Nervous Conditions Essay

Nervous Conditions The choice to resist or comply in situations greatly affects the success and personal relationships of Tambu and Nyasha throughout the Nervous Conditions. Tambu arrives at her uncle’s school initially embracing her education and passion for learning, while there she begins to notice the relationships that existed between the settlers and native, males and females in society. Nyasha understood how awful these relationships were as a young girl. She suffers from severe depression and an eating disorder while trying to cope with and understand these relationships.There are many different decisions made with a variety of strategies that either helps them advance or causes them to fall victim to the controls of colonial society. An educated woman was very uncommon in Zimbabwe during the 1980’s. Tambu decided to pursue her education against her mothers will. You notice the generation gap when her mother says ‘’Can you cook books and feed them t o your husband? Stay at home with you mother. Learn to cook, clean and grow vegetables’’(Ma Shingayi, 15). She decided not to follow the traditional path of women and began selling corn at the market with her teacher to pay for her schooling.Tambu decided to resist fait at a very young age and continued not listening to her family throughout the novel. She felt weighed down by the burdens of womanhood and would not tolerate settling into that lifestyle. Nyasha’s resentment for her parents results in her lashing out and developing an eating disorder. When her mother takes the D. H Lawrence book form her without asking Nyasha begins an argument with her at dinner and storms off without eating. This is the first sign of her nervous condition and foreshadows the escalating problem of her eating disorder. The decision to become bulimic is an attempt to control her life.She feels that her parents are preventing her from becoming the person she wants to be. ‘â₠¬â„¢ They’ve done it to me’’ (Nyasha, 200) she says to Tambu. She feels that she can’t become the confident successful young women she knows is inside her until her parents stop treating her this way. Her parents chose to take away her books, force her to eat and beat her for punishment. This created very strong feelings of hostility towards toward them. These feelings of animosity only get worse throughout the novel as her father gets more controlling to in order to fix her problems.Nyasha’s hatred for her mother goes beyond the issue of them controlling her. This extra hatred for her mother comes from her decision to be her husbands ‘’underdog’’ (Nyasha, 119). She doesn’t believe in the idea of surrendering her dreams and lifestyle to the control of a man. She does not respect her mother for doing this and it only adds to the escalating family conflict. After the Christmas dance Nyasha decided to resist the rules set by her father to hang out with Andy. Babamukuru calls her a whore and beats her, threatening to kill her and hang himself.After all of this Nyasha says this to Tambu ‘’ you cant go on all the time being whatever’s necessary. You’ve got to have some conviction, and I’m convinced I don’t want to be anyone’s underdog. It’s not right for anyone to be that. But once you get use to it well, it just seems natural and you carry on. And that’s the end of you. You’re trapped. They control everything you do’’ (Nyasha, 119). This shows the resentment she has for her mother. She disobeys her father to show that she is not going to be controlled like that. In her eyes she is getting a head by doing this but it only makes her father more controlling.As the preparations began for her parents wedding Tambu became resentful towards Babamukru for ‘’having devised this plot which made such a joke of my parents my home and myself’’ (Tambu, 151) She becomes anxious and angry with her uncle for not understanding how torn she was with this situation. Tambu decides not to go to the wedding; this is the first time she has stood up for herself in Babamukru’s house. After the ceremony she has some regret for not going but the fact that she was able to make her own decision made it all worth it. ‘’guilt, so many razor sharp edges of it, slice away at me.My mother had been right; it was unnatural; I would not listen to my own parents, but I would listen to Babamukuru even when he told me to laugh at my parents. There was something unnatural about me. ’’(Tambu, 167) This wedding made her realize how much she had just been just doing everything he said even if it was wrong and this made her feel very week. Making the decision not to go gave her a ‘’newly acquired identity’’(Tambu, 171) and she gladly took the lashings and punishment for it. When the nuns from Sacred Heart came to the mission school to recruit they offer Tambu a scholarship and a position at the school.Maiguru stands up for Tambu when Babamukuru shuts down the idea. She accepts the offer to the Convent School and becomes so focused on her education she fails to see the effects of this situation on her personal relationships with Nyasha and her friends. Nyasha writes her letters revealing her struggles and how she is on a ‘’diet. ’’ Tambu is so caught up in her studies that she chooses not to write back and help her. When she returns to the mission her friends Maidei and Jocelyn will no longer talk to her. They are very resentful that she left them to go to the white catholic school.Tambu seems very caught up in the colonial society and is slowly loosing track of her roots and connection to the homestead. During her first trip home form Sacred Heart her mother warns her of Englishness and how it is the ma in cause of Nyasha’s Problems. She tries to remove that thought from her head but you notice it stayed with her when she says. ‘’ Quietly, obtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mine began to assert itself, to question things and refuse to be brain washed, bringing me to this time when I can set down this story it was a long and painful process for me that process of expansion. ’ (Tambu, 208) She starts questioning her decisions and what she has lost or given up as a result of them. Sacred Heart is no longer her main focus; this shows a significant change in how she views life. Through characters like Nyasha and Tambu one can directly see the struggle that colonialism created for women along with the apparent issues between African men and women during this time period.The decisions that were made either got these girls to the next step in their lives or left them stuck in conflict and abuse. Both Tambu and Nyasha are very set on making there own decisions and finally stand up for them selves against Babamukuru. The beating they receive from making some decisions sets them back but they feel as if it rejuvenates them and gives them power over his control. Works Cited Tsitsi, Dangaremba. Nervious Conditions. London: The Women’s Press Ltd, 1988

Asperger Syndrome 3

Asperger syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder and is considered a high functioning form of Autism. Autism spectrum disorders are also known as pervasive developmental disorders and can affect social skills and communication. Asperger syndrome can also delay the development of motor skills and cause sensory problems. While there is no cure for Asperger syndrome, there are treatments to help teach the skills affected by Asperger to patients to help them cope with the disorder. Research is currently being conducted to find the causes of Asperger syndrome and other effective treatment methods. The symptoms of Asperger syndrome are caused by delays in several areas of development such as social skills, communication skills, motor skills, and language skills. Patients with Asperger syndrome can become over-focused on a single topic or object and will want to know everything about the topic and will talk very little about anything else. Their areas of interest may be extremely narrow and they will often rattle off facts about their topic of interest with no conclusion or connection to conversation (Asperger Syndrome-PubMed Health). Asperger patients also exhibit social awkwardness and have trouble forming relationships. Eye contact, use of facial expressions, and body language are impaired in patients and can inhibit regulation of social interaction. Patients may also lack emotional empathy and the ability to recognize social cues (OASIS @ MAAP – What Is Asperger Syndrome? . Speech may have a lack of rhythm, odd inflection, or a monotone pitch in patients with Asperger syndrome. They may also lack the control to match the volume of their voice to their surroundings (Asperger Syndrome Fact Sheet). Asperger syndrome patients may show delays in motor development and exhibit unusual physical behaviors such as repetitive arm flapping, twisting, or other whole body movements (Asperger Syndrome – PubMed Healt h). Asperger syndrome is very difficult to diagnose. People with Asperger syndrome often function very well in everyday life, so the signs and symptoms exhibited are often just recognized as â€Å"quirks† or a way of just being different. If a child exhibits any symptoms of Asperger syndrome, it is extremely important to seek the help of a doctor and they will refer you to a mental health professional or a specialist for further evaluation. A â€Å"psychological exam† will be performed to compile a history of when the symptoms first apeared, the development of motor skills and language patterns, and other aspects of behavior and ersonality. The earlier an evaluation is conducted, the sooner treatments can be started to improve a child’s development with Asperger syndrome (Asperger Syndrome). Asperger syndrome has no cure, but with treatments and medications, many children with Asperger syndrome grow into well-developed, productive adults. The majority of diagnosed children benefit from specialized treatments that f ocus on social skills training and behavior management. Some of these treatments include communication and social skills training and cognitive behavioral therapy. There are no medications that specifically treat Asperger syndrome, but there are some medications that can help improve symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity including Aripiprazole, Guanfacine, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Risperidone, Olanzapine, and Naltrexone (Staff, Mayo Clinic). Parent training is also helpful in continuing treatment at home and teaches parents techniques to be used at home to better their child’s development (Asperger Syndrome – PubMed Health). Research is currently being conducted to understand the causes of Asperger syndrome and to find more effective treatments. A study is currently being conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging to show how abnormalities in particular areas of the brain can cause the symptoms of Asperger syndrome and autism spectrum disorders. There is also a large-scale study comparing neuropsychological and psychiatric assessments of children with possible diagnoses of Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism to those of their parents and sibling to try to identify any patterns of symptoms that link Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism to any specific neuropsychological profiles. A long-rang international study conducted by a collection of scientists from universities, academic centers, and institutions from around the world to collect and analyze DNA sample from children with Asperger syndrome and high-function autism, along with their families, to identify associated genes and how they interact. This study is better known as the Autism Genome Project and functions as a repository for genetic data so that researchers can try to find the genetic â€Å"building blocks† of Asperger syndrome an autism spectrum disorders (Asperger Syndrome Fact Sheet). Asperger syndrome is a high-functioning form of autism and is considered an autism spectrum disorder. It delays the development of many areas such as communication and social skills. Even though there is no cure for Asperger syndrome, with the right treatments and medications, most children with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome and their families learn to cope with the symptoms of this disorder. Many adults with Asperger syndrome can develop to be happy, well-functioning, and productive adults with successful mainstream jobs and lead fulfilling independent lives with the right kind of treatment plans and support available to them. Works Cited â€Å"Asperger Syndrome – PubMed Health. † Web. 16 Oct. 2011. . â€Å"Asperger Syndrome Fact Sheet. † National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Web. 16 Oct. 2011. . â€Å"Asperger Syndrome. † KidsHealth – the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. . â€Å"OASIS @ MAAP – What Is Asperger Syndrome? † OASIS @ MAAP – The Online Asperger Syndrome Information and Support Center. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. . Staff, Mayo Clinic. â€Å"Asperger's Syndrome – MayoClinic. com. † Mayo Clinic. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. .

