SMC Orchestra Concerto Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SMC Orchestra Concerto - Essay Example The first piece was Overture to â€Å"Don Giovanni,† K.257 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the conductor of the piece being Fang-Ning Lim. The piece authored by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 1787 consisted of ten instruments each connected to the other. In the first part, the conductor introduced the andante with the flute 1 being the instrument of choice with the part ending in C major with a flute 2. Conversely, the second pair of instruments used in part was oboes, with oboe one starting in the andante while oboe 2 ended in D major. After the oboes, the clarinets started with the first clarinet in A major starting whereby the oboe 2 ended. Thereafter, the second clarinet took over in F major. Other instruments used in the piece were two bassoons, horns, violins, trumpets, horns, timpani, violas, cellos and basses. Importantly, slow movements all through marked this andante and the entire piece and by the end of the piece, I had a feeling that the show had just started. After the first piece, the second piece introduced by James Martin was Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052 by Johan Sebastian Bach. James Martin told us that Johan composed the piece in 1734. Importantly, the piece included three movements, which are allegro, adagio, and then back to allegro with the piano as the instrument of choice in this piece, which was played by Yuko Terashima playing the instrument. This movement is marked by a tempo that is faster than the tempo in the first piece. In effect, the tempo made the place and the hall livelier, and it was evident that those attending the concert were beginning to appreciate the show as I was doing. After the first movement, an adagio followed the allegro and the tempo became more leisurely. In effect, I experienced a relaxed feeling and I appreciated the good music playing all along. The conductor, Fang-Ning Lim introduced the third piece as the Double Concerto, which is played in E Major and was composed by Max Bruch in 1734. April Sh ih played the violin while Douglas Rezende was playing the viola. With these two instruments, I expected the tempo to be relaxing and slow since the movement of this piece was moderato. I realized that the tempo progressively rose with the shape of the volume increasing in a crescendo. I I felt calm as this piece played while I was also filled with enthusiasm and anticipation at the same time. After the piece was over, the next piece followed since the conductor was the same although the violin was the only instrument used. In this case, the piece was Concerto in G Minor composed by Max Bruch with Lim telling the audience that the piece was composed between 1739 and 1738. Paul Lee played the only instrument in this movement, which was the violin with the movement being in andante allegro. In this case, the violin played in a slow tempo at the beginning and ended in a tempo that were fast and energetic. I realized that many people who had attended the concert were singing in apprecia tion as the movement progressed to a fast tempo. The fourth piece was the Concerto in D Minor, K.466 composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785 as Lim told the audience. In this piece, Aidan Short played the piano in the movement that was an allegro. The movement

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 37

Marketing - Essay Example The service encounter at the bank was extensively unsatisfactory and below expectations. I have a savings account with the bank and which was opened recently. From the inception, I mentioned that I needed an ATM card that is rather a guarantee and a chequebook to help in transactions of huge amounts of money. The bank sent the ATM card and the Pin for two weeks while the chequebook was not released. When the customer care was contacted, they kept on admitting the mistake yet could not take any appropriate action to resolve the matter. The delay in receiving the check prompted a visit to my branch, and the response was one that was not characteristic of a good customer care service. The branch asked me to write an application formally to request for the chequebook, a process I felt was a fundamental breach of good service delivery. After the application, the bank gave a surety that the cheque book would be sent after seven days and one month has passed and the product has not yet been delivered. The bank has no respect for its customers and does not take into consideration the concerns and predicaments of its customers. Consequently, the bank has proven to be clueless concerning the needs of its customers. It is incumbent upon banks to identify and predict the things that customers are most likely to recur. Even after physically going to the branch, the bank failed to listen to my predicaments hence the disenfranchisement. The bank has the poorest services and treats its customers with contempt. Banks should understand that individuals have other obligations and duties that are bound to attend to on a daily basis. It is their responsibility to simplify service delivery to make it relatively easy for customers to access services. Going to the bank every time to withdraw huge amounts of cash has a number of disadvantages; for instance, having huge sums of money at a given point is dangerous due to security purposes. It is easy for

