Lawrence v. Texas

In 1998, John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner were arrested in Texas for having consensual sex in Lawrence’s bedroom. Lawrence and Garner were charged and convicted under Texas "Homosexual Conduct" law, which provided that a "person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex."[1] In a lengthy series of appeals, the lower courts refused to overturn the law, citing Bowers v. Hardwick as precedent [2]. They finally appealed to the US Supreme Court, arguing that the Homosexual Conduct Law was unconstitutional because it discriminated against homosexuals in violation of the right to privacy and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, which heard the case in the spring of 2003 [3].

The Supreme Court ruled that no state has the right to prohibit any sexual conduct between consenting adults [4]. The court ruled that the Homosexual Conduct law was unconstitutional and the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause because that clause protects a substantive right to personal liberty in intimate decisions [5]. The Court argued that its decision in Bowers was misguided. At issue here was not "the right to engage in homosexual sodomy" but "the right to privacy in the home" and the right to freely engage in consensual, adult sex." [6]

The Lawrence decision is one the most momentous pro-individual rights decisions ever adjudicated by Court, and joins the exalted ranks of the Court's other benchmark decisions advancing human rights [7]. It was very important to establish the consensual and private homosexual sex is part of a substantive right to liberty as protected by the Constitution. Second thing, Lawrence held that "fundamental rights" are really broad principles of liberty under which numerous and disparate activities may be protected. This decision protected the privacy of the bedroom and renewed the Court's power to identify individual rights above and beyond those historically protected under the law [8].

The Supreme Court declared all sodomy laws unconstitutional, putting an end to the sodomy laws that remained on the books in 13 states at the time of the ruling, including laws that criminalized only same-sexual conduct and laws that criminalized oral and anal sex irrespective of the sex of the participants [9]. The Court also reversed Bowers v. Hardwick; its 1986 decision that upheld Georgia’s sodomy law on reasoning that had been extraordinarily harmful to gay people’s struggles both for liberty and equality [10]. The decision’s sweeping language about gay people’s equal rights to liberty marked a new era of legal respect for the LGBT community.

__________________

[1] Lawrence v. Texas – case brief summary. Retrieved from http://www.lawnix.com/cases/lawrence-texas.html

[2] Ibid

[3] Lawrence v. Texas (2003). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/future/landmark_lawrence.html

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Lawrence v. Texas. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/lawrence-v-texas

[8] Wilkes, D. (n.d.) Lawrence v. Texas: An historic human rights victory. Retrieved from http://www.law.uga.edu/dwilkes_more/47lawrence.html

[9] Lawrence v. Texas, five years later. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/publications/downloads/impact_200806_lawrence-v-texas.pdf

[10] Ibid

Synergy and the team process

It was about 10 years ago when I was in Nepal, I as well as some of my friends had started a group and formed a social organization, named LSO-Nepal. It was a voluntary group. And with in a month, we decided to conduct a cultural program. But none member had the experience on such program and also we had to collect budget for the program. As compared in United States, it is difficult to organize such kind of cultural program in under developed countries.

We were just 7 executive members. We call the surrounding young people to discuss about the program and make a plan to get it done successfully. That meeting decided an outline for the program and also created 7 different kinds of sub-committees under the executive member's leadership and each sub-committee got the specific job and responsibilities, like sound system department, tent and decoration department, dance department, fund raising department and so on. We were very excited and highly motivated for the program. Now we became 35 members including sub-committee members. We used to work more than 15 hours a day, but still we felt very fresh. Every evening we had meeting for briefing. Because of work division, there was less chances of failure in any task. And finally program was completed very successful as we expected.

Most part our team work was very close to the stages of group working provided by Tuckman and Jensen. As described in stages, we also made a plan describing the goals and steps to accomplish our goals. Same way sub-committees are created in order to lead the different section or department of the program.

       I love and enjoy working with team. Teams can create better communication and respectful relationship. Team makes the working environment very comfortable and also helps to get motivated. I like working in group, and if it is related to public concern, I really love it. And I always expect and like to do leading role in a team.

Energy Management

Personal energy comes from within. Managing personal energy in proper way helps to get the work done very easily and effectively. A healthy, optimize, creative, curious, responsible and motivated thinking creates a productive energy. And a productive energy is a key way to get successful life.

