The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 30. Irresistible

There was so much to think about. How was I going to find time alone to hunt down J. Jenks, and why did Alice want me to know about him? If Alice's clue had nothing to do with Renesmee, what could I do to save my daughter? How were Edward and I going to explain things to Tanya's family in the morning? What if they reacted like Irina? What if it turned into a fight? I didn't know how to fight. How was I going to learn in just a month? Was there any chance at all that I could be taught fast enough that I might be a danger to any one member of the Volturi? Or was I doomed to be totally useless? Just another easily dispatched newborn? So many answers I needed, but I did not get the chance to ask my questions. Wanting some normality for Renesmee, I'd insisted on taking her home to our cottage at bedtime. Jacob was more comfortable in his wolf form at the moment; the stress was easier dealt with when he felt ready for a fight. I wished that I could feel the same, could feel ready. He ran in the woods, on guard again. After she was deeply under, I put Renesmee in her bed and then went to the front room to ask my questions of Edward. The ones I was able to ask, at any rate; one of the most difficult of problems was the idea of trying to hide anything from him, even with the advantage of my silent thoughts. He stood with his back to me, staring into the fire. â€Å"Edward, I – â€Å" He spun and was across the room in what seemed like no time at all, not even the smallest part of a second. I only had time to register the ferocious expression on his face before his lips were crushing against mine and his arms were locked around me like steel girders. I didn't think of my questions again for the rest of that night. It didn't take long for me to grasp the reason for his mood, and even less time to feel exactly the same way. I'd been planning on needing years just to somewhat organize the overwhelming passion I felt for him physically. And then centuries after that to enjoy it. if we had only a month left together†¦ Well, I didn't see how I could stand to have this end. For the moment I couldn't help but be selfish. All I wanted was to love him as much as possible in the limited time given to me. It was hard to pull myself away from him when the sun came up, but we had our job to do, a job that might be more difficult than all the rest of our family's searches put together. As soon as I let myself think of what was coming, i was all tension; it felt like my nerves were being stretched on a rack, thinner and thinner. â€Å"I wish there was a way to get the information we need from Eleazar before we tell them about Nessie,† Edward muttered as we hurriedly dressed in the huge closet that was more reminder of Alice than I wanted at the moment. â€Å"Just in case.† â€Å"But he wouldn't understand the question to answer it,† I agreed. â€Å"Do you think they'll let us explain?† â€Å"I don't know.† I pulled Renesmee, still sleeping, from her bed and held her close so that her curls were pressed against my face; her sweet scent, so close, overpowered every other smell. I couldn't waste one second of time today. There were answers I needed, and wasn't sure how much time Edward and I would have alone today. If all went well with Tanya's family, hopefully we would have company for an extended period. â€Å"Edward, will you teach me how to fight?† I asked him, tensed for his reaction, as he held the door for me. It was what I expected. He froze, and then his eyes swept over me with a deep significance, like he was looking at me for the first or last time. His eyes lingered on our daughter sleeping in my arms. â€Å"If it comes to a fight, there won't be much any of us can do,† he hedged. I kept my voice even. â€Å"Would you leave me unable to defend myself?† He swallowed convulsively, and the door shuddered, hinges protesting, as his hand tightened. Then he nodded. â€Å"When you put it that way†¦ I suppose we should get to work as soon as we can.† I nodded, too, and we started toward the big house. We didn't hurry. I wondered what I could do that would have any hope of making a difference. I was a tiny bit special, in my own way – if a having a supematurally thick skull could really be considered special. Was there any use that I could put that toward? â€Å"What would you say their biggest advantage is? Do they even have a weakness?† Edward didn't have to ask to know I meant the Volturi. â€Å"Alec and Jane are their greatest offense,† he said emotionlessly, like we were talking of a basketball team. â€Å"Their defensive players rarely see any real action.† â€Å"Because Jane can burn you where you stand – mentally at least. What does Alec do? Didn't you once say he was even more dangerous than Jane?† â€Å"Yes. In a way, he is the antidote to Jane. She makes you feel the worst pain imaginable. Alec, on the other hand, makes you feel nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sometimes, when the Volturi are feeling kind, they have Alec anesthetize someone before he is executed. If he has surrendered or pleased them in some other way.† â€Å"Anesthetic? But how is that more dangerous than Jane?† â€Å"Because he cuts off your senses altogether. No pain, but also no sight or sound or smell. Total sensory deprivation. You are utterly alone in the blackness. You don't even feel it when they burn you.† I shivered. Was this the best we could hope for? To not see or feel death when it came? â€Å"That would make him only equally as dangerous as Jane,† Edward went on in the same detached voice, â€Å"in that they both can incapacitate you, make you into a helpless target. The difference between them is like the difference between Aro and me. Aro hears the mind of only one person at a time. Jane can only hurt the one object of her focus. I can hear everyone at the same time.† I felt cold as I saw where he was going. â€Å"And Alec can incapacitate us all at the same time?† I whispered. â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"If he uses his gift against us, we will all stand blind and deaf until they get around to killingus – maybe they'll simply burn us without bothering to tear us apart first. Oh, we could try to fight, but we'll be more likely to hurt one another than we would be to hurt one of them.† We walked in silence for a few seconds. An idea was shaping itself in my head. Not very promising, but better than nothing. â€Å"Do you think Alec is a very good fighter?† I asked. â€Å"Aside from what he can do, I mean. If he had to fight without his gift. I wonder if he's ever even tried___† Edward glanced at me sharply. â€Å"What are you thinking?† I looked straight ahead. â€Å"Well, he probably can't do that to me, can he? If what he does is like Aro and Jane and you. Maybe†¦ if he's never really had to defend himself†¦ and I learned a few tricks – â€Å" â€Å"He's been with the Volturi for centuries,† Edward cut me off, his voice abruptly panicked. He was probably seeing the same image in his head that I was: the Cullens standing helpless, senseless pillars on thekillingfield – all but me. I'd be the only one who could fight. â€Å"Yes, you're surely immune to his power, but you are still a newborn, Bella. I can't make you that strong a fighter in a few weeks. I'm sure he's had training.† â€Å"Maybe, maybe not. It's the one thing I can do that no one else can. Even if I can just distract him for a while – † Could I last long enough to give the others a chance? â€Å"Please, Bella,† Edward said through his teeth. â€Å"Let's not talk about this.† â€Å"Be reasonable.† â€Å"I will try to teach you what I can, but please don't make me think about you sacrificing yourself as a diversion – † He choked, and didn't finish. I nodded. I would keep my plans to myself, then. First Alec and then, if I was miraculously lucky enough to win, Jane. If I could only even things out – remove the Volturi's overwhelming offensive advantage. Maybe then there was a chance†¦. My mind raced ahead. What if I was able to distract or even take them out? Honestly, why would either Jane or Alec ever have needed to learn battle skills? I couldn't imagine petulant little Jane surrendering her advantage, even to learn. If I was able to kill them, what a difference that would make. â€Å"I have to learn everything. As much as you can possibly cram into my head in the next month,† I murmured. He acted as if I hadn't spoken. Who next, then? I might as well have my plans in order so that, if I did live past attacking Alec, there would be no hesitation in my strike. I tried to think of another situation where my thick skull would give me an advantage. I didn't know enough about what the others did. Obviously, fighters like the huge Felix were beyond me. I could only try to give Emmett his fair fight there. I didn't know much about the rest of the Volturi guard, besides Demetri___ My face was perfectly smooth as I considered Demetri. Without a doubt, he would be a fighter. There was no other way he could have survived so long, always at the spear point of any attack. And he must always lead, because he was their tracker – the best tracker in the world, no doubt. If there had been one better, the Volturi would have traded up. Aro didn't surround himself with second best. If Demetri didn't exist, then we could run. Whoever was left of us, in any case. My daughter, warm in my arms†¦ Someone could run with her. Jacob or Rosalie, whoever was left. And†¦ if Demetri didn't exist, then Alice and Jasper could be safe forever. Is that what Alice had seen? That part of our family could continue? The two of them, at the very least. Could I begrudge her that? â€Å"Demetri†¦,† I said. â€Å"Demetri is mine,† Edward said in a hard, tight voice. I looked at him quickly and saw that his expression had turned violent. â€Å"Why?† I whispered. He didn't answer at first. We were to the river when he finally murmured, â€Å"For Alice. It's the only thanks I can give her now for the last fifty years.† So his thoughts were in line with mine. I heard Jacob's heavy paws thudding against the frozen ground. In seconds, he was pacing beside me, his dark eyes focused on Renesmee. I nodded to him once, then returned to my questions. There was so little time. â€Å"Edward, why do you think Alice told us to ask Eleazar about the Volturi? Has he been in Italy recently or something? What could he know?† â€Å"Eleazar knows everything when it comes to the Volturi. I forgot you didn't know. He used to be one of them.† I hissed involuntarily. Jacob growled beside me. â€Å"What?† I demanded, in my head picturing the beautiful dark-haired man at our wedding wrapped in a long, ashy cloak. Edward's face was softer now – he smiled a little. â€Å"Eleazar is a very gentle person. He wasn't entirely happy with the Volturi, but he respected the law and its need to be upheld. He felt he was working toward the greater good. He doesn't regret his time with them. But when he found Carmen, he found his place in this world. They are very similar people, both very compassionate for vampires.† He smiled again. â€Å"They met Tanya and her sisters, and they never looked back. They are well suited to this lifestyle. If they'd never found Tanya, I imagine they would have eventually discovered a way to live without human blood on their own.† The pictures in my head were jarring. I couldn't make them match up. A compassionate Volturi soldier? Edward glanced at Jacob and answered a silent question. â€Å"No, he wasn't one of their warriors, so to speak. He had a gift they found convenient.† Jacob must have asked the obvious follow-up question. â€Å"He has an instinctive feel for the gifts of others – the extra abilities that some vampires have,† Edward told him. â€Å"He could give Aro a general idea of what any given vampire was capable of just by being in proximity with him or her. This was helpful when the Volturi went into battle. He could warn them if someone in the opposing coven had a skill that might give them some trouble. That was rare; it takes quite a skill to even inconvenience the Volturi for a moment. More often, the warning would give Aro the chance to save someone who might be useful to him. Eleazar's gift works even with humans, to an extent. He has to really concentrate with humans, though, because the latent ability is so nebulous. Aro would have him test the people who wanted to join, to see if they had any potential. Aro was sorry to see him go.† â€Å"They let him go?† I asked. â€Å"Just like that?† His smile was darker now, a little twisted. ‘The Volturi aren't supposed to be the villains, the way they seem to you. They are the foundation of our peace and civilization. Each member of the guard chooses to serve them. It's quite prestigious; they all are proud to be there, not forced to be there.† I scowled at the ground. â€Å"They're only alleged to be heinous and evil by the criminals, Bella.† â€Å"We're not criminals.† Jacob huffed in agreement. â€Å"They don't know that.† â€Å"Do you really think we can make them stop and listen?† Edward hesitated just the tiniest moment and then shrugged. â€Å"If we find enough friends to stand beside us. Maybe.† If. I suddenly felt the urgency of what we had before us today. Edward and I both started to move faster, breaking into a run. Jacob caught up quickly. â€Å"Tanya shouldn't be too much longer,† Edward said. â€Å"We need to be ready.† How to be ready, though? We arranged and rearranged, thought and rethought. Renesmee in full view? Or hidden at first? Jacob in the room? Or outside? He'd told his pack to stay close but invisible. Should he do the same? In the end, Renesmee, Jacob – in his human form again – and I waited around the corner from the front door in the dining room, sitting at the big polished table. Jacob let me hold Renesmee; he wanted space in case he had to phase quickly. Though I was glad to have her in my arms, it made me feel useless. It reminded me that in a fight with mature vampires, I was no more than an easy target; I didn't need my hands free. I tried to remember Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Eleazar from the wedding. Their faces were murky in my ill-lit memories. I only knew they were beautiful, two blondes and two brunettes. I couldn't remember if there was any kindness in their eyes. Edward leaned motionlessly against the back window wall, staring toward the front door. It didn't look like he was seeing the room in front of him. We listened to the cars zooming past out on the freeway, none of them slowing. Renesmee nestled into my neck, her hand against my cheek but no images in my head. She didn't have pictures for her feelings now. â€Å"What if they don't like me?† she whispered, and all our eyes flashed to her face. â€Å"Of course they'll – ,† Jacob started to say, but I silenced him with a look. ‘They don't understand you, Renesmee, because they've never met anyone like you,† I told her, not wanting to lie to her with promises that might not come true. â€Å"Getting them to understand is the problem.† She sighed, and in my head flashed pictures of all of us in one quick burst. Vampire, human, werewolf. She fit nowhere. â€Å"You're special, that's not a bad thing.† She shook her head in disagreement. She thought of our strained faces and said, â€Å"This is my fault.† â€Å"No,† Jacob, Edward, and I all said at exactly the same time, but before we could argue further, we heard the sound we'd been waiting for: the slowing of an engine on the freeway, the tires moving from pavement to soft dirt. Edward darted around the corner to stand waiting by the door. Renesmee hid in my hair. Jacob and I stared at each other across the table, desperation on our faces. The car moved quickly through the woods, faster than Charlie or Sue drove. We heard it pull into the meadow and stop by the front porch. Four doors opened and closed. They didn't speak as they approached the door. Edward opened it before they could knock. â€Å"Edward!