Bringing Home the Gold
My family owned and operated a jewelry business for 8 years, since I was 10 years old. I grew up with this store, among the earrings and ornaments, always surrounded by things made from a unique substance called gold. Gold is a well-known element, atomic number 79; of course, everyone knows of its international monetary value. However, gold also has a deeply personal resonance; and upon closer examination, this material provides an emblematic picture of my past, my future, and what I offer Harvard University.
Gold is a soft, yellow metal. It is extremely ductile, the most malleable metal there is. I exhibit similar qualities, as I also adapt to the demands of my environment. I am Persian, though I was born in Lebanon and later came to the United States; upon arrival here, I had to face the challenge of learning the English language. I had to take a new shape in order to excel in unfamiliar surroundings. In addition, I again transformed by beginning to learn my native Farsi language in order to further mold my cultural identity.
Yet gold is not always a shifting, malleable metal; it is hardened by alloying with other metals, increasing its strength. I hope to go through a corresponding process at Harvard. I want to become a more solid citizen through exposure to other viewpoints and cultures, and by offering my own. I will mix with new perspectives; I will alloy with my fellow students, with my professors, and with the learning that both groups impart in order to become stronger academically, socially, and culturally.
Moreover, gold is a corrosion-resistant metal. I feel my past exhibits the characteristics of this material in that I avoided corrosion of my mind and body through active academic and athletic participation. In high school, I was president of the student body and head of the study group division. I became an Eagle Scout and was a member of the school's flag hoisting brigade. I also played tennis competitively, swam, and played racquetball. Through these experiences, I have gained the necessary leadership skills and exhibited unflagging responsibility to ensure a corrosion-free body and spirit.
Finally, gold parallels my goals for the future. It is one of the most conductive metals, extremely well suited for carrying an electric current. I, too, aim to conduct another kind of electricity-political organization, by pursuing a degree in Political Science at Harvard.
Gold is one of the most valuable materials all around the world. This jewel has its own glittering appearance and shiny color which induce people to desire to possess it. That’s probably why Europeans in the middle age have explored new continents and invaded other civilizations to find this glittering material. Americans also had given much endeavor to mine that valuable jewel in the time of gold rush. Investigating these events, gold has immensely affected the world history; the Age of Exploration, invasions of Spaniards, and the development of California.
In “Straw into Gold” she writes recollections of her family, home life, and childhood, all from which Cisneros draws the same conclusion: her past experiences are why she began writing. Her older brother, Henry, appears often in her stories and poems. Her brothers and the friends they brought home also became characters in her stories. Her life experiences and heritage became her writing material. There is also slight emphasis on doing things that seem dauntingly impossible. Cisneros starts her story with a flashback to a time when she had to make tortillas for a homecooked meal with friends--she had absolutely no idea how to make tortillas. There was also a time when she has to write a critical essay for her MFA exam on which she feared she would do poorly. Both these instances have to do with her emphasis on conquering obstacles. She writes, “I’ve managed to do a lot of things in my life I didn’t think I was capable of and which many others didn’t think I was capable either.” Similarly, later in the essay she writes, “I’ve done all kinds of things I didn’t think I could do since then.” She then goes on to list several things she has done in her life such as attending a prestigious university, studying with famous writers, and teaching poetry in schools in Illinois and Texas. Cisneros concludes her essay with these lines: “Along the way there has been straw for the taking. With a little imagination, it can be spun into gold.” This is an allusion to the story “Rumpelstiltskin” that is mentioned in her essay and is included in the title “Straw into Gold.” What she means by this is that your circumstances don’t determine you. You determine how your life will be. A magnificent and fruitful life may not be handed to you on a silver platter, but you can still make the most out of it and accomplish your dreams. Ergo, even if you are given straw, you can
Before extending aid to other countries, we should focus on our more prevalent domestic problems. Patrick Buchanan said, "The idea that we should send endless streams of tax dollars all over the world, while our own country sinks slowly in an ocean of debt is, well, ludicrous. Almost every American knows it, feels it, believes it." The topic of United States foreign policy is greatly debated, and a decision on how to handle is very hard to come by. It seems as if we are finally leaning towards less aid to foreign countries, as we try to cut wasteful spending. The American government is finally opening its eyes to the realization that all of the aid we are giving out may not be worth it. Our priority should be to help our homeless, instead of other countries' poor.
Second, Utopians treat precious metals and jewels radically different than modern society. Today people adorn all sorts of jewelry to beautify themselves or attract attention to them. These precious metals are golden calves to many people. People today are like the Anemolian ambassadors, they strut their fine jewels because they are "more proud than wise, they decide, they decide to dress as splendidly as the very gods."
