I Opened The Door On Portals, Fantasy, And My Disability

I Opened The Door On Portals, Fantasy, And My Disability Once upon a time, I opened a door and instead of finding Narnia, I found my disability. Once upon a time, I had a disability and it opened a door into fantasy. Neither of these statements is completely true, but each holds tendrils of truth, wisps of it to explore and understand something a bit deeper about both my disability and my reading choices. I’ve always been curious about why people gravitate towards the type of reading that they do, how it reflects parts of their personality, or their environment as a child, or the way they acquire books. I learned something that felt like a revelation after reading two mostly unrelated books back to back. Has that ever happened to you, where books seem to magically align in just the right order to create some kind of understanding you didn’t have before? In this case, the two books were The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow and Broken Places Outer Space by Nnedi Okorafor. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a magical novel where doorways to other worlds are layered upon our own. It’s set in the early 1900s, and January Scaller lives with her adoptive father in a mansion full of unique objects, archaeological finds her adoptive father collects, just as he has collected herâ€"a mixed-race girl, as she is constantly reminded. Her biological father wanders from country to country, hunting these artifacts. When January Scaller finds a door in the midst of fields in a town her adoptive father has dragged her to, she doesn’t see how ill-fitting it is in the landscape. How improbable. How unsafe. What she sees is hope. Possibility. An adventure. She and the door are similar in all these ways. While I loved this novel for its lyricism and whimsy and just general gorgeousness, I would never have made a deeper, more personal connection with it if it weren’t for also reading Broken Places Outer Spaces immediately afterward. In Broken Places, Nnedi Okorafor relates the true story of becoming suddenly disabled in her early college years. What was meant to be a fairly routine surgery instead left her paralyzed, a college athlete with big dreams of running professionally. Writing, at this point, had not occurred to her. As she lay in her hospital bed, she began to hallucinate alien-like bugs. She began thinking about doorways and thresholds as she descended down the “rabbit hole of pain.” When she reemerged, still broken, still disabled, she found herself drawn to science fiction, to the recreation of broken things into something even better, and to stories about her past. It’s the combination of these elements that led to her career as a science fiction author. Disabili ty became a threshold, a portal into another world and the opportunities therein, and an entirely different aspect of herself. Her memoir is saturated with portal metaphors and reading it so soon after The Ten Thousand Doors of January made me think about the portals in my own life. And it especially made me realize that my disability and reading choices were inextricably linked, and how one became a portal for the other, and vice versa. I first passed out in the 4th grade lunch line. My best friend Stephanie caught me. At the time, I didn’t realize what had happened. I thought I’d faked passing out because I was angry with another best friend of mine, Katie, for absolutely no reason. I have no idea why I would think these two things could possibly be connected, but that’s the narrative I told my parents, and I had no more incidents until a couple of years later when I began “falling” a lot while taking showers. At first, I said nothing to my family. But when Mom asked about my bruises, I told her I was clumsy and slipped a lot in the shower, and I believed that. It was chalked up to teenage growth spurts, though in fact, I’m quite short and pretty much stopped growing by sixth or seventh grade. The debilitating headaches I started having were attributed to hormonal migraines, and I was prescribed medicine for them. My frequent illnesses were a repercussion of having allergies. Everything had a reason. At this time, my reading preferences began to change too. As a child, I preferred horror. I loved the delightful tingling feeling of fear, of goosebumps rising on my arms, of breath catching in my throat. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps, Fear Street, and everything Stephen King were my top reading choices, though I’ve always read a bit of everything, and I also had Sunfire Romances,  American Girl books, and The Baby-Sitters Club on rotation. I read a little fantasy. The Hobbit and A Wrinkle in Time come to mind, and I enjoyed both. But fantasy wasn’t my bread and butter. That started changing in about 7th grade, and especially by high school. I tried to continue with horror and thumbed through my mom’s books, but nothing resonated. So I turned to my dad’s bookshelves instead, packed with fantasy pocketbooks. Mercedes Lackey became a favorite, as did David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Tamora Pierce, among many, many others. I found myself identifying with the teenage protagonists of these novels, whose onset of magic left them sick for days or weeks, near death until they were finally trained in their magic. And even then, casting a spell had a cost. It left them exhausted, often bedridden. I knew the feeling. I’m quite sure horror works in similar ways for others. In Emily Foster’s compelling essay “The Monster in the Mirror: On Horror, Disability, and Loving Both at Once,” she explains her attraction to horror as a disabled person: “It is so very gratifying, as a person who unsettles, to write unsettling characters and unsettling experiences, to rejoice in our survival when so many narratives kill us off or make us safe and tidy again.” I wish I could’ve seen horror in that way, but instead, I no longer felt the compelling need to be scared. It was an emotion