Do it, Just Right

Build structure with solid sentences and paragraphs.

Sentences and paragraphs are the tools of the writing trade. Good writers know how to organize them to express thoughts clearly and to make points logically. "This stuff is basic. Get it right," says David R. Williams. Click here to make sure you do.

Ask Nancy

Dear Nancy,

My research and notes are a jumble. Can Questia help me get them sorted out? Frenzied in Finland Click here for Nancy's response

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Do it Right

How to write a short story.

Students often panic at the assignment of a short story. But the short story form offers opportunities for creativity, complexity and richness. Click here to learn the characteristics of a good short story and how to approach your assignment with confidence and skill.

Ask Nancy

Dear Nancy,

My Questia project is getting bigger — and more complicated — by the minute. Now I've got lots of different research notes, and I'm working with many different publications. Is there a quick way to sort and display this information?Outnumbered in the Aussie Outback Click here for Nancy's response

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Food for Thought

Here's some food for thought,

Want to do better? Eat smarter. Our nutritional choices affect our ability to perform mentally as much as physically. In the Psychology Today article "How to eat smart," Randy Blaun and Andreas Wiesenack talk about how the foods we eat affect body performance and "may prove to have an even more critical influence on how the brain handles its tasks." They explain, "The idea that the right foods, or the natural neurochemicals they contain, can enhance mental capabilities — help you concentrate, tune sensorimotor skills, keep you motivated, magnify memory, speed reaction times, defuse stress, perhaps even prevent brain aging — is not idle speculation." The Daily Record article "Good Food" identifies nutritional "performance enhancers" and offers tips for achieving "a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fat, protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and drinking plenty of fluids." In Food and You: A Guide to Healthy Habits for Teens, Marjolijn Bijlefeld and Sharon K. Zoumbaris explain how exercise and the foods you eat affect the way you perform and offer guidelines for setting up a healthy kitchen which includes basic cooking equipment and a nutritious larder. "Your body is like an engine, the better the fuel you put it, the better the performance," says Helen Cox. Writing for the Evening Chronicle, she offers 12 tips to help you get "Fighting Fit. "

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Your Dreams, Your Goals, Your Reality

Many dream to succeed, few succeed without dreaming, yet many others, seemingly without dreams are great dreamer; but the greatest dreamers are them that fears God…….by?

How big are your dreams? How realistic are your goals? How do you intend to achieve your goals? Do you have a deadline for translating your dreams into reality?.................. Set achievable goals and give it a DEADLINE. Remember, setting a seemingly big goal is not a pride, they are just showing your level of determination to achieve against all odds

I remembered this quote;


I know the thought that I think towards you, ... thought of good, not of evil and to give you an expected end……jer 29:11 ..then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and i will hearken unto you. v.12

for my thought are not your thought neither your ways your way…..Isa.55:8 - 13

have I said and will not do it……..

For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west; neither does it come from the north or the south. Ps. 75.6....Promotion cometh down from heaven..He putteth down one and setteth up another....v.7

Come with me

Slavery in Africa Fad – Reality?

Year four (or SS 1) in secondary school is an interesting one, as far as academic level/advancement is concern. For instance, it was, (I think till today) compulsory to take the entire courses offered in your school, including History. But I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to have anything to do with history, not minding the consequence on my academic records. By then I call myself young scientist, and planned to go in for medical or engineering courses. To be honest, I had no direction on what or which degree I wanted then. One thing led to another and I bolted out of the sciences and today, I am an economist.

Until this morning…. I was reminiscing over the level of economic crunch that unfolds the nature and difficulty of nation building that stares Africa in the face. Then I did a little brain work…….. Of course Africa’s economic history cannot be divorced from its political……. then I see what I’ve missed in my 1 – 2 years history class………
Then I wandered ………..why should my great grand parent sold their subject because of mirrors, garments, gun powders etc? At least so I heard. Okay, gun powder to capture rival clans…...

That is history. But history lives beyond its contemporaries……………….
What should we do to avoid the repeat of slavery? Can we salvage ourselves from modern slavery...?
………….that comes in the form of human displacement because of recurring repression on the continent? ………brain drain? Can we?.......can we? What should Africa do?

