Same Sex Marriage Should Be Legal - 1182 Words

Lester Nguyen American Government Professor Margot Bowlby 22 February 2017 Same Sex Marriage Our society today is greatly influenced through controversial issues over same-sex marriage in America, leaving many stumped and concerned about the ongoing conflict. For some time now, it has been an expanding problem to legalize same sex marriage. A vast majority of the population believe that marriage should be between two genders due to it’s being biblical. The opposition upon same-sex marriage has led to the misconception of civil rights, playing a role in many political injustices and confliction in our economy. In addition, the media has played a key factor in notifying us about this issues in different political viewpoints. For instance,†¦show more content†¦This source has shown enormous amounts of favoritism by declaring same-sex marriage as a civil right, allowing the right to marry whomever based on preference. The enforcement of adopting same-sex marriage as a civil right will gradually affect the area of the religious factor. As it slow ly adapts into the environment, the people within those religious communities will come to an agreement of a being’s choice to marry another. Despite the sexuality of that being, the choice will inevitably change the opinion of another sooner or later. As stated in Fox News, â€Å"I don’t deny this is going to be an issue†¦ an issue not only for religious colleges but also for churches that refuse to honor same-sex marriage...may face government sanctions...† In other words, the church may not agree to perform any matrimonial ceremonies if it goes against their beliefs and concerns. Therefore, there s concern that churches who refuse to perform same sex marriage ceremonies may face government enforcement, including loss of tax-exempt status. Overall, the article has shown unjust treatment towards the religious whom refuse to perform matrimonial ceremonies, having their tax-exempt lowered for refusal of same-sex marriages. An important factor when discussing about same sex marriage can beShow MoreRelatedSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1288 Words   |  6 Pages Marriage is not precisely the same as it used to be interpreted. For example, women used to be their husband’s property. Sometimes the women were forced to marry whoever their parents wanted them to marry and most of the time they couldn’t leave the marriage. Nowadays women have more freedom. They can vote, they can run their own business, and they can marry whichever man they want to. The laws change as the people’s mind change. As they get more comfortable with the idea, they become more openRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal Essay1475 Words   |  6 PagesSame sex relationships relate to when a man or woman are attracted to someone of the same gender of themselves. It is being rejected as same gender marriage denies the obvious purpose between a man and a women which is procreation (Richardson-Self, 2012). Den ying same sex couples the legal right to get married, could mean that they are being denied their basic human rights to enjoy human benefits (Richardson-Self, 2012). However, the opposing view is that if gay marriage was granted the legal rightsRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1403 Words   |  6 PagesSame-Sex Marriage â€Å"I now pronounce you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  At some point in a person’s life, they have heard or will hear those words. What follows, however, has changed somewhat over the years; although, the commitment has remained the same. Those words historically indicate that until the death of a spouse, that couple shall remain together. Who should be able to determine whom that spouse is for that person? Some people judge others for their sexuality and how it is affecting them, but they never stop andRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1144 Words   |  5 PagesGay Marriage There are many issues the revolve around same-sex marriage. Many issues like: Whether same-sex should be legalized and should there be an amendment on same-sex marriage? There are multiple side to view this, but gay marriage but in my opinion gay marriage is socially accepted. it should be legal and it does affect American teens in a broad spectrum of ways. There have been a lot of issues on whether or not same-sex marriage should be legal or not. According to Burns, â€Å" The unionRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal998 Words   |  4 PagesSame sex marriage ought to be legalized on the grounds that it is uncivilized and unmerited. Marriage is a commitment between two people that cherish one another. In almost every country and culture, marriage is a commitment of loyalty and love. Marriage is an authority contract gathering two individuals together, furnishing them with profits of holy matrimony such as tax cuts and clinical privileges. The debate throughout most countries today is whether or not the rights of these profits and commitmentsRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1659 Words   |  7 Pages Same-sex couples can hardly remember a time where they were not fighting for their right to marriage in the United States. After several court cases, California Proposition Six, and their struggle against the Defens e of Marriage Act (DOMA), same-sex couples found their way into U.S. society. Many misguided studies appealed to those opposing same-sex marriage, but after several years of integrating in society, same-sex couples found the support they were looking for. Before the Supreme CourtRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal899 Words   |  4 Pages In the United States, same sex marriage became legal nationwide on June 26, 2015, when the United States Supreme Court overruled the court in favor of same sex freedom and marriage. The victory of same sex marriage came to be recognized from the Obergefell v. Hodges case which was submitted when an American Ohio man was denied and regretted to get his name on his late husband’s death certificate. Same sex marriage has been a controversial social issue in the United States for several decades. SinceRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal1491 Words   |  6 PagesSame sex marriage is one of the most debatable issues in the modern world. Marriage has been accepted as the social union between a man and a woman for the past thousand years. Homosexuality was viewed with scorn, and marriages among same sex couples were prohibited in most cultures across the globe. However, gay relationships are slowly obtaining acceptance, as homosexuals have come to be expressive in fighting their rights to marry in the early 90’s. As homosexuality grows in acceptance in theRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal2253 Words   |  10 Pages1776). The recognition of same-sex marriage is an issue influenced by numerous factors, and debates continue to arise over whether people in same-sex relationships have the right to marriage. Marriage provides many benefits, legally, financially, and personally. Same-sex marriage can open up those in same-sex relationships to tax benefits and financial demands comparable to those afforded to and required of people in opposite-sex marriages. Same-sex marriage also gives them legal pr otections, such asRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Should Be Legal892 Words   |  4 PagesLove Same sex marriage is now allowed in all states across the country. But it took years and years for this â€Å"issue† to be finally laid to rest. The first state to legalize same-sex marriage was Massachusetts in 2004. There was not a last state to legalize gay marriage. The supreme court realized how many states were now legalizing it, so they just had all of the states left legalize it as well. ProCon.org supplies information that â€Å"Twenty-six states were forced to legalize gay marriage because

