Harvard Business Review Reflection Essay

Introduction The article entitled â€Å"Scorched Earth † written by Elizabeth Economy (senior fellow for Asia with the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in New York) and Kenneth Lieberthal (William Davidson Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business, the China director of Davidson Institute, and the Arthur Thurnau Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, senior director of Stonebridge International, a Washington, D.C.–based consulting firm, and the co-author, with Geoffrey Lieberthal, of â€Å"The Great Transition† (HBR October 2003)) was published in the Harvard Business Review of June 2007 on the pages 88 to 96. The article deals with the problem of environmental degradation in China which is of great concern for MNEs that are active in, or are going to be active in China concerning both future opportunities and risks. Summary The authors of this article consider the threat posed by environmental degradation as the greatest risk of doing business in China. The problem is that this topic is barely discussed within corporations. This is a serious mistake. Multinationals may be busy with other problems, but the Chinese government, NGOs, and the Chinese press have been focused squarely on the country’s energy shortages, soil erosion, lack of water, and pollution problems. The authors believe that these problems are so severe they might constrain GDP growth. Moreover, it is from the MNEs expected to play a key role in the protection of the environment. If that does not happen, multinationals face clear risks to their operations, their workers’ health, and their reputations. In implementing environmental issues into their strategies, foreign firms need to be both defensive and proactive. Defensive  here means take steps to reduce harm and proactive means investing in environmental protection efforts. Finally, this problem also brings some opportunities along as MNEs can use innovations that are designed for the Chinese market in the rest of the world. This means that China affects the MNEs performance in other important markets. Review Weaknesses and limitations relating to the content First of all, the article only emphasizes the weaknesses of China regarding environmental issues. Instead of laying the responsibility at the Chinese government, the MNEs are somewhat kept responsible. This is quite unfair and this way, the authors create a problem that in reality is way less extensive. Secondly, we would like to quote a part of the article: â€Å"Despite the challenges, multinationals can’t afford not to do the right thing† (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007, p.96)  We believe that this statement is completely wrong as a lot of companies that are active in China, just do not do anything about it. They are even encouraged to do the ‘wrong thing’ by the local governments. Thirdly, time after time, the authors emphasize how big China’s influence is on the pollution in the world. However, this is quite logical as China is one of the biggest countries in the world. Therefore, this is really annoying and not really useful in the article. Fourthly, referring to the challenges described, there is no clear relationship between, for instance, the spill of water by the Chinese population and MNEs. This because MNEs cannot do anything about this issue. Furthermore, it is not really the MNEs’ responsibility. Therefore we consider this challenge as superfluous. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) Finally, the authors do spend enough time on the concept of using their new innovations for China (concerning environmental degradation etc.) in other key markets. This is actually the most important part of the article and therefore more attention should be paid to this concept. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) Strengths of the article relating to the content and structure To begin with, the authors have done very well in describing the environmental degradation as a problem among a long of other problems in China. The contrast described in the introduction really attracts attention. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) Furthermore, the article  describes that MNEs can actually benefit from these environmental problems as they can use innovations from the Chinese market in other important markets. This is quite a creative consideration we could never think of. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) Another strong point is that the article gives advice about how to deal with the Chinese political system. A special segment of the article is dedicated to this subject. Moving on with the subject of structure, the article is quite well structured. As a reader, you can clearly distinguish between an introduction to a problem, a detailed description of the problem(s) and finally a part dedicated to the solutions . However, there are a couple of things that we do not like about the article?s structure. First of all, concerning the discussion of China?s challenges (water, energy, soil erosion etc.), the authors spent too much time on the description of these challenges. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) These challenges are extensively described along with a lot of specific data which is unnecessary as the article does not directly describe how managers should cope with these challenges. Instead, the authors move on with discussion another set of risks. Then, eventually, some solutions are given. In general this is a good thing. However, we would rather have seen the solution along with the challenges and risks in order to improve the clarity of the article. And as we said before, the authors could spend less time on describing the challenges as all the specific data has no connection with the solutions given. Relation to the course IIB This article concerns environmental problems in China and that is a problem for all MNEs because of the fact that there is only one environment in the world and we have to make sure that does not cause unrepairable damage to that environment. This because it crosses all borders and is not bounded to a certain location. Therefore environmental damage in China can influence business activities in other markets due to, for instance, a shortage of certain raw materials. Moreover, it can limit the possibilities of MNEs in the future. Moreover, the article discusses the opportunities of China-specific innovations that can be applied in other markets. This implies the creation of a FSA. Conclusion One of the things that we have learned from this article is the fact that Chinese local governments, along with a part of the population play a bigger role than expected in the environmental degradation than expected. We assumed that most pollution derived from MNE activity in China. Another thing that we have learned that you eventually pay a high price for your, initially cheap business activities. After extensively analysing this article, a couple of question came to mind. First of all, the article forecasts that the environmental damage will have a great impact on China?s GDP. Quoting the article: â€Å"China’s environmental problems are reaching the point where they could constrain its GDP growth.† (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007, p. 90) We would like to know if the authors, if they had the possibility, would change this statement to let it match the current circumstances. We ask this question because, in our eyes, the impact has not been that great. In the media, for instance, there is nothing said about the constraining factors on China’s GDP growth. Another question that came to mind is the following: According to the article, the Chinese local governments play an important role in the environmental problematic cases. (Economy, Lieberthal, 2007) Doesn’t this mean that the focus should lay at these governments rather than the organizations? In our eyes, these governments should be punished by international organizations. Such intervention would decrease the MNEs’ challenges significantly. Moving on to our final question, we would like to know if the authors expect that this problem will be completely solved, by either the Chinese government or another institutions, in the near future? Full reference list Economy, E. Lieberthal, K. June 2007. Scorched Earth. Harvard Business Review. P. 88-96

Theory

Very much like the author of a book is given credit as its sole creator, auteur theory gives the film director credit for authoring the film, â€Å"imprinting it with his personal vision†(goodnight, 2011,sec. 7. 3,Para. 1). While auteur theory is a good starting point for film analysis, it places almost total responsibility for a film's artistic success or failure on the director. The problem is that not all film critics agree on the same definition of what is considered art. According to Andrew Saris, to be considered an auteur, a film director must qualify in three key areas: 1.Technical competence 2. Distinguishable personality and 3. Interior meaning A positive aspect about auteur theory is that directors can really make a name for themselves and become even more famous than their â€Å"Star actors†. While each of a director's films are unique in their own way, there still remains a common and recognizable thread that runs through them collectively that says â€Å" this is a Spielberg film, or â€Å"This is a James Cameron film†. On the other side, some say that the auteur theory is too full of holes and is not a good way to determine whether a film is true art.Some directors intentionally step outside the set parameters of what is generally considered technical competence. Others insist that because film is a collaborative effort, it is not fair to esteem directors more highly than screenwriters and actors who play equally important roles in the production of a film. I would consider Clint Eastward an auteur. He began his career very young as an actor in esters movies. After 16 years of acting and learning he began directing films. Eastward became famous first as an actor in films such as â€Å"Dirty Harry'.Later on in his career, though he played significant roles in each of his films, he was more known for his directorship of films like â€Å"Grand Torsion† and â€Å"Million Dollar Baby'. According to Prep Hemmer, in these f ilms, â€Å"Eastward shows himself as an auteur through his constant use of Juxtaposing relationships between a younger and older generation, is consistency of a tragic event occurring, bringing his films to end in a violent or tragic manner, and his choice of acting in the majority of his films as he challenges the declining role of American men†(Hemmer,n. . ).

Is conflict a key aspect of family life? Essay

Conflict is indeed a key aspect of family life. It happens on a daily basis in almost every home in the country; even the Waltons had conflict with each other. I have the view that conflict is a corner stone of our life; it can help bring us together, not just drive us apart. During Flight this is particularly apparent, but in Your shoes conflict seems to have a negative effect. At the beginning of Flight the ‘old man’ seems to be looking for conflict; â€Å"‘Hey! ‘ he shouted; saw her jump†¦ ‘Waiting for Steven, hey?’ he said, his fingers curling like claws into his palm. † Within thirty lines Lessing had set the scene for the family tension and demonised the old man. As Flight progresses we find out that the old man only causes the conflict in an effort to retain his last granddaughter, which removes most of the negative feeling. The turning point, the point where the old man’s conflict is lost, is central to the story; â€Å"On the wrist of the post master’s son balanced a young pigeon, the light gleaming on its breast. ‘For me?’ said the old man, letting the drops shake of his chin. ‘For me? ‘† The relationship brought the granddaughter and her mother together because they were both united against the old man, but when the post master’s son gives him the bird as a peace offering he lets go of his anger and is drawn closer to his family, even though his family is moving further away. The repetition of ‘For me? ‘ is the strongest indicator of this new found peace with his family, showing his sincerity and to an extent his acceptance of the marriage of his granddaughter. In Your shoes the opposite of Flight happens. The conflict of the father aimed at the girl and the girl aimed at the mother was all bottled up, until a small and almost insignificant fuse was lit. Your shoes is narrated only by the mother so we get a very bias account of events leading up to the daughter’s departure. We mainly have to read between the lines and make assumptions, such as the daughter and mother often rowed. However there are brief accounts which seem to be the real truth and not just the mother’s perception; â€Å"You’ve got to understand. When your father called you a dirty slut he didn’t mean you to take it personally. It was just a manner of speaking. In the heat of the moment. He adores you, you know that. † Here the mother tackles the main reason for her daughter’s exit and defends it. She first clears him of any blame and then claims he loves her. I feel from her explanation that she almost doesn’t believe it her self because of her short snappy and almost panicky sentences. In conclusion I believe that conflict is common in family life and Flight and Your shoes are just two of hundreds of short stories which try to convey the subject. Flight shows a better side of conflict where it is resolved peacefully and ultimately brings the family closer, where as Your shoes attempts to convey an uglier side to conflict, resulting in distancing the father and the daughter and turning the mother into a nervous wreck not knowing what to believe.

