Providing a Motivation for Addressing Your Topic Assignment

Providing a Motivation for Addressing Your Topic - Assignment Example This has really paralyzed the education sector in the whole country. This paper will conduct an extensive research on the causes of this menace and give well-thought and feasible recommendations on how it can be ultimately resolved (Creswell, 2008). Of course, this topic is quite interesting to me. As an educationist, I am a strong advocate for quality education, which I believe, can not be attained if no adequate funding is provided. For this reason, the federal, state and local governments have been pumping money into all the public elementary and high schools across the country that deserve such a funding. In fact, out of its revenues, the federal allocates approximately 4% of its budget for education (Radin, 2006). Since these are public resources, they should be properly utilized at all times. For this reason, the government, through its relevant agencies, has been mandated to be in charge of the disbursed allocations. However, with the liberalization of the education sector, various state departments of education have decentralized financial control to the individual school principals and administrators. Under the supervision of the School district Management Boards, each principal has been allowed to identify their needs and develop their own budget. This is commendable since it is them who understand their demands. Interestingly, school resources are still being misused during each and every budget year. Instead of acting as the custodians of school funds, many principals and school administrators have been robbing their institutions of their resources. They do not use it as planned (Starr, 2014). At times, they are tempted to divert these resources into their own personal uses. This has been quite unfortunate because it has been denying thousands of poor American children the opportunity acquire government sponsored education which they entirely rely on. According to past records, there are

Writing to Show Cause and Effect (Causes of business growth and Research Paper

Writing to Show Cause and Effect (Causes of business growth and failure, marketing, business trends) - Research Paper Example However, due to some of the limitations and depending on one’s preparedness the chances of prosperity are determined. Business growth is impacted and withheld by a number of factors. From this perspective, this paper will discuss causes of business growth and failure, marketing, business trends. Some of the factors in the market favor prosperity of business ideas. Anyone getting into business should be ready to face the risks involved. Before the implementation of a business idea to a real thing, one needs to be aware of some factors like availability of market, availability of capital and the competitors. The owner of the business idea should weigh between different options and settle for the best and legal option. They have to consider the niche in the market that they are going to fill and the likelihood of the idea developing to a big reality. Study experts say that, one does not engage into any business activity before they get prepared for the risks and challenges in the market. They should equip them selves with proper management skills, good customer relations, and perseverance to tolerate the challenges in the market. Therefore, this enhances the business to stabilize with changing times (Gitman, Lawrence, and McDaniel 348). Failure of business ideas, triggered by failure of proper market evaluation and which triggers poor marketing of commodities and this makes a business loose its customers to the competitors. Customers should be the main thing that any business should aim at satisfying; profits come second to the satisfaction of customers (Blythe, Jim, and Zimmerman 386). Some of the businesses focused with short-term goals of attaining profits instead of first creating the basis on the market for where to market their goods end up not securing their positions in the market and hence their closure. Research in the market revealed that, some of the inaccuracy failures are avoidable if they had focus on the real factors that are challenging in the market. By focusing on long-term goals, it will prioritize the consumer needs, enabling their establishment. The business owners should handle any incompetence in the market by themselves. By consulting from survey respondents, they may end up getting the wrong picture of the market strategy. Studies reveal that, some of the surveyors only aim at impressing the business owners rather than giving them the real picture of the situation. The business owners should therefore, aim at running their enterprises carefully. They should not base their performance on research results. Otherwise, they should blame the government and other financial institutions for their failure (Hutt, Michael, and Speh 110). As businesses grow, the owners should now turn their plans on how to maximize their profits by trying to achieve economies of scale and how best one can achieve it. By this level, the business owners have usually established the products that are on demand and should therefore, set a p rice that is affordable to the buyer and is favorable to the seller (Czinkota et al 87). On addition, for one ensure they satisfy the changing demands of customers in an effective way, they should be flexible and be ready to face conflicting interests and also other risks in the business. They should be ready to listen to customer opinions, adjust, and avoid repetition of same mistakes. Research showed that, most of the entrepreneurs who prosper are those listen to advice, complains from their consumers, and therefore, adjust for their durability in the market, and attain their long-term aim of earning profits (Gitman, Lawrence, and McDaniel 348). Business owners should also exercise proper accounting of their finances. The finances are crucial, close

Overview: Working with Pediatric Patients

Overview: Working with Pediatric Patients OBJECTIVES The main purpose in learning how to work with pediatric patients is to have a clear idea of the potential challenges a medical assistant may encounter when dealing with this patient population. There are many topics to cover, including but not limited to: Understanding correctly the language used within the different pediatric age groups, learning how to effectively communicate with toddlers, adolescents and parents along with finding best practices to proper document basic and vital pediatric information like: height, weight, circumference measurements, pulse, respiratory rates, blood type screening, as well as body motor developing, sensory and language milestones throughout the patient growth. Other important skills to learn are immunization guidelines along with the proper time in which vaccinations have to be administered. At the same time, describing appropriately and effectively different signs and changes during puberty, including secondary sex characteristics. Last, but no least, providing parents with education guidelines for safety along with discussing social issues that are affecting our youth’ health today. Pediatric age classifications and proper communication Although often we may perceive the word â€Å"pediatric† as babies or toddlers, this conception is wrong. In reality, when we refer to pediatric we are covering from new born through 18 years of age. The medical assistant must be knowledgeable in all stages and must be able to handle the challenges these bring forth. The following terms are critical to understand and it is imperative to learn how they are related to one another in communication skills, patient/parents education and documentation. The age ranges are classified as follows: Newborn.- It is the initial period following birth Neonate.