Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE Could Be Worse, Could Be Dog Years â€Å"Evidently,† said Nate, â€Å"where we screwed up was killing the whales.† â€Å"No way,† said Amy. â€Å"We tipped our hand.† â€Å"About being meme machines, right?† â€Å"Yeah. Are you sure you're not spying for him?† â€Å"Nope. Know how you can tell? When I was spying, did I ever touch you here?† â€Å"No. No, you did not.† â€Å"And did I ever let you touch me here?† She moved his hand for him. â€Å"No, you did not. Especially not in public.† â€Å"Yeah, we should probably go back to your place.† She had called him on his buzzy, bug-winged speaky thing, about which he made a mental note to ask what the name of it was at his first convenience. They'd met for coffee at a Gooville caf that catered to whaley boys. She'd assured him that no one would notice them, and, strangely enough, the whaley boys had completely ignored them. Maybe he was no longer news. â€Å"If they say anything, I'll just tell them that we're having sex,† Amy said. â€Å"But you said you didn't think I should tell the Colonel I'd seen you.† â€Å"Yeah, but that was before he let you in on his secret plan.† â€Å"Right.† â€Å"Although I'm a little ashamed of how old you are. We should talk about that.† â€Å"So should I move my hand?† â€Å"Yeah, down and a little to the right.† â€Å"Let's head back to my place.† Back at his apartment, standing in the kitchen, he said, â€Å"Hey, what do you call this thing?† He pointed to that thing. â€Å"The phone.† â€Å"No kidding?† He nodded as if he'd known that all along. â€Å"So where were we?† â€Å"Killing whales was where we went wrong?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Or how old you are?† â€Å"So,† he continued, â€Å"killing whales was a big mistake.† â€Å"Which you knew, because that's what made you want to become a nerd in the first place.† â€Å"No, that's not right.† † ‘Scuse me, action nerd.† â€Å"You want to know how I got into this field, really?† â€Å"No. I mean, sure. You can tell me about the destruction of the human race later.† â€Å"You have to promise you won't laugh.† â€Å"Of course.† She looked incredibly sincere. â€Å"My sophomore year at the University of Sasketchewan in the Sticks – ; â€Å"You're kidding.† â€Å"It's a good school. You promised you wouldn't laugh.† â€Å"Oh, you meant even this early in the story I'm not supposed to laugh? Sorry.† â€Å"I mean, I'm sure it doesn't measure up to Gooville Community College –  » â€Å"Not fair.† â€Å"Home of the Gooville Fighting Loogies – ; â€Å"Okay, you made your point.† â€Å"Thank you. So a friend and I decided that we're going to go to break out of our boring small-college lives, we were going to take some risks, we were going to –  » â€Å"Talk to a girl?† â€Å"No. We decided to drive all the way to Florida for spring break just like American kids, where we would then drink beer, get sunburned, and then talk to a girl – girls.† â€Å"So you went.† â€Å"Took almost a week to get there, but yes, we drove in his dad's Vista Cruiser station wagon. And I did indeed meet a girl. In Fort Lauderdale. A girl from Fort Lauderdale. And I talked to her.† â€Å"You dirty little tramp. Like, ‘How's it going, eh?  » â€Å"Among other things. We conversed. And so she invited me to go see a manatee.† â€Å"He shoots! He scores!† â€Å"But I thought it was an American way of saying matinee. I thought we were going to a movie. You know, you don't think about those things as being real.† â€Å"But it was.† â€Å"She did volunteer work for a rescue hospital for injured marine mammals, mostly manatees that had been hit by boats. They had a bottlenose dolphin, too. We stayed there for hours, caring for the animals, her teaching me about them. I was hooked. I hadn't even picked my undergrad major, but as soon as I got back to school, I went for biology, and I've been studying marine mammals ever since.† â€Å"Oh, my God, you didn't get laid, did you?† â€Å"I found a passion for life. I found something that drives me.† â€Å"I can't believe I fell for such a pathetic loser.† â€Å"Hey, I'm pretty good at this whale stuff. I'm respected in my field.† â€Å"But you're dead.† â€Å"Yeah, before then, I mean. Hey, did you say that you fell for me?† â€Å"I said I fell for a pathetic loser, if the shoe fits†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He kissed her. She kissed him back. That went on for a while. They both found it excellent. Then they stopped. â€Å"You said you wanted to talk about our age difference,† Nate said, because he always picked women who broke his heart, and, figuring that his heart was now into this whole thing far enough to be broken, he wanted to get on with it. â€Å"Yeah, we probably should. Maybe we should sit down.† â€Å"Couch?† â€Å"No, at the table. You might want a drink.† â€Å"No, I'm okay.† Yep, heartbreak, he thought. They sat. â€Å"So,† she said, curling her legs up under her, sitting like a little kid, making him feel ever more the creepy old guy leching on the young girl, â€Å"you know that the whaley boys have been pulling people in here from shipwrecks and plane crashes for years, right?† â€Å"That's what Cielle said.† â€Å"She wants you, I can tell, but that's beside the point. Do you know that they pulled whole crews off sunken submarines, plus they've yanked sonar guys out of port for years?† â€Å"I didn't know that.† â€Å"Doesn't matter, has nothing to do with what I'm telling you. So you realize that some people who have been lost at sea, like the crew of the American sub Scorpion that sank back in 67, actually ended up here?† â€Å"Okay. That makes sense. More of the Goo looking out for itself. Gaining knowledge.† â€Å"Yeah, but that's not the point. I mean, those guys helped put together a lot of the technology you saw on the whale ship, the human technology, but that doesn't matter. The important part is that the world thinks that the crew of the Scorpion is at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, even though they're not. Got it?† â€Å"Okay,† Nate said, really slowly, the way he had spoken to the Colonel when he was losing the point – much the way he was waving in the conversational wind right now. â€Å"And you realize that when I applied with you and Clay, that I gave my real name, which is Amy Earhart, and that Amy is short for Amelia?† â€Å"Oh, my God,† Nate said. â€Å"Ha!† Amy said. The ship broker found Clay's ship in the Philippines, in Manila Harbor. Clay bought it based on faxed photographs, a spec sheet, and a recent hull certification for just under $2 million of the Old Broad's money. It was a 180-foot-long U.S. Coast Guard fisheries patrol vessel built in the late fifties. It had been refitted several times since then, once in the seventies for fishing, once in the eighties for ocean survey, and finally in the nineties as a live-aboard dive boat for the adventure tourist. It had plenty of comfortable cabins as well as compressors, dive platforms, and cranes to raise and lower support vessels onto the rear deck, although, except for the lifeboats, it came with no support craft. Clay thought they could use the rear deck as a helicopter-landing pad, even if there wasn't a budget for a helicopter, but – you know – someone with a helicopter might want to land there, and it helped no end to have a big H painted on the deck. There was a budget for painting a big H. The ship had efficient, if not quite state-of-the-art, navigation equipment, radar, autopilot, and some old but functioning sonar arrays left over from its days as a fishing ship. It had twin twelve-hundred-horsepower diesel engines and could distill up to twenty tons of freshwater a day for the crew and passengers. There were cabins and support for forty. It was also rated a class-three icebreaker, which was a feature that Clay hoped they wouldn't have to test. He really didn't like cold water. Through another broker Clay hired the crew of ten men, sight unseen, right off the docks of Manila: a group of brothers, cousins, and uncles with the last name of Mangabay, among whom the broker guaranteed that there were no murderers, or at least no convicted murderers, and only petty thieves. The eldest uncle, Ray Mangabay, who would be Clay's first mate, would sail the ship to Honolulu, where Clay would meet them. â€Å"He's going to be driving my ship,† Clay said to Clair after he'd gotten the news that he had a crew and a first mate. â€Å"You have to let your ship go, Clay,† Clair said. â€Å"If he sinks it, it wasn't really yours.