Angel

It possible that I\u27m an angel. No, not possible, really likely. After all I\u27m black. Blacker than most African. An\u27 I born in these Americas. Black like night, like a kinda velvet, an\u27 in my secret places, I got this dark musty pink like those rare orchid. Three, four hundred years of clean, pure blood. Is not that I want to sound like Nazi. What it mean is that we aint had the opportunity to enjoy the advantage of ravage: You \u27complish anything is because you half-white, otherwise you black. A little bit like Ben Johnson: Canadian win gold medal; Jamaican found guilty of drug taking. Instead everybody want to keep we down. In we place. Is so some of we does smile a lot. But it have compensation. Is not possible to confuse who you really is. In my family a lot of we take the opportunity to be mostly happy in weself, respectable, polite, hardworking. But we learn early to talk we talk. An it seem like each generation we does grow more beautiful. Cheek bone higher, hair thicker and more curly, neck longer, head perch right on top, small and round. Every bit a we the right size, \u27cept the eyes. They getting larger, blacker, deeper. Way way back from them fort in Ghana, from them ship, we could see what pass next. Is how we never there when massa come

Postcolonial Citizenship and Identity in the Netherlands and France

Colonial constructions of race in colonial Algeria and the Dutch East Indies became problematized during the process of decolonization, especially regarding issues of citizenship. The Netherlands and France, during the process of decolonization, often denied substantive citizenship to those postcolonial migrants. This paper explores the process of becoming citizens for those migrants, and how those citizenship policies have created distinct postcolonial identities in which postcolonial citizens have a connection to both the former colony and the former metropole

Marriage and Other Social Unions: A Study of Marriage Alternatives and Cultural Trends in the Netherlands

This Independent Study Project investigates marriage and varying marriage alternatives available in the Netherlands and how societal norms and cultural taboos have affected these arrangements over the past fifty years. The high levels of acceptance in the Netherlands are used as a framework to explain the toleration of differing lifestyle and relationship choices, such as registered partnership, informal cohabitation, and same-sex marriage rights. Information was collected by conducting seven interviews with Dutch adults from different backgrounds with diverse views of and experiences with marriage and marriage alternatives. Secondary data on marriage rates in the Netherlands since 1960 were also used to determine historical trends. The focus of the research was to determine how society views the institution of marriage and whether changes in cultural norms have affected rates of marriage. It is concluded that while there is no significant evidence proving the reason for the decrease in marriages, it is assumed that a more progressive, liberal view of society has allowed for these marriage alternatives to exist

Understanding 1-D Vertical Flux Dynamics In A Low-Gradient Stream: An Assessment Of Stage As A Control Of Vertical Hyporheic Exchange

Little Kickapoo Creek (LKC) is a low-gradient, third-order perennial stream with headwaters in Bloomington, IL. The objective of this study is to characterize vertical one-dimensional (1-D) flux rates in the top 150 cm of the streambed, test the viability of a heat tracing method in a low-gradient area, and determine the relationship between stage and 1-D vertical flux rates. In 2009, six wells were installed along the thalweg of the stream in a 25-meter stretch spaced at 5-meter intervals. Each well recorded temperature at five separate depths logging at 15-minute0 intervals from February 2009 to March 2010: 30, 60, 90, and 150 cm. Stage data was collected at 15- minute intervals on the stream bank adjacent to the streambed well array. Vertical flux rates are calculated using temperature sensor pairs at depth with the 1-D conduction-advection-dispersion equation utilized in the VFLUX MATLAB program. Flux calculations are at the midpoint between a sensor pair, e.g., a flux is estimated at a depth of 45 cm, the midpoint between the 30 and 60 cm sensors. The dominant flux direction at a depth of 15 cm is downward (negative) while the average flux direction at a depth of 45 cm, 75 cm, and 120 cm is upward (positive). Fluxes at a 15 cm depth for all six wells ranges between -0.59 to 0.95 m/d with an average of -0.04 m/d. At a midpoint of 45 cm, 75 cm, and 120 cm fluxes are highly variable with high-frequency spikes and missing data, but all have a baseline upward trend. Due to the errors in flux, the paper focuses on a depth of 15 cm within the hyporheic zone of LKC for the stage correlation analysis. At a 15 cm depth, the average flux across six wells ranges from -2*10-6 m/s to 5*10-7 m/s. The hyporheic zone at LKC has variable flux directions above 15 cm indicating hyporheic exchange with background upwelling groundwater between 15 to 120 cm. Flux rates approach zero in the summer meaning a period of limited hyporheic exchange. The relationship between stage and flux at the near-surface streambed (15 cm) is a weak, but statistically significant with Spearman’s rank correlations for all six wells at 15 cm depth ranging from -0.032 to 0.369 with an average of 0.085. A negative relationship implies that as stage rises and the stream loses water (negative, downward flux) from the streambed and vice versa. A positive relationship explains that as stage rises the stream is in a gaining condition (upward, positive flux). With the assumption that flux does not have an instantaneous reaction to a change in stage, a cross-correlation analysis was performed. The cross-correlation analysis keeps stage stagnant in time, while flux is temporally shifted forward. The highest Spearman coefficient is 0.442 for well 4. The other five wells have a Spearman coefficient less than 0.20. This research indicates that stage is not a reliable prediction of 1-D vertical flux in the hyporheic zone of LKC. Vertical flux is a multivariate function that can be controlled by the following variables: stream velocity, streambed morphology and topography, streambed conductivity, channel slope, stream sinuosity, vertical gradient in the microscopic stream-streambed and watershed scale, and stream stage or discharge

Canine-centered interface design: supporting the work of diabetes alert dogs

Many people with Diabetes live with the continuous threat of hypoglycaemic attacks and the danger of going into coma. Diabetic Alert Dogs are trained to detect the onset of an attack before the human handler they are paired with deteriorates, giving them time to take action. We investigated requirements for designing an alert system allowing dogs to remotely call for help when their human falls unconscious before being able to react to an alert. Through a multispecies ethnographic approach we focus on teasing out the requirements for a physical canine user interface, involving both dogs, their handlers and trainers in the design. We discuss tensions between the requirements for the canine and the human users, argue the need for increased sensitivity towards the needs of individual dogs that goes beyond breed specific physical characteristics and reflect on how we can move from designing for dogs to designing with dogs