Babylon, the Glorious Ancient Mesopotamian Capital

Babylon, the Glorious Ancient Mesopotamian Capital Babylon was the name of the capital of Babylonia, one of several city-states in Mesopotamia. Our modern name for the city is a version of the  ancient Akkadian name for it: Bab Ilani or Gate of the Gods. Babylons ruins are located in what is today Iraq, near the modern town of Hilla and on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river. People first lived at Babylon at least as long ago as the late 3rd millennium BC, and it became the political center of southern Mesopotamia beginning in the 18th century, during the reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). Babylon maintained its importance as a city for an astounding 1,500 years, until around 300 BC. Hammurabis City A Babylonian description of the ancient city, or rather a list of the names of the city and its temples, is found in the cuneiform text called Tintir Babylon, so named because its first sentence translates to something like Tintir is a name of Babylon, on which glory and jubilation are bestowed. This document is a compendium of Babylons significant architecture, and it was probably compiled about 1225 BC, during the era of Nebuchadnezzar I. Tintir lists 43 temples, grouped by the quarter of the city in which they were located, as well as city-walls, waterways, and streets, and a definition of the ten city quarters. What else we know of the ancient Babylonian city comes from archaeological excavations. German archaeologist Robert Koldewey  dug a huge pit 21 meters [70 feet] deep into the tell discovering the Esagila temple in the early 20th century. It wasnt until the 1970s when a joint Iraqi-Italian team led by Giancarlo Bergamini revisited the deeply buried ruins. But, apart from that, we dont know a lot about Hammurabis city, because it was destroyed in the ancient past. Babylon Sacked According to cuneiform writings, Babylons rival Assyrian king Sennacherib sacked the city in 689 BC. Sennacherib bragged that he razed all the buildings and dumped the rubble into the Euphrates River. Over the next century, Babylon was reconstructed by its Chaldean rulers, who followed the old city plan. Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562) conducted a massive reconstruction project and left his signature on many of Babylons buildings. It is Nebuchadnezzars city that dazzled the world, beginning with the admiring reports of Mediterranean historians. Nebuchadnezzars City Nebuchadnezzars Babylon was enormous, covering an area of some 900 hectares (2,200 acres): it was the largest city in the Mediterranean region until imperial Rome. The city lay within a large triangle measuring 2.7x4x4.5 kilometers (1.7x2.5x2.8 miles), with one edge formed by the bank of the Euphrates and the other sides made up of walls and a moat. Crossing the Euphrates and intersecting the triangle was the walled rectangular (2.75x1.6 km or 1.7x1 mi) inner city, where most of the major monumental palaces and temples were located. The major streets of Babylon all led to that central location. Two walls and a moat surrounded the inner city and one or more bridges connected the eastern and western parts. Magnificent gates allowed entry to the city: more of that later. Temples and Palaces At the center was the main sanctuary of Babylon: in Nebuchadnezzars day, it contained 14 temples. The most impressive of these was the Marduk Temple Complex, including the Esagila (The House Whose Top is High) and its massive ziggurat, the Etemenanki (House/Foundation of Heaven and the Underworld). The Marduk Temple was surrounded by a wall pierced with seven gates, protected by the statues of dragons made from copper. The ziggurat, located across an 80 m (260 ft) wide street from the Marduk Temple, was also surrounded by high walls, with nine gates also protected by copper dragons. The main palace at Babylon, reserved for official business, was the Southern Palace, with an enormous throne room, decorated with lions and stylized trees. The Northern Palace, thought to have been the Chaldean rulers residence, had lapis-lazuli glazed reliefs. Found within its ruins was a collection of much older artifacts, collected by the Chaldeans from various places around the Mediterranean. The Northern Palace was considered a possible candidate for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; although evidence has not been found and a more likely location outside of Babylon has been identified (see Dalley). Babylons Reputation In the Christian Bibles  Book of Revelation  (ch. 17), Babylon was described as Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earths abominations, making it the epitome of evil and decadence everywhere. This was a bit of religious propaganda to which the preferred cities of  Jerusalem  and Rome