Relationship Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Relationship Paper - Essay Example I am a believer of strong family relationships as I have been raised with my parents holding on to each other as they go through the daily trials life brought along. In effect, I have been looking forward to building my own family the way I have been raised. Demureness was one virtue I always appreciated in my mother, one that in my own opinion, a real woman should possess so that this was the first thing I looked for in a woman. I guess in part, this is because of the fully accepted impression that men are expected to be strong as the head of the family, able to bring in the needs of the family by working difficult jobs while women are delicate, from their actions to their works. Armed with such a conviction, this has served as my guidance in finding the right woman for my self. I met my wife in _________ whose very refined movement caught my attention and whose cultured speech strengthened my desire to know her better. I soon learned she was looking for a man who wanted a lasting r elationship and not just one that would melt after a few years. Seeing it through the exchange theory (Adler & Proctor, 2007 p. 280), I now see how my wants were gratified as much as hers in the relationship we were trying to build. I was looking for the traits that would be to my advantage, having a woman who can submit to me as her male partner while she on the other hand, was looking for a man who could stick to just one woman for a lifetime. A man of simple words and direct to the point, there have been miscommunications in our relationship as we learned to express our thoughts and ideas which proved to be a great task to both of us because my wife usually spoke on a seemingly different level, saying something different from the way I hear her. So many times, we tried to understand each other but letting things pass just made it work during our experimenting and intensifying stages. When we decided to commit to each other through marriage, getting to the final stage of a relatio nship called bonding (Knapp & Vangelisti), we sealed our relationship in giving our vows to love each other until death. Marriage does not end trials and troubles in a relationship but it sure forces a person to indulge one’s self in making it work. Our communication problems did not end when we got married rather we seem to have thought that each of us should be able to read one’s mind by this time because at this period, we should have known each other pretty well. This made the problem even worse which usually led to a cold war between us, my wife usually keeping quiet, not answering simple questions. The arrival of our children did not even help resolve our problems instead, they were involved in a tug of war where my wife and I tried to get their attention to one of us alone and let the other feel how it could be to be alone, abandoned. These days, there are still some misunderstandings but we have grown, being wiser in our actions and speech and reminded that if we truly want our relationship to last, we have to make things work. This includes learning to be articulate in communicating our thoughts, putting one’s self to the shoes of the other for us to understand further what one is saying. The subject matter we have been discussing in class gave me a clearer view of my relationship with my wife and is helping me a lot in the improvement of how I deal with her these days. I have learned that in a relationship, it sure takes two to tango and the resolution we tried to employ in our

Toyota - Promotion Essay Example for Free

Toyota Promotion Essay The promotional marketing aspect of Toyota is by far one of the major keys to success of the entire organization. It is so critical to Toyota that they recently spent a total of $2. 86 billion in advertising expenses, which ranks them at number six in the world for the highest advertising budget (Evans, 2011). The message is clear for Toyota. Their new organizational goal and slogan is â€Å"Moving Forward. † That is exactly their plan in the upcoming years for being right on the heels of top automakers General Motors and Ford Motor Company. To achieve this goal, the primary aspect of the organization is to get their promotional marketing out through advertising, personal selling, offering sales promotions, and being involved in publicity. Toyota spends a significant amount of money on advertising to convey their message clearly. The company plans to move forward, surpassing other automakers to claim the number one spot, by producing vehicles that are fuel efficient, reliable, affordable, and practical. One of the best examples in their product line is the Toyota Corolla. The target market for this vehicle is rather perplexed or simply genius. Rather than targeting a specific target market, this vehicle is designed for the needs of many consumers including families, college students, and professionals. But the real question here is how to target several consumers in different areas? The answer is by advertising everywhere possible. Toyota advertisements can be found just about everywhere including primetime television, popular radio stations, newspapers, magazines, internet banners, billboards, sporting events, sponsorships, and any of their cars driving down the road. Although the cost of advertising may seem like a big number, Toyota considers it a necessary commodity for achieving the number one auto manufacturer in the world. The only way to purchase a Toyota product is through a sales consultant at a certified retail outlet and is the reason why personal selling is a critical part to the overall success of the organization. This concept is a huge benefit for Toyota’s volume because a sales consultant has the ability to influence and persuade a consumer into making a uniformed and educated decision on their product. The biggest benefit for a sales consultant is the ability to offer a test drive which creates value and ownership in a consumer’s mind to the actual product they desire. In