Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Political science - Essay Example The first approach to public policy process is the focus on real social powers and institutions. This entails the social institutions within a country that are important in the formulation of public policies within a country. These institutions play important roles in public policy advocacy, promotion of citizen participation and providing the oversight role in public policy formulation (Danziger, 2013). The second approach to public policy process is the approach by formal elected leaders who form the primary axis of representation. This involves the congressional representatives who formulate public policies in the congress. Legislative bodies are effective and successful when they focus on public policies for instance those that align the goals of the community with those of the local government structures. They represent the objectives, goals and needs of the community. The third approach entails the consideration of the dynamics of different groups of pressure popularly understood as interest groups. Interest groups utilize the litigation that can achieve public policy objectives. The influence of the interest groups is a key aspect of decision-making process in public policy process (Danziger, 2013). The fourth is the historical social conditions and trends of political needs. In public policy formulation processes, these conditions and needs are considered to ensure that the public policies that are formed represent the needs of the current population but also reflect the historical social conditions in a country. The fifth and last approach is the external and internal political and economic conditions that are considered social domestic factors in the sense that they are of interest to the public within a country. These issues are therefore considered in public policy formation process because they directly

Stress Essay Example for Free

Stress Essay 1.0Introduction We generally use the word stress when we feel that everything seems to have become too much, we are overloaded and wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures placed upon us. Anything that poses a challenge or a threat to our well-being is a stress. Some stresses get you going and they are good for you, without any stress at all many say our lives would be boring and would probably feel pointless. However, when the stresses undermine both our mental and physical health they are bad. In this text we shall be focusing on stress that is bad for you. Stress is your body’s response to change. It’s a very individual thing. A situation’s that one person finds stressful may not bother someone else. For example, one person may become tense when driving; another person may find driving a source of relaxation and joy. Something that causes fear in some people, such as rock climbing, may be fun for others. There’s no way to say that one thing is bad or stressful because everyone’s different. Not all stress is bad, either. Speaking to a group or watching a close football game can be stressful, but they can be fun, too. Life would be dull without some stress. The key is to manage stress properly, because unhealthy responses to it may lead to health problems in some people. Many people experience stress as they combine busy lives and the demands of study while trying to also save time for friends and family. For some people, stress becomes almost a way of life. We all experience episodic stress, getting ready for a major exam, completing and important paper, perhaps getting ready for an important a way of life. We know that stress prolonged period of time, can have increase certain health risks, to say nothing of the way and tear that happens to relationships and general wellbeing. The simple guide use materials adapted from several college campuses with active stress reduction programs. It explores the origin of stress and provides some basic ways to assess the level of stress you may be feeling and than suggest some easy to incorporate ways to decrease the level of stress. Although we all talk about stress, it often isn’t clear what stress is really about. Many people consider stress to be something that happens to them, an event such as an injury or a job loss. Others think that stress is what happens to our body, mind, and behavior in response to an event (E.g. heart pounding, anxiety, or nail biting). While stress does involve events and our response to then, these are not the most important factors. Our thoughts about the situations in which we find ourselves are the critical factor. When something happens to us, we automatically evaluate the situation mentally. We decide if it is threatening to us, how we need to deal with the situation, and what skills we can use. If we decide that the demands of the situation outweigh the skills we have, then we label the situation as stressful and react with the classic stress response. If we decide that our coping skills outweigh the demands of the situation, then we don’t see it as stressful. Stress is not something strange to our daily life nowadays. Everybody may feel stress when they are facing bad situation. Generally, word of stress has been used in social science research since a well known medical expert; Selye pioneered the research for psychological stress in 1950’s. Cox Brockley (1984) stated that stress is a perception phenomenon which exists from a comparison between the command given and ability of a person to execute he task successfully. Unbalanced situation in this mechanism will lead into stress experience and ultimately into stress reaction. Beside that, stress is a pattern of negative (physiological, psychological) responses occurring in situations where people perceive threats to their well being which they may be unable to meet (Lazarus Folkman, 1984). Selye (1978) define individual stress as the stated of pressure or tension when the individual reacts to a stressor. 1. Background of the study 1.1.1Reading (types) Basically, stress is a state of individual in a response to the stimulus of a stressor (anything that potentially leads to change because changes are stressful for an organism) and resulting hardship (Boss, 1987). Stress is normal and neutral (neither positive nor negative) (Boss, 1988; Selye, 1956). It is a continuous outcome variable in that there are degrees of stress (Boss, 1988) as well as a categorical variable. Types of individual stress based on degrees of stress included deprived, optimal and excessive (Selye, 1956). A derived degree of stress may result in a lake of motivation while optimal stress tends to lead to motivation. Excessive stress may lead to crisis. Stress can come from any situation or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or anxious. Everyone sees situations differently and has different coping skills. For this reason, no two people will respond exactly the same way to a given situation. Additionally, not all situations that are labeled stressful are negative. Facing the mid-term test, completing the thesis and doing the assessments work for each subject may not be perceived as threatening. However, we may feel that situations are stressful because we don’t feel fully prepared to deal with them. Stress is a normal part of life. In small quantities, stress is good; it can motivate you and help you become more productive. However, too much stress, or a strong response to stress can be harmful. How we perceive a stress provoking event and how we react to it determines its impact on our health. We may be motivated and invigorated by the events in our lives, or we may see some as stressful and respond in a manner that may have a negative effect on our physical, mental, and social well-being. If we always respond in a negative way, our health and happiness may suffer. By understanding ourselves and our reaction to stress-provoking situations, we can learn to handle stress more effectively. In the most accurate meaning, stress management is not about learning how to avoid or escape the pressures and turbulence of modern living; it is about learning to appreciate how the body reacts to these pressures, and about learning how to develop skills which enhance the body’s adjustment. To learn stress management is to learn about the mind-body connection and to the degree to which we can control our health in a positive sense. Stress is believed to be caused by the various problems that exist such as problems at school, financial problems, family problems and problems in their surroundings. Teenagers also experience stress because they are sometimes trapped between making decisions which is to follow rules and orders or to be free and discover the world like they should. Teenagers in the previous days were trained for things that were suitable with their age so that they can use it to manage their lives. According to Zulkifli (1988), teenagers always face problems in adjusting. Teenagers especially those who are students always face learning problems, career management and also problems in solving personal and social matters. These are the factors that contribute to stress in life. Students are starting to shift from a life that is dependent on others to a life that needs them to release the dependency and start carrying their own responsibilities. Morris (1990) stated that teenagers always face stress in school and they compete with each other to get better grades. Levine, 1970 (in Dobson, 1980), explained that stress have a relationship with a specific situation like a learning environment in school and the inability to do work perfectly and the failure to achieve anything that is desired. The issues of students doing things like punching teachers, cursing, slandering and hurting teachers, prostitution and others calls for researchers to see the mentioned phenomena is connected to the stress situation among teenagers. Adams (1983, in Kamaruddin, 1997) stated that the biggest problem among schooling teenagers is the matters associated with their schooling. Other than that, problems that female students have to deal with are communication and family problems. For the male students, their side problems are problems with getting involved in sports, recreation and also financial problems. The many responsibilities and pressure cause stress to the teenagers like the need to achieve good academic grades, character building and also good attitude besides trying to comprehend with their personal needs. For many young adults, college is the best time of life. These critical years of adjustment can also be under minded by depression, anxiety, substance, abuse and eating disorder. Stress exists from the change in an individual’s thinking and their lifestyle nowadays. Now, individuals have changed in their perceptions and the way they interpret this life. Students in their teens are the ones who are going through the transitional phase, which is an intermediate of childhood and adulthood. During the teen years, a lot of biological, physical, mental and emotional changes are happening, as well as the changes in responsibility and role. In order to stabilize these changes, the students are always confronted with problems and conflicts (Asri, 2002). For some students who are not capable of dealing with it, the changes will create stress and tension to them. If it is not dealt with in the early stages, the student may experience mental problems (Newman, 2005). As a UiTM KBM students, study itself is potentially very stressful with many different and sometimes conflicting pressures (reading complex technical or theoretical material, writing assignments for deadlines, working part time, having a ‘successful’ social life, family demand) perhaps peaking near the exams, which themselves explicitly test your performance under pressure by setting strict time conditions and removing potential resources such as books, colleagues, notes and etc. Study can also challenge your ideas of who you are, who you think you are or who you want to be, lead you to compare yourself with others, who maybe look like they have everything under control. Any change or transition, even a welcome one is stressful and study involves lots of transitions in addition to other life events for example, moving to another country, or another part of the country, meeting new people, different expectations from lecturers, and each academic year brings changes depend s on different topics, lecturers, perhaps new housemates, which should not be underestimated.