† â€Å"But it's my ship.† â€Å"What are you going to call it?† He was thinking about the Intrepid or the Merciless or some other big-dick, blow-shit-up kind of name. He was thinking about Loyal or Relentless or the Never Surrender, because he was determined now to find his friend, and he didn't mind putting that right on the bow. â€Å"Well, I was thinking about – ; â€Å"You were thinking deeply about it, weren't you?† Clair interrupted. â€Å"Yes, I thought I'd call her the Beautiful Clair.† â€Å"Just the Clair will be fine, baby. You don't want the bow to look busy.† â€Å"Right. The Clair.† Strangely enough, on second thought, that pretty much encompassed Intrepid, Merciless, Relentless, and Loyal. Plus, it had the underlying meaning of keeper of the booty, which was sort of a bonus in a ship name, he thought. â€Å"Yeah, that's a good name for her.† â€Å"How long before she gets here?† â€Å"Two weeks. She's not fast. Twelve knots cruising. If we have somewhere to go, I'll send the ship directly there and meet it at a port along the way.† â€Å"Well, now that she's called the Clair, I hope they bring her in safe.† â€Å"My ship,† Clay said anxiously. â€Å"So,† Nate said, â€Å"You're what, in your nineties? A hundred?† â€Å"Don't look it, do I?† Amy posed: a coquettish half curtsy with a Betty Boop bump at the end. Indeed, it would have been a spry move for a woman in her nineties. Nate was really glad he was sitting down, but he missed the sensation he would have had of needing to sit down. â€Å"Your whole attraction was based on my age, wasn't it?† She sat across from him. â€Å"You were working out your male menopause on the fantasy of my young body. Somehow you were going to try to recapture your youth. Once again you'd feel like more than a footnote to humanity. You'd be virile and vital and relevant and all alpha male, just because a younger – and decidedly luscious, I might add – woman had chosen you, right?† â€Å"Nuh-uh,† Nate said. She was wrong, right? â€Å"Wow, Nate, were you on the debate team at Moose Dirt U? I mean, your talent –  » â€Å"Sasketchewan in the Sticks,† he corrected. â€Å"So the age thing? It's a problem?† â€Å"You're like a hundred. My grandma isn't even a hundred, and she's dead.† â€Å"No, I'm not really that old.† She grinned and reached across the table, took his hand. â€Å"It's okay, Nate. I'm not Amelia Earhart.† â€Å"You're not?† Nate felt his lungs expand, as if a steel band around his chest had broken. He'd been taking tiny yip breaths, but now oxygen was returning to his brain. Funny, he was pretty sure that none of the other women he'd been with had been Amelia Earhart either, but he didn't remember feeling quite so relieved about it before. â€Å"Well, I should have known. I mean, you don't look anything like the pictures. No goggles.† â€Å"I was just messin' with you. I'm her daughter. Ha!† â€Å"Stop it! This isn't funny, Amy. If you're trying to make a point, you've made it. Yes, you're an attractive young woman, and maybe your youth's a part of why I'm attracted to you, but that's just biology. You can't blame me for that. I didn't make a move on you, I didn't harass you when we were working together. I treated you exactly as I would have treated any research assistant, except maybe you got away with more because I liked you. You can't ridicule me for responding to you sexually down here when you came on to me. The rules had changed.† â€Å"I'm not ridiculing you. Amelia Earhart really is my mother.† â€Å"Stop it.† â€Å"You want to meet her?† Nate searched her face for signs of a grin or a tremble in her throat that might indicate the rise of an Amy Ha! Nothing there, just that little bit of sweetness that she usually tried to hide. â€Å"So somehow, living down here, you haven't aged. Your mother?† â€Å"We age, but not like on the surface. I was born in 1940. I'm about the same number of years older than you than you were older than me a half hour ago – kinda sorta. You going to dump me?† â€Å"It's so hard to believe.† â€Å"Why, after you've seen all this? You've seen what the Goo can do. Why is it so hard to believe that I'm sixty-four?† â€Å"Well, for one, you're so immature.† â€Å"Shut up. I'm young at heart.† â€Å"But for a second there I was so sure we were doomed.† Nate rubbed his temples – trying to stretch them, maybe – to make his head bigger to hold the whole concept of Amy's being sixty-four. â€Å"No, it's okay, we just haven't gotten to that yet. We're still doomed.† â€Å"Oh, thank goodness,† Nate said. â€Å"I was worried.† Later, after they had pushed the world away for a while, made love and napped in each other's arms, Amy made a move to start another round, and Nate awoke to an immediate and uncertain anxiety. â€Å"Are we really doomed?† he asked. â€Å"Oh, goddamn it Nate!† She was straddling him, so she was able to get a good windup before thumping him hard in the chest with her fist. â€Å"That's just un-fucking-professional!† Nate thought about how the praying mantis female will sometimes bite off the male's head during copulation and how the male's body continues to mate until the act is finished. â€Å"Sorry,† he said. She rolled off him and stared up at dim strips of green luminescence on the ceiling. â€Å"It's okay. I didn't mean to bite your head off.† â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"Yes, we're probably doomed. We're doomed for the same reason that I look the way I do, that most of the Goos look much younger than we really are. Turn a gene on, you age; turn it off, you don't. I've even seen some people down here who seem to get younger. Flip a switch, pancreatic cancer at age twenty-two; flip another, you can smoke four packs a day and live to be a hundred. If the Goo thinks that the human race is a danger to it, it just has to flip a switch, pick a gene, make a virus, and the human race would blink out. I hadn't really thought about it as a threat before. My whole life I've worked for the Goo. Service, you know? It takes care of us. It's the source.† He didn't know what to say. Did he need to actually take the Colonel's request for help seriously? Did he need to help find a way to kill this amazing creature in order to save his own species? â€Å"Amy, I don't know what to do. Two days ago I just wanted to get out of here. Now? The Colonel and you both said I was lucky to be alive. Has the Goo killed people who were close to finding out about it?† â€Å"Honestly, I don't know. I've never seen it or heard of it happening, but I – we – each just do our own part down here. We don't ask a lot of questions. Not because we're told not to or anything – it's just that you can live a long time without asking yourself big questions when your needs are looked after.† For the first time Nate could see the experience of years in Amy's face, marked not by wrinkles but by a shadow in her eyes. â€Å"I'm asking,† he said. â€Å"Do I think the Goo is ethically capable of killing the human race?† â€Å"I guess.† â€Å"I don't even know if the Goo has ethics, Nate. According to the Colonel, it's just a vehicle for genes and we're just vehicles for memes and nature says that a head-on collision is inevitable. What if it's not? This battle has supposedly gone on for millions of years, and now the Colonel wants to force an endgame? What I do know is that you've got to talk him out of trying to kill it.† â€Å"But he's your leader.† â€Å"Yeah, but he didn't tell any of us about this. I think he's doubting his own judgment. So am I.† â€Å"But you said that it could kill everyone on the planet at the flick of a switch.† â€Å"Yeah.† She rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow. â€Å"You hungry? I'm hungry.† â€Å"I could eat.†

