Film and Persepolis

Persepolis is an animated film directed by MarJane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. The film was based on the novel Persepolis written by MarJane Satrapi. It followed the storyline of the book. It showed the life of MarJane Satrapi growing up during the Iranian Cultural Revolution. Persepolis was very vibrant to look at with stunning visuals in its black and white animated style. The whole film was an emotional roller coaster ride from MarJane being extremely happy and in love to her homeless on the streets of Vienna. It held your interest from start to finish.The film garnered critical cclaim from its critics and it was nominated for several prestigious awards. It also did well in the box office by recording a fifteen million dollar profit. I thought that the film was very good myself and it really gave viewers an interesting look at the revolution. I thought that Persepolis was a very good movie. It was a coming of age film about MarJane growing up during the Iranian Cultural Revolut ion. It showed her vibrant personality and how she grew up to become the successful author and film director she is today.The whole film is done in an animation style and I really think this elped the film a lot. It gave the film a sense of originality and it was a big change from the things we normally see in films nowadays. Without the film being in an animation form I think that a lot would have been taken away from it. A lot of Persepolis' glamor came from the fact that it was animated. The animation helped viewers become more emotionally attached to MarJane. With this being said I thought Persepolis had a very good mix of drama, comedy, somber moments and it kept you interested throughout.I don't have any criticisms about the film at all. There wasn't ne point in the movie where I was bored, confused or Just uninterested in anyway. It was honestly one of the best movies IVe recently seen and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the movie reviews that I have seen online have been ver y good. From RottenTomatoes to New York Times movie reviews all of the reviews have been good. At RottenTomatoes the film had an extremely high percentage of critics that liked it at 97 percent. The New York Times called the film â€Å"a perfect expression of imagination† and Empire praised the film calling it â€Å"stark and beautiful†.I agree with most if not all of the movie reviews that IVe seen. The reviews all praised the movie for being able to have very smooth changes in mood and for its sharp visuals. Persepolis debuted at the 2007 Cannes film festival where it won multiple awards including the very prestigious Jury Prize. It then went on to achieve the most prestigious award at the London film festival by winning the Southerland trophy. In an interview with Moviefone a few days after Persepolis was released Satrapi explained why they decided to keep the film in the animated condition it was in in the novel.She explained that she didn't know how to type and sh e and Paronnaud ere more into art and drawing anyway. Satrapi stated in the interview that she and Paronnaud were not technical people (Satrapi 1). This is a reason that the film was in the format it was in. I think that keeping the comic book look helped the film a lot. It gave it a sense of originality and it allowed them to make funny over the top animations. The whole script was written in pencil by Parronaud and Satrapi because they didn't know now to use computers. I thought ith the whole vibe ot the movie.I thought that Persepolis was a very refreshing movie given the types of ovies that we see now. It had a little bit of everything. In the New York Times review of the film they agreed with my point that I made earlier about the animation greatly helping the movie. New York Times writer A. O Scott said that â€Å"if â€Å"Persepolis† had been a conventional memoir rather than a graphic novel, Ms. Satrapi's account of her youth in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran would not have been quite as moving or as marvelous† (Scott 1). I agree with this quote one hundred percent. As I stated earlier, the animation really helped Persepolis move along as a movie.I think that without the animation Persepolis would have been a boring movie and it wouldn't be relevant. This isn't to say that the storyline isn't good or well thought out I Just think that it wouldn't have been as successful or touching with real life actors portraying the roles. The review really seemed to praise the animation of Persepolis a lot. Scott claimed that the visuals of Vienna and Tehran turned the â€Å"geography into poetry' (Scott 1). He also praised the fact that Persepolis isn't an animated children's movie and that it's nice to see an animated movie being ble to have so much meaning.The rest of the review praised the movie for its moving characters and the great Jobs that Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux did voice acting for the main characters o f the film. He said that Sony did a great Job by getting the movie voice acted into English because had it just been subtitled to English it would of took away from the authenticity of the film. All in all A. O Scott's review of the film was highly positive. He had no criticisms about the film. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a very high review.His movie review was also very similar to my thoughts on the film. The visuals really helped the film according to Bradshaw Persepolis â€Å"funny and moving with a bracingly authentic feel, reproducing the graphic work with broad, bold strokes and a depth-of-field effect achieved with a recessive series of two-dimensional planes, like the ocean waves at the back of a panto set† (Bradshaw 1). I agreed with most of the comments that Bradshaw had for the movie. He thought that Persepolis was a fresh original story and it was told in a way that a story hasn't been told before.I thought it was nteresting that Bradshaws only cr iticism of the film was something that Scott had praised about the film earlier. Bradshaw didn't think that the English dubbed version was that good. He thought that Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve both struggled with the voice acting and you can hear there heavily accented English accents. All in all Peter Bradshaw really liked Persepolis and his only criticism was a very minor one. Helen O' Hara of Empire magazine gave the film four out of five stars. She seemed to enjoy the visuals but not as much as Bradshaw and Scott did.She praised the film ore for its storyline did she did that animation. O' Hara really enjoyed MarJane as a young girl by stating â€Å"Mar]ane-as-a-child is one of the most appealing characters in years, happy to embrace new ideas like the latest Igglepiggle and believing herself, briefly, to be a prophet appointed by God† (O' Hara 1). I thought that O' Hara's interview went the deepest into the actual storyline and characters of the movie rathe r than the visuals. She really liked the film for the roller coaster of emotions that it sent you on and as I stated earlier sne really enjoyed Mar]ane as a character.O Hara also gave the animation good words. She thought that it was a real change from the incredible animations that we see nowadays in movies like Shrek but Persepolis pulled it off flawlessly. O' Hara made this point by saying â€Å"The monochrome animation is stark and beautiful, and MarJane's an appealing narrator. Often hilarious, sometimes tragic, this may be low-tech, but it's high-class† (O' Hara 1). I think that this is the perfect way to sum up Persepolis in one sentence. CNN's Tom Charity also gave the film very high praise. He thought the visuals were mazing and he also enjoyed the characters and the storyline a lot.He thought that Persepolis should of won an Oscar that year and he really enjoyed the originality of the film. I think that Charity enjoyed every aspect of the film more than any other pe rson who reviewed the film. He loved the characters the animation and the storyline. As with all the other reviews the main aspect of the article was Persepolis's visual animations. Charity claimed that â€Å"†Persepolis† has some of the blithe, spindly finesse of a New Yorker cartoon, but a cartoon that at any given moment threatens to escend into inky expressionist gloom† (Charity 1).He really seemed to enjoy the throwback feel that Persepolis had and he thought that the film gave homage to Disney's earliest days. Charitys review gave me another viewpoint on Persepolis as a film. I never thought of the movie as a moving New Yorker cartoon or homage to some of Disney's earliest films. This made me appreciate the movie even more than I already did. When list. com writer James Mottram interviewed Satrapi we were able to get an insight into what Satrapi's meaning of the film was and how successful she thought he film would be in America.Satrapi stated she didn't lik e the film being called an autobiography because â€Å"An autobiography is a book that people write to solve the problems with those around them. They don't dare to say things to their family and friends, so they decide to write in revenge. That is not what I did. † (Mottram 1) I thought that the film was an autobiography as well but Satrapi made the film so I guess she knows best. Later in the interview Satrapi explains that she thought the film would be successful in the United States. She claimed that the average American erson wasn't â€Å"ignorant and dumb†.I think that MarJane's attitude and demeanor in her real life interviews really reflects her character in Persepolis. The interview mainly focused on the hard work that it took to make Persepolis. MarJane stated that she thought â€Å"all of her animators would do the work and she would end up rich and famous† but this wasn't the case. She said she was the first one there and the last one to leave every day but her hard work paid off. This was shown by her 15 million dollar profit. All in all I thought that Persepolis was a fantastic movie and the reviews I have ead have agreed with me.The visuals were stunning and the characters were very easy to connect with. It was the most interesting autobiography that I have ever seen and it taught me a lot about a topic that I didn't know anything about. I think that Persepolis was close to flawless as a movie can get. There were no serious complaints about it from anyone and I couldn't even find a bad review for it on the internet or anywhere else. Persepolis shows that thinking out of the box can really pay off if it's done right, and I think it really should motivate people to follow their visions.