A examination and valuation of Lush Ltd. Free Essays

string(144) " their products contain no packaging at all\); the packaging that they do use is 100% recyclable and are made from used plastics and cardboard\." Introduction Lush is about passion and innovation: passionate about the nature, environment and growth; and innovative for its handmade, unpacked and fresh cosmetics, seductive perfumes, and natural products. Born from the ashes of Cosmetics to Go, Lush is now headquartered in Poole, Dorset in the UK. The company was initially registered with the Companies House by the name of Cosmetic House Limited in 1994 but was later renamed to Lush in the year 1995. We will write a custom essay sample on A examination and valuation of Lush Ltd. or any similar topic only for you Order Now It now operates over 600 stores in 43 countries worldwide. The fuel for this growth has been the result of adopting fresh natural ingredients, ideas and fun. The company’s’ ideology is the most important part of everything that it signifies. Lush produces and sells a range of handmade products, like face masks, soaps, bath bombs, bubble bars, hand and body lotions, hair treatments, etc. Lush uses natural resources like fruits, vegetables, essential oils, and synthetic ingredients without any animal fat in all its products. It is also against animal testing and performs tests solely with volunteers instead. This philosophy of its leaders attracts like-minded people, staff and clients, and communicates the brand essence with a clear vision and direction. History The original incarnation of what is now Lush began in the 1970s when Mark Constantine, an herbal trichologist, and Elizabeth Weir, incorporated a company named Constantine Weir. They began with developing recipes for bath and beauty products and toted them round to potential buyers. Their verdict was: â€Å"Too earnest, very authentic, not at all commercial.† Constantine Weir was one of the associate and suppliers to The Body Shop (acquired by L’Oreal in 2006), a UK -based company founded in 1976 by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_RoddickAnita Roddick. As The Body Shop grew, Anita made a bid the rights to many of the products produced by Constantine Weir for The Body Shop. It was good to be associated with the fastest growing cosmetic company in the world which was using products and ideas by CW. This association was hampered after The Body Shop floated in 1984, when the partnership became uncomfortably formal. The Body Shop eventually bought the intellectual property rights to the business of Constantine Weir for ?9m in 1991. CW managed to dodge the buyout by starting a new company named ‘Cosmetics to Go’ in 1988. This company was primarily a mail-order business which failed ignominiously in 1994. However, CTG managed to obtain new finance from Peter Blacker, of British Ensign Estates and his finance director Andrew Gerrie, who now form an integral part of the board of Lush. In 1994, CTG was renamed to Lush as result of a contest wherein they requested their existing customers to suggest a new name. Leadership team Peter Blacker and Andrew Gerrie were the first to help Constantine when CTG was already in agony and later were responsible in establishing Lush. Gerrie, an opulent entrepreneur had tremendous experience in cash and finance, was a great support to Constantine after having lost his confidence following the CTG debacle. Gerrie had a catalysing effect on the growth of Lush’s fortunes and is leading the expansion of the company. Constantine’s expertise in producing cosmetics is well complemented by Andrew’s ability of managing finances. Constantine and Andrew are the recognised leaders of the company. Besides being experts in their respective fields, they are socially intelligent, organisationally efficient and have a strong sense of imagination. The leadership team of Lush includes Elizabeth Bennett, Helen Ambrosen, Karl Joseph Bygrave and Margaret Joan who are also the shareholders. Global brand Lush is a leading global brand with over 600 stores and subsidiaries in 43 countries worldwide and production laboratories in Europe, Canada, Australia, South America, Singapore and Japan. Their aim is to offer â€Å"the freshest products in the history of cosmetics.† All the stores in UK are fully owned by the company and the stores overseas are subsidiaries with local managers. The Lush store partnership model ensures management coherence and commitment with the company. Personal ownership adds motivation while willingness to invest in Lush means that the Lush concept is endorsed. At the same time Lush remains directly involved and able to steer the branch. Lush does not supply any other retailer so everything they produce is only sold in Lush shops or on-line from Lush websites. Products Lush produces many different types of cosmetic products, from hair, face, body, and foot care, all the way to bath and shower care. Lush creates solid products to reduce packaging waste and the need for preservatives. Solid products are sold wrapped in paper or in small bags. Lush encourages customers and staff to purchase products using their own shopping bags to be more eco-friendly and even motivate customers to let their products go â€Å"naked† (without any packaging whatsoever). Some examples of Lush’s solid products include bubble bath bars, shampoo bars, hair conditioner bars, solid shower gel, and massage bars. Lush also carries bath bombs, also called bath ballistics, which are solid balls made of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid that fizz as they dissolve in the bath, releasing essential oils that scent the bath and soften the skin, and in some cases glitter, confetti, flower petals or seaweed. They hand-make the products in a factory in small batches based on orders from individual stores in order to keep their products fresh. In order to stay in touch with their fresh standard, Lush does not sell any product in their store that’s older than 4 months and most products have a total shelf life of approximately 14 months. Ingredients Lush lists their product ingredients in English as well as Japanese, French and many other languages, and uses fruit, vegetables, other plant products, and safe synthetics. Many products are labeled with a use-by date and who made the product. All Lush products are vegetarian, and less than 30% contain animal products such as beeswax, honey, free range, unfertilized eggs and lanolin. Lush uses minimal packaging (over 70% of their products contain no packaging at all); the packaging that they do use is 100% recyclable and are made from used plastics and cardboard. You read "A examination and valuation of Lush Ltd." in category "Essay examples" Products which contain no animal ingredients at all are marked as vegan in Lush catalogues, on store displays, and on the container itself. Lush uses methyl- and propyl- parabens, which have been used in food preservation and are both made of plant materials. Only the liquid products contain parabens; solid products have no preservative content as it is water that can breed bacteria in products. 70% of Lush products are preservative-free. Ethos and campaigning Lush does not buy from companies that carry out, fund, or commission any animal testing. Lush itself tests its products on human volunteers before they are sold. In keeping with its stated ethos, Lush has also begun to phase out its use of sodium palm kernelate. Sodium palm kernelate is derived from trees in the natural habitat of orguntans. Greenwash, a pine scented soap, is the first soap to be made using palm-free soap noodles, but as of 2008 all Lush soaps are made with palm-free soap base. Their aim is to have â€Å"100% of [their] packaging easily recyclable, compostable or biodegradable†. Lush is a supporter of controversial direct action, animal rights operations including the Sea Shepherds, a group that works to protect whales, seals, and other aquatic animals. In 2007 Lush started openly supporting campaigning groups by sending a dozen cheques for ?1000 each, including road protests groups such as Road Block and NoM1Widening, Hacan Clear Skies (anti-aviation group), and Dump the Dump (which is fighting against an incinerator) They introduced the â€Å"Charity Pot† body lotion, each pot promotes a different small charity on the lid, and the full purchase price (except for VAT) goes to charity. They have also introduced a range of â€Å"Go Green† products that they say are inspired by Rebecca Lush (no relation), a roads campaigner who set up Road Block in the early 1990s and who pied Jeremy Clarkson for his glorification of the car. Benefits of Listing on Stock Exchange Listing on a stock exchange can add value to a business of any size. Moreover, stock exchange listing cast a wider net into the capitalization pool i.e. the potential sources of equity funding, when a company is planning for expansion and leveraging. A listing will also to attach importance to Employee Share Ownership Scheme of Lush. By obtaining a listing on a stock exchange, Lush will gain market exposure to a broader membership of the financial community including market makers, traders, retail investors and various financial institutions. This will eventually benefit Lush it’s a growing business and worth investing. Thus, listing will potentially increase capital investments of Lush, as opposed to private negotiations and networking, providing a better exposure to a larger financial market and wider range of investors.Being listed on an exchange implies that Lush meet the requirements and standards set by the exchange. This will add credibility to its business and therefore enhance its brand equity by improve customer’s perception of value in the company and its products. Moreover, listing will enhance financial information and investor public relations through the information/disclosures made available as required by listed companies. Listing will facilitate Lush to ascertain its Enterprise Value and share price. A need for capital investment is one of the main factors for Lush to lists on a stock exchange. Lush is a product based company and requires capital for producing inventories. Given the fact that they use on natural ingredients, their products are slightly expensive since they have to import or cultivate their ingredients regularly. Stock market listing will provide wider and more accessible forms of investment for both investors and businesses. This will largely support a free market for buyers and sellers to meet, access and trade capital for ownership and vice versa. It could also be used as one of several sources of capital leveraging. Lush finances its production through debt. Their debt gearing is a striking 40.63% which is very high for a product manufacturing company. Also their interest cover of 13.84% is also high. Listing on the exchange will provide a low cost of capital financing. It will also provide increased capitalization through wider market exposure and reduce the reliance on alternative sources of funding such as venture capital firms. This lower reliance for alternative sources of financing will improve negotiating leverage of the company when obtaining financing from venture capital firms whether it be through less liability protection as determined by the stock ownership terms or lower cost of capital. In other words, if the market exposure gained through listing is positive, the effects on financing can also be positive. To summarize, listing a business on a stock exchange may be a good idea for a business seeking improved market awareness, greater potential for capital investment, enhancements to brand equity and negotiating influence etc. Listing on an exchange should probably be in line with or in accordance with business strategy, otherwise the listing may be premature or unnecessary. Free Cash Flow Valuation The discounted-cash-flow approach attempts to determine the value of the company (or â€Å"enterprise value†) by computing the present value of cash flows over the life of the company. Since a corporation is assumed to have infinite life, the analysis here is broken into a forecast period and a terminal value. Ideally, the forecast period should equate with the interval over which the firm enjoys opportunities for relatively high growth. The value of the company derived from free cash flows occurring after the forecast period is captured by a terminal value. To estimate the terminal value, cash flows are projected under a steady state assumption that the firm enjoys no opportunities for abnormal growth. Once a schedule of free cash flows is developed for the enterprise, the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is used to discount them to determine the present value. The sum of the present values of the forecast period and the terminal value cash flows provides an estimate o f company or enterprise value. Free cash flow equals the sum of NOPAT (net operating profits after taxes.), plus depreciation and noncash charges, less capital investment and less investment in working capital. NOPAT is used to capture the earnings after taxes that are available to all providers of capital (i.e., NOPAT has no deductions for financing costs). Moreover, since the tax deductibility of interest payments is accounted for in the WACC, such financing tax effects are also excluded from the free cash flow, which can be expressed as: FCF=NOPAT + Depreciation – CAPEX – ?NWC NOPAT is equal to Operating Income x (1-Tc) where Tc is the marginal tax rate (30% equal to the UK corporate tax rate). Assumptions All items were taken from financial statements of Lush. The growth figures of sales for the year 2010 has been taken to be 30% which is the average sales growth form the year 2005-2009. After obtaining listing the company is supposed to have enough funds for operation and will not require any debt financing. Hence, the growth rate is likely to growth at an average 5% for the 1st five years from its listing. This phenomenon was also observed in the case of body shop where its growth shot up rapidly (22.54% in 1984 to an avg growth rate of 37.19% in 1989)over the 1st five years from its listing on the stock exchange. The risk free rate is taken to be 4% as an average risk free rate of debt. Also the risk premium has been assumed to be 4%. The cost of debt assumed is 11.5% because Lush does a lot of short term borrowing and rates are high and generally fluctuate. Also their gearing has been really high and implies that they pay a very high rate of interest. The stock beta has been obtained from The Body Shop (now L’Oreal). The Body Shop has been used as a comparable company since its origination, method of operations and business is very similar to Lush. Some of the items have been expressed as a percentage of Sales to help us in our forecasts (% of Sales approach). The given growth rates of L’Oreal have been used to compute Sales for 2010-SS.2 COGS and SGA can be approximated on the basis of their past relationship with Sales. We have assumed that this relationship will be the same in the future. We have assumed that fixed assets will continue to grow at a rate of 40.75% which represents the average growth in fixed assets between 2005-2009. In reality, it is unlikely that Lush assets will be growing at such high rate forever. The historical depreciation/Fixed Assets ratio (average) is 23.4%. Given that there is no great variation in this historical ratio one can safely assume that the relationship between the two will be maintained in the future. We can then calculate an estimate for fixed assets and as a result depreciation itself as a function of fixed assets. Valuation Stages We assume that the valuation exercise is performed at the end of 2009, i.e. that the first FCF (end 2009) arrives 1 year from the time of the valuation. Terminal Value is then calculated as follows: Terminal Value = FCFSteady State ? (WACC ? gss)4 This is the value of all cash flows after 2014 as of the end of 2014 that then needs to be converted to value today (i.e. end of 2009). So it needs to be discounted 5 periods back. PV Terminal Value = Terminal Value / (1+WACC) Then the PV of the FCFs from 2010 to 2014 is: PVFCF2010-2014 = FCF2010/(1+WACC)+ FCF2011/(1+WACC)^2 + FCF2012/(1+WACC)^3 + FCF2013/(1+WACC)^4+ FCF2014/(1+WACC)^5 The Enterprise Value is then given by PV Terminal Value + PVFCF2010-2014 This is the value of the firm to all providers of capital. To get the equity value one needs to subtract the value of total debt (ST Debt + LT Debt) The terminal value growth rate used in the valuation is 15%, which equals the long-term risk-free rate; i.e., the long-term Treasury yield. Cosmetics companies are non-cyclical companies and have very little impact of inflation on their growth. Also Lush is one of its kind, and is therefore expected to growth at 15%. Looking at the its previous growth figures (18.94% CAGR for the past 15 years), 15% is a justified steady state growth rate. The resulting Enterprise Value is 81.02mil and the value of Equity 47.59mil. The corresponding per share figure is 2.13 pence which can then be compared to future actual share prices. References http://www. chx.com/content/Trading_Inform ation/Listing_standards.html ht tp://www.nasdaq.com/about/list ing_information.stm http://www. cftech.com/BrainBank/FINANCE/U SStockExchs.html http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=OR.PA http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/financialHighlights?symbol=OREP.PA 1. â€Å"Soap Stars†, The Business FT Weekend Magazine, 08.06.02 2. www.lush.co.uk 3. From a Lush shopping bag and website (www.lush.co.uk) 4. Lush mission statement 5. Marketing: Lush Gets a Makeover†, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus Graduate School of Business, available on-line at www.brianlhill.com/projects/ExperienceMarketing_Lush.pdf 6. Reported by Sarah McCartney, Editor of Lush Times 9 Mary Linehan, Lush Press Office 10. â€Å"Living the Lush life† by Marge C. Enriquez, Lifestyle, 10.12.01 How to cite A examination and valuation of Lush Ltd., Essay examples