Mandatory Assessment is not the Same as Mandatory Mediation, but Both Essay

Mandatory Assessment is not the Same as Mandatory Mediation, but Both Concepts Undermine the Family Mediation Process - Essay Example In family law, mandatory mediation can be defined as a situation whereby couples are instructed by a court to resolve a dispute by attending meetings with a mediator..The essence of the meetings is to help couple to reach a compromise deal on the disputed issue. Court mandated mediation is envisaged to be a facilitated negotiation by the aggrieved parties through a mediator to unravel the underlying issues and possibly reach a fair settlement. In the United Kingdom, mandatory mediation can either be categorical or discretionary. Categorical mandatory mediation refers to cases whereby statutes provide that certain cases must undergo Alternative Dispute Resolution while discretionary mediation refers to cases where the presiding judge decides the cases the should undergo mediation. On the other hand, mandatory assessment is the continuous process of gathering information from various sources to help evaluate the most appropriate strategies for achieving the well being of the child and safety. The process of mandatory assessment involves a court appointed assessor who is required to work with the concerned family to assess the conditions on the ground. The assessor can also seek information from other sources deemed necessary and after the evaluation, the final report given to the court is critical in reaching the final judgment. Although mandatory assessment and mandatory mediation are different, both are compulsory dispute resolution modes aided by a third party. The report analyzes the impacts of the mandatory assessment and mandatory mediation in the context of family law. After evaluation of these effects, it is clear that these processes undermine the family mediation process instead of helping in the dispute resolution. Particularly, these concepts go against the fundamental principal of voluntary resolution of disputes and are also counterproductive especially in issues involving domestic violence. From this perspective, these mandatory processes may actua lly introduce new complications in the justice system on top of those already caused by the traditional system. Non Voluntary Nature The principal argument against mandatory assessment and mandatory mediation is that they impinge on the right to self determination. Mediation is a voluntary decision making process and every individual has the right to self determination. Hence the term â€Å"mandatory mediation† is itself oxymoronic. Coercion into mediation leads into serious reservations concerning the mediation process itself and its outcome. It has been argued that if couples are coerced into mediation, then there is a high probability that they may be coerced within the mediation itself1. She further opines that the preceding stages to mediation are a determinant of the direction that the mediation will take. Once a couple has entered into the mandatory mediation process, there is a high expectation placed upon them to reach an agreement. According to Hayes, the heavy expe ctation to reach an agreement may alter the meaning of mediation to the aggrieved parties. In the seminal cased Halsey v. Milton Keynes., [2009] EWCA 15, [2009]2, the court decided that â€Å" to oblige truly unwilling parties to refer their disputes to mediation would be to impose an unacceptable obstruction on their right of access to courts.† This court ruling shows that indeed there is a great controversy over the implementation of mandatory mediati

Has the lottery replaced the government in the funding of education Essay Example for Free

Has the lottery replaced the government in the funding of education Essay The overarching aims of education underlie the construction of the curriculum and funding. Education, in the broader sense, aims to develop the individual, to enlarge a child’s knowledge, experience and imaginative understanding, and thus his awareness of moral values and capacity for enjoyment and also to enable the child to take his place in society. The school education on the other hand, has the aim to provide opportunities for all pupils to learn and achieve, to promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and to prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life. Consider the school of the late 20th century. It has not changed a whole lot in the last fifty years or so. Isolated from the rest of the world except for one or two school-business partnerships. Working at the edges of the school, these partnerships attempt to provide students with some insight into the working world or give some marginal discretionary resources for the principal to use. The resources are used on one of a multitude of unrelated programs that the school has set up to cope with the problems that society has dumped on the school. The school itself has created barriers that shelter and isolate it from the work of the world that goes on around it. The technological innovations that are pervasive in the business world have yet to penetrate the classrooms except for a single computer in each classroom