Recreation centre Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Recreation centre - Research Paper Example Twenty permanent staff; twenty to fifty contractual, and ten young volunteers who take turns in guiding and informing the users of the proper use of the environment. Distinction is emphasized between staff and employees on one hand, and local volunteers on the other. Volunteers are accorded guest status, i.e. with some privileges. The XYZ Ecotourism aims to provide outdoor recreation site for local residents and tourists with amenities for picnicking, hiking, bush walking, and other similar outdoor activities. It encourages weekend recreation/retreat for local residents and tourists who temporarily seek refuge from the hassles of urban life. XYZ Ecotourism was conceived some months ago during a group outdoor get-together by well-minded individuals, businessmen with previous acquaintances, who saw a flourishing ecotourism business in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. They were also impressed by the concern of local residents in the area who took turns in caring for their environment, and promoting green tourism among local businesses and small entrepreneurs in the community. With firm determination, the businessmen - five in number - who now comprise the majority of the stockholders bonded together and slowly transformed the once uninhabited and underdeveloped area in the outskirts into a flourishing ecotourism destination to feature an outdoor recreation in a natural setting. The recreation site provides a venue for people to escape - i.e. temporarily - from the rigors and stress of urban life, and to engage in a predominant recreational pastime of picnicking in a natural setting with the amenities of modern facilities and new technology. The site also provides a peaceful retreat for passive pursuits as well as opportunity for more active endeavors such as jogging, walking, hiking, bush walking, etc. 3. Summary of Objectives and Timelines 3.1 To provide an outdoor recreation or an ecotourism destination, conveniently situated near urban centers in Alsbury, New South Wales; 3.2 To produce an approximate number of picnic areas, with parking spaces, roads, paths, most of which are still to be constructed. The target maximum picnic areas is twenty, but can be expanded, considering the large area the facility provides. At present, the company has provided ten picnic areas located within a one kilometer radius, and within a short range from the Admin/Office. The main road is 95% complete, while some access roads are still being constructed; paths and trails are also provided, but still incomplete. These are the requirements for the picnic areas: tables in open spaces with scattered trees tables near parking areas facilities with a view of water, grassed areas with shades acceptable for grass picnicking flat or minimal sloping ground essential facilities: shelter, water, toilet block,

The Speckled Band Essay Example for Free

The Speckled Band Essay Dr Roylott is presented as a menacing figure through various references in the story. He has a nerve and he has knowledge. This man strikes even deeper. Also We heard the hoarse roar of the Doctors voice and saw the fury with which he shook his clenched fist, this suggests that Dr Roylott may not be able to control his anger but he is clever despite this. Another way in which the arch villain is presented to the reader is the way he speaks and what he says. In The Speckled Band Dr Roylott uses forceful language to intimidate Holmes and to make him feel uncomfortable and powerless. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See that you keep yourself out of my grip showing the reader that Dr Roylott does not like other people interfering with his business and that he does not mind using violence. Another factor of being the arch villain. The way the arch villain is presented in the Engineers thumb is similar to the speckled band as we find out the arch villain through the victims telling their story. However the arch villain in the Engineers thumb is not particularly revealed until the end where he tries to kill Mr Hatherly. Throughout the story the villain plays a mysterious character from the beginning where he is questioning Mr Hatherly and swearing him to keep it a secret. The villain seems a suspicious of the victim when it should be the other way around. The character Colonel Lysander stark is presented as mysterious, dangerous but the obvious suspect, although he is the stereotypical arch villain by his looks and his aggressive manner. Sherlock Holmes is shown often the central character and is shown as the best detective in the field with every skill that is needed as a detective. He has a good instinct that enables him to draw the correct conclusion from small observations. For example, in the Red Headed League, by looking at john clays worn wrinkled and stained knees he is able to realize the John Clay has been digging a passage to the bank. On the other hand, he is shown as a lonely man with no family life. This persuades the reader to like him because some might feel jealous for his investigating skills, so they pity his lonely life. Holmes again demonstrates a good instinct, which enables him to retrieve the facts before actually knowing them. This is shown when he gathers the facts that Mr Hatherly hasnt traveled as far as he thinks when he comments that One horse? Fresh or glossy? By the answer