Sunday, October 13, 2019

Violence In America :: essays research papers

Violence in America Violence in America’s society is definitely a major problem. This problem can be traced back as far as fetal development. It seems that in most cases of bad treatment, the families come from poverty or bad neighborhood areas. The whole main purpose of this speaker was to develop a good understanding on why most of the violent crimes occur in today’s hurting society. It is not rocket science to realize that most angry violent acts are due to a disturbed child or individual that lacked attention, love or care. Violence is not a new problem, scientists are just finding out new facts about how it starts and how it can be prevented. The early developmental stages of babies is key to starting a good life long learning experience. This is the certain time in which their brains are really trying to make progress and grow. Babies need that love and sense of closeness to obtain a healthy start. Obviously mothers who smoke, drink or do drugs while pregnant can cause serious health problems to their fetus. Also when they are young most of the time these problems persist and do not get any better. This causes children to have the chance to obtain the same lifestyles as of the parents. Another instance that can hurt a child’s well being is when they are real little around the ages of two to about six. Kids at this age need to be taught and especially loved. When children are neglected or left they do not get the support that they truly need to keep the growing process up to date. This is definitely one reason that kids are committing crimes at younger ages. If people feel that they are responsible enough to have babies, they should at least take the time to help them have good lifestyles. We all know that kids for the most part are mean and form little cliques and this is a major reason that kids are committing crimes. They feel that if they can’t get attention the way that is right, they will get it almost any way they can. It also ties back the kids early childhood. A lack of love and understanding at young ages causes some children to not know how to interact with other kids. On the same token they can be made fun of daily causing them to resent the world and not have any cares. Violence In America :: essays research papers Violence in America Violence in America’s society is definitely a major problem. This problem can be traced back as far as fetal development. It seems that in most cases of bad treatment, the families come from poverty or bad neighborhood areas. The whole main purpose of this speaker was to develop a good understanding on why most of the violent crimes occur in today’s hurting society. It is not rocket science to realize that most angry violent acts are due to a disturbed child or individual that lacked attention, love or care. Violence is not a new problem, scientists are just finding out new facts about how it starts and how it can be prevented. The early developmental stages of babies is key to starting a good life long learning experience. This is the certain time in which their brains are really trying to make progress and grow. Babies need that love and sense of closeness to obtain a healthy start. Obviously mothers who smoke, drink or do drugs while pregnant can cause serious health problems to their fetus. Also when they are young most of the time these problems persist and do not get any better. This causes children to have the chance to obtain the same lifestyles as of the parents. Another instance that can hurt a child’s well being is when they are real little around the ages of two to about six. Kids at this age need to be taught and especially loved. When children are neglected or left they do not get the support that they truly need to keep the growing process up to date. This is definitely one reason that kids are committing crimes at younger ages. If people feel that they are responsible enough to have babies, they should at least take the time to help them have good lifestyles. We all know that kids for the most part are mean and form little cliques and this is a major reason that kids are committing crimes. They feel that if they can’t get attention the way that is right, they will get it almost any way they can. It also ties back the kids early childhood. A lack of love and understanding at young ages causes some children to not know how to interact with other kids. On the same token they can be made fun of daily causing them to resent the world and not have any cares.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

