Kort Linden

Survival as Social versus Individual: An In-depth Look at the Drowned and the Saved Levi says the Lager was a “gigantic social experiment” A social experiment by definition says that it deals with how people relate to each other. One question that may be asked about this social experiment is whether survival in an extreme environments is dependant physiologically on the support of others. Levi answers the question in the negative. He says that survival is a “human animal struggle” and points to survival as an instinct which implies that it is intrinsic of human beings and not dependant on others. In other words, we do not need others to still desire to live on. Levi goes on to say that this instinct does not make humans bad by nature but that extreme environments take away our “social habits” He goes on to say that the saved are defined as people who have, and give up everything humane or social, for absolute power. The drowned are simply those who cannot survive and go to the Gas chamber. Interestingly, he quotes a biblical verse, “to he that has will be given; to he that has not will be taken away.” Levi says that the paths to salvation are “many, difficult, and improvable” , but I would say that all require the person to give up their social nature (Levi 78). Even though he says that the intrinsic survival instinct does not make human beings bad by nature, Levi talks with disgust about the saved or the survivors. The first person Levi talks about turns in his stealing companion to gain favor in the eyes of the Germans The second person engineer L., is thought to have survived, but Levi thinks that he is “still living a life of the determined JOYLESS dominator” –he says this with a tone of almost hatred The fourth person, Elias, is nothing but a dirty, insane thief. He says that all roads that lead to salvation end in “…insanity and deceitful bestiality” What Levi never expressly says is that he is one of the saved, I don’t know if he considered himself one or not. I believe he was one. After all, he says “all other roads are dead ends” (Levi 85). Do you think Levi was one of the terrible saved or the drowned that merely beat the odds by chance and not by “…insanity and deceitful bestiality”? After all Levi did supposedly commit suicide eventually. So, the leading question is, can the saved ever become un-saved? Can those who lost their humanity, reverted to that survival instinct, ever assimilate and become human-social again? Copy Right Kort Linden

Kort Linden Professor Rohit Chopra History and Society Foundation Section 1 Take-home Final Essay 5/02/08 Social Narrative & a Life Worth Living What is a narrative? The Oxford English dictionary defines a narrative as, “An account of a series of events, facts, etc., given in order and with the establishing of connections between them; a narration, a story, an account”. Essentially, a narrative is the act of storytelling. Storytelling seems simple, self explanatory. A story is an event which may or may not of happened and to tell it is simply that. However, it seems that story telling has a much more important significance than that. To tell a story is to be human, the very definition of being social. If storytelling is an important part of being human and of establishing a social identity, then it could even be said that story telling is a major part of what makes life worth living. But, it is not enough just to tell your story. It is the act of storytelling to a group, a trusted social cluster, which makes a difficult existence (the human condition) bearable, and when this need is not filled, life becomes not only unbearable but unlivable. Life is full of hardships, injustices, and trauma. This is an unavoidable truth. Most of the greatest stories ever told originate from this truth. This is not just a coincidence; it is a necessity of the human condition. The use of narrative has been prevalent throughout history from the Bible to Homer’s works to Harry Potter. This is because the need to tell the story is an integral part of what it takes to live a psychologically sound existence. One author and psychiatrist, Jonathan Shay, says, “There is a growing consensus among people who treat PTSD that any trauma, be it loss family in a natural disaster, rape, exposure to…will have a longer-lasting and more serious consequences if there has been no opportunity to talk about the traumatic event..or to connect(ed) [with] others who will not let one go through it alone.” (Shay 55). This is true across life experiences, not just the traumatic ones. Whether a life is one of extreme injustice and torture or a mundane existence, everyone needs to tell their story. In addition, in order to tell a story, there must be an audience. Not just any audience but one which you know and can relate