that no longer interested me, and I often felt disgusted after reading one of my mom’s novels. Maybe it was a natural change in personality, and also there was a significant change in my home life at the time that could’ve affected my reading,   but I also think it was connected to the physical effects of my continuing health problems. Instead, fantasy became the portal by which I experienced acceptance and hope as a disabled person, which is similar to January Scaller finding hope and acceptance through fantastical doorways in The Ten Thousand Doors of January, though not as a disabled person, but as a girl and woman who could never fit in and be accepted for who she was because of the color of her skin. For me, fantasy became a portal into reimagining what I would much much later find out is a chronic autonomic disorder (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Disorder, among other things) into something positive. I deeply identified with the protagonists in these fantasy novels. Though they suffered, their experiences of dizziness, exhaustion, headaches, etc. all stemmed from the positive force of magic running through them. I didn’t actually believe I was magical, though of course, I imagined I was. Who doesn’t? Where kids today await their Hogwarts letter, I waited for my white horse, but I knew it would never co me. I was very aware of my reality, but fantasy novels showed me I could still belong.   Unlike Okorafor, I didn’t receive a diagnosis until more than a decade after my health problems began, and actually, they think something else is going on, too. Thankfully, my doctors never questioned my symptoms, which commonly happens with my particular set of health problems (and to women in general). It’s just that my doctors, in a small Tennessee town, had no idea what they were dealing with. Because it took so long to receive a diagnosis, it was very difficult for me to understand what was happening to my body. I never received an immediate moment of epiphany like Okorafor. I never said to myself while reading fantasy, “this is like me. I feel like this too.” Instead, it became a subconscious attraction, though this is conjecture. But it’s a conjecture that makes sense now, especially after reading Broken Places.   I’ve discussed before how reading fantasy made me a feminist. It makes sense then, as feminism is meant to uplift those demeaned by a patriarchal culture, that fantasy would also empower me as a disabled woman. Fantasy still has a long way to go in disability representation, and I hope to someday contribute more diverse perspectives, but it still gave courage to a preteen and teenage Margaret, struggling with something she wouldn’t fully understand for another decade, and still doesn’t fully. Portals can lead us to places where we can be accepted, where we can fit in, where we can be our essential selves. For both Okorafor and I, disabilities became our portals, though for Okorafor they led her to science fiction, and for me fantasy. In another way, fantasy became a portal into understanding my disability as something integral to myself, and not something to be ashamed of. Similarly, January found fantastical doors as a portal into acceptance, into realizing she’s beautiful and perfect exactly the way she is. While these two books are certainly not the only books about portals with similar themes, the congruence of reading them back to back gave me a deeper understanding of myself and my reading. Sign up to Swords Spaceships to  receive news and recommendations from the world of science fiction and fantasy. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Using Ict for Distance Learning Essay examples - 3348 Words

Word count 3215 (word count 3000 words plus 10%) TASK 1 GOOD ICT SKILLS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE FACILITATION OF A POSITIVE DISTANCE LEARNING EXPERIENCE. PRODUCE A REPORT WHERE YOU; 1. EVALUATE HOW YOU AS A STUDENT AND INDIVIDUAL CAN MAINTAIN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR TUTOR DURING YOUR STUDIES As a student I can maintain effective communication with my tutor by using my ICT skills which allow me to access online distance study. I can access the internet, log into the College ‘On Campus’ home page, navigate through the link on the web site and read how to submit a question and to access my tutor’s response. I will be maintaining effective communication with my tutor by writing my reports and other assignments, by giving†¦show more content†¦Strengths (internal factors): Good self-discipline. Good motivation. Good ICT skills. Writing skills. Previous experience of studying alone (group therapy assignment following 1 week course at Bath University). Experience and enjoyment of study and of education. Level of education (honours degree). Level 3 Counselling Studies course experience and qualification. Having a clear goal to gain this qualification and work as a counsellor. Attention to detail. Ability to plan ahead and to work to a plan. Love of co mmunication. Desire to do well. My commitment to improve myself and my prospects. Weaknesses (internal factors): Being a perfectionist. Getting stuck in detail and overcomplicating this online study process and the aims of Units. Lacking the feedback gained from face to face communication particularly with my tutor and other students. Fear of not communicating clearly with my tutor. Opportunities (external factors): Access to ICT at home and work. Support from my employer and support from my partner. Support from College, tutor, other students, counsellors at work. Being given clients by my employer at work now for practical application of academic study in Therapeutic Person-centred Counselling. Having supervision sessions (1.5 hours each month) with BACP registered Counsellor andShow MoreRelatedEssay on ICT and Education1216 Words   |  5 PagesICT has a huge range of functions in education such as; communication, learning tools, administration, information sources and distance learning. ICT has therefore had quite an impact on education; for instance, the National Curriculum demands children be taught to use computers early on so as they progress into secondary, further and higher education, they are then adept in utilising applications software. 