Daisy Miller a Hero Essay Example for Free

Daisy Miller a Hero Essay A hero is a person, whom no matter what the situation is, always seems to be able to approach situation with a fearless and courageous attitude, and can is often admired by many. The novel Daisy Miller by Henry James is a fictional story about the life of an American girl in Europe and the situations that she experiences. Daisy reacts to these situations with a fearless and courageous approach. Her actions seem to affect every character in the story and are misperceived by many. Daisy consistently had the courage to stand up to the other Americans, the characters who adapted to the European culture, even though they continued to pressure her, and prevailed by not conforming to European society. Daisy is a hero in this story because of the way she approached and handled situations. A major conflict in the story is the clash of American culture and European culture. Daisy is constantly thrown into situations where she is pressured to conform to some traditional European way of doing things. Daisy does not let this pressure get to her. She instead continues to act without fear of what might happen to her. The text shows many examples of this. A major cultural conflict that happened in the novel is when Daisy is walking around the Pinchio with Mr. Winterbourne and Mr. Giovanelli. Mrs. Walker comes up in her carriage and begs Daisy to get in because of what her reputation might become since she was walking around with two men ( ). After Daisy refuses, Mrs. Walker says â€Å"should you prefer being thought a very reckless girls? and even gets Mr Winterbourne involved by having him give his opinion which lined up with Mrs. Walker’s( ). After examining the text, the reader sees that Daisy responds with a very fearless and courageous way, which in a way can also be compared to a quote from Emerson’s Self Reliance, â€Å"to be great, is to be misunderstood. † â€Å"â€Å"If this is improper, Mrs Walker,† she persued, â€Å"then I am all improper, and you must give me up†Ã¢â‚¬  is a quote that beautifully illustrates Daisy’s heroic personally by not being intimidated from the pressures of society. Another conflict in the novel was that at certain places at certain times, the chances of getting malaria were very high. While many of the locals decided to stay away from these areas, Daisy chose to not live fear. This fearlessness that Daisy displayed, led to Mr. Winterbourne confronting her and Mr. Giovanelli at the coliseum late at night about her catching the Roman fever (). Giovanelli responded to Winterbourne by saying he informed Daisy it was a â€Å"grave indiscretion† which Daisy responded with prudence (). Even now that Daisy was severely warned about the disease she still showed no fear and showed how she could be an inspiration to other women by saying she had a lovely time seeing the coliseum by moonlight and if she felt any danger she would take some pills (). â€Å"I don’t care,† said Daisy in a little strange tone, â€Å"whether I have Roman fever or not† shows how Daisy would not let fear dictate her life( ). Daisy Miller was a hero because of the fearless qualities that she displayed in the novel Daisy Miller. She may not display the common stereotypes of other fictionalized heroes such as flying or x-ray vision, but she does have influence on people, especially women, on how they can act regardless of what culture they are from. This view on life is very important because it shows young women, that they are empowered to handle situations anyway they like. Even when she died, many people showed up to her funeral and admired her. Giovanelli even stated at her funeral that out of all the women she was the â€Å"most innocent † ( ).

The Value of Coffee Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

The Value of Coffee I didn’t always enjoy the stuff. I would eat coffee-flavored yogurt and coffee-flavored ice cream, but the actual beverage tasted bitter and crude, and it had incurred my discontent since my first encounter with it at the age of six. An aunt would offer the family coffee every time we went to visit, and she would ask me, â€Å"Do you drink coffee yet?† as if to press me forward, to instill a desire to proceed toward my inevitable destiny of favoring coffee. I ignored her. â€Å"It’s an acquired taste,† some people told me. I saw no reason to force myself to acquire it. It was a July morning in 1999. I was at the University of Bucharest, Romania, for the International Mathematical Olympiad. I waited in line for breakfast, picking up the toast, the pastries, the beverage. What was the drink? There were few possibilities. The previous week, the US and Romanian teams had been training together in the town of Sinaia, and we got some evidence of what comprised the typical meal: cold cuts and cheeses, bread and patà ©s, an entrà ©e of meat, potatoes, perhaps a corn mush, and some boiled vegetables, and assorted desserts; breakfast would be lighter fare. The usual drink was mineral water, the quantity of which suffered a deficiency wholly inappropriate to the heat (my requests of â€Å"mai apa, va rog† were diplomatically ignored —the waiter in Sinaia perhaps thought I was only practicing my language skills); at breakfast, there might be juice, hot chocolate, or strawberry-flavored tea. Thus, when I picked up the glass of dark li quid in Bucharest, I imagined it was tea, or perhaps a thin chocolate. After sitting down in the stifling cafeteria, I naturally approached the drink. It was a shock, a fee... ...per-week quota always gets filled — not because I necessarily crave the drink, but because I periodically feel like I â€Å"should† be buying coffee now — a tradition that has become seamlessly enshrined in my identity. I have nearly mastered the art of drinking coffee precisely twice per week. The value of coffee is mainly symbolic — it serves as a liaison to my vocational and cultural community. People claim to drink coffee because it keeps them awake. That never works for me. If I am drowsy, caffeine makes me drowsy with a headache, at best. It has less consciousness-raising effect for me than does a breath of fresh air. The effect of this substance is not neurochemical; it is psychological. With each long swallow of a steaming brew, I savor the pungent, rich first flavor, the appealingly bitter aftertaste, and the feeling of knowing who and where I am.

