Haunted Elevators at the University of Maryland :: Urban Legend Myths

Haunted Elevators at the University of Maryland A good urban legend is like a play: so well written and delivered the audience cannot tell if the performers are acting. The legend is carefully crafted to resonate with the audiences’ â€Å"hopes, fears, and anxieties† and the delivery works to suspend their disbelief. One urban legend epitomizes these characteristics. This urban legend was told by an eighteen-year-old African American college student at the University of Maryland. The urban legend dealt with Denton Hall, where he currently lives. The storyteller claimed that one of the dormitory’s early residents was a girl who, due to some kind of calcium deficiency, had an unusually weak bone structure. The storyteller could not recall her name, but indicated that it had just slipped his mind and was on the tip of his tongue. One day, she was going to the dining hall with a friend of hers when she realized she had forgotten her I.D. card. She asked her friend to hold the elevator while she ran back to her room to get it. She was just reaching the elevator with her card when the elevator, having been held open for too long, began buzzing and the doors closed. The girl tried to jump onto the elevator at the last second but the doors closed on her and crushed her. According to the storyteller, some of her â€Å"brain fluid,† c omposed of neurotransmitters and other electrically conductive chemicals, sprayed into the elevators control panel and fried some of the circuitry. From that point on, the elevators in Denton have been on the fritz and break down whenever anyone holds them open for too long. The urban legend was delivered excellently. The storyteller had also selected a perfect time for his performance. He was speaking too a small group of other Maryland students who were waiting for the elevator in Denton. He had enough time to finish his story, because only one of the elevators was working. The storyteller presented the story as if he was simply relating the facts. He did not fill the story with dramatic pauses or extensive efforts to get an emotional response from the audience. If he thought his audience was going to find a part of the story disturbing or unbelievable he qualified it by saying â€Å"Now I thought this was really gross.

Theories of Crime

Describe how you think Intelligence-Led Policing in the United States should be conducted. Intelligence-led policing is the latest means by which police authorities solve crimes instead of acting only after a crime has been consummated (â€Å"Intelligence-Led Policing in the United States†). This shift from the old practice needs more development in order to cope up with the changing technological advancement around the world. Besides, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, made this revolution essential.I know that such huge attack in the United States became successful because of negligence and underestimating the capabilities of criminals in using technology to evade the law. For me, there are three ways wherein intelligence-led policing should be conducted in the United States. First, there should be constant look-out of people coming in the country and going out of the same. The possibility of criminals coming in the country not detected by the police is high due to their networks and resources.Second, there should be a more effective system wherein all intelligence units across the country could interact directly through the development of technology to that effect. And third, all suspicious and non-suspicious but possible perpetrators must be constantly monitored for possible crime or terrorism activities, and such action must be done in accordance with law. Specifically, how would you recommend setting up the intelligence community in the United States?Globalization, fast-tracked by development in technology and transportation, has transformed the world smaller for criminals and bigger for state and local law enforcement (â€Å"Intelligence-Led Policing)†. In that sense, setting up the domestic intelligence or the FBI must be magnified to the effect that it is no longer limited to domestic perpetrators but to all their possible accomplices and accessories within the country.The CIA, which is the foreign intelligence must focus on sma ll groups of individual who are capable of consummating criminal acts and study their possible allies and supporters. The role of the militaries is vital in having access to these groups of criminals as they are capable to use bigger force to solve crimes. It would be better if a unified action be made in every intelligence reports received by all authorities in order to prevent commission of crimes against national security and individual well-being.References Suburban Emergency Management Project. 2007. Intelligence-Led Policing in the United States. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from http://www. semp. us/publications/biot_ reader. php? BiotID=474. Bureau of Justice Assistance. 2009. Intelligence-Led Policing. Retrieved July 22, 2009, http://www. ojp. usdoj. gov/BJA/topics/ilp. html.