Executive Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

Executive Decision Making - Essay Example   It would be necessary before constructing a contract to determine whether the supplier will want such advances and then weigh this against operational costs of the business model. Furthermore, if the agreement between the supplier and the distributor is not going to be long-lived, contracts may ask for some variety of reimbursement related to the tooling costs to meet the distributor’s demand. This could be non-beneficial for a smaller organization that might be struggling to achieve profit. Any and all expenses must be considered before seeking foreign sourcing opportunities. If the supplier is chosen will be a partner for a multi-year relationship, then issues of potential pricing must be weighed before making this decision. Costs of manufacturing are influenced by changing labor wage rates and fluctuating prices of raw materials in the global supply chain. It can be difficult to establish an appropriate pricing agreement under a long duration contract as it is not easy to predict what costs will be incurred in the future. The vendor could, in the future, demand a higher price (which can be rejected by the distributor) which could terminate the contract. This would have disadvantages as it takes time for supplier partners to understand the needs of their client and alter manufacturing to fit distributor needs. Hence, in a price dispute, it could lead to further costs in identifying an alternative supplier. Additionally, product liability is a major concern for companies seeking overseas sourcing. There is a substantial risk that consumers purchasing products made in a foreign nation could have personal injuries as a result of using the foreign-made product or property damage if the product happens to be.

Black Swan English Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Black Swan English - Research Paper Example It is not only Natalie Portman’s acting that grabs the audience. The film is a virtual acting tour de force with all of the actors turning in spectacular performances. Barbara Hershey as Nina’s mothering has managed her role with aplomb. She does not fall into the temptation of taking over the stereotype of the pushy mother with her own issues to resolve, who sees in her own daughter’s success, the success she could not have. There is enough rawness and originality in the character of Barbara Hershey to make us believe that we are seeing that character for the first time. Mila Kunis is darkly and richly sensual. A scene between Nina and Lily is suggestive of lesbian sex, but it is well-crafted and artistically-executed. Winona Ryder’s role was perhaps a satire of her own career – the has-been ingenue, the doted upon pet that is now no more. If there is one thing that is disappointing about the acting in the movie, it is in the character of Vincent C assel, who plays the director with lascivious designs on Nina. In contrast to the textured characters played by the female characters, Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is two-dimensional. The cinematography was dark and gritty, with enough claustrophobia to mimic Nina’s transformation. As she finds herself being smothered further and further by the â€Å"Black Swan† inside of her, we experience the same sense of terrifying asphyxiation through clever cinematography and deft use of lighting. The musical score also helped to convey the sense of darkness and increasing despair, although in parts, the use of the Swan Lake music was a bit too heavy-handed in parts: one feels as if he or she is being manipulated to feel something, to react in a particular way. The editing of the movie is flawless, and one can see the expertise of the director as he recreates through visuals the complex relationship webs between the characters. There is Nina and Lily, dancing rivals locked in a c omplicated friendship with sexual undertones. There the relationship between Nina and her mother, a relationship where both are prisoners: the mother, by regrets and unattained dreams of the past, and the daughter, by the relentless ambition of her mother that she has come to appropriate as her own. And then of course, there is Nina and Thomas, mentor and mentee, young ingenue and manipulative professor, Pygmalion and his Galatea, dance partners, lovers. The movie was also replete with cinematic metaphors: the rash that begins small and then grows and festers on Nina’s body until it becomes the beginnings of black feathers as a metaphor for transformation, the pink-cupcake-and-doily theme in Nina’s room as a metaphor for the her child-like innocence and fragility, but some people might say, forced infantilization by her mother who demanded that she remain breathlessly feminine. And then of course, there is dance as a metaphor, the graceful (and sometimes graceless) neg otiations and dynamics of human beings within relationships, tiptoeing and smoothly sailing sometimes, but at other times, spinning with frenetic movement and a raw, primal violence that consumes the partner and ultimately the dancer herself. It

Is there a trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in Essay

Is there a trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in higher education If so, what is the appropriate way to balan - Essay Example During this educational program, students are capable to explore their own selected area and effectively focus on four thematic areas such as policy, change, leadership and community diversity (The Trustees of Boston College, 2012). The department of ‘Educational Leadership and Higher Education’ provides Master’s as well as Doctoral programs for the applying students. The core objective of this department is to provide education to the students for leadership position. Moreover, this department also provides graduate level professional as well as certification programs. In this regard, the professional program provides education to the individuals regarding administrative position at the college as well as university level. While on the other hand, certification program in educational leadership provides education to the students regarding the managerial position (Saint Louis University, 2012). ‘Trade-Off’ is considered as a situation that implies for egoing on quality of something in return of gaining another quality. The basis objective of this paper is to demine the trade-off between innovation and regulating quality in higher education. Trade-Off between Innovation and Regulating Quality in Higher Education The term ‘innovation’ is considered as an initiation related to new ideas, thoughts, devices or methods. In the present context, higher education facilities are continuously evolving across the globe. In terms of innovation regarding educational curriculum activities are concerned, an instance can be witnessed of Western Governors University at the United Kingdom which considerably is focusing on bring about certain innovation in their educational system. Contextually, innovation regarding curriculum activities and development program assists this university to meet the educational standards at higher level. They expected that by initiation of innovation, they would facilitate effective educational facilities and also attract a wide number of students (Trane, 2012). At present, a majority of post graduate educational institutions and higher educational level universities are bringing about a lot of innovative changes regarding educational system. By taking into consideration regarding the Australian higher education system, certain arguments were presented by the Bradley Review of Higher Education in the year 2008. This educational standard reviewing authority demonstrated certain obvious changes about the existing educational systems such as setting of easy access regarding online education, certain regulatory aspects of educational procedures along with enhancing the quality of academic lectures. Since the year 1970, Australian government has encouraged several universities to critically evaluate their educational performance. In the year 1980, this evaluation was considerably accepted in order to improve the efficiency as well as effectiveness of educational program. In the last few d ecades, there has been a considerable turmoil regarding bringing in innovative changes in the education system which was quite difficult to carry out for the various universities (Varis, 2007). A number of colleges and universities in recent times are facing a diverse set of challenges in terms of ensuring quality of higher education along with incorporating sustained regulation. These challenges relate in

Zinc and immunity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Zinc and immunity - Research Paper Example iciency also manipulates development of the acquired immunity by averting the outgrowth along with some functions of T lymphocytes like production Th1 cytokine, activation and B lymphocyte aid.2 Similarly, development of B-lymphocyte and production of antibody, mainly immunoglobulin G, is tampered. The macrophage, which is an essential cell in most immunologic roles, is negatively affected by the zinc deficiency. It can deregulate cytokine production, intracellular killing, and phagocytosis. The impact of zinc on the main immunologic mediators is based in the myriad duties for zinc in essential cellular duties like RNA transcription, DNA replication, cell division, as well as cell activation. Zinc deficiency potentiates Apoptosis. Zinc as well acts as an antioxidant and is able to alleviate membranes.1-2 In people suffering from trivial zinc deficiency, the clinical signs are impaired smell and taste, depressed immunity, impairment of memory, onset of night blindness and reduced spermatogenesis in males.2 Rigorous zinc deficiency has the characteristics of frequent infections, rigorously depressed immune function, bullous pustular dermatitis, alopecia, diarrhea, and mental disturbances.3 Comparable effects of mild as well as rigorous zinc deficiency occur in laboratory animals that are zinc-deficient. An uncommon genetic disorder, called acrodermatitis enteropathica, happens in humans and cattle, resulting in reduced zinc absorption followed by attribute hyperpigmented skin lesions, deprived growth, and low concentrations of plasma zinc.2-3 This research investigates the features of zinc ecology of the immune system and tries to offer a biological foundation for the changed host opposition to infections seen in zinc deficiency as well as supplementation. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;68(suppl):447S–63S. Many human and animal studies show that zinc shortage reduces resistance to infectious diseases. Animals that are Zinc deficient have concealed immune responses. They

Tourism is becoming increasingly important as a source of income to Research Paper

Tourism is becoming increasingly important as a source of income to many countries but its disadvantages should not be overlooked - Research Paper Example Imported influence facilitates adoption of imported systems that deny the local promotion of local contents, for instance local music. Tourism is associated with shifts in population hence creating imported character behaviors. Tourism is sought to be a cause of immoral behavior and crime (Morgan, 2013). Tourism create deep influences in many ways, for example, the manner in which people dress is in many occasions influenced by the way tourists dress. The traditional or national manners in which people used to dress is slowly fading away to the tourism manners of dressing. Tourism also influences the spoken languages in many places (Morgan, 2013). Certain vocabularies of a nation end up being corroded by the influences introduced by tourists in different parts. The tourists create dents in the manner in which people address each other or speak to each other. They create different versions of words that are adopted in the communities. The adoption of heavy words that are insulting and abusive or disrespectful are adopted in the normal speeches of people making them part of the today culture (Morgan, 2013). Tourists are attributed for causing environmental damage especially in terms of wild fires in forests. The same tourists are responsible for the destruction of certain facilities such as the sand dunes in desert attractions. Tourism has also brought environmental pollution causing contamination of the environment. Tourism also undermines different cultures in different ways. One of the ways is commercializing culture which increases the level of litter, graffiti and vandalism. Tourism also comes with noise pollution and disrespect of local culture (Morgan,

Identify and Evaluate the Sources of Long-Term Finance Available to Essay

Identify and Evaluate the Sources of Long-Term Finance Available to the Company - Essay Example Thirdly, the result from the previous estimation will be analyzed. Finally, this study will give recommendation on how the project should be financed if the board of director decides to carry out the project. TASK 1: Estimate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital for Made-Up PLC The author will now undertake the estimation of the company’s weight average cost of capital (WACC) by estimating the cost of capital from each financial source of the company. The company currently has three long-term sources of finance, which are ordinary shares, preference shares and bond issuance. 1: The Cost of Ordinary Shares, Ko The company has 4,600m of ordinary shares currently sold on the market at ?1.55 per share. Hence, the market value of ordinary shares is: 1.55 * 4,600m = ?7,130m One method which can be used to estimate the cost of ordinary shares is Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). ... Hence, the rate of return on long term (10 years) UK government Bond will be used for this case. According to the data from Bloomberg, the rate was quote as 2.35% (Bloomberg, 2011). In estimating a beta (?) for the company, there are two estimation methodologies, using a ? of an existing firm in the same line of business and averaging ?s of several companies in the same industry. In this analysis, the ? is derived from that of an existing firm with similar capacity to Made-UP Plc’s. This estimation has an advantage over the average ? methodology since firms within the same industry could have very different ?s and the resulted ? could be unpredictable and unsuitable to Made-UP Plc’s. Since Made-UP Plc’s and TESCO are ones of the largest firms in the industry and have very similar lines of business, the TESCO’s beta will be used for this case, which is 0.7546 (Financial times, 2011). In the case of risk premium, the figure is taken from an empirical study b y Fernandez and Campo (2010). They investigated the average market risk premium used by analysts and companies in the UK in 2010. The result indicated that the average market risk premium used by analysts was 5.2 and 5.6 for the companies. The author will use 5.2 for this case. According to the figures above, the cost of ordinary share can be calculated as follows, The cost of ordinary shares = 2.35 + (0.7551 * 5.2) = 6.28% 2: The Cost of Preference Shares, Kp The company has 150m of irredeemable ?1 nominal preference shares with coupon rate of 5%, payable annually. The shares are currently selling at ?0.68 per share. Hence, the market value of preference shares is: 150m * ?0.68 = ?102m The Cost of preference shares can be calculated by