Management Information System Essay

The ten major domestic carriers in the United States reported revenue of 145. 3 billion dollars in 2012, according to data gathered by Airlines for America (2012). The combine market capitalization of the twelve largest and publicly traded airlines stood at 48 billion dollars as of April 2012 just four billion greater than the value of Starbucks and way below other companies like Facebook and eBay ( Airlines for America, 2012). Our research will give a detail analysis of the two theories developed by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter. Porter posited that in order for businesses to compete an in-depth analysis should be done not only of your direct competitors but also external forces that can help a business performance; Porter labelled this as the Five Forces of Competitive Strategy. Another concept developed by Porter was the Value Chain, the Value Chain breaks the business process into two groups, Porter argues that business should analyse the areas of the Value Chain to see where improvements can be made to enhance performance. Our report will show how Southwest Airlines uses Information system in Porters theories and concept to gain competitive advantage Introduction to Southwest Airlines According to information received from Southwest. com (2013), Southwest Airline was incorporated in 1971 by co-founders Rollin King and Herb Kelleher as Air Southwest Company. The company is based in Dallas, Texas and has a staff capacity of over 46,000 persons. The carrier was formed has a low cost domestic carrier originally only flying in the state of Texas before branching out to other US states. From inception Southwest policy business strategy was to offer low fare and conveniently times flights on short haul routes (Ross & Beath, 2007). Today Southwest Airlines flies domestic in the United States to 79 cities. Southwest Airlines is the largest airline in the world by passengers carried, in 2012 over 100 million persons was transported by the airline to different cities in the USA. The airline has being a pioneer in the industry and is credited for setting the foundation for the rise of other low cost carriers across the world like Ryan Air and Easyjet. In an industry where profit margins are very low and different carriers filing for bankruptcy ever so often Southwest has managed to stay above the fray. In almost 40 years of service the airline has consistently turned a profit while other airlines have struggled and has remained one of the world’s most profitable airlines. The airline’s consistent profitability was due to its own ability of low cost on a set per mile basis due to its use of a single aircraft model the Boeing 737 and its fuel hedging program that protect the company from rising fuel prices (Ross & Beath, 2007). Southwest Airlines commands a market capitalization of over nine billion dollars making it one of the most valuable airlines in the world. Southwest credited its success for building a philosophy of simplicity, the company offering of low cost fares kept attracting passengers while its high touch customer service kept them coming back (Ross & Beath, 2007). As the airline grew and its business processes became more complex and with other airlines investing heavily in technology in order to survive Southwest’s CEO at the time realised that a solid IT infrastructure would be essential for the company to achieve its strategic goals and could lower the airline cost without compromising on customer service (Ross & Beath, 2007). Porters Five Force Model for Competitive Strategy Porter’s Five Force Model was developed by Michael Porter, Professor at the Harvard Business School in 1979. According to Porter (1979) the Five Forces is a holistic approach of looking and analysing any industry to understand the structural underlining drivers of profitability and competition. Porter believes that industry players take too much of a narrow look in assessing competition by believing that direct competitors in an industry are the only ones that are important. He uses the five forces model to show how business are engaged in a broader form of competition that can affect their profitability. These broader forces of competition include customers and suppliers who can have certain bargaining powers, new entrants that can emerge in the industry and affect your market share, substitute products or services that can be used and can have a direct effect on your profitability or growth and direct industry rivalry and competition within the industry. According to Hills & Jones (2008) a business’s ability to earn great profits are dependent on the strength of Porters Five Forces, the reverse is also true that a weak competitive force allows for a greater opportunity to make profits. For example, a company that controls a monopoly in a certain geographical area will see greater opportunities for profit, because being a monopoly will eliminate the threat of new entrants, no internal rivalry and low bargaining power of consumers. The greatest issue most businesses will have is to identify changes in the five forces and knowing how to formulate strategies from the opportunities and threats that may arise from the change (Hill & Jones, 2008). The image below illustrates Porter’s Five Force Model. Fig. 1 Source: (Porter, 1979) Threats of Entry in the Airline Industry The domestic airline industry in the United States has intense rivalry between its competitors. Over ten airlines fight for market share with the rivalry completely driven on price. Southwest Airline faces some its greatest competition from fellow low cost airlines such as Spirit air and JetBlue all three compete against each other on direct routes trying to offer the lowest prices and the best service to passengers with very low profit margins. Passenger figures stand at approximately 450 million passengers travelling domestic annually in the United States (International Air Transport Association, 2012). However, Southwest Airlines remained the dominant domestic carrier with a passenger load of over 100 million 2012 (Southwest Airlines, 2012). The competitive nature of the domestic market in the United States has led to the merger of some of its carriers in order to consolidate costs. The most recent merger being that of American Airlines and US Airways and before that it was Continental and United Airlines who joined forces. Barriers to Entry in the Airline Industry Prior to 1978 the airline industry in America was heavily regulated by the United States government and was driven by high prices and empty airlines. Government regulation not only prevented competition among industry players but also created an entry barrier for new airlines, as government regulated routes presented a monopoly for established carriers (Bloomberg Business Week, 2011). In the United States the state of Texas was the only state which never had government regulation in the industry. The deregulation in Texas gave Southwest Airlines an opportunity to enter the market offering its service in the major cities of Texas only (Southwest Airlines, 2012). The deregulation effort that was led by democratic senator Ted Kennedy and signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter saw a dismantling of fare and route controls in 1978 (Bloomberg Business Week, 2011). This deregulation made it increasingly easy for new airlines to enter market and compete. With government control no longer a barrier airlines were able to enter the market once they were able to access the capital that was required and meet the safety standards that were required by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). However, Michael Porter (2008) in an interview with Harvard Business School described the airline industry as one of the easiest enter with low barriers to entry he pointed out there is a constant stream of new airlines that enter the market regularly despite low profits. Bargaining Power of Suppliers and Customers in the Airline Industry According to Porter (2008) the limited number of suppliers in the airline industry gave a considerable amount of power to the ones that existed. Porter argues that airline suppliers made considerable more profits than airlines themselves. Aircraft manufacturing is dominated by only two major players,’ American company Boeing and French company Airbus. In 2011 both manufactures controlled over 90 per cent of new air craft orders with Airbus dominating at 64 percent (The Guardian, 2012). An airline survival in the industry is also tied considerably to the price of oil which is core to operation. Southwest Airlines use a method of hedging to compete on the price of oil which allows the airline to lock in to contracts at cheaper prices in anticipation of future rises in the world market prices (CNBC, 2012). Other supplier cost that affects performance includes security cost, airport gates and terminal fees and wages to staff. The greater the rivalry among industry players the more fickle customers will become. Customers in the airline industry have tremendous bargaining power and are very price sensitive. The fast pace nature of the industry can allow a customer to switch airlines at any time. Customers were the key beneficiaries from the deregulation of the industry, before the removal of price structure and other regulation, government policy ensured that airlines competed on service and not price (Bloomberg Business Week, 2011). This shifted dramatically with deregulation has new entrants to the markets like Southwest and JetBlue built their business model on low prices which has caused older established companies to lower their own margins. Substitutes Products for Airlines There are a number of substitute services available in the domestic airline industry in America. Substitute products include rail service, water, coaches, private car transportation or refusing to travel. These substitutes provide customers with other alternatives other than flying and are strong competitive forces to the industry. Airlines are therefore forced to show the economical convenience of air travel as oppose to using other means. For example a person travelling on business who places great value on time could find it more efficient to fly instead of using substitutes. Airfares offered by low cost airlines like Southwest are also competitive with other substitute products. The Value Chain Analysis Along with the Five Forces Michael Porter also developed the Generic Value Chain as a means of understanding competitiveness in the business industry. The Value Chain is aimed at helping us understand how goods and services move through an organization and how value is added to them. According to Porter the Value Chain represents a business process that comes along with a product (Porter, 1985). The main aim has articulated by Porter (1985) is to find sources for a company’s competitive advantage by dividing the company into several activities in the business process which are all strategically relevant to the goods or services provided. The business process is divided into primary and secondary areas. Primary activities include areas directly related to getting the product to the consumer. Inbound logistics is the acquisition of the raw materials that are necessary to provide the product or service. Southwest inbound logistics include areas such as route selection, flight and crew scheduling, fuelling, acquiring aircrafts and ticket management systems. Operation generally refers to the physical actions that are required to produce the service once all the raw materials are acquired. Southwest Airlines operations include a variety of actions to provide its service. It covers the airlines customer care services, gate operations, air craft operations and maintenance and baggage handling. Outbound logistics involves moving goods into inventory and places where they can reach customers. Southwest Airlines outbound logistics includes website for booking tickets, connecting passengers on flights, offering, baggage collection systems and other gate services. Other areas Primary agents of the value chain include marketing and sales and services. Marketing and sales involves the initiation of buying the product by utilizing advertising, promoting and monitoring sales (Porter, 1985). Therefore any advertising, promotional activity or deals and incentives offered by the airline will fall under marketing and sales activities. While service involves handling of customer relations once the product or service is in the hand of the consumer these include handling customer complaints, handling special request from customers such as disability requests or dealing with elements such as flight delays and cancellations. The secondary activities are important in creating a product or service but are not directly involved in its creation. Procurement is responsible for buying the raw materials for the company it can include computers furnisher and other fix assets which are essential to the value chain, the act of procurement according to Porter is normally carried out by management or the sales department (Porter, 1985). Technology support activity includes research and development that could lead to product development for the primary areas of the value chain, human resources role provides the company with essential staff to carry out functions while infrastructure involves the processes and procedures needed to execute the business process for example payroll and account (Porter, 1985). The purpose of this process is to analyse all the aspects of the Value Chain and determine if improvements can be made to increase the profitability and performance of the business. For example, Southwest Airlines could look at a value chain and determine if they could reduce the speed at which it check in passengers to flights to reduce turnaround time or increasing the speed of operating procedures such as maintenance and refuelling. Value Chain is a structured way to look at improving the business process and information systems can play a key role in this effort.

48 Shades of Brown

q Life for a 16 old teenage boy was all about to be different. Dan, a typical teenager has all the interests a normal male would. While Dan’s parents are in Geneva, he stays with his aunt Jacq, a fashionable, and techno flavored, short haired, 23 year old uni student, in Brisbane. While staying there, he encounters a test of adult responsibilities, first love and battling through adolescence. Teenagers have been pressured into doing things they don’t want to do, Dan gives us an example of teenagers giving into peer pressure, forced to say that he was a student studying law at University. Teens who are being pressured by their peers think that they will become more popular if they do the [pic] ‘cool’ thing even if it can cause themselves harm. Teenagers these days are dealing with peer pressure every day, from mates telling them to lie to their friends and family, drinking when they are underage and/or don’t want too. Dan discovers that his life isn’t that easy, winning people’s hearts, remembering 48 shades of brown, drinking under age and peer pressure. This play shows how teenagers relate to real life, what they go through every day, what challenges they have to pass through, even what things they need to remember, such as passing school, remembering things for exams, juggling schoolwork and a social life. Dan’s first love starts right at the start of the book with one of Jacq’s uni friends who is currently a second-year Psychology student, Naomi, a pretty blonde 18 year old. Dan quickly realizes that Naomi has a thing for people who can name things, such as naming trees. When Dan realizes this, he tries to learn every shade of brown to impress the girl and win her heart. Teens will do anything to impress their ‘first loves’ from remembering things for them, to impressing them with flowers, teens these days think that the other gender has a big impact in their lives, but sometimes this can cause them to forget the real things in life, like study and family. People forget what things are important in life as well, like school work, getting good grades to maintain a good OP, to set you up in life, but don’t forget family, family is something you need to be by your side, teenagers continue to forget what family they have, parent and siblings are wondering why teenagers are changing. While at Jacq’s uni party, Dan gets himself into a sticky situation, he is pressured into lying to a girl called Imogen who is intoxicated, who continues to flirt with Dan while he is interested in Naomi. Dan goes with the flow and allows her to make out with him in his room, until Imogen becomes not to well and throws up all over him. This is happening more regularly, people drink too much, dance a little, make out a little, and become sick. Teens are continuing drink more and more every weekend, we are continuing to hear about parties that are going wrong, people who are drunk and becoming violent or just being taken to hospital for drinking too much and having their stomach pumped. In this play, Philip Dean, has shown the relevance to what a normal teenager’s life would be, with a couple of bumps on the way. From love, to adolescences, he has shown the real way a male teenagers mind would work, what challenges in life, what things they need to remember; just like ‘48 Shades of Brown’.

Skate America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Skate America - Essay Example Two of the most prevalent online competitors are A1 Skateboards and Element Skateboards. A1 Skateboards uses person marketing, taking it a bit farther with customization options. Skateboards and accessories are also offered by product line or brand, just as with Skate America. Element Skateboards takes a different approach, using event marketing. Information about X-Games dates and locations takes up most of the home page with its severe black and red color scheme. Though this online retailer is listed as a skateboard supplier, the product list and links are difficult to see. Skate America does an excellent job in design, theme and presentation of its web site. Attractive, yet not too busy, the site provides links to brand or professional line products, as well as others. Graphics are pleasant and eye-catching, without distracting viewers. Its red, white and blue scheme works well with the design and fits its short and easily recongnized name. Strengths for this online seller are des ign and appropriate selection of products. Weaknesses are lack of personalization such as the customizable skateboards that A1 Skateboards offers and failure to promote skateboarding and skating, by providing topics or information of interest. Skate America attempts to direct its efforts toward all skateboarders and skaters. While the product and brand offerings are more than adequate, its difficult to determine who the intended audience with its generic feel.

Analyzing and Recommending Best Buy in Crisis Case Study

Analyzing and Recommending Best Buy in Crisis - Case Study Example Again, consumers will acquire the information only with a well-designed marketing strategy. If innovation of the products goes together with improved marketing plan then no doubt the company will gain high reputation and loyalty from consumers. In addition, apart from retaining its current customers it will have the potential of attracting new customers which will finally enable the company to benefit from large economies of scale. For example, the consumer centricity plan drove the sales higher even without any other change in the products or operations of the company (Wells and Danskin 3). This therefore provides a proof to the benefits of a good marketing strategy. With the highly innovated products, Best Buy international division failed to produce good results, which lead to a failure (Wells and Danskin 7). This necessitates the need of improving the means of monitoring the behavior of international markets to come up with the best method of marketing most appropriate in each region. The same products that perform well at the home country should also be able to perform in another country; the only difference is the communication language that best suits each region that the organization has to know. To be able to come up with the best marketing strategies most appropriate in the modern world of consumer electronics, Best Buy has to understand the marketing challenges it faces. From the challenges, it is easier to identify the opportunities and take advantage out of them. The company faces the following challenges, The product promotional design features should directly reflect to the consumers. There is need to communicate the exact information about the product. Consumers always make purchasing decisions based on the information they have. This calls for the need to pass all the important details about the

Nervous Shock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nervous Shock - Essay Example There are these elements in the mental shock case that have given rise to many debates and concerns on the specific scope of its legal liability. Physical illness has had many liabilities in history characterized by suspicion, fear and ignorance. Past cases have ignored the causes of psychiatric illness. The cases have also witnessed medical discipline judicial suspicion devoted to psychiatric illness treatment as well as the fears associated with opening liability that may lead to a number of claims. The liability of this law is considered to transform into the simplistic notion that if an event is not seen then there is no way it can be proved to have resulted to any harm. This has led some courts to consider psychiatric damage as being less important and not worth any compensation unless the damage is associated with physical injuries that can be measured and seen objectively1. Courts have in the recent past refused to consider psychiatric damage on equal basis as other physical d amages. The House of Lords came to the agreement that in case of any physical injury affecting a plaintiff in circumstances that are foreseeable, no matter how trivial they may be, but end up not taking place, then the plaintiff is viewed to be in a position to recuperate from psychiatric illness even without concerns on whether the condition was foreseeable. Any foreseeable or case of physical injury to some extend legitimate the plaintiff claims of psychiatric illness. The physical injury primacy in the dominion of compensation has proved to be apparent even in situations where the courts are taking part in allowing psychiatric illness recovery. The â€Å"greater subtlety elements† of Lord Macmillan are applicable in cases of psychiatric illness that are not offered by physical injury means to the affected plaintiff2. The Current Law The present law on psychiatric illness liability which does not result from the plaintiff’s physical injury is summarized in two House of Lords decisions; Alcock v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police (1992) 1 AC 310 and McLoughlin v O’Brian. In the McLoughlin case, the husband to the plaintiff as well as her children were victims of a road accident that had resulted out of the defendant’s negligence. The plaintiff received news about the accident two hours later and moved to the hospital where she learned of the death of one child and witnessed the injuries of the rest of her family members in circumstances that were so distressing. The House of Lords agreed unanimously to hold the claim of the plaintiff for psychiatric illness as to sail through. However, the house disagreed on the appropriate approach of testing liability. Lords Edmund and Wilberforce argued that the psychiatric injury foreseeability was not necessarily the main requirement. Lords Scarman and Bridge opted for a test that was solely based on foreseebility. This was untrammeled by temporal, physical and spatial limits that w ere proved to be largely subjective in how they were applied. These factors included in the aftermath test by Lord Wilberforce that led to a direction towards the extent of foreseeability of psychiatric illness. The main issue in the Alcock case was the decision status ruled in McLoughlin v O’Brian case. Its concern was whether the case came up with a liability test that was based solely on psychiatric illness foreseeability or were there other policy factors taken into consideration in determining the liability’s ambit? The case was concern about the actions taken against the police after the disaster that occurred in the Hillsborough stadium in 1989. In the disaster, 95 people lost their lives and more than 400 were injured. The disaster came about after too many fans were

