Escaping the void

Two months before I boarded the ship, I was sitting, trying to relax, on the veranda of a hotel, in Cairo accompanied by my friend William Sloper. A rather odd looking little man approached me; and with meaningful words he cautioned my subsequent journey's traveled by boat as he explained that in a dream he had seen me afloat on an open boat. He tried to assure me that I was to lose everything except my life. I was bemused and seemed to doubt the little mans words, I handed him a small amount of coins then sat, gazing at him as he proceeded and disappeared into the teeming crowd. Until the 10th April I thought nothing more of the peculiar man until I realized that today I was embarking on a journey across the water to New York, 4 days before the ship began its' decent to the depths below, we were all so unaware. Looking at the sheer beauty of the vast body we were boarding, the man's words passed through my head, I only thought to myself, † Don't be stupid, the Titanic is made so it is unsinkable† and ensue to join my parents on the ship. I had been given just one cabins, C – 23 which was occupied by myself, and my father. He had helped design the ship. When the Titanic struck the iceberg, he held himself responsible. Many beautiful decorations covered the room giving it it's glory; so perfect and precise with great space and luxury. As the ship set sail on her maiden voyage, at noon to New York, you could hear the cheers from the crowd below. We stood waving, leaning over the banisters lining the ship, calling to anyone we saw. Smiles lined our faces and our eyes gleamed, we were all ecstatic, pleased that we had our place on the pride of the ocean. Impressive gold banisters lined the marble stairs leading into the enormous ballroom; chandeliers hung covering the ceiling with their light and sparkle. We were jolly and pleased to be where we were. We loved the relaxation everyday and the fun we had all night, even on that terrible night, we were spinning around the dance floor until the ship suddenly shuddered greatly and slowed to a stop. Nobody was worried, the ship could not sink, but the aged mans' words continued to flow through my head, worried thoughts began in my mind and showed on my face, † I will lose everything but my life†. I stood still thinking just before my brother grabbed me and spun me round the dance floor, a fake smile showed on my face but it was only to please. My father had left to ask what had happened and overheard Captain Smith ordering the watertight doors to be shut to â€Å"prevent any more damage and determine the destruction already through†. Mr. Andrews had left with fear on his face as soon as it had happened and turned up by my fathers' side with what looked like plans to my father. They proceeded to disappear into a small room accompanied by the Captain. My father returned to reveal all, he told us to gather ourselves together. He was not a stern man by nature; but he was now. He was also a very sensible man. We were to stay where we were as he needed us to be ready quickly. I hurried below deck to retrieve his and my own warm coat. I was now becoming petrified, the others on board were still calm, and everyone else on the ship was continuing as if nothing had happened. Though of course, they weren't privileged with the knowledge that I had. My father returned again his face was rather pale, following him were many of the ships crewmembers who proceeded to hand out life jackets and tell everyone to put them on and also warm clothes, I took mine and correctly placed it over her head and tied the long straps around my waist. One of the crew spoke, â€Å"there is nothing to worry about just Captains precautions†. A massive bang went off, which I later found out was a distress signal he continued, â€Å"Make sure warm clothing is worn and that people begin to make their way outside†. Others made many complaints around me but we did as we were told, no arguments or conversation. It was cold outside, and ice was scattered over the deck. I rubbed my hands together, my father grabbed them and rubbed them for warmth, â€Å"stay calm, everything will be fine†, I smiled shyly as a tear left my eye, was this what the man meant, I was going to lose my family. I was now very scared for all the bellow and holler of voices, the bang of the distress signals, and the screeching of boats as they were prepared for lowering. The crew thought that this was pointless, they shared the feeling of false security that nothing was going to happen. However, soon children and female members of the passengers aboard were being asked to climb into the boats and were lowered out to sea. Crying began as families were split up, I held onto my father knowing that this would happen to us, my fathers would be made to stay. Though deep down, I knew that he intended to go down with the ship. We snuggled together for warmth as the noise continued around us, hardly uttering words to one another, just trying to keep warm. Time had past, I am not sure how long. Many lifeboats had now been lowered and were moving away from the ship, and now we were being ushered onto one, lifeboat 10. My father hugged me, and we whispered our goodbyes; he assured me that he would be there to see me when we found our way across the sea. I knew this was not to be true. My eyes were stinging trying to hold back the forceful tears; I could not stop thinking of the brave men and boys who were to be left behind. As the boat was lowered I called, â€Å"I love you† him as he disappeared from view, my last memory was of him shaking hands with Mr. Andrews, both standing in their white life jackets. My head was aching, the false smile flew from my face. Around me, families were huddled together, trying to keep warm. There were emotional mothers, wailing for their husbands and sons. The boat was rowed away from the ship, I gasped at the sight, the ship was already tilting. Many windows were disappearing from view. I thought for the first time of the other passengers. Hundreds of people lined the decks. The last lifeboat had left. As I glanced around, searching for the other boats, disgust filled my thoughts. Rich, prominent women were in lifeboats, which were purposely half-filled. As they had material wealth, they needn't care about the sacrifice of others. I felt compelled to stand up and say something, though the cowardice within me kept me silent. I turned away staring into the dark sky lit by many tiny white stars. More hours passed, I wouldn't turn around; more boats were surrounding us as we moved further away, my eyes were red and sore yet the tears still flowed, yet I was no-longer sad but now angry. Why should I live and everyone else die? I longed to be by my father's side, but I knew that he was gone. The sound grew, crashes and explosions. The cries grew louder but I never turned, I would not see it go down. I was too scared, too pathetic. I forced my self to turn just as the boat crashed down to the depths below. There were bodies everywhere, strewn around the wake of the ship. We never returned, another ship, the Carpathia arrived at the scene taking the surviving people on board. I remember little, around me, mothers franticly calling for their families, their children weeping heavily. They knew they were lost. I did not cry anymore. I shivered not only from the cold, but of the fright. That man new this was to happen. How? I was too tired to sleep, too confused to think. As we arrived finally in New York I realised that I was to meet my fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, the crowd all wept. Many were greeting relatives, asking helplessly if we had seen their loved ones. Keith stood in the crowd. I saw him, my face lit instantly but only for a second. I ran towards him and just let him hold me for a while; he knew not to speak yet. I never forget the event, I think about what I should have done, I should have made them go for survivors or stayed with my father. I regret many things but my family was always there to bring me hope through the hard times.

Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Essay

This archive file of BUS 640 Week 5 Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems shows the solutions to the following problems: 1. a. Why would your company have bid with a zero mark-up on some past tenders? Business – General Business Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems . Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. Maxim Motronics A.G. have been marketing a new product in Europe that has achieved notable market success and it now plans to introduce this product into the United States market. The product is an electronic device that is mounted in the rear window of passenger cars and allows the driver of one vehicle to have a spoken message converted to text and scrolled across the display panel to be read by occupants of a following vehicle. This new product can utilize the hands-free telephone microphone already installed in many new vehicles, or provides this as free accessory. Maxim expects that demand will be slow at first but will pick up quickly as automobile accessory stores begin to stock the product and as word-of-mouth promotion spreads awareness. Maxim also plans to produce a humorous video for posting to YouTube and to utilize social-media marketing to spread awareness and enthusiasm for the new product. Market demand estimates provided by Maxim are that the firm expects to sell about 125,000 units into the U.S. market within 24 months, and that sales per month will start slowly and increase monthly in the expected diffusion pattern until they stabilize at about 10,000 per month after month 24. The diffusion curve parameters that fit these assumptions are shown in the equation + 46.11T2 – 1.352T3, where Q is sales per month and T †¦ Complete course guide available here – https://bitly.com/1oJNbd3 Reserve your ambitions for a position in the student government for your  sophomore or junior year of college. Freshman are largely ignored by the SGA. You can use your freshman year to learn about campus politics and discover what role you’d like to play in them. Business – General Business Price Quotes and Pricing Decisions Applied Problems . Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button. Maxim Motronics A.G. have been marketing a new product in Europe that has achieved notable market success and it now plans to introduce this product into the United States market. The product is an electronic device that is mounted in the rear window of passenger cars and allows the driver of one vehicle to have a spoken message converted to text and scrolled across the display panel to be read by occupants of a following vehicle. This new product can utilize the hands-free telephone microphone already installed in many new vehicles, or provides this as free accessory. Maxim expects that demand will be slow at first but will pick up quickly as automobile accessory stores begin to stock the product and as word-of-mouth promotion spreads awareness. Maxim also plans to produce a humorous video for posting to YouTube and to utilize social-media marketing to spread awareness and enthusiasm for the new product. Market demand estimates provided by Maxim are that the firm expects to sell about 125,000 units into the U.S. market within 24 months, and that sales per month will start slowly and increase monthly in the expected diffusion pattern until they stabilize at about 10,000 per month after month 24. The diffusion curve parameters that fit these assumptions are shown in the equation + 46.11T2 – 1.352T3, where Q is sales per month and T is the number of months after the launch into the US market. Maxim’s average variable cost (AVC) is constant at $62 per unit and he expects to set the profit-maximizing price by applying a 167% mark-up to arrive at his regular price of $165, since he estimates the demand curve to be – 0.02Q.

Analysis Of Kill A Mockingbird Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird, White

The book notably opens with an immediate instance of self-delusion: tricking the reader into believing that Maycomb is just an old, ordinary, and quiet town through description of the town’s history, when in reality, it was teeming with prejudice and racism. The reader immediately leans about this sleepy southern town where â€Å"a day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County† (Lee 6), however the reader slowly begins to realize that there’s more to the town than what meets the eye, as â€Å" it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself† (Lee 6). Up until this point, any first-time reader was probably thinking of a dreary, yet pleasant town where nothing really happened. However, this allusion to Roosevelt’ s fireside chats places this narrative in the 1930’s, and this is the detail that causes the reader to put the two ideas together. Any time before the late 60’s in a southern town does not bode well on the topic of acceptance, especially the issue of racism. This skepticism is later confirmed through Mr. Radley using a racial slur to accuse a black man for trespassing on his territory. Overall, the beginning of the book is a great example of self-delusion in order t... ... middle of paper ... ...tside the courthouse after the trial, and Jem was instantly reminded of the verdict: Jem was suddenly furious. He leaped off the bed, grabbed me by the collar and shook me. â€Å"I never wanta hear about that courthouse again, ever, ever, you hear me? You hear me? Don’t you ever say one word to me about it again, you hear? Now go on!† (Lee 331). In the face of bigotry, Jem initially refused to accept reality. He refused to admit that, even though Maycomb was the town he grew up in, even though it was where he called home, he was completely surrounded by injustice. Jem deluded himself rather than accepting the fact that the world is a lot harsher, crueler and just more unfair than he thought. It’s a common theme across the book that people can’t accept the truth and choose to ignore it. And although the book takes place in the 1930’s, this self-deception is still present.