Management Practices of Marine Corps Recruit Training Essay

Marine Corps recruit training is organized specifically to make Marines who are committed to the institutions core values of honor courage and commitment in service to the country. Recruit training is organized by Regiment; within the Regiment there are several components such as Battalion, Company, Platoons, Squads, and Fire Teams. Marine Corps Recruit Training San Diego uses the five functions of organizational management, which are planning, leading, organizing, staffing, and controlling (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. 2011) in order to provide America with the finest fighting force in the world. During this paper, I will describe the organizational management of recruit training and how we incorporate each specific function to successfully provide trained Marines to defend our nation, win battles, and defend our reputation as America’s force in readiness. Planning is a integral part of organizing recruit training. It all starts with the actual recruiting process. R ecruiting consist of projecting the amount of marines that will go to recruit training. Recruiters are strategically located in areas based off their strengths and backgrounds, usually placed in areas in which they are familiar with the cultural backgrounds. Doing this provides leverage to successfully communicate and bond with those seeking to join the Marine Corps. Planning requires assessing the environment, determining goals for the organization, developing plans to achieve specific goals, and allocating resources (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Assessing the environment for recruiters is to actually understand the demographics of the actual area in which they work in. Areas such as political, social trends, economic conditions, technical changes, and competitive forces effect recruiting and planning for recruit training. They can use political reasoning as a tool to actually recruit young men and women to join; often using what the Marine Corps has to offer as a selling point. Education, pride in belonging, physical fitness, adventure, patriotism, professionalism, compensation, healthcare, and retirement are a few selling tools used to attract those who desire direction and life-altering changes. The shipping schedule is usually determined by the amount of recruits are going to be attending training. Based off the training matrix, which is broken down into quarters, usually around when kids are graduating high school, the shipping will be high, due to those who discussed joining after graduation. The winter months are slow based off holidays, and kids in school, and a few months after graduation, there is a moderate shipping schedule. These are the kids that decided to either go to school or work first, and either dropped out, worked first and decided they wanted something different, or the ones that decided to stay home and finally desire some direction. One area that would effect recruiting and planning for recruit training would be politics and the economic condition. For example, recruiting during a time of war actually saw no decrease in those wanting to join the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps plans for workshops for educators to actually get an inside view of the rarely seen training of Marines. At the Marine Corps workshop, teachers, school officials and board members meet Drill Instructors, watch Marines in physical training and grab chow at the mess hall with Drill Instructors and recruits in which it does promote enlisting (Becker, A. , 2007). The economy also plays a major role in the ability to recruit those wanting to join the Marine Corps. When the unemployment rate is high, recruiters use job stability as a tool to land contacts in the Marine Corps, as the military provides a solid compensation plan, as well as retirement, medical, and housing benefits, as well as education. Determining organizational goals for recruit training is to establish a training environment that is predicated upon an a intensive twelve week entry-level training program designed to transform recruits into Marines through thorough indoctrination of Marine Corps history, customs, and traditions by imbuing them with mental, moral, and physical condition necessary for successful service to Corps and Country. This is similar to a mission statement, which expresses a clear and concise reason for why the organization exists (Reilly, M. Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). To achieve these objectives, a plan must be created and followed to strategically accomplish the mission. The strategy is to foster character development, discipline, military bearing, esprit de corps, and Marine Corps common combat skills. Character development would be instilling and understanding the belief in corps values of honor, courage and commitment and those principles essential to values-based off decision mak ing, while stressing teamwork along with leadership. To achieve a state of discipline would be insuring respect for authority, instantaneous obedience to orders, and self-reliance to maintain those traits that exemplify a Marine which are obedience, fidelity and zeal. Military bearing is properly maintaining and wearing the uniforms as well as demonstrating military presence and personal awareness that Marines are Marines twenty-four hours a day seven days a week; and an always maintain a high degree of personal hygiene. Esprit de Corps is to instill the warrior ethos, which inspires mental and physical toughness, devotion, pride, initiative, determination, and an intense desire to work with and for others towards excellence in achieving common goals. Marine Corps Common Combat Skills assist in achieving mastery of and proficiency in basic common skills such as rifle handling, hand to hand combat, customs and courtesies, marine corps history, swim techniques, close order drill, and basic warrior field training. Leading is extremely important to recruit training, as it is the foundation of developing Marines. â€Å"Leading means motivating, coordinating, and energizing individuals and groups to work together to achieve organizational goals† (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Recruit training has several layers of authority between the recruit and top level management in which is favors a mechanistic organizational structure. Within Recruit Training Regiment, there is Drill Instructor School, and Series Commanders Course. These courses are designed to develop Marines to become Drill Instructors and Officers capable of earning the title to train recruits. In order to become a Drill Instructor, one must complete a thorough mental, physical, financial, and moral screening before attending. The tour is regarded as one of the most intense demanding and important duties in the U. S. Armed Forces, as it is critical due to it being the spearhead of making Marines. Becoming a Marine Corps Drill Instructor is considered the most oveted as only the top two percent