One Question free essay sample

From a young age, I was able to rattle off the answers to nearly every question that was presented to me; yet, there was always one question that I could never mutter an answer for. I figured as I grew in age and gained more knowledge, I would be able to answer it with ease. But as the years passed I could not find an answer and soon, the question began to consume me. The simple question of: What do you want to be? I was never the type of child who dreamt about their future. I never wanted to be an astronaut or a singer or an actress or a veterinarian; I was simply too interested in the world that surrounded me to dream about my future career. As the years went on, nothing changed, I remained a free spirit. The college talk soon began and I was urged to start taking classes that reflected my interests; I simply shrugged my shoulders each time my parents began speaking and I simply left the room. We will write a custom essay sample on One Question or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I invariably believed everything would fall into place, so why worry about this at such a young age? But that all changed the summer heading into sophomore year. I hastily logged onto my school account upon receiving the news that schedules were out. A smile started to slowly form as I read the schedule, pleased that I had so far be placed in all of the classes I had requested. My seventh period class however resulted in a look of confusion rather than happiness. Advertising Art, what in the world was Advertising Arts? I was tempted to switch out in exchange for a class of greater difficulty, but it was my curiosity that refrained me from doing so. Immediately after I walked into the classroom, I knew I wanted to pursue Advertising. The twenty plus Macintosh computers reflected the artwork around the room and would aid me immensely in producing my own artwork. I began skipping lunch in order to work, in addition to staying after school for several hours each day. Room 111 became my second home. My passion and talent grew with each project we received and the accolades I was granted. Graphic design was simply the stimulus that kept my brain composed during those ten arduous months of the school year; it was a mean of self-expression. A theory I once believed as a child was evidently proven to be true; everything falls into place. So now, as the questions become increasingly more difficult to answer, there is one whose answer I am unequivocally sure of, What do you want to be? I, aspire to be an advertising executive.

Free Essays on Cowboys

â€Å"Should have been A Cowboy†, a popular kit country song of the mid 90’s, broke out on the charts making people think back on their lifestyles. But in fact, do people view cowboys as the hero who has no trouble or worry, or the real cowboy lifestyle as rugged and dirty, struggling to survive. Cowboys were mounted herders hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their livestock. Cowboys kept the cattle together, guided them to pasture, prevented their being mixed with other cattle, protected them from thieves, branded them, and drove them to shipping points. The long trips across the west seem to people today as a long horse ride with occasional campfires and beautiful scenery. This is the image I have always had about cowboys, but boy was I wrong. Between stampedes and Indians a cowboy had hardly enough time to enjoy the scenery. Nights were cold and lonesome. They were dirty and mean which seemed to be the key to their survival. Cowboys were faces with many hardships such as thievesfe tended to develop rough-and-ready virtues, as well as extraordinary skill in horsemanship and marksmanship. These qualities have acquired an almost legendary character in numerous tales and songs, making the cowboy a symbol of a hero in the United States and abroad.... Free Essays on Cowboys Free Essays on Cowboys â€Å"Should have been A Cowboy†, a popular kit country song of the mid 90’s, broke out on the charts making people think back on their lifestyles. But in fact, do people view cowboys as the hero who has no trouble or worry, or the real cowboy lifestyle as rugged and dirty, struggling to survive. Cowboys were mounted herders hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their livestock. Cowboys kept the cattle together, guided them to pasture, prevented their being mixed with other cattle, protected them from thieves, branded them, and drove them to shipping points. The long trips across the west seem to people today as a long horse ride with occasional campfires and beautiful scenery. This is the image I have always had about cowboys, but boy was I wrong. Between stampedes and Indians a cowboy had hardly enough time to enjoy the scenery. Nights were cold and lonesome. They were dirty and mean which seemed to be the key to their survival. Cowboys were faces with many hardships such as thievesfe tended to develop rough-and-ready virtues, as well as extraordinary skill in horsemanship and marksmanship. These qualities have acquired an almost legendary character in numerous tales and songs, making the cowboy a symbol of a hero in the United States and abroad....