Fight Club (Film) by David Fincher Essay

This confronting movie casts the brilliant Edward Norton and the extremely popular Brad Pitt as they team together to bring the public one of the greatest suspense movies of all time. Norton plays Jack, a middle-aged man, who isn’t sure what his purpose for living is anymore and Pitt plays Tyler Durden, a soap salesman, who has come to the same realization about life. Directed by David Fincher, written for the screen by Jim Uhls, and based on the acclaimed novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club is a powerful film, which fuses the highly sensitive issues that haunt its frustrated and confused protagonist with the visual representations of his mental states. It all begins when Jack becomes so frustrated with his life that he just can’t take it any longer. For his entire life, the media has painted a glorious image of wealth for everyone and has made everyone believe that they would be rich and famous eventually, while in fact they weren’t. Flooding society with more useless products and making them slaves to their own needs’, Jack realizes that it is all just a joke. Under the realization of this, Jack searches for a way to find new excitement away from the material world. He starts to visit numerous support groups for cancer victims and other diseases. This is where he meets Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), a middle-aged woman who is also going through the same thing as he is. Together these seem to be the only places for them to find real emotions, and to be able to express their own emotions at the same time. One day while on an airplane, Jack meets Tyler Durden. While talking with Tyler, Jack notices that they have the same exact suitcase along with many other things in common. Tyler gives Jack his business card and tells him to call if he ever needs anything. When Jack returns home, he finds that his entire apartment has been blown to pieces. With nowhere to go, he takes out Tyler’s business card and proceeds to call him. Tyler comes to Jack’s rescue and the two begin living together in an old run-down house. One night outside a bar, confused in their frustration of the world, they begin hitting each other for the pure excitement and adrenaline rush. After much thinking, Tyler has made up his mind about society and has created his own beliefs. He opposes all material wealth and lives for the moment, unafraid of pain or death. Slowly he teaches Jack these traits as well, as they now begin to build â€Å"Fight Club,† an underground association where equally frustrated men can take out their emotions by fighting with one another. Soon many Fight Clubs spring up across the country and Tyler is hailed as a celebrity among the members. With Fight Club’s popularity increasing, Tyler’s plans become much bigger and he establishes â€Å"Project Mayhem,† his plan to destroy the material world. He recruits an army of equally powered men and goes on a spree to destroy all signs of materialism he sees. While watching the mayhem Tyler has created, Jack becomes disturbed by the idiocy of the followers and the violent acts they are committing. He wants to put an end to the insanity, but without Tyler he can’t stop it, and Tyler is nowhere to be found. With Tyler now missing, Jack begins travelling from city to city in search of Tyler. When asking people if they know Tyler Durden, he is given the same answer over and over: â€Å"Yes sir, you’re Tyler Durden.† Jack finally comes to the conclusion that he and Tyler are the same person. Tyler is simply a figment of Jack’s imagination. Tyler is everything that Jack wishes he could be. He looks how he wants to look. He acts how he wants to act. He is Tyler Durden. This movie combines great action sequences, romance, and suspense all rolled up into one. The great casting of Edward Norton and Brad Pitt give the movie just the right amount of masculinity it needs. How the composer creates meaning The composer creates a chilling setting, which is familiar and stereotypically American with its high-tech devices, also with fast and crisp movement of camera angles to show some extraordinary effects. The composer also used lighting to create meaning. The lab in which Jack was sitting down which we witness in the fast and crisp movement of camera shots, had very dark and dull colours. The music also rolled along to help create this setting, which is very important within the film. The director David Fincher utilizes a number of techniques to present his ideas of change. The film opens with voice-over from our lead character Jack, played by Edward Norton. He hasn’t slept in months and it’s beginning to take a toll on his sanity. He finally finds release from his troubles by going to support groups for people with various diseases – testicular cancer, bowel disease, etc. – where he finds freedom in pretending he’s a survivor, that he has nothing to lose. Thus, it also represents a new foundation as a result suggesting a change in Jack’s lifestyle. Through the character Jack the composer is also able to create meaning. Here we see that through zoom and close-up camera angles the composer shows a change in the behaviour of Jack. It becomes evident that after bearing in mind explosion of his apartment, he becomes astound and through the facial expressions we see that he is discontented. The smile that was witnessed prior to this terrible tragedy has mislaid as a consequence symbolizing a change in his attitude and his perception of the slight civilization. The composer also creates meaning, through the use of Jacks lifestyle. In this motion picture the main character Jack, changes his lifestyle through self-destruction rather than self-development. The composer has done this to show that there is more than one way to change, that change does not always have to occur in a positive way. This is one of the most important themes running through the movie. Fight Club; a movie about the change within one mans life, Jack, with the help of his ‘friend’ Tyler, who is actually a creation of Jacks mind. Jack breaks away from all of societies conventions and this leads to the many changes in his life. Jacks changes are made all the more significant through the use of colours. Before Jack’s ‘enlightenment’ all the colours used are dull blue-greys. The camera angles are narrow and focused. This creates a tone of monotony and boredom. Later, the scenes become brighter and colours are powerfully contrasted. Many of the scenes take place at night with neon lights in the background with contrast with the bright red leather jacket worn by Tyler throughout much of the film to create an exciting, almost surreal element to the scene. The camera angles become wider, reflecting Jack’s broader perspective of life. A further structural device used by David Fincher is to allude to Jack’s earlier life. One example is when he receives a phone-call from the detective looking into the explosion of his house. Jack responds to his questions by discussing how much the things in his apartment meant to him, how they were part of his identity. When the phone-call is over he says, â€Å"I would like to thank the academy.† From this statement, it is obvious that he looks back on his former lifestyle with contempt. From this film we can see how difficult it can be for one to move to another door of perception when everything around them reinforces the accepted view of the world. It is easy to accept everything that is occurring and live in denial without changing. Jack would not have been able to escape from the media induced, corporate driven life that he led if his brain had not created Tyler Durden. In Fight Club we see there are many reasons for people to choose not to change. The risk may seem too high. It might be hard work. There is a loss of the security a person has when he or she is in familiar territory where everything is known to them. Even when the opportunity stares at them right in their faces they refuse to take it. In the movie, we see Jack struggling at first with quitting his â€Å"ikea-guy† life but is soon able to boldly step away from the illusions that held him. Explanation of how the text links to both a text from the Stimulus Booklet and the play Away Clearly, change brings consequences. These consequences can vary in importance and significance; they can be beneficial, detrimental or even impartial. Change, its impact on self and the resulting consequences, which it inevitably brings, is an issue explored by many composers in a variety of texts. Change is the process of being made different. Change can be caused by anything such as time, birth, death, people and fighting†¦ The concept of changing self and its significance to the individual is explored in a number of texts including the play â€Å"Away† written by Michael Gow, â€Å"Sky High† by Hannah Roberts (BOS Changing) and the film Fight Club by David Fincher. All these texts symbolise change in a variety of ways. To show the consequences of change composers have used a number of techniques in terms of language, imagery, contrast and repetition. This film Fight Club deals with the approach in which we transform ourselves. In this film Jack transforms his standard of living through self-destruction to assertion self-development. The director David Fincher has fulfilled this to exemplify that the things we own, actually end up owing us. The change occurs when Tyler opens the door for him to amend. Unfortunately, Tyler becomes too powerful. This shows the rituals of both sides. Allusions is a structural device used by the director Fincher to contrast the Jack-then to the Jack-now, constantly making references to his earlier life presented at the beginning of the film. An example of this is when Jack is living in the dilapidated house he often receives calls from a Detective Stern from the arson unit, inquiring about his destroyed condo or feeding him information about it (the police suspect he did it to claim insurance). Jack often replies by talking about how much the things in his condo meant to him and how they were a part of his identity. When the phone-call is over he says; â€Å"I would like to thank the academy†. From this statement it is obvious that he looked back on himself with contempt. The director shows that the choices that one makes during his or her life, defines the changes that would occur to them in the future. When one looks back at the decisions that they had to make, the difference before the choice was made and after becomes quite obvious. Another aspect of change presented in the film is that change is often cyclic. As we make one decision, we are soon required to make further decisions and it is a never-ending cycle until the day we die. Therefore one never stops changing until their death. From this film we can see how complex it can be for one to move to another door of perception when everything around them reinforces the accepted view of the world. It is easy to accept everything that is occurring and live in denial without changing. Jack would not have been able to escape from the media induced, corporate driven life that he led if his brain had not created Tyler Durden. In link to ‘Sky High’ by Hannah Robert’s it demonstrates that responsibilities force a person to change, and that the change is not always optimistic, other than it has to be embraced for a character to established, and that although there is a change it is most undoubtedly not an end, but rather a progression. This text has contributed a great deal to my understanding of change. It helps us to see how difficult it can be to change ones lifestyle and to change their view of the world when it is reinforced as being the accepted view of the world that we must adhere to, and sometimes it requires something as drastic as an imagined person to change that view. The other thing it has contributed is that there are many reasons for a person not to change, risk, too hard work or the loss of security in their new life, but once that change is made, the person’s old lifestyle seems contemptibly inadequate. In â€Å"Sky High† by Hannah Roberts, it is not another person, which outlines a change in self of the persona, but an object (a clothesline) that triggers a memory from the persona’s youth. Personification of the clothesline, and it’s relation to the author’s own change in self since her youth, is one technique incorporated by Roberts. When describing her and the clothesline in the first two paragraphs, we are given the phrases â€Å"silver skeletal arms† and â€Å"smooth, sweat damp hands†. Comparing this to â€Å"age-warped washing line† and â€Å"hands, beginning to accumulate†¦wrinkles† one can see the dramatic realisation of the changed persona. Another representation of the changing influence of the clothesline is the descriptions of the hanging clothes. Where as in her youth the clothesline was â€Å"festooned with socks and knickers and shirts like coloured flags in a secret code†, Roberts now â€Å"write(s) my own semaphore secrets in colourful t-shirts and mismatched sock†. This suggests that as a child, the author thought that the clothes were hung out in â€Å"secret code†. Now as an adult she realises the ordinariness of the practice. The â€Å"semaphore secrets† that she writes as an adult expose to the reader the question if these are messages of unhappiness. The narrator utilizes an analogy to illustrate how responsibilities and social conventions limit a person’s ability to follow urges. The writer wants to ‘fly’ as she did when she was young, but she is concerned that the conventions of her modern life will not allow her to do so. Remembering the minute details of the garden develops a nostalgic mood. This is so as a person remembers details such as these if they treasure the memories Sky high has contributed to my understanding of change by showing that responsibilities force a person to change, and that the change is not always positive, but it has to be embraced for a character to mature, and that although there is a change it is most definitely not an end, but rather a process. On the surface ‘Away’ by Michael Gow, may possibly appear like a simple narrative about three families who take off for a holiday. People are shown as going away, being pulled away, being washed away, walking away and so on. What is also stressed however is the act of recurring, regrowth and renewal that results from their ‘away’ experience. Away presents the concept of change as self-recognition and renewal through the portrayal of the key characters who journey from fear, isolation and delusion to an understanding and acceptance of themselves and their relationships with others. Away is a short though direct play, which deals with many variations of change, each of which is a change of character or personality, which occurs as a realization as the events in the play, get through to them. A perfect example is Gwen, a middle-aged mother with the need to control. Her resistance to change is of an attitude as her family suddenly becomes separate in reaction to her behaviour. The family is on a holiday and what was meant to be enjoyable, becomes a conflict which causes her daughter Meg to isolate herself from her. Gwen depicts this resistance to change with the importance of it. Simply compare changing toothbrush to changing personality, which will have a resisting effect. Michael Gow’s play is very theatrical. While much of the dialogue is realistic, drawing on the idiom of the day, the storm and the appearance of the fairies break away from realism. Gow draws on the conventions of comedy and tragedy as the play moves from the comic to the tragic. Many of the characters appear as stereotypes found in comedy- the nagging wife, the henpecked husband, the pompous teacher, – but as the play progresses these stereotypes are abandoned as the characters are confronted by the need for change. They become individuals capable of change. The composer exploit Language to provides a precious impending into the intelligences of the protagonists. Gwen’s continuous and tedious use of clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s creates her the parody of a middle-class housewife with high-class aspirations. In the final act, mime plays a vital role. It is the explicit lack of language here that provides the audience with a perceptive of the high level of self-awareness and imminent that is now shared by the protagonists. Perhaps the two most significant characters in ‘Away’ who experiences the most profound changes are Gwen and Coral. * Gwen is one of the most momentous protagonists in the play. She changes from being a stress ridden control freak of a mother and wife to coming to an understanding of life and the fact that humans are not in control. The plainest demonstration of this is the storm, which trashes her perfectly planned holiday. Note that in the stage directions, the fairies single Gwen out for particular attention in the storm. Gwen experiences an epiphany during the walk with Vic, presumably in reaction to the news that Tom is dying. She returns from the walk a changed woman, and it is she who stands and applauds Coral as she ‘walks’ in ‘Strange on the Shore’. * Coral has lost her grip on reality. At the beginning she is a woman pervading grief at the death of her only son in the Vietnam War. In attempting to respond to her husband (Roy’s) plea that she behaves ‘normally’, she enters a relationship with a young recently married man named (Rick). She than adopts the persona of the artist on the beach, and it is Tom who recognises her as the headmaster’s wife. She achieves some kind of acceptance of life and loss through her performance in ‘The Stranger on the Shore’. (â€Å"I’m walking, I’m walking† represents a return to life). The ‘walking’ becomes symbolic of Coral’s return to reality, her final acceptance of the death of her son who died in Vietnam. Tom is responsible for her ‘healing’. He determines Coral’s role in the play. In Act 5 scene 1 we see her reconciled with her husband Roy. These changes are represented dramatically in the pl ay. Her situation in ‘Away’ is symbolized by her role in the little play- when she walks at the end, she is retuning to life where she belongs. Opening on the last day of the school year in 1967 and closing on the first day of the next school year, the play spans only a few short weeks in the lives of its characters and yet their perspectives and understandings have changed radically over that time. Possibly the character who experiences the most philosophical change is Gwen. Through the intensity of the emotional conflict she encounters, she has had to acknowledge the inevitability of change in life and has adjusted her expectations accordingly. This change of perception over time can be contrasted to the reminiscing of Hannah Robert, in her story â€Å"Sky High†, Text 3 in the Board of Studies ‘Changing Booklet’. Where the older narrator looks back on a lighter, less burdened childhood. The rewarding repercussions of confronting change and of living for the present have been highlighted by the texts I have studied which in turn delineate the integral nature of change in the lives of people and their relationships.

