Internship Sample Essay Example for Free

Internship Sample Essay I decided to do the internship for the BAS Supervision and Management program in my own employment site. Florida International University (FIU) is an American public research university in Greater Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park in Miami-Dade County. It is classified as a research university with high research activity by the Carnegie Foundation and a first-tier research university by the Florida Legislature. Founded in 1965, FIU is the youngest university to be awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the countrys oldest academic honor society. FIU belongs to the 12-campus State University System of Florida and is one of Floridas primary graduate research universities, awarding over 3,400 graduate and professional degrees annually. The university offers 191 programs of study with more than 280 majors in 23 colleges and schools. FIU offers many graduate programs, including architecture, business administration, engineering, law, and medicine, offering 81 masters degrees, 34 doctoral degrees, and 3 professional degrees. FIU is the largest university in South Florida, the 2nd-largest in Florida, and the 7th-largest in the United States. Total enrollment in 2012 was 50,394 students, including 14,177 graduate students, and 2,974 full-time faculty with over 180,000 alumni around the world. In 2012, FIUs research expenditure was $104.6 million, with an endowment of $140 million. The university has an annual budget of $1.07 billion. 1.Managing Schedules a.Establishing consistency can be a challenge b.Challenges with staff that have same schedule c.Rotating schedules d.Accrued Time i.Making sure there is coverage ii.Vacation and Sick Time 2.HR Issues a.When to escalate a situation b.HR Department c.Department Head 3.Morale a.How to improve/maintain 4.Managing Projects a.Different than regular duties. They are usually a one-time or more strategic in nature. 5.Regular Duties a.Job description in daily tasks 6.Staff Meetings a.Consistent b.Solutions oriented 7.Staff Activities a.Lunches/Birthdays 8.Interviews a.Knowing how to ask the right question b.Reading resume c.Testing 9.Culture and how it affects management styles and employees 10.Follow Up a.Importance of following up with the staff 11.Top down management a.Impact from the top 12.Professional development for staff a.Giving them the opportunity 13.Policies a.Reading, learning, knowing where to find them 14.Managing your Supervisor a.Characters b.Patience c.Support 15.You are a reflection of your staff As per a discussion with my supervisor, I will be following instructions and helping her in the performance of all those tasks.