of the Marine Corps completes this tour of duty. It requires a vast amount of leadership as it requires a high level of commitment in order to achieve extraordinary results which require vision, trust, courage, passion, coaching, developing others, intensity, love, and even serving as a parent figure (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Drill Instructor duty is approximately a three-year commitment, starting with Drill Instructor School, in which you are required to at least be a E-5 (Sergeant) to attend. Days usually start at 0400 and end around 1930 at times going longer due to additional duties such as clean up or recruit evening observation. The course is designed to practice effective time management and is a leadership school focused on further development of student’s leadership abilities and potential in which the main effort converges on the concepts of positive, concerned and ethical leadership. In order to pass Drill Instructor school, each Marine must display the mature use of power, motivation, effective teamwork, and good communication skills. Due to the extreme tempo of the course, Marines are required to comprehend knowledge of basic military subjects that will be covered in recruit training as well as learn the directives and regulations and procedures governing recruit training. Lastly, they must be physically fit in order to lead recruits during daily physical training. This is one of the most visible illustration of leading by example, as preparation is important as it ensures confidence through endurance and agility. The conditioning program is designed to develop four components, strength endurance, agility, and coordination. The program is progressive in nature, as Marines attending are required to run three miles in less than 23:00, complete 10 or more dead hang pull-ups, and complete 80 or more crunches in a two minute time frame. The reasoning for the high standards is to insure Marine Corps Drill Instructors are the finest Marines capable of providing direction for what needs to be accomplished, ensuring people do their jobs to the best of their abilities, and train people though personal example by motivating and inspiring them to be leaders. Leadership consists of several layers, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, and squad. For the purpose of leading, let’s discuss the Company level. Company level leadership consist of six to seven platoons, with the leadership consisting of a Company Commander, two Series Commanders, Company First Sergeant, two Chief Drill Instructors (one lead and one follow series), six to seven Senior Drill Instructors, twenty to twenty six green belt Drill Instructors. Each series has three to four platoons, each platoon has one Senior Drill Instructor with three green belt Drill Instructors. The Company Commander is in charge of all Instructors with the responsibility to enforce higher headquarters command intent, along with safety and enforcing adherence to the standard operation procedures of Recruit Training. Series Commanders are responsible for overall safety and training facilities of Recruit Training, as they report to the Company Commander of any violations to the standard operating procedures. A Company First Sergeant is responsible for all enlisted matters, and is the senior enlisted advisor to the Commanding Officer on all matters pertaining to recruit training and administrative actions. Chief Drill Instructor is responsible for all Senior and green belt Drill Instructors, acting as a supervisor of daily routines; he is similar to a manager in a company with multiple training cycles and experience. This billet is reserved for the most experienced and qualified Marine in the Company. Senior Drill Instructors are actually training and developing Marines in which they have the unique bond and responsibility to insure green belts do not push recruits beyond their physical and mental abilities. They act as the father figure, that recruits can share their personal problems with in order to complete recruit training. The Senior Drill Instructor is similar to a platoon Sergeant, responsible for everything that happens within the platoon. Green belt Drill Instructors are the backbone, in which they instill discipline, instant obedience to orders, and stress. The recruit learns everything from green belts such as how to eat, hygiene, communicate, fight, wear uniforms, military customs history and courtesies, and overall conduct of recruit training. Leading in Marine Corps Recruit Training is defined â€Å"as one’s ability to inspire and motivate a group of Marines to accomplish a mission† (Avalle, M. , 2008). This includes assisting Marines to achieve the highest level of performance in their duties, as well as influencing positive behavior and daily commitments to inspire success. Organizational structure of recruit training is into a Recruit Training Regiment (RTR), which has a battalion, company, platoon, and squad. The Recruit Training Regiment is composed of three training battalions and one support battalion, which are highly mechanized employing formalization and standardization. The infrastructure of the training environment features â€Å"highly routine operating tasks typically grouped together into functional departments with high formalization, central authority, and the decision making flows through a chain of command† (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). The Regiment Headquarters consist of staff sections ranging from administration to operations and logistics staffed to provide command and control of the subordinate battalions and Drill Instructor School. As discussed before, DI school further develops the knowledge, command presence, physical condition, leadership, and instructional abilities of selected staff non-commission officers, non-commissioned officers to successfully perform the duties of a DI. Support battalion provides subject matter expertise in direct support to RTR in its overall mission of making Marines. They conduct receiving and processing administration, medical and physical rehabilitation conditioning, instructional training and evaluating of academics, water survival, and martial arts. Support Battalion has a special training company (STC), recruit processing company (RCP), and instructional training company (ITC). The Regiment is designed by organizing by task and authority relationships that allow Marines to work together to achieve the goal of making Marines, broken down into three tasks; job design, departmentalization, and establishing organizational structure (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). An example of job design is how STC is departmentalized into several functional areas. Physical conditioning platoon, evaluation holding platoon, basic marine platoon, and medical rehabilitation platoon. MRP and PCP have the responsibility of medical rehabilitation in case of injury or medical illness and are unable to continue training. Instructional training company provides academic, Marine