From Necessity to Nirvana
I came by it honestly: my grandfather, although not a carpenter by trade, built a home for his family in Wisconsin. When I was twelve, my uncle, the architect, designed an addition to my family’s home which my father, the banker, and my grandfather, the non-carpenter, transformed into a study and a fourth bedroom.
I remember that summer vividly, the pulse-quickening way the rough wooden forms bulged dangerously when the cement foundation was poured, the afternoon the skill saw jumped out of my grandfather’s hand and neatly clipped off the tip of his pinky finger, the arrhythmic pounding of several dueling hammers, the creaminess of drywall mud, the softly astringent smell of new lumber. I remember my mother refreshing iced tea glasses caked with sawdust; driving yet again to the hardware store for yet another heavy box of 16p galvanized nails; and, when she was released from gofer duties, taping, texturing, and painting brand new walls. I remember my grandfather ribbing my dad for bending too many nails and then when my father sacrificed speed for care, scolding him for taking too long to drive a nail home. In essence, I apprenticed myself that summer. Although I never got to do much more than sweep up or, when my mother was at the hardware store, fetch iced tea, I studied as much of the process as I could.
As soon as the project ended and I moved into the new bedroom, my fascination went dormant. It lay dormant until just a few years ago when a need exceeded my budget: although I was desperate for a screen door, the landlord wouldn’t finance this “luxury,” and as a starving student, I couldn’t afford to purchase a customized door for the oversized doorway. Then, as I watched the flie...
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... Because oxidation had welded the original plumbing beyond coaxing or threat, I had to cut through copper pipe, pull the sink off the wall, and chisel the old fixture from the basin’s top.
I am now convinced that if I watch enough home-improvement shows, talk to enough experts, and give myself enough time, I can do almost anything. That conviction, though, can make me a bit egotistical. When I complained about my plumbing struggles, a well-meaning friend once offered the services of her handyman. I must have bristled visibly because her voice gave out in the middle of a sentence. I didn’t mean to be rude, but she hit a nerve: I hate to be bailed out. I frequently ask for advice and, sometimes, for help, but I am heartily offended when others assume that I need to be rescued, that I can’t do anything I set my mind to. Haven’t they seen my tool collection?
Alexander began his military campaign and his rule much where his father left off. Whether or not it was his aim, this created a sense of normality for the men that was part of his father’s regime. Alexander’s position as a warrior-king who stood side-by-side among his men also served to create respect among his peers. Gradually, as Alexander conquered more Persian land, he began to adopt the policies of Persian rulers. Alexander’s change in policy extended beyond just political roles, he gave consideration to the local gods in many of the lands that he conquered. Eventually, Alexander brought people in from the conquered nations to serve under him.
I’d never been in a house like this. It had rooms off of rooms, and in each of them were deep sofas and chairs, woven carpet over polished hard-wood floors, tasteful paintings on the walls. She asked if I was hungry, and she opened the fridge and it was stuffed with food-cold cuts and cheeses, fresh
Workers, who had traditionally lived with their masters in what was a very common social contract, began to work in prototypical assembly lines, where the manufacturing of a good lay in the hands of men in varying professions. Johnson uses the business of a shoemaking as an example of this stark change in business practices. In 1831, one shoemaker reported that ”most of the work” was done in boardinghouses. (39) By 1834, there existed distinct locations for the different steps used to manufacture shoes. Contractors in Rochester came to realize that making unique houses was inefficient and costly. Contractors began producing house frames with similar architecture very prolificly, and another group of men would build upon the house. The uprising of mercantilism in Rochester, according to Johnson, was a key player in dissociating worker from master. When masters realized that there was money in selling the goods made by multiple, separate workers at a profit, the definition of a “skilled craft” changed. No longer was a master limited to working with what he was skilled at. He could amass a workforce to make a product for him, and working men came out of contact with the final product. (41) As mentioned earlier, workers typically lived with their masters. In doing so they adopted the rules, tenets, and ideals of their masters. Masters in 1820’s Rochester were typically religious men who kept their workers in moral check. When masters physically distanced themselves from workers, usually by separating the management and work sections of a business, workers were put under less
consciousness of artisans in New York City during the Jacksonian period. (pp. 14 & 25) The pre-industrial revolutions of the 1800s provided many avenues of employment for masters, journeymen, and laborers; however, the transformation of a merchant capitalist economy provided for many masters to subdivide labor. (pp. 113) Contracted work caused a rift in the structure of the old artisanal class. Masters no longer needed to employ apprentices since they hired out separate tradesmen for the...
In March 1643, Jeanne Mance, a French nurse at the Hôtel-Dieu in Montréal took care of Pachirini, a wounded young Algonquin warrior. Sachem baptized as Charles on April 2, 1643, in Montréal by Father Imbert Duperon lived in Montréal for some time with the two Jesuits of the post. Most of the Weskarini Algonquin became Catholics, being baptized between 1643 and 1650 by the Jesuits in Montréal and the rest later at Trois-Rivières. They settled in Trois-Rivières, setting up their village near the Fort there. While his fellow tribesmen left for Trois-Rivières,...
Suppose a world without all the technological advances available to people today, this was the world during the early 18th century that a large portion of the American people had to live in. This means life rapidly changed with the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. This period ignited a change in the way previous generations had manufactured goods, which was by man power and horsepower. The production method by hand usually took a considerably great amount of time and energy and was only effective in the cases of small scale production. Take for instance, family oriented businesses such as textile and agricultural produce. “The whole family took part in cloth making. One daughter brushed the cotton between two carding brushes, to straighten the fibers into roving bands of unspun fibers. The mother and older daughter did the spinning while the father weaved cloth on a band loom.” Every person within a family had a specific job that would be a vital contribution t...