that Mr Hatherly gives him he able to notice that as the horse was not tired and was still clean then he had not traveled the 12 miles that the villain had told him he had. He here has the wit and knowledge to make him the best detective. Dr Watson is important in the stories because he is the narrator. Doctors are one of the most trusted professions as they have an image of being rescuers or saviors. I think the reason why Dr Watson is shown as a doctor is to make the readers trust him and therefore make the story believable. He is show as less skillful than Holmes, which makes the reader trust him even more because they can feel at the same level as him. Also he has great skills of observing and describing which aids the reader to recreate the events that happened whilst reading it. The setting in The Speckled Band makes the story seem scary and exciting by the use of adjectives. There are many quotes that add to the atmosphere of stoke Moran and that emphasis that Dr Roylott is a suspicious character in the story. Indian animals wander freely over his grounds and are feared greatly shows that Stoke Moran is possibly a dangerous place to be because of the exotic animals roaming it and it makes the setting seem mysterious. We had no feeling of security unless the doors were locked, The windows were blocked by old fashioned shutters with broad iron bars show us that stoke Moran and the setting around it gives a sense of unease and insecurity. The windows being blocked with iron bars gives a feeling of entrapment and it is almost like a prison. The descriptions of Stoke Moran add to the scariness of the story. All was dark in the direction of the manor house this suggests that only that area was in darkness and places around it were shadowed by its eeriness. The weather also plays an important part in the story. It was rainy, dark and stormy. This makes the story more interesting because you know that something bad is about to or has happened. The setting in the Engineers thumb creates just as much tension as the speckled band because of the mysterious way Mr Hatherly is taken in the train and he has no idea of where he is going. Along with the Speckled band the weather creates an atmosphere because its raining dark and in the middle of the night. This makes the mood scarier and the story is again frightening. Other factors that produce tension in the story is not just the stories that the victims tell but the way they tell it. They create a chilling atmosphere as they tell their almost unbelievable story to Holmes and Watson that then they can investigate. Helen Stoners narrative helps create tension by the way she builds up weird events and how she relates to where they took place. She relates back to her story at stoke Moran where the weird event of her sisters death took place. Here she comments that It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside and the rain was beating. This suggests that things were out of control and unusual at the manor house. As she continues to tell her story it becomes even more unusual and strange for the reader leaving you puzzled and with having to unravel the mystery. Doyle uses different techniques to add to the feeling of the story, an example being flashbacks. He gets the victims to tell their story to him and when they do odd facts appear, especially about the villains. Flash backs help the reader to feel more involved in the story because it gives them specific events that happened making it feel like you are there, as well as understanding it and trying to solve the mystery yourself. In conclusion, The Speckled Band, The engineers thumb and the Red Headed League build up the tension well and make the reader feel fully involved in trying to solve the mysterious stories. The Speckled Band and the Engineers Thumb are equally as exciting and gripping because they both make the reader feel aware of the atmosphere, plus the setting that the victims describe are well explained and are easily imaginable. Other Sherlock Holmes stories I have read also are well written and fast paced but are longer and the stories have more detail. This could leave the reader feeling that the story is unsolvable and so the reader would not want to continue with the story. However, The Speckled Band is the right length to be a good story and enchanting descriptions within it makes it exciting overall. Feminist criticism interprets womens experience as depicted in various kinds of literature- especially novels. It attacks the male notions of value in literature- by offering critiques of male authors and representations of men in literature and also by privileging women writers. Reading Arthur Conan Doyles stories (especially Sherlock Holmes) there is a sense of long-standing, dominant and phallocentric ideologies that contribute towards the patriarchal attitudes and male interpretations in literature. The detectives in Conan Doyles stories are always male and Conan Doyle only seems to cast women in stock character roles i. e. the victims are always female and powerless. Conan Doyle writes in a typical masculine style. He interprets females in the stereotypical type of how women are supposed to feel, act and think. This I feel is why many female readers may not be able to relate to any characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories because the stock character roles that Conan Doyle produces. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.

