Individual Research Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Individual Research Project - Assignment Example Ethical consumerism is a personal allocation of finance, which includes value for consumption and investment, whereby choice is inherent for particular purposes whether personal human rights, justice, the surroundings or even for animal welfare (Co-operative Group,ECRA, 2010). Ethical consumerism is also known as ethical consumption, green consumption or ethical shopping. Green goods are a term used to refer to products whose production ensures economic development and at the same time promotes a pollution free environment for the benefit of future generations. Market for green goods has been increasing but still much effort has to be taken to ensure that green goods attain a stable market and also eliminate fluctuating prices due to changing preferences. Green goods are not only beneficial to the environment but also provide the body with nutrients. A good example is that organic milk gives more omega-3 fatty acids more than what is offered by convectional milk. Buying of green prod ucts means that less harmful gases will be released to the environment. Most green products also are bio-degradable which means that the will not pollute the environment unlike plastic bags. Buying fresh products also insinuates reducing packages and the cost of packaging. This will lead to reduced use of plastics thus less pollution and also more reserved funds which can be used in other beneficial economic activities. Most of the applications which people apply on the skin should be more organic to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals which enter the body through its biggest organ; the skin. Buying of green products implies supporting the local market through consumption of organic products produced by organic agriculture thus improving on the total usage of green products which conserves the environment in the long run. Ethical consumerism

How the Prologue in Romeo and Juliet Prepares the Audience for the Play Essay Example for Free

How the Prologue in Romeo and Juliet Prepares the Audience for the Play Essay The prologue to Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet prepares the audience by making a short summary of the play so it gets the audience thinking about what the story is about. The prologue is a sonnet which is a 14 line poem, it is also known as an english, elizabethan sonnet which contains 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet. A sonnet is usually a love poem and that is exactly what Romeo and Juliet is about. The first quatrain of the sonnet is about the feud and conflict between the two families. Both of the families have the same status both alike in dignity but they seem to be holding a grudge against each other, we arent told what causes the hate within the two houses but it is there and drags the households into fights this is particulaly shown in line 4 where civil blood make civil hands unclean the word blood is meaning that death and injuries occur due to the feud the families have. Civil is meant to mean poliet or fair which is a bit ironic since there isnt any politeness. The second quatrain is about the lovers, Romeo and Juliet, and their deaths. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes this line is saying that the two household enemies have produced a pair of lovers, this is mainly emphasised in the phrase fatal loins this implies that these being in love is deadly and they are also involved with the feud of their parents. It also means that their fate has been decided and that death will be their destiny. The second line A pair of star crossd lovers take their life† this is implying that the stars which is meaning their destinies, since they believed that stars told their destiny like horoscopes, so being star crossd lovers means that their destinies are entwined but they are also against each other due to the feud. The last line of the second quatrain doth with their death bury their parents strife this shows that in order to end the feud the deaths of Romeo and Juliet seem to take affect on their parents. The next quatrain is about both love and hate. The first line The fearful passage of their death-marked love this means that all the events that they go through will lead them them to their destinies of death. The second line says that their parents anger is something that isnt easy to take away but in the next line which but their childrens end, nought could remove this means that the only thing they cant stop is their childrens death and it was caused by their hatred to one another. The last line is now the two hours traffic of our stage this implies that the events that they have mentioned will now take place on the stage by the actors. The rhyming couplet is the last to lines of the sonnet. The which, if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. These two lines are now directed to the audience and that now they are going to show them the play if they are willing to stay. The phrase patient ears attend show that because they are on a stage they dont usually use scenery so you have to listen and use their imagination to help what is happening. In conclusion the prologue to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet prepare the audience for the play by mentioning the key facts to the play so they know what to expect when that particular event is being performed also it helps to explain the parts of the play which seem to be a mystery like the parents hatred, the audience would not know that the two families are meant to be sharing the same status just that there are two groups who dont like each other. It also prepares the audience like a warning saying that death will occur in the play as well as love and hatred.

Factors Affecting Witness Accounts

Factors Affecting Witness Accounts Witnesses Accounts and the Reality The information given by an informant may vary significantly with the actual information or what happened on the ground. The most basic question that interviewers, weather in the justice system or in research always grapple with is how to know whether the informant is giving the truth (Dean Whyte 1958). It would be difficult to determine whether this information is the actual absolute truth. However, most interviewers use epistemological approaches to detect the level of truth in the interviewees information. Navarro (2012) asserts that the researches that have been conducted over a long period have not come up with a single conclusive modality of truth detection. Witness accounts may also lack a level of truth or may vary from the reality that transpired at the scene of the event. This difference can be motivated by several factors that range from the effects of the environment to psychological factors. This essay examines the main reasons that can lead to a distortion of the witness accounts from the reality. Specifically, the paper looks at the deflection of the truth due to perception and the effect of long-term memory on the accounts given by the witness. Laub (1992) examines the effect of age and long term memory on the ability to reconstruct the happenings of the Holocaust. At the time of the happenings, the author was a small child that had little knowledge of the happenings in the world. It has to be remembered that the events lasted some time and at the time of the witnessing, the author was already an adult. The author appears to have had a precocious development at the initial stage of life, making him to be able to make out the events. Through learning the basics of this event and the impact of age, the author is able to clearly understand the happening as they should have been. The only difference is that the ability to exaggerate or distort the information is quiet high. In the long term memory, the author cannot single out the specific details of each even and has to fill in the missing information from common knowledge. The deflection of the accounts given, in this case, is based on the learning experience on the subject that the witness has had over a period. In (Dean Whyte 1958), this long term effect of learning on the memory of a witness is described as cognitive formulation. The common knowledge here is that what the witness will have learnt over time will cause a difference on the accounts are given and the actual truth. In Callender (2011), the temporal aspects of philosophy are discussed with regards to the existence of the self. In this study, the author opines that there is a possibility of change in individuals over a period whether physical or in mental strength through learning. The discussion about eternalists is also reviewed by this study. It demonstrates the fact that eternalists perception of different times as analogous to the difference in locations. The argument presented by the eternalist here is that different events that occur or exits at different times give the specific ti mes different images. It is, therefore, possible to have a different perception of time and the events that occurred at those times. This spatial difference and learning is what supports the notion that it is possible to have a different of account from the real happening. A prevalent emotion in time also has an effect on the objectivity of the judgment of an agent or individual (Campbell-Sills, Barlow, Brown, Hofmann 2006). At the time of delivering an account of happenings, the emotional component of the witness are likely to impact on the testimony because this was not present at the time of the occurrence of an event. The argument here can take two facets: first it is difficult to give a real simulation of the events that transpired in terms of emotion. Secondly, the impact of the prevailing emotions of another individual could distort the contents of the account. As a result, emotions play a double role in the delivery of the accounts of witnesses both of which are subjective on the long term memory. On rare cases, the judgment of a person to give an objective account despite the subjective effect of the emotions has also taken place. In this case, emotions are not considered but the correct and proper outcome as is the norm is the guiding princi ple. Apart from the emotional context generated in the long term memory of a person through learning, it is possible that the effect of subjective perception could generate a level of difference. In subjective perception, the main idea is that everyone develops a meaning of the world as they so experience it. As a result, the difference in the experiences that have been gathered in the long term memory of individuals could be the cause of difference on the level of perception. In psychology, subjective perception and the resultant impact on the result of surveys is the main reason for disputing the level of accuracy of a research. This notion of subjective perception mainly concerns the researches that are conducted through the use of observation and non-scientific method. The reason for the bias in the observation and non-scientific methods is that each individuals observation would be different from the reality. And this also informs the difference in accounts of eye witnesses. Perception is closely related to the aspect of objectivity in individuals. Coon (2006) illustrates this objectivity role of perception as the ability of one to just recognize and believe what they see. When one sees something, the mind registers the image generated and can recognize the image. Other sensory stimuli information is also perceived by the brain. The sensory input is first received by the appropriate sensor then taken through the recognition process which utilizes the knowledge that is already owned by the individual. The brain compares the input by the data or information that the individual has learnt over time and selects the closest information that the same individual has of the same input. The mechanism of perception is can also be used to explain the idea behind an illusion. It is common knowledge that illusions are things that can be perceived wrongly. The simplest explanation that can be given in illusions is that the senses send a wrong signal to the brain for i nterpretation returning a wrong conclusion. The result of illusions can also weigh in on the major differences of witness account as compared to the reality. This is mainly attributed to the wrong interpretation or the ability of an event to have more than one interpretation The comparison mechanism in perception is the main reason there could a difference in the perception of different persons. It has been known that there are objects which can be perceived in more than one way. Apart from the different perceptions of a similar object, there is a possibility that different persons might have different perceptions. A common example of the difference in perception is the fact that different persons might perceive a similar color in two different ways. This condition is usually referred to as color blindness (Brewer, Heitzeg, 2008). Color blindness is a common reason for the difference of the witness accounts in cases where the witness is required to pin point the actual color of an object. The result is that while the color could be known or perceived singly by many, a witness could give a different account of the same. In perceptual learning, humans tend to develop a habit or a distinct pattern of learning. These patterns of learning if altered could result to the distortion of the information that is received by the individual. According to Coon (2006), these patterns are imparted by the prevalent norms in a society. It also gives an example of an inverted picture of a human head. Most persons walk upright and as such a human mind is accustomed to learning facial differences at an upright posture. Significant differences can be noted if the same picture of a human head were looked at from the two perspectives. The perception mechanism as described in human psychology has two parts that involve the detection and the search mechanisms. According to Shiffrin Schneider (1977), this process can either be automatic or controlled by an individual. Once the attention of a person has been drawn towards some stimuli input, the control of the process is shifted to the brain power. In a controlled perception, the study found out that the mechanism is serialized. It also requires a high level of input by the user which could limit the amount of information one retains in the whole process. In an automatically controlled process, the input of the user is limited and as such much of the processing power of the brain is focused on generating the conclusion of the perception exercise. These two different forms of perception could be the basis of the difference between a witness account and the reality. As notes, if the process was automatically triggered then the witness could end up with much information as it can which could be the truth anyway. However, if the process is controlled by the individual, it is possible that there could be a large amount of information (Shiffrin Schneider 1977) that is left out in the process. The study further explains that it is difficult to ignore, alter or delete from the long-term memory of a person if the perception was automatically instigated. Apart from memory and perception factor, Undue egocentrism is also a factor in deflecting the opinion of the witness that can cause a difference between the account given by a witness and the truth. This argument proposes that the impact of subjectivity on the minds of individuals is the main cause of the distortion of the account. An example of this would be an account given of a vehicle accident. A witness can state that the driver of the vehicle that was swerving was drunk at the time, and nothing else could be affecting the driving. This is an egocentric opinion or emotions that foster the belief that such driving must only be caused by drinking. Studies that have been conducted on the distributive justice judgment indicate that the basis of the conclusion either the norms or the egoistic self-serving notions (Ramsbotham, Miall, Woodhouse 2011). Apart from these forces, egocentrism is also part of the judgment that could lead to a skewed judgment in giving witness accounts. In conclusion, the level of accuracy in most of the accounts given by witnesses would be varied from the truth. At an early age, a witness would give a different account from the account given after a longer period usually in adulthood. The reason behind this level of difference is that as a person grows, the details in the long term memory can be forgotten or lost. Apart from the loss, there is a possibility that the learning process changes the ideas that a person has. The level of knowledge will shape their opinion and how they would have reported the whole event at an early age. It would take a precocious ability to reproduce the exact account owing to the time difference and the learning process. Perception is also an important aspect (Kuehn1974) of the delivery of a witness account. The main reason which can lead to the difference in the accounts given and the reality include the ability of certain objects to have double perception. A possibility of confusion through the illusion is also a factor that could limit the accuracy of the account. As an individual experiences a world from childhood, the experiences are custom to the person and can also affect the accuracy or the information that is given. It is, therefore, important to have the individuals who verify the accounts of witnesses to take into account the impact of all these factors on the truth value of the account. Bibliography BREWER, R. M., HEITZEG, N. A. (2008). The racialization of crime and punishment  criminal justice, color-blind racism, and the political economy of the prison industrial complex. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(5), 625-644. CALLENDER, C. (2011). The Oxford handbook of philosophy of time. Oxford, Oxford  University Press. CAMPBELL-SILLS, L., BARLOW, D. H., BROWN, T. A., HOFMANN, S. G. (2006).  Effects of suppression and acceptance on emotional responses of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. Behaviour research and therapy, 44(9), 1251-1263. COON, D. (2006). Psychology: a modular approach to mind and behavior. Belmont, CA,  Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. DEAN, J. P., WHYTE, W. F. (1958). How do you know if the informant is telling the truth?.  Human Organization, 17(2), 34-38.   KUEHN, L. L. (1974). Looking down a gun barrel: Person perception and violent crime.  Perceptual and Motor Skills, 39(3), 1159-1164. LAUB, D. (1992). An event without a witness: Truth, testimony and survival. Testimony: Crises  of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis, and history, 75-92. NAVARRO, J. (2012). The Truth About Lie Detection. Psychology Today.   RAMSBOTHAM, O., MIALL, H., WOODHOUSE, T. (2011). Contemporary conflict  resolution. Polity. SCHNEIDER, W., SHIFFRIN, R. M. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information  processing: I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological review, 84(1), 1. SHIFFRIN, R. M., SCHNEIDER, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information  processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychological review, 84(2), 127.

