Shannon Lucid :: essays research papers

Shannon Lucid Ever since children have dared to dream, they have always dreamt of going to the moon or to the stars. For the millions of children who dream this, only an infinitely small portion actually achieve this goal. In 1943 in war- torn China, a girl was born who had this same dream. Her name was Shannon Lucid. She was born in 1943 to a Baptist preacher, Joseph Oscar Wells and Myrtle Wells, a nurse. At 6 months of age she and her parents were sent to a prison camp by the Japanese. Only a year later were they safe in American arms after they were traded for Japanese POW's. After the war they went back to China, but in 1949 they were forced to leave when the communists took over. They then settled in Bethany, Oklahoma. She always had the dream that someday she would be a space explorer. People thought her crazy for this dream though, because the United States didn't even have a space program. After graduating from Bethany High School in 1960 she got her pilot's license. In regard to her dream she said, "the Baptists wouldn't let women preach, so I had to become an astronaut to get closer to God than my father." By this time America already had a space program. She could not believe that of the first seven Mercury astronauts, none were females. This is just one more instance she complained of discrimination of women in traditionally male held occupations. She experienced the same thing when she tried unsuccessfully to become a commercial pilot. So from Å’66-'68 she worked at Kerr-Mcgee Corp. as a chemist. This is also where she met her husband Michael Lucid. After she was married she returned to school at the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her B.S. in Chemistry. One interesting occurrence after the birth of her daughter, the very next day she took a biochemistry exam, which her instructor had expected her to make up later. Three years later she finally had a chance to fulfill her dream by getting into the space program. The program was now allowing women. She "scrambled" to get her application in and was accepted as one of the first six female astronauts. These women had to go through rigorous testing and they proved that it doesn't take a Y chromosome to have "The Right Stuff". Her greatest accomplishment to date is she has spent the most time in space of any American. She spent 188 days and 65,454,841 miles in space. She is truly a tribute to sheer will power.

Play “Romeo and Juliet” Essay

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare about two teenage lovers whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their families together. In this play â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† Lord and Lady Capulet were seen to be great parents to an extent. Juliet is there one and only daughter at fourteen years old, she was nursed by their nurse from the begging of her life. She knew all about Juliet and knew more than her parents and she was closer and understanding than then. Therefore Juliet called her mother Lady Capulet as in 3rd person and how others would call her instead of mother – that shows the relationship between them. Lord and Lady Capulet were rich enough to rent people to care for Juliet and in fact the nurse was to nurse her until she left to her husband’s house. Juliet was chosen to marry Paris who was from a rich and cared family. Lord and Lady Capulet thought it was great for their daughter to marry to a pleasant man. Juliet was only 14 years old but it was usual at Shakespeare time to get married at such age. Her mother got married earlier she was desperate to finish it quickly. â€Å"Well think of marriage now. Younger than you, Here in Verona, ladies of esteem are made already ladys. By my count i was your lady much upon these years that you are now a maid.† At Shakespeare’s time women were not allowed to act at stages as there were thought to inferior to men. So men were used to act out the play dress as women most or all of the time. Men usually played the scenes of women acts. They even dressed up as them to make it more understanding and easier to navigate. In Act 1 Lord and Lady Capulet are concerned for Juliet’s welfare. They decide to get her married and sent her off. Lord Capulet â€Å"My child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years: Let two more summers wither in their pride Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.† When Juliet sees Romeo she instead loves him. Romeo too at first sight of Juliet falls in love, as they look at each other Romeo â€Å"O then, dear saint, let lip do what hand do: They pray grant thou, lest faith turn to despair† and Juliet â€Å"Then have my lips, the sin that they have took† This shows the love between them at fight sight. But on the other hand Lord Capulet arranges a marriage as he finds out about Romeo and Juliet. He might purposely arrange the marriage to stop Juliet from loving Romeo or anything else from happing. On the line before Juliet meets Lord and Lady Caplet, Juliet on her first time goes and kisses Romeo on the elevators. This was on the â€Å"Ball Scene†. Over there she does what any women at that time wouldn’t have done. She kisses a man she has barely known for less than 10 minutes and wishes to marry him. Juliet therefore was irresponsible, unmannered and overwhelmed Romeo. She says â€Å"Then have lips the sin that they have took† and Romeo â€Å"Sins from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d. Give me my sin again. After a while in Act 3 Lord and lady Capulet changes into more an aggressive parent. They also decide to arrange the marriage that same weekend as more than half a dozen are in the city following the death of Tybalt have visited and are already in the town. Therefore more will be there to witness the wedding of Juliet. And also to bring some happiness into the Capulet family after the sad death of Tybalt. This quote from Capulet show how fast of a decision it was â€Å"A’Thursday, let it be – a’Thursday, tell her, She be married to this noble earl. It was a quick decision. On Act 4 Juliet has a change of mind. She pretends to marry Paris it makes Lord and Lady Caplet believe that she is listening to them and agrees. But really she does it to make it easier for her. She was forced to make this decision as her parents were rude and scary. â€Å"Well, we may chances to do good on her. A peevish self-will’d harlotry it is† shows how horrible they are if she does do as they say.