What we call "history" is born from a collage of glimpses and images, insights and documents. And while this Gallery does not presume to tell the comprehensive story of early photography and African Americans, it does offer tantalizing glimpses into the past. During the half-century covered by these photographs, African Americans fought slavery, withstood brutal racial hatred, and struggled to escape from poverty. Sometimes the camera was their ally... sometimes it was an instrument of prejudice... but often it was an observer, recording the images that we recognize today as the raw material of history.

Thomas H. Lindsey (active Asheville, North Carolina):
"Stripes but no Stars"
Silver, Silver-Platinum (Satista) or Platinum print, circa 1892
5 x 8 inches

E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. (publishers):
"Bombproof Quarters of Maj. Strong, at Dutch Gap, 16th N. Y. Artillery"
Stereoscopic Albumen Photograph, circa 1863
(detail shown)

Unidentified Photographer (Sold or Published by James W. Queen, Philadelphia):
"The Darkey's Vanity"
Tinted Stereoscopic Albumen Photograph, circa 1860 (left)
Unidentified Photographer:
Civil War Soldiers with a Young "Contraband"
Albumen print carte de visite, circa 1863 (right)

Unidentified Photographer:
"Slave Boy Brought to Waterbury from Bucks Hill by Aunt Ella Johnson's Second Husband (Whelan)"
Ninth-Plate Ambrotype, circa 1855

(second up) During the Siege of Petersburg, troops under the command of General Butler attempted to build a canal across the James River at Dutch Gap in Virginia. Work began August 15, 1864 and finished unsuccessfully with the explosion of six tons of gunpowder on January 1, 1865. The goal was to shorten the navigation of the James River by seven miles, bypassing an area where Union ships came within range of Confederate gunners.
The Fourth and Sixth Regiments of U.S. Colored Troops (Third Brigade, Third Division, Army of the James) were ordered to Dutch Gap, August 16, 1864 and remained there on fatigue duty until September 28. Perhaps the officer and soldier shown here belonged to one of those regiments.About 180,000 African Americans enlisted in the Union Army, and others joined the Navy. Many units suffered heavy casualties: it's estimated that one-third of all African Americans in the Union military lost their lives in the Civil War. (For more information in a new browser window, click here .

http://www.photographymuseum.com/faceof.html

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/slavery/return.php?

Who I am to Question You LORD

Man praying
1775736 Design Pics Royalty Free Photograph

Oh! I seem to have an unabated zest for pursuing my goals, despite their seeming “insurmountablility”.

Reminiscing, over how a poor young man like me could be thinking and hoping to find himself in some world acclaimed best universities ...............it is better imagined than told.

Oh my Lord, my present help in time of need, forgive me if I err.
This morning (7.10 AM), as I was reading my Bible, Gods word told me

“Thus says the LORD…. ‘Thy Maker’, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the works of my hands, command ye me (Isa.45:11). Then (V.I2). I have made the earth,…man upon it,…the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded”. Then said I “commanded to do what Lord?” He said I have raised you… and I will direct all your ways (V.13).

But lord, poor me, I am scared…; this is a place where black is white and vice versa. Then I remembered what he told me long time ago: “Fear thou not (Austin) for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee with the right hand of my righteousness ( Isa. 41.10)

Ah Ah, he said in V.14, ‘fear not thou worm “Austin”, …I will help thee’. And again ‘behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shall thresh the MOUNTAINS (that is before thee now) and beat them small and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shall fan them and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shall rejoice in the Lord and shall glory in the Holy One…(V.15, 16).

I just feebly said to the Lord, “behold thou has made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm and there is nothing too hard for thee (Jer.32.17)’. Then in a still small voice, here comes the consolation and affirmation in V.27. “Behold I am the Lord the God of ALL flesh: is there anything too hard for me?

Then I remembered Abraham and Sarah of old. For Sarah being 90 years of age, it had ceased to be with her the manner of women; and Abraham, being 99 years old, was also old and well stricken in age.