Geography of Minnesota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Geography of Minnesota - Essay Example This is supported by a survey that stated that over 70% of the population in the state is made up of immigrants. Some of the ethnic groups include African Americans brought as slaves to work in fields and construct the railways. After they attained their freedom they settled in Minnesota. Pacific Islanders came from the islands of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia. They immigrated to Minnesota to seek employment in the fields and mines. American Indians are also referred to as Native Americans. This is because; they lived in America before its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Asian Americans are individuals of Asian descent. They immigrated to Minnesota in search of work, business and an education. Hispanics/Latinos are people of Latin descent and can trace their heritage back to Latin and South America. They immigrated to America and chose to stay in Minnesota due to its employment and business opportunities. All of these ethnic groups living and working together best illustrate spatial distribution. These ethnic groups are distributed across the state although some of them be liv e in specific areas (Hart, 2008). The first major wave of immigration was between 1860 and 1870. The first immigrants were from Germany. They were soon followed by the Norwegians who were referred to as Scandinavians. German immigrants composed the largest immigration group in Minnesota while the Norwegians only represented a small portion of the immigrants. Most of the German immigrants moved to farming areas within the state while the Scandinavians tended to settle in distinctive communities most of whom had relocated due to the potato famine they experienced between 1845 and 1852. The famine killed approximately a million people and in the process caused the immigration to the United

Too much media influence on political campaigns Research Paper

Too much media influence on political campaigns - Research Paper Example Created:   2011-07-11 09:56   Deadline:    2011-07-21 07:58 Time Left:   9 days 14h 22m Style:   MLA   Language Style:    English (U.S.)   Grade:    n/a   Pages:   2   Sources:    3   â€Å"The media have always played a powerful role in politics,† says Hart. â€Å"Even before radio, we had the penny press. There’d be great wars between various newspapers about politics. So even back then, the media were important.† Throughout the history, the relationship between media and politics has been very extremely sensitive. Both the media and politics have been the major culprit for public opinion. Without a doubt, the media has continued to dramatically impact politics through legislation, information, and impacting voter turnout. Unquestionably, the media plays a vital role in politics as it impacts legislation through various ways. The media is notorious for picking out flaws or any sort of corruption that has plagued the society. As socie ty has evolved, the media has played a vital role towards reform. All of the American media is owned and run through wealthy individual.

Hydraulics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hydraulics - Essay Example Most of the ancient towns and cities in United Kingdom are close to the river always experiencing damages from flooding over time. SuDS are small scale source control measures which are useful in draining surface water in a more natural way through infiltration, retention and storage devices in urban areas. They employ methods that mimic natural drainage systems by passively removing contaminants in surface water and naturalizing flow rate (JEFFERIES, 2011 p 189-221). After reducing the water volumes and pollutants near the water source, a corresponding reduction in the rate of flow downstream and flood discharges are evident. Reducing rate of downstream flow and flood discharges contribute in improving the quality of water. Further improvements are realizable due to reduced storm water into sewers because little surface water spills over into the sewer system, this spillage if often allowed force raw sewer discharge into the water courses. Certain infiltration based systems such as permeable pavements, swale and detention ponds are always important in controlling the effect of storm water in built-up areas. Permeable pavements are alternative grounds that allow storm water to filter through the voids into the underlying stone reservoirs for temporarily storage (KING, & WISLER, 2008 p 117-131). Permeable pavements consist of permeable surface layer, bedding a layer, underlying stone aggregate reservoir and a filtration layer laid at the bottom. Swales are shallow channels for collecting, and removing pollutants from water (KING, & WISLER, 2008 p 207-231). Swales have shallow side slopes and a flat bottom. They usually have grass covers and mostly water flows in a thin layer through the grass. Detention ponds are for improving the quality of urban runoff and reducing the rates at which the peak storm flows this is possible by providing temporary storage during large storms. Slow sand Filters have a filtration rate of 0.15 m3/m2†¢h, the

Cross Cultural Communication and Management essay

Cross Cultural Communication and Management - Essay Example racted to work â€Å"in and of itself,† while extrinsic motivation refers to being engaged with work because of external variables, such as management support and the organisational rewards system and practices (Dewett, 2007, p.198). The main tools of analyses for this paper come from Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Deutsch’s (1973) theory of cooperation and competition. The subject matter is motivation and the country analyzed is Macau. Organisations that participated were Chinese firms. Motivation strategies through empowerment for Chinese employees in Macau hotels moderately support the perceived effects of high Power Distance (PDI) (Hofstede, 2012) and relates to how empowerment includes cooperation and other external support that can enhance employee performance (Humborstad et al., 2008). Psychological empowerment consists of â€Å"the additive effects, or gestalt of three separate dimensions validated by Spreitzer (1995)† and these dimensions are â€Å"impact, competence, and self-determination† (Drake, Wong, and Salter, 2007, p.72). Employee motivation refers to what drives people to be attracted to their work. Intrinsic motivation pertains to how individuals are attracted to work â€Å"in and of itself,† while extrinsic motivation refers to being engaged with work because of external variables (Dewett, 2007, p.198). Examples of intrinsic motivation are pleasure and entertainment attained from jobs. PDI symbolizes â€Å"the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally† (Hofstede, 2012). Power distance stands for the nation’s score in how they deal with social inequality (Hofstede, 2012). Inequality happens in areas of fame, wealth, and power, and different societies provide different weights on the consistency for these areas of inequalities (Hofstede, 2012). Values are â€Å"desired end states or standards by which persons evaluate experience, and are largely defined in terms of their

The new police model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The new police model - Essay Example This external force has existed throughout ancient societies. The tribal leaders in ancient times acted as judges and their servants executed punishments. Even in various tribal regions of the world this system still exists. The tribal leaders along with their followers act as a police force. The safeguard of the primary aim of society is the main purpose of these forces. The concept of police also defines or explains the aim of living in a society. The humans live in a society as a means of creating a system where they are safeguarded by threats. The police force plays the important role of safeguarding the society members against threats from within the society. Therefore the role of police has been crucial from the very beginning of human societies. In definition, the people who are given the job of enforcing the law are called police. This power is bestowed upon the police by the government and the society itself. The police force further comes into action when there is civil disorder or anarchy. The power of police is domestic. Therefore there is a jurisdiction or an area where this power is applicable and considered legal. The power of police therefore extends only to a certain region or a certain country. Many organizations have their own law enforcement agencies. The military for example has a police force which instead of a regional jurisdiction has an organizational jurisdiction. The role of any police force is defined best by the society itself. Only few decades ago police was used as a tool to strengthen the prejudicial system of ethnic discrimination. Therefore it can be said that police is not a tool of giving justice but in fact maintaining the current state of affairs or in other words order. There are many different stages of the development of the police system to the model currently being used in most countries. The current model however was

Health Administarion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Health Administarion - Essay Example There are several determinants of what to measure in an organization. One of the determinants is the goals and objectives set for the organization. The aim of the organization from its inception lies in the goals and objectives. In order to therefore determine if the aim is being fulfilled, measurement of the performance against the set goals and objectives is necessary (Hannabarger, Buchman and Economy, 209). Other determinant is the strength and weaknesses of the organization. These are important in determining measurement because they reflect the true nature and state (financial or otherwise) and measurement of these will point the organization to its next direction and steps. Additionally, the threats being faced by the organization are also determinants of measurement if the organization is succeed in future. Finally, the specified mission and vision of the organization also act as effective determinants of performance measurement. This is because they involve the future of the organization and its success or failure. The mission and vision are what give the organization a brand name and distinguishes it from its competitors and it is therefore necessary to measure whether that is still the truth (Hannabarger, Buchman and Economy,

Shark Finn Soup Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Shark Finn Soup - Research Paper Example The paper also considers the laws made by various nations to stop shark fin harvesting and how the concerned individuals, groups and institutions can create awareness amongst the masses regarding the cruelty and wastage associated with shark fin harvesting. Keywords Sharks fins, finning, ecology, cruelty, extinction, harvesting Shark Fin Soup There is no denying the fact that Shark Fin Soup happens to be an important constituent of the Chinese cuisine. It is also true that Shark Finn is treated as a luxury item as far as the Chinese cuisine is concerned and is usually served on formal occasions and gatherings like banquets and weddings. Shark Fin is primarily used to add texture to the Chinese soups in combination with a number of other ingredients and spices. As far as the Chinese cuisine is concerned, Shark Finn soup tends to be an ingredient of historical relevance and its history could be traced back to the Ming dynasty (Earth Island Journal 2013, 8). The irony is that though sha rk fin soup involves much cruelty on the part of professional fisherman, with the increase in the income of Chinese population, the demand for the Shark Finn soup has been constantly on the rise. This is indeed worrisome and serious when one takes into consideration the survival and sustainability of the shark species. This is because the shark fins required to make Shark Fin Soup are collected from a range of shark species. Not only Shark Finn Soup is responsible for a decline in the shark populations around the world, the collections of shark fins by the fisherman involves much cruelty as they simply chop off the shark fins from a shark and throw back the rest of the shark in the ocean to die a painful and cruel death. On e big reason why the Chinese like the Shark Fin Soup is because they consider the Shark Fin Soup to be an important part of the Chinese culture. Simply speaking Shark Finn Soup happened to be a culinary delicacy that was earlier afforded by the rich and wealthy o nly (Dukes 2011, 42). In a way the Shark Fin Soup happened to be a symbol of wealth and status. Thereby, to claim that Shark Fin Soup happens to be a food of cultural importance is faulty because most of the Chinese actually speaking did not afford to eat Shark Fin soup. They were simply not in a financial position to buy Shark Fin Soup. Shark Fin Soup happened to be a delicacy that was primarily confined to the rich Chinese families. Thereby, actually speaking the popularity of the Shark Finn Soup is a trend that is of recent origins. This is because with the rise of the economic reforms in China and with the opening up of the Chinese economy, the number of Chinese people who are rich has dramatically increased over the years (Dukes 2011, 42). As Shark Fin Soup carries a snob appeal, many of the newly rich Chinese do prefer to buy and serve Shark Finn Soup because they believe that it adds to their social stature. Yet the bad thing is that those people who like to eat Shark Finn So up are simply not concerned about the cruelty to which the sharks are subjected to, to get their fins. They show no concern for the decreasing shark populations owing to the well established shark fin trade. Every years, millions of sharks are killed around the world so as to harvest the shark fins that constitute an important constituent of the Shark Fin Soup and some other Chinese and East Asian delicacies (Reading 2000, 51). The method resorted to

