Prewriting Essay

1.   I would write about love because I feel love is a tree and romance is just one of its branches. There are other dimensions of love as well apart from romance. In the essay I would touch upon all these dimensions. Apart from love between a man and a woman, there is love between a teacher and a student, love between two friends, love between a man and his pet, love between a celebrity and his fans, love between siblings. I would touch upon all these dimensions of love in the essay. Then I would bring into focus the most divine form of love and that is the love between a mother and her child. I would elaborate on how unique this form of love is and it cannot die or change no matter how advanced the world becomes. I would write that the bond between a mother and her child is natural. This is because they are physically attached to each other for nine months. Due to the capacity of bearing children mothering instinct comes naturally to women. The intensity of this instinct might vary from person to person but it cannot be completely absent in a woman. A mother always prioritizes her child above herself. This selflessness is rare in all the other dimensions of love. I would also focus on the main concepts like jealousy, codependency, idealization, stereotyping etc. that involve different types of relations and would connect all these concepts to a mother-child relationship. This would help in understanding this divine attachment between two human beings in more depth. I would conclude the essay by weaving all the main points highlighted above into a string of points that would point towards the main idea that though there are many forms of love, the love between a mother and a child always excels above others. 2.   I would write about why we need gossip in our culture. I think that gossip is one of the necessities of human beings and all of us love to indulge in it whether consciously or unconsciously. But there are very few of us who like to accept our inclination to indulge in gossip. Even when we are gossiping about our classmates, colleagues, neighbors, celebrities, teachers etc. our conscious mind always tries to project ourselves as a person who does not indulge in this kind of lowly activities. In the essay I would like to focus on the fact that the intensity of our indulgence or love for gossip might differ from one person to another but just like other necessities like food, water, shelter etc. this also becomes one of our needs. I would write that one of the main reasons why some people gossip less when compared to others is because they have less time than the others in this fast paced world. In this context I would quote the example of the reality show, ‘Big Brother’ where the participants are not allowed anything other than the basic necessities and apart from food it is gossip that gives them the strength to survive in a controlled environment. I would write that no matter what the age or the background of the participants is every one uses this tool to ooze out his anger, distress or dissatisfaction. Some people start instantly while others take a little time to open up but ultimately every one engages in this activity. To conclude I would point out that all of us abhor the term gossip attached to our personalities. But in reality this should not be the case. We do not want to accept this important need of our existence because we relate only negative points to this activity. We should consider gossip as a way of socializing which is yet another important requirement of a healthy human mind. It helps in taking out the baggage that we carry in our inner self. However we should always try to indulge in healthy gossip instead of dirty gossip meant to malign others. In healthy gossip many people would be our friends while in the latter we will invite more foes. 3.   I would like to write about the changing attitude towards dating. Years ago dating was a taboo. Then it became an acceptable part of our society. Now it is indispensable for any relationship to bloom. The courtship period that comprises of dating and  calling cannot be imagined without these elements of love. In the essay I would write about changing attitude towards dating not only in the western culture but also in other cultures. There are a many cultures for, example in Asia, where interaction between girls and boys was not acceptable till recent times but since dating has become an integral part of western culture, these cultures are also getting influenced by this concept. The difference in the change of attitude in the  Asian countries compared to  the western  countries is that though it is being accepted the level of acceptance is lower in the Asian countries. I would highlight the point that how gradually dating has started being considered as a means of just spending a good time with the person towards whom one is romantically inclined unlike the yesteryears where it was considered a foundation of long term relationships. In the conclusion of the essay, I would write that courtship consists of dating but not vice versa. Where dating is just for fun, flirting is likely to be one of its components. 4.  Ã‚  I would like to write about anxiety disorder. In the beginning of the essay I would present an overview of the disease. I would mention that many disorders are collectively referred as anxiety disorder. These disorders are generalized anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, specific phobia, agoraphobia etc. In fact anxiety disorder is a blanket term that encompasses within itself different types of anxiety, fear, nervous condition or phobia. It can occur suddenly or gradually and can affect people of different age groups and genders. Then I would focus on the causes. Apart from the psychological causes, I would also touch upon the hereditary and genetic causes of the disease. This disease disrupts the day-to-day activities of the people suffering from it. I would write about the symptoms of anxiety disorders. For example there are psychological symptoms like social avoidance, depression, frustration, lack of concentration etc. Apart from that there are physical symptoms too, for example dizzy spells, fatigue, chest pain etc. This would throw light upon how it affects the people suffering from it. Apart from medication there are other things like good family atmosphere, indulgence in some constructive work and exercises that help in the recovery process. I would mention that the people suffering from it should be honest to the practitioners so that they  get cured in the right way.

Coca Cola Ad Analysis

For years, Coca-Cola has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of soft drink beverages and other various products. Over the course of time, the company has grown tremendously and has spread many of its markets to a variety of different places. Since it first began, nobody would have thought that it would be where it is today and how big of an influence it would have on the public. This can strongly be attributed to the company’s smart yet robust advertising and marketing policies, which have enabled it to promote its product to the consumers.In one of Coca-Cola’s advertisements, the company attempts to create a relationship between the product and consumer while displaying how the drink is a part of American culture. The idea that is being portrayed is meant to appeal to American interests by means of longstanding segments of American culture. In this advertisement, the logo at the very bottom reads, â€Å"A classic never goes out of sty le. † As we can see, the image of the coke bottle consists of many pictures pertaining to American history.Coke and PepsiRegardless of whether or not a person had ever purchased a coke product, the design of the bottle immediately grasps the consumer’s attention. This is mainly due in part by the bottle’s depiction of traditional themes that people can relate to. For example, the artist who created the image included The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, The American Flag, The Rolling Stones, Baseball, and a Cadillac, which can all be characterized as â€Å"American Classics†.Altogether, they represent some of the values that which America was built upon and what people have learned to love. Consequently, the assumption that is being made is that Coca-Cola is also an â€Å"American Classic†. It is quite clear that while the product may be considered just a drink, it is in fact more than that. By relating the beverage to some of America’ s longstanding roots, the company has without a doubt created a closer relationship between product and consumer.People can view the image of the bottle and automatically be inclined to buy the product for themselves due to the sheer fact that the pictures are of such great importance to our society. Additionally, it is essential to note another subtle yet key idea that is being portrayed in the advertisement. Firstly, something that is considered to be a â€Å"classic† has to be of great significance and influence compared to other subjects in its category. While â€Å"classics† may forever be a part of our culture, the impression given by Coca-Cola is that Coke will never go out of style.

Hamlet/Ophelia Relationship Essay

Hamlet and Ophelia have a relationship that is quite significant to Hamlet as a whole. Their relationship in the past has been filled with many sexual endeavors but once the play starts, it begins its downfall, affecting multiple characters down the line. Throughout the play, the relationship indirectly causes obsession, death, insanity, and the drive for vengeance. Ophelia’s love for Hamlet is mentioned very early in the play when she is with her brother, Laertes, and her father, Polonius. The brother warns her to be careful since Hamlet’s motive to be with her are not out of love, but is â€Å"a violet in the youth of primy nature, forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, the perfume and suppliance of a minute,† meaning that the relationship is merely a stage of youthful lust and will not last forever (1.2 8-10). Unlike Laertes, Polonius demands that she must stop dating Hamlet at once. He cares about his own reputation more than the emotions of his daughter, and he also wants to have the most power over her. If she and Hamlet were to wed, he would lose the power he has over her, which is unacceptable in his eyes. After Ophelia obeys her father, Hamlet appears at her room in a complete mess. The state that he is in frightens her, and mentions what happens to her father. Polonius assumes that Ophelia’s rejection has driven Hamlet insane. This is the beginning of Polonius obsession to discover if Hamlet is really insane due to his daughters rejection, or if it due to a different cause. The obsession that Polonius continues to have for the discover of the source of Hamlet’s insanity drives him to his death, which further induces Ophelia’s drowning. Being extremely nosy, he once again hides to eavesdrop on Hamlet’s conversation, this time with Hamlet’s mother in the queen’s chamber. After Gertrude feels threatened by Hamlet’s aggression and screams, Polonius makes a sound behind the curtain, in turn shocking Hamlet. Then Hamlet yells, â€Å"How now, a rat? Dead for ducat, dead† and stabs Polonius through the curtains, killing him (3.4 29). Polonius just had to force Ophelia to reject Hamlet. His obsession with their relationship causes his own death. His death is well deserved. Unfortunately, his death drives Ophelia insane. She loses the love of her life, her brother is far away in Paris so she has no one to go to anymore, and now her father perishes. Being driven over the edge, she does not notice that falls into a large pool of water, and before long, â€Å"her garments, heavy with their drink, pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death† (4.7 206-208). The significance of Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship is all tied together by Laertes’s mark for vengeance. Act V i. is the first scene since Polonius’s death that the two characters are in each other’s presence. Overcome with grief, Hamlet cries, † I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love make up my sum† (5.1.270-72). When he sees Laertes in the grave, he becomes jealous and angry, so they wrestle. Laertes was not prepared to kill Hamlet there and then, but it is hinted that he will do so in the next scene. Hamlet’s relationship may indirectly lead up to his death. Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s feelings for each other stay strong throughout the whole play, even though they may be clouded. Their love is still strong when Ophelia rejects him and when he basically calls her a whore, they just couldn’t show it. The play was strongly influenced by their relationship since it affected so many characters. It may even end the life of dear Hamlet.

