Boot Camp: A Story of Success

It has been a week since our last day of Work Success Boot Camp. This Saturday was different; I woke up and found out that I do not have training like I used to have every Saturday. It was a sad feeling; I just wished the Boot Camp did not come to an end. The story started when I applied to the Boot Camp through Amideast website. Bank of Beirut, the funder of the workshop, called me a month later to inform me about my selection to attend the Boot Camp. The period of the Boot Camp was from February 18 until March 17, 2012. The camp consisted of 25 members selected from different backgrounds, universities, and locations. Moreover, the trainers were completely awesome: Aya, Rana, Robert, and Chris gave us, from the bottom of their hearts, a big push forward in our professional careers. Some topics covered during the Boot Camp are: Brand You, Presentation Skills, Personality Assessment, Time Management, Communication Skills, Interviewing Skills, Networking, and much more… Personally, the part that was most beneficial to me is the public speaking part. I cannot forget the exercise about going to Beirut Souk and interviewing people separately and independently; I never thought I might do such a thing in my life. However, I was surprised about how easy it was for me. I did not feel nervous at all; but in fact, I interviewed more people than I was requested to interview. To sum up, the experience was wonderful. It was the correct place to understand the behavior of different people and their different personalities. At universities, we cannot go deep inside each classmate and understand how he thinks. So now, I have more experience about the diversity and the uniqueness of each one of us. I wish I will always have the chance for such accomplishment through my life.

EARTHQUAKE AWARNESS

I-             What is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is the shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane.

II-            Can we predict an Earthquake?

An earthquake is a sudden release of energy stored by the movement of plates which means we cannot predict the time, magnitude, and location of an earthquake.

Moreover, we have to keep in mind that most death and destruction in an earthquake are caused by collapse of man-made construction. Therefore, we should be aware of the steps to take before, during, and after an earthquake.

III-           What to do BEFORE an Earthquake?

·         Identify the safest place in your apartment

·         Prepare an emergency supply kit

·         Teach yourself and all family members what to do due an earthquake and the emergency phone numbers (such as 112, etc..) 

IV-          What to do DURING an Earthquake?

·         STAY CALM!!!

      ·         If you are indoors:    - Stay away from windows and falling objects
                                               - In bed, cover your head with your pillow
                                              - Hide under sturdy furniture such as heavy tables

·         If you are outdoors:  -If you are driving, stop in a safe area 

                                          -Go away from buildings, trees, electrical lines

-If under debris, cover your mouth with your cloths

V-           What to do AFTER an Earthquake?

·         Expect after shock waves and keep yourself safe

·         Stay away from damaged areas

·         Help injured and trapped people

·         Listen to a battery operated radio

Jane Eyre: The Strange Ending

Strangely, the ending of Jane Eyre is not about Jane herself or her marriage with Rochester. Brontë describes in the last chapter of the book the happy marriage of Jane and Mr. Rochester and how they had a children and Mr. Rochester recovered his sight in one eye. However, Brontë ended the novel by a letter sent from St. John in India to Jane in which he declares a premonition of his death after he has done his life mission as a missionary in India. Brontë used words from Revelation 22:20 as the last paragraph in the book: “'My Master,' he says, 'has forewarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly, "Surely I come quickly" and hourly I more eagerly respond, "Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus" '” (Brontë, 1847, p.521). This is a very weird ending of a novel that has been more about self-identification, love finding, and ethics than about religion. So why does the story move away from the plot of marriage towards the death of St. John at the very end of the novel?

A first interpretation could be that that Brontë wanted to show what could have happened to Jane if she went with her cousin to India and forgot about her love to Mr. Rochester. St. John had the chance to fall in love with Ms. Oliver but he didn’t believe that love can exist with religion at the same time; as a result, he sacrificed his own happiness with Ms. Oliver in order to go to India where he lived lonely and worked his self out to death. Jessica Richard confirms that Brontë wanted to show what could have happened to Jane by saying: “Though the romantic solution to Jane's choice-of-life inquiry is reinstated, the religious solution remains prominent in the novel's conclusion. Indeed, the novel ends not with Jane the narrator's words, but with St. John's. This substitute authorial voice unsettles the romantic idyll that Jane describes at the end because it continues to suggest that the narrative, and Jane herself, could have followed a different path entirely.” (Richard, 2003, p.351). So Jane chose to live a joyous life with Mr. Rochester rather than going to India with St. John and work herself out to death.

