The Harlem Renaissance Essay -- Culture

The Harlem Renaissance In Harlem between the 1920’s and 1930’s the African American culture flourished, especially in areas such as music, art, literature, dance, and even in film. This soon became known as the Harlem Renaissance. With the entire positive and the negative situations of this time period the African Americans still seemed to have it all. The Harlem Renaissance came about because of the changes that had taken place in the African American community after the abolition of slavery because of World War I and the social and cultural changes in early 20th century in the United States. After harsh conditions for African Americans after the Plessy vs. Ferguson Trial many of them decided to move to the North to New York. By staying in the South they became more and more economically depressed and there was less of a demand for labor. Moving to the North became one of the best things African Americans did for themselves. There, men could vote and there was a better education system fo r children. As a result of World War I and the Industrial Revolution there were better job opportunities for African Americans as well. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 many free African Americans searched for a place with education and employment opportunities. They ended up finding this place in Harlem, New York. This was where the first black middle class was created. In the early 1900’s the African American middle class began to publicize for racial equality. During this time W.E.B DuBois was the head of the civil rights movement. Soon after, he began to work closely together with other civil rights workers and activists. Together they discovered the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also known as t... ...issance applauded the appreciation of the African American roots and culture. For example, literature written during this time showed artistic and imaginative ideas freeing black people from their past life and what happened to their ancestors just years before. Since these cultural experiences were now shared the African Americans celebrated this and today it gives us just a little bit of an outlook on some of our history. Works Cited http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom/harlem-renaissance Wallington, D. (2006) Harlem Renaissance Wiseman, G. (2008) How the Harlem Renaissance inspired a national community of black writers Watson, Steven. (1995) The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African American Culture (1920-1930) Baker, Houston. (1992) Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance.

Illegal and Prescription Drug Abuse; How Do We Prevent It? Essay

Drug abuse is a psychological or physical dependency with a mind altering substance1. There is continued drug use even though a person knows that the drug causes harm. Physical dependency is the result of the body building up a tolerance to the drug and needing to increase its dosage to have the effect desired and to prevent symptoms of withdrawal. Psychological dependence has something to do with the mental and emotional make up of the person; some people may also have a genetically linked tendency to addiction. Early signs and symptoms of drug addiction involve building up of tolerance to the present dosage. Late signs of drug overuse may show mood swings and irritability, and physical symptoms like craving. Having the right knowledge about drug abuse can help people prevent addiction. The three types of widely abused prescription drugs are CNS depressants, CNS stimulants, and narcotic analgesics. CNS depressants like barbiturates, methaqualone and benzodiazepines can slow down the normal functioning of the brain and can cause uncoordination. CNS stimulants like nicotine, amphetamine, cocaine and caffeine on the other hand enhance the brain’s activity to increase energy and alertness. This may cause an increased heart rate and blood pressure. Narcotic analgesics like opiates (eg. Morphin and Demerol) are used for pain. On the year 2006, the abuse of painkillers ranked 2nd, while marijuana is the first, as the community’s most common illicit drug problem2. Most drugs being prescribed by doctors are opiate based and therefore can be very addictive. One drug called Oxycontin is a pain reliever that has a strong opiate base and causes people to be addicted to it. Other specific drugs that are widely abused are Heroin, Crack Cocaine and Marijuana. Normal college students have been noted to use drugs that are for patients with disorders. Many students take Adderall, a drug for individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which helps heighten their concentration for studying for an examination3. This imposes danger to many students using this and has caused death in about 5 people per 1 million individuals taking it. Even though some drugs can be addictive, there are drugs that can substitute for them 4. Dexamphetamine is shown to help with CNS stimulant addiction 5 and clomethiazole can help in managing alcohol addiction 6. For cocaine addiction, desipramine and bromocriptine is effective 7. A psychoactive drug that can interrupt addictive rersponses for nicotine, cocaine, SSRI, and heroin addicts that’s being studied is Ibogaine 8. There are many studied physiologic mechanisms involved in drug addiction. Acute use of a certain drug can release and prolong serotonin and dopamine’s action in the reward circuit. Almost all addictive drugs increase the reward circuit or mesolimbic pathway’s dopamine release which in turn activates the feeling of pleasure 9. The more one engages in a pleasurable act, the more one wants to repeat it. To add to the reward circuit, it is also studied that stress mechanisms may have a function in promoting the sequence of acquiring addiction.  µ-opioid receptor system, is acted on by enkephalin and influences the reward system 10. A behavioral operant conditioning is also showed in addicts, being able to link a behavior or an action to seek the reward, which is the drug’s effect 11. One enters into a fresh allostatic state as he progresses into being an addict. A person taking a drug for a long period of time may also develop sensitization and a psychological tolerance to the drug. Taking the same dose doesn’t seem to have any effect and leaves one feeling dissatisfied and depressed, therefore he turns to the drug for the pleasure with an increased or more than maximum dosage 7. One must know how to recognize a drug addiction to prevent it. This happens when an individual seems to have an inability to withdraw from the drug. The first step is to know the signs and symptoms experienced by an addict. The second step is evaluating the risk of being addicted as various kinds of drugs are further expected to be abused than others. In addition, having a family member with a history of drug addiction may put an individual at a higher risk of abusing medications. Consulting with a medical professional with this issue may lower the chances of becoming addicted. The third step involves religiously sticking to one’s prescription, taking only the prescribed amount at the recommended times. A person must contact his/her doctor if the drug doesn’t seem to have any effect. The fourth step is considering the drug type one is taking and the length of time he/she has been using the drug because using a drug for long terms may add to the possibility of being dependent on it. Step five is making a plan that will help one in gradually getting out of his/her prescription. Being prescribed with an addictive drug requires one to slowly reduce it’s dosage before eliminating it. The sixth step requires one to consult a medical professional once he feels that he may already be drug dependent. This is possible when one is experiencing the early signs and symptoms of addiction. The seventh step is disposing of drugs that aren’t needed. This can remove the tempting effects of taking the drug. Eighth is contacting a drug abuse treatment center or a doctor for specialized and professional advice and prevention. And lastly, take note of having the late signs of drug abuse. To break the series of constant drug use, individuals that are drug-dependent must build vital changes in their attitudes and life styles. Psychosocial and behavioral treatments are the foundation of services accessible to assist drug abusers to attain and carry on important periods of abstinence. The other illegal use of drugs, especially cocaine, is frequently a main target of behavioral managements. There are current studies for the treatment for cocaine and opiate, including tobacco smoke abusers. For the treatment of ones who abuse opiates, new studies have exposed that counseling for drug abuse with procedures of abstinence incentive and psychosocial services access is an active element in its treatment. 90 – 100% amongst patients in the VA methadone maintenance sample who received incentive procedures and psychosocial services were abstinent from cocaine and heroin for as long as eight weeks; merely 30% of individuals who received methadone with no other services were abstinent 12. Management is most important for cocaine abusers. It relies completely on psychosocial and behavioral therapies since there have been no successful medications revealed to date. Relapse prevention therapy however, which teaches abusers to distinguish high-risk situations for the use of drugs and to apply coping techniques, has also revealed assurance for management of cocaine abusers 12. For the treatment of tobacco smokers, studies show that nicotine replacement with gum or patch and behavioral therapy is the most effective. Moreover, smokers who have a history of depression experience a hard time with quitting 12. On the other hand, research efforts in this significant region have remained quite inactive in relation to the speed of studies on molecular and biological bases of medications development and drug dependence. Bibliography 1. Brittanica Concise Encyclopedia. 2. Pat Moore Foundation. Prescription Drug Abuse – As Addictive and Dangerous as Illegal Street Drugs. Get the Facts. Orange County, California. 3. Izzo, T. Social functioning and emotional regulation in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder subtypes Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2000;29: 30 – 42. 4. Johnson RE, Chutuape MA, Strain EC, Walsh SL, Stitzer ML, Bigelow GE. A comparison of levomethadyl acetate, buprenorphine, and methadone for opioid dependence. N. Engl. J. Med. 2000; 343: 1290–7. 5. White R. Dexamphetamine substitution in the treatment of amphetamine abuse: an initial investigation. Addiction. 2000; 95: 229–38. 6. Majumdar SK. Chlormethiazole: current status in the treatment of the acute ethanol withdrawal syndrome. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1991; 27: 201–7. 7. Giannini,AJ. and Billet, TA. Bromocriptine-desipramine protocol in cocaine detoxification. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 1987; 27:549-554. 8. Alper KR, Lotsof HS, Kaplan CD. The ibogaine medical subculture. J Ethnopharmacol. 2008;115 : 9–24. 9. Nutt D, King LA, Saulsbury W, Blakemore C. Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse. Lance . 2007; 369 (9566): 1047–53. 10. Koob G, Kreek MJ. Stress, dysregulation of drug reward pathways, and the transition to drug dependence. Am J Psychiatry. 2007; 164 (8): 1149–59 11. Jones S, Bonci A. Synaptic plasticity and drug addiction. Curr Opin Pharmacol 2005; 5 (1): 20–5. 12. The College on Problems of Drug Abuse. â€Å"Behavioral & Psychosocial Treatments for Drug Abuse. 2007.