Marketing in Hospitality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing in Hospitality - Assignment Example Customer’s needs are different and segmenting a target market makes the company more efficient and can achieve higher performance. Performance  is seen through  indicators such as revenue or sales. Another reason for market segmentation is the fact that customers have different disposable incomes. Thus, their sensitivity to price is different (Boundless, 2014). A  business that  segments their  target market  by  offering their products at various prices, can cater to a larger section of a given market. This results in enhanced profits for the company. Market segmentation can be used by a company to position a product. Customers can be encouraged to start using a particular product if it is offered at a low price. After gaining that  low-price  market, a company can then growth the company through built up sales revenue that is reinvested back into the enterprise. A benefit of market segmentation as a marketing strategy is that it can be used to maintain a share of a market segment. A business without a strong lead will find it hard to maximize profitability due to larger brands. Large brands maximize scale of economies in production and marketing and leverage their relationship with distributors and retailers to deliver an extremely differentiated product to the end consumer. Small companies may find it harder to find a particular segment of the market to satisfy. Marketing mix refers to a marketing strategy that involves combining  factors that can be controlled by a business, to achieve its objectives of marketing a product to a particular target market segment (Chong, 2003). The reason for this is that these factors are essential aspects of marketing activities. Market planning can then be better translated into practice. The basic components of a marketing mix are the product, price, place, and promotion. Other components may include people, process, and

Construction Industry in Sultanate of Oman Essay

Construction Industry in Sultanate of Oman - Essay Example The country’s many construction projects include the tourism projects, private and public commercial buildings. Economic report shows that the industry grew from RO 349 Million in the year 2006 to RO 470.7 million in 2007(Oxford Business Group 2007: 110). It is expected that the industry will continue to grow because of government support. The industry plays a great part in the economy of the country. Apart from the revenue generated by the industry, it has improved the living standards of many individuals by creating employment. The nature of construction varies according to the projects. For instance, construction activities include building infrastructure that support different modes of transport such as railways, sea and air. The nature of construction also includes the real estates. The construction processes involves three parties who are the contractors, consultants, and clients. A contractor is the person who plans and coordinates all the activities in construction sites. His role entails ensuring that projects are completed within the specific time frame and budget. They also ensure that construction activities are aligned with the country’s regulations. Consultants are those who analyze and give recommendations regarding construction issues while clients are owners of the building. They choose contractors and consultants to help with the construction. They also ensure that there are enough resources to complete the projects based on the advice of consultants (Oxford Business Group 2007: 110). The construction industry in Oman is highly growing because of the government support. However, the country has a very low labor power. This is because of the low population in the area compared to the number of construction projects. The country only has a population of 2.8 million individuals (Pitcher 2014: 1). The labor issue is especially affecting the private construction firms. Apart from the small

World cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

World cultures - Essay Example The Mayan civilization consisted of powerful city-states that spread from southern Mexico to northern Honduras. Scientists in Mayan civilization cite that drought theory plays a pivotal role where the people cut down the jungle canopy to accelerate the problem`. A climate model simulation depicts the aggregation of drought caused by deforestation. The pale climate records show that the collapse of Mayan socio-political structure links to Terminal Classical Drought (TCD). The efforts to assess the effects of climate change on prehistoric societies leads to controversies on the future climate change in the modern societies. Lane et al (2014) present evidence of TCD along the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, Laguna Castilla, and other areas of the Dominican Republic. The flowering with the rain theory analyzes the cavern stalagmites on the cave floors to link the climate swings that lead to the fall of the empire. Belizean stalagmites in the early Classical Maya are unusually wet since the population proliferation aid the process. Sophistication of monumental architecture, political systems, and complex religion fall in the full flower era. Scientists provide a warfare theory that could have shattered the entire people. The stone carving depict vicious images such as Tikal, Quirigua, and Dos Pilas. It is possible cites went to war with each other. As Dos Pilas invasion took place in 760 A.D (Lane et al. 2014). One cannot rule out the possibility of war that brought economic disaster and a domino effect in the Maya cities. At the apex of their power, things started to unravel just like the stock market zigzag into uncharted territory. Carroll (2013) explains that the ancients built an advanced society where they were undone by their own success. The population of the people continued to escalate stretching the natural resources to a breaking point. The political leaders

Research Paper on the book A RAGE IN HARLEM by Chester Himes

On the book A RAGE IN HARLEM by Chester Himes - Research Paper Example Marshall out of arresting him, and then gambles his last hopes away. Jackson then seeks help from his brother Goldy to help find Imabelle. Goldy makes a living by disguising himself as a Christian-religious female impersonator of Sister Gabriel. He is also a snitch for two colored deceitful detectives, Grave Digger and Coffin Ed. Upon some investigation, Goldy finds out that Jackson’s beloved Imabelle has a common law husband named Slim. Slim, a gang leader forms a scam where he steals money from rich colored people who invest in a purported lost-gold-mine. Together, Slim, Hank and Jodie devise a plan where a â€Å"contact man† (Gus Parsons) will linger at bars, conferences and churches in effort to reel in potential investors and take them blindfolded to the â€Å"corporation headquarters† to view the gold. Goldy connects the dots, finds that Imabelle’s mysterious trunk is full of gold ore samples used for convincing the potential investors, and confirms this with Jackson. With this new information, Goldy devises a strategy to help his brother find Imabelle through Gus Parsons. Together, Goldy, the detectives, and Jackson try to track down the hoodlums and help Jackson. Throughout the story, one series of unfortunate events lead to another, combined with chaos, vivid images of vi olence, death, blood, sex and crime, all told in a humorous fashion that kept me laughing all the way through. The first critique work for Chester Himes’ novel features from Keishton’s review of the novel where the general feeling is that there is life and reality in it. The remarks agree to Himes’ ability to represent the actual scene of life as it was back in the fifties and sixties, marred by urbanity and repetitive crime. Keishton further concurs with the novel’s connection to real life by proposing to the events that move the thesis as being part and parcel of daily

The Lamentation by Ludovicco Carracci Research Paper

The Lamentation by Ludovicco Carracci - Research Paper Example The figure’s pose invokes the dead Christ. It shows Christ’s right hand as being distorted. His left hand which is cradled by Mary Magdalene appears dislocated. The virgin has fainted at the sight of her son lying across her lap. In this artwork, the Virgin Mary is shown as a middle-aged woman instead of young and beautiful. Saint John is shielding Christ’s feet by a raised winding sheet and falls with increasing strength on his chest and head. The Virgin Mary, the other three Maries and Saint John are used to bring out a striking effect on the artwork with a neutral background (Wolk-Simon, Bambach & Alsteens 127). Mannerist was used to make the painting. The artwork is associated with the 15th century in the year 1582. The artwork’s origin is in Italy in Bologna. The artwork fits in the category of the 15th-century Italian printers. The technique used to make this artwork was painting using oil on canvas material. Traditional oil painting often began with sketches onto the canvas with charcoal, chalk or thinned paint. The oil paint was then mixed with linseed oil or other solvents to create a faster drying paint. Generally, solvents thin the oil in the paint. Moreover, each additional layer should contain more oil than the layer before it, to allow proper drying. If the additional layer contains less oil, then the final painting will crack and peel. The quality and type of oil determine whether the paint film is stable and strong. Oil paint does not dry fast it remains wet for long. This enables the artist to revise their work if any correction is needed. An artist can change the color , texture or the form of the whole artwork. Earlier works were panel paintings on wood but around the 15th century canvas became more popular. Canvas was preferred by artists because it was cheaper than wood and easy to transport because it was light. Painting using oil on canvas spread through Italy from

The Selling Process and Selling Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Selling Process and Selling Tools - Essay Example Determining and estimating the competition strength is also important in sales and marketing. What qualifies a service or a product to particular market segmentation and what hinders maximum profits should be determined. Knowledge of the segment that will need a company’s product or services will save time and resources, and this can be done by determining dimensions of sales. The demand for a product should be well estimated for accurate production. Demand estimation will reduce wastages of resources or loss of customers because the products were not enough. Trade area analysis is very important in sales, as a company will know which part of the country needs their goods or services. Trade areas differ with geography, political stability, and economic advantage and a company that has all these details will have a competitive advantage. Market potential and sales forecast should also be checked before a company engages are sales in an area. The product that a company is sellin g is the most important aspect is sales and marketing. What the product entails is something that matters to the customers and should be what a company takes it into account before manufacturing it. Why the product, who will it benefit more, where will it be sold, how much will it go for, and what profits margin is expected to bring. A good product should not stay on the shelf for long instead every production should be increased because demand has also increased. Pricing for personal selling has been considered the strongest promotion tool as it personalizes the message to the customer. The sales tend to be higher when personal selling is conducted, ensuring that all the profits go to the company instead of having to divide them among the sales agents. Personal selling also uses various technologies and helps overcome geographic limitations because the companies are able to draw budgets for the sales. This kind of selling also promotes good relationships between the customers, mana gement, and employees. This creates loyalty in the company a very important aspect of a business. Promotion strategy is an element very important in the marketing mix that involves advertising of a product for customers to be familiar with it before purchasing. Advertising to be done before the product is in the market to get people responses and ensure that the customers do not forget its value. Personal selling is the other component of promotion strategy where the producer promotes their product personally. This creates brand loyalty from the customers ensuring that they do not stop using the product.

Basics of finance and investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Basics of finance and investment - Essay Example Bad news is always remembered more because it is human nature that people’s miseries create a stronger impact in our minds. But it should also be remembered that if there is a Leeson, there is also a Warren Buffet. Money was lost on internet stocks, but just before that, money was also made on the same internet stocks. And Bernard Madoff was one of a kind, who took advantage of people’s confidence to him as a SEC consultant. There was nobody before or after him who operated at the level he did, because the there is usually in place an effective regulation of the market and most such operators are caught early on (Arnold, 2004). If there are no extreme developments such as market crashes and financial crises, investing for value long-term has always been sound strategy for enhancing wealth. There are several vehicles for investment: the savings account, the money market, certificates of deposit and common stocks are some of them. Each of these instruments is associated with a particular level of rate of return. The rate of return is the percentage gain an investment makes – in short, how much yearly earnings are expected as a proportion of the capital invested. The rates of return fluctuate, but they maintain a more or less consistent relationship with those of the others. For instance, the savings account in a bank would normally have the lowest rate of return which is denoted by its interest rate. The money market placement has a slightly higher interest rate, followed by certificates of deposit, and then the stock investment. The average rates of return for each of these instruments is shown in th e second row of Table 1 (source: UK National Statistics Online). The rate of return plays an important part in the concept of compounding. In compounding, the returns that have been accumulated for one year becomes part of the

