Impact of Inter-generational Relationships on Older Adults

Impact of Inter-generational Relationships on Older Adults Shum Wai Ki (Frank) How do Intergenerational Relationships Affect Older Adults and their Family Relationships? Intergenerational relationships have become an important topic in the fields of studying sociology and gerontology. In modern society, there are a variety of issues around older adults and their family relationships, and the intergenerational relationships have appeared to become the most significant one, due to the fact that older adults are receiving support and caregiving primarily from their adult children (Xu and Chi, 2010, p.49). Harmonious intergenerational relationships with family members are essential for seniors to achieve positive emotional outcomes in later life; on the other hand, broken intergenerational relationships are pernicious to older adults and would negatively affect their quality of life (Jeste, Depp Vahia, 2010, p. 78). Intergenerational relationships have been defined as the relationships that involving people in typically one or two generations (Birditt et al. 2012, p. 627). In many cases, intergenerational relationships can also refer as parent-child rel ationships between older parents and adult children. In fact, many seniors believe that parent-child relationships are their most valuable relationship, as well as a key factor for them to maintain the good quality of life (Shapiro, 2004 p. 127). Therefore, this paper will investigate the question, how does intergenerational relationship affect older adults and their family relationships?, and the thesis will be: successful intergenerational relationships are important to maintain older adults quality of life, as well as tightening their relations with their family members; and vice visa. First of all, intergenerational relationships have been categorized as a major component of the life course, especially in the later life. Shapiro (2004, p. 127) identify that intergenerational relationships can be measured by intergenerational solidary. Thijseen (2016, p. 593) has given two definitions of intergenerational solidarity: first, it is the ratio of practical multigenerational support; second, it is the norm and believe that generations think they should behave. Since the solidarity is an awareness that refers to the ideas and behaviors among different generations, it is subjective and related to individual opinions. Therefore, because of the different life experiences and generational status, it is obvious that the assumptions of the solidarity are various between younger generations and older generations. In fact, Shapiro (2004, p. 129) finds that older generations have a greater chance to identify themselves as having a greater closeness to their children, and younger generations would have a higher chance to report themselves as not to close to their parents. According to Xu and Chi (2010, p. 54), older adults who participate in their research have reported that intergenerational support is significant to them in many ways, such as financial support, instrumental support, and the feelings of being love and care. This implicates that intergenerational relationships could have impacts on seniors health and it is an essential element for seniors to maintain the good quality of life. However, many older adults report that they perceive and evaluate intergenerational relationships differently with their children. With reference to Chappell et al. (2007, p. 286), these differences can be explained by the concept of the intergenerational stake, which is the assumption that illustrating the differences of developmental needs between the two generations. Older parents are tended to invest more time, emotion, and resources on their adult children; adult children, on the contrary, are tended to emphasise the differences with their parents and requir e more independent from them. Therefore, older adults would contribute more and have a relatively positive rate on intergenerational relationships, but their children might have an opposite thought: they would have a weaker sense of closeness than their parents (Birditt et al., 2012, p.628). Shapiro (2004) conduct a research on the quality of the parent-child relationship by using the data from the National Survey of Families in 1996. The result finds that older adults generally have a higher chance to overreporting intergenerational solidarity than their children. For instance, only 6.4% of seniors report their children have frequently visited them, while 69.7% of adult children report they do well on visiting their parents. At the same time, 59.4% of seniors report they have a good quality of relationships with their children, while only 13.7% of adult children share the same thought (Shapiro, 2004, p. 137). Moreover, older adults would tend to have lower negative quality relation ships than their adult children, due to the fact that they believe they are not allowed to express negative feelings to their family members, but this belief does not appear in the younger generations (Birditt et al., 2012, p. 635). Besides, intergenerational solidarity can be affected by the living arrangement, as well as how much caregiving provided by their adult children. With reference to Chappell et al. (2007, p. 281), over 70% of seniors in Canada are living alone or with spouse, while only approximately 14% of them are living with their children. This implicates that the majority of seniors are distanced with their children and grandchildren. According to Stuifbergen, Delden and Dykstra (2008, p. 420), the term geographical distance between the parent and children can be defined as the measurement of the households distance between older adults and their children. In the Netherlands, the mean geographical distance between the parent and children is 31.28 km. The authors argue the distance is long and the geographical separation has created difficulties for adult children to provide caregiving to their parents, including unable to react when there are emergency accidents, unable to frequently visit their older parents, and communicate only through phone and letters. Sokolec (2016, p. 168) brings another point that there is an increasing demand