What were the political objectives and who were the principal agents of change in the “Border Campaigns” of the Civil Rights Movements in: 1) Oakland, California; 2) the Ocean Hill-Brownsville District of New York City; 3) Cleveland, Ohio; 4) Gary, Indiana; 5) Chicago, Illinois; and 6) Detroit, Michigan?

There were different offshoots of the Civil Rights movement as it spread from the South. In Oakland, California, there were protests against segregated housing in the Bay Area. There were also protests against discrimination in jobs; for example, in 1963, there were organized protests organized by CORE and the Ad Hoc Committee to End Discrimination at locations of Mel's Drive-In restaurants in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco (see the link from Google Arts and Culture, below). There were also protests at the Bank of America against racial discrimination in hiring.
In the Ocean Hill/Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, there was a 1968 teachers' strike that resulted when the community-controlled school board dismissed several teachers, most of whom were Jewish. The communities were mainly African American and wanted to appoint more African American teachers. The principal agents in this action were members of the local community school board.
In Cleveland, Ohio, there were riots in 1966 (referred to as the Hough Riots) and later in 1968, largely in reaction to African American residents' feeling that there were insufficient economic opportunities in the eastern section of the city where many lived. Race riots broke out in Gary, Indiana and in Chicago and Detroit in 1968 (Detroit also had riots in 1967) after Martin Luther King's assassination, largely in reaction to unequal housing conditions and high rates of unemployment in African American neighborhoods, among other concerns. You can do more research into the root causes and the agents of the riots in these cities.
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/ARtzEd5p

What is a summary of the play Bali: The Sacrifice by Girish Karnad?

The sacrifice, or bali, of the title is a religious ritual of purification by bloodshed. The young King who is the play’s protagonist has left behind this traditional religion, which his mother, the Queen Mother, still follows. Ideally it should be accomplished by sacrificing an animal to the gods. Through his marriage to the Queen as well as developing his own personal convictions, the King has converted to her religion, Jainism, which calls for non-violence. Torn between these two traditions, he is in constant conflict between his mother over his “betrayal” of her traditions and his wife, who abhors even thinking about the animals to be sacrificed. The King suggests a compromise, which is to create the effigy of an animal out of dough, and to sacrifice the effigy.
As the Queen is pregnant, the Queen Mother wants a sacrifice conducted when her child is born, but she refuses because it would be wrong for a Jain child. However, she loses the baby and, distraught, turns to a lover, the Mahmout, whom she meets in a ruined temple. When her infidelity is discovered, the Queen Mother demands that the man be punished—that he become the blood sacrifice. For a moment it seems as though the Queen—having already betrayed her husband, her marriage vows, and thus her religion—will become the instrument of that sacrifice, as she grabs a sword and goes after the Mahmout. At the last minute, however, she commits the ultimate betrayal of herself and her faith, by using the sword to kill herself, becoming the sacrifice.

Bali: The Sacrifice is a play influenced by a religion called Jainism. This religion emphasizes nonviolence toward all living beings, including people and animals. In particular, the play draws on a myth from Jainism about a queen and a “mahout,” or keeper of elephants.
The king eventually finds the queen in bed with the elephant-keeper. The elephant-keeper is afraid when the king pulls out a sword, but he tells the king that he is a Jain and therefore can’t use violence. The king takes the point and doesn’t hurt the servant.
However, the king's mother takes offense to the infidelity and starts screaming for the queen’s head. In order to appease her, they end up having to sacrifice a pastry shaped like a rooster. The implication is that the king's mother is also angry at the queen for converting her son to Jainism (he converts later in his life in order to join his wife in her faith).

In "The Wild Swans at Coole" by Yeats, what does the water reflect, and when is this seen?