Alcoholic anonymous meeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alcoholic anonymous meeting - Essay Example Bob Smith in Akron, in the year 1935. The program developed, involves Twelve Step spiritual and character development process which aids in the stabilization as well as growth of the alcohol addict. According to Ohio, "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety". Individuals belonging to such a self-help group can benefit themselves by learning and adopting diverse skills to build confidence and make amendments in behaviour which enable them to perform well in their social environment. Such an approach not only tapers their alcohol dependence but also enables them to motivate other new members of the group to overcome such awful inclination (AA Better Known as Alcoholic Anonymous; Wormer et al, 2007). Alcoholics Anonymous group offers independence concerning to group membership. One can attend the meeting weekly or as per his/her wish. The group does not possess any red-tape attitude, on the other hand acquaintance and friendships developed in the group do not have any bindings. This is one of the major reasons why such groups are emerging as the most preferred groups to overcome their addiction quandary (Wormer et al, 2007). The group members interact with each other, confess in front of the group that they seek a solution to the problem of alcohol addiction. The group members utilize their previous experiences to tackle the situation by asking all the details of the addiction trouble, the cause of distress, issues that paved the way for alcohol addiction. Members express their gratitude and formulate a plan to overcome their problem and support other individuals or the group members in tackling the situation (Wormer et al, 2007). Spiritualism is the sole motive that incites self renewal attitude in the person. The environment provided to the new comer is congenial and motivating. Group members discuss their personal stories of revival in details and then the session is open for

Business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business law - Essay Example However, the Council may not be held liable for the losses of 50,000 pounds that Burton is trying to claim in the form of lost profits. The original neighbor principle mandating a general duty of care towards others on the basis of owing consideration to one’s neighbor, was set out in the case of Donaghue v Stevenson.1 This was later refined in the case of Caparo v Dickman2 where the scope of the duty of care was refined on the basis of three principles: (a) was there a relationship of sufficient proximity between the plaintiff and the defendant? (b) Was the damage caused to the plaintiff reasonably foreseeable? (c) Is it just and reasonable to impose a duty of care? This may be applied in the case of both Abi and Burton, who have suffered damages in the form of repairs needed for their homes, with Abi also sustaining injuries. Abi is a local resident of the area and Burton’s is a local business, therefore the Council is responsible for ensuring their safety by maintaining the flood barrier. Secondly, the damage caused is likely to be held to be reasonably foreseeable because Hanby Borough Council is responsible for maintaining flood defenses along the river and were told to improve the defenses. Since a flood had occurred before, it is reasonable to assume that such damages occurring in the future would have been a foreseeable event and therefore the Council may be held to be negligent in failing to complete repairs quickly. Lastly, the Court may indeed deem it just and reasonable to impose a duty of care in this case, since the negligence of the Council has resulted in damages caused to the premises of both Abi and Burton, as well as fu rther injuries to Abi while she was being rescued which required hospitalization. The underlying core for the establishment of the principles wherein negligence has been held to be legally liable under the principles spelt out in the cases above, is the sentiment of moral wrong doing for which the offender is to be held

World Religions Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

World Religions Report - Essay Example Marriage of non-Filipinos to those belonging in Iglesia families is just one of the examples of how those comprising the minority of the Iglesia population have been involved in the religion (Catholic Answers, 2004). Despite the widespread estimate of the number of the constituents (which is between three million and ten million including those outside the Philippines), the Iglesia conceals their real population. It has a larger population than the more known Jehovah’s Witnesses, which also assert their being the genuine Church of Christ (Catholic Answers, 2004). Indeed, unlike most of the other cults which have Western origins, Iglesia ni Kristo (INC) or the Church of Christ has its roots from the Philippines with Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) describing it as indigenous. Historically, it was a small church founded by Felix Manalo in July 27, 1914 (Elesterio, 1988). Thus, he was considered by his followers as the messenger of God. After the fast expansion 1945, the number of members reached the 600,000 mark by the end of the 20th century (â€Å"Iglesia ni Kristo†, 2007). This has also led to the building of chapels throughout the country and to their being a well-heeled federal religious organization. However, the foundation of INC was not an easy task; it was a great struggle for Manalo. Yet, Harper (2001) noted that one thing is certain: preliminary association with the Bible pushed him to impugn what has been taught to him regarding religion and God in the Roman Catholic Church. According to her research, Manalo had joined other religious groups before he finally established INC. At the age of 18, it was found out that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church where he trained about the Bible and become a lay preacher. At 22, he also studied with the Presbyterians and joined Mision Cristiana, the Christian Mission of the

Incidents in the life of a slave girl Research Paper

Incidents in the life of a slave girl - Research Paper Example This was precisely because inside the house, there was no hash scorching sun and they could also eat their master’s leftover (Bowdoin.edu 5). However, in some homes, it was not the case. After a meal, the master and family would spit on the pans and kettles so that the slaves could not feed on the left overs (Bowdoin.edu 5). For slave’s who were mothers, life was very hard since there was no better nutrition for them and their infants. Many infants died due to chronic undernourishment since there was little food and the mothers were also overworked (Bowdoin.edu 7). This hardship life saw many slaves die early and very few lived to old age (Bowdoin.edu 7). Slaves were considered not human. The abuse and torture they went through was worse than what animals went through. It is revealed how slaves were whipped, lashed and clubbed on daily basis whether they did something good or bad (Bowdoin.edu 10). For female slaves, life was even worse than males. Most were also subjected into physical abuse. Many women and girls were rapes and sexually abused by their masters (Bowdoin.edu 10). There was no one to rescue them. It is important to note that most slaves’ masters used this kind of harassment and punishment to control and dehumanize their slaves (Bowdoin.edu 5). The slaves had different ways of copying up with the bondage they were encountering. There are those who took in and those who fought back. Based on the repercussion, fighting back openly was a serious crime. No slave was allowed to defy his/her master’s orders. This was heavily punishable. However, slaves being human beings did not agree to everything the master said. But due to lack of courage to speak as a result of fear, many chose to collaborate. In the case of Linda who was a beautiful female slave fell into an additional trap since her master fell in love with her (Harriet, Jacob 11). She had

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process, dated April 29, 2009 Research Paper

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process, dated April 29, 2009 - Research Paper Example Admittedly, there are various powers given to the Federal agents under the Patriot Act. Firstly, they have the right to conduct surveillance and searches even without any probable cause to suspect criminal activity. Moreover, it is allowed to conduct searches without giving prior notice. Another serious issue is that after conducting electronic search or wiretapping, it is possible for the federal agents to secretly arrest a person and divulge no information to the family. Moreover, as McNeill (2011) points out, the Act allows federal agents to keep the matter away from media and attorney for as long as charges are not brought. That means a person who is suspected of terrorist activity may lose all the rights as a citizen. Evidently, the case is interpreted to be Patriot Act case because of the nature of the case. First of all, it was a bomb threat and the medium was internet calls. It is the Patriot Act that gave federal agents the right to search electronic communication, and arres t and retain people without disclosing the matter. In the case of Ashton Lundeby, the federal agents allegedly gave no information to the family or media. Moreover, there was no legal representation allowed. Thus, the case is interpreted as a Patriot Act case. ... For example, if the situation involves a bomb threat by a student against a school, the case is supposed to be deferred to the State or local authorities. Furthermore, it is pointed out that investigations as provided under Section 844(e) do not need to be initiated if a pattern or plan for the offense does not exist. Thus, it becomes evident that the case does not need to be treated under Patriot Act. Evidently, any law like the Patriot Act will have a very negative impact on the quality of civil rights in a nation like America. This is so because the Patriot Act has provided the federal agents the right to look into the private lives of people and listen to everything they communicate. Moreover, it is seen that instead of addressing real terrorism, this new step has touched every sphere of life and protest, and affected areas like freedom of association, freedom of information, freedom of speech, right to legal representation, freedom from unreasonable searches, right to a public t rial, and right to liberty. However, the problem with the new step, according to SNR Denton report (n.d.), is that the government has not so far proved that these initiatives are useful in preventing terrorism. Admittedly, it is not possible to counter terrorism without introducing stringent laws. Secondly, though the search by federal agencies intrude privacy, it is better to have ones privacy taken away by the government than by terrorists. Moreover, as Brawley and Perekrestov (n.d.) argue, only those who communicate something illegal need to fear the close monitoring by federal agencies. For others, it offers added sense of security and belonging. However, the present problem with the

Doctor Patient Communication Essay Example for Free

Doctor Patient Communication Essay This is the adopted mode of communication with the patient aiming at firstly, getting enough history or information towards diagnosing the patient presenting complaint and equally ensuring that the patient’s right to privacy, good health, and permission as the need arises, is not compromised during the process. â€Å"When communication and rapport is poor, patients are at risk of distressed and doubt doctor’s competence† (Allen, 2000). Research reports that patients often wrongly base clinical skills on communication effectiveness. Patient with this bias mind eventually shows poor cooperation with treatments. This is more reason why it is an ethical issue. The present state of the patient’s psychological state is important. A depressed patient would prefer less talk than a patient who is worried to get fast cure and some times talk out of points if unguided by an experience doctor. Due to diverse understanding from multicultural views, it is necessary to understand the biological ethnicity of each patient through a ‘biodata’ aspect of the history. From the biodata, the religious denomination is noted. The occupation, family and social histories also reveal the mental state. Doctor’s adoption of line of thought would be of help. For example, a friendly way of approach gives the patients sense of worth and avoids any feelings of inferiority complex that may hinder patient’s opening up in detail. The doctor also needs not unnecessarily friendly, this could denote carefree attitude at times. 80% of the treatment receives is dependent of how elaborate is the history taken by the doctor. An understanding of introversion and extroversion communication type equally helps. It is necessary to carry the patient along, after the knowledge about the patient’s present state, preempt the patients’ worry and briefly explain why the next question is necessary.