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children Books are our Best Friends for Students Children Humans cannot live alone. They need friends in life. This book can be our best friend. The book company provides pleasure for people and companies of nature. This book is a great blessing. Life is not easy to live without friends. As for books, you can be a good friend forever. Good books enrich our minds with good thoughts and knowledge. We can not feel alone in a book company. As we read good books, we gain knowledge and learn many good things. Books written by good and experienced characters help us become better people and inspire us. It teaches how to serve society in the best way. Books are the best time for us to be alone, start reading with a sense of comfort with a book, and provide knowledge. Books are always best friends because they encourage us to do great things in life and help us overcome failures. I learn a lot from books like good friends. Books can be good or bad, but it is our responsibility to choose books wisely. Friendship with a good book becomes a good person, and friendship with a bad book becomes a bad person. There will always be books in bad times. The book teaches us to dream good things in life. It brings positive thinking and good value to our lives. Some love the company of nature and others love the company of the book. Books are a map of human life and nature. Every page of a great book is a storehouse of the finest and noble thoughts of human beings. The library will meet all the great minds of the world. Today, however, all books are good and innocent. The book is overflowing and the flood is always bad. Even the flood of tears is bad. How then can a flood occur? You should be careful about this. Do not run away with this flood. It is good to live in a bad book company. But falling into a bad book company is bad. Through the influence of bad books, you can develop bad habits by not knowing it. Therefore, you must choose your partner carefully. So its up to you how you choose it wisely. But even the best books can not give you everything. A book company can give you knowledge, but it can not give you wisdom. No book can be a good scientist. Newton was not born in the library. He did not read much but instead lived in a company of plants and flowers. So the library can not make you a great poet or thinker. Even books you choose can only be made from bookworms. Obtain only indirect information. You can not really be great unless you listen with your eyes. It is therefore sometimes necessary to come out of the world of books and live in a company of people and nature. The life of man and nature must be combined with the book company.

Alternative Energy Engineering Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alternative Energy Engineering - Research Paper Example One method of restricting the CO2 emissions in the atmosphere is to leach out the CO2 from the fuels reducing the amount of carbon emitted per unit in a process known as decarbonization. The CO2 is then sequestered back into reservoirs; the advantage of this that the process is compatible with the existing fossil fuel infrastructures and the excess CO2 is sent back into the feedback cycle. Natural sequestration reservoirs are the forest and oceans of the planet. Fossil fuel use is gradually moving towards fuels with lower carbon contents such from coal to oil and gas and it is thought that eventually, mankind will use H2, a carbon-neutral fuel exclusively. However, till that happens, carbonization and sequestration is one method that can be used to control our green house gas emissions. More efficient methods of sequestration will have to evolve including ‘calcination’ (trapping CO2 in calcium compounds) and reacting the gas with the mineral serpentine to create blocks o f magnesium which can displace large amounts of CO2 effectively.The authors discuss that due to the increased dependence of fossil fuel in the modern society, atmospheric CO2 has increased from 275 ppm to 370 ppm and if the levels reach 550ppm it could trigger catastrophic events in the climate. Our energy consumption today is 12TW, of which 85% is fossil-fueled and some estimates indicate that we would require at least 15 TW of ‘emission-free’ power by mid century to continue the development of the society.

Identify recent key themes relating to recruitment and selection Essay

Identify recent key themes relating to recruitment and selection. Critically discuss the way in which recruitment strategies and - Essay Example Hiring the wrong person for the job can be costly for the organisation due to which it is essential that the right individual must be recruited and selected for the right job (Leopold, Harris, & Watson, 2005). Recruitment and selection is a vital process of human resource management as it attract individuals to work for the organisation based on qualification to achieve the height of success (Walker, 2009). Thus recruitment is a process to identify the potential candidate from internal and external sources for the right job and at the right time. On the other hand, selection is a process to identify the ideal candidate for the job that will be allowed to work for the organisation in order to achieve the goals and objectives. In simpler words, selection could be said as the process to make decision to â€Å"hire† or â€Å"no hire† regarding the candidates recruited for the job. Both the processes vary from country to country and from job to job. Both these processes are used by organisations to increase the odds of hiring the potential candidate for the right job at the right time to be successful at what they do (Walker, 2009). Recruitment and Selection Strategies In order to gain a competitive edge over the others in the market, organisation relies heavily on the recruitment and selection strategies that could identify and attract the best qualified candidate for the job. ... Organisation can either recruit or select potential applicants from internal or external source which is entirely based on the level of job that needs to be done. For a senior level job, organisation tends to recruit and select employees from internal sources; succession management, and for operational and technical jobs preference is given to external sources (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2006). The process of recruitment and selection is equally important for organisations as this process helps the organisation to attain and attract qualified personnel through strategies. Getting the right person at the right place and at the right time is essential in recruiting and selection process of an organisation. Recruitment and selection strategies act side by side in order to provide the organisation with the best available personnel to work for the accomplishment of goals and objectives (Redman & Wilkinson, 2006). The recruitment process provides the organisation with a variety of talent pool ba sed on the decision to fill an existing vacancy within an organisation. The first strategy in the recruitment process is the identification of requirement for the job and fitting the job in the organisation. According to Legge (2005) the effectiveness of recruitment and selection strategy could be seen through the reduction in turnover rate and motivation of employees. The focus of recruitment and selection strategies is to match the capabilities and skills of candidates against the requirements and demands for the job (Marchington, M. & Wilkinson, 2008). An organisation can recruit and select professional as well as non-management candidate through different recruitment strategies (Salaman, Storey, & Billsbury, 2005). These strategies include; The use of internet for

Race and education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Race and education - Essay Example For example if I don’t accept treatment from an Indian or Asian doctor based only on the fact that his/her skin colour is not of my liking then I’m committing racial sin. But when this same thing starts happening at an institutional level, then it’s a big problem. Sadly enough, it is prevalent. In old movies of the time of the Second World War, Hitler’s Germany, one can see (or read about them) there were shops and public eating places that had sign boards reading ‘No Jews Allowed’, a classic example of institutional discrimination. The difference between racism on an individual basis and by an institution lies in the formation of policies. Usually the institutional racism is in a documented form. Countries can (and have) denied visas or asked for very high taxes from specific nationalities if they want to migrate. The segregation is not limited to visas only, when the difference between the rich and the poor is observed it is more likely to occur that whites (in many countries including England the US) usually have higher income level than coloured people. Racism has its dark deep roots in British social science (Billing, 1979). Over there across the ocean in King County US, 29.1% African Americans and 19.2% people of Latin origin are living below the poverty line compared to only 7.9% of people living under the poverty line from white households (Solid Ground, n.d.). An interesting study suggests the colonization of African and Asian people that began in the 15th century has more to do with the race of the people than people think. When Europeans met with Africans and Asian for the first time, they saw these different groups of people that had different cultures, they started to believe that Races in human species do exist and that Whites are superior to all of them (Clark, 2007). Institutional racism happens both overtly and covertly, there are many form that happen in the world without

Royal Dutch Shell Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Royal Dutch Shell - Assignment Example Royal Dutch Shell is a trend setter in innovation. From a large, but weak and mediocre company to an innovative multinational, now being 2nd largest in revenue and highest in profits (Rijnbach), and with services in more than 90 countries, Shell has definitely revolutionized the concept of Energy Business. Shell uses multi innovation practices to enhance its innovative tendencies and maintain its name as a brand in the energy business. It has a Projects & Technology organization which heads research into different technological aspects for Shell’s Products and services, and aims at providing solutions for the technological hurdles faced by the upstream and downstream product organizations (shell). Like any organization, the Innovation Structure at Shell has its strong and weak aspects. Strengths of Innovation Management Structure The innovational structure at Shell manifests strengths not only aimed at energy but also at the well being of the Planet, its customers, and employe es. Here is a look at the strengths of Shell’s innovation management structure. 1. ... The management at Shell is not only an advocate of change but also takes initiative in this regard, by all means possible. Special departments have been constructed, to research and propose new avenues of change. The senior management is involved in activities that show risk taking tendencies, an important characteristic of innovation; and also try to bring together groups and people that brainstorm (Ruth) and introduce new ideas and concepts. The Shell Australian Innovation Challenge is one of such attempts made by Shell. It is a joint venture of The Australian and Shell. The challenge allows you to enter whether you are a scientist or not. There is also a category of backyard innovation, which is open to general public, and has prize money of $10, 000 (The Australian). 2. Scenario Planning Strategy Shell has been following its innovation strategy for the past 40 years. Shell utilizes scenario planning in its aim to tackle the energy problems of tomorrow. It first implemented the sa id strategy during the 1970’s oil shock (Rijnbach). With the uncertainty of future growing with every passing day, scenario planning is a strong way to devise strategy. The world is faced with resource, market, organization, and technical uncertainty, the proper management of which leads to radical innovation (O’Connor). Scenario planning refers to the orchestration of probable certain scenarios in the future result from social, economical and political factors (Rijnbach). Shell has a Scenarios Team, which has six members. These members look into different versions of the plausible future (Shell). They do not predict future, rather analyzing different facts, create plausible future scenarios taking place between now and 2050 (Mainwaring). Scenario

Teaching music to Children in a General Education Classroom Essay

Teaching music to Children in a General Education Classroom - Essay Example According to Joanne, (2), the cognitive developmental theory is fundamental in understanding how minds make logic of music as it is heard. Some of the goals include imparting formal and intuitive knowledge. Joanne, (2), argues that, a teacher is supposed to learn significantly during the music experiments. The cognitive theory is fundamental in helping the teacher to succeed in balancing the mismatch of assumptions between a student and a teacher. Similarly, the cognitive theory enables a teacher to acknowledge the children’s formal and informal ways of understanding. Another goal that a teacher can achieve by applying the cognitive theory is the ability to use the children’s descriptions as vital evidence in understanding their musical development (Joanne, 4). Equally, the theory enables teachers to draw conclusions from the children’s oral drawings, imagery and spatial ordering of such things like bells to disclose the clandestine and interior nature of inner i nquiry and approximating an indisputable knowledge of musical development.... I agree with his theory Jon Dewey believed that, children be encouraged to develop free personalities and taught on how to think and make judgments. I agree with this theory Maria, Montessori believed in individualized education. I agree with this theory John Holt, the pioneer and advocate for Home Education. Holt believed that children study best when; they are allowed to pursue their own interests rather than imposing learning on them. I agree with this theory. Marie Clay, the pioneer of Balanced Literacy Model and Reading Recovery. Marie believed the reading recovery component served well in lifting the low achievers. I agree with this theory. Jerome Bruner, the pioneer of discovery theory. Bruner discovered psychology and embraced a constructivist approach. Bruner believed that the discovery theory based on the assumption that a child learns and remembers better, what he/she discovers. Conversely, Bruner believed that, the children are able to recall new information if they assoc iate it to something they already understand. I agree with his theory. Howard Gardener, the pioneer of multiple intelligence theory. Gardener believed that children developed diverse aspects of intelligence. I agree with this theory (Joanne, 6). John Holt’s theory of advocating for Home Education best fits my interests and a fully align to it. Choose two instruments on pages 16-19 that you would like to share with your children. Name the instruments. Describe the instruments. Describe how the instruments are played? How will you use the instruments with your children? 1. Jingle Bells A bell is a musical instrument that produces different sounds when played. A bell is played by using a stick or a small metal rod or shaking. The instrument can be used to teach the

