Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Personal Statement Example I am interested in studying international business law. I had the unique opportunity of realizing my studies outside the United States. Doing so helped me gain a better understanding of the business world from an international perspective. I have a good understanding of the role international legal system has on business entities. The globalization movement created thousands of multinational corporations which need legal assistance in order to succeed in their international endeavors. Contract law is extremely important for companies dealing in foreign marketplaces because contracts are utilized to stipulate the terms and agreements between different parties. The legal variable in business is actually one of the six macroeconomic forces within a PESTEL analysis which is often utilized to determine the viability of an international expansion plan. Some work tasks that interest me within an international law setting are contracts, imports and exports, and market entry strategies such as joint ventures. I understand that law studies require a high level of personal commitment and sacrifice. Law students perform a lot of reading of laws and court cases. I have always love reading and analyzing the information being read. During my college years I usually spend over 20 hours a week in the library doing research. A law student must also be responsible and have good communication skills. I have always being very good at performing oral presentations in front of a group. A career in law provides lots of benefits for the person who achieves that status. The law is one of the highest paying careers globally. The average salary of a first year law associate in a large firm is $145,000 (Legalnut). Along with great potential income a career in law provides an opportunity to help others. As an international lawyer I would have an opportunity to work in an exciting work environment and deal with people of all nationalities. Prior to starting

What are the main differences between Monoploy and Monopolistic Essay

What are the main differences between Monoploy and Monopolistic Competition market structure - Essay Example A monopoly is a market situation where only one seller exists, producing a product which has no close substitutes. It is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum to perfect competition. In practice a monopoly situation can arise when a firm has a dominant position in the market in terms of its market share. For example, British Telecom enjoyed a monopoly until 1988 when the UK office of telecommunication decided to end it. The basis for a monopoly market is the existence of barriers to entry. These are factors that prevent new firms from entering the industry, or even if they do, will force them to close. Barriers can be of various forms.The high fixed cost or setup cost can be the toughest obstacle to tackle. The barrier here is access to capital. Only large firm will be able to fund the necessary investment. An established monopoly is likely to have developed specialized production and marketing skills. It is more likely to be aware of the most efficient techniques and the chea pest suppliers. In most cases, such firms have a major cost advantage because of economies of scale which allows them to operate on a lower cost curve. Advertising and brand names with a high degree of consumer loyalty may also prove a difficult barrier to overcome.The firm’s monopoly position may also be protected by patents and other legal protection such as various forms of licensing or tariffs, which may hinder entrance of local and foreign firms. Aggressive tactics and intimidation may also act as a barrier ... However, another market structure that exists is the monopolistic competition. It is close to the competitive end of the spectrum. It is a situation where a lot numerous firms compete with each other, but where each firm does nevertheless has a certain degree of market power thus the term ‘monopolistic’ competition. In monopolistic competition, there are a large number of sellers and due to this no one seller has a control over the supply of the product in the market. Hence, a single firm cannot influence price or output in the market. In other words, the price and output policies of each seller are independent. The grocery retailing market in the UK is arguably monopolistically competitive. In 1991, there were approximately 62,000 food retailing businesses. All were competing for the same product however, each one attempted to offer something unique and different (Anderton 1995). Each firm in monopolistic competition produces similar, but not identical goods and sells d ifferentiated products which are close substitutes to one another. The product is differentiated in a number of ways such as altering the quality of the product, offering supplementary and other services, changing the location of the firm or promoting the product through advertisements. (Gillespie 2002). Unlike monopoly, there are no barriers to entry or exit in monopolistic competition. Entrance becomes possible due to a lower startup capital or the nature of the product. Moreover, in monopolistic competition, the main form of competition is price. Each firm sets the price arbitrarily, usually reducing the price of the product to gain from higher sales. However, at times firms in this type of market also resort to non price competition such as advertising and promotions to capture