Youth Cultures Able To Incite Moral Panics Media Essay

Youth Cultures Able To Incite Moral Panics Media Essay So what the media produces is what the public wants to here. The intensification of the medias articles on subjects are ready-made and they have usually an emotional and far reaching opinion about what should be done. Again Cohen says these are (Cohen, 1980: p 199) the moral barricades are manned by editors, bishops, politicians and other right-thinking people; socially accredited experts pronounce their diagnoses and solutions Really what we mean is that if there is a potential to threaten social order then currently Youth Culture is probably the number one culprit. Looking into the Mods and Rockers era of the 1960s the media was criticised for over-reacting. Reporting huge clashes with young out of control teenagers who were only there for one thing and that was to fight and cause as much chaos and havoc on the beaches of many resorts throughout the UK. Eamonn Walsh (2009) I predict a riot: Panorama on Mods and Rockers [Online Image] Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/panorama/2009/05/i_predict_a_riot_panorama_on_m.html ( Accessed 10 November 2010) In fact many of them liked to have a day out in their particular youth culture. What the public saw as a riot was seen by the Mods and Rockers as having a good time. Moral Panic therefore can be seen as a perception it can define certain criteria and characteristics of modern day social problems. These problems emerge from time to time and can be directed by the media into their judgement on what the answer or remedy should be. In fact this can increase in intensity and ceased upon by so called specialists or experts, that will maintain that particular theme of contemporary youth culture at the time and make it into a frenzy. So it is easy to see that Moral Panics are reactions to perceived threats. So how can I liken an event in the same way in these days. Since the election the Conservative and Liberal parties have shown their own government figures that (D. Martin August 2010) more than 100,000 young people are living on benefit. What the government are saying is that up to 75% of claimants are able to work and are not sick at all. They can use the figures to blame the outgoing government and create a modern incitement into the current youth, this in turn invokes a moral panic. One M.P was even quoted as saying (Mr Grayling M.P) These figures are a sad indictment. and I am shocked at the challenge we now face. The public are now seeing that many young people are living of benefits that they are paying from their taxes. This clearly can show some intense responses gathering momentum to hysterical effects. This is in many ways is an exaggerated perception that the Coalition wish to cover as a social issue and need the public reaction to be expressed in outrage. But at the same time giving the impression that they are best suited to be able to overcome this fear and do something about it and get young people back into the working environment. Moving on to a slightly different tack, but still using the same route mentioned above in young people and contemporary youth culture. We can look at young unemployed girls who deliberately get themselves pregnant. This is seen as a social issue that has caused moral panic in the media by what is reported as thousands of young girls staying single getting pregnant and then asking the local authority to house them taking them out of the labour market. As they dont work they also live on state benefits jump the housing cue and have been given the designation of deliberately getting pregnant to get all handouts This ran for a long time in the late 90s and still comes back into the media as a moral threat to society. This sensationalism I suspect has now bought an urgency into the coalition government where they will stop this freeloading and will deal with part of Youth Culture which will see them in a light of dealing with the situation in what will be seen as a popular and welcome mov e. A similarity with current trends with Cohens study of the Mods and Rockers is young people going around in hoodies. If a crowd appear, the moral panic appears to be that if you wear a hoodie you will be part of a gang on the rampage or maybe even involved gun crime or knives. In an article from Workers Liberty dated 5th June 2005 one of the largest retail parks in the Country Bluewater, in Kent decided to ban the wearing of hoodies in their shopping centre. The reason given was that groups of people, young males in particular wearing hoodies might cause customers to find them threatening and stay away from their retail park. I personally think that the moral panic here worked in Bluewaters favour. It sent an immediate message to all customers, dont go anywhere your hoodie-infested local shops and come to our safe environment. Apart from stereotyping the youth, there were many retail clothing outlets that actually stocked hoodies and in fact promoted the purchase of them because they knew that young people walking around Bluewater would buy them. They came in their thousands! Interestingly it could be that such topics involved in Moral Panics have existed for some time. Then suddenly along comes an incident that can start the concept. In fact on most occasions this comes and goes and is soon forgotten ready for the next occasion. One of the occasions that has had very deep and lasting obsession to do with Youth Culture was the Leah Betts episode. This involved drugs abuse in youths and was and still is a relevant contemporary part of youth culture. Another study which had a lot to do with young people taking drugs was written by Jock Young. This was a study into youths smoking cannabis. This time of behaviour was soon latched onto and vehemently condemned. In her book Postmodern and Popular Culture McRobbie says of Young (McRobbie, 1994 p.204) Young, increased the likelihood for further deviance. Young, argued that the media can contribute to social problems. With that said looking at the Leah Betts case, It was one of the biggest media episodes in histor y. The drugs abuse circus was in full swing and although it keeps appearing now and again, Leah Betts bought it right into the front line. A classic Moral Panic headline was given by the Independent on Sunday on January 21st 1996. Ecstasy is the equivalent of slaughtering babies This made compelling headlines and allowed the paper to sell many additional copies. The emotional lines of a few simple words was in fact not strictly true. Leah Betts death it was officially stated died from drowning because of the excess water intake she had from taking the Ecstasy Pill. The whole feeding circus would not let go and her parents made many sacrifices in trying to pursued the general public that ecstasy was the number one danger to youth in this day and age. Even to the point of showing Leah unconscious on the ward of her hospital. So a Contemporary Youth Culture such as Drug Taking is looked at in terms in society, of perhaps unable to take accountability of its own failures. Just before leaving the Leah Betts story, An unfortunate internal memo from the Glasgow Social Services Director in 1996 was leaked, where the Director had said Ecstasy is a relatively safe Drug So was this director being sensible and was her memo taken out of context. She likened E as nothing like as dangerous as drink and tobacco, for instance, and three times more people die of paracetemol, while thousands more young people die driving their first car. Some people even warned her Public people cannot speak honestly about drugs and hope to live! In conclusion I will use a quote from Cohen as to why Moral Panics in Contemporary Youth Cultures will continue to flourish and will not go away. (Cohen, 1987. P 204) More Moral Panics will be generated and other, as yet nameless, folk devils will be created. This is not because such developments have an inexorable inner logic, but because our society as present structured will continue to generate problems for some its members The examples I have given outline contemporary youth cultures in different aspects and undoubtedly are still being able to incite moral panic and will continue in the foreseeable future. Perhaps if the media were unable to do this how would they provide a popular point of view for people to support or indeed worry about that it could affect them.