were compared and warned against becoming. That notion dominated western thought until late 19th-century German excavators brought home parts of the ancient city and installed them in a museum in Berlin, including the marvelous dark-blue Ishtar gate with its bulls and dragons. Other historians marvel at the citys amazing size. The Roman historian  Herodotus  [~484-425 BC] wrote about Babylon in the first book of his  Histories  (chapters 178-183), although scholars argue about whether Herodotus actually saw Babylon or just heard about it. He described it as a vast city, much much larger than the archaeological evidence shows, claiming that the city walls stretched a circumference of some 480 stadia (90 km). The 5th-century Greek historian Ctesias, who probably did actually visit in person, said the city walls stretched 66 km (360 stadia).  Aristotle  described it as a city that has the size of a nation. He reports that when  Cyrus the Great  captured the outskirts of the city, it took three days for the news to reach the center. The Tower of Babel According to Genesis in the Judeo-Christian Bible, the  Tower of Babel  was built in an attempt to reach heaven. Scholars believe that the massive Etemenanki ziggurat was the inspiration for the legends. Herodotus reported that the ziggurat had a solid central tower with eight tiers. The towers could be climbed by way of an exterior spiral staircase, and about half-way up there was a place to rest. On the 8th tier of the Etemenanki ziggurat was a great temple with a large, richly decorated couch and beside it stood a golden table. No one was allowed to spend the night there, said Herodotus, except one specially selected Assyrian woman. The ziggurat was dismantled by  Alexander the Great  when he conquered Babylon in the 4th century BC. City Gates The Tintir Babylon tablets list the city gates, which all had evocative nicknames, such as the Urash gate, The Enemy is Abhorrent to it, the Ishtar gate Ishtar overthrows its Assailant and the Adad gate O Adad, Guard the Life of the Troops. Herodotus says there were 100 gates in Babylon: archaeologists have only found eight in the inner city, and the most impressive of those was the Ishtar gate, built and rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II, and currently on display at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. To get to the Ishtar Gate, the visitor walked for some 200 m (650 ft) between two high walls decorated with bas-reliefs of 120 striding lions. The lions are brightly colored and the background is a striking glazed lapis lazuli dark blue. The tall gate itself, also dark blue, depicts 150 dragons and bulls, symbols of the protectors of the city, Marduk and Adad. Babylon and Archaeology The archaeological site of Babylon has been excavated by a number of people, most notably by  Robert Koldewey  beginning in 1899. Major excavations ended in 1990. Many cuneiform tablets were collected from the city in the 1870s and 1880s, by  Hormuzd Rassam  of the British Museum. The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities conducted work at Babylon between 1958 and the onset of the Iraq war in the 1990s. Other recent work was conducted by a German team in the 1970s and an Italian one from the University of Turin in the 1970s and 1980s. Heavily damaged by the Iraq/US war, Babylon has recently been investigated by researchers of the  Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino  at the University of Turin using QuickBird and satellite imagery to quantify and monitor the ongoing damage. Sources Much of the information about Babylon here is summarized from Marc Van de Mieroops 2003 article in the American Journal of Archaeology for the later city; and George (1993) for the Babylon of Hammurabi. Brusasco P. 2004. Theory and practice in the study of Mesopotamian domestic space.  Antiquity  78(299):142-157.Dalley S. 1993.  Ancient Mesopotamian gardens and the identification of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon resolved.  Garden History  21(1):1-13.George AR. 1993.  Babylon revisited: archaeology and philology in harness.  Antiquity  67(257):734-746.Jahjah M, Ulivieri C, Invernizzi A, and Parapetti R. 2007.  Archaeological remote sensing application pre-postwar situation of Babylon archaeological site- Iraq.  Acta Astronautica 61:121–130.Reade J. 2000.  Alexander the Great and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  Iraq  62:195-217.Richard S. 2008. ASIA, WEST |  Archaeology of the Near East: The Levant. In: Pearsall DM, editor.  Encyclopedia of Archaeology. New York: Academic Press. p 834-848.Ur J. 2012. Southern Mesopotamia. In: Potts DT, editor.  A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p 533-555.Van de M ieroop M. 2003.  Reading Babylon.  American Journal of Archaeology  107(2):254-275.

