Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Sand mandala by tibetan buddhist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sand mandala by tibetan buddhist - Essay Example tive energy in the environment, the sand gathered from a mandala ceremony can be used in person or animals that are dying or stick a portion of the sand on the crown – top of the head (You Tube b). Ceremonies using different musical instruments to make a monotone sound and chanting are necessary as it enables the participants to experience peace of mind and deep concentration before and after the creation of sand mandala. The monotone sound also enables the monks and other participants to meditate in silence together (You Tube b). On the other hand, the process of pouring the sand into a creek is being done in order to allow the sand to flow with the water. This process symbolizes the spreading blessings, love and compassion to all human beings. Having read and observed how sand mandala is being performed is a very good experienced. Based on my personal observation and experiences about sand mandala, I have learned that the eight different parts of the center of the mandala symbolizes the eight noble paths of Tibetan Buddhism which includes: (1) right understanding; (2) right thought; (3) right speech; (4) right action; (5) right livelihood; (6) right effort; (7) right mindfulness; and (8) right concentration regardless of the art design of the mandala (Rahula, p. 45). These eight highlighted characteristics are actually the key factors that can bring us inner happiness, contentment in life, and freedom from anger. With the use of right speech, right action, and right livelihood, we can easily avoid actions that can cause harm to other people. For example: Being careful with the words we use when we speak to other people combined with choosing a morally acceptable occupation can lessen the chance that we can cause emotional pain to another person (Bodhi, p. 41). Therefore, there is a higher chance that we will receive good karma in our next life. Likewise, having the opportunity to personally experience how sand mandala is being conducted also made me able to

Monday, October 28, 2019

Self Esteem Essay Example for Free

Self Esteem Essay You cant touch it, but it affects how you feel. You cant see it, but its there when you look at yourself in the mirror. You cant hear it, but its there every time you talk about yourself. What is this important but mysterious thing? Its your self-esteem! Self Esteem is defined as confidence in your own merit as an individual. Our self-esteem is instilled in us during our youth. There are two types of self-esteem. There is high self-esteem which is when you feel good about yourself, and then there is low self-esteem which is when you feel bad about yourself. see more:explain the link between identity self image and self esteem Being constantly criticized by family, friends, and society tends to slowly strip us of our feelings of self-worth. Your self-esteem, however, is something more fundamental than the normal ups and downs associated with situational changes. For people with good self-esteem, normal ups and downs may lead to temporary fluctuations in how they feel about themselves, but only to a limited extent. In contrast, for people with poor self-esteem, these ups and downs drastically impact the way they see themselves. A dynamic relationship exists between self-esteem and skill development. As a child improve in self-esteem, his academic competence increases. And as that competence increases, his self-esteem improves. One of the main factors differentiating humans from other animals is the awareness of self: the ability to form an identity and then attach a value to it. In other words, you have the capacity to define who you are and then decide if you like that identity or not. The problem of self-esteem is this human capacity for judgment. It’s one thing to dislike certain colors, noises, shapes, or sensations. But when you reject parts of yourself, you greatly damage the psycho logical structures that literally keep you alive. Judging and rejecting yourself causes enormous pain. Now-a-days many organizations and the international council on self-esteem serves to promote public and personal awareness of the benefits of a healthy sense of self-esteem and personal responsibility and to establish conditions within families, schools, businesses and governments that foster these qualities. Because self-esteem is a feeling not a skill it can only be measured by observing the way in which a person acts or behaves. However, what we feel about ourselves is not based solely on what we do. It usually involves our relationships with others and whether we feel worthwhile as people. We have a basic human need to be wanted, noticed, and included. Observing ourselves in relation to other people can be a helpful source of learning and feedback. Yet all too often comparison slips into competition. The reality is we are all different. Each of us has strengths and limitation which we need to learn about and learn to live with. Do not assume you are not important; other people have an effect on you and you affect them. It is no good waiting for others or circumstances to leave us feeling better about ourselves. So accept responsibility for your own actions: as we cannot make other people change, we need to make the changes ourselves.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Euthanasia is the Best Option :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia is the Best Option    Euthanasia is a very controversial topic. People argue as to whether or not a person who is terminally ill, or handicap, should have the right to die by euthanasia.   People say that dying by euthanasia is to die with dignity,  instead of living an artificial life on respirators and other life support machines. If a person is terminally ill, and there is nothing anyone can do for them, why should they have to suffer?   Not only do they suffer but their family does also.   They will watch as their condition gets worse, and then the vision in their head of the loved one who has finally died many months after they were diagnose as terminally ill, is a memory of a person lying there helpless, not able to feed themselves, get out of bed, or talk to you.    One notable euthanasia case would be Sue Rodrigous.   She had a disease known as Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS, which is a rare incurable disease of the nervous system. ALS gradually destroys the nerves that control the muscles.   The results of which are weakness, paralysis, and eventually death.   That is what Sue Rodrigous was suffering from for well over a year.   Knowing that her condition was only going to get worse, and eventually, after the pain and suffering, would result in death, Sue wanted to die. She wanted people to remember her as a lively healthy woman, not just a body lying helpless in a hospital bed. With that thought in mind, Sue went to court to fight for right to die by euthanasia. The courts did not agree with her though.    Dr. Jack Kevorkian, proposed the creation of a new medical specialist, the "obitiarist," who would assist terminally ill patients to take their own lives, subject to strict guidelines.    His patient also suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease.   She was in bad shape, struggling to hold her head up, could not talk, and had to communicate using a computer keyboard.   She was deteriorating quickly.   "She was very smart," he said, a note of sadness entering his voice.   Kevorkian built a machine called the "mercitron," a jumble of tubes and bottles that would allow patients with little mobility to inject themselves with a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Existentialism in “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald's fiction presents not only the magic of the Jazz Age but also its immorality, materialism, and degradation of the human spirit. While Fitzgerald was probably not trying to specifically present existentialism in his works, Finkelstein describes Fitzgerald's work as having an existential theme: â€Å"F. Scott Fitzgerald was of this milieu, and at the same time critically detached from it. He expressed its hard-boiled, disillusioned attitude through the deliberate use of alienated imagery† (171).He manages to present the existential theme of alienation along with other existential issues; the characters in his fiction characterize the existential ideas of the absurdity of life, the absolute freedom of choice, and living with the consequence of one's choices. In â€Å"Babylon Revisited,† the freedom of choice leads the characters to exploit wealth and freedom and, eventually, to regret past actions and try to make up for the abuse of this freedom. In â €Å"Babylon Revisited† the reader can see the absurdity of life through the rise, fall and rebuilding of Charlie Wales.He chooses to drink and spend all his money. He loses everything in the stock market crash but attempts to rebuild his life. Charlie is distraught over the tragic loss of his wife but realizes that he must suffer the consequences of his prior actions.Regaining custody of his daughter Honoria serves as a symbol that Charlie has regained control of his life. This paper presents the ideas of existentialism as they apply to â€Å"Babylon Revisited†. The greatest tenet of existentialism in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† is that life is absurd because there is no true meaning.Individuals must create meaning; therefore they are constantly searching for themselves. Charlie Wales was searching for his true meaning and made some choices that led to bad consequences. The ultimate absurdity in this story is that Charlie makes the right decision to turn his life a round, but because he must live with his consequences, he fails to regain custody of his daughter. Although Charlie believes he has moved beyond his previous profligate behavior, his sister-in law does not, and she makes the decision to keep his daughter from him.The most absurd part is that Charlie is better suited now to take care of his daughter but Marion manages to remain in control of the situation. He works hard to build his life back up but one incident (that reflects his past life) turns everything upside down.Charlie Wales made some choices that led to bad consequences. The ultimate absurdity in this story is that even though Charlie has made the right decision to turn his life around, he must live with the consequences of his previous decisions and fails to regain custody of his daughter.The absurdity here deals with the fact that Charlie's experiences run contrary to expectations. If he has indeed changed his life, he should be rewarded for his redemption; unfortunately, he is not. He works hard to build his life back up but one incident (that reflects his past life) turns everything upside down.Although Charlie is now strong, his sister-in-law Marion is not, and she makes the decision to keep his daughter from him. Charlie may be better suited now to take care of his daughter, but Marion manages to remain in control of the situation.Charlie makes the choice to go back to the bar where he had spent much time in the past, and he makes the absurdly innocuous choice to give the bartender the Peters' address, which leads to the incident of Duncan and Lorraine's visit to the Peters' apartment that destroys the entire effort to get his daughter back.The reader, therefore, can never truly know how big of a role Charlie plays in his own downfall. He lives, as we all do, in an absurd world and this absurdity magnifies the impact of even the smallest decision. The existential idea of free will is important in â€Å"Babylon Revisited.† Sartre postulate s a concept of being-in-itself that corresponds to one phenomenal world, and it does not lie within the power of the individual to choose it. Individuals exist by virtue of personal choice. He believes â€Å"there is no universal a priori structure of consciousness, no common human nature, no native set of desires shared by all men that dispose us to project one kind of values to the exclusion of others or to give being-in-itself one kind of meaning rather than another† (Olson 133). Each individual is absolutely free.Charlie Wales exercised his free will prior to Helen's death in a series of wasteful actions that Fitzgerald presents as having a connection to the biblical idea of â€Å"Babylon. † The writings of the â€Å"Fathers of the Church describe Babylon as the ancient center of luxury and wickedness† (Baker 270).Fitzgerald develops the Babylon motif by presenting Charlie's actions as â€Å"catering to vice and waste† (215). Here, Fitzgerald's work c an be seen as assimilating Nietzsche's idea that God is dead and each individual must be the god of himself in a world without a God (Lavine 325).Since the existentialist mentality has as its basis the concept that an individual is free to make choices for the life he or she lives, he or she is absolutely responsible for the world in which he or she lives. The concept of being-in-itself did not cause Charlie to choose this life.If, therefore, he made a bad choice, he cannot hold anyone else responsible. Not until after the stock market crash does Charlie realize the consequences of his actions and feel the guilt of those consequences. He realizes that, like all individuals, he is responsible for everything he does (Toor 157).Charlie is held responsible for his actions in that he loses both his wife and daughter. He cannot reclaim his daughter until he accepts the consequences of his past. Charlie Wales pays the penance for his choice to drink and live the life of Babylon (Eble 42).H e realizes that he must pay the price: It [money] had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would always remember – his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont (Fitzgerald 216).For Charlie, the suddenness of the Depression creates a sense of dislocation, a feeling that he is living in two worlds at once. He is committed to the idea of recovery and the new way of life he has created, but he still clings partially to many of the habits he formed during the boom (Way 91).Charlie Wales makes the existential choice to live the â€Å"Babylonian† concept of â€Å"vice and waste. † He now, however, feels the stress of his actions, and he makes the choice to try to reconcile his former failings. The recovery is the important change that Charlie makes.His main purpose is to regain custody of Honoria. Charlie feels as if he has paid the price for his past choices and has sufficiently recovered enough to look after Honoria himself. He tells Marion and Lincoln that he is anxious to have a home and anxious to have Honoria in it.He states that â€Å"things have changed radically† with him (Fitzgerald 220). The memory of Helen drives Charlie to work hard and make himself a better person. He is working to get Honoria not only for his own sake, but for the sake of his dead wife.Fitzgerald is showing the sort of strength in Charlie that the reader does not see in Marion. Charlie has learned to control his drinking. When Marion finds out he had been in a bar before coming to her apartment, she chides him. He responds, â€Å"I take one drink every afternoon and I've had that† (213).He is trying to prove that he can control his drinking habits. He has one drink to enjoy the idea and taste of alcohol but will not allow himself to drink in excess. This is his idea of control, â€Å"I take that drink deliberately so that the idea of alcohol won't get too big in my imagination† (Fitzgerald 221).He knows it will be difficult to persuade Marion to let Honoria go, but he is confident that if he accepts her recriminations patiently and convinces her of his newly acquired steadiness of character, he will ultimately be successful. Another element of Charlie's recovery that Fitzgerald addresses is his renewed relationship with his daughter.Fitzgerald makes it obvious in the beginning of the novel that Honoria was not the first thing on the mind of her parents during their Babylon days. When the barman asks why he is in town and Charlie responds that he is in Paris to see his daughter, the barman replies questioningly, â€Å"Oh-h!You have a little girl? † (211). Someone who knew Charlie fairly well during his drinking days did not even know that he had a daughter. Fitzgerald contrasts this idea of having no relationship with his daughter by showing with tenderness and affect ion the scenes in which Charlie tentatively establishes contact with Honoria.He buys her toys and takes her to the circus, creating once again the atmosphere of love between them. Although he may be buying the love of his daughter, Marion grudgingly admits that Charlie has earned the right to his child (Way 91). Fitzgerald also shows the intense love that the child has for her father.She wants to go with him to Prague and asks when she will get to be with him (217). Charlie has recovered to the point that he wants to be with his child and she wants to be with him. Ultimately, when Marion denies him the child, he again shows strength of character (Way 109).He remains lonely but self-confident, â€Å"He would come back some day; they couldn't make him pay forever† (Fitzgerald 230). Sartre believes that â€Å"there are moments of anguish when life loses its meaning: when the objects that formerly drew our attention fade into oblivion and the desires that had previously guided o ur conduct seem vain or petty† (Olson 131).This creates an ugliness in the world to which people must react. These â€Å"moments of anguish† in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† occur when Charlie's friends manage to show up at the most inopportune times: â€Å"Sudden ghosts out of the past: Duncan Schaeffer, a friend from college.Lorraine Quarries; one of a crowd who had helped them make months into days in the lavish times of three years ago† (Fitzgerald 217). In a foreshadowing of the more crucial intrusion that Duncan and Lorraine will make later in the story, the first encounter with the duo is when they intrude on Charlie's luncheon with Honoria.They invite him to come sit in the bar with them and also invite him to dinner. They cannot accept the change in Charlie. Their intrusion is an unwanted product of Charlie's past, and they are outside forces that affect his life that he cannot control (Cooper 52). Later in the story, Lorraine invites him to dinner, re minding him of their drunken exploits. As a temptress, she has lost her charm for Charlie. He instead goes to meet with the Peters and his daughter (Baker 272). Just as Charlie has regained permission to take his child, the final, and most detrimental, intrusion occurs.Lorraine and Duncan crash the apartment, unmistakably drunk. They loudly and brutishly encourage him to join them for dinner. He tries feverishly to get them out of the apartment, but they are the reminders of his old life that Marion needs to change her mind. Lorraine will not let Charlie forget about his mistakes, â€Å"All right we'll go. But I remember once when you hammered on my door at 4 a. m. I was enough of a sport to give you a drink† (Fitzgerald 227). Charlie knows that he has lost Honoria because of these outside forces that try to make him weaker.Fitzgerald shows that Charlie is stronger because of his life change. Charlie dealt with the encounters by choosing to be strong, â€Å"Somehow an unwelc ome encounter. His old friends liked him because he was functioning, because he was serious; they wanted to see him, because he was stronger than they were now because they wanted to draw a certain sustenance from his strength† (218). This strength has led to Charlie's feeling of isolation. He goes to the Ritz bar in search of Duncan and Lorraine with the idea of finding them and letting them know that they possibly ruined his life.They had done their sorry work and vanished from his life (Baker 273). Existential philosophy includes alienation from the world, from one's fellows, from oneself (Finkelstein), and Charlie suffers this type of alienation. He has lost his family and his life. When he eventually fails to regain custody of Honoria, he questions why life dealt him this hand: â€Å"He wanted his child, and nothing was much good now, beside that fact. He wasn't young any more, with a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have himself. He was absolutely sure Helen wouldn't have wanted him to be so alone† (Fitzgerald 230).â€Å"Babylon Revisited† opens in the Ritz bar, a symbolic prison for those trapped in Charlie's lifestyle. Charlie spent many nights in the â€Å"prison† of the Ritz bar, when he was in his prime party era. Charlie drinks himself into a sanitarium before he begins to come out of the prison of alcoholism.The story then ends again in the Ritz bar. Charlie has come full circle since the beginning of the story. He found happiness in knowing that he would take Honoria home, and then his past of loneliness finds him. The intrusions lead to his ultimate loneliness again (Griffith 237).He is sitting in the Ritz bar when he finds out that Marion has refused to let Honoria go. He realizes that his loneliness will not end because of the mistakes that he has made: â€Å"Again the memory of those days swept over him like a nightmare†¦ the men who locked their wives out in the snow, because the snow of twenty-nine wasn't real snow.If you didn't want it to be snow, you just paid some money† (229). The prosperity that he once had is now imprisoning him in a life of solitude and loneliness. The sentence that he must pay in this prison is six more months of loneliness before he can try to get custody of Honoria again (Baker 274).LeVot, in his discussion of Fitzgerald's life, notes that this story marks the end of an era. This is the foreclosure of the almost divine privileges Americans had enjoyed before the Depression. â€Å"Charlie Wales feels like a king stripped of his kingdom, his past, his illusions† (256).Ten years after he wrote the story, Fitzgerald stated that the story was his farewell to youth. Just as Fitzgerald is fearful that his own irresponsibility will pass to his daughter, Charlie tries to wipe out the past so it will not affect Honoria. LeVot states, â€Å"A great wave of protectiveness went over him. He thought he knew what to do for her.He believed in character, he wa nted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character again as the eternally valuable element† (256). He wants to revive an earlier virtue, for the sake of Honoria. This revival will help to alleviate the loneliness he feels without his daughter.Fitzgerald felt the loneliness brought about by his addiction to alcohol (LeVot â€Å"Fitzgerald in Paris† 51). Bruccoli states that when Charlie remembers his Paris nights that these were probably Fitzgerald's own memories, â€Å"When Fitzgerald went pub-crawling by himself, it was sometimes hard to terminate his revels† (239).His talent and charm often rescued him from the social morasses he created. Bruccoli shares an incident when Fitzgerald showed up drunk at the Paris Tribune and ripped up copy. He sang and insisted that the other reporters join in. When several friends tried to take him home, he insisted that they tour the bars.He finally passed out, but when they delivered him to his apartment he refused to go in. They eventually had to carry Fitzgerald into to his apartment, kicking and screaming. This account was forgiven, as were most of his other escapades (239).Charlie Wales, unlike Fitzgerald, has not been forgiven and remains separated from his wife and daughter due to alcoholism. He had to work hard to regain his life. The existential absurdity is that he was unable to get custody of Honoria, although he paid the penance for his past sins.Charlie chose to live the life of â€Å"Babylon† and lost everything. After doing everything right to change his life, the outside forces of Duncan and Lorraine ruined his plans to make a home with Honoria. These outside forces are the consequences of the past life that Charlie chose to live.Existentialists not only believe in free will but also living with the consequences of past decisions. Charlie's past decisions led to his ultimate loneliness and alienation. Sartre makes the point that alienation is one of the greatest tenets of ex istentialism.Although Fitzgerald is not an existentialist, his characters in â€Å"Babylon Revisited† are good examples of the ideas of the existentialist movement and how those ideas affect and shape a person's existence.Works Cited Baker, Carlos. â€Å"When the Story Ends, ‘Babylon Revisited. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Approaches in Criticism. Madison, Wisconsin: U of Wisconsin P, 1982. 269-277.Bruccoli, Matthew J. Some Sort of Epic Grandeur. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.Finkelstein, Sidney. Existentialism and Alienation in American Literature. New York: International Publishers, 1965.Fitzgerald, F. Scott. â€Å"Babylon Revisited† and Other Stories. New York: Macmillan Scribner Classic, 1988. 210-230.Griffith, Richard R. â€Å"A Note on Fitzgerald's ‘Babylon Revisited. ‘ † American Literature 35 (May 1963): 236-239.Lavine, T. Z. From Socrates to Sartre: the Philosophic Quest. New York: Bantam, 1984.LeVot, Andr e. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1983.LeVot, Andre. â€Å"Fitzgerald in Paris. † Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 5 (1973): 49-68.Olson, Robert G. A Short Introduction to Philosophy. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1967.Toor, David. â€Å"Guilt and Retribution in ‘Babylon Revisited. ‘† Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 5 (1973): 155-64.Way, Brian. F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Art of Social Fiction. New York: St. Martin's, 1980.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Equality And Diversity Essay