So Gen. 18:10, He said “I will certainly return unto thee, according to the time of life; and lo Sarah thy wife (says He to Abraham) shall have a son…. How laughable! Sarah actually laughed (V.12).

Exactly a year later (Gen. 21:5), God did as he promised (21:1), and in V.2 Sarah conceived. Recalling what He, through His Holy angels told Abraham at the start of this “Son Mission”, Gen. 18:14, “is there anything too hard for me…?
Who am I to question you oh Lord God, the almighty, the unimaginable God, with whom there is no impossibility, nor shadows of turning. I know it shall shortly be done as you promised.
Oh Lord, forgive me if I whine and help me to abide in your unfailing, divine will no matter how long I wait.

Then together with Don Moen I will sing:

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way.....

He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness

He'll lead me

And rivers in the desert will I see

Heaven and earth will fade

But His Word will still remain

And He will do something new today

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way...

He will make a way

NARRATION

Oh God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way....

He will make a way

How Africa Subsidized the Development of the West

Colonialism did a lot of harm on the cultural, political and economic nerve of the African heritage. But we cannot continue to blame colonialism endlessly. But whether we are now in a phase of pan- Africanism, that does not require reparation; with the damage to Africa, to the damage of our capability for unity, and the capability for democracy, good governance and the question of nation building, to the issue of the harm done to the people of Africa and Africans in Diaspora, the damage is not in the past; the damage is here with us now. It is in the wars which are going on in Africa today. We are people of the day before yesterday and the day after tomorrow; long before slavery, we lived together in one human village called Africa; then the strangers came and took some of us away, scattering us in different directions of the globe. This have made Africa a donor to both developed and the relatively rich economies of the world. But this is more so in terms of the brain drain syndrome. Before the strangers came, our village was the world, we knew no other. Now, we are scattered so widely that the sun never sets on the descendants of Africa. The world is now our village and we plan to make it more human between now and the day after tomorrow.

At the same time the West cannot afford to abandon us. The price of negligence is not only high, but is usually paid in anguish.

But no matter how willing and well intentioned the West might be in salvaging Africa from the doldrums, few of them have better knowledge on local conditions and problems than the Africans. Africa must occupy the drivers seat, sort out those things we can do for ourselves, do them before soliciting for external support and help.

Although, glorious future awaits Africa, that future does not lie with any ethnic section, cliquish, religious bigots or the scoundrels who parade themselves as our leaders. What Africans need is a national ethos and no group is better placed to do this than the youths. They must be given the opportunity to begin the re-examination of Africa. The youth’s needs to constantly challenge themselves even in the midst of deprivation and wants. They must not let the baggage of ethnic chauvinism and many other ills that have mired our great continent in underdevelopment to weigh them down. With these, African renaissance is here to stay.