for caregiving to older adults in recent years. She reports that the increasing older adult clients are because their family members are unable to take care of them. Therefore, many seniors have no choice but to unwillingly move from their own home to nursing home. Data from Statistic Canada also shows that the percentage of older adults who live in health-care institution have rapidly increased from less than 2% to around 10% in 2004 (Chappell et al., 2007, p. 281). Furthermore, cultural difference could affect intergenerational solidary. Cultural difference has been characterized as an important factor for intergenerational solidarity, especially among immigration families. Warburton and McLaughlin (2006, p. 48) uses an example of older adults in Australia, in which 32% of older Australian are either born overseas or from non-English speaking countries. Seniors who follow their adult children to move to a new country might experience cultural and language barriers. Furthermore, when they have grandchildren, they will also face problems of culturally and linguistically diverse with them. These problems include: unable to communicate through same language, cross-cultural ideological differences, cultural shock, and so on (Warburton and McLaughlin, 2006, p.55). For seniors, since they are born and raised overseas, they will have a higher chance of keeping their original cultural practices, which make them closely connect to their ethnic group but diverse from the dominant culture; on the other hand, for their children and grandchildren, they are more likely to assimilate and integrate with the dominant society and disconnect with their original ethnicity (Esser, 2004, p. 1130). Therefore, these differences create distance between seniors and their offspring, and their offspring might avoid close relationships with them (Klever, 2015, p. 348). Moreover, older adults play an important role in cultural maintenance, since the majority of them feel responsible for passing down cultural knowledge to their next generations (Warburton and McLaughlin, 2006, p.52). However, Shapiro (2004, p. 131) argue that children might refuse to practice cultural norms because they do not regard them as the filial obligation. For instance, if a households language is different from the mainstream language, the young generations might possibly refuse to learn that particular language. As a result, it might be hard to keep that language alive. This w ould intense the intergenerational differences because older adults tend to highly value their culture. When they cannot pass down cultural knowledge to their offspring, and their next generations do not acknowledge the culture, they might feel distressed and guilty for not fulfilling the responsibility to passing on their culture. Last but not least, since many seniors are not living with their adult children, and they are experiencing cultural differences with their next generations, these issues might lead them into emotional cutoff among the multigenerational family. With reference to Klever (2015, p. 341), the emotional cutoff has brought up three disadvantages to older adults. First, the emotional cutoff will isolate older adults from the instrumental and emotional of family support. In other words, older adults might have feelings of isolated and uninvolved from their family members. Second, emotional cutoff could cost younger generations having a lack of knowledge about their family backgrounds and cultures. With reference to Warburton and McLaughlin (2006, p. 50), older adults are viewed as repositories of traditions and knowledgeable to culture. However, the emotional cutoff has limited the effectiveness of passing down cultural knowledge, because of the lack of interaction between grandparents and gr andchildren. Third, it is harder for harder for seniors to develop emotional contact to next generations. Holton et al. (2008, p. 119) mention that wisdom comes with age because older adults have rich prior experiences and more capable of managing their emotions when compared to younger generations. Their wisdom, as well as their pieces of advice, are undoubtedly valuable to their offspring. However, these kinds of connections are harder to build, because of the emotional cutoff. In conclusion, successful intergenerational relationships can help older adults maintain the good quality of life and have positive connections with their family members. On the contrary, unsuccessful intergenerational relationships can bring harm to older adults, both psychologically and physically. Without a doubt, intergenerational relationships are having huge impacts on the later life of older adults. They are complicated, interconnected and are affected by cultural norms, individual experiences, and social structure. Intergenerational differences are subjective and originated from ideological and cultural differences among older parents and their adult children. To achieve intergenerational solidarity, Stolee et al. (2014, p. 712) suggest that continuously sharing opinions with family members is important for later life care planning. Also, seniors can make the important decision, such as living arrangement, together with family members, so that they can enhance their relations hips with each other. There are several limitations that path the way for future research. For instance, some issues could have significant impacts on intergenerational relationships but do not cover on this paper, including changing the role of women, changing family structure, remarriage and widowed, psychological problems and so on. Future research is suggested to continuously explore these unknown fields. Reference Birditt, K. S., Tighe, L. A., Fingerman, K. L., Zarit, S. H. (2012). Intergenerational  Relationship Quality Across Three Generations. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences,67(5), 627-638. doi:10.1093/geronb/gbs050 Chappell, N., McDonald, L. Stone, M. (2007). Aging in Contemporary Canada. 2nd  Ed. Prentice Hall, Toronto. Esser, H. (2006). Does the New Immigration Require a New Theory of  Intergenerational Integration?1. International Migration Review,38(3), 1126-1159. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00231.x Holton, E. F., Swanson, R. A., Naquin, S. S. (2008). Andragogy in Practice: Clarifying  the Andragogical Model of Adult Learning. Performance Improvement  Quarterly,14(1), 118-143. doi:10.1111/j.1937-8327.2001.tb00204.x Jeste, D. V., Depp, C. A., Vahia, I. V. (2010). Successful cognitive and emotional  aging. World Psychiatry,9(2), 78-84. doi:10.1002/j.2051-5545.2010.tb00277.x Klever, P. (2015). Multigenerational Relationships and Nuclear Family  Functioning. The American Journal of Family Therapy,43(4), 339-351.doi:10.1080/01926187.2015.1051898 Shapiro, A. (2004). Revisiting the Generation Gap: Exploring the Relationships of  Parent/Adult-Child Dyads. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development,58(2), 127-146. doi:10.2190/evfk-7f2x-kqnv-dh58 Sokolec, J. (2015). The Meaning of Place to Older Adults. Clinical Social Work  Journal,44(2), 160-169. doi:10.1007/s10615-015-0545-2 Stolee, P., Zaza, C., Sharratt, M. T. (2014). Later Life Care Planning Conversations for  Older Adults and Families. Journal of Applied Gerontology,33(6), 710-736. doi:10.1177/0733464813500712 Stuifbergen, M. C., Delden, J. J., Dykstra, P. A. (2008). The implications of todays  family structures for support giving to older parents. Ageing and Society,28(03), 413-434. doi:10.1017/s0144686x07006666 Thijssen, P. (2016). Intergenerational solidarity: the paradox of reciprocity imbalance  in ageing welfare states. The British Journal of Sociology,67(4), 592-612. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12221 Warburton, J., Mclaughlin, D. (2006). Passing on Our Culture: How Older  Australians from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds Contribute to Civil Society. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology,22(1), 47-60. doi:10.1007/s10823-006-9012-4 Xu, L., Chi, I. (2010). Intergenerational Support and Self-rated Health among  Chinese Older Adults in One-child Families: Urban and Rural Differences. International Consortium for Social Development,1(32), 48-61.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 39~41

39 Showtime The Sky Priestess rolled over in bed and slapped the beeping intercom as if it was a mouthy stepchild. â€Å"I'm sleeping here,† she said. â€Å"Get in character, Beth. We have an order, due in Japan in six hours.† â€Å"Why don't these fuckers ever call at a civilized hour?† â€Å"We guarantee freshness. We have to deliver.† â€Å"Don't grow a sense of humor on me at this point, Sebastian. The shock might kill me. Who's the chosen?† â€Å"Sepie, female, nineteen, a hundred and ten pounds.† â€Å"I know her,† the Sky Priestess said. â€Å"What about our pilot?† â€Å"I'm putting two of the staff on him to make sure he stays in his bungalow.† â€Å"He's still going to hear it. Are you sure you don't want to sedate him?† â€Å"Use your head, Beth. He has to fly. We'll do it with smaller explosions. Maybe he'll sleep through it.† She was wide awake now and starting to feel the excitement and anxiety of a performance. â€Å"I'll be ready in twenty minutes. Have the ninjas start my music.† Tuck had Favo in a headlock and was administering affectionate noogies to the old man's scalp. â€Å"I love this fuckin' guy. This fuckin' guy is the best. I love all you fuckin' guys.† Malink had never seen noogies and wondered why this bizarre ritual had never showed up in the party scenes in People. He prided himself on understanding white people's habits, but this was a new one. Favo didn't seem to be enjoying the ritual nearly as much as Tuck was. The tuba had all been drunk. Maybe it was time to rescue his friend. â€Å"Now we go find the girl-man,† Malink said. Tuck looked up, still holding Favo, whose eyes were starting to bug out a little. â€Å"‘Kay,† the pilot said. Malink led them into the village, his bowlegged gait more wobbly than normal. A dozen Shark men and Tucker crashed and staggered behind him. As they passed by the bachelors' house and onto the trail that led to Sarapul's side of the island, the music started: big band sounds with easy liquid rhythms echoed through the jungle. The Shark men stopped in their tracks and when the music paused, just for a second, they shouted, â€Å"Pennsylvania 6-5000!† and the music began again. â€Å"What's that?† Tucker asked. Women and children were stirring from their sleep, creeping off into the bushes to pee, rubbing sleepy eyes and stretching creaky backs. Malink said, â€Å"The Sky Priestess is coming.† â€Å"Who?† Tuck finally released Favo, who he had been dragging by his head. The old man gasped, then grinned and sat splayed-legged on the trail. â€Å"We have to go,† Malink said. â€Å"You should go back now.† The music paused and Malink, along with the rest of the Shark People, shouted, â€Å"Pennsylvania 6-5000!† â€Å"Go now,† Malink ordered, once again the chief. â€Å"The Sky Priestess comes. We must get ready.† He turned and strode back into the village. The other Shark men scattered, leaving Tucker standing on the trail by himself. Tuck heard the sound of large prop planes mixing with the big band music. The Shark People were draining out of the village onto the trails that led to the runway. Within seconds, the village was deserted. Tuck staggered back to the beach where he'd left his fins and mask. As he stepped over the logs of the drinking circle, there was an explosion and he thought for a moment that he'd found another land mine until he realized that the sound had come from the direction of the runway. Not trusting himself to find the path through the village, Tucker decided to follow the beach back to the compound. After he'd gone a hundred yards or so, he saw something white lying on the beach and bent to pick it up. A long spiral notebook. The moon was high in the sky and he could see a name printed on the cover in bold permanent marker: JEFFERSON PARDEE. Beth Curtis, dressed in surgical greens, waved the guards away from Tuck's door and knocked. She waited a few seconds and knocked again, then walked in. She could just make out a sleeping figure through the mosquito net. â€Å"Case, get up. We've got to fly.† The body did not stir. â€Å"Case?† She pulled aside the netting and poked the sleeping figure. A green coconut rolled out of the bed and thumped at her feet. â€Å"You sleep with a coconut? You pathetic bastard.