Discuss issues of equality and diversity and ways to promote inclusion with your learners. Review other points of referral available to meet the potential needs of learners. Acknowledging the student’s needs and goals whilst respecting each individual student, giving them the appropriate help and support when needed without favouritism or prejudice, will allow the student to achieve entitlement, equality, inclusivity, diversity and differentiation in a classroom. Equality and Diversity; From this, the students will be able to understand the value of themselves and others as equal individuals. It will ensure that each individual is treated fairly without prejudice and that it is their right to have access to the course. The course should therefore be open to all, regardless of their gender, race, age, religion, sexual orientation or mental or physical ability. Identifying a student’s personal needs will help them succeed within their chosen subject. This support can come from; The tutor/lecturer Supportive friends and/or family Having access to literature and the internet Some prior knowledge of the subject being taught The students needs should be identified when making initial contact with the college. This will enable potential problems to be identified and if necessary, other departments informed so that specialist advise can be given. Needs that should be identified include; Physical access or difficulties Unsupported friends/family Financial problems

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Nothing is permanent but change. This means that life is

Nothing is permanent but change. This means that life is Nothing is permanent but change. This means that life is a matter of change, and nothing can remain constant forever. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, is a clear example of the growth of a human being over a period of time. Her character and way of viewing life varies throughout the novel, as she goes from a prideful and glorious woman, to ashamed and hollow, to an example of redemption and self-empowerment.Before her public penitence in the scaffold, Hester is shown as a strong-willed and impetuous young woman. In this same scene, she shows a sense of irony and disdain. This is seen in the elaborated scarlet letter A on her bosom, which "seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity" (51). Later on, she is said to be "the image of Divine Maternity."Grave of Elizabeth Pain, King's Chapel Burial Grou...

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Split In Liberal Democracy essays

The Split In Liberal Democracy essays The Liberal tradition of democracy is split into two different theories. Each theory is based, as are most political theories, on a set of assumptions. In the Liberal tradition the assumptions made by each group are often based on what they believe is important in the Liberal tradition. Because there are two important dimensions in the Liberal tradition and people base their assumptions and theories on these two dimensions, there developed two basic theories in the Liberal tradition. They are the Thick and Thin theories of democracy. The Thick theory of democracy is rooted in the conservative dimension of democracy. The conservative dimension of democracy is the side that is concerned with the citizen and his role in preserving democracy as a society. Authors like Alexis De Tocqueville, Karl Marx, and John Dewey believe in the citizens ability to participate effectively in government based on the assumption that all men are naturally equal. The Thin theory of democracy stands on the other side of the Liberal tradition. This side of the Liberal tradition embraces the capitalist dimension of democracy. Joseph A. Schumpeter and William G. Sumner are two thinkers who see democracy as a method based on assumptions made about natural markets. They believe that society works economically and that everything should be done that is possible to maintain a free economic system. The split in the Liberal tradition, having two distinct models and way things should be done, creates a whole slew of interesting questions. One of the most fundamental and probably the most fun is whether one theory is superior to the other. I believe that the Thick theory of democracy is superior to the Thin theory of democracy. Using both Deweys and Sumners works Ill show that the Thick theory of democracy has a positive view of individual...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Conjugation of the Spanish Verb Traer