Character Review of Of Mice and Men Essay - 1166 Words

Character Review of Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novel set on a ranch in the Salinas Valley in California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The title of the book is a reference to Robert Burnss poem To a Mouse. (1759 - 96): The best laid schemes o mice and men Gang aft agley [often go wrong] And leave us nought but grief and pain For promised joy! In the book, Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck created memorable characters that play out two dramatically realistic, neonaturalist themes: Friendship and Loneliness. Ending the glitter and excess of the Jazz Age, the catastrophe of the 1929 stock-market crash ushered in the angry decade of the 1930s. Many novels of neonaturalism and social protest were†¦show more content†¦In this case, loneliness is the biggest tragedy. Crooks is the stable buck. He is different from the rest because he is black, in a time where racial prejudice is strong. He has also been crippled, and so his life is very bad. He lives separately to the others in his own room, the harness room. He has books on his shelves, which shows that he is more intellectual than the others. He has fond memories of his past, when he and his white friends would play on their chicken ranch, and were oblivious as to why their parents didnt like it. Now he knows why, and he hates the fact that he cant come into the bunkhouse to play cards, but has to spend all his free time by himself. The white people exclude him, so instead of pleading with them he decides he is going to exclude them as well. Crooks, on a black mans loneliness: Spose you didnt have nobody. Spose you couldnt go into the bunk house and play rummy cause you was black. Howd you like that? Spose you had to sit out here an read books. Sure you could play horseshoes till it got dark, b ut then you got to read books. Books aint no good. A guy needs somebody-to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Dont make no difference who the guy is, longs hes with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an he gets sick (80) Loneliness can result from rejection#8230; (Couns.uiuc.edu/loneline.htm). Others treat CrooksShow MoreRelatedMice and Men Annotated Bibliography855 Words   |  4 PagesEnglish II PAP 4th 8 November 2011 Of Mice And Men : An Annotated Bibliography Book Review: Of Mice amp; Men. A Novel Menagerie. Novel Menagerie, 2009. Web. 7 Nov 2011. lt;http://anovelmenagerie.com/2009/02/18/book-review-of-mice-and-men/gt;. The author of this review focuses on the life of Lennie. She sympathizes with the hard times Lennie had to go through as a character. The author describes Lennie to the readers as an innocent, childlike character who is misunderstand by the people surroundingRead MoreHandicaps, Hardships, and Friendships in Of Mice and Men1362 Words   |  6 Pagesopportunity’s to achieve the dream that you conceptualize to be right by you. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck did not want to just illustrate the American dream as being easy, but he wanted to point out the American Dream as being difficult too. Steinbeck made a work of art by composing a great novel to make the reader understand that life can be difficult and at times dreams are hard to achieve. Of Mice and Men was written and based on the settings of the Great Depression (Anderson). The Great DepressionRead MoreOf Mice and Men by John Steinbeck973 Words   |  4 Pagescanals and working beside men similar to characters in his novels. 2. In a discussion John Steinbeck said, I worked in the same country that the story is laid in. The characters are composites to a certain extent. Lennie was a real person. Hes in an insane asylum in California right now. I worked alongside him for many weeks . . .† (Parini 27) a. During the interview Steinbeck told his personal experiences that permitted him to write and construct the novel Of Mice and Men. II. Proof of Thesis Read MoreForeshadowing In Of Mice And Men Analysis1257 Words   |  6 Pageshappens later in the book. In 1937 John Steinbeck published the American classic, â€Å"Of Mice and Men,† a short story that tells the tale of George and Lennie, two migrant workers during the Great Depression. George, a small quick man, and his companion, Lennie, an enormous man with the mind of a child. They begin work at a ranch and come across Crooks, Candy, Slim, Curley, Curley’s wife, and many more characters that reside among the ranch. The pair’s biggest goal is to live the American Dream, toRead MoreOf Mice and Men and the Great Depression1661 Words   |  7 Pageseverlasting hope. John Steinbecks literature takes a snapshot of this time with realistic circumstances appropriate for the time. Of Mice and Men reflects the Great Depression Era by presenting the storyline in the agricultural setting of 1930s California, describing the hardships of migrant field workers, and mentioning the dreams and goals of various characters. The United States felt the reverberating effects of their failing economy during the 1930s. The decade of the 1920s was a period ofRead MoreOf Mice And Men Film Analysis1577 Words   |  7 PagesOf Mice and Men (1992) Movie Review Of Mice and Men is an action-packed, but peaceful film and novella by John Steinbeck. The movie has been made as an interpretation by Gary Sinise, who is the director and one of the main characters. Of Mice and Men is about George and Lennie (Gary Sinise, John Malkovich) who are very close friends. George is a short and smart man. On the other hand, Lennie is a big man who is mindless. Unlike the book, the movie is very visual with lots of sounds and excitingRead MoreRain Man Journal1371 Words   |  6 PagesPart One (Plot Summary) Rain Man directed by Barry Levinson was released in 1988.The story of this movie takes place in the United States (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1988. Similar to John Steinbecks Of Mice And Men, the story of this movie is about friendship between two unequal men(one mentally challenged and the other, normal) that are on a journey and their friendship, but opposite to the story of the novel, the film has a happy ending. One day, Charley, who is a successfulRead MoreThe Butterfly Effect, and A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury1138 Words   |  5 Pageschanging the future. Although they share the same idea, they each have different outcomes. A Sound of Thunder was written in 1952 by Ray Bradbury. It was set in the year of 2055 during a presidential election. In the story, Eckels and a group of rich men travel back in time to kill a dinosaur. However, after seeing the dinosaur, Eckels cowardly strays off of the important floating path. When the group returns to Time Safari Incorporated, they realize that Eckels has made the terrible mistake of steppingRead More The American Dream in Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, Two Kinds, and Sophistication1537 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Dream in Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Two Kinds writer by Amy Tan, and in â€Å"Sophistication† by Sherwood Anderson. Working hard is the key to success. This struggle for success is most commonly called the â€Å"American Dream.† The aspect of the American Dream has been around forever and is often the underlying theme in many pieces of American literature. The theme of the American is especially presented in Of Mice and Men written by John SteinbeckRead MoreOf Mice And Men By John Steinbeck1080 Words   |  5 PagesPlot Summary: The setting of the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck began south of Soledad, California in a riverbed near the Salinas River. The time was during the 1930s with the Great Depression. The two main protagonists, George and Lennie, enters the scene resting after the long walk toward the new ranch where they would work. They decided to camp out in their newly discovered paradise and wait for tomorrow to do their job. Amid making dinner, George threw away Lennie’s dead mouse and