† a female voice enthused. â€Å"Hello, Tanya. Kate, Eleazar, Carmen.† Three murmured hellos. â€Å"Carlisle said he needed to talk to us right away,† the first voice said, Tanya. I could hear that they all were still outside. I imagined Edward in the doorway, blocking their entrance. â€Å"What's the problem? Trouble with the werewolves?† Jacob rolled his eyes. â€Å"No,† Edward said. â€Å"Our truce with the werewolves is stronger than ever.† A woman chuckled. â€Å"Aren't you going to invite us in?† Tanya asked. And then she continued without waiting for an answer. â€Å"Where's Carlisle?† â€Å"Carlisle had to leave.† There was a short silence. â€Å"What's going on, Edward?† Tanya demanded. â€Å"If you could give me the benefit of the doubt for just a few minutes,† he answered. â€Å"I have something difficult to explain, and I'll need you to be open-minded until you understand.† â€Å"Is Carlisle all right?† a male voice asked anxiously. Eleazar. â€Å"None of us is all right, Eleazar,† Edward said, and then he patted something, maybe Eleazar's shoulder. â€Å"But physically, Carlisle is fine.† â€Å"Physically?† Tanya asked sharply. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"I mean that my entire family is in very grave danger. But before I explain, I ask for your promise. Listen to everything I say before you react. I am begging you to hear me out.† A longer silence greeted his request. Through the strained hush, Jacob and I stared wordlessly at each other. His russet lips paled. â€Å"We're listening,† Tanya finally said. â€Å"We will hear it all before we judge.† â€Å"Thank you, Tanya,† Edward said fervently. â€Å"We wouldn't involve you in this if we had any other choice.† Edward moved. We heard four sets of footsteps walk through the doorway. Someone sniffed. â€Å"I knew those werewolves were involved,† Tanya muttered. â€Å"Yes, and they're on our side. Again.† The reminder silenced Tanya. â€Å"Where's your Bella?† one of the other female voices asked. â€Å"How is she?† â€Å"She'll join us shortly. She's well, thank you. She's taken to immortality with amazing finesse.† â€Å"Tell us about the danger, Edward,† Tanya said quietly. â€Å"We'll listen, and we'll be on your side, where we belong.† Edward took a deep breath. â€Å"I'd like you to witness for yourselves first. Listen – in the other room. What do you hear?† It was quiet, and then there was movement. â€Å"Just listen first, please,† Edward said. â€Å"A werewolf, I assume. I can hear his heart,† Tanya said. â€Å"What else?† Edward asked. There was a pause. â€Å"What is that thrumming?† Kate or Carmen asked. â€Å"Is that†¦ some kind of a bird?† â€Å"No, but remember what you're hearing. Now, what do you smell? Besides the werewolf.† â€Å"Is there a human here?† Eleazar whispered. â€Å"No,† Tanya disagreed. â€Å"It's not human†¦ but†¦ closer to human than the rest of the scents here. What is that, Edward? I don't think I've ever smelled that fragrance before.† â€Å"You most certainly have not, Tanya. Please, please remember that this is something entirely new to you. Throw away your preconceived notions.† â€Å"I promised you I would listen, Edward.† â€Å"All right, then. Bella? Bring out Renesmee, please.† My legs felt strangely numb, but I knew that feeling was all in my head. I forced myself not to hold back, not to move sluggishly, as I got to my feet and walked the few short feet to the corner. The heat from Jacob's body flamed close behind me as he shadowed my steps. I took one step into the bigger room and then froze, unable to force myself farther forward. Renesmee took a deep breath and then peeped out from under my hair, her little shoulders tight, expecting a rebuff. I thought I'd prepared myself for their reaction. For accusations, for shouting, for the motionlessness of deep stress. Tanya skittered back four steps, her strawberry curls quivering, like a human confronted by a venomous snake. Kate jumped back all the way to the front door and braced herself against the wall there. A shocked hiss came from between her clenched teeth. Eleazar threw himself in front of Carmen in a protective crouch. â€Å"Oh please† I heard Jacob complain under his breath. Edward put his arm around Renesmee and me. â€Å"You promised to listen,† he reminded them. â€Å"Some things cannot be heard!† Tanya exclaimed. â€Å"How could you, Edward? Do you not know what this means?† â€Å"We have to get out of here,† Kate said anxiously, her hand on the doorknob. â€Å"Edward †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Eleazar seemed beyond words. â€Å"Wait,† Edward said, his voice harder now. â€Å"Remember what you hear, what you smell. Renesmee is not what you think she is.† â€Å"There are no exceptions to this rule, Edward,† Tanya snapped back. â€Å"Tanya,† Edward said sharply, â€Å"you can hear her heartbeat! Stop and think about what that means.† â€Å"Her heartbeat?† Carmen whispered, peering around Eleazar's shoulder. â€Å"She's not a full vampire child,† Edward answered, directing his attention toward Carmen's less hostile expression. â€Å"She is half-human.† The four vampires stared at him like he was speaking a language none of them knew. â€Å"Hear me.† Edward's voice shifted into a smooth velvet tone of persuasion. â€Å"Renesmee is one of a kind. I am her father. Not her creator – her biological father.† Tanya's head was shaking, just a tiny movement. She didn't seem aware of it. â€Å"Edward, you can't expect us to – ,† Eleazar started to say. â€Å"Tell me another explanation that fits, Eleazar. You can feel the warmth of her body in the air. Blood runs in her veins, Eleazar. You can smell it.† â€Å"How?† Kate breathed. â€Å"Bella is her biological mother,† Edward told her. â€Å"She conceived, carried, and gave birth to Renesmee while she was still human. It nearly killed her. I was hard-pressed to get enough venom into her heart to save her.† Tve never heard of such a thing,† Eleazar said. His shoulders were still stiff, his expression cold. â€Å"Physical relationships between vampires and humans are not common,† Edward answered, a bit of dark humor in his tone now. â€Å"Human survivors of such trysts are even less common. Wouldn't you agree, cousins?† Both Kate and Tanya scowled at him. â€Å"Come now, Eleazar. Surely you can see the resemblance.† It was Carmen who responded to Edward's words. She stepped around Eleazar, ignoring his half-articulated warning, and walked carefully to stand right in front of me. She leaned down slightly, looking carefully into Renesmee's face. â€Å"You seem to have your mother's eyes,† she said in a low, calm voice, â€Å"but your father's face.† And then, as if she could not help herself, she smiled at Renesmee. Renesmee's answering smile was dazzling. She touched my face without looking away from Carmen. She imagined touching Carmen's face, wondering if that was okay. â€Å"Do you mind if Renesmee tells you about it herself?† I asked Carmen. I was still too stressed to speak above a whisper. â€Å"She has a gift for explaining things.† Carmen was still smiling at Renesmee. â€Å"Do you speak, little one?† â€Å"Yes,† Renesmee answered in her trilling high soprano. All of Tanya's family flinched at the sound of her voice except for Carmen. â€Å"But I can show you more than I can tell you.† She placed her little dimpled hand on Carmen's cheek. Carmen stiffened like an electric shock had run through her. Eleazar was at her side in an instant, his hands on her shoulders as if to yank her away. â€Å"Wait,† Carmen said breathlessly, her unblinking eyes locked on Renesmee's. Renesmee â€Å"showed† Carmen her explanation for a long time. Edward's face was intent as he watched with Carmen, and I wished so much that I could hear what he heard, too. Jacob shifted his weight impatiently behind me, and I knew he was wishing the same. â€Å"What's Nessie showing her?† he grumbled under his breath. â€Å"Everything,† Edward murmured. Another minute passed, and Renesmee dropped her hand from Carmen's face. She smiled winningly at the stunned vampire. â€Å"She really is your daughter, isn't she?† Carmen breathed, switching her wide topaz eyes to Edward's face. â€Å"Such a vivid gift! It could only have come from a very gifted father.† â€Å"Do you believe what she showed you?† Edward asked, his expression intense. â€Å"Without a doubt,† Carmen said simply. Eleazar's face was rigid with distress. â€Å"Carmen!† Carmen took his hands into her own and squeezed them. â€Å"Impossible as it seems, Edward has told you nothing but truth. Let the child show you.† Carmen nudged Eleazar closer to me and then nodded at Renesmee. â€Å"Show him, mi querida† Renesmee grinned, clearly delighted with Carmen's acceptance, and touched Eleazar lightly on the forehead. â€Å"Ay caray!†hespit, and jerked away from her. â€Å"What did she do to you?† Tanya demanded, coming closer warily. Kate crept forward, too. â€Å"She's just trying to show you her side of the story,† Carmen told him in a soothing voice. Renesmee frowned impatiently. â€Å"Watch, please,† she commanded Eleazar. She stretched her hand out to him and then left a few inches between her fingers and his face, waiting. Eleazar eyed her suspiciously and then glanced at Carmen for help. She nodded encouragingly. Eleazar took a deep breath and then leaned closer until his forehead touched her hand again. He shuddered when it began but held still this time, his eyes closed in concentration. â€Å"Ahh,† he sighed when his eyes reopened a few minutes later. â€Å"I see.† Renesmee smiled at him. He hesitated, then smiled a slightly unwilling smile in response. â€Å"Eleazar?† Tanya asked. â€Å"It's all true, Tanya. This is no immortal child. She's half-human. Come. See for yourself.† In silence, Tanya took her turn standing warily before me, and then Kate, both showing shock as that first image hit them with Renesmee's touch. But then, just like Carmen and Eleazar, they seemed completely won over as soon as it was done. I shot a glance at Edward's smooth face, wondering if it could really be so easy. His golden eyes were clear, unshadowed. There was no deception in this, then. â€Å"Thank you for listening,† he said quietly. â€Å"But there is the grave danger you warned us of,† Tanya said. â€Å"Not directly from this child, I see, but surely from the Volturi, then. How did they find out about her? When are they coming?† I was not surprised at her quick understanding. After all, what could possibly be a threat to a family as strong as mine? Only the Volturi. â€Å"When Bella saw Irina that day in the mountains,† Edward explained, â€Å"she had Renesmee with her.† Kate hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits, â€Å"irina did this? To you? To Carlisle? Irina?† â€Å"No,† Tanya whispered. â€Å"Someone else †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Alice saw her go to them,† Edward said. I wondered if the others noticed the way he winced just slightly when he spoke Alice's name. â€Å"How could she do this thing?† Eleazar asked of no one. ‘Imagine if you had seen Renesmee only from a distance. If you had not waited for our explanation.† Tanya's eyes tightened. â€Å"No matter what she thought†¦ You are our family.† â€Å"There's nothing we can do about Irina's choice now. It's too late. Alice gave us a month.† Both Tanya's and Eleazar's heads cocked to one side. Kate's brow furrowed. â€Å"So long?† Eleazar asked. â€Å"They are all coming. That must take some preparation.† Eleazar gasped. â€Å"The entire guard?† â€Å"Not just the guard,† Edward said, his jaw straining tight. â€Å"Aro, Caius, Marcus. Even the wives.† Shock glazed over all their eyes. â€Å"Impossible,† Eleazar said blankly. â€Å"I would have said the same two days ago,† Edward said. Eleazar scowled, and when he spoke it was nearly a growl. â€Å"But that doesn't make any sense. Why would they put themselves and the wives in danger?† â€Å"It doesn't make sense from that angle. Alice said there was more to this than just punishment for what they think we've done. She thought you could help us.† â€Å"More than punishment? But what else is there?† Eleazar started pacing, stalking toward the door and back again as if he were alone here, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the floor. â€Å"Where are the others, Edward? Carlisle and Alice and the rest?† Tanya asked. Edward's hesitation was almost unnoticeable. He answered only part of her question. â€Å"Looking for friends who might help us.† Tanya leaned toward him, holding her hands out in front of her. â€Å"Edward, no matter how many friends you gather, we can't help you win. We can only die with you. You must know that. Of course, perhaps the four of us deserve that after what Irina has done now, after how we've failed you in the past – for her sake that time as well.† Edward shook his head quickly. â€Å"We're not asking you to fight and die with us, Tanya. You know Carlisle would never ask for that.† â€Å"Then what, Edward?† â€Å"We're just looking for witnesses. If we can make them pause, just for a moment. If they would let us explain †¦Ã¢â‚¬  He touched Renesmee's cheek; she grabbed his hand and held it pressed against her skin. â€Å"It's difficult to doubt our story when you see it for yourself.† Tanya nodded slowly. â€Å"Do you think her past will matter to them so much?† â€Å"Only as it foreshadows her future. The point of the restriction was to protect us from exposure, from the excesses of children who could not be tamed.† â€Å"I'm not dangerous at all,† Renesmee interjected. I listened to her high, clear voice with new ears, imagining how she sounded to the others. â€Å"I never hurt Grandpa or Sue or Billy. I love humans. And wolf-people like my Jacob.† She dropped Edward's hand to reach back and pat Jacob's arm. Tanya and Kate exchanged a quick glance. â€Å"If Irina had not come so soon,† Edward mused, â€Å"we could have avoided all of this. Renesmee grows at an unprecedented rate. By the time the month is past, shell have gained another half year of development.† â€Å"Well, that is something we can certainly witness,† Carmen said in a decided tone. â€Å"We'll be able to promise that we've seen her mature ourselves. How could the Volturi ignore such evidence?† Eleazar mumbled, â€Å"How, indeed?† but he did not look up, and he continued pacing as if he were paying no attention at all. â€Å"Yes, we can witness for you,† Tanya said. â€Å"Certainly that much. We will consider what more we might do.† â€Å"Tanya,† Edward protested, hearing more in her thoughts than there was in her words, â€Å"we don't expect you to fight with us.† â€Å"If the Volturi won't pause to listen to our witness, we cannot simply stand by,† Tanya insisted. â€Å"Of course, I should only speak for myself.† Kate snorted. â€Å"Do you really doubt me so much, sister?† Tanya smiled widely at her. â€Å"It is a suicide mission, after all.† Kate flashed a grin back and then shrugged nonchalantly. â€Å"I'm in.† â€Å"I, too, will do what I can to protect the child,† Carmen agreed. Then, as if she couldn't resist, she held her arms out toward Renesmee. â€Å"May I hold you, bebe linda?† Renesmee reached eagerly toward Carmen, delighted with her new friend. Carmen hugged her close, murmuring to her in Spanish. It was like it had been with Charlie, and before that with all the Cullens. Renesmee was irresistible. What was it about her that drew everyone to her, that made them willing even to pledge their lives in her defense? For a moment I thought that maybe what we were attempting might be possible. Maybe Renesmee could do the impossible and win over our enemies as she had our friends. And then I remembered that Alice had left us, and my hope vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Role of Women in the Paleolithic and Modern Period