Life Struggling Against Death in Shakespeares Sixtieth Sonnet (Sonnet

Life Struggling Against Death in Shakespeare's Sixtieth Sonnet (Sonnet 60) Shakespeare's sixtieth sonnet is probably addressed to the same young, male friend to whom most or all of the earlier sonnets are said to be addressed. The sonnet does not specify this, however, so it could be to anyone or everyone. The theme is certainly universal; time steals human life away, but poetry is immortal. The poet uses diction and imagery to paint a picture of life struggling against death and losing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker of the sonnet tells the audience in the first quatrain that human life is fleeting. He or she refers to life as "our minutes" (813). This is a twist on the traditional expression "our days." The use of "minutes" in place of "days" makes life seem even shorter and gives the poem a sense of urgency. The speaker uses wave imagery to show the audience that life is rushing: "Like as the waves make toward the pibbled shore,/ So do our minutes hasten to their end" (813). The wave is a very appropriate symbol for life. First it is nonexistent, then it becomes a small groove on the water, then it swells to greatness. As it grows in size, it speeds up, as life seems to speed up as people grow older.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker says that the minutes of life are "Each changing place with that which goes before,/ In sequent toil all forwards do contend" (813). The speaker treats the minutes of life without glamour. The minutes, like the waves, pass in the same way as those that wint before them. The speaker uses the word "toil" to imply that life is drudgery. The wave, even when swollen to its zenith acts in an imitative and monotonous way. Then it begins to shrink more quickly than it grew, finally dissipating as it crashes o... ...d nothing stands but for his scythe to mow," but in the next line says that the "verse shall stand" (813). The speaker also implies that the poetry might be written more in spite of Time than in praise of the audience. "The worth" of the audience is mentioned only once, while the mighty enemy, Time, is the focus. The victor over Time is the verse.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The speaker of the poem tells the audience that he or she should be flattered that they were chosen as the subject of the speaker's poetry. The speaker convinces the audience that life is weak and Time is strong, but the speaker's poetry is stronger still. Perhaps the speaker felt that the audience was not appreciative enough of some previous efforts at immortalizing him or her in verse! For whatever reason, the speaker of Sonnet Sixty gives the audience a profound example of the importance of poetry.   