HRD assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

HRD assignment - Research Paper Example Evaluation is characterized as either formative or summative . Broadly , formative evaluation focuses on what leads to an intervention working, and summative evaluation, on the other hand, looks at specifically the short-term to long-term outcomes of an intervention on the groups targeted. Formative evaluation takes place before the project, and also during the project so as to improve the design of the project as it is being put into implementation. Formative evaluation is usually used in qualitative ways of inquiry. Summative evaluation is used during and after the project implementation, and it is associated with more decision, quantitative methods. The difference between formative and summative evaluation is blurred. Generally it is of paramount importance to have knowledge of how an intervention works, and also if it worked. It is thus important to capture and make assessment of both qualitative and quantitative data. Importance of Evaluation The first importance of evaluation i s that evaluation theories are a way of consolidating lessons learned, that is, of synthesizing prior experience. They help evaluators develop a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the way organizations make decisions and may be influenced by evaluation findings. Theories enable us to learn from the experience of others. Second, comparing evaluation theories are a useful way of identifying and better understanding the key areas of debate within the field. Comparative study of evaluation theory likewise helps crystallize what the unsettled issues are in practice. A third reason for studying evaluation theory is that the theory should be an important part of our identities as evaluators, both individually and collectively. If we think of ourselves in terms of our methodological skills, what is it that differentiates us from many other people with equal (or even superior) methodological expertise? Evaluation theory. But people come for evaluation through quite varied pathwa ys, many of which don’t involve explicit training in evaluation. That there are myriad pathways into evaluation is, of course, a source of great strength of the field, bringing a diversity of skills, opinions, knowledge sets, and so on (Schwandt 2002).. Types of evaluations Process Evaluation Process evaluations help stakeholders see how a program outcome or impact was achieved. Overemphasizing outcome evaluation of the cost of other types, especially process evaluation, is a disservice to nonprofits and the sector. This is because the process evaluation allows a nonprofit to look at how it develops itself, its structures, its supporting programs like communications and marketing, even fund development in order to get to the outcomes everyone wants it to achieve. In other words, process evaluations document the process of a program's implementation. Process evaluations help stakeholders see how a program outcome or impact was achieved. The focus of a process evaluation is on the types and quantities of services delivered, the beneficiaries of those services, the resources used to deliver the services, the practical problems encountered, and the ways it was handled. Taking process evaluation a step further, it can also look at the processes of program, management and  infrastructure together that is  the capacity of an organization to deliver on its promised outcomes. Approaches to

Substance Abuse with the Elderly in Assisted Living Facilities Research Paper

Substance Abuse with the Elderly in Assisted Living Facilities - Research Paper Example This essay discusses that as a society, we tend to disregard, vindicate or reduce the effects of drug abuse on the elderly especially those who live in assisted facilities. Whenever we observe amnesia, sadness, an unstable gait and the like, we have a habit of blaming the aging progression rather than scrutinize the prospect of the drug problem. A parable found in the medical society is the erroneous view that the ‘window of risk’ of emerging drug issues is closed by age 50. Major health care providers won’t frequently converse the consumption of unlawful use of prescription drugs with their patients, hence creating a cover of secrecy to the society.Another success story is the Beatitudes nursing home in Phoenix, which dramatically transformed its way of treating patients with dementia. What happens here is not for the systems or for convenience, but for the people, we care for the director of education and research at the Beatitudes. People with dementia have tro ubles in their sleeping and waking patterns, therefore we let them be relaxed and choose when they want to sleep or eat. A typical fact is that a lot of nursing facilities abuse occurrences pass by unreported and unnoticed by any authority (Goodwin, 2015). Subsequently, it is imperative for relatives to watch out for the cautions signs that something is about to go wrong. Usually, side-effects and cautioning signs of overdosing patients comprises of rare fatigue and exhaustion, disorientation, unusual withdrawal symptoms, oversleeping and memory lapses.

E tourism (The global hunter website evaluation) Research Paper

E tourism (The global hunter website evaluation) - Research Paper Example The web page of Senegal-Tourism could be categorized as an example of ICT since it is a technology heavily employed for a certain purpose (i.e., commercial in nature). It must be noted, however, that Carlsson’s concept of ICT is strikingly broad. For one thing, Senegal-Tourism as website or software technology is far from being a â€Å"general-purpose technology.† Conversely, Paquette’s idea of ICT is more attuned to the Senegal-Tourism web page mainly because of its prominent relation or connection to such website in terms of strategy, medium, and communication resource. In the long run, ICTs vitally require a kind of evaluation commonly called heuristic evaluation method. The concept of heuristic evaluation was originally designed by Jakob Nielsen (Reeves & Hedberg, 2003). Mack and Nielsen (1994 as cited in Nielson, 1993) generally defined heuristic evaluation as a method of rigorously inspecting a â€Å"user interface design for usability.† Similar to c onventional methodology, heuristic evaluation roughly consists of a well-defined set of principles. This set of principles widely varies from the particular type of heuristic evaluation method being used or employed. In general, heuristic evaluation has ten basic heuristics, which are applicable to any type of software technology; three of the heuristic evaluation methods, to give few examples, are pluralistic walkthroughs, cognitive walkthroughs, and formal design analysis. The methodology called cognitive walkthroughs was mentioned by Nielsen, which he described as one of the two â€Å"[o]ther usability inspection methods.† Conyer extensively defined cognitive walkthroughs as a method utilized in order to â€Å"evaluate the ease of learning to use a product, particularly by exploration† (as cited in Reeves & Hedberg, 2003). On the other hand, Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation is essentially a kind of pluralistic walkthroughs. Based from several studies conducted, he concluded that a minimum of three evaluators are needed in order for the heuristic evaluation to be â€Å"reasonable† (Neilson, 1993). By and large, using heuristic evaluation method in evaluating certain interface’s usability is advantageous because it is less time-consuming and more cost saving (Reeves & Hedberg, 2003). In evaluating a particular interface or software product, several key concepts or terminologies considerably require definition of terms. In computer-science jargon, web content could be defined as the textual representation contained in a specific website. Fiore and Tang (2006) implicitly categorized web content, or simply content, as words or group of words -- essentially a paragraph construction -- primarily intended to be placed into one’s â€Å"online store.† Content is fundamentally the text seen or viewed on the Site. Text here is, normally, in a form of written text containing, like the human language, codes or signs that hav e meaning. Moreover, web content imperatively requires weekly, if not daily, update and upgrade -- what Fiore and Tang called â€Å"

Econ Excel hw Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Econ Excel hw - Assignment Example he cross price elasticity measured the degree of responsiveness of demand of a give commodity due to the change of price in substitute or complementary goods. In this case, ey,z = → where (ÃŽ ´u/ÃŽ ´pz) x ÃŽ ´y/ÃŽ ´u but u=Y, →. ey,z = [PZ-1.4/( PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2)] x [-1.4PZ-2.4( PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2)] → PZ-1.4 x -1.4Pz-2.4 therefore ey,z = -1.4Pz-3.8. On the other side income elasticity of demand is normally used to elucidate how the buyers’ income swings the demand factor for commodities; the equation will be differentiated in respect m therefore em= but u = Y → em = 1.2m1.4 (PY-1.9PZ-1.4) The product Y and Z are complementary goods; actually, positive cross price elasticity designates that two commodities are substitutes since the price of one commodity and demand of the other commodity positively vary. In the proviso that whenever the price of good â€Å"Y† upsurges, quantity of good â€Å"Z† also increases. On the other side a negative price elasticity of demand happens for complementary goods which do happen in the reverse direction. In this case inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded exist in the equation identified ey,z = -1.4Pz-3.8. Form a typical look on the demand function; Y = PY-1.9PZ-1.4m1.2 of product Y, it is clearly identified as a non- linear demand or curvilinear which changes all along the curve. It yields a demand curve instead of a demand line. Generally, it takes a form of power functions which graphically a rectangular hyperbola in shape. The powers of the price variable in a non-linear function indicate the coefficient of price elasticity of demand, which is normally constant. And the equation shows that consumers expenditure â€Å"Y† will increase with the price py-1.9 if its demand is relatively inelastic. This indicates that the income elasticity of product â€Å"Y†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s demand is positive. This consequently, shows an increase in consumer’s income leads s /he to purchase more of good â€Å"Y†. In this respect good