Michelangelos Pietàand Leonardo Da Vincis Mona Lisa

Michelangelos Pietà   and Leonardo Da Vincis Mona Lisa The Pietà   (1498-1499) is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by the renowned artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City. It is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist. The statue was commissioned for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres, who was a representative in Rome. The statue was made for the cardinals funeral monument, but was moved to its current location, the first chapel on the right as one enters the basilica, in the 18th century. It is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed (See History after completion). This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. The theme is of Northern origin, popular by that time in France but not yet in Italy. Michelangelos interpretation of the Pietà   is unique to the precedents. It is an important work as it balances the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism. The statue is one of the most highly finished works by Michelangelo. The structure is pyramidal, and the vertex coincides with Marys head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Marys dress, to the base, the rock of Golgotha. The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a womans lap. Michelangelos Pieta, Figure 1.8 Much of Marys body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural. Michelangelos interpretation of the Pieta was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than an older woman around 50 years of age. The marks of the Crucifixion are limited to very small nail marks and an indication of the wound in Jesus side. Christs face does not reveal signs of The Passion. Michelangelo did not want his version of The Pieta to represent death, but rather to show the religious vision of abandonment and a serene face of the Son, thus the representation of the communion between man and God by the sanctification through Christ Leonardo da Vinci in probably one of the most renowned artist in the world, in this work we will try to depict who the man is through some of his life and some of his predominate works such as The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and Self Portrait. These works and the man have been analyzed and critiqued over time and we will attempt to see how his affect on us helped shape some of the art world we live in today. Da Vinci was an Italian polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote. Marco Rosci points out, however, that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time. The Mona Lisa is a 16th-century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. The work is currently owned by the Government of France and is on display at the Musà ©e du Louvre in Paris under the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman (it is almost unanimous that she is Lisa del Giocondo) whose facial expression is frequently described as enigmatic.] The ambiguity of the subjects expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.[1] The image is so widely recognized, caricatured, and sought out by visitors to the Louvre that it is considered the most famous painting in the world. Leonardo Da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 in Florence, Italy. According to Da Vincis contemporary, Giorgio Vasari, after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished. It is known that such behavior is common in most paintings of Leonardo who, later in his life, regretted never having completed a single work.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa He is thought to have continued to work on Mona Lisa for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519. Leonardo took the painting from Italy to France in 1516 when King Franà §ois I invited the painter to work at the Clos Lucà © near the kings castle in Amboise. Most likely through the heirs of Leonardos assistant Salai, the king bought the painting for 4,000 à ©cus and kept it at Chà ¢teau Fontainebleau, where it remained until given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved the painting to the Palace of Versailles. After the French Revolution, it was moved to the Louvre. Napoleon I had it moved to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace; later it was returned to the Louvre. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) it was moved from the Louvre to the Brest Arsenal. There has been much speculation regarding the paintings model and landscape. For example, that Leonardo probably painted his model faithfully since her beauty is not seen as being among the best, even when measured by late Quattro cento (15th century) or even twenty-first century standards. Some art historians in Eastern art, such as Yukio Yashiro, also argue that the landscape in the background of the picture was influenced by Chinese paintings, however this thesis has been contested for lack of clear evidence.[12] Mona Lisa was not well known until the mid-19th century when artists of the emerging Symbolist movement began to appreciate it, and associated it with their ideas about feminine mystique. Critic Walter Pater, in his 1867 essay on Leonardo, expressed this view by describing the figure in the painting as a kind of mythic embodiment of eternal femininity, who is older than the rocks among which she sits and who has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave. The Last Supper was created when Leonardo da Vinci was already a well known artist when he created his masterpiece The Last Supper. He painted The Last Supper on the back wall of the dining hall at the Dominican convent of Sta Maria delle Grazie in Italy. The reason this painting is laid out the way it is is that Leonardo was trying to extend the room, to make it look like Jesus and his apostles were sitting at the end of the dining hall. This painting became an instant famous work of art considering the religious aspects of Christianity at the time of its painting and is considered mysterious by some people to hold hidden messages about the life of Christ and his followers. The Last painting of Da Vinci we will look at is his own Self Portrait. The portrait is drawn in red chalk on paper. It depicts the head of an elderly man in three-quarter view, turned towards the viewers right. The subject is distinguished by his long hair and long waving beard which flow over the shoulders and breast. The length of the hair and beard is uncommon in Renaissance portraits and suggests, as now, a person of sagacity. The face has a somewhat aquiline nose and is marked by deep lines on the brow and pouches below the eyes. It appears as if the man has lost his upper front teeth, causing deepening of the grooves from the nostrils. The eyes of the figure do not engage the viewer but gaze ahead, veiled by the long eyebrows, with a sense of solemnity or disillusionment. If this is indeed a self-portrait of Leonardo, his attitude may reflect the fact that by this time his career was largely behind him, and artistic fashion was beginning to leave him behind. The drawing has been drawn in fine lines, shadowed by hatching and executed with the left hand, as was Leonardos habit. The paper has brownish fox marks caused by the accumulation of iron salts due to moisture. It is housed at the Royal Library (Biblioteca Reale) in Turin, Italy, and is not generally viewable by the public due to its fragility and poor condition. This is just a small sample of the work and the life of one of the most famous if not the most famous artist in the world. All of his works have captivated the art community for centuries. This man probably shaped and influenced some of the greatest and brightest people throughout history. He is one of the most beloved artist as well he was very concentric in that it was not only art in which thing he influenced but here we will just talk about his art and how it helped shape the world of today.