The Death Penalty Is an Outdated Form of Punishment

The Death Penalty is an Outdated Form of Punishment The protective authority is becoming cleverer to stopping crimes and is still increasing for the past years. With the punishment of the death penalty crimes have not been decreasing. In fact the crime in the United States are 5 times more than Australia and Britain. The death penalty is an outdated form of punishment and should be abolished because it is cruel and unusual. With the death penalty enacted criminals have been killed for their crimes but cost 4 times more than have them as life in prison without parole.Some cases have happened where the â€Å"criminal† has been executed and soon with DNA was declared innocent. Life in prison also guarantees no future crimes, some religions go against the death penalty. Some people state that killing is wrong, and it breaks the international human rights which is the right to life. In society it is not practiced as much, the trail is not a fair manner. Some criminals that are conv icted with murder don’t have good lawyers to protect them from the penalty. The death penalty promotes a normal solution to penalties. http://www. antideathpenalty. org/) The death penalty cost much more than life in prison without parole because in the Constitution it requires a long judicial processes to make sure that the criminal is not being charged with execution when they never committed the crime. Even with the precautions like these they can still execute an innocent person without the right evidence. With the cost of the death penalty if life in prison without parole would take the place of it, the cost would lower millions of dollars less.With those millions we could use to fix communities, hire about 500 more protective authorities to take care of the prisoners, provide medicine to the mentally ill criminals, and could also prevent crimes and save lives. (O’Malley) In California if they didn’t have the death penalty they would save about $1 billion d ollars over 5 years. In California taxpayers pay 90,000 more per death row than a prisoner in life. The ACLU has found there is a hidden death penalty tax in California additional to the one that is already been paid. (www. deathpenalty. rg) With people being convicted with crimes they have not committed in some cases the judge has sentence them to the death row. With the many trails and appeals they have to face they are still shown guilty even though they didn’t commit it. With in the United States since 1973, 140 have been executed and later was proven innocent. In 1981, a man named Earl Charles was convicted for murder, he spent the past three years trying to prove his innocence when he was in line for execution, after he was executed and later he was found innocent.Now they talk about him being the huge error. This shows that the court made a mistake and now could never redo or bring him back to life. That’s why we should replace the death penalty with life in pri son because you can take them out for the crime if declared innocent. (Meehan) â€Å"We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment. †Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   – Senator Russ Feingold, 2003 (www. deathpenalty. org).This means that in United States the constitution says we will not have any discrimination but there is always discrimination in certain ways that they don’t notice. This complaint that people state is true because they have executed some whites to cover up the discrimination against blacks. Also the most prisoners executed almost 99 percent of them are men. Part of another discrimination is that some victims that they killed their lives are more important than other victims so they sentence the â€Å"more important† victims killers to the death row.Studies have discovered that in crimes that if a black person kills a white are about 40 times more likely to be sentenced to death than if he killed a black. (Meehan) Some cases the death row sentence are applied in wrong ways such that when the criminal is sentence to the death penalty when they committed a less horrendous crime than one who did a much worst crime. An example is two men were charged with killing and one of them was sentence to death and the second man was freed, and stated that he didn’t mean for the other man to take the blame is just came out that way.Later after the man was executed the freed man was given 7 years and 8 months in prison for kill the San Francisco mayor and another city official. This show that the court is unjust because they both committed the same crime but one was killed and another one was given about 8 years in prison for the same crime. (Meehan) In some religions scripts it say that execution is ok to do but now those same religions are opposed to the death penalty in the United States and view it as immoral.Some religions that are opposed to the death penalty are Christian, Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, and Interfaith. (deathpenalty. org) In the second week of September in 2012 an Ohio inmate was freed because of a Catholic organization who found evidence to set him free. (Keyes) In the Christian Religion some enforce the thought that Cain was the first murderer in the world and was not executed because he had something special, which was populate the earth.A pastor wrote a book and stated that Christ would oppose the killing of a human as a punishment for a crime. He also stated that it breaks against one of the Ten Commandments. This shows a strong command that the death penalty is wrong and should not be used. (Meehan) Internationally many countries have abolished the death penalty just during the 21st century about 30 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, why, because they viewed as the death penalty as going against the international human rights which is the right to life. deathpenalty. org) In South Sudan human rights have backed up the campaign against the death penalty in the country saying that this punishment is â€Å" outrageous and inhumane† that goes against the right to life. The South Sudan society of the South Sudan Human Rights Society for Advocacy (SSHURA) are stating that â€Å"the death penalty should be scrapped off the books of South Sudan† – Executive Director of the SSHURA and that they are in full support of societies that are against it.Currently about 150 countries of the United Nations have abolished the death penalty and are in the processes of helping other countries who haven’t abolished it. (Uma) The death penalty can bring suffering to the victims family, they support other punishments instead of the death penalty for various reasons. The death penalty brings traumatizing long term effects that make the families suffer and reopen the event over again unlike life without paro le it brings punishment to the criminal but it doesn’t affect the family as much and will forget.Some families argue that millions are spent to the death penalty each year that if it is replaced with life without parole the money could be spent to violence preventions and solve unsolved cases. They also state that the death penalty focuses on legal consequences and not on human consequences and focuses on the crime and the accused instead of the feelings of the victims family, the accused families and very importantly the community. Life without parole punishes the criminal instead of putting them out in public or the news.With death penalty still enacted in the United States for victims families there are many organizations that help them become situated with the decision and also help reform the death penalty. Such as Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights which is an international non-governmental organizations of victims family members of criminal murder, terror ist attacks, state executions, assassinations and disappearances helping to abolish the death penalty with a human rights perspective. (deathpenalty. org) One of the most important things a person convicted of any crime is a lawyer.When a person who has had a mass murder determining that if they should get the death penalty is based on how good and clever is his or her representation. Some criminals can’t afford a lawyer so they are given one but those attorneys ether don’t have experience, are under paid, or sometimes overworked which can bring them to losing their lives because of the attorney. Some appointed attorneys come to court without any evidence to get them out or don’t pay attention and lose the case. (deathpenalty. org) People for the death penalty have stated that with the death penalty crimes have been decreasing.The crime has been decreasing because our protective authority are coming up with more technology to stop crimes but not because of the d eath penalty crimes have decreased. It is proven that the United States crime is 6 times more than England and 5 times more than Australia. Some states have larger crime rates than others. In the year 2003 state murder increased and went higher than the national murder rate. (antideathpenalty. org) The murder wouldn’t think that committing the murder they would get caught and if they do they would think about the consequences they would get if they do. Sarokin) There have been various debates on the controversial topic of the death penalty. Such as execution cost more than life in prison, innocent people may be wrongly executed and can not reverse what has been done, crimes have not decreased since the death penalty was legal, life in prison also guarantees no future crimes, it goes against many religions, killing is wrong, some convicted can’t afford an attorney so they are appointed the worst ones, it violated the international human rights laws known as the right to life, and race comes into play while they are tired.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denischovivh

October 3, 2010 Cold War-Period 1 Ivan Denisovich Shukhov was sent to a Soviet concentration camp, he was accused of being a spy after being captured by the Germans. He was not a spy but was still falsely punished by the government. My favorite quote of the book is, â€Å"Can they even tell what the sun to do? † This portrays that when the Communist Party declared that the sun reaches its high point of the day at one instead of noon. He is saying that the Soviet Union controls everything such as: the sun’s zenith, religion, and clothes.The Soviet Union treated prisoners of war(POWS) very harshly and the system itself was also very corrupt. Alexander Solzhenitysn was a POW himself. In February of 1945 when he was serving in East Prussia he got arrested for writing insulting comments in multiple letters to Nikolai Vitkevich. The first camp they took him to be in Lubyanka, and they beat him there and questioned him on many things. In the middle phase of his concealment he was sent to Sharaska.The last place in which he was imprisoned in was Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan were he worked as a bricklayer, miner, and a foreman for small building projects, this is in which he got the idea and the base of the book One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. All the information in his book was acquired by actual experiences with the hardships Shukhov faced in the book. From the mouth of Benjamin C. Gardner One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovic is indeed a powerful book. Were it merely the grim testimonial to life in the Soviet Gulags or a witness to infringed liberties, its force would be staggering.Were it a testimony to the indomitableness of human nature, it would be crushing. As it is, it shatters our perception of man and ourselves as no other book, save Anne Franke`s diary and the testimony of Elie Wiesl, could ever have done. However, it is more than all the above. â€Å"One Day† is actually a searching look at human nature. The biting wind, jagged wire, frigid climate, watery soup, and the warmth provided by an extra pair of mittens or an hour of hard physical labor all find matches in the colorful rowd of characters that parades through this narrative – from the prison guards to the prisoners themselves to the prison director to the turncoat prisoners who sold their integrity for the favor of their oppressors. This is a book to be read, first of all, for its historical value – a tribute to those who were imprisoned but whose voices were never heard, and a silent plea to commit all our forces to the proposition that such vileness will never reach our liberty-loving shores.No less importantly, this is a book that should prompt us to turn our eyes inward and question ourselves whether, in our own way, we are capable of committing the same atrocities against our fellow man, and whether, if subjected to the same suffering, we would have the strength of character to find as much comfort in a bowl of soup as we do no w in the transient, unfounded knowledge that such inhumanity will not touch us. † He summarized the life of an average POW in the Soviet concentration camps.This book to me was a very interesting read giving me foresight into the life of an average, innocent, hard working man in a concentration camp. This book helped me too understand how the world was in turmoil during the Cold War and how people in the Soviet Union were treated. As Shukhov says, â€Å"I’m not a beggar I work for everything I get and not I’m about to change that now. † I liked this quote because I believe this is a good way to live your life.

Learn the Conjugations for Sourire (to Smile)

Learn the Conjugations for Sourire (to Smile) Sourire  is a great French verb because it means to smile. When you want to say the past tense she smiled or the present tense we are smiling, the verb will need to be conjugated. In order to do this, youll need to memorize quite a few words and this lesson will introduce you to the essentials youll need. The Basic Conjugations of  Sourire Some French verbs are easier to conjugate than others. Unfortunately, sourire is not one of the easy ones. Thats because its an irregular verb and it does not follow any common rules. However, a verb such as rire (to laugh) does share the same endings. If you study smiling and laughing at the same time, both will be just that much easier to remember. Who knows, you might even have a little fun! The first step in any French verb conjugation is to identify the verb stem (or radical). In this case, that is  sour-. With that, you can use the table to find the correct ending to use. Simply find the subject pronoun needed and choose either the present, future, or imperfect past tense. For example,  I am smiling is  je souris  and we smiled is  nous souriions. Present Future Imperfect je souris sourirai souriais tu souris souriras souriais il sourit sourira souriait nous sourions sourirons souriions vous souriez sourirez souriiez ils sourient souriront souriaient The Present Participle of  Sourire Beyond the verb usage, the present participle of sourire can be used as an adjective or noun. Its easy to form as well. Simply add - iant to the radical and you have souriant Sourire  in the Compound Past Tense The passà © composà © is a compound past tense and its used frequently in French. In order to construct it, you will conjugate avoir into the present tense and follow it with the past participle souri. That gives you jai souri for I smiled and nous avons souri for we smiled. More Simple Conjugations of  Sourire If you need to question to the act of smiling,  the subjunctive verb mood  can be used. When the act is dependent on something,  the conditional  is useful.  The passà © simple  and  imperfect subjunctive  are both literary forms, so youll find those most often in written French. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je sourie sourirais souris sourisse tu souries sourirais souris sourisses il sourie sourirait sourit sourà ®t nous souriions souririons sourà ®mes sourissions vous souriiez souririez sourà ®tes sourissiez ils sourient souriraient sourirent sourissent The imperative  is the one time when its acceptable to skip the subject pronoun. Its useful for short sentences, such as commanding someone to Smile!   Imperative (tu) souris (nous) sourions (vous) souriez