Using an example from the leisure industry, e.g. airline travel, to Essay

Using an example from the leisure industry, e.g. airline travel, to what extent will a high degree of competition in a market result in lower prices for the consumers - Essay Example With such competitions, especially healthy ones, the businesses are forced to jointly manipulate their products’ and services’ prices in order to cope up with the market forces and customer demands (Peter, 1987, p. 57). The end results of such healthy competitions is lowering of commodity or service’s prices, which is a great advantage to the end consumers. This paper will thereby analyse the trends within the entire leisure industry, but narrow down to give a close attention to the airline travel business (Wilkerson, 2003, p. 46), and the market competitions that result to the lowering of prices. With regards to recreation as a business segment within leisure industry, humans tend to spend much of their time in activities of daily work, living, social duties, sleep, and leisure as a whole (Thomas,1970, p. 16). The later outcome being free from aforementioned commitments of social or physiologic needs, which are recreational prerequisites. According to Klaus & Christine (2004, p. 92), leisure increases with increase in longevity, as many people spend more hours on physical and economic survival. Other aspects accounting for the increasing role of recreation within the society include population trends, affluence, as well as the increasing commercialization of leisure activities and offerings (Thomas,1970, p. 19). While several people’s perception is that leisure is simply a spare time or unconsumed time left by the living necessities (McLean& Rogers, 2005, p. 201), most scholars hold that leisure is a strong force that pushes individuals to reconsider and reflect on th e realities and values missed in daily life activities. Thus, recreation or leisure remains the most essential element of individual’s development, as well as civilization (Thomas,1970, p. 21). Another segment of leisure is entertainment, which is a form of activity performed to hold the attention and interest of a target audience, or in simple terms, to give delight and

Outdoor Essay Example for Free

Outdoor Essay 1. What are some of the benefits of using outdoor space in early childhood? Using outdoor space in early childhood provide children with health, cognitive, and social benefits. Health benefits: It gives children the opportunity to exercise their large muscles group much more than when they are indoors, because they have more space to run, skip, climb, swing, and jump. Playing outside also allow children to burn more calories than when they are inside. Cognitive benefits: When children play outside they often will make up their own games, by doing this they are exercising their problem solving skills. When children make the rules for the games and practice using them with friends, they are developing organizational abilities, and leadership qualities. Their creativity is enhanced and their imaginations are nourished. Social benefits: being outside promotes cooperative play which leads to the development of social skills. When children wait to take turns while playing a game, or when they work together with others to build something, these are ways children can enhance their social abilities outdoors. 2. Describe the role of the teacher in supporting outdoor space, including children with special needs. The teacher can be supportive by interacting with the children when they are outside, the teacher can do this by talking with the children about what and how they are going to play. The teacher can assist the children in different activities, for example: hopping, skipping, and climbing, and the teacher can also make sure that the children are safe while playing outdoors. The teacher must also plan activities that encourage children with special needs to participate while outdoors, but he/she should not use the same activities when they are outdoors with the special needs children. Creating different activities will provide the children with special needs the opportunity to use their bodies in new ways. 3. What problems can there be with static playground equipment and their traditional uses? Static playground equipment doesn’t stimulate children’s physical, cognitive, or creative development. Children need to experience new physical challenges; static playground equipment won’t allow the children to use the equipment in a new way because it doesn’t change. Static playground equipment can make children feel limited in their play. 4. Describe three ways teachers can use traditional equipment in creative ways. Then create one idea of your own for using traditional equipment in a creative way. Teachers can use traditional equipment to engage children in group activities, by doing this he/she can enhance the children’s social skills. The teacher can play a game like follow the leader; he/she can walk around the swing, slide, jungle gym, and sand box while playing the game. Teachers can use the monkey bars to have the children pretend they are monkeys swinging and climbing their way through the jungle. While the children is doing the activity, the teacher can ask the children questions to challenge them, for example: how fast can you climb through the jungle, or how far do you think you can swing, Teachers can create a obstacle course using the traditional equipment, teachers can challenge the children to crawl through tires, climb over the monkey bars, swing on a swing, or try to balance themselves steady while standing on the outside of the sand box. The children must do all these things while traveling through the obstacle course. An activity I would do with the children in my class while outdoors, that involves using traditional equipment, would be to have the children pretend that they was at a water park. I would have the children to slide down the slide on the playground pretending that they are about to slide down into a pool.

