May 2009

Monthly Archive

Essays19 May 2009 06:10 pm

The X-Factor: the key behind success in New York
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here have many sayings or cliques spread throughout our culture, pertaining to New York, and its infectious atmosphere, on its residents with dreams of “making it big”. Quotes such as “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere”, are one of the many invisible truths to being successful in New York. This type of analysis of New York’s culture is true, due to its shear hard nose style of competition, industrial wise and its fast paced lifestyle. However, one might ask, what is it really that drives certain individuals in New York to become more than the ordinary and strive to be extraordinary? Well the key component to that drive, is an individual’s usage of adversity. Do to adversity, it pushes one beyond their normal limits or breaking points, testing them mentally and physically, producing an end result of a well accomplished individual, if successful in persevering. Adversity is also known as dip, clarified by Seth Godin in his novel title “The Dip”, where he compares adversity to a steep mountain climb, which separates the best from the average.

            However adversity doesn’t always result in a successful completion of one’s trial of self endurance. Sometimes a person ends up failing, persevering for a cause that was simply out of their reach. That’s why adversity greatly benefits the citizens of the lower class, the individuals considered to be the bottom of the social class structure. Many consider the lower class portion of society to be obsolete and nonexistent in the everyday general public accomplishments. Yet it is this so called weakness of social class, which provides their greatest strength and motivation.

            This fact proves to be true, because when striving to for the top, what other place is better to start from the bottom looking up. With little or nothing to start out with, it is no wonder their drive for success is so powerful. As Malcolm Gladwell states in essay “….it is better to start at the bottom, because it is there that you learned the discipline and motivation essential for success.” (Gladwell).

            People fail to realize that not all successful individuals started off with a silver spoon in their mouth, but instead they battle through adversity, and work for their success. For example, in Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Uses of Adversity: Can Underprivileged Outsiders Have an Advantage?” is a non-fictional story about a man named Sidney Weinberg who at an early age was born into poverty and was at a major disadvantage socially, in New York. However these same disadvantages that were suppose to make him weak made him even stronger. He began at a young age going to random office buildings from top to bottom, asking everyone in the offices if they desired an available assistant. His persistence soon paid off when he later gained a job as an assistant to a janitor, earning no more than $3 an hour. He was later moved to flag boy for a trolley service, which one day was headed to the Sachs family town house. There he met the grandson of the founder of Goldman Sachs.

As a result he eventually made it big in the business industry, with his contributions made to Goldman Sachs, turning the meager partnership into the leading investment bank in the world. Even though Weinberg was not a financial wizard, he made up the difference with excellent social skills, overcoming his adversity. The fact that he would brag about having a low class education or the fact that he was an outsider to the business world, thus not being corrupted by the insider’s point of view, attracted a lot of business partners to him. His constant boasting of being an underprivileged individual, paid off because it allowed him to be an open minded individual, so that he could better connect with people of the wealthy crowd.

Adversity is the key factor in what drives people to that ultimate goal of success, especially when dealing with the competitive nature that is the lifestyle of New York. However due to the nature of adversity, it steadily reduces the number of competition around an individual as the trail or tests get even strenuous and more difficult, to separate the mentally focused from the ones who break under pressure. The city of New York is the success that it is today, due to the fact that it prospers from this competition, because it helps bring about the best personnel well adapted to the city’s aggressive standard of living.

Works Cited

1)      http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/10/081110fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=1

2)      Godin, Seth. “The Dip: a little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)”. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

 

 

 

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Essays12 May 2009 11:28 pm

A Wal-Mart Blog Evaluation
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Blogs are the new face of how we express our daily ideas, passions, beliefs and so on forth. Connecting with its reader on a spiritual or intellectual level, is the key to a successful blog. They also can be extremely helpful by requiring the feedback or opinions of their readers. Sparkling templates and dazzling colors alone does not guarantee you a willing reading audience. Rather it is the viewpoint of these writers, who expresses their inner most thoughts, as a means to reach out to a similar audience. This viewpoint or rather a unique voice, appeals to a reader, because of its ability to strike a chord in ones consciousness that resonates with the outlook of the viewer.

            One blog I think connects with its audience is the Wal-Mart blog. As you know, Wal-mart is a huge marketing depot franchise that provides efficient pricing and as well as convenience to its everyday customers everywhere. However with the addition of its blog, it has established itself as being ahead of the competition such as Costco’s, BJ’s and other shopping depots. Wal-Mart frequently puts out information or suggestions as a means to further connect to their already mass clientele and consumers.

 On this site Wal-Mart provides information on its latest products, as well as ideas for up and coming products. The blog’s blog is composed of simple marketing designs, nothing too fancy that would take away from the attention span of the reader.  What makes Wal-Mart different from the other retail stores out there, is the fact that it welcomes its customers to provide feedback to their suggestions. It keeps the viewers updated and informed through blogging, which not many retail stores take advantage of.  This type of communication benefits both the store and customers, for example one of the recent post by Wal-Mart brought up a discussion of how color trends affected the selection laptops. At the end of the post, there was a poll for which color would people prefer to see on the PC’s. Wal-Mart utilizes polls such as these to influence their selection of laptops for their customers benefit, in return the store prospers from its sales.