A second interpretation could be that Brontë ended the novel with the story of St. John in order to attack and criticize evangelism and the Victorian father since Brontë has lived in the Victorian era. Richard Chase describes the relation between St. John and Patrick Brontë, the father of Charlotte, as following: “St. John Rivers in his tyrannical evangelism, his cold, harsh dominance, his torpid Christian love-making is Mr. Brontë père.” (Chase, 1947, p.489). Throughout the novel, Brontë presents several characters to criticize religion, especially evangelism, such as Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John; however, the novel ended with St. John story since he was the most complex character in the novel. St. John represents the extreme case of evangelism in which he sacrifices his own happiness, love, and life to his duty as a clergy man.

Despite being one of the most interesting and famous British novels, Jane Eyre has one of the most disputed endings in literature. The novel might be ended with St. John death to show us what could have been happened to Jane, or to criticize and attack religion. No one explanation for this ending, yet Brontë forced the readers to think more about it after closing the book.      

References

Brontë, C. (1847). Jane Eyre. The Penguin edition.

Chase, R. (1947). The Brontës: A Centennial Observance (Reconsiderations VIII).

      The Kenyon Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Autumn, 1947), pp. 487-506. Retrieved from

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332879

Richard, J. (2003). "I Am Equally Weary of Confinement": Women Writers
       and "Rasselas" from "Dinarbas to Jane Eyre". Tulsa Studies in Women's
       Literature, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 335-356. Retrieved from

       http://www.jstor.org/stable/20059156

First Things First

First Things First is a self-help book written by Stephen Covey and Roger & Rebecca Merrill. The book aims to teach us how to put our first things first trough a time management system and defining the priorities in our lives. This excellent book had a real impact on my life, and I always recommend it to people who are willing to make their lives more effective.

Surveys show that the purpose of life for the majority of us is to live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.  "First Things First" is a great assistant for all of us to balance our mental, spiritual, physical, and social elements of life. Stephen Covey explains through the book that most people are driven by the concept of urgency. In order to be more effective and relieve our stresses, we need to adjust our concepts to the concept of important – not urgent. This means moving our lives to the Quadrant II activity of the quadrant matrix for importance and urgency (Check the quadrant under the review).  The results of properly dedicating ourselves to Quadrant 2 activity are that we will gain control over what is happening in our lives: we will thereby reduce the time we spend in Quadrant 1. Are you wondering where to find time for the activity in Quadrant 2? Of course it must come from Quadrants 3 and 4 by minimizing or eliminating the time you spend there.

At the end, as Covey reminds us in “The Miracle of the Chinese Bamboo Tree”, when a bamboo tree is first planted, all growth for the first four years occurs underground, but in its fifth year the bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet. With this book we can help ourselves develop the roots we need to grow in the years ahead.

The four quadrant matrix for importance and urgency

Jane Eyre (Book vs. Film)

After reading Jane Eyre book carefully and watching the movie (2011), I see myself able to compare the two of them and give my own opinion. Jane Eyre is an English novel written by Charlotte Brontë and published in London in 1847, known one of the best English novels. Off all the novels I have read, it is one of the most interesting, striking, original, and vigorous novels. "Jane Eyre" the 2011 British romantic drama movie, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, is a nice and smart adaptation of the classic novel; it closely follows the basic storyline. However, as a person who has lived with the novel for three weeks, I couldn’t but dislike the movie and prefer with no doubt the book.