Free Essays on Defamation

The law of defamation is to protect the reputation of the people. Its main purpose is to control the freedom of speech and guard those in the â€Å"spot light†. Defamation is an intentional tort. It is harm done through false statements or actions to deliberately hurt the reputation of an individual. These false attacks are done through either libel or slander. Libel is the visual vilification. The printings of lies or misleading photos are typically characteristics of this. Libel exposes or subjects you to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or disgrace, or causes you to be shunned or avoided, or injures you in your occupation. Slander is the type of defamation that you hear. This is generally in the form of rumors or inflated stories. Naturally, anything that we speak about in our daily lives can be insulting to ones reputation but not always can a case be made out of it. In order to bring defamatory charges against someone certain requirements need to be present. One of the main necessities is the actual defamatory statement. This is the statement that has tendency to harm. This statement needs to be relayed to a good citizen rather than one of grim social standing, For example, a drug dealer. Once a statement is acknowledged, the identification of the person being attacked needs to be clearly recognized and broadcasted, either through libel or slander. And of course once all those requirements are undoubtedly made known, the damage, which is the hurt reputation, should become easily aware of. If all points are present, than a case can be filed. Not necessarily does the plaintiff automatically have jurisdiction over the defendant. The defendant, obviously, can defend his/her statements. Most argue that the statement wasn’t about the plaintiff. Some defenses they will take are: (a) Truth- this requires calling an eyewitness to testify that the statements made against the plaintiff is true. This procedure is expens... Free Essays on Defamation Free Essays on Defamation The law of defamation is to protect the reputation of the people. Its main purpose is to control the freedom of speech and guard those in the â€Å"spot light†. Defamation is an intentional tort. It is harm done through false statements or actions to deliberately hurt the reputation of an individual. These false attacks are done through either libel or slander. Libel is the visual vilification. The printings of lies or misleading photos are typically characteristics of this. Libel exposes or subjects you to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or disgrace, or causes you to be shunned or avoided, or injures you in your occupation. Slander is the type of defamation that you hear. This is generally in the form of rumors or inflated stories. Naturally, anything that we speak about in our daily lives can be insulting to ones reputation but not always can a case be made out of it. In order to bring defamatory charges against someone certain requirements need to be present. One of the main necessities is the actual defamatory statement. This is the statement that has tendency to harm. This statement needs to be relayed to a good citizen rather than one of grim social standing, For example, a drug dealer. Once a statement is acknowledged, the identification of the person being attacked needs to be clearly recognized and broadcasted, either through libel or slander. And of course once all those requirements are undoubtedly made known, the damage, which is the hurt reputation, should become easily aware of. If all points are present, than a case can be filed. Not necessarily does the plaintiff automatically have jurisdiction over the defendant. The defendant, obviously, can defend his/her statements. Most argue that the statement wasn’t about the plaintiff. Some defenses they will take are: (a) Truth- this requires calling an eyewitness to testify that the statements made against the plaintiff is true. This procedure is expens...

Animal Experimentation Essay examples -- Animal Rights

It is unethical to use the cruel methods of animal experimentation for our own benefit alone. The animals used in research range from birds, dogs, cats, and pigs to name a few. So many innocent creatures put up with the immense pain so that science experiments can be made and new products can be put on the shelves. Many of the animals used in the testing and experiments are blind, severely burned, poisoned, or mutilated (â€Å"Animals in Product Testing.†). Even when a product is labeled â€Å"cruelty free† or â€Å"not tested on animals† the individual ingredients that make up the product are likely to have been tested on animals at some point (Macfarlane et al., 191). Also, anesthesia is not required by law to give to small lab animals such as rats and mice, it is the lab's choice if the animals will receive pain medication or sedatives ("Health Sciences Center Animal Research Facility - Conducting Research with Animals."). The animals are either killed as a re sult of the experiments, or they are injured so severely that they must be euthanized. According to the National Anti-Vivisection Society, animals have had their eyes pried open, their skin burned, and bones broken. The experiments would sometimes result in spinal cord or brain injury (Anderagg et al., 2006). There are two main types of test involved in animal experimentation; the Draize test and the LD-50 test. The Draize test meas... ... middle of paper ... ...98. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. "Health Sciences Center Animal Research Facility - Conducting Research with Animals."UNM Health Sciences Center at the University of New Mexico. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. "Lab Animal Alternatives - The Three Rs." MSPCA Homepage. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. MacFarlane, Martin, Penny Jones, Carstin Goebel, Eric Dufour, Joanna Rowland, Daisuke Araki, Margit Costabel-Farkas, Nicola Hewitt, Julila Habatallah, Annette Kirst, Pauline McNamee, Florian Shallauf, and Julia Scheel. "A Tiered Approach to the Use of Alternatives to Animal Testing for the Safety Assessment of Cosmetics: Skin Irritation." Regulatory Toxicology Pharmacology: RTP 54.2 (2009): 188-96.Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, â€Å"Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year," 6 Jul. 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2011.

Were people offered assisstive devices in the hospital after being Essay

Were people offered assisstive devices in the hospital after being treated for a fall - Essay Example Assistive devices are important tools that aid patients that had gone through a physical injury to recover faster. In line with the importance of assistive devices, this study will determine how well hospitals in Louisiana (River Parishes Hospital and Thibodaux General) offers assistive devices in treating patients with physical injuries. The problem statement is not a group of sentences that talk about the problem area you want to study or the general phenomenon of interest. A problem statement, generally in the form of a question, is a little broader than the purpose. For example, Can a correlation between utilizing ADs earlier after injury and improved patient outcomes be demonstrated? There are approximately 30% of older individuals 65 years old and up suffers from fall each year. (Blake et al., 1988) Physical injuries due to fall causes almost all injury-related deaths among elderly people especially in women. (Arfken et al., 1994) Being able to determine whether physically injured patients in Louisiana Hospitals were offered to use assistive devices will roughly give the nurses an estimate on how frequent these patients were offered to use assistive devices. In your significance, you need to point out cost of injury and prolonged hospital stays, effects of injury on quality of life. Since the study highlights the importance of using assistive devices on patients with physical injury due to fall, it would help the nurses be aware of the necessity of using these devices to enhance the recovery period of the patient. Thus, minimizing the injury-related deaths among the elderly people. Incidence of falls is frequent among the elderly individuals. Fall-related injuries are one of the most common leading causes of injury deaths and disabilities among the elderly individuals more than 65 years of age. (Lord, Sherrington, and Menz, 2001) Although more than half of

No topic Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

No topic - Case Study Example Any form of emergency measure involves a set of complex chain of tasks, players, and resources, in a channel of coordination that is embedded on interdependencies for an efficient and smooth recovery of operations (Turoff 2002, 29-32). This paper makes an attempt to investigate what factors were responsible for the business crisis to arise in Rio Tinto, Japan, especially for resuming on a normal day, just after the calamity. This necessitates the need for more coordination and management of the extremities thereafter and what procedures and mechanisms to be typically utilized for coordination, decision-making and product development. Using exact criteria and in the light of the current practices of operations and resources utilizing this case study, this paper has been strategically organized as follows, a brief description of the issues, causes, alternatives, preceding the decision criteria for implementation of strategic alternatives, along with the recommended approach. The major issues that are typically emerging after any form of emergency are mostly having a relation to interdependencies in a business, as a business has multiple-level of interdependencies in terms of job responsibilities, resources, assigned personnel, and the flow of information. These are physically scattered across geographies, boundaries and departments. Therefore, any rebuilding task after an emergency involves a strategic response of either reconsidering the existing entities, dismissing others and to reconstruct throughout the course of responses to rebuild the premise. The standard procedures include standardization, planning, mutual adjustment and routine analysis (Malone 1994, 357-370; AlaybeyoÄŸlu, Albayrak and Gà ¼rbà ¼z 2012, 1-4). These decisions, howsoever varied and dynamic, will provide directions on problems solving using interdependencies. Product-design, supply-chain management, resource-management, are all affected in the course of the sudden change,

C&Ks Curriculum and Pedagogy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

C&Ks Curriculum and Pedagogy - Essay Example This is premise within the philosophy that the local community is supportive of the needs inherent in early education. C&K believes that education for children centers on care, fun, safe, and inspiring environment (â€Å"Mission,† 2010). And the type of content that C&K uses is on the emphasis of the learning process. The outcomes of this process are the positive gain of relevant knowledge and skills. The value of fun is an elementary approach for children to appreciate knowledge more. C&K’s teaching strategy utilizes the problem-solving approach (â€Å"Qualified,† 2010). This approach is embedded in children’s play. The teacher usually listens and observes the children’s ideas, observations, and stories. They do not instruct the children in the traditional way but rather teach them in the child-center educational methodology. Furthermore, C&K has professional consultants that ensure the quality services in the conduct of the early childhood educati on. C&K’s consultants assess and evaluate children’s progress in knowledge acquisition (â€Å"Monitoring,† 2010). C&K is also supported and supervised by the Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA). There are three basic principles of pedagogy: (1) learning has to be an active process; (2) the relevance of social interactions among children in school; and (3) the priority of intellectual activity based on actual experiences rather than on language (Golby, Greenwald, & West, 1975). First, education concerns more on the child’s learning less than the teacher’s pedagogy. In the practice of teaching, the teacher provides high importance to the active participation of the child. The learner is permitted to experiment. As a result, the child discovers for himself or herself an aspect of truth. Second, the child is allowed to share and discuss things with his or her fellow learner.  