that the teacher barely knows how to use. Few business people, even the partners, ever come to school; those who do are shocked by the conditions they find and by the discipline problems with which teachers must contend. Still they are comforted by the fact that school feels pretty much like it did when they went to school. On the other hand, the quality of services on a university campus is one thing; to measure the quality of manufactured goods is another matter. Chubb, J. and Moe, T. takes this further and says that a service cannot be objectively measured. Such frustration stems from the difference between services and goods. For example, educational services are intangible and cannot be packaged, displayed or inspected fully by prospective students. Services also have a perishability problem because they cannot be stored for future delivery: when students cut class, the professors time is wasted. Unlike goods, services are difficult to separate from their provider: an academic course is as fascinating or as boring as the professor. There is also a lot of variability in services. For example, the mood of the professor could impinge on his or her tolerance for chatting in class. Services are difficult to standardize. Unlike manufactured goods, services are not as susceptible to strict quality control. With regards to these needs in education, more states are actually looking for fund in order to pursue educational development. Out of 42 states that uses lottery, 24 of it uses the proceeds for school financing aside from the support of the government. In line with this research, the data that describes the 2005 and 2006 development of schools in each state considered. Basically, this paper attempts to identify if the massive lottery practices in each states promotes educational development in terms of funding. The Report  From the previous discussion, The Chicago Reporter found out that the lottery does not supplement school funding, even though the proceeds goes directly the state’s Common School Fund. On the other hand, the South Carolina Education Lottery was approved by constitutional referendum in 2000, and implemented shortly thereafter. In contrast to other education lotteries, the legislation establishing the lottery contains substantive measures to ensure that lottery revenues supplement, rather than replace, general fund tax revenues earmarked for education. Aside from this, the involvement of lottery in funding the schools’ needs show a good advantage as California Performance Review supported the option. California lottery players, retailers and, most importantly, its public schools, all stand to gain from changing state laws that restrict the lotterys ability to increase sales. These changes are not only consistent with the mandated purpose of The Lottery Act as approved by the voters, they represent the only risk-free way to ensure that lottery dollars to education will not actually decrease. In line with this, this paper will evaluate and compare the current development in 46 states in which 24 of it uses the proceeds of lottery to education while the other 22 only uses the support of the government. The Method To determine the current performance of schools in 46 states, the researcher compares the amount of budget between states w/ lottery proceeds used in school funding and states w/o lottery proceeds used in school funding. To determine the difference of budget between these states and the status of development in each school, the researcher conducted an analysis from the data obtained in these 46 states (The distribution of data is shown in the Appendix A) using t-test procedures. From 24 schools that are currently using lottery proceeds, the analysis of their education budget was also compared to their previous years in which lottery proceeds is not being considered (see Appendix B). The use of its mean and coefficient of variation are performed for evaluation of budget.

Implementation of a Palmprint Recognition System

Implementation of a Palmprint Recognition System CHAPTER -VI 6. CONCLUSION SCOPE OF FUTURE WORK There are some key aspects to discuss about this thesis in general. First, it is important to mention that the main objective of this work implementation of a palmprint recognition system was successfully accomplished. Biometrics plays an important role in personal identification. The importance of biometrics in everyday life has been discussed and different biometric technologies are introduced. It has been shown that palm can also be a good biometric. The work reported in this thesis is summarized in this chapter. This Research Work proposed a novel approach for Palmprint Biometric Authentication System to identify the individuals based on their palmprints. The approach novelty could be found in the combinations between palmprints images transform techniques, features reduction technique and feed-forward neural network classifier. CASIA pre-processed hyperspectral database and MATLAB version 2016a with supporting toolboxes were used in our experiment work. Firstly, each pre-proce ssed palmprint image has read by MATLAB internal function, and it has transformed by using multiscale toolboxes in order to convert each image into data. The resulted data is projected by dimensionality reduction tool. Finally, neural network toolbox