This memorandum serves three purposes: (1) declares the chosen person for the heart transplantation; (2) outlines the decision process; (3) evaluates possible outcomes of the made decision. Among the three qualifying candidates who were in need of the transplant, the person that was chosen to go through the process of heart transplant is Lisa; a 12- year-old female who has suffered from health issues all throughout her life.Lisa has suffered from various viral infections and a lupus-like immune deficiency which cost her entire childhood. In addition, her heart was damaged due to pneumonia which add her heart stop for a brief period of time. Even though her chances of surviving in her ass are not guaranteed, Lisa deserves a few more years added to her life to at least experience and see the beauty of the world. During the process of decision-making, two ethics-based processes were used for comparison purposes and analysis in order to thoroughly determine the recipient of the heart.In applying a Utilitarian ends-based ethics theory, the decision to choose Lisa was based on John Stuart Mill's concept of the Greatest Happiness Principle which seeks happiness as the only desired outcome; neglecting all the rules and reminisces (Ruggeri, 2011). Lisa should receive the new heart because she is the only person who suffered most throughout her life. Jerry, one of the candidates, had at least lived 50 years which enabled him to build his own family; while Oozy had at least lived for 30 years.Although both candidates mentioned also deserve the heart, Lisa deserves the new heart most because she will help inspire other children her age that there is hope if you Just believe in the goodness of the world and people. Another ethics-based theory that contributed to the decision of choosing Lisa is SST. Augustine theory about the ‘power of evil and sin. ‘ In his greatest spiritual autobiography, he detailed his sufferings and struggles with his own human nature (Rug geri, 2011).However, he used his compelling personal experiences of sin to impact everybody through teaching the lesson of struggle and virtue through religious faith. In analyzing the situation, Lisa is somewhat like SST. Augustine in a way that they have both struggled in life. If Lisa would be given the chance to live, she would have the chance to prove something to herself that she can accomplish something in her life. No one is too young to make a difference in this world. This heart transplant may not guarantee Alias's survival in her ass.However, the few years that will be added to her life will Just be enough for her to experience how to live a normal life Just like any other children in her age. There is so much innocence and youth in her that seeing her life be taken away would have been too much to bear for anyone to think. Hence, by applying all the ethics-based theory mentioned in this memorandum, the decision to choose Lisa as the recipient of the heart transplant was made, and further transplant process should be deployed immediately in order to save a young girl's life.This decision will be immediately communicated to the higher administration of the hospital as well as to the parents of Lisa immediately in order to confirm their approval and agreement regarding the decision made. Given that there is an immediate need for Lisa to receive the new heart, as the Lead Surgeon of the BBC Medical Center, the process of the heart transplantation for Lisa should begin as soon as possible.

Psychology. About stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Psychology. About stress - Essay Example Later, he experimented upon animals by injecting toxic chemical in their bodies and found three common reactions. The organisms’ adrenal glands increased, their organs which produced the white blood cells and their lymph nodes initially expanded and shrank later, and thirdly, their intestines and stomachs bled. These reactions were termed by Hans Selye as the General Adaptation Syndrome. He said that when an organism or a human being gets into stress, the usual physiologic systems are interrupted and the resulting changes cause diseases. The physical and emotional upset organisms experienced upon injection of the toxic substance caused such patterns to develop which would cause infection, disease and ultimately death if left untreated. The General Adaptation Syndrome Selye talked about can be divided into three phases namely the alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion (â€Å"Health News Network†). In the Alarm Reaction Stage, the resistance is lowered because of initi al depression of the immune system. This increases the tendency to acquire disease. When the stress does not stay for long, the individual recovers. With the passage of time, the body adapts to the rising levels of stress. This increases the body’s ability to resist the consequential disease.

Reaction from Christian Bible Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reaction from Christian Bible - Essay Example He assumed that the church in Rome was beset by in-fighting within itself which required for them to become united and work with each other and not against each other. The other assumption that was in Paul’s letter was that the Christians in Rome needed to have the faith interpreted to them in a way that made sense to them and in a way that strengthened their faith and belief in Christianity. Another assumption was that there was a lot of misinformation about the Christian faith in Rome and he needed to explain the truths and inner workings of Christianity in a way that made sense to the Christian group in Rome and in a way that made their stand on ethics, their lifestyle and their beliefs clear and understandable to all and sundry. He assumed that the Christians needed advice on how to live with each other and how to live with their Roman rulers. Finally he made clear his assumption that he was not the only one with all the answers but that he also needed the prayers and supp ort of the Christians in Rome (Bright and Simons 4). In â€Å"Resident Aliens†, several assumptions are made. The first one is that the Christian life is much like life in a colony of believers immersed in a sea of unbelief. It assumes that though libertarian theory promises freedom it instead endowed society with self-centeredness, exclusivity, loneliness and an ever-challenging environment full of crime and all sorts of inequity and inequality (Hauerwas and Willimon 50). The article assumes that life in the Christian †colony†, far from being a smooth journey was instead a treacherous adventure full of unknowns and likens it to jumping onto a moving train (Hauerwas and Willimon 52). Another assumption made is that Christians do not know what’s in store for them when they join the Church or go through baptism. It assumes that Christianity promises a never ending journey whose details are vague and whose promises may not always be realized. It assumes that C hristianity is made up of nothing more than stories usually with a happy ending at the end of the misery and drudgery of life as we know it. The similarities between the Christian life article and Paul’s letter to the Romans are quite stark. In both narratives, the Christian community lives in a world where they are surrounded by unbelievers who make it both difficult for them to practice their faith as detailed in the Bible but also affect relations within the Church itself. The story of Shady Grove and its slow but definite assimilation of the black population is similar in many ways to the way the early Roman Christian church included the non-Jews or Gentiles in their ranks. The assumption of the â€Å"restlessness† of the Christian journey today has similarities to the uncertainties of early Roman church life. Even the whole conundrum of whether or not to have children and the kind of sexual lifestyle that one adopts are likened to the struggles of the Christian mi nority in Roman times against a very un-Christian standards of the external Roman community. Matthew’s description of the life of Jesus Christ, which is in many ways quite similar to those of Mark and Luke, takes the form of an introduction to the life and times of Jesus Christ, placing it firmly in the Jewish society of the time and relating what the coming of Christ, his life, teachings, his suffering and resurrection. The book is detailed and well laid out, placing the