Product definition Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Product definition - Assignment Example The expected attributes of a product are those benefits that customers perceive that they will be offered in return of purchasing Rolls Royce Phantom. The customers expect that by purchasing the Phantom they will attain the benefit of travelling in a luxurious and expensive vehicle which will suit and compliment their higher social status in the society. The customers expect that Rolls Royce will offer them security and it does provide security in the shape of features including frontal and overhead airbags. It even offers customers safety as these cars come along with the attribute of disabling the ignition. Customers expect that these cars will offer them convenience in shape of programmed temperature controlling option and they even offer the driver with a bin attached on the door. These are those benefits that are offered by Rolls Royce Luxury Cars and provide a competitive advantage to the company over its competitors. One of the major benefits that customers receive from purchasing a Rolls Royce is that they are allowed to customize their own cars according to their needs and taste. The benefit of customization is quite rare and this allows the company to maintain a base of customers who are loyal to the brand. Rolls Royce Phantom offers a moon roof that is not offered by its close competitor Mulsanne. The Phantom even offers warranty coverage for a period of 4 years and even offers door locks for children that are not offered by its competitors. The customers of Rolls Royce luxury cars such as the customers of Phantom expect that in future these cars will be more fuel efficient with updated technologies that will reduce fuel consumption. The customers even expect that in future the phantom may be priced lower with the introduction of a mini Phantom. This will allow a lot more consumers to experience the luxury and comfort

Demand In Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Demand In Health Care - Essay Example the health care facilities are scarce, with limited hospitals and doctors. Most of the rural areas are deprived of proper medical treatments. In these developing (and under developed) countries most of the population belongs to the rural areas. The availability of proper medical facilities is scarce (Pear & Lowry, 2012). In addition to this, low standard medical facilities are available at significantly high prices. The demand for the proper medical treatment becomes low in rural areas because of lack of affordability and access to the up to the mark medical goods or services. Therefore, people in developing countries, particularly in the rural areas demand health care services. On the contrary, in developed countries most of the people are provided with the facilities of health care insurance at reasonable prices, which can make the access to proper medical facilities easier (McConnell, Campbell, Brue & Stanley, 1990), therefore people in developed countries like Canada, U.S and Europe take great care of their health. This again reflects the law of demand. The example illustrates the fact that there are different categories of health care facilities, some of them are those, which cannot be avoided for example in case of a car accident the emergency treatment cannot be avoided. The demand for the medical treatment in such situations is considered inelastic, no matter at what price the medical treatment is available. On the other hand, some medication for the purpose of headache can be avoided if the prices of medical facilities are high. Therefore, the demand for medical facilities, which are needed in case of emergency are inelastic i.e. with the change in price the demand of medical facilities may have insignificant impact. On the same logic (but with a different scenario), the demand for minor medication is highly elastic i.e. the demand reduces with the increase in price. On the contrary, the demand increases with

C&Ks Curriculum and Pedagogy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

C&Ks Curriculum and Pedagogy - Essay Example This is premise within the philosophy that the local community is supportive of the needs inherent in early education. C&K believes that education for children centers on care, fun, safe, and inspiring environment (â€Å"Mission,† 2010). And the type of content that C&K uses is on the emphasis of the learning process. The outcomes of this process are the positive gain of relevant knowledge and skills. The value of fun is an elementary approach for children to appreciate knowledge more. C&K’s teaching strategy utilizes the problem-solving approach (â€Å"Qualified,† 2010). This approach is embedded in children’s play. The teacher usually listens and observes the children’s ideas, observations, and stories. They do not instruct the children in the traditional way but rather teach them in the child-center educational methodology. Furthermore, C&K has professional consultants that ensure the quality services in the conduct of the early childhood educati on. C&K’s consultants assess and evaluate children’s progress in knowledge acquisition (â€Å"Monitoring,† 2010). C&K is also supported and supervised by the Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA). There are three basic principles of pedagogy: (1) learning has to be an active process; (2) the relevance of social interactions among children in school; and (3) the priority of intellectual activity based on actual experiences rather than on language (Golby, Greenwald, & West, 1975). First, education concerns more on the child’s learning less than the teacher’s pedagogy. In the practice of teaching, the teacher provides high importance to the active participation of the child. The learner is permitted to experiment. As a result, the child discovers for himself or herself an aspect of truth. Second, the child is allowed to share and discuss things with his or her fellow learner.  

Demand In Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Demand In Health Care - Essay Example the health care facilities are scarce, with limited hospitals and doctors. Most of the rural areas are deprived of proper medical treatments. In these developing (and under developed) countries most of the population belongs to the rural areas. The availability of proper medical facilities is scarce (Pear & Lowry, 2012). In addition to this, low standard medical facilities are available at significantly high prices. The demand for the proper medical treatment becomes low in rural areas because of lack of affordability and access to the up to the mark medical goods or services. Therefore, people in developing countries, particularly in the rural areas demand health care services. On the contrary, in developed countries most of the people are provided with the facilities of health care insurance at reasonable prices, which can make the access to proper medical facilities easier (McConnell, Campbell, Brue & Stanley, 1990), therefore people in developed countries like Canada, U.S and Europe take great care of their health. This again reflects the law of demand. The example illustrates the fact that there are different categories of health care facilities, some of them are those, which cannot be avoided for example in case of a car accident the emergency treatment cannot be avoided. The demand for the medical treatment in such situations is considered inelastic, no matter at what price the medical treatment is available. On the other hand, some medication for the purpose of headache can be avoided if the prices of medical facilities are high. Therefore, the demand for medical facilities, which are needed in case of emergency are inelastic i.e. with the change in price the demand of medical facilities may have insignificant impact. On the same logic (but with a different scenario), the demand for minor medication is highly elastic i.e. the demand reduces with the increase in price. On the contrary, the demand increases with

Video game console and Pg Essay Example for Free

Video game console and Pg Essay The Attractiveness of the Console Video Game Industry (Porter 5 Forces) Suppliers (Medium to Low) Suppliers include Foxconn Precision Components, IBM etc. for chip manufacturing, product assembly, video game creators, and content providers. Each supplier would provide a small piece of the complete product and as such bargaining power would be low (pg. 282). Buyers (Low) Buyers consisted of various retailers that carry the product and would vary in bargaining strength depending on their size. From the sheer number of retailers that carry the product along with the global presence of the major competitors in the industry there is no single retailer in a position to exert any significant level of power. Substitute Products (Medium) Direct substitutes for the console video game industry are personal computers, arcade machines, and handheld game devices which vie for consumer spending (pg. 279). These substitutes are near in cost and provide no switching costs aside from their price. Combined with the presence of a large number of near substitutes vying for entertainment expenditures there is a threat from substitute products. Threat of New Entrants (Low) Large capital investments, distribution channels, technological complexities and other critical factors within the game console industry would be barriers for new entrants. Also the creation of an assortment of games and accessories would bring down the threat of new entrants even further as this would be a huge obstacle to overcome. Rivalry among Competing Sellers (High) Rivalry within the video game console industry would be high. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo would â€Å"battle for market supremacy† (pg. 275). This battle would weaken differentiation by competitors developing products that were technologically superior and more powerful than the offering of rivals (pg. 283). This benchmarking lead to price wars by competitors squeezing profit margins and limiting market share gains (pg. 281). Conclusion With the recession making 2009 sales decline to $382. 6 million from $617. 3 million in 2008 (pg.283) and with the overall assessment of the five forces the video game console industry would not be attractive. This accompanied by the high risk technological complexities and the increased intensity of competition the industry would be considerably unappealing. Success in the Game Console Manufacturing Industry The 3 – 4 critical success factors are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Advancement in Technology Price and Strategy Research and Development Quality and Innovation of Gaming Accessories (ex. Games, remotes, etc. ) a) Distinctive Resources/Capabilities Leverage by Nintendo: 1. Differentiating the User Interface and Remote Value There is a high value in Nintendo’s ability to differentiate its product offering in comparison to Microsoft and Sony as it allows Nintendo to appeal to a new market segment which included people who did not generally play video games (pg. 281). This value is best shown with Nintendo’s dominance in unit sales for 2009 (exhibit 4, 5, and 6). Rarity The user interface and remote was rare as Nintendo was the first to bring together a Bluetoothactivated wireless controller which provided gamers with a wide range of motion capabilities (pg. 280). This new ability harnessed by Nintendo allowed users, â€Å"to physically interact with the virtual world, significantly changing the experience of video gaming (pg. Pg. 280). † Imitability Patent protection would protect this technology from being duplicated, but the remote capability and interface could be substituted by competitors. In fact, Microsoft and Sony had announced intentions to create a variety of ways for their consumers to interact with games on their systems (pg. 287). (Temporary Competitive Advantage) 2. Marketing Strategy Innovation Value (Temporary Competitive Advantage) This is of high value as it would allow Nintendo to appeal to a larger market and create an infinite possibility for profitable growth (pg. 281). Also, since this new segment did not require technological complexities and hyper realistic graphics (pg. 281) Nintendo was able to cut down drastically on costs and have a profit margin of an estimated $50US per unit where Sony took a loss of around $250US per unit sold (pg. 284). Rarity This was rare as Nintendo was attempting to target new customers rather than fighting with competitors for old ones (pg. 283). Its overall rarity would be explained by Brian O’Rourke as he states, â€Å"Microsoft and Sony spend a lot of time developing cutting edge technology. Nintendo is not a technology company it is a toy company. It is not interested in bleeding edge electronics and graphics (pg. 284). † Imitability This marketing strategy could be duplicated by Sony or Microsoft. This is possible by the competing firms leveraging into new ways for its consumers to interact with its consoles as both companies have shown intentions to pursue the casual gamer market (pg. 287). Organization for both Resources Nintendo was able to leverage these capabilities by bringing together the company’s research, innovation, technology and functionality (pg. 280). The organization was also able to leverage its success within the DS, and interactive games like Duck Hunt and Track and Field (pg. 281) while focusing on differentiating. b) Resources and Capabilities Leveraged by the Competition: Sony Technology and Innovation Value There is great value in developing faster and more advanced consoles. As this allows Sony to secure consumer interest and market share by being able to provide a more realistic gaming experience (pg.275). Rarity A focus in technological development is fairly unique although it is a capability pursued by two of the three main competitors in the industry: Sony and Microsoft, and so is not very rare. (pg. 275) Imitability The development of technology would be made easier by the experience that Sony had in the research and development of earlier models. This would create time compression diseconomies as competitors attempt to develop similar advancements. (Temporary Competitive Advantage) Microsoft Building a Successful Community with Xbox Live (Temporary Competitive Advantage) Value This was valuable as Xbox utilized various PC features. These features included a broadband connection and memory storage which connected Xbox players all over the world (pg. 283). The value to the consumer was the online voice chat, opportunity to download new video game content, and the ability to play multiplayer games over broadband (pg. 286). Rarity Neither Sony nor Nintendo had an established online gaming community. In fact, this was one of Microsoft’s biggest differentiating factors to its competitor’s (pg. 285). Although it had been tried before this would still be considered rare as currently within the marketplace no other competitor had the capability. Imitability The idea was imitable as it could be substituted. Xbox themselves substituted Dream casts online initiatives with Xbox Live. The advantage Xbox had was the ability to leverage advances in both technology and social trends (pg. 283). However it would not be able to be duplicated do to patent and copy right laws. Is This a Blue Ocean Strategy Yes this is a blue ocean strategy as Nintendo was able to give players the ability to physically interact with a virtual world, thus changing Nintendo’s direction to an undetected marketplace. This change was more compelling to consumers who had never considered buying video game consoles before (pg. 280). In fact, Nintendo was able to simplify its consoles design and focus less on hyper realistic graphics saving money and also attracting individuals who didn’t ordinarily play video games (pg. 281). Even the name Wii was created to emphasize that this console â€Å"was for everyone,† which went into a completely different direction then current industry rivals (pg. 281). This strategy moved Nintendo into a larger and more diverse market while giving them a large increase in sales and in profit margins. Marking Scheme 5 FORCES: 28/30 Overall this section is extremely well done. The analysis is clear, succinct and supported. VRIO: 30/35 For the most part the analysis is well done, organized, clear and supported. For Nintendo’s inimitability consider issues like time compression, path dependence and first mover advantages. I’m not sure if it is a clarity issue or requires further explanation as the features you have mentioned for the Xbox are for the most part offered by the Playstation 3.There is a possible rarity argument though. Well Done. BLUE OCEAN: 10/10 This section was extremely well explained. MECHANICS: 23/25 There is minimal writing issues present. For example, â€Å"The user interface and remote was rare as Nintendo was the first to bring together a Bluetooth-activated wireless controller which provided gamers with a wide range of motion capabilities (pg. 280). † Change to â€Å"were† as the plural version should be used after the compound subject. Overall an outstanding job! TOTAL: 91/100.