to. Three narratives which I have recently studied, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi provide an illuminating and cumulative display of the absolute necessity of narrative in the struggle of existence. When one thinks of the struggle to survive possibly no continent comes more to the forefront of the mind than Africa. The book, Things Fall Apart is set in Africa and deals with its colonization. Specifically, it is the story of one man’s struggle to deal the traditions of his tribe, its colonization and his resulting immoral actions and, in contrast, his socially unsupported actions. The main character, Okonkwo, due to pressure from his tribe, kills a child, Ikemafuna, who he was emotionally attached to. Okonkwo was very close to him, and Ikemefuna even called Okonkwo “father” (Achebe 57). Okonkwo, because of his perceived need for masculinity and tribal traditions, never relates his true feelings and narrative to the people he is close to. Consequentially, when life turns everything he knows on its head, he is unable to deal with the extreme changes in his community. He puts every ounce of will into rallying his tribe against the colonizers, but they refuse to listen to him. This act of rejection by his trusted social network and the suppressed traumatic story of his killing of Ikamafuna culminated in the ultimate inability to deal with life, suicide. This is a prime example of what happens when life is not shared with others, especially a traumatic life. Again, as you can see, the necessity of narrative and group story sharing is intrinsic to humanity especially when life is unjust. Nothing puts humanities raw injustice under a microscope like war. Books about war have been extensively studied and valued for their ability to reveal what makes us tick. A classic book by one World War One veteran, All Quiet on the Western Front, exemplifies the call for group narrative exchange. All Quiet on the Western Front, is a moving narrative about a soldier and his friends extreme existence in the trenches of the western front. Paul, the main character is just a boy of eighteen when he and his friends go to war. He says, “We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.” (Remarque 88). Throughout the war, these young men killed and were killed. People where mutilated and life’s creature comforts were non-existent. Paul repeatedly lost his closest friends, one by one. But, despite all of this, Paul continues the struggle to survive-day in and day out. The question to be begged is, why would someone want to carry on living in this hell? The answer is that it was a shared struggle. Each of these men shared this experience and thus thwarting the complete loss of the will to live. The author of Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay, suggests that, “Peer recognition…allows survivors of trauma to grasp that they are not freaks and ‘do not have to go it alone,’…” (Shay 192). Paul is a survivor, but in the end of the novel, he loses all of his friends, the very people with whom he had shared his hardship. Ultimately, Paul, left without his supporting social net, gives up on life. When he dies Remarque says, “He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping…; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.” (295). How sad to think that this young man whose life had hardly begun had ended without a desire to even continue breathing. But, without the ability to tell his story to the only people who could truly understand, life ceased to be worthwhile. At some point, most people would agree, living conditions are so bad that life ceases to be worthwhile. But, the survivors of extreme environments, like concentration camps, would maybe argue something different. One famous author and survivor who detailed the life in and the atrocities of World War Two concentration camps is Primo Levi. Levi wrote the book, Survival in Auschwitz, which is a narrative of his personal struggle for survival through one of the most horrific of living conditions in all of history. Levi says that in the camp all men were living a terrible existence, but he says that there were two categories of men in the camp, “the drowned and the saved” (76). The saved are the people who give up on the recognition of others as human beings and focus solely on their own survival. He speculates that these men, who give up completely on the social nature of life, will survive, but will live an empty life of, “insanity and deceitful bestiality.” (Levi 85). Ironically, Levi is a survivor and by his own logic (though he does not admit it) he is one of the drowned. He is a person who does not share his narrative with the social group because he has given up on the need to share a social nature in order to “survive” even if that survival is a marginal