Operational Decision Making Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operational Decision Making - Research Paper Example This is expected to be achieved through the company, mission, vision and values. The values at DP world involve its quest to create a sustainable value through global growth, excellence and service. It is accompanied by the company mission of a global approach towards the local business environment that is made up of excellence, profitability and innovation in the effort to drive their core industry philosophy of providing exceptional customer service. Description of Operations The operations at DP are influenced by the company’s vision and mission to develop a reputation of efficiency and expertise. As such, efficient service delivery and competency are the most significant input specifications of the company. Constantly, the company invests in terminal infrastructure, people and facilities to provide quality services in the present and future in order to meet the needs of their customers. Majorly, it deals in a wide range of cargo handling services with its main focus being on the container terminal operations. In addition to containers, most of the DP World terminals also handle general cargo, bulk cargo, passenger and Ro-Ro vessel terminals. Thus, the main operations of this company include imports and exports. The company additionally possesses a leadership in innovation and an unyielding commitment to all their customers across the world. It is because of this that DP world is currently considered a leader in the operations of marine terminals, as well as developments, logistics in addition to other related services. In this relation, t can be sad to be the force that is applied to make changes in the industry (DP World 1). Supply Chain Decisions DP World involves an integral responsibility to the supply chain of the customers. One of the key strategies towards achieving this is the development of solutions for both customers and partners. It involves the integration of responsible business activities within their daily strategies and activities. I t is in the effort to secure a sustainable future. Because of this, the DP World has secured a partnership with the London Gateway team. With the guidance from their corporate values, DP world works with the customers, suppliers and the entire community to recognize sustainable risks and challenges as well as develop a high number of partnership opportunities so as to bring about a sustainable future. As a partner, it has also been certified at the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C?TPAT) and is the only port operator with this recognition. In addition, the company is involved in a number of supply chain securities with most of its terminals being involved in anti terrorism Container Security initiatives. These decisions affect the strategic operations of the company in the sense that they enable the company to roll out its standards across all its terminals. The company is also focused n the provision of responsible business services. It is associated with the provision and availability of efficient infrastructure as well as the sharing of best practice and innovation. They also include full container Load through Dubai that involves a number of fully completed input processes that are shown in the figure below. Operational Decisions At DP World, the operations team focuses on how cargo can be moved into the international logistic way in an efficient and safe way. Decisions are made

Case Study on Land Law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

On Land Law - Case Study Example It is stated, in this case, that the property is registered; therefore, the relevant legislation is the LRA, although the original concept of overriding interests was established in the Land Registration Act 1925. Under the 1925 Act, certain overriding interests would only continue until the point at which the land is registered. As Shambles has now been registered, the rules relating to third party interests contained in the LRA must be referred to. The first issue to be considered by Lance is that of Porter's ex- partner, Rina, who has been living in the property for a period of at least five years. On the assumption that Shambles became registered to Porter, after 1st October, 2003 and where the LRA is in force, then the rights attached to Rina will be in accordance with the LRA. The overriding interest of actual occupation existed under the 1925 Act in s70(1)(g). Whilst this old right still exists, it is now subject to the new law as contained in the LRA. Essentially, the overriding interest and the right of a third party in actual occupation will exist where there is actual occupation, at the relevant time, by the owner. This is important, in this case, due to the fact that there may be some debate as to whether or not Rina is, in fact, an actual owner, i.e. legally or beneficially entitled to the property. As Rina is an estranged partner of Porter, Rina may have a valid argument that she has an equitable entitlement to at least part of the property. Recent case law has suggested that, where both parties have contributed in some way to the property, even if it is registered in only one person's name, the court will determine the shares of the property to be held by each party, based on the course of dealings between them1. With this in mind, it would be necessary to consider the relationship between Rina and Porter and whether she could legitimately claim an equitable interest in the property (Abbey & Richards, 2007). On the assumption that Rina can show an equitable interest, she would potentially be able to rely on the actual occupation interest as stated in Schedule 3, Para 2 of the LRA. This right would exist, provided it was not an interest under the Settled Land Act 1925, it was not a deliberate failure to disclose the right and the occupation would have been obvious on a reasonably careful inspection of the land in question at the time of the disposition. Under the provisions in the LRA, there is no precise definition of actual occupation; however, case law previously heard under the 1925 Act is thought to be current and relevant under the LRA2. Under the LRA, Rina will only forfeit the overriding status of her interest, if she would have been reasonably expected to declare her right to Lance. As Lance undertook his own conveyancing, it is unlikely that sufficiently detailed questioning was undertaken in relation to any adults in actual occupation. Moreover, in the absence of such questioning, it is therefore highly likely that Rina will not have sacrificed her overriding status, based on failure to disclose reasonably. Furthermore, as Rina lived in the main property and has done so for 5 years, her presences and actual occupation would be reasonably noticeable to anyone who had made an inspection of the property. The facts suggest that Lance did not actually inspect the property, at all, due to his location in London and had he made a reasonable inspection, he would have been aware of Rina's occupation, prior to

ME Portfolio Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ME Portfolio Project - Essay Example In addition to this, the article examines three specific countries that were not within Europe during the historic transformation and how the business cycle performed compared to the ones within the European region. The outcome expectations of the study were that there would be an avenue that arises due to the changes made. This will therefore create new opportunities for the business cycle. This paper however is a critical analysis of the article. The paper looks at the economic principles that are found in the article and their overall significance on the entire business cycle. Five microeconomic indices are identified and each is defined and explained in detail giving out its economic impact on this scenario. After all this, the paper finally gives a conclusion on all the information and how it has affected the overall business cycle in the region. Economic principles related to the article There are many economic principles applied in this article, however for this particular pap er, only three will be discussed to come to a conclusion about the overall economic impact of these principles. The first economic principle seen here is the principle that people face trade off’s meaning that every action has an economic cost. This means that when one thing is implemented, then there is another that has been shorter down. So if one moves from selling tomatoes to selling onions then the economic benefits of selling tomatoes is gone. From the article, euro was adopted as a single currency to serve 17 different countries. This was a good move to enable trade to develop in the 17 countries and lead to a lot of opportunities. However before the introduction of the euro as a single currency to serve the entire region, each of the 17 countries had banks and other stakeholders who traded in force to make a living. This means that after the adoption of the euro, several of these opportunities were lost hence leading to a slight change in the overall business cycle es pecially for banks that play a major role in the economy of a particular country. This transition will also mean that most of the money exchange businesses will have to either face out or reduce due to the use of one currency over the entire region (Eichner, 2011). This makes the region harder to economically compare themselves with great economic giants like the US which has a lot of money exchange businesses. The second most prevalent economic principle is that the cost of something is what you give up to get it. This principle means that whenever we want something new, we do some changes, and then we have to undergo some costs that are exactly the same as what we are losing. This means that before the implementation of anything, we have to be sure that the cost of the new product is much more than the cost of the older product. In the article, the entire European region set up a common central bank to serve the entire region. This means that if before this each country had its ow n central bank then there functionalities were either removed or completely minimized. This will in fact have a direct impact on the entire entire region. The cost of having a single central bank comes at the cost of having to do away with some of

Chick-Fil-A Marketing Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chick-Fil-A Marketing Report - Essay Example For instance, the restaurant’s hours of operation plan exclude Sundays. Aside from simply â€Å"doing business†, the company also does a lot of charity work through nonprofit organizations. Simply put, the Cathy family behind the business â€Å"puts [their] money where [their] faith is† and this certainly has a colossal effect on how business plans are made and their Some of Chick Fil-A’s most recent marketing plans include expansion to other regions – mainly the northeastern part – of the U.S. in order to furtheritsdevelopment in the market and to guarantee that the company stays a strong competitor among other chicken restaurants. Quite possibly the most interesting marketing plan that Chick Fil-A has introduced is Cow Appreciation Day, during which customers can arrive dressed like cows to receive free meals. Management: One of the greatest strengths of Chick-Fil-A’s management is that it carefully screens its new hires to ensure that these individuals are loyal to the brand and that they share the same beliefs as the Chick-Fil-A concept. Employees and managers alike have a reputation for being upbeat and extremely sensitive to the needs of guests, as evidenced by the 2nd mile initiative, which places extreme emphasis on â€Å"going the extra mile† for the guests. Weaknesses: Corporate office and policies can intrude into employees’ personal lives. Due to the strict nature of Chick-Fil-A’s hiring process, high quality potential candidates are often scared away from applying at Chick-Fil-A.Chick-Fil-A also steers clear of discounting and limited-time offers, which could be forgoing a significant amount of additional revenues. Marketing: Chick-Fil-A brands itself as a wholesome entity with Christian and family values, and has been very successful in that respect. Fewer than 5% of owner/operators leave the

Russia in the 20th Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Russia in the 20th Century - Essay Example Nicholas II was the last Tsar of the Romanov Dynasty. He was born in Pushkin, Russia on May 6, 1868 on the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia until 1918. His father was Alexander Aleksandrovich, who was heir to the Russian Empire and was Tsar before Nicholas II. Nicholas II inherited the throne at 26 years old when his father died on October 20, 1894. He was quoted as saying he was not ready for the throne at this time. He married Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, known publicly as Empress Alexandra, and had 4 daughters and one son. His son, Alexei, was diagnosed with Hemophilia at an early age, and the royal family began to rely heavily on a mystical healer known as Rasputin who would play a large role in later events, and is discussed later in this essay. Nicholas II was not a well-liked ruler and carried the nickname â€Å"Bloody Nicholas† throughout his rule. Several key events that helped shaped the soon to be formed Soviet Union occurred under Nicholas II rule. Du ring his official coronation, a massive crowd formed and thousands of people were stampeded to death. Nicholas II and his wife were totally unaware of the event and proceeded to the Coronation Ball. This revealed him as a ruler who was oblivious of his subjects.