addition, this interaction builds a relationship and allows the consumer to get direct feedback quickly and professionally to any questions they may have. Since personal selling is a critical part to consumer purchasing, Toyota ensures that their sales consultants are highly motivated, trained, and professional. In fact, a requirement for employment as a Toyota sales consultant is to actively complete sales/ product knowledge training through their virtual online Toyota University. If a sales consultant fails to meet these standards, then they are welcomed to stay in sales but just not with Toyota Motor Company. Furthermore, sales consultants are also judged on a customer satisfaction index or survey which every new Toyota owner receives. The sales consultant is expected to provide superior customer service and is awarded financially for doing so. Sales promotions are the best way to capture the interest of a consumer. Not only does Toyota advertise their Corolla as a dependable, fuel efficient vehicle, but when they do they also include several incentives or sales promotions to interest the consumer in the product. The main goal of these advertisements is to get consumers into the retail outlets to meet with a sales consultant. According to Toyota. com, current incentives on a 2012 Toyota Corolla include combined rebates up to $2,000 and also 0% financing for up to 60 months. The idea is for the consumer to perceive the ability to take an additional $2,000 off the manufacturers suggested retail price and finance the vehicle for free at an affordable payment. In addition, a significant portion of consumers like to lease their vehicles and the current promotion on a brand new Corolla is only $149/ month with minimal cash due at signing. Going back to the target market and using an incentive as an example, a $500 rebate is included for any consumer who is trading a non-Toyota product. The goal of this incentive is to persuade consumers into considering Toyota and ultimately creating a bigger market share for the Toyota brand. Finally, where Toyota is spending a significant amount of their advertising is on their complimentary maintenance plan with roadside assistance for two years called Toyota Care that is available on any model they offer. Right now Toyota is the only brand offering this benefit and the promotion adds value to any prospective consumer (Toyota. com). Toyota admires the community and takes a part in publicity. Another avenue of marketing is to get the brand name out there in a casual but attention grabbing fashion. One way Toyota does this is by sponsoring the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Any event that takes place at this state-of-the-art facility has Toyota’s name tattooed all over it. The name Toyota not only appears on the side of the building, but also on ticket stubs, apparel, and broadcastings. This marketing approach gets out to huge live audiences who come to see big acts like Lady Gaga, Madonna, and the 2013 NBA all-star game. Another recent approach Toyota has taken is an event called the Tundra Endeavor Challenge. On October 13, 2012, the Toyota Motor Company will try to stun the world when their Toyota Tundra stock model attempts to tow the space shuttle Endeavor to its new location at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA. The shuttle and apparatus will weigh almost 300,000 pounds! The event is supposed to attract thousands of people and if done successfully, the Toyota Motor Company will have a very intuitive marketing accomplishment (Toyota. com) It is obvious that Toyota sees the promotional marketing aspect of the organization as a major key for success. In conclusion, the ultimate goal in moving forward is to get the Toyota brand name out there in a unique fashion. The goal is to provide the best products for the best value and with the best customer service. The foundation of the promotional marketing for Toyota relies on advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, and publicity.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, published in 2001 by Barbara Ehrenreich, is a book in which the author goes undercover and investigates the lives of the working poor by living and working in similar conditions. The book demonstrates fairly well two social paradigms, namely conflict theory (inspired by Marx and Weber) and structural-functionalism (inspired by Talcott Parsons). Conflict theory is clearly demonstrated throughout the book-social order based on inequality, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. There is also evidence of structural-functionalism, though it is not the best fit. Structural-functionalism is defined as a society in which there are groups of people organized into levels that enable individuals in this society to find stability, order and meaning (Kimmel, Aronson, and Dennis 2011). Ehrenreich shows that there are certainly levels within society, however, because of the inequalities that are present, the individuals in the working poor are unable to find stability or order because they are running a never-ending race so to speak. These inequalities have many effects on society at large (both wealthy and those in poverty), as well as the families within the working poor. The economic inequality in our culture has many probable causes, but they all affect society as a whole, regardless of your class or status. These effects include things such as trust/social cohesion, crime/deviance, and population health (especially that of the working poor). There is a correlation between income inequality in a society and general mistrust, demonstrated by a U.S. General Survey (Uslaner and Brown 2002). One economist, a Joseph Stiglitz (2012), argues that this inequality has also led to distrust of businesses and the government. Crime is also a correlated factor in societies with a bigger economic gap. Several studies have been done that show a significant increase in homicides, both in the U.S. and worldwide, in societies that have a large margin between the rich and the poor (Martin, Wilson, and