Usually I plan, organize the information and prioritize the steps to get work done. I am curious person, but if it is new thing and I have not done before, definitely I collect information, read a manual or get complete idea, and then try that. I have some multiple task experiences. About 8 years ago I was a school teacher in a middle school (in Nepal). At the same time I was taking my collage classes. I was working as a secretary in a local community group, so I had to attend the meeting and social activities too. And also I was taking a tuition class at evening. I was very busy at that time. To get all works done, I made my daily work schedule because time management is the first important factor to get the stuff done. Second thing, I felt enjoy doing my job as well as my social and school activities and it was the key to complete my responsibility successfully. I am currently working on my two online classes, my 7 day's combat support job, and also have family stress. But still I am motivated; organizing my personal efforts, organizing time, prioritizing the work and motivated mind helping me to get my all works done.

In conclusion, all the people have their own inner personal energy. Somehow it is also affected by external factors, like physical and mental health, family and society, environment etc. But most part it depends on own. So always stay motivated, manage your personal stresses, get focused on your goal, breakdown and prioritize your work, manage time as your work priority and go ahead, success is waiting for you.   

Essay writing styles

Writing style depends on what you are writing like research paper, essay, case study, book, journal etc. and it also depends on what subject it belongs to, for instance, medical, humanities, social sciences, literature, Psychology, Business, and so on. There are APA, MLA and some other writing styles which have created some writing standards that can use to format and cite sources for the paper. These styles help to avoid plagiarism by properly crediting sources.

Currently I am working on my Transportation and Logistics Management; probably I will continue this subject till my master’s degree at APUS. To be honest, I never know about writing styles and their types, citing styles, their roles and importance to make a complete and good writing before joining APUS. And also I want to let you know APUS is my first school in United States. This week, I search and try to understand different writing styles, their uses and importance. As I understand now, most of my writings are APA styles. My major courses prefer APA style writing. Most part I will be using APA format and style during my study time at APUS, but it depends on what style professor recommends. I feel much better and effective citation style in Chicago Style, which allows footnotes or in-text citations, where APA only allows in-text citations. And also Chicago style is different in its header style; APA requires a running title to the left of the page number on each page, Chicago Style list the page number only.

In conclusion, APA writing style popular and widely using for documenting essays, term papers, journal articles, and other academic and professional writing. There some more writing styles like MLA, AAA, ASA, Chicago etc. but most of the instructor and professors recommends APA style to the student for their academic writing. So I also will follow APA style writing during my study at APUS.

References:

Morse, G. (2009). Faculty Application of the American Psychological Association Style. Journal Of Nursing Education, 48(10), 542-551.
American Psychological Association (n.d.) Basics of APA Style, Retrieved 02 July 2012, from http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm Brain Scott(n.d.), The Differences Between Chicago (Turabian) Style and APA Style of Writing, Retrieved 02 July 2012, from http://www.isnare.com/?aid=343340&ca=Writing

Making the Most of Your Time

Most students find that their greatest challenge in adjusting to college life and to succeeding in the classroom is in managing their time effectively. Adult students deal with the additional issues of child care, family, work and home responsibilities.

When managing your time, it is very important to setup your priorities. What is most important in your class or most important in your life? Set your priorities and get the most important ones done as soon as you can and evaluate your progress at the end of each the day briefly.

In my case, first I setup my goals and priorities. Then after I calculate available time and breakdown the time for each task and carry out the activity around my schedule. It is better to make daily schedule but because of my job nature it is really hard to accomplish my daily goals. Currently I am taking 2 classes; I have my regular supply job, most of time I need to do mission essential job and some time emergency too. It is not big deal to manage time for my classes and regular job, if mission essential and emergency happens; it is really hard to maintain my schedule. I have a weekly calendar with my daily high priority work with dark red color, moderate priority with blue color and low priority with green color. My daily activities go through my priority level.

Remember, time is a special resource that you cannot store or save for later use. Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. Time not well used cannot be retrieved. You become more productive if you manage your time effectively, and can accomplish more with less effort and time. Time management can help you reduce wasted time and energy, help you become more creative and productive, and enable you to do the right thing at the right time.