Andy Warhols Rorschach Paintings

Andy Warhols Rorschach Paintings One of the most important and controversial Pop art icons in America and a major influence to artists around the world, known as The Prince of Pop, Andy Warhol brings an entirely new perspective to the art world. An initiator and leading exponent of the Pop art movement of the 1960s, Warhol achieved success as a commercial artist during the 1950s and steadily grew from their producing works from famous portraits to popular culture, shoes and advertising images (Artquotes.net). Born Andrew Warhola in 1928, Warhol lived and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during very hard times. Andy had contracted a rare disease at the age of 8 called chorea or St. Vitus dance, an illness of the nervous system that could have possibly proven fatal. He would later recover from the illness, but would gain a skin illness that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Son of a Slovakian immigrant, Warhols father was a construction worker who died in accident when Andy was only 13 years old (Artint hepicture.com). During the years following his fathers death his siblings and classmates started to notice an early talent in drawing and painting. After high school Warhol decided he would study commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and in 1949 graduated with a major in Pictorial Design (Artinthepicture.com). After graduating he decided to move to New York where he found temporary jobs as an illustrator for magazines and for commercial advertising. From then on his career as an artist excelled and he became one of New Yorks most sought after and successful artists. He held his first one-man show exhibition in 1952 at the Hugo Gallery in New York and soon after became a famous figure in the New York art scene. Starting in 1978, following his sixteen year reign as the Prince of Pop, Warhol made an unexpected decision and decided to try his hand at abstract painting. Abstract Expressionism would be defined as artists who applied paint rapidly with force onto their huge canvases in an effort to show feelings and emotions, the works would release the creativity of the unconscious mind (Artlex.com). The style of the late 1940s and early 1950s was predominantly American and was characterized by its rendering of expressive content by abstract or non-objective means (Sayre 516). Andy Warhols Rorschach,1984 paintings are one of the most intriguing and captivating works of the early 1980s, they display his abstract work in the best Warholian style and cause the viewer to create an image out of their own imagination ( Richard 88-90). The immense Rorschach paintings are massive in scale and required a crew to produce them, a staggering 2010 and were achieved by pouring paint onto one side of the canvas, then folding the canvas down the middle and pressing the two sides together. In all their emptiness and derangement the Rorschach paintings are psychologically and emotionally charged. Warhol had created the series specifically so that the paintings could be analyzed. The ink blot appearance was first produced by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss Freudian psychiatrist who developed them as a test, which in fact would elicit disclosure of a persons innermost feelings (Newworldencyclopedia.org). It was mainly used on people suffering psychological instability or disorder and even diagnosed mental patients. Always on the prowl for inspiration Warhol used these ink blots in his own works creating the Rorschach series. Warhol was especially interested in mass production, his claim to fame was caused by the use of his rare crea tivity in the visual arts that would be used in mass produced commercial items. Often considered a cousin of avant-garde art, Andys commercial art such as the soapbox covers, soup cans, plastic packing would create and turn the industry into a respectable bona fide art form. The Rorschach series would be an outcome of his earlier work and would also be mass produced. The works are seemingly complex, replete with irony and ornament, history and psychology, intuition and a lot of misunderstanding. Although Warhol showed deliberate ignorance toward the standardized blots of the official Rorschach test, he was obviously intrigued by their serial repetitiveness and formulaic impersonality. With an estimated 38 paintings total in the Rorschach series the immense canvases where not at all produced only with the dark black paint that many remember it for. Warhol experimented with a variety of colors, thus he came to be known for using color field abstraction. Color field paintings, a type o f abstract expressionism, were used by artists who were interested in the lyrical or unique atmospheric effects of vast expanses of color, causing the viewer to be immersed in a color environment (Artlex.com). Many of the famous paintings were bright red, gold and pink; he even created a beautiful mixture of the colors, mixing purple, red and violet, and in another blue, purple and pink in an amazing array to create something extraordinary and abstract. Lusciously colorful or dull black, the works were appealing to a wide range of audiences and would catch the viewers eye immediately upon entering any gallery. Warhol used one major technique in creating his infamous works, an unpopular and rarely used pour and fold technique to conjure up the fleshy physicality of kidneys or lungs (Artnet.com).A particularly unique feature of the prints was that it contained no human touch, the