La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre :: Our Lady of Charity South Florida

La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre One of the primary unifying forces of the Cuban community in South Florida is La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, or Our Lady of Charity. In 1898, after Cuba won its independence from Spain, she became the official patroness of the island. The Cuban soldiers credited their victory to the Virgin's intervention in their crusade for independence. The Virgin is seen as a religious tradition that strongly unites Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits. In South Florida, Cubans throughout the United States gather each year to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Charity on September the eighth. Alongside the traditional Catholic service, many within the exile congregation offer their hopes and prayers, to the Virgin, for a Cuba free from communism. Though Cuba is where the celebration of La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre originated, each year, her statue, which was smuggled out of Cuba in 1961, is ferried by boat to Miami Marine Stadium. The reason for smuggling the statue, a scant two years after Fidel's revolution, was because the Catholic religion was not allowed to be openly practiced within Cuba. In recent years, a mass has been celebrated to honor La Virgen at the Hialeah racetrack. Taking all these South Florida celebrations into account, one could say that the Virgin plays an important role in the lives of many Cuban men and women who make the journey from Cuba to the free shores of the Florida coastline. They rely on her for protection and guidance while journeying across the Caribbean Sea. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre as well as La Ermita de la Caridad del Cobre, the church that was constructed in her honor, have both become important Cuban cultural landmarks. Built along a stretch of Biscayne Bay, her shrine was completed with the donations of newly arrived Cuban exiles. The $420,000 raised helped pay for the construction costs. La Ermita can be seen as a unifying force for the Cuban population in South Florida; with the entire community contributing to the construction and maintenance of this site, she belongs to everyone.