In this poem, William Butler Yeats describes a flock of swans on the water. He has observed these creatures for nineteen years running. This time he counts fifty-nine swans drifting together on the still water of a turlough (seasonal lake) at Coole Park, which is the estate of Lady Gregory, a wealthy Irish woman who patronized many writers in her day.
Although Yeats describes other sights in his poem—the trees and the swans themselves—he does not describe these as being reflected in the water. This is probably because of the time of day. It is twilight—not morning, midday, or afternoon. The sun has nearly set or has already set, so it would not allow for the reflections that would be seen at other times of day.
The only thing Yeats describes as being reflected on the water is "a still sky." This most likely describes a clear sky or a cloudy sky on a day with little wind. If there are clouds in the sky, they are not moving. Presumably the water is not moving, either, and the reflection of the still sky on the still water creates a very calming picture.

How can I connect the American Dream in the Great Gatsby to modern life?

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and his many displays of wealth represent the actuality of what is called "the American Dream." The American Dream is the idea that anyone can "strike gold" in America if they try hard enough and that wealth is the ultimate life-goal. Although the novel is fictional, Gatsby's great fortune and resulting downfall reveal the failure of The American Dream to satisfy even the wealthiest in our society, and in the end, somebody ends up paying for it.
There are many visual and cultural parallels between The Great Gatsby and today's America. Some Americans do have huge mansions, lavish parties, closets full of colored shirts, and a lifestyle like Gatsby himself. And, unfortunately, incidents of drunk-driving accidents, careless spouses who abuse their partners' trust, and people who don't show up for each other when it counts are also common among the wealthy. The Great Gatsby argues, among many things, that incidents of immense wealth and incidents of immense destruction are connected in America. For example, Gatsby's possessiveness of Daisy and illusion of a happy future for her leads to him taking false responsibility for Daisy killing Myrtle in the hit-and-run, which led to Wilson taking fatal revenge on Gatsby.
This quote gets at a reality of the American Dream that relates to our lives:
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Here's one real-life parallel to this quote and how the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is connected to our lives: in my middle school, which was in a pretty privileged neighborhood, there was a big problem with kids leaving trash from lunchtime strewn about the cafeteria. One of the defenses from them was, "that's why we have custodians." Finally, one of my teachers said, "No, that's your job. The custodians' job is to make sure the building is safe for us–not to be your babysitter."
In this scenario, my peers had learned to feel entitled to the privileges of having "the help" around. However, the entitlement served nobody: as it continued, the custodians had to take time away from making sure the school is structurally sound to throw away a kid's sticky yogurt wrapper, the kid who left it missed an opportunity to learn respect and self-sufficiency, and the whole classroom misses out on learning time because the teacher has to reprimand them.

The Great Gatsby presents several important aspects of the American Dream. Overall, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s attitude is that striving too hard to achieve a dream is likely to end in failure. Jay Gatz reinvented himself as Gatsby in part because of his romantic ideas. He believed that if he were successful, Daisy Buchanan would love him again.
The search for love as an aspect of the American Dream is still present in modern society. The proliferation of dating sites on the internet and the popularity of television shows like The Bachelor(ette) are indications that people are searching for love as a way to bring meaning to their lives.
Gatsby also had few scruples about the way he made his money. In the 1920s, when the sale of alcohol was illegal in the United States, Gatsby got rich as a bootlegger. In the 2010s, the sale of drugs is illegal, but many people try to become rich by selling them. More generally, the pursuit of material gain and the promotion of glamor in rich people's lives is still widespread, as evidenced by the fascination with the Kardashians.

Can you explain the whole stanza 6 from Canto the Third beginning with "Tis to create, and in creating live" from Lord Byron poem called "Child Harold's Pilgrimage"?

In Lord Byron's poem, Canto III stanza 6 picks up an idea presented in the previous stanzas. Addressing Ada, his daughter, he is reflecting on his youth, when he sought answers. In Stanza 3 he refers to this persona as "the wandering outlaw of his own dark mind."
In stanza 5, he notes some questions we ask and things we learn as through profound experience, but not necessarily age. A person can become world-weary or cynical, "so that no wonder waits him," and cannot feel love, sorrow, or other emotions.