Corps martial arts program training, combat water survival, and monitors all academic testing. They also support special training company to speed the recovery of recruits who are on medical recovery. Recruit training battalions consist of a headquarters company and four training companies that conduct prescribed training for recruits. Headquarters has several functional areas in which they support the training companies. For example, First Battalion has a headquarters and four training companies, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta. â€Å"The intended outcome of organizing is to create an organizational structure which is a formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates the activities of members so that they work together to achieve organizational goals† (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). The organizational structure uses a chain of command, service and operational. The Service chain begins with the President, through the Secretary of Defense, and continues through the Secretary of the Navy and Commandant of the Marine Corps (Rhodes, J. , 1998). The operational chain runs from the President, through the Secretary of Defense, directly to the Commanders of combatant and training commands for missions, training and forces assigned to their commands. Staffing of Recruit Training includes â€Å"recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating, compensating, and disciplining of employees within the organization† (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. 2011). As discussed earlier, the organization starts with the recruiting process, in which qualified Marines are enlisted in the Marine Corps. Selecting the finest, most qualified Marines is also an extremely important function in Recruit Training. The selection process includes the level of training required to execute the job successfully, experience, special skills (technical and physical), personality characteristics, and legal requirements to qualify. Drill Instructors are required to be mature, as they have to be at least a E-5 to become eligible to train Marines. Top-level leadership is responsible for the intense scrutiny of each Marine selected to attend Drill Instructor School, as there is a high attrition level of graduating 85% as some are fail to meet the standards and rigors of training. Reasons include but not limited to not meeting the physical and physiological demands, failing to adjust, medical injuries to include stress fractures and extremity injuries, and various other administrative and disciplinary reasons. Officers and enlisted are held to the highest standers of personal conduct, morality, and professional skills. Commissioned officers dealing with enlisted members, officers are required to â€Å"base your relations with enlisted personnel upon the same mutual respect as you base your relations with your fellow officers. The measure of respect you inspire in your enlisted personnel is your measure of success as an officer† (Darcey, P. , 2012). The training and evaluating process, all marines are governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice system and Standard Operating Procedures manual for recruit training. The UCMJ and SOP act as the formalized rules and regulations in which all Marines are required to adhere to. Through these manuals, each Marine has a specific boundary of responsibility and delegated authority in which Marines are disciplined by superiors for violating rules. The evaluation process is how successful one is at salvaging substandard recruits, performance of all training events to include drill, marksmanship training, physical fitness scores, and academic evaluation scores. Compensation consist of rewarding Marines by successfully scoring high in all functional areas of recruit training without violating the rules. Performance appraisals are done by the top-level leadership. Marines are recognized at the end of each cycle by various awards that promote advancement in higher responsibilities, such as advancing in billets, distinguished as the Honor platoon, which is the best platoon in the Company, Moral leadership award which is the best Drill Instructor that assisted in the over all advancement of the Company, or Dan Daly award which is awarded for being the hardest working Drill Instructor. Incentives encourage superior performance, as well as breed healthy competition for Marines to strive for excellence. Performance evaluation also assists in identifying areas of weakness and strengths as they allow an opportunity to assist in improving the overall development of each Drill Instructor. One area unique in nature is every three months, leadership changes along with Drill Instructor teams. This allows the leadership to equally balance out teams lacking in certain areas of experience. Control in recruit training establishes accurate measuring and monitoring systems to evaluate how successful each Battalion and Company achieves its training goals. The standards of control process consist of four steps which are establish and receive standards set in the planning process, measure performance at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels, compare performance outcomes with the standards that were met, and making decisions (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Supervision in recruit training is essential to the success of developing Marines. This allows superiors to ensure training objectives are met through supervision, if they standards are not met; they are able to swiftly distinguish things that are failing to improve the training environment and ways to actually improve those standards. Measuring performance in physical fitness, academics, physical injuries, marksmanship, close order drill scores, combat fitness scores, and various other productivity and efficiency accurately displays the performance and effectiveness in the control process. Company wide process is evaluated by the top level, such as the Company staff which is the Commanding Officer, Series Commanders, Company First Sergeant, and Chief Drill Instructors. Departmental levels include Senior Drill Instructors and their fellow Drill Instructors within their actual platoon. Standards are compared by evaluating the performance based off fellow companies in the Battalion. As stated before, there are four companies in a battalion. All companies report statistics to higher headquarters, which is at the battalion level. Performance data is gathered and compared to fellow companies and battalions. This gives a average, using ratios by adding all companies together and dividing by the total companies in the battalion. Either the company greatly exceeds the standards, the standard was met, was slightly missed, the standard was missed, or was grossly missed, (Reilly, M. , Minnick, C. , & Baack, D. , 2011). Appraisals are extremely important in the controlling process as it allows for management to make decision in which poor performance will be mitigated and address, and good