College Radio Struggles to be Heard :: School Entertainment Essays

College Radio Struggles to be Heard â€Å"Ten watts of fury,† screams current WBCN nighttime deejay Deek, as he sits in his Boylston street studio. Ten watts, which is low by today’s radio standards, certainly doesn’t describe the Infinity-owned rock station that hands him his bi-weekly paycheck. However, it does describe the place where he, along with so many other deejays, got their start on the road to a professional radio career -- college radio. Less than two miles away from WBCN stands the center of Deek’s on-air jokes. â€Å"Ten watts of fury,† WRBB, is Northeastern’s student and community radio station. The community half of that description is often left out, but it clearly shouldn’t be. College radio has always been an outlet for students to learn about industry, while also using it as a tool to voice their opinion. â€Å"It’s a chance to vent, plain and simple,† said Evan â€Å"Slippy† Schneider, a WRBB deejay. â€Å"Where else can college kids speak to large crowds and (whine) and moan about the runarounds NU gives us?† The large crowds Schneider speaks of don’t accurately reflect the typical college radio audience. â€Å"We realize there are only so many people you can reach with a two-mile signal,† said current WRBB Station manager Kristen Aldrich. "That’s why we make a conscious effort to involve the community.† With increasing restrictions in rules and regulations of college stations, any type of involvement of outside university members would seen beneficial. â€Å"I think we’re one of the few stations who allow ‘community members’ to have their own show,† says Aldrich. â€Å"It’s great to get on-air personalities with a different perspective. Another reason to listen to WRBB.† The Boston radio scene has changed a great deal since WRBB’s inception in 1968. Amid all of the corporate turnover and company buyouts, college radio in Boston is often left out of the important radio history of the ninth-largest media market in the country. Like any medium, there have been numerous changes to the sound of Boston radio over the years. According to some, the digital revolution, involving modern technology, has become the largest change the radio industry has had to deal with. As difficult as it may be for stations to adjust to these changes, it is even harder for college stations. For years lack of funding and state-of-the-art equipment has become the largest obstacle for college stations. Recently the state of college radio has been influx due to programming and copyright issues that have affected the sound of local programming.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Mary Shelley present Frankenstein Essay

‘Frankenstein’ was written in 1812 by a woman called Mary Shelley, at the age of 19, this shows that she is very intelligent because to write such a novel with so much understanding at a very young age shows that she was a dedicated female author who studied very hard. At first when I heard of the novel ‘Frankenstein’ I straight away thought without any doubt that it was a man who wrote this novel, because firstly it was a horror story so that instantly clicked in my mind to think that it was a man but I was very shocked to find out that the author of the novel was actually a women. This seemed very unusual to me because firstly at that time female authors were less well thought of than male authors and also even if female writers wrote books you would expect them to be all flowery and cosy type but for a women to write a novel with such imagination, creativity and devilish thoughts seemed very unusual with the basic fact that she was a women. This again showed that she was very intelligent. She also didn’t put her name on the book for 13 years, this was because of the fact that mentioned earlier about female writers being less thought of than male writers. I believe that she done this because during that time there might have been a lot of sexism and she believed that if she put her name on the book than a lot of people may not have bought it because she was a female and when she did put her name on the book I am sure that a lot of people were shocked to hear that it was written by a women. She probably played a vital part in raising the confidence of female writers and broke the deadlock for all female authors. The novel was about a young ambitious scientist who is keen to prove that he can create life. The scientists name is Victor Frankenstein. He accomplished his mission but all his dreams about this being were crushed when he realised what a monster he had created. Frankenstein ran away from the monster and left it to a life of loneliness. The monster learned how to talk and read and soon tracked down Victor Frankenstein. After being treated badly by humans the monster had one thing on his mind which was revenge. The novel starts with a letter from Robert Walton an explorer, to his sister. He is preparing to go on his way to his desired destination the North Pole. He is a very ambitious man and he wants to go on this expedition because no man has ever set foot there. Walton writes: â€Å"Never before imprinted by the foot of man† Walton also wants to be the man who discovers the route to the North Pole because at that time there was no route to this area of the world. This shows how desperate he was to go there and his ambitiousness. He trained his body for the expedition and Walton tells us: ‘I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst and of want of sleep’ This proves his determination and how serious he was about his venture.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Contribution of Bette Davis as an Actor and Her Role as a Female in her Time Period Essay

