A Normal Way of Life Essay example -- Family Normality Culture Essays

A Normal Way of Life What is "normal" in American culture? I believe my family is "normal" and my friends believe that of their families, too. Yet, our families are so different. How can that be? Everyone has an ideal image of a "normal" family according to the way they live. I believe "normal" to be a mother, a father, and kids living in the same house with three cars and a pool to be normal. My family has a strong set of beliefs, traditions, and artifacts that compile into my ideal image of "normal". I am of French, German, and Polish decent. My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents lived in Michigan their entire lives. My mother's side was from Warren and my father's from Pontiac. Growing up my parents went to a Catholic school and became high school sweethearts. My mother and father were not very well off growing up and it seemed to stay that way early into their marriage. My father became a builder at the young age of twenty-three. My mother once told me that after they moved into their first home, they couldn't even afford a dishwasher. My mother was a medical assistant up until I was three and she hasn't worked since. I was fortunate enough to have my mother home with me when I was younger. A lot of children I went to elementary school with weren't as lucky. Growing up my brother, parents, and I all lived in a small, ranch-style home in Sterling Heights. We had a nice yard, two cars, and a basketball hoop. This was typical if you looked down our street. Once I hit f ifth grade our house went up for sale and we moved to Washington Township. Our home was bigger now and the people in the neighborhood were fairly different also. They thought that we lived on Rodeo Drive. We moved again when I was in ninth grade... ...her siblings, and my grandparents grew up living in. I love that house. It reminds me of my grandma. After she died my grandfather moved out, but my uncle moved in. He and his family now live in it, so it is still part of our family. My "normal" has been declared as a loving mother and father with kids and a nice home in American culture. Still there are many extremes in American families today which others believe to be "normal". One-day kids will believe having parents of the same sex is "normal". Our America is ever changing as is our ideas of American normalcy. So, compared to children who don't have two parents and a car to drive or food in their cupboards my family is "normal". Works Cited Alvarez, Louis and Andrew Kolker, directors. People Like Us: Social Class in America. PBS.WDET, Detroit. 23 September 2001. 26 October 2001. Online Transcript.

Art Critque †Mona Lisa Overdose Essay

Using the different elements of art, the artist organized the elements to provoke a feeling of puzzlement and surprise to the audience. The Mona Lisa, being a famous painting, was distorted in a way that it projects a different emotion from the original one. Lorenzana presented the distortion of the proportion and scale of the face of the Mona Lisa in order to evoke a feeling of unsettling disbelief with the visuals of the painting. The change of the Mona Lisa’s face caused a contrast to be present in the artwork. It emphasized the subject’s face and the cigarette presented irony from the original knowledge about the base artwork. Combining all these elements, the artist was able to express the idea of the paining, which is how something clean and subtle, can turn into something mischievous or bizarre. The elements provided the audience a sense of bizarre facial elements on the subject, which caused a subtle, dark, and mysterious tone to be emanated from the painting. Interpretation By Paolo Alilam In this artwork Luis Lorenzana painted a very different Mona Lisa. He depicted a very â€Å"overdosed† Mona Lisa with a stick of cigarette, a bottle of Red Horse, and face with clown-like make up. I think he was just trying to add a little bit of today in something very classic. The normal Mona Lisa shows a very pleasant portrait. Luis Lorenzana’s artworks usually show surrealism or bizarreness. This fact explains this rendition of the Mona Lisa. I think he created this just to show creativity and give people a different taste compared to the usual. Who would imagine Mona Lisa like this anyway? When I look at the artwork I feel a bit weirded-out. For me it’s not such a pleasant artwork. It’s somewhat scary even. But, like I said, he made this artwork just to give people a different taste. â€Å"Do I think there are symbols to the artwork?† Maybe. Maybe Luis Lorenzana likes cigarettes, drinks, and other things like that. Well, I don’t really k now the guy. Another possibility is that when he was painting this he was smoking or drinking. We’ll never know unless we ask him. Judgment By JV Valdez The artwork is a very surrealistic painting. It presents the famous Mona Lisa in some sort of parody in which seems like she’s high on drugs and drunk from drinking â€Å"Red Horse beer†. In my opinion the artist presented a really good distortion of the Mona Lisa. In the original painting of the Mona Lisa she was presented as a demure woman, however the artist distorted that and turned her into a non-conservative drunkard. Based on my personal preferences, I would consider this as a good artwork because I have a preference for artworks that look demented and creepy. However, I don’t think it is an important artwork because I have seen a lot of different artworks trying to do the same distortion with the Mona Lisa as well. I also don’t find the artwork unique in anyway because like I said I have seen other distortions of the Mona Lisa and I view this certain artwork as just one of the many different imitations. All in all I really like this artwork because it has that eerie and demented emotion that it is trying to evoke from viewers, which gives me the creeps every time I look at it.