Conjugation of the Spanish Verb Traer Traer is the most common Spanish verb that means to bring. Its stem changes in a way that isnt readily predictable. Other verbs that are conjugated in the same pattern include abstraer (to think about abstractly), atraer (to attract), contraer (to shrink), distraer (to distract), extraer (to extract), retraer (to dissuade or retract), and sustraer (to remove). Irregular forms are shown below in boldface. Translations are given as a guide and in real life may vary with context. Infinitive of Traer traer (to bring) Gerund of Traer trayendo (bringing) Participle of Traer traà ­do (brought) Present Indicative of Traer Present indicative (presente del indicativo): yo traigo, tà º traes, usted/à ©l/ella trae, nosotros/as traemos, vosotros/as traà ©is, ustedes/ellos/ellas traen (I bring, you bring, he brings, etc.) Preterite of Traer yo traje, tà ºÃ‚  trajiste, usted/à ©l/ella trajo, nosotros/as trajimos, vosotros/as trajisteis, ustedes/ellos/ellas trajeron (I brought, you brought, she brought, etc.) Imperfect Indicative of Traer yo traà ­a, tà º traà ­as, usted/à ©l/ella traà ­a, nosotros/as traà ­amos, vosotros/as traà ­ais, ustedes/ellos/ellas traà ­an (I used to bring, you used to bring, he used to bring, etc.) Future Indicative of Traer yo traerà ©, tà º traers, usted/à ©l/ella traer, nosotros/as traeremos, vosotros/as traerà ©is, ustedes/ellos/ellas traern (I will bring, you will bring, he will bring, etc.) Conditional of Traer yo traerà ­a, tà º traerà ­as, usted/à ©l/ella traerà ­a, nosotros/as traerà ­amos, vosotros/as traerà ­ais, ustedes/ellos/ellas traerà ­an (I would bring, you would bring, she would bring, etc.) Present Subjunctive of Traer que yo traiga, que tà º traigas, que usted/à ©l/ella traiga, que nosotros/as traigamos, que vosotros/as tragis, que ustedes/ellos/ellas traigan (that I bring, that you bring, that she bring, etc.) Imperfect Subjunctive of Traer que yo trajera (trajese), que tà º trajeras (trajeses), que usted/à ©l/ella trajera (trajese), que nosotros/as trajà ©ramos (trajà ©semos), que vosotros/as trajerais (trajeseis), que ustedes/ellos/ellas trajeran (trajesen) (that I brought, that you brought, that he brought , etc.) Imperative of Traer trae (tà º), no traigas (tà º), traiga (usted), traigamos (nosotros/as), traed (vosotros/as), no tragis (vosotros/as), traigan (ustedes) (bring, dont bring, bring, lets bring, etc.) Compound Tenses of Traer The perfect tenses are made by using the appropriate form of haber and the past participle, traà ­do. The progressive tenses use estar with the gerund, trayendo. Sample Sentences Showing Conjugation of Traer and Related Verbs Estamos estudiando la posibilidad de traer ms especialistas. (We are studying the possibility of bringing in more specialists. Infinitive.)Estamos trayendo energà ­a y equilibrio superior al equipo. (We are bringing energy and balance to the team. Present progressive.)No he traà ­do nada. (I havent brought you anything. Present perfect.)Le traigo la leche para que se haga un capuchino. (I am bringing you the milk so you can make a cappuccino. Present indicative.)Me distraen las conversaciones que oigo a mi derecha y a  mi izquierda. (The conversations I hear to my right and left distract me. Present indicative.)Extrajimos unos centà ­metros cà ºbicos del là ­quido. (We extracted a few cubic centimeters of the liquid.) Preterite.)Mis tà ­os siempre traà ­an revistas nuevas o algà ºn juguete. (My aunts and uncles always brought some new magazines or some toy. Imperfect.)La ceremonia atraer a decenas de miles de personas (The ceremony will draw tens of thousands of people. Fut ure.)Patricia me distraerà ­a pidià ©ndome de jugar con ella. (Patricia would distract me by asking me to play with her. Conditional.) Espero que me traigas buenas noticias. (I hope you bring me good news. Present subjunctive.)Hubo un tiempo en el que era ilegal que las parejas interraciales contrajeran matrimonio. (There was a time when it was illegal for interracial couples to get married. Imperfect subjunctive.)Trelo aquà ­. (Bring it here. Imperative.)

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Explain a paragraph from Ciceros Invention Essay - 1

Explain a paragraph from Ciceros Invention - Essay Example In narration, the arguments to be developed in court are properly articulated through bring out the vulnerability of Sextus Roscius and how the court has the obligation to protect him from further abuse by the society. In confirming the case, Cicero indicates the importance of his arguments when he highlights the need of protecting innocent men fort the good of the society. In chapter 149 Cicero is able to use rhetorics to create relationship between emotions and justice. His rhetorics is morally grounded and incorporates the moral problems that emanate from society’s emotional manipulation (Cicero 126). As a lawyer, his choice of words is aimed at making and directing the audiences minds and emotions towards a certain conclusion. Ability to apply Sextus Roscius plight to the entire community indicates flexibility of the course of justice he wishes to pursue. The final sentiments in the chapter are emotional arouse sympathy and motivate the audience when he speaks of the harm the society would be exposed to if justice was to be taken into peoples

Friday, October 18, 2019

Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Risks of being Dissertation

Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Risks of being non-CSR Entity - Dissertation Example This research will begin with the statement that the expansive literature on the topic of CSR comprises various definitions and explanations of the construct. For instance, the European Commission defines the concept of corporate governance as â€Å"A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with stakeholders on a voluntary basis.† In addition to that, a generally understood and applied definition in the management literature is expounded by Davis by defining CSR as â€Å" the firm’s considerations of, and response to, issues beyond the narrow economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm to accomplish social and environmental benefits along with the traditional economic gains which the firm seeks.† Moreover, there are other terms similar to the construct of the CSR including â€Å"corporate sustainability†, which focuses on long-run shareholder value by including principles particularly in nine other areas: governance, ethics, transparency, financial return, business relationships, community involvement, employment practices, environmental protection and product value. As a result, the activities attached with the concept of corporate sustainability remain largely analogous to the basic contents of the CSR. The CSR is an amalgamation of a number of corporate activities focusing on the welfare of stakeholder groups other than investors, such as suppliers, employees, charitable and community organizations and customers. One significant segment of CSR activities consists of corporate donations or contributions of products or cash to community and charitable organizations. For instance, Whirlpool Corporation (2010) arranged and donated a refrigerator to every home built by the Habitat for Humanity particularly in the affected areas of North America. Moreover, employees are also significant stakeholders for the companies. Companies carry out cert ain employee welfare related initiatives on a voluntary basis. Employee welfare includes initiatives from the facility of educational advantages to health care issues including providing them on site health clinics, wellness classes, fitness centres focusing on the issues such as work related stress management. Workplace safety has also become a critically significant factor of employee welfare; many companies have developed and established codes of conduct for employee safety and welfare and to their suppliers as well. Companies’ CSR activities also emphasis on meeting and fulfilling customer desires including protecting future generations. They intend to develop and sell such innovative products and services that appeal to customers’ environmental concerns via diminishing harmful product packaging and making it more durable and sustainable as well. Other CSR activities encompass â€Å"green† development and production practices and services, such as reducing e missions, conserving energy, reducing packaging materials, employing recycled materials, and sourcing materials from the suppliers located close to manufacturing installations. In this regard, Sony (2010) manages the harmful impacts of its greenhouse gas emissions by installing for carbon dioxide emissions from shipping, production, storage and other product use activities. Furthermore, companies often get involved with customers and vendors in their efforts to reduce their footprint and increase their environmental efforts. In this regard, Wal-Mart (2006) developed and announced a program measuring suppliers on their ability to diminish packing; and along with a goal of reducing up to 5 percent of total packing during the period 2008 to 2013. Why do firms involve in CSR activities? There remain various reasons underlying organization’s inclinations to get involved in socially responsible endeavours. First, organizations may prefer to remain

French Opposition to the Muslim Veil (Headscarf) Essay

French Opposition to the Muslim Veil (Headscarf) - Essay Example Over the years, French legislators came up with law and approved it with a large majority banning any form of conspicuous signs of religion in public schools. The law prohibited the Islamic headscarf and excessively large crucifixes, as well as kippas (Ezekiel, 2006). The law has seen students being expelled, and public workers losing their jobs, especially for wearing hijab; consequently, the law seems to be against the hijab, but not the other sign of religion, as it is the only conspicuous piece of cloth or sign that cannot be concealed. In addition, it has led to discrimination against Muslim in certain aspects of their lives, such as jobs and even social relations in weddings and other public places and events. Parties Involved Those that are involved in the controversy of the French hijab are parties interested in human rights and religious interests. In this light, feminist groups are involved in the controversy due to the headscarf’s symbolism in the Islamic religion a nd the role it plays in the identity of Muslim women and girls. This is concerning women’s submission to men, and it concerns this party, as the veil is believed to influence the school system. In addition, they are interested in fighting for women’s rights as the headscarf in public schools will allow incorporation of Muslim practices into the school system and influence other students, as well as challenge the fight against violation of women’s rights. In addition, an ethical issue is raised at this point in relation to the persons charged with the responsibility of making decisions that cover the rights of women and freedom of choice in following that which they believe in, both morally and religiously. This is because the hijab is viewed as a piece of cloth that limits the freedom of women, and that wearing the hijab itself is not a choice. This issue complicates matters considerably complicated. Educators and educational stakeholders are also involved in th e controversy, and a majority are against the headscarf. This is following the debate on the social and cultural nature of the country in relation to religion. The argument is that France is a secular state making the headscarf a violation of the secular of this social and cultural state of the nation, and disrupts the state of harmony by expressing community affiliation making other interested parties in interacting with the said community locked out. The above two parties argue against the veil and have a strong basis for it despite the implications raised. However, they are the crucial voices involved in the entire issue. Rights The first issue is the violation of human rights despite French declaration of the universal human rights, which state that all human beings are entitled to their own religion, which goes together with the issue of religious expression. The headscarf is a form of self-expression relating to the Islamic faith and religion. The banning of the headscarf in p ublic by the law is in clear violation of the women’s rights, particularly with the support of the law, which was mainly for political reasons and did not have the best interests of the group in mind (Gendrot, 2007). Following the ban in France, where human rights are advocated in all aspects,

Thursday, October 17, 2019

S.O.A.P Analysis for the ten essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

S.O.A.P Analysis for the ten essays - Essay Example [98words] The current essay is a humorous piece, so it has more of entertaining meaning and probably was written as a kind of ‘intermezzo’. As we can see from the text itself, the author was inspired by the comical incident in the hotel room that happened to him â€Å"recently†, when he was to â€Å"introduce the president of the company to the group of customers†. However, a funny (or terrifying?) situation that occurred to Koch, made his president â€Å"give up waiting and introduce himself† without Koch’s help. Thus, there were no specific occasions for publishing this essay except entertainment and fun. [100 words] As a piece written in humorous style, ‘Naked in Orlando’ addresses no particular audience or certain group of people. The essay is obviously directed to the wide audience of readers preferring light reading. The author uses neither specific language nor references to ‘global topics’ like religion, history, nation or nature. Koch just painted his ‘horror bathroom story’ in bright colors describing his â€Å"adventure† in detail. However, even though the essay is intended for a wide audience, its humoristic nature would probably be better understood by those who are familiar with Agent MacGyver series which was on TV till early 1990’s. [100 words] The purpose of the piece is entertaining the reader and conveying the message that nobody is secured from a misfortune (either funny or serious) and sometimes only good fortune can help as it actually did when the â€Å"maintenance guy† appeared and helped the narrator out of his prison with â€Å"mirrors and high-voltage light bulbs turning it into an oven†. The author uses numerous dramatic exaggerations to make the story sound more serious and funny at the same time. Turning an ordinary nasty misfortune into an action with ‘thrilling’ descriptions and allusion to agent MacGyver help to convey the humoristic message of the piece. [100

The Stag Hunt Game Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Stag Hunt Game Models - Essay Example Mainly, games such as Battle of Sexes, Prisoners Dilemma, and so on have been investigated by researchers. However, there have been very few mentions and applications of the Stag Hunt game. The Star Hunt game was a story told briefly by Rousseau. In its sense, it represents a social contract prototype (Skyrms, 2004). According to Rousseau’s story, the Star Hunt Game raises many questions such as an individual’s share of a successful deer hunt and values of a hare, will the hunt be successful if all those participating in the deer hunt remained faithful, and is there a chance that two hunters would opt to chase the hare? (Skyrms, 2004). In this paper, we look at the choices provided by the Stag Hunt game where each player can either choose to act on their own, or, to collaborate with the other party. This being an example of the games in game theory, we will try to find out whether it would be possible, through game theory, to predict a unique result of which everybody w ould choose. Discussion Game theory represents a very good way of analyzing the type of interdependence and relationship between firms in an oligopoly market. This type of market contains various small numbers of large enterprises practicing competition. Normally, when one firm in this market setting undertakes an action, other firms may be prompted to counter. For instance, if one firm rebrands its packaging and lowers it price, a competing firm is also prompted to do the same (Amos Web LLC, 2012). If one of the firms in the market decides to advertise a given product and launches an advertising campaign, the other firms in the market also prompted to make plans of stepping up their advertising campaigns. Game theory tries to explain these kinds of moves, and the counter moves that firms in an oligopolistic market make in trying to outdo each other for financial and market share gains. John Nash, the person who came up with game theory, was a Nobel Prize winning mathematician and e conomist (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). In the application of game theory in the moves and counter moves of firms in an oligopolistic market, analysis of standard game theory is on the basis of the alternative outcomes which arise when offered the choices that every one of the two players in the game face. It is worthy to note that when a player makes a choice, it definitely affects the result that the other or both of the players get in the end (Colman, 1995). In a game theory, if a player decides to cooperate with another player, the results they get form the endeavor definitely favors both of them (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). The rewards of cooperation are good. Nonetheless, there are times when cooperation is part of the game yet the individual interests are not the same as those of the team or the cooperating unit, like in the case of a soccer match. People form a team to get a favorable result at the end of the game. However, an individual may agree to be part of the team to get the resul ts but at the same time aim for personal glory. These are some of the choices that game theory offers the players or the playing teams as in the case of a soccer match (Bacharach, 1987). Experts have suggested that, it might be in the best interests of the players, in a game like the stag hunt to agree to cooperate with each other and go for the stag; as it gives more rewards in the end. However, there are times when the players wish to have outcomes that favor each of them in their own right without the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