The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn Essay -- Literary Analysis, Mark Twa

â€Å"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became man, I put my childish ways behind me (NIC: 1Corinthians 13:11) In the life of every individual, there are various events and stages, such as death, crime, overcoming fear and undergoing moral growth, which transform immature individuals into serious and mature people. In Mark Twain’s novels, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, one sees this transformation and growth in the two main characters by facing conflicts and events, these being Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn In beginning of the novel The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, one sees Tom as a crafty, intelligent, and imaginative boy with excellent theatrical skills. â€Å"Twain invented the American archetype of the prankish, widely imaginative boy with a taste for adventure in The Adventure of Tom Sawyer†.(Gillespie1) Tom never takes anything seriously, and never seems to have a real problem, as he is a careless individual. â€Å"He expends his gift mainly on tricking [and] getting in and out of trouble. (Swan1). His carelessness is displayed, when his aunt forces him to whitewash the fence as punishment, as in The Adventure of Tom Sawyer: â€Å"Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Dose a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?†(Twain, The adventure of Tom Sawyer 13) Without even thinking of a reason for being punished, he manages to do no work by persuading Ben Rogers and others to whitewash fence.(13) Tom’s transformation begins when h e witness the murder of Dr. Robinson by an accident. Unlike any other ‘incident’ he had ever had to face, he faces this one with fears. However, feels wrong staying out of the situation. â€Å"Sho! It’s t... ...leberry to betray Jim, Huckleberry keeps his friendship by protecting Jim from trouble.†(Park 1) â€Å"Goodness sakes, would a runaway nigger run south?†(216) When the Duke and the Dauphin ask whether Jim is runaway slave, Huck stand up for Jim by asking them whether the runaway black will go down to south. Huck stands up for Jim and demonstrates his courage, showing his transformation from being selfish and careless to being loyal and caring person. In Mark Twain’s novel â€Å"Tom Sawyer† and â€Å"The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn† certain event and conflict helps growth and transformation of the two main characters. Tom, a careless individual who seems to have no problems, grows and transforms into a caring person by facing his problems and struggling. Huckleberry, also demonstrate his transformation in his adventures with runaway slave Jim and by living with Widow Douglas.

