Assignment 1: Preliminary Product Screening Report

PRELIMINARY PRODUCT SCREENING REPORT: OPAL JEWELRY 16/08/2012 Assignment one. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Gems and jewelry play a significant role in Australian customs and traditions, making this sector integral to the economy and one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Precious opal ranks with diamond, as one of the most valuable of gemstones. Opal jewelry can have a big variation on their values, opals materials to make those jewelries can start at AUD$1. 00 per carat and go to AUD$20,000. 00 per carat. Apart from Australia and Slovakia the only other countries with a significant production of opal jewelry have been Mexico and Brazil.Australian opal jewelry can be a sound long-term investment, with value appreciation climbing yearly. Weakness: Australia does not invest in overseas marketing for jewelry, if the country started investing on that, opportunities would came, building up the opal market overseas Australians have the opals as old-fashioned jewelry; they should be re -educated about that. Compliance: Intellectual property (IP) is an essential tool to protect your ideas and the work you generate as a designer in the fashion industry.It’s also one of the essential building blocks of Australia’s economy, because it helps foster creativity and reward innovation. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Executive summary: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Page: 2 Introduction: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page: 4 Research Findings: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page: 5 Analysis and Conclusions: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page: 12 Opal types: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page: 13 INTRODUCTION: Since the l ast century, Australia has been the prime producer of gem opal in the world. Now a day, Australia exports over 90 per cent of natural opal, making a significant contribution to Australia's economy.The infinite variety of color and pattern makes opal a very special stone. Opal is unique in that the stone changes color when it is rocked back and forth or when it moves on the neck so mounting it in Australian opal jewelry displays the rock in the very best setting. The task for this assignment 1 in certificate IV international trade was to undertake preliminary screening of an Australian product. The task was to choose and research an Australian product made in Australia from mostly Australian resources that we wish to market internationally.Once the product was selected we were then asked to perform a research using primary and secondary resources for our research. To be Included in this research are vital pieces of information such as price, product, promotion and place, consumers of the product, competitors in the industry and the product cycle of our product. Through this preliminary research we will be able to gain an idea of whether or not exporting our chosen product will be a successful venture or whether there will be risks involved. The Australian product I have chosen is Opal Jewelry. RESEARCH FINDINGS:PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: There are more then 19 mines situated all over Australia. New south Wales, for example, is famous for your black opals. This state has the largest proportion of Australian Opals in term of value. There we can find two mines: Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs. Queensland produces Boulder Opal, which is a unique type of opal and is found attached to a host rock, ironstone. Only Queensland have the Boulder opal, and is found in deposits in weathered  sedimentary Cretaceous rocks in the west of the state. This state have four mines, which are: Quilpe, Winton, Opalton and Yoah.South Australia has four active opal mining fields, Andamooka , Coober Pedy, Lambina and Mintabie. South Australia is largest producer of opal in terms of volume, and produces the white opal, crystal opal or ‘milky' type of opal. Source: http://www. costellos. com. au/opals/types. html This research is based in a business operated in Queensland, having as a main product Boulder opal. Although, the company also sells all types of opals jewelry, rings, pendants, earrings, beads, and watches. (BUSINESS LOGO. ) Source: http://www. opalsdownunder. com. au/Images source: http://www. opalsdownunder. com. au/opal-pendants/ COSTUMERS DETAILS: The opal jewelry Is displayed in the full gamut of jewelry settings: rings, earrings, pendants, brooches, bracelets, studs, cufflinks and other type of jewelry to suit every occasion and budget. You can even have custom-made opal jewelry for your engagement ring or for any other appropriate gift-giving occasion. Or maybe you just want to spoil yourself. As the price of the jewelry made with opals varies grea tly, consumers may also vary according to the price of the product.There are jewelries made of opal, which are for tourists, with a lower cost. Others, such as black opal, which has great value, are for higher-class consumers, who admire and do not save money to buy a good jewelry. Source: â€Å"Laszlo’s opal and jewelry†, 2001-2010, viewed 10 august 2012, http://www. opal-jewelry. com/about. htm RETAIL INFORMATION: Opals are very common Jewelry in Australia. The ones made for tourists are usually sold in local markets, with a lower cost. But, we also find Opals in famous jewelry stores with a higher value.Web sites such as e-bay, or even jewelry websites made just to sell them. There are a huge variety of them, offering all forms of payment. On this company, for example the website shows some of the most important currencies that may be interested to buy their products. All the prices are showed in Australian dollars, with their currency conversion below the pictures to make it easier for the costumers to think how much does the jewelry costs in their own country. At the moment the product is only sold domestically within