Contrast and compare the psychological theories of Jung and Freud Essay

Contrast and compare the psychological theories of Jung and Freud. Discuss some implications of their theoretical and therapeutic differences - Essay Example As seen in the research conducted by Schimmel (2013, pp. 61-77), Sigmund Freud was of the opinion that the mind comprise of three levels that control the human. The first level is the unconscious mind, second the preconscious mind and lastly the unconscious mind. For the case of the Psychoanalytic theory, focus is mostly put on the unconscious mind. In the work of Schimmel (2013, pp. 61-77), the unconscious mind entails feelings and thoughts such as sexual feelings, uninvited thoughts, events as well as the experiences that are in contrary with the conscious mind. In the thought of Freud, personality development solely relied on the unconscious motivations of the self (Rycroft, 1995, pp. 38-52). Freud also noted that the mind contains, the id, ego and the super ego (Schimmel, 2013, pp. 61-77). The id seeks to attain pleasure and will not stop until it attains its immediate satisfaction. In the event that the id does not get satisfied, it automatically turns aggressive. The ego tries to fulfil the desires of the id. This explains that the ego works under pressure from id to meet its needs if long term satisfaction has to be attained. The facilitation of the needs between the desires of id and ego reduces the chances of aggression and chaos resulting (Schimmel, 2013, pp. 61-77). Lastly, the super ego is a conscious part of the mind that represents the expected norms and values of the society. Schimmel (2013, pp. 61-77) writes that the superego determines what is factual and what is real; thus, determine how a person ought to behave in the society. Simply put, the superego determines what is right and what is not in the society more so as prescribed by one’s parents as well as the environment. It is through the superego that persons determine if they are right or wrong. In the long run, individuals end up appreciating themselves or even becoming guilty of their actions. The function of the superego is indeed a contrary of the id and the ego

The Greatest Threat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Greatest Threat - Essay Example The increased relationship between china and United States will also be looked at especially the role that plays in the increased effort by both countries to step up their intelligence gathering and spying each other. The increasing Iran terrorism network and support they are giving to their allies will also be looked at in the paper. Iran has expanded its terrorism network support and they offered support to nations that fight with Israel or whose individual interest is against United States. Russia critical role and its growing influence are also highlighted especially in light of its power struggle with the United States and its allies. The paper will use credible sources and credited writings by including retired colonels and other authors with greater insight into this intelligence game plays. The publication used also gives the details of some of the cases arrested and prosecute by the spies agencies both in America and overseas. Lastly, it will look at the different countries intelligence agencies and how each is a threat to America national security. The security and intelligence dimension of the three countries, Russia china and Iran will be examined. China is the country posing the greatest threat to U.S. national security. Many analyst and official are unanimous that there is increased china growing appetite for secrets. United States is faced with a number of critical challenges from abroad; including Iran is close to having nuclear weapon and increasingly more assertive china1. Iran however don’t appear to pose great threat because they don’t have the large forces that equals the ones that China and Russia have. China has a very formidable nuclear arsenal which is actually a great threat to U.S national security. Anytime rivalry and contest can brew, and with china advancing their formidable nuclear

Americas unfinished revolution Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Americas unfinished revolution - Term Paper Example There was little or no change after the civil war. The efforts to restructure the south failed since the process did not complete. This left many factors that caused the civil war unresolved hence are likely to occur. Different parts of the south still practice the vices, which they were meant to leave or eradicate. The black Americans slaves were still denied opportunities to participate in most of the activities. Therefore, the bitterness they had could still result to another revolution. Secondly, there was an unfinished revolution because of the emergence of new complex race and class structure.2 The status quo in the south remained unchanged as they re-united after the north left. This made them continue with their slavery, therefore endangering the black slaves. Similarly, the whites in the south started to discriminate the blacks as they were considered slaves and were not entitled to equal opportunities and rights. The class relation was not good as both were hostile at each other. The postwar relation was not good and was perceived to be incubating another revolution. Therefore, Foner was right and justified when he said that there is an unfinished revolution. The division that took place in the American society where there were low and higher class is a symbol of disunity in the society. This can easily break into war since they do not relate. More so, the passage of thirteen, fourteen and fifteenth amendment, which gave the blacks some forms of rights was not welcomed by the whites.

Ancient Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ancient Egypt - Essay Example Just like any other style quality, both sculptures have a meaning to the people of Egypt. The social statue figures make a difference in the lives of the Egyptians by serving as memories of their traditions. Any portrait is made for the purposes of religion, political or social use. Hence, all the carvings have a meaning to a specific group of people that they were made for (Swetnam-Burland, 2014). Public display translates to the social position and affiliations of the people in Egypt. Mankaure and his queen portrait, for example, serve as a remembrance of the Old Kingdom royal to the people of that dynasty. The Narmer pallets represent the political and social classes of the people. Both scriptures depict power in their style. Another similarity is that the two scriptures represent the start of a new thing in Egypt. While Mankaure represents the Old Kingdom, Narmer pallets present the beginning of art.

The Atomic Bomb and its Destructive Power Essay Example for Free

The Atomic Bomb and its Destructive Power Essay An Atomic Bomb is a very powerful explosive device that entails fission of enriched Uranium or Plutonium nuclei in a chain reaction. The power of the explosion is measured in terms of the number of tons of TNT that would have to be exploded to release the same amount of energy. This fission reaction cannot be sustained unless a specific amount of plutonium or uranium, known as the critical mass, is present. When this specific amount is present, then the number of neutrons being produced by the fission of the nuclei will exceed the number of neutrons that leave the surface of the material. This results in a chain reaction, which ultimately leads to an explosion (Atomic Bomb). The nuclear device or Atomic Bomb consists of several less than critical mass parts that are separated by lead walls. Moreover, all these portions of nuclear fuel together exceed the required critical mass. At the time of detonation, either a chemical or mechanical device is set off that causes the various sub critical mass portions of Uranium or Plutonium to combine. Subsequently, the emitted neutron density is sufficient to set off a nuclear fission reaction releases more neutrons, this process continues until the fissile material is exhausted or is dispersed (Atomic Bomb). Such a nuclear fission reaction gives rise to an enormous amount of energy, which is mainly in the form of extreme heat. In addition, this explosion generates a huge shock wave, flash burns, high winds and radiation consisting of neutrons and gamma rays or very short wavelength light. This radiation is fatal to living matter and makes the soil and water unusable (Atomic Bomb). The neutrons and gamma rays released during an atomic bomb explosion cause extreme harm to living tissue and constitute a prime cause for cancer. The surrounding area of a nuclear explosion becomes unusable due to contamination with radioactive fission products. A portion of these radioactive products reach the upper atmosphere either as dust or a gas and thereafter reach the site of explosion as radioactive fallout, which continues to decay over a period of time (Atomic Bomb). Amongst nuclear weapons, the Atomic bombs have the dubious distinction of being the first to be developed, tested and deployed. Towards the end of the 1930’s physicists belonging to Europe and the USA became convinced that it would be possible to create a truly powerful explosive device that was based on the fission of uranium. In August 1939 Albert Einstein wrote to the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt a letter that gave particulars of this process and the danger that could be posed to the Allies if such an explosive device were to be created by the Axis Powers. The President took cognizance of this warning and initiated the Manhattan Project in 1942, in order to invent such an explosive device. The Manhattan Project team led by U. S. Army Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves was ably guided by J. Robert Oppenheimer in this endeavour. This team was successful in creating the first Atomic Bomb (Atomic Bomb). The first test atomic explosion was performed at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on the 16th of July, 1945. The energy released by this explosion was the same as would be released if 20,000 tons of TNT were to be exploded. On the 6th of August, 1945 the USA used the atomic bomb for the first time in history. This bombing, which took place almost at the end of World War II, was made on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This bomb attack was repeated on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on the 9th of August, 1945 (Glasstone). The casualties reported due to these nuclear explosions were enormous and the USA stated that around sixty to seventy thousand people had been killed in Hiroshima by the atomic bomb, which had earned the sobriquet of Little Boy. The same US sources placed the number of dead at forty thousand in Nagasaki, due to the explosion caused by the atomic bomb that had been dropped there, which had been nicknamed as the Fat Man. These two bombs effectively brought about the surrender of Japan to the Allies on the 14th of August 1945. These were the only occasions on which nuclear weapons had been used in warfare (Eubank. P87). The Hiroshima bomb was prepared using refined uranium – 235. The bomb was made by diffusion enrichment techniques, which utilized the minute differences in the mass of the two main isotopes of Uranium, namely U – 235 and U – 238. The difference of mass is similar to what UF6 has with only one percent between the molecules. Thus it became much simpler to concentrate the less common isotope. The atomic bomb that destroyed nearly ninety percent of the city of Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945 was prepared using approximately sixty kilograms of highly enriched uranium (Atomic Bomb). Three days later the second bomb was exploded over Nagasaki. This bomb contained approximately eight kilograms of plutonium – 239. Special types of nuclear reactors were utilized in the preparation of this bomb. The first human designed atomic reactor was constructed on the premises of the University of Chicago in the year 1942 during the last phase of the Second World War. In order to slow down the emergence of neutrons in fission, highly purified graphite was used in the reactor as a moderator of neutrons and to control the nuclear fission reaction. Subsequently more reactors were constructed based on the design of the Chicago reactor. They engaged simple chemical techniques to isolate plutonium – 239. There were no complexities involved in the separation of the isotopes. The first test explosion had taken place at Alamogordo in New Mexico on the16th of July 1945 using a plutonium explosive device (Glasstone). Initially the creation of the atomic bomb proceeded at a slow pace. However, the results of different research groups clearly indicated that its destructive power could be awesome and this led to a considerable hastening of the development process. Subsequently, the US Government became convinced of the fact that this world war was based on technology to a very great extent. Accordingly, it accepted the fact that there should be consensus between science, technology and the US Government (Eubank. P. 8). The destructive effects of both uranium and plutonium fuel nuclear fission bombs relied upon the energy released during the explosion caused by nuclear fission, which resulted in instantaneous fires, destructive blast pressures and maximum radiation exposures. The quantity of deposits of fission particles on the ground was very limited because these bombs had been exploded at a height of around six hundred metres above the ground. However, some traces of deposit of these particles were found in the surrounding areas of the cities in which these explosions took place and this was attributed to the rainfall that had occurred immediately after these explosions. Areas at a few kilometres distance to the east of Nagasaki and in west and north – west of Hiroshima had recorded these radioactive traces. Most of the radioactive fission particles got carried away by the heat emanated from the explosions into the outermost atmosphere (Atomic Bomb or A Bomb). The death toll was estimated at 45,000 of the civilian population out of a total of 250,000 in Hiroshima on the day the bomb went off and 19,000 resident civilians succumbed in the succeeding four months. The population of Nagasaki was 174,000 and out of these 22,000 died on the day of the explosion and another 17,000 died during the succeeding four months (Smith). A large number of malformations or deformations of fetuses was recorded among the civilians who had been exposed directly to the radioactivity. This resulted in deformities in children who were born subsequent to the explosion. Apart from these untoward incidents, no significant gene damages were found to have occurred in the children of the survivors (Smith). Gamma radiations and neutrons had emerged during and immediately after the fission. These were the major components of the radiation in those cities. There were other sources of exposure derived from the black rain which precipitated in some areas. The rain water contained radioactive materials that had emanated from within the rising cloud of fission products. However, there was little exposure to these depositions. Traces of radionuclide cesium – 137, which was a by – product of the fission were detected for a long period after the explosion in areas of Nishiyama district (Smith). Other category of nuclear bombs, fusion bombs, such as hydrogen or thermonuclear bombs have been developed and tested in the 1950s. However, these weapons have never been detonated in warfare. The modus operandi of a thermonuclear bomb is that a fission reaction takes place first to produce very high temperature. Hydrogen isotopes of deuterium and tritium combine because of the extreme heat and in the process give out a very large amount of thermonuclear energy. The primary source of energy depends on the fusion reaction. This process is similar to the process that gives the Sun its energy (Atomic Bomb). Nations that had developed atomic bombs test them in order to determine their efficiency and to study the effects caused by such explosions. These tests are usually conducted by exploding them in the atmosphere, under the earth and under the sea. The countries that have admitted to the possession of a nuclear warhead are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India and Pakistan. South Africa proclaimed that it had developed a number of such bombs and that later on it had dismantled them. Since the war came to an end due to the Atomic Bomb, a new era has begun, which makes a logical analysis of the basic concepts in respect of human life, technical innovations and society. In the social context, the deep sorrow caused by the destruction of the atomic bomb was immense. Its impact extended into the hearts of the nations of the world crossing the borders of Japan. In addition to the immense grief caused, the use of the atomic bomb made some of the people of the United States a target for criticism from the people of the world for having caused such a large number of deaths. Although the Americans wanted to depict the atomic bomb attacks on Japan, during the war, as a symbol of their hatred towards the Japanese who had attacked Pearl Harbor, these bombings were criticized as being unjust to the people of Japan. Any country with the required amount of technology could have used the atom bomb. However the United States had the benefit of possessing not only the money but also the technology to take up such a project. However, the fact remains that the atomic bomb, saved a million lives though it killed tens of thousands of people. The rules of war were changed forever by the atomic bomb. It not only exterminated the enemy but also ruined humanity itself. The inventors of this weapon had hoped that their invention would result in the end of war. This new weapon was so terrible that its architects were terrified of the idea that it could again be put to use. Works Cited Atomic Bomb. Microsoft Encarta Premium . Redmond, WA, 2006. Atomic Bomb. Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia. 2003. Atomic Bomb or A Bomb. The Columbia Encyclopaedia . 2004. Eubank, Keith. â€Å"The Bomb. † Kreiger Pub Co. Glasstone, Samuel. Nuclear Weapons. Microsoft Encarta 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA, 2005. Smith, Mikki. Hiroshima was no longer a city. International Socialist Review, Issue 13. August September 2000.

