women are still at a disadvantage compared to men.

 Why is gender equality important?

Is gender equality a concern for men?

What is gender mainstreaming?

Difference btw gender equality and feminism

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DJ post #9

Ted Talk: “How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day”

The speaker in this talk is Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google. Part of his work was to find out how to ethically steer people’s thoughts.

Harris starts his talk with a credibility statement where he reveals that he was once a former employee, so he was in the position of controlling people’s thoughts. He studied, so to say, how to control people’s thoughts. Further on in his presentation he explains the intention of technology used to hold people’s attention (15:07min). Hence, he gives examples like Youtube or Netflix and tells what features they use in order to keep peoples’s attention.He also states “ We know where this is going. Technology is not neutral’’.(13:54min) Here he gives  an example like the snapchat-app and explains how far it has already got.

Moreover, Harris makes his listeners aware of how urgent the problem of trying to seek attention to direct people’s thoughts through various types of technology features, already is. He tells his audience its impacts and effects on our society. Here he gives an example of how mobile phones change people’s conversations and democracy as well as their relationships with each other. (10:20min) Furthermore, he presents some options/ideas of how that problem can be fixed and what we can do in order to fix it. (10:07min)

In the next section of his speech the former design ethicist lists what we can do instead of trying to focus on future technology and trying to manipulate people’s minds. Instead we should use all our power and data to create a ‘superhuman’ ability to decide what to focus our attention on. He also reminds his audience of rather focusing on issues that are right underneath our nose than solving hypothetical future issues. (6:23min)[1]

      The decisions he offers provoke his audience to think carefully the next time they use apps like snapchat or social media websites like Youtube, Netflix and others, what intentions lay behind certain features and how these unconsciously impact their thoughts and actions.

[1] “How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day”, Ted Talks, uploaded at TED2017, April 2017, www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention#t-2765

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DJ post #7

audience

explicit

>daughter, Susy

>  and her sister

The audience in Mark Twain’s  letter are his daughters, or to be more precise his elder daughter Susy. Susy is a three-year-old girl who still believes in Santa Claus. She still holds the belief that “The man in this moon” is the one who brings all the Christmas presents to all the children.

implicit/extended audience

>children, parents, educators, teachers

The intended audience of the letter in general are children, parents as well as educators or everyone who works/spends time with children. On the one hand this letter reflects once again that children’s perception and communication in younger years when they are younger differ enormously from those of (younger) adults. On the other hand it shows that children give freer range to their imagination. In the letter there are numerous signal/key words that describe Santa Claus’s appearance as well as his behavior.

Letter as an item of communication

One common way in which children communicate when they are younger is actually through drawing and painting pictures. When they get older and they learn how to write, they also start adding names of the recipient, and their own names as sender, to their drawings. Drawings, in a child’s world are a substitution for the kind of letter adults communicate with. Children give free range to their imagination about/on how to design a letter.

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DJ post #6

„item“

> my item of communication is a letter (“A letter from Santa Claus” by Mark Twain)

 what is its whole and what are its parts?

 >   Susy and her younger sister wrote/drew some wish lists for Christmas to Santa Claus

> Mark Twain, Susy’s father, responded by writing a letter to them purporting to be from Santa Claus

 1st paragraph

> S.C. informs Susy that he was able to identify the drawings from her and her sister, but he was not able to identify the letters written by her mother and nurses in Susy’s name

> problem with an item on the wish list, explains to her what he will do in order to get the right one for her

> S. speaks a foreign language

 2nd paragraph

>Mark Twain gives Susy step-by-step instructions on what she has to do and say when Santa arrives at her house

> Santa tells/explains her how she can remember his visit, and keep him in memory synonym for Santa Claus- man in the moon

Audience of this “item”

>daughter Susy

>Parents

>Teachers

>educators

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A letter from Santa Claus-Mark T. intended & actual audience > his daughter -Susy Clemens >drawings /'characters that all children use' >Big Dipper >language of S.C. >man in the moon

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Expository Essay : reverse outline

‘‘The Zone”

Describing the running flow state: describing the running flow, while a long run, but at the same time I want to express that running is like a “healthy drug” and an essential part of my life

Introduction: introduction to running, (explanation of) a long run/runners mind

Body: description of the flow state, how to get into it, what conditions are necessary and parallels to life

Conclusion: why running/sports matters to others, healthy drug, find your own flow

Paragraph 1: > describing a long run/start of a long run,

                      > explaining what is going on in a runner’s mind,

                      > introduction to running

Paragraph 2: >how to get into the flow state

                      >factors that contribute to experiencing the flow

Paragraph 3: >describing the flow state

Paragraph 4: > feelings and thoughts that come up

Paragraph 5: > interaction of body and mind/head

Paragraph 6: > parallels to daily life (mood, motivation) and why the topic           matters to others

Paragraph 7: >essential part of my life,

                      >affects on mood and well- being

Paragraph 8: >healthy drug

                   > why everyone should find their own way of experiencing ’the flow’

                    >  it’s not only with running that you can get into the flow state

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thatisbea

Hi everyone!   A very warm welcome to my writing blog. My name is Bea and I am from Vienna, Austria. Originally I am from Upper Austria, born in a little village, but since I was seven I have been living in the capital of Austria. I would describe myself as a dedicated and hard working person. Every day I try to push myself further into the unknown , exploring my own limits/interests, different cultures and places. Another thing you might want to know about me is that I never seem to be able to take the easy/normal way in order to get what I want or to reach my goals. It does not matter, whether I want to or not. It is like you have to breathe in order to stay alive, whether you like it or not. Evidently, sometimes that can be anything but fun. To tell you a bit more about myself I thought I'd tell you something about my current main interests. First of all, I have to let you know that I love sport. Especially distance running. I am an athlete. My main purpose in being an athlete is not to present myself in public (which is part of being an athlete) nor is it something I want to boast or show off about. I am simply an athlete for my own satisfaction, to prove to  myself that I can work hard, reach my goals, exceed limits if I want to and keep going. Being an athlete just reflects or represents who I am. Furthermore, I would consider myself as an explorer of different places and cultures. One of my favorite hobbies is traveling. I try to spend as much time as possible abroad. I know that this sounds very conventional, who doesn't love traveling? I would say I travel for very common reasons like all  other travelers:  In order to see new places, get in touch with different cultures, meet new and interesting people and above all in order to broaden my horizons.   I created this blog as part of my English-course at university. Hence I have to mention that I am kind of forced to start being a blogger. I never wanted to create a blog, even less a writing blog, and publish written work of my own. But, here I am. Let's see what I can do..   P.S. The moral of this story is: never say never. So, watch out! You never know what idea an English teacher will come up with next. 😉     Nevertheless, I really hope that you are going to enjoy my blog.   Bea