† She jumped back and a groggy Tucker Case groaned. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Wake up. We fly in half an hour.† Tuck rolled over and blinked through the hangover fog. The sun was coming up and the roosters were going off all over the island. The room was only half-lit. â€Å"What time is it?† â€Å"It's time to go. Get the plane ready.† Beth Curtis walked out. Tuck rolled out of bed, crawled to the bathroom, and emptied his stomach into the bowl with a trumpeting heave. 40 Unfriendly Skies Tuck spooled up the jets as he watched the guards scramble around the Lear. Each time one walked past the nose, Tuck flipped on the radar and chuckled. The microwave energy wasn't enough to boil the guards in their skins, which was Tuck's fantasy, but he could be reasonably certain that they would never have any children and he might have planted the seeds of a few choice tumors. Once in Houston a maintenance man made the mistake of walking in front of Mary Jean's jet with an armload of fluorescent bulbs meant for the hangar, and Jake Skye had shown Tucker a little trick. â€Å"Watch this, Jake had said.† He flipped on the radar and the bulbs, bombarded by the microwaves from the radar, lit up in the maintenance man's arms. The poor guy threw the bulbs in the air and ran off the field, leaving a pile of glass shards and white powder behind. It was the second-coolest thing Tucker had ever seen, the first being the time they had used the Gulfstream's jets to sandblast the paint off a Porsche whose owner in-sisted on parking on the tarmac. Tuck was waiting for one of the guards to walk behind the jets when Beth Curtis came on board. She wore her business suit and carried the briefcase and the cooler, but this time she sat in one of the passenger seats in the back and fell asleep before they took off. Tuck took the opportunity to suck some oxygen from the emergency supply to help cut through his hangover. When they were five hundred miles out over the Pacific, Tuck peeked into the passenger compartment to make sure Beth Curtis was still sleeping. When he was sure she was still out, he checked the fuel gauges, then pushed the yoke forward and dropped the Lear down to level off at a hundred feet. Traveling at almost six hundred miles per hour at only a hundred feet off the water did exactly what Tuck had hoped it would. He was absolutely ecstatic with an adrenaline rush that chased his hangover back to the Dark Ages. He dropped another fifty feet and laughed out loud when some salt spray dashed the windscreen. It was a clear sunny day with only a few wispy columnar clouds rising off the water. Tuck flew under and through them as if they were enemy ghosts. Then a speck appeared on the horizon. A second later Tuck recog-nized it as a ship and pulled the jet up to two hundred feet. Suddenly something rose off the ship's deck. A helicopter, going out to spot and herd schools of tuna for the factory ship. Tuck pulled up on the yoke, but the helicopter rose directly into his path. There wasn't even time to key the radio to warn the pilot. Tuck threw the Lear into a tight turn while pulling the jet up and whizzed by the helicopter close enough to see the pilot's eyes go wide. He could just make out men shaking fists at him from the deck of the factory ship. â€Å"Eee-haa!† he shouted (a bad habit he'd picked up in Texas cowboy bars, and if this wasn't cowboy flying, what was?). He steered the jet back on course and leveled off at two hundred feet. He was still dangerously low and burning fuel four times faster than he would at altitude, but hell, a guy had to have some fun. He wasn't paying for the fuel, and there hadn't been much low-level flying when he'd worked for Mary Jean. People on the ground might have trouble remembering the numbers on the side of the plane to report to the FAA, but you don't soon forget a pink jet flying close enough to the ground to cool your soup. â€Å"What in the hell was that?† Beth Curtis appeared in the cockpit doorway. â€Å"Why are we so low?† A wave of panic akin to being caught smoking in the boys' room swept over Tuck, but he couldn't think fast enough to come up with a viable lie. He said, â€Å"You haven't surfed until you've surfed in a Learjet.† Much to his amazement, Beth Curtis said, â€Å"Cool!† and strapped herself into the copilot's seat. Tuck grinned and eased the jet down to fifty feet. Beth Curtis clapped her hands like an excited child. â€Å"This is great!† â€Å"We can't do it for long. Burns too much fuel.† â€Å"A little while longer, okay?† Tuck smiled. â€Å"Maybe five more minutes. We can catch a tailwind at altitude that'll save us some time and fuel.† â€Å"Is this what you were doing the night you crashed?† Tuck winced. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Because I could understand if it was. What a rush!† She reached out and grabbed his shoulder affectionately. â€Å"I love this. How could you let me sleep through this?† â€Å"We can surf some more on the way back,† Tuck said. And with that his resolve was gone. He'd planned to ask her about the music and explosions from last night. He'd planned to ask her about Jefferson Pardee's notebook, which he carried in his back pocket, but he didn't want to break this mood. It had been too long since he'd had any attention from a beautiful woman, and he gave himself to it like a jonesing junkie. â€Å"I'm sorry,† she said, â€Å"but you'll have to wait here.† Beth Curtis retrieved her briefcase and cooler from the back of the plane and met the dark-suited Japanese on the tarmac. There was another Lear spooling up nearby and a couple of workmen in coveralls waited beside a large cardboard carton. Tuck watched as Beth Curtis handed the cooler to one of the suits, who ran to the waiting Lear. Within seconds, the door was pulled shut and the other Lear was taxied out to the runway. Another one of the suits handed Beth a thick manila envelope, which she stashed in her briefcase. She turned and ran back into the plane. She stepped into the cockpit and put her briefcase behind the copilot's seat. â€Å"I'll be right back, ten minutes max. I've got to make sure these guys get my TV on board unbroken.† â€Å"TV?† â€Å"Thirty-two-inch Trinitron,† she said with a smile. â€Å"To replace the one that you're using.