The US Congress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The US Congress - Essay Example Senator Spector's website contained the same constituency topics; including flags, touring DC, appointments to military academies and internships; and actually had one more than Lott - how to get grants. His home page though was a bit more crowded and the major topic buttons were not as easily recognizable as Lott's; to his benefit, though, he had an email signup form on the front page and his office locations and phone numbers. Unlike Lott's page though, Spector had no search bar. The information on Wicker's home page was sparse at best. His navigation buttons were difficult to read and small which could make it very difficult for an older person. Also his main topic buttons had no drop down menus and instead of grouping categories together he too many individual tabs. He had no search bar. Lastly, Lewis' webpage was set up nicely. His category buttons were easy to locate, although they did not have drop down menus. He did, however, have two search bars: one for general searches and a Bill search which was innovative. He did not have a state map as did the two senators. All four of the congressman had a great deal of partisan information within their websites, although some were more blatant than others. Lewis' home page was mainly taken up with information on Bills, projects or acts he was personally involved with. However, his latest news was dated January 18 which made me wonder what he had been doing for three months. Wicker's home page dedicated almost half of the home page to hurricane relief aid. The lower portion had current news release links to his sponsored bills as well as three columns he pens. Spector's latest news was dated April 6th so information is being updated fairly frequently and like the others his news all dealt with legislations or committees is was actively working on. He did have an article, however, about bipartisan cooperation in oil and gas price discussions. Lastly, Lott's press release section was less cluttered with only one release displayed and a button to see more. He also had a link to his weekly radio address w hich according to the website he has been doing a weekly address since 1973. Of the four web pages Lott had the least partisan information portrayed on the main page. All four Congressmen have lengthy biographies posted on their websites explaining in detail the professional lives as well as their background and family information. Wicker has an extensive photo gallery. Lewis has the shortest biography of the four congressmen. One thing I did not like is the first paragraph spoke about his personal insurance business; ever the salesman I suppose. His photo gallery was set up nicely with different headings to select from which made it very neatly organized. Lott's biography was nicely laid out with his main headings labeled. This allows the readers to scan through for the particular area they are seeking. Lott only had one photo, his official Senate photo. Spector's biography was also nicely laid out clear and concise with nice visual representations. Spector also had no photo gallery which made me question if it was a Senate mandated, a Senate unofficial mandate or just a coincidence. Of the total appearance of the websites, by far, the most appealing was that of Lott. He had much better use of space. The pages did not seem as cluttered as that of Wicker and Lewis. Spector's page was laid out well too,

Interior design Essay Example for Free

Interior design Essay 1940s prefab buildings Prefabricated houses were nonexistent before the Industrial Revolution, and were nearly impossible to construct (Pile 2005). During the course of time machinery and assembly lines were developed to an extent to allow that the idea of prefabricated houses becomes a reality. Sears Roebuck catalog was among the first to start featuring prefabricated houses in its issues, and each year they brought forth an enormous variety of styles and sizes of prefab houses for sale in 1908-1949 (Davies 2005). 1940s was the period when Americans were really concerned about affordable housing, and prefab, which was affordable and stylish at the same time (Pulos 1988). They could be ordered through catalogues and be ready for resettlement without leaving the homes. Innovation in this sense resulted in a boom among middle class households. Preassembled building components considerably reduced on-site labor and construction duration. Thus, in the late 1940s one solution to the problem was to build prefabricated houses consisting of a kit of parts which were built in a factory, and taken to the building site for rapid construction. Darlaston’s largest engineering firm, Rubery Owen Company Limited also accepted orders for cheap factory-built houses, and so the company’s Structural Department began to produce good quality houses for sale to local authorities and building companies (Parker 2009). Most of the ‘prefabs’ were small factory-built, single storey temporary bungalows with a life expectancy of just 10 years. Although around 156,000 of them were built by Rubery Owen Company limited, there was still an acute housing shortage. They were very comfortable and several options for different sizes of families existed. However, the solution was just temporary given the fact that the livelihood was very short. (Parker 2009) The