used for recognition training and verification the resulted vectors. We manually prepare proposed Gabor Wavelet and Local Binary Pattern function along with all Other function in MATLAB 2016 and a database of 200 palm images of 20 people is considered for the validation. This Thesis Work considers a novel and efficient method for the palmprint identification based on Gabor wavelet by using multi-block local binary patterns. Proposed method is further supervised through our proposed multi-layer feed-forward neural network for more accurate and computationally efficient recognition. Gabor wavelets efficiently filter the pre-processed image for getting optimum texture features through MB-LBP. Due to accurate feature representation of palm images through proposed LBP, anticipated MLFFNN training rate is high and we are getting much accurate results comparatively. Experiments are performed to make an analysis for the optimal palm region and LBP neighbourhood. We investigate the matching accuracy for the optimal parameters. The performance of the proposed method in term of accuracy and some other parameters is obtained and compared with some recent methods. These local characteristics are summed and orientation corresponding maximum local intensity pattern is conceded as optimal local direction. Micro pattern representation is obtained by LBP descriptor. Feature vector is prepared by histograms of 256 bins. In our proposed scheme we use the Gabor wavelets, which has wavelet like property, in orthogonal direction and smoothest contours. Orientation extraction is done optimally to get directional representation and feature size is reduced by extracting LBP histograms. Accuracy of Proposed system is about 99.6% and error rate is below 0.9%. Compared to other existing method proposed method provides robustness to noise, low complexity and small features length. Secondly 3x 3 direction pattern employed which extract the edge characteristics locally. Direction pattern further emphasis edge orientation and filter out non edges along irrespective direction of pattern. Local aggregation gives higher value (Local Intensity) at particular orientation. So, the competition for maximum local intensity can better select the orientation information. Secondly orientation information is not affected by intensity variations. Because of these reasons, it is obvious that our method is performing well. In this palm print recognition system, features such as region mask, orientation field and minutiae are being extracted. An efficient matching algorithm is being implemented which uses these features for comparison of the query palm print with the database. Hence this system tests the image with the database and checks if the person is aut henticated or not. This authentication system can be used in forensic science and other border control systems for authentication of palm prints. the proposed work is also tested on colour RGB (multi-dimensional) images and real time palm images. Further Works For future work, the combinations between another multiscale image transformation such as , , and other will be taken in addition to use alternative features reduction methods such as ICA, kernel PCA and other contemporary techniques are suggested to be used. In addition, the classifier type is suggested to change to show how the recognition accuracy could be improved. Although cancellable biometrics overcome the weakness of cryptography, current cancellable biometrics are still not secure enough for the palmprint identification. For example, attackers can still insert stolen templates replay and database attacks before systems can cancel the stolen templates and reissue new templates. Furthermore, current cancellable biometrics cannot detect replay and database attacks. In other words, if attackers insert unregistered templates into data links or databases, systems cannot discover the unregistered templates. To solve these problems, we can take advantages of cryptography and cancellable biometrics to design a set of security measures to prevent replay, brute force and database attacks for secure palmprint identification. One could improve the registration accuracy and the image combination process. A detailed study needs to be done on the effect of adding more frames for combination. This method could also be combined with the pose correction approach developed in the previous algorithm to make a robust system with further improved accuracy. In addition to these further directions, biometric researchers are in fact facing some open problems. Most biometric systems are examined only on zero effort attacks (general false acceptance rates). Do they still survive if experts attack them? Furthermore, how can we objectively evaluate and compare the security levels of biometric systems? It should be recognized that successfully breaking into biometric systems depends on money, time and knowledge. Biometric researchers are facing a dilemma. As we write everything to disclose our findings and algorithms for the sake of distributing knowledge to our society and the next generation, we are also providing the information that potential attackers require breaking into our systems.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚      (b) Fig. 6.1 (a) A fake palmprint and (b) the corresponding genuine palmprint.