† â€Å"I want a thirty-two-inch Trinitron,† Tuck said to her back, but she was already out the door. He looked out the window to make sure she was busy with the television, then pulled her briefcase from behind the seat and threw the latches. To his amazement, it was unlocked. He removed the manila envelope. Under it lay a small automatic pistol. He could take it, but then what? Hold it on Beth Curtis until she confessed to whatever she and the doctor were doing? And what was that? Research? There was no law against that. He left the gun untouched and opened the envelope. He wasn't sure what he expected to find: research notes, bearer bonds, stock certificates, cash, something that would shed some light on all this clandestine behavior for sure. What he found was four issues of People magazine and four issues of Us. Beth Curtis was smuggling American cheese out of Japan and that was it. He put the envelope back into the briefcase and slid it behind the seat, then pulled Jefferson Pardee's notebook out of his pocket. Perhaps there was something inside that would tell him how the notebook had gotten to a beach some seven hundred miles from where its owner was supposed to be. He flipped though the pages where Pardee had scribbled phone numbers, dates, and a few notes, but the only things he recognized were his own name, the names of Sebastian Curtis and his wife, and the word â€Å"Learjet,† followed by â€Å"Why? How? Who paid?† and â€Å"Find other pilot.† Pardee was obviously asking the same questions that were circling in Tuck's mind, but what was this about another pilot? Had Pardee come to Alualu looking for the answers? And if he did, where was he now? â€Å"What's that?† Beth Curtis said as she came through the cockpit door. Tuck flipped the notebook shut and stuffed it in his back pocket. â€Å"Some flight notes. I'm used to keeping a log for the FAA. I guess I brought this along out of habit.† In the midst of the lie, he almost panicked. If she asked where he had gotten the notebook in the first place, he was dead. Maybe better to confront her here in Japan anyway – while he knew where the gun was. She said, â€Å"I didn't realize there was any paperwork to flying a plane.† â€Å"More than you'd think,† Tuck said. â€Å"I'm still getting used to how this plane handles. I'm just writing down things I need to remember, you know, climb rates and engine exhaust pressures, fuel consumption per hour at altitude, stuff like that.† Right, he thought. Baffle her with bullshit. â€Å"Oh,† she said with what Tuck thought was indifference until she reached behind her seat and pulled out her briefcase. He held his breath, waiting for the gun to appear. She took out an issue of People and opened it on her lap. She didn't look away from the magazine until they were well over the Pacific, heading home. â€Å"You know, we haven't seen much of you lately. Maybe you should come up to the house and have dinner with Sebastian and me tonight.† She had slipped on her fifties housewife personality. Tuck had been thinking about Pardee's notebook and where he'd found it. He wanted to get back to the village tonight. If Pardee had come to Alualu, maybe the old chief knew something about it. â€Å"I'm a little tired. We got a pretty early start. I think maybe I'll just fix up something quick at my place and get to bed early.† She yawned. â€Å"Maybe tomorrow night. Around seven. Maybe we can try out my new TV.† â€Å"That'll be fine.† Tuck said. â€Å"I have a few things I'd like to discuss with you and the doc anyway.† â€Å"Good,† she said. â€Å"I think we should spend more time together. Now explain to me what all these gauges mean.† 41 What's a Kidney? Privacy is a rare commodity on a small island and secrets weigh heavy on their keepers. Malink was weary with the burden of too many secrets. If he could only go to the drinking circle and let his secrets out, let the coconut telegraph carry his secrets to the edges of the island and let him walk light. But that wasn't going to happen. Secrets sought him out now, even from the old cannibal. He stood with Sarapul and Kimi examining an eighty-four-foot breadfruit tree with a trunk you couldn't get your arms around. Kimi held an ax on his shoulder, waiting for Malink's judgment. â€Å"Why so big?† Malink asked. â€Å"This tree will give much breadfruit.† â€Å"This is the tree,† Sarapul said. â€Å"The navigator has chosen it.† Kimi said, â€Å"We will plant ten trees to take its place, but this is the one.† â€Å"Why do you need such a big tree?† â€Å"I can't tell you,† Sarapul said. â€Å"You will tell me or you won't cut the tree.† â€Å"If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone else?† Malink sighed. Yet another secret. â€Å"I will tell no one.† â€Å"Come. We'll show you.† Sarapul led Malink and Kimi through the jungle to an overgrown spot piled with dried palm leaves. Malink leaned on a tree while the old cannibal pulled away the palm fronds to reveal the prow of a canoe. Not just any canoe. A forty-foot-long sailing canoe. Malink hadn't seen one since he was a small boy. â€Å"This is why we need the tree,† Sarapul said. â€Å"I have hidden it here for many years, but the hull is rotten and we need to fix it.† Malink felt something stir in him at the sight of the big eye painted on the prow. Something that went back to a time before he could remember, when his people sailed thousands of miles by the eye of the canoe and the guidance of the great navigators. Lost arts made sad by this reminder. He shook his head. â€Å"No one knows how to build a sailing canoe anymore, Sarapul. You are so old you don't remember what you've forgotten.† â€Å"He can fix it,† Sarapul said, pointing to Kimi. Kimi grinned. â€Å"My father taught me. He was a great navigator from Satawan.† Malink raised a grizzled eyebrow. â€Å"That is where you learned our language?† â€Å"I can fix it. And I can sail it.† â€Å"He's teaching me,† Sarapul said. Malink felt the stirring inside him grow into excitement. There was something here he hadn't felt since the arrival of Vincent. This was a secret that lifted him rather than weighing him down. But he was chief and dignity forbade him from shouting joy to the sky. â€Å"You may cut the tree, but there is a condition.