Lost Wallet Essay

If you have never lost or misplaced something valuable to you, let me tell you it is not very fun. It is very stressful and can ruin your entire day. I would also suggest not doing such a thing because your family will never forget how funny you looked freaking out over the whole thing. In my case, it was my most precious possession at the time, my wallet, or purse for some, is a precious item in which most people carry things more essential than money towards everyday life. Some are made of Velcro, they can be snap buttons, or they can simply fold up (hence the term â€Å"billfold†). Mine was a Fossil leather brown tri-fold that I got as a Christmas gift from my grandparents more that five years ago. I’ve had that square leathery keep safe all my life, and I wasn’t planning on losing or throwing it away, ever. If some people were to lose that portable safe, they may be offset for the rest of that day. The person without that wallet could be cranky or depressed for a while. Maybe something of great sentimental value was in that wallet. This person could stay hold these feelings for a long time, until they find their belongings by which case they are filled with joy. I myself, personally, keep anything I may have interest in knowing where it is, in my trusty, four-sided, tough wallet. I am also very good about always having my wallet and never losing it†¦ until recently. In my wallet, I store dire personal items such as my license and some pictures. When you open the pocketbook up, you immediately see a picture of myself, which is one my driver’s license. In the picture I am wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt, and my hair is way too long. No, I was not going for the â€Å"JB† haircut look I had it way before all the â€Å"Bieber Fever† fan base came to be thank you very much. The pictures are of my dearly beloved family – mom, dad, brother and sister, grandma and grandpa; the people who mean the most to me on this earth. Among other things, I have my money, like everybody else, and certificates for stores like Pac Sun, Express (Yes I like to have a nice formal wardrobe), and various restaurants like Chipotle or Panera Bread. This summer, I went to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with my Mom and sister. We flew down there and I took my wallet with me, like I would any other time. We had a two-hour flight at six in the morning. That was hell. I personally like waking up early, it’s the two women in my family that do not. The day is too precious to sleep it away. They were in crabby moods from when we left the house, till we got all the way to our first stop, Atlanta Georgia. The airport in ATL is huge! I thought of it as its own personal little city. You could literally live in this place. There are boutiques and restaurants lined down the halls where businessman, sports teams, and eager families ready to go on vacation busily run down to catch their next flight. We had an hour layover so we decided to eat some breakfast since it was only about eight-thirtyish o’clock. I got some delicious chicken biscuits from Chic-Fil-A and they hit the spot. Hot and juicy chicken tasted so good with the honey glazed biscuit that was baked perfectly with a nice crust and soft, chewy insides. After we had our food fixes, we relaxed in some seats we found near a window while we waited for our next flight to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The flight lasted for about two hours. The plane landed smoothly on the runway and we were ready to get our vacation started. Me being the only male on the trip only had one bag, which was checked in as a carryon. Well, for the other two females, had at least one other bag each and for that, we had to wait in baggage claim for just about an hour. After that was all settled and done, we went and got our rental car, which was a bluish purplish metallic Saab convertible. The drop top came in handy on that hot and muggy Florida with cool breezes. As we drove away and pulled out into the street, the whole skyline opened up over the horizon. Ginormous hotels were lined up right after the next that overlooked the calm Atlantic Ocean. You could see pelicans flying around them amongst the light blue sky, that which completed the ideal look of southern Florida in my book. We got to our hotel, it wasn’t as tall or fancy looking outside as did the others, but inside was very nice. It had shinny marble floors with antique couches and of course, a piano in the lobby. Me being the instrument lover that I am, I naturally walked over and played a tune or three while my mom and sister got us checked in to our room. The piano was a neatly kept Yamaha that was black with gold pedals. It had a sound to it that would melt an angel’s heart, or any girls’ that seemed my age and happened to be walking by for that matter. We rode the elevator up to the tenth floor. Inside there were golden handrails with mirrors on every side, there was no music playing. We reached the floor that our room was on and we walked to the door, sliding the plastic card to unlock the door, and away we went inside to see where we would be residing for the next week. The room was square with two beds that was neatly made and had plain beige colored bedspread. I immediately called sleeping by myself since I was the only guy, and I also knew that my sister kicks and grinds her teeth when she sleeps and I did not want any part of that on my vacation. We got settled in, I took a shower since I hadn’t that morning since we got up so early. When I got out the two girls were already gone so I called my sister. â€Å"Where did you guys go? † I asked. â€Å"Oh, we’re down outside sitting at a table. Come join us and we’ll get something to eat† was the response my sister gave. That’s all I needed to hear, the word FOOD. I am always hungry, so I got dressed quickly and ran out the room. I put on a grey Rip Curl â€Å"bro-tank† and some black shorts that I had gotten from one of my baseball teams that didn’t have pockets in them. As I left the room I made myself do a mental check of my valuables; phone, wallet, check. The girl met me in the lobby and we walked out to the rental car, I offered to drive. My mom stops dead in her tracks and says, â€Å"Oh shoot, I