Middle East History Essay Example for Free

Middle East History Essay Concerning the security and foreign policy issue, this paper will discuss about the history and politics of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan that experience intertwined since the first two became independent in 1947. In addition, the three countries also have also distinctive relationship with United States. For the reason, this paper will address how India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan define their vital security interests in relation to the other two during the past 59 years, how the each country seek to advance their respective interests vis-a-vis the other two, and how successful or unsuccessful each has been in doing so. Moreover, this paper will also highlight the countries’ policy positions with regards to their relationship with United States within the past 59 years and how their bilateral relations with the United States related to their relations with the other two South Asian states. 2. India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan Over 50 years in the past, India and Pakistan developed into separate countries on August 15, 1947. The frightening murder of half a million peoples and the evacuating of approximately 15 million men, women, and children blemished what should have been a wonderful event. Just a few months previously, a small number of people had ever perceived sound of the word â€Å"Pakistan†, a thought created by some Muslim intellectuals in 1933 who maintained that there were two separate states in India (Riencourt, A. , 2007). The two-nation assumption of the Muslim League was never admitted by the Hindu-dominated Congress Party, which leaders were all for the formation of an integrated and severely worldly India with complete defense for every religious minority and poor exiles. Pakistan turned into a reality in the 1947 and analyzed its bravery almost directly in the first Indo-Pakistani war on Kashmir (Riencourt, A. , 2007). Therefore, in a very short period, the major advantage of British colonialism in the subcontinent-its political agreement-was annihilated. The Western world compensated slight consideration, at the time, to the long-scope geopolitical effects of this growth. At the present, maybe well over three decades afterward, it ought to compensate a expensive price for this carelessness, in the glow of the current occasions in Afghanistan. 3. India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Definition of their vital security interests In the most common definition, the cold war was political, ideological and economic struggle that emerge between the Soviet Union and the Unites States (and allies) right after the Second World War the struggle occurred between 1947 and 1991. It was called the cold war because real physical confrontation never occurred between the superpower nations. The ‘war’ was happening in the form of arms race (including nuclear weapons), developing military alliances, economic warfare (which involves trade embargos, etc), political propaganda, and intelligence warfare (espionage). There were always risks of full range nuclear war with tremendous casualties; however, the closest event to a war is the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1962, which ended with US, triumphed over the Soviet Union by means of international diplomacy (Gaddis, 1972). Within the cold war issue, it is reasonable if superpower country like the U. S. worries about the development of countries in Asia that continue advancing power. In addition, security becomes a vital interest of any countries. For example, in the year 2000, United Kingdom faced an issue of security due to a preposition by the United States government, as efforts of addressing security concerns of the 21st century. The US government would like to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) which would most likely have a significant impact on strategic stability and UK security (‘The 2000 review’, 2000). Similarly, direct on South Asia has mainly remained on the India-Pakistan opposition and conflicts over Kashmir more than fifty years ago. This facet outshined the consequence of Pakistan-Afghanistan relationships on the security interests of the South-Central Asian area. The past and social aspect of the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship has been and will continue significant in the developing regional spirits (Riencourt, A. , 2007). Following the ending of the Cold War, this relation turned into a major catalyst of the global terrorist group that found its locus in the area. For the majority of Pakistan’s impartial history, relationships with Afghanistan have been difficult and have been distinguished by continuing reciprocal doubt that sometimes revealed in rules of intervention and even efforts at deterioration (Riencourt, A. , 2007). Positioned at the convergence of big mountains and through a chaotic history, the Pakistan-Afghanistan area was once denoted as the â€Å"fight arena of Asia†. Natural features have positioned the area at the junction of international and regional political affairs, strategic and especially financial interests, as a possible channel for energy ways (Riencourt, A. , 2007). The political environment of the area has changed considerably since the proceedings of September 11, 2001. Afghanistan and Pakistan have since gone back to the normal of the global system. However, cynicism and apprehension of rehabilitated conflict amid them continues and they refresh bilateral relationships through wary hopefulness (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). In due course, India, Pakistan, and the United States ought to think about a cooperative Provisional Reconstruction Team in the northwest of Afghanistan, further than the Pakistan boundary. All these attempts are going to be time-consuming received. However, unless an approach to alleviate the fundamental Pakistan-India conflict in Afghanistan is established, the state will remain to be an arena for this chiefly undeclared fighting. The advantages of making collaboration and confide in Afghanistan will aid forward the broader India-Pakistan tension and improve security around the area (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). In its security scheming, Pakistan identifies India looking for a tactical covering, a rule of influencing occasions in Afghanistan and Iran to bring out anti-Pakistan reactions to produce political and security troubles for Pakistan. Military policy currently particularly in the nuclear circumstance has transformed the situation and the notions of combat fighting. At greatest, Pakistan possibly will find a sociable Afghanistan presenting a tactical relief zone for restricted logistic nourishment and endorsement in the occasion of upcoming fighting with India (â€Å"Resolving the Pakistan-Afghanistan Stalemate†, 2006). 4. Respective interests among India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan There is abundance to be cynical about the recent ‘concord’ progression amid Pakistan and India. The direct desires following this concord process are none too heartening. Specifically, the military-led government in Islamabad is in great force from its U. S. supporters to accept a collaborative position vis-a-vis the giant eastern neighbor. As you would have thought, the Pakistani military is a communal participant with a record and culture of hostility in the direction of India. Several peace-process idealists say that it is for this very motive that the military is the most dependable bringer of peace. Fragile national leaders cannot create believable guarantees and continue to exist (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). At all normalization process would weaken the political legality of the armed forces as an unit, accordingly giving augmentation to challenges to its assertions on the state’s financial resources. These assertions would not be restricted to the community reward, although that is significant. They would expand to the military’s great and increasing business territory, covering segments for example manufacturing, economics, property enlargement, shipment, air travel, and farming (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). Pakistan’s military founding, the state’s most influential political attention group, maintains to consider India as an existing hazard. The U. S. might depart Pakistan to its own ways, its purposes might be restrained, there might be a government failure in Afghanistan, or a government transform in Washington DC. American motivation to support the Pakistani military moderates the latter from financial requirements and political voters for peace making (Riencourt, A. , 2007). The Pakistan-India boundary is forced to be infringed, for the financial necessities are just too overpowering. The increasing amount of lawful and recognized business amid the two countries, as well as approximates of unlawful and unrecognized business, confirms to this predictability. The two economies are not merely geographical neighbors. They work at equal levels of knowledge, and divide comparable levels of buying power, flavors, and favorites. They are genuine candidates for market incorporation (Riencourt, A. , 2007). India and Pakistan are increasing their financial systems with the intention of struggle in international markets. They run in greatly aggressive zones where market share relies on small dissimilarities in border. The lagging of the two financial systems places tensions, occasionally intolerable ones, on national customers and producers in a similar way. Pakistani producers have been converted into powerful supporters of the import of cheaper Indian capital assets and underdone materials. Main upcoming investments in the energy area, and therefore in every other area, depend on political collaboration amid the two states. Although the U. S. obstructs the Iran-Pakistan-India gas channel, an option for example the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas route is feasible as long as the Pakistan-India part remains integral as well (â€Å"Resolving the Pakistan-Afghanistan Stalemate†, 2006). 5. The policy positions the three countries took toward the United States and the bilateral relations with the United States In India’s circumstances, the behavior of cooperation with Washington have been belatedly in developing and have yet to attain the levels occasionally documented in the history of U. S. and Pakistan relationships. Trade and industry, however, binds amid India and the U. S. have extended outstandingly in current years and an epidemic of combined military completions and artillery agreements among them give assurance of developing into a qualitatively new type of tactical corporation (â€Å"U. S. Policy Toward India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan†, 2003). For one point, Pakistan’s nuclear controlling and selling in the previous some years has stimulated considerable concern in the U. S. in excess of the security of Islamabad’s nuclear weapons course. Pakistan’s unsteady promise to self-governing regulation is also difficult for Washington, and the Indian and Pakistani governments have conditions, to this point mainly subdued publicly, on the subject of Washington’s Iraq strategy. More than the long-standing, both governments stay intensely apprehensive of Washington’s purposes, particularly of its readiness and capability to uphold recent promises (Rauf, T. , 2001). Preserving welcoming binds with the U. S. continues a subject of greatest significance to both India and Pakistan. Therefore, appeasing the U. S. , preventing acts that might disturb the intrinsically fragile trilateral agreement in position at present, obviously considers in computations completed concerning their relations with the other. This noticeably provides Washington surprising advantage, comprising several abilities for soothing and even changeing India-Pakistan relationships. When forceful national interests are in the balance, on the other hand, Washington’s advantage is probable to show somewhat not real (â€Å"U. S. Policy Toward India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan†, 2003). 6. Conclusion Pakistan and Afghanistan have had mainly opposed relationships beneath all governments except the Taliban, since Pakistan was built as constituent of the separation of India in 1947. Several parts of disagreement were also taken over from tensions amid Afghanistan and India when it was in British colonial regulation. Afghanistan’s governments, together with that of the Taliban, have never identified the Durand Line amid the two countries as a global boundary and have created assertions on the Pashtun and Baluch areas of Pakistan. Today’s cross-border rebellions, with their refuges and encourage networks in Pakistan, are cultivated by the similar sources as earlier tensions, as well as worldwide Islamist movements (â€Å"Resolving the Pakistan-Afghanistan Stalemate†, 2006). A progression must work in the direction of restructurings in the FATA of Pakistan. The U. S. , NATO, and the UN should have the same opinion to send a general note to Islamabad: that the perseverance of Taliban refuges in Pakistan is a danger to global peace and safety that Pakistan has to deal with instantly. In addition, they should concur to advise Afghanistan and India to accomplish all in their authority to support Pakistan to create hard decisions by forwarding sources of Pakistani diffidence, as well as problems with reference to the boundary area and Kashmir. They are supposed to aggressively endorse this progression and take action as backers and funders of every agreement that generate from it (Riencourt, A. , 2007). On condition that India and Pakistan continue antagonistic to each other, Afghanistan is deliberately significant to both. It is very important to Pakistan that it not have unsociable authorities on its east and west boundaries, while from India’s viewpoint, Afghanistan would present excellent strategic moorland to press Pakistan. Reasonably, as well, Afghanistan possesses great assurance. Last year, The U. S. joined Afghanistan and Pakistan mutually in the course of the formation of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones that would get U. S. tax exceptions (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). Moreover, Afghanistan is a solution to the business ways and energy channels of Central Asia. Therefore, if the U. S. is going to overturn this miserable weakening in Afghanistan, it will require the encouragement of both India and Pakistan. These two big states are supposed to be taught from the past mistakes, combating over Afghanistan is not the way out. The losses are too large.Washington and Kabul have to seek methods to invest both states in aiding to build Afghanistan an accomplishment (â€Å"PAKISTAN†, 2006). Reference: â€Å"Effects on Trends in Trade Policy from 1850-1914. † GradeSaver. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from http://www. gradesaver. com/search Gaddis, John Lewis. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War 1941–1947. Columbia University Press, 1972 House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Session 1999-2000, HC 407, The Stationery Office, 25th July 2000, paragraph 40 Krugman, Paul R. , and Maurice Obstfeld. International Economics: Theory and Policy. Addison-Wesley, 1997 Lipschutz. Ronnie D. â€Å"Seeking a State of Ones Own: An Analytical Framework for Assessing `Ethnic and Sectarian Conflict. † 1998. pp. 44-77, in: Beverly Crawford Ronnie D. Lipschutz (eds. ), The myth of ethnic conflict: politics, economics, and cultural violence (Berkeley: Institute of International Area Studies, UC-Berkeley). at: http://escholarship. cdlib. org/ias/crawford/crawford02. html †PAKISTAN. † 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from http://www. angelfire. com/mac/egmatthews/worldinfo/asia/pakistan. html Rauf, T. â€Å"United States Seeks Pakistans Assistance. † 2001. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from http://cns. miis. edu/research/wtc01/pak. htm â€Å"Resolving the Pakistan-Afghanistan Stalemate. † 2006. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from http://www. usip. org/pubs/specialreports/sr176. pdf Riencourt, A. â€Å"India and Pakistan in the Shadow of Afghanistan. † 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2007 from http://www. foreignaffairs. org/19821201faessay8309/amaury-de-riencourt/india-and-pakistan-in-the-shadow-of-afghanistan. html