houses were built around a rust-proof light steel frame with stanchions, trusses, and beams of a substantially rectangular form. To simplify and speed-up the building process, the design included simple forms of attachment for almost any suitable building material. The individual members of the steel structure were produced by bending, pressing or rolling, and the individual components were welded together at the factory. (Parker 2009) (Chandler, et al. 2010) In its turn the new movement promoted the development of steel production. Above all, this practical solution gave space to certain design experiments with again, practical touch. Simplicity and efficacy were the characteristics of designing prefab houses, and they were consequently first of all associated with comfort and space (Arieff and Burkhart 2002). A real success was manufactured house, or the mobile house which could be used for road transportation. Built in kitchen, air-conditioning, clearly and simply separated rooms were predecessors of compound design (Davies 2005). 1940 product design Genichi Taguchi was one of the pioneers of product design in the 1940s who introduced a new philosophy and a methodology on improving quality and design. His concept allowed that quality was â€Å"†¦achieved economically through inspection and product screening† (Cheremisinoff 1990). Taguchi built both conceptual framework and specific methodology for implementing his prospects. Thus, he put the stress on designing in quality, which was rather cheap than manufacturing poor and redesigning for numerous times. Loss function was a pivotal issue in his experiments and activities. Once again, we come over with cost effectiveness and certain elements of simplicity. When observing the experience of the United States we witness a rapidly growing field of design, and specifically in product design initially incepted by Shakers in the eighteen century; a religious community of English and French origin. They initially began developing craft-based objects to meet their own need (Burdek 2005) . Moreoveer, Sigfried Giedion recognized the most creative inventors of interior design – furniture, and describes the 40s as an exceptionally productive phase of inventive intelligence on the part of engineers. (Giedion 1967) Chairs, beds, and cabinets that were convertible, space saving and easy to transport laid the groundwork for American tradition of functional and democratic product culture that lasted until the early 20th century, when society increasingly differentiated into two-class system. (Burdek 2005) Impact of industrialization on product design was enormous. Industrial designers were identified as wizards of change, as they gave a product livelihood; they extended the life of a product with a unique design. (Pulos 1988) They sustained the product with innovation and attractiveness. In line with practical usage these last two features played a key role in advancing in product design and developing new paths for this promising discipline. 1940s was the period when the packaging was becoming as important as the product itself. Customers were buying products locked in nice and inviting packaging. Designers were moving up on the ladder of management, being considered as one of the most actors in promotion and product development. However, late 40s experienced a decline in glamorization of mere design, when quality and design started to balance. (Moskowitz, Beckley and Resurreccion 2006) Speaking about product design entails also a discussion on trademarks; this was also the era when logos, trademarks and brand development joint the bigger game. Product development and design appeared under dependence of trademark development processes. Pulos 1988) 1950s_1960_1970_1980 (youth culture) Youth culture of 1950-1980 is associated with rebellious, revolutionary, democratic and hippie, as well as drug, rock and sexual revolution (Resnik 1990). This is the period when youth rose their voice and expressed their views in the most rebellious ways. (Halliwell 2007) Brake states that the young people had their own distinctive patterns. For his youth culture developed inverse values to the adult world of productive work and conformity to routine and responsibility. The early 70s were highly distinguished in the rise of confronting entities, with liberated worldview and their own free style in fashion, lifestyle and manners. There was a real revolution headed by the youth which still inspires a great number of young people with its strong and burning culture. (Brake 1990) Youth culture was not only influential in the US, but also Great Britain, Canada and Europe. The middle class youth in the 50s was the generation which had more independence. This class became integrated into a general culture which was dominated with drugs, alcohol and sex, which were the primary indicators of independence of adult supervision. Hence, low class youth was illustrated as delinquent and impulsive. (Brake 1990) The earlier studies of youth in the mentioned period made no attempt to view youth in the context of political and social system. Thus, young people were observed as economic consumers of fun, fashion, music and drugs. However, popular music being a central feature in the youth culture, didn’t really reflect the whole wealth of creative and successful youth. Murdock and McCorn pointed out that for example, Presley was adored only by one fifth of interviewed people, the rest pointed out Pat Boone. The first was a rebel and anti authority, and the second encompassed an image of adult approved and self established artist. (Brake 1990) This comes to prove the somehow exaggerated statements on youth culture in the mid and late 1970s (Norton, et al. 2008). The same concerns also the available data on teenagers; they were described as looking glamour, attractive, having fun, all entering into a higher educational system. (Jamieson and Romer 2008)