Children’s Literature in Jamaica Essay -- essays papers

Children’s Literature in Jamaica As children in the United States, we grow up listening to the stories of Dr. Seuss and Curious George as we fall off to sleep to the sound of our parent’s voices echoing in our dreams. As we start to grow older and the poetry of Shel Silverstein’s, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" no longer holds our imagination as much as it did at eight years old, we begin to read stories that are a reflection of the environment we live within. We engaged ourselves in the lives of such characters as the Hardy Boys and Willy Wonka. What these stories lacked however, are the social issues that are ever present in today’s society. Not all of American children’s literature is without social content, but the literature many of us grew up with was about adventure and mystery. On the other hand, Caribbean children’s literature tends to base its work on survival. The stories of Jamaican folklore for example, tell the tales of the original inhabitants of the Caribbean Island and how they survived colonialism, slavery, poverty, and racism. From generation to generation these stories have been passed down in their original form through oral history. Oral tradition is a method that I believe is no longer preserved in American culture. Rarely do you read of an individual who was sat down on his grandparent’s knee to hear the childhood stories he or her was told by their grandparents before them. In today’s society, all a child has to do to be entertained is turn on the television, or log on to the internet to hear and read the rhetoric of today’s entertainment industry. Whether it is a lack of communication between parent and child, or a loss of innocence, the tradition of a parent telling the story of his or her ancest... ...ren are forced to deal with throughout life. Bibliography Berry, James, Everywhere Faces Everywhere, Simon and Schuster Publishing, New York, 1996 Bolden, Tonya, Rites of Passage: Stories About Growing Up by Black Writers from Around the World, Hyperion Books for Children, New York, 1994 Dance, Daryl, Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1985 Dawes, Kwame, Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry, Goose Lane Publishing, Canada, 1998 Jekyll, Walter, Jamaican Song and Story, Dover Publications, New York, 1966 Jennings, Linda, A Treasury of Stories from Around the World, Kingfisher Publishing, New York, 1993 Ribelli, Piero, Jah Pickney: Children of Jamaica, Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston, Jamaica, 1995 Sherlock, Philip, West Indian Folk-tales, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 1966

Abortion :: essays research papers

Abortion Abortion. It is a topic that has invaded the sanctity of our dinner table conversations, English paper topics and even our court rooms. We are bombarded with pro-lifer’s calling abortion doctors â€Å"baby killers.† They yell about how abortion is unmoral, and how g_d wants us to chose life over death, but they seem to have no problem killing abortion doctors or beating up patients. The pro-lifers seem to think that the abortion laws were just thrown together by uncaring â€Å"baby killers† instead of Supreme court Justices. The fact is abortion use to be illegal. It wasn’t until the case of Roe Vs. Wade that the Supreme court decided that a woman had the right to an abortion as long as certain guide lines established and then followed. The guidelines that were established following the Roe vs. Wade decisions are or still in effect today. The current Legislature says that the â€Å"state may not regulate abortion at all during the first trimester†( http://members.aol.com/abtrbng/conlaw.htm) That means that if a woman decides during the first three months of her pregnancy to abort the child she has the legal right to do so. The states interest during the first trimester is to the mother well being not the well being of the fetus What is so special about the first 3 months? Well during the first three months the child in unable to survive outside of the mothers womb, therefore dependent on the mother. What about the second trimester? During the second trimester the state can regulate abortion â€Å"but only for the protection of the woman's health†( http://members.aol.com/abtrbng/conlaw.htm) The states first responsibility is to the mother and then to the unborn child. Those who oppose the use of abortion feel that the state has a moral obligation to the protection of the unborn child. They feel that allowing abortion in any trimester is sending out the message that children are not valued as highly as adults. The fact is the federal government does have a bias against the unborn child. It is because of this bias that abortion is legalized. The 14th amendment of Constitution states that â€Å"no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,...†( National Archives) After the Roe Vs. Wade case the Supreme court decided that â€Å"the word "person" in the 14th amendment, does not apply to the unborn† (http://members.

Crusaders vs. Invaders

In c. 800, Pope Leo III assigned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Roman people. This collaboration and mutual understanding between Charlemagne and the church paved the way for the numerous future successes in the conquest wars. The initial steps taken by Charlemagne as Emperor do not imply a lust for power or riches at any stage. What they did imply was his aspiration to educate the people and build an unbiased government system that solely functions towards the well-being of the whole empire.Moreover, the major cause behind the conquest wars led by Charlemagne against the German tribes was to announce the revival of the Roman Empire as far as central Europe, and provide an easy access for the church into the pagan tribes (Einhard 61). According to Einhard, in his book two lives of Charlemagne, the Saxons were an extremely disrespectful people. He states: â€Å"They are much given to devil worship and they are hostile to our religion. They think it no dishonor to violate and transgres s the laws of God and man. † (61).Although the Franks lived peacefully just across the river to the Saxons, consistent crimes like murder and theft eventually gave way to a ferocious war between the two parties. The sole purpose of this war was to convert the Saxons to Christianity and unite them with the Franks (Einhard 61-62). Although the Franks may have initiated the war, it is absolutely transparent that they had no intention of settling matters other than peacefully. This can be deduced from the fact that while crimes were being committed continuously, the Franks bided for a long time until they could endure it no more.It was not only the Saxon war, but the origins of the other conquest wars were also not quite different. For example, the war in Bavaria against Duke Tassilo occurred under similar circumstances. The duke made allies with the Huns disregarding all Charlemagne’s orders (Einhard 65). Einhard states in his book: â€Å"Not only did Tassilo refuse to ca rry out Charlemagne’s orders, but he did his utmost to provoke the king to war. † (66). Wars against the Slaves and Huns also lied along the same lines. Absolute disagreement and disregard of the king lead to unnecessary bloodshed with the same result.Although the actions of Charlemagne may appear to be quite reasonable, the wars fought by the Vikings in Europe are an entirely different story. Their advancements into Europe occurred in various forms; however, they always had a violent and ferocious touch to them. In addition, the Vikings were staunch followers of paganism at the time, making them a more unpopular figure in recorded history. Details of the siege of Paris clearly indicate that the Vikings were solely responsible for their war against Odo, defender of Paris.According to Frederic Austin in his book A Sourcebook of Mediaeval History, Siegfred, the Vikings leader, said to the bishop of Paris: â€Å"†¦if you do not listen to my demands, on the morrow our war machines will destroy you with poisoned arrows. You will be the prey of famine and of pestilence and these evils will perpetually renew every year. † Basically, the Vikings threatened the leaders of Paris that if they do not handover the city, they would wage war against Paris with all their force, resting only after its total destruction. In the same book, Frederic Austin narrates the story of Rollo’s conversion to Christianity too.Although initially he refused to pay respect to King Charles, his conversion had a profound effect on his leadership. â€Å"The duke established for his subjects certain inviolable rights and laws, confirmed and published by the will of the leading men, and he compelled all his people to live peacefully together. † (Austin 165-173). Literally speaking, a crusade refers to a collaborative attempt by a group of people that is aimed to achieve a credible cause, while an invasion implies to the disturbance of an event by an uninvited subject.After examining every war fought by Charlemagne during his conquests, it can be safely deduced that he never fought with the wrong intentions, but always aimed to spread the word of Christianity and enforce peace throughout the lands. Moreover, the wars though mostly initiated by Charlemagne, were always provoked by the opposite party. The Vikings on the other hand, were solely responsible for the provocation as well as initiation of wars. At the time of their infiltration into Europe, they mostly used violent methods to take over the city governments against the will of the people.Although Lief Erikson may have built whole towns in the Americas for permanent settlements, the program eventually failed and the spirit of that deed faded away with time, while the actions behind the more influential settlements of the Vikings in Europe were remembered. Works Cited Austin Ogg, Frederic. A Sourcebook of Mediaeval History. New York: American Book Company, 1907. 165-173. Einhard. T wo Lives of Charlemagne. Trans. Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Books Ltd, 1969. 61-68.