The Josephine Baker Story Essay -- essays research papers

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine Carson in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 3, 1906 to washerwoman, Carrie McDonald, and vaudeville drummer, Eddie Carson. Josephine's father abandoned them shortly after her birth and her mother married a kind but perpetually unemployed man named Arthur Martin. Their family came to include a son and two more daughters. Josephine grew up cleaning houses and babysitting for wealthy white families until she got a job waitressing at The Old Chauffeur's Club when she was 13-years-old. While working there she met a man named Willie Wells whom she had a short marriage with. Josephine never depended on a man for financial support and she never hesitated to leave when a relationship hit its breaking point. Which is why she was married and divorced three more times to an American named Willie Baker in 1921 (whose last name she chose to keep), a Frenchman ,Jean Lion, in 1937 (from whom she attained French citizenship) and a French orchestra leader, Jo Bouillon, in 1947. Josephine toured the United States with The Jones Family Band and The Dixie Steppers in 1919, performing various comical skits. When the troupes split, she tried to advance as a chorus girl for The Dixie Steppers in their production "Shuffle Along". She was turned away because she was "too skinny and too dark." Still determined as ever, she learned the chorus line's routines while working as part of the crew. Therefore, Josephine was the obvious replacement when one of the dancers left. Onstage she rolled her eyes and purposely acted clumsy. The audience loved her comedic touch and Josephine was a box office hit for the rest of the show's run. Josephine traveled to Paris for a new show that proved to be a turning point in her career. Josephine and dance partner Joe Alex captivated the audience with a routine that was new and exotic, and included Josephine boldly dressed in nothing but a feather skirt. Josephine worked the audience into frenzy with her uninhibited movements. She was an overnight sensation. Josephine's immense popularity afforded her a comfortable salary, which she spent mostly on clothes, jewelry and pets. She loved animals and at one time she owned a leopard, a chimpanzee, a pig, a snake, a goat, a parrot, parakeets, fish, three cats and seven dogs. When her routine with Alex got old she moved on and starred in La Folie du ... ...eine. The French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making Josephine Baker the first American woman buried in France with military honors. Her gravesite is in the Cimetià ©re de Monaco, Monaco. Josephine Baker has continued to intrigue and inspire people throughout the world. In 1991, HBO released The Josephine Baker Story. The movie won two Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries and Outstanding Art Direction. The movie also picked up one of three Golden Globe nominations. Josephine Baker sashayed onto stage with a comic, yet sensual appeal that took Europe, and eventually the world, by storm. Famous for barely-there dresses and uninhibited dance routines, her exotic beauty generated nicknames such as "Black Venus," "Black Pearl" and "Creole Goddess." Admirers bestowed a plethora of gifts, including diamonds and cars, and she received approximately 1,500 marriage proposals. Josephine Baker was once quoted saying "I love performing. I shall perform until the day I die." She maintained energetic performances and a celebrity status for 50 years before going softly in her sleep, but she did not go softly through life.

Cultural Brokers in Colonial America

During the settlement of North America there were many people who crossed cultural borders becoming cultural brokers. Three such people were Isabel Montour, Samson Occom and Susannah Johnson. These three possessed strong language skills or the ability to learn new languages quickly, this was perhaps the most important skill needed to cross cultural borders and communicate with â€Å"outsiders. † Another necessary skill was a complete understanding of their culture and the cultures of other groups. This skill was used to convey traditional customs, political protocol, and to avoid any misunderstandings between the people of the each culture.The cultural broker would also have an agreeable disposition. Likeability and the ability to get along well with most people would be an asset in a cultural broker. Intelligence and diplomacy were also attributes necessary for the success of a cultural broker. I believe the cultural broker would have to be able to take rejection because of t he possibility of those in their culture ostracizing them for their association with the â€Å"other† culture. A combination of these skills would allow a person to move easily from one culture to another and sometimes have a foot in both at the same time.Isabel Montour was born in Canada to a French father and Abenaki mother. She was about ten years of age when warriors of the Five Nations of Indians raided her village during war with the Canadians and took her captive. The Iroquois Indians adopted her and she was raised as one of their children. Upon maturity she married an Oneida