Students who feel connected to peers Essay Example for Free

Students who feel connected to peers Essay In many cases, violence in schools may be due to lack of understanding and keen eye and ear to the students. Students need to have role models as well as a confidant they can talk to. However, â€Å"When they do not have access to caring adults, feelings of isolation, rejection, and disappointment are more likely to occur, increasing the probability of acting-out behaviors† (Dwyer et al, 1998, p. 10). This writing seeks to reveal what researchers and authors have unveiled concerning the belief that students who have a sense of connection with adults and/or teachers are more likely to go to them and warn them of a fellow student’s plan to violate the school community. Introduction Violence in schools can date as back as when humanity started. This statement simply means that violence can be defined as an occurrence that happens as a result of the imperfections of humanity. However, violence should not be taken as something that can harm the true bond of humanity but one that can be curbed and minimized with the right communication systems. In many cases, violence in schools can be avoided if only fear of attack after reporting violence plots can be curbed. As study carried out using hypothetical scenarios showed that though some students felt that fear of being punished or attacked would make them not intervene or report a violence plot. â€Å"High schools are generally larger than middle schools and provide less opportunity for teachers and students to interact, which is the foundation for building trust, caring and community between the two† Willenz (2009). Research findings on past occurrences and response levels In some cases schools have counselors to talk to the students and â€Å"At the high school level, counselors are part of the staff. However, the average high school counselor has between 350-400 students to advice. This is too many students for the counselor to have a personal relationship with students† (Johnson, n. d). However, a good number of students revealed that they would be willing and ready to report violence plots/plans to an adult or teacher if they not only had a good relationship with the adult/teacher and had a sense of belonging and were proud of their school. The main question would then be: how do schools/teachers create the kind of environment and relationships in schools that would encourage students to report such cases of violence or intervene if they would not pose danger to themselves? Researchers, authors and various front end campaigners have all tried to engage all their efforts towards finding the real and most effective way to curb violence in schools. Various authors have come to the conclusion that school policies and rules may be so rigid as to cause a gap between adults/teachers and students rather that creating the bond and kind of relationship that would encourage the students to freely speak out and report violence plots by fellow students. In this case the policies and rules would pose more harm to the school and its community more than they would be meant to protect and govern the relationships to create a safe haven for the school communities. In his article, The A-B-Cs of School Violence, Johnson (n. d) reveals that: â€Å"Researchers have completed an analysis of 37 school shootings. The research showed that students at school usually knew what would happen because the shooters had told them, but the bystanders didnt warn anyone. This disturbing pattern gives society a brief ray of hope, because this gives teachers time to intervene. If kids tell, teachers or parents might be able to learn what a student is planning before the violence erupts. † In most cases, schools and the community as well as governments have policies and measures meant to curb violence in schools after they occur, but few measures have been put in place to prevent violence incidents before they happen. As much as teachers may be seen as the adults to be reported to incase of a violence plan/plot, in many cases student counselors and parents can be of great importance in enhancing relationships and freedom of expression among students to ensure they would be free enough to go to the adults without fear of being reprimanded or attached by the violators. Student-teacher relationships have been seen as a great tool that can be used to help curb violence in schools. In order for a teacher to be able to enhance this relationship with the students, there is need for the teacher to ensure that he/she has â€Å"set forth both academic and behavioral expectations for all students. In addition to school wide codes, each teacher must articulate to students on the first day of class the basic standards of behavior for the class. Additional standards may be developed with input from the students to reinforce their commitment to the standards† Johnson (n. d). For violence in schools to be prevented, students must then be deemed as critical information sources as they get to interact at a closer, personal and individual manner than teachers do. Jimerson Furlong (2006) add that â€Å"Students also are an essential source of information and their input into the problem definition undertaking can provide the school safety team with substantial clarification and direction. † Researchers reveal that in some cases students would be comfortable and willing to give information on a fellow student planning to commit a violent offence in or out of the school if â€Å"children feel safe when expressing their needs, fears and anxieties to school staff† (Dwyer et al, 1998, p. 10). â€Å"Teachers who use cooperative learning, peer helping, cross-age mentoring, and community service facilitate resilience. These strategies create a connection or bond between the student and school, allow for practice with social skills, and decrease students’ likelihood of engaging in destructive behaviors† (Vitto, 2003). Having constraints with time, demanding curricular, need for great accountability, as well as pressures related to testing, the teachers’ desires to have and maintain positive and individual/personal relationships with students can be interfered with. In this case the closeness to adults and/or teachers that would encourage students to reports cases of violence before they happen would be reduced. To help counter this challenge, the inclusion of parents as the â€Å"watchful eye† over the students in their communities and schools could help enhance a bond with them as adults and increase the probability of the students reporting violence plans. Many authors have revealed that â€Å"Fear of getting into trouble makes students less willing to go to a teacher or principal with their concerns about a peers potentially dangerous plan and more likely to ignore the situation† (Willenz, 2009). As Vitto (2003) adds: â€Å"Unfortunately, many school reform initiatives focus on inadequate solutions, such as vouchers, increased testing and accountability, year-round schooling, harsher punishments, and zero-tolerance policies. These solutions are shortsighted and ignore critical factors such as the importance of positive teacher-student relationships and the development of social-emotional competencies and resilience† (p. 5). As many researchers have proven, finely operated schools nurture not only their academic but also safety and generally appropriate behaviors that help support students in attaining high standards, cultivate constructive relationships among school teachers, staff and students, and uphold significant parental and societal involvement. These promotes positive cohesion characteristics in schools, enhances prevention and suitable intervention as well as effective response from students in case of a response in reporting plans by fellow students to commit violence related offences. â€Å"For all students, Syvertsen et al. said, knowing they could voice their opinions and be heard by a school official along with their sense of belonging – how they and their friends fit into the school culture – best predicted whether they would confront the peer themselves or tell an adult† (Willenz, 2009).