Current Events Article Review on Presidency essays

Current Events Article Review on Presidency essays Senates Long Losing Streak on Presidency Could Be Near an End With the unexpected withdrawal of Republican Mitt Romney from the presidential race, the likelihood of a sitting United States senator going straight from Congress to the presidency appears very strong. Chances are that Republican Senator John McCain will face either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, both Democratic Senators, in the upcoming 2008 presidential election Almost 50 U.S. senators have run for the nations highest office, but only Bob Dole, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, John Kerry and John F. Kennedy won their respective partys nomination. The last time that a sitting U.S. senator won the presidency was in 1960, when John F, Kennedy defeated former Senator Richard M. Nixon. Never before have two sitting U.S. senators faced each other head-to-head in the final presidential election race. Previously, the only female senator to run for her partys nomination was Margaret Chase Smith in 1964. Senatorial experience and media exposure have always been considered distinct advantages among presidential candidates, and in that regard, Senator Clinton is the first serious female contender, running on her eight years experience in the white house during President Bill Clintons tenure as President, as well. Senator McCain is a highly decorated war hero and Vietnam veteran with even more experience in government, and a reputation for integrity built on his previous efforts to eliminate questionable campaign funding practices and government waste of federal funds over Senator Obama is the least experienced of the three senators, with only one term under his belt, but is considered a strong candidate who represents change as one of the themes of his platform; he is also the first African Amer ...

Effect of Conquest of America on Europe's relationship with Africa and Essay

Effect of Conquest of America on Europe's relationship with Africa and Asia - Essay Example Each ship that ventured out to the unknown world has gold, territory and glory as objectives for the country it served. When America was discovered, it was found that its natural resources were in abundance and in the flurry of new explorations fueled by the American colonial success, they found Asia and Africa and the new resources that they had to offer, resources that can be easily exploited and easily compliment their interests in the New World. It is in this respect that the African slavery became significant. The mines of Peru and Mexico, the plantations in Brazil and the Caribbean - they required new laborers after the number of indigenous peoples were effectively decimated upon the arrival of the colonizers. According to Crosby (2003), the Andean Inca civilization alone lost more than 8 million of its 9 million indigenous natives (22). During most of the period of colonization of Africa, its main utility for its colonizers were its slaves. Millions of Africans were shipped to the plantations in America and this trade in itself has been a major source of revenue for Portugal. Besides the slaves, however, Africa also supplied ivory, gold, diamonds, cocoa, nut oils and timber. The case of Asian relationship with Europe, the situation is a little more different than the African experience. Unlike the latter, Asia fell to European colonization rather later. It was only after the 1850s wherein the West made some significant headway in colonizing the Far East. This variable contributed to the manner by which the Asian colonies were exploited and administered. For instance, Spain ruled the Philippines through Mexico. Then, Asian slaves were not common while their raw materials produce and other products were either sent to Europe or to Latin America for processing. Britain was also able to milk India dry with its precious stones, spices, tea, and other resources. Asia, somehow, was treated like Latin America, a source of wealth for its masters that wield their power from Europe but not in the degree or manner the Europeans exploited Africa. What the colonization of the Americas, Asia and Africa demonstrated was the fact that these continents became embroiled with some form of globalization especially producing a type of division of labor that we could actually identify as roughly similar to what we have today. One analogy that could probably describe the situation was how other races were exploited in order to enrich and provide for the requirements of the European imperialists. A less emotional description would argue that during the age of colonization, nations became engaged with specialization in goods production and in occupation by their respective peoples, according to the resources of their home countries and their status in the empire that they belong. An important variable that must be underscored in this investigation is the fact that the European hegemony during the Age of Discovery is not mainly driven by the absolute superio rity of the European technologies and weaponry. Spain, for example has risen to its imperial status and consolidated its global