S.O.A.P Analysis for the ten essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

S.O.A.P Analysis for the ten essays - Essay Example [98words] The current essay is a humorous piece, so it has more of entertaining meaning and probably was written as a kind of ‘intermezzo’. As we can see from the text itself, the author was inspired by the comical incident in the hotel room that happened to him â€Å"recently†, when he was to â€Å"introduce the president of the company to the group of customers†. However, a funny (or terrifying?) situation that occurred to Koch, made his president â€Å"give up waiting and introduce himself† without Koch’s help. Thus, there were no specific occasions for publishing this essay except entertainment and fun. [100 words] As a piece written in humorous style, ‘Naked in Orlando’ addresses no particular audience or certain group of people. The essay is obviously directed to the wide audience of readers preferring light reading. The author uses neither specific language nor references to ‘global topics’ like religion, history, nation or nature. Koch just painted his ‘horror bathroom story’ in bright colors describing his â€Å"adventure† in detail. However, even though the essay is intended for a wide audience, its humoristic nature would probably be better understood by those who are familiar with Agent MacGyver series which was on TV till early 1990’s. [100 words] The purpose of the piece is entertaining the reader and conveying the message that nobody is secured from a misfortune (either funny or serious) and sometimes only good fortune can help as it actually did when the â€Å"maintenance guy† appeared and helped the narrator out of his prison with â€Å"mirrors and high-voltage light bulbs turning it into an oven†. The author uses numerous dramatic exaggerations to make the story sound more serious and funny at the same time. Turning an ordinary nasty misfortune into an action with ‘thrilling’ descriptions and allusion to agent MacGyver help to convey the humoristic message of the piece. [100

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

GDP as a measure of development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GDP as a measure of development - Essay Example Todaro and Smith elaborates that GDP is â€Å"the total final output of goods and services produced by the country’s economy, within a country’s territory, by residents and non-residents, regardless of its allocation between domestic and foreign claims† (815). GDP is different from the gross national product or GNP in this sense: while the GNP refers to the final value of goods and services produced by citizens of a country, the GDP refers to the final value of goods and services produced by a territory or the country. Thus, the GDP includes all outputs of goods and services in the territory of the country, whether that output were from aliens or citizens. In contrast, the GNP covers only the output of goods and services of citizens whether that output was produced inside or outside the territory of a country. The term â€Å"final goods and services† are meant to emphasize that the concept of the GDP seeks to avoid double counting of goods and services. Fo r example, if a certain input is part of a certain output, the value of the input is not counted but only the value of the final output. The GDP count only the output currently produced (Dornbusch, 36). Thus, for example, the value excludes older houses but includes new house construction (Dornbusch, 36). Dornbusch et al. noted the following difficulties of GDP measurement (36-38): 1. GDP is unable to measure some of a territory’s outputs because they are not traded in the market. 2. GDP does not subtract anything for environmental pollution. Goods and services may have been produced but at high costs to the environment of the nation. 3. GDP does not factor the quality of goods or the improvements in the quality of goods. Baumol and Binder defined GDP as â€Å"a measure of the size of the economy† or the total amount it produces in a year and noted the following limitations of GDP as a measure (23, 90-91): 1. GDP is not a measure of a country’s well-being but, a t the same time, it was never intended to be one. 2. Only market activity is included in the GDP and this explains why African countries can survive on $ 5 per week. 3. International comparisons can be misleading if we use GDP because we are not comparing the same economic activities: many things that are counted in the GDP of the rich countries are not counted in the GDP of the poor countries. 4. GDP places no value on leisure. Baumol and Binder argued that as a country gets richer, its citizens acquire more leisure time and the value of the leisure goes up. 5. GDP can also overstate how a country is well-off because even the bads are counted in GDP accounting. According to Baumol and Binder, even disaster can bloat the GDP as houses or properties are reconstructed once a natural or man-made disaster strikes similar to the 9/11. Hall and Lieberman enumerated the following problems with regard to measuring the GDP (539-540): 1. GDP statistics can be inaccurate, especially among deve loping countries. 2. Many countries, especially developing economies have an underground economy. The underground economy includes hidden economic activity. The hidden economic activity can also include illegal economic activities, especially those involved in drugs, prostitution, many gambling activities, and those that seek to avoid taxes. 3. Many countries, especially the developing economies, have large areas where food is grown and consumed by farmers and many goods do not enter the market. 4. Household activities are also not included in GDP accounting. Parenting is not counted in the GDP unlike daycare programs. Takeouts are counted in the GDP but not homecooked food. Therapy is counted in the GDP but not talking to a friend. For Scott and Miles, there are at least two issues in using GDP as a measure. The first

Some Good Marketing Funda Essay Example for Free

Some Good Marketing Funda Essay Some good marketing Funda! you can find much more at the link provided in the end.. Do read.. Marketing GD me mast points hai bolneko! When we think of marketing, we often think of Marketings efforts to acquire customers. The world, however, is moving toward relationship-based business, including subscription services and subscription commerce—but also most other business. Consider consumer packaged goods companies that used to have no direct relationship with customers, who bought in box stores. Many CPG companies are now using online and social mediums to build direct relationships with their customers. In this world, customer retention is just as important as customer acquisition. So how do the 7 Ps of marketing apply to customer retention marketing? 1. People are the most important. Retaining customers is about building relationships, and relationships are about people. Treat your customer as a person, and not a customer; start by hiring people who show they care about others. Compare how you behave driving in rush-hour traffic with how you drive down your own street past your neighbors. When you know you will see people again, or if you want to see them again, you treat them better. The whole company needs to care about customers and customer retention, and one executive must be responsible to ensure thats so—hence the rise of the chief customer officer. 2. Product is a very close second in importance to People. If your product is off, you will have a difficult time with the rest of the Ps. However, if the product is on target, you will accomplish the rest of the Ps much more easily. When designing your product or service for maximum customer retention, provide quick time to value, continued value over time, and high quality (those are what Apple does so well). Sometimes there is another P: Packaging. I include packaging as part of the product (or service), and the key to it is polish. 3. Place obviously matters when you are figuring out where to put your physical store, but what about when youre online? Does it matter there? Yes. If I am looking to communicate with my customer and offer them an upsell, I could send them an email or message them right while they are shopping, browsing, or working on my site. The first communication is out of context and has a low chance of response. The second is in context and has a higher likelihood of response. â€Å"Place† is context, and context matters. 4. Price. In any good relationship, people take care of each other. That is now the expectation in the customer-business relationship as well. Our customers assume that we will look after them. That is what they pay us to do. In an e-commerce business, that sort of relationship means providing deals for our recurring customers. In a subscription business, that means rolling new features (some, not all) into the service, over time, without charging more. 5. Promotion. How should you promote your product or service to customers to retain them, upsell to them and keep them for the long haul? Quite differently from how you promote to a prospective customer. Why? Because the person is your customer. You know, or should know, him or her. You know what the customer bought from you or how he or she uses your service. You can use that information to message customers in a more targeted, appropriate, helpful, and effective way. Dont spam them with the same generic info you send to everyone else. Send them targeted emails and in-context messages. 6. Processes. To succeed in all of the previous Ps, and for this success to be more than a one-time fluke, you need good processes, such as monitoring social media and engaging customers there, surveying customers for satisfaction, and implementing marketing automation. My company uses its own customer engagement solution to understand how each customer is engaging with the business. We look for positive or negative patterns and respond accordingly, sometimes by person or email but often right in our application with a targeted message based on behavior. 7. Positioning. If you want to retain your customers, you have to know who you are and communicate that clearly and repeatedly to them so they know who you are as well. Foremost, however, is this: Your actions must communicate your positioning. Those actions are showcased in the people you hire, the product you ship or service you deliver, the price you charge and the discounts you provide, the place and promotions you choose, and the processes you put in place. Combined, your words and actions say This is who we are and what you can expect of us. By acting on the 7 Ps of Customer Retention Marketing, you can keep your customers; make their interactions with your business successful; and in so doing make your business more successful.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Preparation for Teaching ICT Classes

