Once you have settled on a focal point, you need to think about how and where you can observe it, who you can talk to about and what it means for us today. How does this behavior compare to the past?

For this paper and presentation you must begin by completing all assigned readings and observing the impact of technology on topics relevant to our course as you go about your life and recording these observations in your journal. For example, we have readings about dating and relationships in the 21st Century, sexting, online dating, impact of media, impact of social media, use of online communities to explore sexuality, pornography and more. You should choose a focal point and spend several weeks making observations about it. For example, suppose you were interested in assessing the role mobile technology plays in relationships. You might make observations about how many couples you see publicly occupying the same space, yet each transfixed with their phone simultaneously. You might consider how many times you overhear someone complain about technology being burdensome in their relationship, or how many people you know who have made such claims. Yet another way to approach this could include asking friends some questions about whether or not they have had issues related to technology and dating or relationships or sex. Obviously, you might also choose to look for positive impacts of technology. There are a variety of possibilities of themes of inquiry and our readings offer many different ideas that you can use as starting points for your project. Once you have settled on a focal point, you need to think about how and where you can observe it, who you can talk to about and what it means for us today. How does this behavior compare to the past? What implications does it have for the future? Be careful to not jump to conclusions! Your analysis must be based on your observations.

Describe an ethical dilemma, conflict, or failure in which you were involved.

The assignment has eight components. Here are some suggestions for each: • Career Plan – Each student must develop and submit his/her written career plan addressing the next twenty years. This plan should address goals, objectives, target positions, phases, milestones, target timing and timelines, and the like. Note that one’s career plans might need to be correlated against one’s life plan. For example, by what life age do you wish to achieve what career milestones? How might marriage, children, elderly parents, your own energy level, etc. affect your career plan? How might the different domains of your existence, such as career vs. family vs. leisure, compete for your resources of time, money, and energy? Your career plan should at least recognize and account for their reality since they run concurrently and in many ways, are interactive. • Career related issues list – Each student must identify, think through and make a list of career related issues, together with strategies to resolve them, or at least, cope with them. Examples include issues such as: self-esteem and self-image; balancing home and career; relating personal and work lives; personhood at work, e.g., how much “guff” to tolerate; reconciling race/ethnicity/gender/etc. at work; dealing with “isms”, racism, sexism, nepotism, favoritism, classism, etc., career self-sabotage; politics of the workplace; labor market changes and requirements; competition; work place behavior and etiquette; career transitions; ethics; recovery from setbacks; life stage as related to career stage; personal relationships and careers; mentorship; image and perception; etc. These are examples to stimulate student discussion and thinking and to which students will surely add others. • Career skills self-assessment – Based on the career plan, students must identity the skills necessary to achieve at least the first phase of their career plans. Students must then develop and complete a self-assessment of at least these first phase skills. • Career skills development plan – This activity calls for the identification of critical career skills as least through the second phase of the career plan, together with actions and means by which to develop these skills. • Cover letter and resume – Based on the career plan, self-assessment and development plan, students will develop an appropriate and acceptable resume and cover letter by which to pursue appropriate opportunities with appropriate prospective employers. For those whose immediate career plans exclude employment by others, the cover letter and resume should target someone from whom your plan requires support, such as a prospective investor or prospective board member. • Graduate study – Based on the career plan, the skills assessment and the skills development plan, each student must obtain and satisfactorily complete at least one approved application for graduate programs of higher education institutions appropriate to the career plan and the skills development plan. Bowie State may be included as a second application. For applications which do not require at least four/five essays, you must include all five of the following essays with your application. 1. Essay 1 – Write an autobiographical statement 2. Essay 2 – What are your short term and long-term career plans? Why those vs. others you have considered and rejected? 3. Describe a societal or organizational situation requiring leadership. How would you resolve it, using what you have learned from your academic studies and/or your career to date. 4. Describe an ethical dilemma, conflict, or failure in which you were involved. How did you deal with and resolve the situation? What did you learn from the situation and what would you do differently now?) 5. Describe your three most substantial accomplishments and why you view them as such

Write an essay in response to ‘The Great Tang-Song Transformation Convention describes the Song dynasty as a “turning point” in Chinese history.”