Vasdev 2001). Homicides are generally the most common measure of violent crime due to the fact that statistics are reported worldwide. There are also numerous consequence s for population health in societies with a larger economic inequality. Researchers have found that these societies have a slightly lower life expectancy, and a higher incidence of social and health problems like incarceration rates, teenage births, mental illness, obesity, education and others (Wilkinson and Pickett 2009). It has also been shown that this inequality and social stratification can be linked to to anxiety, depression, drug abuse, and other stress-related disorders (Booth 2010). It is because of this constantly present inequality that I believe Ehrenreichs book most accurately represents conflict theory. At one point in the book, Ehrenreich remarks, Maybe, it occurs to me, that Im getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black (p. 100). This is a slightly good point because, while we as a society view class as an achieved status, oftentimes it is fixed and ascribed much like race. Of the consequences brought about by this societal inequality and conflict, the working poor themselves experience the majority. Throughout Nickel and Dimed we are shown that there are many hidden costs to being poor, and oftentimes those in poverty are stuck in a rut with no way out because of them. The working poor have to live day-to-day in hotels accumulating costs, where is would normally be cheaper to rent an apartment if they could simply afford the security deposit and starting utilities. Without a semi-permanent shelter and rising debt, the working poor are us ually forced to buy less healthy, more expensive meals because they dont have the luxury of the appliances needed to cook and store food. Being poor is often a self-fulfilling prophecy, and those who believe they are stuck in poverty for the rest of their days are often likely to do just that. In another part of the book, Ehrenreich and other maids are watching a training video on how to clean rooms and vacuum. The video itself is slightly demeaning, almost as if made to be watched by young children. In one part of the video, the man giving instructions says See, I am the vacuum cleaner (p. 74). This sort of paints a picture in the readers head as to how the company views and treats its employees: like they are mindless robots whose only purpose is to serve the business. To the rich, that is basically what they are. The rich view the working poor as a group in society that is made to be taken advantage of, very similar to Karl Marx view of the proletariat. In their eyes it fulfills the structural-functionalism paradigm of society-as many say, someone has to do it. Unfortunately this is not the case, because the theory calls for all individuals in society to have stability and order in their lives. As evidenced by Ehrenreichs investigation into the working poor, the last th ing the working poor have is stability, therefore this theory is not an entirely accurate representation of our culture. Instead there is the ever-present conflict between the rich and working class. It is shown by both Ehrenreichs book and in the real world that the working poor are blocked from advancing in society by many different obstacles. These obstacles are things like housing, transportation, and other basic necessities (Ehrenreich 2001). For instance, the working poor often do not have a permanent residence or family to stay with while they save money, and cannot afford a large deposit for an apartment. This means they have to settle with weekly hotel rooms, which end up being more expensive, yet are the only affordable option because they dont require large down payments. Transportation is another common factor; if one is a member of the working poor they likely do not have their own car and have to rely on public transportation. Depending on the location it is do-able, but public transportation in our society is still not widely-available in every city. One study shows that single mothers who were able to work out a carpool or something similar with their peers were m uch less likely to require government aid (Eden and Lein 1997). Food and clothing are also problems; without savings it is much harder to buy uniforms and such for jobs. The working poor also have to deal with odd work schedules, often working all times of the day and never having consistent hours. Not only does this mean it is harder to save up money, but being able to spend so little time at home also puts the working poor in a position where it is difficult to find the time to cook for themselves, and are often left with the choice of unhealthy fast food. Working odd hours also leaves parents helpless when it comes to childcare; while there are many options for childcare including free programs and social networking with peers, working at all hours of the night means you might not always have a babysitter lined up. Obviously this has negative consequences for both the children and the parents. Ehrenreichs book shows quite well how the conflict theory can apply to our society and the ever-growing gap between the rich and the working poor. In recent years people seem to be taking more notice of the working poor, but the gap is still as large as ever. In her evaluation at the end of the book, Ehrenreich states, The working poor, as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor I agree with the author in the sense that the working poor are definitely taking one for the team so to say. They carry out the menial labor that is required in our society, but not everyone wants to do. Unfortunately because we dont live in a utopia, they suffer for it. They make great sacrifice by doing jobs they often know dont lead to advancement in society, because they know that it has to be done by someone. The conflict theory applies to both Ehrenreichs book and our society in the real world-there are numerous inequalities in the workforce, and the allocation of resources for individuals in our society is distributed unfairly.