performances will be recognized, shared and awarded. This process works as a feedback tool of what worked and failed in management of Recruit Training in which standards allow the progression of effective organizational systems at each level. In closing, Recruit Training incorporates organizational management practices of planning, leading, organizing, staffing, an controlling to successfully train Recruits, Officers, and Drill Instructors. Planning is the beginning phase and important to establish directions for goals to be met, which was unforeseen and projected. Controlling is the process of supervising performance against established goals as well as developing unique methods to take action in maintaining and improving performance within the organization. Organizing is forming Marines to gather resources; knowledge and experience to create products and services in an effective efficient manner in order to successfully execute the mission of Recruit training. Planning was the systematic process in which supervisors make critical decisions about future training and key objectives the Recruit Training environment strives to achieve. And lastly, staffing is the effective organization of Marines joined as a team to successfully engage them to achieve organizational goals. Through organizational management, recruit training continues to function as a well-designed training environment, able to validate our force in readiness as America’s finest fighting force.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 8

The clock's old-fashioned hands showed threeA.M . when Meredith was suddenly roused from a fitful sleep. And then she bit her lip, stifling a scream. A face was bending over hers, upside down. The last thing she remembered was lying on her back in a sleeping bag, talking about Alaric with Bonnie. Now Bonnie was bending over her, but with her face inverted and her eyes shut. She was kneeling at the head of Meredith's pillow and her upside-down nose almost touched Meredith's. Add to that an odd pallor in Bonnie's cheeks and rapid warm breath that tickled Meredith's forehead, and anyone – anyone, Meredith insisted to herself – would be entitled to a half-scream. She waited for Bonnie to speak, staring in the gloom at those eerily closed eyes. But instead, Bonnie sat up, stood, walked backward flawlessly to Meredith's desk, where Meredith's mobile lay charging, and picked it up. She must have turned it on for a video recording for she opened her mouth and began to gesture and speak. It was terrifying. The sounds that came out of Bonnie's mouth were all too identifiable: backward speech. The tangled, guttural or high-pitched noises all carried the cadence that horror movies had made so popular. But to be able to speak that way on purpose†¦it wasn't possible for a normal human or a normal human mind. Meredith had an eerie sense of something trying to stretch its mind toward them, trying to reach them through unimaginable dimensions. Maybe it lives backward, Meredith thought, trying to distract herself as the frightening sounds went on. Maybe it thinks we do. Maybe we just don't – intersect†¦. Meredith didn't think she could stand much more. She was beginning to imagine that she heard words, even phrases in the backward sounds, and none of them were pleasant. Please let it stop – now. A wailing and mumbling†¦ Bonnie's mouth shut with a clash of teeth. The sounds stopped instantly. And then, like a video being rolled back in slow motion, she walked backward to her sleeping bag, knelt, and back-crawled into it, lying down with her head on the pillow – all without opening her eyes to look where she was going. It was one of the scariest things Meredith had ever seen or heard, and Meredith had seen and heard a fair amount of scary things. And Meredith could no more have left that recording until morning than she could have flown – without assistance. She got up, tiptoed to the desk, and took the mobile phone to the other room. There she attached it to her computer, where she could run the backward message forward. When she'd listened to the message in reverse once or twice she decided that Bonnie must never hear it. It would frighten her out of her senses, and there would be no more contact with the paranormal for Elena's friends. Therewere animal sounds in there, mixed up with the twisted, backward voice†¦that wasn't Bonnie's voice in any way. It wasn't any normal person's voice. It almost sounded worse going forward than backward – which maybe meant that whatever being had spoken the words normally spoke the other way. Meredith could make out human voices over the groaning and distorted laughter and the animal noises straight from the veldt. Though they made the hairs on her body stand up and tingle, she tried to put together the words in between the nonsense. Putting them together she got: â€Å"Aaahhh†¦waggge†¦n†¦ing wuh illllilll†¦be†¦sud-ud-ud†¦den†¦ANDshhhh†¦ohhh†¦ging.YOOOOU †¦hand-and-nd†¦Iiii†¦mmmust†¦BEtherefore†¦herrr†¦aaahhh waggge†¦ning†¦Wewone†¦BE therefor-or-or-or-r† – (was there a â€Å"herrr† next, or was it just part of the growling?) – â€Å"LADE†¦ errrrrrrrrrrr†¦ahhn.Thaaass†¦FORRRRR†¦oththth†¦ERRR†¦handandnd†¦ssssssssss†¦t-t-todo†¦.† Meredith, working with pad and pen, eventually got these words on paper: Awakening will be sudden and shocking. You and I must be there for her Awakening. We won't be there for (her?) later on. That's for other hands to do. Meredith put the pen very precisely beside the deciphered message on the pad. And after that Meredith went and lay hunched in her sleeping bag watching the unmoving Bonnie like a cat at a mouse hole, until, finally, blessed tiredness took her into the dark. â€Å"I saidwhat ?† Bonnie was honestly bewildered the next morning, squeezing grapefruit juice and pouring cereal, like a model host, even if it was Meredith who was scrambling eggs at the stove. â€Å"I've told you three times now. The words are not going to change, I promise.† â€Å"Well,† Bonnie said, suddenly switching sides, â€Å"it's clear that the Awakening is going to happen to Elena. Because, for one thing, you and I have to be there for it, and for another thing, she's the one who needs towake up .† â€Å"Exactly,† said Meredith. â€Å"She needs to remember who she really was.† â€Å"Precisely,† said Meredith. â€Å"And we've got to help her remember!† â€Å"No!†said Meredith, taking out her anger on the eggs with a plastic spatula. â€Å"No, Bonnie, that's not what you said, and I don't think wecould do it anyway. We can teach her little things, maybe, the way Stefan has. How to tie her shoes. How to brush her hair. But from what you said, the Awakening is going to be shocking and sudden – and you didn't say anything about us doing it. You only said that we have to be there for her, because after that, somehow wewon't be there.† Bonnie contemplated that in gloomy silence. â€Å"Won't be there?† she said finally. â€Å"Like, won't be with Elena? Or won't be there, like†¦won't be anywhere?