Consultancy project (Newspaper),Report style Essay

Consultancy project (Newspaper),Report style - Essay Example Many papers are sponsored by local governments who easily influence content. It may also be argued that there is considerable diversion to online sources for news. Nearly all of the print versions of papers, now have web versions. Most of the graphic elements from the print versions have been adapted to the computer screen, making print and online versions consistent and recognizable. Complicating the mix is the presence of foreign language newspapers, particularly those written in English. Some are English language versions of Russian papers, while others such as The St. Petersburg Times, Moscow Times and Neva News, are exclusively written and published for an English speaking readership. In St. Petersburg, there are no English language TV channels or radio stations, so it is assumed that these newspapers play an important role in the expatriate community as a news source. Quality of newspaper design varies widely. Some designs are surprisingly attractive, perhaps due to competition for readers limited attention span. Much of the style differences can be correlated to the segmentation of the newspaper market and the enormous differences in taste among newspapers target audiences. Newspapers were all originally communist party, or state owned mass media tools and typically ran stories about meetings of Party officials and anti-western propaganda during the Soviet period. Now, many of these papers have evolved into publicly consumable tabloids addressing everyday mundane Russian life. Stories are heavily weighted with scandal, public corruption exposes, and entertainment. Pravdas readership was originally over 13 million during the height of the Soviet Union, but then suffered in the post Soviet collapse and eventually closed down. It has been reborn threefold, and there is an ensuing struggle to legally maintain ownership of the once famous name, now c laimed by three different

Ell Assessments Essay Example for Free

Ell Assessments Essay With the rise in immigrant students comes a rise in students who do not speak English. Schools are facing the need to not only teach these students their regular academics but also a new language. In Guthrie, Oklahoma, there may seem like there would not be as much need for such programs but the fact is that English language learners are also here. ELL students need assistance from the schools they attend in order to master their English skills and be able to become productive citizens when they graduate. Schools have had to come up with procedures to identify ELL students, assess and monitor their learning and proficiency, keep teachers informed, and ensure ELL students access to grade-level content and develop language simultaneously. When a new student enters school in Guthrie, Oklahoma first they are required to fill out a home language survey form, (Oklahoma Department of Education, 2012). This form basically asks what the primary language spoken at home is. If another language other than English is spoken then students are required to take the WIDA placement test, (Miles, 2013). If a student scores below a 5. 0 they are considered to be an English language learner, (Miles, 2013). That is how they identify ELL students at Guthrie Public Schools. Parents also need to be informed of these tests wither 30 days before school starts or within two weeks of school starting, (Oklahoma Department of Education, 2012). Throughout the school year schools have to assess ELL students to determine their progress. At Guthrie public schools ELL students in elementary school are monitored for progress every quarter by a bilingual tutor, (Miles, 2013). In junior and high school students are monitored daily by their teachers for progress, (Miles, 2013). The tutor and teacher monitor students social activities, their regular classroom environment, their activity in class, behavior, learning comprehension, as well as formal assessments. Formal assessments are tests done every quarter to see how much a student has progressed from the previous quarter. If a student is being social with other students during recess, actively participating in class, and learning the curriculum being taught then the ELL student is considered to be learning and comprehending English. ELL students are exempt from taking standardized tests for two years so they can become proficient in how to read, write, speak, and understand English, (Miles, 2013). Students must show proficiency in English in order to not be considered ELL anymore, (Oklahoma Department of Education, 2012). Another important part of ensuring the progress of ELL student is keeping their teachers informed of ELL students status. The way Guthrie public schools inform teachers of the ELLs status is by sending them and email or letter with a copy of their test scores, (Miles, 2013). Teachers need to make accommodations for the students because they want the ELL students completely immersed in English. ELL students attend regular classes with regular peers, (Miles, 2013). Teachers assess ELL students daily just like they assess non ELL students. They do informal assessments like how they participate and communicate in the classroom to assess how they are progressing in English language proficiency and comprehending the curriculum. Formal assessments teachers may do would be homework sheets where students need to fill in the blank with the correct word or a spelling test. Teachers take the grades ELL students make in their class and assess if students need extra help like a tutor to better their English proficiency skills, (Miles, 2013). The way a school helps an ELL student achieve proficiency will vary depending on the requirements of the school district and state. Guthrie public schools is located in central Oklahoma. In the 2009-2010 Guthrie public schools had 108 English language learners out of 3,309 total students enrolled in the school district, (USA. com, 2011). They have adapted all of the state requirements which meet the federal No Child Left Behind act. Regardless, of the number of ELL students or location of the school, there school always be a way to identify, assess progress and proficiency level, keep teachers informed of ELLs language proficiency and ensure ELL students have access to grade-level content and develop new language skills simultaneously. Schools should always be prepared to receive new students into their school and welcome them with a positive school spirit. REFERENCES Miles, S. (2013). Phone interview, Head of ELL department for Guthrie Public Schools. Oklahoma Department of Education. (2012). Identification and Exit Criteria for Oklahomas English Language Learners. Retrieved from: http://ok. gov/sde/sites/ok. gov. sde/files/Bilingual-ID-ExitCriteria. pdf.

Dreaming in Cuban Essay Example for Free

Dreaming in Cuban Essay All summer she has lived in her memories . . .. Her past, she fears, is eclipsing her present. In Celias life, it always has. Celia is caught in the folds of time. Her central memory is that of Gustavo Sierra de Armas, the married Spaniard with whom Celia, when she was a very young department store clerk in Havana, had an intense love affair that was truncated by his unannounced departure. For twenty-five years, until the triumph of the revolution, Celia writes to Gustavo on the eleventh day of each month, keeping the un-mailed letters in a satin lined box. I watch the sun rise, burning its collection of memories, she writes to Gustavo and later, Memory is a skilled seducer who hover around the mid-century of life recall the rumors of multiple seductions by the dictator at the presidential palace. For Celia, these rumors become present reality, with Celia as one of the seduced. He does not age, nor does she. In Celias reveries, memory is most often sensualized and is always infused and injected with imagination. Memory is scripted, the script becoming more real than fact. As Celias daughter Felicia will tell her son Ivanito, Imagination, like memory, can transform lies to truths . . . . The matriarch of the novels dreamers, Celia seems engaged in an eternal wait that is never concluded, never satisfied. Her life, like her time, is arrested, moving then in long, elliptical swirls like patterns drawn on the sand by her beloved sea, whose waters envelop her again and again at critical junctures, cleansing and caressing her, then depositing her once again on shore, amid the folds of time. Three generations of Cuban women dominate this marvelously told story of a family divided by politics and the Castro revolution in Cuba. Celia del Pino is the effective head of the family. She is a loyal follower of Castro who watches the beaches near her small home to protect from a surprise attack from the assumed enemies of the regime. Her daughter Felicia also remains in Cuba, but has no interest in politics and has recurring bouts of insanity but finally dies when she succumbs to a fanatical version of Cuban Santeria religion. Her sister Lourdes immigrates to the United States and exalts in her own version of the American dream becoming a successful owner of a small bakery chain. Lourdes is as bitterly anti-Castro as her mother is pro. Finally we have Pilar, daughter of Lourdes and born the very year that Castro took power. Raised in Brooklyn, but with strong feelings of her Cuban roots, Pillar is a punk artist and later musician. She is caught with a foot in both words, nostalgic for Cuba and her grandmother, but fully rooted in the cultural scene of New York City. There are other members of the del Pino family who play lesser roles and Celia’s late husband, Jorge, plays the most curious role, a bit of magic realism as he spends several years in conversation with Lourdes after he has died. Only gradually does he fade away leaving Lourdes in a position where she can finally pay a visit to her aging and dying mother in Cuba. Dreaming in Cuban is told in segments related by numerous narrative consciousnesses, usually in the third person, from time planes that move backward and forward but follow a general linear chronological direction. What we learn of Lourdes comes primarily from the third-person narrative segments devoted to her and, secondarily, from the reflections of her daughter and her mother in the sequences narrated by or devoted to them. Lourdes has passed into exile, like so many of her contemporaries in 1961, with her husband Rufino Puente and their two-year-old daughter, Pilar. Lourdes has tried to force roots into the northern soil of Brooklyn, and genuinely believes that she has done so. In fact, when they leave Miami in a secondhand Chevy, unable to bear the endless brooding over their wealth, the competition for dishwasher jobs of Rufinos family, which has been ostentatiously prominent in Havana society, it is Lourdes who insists that they move ever northward, in search of the cold. New York City, finally, is cold enough. As enterprising and dynamic as Maria de los Angeles Mina Lopez in Roberto Fernandezs much praised 1988 novel Raining Backwards, Lourdes has founded the Yankee Doodle Bakery, and in time opens a second one. A fighter and a survivor, she has prospered. Lourdes takes pride in her love of order, her practicality. A take charge person who sees right and wrong in uncomplicatedly absolute terms, Lourdes becomes a volunteer auxiliary policewoman on a neighborhood beat, slapping her nightstick over and over into her palm before she goes out on patrol. Always estranged from her distant mother, Celia, who has been sent away to Havana by her own mother, never to see her again, Lourdes feels her parental affinity is with her father, Jorge del Pino, who railed over the years in Cuba at what he termed tropical squalor and who comes to New York to die of cancer. In Cristina Garcias 1992 novel Dreaming in Cuban, Cuba is a pivotal presence. The work examines, through a wealth of female and male characters, with emphasis upon the matrilineal chain, the intense experience of Cuban ness. The island country of Cuba is portrayed from within and without, and the distance from it is measured through the fictive evocation of exile, exile once removed, and inner exile. Different views of Cuba both inspire and result from divergent exiles. I have chosen to approach the topic of Cuba as text and context in the novel through an analysis of three female characters: Lourdes del Pino Puente, a Cuban exile living in Brooklyn; her daughter Pilar, age 13 when the novel opens; and Lourdess mother, Celia del Pino, who has by choice indee insistence remained behind in Cuba, in her seaside home. In Cuba, Lourdes sister Felicia feels this unleapable distance even from her adored son Ivanito, with whom she has a powerful spiritual bond. What is he saying? his mother wonders about him. Each word is a code she must decipher, a foreign language, a streak of gunshot. Even with her boy, to whom she is more closely bound than to any other being save her mother, Felicia is unwillingly but undeniably alone. Between Ivanito and his older twin sistersstiff, unbending adherents to the regimethere is also estrangement based on language as vital posture, the sum and expression of ones stance in the world she inhabits. He will never speak his sisters language, account for his movements like a cow with a dull bell. The novels title, Dreaming in Cuban, suggests an idiom of belonging, a collective, ever imperfect antidote to isolation and estrangement. What Celia terms the morphology of survival† must always take into account the grammar of this culture specific language, Cuban. Lourdes believes herself impervious to any such considerations. Yet the sight of a lone elm set in concrete causes her to wonder if this individual is Dutch elm disease set the last of the dying species. Is it a metaphor for her own exile and separation? There are other signs as well. The New York City rivers along which Lourdes walks and patrols flow gray, absorbing the light, usually unable to return it as reflection, their color and coldness evocative of metal. Breezes from the sluggish river seem to inscribe [Lourdes] skin with metal tips. Gray is also the color of ash. Felicias third husband, falling onto the wires of a carnival ride in Cuba, turns to ash and blows northward, where he had wanted to go. For Lourdess mother, gray is also the color of memory: Memory cannot be confined . . .. Its slate gray, the color of undeveloped film. That memory has been free to follow Lourdes northward, and that she would permit it to do so is a thought she would surely deny. In her daughter Pilars memories, her mothers toucans and cockatoos, released when the revolutionaries took over the Puente hacienda, also flew north in confusiona confusion, which Lourdes emphatically rejects; she abhors all ambiguity. Yet the northern clime has inspired in her inordinate hungers. The first is an erotic appetite for Rufino, which leads her husband to install a bell in his workshop so as to be always available to her and which finally leaves him spent and weary, and the second is a concomitant craving for pecan sticky buns, which brings about a weight gain of 118 pounds. In Rufino, Lourdes is reaching for something beyond him, something he cannot give her; she may well seek in this physical union a reintegration she cannot attain, a reconnection with her remembered life left behind, with the Cuba she knew. The sticky buns, with their impossible forbidden sweetness, may be the closest Lourdes can come in exile to the sensorial bombardment, richly evoked in the pages of Dreaming in Cuban, of her island home. In Cuba, Lourdes sister Felicia feels this unleapable distance even from her adored son Ivanito, with whom she has a powerful spiritual bond. What is he saying? his mother wonders about him. Each word is a code she must decipher, a foreign language, a streak of gunshot. Even with her boy, to whom she is more closely bound than to any other being save her mother, Felicia is unwillingly but undeniably alone. Between Ivanito and his older twin sistersstiff, unbending adherents to the regimethere is also estrangement based on language as vital posture, the sum and expression of ones stance in the world she inhabits. He will never speak his sisters language, account for his movements like a cow with a dull bell. The novels title, Dreaming in Cuban, suggests an idiom of belonging, a collective, ever imperfect antidote to isolation and estrangement. What Celia terms the morphology of survival† must always take into account the grammar of this culture specific language, Cuban. Lourdes believes herself impervious to any such considerations. Yet the sight of a lone elm set in concrete causes her to wonder if this individual is Dutch elm disease set the last of the dying species. Is it a metaphor for her own exile and separation? There are other signs as well. The New York City rivers along which Lourdes walks and patrols flow gray, absorbing the light, usually unable to return it as reflection, their color and coldness evocative of metal. Breezes from the sluggish river seem to inscribe [Lourdes] skin with metal tips. Gray is also the color of ash. Felicias third husband, falling onto the wires of a carnival ride in Cuba, turns to ash and blows northward, where he had wanted to go. For Lourdess mother, gray is also the color of memory: Memory cannot be confined . . .. Its slate gray, the color of undeveloped film. That memory has been free to follow Lourdes northward, and that she would permit it to do so is a thought she would surely deny. In her daughter This is Cristina Garcia’s first novel. She was born in Havana, Cuba in 1958 but grew up in New York City. She attended Barnard College and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She has been a correspondent for Time magazine and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Scott Brown. Works Cited 1. DREAMING IN CUBAN, By Cristina Garcia, 245 pages New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. ISBN # 0-345-38143-2