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Master of Peaceful Protests free essay sample

Still, he held to his nonviolent beliefs when an armed, angry mob of blacks crowded his home demanding Justice. He said, l want you to go home and put down your weapons. We cannot resolve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence We must meet hate with love (Adelman Johnson 2007). King had his critics ranging from racist whites who wanted to uphold Jim Crow laws to what King called moderate whites who wanted all change to come through egislation. He even saw criticism from other Civil Rights leaders such as Malcom X not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks, and We should be peaceful, law-abiding†but the time has come for the American Negro to fight back in self-defense whenever and wherever he is being unjustly and unlawfully attacked (X 1964). King was Jailed for his actions in Civil Rights demonstrations in Birmingham and was the subject of an open letter from eight well-known, white, liberal clergymen in January of 1963. One excerpt from the letter stated, We expressed understanding hat honest convictions in racial matters could be properly pursued in the courts, but urged that decisions of those courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed. The letter continued, However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely. The letter ends with, We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles f law and order and common sense (Priests for life 2012). Kings response to this letter is his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. King uses all three rhetorical devices in his letter. His first line, My dear fellow Clergymen, (King 1963) was an example of Ethos and meant to create both credibility and a common bond. He explains that even though he doesnt usually answer criticism, he would this time because l feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth (King 1963). He compares himself to the Apostle Paul and later in the letter refers to the Clergymen as my Christian and Jewish brothers (King 1963). All of these statements were meant to increase his credibility and form a deeper connection with his critics. When accused of being an extremist, he responds by saying that many admirable men in history were also extremists such as Jesus, Amos, the Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson (King 1963). This also seemed to me, a way to show that he is their equal in education as well. In Kings final sentence, he says that he hopes the letter finds you in strong faith and that he s writing as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother (King 1963). It was effective for King to try to appeal to the clergymen as an equal, especially since he is promoting equality. King used Pathos to appeal to emotions when writing, Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere (King 1963). He talks about being victims of a broken promise and goes on to lay out many injustices faced by black people ranging from lynch mobs, seeing your brothers in poverty, trying to explain to your daughter why she cannot go to Funtown, being called nigger and boy, and being plagued with nner fears and outer resentments (King 1963). These are all reprehensible acts and he is trying to drive up the level of sympathy for his brothers in America. King uses Pathos to explain that his nonviolent resistance is the best stance because, If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced be flowing with blood, and millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare (King 1963). That last statement is Xs more extreme viewpoint. King points out that there is a more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. It was important that King pointed out love to the clergymen to remind them of Christs command to love thy neighbor. In his final statement, he says Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear- drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty (King 1 963). I think this appeals to the vision of America that these white oderates hope to see in America, even if by different means than King. Lastly, King used Logos to appeal to the logic in these clergyman. He explains that even though he is an outsider, he needed to be in Birmingham. So l, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. (King 1963) He agrees that, It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the citys white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative (King 1963), spinning the argument around. He enlightens his critics of the true purpose of these demonstrations, Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored (King 1963). These clergymen are asking him to wait for a better time, to which he responds, We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights (King 1963). To answer why he is breaking laws, he quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas, l would agree with St. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at ll (King 1963). He alludes to Biblical references to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and historical events such as Adolf Hitler and the Boston Tea Party to further his explanation on unjust laws. I believe that King thoroughly explained the necessity of nonviolent demonstrations and answered the criticisms from his fellow clergymen very effectively through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Lab Report on TLC analisys of Analgestic Drugs free essay sample

In this experiment, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was used to determine the composition of various over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics: Anacin, Bufferin, Excedrin, and Tylenol. The TLC plates were first viewed under ultraviolet (UV) light and then treated with iodine vapor in order to visualize the spotting. Experiment Scheme Initially, sixteen capillary micropipets were created in order to spot the TLC plates. Two TLC plates were then obtained and marked with pencil for spotting. A line was drawn 1 cm from the bottom of each plate, and five small, evenly spaced marks were made along those lines (see Figure 1). Each mark indicated where a substance would be spotted. All compounds used were in solutions of 1g of each dissolved in 20 ml of a 50:50 mixture of methylene chloride and ethanol. The first plate made was the reference plate. Capillary micropipets were used to spot the first four marks with acetaminophen, aspirin, caffeine, and salicylamide (in that order). We will write a custom essay sample on Lab Report on TLC analisys of Analgestic Drugs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page (See figures 2-5 for chemical structures.) The last mark was spotted with a reference solution of all four chemicals. The second plate made was the sample plate. The first four marks were spotted with Anacin, Bufferin, Excedrin, and Tylenol. The fifth mark was spotted with a reference solution of all four drugs. Figure 1. Prepared TLC plates Figure 2. AcetaminophenFigure 3. Aspirin Figure 4. CaffeineFigure 5. Salicylamide A development container was created with a wide-mouthed screwcap jar. It was filled with the development solvent, which was .5% glacial acetic acid in ethyl acetate, so that the solvent was approximately . 5 cm deep.The first TLC plate was then carefully placed into the development container. Great care was taken to ensure that the plate went in evenly so that the solvent could rise evenly up the plate. Once the solvent front had reached approximately 1cm from the top of the plate, the plate was removed, the solvent front was marked with a pencil, and the plate was allowed to dry. The second plate was then placed in the development chamber in the same manner as the first. Once the solvent front reached approximately 1cm from the top of the plate, the plate was removed, the solvent front was marked with a pencil, and the plate was allowed to dry. Each plate was then viewed under the UV light. Any spots that were seen were lightly circled with a pencil, and their color was noted. The orders of elution (Rf values) were calculated by dividing the distance from the baseline to the center of the spot by the distance from the baseline to the solvent front. After all observations and calculations were made, the plates were placed in a jar containing iodine. The jar was warmed with hands so that the iodine vaporized. The plates were then removed from the jar and observed. The reference and sample plates were then compared to determine which compounds the drugs on the sample plate contained. Data