Jaquess Perspective in Shakespeares As You Like It Essay -- Shakespe

Jaques's Perspective in As You Like It      Ã‚  Ã‚   A cynic's cynic might declare Jaques no better than the guy who lurks in corners at a cocktail party, lobbing witty barbs at anyone unlucky enough to catch his eye. But this assessment robs Shakespeare's comedy of its sociological depth; what might be pleasant fluff about young people in love is enhanced by Jaques's ability to make stern judgments about the world, yet still respect the people who comprise it.    Indeed, Jaques observes astutely from the sidelines. He separates himself from what he considers the frivolity of making suitable marriage matches. But Jaques's speeches are not merely Shakespeare's devices for explication. There is a psychological middle ground between the court and the forest, and the ideals closest to those who think little are, in Jaques's eyes, admirable. His words make him the most egalitarian character in the play.    From his first speech, Jaques paints himself as a moody loner and as rather disdainful of his benefactor, Duke Senior. He says, "And I have been all this day to ...

Savagery, Power and Fear :: miscellaneous

Savagery, Power and Fear MLA Research Paper Savagery, Power And Fear And how it’s ties in with Lord Of The Flies Young children who are left unattended will slowly loose their civilization, which will turn into, Savagery, Power, and Fear. Civilization is when man meets his basic needs in a healthy manner. Savagery is when people revert back to their lost human instincts. Power, in the case of Lord Of the Flies it’s a position of ascendancy over others: AUTHORITY. Fear is an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by expectation or awareness of danger. Lord of the Flies shows a great amount of uncivilization through out the whole novel. Through all the characters for example when the boys create the Lord of The flies, which is â€Å"the bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol is most important image in the novel when Simon confronts the sow’s head in the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart and promising to have some â€Å"fun† with him (This â€Å"fun† foreshadows Simon’s death in the following chapter.) In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name â€Å" Lord of the Flies† is a literal translation of the bible name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell s ometimes thought to be the devil himself.† (Spark notes) This is very uncivilized. Savagery is most often found when young children or any human if put in the same position lose the instincts of human ways. This is portrayed through the book Lord Of The Flies. The beast is one way this is shown. â€Å" The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys’ behavior is what brings the beast into existences, so the more savagely they act, the more real the beast seems to become.

Analysis of She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron Essay -- Poem Poetry Lor