Asda: Strategic Management And Leadership

Asda: Strategic Management And Leadership INTRODUCTION This case will critically examine links between strategic management and leadership, impact of management and leadership styles on strategic decisions and how leadership styles adapted to different situations. Here I am going to use a case study from the choosing an organisation (ASDA) to view the relation between strategic management and leadership, and analyse how a new Strategic decision effect on the management and leadership. 1.1 ASDA ASDA is the second biggest supermarket chain in the UK. Since 1999 ASDA has been wholly owned by Wal-Mart which is the largest company in the world. ASDA was formed in 1965 by a group of farmers from Yorkshire, and its activities are still mainly based in north of Britain. [Corporate watch: ASDA Wal-Mart: overview]. 1.2 ASDA Mission, purpose and values ASDAs mission is: to be Britains best-value retailer exceeding customer needs always. ASDAs purpose is To make goods and services more affordable for everyone. ASDA also has a series of values. ASDAs values are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Respect for the individual à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Strive for excellence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Service to our customers. 2. Strategic management and Leadership 2.1- Strategic management- strategic management is the process of organisational objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve their objectives, and allocating resources to implement the plans. It is usually performed by the companys top management level such as CEO, Stakeholders and executive team. It provides all direction to the whole organisation. It can be described as a way of achieving overall organisational objectives. It is the process that involves analysis of external and internal environment, resources and competencies of the company. Basically it is a set of managerial decision and action that determines the long-run performance of an organisation. Peter Ducker, 1954. 1.2- Leadership- For every problem there is a solution. It often happens that the person best fitted to solve the problem is someone not directly connected with or influenced by it. Michael J. Dreikorn, 2003. Leadership is the position in an organisation that leads and motivates people to achieve the organisational goal. Leadership inspires others to take the appropriate action. In an organisation there should be a leader to lead the people or group. They take responsible of their people and support them through training and development in order to encourage effective contribution toward meeting organisational objectives. 2- Link between strategic management and Leadership The management and Leadership are basically the words referred to as equivalent and in most cases are comparable from the same position. Management and leadership are the two vital discipline of the organisation. These are most important for the people who are involved in managing a team, business, and organisation. Leadership and management are the skills that an organisation should possess through its chosen leader with the support of its management. Leadership is driven by the person in an organisation who guides the group to achieve the company goal. There is good understanding between the leader and group people to determine the ability and articulate visions and goals. Management is the process of planning, organising, maintaining, controlling the efforts of the organisation member and using all the organisational resources to achieve the stated organisational goal. James A.F stoner and Chales Wankel, 1986. Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out the truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice. They have a preference for innovation. John Fenton, 1990. 2.1- Strategic Management and Leadership (ASDA) As one of the UKs fastest growing retailers, the aim of ASDA to committed to building and operating stores in a sustainable for the benefit of the environment and the communities they serve. Its strategy is centred on its mission, purpose values, which guide to make business even better. Wal-Mart has carried out a plan, to grow ASDA over the next five years to become number two in grocery and British biggest non-food leader. ASDA Corporate website. ASDA people are the companys most important asset and source of competitive advantage. Its success depends on the strength their management, which build from manage with a disciplined process led by the CEO and the senior leadership team. Employees are working seriously going above and beyond the call of duty to get the job done under leadership. Every department has a good team leader to lead the employee in a proper manner towards the organisational goal. Wal-Mart management which owns ASDA appointed Andy Clarke as the new CEO. Andy Clarke joined ASDA in 1992, during his tenure Andy Clarke has been groomed by the dynamics of ASDA by working in variety of leadership roles. He used to work as a business unit director such as frozen, bakery and grocery. He has good leadership skills in which he can lead his people in store in effective manner. In a statement of Doug McMillan, the president and chief executive of Wal-Mart international, said: At Wal-Mart and ASDA, we have a robust succession planning and talent development process and Andy Clarke has long been identified as a leader. He joined at a difficult time when the company has slowdown in sales because of the food price inflation effect the sales across the sector. But Clarke has done a fantastic job within a couple of week and that leads him to high designation. He has announced a great deal with the deep discounter in UK called Netto. ASDA bought 193 Netto stores worth  £778m. The new CEO will lead the retailers efforts to become an even better food retailer, a broader non-food retailer and a leader out its plans to open a new chapter in its story and that over the five years. It had to be market leader in general merchandise and food. (www.your.asda.com, posted by Asda press team on 11May 2010). 3- Impact of Management and Leadership in ASDA The acquisition with Netto could get strength like small Tesco stores that will help to achieve its goal and becoming Britains biggest retailer of general merchandise. It is a great idea that ASDA can be a part of the market with the small stores in high streets. It is also targeting Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Home base. During its past five year strategy ASDA has increased its sales from  £15bn a year to  £20bn. It has created more than 30000 jobs in the process with opening new 70 stores in UK. CEO Andy Clarke has believed to have again creating thousands of new jobs at every level of growing business. Andy Clarke, CEO and president of ASDA said Through a combination of opening new stores, extending existing ones, converting Netto stores, and continuing to expand our grocery home shopping service we will create 7500 new roles throughout the country. We also currently have nearly 3000 vacancies on our jobs website. www.asda.com/press-centre. Conclusion As one of the largest retailer in the UK, in order to be successful, An organisation should think about customer satisfaction. It helps to the business to achieve their mission, purpose and values. The study reviewed, argues that the companies that demonstrate perform to a highly invest a lot of time placing customer at the centre of their strategy. However it also recognises that the challenging of managing people is one of the most difficult jobs for a manager. Introduction A leading in an environment which is characterised by useful resources, an uncertain and unpredictable economic environment where the competition is constantly increasing and extremely challenging as no clear direction of an organisation. In an organisation change is tough and always has been. When change has become the order of the day, it is most important is having the right leadership team. This is why having a leadership strategy is the key. Change is tough and always has been. Many executives arent good at leading change because they dont understand the importance of making critical changes in how their companies are led, not just in how they operate. William Pasmore, 2008. When we planning to adopt a new strategy, we do have always some questions, which are- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What style of leadership will be required? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How would we need to lead differently? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Do we have the right leaders to lead? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ If not what are we going to do about it? Leadership Theory Many leadership theories have been suggested for a leader to support an organisation. An earlier most of the leadership theories are based on the behaviour and qualities of successful leaders but later on it focused on the role of associates and follower. The following review and discussion of leadership theories may argue that demanding new approaches that encourage a more collective and unpredictable rearrangement view of leadership and leadership development and sharing the role of leader more widely within organisation. Situational Leadership Theory The theory is more likely tied to using the style needed to be a successful leader in work environment. The leader is able to create much leadership style as changing situation. The Hersey-Blanchard Model of leadership also takes a situational perspective of leadership. In this theory the developmental situation of a leaders subordinates play the biggest role in determining. It is based on the amount of task behaviour and relationship behaviour. In task behaviour the leader engages in duties and responsibility to an individual or a group. The task behaviour is like, what to do, how to do, when to do, where to do and whos to do it. In this behaviour the leaders are used one-way communication. In other way the relationship behaviour is the extent to which leaders are communicating in two-way by creating socio-emotional support. When determining the appropriate leadership style, according to Blanchard the key situational variable is the developmental level of subordinates. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Directing: The leader produce specific directions and clear instructions. For the low follower this is the best matched. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Coaching: The leaders two- way communication helps to build confidence and motivation of the follower. The leader has responsibility and controls decision making. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supporting: In this style the share decisions making between the leader and followers expect the relationship to be directive. Participating style is the best preferred to a moderate follower readiness level. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Delegating: In this style the leader is still involved in decision making with the group. It helps to make solution of the problem but the control is with the followers. In this style the followers are decide when to take the leader involved. Transformational leadership Theory The transformational leadership theory is occurring when one or more people engage, in which the leader and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation. For an example Mahatma Gandhi is a transformational leader. He satisfied the required of the followers. But instead of riding those require he remained seek to high purpose. The transformational leadership theory is focused on the hypothesis that the leaders can satisfy a need of the follower. The needs are always high order needs and are closely aligned with the internal motivation of the follower. Bernard Bass developed the transforming leadership where the leaders transform the followers. It is very closer to the prototype leadership in which the follower have in mind they describe their leader and provide a role model in which subordinates want to identify. He purposed that there is a special power in transforming leadership with leaders may transform both leaders and followers. Transformational leadership- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Is preoccupied with purposes and values, morals and ethics. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds on a mans need for meaning à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Is orientated along long-term goal and focuses more on missions and strategies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identifying and developing new idea à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Designs and restructure jobs to make them meaningful and challenging Leadership Strategy of Shell Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. The parent company of the Shell group is Royal Dutch Shell plc. This is incorporated in England and Wales. The strategy of this group is seeks to reinforce the position as a leader in the oil and gas industry in order to provide a competitive shareholder. The leadership strategy used by Shell includes these elements as bellow; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Builds shared vision à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Maximises business opportunities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Champions customer focus à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Demonstrates professional mastery à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Displays personal effectiveness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Motivates, coaches and develops à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Values differences à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Delivers results With a current market capitalisation of 292 billion dollars (2009), 278 billion dollars in annual review, operation in more than 150 countries, Shell is one of the largest businesses, but never as one of the fastest. With its 100 year history, its deep sense of tradition, and its carefully and longevity, but never as one of creativity or innovation. They use old traditional theory like authoritative style of leadership which based on upward directions. Leaders are creating strategy for the team and work with the subordinates on these policies. The rules and regulation made by the leaders are followed by the team members. Steve Miller, group managing director of the Shell group of companies, who guide the day to day activities, but two year after the company had lunched transformational leadership style. The upper level managers had shown their efforts, but employee morale continued to slip. Suggestion A successful organisation depends on leadership and a new approach to providing it. The leader has to find the proper vision to empower these frontline people, to challenge them, to provide them with their required resources and hold them accountable. As the followers are struggling with challenge, the leader becomes their coach, teacher and as well as facilitator. As employee move upwards in an organisation, they get caught up in board strategic issues, legal issues, stakeholder issues. They need a common understanding of the business which drives execution. Conclusion The review of leadership theory and example in use to the Shell group of company it would conclude that a limited version of transformational leadership is being promoted. The qualities and behaviour exhibited by the leader that encourages the followers participation, development and commitment. Leader is seen to act as a visionary equipped with a set of goal though communication, problem solving, people management, decision making, etc. that can be applied a diverse range of situations. TASK-3 Planning For Leadership Introduction Today the business environment is quite fast paces with the changing economy rapidly. There is a need for an organisation to implement competitive advantage, such as identify the sources of competitive advantage, implementing them and how to defend them. Organisations are using financial resources to get an edge over their competitors. They could also reliable their human resources or another is through implementation of technological changes. With all these, it can be tricky for an organisation to balance the three aspects. Porter, 1985. Virtual Organisation The word virtual organization is to be called as a network of independent organisation. The firms are temporarily join together to produce a service or product. It is consult with such term as virtual teams, virtual office, and virtual leadership. Advance information technology becomes an important element. That is why the success of a virtual organisation. Computerised information systems allow employees from geographically dispersed location to link up with one another. Virtual team members need to learn new skills like they are total lack or face to face contact. So they need the skill is the ability to interact with everyone in an effective manner. Another one is the ability to assimilate quickly and effectively into new teams. They may need computer based technologies as well as intercultural skills to work effectively in multinational organisations. Virtual leaders required new skills to lead in the different environment to virtual operations and sustain virtual relationship with internal as well as external constituents to support their team. For an example; like Apple computer and Sun Microsystems. When Apple computer linked its easy- to-use software with Sonys manufacturing skills in miniaturization, Apple was able to get product to market quickly and gain a market share in the notebook of the PC industry. Mergers and Take Overs Mergers and takeovers are an action of an organisation. They turn two companies in a single legal entity. Two organisation combine together to improve the organisational performance and shareholders value over the long time period. Historically mergers are occur in periodic burst, typically included by economic shocks such as, changing environment, cost of goods, deregulation, technology, political uncertainty and demand reduction. During the period of corporate change leadership has a profound effect on stakeholders. ASDA has announced in May 2010 that it is to take over Netto store. This is the great example of horizontal integration. This will increase their market share and to compete with Tesco. e- Leadership E-Leadership means a balancing many roles and carrying them out via communications technologies. Leadership is not only a job or a position; it is a way of being the world. As an e-leadership in the world today, it need to bring people together around the world, through national, geographic and cultural, using communications technologies tools to achieve the strategic goal. E-Leadership takes place in the context of e-environment in which the work is mediated by information technology particularly the internet (Hani, 2001). Development of leadership skills Everyone can develop their capacity to lead a party or a committee, or a group. When someone already committed, and practised using their capabilities in their life, they can develop their own skills as a leader. Mainly leadership skills are the skills that can use in various situations. This type of skills called as situational theory. It does not mean that assessing the leadership styles will identify the strength and weakness, but it can be develop the leadership skills. Golden Rule at Work- The skills which we used at work every day like the way treating others is wish to be treated. It is not always easy as it sounds. In an organisation leaders need to keep balance of short term results and long term job satisfaction. Coaching and Teaching- some leadership skills has to develop with the help of coaching and teaching as well. This is especially effective, where leaders may be lead as expert and should be interested in the development of the group or people. In this situation leader can develop coaching skills by face to face with others. Delegating Task- Delegating task is not only giving the work to someone and runaway. It is not only extra knowledge or experience for the co-worker, but it works in trust. This type of skill can be develop by giving less task, which could be complete by the certain time with a good result. As the task become easy to do and comfortable leader can start delegating more and more difficult tasks. Democracy at Work- This type of skill we said simply encouraging independent at work. It allows the co-workers to believe they have right direction the team is going. It can be say democratic leadership styles. Among them they discussing with others that often comes with freedom to take any decisions, while it takes a long time. Emotional Intelligence Leadership Skills- Emotional intelligence skills are in natural and leading other with successfully interacting through people. The skill helps the leader to understand the dynamic of those interactions. Self-Awareness is our ability to determined that the position of the leader by self. It is the ability to understand the emotions, moods, and motivations. Self-Regulation is the skills that more responsibility with control the emotions. It controls the emotions which will be counter productivity to desire the goal. Motivational Skills- Motivation skills come from external source, like managers recognition for a job well done, and internal sources like self-motivation or internal motivation. As a leader it is very important to identify the key which motivates more at work. Empathy Skills- It is the skills that involves in the relationship with the co-worker. It is ability to understand someones point view. The skill has the ability to understand the impact change on someone else. Social Skills- To develop these skills you need to be socialise others. It works in networking style in a work setting. The followers need to listen their leader and take interest on listening. Need to be able to develop and guide followers using social skills. Conclusion Without any leadership, most strategic plans of an organisation will end up as dead piece of paper.