Public Health and American Red Cross Essay Example

Public Health and American Red Cross Essay Example Public Health and American Red Cross Paper Public Health and American Red Cross Paper Community Teaching Work Plan Proposal Directions: Develop an educational series proposal for your community using one of the following four topics: 1) Bioterrorism/Disaster 2) Environmental Issues 3) Primary Prevention/Health Promotion 4) Secondary Prevention/Screenings for a Vulnerable Population Planning Before Teaching: Name and Credentials of Teacher: Sheila Sue Erickson RN House Supervisor Estimated Time Teaching Will Last: 20 minutes of speech, 20 minutes of practice, 20 minutes of questions. Location of Teaching: Classroom of Adolescent Unit Research Psychiatric Center 2323 EAST 63RD ST KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Supplies, Material, Equipment Needed: Printed information and facts about earthquakes and survival from American Red Cross Estimated Cost: $2. 50 for reproduced paper on education Community and Target Aggregate: Adolescent Population of Research Psychiatric Center (13 patients) ages from 14 to 17. Topic: Earthquake Survival and Safety in case of a Disaster Epidemiological Rationale for Topic (statistics related to topic):  © 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. From the website: Missouri Dept. of Public Safety SEMA State Emergency Management Agency From Dec. 16, 1811 to Feb. 7, 1812, at least three of the largest earthquakes to hit the continental United States rocked Missouri. With fracking going on so close to us it is imperative to educate all on earthquake preparedness. Nursing Diagnosis: Risk for Trauma Knowledge deficit related to environmental safety during an earthquake situation. Alteration in self-care related to trauma of family and the person involved in the situation. Readiness for Learning: Identify the factors that would indicate the readiness to learn for the target aggregate. Include emotional and experiential readiness to learn. This group is in the preplanning stage of readiness to learn. The research performed by the teacher was an assessment of what this population knew prior to any education about the event, the maturity level of the students, the situational factor that they are patients in a mental hospital and the ability to teach this age group without providing further trauma to their lives. Possible issues that could present are children leaving the room, disinterest in the subject, side effects from medication making the children tired and non-responsive. Asking this group to participate in demonstrations will be challenging due to some of the diagnosis that they are experiencing. Children who are attention seeking will dominate the conversation and the teacher needs to be able to redirect the conversation back to topic and give all a chance to learn. Learning Theory to Be Utilized: Explain how the theory will be applied. Teacher will ask who wants to be part of a presentation and learn something new. Teacher will assess with simple questions about what is an Earthquake. Has anyone experienced and earthquake, and who knows what to do in case of such a disaster. Presentation of information that is about the topic from the American Red Cross.  © 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. Goal: Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) objective(s) utilized as the goal for the teaching. Include the appropriate objective number and rationale for using the selected HP2020 objective (use at least one objective from one of the 24 focus areas). If an HP2020 objective does not support your teaching, explain how your teaching applies to one of the two overarching HP2020 goals. Healthy People 2020 section IV Goal 1: WHAT? Address All Hazards Preparedness as a Public Health Issue. Most emergencies have the potential for serious adverse effects on the health of the public. Being  prepared by educating the public in what to do in case of a specific emergency in order to spare their own life and what to do post event. Training and exercises improve the ability of the public health workforce to respond to emergencies and save their own life. How Does This HP2020 Objective Relate to Alma Ata’s Health for All Global Initiatives (See page 116 in the textbook)? Alma Ata’s globalization of health recognizes that barriers between countries are blurring, that health issues cannot be isolated to one county. Page 114, 128, and page 131 discusses and speaks of the work of the community health nurse that involves  planning and providing health care services to all populations plus education. Develop Behavioral Objectives (Including Domains), Content, and Strategies/Methods: Behavioral Objective and Domain Example – Third-grade students will name one healthy food choice in each of the five food groups by the end of the presentation. (Cognitive Domain) Content (be specific) Example – The Food Pyramid has five food groups which are†¦. Healthy foods from each group are†¦. Unhealthy foods containing a lot of sugar or fat are†¦. Strategies/Methods (label and describe) Example – Interactive poster presentation of the Food Pyramid. After an explanation of the poster and each food category, allow students to place pictures of foods on the correct spot on the pyramid. Also, have the class analyze what a child had for lunch by putting names of foods on the poster and discussing what food group still needs to be eaten throughout day.  © 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. 1. After the discussion about earthquakes, children will be able to demonstrate how to remain safe during the episode. 1. Discussion about what happens during the earthquake. Preparation for aftershocks. Lack of communication and safety during the critical  period. 1. Information from American Red Cross given as a format for discussion. 2. What to do when you are injured. 2. What to do in the case of aftershocks. 2. Preparation for an earthquake. 3. 3. Lack of communication 3. Storing of essential resources such as food and water. 4. 4. How to be prepared for an earthquake, storage of food and water. 4. Creativity: How was creativity applied in the teaching methods/strategies? The children were allowed to participate with falling boxes as to how they would react to glass breaking and shaking and how they would find a way or place to be safe. Creative discussion  was allowed and the children discussed where they would store food and what food would be considered safe. Question and answer time was allowed as well. Planned Evaluation of Objectives (Outcome Evaluation): Describe what you will measure for each objective and how. 1) Ability to choose a safe place in case of a disaster. Practice allowed. Fake drill to see what reaction is. 2) How to stay safe post-earthquake. 3) Safe food and water storage.  © 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. 4) Planned Evaluation of Goal: Describe how and when you could evaluate the overall effectiveness of your teaching plan. Come back to the group later in the evening and see how much was retained by the groups. Planned Evaluation of Lesson and Teacher (Process Evaluation): 2 groups will discuss what answers they chose and what would be primary as far as safety. Barriers: What are potential barriers that may arise during teaching and how will those be handled? Children who are certain medication that will be too tired to participate will not be forced. Children that are autistic or do not wish to participate will just observe if they wish. Communication: How will you begin your presentation (hook them in)? How will you end your presentation (go out with a bang)? What nonverbal communication techniques will you employ? Time the reaction times and see if we can beat the one before us by using 2 groups. Information provided by American Red Cross. Ask who would like to participate in a class project that the House Supervisor is studying in school, peaking interest of children that are curious as to why House Supervisor is still in school. Letting children discuss and demonstrate what would save their life or a life of someone close to them.  © 2014. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.