Religion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Religion - Assignment Example The earliest founding can be traced back to 1897. As of now, it claims to have more than 5 million members worldwide. Its current bishop is Charles Blake. The website contains the following information in the About Us section : Founder and Church History, Affirmations, Doctrine, Seal, and Its Officers. The website also presents its numerous departments such as legal, marketing, Pastor’s and Elders Council, National Mens’ Conference, International Women’s Department and Church Growth and Development. The site also shows its Products and Services such as COGIC bookstore, COGIC publishing house, and Charities. COGIC Charities supports mission programs in 58 countries and provides $100,000 worth of scholarships annually. It does not limit its support to members of its organization since it also provided a grant to Save Africa’s Children. It can be implied from reading the website that COGIC takes pride in being a colored religious organization. Apparently, COGIC is a large religious organization with abundant funding since it has its own Bible College and Theological Seminary. COGIC also presents in its website the various activities it is involved with such as COGIC charities and bridging the digital divide. Presently, its website features the â€Å"Hijacking of Civil Rights Legacy† which is an argumentative position against homosexual marriage. It also posted a response on the human rights declaration with a severe apologetics on marriage. COGIC can be considered a moderate religious group since it sticks to the essentials of Christian doctrine in its statement of faith. In fact, it regards the bible as its only source. However, it can be considered moderate since it has been involved in social agenda such as alleviation of poverty through its north Michigan COGIC and Faith Community mortgage company, making donation to victims of calamity, and publicly commenting on social issues such as Human Rights and Civil Ri ghts. The website UUA.org

Investigatin a ski jump Essay Example for Free

Investigatin a ski jump Essay Aim:To investigate how the starting position of a ski jumper affects the horizontal distance travelled in the jump. I will not take air resistance, friction and other various type of energy lost into account, however in practical I have to keep in mind that they do exist and cause variation in my results. Introduction Ski jumping is a sport event that involves a steep ramp and a landing zone, where the skier has to travel as far as possible after leaving the ramp horizontally. When the skier is in motion in the air and the range it reaches is what I am investigating. This motion is called the projectile motion and the displacement, velocity and acceleration of the projectile are all vector quantities. Each of these can be placed into vertical and horizontal components. In my experiment, I will create a similar model of the ski jump using a plastic curtain rail as the slope and model the skier as a particle, in this case, a ball bearing. Diagram This is a diagram of the basic equipment setup This investigation has much room for expansion on the original above setup. The accuracy can be improved using a combination of more sensitive measuring equipment and a more accurate measuring setup. B 1. The friction between the ball and the curtain rail, along with the air resistance are neglible, therefore, will not be accounted for in this experiment. 2. The ball bearing is taken as a point, as the motion of a rolling ball differs from anything else. 3. Gravity does not affect the horizontal velocity Prediction/Hypothesis I have based my prediction on the calculated formula R=V(4hH). Ball Bearing Object that models skier as a particle Meter Ruler Will be used to measure the range (x) travelled by the ball and the height (h) of the starting position. Measurements recorded in metres. Set square To make sure the height obtained is perpendicular to the table G-Clamp This will clamp the curtain rail to the table Table Where the slope will be placed on and clamped to Sand Tray This will be placed on the floor in the spot where the ball will land, leaving its mark. Method Variables Controlled Variables Constants Launching position Height of table. Acceleration due to gravity Time of flight Mass of ball Velocity 1. Test all equipment to make sure there are no problems and also test the sensitivity of the sand tray. 2. Set up appartus as show in diagram. 3. Check all apparatus are set up correctly and clamps are tightened securely 4. Using the meter ruler mark the 1st height at which the ball will be dropped from. In my case, I am recording 8 different heights ranged 0. 20m 0. 55m. Each within a 0. 05m interval. 5. Using the set square against the height, the exact position of the ball is determined. 6. The ball is manually held in place at the desired height and released, allowing the ball to roll down the ramp and off the edge of the table, landing on the sand. 7. The distance from the edge of the table to the mark made in the sand is measured and then recoded. 8. This is process is then repeated untill all results have been collected. Safety Precautions There are few minor risks in doing this experiment, which with careful setting up and appropriate behaviour, can be avoided. These are: When bending down to record measurements of the range, it is possible to bas your head coming up. Simply be aware of your surroundings. Having a sand pit on the floor can prove to be an obstruction to passers-by and can be a hazard of tripping over. I will make sure there are no obstructions by the landing zone when in practise. The ball bearing is heavy enough to cause injury to anyone if hit by it. Keeping distance should prevent this. Data interpretation Alongside doing the experiment I will plot a graph. This will allow for any correlations to be spotted early on and then further predictions to be made. It will also allow the investigattion of anomalies. Therefore drawing a graph alongside the experiment allows for greater scientific accuracy and better end results. Sensitivity The sensitivity of this experiment is concerned with by the accuracy of the equipment available. For example, a much more accurate measuring device can be used to distinguish to an accuracy of i 0. 1mm, but the ruler markings are only accurate themselves to i 1mm. Therefore, this creates a small error and show that to get the best out of the results, the most accurate equipment should be used in all situations. Accuracy. The accuracy of this experiment can be improved in a number of ways: When reading the ruler the eye must be at the same level as the object, otherwise an incorrect value will be seen. The range measuring ruler must measure from the point the ball leaves the ramp, which in this case is the edge of the table. This means that it must be accurately aligned under the table, this can be achieved using a plumb line. It is facing directly downwards, allowing the ruler to be placed directly under the point at which the ball leaves the ramp. There may be a small error in the position of the plumbline of about i 2mm. The sand in which the ball drops into may be uneven and the mark made when the ball strikes the sand may prove to be difficult to measure precisely. A travelling microscope could be used to measure the precise impact with the sand. But considering the level of accuracy used throughout the rest of the experiment, this would be an inefficient method. Results Height h/cm Height Distance x/cm Distance xi /cmi xmean H/m /cm2 1st 2nd 3rd Mean 1st 2nd 3rd Mean 1st 2nd 3rd. There were no anomalous results recorded in this experiment Error in distance x To calculate the positive error in x, the Xmean value is taken away from the Xmax value. To calculate the negative error in x, the Xmiin value is taken away from the Xmean value. Distance xi /cmi xmean xmax xmin Positive Error Negative Error Analysis From looking at the graphs, a positive correlation between the squared value of the range and the height the ball is dropped from can be seen, although points vary from the line of best fit. The results prove that the equation is correct and that the range of a ball does depend mostly on the height it is dropped from and the height the ball leaves the ramp. The formula (Ri =4Hh) states that an increase in the drop height, h, increases the range of the ball. The results have proved this and my prediction to be correct. However, the percentage at which the graphs agree to this equation is: H = 92cm 4H = 368cm (expected) Gradient of distancei graph = 192. 3 (experimental) Expected gradient = 368 192. 3 x 100% = 52. 3% agreement. 368 Conclusion In conclusion the experiment occurs the following way: The ball is released with high gravitational potential energy as it rolls down the slope, this energy is converted into kinetic energy, the higher the drop height, the longer the ball is travelling down the slope, so more energy can be transferred giving more kinetic energy and hence more speed when the ball leaves the ramp. From the results it is also seen that there are other factors that affect the range as the gradient was smaller than expected. The equation is correct, but the only part that could affect the results in this way was the assumption that all energy was transferred. The transfer is likely to be less efficient than assumed, 100% energy transfer from potential energy to kinetic energy is extremely unlikely. The energy can be lost in a variety of ways which are the limitations. Limitations Air resistance is an important limiting factor as it would have the most affect on the results. This was not counted for when doing the experiment and therefore has some affect on the results. As the ball moves through the air, the air itself is putting up a resistance against the ball, lowering its speed, and its distance travelled. Air resistance is dependant on the size of the object, as the larger the object the more air it has to push to the side. It also depends upon the speed at which the object is travelling, as an object travelling at faster speeds has to push aside more air in the same time. This effect can be used to explain the slight curvature at the top of the graph. This is because the ball is travelling at higher speeds (because it is being dropped from greater heights), with more air resistance acting upon it due to the higher speeds, causing it to cover less distance. Evaluation The trend of the graph 2 is a very clear with a positve correlation. There can be three different ranges of the line of best fit but I have only drawn the most obvious one. The 1st line of best fit can be drawn from the origin through the top ends of the error bars, whereas the 2nd can be drawn through the bottom ends of the error bars. However, due to the error bars being so small, it will be very difficult to show these 3 lines together. The accuracy and sensitivity of the apparatus leaves a minor error in the results giving a range of different values for that particular result. Ie. At a height of 5cm, the mean result was 31. 33cm. However this can actually be smaller or bigger than this value considering the errors in apparatus. The position of the plumbline to mark the the edge of the table will have an estimated i 2mm, having to join 2 meter rulers together will have an estimated i 1mm and judging the landing position of the ball will also have a i2mm effect on the results. In total the range of values for the results will be i 5mm. Therefor the range of values for 31. 33cm would be 30. 83cm 31. 83cm. Percentage error I will take the maximum result of the range and calculate the percentage error based on the uncertainty values. % error of range, x, 93. 33cm i 0. 5cm 0. 5cm i 93. 33cm x 100% = 0. 53% The values are vastly small and so are not worth considering. Improvements If this investigation were to be repeated, there are a few things I would like to change. Firstly, I would ensure to take more care that the above factors were fully compramised and minimised. Furthermore, I would take a much larger range of results to provide a more reliable end result, taking fairness of the experiment into account much more seriously. Finally, I would use a much more accurate range of apparatus to get the most accuracy in my results. For example, a specialised light gate can be set up at the end of the ramp to dictate the exact speed at which the ball leaves the ramp. This could then be considered with the mass to calculate the kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy and hence the total energy loss. Bibliography Salters Horners Advanced Physics Various web pages for research.

Truman Show Essay Example for Free

Truman Show Essay Society watches and is attracted to these shows because they are supposed to relate to ordinary people’s lives. Even though it appears that their real lives are playing out on television, it is not as real as it seems when compared to people’s â€Å"real† lives. These â€Å"actors† have nothing to fear. They have security guards surrounding them when filming the show. They do not have to pay for anything because the company pays for their needs and wants. The director cuts and edits the clips to show the adience how he wants the actors’ lives and show to appear. The only difference between the reality shows of today and the Truman show is that Truman was not aware that he was part of a show. In today’s reality shows, the actors are very aware of their surroundings and display behavior that will make the shows more amusing to their audience. Truman’s world was in a way almost a â€Å"utopia† with no worries and no fear. It was, however, repetitive. Every day was the same. There were no difficult choices to make; much like reality television is portrayed today. The decisions they make and the outcomes do not truly reflect what would happen if an ordinary person does the same. The actors in today’s reality television have welcomed the public eye to see everything they are doing, but this isn’t true for everyone in society. While the rest of the society hasn’t invited anyone to track their actions, government and other organizations are already doing this in many ways. These groups have the ability to put up surveillance cameras to track when people are in different locations. They can track internet, credit card and cell phone usage. When traveling by a cell tower, for example, the tower stores the location information in a database. It is ready to be revealed to any government official when solicited (ACLU). Purchases can be tracked, along with, vacations, hotel stays, etc. According to an article written by Daniel J. Solove, for The Chronicle of Higher Education, the most common response to privacy advocates is â€Å"Only if you’re doing something wrong should you worry, and then you don’t deserve to keep it private. † (cite ). The problem with the government collecting private information goes beyond someone doing right or wrong. Some of the problems resulting from collecting and using personal data include the fact that people do not know that this data is being collected about them. They cannot fix an issue if they do not know this technology exists. Another problem with government gathering and using personal data is the distortion of the data. It often fails to reflect the whole person and can paint an untrue picture (Chronicle). Privacy is not typically lost with one major action, but it occurs over time with many pieces of information being collected and used to make assumptions about a person. The question is can it be stopped? The best way to slow down the invasion of privacy is to be careful of the information a person is freely giving out, especially on the internet. Information provided in emails, Facebook, on-line shopping sites, use of credit-cards, or completing surveys for a â€Å"free-gift† all contribute to an ongoing database of personal information. Consumers can continue to express their opinions with government representatives on how this personal information is collected and used. Those who want an increase in privacy should encourage the policy makers to look at the spending programs, regulatory agencies, privacy-invading regulations and investigative agencies for influence (Privacilla). The Truman show portrays the government or â€Å"creator† as having all personal information of Truman and is able to influence and control his entire life. This is not a future that society wishes to imitate. Bibliography ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union. American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, n. d. Web. 12 May 2013. Privacilla. Welcome to Privacilla. org. Welcome to Privacilla. org. Privacilla, 3 June 2012. Web. 12 May 2013. Solove, Daniel J. Why Privacy Matters. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronicle Review, 15 May 2011. Web. 12 May 2013.