Larger than life she was – with a career spanning six decades, including Broadway, film and the small screen; having made more than a hundred films and receiving ten Best Actress nominations and being the first woman to be honored with the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award– and equally larger in death, was Bette Davis. Fearless, ambitious and daring, her strong-mindedness won her a few friends and many enemies in her lifetime, but continues to draw audiences to her appeal and aspiring actresses everywhere look up to her as a role-model. In this report, I will focus on Bette Davis’s contribution as an actor and her role as a female icon of her time. Contribution of Bette Davis as an Actor and Her Role as a Female in her Time Period One of the most talented and the biggest stars of the thirties was Bette Davis. Her strong personality off-screen often found its way into the characters she played. She made her wide range of roles realistic, from a sixty-year old queen in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex to a young beauty in Jezebal. Olivia de Havilland called Bette Davis â€Å"a basically benevolent volcano. † Jack Warner described her as â€Å"an explosive little girl with a sharp left. † Bette ruffled a few feathers in her career, but looking back, any trouble she caused was usually for the betterment of her films rather than from her merely playing the prima donna. Off-screen, her life was filled with as much drama as any role she played, having weathered a broken home, four failed marriages, literary revenge brought forth by her daughter and frail health in her later years (Bubbeo, 2001, p. 43 – 51). In this report, I will highlight the important contributions as well as this screen diva’s achievements in a male-dominated industry, and how her success paved the way for many other women, who emulated her example to carve a niche for themselves in the traditionally male-dominant world. Bette Davis once joked that her epitaph should read, â€Å"Here lies Ruth Elizabeth Davis – She did it the hard way† (Ware, 1993, p. 180). An actress first and a star second – and in no way a conventional beauty- she invented a jagged, sincere, many-sided style of film acting that continues to reverberate through the generations. At her best, Bette Davis put complicated, conflicted women on the screen at a time when most screen characters were still melodramatic simplifications. A small (five foot three) blue-eyed blonde, she was unfazed by the cant of her era that considered screen acting inferior to acting on the stage. An actress first and a star second – and in no way a conventional beauty- she invented a jagged, sincere, many-sided style of film acting that continues to reverberate through the generations. Born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Lowell, Massachusetts, she was the elder of two daughters of Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent lawyer from a Yankee family of long standing, and Ruth Favor, a homemaker of French Huguenot descent. The couple, incompatible almost from the start, divorced when Bette was ten. As a result, she and her younger sister, Barbara, were educated in a patchwork of public and private schools in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts- wherever Ruth Davis could find work as a professional photographer. Popular and active as child, Betty changed the spelling of her name in imitation of Balzac’s La Cousine Bette and finally graduated from Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, in 1926. Broadway By 1927, a nineteen-year-old Bette Davis was attending the John Murray Anderson-Robert Milton School of Theatre and Dance in New York. Bette was temperamentally restless and eager to earn a living. She left school before her first year was over, rushing headlong into professional engagements on and off Broadway on tour, and with numerous stock companies, among them George Cukor’s repertory theatre in Rochester, New York. Bette Davis in Hollywood After opening on Broadway in Solid South (1930), she received her first offer from a Hollywood film studio. With a few exceptions – most notably Cabin in the Cotton (1932) – Davis’s first years in Hollywood produced nothing extraordinary. Then, in 1934, after a long campaign, she convinced Warners to loan her to RKO, an American film production and distribution company, to play the sociopathic cockney Mildred Rogers in their adaption of Of Human Bondage, and got her first star-making notices. The next year she won an Oscar for Best Actress for Dangerous (1935), in which she played an alcoholic actress patterned on the Broadway legend Jeanne Eagels. Contribution to the Media Industry In 1936, Warners had to sue to prevent her from violating her contract and making a film in England for the Italian producer Ludovico Toeplitz. When she returned to Warners, however, she was treated generously, starring next in Jezebel (1938), a finely wrought study of the anger and ambivalence of a southern belle. The performance brought her a second Oscar, as best actress of 1938. The next year she played the role that she sometimes referred to as her favorite, Judith Traherne, the mortally ill heroine of Dark Victory (1939). After Dark Victory, Bette Davis starred in an unbroken string of sixteen box-office successes, playing everything from genteel novelists to murderous housewives to self-hateful spinsters to a sexagenarian Queen Elizabeth I. her most memorable films from this remarkably productive period included The Old Maid (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), Watch on the Rhine (1943), and The Corn is Green (1945). In 1932, she married her high school sweetheart, Harmon Nelson, a freelance musician. But the marriage was as rocky as her parent’s and in 1938 ended in a divorce. She married again in 1940, to New England hotelier Arthur Farnsworth; he died in 1943 from a skull fracture. The war years were Bette Davis’s prime, and not only on screen. In 1941 