How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog - CoSchedule

How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog Creating a solid content strategy for your new blog is such an important task. We all know how important these first impressions are. We stare at our beautiful blog that we have just setup with a blank expression, asking, What should I write about? You want to get traffic, you want to blow people away and you want to get people addicted to you. If you do all three of these from the word go, the rest of your journey will be a breeze. The trouble is, it isn’t easy! Picking a niche for your blog is one thing, but creating your initial content is where the real work begins. I am going to show you the exact steps I take to create content  that my audience wants to read. You will also learn how to find an army of influencers that want to help you. That is all you need at this stage! You have content that people want to read and you have influencers that you can share your content with. How To Create A Killer Content Strategy For Your New BlogBuild a Better Blog Content Strategy With Five Free Templates Apply what youll learn in this post with these free templates: Blog Content Strategy Template SEO Content Strategy Guide Skyscraper Technique Checklist How to Start a Blog Infographic Blog Schedule Template Who Is Your Ideal Audience? When you plan your content strategy  to launch your new blog you have to do your research. This will ensure your content appeals to your readers. At this stage, you don’t have an audience but you should have an idea of what your blog is going to be about. If you have an idea of who your audience is you can create a content schedule that appeals to them. This will help improve the engagement of the content and make it a lot easier to promote the content. The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve. A reader that visits a blog about strength training could be looking to build muscle. [Tweet "The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve." People want to build muscle for different reasons though. Some may want to build core strength to help with daily living activities. Others might want to train in natural body building! These are all related to strength training but are two very different audiences. When you start your blog it is key to focus on one audience, smash it and then add another similar audience on top. â€Å"Traffic that doesn’t convert to subscribers usually means something you’ve written connects with people, but they don’t understand how it fits into your blog as a whole.† - Amy Dunn Moscoso, Smart Blogger Recommended Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience and Create the Best Content That Connects Understand Your Readers Journey If you know your audience is looking for a strength training program to improve their posture then this is their end goal. When they land on your blog they are at the start of their journey. Your content needs to show the reader that you can help them improve their posture. It should provide actionable tips that encourage the reader to take action. If I write an article about getting big arms, do you think that will hook people interested in correcting their posture? It will appeal to some but not everyone. What if I was to write an article showing my audience how strengthening their glutes can improve their posture. This is exactly what they are looking for. My next article is about how correcting your posture can alleviate knee pain. The reader may not know that their posture is to blame for this pain. They might not even have knee pain but most people would want to prevent it. You need to sell them the benefits of fixing their posture and mix in tips that they can apply. When they apply these tips and start to get results they will start to trust you more! Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this problem. Your job is to create content that builds trust by providing that quick win feeling. Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this...Look at , they know exactly who their target audience is. Content marketers that want to improve their strategy. The tool they offer will do this, but a new visitor might not understand how. On their blog, they create content that appeals to content marketers. Along the way, they show them how their tool can help. By providing epic value they build trust by giving their readers that quick win feeling. now has an email list of over 150,000 people who are interested in what they offer! Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year This is all because they provide content that moves their readers from point A to point B. Look at Guerilla Zen Fitness! Blake offers products that will improve posture. He knows the problems his audience face. He creates YouTube Videos  and blog posts that highlight these as well as showing some quick tips to help. From doing this he now has over 60,000 subscribers on YouTube because his content takes people from point A to B. I want you to think of what goal your blog accomplishes for your reader. Here are a couple examples: Dog training: I help first-time dog owners raise their pups. Point A know nothing about training pups. Point B has a well-behaved dog. Fat Loss: I help overweight individuals get in shape so they feel better and more confident. Point A overweight person who may have some health risks. Point B healthy weight, in better health and feeling a lot more confident. Do this for your reader's journey  and then we can look at the actual content that we need to publish on our blog. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist to Write a Perfect Post Design Your Content To Take Your Readers From A To B Now it is time to start generating some ideas for your first 12 blog posts. Having ideas for your first few months will help you be more organized and stop the blinking cursor syndrome! In a world where there are so many blogs competing for attention! To stand out you have to make sure that your blog posts are the best there is on the topic. You can do this by focusing on a certain topic, being more thorough, having a beautiful design and a clutter-free blog. Having a great post that also looks good is one thing, but if no one cares about the topic, it’s pointless. Let’s start generating some ideas so that we can launch your new blog with a bang! Here's a quote from Talia Wolf: The road to a successful blog post (and choosing its topic) is divided into 3 steps: 1 - Start with keyword research. Not the typical keyword research where you enter the phrase you think is relevant and find similar words, a more strategic one. Here's how:Your goal is to find the best ranking subjects, those your subscribers would be interested in reading and would attract more visitors to your site so, in the Google keyword planner enter the link to a competing blog, one that's popular and trustworthy. This will show you all their top ranked keywords on their blog and give you an indication to what people search for and read. 2 - Then search for those keywords on Google, find the top ranked articles for those keywords and identify what makes them successful (e.g - are they all lists, examples, videos or perhaps complete guides?). 3 - Then, read the articles and the comments to see what people were missing in the article - what's missing? Then, and only then, sit down to write the article. Buzzsumo The best way to find content that your readers will respond to is to find content that has already performed well. You can find this type of content by checking out Buzzsumo. This tool will show you similar content based on how many people have shared it on social media. If a post has produced a lot of shares then you can be sure the topic is one that your audience will like. Go over to Buzzsumo  and enter your niche or broad topic. For example, let's try the keyword "fix posture†: This is broad and will return the competition on the field! Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: Headline Topic URL Blog And a column for every social network that is applicable. Start filling it up with the content that appeals to you. This will become your swipe file for content ideas. Search for a few broad keywords on Buzzsumo  to get a decent amount of content ideas. Quora When you start a blog you don’t have any audience to reach out to ask what they want to read. On Quora, you have a network of people asking questions about hundreds of topics daily. Simply search for your broad topic and you will see a list of questions that include your keyphrase. This should generate some great questions for you to answer in your posts. Another way to use this QA site is to visit the topic pages and look at the Top Questions bit. These are the most popular questions related to the topic. Type in a good few keywords that' are related to your niche and start to add your ideas to your spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Look At What Your Competitors Do Now we are going to put our broad keyword into Google. This will return the best content for that phrase. The Google algorithm is a strange beast! One thing we know is that Google want to show the best and most relevant content to their readers. So search for your keyword ... Now at the bottom, you will see related keyphrases. Add these to your spreadsheet as they are content ideas that Google  deems as relevant. Now take the homepage URL of each result. Head back over to Buzzsumo  and enter each URL, this will show you the best content from this website. As you do this you will start to see topics come up time and time again. These are hot topics and should definitely be on your list to create first. By now you should have a pretty big list of ideas (I would say no less than 50). If you have less, repeat the process, try different phrases or even go to page two of Google. These don’t rank as high but it doesn’t mean they are useless! I have seen some pretty great content ideas off the first page too. Recommended Reading:  This is the Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process Creating An Editorial Calendar It is time to put those content ideas to good use. You need to create a posting schedule that suits your lifestyle so that you can stay consistent. It might sound awesome to post a new article every day. At this stage, you have no audience to feed your creative juices with awesome content ideas. Plus posting daily makes it harder to promote each post properly. I would say start with 2-4 posts per month, but these must be high quality. Your absolute best work. That means your twelve posts will last you 3-6 months, this is plenty time to build a decent sized audience. Whatever schedule you choose, stay consistent and make sure it is doable for you! Once you have your ideas you can use an editorial calendar like to plan their launch. I find adding post ideas into an editorial calendar helps to keep me accountable the majority of the time. If I didn’t do this I would be scrambling the night before and the quality of my article would slip! Recommended Reading:  How to Get Crazy Organized With a Comprehensive Content Calendar (Free Template) The 3-Post Strategy Overview When I launch any new blog I like to follow a certain content system! I will create my foundational content (the content before your launch). This method stems from three posts that are all based on proven topics. So what three post types do you need: Massive List Post Expert Roundup Post A Tutorial Post Let’s look at how we create each of these posts. Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts Your Massive List Post Your first piece of foundational content is your massive list post. Everybody loves a list post because they are so easy to read and they are very shareable! Brian Dean over at Backlinko.com  developed a framework for creating epic list posts that drive shares, links and huge traffic. Perfect for your first post on your new blog. Introducing the Skyscraper Technique! This technique is based on finding a topic that has done well before, you would then check out other articles on the topic and lastly, you will create an epic piece that beats all other articles. When you do this your article becomes the best on the topic. The second part of this strategy is to promote but we will look at that in a bit later. Let’s begin by taking a look at out topics list we created above. Choose the most popular topic you found! Start by entering it into Google. If a website is on the first page, this means that Google classes this article as the best on the web. They strive to show the best content to their customers. Go through each of the posts on the first page and look at ways you could improve. What is the biggest list out there? If the highest number on the first page is 20 can you create a list of 40-50? A lot of list posts are not very in depth. I have seen some with literally 20-50 words per list item! Ask yourself some questions: Can you make a more thorough post that provides step-by-step instructions for each point? This would make your article better. How does the actual page look? Can you make the post easier to navigate? Some list posts can get pretty long so providing a table of contents can really improve the user experience. When was the post created? If the post was created a few years back some of the points may be out of date, so you could improve upon this by creating a fresher list. You want to go all out here to make your new blog post stand out from the rest! Mediocre content will not cut it. You have to kick your competitors right off the playing field! Once you write up your awesome skyscraper article it is time to insert some traffic generating nuggets. These come in the form of expert quotes! Reach out to influencers that have written about the topic before and simply ask them for a couple of sentences. Now if you struggle to get a reply from the influencer you can simply head to their blog and take a quote. Add these into your article to give it more value. Okay Joe, how does this generate traffic? When it comes to promoting our blog posts we can reach out to each of the experts that we have linked to and let them know! This is the perfect way to spark a relationship with an influencer, everybody loves to see their work being referenced no matter how big they are! â€Å"If I were to start a brand new blog tomorrow, my first article would be on a topic that supports my main business goals - anything Marketing related. The article would have two main focuses. 