10 Summer Retail Jobs to Look Out Forâ€and How to Get Them

10 Summer Retail Jobs to Look Out For- and How to Get Them When you think â€Å"summer job,† you don’t necessarily think â€Å"career path,† or â€Å"40 hours a week in a cubicle.† You probably think of something where you’re working with people, maybe at oddball hours, building experience and making bank before moving on to something else at the end of the season (school, a new job, etc.). Seasonal jobs can be great because they don’t have to be your forever job, but are a useful stop along your path. Whether you’re looking for a flexible second job or a summer job in between semesters, here are the retail jobs you might want to consider. CashierThis is kind of the classic entry-level retail job. Cashiers are responsible for checking customers out, handling different forms of payment, and using the store’s point-of-sale (POS) system. They may also be responsible for maintaining the checkout area, handling returns or other customer issues,The pay: An average of $9.18 per hour, per PaySc ale.What you’ll need: People skills, good math skills, and general trustworthiness, since you’ll be handling money on the store’s behalf.Stock ClerkStock clerks, who are most often found in big box department stores or grocery stores with high traffic and turnover, keep shelves full. Throughout the day, merchandise can get depleted or scattered, so these clerks are responsible for keeping shelves looking orderly, and tracking inventory. Clerks typically move between the store floor and the warehouse/storage areas throughout their shifts.The pay: An average of $11.14 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Clerical skills (for managing inventory and keeping records), customer service skills, attention to detail.Overnight Stock ClerkThis is a variation on other types of stock clerk positions, except these nocturnal professionals get their work done after the store is closed. Overnight stock clerks are responsible for inventory management, and getting the s tore ready for business the next day.The pay: An average of $11.14 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Clerical skills (for managing inventory and keeping records), customer service skills, attention to detail.MerchandiserIf you see displays as you walk into a store (or strategically placed along the way to convince you to buy cookies while you’re on your way to pick up milk and eggs), that’s usually the work of a merchandiser. Merchandisers are responsible for setting up product displays to maximize attention to specific products or sales. They work with an eye toward placement, design, and inventory.The pay: An average of $12.04 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Attention to detail, design skills, strong organizational skills.Store SecurityWhether during business hours or after the store is closed, just about every store needs security officers keeping a sharp eye on things. Security officers may be responsible for loss prevention (shoplifti ng by employees or customers), general store security, and safety procedures.The pay: An average of $11.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Attention to detail, possibly a background check.Retail AssociateRetail associates are usually at the front lines in every store. Answering customer questions, making sure the store shelves are well-stocked, handling transactions or returns, and generally being an ambassador for the store are all parts of a retail sales associate’s job.The pay: An average of $11.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.Retail Store ManagerIf you have previous retail experience, there may be opportunities for seasonal store managers as well, particularly in stores or industries where summer is a busy time. Managers may be responsible for managing staff, payroll, store policies, opening and closing, customer queries (and inte rvening when necessary), and basically keeping the ship moving smoothly.The pay: An average of $14.65 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, leadership skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.Customer Service AssociateCustomer service can be one of the most challenging jobs in retail, but if you have the people skills to turn an irate shopper into a happy customer for life, then this is the retail niche for you. Customer service associates are usually faced with problems- product returns, customer questions, customer complaints, etc., so troubleshooting is their game. Ideally, they help customers resolve whatever issues come up, while providing a good customer experience.The pay: An average of $10.63 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, patience, problem solving skills, attention to detail.BakerIf straight-up retail isn’t your thing, there are also ways to combine food service and retail for your summer job. Many grocery stores and department stores have in-store bakeries. These bakery associates typically help prepare baked goods and displays for the day ahead, so if you’re an early bird, this may be a great retail option for you.The pay: An average of $11.38 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, baking/cooking skills, punctuality, possibly food handling certification.Omnichannel AssociateThis is a new front in retail, as many companies start offering a multi-format approach to selling their products online and in brick-and-mortar stores. (Think Amazon, or department stores that let you ship from their warehouse directly to your local store for in-store pickup.) Omnichannel retail employees are retail sales associates that often work on the fulfillment side of things, preparing orders to be shipped or delivered. They help create a seamless process for customers who want to move from online s hopping to in-person shopping.The pay: An average of $11.38 per hour, per PayScale.What you’ll need: Customer service skills, attention to detail, organizational skills, math skills, and problem solving skills.How to Snag Your Summer Retail JobOnce you’ve figured out what type of retail job would be a good fit for you and your skills, what next? Here are five tips to help get you hired in time for summer.Time it right.Retail stores typically hire year-round, so when should you apply if you’re looking for that summer sweet spot? Right before summer is your best bet- store employee turnover can be high, and stores may not be able to plan staffing too far ahead of time.Find summer-friendly stores.Your best chances to snag a summer job will come at stores that are busy during the summer (sorry, Christmas ‘R Us). Home improvement stores or gardening centers are good bets for the summer, since people are outdoors and active. Ditto sporting goods stores, or offic e supply stores gearing up for back to school sales. Big box stores like Best Buy, Costco, Target, WalMart, etc. are usually perennially hiring, so keep an eye on those evergreen stores as well.Be ready to go.When you start scoping out places that might be hiring, have your resume ready to roll. Again, high turnover means you might have to jump on any opportunities right away. If you hear about an opening and spend three days spiffing up your application, it may be too late!Be proactive.Don’t wait for opportunities to come up. If you’re targeting a particular store, don’t wait for someone to put a â€Å"we’re hiring† sign in the window. Keep an eye on their website, or do it the old-fashioned way- stop in and ask! But remember #3: if you go into a store to inquire about potential jobs, make sure you’ve got your resume in hand.Use your network.You never know who might know of retail places that are hiring soon, so make sure to let people know you’re on the hunt. Your neighbor, your teacher, your old football coach- any of them could have good leads, so definitely mention that you’re looking for a new job. Plus, they know you, and may be able to vouch for you.A summer retail job doesn’t have to be a forever career (unless, of course, you find you have a passion for customer service, or a level of zen in creating floor displays), but it can be an excellent way to pay the bills and build experience before you get to your next step. There are a lot of opportunities out there, so you can find jobs that work best for you and your needs (part-time vs. full-time), your skills, and your experience level. Plus, you’ll be in air conditioning all summer. Not a bad deal!