Mainframe/Pc Evolution

Mainframe/PC Evolution The evolution of mainframe computing to personal computing began with the invention of the mainframe for businesses and government use. The Personal Computer (PC) evolved from companies wanting the same information from scaled down version of the mainframe and dumb terminal. Though they both consist of data storage, processors, input and output devices. However, they have their differences. Mainframes The mainframe was invented in the 1950’s. One of the first mainframes was the Univac 1, which was delivered to the Census Bureau in 1952.It measured 25-feet by 50-feet and had a storage capacity of 1000 words or 12,000 characters (Lexikon Services, 1982). In the 1970s the mainframe changed with the development of UNIX operating system (Rogers, 2010). A mainframe according to Vaughan (n. d. ), â€Å"A mainframe is a continually evolving general purpose computing platform incorporating in it architectural definition the essential functionality required by it s target applications† (par. 5). The Mainframe is a multi-user data storage and application computing system.Mainframe systems can be a single mainframe unit or multiple mainframe units, depending on the number of users and uses, it is needed for. Information is entered in on a dumb terminal or workstation. The mainframe can be in the same room or in another room and even on a different floor. The mainframe is known for its reliability and why companies are willing to spend the half-a-million dollars or more for them. Mainframes have fast bus speeds, high cache speeds, error detection, and error correction (Rogers, 2010). Personal Computers One of the first computers to be considered a Personal Computer was the IBM PC in 1981.Others were invented from 1955. It consisted of a monitor, keyboard, and desktop base with diskette drives. It weighed 28 pounds. Companies were looking for a way to down-scale and cut the cost of the mainframe system. The Personal Computer, according to Whatis. com is a â€Å"microcomputer designed for use by one person at a time† (TechTarget, 2008, par. 1). In today’s terms it consist of a display unit, keyboard, mouse, tower or desktop that consists of a hard drive, memory, processors, mother board, and other hardware to carry out its functions as a microcomputer.The cost of a Personal Computer has become affordable over the years for an individual to purchase for home use as well as company use. The use of a personal computer varies in that it is used for company business, home computing, gaming, and has other opportunities for an individual computing needs. The PC has changed the way people do business, pay their bills, entertain themselves, and communicate. The PC can process data, run programs and applications, become a database, and can be networked into other PC’s and mainframes.The Personal Computer makes it easier for smaller companies to achieve what larger companies can do with mainframes. Pcâ€℠¢s can be networked together can share the same information, store information, and work efficiently. The hand held PC provides for computing mobility, which provides for more productivity. PC and Mainframe Comparison The mainframe is a large, reliable, multi-user computing system costing millions of dollars. If a mainframe has any downtime, the whole system and users cannot work. The PC is a small, affordable, and single user microcomputer that an individual can buy.It can be used for business and home computing. It has similarities to the mainframe; display unit, keyboard, processor, memory, information storage, and operating systems. Contrasts â€Å"Mainframe operating systems are designed primarily to optimize utilization of hardware. Personal computer (PC) operating systems support complex games, business applications, and everything in between† (Silbershcatz, Galvin, & Gagne, 2009). The mainframe is more costly than a PC. However, it is more reliable than the PC. The ma inframe can process information much faster than a PC.It also has faster bus speeds and higher cache speeds. The hardware in a mainframe has error detection and error correction for less downtime (Rogers, 2010). The PC is smaller, cheaper, and a single-user computer system. Its uses include home, business, and entertainment purposes. The PC system is can easily be moved by one person, the Mainframe system takes multiple people to move it. Conclusion The mainframe made way for the personal computer. In a large business setting a mainframe would be worth the price.The PC is continuing to evolve and is becoming smaller and more evolved as technology advances. Even though they have their differences, each serves it purpose in today’s society. References Blinkenlights Archaeological Institute. (1999-2007). Pop Quiz: What was the first personal computer? Retrieved November 26, 2011from http://www. blinkenlights. com/pc. shtml Lexikon Services. (1982-2000). UNIVAC 1 (1951) First Com mercially Available Computer. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from http://www. computermuseum. li/Testpage/UNIVAC-1-FullView-A. htm Rogers, S. (2010).Comparison and Contrast Between Mainframes and PC's. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/5884114/comparison_and_contrast_between_mainframes. html? cat=15 Silbershcatz, A. , Galvin, P. B. , & Gagne, G. (2009). Operating System Concepts (8th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Inc. TechTarget. (2008). Whatis. com. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from http://whatis. techtarget. com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214279,00. html Vaughan, L. H. (n. d. ). What is a â€Å"Mainframe†. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from http://www. mainframes. com/whatis. htm