1) Educate 2) Entertain. In order to establish myself as an authority, I want to make sure I use my expertise to educate the reader and provide MASSIVE value! In order to keep the reader coming back, I would entertain the reader by using my personal style, showcasing examples where appropriate, and keeping the reader in mind throughout the article." - Katherine Sullivan Marketing Solved An Expert Roundup Post For the next post, it is time to let the experts that you want to connect with shine. I always say for your first roundup post  try and include people that you want to connect with, that way you are starting to get on their radar. Once you have your initial hit list it is time to look for more experts. I would always try to get about 100 experts because a lot won’t reply but 100 should still give you enough for your post! Take your popular topic and let’s turn it into a question! Now think who was your target audience. Simply add the topic and the audience together to create a killer question. Here are some examples: Topic: Puppy training Audience: New dog owners Question: What is your number one tip for new dog owners to train their new puppies?Topic: Improving core strength Audience: people with knee pain Question: What is your number one tip to strengthen your core to help combat knee pain?Topic: Content marketing Audience: advanced marketers Question: What is your number one tip for experienced marketers to improve their content marketing strategy? These kind of questions are brief and will not take the blogger that long to answer. Busy influencers will be happier to contribute if the question doesn’t take long to answer. Start by warming up the big dog influencers on your hit list first because they will take the longest to win over. If you can get them to contribute everybody else will be a lot easier because you have some social proof! When you reach out, keep your email personal and let them know why you think they would be a good fit for the roundup. Ask your question and then tell them the names of the big influencers. This is how I have managed to get bloggers such as Neil Patel, Jon Morrow, Adam Connell and Sue Anne Dunlevie to contribute to my post! Keep it brief and to the point! Once you have collected all your responses you can enter them into the blog post. Add a killer headline and conclusion that thanks all the influencers for their hard work. For your intro you want the first sentence to hook your reader and then you want to give your own piece of value. You need to put some effort into this by doing this you get the readers excited and it will motivate them to keep reading. By now you should have a nice list of experts, this is perfect to launch your blog with a bang! A Tutorial Post This is the last piece of foundational content in the X method. Tutorial posts work really well because you are going to solve one of your readers biggest pain points to give them that quick win feeling! Choose another topic from the list but this time you need to make sure that you can solve it with a tutorial style post. Here are some examples: Niche: SEO Tutorial Post: How To Build Links Using Broken Link Building Niche: Blogging Tutorial: How To Get 100 Visitors To Your Blog From Reddit Niche: Weight Loss Tutorial: How To Boost Your Metabolism Speed Up Weight loss Niche: Dog Training Tutorial: How To Train Your Dog To Walk By Your Side Niche: Freelance Writing Tutorial: How To Set Up Your Upwork Profile Get Your First Job What makes a good tutorial? Small actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document every action. If you think there will be too many images then maybe consider using a video. What makes a good tutorial? Small, actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document...Video style tutorials do really well because your reader will feel like they are following along looking over your shoulder. You still want to reach out to influencers to get their input just to give it that traffic fuel. If you do something a particular way look for experts that do it that way and feature a quote. This adds social proof to your article. It also backs up what you are saying with some proof! Recommended Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Content Launch Your Blog If you have got this far you have done the ground work and your blog is ready to fly! You can’t stop yet though because it is your job to make it fly. So many people think that you can publish your post and others will find it while you sit back and watch it. This is total rubbish! You should spend 20% of your time creating your content and then 80% of the time actually promoting it. Tell Your Nearest and Dearest It really does surprise me how many people leave this out. Your family is your life line whether they are interested in what you write or not! They can give you that much needed social proof and kick off your engagement. I always ask my mom to share my posts! Why? Because I know it’s a certainty, she will share because she wants to help me! Now my mom struggles with all things computer related so blogging is definitely not something she would be  interested in, but I still get traffic when she shares. She has friends that are interested! If you struggle to get comments you can ask your friends to leave some. This will boost the engagement on your blog. People are more likely to leave a valuable comment if they see others doing so. This can lead to questions that you can add to your content ideas spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: How to 10X Your Content Ideas With Sujan Patel from Web Profits Tell Communities You're Involved With Are you a member of any social media groups, niche communities or forums? If you are a credible member you can tell them about your new article. You just need to do it in a valuable way. Start a thread post and give an actionable tip! For example, if your post is about guest blogging  you could say how important it is to get to know the editor. Give benefits that will encourage the group to act upon your tip! Then just give the link to encourage people to click through. I have never been banned or blocked for doing this. Tell The Influencers You Have Mentioned Now if you have been following along my foundational content strategy you should have a list of influencers that you have featured in your posts. This is your chance to let them know it’s live, by doing all the sharing with your existing connections you should have some social proof on your articles. This will increase the value for the influencer and could be the thing that encourages the connection! That is why I leave this step till I have done my preliminary shares! When you reach out, be very brief. Here's a sample template: Hi Name, I just wanted to let you know that I have featured a quote from your article about TOPIC. This was great and I think my audience would love it because REASON. If you want to check it out here is the link: [INSERT URL] If you have any feedback or you would like me to edit it please let me know! Thanks Your NAME This is brief, you are not asking for anything, and it is personal. Most bloggers will share without asking just because you have featured them. If the influencer has contributed a quote or is part of your roundup, just reach out and tell them that the post is live. Again do not ask for anything, most will share without your asking! Lastly, reach out to everyone that never replied to you and let them know it’s live. Be friendly and polite and offer them the chance to be added onto the roundup. Now that you are showing them your results they know a bit more about you and this might give them that little push to connect with you. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted Now Go Launch Your Blog! Well done for getting this far! You now have a new blog that has some traction but this is only the beginning. Creating foundational content that get’s influencers involved is a great way to get your name about but you still have a lot of work to do. Fill out your content schedule for 3 months, try and keep the content based around one main topic. So if your blog is about dog training maybe just focus on training a new pup. This lets you establish yourself as an expert because of the value you are giving on that one topic! Now it is over to you, let me know in the comments what you do to give your blog the best start in life. How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog Creating a solid content strategy for your new blog is such an important task. We all know how important these first impressions are. We stare at our beautiful blog that we have just setup with a blank expression, asking, What should I write about? You want to get traffic, you want to blow people away and you want to get people addicted to you. If you do all three of these from the word go, the rest of your journey will be a breeze. The trouble is, it isn’t easy! Picking a niche for your blog is one thing, but creating your initial content is where the real work begins. I am going to show you the exact steps I take to create content  that my audience wants to read. You will also learn how to find an army of influencers that want to help you. That is all you need at this stage! You have content that people want to read and you have influencers that you can share your content with. How To Create A Killer Content Strategy For Your New BlogBuild a Better Blog Content Strategy With Five Free Templates Apply what youll learn in this post with these free templates: Blog Content Strategy Template SEO Content Strategy Guide Skyscraper Technique Checklist How to Start a Blog Infographic Blog Schedule Template Who Is Your Ideal Audience? When you plan your content strategy  to launch your new blog you have to do your research. This will ensure your content appeals to your readers. At this stage, you don’t have an audience but you should have an idea of what your blog is going to be about. If you have an idea of who your audience is you can create a content schedule that appeals to them. This will help improve the engagement of the content and make it a lot easier to promote the content. The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve. A reader that visits a blog about strength training could be looking to build muscle. [Tweet "The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve." People want to build muscle for different reasons though. Some may want to build core strength to help with daily living activities. Others might want to train in natural body building! These are all related to strength training but are two very different audiences. When you start your blog it is key to focus on one audience, smash it and then add another similar audience on top. â€Å"Traffic that doesn’t convert to subscribers usually means something you’ve written connects with people, but they don’t understand how it fits into your blog as a whole.† - Amy Dunn Moscoso, Smart Blogger Recommended Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience and Create the Best Content That Connects Understand Your Readers Journey If you know your audience is looking for a strength training program to improve their posture then this is their end goal. When they land on your blog they are at the start of their journey. Your content needs to show the reader that you can help them improve their posture. It should provide actionable tips that encourage the reader to take action. If I write an article about getting big arms, do you think that will hook people interested in correcting their posture? It will appeal to some but not everyone. What if I was to write an article showing my audience how strengthening their glutes can improve their posture. This is exactly what they are looking for. My next article is about how correcting your posture can alleviate knee pain. The reader may not know that their posture is to blame for this pain. They might not even have knee pain but most people would want to prevent it. You need to sell them the benefits of fixing their posture and mix in tips that they can apply. When they apply these tips and start to get results they will start to trust you more! Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this problem. Your job is to create content that builds trust by providing that quick win feeling. Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this...Look at , they know exactly who their target audience is. Content marketers that want to improve their strategy. The tool they offer will do this, but a new visitor might not understand how. On their blog, they create content that appeals to content marketers. Along the way, they show them how their tool can help. By providing epic value they build trust by giving their readers that quick win feeling. now has an email list of over 150,000 people who are interested in what they offer! Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year This is all because they provide content that moves their readers from point A to point B. Look at Guerilla Zen Fitness! Blake offers products that will improve posture. He knows the problems his audience face. He creates YouTube Videos  and blog posts that highlight these as well as showing some quick tips to help. From doing this he now has over 60,000 subscribers on YouTube because his content takes people from point A to B. I want you to think of what goal your blog accomplishes for your reader. Here are a couple examples: Dog training: I help first-time dog owners raise their pups. Point A know nothing about training pups. Point B has a well-behaved dog. Fat Loss: I help overweight individuals get in shape so they feel better and more confident. Point A overweight person who may have some health risks. Point B healthy weight, in better health and feeling a lot more confident. Do this for your reader's journey  and then we can look at the actual content that we need to publish on our blog. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist to Write a Perfect Post Design Your Content To Take Your Readers From A To B Now it is time to start generating some ideas for your first 12 blog posts. Having ideas for your first few months will help you be more organized and stop the blinking cursor syndrome! In a world where there are so many blogs competing for attention! To stand out you have to make sure that your blog posts are the best there is on the topic. You can do this by focusing on a certain topic, being more thorough, having a beautiful design and a clutter-free blog. Having a great post that also looks good is one thing, but if no one cares about the topic, it’s pointless. Let’s start generating some ideas so that we can launch your new blog with a bang! Here's a quote from Talia Wolf: The road to a successful blog post (and choosing its topic) is divided into 3 steps: 1 - Start with keyword research. Not the typical keyword research where you enter the phrase you think is relevant and find similar words, a more strategic one. Here's how:Your goal is to find the best ranking subjects, those your subscribers would be interested in reading and would attract more visitors to your site so, in the Google keyword planner enter the link to a competing blog, one that's popular and trustworthy. This will show you all their top ranked keywords on their blog and give you an indication to what people search for and read. 2 - Then search for those keywords on Google, find the top ranked articles for those keywords and identify what makes them successful (e.g - are they all lists, examples, videos or perhaps complete guides?). 3 - Then, read the articles and the comments to see what people were missing in the article - what's missing? Then, and only then, sit down to write the article. Buzzsumo The best way to find content that your readers will respond to is to find content that has already performed well. You can find this type of content by checking out Buzzsumo. This tool will show you similar content based on how many people have shared it on social media. If a post has produced a lot of shares then you can be sure the topic is one that your audience will like. Go over to Buzzsumo  and enter your niche or broad topic. For example, let's try the keyword "fix posture†: This is broad and will return the competition on the field! Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: Headline Topic URL Blog And a column for every social network that is applicable. Start filling it up with the content that appeals to you. This will become your swipe file for content ideas. Search for a few broad keywords on Buzzsumo  to get a decent amount of content ideas. Quora When you start a blog you don’t have any audience to reach out to ask what they want to read. On Quora, you have a network of people asking questions about hundreds of topics daily. Simply search for your broad topic and you will see a list of questions that include your keyphrase. This should generate some great questions for you to answer in your posts. Another way to use this QA site is to visit the topic pages and look at the Top Questions bit. These are the most popular questions related to the topic. Type in a good few keywords that' are related to your niche and start to add your ideas to your spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Look At What Your Competitors Do Now we are going to put our broad keyword into Google. This will return the best content for that phrase. The Google algorithm is a strange beast! One thing we know is that Google want to show the best and most relevant content to their readers. So search for your keyword ... Now at the bottom, you will see related keyphrases. Add these to your spreadsheet as they are content ideas that Google  deems as relevant. Now take the homepage URL of each result. Head back over to Buzzsumo  and enter each URL, this will show you the best content from this website. As you do this you will start to see topics come up time and time again. These are hot topics and should definitely be on your list to create first. By now you should have a pretty big list of ideas (I would say no less than 50). If you have less, repeat the process, try different phrases or even go to page two of Google. These don’t rank as high but it doesn’t mean they are useless! I have seen some pretty great content ideas off the first page too. Recommended Reading:  This is the Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process Creating An Editorial Calendar It is time to put those content ideas to good use. You need to create a posting schedule that suits your lifestyle so that you can stay consistent. It might sound awesome to post a new article every day. At this stage, you have no audience to feed your creative juices with awesome content ideas. Plus posting daily makes it harder to promote each post properly. I would say start with 2-4 posts per month, but these must be high quality. Your absolute best work. That means your twelve posts will last you 3-6 months, this is plenty time to build a decent sized audience. Whatever schedule you choose, stay consistent and make sure it is doable for you! Once you have your ideas you can use an editorial calendar like to plan their launch. I find adding post ideas into an editorial calendar helps to keep me accountable the majority of the time. If I didn’t do this I would be scrambling the night before and the quality of my article would slip! Recommended Reading:  How to Get Crazy Organized With a Comprehensive Content Calendar (Free Template) The 3-Post Strategy Overview When I launch any new blog I like to follow a certain content system! I will create my foundational content (the content before your launch). This method stems from three posts that are all based on proven topics. So what three post types do you need: Massive List Post Expert Roundup Post A Tutorial Post Let’s look at how we create each of these posts. Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts Your Massive List Post Your first piece of foundational content is your massive list post. Everybody loves a list post because they are so easy to read and they are very shareable! Brian Dean over at Backlinko.com  developed a framework for creating epic list posts that drive shares, links and huge traffic. Perfect for your first post on your new blog. Introducing the Skyscraper Technique! This technique is based on finding a topic that has done well before, you would then check out other articles on the topic and lastly, you will create an epic piece that beats all other articles. When you do this your article becomes the best on the topic. The second part of this strategy is to promote but we will look at that in a bit later. Let’s begin by taking a look at out topics list we created above. Choose the most popular topic you found! Start by entering it into Google. If a website is on the first page, this means that Google classes this article as the best on the web. They strive to show the best content to their customers. Go through each of the posts on the first page and look at ways you could improve. What is the biggest list out there? If the highest number on the first page is 20 can you create a list of 40-50? A lot of list posts are not very in depth. I have seen some with literally 20-50 words per list item! Ask yourself some questions: Can you make a more thorough post that provides step-by-step instructions for each point? This would make your article better. How does the actual page look? Can you make the post easier to navigate? Some list posts can get pretty long so providing a table of contents can really improve the user experience. When was the post created? If the post was created a few years back some of the points may be out of date, so you could improve upon this by creating a fresher list. You want to go all out here to make your new blog post stand out from the rest! Mediocre content will not cut it. You have to kick your competitors right off the playing field! Once you write up your awesome skyscraper article it is time to insert some traffic generating nuggets. These come in the form of expert quotes! Reach out to influencers that have written about the topic before and simply ask them for a couple of sentences. Now if you struggle to get a reply from the influencer you can simply head to their blog and take a quote. Add these into your article to give it more value. Okay Joe, how does this generate traffic? When it comes to promoting our blog posts we can reach out to each of the experts that we have linked to and let them know! This is the perfect way to spark a relationship with an influencer, everybody loves to see their work being referenced no matter how big they are! â€Å"If I were to start a brand new blog tomorrow, my first article would be on a topic that supports my main business goals - anything Marketing related. The article would have two main focuses. 1) Educate 2) Entertain. In order to establish myself as an authority, I want to make sure I use my expertise to educate the reader and provide MASSIVE value! In order to keep the reader coming back, I would entertain the reader by using my personal style, showcasing examples where appropriate, and keeping the reader in mind throughout the article." - Katherine Sullivan Marketing Solved An Expert Roundup Post For the next post, it is time to let the experts that you want to connect with shine. I always say for your first roundup post  try and include people that you want to connect with, that way you are starting to get on their radar. Once you have your initial hit list it is time to look for more experts. I would always try to get about 100 experts because a lot won’t reply but 100 should still give you enough for your post! Take your popular topic and let’s turn it into a question! Now think who was your target audience. Simply add the topic and the audience together to create a killer question. Here are some examples: Topic: Puppy training Audience: New dog owners Question: What is your number one tip for new dog owners to train their new puppies?Topic: Improving core strength Audience: people with knee pain Question: What is your number one tip to strengthen your core to help combat knee pain?Topic: Content marketing Audience: advanced marketers Question: What is your number one tip for experienced marketers to improve their content marketing strategy? These kind of questions are brief and will not take the blogger that long to answer. Busy influencers will be happier to contribute if the question doesn’t take long to answer. Start by warming up the big dog influencers on your hit list first because they will take the longest to win over. If you can get them to contribute everybody else will be a lot easier because you have some social proof! When you reach out, keep your email personal and let them know why you think they would be a good fit for the roundup. Ask your question and then tell them the names of the big influencers. This is how I have managed to get bloggers such as Neil Patel, Jon Morrow, Adam Connell and Sue Anne Dunlevie to contribute to my post! Keep it brief and to the point! Once you have collected all your responses you can enter them into the blog post. Add a killer headline and conclusion that thanks all the influencers for their hard work. For your intro you want the first sentence to hook your reader and then you want to give your own piece of value. You need to put some effort into this by doing this you get the readers excited and it will motivate them to keep reading. By now you should have a nice list of experts, this is perfect to launch your blog with a bang! A Tutorial Post This is the last piece of foundational content in the X method. Tutorial posts work really well because you are going to solve one of your readers biggest pain points to give them that quick win feeling! Choose another topic from the list but this time you need to make sure that you can solve it with a tutorial style post. Here are some examples: Niche: SEO Tutorial Post: How To Build Links Using Broken Link Building Niche: Blogging Tutorial: How To Get 100 Visitors To Your Blog From Reddit Niche: Weight Loss Tutorial: How To Boost Your Metabolism Speed Up Weight loss Niche: Dog Training Tutorial: How To Train Your Dog To Walk By Your Side Niche: Freelance Writing Tutorial: How To Set Up Your Upwork Profile Get Your First Job What makes a good tutorial? Small actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document every action. If you think there will be too many images then maybe consider using a video. What makes a good tutorial? Small, actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document...Video style tutorials do really well because your reader will feel like they are following along looking over your shoulder. You still want to reach out to influencers to get their input just to give it that traffic fuel. If you do something a particular way look for experts that do it that way and feature a quote. This adds social proof to your article. It also backs up what you are saying with some proof! Recommended Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Content Launch Your Blog If you have got this far you have done the ground work and your blog is ready to fly! You can’t stop yet though because it is your job to make it fly. So many people think that you can publish your post and others will find it while you sit back and watch it. This is total rubbish! You should spend 20% of your time creating your content and then 80% of the time actually promoting it. Tell Your Nearest and Dearest It really does surprise me how many people leave this out. Your family is your life line whether they are interested in what you write or not! They can give you that much needed social proof and kick off your engagement. I always ask my mom to share my posts! Why? Because I know it’s a certainty, she will share because she wants to help me! Now my mom struggles with all things computer related so blogging is definitely not something she would be  interested in, but I still get traffic when she shares. She has friends that are interested! If you struggle to get comments you can ask your friends to leave some. This will boost the engagement on your blog. People are more likely to leave a valuable comment if they see others doing so. This can lead to questions that you can add to your content ideas spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: How to 10X Your Content Ideas With Sujan Patel from Web Profits Tell Communities You're Involved With Are you a member of any social media groups, niche communities or forums? If you are a credible member you can tell them about your new article. You just need to do it in a valuable way. Start a thread post and give an actionable tip! For example, if your post is about guest blogging  you could say how important it is to get to know the editor. Give benefits that will encourage the group to act upon your tip! Then just give the link to encourage people to click through. I have never been banned or blocked for doing this. Tell The Influencers You Have Mentioned Now if you have been following along my foundational content strategy you should have a list of influencers that you have featured in your posts. This is your chance to let them know it’s live, by doing all the sharing with your existing connections you should have some social proof on your articles. This will increase the value for the influencer and could be the thing that encourages the connection! That is why I leave this step till I have done my preliminary shares! When you reach out, be very brief. Here's a sample template: Hi Name, I just wanted to let you know that I have featured a quote from your article about TOPIC. This was great and I think my audience would love it because REASON. If you want to check it out here is the link: [INSERT URL] If you have any feedback or you would like me to edit it please let me know! Thanks Your NAME This is brief, you are not asking for anything, and it is personal. Most bloggers will share without asking just because you have featured them. If the influencer has contributed a quote or is part of your roundup, just reach out and tell them that the post is live. Again do not ask for anything, most will share without your asking! Lastly, reach out to everyone that never replied to you and let them know it’s live. Be friendly and polite and offer them the chance to be added onto the roundup. Now that you are showing them your results they know a bit more about you and this might give them that little push to connect with you. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted Now Go Launch Your Blog! Well done for getting this far! You now have a new blog that has some traction but this is only the beginning. Creating foundational content that get’s influencers involved is a great way to get your name about but you still have a lot of work to do. Fill out your content schedule for 3 months, try and keep the content based around one main topic. So if your blog is about dog training maybe just focus on training a new pup. This lets you establish yourself as an expert because of the value you are giving on that one topic! Now it is over to you, let me know in the comments what you do to give your blog the best start in life.