Preparation for Teaching ICT Classes Name: Pauline Mulvaney 16212813 Description I applied to tutor MT118 IT Skills Software Tools for Managers, to first year business undergraduate students in DCU as I would like to lecture in the future and this fits with my PDP. Additionally, I want to improve my presentation skills and presenting to a large group on a weekly basis in beneficial. Mark Woods, a teaching assistant at DCU interviewed me to assess my suitability for this position. I had to prove I was competent in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel and sign a signatory code. The weekly laboratory sessions covered file management, spreadsheets, document and presentation preparation and visualisation tools. I was provided with access to a shared folder on Google Drive containing a list of students, module objectives and lab sheets for each weekly session. I was required to take attendance and update the teaching assistants if there were any issues in my weekly sessions or if there were students constantly missing class. Each week I prepared by going through the lab sheet for that week and making notes to ensure we moved through the material in a timely manner. I also completed the tasks that students would be required to complete in the class to ensure I could deal with any student issues that many arise in class. This also enabled me to show students what the finished work should look like. I was very anxious before the first tutorial as I had no experience in teaching such large numbers before. I also get very anxious when speaking in front of large groups. I struggled to get my head around the fact that not so long ago I was the student sitting watching the screen and trying to follow, I overcame this very quickly. I chose to take part in this activity as it links directly to my PDP, in that I hope to lecture at some point in the future. The experience gained will help me to achieve this ambition. It also links to the presenting skills and time management competencies as it requires me to present a substantial amount of information and to help students complete the weekly class exercises in a short space of time. Each week in preparation for the class I would complete the class exercise and time myself, noting how long each exercise took and I maintained that pace in class to ensure I had enough time to help students if required. 3.1 Week 1 Week 1 was an introduction to Microsoft Word. The day before I was due to present I did a technology check in the lab to ensure my laptop was compatible with the overhead connections. I also spent some time the night before preparing an introductory presentation for the class and also ran through all the exercises as I was a little anxious about giving my first tutorial. First impressions last and I was aware that the first few minutes of my initial tutorial was extremely important. I made sure I was on time (to set up and start) and to put myself at ease, I dressed appropriately and endeavoured to be as open and confident as possible given my anxiousness. The Centre for Teaching and Learning (2014) says first lectures are important. Students should be welcomed, lecturers should clearly introduce themselves, the module and their expectations of students. To promote engagement in students, lecturers should appear enthusiastic and interested in the module and in the students. They should also ensure that they are organised and in control of the technology. I learned that presenting for an hour isnt as difficult as I had imagined. Before this the longest I had presented for was 15 minutes, my voice always cracked and I let my nerves get the better of me, however, after the initial nervousness settled down I found myself enjoying the experience. The students were all engaged and I answered any questions they had with ease. I gave them hints and tips I had picked up during my own studies and explained how important well formatted documents are and how they can be used to create a good first impression with lecturers during and professionals in the future. I feel its important to link class material to something students can see benefitting them now and in the future. Students should see the value of your module in how you set the context using a relevant problem or example and possibly link the content to a personal research/interests/news story etc. (McGrath, 2014). 3.2 Week 2 This weeks tutorial focused on PowerPoint, again, I spent some time the night before preparing the required material and completing the exercises to enable me to show students how they should look when complete. I presented two contrasting sets of slides to show students how much more effective a well-structured and thought out presentation looks and to demonstrate the effects of colour in presentations. 3.3 Week 3 This week we moved onto Excel with an introduction to the basics.ÂÂ   I was aware that students may not have used a software application like Excel in the past and this might be a little more challenging than the previous two weeks material. I explained that most of the formatting functions were the same as those used in Word and Excel and went through some basic formulas and formatting exercises. I learned the benefit of having a teaching persona this week. I had a meeting with one of my course lecturers during the week and we discussed my participation in the tutorial POD and his advice to me was to act like a lecturer. Further research has shown that the persona you choose should be related to the event and speech purpose. In creating your public persona, you should consider the speed at which you speak, it should vary to fit your message. Vocal variety in terms of tone, rate and pauses should also be considered as should voice projection, eye contact and gestures (Alberts, 2010). I also assessed my ability to present knowledge this week. Teaching is characterised by descriptions that focus on presentation, in addition to background emphasis on covering the work on schedule, with the purpose of teaching seen as presenting or conveying knowledge. Thinking back to my undergraduate studies in modules similar to the one Im instructing on my motivation was at times driven by the lecturers instructional ability. I felt I was improving and students appeared to be engaged and had no issues asking questions. I also adopted a practice of walking around the room when students were completing class exercises, this enabled me to see how students were progressing and offer help if needed. 3.4 Week 4 This week we moved onto medium level exercises and it was by far the most challenging week, not least because the lab sheets had indicated that students had access to spreadsheets that formed the basis of the exercises on Loop, which they didnt. This meant students had to copy the exercise from the overhead and this severely impacted my ability to move through the required material and help those struggling with any aspect of the material, of which there were a few. Some students didnt get to finish their exercises and I was conscious that they may not have fully understood the concepts, I emailed the entire class the files that should have been on Loop and my finished exercises asked them to run through them in their own time and let me know if there was anything they needed me to go over when we next met. I also emailed the teaching assistants and asked them to ensure students had access to the required files in advance for classes in the future. 3.5 Week 5 I was absent for this class as it was my graduation. I informed the teaching assistants well in advance to ensure they had time to arrange someone to cover and passed on my class attendance list to enable them to take attendance. 3.6 Week 6 This week had been set aside for revision and to enable students to ask questions in relation to any material covered in the previous weeks and get help with their continuous assessment work for the module. I took this opportunity to recap the material from week 4 and week 5 to ensure students had grasped the material covered. I learned that my work over the previous weeks had been understood and applied to students continuous assessment pieces. It also provided me with an opportunity to show students how to add some finesse to projects. As stated in my PDP, presentation skills are a core competency within the management consultancy field. A clear and logical structure is critical to the effectiveness of your presentation. Not only do you need to walk someone from point A to point B but, along the way, you need to convince them with a data-backed argument (Skills You Need, n.d.). Taking part in this POD has enabled me to develop my presentation skills on a weekly basis and improve my delivery, in addition to helping me overcome presentation anxiety. Jaj Modi (2009), a management consultant with over 15 years experience in the industry lists the following as essential skills: Analytical and syntheses skills (e.g. the ability to delve into deep data analysis and then synthesise the key messages / so whats) Excellent written communication (to produce Word and PowerPoint reports) Strong PowerPoint presentation creation (essential for developing client presentation packs) Commitment to delivering excellent client service (i.e. the desire to put in the long hours when you have to ensure a quality deliverable for the client) Excellent verbal communication skills (e.g. being able to communicate in a structured manner during internal and external meetings) Excellent team skills- successful consultants can work in diverse teams, under tight deadlines, to deliver quality work for clients Highly organised days may include various activities. The ability to schedule and follow through with these activities is vital Participation in this POD has helped me develop and hone many of these skills. In particular, my PowerPoint creation and verbal communication skills. It was Seneca a Roman philosopher that said While we teach, we learn and in teaching this module I feel I have further enhanced my PowerPoint skills. Having to stand in front of a large group on a weekly basis has greatly improved my ability to communicate in a structured manner. When I applied to be a tutor for this POD, I didnt realise how important leadership would be to my role. Most successful tasks require leadership. Within this role, I was both a leader and follower. I learned from the teaching assistants, whilst also working to motivate and help the students. In the past I have studied contingency and relationship leadership theories to enable me to become a successful leader. Throughout the semester, I found myself relying on the behavioural and situational theories in addition to those previously mentioned. Bass (1985) transformational leadership theory focuses on the idea that leaders motivate and inspire by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task. His work is an extension Burns (1978) transforming leadership theory, Bass explained the psychological mechanisms that underlie transforming and transactional leadership. He also explained how transformational leadership could be measured, in addition to, how it impacts follower motivation and performance. I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the students over the six weeks. I endeavoured to link class material to their assignments and future careers. I also sent out emails to remind students about weekly CAs and for larger assignments. I always included reasons as to why these assignments are important. For example, I reminded the students that the weekly quizzes individually amounted to a few small marks that may seem insignificant but when they are graded collectively they can increase or decrease overall grades significantly. I am of the opinion that giving students an understanding of how important their individual pieces of work is to their overall grade will help them motivate them to do their assignments. I would consider emotional and intellectual fulfilment to be two very important factors for me in a career and this was shown to be true in the personality tests undertaken for a previous NGM assignment. Having had the opportunity to tutor a class I can see that it is about much more than showing up and completing a series of tasks. You get the opportunity to make a difference in a students life. Unlike my previous career in hospitality where you cater to the needs of customers who dont necessarily appreciate the work you are doing. Each week I left the class with a huge sense of personal pride, satisfaction and increasing confidence. The role also requires you to remain knowledgeable and academically inclined it is intellectually and mentally stimulating. It was an interesting experience to be on the other side of a class, it has definitely made me appreciate the work that goes into putting together a large lecture hall style class. In this case, it will be both action and application. The experience gained through this POD has already enabled me to get paid tutoring in another academic institution. I am also currently waiting to hear back from DCU regarding paid tutoring on another undergraduate course. I might not have had the confidence of experience required to secure paid work from this but for my participation. My self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations have definitely improved over the last five months. I am also hoping to build on my presentation skills over the coming months. The weekly presentations helped build my confidence and I am currently considering Toastmasters to help me maintain this confidence. References Alberts, J.K. (2010) Communication in Society: Communication, Written communication. Available at: https://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205627870.pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Bass, B.M. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Available at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6dcc4b97-dc83-43f9-89d5-b93a62e9eff2%40sessionmgr4010vid=1hid=4206 (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Burns, J.M. (1978) Leadership, Leadership, 1(1), pp. 11-12. doi: 10.1177/1742715005049347. Linder, C. and Kung, R.L. (2010) An exploratory study into the complexity of relations between physics lecturers crafting of practice and students expectations of quality teaching, Instructional Science, 39(4), pp. 513-526. doi: 10.1007/s11251-010-9136-3. McGrath, K. (2014) Guidelines for engaging students. Available at: http://www3.ul.ie/ctl/sites/default/files/Guidelines%20for%20Engaging%20Students_0.pdf (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Modi, R. (2009) Develop essential Skillset for strategy consulting strategic support for investors, businesses and entrepreneurs. Available at: http://www.strategyexpert.com/categories/consultingskills (Accessed: 24 January 2017). Skills You Need (2011) Commercial awareness. Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/general/commercial-awareness.html (Accessed: 24 January 2017).

Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Life Work, and Creativity of Albert Camus :: Biographies

The Life Work, and Creativity of Albert Camus "Yes, I have a country -- the French language." -Albert Camus Albert Camus was a man consumed by three images--his mother, the Mediterranean, and death. His greatest creative achievement, his writing, would center around these images, images that would be transformed into great ideas through simple and refined words. Albert Camus lived the life of the creative genius according to Howard Gardner's model of creativity. His writing has left a lasting impression on the literary world and his life has left a fascinating legacy on the notion of creativity. Childhood Albert Camus was born on November 1, 1913 in Mondovi, a village in the Algerian interior. His ancestors on his father's side arrived after the 1830 conquest of Algeria from France and his mother's side came from Spain. A certain amount of pride accompanied Camus' mixed racial descent. Yet, it was only in Algeria that Camus would ever truly belong. Mondovi was surrounded by vineyards and it was there that Camus' father, Lucien Auguste Camus, found employment. He worked on a grape farm helping in the manufacture of wine. Camus never had the chance to know his father, for he died before Camus had even reached the age of one. He was called off to war where he was fatally wounded at the Marne. Camus thus loathed bloodshed and was constantly haunted by the idea that his generation was cursed by wars. Because his mother, Catherine, spoke so little of his father, Camus knew virtually nothing of the man that he had been. The one detail that his mother did recount of his father was that he had once attended an execution, He watched the death of a mass murderer and yet afterwards he "threw himself on the bed and began to vomit" (McCarthy, 11). Camus never forgot this image and would later write against and about the death penalty. Catherine, Albert, and his older brother Lucien moved in with her family after the death of Lucien Auguste to the Algiers suburb of Belcourt in the working-class area, crowded with apartment buildings and factories. An emotional poverty reined over Albert's life in Belcourt. His grandmother, the talkative, strong-minded queen of the household, became his principle care-taker. Though Camus admired his grandmother's pride, he found her to be harsh and selfish, and he feared her. She was greatly critical of her daughter for having married a man who had died so young, leaving her alone with two children.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Native Americans in California Missions Essay