Effects of chinas one child policy on women

Effects of chinas one child policy on women As the most populous country in the world, the Peoples Republic of China has been adopting the One-Child Policy since 1979 in order to improve the problem of overpopulation which is seen as an obstacle of the growth and development of the country. While the Chinese Government emphasizes its achievements of population control in China, the controversial policy has been widely criticized for its negative influences. This paper presents the One-Child Policys effects on the position of women. Womens position in this paper is basically defined by womens rights, freedom, respectability and social status .I will first briefly introduce the policy, then analyze both the positive and negative impacts with relevant data and statistics, and lastly come to a conclusion. The Policy and Population Growth Introduced in 1978 and implemented since 1979, the One-Child Policy is a family planning policy adopted by the Chinese Government in order to improve Chinas over-rapid population as to prevent its unfavourable effects on economic and social development of the country.(Information Office of the State Council Of the Peoples Republic of China 1995) The policy restricts married urban Chinese couples from having more than one child by imposing monetary penalties on families with extra children yet exemptions are allowed for couples who belong to ethnic minorities, live in rural area or do not have any siblings.(BBC News 2000) The One-Child Policy is considered successful in terms of its control on Chinas population growth as the birth rate in the county has been greatly decreasing since the introduction of the policy. (see Figure 1) Compared with 1970, in 1994 the birth rate dropped from 33.43 per thousand to 17.7 per thousand; the natural growth rate, from 25.83 per thousand to 11.21 per thousand; and the total fertility rate of women, from 5.81 to around 2à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦According to statistics supplied by the United Nations, Chinas population growth rate has already been markedly lower than the average level of other developing countries. (Information Office of the State Council Of the Peoples Republic of China 1995) Figure 1. Changes in the total fertility rate in China Source: National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (2006) Violation of Womens Reproductive Rights Despite its success in population control, the One-Child Policy gives rise to criticisms among which one lies in its violation of womens reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a subset of human rights first recognized at the United Nations International Conference on Human Rights in Teheran on 13th May 1986. According to the 16th article of the Proclamation of Teheran, Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children. Dixon-Mueller (1993: 12) suggests that reproductive rights can be defined as three types: 1. the freedom to decide how many children to have and when (or whether) to have them; 2. the right to have the information and means to regulate ones fertility; 3. the right to control ones own body. Reproductive freedom is the core of individual self-determination. The One-Child Policy does not only violate womens rights by limiting the number of their children but also leads to forced abortions in the country. Under the enforced policy, every 2.4 seconds there is a woman undergoing a forced abortion in China and this makes a total of about 35,000 abortions per day. (Phillips 2010: 1) Abortion is legal in China and as reported in China Daily in 2009, 13 millions of abortions are performed in China every year, which largely exceeds those performed in other countries such as the United States and Canada. (see Figure 2). There is a direct relationship between the One-Child Policy and Chines abortion rate. PostenYaukey (1992: 290) point out that the abortion rate in China increased by nearly 50% between 1978 and 1979 when the policy started being implemented. It is widely known that abortions can cause women health problems, not to mention its negative impacts on emotional and mental health. Ms. Reggie Littlejohn, president of Womens Rights Without Frontiers, criticized that The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth. (Jiang 2009) Figure2. Abortion statistics in China, U.S.A., U.K., Canada and Australia Source: Jiang (2009) Unwanted Daughters and Sex-Selective Abortions A saying among peasants in China goes like this:The birth of a boy is welcomed with shouts of joy and firecrackers, but when a girl is born, the neighbours say nothing(WestleyChoe 2007: 2) In spite of Chinas modernization over the past decades, it is still common for Chinese parents to prefer sons to daughters. (Wang 1999: 197) Such a preference indirectly leads to sex-selective abortions as female fetuses are usually considered less precious than male ones, especially if the couples are allowed to have only one child. With fetal screening technologies such as ultrasound, amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, the sex of unborn fetuses can be recognized before their birth. Such technologies and available abortions result in the possibility that couples selectively abort female fetuses in the hope of having a son instead.