[H]e can tell
Why thought seeks refuge in lone caves, yet rife
With airy images, and shapes which dwell
Still unimpair'd though old, in the soul's haunted cell.

The reason for seeking refuge among the airy images—by which Byron means, figuratively, spending time alone with one's own imagination--is then given in the next stanza. The reason is so we can create.
Through creativity we give concrete substance to the things we imagine, "endow with form our fancy." This is what he (as a poet) does.
He then switches back to speaking to Ada. It is implied that because she is young, she matters, while he is "nothing." Even though she is physically not with him as he travels, her soul is in his thoughts and he sees her in his mind's eye—"invisible yet gazing."
He then positively contrasts the "glow" of those sensations with the kind of weariness mentioned previously, which he calls "my crushed feelings dearth." That is, even though he is away from his child, becoming a father has renewed his spirit.
http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Byron/charold3.html

Why is Miranda ignorant of who Prospero was in The Tempest? Which items were necessary for Prospero to practice his magic art?

Prospero has deliberately kept Miranda in a state of ignorance throughout her whole life. He thinks that by doing this he is somehow protecting her. As Miranda has spent her whole life on a remote desert island, there's no one else around to contradict whatever Prospero tells her. Besides, Prospero's still smarting from the humiliation of being banished from Milan. One can quite understand, then, why he wouldn't want to tell Miranda the story of how they came to be on the island.
In order to practice his sorcery, Prospero needs his magic books. They contain all the spells he needs to keep Caliban and Ariel under control and to whip up the violent storm that will bring his enemies to his island domain. It was because Prospero spent so much time poring over his books of magic instead of governing Milan that his brother Antonio and his scheming cohorts conspired to have him banished to a remote desert island.
In due course, Prospero's books come to be an essential means of control over others and over the forces of nature. But by the end of the play, when he's ready to return in triumph to the Duchy of Milan, he has no further use for his magic books and throws them into the sea. Prospero's days as a magician are over.

Why is prohibition often referred to as the “noble experiment“?

The phrase "noble experiment" really reflects on the difference between what law does and what was the intention of the law. Herbert Hoover knew that the law was far reaching and said phohibition is, “a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.” Law is concrete, but the affects are social and can have unintended consequences.
The phrase captures the modern notion of changing social norms is not simply making a law, but drafting policy and often using extra legal measures to alter the intended harmful norm. The prohibition is referred to as the "noble experiment" because is is a prime example that a law may have undesirable effects despite how good the intentions may be.
The prohibition was meant to alleviate the ills of alcohol. Many thought that making alcohol illegal would eradicate the slum all together. Many thought that without alcohol there would be less drunks, less people in jail and a cleaner society. The truth was that prohibition made matters worse.
Prohibition was a massive failure sparking new crime, gangs, and various illegal drinking locations. Crime rate went up and alcohol related deaths were on the rise due to poorly manufactured and homemade alcohol.Alcohol was mainly smuggled in and smuggling was a large source of illegal activity that resulted in many arrests and deadly altercations between cops and smugglers and also between rival gangs.
Despite the good intentions, the law was grandiose and reached to far and feel to hard and swift. The "noble experiment" wanted to help people from the ills of alcohol, but with rarity often comes high demand. Simply economics were ignored and the law did not take into account that law is much more than telling people to not do something, but law involves politics, social norms, economics, and psychology. Good intentions can lead to terrible results.

President Hoover described Prohibition as “. . . a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.” Thus, during this era, Prohibition became known as the "noble experiment." Prohibition was considered both noble and an experiment because the outlawing of alcohol was a completely novel concept that had the potential to radically transform a society, and it was considered a particularly noble experiment because it was an attempt to respond to the immoral and abusive acts that often transpired from alcohol intoxication. Prohibitionists considered their work to be based on morality and often on religion. They saw a strong connection between the evils of society and alcohol consumption, and they rooted their cause in a moral crusade against liquor. Prohibition is also referred to an as experiment because it failed to stop the consumption of alcohol.
http://classprojects.cornellcollege.edu/stewart/Hoover2/Hoover.htm