war captain named Carondawana. In 1711, New York Governor Robert Hunter enlisted Madame Montour’s assistance regarding negotiations with the Iroquois. Governor Hunter would make her a central figure in Indian negotiations in New York. He considered her to be one of his â€Å"most trusted advisers. Her duties included acting as interpreter at conferences, and helping to write speeches to be delivered. Another aspect of her work involved relaying messages and explaining the expectations and mannerisms of the Indians to the colonists. Through her work she aided the colonists’ in their quest to understand the culture of the Iroquois. She had great knowledge of the customs, ideas and the language of the Iroquois. Her ability to fluently speak English, French, Oneida, Mohawk, Delaware, and possibly Huron and Miami along with her many relatives located throughout Canada and the Great Lakes region identified er as a person â€Å"in the know† about the issues facing both cultures for the majority of her life. She was â€Å"trustworthy, and unafraid to tell the truth†. In the 1720s her family moved to Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River Valley to live in an Indian community. Here she also served as interpreter for the colonists’ in negotiations with the Iroquois. As in New York she was known for her knowledge and often asked for her advice regar ding Indians affairs. In 1729, while on his way home from war with the Catawba Indians, her husband, Carondawana was killed.After his death she focused her attention on teaching her son Andrew the skills necessary to be a successful diplomat and cultural broker. Madame Montour had no real memory of her birth culture. Because of her mixed heritage she could blend in with many cultures by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain aspects of her background. Madame Montour moved easily between the cultures of the Indians and the colonists. She was very adaptable. This was probably derived from her early capture and assimilation into the Iroquois culture.Despite having family among Iroquois and supporters among the white settlers at times it seems she did not quite belong to any specific group. Even after being adopted by the Iroquois they still referred to her as the French woman who was married to an Indian. It seems Madame Montour was a woman of many cultures but also a woman with no true culture of her own maybe that is why she was successful as a cultural broker. Madame Montour both gained and lost by crossing cultures. She gained the respect of government officials in the colonies beginning with Governor Hunter of New York.Her work as an interpreter and assistance in the understanding of the Iroquois provided financial resources for her and her family. She also gained a well-deserved reputation as an important person who was well versed in the manners, customs, and languages of the Indians. Due to her own cultural brokerage she trained her son Andrew Montour to be a cultural broker providing him with a career. Madame Montour also lost as a result of her cultural brokerage. Her mixed heritage set her apart and her association with the colonists caused ill will among some of the Natives.Although she was respected among the colonists and Indians alike, this did not necessarily â€Å"translate into acceptance† among either group. After the death of her husband even the Oneida community â€Å"began to marginalize her family† and she moved around frequently alone or with her son. She received little â€Å"in the way of reward from the white colonial or Indian societies whom she served†. Madame Montour was used by both the colonists and the Indians. The colonists respected her and actively sought the knowledge she held regarding the Indians but as soon as she was no longer needed she was cast aside and forgotten until they needed her again.An Oneida headman Shickellamy used Madame Montour’s contacts and influences to grow his status as a representative of the Iroquois Confederacy. Then he and a Seneca headman accused her of being untruthful and ended her public career. â€Å"She never again appeared at a conference in any recognized capacity. † Madame Montour used her fluency of language; her family connections and knowledge of Native customs to help the colonists’ come to understand the Natives. Like Mada me Montour, Samson Occom was a cultural broker but he used a different path to achieve his brokerage.Samson Occom was Mohegan by birth. During the â€Å"Great Awakening† he converted to Christianity. Tutored by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock he learned to read and write in English. Additionally, he learned Latin, Greek, some Hebrew, Oneida, and Mohawk. Occom became an ordained minister. He used the path of â€Å"Reformed Protestantism, namely, Congregationalism and Presbyterianism† to cross cultural borders. He built a two story frame house in Mohegan where his family lived for twenty-five years. To his people and the English the house represented his moving from his birth culture to the English culture.Wheelock asked Occom to travel to Britain to raise funds for Dartmouth College which he said would be used to educate Native youth. In Britain Occom was somewhat of a celebrity and preached to the