Impacts of the 2003 Iraq War

Impacts of the 2003 Iraq War The impact of the 2003 Iraq war on both the war on terror  and the prospects for peace in the Middle East Introduction The reasons for the U.S. led war in Iraq in 2003 were numerous and, as it turns out, rather complicated. But, for better or worse, the U.S. led coalition of nations invaded Iraq with â€Å"shock and awe† in 2003. This war in Iraq was conducted under the banner of â€Å"the war on terror.† This second U.S. led military endeavor into Iraq had a twofold mission, which was combative and aggressive on the one hand, and more conciliatory and democratizing on the other. These were the original intentions. The questions to be explored in this paper revolve around these dual aspects of the 2003 Iraq war. How has it affected the overall and global â€Å"war on terror,† and has it achieved a measure of peace and stability in the Middle East? From the beginning of the recent U.S. led war efforts in Iraq, there has been a twofold mission announced by President George W. Bush. The first mission is centered in the war against all terrorists and those who harbor terrorist organizations.[1] The second has been the desire to plant the seed of democracy in the Middle East; a desire which the President hoped might flourish into an eventual, lasting peace. In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush said, â€Å"We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.†[2] In this line, his commitment to a war against terror is evident, but so is his desire to help bring about a peaceful world. The very name of the military offensive dubbed by the Bush Administration was â€Å"Operation Iraqi Freedom.† A â€Å"Just War† and the Necessity of Peace In all recent discussions of Just War theories, scholarship is united at least in the aspect of the theory that involves the attempt at peace following the war. That is, no war can be considered â€Å"just† if the winner merely walks away from the loser of a given war without any attempt to bring about a measure of stability, security, and peace. Much of this reasoning has to do with the ideas bound up within the just-war tradition. There are many scholars, secular, Catholic, and otherwise, writing within this tradition, as it pertains to the 2003 Iraq war. As George Weigel notes in a recent essay, in the writings of contemporary scholars in this tradition (e.g., James Turner Johnson and Michael Walzer), one encounters the essence of an approach to war that is commensurate with the U.S. President’s intentions expressed above. To engage in a war justly is not only to fight those forces of evil that seek to dominate or corrupt one’s society, nor is it merely about how nations ought to engage in warfare. Although those are considerations brought to bear on just-war theorizing, the fundamental underpinning of this approach to thinking about war â€Å"is ultimately about the peace we seek to establish in contrast to the war the terrorists have set in motion.†[3] That is, the overarching goal in all wars (including the war on terror) should be the eventual achievement, not merely of removing immediate threats to national security or of pacification of an enemy, of using war as an instrument to establish peace in a land. Peace brings prosperity, whereas continual war and factionalism never bring about progress or prosperity – only suffering which seems endless to those affected by it. The Successes, Trials and Tribulations of the War Perhaps because we are still so near the beginning of the war and because the operation continues to this moment, it is difficult to gauge the relative success of the war efforts themselves and as regards the broader â€Å"war on terror.† In fact, the situation today is still the reality that the success or failure of the war depends largely on who you ask. The war effort has been a politically polarizing issue, which has certainly affected the press, as well as the scholarly community. A simple survey of the books on the shelves to the articles and essays within journals will reveal this truth. It is therefore somewhat difficult to get a proper understanding of exactly what the ramifications of the 2003 Iraq war may be for the broader war on terror, but there is at least some consensus in a few areas useful for exploration in this regard. There are those who, like Charles Hill, can find little more than wide-reaching success in the current war efforts. He writes, â€Å"Iraq is moving toward the full legitimacy that Saddam Hussein stole from the Iraqi people. Sovereignty has been restored, free elections have been held, and a constitution has been approved.†[4] The press and other scholars have, on the other hand, not been so friendly in their detractions and perceptions of the war efforts. The â€Å"Reviews Responses† section of recent editions of the journal Foreign Affairs have been filled with review essays of books very critical of the war.[5] Sometimes the reviews are sympathetic; often times they are not. All of this is supportive of the difficult task ahead of scholars regarding the effort to separate the hubris from the reality of what implications the 2003 Iraq war may have for peace and the larger war on terror. There is no denying the success of disposing of the Taliban in Afghanistan and of Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq. This success was decisive, dramatic, and, in the words of Victor Davis Hanson, â€Å"audacious.†[6] Both of these regimes were legitimately argued to have been the most oppressive and potentially dangerous in the region. This is perhaps one of the most compelling reasons adhered to by most Americans originally supporting both war efforts. The question on the minds of most in the scholarly community is whether there was adequate planning for the immediate post-war environment.[7] However, even for those who were very supportive of the initial decision to invade Iraq, recent events over the last year at least, have been sobering. In an article written for the April edition of the journal First Things, George Weigel identifies four distinct wars that have constituted the entire Iraq war since 2003. The first war was the obvious one of deposing Saddam Hussein and creating conditions for the responsible establishment of an interim government and relative stability. This war was concluded quickly and successfully, most all scholars agree. The second war erupted shortly after the first had ended, and this one was against the Baathist loyalists and recalcitrants. The third war broke out as Jihadists (i.e., â€Å"al-Qaeda in Iraq†) began to flood into Iraq through the under-watched and unprotected borders and tried to disrupt the democracy being established there as well as drive out the â€Å"infidels† from the Gulf. The fourth, and perhaps most danger ous today, is the practical civil war that broke out in earnest between Sunnis insurgents and Shia militias after the bombing of a major Shia shrine in February, 2006. Weigel argues that only the first of these four wars has ended. The other three continue to this day and overlap each other.[8] Is it possible that the U.S. led coalition could have anticipated these mini-wars which followed the success of the first? Is it likely that the coalition did all it could to establish a peaceful, post-war environment? Reconstruction Challenges One of the sharpest criticisms of the 2003 Iraq war, even by those who originally supported it, is that there was not enough planning in terms of rebuilding the nation after the decisive defeat of the Iraqi military. First, by any reasonable standards, the amount committed to the reconstruction of Iraq after the war was not nearly enough. In hindsight, all seem to recognize this. Though the intentions of the Bush Administration were admirable in that they sought the just-war approach, which was to replace the dangerous regime with democracy, freedom, and a re-built nation, the reality was that through the combination of inadequate funds and bloated bureaucracy, the U.S. did not adequately anticipate what would realistically be needed to bring their intentions about.[9] George Weigel points out that only $2.5 billion had been originally budgeted for reconstruction assistance, and this was far away from the actual amount needed, given the dilapidated state of the nation due to Saddamâ €™s misrule and a decade of U.N. sanctions.[10] Peace through Civil War? The war created what most analysts have agreed to be a political vacuum. Once the rule of Saddam Hussein was done away with, there was not a quick enough turnaround time for a new and, perhaps most importantly, legitimized ruling government. The largest looming danger now is the risk of civil war in Iraq, which will almost certainly follow from the near-future withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country, as most scholars agree. â€Å"Especially if the United States withdraws from Iraq, the odds are good that a military coup in which some subset of the Iraqi army leadership declares that the elected government is not working and that a strong hand is necessary to impose order will result.†[11] As alluded to above, the civil war began to erupt after the bombing of the Shia holy site in February, 2006. At this point, it seems that the Sunni minority in Iraq, which has been a constant trouble from nearly the beginning, is only exacerbating its violence against the Shia to the south . Under the self-styled leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr, the various Shia militia forces have engaged in gross acts of terror in return.[12] Conclusion In a recent article, Victor Davis Hanson takes a realistic approach to the successes in Iraq. They cannot be underplayed, nor devalued. The overturning of the Iraqi regime, which was the main goal of the war, was achieved and likely the world is better for it. On the other hand, in retrospect the post-war aftermath was not fully appreciated until it was far too late. Three separate wars therefore erupted, and the most significant (the civil war) looms on the not-too-distant horizon. The prospects for peace are still available to the Middle East but only with properly calculated U.S. led coalition strategy for the future. If nothing else, the various shortcomings of the recent war will hopefully serve as a corrective and impetus to future successes in the war on terror. Successes have occurred, to be sure, but so have enormous challenges to peace, world-wide. Bibliography Bottum, Joseph, and Michael Novak. â€Å"The Leadership of George W. Bush: Con Pro.† First Things. March, 2007, No. 171, pp. 31-35. Diamond, Larry. â€Å"The Pressure Builds.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 3, pp. 21-29. Dobriansky, Paula J., Henry A. Crumpton, and F. Gregory Gause III. â€Å"Tyranny and Terror: Will Democracy in the Middle East Make Us Safer?† Foreign Affairs. Jan/Feb, 2006. Vol 85, No. 1, pp. 135-138. Fearon, James D. â€Å"Iraq’s Civil War.† Foreign Affairs. Mar/Apr, 2007. Vol. 86, No. 2, pp. 2-15. Feldman, Noah. What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004. Hanson, Victor Davis. â€Å"Five Years On.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 4, pp. 82-86. Hanson, Victor Davis. â€Å"Hard Pounding.† Hoover Digest. 2006, No. 3, pp. 10-17. Hill, Charles. â€Å"The Rogues are Losing: Why the Rogues of the Middle East Have a Very Short Future.† Hoover Digest. 2005, No. 4, pp. 66-68. Kagan, Frederick W. â€Å"Iraq is Not Vietnam.† Policy Review. Dec, 2005 Jan, 2006, No. 134, pp. 3-14. Weigel, George. â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars.† First Things. April, 2007, No. 172, pp. 14-20. Yoo, John. The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2005. 1 [1] These commitments are very readily found in his 2002, 2003 and 2004 â€Å"State of the Union† addresses, as well as in his â€Å"Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,† given on September 20, 2001. All of these speeches are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov. [2] It would seem that there are few who disagree with the President’s intentions in this regard. Renowned Middle East scholar, Bernard Lewis has long argued that the war on terror and the search for freedom are bound up the one with the other. The two must exist side by side and cannot exist one without the other. NYU law professor Noah Feldman argues that â€Å"the most defensible account of our nation-building policies in Iraq 2003–4, and the standard to which future U.S. efforts should be held, is the production of a basically legitimate, functioning democracy there.† What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004), p. 20. [3] George Weigel, â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars,† First Things, April, 2007, no. 172, p. 14. Weigel is here quoting James Turner Johnson. [4] Charles Hill, â€Å"The Rogues are Losing: Why the Rogues of the Middle East Have a Very Short Future,† Hoover Digest. 2005, no. 4, p. 68. In this same essay, he goes on to point out the various ramifications of the initial stages of success of the Iraq war: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon all having positive moves and reactions to the strength of the initial war in 2003. Libya’s decision to give up its arsenal is probably the most dramatic ramification of the initial successes of the war that supporters can point to, as Hill does in his essay. [5] The January/February 2006 edition of Foreign Affairs is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Every single review essay of that edition deals with the Iraq war. [6] â€Å"Five Years On.† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 4, p. 84. Regarding the progress wrought by the Iraq war, Hanson writes, â€Å"thousands of terrorists killed, Al Qaeda scattered, Europe galvanized about Islamism and sobered about the consequences of its cheap anti-U.S. rhetoric, Iran’s nuclear antics revealed, democracy birthed in the Middle East, Palestinian radicals exposed for their fraud, the United nations under overdue scrutiny, America much better defended at home† came largely as a result of the war on terror, beginning with Afghanistan and culminating in Iraq. There is much significant impact there to be pondered. [7] Victor Davis Hanson, â€Å"Hard Pounding,† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 3, pp. 14-15. [8] Weigel, â€Å"Just War and Iraq Wars,† p. 15. Frederick W. Kagan agrees with this assessment of the various wars being fought in Iraq, although he believes that Weigel’s second war largely ended with the capture of Saddam Hussein. Cf. â€Å"Iraq is Not Vietnam,† Policy Review, Dec, 2005 Jan, 2006, no. 134, p. 6. [9] Although, to be fair, it should be pointed out that former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, did anticipate that the cost of military operations and rebuilding efforts would amount to $3.9 billion per month in 2003. Cf. John Yoo, The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2005), p. 157. [10] Weigel, p. 17. [11] James D. Fearon, â€Å"Iraq’s Civil War,† Foreign Affairs, Mar/Apr, 2007, vol. 86, no. 2, p. 6. For concurring opinions see Larry Diamond, â€Å"The Pressure Builds,† Hoover Digest, 2006, no. 3, p. 29 and Weigel, p. 19. [12] Diamond, â€Å"The Pressure Builds,† pp. 26-8.

How To Communicate In A Relationship Essay -- essays research papers

How to Communicate in a Relatioship   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1 Henry Roose Marion Fekete Writing 151 6 December, 1996   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The hardest skill to master in order to maintain a successful, loving relationship is communication. Being unable to express one's thoughts clearly and accurately is a heavy burden to bear when trying to hold a conversation. It often causes misunderstandings and unnessary arguments. Plainly expressing one's thoughts is a lesson that many do not learn. The staggering number divorces in recent years may be the effect of ill-communication. Even with all the conveyances of modern day (cellar phones, modems, pagers), important ideas, somehow are not being expressed. In a relationship one can easily misinterpret a statement and become upset. Openly expressing full thoughts, and carefully listening to what your mate is saying are two worthy and helpful tips on holding up the communication bridge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many times, people become frustrated at their partner's lack of understanding. Unfortunately, no one can read minds. That fact makes it of the utmost importance to be able to let your mate in on what you are thinking. How can he or she possib...

Otto Von Bismarck Essay -- History

Otto Von Bismarck Otto Von Bismarck was a great leader in the unification of Germany. His skill as a diplomat was unrivalled during his reign as chancellor of Prussia. The mastery he showed in foreign policy was such that he was able to outwit all other powers and make their leaders appear inadequate. Bismarck was an unrivalled diplomat during his reign. His German Reich constitution of April 1871 allowed him to dictate the government on his own terms. However, the parliament only â€Å"had the power to initiate debate upon any point of his (Bismarck’s) policy, but neither he nor any other minister was responsible to the assembly for his actions" (T. A. Morris, p116). Furthermore, the constitution was designed to give the impression that power was shared equally between the emperor and the chancellor, however Bismarck had the upper hand in all crucial decision-making, as he was adept at convincing Wilhelm of the correctness of his policy. A further example of the extent to which he was a great chancellor is the fact that he was able to deal with the internal opposition. Bismarck was able to gain the support of the National-Liberal party as they were sympathetic to the chancellor because he had brought about national unity, the party's major policy aim, and also because many short-term goals of the two partners coincided - most notably "consolidation of that national unity and the centralisation of the administration of the Reich" (Morris, p118). His association with the ...