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies Essay - 13

Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies - Essay Example The operations carried out at America, China, and United Kingdom was very successful. It provides online shopping opportunity to its customers. Its main objective is to provide better life to its customers with the help of the donations in kind. Wal-Mart is managed by Walton family as it is a family owned business. It has around 2.2 million employees across the world. Corporate level mainly deals with framing the mission and vision of the organization and planning accordingly to reach the desired goal. It formulates different strategies which are required for attainment of objectives of the company. The Functional level objectives are derived from that of the corporate level. This level develops coordination between the corporate and business unit level. In this complex environment of the business, the strategies are required to be formulated. This strategy is very well defined as in this level the marketing strategy will be further divided between the sales. The strategy in this level helps in the attainment of functional objectives of the organization (Hoskisson, Hitt and Ireland, 2012). Strategic management is required for the growth of the organization. It helps in the formulation of effective business environment. Business strategy is compared and formulated with the five forces that build competition. The strategic position of the company can be determined by the business level strategy. Wal-Mart adopts competitive advantage by delivering unique product to its customers by providing a standardized product at a lowest competitive price. The company can select any one from the given strategies to gain competitive advantage by delivering uniqueness in the product and lowering down the cost. The retail industry focuses on the cost leadership strategy to sustain in the market and narrowing the competitive scope. When the company provides unique product the customers will be willing to pay a premium for the product. Corporate level refers to the strategy

Johnson & Johnson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Johnson & Johnson - Essay Example The company’s target market is the health care sector. J&J aims to provide medical facilities, nursing homes and mothers with the supplies they need to operate. With its diagnostics and treatment products, J&J’s products have become household names in the health care sector, beauty parlours and homes. According to Delo and Neff (2013, p.8), J&J capitalizes on its 92 consumer product brands to maintain an enormous presence in the current competitive market.  To achieve this, J&J spends a significant part of their revenues to market its numerous brands in various media including electronic media, print media, outdoor ads, blogs and social media- products that include; baby items, medical products and devices, skin care products, hair beauty products, and health products for women, and dietary products (Cameron 2007, p.65). As Chwallek (2013, p.16) has indicated, J&J relies on its strong brands as the key cog in its marketing initiatives. Owing to the success of the company in marketing its brand, today J&J customers and prospects would rather pick on its products than settle for other products provided by its market rivals. As a result, the company’s consumers normally prefer to pay more for the brands, a development that has earned J&J more profit edge over its market rivals that sell fairly cheaper products. J&J’s leading role among the world’s top companies whose presence trace to the late 19th century is one of its major strengths (Chwallek 2013, p.16). The company boasts of high level of customer satisfaction and effective research and development programs that have resulted in its continued existence, 128 years since its inception. The long period of existence has enabled the company to build on its corporate image, customer base, and product image to its advantage. With its strong presence across the world made possible

Attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa

Attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa The developing economies of Africa must on their part make deliberate and sustained efforts to attract the much needed inflows of foreign investments. To achieve this, the enabling economic, financial and political environment for such inflows must be created. An economy that is exposed to higher levels of political instability, economic uncertainties and financial risk will not be able to gain the confidence of investors. These risk factors if not well mitigated with a great degree of transparency and accountability could serve as barriers to both local and foreign investments. According to Banz and Clough (2002), the major reasons among many others for not investing in developing economies are the lack of transparency and poor governance policies. Therefore, Nigeria and other developing economies of Africa must work towards an environment that has a relatively reasonable economic risk, ensure political stability and demonstrate moderate financial risk to attract foreign capital inf lows especially in the form of equity investment. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets to which Nigeria belong have of recent experienced some legal, regulatory and supervisory changes resulting into increased transparency in the operation of their markets. The liquidity of the markets have increased and operations also liberalized to attract more foreign investors. The Nigerian economy is the largest of the 15 member body and has a lot of political and economic influence over the other members. Conscious efforts have been made by the various member countries to partially open up their economies, through systematic privatization programs, overhauling of their legal and financial institutional infrastructures and use of modern trading platforms have resulted in real development of their markets and manage to attract some foreign direct investments (FDI) to them. Nigeria is currently the biggest economy in Africa after the recent rebasement of its GDP, thereby beating South Africa to the second place ((Magnowski, 2014). The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 80% of fiscal revenues and 90% of export earnings (World Fact book).The country is also one of the major exporters of petroleum, and plays a significant role in OPEC (OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2013). To diversify its economy Nigeria is encouraging the growth of their private sector by offering some incentives to private sector equity investors who are willing to invest in the country. The country has an increasing GDP of $422.6bullion, $450.4billion and $502 billion for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively, and diminishing foreign debt stock of $15.73 billion and $13.4 billion for 2012 and 2013 respectively. There is also an increasing Foreign Direct Investment of $7.444 billionand $9.212 billion for 2012 and 2013 respectively (World Fact book: World Bank). The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is the second largest exchange in Africa; it was established in 1960 to provide listing and trading services among others. Its activities are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the country. The value of publicly traded shares stood at $50.88 billion, $39.27 billion and $56.39 billion for 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. Despite all the above mentioned strong economic fundamentals or good indicators, Nigeria has been plagued by several daunting challenges, notable among them are the issues epileptic power supply, inadequate infrastructures, insecurity, endemic corruption, increasing rate of unemployment and its heavy reliance on petroleum products (Global edge, 2014; World fact book). These factors pose some uncertainties about the Nigerian economic and stock market outlook. Nevertheless, the Nigerian economy is still growing. Fortunately, the government is also conscious of some of these teething problems. Programs are initiated to diversify the economy in the areas of agriculture, power, telecommunication, transport and other services. These efforts seem to be yielding the desired results as evidenced in the country’s 6-8% per annum pre-rebasing growth rate. With these measures a seemingly conducive economic environment is created which could be exploited by investors. This therefore, presents reasonable economic risk. There is also institutionalized democracy leading to political stability in its own form in terms of the country’s ability to carry out declared programs. Nigeria is also able to finance its commercial and trade debt obligations and has at no time defaulted in payment of its external financial commitments; thus demonstrating relatively moderate financial risks. These indices send strong signals in terms of information content about Nigeria’s overall economic health to domestic, international investors and rating agencies among others. Therefore, it will be of interest to empirically explore how these factors (economic, financial and political risks) when taken together or separately can affect the country’s stock market performance and vice versa. Country risk ratings assess the probability of a country’s default on its debt from a variety of perspectives: from socio-economic condition to growth in the real gross domestic product (GDP), government stability to corruption, to exchange rate stability among others. The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the short and long-run relationships between Nigeria’s country risk ratings; political, economic, and financial components and its stock market in order to provide further information for current and potential investors to enable them make better informed investment decisions. In our knowledge this is the first few studies of this nature conducted on an emerging economy like Nigeria. Our main instrument of investigation is the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach formulated by Pesaran and Pesaran (2009) and Pesaran et al. (2001), to empirically investigate the relationships. The ARDL method is adopted because of its econometrics techniques. One important advantage of the ARDL model over other traditional approaches is that it can be used in time-series data irrespective of their order of integration, whether I(0), I(1) and/or fractionally integrated (Pesaran and Pesaran, 2009). The ARDL approach can also test for cointegration by the bounds testing procedure and can estimate the short-run dynamics and long-run relationships. The rest of the paper is organized as follows; section two discusses related literature. Section three explains