Pollution and Culture in Greenland :: Greenland Environment Ecology Pollute Essays

Greenland is contaminated with considerable amounts of pollution, caused by large-scale atmospheric circulations, especially in winter. The pollutants in the Arctic are primarily sulfur, which is highly acidic, in both gas and aerosol form. Most of these pollutants are from anthropogenic sources deriving mainly from industrialized areas in the Eurasian continent. In addition to threatening environmental stability, pollution is speeding the unraveling of traditional Inuit culture in Greenland. Climate change is affecting the entire world, yet Greenland is especially sensitive to slight fluctuations due to its dependency of the natives’ traditional lifestyles on the environment. Melting ice and permafrost restrict access to hunting grounds making a traditional way of life consisting of hunting seal and caribou more difficult.2 Every four years, the Inuit living in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia convene the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) to discuss issues of concern. The ICC lobbied successfully to ban a dozen organic pollutants, carried north by winds, that do not evaporate in the Arctic cold. These pollutants were infecting meat and berries, staples of the Inuit diet, as well as the breast milk of nursing mothers.3 There are many more problems facing the sustainability of Greenland, such as trans-boundary pollution and the fact that the Inuit are not an effective lobbying group due to differences in culture, dialect, and lack of communication. In November of 2004, a report by 250 scientists warned that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, which threatens to wipe out several species including polar bears, and melt summer ice around the North Pole by 2100.4 One of the reasons for the increased warming is that the dark water and ground in the arctic soak up more heat from the atmosphere than ice or snow. The levels of carbon dioxide today are about 379ppm and increasing, a comparable level to 55 million years ago when there was no ice on the planet due to the warmth of the atmosphere.5 If the Greenland ice cap melts, the sea level will rise six or seven meters. Although this is a worst-case scenario, it seems clear that steps must be taken to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in our atmosphere. Investigations of pollutants in Greenland during the past fifteen years show that the troposphere is burdened with high levels of trans-boundary pollution. The major anthropogenic contributors to this â€Å"Arctic haze† are central Europe, and northern Russia.

Use the Slept Framework to Analyse the Current External Business

A. Written Report (25%) You are required to analyse the business environment of a UK based manufacturer of a luxury product of your choice. Please note that: * The actual company is hypothetical. * It is assumed to supply to the upmarket department stores and boutiques around the world but its main market is the UK. * You must agree your specific product with your tutor. * By luxury product, we mean an expensive product that is not a basic necessity. To complete this assessment task, you must: a. Use the SLEPT framework to analyse the current external business environment for issues that may affect your company.Attach this in the Appendix. No word limit for this section. b. Drawing on your analysis of the external business environment, explain and justify the three most important issues currently facing your company. Word limit is 2000 words for this section. Word Limit The word limit is 2000 words (excluding any items in the appendix**). Students are advised to stick to the word lim it – if you exceed the word limit, it should be within the 10% rule. Work submitted that exceeds the word limit may be penalised on the basis of failure to demonstrate academic discipline. *The Appendix should only be used to support your discussion (which is what is being marked) with reference materials e. g. diagrams, scanned images, Internet printouts, articles etc. It should not be used to supplement your essay so that more words can be squeezed into your assignment! In other words, a poorly written essay with a fantastic appendix is not going to achieve a good grade. Referencing To get a good grade, your discussion must be underpinned by a wide selection of secondary sources and academic materials (e. g. books and journal articles) throughout your work or where appropriate.All work must be fully referenced (preferably using the Harvard Referencing System) to acknowledge sources used or consulted for the production of your report otherwise it would be considered as plagi arism. Correct referencing is a vital skill you will need to master for any academic writing. Please DO NOT USE references taken from Wikipedia, MarketingTeacher. Com, QuickMBA. Com or similar websites that allow students to do a quick ‘copy and paste’ quotations of academic concepts. These websites may be useful for initial research and/or reading but they should not end up in any part of your work as they are not legitimate academic sources.This kind of practice does not encourage deep learning. Deep learning can only come about if you invest time and effort into in-depth reading in original sources. A) Use the SLEPT framework to analyse the current external business environment for issues that may affect your company. Attach this in the Appendix. No word limit for this section. I will be using SLEPT in order to analyze the external business environment for key issues that may affect my hi-fi firm. ‘Rich Sounds' is a luxury selling Hi-fi Company based in the Uni ted Kingdom. The company does compete internationally, however its main trade mainly takes place within the UK.The market is estimated to be worth ? 