Battle of Olustee in the Civil War

Battle of Olustee in the Civil War Battle of Olustee - Conflict Date: The Battle of Olustee was fought February 20, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Armies Commanders Union Brigadier General Truman Seymour5,500 men Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Finegan5,000 men Battle of Olustee - Background: Thwarted in his efforts to reduce Charleston, SC in 1863, including defeats at Fort Wagner, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore, commander of the Union Department of the South, turned his eye towards to Jacksonville, FL. Planning an expedition to the area, he intended to extend Union control over northeastern Florida and prevent supplies from the region reaching Confederate forces elsewhere. Submitting his plans to the Union leadership in Washington, they were approved as the Lincoln Administration hoped to restore a loyal government to Florida before the election that November. Embarking around 6,000 men, Gillmore entrusted operational control of the expedition to Brigadier General Truman Seymour, a veteran of major battles such as Gaines Mill, Second Manassas, and Antietam. Steaming south, Union forces landed and occupied Jacksonville on February 7. The next day, Gillmore and Seymours troops began advancing west and occupied Ten Mile Run. Over the next week, Union forces raided as far as Lake City while officials arrived in Jacksonville to start the process of forming a new government. During this time, the two Union commanders began arguing over the scope of Union operations. While Gillmore pressed for the occupation of Lake City and a possible advance to the Suwannee River to destroy the railroad bridge there, Seymour reported that neither was advisable and that Unionist sentiment in the region was minimal. As a result, Gillmore directed Seymour to concentrate his forced west of the city at Baldwin. Meeting on the 14th, he further directed his subordinate to fortify Jacksonville, Baldwin, and Barbers Plantation. Battle of Olustee - The Confederate Response: Appointing Seymour as commander of the District of Florida, Gillmore departed for his headquarters at Hilton Head, SC on February 15 and directed that no advance into the interior be made without his permission. Opposing the Union efforts was Brigadier General Joseph Finegan who led the District of East Florida. An Irish immigrant and an enlisted veteran of the prewar US Army, he possessed around 1,500 men with which to defend the region. Unable to directly oppose Seymour in the days after the landings, Finegans men skirmished with Union forces where possible. In an effort to counter the Union threat, he requested reinforcements from General P.G.T. Beauregard who commanded the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Responding to his subordinates needs, Beauregard sent contingents south led by Brigadier General Alfred Colquitt and Colonel George Harrison. These additional troops swelled Finegans force to around 5,000 men. Battle of Olustee - Seymour Advances: Shortly after Gillmores departure, Seymour began to view the situation in northeast Florida more favorably and elected to commence a march west to destroy the Suwannee River bridge. Concentrating around 5,500 men at Barbers Plantation, he planned to advance on February 20. Writing to Gillmore, Seymour informed his superior of the plan and commented that by the time you receive this I shall be in motion. Stunned upon receiving this missive, Gillmore dispatched an aide south with orders for Seymour cancel the campaign. This effort failed as the aide reached Jacksonville after the fighting had ended. Moving out early in the morning on the 20th, Seymours command was divided into three brigades led by Colonels William Baron, Joseph Hawley, and James Montgomery. Advancing west, Union cavalry led by Colonel Guy V. Henry scouted for and screened the column. Battle of Olustee - First Shots: Reaching Sanderson around midday, Union cavalry began skirmishing with their Confederate counterparts west of town. Pushing the enemy back, Henrys men met more intense resistance as they neared Olustee Station. Having been reinforced by Beauregard, Finegan had moved east and occupied a strong position along the Florida Atlantic and Gulf-Central Railroad at Olustee. Fortifying a narrow strip of dry ground with Ocean Pond to the north and swamps to the south, he planned receive the Union advance. As Seymours main column approached, Finegan hoped to use his cavalry to lure the Union troops into attacking his main line. This failed to occur and instead fighting intensified forward of the fortifications as Hawleys brigade began to deploy (Map). Battle of Olustee - A Bloody Defeat: Responding to this development, Finegan ordered Colquitt to advance with several regiments from both his brigade and Harrisons. A veteran of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville who had served under Lieutenant General Thomas Stonewall Jackson, he advanced his troops into the pine forest and engaged the 7th Connecticut, 7th New Hampshire, and 8th US Colored Troops from Hawleys brigade. The commitment of these forces saw the fighting rapidly grow in scope. The Confederates quickly gained an upper hand when confusion over orders between Hawley and the 7th New Hampshires Colonel Joseph Abbott led to the regiment deploying improperly. Under heavy fire, many of Abbotts men retired in the confusion. With the 7th New Hampshire collapsing, Colquitt focused his efforts on the raw 8th USCT. While the African-American soldiers acquitted themselves well, the pressure compelled them to begin falling back. The situation was made worse by the death of its commanding officer, Colonel Charles Fribley ( Map). Pressing the advantage, Finegan sent additional forces forward under the guidance of Harrison. Uniting, the combined Confederate forces began pushing east. In response, Seymour rushed Bartons brigade forward. Forming on the right of the remnants of Hawleys men the 47th, 48th, and 115th New York opened fire and halted the Confederate advance. As the battle stabilized, both sides inflicted increasingly heavy losses on the other. During the course of the fighting, Confederate forces began to run low on ammunition forcing a slackening of their firing as more was brought forward. In addition, Finegan led his remaining reserves into the fighting and took personal command of the battle. Committing these new forces, he ordered his men to attack (Map). Overwhelming the Union troops, this effort led Seymour to order a general retreat east. As Hawley and Bartons men began withdrawing, he directed Montgomerys brigade to cover the retreat. This brought the 54th Massachusetts, which had gained fame as one of the first official African-American regiments, and the 35th US Colored Troops forward. Forming, they succeeded in holding back Finegans men as their compatriots departed. Leaving the area, Seymour returned to Barbers Plantation that night with the 54th Massachusetts, 7th Connecticut, and his cavalry covering the retreat. The withdrawal was aided by a weak pursuit on the part of Finegans command. Battle of Olustee - Aftermath: A bloody engagement given the numbers engaged, the Battle of Olustee saw Seymour sustain 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing while Finegan lost 93 killed, 847 wounded, and 6 missing. Union losses were made worse by Confederate forces killing wounded and captured African-American soldiers after the fighting had concluded. The defeat at Olustee ended the Lincoln Administrations hopes for organizing a new government prior the 1864 election and made several in the North question the value of campaigning in a militarily insignificant state. While the battle had proved a defeat, the campaign was largely successful as the occupation of Jacksonville opened the city to Union trade and deprived the Confederacy of the regions resources. Remaining in Northern hands for the rest of the war, Union forces routinely conducted raids from the city but did not mount major campaigns. Selected Sources CWSAC Battle Summaries: Battle of OlusteeBattle of Olustee Civil War Trust: Battle of Olustee

Learning to Work in Customer Service Professor Ramos Blog

Learning to Work in Customer Service After I graduated from high school, I really didn’t know what to do with my time. I knew that I didn’t want to go back to school just yet. I decided to get a job. I applied at local places around my town, I live in a small community so I didn’t really have much to choose from. My mom told me about a few places hiring. A few of my friends from high school worked at Jensen’s so I decided to apply there. I got hired on the spot and I was so excited. I had never had a job before. Graduating from high school was exciting but also very overwhelming. I’ve never had a job before and I was used to just going to school and having the same routine for so long. I looked online for places hiring near me and it was very nerve-racking, there weren’t many places near where I live that were hiring. I noticed an ad saying that the grocery store I lived near was hiring so I decided to apply there. I thought it would be a good place to work because I live about five minutes from there. I always shop at Jensen’s and I thought it would be a fun place to get my first job at. I walked into the store looked around and thought to myself I could totally see myself working here. I asked one of the employees at the register if the manager was there. She brought me back to the manager’s office and I ended up talking to the manager for over an hour. I told him I had never had a job before and I was eager to see what working in customer service was like. I as ked if they were hiring and he said yes! He interviewed me and hired me right then. I was so nervous and thought it would be so hard to get a job and it only took me one day. When I first started working at Jensen’s, the manager of the store asked me which department I would like to work in. A few of my friends that I knew from my school worked in the Starbucks inside the store. I told him I wanted to work in Starbucks and he told me that’d be great because they have been trying to find people to work there. I was really excited that I got my first job and Starbucks is one of my favorite places to get coffee. On my first day, I had to train for about four to five hours and one of my friends got to train me. She made it so easy to catch on to you how things are done and showed me how to make some of their most popular drinks. I was really grateful for all of her help, I was scared I wasn’t going to be good at working in customer service but she made me feel a lot more confident about it. She showed me how to make Starbucks’ most popular drinks and some of the first drinks I learned how to make were the hibiscus teas which I woul d order all the time before I started working there. At first I thought it was pretty easy and after about two hours of practicing and learning how to make different drinks, my coworker let me take an order for a customer. I was pretty nervous. The customer was a regular at Starbucks and my manager told me that the customer usually ordered the same thing. I took his order, he told me he wanted a Iced Americano with a shot of espresso. I made the drink without any help from my coworkers or manager, handed the customer his drink and he sat down at a table. I noticed the customer kept looking at me while I was practicing other drinks and about 10 minutes later he came up to me and said â€Å"this drink does not taste like it usually does.† I told him what I had put in it and how I made it and he got upset because he wanted a shot of espresso and I put two shots of vanilla in it by accident. I explained to him that it was my first day and I wasn’t 100% familiar with the shots to put in his drink yet. I apologized and made him a new drink. I gave him a large for the inconvenience, when he originally ordered a medium. I could tell he was annoyed so I told my manager what had happened and she explained to me that it happens all the time and I shouldn’t be upset because it is all about the learning process. She said â€Å"you’ll be fine, don’t let this upset you we all mess up sometimes and we just have to shake it off.† I felt better after talking to her and I was excited to continue working there. My manager was always so encouraging and would always tell me how much she appreciates all of my hard work. I worked at Starbucks for a little over a year and working there has taught me so many things about working in the customer service industry. I am very thankful for getting a job I actually really enjoyed the first day I had applied anywhere. I am grateful to have had a manager as nice and encouraging as I did at Starbucks, she is definitely my literacy sponsor. I never would have the experience I did if it weren’t for my boss being so supportive, encouraging and understanding how hard and overwhelming it could be working at your first job. Although it was frustrating at times when I would mess up orders, my manager and other coworkers really helped me get through it. I was so scared to get my first job and thought it would be so hard but with all of the support I had, it was actually really fun and easy.