Life Course Theory Free Essay Example, 1500 words

For example; the type of housing one dwells has a major impact on the life course of the person. This coupled with a desire to live in a decent apartment beyond the capacity of earnings of the person will automatically make the individual to attempt earning beyond his/her means. The individual may resolve to obtain the house or money by any fraudulent means which result into change of a life course. Besides, family structure has a greater role to play in this scenario. The family structure dictates the form of education a person acquires. According to Heather and Farrington (2001), the family is the corner stone of a human community. Children or adolescents who are constantly rejected by their fathers and mothers, those who are brought up in homes with significant level of conflicts and those are not adequately monitored are exposed to risk of developing into delinquents. Deborah, et al. (2002) assert that justice or fairness can be executed in a better way when the young individuals are directed on the best paths by involving the family members in Juvenile crime proceedings. We will write a custom essay sample on Life Course Theory or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now It is vital for the society at large to understand the impact of family make up in getting to roots of delinquency. The structure of a family is one of the profound socialization foundations in one’s life course. Families provide lessons to children and adolescents on how to adapt acceptable behavior, to minimize on their pleasure and to be mindful of their counterparts’ rights. However, families can instill into their children some level of violence, hateful behavior and antisocial behaviors (Eirini & Buchannan. , 2002). Constructive parenting behavior in the initial years and late adolescence stage are very significant since they act as a firewall for criminal behavior among the youth and helps the adolescents to shun any form of delinquency. It must be noted with great importance that adolescence is a period of increasing the risk and chances that go in line with the expansion of social and boundary exposure to a living which is bey ond the family and school. Above all, it begins with the family. Paul and Sobolewski (2001) note that different exposures to aggressiveness are vital origins of prior exits of adolescent stage which implies that it does not only apply to the family but also to the outside scope. The people who may be known to the adolescents in the family or outside the family may influence the youth’s engagement in delinquent events. The type of education given to children may increase or decrease delinquency.