Virtual 3D Thermal Human Modelling

Virtual 3D Thermal Human Modelling In recent years, with the revolutionary changes and remarkable innovations on functional and intelligent materials, a growing trend on functional and smart wearable products have been introduced and accepted by the market. Clothing is one of the most common branches. For some fit or tight fit functional clothing, more design elements on human anatomy, physiology, pathophysiologic and biomechanics have been undertaken by them to enhance the special functions such as body protection, recovery, rehabilitation, treatment, shaping and performance enhancement. Mannequins, as one of the efficient design tools, also known as human model, are frequently-used by fashion designers, patternmakers and manufacturers, which equip them with tangible or virtual 3D model. Besides, digital 3D human models are increasingly adopted to enhance the efficiency and sustainability in these human centred disciples. Geometry human model (G-model) presents the basic dimensional information of human body. In front of these new revolutions on design and technology trends, the traditional G-model may not respond well to the emerging new requirements on design and manufacturing progress of functional clothing. The digital human body applied to fashion and functional design and manufacturing need be endued with more efficient information of the human body. There is a necessity toward launching functional human model, as an accelerating, enhancing and inspiring tool for fashionable and functional product design, especially for functional clothing design. Body temperature is a vital feature of human beings, which indicates the comfort and health status of the human body. As a heat transfer system, human body requires well-balanced thermoregulatory control loop. Clothing is often regarded as the second skin of the human body which can fulfil the functions of balancing the heat and moisture conditions and thus provide thermal comfort. Besides, problems like sub-health and ageing population gradually attract more attentions on healthcare. Due to the significant importance of body temperature in indicating the pathophysiologic features of the human body as emphasized by medical researchers in clinic, functional clothing with thermal functions like rehabilitation and treatment will be a meaningful, practical and innovative functional product to take care of the human body, like a special wearable medicine. Science and technology are changing the life of the human beings. Unquestionably, functional and smart products are the ongoing trend for the future. The thinking of the insiders, like researchers, designers or product developers, must be progressive with the tidal current of advances in science and technology. To develop thermal related functional products, a visualised and quantified human model is essential and prerequisite. Without accurate and reliable thermal information revealing the inside secrets of the human body, the process of functional product development is like that a blind man feels an elephant. Aworkmanmustsharpenhistoolsifheis to dohisworkwell.There is a knowledge gap and a tool absence for accurate and visualised functional design and manufacturing. To launch the thermal human modelling (T-model) is a far-sighted and necessary step. With the rapid developments of medical imaging and anthropometric technology, 3D body scanning and 2D Infrared thermography (IRT) provide relatively accurate and visible information of the human body, which help to further understand human body from physical, physiological and pathophysiologic aspects. 3D body scanners, as instruments to capture the whole body and create a set of dimensionally accurate data, are widely used in many areas, such as human modelling and human-centred product development in fashion industry. IRT has been used as an effective and non-invasive medical diagnosis tool, which helps to monitor the skin temperature distribution and evaluate the health conditions of the human body in an ocular way. These two facilities lay a solid foundation for the practicability of thermal human modelling. 1.2 Aims and objectives According to the knowledge gap and the tool absence for accurate and visualised functional design and manufacturing, besides the practicability based on the increasingly advanced medical imaging and anthropometric technology, five major aims and objectives of the research had been set up as shown from a to e. An in-depth discovery of the potential relationship among physically anthropometric parameters and physiological properties like body temperatures. A systematic approach on constructing visualised, quantified and individualized 3D thermal human modelling (Ti-model) with physiological features. A systematic approach on constructing visualised, quantified and individualized 3D thermal human modelling (Ti-model) with pathophysiologic features. Averaged 2D thermal images to be comparable with individual's IR images to detect the invisible abnormity of individuals for healthcare and diseases monitoring. 3D thermal human modelling (Ta-model) to be comparable with Ti-model to detect the invisible abnormity of individuals for healthcare and diseases monitoring. 1.3 The significances of the research This study will provide brand new and far-sighted solutions for the accurate accomplishment of functional products development, in special for functional clothing, with quantified and visualised T-models. The multi-disciplinary research broadens the field of vision for the human being and presenting the connections of physical, physiological and pathophysiologic features from aspects of statistics, 2D and 3D. The significances of the research are to be made in two aspects. For theoretical foundation, this research will built up a linkage between physical and physiological features of the human being which can awake the thinking on further quantitative between them and providing advisable index in functional design application. Besides, this study will advance the knowledge on the commonality of the skin temperature distributions of the human beings, which have great meaning for physiological study, clinic diagnose and ergonomic design applications. For individual applications, this new model can be applied to functional product development. Especially for functional clothing developers, they will be able to do 3D functional design, 3D pattern making and virtual fitting in an accurate, efficient and traceable way. In the times of 3D printing technology, it is an indispensable tool and platform for the antecedent parties in healthcare areas. 1.4 Research methodology A multidisciplinary methodology crossover thermal physiology, medical diagnose, computer graphics, ergonomics and functional design is adopted to accomplish the aims and objective of the study. The medical imaging and anthropometry technology help to acquire physical and physiological data of the human body from individual experiments. From the viewpoint of statistics, 2D and 3D dimensions, generalization and individual approaches on human thermal properties are to be analysed by means of statistical software, mathematical programming software and 3D design software. 1.5 Thesis organization This study has been conducted in the background stated above. The overall organization of this thesis is shown in Figure 1-1. Chapter 1 is the general introduction of the whole thesis including the background the research, aim and objectives of the research, significances of the research and research methodology. Chapter 2 is the theoretical foundation of the whole thesis including the literature review on two emphasized and carried out research areas, human thermal function and clothing, and 3D human model applied to Computer Aided Design in fashion industry. Chapter 3 introduced the research methodology of this study. The developments of medical imaging and anthropometry technology, an in-depth and specific foundation had been taken to further understanding human body in physical and physiological aspects. The computer graphic technology provided dependable software and tools to achieve the desired research aims and complete the interdisciplinary research. The employment of the data acquired from the individual experiments were introduced in Chapter 4,5 and 6 which constitute a systematic understanding platform of the human body from the viewpoint of statistics, 2D and 3D dimensions, universality and individuality on thermal properties. In Chapter 4, statistic analysis by means of correlation analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were conducted to find out the relationship among anthropometric parameters and body temperatures, which built up quantified connections of physical and physiological features of the human beings. Individualized thermal human modelling methods and results were introduced in Chapter 5. In this chapter, systematic introductions and illustrations were presented step by step on how to construct a Ti-model with physiological and pathophysiologic features. The first step was to pre-process the 3D body scanning data including data alignment, data cleaning and component selections. Simultaneously, skin temperature data sets were pre-processed by plotting into 2D thermal images with physiological or pathophysiologic features by mathematical programming. The last step was thermal model construction. The 2D thermal images with physiological or pathophysiologic features were projected to 3D human body and the corresponding Ti-model with physiological or pathophysiologic features was created. This chapter was to quantify and visualise the invisible body code conveyed by the skin temperatures in the aspect of three-dimension and individualization. Chapter 6 introduced the studies on distribution regularity of skin temperature from two dimensions with averaged IR images and its application on three-dimensional thermal human modelling (Ta-model). In the programming environment of Matlab software, mathematical calculation and anatomical landmarks of the human body were combined to find out the regularity of skin temperatures distributions of the human beings. The mapping process from 2D IR images to 3D individual G-model created Ta-model. The examples of comparing with individual's IR images and Ti-model had been presented, which helped to detect the invisible individual differences for healthcare and diseases monitoring. This research progress bridges over the gap between science research and technology applications on thermal studies with quantified and visualised methods. Chapter 7 were the conclusions of the works and the suggestions for future research work were brought forward. Bibliography and Appendix I to V for previous chapters were sequentially attached behind Chapter 7.