Medical Billing and Coding Essay Example for Free

Medical Billing and Coding Essay Medical Billing and Coding (current student) 2013 Medical Administrative Assistant Diploma (GPA 3.34) 2012 Includes: Disease Processes, Surgical Procedures, Life Cycle of an Insurance Claim, Health Care Settings, Health Care Payers, Procedure and Diagnosis  Coding from Medical Records, Reimbursement Systems, Facility Billing, Word Processing and Medical Practice Management Systems. * Promoted a welcoming and safe learning environment for children, helping to develop a well-rounded and respected educational organization. * Assisted the school director in playing a key role in developing a diverse and enlightening curriculum in strict accordance with state mandates. * Communicated effectively with children, peers, parents and directors to ensure smooth operations and eliminate potential issues before they could negatively impact the school. Packer Express Personnel – Jamestown, NY2001 – 2002 Bush Industries – Jamestown, NY2001 – 2001 * Duties included: Packing, stocking and accurately completing labor tickets. * Load materials and products into package processing equipment tools. * Record product, packaging, and order information on specified forms and records. * Performed any combination of light cleaning duties to maintain the establishment. * Inspected for defects and recorded items packed.

International Corporate Entrepreneurship And Role Of Middle Management

International Corporate Entrepreneurship And Role Of Middle Management Middle management has crucial importance in the corporate entrepreneurial process but unexpectedly it has got little attention in the past research and academic literature. Middle management has great influence on organisational decision making, strategy making and in implementation of these strategies due to their central place in the management hierarchy. This chapter encompasses the academic literature relevant to middle management and their role in the process of corporate entrepreneurship (CE). It will begin with basic concepts of middle management and corporate entrepreneurial processes, their definitions and explanations. Past literature will be presented later on in this section regarding middle management to justify the both positive and negative sides of middle managements role and influence on the corporate entrepreneurial activities by the researchers. This will then follow a counter argument to discuss the role played other forces (higher management, first level managers and employees) in order to influence the CE process. The corporate entrepreneurial process requires innovation and change in order to remain effective in the business and this will be review in the light of previous literature to examine the process of organisational transformation. The last part of this section will concentrate on the issues like change implementation and their failure in organisation. Also literature will be reviewed regarding drivers like organisational citizenship, organisational innovation and ambidexterity that influence organisational changes indirectly. What is Entrepreneurship? The term entrepreneurship was used as an economic term in the mid eighteen century and described as a process bearing a risk of buying and selling products or services at certain and uncertain prices by Cantillon (1855) as cited in Grebel et al. (2003). Grebel et al. (2003) further broadened the term by including and bringing together the production factors in it. But this definition raises few questions whether there was any uniqueness about the entrepreneurial functions or it was just another form of management. Later the definition of entrepreneurship was added with the concept of innovation which includes the product innovation, process innovation, market innovation or even organisational innovation. This definition broadens the concept of entrepreneurship and describes it as the creator of new enterprises and pictures the entrepreneur as founder and innovator. Defining Corporate Entrepreneurship Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) was described as a process that can be used by individuals within an organisation to create opportunities without regard to the resources they are holding (Stevenson et al., 1999). Many researchers defined CE as a process of organisational renewal (Peterson and Berger 1972; Hill and Hlavacek 1972; Hannan 1976; Quinn 1979, and Sathe 1989), while others described it as the combined entrepreneurial efforts based on the organisational resources and commitments in order to perform the innovative functions of organisation in order to develop the product, process or innovation (Covin and Miles 1999; Naman and slevin 1993, Miller and Friesen 1982; Burgleman 1984; Kanter 1985; Alterowitz 1988; and Zahra and Covin 1995). According to Sharma and Chrisman (1999) there are three types of phenomena into existence for CE that may or may not be related. These are: a) Creation of new business from an existing one b) Transformation or renewal of an organisation c) Innovation The creation of new business was described as the internal corporate venturing by Zajac, Golden and Shortell (1991) while Pinchot (1985) called it intrapreneurship. On the other hand the process of renewal of organisation was regarded as strategic renewal (Guth and Ginsberg, 1990), organisational renewal (Baden and Stopford, 1994) and strategic change, transformation and revival of organisation (Shendel, 1990). By enlightening these ideas Sharma and Chrisman (1999) defines CE as the process where individuals or group of individuals create new organisation within an existing organisation or find innovation in that organisation. The entrepreneurial efforts that result in the creation of new business organisation are known as corporate venturing and the resulted innovation could exploit the ways of product offering in the existing or new market. The analysis of these different dimensions and approaches of CE can be concluded with the study of Gartner (1988) who describe it as a multifaceted concept that requires some major transformational changes in order to develop the whole idea of CE. Middle Management and the Organisation Dobson and Stewart (1993) and Turbalull (1998) stressed on the need of a clearer definition for the term middle mangers, as the levels of middle management in a company as poorly outlined as a unit of analysis. Middle management is basically used as a tactical work force to eliminate the gaps between the senior management and the sub-ordinates at the lower end of organisational hierarchy and also to implement the organisational policies made by the senior management. Two types of middle managers were identified by Currie (1999) in organisations: specialist middle managers for the roles like marketing, HR or finance; operation middle managers that coordinate operations between departments. Although both management types are important for any organisation but the specialist functions or boundary spanning activities get the priority. The participation of specialist middle managers in organisational activities appears more often as compared to the operations managers who focus on internal operations more (Wooldridge, 1997). The importance of middle management and their role as an agent in bringing the change in contemporary organisation was first drawn into attention by Bower (1970). However, the next decade or two came with a little systematic research in order to define the scope and nature of middle management and their contribution towards the organisational innovation and entrepreneurship. Although many researchers and authors (Peters and Waterman, 1982; Kanter, 1983; Pinchott, 1985; Drucker, 1985; Burgelman and Sayles, 1986) have argued on the different aspects of middle managements contributions towards CE while others (Schuler, 1986; Woolridge and Floyd, 1990) discussed their role in the companys strategy which is another important variable of CE (Guth and Ginsberg, 1990; Zahra, 1991). Middle Managements Role in Operations According to Floyd and Lane (2000) operating-level managers absorbs the relevant ideas and information from outside the firm while also giving a positive response to the middle level managements information which is based on the top-level management strategic ideas. Every managerial role is different from other and different actions are associated with each of them (Miller and Camp, 1985) but here the discussion will revolve around the middle management, their corporate entrepreneurial activities and their behaviour towards CE. In other words, once commitment is made by the all management levels in order to pursue the CE related activities, then its middle managers responsibility to communicate through all organisational level for the effective flow of information for the implementation and development of project. The role middle management and their importance in the innovation process in an organisation were recognised by Quinn (1985) and who was also among the first to point out the valued part played by the middle management CE. He also recognised that the top-level management is isolated from the daily floor operations and it is important for middle management to play crucial role in fostering the company goals and targets. This importance in the organisational structure gives them an opportunity to interact with the employees and encourage them towards innovation while taking the calculated risk. Middle management and the Corporate Entrepreneurship The literature (Floyd Lane, 2000; Ireland, Hitt, Vaidyanath, 2002) suggests that in any organisation managers play vital role at all levels of organisational structure and contribute towards company success. In simple context, the top level management involves in strategic role where their job is to deal with strategic decision making and set clear direction towards companys goals and objectives. On the other hand, middle managers job is to bridge the gap between two distinct ends of management hierarchy i.e. top-level managers and operating-level managers and their focus is the effective communication between both channels. This is not an easy job and to fulfil the requirements of their job the communication should be carried to both ends of hierarchy efficiently in order to create the innovativeness of all business units including product and service. According to Ghoshal and Bartlett (1994) the middle managers are not only enable the entrepreneurial actions like creating new opportunities for organisation or engage in organisational renewal but also keeping the innovativeness of also these entrepreneurial actions . Other researchers (Kanter, 1985; Ginsberg Hay, 1994; Pearce, Kramer, Robbins, 1997; Floyd Lane, 2000) described the middle managers as facilitator between the two managerial levels and how they play their role to shape the entrepreneurial action set by the top-level management for them. Due to the demand of their role middle managers have to reconcile the top-level strategies and implementation issues at the bottom end of hierarchy as these determine the competencies and also the performance of organisation. There is strong link between the firms performance and middle managers perception about the characteristics of competency (tactics, consensus and embeddedness) and this differentiates them from the first-level m anagers and take them closer to higher end of organisation hierarchy (King et al., 2001). The importance of middle managers as innovators is emphasized by the Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) who suggested that their central position in organisation is key for them to absorb and collect the information, ideas and innovation from both inside and outside of organisation. This flow of information and ideas between both ends of organisation influence the middle-level mangers to shape their entrepreneurial skills as their experience and knowledge grow. The only comment that can conclude this whole discussion on the importance of middle managements role in CE is that all the organisational and entrepreneurial functions are associated with them. Thus, the presence of middle management is there where CE functions are most likely to happen. Middle managers in Strategic Roles Middle managers have played a frequent role in providing strategic alternatives for firms and making those alternative ideas accessible for higher management (Floyd and Woolridge, 1992). The nature of middle managers job requires them to integrate and synthesize the information and resources by crystallizing the strategic issues faced by the organisation and also setting a platform for these strategic changes; by enhancing the old structure of organisation through implementation of formal strategy and giving feedback. This feedback can be used to make future changes in the strategy and for organisational renewal. The findings of Floyd and Woolridge (1992) gives a clearer picture when compared with the earlier work of Burgelman and Sayles (1986) that how middle management play key role in an organisation by shaping the strategic issues and influencing the entrepreneurial activities. The observations of other authors (Peters and Waterman, 1982; Pinchott, 1985) have seen the middle management playing important in encouraging other employees to take risks while working towards innovation. Quinn (1985) and Kanter (1988) also observed similar role of middle managers in promoting the CE activities across the organisation. This can be done by introducing reward schemes that encourage employees to experiment with their innovative ideas. Also different approaches can be used by the middle management to make the whole structure of organisation less resistant towards future changes and allowing the CE activities to flourish. Corporate Entrepreneurship and Other Forces (Actors) Most of literature on the CE and middle management either ignored or failed to identify the important role played by other forces to gain the CE in any organisation and widely criticised by Floyd (1999). According to McMillan (1993) as far as the power is concerned both middle management and other players have equal importance in bringing the CE to the organisational structure. Burgelman (1983) insist that the heart of CE activities is always dependent on the initiative taken at the operational levels of a firm. He insists on the importance of the factors that play towards the success of internal corporate activities by the operational level management, middle managements ability to effectively communicate between both ends of organisational hierarchy and the higher managements trust on the lower sub-ordinates in order to flourish the CE in the organisation. According to Burgelman (1993) operative managers have more importance in organisational structure than middle managers as they have more experience and involvement in dealing with RD and research related activities and are more aware of the corporate culture, market needs and demands. On the other hand Quin (1980 and 1982) has also argued on different occasion about the importance of middle management but he pointed towards the power asserted by the top management to control actions of middle management. Although the organisational operation flow is bottom up but the final decisions are always in top managements hand in either acceptance or rejection of these initiatives. Although Floyd (1999) has insisted towards the importance of middle management is vital due to their central position in the organisational hierarchy. But this literature review is evident that the other organisational forces as important as the middle management in the central role in the organisation and have equal influence on the CE related activities. Organisational Change Implementation Innovation in any organisation does not takes place on its own or in isolation and neither in a vacuum but it happens in a system where the employees and processes work together to achieve it. According to Joe (2005) it is all about the organisation and its employees and their approach towards the implementation of change in organisation. Hornsby et al. (2002) argued on the same note and suggested that the all organisations look for change and