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare :: Romeo and Juliet Essays

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare In this course work I will be seeing how Shakespeare shows Romeo's change of mood in Act 5, Scene 1. I will include what Romeo says and does as well as the audience reaction. I will also talk about Romeo's character in this scene, his visit to the apothecary and what happened to Juliet. By the time this scene is performed, Romeo has been banished from Verona and Juliet. The scene starts with Romeo in Mantua, where he hears the news of Juliet's death. Before he hears the news he is reminiscing a dream he had had the night before (lines 1-11), "I dreamt my lady came and found me dead-Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to thinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" When Balthasar enters, Romeo is very anxious to hear news from Verona and asks several questions. He even repeats himself, "How doth my lady? Is my father well? How doth my lady? That I ask again, for nothing can be ill if she be well." Unfortunately for Romeo, there is no good word from Verona, only bad, "Her Body sleeps in Capel's Monument.." In hearing this, Romeo becomes aggressive and emotional. He will not wait for anything or anyone to tell him what he should do now. He says, "Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!" Romeo will not wait for the stars to dictate what he should do now. He acts in defiance. Shakespeare uses this line to represent fate or fortune. The audience reaction is not that of shock but of sadness and bereavement for Juliet. There is also a sense of pity for Romeo. Once Balthasar has left Romeo begins to talk to himself. He talks about an apothecary he had seen. He begins to describe it, "And in his needy shop, a tortoise hung, an alligator stuff'd, and other skins of ill shap'd fishesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" The mood of the play changes instantly. It becomes dark and evil. Romeos emotions become very clear in line 50. He is deeply depressed and it is evident that he has given up on life, "An

Homework Is Bad

Homework is harmful to my health? When I first read the topic, a big question mark appeared in my mind. I haven’t thought that homework is harmful to my health because I have been taught that doing homework is students’ duty. However, in my opinion, too much homework is really harmful to my health according to the following reasons. First of all, too much homework exhausts brains and bodies, so I can’t have a good rest.I stay in school almost ten hours from 7 a. m. to 5 p. m. on weekdays. When getting home, I am extremely tired, but I still have to cheer up to finish daily homework. As a result, I don’t have any time to take a rest. Second, too much homework leads to insufficient sleep. I have different homework from different subjects. Take me for example, as a second grader in senior high school, on average I usually spend 2 or 3 hours on homework every day.When having lots of homework to do, I will stay up late to complete homework. Unfortunately, I sti ll have to get up early next morning, so I can’t get enough sleep. Third, too much homework causes stress, especially so-called difficult homework. When I can’t solve difficult problems by myself, such as problems in math, chemistry, and physics, I am absolutely obsessed with these difficult problems and then they become my heavy burdens and pressure.Fourth, doing too much homework makes eyes extremely tired and eventually it may cause near-sighted. I wear glasses because I ignore the importance of right gestures and bright light while doing homework. According to these above reasons, I firmly believe that too much homework is harmful to my health. Although too much homework may be harmful to my health, adequate homework is beneficial to my studies. After all, doing homework is one of my duties.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 16~18