the methodology adopted in this paper. Section four presents the ARDL procedure and discusses its empirical findings. Conclusion and implications are given in section five. The globalization of trade and financial markets in the past years has created huge investment opportunities and its attendant risks. It has therefore, becomes inevitable to know the credit worthiness of participating players. The motive behind such an assessment of the economic and financial condition and sometimes political stability of a country is to be able to evaluate the country credit risks involved in doing business or investing in such a country. Any event in a country that will affect not only the prospect of profitability but also restrict the movement of capital in the form of profits, dividend etc is worth evaluating. The need for such critical evaluation of credit worthiness of countries has resulted in the establishment of several rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s and Standard Poor among many others. These risk ratings are considered as indicative of possible future default. A higher rating is seen as a lower risk of default, while a lower score indicates a higher risk of default. Though the primary significance of ratings is due to their impact on interest rates at which countries source for funds in the international financial markets, studies have also shown its influence on stock market movements. This argument is linked to the influence of country credit risk ratings on the inflows of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), into the host’s economy, especially through equity shares investments. There is no scarcity of research papers on sovereign ratings and their critical roles for encouraging and facilitating investment flows especially in developed economies, but there is paucity of studies conducted on the impact of these ratings on movements of national stock markets, particularly for emerging markets such as Nigeria. Some of the early studies by Erb et al (1995, 1996a, 1996b) show that there is association or relationship between country credit risk (i.e. the risk of a country’s inability to service its external debts) and returns on equity investments. The existence of relationship between country credit ratings and stock market returns was confirmed in the early work of Erb et al. (1996a) using data that cut across boundaries. As a follow up to their earlier work, Erb et al. (1996b) investigated the influence of economic, financial and political risks on expected fixed income returns. They show that there is relation between the country risk measures and world bond market expected returns. For the ICRG economic variable, they find positive and significant signs in unhedged, local, and foreign exchange portfolio returns. They also show that the country risk attributes are significant to the real yields of fixed income securities. Kaminsky and Schmukler (2001) also examine the influence of sovereign ratings and outlook changes on the sensitivity of emerging financial markets. They find that these variables have substantial influence on both bond and stock markets. A domestic downgrade is associated with an average increase change rate of two percentage points in bond yield spreads and a decrease of one percentage point in stock returns. SubaÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ± (2008) expressed a contrary view, stating that in most cases news of a downgrade is often anticipate earlier before its announcement; therefore the potential negative effect of such information on stocks and exchange rate returns is diluted. The impacts of rating changes on both bond yield and sovereign debt have been tested severally by many authors. Reisen and Maltzan (1999) using the three main rating agencies, find that there is mutual interdependencies among rating changes and changes in bond yield spread. The study by Cantor and Packer (1996) also reported similar findings. Among several authors that have provided valuable insight into the influence of rating changes on sovereign debt and corporate securities are Hand et al. (1992) and Richards and Deddouche (1999). The degrees of sensitivity in all these studies tend to vary probably because of the methods used for the country risk analysis. Hammoudey et al. (2011) using emerging economies; Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (commonly referred to as the BRICS countries) establish various degrees of sensitivities of these countries’ stock markets to their respective country risk ratings. China is most sensitive to all the risk variables, followed by Russia, while all the BRICS countries show moderate economic risk sensitivity. The spillover effect of sovereign debt rating changes on national stock markets and international debts is also confirmed by various authors, among them are Ferreira and Gama 2007; Li et al 2008. This situation is common among countries that share common economic features and unrestricted Evidence of flow of information. Common border also suspected to play a significant role. Regional stock market movements are also influenced by country credit risk rating news. This development is consistent with the study by Christopher et al. (2008), stating that there is a positive relationship between the two factors. While Brooks et al. (2004) in their study, though under a different setting did not find any sensitive association among the two variables. Turkey’s stock market index also seems to have association with its economic, financial and political risk ratings. Using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, Sari et al. (2013) established a steady long-run relationship among the stock market and some of the risk variables. There are many leading commercial publishers of country and political risk analysis, but data for this study is sourced from the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) economic, financial and political risk ratings for Nigeria covering the period 2001 to 2013. The ICRG rating system is made up of 22 variables representing three major components of country risk, namely economic, financial and political. These variables essentially represent risk-free measures. There are 5 variables representing each of the economic and financial components of risk, while the political component is based on 12 variables (Hoti, 2003). The specified allowable range for each factor reflects the weight attributed to each factor. A higher score indicates a lower risk and vice versa. The stock market returns variable is obtained by taking the first logarithm difference of the monthly stock of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period earlier specified.s