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In this paper, an attempt was made to discuss the problems, importance and benefits of Information and communication technology in teacher education in India. This paper is prepared using secondary data collected from various source. And found that ICT focuses modification of the roleRead MoreThe Network Switches, The Standard Network Cab le Networks ( Fiber And Utp )1782 Words   |  8 Pagesapplication servers) to host various student learning and support services and personal computers (desktop computers, laptops and notepads) to access and use services. 2.3 The stable system and application software The system and application software is required to develop software for various student learning and support services that are needed at various phases of student learning life cycle. The software is a main component in open distance learning by which various support services shall

Unusual Article Uncovers the Deceptive Practices of Samples of Beginning Essay to Certain College

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The Hunters Moonsong Chapter Twenty-One Free Essays

â€Å"What’s taking so long?† Bonnie asked, bouncing on the bal s of her feet. â€Å"Stop being so hyper,† Meredith said absently, craning her neck to see over the crowd outside McAl ister. There was some kind of bottleneck by the entrance to the dorm that was slowing everyone down. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-One or any similar topic only for you Order Now She shivered in her thin top; it was starting to get cold at night. â€Å"Security’s at the door,† Bonnie said as they got closer to the entrance. â€Å"Are they carding people to get in?† Her voice was shril with outrage. â€Å"They’re just checking that you have a student ID,† someone in the crowd told her, â€Å"to make sure you’re not a crazed kil er from off campus.† â€Å"Yeah,† his friend said. â€Å"Only on-campus kil ers al owed.† A couple of people laughed nervously. Bonnie fel silent, biting her lip, and Meredith shivered again, this time for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold. When they final y got to the front of the line, the security guards glanced quickly at their IDs and waved them through. Inside, it was crowded and music was pumping, but no one real y seemed to be in a partying mood. People stood in smal groups, talking in undertones and glancing around nervously. The presence of the security guards had reminded everyone of the danger lurking unseen on campus. Anyone could be responsible, even someone in the room at that very moment. As she thought about that, Meredith’s view of the room shifted, the other students around her changing from innocent to sinister. That curly-headed frat boy in the corner – was he eyeing his pretty companion with something more than simple lust? The faces of strangers twisted viciously, and Meredith took a deep breath, calming herself until everyone looked normal again. Samantha was coming toward her, a red plastic cup in her hand. â€Å"Here,† she said, handing Meredith a soda. â€Å"Everyone’s on edge tonight, it’s creepy. We’d better stay alert and not drink,† she said, already on the same wavelength as Meredith. Bonnie squeezed Meredith’s arm in fareWelland took off into the crowd to look for Zander. Meredith sipped her drink and warily eyed the strangers surrounding her. Despite the general malaise hanging over the party, some people were so wrapped up in each other that they were managing to have a good time anyway. She watched a couple kiss, as ful y focused on each other as if there was no one else in the world who mattered. They weren’t worrying about the attacks and disappearances on campus, and Meredith found herself feeling a sharp pang of envy. She missed Alaric, missed him with a bone-deep longing that stayed with her, even when she wasn’t consciously thinking about him. â€Å"The kil er could be right here at this party,† Samantha said unhappily. â€Å"Shouldn’t we be able to sense something? How can we protect anyone if we don’t know who we’re up against?† â€Å"I know,† said Meredith. The crowd parted, and she saw a face she hadn’t expected: Stefan, leaning against the far wal . His eyes lit up when he saw her, and he glanced past her with a hopeful half smile already forming on his lips. Poor guy. No matter what Meredith thought about Elena’s decision to take a break – and, for the record, Meredith thought that Elena was doing the right thing; her entanglement with both Salvatore brothers meant that they had al been heading for trouble – she couldn’t help pitying him. Stefan had the look of someone who was experiencing the same sharp pang of loneliness and desire as Meredith did when she thought of Alaric. It must be worse for him, because Elena was so close and because she chose to separate herself from him against his wishes. â€Å"Excuse me for a second,† she said to Samantha, and went to Stefan. He greeted her politely and asked about her classes and her hunter training, although she could tel that he was burning to talk about Elena. He had such good manners, always. â€Å"She’s not here yet, but she’s definitely coming,† she told him, interrupting one of his pleasantries. â€Å"She had something to do first.† His face bloomed into a smile of grateful relief, and then he frowned. â€Å"Elena’s coming here alone?† he asked. â€Å"After al the attacks?