Rhetorical analysis of Mary Ewalds letter to President Saddam Hussein Essay

Rhetorical analysis of Mary Ewalds letter to President Saddam Hussein - Essay Example Mary’s approached Saddam in her letter as a mother, scholar and poet who is a friend to the Arabs. If one will notice, there were no blaming or questioning made why Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait or any venting of any anger why Thomas was abducted. But rather made the appeal on an emotional level to avoid antagonizing Saddam that would hinder the release of Thomas Ewald. The approach as a mother and a friend of the Arabs makes a good case to pursue an emotional appeal or pathos to convince the Iraqi President to release Thomas Ewald. And to make her persuasion more effective, Mary first established her credential or ethos as somebody who is well verse and a friend to the Arab by mentioning that her â€Å"family has been a staunch friend to the Arabs. [Her] husband, Tom's father, was on the White House Staff when President Eisenhower caused the French, British, and Israelis to pull out of Suez. President of the Radcliffe (Harvard) Club of Washington, arranged to explain Muslim culture. [She was] also a poet who has written about Arabia†. This use of ethos was written with an understanding of Arab culture, particularly of Arab generosity to recognize the power of Saddam over his son and to exercise that power to right the wrong. This portion of the letter was also short of saying that Saddam’s army abducted a friend of the Arabs and therefore should be released. After establishing ethos or credibility with Saddam as a friend of the Arabs who knows their generosity, she then proceeded with her emotional appeal whose use became more effective. The pathos or emotional appeal littered the letter and was very obvious in the mention that Thomas Ewald is a well-loved son who worked in Arab country to bring peace within the two cultures. She also invoked mercy that her son Thomas is asthmatic, so severely crippled as a child that they thought they could never raise him. Using this approach, it would be very difficult to refuse her because everybody regardless of their cultural background or station in life everyone received love and care from their mother and refusing her is like refusing one’s mother which is very difficult to do. This letter was just heart wrenching for its audience to read which in this case was the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because she introduced herself as a friend and that her son, supposed to be friend too among Arabs who value family relations so much, was wrongly abducted during the invasion. She then begged for his generosity and in the name of Allah to release her son. It would be very hard to refuse a mother who does not coerce what he has done nor asked for anything except for the release of her son especially when she recognize and beseeched in the name of Allah. She was also appealing based on the universal sense of humanity as a mother to a father when she stressed that she is

Analyzing Falculty Characteristics in Adult Learning Essay

Analyzing Falculty Characteristics in Adult Learning - Essay Example This paper is an examination of the various characteristics in which a faculty member responsible for teaching adults must have, in order to be an effective teacher. This is for both an online and on-ground teaching and learning environment. This paper will specifically identify these characteristics, and use examples in supporting the various facts identified. Palis and Quiros (2014) denotes that a variety of models and theories are developed for purposes of explaining this concept of adult learning. One such theory is andragogy, and this theory was developed by Malcolm Knowles in the year 1973 (Fraser and Hyland-Russell, 2011). In meeting the objectives of this paper, the researcher will have to identify the characteristic of an online learner, as well as identify a desirable characteristic of a faculty member aimed at satisfying the needs of the adult learner, based on his or her identified characteristic. Andragogy is a theory designed for purposes of addressing the learning needs of adults, and it bases its assumptions that there is a considerable difference in the learning characteristics depicted between adults, and children (Palis and Quiros, 2014). To understand the various characteristics needed for adult teachers, it is first important to understand the needs of adult learners, and their characteristics. Knowles, Holton and Swanson (2011) in his theory of andragogy identifies five major assumptions and characteristics of adult learners. One characteristic of an adult learner is that they have the ability of independently directing his own learning. Knowles, Holton and Swanson (2011) denote that adult learners are always self-reliant, autonomous, and independent. On this basis, they always have a self-directed goal that they aim to achieve. Based on this characteristic of adults, Fraser and Hyland-Russell (2011) denotes that an online teacher has to act as a facilitator, and th eir responsibility should be to guide the adult

Emergence and Impact of Regional Parties Essay Example for Free

Emergence and Impact of Regional Parties Essay It is raining acronyms in politics and the vibrant Indian political landscape is flooded. Well, almost so as Regional parties gain ground with amazing alacrity in a diverse India where a fast-transforming political map now promises a never before variety. SAD in Punjab on one side, SP, BSP in Uttar Pradesh on the other, RJD, JD(U) in Bihar as also DMK, AIADMK, PMK, MDMK and DMDK in the deep South and TMC, AGP and others in North-East —they seem to be flowing in from all nooks and corners to lend a different hue, their own hue, to the political waters as they flow in our country today. Though the experiment with regional politics first succeeded in the late 1960s when many parties won against the Congress, it was only post-1989 that regional politics really became a phenomenon, here to stay, courtesy the National Parties themselves. The alphabet-soup illustrating the striking transformation of Indias politics over the past two decades, brewed on the fire provided by the space vacated by National Parties to be wedded to the cause of regional issues, local aspirations and territorial priorities. Also, shrinking space of the National Parties led to creation of a vacuum which the Regional parties were happy to fill. They sprung up and marched ahead as a consequence of the leanings of the public to advance its aspirations. Essentially individualistic, personality-driven parties bound by a lose chain of thought rather than a cohesive coordinated ideology, these pandered to regional populism with a much narrower vision of things sans any broad-based National consensus on ideology and issues. But, then, what did the mushrooming of these regional parties, finally, find reflection in? While it strengthened the federal structure with assertion by the States of the Union for its share in power, privileges, taxes, revenues and benefits of micro-macro schemes, it also led to a certain amount of healthy competition inter se states, making us the republic that we really are. It also gave rise to the concept of shared sovereignty, marked by an increase in the capacity of the state to influence its own development performance while enhancing the representative character of India’s democracy. The relentless rise of these regional home-grown parties, sharing the one common attribute of having a mass base in only the state of their birth, led to a spate of constitutional and legislative reforms in terms of judicial, administrative and centre-state relations. Not only this, it weaved together an interplay of forces, prompting National parties to not only rope them in for support but also brought about a dependence which lent a Regional flavor to National Policies. Then, it is in this that emerged the beauty of the dove-tailing of the National and these Regional entities. But, then, since beauty is never blemish-free, there is a flip side too. Given their â€Å"strategic† positioning, the Regional parties have not only exploited this dependence of the National Parties for their own advantage but, at times, even arm-twisted the latter to get their way. There’s a way out of this of labyrinth in which National Parties find themselves lost in and it does not lie in a top-down approach which, in the present times, seems not only inadequate but also outdated. We have an India defined by mobilization of a plethora of identity and interest groups which have taken the shape and form of Regional parties to diffuse real power from the Centre to the states. The National Parties need to wake up and smell the coffee. The crutches of dependence on Regional parties have to go and they have to not only learn to stand on their own feet but even walk that extra mile to fulfill regional aspirations to show that each one of the 28 states matters as much. For this, they must permit regional units to function at the local level as semi-independent units with adequate flexibility for leadership-building at the regional level. This will help balance the regional interest with the National interest which many a times end upconflicting with each other. Besides, a cohesive National party with semiindependent regional strait-jacketed unit to cater to regional interests is the only guarantee for ensuring continuous unification within India’s multi-ethnic diversity which weaves the many strands of region, religion, culture and politics into one social fabric we call India.