Analysis of She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron She Walks in Beauty is a poem in which the author speaks of the physical beauty of a woman; a female who the author encountered. This encounter lead him to visualize a great distinct physical image of her so he began to speak of this phenomenal attractiveness. A special quality in her was being able to be identified with the heaven. Beautiful like the stars and clearly visible as a cloudless night. The poem ?She Walks in Beauty? came by as an inspiration to the author. This occurred at an event attended by the author where he meet his cousin which is the woman the author speaks about in the poem. The author lord Byron wrote this poem which is found in the Hebrew Melodies. This publication is found with many other lyrics completed in 1815. The poem speaks through the usage of imagery. The poem is highly rhythmic with meaningful tones. Essentially the female in this poem is evaluated in terms of the physical world. For example, the author does not provide a detailed appearance of the woman. She is instead shown responding to the world around her. George Gordon was born in London in 1788. Gordon was the son of Captain John ?Mad Jack? Byron and his second wife, Catherine Gordon, a Scots heiress. The next ten years were difficult for George. One of the reasons was because of his clubfoot. The second reason was because of his mother displaced resentment against his father onto him, and George Gordon had later been tended by a Calvinist nurse whom awakened his sexuality. In 1798 his great-uncle the fifth Baron Byron, died childless, and just after his tenth birthday Byron inherited his title. In 1801 Byron was sent to school at Harrow; in the same year he ... ...imself. The rhyme scheme shows a different pattern on each stanza; and its meter shows a consistent beat on each line. The tone perceived in Byron?s poem is of romanticism inspired by the woman?s beauty; and its theme is of the immediate impression of a man towards a beautiful lady. There are also many poetic devices like alliteration , simile and internal rhyme shown throughout the poem. Thus making of this poem a delight to the mind, and an enjoyable literary masterpiece. Bibliography: Robert Di Yanni, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay (Boston, Massachusetts: Mc Graw Hill, 1998). The Penguin Group. ?World of Classics.? The Longman Anthology of British Literature. 24, Sep. 2000 . ?Poetry Series Supplement.? Masterplots II, Vol. 9 (Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1998).