Psychological, Philosophical and Religious Elements of Heart of Darknes

Psychological, Philosophical and Religious Elements of Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   Heart of Darkness is a kind of little world unto itself.   The reader of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness should take the time to consider this work from a psychological point of view. There are, after all, an awful lot of heads and skulls in the book, and Conrad goes out of his way to suggest that in some sense Marlow's journey is like a dream or a return to our primitive past--an exploration of the dark recesses of the human mind. Looking at the book from a psychological viewpoint, there are apparent similarities to the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud in its suggestion that dreams are a clue to hidden areas of the mind, and that at the heart of things--which Freud called the Id--we are all primitive brutes and savages, capable of the most appalling wishes and the most horrifying impulses. Through Freud, or other systems of thought that resemble Freud's, we can make sense of â€Å"the urge Marlow feels to leave his boat and join the natives for a savage whoop and hollar† (Tessitore, 42). We might even, in this light, notice that Marlow keeps insisting that Kurtz is a voice--a voice who seems to speak to him out of the heart of the immense darkness--and so perhaps he can be thought of, in a sense, as the voice of Marlow's own deepest, psychological self. Of course, we must remember that it is doubtful Conrad had ever heard Sigmund Freud when he set out to write the book. Although a psychological v iewpoint is very useful, it does not speak to the whole of our experience of the book. Heart of Darkness is also concerned with philosophy and religion.   This concern manifests itself in the way Conrad plays with the concept of pilgrims and pilgrimag... ...f Darkness 3rd ed.   Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York:   Norton Critical, 1988. Meyers, Jeffrey.   Joseph Conrad.   New York:   Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. Sarvan, C. P. [Racism and the Heart of Darkness.] Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical 1988. Tessitore, John. "Freud, Conrad, and Heart of Darkness." Modern Critical Interpretations." Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 91-103. Tripp, Rhoda Thomas.   Thesaurus of Quotations.   New York:   Thomas Y. Crowell, 1970. Kristeva, Julia. "Within the Microcosm of 'The Talking Cure.'" Interpreting Lacan. Eds. Joseph Smith and William Kerrigan. New Haven: Yale UP, 1983. Zizek, Slavoj. "The Truth Arises from Misrecognition." Lacan and the Subject of Language. Eds. Ellie Ragland-Sullivan and Mark Bracher. New York: Routledge, 1991.   

James Joyces Araby - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Essay

James Joyce's Dubliners - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Joseph Campbell was one of many theorists who have seen basic common denominators in the myths of the world's great religions, Christianity among them, and have demonstrated how elements of myth have found their way into "non-religious" stories. Action heroes, in this respect, are not unlike saints. Biblical stories are, quite simply, the mythos of the Catholic religion, with saints being the heroes in such stories. The Star Wars film saga is, according to Campbell, an example of the hero's maturation via the undertaking of a great quest. Though it is a safe assumption that many of today's film makers are unconscious of the extent to which their narratives approach biblical parallels, Joyce spent his career turning seemingly simple stories into veiled recantings of biblical and mythical experience. "Araby" is a case-in-point. Like Luke Skywalker, the boy in "Araby" certainly reaches a maturation of sorts while undertaking a quest. Joyce takes accurate and mundane details of Dublin li fe and elevates them into a grand mythical pattern, targeting a moment of departure and awakening for the boy. Joyce's function in equating mundane experience with heroic experience is to propose that the potential for epiphany--the hero's realization of a certain truth--is not exclusive to saints alone, but exists in all people. In order to so, Joyce must declare a relationship between the ordinary and the sublime. The ordinariness of the boy's story is apparent. On one level, it is a simple story about the kind of unrequited "puppy love" that strikes most boys of his age. The details of the setting come from real Dublin--North Richmond Street and Westland Row Station--and depict ... ...t chooses to go to the temple, Orpheus chooses to go to Tartaros. Joyce made his own choice: to leave Ireland, and the result is a lifetime's body of work that demonstrates great insight. It is a good guess that this insight came from a realization Joyce himself may have had--his own epiphany, if you will--illustrating the extent to which the pattern of journey and realization found their way into his life as well as his work. Work Cited Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Washington Square Press, 1998. Works Consulted Schwarz, David R. Dubliners: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Ed. David R. Schwarz. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Werner, Craig Hansen. Dubliners: A Pluralistic World. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988. James Joyce's Araby - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Essay James Joyce's Dubliners - Araby as Epiphany for the Common Man Joseph Campbell was one of many theorists who have seen basic common denominators in the myths of the world's great religions, Christianity among them, and have demonstrated how elements of myth have found their way into "non-religious" stories. Action heroes, in this respect, are not unlike saints. Biblical stories are, quite simply, the mythos of the Catholic religion, with saints being the heroes in such stories. The Star Wars film saga is, according to Campbell, an example of the hero's maturation via the undertaking of a great quest. Though it is a safe assumption that many of today's film makers are unconscious of the extent to which their narratives approach biblical parallels, Joyce spent his career turning seemingly simple stories into veiled recantings of biblical and mythical experience. "Araby" is a case-in-point. Like Luke Skywalker, the boy in "Araby" certainly reaches a maturation of sorts while undertaking a quest. Joyce takes accurate and mundane details of Dublin li fe and elevates them into a grand mythical pattern, targeting a moment of departure and awakening for the boy. Joyce's function in equating mundane experience with heroic experience is to propose that the potential for epiphany--the hero's realization of a certain truth--is not exclusive to saints alone, but exists in all people. In order to so, Joyce must declare a relationship between the ordinary and the sublime. The ordinariness of the boy's story is apparent. On one level, it is a simple story about the kind of unrequited "puppy love" that strikes most boys of his age. The details of the setting come from real Dublin--North Richmond Street and Westland Row Station--and depict ... ...t chooses to go to the temple, Orpheus chooses to go to Tartaros. Joyce made his own choice: to leave Ireland, and the result is a lifetime's body of work that demonstrates great insight. It is a good guess that this insight came from a realization Joyce himself may have had--his own epiphany, if you will--illustrating the extent to which the pattern of journey and realization found their way into his life as well as his work. Work Cited Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Washington Square Press, 1998. Works Consulted Schwarz, David R. Dubliners: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Ed. David R. Schwarz. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Werner, Craig Hansen. Dubliners: A Pluralistic World. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.

American Imperialism Essay -- US Imperialism Power Expansion

Imperialism, defined by Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is "the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas"(Merriam-Webster). During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of expansionism, extending its political and economic influence around the globe. The United States has become an empire. Although the United States has less power – in the sense of control over other countries’ internal behavior – than Britain did when it ruled a quarter of the globe, the United States now has more power resources relative to other countries than Britain had at its imperialistic peak. American Imperialism was driven by a need for markets and raw materials, as well as the desire for power and success. The United States increasingly appears to be an im perial power. Manifest Destiny was the driving force responsible for changing the face of American history. Manifest Destiny, described by Dictionary.com, is a policy of imperialistic expansion defended as necessary or benevolent. It is the 19th century doctrine that gave the right to the United States to expand through North America. In 1845, a democratic leader and influential editor by the name of John L. O'Sullivan gave the movement its name. In an attempt to explain America's â€Å"thirst† for expansion, and to present a defense for America's claim to new territories he wrote: ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive de... ...ong the Kuwait-Saudi Arabian border (www.deoxy.org). It is only logical, due to the previous history of the United States, that one can only conclude that our invasion of Iraq is only to pursue imperialistic ambitions. Throughout the United States history, imperialism has been prevalent. Even with its mother country Britain, when Britain had controlled a quarter of the Earth. The imperialistic ambitions primarily started with our Manifest Destiny philosophy. In many of today’s magazines, newspapers, and articles, they theorize, question, and argue about the question: Is the United States an empire? The answer to that question is: Yes, America is an Empire. A lot of Americans are calling this the Age of American Imperialism. In conclusion, America is an imperial power. Works Cited http://www.merriam-webster.com/ http://www.fff.org http://www.deoxy.org