Katherine Mansfield Essay Example for Free

Katherine Mansfield Essay She was born in 1888 in Wellington, a town labeled â€Å"the empire city† by its white inhabitants, who modeled themselves on British life and relished their city’s bourgeois respectability. [1] At an early age, Mansfield witnessed the disjuncture between the colonial and the native, or Maori, ways of life, prompting her to criticize the treatment of the Maoris in several diary entries and short stories. [2] Mansfield’s biographer, Angela Smith, writes: â€Å"It was her childhood experience of living in a society where one way of life was imposed on another, and did not quite fit in† that sharpened her modernist impulse to focus on moments of â€Å"disruption† or encounters with â€Å"strange or disturbing† aspects of life. [3] Her feelings of disjuncture were accentuated when she arrived in Britain in 1903 to attend Queen’s College. In many respects, Mansfield remained a lifelong outsider, a traveler between two seemingly similar yet profoundly different worlds. After briefly returning to New Zealand in 1906, she moved back to Europe in 1908, living and writing in England and parts of continental Europe. Until her premature death from tuberculosis at the age of 34, Mansfield remained in Europe, leading a Bohemian, unconventional way of life. The Domestic Picturesque Mansfield’s short story â€Å"Prelude† is set in New Zealand and dramatizes the disjunctures of colonial life through an account of the Burnell family’s move from Wellington to a country village. The story takes its title from Wordsworth’s seminal poem, â€Å"The Prelude,† the first version of which was completed in 1805, which casts the poet as a traveler and chronicles the â€Å"growth of a poet’s mind. †[4] Although the Burnell family moves a mere â€Å"six miles† from town, the move is not inconsequential; it enacts a break with their previous way of life and alerts the family members to the various discontinuities in their lives. Beneath the veneer of the Burnells’ harmonious domestic life are faint undercurrents of aggression and unhappiness. The haunting specter of a mysterious aloe plant and a slaughtered duck in their well-manicured yard suggests that the family’s awfully nice new home conceals moments of brutality and ignorance toward another way of life that was suppressed and denied. [5] As I will propose, these two incidents echo the aesthetic concept of the sublime, as they encapsulate a mysterious power that awes its beholders and cannot be fully contained within their picturesque home. Through her subtle, dream-like prose, Mansfield deploys traditional aesthetic conventions like the picturesque while simultaneously transfiguring, subverting, and reinventing them in a modernist context. The concept of the picturesque was first defined by its originator, William Gilpin, an 18th century artist and clergyman, as â€Å"that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture. †[6] Thus, a scene or representation is beautiful when it echoes an already-established, artistic conception of beauty, revealing the self-reinforcing way in which art creates the standard of beauty for both art and life. Mansfield presents these picturesque moments in order to demystify them and reveal the suppression and violence they contain. In addition to â€Å"Prelude,† her stories â€Å"Garden Party† and â€Å"Bliss† dramatize the transformation and inversion of picturesque moments of bourgeois life and domestic harmony. While she seems to exhibit a certain attachment to these standard aesthetic forms, Mansfield subtly interrogates many of these conventions in a strikingly modernist way. Through her childhood in a colony, Mansfield also became attuned to the violence and inequalities of colonialism. As Angela Smith suggests, her early writings demonstrate a keen sensitivity towards a repressed history of brutality and duplicity. [7] In her 1912 short story â€Å"How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped,† she questions and overturns the perspective of the colonialist, whose vantage point historically trumps that of the native. The deliberate ambivalence of the word â€Å"kidnapping† dramatizes the conflict between the colonist’s perspective and Pearl’s joyful, eye-opening experiences during her abduction. In a similar way, empire dramatized for Mansfield the way that a picturesque, bourgeois household could suppress alternative perspectives. The Sublime In â€Å"Prelude,† the mysterious, sublime aloe plant disrupts the pleasant domesticity of the Burnell household. Their well-manicured yard with its tennis lawn, garden, and orchard also contains a wild, unseemly side—â€Å"this was the frightening side, and no garden at all. †[8] This â€Å"side† contains the aloe plant, which exerts a mysterious, enthralling power over its awed beholders. In its resemblance to the ocean, the aloe assumes the characteristics of the sublime: â€Å"the high grassy bank on which the aloe rested rose up like a wave, and the aloe seemed to ride upon it like a shop with the oars lifted. Bright moonlight hung upon the lifted oars like water, and on the green wave glittered the dew. †[9] For many writers and poets, the ocean was a manifestation of the sublime because of its unfathomable power and scale that awed and humbled its observers. The aloe’s strikingly physiological effect on its viewers recalls Edmund Burke’s sublime, which overpowers its observer and reinforces the limitations of human reason and control. In his famous treatise on the sublime, Burke writes: â€Å"greatness of dimension, vastness of extent or quantity† is a powerful cause of the sublime, as it embodies the violent and overpowering forces of nature. [10] In a similar vein, the child, Kezia Burnell’s first impression upon seeing the â€Å"fat swelling plant with its cruel leaves and fleshy stem† is one of awe and wonder. [11] In this case, the sublimity of the aloe plant disrupts and challenges the domestic picturesque as it defies mastery, categorization, and traditional notions of beauty. In its resistance to categorization and control, the sublime embodies the part of the ungovernable landscape that the Burnell family cannot domesticate and the picturesque cannot frame. As a result, in â€Å"Prelude,† the magnitude of the sublime interrupts and fractures the tranquil surface of the picturesque by exposing the unfathomable depths beneath it. The colonial backdrop of the Burnells’ yard also contributes to the mysterious, occult power of the aloe. This unruly part of their property hints toward a landscape that eludes domestication and serves as a constant reminder that the Burnell family is living in a land that is not quite theirs and cannot be fully tamed. [12] At the age of 19, Mansfield wrote that the New Zealand bush outside of the cities is â€Å"all so gigantic and tragic—and even in the bright sunlight it is so passionately secret. †[13] For Mansfield, the bush embodies the history of a people whose lives have been interrupted and displaced by European settlers. [14] After wars, brutal colonial practices, and European diseases had devastated the local Maori population, the bush became a haunting monument to their presence. As the Burnell family settles down to sleep on the first night in their new home, â€Å"far away in the bush there sounded a harsh rapid chatter: â€Å"Ha-ha-ha†¦ Ha-ha-ha. †[15] In her subtle way, Mansfield unveils the voices of those whose perspectives are excluded from this portrait of nocturnal domestic harmony. In a similar way, the aloe plant exudes an unfathomable history that is beyond the time and place of the Burnells. Even its age—implied by the fact that it flowers â€Å"once every hundred years†Ã¢â‚¬â€suggests that the aloe exists on a different scale than its human beholders. [16] In its ancient, superhuman scale, the aloe gestures towards the â€Å"gigantic,† indicating a subtle, but implicitly threatening power within, or in proximity of the home. The aloe is a kind of lacuna in the imperial landscape of New Zealand, whose power threatens the colonial household and its control over the landscape. [17] By disrupting and encroaching upon the ostensibly safe domestic sphere, the aloe also echoes the â€Å"unheimlich,† or uncanny, an aesthetic concept explored by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay, â€Å"The Uncanny. † The uncanny becomes, in part, an invasive force violating the sacred, domestic sphere and hearkens back to a previously repressed or hidden impulse: â€Å"The uncanny is something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light. †[18] In â€Å"Prelude,† the aloe is initially depicted as a threatening force that â€Å"might have had claws instead of roots. The curving leaves seemed to be hiding something. †[19] Positioned within the safe space of their property, the aloe is a menacing, ungovernable force that seems to encroach upon it. The plant becomes part of the repressed history of the landscape—a history that is only apparent to Kezia, her mother Linda Burnell, and her grandmother Mrs. Fairfield, who are attuned to the forces below the surface of the picturesque exterior. Violent Underpinnings Beneath many of Mansfield’s picturesque domestic scenes are moments of violence and rupture. In â€Å"Garden Party,† for instance, a poor man falls to his death during the preparations for a much-anticipated social gathering of the wealthy Sheridan family, undermining the convivial spirit of the occasion. In â€Å"Prelude,† Pat, the handyman, slaughters a duck while the children watch with grotesque enthrallment as it waddles for a few steps after being decapitated. â€Å"The crowning wonder† of the dead duck walking hearkens back to Burke’s sublime, which is experienced in â€Å"Prelude† within the confines of the private residence. [20] The sublimity of this apparent defiance of the properties of death acts as a dramatic external force imposing on the observers’ intellect and reason in a profoundly Burkian way. But later that night, when the duck is placed in front of the patriarch, Stanley Burnell, â€Å"it did not look as if it had ever had a head. †[21] The duck’s picturesque dressing—â€Å"its legs tied together with a piece of string and a wreath of little balls of stuffing round it†Ã¢â‚¬â€conceals its violent death. [22] In a similar way, the â€Å"awfully nice† picturesque house is imposed upon the landscape, as if it had never been any other way. [23] Through reconfiguration and transformation, a new imperial order conceals the fact that an older order once lay beneath it. In both cases, the picturesque functions as a way of naturalizing the violent order of domination. As Pat’s golden earrings distract Kezia from her grief over the duck’s death, the duck’s pretty garnish conceals its â€Å"basted resignation. †[24] There is no such thing as a pure aesthetics, Mansfield seems to suggest, as each serene moment is implicated in some act of violence, brutality, or suppression. In â€Å"Prelude,† the good-natured Pat disrupts a pre-existing picturesque scene in which ducks â€Å"preen their dazzling breasts† amidst the pools and â€Å"bushes of yellow flowers and blackberries. †[25] Tellingly, the duck pond contains a bridge, a typical feature of the picturesque that reconciles or bridges the gap between different aspects of the scenery. In this way, the Burnell family’s cultivation of the land by planting and slaughtering ducks disrupts another underlying order. Their unquestioning appropriation of this pre-existing order mirrors the way colonial life disrupted and undermined the indigenous Maori life. Juxtaposing two picturesque scenes that interrupt and conflict with one another, Mansfield questions and unravels the conventional image of the picturesque. This interplay of various conflicting aesthetic orders constitutes part of Mansfield’s modernist style, in which aesthetic forms are ruptured, fragmented, and overturned. As the yard’s landscape bears traces of the Maori past, so the quiet harmony of the Burnells’ domesticity is underscored by deep, unspoken tensions and an animosity that hints at the uncanny. In fact, the only character who expresses any contentment is Stanley, who reflects, â€Å"By God, he was a perfect fool to feel as happy as this! †[26] Yet even he shudders upon entering his new driveway, as â€Å"a sort of panic overtook Burnell whenever he approached near home. †[27] Beneath this veneer of marital bliss and familial harmony, his wife Linda occasionally ignores her children and expresses hatred towards her husband and his aggressive sexuality: â€Å"there were times when he was frightening—really frightening. When she screamed at the top of her voice, ‘You are killing me. ’†[28] Meanwhile Stanley and Beryl, Linda’s sister, seem to have a flirtatious, indecent relationship: â€Å"Only last night when he was reading the paper her false self had stood beside him and leaned against his shoulder on purpose. Hadn’t she put her hand over his†¦ so that he should see how white her hand was beside his brown one. †[29] Dramatizing these dynamics, Mansfield suggests that a â€Å"happy† household outside of town is not as â€Å"dirt cheap† as Stanley boasts; it comes at the cost of servitude, sexual aggression, and a ravaged Maori landscape. [30] Through these layers, which Mansfield subtly strips off one at a time, she artfully exposes the way that an existing political and aesthetic order is not what it seems to be or how it has always been. Her short stories are fraught with their own tensions; while exposing the picturesque as false and absurd, she nevertheless draws on its conventional associations. Similarly, her subtle attempts to question colonial power are embedded in a seemingly idealized portrait of colonial life. Mansfield creates a seemingly beautiful or normal image, such as the happy family in â€Å"Prelude,† â€Å"Bliss,† or â€Å"Garden Party,† and then slowly challenges it through a subtle counter-narrative. In this way, her deployment of modernist techniques is less pronounced than that of James Joyce and her other modernist contemporaries. Just as she challenges aesthetic conventions, Mansfield unravels the reader’s ideas about her own stories by presenting a seemingly beautiful, transparent narrative that is haunted by tensions, lacunae, and opacity. Like the headless walking duck, these fictions of transparency and harmony quickly collapse upon closer inspection.