Every Child Matters Policy: Analysis

Every Child Matters Policy: Analysis Describe and discuss a specific area of policy, with particular regards to the social problems within which it was concerned, its ideological origin, its aims, its nature and its effects. For most parents, their children are loved and cherished. But sadly enough, some children are not so fortunate. Some childrens lives are dreadfully different. Instead of warmth and security of normal family life, these childrens lives are filled with risk, fear and danger. Victoria Climbie was one of these children. At the hands of those entrusted with her care, she suffered appallingly and eventually died. In this essay, the author will be discussing this issue further and why it was seen as the underlying social problem. Every child maters is a new labour government policy that was published alongside a detailed response to lord lamings report into the death of Victoria Climbie. For the purpose of this essay, The author will be looking at the Lamings report and identify the key findings of what went wrong which was the main driver for change. I will then look at what the government has done following the recommendations presented in the Laming Report. This essay will be describing the context of the Every Child Matters policy. In order to effectively do this, the author will be looking at the aim of the policy. I will also be assessing the influence of political ideology utilising theoretical framework. Finally I will be discussing the issue pertaining to the nature and implematation of Every Child Matters how the policy was implemented, and the effect of the policy. The welfare of children in the United Kingdom is one of the most important items for the government in terms of social policy. (Ellison Pierson, 1998). Every Child Matters was produced by the new labour government, Some of the influences of ideologies for change are; new labour governments focus on inequalities, parental fury and the response from lord lamings report. According to Heywood (1998), â€Å"ideology is a more or less coherent set of ideas that provides the basis for some kind of organised political action. All ideologies offer an account of the existing order (usually in the form of a word view), provide the model of a desired future (a vision of the good society) and outline how political change can and should be brought about.† The Liberal ideology stands for the freedom of the individual to pursue happiness and well being at whatever costs necessary, which is also known as individualism. Broadly speaking, it emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. Modern liberalism has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment. Liberalism today is located at the centre left and centre right of the ideological spectrum. Liberalism is the belief that we are free to make our own mistakes, decide our own lifestyle, choose our own way of living, pursue our own thoughts and philosophies, provided we dont infringe on other peoples freedom. Every Child Matters policy fits with the labour ideologies because it aims to give every child the chance to fulfill their potential thereby promoting equality and opportunity among children and young people. The Labour government opposed monarchism, inherited privilege and believes in everyone having equality in opportunity. These ideas emerged from the revolutionary and Enlightenment periods, where uprisings against authoritarian religious states were evolving. John Locke and John Stuart Mill were two prominent thinkers that originally legitimized these notions prior to their widespread appeal and success. It did not take long, however, for these values to flourish, especially among individuals of societies emerging from an era of distinct oppression National Service Framework (NSF) is the key conduit for the philosophies of the Every Child Matter green paper. Victoria Climbie died in February 2000, at the hands of those entrusted with her care; she suffered appallingly and eventually died. Her case was a shocking example from a list of children terribly mistreated and abused. Her carers were later convicted of murder. This was one of the cases of child abuse which have exposed the weaknesses of the UKs social services departments, and communications failures between the agencies involved. According to Blair as cited in Every Child Matters Summary(2003 p5), â€Å"The fact that a child like Victoria Climbie can still suffer almost unimaginable cruelty to the point of eventually losing her young life. More can and must be done†. The most disturbing reality about the case of Victoria Climbià © was that her death could have been prevented, she was known to several agencies empowered by Parliament to protect children. This led to the conclusion that her suffering and death was due to gross failure of the system. In April 2001 Lord Lamming was appointed head of the inquiry, along with four other professionals. It was found that her death was preventable on twelve separate occasions. Lamming found that services were not cooperating with each other and had difficulties due to staffing levels and resources. â€Å"The death of Victoria Climbie exposed shameful failing to protect the most vulnerable children. Social services, the police and the NHS failed as Lord Lamings report into Victorias death made clear, to do the basic things well to protect her† (Every Child Matters 2003 p3). The Laming report concluded that the child protection system failed as a result of a lamentable lack of basic good practice by frontline staff and, most significantly, senior managers failing to take responsibility for the failings of organisation. (Laming 2003). The inquiry was responded to by a range of measures to inform and improve childrens care. In 2003, Every Child Matters was published alongside a detailed response to Lord Lamings report into the death of Victoria Climbie. The policy aims to ensure that every child has the chance to fulfil their potential by reducing levels of educational failure, ill health, substance misuse, teenage pregnancy, neglect and abuse, anti-social behaviour and crime among children and young people. According to Lord laming, Victoria Climbe came into contact with several agencies, none of which acted on the warning signs. No one built up the full picture of her interactions with different services. The Every Child Matter green paper sets out the long term vision for earlier intervention and effective protection by focusing on improving information sharing between agencies, The Every child matters policy was built on existing plans to strengthen preventative services by focusing on four key themes. Firstly, to increase focus on supporting families and carers, the most critical influence of childrens lives, The policy aim to improve parenting and family support through universal services such as schools, health and social services, also through targeted and specialist support to parent of children requiring additional support. Another key theme is the early intervention and effective protection; this is to ensure children receive services at the first onset on problems and to prevent any children from slipping thorough the net. This is done by improving information sharing between agencies, integrating professionals through multi- disciplinary teams responsible for identifying children at risk and also ensuring effective child protection procedures are kept in place. The third key theme was addressing the underlying problems identified in the report into the death of Victoria Climbià ©; weak accountability and poor integration. According to Every Child Matters summary pg9, â€Å"Radical reforms is needed to break down organisational boundaries†. The governments aim is that there should be one person in charge locally and nationally with the responsibility for improving childrens lives. The fourth theme is the workforce reform, this is to ensure that people working with children are valued, rewarded and trained. It aims is to make working with children an attractive, high status career and to develop a more skilled and flexible workforce, including a common core of training for those who work solely with children and families and those who have wider roles to develop a more consistent approach to childrens and families needs. â€Å"One very clear message emerges from the evidence we have received: there is almost universal support for the basic aims of Every Child Matters. We agree with witnesses—and therefore think it fitting to state at the outset—that the Government deserves substantial praise for embarking on such an ambitious and comprehensive programme of reform† (The United Kingdom Parliament, 2005). Overall, the policy has been mostly welcomed by those working with children. Many dedicated staff work flat out to improve the lives and health of children. One of the intended consequences of the policy is the development of the framework for social work training. The two-year Diploma has now been replaced with a three-year degree. The degree was introduced to encompass greater practical experience and to improve the skills base and competence of newly qualified social workers. According to the Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council (GSCC), Lynne Berry, â€Å"good quality service starts with good quality training. The GSCC are working with universities to ensure that tomorrows social workers are clear about the standards they are expected to meet, inspire public confidence in social care and are able to work successfully with colleagues from other professions. The new degree will ensure that newly qualified social workers have all the skills they need to begin successfu l careers† (GSCC, 2003). According to Campbell (2007), A spokesman from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is responsible for child welfare, said: In response to the Victoria Climbie inquiry, we have substantially strengthened the framework of law, guidance and supporting systems to help keep children safe, and that work is continuing. Tragically we know some children still suffer abuse and neglect. Despite the universal support for the basic aims of Every Child Matters, there are still children that slip through the net. The horrific list of children killed by their parents or relatives includes ten months old Neo Craig aged who lay dead for several hours before emergency crews were called to Rush Green Gardens in Romford, Essex, in December 2006. James Craig, 26, and Sharma Dookhooah, 25, were each jailed for five years after admitting causing or allowing the death of their 10-month-old son Neo. The Old Bailey trial heard that there had been a series of failings by police, doctors and social workers who knew about the boys derelict home life but did not intervene, despite a number of warnings†. In May 2007, one -month- old Luigi Askew was beaten to death by his violent father. Social workers and police were accused of disastrous failures after he was left at the mercy of his violent father Duncan Mills, who was convicted of murder at Ipswich crown court. Slack and Doughty (2008) reported that, â€Å"one child a week is a victim of murder or manslaughter, in a single year, the number of under-tens killed went up 30 per cent form 38 to 49, according to latest government figure†. The figure from the year to 2006- 2007, the latest available, emerged as the mother of Victoria Climbie, who was murdered in 2000, said she was shocked that lessons from the case have still not been learned. According to the report, â€Å"Apparent or disguised cooperation from parents often prevented or delayed understanding of the severity of harm to the child and cases drifted†. Social workers were often conned by parents thereby, children went unseen and unheard. According to the Palmer (2007), â€Å"the overall poverty levels in 2005/06 were the same as they were in 2002/03. Child poverty in 2005/06 was still 500,000 higher than the target set for 2004/05†. In conclusion, Victoria Climbies death was seen as a ‘wake up call for practitioners and professionals who are supposed to be safeguarding and protecting childrens welfare. Every Child Matters constituted the Governments policy response to the findings and recommendations of Lord Lamings Inquiry. Reference: Campbell, D. (2007) Health Correspondent, Doctors ‘failing to spot child abuse. The Observer, Nov 11, p.18. Ellison, N. Pierson, C. (1998) British Social Policy. Macmillan: London Every Child Matters Summary (2003) Department Of Health, London, The Stationary Office Ltd General Social Care Council (25/09/03), First students start new social work degree [online] Available at: start+new+social+work+degree.htm> [Accessed: 10/05/08] Laming, H (2003), Victoria Climbià © Inquiry, London: Stationery Office Heywood, A. (1998) Political Ideologies an Introduction, 2nd edition, London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. Palmer, G, MacInnes, T. and Kenway, P. (2007) monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2007. Joseph Rowntree foundation: York Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills, and Home Office (2003) Keeping Children safe. The Governments Response to the Victoria Climbià © Inquiry Report and Joint Chief Inspectors Report Safeguarding Children [online] Available at: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/_files/684162953674A15196BB5221973959E3.pdf [Accessed 21 May 2008] Slack, J. and Doughty, S. (2008) one child under 10 every week becomes the victim of a killer. Daily Mail, May 29, p.19. The United Kingdom Parliament. (2005), House of Commons, Education and Skills Ninth Report [online] Available from: .Accessed: [29 May 2008]