forgot my sunglasses up in the room. Hold on I’ll be right back. † Me and my sister wait outside the car and talk about what all we are trying to do while we’re are down here in the beautiful city of Ft. Lauderdale. Well, when someone doesn’t have pockets, then it is hard to keep their wallet right next to them at all times. I was carrying my wallet and my phone out from the hotel, along with the rental keys that my mom tossed to me when I offered to drive the fancy convertible, and set the wallet and keys on top of the car. There was no way I was putting my phone down, I had to be taking pictures of course. My mom shortly returned, passing back through the sliding glass doors to the entrance of the hotel with her big, black sunglasses on her head, so I opened up the door and got in the drivers’ seat of the car. When I figured out that I needed the keys in order to get in the car and turn it on, I reached up and took them off the top of the roof, unknowingly leaving my wallet leaving my wallet behind. I sat in the car, car door open, waiting for my mom to make it to the car so we could all go to a diving area. Once he made it to the car, without thinking, I closed the door and started the car. I had been driving about a mile or two before I realized that my wallet was no longer on my body. Immediately, I pulled the car over, and the next hour or so was spent looking for my wallet. All I could think about was what I would lose if I didn’t find my favorite and only wallet. The week before was my birthday, and I was given sixty dollars to Best Buy and fifty dollars to Auto Zone. Pictures of loved family members, and aside from that I had about forty dollars in cash. While walking up and down the road that my wallet had to have flown off on, my sister found my Best Buy card. That eased my mind a little. However, that was all we found of my dear wallet. My family and I gave up after wasting an hour of finding nothing. I didn’t want to drive anymore. Losing my wallet made me depressed for the rest of the day. I could not believe I did something so stupid. Now, if you haven’t flown on an airplane recently you know that you cannot get onto a plane without your I. D. I had no problem staying in Ft. Lauderdale until I got a new I. D. , but my mom was not very happy and this made her and I quite nervous. We got to this little restaurant a few blocks down which had good reviews that we read about. The food was delicious. I had king crab legs and sweet tea. The crab was so fresh and the tea was as sweet as a box of chocolates. This meal kind of made me feel a little better, but my spirits were still crushed after had just losing my wallet and a lot of personal objects in it. We had spent the whole day sitting by the pool and walking along side the white sandy shore talking and having a good time. The next day I received a call from my grandmother – the sheriff’s department from Broward County, where I was during this fiasco, contacted her and when she answered the phone the sheriff said, â€Å"This is Deputy ‘so-and-so’ from the Broward County sheriffs department. Do you know Morgan Anderson? † This startled my grandmother. The sheriff then continued to explain to her that he had found my wallet with a picture of my grandma and her phone number on the back, some two miles from the hotel in which I was staying. She gave me that picture with the number in case I forget her number. Now how sweet is that? He left her information on how to contact him if she wished to retrieve my wallet. My grandmother called me and relayed that information. That very afternoon I got with the sheriff and recovered my wallet. That made my day, knowing that everything I had lost in my wallet was now returned to me, except for my forty dollars in cash, which seemed odd, but didn’t really matter to me at that time. I was just happy to have my square leather tri fold Fossil wallet back in my possession again. Obviously this made the trip that much more enjoyable and relaxing, especially for the sake of my mind. We spent our time soaking up the sun at the pool and beach, snorkeling in the deep blue ocean looking at the reef and vibrant fish, ate at delicious cafe’s and restaurants, and of course with the two girls, shopping. All in all, it was a very solid trip. Before we knew it, it was that time to leave and go home. Luckily, we didn’t have an early flight out of there so we could spend a little time on the last day doing whatever we wanted. I just chose to sit outside and listen to music. I got to know a few people in the hotel that were also on vacation so I spent a little time talking with them. You wouldn’t believe how many people are there from international countries. It then came time to check out and leave the hotel. We hopped into the rental car one last time and made way for the airport. The whole flight I slept comfortably with my headphones in listening to some Red Hot Chili Peppers’ funky bass lines and catchy choruses, which kept me, sound asleep. I woke up when the plane touched down in Kansas City, there we claimed our baggage and walked to my mom’s car that had been waiting for us since we left that exact day a week ago. After I had been sleeping for a straight six hours, I had some restored energy and wanted to drive us home. â€Å"Got your wallet? † My mom sarcastically asked as she looked at me and smiled while she handed me her keys. I didn’t say anything back I just laughed, pulled it out and showed it to her as a entered the car. Since that single event, I have lost my wallet two other times, none as serious as before though. These were just for about ten or thirty minutes when it was in my room or in my car somewhere. I have also lost something sincere to me by putting it on top of the car, my morning coffee. The carelessness of my misplacing’s have taught me a lesson, simply think before I act. This is something everyone is told to do numerous times; it is a good attribute to have. Only now, it is easier for me to apply that to my actions. If I follow that idea I could avoid future problems like this, preemptive caution. It took a scare like this for it to finally kick in to me, and now every time before I drive off I get out of the car and look at the roof just incase I’m forgetting something.