† â€Å"No,† Meredith reassured him. She hadn’t thought of this, and she didn’t think she should tel him Elena was with Damon. â€Å"She’s with other people,† she settled for saying and was glad that her answer seemed to satisfy him. Meredith sipped her drink and hoped grimly that Elena had the sense not to bring Damon to the party. Matt spotted Chloe from across the room. Tonight was the night, he decided. Enough playing around, enough exchanging glances and gentle, platonic hugs and hand squeezes. He wanted to know if she felt the same way he did, if she felt like maybe there was something between them worth exploring. She was talking to someone, a guy he recognized from Vitale, and her curly brown hair shone softly in the light from overhead. There was so much life in Chloe: the way she laughed, the way she listened to what the guy was saying, attentive and involved, her face focused. Matt wanted to kiss her, more than anything. So he started working his way across the room toward her, nodding at people he knew as he passed them. He didn’t want to look too uncool and eager, not like he was making a beeline for her, but he didn’t want to stop and lose her in the crowd, either. Matt. Matt jerked as if he’d been stung as the silent greeting hit him. Twisting around to see where it was coming from, he found Stefan standing right behind him and frowned irritably at him. He hated when Stefan got into his head like that. â€Å"You could have just said hi,† he told Stefan, as mildly as he could. â€Å"You know, out loud.† Stefan ducked his head apologetical y, his cheeks flushing. â€Å"I’m sorry,† he said. â€Å"That was rude of me, but I just wanted to get your attention. It’s so loud in here.† He gestured around, and Matt wondered, as he sometimes had before, how the life of a modern teenager seemed to the vampire. Stefan had experienced more than Matt probably ever would, but the loud rock music and the press of bodies al around him seemed to make him uncomfortable, showing the cracks in his disguise as someone young. He tried hard, for Elena’s sake, Matt knew. â€Å"I’m waiting for Elena,† Stefan said. â€Å"Have you seen her?† The lines of his face were anxious, and, just like that, Matt’s picture of Stefan as someone too old, too out of place here, snapped. Stefan looked achingly young, lonely and worried. â€Å"Yeah,† Matt said. â€Å"I just saw her at the library. She said she was coming here later.† He bit his tongue to keep from adding that he’d seen her there with Damon, of al people. Matt wasn’t quite sure what was going on between Elena and the brothers, but he figured Stefan didn’t need to know that Elena and Damon were together. â€Å"I’m supposed to be staying away from her,† Stefan confided sadly. â€Å"She feels like she’s coming between Damon and me, and she wants some time for us al to work things out before the two of us can be together again.† He glanced up at Matt, almost beseechingly. â€Å"But I thought since there are so many people here, it isn’t like we’d be alone.† Matt took a swal ow of his beer, his mind working furiously. Now he knew he’d been right not to mention that Damon and Elena had been together. What game was Elena playing now? It was a shock, too, to realize how far out of the loop he’d gotten. When did al this happen? Since Christopher’s death, he’d been avoiding his friends, spending so much time focused on the Vitale Society that he missed this big development in their lives. What else was he missing? Stefan was stil looking at him as if he was seeking some kind of approval, and Matt rubbed the back of his neck thoughtful y, then offered, â€Å"You should talk to her. Let her know how unhappy you are without her. Love is worth taking the chance.† As Stefan nodded, considering, Matt’s eyes sought out Chloe in the crowd again. The guy she’d been talking to was gone, and she was alone for the moment, biting her lip as she looked around the room. Matt was about to excuse himself and head toward her when another voice spoke in his ear. â€Å"Hi, Matt, how’s it going?† Ethan came up beside him, his golden brown eyes focused on Matt’s. Matt felt himself straightening up and pul ing back his shoulders, trying to look loyal and honorable, a promising candidate, everything the Vitale wanted him to be. Matt saw this reaction to Ethan in the other pledges as Well: whatever Ethan wanted them to be or do, they wanted, too. Some people were just natural leaders, he guessed. They chatted for a minute, not about the Vitale Society, of course, not in front of Stefan, but simple friendly stuff about footbal and classes and the music that was playing, and then Ethan turned the warmth of his smile on Stefan. â€Å"Oh, uh, Ethan Crane, Stefan Salvatore,† Matt introduced them, adding, â€Å"Stefan and I went to high school together.† Stefan and Ethan started making conversation, and Matt looked for Chloe again. She wasn’t in the last place he had seen her, and he started to panic, until he found her again in the crowd, moving to the music. â€Å"I can’t help noticing just a slight accent, Stefan,† Ethan was saying. â€Å"Are you from Italy original y?† Stefan smiled shyly. â€Å"Most people don’t hear it anymore,† he said. â€Å"My brother and I, we left Italy a long time ago.† â€Å"Oh, does your brother go here, too?† Ethan asked, and Matt decided the two of them seemed happy enough together and that it was okay for him to leave now. â€Å"I’l catch up with you guys later,† he said. Taking another swal ow of beer, Matt strode through the crowd, straight toward Chloe. Her eyes were shining, her dimples were showing, and he knew the time was right. Like he had told Stefan, love was worth taking the chance. How to cite The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-One, Essay examples

Macbeth Tragic HeroIn The Play Macbeth By William Shakespeare, We Dis