† â€Å"You can't tell anyone,† Sarapul said. â€Å"I will not tell anyone. But when the canoe is fixed, you must teach one of the young ones to be a navigator.† He looked at Kimi. â€Å"Will you do that?† Kimi nodded. â€Å"You have your tree, old man,† Malink said. â€Å"I will tell no one.† He turned and walked and fell into a light bowlegged amble down the path. Kimi called to him, â€Å"I hear my friend, the pilot, was in the village last night.† Malink turned. The coconut telegraph evidently ran even to Sarapul's little corner of the island. â€Å"He asked about you. He said he will come back.† â€Å"Did he have a bat with him?† â€Å"No bat,† Malink said. â€Å"Come tonight to the drinking circle. Maybe he will come.† â€Å"I can't,† Kimi said. â€Å"The boys from the bachelors' house hate me.† â€Å"They hate the girl-man,† Malink said, â€Å"not the navigator. You come.† After a nutritious dinner of canned peaches and instant coffee, Tuck checked the position of the guards, turned out the lights, and built his coconut-headed surrogate under the mosquito netting. Only the second time and already it seemed routine. There was none of the nervousness or anxiety of the night before as he crawled below window level to the bathroom and pried up the metal shower tray. He dropped through the opening and was reaching up to grab his mask and fins when he heard the knock on the front door and froze. He heard the door open and Beth Curtis call, â€Å"Mr. Case, are you asleep already?† He couldn't let her see the dummy in his bed. â€Å"I'm in the bathroom. Just a second.† He caught the edges of the shower opening and vaulted back into the bathroom. The metal tray fell back over the opening, sounding like the Tin Man trying to escape from a garbage can. He heard Beth Curtis pad to the bathroom door. â€Å"Are you all right in there?† â€Å"Fine,† Tuck said. â€Å"Just dropped the soap.† He snagged a bar of soap off the sink and placed it in the bottom of the shower tray, then threw open the bathroom door. Beth Curtis stood there in a long red silk kimono that was open in a narrow canyon of white flesh to her navel. Whatever Tuck was going to say, he forgot. â€Å"Sebastian wanted me to bring you this.† She held out a check. Tuck tore his eyes from her cleavage and took the check. â€Å"Five thousand dollars. Mrs. Curtis, this is really more than I bargained for.† â€Å"You deserve it. You were very sweet to take the time to explain all the instrumentation to me.† She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, keeping the warm pressure of her lips there a little too long. Tuck imagined her tongue darting though his skull and licking his brain's pleasure center. He could smell her perfume, something deep and musky, and his eyes locked on her breasts, which were completely exposed when she leaned forward. He felt as if he had been staring at an arc welder and that creamy powdered image would travel across his field of vision for hours. A chasm of silence opened up and wrenched his attention back into the room. â€Å"This is very generous,† he said. â€Å"But it could have waited. It's not like I have anywhere to spend it.† â€Å"I know. I just wanted to thank you again. Personally, without Sebastian around. And I thought you might be able to explain some of the finer points of flying a jet. It's all so exciting.† Never a man of strong resolve, the combination of sight, scent, and flattery activated Tuck's seduction autopilot. He glanced toward the bed and the switch clicked off. Sexual response was replaced by the dummy Tuck shaking its coconut head. He looked back at her and locked on her eyes – only her eyes. â€Å"Maybe tomorrow,† he said. â€Å"I'm really bushed. I was just going to catch a shower and go right to bed.† For an instant her pouty smile disappeared and her lips seemed to tighten into a red line, then just as quickly the smile was back, and Tuck wasn't sure he'd seen the change at all. â€Å"Well, tomorrow, then,† she said, pulling the front of her kimono together as if she had only just noticed that it had fallen open. â€Å"We'll see you at seven.† She turned at the door and threw Tuck a parade queen wave as she left, once again the darling of the Eisenhower era. When she was safely out of the bungalow, Tuck ran to the bed and picked up the green coconut. â€Å"What in the hell was that about?† The coconut didn't answer. â€Å"Fine,† Tuck said, fitting the head back on the sleeping dummy. â€Å"I am not impressed. I am not shaken, nor am I stirred. Weirdness is my business.† Even as he said it, he dismissed the hallucination as his own good sense manifesting a warning, but the duel cravings for a drink and a woman yanked at his insides like dull fishhooks. He turned off the light and let the cravings lead him out the bathroom hatch to the moonlit sea. Forty minutes later he took his place in the circle of the Shark men. Chief Malink stood and greeted Tuck with a jarring backslap. â€Å"Good to see you, my friend. How's it hanging?† â€Å"It hangs with magnificent splendor,† Tuck said, his programmed response to the truck drivers and cowboys who used that expression, although he wondered where Malink had heard it. â€Å"But I'm a little parched,† he said. A fat young man named Vincent was pouring tonight and he handed Tucker the coconut cup with a smile. Tuck sipped at first, fighting that first gag, then gulped down the coconut liquor and gritted his teeth to keep it from coming back up. The older men in the group seemed festive and yattered back and forth in their native language, but Tuck noticed that the younger men were sulking, digging their toes into the sand like pouting little boys. â€Å"Why so glum, guys? Someone kill you dog?† â€Å"No,† Malink said, not quite understanding the question. â€Å"We eat a turtle today.† Having your dog killed must mean something different here than it means back in Texas, Tuck realized. Malink sensed Tuck's confusion. â€Å"They are sad because the Sky Priestess has chosen the mispel from their house and she will be gone many days now.† â€Å"Mispel?† â€Å"The girl you followed last night is mispel of the bachelors' house.