- It is the first month of life Infant.- It is the first year of life Toddler.- From the first year of life to preschool age Child.- It often starts with school attendance into the middle childhood Adolescent.- Puberty starts here, reproduction is possible and development of secondary sex characteristics It is highly recommended to practice appropriate communication based in the patient’s age and the patient’s family. Speaking down to or over the head of an individual often creates barriers in the patient responses. It is very important to speak the language that both, the patient and his/her parents understand. When talking to a parent is vital to remain professional and call by their name, in the other hand, when talking with small children who often have not developed verbal interactions, it may be appropriate to communicate through expressions or motions. When speaking with older children or adolescent, communication barriers may come up. Never assume a meaning or intention. Always attempt to clarify what a patient is communicating; it is valid to consider that the patient may be testing the caregiver’s reactions to words or phrases. Communication, if appropriately used, can be a major tool for great evaluations and examinations. It can increase the patient confidence to the healthcare provider and as result; enable high quality health care to the patient. Infant/Toddler Measurements Infants and toddlers grow at an impressive velocity, therefore accurate and consistent measurements are highly necessary to evaluate normal or abnormal development patterns. This practice is helpful in identifying any potential health issues in which early detection will be the key to prompt prevention procedures Height and weight measurements in children at young age can be a clear indicator of potential health issues. Therefore, the medical assistant must be proficient in obtaining and recording this vital information. Being accurate is essential, especially during the early years. Indicators of questionable health may be determined based not only on initial size, but on growth pattern or trends. The National Center for Health Statistics provides charts for height, weight and head circumference. These charts use percentiles, which compare the child’s measurements with an average range of growth for children in the United States. Many factors come to play when assessing measures, one of them is familial stature, gestational age at birth, and chronic disease. When measuring the height of an infant is recommended to get another person to help, when possible, children under 2 years of age are measured in a horizontal position with the body fully extended, although a â€Å"caliper† (an instrument used to measure the distance between two points) is used by most practitioners, some clinics still use a tape measure to complete this task. Children with two years of age or more can be measured while standing. This procedure should be done by removing the patient’s shoes and having the patient’s heels, back and head in the same plane, it is a good practice having the patient standing against the wall. The same can be obtained with the use of an upright physician’s scale. Weight measurement gives another way of asses the pediatric patient’s growth and development, as with height, accurate measurement documentation is used based in the statistics chart provided by the NCHS (National Center of Health Statistics). Young infants are weighed directly on an infant scale, ideally they should be weighed naked or in a diaper. Any item on the scale, aside of the child should be considered to add or subtract when taking measurements. As children get older, techniques must adapted to the patient’s comfort, young children can be weighed in their underwear and using a standing scale. As they go into school age, a gown can be worn for more comfortable and accurate evaluation. The weight of the gowns and/or underwear do not have to determine at this age because of the constant fluctuation of ounces in these children would not be significant as they would for an infant. In the other hand, the use of accurate equipment is much more important and vital. Head circumference and chest circumference is another source of health evaluation. Knowing the traceability of the cranium and the brain is critical in the kid’s health. Abnormally large or small head size must be monitored. Patient’s may encounter macrocephaly which is an abnormally growth of the head circumference larger than 97th. Percentile. Before jumping to conclusions, familial or generic trends need to be considered. In the other hand, microcephaly, the abnormally small head may also indicate a pathologic condition, such as chromosomal disorder. When the head is measured, it is important to always measure the same area at all times; it is recommended to it just above the eyebrows. The information can document in either inches or centimeters according to office protocol. The chest measurement may or may not be done due to various locations being measured. This procedure is an additional calculation that is used to identify low birth weights in preterm babies and may also be used when there is a suspicion of lung or heart disease Pediatric Vital Signs Obtaining vital signs can be challenging at times, bold pressures are usually not taken until the age of two. Cuffs are used to measure blood pressure and they come in a variety of size and themes to make this task as pleasant as possible for the patient, although the use of new or unfamiliar equipment is often traumatic for a young child, many offices acquire equipment that is appealing to children. A good practice is to allow the child to safely touch and test the sphygmomanometer and stethoscope as well as mock with either a doll, stuffed animal or to a parent. The pulse in the young child varies with age and growth. The young infant or toddler may be very active, thereby increase the pulse rate. The primary location for measuring pulse in infants and young children are different than the location in adults. The radial artery is normally used to check on older kids and adults, at the same time, for infants and young children, the femoral or brachial arteries are the choices for patients of this age group. Another way of measuring pulse is through auscultation which is listening to the heart with stethoscope Respirations in the infant and toddler can be measured with the pulse. The rates will vary, depending on the level of activity or illness. Let’s keep in mind that a fever can elevate the respiratory and pulse rates. Obtaining an accurate body temperature is another skill that is essential for medical assistant. Fevers are very common in pediatric patients and they are more frequent compare to adults. There various methods to measure body temperature. In children and adolescents, auditory or aural readings are quick and relatively comfortable. Infants with two months of age or less are best evaluated with a temporal thermometer. Another option is obtaining rectal temperature reading. Pediatrics measurements and vital signs are key evaluation tools for identification of any potential disorders Pediatric Development Aside of the measurements discussed earlier, other areas of growth and development include motor, sensory and language development. There are different milestones that indicate acceptable growth and development patterns. These milestones are used a guidelines to determine the normal growth in children, especially during the first two years of age, it is important to keep in mind that some children reach these sooner or later compared to others, however this is completely normal. Motor development usually includes three areas of growth: reflexes, gross motor and fine motor skills, Reflexes refer to automatic responses to any stimulation. The following are the most common reflexes: Breathing, sucking, rooting, swimming, grasping and moro. Gross motor skills include motions such as rolling, scooting, crawling and walking. Fine motor skills develop utilizing smaller movements, these include touching, grabbing, poking, pulling, and pinching. Sensory Development are related to vision and hearing senses along with the deep perception and motion assessment. Any single area that exhibits impairments will affect the growth in other areas of development. Visual development involves increasing distances in sight as brain matures. Color perception also develops as the child grows. In the other hand, hearing improves in normal development as the child matures Language Development from infancy forward, the child begins with noises that elicit response. These become words, phrases and finally sentences. The timing in which these occur may be different due to educational and environmental circumstances Visual and Auditory screenings are conducted as way of measurement the sensory development and to avoid potential problems that can be treated and corrected. Prior to school age some visual milestones are evaluated: blinking, fixation on objects, coordination of eye movements, and reaching for objects, shaking ere movements and wandering eyes. Hearing screening in the newborn and infant begins. Lack of hearing is often interpreted as intellectual delay. Clues include responses to loud noises, facial expressions and turning head toward noises. As the child matures, more formal testing of hearing can be completed. Audiometric equipment can be used for this purpose. Vaccinations or immunizations have been recommended by the World Health Organization in a constant effort to prevent the spread identified diseases. History shows that infectious diseases have led to worldwide epidemics and studies show that the infant fatality rate decrease due to the use of vaccinations, UNICEF studies show that these include smallpox, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, HIB, hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella Pediatric visits include schedules of specifics vaccinations from the country in which the patient lives. The medical assistant is usually responsible for administration of these vaccinations, either orally, topically, or by injection. It is the job of the medical assistant to educate patient regarding the risks and side effects of each individual vaccine. As well as direct them to websites in which they can learn more about this topic. Documentation of the vaccine given must be through, the type, the lot number, the method of administration, and location of injections is placed in the patient record or immunization log. It is an important job of the medical assistant performing pediatric injections. Proper skills need to be developing for the comfort and safety of the patient to avoid physical or emotional trauma. Most pediatric injections are given intramuscularly. An important part of the medical assistant job is to calm the patient before and after the injection. Blood screenings are done to all infants through their capillaries and they may occur within the first seven days of life. Some blood screening is done if symptoms are present or it the presence of family disease. These could be â€Å"sickle cell anemia†, â€Å"IRT†, â€Å"Hypothyroidism†, â€Å"Homocystinuria†, â€Å"Ketonuria†, â€Å"and Galactosemia†. Circumcision or removal of foreskin of the penis is very common on newborn infants while they are still in the hospital; however there are occasions in which due to unforeseen circumstances this procedure is done in the pediatrics’ office which could turn in complications. Adolescent Care could be very challenging for the medical assistant. This is when the secondary sex characteristics become more obvious. At this age in when youths could show manners of independency and even exploration of new avenues such as drugs, alcohol and other substances. Communication could also be challenging with care giver. The communication could persuade embarrassment and nonprofessional. It is important to remain nonjudgmental and at the same time show empathy and professional company. Adolescent can present hug concerns for their height and weight due the influence of society and media with unrealistic and unhealthy standards, therefore the importance of being sensitive when discussing with young people about normal height and weights Puberty brings sexual changes and reproduction becomes a possibility. During this time estrogen and progesterone hormones are increasing in girls. In the other hand, boys will have the increase in the production of testosterone. Secondary sex characteristics are the visual changes seen when boys and girls as they grow to become adults. These are features that are not necessarily related to reproduction, these are voice changes, breasts, shoulder widening and facial hair. Behavioral and Mental Health Issues such as depression, eating disorders, abuse, suicide are thought to be primarily for adults, however they can also occur in the pediatric patients. The health professional must be aware of these signs and symptom in order to provide diagnosis and treatment to these problems

Serial Killer Essay -- Psychology, Mental Illness,

Chapter Two: Definition of a Serial Killer Serial killers are people who kill three or more victims over a period of more than thirty days with a cooling off period between each murder. Their murders usually have some of the same characteristics. People who kill for fun usually have some type of mental illness. Their crimes could have maybe been prevented if their diseases were treated in time. The disease of psychopath is the least treated. Some killers often plead not guilty by reason of insanity. It needs to be proven, though, that they did not know the difference between right and wrong. Even if a killer is found not guilty by mental deficit, he/she cannot go free. There are three categories of serial killers: Organized Killers, Disorganized Killers and Medical Killers. Organized killers are the hardest killers to catch because of their intelligence and organization. Every detail of their murder is planned out and they make sure to leave no evidence left behind. They often will watch their victims for several days before they trick them into leaving with them. They take great pride in their â€Å"work† and pay close attention to the stories in the media. Disorganized killers rarely plan out the murders in their victims. They strike at random whenever an opportunity arises. They tend to move from town to town and do not take the precautions to cover up their tracks. They usually have low IQ’s and are antisocial. Disorganized killers do not usually have close friends or family. The Medical Killer is extremely rare but there have been cases where people have carried out their serial murders through medicine. One such individual was Harold Shipman which I will go into further detail later in this thesis. They feel they have the pe... ...ortable killing on their driving routes. There has been a serial killer police officer who was named John Gerard Schaefer. He lived in Florida. While he was in his squad he would kidnap teenage girls, tie them to trees, go back to work and after he clocked out, returned to rape and kill them. His alibi was always â€Å"I was at work when they disappeared† (Brown, 2003). Many serial killers suffer from anti-social personality disorder or dissocial personality disorder. They are also psychopathic, meaning they have no empathy or guilt. They kill impulsively and they make up rules for themselves which are they only rules they follow. They have a â€Å"Mask of Sanity† meaning they never let anyone but their victims see their true selves. They also have resentment towards society for their own failings and can never take responsibility for their own actions.

