Flannery O’Connor wrote extensively about the South. She was devoutly religious – a Catholic who went to mass every day. She loved writing about odd, offbeat characters, and although her humor was quite dark, she loved poking fun at hypocrites and people who had not thought things through. The main character here is Joy-Hulga. Most readers find her to be a thoroughly dislikable character. She becomes a victim of Manley Pointer, a Bible salesman. Characters seemed to be O’Connor’s focus in many of her literary works. Joy-Hulga, Manley Pointer, and Mrs. Hopewell are the three main characters. What are each of these characters like? What motivates them? Mrs. Hopewell is obviously less of a focus than Joy-Hulga and Manley, but don’t completely disregard her. She and Manley have “street smarts” while Joy-Hulga has “book smarts.” Mrs. Hopewell isn’t a criminal like Manley, but she knows how to make life work for her in a practical way. She’s a good manager as indicated in her handling of the Freemans. She has money and business sense.

Manley is uneducated, but he is able to completely con Joy-Hulga, who has a PhD. Their conversation at the end of the story is pivotal. It reveals a lot about both characters. What do you think O’Connor wanted readers to consider in giving us two pretty detestable main characters?

An observation, since I’ve been teaching this story for so long: Don’t go beyond the text in interpreting the story. For example, an analysis of Manley’s criminality is a perfectly valid thing to discuss. But avoid outlandish theories like one student in the past who said that Manley might have been building his own woman. Sure, at the end of this story he’s carrying around a couple of artificial parts, but there’s no evidence at all that he has any particular plans in that direction. There’s plenty to talk about that you can support with specific evidence from the story, so just stick with topics and ideas that can be supported with clear evidence from the story.

POSSIBLE ESSAY IDEAS:

– Compare/contrast mother-daughter relationships in “Good Country People” and “Everyday Use”

– Compare/contrast “street smarts” and “book smarts” in the story. These are pretty common terms, but if you’re not familiar with their meanings, email me, and I’ll be glad to explain

– Compare/contrast mothering styles in “Good Country People” and “Everyday Use’

Compare/contrast “street smarts” and “book smarts” in the story seems to be the best topic to me if you want to do that one. no outside sources needed, just read the link i put below. Thank you!!

Good Country people: Click here to read “Good Country People”URL

https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/163600/Good%20Country%20People%20-%20Flannery%20O%27Connor.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Answer the following questions after reviewing our teamwork power-point. This is due on April 24, and may be turned in for late points until April 26. You will have five points deducted for each response less than 300 words, or for each response that is off topic.

1. When have you been a part of a team in college, what was your position in that team, and how would you rate you and your team? (300 words)

2. When do you plan on using teamwork in your career? (300 words)

3. What actions can you take to improve your skills as they apply to teamwork? (300 words)

You can write about being in a soccer team at community college or a school assignment that involved a group of students

Sheff states that the “war on drugs” that began with the Nixon administration in 1971, has failed. Vaughn also indicates that US policy efforts aimed at reducing the human and fiscal cost of alcohol and drug use, abuse, and addiction over the past 45 years have done little toward achieving that end. Why have these efforts failed? What are the contributing factors? 400 Words APA format.

Readings:

Wormer, K. & Davis, D. (2018). Addiction treatment: a strengths perspective. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN-13: 978-1305943308

Sheff, D. (2013). Clean: overcoming addiction and ending America’s greatest tragedy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 978-0547848655

Vaughn, M. & Perron, B. (2013). Social work practice in the addictions. New York, NY: Springer. ISBN: 9781461453567
http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781461453567

• A Drug Policy for the 21st Century
• McCabe, H.A., & Wahler, E.A. (2016). The Affordable Care Act, substance use disorders, and low-income clients: Implications for social work. Social Work, 61(3), 227-233.
• Volkow, N.D. & Boyle, M. (2018). Neuroscience of addiction: relevance to prevention and treatment. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(8), 729-740.
• Melemis, S. M. (2015). Relapse prevention and the five rules of recovery. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 88(3), 325-332.
• Gideon, L. (2010). Drug offenders’ perceptions of motivation: the role of motivation in rehabilitation and reintegration. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 54(4), 597-610.
• Optional: Thacker, J., & Ward, T. (2010). Relapse prevention: a critique and proposed reconceptualisation. Behaviour Change, 27(3), 154-175.
• Optional: Relapse Prevention Plan Guides & Examples: How to Write a Bulletproof Relapse Prevention Plan, River Oaks; 5 Critical Components of Successful Relapse Prevention Plans, The Recovery Village; Your Relapse Prevention Plan Guide, Northpoint Washington.