Nature’s Work (Anaylsis of a Blizzard Under Blue Sky)

Houston seems to be an extremely talented writer. It comes as no surprise that â€Å"A Blizzard under Blue Sky† is a truly compelling short story (despite the fact that it only spans four pages). The reason Houston is able to draw readers in is because she opens by introducing the underlying topic of the piece, than puts the topic on the back burner to make room for a fascinating narrative, and in the end ties the theme and the tale together without making the connection seem forced.Based on her writing structure, the three key points of â€Å"A Blizzard under Blue Sky† seem to be identifying her problems/treating depression, persevering through a near death experience, and then realizing how the two are intertwined. Houston opens the story by detailing what has got her down in life: there are bills to pay, work to be done, and uncommitted men. The combination of this, and maybe even the haze of winter, made it so that â€Å"the machine that drives you is broken† (Houston 284).In the story, the doctor suggested medication to get her functioning correctly again, but Houston was adamant that she would never fix her depression with pills. She came up with an alternative solution: winter camping. From here, Houston drops basically all discussion about her depression. As a result, the reader almost forgets why she was going camping in the first place. Instead of dwelling, she immerses herself in nature hoping to get the same results as a prescription would have achieved artificially.One quote in particular perfectly describes her healing journey through nature, â€Å"when everything in your life is uncertain, there’s nothing quite like the clarity and the precision of fresh snow and blue sky† (Houston 284). Although her initial accounts of winter camping seem jovial and fun (she even mentions that the clarity and the sereneness feels like the fourth dimension). Houston’s experience quickly takes a turn for the worse. The sun creeping behind the mountains amplifies her lack of experience and her lack of supplies.Accordingly, she is faced with a fourteen hour sleepless night where her only concern is survival (for both her and her dogs). When the sun came up on House’s snow cave the next day, she describes a feeling of pure joy and relief based on the fact that she is alive. â€Å"For the first time in many months I was happy to see a day beginning† (Houston 287). She forgot about the bills, the man, and about the depression. Life and happiness because synonymous.The final key point of â€Å"A Blizzard under Blue Sky† is the first two key points combined: experiencing nature is an excellent way to deal with depression because it allows one to have â€Å"remembered about joy†. Houston asserts that nature forces you to step outside of your problems and embrace simplicity. Her story is tangible (maybe a little extreme) example of this, but it undoubtedly encourages the readers to use the natural world as a resource to facilitate â€Å"hopefulness†. I thought â€Å"A Blizzard under Blue Sky† was a wonderful story and achieved exactly what it intended to.It provoked happiness, maybe even amazement based on the fact that upon setting out Houston was initially skeptical about the healing power of the natural world, and in turn found how revolutionary an extreme experience can be. What’s most interesting is that Houston immediately turned down anti-depressants. Most people would be thrilled at the prospect of a pill filling the void in their lives. Pam Houston had a different view, â€Å"one of the things I love most about the natural world is the way it gives you what’s good for you even if you don’t know it at the time† (Houston 284).The important thing to note here is that she did not know how nature would heal her, but she had an unwavering faith that it would even in extremely harsh conditions. Prior to reading this story, my experiences with nature have not been all that rewarding; I have never had a life changing experience as a direct result of the natural world. Houston helped me to identify why I have never stumbled upon such an organic change before. While she experienced joy by letting go of everything but the prospect of life, I have always gone into the environment with expectations and goals. I intend to change this.In the terms of the big picture, this story ties directly with all her other writings I have read in my free time (Cowboys are my Weakness, Waltzing the Cat, Sight Hound). What we can gather from this story, is that nature is a powerful tool for contemplation, introspection, and healing. It is no coincidence that nature retreats are popular and powerful experiences. One can undoubtedly experience God, and do some meaningful soul searching while experiencing God’s creation first hand. I think that this piece of literature is getting at a very important point: emotio nal fluctuations are inevitable but they don’t have to be debilitating.In her story, Houston is going through a very difficult time, and her problems are very universal: love, work, and money. The natural journey that she consequently details prove that sorrow is curable (medication is not needed). In terms of my life, I intend to take the lessons taught by Houston and apply them to my life. With that being said, I don’t have the time to go camping on a regular basis, nor do I have the desire to, but I will seize any opportunity I can to expand my natural boundaries.This might include exploring a national park on a weekend instead of going to a movie, or it might mean vacationing to the wilderness of Utah instead of defaulting back to the same beaches I have always gone to. Whatever my wilderness emersion ends up being, rest assured that I will go out of my way to seize it. Maybe I will experience a life or death situation and come out with a new found conception of jo y, but even if I don’t, I will soak up whatever nature has to offer me.