Australia in their store, Situated on the Bruce Highway on sunshine coast.Also, this product it is predominantly sold online at its website http://www. opalsdownunder. com. au, here the customers can browse through the available products on offer and place an online order. Once they have chosen, they can then add the product to their online cart and proceed to pay. The payment method is Credit Card or Debit MasterCard/ Visas, there is also the option to pay by PayPal. On this company, for example, the website shows some of the most important currencies that may be interested to buy their products.All the prices are showed in Australian dollars, with their currency conversion below the pictures to make it easier for the costumers to think how much does the jewelry costs in their own country, followed by the payment methods. Sou rce: https://www. opalsdownunder. com. au/cart PRICE DETAILS: The color, size and type of precious opal are factors that determine the price paid for the gemstone. Usually the price is based on the quality of the opal and expressed per carat. Furthermore, there is a marked difference between the value of uncut opal compared with the value of cut and polished opal.Like anything, marketing has a great impact on determining the value of a product. Opals are as unique and individual as the people who buy them. And a personal taste and preference can also affect the price this product. Another issue is that the different colors and patterns can appeal to different markets. Although, you can have material that can start at AUD$1. 00 per carat and go to AUD$20, 000. 00 per carat. One big influence when we talk about Opal values is the Opal tone: it refers to the background or the ‘underlying color' of the opal, which ranges from black through dark to light.Generally opals with a blac k or dark body tone are more valuable than those with a white, light, or crystal body tone, because a stone with a darker body tone tends to display colors more vibrantly. Black opals are the most prized opal and may realize prices over AUD $15,000 a carat. Opal Jewelry can also vary between the products, one simple opal pendent for example, starts with AUD 136, 00, but an opal ring costs around AUD 230. 00. As was mentioned before, we can also find in the market more affordable opal jewelry, but usually, they are not made with gold, or silver or valuable materials.SOURCE: http://www. opalsdownunder. com. au COMPETITORS: Apart from Australia and Slovakia the only other countries with a significant production of opal jewelry have been Mexico and Brazil. There are a few other countries, which have small occurrences of precious opal, usually from volcanic rocks, but these have met with little commercial success. Another very valuable stone and well regarded by consumers, the diamond, i s also seen as a competitor. Although, diamonds do not have the range of prices and types of productions that have opals.A top quality black opal can influence in the price, giving a higher price per carat than a good, clear one-carat diamond. Very different to to the diamond industry, there is no monopoly in the world marketing of opal and true market forces of supply and demand determine price. Another difference is that, opals have a wide range of values, which can satisfy a greater number of consumers, becoming a popular stone. And that do not happen with Diamonds. Apart of those countries, and the diamond, other mines in Australia are the biggest competitor that Opals Down Under have.With the websites facilities, the mines also sells the product for another countries, or domestically, for Australians. SOURCE: â€Å"Mining and Gems Global Industry†, 2008, viewed 10 august 2012, ;http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? sid=c49106d4-941d-433b-9f22-8f7280b7d19b %40sessionmgr104;vid=14;hid=125; PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE: Australian opal can be a sound long-term investment, with value appreciation climbing yearly. Australian fields are slowly running down, so the values on quality gems will regularly increase year by year.For the overseas investor, it is easier to buy at the source of supply and save money. â€Å"COOBER Pedy's colourful opal mining industry is falling victim to the state's mining boom†. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER], viewed in 10 august 2012, ;http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=3;hid=125;sid=bd0f4262-c765-4e52-b405-3b86c70d60ac%40sessionmgr112;bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWNvb2tpZSxpcCx1cmwsY3BpZCZjdXN0aWQ9czEyNDE5NzEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=anh;AN=201206091017391615; PROMOTION: Nationally, this company uses newspaper, magazines and sales to promote their sales.But also, a way that they use to promote is from Internet. Their website is a good way to promote their products and their store, but to promote their websites, coupons a re also showed in on-line magazines, giving the costumers discounts of this product, and giving the costumers an opportunity to have a look on their websites: source: http://saltmagazine. com. au/articles/web-exclusives/pepper-march-spa-restaurants-events. aspx WEAKNESS OF THE PRODUCT: Even with so many good things to talk about the market for jewelry opals, we also have to look at his weak side.One way Australian opal could further its reach would be through aggressive strategies of marketing. Australia spends almost to nothing with the promotion of opal overseas or even with in his own country. For example, last year, a South African diamond mining company called De Beers, spent around AUS$150million in Japan marketing diamond engagement rings, as opposed to Australia which, in the same year, spent AUD$100,000. 