Gender Constructions in The Hours

Gender Constructions in The Hours TITLE: Gender Constructions in The Hours (Daldry. S, 2002) AIM/OBJECTIVE: To illustrate gender as being a social construction rather than a biologically determined entity and to evaluate how heteronormativity influences the several layers of identity. METHODOLOGY Drawing upon the evolution of gender construction in The Hours, I intend to use feminist theory and the social construction on gender to obtain a preview of a society devoid of the restrictions in terms of heteronormativity. LITERATURE REVIEW: Judith Butler’s (1988) ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’ asserts that â€Å"gender identity is a performative accomplishment compelled by social sanction and taboo†. Butler (1988) argues that gender is constituted through a series of â€Å"acts† that have been actualized by individuals in repetition over time. She further argues that gender is something that is not a concrete â€Å"social fiction† but is constantly being reproduced, shifted and moved. In short, she theorizes that gender is not a set of concrete identities, but it is always reproduced over and over by the body. â€Å"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.† This emblematic quote of Simone de Beauvoir in ‘The Second Sex’ (1949) demonstrates that â€Å"no biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gender must be understood as a process of taking on or realizing possibilities, a process of interpreting the body and giving it a cultural form. In other words, to be a woman is to become a woman through an active practice of appropriating, interpreting and reinterpreting received cultural possibilities. In so doing, women are relegated to the category ‘the other’ through cultural construction, which Butler identifies as being the key to women’s oppression. Gender identity, advocates Simone de Beauvoir, â€Å"rests on unstable bedrock of human invention.† Drawing on Laura Mulvey’s work ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, Anneke Smelik’s ‘Feminist Film Theory’ (1999) indicates a prolific diversity which echoes the multitude of voices, manifold points of view, and cinematic styles and genres that indicate womens triumphant endeavor for self-representation on the silver screen. However, a restriction such as the reproduction of a male/female dichotomy is questioned and the need for a deconstruction is expressed. The renewed interest in the sex/gender distinction that Gayle Rubin had introduced in 1975 is given much importance. The term gender usually seemed to point to a more lucid distinction between anatomy (sex) and social construction (gender), and equally between sexual practice and gender identity. This distinction contributes to the critical appreciation of movies where gender constructions are depicted as being unusual. BACKGROUND: Society has been, most of the time, portrayed as being a patriarchal one. One representation that can be recurrently seen in texts is that man is the norm, and woman is ‘the other’, or as stated by Culler (2007), â€Å"Men have aligned the opposition male/female with rational/emotional, serious/frivolous, or reflective/spontaneous†. In such a scenario, the woman feels restricted to particular roles dictated by men and at some point, she feels stifled by the various impositions levied upon her. This research topic gives a discerning stance of the struggle of women of the 20th century who have been constantly seeking for more meaningful lives. In order to question the whole issue of gender construction as well as the hierarchy of the opposing attributes, this tale of women will be considered. These heroines of everyday lives will be analysed in terms of the construction of a patriarchal society as they make heart breaking and defining choices that eventually influence their whole life. INTRODUCTION: The Hours is a 2002 drama film – a screenplay by David Hare based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Michael Cunningham. Starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore, the movie relates the life of women of three different generations, who are interconnected by Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The character of Virginia Woolf, magnificently portrayed by Nicole Kidman, lives against her will in Richmond, England, 1922. Laura Brown is a pregnant housewife living in 1951 in Los Angeles. Played by Julianne Moore, she feels suffocated in her so-called â€Å"perfect life†. Lastly, Clarissa Vaughan, expertly acted by Meryl Streep, is a contemporary version of Mrs. Dalloway and leads a somewhat happy life with her homosexual partner, Sally, in New York City, 2001. DISCUSSION: In The Hours, Virginia Woolf is seen to be delving into her imagination to create Mrs. Dalloway – a woman who, like herself, embodies liberal thoughts, but nonetheless, enjoys a more expansive freedom in her lifestyle. Through her creation, she craftily plays on the notion of what gender identity should represent. This idea is once again explored through Mrs. Brown, who engages herself in reading the novel Mrs. Dalloway in her moments of solitude and depression. Virginia Woolf thus gives birth to Mrs. Dalloway, who in turn, becomes a source of inspiration to Laura Brown. Woolf turns many cultural gender stereotypes and generalizations on their heads, and seems to do so more in an effort to expose how gender is a socially constructed concept rather than promoting an exclusively feminist agenda. The character of Clarissa is yet another portrayal of construction related to gender identity. The contrast between Mrs. Dalloway in the novel and Clarissa Vaughan in the movie shows how the process of deconstruction occurred over time. The fact that Mrs. Dalloway could only be allowed to reminisce about her love for Sally shows that there are some limitations for her to live her femininity and sexuality as compared to Clarissa who is in a committed relationship with her homosexual lover. The construction of identity as portrayed in Clarissa goes beyond sexual orientation and constricted roles for women. It focuses on how the concept of the self develops in a society defined by social norms. CONCLUSION: With each upcoming generation, the characters demonstrate that they are given license to broaden their horizons. This evolving pattern shows a deconstruction of heteronormativity and at the same time does not restrict women to being portrayed as the other. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ahmed, S. (2010). ‘Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness’. The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 571-594 Beauvior, S. D. (1949). ‘The Second Sex’, trans. and ed. H. M. Parshley. New York: Knoph. Butler, J. (1986). Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoirs Second Sex .Witness to a century. 72 (3), 40-42. Butler, J. (1988). ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’. The John Hopkins University Press: Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 519-531 Butler, J. (1988). ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’. The John Hopkins University Press: Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 519-531 Butler, J. (1990) ‘Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity’. London and New York: Routledge. Butler, J. (1993). ‘Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of â€Å"Sex†. London and New York: Routledge. Cott, F. N. (1987). ‘The Grounding of Modern Feminism.’ Yale University Press Culler, J. D. (2007). ‘On Deconstructionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬: Theory and Criticism After Structuralismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Cornell University Press.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¬ Daldry. S (Director).The Hours[Motion picture]. Miramax Films, 2002. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). ‘Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality’. New York: Basic Books. Flax, J. (1990). ‘Postmodernism and gender relations in feminist theory’. In Nicholson, L. J., editor, Feminism/Postmdernism. London and New York: Routeldge, 39-62. Foucault, M. (1961). ‘Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason.’ Howard, R., translator. New York: Pantheon Books. Hjersing, C (2009).‘Representations of Clarissa and Septimus in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway A deconstructive approach combined with aspects of feminist and psychoanalytical criticism’ Molyneux, M. (1986).‘No God, No Boss, No Husband: Anarchist Feminism in Nineteenth-Century Argentina.’ Sage Publications. Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 13, No. 1, Latin Americas Nineteenth-Century History, pp. 119-145 Motashery, I. (2012). ‘A Feminist Reading of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway’. International Journal of Applied Linguistics English Literature. Vol. 1 No. 3. Offen, K. (1988). ‘Defining Feminism: A Comparative Historical Approach’The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 119-157 Probyn, E. (1993). ‘Sexing the Self: Gendered Positions in Cultural Studies’. London and New York: Routledge. Shihada, M, I. ‘A Feminist Perspective of Virginia Woolf’s Selected Novels: Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse.’ Shor, M. et. al (1999).‘Contemporary Feminism: Art Practice, Theory, and ActivismAn Intergenerational Perspective’. College Art Association. Art Journal, Vol. 58, No. 4, pp. 8-29 Smelik, A. (1999). ‘Feminist film theory.’ Warner, M. (1991). ‘Introduction: Fear of a Queer Planet’. Duke University Press. Social Text, No. 29 (1991), pp. 3-17

Roel of Violence in Edwin A. Abbotts Flatland :: Abbott Flatland Essays

Roel of Violence in Flatland      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Some people turn to violence when something does not go  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     their way, or someone says something they do not agree with. It  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     does not take brains to solve a problem with your fists; it just makes   people look immature, and uneducated. Fighting and violence is  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     more prevalent at Bloomsburg than in many of the students home  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     towns. It seems that people are to busy or to drunk to just sit down   and talk things out like reasonable people.  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Violence plays a major roll in the novel Flatland.   It seems like someone is always disagreeing with someone, and creating a   conflict, as when the square resorts to violence by sending his  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     hardest right angle into a violent collision with the stranger, only   because the square would not let himself be convinced of the  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     mysteries of Spaceland, or if an infant whose angle deviates by half a   degree from the correct angularity is summarily destroyed at birth.   If we destroyed all the mentally retarded people at birth because  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     they have flaws, and are not like everybody else, or if everyone  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     attacked people just because of something they said that we did not   believe--if this happened all the time, we would completely destroy   the world.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚           Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The college scene is really horrible when it comes to violence.   Members of fraternities and sororities are terrible at staying calm,   and controlling their temper, because of alcohol, and other drugs.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     When a person drinks he becomes this monster of violence, a  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     fighting machine. People lose all senses of right and wrong when  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     they have the beer muscles on. A slight bump of the arm at a party  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     can trip the switch of a drunk, violent person. Even the weakest  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     person can experience this amazing feeling of power if she drinks  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     excessive amounts of alcohol. In small towns about the only  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     violence there is to see is in the bars, and taverns. Usually it is the   uneducated, lower-class people just blowing off a little steam. Life   in a small town is for the most part simple.

Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays research papers

Nathaniel Hawthorne The 19th century had many great achievements happen within its 100-year time period. From the building of the Erie Canal, to the steel plow being invented. From the invention of the telegraph, to Thomas Edison creating the first light bulb. While all of these inventions have stood the test of time, one has lasted just as long; the inspiring tales a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. His name by birth was Nathaniel Hawthorne. He added the w to his name when he began to sign his stories. ("Nathaniel Hawthorne" American Writers II) One of Hawthorne’s ancestors was actually a judge in the Salem witch trials. The guilt and shame Hawthorne felt of his ancestors were included in some of his stories. (McGraw Hill, pg.67) Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain. He died of fever when Hawthorne was only four. Shortly after his father’s death, his mother was forced to move her three children into her parent’s home and then into her brother’s home in Maine. Hawthorne’s childhood was not particularly abnormal, as many famous authors have claimed to have. Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College and graduated after four years. After graduation, he returned to Salem. Contrary to his family’s expectations, Hawthorne did not begin to read law or enter business, rather he moved into his mother’s house to turn himself into a writer. Hawthorne wrote his mother, "I do not want to be a doctor and live by men’s diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I don’t see that there is anything left for me but to be an author." (" American Writers II, pg. 227) For the next twelve years Hawthorne lived in his mother’s house. He Seldemly went out except late at night, or when going to another city. " I had read endlessly all sorts of good and good for nothing boo ks, and in dearth of other employment, had early begun to scribble sketches and stories, most of which I burned." Reflected Hawthorne. (McGraw Hill, pg.68) Hawthorne’s first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously in 1828 at his own expense. Because of a lack of sales, Hawthorne recalled every copy he could find of the book and destroyed them. When a local printer delayed publishing his Seven Tales of My Native Land, Hawthorne withdrew the manuscript and burned it " in a mood half-savage, half-despairing.