Anime Business Plan

Exam 2 1. How a clearly defined vision helps a business A. Vision produces direction – companies who spell out the vision for their company focus everyone’s attention on the future and detail the path a business will take B. Vision determines decision C. Vision motivates people- a clear vision excites and ignites people to action D. Vision allows for perseverance in the face of adversity. 2. Define strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats a.Strength- are positive internal factors that inhabit a company’s ability to accomplish its missions goals and objects b. Weakness- are negative internal factors that inhibit a company’s ability to accomplish its missions goals and objectives c. Opportunity’s- positive external forces that a firm can exploit to accomplish its missions goals and objectives. d. Threats- are negative external factors that inhibit a company’s ability to achieve its goals and objectives. 3. Three types of competition Direct, Significant competitors, and indirect competitors.Direct Competitors – offer the same products and services Customers often compare prices Deals among these competitors when they shop. Significant Competitors – offer some of the same services or similar products or services Product or service lines overlap but not completely. Indirect – offers same or similar products only in as small number of areas. 4. Three types of strategies- a. Cost leadership- Strives to be the low cost provider relative to its competition in the industry b.Differentiation- A Company seeks to build customer loyalty by positioning its goods or services in a unique or different way. c. Focus (niche) – a strategy in which a company selects one or more market segments, identity’s customer special needs wants & interests & offers them with excellent service designed to meet their needs. 5. Define complete advantage- the aggregation of factors that sets a small business apart fro m its comptetiors and gives it a unique position in the market segments to its competition. 6. Purpose of easibility analysis- a process to determine whether or not an idea can be transformed into a valid business. 7. Elements in 5 forces model- * Rivalry among competitors in the market(strongest force) Barraging power of suppliers to the industry, bargaining power of buyers, threat of new entrants to the industry, threats of substitute products or services. 8. Definition of business prototyping- a process in which entrepreneurs test their business models on a small scale before committing serious resources to launch a business that might not work. . Three aspects considered in financial feasibility analysis- * Primary research- information that the entrepreneur collects first hand and analyses * Secondary research- information that has already been compiled and is analyzed for use often at a very reasonable cost or sometimes even free. * Focus groups- a market research technique th at involves enlisting a small number of potential customers (usually 8-120) to give an entrepurerure fed back on specific issues about a potential product or service.Or special idea it’s self. 10. Two functions of a business plan- * Guides an entrepreneur by charting the company’s future course of action and devising a strategy for success. * Provides a battery of tools – Mission statements, goals, objectives, market analyses, budgets, financial forecasts, target markets, strategy’s to help entrepreneur lead the company. 11. Most common form of business ownership- Sole proprietorship. 12. Advantages/Disadvantages of sole proprietorship Advantages Simple to create, least costly to being, profit incentive, total decision making authority, No special legal restrictions, easy to discontinue Disadvantages * Unlimited personal responsibility, limited skills & capabilities, feelings of isolation, limited access to capital, lack of continuity in business. 13. Typ es of Corporations – * Domestic- a corporation that does business in the state it was founded in. * Foreign – a company doing business in a state other that where it was founded. Alien – a corporation found in another country but doing business in the U. S * Closely held – a corporation whose shares are controlled by a relatively small number of people Family elatives friends Employees. * Publicly Held – A corporation who has a large number of stock holders usually traded on the stock exchange. 14. Advantagesdisadvantages of corporations- Advantages – Limited liability of stock holders, ablitlty to attract capital , ability to continue indefinitely, Transferable ownership.Disadvantages – Cost and time involved in the incorporation process, double tax, and potential for diminished managerial incentive, legal requirements and regulatory red tape, potential loss of control by founders. 15. Types of partnerships – General Partnersh ip – Partners who share in owning a business and who have unlimited personal liability for partners dept. Limited Partnership – Partners, who make financial investments and partnership, do not take on an active role in managing a business, and whose liability is limited to amount invested. 16.Define Franchising – A system of distribution in which semi-independent business owners pay fees and royalties to a parent company in return for the right to become identified with its trademark, to sell its products or services and often to use its business format and system. 17. Benefits of Franchise – A business system that is proven , manager training and support, brand name appeal, standardized quality of gods and services, national advertising program, financial assistance, proven produces and business formats, combined buying power site selection and territory protecting, greater chance of success. 8. Three types of franchise * Trade name – involves a b rand name without distributing particular products exclusively under the franchiser name * Product Distribution – Involves a franchises licensing a franchisee to sell specific products under the franchisors brand name and trademark though a selective limited distribution network. * Pure – involves providing the franchisee with a complete business format. 19.Definition of piggy back franchise- a method of franchising in which two or more franchises team up to sell complimentary products or services under one roof. 20. Multiple unit Franchising – a method in which a franchiser opens more than one unit in a broad territory with in a specific time period. 21. Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) – a document that every franchisor is required by law to give potential franchisees before any offer or sale of a franchise outlines 23 important pieces of information. 2. Advantages /Disadvantages of buying an existing business – * Advantages – a success ful business may continue to be successful a successful business may already have the best location employees and suppliers are already established, equipment is already installed and productive capacity is known inventory is in place and tide credit is established new business owners hit the ground running. Disadvantages – It’s a looser the previous owner may have created ill will Employees inherited with the business may not be sustainable the locating is unstable equipment and facility’s may be obsolete change and innovation may be hard to implement inventory may be out of date or obsolete account receivables may be less that face value business may be overpriced. 23. Steps to acquiring a business the right way. a. Analyst your skills and ability’s b. Prepare a list of potential candidates c. Investigate and evaluate candidate business to find the best one d. Explore financing options . Ensure smooth transition by communication with employs. 24. Acquir ing procedures – * Identify and approach candidate * Sign the nondisclosure statement * Sign letter of intent * Buyers due diligence investigation * Draft the purchase agreement * Close the final deal * Begin the transition 25. 5 Ps of negotiation * Preparation – examine the needs of both parties * Poise – Remain calm during the negotiation. * Patience – don’t be in such a hurry * Persuasiveness- know what most important positions are articulate them. * Persistence – don’t give in a first sign of resistance to your position.