Management of Banks and Financial Institutions - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 1045 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Management of Banks and Financial Institutions CIA-2 Asset Liability Management Management of Assets and Liabilities by Banks [pic] Submitted By: Paul George 0921420 Caroline 0921440 Poornima 0921449 Sonal 0921454 Anvin 0921459 Meaning of ALM ALM is an attempt to match Assets and Liabilities, in terms of Maturities and Interest Rate Sensitivities, to minimize Interest Rate Risk and Liquidity Risk. †¢ ALM can be termed as a risk management technique designed to earn an adequate return while maintaining a comfortable surplus of assets beyond liabilities. It takes into consideration interest rates, earning power, and degree of willingness to take on debt and hence is also known as Surplus Management [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] ALM and NIM †¢ ALM is all about efficient management of balance sheet dynamics with regard to its size, constituents and quality. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Management of Banks and Financial Institutions" essay for you Create order †¢ It is the process of managing the Net Interest Margin (NIM) within the overall risk bearing ability of a bank †¢ ALM process depends on the understanding of the balance sheet; the availability, accuracy, adequacy and expediency of the data and the MIS system DEFINITION OF ALM ALM is defined as, â€Å"the process of decision – making to control risks of existence, stability and growth of a system through the dynamic balances of its assets and liabilities. † †¢ The text book definition of ALM is â€Å"a risk management technique designed to earn an adequate return while maintaining a comfortable surplus of assets beyond liabilities. It takes into consideration interest rates, earning power and degree of willingness to take on debt. It is also called surplus- management†. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF ALM ? Review the interest rate structure and compare the same to the nterest/product pricing of both assets and liabilities. ? Examine the loan and inves tment portfolios in the light of the foreign exchange risk and liquidity risk that might arise. ? Examine the credit risk and contingency risk that may originate either due to rate fluctuations or otherwise and assess the quality of assets ? Review,the actual performance against the projections made and analyse the reasons for any effect on spreads. ? Aim is to stabilise the short-term profits,long-term earnings and long-term substance of the bank. The parameters that are selected for the purpose of stabilising asset liability management of banks are: -Net Interest Income(NII) -Net Interest Margin(NIM) -Economic Equity Ratio †¢ Net Interest Income- Interest Income-Interest Expenses. †¢ Net Interest Margin- Net Interest Income/Average Total Assets †¢ Economic Equity Ratio- The ratio of the shareholders funds to the total assets measures the shifts in the ratio of owned funds to total funds. The fact assesses the sustenance capacity of the bank. RISKS INVOLVED IN ALM Various Risks involved in Asset-Liability Management are: – Interest Rate Risk – Foreign Exchange Risk – Liquidity Risk – Credit Risk – Contingency Risk MANAGEMENT OF LIQUIDITY RISK Liquidity Risk: It is the risk of having insufficient liquid assets to meet the liabilities at a given time. ? Stock Approach Stock Approach is based on the level of assets and liabilities as well as off balance sheet exposures on a partic ular date. †¢ liquid assets to short term liabilities ratio †¢ loan to deposits ratio ? Flow Approach †¢ Measuring and managing net funding requirements. Managing Market Access †¢ Contingency Planning MANAGEMENT OF INTEREST RATE RISK Interest Rate Risk: It is the risk of having a negative impact on a bank’s future earnings and on the market value of its equity due to changes in interest rates. Interest rate risk is the volatility in net interest income (NII) or in variations in net interest margin(NIM). Techniques: 1. Gap Analysis 2. Duration Gap Analysis 3. Simulation 4. Value at Risk GAP ANALYSIS One way to measure the direction and extent of asset-liability mismatch is by using gap analysis. The analysis derives its name from the â€Å"gap† which is the difference between the amounts of Rate Sensitive Asset (RSA) and Rate Sensitive Liabilities (RSL). †¢ Repricing gaps are calculated for assets and liabilities of differing maturities. †¢ Positive gap indicates that assets get repriced before liabilities, whereas, a †¢ Negative gap indicates that liabilities get repriced before assets. †¢ The general formula that is used is as follows: NIIi = R i (GAPi) NII is the net interest income R refers to the interest rates impacting assets and liabilities in the relevant maturity bucket GAP refers to the differences between the book value of the rate sensitive assets and the rate sensitive liabilities. DURATION MODEL Duration is an important measure of the interest rate sensitivity of assets and liabilities as it takes into account the time of arrival of cash flows and the maturity of assets and liabilities. It is the weighted average time to maturity of all the preset values of cash flows. Duration basically refers to the average life of the asset or the liability. SIMULATION Simulation models help to introduce a dynamic element in the analysis of interest rate risk. Basically simulation models utilize computer power to provide what if scenarios, for example: What if: ? The. absolute level of interest rates shift Margins achieved in the past are not sustained/improved. VALUE AT RISK It enables the calculation of market risk of a portfolio for which no historical data exists. It enables one to calculate the net worth of the organization at any particular point of time so that it is possible to focus on long-term risk implications of decisions that have already been taken or that are going to be taken. It is used extensively for measuring the market risk of a portfolio of assets and/or liabilities. THREE PILLARS OF ALM PROCESS The ALM process rests on Three Pillars: 1. ALM Information Systems 2. ALM Organization 3. ALM Process ALM INFORMATION SYSTEMS ALM Information Systems helps perform the following activities- †¢ Decision Support and Reporting Tool †¢ Comparison between different Branches †¢ Product Analysis †¢ Duration Gap Analysis †¢ Risk Planning and Management †¢ Flexible Design †¢ Strategic Planning of the Asset-Liability Mix †¢ Simulation Analysis †¢ Transfer- Pricing Mechanism ALM ORGANIZATION ALM Organization consists of the following: †¢ Strong Commitment of Senior Management †¢ ALCO should comprise the Senior Management (including the CEO) †¢ A Support Group of Operational Staff ILLUSTRATION OF AN ALM ORGANIZATION- [pic] [pic] WORKING OF ALCO COMMITTEE [pic] ALM PROCESS The scope of ALM function can be described as follows: †¢ Liquidity Risk Management †¢ Management of Market Risks †¢ Trading Risk Management †¢ Funding and Capital Planning †¢ Profit Planning and Growth Projection ASSET LIABILITY MANAGEMENT AT ICICI BANK [pic] [pic][pic] [pic] [pic]