The Stress Encountered by a Police Officers

There has been a lot of research on the negative effects of stress on people in general. I am sure you know that police work is one of the top rated professions for job stress next to air traffic controllers and dentists. A good way to start this presentation, I think, is to give a good working definition of police stress. Here it is: The feeling and desire along with the ensuing bodily effects, experienced by a person who has a strong and true longing to choke the living crap out of someone who desperately deserves it, but you can't. Now, while this may sound funny there is a real element of truth to it. An element of truth that says an awful lot about police work. And that is the part of the definition â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦but you can't†. Police work, by it's very nature, calls for an incredible amount of restraint. Continual restraint and draining restraint. It is stressful. The demands on police officers to show even greater restraint have been increasing over the years, and so has the effects of stress on police work. With the recent attention that police suicide has received in the media there have been a number of reviews on it. Between 1934 and 1960 police suicide rates were half that of the general population. Between 1980 to the present, suicide rates in some departments almost doubled. What is the difference? You can't choke them anymore! Street justice is all but gone. Everyone has video cameras. The media gets off on putting down cops. Politicians continue to throw new laws and restrictions for police officers that further tie their hands, and you can't choke anyone with your hands tied! So you start to feel that you're choking yourself. Lets take a quick overview of police work and look at the research of what the biggest stressors are:  · Killing someone in the line of duty.  · Having your partner killed in the line of duty.  · Lack of support by the department/bosses.  · Shift work and disruption of family time/family rituals.  · The daily grind of dealing with the stupidity of the public. Interestingly, physical danger is ranked low on the list of stressors by police officers. One of the worst effects of stress on police officers is of course suicide. We are becoming too familiar with police suicide, especially with the attention the media has given New York City. Twice as many police officers die by their own hand as do in the line of duty. (New York Times, 1994) A study of 2376 Buffalo NY police officers found that, compared to the white male population police officers, there were higher mortality rates for cancer, suicide, and heart disease. The suggested reason: Higher stress levels. Every study done points to the higher levels of stress police officers face, but what form does that stress take? With suicide there seem to be four factors: 1. Divorce. 2. Alcohol, not alcoholism. That was one of the early theories. But in actuality it was the use of alcohol right before the act to â€Å"get up the nerve†. 3. Depression. 4. A failure to get help. (Most officers who commit suicide have no history of having sought counseling). All four factors are symptoms that can come from an officer's stress levels. Police suicide is more directly related to relationship problems than to job stress. Of the last 14 suicides among the police officers in New York City, 12, or 86%, had to do with divorce or relationship breakup. Suicide is often an impulsive act, and the handgun at the officer's side is guaranteed to be lethal in the hands of an experienced shooter. UB professor, John M. Violanti, Ph.D thinks the biggest reason for the high rate of police suicide is because officers think they have nowhere to go for confidential help when personal problems or job stress overwhelms them. â€Å"Police officers are more hesitant than the average citizen to get help for emotional problems. Because of their role, they mistrust many things, and they especially mistrust mental health professionals,† Violanti said. â€Å"Departments should include some sort of suicide awareness training in their stress management program.† Police officers going through a divorce are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than that of an officer in a stable marriage. Relationship problems however, are highly related to job stress. If we consider that officers have an important relationship with their department, we can examine the effect of that relationship gone bad. Officers who get in serious trouble on the job, suspended or facing termination, are 7 times more likely to commit suicide. (Apparently cops like their jobs better than their wives). So we see that stress has an enormous effect on police officers lives, especially their home lives. Studies have called police work a â€Å"high risk lifestyle†. Not high risk in terms of the physical dangers of the job, but a high risk in terms of developing attitudinal problems, behavioral problems, and intimacy and relationship problems. So you learn something about the effects of police work. You learn if you ask the average cop â€Å"Hey, what's been the scariest experience during your police career?† They will answer â€Å"My first marriage!† The national divorce rate is 50%. All research shows police suffer a substantially higher divorce rate with estimates ranging from 60 to 75%. One of the casualties of police work is often the marriage. Although law enforcement officers deal with stressful situations in the normal course of their duties, excessive stress on individual officers may cause them not to carry out their responsibilities. In order to keep law enforcement organizations at 100%, administrators must be able to identify the causes of dysfunctional stress on individual officers. Much of the articles we find today on the causes of law enforcement stress, focus primarily on the factors that are personal to the individual officer. However, other researchers suggest that an officer's ability to live with this stress is hindered by the structure and operation of the organization within which he or she works. â€Å"Police stress† is considered by many to be an important societal problem (Cullen, et al., 1985), and police work is thought of as stressful (Kelling and Pate, 1975). Law enforcement officers must be aware of the dangers of psychological stress. Stress is the result of â€Å"demands placed on the system† and need not be harmful unless it is â€Å"mismanaged† or â€Å"present in large quantities.