existence. By the logic of the need to share and ones complete loss of others who have experienced similar torture, Levi’s will to live should have been exterminated after “surviving” Auschwitz, and in fact, in mine and other notable historian’s opinions, it was. Levi, years after Auschwitz and writing his book, fell off his balcony. It is arguable whether or not he did commit suicide, but Eli Weisel, I have heard (though I cannot cite it), said that Levi had lost his humanity in Auschwitz. Levi could not truly share his experience because he, like Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front, had lost his comrades in the act of surviving. Therefore, Levi life ceased to exist, if not in the physical sense, then in the humanly psychological and social context. It is deeply disturbing to imagine that life could cease to be worth living in one’s own mind. Life as we know it is a deeply intricate network of people and experiences. It is the need to share one’s own life narrative with people who can comprehend it. This need is indivisible from the desire to live. The three narratives examined in this essay all display extreme circumstances with which it is difficult to even begin to understand, but the commonality of struggle among lives is something everyone shares and needs to share. People who have no social attachments or networks are inevitably unable share their stories end up either giving up on life or become deeply disturbed. It is life’s great fortune that this is not necessarily a permanent condition. We are social creatures, and in this vast and varied world there are always people with whom we share experiences; amazingly, to fill this un-doubtable need, all we must do is find them and simply share stories. 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I have always strove to be at the top of my class not because this was hugely important to me but because the top ten percent of students receive about ninety percent of academic and non-academic benefit in life. This ten percent rule is something I apply to most areas of my life. That is way I came to Babson, not only because I loved entrepreneurship but because I knew I wanted to be among the top ten percent of business students nationwide. Coming to Babson, I thought that I might be overwhelmed by the intellectual giants here. However, I was inspired to work even harder, and I soon learned that I could thrive like never before among peers of this caliber. Likewise, I hope to be among the world’s best students at LSE. I hope to learn from them, to thrive amongst our collective drive and talents. I have since transferred this inspiration into my entrepreneurial ventures. In fact, my career goals have always and will always focus around entrepreneurship. In order to be a great entrepreneur, I will need to understand many different cultures. In today’s world, I do not think it is possible to perform at the highest entrepreneurial level or even be a well rounded person without understanding the international cultures which dominate the contemporary business landscape. The London School of Economics, my first choice for study abroad, is nearly unparalleled in the diversity and size of its international student base. Utilizing this resource, I want to learn the way business is conducted in England and the European Union. In addition, like at Babson, I look forward to making friends from all over the world so that I may learn something of their business cultures too. In short, through my time abroad, I hope to gain the knowledge and experience to conduct business globally by learning not only from the professors but from the people around me. It is said that the people around you are the most valuable thing we have in life. The people around us shape us in ways that money could never hope to. Once we expand the way in which we think, behave, and live – going back to ignorance is very difficult. Going to Babson has expanded my consciousness of the world in ways I could not have imagined just two years ago. Exposure to these people, of vastly different backgrounds, has allowed me to live a fuller and more successful life. I have since had opportunities and gone down paths completely foreign and eye opening. I hope to continue this experience abroad, in a place that is abroad itself to the majority of its students-LSE. With a treasure trove of human and academic resources, I hope to make many international friends as well as learn of their cultures. Additionally, I hope to sharpen my ten college units of Spanish and finally become fluent regardless of whether I am accepted to LSE or ESAD. Whether I am learning in the class room, from those around me, or from the culture I will be immersed in, I want to make the most of this experience. Find Victorville homes for sale.