Chapter 16 Heartwarming and UL-Approved There was a bum sleeping on the sidewalk across the street from the loft when they returned. Tommy, full of fast food and the elation of being twice laid, wanted to give the guy a dollar. Jody stopped him and pushed him up the steps. â€Å"Go on up,† she said. â€Å"I'll be there in a minute.† She stood in the doorway watching the bum for movement. There was no heat signature around him and she assumed the worst. She waited for him to roll over and start laughing at her again. She was feeling strong and a little cocky from the infusion of Tommy's blood, so she had to fight the urge to confront the vampire, to get dead in his face and scream. Instead she just whispered, â€Å"Asshole,† and closed the door. If his hearing was as acute as her own, and she was sure it was, he had heard her. She found Tommy in bed, fast asleep. Poor guy, she thought, running all over town doing my business. He probably hasn't slept more than a couple of hours since we met. She pulled the covers over him, kissed him on the forehead, and went to the window in the front room to watch the bum across the street. Tommy was dreaming of bebop-driven sentences read by a naked redhead when he woke to find her sleeping next to him. He threw his arm over her and pulled her close, but there was no response, no pleasant groan or reciprocal snuggle. She was out. He pushed the light button on his watch and checked the time. It was almost noon. The room was so dark that the watch dial floated in his vision for a few seconds after he released the button. He went to the bathroom and fumbled around until he found the light switch. A single fluorescent tube clicked and sputtered and finally ignited, spilling a fuzzy green glow through the door into the bedroom. She looks dead, he thought. Peaceful, but dead. Then he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. I look dead too. It took him a minute to realize that it was the fluorescent lighting that had sucked the life out of his face, not his vampire girlfriend. He affected a serious glare and thought about how they would describe him in a hundred years, when he was really famous and really dead. Like so many great writers before him, Flood was known for his troubled countenance and sickly pallor, especially under fluorescent lighting. Those who knew him said that even in those early years they could sense that this thin, serious young man would make his presence known as a great man of letters as well as a sexual dynamo. His legacy to the world was a trail of great books and broken hearts, and although it is well known that his love life was his downfall, he felt no regret, as illustrated in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: â€Å"I have followed my penis into hell and returned with the story.† Tommy bowed deeply before the mirror, careful to keep the Nobel Prize medal from banging the sink, then began to interview himself, speaking clearly and slowly into his toothbrush. â€Å"I think it was shortly after my first successful bus transfer that I realized the City was mine. Here I would produce some of my greatest work, and here I would meet my first wife, the lovely but deeply disturbed Jody†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tommy waved the microphone/toothbrush away as if the memories were too painful to recall, but actually he was trying to remember Jody's last name. I should know her maiden name, he thought, if just for historical purposes. He glanced into the bedroom where the lovely but deeply disturbed Jody was lying naked and half-covered on the bed. He thought, She won't mind if I wake her up. She doesn't have to be at work or anything. He approached the bed and touched her cheek. â€Å"Jody,† he whispered. She didn't stir. He shook her a bit. â€Å"Jody, honey.† Nothing. â€Å"Hey,† he said, taking her shoulders. â€Å"Hey, wake up.† She didn't respond. He pulled the covers off her as his father used to do to him on cold winter mornings when he wouldn't get up to go to school. â€Å"Up and at 'em, soldier – ass in the air and feet on the floor,† he said in his best drill-sergeant bark. She looked really great lying there naked in the half-light from the bathroom. He was getting a little turned on. How would I feel, he thought, if I woke up and she was making love to me? Why, I believe that I would be pleasantly surprised. I think that would be better than waking up to frying bacon and the Sunday funnies. Yes, I'm sure she'll be pleased. He crawled into bed with her and ventured a tentative kiss. She was a little cold and didn't move a muscle, but he was sure she liked it. He ran a finger down the valley between her breasts and over her stomach. What if she didn't wake up? What if we do it and she doesn't wake up at all? How would I feel if I woke up and she told me that we had done it while I slept? I'd be fine with it. A little sad that I missed things, but I wouldn't be mad. I'd just ask her if I had a good time. Women are different, though. He tickled her just to get a reaction. Again, she didn't move. She's so cold. With her not moving at all it might be a little morbid. Maybe I should wait. I'll tell her that I thought about it and decided that it wouldn't be courteous. She'll like that. He sighed deeply, got out of bed and pulled the covers over her. I should buy her something, he thought. Jody snapped into consciousness and bit down on something hard. She opened her eyes and saw Tommy sitting on the edge of the bed. She smiled. â€Å"Good morning,† he said. She reached for whatever was in her mouth. Tommy caught her hand. â€Å"Don't bite down. It's a thermometer.† He checked his watch, then pulled the thermometer out of her mouth and read it. â€Å"Ninety-five point two. You're on your way.† Jody sat up and looked at the thermometer. â€Å"On my way to what?† He smiled bashfully. â€Å"On your way to body temperature. I bought you an electric blanket. It's been on for like six hours.† She ran her hand over the blanket. â€Å"You've been warming me up?† â€Å"Pretty cool, huh?† Tommy said. â€Å"I went to the library and got books too. I've been reading all afternoon.† He picked up a stack of books and began to shuffle through them, reading the titles and handing each to her in turn. â€Å"A Reader's Guide to Vampirism; Vampire Myths and Legends; Those That Stalk the Night – kind of an ominous title, huh?† She held the books as if they were made of wormy fruit. The covers depicted monstrous creatures rising from coffins, attacking women in various states of undress, and hanging around castles perched on barren mountains. The letters in the titles dripped blood. â€Å"These are all about vampires?† â€Å"That's just the nonfiction that they had on hand. I ordered a bunch more through the library exchange. Check out some of the fiction.† He picked up another stack from the floor. â€Å"A Feast of Blood; Red Thirst; Fangs; Dracula; Dracula's Dream; Dracula's Legacy; Fevre Dream; The Vampire Lestat – there must have been a hundred novels.† Jody, a little overwhelmed, stared at the books. â€Å"There seems to be a theme here on the covers.† â€Å"Yeah,† Tommy said. â€Å"Vampires seem to have an affinity for lingerie. Do you have any particular craving for sexy nightgowns?† â€Å"Not really.† Jody had always thought it a little silly to spend a lot of money on something that you only put on long enough for someone to take it off you. Evidently, though, if you went by these book covers, vampires looked at lingerie as garnish. â€Å"Okay,† Tommy said, picking up a notebook from the floor and making a check mark. â€Å"No lingerie fetish. I've made a list of vampire traits with boxes to check either ‘fact' or ‘fiction. Since you missed the lecture, I guess we'll have to just test them.† â€Å"What lecture?† Tommy put down his pen and looked at her as if she'd gotten into the express lane with a cartful of groceries and a two-party check. â€Å"Everybody knows that there's always an orientation lecture in vampire books. Usually it comes from some old professor guy with an accent, but sometimes it's another vampire. You obviously missed the lecture.† â€Å"I guess so,† Jody said. â€Å"I must have been busy chasing women in lingerie.† â€Å"That's okay,† Tommy said, returning to the list. â€Å"Obviously you don't have to sleep in your native soil.† He checked it off. â€Å"And we know that everyone you bite doesn't necessarily turn into a vampire.† â€Å"No, a jerk, maybe†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Whatever,† Tommy said, moving on in the list. â€Å"Okay, sunlight is bad for you.† He made a check mark. â€Å"You can enter a house without being invited. How about running water?† â€Å"What about it?† â€Å"Vampires aren't supposed to be able to cross running water. Have you tried crossing any running water?† â€Å"I've taken a couple of showers.† â€Å"Then that would be fiction. Let me smell your breath.† He bent close to her. She turned her head and shielded her mouth. â€Å"Tommy, I just woke up. Let me brush my teeth first.† â€Å"Vampires are supposed to have the ‘fetid breath of a predator, or, in some cases, ‘breath like the rotting smell of the charnel house. C'mon, give us a whiff.† Jody reluctantly breathed in his face. He sat up and considered the list. â€Å"Well? â€Å"she asked. â€Å"I'm thinking. I need to get the dictionary out of my suitcase.† â€Å"What for?† â€Å"I'm not sure what a charnel house is.† â€Å"Can I brush my teeth while you look?† â€Å"No, wait, I might need another whiff.† He went to his suitcase and dug out the dictionary. While he looked up â€Å"charnel house,† Jody cupped her hand and smelled her own breath. It was pretty foul. â€Å"Here it is,† he said, putting his finger on the word. â€Å"‘Noun. A mausoleum or morgue. A structure where corpses are buried or stored. See morning breath! I guess that we check ‘fact' on that one.† â€Å"Can I brush my teeth now?† â€Å"Sure. Are you going to shower?† â€Å"I'd like to. Why?† â€Å"Can I help? I mean, you're much more attractive when you're not room temperature.† She smiled. â€Å"You really know how to charm a girl.† She got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Tommy waited on the bed. â€Å"Well, come on,† she said as she turned on the water. â€Å"Sorry,† he said, leaping to his feet and wrestling out of his shirt. She stopped him at the bathroom door with a firm hand on the chest. â€Å"One second, mister. I have a question for you.† â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"Men are pigs: fact or fiction?† â€Å"Fact!† Tommy shouted. â€Å"Correct! You win!† She leaped into his arms and kissed him. Chapter 17 This Month's Makeover: The Faces of Fear Simon McQueen had once climbed onto the back of a ton of pissed-off beef named Muffin and been promptly stomped into mush in front of an amazed rodeo crowd, and still managed to pinch the bottom of a female paramedic as he was carried away on a stretcher, singing a garbled version of â€Å"I've Got Friends in Low Places.† Simon McQueen had once picked a fight with a gang of skinheads and managed to render three of them unconscious before a knife in the stomach and a jackboot to the head rendered him helpless. Simon had jumped out of an airplane, fallen off the roof of a Lutheran church, run over a police car in his pickup truck, smuggled a thousand pounds of marijuana across the border from Mexico inside a stuffed cow, and swum halfway to Alcatraz Island on a dare before the Coast Guard fished him out of the bay and revived him. Simon had done all these things without the slightest tic of fear. But tonight, laid out across register 3 in his skintight Wranglers and his endanger ed-species Tony Lama boots with the silver spurs, his black Stetson pulled down over his face, Simon McQueen was frightened. Frightened that one of his two great secrets was about to become known. The other Animals were sharing tales of their weekend adventures, exaggerating aspects of binges and babes, while Glint professed to God that they knew not what they did. Simon sat up, pushed back his Stetson, and said, â€Å"Y'all wouldn't know a piece of ass if it sloshed upside your head.† The Animals fell silent, each trying to formulate a new and exciting way to tell Simon to fuck off, when Tommy came through the door. â€Å"Fearless Leader!† Lash exclaimed. Tommy grinned and faked a tap-dance step. â€Å"Gentlemen,† he said. â€Å"I have reached out and touched the face of God – film at eleven.† Simon was wildly irritated by this added distraction from his worrying. â€Å"What happened, you go down to Castro Street and get converted?† Tommy waved the comment away. â€Å"No, Sime – I can call you Sime, can't I? You see, last night, about this time† – he checked his watch – â€Å"there was a naked redhead hanging from the ceiling of my new loft, reading Kerouac aloud to me. If I die now, it was not all in vain. I'm ready to throw stock. How's the truck?† â€Å"A big one,† Troy Lee answered. â€Å"Three thousand cases. But the bitch is, the scanner is broken. We have to use the order books.† Troy's comment jabbed Simon like bad gas pain. He considered going home sick, but without his help the Animals would never be able to finish the truck before morning. A lump of fear rose in his throat. He couldn't use the order books. Simon McQueen couldn't read. â€Å"Let's get to it then,† Tommy said. The Animals threw themselves into their work with an abandon they usually reserved for partying. Razor box-cutters whizzed, price guns clicked, and cardboard piled up in shoulder-high drifts at the ends of the aisles. In addition to throwing the extra-large load, they had to allow an extra hour to write their stock orders. Normally the orders were done with a bar-code scanner, but with the scanner down, each man would have to go through a huge loose-leaf order book, writing in items by hand. By 5 A.M. they had most of the stock on the shelves and Simon McQueen was considering letting his box-cutter slip and cutting his leg so he could escape to the emergency room. But that might reveal a secret worse than illiteracy. Tommy came into Simon's aisle carrying the order book. â€Å"You better get started, Sime.† He held out the book and a pencil. â€Å"I still got a hundred cases to throw,† Simon said, not looking up. â€Å"Let someone else start.† â€Å"No, you've got the biggest section. Go ahead.† Tommy bumped Simon on the shoulder with the book. Simon looked up, then dropped his cutter and slowly took the book from Tommy. He opened the book and stared at the page, then at the shelf, then at the book. Tommy said, â€Å"Order light on the juices, we've got a lot of stock in the back room.† Simon nodded and looked at the book, then at the shelf of vegetables before him. Tommy said, â€Å"You're on the wrong page, Simon.† â€Å"I know,† Simon snapped. â€Å"I'm just finding my place.† He flipped through the pages, then stopped on a page of cake mixes and began looking at the shelf of vegetables. He could feel Tommy's gaze on him and wished that the skinny-little-faggot-book-reading-prick-bastard would just go away and leave him alone. â€Å"Simon.† Simon looked up, his eyes pleading. â€Å"Give me the book,† Tommy said. â€Å"I think I'm going to order everybody's section tonight. It'll give you guys more time to throw stock and I need to get more familiar with the store anyway.† â€Å"I can do it,† Simon said. â€Å"I know,† Tommy said, taking the book. â€Å"But why waste your talent on this bullshit?† As Tommy walked away, Simon took his first deep breath of the night. â€Å"Flood,† he called, â€Å"I'm buying the beers after shift.† Tommy didn't look back. â€Å"I know,† he said. Jody stood by the window in the dark loft watching the sleeping bum who lay on the sidewalk across the street and cursing under her breath. Go away, you bastard, she thought. Even as she thought it, she felt a measure of security in knowing exactly where her enemy was. As long as he lay on the sidewalk, Tommy was safe at the grocery store. She had never felt the need to protect someone before. She had always been the one looking for protection, for a strong arm to lean on. Now she was the strong arm, at least when the sun was down. She had walked Tommy down the steps and waited with him until the cab arrived to take him to work. As she watched the cab pull away, she thought, This must be how my mother felt when she put me on the school bus that first time – except that Tommy doesn't have a Barbie lunch box. She kept an eye on the vampire lying on the sidewalk across the street. Hours passed at the window and she asked the same questions over and over again, coming up with no solution to her problem, and no logic to the vampire's behavior. What did he want? Why had he killed the old woman and left her in the dumpster? Was he trying to frighten her, threaten her, or was there some kind of message to it all? â€Å"You're not immortal. You can still be killed.† If he was going to kill her, why didn't he just do it? Why pretend to be a sleeping bum, watching her, waiting? He has to find shelter before daylight. If I can just outlast him, maybe†¦ Maybe what? I can't follow him or I'll be caught in the sunlight too. She went to the bedroom and dug the almanac Tommy had given her out of her backpack. The sun would rise at 6:12 A.M. She checked her watch. She had an hour. She waited at the window until six o'clock, then headed out of the loft to confront the vampire. As she went through the door she instinctively reached out to click off the lights, only to realize that she hadn't turned any on. If I live through this, she thought, I'm going to save a fortune on utilities. She left the door at the top of the stairs unlocked, then went down the steps and propped the big fire door open with a soda can she found on the landing. She might have to get back in fast, and she didn't want to be slowed down by keys and locks. Her muscles buzzed as she approached the vampire, the fight-or-flee instinct running through her like liquid lightning. A few feet away she picked up a foul smell, a rotting smell coming from the vampire. She stopped and swallowed hard. â€Å"What exactly is it that you want?† she asked. The vampire didn't move. His face was covered by the high collar of his overcoat. She took another step forward. â€Å"What am I supposed to be doing?† The smell was stronger now. She concentrated on the vampire's hands, trying to sense some movement that would warn her of an attack. There was none. â€Å"Answer me!† she demanded. She stepped up and pulled the collar away from his face. She saw the glazed eyes and a bone jutting from the neck just as a hand clamped across her face and jerked her back off her feet. She tried to reach behind her to claw her attacker's face but he jerked her to the side. She opened her mouth to scream and two of his fingers slipped into her mouth. She bit down hard. There was a scream and she was free. She wheeled on her attacker, ready to fight, his severed fingers still in her mouth. The vampire stood before her, cradling his bloody hand. â€Å"Bitch,† he said. Then he grinned. Jody swallowed his fingers and hissed at him. â€Å"Fuck you, asshole. Come on.† She fell into a crouch and waved him on. The vampire was still grinning. â€Å"The taste of vampire blood has made you brave, fledgling. Don't take it too far.