Literary Criticism of Don DeLillo

Literary Criticism of Don DeLilloâ€Å"It's my nature to keep quiet about most things. Even the ideas in my work. When you try to unravel something you've written, you belittle it in a way. It was created as a mystery, in part.† –Don DeLillo, from the 1979 interview with Tom LeClairThere are a number of books and essays which are devoted to analysis of Don Delillo's writing. This page concentrates on the books only (for the most part), with most recent on top.Terrorism, Media, and the Ethics of Fiction: Transatlantic Perspectives on Don DeLillo (2010)Great to see the publication of this book of essays from the DeLillo Conference held in Osnabrà ¼ck, Germany in 2008 (see my page on the Conference). Edited by conference organizers Peter Schneck and Philipp Schweighauser.Terrorism, Media, and the Ethics of Fiction is published by Continuum, ISBN-13: 9781441139931, 2010 (hardcover, 264 pages).Contents include: Introduction – Philipp Schweighauser and Peter Schneck M emory Work after 9/11The Wake of Terror: Don DeLillo's â€Å"In the Ruins of the Future,† â€Å"Baader-Meinhof,† and Falling Man – Linda S. Kauffman Grieving and Memory in Don DeLillo's Falling Man – Silvia Caporale Bizzini Collapsing Identities: The Representation and Imagination of the Terrorist in Falling Man – Sascha Pà ¶hlmann Writers, Terrorists, and the Masses6,500 Weddings and 2,750 Funerals: Mao II, Falling Man, and the Mass Effect – Mikko Keskinen Influence and Self-Representation: Don DeLillo's Artists and Terrorists in Postmodern Mass Society – Leif Grà ¶ssinger The Art of Terror–the Terror of Art: DeLillo's Still Life of 9/11, Giorgio Morandi, Gerhard Richter, and Performance Art – Julia Apitzsch Don DeLillo and Johan GrimonprezGrimonprez's Remix – Eben WoodDial T for Terror: Don DeLillo's Mao II and Johan Grimonprez' Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y – Martyn Colebrook Deathward and Other PlotsTerror, Asce ticism, and Epigrammatic Writing in Don DeLillo's Fiction – Paula Martà ­n Salvà ¡n The End of Resolution? Reflections on the Ethics of Closure in Don DeLillo's Detective Plots – Philipp Schweighauser and Adrian S. Wisnicki The Ethics of FictionSlow Man, Dangling Man, Falling Man: Don DeLillo and the Ethics of Fiction – Peter Boxall Falling Man: Performing Fiction – Marie-Christine Lepsâ€Å"Mysterium tremendum et fascinans†: Don DeLillo, Rudolf Otto, and the Search for Numinous Experience – Peter Schneck CodaThe DeLillo Era: Literary Generations in the Postmodern Period – David Cowart (Sept. 6, 2010)The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008)Above is a shot of the book ‘on location' in Cambridge, with St Johns College in the background; I found the book at the Cambridge Book Shop, and the clerk told me that the book had just come in that day! (May 13, 2008)The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo is a new book edited by John Duvall, and it features articles covering much of DeLillo's work by many familiar names of DeLillo criticism. Published by Cambridge University Press, ISBN-13: 9780521690898, 2008 (paperback, 203 pages). There's a hardback as  well.Contents include: Introduction: â€Å"The power of history and the persistence of mystery† John N. Duvall Part I. Aesthetic and Cultural Influences â€Å"DeLillo and modernism† Philip Nel â€Å"DeLillo, postmodernism, postmodernity† Peter Knight Part II. Early Fiction â€Å"DeLillo and media culture† Peter Boxall â€Å"DeLillo's apocalyptic satire† Joseph Dewey â€Å"DeLillo and the political thriller† Tim Engles Part III. Major Novels â€Å"White Noise† Stacey Olster â€Å"Libra† Jeremy Green â€Å"Underworld† Patrick O'Donnell Part IV. Themes and Issues â€Å"DeLillo and masculinity† Ruth Helyer â€Å"DeLillo's Dedealian artists† Mark Osteen â€Å"DeLillo and the power of la nguage† David Cowart â€Å"DeLillo and mystery† John McClure Conclusion: â€Å"Writing amid the ruins: 9/11 and Cosmopolis† Joseph Conte It's unclear how much of this material is truly new; much may be adapted from previously published work.Beyond Grief and Nothing: A Reading of Don DeLillo (2006)Beyond Grief and Nothing is a new book by Joseph Dewey from the University of South Carolina Press. The book traces a thematic trajectory in DeLillo from his first short story to ‘Love-Lies-Bleeding'. The book examines DeLillo as a profoundly spiritual writer, a writer who has wrestled with his Catholic upbringing (the title comes from the famous line from Faulkner's ‘Wild Palms' that forms a motif in Godard's ‘Breathless') and who has emerged over the last decade as perhaps the most important religious writer in American literature since Flannery O'Connor.Dewey finds DeLillo's concerns to be organized around three rubrics that mark the writer's own cre ative evolution: the love of the street, the embrace of the word, and the celebration of the soul.Joseph Dewey is an Associate Professor, American literature at University of Pittsburgh, and heco-edited Underwords (see below). 