Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Review

'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' Review Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most celebrated novels in American literaturearguably the greatest novel in American literature. As such, the book is frequently  taught in high school English, college literature classes, American history classes, and every other opportunity teachers can find.   The justification usually cited is its commentary on the social institutions of slavery and discrimination; however, no less important is the aspect of the story that demonstrates one boys coming of age. Mark Twain ends The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with the cryptic statement: So endeth this chronicle. It being strictly the history of a boy, it must stop here; the story could not go much further without becoming the history of a man. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, on the other hand, contains much less of the perpetual jokes and scrapes of the first book. Instead, Huck is faced with the emotional growing pains of becoming a man in a morally flawed society. At the beginning of the novel, Huck lives with the Widow Douglas, who wants to sivilize Huck, as he puts it. Although he dislikes the restraints society puts on him (i.e. stiff clothing, education, and religion), he prefers it than going back to living with his drunken father. However, his father kidnaps him and locks him up in his house. Therefore, the first major chunk of the novel focuses on the abuse Huck experiences at the hands of his fatherabuse so bad that he must fake his own murder in order to escape alive. Escape to Freedom After staging his death and running away, Huck meets up with Jim, a runaway slave from the village. They decide to travel down the river together. Both of them are running away to gain their freedom: Jim from slavery, Huck from his fathers abuse and the Widow Douglass restrictive lifestyle (although Huck does not see it that way yet). For a major part of their journey together, Huck views Jim as property. Jim becomes a father figurethe first Huck ever had in his life. Jim teaches Huck right and wrong, and an emotional bond develops through the course of their journey down the river. By the last segment of the novel, Huck has learned to think like a man instead of a boy. This change is most poignantly demonstrated when we see the melodramatic prank that Tom Sawyer would have played with Jim (even though he knows that Jim is already a free man). Huck is genuinely concerned with Jims safety and well-being, whereas Tom is only interested in having an adventurewith complete disregard for Jims life or Hucks concern. Coming of Age Tom is still the same boy as the one in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but Huck has become something more. Experiences that he has shared with Jim on their journey down the river have taught him about being a man. Although Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains some very poignant critiques of slavery, discrimination, and society in general, it is also important as the story of Hucks journey from boyhood to manhood.

Monday, March 2, 2020

Empowering The Leadership Of Women In Marketing With Jodi Duncan

Empowering The Leadership Of Women In Marketing With Jodi Duncan Which mentors and managers helped shape and influence you the most through the years? Who made you a better person and marketing professional? Are most of them smart, talented women? According to the Association of National Advertisers, 67% of the marketing industry is female. Today, my guest is Jodi Duncan, president of Flint Group. We discuss the current climate and ecosystem for women in marketing and business. What are some of the current challenges and opportunities that women face? Marketing agency trends and adapting to them biggest challenge is the digital movement; expectations and pressure related to measuring ROI and spending How to evaluate, identify, and implement tools and technologies for clients; don’t overlook the client’s objective and what they’re trying to do Creating content and related messages, then effectively communicating content through multiple channels that have different parameters Challenges of creating authentic content experiences; voice should match brand Flint’s best strategies to do high-quality work for clients and be a place where people want to work; communication is critical Progress needs to be made regarding concept of women in leadership and business; Women in Business blog series shares lessons and accomplishments Are you a good b*tch, or a bad b*tch? Women don’t always support each other; difficult for women to get leadership position and not be branded a bitch Show support and make an impact via direct conversations to address issues Men just need to ask women to participate, include them, and offer opportunities to express their opinions Women entering the workforce need to pay attention, watch, learn, ask questions, and speak up Links: Flint Group Women in Business Blog Series by Jodi Duncan A Diversity Report for the Advertising/Marketing Industry - And A Call to Action Skype Sheryl Sandberg Write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to receive a cool swag bag! If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Jodi Duncan: â€Å"The biggest challengeis the whole digital movement.† â€Å"Content is just a whole other animal. Not only what content you want to get out there and what the messages are, but how do you effectively communicate that content.† â€Å"It’s sort of a battle to get into those leadership positions when the biggest naysayers are other women that you work with. They’re not necessarily your best cheerleaders.†