Kort Linden Business Law Professor Craig P. Ehrlich 10/29/07 Law and the Children Born of Technology Imagine a husband and wife, and the husband is dying of leukemia. Before undergoing radiation and subsequently dying, he preserves sperm for later use. After his death, the wife proceeds to have a child through artificial insemination. We call this posthumous conception. When the wife applies for social security survivor benefits for her child, she is denied. This is a true life scenario, and when the rights of posthumously conceived children arise, the courts have an interesting legal problem. Currently, most state and national statutes and legislation are inadequate to deal with these issues which just a few decades ago were unforeseeable. In order to better understand the entitlements and rights of posthumously conceived children, we are going to take a look at a four legal cases that have set precedents in the area. Since only six states currently have statutes for posthumously conceived children, we have to consider what the courts look at to resolve such issues especially when there is no legislation in place. Finally, we will consider the legislative actions being taken to deal with the rights of posthumously conceived children. When a state looks at the rights and entitlements of posthumous children, first it looks to the laws that govern those rights. Each state has jurisdiction over how inheritance is pasted to its posthumously conceived children, and most states have their own statute regarding posthumously born children or at least intestate laws. We have to be careful to differentiate between posthumously conceived and posthumously born children. Posthumously born children are conceived before the father dies and are born after he dies. On the other hand, posthumously conceived children are conceived after the death of one or both parents through the use of cryogenically preserved sperm and/or embryos. Even though the statutes used to determine the rights of posthumously conceived children were originally written for posthumously born children, when debates over inheritance arise, courts look to these statutes to resolve the issue. The first and oldest case we are going to examine is the matter of the estate of William J. Kolacy, deceased. The plaintiff (the wife) wanted declaration that her twins are rightful heirs to their father who died intestate. The twins are residents of New Jersey, and were conceived after the death of their father. In this case the State had no statute for posthumously conceived children, but it did have one for posthumously born children. Consequently, the court ruled that the twins were rightful heirs because their father showed intent to have these children posthumously by depositing his sperm for later use, and because there was a statute for after born heirs (though not specifically for posthumously conceived children). In deciding if the current statute was relevant to the plaintiff, the court ruled simply that the New Jersey statute ( § 3B:5-8. After born heirs: An individual in gestation at a particular time is treated as living at that time if the individual lives 120 hours or more after birth.) did not bar declaring the children as heirs. Considering the fact that Kolacy did not have anything to pass on to his children, it only had relevance “upon property rights as they evolve over a period of time” (Scott 12). The New Jersey court further used a four-pronged fairness approach which was later used in a case where the statute was less clear (Woodward V. Social Security Administration). Since this approach is better explained by another case, Woodward V. Social Security Administration, I will reserve it for later explanation. Even though the State ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the real problems began when the plaintiff sought social security survivor benefits. It is important to note that the social security administration only has to follow judgments declared by state supreme courts. Kolacy’s declaration was not done in the supreme court of New Jersey. The New Jersey court said that the SSA had federal jurisdiction over the matter, though the SSA has to refer to state statutes regardless. The SSA denied the children benefits contending that they are not children of a deceased worker, even though the state court ruled they were heirs under the State’s intestate laws. The SSA did this on the grounds that the children were not living dependants of the father while he was alive. To better understand why the N.J. court declared the twins rightful heirs, let’s take a look at Woodward V. Social Security Administration. The circumstances in this case were almost exactly the same except they occurred in the State of Massachusetts. After being denied declaration of rights by the lower courts, the case eventually made it to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court. Again, the court ruled that the children were entitled to inheritance because the state statute did not specifically say that posthumous children must be in existence at the time of death. The analysis of the statute is deceptively simple and stretches the meaning especially considering that the only issue is that the statute does not differentiate between being in the womb at the time of death and being conceived after death. Also, when the statute was written, the writers were not even aware of posthumous conception. Considering what a stretch this ruling was, let’s look at the process invented in the Kolacy case that was used to construe the conclusions the court reached. The first order of business when analyzing whether or not the posthumously conceived children are heirs is to determine if they are biologically related to the surviving parent (Scott 10). Second, the decedent must have consented in writing to have posthumous conception and have shown intent to support the child after death. Third, in the absence of documentation, the surviving parent must prove that the father consented to posthumous conception and the intent to support the