† â€Å"Sorry to hear that, guys,† Tuck said, acting as if he had the slightest idea what a mispel or being chosen was. He figured that maybe it had something to do with PMS. Maybe when the women started getting cranky with the old Sky Priestess cramps, they just checked her into a special â€Å"chosen† hut until she mellowed out. He waited until the cup came around the circle before he brought it up again. â€Å"So she was chosen by the old Sky Priestess, huh? Tough luck there. Did you try giving her chocolate? That takes the edge off sometimes.† â€Å"We give her special tuba when she comes,† Malink said. â€Å"Tastes like shit!† several of the men chanted. Abo, the fierce one, said, â€Å"I am chosen and now Sepie is chosen. I will marry her.† Several of the other young men seemed less than pleased at Abo's announcement. â€Å"Come on, man,† Tuck said. â€Å"You might need a little attitude adjustment, but you're not chosen.† â€Å"I am,† Abo insisted. â€Å"Look.† He turned his back to the group and ran his finger across a long pink scar that ran diagonally across his ribs. â€Å"The Sky Priestess chose me for Vincent in the time of the ripe breadfruit.† Tuck stared at the scar, stunned, hoping that what he was thinking was as far off as his PMS theory had been. â€Å"The Sky Priestess? That was the music last night, all the noise?† â€Å"Yes,† Malink said, â€Å"Vincent brings her in his airplane. We never see it, but we hear it.† â€Å"And when someone is chosen, then does the jet always fly the next day?† Malink nodded. â€Å"No one was chosen for a long time until Vin cent sent you to fly the white airplane. We thought Vincent was angry with us.† Tuck looked to Abo, who seemed satisfied that the chief was backing him up. â€Å"Where do you go when you are chosen?† â€Å"You go to the white house where the Sorcerer lives. There are many machine.† â€Å"And then what? What happens in the white house?† â€Å"It is secret.† Tuck was across the circle in Abo's face. â€Å"What happens there?† Abo seemed frightened and turned away. Tuck looked around at the other men. â€Å"Who else here has been chosen?† The fat kid who had been pouring twisted so Tuck could see the scar on his back. â€Å"What's your name, kid?† â€Å"Vincent.† â€Å"I should have known. Vincent, what happens in the white house?† Young Vincent shook his head. Tuck turned to Malink. â€Å"What happens?† Malink shook his head. â€Å"I don't know. I have not been chosen.† A familiar voice called out of the dark, â€Å"They make them sleep.† Everyone turned to see Kimi coming down the path from the village. The old cannibal creaked along behind him. Abo barked a reproach to Kimi in his native tongue. Kimi barked back something in the same language. Tuck didn't have to know the language to know that Kimi had told the fierce one to fuck off. â€Å"Kimi, are you okay?† Tuck barely recognized the navigator. He was wearing the blue loincloth of the Shark men and he seemed to have put on some muscle. Tuck was genuinely delighted to see him. The navigator ran to him and threw his arms around the pilot. Tuck found himself returning the embrace. Several of the young men had stood and were glaring at Kimi. One of the jugs of tuba had been kicked over, but no one seemed to notice the liquor running out on the sand. â€Å"Kimi, do you know what's going on here?† â€Å"A pretty white woman with yellow hair. She come out of the fence and take the girl away. They will put her to sleep and when she wakes up she will have a cut here.† He drew his finger across the back of his ribs. â€Å"No!† Abo screamed. He leaped over the crouching Malink to get to Kimi. Without thinking, Tuck swung around and caught Abo under the jaw with a roundhouse punch. Abo's feet flew out from under him and he landed on his back. Tuck rubbed his hand. Abo tried to struggle to his feet and Malink barked an order to two of the young Vincents. Re-luctantly, they restrained their friend. â€Å"Vincent has sent the pilot,† Malink reminded them. Tuck turned back to Kimi. â€Å"What happens then?† â€Å"You owe me five hundred dollars.† â€Å"You'll get it. What happens then?† â€Å"The chosen has to stay in bed for many days. There are tube stuck in them and they are in much pain. Then they come back.† â€Å"That's it?† â€Å"Yes,† Kimi said. Malink stood now and addressed Kimi. â€Å"How do you know this?† Kimi shrugged. â€Å"Sepie tells me.† Malink turned to Abo, who had stopped struggling and now looked terrified. â€Å"She said she would not tell. The girl-man put a spell on her.† Tuck stood rubbing his knuckles, watching this little tropical opera and feeling like someone had snapped on a light and found him french-kissing a maggoty corpse. The cooler, the surgical garb, the flights on short notice, the second jet waiting on the tarmac in Japan, the guards, the secrecy, the money. How had he been so fucking stupid? Malink was hurling a string of native curses at Abo, who looked as if he would burst into tears any second. â€Å"You dumb motherfuckers!† Tuck shouted. Malink stopped talking. â€Å"She's selling your kidneys. The doc is taking out your kidneys and selling them in Japan.† This revelation didn't have quite the effect that Tuck thought it would. In fact, he seemed to be the only one concerned about it at all. â€Å"Did you hear me?† Malink looked a little embarrassed. â€Å"What is a kidney?†

Appropriation and Art Essay

Appropriation in the visual arts is when an artist takes possession of another’s work and re-uses it in a different context, most commonly in order to reveal issues surrounding originality or a meaning not apparent in the original work1. The types of appropriation used by artists include re-visioning, re-evaluation, variation, imitation, parody, homage, mimicry and allusion2. The practice of appropriation is a tradition that has been adopted by artists throughout history, but in more recent times has become an art movement that questions the whole creative process, intending more to bring out a new meaning. In order to determine whether copying images when developing artwork is a valid technique, or an ethical approach, two examples of historical appropriated images are considered; the ‘Third of May’ painted originally by Fancisco Goya in 1808, and ‘The Creation of Adam’ painted by Michelangelo in 1511. Francisco Goya’s original piece entitled â€Å"Third of May†, depicts Napoleon’s troops executing Spanish resisters. The painting is divided in two sections, on the right of the painting are Napoleon’s troops