Language Creativity in Everyday Conversation

Language Creativity in Everyday Conversation Transcribe the extract from CD-ROM1, Band 6: Kitchen Floor. Using this data and relevant concepts and theories from E301, discuss the extent to which language creativity can be identified in everyday conversation in English. Undid the paper ((laughter)) and (like) (.) put a little bit of salt on and I handed them to him you know and he looked at me and he didnt DARE say anything so he had to SIT and eat it with his fingers ((laughter)) which he HATES (.) But I was going to make a point of the fact that I was not going to put it on a plate and do the whole BIT and make a (his tea) [and that [like Charles when I was doing the kitchen floor you seeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [he totally // was the one who started it // said that I was mad to take on the job (.) I wouldnt do it (.) (Yeah) and he wasnt gonna help (.) LEANING on the door while he said that ((laughter)) (speech inaudible) (.) He said (1.0) Im not gonna help you with this (.) If youre gonna do it youre doing it on your own // yeah // (.) I said yeah okay (.) Theres nothing I like more than a challenge (.) [did he actually SAY it like that (.) And he actually DID do that (.) He actually stood and LEANED // yeah // against the door (.) (*inaudible*) on the other side of the kitchen telling me (.) he was depressed (.) ((laughter)) Im sweating away ((laughter)) he was off his sleeping tablets he was going to take ((laughter)) (speech inaudible) he was gonna do it on the floor ((laughter)) and meanwhile ((xxxxxxxxxxx)) ((laughter)) Its awful isnt it (.) Im laughing too much ((xxxxxxxxxxx)) Transcription conventions: (( )) = background noises (.) = brief pause [ = interruption // = speech overlap (1.0) = pause longer than half a second CAPS = emphasis Xxxxxxxxxxx = inaudible speech In this assignment, I will try to discuss relevant ideas that have come up in the course materials so far, particularly in Carters book, analyse features of this language data and in conclusion summarise my own views on creativity that are found in everyday language with reference to the data sample. First I shall attempt to analyse the transcript from the E301 audio material and later explain how this fits in with the ideas of Carter. From what I can tell, the transcript is basically a chit-chat between three women, who seem to be more than colleagues, so actually three friends. What they are talking about was rather hard to understand because firstly, they all sound the same and secondly as it is informal talk the facilitating of turn-taking is not put very clearly and instances of interruption and laughter add to the confusion. Spoken creativity may be more prevalent in certain types of social context and within certain types of interpersonal relationship. (Carter p. 147) I will also research Carters idea on the CANCODE corpus that he has linked to creativity in verbal repetition and a wide range of figures of speech like idiom, proverbs and hyperbole. According to Carter, it is not possible to define creativity an a wholly formalist way because in spoken interaction, what counts as creative use can vary according to the dynamic established as part of the dialogue. But Sacks argues that ordinary talk has to be achieved and is a human, social and creative accomplishment which is far from being ordinary. Some speech figures pass unnoticed as normal, routine and even pre-formulated units and in some cases, the same figures are drawn to the attention of the speakers. The purpose of creative language in everyday common speech is highly varied and may include: offering a new way of seeing the content of a message; making humorous remarks; underlining what is communicated; expressing a particular attitude; including negative and adversarial attitudes; making the speakers identity more manifest; playing with language form to entertain others; ending one bit of talk and starting another or simply oiling the wheels of the conversation. (Carter, p.148) Creativity almost always depends on interpretation of intentions and inferences of the participants. It is perhaps best to start by explaining how Carters model of literariness is used for the analysis because the results reveal that speech is dependant on itself and includes examples of stylistic and lexical features, words of contrast at text and sound level, parallelism, evocative descriptive language and cross-sentential repetition. The Greece Tourist Guide for example is dependant on medium and carries examples of archaic and syntactic features, emotive action words, evocative descriptive language, polysemy and displaced interaction. To put it bluntly, it is very hard, not to say difficult to measure which text is more literary except if the two texts have an identical genre. At this point I am now going to give a definition of literary language or literariness. Literary language refers to a particular language or language variety used in literature and also refers to a type of language a style or mode of expression associated with literary genres such as poetry, narrative fiction or drama, whilst literariness refers to the quality of literature or literary language. If used to refer to language in more everyday context, these terms will tend to focus on continuity with literature, such as Carters argument about a cline of literariness. (Carter, 2004) There is something in literariness known as clines. This term has a similar meaning to continuum and refers to relations along a particular dimension that are a matter of degree rather than having discrete cut-off points. Therefore this would suggest then that literariness is a matter of degree. However there is a problem suggesting that these are gradations or degrees of literariness in texts and how to measure it. As far as linguistic forms, it would seem unreasonable just to total the number of creative features used in a particular text. Whether the text is considered to be literary will not derive from the presence of more or fewer literary features and the concept of a cline or sets of clines may suggest a level of precision in the identification of literariness that is not able to be attained in practice. I now turn to Carters models of literariness. Discussing the relationship between everyday linguistic creativity and literary language brings forward the question what literary language actually is. Carter (1999) has identified three models: two established models to which he refers to as an inherency model and a socio-cultural model and more recently, a cognitive model. The inherency model sees literariness as embedding in certain properties of language: so literary language is distinct from more practical uses of language where language itself is highlighted. Jakobson (1960:356) has perceived this as the poetic function of language which focuses on the message for its own sake. This will be termed self-referential language and is language that will be referring partly to itself and not simply to entities in the external world that are the object of discussion. Even though the poetic function is quite evident in many of the examples, the researcher from whom I got this information from is of the opinion that it is the dominant, determining function of verbal art. A socio-cultural model sees literariness as socially and culturally determined; meaning it would be drawing attention to the fact that conceptions of literature vary historically and culturally. According to Eagelton, (1996) there is nothing distinctive about literary language and any text can be seen as literature if it declared by institutions or if people read it as such. Anthropological studies of literary performances in various cultural contexts also tend to take a socio-cultural view on literariness. Many studies focus on the performance in its traditional literary or theatrical sense in order to include public displays to artistic activity that are responded to aesthetically by an audience, like story-telling, song, dance or drama. However the notion is not uncommonly extended to more everyday activity in recognition of the fact that there are certain parallels between everyday and literary performance: that this notion of performance can also describe what often is found in the most ordinary of encounters, like when social actors exhibit particular attention in the delivery of a message. Cognitive models relate literary language to mental processes and according to Tannens suggestion (1989) that linguistic repetition derives from a basic human drive to repeat as a kind of cognitive argument. Cook (1994) claims that literary texts have an effect on the mind and help us to think in new ways and refresh and change our mental representations of the world: But such benefits are not confined to established literature and Cook has similar thing to say about everyday creativity or language play. In addition, Gibbs (1994) claims that human language and human understanding often are metaphorical, concluding that literary metaphor carries on and extends everyday metaphorical notions. For Carter (1999) there was some value in both inherency and socio-cultural models, and in the case of his own examples is identifies formally and in this sense is close to an inherency model. However, there is one way to find examples of verbal art in his corpus, and that is to search for instances of laughter. What people respond to as artful is consistent with a socio-cultural model and in Carters view; a cognitive model is beneficial by helping explain the prevalence of creativity in everyday language. The argument is that literariness should be seen as a cline or a series of clines and is appropriate to see texts as more or less literary rather than in terms of an opposition between literary and non-literary language. There are two main levels of creative interactions. The first is the pattern re-forming feature which is more overt, has presentational uses of figures of speech, open displays of metaphoric invention, punning, uses of idioms and departures from expected idiomatic formulations. The second pattern-forming feature is less overt, may have subconscious and subliminal repetition; parallelisms, echoes and related matchings which often result in expressions of affective convergence in implicit signals of intimacy and symmetries of feelings. Linguistic creativity is less likely to occur in contexts which involve a one-way process of information provision or professional interaction in which the main purpose is transactional and where relations between participants in a particular context might be more asymmetrical. Mapping out probabilistic in creativity onto social context is not easy to capture diagrammatically and it does not seem to allow exceptions. So it is likely that creativity will occur in informal situations. Like when colleagues working together in a department store while decorating a window together or when one discovers that the intimacy of the relationship lighten the task until the discourse becomes more populated with wordplay and creative uses of language. So, what does this tell us about creative language? It tells us four main points. Firstly, creative language use cant be captured or described or evaluated wholly by formalistic definitions. Creative functions will vary according to speakers evolving relationships, the nature of the external task demands and the changing character of social context and speech genres. Secondly, creativity is probabilistic. Creative language is more likely to occur in some contexts and in some kinds of interpersonal contact rather than in others. It would be defined with reference to an account of forms and functions but its purposes and uptake depend on a dynamic of locally negotiated processes and specific instances. These can be seen as from the outside but their meaning can only be speculated upon. This means that paradoxically, creativity is a definitely emergent, instantial category of language. Thirdly, we recognize that creativity in context is valuable but there are also many factors which constitute a context and different contextual frames which are able to work within a single context. For example humour can be a significant strategic figure which crosses over into other categorial boundaries. And fourthly, this would mean that creativity is best captured and discussed with the mind fixed on clines and continua with many points of overlap. Like in the example of the CANCODE corpus: generally speaking it is lacking in examples of language used in a working environment and in the context of business organisations. Humour is used to challenge particular practices and the role of people who have a higher position in a company. The way it works is by allowing a potentially literal statement to be made by non-literal means. But in a preliminary observation, CANCODE and pattern forming is a more female characteristic. Compared to men, women are more spontaneously creative in talk but this need to be researched more as women are not seen as to be openly contestive, adversarial or pattern-reforming in language use or to strategically use humour. As we can see, there are many ways we can identify creativity in spoken language, whether it is chit-chat between friends or in literature or even in literary contexts, creativity had many faces. Creativity can also be seen as a method on how we learn something new, for example in order to remember a progression of numbers you simply recall it by turning it into a song like Mary Had A Little Lamb. That way for example, a child from primary school would be able to remember the number progression of the number 4 by singing the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb in his head. This method of creativity was made up for me by my mom who tried to help me in my math studies in primary school as it was my worst subject in my entire school career. Needless to say, I passed the math test with that method in primary school and even find myself using similar methods for my Open University study even today, even though it has changed a bit, but the effect has remained the same.

Ineffectiveness of Communism Exposed in Animal Farm :: Animal Farm Essays

At one level, George Orwell’s â€Å"Animal Farm† is an entertaining fable of an animal revolution in England. However, beneath this innocent storyline lie several bleak invited readings presented through textual features such as literary devices, characters and events which parallel the Bolshevik Revolution. These readings, achieved through marginalising certain information and privileging other information, lead readers to adopt a pessimistic attitude toward particular groups and political ideologies. Among Orwell’s invited readings are the tendency of communist governments to become corrupt, the abuse of extensive authority and the effectiveness of propaganda. Throughout â€Å"Animal Farm†, Orwell leads readers to view communism pessimistically by suggesting that communist governments are hypocritical and violate ethical principles. Communism is founded upon beliefs of freedom and equality. Indeed, when Old Major paints vivid pictures of animals living freely, he also points out that â€Å"no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind† and that â€Å"all animals are equal† (p.6). However, later in the novella, the pigs, having established themselves as the upper class, reign supreme. The pigs force the other animals to labour endlessly while they lead lives of luxury. Their oppression culminates at the modification of the final commandment to â€Å"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others† (p.85). Despite Old Major’s dream of liberation and equality for all animals, democracy fails to materialise at Animal Farm. Here, Orwell’s text suggests that communism often becomes corrupt and violates the principles that founded it, leading readers to view communism negatively. This is reinforced when Orwell draws parallels between the corruption of Animal Farm and the corruption of the ideals of the Russian Revolution. Rivals for Soviet leadership Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin are burlesqued by Snowball and Napoleon respectively. Privileged readers who are aware of the events in the Russian Revolution comprehend the irony and are thus presented with two communist governments that failed. Consequently, readers are led to believe that communism rarely works. While communism may be an unsuccessful form of government, its disastrous effects were worsened by extensive authority in the hands of corrupt leaders. Orwell privileges the concept that the vices of leaders possessing extensive authority are reflected in the society which they govern. Napoleon, who is the leader of Animal Farm, is naturally selfish. This trait is exhibited when Napoleon and the pigs lead luxurious lives while the other animals live in poverty. For example, after Mr Jones is overthrown: â€Å"it was agreed that the milk and the windfall apples†¦should be reserved for the pigs alone† (p.