resulting child (10). And finally, as a catch all, the ruling cannot interfere with the “administrative goals of legislature” (10). The court’s main opinion was that children who are posthumously conceived should have the same rights as any other child, and that intestate laws are there to protect the rights and entitlements of surviving children. The only probable is that this fails to consider the rights and entitlements of children who were conceived while both parents were alive. Thus, had the surviving parent had preexisting children, the court might have ruled differently. Regardless, the court left this issue hanging, and until this problem comes to court in the future, it remains hanging. Another issue arose in a more recent case that resulted in a different verdict. Let’s considerer the case of Christine C. Eng Khabbaz, by and through her mother and next friend, Donna M. ENG v. Commissioner Social Security Administration in which there was no statute for posthumously born children. In this case, the supreme court of New Hampshire ruled that “surviving issue” as used in RSA 561:1 could not include posthumously conceived children because they would have had to have been “surviving” meaning alive at the time of death of the decedent. But, this is just taking the exact meaning of a statute which is painfully inadequate to deal with the legal issue at hand. Surly the word issue also means “all lawful lineal descendents”. But essentially, the court decided it need not apply the four pronged approach used in Woodward and Kolacy because in their view, the statute did not provide rights to posthumously conceived children. This is unfair to the decedent who died intestate because the object of intestate laws is to protect the interest of the decedent. And if one simply takes the statute at face value and does not try to construe the true aim of that statute, is that not deferring justice? The other two cases took great thought to determine the true meaning of their respective statutes. They were not just taken at face value, or “plain meaning” as the overview of this case states. In the Woodward case it was established that “[W]hether posthumously conceived genetic children may enjoy inheritance rights under the intestacy statute implicates three powerful State interests: the best interests of children, the State’s interest in the orderly administration of estates, and the reproductive rights of the genetic parents” (Broderick 1). I think the New Hampshire Supreme Court chose to set the precedent as such so that “the states interest in orderly administration of estates” would not be impeded in the future (1). As you can see, the law as it stands is inadequate to deal with the issue of posthumously conceived children. In this inconsistent legal environment, it is advised that the parents use a will. This is best illustrated in the matter of among Martin B., as Grantor, and Martin B., et al., as trustees. In this case the will did not expressly provide for posthumously conceived children, so the trustees asked the surrogate's court of New York, New York county to decide if the terms “issue” and “descendants” includes posthumously conceived children. Though the court could not determine if the grantor had intended to include children who were born after the grantor’s son’s death, the court ruled that since the grantor intended for inheritance to go to all members of his bloodline the child in question was entitled to his share. Obviously a will is the best provision to take when the possibility of posthumous conception may occur, but not everyone can plan ahead. For instance, in one case, a woman removed the semen from her husband’s body the day after his death and proceeded with artificial insemination. Or, consider the case when a husband and wife both died on a plane, and someone had a baby using their embryos and sperm. With so many possibilities in the field of posthumous conception, planning cannot always be foreseen as a need. Consequently, legislation needs to be in place to deal with the rights of these children. Currently only six states have statutes in place. Two of these states have codified the Unified Parentage Act, which basically states that in the case of a posthumously conceived child whose parent dies intestate, the child is not a legal heir. This is an easy way of dealing with the issue, and Louisiana has taken it even further. Louisiana has expressly denied the rights of posthumously conceived children. The child has no entitlements even if the parent died with a will that provided inheritance. It is taking it too far when a state prohibits the parents right to provide for his or her child. Certainly there is a balance. I would suggest that if a parent showed intent to provide for his or her child posthumously then that child deserves his or her own share. In a world that is constantly evolving socially, economically, and technologically, the law is having a hard time keeping up. However, when a parent is inhibited from undoubtedly providing for his or her own children, hopefully legislation will soon follow. Works Cited Broderick, C.J. “Christine C. Eng Khabbaz, by and through her mother and next friend, Donna M Eng v. Commissioner, Social Security Administration” 930 A.2d 1180 Lexis Nexis Academic. 16 Oct. 2007. “In the Matter of an Application to Construe the Terms "Issue" and "Descendants" under Agreements Dated December 31, 1969, among Martin B., as Grantor, and Martin B., et al., as Trustees.” 17 Misc. 3d 198. Lexis Nexis Academic. 16 Oct. 2007. Scott, Margaret W. "A Look At the Rights and Entitlements of Posthumously Concieved Children: No Surefire Way to Tame the Reproductive Wild West." Emory Law Review 52 (2003): 1-45. Lexis Nexis Academic. 18 Oct. 2007. Stanton A.J.S.C “In the matter of the estate of William J Kolacy, deceased.” 753 A.2d 1257. Lexis Nexis Academic. 18 Oct. 2007. “Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security” 760 N.E.2d 257. Lexis Nexis Academic. 18 Oct. 2007. Copy Right Kort Linden Apple Valley Real Estate Foreclosures.