Spanish wanted to colonize some of America, just like the Europeans. Building religious based Missions all throughout California was a way for them to maintain ultimate social, political, and economic control. Spanish explorers arrived on the border of California during the 16th century. The very first Franciscan mission was built in San Diego during 1769. By 1833, twenty two Spanish Missions existed from Southern California to Northern California. Native Americans made up about one-third of those who lived and worked at the Missions. There were an estimated 310,000 Indians living in California during the 16th century. The Spanish provided the Native Americans with the necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter. Although the California Missions had the right intentions of providing for the Native Americans, the Spanish acted in an inhumane and unfair way. Junipero Serra arrived in San Diego in 1768 and lead a group of Franciscans to find property and more importantly, workers. He welcomed the Native Americans with open arms and open doors. In a primary document written by Junipero Serra himself, he admitted that he used the Native Americans solely for work. However, he said that providing them with food and shelter compensates for their hard work. â€Å"So if families other than Indian come from there, it will serve the same purpose very well—that is, if we can provide for them†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Serra). Serra’s defenders state that he respected the Natives’ culture. However, his criticizers argue that he used force to urge the Native Americans to live at the Missions against their will. Although the Natives did not agree with Serra’s beliefs and actions, they were very respectful for the most part. For those who did not respect Serra received physical punishment with â€Å"whips, chains, and stocks to enforce religious obedience† (Serra). Junipero Serra was a great leader who made sure the California Missions were in order. The California Mission had worthy intentions and plans for the Native Americans. The Spanish welcomed them into their ‘homes’ and provided them with the essentials such as food, clothing, and shelter. However, living at the Missions had its consequences. The Native Americans were forced to change their entire lifestyles – from their beliefs, their daily routines, to the way they dressed and what they ate. Although anthropologists conducted that some Native Americans enjoyed their new lives, more than eighty percent refused to convert their ways of life (Sandos, 13). For thousands of years, the Natives were accustomed with their own lifestyle and beliefs, and all of a sudden, everything was stripped away from them. Even their personal identity was taken away from them. The Franciscans provided each individual with Spanish names which were to be used instead of their native birth names. â€Å"The missions were not agents of intentional enslavement, but rather rapid and therefore violent social and cultural change† (Archibald, 24). The Native Americans ended up becoming tax pay citizens along with being under Spanish wing twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The Franciscans had very different beliefs and traditions from the Native Americans. The Native Americans were forced to convert their religion to Roman Catholics. The Native Americans were more of a â€Å"spiritual† group rather than a religious group. Instead of believing in personified figures, such as Jesus, they believed spirits lie within their nature. Native Americans feed their energy off of nature. They believed that they are protected by the Mother Nature that surrounded them. The Spanish used religion to explain their actions, which made it ‘okay’ for them to convert the Native American’s beliefs because they were backed up by their god (California). Every person living and working at the Mission had to be officially baptized as a rite of passage. On Sundays and holidays everyone was obligated to go to church and worship. The Natives were forced to memorize Catholic rituals, songs, and scriptures. Prayer lasted four hours on Sundays and feast days. On a regular basis on typical days, prayer lasted two hours. Catholicism was a huge part of living at the Missions. The Missions were surrounded by Spanish soldiers so everyone was watched very closely. Once the Native Americans accepted the Spanish lifestyle, it was nearly impossible to escape. It was as if they were held against their own will. A few sources compare the treatment of Native Americans to slavery (Archibald, 48). Slavery is defined as an economic exploitation that benefits only the slave-owner. In the California Missions, the Native Americans worked solely to provide and maintain a certain lifestyle for the Spanish. Besides minimal food and shelter, the Native America’s natural human rights were stripped from them. Native America women made clothing, prepared meals, cleaned the rooms, and whatever domestic chores needed to be done at the Mission. Native American mothers even had to care for Spanish children instead of focusing on their own (Mission). The Native American men had to hunt for food and build new Missions. In addition, they learned carpentry, leatherworkers, smiths, and farm work. The Franciscans controlled their days into a rigorous schedule announced by church bells (Archibald, 104). If the workers were not done with their tasks by the chimes of the church bells, they would suffer major consequences. The Franciscans did not view their actions as imprisonment because they believed that the providence of food and shelter compensates for Natives’ hard work. In reality, the Missions were not a place to live a life of ease nor was it a place to acquire personal fortune and prosperity. The Native Americans were not worked to death like the slaves in southern United States at this time. However, the strict regulation, cruel and unusual punishments and forced new traditions are extremely inhumane acts. According to Julio Cesar, â€Å"When I was a boy the treatment given to the Indians at the Mission was not good at all. We were at the mercy of the administrator, who ordered us to be flogged whenever and however he took notion† (Mission). Every Mission had two priests. One priest’s duties were to preach and teach about religion. The other priest’s duties were strictly on the work field. He instructed and gave the Native Americans and other workers their duties. The lifestyle in the California Missions was set in a very rigorous schedule so it was nearly impossible for the Native Americans to take a break or escape the hardship. The Natives resisted colonization after just a short time living and working at the Missions. There were a few deadly rebellions conducted by the Native Americans. They destroyed Mission property and even threatened to kill priests. The most infamous attack occurred in San Diego. On November 4, 1775, hundreds of men completely destroyed the Cuiamac Rancheria Mission of San Diego. The men also killed three Hispanics, including the Father, Padre Jaime (Sandos, 92). In addition, in 1824, another great Indian rebellion in California occurred at the Missions of Barbara. A large part of the Mission building was wrecked by a large fire. On the same day, hundreds of Native Americans attacked the Spanish defenders and soldiers. Leaders of the rebellion were severely punished. Seven were executed and the others were imprisoned or required to do even crueler labor. The Natives revolted because of their poor treatment and forced labor enforced by the soldiers and Fathers (Sandos, 73). These rebellions were among the many others throughout the 16th century in the California missions. This proves that the Native Americans were furious about getting different beliefs and work forced onto them. The Spanish settlers caused a lot of health problems to flourish all throughout California. Soon after the arrival of Spanish colonists, diseases spread from Southern California to Northern California so Native American fatalities heightened. Highly infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles, and syphilis killed thousands of Native Americans, especially children, so the Indian population dropped drastically (Sandos, 64). About sixty percent of the Mission Native Americans’ death was due to introduced diseases. In just a few decades, the Native American population in California decreased from 310,000 to about 100,000. Since the California Missions held many residences, people lived in such confined spaces which caused contagious diseases to spread rapidly. In order to keep the population at a steady rate for enough workers, Mission leaders separated Native American children from their parents to maintain the children’s health to save them to work at the Missions as they got older (California). The Natives were furious that their families were being separate. Mothers were not there to care for their children, so the Native children were on their own. There was a lack of physicians to care for the ill so not everyone could be helped. Diseases were not the only reason why the Native population dropped drastically. They went through rigorous changes in diet so their bodies were not used to the food they were eating. In addition, malnutrition caused toxins in their bodies. In addition, the intense demanding manual labor is a factor that contributed to their inability to overcome the sickness. Death rates were higher than birth rates so the Mission had to keep recruiting different tribes all throughout California (Mission). By 1834, there were only about 15,000 Native American residents in the twenty two Missions. The Spanish were only in contact with the Native Americans for personal gain. The Franciscans maintained total economic, social, and political control all throughout California. Very few Native Americans chose to stay at the Missions voluntarily. During their time at the Missions, they had to conduct harsh labor and all of their rights were taken away from them. Although they provided the Native Americans with food, shelter, and clothing, the Franciscans treated them like slaves. The Spanish’s involvement backfired since a majority of Native Americans died due to illness, making them nearly extinct. The physical and metal demands required were a major strain on the Native Americans.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Twilight 8. PORT ANGELES