armed and ready to shoot and on the left are the resisters, some dead while the others beg for their lives. The impending execution of civilians lies at the heart of the painting, highlighting the horror of war and the injustices it brings. â€Å"Third of May† by Francisco Goya (1808)4 This image was subsequently appropriated by Edouart Manet’s in his painting entitled â€Å"The execution of Emperor Maximilian† in 1867. As with the original, the painting is also divided into two sections. On the right side are the troops ready to fire and execute. On the opposite side are the unarmed civilians awaiting their deaths, the onlookers watching in horror and dismay. â€Å"The Execution of Emperor Maximilian† by Edouard Manet (1867)5 This image was subsequently appropriated by Pablo Picasso in his painting â€Å"Massacre in Korea†. Like the original and Manet’s version, the painting is divided into two sections, the organised troops to the right, the civilians to the left. The painting by Picasso differs from the original in that a more modern form of art (abstract) is used to portray the characters and scene. It also contrasts the two groups more, the innocent victims being less well defined and more vulnerable and the soldiers more dominant5. Consequently, the image is more suggestive of the barbarism associated with war and the universal civilian suffering it brings, rather than the single events depicted in the two others. â€Å"Massacre in Korea† by Pablo Picasso (1951)6 Another example of appropriation in art is the classic painting by Michelangelo entitled â€Å"The Creation of Adam† that adorns the roof of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Painted in 1510, it portrays God reaching for Adam to give him the ‘spark of life’, and reinforces the Christian beliefs that dominated life at the time. It is such an iconic image that it’s use by other artists in their own works cannot be seen as forgery. And the image has been used by others. â€Å"The Creation of Adam† by Michelangelo (1510)7 Amongst the artists that have used this image, a painting by Samuel Bak entitled â€Å"Creation of Wartimes II† (1999) is a prime example of appropriating an image to tell a different story. In has painting, Bak borrows from Michelangelo to ask the question, â€Å"Where is God? †, as ‘Adam’ lies amongst the rubble of a ruined world. â€Å"Creation of Wartimes II† by Samuel Bak (1999)8 The original Michelangelo image has also been parodied in mainstream entertainment like The Simpsons, as in the case of â€Å"The Homer of Seville† shown in 2007. â€Å"The Homer of Seville† (2007)9 In a similar fashion, Andreas Krapf ‘s pop art painting entitled â€Å"Almighty† draws on Michelangelo’s work to convey a message about modern society. â€Å"Almighty† by Andreas Krapf (2009)10 As is evident from these examples of appropriation, there is no sense that the artist who uses previous works is trying to hide the fact that they copied the original. In fact, it appears that the artist wants the viewer to recognize the image, so that they can compare their original associations to the context that is now being portrayed. To argue that copying is not a valid approach to developing artwork, instead comparing it to plagiarism, misses the point. By clearly referring to the original, the artist is in way acknowledging the former work, and only borrowing it to reinforce or add to the message that was originally intended. This can sometimes diminish the impact or meaning of the original work, as in the case of some parodies, but appropriation in the art world is as old as art itself and cannot be dismissed as being invalid. In terms of the ethics of appropriation, artists should be free to comment on society, and use whatever means they see as necessary to convey their message. The act of using other people’s work might seem a bit like cheating, but it differs from forgery, in that Picasso was not copying a Goya painting and trying to pass it off as a Goya painting. He, like other artists who have appropriated the work of others before them, wanted the viewer to make the connection with the previous image and add to it so that the original message becomes even more powerful, or has a more modern context. References http://www.all-art.org/history480-3.html

The Many Faces Of Racism - 1836 Words

The Many Faces of Racism in Hollywood Of course there’s various times where racism has occurred in the past at Hollywood, but is it over? Just because black face isn’t that much of a thing anymore, does it mean that there’s less subtle forms of racism and ignorance that still occurs today? Of course it does. Black Face is when someone puts on dark makeup to â€Å"try to look† African American. Black Face was used in plays, television shows, cartoons, Broadway, the silver screen, and even in cartoons. Black Face was used in a cartoon called â€Å"Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs† which is known for being one of the â€Å"Censored Eleven† (which were cartoons which were censored for making fun of different cultures.) The movie featured the â€Å"Mammy†, the â€Å"Jezebel†, the â€Å"Zip Coon†, and â€Å"the Sambo†. The â€Å"Mammy† was known for being illiterate, loud, and aggressive to her own children but loving to the children that she babysits. An example is that the Mammy would bake a plate of warm, buttery flapjacks for white soldiers, but feed her own children scraps. Another character is the â€Å"Jezebel†. She’s known for being hyper sexualized, or acts the opposite way that a â€Å"proper, white† woman s hould act. She’s depicted as immoral, unintelligent, and willing to have intimate relationships with anyone who asks, whether it’s forced or by her will. She’s lusted by every character, but never picks her special person. The â€Å"Zip Coon† wears â€Å"proper† clothing, acts pretentious, and has little to noShow MoreRelatedThe Controversial Problem Of Racism941 Words   |  4 Pagesplethora of controversial problems. Controversial problems we face today include issues that deal with a few of the amendments: freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, etc. Other issues that we deal with today could be medical, social, or the legalization of certain things. 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