-Discuss the silver vs. gold argument, listing at least one argument for silver and one argument for gold.
Essay- is a piece of writing which is focused and directed on analyzing and evaluating a certain topic or issue (Anonymous, What is an essay?, 2014).
Sproul, Allan. "The Gold Question." Vital Speeches of the Day 16.4 (1949): 108. Academic Search
Gold is one of the oldest and most valuable metals on earth and as such nobody knows the actual time or date when gold history began. Although Egyptian historians claim that gold history began as far back as 3600 BC. According to them, humans have been taken up with the luster and splendor of gold since that time. According to some other historians, gold history began about 6000 years ago when people started making use of it to make jewelry and other adorning ornaments in Eastern Europe, Egypt and the Near East, because of its low resistance, shine and its unchanging beauty. Regardless of how gold history began and what made it so popular, one sure thing is that gold has an exceedingly long usage history period in this world. Gold has been in use as a type of money and a medium of exchange in business. The first gold bars were manufactured in the Greek and Roman empires, as far back as the 4th century and since that time; they’ve been in use as a medium of payment. In 1091 BC, Chinese people started to employ its usage in the form of little gold squares as a type of money.
Have you ever wanted to know every fact about gold? Well today is your lucky day. The human body is composed of many different elements. Over 96% of our body weight is a combination of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. While it's not the main ingredient, gold can also be found knocking around inside our cells. An average 70 kilogram human contains 0.229 milligrams of gold. gold is a transition metal. Transition metals are unique, because they can bond with other elements using not just their outermost shell of electrons. gold is a transition metal. Transition metals are unique, because they can bond with other elements using not just their outermost shell of electrons.
Gold is one metal commonly found in jewelry and other ornate objects. This precious metal with the chemical symbol of Au, from the Greek “Aurum” literally meaning “shining dawn”, has been described as a symbol of wealth or power. Humans in general have had a hunger for this shiny metal. Goldfacts.org’s FAQ section states that 71,147,581 ounces of gold was used for jewelry was used in 2010. It is estimated that the total amount of gold, 5,407,112,558 ounces, in the world would add up to become a cube with edges measuring 19 meters each.
Despite of its uselessness, gold is known to be expensive. The reasons are quite simple: because gold is rarely found, gold cannot be created and most importantly is it is shiny and does not oxidize. Gold hence is widely used as jewelry and other representative uses. In addition to that, the overgrowing demand for jewelry and the rareness of gold hence determined its price. In return, gold is assumed as the ideal store of wealth for its high price.
Gold, nothing can compare to this precious metal. A symbol of wealth and prosperity, it has been a value for explorers and adventurers and a lure for conquerors. Today it is vital to commerce and finance; popular in ornamentation, and increasing importance in technology.
Poor countries have been receiving aid from the international community for over a century now. While such aid is supposed to be considered an act of kindness from the donor nations or international bodies, it has led to over dependence among the developing countries. They have adopted the habit of estimating and including international aid in their national budgets to reduce their balance of trade deficits. It is believed that foreign aid is necessary for poor nations in order to break the cycle of poverty that ties their citizens in low productivity zones and so their economy will not be weak. However, some critics view the extension of aid to poor countries as means of keeping the nations in economic slumber so that they can wake up from only by devising ways of furthering self-sustainability. Because of these two schools of thought concerning the topic, debate has arisen on which side is more rational and factual than the other. The non-sustainable nature of international aid, however, leaves the question of what may happen in the event that foreign aid is unavailable for the poor nations. After thorough consideration on the effects of the assistance to poor countries, it is sufficient to state that giving international aid to the poor nations is more disadvantageous than beneficial to the nations. This point is argued through an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of giving international aid to the poor countries with appropriate examples drawn from various regions of the world to prove the stance.
Some metals may be discovered and labeled precious, but the status may be revoked if the metal is more common and less valuable then it was originally thought to be. For example, Aluminum was an initially precious metal that later became common. It is the most abundant metal in the earths crust; however, it is extremely difficult to extract the pure metal from its various ores. In the nineteenth century, because of the difficulty and expense in obtaining the metal, the small available quantity of pure aluminum became more precious than both silver and gold. Aluminum cutlery was given to the most important guests at Napoleon III’s banquets while gold and silver wares were given to less worthy guests. However, shortly after the quick rise in popularity, the aluminum market crashed and the metal’s value decreased. This event was caused as a result of the discovery of a method to extract pure aluminum from its ore easily and cheaply. Production soared while prices and value plummeted and aluminum became nothing more than a common, industrial metal. Aluminum went from the world’s most precious to the world’s most productive metal seen everyday in products such as soda cans and airplane bodies.
armor, and her jewelry were made of gold” (Nova, 2008). The sculpture was made of