For a young person, passion can be as frivolous as becoming a track star or as grandiose as curing cancer. Either way through “passion, great passion” any young person can break the dispassionate, unmotivated mold that defines the more recent generations. For many this passion starts after high school, but I had an early start. A dominant image comes to mind when I recall my earliest passion: A small freckled faced, strawberry blond boy watching my parents feverishly tossing around one of their many business ventures. They both pause, turning to me with those parent-like indulgent smiles. My mom says, “What’s the most important rule in business Korty?” Without hesitation, I reply as I had many times before, “Buy low, sell high.” I was two years old. I’m not sure whether I was born with a passion for business or if my parents ingrained it in me, but just the thought of entrepreneurship gets me riled up. It harbors deep within me. And it has driven me to experience many early business ventures. Many great entrepreneurs started with the lemonade stand. I was no different. However, unlike most budding entrepreneurs, my home happened to be on most of Seattle’s tourist guidebooks. At the time, my parents were renting Troll Haven—a sort of estate built by an eccentric millionaire. Artist carved wooden trolls covered our property ranging from child size to a 35 foot Cyclopes carved from a single red wood. I placed my stand in the shade of this towering monster who peered down at me through his basketball sized solitary eye. Clearly I had an early understanding of strategic marketing. I was ten years old, and a seed was more than planted; it had germinated. I was hooked on entrepreneurship. It took two years before I discovered Ebay, an entrepreneur’s playground. Over the next year or so, I tested the Ebay market with everything from a snowboard (boy was that hard to ship) to motorcycle parts. It drove me to learn the ins and outs of computers, and through it I became a confident writer and communicator. Then, because of economic hardship, we moved back to where I was born, Southern California. This was a big change for a kid who spent most of his child hood on the outskirts of a large town of five hundred residents. On the other hand, my Internet ventures had let me see a larger world, and I wanted more. I soon saw opportunities galore in the then 9th largest economy in the world. Using what I had learned at two years old, I bought used motorcycles at low prices (with the help of my brother and especially his driver's license) and resold them and their parts to people all over the nation and even the world. While it was successful, I knew that if profitability was to go up, I was going to have to import a finished, profitable, and shippable item. I spent months researching, pricing, and comparing products from manufacturers and wholesalers from around the world, sometimes staying up late into the night waiting for emails from Hong Kong and South Korea. To make a long and complicated story short, I was able to import PDA keyboards and other electronics. In December 2002, we did gross sales of approximately $20,000. Through this venture, I had found monetary profit and an invaluable education in small business. More than that, I discovered a sense of how small the world could be. I even got to meet one of my main suppliers who had flown in from Hong Kong for Comdex, one of the largest electronics expos in the world. However, it was my parent's most recent venture that has rendered me the largest personal growth. My freshman and sophomore years, for the most part, were spent helping my mom launch her real estate career in California. I learned every inch of the business, from sales to real estate law. So, when my parents decided to purchase a real estate franchise and build a brokerage of entirely new agents, all of the business knowledge, people skills, and confidence had accumulated into something that I could effectively use. I had a wide breadth of knowledge that I drew upon to help our new agents become successful. They in turn used this knowledge to better serve and help their clients to find new homes and lives in our area. With a truly family effort, our office has, in one short year and a half, gone from one agent to nearly one hundred newly licensed agents. We did this only with strong emphasis on training and service incorporating a passion that kept me working as much as thirty hours a week and my parents easily twice that. Yet again my passion for business had put me in the field at an early age, and I soon found the first half of my highschool years well spent. It follows that for the past year and a half, I've come to a crossroads. Either to go into a real estate career in which I could, with the help of my family, make more money than most people with masters do or go to college. Surely the first looked more enticing than the later. Though during my first two years in highschool I hardly considered college, I have, directly through my impassioned business experiences, grown into someone with a never-ending thirst for business. Following that passion once again, I am applying to one of the best business universities in the country. Victorville foreclosures.