people there and in Scotland. Upon his return to North America Occom learned W heelock had deceived him regarding Dartmouth College. The target students were to be young English men. Occom had made the trip to Britain because he believed Native youth would make up the majority of the students. Occom never traveled to Dartmouth College and severed his ties with Wheelock.After a period of depression Occom gained a â€Å"renewed sense of self-worth† as a sermon he had delivered was published as a temperance tract. While in Britain Occom had collected hymnals and in 1772 he published a book of his favorite hymns. Later his knowledge of English law and his recordkeeping would enable the Mohegan to retain land in the community he started called Brothertown. When Occom died Mohegan, Iroquois, and Algonquian Indians attended his funeral which was preached by an Englishman/American and was held in Brothertown.The many different cultures present reflected his experience as a cultural broker but the place his funeral was held said even more: â€Å"Samson Occom ha d come home. † Occom adjusted well to the English culture in the beginning. It could be said he even preferred the English culture over his own. But Occom never forgot about his people as to do so would have been irresponsible. Occom was well received in Britain where he was considered â€Å"a unique attraction. † In Scotland he was a living example of the success of their â€Å"commitment to education and conversion† important because they funded Wheelock’s ventures.Occom became less enchanted by the Europeans when he discovered Wheelock had deceived him about Dartmouth College. He decided that his faith was the only good thing to be taken from the English culture and severed ties with Wheelock and the English culture. This was a reverse of his early years when he had offended the Oneida by telling them to â€Å"to grow their hair long as the English do and not to wear wampum or other such things† which suggested he agreed with the concept of confo rmity. Occom gained the ability to read and write by crossing cultural borders.Additionally he gained his lifelong faith in God through Protestant Religion. He became an ordained minister and used his preaching to help his culture. Occom learned the English laws regarding property ownership which eventually led to his people keeping the lands among the Oneida. He gained recognition through publication of one of his sermons and his popular book of hymns. In contrast he lost a part of his own culture for a brief time at the beginning of his association with the English. His knowledge of the English ways also â€Å"created a bone of contention with the splintered loyalties of the Mohegan tribe. Occom sacrificed time away from his wife due to his service to the English and Wheelock. Eventually the English culture lost appeal to Occom due to their abuse of his trust and confrontations of â€Å"English antagonism. † Occom was used by several people. The Boston Board used him to pr ove a Native could be used as an educator and cheap labor at the same time. Wheelock used him to obtain funds to create Dartmouth College and to prove his ability to convert and educate the Native people showing he was worthy of the donations he had received.Even though he eventually withdrew from the English culture Samson Occom achieved many things during his time as a cultural broker just as those before and after him. Roughly the same time as Occom was using his religious faith to cross cultures another person, Susannah Johnson, was pursuing cultural brokerage through another path. Susannah Johnson was a cultural broker. Her ability to adapt to any environment and â€Å"attract and remember the kindness of others† was the main path of her brokerage. Susannah’s empathy for those in her culture and other cultures helped her cross cultural borders.Through the telling of her and her family’s trials as captives of the Abenaki Indians she helped challenge many ide as about the Indians that were not always true. Susannah was born on the Massachusetts frontier to Moses and Susannah Willard. She married and her husband and family lived on the New Hampshire frontier in Charlestown. On August 30, 1752, a group of Abenaki Indians raided their house and took her captive along with her husband, their three children, her sister, kinsman Ebenezer Farnsworth and a friend Peter Labarree.She was pregnant at the time and on the second day of their captivity she went in to labor and delivered a baby girl she named Captive. Susannah considered the Abenaki to be â€Å"by no means void of compassion† as they helped her to deliver, clothed the baby and provided shelter for mother and baby. Additionally the Abenaki built a litter to carry Susannah and baby Captive but the other captives tired after a couple of miles and she was offered a horse to ride which she accepted for fear of being left behind in the wilderness with a newborn. Susannah spoke of how the Abenaki showed mercy to her family and the other captives.Susannah also spoke of the Abenaki modesty. Upon being sold to Governor Ange Duquesne de Menneville, Marquis Duquesne, in Montreal Captive became ill and Susannah allowed her to be baptized a Roman Catholic and named the governor as