A blog main purpose is to not talk over its viewers but, instead talk to them and make a connection. As well as in some ways provide useful information that might be beneficial take away information for its followers. Wal-Mart does a great job at informing its consumers of the newest and most recent products they have available. The fact that it also welcomes responses to their suggestions of recommended goods, is additionally great.

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Essays04 May 2009 11:45 pm

Enter Stage Left
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New York City as we know is comprised of many big name attractions and entertainment spots, decorated with an enormous assortment of dazzling neon lights and signs. One of New York’s main attractions is theatre. Theatre has existed in New York ever since the late 1690’s, as it was the earliest source of entertainment found in New York at the time. In New York, there is a mass selection of theatres scattered all over city of New York. Theatres are halls of mystery, drama, comedy and other invisible emotional expressions we seek out as viewers of these plays. A brand of theatre that is well known in New York is located on the strip called Broadway. Broadway has made a name for its self with its key performances and big name attractions, shows such as Rent, Cats and The Phantom of The Opera. The main Broadway theatre district located in the vicinity of Times Square is a main tourist spot and venue for theatre. The terms Broadway and theatre have become almost synonymous, making New York the center of theatrical entertainment. The theatre has become deeply entwined with the culture of New York. What brings these plays to life is the courageous and amazing actors which, by day blend in with the rest of the crowd as regular commuters and at night take on another persona and become part of the play or performance.

            When you mention Broadway, people automatically think of the world’s most famous street, the well-known strip of street located between 41st and 53st on Broadway in Times Square, Manhattan. In reality, a Broadway house is comprised of 499 seats and above in order to be deemed as a Broadway theatre. As an industry Broadway, is a billion dollar production, grossing about $939 million dollars in New York alone, as stated by Broadway producer Pun Bandhu. To this day the Broadway theatre district has been commercialized and advertised widely throughout the City of New York. Billboards and posters filled with key name plays such as the Lion King, Wicked, Momma Mia and many others.

Although the origins of theatre began around the 1690’s, it was around the 1800’s that the emergence of Broadway began. Broadway in New York, at the time, during the early stages of theatre was the epicenter for live theatrical entertainment. Since New York was a mixture of freshly arrived immigrants, all theatrical acts were imported from England. Theatre also was a production meant to provide emotional enlightenment to the public during times of crisis such as the stock market crash and the world wars.

A few entrepreneurs decided to move the theatres away from the downtown area of Manhattan, such as the Wall Street area, and constructed the Madison Square theatre on 29st. At the time no one expected the theatre to become successful, due to the fact; it was far away from the local towns. However later on construction of the Casino theatre followed suit, which became a huge success. Soon other theatres where built around the district and developed into a section of town that consisted of the best in live entertainment. Due to the success of these theatre productions, it greatly impacted the city of New York.  The production of the “Black Crook” established itself as Broadway’s first performance which mixed songs, dance and a storyline to accommodate the performance. Theatres in New York consist of a rich and spontaneous culture that has contributed greatly to the reputation of the city. In the 1900’s, Construction of theatres would concentrate around the Flat Iron Building district and soon expand down Broadway into midtown Manhattan.

 Broadway itself is the longest running street in New York. The Broadway theatre district however, stretches from 41st street to 53st street between 6th and 8th avenue in Manhattan. Due to the mass array of bright colorful lights and signs that decorate the district of 41st and 53st and Broadway, it gained the nickname the “great white way”. Even though there are 36 total theatres located between 41st and 53st of Broadway, there are only 4 actual theatres physically located on the Broadway strip. The other theatres are either located east or west of the Broadway.  However, not all theatrical performances are considered Broadway theatre productions. Actually theatres of 499 seats and above are known as Broadway theatres. Theatres containing 199 seats to 499 seats are considered off-Broadway theatres. Lastly, theaters who contain 99 seats and below are off off-broadway theatres. Theatres such as the off-Broadway theatres are located all over New York, in boroughs such as Queens and Brooklyn. Broadway theatre performances are not always considered better than their off-Broadway counterparts.

             The name Broadway itself contains a rich history of famous and prominent theatre performances over years in New York, which legacy still carries on to this day. The Broadway theatre district contributed greatly to the fame and popularity of Times Square, since it is located in the same vicinity. Theatre in New York is an expression of the captured deeper feelings and emotions we find dormant within ourselves, from day to day experiences, released in an emotional performance we, as an audience, can spiritually relate to. When one mentions theatre, you cannot help but relate the idea to the City of New York, due to its contribution to the living art form we know today as theatre.

 

 

 Work Cited

http://www.videojug.com/interview/the-history-of-broadway-2#what-is-broadway

http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/theatre/theatre_history.shtml

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/bway101/1.html

 

 

 

             

           

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