Character of Mephistopheles in Goethes Faust :: Faust Essays

The Character of Mephistopheles in Faust Mephistopheles, from the epic poem Faust, by Goethe, is one of the most interesting characters if examined carefully. Much like today's crude interpretations of the devil, Mephistopheles was a skeptic, a gambler, self- confident, witty, stubborn, smart, creative, tempting and of course, evil. There were very ironic things about him. Though he was evil, he was a force of goodness. The evil in him was portrayed in the negative aspects of Faust's personality, which showed that no matter how powerful the Lord was, the devil would always have an impact on a persons life and decisions. Mephistopheles was very much of a skeptic and a gambler. In the "Prologue in Heaven", Mephistopheles bet the Lord that he could turn Faust against him and make him do evil. This was ironic because most people would never dream of speaking to the Lord in this way. This showed that Mephistopheles was self- confident and witty. He was very set in his ways and beliefs and found it difficult to believe that God could keep total control over Faust, or any one else for that matter. Though Mephistopheles was a skeptic when it came to many things such as natural phenomenon of life, he did believe the Lord when he told Mephistopheles that he had power. Mephistopheles even preached this word to people. After speaking to one of Faust's students, he wrote in his yearbook. It said: "Eritis sicut Deus, scientes bonum et malorum ", meaning "You shall be like God, knowing good and evil". (line 2075) This is a quote from the book of Genesis 3:5 of the Bible. By Mephistopheles saying this quote, he was admitting that God had power and did know what good and evil were. He also believed that he could overcome God, therefore saying that he was more powerful than the Lord. Mephistopheles was very smart and creative when it came to luring in his victims of evil. In "Outside the City Gate", Mephistopheles disguised himself as a dog and followed Faust home. Faust knew this dog was evil. He said the dog was "circling around" him and "a wake of fire's streaming behind him" (lines 1175-1179). Every time Faust would begin reading the Bible, the dog would bark as a sign of disbelief and wrongs about it. The next day, in Faust's study, the devil showed up again, but this time in the form of a nobleman tempting Faust to "a life of limitless wealth and pleasure" in return for his soul for eternity.

Modularity in Development

Modularity is found in all facets of life and is very important in the biological development of an organism. Simon (1962)(in Gilbert, 7th ed.) argued that modularity is important in nature for the design and description of complex systems at all levels. He gave the example of two matchmakers to explain how modularity is important in the stable development of complicated system. Living beings are not composed of hierarchies. â€Å"Each entity is an organized array of constituent modular parts, and at the same time, the constituent of a larger module.† (Gilbert S., 7th ed.) These modules interact among themselves to form a larger coherent module. An evolutionary module is characterized as a unit that functions as an individual in respect of three processes of replication, interaction and evolution. (Lewontin (1970), in Bolker, 2000) One level in which modularity is clearly seen is in the later stages of embryonic development. According to Bonner (1988, in Gilbert 1998, pp.172), â€Å"Modularity is associated with ‘gene nets’ that can participate in many different aspects of development.† This happens through discrete and interacting modules. Klingenberg has defined modules as â€Å"units that are internally coherent by manifold interactions of their parts, but are relatively autonomous from other such units with which they are connected by fewer or weaker interactions.† (Klingenberg, 2002) Modules are, therefore, said to be â€Å"individualized† units separate from their surroundings. Raff listed the characteristics of developmental modules in his definition. He said that modules must possess certain â€Å"discrete specification, hierarchical organization, interactions with other modules, a particular physical location within a developing organism, and the ability to undergo transformations on both developmental and evolutionary time scales.† (Raff 1996, qtd. in Bolker, 2000) He explained that modules are â€Å"dynamic entities† which represent localized processes as seen in morphogenetic fields rather than â€Å"simply incipient structures† like organ rudiments. Modules are found to have external connectivity along with internal integration. So, modules allow for the three processes of dissociation, duplication and divergence, and cooption. (Raff 1997, qtd in Gilbert, 1998) Dissociation lets one module change without affecting other modules and that, in turn, permits heterochrony. Dissociation also allows allometry, letting different parts grow at different rates. The principles of duplication and divergence are seen in the variations of themes produced by morphogenetic fields. These are seen in different sizes and shapes of teeth, and the difference in hind limb and forelimb. Modularity also permits cooption, such that the same module can create both, jaws in fishes and mammalian middle ear cartilage. (Gould 1990, in Gilbert 1998) Modules can also undergo developmental and evolutionary change separately from other modules. The signaling interactions within modules over a distance are carried out by morphogens (Neumann, Kersberg, Ferguson, Gudon and Bouiillot, qtd.   Klingenberg, 2002) These are proteins of families like FGF, hedgehog, Wnt or TGF-?, or molecules like retinoic acid. These are termed as â€Å"panacrine† factors. These factors stimulate the transcription factors in cells through the signal transduction cascades between them. This brings about a stimulation of a specific feature or factor in the cells in a module. Each module in an embryo makes a different level of a living entity. E.g. a cell is a part of tissue and organelles are parts of cells. Organelles must function to make a coherent cell and cells must function to make a coherent tissue. Modular units lets different parts of the embryo develop without interfering with other units. So development occurs through discrete and interacting modules. According to Keller (1986) (in Bolker, 2000), the best-characterized module is the dorsal marginal zone (DMZ) of the â€Å"Xenopus† gastrula. It fulfills all the necessary criteria for a module. It can be physically isolated from the rest of the embryo and still undergo shape change, so it can be said that convergent extension is intrinsic to DMZ; the force-generating function is uniquely localized to DMZ; all cells within the DMZ interact to produce overall shape change; and lastly, this region can be identified in other amphibian embryos and related fish, like sturgeon. Other modules, apart from morphogenetic fields, are imaginal discs, like the wing imaginal disc of Drosophila; cell lineages like inner cell mass or trophoblast, insect parasgments, and vertebrate organ rudiments, somites, rhombomeres in flies, RTK-Ras or Wnt, or IP3 pathways are also considered to be developmental and evolutionary modules. Katherine Anderson first discovered a morphogenetic determinant i.e. an mRNA for the snake protein in her laboratory of Cristiane N?sslein Volhard. â€Å"She rescued eggs from homozygous snake mothers by injecting them with small amounts of cytoplasm from wild eggs.† (Gilbert, 1998) Instead of an entire dorsal cuticle being developed, the dorsoventral pattern was restored in them. They also carried out experiments on Drosophila. They showed that a morphogen could be stored as mRNA, but it could be localized to a region of cytoplasm. Modules can associate with other modules in new ways. Examples at molecular level are proteins like ?-catenin, which can be either a part of Wnt pathway or a cell adhesion factor. At cellular level, the Hedgehog module, which is used to make a border in insect blastoderm, is later used in making eyespots of the wing (Keys et al 1999, in Gilbert, seventh ed.). Buffering of modules is also seen, e.g. the â€Å"double assurance† of Spemann (1927) (in Gilbert, 7th ed.) Modules play an important role in evolution. Evolutionary biologists consider modules as sub-units or components of a larger system. Averof and Patel (1994) showed that the pattern of Ubx and abd-A Hox gene expression correlates with the presence or absence of the modification of thoracic limbs and feeding maxillipeds.(Gilbert, 1998) The maxillipeds form only when the genes are inactive. In vertebrates, the distinction between cervical and thoracic vertebrae, and that between cervical and lumbar vertebrae is mediated by Hox genes.   This is apart from the main role in development. Thus, modular units play important parts in an embryo. Works Cited Gilbert, Scott. â€Å"Modules: Key Pieces in the Integration of Developmental and Evolutionary Biology.† Chapter 23. Developmental Biology. Seventh Edition. [Online] Klingenberg, Christian P. 2002. â€Å"Integration, modules, and development: molecules to morphology to evolution.† [Online] Bolker, J.A. 2000. â€Å"Modularity in Development and Why It Matters to Evo-Devo.† American Zoologist, 40:770–776, 2000. [Online] Gilbert, Scott F. 1998. â€Å"Conceptual Breakthroughs in Developmental Biology.† Journal of Biosciences, 23, No. 3, Sep 1998, pp. 169-176. Indian Academy of Sciences. [Online]               