Animals Are Good Essay -- essays research papers

cures await discovery. Although the list is pretty much endless, here are some examples, by decade, including the main species used that were crucial to the discovery: Pre-1900: Treatment for rabies (dogs, rabbits), smallpox (cows), anthrax (sheep). 1900s: Cardiac catheterization techniques (dogs, rabbits), treatment for rickets (dogs). 1920s: Discovery of insulin (dogs). 1930s: Development of modern anesthesia (dogs), prevention of tetanus (horses), development of anticoagulants (cats). 1940s: Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (rabbits, monkeys), discovery of the RH factor (monkeys), prevention of diptheria (horses), antibiotics (rats, mice, rabbits, etc), treatment for whooping cough (pigs and rabbits). 1950s: Prevention of polio (rabbits, monkeys, rodents), discovery of DNA (rats and mice), development of open-heart surgery and pacemaker (dogs), development of cancer chemotherapy (monkeys, rabbits and rodents). 1960s: Development of lithium treatment (rats and guinea pigs), prevention of rubella (monkeys). 1970s: Prevention of measles (monkeys), treatment for leprosy (monkeys, armadillos), heart bypass surgery (dogs). 1980s: Development of monoclonal antibodies for treating diseases (mice, rabbits), organ transplant advances (dogs, sheep, cows and pigs). 1990s: Laproscopic surgical techniques (pigs), breast cancer genetic and environmental links (fruit flies, mice and rats), gene therapy for cystic fibrosis (mice and primates). It is often hard to c...

