Living with Aspergers Syndrome Essay -- College Admissions Essays

Living with Asperger's Syndrome Albert Einstein, Bela Bartok, Alan Turing, Bill Gates, Thomas Jefferson and I. Is this a list of Geniuses? People who have changed history? Or are these people who display the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome? Dr. Tony Attwood, the world-renowned Australian psychologist who is an expert on Asperger's Syndrome, cited them as examples of people with Asperger's during a Conference held at the Palisades Center in Rockland, New York, in October of 1999. Dr. Attwood is a practicing clinical psychologist at MacGregor Specialist Center in Australia, with twenty-five years of experience in the field of Asperger's Syndrome. Â   I had the opportunity to join over 200 other participants at the day-long Asperger's Conference. Participants came from as far away as Africa to assist with organizational tasks and to listen to Dr. Attwood's presentation, as well as his answers to questions from the audience. Dr. Attwood, who has worked with Asperger's patients and lectured around the world, commented, "I have always been impressed by their patience and ingenuity in achieving abilities others acquire without a second thought." Â   Where does the name Asperger's Syndrome come from? Over fifty years ago, a Viennese pediatrician,... ...at comes naturally to most people: listening to others, looking them in the eye, and trying to understand another's point of view. Dr. Attwood believes, "Children with Asperger's Syndrome have the strong desire to have friends while recognizing their considerable difficulties with achieving and maintaining genuine friendships. Many experience ridicule, exclusion, teasing or bullying. Education programs can be used to assist them." Â   Education is a powerful tool. The conference provided lessons beyond Asperger's Syndrome. "The more you learn about one disability, the more you learn about the nature of all disabilities." Â  

Life Without Music Essay

Music is in many ways the fabric of our lives and the definition of society. It is a reminder of how things once were, an indication of how things are, and a view of where society is headed. Music is a direct reflection of the picture of society. Music can be a way to deliver messages, a poetic medium, a fine art, or nothing more than a source of entertainment. No matter what it is used for, music is the perfect art and our lives would be that much less complete without it that life as we know it would not at all be the same without music. Music is the perfect art. It has movement, because it progresses over a set period of time. All musical works have a beginning and an end. However, music does not restrict the audience in the way that movies or graphic art does. The listener can create whatever image she or he wants to when listening to music. It is an art that appeals to the conscious mind, but the best music also appeals to the subconscious. No thought is required to enjoy good music, though it is often thought-inspiring. Instrumental music does not bind the listener into a fixed template in the way that literature and poetry do: the reaction to music is different from person to person. Although it is probably the most difficult to produce the desired imagery in instrumental music, it can be done. Beethovens Opus 27, Number 2, Piano Sonata No. 14, First Movement gives the image of a tired old man writing by the light of the moon and his passion without using any words at all. Music with lyrics is often referred to as â€Å"words set to music.† This is not always the case. Sometimes it is more accurate to refer to music with lyrics as â€Å"music set to words.† This form both widens and restricts the composers artistic range. Lyrics make it easier for composers to bring out their main ideas without expressing them in notesNnot all composers have the power of Beethoven! However, they restrict the images of the musical work in the same way that prose and poetry limit their subject. Whether instrumental or lyrical, music comes from the people and can enlighten us all. It was during the 1960s that the social revolution and the struggles for civil rights inspired such musicians as Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and Joan Baez to write songs of protest. In turn, the music of th ese artists, and many others, influenced the younger generations and spread the word of the revolution. Without music, many teenagers of the time would not have been given the influence of the time or its associated mentality. Music was, and continues to be, a kind of social education to the younger generation. Teenagers turn to popular music for their philosophies and get a sense of their place in the world. In fact, cliques of young people are often defined by the music they listen to: â€Å"punks† listen to punk rock and heavy metal; â€Å"nerds† are reputed to listen to classical music; the â€Å"in† crowd listens to the latest material alternative music has to offer; the â€Å"loners† listen to obscure pop artists or classic rock. Youth culture would be much less vivid than it is if the world had no music. Generations would not be sparked to action without music. The war drums of primitive peoples were a kind of music. It was they that stirred the Cavemen and the Vikings to participate in decade-long wars. Musics social influence is ever-present. Our so ciety is shaped by it. Not only is music the chisel of society; it is a constant thread that runs through nature. Music is everywhere: the sound of falling water, the rustle of leaves underfoot, the call of wild birdsNeven the sound of rush-hour traffic is a kind of music. The common definition of music is â€Å"a series of pitches and rhythms that have an overall coherence.† This definition is limited to man-made music. â€Å"Synthetic† music is really just one kind of music. The sounds of nature are all part of the greater Music of the universe. Man-made music is entirely influenced by the true music of nature. The pulse of the heart is the constant bass drum. The sound of walking feet is the alternating snare drum. The rustle of leaves in the wind is the highest string section. A rivers flowing sound fills out the harmony. The Symphony of Nature is the mother of mans own music. The absence of the greater Music cannot be considered. Music is the Universe. The idea of an absence of man-made music would be almost as inconceivable. For humans to create music is inevitable. It is as natural as thought. With mankind being surrounded by natures Music, he has no choice but to make music of his own. Therefore, the idea of a world without music is highly hypothetical. One would sooner consider a life without experiences or a year without days. A day in a world without music might proceed like this: One would awaken to the sound of a radio announcer speaking about politics. On the way to work, the radio show would consist of interviews with famous personalities. The work day would be terribly boring, since the office would not have any decorations (these would have been made by artists who had been influenced by music). That evening, the television commercials would have no jingles, only women promoting kitchen cleaners in white kitchens. The contestants of Jeopardy! would write down their questions for Final Jeopardy in complete silence, without the famous tune. The evening movie would be almost mute. It would seem to be like a silent film, with no incidental or theme music to augment the otherwise bland actors. In the restaurant, the date would be boring and unenlightening. Neither he nor she would be able to come out with any remotely intelligent ideas without music in the background to keep the brain working. The nights dreams would not be scored with a happy tune or a slow nocturne. They would take place in silence, a drab, dark world of nothing. This â€Å"world without music† seems to have incoherences and cracks in it. It does not make sense and does not quite explain itself. Music is essential for the world to even make sense. It is as fundamentally inherent as gravity is in the universe. Any attempt to restrict or control music, such as is made in communist politics, is both vain and unrealistic. One cannot challenge the broadloom of the universe when making political policies! To think that the natural urge to create music in the image of the greater Music can be repressed is an exercise in na*vet. Music is societys mark. The history of human musicians is rich, and has many fine people lining its ranks. Music has changed the artistic and non-artistic world immeasurably, such that a world without music is nothing more than a terrifying fantasy. The very prospect is difficult to consider. A world without music would be a quiet place indeed.

The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson Essay example

The pair of twins sat down in their homeroom class. One was gentle and charming, and the other was intelligent and had a great future in store. Being twins one would think they were very alike but secretly they were different. Sitting in homeroom no classmate would think that they were sitting next to a new definition of evil. In The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson, he decides to include different styles of ambition and appearance vs. reality to illustrate, that ambition can break one or make one and everything is not what it seems. Larson’s style is to add to irreverent stories together so that the two major protagonists highlight each other’s traits, one trait is their ambition. Both Holmes and Burnham are ambitious but in two†¦show more content†¦His ambition was to create a game which involved the suffering of others. Killing people created him a sort of pleasure, â€Å"Holmes was enjoying himself. He had arranged the insurance fraud for money, but the rest of it was for fun. Holmes was testing his power to bend lives of people† (Larson 355). Holmes always looked for people that he saw as weak and he used them to create his game which to him was to see how far he could go in changing a person’s life. While Geyer was investigating the disappearances of the Pitezel children he said that all criminals had a motive but no one really saw clearly what Holmes’ motive was. Later Geyer was drawn to the conclusion of Holmes wanting to have power over people’s lives. Holmes wanted to control people and produce others a suffering as he did when Carrie Pitezel was put in a hotel by Holmes in front of the hotel her children were in, without any of them knowing, that was his game. In the novel both Burnham and Holmes had ambitions but both had very different ambitions, which led their lives in different paths. Burnham by having the ambition to want Chicago to prosper became America’s best architect. Holmesà ¢â‚¬â„¢ ambition took him to jail and eventually to his death. The novel The Devil in the White City, illustrates that everything is not what it seems using the character Holmes and the creation of the World’s Fair. Holmes was known as a charming doctor that starstruck every woman that he laid an eye upon. It was said byShow MoreRelatedThe Good And Evil Of A City : Erick Larson s The Devil1528 Words   |  7 Pages The Good and Evil of a City: Erick Larson’s The Devil in the White City Larson’s The Devil in the White City was written during the time of 1890’s era of the Chicago World Fair and culture in the American’s utopian ideals. Larson will introduce the main character Daniel Burnham and his connection with the 1893 Chicago World Fair and the foreshadowing of many death within the chapters. Throughout the book, Larson will be discussing that evil exists in the American city during the time of the fairRead MoreDr. H. H. Holmes: Americas First Serial Killer Essay1527 Words   |  7 PagesErick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, â€Å"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since† (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major s erial killer in America, even though he came after many others