184 pages, hardcover, $34.95.Don DeLillo: The Possibility of Fiction (2006)Don DeLillo:The Possibility of Fiction by Peter Boxall (Routledge). I don't know much about this book, except for the fact that it's expensive! Dr. Peter Boxall is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Sussex, and has previously published on Beckett (among others).Approaches to Teaching DeLillo's White Noise (2006)Approaches to Teaching DeLillo's White Noise is a new book edited by Tim Engles and John N. Duvall. From the MLA website:This volume, like others in the MLA's Approaches to Teaching World Literature series, is divided into two parts. The first part, â€Å"Materials,† suggests readings and resources for both instructor and students of White Noise. The sec ond part, â€Å"Approaches,† contains eighteen essays that establish cultural, technological, and theoretical contexts (e.g., whiteness studies); place the novel in different survey courses (e.g., one that explores the theme of American materialism); compare it with other novels by DeLillo (e.g., Mao II); and give examples of classroom techniques and strategies in teaching it (e.g., the use of disaster films).The book is aimed at folks who include White Noise in their syllabus, and it includes pieces from Mark Osteen, Phil Nel, John Duvall, Tim Engles and many more.Benjamin Kunkel on Novelists and Terrorists (2005)In the New York Times Book Review of September 11, 2005, Benjamin Kunkel offers â€Å"Dangerous Characters†, an essay on the ‘terrorist novel' of the pre 9/11 era. DeLillo unsurprisingly features in the essay. It's worth reading in its entirety, but I pull out a couple quotes here that were of particular interest to me:Terrorists might be a novelist's r ivals, as Don DeLillo's novelist character maintains in †Mao II† (1991), but they were also his proxies. No matter how realistic, the terrorist novel was also a kind of metafiction, or fiction about fiction.DeLillo saw that novelists, like terrorists, were solitary and obscure agents, †men in small rooms,† preparing symbolic provocations to be unleashed on the public with a bang. Of course this could refer only to a certain kind of novelist, starting perhaps with Flaubert and ending, DeLillo suggested, with Beckett, whose work could be taken as an indictment of an entire civilization, and whose authority when it came to that civilization was paradoxically derived from his appearing to stand completely outside it.Don DeLillo: Balance at the Edge of Belief (2004)Don DeLillo: Balance at the Edge of Belief by Jesse Kavadlo, published in 2004 by Peter Lang Publishing (ISBN: 0-8204-6351-5). Here's how the back cover puts it:Don DeLillo – winner of the Nation al Book Award, the William Dean Howells Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize – is one of the most important novelists of the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. While his work can be understood and taught as prescient and postmodern examples of millennial culture, this book argues that DeLillo's recent novels – White Noise, Libra, Mao II, Underworld, and The Body Artist – are more concerned with spiritual crisis. Although DeLillo's worlds are rife with rejection of belief and littered with faithlessness, estrangement, and desperation, his novels provide a balancing moral corrective against the conditions they describe.  Speaking the vernacular of contemporary America, DeLillo explores the mysteries of what it means to be human.Don DeLillo – Bloom's Modern Critical Views (2003)Don DeLillo was published by Chelsea House in 2003, edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom.The book consists of previously published critical essays on DeLillo:â₠¬Å"Introduction† by Harold Bloom â€Å"Don DeLillo's Search for Walden Pond† by Michael Oriard â€Å"Preface and Don DeLillo† by Robert Nadeau â€Å"Don DeLillo's America† by Bruce Bawer â€Å"White Magic: Don DeLillo's Intelligence Networks† by Greg Tate â€Å"Myth, Magic and Dread: Reading Culture Religiously† by Gregory Salyer â€Å"The Romantic Metaphysics of Don DeLillo† by Paul Maltby â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls: Don DeLillo's Americana† by David Cowart â€Å"Consuming Narratives: Don DeLillo and the ‘Lethal' Reading† by Christian Mararu â€Å"Romanticism and the Postmodern Novel: Three Scenes from Don DeLillo's White Noise† by Lou F. Caton â€Å"Don DeLillo's Postmodern Pastoral† by Dana Phillipsâ€Å"Afterthoughts on Don DeLillo's Underworld† by Tony Tanner â€Å"‘What About a Problem That Doesn't Have a Solution?': Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, DeLillo's Mao II, and the Politics of Political Fiction† by Jeoffrey S. Bull White Noise: A Reader's Guide (2003)Don DeLillo's White Noise: A Reader's Guide by Leonard Orr was published in 2003. The book is published as part of the Continuum Contemporaries series, sells for $9.95 and is 96 pages.Underwords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld (2002)Underwords: Perspectives on Don DeLillo's Underworld is edited by Joseph Dewey, Steven G. Kellman, and Irving Malin, and published by University of  Delaware Press in Sept. 2002 (ISBN 0-87413-785-3 $39.50). Here is a picture & the blurb:Don DeLillo's 1997 masterwork Underworld, one of the most acclaimed and long-awaited novels of the last twenty years, was immediately recognized as a landmark novel, not only in the long career of one of America's most distinguished novelists but also in the ongoing evolution of the postmodern novel. Vast in scope, intricately organized, and densely allusive, the text provided an immediate and engaging challenge to readers of c ontemporary fiction.This collection of thirteen essays brings together new and established voices in American studies and contemporary American literature to assess the place of this remarkable novel not only within the postmodern tradition but within the larger patterns of American literature and culture as well. By seeking to place the novel within such a context, this lively collection of provocative readings offers a valuable guide for both students and scholars of the American literary imagination.The book contains:â€Å"A Gathering Under Words: An Introduction† by Joseph Dewey â€Å"‘What Beauty, What Power': Speculations on the Third Edgar† by Irving Malin and Joseph Dewey â€Å"Subjectifying the Objective: Underworld as Mutable Narrative† by David Yetter â€Å"Underworld: Sin and Atonement† by Robert McMinnâ€Å"‘Shall These Bones Live'† by David Cowart â€Å"Don DeLillo's Logogenetic Underworld† by Steven G. Kellman â₠¬Å"Pynchon and DeLillo† by Timothy L. Parrish â€Å"Conspiratorial Jesuits in the Postmodern Novel: Mason & Dixon and Underworld† by Carl Ostrowski â€Å"Don