she became the first woman president of the Academy of Motion picture of Arts and Sciences, quitting when she realized she was little more than a figurehead. In 1942, with John Garfield, she co-founded the Hollywood Canteen. Totally committed to her role as the organizations president, she danced, ate, and clowned almost nightly with the servicemen passing through Los Angeles. After the war, her career began to sink, with terrible films such as Beyond the Forest (1949). Released from her Warners contract, she freelanced. At 42, she believed her career was over, until her performance in All about Eve (1950), where she played an explosive theatrical prima donna who was terrified of aging. For her performance as Margo Channing, New York Film Critics named her the year’s best actress. In 1962, no longer a box-office name, she took a role in an offbeat, low-budget psychological thriller, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , poignantly playing a homicidally demented middle aged former child star. The film was a megahit, brining Davis her tenth, and, final, Oscar nomination. In the new era of made for TV films and miniseries, worthwhile roles came to her, including a part as a pathetic recluse in Strangers (1979), which won her a best actress Emmy. In 1977, the American Film Institute bestowed on her its Life Achievement Award; she was the first woman to receive it. Almost more prominent than she had been in her zenith, she now found herself hailed by a new generation of film critics who were seeing her classic films for the first time, and new stars praised her warmly as an influence and a role model. In 1983, she suffered breast cancer and a stroke. Despite permanent damage to her speech and gait, she continued making films. In 1985, Davis was shattered when her daughter B. D. Hyman, published a contemptuous family memoir, My Mother’s Keeper. She feebly tried to respond in her own book, This ‘n That (1987). Then looking dismayingly frail, she played a scrappy octogenarian in The Whales of August (1987), a sensitive study of old age. She died of cancer in Paris in 1989, having gone to Europe to accept an award at a Spanish film festival. Eighty-one at the time of her death, she left behind on film a brilliant constellation of contrasting and vibrant figures, the legacy of sixty years of hard work and dedication to what she liked to call total realism on the screen. Bette Davis- the Independent Female Bette Davis, outspoken, direct, and totally concentrated on her career, was a shrewd businessperson who expected good scripts and demanded the best in production support and working conditions. She was one of the few actresses able to take on unsympathetic roles, such as Mildred in Of Human Bondage (1934) and Julie Marsden in Jezebel (1938) (Ware, 1993, p. 180). Being a fighter, Bette was no stranger to bad times, and she knew how to keep going even when everything seemed to be against her. In 1962, when work became scarce, Bette took out an advertisement in Variety and other trade papers: MOTHER OF THREE – 10, 11 & 15 – DIVORCEE. AMERICAN. THIRTY YEARS EXPERIENCE AS AN ACTRESS IN MOTION PICTURES. MOBILE STILL AND MORE AFFABLE THAN RUMOR WOULD HAVE IT. WANTS STEADY EMPLOYMENT IN HOLLYWOOD (HAS HAD BROADWAY. ) Bette Davis, c/o Martin Baum, G. A. C. REFERENCES UPON REQUEST This was Davis at her best, and demonstrated her no-nonsense approach to her career and life in general. She knew that only she could improve her situation; no one else would do it for her (Moseley, 1989, p. 148). She was an over-achiever and the advertisement is who she was : bold, fearless and focused – some would say obsessed about her career. She wouldn’t take no for an answer and got her way more often than not in the ruthless world of Hollywood politics. She was a success story, due to her single-minded purpose of succeeding. The highly competitive Davis explained, â€Å"I always had the will to win. I felt it baking cookies. They had to be the best cookies anyone baked. † She was demanding, temperamental, and self-indulgent. By the early 1940s, she had become the First Land of the Screen (Parish, 2007, p. 49). Bette Davis married four times, but claimed her matrimonial choices had been ill-considered because her mates were unable to stand up to her or, as an alternative, congenially sank into the background as Mr. Davis. Ironically, while she failed on the matrimonial front, she found great success as a woman in a man’s world. She is thought to be the first- and finest- presentation of an independent woman on celluloid (Brabazon, 2002, p. 85). ? Conclusion Contemporary feminism needs a Bette Davis, a firebrand woman who is tough, resolute, and passionate. She worked hard, thought deeply and spoke out while post-war masculinity congealed around her (Brabazon, 2002, p. 85). Almost to the day she died, Bette never stopped working. Work was her life and her passion and she embraced it like no other actress before or since. In 1972 Bette said, â€Å"I’ll never make the mistake of saying I’m retired. You do that and you’re finished. You just have to make sure you play older and older parts. Hell, I could do a million of those character roles. But I’m stubborn about playing the lead. I’d like to go out with my name above the title. † She kept her word. Works Cited Brabazon, T. (2002). Ladies who Lunge: Celebrating Difficult Women. Sydney: UNSW Press. Bubbeo, D. (2001). The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies : with Filmographies for each. Jefferson, N. C. : McFarland. Moseley, R. (1989). Bette Davis: An Intimate Memoir. New York: D. I. Fine. Parish, J. R. (2007). The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America’s Film and TV idols. Hoboken, N. J. : John Wiley. Ware, S. , & Braukman, S. L. (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press. Ware, S. (1993). Still Missing: Amelia Earhart and the Search for Modern Feminism. New York: W. W. Norton.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