her godfather. As Susannah was a Puritan this was a huge leap into another culture. Her husband James raised the money for his release and was allowed to return to New Hampshire to obtain the money to pay the ransom for Susannah and their children. Due to Massachusetts preparing to expeditions against Acadia and Fort St. Frederic James was not allowed to return to Canada.When James did not return to Montreal Susannah and her two youngest daughters and her sister were cast out of Canadian society and made a living as seamstresses. When he finally returned to Montreal due to the escalation of war, James was considered a parole violator and posed a risk to military intelligence. Later, Susannah, James and the two youngest daughters were sent to Quebec to a criminal prison where conditions were poor and disease rampant. Intendant Francois Bigot used his influence to allow the Johnsons to be moved to a civilian prison where conditions were more comfortable.There the family had a garden and Susannah was allowed to travel to town weekly to buy necessary goods. While in prison she gave birth to a stillborn son and learned her father had been killed by the Abenaki during another raid. Her baby girl Captive spoke only French and Susannah learned enough to understand her daughter. The Johnsons were given permission to go home via England but at the last minute they said her husband James could not go but she and all but her son still with the Abenaki and her daughter in Montreal went on the boat alone.She arrived home after being gone for three years three months and eleven days. † James having been released arrived home about the same time. Susannah’s son Sylvanus was redeemed from the Abenaki but could only speak their language and broken French. Her oldest daughter finally arrived home after six years in Montreal. Susannah’s family had become a â€Å"mixture of nations. † In later years she loved telling about her adventures which she saw as â€Å"an instructive tale of suffering and redemption. † She always credited the Abenaki with kindness. Susannah had some difficulty adjusting to life with the Abenaki.She was not very good at canoe making and agreed with their adoptive sister’s occasional complaints that she was â€Å"a no good squaw. † Susannah adapted better to life in Canada in Governor Duquesne’s house. She met many other captives there and found the people kind and she was treated like a daughter. Even after being cast out of Canadian society she survived by working as a seamstress. She never did adapt to the criminal prison but in the civilian prison she made do with the little she had. Duri ng weekly outings she met other captives and had conversations with them.During her captivity Susannah met many people who were kind to her and her family. She never forgot that kindness and persevered until she was once again home. As a cultural broker Susannah gained knowledge of Native culture and personal insight into their lives. She became aware the Natives were capable of kindness and were a good moral people. She always believed the Abenaki were nicer to her family than the English would have been to a Native family had the situation been reversed. She found their community very favorable. Susannah further related surprise that the Abenaki adopted her as a sister and treated her as one of their own.Although Susannah gained as a cultural broker she also experienced loss. She had a stillborn son and lost a son to the Abenaki. She later regained this son but he always considered himself an Abenaki. The six years her oldest daughter spent in Montreal were lost to her. One positi ve loss she experienced was her loss of fear over time. Susannah was used by the Indians as trade to the Canadians. She was also used by the Canadians as a prisoner to be bargained for political reasons. The three biographies relate much about intertribal relations and interaction between the Europeans and Natives. Inter-tribal relations were not always positive.The tribes were many times split between loyalties to different cultures. They often looked upon cultural brokers as outsiders or a kind of traitor. There were also good things about tribal relations shown by Occom who never forgot his people. He became a cultural broker more for the benefit of his people than himself. The Indians were usually loyal to one another and treated most captives as family members. The interaction between English and Natives was usually strained. Neither group knew what to expect from the other or understood the other culture. The English were far worse in their treatment of the Natives.They were g enerally unfair and untruthful. They used the Natives far more than the reverse. They considered them backward and perceived them as stereotypical savages. When captured Susannah was surprised to be treated as well as she was for she knew the English would treat their captives far worse. Madame Montour, Samson Occom, and Susannah Johnson were all successful cultural brokers. Cultural brokers played a large role in the colonization of the United States. Although they used different methods to cross cultural borders the intent was universal. They strived to bring understanding to both their culture and the culture of the English.