Hong Kong Airlines Marketing Plan for India Essay

1. Introduction The purpose of this project is to develop an international marketing plan for Hong Kong Airlines to expand to the India market. The first part of the project will cover the current marketing mix and strategies of Hong Kong Airlines, as well as the SWOT analysis. The second part will analyze the India market and explore the feasibility for Hong Kong Airlines to enter this market as a low-cost carrier, or commonly known as a budget airline. It will be followed by some foreseeable challenges, with the relevant remedial measures. 2. Current Marketing Mix This section will illustrate the current marketing mix of Hong Kong Airlines. Product/Service Hong Kong Airlines is a full service carrier which provides both scheduled regional flights and cargo services within the Asia-pacific Region. Price The airfare for Hong Kong Airlines is relatively lower than that of its competitors such as Cathay Pacific and Dragonair. Place Hong Kong Airlines is a Hong Kong-based airline with its main hub and corporate head office at the Hong Kong International Airport. It uses the bauhinia flower, the emblem of Hong Kong, as its logo. People Hong Kong Airlines emphasizes that their staff are young and energetic. It is expected that the size of employees will reach 2,600 in the near future. Physical Evidence As of February 2013, Hong Kong Airlines’ fleet consists of 25 aircrafts with an average age of 3.9 years. This is relatively new when comparing with other airlines. Processes Hong Kong Airlines adopts both direct and indirect process – direct online sales via its corporate website and indirect sales via travel agencies. Promotion Currently Hong Kong Airlines promotes mainly via advertising, incentives, customer relationship management and public relations. Advertising Hong Kong Airlines does both hard and soft selling through digital platforms, including its corporate website, Facebook, Weibo and Mobile Apps. Positioning as a young and enthusiastic airline, Hong Kong Airlines has invested a considerable amount on online channels in order to reach its potential customers. Besides, Hong Kong Airlines has utilized television commercials, printed advertisements and advertorials in magazines. Incentives Hong Kong Airlines collaborates with local travel agencies, such as China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited. The travel agencies bundle air tickets with hotel accommodation and offer seasonal packages with appealing discounts. Customer Relationship Management Hong Kong Airlines has a customer loyalty programme – the Fortune Wing Club. The membership benefits include air award redemption, priority check-in and extra baggage allowance to its frequent flyers. Public Relations Hong Kong Airlines highly involves in charity projects and sponsorship events. For example, it has launched the fund raising programme, Fly & Care, which aims to subsidy athletes for preparing the 2016 Brazil Paralympic Games. It has also received various service awards such as the Capital Weekly Service Awards in 2012. 3. Current Marketing Strategy The majority of Hong Kong Airlines’ passengers are middle-aged males, with annual income below RMB150,000. They are generally value-conscious customers who are looking for reasonable service level with a relatively low airfare. Figure 3.1 summarizes some features of Hong Kong Airlines’ passengers. Geographic Segment| 84% from Asia-pacific region, with Hong Kong constituting 36%.| Demographic Segment| Gender * Male > 70% * Female < 30%Age * Below 30: 28% * 31 – 50: 60%Annual Income Level (in RMB) * Below 60k: 12% * >60k-100K: 23.3% * >100k – 150k: 31.5% * >150k – 200k : 9.4% * >200k – 400k: 8.9% * >400k: 14.9%| Travel Purpose| * Business travel: 71% * Vacation/others: 29%| Figure 3.1Segmentation of Hong Kong Airlines’ Passenger Competitors of Hong Kong Airlines High price Low price Low service quality High service quality Figure 3.2 Perceptual Map of Competitors The vertical and horizontal axes of Figure 3.2 represent price and service level respectively. Hong Kong Airlines is located at the bottom right corner because it provides reasonable service level with competitive price. Dragonair and Tiger Airways both operate on similar routings as Hong Kong Airlines. With Dragonair positioning as a premium brand while Tiger Airways being a low-cost carrier, they are selected for a more detailed competitor analysis. Dragonair Dragonair is an international airline based in Hong Kong, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the flagship carrier of Hong Kong – Cathay Pacific. It aims to offer customers enjoyable and comfortable flying experience via its full scope of services and quality cabin products. Its customers’ demographic profile is very close to that of Hong Kong Airlines: 85% of the passengers live in Asia-pacific and 30% of them live in Hong Kong; 66% are males and their average age is 41-year-old; and the average personal monthly income is around USD5,000. They are service-sensitive and less price-conscious. More than half of the passengers are frequent travelers who fly for more than 6 times annually. Tiger Airways Tiger Airways is a low-cost carrier based in Singapore. Low-cost carrier refers to airline that provides limited scope of service with low airfares. The airfare is meant for the transport service only and customers have to pay extra for baggage allowance, food and beverages etc, if required. For example, Tiger Airways offers a buy-on-board program, Tiger Bites, for customers to purchase food and beverage. Tiger Airways operates between Singapore and some regional destinations in Southeast Asia, Australia, China and India. Their passengers are price-conscious and less service-sensitive. 4. SWOT Analysis Strengths Hong Kong Airlines can enjoy strong financial support from their parent company, Hainan Airline, which is the largest privately owned air transport company in China. Operating in a relatively small scale, Hong Kong Airlines can be flexible and responsive to the market changes. Its young fleet includes both short / medium haul aircrafts (A320) and long haul aircrafts (A330-200 & A330-300), which can support routings between Hong Kong and Asia-pacific ports. Figure 4.1A330-200’s Coverage (from Hong Kong) Figure 4.2A330-300’s Coverage (from Hong Kong) Weaknesses Hong Kong Airlines has a weak financial management. The Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited has stopped providing services to Hong Kong Airlines due to its inability to settling the bills. This forces Hong Kong Airlines to turn to another aircraft maintenance service provider – China Aircraft Services Ltd. Hong Kong Airlines is also weak in operational management. The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department has frozen the fleet expansion plans of Hong Kong Airlines since August 2012 due to safety concerns, and advised it to consolidate the existing operations with current fleet size. With a relatively small scale of operations, Hong Kong Airlines has a rather weak bargaining power with its suppliers of aircrafts, fuel, and aircraft maintenance services. Opportunities The tourism industry in Asia-pacific region is expected to expand due to the fast economic growth, and the implementation of the intra-regional policies in tourism development. Currently the intra-regional traffic constitutes around 78% of Asian tourism, with budget airlines account for 24.9% of Asia’s total passenger traffic. The Hong Kong Tourism Board will invest around HKD30 million in opening up new visitor sources in five new markets – India, the Middle East, Russia, Vietnam and the Netherlands. These developments in tourism will definitely increase the demand for air travel. Threats There are keen competitions in the aviation industry, involving both the market leaders and low-cost carriers. One of the major operation costs for an airline is the fuel cost, which has a great impact on an airline’s profitability. If the crude oil prices return to the peak of USD70-odd or higher, some small-scale airlines, like Hong Kong Airlines, may be unable to survive. 5. Expansion to India This section comprises an analysis of the India market, a marketing plan for Hong Kong Airlines to expand to India and some foreseeable challenges. Market Analysis To expand the business of Hong Kong Airlines, entering the India market as a low-cost carrier would be a considerable option based on the factors below: Increase in Indian outbound travel The number of Indian outbound travel has been increased from 5.4 million in 2003 to 12.5 million in 2010. The World Tourism Organization predicts that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Figure 5.1Outbound Traveler Numbers of India Depreciation of Indian rupee The Indian rupee has been depreciating and cheap air tickets are becoming more preferable for the value-conscious Indian tourists. Increase in the popularity of low-cost carriers The demand for cheap air tickets has made low-cost carriers more popular in India. In 2012, 37% of the Indian leisure travelers travel overseas via budget airlines. No low-cost carriers available between Hong Kong and India Despite the wide coverage amongst the Asia-pacific areas by existing low-cost carriers, currently there are no direct flights between Hong Kong and India operated by any low-cost carriers. Change in Indian aviation policy In September 2012, the Indian government has eased the restriction by allowing foreign direct investment up to 49% in private Indian airlines. 