12 Experts Predict What The Most Successful Marketers Will Do In 2018

12 Experts Predict What The Most Successful Marketers Will Do In 2018 What will the most successful marketers do in 2018? It’s a simple question. And I wanted the answers from some of my super smart friends in the marketing industry to help my  team at be as successful as possible in 2018. My thought here was to use these predictions as potential future project ideas: Which of these predictions offer the biggest 10x growth opportunities? Are there things we’re already doing that we may need to improve or double down on? How may we optimize our strategy + processes to capitalize on new opportunities? Learning from others’ success is often a great way to become successful yourself. So†¦ †¦in the same breath†¦ I knew you  would likely learn a lot from these 2018 marketing predictions, too. I also thought you’d enjoy learning from my *informal* marketing mentors. What Are The Most Successful Marketers Doing? Download the 2018 State of Marketing Strategy Report to learn the strongest predictors of success with goals, strategy, process, and more. When you do, you’ll learn the benchmarks that set successful marketing teams apart from the rest. So get it now! Alright, though†¦ let’s hear what our experts predict for marketing success in 2018, shall we? ;) Adapt Quickly†¦ Agile #FTW Julia McCoy, CEO Of Express Writers, Instructor At contentstrategycourses.com Adapt.  This is the keyword to successful marketing in 2018. As we end 2017, we've seen incredibly major  changes happen to leading social platforms. Facebook Stories merging with Instagram Stories. Snapchat planning on a redesign after confirmation less people are using their platform. Twitter doubling their allowed character and word count per tweet. LinkedIn featuring trends that look very similar to Twitter trends. The demand for video, especially Facebook live streaming, will continue to grow. Along with adapting to (and knowing the trends), it's also vitally important to know what your users want. For example, in today's noisy social platform world where Facebook autoplays videos, some users seek the basics of beautiful imagery and a well-written story- and mute all videos. Don't overlook what your people want. It could be the basics. So, adapt with them in mind, at all times. With these keys in mind, you're in for a successful, exciting ride with your marketing in 2018. Julia McCoy is the founder of Express Writers, serial content marketer, and best-selling author. Don't overlook what your people want.Optimize Old Content To Increase Your Results With Less Effort Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder And Strategic Director Of Orbit Media Studios Update old content. The most successful marketers will go back and find big value in that deep well of past articles. Older articles often have authority and links. They'd benefit from a rewrite and better relevance. Older articles often convert a good percentage of visitors into subscribers. They'd benefit from a new stream of traffic. Older articles are often easy to rewrite. They're faster to update than writing a new piece. The pros have already figured this out. In fact most marketers have. According to some recent research, 55% of bloggers update old content. They do it for better rankings and more traffic in less time. Maybe you don't need 1000 articles. Maybe you need 100 great articles. Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and the Strategic Director of Orbit Media, an award-winning 38-person web design company in Chicago. Did you know 55% of bloggers update old content?Embrace New + Repurpose Old + Measure Everything Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich And Founder And Author Of Spin Sucks In 2018, the most successful marketers will do three things (I know you asked for only one, but I'm cheating!): Begin to adopt artificial intelligence, chatbots, and/or virtual reality. Optimize their work by repurposing content. Consistently measure their work and tweak and improve as they go. Though many successful marketers have already adopted some of the new technologies, 2018 brings an opportunity to enhance the work they're already doing–and do more. For number two, it's always astounding to me how many marketers (most) don't repurpose any content. They create something once and let it live in a silo. The most successful marketers do not do that. For everything you publish, there should be at least five ancillary pieces you can create. Optimize the heck out of your creations. And then measure your work. Because I am a communications pro, I focus on PR metrics, but the things I push my team, our clients, and our community on are metrics every successful marketer uses. Study them, learn them, implement them. You will be considered a successful marketer by 2019 if you do. Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, is co-author of Marketing In the Round, and is co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media. Your winning content formula: Embrace New + Repurpose Old + Measure Everything.Spend 80% Of Your Time Scaling, 20% Testing Sujan Patel, Co-Founder Of WebProfits Your approach to marketing shouldn't change in 2018. It should always be 70-80% focusing on scaling and optimizing proven channels and 20-30% on testing new channels. New technologies have made AR mainstream on mobile devices, and new media such as voice search on Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Siri are going to make 2018 an interesting year. With the saturation and increasing competition for internet business, there’s one area where companies can’t afford not  to spend on in 2018: Branding. Your brand/voice and the customers’ perspective of you will play a larger part of the purchase decision. Sujan Patel is a data-driven marketer and entrepreneur. He is a high energy individual fueled by his passion to help people and solve problems. Sujan is the co-founder of WebProfits US, a growth marketing agency software companies, Narrow.io   Mailshake, tools to help marketers build their Twitter following and scale content marketing efforts. Spend 80% of your time scaling, 20% testing.Very Purposefully Stand Out From The Competition Ian Cleary,  CoFounder of OutreachPlus and Founder of RazorSocial Focus more on strategic content and invest more time in content promotion. Content marketing is very competitive, so to stand out, you need to build more strategic assets. These are not 500-word blog posts. They could be surveys that take you weeks to build, a useful software utility for your audience, a whole series of video content, a guide that contains better information than anything available on the internet, etc. When you produce these assets, you then need to invest time in outreach. That's building relationships in the short term to help with strategic content promotion in the long term. Ian Cleary is a CoFounder of OutreachPlus and the Founder of RazorSocial. He works with clients all around the world on with marketing consultancy and training programs focused primarily on content marketing and relationship building (e.g. influencer programs). Focus more on strategic content and invest more time in content promotion.Personalize Experiences With Marketing Automation Barry Feldman, Founder/Owner Of Feldman Creative I see great marketers separating themselves from the pack by gathering and using customer intelligence. It's become widely understood customers want more personalized experiences. The marketers able to nurture the brand/buyer relationship with personalized interactions and experiences that cater to an individual's needs will win more customers and be better equipped to keep them and create brand advocates. Of course, the process of building intelligent profiles of your customers can be handled in a variety of ways. I consult with ShortStack  and their platform provides a great example. Their interactive content- contests, quizzes, and such- encourages prospects to not only engage, but to reveal their wants and needs. And now, there's a marketing automation element to the platform enabling the marketer to follow-up with more personalized communications. It's just one example, but it's a good one. Ask yourself, how can you learn more about your prospects and use the intelligence in your marketing? Barry Feldman, founder of Feldman Creative, is a prolific writer with 25 years of experience bringing his clients' online presence to the next level through copywriting and content marketing creation and consulting. He writes and educates clients on online marketing on The Point  and on many other sites across the web. How can you learn more about your prospects and use the intelligence in your marketing?Listen + Analyze + Plan + Personalize Joei Chan, Content Marketing Manager At Mention In 2018, the most successful marketers will be listening to, working with, and leveraging customers from acquisition to retention. The best marketers will be those who succeed in extracting and analyzing granular customer data and behavior to create personalized and targeted campaigns. This doesn't just mean surveying customers, but actually having a process to incorporating the feedback and making the customer's voice the starting point of your strategy. The feedback can be collected through NPS, CSAT, social media monitoring, behavioral analytics, chatbots, or with AI, etc. In the past customer feedback was usually an afterthought or 'just for reference.' In 2018, every marketing decision you take should be based on customer feedback or data. "We've listened to our customers, this is what's frustrating them, this is what they want, and this is what we're gonna do." Joei Chan  is the Content Marketing Manager at Mention  where she leads marketing campaigns and partnerships for demand generation. Four things successful marketers will do in 2018: Listen + Analyze + Plan + PersonalizeUse Behavioral Data To Tailor Content To The Customer Lifecycle Kim Courvoisier, Director Of Content Marketing And Social Media At Campaign Monitor 2017 has been a heck of a year on all fronts, and marketers need to fasten their seatbelts because 2018 is coming in hot! If 2017 was the year that as marketers we fought for and gained access to data (which many of us did!), then 2018 will be the year that we will use that data in unique ways to power massively relevant campaigns to our prospects and customers. It’s no longer enough to talk the talk about the right message to the right person at the right time. 2018’s most successful marketers must OWN the customer lifecycle and own it like they never have before. The marketing funnel is no longer a linear path to conversion and it won’t be enough to simply cherry pick a few pivotal touchpoints and expect to get results. To be a truly successful marketer in 2018 and beyond, marketers must use behavioral data and personalization to deliver on consumers expectations for messaging and offers that apply uniquely to them. One size fits no one in 2018 and marketers wi ll finally get a command on their data and begin to use it in incredible ways. See more email marketing and automation predictions for 2018 in Campaign Monitor’s 2018 Email Marketing Predictions. The future of email is lit! Kim Courvoisier is a seasoned digital marketing leader specializing in B2B and B2C content marketing, social media, email marketing, customer lifecycle marketing, and SEO. She builds and leads the inbound content strategy to drive lead generation and boost organic traffic, among much more, at Campaign Monitor. 2018’s most successful marketers must OWN the customer lifecycle and own it like they never have...Less â€Å"Marketing†, More Listening Adam Hutchinson, Head Of Marketing At Socedo It's time to strip out the jargon (or worse, sales speak) from our marketing messages, and we need to put human conversations front and center. With buyers bombarded by ads, emails, and cold calls, response rates continue to decline, but marketers are seeing drastic improvements by engaging in existing, meaningful conversations and talking to their audience as people, not just customers. For example, taking a look at some of the most successful B2B social media campaigns from 2017, we can see some common trends: highlighting actual people, leveraging relationships, and using simple, relatable language and imagery. Social is a great place to start, but this needs to be true across tactics, whether it's telling compelling stories in email campaigns or writing content that speaks to personal interests and concerns. It all starts with listening to the right conversations in the first place, and the most successful marketers will turn to social listening tools, intent data providers, and content analytics platforms to understand what the people in their audience care about most. Adam Hutchinson is the Head of Marketing at Socedo. Socedo helps B2B marketers discover, engage, and convert leads using real-time behavioral social data. It's time to strip out the jargon (or worse, sales speak) from our marketing messages.Sometimes, You Have To Pay To Play Chris Von Wilpert, Chief Content Sumo At Sumo Group If I channel the fortune-telling energy from Noah and answer related to content, I would say: â€Å"The most successful marketers in 2018 will use paid to promote their organic. There are so many great content creators out there today, the biggest shift will come from marketers who can master the skill of promoting their content profitably with paid traffic. The rest will die on the content pile of death.† Chris Von Wilpert is the Chief Content Sumo at Sumo Group  where he’s growing the Sumo.com blog from 100k/mo to 500k/mo unique website visitors. The most successful marketers in 2018 will use paid to promote their organic.Stand Out With Competition-Free Content Garrett Moon, CEO And Co-Founder Of , Author Of The 10x Marketing Formula The most successful marketers will create competition-free content that stands out. Content marketing isn’t living up to the hype. Instead of delivering upon its promises of extreme growth, we’ve plunged into the â€Å"trough of disillusionment.† Instead of creating â€Å"copycat† content- which is essentially copying and pasting examples from others- you need to embrace the 10x Marketing Formula. So what’s that? You need to ditch playing follow the leader and start thinking like scrappy startups. It’s results or die. And startups know this better than anyone. Instead of doing what’s safe and comfortable, startups embrace risk and innovation. They reward it. The 10x Marketing Formula is about finding the paths no one else has taken to differentiate yourself and ultimately grow your results 10 times over. The 10x Marketing Formula is about finding the paths no one else has taken to differentiate...4 Key Takeaways From Your 2018 Marketing Predictions First, let’s recap some of the broader 2018 marketing trends from these predictions†¦ ...in 2018, successful marketers will: Be agile, embrace new, and test:  There will (obviously) be new marketing trends that emerge in 2018. Instead of pushing all of your resources into these fads, test them, then embrace what works. Paying to promote your content may be part of this- as marketing enters the trough of disillusionment, your strategy needs to pivot. Scale what you know already works:  Just because new stuff will inevitably come doesn’t mean you should embrace it right away. What you’re already doing is likely already working†¦ so how can you scale it  to get even bigger results? This ties into optimizing old content  and repurposing it. Listen to their  audience, and measure their efforts:  To seriously understand what works while embracing the new (and continue doing what you know already works), you need to listen to your prospects and measure the return on existing marketing projects. This is huge. Successful marketers are 242% more likely to report conducting audience research  at least once per quarter. Personalize content across the customer life cycle:  It’s impossible to plan the funnel experience at a macro level. That said, every click, view, and action indicates a personal level of interest. Based upon that data, you can customize the experiences for specific people who are getting to know your business to strategically lead them closer to that point of purchase.The four things successful marketers will do in 2018 are ...^^^ If you remember the beginning of this article, I asked for this advice so I could use it at †¦ So†¦ What Is Planning For 2018? Well, I wouldn’t plan it if I didn’t predict it to be successful†¦ right? ;) So very soon, you’ll see the demand generation team here at (listed as prioritized): Personalize the content you receive based on your activity:  We’re already working on enhancing your experience with this blog and well beyond. Some of that includes testing new things, covering even more topics like change management, integrated marketing communications, pitching ideas to your team and boss, and a whole lot more. So look forward to it! Continue scaling what we know you love:  We’ll continue analyzing blog post success  and repeating home runs we know you’ll love. Part of that includes our historical optimization process where we update older content to seriously help you solve your biggest marketing challenges. In addition, I see more guides  in our future, more course  releases, and more webinars. Test new:  We have a couple more ideas for freemium tools that will complement the headline analyzer  and social message optimizer. *Insert shriek of excitement here.* An advanced marketing academy is on our radar. And†¦ of course†¦ we’ll publish that book we started  writing in 2017 that I predicted would happen  about a year ago (lol). And, of course, we’ll listen to you every step of the way. ;)