paint was merely allowed to space and settle where ever on the canvas it pleased without any human interference or brushwork, this also would explain the variety of unique prints in the Rorschach series. The symmetrical networks of mainly thick Liquitex Acrylic paint distributed on silk screens created syrupy veins of paint that were easily identifiable and caused a unique distorted image each time. One arguable aspect of his work would also be that he never signed his work; out of all 38 paintings not one would contain his signature. One could say that Warhol was particularly fond of genital imagery, but others would argue that the Rorschach paintings not only represent Warhols demented mind, but contained images o f the devil and even death itself. Horrific atrocities from the gates of hell to a giant taunting mask, not all feedback was negative though, many saw completely opposite and positive imagery in the works, from royalty to giant vases, but no matter what the viewers imagination brought about, each canvas created a feeling that the work would engulf the spectator at any time (McShine 382-383). Warhol was said to have included iconography in his famous works such as the Rorschach series, some images might have been developed to represent something to him personally and to others something entirely different. Iconography would be defined as a pictorial representation of a subject, or the collection of images, or icons illustrating a subject (Artlex.com). He would mainly use it in his earlier works, self portraits of himself with skulls on his head as to depict his own death or murder. Warhols style of work in the Rorschach series was distinctly different from other great players of Pop Art during the era. Working on the subjects he loved and having a strict routine he would turn items of daily use into simplified yet intricate pieces of art. Warhol had worked on this series for a year, which gave him time and a chance to determine the end results. Most of his collection was never shown until after his death. Soon after the completion and major success of the Rorschach paintings, Warhol steadily moved on from his prized series and went on his final adventure in abstraction in 1986 (Glasstire.com). Warhol would play around with camouflage and stretch out the work on canvases as large as thirty feet. He was so fascinated with the endless possibilities and variations of camouflage iconography that he would eventually add it as an incongruous overlay to some of his other series. He then left his so fond abstraction series to continue on with his career with his already popular self portraits and later on The Last Supper series (Glasstire.com). From the day he left the calm environment of his normal work place and entered the very chaotic place of The Factory in 1962, he would mass produce silk screen prints and challenge the difference between high and low art to show the world that art can be found in everyday objects. Warhol would keep pushing the limits of art towards new boundaries that would drastically change the art we see around us today. Andy Warhol had made a permanent mark in the art world and had become a world renowned Pop Art icon. In 1987, the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was established in his honor and in May 1994, the Andy Warhol Museum opened in his home town Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Artinthepicture.com). Being a controversial homosexual man that he was with a bizarre personality, he was obsessed by the ambition of getting rich and famous and he knew exactly how he would achieve this from the very first day he stepped into the art world.

Genocide and Americans Actions :: essays research papers

Opinion 1: Lead the World in the Fight to Stop Genocide Military:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the Genocide Convention signed and put into effect by the U.N December 9. 1948. Anyone committing genocide, whether constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials, or private individuals will be punished. Genocide is defined as the killing of members in a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, imposing measures intended to prevent birth, or forcibly transferring children of that group to another group. This is exactly what is taking place in Darfur, Sudan. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates as many as 50,000 people have been killed and about 1 million internally relocated. In addition roughly 170,000 refugees have fled to eastern Chad. These actions led to Secretary of State Colin Powell along with President Bush to officially declare the crisis a genocide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The U.N still has not recognized the crimes committed in Darfur as a Genocide. However in September 2004 the Security Council passed Resolution 1564 which threatens sanction against the Sudanese government if it does not stop attacks by the Arab Sudanese militias on black Sudanese villagers in the Darfur region. Sudanese officials have largely dismissed it, accusing the United States, for example of trying to overthrow an Arab government. They obviously don’t fear that sanction on their oil exports of some 320,000 barrels per day that will be imposed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This shows Sudanese resolve, they are willing to forfeit the economic status in order to eliminate these African tribes. As the worlds last superpower we have an obligation to protect those nearing extinction using any means necessary.