† Meredith eyed a breakfast that she suddenly didn't want to eat. â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"Stefan said we could come over again today,† Bonnie urged. â€Å"Stefan would be polite while he was being staked to death.† â€Å"I know,† Bonnie said suddenly. â€Å"Let's call Matt. We can go see Caroline†¦if shewill see us, I mean. We can see if she's any different today. Then we can wait until it's afternoon, andthen we can call Stefan and ask if we can come over again to see Elena.† At Caroline's house, her mother said she was sick today and was going to stay in bed. The three of them – Matt, Meredith, and Bonnie – went back to Meredith's house without her, but Bonnie kept chewing her lip, looking back occasionally toward Caroline's street. Caroline's mother had looked sick herself, with shadows under her eyes. And the thunderstorm feeling, the feeling of pressure, had been squashing Caroline's house almost flat. At Meredith's, Matt tinkered with his car, which perpetually needed work, while Bonnie and Meredith went through Meredith's wardrobe for clothes that Elena could wear. They would be big, but that was better than Bonnie's, which would be much too small. At fourP.M . they called Stefan. Yes, they were welcome. They went downstairs and picked up Matt. At the boardinghouse, Elena didn't repeat the kissing ritual of the previous day – to Matt's obvious disappointment. But she was delighted with the new clothes, although not for any reason that the old Elena would have been. Floating three feet off the floor, she kept holding them to her face and taking deep, happy sniffs, and then beaming at Meredith, although when Bonnie picked up a T-shirt, she couldn't smell anything but the fabric softener they'd used. Not even Meredith's Beach cologne. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Stefan said helplessly as Elena went into a sudden sneezing fit, cuddling a sky-blue top in her arms as if it were a kitten. But his face was tender, and Meredith, while looking slightly embarrassed, reassured him that it was nice to be so appreciated. â€Å"She can tell where they come from,† Stefan explained. â€Å"She won't wear anything that's come from a sweatshop.† â€Å"I only buy from places listed on the Sweatshop-Free Clothing website,† Meredith said simply. â€Å"Bonnie and I have something to tell you,† she added. While she recounted Bonnie's late-night prophecy, Bonnie took Elena into the bathroom and helped her change into the shorts, which fit, and the sky-blue top, which almost fit, being just a little long. The color set off Elena's tangled but still glorious hair perfectly, but when Bonnie tried to get her to look in the hand mirror that she had brought – the old mirror's shards had all been cleared away – Elena seemed as confused as a puppy held up to see its own reflection. Bonnie kept holding the mirror in front of her face, and Elena kept popping out on one side or another from behind it, like a baby playing peek-a-boo. Bonnie had to be satisfied with a good brushing out of the tangles in that golden mass, which Stefan clearly didn't know how to handle. When Elena's hair was finally silky and smooth, Bonnie proudly took her out to be shown off. And was promptly sorry. The other three were in deep, and it looked like grim, conversation. Reluctantly, Bonnie let go of Elena who immediately flew – literally – into Stefan's lap, and joined them herself. â€Å"Of course we understand,† Meredith was saying. â€Å"Even before Caroline went off her rocker, what other choice was there, ultimately? But – â€Å" â€Å"What ;;what other choice is there'?† Bonnie said, as she sat down on Stefan's bed beside him. â€Å"What are you guys talking about?† There was a long pause, and then Meredith got up to put an arm around Bonnie. â€Å"We were talking about why Stefan and Elena need to leave Fell's Church – need to go far away.† At first Bonnie didn't react – she knew she should be feeling something, but she was too deep in shock to access what it was. When words came to her, the only thing she could hear herself saying stupidly was, â€Å"Goaway ?Why?† â€Å"You saw why – here, yesterday,† Meredith said, her dark eyes filled with pain, her face for once showing the uncontrollable anguish she must be feeling. But for the moment, no anguish meant anything to Bonnie but her own. And it was coming now, like an avalanche burying her in red-hot snow. In ice that burned. Somehow she struggled out of it long enough to say, â€Å"Caroline won't do anything. She signed a vow. She knows that to break it – especially when – when you-know-who signed it, too†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Meredith must have told Stefan about the crow, because he sighed and shook his head, gently fending off Elena, who was trying to look up into his face. Clearly she sensed the unhappiness in the group, but just as clearly she couldn't really understand what was causing it. â€Å"The last person I want around Caroline is my brother.† Stefan pushed his dark hair out of his eyes irritably, as if he had been reminded of how much they looked alike. â€Å"And I don't think Meredith's threat about the sorority sisters is going to work, either. She's too far gone into the darkness.† Bonnie shivered inside. She didn't like the thoughts that those words summoned up:into the darkness . â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Matt began, and Bonnie realized that he felt the same way she did – stunned and sick, as if they were getting off some cheap carnival ride. â€Å"Listen,† Stefan said, â€Å"there's another reason why we can't stay here.† â€Å"What other reason?† Matt said slowly. Bonnie was too upset to speak. She had thought about this, somewhere deep in her unconscious. But she'd pushed the thoughts away every time they came. â€Å"Bonnie understands it already, I think.† Stefan looked at her. She looked back with eyes that were misting over with tears. â€Å"Fell's Church,† Stefan explained gently and sadly, â€Å"was built at a meeting of the ley lines. The lines of raw Power in the ground, remember? I don't know if it was deliberate. Does anybody know if the Smallwoods had anything to do with the location?† No one did. There was nothing in Honoria Fell's old diary about the werewolf family having a choice in the founding of the town. â€Å"Well, if it was an accident, it was a pretty unlucky one. The town – I should say, the town cemetery – was built directly over a place where a lot of ley lines cross. That's what made it a beacon for supernatural creatures, bad or – or not quite so bad.† He looked embarrassed, and Bonnie realized that he was talking about himself. â€Å"I was drawn here. So were other vampires, as you know. And with every person who had the Power who came here, the beacon became stronger. Brighter. More attractive to other people with the Power. It's a vicious cycle.† â€Å"Eventually, some of them are going to see Elena,† Meredith said. â€Å"Remember, these are people like Stefan, Bonnie, but not people with his moral sense. When they see her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Bonnie almost burst into tears at the thought. She seemed to see a flurry of white feathers, each tumbling in slow motion to the ground. â€Å"But – she wasn't this way when she first woke up,† Matt said slowly and stubbornly. â€Å"She talked. She was rational. She didn'tfloat .