Personal Essays vs. Research Papers

A research paper addresses a specific question. It is based on research and mainly present and defend an argument. A research paper requires gathering information, developing and organizing ideas and finally putting those ideas into a conclusion. Where as an essay is a piece of writing, usually from an author's personal point of view. An essay is focused on one question and whole essay is written to answer that question. Essays are generally shorter and contain 3 to 5 paragraphs.

At first, research papers and personal essays are different in their size, research papers are typically much longer. A research paper need others views to prove a certain stance but an essay is largely dependent upon one’s own thoughts and experiences. A research paper analyzes and argues a point with the support of relevant evidences, while an essay serves to answer a question.

A good research paper should have some important attributes. First of all, the purpose of research should be clear and should not have double or more meaning. Simplicity and originality are other two important attributes. To ensure that readers are able to understand exactly what the paper is about, it is important to keep the research statement specific. A research should discover a new idea and it should be of interest to others who work in the same scientific area. And research papers also should be truthful, relevant, well organized, resourceful and complete.

A complete research paper must have some basic requirements. A title page with title of research, author's name, date, and school/university is one of the main requirements of a research paper. Some others are: a good abstract, introduction part: generally introduction moves from a broad area of interest to the specific hypotheses, method part: it provides a description of the study methodology, result section: a clear description of statistics, finding/discussion part and the reference part.

Reference:

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~adelamor/research_paper.htm
http://www.termpaperscorner.com/blog/difference-between-a-research-paper-and-an-essay/
http://www.termpaperscorner.com/blog/difference-between-a-research-paper-and-an-essay/
http://www.bcctg.com/css104/ho40-research%20paper%20vs%20essay.pdf

My learning style

Learning style is the way you tend to learn best. It involves your preferred method of taking in, organizing, and making sense of information. Learning styles do not tell us about a person's abilities or intelligence, but they can help us understand why some tasks seem easier for us than others.

“Learning style is sometimes defined as the characteristic cognitive, affective, social, and physiological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment.” (MacKeracher, 2004).

Everyone has a mix of learning styles.  Learners differ in their abilities, interests, and background knowledge and also may have different learning preferences. Some learners remember best materials they have seen (Visual Learner); some remember things they have heard (Auditory Learner), while others remember things they have experienced (Tactile Learner). Many children prefer tactile stimulation when young but will eventually switch to another learning style. Often children rely on others for direction during the learning process and their learning is future-oriented and mostly they depend on their parents to design their learning. Unlike young learners, adult are self-directed learners who are involved actively in the decide-making process regarding what to learn and how to learn it; and they validates the information based on personal beliefs and past experiences. Psychologist Abraham Maslow categories human needs into hierarchical levels in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation": physiological needs; safety needs; needs of love, affection and belongingness; needs for esteem; and needs for self-actualization. These levels influence the motivation of adults to learn.

In Conclusion, learners have to find out their best learning preference so they can learn very easy and natural way. Once you know your own natural learning preference, you can work on expanding the way you learn, so that you can learn in other ways, not just in your preferred style. And, by understanding learning preferences, you can learn to create an environment in which everyone can learn from you, not just those who use your preferred style.

Reference

1. http://www.learningrx.com/learning-styles.htm
2. http://adulteducation.wikibook.us/index.php?title=Learning_Styles
3. http://berryslearningstyles.com/generalLS.cfm
4. http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/September-October%202010/the-myth-of-learning-full.html
5. Learn More Now, Marcia L. Conner, 2004

Managing Time as an Adult Learner

In high school years school was the primary concern. Teacher provides the proper learning environment; parents take care for school materials, food and other personal needs. Still felt like not enough time for school work. This is opposite to an adult learner. As an adult learner other responsibility becomes the first priority. It is especially hard when they have a family to care for and household responsibilities too. Family care becomes primary concern for them. At the same time they deal with financial responsibilities too. Also as a member of society, they have to conscious on their social responsibilities.