Impact of Chinas One Child Policy

Impact of Chinas One Child Policy China’s one child policy Maleka Rangwala Introduction It has become common to think in one mindset for a period of time before abruptly rethinking your outlook. This is known as a paradigm shift (Huntington, 1996). In recent times, democracy is a form of government sought for individual citizens.These citizens have the power and the right, to influence decisions made about how their country will be governed. It is portrayed as one of the best forms of government. But maybe democracy is not the answer towards better economic development. That is the null hypothesis of the paper that authoritarian rule is effective in achieving goals and regulating various imbalances’which is based on the uprising against dictatorships in various countries. I will use an example of china for an authoritarian regime. An authoritarian regime is where there is one ruler or small group of leaders that have the real power in political systems. The citizens have no voice in how they are ruled. Their leaders donnot give their subjects free choice. for example china has experienced this rule and experienced various effects. HISTORY OF CHINA In the second half of the twentith century population control became one of the most important growing problems, China chose to adopt an extreme measure of birth control known as the one-child policy. Two of the most consequential social experiments of the twentieth century were the Green Revolution which aimed at feeding the population and family planning programs were designed to curtail its growth. There were half a billion people starving or malnourished, and a billion who didnot have access to proper sanitation or education according to world population facts 1980. Also population increased from 1.7 billion to 3 billion in third world countries during 1950-1975. (rene). China could not keep up with the rapid demand for food and fuel for the increasing population having 8% fertile land and 20% of the world population. In the late 1970s, the chinese government had introduced various measures to reduce the country’s population growth rate. The most important measure which wi ll be studied in detail is the one child policy which said that couples in china could have only one child. In 1950 due to mao’s rule and his concept of increasing population to increase chinese workforce, the change in the rate of population was 1.9 per cent each year. (history of the one child policy) The governement had been encouraging people to have alot of children and nearly 4 children were born per household. At the same time, there was a food shortage that resulted in part from Mao’s failed economic-planning of the Great Leap Forward, where 30 million Chinese died of man-made famine and followed by a cultural revolution in 1966 leading to over a million deaths. (htt1).By 1970s the government realised that the current rates of population growth would soon become unstable and created the one child policy. In the begining malthus an economist whose theory will be discussed in detail later was viewed as an enemy and his theory was rejected by the soviets and chinese government. But as time progressed, they realised this and started propogationg the idea of late, long and few in 1970. By advising women to wait for a long time before having a baby and have few of them. As this change was going on a chinese scientist Song Jian took interest in the demographics and in Netherlands met Geert Jan Olsder who had recently worked on a game theory problem concerning population who saw population as an mathematical contraint problem and thought there could be optimum growth. listening to Olsder’s views and armed with The Limits of growth a 1972 malthusian work, Song took his findings back to the leaders in china and helped in influencing them to formulate this policy. A group of prominent social scientists which were put together by Deng Xiaoping who rose to power after the death of Mao Zedo ng and started a four fronted modernisation in agriculture, industry, national defence and technology, created an optimum solution for the population explosion taking into account the social costs and consequences. The chinese government also had signed an agreement with the united nations population fund in 1979 which gave 50 million to curtail population. This also influenced other western organisations to put their resources like Ford Foundation and International planned parenthood foundation. A theory which justifies this policy is the Lockean contractarianism which is a theory which covers the emphasis of the collective over the individual. While the policy may seem brutal to the induvidual, when a greater picture is taken into account it will benefit the community as a whole, hence benefiting the individual in a long run where one will live a life free from starvation and malnutrition without economic problems. This communitarian ideaology was from Jean Jacques Rousseau as the individual depends on the community for self identity, production of public goods, etc. (rene) POPULATION CONTROL Economic reasons From 1960 economic modules as well as social scientists have a great effect on policy making of various countries.Population needs to be kept in checked for various reasons. First being the orthodox view of supply of natural resources (non renewable) and capital being fixed, the demand would increase and the supply would not keep up and with and with increasing population development decreases. There is another theory formulated by Coale and Hoover in which they say that the economic growth could increase if their was low fertility than high fertility. Though this was later contradicted with saying that they assumed economic growth as a function of only capital growth and didnot take into account the changes in technology and labour quality through better schooling and health. (Hopkins). Social reasons Population overgrowth creates social problems like cultural conflicts. When a particular area is overpopulated, it leads to migration. Which not only puts pressure on land where people move in but also can start civil wars. One example of resource conflict is the case of the jordan river which passes through syria jordan and west bank israel where research showed that 37 actual military conlficts occured between the Arab neighbours and Jordan over the river and its tributtes water. (environment and social ills) It also puts pressure on basic facilities like medical and school. Political reasons and others Population expansion can also lead to political problems like curtailment of people, providing finance for the growing population by the government and growing taxes creating pressure on the poor and increasing the income gap. (htt) like Aristotle said that a large population would bring a â€Å"certain poverty on the citizenry, and poverty is the cause of sedition and evil†. He thought that with a population of over 100,000 people, most citizens would be excluded from having a voice in the goverment. (environment and social ills). To accomodate the growing population the green covers have been eliminated from the surface. This causes many environmantal as well as psychological problems like the Nature deficit disorder which is a hypothesis created by Richard louv in his book ‘Last child in the woods’ (2005) which says that children spend very less time outdoors and hence resulting in many bahavioural problems like attention disorders and depression, diseases like myopia and even obesity. Also a few common effects seen are cost of housing, length of your commute from home to work which wastes time and energy,etc. In order to accomodate the vast population various personal freedom of people are also taken away which become necessary like limits on water consumption, electricity, restriction on what people can do with their own land, etc. The environmental aspect also has dire need to be paid attention to as the extinction of species, habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, ozone layer depletion due to pollution, straine on oceans, etc. Hence the need to contain the population in china was a necessary step but the various aspects of implementation of the policy were not entirely ethical which will be covered below. IMPLEMENTATION AND ASPECTS OF THE POLICY The one child policy was established in 1979 and various benefits were offered to those who followed this rule in form of education, healthcare etc. Malthus an economist observed that population increases but at a geometric rate while food production increases arithematically and made a conclusion that because humans havenotall starved, economic choices must be at work, and it is the job of an economist to study those choices His theory advocated welfare reform. He also stated that recent poor laws provided an increased amount of money for a system of welfare depending on the number of children which only encouraged the poor to give birth to more children and had no fear that increased number of children would make eating any more difficult. Increasing number of poor workers would reduce labour costs and ultimately make the poor even poorer. Hence the providing of a certain amount of money to every poor person would lead to rise in prices and value of money. Thus with increasing popu lation supply would be stagnant and demand and price would keep increasing. . He said that there can be many ‘positive’ and ‘preventive’ checks in reducing population expansion which ranged from contraception to famines. china’s one child policy can be considered under this type of a check. Imagine if the growth rate was not checked at that time, china is already heading with the highest populated country. The chinese government showed statistics that the one child policy has prevented over 400 million births (announced in march 2013) and over the last 4 decades have aborted 336 million children, performing 196 million surgical sterilizations and inserted 403 million intrauterine devices. (history of the one child policy) THE AUTHORITARIAN RULE Though the implementation of the policy was unequeal and had several flaws. Those who had more than one child were fined and didnot receive any benefits. There were a total of 22 exeptions where the chances of having more than one child was allowed but if on didnot fall into this category then they had to face consequences like loosing their jobs, confiscation of their belongings. There are also cases where the roofs of their houses were removes and their windows and doors walled in. There were cases which claim that some women who were pregnant were forced to have an abortion and many women were forcibly sterilised. In 1983, 14 million women had abortions organised by family planning committees( many of them coerced). In 2009 there were 6 million. There were cases where the rich had paid off and were able to have a second child. If the poor were not able to pay the fine and had a child then they would be forced in an abortion. the policy was more strictly enforced in the rural regio ns. This policy was also partially responsible for the reduction in fertility rate which fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 to 1.61 in 2009. (unitedexplanations) Also the traditional preference of a boy child which exists still in many places even in India caused gender imbalances. There were large number of female babies who ended up homeless or in orphanages and killed in some cases. In 2000 it was reported that 90 percent of foetuses aborted in china were females. Today men outnumber the women by more than 60 million with the sex ratio being 118 boys to 100 girls. The one child policy put pressure on the rural households where families desire one son, who not only assist in household and difficult task but also in a broader perspective continue the male lineage. Also there is a theory where women who suffer from some sort of discrimination will try and prevent their child to undergo the same and hence avoid girl childs, instead of actually developing a more feminist perspect ive. DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION One of the major drawbacks of this policy was the acceleration of the demographic transition. The mid 20th century saw fertility decline and prolonged life expectancy, population reproduction in china transformed from phase of high fertility, low natural growth and high mortality to the modern pattern of population growth i.e. a phase with low fertility, low natural growth and low mortality. In developed countries this process was smooth and spontaneous when they experienced urbanization and industrialization was completed within less than 40 years in china which usually takes a century. (Dewen) The introduction of the one child policy was affected by the suggestion of the malthusian theory and has sped up the demographic transition since 1970s. Even though the demoraphic divident can be put to high utilisation it increases development at a diminishing rate and a stage in future will result in decline development and become a demoghraphic debt causing the 4-2-1 problem. As the first generation of law enforced only children came of age for becoming parents themselves one adult child was left to provide support for his parents and grand parents. Hence called the 4-2-1 problem leaving the older generation dependent on various funds, policies and savings. But there are various economists which say that this change was inevitable and would have occured at this pace without the policy also as seen in some East Asian countries like Korea, Thailand and Indonesia whose birth rates have also significantly declined just as fast as china’s with reasons being rising incomes and living standards which in turn lead to improved health services and reducing infant and child mortality. People have a perception that having many children leads to higher income for more education and dont necessarily help in their old age. It is true these are not the factors that governed the people in china, it was the policy but even if the policy was not implemented then maybe they would be following a similar pattern. EFFECT ON SOCIAL NORMS The one-child policy seems to have changed social norms. There are some norms which exist in the country which govern the birth process. According to a research placed in kenya there are certain barriers to family planning like how the men should be the ones to decide if they want to have a child and the females have to oblige and not protest, A family is complete when they have a child, a man is the one who earns and hence should be the one to make decisions. These were what governed the family plannings before the policy. Later the policy governed these rules. Another impact of the policy was that even after two generations of growing up alone, people expect to have only one child. In 2003 and 2008, the city’s family-planning bureaucrats (the Shanghai Municipal Population and Family Planning Commission) asked 38,000 men and women aged 20-45 about how many children they wanted. (Wilcox., 2013) They found the average ideal family size was just 1.07, with 81% of respondents say ing they wanted only one child and just 15% saying they wanted a second. Thus changing the social norms too. Lewin’s research suggests that an individual cultural habits are more pliable to change through group discussions and decision than through an approach to an individual. Hence he says that the success of the importance of family planning was due to the higher degree of personal involement than a passive recepient of information, the placement of weight behind two conflicting alternatives for or against, one displacing the other and following the norm and restricting deviation. This change could be achieved by unfreezing the old perspective and moving to the new change and freezing it there. He says that the leader need not impose the idea or authoritarian rule rather skillfully steer the group towards the idea. This is one theory which says that their could be various other checks and measure that the government could have implemented instead of this policy. CONCLUSION Hence when we look at the above theories and the various aspects of the policy we can say that the policy could be avoided or thought more carefully about the various social political and economic effects to it before implementing it and the various economic and social theories also suggest that this policy sped up various changes which could be changed gradually. Hence the use of the authoritarian rule could be avoided making the null hypothesis void as the changes required for population reduction could be acquired by various other methods and the authoritarian rule just added to speeding up the process which cause more ill than gain. The authoritarian rule not only changes the demographics but also affected the country socially and politically. Economic theories can be applied to non economic policies and should be added to a few as for overall developement and sucess of the policy one needs to see the various social, political and economic aspects and how the policy would affect it in its particular field. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.ushistory.org/gov/13a.asp http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/population/managing_population_rev3.shtml http://www.unitedexplanations.org/blogs/china/2012/08/28/one-child-policy-in-china-pros-and-cons/ http://thinkingchinese.com/preference-of-a-son-a-tendency-preserved-mainly-by-women social norm reduced http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2013/03/chinas-one-child-policy prefernce theory http://psych.cf.ac.uk/esrcfertilitynetwork/pubs/PDR-Hakim.pdf china background useful for why policy implemented http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1116810/ lewins theory http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1653319/?page=6 malthus http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Malthus.html http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/malthus.htm http://cgge.aag.org/PopulationandNaturalResources1e/CF_PopNatRes_Jan10/CF_PopNatRes_Jan108.html demographic transition http://iple.cass.cn/upload/2012/03/d20120305105846273.pdf http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/03/05/china-s-one-child-policy-should-be-ended-quickly one child policy step by step http://geographyfieldwork.com/ChinaDemographicTransition.htm http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/15/us-china-reform-idUSBRE9AE0BL20131115 social norms https://www.c-changeprogram.org/sites/default/files/Gender_Norms_FP_Decision-Making_in_Tanzania_Oct_2009_FINAL.pdf https://www.spi.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/PDF/WP_61_Childbearing_preferences.pdf http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/lost-girls_593650.html?page=2# http://freakonomics.com/2011/11/04/the-academic-origins-of-chinas-one-child-policy/ http://howmany.org/environmental_and_social_ills.php social reasons for formulating policy http://www.bpastudies.org/bpastudies/article/view/21/50