How the Octopus Close Season Affected Women’s Life in Rodrigues Essay

Rodrigues is a 108 square kilometre, volcanic originated island, located in the Indian Ocean at around 600 kilometres at the east of the mainland Mauritius. It is surrounded by coral reef forming a lagoon with a rich biodiversity, which as twice the size of the land It was formerly known as the tenth district of Mauritius, up to the 10th of December 2002, where it attained the status of autonomy, governed by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly. The economy is mainly based on traditional fishing, low-scale farming, handicraft and an emerging tourism sector. One of the most common means of traditional fishing, is the famous octopus catch, which is mainly done by the Rodriguan women, known here as the â€Å"piqueuse d’ourite†. This is done at low tide where the fisherman equipped with iron rods, pace up and down the coral barrier, in search of a hole where nests the mollusc. The new government elected in February this year, expressed the wish to consolidate sustainable developments and protect local resources, for food security and protection of the environment. In this connection a regulation was adopted by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly in July 2012 for the closure of octopus catch season as from August 2012 to October 2012. This program is a joint collaboration financed by Smartfish and the Rodrigues Regional assembly. Smartfish is a regional programme financed by the European Union and is implemented by the Indian Ocean Commission in collaboration with the Common Market for Eastern and southern Africa (COMESA) , the east African community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development ( IGAB). The Octopus fishers were called for a half day work in the interest of the environment against remuneration in order for them to cope with the loss of earnings. The fisherwoman at the beginning of the project found a lot of difficulties to adapt with it. They used to sell their octopus on days where they go fishing and hence handling money in small quantities, spread over several days. In the program they were paid after a week of work. They found much trouble to wait for the pay and had to adapt themselves to a new form of budgeting and a new form of saving in order to meet expenses for the coming days before next payment. For example Mrs Cupidon of Baladirou, a professional fisherwoman, who use to earn around Rs 300 each time she goes fishing, uses go to the nearby shop everyday where she buys food for the day and keeps around Rs 25 rupees to pay the electricity bill at the end of the month. Now being paid after a week forced her to seek for credit and pay after one week, it has been hard for her to persuade the shop owner to grant her such service. Locating an octopus in the sea is reserved to expert eyes and intuition. Since young age many â€Å" piqueuse d’ourite† have been initiated to the skill of locating the octopus’s next, to tackle it in order to force it out of its hiding place and to kill it in such a way as to avoid being hurt by the mollusc. When, they are called to exert a new profession such as to build stone retaining walls, many of them were in trouble and could not adapt themselves. Moreover it was the first time in their lives where they were placed below the supervision of a superior, where they had to be punctual and abide to the principles expected from a public worker. Many supervisors also xpressed the obstacles they had to overcome to make them respected and to impose laid principles. At a time during the programme cycle, there was a delay for payment, which had consequent and dramatic impulses on the lives of these fisherwomen. Being not used to keep savings, many of them found themselves without food. Formerly a part of their catch was kept for own consumption, but with this program they consumed only food bought from the shop. There were also absentees at school due to the fact that many women were penny less and could not provide for basic daily needs of their children. In this project, the one who benefitted the most were the fisherwoman themselves who after the opening of the season found their catch being multiplied, where the volume and size of octopus was highly satisfactory, to the point that actually they are keen for the government to repeat the project this year. The venture of this government to implement this program is to be greatly saluted as it goes in the direction of sustainable development. However some measures have to be tuned and re-adapted to suit the peculiarity of the way of living of the fisherwomen and decisions should be taken with their full collaboration.

