Word: strives
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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What on earth could have inspired Jane Smiley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning (not to mention New York Times best-selling) author, to begin her latest work with such a verbose, grammatically-clumsy sentence? An attempted strive for originality in the increasingly-formulaic world of American literature? A desire to jump to the opposite end of the writing spectrum--or, in this case, to an entirely different dimension--than that of her last piece Moo, about a corrupt university? Most importantly, does Smiley's new take on an old-fashioned technique of writing work...
...beaten, harassed and essentially enslaved so that Americans can have cheap apparel; as consumers we must work to limit suffering by consuming responsibly and insisting that the institutions into which we pour our money act responsibly. Sweatshops are bad and we should do our best to punish those who strive to profit from the suffering of others. But rather than striving to stomp out each individual sweatshop, we wonder if we shouldn't search for the root of the problem. In all the sweat-free flurry, it seem that we have forgotten to ask why sweatshops exist...
...have too readily accepted the notion that employers will strive to exploit their workers and that only a skein of laws, regulations and codes can prevent enormous suffering. Exploitation, abuse and greed are not inherent elements of the production process. We have sat through Marty Feldstein's mind-numbing lectures and we have read the praise of economic efficiency that so often appears on these editorial pages. But we re unwilling to think only within the bounds of what we have been taught to believe is the "natural" way of the economy...
...with which the Hajj is conducted teaches us that we can do without the finer things in life. The complexity and ornamentation of modern urban society are not essential to our existence. Observing the Hajj brings us back to the basics and points out that all the "extras" we strive for are not necessarily the most important things in life. Particularly in the world we live in and in places like our university, it is appropriate to recall from time to time that life need not be as complex as we make...
...Just as STRIVE is helping welfare recipientsfind work, Project HEALTH--a Harvard program thatcombines the fields of health care and publicpolicy--is helping welfare recipients find healthcare...