DeLillo, John Updike, and the Sustaining Power of Myth† by Donald J. Greiner â€Å"In the Nick of Time: DeLillo's Nick Shay, Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway, and the Myth of the American Adam† by Joanne Gass â€Å"Don DeLillo, T.S. Eliot, and the Redemption of America's Atomic Waste Land† by Paul Gleason â€Å"The Unmaking of History: Baseball, Cold War, and Underworld† by Kathleen Fitzpatrick â€Å"Underworld or: How I Learned to Keep Worrying and Live the Bomb† by Thomas Myers â€Å"The Baltimore Catechism; or Comedy in Underworld† by Ira Nadel The book also includes a bibliography of Underworld reviews and notices by Marc Singer and Jackson R. Bryer.Don DeLillo: The Physics of Language (2002)Don DeLillo – The Physics of Language by David Cowart was published in Feb. 20 02 by the University of Georgia Press. Here is a link to more info: http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/don_delillo/Cowart examines the work of DeLillo with an emphasis on language; DeLillo's use of it in the novels, and the way in which characters in the books are characterized by different types of language. He divides the novels into three groups: the tentative early novels (End Zone, Great Jones Street, Players and Running Dog), the popular fictions (White Noise, Libra and Mao II) and the works of great achievement (Americana, Ratner's Star, The Names, Underworld and The Body Artist).Throughout his twelve novels, DeLillo foregrounds language and the problems of language. He has an uncanny ear for the mannered, elliptical, non sequitur-ridden rhythms of vernacular conversation (the common response to â€Å"thank you† has somehow become â€Å"no problem†). His is an adept parodist of the specialized discourses that proliferate in contemporary society – in sport, business, politics, academe, medicine, entertainment, and journalism. The jargons of science, technology, and military deterrence offer abundant targets, too. But the author's interest in these discourses goes beyond simple parody, and it is the task of criticism to gauge the extra dimensions of DeLillo's thinking about language.Underworld: A Reader's Guide (2002)Don DeLillo's Underworld: A Reader's Guide by John Duvall was published in early 2002. The book is published as part of the Continuum Contemporaries series, sells for $9.95 and is 96 pages.The book has five chapters: The Novelist, giving background on DeLillo; The  Novel, the main section of the book with an analysis of the main themes; The Novel's Reception, on the initial reviews of Underworld; The Novel's Performance, on the subsequent academic treatment; and Further Reading and Discussion.Critical Essays on Don DeLillo (2000)Critical Essays on Don DeLillo, edited by Hugh Ruppersburg, and Tim Engles, published b y G.K. Hall, appeared in 2000. Contains a section of book reviews and a section of essays, covering each novel through Underworld.The essays are:â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls: Don DeLillo's Americana† by David Cowart â€Å"Deconstructing the Logos: Don DeLillo's End Zone† by Thomas LeClair â€Å"The End of Pynchon's Rainbow: Postmodern Terror and Paranoia in DeLillo's Ratner's Star† by Glen Scott Allen â€Å"Marketing Obsession: The Fascinations of Running Dog† by Mark Osteen â€Å"Discussing the Untellable: Don DeLillo's The Names† by Paula Bryant â€Å"‘Who are you, literally?': Fantasies of the White Self in Don DeLillo's White Noise† by Tim Engles â€Å"Baudrillard, DeLillo's White Noise, and the End of Heroic Narrative† by Leonard Wilcox â€Å"The Fable of the Ants: Myopic Interactions in DeLillo's Libra† by Bill Millard â€Å"Libra and the Subject of History† by Christopher M. Mottâ€Å"Can the Intellectual Still Speak? The Example of Don DeLillo's Mao II† by Silvia Caporale Bizzini â€Å"Excavating the Underworld of Race and Waste in Cold War History: Baseball, Aesthetics and Ideology† by John N. Duvall â€Å"Everything is Connected: Underworld's Secret History of Paranoia† by Peter Knight â€Å"Awful Symmetries in Don DeLillo's Underworld† by Arthur Saltzman American Magic and Dread (2000)Mark Osteen's book on DeLillo, American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in June, 2000. The book examines DeLillo's work from some of the early stories thru Underworld.Modern Fiction Studies (1999)Modern Fiction Studies special issue on DeLillo (Vol 45, No. 3, Fall 1999), includes 10 essays, including work from such friends of the site as Phil Nel, Mark Osteen and Jeremy Green.Undercurrent (1999)In May 1999 an all-DeLillo issue of Erick Heroux's online journal Undercurrent appeared (Number 7). It co ntains the following essays:â€Å"Celebration & Annihilation: The Balance of Underworld† by Jesse Kavadlo â€Å"DeLillo's Underworld: Everything that Descends Must Converge† by Robert Castle â€Å"The Inner Workings: Techno-science & Self in Underworld† by Jennifer Pincott â€Å"American Simulacra: DeLillo in Light of Postmodernism† by Scott Rettberg â€Å"Baudrillard's Primitivism & White Noise: ‘The only avant-garde we've got'† by Bradley Butterfield â€Å"Beyond Baudrillard's Simulacral Postmodern World:White Noise† by Haidar Eid Postmodern Culture (1994)The January, 1994 issue of Postmodern Culture featured the DeLillo Cluster, four essays all dealing with DeLillo edited by Glen Scott Allen and Stephen Bernstein.Glen Scott Allen, â€Å"Raids on the Conscious: Pynchon's Legacy of Paranoia and the Terrorism of Uncertainty in Don DeLillo's Ratner's Star† Peter Baker, â€Å"The Terrorist as Interpreter: Mao II in Postmodern Con text† Stephen Bernstein, â€Å"Libra and the Historical Sublime†Bill Millard, â€Å"The Fable of the Ants: Myopic Interactions in DeLillo's Libra†Don DeLillo (1993)Don DeLillo is a book by Douglas Keesey, a part of the Twayne's U.S. Authors  Series, published by Macmillan, 1993, 228 pages. This book has a chapter on each novel, as well as brief summaries of the stories and plays.Keesey's reading of DeLillo's work is that his novels â€Å"engage in the intensive study of media representations of reality that threaten to distance us from nature and from ourselves.