Zoe’s Tale PART III Chapter Twenty-Three

Something was nudging me awake. I swatted at it. â€Å"Die,† I said. â€Å"Zoe,† Hickory said. â€Å"You have a visitor.† I blinked up at Hickory, who was framed as a silhouette by the light coming from the corridor. â€Å"What are you talking about?† I said. â€Å"General Gau,† Hickory said. â€Å"He is here. Now. And wishes to speak to you.† I sat up. â€Å"You have got to be kidding me,† I said. I picked up my PDA and looked at the time. We had arrived in Conclave space fourteen hours earlier, popping into existence a thousand klicks out from the space station that General Gau had made the administrative headquarters of the Conclave. He said he hadn't wanted to favor one planet over another. The space station was ringed with hundreds of ships from all over Conclave space, and even more shuttles and cargo transports, going between ships and back and forth from the station. Phoenix Station, the largest human space station and so big I've heard that it actually affected tides on the planet Phoenix (by amounts measurable only by sensitive instruments, but still), would have fit into a corner of the Conclave HQ. We had arrived and announced ourselves and sent an encrypted message to General Gau requesting an audience. We had been given parking coordinates and then willfully ignored. After ten hours of that, I finally went to sleep. â€Å"You know I do not kid,† Hickory said. It walked back to the doorway and turned up the lights in my stateroom. I winced. â€Å"Now, please,† Hickory said. â€Å"Come to meet him.† Five minutes later I was dressed in something I hoped would be presentable and walking somewhat unsteadily down the corridor. After a minute of walking I said, â€Å"Oh, crap,† and ran back to my stateroom, leaving Hickory standing in the corridor. A minute later I was back, bearing a shirt with something wrapped in it. â€Å"What is that?† Hickory asked. â€Å"A gift,† I said. We continued our trip through the corridor. A minute later I was standing in a hastily arranged conference room with General Gau. He stood to one side of a table surrounded by Obin-style seats, which were not really well designed either for his physiology or mine. I stood on the other, shirt in my hand. â€Å"I will wait outside,† Hickory said, after it delivered me. â€Å"Thank you, Hickory,† I said. It left. I turned and faced the general. â€Å"Hi,† I said, somewhat lamely. â€Å"You are Zoe,† General Gau said. â€Å"The human who has the Obin to do her bidding.† His words were in a language I didn't understand; they were translated through a communicator device that hung from his neck. â€Å"That's me,† I said. I heard my words translated into his language. â€Å"I am interested in how a human girl is able to commandeer an Obin transport ship to take her to see me,† General Gau said. â€Å"It's a long story,† I said. â€Å"Give me the short version,† Gau said. â€Å"My father created special machines that gave the Obin consciousness. The Obin revere me as the only surviving link to my father. They do what I ask them to,† I said. â€Å"It must be nice to have an entire race at your beck and call,† Gau said. â€Å"You should know,† I said. â€Å"You have four hundred races at yours. Sir.† General Gau did something with his head that I was going to hope was meant to be a smile. â€Å"That's a matter of some debate at this point, I'm afraid,† he said. â€Å"But I am confused. I was under the impression that you are the daughter of John Perry, administrator of the Roanoke Colony.† â€Å"I am,† I said. â€Å"He and his wife Jane Sagan adopted me after my father died. My birth mother had died some time before that. It is on my adopted parents' account that I am here now. Although I apologize† – I motioned to myself, and my state of unreadiness – â€Å"I didn't expect to meet you here, now. I thought we would come to you, and I would have time to prepare.† â€Å"When I heard that the Obin were ferrying a human to see me, and one from Roanoke, I was curious enough not to want to wait,† Gau said. â€Å"I also find value in making my opposition wonder what I am up to. My coming to visit an Obin ship rather than waiting to receive their embassy will make some wonder who you are, and what I know that they don't.† â€Å"I hope I'm worth the trip,† I said. â€Å"If you're not, I'll still have made them nervous,† Gau said. â€Å"But considering how far you've come, I hope for both our sakes the trip has been worth it. Are you completely dressed?† â€Å"What?† I said. Of the many questions I might have been expecting, this wasn't one of them. The general pointed to my hand. â€Å"You have a shirt in your hands,† he said. â€Å"Oh,† I said, and put the shirt on the table between us. â€Å"It's a gift. Not the shirt. There's something wrapped in the shirt. That's the gift. I was hoping to find something else to put it in before I gave it to you, but you sort of surprised me. I'm going to shut up now and let you just have that.† The general gave me what I think was a strange look, and then reached out and unwrapped what was in the shirt. It was the stone knife given to me by the werewolf. He held it up and examined it in the light. â€Å"This is a very interesting gift,† he said, and began moving it in his hand, testing it, I guessed, for weight and balance. â€Å"And quite a nicely designed knife.† â€Å"Thank you,† I said. â€Å"Not precisely modern weaponry,† he said. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Figured that a general must have an interest in archaic weapons?† Gau asked. â€Å"Actually there's a story behind it,† I said. â€Å"There's a native race of intelligent beings on Roanoke. We didn't know about them before we landed. Not too long ago we met up with them for the first time, and things went badly. Some of them died, and some of us died. But then one of them and one of us met and decided not to try to kill each other, and exchanged gifts instead. That knife was one of those gifts. It's yours now.† â€Å"That's an interesting story,† Gau said. â€Å"And I think I'm correct in supposing that this story has some implication for why you're here.† â€Å"It's up to you, sir,† I said. â€Å"You might just decide it's a nice stone knife.† â€Å"I don't think so,† Gau said. â€Å"Administrator Perry is a man who plays with subtext. It's not lost on me what it means that he has sent his daughter to deliver a message. But then to offer this particular gift, with its particular story. He's a man of some subtlety.† â€Å"I think so, too,† I said. â€Å"But the knife is not from my dad. It's from me.† â€Å"Indeed,† Gau said, surprised. â€Å"That's even more interesting. Administrator Perry didn't suggest it?† â€Å"He doesn't know I had the knife,† I said. â€Å"And he doesn't know how I got it.† â€Å"But you did intend to send me a message with it,† Gau said. â€Å"One to complement your adopted father's.† â€Å"I hoped you'd see it that way,† I said. Gau set the knife down. â€Å"Tell me what Administrator Perry has to tell me,† he said. â€Å"You're going to be assassinated,† I said. â€Å"Someone is going to try, anyway. It's someone close to you. Someone in your trusted circle of advisors. Dad doesn't know when or how, but he knows that it's planned to happen soon. He wanted you to know so you could protect yourself.† â€Å"Why?† General Gau asked. â€Å"Your adopted father is an official of the Colonial Union. He was part of the plan that destroyed the Conclave fleet and has threatened everything I have worked for, for longer than you have been alive, young human. Why should I trust the word of my enemy?† â€Å"The Colonial Union is your enemy, not my dad,† I said. â€Å"Your dad helped kill tens of thousands,† Gau said. â€Å"Every ship in my fleet was destroyed but my own.† â€Å"He begged you not to call your ships to Roanoke,† I said. â€Å"This was a place where he was all too subtle,† Gau said. â€Å"He never explained how the trap had been set. He merely asked me not to call my fleet. A little more information would have kept thousands alive.† â€Å"He did what he could,† I said. â€Å"You were there to destroy our colony. He wasn't allowed to surrender it to you. You know he didn't have many options. And as it was he was recalled by the Colonial Union and put on trial for even hinting to you that something might happen. He could have been sent to prison for the simple act of speaking to you, General. He did what he could.† â€Å"How do I know he's not just being used again?† Gau asked. â€Å"You said you knew what it meant that he sent me to give you a message,† I said. â€Å"I'm the proof that he's telling you the truth.† â€Å"You're the proof he believes he's telling me the truth,† Gau said. â€Å"It's not to say that it is the truth. Your adopted father was used once. Why couldn't he be used again?† I flared at this. â€Å"Begging your pardon, General,† I said. â€Å"But you should know that by sending me to send you this warning, both my dad and my mom are absolutely assured of being labeled as traitors by the Colonial Union. They are both going to prison. You should know that as part of the deal to get the Obin to bring me to you, I can't go back to Roanoke. I have to stay with them. Because they believe that it's only a matter of time before Roanoke is destroyed, if not by you then by some part of the Conclave you don't have any control over anymore. My parents and I have risked everything to give you this warning. It's possible I'll never see them or anyone else on Roanoke again, because I am giving you this warning. Now, General, do you think any of us would do any of this if we were not absolutely certain about what we are telling you? Do you?† General Gau said nothing for a moment. Then, â€Å"I am sorry you have all had to risk so much,† he said. â€Å"Then do my dad the honor of believing him,† I said. â€Å"You're in danger, General. And that danger is closer than you think.† â€Å"Tell me, Zoe,† Gau said, â€Å"what does Administrator Perry hope to get from telling me this? What does he want from me?† â€Å"He wants you to stay alive,† I said. â€Å"You promised him that as long as you were running the Conclave, you wouldn't attack Roanoke again. The longer you stay alive, the longer we stay alive.† â€Å"But there's the irony,† Gau said. â€Å"Thanks to what happened at Roanoke, I'm not in as much control as I was. My time now is spent keeping others in line. And there are those who are looking at Roanoke as a way to take control from me. I'm sure you don't know about Nerbros Eser – â€Å" â€Å"Sure I do,† I said. â€Å"Your main opposition right now. He's trying to convince people to follow him. Wants to destroy the Colonial Union.† â€Å"I apologize,† Gau said. â€Å"I forgot you're not just a messenger girl.† â€Å"It's all right,† I said. â€Å"Nerbros Eser is planning to attack Roanoke,† Gau said. â€Å"I have been getting the Conclave back under my control – too slowly – but enough races support Eser that he has been able to fund an expedition to take Roanoke. He knows the Colonial Union is too weak to put up a defense of the colony, and he knows that at the moment I am in no position to stop him. If he can take Roanoke where I could not, more Conclave races could side with him. Enough that they would attack the Colonial Union directly.† â€Å"You can't help us, then,† I said. â€Å"Other than to tell you what I just have, no,† Gau said. â€Å"Eser is going to attack Roanoke. But in part because Administrator Perry helped to destroy my fleet, there is no way I can do much to stop him now. And I doubt very much that your Colonial Union will do much to stop him.† â€Å"Why do you say that?† I asked. â€Å"Because you are here,† General Gau said. â€Å"Make no mistake, Zoe, I do appreciate your family's warning. But Administrator Perry is not so kind that he would have warned me out of his own simple goodness. As you've noted, the cost is too high for that. You are here because you have nowhere else to turn.† â€Å"But you believe Dad,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Gau said. â€Å"Unfortunately. Someone in my position is always a target. But now of all times I know that even some of those who I've trusted with my life and friendship are calculating the costs and deciding that I'm worth more to them dead than alive. And it makes sense for someone to try for me before Eser attacks Roanoke. If I'm dead and Eser takes revenge on your colony, no one else will even try to challenge him for control of the Conclave. Administrator Perry isn't telling me anything I don't know. He's only confirming what I do know.† â€Å"Then I've been no use to you,† I said. And you've been no use to me, I thought but did not say. â€Å"I wouldn't say that,† Gau said. â€Å"One of the reasons I am here now is so that I could hear what you had to say to me without anyone else involved. To find out what I could do with the information you might have. To see if it has use to me. To see if you are of use to me.† â€Å"You already knew what I told you,† I said. â€Å"This is true,† Gau said. â€Å"However, no one else knows how much you know. Not here, in any event.† He reached over and picked up the stone knife and looked at it again. â€Å"And the truth of the matter is that I'm getting tired of not knowing, of those whom I trust, which is planning to stab me in the heart. Whoever is planning to assassinate me is going to be in league with Nerbros Eser. They are likely to know when he plans to attack Roanoke, and with how large a force. And perhaps working together we can find out both of these things.† â€Å"How?† I asked. General Gau looked at me again, and did that I-hope-it's-a-smile thing with his head. â€Å"By doing a bit of political theater. By making them think we know what they do. By making them act because of it.† I smiled back at Gau. â€Å"‘The play is the thing in which I shall catch the conscience of the king,'† I said. â€Å"Precisely,† Gau said. â€Å"Although it will be a traitor we catch, not a king.† â€Å"In that quote he was both,† I said. â€Å"Interesting,† Gau said. â€Å"I'm afraid I don't know the reference.† â€Å"It's from a play called Hamlet,† I said. â€Å"I had a friend who liked the playwright.† â€Å"I like the quote,† Gau said. â€Å"And your friend.† â€Å"Thanks,† I said. â€Å"I do too.† â€Å"One of you in this chamber is a traitor,† General Gau said. â€Å"And I know which one of you it is.† Wow, I thought. The general sure knows how to start a meeting. We were in the general's official advisors' chamber, an ornate room, which, the general told me beforehand, he never used except to receive foreign dignitaries with some semblance of pomp and circumstance. Since he was technically receiving me for this particular meeting, I felt special. But more to the point, the room featured a small raised platform with steps, on which sat a large chair. Dignitaries, advisors and their staff all approached it like it was a throne. This was going to be useful for what General Gau had in mind for today. In front of the platform, the room opened up into a semicircle. Around the perimeter stood a curving bar, largely of standing height for most sentient species in the Conclave. This is where advisors' and dignitaries' staff stood, calling up documents and data when needed and whispering (or whatever) into small microphones that fed into earpieces (or whatever) worn by their bosses. Their bosses – the advisors and dignitaries – filed into the area between the bar and the platform. Usually, I was told, they would have benches or chairs (or whatever suited their body shape best) offered to them so they could rest as they did their business. Today, they were all standing. As for me, I was standing to the left and just in front of the general, who was seated in his big chair. On the opposite side of the chair was a small table, on which lay the stone knife, which I had just (and for the second time) presented to the general. This time it was delivered in packaging more formal than a shirt. The general had taken it out of the box I had found, admired it, and set it on the table. Back along with the staff stood Hickory and Dickory, who were not happy with the plan the general had come up with. With them were three of the general's security detail, who were likewise not very pleased at all. Well, now that we were doing it, I'm not sure I was entirely thrilled with it either. â€Å"I thought we were here to hear a request from this young human,† said one of the advisors, a tall Lalan (that is, tall even for a Lalan) named Hafte Sorvalh. Her voice was translated by the earpiece I had been given by the Obin. â€Å"It was a pretense,† Gau said. â€Å"The human has no petition, but information pertaining to which one of you intends to assassinate me.† This naturally got a stir in the chamber. â€Å"It is a human!