Macbeth: Tragic HeroIn the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero very clearly. From the courages in defense of Scotland is significant in the opening scene. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the beginning of the play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine of murder his mind rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me," - Act I, Sc 3, p.44-45. Yet increasingly his ambition defeated his good nature. When Duncan named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth decided on the murder of Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controled his ambition for the time being and did not kill Duncan. The failing of his decision was soon reflected by Lady Macbeth who called him a coward. From then on, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered into a life of evil. Since he overcomed his good nature, he no longer needed to be with his friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the king, and now he killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches said about Banquo's son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would reach his ambition withoutproblems. Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth sleepwalked and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and Banquo. She died because of all this pressure and her guilt about the murder. Soul of Macbeth have been destroyed since Macbeth love Lady Macbeth very much, as shown in Act I, Sc. 5, p.58, "My Dearest Love." The power of nemesis is shown clearly at the end of the play when Macduff came back to murder Macbeth. Macbeth would never have guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for the killing in Macduff's household. This nemesis shows an additional force beyond Macbeth's control. Because of Macbeth's strong beliefs in ambition and the witches, when he found out Macduff was not born of woman, and also found out the Birnam Wood had been seen moving, he realized that the third apparition had deceived him and he understood he was no longer safe. Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned from a fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong belief in the witches, has brought him to a tragic end of his life, and caused many people to lose their lives. Macbeth Tragic HeroIn The Play Macbeth By William Shakespeare, We Dis Macbeth: Tragic HeroIn the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero very clearly. From the courages in defense of Scotland is significant in the opening scene. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the beginning of the play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine of murder his mind rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me," - Act I, Sc 3, p.44-45. Yet increasingly his ambition defeated his good nature. When Duncan named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth decided on the murder of Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controled his ambition for the time being and did not kill Duncan. The failing of his decision was soon reflected by Lady Macbeth who called him a coward. From then on, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered into a life of evil. Since he overcomed his good nature, he no longer needed to be with his friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the king, and now he killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches said about Banquo's son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would reach his ambition withoutproblems. Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth sleepwalked and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and Banquo. She died because of all this pressure and her guilt about the murder. Soul of Macbeth have been destroyed since Macbeth love Lady Macbeth very much, as shown in Act I, Sc. 5, p.58, "My Dearest Love." The power of nemesis is shown clearly at the end of the play when Macduff came back to murder Macbeth. Macbeth would never have guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for the killing in Macduff's household. This nemesis shows an additional force beyond Macbeth's control. Because of Macbeth's strong beliefs in ambition and the witches, when he found out Macduff was not born of woman, and also found out the Birnam Wood had been seen moving, he realized that the third apparition had deceived him and he understood he was no longer safe. Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned from a fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong belief in the witches, has brought him to a tragic end of his life, and caused many people to lose their lives.

sedimentary rocks essays

sedimentary rocks essays Silicon and oxygen, the two most common chemical elements in the Earth's crust, combine as silicon dioxide to form the mineral quartz. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS, are Rocks that are formed by the compaction of sediments or by the crystallization of the dissolved minerals. Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. Quartz has been found in meteorites and in some rocks collected on the moon. Quartz has the chemical formula SiO2. There are many varieties of quartz, which occurs in nearly all types of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. It is an essential mineral in granites, granodiorites and rhyolites. Metamorphism of quartz-bearing igneous and sedimentary rocks typically increases the amount of quartz and its grain size. Quartz is very resistant to weathering and, therefore, concentrates as sandstones and other detrital rocks. Most sands are weathered fragments of quartz. Sandstone and quartzite are the same materials that are re-lithified (compressed into rock). Quartz has many commercial applications. In science and industry, quartz sand is used for manufacturing sandpaper and other abrasives, polishing powders and soaps. It is used to make building materials, heat-resistant materials known as refractories and for the bearings of precision instruments. Quartz sand is also used in the manufacture of porcelain, glass and metal casting molds. Precision-cut plates of quartz are used for frequency control in radios, TVs, clocks and watches. Compositionally, quartz is usually quite pure, with only traces of other elements like aluminum, sodium, potassium and lithium. Quartz is found as large crystals that are often beautifully colored by impurities. The many varieties of quartz are due to formation of different geometric arrangements of its tetrahedral crystals. This accounts for different crystal structures, and, therefore, different physical properties. ...