What isnt new about social networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

What isnt new about social networking - Essay Example The tide of advancement hits forcefully so as to blur people’s sight of what is in fact taking place. The argument that the current period is not at the heart of immense and more recurrent development in media technologies opposes the entire fundamental principle of progress that it should be questioned by rational individuals. The notion of ‘social media revolution’ is utterly historical or cultural, because how can one be certain that a condition has transformed, or has evolved, without recognizing its earlier situation or status? It is relevant to provide an analysis of these arguments which are themselves rooted in history; in the cultural and historical conditions enveloping the usage of what could be generally referred to as ‘science’, particularly the science of human communication. This historical knowledge unravels the ‘Information Age’ to be mostly a misapprehension, a rhetorical ploy and a demonstration of technological unaware ness. The mainstream literature on the media and these issues reverberate with images of catastrophe, the same group of occurrences being the foundation of both modes of being dogmatic. This is the context against which this paper discusses more purposely that there is nothing in the historical development of electronic communication technologies to suggest that important large-scale revolutions have not been supported by established social formations. Certainly, it is probable to discern in the historical document not only a more gradual tempo of change than is often proposed but also these continuities in the behavior of transmission and innovation as to propose a paradigm for all these transformations. Replications can be found across this varied continuum of media technologies and across periods of their creation and transmission. For instance, take into account the ways in which blueprints for tools arise, the relevance of science and technology, the connection of ‘trial products’ to ‘innovations’ and the harmony of forces inducing and hampering the technologies (Gripsrud et al. 2010). A paradigm to demonstrate these trends completely expresses the dominance of the social arena as the meeting point of these interactions, activities, orientation, and creation of technological advances. Relevant Literature For many people nowadays, social media refers to Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. However, social media transcends these social networking sites to take account of blogs, wikis, and other specialized applications (Research Technology Management 2011). Social media users do not interact with or consume content. Rather, they produce content, mutually structuring, sharing, editing, tagging, and generating information, reconstructing the inputs of others and taking part in open forums (Clark & Slyke 2006). These are developing media technologies, implying that content and system and even usage arise with application, from the activiti es and requirements of the users. Although open innovation involves an entire array of attempts to expand outside the business firewall, social media can control a formerly inaccessible reservoir of new knowledge and insights: the public. A crowd that is composed of self-reliant members with varied points of view can produce wise decisions and innovative answers, given correct means to amass and disseminate ideas and points of view (Morozov 2011). However social media is not merely an innovative technology mechanism, but a revolution in the function that media technologies