† However, some analysts say that occupational and life stress can cause mental and even physical problems. For example, one study of 2,300 officers in twenty-nine different police departments reported that thirty-six percent of the officers had serious marital problems, twenty-three percent had serious alcohol problems, twenty percent had serious problems with their children, and ten percent had drug problems. (Kendrix, 1989) Yet, police were well below the average in seeking [medical and] mental treatment. The â€Å"macho† image of a police officer may well keep a police officer from seeking such treatment. Law enforcement officers have significantly higher rates of health problems, premature deaths, suicides and general hospital admissions than other occupations (Richard and Fell, 1975). Law enforcement stress has been categorized into three sections. These are: 1) stress that is internal to the law enforcement system; 2) stress that is in the law enforcement job itself; and 3) stress that is external to law enforcement. Stress internal to the job may be found when police and correctional officers find themselves with conflicting roles. Police spend much of their time in activities not directly related to law enforcement functions, while correction officers are placed in both the role of providing â€Å"custody [and] treatment.† Law enforcement officers can develop personal conflicts by being placed in the position of having to choose between one or more contradictory goals. Such contradictions include the loyalty to fellow officers and honesty within the department. Post Traumatic Stress is a type of stress encountered at incidents that are, or perceived as, capable of causing serious injury or death. The person encountering the stress does not have to be the one whose life is threatened. This stress can also occur to witnesses. By it's nature, Post Traumatic Stress is one of the worst types of stress a person can encounter. It is stress of a nature that is threatening to a person's survival. The psychological and physical reactions of our mind and body to Post Traumatic Stress are at the extremes. Examples of life threatening traumas that can cause Post Traumatic Stress, in their general order of severity, include: natural disasters, serious accidents, serious accidents where a person is at fault, intentional life threatening violence by another person, life threatening trauma caused by betrayal by a trusted individual, and life threatening trauma caused by betrayal by someone you depend on for survival. Police officers, by the nature of their jobs, can be exposed to more stress and trauma in one day than many people will experience in a considerable period of time, maybe even their entire life. Some police officers thrive on stress. They seek out incidents that most people would not care to encounter in their lifetime. Many people seek out a job in police work for this challenge and the personal rewards it provides. Overcoming stress of great magnitude can provide great personal rewards, but these jobs can and do ruin many lives. Dr. George Everly, a noted researcher on emergency services stress, estimates that at any given time15-32% of all emergency responders will be dealing with a reaction to Post Traumatic Stress, and there is a 30-64% chance that they will have a reaction to it during their lifetime. For law enforcement working in urban areas, 20-30% of the officers will develop a reaction to Post Trauma Stress during their lifetimes. These figures are higher than the percentages for the general population (1-3%), urban adolescents (9-15%), and, surprisingly, Vietnam Veterans (15-20%). For a variety of reasons, some of which are not known, many police officers work through Post Traumatic Stress and its affects. The impact of Post Traumatic Stress on their lives is short-lived (if they suffer from it at all). In the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), this is defined as Acute Stress Disorder. It lasts more than two days, but no longer than 4 weeks. There are those, however, that will not be able to cope with the Post Traumatic Stress they have encountered. They may have handled many traumatic incidents without a problem, until one happens that breaks through their ability to cope. These officers will develop what is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is Acute Stress Disorder that lasts more than 4 weeks. In their book on â€Å"Emergency Services Stress†, Dr. Jeff Mitchell and Dr. Grady Bray estimate that without proper Post Trauma Stress training, response, and follow-up, roughly 4% of all emergency workers will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These figures do not include those who will develop a reaction to accumulative stress, which can have affects similar to, and additive to, Post Traumatic Stress. They also do not include police officers who grew up in an urban environment and are Vietnam Veterans, of which there are more than a few. These figures also do not separate out those working patrol or traffic duties from those working specialty assignments (narcotics, vice, metro teams) from those working investigative or â€Å"inside† jobs. Uniformed assignments and certain specialty assignments place officers in positions that they will be more likely to encounter traumatic stress.