MY FEAR FOR NIGERIA IN 2007

Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999 meant a fresh start. However, the past weighs heavily on the democratic experiment: the country has endured six successful and numerous failed military coups, a civil war that cost well over a million lives, three inconclusive transitions to democracy and recurrent factional violence. Widespread corruption and persistent electoral malpractice continue to undermine politics as a whole. Military rule has cast a long shadow, and Nigeria remains dangerously reliant on oil receipts and mired in patron-client networks. New challenges have arisen, with inter-communal clashes across the country causing more than 14,000 deaths since 1999 and displacing more than three million. Militias have sprung up, notably in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where growing tensions are a direct result of decades of environmental harm and political neglect. Concurrently, Nigeria is striving to assert its political weight in West Africa, across the African continent and beyond. It is all too easy for the world to perceive it only as a major world oil producer and a regional policeman. The year 2007 is definitely going to be the most important year in the history of Nigeria. With the global movement of autonomous economies towards democracy to enable backward and globally marginalized nations to quickly revitalize their economies in other to translate themselves into equal partners in the new economic order, as well as to guarantee more dividends delivery in the palatial economies of the Western world, one can only imagine the predicament of the African people. Although democracy, even among the so – called successful ones of the developing world has not brought the most anticipated dividends to its citizenry, especially those in Africa, particularly Nigeria, owing to, principally undue emphasis on the form of democracy rather than its essence, the deteriorating predicament notwithstanding, the situation does not defy solution as some Western scholars would want us to believe. Looking at the Nigerian case among so many in Africa, one would, but wonder why such an economy could not achieve an economic turn around in almost eight years of democratic structure; but figures on inflation, interest rate and per capita income and other important economic indicators are falsified. But here comes again an election period. The first in the history of the country where a civilian would hand over to another civilian since 1999 (the closest to that was in 2003, but the incumbent could not be defeated). There is however the high possibility that the incumbent will significantly influence the outcome of the elections’ results. This is more so as was demonstrated in the latest PDP Convention held in December 2006 in the city of Abuja. PDP is the self – acclaimed largest political party on the continent of Africa, a party through which the imcumbent president came to power. Originally, Aso Rocks’ (the Presidency’s) directive was that the party’s Presidential flag bearer should be given to an incumbent governor. Although almost all the 28 PDP Governors out of the 36 of the federation had shown interest to contest for the presidency, Baba (Obasanjo) through the PDP Governors Forum prevailed in the selection of Yar ‘adu, the current Governor of Katsina State. Today, there are speculations that the presidency may tinker with her earlier selection of the PDP’s flag bearer. This was because the permutations of the party strategist failed to make allowance for the possibility of General Buhari securing the ANPP’s flag for the presidential election. ANPP is by virtue of the Nigerian political economy, the second largest political party. Why the Presidency together with her gamut of strategist thought Buhari will not secure the ANPPs’ presidential ticket will require analysis and explanation far beyond the scope of this article. But on why the presidency wants to tinker with the ticket given to Yar’adu, is simply because they thought that Yar’adu, the governor of Katsina State and his running mate, Goodluck Jonathan are no match for General Buhari. Of course, both Yar’dua and Jonathan are politicians that are hardly known beyond the shore of their states. Furthermore, AC is another strong political party, with Atiku Abubakar, the current Vice President as its Presidential flag bearer. Ten other political parties adopted Atiku as the presidential flag-bearer of their parties. But because of the current sticky situation between the president ( Obasanjo) and the Vice President (Atiku), there is every likelihood that Atiku may be disqualified from contesting, or at best, he may honorable bow and back out. As at today, there are speculations that AC will merge with the ANPP to form a formidable party to wield enough influence that the PDP would not be able to contain.
But what are my fears if these are the expectation on ground?
Nigeria is a country where every rational thinker lives in constant fear of the unexpected. Both in 1999 and the 2003 general elections, there were outcry of mass rigging, so much that votes casts in some states are much more than the eligible voters that registered in the state in question. So why should I not fear for my country?
Of course when it comes to rigging elections in Nigeria, the presence of the international observers from the international community does not make any difference.
Rigging in Nigeria are not done by political thugs or the ordinary citizens/voters, neither is it executed by their “excellencies”. Riggings are done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body that conducts, regulates and monitor the electoral process in the country. Riggings are executed by the police who are supposed to checkmate or deal with any foul political activities during the electoral process. Riggings are executed by the judiciary and street urchins. Riggings are monitored by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Matters (ICPC), the bodies assumed to be at the forefront of fighting corruption in the country. And more significantly, riggings are perpetrated and anchored on by some religious leaders.
With all these forces working together through various methods, adopting diverse strategies to achieve a common goal, one can only, but imaging how difficult it will be to track down the act of rigging in Nigeria.
But how do we know there were riggings? We know there were rigging because of the magnitude of the proceeds. We know there was rigging because it will be irrational to accept the possibility of obtaining 650,000 votes from a state that had only registered 500,000 eligible voters. We know…. We know…the lists are definitely not exhaustive. What is one to think?
With the election just around the corner, we only hope there will be a dramatic intervention in Nigeria. Moreover, if the international community fails to better grasp the internal dynamics and intricacies, there is a very real potential for the persistent levels of violence to escalate with major regional security implications.