Same-sex marriage debate Essay Example for Free

Same-sex marriage debate Essay The world is constantly changing and evolving. It isnt possible to stop this from happening, but it is possible to stand up for what is morally right and for what isnt. And now, we are faced with what many people feel is the inevitable evolution of marriage: legalizing homosexual marriages. Not allowing homosexual marriages to be recognized by the government and to be legal would prevent changing a fundamental institution, would prohibit breaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and would prevent unthinkable consequences. Marriage has been around for as long as anyone can remember. And after all this time, it has changed very little in the eyes of the law. Every major religion and culture has embraced marriage as a unique relationship between a man and a woman. One of the only times marriage was altered, was when no-fault divorce was legalised. No-fault divorce was introduced, and it has proven to be a complete disaster for children and often for the adults involved. Statistics now show that 53% of marriages end in divorce. And now, we find ourselves gambling yet again with an institution that is foundational to the well-being of our children and a healthy society. The same argument once made in support of no-fault divorce, This will not affect good marriages and healthy families, is now being made in support of gay marriage. Yet we have no credible evidence to prove that altering our marriage laws again will be any less problematic for children and society than was no-fault divorce. The painful lessons we have learned as a result of no-fault divorce should stop this process cold in its tracks. To fundamentally change an institution whose worth has been proved over thousands of years and in hundreds of cultures risks unintended and unexpected consequences. It is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes of society. Secondly, it has been argued that prohibiting homosexuals to marry would breach the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter was modified in 1981 with the following heading Whereas Canada is founded upon the principles  that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law. With such an acknowledgement, how could the acceptance of same-sex marriages even be considered? Time and again, the Bible clearly states and demonstrates Gods position on homosexuality: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of homosexuality (Gen 18:20-21; 19:5-7, 13); Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10); Those who practice homosexuality are called perverted men (Jdg 19:22); The penalty under the Old Testament for homosexuality was death (Lev 20:13); It is abominable, whether committed by men or women (Ro 1:26-27) Three Ontario judges stated that prohibiting gay couples from marrying violates the Charter The Charter, acknowledging the supremacy (ie. dominion, preeminence) of God strikes down any notion that same-sex marriages can be accepted in Canada. Thirdly, the Marriage Act of Ontario, when speaking of a marriage mentions a man and wife. How does a same-sex couple fit this definition? The same document outlines a list of people whom a man cannot marry (grandmother, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter). Likewise, a list of people whom a woman cannot marry is provided (grandfather, father, son, brother, grandson). If the Marriage Act permitted homosexual marriages, why is a man not restricted from marrying his grandfather, father, son, brother, grandson? And likewise, why is a woman not restricted from marrying her grandmother, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter? It is for the simple reason that same-sex marriages do not fall within the framework of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Marriage Act of Ontario, or most importantly, Gods holy word. To change the definition of marriage would be to change the nature of marriage; to recommend that, the full impact of the change must be understood. And that impact must be considered not just at the individual level, but most importantly at the societal level, and not just for the present, but also the future. Definition (and language in general) create human reality. We dont just change words, we change the nature of an entity when we redefine it. Definitions are frames that we place on events, concepts or circumstances, in order to give them meaning we frame reality with language in order to find meaning in that reality. Those in the gay community who want same-sex marriage are right to seek meaning in their relationships and to want to have that meaning publicly recognized. They are wrong, however, to try to do it by co-opting the institution of marriage. The institution of marriage cannot function in that way without being deformed and destroyed.