2013-2014 Work Plan of Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) To open up new visitor sources for Hong Kong, the HKTB has been actively developing new markets, including India. The proposed marketing budget for India in 2013-2014 will be HKD13.4 million. The above factors have illustrated a growing market for low-cost carriers in India, which is not yet fully accommodated by existing airlines. Together with the open-up policy of Indian government and the marketing plan of HKTB, it is a favorable opportunity for Hong Kong Airlines to expand its operation into India as a low-cost carrier. [Remarks: There are rumors that Hong Kong Airlines’ sister airline, Hong Kong Express, will relaunch itself as a low-cost carrier in the near future. However, no relevant official announcement has been made by either the Hainan Group or Hong Kong Express. Regardless, this project aims to propose Hong Kong Airlines to enter India as low-cost carrier; any future development plans of other subsidiaries of the Hainan Group should be investigated separately.] International Market Plan Objectives This plan serves to relaunch Hong Kong Airlines as a low-cost carrier in India. It aims to raise public awareness of the company’s new positioning in the India market, with the ultimate goal to increase revenue. Target Audience This plan will target the potential customers in Mumbai and Delhi, which are the two cities containing the most outbound travel population in India – 33% and 26% respectively. Entry Strategy The ideal entry strategy will be cooperating with a local airline or company in the form of joint venture. It will reduce the risk of investment, and also serve to comply with the local government’s policy on foreign direct investment. However, Hong Kong Airlines needs to be very careful in choosing the right local partner as most of the local airlines are suffering from severe financial problems. Therefore, it would be preferable to resemble the capital partnership between Air Asia and the Tata Group in India. Market Strategy In view of the strong cultural differences between India and Hong Kong, Hong Kong Airlines will adopt a localized market strategy and compete as a market nicher amongst the existing competitors. Marketing Mix The table below summarizes the marketing mix which Hong Kong Airlines will adopt to enter the India market. Price| * Low| Product /Service| * Limited | Place| * Local back office * Online channels| People| * Local employees| Promotion| Direct Advertising * Digital marketing: website, Facebook * Interactive marketing * Outdoor promotions * Membership programmeIndirect Advertising * Cooperation with other organizations / companies: Hong Kong Tourism Board, India’s Ministry of Tourism & travel agents * Product placement in films| Figure 5.2Summary of Marketing Mix for Hong Kong Airlines’ expansion to the India Market Price As a low-cost carrier, the airfare will be much lower than its rivals. Product The scope of service will be limited – the airfare will only include the transport service. Customers will be required to pay extra for the others, such as baggage handling, in-flight catering and entertainment. Place Hong Kong Airlines will set up local office in India, mainly for back-end operation but not customer-facing. Instead, it will utilize the online channels to approach the customers because there is a continuous increase in the number of internet users in India – from 5.5 million in 2000 to 100 million in 2010. People In terms of people, the company will recruit local employees to address the cultural differences between Hong Kong and India. Promotion The promotions can be classified as Direct Advertising and Indirect Advertising; the former refers to advertisements that reach the public directly, while the latter includes cooperation with other organizations and companies. For direct advertising, Hong Kong Airlines will utilize the digital marketing channels by setting up website and Facebook page specifically for India; besides having a fast growing amount of internet users, India also has the world’s third largest Facebook community. Interactive marketing activities, such as games and contests, can be introduced through these channels. The company will conduct outdoor promotions, like billboards, to respond to the cultural characteristics of Indians – collectivism and the preference of public space. Hong Kong Airlines will expand its membership programme, Bauhinia Miles, to India to retain customers and build a customer database for future promotions. Customers will be offered purchase discount upon accumulating certain amount of credits, through participating in the promotion events, such as referral. It is different from other customer loyalty programmes, which customers can redeem complimentary flights or lifestyle awards with flying miles. Since Hong Kong Airlines will operate as a low-cost carrier offering low airfare, it would be difficult for the company to offer excessive complimentary awards to customers. As for indirect advertising, Hong Kong Airlines can cooperate with the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the India’s Ministry of Tourism to promote Hong Kong Tourism to the Indians, and vice versa. This tie in with the current strategy of HKTB to explore new visitor sources in new markets, including India. The company will also cooperate with local travel agents to provide low-cost travel packages because 60% of Indians used to purchase air tickets through travel agents. Also, the depreciation of rupee induces demand for cheap travel packages. Since Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry, is one of the largest film product centres worldwide, Hong Kong Airlines will cooperate with the local film production companies for product placement. Potential Challenges The cultural differences between India and Hong Kong may obstruct the understanding and effective communication with the potential customers. Recruitment of local employees and learning from the local partner(s) will help ease the cultural impact. Another challenge will be the high burden on operating cost due to the high taxation on luxury in India. Travel is still being regarded as a luxury in India and the tax on jet fuel is 70% more than that in other countries. So Hong Kong Airlines needs to ensure a high passenger load factor on each flight and to strictly control other costs in order to leverage the overall operating costs. 6. Conclusion Hong Kong Airlines is currently a full service carrier in Hong Kong targeting value-conscious customers. In order to expand its business, entering the India market would be a favorable option for the company because of the various opportunities of the India market – the increase in India outbound travel, depreciation of Indian rupee, no existing direct competitors, change in Indian aviation policy, and upcoming work plan of Hong Kong Tourism Board. In view of the market situation, the marketing plan of Hong Kong Airlines will relaunch the company as a low-cost carrier in India, targeting the two cities with most outbound travel population, in the form of joint venture. It aims to raise public awareness of the company’s new positioning in the India market, with the ultimate goal to increase revenue. The marketing mix will be – offering low airfare; providing limited scope of services; setting up local back office and utilizing online channels; as well as recruiting local employees. A wide range of direct and indirect advertising will be adopted, which includes online marketing, outdoor promotion, membership programmes, cooperation with other organizations and companies, and product placement in films. As if other business expansion plans, Hong Kong Airlines will face some challenges when entering the India market. The most crucial one is the cultural difference between Hong Kong and India, which can be eased by recruiting local employees and learning from the local partner. Another one would be the high tax burden induced by the Indian government, which would be remedied by leveraging the overall operating cost. 7. References 1. Hong Kong Airlines official website http://www.hongkongairlines.com 2. Fortune Wings Club official website http://ffp.hnair.com/FFPCluben/ 3. Hong Kong Airlines’ Fly & Care programme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx99gmWh8hI 4. Hong Kong Airlines advertising media introduction, NINGBO airline media & Co. Ltd, 2011 http://wenku.baidu.com/view/38e6dd2f453610661ed9f4c3.html 5. Dragonair official website http://www.dragonair.com/da/en_INTL/homepage 6. Introduction of Dragonair, SUMMIT MEDIA 7. Tiger Airways, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Airways 8. Hong Kong Airlines, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Airlines 9. Hong Kong Airlines, Asia’s fastest growing carrier, looks to become reckoning force in the region, CAPA, 15 November 2012 http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/hong-kong-airlines-asias-fastest-growing-carrier-looks-to-become-reckoning-force-in-the-region-86233 10. Launching low cost carriers in emerging Asia: Is now the time?, Travel Daily Asia, 2012 http://www.traveldailymedia.com/asia/launching-low-cost-carriers-in-emerging-asia-is-now-the-time 11. Indian Outbound Travel, India International Travel Mart http://www.iitmindia.com/uploads/iitmindia/India%20Outbound%20Travel%20-%20A%20Report.pdf 12. Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Work Plan for 2013-2014 http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr12-13/english/panels/edev/papers/edev0225cb1-565-3-e.pdf 13. The development of the low cost airline industry in Asia http://www.ukessays.com/essays/tourism/low-cost-airline-industry-in-asia.php#ixzz2Qddj87mW 14. Rupee falls most in 4 months on global dollar strength, Reuters, The times of India, May 10, 2013 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Rupee-falls-most-in-4-months-on-global-dollar-strength/articleshow/19989344.cms 15. Outbound tourism market from India grows: Four emerging trends, Malini Goyal, ET Bureau, The Economic Times, Apr 14, 2013 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-14/news/38529310_1_direct-flights-indians-thai-airways 16. India – Outbound, LiveBean http://www.livebeanhospitality.com/pdf/unravel-the-indian-roap-trick.pdf 17. India internet usage stats and telecommunications market report, internet world stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/in.htm 18. Understanding Growth Markets: China & India, Nielsen http://www.tnhindia.in/statistics_kit/statistics.pdf 19. Hong Kong Airlines’ Bauhinia Miles Programme http://www.hongkongairlines.com/en_HK/buddyclub/about 20. Foreign airlines see beyond clouds in India http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/38d491ee-7be5-11e2-99f0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Seqza9VO ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Hong Kong Airlines official website http://www.hongkongairlines.com/en_HK/aboutus/ourfleet [ 2 ]. Fortune Wings Club official website http://ffp.hnair.com/FFPCluben/ [ 3 ]. Hong Kong Airlines’ Fly & Care programme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx99gmWh8hI [ 4 ]. Hong Kong Airlines’ official website http://www.hongkongairlines.com/en_HK/aboutus/awards [ 5 ]. Hong Kong Airlines’ advertising media introduction, NINGBO airline media&CO.LTD, 2011 http://wenku.baidu.com/view/38e6dd2f453610661ed9f4c3.html [ 6 ]. Dragonair official website http://www.dragonair.com/da/en_INTL/homepage [ 7 ]. Dragonair introduction, SUMMIT MEDIA [ 8 ]. Tiger Airways, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Airways [ 9 ]. Hong Kong Airlines, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Airlines [ 10 ]. Hong Kong Airlines, Asia’s fastest growing carrier, looks to become reckoning force in the region, CAPA, 15 November 2012 http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/hong-kong-airlines-asias-fastest-growing-carrier-looks-to-become-reckoning-force-in-the-region-86233 [ 11 ]. Hong Kong Airlines, Asia’s fastest growing carrier, looks to become reckoning force in the region, CAPA, 15 November 2012 http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/hong-kong-airlines-asias-fastest-growing-carrier-looks-to-become-reckoning-force-in-the-region-86233 [ 12 ]. Launching low cost carriers in emerging Asia: Is now the time? , Travel Daily Asia, 2012 http://www.traveldailymedia.com/asia/launching-low-cost-carriers-in-emerging-asia-is-now-the-time [ 13 ]. Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Work Pl an for 2013-2014 [ 14 ]. The development of the low cost airline industry in Asia http://www.ukessays.com/essays/tourism/low-cost-airline-industry-in-asia.php#ixzz2Qddj87mW [ 15 ]. Rupee falls most in 4 months on global dollar strength,