they implement these changes strategically through the help of CE. Two types of organisational changes can be found as a result of innovation and are known as deliberate strategic change and emergent strategic change and have their affect dependent on the role of middle management in them. Types of Organisational Change The first approach towards change is deliberate (Ansoff, 1965) and the top managements motive behind this strategy is to maximise both the organisational interest and profits at the same time. Middle management has a limited role in the deliberate or top-down change strategy and they have a very little influence upwards in order to make any change policy. On the other hand, the incremental change approach is a vice versa of top-down change strategy (Whittinghton, 1993) and it is based on the idea that change should be unplanned and unintentional rather that deliberate. This approach is based on the knowledge and outcomes of past policies which lacks in the deliberate change (Lindblom, 1959). He further argued the important role played by the middle management in order to formulate and implement the change in the organisation. On different occasions Quinn (1882, 1978 and 1980) suggested that incremental change strategy can be considered through the implementation of sub-systems before addressing any major change issues. But there is power culture involved in Quinns approach and points towards the higher management in order to decide which sub-system to be implemented and hence limits the role of middle management to some extent. All this discussion leads to one conclusion that there is no single approach which can completely benefit the middle managements role towards the organisational change but the incremental approach is more suited to them as compared to the deliberate change approach and enhances their role in change process. Middle Managements Role in Organisational Change There is plenty of pragmatic evidence in the past literature (Bower 1979; Kanter 1983; Burgelman 1983a, 1983b, 1983c, 1991 and 1994; Schilit and Paine 1987; Dutton and Ashford 1993; Nonaka 1988; Sayles 1993; and Schilit 1993) which shows a significant influence of middle management towards organisational change. On the same note Floyd and Wooldridge (1990) pointed towards the significant relationship between performance of an organisation and involvement of management. They further argued how middle management is involved in both directions of organisational hierarchy; with its upward influence on policy development could help the organisation by setting up a road map for change and innovation. While downward influence sets up a smooth ground to implement the organisational strategies effectively (Shendel and Hofer 1979 and Nutt 1987). Thus it shows the importance of middle management to influence the change in the organisation in the both directions at the same time. Human Nature, Top Management And the Organisational Change According to Strebel (1996) and Siegal (1996) almost two third of efforts made towards organisational change see failure as a result of top management negligence and lack of ability to recognise the human nature of change. This negligence by the top management is often seen as psychological differences between employees at individual level (Coghlan, 1993). The uncertainty and difference of opinion shows how employees look at organisational change at individual levels. The organisational change and all of its processes have direct or indirect link with the employees personal influence towards change and it is regarded as a personal change for them (Bovey, 2001). Evan (1994) has also argued on the same note by saying that employees work for OC in order to make it successful so that it can be a success for them too. According to Prastacos (2002) the OC is dependent on the acceptance and resistance levels of employees. Bovey (2001) noted that technical changes are often seen as bit easier to approach by the top management and are more predictable towards the change issues like developing action plans, making strategies, estimating profit level and resource analysis. The communication process in another key to keep the resistance level in control among employees against the change but if the resistance against change is higher from employee then it shows the poor communication and the inability of the top management (Elving, 2005). The organisational change is not a one way procedure but a two way understanding between management and employee (Bulogun, 2006). He also stressed on the need of mutual consensus between both parties to implement change across organisation and this is only possible through a good communication channel. It is almost impossible for top management to identify, control or prepare for every change before it happens due to the quick nature of change and they have act while it is happening. So, the above suggests that the top management remains isolated during the change mechanism due to hierarchal structure within organisational but on the other hand, middle management remains important during this process and act as communication channel between employees and top management. Thus, middle management has more importance during the implementation of organisational change than top management. Middle Managements Role in Political Nature of Change The top management has all the authorities in an organisation but this is not the case when it comes to organisational change policies and it affects their whole vision about it. The political nature of organisational structure makes the idea of change uncertain and difficult to implement. For the knowledge management the networks are often used as mechanism for to gain the required information and are used for political nature of change. The idea behind the formation of these networks is to use them politically for the change process. Hislop et al. (2000) agree with the fact there is a relation between these political networks and knowledge because of the need of appropriate knowledge is needed to form and use these network. This study shows that due to political nature of change it is vital for middle management to gain knowledge through these networks inside as well as the outside of firm to make a ground for the change acceptance. Organisational Change and Other Drivers There are few other drivers of change that are worth looking at in the literature including the organisational innovation, organisational citizenship and ambidexterity. These change drivers have important link with middle managements role in corporate entrepreneurial activities and CE process too. The Importance of Organisational Improvisation Organisational improvisational is another issue considered important in the reviewed literature that is connected directly with the change implementation in organisations. Different approach was adopted by the Ryle (1979) who described the process of improvisation as thought refining and most of things happen during this process are unique, hard to predict and probably might not get repeated in future. But this process is seen as an outcome from failure of first approach and is a product by accident described by Lebourne (2006). The literature from last two decades considered is another feature of organisational activities that contribute towards the change process of an organisation (Lewin, 1998). Thus the idea of organisational improvisation contributes in the form innovation and by keeping up the market up-to-date. As far as the middle management is concerned they get the opportunity to influence the whole process of improvisation from formulation stage to implementation stage through their time management skills. Relationship between Organisational Change and Organisational Citizenship There is plenty of discussion in the literature about organisational citizenship and behavioural interactions (Katz, 1964; Katz and Kahn, 1966; Organ, 1988; Cohen and Vigoda, 2000; and Padsakoff et al., 2000). Most of this literature has focused on describing the organisational behaviour and there is no discussion about organisational citizenship in the context of corporate entrepreneurship. For example Padsakoff et al. (2000) has identified seven different themes that can fit all dimensions of organisational citizenship while Katz (1964) mentioned four in his work. Although all the literature reviewed prescribes the importance of organisational citizenship behaviour and stresses on the presence of these behaviour for the effectiveness of organisational functions. However, it needs further exploration in the context of corporate entrepreneurship and this will remain the focus throughout this research. Ambidexterity Observations from Literature Review This section outlines the key observation made during the literature review and their summary of whole debate about the corporate entrepreneurship and role of middle management in the context of CE. The corporate entrepreneurship is noted as a complex concept that requires careful consideration towards the change implementation as well as the extra care when dealing with the strategic planning. There are two types of middle management is identified during this literature review; specialist managers who deal with functions like finance, marketing and HR; and non-specialist or operational manager who coordinate functions or activities within their own department or with other departments. The role of middle management and their future in the organisation is rather unclear in the argument by the researcher. Some of them deny the importance of middle management in the CE and point towards other forces that act in flourishing the CE activities. While other think the middle management has an enhanced future as well as importance in organisational corporate entrepreneurial activities and have more positive attitude towards their part in CE functions. But the whole debate of past literature is not sure on the role of middle management as operational managers as well as the extent of their importance in this role. The literature has pointed towards quite a few middle management functions including the functions of communication, innovation, change implementation, motivation, behaviour towards risk, business strategy etc. However, middle managements association with these functions is due to their central position in the organisational hierarchy. The middle management has independence of decision making in organisational innovation to reduce the strategy making period and also save the process of implementation time. This self-sufficiency of decision making is one of feature of contextual ambidexterity and make easier for organisations to implement innovation or change. The contextual ambidexterity is also a step closer to implement innovation in organisations and also allow middle management to improve their role in process of organisational change. Due to explore and develop nature of structural ambidexterity which divide these functions between organisational departments and bound middle management not to raise their voice as it might be outside their job scope and thus limits the role of middle management. But organisations with behavioural citizenship are more likely to have structural ambidexterity as there will be no or little clash due to the separate organisational functions. On the other hand, the contextual ambidex terity results in the form of difference of opinion and rivalry among middle management to get the innovation and thats the reason it doesnt go with the contextual ambidexterity. During the literature review another thing was noticed that the up-down change strategy do not allow middle management to exert their weight upwards to formulate the change development. It is also noticed that for the improved role of middle management requires a vital approach towards change and it should be emergent as well as the intentional. Thus the implementation of change process need to be combination of both approaches and political elements should also be considered in change process. As mentioned earlier in the reviewed literature which points the improved conditions and role of middle management organisational citizenship. It also stresses on the need of deliberate and emergent strategic approach for the organisational citizenship which allows middle management to work independently in a flatter organisation with more freedom of networking across departments. The diplomacy of using these departmental networking allow the middle management to spot the change and innovation in the organisation. The organisational change or transformation through corporate entrepreneurship is always main motive for many organisations and leader use social networking to implement this change across organisation. But many of these efforts fail due to the lack of ability of top management to understand human nature towards change implementation and poor communication between hierarchal levels. Weaknesses Observed in Understanding of CE The literature reviewed earlier shows that there are number of areas in the CE which need further clarification and the research need to be more focussed on the issues of CE which are currently have a weak understanding. There are few issues that need particular focus including the understanding of CE issues including the issue how CE it is managed, encouraged as well as sustained and according to Hornsby et al. (2002) this issue is not well understood. He also emphasise on the need of research to be more focused on the dimensions that can shape and predict the environment where CE can flourish. It was noticed during the literature review is lack of appreciation for the middle management in the processes of corporate entrepreneurship even though they have central importance in corporate entrepreneurial activities. Floyds (1999) argument about the flatter structured organisation where nobody has a central importance and everybody exchange information between themselves free was ignored in the reviewed literature. There is no such discussion in the literature that who gets the influence in CE initiatives in the organisation in such flat organisations. Finally, the relation between corporate entrepreneurship and indirectly related change drivers were not studied in the existing literature and their effects on the CE related activities. The relationship between the corporate entrepreneurship and the organisation citizenship is also ignored in the current literature. Research Focus Research Question The gaps in the literature needs a thorough understanding of concept of CE and needs a further exploration of the ways the organisations respond towards the implementation of CE and also how firms react for the sustainability of corporate entrepreneurial activities. So, there are few questions that will be answered during the course of this research and are as follows: How Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) is managed, sustained, and encouraged within the automobile industry? How CE and Organisational Citizenship are inter-related? What is the relationship between middle management and Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE)? How does the hierarchal structure of an organisation influence or affect the decision making role of middle management? How middle mangers add value in the decision making process of CE? Concluding Comments The research and theories regarding the role of middle management in corporate entrepreneurship was explored during the literature review. The literature reviewed has pointed towards the presence and importance of middle management in corporate entrepreneurial processes. Although the middle managements engagement and interaction with the different interest group both inside and the outside of the organisation makes the whole process of CE complex and shows its political nature. The whole idea behind this research is to identify and fill these gaps found during the literature review and not only to contribute towards the literature on CE and also by providing clearer understanding of CE. The followed chapter will give an understanding of the methodology used to carry out the research and also the justification behind the choice of case studies.