Quality in customer focussed operations Assignment

Quality in customer focussed operations - Assignment Example Its cost control techniques, details of operational process and incessant product development, along with the corporate attributes, have aided the company to maintain a lower price for customers. During the period of global expansion, it has lowered price of products on an average of 2%-3%. As of January 2014, the company owns around 349 stores across 43 countries. It has been recorded that the company had sold products, amounting to $23.1 billion, in 2010. It is identified that sales of the company has increased by 7.7% from the previous year. The company website displays over 12,000 products to customers, along with clear pictures of IKEA range of products, in order for the latter to gain interest in the company products. The number of visitors, who visit IKEA’s website every day, has been recorded to about 470 million in 2013. It has been identified that in 2013, IKEA has been the largest user of wood, as the company has been noted to use about 1% of the total wood availabl e on the earth. IKEA concentrates on selling wide range of products. The company sells nearly everything, which are required for furnishing a home, including furniture, plants, toys, kitchens and many more. The products, which are provided by them, have unique styles and the function of good quality and style is complimenting products to become most attractive and satisfy customers need. The company accepts the challenge of producing products at a lower price. Any company can make higher quality products at a high price, but IKEA provides its customers with the best quality, along with the lowest price possible, on the product. To provide high quality products at low prices, the company has undertaken cost effective and innovative techniques, which have made them strong enough to rule the retail market with confidence. The whole production process has been reviewed by designers, which has brought in new packing methods and such, thereby reducing cost of manufacturing. The

Significance of Effective Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Significance of Effective Writing - Essay Example He has huge responsibilities on his shoulders which he accomplishes tactfully and with outstanding organizational skills. Several duties such as organizing and arranging training sessions for the militia and selecting them for higher missions are part of the job of human resource management in the military. Hence effective writing plays a major role in building up an impression for the new and the old members of the community and also builds up a rapport with the clients who are invited not only to welcome the staff but also drill them for their future duties. Establishing personal relations with the media personnel also requires that written communication be as effective as possible. Some of the main components of effective writing are, that the opening paragraph which makes up for the introduction is very smooth and beguiling, the purpose of the content is clearly defined and the people addressed are accommodated according to their needs. The reason why effective writing becomes ve ry important for the above mentioned jobs and many more responsibilities is that it represents a marked difference between the professional and a non professional institution. It can be compared to record keeping whereby accountants maintain facts and figures to keep a track on the constant changes that occur on a daily basis. This is eminent to note because then it is the effective writing of the human resource management which forms the backbone of the community helping them to be recognized wherever they go. Several letters and transcripts need forwarding to higher authorities which cannot be done without proper evaluation and editing. These evaluations need to be apt and flawless. The perfection sought by the establishment is an indication that there are higher expectations from this position. What is written is mostly kept as a record which can be visited anytime in the future and questioned for its authenticity. Since military human resource management is the most important co mponent of the Army it works as a strategic facilitator for the leadership of the Army. Hence the language used needs to be persuasive and according to the moves made by the army to defend its mission. It is for this reason that the military HRMs are provided training in effecting writing courses so that they do not fall short of any skills needed to represent the army. It is the duty of all the members of the community to facilitate and strengthen the system. As mentioned above there are moments when the Army leadership requires instant memos to be sent to others. Considering the shortage of time due to high profiles it is the HRM which ensures that all of their needs are fulfilled. Effective writing is not as tough as it may. Nevertheless it is an art which can be learnt through practice because it needs a lot of perfection and no excuse for any delay. It is an unexpected and untimed task for which the human resource manager needs to be ready at all times. There is absolutely no w ay that one can do away with writing being a part of the huge network. Hence there should be no delays nor any mishaps occurring in the process. What exactly does it mean to be effective in writing? Effectiveness is a quality which works as a guiding light for the others who come across it. It is a

Analysis of Globel Warming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of Globel Warming - Essay Example It forms an invisible umbrella that reflects back radiation onto the earth instead of radiating it out into space. This causes gradual warming of the planet, as the consequence of‘greenhouse warming’ or ‘global warming’ indicates. Starting in the late 19th century, this journey towards increasing climatic crises and ecological imbalances started. The average temperature of the planet has increased. Sea levels have increased due to arctic glacier melting. Every year the sea level rises by millimeters and the trend seems exponential, posing a threat to all coastal cities. The chief cause of behind the menace of greenhouse gasses is the compound ‘chlorofluorocarbon’. This is the compound used for cooling purposes in domestic and industrial refrigerators and massive coolers. It is used in most of the cooling solutions like cold storages, ACs etc. These gasses break up the ozone layer. Similarly, other agents like vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide contribute to the greenhouse effect. The causes of rising in greenhouse gases are due to industrialization, agriculture, deforestation, incineration of several materials including waste and natural decomposition. Since the industrial revolution in the early 1900s, the rate of industrialization increased 40 fold and with it multiplied the emission of greenhouse gasses. ...the temperature of the earth, rise in sea level due to glacial melting and ozone hole What effect is predicted if greenhouse gas levels continue to increase at the present rate? If greenhouse gas levels are allowed to increase at their present rate it might initiate several natural catastrophes. The most fatal consequences for the earth and all forms of life on it would be an increase of sea levels, flooding of islands and coastal destinations. A dramatic effect could be submersion of entire coastal cities. The argument that Al Gore makes in the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is not s ubstantial and I completely disagree with i. He says that the increase in greenhouses gas levels in the atmosphere due to an increase in carbon dioxide level is behind rising in the surface temperature of the earth. This is causing abnormal glacier melting every year, resulting in the disintegration of polar habitats of animals like polar bear, arctic seal, penguins, sea-lions, walruses etc. The truth, however, is that this is a natural cycle of warming up and cooling down of the earth’s temperature. The earth’s temperature, in truth, is ever-changing, always dynamic and either going up or down in a span of weeks, months or years. The very base of Al Gore’s argument that the earth’s surface temperature changing is detrimental to the environment and ecology is faulty. The world has witnessed an Ice Age when the temperature was below freezing point. Greenhouse gasses have nothing to do or a very small role to play in what we perceive as global warming. The earth is going through a warming up phase. For instance, Green Land was in its prime green phase in pre-history and its name sounds quite inappropriate in the present day.

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility in Hard Times Essay

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility in Hard Times - Essay Example Utilitarianism was the brainchild of Jeremy Bentham ( 1748-1832), a personally eccentric philosopher and social reformer, who held that virtue was a matter of utility: an action was good if it helped to bring about the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Promulgation of that happiness was the function of the State, and education of the populace and extension of political franchise were fundamental tenets of Benthamism. Political Economy, on the other hand, was a socio-economic system deriving from Adam Smith ( 1723-90) and David Ricardo ( 1772- 1823), whose disciples taught that the distribution of wealth was governed by immutable laws of nature. National prosperity depended on the profits of industrialists, and the wages of workers could not rise without jeopardizing economic harmony, to the detriment of workers and industrialists alike. Because the pursuit of individual self-interest was held to promote the general welfare, the duty of the state was to adopt a policy of lais sez-faire, in order to allow that inevitable process to operate freely, without interference. ( Dickens, Schilicke, 1989) Dickens was vociferous against these theories and as he wrote to Charles Knight, he directed his satire " against those who see figures and averages and nothing else----the representatives of the wickedest and the most enormous vice of this time." (30 December 1854, Letters, 7: 492). Dickens was above all a humanist, and he deeply resented the reduction of human beings, their activities and perceptions to bare facts and figures, without emotion, feeling, or imagination. Having already written books like Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, he had realised that his satire and criticism hit home, and thus deliberately set out to write a novel in the background of industrialisation and its resultant severe inequalities of wealth, social class and education. 2.0. Coketown: the emblem of Dickens' message In the course of the novel, Dickens' fictional Coketown, loosely based on towns like Manchester in Northern England and the Lancashire town of Preston, becomes emblematic of Dickens' perception of the connections between industrialisation, utilitarianism, education and the Victorian society. In Chapter 5 he describes Coketown: "It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness. Dickens paints the picture of an unnatural, defaced, polluted town filled with the noise and stench of machines at work, which is "savage". All public inscriptions in the town which are essentially its voice, are written in "black and white", in effect colourless, banal, with no identity of their own. It is the antithesis of individuality and personal freedom of expression, which are so essential to human happiness and virtue. It pays no tribute to civilisation, culture or refinement, everything in it is "severely workful" and utilitarian. This starves the human craving