This is anessay. If you are knowledgeable and willing to use course materials, please make an offer. Topics: ONE of the following three topics: TOPIC 1: The Great Tang-Song Transformation Convention describes the Song dynasty as a “turning point” in Chinese history. Prior to this era, an aristocratic culture placed more value on bloodline than ability and the apex of society embraced only a small number of old families. In addition, economic activity and urbanization were rather modest in the Tang while government institutions were also limited in this time. However, compared to the Tang, the Song had become a brilliant and innovative age characterized by rapid economic growth as well as social and cultural changes. These changes include the expansion of civil-service examinations, the rising prominence of scholar-officials, the rise of Neo-Confucianism, re-definition of gendered space, thriving artistic and literary achievements, and an affluent urban culture. Please write an essay to elaborate some of the above-mentioned aspects to illustrate the new developments during the Tang-Song Transformation. TOPIC 2: The Encounter with Fox Spirits Fox stories such as the Tang story “Miss Jen” (posted on BrightSpace) provide an important clue to the history of Chinese views of sexuality and the sensual side of love. However, in his Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio, Pu Songling presents a memorable portrait gallery of individualized fox characters. Apparently, sexuality is not the entirety of the fox tradition: under Pu’s writing brush, foxes play important role as popular deities, aspiring immortals, romantic heroines, and intelligent friends. Based on the three fox stories you have read this semester (Miss Jen; Ma Jiefu and Hengnian), examine how the portrayals of Ma Jiefu and Hengniang (by Pu) as “fox-spirits” differ from the Tang fox-fairy Miss Jen? What might account for some of their differences? TOPIC 3: Our discussion of Dream of the Red Chamber follows a survey of nearly two thousand years of Chinese cultural tradition. How do you view the novel, particularly Chapter 22, in relation to some of the important themes (family; gender relations; love and perfidy; the cult of talent; religious syncretism; self and society …) we have discussed in class this semester? What points of similarity or difference do you see as reflected in the novel if compared with earlier texts you have read? What might account for some of the similarities and/or differences?

Read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and discuss how the description of perception used in the lecture (base example) can help explain a particular perceptual problem described in the book (the target example).

The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin Link to view lecture notes to https://www.dropbox.com/sh/be8r7mnb78p1fli/AAAAjWhkHkqb73sVPm-jpeCVa?dl=0 What your essay should be like: This is not a book report! The essay will either a) explain something mentioned in one of the lectures and readings with reference to information in the book or b) explain something mentioned in the book with reference to information from the lectures and readings. The rubric is on the next page. To understand it, know that what you are trying to understand better is the target example and what you are using to understand it is the base example. You should emphasize what is not clearly understood about the target example, and how you will use the base example to fill this gap in our understanding of the target example. So, for example, you might read in Riveted that primarily doctrinal religions take advantage of semantic memory and imagistic religions use episodic memory (the target example). In your essay, you describe in more detail how religious thought is represented differently in episodic versus semantic memory (what you learned in class in this case would be the base example). Or you might read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and discuss how the description of perception used in the lecture (base example) can help explain a particular perceptual problem described in the book (the target example). The target example is a concept that you’re interested in and the base example is the information helps you to understand the target example. The target example can come from either the book or the lecture, but the base example has to come from the other source. Crucially, the base example gives you more information on the target example. Ideally, you should be able to identify a few main ways of how the base example explains the target. Using the sample essay on Riveted, the target example was temporal discounting from the lecture, given as definition (“greater value placed on the present when compared to the future”) . The base example was temporal discounting from the book, which provides more information beyond the definition of the concept: 1.) “people do not see the future clearly” 2.) “why people think about the future the way that they do” 3.) “how people see their future selves as different people”. The books are long and complicated. You do not have to summarize the book, only pick one idea from it, and one idea from the lectures to write your essay. You can actually use the terms base example and target example if you wish; in fact, I encourage this. It makes it easier as a TA grading your papers to see that you actually understand what it is you are trying to convey in your paper. It is important that you also clearly emphasize what it is that is not particularly clear about your target example, and how you are going to use the information provided by the base concept to fill this knowledge gap.