College Admissions Essay: Not Old Enough to Drink, yet Admitted to the Bar! :: College Admissions Essays

Not Old Enough to Drink, yet Admitted to the Bar! I am twenty years old peeking out of my window as the mail truck makes a quick stop at my house. Barefoot and shivering, I sprint out to the mailbox. With trembling hands I open the envelope. I did it! I passed the BAR exam! My goal since beginning high school has been to pursue a career in law. Since then, I have been consistently taking steps toward my goal in every way possible. I have interned at the Baltimore District Attorney's office, which was one of the most unique experiences of my life. I attended a variety of legal processes, from homicide and drug-related trials to assault arraignments. Most people would prefer to be oblivious to knowledge of crimes that occur locally. I am fascinated by it. I will be responsible for prosecuting criminals. I will play my part in making my community a better place to live. The thought of being in court excites me. Unlike most people's attitude toward traffic court, I was thrilled to be attending court after receiving my first speeding ticket a few months earlier. Television shows that deal with law excite me as well. Every Sunday night at ten o'clock my family knows where to find me-glued to the television watching "The Practice" with a smile on my face. I currently work as a legal assistant at Rapaport and Skalny, a local law firm that specializes in litigation. I am learning so much about the law with each project I work on. Although the majority of the work I do there is filing and typing of documents, I remain fascinated with the entire legal system. I love the fact that the work I do contributes to lawsuits going to court and to clients paying for much needed services. As I head toward college, I continue to take steps getting closer to my main goal.