Analyze Attitudes Toward and Evaluate the Motivations Behind

Analyze attitudes toward and evaluate the motivations behind the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 During the late 1800’s, Europe was looking for a way to improve themselves as a whole. With growing population and a steady decline in available work, something new had to be done. Countries looked towards Africa to serve as new colonies for the Europeans in order to better their own countries. During the European acquisition of African colonies in the period 1880 to 1914 Europe’s attitude towards Africa was that Africa was the inferior race in comparison to the Europeans.With the help of a strong feeling of nationalism, Europeans were motivated to acquire new lands in order to improve their motherland’s power and economy with new available work. In the years from 1880 to 1914, Europe’s attitude towards the acquisition of Africa’s land is that the Europeans were more advanced race and felt as if it was their right as E uropeans to take the lands for themselves. This statement is supported by document 11, in which Martial Henri Merlin, the governor of French Equatorial of Africa’s speech in 1910.In this speech, Henri claims that it is the, â€Å"right of a civilized, fully developed race to occupy territories which have been left fallow by backward peoples who are plunged into barbarianism†¦ What we exercised is a right. † This speech shows the attitude of the Europeans by saying that it is the European’s right to take that land from the uncivilized people of Africa. Henri clearly views Africa as the inferior race by calling the backwards and barbarians. He also justifies his actions by calling it a right of the Europeans to do this.Another example of Europe’s attitude toward Africans is exampled by document 6 George Washington Williams in his letter to Leopold II in 1890. In this letter, it says, â€Å"When he gave the black brother a cordial grasp of the hand, th e black brother was surprised to find his white brother so strong that he nearly knocked him off his feet. † In this letter, George is demonstrating how he can use the new advancements in technology, to fool the uneducated and uninformed African people that he is stronger and more dominant.These methods were used to acquire land by making treaties with native chiefs shows Europe’s attitude and how they will do whatever they want in order to acquire more lands. The motivation behind conquering colonies in Africa starts with the opportunity to thrive economically. In document 9 from the Resolution of the German Social Democratic Party Congress 1900, it states that acquiring new lands, â€Å"†¦corresponds†¦to the greedy desire of the bourgeoisie for new opportunities to invest†¦ [in] new markets.This shows one of the motivations for colonization; to invest and open new markets in the new lands in hope to make a profit. The desire for new markets in Europe w as getting bigger and bigger now that the population was rising and jobs were becoming scarce. Colonizing new areas in Africa would lead to more imports and exports leading to more jobs which seemed appealing to most people. Supporting the idea of creating a better economy is document 4, which is a speech in 1888 by Joseph Chamberlain.In his speech he says, â€Å"We have suffered much in this country from depression of trade. We know how many of our fellow-subjects are at this moment unemployed. † This quote shows that Britain’s trade is declining with other nations and many of the people are unemployed. This is motivation for the British to colonize in Africa because with new colonies in Africa, trade would increase between Britain and the rest of Europe from the recourses Africa can provide. Colonizing in Africa would bring more money and more jobs to Europeans so it motivated people to do so.Apart from economic growth, Europeans also supported the colonization of Af rica because is made the motherland powerful. In Europe, there was no room to have countries expand their borders, meaning colonizing in Africa was the only way to do so. In Document 1, Prince Leopold II had a conversation in 1861 in which he said, â€Å"Colonies are useful, that they play a great part in that which makes up the power and prosperity of states†¦ let us strive to get one in our turn†¦to lead to progress in every sense†¦ [and] prove to the world that Belgians are an imperial people. Colonies were not only used to gain wealth but they were also a sign of power. The more land that a country can acquire, the more of a threat they can be to other countries. Gaining power is a very big motivation for Europeans to colonize Africa. In this conversation, Prince Leopold strongly suggests that Belgians should see the colonizing as a step toward domination and more power and should support the cause. Another person to encourage the colonization of Africa is Benjam in Disraeli, the British prime minister. In his speech to the House of Commons regarding the Suez Canal (doc. 0) he says, â€Å" I have always and do now recommend [colonizing] as a political transaction, and one which I believe is calculated to strengthen the empire. † Although Benjamin believes that it is not a good financial investment to purchase the land and hope for a profit, he finds that the new land will strengthen the empire by expanding its boarders to new lands in Africa. Power serves as a motivational factor because all countries want to be more powerful than its rivals and power comes from the expansion of a country’s boarders.Nationalism also contributes towards the power of a country and nationalism is displayed in document 12. Louis Bernard, a French colonial official, wrote in a memoir that he â€Å"found the image of a victorious and conquering France†¦ I was in a country of empire, an empire in which I participated instead of submitting, as it was in our annexed, Alsace and Lorraine. † Louis believes that his country is better than it is currently doing because of his strong sense of nationalism. Louis sees France as an empire which fought and didn’t surrender.He believes that France could hold more power than what it currently wields now. His motivation to see France as an empire is why France is motivated to secure parts of Africa for themselves. Through the early 20th century, countries in Europe were looking to becoming more powerful than their rivals. With this need to be better, countries looked to Africa to expand their country’s boarders in order to gain power and enhance their country’s economy. Europeans justified their actions because they saw the Africans as barbaric and backwards people and thought that it was the European’s right to take African lands.