Most adult learners find their greatest challenge in life is in managing time effectively. Besides the study, many adult learners deal with the issues of child and family care, job and financial responsibilities, and housework and social responsibilities. An adult learner needs to allocate his time to spouse, children and immediate social circles without any question. At the same time they has financial responsibilities, so they require to find job and need to spend huge portion of time on work. Also an adult learner struggles with health issues, marriage and divorce, buying new house, children and their education, losing job and so on. And also being a parent, they need to allocate their time for children and have to calmly listen their children's amazing-amazing talks and need to answer them. That’s why; many adults never think that they can manage their time for education along with so many responsibilities. Because of so many responsibilities, time management becomes harder and cause to contemplate giving up their dreams at one point or another. According to a research report, 68% of adult students allocate their time for job outside of study, same way 85% adults do housework, 41% childcare, 23% adult care and 17% homework and internships (Kinsela, 1998). This result at least can show how adults are juggling different responsibilities and why they need a good time management skills. Lack of proper time management skill, they spends large portion of their time in less priority activities and they miss their prime work. Managing all these responsibilities and study at the same time can be a difficult balancing act. It is important to maintain a good balance among study, work and other responsibilities. A good time management skill can help to organize and maintain a healthy balance among all of these activities.

Adult learners need to learn how their time should be managed perfectly as they need to allocate time for their work and study behind their so many responsibilities. The family support, understanding and encouragement will definitely help to get success on learning activities as well as other responsibilities. It is very important to maintain a good relationship with family members while taking the time to study. So that responsibilities and tasks can be shared and can create good learning environment. And also it is very important to create such environment so that spouse and other family members can feel and understand the future benefits that the family will gain when the studies completed. It will be better to have a family study time. This will help to keep schedule structured to get studies completed and at the same time will help children with their studies as well. This will also be promoting good habits for children's future.

Planning is a fundamental part of managing time. So that another very important step is setting up a simple schedule or timetable using a weekly calendar to plan activities, study requirements, assessments, family and job activities and other commitments. Some people prefer daily calendar and some weekly, it depends on personal preference. But it is recommended to make weekly calendar and create a daily exceptional notes or to do list. This will help the adult learner to allocate the time for specific tasks and show the places where they have extra hours they can use for studying. Setting a priority against each is important in helping achieve goals rather than being overwhelmed by what you have to do. If there are conflicts among the various demands, it needs to give greater consideration to prime goals. An adult learner needs to avoid the conflicts among study, work and other responsibilities. At the same time the most prime task can be break down to smaller unit tasks so that it will be very specific to achieve the goal. Review weekly calendar daily and create a daily 'To Do' list for the next day will help to organize time and show what need to accomplish the next day. Motivation is another factor which helps the people get organized and focused on goals. It is very important not to lose energy by gathering thoughts to begin again. Motivation with good time management skills will help adults to gather the personal energy and that will be very great to achieve the target. And also adult learners need proper rest to concentrate on task. Work, study, travel and other so many responsibilities makes mind stressful, and stressful mind cannot generate the productive thoughts, so break or rest is required to refresh mind.

Time management is the key to maintain balance between study and other activities. All personal activities will be goal oriented. A good time management skill provides a healthy balance among work, study and family. A successful time management provides a clear understanding of what to do and when to do, and helps to setup the goals and prioritize the activities. That’s why, time management is very important to avoid the spending time in unnecessary activities. It also helps to focus on most urgent work and have a deadline for completion. It may limit the time for family, friends and other relatives, but it will be very organized. There will be no chances to forget or miss any important or high priority work, such as assessment, test or any family or personal work. Once all activities are organized, people start to think about future career and study, and that will make life more productive. People will not be stressed and rushing tasks, due to lack of time. An adult learner can find new opportunity with good time management skills. Time management makes possible and comfortable to continue their education along with their family and financial responsibilities.

Time is a limited resource, once the task is missed, it is missed, time never comes back and it cannot be accumulated. In the highly competitive and fast pace world, there is a pressing need to learn how to manage time as efficiently as possible. For an adult learner it is amazing tool to get focused and organized. A good time management contributes to success of an adult learner. It allows individuals to spend time doing the things that they really enjoy. Time management organizes school works as well as family responsibilities, so that life quality will be improved. They will get more done in less time. And finally they will get happy, healthy and balanced life.

References

Blaxter, L., & Tight, M. (1994). Juggling with time: How adults manage their time for lifelong education. Studies in the Education of Adults. 26(2), 162.

Hoare, C. (2006). Handbook of adult development and learning. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

Steinbach, R. (2000). Successful lifelong learning. Ten tactics for today and tomorrow revised edition of the adult learner. Melo Park, CA. Crisp Publications

Simpson University. (n.d.). Tips for Adult Students. Retrieved from http://www.simpson.edu/hawley/study/adult.html