Merger and Acquisition a Survival Strategy in Business

Braiding is more than a hairstyle – it’s a cultural tradition that cuts across racial, social, economic, and geographic lines. Hair Braiding in Africa Ancient African hair braiding patterns reveal a variety of complex geometrical designs, which often pointed to characteristics of the wearer. Identity Status Religion Age Ethnicity kinship Hair Braiding in Egypt In ancient Egypt, braiding was reserved for royalty and for ceremonial rituals like weddings.Hair Braiding in America Historically, most Native American women and children wore braids to signify things: Whether a woman was married or unmarried women was based on the braids she wore. Braiding was also performed for religious rituals. Native American men wore braids with feathers, fur, leather, or beads to prepare for war. Hair Braiding in Europe According to Medieval and Renaissance artwork, upper-class women were revealed by elaborate braids and styles.Simpler braids were often chosen by common women for functiona l purposes – to keep hair cleaner between baths and to keep hair out of the way while cooking, cleaning, and performing other daily chores. The Braid Breakdown There are hundreds of different types of braids, including French braids, English braids, Dutch braids, Swiss braids, multi-strand braids, crown braids, etc. – all of them â€Å"twists† on the traditional style. Currently, 11 states have imposed a specialized license for hair braiders, and seven states require braiders to obtain a full cosmetology license.Ten states specifically exempt hair braiders from cosmetology licensing laws, and in the other 22 states, the law remains silent on the issue. We loved when Dorothy brought her braid to Oz, but no movie has made braids more famous than â€Å"Return of the Jedi† did. Who could resist Princess Leia’s many braided do’s? When your hair is divided into even rectangular or triangular sections all over your head, with the hair in each secti on twisted together and wound into a protruding knot, the style is known as African knots or Zulu knots in the U.S. In Africa, however, the style is called â€Å"chicken poop. † In the 2005 playoffs, NBA forward Vladimir Radmanovic made more headlines for his hair than for his performance on the court. His reason for going braided? He just wanted to get the hair out of his eyes. According to South African research published in the British Journal of Dermatology in 2007, tight hair braiding, especially when combined with hair-straightening chemicals, can lead to permanent bald patches and severe acne on the scalp.Yikes! In 2010, a 4-year-old was suspended from pre-K in his suburban Dallas school district because his hair was too long. The school board’s compromise that he could braid his hair and pin it up? REJECTED. |Hair braiding is an ancient art, practiced by the Ancient Egyptians as long ago as 4000 BC. |[pic] | |Today it has become a â€Å"hot â€Å" fashion tre nd with many styles, weaves and colorful ornamental | | |beads.Not only women but also men have embraced this beautiful art, creating color and style | | |beyond our ancestors wildest dreams. | | | | | |How and where did braiding begin? Hair braiding, as we know it today has its origins in West | | |Africa.The different and often complex designs signify the social status, age group and village| | |a girl has come from. The braid patterns are made up of different geometrical patterns and can | | |become quite complex for special occasions, such as marriages. | | | | | |Braiding is traditionally a social art.Because of the time it takes to braid hair the women | | |took time to socialize while braiding and having their hair done. It begins with the elders | | |making simple knots and braids for younger children. Older children watch and learn from them, | | |start practicing on younger girls and eventually learn the traditional designs. Here in America | | |you see mothers and grandmo thers braiding and putting colorful beads in little children’s hair. | |This carries on a the tradition of bonding between elders and the new generation. | | | | | |The difference between ancient and modern braiding: Nowadays, as well as the colorful beads and | | |intricate designs of our ancestors, hair weaving has become part of the traditional braiding | | |technique. This opens the door to a whole new assortment of styles and looks.The Hip Hop | | |industry has taken hair braiding and weaving to a whole new level of popularity and style, | | |allowing people from all walks of life to enjoy creating a fashion statement with hair braids | | |and weaves. Hair weaves range from real hair to a vast array of different colors and textures | | |made from synthetic hair.The traditional beads are also being developed into all sorts of | | |shapes and sizes. | | | | | |Hair Care for Braiding and Hair Weaving | | |When you decide to braid your hair or use hair weaves, your hair need s to be in good condition, | | |or you will experience breakage and damage.Your hair should have elasticity. This is a natural | | |condition of hair fibers and will be present in all hair that has not been chemically treated. | | |If you have used relaxers, bleaching, or perms, | | |these chemicals make your hair dry and brittle, it is very important to use good conditioners on| | |a regular basis to restore your hair’s natural elasticity.Be sure to discuss this with your | | |stylist, so that you can enjoy braiding styles without damaging your hair. | | | | | |Hair braiding and weaving can be quite costly, so it is essential to go to stylists who are | | |experienced and knowledgeable. Make an appointment with your stylist for a consultation, before | | |you have your hair done. | |Discuss what style is best for you, the cost and how to maintain your hair braids or weave. | | |Proper care of your hair when braiding and using hair weaves will prevent damage to your hair | | |and scalp. Hair braiding is one of the most versatile ways to style your hair and truly make | | |yourself unique, with this beautiful and ancient art form. | | [pic][pic] [pic]