A Sample of Amateur Writing

A Sample of Amateur Writing A Sample of Amateur Writing A Sample of Amateur Writing By Maeve Maddox At a recent writers’ conference I heard a successful self-published author say, â€Å"Readers are not looking for great writing; they’re looking for a great story.† Does that mean that taking pains over grammar, diction, and syntax is a waste of time? Certainly not! Just because readers are not looking for â€Å"great writing† doesn’t mean that novelists shouldn’t be expected to produce good writing. Few writers have what it takes to produce â€Å"great writing,† but even a great storyteller requires professional writing skills to get the story across to the reader. The difference between amateur writing and professional writing is rewriting. Here is an extract from a self-published work. The fact that the book was self-published is not so important as the fact that the author published it before it was ready. Here the author describes a church interior: It had hat shelves and coat racks along both sides. There were double doors leading into the sanctuary, which was plain but neat. There was a carpeted main aisle that ran from the doors to the altar. There were neat rows of oak pews on both sides of the aisle. Secondary aisles ran along both sides of the church between the pews and the windows. On the raised platform in front, there was an altar, a lectern, and behind that were two rows of chairs for the choir. There was a fairly new piano on the left side of the platform The excerpt contains ten clauses, eight of which have was or were for the main verb. It contains 101 words, eight of them repeated at least once: aisle/s (3), pew/s (2), altar (2), rows (2), doors (2), platform (2), sides (3), neat (2). Of the seven sentences, four begin with There and one begins with It. The sentence that begins, â€Å"It had hat shelves,† produces a double take in the reader because the â€Å"had hat† looks like a typographical error. One paragraph like this every hundred pages might not trouble a reader, but this sample is typical of the book. Word choice is unimaginative, and passages abound that contain nothing to connect the scene to the story. Here is a description written by a professional novelist (P.D. James). The setting is the interior of a clinic for mental patients in a building that used to be a Georgian mansion: Behind the reception kiosk and with windows facing the square was the general office, part of which had been partitioned to form a small filing-room for the current medical records. Next to the general office was Miss Bolam’s room and, beyond that, the E.C.T. suite with its treatment-room, nurses’ duty-room and male and female recovery bays. This suite was separated by a hallway from the medical staff cloakroom, clerical staff lavatories and the domestic assistant’s pantry. At the end of the hallway was the locked side door, seldom used except by members of the staff who had been working late and who did not want to give Nagle the trouble of undoing the more complicated locks, bolts and chains on the front door. I’m not holding the second passage up as â€Å"great writing.† It resembles the previous passage in some ways. The word room–alone and in compounds–occurs five times; door and hallway occur twice each; was is used four times. But what James does that the other writer doesn’t do is vary language and syntax and relate the description to the story and the characters. The first writer could have done the same thing. Whether readers are looking for it or not, few novelists are capable of producing great writing. Anyone who aspires to publication, however, should know the difference between amateur writing and professional writing. It’s revision. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Whimsical WordsDifference between "Pressing" and "Ironing"January 1 Doesn't Need an "st"

Character Motivation How to Write Believable Characters

Character Motivation How to Write Believable Characters Character Motivation: How to Write Believable Characters If an author wants to focus on making their stories more believable, it’s crucial for them to fully understand character motivation. Readers will happily accept and suspend their disbelief for any story - whether it’s set deep in space, or in a society run by terriers - so long as all the characters have relatable motivations and behave plausibly.In this post, we’ll look at some of the big questions behind character motivation in fiction and help you understand why it’s important and, crucially, how to apply it to any book you are working on.What is character motivation?Character motivation is the reason behind a character’s behaviors and actions in a given scene or throughout a story. Motivations are intrinsic needs: they might be external needs and relate to survival, but they might also be psychological or existential needs, such as love or professional achievement.This motivation is at the heart of character profiles and is necessary if your g oal is to write believable and compelling characters.