Quotes by Simone de Beauvoir, Feminist, Existentialist

Simone de Beauvoir was a writer on feminism and existentialism. She also wrote novels. Her book The Second Sex is a feminist classic. It is based on the idea that, while men and women may have different tendencies, each person is unique, and it is culture which has enforced a uniform set of expectations of what is feminine, as contrasted to what is human which is equated with what is male. Beauvoir argued that women can free themselves, through individual decisions and collective action. Best Quotes One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. To emancipate woman is to refuse to confine her to the relations she bears to man, not to deny them to her; let her have her independent existence and she will continue none the less to exist to him also; mutually recognizing each other as subject, each will yet remain for the other another. Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female—whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male. This has always been a mans world, and none of the reasons that have been offered in explanation have seemed adequate. Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth. The most sympathetic of men never fully comprehend womans concreted situation. Society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiority only by destroying the males superiority. When we abolish the slavery of half of humanity, together with the whole system of hypocrisy it implies, then the division of humanity will reveal its genuine significance and the human couple will find its true form. If her functioning as a female is not enough to define woman, if we decline also to explain her through the eternal feminine, and if nevertheless we admit, provisionally, that women do exist, then we must face the question: what is a woman? To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job. Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself. I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for the truth; and truth rewarded me. Thats what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing. I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom. Ones life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion. The word love has by no means the same sense for both sexes, and this is one cause of the serious misunderstandings that divide them. The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels. However gifted an individual is at the outset, if his or her talents cannot be developed because of his or her social condition, because of the surrounding circumstances, these talents will be still-born. To show your true ability is always, in a sense, to surpass the limits of your ability, to go a little beyond them: to dare, to seek, to invent; it is at such a moment that new talents are revealed, discovered, and realized. Since I was 21, I have never been lonely. The opportunities granted to me at the beginning helped me not only to lead a happy life but to be happy in the life I led. I have been aware of my shortcomings and my limits, but I have made the best of them. When I was tormented by what was happening in the world, it was the world I wanted to change, not my place in it. From the hour youre born you begin to die. But between birth and death theres life. Change your life today. Dont gamble on the future, act now, without delay. There is no justification for present existence other than its expansion into an indefinitely open future. If you live long enough, youll see that every victory turns into a defeat. Since it is the Other within us who is old, it is natural that the revelation of our age should come to us from outside—from others. We do not accept it willingly. Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap. Life is occupied in both perpetuating itself and in surpassing itself; if all it does is maintain itself, then living is only not dying. It is not in giving life but in risking life that man is raised above the animal; that is why superiority has been accorded in humanity not to the sex that brings forth but to that which kills. Its frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself. It seems unfair. You cant assume the responsibility for everything you do—or dont do. The ideal of happiness has always taken material form in the house, whether cottage or castle. It stands for permanence and separation from the world. Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable. In the face of an obstacle which it is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid. One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius. I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation. All oppression creates a state of war. In order for the artist to have a world to express he must first be situated in this world, oppressed or oppressing, resigned or rebellious, a man among men. Art is an attempt to integrate evil. No matter what happened afterward, nothing would take those moments away from me; nothing has taken them away; they shine in my past with a brilliance that has never been tarnished. [About Liberation Day] Quotes About Simone de Beauvoir She had opened a door for us. – Kate Millett I had learned my own existentialism from her. It was  The Second Sex  that introduced me to that approach to reality and political responsibility... [and] led me to whatever original analysis of womens existence I have been able to contribute. – Betty Friedan I wish her well. She started me out on a road on which Ill keep moving... We need and can trust no other authority than our own personal truth. – Betty Friedan More than any other single human being, shes responsible for the current international womens movement. – Gloria Steinem