Research Task: Antony Gormley

Year 11 Research Task Antony Gormley Examine the relationship between artists, the artworks they create and their intended audiences. â€Å"Field† – Antony Gormley â€Å"Waste Man† – Antony Gormley â€Å"Still Falling† – Antony Gormley Antony Gormley was born in London in 1950, his artistic career has spanned over forty years and some of his best known works include â€Å"Field†, â€Å"Waste Man† and â€Å"Still Falling†. The majority of Gormley’s sculptures include the human form, he claims this is â€Å"an attempt to materialise the place at the other side of appearance where we all live†.Gormley was raised in an upper-class Roman Catholic family; he was the oldest of seven children to a German mother and an Irish father. Between 1968 and 1979, Gormley attended Ampleforth College, Trinity College, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Fine Art. He also travelled throughout India and Sri Lanka. In 1981, Gormley hosted his first solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Debatably Gormley’s most famous project, his â€Å"Field† series has created much controversy and roused much interest in the art-making community.Originally an instalment consisting of approximately 35,000 terracotta figures, â€Å"Field† was constructed by sixty members of a family of brick makers. Each figure is between eight centimetres and twenty six centimetres tall and has two hollow eyes designed to stare at the viewer. Each figure is placed on the floor of the display room and arranged so that they appear to be looking straight at the viewer. Since the first display of â€Å"Field† (which drew a lot of media attention), the figures have been set up in many different galleries.Each time the installation is moved it changes slightly, as each figure again has to be individually placed. Since the first â€Å"Field† attracted so much attentio n, Gormley has recreated it many times in many different locations. He has since constructed â€Å"Amazonian Field†, â€Å"Field for the British Isles†, â€Å"European Field†, â€Å"Asian Field† and â€Å"Field for the Art Gallery of New South Wales†. All in all, more than 529,000 figures have been constructed. Gormley claims that the series of artworks represent the future generations and hose who will inherit the earth. The figures gaze up at the viewer with hollow, questioning eyes, as if asking the viewer to consider the impact that our species has on the world around it. Gormley says â€Å"We have the ability to foul the nest for ourselves and every other species, or do something about it†. Many people had a negative reaction to the â€Å"Field† series, claiming that Gormley had to right to claim them as his own work because they were constructed by family members and villagers, because of this, many figures have been stolen in p rotest. Field† is Gormley’s response to an issue that he felt very passionately about, and the arrangement of the figures clearly demonstrates how he intends to interact with the audience. His instalment gives the viewer the sense of being stared at by thousands of miniscule eyes. â€Å"Waste Man† was constructed in the summer of 2006. This massive sculpture stood over sixty three feet tall and eight feet wide. â€Å"Waste Man† was a community project, built by the people of Margate, UK. It was part of a series of works that utilised Gormley’s obsession with the idea of a community coming together to create an artwork.Gormley collected thirty tons of waste by convincing members of the local community to donate household waste and old furniture and by enlisting the help of a local disposal service. Sadly, many members of the community thought that the idea of a massive sculpture was unnecessary, and so they pillaged the mound of waste for their own w inter fires. The project took six weeks to complete, Fort a wooden frame was created, the frame was ten filled with large items of furniture and any remaining gaps were boarded up or stuffed with smaller waste objects, such as toilet seats, doors and picture frames.The final product was a colossal man raising his arm in the air, with a large rectangular hole in his chest, around the area where a heart would be on a regular person. Due to the fact that â€Å"Waste Man† was built in the poorer area of Margate, and due also to the huge community effort that went into constructing â€Å"Waste Man† came to symbolise the forgotten in the community, and the overwhelming nature of human spirit, those â€Å"who had been dispossessed or refused a place, standing up defiantly to be recognised†.It is speculated that Gormley was suggesting that even the poor and supposedly ‘unimportant’ people of Margate still had the right to a voice and the right to be heard. This idea was taken even further when â€Å"Waste Man† was burned, making it impossible to be ignored, and further demonstrating the refusal of the lower class to continue on without being heard. â€Å"Waste Man† was about more than creating art, â€Å"Waste Man† was Gormley’s way of making a statement, a symbol of the repressed people in our society and a refusal to sit idly by while people’s voices are going unheard. Still Falling† is the title of an early Gormley artwork. Created in 1983, â€Å"Still Falling† is a sculpture that has been carved into the side of a cliff. The image is that of a human, falling head-first down the cliff. Despite the position of the human, it seems quite peaceful, with its arms casually draped against its body. There is a suggestion that the figure isn’t so much â€Å"falling† as â€Å"gliding†. The figure is quite possibly a reflection of Gormley’s beliefs. After travelling t hrough India and Sri Lanka, Gormley became a devout Buddhist, and many Buddhist beliefs can be interpreted form the falling figure.The figure gives a positive feeling, a feeling of being at peace with its decent and not being worried by the sharp rocks beneath it. If the figure is indeed a representation of Gormley’s Buddhist beliefs, it could be suggested that the paleness of the stone around the figure represents the â€Å"Shining light of enlightenment†, enlightenment being an ultimate goal in Buddhism. It has been suggested that the figure will never stop falling, as it has become one with nature, and the area around it is embracing this fact and keeping it safe.This is implied by the fact that the area that the angel is sculpture into is a slightly concave bowl shape, giving the feeling of safety and welcome. â€Å"Still Falling† represents Gormley’s attempt at imagination triumphing over common sense. While looking at the artwork, logically it is ea sy to realise that the figure will never all because it is carved into stone, but it has been carved with such grace and elegance that the viewer is tempted to believe that it’s natural surroundings are so welcoming of the angelic figure that they would never let it fall. Still Falling† continues Gormley’s fascination with group projects, an enormous team of specialists was required to etch the figure into the mountainside, and Gormley refused to use any modern technology, so the project took twice as much time and effort as it might have, due to the use of blocks and wedges. Gormley believed that this would bring his small community of stonemasons together, from the joy of creating art together in a pure sense. The setting of â€Å"Still Falling† has a lot of significance for Gormley. It was created at ToutQuarry Sculpture Park, which is a [ark that was created especially for artists and sculptors to make their mark on nature. The park is part man mad, an d part nature. This appeals to Gormley’s belief that â€Å"Nature is a blank canvas waiting for people to work with it rather than against it†. The intended audience for â€Å"Still Falling† is really all of London, as he created it solely to make the city more beautiful. Gormley seems to have a fascination with community projects and bringing people together, this is often reflected in his work, as are his spiritual beliefs and his ideas of how society should work.