Alan Klein Sugarball

Alan Klein’s Sugarball is both a historical overview and cultural study of how citizens of the Dominican Republic not only enjoy baseball but use it as a means of cultural self-expression and, more importantly, resistance to American domination of their small country.   Though not openly hostile to the United States, the Dominican public uses baseball as a means of asserting pride and equality in the face of long, formidable neocolonial domination. Baseball is a specifically American entity only partly because it was created and evolved in the United States, where for decades it remained the dominant spectator sport.   More importantly, Klein asserts, baseball is uniquely American in how it has spread to other nations and dominates the game elsewhere.   It has the largest and strongest organization, the richest teams, largest fan base, most lucrative broadcasting and advertising contracts, and most extensive networks for scouting and player development. Baseball’s presence in the Dominican Republic (among the western hemisphere’s poorest nations) is also uniquely American because, as with other aspects of American culture, it was brought there as American domination spread throughout the Caribbean American interests assumed control of the Dominican economy. However, unlike other American corporations, Major League Baseball did not provoke widespread, unmitigated resentment, but is for the most part supported by the nation’s people.   In addition, the methods long used to scout and sign Dominican ballplayers is similarly dubious and rifer with duplicity; Klein calls their methods â€Å"so reminiscent of those of the West African slave traders of three centuries earlier† (42). In terms of the game itself, the rules and style in each are generally the same, and while Dominicans play the game with an intensity equal with Americans, their approach to other aspects of baseball are more casual, reflecting that society’s leniency and lax approach to time.   While Dominican players play as hard as their American teammates and opponents, they embrace a much more casual attitude toward time, frequently showing up late for meetings or practice unless specifically required to be punctual.   In addition, they tend to be more exuberant and unrestrained; playing the game seriously is not equated with a somber demeanor. Most of the differences lie off the field, particularly in the atmosphere of a stadium on game day.   The fan culture is radically different; where American fans are more restrained, often get to games on time, and can sometimes be confrontational with other fans, Dominican fans are generally louder, more physically and temperamentally relaxed, more effusive (even with strangers), and, despite the demonstrative body language and shouting shown in arguments, there is far less violence than at an American ballgame. Klein attributes this to the fact that â€Å"[Dominican fans] are far more social than North Americans, more in tune with human frailty.   Because they see so much human vulnerability, because they are closer to the margins of life, they are more likely to resist the urge to bully and harm† (148). Economic power essentially defines the relationship between American and Dominican baseball, because Major League Baseball develops and signs much of the local Dominican talent, leaving the Dominican professional league and amateur ranks underdeveloped and subordinate to the North American teams who establish baseball academies and working agreements with Dominican teams. Since 1955, when the major leagues established working agreements with Dominican professional clubs (and, more significantly, eliminated the â€Å"color line† that prevented most Dominicans, who are predominantly mulatto, from playing), American baseball has shown its hegemony over its Dominican counterpart, turning the latter into a virtual colony by taking its raw resources and giving back very little in return.   Klein comments: â€Å"The lure of cheap, abundant talent in the Dominican Republic led American teams to establish a more substantial presence there . . . [and the] bonds between American and Dominican baseball came increasingly to resemble other economic and political relations between the two countries† (36). Klein writes that most Dominicans accept American dominance of their baseball, adding that â€Å"whereas giants such as Falconbridge and GTE are resented, major league teams are largely supported† (2), mainly because Dominican players have such a notable presence and bring positive attention to their impoverished homeland.   This support is by no means unconditional, though; they steadfastly refuse to approach the game with American businesslike gravitas; instead, they treat the game itself somewhat like Carnival, with joy coexisting alongside energetic, intense play. Resistance appears in the way Dominican players relax at home, interacting more freely with fans, who themselves resist American baseball’s decorum by being themselves and creating a festive, effusive, Carnival-like atmosphere.   