90 Minutes of Perfection :: essays research papers

90 Minutes of Perfection Any pain to be suffered comes first. Instinctively you fight to live. The conscious mind does not believe any other reality could possibly exist beside the earth. We have been trained since birth to live. Life tells us who we are and we accept it’s telling. Your body wants to live and will fight to survive. Your body goes limp. Your heart stops. No more air flows in or out. You lose sight, feeling, and movement – although the ability to hear goes last. Identity ceases. The "you" that you once were becomes only a memory. There is no pain at the moment of death. Only peaceful silence. . . calm. . . quiet. But you still exist. It is easy not to breathe. In fact, it is easier and more comfortable not to breathe than to breathe. The biggest surprise for most people in dying is to realize that dying does not end life. Whether darkness or light comes next, or some kind of event, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in-between, expected or unexpected, the biggest su rprise of all is to realize you are still you. You can still think, you can still remember, you can still see, hear, move, reason, wonder, feel, question, and tell jokes. You are still alive, very much alive. â€Å"Actually, you're more alive after death than at any time since you were last born. Only the way of all this is different; different because you no longer wear a dense body to filter and amplify the various sensations you had once regarded as the only valid indicators of what constitutes life.†(Atwater) You had always been taught one has to wear a body to live. â€Å"The only thing dying does is help you release, slough off, and discard the "jacket" you once wore.†(Atwater) When you die you lose your body. That's all there is to it. Nothing else is lost. Don Piper is someone that died. He was in an accident where he was hit head on by an 18-wheeler on a small bridge over the Trinity River. When emergency personnel found no pulse he was covered up and was waiting on the justice of the peace to pronounce him dead. â€Å"Piper remembers nothing of the accident, but everything about heaven.† (Vara) While he was dead, Piper experiences this unimaginable trip to heaven and titled his book 90

Geography of Barbados :: Essays Papers

GEOGRAPHY OF BARBADOS Barbados is the most windward, or eastern of all the Caribbean islands. It’s the only island of the Caribbean that lies before the sixty-degree lateral line. Pedro a Campus, who arrived there in 1536, first discovered it. Pedro a Campus was sailing for Portugal at the time of his discovery. Upon his arrival he concluded that the island was uninhabited. The island remained this way until it was settled by the English in the later Seventeenth Century. The shape of the island, is somewhat of an irregular triangle. The circumference Of the island is approximately fifty-five miles around, with a length of twenty-one miles and a width of thirteen miles. Its size is approximately two and a half times the size of Washington D. C. Coral Reefs line almost the entire coast of the island, and at some points, are up to three miles seaward. This creates problems with navigating to and from the island. The northeastern portion of the island contains heights of 1000 feet, while the southeastern part has sandy beaches which are protected by the coral reefs. The highest elevation is Mount Hillaby, which is 1147 feet above sea level at the center portion of the country. The rest of the island is relatively flat, but elevates as it rises to the Central Highlands. Scotland River is the principal river which runs through the island. Other rivers include Joe’s River and the Indian River, along with a handful of natural springs, mainly Haggat’s. The island has a tropical climate and it rarely falls below seventy degrees Fahrenheit. The months of June to October are generally considered the â€Å"rainy† season. The island only occasionally suffers from the wrath of hurricanes. Another natural disaster that the people of the island encounter is periodic landslides.

The Grayson Chemical Company

The Grayson Chemical Company I. Problems A. Macro 1. Grayson has become stagnant, failed to change, and is no longer competitive. 2. The current people at Grayson are not acceptable to change. 3. There is a culture of doing things by the book. B. Micro 1. Incompetent managers promoted. 2. Board does not have a consensus of opinion. II. Causes 1. Grayson has not been proactive with its environment. 2. Corporate culture is very resistant to change. 3. Board does not speak with one voice.So entire organization is somewhat disorganized in its operations—no clear direction or focus III. Systems affected The entire organization is affected. The organization is still functioning; however, to be a healthy company and to grow, changes are needed. 1. Structural – with major changes, the structure could be radically altered. 2. Psychosocial – status quo and contentment seems to be prevalent among management. 3. Technical –there is evidence that managers are â€Å"fa irly† competent technically, but this may not be enough to make the kind of changes that Grayson requires. . Managerial – the management currently seems to be comfortable in their positions and performance. The changes that Tom Baker may initiate would likely create turmoil in the management ranks. 5. Goals and values – the system seems to value putting in your time and you will get promoted. Excellence in performance is something not present at Grayson, but complacency seems to be prevalent. IV. Alternatives 1. Maintain status quo—do nothing. 2.Develop a pathfinder style, involve board, and organization members in renewing the company. 3. Develop a persuader style and avoid â€Å"rocking the boat† by making gradual or slow changes. V. Recommendations Develop pathfinder style, involve entire corporation in change process. Establish open communications with board and establish a consensus on what the board wants/expects/desires. Since incompetent man agers have often been promoted, personnel changes should be made after thorough analysis of personnel.

What does chapter one of “The Spire” reveal about Jocelin and his attitude to other people?