Cults essays

Cults essays Cult activity has been on the rise over the past few decades. With it there has been an increase in the fear surrounding it. From this fear, society has learned much about cults, how they get members and what to look out for as far as cult recruiters go. Society as a whole has also learned what can be done to deal with cults. Cult activity and the fear that surrounds it Throughout the last couple of decades more and more stories of illegal cult activity or murders by satanic cults appear on the news each night. This surge of reported cult activity has caused a spark in public interest. There has been a large increase in the fear that surrounds cults over the past couple of years. A cult is a therapeutic or unconventional religious movement (McBride, 1985, 22), and the more cults that fall beneath the public eye, the more serious the fear of cults becomes. Much of this fear has been sparked by major cult related incidents such as mass suicide by the Peoples Temple or the murder of Sharon Tate. These incidents, and incidents like them, grab the nations attention and create widespread panic. But as the nation reads about these stories in the paper, the same questions seem to surface. Questions like How does this happen? or What can we do to stop this from happening again? are often asked. The panic and fear of cult activity in our country seems to continue to grow with the more unbelievable stories that hit the news. The first big news event that was cult related occurred in 1969. Five dead bodies were found by the maid at 10050 Cielo Drive. Beautiful actress Sharon Tate who was pregnant at the time, and her friends Steven Earl Parent, Abigail Folger, Voytek Frykowski, and Jay Sebring were found butchered thoughout the residence (Bugliosi, 1974, 18). The murders themselves grasped the nations attention, but it was when the murderers and their motives surfac...