Calculate Young`s modulus Essay Example for Free

Calculate Young`s modulus Essay Thus of course meaning that factors that need to be kept constant must be identified and kept that way. In this scenario I will be isolating Force as my variable. Force is directly related to the load on the wire; only multiplied by the gravitational pull (approx. 9. 81) as the load is measured in Kg as it is a mass. From the equation we can see that a change in Force will indeed affect the extension of the wire, at this stage it is apparent to say that; Theoretically the larger the force the greater the extension according to the equation above, as it is the value that is being divided. Following this it is also imperative that both the Cross sectional area of the wire is indeed accurately measured, as well as remaining constant through out the experiment, as a change in this value would indeed effect the value for Tensile stress, and in turn the extension. The length of the wire must also remain consistent through out the experiment. This is because each unit of wire will stretch or elongate by a proportional amount to the load being applied to it. Thus changing the length of will increase or decrease the amount of units of wire that can be stretched, causing different readings to be measured. The wire will indeed elongate and extend no matter what the length, but for these experimental purposes it is best to be long as explained above to stand a greater chance of measuring it properly. The important thing is to set the length of wire you wish to work with and do not change it. B) Implementing Results, observations and description. Cross sectional diameter of wire Measurement number and degrees of rotation 1/mm 2/mm 3/mm 1/ Average   Calculation of Average wire diameter=Thus the average cross sectional area of the wire is Force = mass 9. 81 ms Table of readings Final length, attempt; Mass/g Mass/Kg Force/N Orig. L/M 1/M 2/M 3/M Mean Extensionnfortunately errors can easily occur in this experiment, the first way of minimizing the percentage error in the experiment is to identify the sources that could cause such a problem; these being. When measuring the extension there are 3 main sources of uncertainty. Meter rule Parallax error   Zero error I plan to minimize these by;   Careful choice of meter rule, as man are bent and warped   Fixing a head and eye position against something so that the parallax error is minimized as I will be looking at the ruler from exactly the same angle. Record results from 0. 0 M   If there is a zero error, take it away from the results. When measuring the weight of the mass the following sources could effect the results; Zero error on the scales Not allowing for the weight of the cradle Simply using the weight that is imprinted on the mass instead of weighting it. I will minimize these sources by selecting my masses carefully and weighing each one separately to find its exact weight, as well as double checking a pair of scales against each other by putting the same weight on both scales to see if there is a zero error. The final measurement source of error is the measurement of the diameter of the wire. This is typically a source of inaccuracy because the wire does vary in cross sectional area, because of the way it was made. This can be accommodated for by measuring the wire extremely accurately with the micrometer, and measuring the wire in three different areas of the length and taking two readings at each of the three points along the wire, twisting it 90 degrees at each point to allow for ovals etc. The average can then be taken and used in the calculations to give a better representation of the wire being used Diagram of ideal and misshapen wire. Observations for experiment conducted on the 14th of December 2002 * At approximately 0930 the equipment was set up and the working area was in suitable condition to go ahead with the experiment as planned. I had two main concerns whilst conducting the experiments, these were of measuring natures, the first of these being that, when measuring the wire with the micrometer it proved initially extremely hard to turn the wire 90 degrees, I quickly remedied this by sticking a label on the wire so that it was clear what angle the wire had to be turned.   The second was that of concerning minimization of the parallax error, this proved to be quite challenging, so we decided to look at the ruler twice each a couple of seconds apart and in what i8 thought was the same position to see if it was a fair test. This way through up different results so we deemed it necessary to have someone stand over the wire and not move until the experiment was finished to minimize this risk.   Another observation I made was that I didnt think we were measuring the extension accurately enough I felt that measuring it to 1mm was far to inaccurate as the extension as will be seen by the graphs was minimal, I will mention this point heavily in the Evaluating.   The equipment was packed away and the experiment was completed within the hour.   I observed a changing in mass or load on the wire and no change in any of the identified variables. C Analyzing Evidence and Drawing Conclusions. Force/N Area/M Sress/Nm (Pa) Length/M Extension/M Strain Youngs modulus 1 The stress was simple to calculate as it simply meant dividing the force by the area, as so; The strain is a simple ratio it involves dividing theextension by the length; Thus the youngs modulus can be found for every plotted point separately on the graph; this is done by dividing the stress by the strain. As I predicted earlier the material obeys hookes law and froms a straight line through the origin until the elastic limit is reached. As well as we can calculate the extension from the gradient of the graph because its equal to L / EA. When a material obeys Hookes law, then its force, extension graph is a straight line through the origin (see graph). This is only the case up to the proportional limit. The graph being a graph of force against extension, the area is the energy stored in the wire. As the equation of the graph is F=kx, the equation of the area is . From the graph we can say that as the load increases on the wire the extension also increases proportionally, up to a certain point known as the elastic limit, this is because it is obeying kooks law as described above, and for this material whilst under low load the strain is proportional to the stress.. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