(WestleyChoe 2007: 3) Beside sex-selective abortions, Chinas infant mortality rate is another thing to look into. Generally the mortality of male infants is expected to be greater than that of female ones as male infants are biologically weaker than female infants.(Li, 2007: 2) This assumption is also proved by the worlds infant mortality rate by sex.(See Table 1) However, as shown in Table 2, China goes in the reverse direction. It is believed that this unusual tendency is caused by female infanticides and daughter abandonments resulting from the son preference. Table 1. Worlds infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010 Source: United Nations Population Division (2010) Table 2. Chinas infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010 Source: United Nations Population Division (2010) Gender Imbalance Blessing or Curse? Together with the increasing female infant mortality, there is a rising trend of the sex ratio in China since the implement of the One-Child Policy.(See Figure 3) It is estimated by the State Population and Family Planning Commission that there will be 30 million more Chinese man than Chinese women in 2020. (BBC News 2007) Because of the supply-and-demand law that supply decreases t and demand remains unchanged then the value of supply increase, some people assume that if there are less women in China their values and social status should naturally rise. However, this law would make sense only if the demand of women was high. Poon(2008) points out that when women become the minority in a male-preponderant society like China, China may face a period of unprecedented male aggression, which would likely render women as victims and womens status even more precarious and vulnerable to subjugation. Figure 3. Rising sex ratio and excess female infant mortality in China Source: Sun (2005) Womens Empowerment The Mistaken Focus It is always emphasized by the Chinese Government that the One-Child Policy helps promoting womens empowerment and improving womens position as they are freed from heavy burdens brought about by having many children(National Population and Family Planning Commission of China 2006). This claim contains two causal relations: 1) Because of the One-Child Policy women have fewer children. 2) Women have fewer children so they can spend more time on their career. Both of them make sense in a large extent, but is the One-Child Policy a must to control the number of womens children? Probably no. Despite that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the PRC, the One-Child Policy is never implemented in the city, where the social position of women is relatively high. As shown in Figure 4, the fertility rate of Hong Kong kept dropping even and was even lower than that of China. Of course one can argue that there are various factors contributing to Hong Kongs low fertility rate, yet one can also question whether the One-Child Policy is the only factor causing the decline in fertility rate and the rise of womens position. Figure 4. Fertility rates from 1960-2005 in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and East Asia Pacific Source: The United Families International (2010) The Single Child Generation The One-Child Policy does not only aim to decrease the birthrate but also to improve the quality of the new generation, the future pillars of China. It is commonly believed that having single daughters will raise the position of women as their parents provide them with better and more concentrated resources such as education and materials. It may be true in some ways, but Greenhalgh(2007.) points out that the One-Child Policy has produced the most materially and educationally privileged generation of young people in Chinese history who are spoiled and egocentric. Having been the focus of attention from the family throughout their growing-up years, these children are more dependent on others and easily hurt psychologically.(China Daily 2005) The new single-child generation in China has already concerning Chinese from the older generation. Do better resources necessarily create a better generation? If it does not, how can we expect a decline in qualities of children (both male and fema le) will result in better positions of women? Conclusion The One-Child Policy was claimed to be a short-term measure when it was first introduced in China.(Hesketh, Li Zhu 2005) Now that the policy has already been implemented for three decades, its negative consequences eventually appear and have aroused worries from the society. The policy negatively affects womens position as it violate womens rights and enhances the existing favoritism towards male children and it is not coming to an end yet. According to Zhao Baige, deputy director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, although it is said that the policy has been slowly being relaxed ,Chinas family-planning policy will remain unchanged until at least 2015. (Kumar 2010) (1631 words)