Early History of African American Inventors

Early History of African American Inventors Thomas Jennings, born in 1791, is believed to have been the first African American  inventor to receive a patent for an invention. He was 30 years old when he was granted a patent for a dry-cleaning process. Jennings was a free tradesman and operated a dry-cleaning business in New York City. His income went mostly to his abolitionist activities. In 1831, he became assistant secretary for the First Annual Convention of the People of Color in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slaves were prohibited from receiving patents on their inventions. Although free African American  inventors were legally able to receive patents, most did not. Some feared that recognition and most likely the prejudice that would come with it would destroy their livelihoods. African American Inventors George Washington Murray was a teacher, farmer  and U.S. congressman from South Carolina from 1893 to 1897. From his seat in the House of Representatives, Murray was in a unique position to bring into focus the achievements of a people recently emancipated. Speaking on behalf of proposed legislation for a Cotton States Exhibition to publicize the South’s technological process since the Civil War, Murray urged that a separate space be reserved to display some of the achievements of Southern African Americans. He explained the reasons why they  should participate in regional and national expositions, saying: Mr. Speaker, the colored people of this country want an opportunity to show that the progress, that the civilization which is now admired the world over, that the civilization which is now leading the world, that the civilization which all nations of the world look up to and imitatethe colored people, I say, want an opportunity to show that they, too, are part and parcel of that great civilization. He  proceeded to read the names and inventions of 92 African American  inventors into the Congressional Record. Henry Baker What we know about early African American innovators comes mostly from the work of Henry Baker. He was an assistant patent examiner at the U.S. Patent Office who was dedicated to uncovering and publicizing the contributions of African American inventors. Around 1900, the Patent Office conducted a survey to gather information about these  inventors and their inventions. Letters were sent to patent attorneys, company presidents, newspaper editors and prominent African Americans. Henry Baker recorded the replies and followed up on leads. Baker’s research also provided the information used to select those inventions exhibited at the Cotton Centennial in New Orleans, the World’s Fair in Chicago and the Southern Exposition in Atlanta. By the time of his death, Henry Baker had compiled four massive volumes. First African American Woman to Patent Judy W. Reed may not have been able to write her name, but she patented a hand-operated machine for kneading and rolling dough. She is probably the first African American woman to obtain a patent. Sarah E. Goode is believed to have been the second African American woman to receive a patent. Race Identification Henry Blair was the only person to be identified in the Patent Office records as a colored man. Blair was the second African American inventor issued a patent. Blair was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, around 1807. He received a patent on October 14, 1834, for a seed planter, and a patent in 1836 for a cotton planter. Lewis Latimer Lewis Howard Latimer  was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1848. He enlisted in the Union Navy at the age of 15, and upon completion of his military service he returned to Massachusetts and was employed by a patent solicitor where he began the study of drafting. His talent for drafting and his creative genius led him to invent a method of making carbon filaments for the Maxim electric incandescent lamp. In 1881, he supervised the installation of electric lights in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. Latimer was the original draftsman for Thomas Edison and as such was the star witness in Edison’s infringement suits. Latimer had many interests. He was a draftsman, engineer, author, poet, musician and, at the same time, a devoted family man and philanthropist. Granville T. Woods Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1856,  Granville T. Woods  dedicated his life to developing a variety of inventions relating to the railroad industry. To some, he was known as the Black Edison. Woods invented more than a dozen devices to improve electric railway cars and much more for controlling the flow of electricity. His most noted invention was a system for letting the engineer of a train know how close his train was to others. This device helped cut down accidents and collisions between trains. Alexander Graham Bell’s company purchased the rights to Woods’ telegraphony, enabling him to become a full-time inventor. Among his other top inventions were a steam boiler furnace and an automatic air brake used to slow or stop trains. Wood’s electric car was powered by overhead wires. It was the third rail system to keep cars running on the right track. Success led to lawsuits filed by Thomas Edison. Woods eventually won, but Edison didn’t give up easily when he wanted something. Trying to win Woods over, and his inventions, Edison offered Woods a prominent position in the engineering department of Edison Electric Light Company in New York. Woods, preferring his independence, declined. George Washington Carver When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.   George Washington Carver. He could have added fortune to fame, but, caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world. George Washington Carver’s epitaph sums up a lifetime of innovative discovery. Born into slavery, freed as a child and  curious throughout life, Carver profoundly affected the lives of people throughout the nation. He successfully shifted Southern farming away from risky cotton, which depletes the soil of its nutrients, to nitrate-producing crops such as peanuts, peas, sweet potatoes, pecans, and soybeans. Farmers began rotating crops of cotton one year with peanuts the next. Carver spent his early childhood with a German couple who encouraged his education and early interest in plants. He received his early education in Missouri and Kansas. He was accepted into Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, in 1877, and in 1891 he transferred to Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) where he earned a bachelor of science in 1894 and a masters in science in 1897. Later that year, Booker T. Washingtonfounder of the Tuskegee Instituteconvinced Carver to serve as the school’s director of agriculture. From his laboratory at Tuskegee, Carver developed 325 different uses for peanutsuntil then considered lowly food fit for hogsand 118 products from the sweet potato. Other Carver innovations include synthetic marble from sawdust, plastics from woodshavings and writing paper from wisteria vines. Carver only patented three of his many discoveries. God