Development of Person Centred Nursing Care

Development of Person Centred Nursing Care The aim of this essay is to describe the history of person-centred care, explain why person-centred approach is important in healthcare environment and how it is achieved. This essay will also explain the concept of a person-centeredness, the concepts of a person and personhood and the issues arising from this perspectives. Furthermore, it will describe the core concepts and frameworks. Concept of person-centred care (PCC) and patient-centred nursing framework (PCNF) suggest that all healthcare staff should focus onto values and beliefs of an individual while realising the importance of knowing self and competency amongst other factors within the healthcare staff (McCormack McCance, 2010; Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2010). Principles of PCC are underpinning many guides, codes and publications. These are here to assist the healthcare staff making sure that the individual at the centre of their care will experience high quality care (Department of Health (DH), 2012; Nursing and Mi dwifery Council (NMC), 2008; RCN, 2010). Because of the complex nature of PCC this essay will only explain the above mentioned principles in more depth (values and beliefs of an individual, knowing self and competency). Furthermore, this essay will identify the issues involved in delivering PCC, including the media case involving Mid Staffordshire NHS and Francis report (2013). From historical point of view the term person-centeredness was developed by psychologist and one of the founders of the humanistic approach Carl Rogers, who focused mainly on creating therapeutic relationships with his clients. Rogers identified three core conditions important in delivering person-centred therapy – empathy, therapeutic genuineness and unconditional positive regard for all clients (Josefowitz Myran, 2005). Empathy is described as the ability to put oneself in the person’s place, imagining how one would feel in their situation (NMC, 2010). Accurate level of empathy and congruence defines the genuineness (Truax et al., 1966) of the therapist. Rogers (1957) describes unconditional positive regard as the acceptance of person’s positive, negative feelings and experiences. Now that the historical background of the person-centred approach was explained, it is important to understand the concept of a person. This concept represents the humanness and the way one is constructing a way of life. Attributes of a person such as desires, motives, memory and others, shape moral values, spiritual or religious and political beliefs and also emotional involvement in relationships (McCormack McCance, 2010). Among several perspectives explaining the concept of a person there is the hierarchy of attributes perspective, which suggests that to be classed as a person, one has to collect several physical and psychological attributes (McCormack McCance, 2010). The issue surrounding this approach is that an individual suffering from dementia (loss of a memory attribute) would automatically lose the person status (McCormack McCance, 2010). Concept of personhood defined by Kitwood (1997) suggests that in context of relationship and social being, others give a status to hum an being. This status is based on trust, respect and recognition. Regardless of the differences, these perspectives can be connected through the authenticity. It is a process of self-discovery based on person’s values, ideals and actions. It is a realisation of ones potential and also acting on this potential while accepting the responsibility for the consequences of life choices (Starr, 2008). Respecting and accepting a person as an individual, their values and beliefs and providing an individual approach to person’s needs and care is fundamental in PCC because it ensures that the person is participating in their healthcare as an equal partner (RCN, 2014). RCN (2014) also states that involvement of a person in their own care is beneficial for the person because they experience greater satisfaction with care and the system becomes more cost-effective. VIPS framework suggests that to ensure PCC it has to be understood that every single human life has an absolute value. Each person’s values and beliefs are unique and therefore each person requires an individual approach. All health care staff should be able to see and understand the world from the person’s perspective and create a supportive social environment (Brooker, 2004). McCormack (2004) defined four core concepts of person centred nursing paying attention to personal values and beliefs in his first core concept being in a social context. For a nurse the social context of a person means a true understanding of person’s context (their values, beliefs and life experiences) which allows creating a life plan that nurtures an individual personhood (McCormack, 2004). Schofield (1994) states that concerns in care can be clarified when individual’s biographical details and social context are recognised by an experienced nurse. Furthermore, being able to work with ones beliefs and values reduces generalisation based on pre-conceptions and previous experiences (McCormack McCance, 2010). Clarke et al. (2003) found out that this biographical approach improves PCC as it encourages healthcare staff to see the person and not a patient, which is helpful in building relationships with patients and their family. McCormack’s (2004) remaining core concepts are being in relation, being in place and being with self. Being in relation emphasises the importance of relationship s between healthcare staff and the person. Being in place suggests that the place where care is delivered has an impact on the care experience. Being with self explains that forming of values and beliefs is based on knowing self. While these four core concepts were focusing on the person in care, there are also frameworks that relate to the nursing staff. PCNF is a tool which enables nurses to explore PCC in their practice (McCance et al., 2011). PCNF comprises of four main components including prerequisites, care environment, person centred processes and expected outcomes. Prerequisites are the attributes of the nurse which include self-awareness, professional competency, development of interpersonal skills and also commitment to the job (McCormack McCance, 2010). In nursing, knowing self or self-awareness means the way nurses see themselves and the way they construct their own worlds. This has an influence on their practice and engagement with people (McCormack McCance, 2010). Being self-aware is important, because if the nurse is able to recognise her/his own feelings and the effect these feelings have on the ability to be fully focused on the person in their care, it is less likely that the nurse will c reate a block in compassionate care. Reflection on self awareness and identification of personal feelings and blocks improves person-centred nursing practice (Devenny Duffy, 2013). Nurses and student nurses are also required to recognise their limits of competency. Professional competency in nursing requires skills, knowledge and is seen as the ability to prioritise and make judgements and decisions (McCormack McCance, 2010). Nurses have to attend and participate in trainings to maintain and develop their competency (NMC, 2008). These trainings and standard of education for all nursing staff is set by NMC and all registered professionals are required to continue to learn and develop their skills throughout their careers (McCormack McCance, 2006). Competent and self-aware nurses can create optimal person-centred care environment. Care environment represents a context in which care is delivered. Effective staff relationships, shared decision making, skill mix, organisational system and also physical environment are important, because they all contribute to delivering high quality PCC (McCormack McCance, 2010). Throughout every stage of life people expect that delivered care will be consistent, right and meeting individual’s needs (DH, 2012). Therefore, PCC moves away from the previous medically orientated care to collaborative, holistic and relationship-focused care. Positive relationships between the care staff and the person and also the relationships between the care staff themselves are very important because they create therapeutic environment, especially when the team is effective (McCance, McCormack Dewing, 2010). Multidisciplinary teams focus on supporting and caring for people while collaborating (DH, 2012). N urses play a crucial role within multidisciplinary teams delivering person centred processes. This mean that nurses provide holistic care; they actively engage people in informed decision making and that the nursing staff is working with and respecting person’s beliefs and values. Nurses are also able to shape person’s experience by delivering high standard care (DH, 2008). To achieve a high quality care all health care staff should have sympathetic presence while working with people (McCormack McCance, 2010). Involvement in care, feeling of wellbeing, creating therapeutic environment and overall satisfaction with care are included in expected outcomes of PCC (McCormack McCance, 2010). Person centred activities allow a person to be involved in their care as an equal partner (RCN, 2014). Collins (2014) states that these activities include self management support (SMS), shared decision making (SDM), collaborative care and support planning. In SMS a person is encouraged to develop the knowledge about their conditions so they can become skilled and confident managers of their own health. Building person’s capabilities should be based on incorporation of evidence-based health information (Collins, 2014). In SDM person is encouraged to make a single informed decision about their own health with confidence. Person’s understanding of evidence-based information about treatment risks and probabilities is crucial (Collins, 2014). Collaborative care and support planning merges SMS and SDM together enabling the person gain the knowledge about their conditions, become a confident self-manager ensuring they are able to make informed decisions about their care or support they are receiving (Collins, 2014). Despite all the efforts of many health care professionals, there are times when PCC fails to be delivered. One of the major issues in providing PCC in nursing is the fact that a little attention is paid to care experience of a person. This is due to a great pressure on professionals and teams to be highly effective and efficient (McCormack McCance, 2010). This is quite obvious in Francis report (2013) which concludes that Mid Staffordshire NHS was focusing