According to Klein, â€Å"The game remains American in structure, but its setting is Dominican and it has become infused with Dominican values† (149).   Indeed, the park fosters a microcosm of Dominican society, particularly its impoverished economy, and unlike the more slick American baseball business, it does not exclude its marginal activities. In addition to the paid vendors and park employees within the stadium, an illicit economy flourishes both within and on the outside, with self-appointed â€Å"car watchers,† vendors, and ushers (adults and children alike) plying their trade for small fees, and bookmakers work openly, often in the presence of the police, who turn a blind eye to most illegal activity aside from the rare fight. Dominican baseball’s symbolic significance is not a sense of the pastoral heritage, like some in America interpret it; instead, it reflects Dominicans’ sense of themselves being dominated by the United States, and offers a symbolic outlet for striking back. In his preface, Klein writes: â€Å"The tensions between a batter who has two strikes against him and the opposing pitcher are a metaphor for the political and cultural tensions described in this book† (xi).   Indeed, the Dominican republic’s deeply entrenched poverty and long domination by foreign powers give it a feeling of vulnerability and compel its people to seek some means of besting the dominant power – if not politically or economically, then at least athletically. At the start of the book, Klein states that â€Å"every turn at bat is a candle of hope, every swing is the wave of a banner, the sweeping arc of a sword† (1).   Indeed, when a Dominican reaches the major leagues and excels, it is not merely an athletic success story but a symbolic invasion and conquest of the conqueror’s territory.   (The United States twice occupied the Dominican Republic in the twentieth century, an ever-present fact in Dominicans’ minds.) Also, the atmosphere in the crowd of a Dominican professional game serves as the country’s symbolic assertion of its culture in the face of American dominance.   At Santo Domingo’s Quisqueya Stadium, one witnesses â€Å"a mass spectacle that makes simultaneous use of American and Dominican elements. . . . [Baseball] at Quisqueya embodies many of the things that North Americans find blameworthy in Dominican culture – lateness, overly casual behavior, inefficiency.   But the Dominicans see these characteristics as a source of pride, and they take their game seriously† (150). The Dominican baseball press is a source of more open resistance; says Klein, â€Å"the press has inadvertently created a Latino universe of discourse, one in which North Americans are conspicuously absent† (127).   Its journalists display an obvious bias by devoting so much attention to Dominicans in the major leagues that one hardly knows other nationalities even participate. In addition, Dominican baseball writers openly blame Dominican baseball’s problems on American control, protesting a skewed economic relationship that mirrors the larger political and economic imbalance.   They promote much of the public’s pride, says Klein, but that pride is â€Å"tempered by the view that Dominican baseball is still an adjunct to the American game† (121).   Dominican resistance is thus aimed at countering this uncomfortable fact. In baseball terms, American culture interacts with Dominican culture by treating it with some degree of condescension and insensitivity.   Many American baseball professionals are impatient with Dominicans’ loose sense of time, quickly deeming Latino players uncoachable â€Å"head cases,† without looking at the cultural differences. Among Dominicans, says Klein, â€Å"There is none of the regimentation, guardedness, and nervous tension that characterizes players in the United States.   North American managers must take this looseness into account when they go to the Caribbean, for the players’ conception of the game and of time is as elastic as that of other Dominicans† (148). Despite the United States’ long domination of the Dominican Republic, the small nation’s people feel less anger than a mixture of muted resentment and aspiration to attain American material prosperity and stability, which for most are a distant, unreachable ideal.   Thus, when Dominican ballplayers reach the major leagues, their large salaries represent a sort of victory and source of immense pride for the small island nation.   Says Klein, â€Å"Much as archeological treasures attest to a rich Dominican past, salaries attest to the present† (128). Klein’s study pays keen attention not only to Dominican history but also to the ways in which Dominicans embrace this imported sport but also use their prowess to offer their own subtle response to American political and economic dominance.   The dynamic he describes illustrates not only American hegemony, but also how subordinated peoples’ identity and spirit can thrive even in the face of foreign domination. Klein, Alan M.   Sugarball.   New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.