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

IBM - Essay Example The company and employees welcome change as the main driver of success and profitability. IBM has 32 leaders responsible for certain organizational activities and performance. Customers and technology are the primary driving factors in this arena. Customers want products that satisfy their needs or improve their productivity. IBM looks for ways to deliver these benefits at a lower cost, smaller size, and higher speed. Operating within an industry with this kind of rapid change presents several challenges for personal computer and notebooks, namely production costs, intellectual property owners, and monopolies. In general, IBM is one of the profitable Corporations today and, as predicted, in future (Bellis, 2001). Strengths of IBM Corporation include knowledge, relationships, selling and history. The challenges of the company are based on high quality of products and services. Direct sales force maintains a relationship. Among the weaknesses are high competition and rapidly changing technology market. The innovative PC technology is not cheap and that is why not all the potential customers can afford it today. IBM, in contrast to Dell Corporation, tries to maintain high standards of service proposing and selling (the most important) to its customers high quality products. Taking into account his vision of the company, it is possible to say that central planning and negotiating inputs from might have gone, but there remained the assumption that some other agency would solve the problems: an assumption the CEO himself appeared to share. All of this was taking place within a structure which remained hierarchical, with little involvement of junior management or the workforce, who believed that their product could only sell locally and clung to the assumption that they could sell everything they could produce. All of the IBM leaders participate in the change

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility in Hard Times Essay

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility in Hard Times - Essay Example Utilitarianism was the brainchild of Jeremy Bentham ( 1748-1832), a personally eccentric philosopher and social reformer, who held that virtue was a matter of utility: an action was good if it helped to bring about the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Promulgation of that happiness was the function of the State, and education of the populace and extension of political franchise were fundamental tenets of Benthamism. Political Economy, on the other hand, was a socio-economic system deriving from Adam Smith ( 1723-90) and David Ricardo ( 1772- 1823), whose disciples taught that the distribution of wealth was governed by immutable laws of nature. National prosperity depended on the profits of industrialists, and the wages of workers could not rise without jeopardizing economic harmony, to the detriment of workers and industrialists alike. Because the pursuit of individual self-interest was held to promote the general welfare, the duty of the state was to adopt a policy of lais sez-faire, in order to allow that inevitable process to operate freely, without interference. ( Dickens, Schilicke, 1989) Dickens was vociferous against these theories and as he wrote to Charles Knight, he directed his satire " against those who see figures and averages and nothing else----the representatives of the wickedest and the most enormous vice of this time." (30 December 1854, Letters, 7: 492). Dickens was above all a humanist, and he deeply resented the reduction of human beings, their activities and perceptions to bare facts and figures, without emotion, feeling, or imagination. Having already written books like Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, he had realised that his satire and criticism hit home, and thus deliberately set out to write a novel in the background of industrialisation and its resultant severe inequalities of wealth, social class and education. 2.0. Coketown: the emblem of Dickens' message In the course of the novel, Dickens' fictional Coketown, loosely based on towns like Manchester in Northern England and the Lancashire town of Preston, becomes emblematic of Dickens' perception of the connections between industrialisation, utilitarianism, education and the Victorian society. In Chapter 5 he describes Coketown: "It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness. Dickens paints the picture of an unnatural, defaced, polluted town filled with the noise and stench of machines at work, which is "savage". All public inscriptions in the town which are essentially its voice, are written in "black and white", in effect colourless, banal, with no identity of their own. It is the antithesis of individuality and personal freedom of expression, which are so essential to human happiness and virtue. It pays no tribute to civilisation, culture or refinement, everything in it is "severely workful" and utilitarian. This starves the human craving

I dont have a specific topic. i want my topic to be something on Research Paper

I dont have a specific topic. i want my topic to be something on sociol trend - Research Paper Example This paper points out the causes of HIV infection among the youth and measures to reduce infection in the society. HIV infections not only affect the youth but also the whole nation, as there will be a lack of enough support from government to satisfy all their needs, which leads to poor living standards (Opie 291). With the youth, being highest affected and sexually active, the rate of infection is bound to increase in most of the countries, as the young comprise more than half the population of nations. Child infection at birth is a rampant way in which infection occurs to youths, as most parents do not admit to their statuses and therefore ends up infecting their children (Kapungwe115). Governments are spending lots of revenue on health care of HIV infected people to provide care and medication. Friedens claims that more than five billion dollars used as costs of HIV-positive people among the nations. Governments should increase awareness and incorporate new syllabuses in educatio n systems to cater for these HIV/AIDS control and prevention measures. A research done by the CDC researchers in 2010 found that, among the youth aged 18 to 24 years, 65% in every 100, 000 people have HIV, which is an increase from previous researches. In 2010, 82.8% of the new infections were men and with a high possibility of the gay and bisexual men. African Americans in US have over half of the population infected due to their sexual orientation and their lack of awareness on how to prevent infections. Some causes of these infections seem broad and depends on the background of the infection. Substance abuse and use is a major contributor to the HIV infections. For instance, high school students have been found to use alcohol, tobacco and other drugs which makes them highly vulnerable to engage in risky situations. Drug dependent youths who have run away from homes due to drugs have high risks of infection as they might have unprotected sex for money, drugs, or shelter. These are what are increasing the rate in which infections among the youth in different nations (The, Washington, 2006). In addition, lack of awareness among the youth is another contributor to the infections since a large number of youths are not concerned with protecting themselves. Drug use and abstaining from sex can be a good way for the youth to protect themselves from being infected but the youth requires clear information on HIV and elimination of infections and usage of condoms, and how to negotiate for safer sex. Health messages to the youth can have a great impact in their lives as many end up regretting for not having the knowledge and understanding of how to protect themselves. This thus increases the stigmas such people have. As Brown, Kate, Lea points out , â€Å"One of the most surprising elements of AIDS stigma is its ubiquitous nature even where the epidemic is widespread and affecting so many people, such as in sub-Saharan Africa. (51)† With this lack of awareness a mongst the youth, infections are bound to increase as the some governments are doing less to make the less fortunate aware of these risks and prevention measures (Mwiturubani 157). In most African countries, a bigger percentage do not Have access to formal education which gives awareness of current issues and many youths do not have the general knowledge of infections and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Unemployment among the

The right to a free education Essay Example for Free

The right to a free education Essay Is one of the dearest rights that we, as Americans, have in this country. People from the four corners of the world, come to America to be educated and to benefit from the many advances that the American public and private educational systems offer in this country. Until recently, this did not expand to those children with developmental disabilities. As a Special Education teacher, I have seen first hand, the benefits of inclusion; not just for the individuals themselves, but also for the students within the classroom. In doing so, the school can adhere to the popular and effective principle of implementing diversity in the classroom and teaches those involved, that different does not mean bad or inferior. Inclusion offers the individual, the best possible opportunity to learn and to be assimilated into society and the community. The individual learns that he or she is just as good as everybody else and has many of the same hopes and dreams that their peers have within the classroom. Also, if it is in the best interest of the student, once he has become an adult, to enter into a group home, their efforts towards community integration, which is the goal of nearly every group home facility in this country, to have a background of inclusion. These early years are the most critical for the individual and any efforts at dissuading the parent or guardian of the student, will reap bitter rewards and will further serve as an impediment to the learning process of the individual, perhaps for his entire life. The school system focuses on one aspect of the education of an individual. Morals and ethics are no longer taught in our schools and the student, once he or she graduates from high school, their education is void of any real life experiences. Students today find themselves book smart but lack the ability to implement those skills into real life situations. One way that the school system can reverse this is through the inclusion of developmentally disabled individuals. Many times, it is the success or the failure of the individual which is paramount in deciding in whether or not inclusion for the individual is in her best interest. It is important that this remains the case. However, in a class room setting, there are twenty to thirty individuals who stand to gain a great deal through the inclusion of a special needs child within their classroom. When in college, I worked at a group home for mentally handicapped adults. There was a series of homes in the neighborhood which houses between eight and sixteen individuals with special needs. Since many of the individuals were middle aged, and therefore had not enjoyed the benefits of inclusion, their social skills with people in their own community, was poor at best. Also, the problem was two fold as the neighbors within these communities, fought hard to keep these group homes out of their areas. This was hard to believe as I found my experiences very favorable and quickly made friends with people who very much wanted to be my friend and treasured it as one of the more important aspects of their life. Therefore, I could not understand how others would see these lovely and friendly individuals as threats to their happiness and safety. In the few years that I worked at these group homes and the additional years in which I kept in contact with these valuable friends, I never heard or witnessed any incident where the feelings of the neighbors were justified. What did become clear, was that the xenophobia which was the source of such, almost hatred, towards some of the most friendly and peaceful people that I had ever known. In talking with some of the people in the neighborhood, I quickly realized that their lack of contact with members of the developmentally disabled population was the chief motivating factor in their rudeness towards the residents of this group home. Their experiences were not unique at all as many of the same stories were shared by friends and co workers who worked at other homes. Their experiences mirrored mine to an alarming degree. In the same way one may look at an individual of another race with hatred or some level of prejudice, mostly due to their lack of involvement with members of that particular race or ethnic group, so too is the result of those who have had little to no contact with members of the DD population. Inclusion helps to combat this problem to a great degree. This is one of the most helpful and practical results of inclusion. It not only helps the individual, but to a larger degree, helps introduce students to those who are different. This does not mean that the individual is to be put on display to be laughed at or to be made to feel inferior. Not at all! When children are associated with people of different ethnicities and abilities, both mental and physical, it is to their benefit in the long run. Most of the psychologists agree; Behavior is learned. Therefore, it behooves the majority, not.