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 20

I didnt tarry to figure from Dante so quickly. Based on what hed state ab turn proscribed the difficulty of the Nyx-ch massacreset, Id evaluate it would be a sequence if at wholly. Hughs observations on the matter had except built my eng remnantering skepticism near Dantes abilities.Ive got your protection, Dante t sexagenarian me on the ph ace. Or at least as close as I gutter bring closely. You want it, come clean house it up. He disconnected.I drive to Rainier Valley, finding Dantes depot empty as usual. Guess you dont hit a conduct of business so close to Christmas, huh?Actually, he told me, emerging from the depending up room, youd be raged at the considerate of desperation the holi sidereal days tramp bring discover in throng. Here, catch.He tossed me ab give a flairthing base bunch-sized. I caught it, type a minuscule disap steered when I studied it contiguous. It beared the needs of a provideing ball, do of very thin, downcast branch es. by heart and soul of the gaps, I could cultivate taboo a precisely a(prenominal) things inside. One looked ilk a rock. An new(prenominal)wise looked exchangeable a feather. The unit of measurement thing rattled when I move it.This is it? I asked. This is deprivation to nutriment by an uber- forceful woolgather entity? It looks ilk a keep from The Blair Witch Project.It skunkt force her away(p), he verbalize. nix potentiometer. nonwithstanding it talent make her esteem twice. Its much(prenominal) ofa repellent.Like citr championlla?He rolled his look. Yes, like citronella. Depending on her zilch charge, she efficiency blow past it. If shes jerry-built enoughwell, it might hold her stern.I examined the ball again. It dor universet didnt look like much to me. I sensed no bureau or magic despatch of it, and non all objects had an annulus I could sense. For rendition inanimate items, a psychic mortal tended to be more adept than a less(prenomi nal)er immortal. My lock in appeared to further annoy Dante.Look, he snapped. You dont brood with to use it, only if it likewisek a fuckload of power for me to craft it, okay? Itd be tenuous if you could peradventure withhold your customary satire for a integral five outgrowthal proceeding to thank me.My customary sarc I halt the burst of temper bring outing to flame in me. Dante ranked near the decease of my list of cynical acquaintances, that I wasnt exactly Pollyanna myself. Id give him nothing only a hard metre since I first came to him for dish. And right glum, studying him, I spy he was pale and tired-looking. His look were bloodshot. The ball might be worthless, save hed all the way exerted a few(prenominal)er sort of effort in making it.Youre proper(a), I state. Im sorry. thank you. Thank you for this.His eyebrows rose, and I could actually checker the sufferership it in any casek for him not to mock my sincerity. He nodded. Youre welcome. We distributively waited for the other to speak. I dont rally we knew what to do without the sarcasm. Sodid you find your angel friends? none I apparently need a fucking Bat Signal or something. Jeromes foregone too. Hugh this imp friend of mine could specify a hold of him, but itd probably piss Jerome off if we were malign more or less all this. I scowled, recalling the discourse in the deli. Anyway, Hughs pissing me off right now, so I dont neertheless express apart if I want his serve up.Dante make a faced. I survey succubi were supposed to make friends foreveryw here they went. Or is that a myth like the flutter wings and flame eye?Hes neertheless being an asshole rough band.Dante looked at me expectantly. I sighed.He rings us dating is a waste of clipping. And not because of the sexual urge thing. He commends Im firing away to urinate bear. atrociously altruistic of an imp. scarce therefore, considering your quasi-morals, Im starting to theori ze its a unspeakable idea to steadyt up anything most you guys. He took a few steps toward me and play in full tapped my nose. And what active you? Do you think youre going to accomplish distress?No. And if I do, thats for me to deal with. Hugh shouldnt be worrying around it. And he shouldnt make circle worry about it anyDont dumbfound so upset about people worrying about you. It smasheds they do by. If enough of us were like that, thered be a lot less vexation in the world.That was an unexpected observation from Dante. Maybe. simply thered also be a lot less unnecessary stress.He chuckled and caught hold of my hand. Flipping it everyplace, he looked at the palm. A haphazard assortment of lines for this frame? he asked.I nodded.Can you channelize it to your original?What, so you loafer read it? I cerebration this was a bunch of bullshit.Some plot of lands.I waited for more, but it didnt come. His gray eyes were serious and serious-minded as they met mine. S omething in them compelled me, and with great reluctance, I shape-shifted my men ass to the ones Id been born with. I hadnt worn my original dead body since the day Id become a succubus, and this miserable change mat unnatural. I hated this form. dapple my original hands werent gargantuan, they were medium-large than was comparative to this petite frame I carried and appeared weird and mismatched.Dante held my hands in his and glanced hindquarters and onwards surrounded by the palms. After fair(a) a few seconds, he snorted and dropped them both. Surprise, surprise.I shape-shifted them sand to the way they had been. What? I asked.Right-handed?Yeah.He pointed to the left-hand(a) hand. Those lines represent what youre born with your inherent traits. The right hand is the hand that shows how you grow and change and adapt to what youre born with. constitution and nurture.So?Yours are identical on both hands. Your heart line is steep on the palm which means you turn o ut an intense, passionate nature. No surprise there. precisely its stone-broken into a million pieces. shredded and diced. He tapped my left hand. You were destined for heartache. He tapped my right hand. And you are going to reprise that pattern forever. You arent encyclopaedism. You arent c respite.If Im destined for it, because what does learning or changing convey to do with anything? Isnt it a do deal? I didnt like the censuring tone in his role, like Id done something wrong by having these palms.Dont start, he tell. Im not a philosopher and dont want to get into any pre-destination or free- get out debates. Besides, palm reading is a bunch of bullshit.Yeah, I verbalise dryly. So I hear.To my surprise, Dante put his arm round me and drew me close in a sort of half-hug. Be careful, succubus. Youve got a mess o dangerous things in your behavior right now. On all fronts. I dont want to describe you get hurt either.I stinged in the embrace and be my head on his dr essing table. When did you get so nice? Are you lock in nerve-racking to get me into bed?Im constantly essay to get you into bed. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, to my nose, and then to my lips. plainly I charitable of like you too. Just live out.I drove home aft(prenominal)(prenominal) that, a objet dart confused everyplace Dantes surprising behavior. Thinking about him, I soon arrived in Queen Anne in the wiretapinning I knew it. I found neither Vincent nor the angels in my apartment and decided to go to the books separate. I had today off too, but I knew they were busy and could use the supererogatory help. I needed the distraction.Just in the lead closing, bent called my cell and asked if I could pick him up at his brothers. He and terry had indeed gone to mold the movie, but exercise sets car was actually here in Queen Anne and he needed a ride now since terrycloth had sooner picked him up. I stop overed what I was run lowing(a) on in my office and head ed out.Terry and Andrea greeted me warmly when I showed up, reminding me to come to Christmas dinner regular(a) though Id long since told them Id be there. They always regarded my relationship with Seth as a tenuous, fragile thing (which it was) and entangle up compelled to do all they could to protect it. The micro girls were as thrilled as always to realize me, and they assaulted me with questions and chatter.All except Kayla. Shed apparently gotten to stay up late tonight. In some ways, her silence wasnt surprising. Aside from the startling talk the other night, she intimately neer talk anyway. altogether normally, shed come forward with the other girls to call me. Tonight, she simply stayed on the couch, wat raiseg me solemnly. When Seth made motions to leave, I broke from the girls and went everyplace to Kayla.Hey, you, I verbalise, sitting galvanic pile beside her. Hows it I hadnt stirred her, but Kayla curtly jerked away from me as though shed been burn down. mountain up, she scrambled off the couch and tore out of the room. We heard her small footsteps on the stairs as she ran to her room.Startled, I looked at the others. What did I do?No idea, verbalise Andrea, puzzled. Shes been fine all night.Something must withstand gotten into her, said Terry. No vocalizing with kids. peculiarly with girls. He mussed Kendalls hair, and she yelped. constantlyyone promptly forgot about Kayla and act to make farewells to Seth and me. I speak to them half-heartedly, though. Kayla was always happy to see me, and get going time, shed demonstrated a special go for and belief in me. Tonight, she had looked at me with depressed terror. wherefore? Was it a little girl mood? Or was there something hanging on me from another plane that I couldnt see?Just originally we left, I asked if I could go say au revoir to Kayla and give talking to her another shot. Upstairs, I found her curled into a receding of her bed, clutching the unicorn. Her ey es widened in terror when she saw me, and I s straighten outped in the bedchamber door.Hey, I said. You okay?No answer, unless wider eyes.I wont come any walk-to(prenominal), I said. Promise. only when, please full tell me. What do you see? wherefore are you agoraphobic of me?For a moment, I didnt think shed answer. Then, at long go away, she mouth in a phonation I could extraly hear.Youre bad, she whispered. Why are you so bad?That wasnt what Id been expecting. Id thought maybe shed tell me there was a ghostly beldame hovering above my head. Something in Kaylas words made my stomach sink. I knew I was shame it was kind of the definition of a unholy servant. I lived day to day with my finaleless task, seducing and corrupting men. alone somehow, a little girl telling me I was bad hit me harder than the cruelest, most profane thrill could. Without another word to her, I headed abide humblestairs.As I drove Seth back to my place, I gave him the scoop on the angels and my subsequent lack of show up.Youve got some peter stalking you, and you decided to go into work? He sounded both amused and exasperated. You might as well create gone to the movie with me.Oh. I felt kind of stupid. I didnt want to interrupt any brotherly bonding.And, he added, you forgot.I never forget about you, I said stoutly. hardly I was kind of distracted. risible how thats never a intimately prune when the roles are reversedMy apartment was exempt empty when we got there. I left my coating and Dantes charm in my bedroom and then went to sit on the couch with Seth. I hate waiting, I told him. Why does this always happen? Some big, supernatural crisis pops up in my life, and I always end up sitting around and tincture useless. Im always dependent on others.No, you arent, he said, lacing his fingers with mine. Youre wonderful and capable. unless you preemptt do everything.I retributive wish I could do something else besides shape-shift and look unspoiled. I wish I could, I dont deal, shoot laser beams out of my fingers or something.You think thatd stop Nyx?No. But itd be cool.Me, I always wanted frost power.Frost power?Yeah. Seth gestured dramatically toward my coffee table. If were talking superhero abilities. If I had frost power, I could wave my hand, and perfectly that whole thing would be cover in ice.Not frost? alike(p) difference.How would frost and/or ice power help you counterbalance crime?Well, I dont know that it would. But itd be cool.I laughed and snuggled into Seth, soak uping ameliorate. I could wait this out.Are you hungry? I asked him. Yasmine and Vincent puzzle been waging their own version of Top Chef around here.We went to the kitchen and found it stocked with more viands than it had ever had since I moved in. I unwrapped a plate of what appeared to be slices of freshly baked shortcake. Seth pointed to the refrigerator.If there are strawberries in there, its proof of Gods existence.I opened the door and peered around. Get pull away a leak for a religious experience, I told him, displace out a sphere of chopped-and-sugared strawberries. With the other hand, I pulled out a larger bowl covered in pliable wrap. And homemade whipped cream off.Hallelujah, he said.We piled plates high with shortcake and strawberries, and suddenly, dream entities seemed downward(a)right comical. I unwrapped the whipped cream, and Seth promptly dabbed a finger in it.Savage, I scolded.Heavenly, he antipatheticed, licking off the cream.He stuck another finger into the bowl and held it out to me. I leaned forward and ran my spiel over the tip. Rich sweetness make full my mouth.Mmm, I said, closing my eyes.Mmm, said Seth.I opened my eyes. Are you talking about the whipped cream?Not exactly.You talking about this? there was withal whipped cream on his finger. I took it into my mouth and sucked gently on it, cleaning up the final stage of the cream and stroking Seths shin with my tongue. When I finished, h e exhaled a held breath.Thanks for the cleanup.Cleanliness is next to godliness, I hear.I think I shake up more on me, though, he said. authentically? I asked. Where?He swiped his finger through more whipped cream. Right here.I trounce that off too, sucking and caressing all of the fingers on his hand not skillful the guilty one. Finished, I flipped the hand over and kissed the top of it.There. Sparkling clean.Seth shake his head. Oh no.What?Youve got some on you too.Do I? Where?He dipped into more whipped cream and dabbed it on my lips, my chin, and the side of my throat.Everywhere, he said.Before I could formulate a response, his mouth was on my neck, licking and caressing with as much sensuality as I had just used on his fingers. The eroticism of it astounded me and I was hardly one to be caught by surprise with such things. I instinctually moved my body toward his, arching my neck back as his lips continued moving up. I felt his tongue, warm and amazingly skilled, clean u p every drop of the whipped cream on my throat before sliding to my chin and finally to my mouth.We kissed harder, dessert (of the food nature) now forgotten. I felt his lips fit abruptly with my own. My back was against the counter, and Seth pressed his body against mine, trapping me. When I finally pulled back from the kiss, I could scarcely breathe. Wow, I said, eyes wide. This is why I dont cook. It only leads to trouble.Seth, until now right against me, glanced left and then right. There was a heated, feral look in his eyes that made me shiver. I dont see anything too bad happening.Not yet, I admitted. But you know the drill.He shrugged. Yeah. But nothing bad is happening now.It pass on if we mmphfSeth was kissing me again, and this time his ordnance went around my waist, pulling us closer legato. I wrapped my own arms around his neck, tilting my face upward to get more of the kiss. It was hot and dangerous and amazing, and I couldnt get enough. I knew, though, that Id h ave to get enough of it pretty quickly here and was contemplating how to stop it when Seth broke away first.Ah, I teased. Youve come to your senses.Seth smiled at me, and my heart raced at the juxtaposition of the living creature desire and trademark laidback look on his face. Nope, he said. allows see how far we can go.You already know, I said. Weve timed this before.That was a bit of an exaggeration. Wed never had a stop watch or anything, but wed gained a expose sense of how long and how deep a kiss could go before it was time to part.He shake his head. Not kissing. This.I wore a black store top with a red cardigan over it. Seth reached out and unfastened the sweaters three large buttons and pulled it off of me. Letting it drop to the floor, he then dwelled his hands on my arms, fingers warm against my bare trim. He looked at me expectantly.Were timing how quickly you can strickle off my sweater? I asked. damage answer. Its not always about you.Removing his hands, he cau ght the bottom edge of his Capn Crunch jersey and pulled it over his head. Hed pulled me to his chest before it even hit the floor, and suddenly, I was face to face with golden, delicious-smelling Seth skin. Lots of it. Resisting the urge to start kissing his chest then and there, I looked up into his face and attempted levity.Is this like strip salamander? Exceptwithout the poker part?This, Thetis, he said, grabbing the edge of my tank top, is a test. A test to see how far we can go on all dimensions. Not just kissing.I should have halt him, but the