The Layers of Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- Kill Mocki

The Layers of Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Toothpaste: it is made up of so many different ingredients. You can look at a tube of toothpaste, study it, observe the colors of the plastic container and notice the size and shape of it. You can guess all you want what's on the inside, but you will never know until it is squeezed. People: they are made up of so many different things. You can look at them, study their behaviors, and observe their appearances. You can make many assumptions about what they're like on the inside, but you will never know their true character until they are squeezed. When a person is put in a tight position it doesn't make their character, it exposes it. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird there are several characters that are present throughout the book, but one seems to appear out of nowhere in chapter eleven. Her name is Mrs. Dubose, and she has a very interesting character. It has several layers that almost need to be peeled away like an onion. Integrity is just one of the numerous layers of her character. Integrity is how a person reacts when they are being "squeezed." Mrs. Dubose has a high standard of morals and she is true to them--she walks her talk. She looks out for people other than herself. She is determined. Mrs. Dubose is unquestioningly a woman of integrity.    Mrs. Dubose displays integrity by standing up for her beliefs. She has self-appointed herself as the "manners police", according to the standards she was raised with. The way she was raised children were expected to respect their parents and other elders. Mrs. Dubose makes a point to call the kids on it whenever they are acting out of line according to her values. She yells at Scout t... ...her life, a time that can be very lonely for a person. In a sense, she is being squeezed, like a tube of toothpaste--yet she stays strong. She still keeps all her values, instead of throwing them out the window. Mrs. Dubose doesn't just sit around and watch the world go on, she tries to make a difference. She doesn't throw herself a pity party, burdening others with her problems. Instead, she decides to make the most out of the time she has left in her life. She decides to improve her life so that she can die having lived life to the fullest. Mrs. Dubose, in all her integrity, is the tastiest kind of toothpaste there is.    Works Cited Johnson, Claudia. "The Minor Charaters of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird." Studies in American Fiction (1991):129-139. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York City, NY:   J.B.Lippincott Company, 1990. The Layers of Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- Kill Mocki The Layers of Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Toothpaste: it is made up of so many different ingredients. You can look at a tube of toothpaste, study it, observe the colors of the plastic container and notice the size and shape of it. You can guess all you want what's on the inside, but you will never know until it is squeezed. People: they are made up of so many different things. You can look at them, study their behaviors, and observe their appearances. You can make many assumptions about what they're like on the inside, but you will never know their true character until they are squeezed. When a person is put in a tight position it doesn't make their character, it exposes it. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird there are several characters that are present throughout the book, but one seems to appear out of nowhere in chapter eleven. Her name is Mrs. Dubose, and she has a very interesting character. It has several layers that almost need to be peeled away like an onion. Integrity is just one of the numerous layers of her character. Integrity is how a person reacts when they are being "squeezed." Mrs. Dubose has a high standard of morals and she is true to them--she walks her talk. She looks out for people other than herself. She is determined. Mrs. Dubose is unquestioningly a woman of integrity.    Mrs. Dubose displays integrity by standing up for her beliefs. She has self-appointed herself as the "manners police", according to the standards she was raised with. The way she was raised children were expected to respect their parents and other elders. Mrs. Dubose makes a point to call the kids on it whenever they are acting out of line according to her values. She yells at Scout t... ...her life, a time that can be very lonely for a person. In a sense, she is being squeezed, like a tube of toothpaste--yet she stays strong. She still keeps all her values, instead of throwing them out the window. Mrs. Dubose doesn't just sit around and watch the world go on, she tries to make a difference. She doesn't throw herself a pity party, burdening others with her problems. Instead, she decides to make the most out of the time she has left in her life. She decides to improve her life so that she can die having lived life to the fullest. Mrs. Dubose, in all her integrity, is the tastiest kind of toothpaste there is.    Works Cited Johnson, Claudia. "The Minor Charaters of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird." Studies in American Fiction (1991):129-139. Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York City, NY:   J.B.Lippincott Company, 1990.