On one hand, the movie by itself is a very interesting movie; the flashback technique used at the beginning of the film added something new to the story by changing the order of events and creating a mystery that attracts the spectators. On the other hand, the starters aren't exactly as expected; Jane is being a prettier person than what is described in the story with her soft skin and nice look. The same goes for Rochester who is a bit more handsome than what is described in the story; we can also mention here that the big difference in age between the two of them wasn’t really obvious in the film. Honestly, although the film is wonderful, but it can't be compared to the novel's greatness. The novel is a first-person narrative of the title character; through the story I could read what Jane has in her mind, the way she analyses everything around her, and the way she describes what she is suffering from. However, the movie omitted the thoughts of Jane, her politics, her beliefs, and her feminism. In the film of "Jane Eyre", the major themes presented in the book are barely shown such as searching for love and identity, and most importantly the attack on religion and female imprisonment that were major issues for Brontë especially in the 19^th century. Moreover, Charlotte Brontë is simply a great writer who has been known well for her wonderful sense of description. The description used in every single chapter of the novel is wonderful and intelligent, what made the story interesting from the first chapter; it made me live completely with the story and gave me a feeling as if I'm observing the scenes in front of me. However, watching the movie will never give you that sense or that pleasure, it just tells us the entire key events in the novel which raises a big question in my mind: how fair is it to summarize a 521 pages novel in a two hours movie? And could it be the same interesting? The movie had to omit some  some information that are interesting to me, such as that St. John and his sisters were Jane's cousins and the role of Grace Pool or the real violence of Bertha Mason, most probably because the writer of the film couldn’t include every single event of the novel in the movie. In addition, some characters were also omitted from the movie such as Miss temple who has a big role in the searching for love theme for Jane, we can also mention Rosamond Oliver who is attracted to St. John and how Jane tried to convince St. John to propose to her since she loves him. Yet, there was a big discrepancy at the end of the movie that I didn’t like and it makes difference to me; Mr. Rochester recovers his sight in one eye after two years in the book which made it a happy ending comparing to the film ending where he has been left blind for the rest of his life. However, he didn’t lose his arm in the movie since the passionate touching through the scenes is really important for the producer of the film as he said in an interview with him. Personally, I prefer the fact of having one eye and one arm instead of two arms only.  

"The masterwork of a great genius" that’s what William Thackeray said about the book of Jane Eyre. Personally, I see it unfair to make a film of Jane Eyre since it takes away a big part of the beauty of the novel. I believe it could be much better to produce the story of Jane Eyre as series with a minimum of twenty episodes. However, for a person who is not willing to read the big novel, "Jane Eyre" would be a nice and interesting movie to watch and would describe what the novel is about.  

Jane Eyre "Penguin Classics"

"The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect my self"

Orphaned Jane Eyre up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she takes a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre (1874) dazzled and shocked readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.

Spanish Inquisition favorite method of torture !

A-  Garrucha: similar to strappado, it is a type of torture in which the victim's hands are attached behind their back and hanged in the air by means of a cord attached to wrists, which will dislocate both arms.

Garrucha

B- Toca: it is a type of torture in which water is discharged on the victim’s covered face in order to experience the feeling of drowing.

Toca

C- Potro: it is a type of torture in which the victim sleeps naked on a bedlike frame, strapped, and tightened by the aid of wheels to cause pain.

Potro

Source: http://conservapedia.com/Spanish_Inquisition

Auto-da-fé ! Have you ever heard about it ?

An auto-da-fé is a Portuguese word meaning “Act of faith”. It was held in Spain for the first time in February 6, 1481. Auto-da-fé is one kind of the Spanish Inquisition verdicts and it became rare on the 18^th century only. It was a kind of public ceremony divided into two parts; the first part where there was a condemnation to the accused persons by the Inquisition, and the second part where execution by fine takes place by the civil authorities. Accused people who refused to admit their misconducts were burned alive! An auto-da-fé held in Lisbon in 1755 was mentioned by François-Marie Arouet Voltaire in his French satire “Candide”.

Sources: http://www.christianity.com/ChurchHistory/11629890/

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/candide3.asp