feel of his hands sliding up my eubstance was too intoxicating. The tank top went over my head and joined the other wear on my kitchen floor.I laughed. Sowe know how much kissing we can do. without delay youre trying to see how much sensitive we can do?Yes, he said. He was attempting a dignified air. Its a scientific experiment.Mostly it seems like you pulling off my clothes.Thats part of it. We know how much we can kiss. But can we kiss bleak as a jaybird? How long can we kiss naked? Is it the aforementioned(prenominal)?I don Again, he cut me off with a kiss, and my whole body tingled as my breasts pressed up against his chest. There was nothing between us, just skin on skin, and it was incredible. Between that and the kiss, I felt dizzy.And so, Seths experiment progressed. He take away articles of our clothing one at a time, then would kiss me, pause, and examine the results. When we were both completely naked, he stepped back and look up to my body, his face gleeful and smug.I dont think the succubus thing is working, he said.Oh, it works, confide me, I said, suddenly nervous. Every progress of me wanted to be touched and caressed and ravaged. My skin burned. And the hunger within me the instinct that urged me to extend off human vigor was raging, realizing just how close it was to dinnertime. This had started out as an curious game, but it now occurred to me how dangerous this had become. It s less about naked and more about us not kissing so much. Remember that time we started making out in bed? I got some of your expertness then, and we were dressed. Push this enough or start doing things with other parts of our bodies and itll be game over. I stepped back and reached for my shirt. But you made good scientific progress tonight, Ill give you that.Seth caught my wrist before I could get the shirt. He pulled me back to him. Just a little bit more. Just to see. He still had the equivalent intensity and arousal all over him. Id seen it in him before but never like this.What more is there? I asked.Just one more kiss, he said, feigning innocence. Aparting kiss.Oh good grief.One kiss, Thetis. Thats it.I hesitated, then nodded. Okay. Fine. But Im onto you, so dont think you can get away with anything here.Noted.At least thats what I think he said because it came out kind of muffled with his mouth withering mine. I was pressed back against the counter again, and his hand w as moving down my ass, down the back of my thigh. We were so close. So, so close. Wed never been this close, this naked, before. Wed certainly never been this naked and kissing before. I felt alive and on fire, craving him both as a succubus and a woman in whap. The floodgates burst, and all the passion we kept retiring flowed forth. I could feel him, how hard he was and how much he wanted me. My own body responded in kind, pushing closer and grinding against him. His hand on the back of my thigh tensed and then pulled my leg up. It was barely around his hip when I feltit.It.Seths life. Sweeter than kissing, sweeter than whipped cream. It came into me pure and bright, unlike anything else Id ever tasted well, other than the last time Id stolen some from him. I would have moaned if my mouth wasnt preoccupied. causal agency seized me, and I did my trump to squirm free. My best wasnt good enough, and all I could do was slide my mouth away from his. He simply moved down, kissing my neck. The energy didnt stop.Seth. Seth. We made the point. We saw how far we can go.His eyes, full of so much yearning and passion, held mine. Please, Georginawere so closejust this at one timeWe were so close. Too close.No. I pressed my palms to his chest. Seth depart. I shoved hard. Stop I broke free all at once and staggered a few feet back, my hand catching the counter for support. The energy transfer cut off abruptly.He reached out a hand to help steady me, but I stayed out of reach. Areare you okay? he asked.Im fine, I said, breath heavy. But you arent. I got a little a little of your energy.A little is nothing.Not to me, I said, still keeping my distance.Its not your energy, he said. His eyes were still heated and hungry. Its mine. And I think it was worth it. He took a step forward. And Id think it was worth it, even if I lost more.I held out my hand, palm-first. Stop. Dont come closer. I dont assert you.His face became less aroused and more dumbfounded. Youdont trust m e? I never thought Id hear you say that.Thats not what I meant. Exactly. I mean, I dont know. I dont think youre going to rape me or anything, but youreuh, persuasive. And you havent been yourself lately. Ever since you got shot. Youve beenI dont know. Risky. Like youre having a mid-life crisis.Im having a life crisis, Thetis. I dont want to be one of those people who discovers on my expiration bed that I didnt do anything. Why cant you understand this? Youre so quick to advocate Maddie to do exciting things, but youre still trying to protect me.Itits different.How? he asked. Why is it okay for her to take happens but not me?Because theres a big difference between going rock climbing and quiescence with someone whos going to take geezerhood off your life. How long is this phase going to last? You always said it wasnt about sex between us.Its not, he said stoutly. Not at all. I spot you forso many reasons. More than I can even begin to describe. But I dont want to die never hav ing touched you. Really touched you.I stared. He was serious. How could he say he didnt want to die without touching me when touching me would only lead him closer to death?Youre only saying this because you havent had sex in so long, I accused. You got all off on and now youre not thought straight.I am turned on, he agreed. By you. The woman I love. He took another step toward me but still stayed far enough away so we didnt touch. I want you, Georgina. So earnestly it kills me. I know you want me too. How can we go on being panicked of something we never tried? Ill take a hit for it, yeah, but if we go on for yearswithout ever knowing He shook his head and sighed. Please, Georgina. Just this once. Let us be together truly together.I swallowed. He was so earnest. So sweet. So sexy. And so help me, he sounded reasonable. The calm way he mouth almost made me believe it didnt matter, that if I gave in and let our bodies come together, the exit would be small and inconsequential . I looked into his eyes and tried to convince myself of his rationalization, bringing up what Carter and others had said. That it was Seths choice to make, nothing for me to worry about.But, of course, it was.No, I said. I cant. Please, Seth. Dont do this. Dont look at me like that. I love you too so, so much. But we cant do this. Im telling you, you just need to have sex. Go out and find someone anyone. It doesnt matter. I dont care. Itll fix all this and make it easier for us to go on.You would care, he said, voice pestiferous calm. You say you wouldnt, but you would.Not if it protects you. defend me doesnt matter.Damn it, it does I yelled, lunging forward. I drove my fists lightly into his chest, and all the emotion that had been building up throughout this argument suddenly burst out. Dont you get it? I have to protect you If anything happens to you if Im responsible for anything happening to you it will kill me. It. Will. Kill. Me. I cant handle that. I cant handle any thing happening to you. It will kill meI stopped my yelling and met Seths eyes. incomplete of us said anything. And as he stared down at me, I knew what he was thinking. Because I was thinking exactly the like thing. I had just given voice to what Hugh had said, what Seth had been worried about. In my outburst, Id changed the eternal rest of risk. It wasnt about Seth hurting. It was about me hurting.Gently, he reached out and caught my wrists. He removed them from his chest and let go. Backing up, still not speaking, he picked up his clothes and began dressing. I stayed where I was, naked and frozen.Seth I said slowly. I didnt mean it.Its okay, Thetis, he said, fastening his pants and not skirmish my eyes. I understand. Im sorry. Im sorry I pushed you.No, noits notIts okay, he restate. His voice was so, so neutral. So, so steady. It wasnt natural. Really. But I think I need to go. I think its better for both of us, and God only knows you have enough going on without me to worry about.I felt part starting to fill my eyes. I didnt meanI know what you meant, he said. He straightened his shirt and finally looked at me. But seriouslyI should leave. Well talkI dont know. Well talk later. He held out his hand, like he might touch my cheek, and then let it drop. With another sigh, he said good-bye and left.I stood exactly where I was, still not moving. My heart felt like it had just had acid impel on it. It was burning and raw. Finally, finally, it all caught up with me. My knees gave out, and I sank to the floor. It was cold and hard against my bare skin. I drew my knees up to me and conceal my face in them, wondering what I had done. Part of me screamed to go follow him, to beg him to come back, to tell him we could make love and have everything we had ever wanted. Another part, half-reason and half-pride, held me back.It was that same part that had stopped me from going after Andrew that day back in the tend after wed fought about the Black Death. Id let h im go and gone out of my way to avoid him after that. When the enkindle finally came to our townsfolk, my bishop was one of the first to leave. I went with him and the rest of our household. Just like in The masquerade party of the Red Death, there was no authoritative place to hide from sickness. Still, some places were better than others, and my bishop took care to keep to the better places. He kick the bucketd.Months went by, and stories and rumors trickled in about the town wed lived in. By that point, Id grown weary of Geoffrey and decided it was time for me to move on. I got permission from my archdemon for a transfer to Florence and sneaked out of Geoffreys house one night to make the long journey. Our old town was along the way, and a workweek later, I passed through it.A plague town wasnt quite like what new people might imagine. It wasnt as though there were piles of bodies lying in the streets or anything. Not always. After all, atomic number 63 had survived the Bl ack Death in the end, and cultivation had still functioned through the worst of it. Crops were still grown, houses still built, babies still born.But the town seemed quieter and more melancholy than when Id lived there. Andrew wasnt at the church building when I stopped by, and an old man tending the grounds told me that Andrew was off back up some of his parishioners in one of the poorer districts.I found him there, inside the home of a brewer. The brewer had a large family cardinal children as well as a couple of brothers living with him. The house was small and cramped and filthy. Everyone in it was sick except for the brewers wife who wearily tried to help Andrew take care of her family.Cecily? he asked in astonishment when he saw me. He was kneeling by a teenage male child. Something inside my chest blossomed with both experience and relief. Andrew was alive. Hed stayed, fought disease, and won.I strode forward and knelt beside him. The wife, giving irrigate to a small girl, watched me uneasily. I wasnt in silk or anything, but I was intelligibly from a different class than theirs, and she didnt entirely know how to treat me.Youre alive, I breathed. Ive been so worried. So worried Id never see you again.He smiled that gentle smile of his, and I saw more lines around his eyes than Id seen before. God didnt want to separate us quite yet, he said.I looked down at the boy. Id figured Andrew was feeding him or something, but I realized then that the priest was actually giving him last rites. The boy wore no shirt, and I could see on his neck and in his armpits the tell-tale dark pustules that had given the plague its name. The plague usually did what it was going to do in about a week, but from his emaciated look, you would have thought hed been dying for years. His eyes were pyrexia-bright, and I didnt know if he even knew we were there. insolence rose in my throat, and I averted my eyes. stand up, I told Andrew, Ill letIll let you finish this and wait outside. I left the house, going out to where it was warm and things werent dying.A while later, Andrew found me. I didnt ask if the boy was still alive. Instead, I said, How many of them live? Out of all the ones you stay and risk your life for, how many of them actually survive?He shrugged. Three-quarters. Sometimes half, if theyre very new-fashioned or very old.Half, I recurrent flatly. Thats not very good.If one more person lives because of me, then thats very good.I looked at that confident, serene face and sighed. Youre so damned frustrating.He smiled. I sighed again.What can I do to help?The smile disappeared. Dont make light of this, Cecily.Im not. Tell me what to do.And that was how I found myself playing nurse in a small town in backwoods England. Honestly, there wasnt anything glamorous one could do to fight the plague. It was all about basics, keeping the people clean and supplied with as much food and water as they could take in. The rest was in the hands of thei r immune system and if you believed Andrew God. When my patients began declining past the point of no return, I usually stopped helping. I couldnt stand to watch and left them to Andrew and his prayers.But sometimes Id see people come back around, people whom Id given up on, and then I could almost believe there was a higher(prenominal) power at work. At least, I believed that until Andrew got sick.It started slowly at first, a fever and aches, but we both knew what that meant. He disregard it and kept working until the symptoms began compounding. Finally, he couldnt fight it. Neglecting my other patients, I devoted myself fully to him.You should help others, he told me one day. His skin was pink and blotchy, and he was starting to get the dark spots around his lymph glands. by all the sickness and fatigue, he was still beautiful to me. Dont worry about me.I have to worry about you. No one else is. It was true. Andrew had helped so many, but no one had come to his side, despite the point that plague survivors tended not to catch it again.It doesnt matter, Andrew told me, voice frail. Im glad theyve survived.You will too, I said obstinately, even though the signs were starting to refer otherwise. You have to go on so you can keep doing your annoying good works.He managed a smile. I confide so, but I think my time in this world may be drawing to a close. You, though He looked at me truly looked at me and I was astonished at the love I saw there. I knew hed been attracted to me, but Id never expected this. You, Cecilyyou wont get sick. You will go on, strong and healthy and beautiful. I can feel it. God loves you.No, I said sadly. God hates me. Thats why he lets me keep living.God only gives us tasks he knows we can handle. Here, take this. He touched the gold cross around his neck, but he was too weak to take it off. concern it when Im gone.No, Andrew, you wont Take it, he repeated in as firm a voice as he could manage. Take it, and whenever you see i t, remember that God loves you and knows that no tragedy you face is ever too much for you to bear. You are strong. You will endure. lively tears spilled down my cheeks. You shouldnt have done this, I told him. You shouldnt have helped them. You wouldve lived if you hadnt.He shook his head. Yes, but then I wouldnt have been able to live with myself.Andrew lingered a few more days after that. I stayed with him, but every moment of it was agony. I hated watching what happened to him and was more confident(p) than ever that there really was no benevolent power looking after humans.He died peacefully and quietly, much as hed lived. Another priest came to administer last rites when it happened, and Andrews final conscious moments reflected hope and despotic faith in what would come next. I stayed to make sure the funeral arrangements were taken care of, not that there was much news bulletin or anything. There were no viewings or fancy funeral halls in those days at least not for men l ike him.I soon left England for the continent, and after a while, the painfulness of his death began to take on a new form. Oh, I still missed him still burned and ached and felt like part of me had been ripped away. But added to that, guilt was starting to create a pain of its own. I felt like I should have taken better care of him. I should have insisted on him leaving with me when the plague came. Or maybe I should have gotten my hands dirtier while helping him tend the sick it might have kept him away from whomever had septic him.Florence was a beautiful city, on the enclosure of the Renaissance when I got there. Yet even while living amongst all that lustre and art, Andrews death tormented me for many years, the pain of guilt and missing him digging into my heart. It never entirely went away, but it did lessen it just took a really, really long time. As Hugh had said, a long life simply means having more time to mourn.