† Thus he links Americana to film, End Zone to language, etc.I found the chapter on Americana quite interesting, as Keesey rebuts those critics who categorized this book as a typical first novel, poorly constructed and lacking charcter development. He argues that on closer examination DeLillo is clearly in control of the book's structure and characters, having made â€Å"fully conscious aesthetic choices.†I tried to get this book through a store, but they couldn't get it, so I ended up buying direct – call 1 800 323 7445 to order.There's an article by Keesey in Pynchon Notes 32-33 entitled â€Å"The Ideology of Detection in Pynchon and DeLillo†.Introducing Don DeLillo (1991)Edited by Frank Lentricchia, 1991. Published by Duke University Press, 221 pages. Lentricchia is the editor of South Atlantic Quarterly and Professor of English at Duke.The book consists of 12 articles:â€Å"The American Writer as Bad Citizen† by Frank Lentricchiaâ€Å"Opposites,† Chapter 10 of Ratner's Star by Don DeLillo  Ã¢â‚¬Å"An Outsider in This Society†: An Interview with Don DeLillo by Anthony DeCurtis (an expanded version of the November 1988 Rolling Stone interview)â€Å"How to Read Don DeLillo† by Daniel Aaron  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Clinging to the Rock: A Novelist's Choices in the New Mediocracy† by Hal Crowther â€Å"Postmodern Romance: Don DeLillo a nd the Age of Conspiracy† by John  A. McClure â€Å"Some Speculations on Don DeLillo and the Cinematic Real† by Eugene Goodheart â€Å"The Product: Bucky Wunderlick, Rock ‘n Roll, and Don DeLillo's Great Jones Street† by Anthony DeCurtis â€Å"Don DeLillo's Perfect Starry Night† by Charles Molesworthâ€Å"Alphabetic Pleasures: The Names† by Dennis A. Foster â€Å"The Last Things Before the Last: Notes on White Noise† by John Frow â€Å"Libra as Postmodern Critique† by Frank Lentricchia More on Frank and Don†¦Jason Camlot delivered an interesting address entitled ‘Frank Lentricchia's Don DeLillo: â€Å"Introducing†, Postmodern Modernism and the Academic Fear of Death' which was given at University of Oregon, May 1993. I am happy to say that this work is now back on the web, hosted here at Don DeLillo's America.Here's a taste:What, then, can be said to make Lentricchia's work as a critic equally relevant and eff ective? In a most obvious sense, it is the position he assumes in relation to the important author that he is introducing that works to establish his own importance. Don Delillo was already a popular author soon after 1985, and by this time he was becoming a significant object of academic attention as well, but these two facts had little bearing on one another, but rather were two distinct phenomena. At least this is what Lentricchia's role as editor and introducer seems to suggest. It is as if the true social significance of Delillo could not exist until a critic such as Lentricchia recognized it, patented it, in a way, by introducing Delillo as the last of the modernists in the postmodern era.New Essays on White Noise (1991)This is a short book of critical essays on White Noise, which is also edited by Lentricchia, published by Cambridge University Press in 1991 (115 pages).The book has five essays:â€Å"Introduction† by Frank Lentricchia â€Å"Whole Families Shopping at N ight!† by Thomas J. Ferraro â€Å"Adolf, We Hardly Knew You† by Paul A. Cantor â€Å"Lust Removed from Nature† by Michael Valdez Moses â€Å"Tales of the Electronic Tribe† by Frank Lentricchia Here's more info on the book.In the Loop – Don DeLillo and the Systems Novel (1987)By Tom LeClair, 1987. Published by University of Illinois Press, 244 pages. LeClair is Professor of English at University of Cincinnati. This is a look at all of DeLillo's novels (through White Noise) in the context of the â€Å"systems novel†. Includes a complete DeLillo bibliography.First Epigraph: â€Å"Somebody ought to make a list of books that seem to bend back on themselves. I think Malcolm Lowry saw Under the Volcano as a wheel-like structure. And in Finnegans Wake we're meant to go from the last page to the first. In different ways I've done this myself.† — Don DeLillo, â€Å"Interview,† Anything Can HappenFrom the Preface:In the Loop also de scribes the situation of the reader who has already entered a Don DeLillo novel, as my first epigraph suggests. DeLillo consistently creates polarized structures–of genre, situation, character, language, tone–that double the novel back upon itself, questioning its generic codes, its beginnings and development, its creator's position toward it, his relation with the reader, who becomes self-conscious, reflective about both his reading and himself, a mobius-stripping away of assumptions about the forms that DeLillo uses, the charged subjects he encircles with his reversals, and the act of reading from beginning to end.Here's the text of a lecture LeClair gave in March 1993 entitled â€Å"Me and Mao  II†.Other Books with DeLillo in the TitleCivello, Paul. American Literary Naturalism and its Twentieth-century Transformations: Frank Norris, Ernest Hemingway, Don DeLillo. (University of Georgia Press, 1994, 208 pages). Chapters 8-10 deal with DeLillo, End Zone and Libra in particular.Hantke, Steffen. Conspiracy and Paranoia in Contemporary American Fiction: The works of Don DeLillo and Joseph McElroy (Peter Lang, 1994).Weinstein, Arnold. Nobody's Home: Speech, Self, and Place in American Fiction From Hawthorne to DeLillo (Oxford University Press, 1993, 349 pages). Chapter 14 is â€Å"Don DeLillo: Rendering the Words of the Tribe† pages 288-315.Back to DeLillo's America Last updated: 06-SEP-2010 Send in some news!