Refutation in Thelogical Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Refutation in Thelogical Religion - Essay Example futation of religion does not involve only a refutation of theories regarding God and his kingdom but it necessarily involves a refutation to all possible authorities at once. Dostoevsky finds Nihilism to be the only alternative of religion and thus he supports a religious anarchy as a system which may allow human beings to dwell on earth with a piece that he compares to heavenly kingdom. However, on the other hand, handing over complete political authority to church had already shows threatening result which Dostoevsky himself had seen and considered as a result of political and economical lust in theological authorities which must choose to refute all worldly facilities and charms in order to sit on an authoritative position in religion. Compared to religious view of Dostoevsky, Freud and Sartre- who had borrowed a large part of their theories from Dostoevsky- proposed two analytical alternatives to understand the theory of religion. In his Origin of religion, Freud examines the idea for why men must find out a God whatever his situations are. In Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky mentions there things that are necessary to mankind other than the Heavenly Bread of Bible, those are: Mystery, Miracle and Authority. Freud chooses authority as the reason why men always look for a superior creature that must be controlling at least some of his fate, if not all at once. Parallel to this idea, (Sartre) describes his theory of ‘bad faith’ to explain for how human being is infinitely free to choose just anything that he is afraid of his freedom and he seeks for a surrender to anything that provide him an alternative of facing his infinite freedom. As most of the empirical theories, including science, necessarily fails to describe about the nature of consciousness (or soul, spirit), the necessity of laws in nature and secret of life, people find out religion as providing them a shelter from their naked responsibility to find out a meaning in their existence. Resultantly,

Credit Card Debt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Credit Card Debt - Essay Example b. The risk is even greater for women where financial problems are a leading cause of suicide (Khaitova). 2. Faced with a future and no education, the problems continue to escalate. a. Medical expenses and mounting health insurance costs drain your marginal income. b. Prospective employers may be reluctant to hire you due to your poor credit rating putting you further into an inescapable position ("Guess Who's Looking"). Transition: Now that we know the dangers posed by credit card debt, let's look at a way to eliminate the problem. C. Students who desire a credit card should complete a course in credit management before applying for a credit card. 1. Young students who have never been exposed to credit should be taught how to read the fine print. a. Credit applicants should understand the basic terms used with credit such as early payment penalty, variable APR, and flexible due dating. b. Credit card holders need to be aware that one missed payment can result in their interest rate escalating from 2% to 20% on all their cards. 2. We require a licensee for driving, fishing, and bartending and using credit should be no different. a. Misused credit can be as dangerous as an automobile. b. Credit education would help protect this at risk group from a lifetime of grief. Transition: Now let's take a look at what we've discussed and see how you can apply it to your own situation. III Conclusion A. Summary: I've demonstrated the negative effects that out of control credit can have on a student's academic performance and their health. It can be a problem that has the potential to escalate into a lifetime of agony. B: Final Appeal: A credit card can be a blessing if you need emergency automobile repair. It can also be a curse if the user doesn't... C. Preview: What I'm going to present to you in the next few minutes could save you from a lifetime of misery. I will make you aware of the credit card trap with its fine print and show you how to avoid the pitfalls of its seductive lure. A. Summary: I've demonstrated the negative effects that out of control credit can have on a student's academic performance and their health. It can be a problem that has the potential to escalate into a lifetime of agony. B: Final Appeal: A credit card can be a blessing if you need emergency automobile repair. It can also be a curse if the user doesn't understand the ramifications of making the payments. A course in credit management could instill a sense of responsible use, an understanding of the fine print, and eliminate the problem of massive student debt. Khaitova, Nigora. "Women Commit Suicide Due to Financial Problems, Unreciprocated Love and Male Violence (Experts)." Stop Violence Against Women. 29 Nov. 2005. Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. 23 Aug. 2006 .