How Natural Science And Arts Made Progress Philosophy Essay

How Natural Science And Arts Made Progress Philosophy Essay Everyday in our life, we will learn something new either we realize or not. We gain the knowledge through our own experiences as well as other peoples experiences. From those experiences, we learn which are right or wrong. When we get the knowledge, how can we recognise when we have made progress in the search for knowledge? This essay will be discussed two areas of knowledge, Arts and Natural Science. This essay will discuss how Natural Science and Arts made progress in the context of Scientist and Artists themselves as well as in the context of a knower in the public. Yes, we can recognise that we have made progress in some areas of knowledge if we can first measure the expansion of the knowledge. We measure the expansion of the new knowledge by comparing it with the present knowledge. In Natural Science, we measure the expansion of the new knowledge by comparing it with the present knowledge. If the new knowledge has more benefit compare to the present knowledge, we consider we have made progress in this area. We can say that we recognise we have made progress in the search for knowledge because we can see the benefit of the new knowledge. Here, we take an example of X-ray. Wilhelm Roentgen was the one who found X-ray accidently. He did not know what kind of ray was it, so, he called it X-ray. This was the new knowledge that he discovered at that time. The other scientists made further research about X-ray. They compare X-ray (new knowledge) with the present knowledge, which is light because they found that X-ray is one form of light. Therefore, they compare the properties of X-ray with the properties of light. Then, the benefit of X-ray was determined. One of them is X-ray have high penetrating power. Other researches were made, now, the X-ray is used in medical field. We use X-ray to see the structure of the bones in the body. Besides, X-ray made progress as it is used not only in medical field but also in automotive industry as automatic X-ray inspection. Here, the knowledge expands and we realize the expansion by comparing it with the present knowledge and we can see the benefit of the new knowledge. However, what if there is no benefit of the new knowledge? With the help from the latest technology, the experts found that there is one part of the intestine in human body that called appendix. When they made more research, it is find surprisingly that the appendix has no benefit and if it is remove from the body, there is no negative impact. Yes, it helps for those who has appendix problem if they need to remove it but for whose have no appendix problem, so far, does it means that this discovery is not knowledge to them? It is indeed knowledge and new progress that we know it gives no negative affect. On the other hand, I would like to think that it must have good reason why God created it. It is right that we still need to do more and more research before we make a new progress that is to know its function and its benefit. Can we measure the progress in the search for knowledge in arts? In arts, we still measure the expansion of the art by comparing the new piece of art with the past and present arts. For us to recognise that we have made progress in the search for knowledge in arts, we can see it in two ways, from the satisfaction of the artist who produces the arts and the acceptance from the audience. We know that in arts, there is no absolute truth. Everything can be real in arts. So, here, we can say the expansion of the arts can be seen from the heart of the artist and the audience because both of them may not have the same opinion. Imagine that an artist starts painting pictures and sell them on a street. Then, the artist tries his best to produce more and more pictures that he satisfies until he can display his pieces of arts at art exhibition. After joining the art exhibition, he becomes popular and his paintings become well known around the world. The artist must really feel content with himself because he and his paintings has been recognised from on a street to the art exhibition. In the eyes of the artist who produces the arts, he must be really satisfy because his pieces of arts expand and made progress from the street to around the world. We compare that the piece of art that at first produce on a street now being presented through art exhibition. Before this, the painting just known at the street but now, it becomes popular around the world. This can be the measurement that his content is progressing, his recognition is progressing and the sale of his painting is also progressing. However, what if the audiences do not accept that piece of art? Even though the artist feels content with his piece of art, it means that his content is progress, but if the audiences do not have the same opinion, the artist cannot make progress in his recognition and sales on painting. If the artist produces many paintings but the audiences do not buy or accept them, the artist cannot join the art exhibition. Therefore, for the artist to recognise that they have made progress, they need to consider the opinion and acceptance from the audiences. In any progress made while seeking for knowledge, we will discover more about the advantages and the disadvantages of the subject. When we find more disadvantages, can we claim that we have made progress in that area of knowledge? In natural science, we take the example of X-ray. About X-ray, we know that we have made progress in the knowledge about it. X-ray gives good impact such as with X-ray, we can see the structure of the bones. X-ray helps the doctors to determine the bones condition of the patients. Then, the doctor can decide what to do next. X-ray makes everything easier for the doctors and patients. The discovery of X-ray brings very good impact in medical field. However, X-ray also brings harm to the people around it, who expose to it. Too much uses of X-ray can lead to the formation of cancer. This means, if the patient undergoes too much X-ray test, he/she will have higher tendency to get cancer. The same thing happens to the doctor or nurse who conduct the X-ray test. He/she is exposed to the X-ray for a long period. Thus, he/she can get cancer. If we do not find ways to overcome the danger of exposure to X-ray, this will bring more harm than good. But, with X-ray, it gives a lot of knowledge ab out ones health. That has lots of benefit. Therefore, it is considered as the knowledge made progress. Progress in arts, for example in photography, there is progress from 2D photography to 3D photography. While the arts make progress into 3D, it brings disadvantages when it produces pornography. There are many form of pornography, one of them is pornography in motion pictures. Although photography in 3D brings good impact in arts, as it makes art more realistic but with the present of pornography, it brings negative physiological effect to the society. One of them is it leads to anti-social attitudes and behavior to the person who loves pornography. Male viewers tend to be more aggressive toward women, less responsive to the pain and suffering of rape victims, and more willing to accept various myths about rape.(Anderson, 1992). Besides, pornography leads men and women to experience conflict, suffering, and sexual dissatisfaction. (Anderson, 1992). In both areas of knowledge, natural science and arts, we can recognize we have made progress in the search for knowledge by comparing the new knowledge with the present knowledge. In natural science, if we find the benefit of the knowledge when we compare it with the present knowledge, then we can recognize that we have made progress. Although there might be disadvantages of that knowledge but as long as the benefits if more, we can still consider that the knowledge expand. While in arts, we recognize we have made progress when the artist satisfies with the piece of art.

The Heart Of Darkness :: Essays Papers

The Heart Of Darkness The novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is literally about Marlow’s journey into the Belgian Congo, but symbolically about the discovery of his heart and soul during his journey, only to find that it is consumed by darkness. He realizes that the man he admired and respected most, is really demonic and that he may be just like him. He is able to come to this realization however, before it takes the best of him. The main character of the story, Marlow, is a thirty-two year old English seaman who has been traveling all his life. All he really wants is to find some shred of goodness in the European domination of Africa. He finds his thoughts completely consumed by one man named Kurtz. Kurtz is a man in charge of the most successful ivory business in the Congo. He is the focus in the novel, in that he is the one whom the other characters react to. Marlow’s thoughts are so consumed by Kurtz, that he is built up to be much more of a man than he truly is. In turn, Marlow is setting himself up for a let down. He says at one point, â€Å"I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time...the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home...towards his empty and desolate station†(P.32). When Marlow reaches Kurtz’s station, he begins to become disillusioned. He begins to hear about, and even see, the acts that Kurtz is committing, and becomes afraid of him. He sees in Kurtz, what he could become, and wants nothing to do with it. He does not want people to know he has any type of relationship with him, and says in response to the Russian, â€Å"I suppose that it had not occurred to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine.† (P.59). It is at this point that he begins to discover the darkness in his heart. Towards the end of the story, right before Kurtz dies, Marlow looks at Kurtz, and says â€Å"I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror-of an intense and hopeless despair.† (P.118), and then Kurtz screams, â€Å"The horror, the horror.† (P.118) and he dies. He is referring to what he sees inside himself. This is just what Marlow was afraid he was becoming, he looked deep inside himself, and saw Kurtz.

Hybrid Vehicles Vs. Electric Vehicles Essay -- null

In this day and age, our world is being consumed by the rapid growth of the world’s population. From the beginnings of time with cave men thousands of years ago up until the Industrial Revolution, the number of people living on this planet never passed a billion, and was always growing at a slow pace. When the Industrial Revolution hit the population skyrocketed to over 7 billion people. The growth of population has not slowed down since then, and more technological advances are popping up everyday to help balance the rapid growth. The amount of people in the world is literally growing each and every day. As the population grows we put more demands on our planet to provide for the billions and billions of people inhabiting it. The world cannot change to provide for these large populations and huge demands, so we must start being more efficient to sustain ourselves. This means doing everything we can from producing food more efficiently to mining materials in a smarter and bet ter way. If we are not able to make simple changes to become more efficient we will over use our planet’s resources and create drastic issues in the future. One way people have been trying to cut back and be more efficient is through a recent technological development in the car industry. New vehicles have been created with more efficient uses of earth’s resources such as ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV) like hybrids, and zero emission vehicles (ZEV) like hydrogen fuel cell electrics. Major breakthroughs and development of these new generation of vehicles has immensely grown in the past twenty years. When the internal combustion engine was invented, there were a lot fewer people inhabiting the earth, oil supplies were seemingly endless, and air quality wa... ...p., 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014 Buchanan, Mike. "$20 Million Investment To Create More Cost Effective EV Battery." Inside EVs. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. Donald L. Anglin, "Electric vehicle," in AccessScience,  ©McGraw-Hill Companies, 2008, http://www.accessscience.com "Energy.gov." Vehicle Technologies Office. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Gilles, Tom. â€Å"Hybrid Vehicles.† Automotive Service. 4rd ed. Clifton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008. Print. "Providence Journal Environment Reporter Peter Lord, 60, Dies; Service Set."ReNewable Now: April 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Robert Farrington, Jeffrey Gonder, "Hybrid automotive power systems," in AccessScience,  ©McGraw-Hill Companies, 2008 Sharifi, Jim. "Auto Repair Costs Are on the Rise." Best Cars, Best Trucks and Best SUVs from U.S. News. U.S. News, 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

East Asian literature Essay

Based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s â€Å"The Standing Woman†, the power of the collective over that of the individual is positive. This can be surmised based on three points of argumentation which are the main character’s thoughts at the beginning of the story, the old man’s revelation in his conversation with the main character, and the main character’s discussion with his wife. At the beginning of the story, we find the main character who is a writer thinking about the story that he finished. He mentions that the story is â€Å"capable of neither harm nor good†. Since he had spoken this to himself then it must be true. Later on it would be revealed in the story that his wife who he loves so much has been turned to a manpillar by the government. Yet instead of being angry and seeking vengeance, the man even at the start of the story already seems defeated by the very society that persecuted his wife. At the middle of the story, the writer converses with an old man who reveals that he had also been a writer but is now too afraid of persecution to write anything at all. The conversation shows that society has also broken the old man without even needing to arrest him and turn him into a mantree. The old man’s fear of getting exposed to the public and being ridiculed had already overpowered him and these fears came from society because it is the collective society that has the greatest power to ridicule. The last proof comes from the writer’s discussion with his wife. His wife who had once been so proud and strong has been reduced to a yielding subject to society’s whims to a point of not even protesting injustices done to her by drunks. In conclusion, the power of a collective society truly does overwhelm the resolve of any particular member.