Native American Remedies Essay -- Medicine Culture Papers

Native American Remedies "Mike Spring, paralyzed from the waist... down and in constant pain, sailed to the Azores and back. On his return, he confounded his TV interviewer with the statement that the only way he was able to obtain relief from the pain that continually racked his body was to press his back to an oak tree. This simple and cost-free action would then afford him several hours of complete relief and helped him to carry on in life. When asked for a scientific explanation, Mr. Spring replied that he had none-- it simply worked! He had heard of the treatment from an American Indian source and had been using it successfully for years" (Psychology of Healing- Murry Hope 89). How can that possibly be? A tree curing backaches? He must have been taking some aspirin, too, many of us assume. It is not uncommon for a person in Western culture to be thinking this way. We were raised with the belief that our medical society largely based on chemical concoctions is powerful because it has cures for everything from various cancers all the way down the list to the common cold. Don't get me wrong, the medical profession is quite effective, but for several generations, Native Americans have been using herbs to cure aches and pains, and various other illnesses. Many of the herbs used by Native Americans are the ones you can actually find in aspirin and other medications today. In fact, many ingredients used in various modern medications are actually derived from Native American cultures. Herbal medicine is being reintroduced through various forms of alternative medicine. Out on the market we see aromatherapy, acupuncture, herbology, and many more forms of alternative medicine. Herbology is a practice which seeks to heal... ...out injecting chemicals such as morphine, demerol, oxycodone, and hydrocodone into your blood stream? How different is it really to seek cures from artificial hospital rooms than it is to look for cures from nature? Works Cited Allen, Paula Gunn. Grandmothers of the Light. Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. Croft, Prof. Candance, Personal Interview. 9 Feb. 1999. Hope, Murry. The Psychology of Healing. Great Britain: Element Books, 1989. Wolf, Melinda. "Alternative Medicine: A journey to proactive healthcare." CNI Newspapers (Wauwatosa) 25 Feb. 1999. Wolf, Melinda. " Alternative Medicine: Yoga, t'ai chi, aromatherapy keep body healthy." CNI Newspapers (Wauwatosa) 4 Mar. 1999. Workshop on Alternative Medicine. Alternative Medicine: Expanding Medical Horizons. Chantilly, VA: 1992. Zimmerman, Larry J. Native North America. London, England: 1996.

The Igbo People †Origins and History :: Essays papers

The Igbo People – Origins and History Igboland is the home of the Igbo people and it covers most of Southeast Nigeria. This area is divided by the Niger River into two unequal sections – the eastern region (which is the largest) and the midwestern region. The river, however, has not acted as a barrier to cultural unity; rather it has provided an easy means of communication in an area where many settlements claim different origins. The Igbos are also surrounded on all sides by other tribes (the Bini, Warri, Ijaw, Ogoni, Igala, Tiv, Yako and Ibibio). The origins of the Igbo people has been the subject of much speculation, and it is only in the last fifty years that any real work has been carried out in this subject: ...like any group of people, they are anxious to discover their origin and reconstruct how they came to be how they are. ...their experiences under colonialsim and since Nigeria’s Independence have emphasized for them the reality of their group identity which they want to anchor into authenticated history. (Afigbo, A.E.. ‘Prolegomena to the study of the culture history of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria’, Igbo Language and Culture, Oxford University Press, 1975. 28.) Analysis of the sources that are available (fragmentary oral traditions and correlation of cultural traits) have led to the belief that there exists a core area of Igboland, and that waves of immigrant communities from the north and west planted themselves on the border of this core area as early as the ninth century. This core area – Owerri, Orlu and Okigwi – forms a belt, and the people in this area have no tradition of coming from anywhere else. Migration from this area in the recent past tended to be in all directions, and in this way the Igbo culture gradually became homogenized. In addition to this pattern of migration from this core area, other people also entered the Igbo territory in about the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. Many of these people still exhibit different characteristics from that of the traditional Igbos – for example geographical marginality, the institution of kingship, a hierarchical title system and the amosu tradition (witchcraft). For some time some Igbo-speaking peoples claimed that they were not Igbo – the word was used as a term of abuse for â€Å"less cultured† neighbours. The word is now used in three senses, to describe Igbo territory, domestic speakers of the language and the language spoken by them.