more on financial pressure and becoming the foundation trust rather than quality of care provided. Furthermore, the achievement of targets was also highly prioritised. Acceptance of poor standards of care within the health care teams resulted in denial of privacy, dignity, food, water, assistance in toileting and in many cases in death of patients (Francis, 2013). As a result of this, importance of PCC is now embedded in several policies such as Principles of Nursing Practice (RCN, 2010), National service framework for older peopl e (DH, 2001), The Code (NMC, 2008) and Compassion in Practice (DH, 2012). It can be concluded that the concept of PCC has been around for decades starting with Rogers and his humanistic approach, emphasising the importance of putting the person into the centre of holistic therapy and care (Josefowitz Myran, 2005). PCC involves the patient in their care. Respecting and working with person’s values and beliefs should be achieved by knowing self and being a competent registered professional with an updated knowledge (McCormack McCance, 2010). Despite the efforts of many health care professionals, it was obvious after Mid Staffordshire NHS case and the publication of Francis report (2013) that some health care teams were failing in many fundamental aspects of PCC leading to death of many patients. After this media case several publications were published by the governing bodies embedding person-centeredness in order to ensure this will not happen again in the future. Reference list: Brooker D. (2004). What is person-centred care in dementia? Clinical Gerontology, 13, 215–222. Clarke, A., Hanson, E.J. Ross, H. (2003). Seeing the person behind the patient: Enhancing the care of older people using a biographical approach. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 12, 697-706. Collins, A. (2014). Measuring what really matters. Towards a coherent measurement system to support person-centred care. London: The Health Foundation. Devenny, B. Duffy, K. (2013). Person-centred reflective practice. Nursing Standard, 28, 37-43. Francis, R. (2013). Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry: Executive summary. London: The Stationery Office. Great Britain. Department of Health. (2001). National Service Framework for Older People. London: Department of Health. Great Britain. Department of Health. (2008). NHS Next Stage Review: A High Quality Workforce. London: Department of Health. Great Britain. Department of Health. (2012). Compassion in Practice: Nursing, Midwifery and Care Staff. Our Vision and Strategy. London: Department of Health. Josefowitz, N. Myran, D. (2005). Towards a person-centred cognitive behaviour therapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 18(4), 329 – 336. Kitwood, T. (1997). Dementia Reconsidered: The Person Comes First. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. McCance, T., McCormack, B. Dewing, J. (2011). An Exploration of Person-Centredness in Practice. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 16, No. 2 McCormack, B. (2004). Person-centredness in gerontological nursing: an overview of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 13(3A), 31-38. McCormack, B. McCance, T. (2006).Development of a framework for person-centred nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 56(5), 472–479. McCormack, B. McCance, T. (2010).Person-centred Nursing. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Nursing and Midwifery Council. (2008). The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council. Nursing and Midwifery Council. (2010). Guidance for the care of older people. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council. Rogers, C.R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 95-103. Royal College of Nursing. (2010). Principles of Nursing Practice: principles and measures consultation. London: Royal College of Nursing. Royal College of Nursing. (2014). Person-centred care. Retrieved November 18, 2014, from: http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practice/cpd_online_learning/dignity_in_health_care/person-centred_care Schofield, I. (1994). An historical approach to care. Elderly Care, 6(6), 14-15. Starr, S. S. (2008). Authenticity: A Concept Analysis.Nursing Forum,43(2), 55-62. Truax, C. B., Wargo, D. G., Frank, J. D., Imber, S. D., Battle, C. C., Hoern-Saric, R., Stone, A. R. (1966). The therapist’s contribution to accurate empathy, non-possessive warmth and genuineness in psychotherapy.Journal of Clinical Psychology,22(3), 331-334.

The Use of Creatine in Sports Essay -- Athletics Steroids Drugs Sports

The Use of Creatine in Sports The first weeks of my senior season of football were the toughest times I had ever had in my life. We had two practices a day. We had one practice early in the morning, and one late in the afternoon. Physically, I wasn't at a level like most of my teammates. I felt like I couldn't do anything on the high school level; plus I was being thrown around like a rag doll. I needed something that would help me reach my potential. That's when I tried creatine. I started out taking small doses of creatine as an energy booster before practice, noticing that I wasn't getting tired and out of breath like I once was. I continued to use the supplement before I did any type of exercising activity, although I never exceeded the daily amount. I used the supplement for about three weeks, noticing muscle development and body fat loss all over my body. Gradually, I started reducing my dose each day until my supply was gone. In my short three weeks of taking creatine, I gained about 4-5 pounds of lean muscle. I was being noticed in practice and was getting more playing time in games. I was still unsure about what consequences I would have to face if I continued to use the substance. I needed to know more. Everything has a price; l wanted to figure out what mine could be.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It's been called the drug that separates the great from the greatest. It has helped athletes all over the world reach their potential. Creatine is an all natural food and supplement drug that works like anabolic steroids without the side effects. It has the capability to help produce muscle mass, energy, and speed all in one pill. Over the past few years, creatine has become a controversial issue in the athletic world. A lot of research has been put into creatine although long-term effects are left unknown, leaving the controversial question of whether creatine should be legal or illegal. Being a former user of creatine showed me how I could maximize my potential athletic ability, although leaving me cynical about harm to my body. I wanted to know more specifically how it works on the chemical level and major side effects and precautions I should take if I were going to continue using the supplement. The only way for my to find the answers to my questions was with research. I began interviewing people who knew more about creatine while at the same time I began my own rese... ...arch 12, 1999 Bernards, Neal. War on Drugs. San Diego: Greenhaven Books, 1990. Creatine and Muscle Building. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/askdiet/na/get960901.htm, April 14, 1999. Creatine FAQ’s. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.nutrasense.com/nutrasense/creatine.html, March 13, 1999. Dreyfuss, Ira. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.nando.net/newsroom/aploth/1996/mor/feat/archive/091596/mar/75430.html, March 15, 1999. High Power Creatine. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.whole-salecreatine.com/1013/faq.htm Jalloh, Ali. Telephone interview. 27 April. 2000. Klein, Scott. Creatine. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://nimbus.ocis.temple.edu/~sklein/#ABOUT, May 6, 1998 London, David. Creatine Concerns in England. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/wc98/full/wc98.htm, April 5, 1999. Marks, Alexandra. â€Å"Schools Wrestle with ‘Bulk in a Bottle’†. The Christian Science Monitor. September 30, 1998. Mumby, Chris. Personal interview. 2 Mar. 1999. Potratz, Adam. Personal interview. 3 Mar. 1999. Sahelian, Ray. Creatine Nature’s Muscle Builder. [Online] Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.raysahelian.com/creatine.html, March 12, 1999.

Hobsons Choice by Harold Brighouse :: Hobsons Choice Harold Brighouse Essays

Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse Maggie can be described as a woman of many qualities; there are many aspects of the play that can verify this statement. The scene starts with Maggie saying "Dinner at half past one girls, we’ll give him half an hour" This looks as if Hobson has gone to the pub but Maggie has told him that lunch is at one but he says its not. So Maggie says it’s at half one. From the words "We'll give him half an hour" it seems as if this argument is a regular occurrence. Maggie is a very dominant character and because of this, she makes a great saleswoman. "This is a shop you know. We're not here to let people go out without buying." In this scene, we also meet the other main character of the book, Hobson. He is an old man, who likes to show that he has money, by the clothes and the jewellery that he wears. Towards the end of this scene, we meet Willie Mossop. He plays an important part of this play. When we first meet him, he is a shy fellow. "I'm not much good at owt but leather." As the play progress, Maggie marries Will and they start up a business together. By the end of the play, Willie is a completely different person, he is no longer shy, but he is a very confident character who is not afraid to speak his mind. Thanks to Maggie Willie had changed in character. Maggie first becomes aware of Willies talent, when a customer, Mrs Hepworth, visits the shop and demands to see Willie. We find out here how little faith people have for Willie, as when Mrs Hepworth wants to see the maker of her shoes, Hobson tries to apologise as he thinks that Willie has done something wrong. "I assure you it shall not occur again, Mrs Hepworth." By the time Mrs Hepworth has left the shop, she has complemented Willie, insulted Hobson and Maggie has made up her mind that Willie is the man for her. A short while after, Hobson decided to go to the Moonrakers. While he had gone, Maggie took the opportunity to tell Willie her proposal and so she yet again calls him up to the shop. He is still shy and so he doesn't want to come right up. Maggie tries to builds Will's confidence, by telling him how clever he is and how he could do much better. "You're a natural born genius at making boots." This makes Willie feel a little bit better around Maggie as he now knows that she has confidence in him.

