The Devil's Dictionary

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hysteria as a “behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess,” such as that of the citizens of Salem during the Witch Trials in 1692. As one of the first groups to settle here, Puritans feared the unknown like the forest, and banded together for protection. With little room for individuality, grudges and other personal disputes built up with no outlet. Fueled by destructive lies and wrongful accusations of others, hysteria evolves…

fear, anxiety and atrocity. Wilfred Owen was a soldier in world war 1 and brings his own situations to the table when he depicts the scene of a comrade dying. In the scene “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,/ His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;/ If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” (Dulce et Decorum Est). The scene is no longer about a man boasting pride and a new uniform anymore. This is a much darker story of a men…

Religion is an “organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to an order of existence.” War is a “period of armed conflict” according to the Merriam Webster dictionary. The definitions infer religion was created solely for people to obtain a sense of purpose while taking up arms in beliefs. In turn religion helps mankind understand mankind’s existence in the world while giving hope to the ultimate fear of death. Believing in the afterlife provides a way…

BARE SOUL (Poetry) Kalpna Singh-Chitnis Copyright © 2013 Kalpana Singh-Chitnis Also known as Kalpna Singh-Chitnis. All Rights Reserved Unauthorized reproduction, transmission and storing of this book in any form by using any process or means for public or private use is strictly prohibited, other than the fair use of any part of this book as quotation or reference, without a written permission of the publisher. The Library of Congress has cataloged “Bare Soul”…

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the meme as an element of a Culture (taken here in the sense of civilization) can be regarded as transmitted by nongenetic means, especially through imitation. The term meme was first proposed by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene and comes from an association between gene and mimesis. Dawkins also points to a close kinship with the French word same. Memes were presented by Dawkins as replicators, comparable in this respect to genes, but responsible for the…

Neither Dale Carnegie nor the publishers, Simon and Schuster, anticipated more than this modest sale. To their amazement, the book became an overnight sensation, and edition after edition rolled off the presses to keep up with the increasing public demand. Now to Win Friends and InfEuence People took its place in publishing history as one of the all-time international best-sellers. It touched a nerve and filled a human need that was more than a faddish phenomenon of post-Depression days, as…