8. PORT ANGELES Jess drove faster than the Chief, so we made it to Port Angeles by four. It had been a while since I'd had a girls' night out, and the estrogen rush was invigorating. We listened to whiny rock songs while Jessica jabbered on about the boys we hung out with. Jessica's dinner with Mike had gone very well, and she was hoping that by Saturday night they would have progressed to the first-kiss stage. I smiled to myself, pleased. Angela was passively happy to be going to the dance, but not really interested in Eric. Jess tried to get her to confess who her type was, but I interrupted with a question about dresses after a bit, to spare her. Angela threw a grateful glance my way. Port Angeles was a beautiful little tourist trap, much more polished and quaint than Forks. But Jessica and Angela knew it well, so they didn't plan to waste time on the picturesque boardwalk by the bay. Jess drove straight to the one big department store in town, which was a few streets in from the bay area's visitor-friendly face. The dance was billed as semiformal, and we weren't exactly sure what that meant. Both Jessica and Angela seemed surprised and almost disbelieving when I told them I'd never been to a dance in Phoenix. â€Å"Didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?† Jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors of the store. â€Å"Really,† I tried to convince her, not wanting to confess my dancing problems. â€Å"I've never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much.† â€Å"Why not?† Jessica demanded. â€Å"No one asked me,† I answered honestly. She looked skeptical. â€Å"People ask you out here,† she reminded me, â€Å"and you tell them no.† We were in the juniors' section now, scanning the racks for dress-up clothes. â€Å"Well, except for Tyler,† Angela amended quietly. â€Å"Excuse me?† I gasped. â€Å"What did you say?† â€Å"Tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom,† Jessica informed me with suspicious eyes. â€Å"He said what?† I sounded like I was choking. â€Å"I told you it wasn't true,† Angela murmured to Jessica. I was silent, still lost in shock that was quickly turning to irritation. But we had found the dress racks, and now we had work to do. â€Å"That's why Lauren doesn't like you,† Jessica giggled while we pawed through the clothes. I ground my teeth. â€Å"Do you think that if I ran him over with my truck he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? That he might give up on making amends and call it even?† â€Å"Maybe,† Jess snickered. ‘†If that's why he's doing this.† The dress selection wasn't large, but both of them found a few things to try on. I sat on a low chair just inside the dressing room, by the three-way mirror, trying to control my fuming. Jess was torn between two – one a long, strapless, basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I encouraged her to go with the blue; why not play up the eyes? Angela chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out honey tints in her light brown hair. I complimented them both generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. The whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips I'd taken with Ren? ¦e at home. I guess there was something to be said for limited choices. We headed over to shoes and accessories. While they tried things on I merely watched and critiqued, not in the mood to shop for myself, though I did need new shoes. The girls'-night high was wearing off in the wake of my annoyance at Tyler, leaving room for the gloom to move back in. â€Å"Angela?† I began, hesitant, while she was trying on a pair of pink strappy heels – she was overjoyed to have a date tall enough that she could wear high heels at all. Jessica had drifted to the jewelry counter and we were alone. â€Å"Yes?† She held her leg out, twisting her ankle to get a better view of the shoe. I chickened out. â€Å"I like those.† â€Å"I think I'll get them – though they'll never match anything but the one dress,† she mused. â€Å"Oh, go ahead – they're on sale,† I encouraged. She smiled, putting the lid back on a box that contained more practical-looking off-white shoes. I tried again. â€Å"Um, Angela†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She looked up curiously. â€Å"Is it normal for the†¦ Cullens† – I kept my eyes on the shoes – â€Å"to be out of school a lot?† I failed miserably in my attempt to sound nonchalant. â€Å"Yes, when the weather is good they go backpacking all the time – even the doctor. They're all real outdoorsy,† she told me quietly, examining her shoes, too. She didn't ask one question, let alone the hundreds that Jessica would have unleashed. I was beginning to really like Angela. â€Å"Oh.† I let the subject drop as Jessica returned to show us the rhinestone jewelry she'd found to match her silver shoes. We planned to go to dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the boardwalk, but the dress shopping hadn't taken as long as we'd expected. Jess and Angela were going to take their clothes back to the car and then walk down to the bay. I told them I would meet them at the restaurant in an hour – I wanted to look for a bookstore. They were both willing to come with me, but I encouraged them to go have fun – they didn't know how preoccupied I could get when surrounded by books; it was something I preferred to do alone. They walked off to the car chattering happily, and I headed in the direction Jess pointed out. I had no trouble finding the bookstore, but it wasn't what I was looking for. The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers, and books about spiritual healing. I didn't even go inside. Through the glass I could see a fifty-year-old woman with long, gray hair worn straight down her back, clad in a dress right out of the sixties, smiling welcomingly from behind the counter. I decided that was one conversation I could skip. There had to be a normal bookstore in town. I meandered through the streets, which were filling up with end-of-the-workday traffic, and hoped I was headed toward downtown. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should to where I was going; I was wrestling with despair. I was trying so hard not to think about him, and what Angela had said†¦ and more than anything trying to beat down my hopes for Saturday, fearing a disappointment more painful than the rest, when I looked up to see someone's silver Volvo parked along the street and it all came crashing down on me. Stupid, unreliable vampire, I thought to myself. I stomped along in a southerly direction, toward some glass-fronted shops that looked promising. But when I got to them, they were just a repair shop and a vacant space. I still had too much time to go looking for Jess and Angela yet, and I definitely needed to get my mood in hand before I met back up with them. I ran my fingers through my hair a couple of times and took some deep breaths before I continued around the corner. I started to realize, as I crossed another road, that I was going the wrong direction. The little foot traffic I had seen was going north, and it looked like the buildings here were mostly warehouses. I decided to turn east at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks and try my luck on a different street on my way back to the boardwalk. A group of four men turned around the corner I was heading for, dressed too casually to be heading home from the office, but they were too grimy to be tourists. As they approached me, I realized they weren't too many years older than I was. They were joking loudly among themselves, laughing raucously and punching each other's arms. I scooted as far to the inside of the sidewalk as I could to give them room, walking swiftly, looking past them to the corner. â€Å"Hey, there!† one of them called as they passed, and he had to be talking to me since no one else was around. I glanced up automatically. Two of them had paused, the other two were slowing. The closest, a heavyset, dark-haired man in his early twenties, seemed to be the one who had spoken. He was wearing a flannel shirt open over a dirty t-shirt, cut-off jeans, and sandals. He took half a step toward me. â€Å"Hello,† I mumbled, a knee-jerk reaction. Then I quickly looked away and walked faster toward the corner. I could hear them laughing at full volume behind me. â€Å"Hey, wait!† one of them called after me again, but I kept my head down and rounded the corner with a sigh of relief. I could still hear them chortling behind me. I found myself on a sidewalk leading past the backs of several somber-colored warehouses, each with large bay doors for unloading trucks, padlocked for the night. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire protecting some kind of engine parts storage yard. I'd wandered far past the part of Port Angeles that I, as a guest, was intended to see. It was getting dark, I realized, the clouds finally returning, piling up on the western horizon, creating an early sunset. The eastern sky was still clear, but graying, shot through with streaks of pink and orange. I'd left my jacket in the car, and a sudden shiver made me cross my arms tightly across my chest. A single van passed me, and then the road was empty. The sky suddenly darkened further, and, as I looked over my shoulder to glare at the offending cloud, I realized with a shock that two men were walking quietly twenty feet behind me. They were from the same group I'd passed at the corner, though neither was the dark one who'd spoken to me. I turned my head forward at once, quickening my pace. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather made me shiver again. My purse was on a shoulder strap and I had it slung across my body, the way you were supposed to wear it so it wouldn't get snatched. I knew exactly where my pepper spray was – still in my duffle bag under the bed, never unpacked. I didn't have much money with me, just a twenty and some ones, and I thought about â€Å"accidentally† dropping my bag and walking away. But a small, frightened voice in the back of my mind warned me that they might be something worse than thieves. I listened intently to their quiet footsteps, which were much too quiet when compared to the boisterous noise they'd been making earlier, and it didn't sound like they were speeding up, or getting any closer to me. Breathe, I had to remind myself. You don't know they're following you. I continued to walk as quickly as I could without actually running, focusing on the right-hand turn that was only a few yards away from me now. I could hear them, staying as far back as they'd been before. A blue car turned onto the street from the south and drove quickly past me. I thought of jumping out in front of it, but I hesitated, inhibited, unsure that I was really being pursued, and then it was too late. I reached the corner, but a swift glance revealed that it was only a blind drive to the back of another building. I was half-turned in anticipation; I had to hurriedly correct and dash across the narrow drive, back to the sidewalk. The street ended at the next corner, where there was a stop sign. I concentrated on the faint footsteps behind me, deciding whether or not to run. They sounded farther back, though, and I knew they could outrun me in any case. I was sure to trip and go sprawling if I tried to go any faster. The footfalls were definitely farther back. I risked a quick glance over my shoulder, and they were maybe forty feet back now, I saw with relief. But they were both staring at me. It seemed to take forever for me to get to the corner. I kept my pace steady, the men behind me falling ever so slightly farther behind with every step. Maybe they realized they had scared me and were sorry. I saw two cars going north pass the intersection I was heading for, and I exhaled in relief. There would be more people around once I got off this deserted street. I skipped around the corner with a grateful sigh. And skidded to a stop. The street was lined on both sides by blank, doorless, windowless walls. I could see in the distance, two intersections down, streetlamps, cars, and more pedestrians, but they were all too far away. Because lounging against the western building, midway down the street, were the other two men from the group, both watching with excited smiles as I froze dead on the sidewalk. I realized then that I wasn't being followed. I was being herded. I paused for only a second, but it felt like a very long time. I turned then and darted to the other side of the road. I had a sinking feeling that it was a wasted attempt. The footsteps behind me were louder now. â€Å"There you are!† The booming voice of the stocky, dark-haired man shattered the intense quiet and made me jump. In the gathering darkness, it seemed like he was looking past me. â€Å"Yeah,† a voice called loudly from behind me, making me jump again as I tried to hurry down the street. â€Å"We just took a little detour.† My steps had to slow now. I was closing the distance between myself and the lounging pair too quickly. I had a good loud scream, and I sucked in air, preparing to use it, but my throat was so dry I wasn't sure how much volume I could manage. With a quick movement I slipped my purse over my head, gripping the strap with one hand, ready to surrender it or use it as weapon as need demanded. The thickset man shrugged away from the wall as I warily came to a stop, and walked slowly into the street. â€Å"Stay away from me,† I warned in a voice that was supposed to sound strong and fearless. But I was right about the dry throat – no volume. â€Å"Don't be like that, sugar,† he called, and the raucous laughter started again behind me. I braced myself, feet apart, trying to remember through my panic what little self-defense I knew. Heel of the hand thrust upward, hopefully breaking the nose or shoving it into the brain. Finger through the eye socket – try to hook around and pop the eye out. And the standard knee to the groin, of course. That same pessimistic voice in my mind spoke up then, reminding me that I probably wouldn't have a chance against one of them, and there were four. Shut up! I commanded the voice before terror could incapacitate me. I wasn't going out without taking someone with me. I tried to swallow so I could build up a decent scream. Headlights suddenly flew around the corner, the car almost hitting the stocky one, forcing him to jump back toward the sidewalk. I dove into the road – this car was going to stop, or have to hit me. But the silver car unexpectedly fishtailed around, skidding to a stop with the passenger door open just a few feet from me. â€Å"Get in,† a furious voice commanded. It was amazing how instantaneously the choking fear vanished, amazing how suddenly the feeling of security washed over me – even before I was off the street – as soon as I heard his voice. I jumped into the seat, slamming the door shut behind me. It was dark in the car, no light had come on with the opening of the door, and I could barely see his face in the glow from the dashboard. The tires squealed as he spun around to face north, accelerating too quickly, swerving toward the stunned men on the street. I caught a glimpse of them diving for the sidewalk as we straightened out and sped toward the harbor. â€Å"Put on your seat belt,† he commanded, and I realized I was clutching the seat with both hands. I quickly obeyed; the snap as the belt connected was loud in the darkness. He took a sharp left, racing forward, blowing through several stop signs without a pause. But I felt utterly safe and, for the moment, totally unconcerned about where we were going. I stared at his face in profound relief, relief that went beyond my sudden deliverance. I studied his flawless features in the limited light, waiting for my breath to return to normal, until it occurred to me that his expression was murderously angry. â€Å"Are you okay?† I asked, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded. â€Å"No,† he said curtly, and his tone was livid. I sat in silence, watching his face while his blazing eyes stared straight ahead, until the car came to a sudden stop. I glanced around, but it was too dark to see anything beside the vague outline of dark trees crowding the roadside. We weren't in town anymore. â€Å"Bella?† he asked, his voice tight, controlled. â€Å"Yes?† My voice was still rough. I tried to clear my throat quietly. â€Å"Are you all right?† He still didn't look at me, but the fury was plain on his face. â€Å"Yes,† I croaked softly. â€Å"Distract me, please,† he ordered. â€Å"I'm sorry, what?† He exhaled sharply. â€Å"Just prattle about something unimportant until I calm down,† he clarified, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. â€Å"Um.† I wracked my brain for something trivial. â€Å"I'm going to run over Tyler Crowley tomorrow before school?† He was still squeezing his eyes closed, but the corner of his mouth twitched. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"He's telling everyone that he's taking me to prom – either he's insane or he's still trying to make up for almost killing me last†¦ well, you remember it, and he thinks prom is somehow the correct way to do this. So I figure if I endanger his life, then we're even, and he can't keep trying to make amends. I don't need enemies and maybe Lauren would back off if he left me alone. I might have to total his Sentra, though. If he doesn't have a ride he can't take anyone to prom†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I babbled on. â€Å"I heard about that.† He sounded a bit more composed. â€Å"You did?† I asked in disbelief, my previous irritation flaring. â€Å"If he's paralyzed from the neck down, he can't go to the prom, either,† I muttered, refining my plan. Edward sighed, and finally opened his eyes. â€Å"Better?† â€Å"Not really.† I waited, but he didn't speak again. He leaned his head back against the seat, staring at the ceiling of the car. His face was rigid. â€Å"What's wrong?† My voice came out in a whisper. â€Å"Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Bella.† He was whispering, too, and as he stared out the window, his eyes narrowed into slits. â€Å"But it wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He didn't finish his sentence, looking away, struggling for a moment to control his anger again. â€Å"At least,† he continued, â€Å"that's what I'm trying to convince myself.† â€Å"Oh.† The word seemed inadequate, but I couldn't think of a better response. We sat in silence again. I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was past six-thirty. â€Å"Jessica and Angela will be worried,† I murmured. â€Å"I was supposed to meet them.† He started the engine without another word, turning around smoothly and speeding back toward town. We were under the streetlights in no time at all, still going too fast, weaving with ease through the cars slowly cruising the boardwalk. He parallel-parked against the curb in a space I would have thought much too small for the Volvo, but he slid in effortlessly in one try. I looked out the window to see the lights of La Bella Italia, and Jess and Angela just leaving, pacing anxiously away from us. â€Å"How did you know where†¦ ?