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Ten

The pub where Elena and Damon ended up was lively and ful of people, but of course Damon made sure they didn't have to wait for a table. He lounged across one side of the booth, looking as arrogant and relaxed as a big gorgeous cat, and listened peaceably as Elena talked. Elena found herself gaily chatting away, fil ing him in on al the minutia of her campus life so far, from finding out that Professor Campbel knew her parents to the personalities of the other students she'd met in her classes. â€Å"The elevator was real y crowded, and slow, and my lab partner's back was against the buttons. Somehow she accidental y pushed the alarm button, and the alarm started going off.† Elena took a sip of her soda. â€Å"Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere and asked, ‘Do you have an emergency?' And she said, ‘No, it was an accident,' and the voice said, ‘What? I can't hear you.' It went on like that, back and forth, until she started shouting ‘Accident! Accident!'† Damon stopped tracing patterns in the condensation on his glass with one finger and glanced up at her through his lashes, his lips twitching into a smile. â€Å"When the doors opened on the ground floor, there were four security men standing there with a medical kit,† Elena finished. â€Å"We didn't know what to do, so we just walked past them. When we got out of the building, we started to run. It was so embarrassing, but we couldn't stop laughing.† Damon let his slight smile expand into a grin – not his usual cool twist of the lips or his brief, bril iant, and enigmatic there-then-gone smile, but an honest-to-God cheek-puffing, eye-squinching grin. â€Å"I like you like this,† he said suddenly. â€Å"Like what?† Elena asked. â€Å"Relaxed, I suppose. Ever since we met, you've been in the middle of some crisis or another.† He raised his hand and brushed a curl away from her face, gently touching her cheek. Elena was vaguely aware of the waiter standing by the booth, waiting for them to look up, as she answered with just a touch of flirtation, â€Å"Oh, and I suppose you had nothing to do with that?† â€Å"I wouldn't say I am the one who's been most to blame, no,† Damon said cool y, his grin fading. He looked up, his eyes sharp and knowing. â€Å"Hel o, Stefan.† Elena froze in surprise. Not the waiter, then. Stefan. One look at him, and she winced, her stomach dropping. His face could have been carved from stone. He was looking at Damon's hand, stil stretched across the table toward Elena. â€Å"Hey,† she said tentatively. â€Å"How was your study group?† Stefan stared at her. â€Å"Elena, I've been looking everywhere for you. Why didn't you answer your phone?† Pul ing out her phone, Elena saw that there were several messages and texts from Stefan. â€Å"Oh, no, I'm so sorry,† she said. â€Å"I didn't hear it ring.† â€Å"We were supposed to meet,† Stefan said stiffly. â€Å"I came to your room and you were just gone. Elena, people have been disappearing al over campus.† He had been scared, afraid that something terrible had happened to her. His eyes were stil anxious. She started to reach out to comfort him. The fact that she'd lost the Power she'd had so briefly was hard for Stefan to accept, she knew. He thought her mortality made her fragile, and he was afraid he'd lose her. She should have thought it through, should have left him more of a message than a quick text saying she would return soon. Before she could touch him, Stefan's gaze turned to Damon. â€Å"What's going on?† he asked his brother, his voice ful of frustration. â€Å"Is this why you fol owed us to col ege? To zero in on Elena?† The look of hurt that crossed Damon's face was only a subtle shadow and was gone so quickly that Elena wasn't entirely sure she had actual y seen it. His features settled into an expression of lazy disdain, and Elena tensed. The peace between the brothers was so fragile – she knew that – and yet she had let Damon flirt with her. She'd been so stupid. â€Å"Someone should be keeping her safe, Stefan,† Damon drawled. â€Å"You're too busy playing human again, aren't you? Study groups.† He lifted an eyebrow scornful y. â€Å"I'm surprised you've even noticed that there's something going on around this campus. Would you rather have Elena alone and in danger than have her spending time with me?† Tense lines were forming around Stefan's mouth. â€Å"You're saying you don't have an ulterior motive here?† he asked. Damon waved a hand disparagingly. â€Å"You know what I feel for Elena. Elena knows what I feel for Elena. Even that sports-loving Mutt of yours knows how things are between us. But the problem isn't me, little brother – it's you and your jealousy. Your wanting to be an ‘ordinary human'† – Damon made quote marks with his fingers – â€Å"and stil carry on with Elena, who is hardly ordinary. You want to have your cake and eat it, too. I haven't done anything wrong. Elena wouldn't have come with me if she didn't want to.† Elena winced again. Was this the way it was always going to be? Was any minor misstep on her part going to set Damon and Stefan at each other's throats? â€Å"Stefan†¦ Damon,† she implored, but they ignored her. They were glaring at each other. Stefan stepped closer, flexing his fists, and Damon clenched his jaw, silently daring Stefan to make a move. For the first time, Elena saw a resemblance between them. â€Å"I can't do this,† she said. Her voice sounded smal and soft to her own ears, but both Salvatore brothers heard her and whipped their heads toward her with inhuman speed. â€Å"I can't do this,† she said again, louder and more firmly this time. â€Å"I can't be Katherine.† Damon scowled. â€Å"Katherine? Believe me, darling, nobody here wants you to be Katherine.† Stefan, his face softening, said, â€Å"Elena, sweetheart – † Elena interrupted him. â€Å"Listen to me.† She wiped her eyes. â€Å"I've been walking on eggshel s, trying to keep this – this thing between the three of us from tearing us apart. If anything good has come out of al the stuff that's happened, it's that you found each other, you started being brothers again. I can't – † She took a deep breath and tried to find a sensible matter-of-fact voice somewhere inside herself. â€Å"I think we should take a break,† she said flatly. â€Å"Stefan, I love you so much. You're my soul mate, you're it for me. You know that.† She looked up at him pleadingly, silently begging him to understand. Then her eyes moved past him to Damon, who was staring at her with a furrowed brow. â€Å"And Damon, you're part of me now. I †¦ feel for you.† She looked back and forth between them, her hands clutching each other. â€Å"I can't lose either of you. But I need to figure out who I am now, after everything that's happened, and I need to do it without worrying about destroying the relationship between you. And you need to figure out how you can be friends with each other, even if I'm in both of your lives.† Damon let out a skeptical noise, but Elena kept talking. â€Å"I'l understand† – she gulped – â€Å"if you can't wait for me. But I wil always, always love you. Both of you. In different ways. But for now, I just can't be with you. Either of you.† She was tearing up again, and her hands shook as she wiped her eyes. Damon leaned across the table, a smal twisted smile hovering on his lips. â€Å"Elena, did you just break up with both of us?† The tears dried up instantly. â€Å"Damon, I never dated you,† she said angrily. â€Å"I know,† he replied, and shrugged. â€Å"But I've definitely just been dumped.† He glanced at Stefan, then quickly away, his expression closed off. Stefan looked devastated. For a moment, his face was so bleak that it wasn't hard to believe he was more than five hundred years old. â€Å"Whatever you want, Elena,† he said. He started to reach for her, then pul ed his own hand back to his side. â€Å"No matter what, I wil always love you. My feelings aren't going to change. Take whatever time you need.† â€Å"Okay,† Elena said. She stood up shakily. She felt like she was going to be sick. Half of her wanted to pul Stefan to her, kiss him until that broken expression on his face went away. But Damon was watching her, his own face inscrutable, and touching either of them felt †¦ wrong. â€Å"I need to be by myself for a while,† she told them. At any other time, she knew, both of them would have objected to the idea of her walking the campus alone. They would have argued, fol owed her if she wouldn't walk with them – anything to keep her safely under their protection. Now, though, Stefan moved aside to let her out of the booth, his head bowed. Damon sat very stil and watched her go, his eyes hooded. Elena didn't look back at them as she crossed to the door of the pub. Her hands were shaking, and her eyes were brimming with tears once more. But she also felt as if she'd carried something very heavy for a while and had final y been able to put it down. This might be the best choice I've made in a long, long time, she thought. Dear Diary, Every time I remember the look on Stefan's face when I told him I needed space, my chest aches. It's like I can't breathe. I never wanted to hurt Stefan. Never. How could I? We're so close, so wrapped up in each other that he's like a piece of my soul – without him, I'm not complete. But†¦ I love Damon, too. He's my friend – my dark mirror image – the clever, plotting one who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, but who has a kindness deep inside him that not everybody sees. I can't imagine living without Damon, either. Stefan wants to hold on to me so tightly. He cares for his brother – he does – and Damon cares for him, too, and having me between them is messing that up. All three of us have been held so closely together by the crises we've had to deal with recently – my death and rebirth, Klaus's attack, Damon's return from the edge of death, the phantom's attack – that every move we've made, every thought we've had, has been wrapped up with the other two. We can't go on like this. I know I've done the right thing. Without me between them, they can become brothers again. And then I can sort out the tangled threads of my relationships with both of them without having to worry that any move I make will snap the tenuous bond between us. It's the right decision. But still, I feel like I'm dying a slow death. How can I live for even a little while without Stefan? All I can do is try to be strong. If I just keep going, I'll get through this time. And in the end, everything will be wonderful. It has to be.