Uniting Mind, Body, and Spirit in Hermann Hesses Siddhartha Essay

Uniting Mind, Body, and Spirit in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha Each of us has innate desire to understand the purpose of our existence.   As Hermann Hesse illustrates in his novel Siddhartha, the journey to wisdom may be difficult.   Organized religion helps many to find meaning in life but it does not substitute careful introspection. An important message of Siddhartha is that to achieve enlightenment one must unite the experiences of mind, body, and spirit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the first part of the book, Siddhartha is consumed by his thirst for knowledge.   He joined the samanas and listened to the teachings of the Buddha in attempt to discern the true way to Nirvana.   Though he perfected the arts of meditation and self-denial, he realized that no teachings could show him the way to inner peace.   While with the ascetics only a third of his quest was accomplished.   Siddhartha said, "You have learned nothing through teachings, and so I think, O Illustrious One, that nobody finds salvation through teachings" (27).   His experiences with the samanas and Gotama were essential to his inner journey because they teach him that he cannot be taught, however this knowledge alone would not deliver him to enlightenment.   Siddhartha had taken the first step in his quest but without the discovery of the body and spirit, his knowledge was useless in attaining Nirvana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second part of the book describes Siddhartha's indulgences of the body.   The narrator stated, "How many long years he had spent without any lofty goal, without any thirst, without any exaltation, content with small pleasures yet never really satisfied" (67).   Though at the time he did not realize it, Siddhartha had to experience the lowliness of a material... ...is wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity" (111).   He now understood that all things are in harmony, heading towards the same goal and he therefore knew he had no reason to mourn over his son.  Ã‚   Siddhartha had then completed his search for inner direction and attained Nirvana through experiences of the mind, body, and spirit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When the experiences of mind, body, and spirit are united inner direction is found and meaning is given to life.   Herman Hesse documents specifically the Buddhist inner journey but this path is applicable to all faiths.   He implies that we must all acknowledge the unity of everything and understand how we belong to it.   Our inner journey is very personal but our goals to achieve complete love and compassion are one and the same.   Work Cited Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Dover Publications, 1998.

Critical Lense

Thomas De Quincey once said â€Å" all that is literature seeks to communicate power. † An author communicates a form of power to others through his/her works. Every piece of literature carries a strong message. These messages can open a person’s eyes and mind to a new perspective. It can also point out things that have repeated throughout history, like discrimination and hatred towards a certain race or what love can do for people. These messages could show what most people don’t see. Literature works such as To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, have a very strong message underneath. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a great novel about discrimination and injustice towards a certain race. This is a great novel about a particular trial, where Atticus Finch, a good lawyer, defends Tom Robinson, whose being accused of raping a young white girl. Tom Robinson is a black man, who has done nothing wrong but is being accused of raping someone just because of his skin color. It did not matter what the black man said back than. Whatever the white person said was always â€Å"right†. One of the themes for this book is the existence of social inequality. The social status of Maycomb was very complicated. At the top you had the Finches, than the Cunninghams, than the Ewells, which were considered white trash. But all the way below the Ewells were the blacks. As you can see, the blacks were below the white trash, they were at the very bottom of the social ladder. This really did effect the society in Maycomb. It divided people up into certain groups. Since the Ewells were above the blacks, it gave them the power to persecute Tom Robinson, an innocent black man. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about two women and their lives in Afghanistan. These two women with different ideas about life are brought together by war and loss. As they go through all the dangers that life has brought upon them, they create a strong relationship. They create a mother-daughter and kind of sisters bond. Their abusive husband and the dangerous streets of Kabul have brought them together. This book shows how someone’s love for her family can move this person to shocking self-sacrifice. And the key to surviving all of this is love. Through the theme of female bonds, you can see what the bond of love can do for a women. The efforts of their husband and the government to keep women from having power as much as possible does not work. They form great, strong bonds that give them confidence and strength to fight back. Laila and Miriam form this strong bond together. They both have support in one another. Towards the end, Miriam finally had the strength to fight Rasheed. She did not get this from herself, but from the confidence and love from Laila. As you can see, both of these great novels have a strong message underneath. One of the messages is that social inequality does exist and does destroy people’s lives. The other message is that bonds can give people strength and confidence, which gives them the ability to step up. Love is they key survival of these bonds. Women forms these bonds and have each other’s support and love to give them strength to do more in their life and also to self-sacrifice. Both of these messages have opened people’s eyes to new point of views.

Most Important Turning Point in WW2 Essay

There’s always a discussion or argument as to what the most important turning point in the war was. This is a very difficult question to answer because every important part of the war happened because of another important part of the war. But is there just one main turning point in the war or could there be multiple? The Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain took place between August and September 1940. After the success of Blitzkrieg, the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, Britain, on the Western front, was by herself. The Battle of Britain was the closest British Civilians actually got to see any of the fighting in WW2. In July 1940 through to October 1940 a few thousand young men, ably backed by the British Public and the men and women of the RAF ground staff held off the mightiest Air Force assembled up to that point in time. The German Luftwaffe. On September 15th came the last major engagement of the battle. On that day, the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. The overall casualties amounted to Germany losing 1,100 planes whereas Britain had lost just over half that amount (650). On September 17th, Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain. The invasion would not have been possible if the Royal Navy had been able to attack the barges; and, with the RAF in existence the Germans could not hope to attack the Royal Navy. So, no invasion took place. If Britain had lost the Battle of Britain then Britain would have almost certainly been invaded and probably conquered like the other European countries. But Britain did not lose the Battle of Britain and, so, Britain was not conquered. The continued existence of Great Britain as a fighting nation meant that†¦ Germany needed many men to garrison Western Europe rather than attack Russia because the resistance movements in the occupied countries had support from Britain. When Japan and Germany declared war on America, America, being the biggest industrial power at the time, was able to use Britain as a massive base to store all the aircraft they needed to bomb Germany. The majority of Germany`s artillery was kept back in Europe and Germany on anti-aircraft duties because of these huge bombing raids. These drains on Germany’s resources meant they were not able to conquer Russia in the quick manner needed. This led to the eventual meat  grinder of the Eastern front which swallowed so much of their army and air force. How much difference would those guns, men and ammunition have made at Stalingrad? The Battle of Britain boosted British morale through the roof. This was shown in the famous â€Å"never was so much owned by so many to so few.† Speech by Winston Churchill. The British also kicked the Axis out of Africa, forcing Hitler to send much needed supplies and men to assist the failing Afrika Korps. All of this would not have happened if the British had lost the Battle of Britain. The Enigma Code The German military used the Enigma cipher machine during WW2 to keep their communications secret. The machine was available commercially during the 1920s, but the military potential of the device was quickly realised and the German army, navy and air force all used a more developed model of the machine to encipher their messages believing that it would make these communications unsolvable to the enemy. The Enigma machine is an electro-mechanical device that relies on a series of rotating ‘wheels’ or ‘rotors’ to scramble plaintext messages into jumbled cipher text. The machine’s variable elements can be set in many billions of combinations, and each one will make a completely different cipher text message. If you know how the machine has been set up, you can type the cipher text back in and it will unscramble the message. If you don’t know the Enigma setting, the message remains indecipherable. The German authorities believed in the absolute security of the Enigma. However, with the help of Polish mathematicians who had managed to secure a machine before the outbreak of WW2, British code breakers stationed at Bletchley Park managed to exploit weaknesses in the machine and how it was used and were able to crack the Enigma code. Breaking the Enigma ciphers gave the Allies a key advantage, which, according to historians, shortened the war by two years thus saving many lives. In one specific case the team behind the Enigma code were able to inform the British 8th Army at El Alamein of an incoming attack from the Afrika corps. Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most major and decisive battles of World War 2 where the Axis fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle took place between August 23, 1942 and February 2,  1943 and was fought with close-quarters combat and lack of regard for civilian casualties. It is among the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare with almost two million casualties. The German attack, led by General Paulus, to capture Stalingrad began in late summer 1942, and was supported by severe Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The German offensive eventually became reduced to building-to-building fighting. Despite controlling nearly the entire city at times, the Germans were unable to shake off the last soviets clinging to their City. Both sides fought vigorously over the city and Stalin ordered his troops, â€Å"Not a step back.† The Battle for Stalingrad was rife with sniping on both sides; however the Russians us ed a tactic no other country did during the war. This tactic was the employing of female snipers on the field, which they did to great effect. By doing this, the Russian Army was able to fill their ranks further as well as raise morale of troops and civilians by reporting on the lethal effectiveness of the Soviet fighting woman. Morale was one of the most vital things a soldier could have. Without morale a soldier became ineffective and the worst thing for morale was an enemy Sniper. The presence of a sniper was usually revealed to enemy troops by a single shot, followed by the death of one of their comrades. This presented a problem to the remaining troops. Not only were they under fire from an enemy, but they could not see where this enemy was nor could they predict who would be the next victim. Additionally, if the sniper left, there was no way for the opposing men to know unless one of them left cover, and therefore risking his life. The strain of being constantly in danger was increased by the inability of the troops to strike back at the sniper, as well as their anger at the death of their fellow soldiers. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russian snipers, particularly Vassili Zaitsev, proved to cause so much damage to German morale and such a boost to the Russians that German High Command sent in their best sniper, a Major Koning, to hunt down and kill Zaitsev. Unfortunately for the Germans, this plan backfired, and Zaitsev killed Koning, further lifting Russian morale and dropping German fighting spirit to a new low. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack at the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German flanks. After heavy fighting, the Axis army was cut off and surrounded inside Stalingrad. Adolf Hitler’s resolute belief in  no surrender led to more loss of life. Eventually, the failure to save the German Forces and lack of supplies led to the surrender. By February 1943, Axis resistance in Stalingrad had stopped and nearly 125,000 remaining troops of the 6th Army had surrendered, the others were killed. Only 6,000 soldiers made it back home. The battle lasted 5 months, 1 week, and 3 days. It was Germany’s first major defeat. However by the end of the battle 99% of the buildings in Stalingrad were reduced to piles of rubble. â€Å"The siege of September 13, 1942 to January 31, 1943 will inspire forever the hearts of all free people. Their glorious victory stemmed the tide of invasion and marked the turning point in the war of the Allied nations against the forces of aggression.† Franklin D Roosevelt, congratulating Joseph Stalin on the soviet Victory at Stalingrad. This shows that not only did Stalingrad spread morale throughout the U.S.S.R but throughout Allied troops around the world. For the U.S.S.R Stalingrad was it. A desperate last stand against the Axis and total inhalation. Not only were there vital oil sources to the South-East but it was a battle between Stalin and Hitler themselves (considering it was Stalin’s city). After the Battle of Stalingrad Germ an forces never recovered to their earlier strength and so gave up their campaign on the USSR. It was the beginning of the end and retreat for the Axis powers in Russia. El Alamein Between 1940 and 1942, the desert war went back and forth over the north coast of Africa. After initial British success, the Afrika Korps (the German army) made a determined advance, gradually beating the British 8th Army back as far as a small town called El Alamein near the Egyptian border. At the end of the First Battle of El Alamein, the Allies suffered about 13,250 wounded, captured, missing, and killed, while the Axis suffered 17,000. The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942. Germany had: 30,542 casualties, 500 tanks, 254 guns, 84 aircraft. And British and other Commonwealth forces had: 13,560 casualties, 332- 500 tanks, 111 guns, 97 aircraft. After the two battles the world was convinced that the Axis powers, particularly Germany, were not invincible as this was their second major military defeat. A quarter of a million Italian and German soldiers su rrendered at El Alamein which was nearly twice the  amount that surrendered at Stalingrad four months earlier. This destroyed Italian moral completely because not only were they crushed at El Alamein, their country became the new frontline, and for Germany It was another momentous disaster. The Battle of El Alamein not only allowed total free access to the Suez Canal for Allied shipping, which was of special importance now that the war had taken on a global nature, but it also stopped the Germans from threatening the Middle-Eastern oil fields, a major supplier of Allied oil reserves. The victory, coupled with joint Allied landings in French Algiers, also finally spelled the elimination of an Axis presence in North Africa and ended the Italian dreams of a ‘new Roman Empire’. There were also strategic implications: the defeat in North Africa began the series of events that led the invasion of mainland Italy and the toppling of the Italian dictator Mussolini. This brought the Italians onto the Allies’ side and left Germany at a strategic disadvantage across the whole of the M editerranean. The North African campaign also drew German troops away from the massive battles that were taking place in the U.S.S.R. I have not included D-Day as one of the most important turning points in the war because I believe that the fact that D-Day happened means that the tide had already turned. For the Western Front the tide turned at the Battle of Britain because if Britain had been taken then: America wouldn’t have an Allied country close to Germany, the Allies wouldn’t have been able to win in North Africa and D-Day wouldn’t of been able to happen in the first place. I have also not included Pearl Harbour as a Turning point because I feel Japan only attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbour so they could destroy some of their vital ships and resources. I think they did this because they knew that war was going to break out between Japan and America at some point and so decided to jump the gun and get the upper hand. This would mean that Pearl Harbour was significant point in the war rather than a turning point. In conclusion I would say that there wasn’t a turning point as such but four main turning points that led do the downfall of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. These being: The Battle of Britain, The breaking of the Enigma Code, Stalingrad and El Alamein. This is because the three battles were last chance stands against the mighty German Army, and defeat would have meant loss of highly important resources, land, men and morale. Additionally if the Enigma code had not been broken the war might have raged  on for another two or three years and many more millions could have died. Bibliography http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/russianow/features/9942741/stalingrad-dates-legacy.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ww2_summary_01.shtml http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/defeat/catastrophe-stalingrad.htm http://bbrown.umwblogs.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few http://stalingrad3.weebly.com/index.html http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battleofbritain.htm http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Ten