† â€Å"Talking or not talking, walking or floating, she has thePower ,† Stefan said. â€Å"Enough to drive ordinary vampires crazy. Crazy enough to hurt her to get it. And she doesn't kill – or wound. At least, I can't imagine her doing that. What I'm hoping,† he said, and his face darkened, â€Å"is that I can take her somewhere where she'll be†¦protected.† â€Å"But you can't take her,† Bonnie said, and she could hear the wail in her own voice without being able to control it. â€Å"Didn't Meredith tell you what I said? She's going to wake up. And Meredith and I need to be with her for that.† Because we won't be with her later.Suddenly it made sense. And while it wasn't quite as bad as thinking that they would be not-anywhere-at-all, it was more than bad enough. â€Å"I wasn't thinking of taking her until she can at least walk properly,† Stefan said, and he surprised Bonnie with a quick arm around her shoulders. It felt like Meredith's hug, sibling-ish, but stronger and briefer. â€Å"And you don't know how glad I am that she's going to wake up. Or that you'll be there to support her.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But the ghoulies are still going to come to Fell's Church? Bonnie thought. And we won't have you to protect us? She glanced up and saw that Meredith knew exactly what she'd been thinking. â€Å"I would say,† Meredith said, in her most careful, measured tones, â€Å"that Stefan and Elena have been through enough for the town's sake.† Well. There was no arguing withthat . And there was no arguing with Stefan, either, it seemed. His mind was made up. They talked until after dark anyway, discussing different options and scenarios, pondering over Bonnie's prediction. They didn't get anything decided, but at least they had thrashed out some possible plans. Bonnie insisted that there be some means of communication with Stefan, and she was just about to demand some of his blood and hair for the summoning spell when he gently pointed out that he did have a mobile phone now. At last it was time to leave. The humans were starving, and Bonnie guessed that Stefan probably was, too. He looked unusually white as he sat with Elena on his lap. When they said good-bye at the top of the stairs, Bonnie had to keep reminding herself that Stefan had promised that Elena would be there for her and Meredith to support. He would never take her away without telling them. It wasn't areal good-bye. So why did it feel so much like one?

Day Dreaming Essay Example

Day Dreaming Essay Example Day Dreaming Essay Day Dreaming Essay CONSCIOUSNESS An Altered State of Consciousness The conscious mind is what allows individuals to become associated with the closest form of reality that they can perceive. To achieve a conscious state, the individual should be aware and responsive to their immediate environment as well as their own unique thoughts, feelings, and actions. However, while it may go unnoticed and seem completely effortless, people are continually altering their states consciousness. For instance, when people become bored or uninterested in their current activities, they have the capability to enter a private world in their mind in which they can escape the realities of true and absolute consciousness. â€Å"Our minds may wander during boring tasks because daydreaming is actually the brain’s normal state, rather than a pointless distraction, according to a new U. S. study† (Jones, 2007). According to Malia Mason, a postdoctoral researcher of neuro cognition at Harvard University, psychologists have assumed that individuals concentrate most of their time towards goal-oriented thoughts and that periodically they will have spouts of extraneous thoughts. Conversely, it could be that individuals spend most of their time engaging in less productive thoughts and that they will occasionally have some goal-oriented thoughts and ideas. Furthermore, Mason describes daydreaming as â€Å"a state of mind where thoughts that are experienced by an individual are unrelated to what is going on in the environment around them† (Jones, 2007). Daydreaming alters the consciousness because it is a type of imagination in which the mind forms mental images of scenarios, possibly creating circumstances that the daydreamer has never experienced before. The brain is so fascinating because it has this wide range of abilities to produce effects that include voices and feelings in one’s very own daydream. Although this may seem as if daydreaming is just a gratifying distraction of desirable fantasies, it is actually very beneficial in a variety of ways. â€Å"Psychologists estimate that one-third to one-half of a person’s thoughts hile awake are daydreams, although a single daydream rarely last more than a few minutes† (Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001). Nevertheless, the time spent on daydreaming can have helpful and advantageous uses and outcomes such as relaxation, maintaining relationships, becoming more productive and accomplishing goals, inducing creativity, and of course, overcoming boredom. When one†™s head is in the clouds and their mind begins to wander, eventually they will begin to feel peaceful and relaxed. Consequently they may be in a better mood, have a clearer mind, and feel refreshed, therefore allowing them to achieve their priorities. Furthermore, it is even possible that if one daydreams about their goals and desired successes, they will in turn work harder and put forth the effort to make those dreams come true. â€Å"The beauty of daydreams is that nothing is impossible† (Frank, 2005-2010). Another positive characteristic of having daydreams usually allows couples to maintain healthy relationships. According to James Honeycutt, PhD, â€Å"happy couples tend to think about one another when they’re apart, which has the effect of psychologically maintaining the relationship. He goes on to say that â€Å"we daydream about the people we love and we imagine sharing good news with them, along with our successes and failures† (Frank, 2005-2010). Also, daydreaming provides the ability for the mind to stay active. â€Å"People with monotonous jobs, like factory workers and security guards, often use daydreaming to keep their minds stimulated and to get them through the day† (Frank, 2005-2010) . According to U. S. researchers, â€Å"daydreaming seems to be the default setting of the human mind, and certain brain regions are devoted to it† (msnbc, 2007). In fact, Malia Mason says that there is this network of regions in the brain that are activated as long as people are not engaged in any focused activities. â€Å"Neurologists and psychologists have debated what goes on when people are not specifically thinking about or doing something, and there had been general agreement that the mind does not simply go blank† (msnbc, 2007). In