• Relapse Prevention: A Relapse Prevention Plan: Early Warning Signs and Tools of Recovery. Read info on the webpage and watch Relapse Prevention Video – Transcript
• Neuroscience of Addiction Video: Directions for the Future – Time 29 mins (requires UNE Library sign-in), CC available
• “Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care” Episode 275 of the Counselor Toolbox podcast with Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, Time: (57:54 min).
• “Relapse Prevention Strategies” Episode 241 of the Counselor Toolbox podcast with Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, Time: (1:01:00 min). Transcript

An In-N-Out Pay Strategy: Costa Vida’s Decision to Boost Pay

For many businesses in today’s belt-tightening economy, decisions on pay need to be strategic to ensure that employees are treated fairly and to ensure that businesses can remain viable. This requires knowing what your competitors pay their employees and knowing your own salary budget. But knowing what your competitors are paying can be both valuable and painful.

As a primary stakeholder and former CEO of Costa Vida, a fast-growing chain of fresh Mexican restaurants, Nathan Gardner knew he was competing against some restaurant chains with competitive compensation systems. Costa Vida is a fresh Mexican grill featuring Baja-inspired foods that are made from scratch daily. Following a trip to Cabo San Lucas on the Baja Coast in Mexico, Costa Vida founders JD and Sarah Gardner were inspired with a vision: Bring the freshly made local cuisine with the vibrant lifestyle to the United States. They started their first restaurant in 2001, and after just 13 years, Costa Vida has more than 50 franchises in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, and Utah, and as of 2017, 3 locations in Canada. One of the main challenges Costa Vida faces is the fierce competition for customers as well as employees. “You’d be surprised how much of a difference having good employees in all areas of the business makes,” commented Nathan.

“For the fast-casual food industry,” remarked Nathan, “you are dependent upon your people. If you don’t treat your people well, they won’t treat your customers well. If your customers aren’t treated well, you have no business.” For months, Nathan agonized over how he could develop a competitive compensation plan that matched the objectives of the organization, but that fell in line with the tight budget of each individually owned franchise unit. He stated, “We, of course, leave the final compensation decision to the franchise owner, but we do all we can to educate and persuade our franchisees to be competitive and fair. In the long run, this is how they can maintain a superior level of customer satisfaction.”

Nathan pointed out that a strong benchmark for them has been In-N-Out Burger. In-N-Out started in California and is known for its great compensation package. They start out all their new “associates” (aka employees) at a minimum of $10 an hour. They also offer flexible schedules to accommodate school and other activities, paid vacation, free meals, and a 401k retirement plan. For full-time associates they provide medical, dental, vision, life, and travel insurance coverage. Their reason for paying so high is based on a strategy that lower turnover and more committed workers will lead to better service. “What In-N-Out does for their employees is truly amazing,” commented Nathan. “We often see employees moving from one fast-food chain to another, but we rarely see employees coming from In-N-Out.”

Nathan had a tough challenge ahead in trying to convince his franchise owners and managers to think more strategically about their pay systems. He needed to help them realize that paying wages and offering other compensation benefits that were better than their competitors may mean lower profit margins up front, but that the returns would be greater in the long run. He also needed to offer evidence to show that this was not just about being fair, but it was about being strategic. The restaurant business is a fast and fierce industry and companies come and go all the time. What was it going to take for Costa Vida to stay for the long haul?

Questions

1. Why is it important for pay to be externally fair?
2. Why is it important for pay to be internally fair?
3. What should Costa Vida’s compensation strategy look like? Hint: What are the company objectives and how can employee pay help to achieve those objectives?
4. What should the pay structure look like? What pay mix would you recommend?
5. How should Nathan communicate a new compensation strategy to his franchisee owners and managers?
6. What effect will paying higher wages have on Costa Vida in the short term? What effect will it have in the long term? Explain.

i. Brent D. Ryan (2011). Reading Through a Plan, Journal of the American Planning Association, 77:4, 309-327

ii. Willian C. Baer (1997). General Plan Evaluation Criteria: An approach to making better plans.

1. Plans are read so that they can be interpreted beyond their plain sense. Provide a detailed account of three ways of reading through a plan.

2. Briefly explain the various plan evaluation criteria developed by Baer.

3. How do the various plan evaluation criteria developed by Baer relate to the different ways of reading a plan?

Week 4 – B D Ryan – Reading through a plan.pdf

Week 4 – Baer – Plan Evaluation.pdf

https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-… – Chapter 5