2 billion in 2007 compared with a peak value of ? 2. 1 billion in 2005. The growth of the market for portable music players and, more recently, for home docking stations has offset a decline in home hi-fi system sales. The arrival of the iPod marked a sea change in the audio equipment market. Sales of MP3 players have grown dramatically at the expense of other portable music players, especially CD players. In the home, CDs remain the dominant format but are increasingly played on PCs and laptops – this change has adversely impacted the sale of conventional home audio equipment (Mintel. Rich Sounds does compete at the higher end of the hi-fi market with brands such as ‘Sony’ and ‘Panasonic’. SLEPT framework is used to analyze the current external business environment for issues affecting a business such a s Rich Sounds. The luxury hi-fi market has many external influences which can affect it. Technology is one of the main external influences from the SLEPT analysis. Development in technology has meant that smaller and sleeker devices such as iPods are selling instead of traditional hi-fi systems. Advances in technology, for example advertising has hugely helped the growing sales in the hi-fi market.Many electronics companies tend to have huge celebrity endorsements which in return boost their sales as people nowadays tend to favour electronics which are advertised by celebrities and follow the trend. It is said that companies such as Rich Sounds need to spend at least ? 1million on advertising in order to compete at the top level. (Mintel) Also more and more people tend to download their music nowadays and this means an increase in competition for Rich Sounds as more people would buy computers and laptops rather than hi-fis.Ownership of PCs has now reached high levels and the majorit y of consumers are accessing the Internet at least once a week at home. Another issue in SLEPT is economic factors. The current ‘credit crunch' has resulted in more and more people having less disposable income and this knock on effect means electronic sales could suffer. It is thought that due to this, people are less likely to buy hi-fi's, but instead buy necessities. The credit crunch has also reduced the amount of affluent people and this means it could reduce the market size and this means Rich Sounds could become more competitive.It could be said that spending on repairs has fallen dramatically over the last five years, as lower product prices mean it is often more cost-efficient to replace than repair. The final issue linked to economic factors is society. Hi-fi's are associated as being a seasonal product especially at Christmas time when people are buying them for presents so this is when Rich sounds would expect a huge increase in sales. Also people that work long ho urs and work further away from home can help boost Rich Sounds sales. Nowadays, commuting to work is tedious to a lot of people and so they can listen to audio equipment at this point.The final issue in SLEPT is political issues. Although there is not much to say for this point, I can briefly say that tax issues affect my firm. B) Drawing on your analysis of the external business environment, explain and justify the three most important issues currently facing your company. Word limit is 2000 words for this section. I will now discuss the three most important issues from the SLEPT analysis and these are the technological, social and economical issues. Trends are an important aspect of the economic environment.Nowadays it is becoming increasingly more fashionable to follow celebrity trends and those celebrities who advertise electronics such as hi-fis tend to sell the most. An example of this is when Sony used Justin Timberlake dancing on their adverts to help promote their goods and this saw a huge increase in sales. Research suggests that the two most popular hi-fi companies are Panasonic and Sony and these spend millions and millions on advertising. This means Rich Sounds could advertise new equipment with different celebrities to help promote it hugely. Another economic factor is the ‘credit crunch'.It has resulted in people having a lot less disposable income and so therefore hi-fi sales will fall dramatically. Due to this people will not splash out on luxury goods like hi-fis, however they will buy necessities instead. This provides a knock on effect and therefore Rich Sounds sales may fall. Also the credit crunch has seen a reduction in the amount of wealthy people and this can reduce the size of the market and therefore make Rich Sounds more competitive. http://academic. mintel. com. lcproxy. shu. ac. uk/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=271602/display/id=299002#hit1

LVMH’s company Essay