order to study what exactly takes place in the brain and what parts are activated while daydreaming, a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI) may be utilized. This can be done while communicating with the subject being imaged so as to analyze the activity simultaneously. Research has conclusively proved that during daydreaming, many areas in the brain experience a significant rise in activity as well as gaining an increase in the ability to solve complex problems. â€Å"The brain’s â€Å"default network† which is linked to easy, routine mental activity and includes the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), the posterior cingulate cortex and the temporoparietal junction was the only part of the brain thought to be active when our minds wander† (Physorg, 2009). Nevertheless, it was also found that â€Å"the brain’s â€Å"executive network† associated with high-level, complex problem-solving and including the lateral PFC and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex also becomes activated when we daydream† (Physorg, 2009). After performing a study to determine why brains are inclined to daydream, researchers eventually concluded that â€Å"although the thoughts the mind produces when wandering are at times useful, such instances do not prove that the mind wanders because these thoughts are adaptive; on the contrary the mind may wander simply because it can† (msnbc, 2007). Daydreaming may possibly be an ultimate source of multi-tasking. The brain has an amazing capacity to recognize how much attention is essentially available and distribute it to potentially more important thoughts by simply altering one’s consciousness in the form of everyone’s own unique ability to daydream. References * Encyclopedia of Psychology. (2001, April 6). Daydreaming. Findarticles. com. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0000/ai_2699000083 * Frank, Christina. (2005-2010). Why Does Daydreaming Get Such a Bad Rap? Webmd. com. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from ebmd. com/balance/features/why-doesdaydreaming-get-such-bad-rap * Jones, Hilary. (2007, January 19). Daydreaming Improves Thinking. Cosmosmagazine. com. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from cosmosmagazine. com/news/980/daydreaming-improves-thinking? page=3 * MSNBC. (2007, January 19). Caught Daydreaming? Blame Brain’s Settings. Msnbc. com. Retrieved February 26, 2010 msnbc. msn. com/id/16709755/ * Physorg. (2009, May 11). Brain’s Problem-solving Function at Work When We Daydream. Physorg. com. Retrieved February 26, 2010 from physorg. com/news161280990. html

A brief history of Fidel Castro

A brief history of Fidel Castro This paper will discuss a brief history of Fidel Castro, his leadership styles, characteristics, and the determinants that occurred during his rise to prominence. It provides his sources of power, and further examines his effectiveness or non effectiveness as a leader. Research on Fidel Castro and his leadership was conducted through online sources which include three academic. Importance: What relationship could be found between the Fidel Castro, the followers, and the situation? What were his perceived positive and negative qualities? What outstanding traits could be detected within Fidel Castro? About Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro (Ruz) Castro was born in Biran Cuba on August 13th 1926 to Angel Castro and Lina Ruz in the Eastern Province of Cuba. Fidel was the third child of his siblings by father, Angel Castro. Although he was born out of wedlock, he was privileged to upper-middle class living environments. He was educated in a private boarding school, attended college and later went on to Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he became engrossed in the political climate in Cuba especially as it relates to the nationalism, anti-imperialism and socialism. (Castro’s Biography, 2010) Castro was married to Mirta Diaz Balart. They had one son whose name was Fidelito which meant â€Å"little Fidel†. Her family was wealthy and Fidel Castro capitalized on this opportunity and as a result was exposed to a much wealthier lifestyle and at the same time, was able to network with key political associations. The marriage ended after six years because of a lack of financial support for his family. Mirta was his second wife. (Castro’s Biography, 2010) Castro’s enthusiasm for reform and social justice led him to the Dominican Republic in an attempt to help overthrow Mr. Rafael Trujillo. Although this attempt was not successful, this did not deter him from the fight for social justice. He was part of an anti communist party that was formed with the aim of exposing government corruption, developing strategies to gain economic independence and implement social reform in Cuba. Although his attempts to overthrow the leader at the time, General Fulgencio Bartista failed, he never gave up. He was sentenced to jail for those attempted coups but continued the fight to become Cuba’s leader, in an effort to make the changes he was hoping to fulfill. This long struggle was finally realized on January 1st, 1959 when he assumed the leadership of the government. He appointed his brother, Raul Castro the duties of commander of the armed forces on February 15th 1959. Leader type and history â€Å"Charismatic leaders are exceptionally self-confident, are strongly motivated to attain and assert influence, and have strong conviction in the moral correctness of their beliefs† (House charisma and intellectually simulated that in itself helped Castro achieve the drastic change he sort for Cuba. That is the social and political reform he aimed to achieve as a leader.

Case study of Jack Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case study of Jack - Term Paper Example For example, Freud would say that Jack Welch has specific abilities that he inherits from his biology. He stutters, which would be considered abnormal in today’s society. Thus, as a result this lays a genetic abnormality that is influencing the behavior of the individual. In addition, Freud would also comment on the number of divorces he had as the result of a problem in his psychosocial development, since Freud believed that humanity functioned on two principles alone: death and sex. Because Jack Welch has shown that he is unable to keep stable relationships, this poses an interesting problem as far as diagnosing where the abnormality lies in his psychosocial skills. Erikson, who was a student of Freud’s, would argue that the environment and relationships shape a person more so than the deterministic biological view. Erikson would say that Welch was able to overcome a majority of the psychosocial stages of development, such as inferiority vs. industry because he was ab le to find a way to be a very productive member in society. However, because he has had so many relationship problems, the comment could be made that there is neuroticism in the Intimacy vs. Isolation stage where he is unable to make a concrete relationship last a while.