How does Golding's language reveal the extent to which he deceives himself? The first chapter of William Golding's novel â€Å"The Spire† reveals much about Jocelin's attitude to the people around him and also the contrary view that others hold about it. The language Golding uses highlights Jocelin's delusions and shows the reader just how much he deceives himself. Throughout the first chapter we are introduced to many of the people that Jocelin encounters on a daily basis. One of the first characters to appear is Goody Pangall, who Jocelin views as his ‘daughter in God'. This phrase shows how much Jocelin admires Goody and, at first, appears to simply demonstrate more of Jocelin's loving nature. However, after reading the following paragraph where he watches her walking away from him ‘with love and a little disappointment', it becomes clear that the sentence holds more meaning than just showing his fondness. It shows up Jocelin's somewhat obsessive character, suggesting he views Goody as being flawless and that he has idealised her to the point where he can imagine her as God's daughter. As Jocelin thinks ‘my daughter' it becomes apparent that he has deceived himself into thinking that he loves Goody as if she were just his daughter but Golding makes it clear to the reader that this is not true. As the paragraph continues it is revealed just how much Jocelin is infatuated with Goody for example, when she does not follow the same routine as usual, he has to ‘glimpse the long, sweet face' as she turns away from him. Golding's use of the word ‘glimpse' suggests that Jocelin is purposely looking out for her ‘sweet face'. Golding repeats this word later in the paragraph ‘got a glimpse of green dress', this too implies that Jocelin is trying to see more of Goody. The fact that Golding has given Goody Pangall a ‘green dress' under her ‘grey cloak' and ‘wimple' makes her more of a distraction for Jocelin and it give the impression that he waits each day to catch a ‘glimpse' of her exotic, colourful interior under her seemingly plain, dull exterior. It also shows the reader that Jocelin is looking at Goody with a masculine gaze, trying to see her passionate side instead of the pure and obliging woman that she must present to society. During the first chapter Goody Pangall is only referred to as ‘Pangall's wife'. Withholding her name allows Golding to deny Goody her own identity and personality, turning her into a possession rather than an individual person. As Jocelin thinks of her as ‘Pangall's wife' it may be that he is trying to remind himself that she is married and the fact Jocelin feels the need to remind himself that she is married and that he cannot have her shows that he does not love her solely as a ‘daughter'. A reason the Jocelin is so attracted to Goody Pangall is that she is quiet and she knows her place in society as, at the time the novel is set, society is extremely patriarchal. This is emphasised by Jocelin's thought that Goody ‘is entirely woman' solely because of what he calls ‘foolish' ‘childish curiosity'. This language shows that he recognises her ‘foolish' ways as only applicable to women, if he was to show any curiosity it would not be classed as ‘foolish' as he would, as a man, have a legitimate reason for it. Although Jocelin recognises her ‘folly' he does not reprimand her, telling himself that ‘that is a matter for Pangall or Father Anselm'. Golding has written this to remind the reader that Jocelin does not want to recognise any of Goody Pangall's faults as then not only would she not be perfect, but he would probably upset her and he does not want to do anything to hurt Goody. When Goody has left the church Golding turns the reader's attention to Gilbert, ‘the dumb man'. With Jocelin's first words to Gilbert, ‘I think he made you choose me, Gilbert', Golding subtly reminds the reader that Jocelin is a man of God and that he has immense faith in Him. This contrasts with the previous paragraph about Goody Pangall where it seemed that Jocelin had become so immersed in his thoughts about her that he had forgotten about who, and where, he was. Gilbert has many of the same qualities as Goody Pangall. He is quiet and does not interfere with Jocelin's plans for the spire, instead he agrees with everything Jocelin suggests. In a peculiar way Gilbert has every characteristic that people expected of a woman in those times and this is probably why Jocelin is so fond of him. As Gilbert does not, or more precisely cannot, object to any of Jocelin's remark or aspirations Jocelin is more comfortable around him. Unlike the chancellor, Pangall and others in the church, Gilbert is the one person who does not have any objections to the spire and Jocelin's delusions that God will perform a miracle in allowing it to be built. Therefore Jocelin need not be guarded around Gilbert for he knows that Gilbert will not confront him about the near non-existent foundations like the chancellor does ‘I don't know, my Lord Dean'. That Jocelin likes to be around people who do not query him reveals that he likes to have control of the situation that he is in, and that he needs to be right. Golding has created Jocelin as a rather selfish character, he wants to build the spire and is determined to do so as, he believes, ‘God will provide'. However, Jocelin has become so absorbed with the detail and planning required and is so inspired by the grandeur that he is certain the spire will provide for the cathedral that he does not pause to think about the effects of the building on his friends. Golding uses subtle phrases and words to show this egotism such as ‘my place, my house, my people' and ‘I know them all, know what they are doing and will do'. These two sentences show that Jocelin sees the people around him as a means to building the spire and does not want to associate with them unless they support him or provide a skill that will build the spire. Jocelin does not see his actions as self-centred, he sees himself as a man who loves everyone and Golding frequently mentions what Jocelin sees as agape love, ‘he shot an arrow of love after him', ‘Jocelin looked sideways at him, loving him'. The reader is shown how Jocelin's aspirations for the spire are damaging his relationships with others by the deacons scathing insults. The remark ‘say what you like, he's proud' is met with the reply ‘and ignorant'. These simple comments hold a huge amount of meaning, for deacons to talk about their dean in such a derogatory manner, especially in the cathedral itself, shows that Jocelin really is pursuing an impossible and ludicrous goal. When Jocelin overhears this conversation he confronts the deacons asking ‘who is this poor fellow? ‘. To the reader it is obvious they were talking of Jocelin but Jocelin himself is so engrossed in his thoughts that it does not occur to him that they could be discussing him. Before Jocelin approaches the deacons they remark ‘he thinks he is a saint! A man like that! ‘, Golding's use of exclamation marks after these statements makes them even more prominent and what they are suggesting more absurd. For a dean in a church to be thought of as a ridiculous candidate for being a saint indicates to the reader that Jocelin's actions are extremely inappropriate for a man of his importance in the church. A man like that! ‘ shows that the deacons do not look up to Jocelin as a role model nor do they respect him. It also proves that Jocelin thinks highly of himself, he does not even consider for a moment that the deacons are talking about him as he believes his to too high in the church and too respected for anyone to think of him as ‘ignorant', let alone voice their vie ws. Another example of Jocelin's pride in himself comes when he meets with Gilbert again. Jocelin asks Gilbert to show him the carving and exclaims, ‘Oh no, no no! I'm not as beaky as that! ‘. This denial shows that Jocelin has an exact idea of what he believes he looks like in the same way that he believes he knows what people think of him. After studying the carving further Jocelin ‘fell silent', this silence may be because he has realised that actually the carving does resemble him, ‘mouth wide open, lined cheeks, hollow deep under cheekbone'. Golding is also suggesting to the reader tat in chasing his dream of the spire Jocelin has neglected not only his relationships with others but himself as well, allowing himself to become older and more dishevelled. Golding has taken the idea of Jocelin becoming lost in his vision by giving Jocelin the thought ‘at the moment of vision, the eyes see nothing', a phrase completely suited to Jocelin and his situation. Overall, chapter one reveals to the reader that Jocelin has allowed himself become so absorbed into his vision of the spire that he has begun to ignore the people around him and to avoid them if they disagree with him or criticise his dream. It gives a great insight into Jocelin's thoughts and other's perceptions, showing the reader that most people in the church have started to see Jocelin as a person to ridicule as he is so self-involved that he will not notice. Golding's language helps to expose Jocelin's self-important views making them stand out and his continual use of the words ‘joy' and ‘love' in Jocelin's thoughts emphasise the fact that he believes he is blessed with the task to build the spire whereas the reader can see that it is more of a curse as it is beginning, even in the first chapter, to damage not only his relationships but his wellbeing too.

Breaking Cover

It was sunny, breezy Sunday afternoon in July, and three girls crowded around the window seat, looking out at the hunks from a volleyball camp on the Skidmore campus quad play Ultimate Frisbee. Some of those playing had even taken off their shirts, revealing the muscles underneath, resulting in the squeals of delight that had first attracted my attention. As our camp was for the nerdy sort, our boys rarely looked so well-developed. My dormmates were chatting, creating a pleasant hum of conversation. I was the youngest in the bunch, rather like a kid sister. You know, SJs a lesbian, Corinne said idly. It was like poking a beehive. An immense buzzing started as every girl added her commentary. My face must have shown my consternation, because Corinne was suddenly asking, concernedly, if Id known. Dead silence and all eyes on me. My face heated. I gave a short nod of acknowledgement. Inwardly I added a small footnote of just since yesterday. In fact, SJ had been rather blunt. Shed said point-blank, after fumbling a few moments, that she was a lesbian. That while she didnt go out and advertise, she also didnt try to hide it. My reply had been equally awkward. The conversation took on a strained tone. I gave a half-shrug and mumbled OK. The room was dimming with the setting sun, but neither of us moved to turn on the lights. What should I say? Should I change the subject? It would be a death-knell to our friendship, but I had other friends here. It was only a week before I went home. I didnt have to deal with this. I was panicking now. Invisible deep breath. Im in a gifted program, think about this! Whats changed? Shes gay, you dolt! But that doesnt change the fact that all in all SJ was still the same, still running to sign up for morning running, still able to have rapid-fire Spanish conversations with Lori that left me convulsing in laughter. I conveyed my rev elations to SJ, and the room brightened as I flipped the switch and turned on the light. After that quick agreement, we fell into a more companionable silence. The conversation flowed on to family and other matters. Friendship kept, crisis avoided. But apparently I hadnt dodged the bullet as cleanly as Id hoped. Now I once again had to make a decision. Betray SJ and talk behind her back, or defend her and possibly ostracize myself from the rest of my hallmates. It was especially likely, as several of them went to church. But there was really only one thing to do. I wasnt panicking now. Im fine with it. Are you? I asked, a little challenging. Two weeks after camp ended, I received a letter from SJ, which thanked me for being so accepting on campus and supporting her among our hallmates. I didnt know shed known.