Strengths LVMH has a strong brand positioning meaning that the company strongly placed itself as a leader in the luxury sector. The company offers more than 60 brands of high value perception and identity to their customers. Due to high customer loyalty, image of their brands and value perception those brands are less affected by economic cycles. Most evidently, LVMH expressed resilience against the economic conditions specifically in 2009 and 2008. This is an indicator that the strength of their brands enables their revenues to sustain growth even through touch economic situations. This is due to their huge customer base across the globe accompanied by their loyalty; thus, making their penetration to new markets with quick. The associations of LVMH with celebrities and major events have enabled them to enhance their luxury positioning. For example, Charlize Theron represents the J’adore perfume by Dior, while Moet & Chandon positioned their communications platform to events like the Oscars and the Golden Globe. Those marketing strategies were aimed in order to increase their brand visibility and recall. Moreover, their customers are targeted successfully through enhancing their brands images. All in all, those associations would eventually augment the luxury and its value that LVMH aims at building. Weaknesses A shortcoming in LVMH’s company is their limited presence in the retail division. This means that the company is highly dependant on sales to retailers. This in turn has caused the company’s luxury goods vulnerable to destocking by their retailers in order to avoid losses. Most evidently, the wines, jewelry, and watches departments were highly affected negatively by the retailers destocking. Therefore, this has made LVMH’s revenues in danger of destocking made by retailers. There is also a weakness evident in the conflict of interest within the company, where LVMH would be categorized into two major segments: fashion vs. liquor markets. However, the company’s broad acquisition of the art  auction market Pury & Luxemborg has been questioned due to some criticism that it adds more burden to LVMH. This is yet another criteria to the conflict of interest believed to be internally dealt within the company. Opportunities The luxury market is believed to be a growing market in the emerging economies. The growing high net worth individuals (HNWI) in a lot of countries across the globe is an indicator that the sales of luxury products are estimated to increase. In effect, LVMH has been focusing in increasing their investment in emerging countries, such as the Middle East, in their hopes that higher growth rates will be evident. Moreover, LVMH was able to assess the trends in those markets specifically in Asia’s market in order to succesfully penetrate them. Hence, the growth of the HNWI’s wealth accompanied by the structure of investments to reach to a broader customer base would intensify and diversify LVMH’s revenue flow. LVMH owes a great deal of their market share to their products on women’s accessories. This would include their brands in handbags, jewelry, and watches amongst many others. Although the fashion accessories has seen a downfall during 2009; nevertheless, it is hinting that it is uprising to a recovery into growth since 2010. Most notably, women handbags were the most notable in the accessories market growth inversely reacting to the market’s decrease during the same time. Those leather goods have been a great indicator in both the men and women’s categories in the market share that there is a high growth of sales and revenue. Even if key markets have been experiencing low growth due to the economic collapse and recovery, the accessories market proves as an opportunity to LVMH for growth. Selective retailing provides an opportunity to LVMH in one of the most growing markets in the world: China. Even though selective retailing has seen a decline in growth due to restrictions in spending due to less amount of travelers; however, China tourism is predicted to show a robust expansion. The economic liberalization; as well as, the constant development and transformation in China boosted their tourism industry. Some indicators  have been predicting that China would be a leading tourism destination by 2020. Therefore, LVMH has been focused on launching its selective retailing in China in order to take an advantageous stance from this growing tourism in terms of revenue.

Affirmations Lesbian Gay Community Center (Ferndale, MI). essays

Affirmations Lesbian Gay Community Center (Ferndale, MI). essays The Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Ferndale, Michigan is a highly inclusive organization, designed to promote tolerance and provide services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gender individuals. It defines its central original mission statement as gay is good, you are not alone." Although this mission statement seems to target gay youths, its philosophy has expanded to include bisexual and trans-gender individuals, in addition to lesbians and gay men and it tries to create a community atmosphere of safety and acceptance for all people, regardless of age, in the Michigan area. Our focus is on helping lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender individuals find and develop community where we value and respect ourselves and others (About us, Affirmations, 2008) Affirmations is a social organization as well as an awareness-raising and political advocacy organization. One of its most recent efforts involved a trans-gender remembrance weekend, designed to raise awareness about the violence done to transgendered people. The weekend involved a screening of Boys Dont Cry, the Academy-Award winning film that told the story of Tina Brandon, a trans-gender youth who was murdered. The film was also combined with a potluck and a candlelight vigil, highlighting the combination of fun and consciousness-raising awareness that is at the heart of the spirit of Affirmations. There was also a re-Christening ceremony held for transgendered people who have taken new names of the opposite sex than those names given to them by their families (Civic, Affirmations, 2008). This affirms the new family and community that is created through Affirmations. This ceremony is particularly interesting and reflective of the offerings of Affirmations, because it stresses the communal nature of Affirmations and its desire to help its members create a new identity in the spirit of gay being ...