The bell rang. There was no time to go back to the cafeteria and tell Bonnie and Meredith. Elena set off for her next class, past the averted faces and hostile eyes that were becoming all too familiar these days. It was hard, in history class, not to stare at Caroline, not to let Caroline know she knew. Alaric asked about Matt and Stefan being absent for the second day in a row, and Elena shrugged, feeling exposed and on display. She didn't trust this man with the boyish smile and the hazel eyes and the thirst for knowledge about Mr. Tanner's death. And Bonnie, who simply gazed at Alaric soulfully, was no help at all. After class she caught a scrap of Sue Carson's conversation. â€Å"†¦ he's on vacation from college – I forget exactly where†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena had had enough of discreet silence. She spun around and spoke directly to Sue and the girl Sue was talking to, bursting uninvited into their discussion. â€Å"If I were you,† she said to Sue, â€Å"I would keep away from Damon. I mean that.† There was startled, embarrassed laughter. Sue was one of the few people at school who hadn't shunned Elena, and now she was looking as if she wished she had. â€Å"You mean,† said the other girl hesitantly, â€Å"because he's yours, too? Or – â€Å" Elena's own laughter was harsh. â€Å"I mean because he'sdangerous ,† she said. â€Å"And I'm not joking.† They just looked at her. Elena saved them the further embarrassment of having to reply or to get tactfully groupies and headed for Meredith's locker. â€Å"Where are we going? I thought we were going to talk to Caroline.† â€Å"Not anymore,† Elena said. â€Å"Wait until we get home. Then I'll tell you why.† â€Å"I can't believe it,† said Bonnie an hour later. â€Å"I mean, I believe it, but I can'tbelieve it. Not even of Caroline.† â€Å"It's Tyler,† Elena said. â€Å"He's the one with the big plans. So much for men not being interested in diaries.† â€Å"Actually, we should thank him,† said Meredith. â€Å"Because of him at least we have until Founders' Day to do something about it.Why did you say it was supposed to be on Founders' Day, Elena?† â€Å"Tyler has something against the Fells.† â€Å"But they're all dead,† said Bonnie. â€Å"Well, that doesn't seem to matter to Tyler. I remember him talking about it in the graveyard, too, when we were looking at their tomb. He thinks they stole his ancestors' rightful place as the town's founders or something.† â€Å"Elena,† Meredith said seriously, â€Å"is there anything else in the diary that could hurt Stefan? Besides the thing about the old man, I mean.† â€Å"Isn't that enough?† With those steady, dark eyes on her, Elena felt discomfort flutter between her ribs. What was Meredith asking? â€Å"Enough to get Stefan run out of town like they said,† agreed Bonnie. â€Å"Enough that we have to get the diary back from Caroline,† Elena said. â€Å"The only question is, how?† â€Å"Caroline said she had it hidden somewhere safe. That probably means her house.† Meredith chewed her lip thoughtfully. â€Å"She's got just the one brother in eighth grade, right? And her mom doesn't work, but she goes shopping in Roanoke a lot. Do they still have a maid?† â€Å"Why?† said Bonnie. â€Å"What difference does it make?† â€Å"Well, we don't want anybody walking in while we're burglarizing the house.† â€Å"While we'rewhat ?† Bonnie's voice rose to a squeak. â€Å"You can't be serious!† â€Å"What are we supposed to do, just sit back and wait until Founders' Day, and let her read Elena's diary in front of the town?She stole it from your house. We've just got to steal it back,† Meredith said, maddeningly calm. â€Å"We'll get caught. We'll get expelled from school – if we don't end up going to jail.† Bonnie turned to Elena in appeal. â€Å"Tell her, Elena.† Besides, it seemed such a†¦ aviolation , to go into someone's house when they were not there, to search their possessions. She would hate it if someone did that to her. But, of course, someone had. Caroline had violated Bonnie's house, and right now had Elena's most private possession in her hands. â€Å"Let's do it,† Elena said quietly. â€Å"But let's be careful.† â€Å"Can't we talk about this?† said Bonnie weakly, looking from Meredith's determined face to Elena's. â€Å"There's nothing to talk about. You're coming,† Meredith told her. â€Å"You promised,† she added, as Bonnie took a breath to object afresh. And she held up her index finger. â€Å"The blood oath was only to help Elenaget Stefan!† Bonnie cried. â€Å"Think again,† said Meredith. â€Å"You swore you would do whatever Elena asked in relation to Stefan. There wasn't anything about a time limit or about ‘only until Elena gets him.' â€Å" Bonnie's mouth dropped open. She looked at Elena, who was almost laughing in spite of herself. â€Å"It's true,† Elena said solemnly. â€Å"And you said it yourself: ‘Swearing with blood means you have to stick to your oath no matter what happens.' â€Å" Bonnie shut her mouth and thrust her chin out. â€Å"Right,† she said grimly. â€Å"Now I'm stuck for the rest of my life doing whatever Elena wants me to do about Stefan. Wonderful.† â€Å"This is the last thing I'll ever ask,† Elena said. â€Å"And I promise that. I swear – â€Å" â€Å"Don't!† said Meredith, suddenly serious. â€Å"Don't, Elena. You might be sorry later.† â€Å"Now you're taking up prophecy, too?† Elena said. And then she asked, â€Å"So how are we going to get hold of Caroline's house key for an hour or so?† November9,Saturday Dear Diary, I'm sorry it's been so long. Lately I've been too busy or too depressed – or both – to write you. Besides, with everything that's happened I'm almost afraid to keep a diary at all anymore. But I need someone to turn to, because right now there's not a single human being, not a single person on earth, that I'm not keeping something from. Bonnie and Meredith can't know the truth about Stefan. Stefan can't know the truth about Damon. Aunt Judith can't know about anything. Bonnie and Meredith know about Caroline and the diary; Stefan doesn't.Stefan knows about the vervain I use every day now, Bonnie and Meredith don't. Even My life is full of lies right now, and I need someoneto be completely honest with. I'm going to hide this diary under the loose floorboard in the closet, so that no one will find it even if I drop dead and they clean out my room. Maybe one of Margaret's grandchildren will be playing in there someday, and will pry up the board and pull it out, but until then, nobody. This diary is my last secret. I don't know why I'm thinking about death and dying. That's Bonnie's craze; she's the one who thinks it would be so romantic. I know what it's really like; there was nothing romantic about it when Mom and Dad died. Just the worst feelings in the world. I want to live for a good long time, marry Stefan, and be happy. And there's no reason why I can't, once all these problems are behind us. Except that there are times when I get scared and I don't believe that. And there are little things that shouldn't matter, but they bother me. Like why Stefan still wears Catherine's ring around his neck, even though I know he loves me. Like why he's never said he loves me, even though I know it's true. It doesn't matter. Everything will work out. It has to work out. And then we'll be together and be happy. There's no reason why we can't. There's no reason why we can't. There's no reason. Elena stopped writing, trying to keep the letters on the page in focus. But they only blurred further, and she shut the book before a betraying teardrop could fall on the ink. Then she went over to the closet, pried up the loose board with a nail file, and put the diary there. She had the nail file in her pocket a week later as the three of them, she and Bonnie and Meredith, stood outside Caroline's back door. â€Å"Hurry up,† hissed Bonnie in agony, looking around the yard as if she expected something to jump out at them. â€Å"Come on, Meredith!† â€Å"There,† said Meredith, as the key finally went the right way into the dead bolt lock and the doorknob yielded to her turning fingers. â€Å"We're in.† â€Å"Are you surethey're not in? Elena, what if they come back early? Why couldn't we do this in the daytime, at least?† â€Å"Bonnie, will you getinside ? We've been through all this. The maid's always here in the daytime. And they won't be back early tonight unless somebody gets sick at Chez Louis. Now, come on!† said Elena. â€Å"Nobody would dare to get sick at Mr. Forbes's birthday dinner,† Meredith said comfortingly to Bonnie as the smaller girl stepped in. â€Å"We're safe.† â€Å"If they've got enough money to go to expensive restaurants, you'd think they could afford to leave a few lights on,† said Bonnie, refusing to be comforted. Privately, Elena agreed with this. It was strange and disconcerting to be wandering through someone else's house in the dark, and her heart pounded chokingly as they went up the stairs. Her palm, clutching â€Å"It's got to be in her bedroom,† she said. Caroline's window faced the street, which meant they had to be even more careful not to show a light there. Elena swung the tiny beam of the flashlight around with a feeling of dismay. It was one thing to plan to search someone's room, to picture efficiently and methodically going through drawers. It was another thing actually to be standing here, surrounded by what seemed like thousands of places to hide something, and feeling afraid to touch anything in case Caroline noticed it had been disturbed. The other two girls were also standing still. â€Å"Maybe we should just go home,† Bonnie said quietly. And Meredith did not contradict her. â€Å"We have to try. At least try,† said Elena, hearing how tinny and hollow her voice sounded. She eased open a drawer on the highboy and shone the light onto dainty piles of lacy underwear. A moment's poking through them assured her there was nothing like a book there. She straightened the piles and shut the drawer again. Then she let out her breath. â€Å"It's not that hard,† she said. â€Å"What we need to do is divide up the room and then searcheverything in our section, every drawer, every piece of furniture, every object big enough to hide a diary in.† She assigned herself the closet, and the first thing she did was prod at the floorboards with her nail file. But Caroline's boards all seemed to be secure and the walls of the closet sounded solid. Rummaging through Caroline's clothes she found several things she'd lent the other girl last year. She was tempted to take them back, but of course she couldn't. A search of Caroline's shoes and purses revealed nothing, even when she dragged a chair over so that she could investigate the top shelf of the closet thoroughly. Meredith was sitting on the floor examining a pile of stuffed animals that had been relegated to a chest with other childish mementos. She ran her long sensitive fingers over each, checking for slits in the material. When she reached a fluffy poodle, she paused. â€Å"I gave this to her,† she whispered. â€Å"I think for her tenth birthday. I thought she'd thrown it away.† Elena couldn't see her eyes; Meredith's own flashlight was turned on the poodle. But she knew how Meredith was feeling. â€Å"I tried to make up with her,† she said softly. â€Å"I did, Meredith, at the Haunted House. But she as good as told me she would never forgive me for taking Stefan from her. I wish things could be different, but she won't let them be.† â€Å"So now it's war.† â€Å"So now it's war,† said Elena, flat and final. She watched as Meredith put the poodle aside and picked up the next animal. Then she turned back to her own search. But she had no better luck with the dresser than she had with the closet. And with every moment that passed she felt more uneasy, more certain that they were about to hear a car pulling into the Forbes' driveway. â€Å"I've got it. Elena, it's a diary!† Relief swooped through Elena then, and she felt like a crumpled piece of paper being straightened and smoothed. She could move again. Breathing was wonderful. She'd known, she'd known all along that nothingreally terrible could happen to Stefan. Life couldn't be that cruel, not to Elena Gilbert. They were all safe now. But Meredith's voice was puzzled. â€Å"It's a diary. But it's green, not blue. It's the wrong one.† â€Å"What?† Elena snatched the little book, shining her light on it, trying to make the emerald green of the cover change into sapphire blue. It didn't work. This diary was almost exactly like hers, but it wasn't hers. â€Å"It's Caroline's,† she said stupidly, still not wanting to believe it. Bonnie and Meredith crowded close. They all looked at the closed book, and then at one another. â€Å"There might be clues,† said Elena slowly. â€Å"It's only fair,† agreed Meredith. But it was Bonnie who actually took the diary and opened it. Elena peered over her shoulder at Caroline's spiky back-slanted writing, so different from the block letters of the purple notes. At first her eyes wouldn't focus, but then a name leapt out at her.Elena. â€Å"Wait, what's that?† Bonnie, who was the only one actually in a position to read more than one or two words, was silent a moment, her lips moving. Then she snorted. â€Å"Listen to this,† she said, and read: † ‘Elena's the most selfish person I've ever known. Everyone thinks she's so together, but it's really just coldness. It's sickening the way people suck up to her, never realizing that she doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything except Elena.' â€Å" â€Å"Carolinesays that? She should talk!† But Elena could feel heat in her face. It was, practically, what Matt had said about her when she was after Stefan. â€Å"Go on, there's more,† said Meredith, poking at Bonnie, who continued in an offended voice. † ‘Bonnie's almost as bad these days, always trying to make herself important. The newest thing is pretending she's psychic so people will pay attention to her. If she wasreally psychic she'd figure out that Elena is just using her. There was a heavy pause, and then Elena said, â€Å"Is that all?† â€Å"No, there's a bit about Meredith. ‘Meredith doesn't do anything to stop it. In fact, Meredith doesn'tdo anything; she just watches. It's as if she can't act; she can onlyreact to things. Besides, I've heard my parents talking about her family – no wonder she never mentions them.' What's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"Try around October eighteenth. That was when it was stolen,† said Elena, putting her questions aside. She'd ask Meredith about it later. There was no entry for October eighteenth or the weekend after; in fact, there were only a few entries for the following weeks. None of them mentioned the diary. â€Å"Well, that's it then,† said Meredith, sitting back. â€Å"This book is useless. Unless we want to blackmailher with it. You know, like we won't show hers if she won't show yours.† It was a tempting idea, but Bonnie spotted the flaw. â€Å"There's nothing bad about Caroline in here; it's all just complaints about other people. Mostly us. I'll bet Caroline wouldlove to have it read out loud in front of the whole school. It'd make her day.† â€Å"So what do we do with it?† â€Å"Put it back,† said Elena tiredly. She swung her light around the room, which seemed to her eyes to be filled with subtle differences from when they'd come in. â€Å"We'll just have to keep on pretending we don't know she has my diary, and hope for another chance.† â€Å"All right,† said Bonnie, but she went on thumbing through the little book, occasionally giving vent to an indignant snort or hiss. â€Å"Will you listen to this!† she exclaimed. â€Å"There isn't time,† Elena said. She would have said something else, but at that moment Meredith spoke, her tone commanding everyone's immediate attention. â€Å"A car.† It took only a second to ascertain that the vehicle was pulling up into the Forbes' driveway. Bonnie's eyes and mouth were wide and round and she seemed to be paralyzed, kneeling by the bed. â€Å"Go! Go on,† said Elena, snatching the di-ary from her. â€Å"Turn the flashlights off and get out the back door.† They were already moving, Meredith urging Bonnie forward. Elena dropped to her knees and lifted the bedspread, pulling up at Caroline's mattress. With her other hand she pushed the diary forward, wedging it between the mattress and the dust ruffle. The thinly covered box springs bit into her arm from below, but even worse was the weight of the queen-size mattress bearing down from above. She gave the book a few more nudges with her fingertips and then pulled her arm out, tugging the bedspread back in place. She gave one wild glance back at the room as she left; there was no time to fix anything more now. As she moved swiftly and silently toward the stairs, she heard a key in the front door. What followed was a sort of dreadful game of tag. Elena knew they were not deliberately chasing her, but the Forbes family seemed determined to corner her in their house. She turned back the way she had come as voices and lights materialized in the hall as they headed up the stairs. She fled from them into the last doorway down the hall, and they seemed to follow. They moved across the landing; they were right outside the master bedroom. She turned toward the adjoining bathroom, but then saw lights spring to life She was trapped. At any moment Caroline's parents might come in. She saw the french windows leading to a balcony and made her decision in that same instant. Outside, the air was cool, and her panting breath showed faintly. Yellow light burst forth from the room beside her, and she huddled even farther to the left, keeping out of its path. Then, the sound she had been dreading came with terrible clarity: the snick of a door handle, followed by a billowing of curtains inward as the french windows opened. She looked around frantically. It was too far to jump to the ground, and there was nothing to grab hold of to climb down. That left only the roof, but there was nothing to climb up, either. Still, some instinct made her try, and she was on the balcony railing and groping for a handhold above even as a shadow appeared on the filmy curtains. A hand parted them, a figure began to emerge, and then Elena felt something clasping her own hand, locking on her wrist and hauling her upwards. Automatically, she boosted with her feet and felt herself scrambling onto the shingled roof. Trying to calm her ragged breath, she looked over gratefully to see who her rescuer was – and froze.