The Strengths of Abs-Cbn

ABS-CBN’s strength in content creation allow them to provide more value to their advertisers by way of innovative creative executions across free TV, cable TV, radio, print and the new media platforms (mobile and the Internet). Licensing and branded entertainment, including brand and product integration in our programming, also enhance their airtime revenue potential while GMA Advertisers had lessened spending because of uncertainties in advanced economies but the worst is possibly over, Felipe L. Gozon, chair and chief executive officer for GMA Network, said. ABS-CBN continues to be the number one TV station in June with an average  national  audience  share  of 37% or five points higher than GMA’s 32%, according to recent data from Kantar Media. The Kapamilya Network’s primetime teleserye â€Å"Mara Clara,† which Filipinos followed religiously through the months until its intensefinale  last month, topped the list of most watched regular programs for June with an average rating of 38. 6% Out of the top 15 currently running programs, ABS-CBN took eleven spots and secured the top eight slots. They are â€Å"100 Days to Heaven† (34%), â€Å"Maalaala Mo Kaya† (30. %), â€Å"Guns and Roses† (28. 7%), â€Å"Pilipinas Got Talent† (28. 4%), â€Å"TV Patrol (27. 5%), â€Å"Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin† (26. 6%), â€Å"Rated K† (23. 8%), and â€Å"Wansapanataym† (23%). Joining them in top 15 are â€Å"Gandang Gabi Vice† (20. 1%), â€Å"Goin Bulilit† (20%), a nd â€Å"Mula sa Puso† (18. 8%). Therefore, as consultants, we would recommend you to invest in ABS-CBN since the company has more advertisers compared to their leading competitor, GMA Network. Also, ABS-CBN has more audience shares than GMA. Furthermore, eleven spots were taken by ABS-CBN and the eight slots secured.