† said Wert Ninung, a Dwaer. â€Å"No disrespect, General, but the humans recently destroyed the entire Conclave fleet. Any information they would share with you should be regarded as highly suspect, to say the least.† â€Å"I agree with this entirely, Ninung,† Gau said. â€Å"Which is why when it was provided to me I did what any sensible person would have done and had my security people check the information thoroughly. I regret to say that the information was good. And now I must deal with the fact that one of my advisors – someone who was privy to all my plans for the Conclave – has conspired against me.† â€Å"I don't understand,† said a Ghlagh whose name, if I could remember correctly, was Lernin Il. I wasn't entirely sure, however; Gau's security people had given me dossiers on Gau's circle of advisors only a few hours before the meeting, and given everything else I needed to do to prepare, I had barely had time to skim. â€Å"What don't you understand, Lernin?† asked General Gau. â€Å"If you know which of us is the traitor, why hasn't your security detail already dealt with them?† Il asked. â€Å"This could be done without exposing you to an unnecessary risk. Given your position you don't need to take any more risks than are absolutely necessary.† â€Å"We are not talking about some random killer, Il,† the general said. â€Å"Look around you. How long have we known each other? How hard have each of us worked to create this great Conclave of races? We have seen more of each other over time than we have seen of our spouses and children. Would any of you have accepted it if I were to make one of you disappear over a vague charge of treason? Would that not seem to each of you that I was losing my grip and creating scapegoats? No, Il. We have come too far and done too much for that. Even this would-be assassin deserves better courtesy than that.† â€Å"What do you intend to do, then?† asked Il. â€Å"I will ask the traitor in this room to come forward,† he said. â€Å"It's not too late to right this wrong.† â€Å"Are you offering this assassin amnesty?† asked some creature whose name I just did not remember (or, given how it spoke, I suspect I could not actually pronounce, even if I did remember it). â€Å"No,† Gau said. â€Å"This person is not acting alone. They are part of a conspiracy that threatens what all of us have worked for.† Gau gestured to me. â€Å"My human friend here has given me a few names, but that is not enough. For the security of the Conclave we need to know more. And to show all the members of the Conclave that treason cannot be tolerated, my assassin must answer for what they have done to this point. What I do offer is this: That they will be treated fairly and with dignity. That they will serve their term of punishment with some measure of comfort. That their family and loved ones will not be punished or held responsible, unless they themselves are conspirators. And that their crime will not be made known publicly. Every one outside this room will know only that this conspirator has retired from service. There will be punishment. There must be punishment. But there will not be the punishment of history.† â€Å"I want to know where this human got its information,† said Wert Ninung. Gau nodded to me. â€Å"This information ultimately comes from the Colonial Union's Special Forces division,† I said. â€Å"The same group that spearheaded the destruction of the Conclave fleet,† Wert said. â€Å"Not especially trustworthy.† â€Å"Councilor Wert,† I said, â€Å"how do you think the Special Forces were able to locate every one of the ships of your fleet? The only time it assembles is when it removes a colony. Locating four hundred ships among the tens of thousands that each race alone has at its disposal was an unheard of feat of military intelligence. After that, do you doubt that the Special Forces had difficulty coming up with a single name?† Wert actually growled at me. I thought that was rude. â€Å"I have already told you that I have had the information checked out,† General Gau said. â€Å"There is no doubt it is accurate. That is not under discussion. What is under discussion is how the assassin will choose to be discovered. I repeat: The assassin is in this room, right now, among us. If they will come forward now, and share information on their other conspirators, their treatment will be generous, light and secret. The offer is in front of you now. I beg you, as an old friend, to take it. Come forward now.† No one in the room moved. General Gau stared at each of his advisors, directly and in the eye, for several seconds each. None of them took so much as a step forward. â€Å"Very well,† General Gau said. â€Å"We do this the hard way, then.† â€Å"What will you do now, General?† asked Sorvalh. â€Å"Simple,† Gau said. â€Å"I will call up each of you in turn. You will bow to me and swear your allegiance to me as the leader of the Conclave. Those of you who I know are truthful, I will offer you my thanks. The one of you who is a traitor, I will reveal you in front of those you have worked alongside for so long, and have you arrested. Your punishment will be severe. And it will be most definitely public. And it will end with your death.† â€Å"This is not like you, General,† Sorvalh said. â€Å"You created the Conclave with the idea that there would be no dictators, no demands of personal allegiance. There is only allegiance to the Conclave. To its ideals.† â€Å"The Conclave is near collapse, Hafte,† Gau said. â€Å"And you know as well as I do that Nerbros Eser and his sort will run the Conclave like a personal fiefdom. One among you has already decided that Eser's dictatorship is preferable to a Conclave where every race has a voice. It's clear to me that I must ask for the allegiance I once only held in trust. I am sorry it has come to this. But it has.† â€Å"What if we will not swear allegiance?† Sorvalh said. â€Å"Then you will be arrested as a traitor,† Gau said. â€Å"Along with the one who I know to be the assassin.† â€Å"You are wrong to do this,† Sorvalh said. â€Å"You are going against your own vision for the Conclave to ask for this allegiance. I want you to know I believe this in my soul.† â€Å"Noted,† Gau said. â€Å"Very well,† Sorvalh said, and stepped forward to the platform and knelt. â€Å"General Tarsem Gau, I offer you my allegiance as the leader of the Conclave.† Gau looked at me. This was my cue. I shook my head at him, clearly enough that everyone in the room could see that he was waiting for my verification. â€Å"Thank you, Hafte,† Gau said. â€Å"You may step back. Wert Ninung, please step forward.† Ninung did. As did the next six advisors. There were three left. I was beginning to get very nervous. Gau and I had already agreed that we would not carry the act so far as to accuse someone who wasn't actually guilty. But if we got to the end without a traitor, then we both would have a lot to answer for. â€Å"Lernin Il,† General Gau said. â€Å"Please step forward.† Il nodded and smoothly moved forward and when he got to me, viciously shoved me to the floor and lunged for the stone knife Gau had left on the table next to him. I hit the floor so hard I bounced my skull on it. I heard screaming and honks of alarm from the other advisors. I rolled and looked up as Il raised the knife and prepared to plunge it into the general. The knife was left out and within easy reach for a reason. Gau had already said he intended to reveal the traitor; he said he knew without a doubt who it was; he said the punishment for the traitor would include death. The traitor would already be convinced he would have nothing to lose by attempting the assassination then and there. But Gau's advisors didn't usually carry around killing implements on their person; they were bureaucrats and didn't carry anything more dangerous than a writing stylus. But a nice sharp stone knife carelessly left lying around would be just the thing to convince a desperate would-be assassin to take a chance. This was also one reason why the general's guards (and Hickory and Dickory) were stationed at the perimeter of the room instead of near the general; we had to give the illusion to the assassin that he could get in a stab or two before the guards got him. The general wasn't stupid, of course; he was wearing body armor that protected most of the parts of his body susceptible to stab wounds. But the general's head and neck were still vulnerable. The general thought it was worth the risk, but now as I watched the general trying to move to protect himself, I came to the conclusion that the weakest part of our plan was the one where the general presumably avoids being stabbed to death. Il was bringing down the knife. None of the general's guards or Hickory or Dickory was going to get there in time. Hickory and Dickory had trained me how to disarm an opponent; the problem was I was on the ground and not in any position to block the knife blow. And anyway the Ghlagh were a Conclave race; I hadn't spent any time learning any of their weak points. But then something occurred to me, as I lay there on my back, staring up at Il. I may not know much about the Ghlagh, but I sure know what a knee looks like. I braced myself on the floor, pushed, and drove the heel of my foot hard into the side of Lernin Il's most available knee. It gave way with a sickly twist and I thought I could feel something in his leg go snap, which made me feel sick. Il squealed in pain and grabbed at his leg, dropping the knife. I scrambled away as quickly as I could. General Gau launched himself out of his chair and took Il all the rest of the way down. Hickory and Dickory were suddenly by me, dragging me off the riser. Gau shouted something to his guards, who were racing toward the general. â€Å"His staff!† Gau said. â€Å"Stop his staff!† I looked over to the bar and saw three Ghlagh lunging at their equipment. Il's people were clearly in on the assassination and were now trying to signal their conspirators that they'd been discovered. Gau's men skidded to a stop and reversed themselves, leaping over the bar to get at Il's staff. They knocked away their equipment, but not before at least one of them had gotten a message through. We knew that because all through the Conclave headquarters, alarms began stuttering to life. The space station was under attack. About a minute after Il had made his clumsy attack on General Gau, an Impo battle cruiser named the Farre launched six missiles into the portion of the Conclave space station where Gau's offices were. The Farre was commanded by an Impo named Ealt Ruml. Ruml, it turns out, had reached an agreement with Nerbros Eser and Lernin Il to take command of a new Conclave fleet after Gau was assassinated. Ruml would then take the entire fleet to Phoenix Station, destroy it and start working down the list of human worlds. In exchange all Ruml had to do was be prepared to do a little flagrant bombing of Gau's offices and flagship when signaled, as part of a larger, orchestrated coup attempt, which would feature Gau's assassination as the main event and the destruction of key battle ships from races loyal to Gau. When Gau revealed to his advisors that he knew one of them was a traitor, one of Il's staffers sent a coded message to Ruml, informing him that everything was about to go sideways. Ruml in turn sent coded messages of his own to three other battle cruisers near the Conclave station, each captained by someone Ruml had converted to the cause. All four ships began warming up their weapons systems and selecting targets: Ruml targeted Gau's offices while the other traitors targeted Gau's flagship Gentle Star and other craft. If everything went as planned, Ruml and his conspirators would have disabled the ships most likely to come to Gau's aid – not that it would matter, because Ruml would have opened up Gau's offices to space, sucking anyone in them (including, at the time, me) into cold, airless vacuum. Minutes later, when Il's staff sent a confirmation note just before getting their equipment kicked out of their paws, Ruml launched his missiles and readied another set to go. And was, I imagine, entirely surprised when the Farre was struck broadside almost simultaneously by three missiles fired from the Gentle Star. The Star and six other trusted ships had been put on alert by Gau to watch for any ships that began warming up their weapons systems. The Star had spotted the Farre warming up its missile batteries and had quietly targeted the ship and prepared its own defense. Gau had forbidden any action until someone else's missiles flew, but the instant the Farre launched, the Star did the same, and then began antimissile defenses against the two missiles targeting it, sent by the Arrisian cruiser Vut-Roy. The Star destroyed one of the missiles and took light damage from the second. The Farre, which had not been expecting a counterattack, took heavy damage from the Star's missiles and even more damage when its engine ruptured, destroying half of the ship and killing hundreds on board, including Ealt Ruml and his bridge crew. Five of the six missiles fired by the Farre were disabled by the space station's defenses; the sixth hit the station, blowing a hole in the station compartment next to Gau's offices. The station's system of airtight doors sealed off the damage in minutes; forty-four people were killed. All of this happened in the space of less than two minutes, because the battle happened at incredibly close range. Unlike space battles in entertainment shows, real battles between spaceships take place over huge distances. In this battle, however, all the ships were in orbit around the station. Some of the ships involved were just a few klicks away from each other. That's pretty much the starship equivalent of going after each other with knives. Or so I'm told. I'm going by what others tell me of the battle, because at the time what I was doing was being dragged out of General Gau's advisor chamber by Hickory and Dickory. The last thing I saw was Gau pinning down Lernin Il while at the same time trying to keep his other advisors from beating the living crap out of him. There was too much noise for my translation device to work anymore, but I suspected that Gau was trying to tell the rest of them that he needed Il alive. What can you say. No one likes a traitor. I'm also told that the battle outside of the space station would have gone on longer than it did except that shortly after the first salvo of missiles a funny thing happened: An Obin cruiser skipped into existence unsettlingly close to the Conclave space station, setting off a series of proximity alarms to go with the attack alarms already in progress. That was unusual, but what really got everyone's attention was the other ships that appeared about thirty seconds afterward. It took the station a few minutes to identify these. And at that point everyone who had been fighting each other realized they now had something bigger to worry about. I didn't know about any of this right away. Hickory and Dickory had dragged me to the conference room some distance away from the advisor chamber and were keeping it secure when the alarms suddenly stopped. â€Å"Well, I finally used that training,† I said, to Hickory. I was amped up on leftover adrenaline from the assassination attempt and paced up and down in the room. Hickory said nothing to this and continued to scan the corridor for threats. I sighed and waited until it signaled that it was safe to move. Ten minutes later, Hickory clicked something to Dickory, who went to the door. Hickory went into the corridor and out of sight. Shortly after that I heard what sounded like Hickory arguing with someone. Hickory returned, followed by six very serious-looking guards and General Gau. â€Å"What happened?† I asked. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"What do you have to do with the Consu?† General Gau asked me, ignoring my question. â€Å"The Consu?† I said. â€Å"Nothing. I had asked the Obin to try to contact them on my behalf, to see if they could help me save Roanoke. That was a few days ago. I haven't heard from the Obin about it since.† â€Å"I think you have an answer,† Gau said. â€Å"They're here. And they're asking to see you.† â€Å"There's a Consu ship here now?† I said. â€Å"Actually, the Consu asking for you is on an Obin ship,† Gau said. â€Å"Which doesn't make any sense to me at all, but never mind that. There were Consu ships following the Obin ship.† â€Å"Ships,† I said. â€Å"How many?† â€Å"So far?† Gau said. â€Å"About six hundred.† â€Å"Excuse me?† I said. My adrenaline spiked again. â€Å"There are still more coming in,† Gau said. â€Å"Please don't take this the wrong way, Zoe, but if you've done something to anger the Consu, I hope they choose to take it out on you, not us.† I turned and looked at Hickory, disbelieving. â€Å"You said you required help,† Hickory said.