netherlands :: essays research papers

Netherlands Location: Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany Geographic coordinates: 52 30 N, 5 45 E Map references: Europe Area: total: 41,526 sq km land: 33,883 sq km water: 7,643sqkmArea - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey Land boundaries: total: 1,027 km bordercountries:Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km Coastline: 451 km Maritime claims: exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM Climate: temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters Terrain: mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast Elevation extremes: lowest point: Prins Alexanderpolder -7 m highest point: Vaalserberg 321 m Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, arable land Land use: arable land: 25% permanent crops: 3% permanent pastures: 25% forests and woodland: 8% other: 39% (1996 est.) Irrigated land: 6,000 sq km (1996 est.) Natural hazards: flooding Environment - current issues: water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental signed, but not ratified: Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol Geography - note: located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Schelde) Netherlands People Top of Page Population: 15,981,472 (July 2001 est.) Age structure: 0-14 years: 18.38% (male 1,501,925; female 1,436,017) 15-64 years: 67.9% (male 5,518,575; female 5,333,442) 65 years and over: 13.72% (male 899,052; female 1,292,461) (2001 est.) Population growth rate: 0.55% (2001 est.) Birth rate: 11.85 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) Death rate: 8.69 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) Net migration rate: 2.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.) under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.) Infant mortality rate: 4.37 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) Life expectancy at birth: total population: 78.43 years male: 75.55 years female: 81.44 years (2001 est.) Total fertility rate: 1.65 children born/woman (2001 est.) HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.19% (1999 est.) HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 15,000 (1999 est.) HIV/AIDS - deaths: 100 (1999 est.) Nationality: noun: Dutchman(men), Dutchwoman(women) adjective: Dutch Ethnic groups: Dutch 91%, Moroccans, Turks, and other 9% (1999 est.) Religions: Roman Catholic 31%, Protestant 21%, Muslim 4.4%, other 3.6%, unaffiliated 40% (1998) Languages: Dutch total population: 99% (2000 est.

Full Time Job Narrative Essay

I had just graduated from high school; a typical Santa Barbara local, with ambitions of attending SBCC. I always did fairly well in school, but was definitely more concerned with how the waves were breaking, instead how of my grades were. That all changed on June 15th. I got a call from a family friend asking if I would be interested in a summer job at a shipping warehouse in Carpinteria. My parents had been nagging me day in and day out to get a summer job, so this seemed so perfect. I accepted the job and my friend let me know I should show up at 7:30 Monday morning for my first day of work. That Monday morning, I woke up late and stumbled out of bed, threw on some clothes and was out the door with no time for breakfast. I will never forget that car ride down to Carpinteria, and the anxious feelings I felt in my stomach. My mind was racing in a million different directions and I really had no idea what I was in for. Pulling up to the warehouse, I remember the cold wind blowing across my face, the distinct smell of ocean heavy in the air, and the flapping of the State Park flags in the distance. The job description my friend gave me over the phone didn’t really stress how labor intensive it would be, so my first day I was in for quite a surprise. All day I was packing and carrying 60-70 lbs packages and not a minute went by where I didn’t regret taking my new job offer. Much to my surprise, my coworkers were all much older than me, and it was somewhat depressing to see people my parents and grandparents age doing such laborious work. One of my coworkers was an older woman named Maria, who sort of acted like the â€Å"mother† around facility. She didn’t speak the best of English, but despite that, we quickly became friends, and shortly thereafter Maria began giving me all sorts of advice and pointers she thought would benefit me in life. Once she found out how old I was, she asked what my plans for school were. I let her know school wasn’t something I was too worried about but that I would be attending City College in the fall. The look on her face was unforgettable. She looked back at me and said â€Å"Sammy, School is the most important thing in your life†. Maria went on to say â€Å"look around you; all these people have sad expressions on their faces. They didn’t have the opportunity you are blessed with. You need to realize school will lead you to a more successful and happy life. â€Å"That day on the drive home I looked out at the ocean and thought how nice it would be to have zero obligations anymore and just be able to hangout at the beach. It was at that moment that I actually realized that any dream is completely unachievable without vision, determination and hard work. After my three months were up, my mindset towards school had completely changed. Maria’s words burned into my head that -I no longer thought of myself as a lazy surfer who just wanted the bare minimum, but rather as a determined young student. School used to seem like an inevitable obstacle you had to endure, but now I truly see the importance and value of an education. While I admired the work ethic of the people I worked with in the warehouse, I know that through higher education, there is better future for me.