† His hand had stopped spurting blood and was scabbing over as she watched. â€Å"What do you want?† The vampire looked at the sky, which was turning pink, threatening dawn. â€Å"Right now I want to find a place to sleep,† he said too calmly. He ripped the scab from his fingers and slung a spray of blood in her face. â€Å"Until we meet again, my love.† He wheeled and ran across the street into an alley. Jody stood watching and shaking with the need for a fight. She turned and looked at the dead bum: the decoy. She couldn't leave him here to attract police – not this close to the loft. She glanced at the lightening sky, then hoisted the dead bum onto her back and headed back to the loft. Tommy ran up the stairs and burst into the loft eager to share his discovery about Simon's illiteracy, but once through the door, he was knocked back by a stinging rotten odor like bloated roadkill. What's she done now? he thought. He opened the windows to air the place out and went to the bedroom, careful to open the door just wide enough to slip through without spilling sunlight on the bed. The smell was much stronger here and he gagged as he turned on the light. Jody was lying on the bed with the electric blanket pulled up to her neck. Dried blood was crusted over her face. A wiggling wave of the willies ran up Tommy's spine, stronger than any he had felt since his father had first told him the secret of ball-park hot dogs. (â€Å"Snouts and butt holes,† Dad had said, during the seventh-inning stretch. â€Å"I've got the willies,† said Tommy.) There was a note on the pillow by Jody's head. Tommy crept forward and snatched it off the pillow, then backpedaled to the door to read it. Tommy, Sorry I'm such a mess. It's almost dawn and I don't want to get stuck in the shower. I'll explain tonight. Call Sears and have them deliver the largest chest freezer that they have. There's money in my backpack. I missed you last night. Love, Jody Tommy backed out of the room. Chapter 18 Bugeater of the Barbary Coast Tommy woke up on the futon feeling as if he had been through a two-day battle. The loft was dark but for the streetlights spilling through the windows and he could hear Jody running the shower in the other room. The new freezer was humming away in the kitchen. He rolled off the futon and groaned. His muscles creaked like rusty hinges and his head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton – like a low-grade hangover – not from the few beers he had shared with the Animals after work, but from the verbal beating he had taken from the appliance salesman at Sears. The salesman, a round hypertensive named Lloyd, who wore the last extant leisure suit on the planet (powder blue with navy piping), had begun his assault with a five-minute lament on the disappearance of double knits (as if a concerted effort by a Greenpeace team in white vinyl shoes and gold chains might bring double knits back from the brink of extinction), then segued into a half-hour lecture on the tragedies visited on those poor souls who failed to purchase extended warranties on their Kenmore Freezemasters. â€Å"And so,† Lloyd concluded, â€Å"he not only lost his job, his home, and his family, but that frozen food that could have saved the children at the orphanage spoiled, all because he tried to save eighty-seven dollars.† â€Å"I'll take it,† Tommy said. â€Å"I'll take the longest warranty you have.† Lloyd laid a fatherly hand on Tommy's shoulder. â€Å"You won't regret this, son. I'm not one for high pressure myself, but the guys that sell these warranties after delivery are like the Mafia – they'll call you at all hours, they'll hound you, they'll find you wherever you go and they will ruin your life if you don't give in. I once sold a microwave to a man who woke up with a horse's head in his bed.† â€Å"Please,† Tommy begged, â€Å"I'll sign anything, but they have to deliver it right now. Okay?† Lloyd pumped Tommy's hand to start the flow of cash. â€Å"Welcome to better living through frozen food.† Tommy sat up on the futon and looked at the behemoth freezer that was humming in the half-light of the kitchen. Why? he thought. Why did I buy it? Why did she want it? I didn't even ask for an explanation from her, I just blindly followed her instructions. I'm a slave, like Renfield in Dracula. How long before I start eating bugs and howling at night? He got up and walked, in his underwear and one sock, into the bedroom; the smell of decay was strong enough to make him gag. It was the smell that had driven him to sleep on the futon in the living room rather than crawl into bed with Jody. He'd fallen asleep reading Bram Stoker's Dracula to get some perspective on the love of his life. She's the devil, he thought, staring at the steam creeping out from under the bathroom door. â€Å"Jody, is that you?† he asked the steam. The steam just crept. â€Å"I'm in the shower,† Jody said from the shower. â€Å"Come on in.† Tommy went to the bathroom and opened the door. â€Å"Jody, we need to talk.† The bathroom was thick with steam – he could barely make out the shower doors. â€Å"Close the door; it smells in there.† Tommy moved closer to the shower. â€Å"I'm worried about the way things are going,† he said. â€Å"Did you get the freezer?† â€Å"Yes, that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about.† â€Å"You got the biggest one they had, right?† â€Å"Yes, and a ten-year extended-service agreement.† â€Å"And it's a chest model, not an upright?† â€Å"Yes, dammit, but Jody, you didn't even tell me why I was buying it and I just did it. Since I met you, it's like I have no will of my own. I've been sleeping all day. I'm not doing any writing. I hardly even see daylight anymore.† â€Å"Tommy, you work midnight to eight. When do you think you would sleep?† â€Å"Don't twist my words. I will not eat bugs for you.† She's the devil, he thought. â€Å"Will you do my back?† She slid the shower door open and Tommy was transfixed by the water cascading between her breasts. â€Å"Well?† she said, cocking a hip. Tommy slipped out of his briefs, pulled off his sock, and stepped into the shower. â€Å"Okay, but I'm not eating any bugs.† After a mad naked dash through the bedroom they sat on the futon toweling off and looking at the new freezer. â€Å"It certainly is large,† Jody said. â€Å"I bought a dozen TV dinners so it wouldn't look so empty.† Jody said, â€Å"You'll have to take them out; put them in the regular fridge.† â€Å"Why? I don't think they'll fit.† â€Å"I know, but I have something to put in there and I don't think you'll want your TV dinners in there with it.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Well, you know that bad smell in the bedroom?† â€Å"I was going to mention that. What is it?† â€Å"It's a body.† â€Å"You killed someone?† Tommy slid away from her on the futon. â€Å"No, I didn't kill anyone. Let me explain.† She told him about the bum, about creeping up on him thinking he was the vampire, and of the battle that ensued. Tommy said, â€Å"Do you think he was trying to kill you?† â€Å"I don't think so. It's as if he wants to show me how superior he is or something. Like he's testing me.† â€Å"So you bit off his fingers?† â€Å"I didn't know what else to do.† â€Å"What was it like?† â€Å"Honestly?† â€Å"Of course?† â€Å"It was a rush. It was an incredible rush.† â€Å"Better than drinking my blood?† â€Å"Different.† Tommy turned his back on her and began to pout. Jody moved to him and kissed his ear. â€Å"It was a fight, Tommy. I didn't come or anything, but I swear, I felt stronger after I†¦ after I swallowed.† â€Å"So that's why you were all crusty with blood when I got home?† â€Å"Yes, it was almost dawn when I got the body upstairs.† â€Å"That's another thing,† Tommy said. â€Å"Why did you bring that stinky thing up here?† â€Å"The police already found one body at the motel, and they have my name. Now they find another that was killed in the same way right next to where we live. I don't think they'd understand.† â€Å"So we're going to keep it in the freezer?† â€Å"Just until I figure out what to do with him.† â€Å"I'm not comfortable with you calling it ‘him. ; â€Å"Just until I figure out what to do with it, then.† â€Å"There's a big bay out there.† â€Å"And how would you suggest that we get it down there without being seen?† â€Å"I'll think about it.† Jody stood, wrapped a towel around herself, and walked back to the bedroom. â€Å"I'm going to put it in now; you might want to transfer your TV dinners.† She paused at the door. â€Å"And I'm out of clean clothes. You're going to need to go to the Laundromat.† â€Å"Why don't you go?† Jody regarded him gravely. â€Å"Tommy, you know I can't go out during the day.† â€Å"Oh no,† Tommy said. â€Å"Don't pull that. I don't know of a single Laundromat that's not open all night. Besides, I can't be your slave full-time. I have to have some time to get some writing done. And I might be taking on a student.† â€Å"What kind of student?† â€Å"A guy at work – Simon – he can't read. I'm going to offer to teach him.† â€Å"That's sweet of you,† Jody said. She shook her hair out, let her towel fall to the floor, and struck a centerfold pose. â€Å"Are you sure you don't want to do the laundry?† â€Å"No way. You have no power over me.† â€Å"Are you sure?† She licked her lips sensually. â€Å"That's not what you said in the shower.† I will resist her evil, Tommy thought. I will not give in. He stood and started gathering his clothes. â€Å"Don't you have a body to move?† â€Å"All right then,† Jody snapped. â€Å"I'll do the laundry while you're at work tonight.† She turned and went into the bedroom. â€Å"Good. I'll be out here looking for some tasty bugs,† Tommy whispered to himself. Midnight found Jody trudging down the steps with a trash bag full of laundry slung across her back. As she stepped onto the sidewalk and turned to lock the door she realized that she hadn't the slightest idea where to find a Laundromat in this neighborhood. The rolling steel door to the foundry was open and the two burly sculptors were working inside, bracing a man-sized plaster mold for pouring. She considered asking them for directions, but thought it might be better to wait and meet them when she was with Tommy. The interior of the foundry was glowing red with the heat from the molten bronze in the crucible, making it appear to her heat-sensitive vision like hell's own studio. She stood for a moment watching waves of heat spill out the top of the door, to swirl and dissipate in the night sky like dying paisley ghosts. She wanted to turn to someone and share the experience, but of course there was no one, and if there had been, they wouldn't have been able to see what she saw. She thought, In the kingdom of the blind, a one-eyed man can get pretty lonely. She sighed heavily and was starting toward Market Street when she heard a sharp staccato tapping of toenails at her heels. She dropped the laundry and wheeled around. A Boston terrier growled and snorted at her, then backed away a few feet and fell into a yapping fit that bordered on canine apoplexy, his bug eyes threatening to pop out of his head. â€Å"Bummer, stop that!† came a shout from the corner. Jody looked up to see a grizzled old man in an overcoat coming toward her wearing a saucepan on his head and carrying a wickedly pointed wooden sword. A golden retriever trotted along beside him, a smaller saucepan strapped to his head and two garbage-can lids strapped to his sides, giving the impression of a compact furry Viking ship. â€Å"Bummer, come back here.† The little dog backed away a few more steps, then turned and ran back to the man. Jody noticed that the little dog had a miniature pie pan strapped over his ears with a rubber band. The old man picked up the terrier in his free hand and trotted up to Jody. â€Å"I'm very sorry,† he said. â€Å"The troops are girded for battle, but I fear they are a bit too eager to engage. Are you all right?† Jody smiled. â€Å"I'm fine. Just a little startled.† The old man bowed. â€Å"Allow me to introduce myself†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You're the Emperor, aren't you?† Jody had been in the City for five years. She'd heard about the Emperor, but she'd only seen him from a distance. â€Å"At your service,† said the Emperor. The terrier growled suspiciously and the Emperor shoved the little dog, head first, into the oversized pocket of his overcoat, then buttoned the flap. Muffled growls emanated from the pocket. â€Å"I apologize for my charge. He's long on courage, but rather short on manners. This is Lazarus.† Jody nodded to the retriever, who let out a slight growl and backed away a step. The garbage-can lids rattled on the sidewalk. â€Å"Hi. I'm Jody. Pleased to meet you.† â€Å"I hope you will forgive my presumption,† the Emperor said, â€Å"but I don't think it's safe for a young woman to be out on the street at night. Particularly in this neighborhood.† â€Å"Why this neighborhood?† The Emperor moved closer and whispered. â€Å"I'm sure that you've noticed that the men and I are dressed for battle. We are hunting a vicious, murdering fiend that has been stalking the City. I don't mean to alarm you, but we last saw him on this very street. In fact, he killed a friend of mine right across the street not two nights ago.† â€Å"You saw him?† Jody asked. â€Å"Did you call the police?† â€Å"The police will be of no help,† the Emperor said. â€Å"This is not the run-of-the-mill scoundrel that we are used to in the City. He's a vampire.† The Emperor lifted his wooden sword and tested the point against the tip of his finger. Jody was shaken. She tried to calm herself, but the fear showed on her face. â€Å"I've frightened you,† the Emperor said. â€Å"No – no, I'm fine. It's just†¦ Your Majesty, there are no such things as vampires.† â€Å"As you wish,† the Emperor said. â€Å"But I think it would be prudent for you to wait until daylight to do your business.† â€Å"I need to do my laundry or I won't have any clean clothes for tomorrow.† â€Å"Then allow us to escort you.† â€Å"No, really, Your Majesty, I'll be fine. By the way, where is the nearest Laundromat?† â€Å"There is one not far from here, but it's in the Tenderloin. Even during the day you wouldn't be safe alone. I really must insist that you wait, my dear. Perhaps by then we will have exterminated the fiend.† â€Å"Well,† Jody said, â€Å"if you insist. This is my apartment, right here.† She dug the key out of her jeans and opened the door. She turned back to the Emperor. â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"Safety first,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Sleep well.† The little dog growled in his pocket. Jody went inside and closed the door, then waited until she heard the Emperor walk away. She waited another five minutes and went back onto the street. She shouldered the laundry and headed toward the Tenderloin, thinking, This is great. How long before the police actually listen to the Emperor? Tommy and I are going to have to move and we haven't even decorated yet. And I hate doing laundry. I hate it. I'm sending our laundry out if Tommy won't do it. And we're going to have a cleaning lady – some nice, dependable woman who will come in after dark. And I'm not buying toilet paper. I don't use it and I'm not going to buy it. And something has to be done about this asshole vampire. God, I hate doing laundry. She had gone two blocks when a man stepped out of a doorway in front of her. â€Å"Hey momma, you need some help.† She jumped in his face and shouted, â€Å"Fuck off, horndog!† with such viciousness that he screamed and leaped back into the doorway, then meekly called  «Sorry » after her as she passed. She thought, I'm not sorting. It all goes in warm. I don't care if the whites do go gray; I'm not sorting. And how do I know how to get out bloodstains? Who am I? Miss Household Hints? God, I hate laundry. The clothes jumped and played and dived over each other like fabric dolphins. Jody sat on a folding table across from the dryer watching the show and thinking about the Emperor's warning. He'd said, â€Å"I don't think it's safe for a young woman to be out on the street at night.† Jody agreed. Not long ago she would have been terrified if she'd found herself in the Tenderloin at night. She couldn't even remember coming down here during the day. Where had that fear gone? What had happened to her that she could face off with a vampire, bite off his fingers, and carry a dead body up a flight of stairs and shove it under the bed without even a flinch? Where was the fear and loathing? She didn't miss it, she just wondered what had happened to it. It wasn't as if she were without fear. She was afraid of daylight, afraid of the police discovering her, and of Tommy rejecting her and leaving her alone. New fears and familiar fears, but there was nothing in the dark that frightened her, not the future, not even the old vampire – and she knew now, having tasted his blood, that he was old, very old. She saw him as an enemy, and her mind casted for strategies to defeat him, but she was not really afraid of him anymore: curious, but not afraid. The dryer stopped-fabric dolphins dropped and died as if caught in tuna nets. Jody jumped off the table, opened the dryer, and was feeling the clothes for dampness when she heard footsteps on the sidewalk outside the Laundromat. She turned to see the tall black man she had chased into the doorway coming into the Laundromat, followed by two shorter men. All three wore silver L.A. Raiders jackets, high-top shoes, and evil grins. Jody turned back to the dryer and started stuffing her clothes into the trash bag. She thought, I should be folding these. â€Å"Yo, bitch,† the tall man said. Jody looked to the back of the Laundromat. The only door was in the front, behind the three men. She turned and looked up at them. â€Å"How about those Raiders?† she said with a smile. She felt a pressure in the roof of her mouth: the fangs extending. The three men split up and moved around the folding table to surround her. In another life, this had been her worst nightmare. In this life she just smiled as two of them grabbed her arms from behind. She saw a bead of sweat on the tall man's temple as he approached her and reached out to tear the front of her shirt. She ripped her right arm loose and caught the tall man's wrist as the sweat bead began to drip. She snapped his forearm and bones splintered though skin and muscle as she swung him, headfirst, through the glass door of the dryer. She reached over her shoulder and grabbed one of the Raider fans by the hair and smashed his face into the floor, then wheeled on her last attacker and shoved him back into the edge of the folding table, snapping his spine just above the hips and sending him spinning backward over a deck of washing machines. The bead of sweat hit the floor near the man with the smashed face. Amid the hum of fluorescent lights and the moans of the man with the broken back, Jody loaded the rest of her laundry into the trash bag. She thought, This stuff is going to be nothing but wrinkles by the time I get home. Tommy's doing the laundry next time. As she reached the door she ran her tongue over her teeth and was relieved to find her fangs had retracted. She looked over her shoulder at the carnage and shouted, â€Å"Forty-fucking-Niners!† The man with the broken back moaned.