Gatsby :: essays research papers

"The Great Gatsby ", besides being a great literary piece, is a metaphor for a whole society, the American society. "The party was over" (Fitzgerald), which signifies a level of prophetic vision within the American society and its history. An essential part of this American characteristic of the novel, and its historicity, is about the American Dream. At the center of how Gatsby is a metaphor for a whole society, is the relationship between Europe, the already settled, which caused unsatisfaction and thus led to America, in which mercantilism and idealism are born and are a very important part of American History. In other words in American History, the human faculty of wonder is on the one hand, and the power and beauty of things is on the other. The book dramatizes this, directly in the life of Gatsby, how he changed his name and life from the already settled (Europe), for his dream (America). Gatsby's dream is the American Dream, that one can acquire happiness through wealth and power. Jay Gatsby had a love affair with the affluent Daisy, and knowing he couldn't marry her because of the difference on their social status, he leaves her in order to create wealth and reach her economic standards. When he achieve this wealth, Gatsby buys a house that is across the bay to Daisy's house, and throws immense and lavish parties, with the hope that Daisy would come to one of them. When he realizes this is very improbable, he starts asking various people from time to time if they know her. In this inquiry, he meets Jordan Baker, who tells him that Nick Carraway his neighbor is Daisy's cousin. Nick agrees to invite Daisy to his house one afternoon, and then let him over. Later, in the Buchanans house, when Gatsby is determined to watch and protect Daisy: "How long are you going to wait? "All night if necessary"" (Fitzgerald 152) Jay shows that he cannot accept that the past is the past and he is sure that he can capture his dream with wealth and influe nce and that Daisy has loved only him for all this time. Gatsby doesn't rest until his American dream is finally fulfilled, until Daisy is his. However it never becomes true and he ends dying because of it at the end. The dream both Gatsby and America had, was so unutterable that to a certain extent it was necessarily corruptible.

e e cummings :: Biographies Poet Poetry Biography Essays

e e cummings   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  e e cummings (no, this is not a typographical error, take note to the way he writes his name) was an unusual, yet highly acclaimed writer of the 20th century. His style of writing was much different than that of any other contemporary or even 18th and 19th century writers. Although difficult to understand at times, e e cummings is a very profound and inventive writer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  e e cummings was born Edward Estlin Cummings on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge Massachusetts. His parents were Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings. In 1911, at the age of 17, cummings entered Harvard University. It was there at Harvard where he first published his poetry in 1912 in Harvard Monthly. Then, in 1915, cummings graduated Harvard as Magna cum Laude with a B.A. It was at his graduation where he gave his commencement speech, "The New Art." In 1916, cummings received an M.A. for English and Classical Studies at Harvard. After completing his college education, he volunteered to be an ambulance driver with Norton Harjes Ambulance Corps (The American Red Cross) in France in 1917, during World War I. It was while he was overseas when he was imprisoned falsely for three months in a camp on suspicion of French disloyalty. Although this was an unpleasant time in his life, it was there in the camp that changed his life. He was already an excellent writer, but this experience added fuel to his ability. He was released from prison on January 1, 1918. Cummings then returned to New York City, but was drafted by the United States Army in 1918 until Armistice. On December 20, 1919, e e cummings and his girlfriend, Elaine Orr Thayer, welcomed their daughter, Nancy, into the world. Later, on March 19, 1924 cummings married long-time girlfriend Elaine Orr, but they are divorce just a short while later on December 4, 1924. In 1920, after his time in the war and the birth of his daughter, cummings decided to move to Paris, France to study art, but he frequently returned home for visits to the United States. He remained living there only until 1923, when he returned to the US and had his aforementioned wedding and divorce later the next year. While in the US, cummings resided at 4 Patchin Place, Greenwich Village in New York City. In 1925, tragedy struck cummings' life when his father died.

The Power of Money in Campaign Finance Essay -- American Politics, Pre

It may seem that with the Buckley decision, soft money and PACs the hope for reform has been lost, however there is still hope. The Supreme Court upheld the voluntary public financing of presidential election, which was considered a great step forward because taking public funds requires the candidate to limit their spending on the federal level. There is also the â€Å"hard money† in political campaigns, which is strictly regulated by law through the Federal Election Commission. Hard money is the contrast to soft money meaning that it is the contributions made by a person or PAC that gives to a federal campaign or political party for the use in federal elections. But of course with one step forward there is always two steps back. Because of the way soft money has forged it way into being one of the primary sources of federal campaigns, it has made a mockery of public financing at the federal level. Soft money and all its allied forms of legal cheating and finance loopholes ha ve almost completely stopped any effort or control to regulate and disclose federal campaign funding. From the 1980s to 2002 Congress played an active part in helping the parties and candidates through loopholes (arguably Congress is still presently helping). James Bopp (1999) believes the explosion of soft money in political campaigns in part came from the 1996 elections when national and state party committees would use soft money to pay for advertisements that featured their respective nominees, but were not subject to the spending limitations of publicly funded candidates. These advertisements are referred to as issue ads, which would clearly promote the victory or defeat of candidates, but because they did not use the words â€Å"vote for†, â€Å"elect†, or â€Å"defeat† ... ...nders in congress are willing to go to stretch the line of the laws and legal cheat just to keep their seat and the money flowing into their pockets. In present society politics is at its dirtiest and most cynical, evenly chipping away what our constitution stands for and our democratic values. I cannot in any way say what the future will hold for this uphill battle for disclosure and regulations on campaign finance. But I do know that the time for action is slowly passing by and if something is not done soon I fear the U.S. government may be lost to all and any forms of revival. Our government would basically have to start a new throwing everything off balance. Our government is standing on thin ice not only with its own citizens but also with foreign relations, it only takes waiting a day to long until the ice finally breaks and the American government sinks.

Music of Mexico and Central America Essay

Musical expressions in Central America and Mexico are very diverse. Types of music in this geographic region have similarities with other types of Latin American music but have their distinctive differences. For instance, the marimba of Guatemala cannot be compared to a charcarera melody from Argentine. Also, it is quite easy to mariachi for merengue and vice versa if one doesn’t know the subtle differences between the two genres. The wide variety of instruments, the varied aspects of texts, poetic structures, languages, and dance rhythms in the music of Central America and Mexico prove the richness of these regions’ culture (Campbell et al.  9). Music tends to reflect the cultural values, behaviors, and surroundings of a given geographic region and its people. For this reason, musical traditions in Central America and Mexico have grown very diverse through centuries. Descendants of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans who settled in Central America, Mexico, and the entire Latin America retained many features of their musical roots and creative various blends of Latin American music. Latin American songs touch on various themes. Mexico, and countries in Central America such as Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua have many love songs that are passionately sung by people, often with lyrics expressing loneliness, longing, and unconditional love. Aside from love songs, music in the Latin American region also have themes of current events and history, such as the nueva cancion of Chile and corridor of Mexico. Some songs also try to establish a connection between the singer and the supernatural, such as the songs that Chilean female shaman singers sing or the dances and chants that believers of Afro-Brazilian bahia perform. These types of songs are quite different from other musical traditions in the rest of the world but they are quite typical in Latin America. In addition, Mexico and Central American countries also have a huge collection of children’s songs, tribute songs, and songs of the seasons. Instruments used in the music of Central America and Mexico usually involve the guitar. The instrument is quite prominent in most Latin American cultures, especially those influenced by Hispanic traditions. Artists from Mexico and other Latin American countries like Brazil, and Venezuela usually make use of the maracas, clave, and guiro to produce the effect they want. Drums are also very important in the music of the region and various types of drums are used for different genres. Melodies are usually composed of notes in the minor key and rhythms which are crosses of threes and twos. Native Americans are known to produce pentatonic melodies while people of African descent frequently employ syncopation in their musical styles. Perhaps the best known feature of Mexican and Central American music is its ability to make people dance. It’s easy to dance to Latin American music, whether alone or in synch with partners (Campbell et al. 9). Over the years, radio, film, and television have popularized Mexican music to higher levels. Listeners worldwide are able to recognize Mexican music although they sometimes confuse it with other types of music from the Latin American region. The icon of Mexican music is the mariachi – a Mexican musician wearing a charo costume (Hutchinson 1192). Mariachis are known all over the world to transmit the meaning of being a Mexican. This musical group can sing anything, from ballads to songs about the revolution, from songs describing bar scenes to odes to regions and towns. Mariachis are also popular for their uniforms called charros. A charro consists of a bolero-type jacket, tight pants with a belt of intricately woven design, and a wide-brimmed hat filled with ribbons, chains, and silver buttons. This unique Mariachi costume is very similar to the simpler costumes that cowboys wear. Aside from the costume, Mariachis and cowboys also have origins in the same place, which is in Jalisco and other neighboring states (Kermecker 49). A mariachi band usually consists of three or four guitarists. Bands would usually play together for townspeople at gazebos or â€Å"quioscos† in the Main Square or â€Å"zocalo. † Today in Mexico, up to eighteen mariachi musicians can organize in a main square and play any song that the townspeople want to hear. Aside from the guitar, mariachis use instruments such as vihuelas (smaller guitars with five strings), guitarrones (six-string vihuelas with big bellies), violins, harps, and trumpets for the energetic accents of Mexican songs. The term â€Å"mariachi† could have originated from the French word â€Å"mariage,† which would make sense since mariachis usually play at weddings. However, experts today insist that mariachis have existed long before the French came to Mexico. The name might have originated from the Mexican word â€Å"mariachi† which refers to a small platform for musicians and dancing couples. Mariachis can be found all over Mexico, but especially in places such as Garribaldi in Mexico City and in Guadalajara, in the Plaza de Los Mariachis located at the intersection of Independencia Sur and Mina. Visitors at these places can pay mariachis to play them any Mexican song they want (Kernecker 49). Mariachis can employ other Latin American musical instruments to play their songs. They can use the the marimba, a hugely popular musical instrument in Central and South America. Marimbas are xylophones that consist of several wooden plates of different sizes and thickness. Modern versions of the instrument have hardwood bars of uniform thickness and tubular metal resonators that encompass six to seven octaves. Two to five players would play these xylophones with warm, mellow tones (Apel 505). Central America is a geographic region that is located in the southernmost part of the North American continent connecting South America to the southeast. A large part of Central America rests above the Caribbean Plate, making the region geologically active and the site of relatively frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Cities in Central American countries have been destroyed by earthquakes before, such as Managua, capital of Nicaragua and El Salvador. However, the volcanic lava from eruptions has made the region agriculturally fertile, enabling it to sustain huge populations of people. While modern Latin American music is recognizable throughout Central America, indigenous music in the region have received the least exposure among other types of music in the Western Hemisphere. For instance, Garifuna music from the Garifuna people of Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala has quite a limited audience. Instruments used in this type of music include tree â€Å"garaon† or drums: the primera which improvises the segunda which produces counter rhythms, and the tercera which takes care of bass lines. Two wires are stretched over the tops of the drums to generate the buzzing sound that is typical of West African music. Other instruments used in Garifuna music are guitars, claves, shakers, scrapers, and bottle percussions (Nidel 291). In terms of modern music, one popular genre is Punta rock which is a dance music similar to Trinidadian Soca. The standard ensemble to play Punta rock includes instruments such as synthesizers, brass, electric bass, and keyboards. The song â€Å"La Punta† of the Punta rock genre became popular in Honduras during the 1980s (Nidel 291). People in Central America absolutely love listening to the marimba. In Guatemala, the xylophone used is considered the national instrument. Marimbas of all sizes and styles are made in the country. Some models are designed to be played by a single player while others are so big that seven people are needed to play them. Musical genres like the meringue and other dance compositions usually rely on the xylophone to produce the bass rhythms (Apel 505). During the later parts of the 20th century, marimba in Mexico became popular in the southernmost state of Chiapas. The instrument is also played in neighboring states of Tabasco, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and in the nation’s capital. Mariachis and other musical groups playing marimba are scattered all throughout the country but they are especially concentrated in Mexico City and Chiapas. In terms of performance, multiple players playing marimbas are more common in Mexico than single players. In Mexico today, marimba music is mostly a regional phenomenon. It is associated with the southern part of the country and is often placed in the same category as popular music genres like jarocho from Veracruz, mariachi from Jalisco, and norteno from northern Mexico (Beck 9). In the state of Veracruz, street musicians called â€Å"ambulantes† typically play marimba for people. These musicians would perform and compete with each other for twenty-four hours a day in the streets and in buildings. The type of marimba in this seaport city is known for its sharp-edged and heavily syncopated style. The unique characteristics of marimba in Veracruz indicate its Afro-Cuban influences (Beck 224). Mexican music is primarily of Hispanic flavor because of the imposition of European musical culture on the natives by Spanish conquistadors. In Mexico today, nobody knows what real pre-Columbian music sounds like. Even the type of music that natives play in Indian communities is noticeably influenced by the Spanish. African slaves though tempered this music by adding their own style to it. Mexicans are proud of these traditional musical genres, although many of them now listen to Western rock and pop (Hutchinson 1192). There are many popular genres of Mexican music that are meant for singing instead of dancing. One is the corrido, a narrative form of music that’s derived from old Spanish ballads. The genre spread throughout the country as armies of the revolution roamed across the land. Corrido has since become a popular mode of expression for regular citizens and artists. Another genre is called cancion which means â€Å"song,† literally. Cancion highlights the romantic and sentimental aspects of Mexicans, and is therefore naturally languid and slow. An example of cancion is â€Å"Las Mananitas,† which is usually sung to serenade people on their birthdays. Finally, there’s the ranchera genre which is a mix of Mexican country and Western styles. The genre was originally associated with the cattle men from the Bajio region. Ranchera featured prominently in many Mexican films from the 1930s to the 1940s and consequently became known all over Latin America as the typical music of Mexico (Hutchinson 1192). The Mexican Film and recording industry are powerful forces throughout the entire Latin American region. They helped several Mexican artists to become household names, drawing fans and profit to the industry. Some of the most popular Mexican artists include Pendro Infante, Pedro Vargas, Miguel Aceves Mejia, Jorge Negrete, and the Trio Los Panchos. Songwriters and composers can also gain popularity in Mexico, such as Agustin Lara who is a prolific composer of romantic â€Å"boleros,† which are Latin dance types of music However, despite the popularity of these artists, mariachis are still the most popular musical groups in the country (Hutchinson 1192). Musica tejana, Texas-Mexican music or simply Tex-Mex has attained a huge following all over Mexico, Central America, and the whole Latin American region today. The genre contains influences from various musical styles, such as bolero, ranchera, and cumbia. It is very flexible and can even draw beats from other genres such as reggae, country, rap, pop, and disco. Musica tejana is also known as â€Å"tejano† music in Mexico, Texas, and other parts of the United States (San Miguel 3). The term â€Å"tejano† may also refer to people of Mexican descent who live in Texas. Musica tejana has been created by Tejanos to reflect the sensibilities of their fellow Tejanos and Mexicans. Tejanos started demanding that traditional Mexican music meet their sensibilities as early as 1920s. Early in the twentieth century, much of musica tejana was formed by accordion sounds. After World War II, Tejano musicians tried to adapt elements of Mexican music to their musical style. Artists incorporated female duet and vocal singing into musica tejana, which was previously instrumental in nature. They also continued to use the bajo sexton and accordion to produce their music. Saxophones, and trumpets later known as â€Å"los pitos† or horn section, were also employed to create musica tejana. During the second half of the century, Tejanos continued to adapt Mexican music by using instruments such as guitars, keyboards, organs, and brass instruments (San Miguel 7). Tejanos have lived alongside Anglos for a long time and conflicts between the two races are discernible in the musica tejana that evolved from this relationship. Corridos expressed the historical conflict between Mexicans and Anglos in South Texas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to experts, old corridos were basically narrative ballads that told the adventures of a hero and were sung to simple tunes. In many ways, singing corridos was a symbolic means to fight the dominant Anglo culture. An example of this type of corridor is â€Å"The Corrido of Gregorio Cortez,† a narrative ballad that tells the story of a hero who single-handedly fought the law of the Anglos and won (San Miguel 8). Traditional Mexican songs like canciones reflected the changes that occurred and the attributes that were retained by Tejanos in the state. Canciones are composed of various types of songs, including: corridos, canciones romanticas, canciones rancheras, and canciones tipcas. The corridor and cancion tipica dominated vocal music by Tejasnos throughout most of the nineteenth century. During the late nineteenth century, the cancion romantica started to emerge and compete with other types of cancion. In the twentieth century however, the cancion ranchera attained a huge following, which made it the dominant type of song among Mexicans in Texas and for those who lived near the border (San Miguel 8). Aside from musica tejana, there are many other musical genres that has gained wide popularity in Central America. One is cumbia, a Colombian style of folk dance music that’s considered to represent Colombian culture, like Vallenato. Cumbia is especially popular in Panama, another country in Central America. The region is mostly inhabited by mestizos who are people of European, African, and indigenous descent. The culture of the Azuero region located in the west of the country has come to dominate Panama. The country’s preference for music such as cumbia is very similar to the musical preferences of its neighboring country, Colombia. The most significant native instrument in Panama is the mejorama, a guitar with five strings, which looks quite similar with the Venezuelan cuatro. The mejorama are often used by musicians in the country to play songs termed â€Å"torrentes. † The most recognized Panamanian musician in the world is Ruben Blades who became a star in the Fania stable of New York musicians. Blades started his career with doo-woop but branched off to different musical styles later (Nidel 291). While it is true that music is the universal language, the music of Mexico and Central America is still very unique in their own social and historical contexts. The mariachi of Mexico reflects the energetic Mexican people and their passionate tendencies. Dances with fast beats illustrate the festivity of Mexican culture while slow and languid songs show the longing of Mexicans for intangible things such as love, honor, and the past. Whether it’s marimba, corridor, cancion or ranchera, Mexican music stands out as among the best and most colorful types of music in the world. Central America also has a rich collection of Latin American music, such as musica tejana, bolero, and cumbia. Each country in this region has a different past that is reflected in their preferred musical styles. As each style crosses and mixes with each other, the music of Central America is bound to get richer in the future. Through modern forms of communication and broadcast such as the Internet, Latin American music in Central America may gather more followers in regions far away from it. The various kinds of Mexican and Central American music all have their own flavors and they must be preserved for generations to come. They contain the spirit of the Latin American culture and must therefore be listened to by new generations of Latinos and other artists and ordinary people outside of the region. Works Cited Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969. Beck, John. Encyclopedia of Percussion. London: Taylor & Francis, 1995. Campbell, Patricia Shehan et al. Songs of Latin America: from the Field to the Classroom. Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing, 2001. Hutchinson, Peter. Central America & Mexico 2004. Bath: Footprint Travel Guides, 2003. Kernecker, Herb. When in Mexico, Do as the Mexicans Do: The Clued-in Guide to Mexican Life, Language, and Culture. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2005. Nidel, Richard. World Music: the Basics. New York: Routledge, 2005. San Miguel, Guadalupe. Tejano Proud: Tex-Mex Music in the Twentieth Century. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2002.