The Evolution of Trade Unions in the 1870s to 1880s Research Paper

The Evolution of Trade Unions in the 1870s to 1880s - Research Paper Example This period was marked by economic growth, and there were many job opportunities for both skilled workers in the many industries that were being set up. Chicago and Philadelphia were a favorite with the immigrants, and during these times, there was an influx of unskilled workers in the regions hoping to get employment (Reynolds, 2009). However, the economy gains did not extend to the unskilled workers, and this was a rough time as there were no systems to cater to their needs. Laborers were exploited and survived on low wages and poor working conditions (Skurzynski, 2008). Most of them lived in slums and had to work for long hours in dangerous conditions and ended up having miserable lives in the United States. There were many unskilled workers looking for employment, and the industry managers took advantage of the large pool of workers. In the early 1870s, the idea of trade unions was not popular yet. Workers did realize there was a need to join them, but most memberships stayed bel ow one percent of those employed. In this period, there had been no successful trade union and most of them collapsed even before they had made any major improvements. Most of them were known for their extreme antics to gain what they wanted, and they did not have a good status with employers and consumers. Some even went to the extent of crime, violence or even threatening and intimidating workers to join or employers to meet their demands (Skurzynski, 2008). By the end of the 1870s things began to look up. The civil war era was coming to an end, and the American economy was on its way to a revival. With the economy showing signs of recovery, there was hope for trade unionists to pick up the pieces and revive the laborers movement. The environment was conducive, and there was an influx of immigrants seeking employment in America who were willing to join the trade unions. With improved memberships, there were more voices to push their agenda, and this led to political ambitions. Thi s saw the rise of the Workingmen’s party of the United States, which later changed its name to the Socialist Labor party due to its success and popularity among immigrants (Richard, 1998). The late 1870s through to 1880s is the period when trade unions began to thrive. Though it was a period characterized by failing unions due to opportunism and lack of cohesiveness, they found their foothold. By holding peaceful boycotts laborers were able to push for better wages. It was a start that had many obstacles, but it as a dawn of a new era, a progressive era and change was inevitable. Laborers were becoming increasingly aware of their rights and trade unions were their refuge. However, It was a trying time too since most trade unions were not popular. Trade unions in the 1870s and 1880s were mainly craft unions. These are unions where people with similar skills such as carpentry, construction and rail workers came together to form a union. These were representation of workers in a single occupation who found it much easier to demand for better wages as a united front (Skurzynski, 2008). A trade union’s main aim is to ensure fair working conditions for its members. It seeks to address members’ problems by negotiating with employers on their behalf. This was an era of change and widespread awareness that there was the need to come together and put up a strong face to push for

Monday, October 7, 2019

Norse Religion and Mythology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Norse Religion and Mythology - Research Paper Example This mythology is the study of the Germanic myths (Iceland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands and Denmark). The Norse societies later adopted Christianity because the Norse religion was not as strong as other religions. Lindow says that this mythology developed slowly over the years and the importance of different heroes and gods kept varying with time and place (45). They worshipped different gods and did not have any proper organization, as religion was not institutionalized. The absence of priests and temples meant that religion was part of their ordinary lives as they could worship from anywhere they wanted. The Gods and Goddesses of the Norse Religion The Gods and Goddesses of the Norse religion were divided into two major categories: the Vanir and Aesir. The former were referred to as the Earth Gods and symbolized fecundity, riches and fertility. They controlled the earth and the sea and had to be consulted on everything that falls in this category. The most important gods in this category are Freyr, Freya, Njord and Aegir. The Aesir on the other hand were the gods of the sky and they symbolized wisdom, power and war. They lived for relatively long periods and were very powerful but mortal. People could therefore pray to different gods when faced with different situations and their prayers were answered and their wishes granted. Odin Odin is the son of Bor and Bestla; he is the father and leader of all the other gods and men. He is the king of Asgard (the great citadel of the gods) and the ruler of Aersir. He had magical skills and could travel to all the nine Nordic worlds to exert his powers. He had two ravens, Huginn and Munin that could traverse the world on daily basis and inform him on everything that is happening in Midgard. He has magic, wit and wisdom that help him in making key decisions. He is also the lord of knowledge, war & death and could travel the world without being noticed. He rides on an eight legged horse during battles and has unrivalled military intelligence (O’Donoghue 24). He only has one eye because he traded the other one for wisdom. He is married to Frigg but occasionally flirts with Rind and was the god of poetic inspiration. Together they have three children namely, Thor, Baldur and Vali. He interfered a lot in the affairs of men and was believed to be the cause of the occurrence of many misunderstandings between people. These misunderstandings often led to war as men differed on different issues that were of strategic importance to all parties. Therefore, they turned to him for prayers during wars so he could help them win and humiliate their enemies (Lindow 78). He won his wars mostly through his cunning ways and not force because his wits, guile and stratagem were unequalled on earth. This made him to be a very important member of the god family and could be consulted by kings and other leaders for help before they could venture into any war. His willingness to accept both pain and loss made him gain advantage over men and other gods as he could venture into anything he was interested in. For example, he had to part with one of his eyes in order to be allowed to drink from the Urd. This shows that he could offer to do anything in order to get what he wanted in order to gain advantage over all the others. Through this, he was able to gain wisdom, and became a lot wiser than the others, making him to outwit them with ease (Skye 14). Everything he did was therefore for a purpose and with specific objectives that were of strategic importance to him as a god. He gained knowledge through pain as he was forced to hung and be