Alexander the great is known as one of the most ruthless and greatest leaders the world has ever seen. In less than ten years, Alexander conquered cities from Greece all the way to modern day India. Not only did he defeat and conquer cities throughout the known world, but Alexander would also leave his mark spreading and influencing Greek society wherever he went. His leadership and conquests united the East and the West as a whole like no one up to that point had done before. His impact on culture and society when meshing his Greek background with his conquered cities became something truly unique. In 323 B.C. when Alexander passed away, he not only left behind a vast thriving empire, but also a legacy that would be remembered throughout history.
In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, leave their sheltered lives as Brahmins, Hindu priests, to be Samanas, ascetics who deny themselves all pleasure. Some years after, they meet the Buddha, whom Govinda stays with to be a monk while Siddhartha leaves to continue on his own adventures. Toward the end of their lives, they meet again at a river bank and discover if they have truly achieved inner peace. Hesse uses Govinda as a contrast to Siddhartha. As displayed in excursions with the Samanas, with the Buddha, and on other adventures, Siddhartha is a character who is more independent and must learn on his own while Govinda is more dependent and feels he must be taught.
The following essay being summarized and analyzed, “The Inheritance of Tools” by Scott Russell Sanders was originally published in The North American Review in 1986 and later selected by Gay Talese for The Best American Essays in 1987. This essay chronicles the story of the author learning about his father’s death in which he is quickly reminded of the tools and techniques he learned from his father which was passed down through multiple generations. I will discuss the themes portrayed by the author as well as the organization and connections between ideas, and transitions within the text.
Alexander the Great was a man with no equal in History. He was one of the most important forces known to man. Alexander the Great then crossed the Hellespoint, which is now called the Dardanelles and, as head of a Greek army undertook the war on Persia that his father had been planning. The march he had begun was to be one of the greatest in history. Alexander was one of the biggest influenced on people of all time and one of the most powerful personalities. He really molded people into acting the correct way. He brought people together and showed them how to live better. He defiantly changed the lives of many. Alexander the Great was born in 356 BC Philip his father was the brother of Perdiccas III king of Macedonia. His mother’s name was Olympia’s. Olympia’s was the daughter of King Neoptolemus I. He was known wide to be a great powerful man. Alexander had a younger sister named Cleopatra. The whole family had a lot of very important background. It was a fact that Alexander and Cleopatra’s parents did not get along. At this time it was a Macedonian tradition to have many wives. Philip had several and Olympia’s hated them all. She felt much hate towards them. When one of her rivals gave birth to a retarded son Arridaeus, there were many rumors that Olympia’s poisoned him.
During the childhood of Sanders, as father and son performed their own carpentry tasks, the two were able to bond and spend quality time together doing something both enjoyed. This passion and joy of carpentry is also shown through the children of Sanders. His son and daughter ended up doing the same things he did as a child, such as creating porcupines of wood and nails, making sawdust highways, and learning how to use carpentry tools (par. 13). In this way, carpentry was used as a good way for father and children to spend time together; advice was given, but not many restrictions were placed down, which left room for freedom of creativity, exploration, and
Philosophy has been around since the beginning of time, Plato the student of Socrates was enlightened through a story told by Socrates ‘The Allegory of the Cave’. The story was about perception of the world; This particular story reveals the true light of society. Opening one’s eyes to enlightenment is not only giving one a gift but it is also giving one a responsibility. Society is blinded for the most part. Philosophers were men of question and had a far different level of enlightenment. These men questioned everything, these men sought out the absolute truth by questioning everything. This story portrays that most people will never be truly enlightened. Most men and women have been blinded since birth but people have a choice to choose ignorance or enlightenment.
11:14 p.m.-I slowly ascend from my small wooden chair, and throw another blank sheet of paper on the already covered desk as I make my way to the door. Almost instantaneously I feel wiped of all energy and for a brief second that small bed, which I often complain of, looks homey and very welcoming. I shrug off the tiredness and sluggishly drag my feet behind me those few brief steps. Eyes blurry from weariness, I focus on a now bare area of my door which had previously been covered by a picture of something that was once funny or memorable, but now I can't seem to remember what it was. Either way, it's gone now and with pathetic intentions of finishing my homework I go to close the door. I take a peek down the hall just to assure myself one final time that there is nothing I would rather be doing and when there is nothing worth investigating, aside from a few laughs a couple rooms down, I continue to shut the door.
Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, encapsulates her childhood in poverty and trails her nomadic lifestyle with her irresponsible and arguably negligent parents. Although formidable and destructive when intoxicated, Walls’ father Rex was an intelligent, inventive man when sober. During the times when he was unemployed, Rex would design inventions to acquire wealth, such as “The Prospector”, a machine that would separate gold nuggets from other rocks based on weight. Moreover, he had formulated blueprints for an architecturally advanced and complex house, which had been named the Glass Castle. According to Walls’, “Once [Dad] finished the Prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our Glass Castle” (Walls 25). This idea of
Have you ever wondered why Alexander from Macedonia is called Alexander the Great. According to history, it is because he is the most glorious general in the history who conquered Persia, Greece, Egypt and Babylon in a very inexperienced age. He became the commander of Macedonian armies at age eighteen and the king of Macedonia at age twenty. After six years of preparation, he conquered the great Persian empire. Unfortunately, he died at age thirty-three. He would have conquered many lands if he hadn’t died at a such young age. He was a legend and an icon for great kings like Charlemagne, Julius Caesar, and Pompey. World’s most famous generals tried to compete with him but they couldn’t accomplish. After years, his tomb