† I began, but then I just shook my head. I heard the door open and turned to see him getting out. â€Å"What are you doing?† I asked. â€Å"I'm taking you to dinner.† He smiled slightly, but his eyes were hard. He stepped out of the car and slammed the door. I fumbled with my seat belt, and then hurried to get out of the car as well. He was waiting for me on the sidewalk. He spoke before I could. â€Å"Go stop Jessica and Angela before I have to track them down, too. I don't think I could restrain myself if I ran into your other friends again.† I shivered at the threat in his voice. â€Å"Jess! Angela!† I yelled after them, waving when they turned. They rushed back to me, the pronounced relief on both their faces simultaneously changing to surprise as they saw who I was standing next to. They hesitated a few feet from us. â€Å"Where have you been?† Jessica's voice was suspicious. â€Å"I got lost,† I admitted sheepishly. â€Å"And then I ran into Edward.† I gestured toward him. â€Å"Would it be all right if I joined you?† he asked in his silken, irresistible voice. I could see from their staggered expressions that he had never unleashed his talents on them before. â€Å"Er†¦ sure,† Jessica breathed. â€Å"Um, actually, Bella, we already ate while we were waiting – sorry,† Angela confessed. â€Å"That's fine – I'm not hungry.† I shrugged. â€Å"I think you should eat something.† Edward's voice was low, but full of authority. He looked up at Jessica and spoke slightly louder. â€Å"Do you mind if I drive Bella home tonight? That way you won't have to wait while she eats.† â€Å"Uh, no problem, I guess†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She bit her lip, trying to figure out from my expression whether that was what I wanted. I winked at her. I wanted nothing more than to be alone with my perpetual savior. There were so many questions that I couldn't bombard him with till we were by ourselves. â€Å"Okay.† Angela was quicker than Jessica. â€Å"See you tomorrow, Bella†¦ Edward.† She grabbed Jessica's hand and pulled her toward the car, which I could see a little ways away, parked across First Street. As they got in, Jess turned and waved, her face eager with curiosity. I waved back, waiting for them to drive away before I turned to face him. â€Å"Honestly, I'm not hungry,† I insisted, looking up to scrutinize his face. His expression was unreadable. â€Å"Humor me.† He walked to the door of the restaurant and held it open with an obstinate expression. Obviously, there would be no further discussion. I walked past him into the restaurant with a resigned sigh. The restaurant wasn't crowded – it was the off-season in Port Angeles. The host was female, and I understood the look in her eyes as she assessed Edward. She welcomed him a little more warmly than necessary. I was surprised by how much that bothered me. She was several inches taller than I was, and unnaturally blond. â€Å"A table for two?† His voice was alluring, whether he was aiming for that or not. I saw her eyes flicker to me and then away, satisfied by my obvious ordinariness, and by the cautious, no-contact space Edward kept between us. She led us to a table big enough for four in the center of the most crowded area of the dining floor. I was about to sit, but Edward shook his head at me. â€Å"Perhaps something more private?† he insisted quietly to the host. I wasn't sure, but it looked like he smoothly handed her a tip. I'd never seen anyone refuse a table except in old movies. â€Å"Sure.† She sounded as surprised as I was. She turned and led us around a partition to a small ring of booths – all of them empty. â€Å"How's this?† â€Å"Perfect.† He flashed his gleaming smile, dazing her momentarily. â€Å"Um† – she shook her head, blinking – â€Å"your server will be right out.† She walked away unsteadily. â€Å"You really shouldn't do that to people,† I criticized. â€Å"It's hardly fair.† â€Å"Do what?† â€Å"Dazzle them like that – she's probably hyperventilating in the kitchen right now.† He seemed confused. â€Å"Oh, come on,† I said dubiously. â€Å"You have to know the effect you have on people.† He tilted his head to one side, and his eyes were curious. â€Å"I dazzle people?† â€Å"You haven't noticed? Do you think everybody gets their way so easily?† He ignored my questions. â€Å"Do I dazzle you?† â€Å"Frequently,† I admitted. And then our server arrived, her face expectant. The hostess had definitely dished behind the scenes, and this new girl didn't look disappointed. She flipped a strand of short black hair behind one ear and smiled with unnecessary warmth. â€Å"Hello. My name is Amber, and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?† I didn't miss that she was speaking only to him. He looked at me. â€Å"I'll have a Coke.† It sounded like a question. â€Å"Two Cokes,† he said. â€Å"I'll be right back with that,† she assured him with another unnecessary smile. But he didn't see it. He was watching me. â€Å"What?† I asked when she left. His eyes stayed fixed on my face. â€Å"How are you feeling?† â€Å"I'm fine,† I replied, surprised by his intensity. â€Å"You don't feel dizzy, sick, cold†¦ ?† â€Å"Should I?† He chuckled at my puzzled tone. â€Å"Well, I'm actually waiting for you to go into shock.† His face twisted up into that perfect crooked smile. â€Å"I don't think that will happen,† I said after I could breathe again. â€Å"I've always been very good at repressing unpleasant things.† â€Å"Just the same, I'll feel better when you have some sugar and food in you.† Right on cue, the waitress appeared with our drinks and a basket of breadsticks. She stood with her back to me as she placed them on the table. â€Å"Are you ready to order?† she asked Edward. â€Å"Bella?† he asked. She turned unwillingly toward me. I picked the first thing I saw on the menu. â€Å"Um†¦ I'll have the mushroom ravioli.† â€Å"And you?† She turned back to him with a smile. â€Å"Nothing for me,† he said. Of course not. â€Å"Let me know if you change your mind.† The coy smile was still in place, but he wasn't looking at her, and she left dissatisfied. â€Å"Drink,† he ordered. I sipped at my soda obediently, and then drank more deeply, surprised by how thirsty I was. I realized I had finished the whole thing when he pushed his glass toward me. â€Å"Thanks,† I muttered, still thirsty. The cold from the icy soda was radiating through my chest, and I shivered. â€Å"Are you cold?† â€Å"It's just the Coke,† I explained, shivering again. â€Å"Don't you have a jacket?† His voice was disapproving. â€Å"Yes.† I looked at the empty bench next to me. â€Å"Oh – I left it in Jessica's car,† I realized. Edward was shrugging out of his jacket. I suddenly realized that I had never once noticed what he was wearing – not just tonight, but ever. I just couldn't seem to look away from his face. I made myself look now, focusing. He was removing a light beige leather jacket now; underneath he wore an ivory turtleneck sweater. It fit him snugly, emphasizing how muscular his chest was. He handed me the jacket, interrupting my ogling. â€Å"Thanks,† I said again, sliding my arms into his jacket. It was cold – the way my jacket felt when I first picked it up in the morning, hanging in the drafty hallway. I shivered again. It smelled amazing. I inhaled, trying to identify the delicious scent. It didn't smell like cologne. The sleeves were much too long; I shoved them back so I could free my hands. â€Å"That color blue looks lovely with your skin,† he said, watching me. I was surprised; I looked down, flushing, of course. He pushed the bread basket toward me. â€Å"Really, I'm not going into shock,† I protested. â€Å"You should be – a normal person would be. You don't even look shaken.† He seemed unsettled. He stared into my eyes, and I saw how light his eyes were, lighter than I'd ever seen them, golden butterscotch. â€Å"I feel very safe with you,† I confessed, mesmerized into telling the truth again. That displeased him; his alabaster brow furrowed. He shook his head, frowning. â€Å"This is more complicated than I'd planned,† he murmured to himself. I picked up a breadstick and began nibbling on the end, measuring his expression. I wondered when it would be okay to start questioning him. â€Å"Usually you're in a better mood when your eyes are so light,† I commented, trying to distract him from whatever thought had left him frowning and somber. He stared at me, stunned. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You're always crabbier when your eyes are black – I expect it then,† I went on. â€Å"I have a theory about that.† His eyes narrowed. â€Å"More theories?† â€Å"Mm-hm.† I chewed on a small bite of the bread, trying to look indifferent. â€Å"I hope you were more creative this time†¦ or are you still stealing from comic books?† His faint smile was mocking; his eyes were still tight. â€Å"Well, no, I didn't get it from a comic book, but I didn't come up with it on my own, either,† I confessed. â€Å"And?† he prompted. But then the waitress strode around the partition with my food. I realized we'd been unconsciously leaning toward each other across the table, because we both straightened up as she approached. She set the dish in front of me – it looked pretty good – and turned quickly to Edward. â€Å"Did you change your mind?† she asked. â€Å"Isn't there anything I can get you?† I may have been imagining the double meaning in her words. â€Å"No, thank you, but some more soda would be nice.† He gestured with a long white hand to the empty cups in front of me. â€Å"Sure.† She removed the empty glasses and walked away. â€Å"You were saying?† he asked. â€Å"I'll tell you about it in the car. If†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I paused. â€Å"There are conditions?† He raised one eyebrow, his voice ominous. â€Å"I do have a few questions, of course.† â€Å"Of course.† The waitress was back with two more Cokes. She sat them down without a word this time, and left again. I took a sip. â€Å"Well, go ahead,† he pushed, his voice still hard. I started with the most undemanding. Or so I thought. â€Å"Why are you in Port Angeles?† He looked down, folding his large hands together slowly on the table. His eyes flickered up at me from under his lashes, the hint of a smirk on his face. â€Å"Next.† â€Å"But that's the easiest one,† I objected. â€Å"Next,† he repeated. I looked down, frustrated. I unrolled my silverware, picked up my fork, and carefully speared a ravioli. I put it in my mouth slowly, still looking down, chewing while I thought. The mushrooms were good. I swallowed and took another sip of Coke before I looked up. â€Å"Okay, then.† I glared at him, and continued slowly. â€Å"Let's say, hypothetically of course, that†¦ someone†¦ could know what people are thinking, read minds, you know – with a few exceptions.† â€Å"Just one exception,† he corrected, â€Å"hypothetically.† â€Å"All right, with one exception, then.† I was thrilled that he was playing along, but I tried to seem casual. â€Å"How does that work? What are the limitations? How would†¦ that someone†¦ find someone else at exactly the right time? How would he know she was in trouble?† I wondered if my convoluted questions even made sense. â€Å"Hypothetically?† he asked. â€Å"Sure.† â€Å"Well, if†¦ that someone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Let's call him ‘Joe,'† I suggested. He smiled wryly. â€Å"Joe, then. If Joe had been paying attention, the timing wouldn't have needed to be quite so exact.† He shook his head, rolling his eyes. â€Å"Only you could get into trouble in a town this small. You would have devastated their crime rate statistics for a decade, you know.† â€Å"We were speaking of a hypothetical case,† I reminded him frostily. He laughed at me, his eyes warm. â€Å"Yes, we were,† he agreed. â€Å"Shall we call you ‘Jane'?† â€Å"How did you know?† I asked, unable to curb my intensity. I realized I was leaning toward him again. He seemed to be wavering, torn by some internal dilemma. His eyes locked with mine, and I guessed he was making the decision right then whether or not to simply tell me the truth. â€Å"You can trust me, you know,† I murmured. I reached forward, without thinking, to touch his folded hands, but he slid them away minutely, and I pulled my hand back. â€Å"I don't know if I have a choice anymore.† His voice was almost a whisper. â€Å"I was wrong – you're much more observant than I gave you credit for.† â€Å"I thought you were always right.† â€Å"I used to be.† He shook his head again. â€Å"I was wrong about you on one other thing, as well. You're not a magnet for accidents – that's not a broad enough classification. You are a magnet for trouble. If there is anything dangerous within a ten-mile radius, it will invariably find you.† â€Å"And you put yourself into that category?† I guessed. His face turned cold, expressionless. â€Å"Unequivocally.† I stretched my hand across the table again – ignoring him when he pulled back slightly once more – to touch the back of his hand shyly with my fingertips. His skin was cold and hard, like a stone. â€Å"Thank you.† My voice was fervent with gratitude. â€Å"That's twice now.† His face softened. â€Å"Let's not try for three, agreed?† I scowled, but nodded. He moved his hand out from under mine, placing both of his under the table. But he leaned toward me. â€Å"I followed you to Port Angeles,† he admitted, speaking in a rush. â€Å"I've never tried to keep a specific person alive before, and it's much more troublesome than I would have believed. But that's probably just because it's you. Ordinary people seem to make it through the day without so many catastrophes.† He paused. I wondered if it should bother me that he was following me; instead I felt a strange surge of pleasure. He stared, maybe wondering why my lips were curving into an involuntary smile. â€Å"Did you ever think that maybe my number was up the first time, with the van, and that you've been interfering with fate?† I speculated, distracting myself. â€Å"That wasn't the first time,† he said, and his voice was hard to hear. I stared at him in amazement, but he was looking down. â€Å"Your number was up the first time I met you.† I felt a spasm of fear at his words, and the abrupt memory of his violent black glare that first day†¦ but the overwhelming sense of safety I felt in his presence stifled it. By the time he looked up to read my eyes, there was no trace of fear in them. â€Å"You remember?† he asked, his angel's face grave. â€Å"Yes.† I was calm. â€Å"And yet here you sit.† There was a trace of disbelief in his voice; he raised one eyebrow. â€Å"Yes, here I sit†¦ because of you.† I paused. â€Å"Because somehow you knew how to find me today†¦ ?† I prompted. He pressed his lips together, staring at me through narrowed eyes, deciding again. His eyes flashed down to my full plate, and then back to me. â€Å"You eat, I'll talk,† he bargained. I quickly scooped up another ravioli and popped it in my mouth. â€Å"It's harder than it should be – keeping track of you. Usually I can find someone very easily, once I've heard their mind before.† He looked at me anxiously, and I realized I had frozen. I made myself swallow, then stabbed another ravioli and tossed it in. â€Å"I was keeping tabs on Jessica, not carefully – like I said, only you could find trouble in Port Angeles – and at first I didn't notice when you took off on your own. Then, when I realized that you weren't with her anymore, I went looking for you at the bookstore I saw in her head. I could tell that you hadn't gone in, and that you'd gone south†¦ and I knew you would have to turn around soon. So I was just waiting for you, randomly searching through the thoughts of people on the street – to see if anyone had noticed you so I would know where you were. I had no reason to be worried†¦ but I was strangely anxious†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He was lost in thought, staring past me, seeing things I couldn't imagine. â€Å"I started to drive in circles, still†¦ listening. The sun was finally setting, and I was about to get out and follow you on foot. And then -† He stopped, clenching his teeth together in sudden fury. He made an effort to calm himself. â€Å"Then what?† I whispered. He continued to stare over my head. â€Å"I heard what they were thinking,† he growled, his upper lip curling slightly back over his teeth. â€Å"I saw your face in his mind.† He suddenly leaned forward, one elbow appearing on the table, his hand covering his eyes. The movement was so swift it startled me. â€Å"It was very†¦ hard – you can't imagine how hard – for me to simply take you away, and leave them†¦ alive.† His voice was muffled by his arm. â€Å"I could have let you go with Jessica and Angela, but I was afraid if you left me alone, I would go looking for them,† he admitted in a whisper. I sat quietly, dazed, my thoughts incoherent. My hands were folded in my lap, and I was leaning weakly against the back of the seat. He still had his face in his hand, and he was as still as if he'd been carved from the stone his skin resembled. Finally he looked up, his eyes seeking mine, full of his own questions. â€Å"Are you ready to go home?† he asked. â€Å"I'm ready to leave,† I qualified, overly grateful that we had the hour-long ride home together. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to him. The waitress appeared as if she'd been called. Or watching. â€Å"How are we doing?† she asked Edward. â€Å"We're ready for the check, thank you.† His voice was quiet, rougher, still reflecting the strain of our conversation. It seemed to muddle her. He looked up, waiting. â€Å"S-sure,† she stuttered. â€Å"Here you go.† She pulled a small leather folder from the front pocket of her black apron and handed it to him. There was a bill in his hand already. He slipped it into the folder and handed it right back to her. â€Å"No change.† He smiled. Then he stood up, and I scrambled awkwardly to my feet. She smiled invitingly at him again. â€Å"You have a nice evening.† He didn't look away from me as he thanked her. I suppressed a smile. He walked close beside me to the door, still careful not to touch me. I remembered what Jessica had said about her relationship with Mike, how they were almost to the first-kiss stage. I sighed. Edward seemed to hear me, and he looked down curiously. I looked at the sidewalk, grateful that he didn't seem to be able to know what I was thinking. He opened the passenger door, holding it for me as I stepped in, shutting it softly behind me. I watched him walk around the front of the car, amazed, yet again, by how graceful he was. I probably should have been used to that by now – but I wasn't. I had a feeling Edward wasn't the kind of person anyone got used to. Once inside the car, he started the engine and turned the heater on high. It had gotten very cold, and I guessed the good weather was at an end. I was warm in his jacket, though, breathing in the scent of it when I thought he couldn't see. Edward pulled out through the traffic, apparently without a glance, flipping around to head toward the freeway. â€Å"Now,† he said significantly, â€Å"it's your turn.†