Knowledge Brokering and the Work of Information Technology Professionals Essay

Abstract   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the purpose of the exploratory study; the result that brokering practices for information distribution are affected by the structural conditions in the organization. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how an IT professional views himself and what some IT professionals feel about their role in the information distribution chain in the company. It talks about how an IT professional must expand his or her role to take on the mantle of spreading information to all quarters and feel that their responsibility is not only to ensure that information flows but ensure that information is available to everyone in a way that they are made aware of instead of them seeking information when they need it. It knows vs. seeking. Related Research   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the absence of any previous theories on knowledge brokering and how the authors used studies from the area of organizational science to base their study and start their research. It also points to the limitation of the article that it doesn’t talk about any best practices that can be used in effective knowledge transfer amongst the different units of an organization Boundary Spanning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how there are different boundaries in an organization, internal as well as external and how boundary spanners are the ones who have the responsibility of transferring knowledge from one unit to another unit of the organization. Situated Learning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the theory that learning and knowledge transfer depend on the community that the people interact in. it brings along aspects like culture, whether in the organization of in the city or country. It talks about how different people have different views on things and that their environment can and will strengthen their views – as most of us like to be with like minded people. Method   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the whole methodology of how the authors have gone about researching the article and coming up with their theory and reasoning. Research Site   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section gives a reasonably detailed background of the company that is chosen for research. The company is a fortune 100 company with 55,000 employees and has 600 plants and centers in North America. Data Collection   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the data collection methodology, which was a semi-structured interview of one hour durations. They started from the CIO and went down the chain of command. The interviews were held with IT professionals as was the scope and basis of the study. Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how the data that was gathered during interviews was later reviewed and how the authors went about adding notes and additional comments to the information before they came to the results. The analysis was mainly qualitative. Only 23 participants make up the whole study. Results   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The result was a set of themes that came out from the analysis of the interviews that were conducted. The authors went into brief details of each theme and they are presented below. Position of IT professionals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This talks about how IT professional position themselves in the organization to be effective in the work they do. The fact that most positions required domain expertise helped the IT professionals as they were able to build credibility with the department that they worked in. Shared Systems as Boundary Objects   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section explains how the fact that IT is a part of every business transaction affects all changes that happen in an organization. It also talks about how the IT professionals’ participation in all important meetings becomes a chance for knowledge brokering and how IT professionals can take advantage of such opportunities. Brokering Practices   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section gives an introduction to the types of themes for knowledge brokering that emerged; they are discussed in detail later. Crossing Boundaries   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is the first theme and it refers to IT professionals going to different units and spreading information or sharing knowledge. It talks about how the initiative taken by different IT professionals can affect the knowledge brokering within the company. Surfacing and Challenging Assumptions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how IT professionals would regularly ask â€Å"Why† to challenge a certain assumption and find out the underlying reason or change the systems using this approach. Translation and Interpretation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the theme of being a translator and interpreter for different departments and being the person who would find solutions amongst all the jargons that they use. Relinquishing Ownership   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how for every change the IT professionals always needed the approval of the units that they worked in. it also mentions how the IT professionals presented themselves to be impartial although they always wanted a certain way to implement things. Consequences of Knowledge Brokering   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how the IT professionals not only saw themselves as IT people but also as people who moved the information from one part of the company to another part. Discussion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section wraps up the topic and dwells on the fact that shared systems was one of the most important tools that IT professionals used in sharing knowledge and how the job of an IT professional was changing in the structures that exist in different organizations. Evaluation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In this section the authors evaluate their work and inform the reader how their study covers many differing aspects and what it offers. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about how the role of the IT professional in information sharing is diminishing as they get sidelined to only building and maintaining information systems. It also mentions that the IT professionals now have to revaluate their jobs and see how they can add more value to the organization. References   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section lists all the references that are used in the article. About the authors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section talks about the authors, their achievements and specialties. Appendix   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This section lists the questions that were asked during the interviews that were conducted. Assumptions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The authors assume that what happens in one company happens in all company. They mention themselves that the role of an IT professional can change depending on the structure in the organization, its contradictory. Limitations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The study only looks at one company and interviewed 23 people in it. The whole paper is based on information gathered there. It does not use any statistical tools and the theory is based on qualitative data only. The study does not share any best practices (lack of comparative sample) and does not give concrete suggestions on what the future holds for the IT professional.