First characteristic book Essay

Willa Cather has never published a bad book. Ergo, all of her work is of the same excellence, all of it has the same importance. Speaking about her creative activity it is difficult to divide her heritage into good and bad books. Nevertheless, despite that fact the truth is that Cather’s strongest books are those related to the West, to the land of her childhood. Willa Sibert Cather was born in Virginia, but brought up from the age of 8 in Nebraska, where she was reared among the immigrants. My attempt will be to find out what episodes of Willa Cather’s life had impact upon her work and to prove that this impact was determinative in the formation of mature and internationally known writer worthy being included in contemporary literary canon. Willa Cather was educated at the University of Nebraska, where she studied Latin that may have influenced her graceful Virgilian style. (Daiches, 1951, 34) Later she worked on the staff, then as editor, of McClure’s Magazine in New York from 1906 to 1912. With O Pioneers! , written in 1913, she turned to the Nebraska prairies to relate the stories she experienced, he stories praising the romanticism and difficulties of the life in frontier. She was awarded with a Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours of 1922. Willa Cather would probably be a writer even had she never gone West in her early impressionable years. What kind of a writer, it would be hard to say. In this context James Seaton makes some presumption, namely he refers to the inferior quality of her non-Western books, that we should not have had anything like her present masterpieces, and that America and the world would not have heard of her. (Seaton, 1998, 147) Willa Cather’s best works are indeed the result of cooperation of poetic vision of the artist in words and landscape where each gives to each, the artist giving her chosen country expression and duration forever, the country and the people so identifying themselves with the artist as to become backbone and marrow of her work. Willa Cather’s union with the great table-lands east of the Rockies had prominent effect on her best works. The passion for description of past in Cather’s works is usually explained by critics as the influence of her childhood spent in Nebraska. (Brown, 1953, O’Brien, 1987); and Joan Acocella justly calls Cather â€Å"the elegist of the pioneer period, the repository of what America thinks of as its early triumphs. † (Acocella, 2000, 3) Willa Cather wrote three novels, her so-called prairie trilogy – all based on her childhood in Nebraska. In the 1913 O Pioneers! a young Swedish immigrant, Alexandra Bergson, raises a blooming farm out of the barren Nebraska plain. Then comes The Song of the Lark, in which Thea Kronborg, another little Swede, stuck in another prairie town, dreams of becoming an artist, and actually makes it. And the third is My Antonia, the story of a Czech girl, Antonia Shimerda. Willa Cather takes to her heart the simplest souls of the West, the generous, impulsive, loyal souls of brakeman, ranchman, pioneer, missionary priest and Indian. Willa Cather’s Thea Kronborg, her Claude Wheeler, her Professor St. Peter, her Archbishop carry the pioneers’ flag of endurance into the higher realms, driven on by their imagination and their passion to a more perfect world. Willa Cather’s early resettlement to the West brought about for her, without her striving for it, the revelation of a landscape’s essential beauty and of the particular imprint on it of human sufferings and toil. Her early experience was that factor which encouraged the development of originality and a form of Cather’s writing. The length of that experience is eloquent enough: a child of nine came, saw, and conquered the West; it took a mature woman of some published books behind her to write O Pioneers, Willa Cather’s probably first characteristic book. Willa Cather soon exchanged the prairie for the schoolroom. Nevertheless, the prairie and the pioneers had given her what no school could have given: the first priceless experience of life in the open in a vast untamed country, an experience that is all the more palpable in her novels with eloquent English tongue poetizing beauty of the West, the pioneers’ inarticulate dreams, their stoic acceptance of the inevitable, and their ready answer to the call of adventure.