gave them to me, he said, How can I sell them to someone else? Upon his death, Carver contributed his life savings to establish a research institute at Tuskegee. His birthplace was declared a national monument in 1953, and he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. Elijah McCoy So  you want the real McCoy? That means you want the real thing- what you know to be of the highest quality, not an inferior imitation. The saying may refer to a famous African American inventor named  Elijah McCoy. He earned more than 50 patents, but the most famous one was for a metal or glass cup that fed oil to bearings through a smallbore tube. Machinists and engineers who wanted genuine McCoy lubricators may have originated the term the real McCoy. McCoy was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1843the son of slaves who had fled Kentucky. Educated in Scotland, he returned to the United States to pursue a position in his field of mechanical engineering. The only job available to him was that of a locomotive fireman/oilman for the Michigan Central Railroad. Because of his training, he was able to identify and solve the problems of engine lubrication and overheating. Railroad and shipping lines began using McCoy’s new lubricators, and Michigan Central promoted him to an instructor in the use of his new inventions. Later, McCoy moved to Detroit where he became a consultant to the railroad industry on patent matters. Unfortunately, success slipped away from McCoy, and he died in an infirmary after suffering a financial, mental and physical breakdown. Jan Matzeliger Jan Matzeliger  was born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, in 1852. He immigrated to the United States at age 18 and went to work in a shoe factory in Philadelphia. Shoes then were handmade, a slow tedious process. Matzeliger helped revolutionize the shoe industry by developing a  machine that would attach the sole to the shoe in one minute. Matzeligers shoe lasting machine adjusts the shoe leather upper snugly over the mold, arranges the leather under the sole and pins it in place with nails, while the sole is stitched to the leather upper. Matzeliger died poor, but his stock in the machine was quite valuable. He left it to his friends and to the First Church of Christ in Lynn, Massachusetts. Garrett Morgan Garrett Morgan  was born in Paris, Kentucky, in 1877. As a self-educated man, he went on to make an explosive entry into the field of technology. He invented a gas inhalator when he, his brother and some volunteers were rescuing a group of men caught by an explosion in a smoke-filled tunnel under Lake Erie. Although this rescue earned Morgan a gold medal from the City of Cleveland and the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York, he was unable to market his gas inhalator because of racial prejudice. However, the U.S. Army used his device as gas masks for combat troops during World War I. Today, firefighters can save lives because  by wearing a similar breathing device they are able to enter burning buildings without harm from smoke or fumes. Morgan used his gas inhalator fame to sell his patented traffic signal with a flag-type signal to the General Electric Company for use at street intersections to control the flow of traffic. Madame Walker Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker, better known as  Madame Walker, together with  Marjorie Joyner  improved the hair-care and cosmetics industry early in the 20th century. Madame Walker was born in 1867 in poverty-stricken rural Louisiana. Walker was the daughter of former slaves, orphaned at the age of 7  and widowed by 20. After her husband’s death, the young widow migrated to St. Louis, Missouri, seeking a better way of life for herself and her child. She supplemented her income as a wash woman by selling her homemade beauty products door-to-door. Eventually, Walker’s products formed the basis of a thriving national corporation employing at one point over 3,000 people. Her Walker System, which included a broad offering of cosmetics, licensed Walker Agents, and Walker Schools offered meaningful employment and personal growth to thousands of African American women. Madame Walker’s aggressive marketing strategy combined with relentless ambition led her to be labeled as the first known African American woman to become a self-made millionaire. An employee of Madame Walker’s empire, Marjorie Joyner, invented a permanent wave machine. This device, patented in 1928, curled or permed women’s hair for a relatively lengthy period of time. The wave machine was popular among women white and black allowing for longer-lasting wavy hairstyles. Joyner went on to become a prominent figure in Madame Walker’s industry, though she never profited directly from her invention, for it was the assigned property of the Walker Company. Patricia Bath Dr.  Patricia Bath’s  passionate dedication to the treatment and prevention of blindness led her to develop the Cataract Laserphaco Probe. The probe, patented in 1988, is designed to use the power of a laser to quickly and painlessly vaporize cataracts from patients’ eyes, replacing the more common method of using a grinding, drill-like device to remove the afflictions. With another invention, Bath was able to restore sight to people who had been blind for over 30 years. Bath also holds patents for her invention in Japan, Canada, and Europe. Patricia Bath graduated from the Howard University School of Medicine in 1968 and completed specialty training in ophthalmology and corneal transplant at both New York University and Columbia University. In 1975, Bath became the first African American woman surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center and the first woman to be on the faculty of the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. She is the founder and first president of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. Patricia Bath was elected to Hunter College Hall of Fame in 1988 and elected as Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine in 1993. Charles Drew - The Blood Bank Charles Drew- a Washington, D.C., native- excelled in academics and sports during his graduate studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He was also an honor student at McGill University Medical School in Montreal, where he specialized in physiological anatomy. It was during his work at Columbia University in New York City where he made his discoveries relating to the preservation of blood. By separating the liquid red blood cells from the near solid plasma and freezing the two separately, he found that blood could be preserved and reconstituted at a later date. The British military used his process extensively during World War II, establishing mobile blood banks to aid in the treatment of wounded soldiers at the front lines. After the war, Drew was appointed the first director of the American Red Cross Blood Bank. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1944 for his contributions. He died at the early age of 46 from injuries suffered in a car accident in North Carolina. Percy Julian - Synthesis of Cortisone Physostigmine Percy Julian  synthesized physostigmine for treatment of glaucoma and cortisone for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. He is also noted for a fire-extinguishing foam for gasoline and oil fires. Born in Montgomery, Alabama,  Julian had little schooling because Montgomery provided limited public education for African Americans. However, he entered DePauw University as a sub-freshman and graduated in 1920 as class valedictorian. He then taught chemistry at Fisk University, and in 1923 he earned a master’s degree from Harvard University. In 1931, Julian received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Julian returned to DePauw University, where his reputation was established in 1935 by synthesizing physostigmine from the calabar bean. Julian went on to become director of research at the Glidden Company, a paint and varnish manufacturer. He developed a process for isolating and preparing soybean protein, which could be used to coat and size paper, create cold water paints and size textiles. During World War II, Julian used a soy protein to produce AeroFoam, which suffocates gasoline and oil fires. Julian was noted most for his synthesis of cortisone from soybeans, used in treating rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. His synthesis reduced the price of cortisone. Percy Julian was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. Meredith Groudine Dr. Meredith Groudine was born in New Jersey in 1929 and grew up in the streets of Harlem and Brooklyn. He attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and received a Ph.D. in engineering science from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Groudine built a multimillion dollar corporation that is based on his ideas in the field of electrogasdynamics (EGD). Using the principles of EGD, Groudine successfully converted natural gas to electricity for everyday use. Applications of EGD include refrigeration, desalination of seawater and reducing the pollutants in smoke. He holds more than 40 patents for various inventions. In 1964, he served on the President’s Panel on Energy. Henry Green Parks Jr. The aroma of sausage and scrapple cooking in kitchens along the east coast of America  has made it a little easier for kids to get up in the morning. With quickened steps to the breakfast table, families enjoy the fruits of the diligence and hard work of Henry Green Parks  Jr. He started the Parks Sausage Company in 1951 using distinctive, tasty Southern recipes he developed for sausage and other products. Parks registered several trademarks, but the radio and television commercial featuring a child’s voice demanding More Parks Sausages, mom is probably the most famous. After consumer complaints about the youngster’s perceived disrespect, Parks added the word please to his slogan. The company, with meager beginnings in an abandoned dairy plant in Baltimore, Maryland, and two employees, grew into a multimillion-dollar operation with more than 240 employees and annual sales exceeding $14 million. Black Enterprise continually cited H.G. Parks, Inc., as one of the top 100 African American firms in the country. Parks sold his interest in the company for $1.58 million in 1977, but he remained on the board of directors until 1980. He also served on the corporate boards of Magnavox, First Penn Corp., Warner Lambert Co. and W.R. Grace Co., and was a trustee of Goucher College of Baltimore. He died on April 14, 1989, at the age of 72. Mark Dean Mark Dean and his co-inventor, Dennis Moeller, created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. Their invention paved the way for the growth in the information technology industry, allowing us to plug into our computers peripherals like disk drives, video gear, speakers, and scanners. Dean was born in Jefferson City, Tennessee, on March 2, 1957. He received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, his MSEE from Florida Atlantic University and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Early in his career at IBM, Dean was a chief engineer working with IBM personal computers. The IBM PS/2 Models 70 and 80 and the Color Graphics Adapter are among his early work. He holds three of IBM’s original nine PC patents. Serving as vice president of performance for the RS/6000 Division, Dean was named an IBM fellow in 1996, and in 1997 he received the Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award. Dean holds more than 20 patents and  was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1997. James West Dr.  James West  is a Bell Laboratories Fellow at Lucent Technologies where he specializes in electro, physical  and architectural acoustics. His research in the early 1960s led to the development of foil-electret transducers for sound recording and voice communication that is used in 90% of all microphones built today and at the heart of most new telephones being manufactured. West holds 47 U.S. and more than 200 foreign patents on microphones and techniques for making polymer foil-electrets. He has authored more than 100 papers and contributed to books on acoustics, solid state physics, and material science. West has received numerous awards including the Golden Torch Award in 1998 sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers, the Lewis Howard Latimer Light Switch and Socket Award in 1989, and was chosen New Jersey Inventor of the Year for 1995. Dennis Weatherby While employed by Procter Gamble, Dennis Weatherby developed and received a patent for the automatic dishwasher detergent known by the trade name Cascade. He received his master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Dayton in 1984. Cascade is a registered trademark of the Procter Gamble Company. Frank Crossley Dr. Frank Crossley is a pioneer in the field of titanium metallurgy. He began his work in metals at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago after receiving his graduate degrees in metallurgical engineering. In the 1950s, few African Americans were visible in the engineering fields, but Crossley excelled in his field. He received seven patents- five in titanium base alloys that greatly improved the aircraft and aerospace industry. Michel Molaire Originally from Haiti, Michel Molaire became  a research associate at the Office Imaging Research and Development Group of Eastman Kodak. You can thank him for some of your most treasured Kodak moments. Molaire received his bachelor of science degree in chemistry, a masters of science degree in chemical engineering and M.B.A. from the University of Rochester. He has been with Kodak since 1974. After receiving more than 20 patents, Molaire was inducted into Eastman Kodak’s Distinguished Inventor’s Gallery in 1994. Valerie Thomas In addition to a long, distinguished career at NASA, Valerie Thomas is also the inventor of and holds a patent for an illusion transmitter. Thomas’ invention transmits by cable or electromagnetic means a three-dimensional, real-time imageNASA adopted the technology. She  received several NASA awards, including the Goddard Space Flight Center Award of Merit and the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal.