Within Outward Appearance essays

Within Outward Appearance essays It is shown through these stories that in societies humans have rituals to make them beautiful. With the bizarre rituals and beliefs as stated in Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, the author Horace Miller feels the Nacirema practices are unusual. In his style of writing he uses anagrams to portray the Nacirema is American. The Nacirema have a lot of magical beliefs and rituals they use in order to stay attractive and use these in day to day life. Whereas the autobiographical essay In the Kitchen, the writer Henry Louis Gates, Jr. feels proud of the struggle blacks in particular go through to look beautiful. He writes with love for his mother and memories he personally has about hair being beautiful. These essays show how in society people have different rituals for striving to look beautiful. With so many different rituals to look beautiful, the Nacirema and black people have to be patient because most methods are time consuming. There are many rituals in the Nacirema society. The Nacirema has a ritual where they insert, a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures(7). Miner feels that to strangers this ritual can be confusing as well as disgusting. That if this ritual were not performed would effect the Naciremas teeth to decay and look so revolting that they would not have any friends or lovers. If falling ill the Nacirema go to a latipso. Their children do not want to go to a latipso because, that is where you go to die(7). With all the rituals the Nacirema perform, women go to the latipso end up feeling bad about their bodies. They find that, their naked bodies are subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men(7). Since the women have come to the latipso for help, and paid the price to ge ...

Facts About the Order Cetacea

Facts About the Order Cetacea The Order Cetacea is the group of marine mammals that includes the cetaceans - the whales, dolphins and porpoises. Description There are 86 species of cetaceans, and these are divided into two suborders - the mysticetes (baleen whales, 14 species) and odontocetes (toothed whales, 72 species). Cetaceans range in size from just a few feet long to over 100 feet long. Unlike fish, which swim by moving their heads from side-to-side to swing their tail, cetaceans propel themselves by moving their tail in a smooth, up-and-down motion. Some cetaceans, such as the Dalls porpoise and the orca (killer whale) can swim faster than 30 miles per hour. Cetaceans Are Mammals Cetaceans are mammals, which means they are endothermic (commonly called warm-blooded) and their internal body temperature is about the same as a humans. They give birth to live young and breathe air through lungs just like we do. They even have hair. Classification Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: Cetacea Feeding Baleen and toothed whales have distinct feeding differences. Baleen whales use plates made of keratin to filter out large quantities of small fish, crustaceans or plankton from the sea water. Toothed whales often gather in pods and work cooperatively to feed. They prey on animals such as fish, cephalopods, and skates. Reproduction Cetaceans reproduce sexually, and females usually have one calf at a time. The gestation period for many cetacean species is about 1 year. Habitat and Distribution Cetaceans are found worldwide, from tropical to arctic waters. Some species, like the bottlenose dolphin may be found in coastal areas (e.g., southeastern U.S.), while others, like the sperm whale, may range far offshore to waters thousands of feet deep. Conservation Many cetacean species were decimated by whaling. Some, like the North Atlantic right whale, have been slow to recover. Many cetacean species are protected now - in the U.S., all marine mammals have protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Other threats to cetaceans include entanglement in fishing gear or marine debris, ship collisions, pollution, and coastal development.