Stefan’s Diaries: The Craving Chapter 3

No sooner had I left the park when a hansom cab flew around the corner, followed by a policeman on horseback. I fell back into the shadows, for one breathless moment overwhelmed by the clamor. I had thought New Orleans was big – and compared to Mystic Falls, it was. Buildings, businesses, and boats were crowded into a small, frenetic area by the Mississippi River. But it was nothing compared to Manhattan, where alabaster buildings rose high in the sky and people from Italy, Ireland, Russia, Germany – even China and Japan – walked the streets, selling their goods. Even at night, New York City pulsated with life. Fifth Avenue was lit by a row of happy, hissing gas lanterns that gave a warm, rich glow to the cobbled street. A giggling couple bent close together, wrapping their coats more tightly around themselves as the wind whistled past. A newsboy shouted out headlines about factories on fire and corruption in city hall. Hearts beat in a frenetic cacophony, thumping and racing. The trash, the perfumes, and even just the simple smell of clean, soapy skin clung to the streets like ropy vines of kudzu back home. After I regained my calm, I ran into the closest shadows beyond the light cast by gas lamps, the girl heavy in my arms. There was a doorman at a residency hotel up the block. As soon as he unfolded a newspaper, I staggered past him as fast as I could with my burden. Of course, if I had been at the peak of my Power, if I had been feeding on humans this whole time, it would have been nothing to compel the doorman to forget he saw anything. Better yet, I could have run straight to Seventy-third Street and been no more than a blur to the human eye. At Sixty-eighth Street, I hid beneath a damp bush as a drunk stumbled toward us. In the close confines of the branches, there was nothing to distract me from the sweet scent of the girl's blood. I tried not to inhale, cursing the desire that made me yearn to rip her throat out. When the drunk passed, I dashed north to Sixty-ninth Street, praying no one would see me and stop to question me about the unconscious girl in my arms. But in my haste, I kicked a stone, sending it clattering louder than a gunshot down the cobbled street. The drunk whirled around. â€Å"Hulloo?† he slurred. I pressed myself against the limestone wall of a mansion, saying a silent prayer that he would continue on his way. The man hesitated, peering around with bleary eyes, then collapsed on to the pavement with an audible snore. The girl let out another moan and shifted in my arms. It wouldn't be long before she woke and realized – with a loud scream, no doubt – that she was in the arms of a strange man. Steeling myself, I counted to ten. Then as if all the demons in hell were after me, I broke out into an uneven sprint, not even bothering to try to hold my charge gently. Sixty-ninth Street, Seventieth . . . A stray drop of the girl's blood spattered my cheek. A footstep echoed behind me. A horse whinnied in the distance. Soon we were at Seventy-second Street. Just one more block and we would be there. I would drop her off at her doorstep and sprint back to the – But One East Seventy-third Street made me pause. The house I grew up in was enormous, built by my father with the money he had made after coming to this country from Italy. Veritas Estate had three floors, a wide, sunny porch that wrapped around the entire structure, and narrow columns that stretched high to the second story. It was equipped with every luxurious feature available during the Northern Blockade. But this house – or mansion, rather – was enormous. A chateau made out of bone-white limestone, it took up nearly the entire block. Close-set windows lined every floor like watchful eyes. Wrought iron balconies, not unlike the ones that adorned Callie's house in New Orleans, hung at each level, dry brown vines clinging to the metal curlicues. There were even pointed, European-style pinnacles that boasted carved gargoyles. How fitting that the house I had to approach was guarded by monsters. I walked up to the giant front door, which was carved from dark wood. Depositing the girl gently on the stoop, I lifted the brass latch and knocked three times. I was about to turn on my heel to return to the park when the massive door flew open, as if it were no heavier than a garden gate. A servant stood at attention. He was tall and rail-thin, and he wore a simple black suit. We looked at each other for a moment, then at the girl on the stoop. â€Å"Sir . . .† the butler called to an unseen figure behind him, his voice surprisingly calm. â€Å"It's Miss Sutherland . . .† There were cries and shufflings. Almost immediately the entryway was crowded by far too many people, all of whom looked concerned. â€Å"I found her in the park,† I started. I got no further. Petticoats and heavy silk rustled as what seemed like half a dozen screaming women, servants, and men rushed out, fluttering around the girl like a flock of panicked geese. The smell of human blood was thick, making me light-headed. A richly dressed older woman – the mother, I assumed – immediately put a hand to her daughter's neck to feel for a heartbeat. â€Å"Henry! Get Bridget inside!† she ordered. The butler gently scooped her up, unflinching when the blood began to soak into his cream waistcoat. A housekeeper followed, taking orders from the still-bellowing mother, who waved maids on their various tasks. â€Å"Winfield, send the boy to fetch a doctor! Have Gerta draw a hot bath. Get the cook to prepare a cosset and some herbed spirits! Remove her bodice immediately and unlace her corset – Sarah, go to the trunk of old linens and cut us some bandages. Lydia, send for Margaret.† The crowd filtered back through the door, one by one, except for a young boy in knickers and a cap who went dashing off, his shoes hitting the street with sharp taps as he ran into the night. It was like the house, having spewed forth a few moments of life and family and vitality, now sucked its occupants back inside to its warmth and protection. Even if I had wished to, I would have been unable to follow after them. Humans must invite their doom in – whether they are aware of it or not. Without an invitation inside we vampires cannot enter any home, exiled from the warm hearths and friendly companionship that houses promise, left out in the night to simply watch. I turned to go, already having stayed far longer than I had intended. â€Å"Hold there, young man.† The voice was so confident, deep, and stentorian that I was pulled back as if compelled by some Power. Standing in the doorway was a figure I surmised to be the man of the house and father of the girl I had saved. He was happily fat, with the kind of girth that causes a man to stand back on his heels. He wore expensive clothes made from wool and tweed, well tailored but in casual patterns. Comfortable summed up his entire demeanor, from his ginger muttonchops to his sparkling black eyes to the half-smile that pulled at the left side of his mouth. It seemed he had worked hard for a large portion of his life; calloused hands and a redness about his neck attested to the fact that he hadn't inherited his wealth. For a moment the thought flashed through my head: How easy it would be to lure him out here. One more step . . . His corpulent body would provide me with enough blood to sate my hunger for days. I felt my jaw ache with the desire that would coax my fangs out, that would bring this man his death. But despite the many temptations I'd faced tonight, I had left that life behind me. â€Å"I was just leaving, sir. I'm glad your daughter is safe,† I said, taking a step backward toward the shadows. The man put a meaty hand on my arm, stopping me. His eyes narrowed, and though I could have killed him in an instant, I was surprised at a sudden nervous fluttering in my stomach. â€Å"What's your name, son?† â€Å"Stefan,† I answered. â€Å"Stefan Salvatore.† I realized immediately that telling him my real name like that was stupid, given the mess I had made of things in New Orleans and Mystic Falls. â€Å"Stefan,† he repeated, looking me up and down. â€Å"Not going to press for a reward?† I tugged on my shirt cuffs, embarrassed at my disheveled appearance. My black pants, with my journal tucked into the back pocket, were frayed. My shirt was pulled out and hanging in loose folds around my suspenders. No hat, no tie, no waistcoat, and above all that, I was dirty and smelled faintly of the outdoors. â€Å"No, sir. Just glad to help,† I murmured. The man was silent, as if he were having trouble processing my words. I wondered if the shock of seeing his daughter, bloodied and frail, had put him in something of a fog. Then he shook his head. â€Å"Nonsense!† He clasped my right shoulder. â€Å"I would give anything to keep my youngest safe. Come inside. I insist! Share a cigar and let me toast your rescue of my baby girl.† He tugged me into the house, as though I were a stubborn dog on a leash. I started to protest, but fell silent the moment I stepped into the grand foyer. The dark wainscoting was cherry wood. The stained glass windows that were meant to illuminate the doorway during the day sparkled even at night, their colors jewel-like under the gaslight. A giant, formal stairway climbed to the next floor, the balustrade looking as though it had been carved from whole trunks. In my human life, I'd wished to be a scholar of architecture, and I could have gladly studied this home for hours. But before I could fully appreciate the entryway, the man herded me through a hall and into a cozy parlor. A roaring orange fire commanded attention on the far wall. High-backed chairs with silk cushions were scattered around the room and the walls were papered in pine green. A snooker set was discreetly placed behind a couch, and cabinets of books, globes, and assorted curiosities framed high casement windows. My father, a collector of books and fine objects, would have loved this room, and my chest tightened at the realization that I would surpass my own father in life experience. â€Å"Cigar?† he offered, pulling out a box. â€Å"No thank you, sir,† I said. The cigars were the finest quality, made from my home state's tobacco. At one time, I would have been more than happy to accept. But even the sound of a bird's beak scraping against bark almost overwhelmed my heightened senses; the thought of sucking in clouds of black smoke was unbearable. â€Å"Hmmm. Doesn't partake.† He raised a craggy eyebrow doubtfully. â€Å"You'll not bow out on some spirits, I hope?† â€Å"No, sir. Thank you, sir.† The proper words came out of my mouth even as I paced back and forth. â€Å"That's my boy.† He prepared my drink, an apricot-colored liquid poured out of a cut crystal decanter. â€Å"So you found my daughter in the park,† he said, offering me the brandy. I couldn't help holding the sparkling glass up to the light. It would have been beautiful even without my vampire senses, scattering every stray beam like iridescent dragonflies. I nodded at my host and took a small sip, sitting down when he motioned to a leather chair. The warm, sweet spirits poured over my tongue, both comforting me and making me feel strangely uneasy at the same time. I had gone from living in a park to sipping fine liqueur in a mansion with a very wealthy man in the course of one short night. And at the same time that I longed to sprint back into the darkness – the loneliness that pervaded my very being begged me to linger. I had not spoken to anyone in two weeks, but here I was, invited into a veritable palace of human activity. I could sense at least a dozen servants and family members in the few rooms nearby, their heady scent indistinguishable to all but myself, and the two dogs I knew were in the kitchen. My benefactor regarded me strangely, and I made myself pay attention. â€Å"Yes, sir. I found her in a clearing by the remains of the old Seneca Village.† â€Å"What were you doing in the park so late at night?† he asked, fixing me with his eyes. â€Å"Walking,† I said evenly. I braced myself for what would come next, the uncomfortable series of questions that would assess my station in life, though my ripped clothes surely gave some indication. If I were him, I would have pressed a few dollars into my hand and sped me out the door. After all, New York was not short on predators, and though he couldn't know it, probably could not even imagine it, I was the worst sort. But his next words surprised me. â€Å"Down on your luck, son?† he asked, his expression softening. â€Å"What was it – tossed out of your father's house? A scandal? Duel? Caught on the wrong side of the war?† My mouth gaped open. How did he know I wasn't just some vagrant? He seemed to guess my thought. â€Å"Your shoes, son, show that you are obviously a gentleman, regardless of your current, eh, circumstances,† he said, eyeing them. I looked at them myself – scuffed and dirty, I hadn't shined them since Louisiana. â€Å"The cut is Italian and the leather is fine. I know my leather.† He tapped his own shoe, which looked to be made from crocodile. â€Å"It's how I got my start. I'm Winfield T. Sutherland, owner of Sutherland's Mercantile. Some of my neighbors made their money from oil or railroads, but I made my fortune honestly – by selling people what they needed.† The door to the study opened and a young woman I'd seen downstairs came in. She was composed and graceful, with a step that was both regal and efficient. Her cap was simple – almost like a servant's – but it accentuated her refined features. She was a rarefied version of the girl I had found in the park. Her hair was a more subtle golden shade, and her curls fell naturally in soft ringlets. Her eyelashes were as thick but longer, framing blue eyes with just a touch of gray in them. Her cheekbones were a trifle higher and her expressions more subdued. My human appreciation of her beauty fought with my vampire's cold appraisal of her body: healthy and young. â€Å"The doctor has just arrived, but Mama thinks she will be fine,† the girl said calmly. â€Å"The wound is not as deep as it first seemed, and appears to be mending itself already. It is by all accounts a miracle.† I shifted in my chair, knowing that I had been the reluctant source of that â€Å"miracle.† â€Å"My daughter Lydia,† Winfield introduced. â€Å"The most queenly of my three graces. That was Bridget whom you found. She's a bit . . . ah . . . tempestuous.† â€Å"She ran off by herself from a ball,† Lydia said through a forced smile. â€Å"I think you might be looking for a slightly stronger word than ‘tempestuous,' Papa.† I liked Lydia immediately. She had none of the joie de vivre that Callie had, but she possessed an intelligence and sense of humor that became her. I even liked her father, despite his huff and bluster. In a way, this reminded me of my own home, of my own family, back when I had one. â€Å"You have done us a great service, Stefan,† Winfield said. â€Å"And forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but I suspect that you don't have a proper home to return to. Why don't you stay the night here? It is too late for you to go anywhere, and you must be exhausted.† I held up my hands. â€Å"No, I couldn't.† â€Å"Surely you must,† Lydia said. â€Å"I . . .† Say no. The image of Callie's green eyes rose before me, and I thought of my vow to live apart from humans. But the comforts of this beautiful house reminded me so much of the human life I'd left behind in Mystic Falls, I found it difficult to do what I knew I should. â€Å"I insist, boy.† Winfield put a meaty hand on my shoulder, forcing me out of the room. â€Å"It's the least we can offer as a thank-you. A good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast.† â€Å"That's very kind, but . . .† â€Å"Please,† Lydia said, a little smile on her face. â€Å"We are ever so grateful.† â€Å"I should really – â€Å" â€Å"Excellent!† Winfield clapped. â€Å"It's settled. We'll even have your clothes cleaned and pressed.† Like a horse being steered through a series of groomers before a race, the Sutherlands' housekeeper ushered me up several flights of steps to a back wing of the house that overlooked an east-facing alleyway. Instead of my usual hollow in the rocks by the stolen gravestones, I would sleep on a giant four-poster feather bed in a room with a roaring fire, in a house of humans that welcomed me happily and quickly as one of their own. The vampire in me remained hungry and nervous. But that didn't prevent the human in me from savoring a taste of the life I had lost.