00 in all the promotion of opal overseas. Australia could make more marketing campaigns about opals, and that would increase the demand.Another weaknesses of the market is that, according to opal retailer Con Retsas, if we educate Australians about opal that could be the first step towards telling the world about the gem and build up its global reach. He said that â€Å"Many Australians perceive opal jewelry as old fashioned, something that Grandma wore. † But if you compare an opal to a diamond, even a lower grade opal can be really interesting and beautiful to look at as opposed to a poor diamond, which is nothing flash or colorful as the opals. Source: â€Å"The Gemmological Association of Australia (GAA)†, C 2012, viewed 10 August 2012, ;www. gem. rg. au ;. COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW: About IP Australia: IP Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for administering patent, design, trademark and plant breeder’s rights. By granting these rights, and contributing to the improvement of Australian and international IP systems, IP Australia is supporting Australia’s economic development. Intellectual property (I P) is an essential tool to protect your ideas and the work you generate as a designer in the fashion industry. It’s also one of the essential building blocks of Australia’s economy, because it helps foster creativity and reward innovation.Australia’s IP laws provide a legal framework to protect your innovative and creative ideas and designs. Legally enforceable IP rights encourage technological innovation and artistic expression in industries, such as fashion and design, and help to build and expand businesses, create new jobs and stimulate the sector both in Australia and overseas. Source: http://www. ipfashionrules. gov. au/ Conclusion: Today, the Australian opal jewelry industry is made up of a large number of individual companies generally working their own claims.A single opal field is explored and developed by several hundred individual miners, making the jewelry market develop, and have a huge quantity of competitors. Historically, the continued developme nt of the industry has relied upon chance discovery. Other than putting more funds into marketing Australian opal jewelry, I believe that display stores around the world, representing Australian opal jewelry as a product rather than individual jewelry businesses would be a start in the global promotion of Australian opal jewelry.With this promotion nice quality of jewelry as artistic designed pieces, could make the market reach the status it deserves. This industry is young, and Australia has much to do in order to promote the jewelry industry to its biggest potential. Yet, with industry perseverance, opal jewelry will be soon recognized by the world, for the art it is. Opal jewelry is a great gift, or souvenir that represents Australia, making this industry have a large number of types of consumers.To conclude, In my opinion, Australia has reached his national target with the opal jewelry market, and now is ready to export this amazing art and show the world not just the beauty of the rings, watches, pendants, but a little bit of his culture as well. Australian opals jewelry has the best quality, design and also the biggest resources making opals jewelry an easier market to export. Type of opals: Boulder opal is also classified as solid opal.It is a variety of precious opal that has the host rock forming naturally as part of the gem. This type of opal is often cut with the ironstone left on the back, as the opal often just a thin vein of precious opal is present. The opal forms within the cavities of the boulders in both vertical and horizontal cracks. Boulder opal can be found in many different shapes and sizes, from as small as a pea, to as big as a family car which can also be black or light depending on the appearance of the stone when viewed from the surface.Black/Dark Opal Black Opal is easily distinguished by the blackness of the background â€Å"body tone† or body color, which shows a play of color within or on a black/dark body tone, when view ed from the face up. The term ‘black opal' does not mean that the stone is completely black, some of them have a light crystal color bar, giving the otherwise light opal a dark appearance. Even expensive black/dark opals may have only a very thin color bar. Light/Crystal OpalCrystal Opal has a transparent, translucent, or semi-translucent body, which is also referred to as the â€Å"diaphaneity† of a stone. Crystal opals can display any color of the spectrum in a beautiful play of color because they are cut with a high cabochon. The translucence of a crystal opal often gives it clarity and vibrancy of color and may be transparent through to nearly opaque, although it usually has a light body tone or white body color. Source: â€Å"King opal†, 2009, viewed 10 august 2012, ;http://www. kingopal. com. au/types-of-opal. php;

Early Childhood Essay

Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program should provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process. Kindergarten for children is very important. Most parents and children are excited about this stage in life for their child, as well as children might be a scared or nervous. Kindergartens are still mastering new physical skills. They are more able to move their body the way they wants to and, most likely, can run like the wind. Throughout the year kindergarten children will show a number of new physical skills, some are more important than others to help make her kindergarten year a highly successful learning experience. Kindergarten is the year to get used to the routine of school, and the idea of being accountable to a new authority figure and to make new friends, but it’s a crucial year to build the foundation for learning. Kindergarten learns differently, some may learn hands on, or visual. Kindergarten are at the most important stage in life so it is up to the educators to make a difference that can help them in the long so they are able to reach the next grade level as well as overcome any milestones that they may reach throughout their education. First, the classroom is loving, kind, caring, sharing, and motherly to all the children just like my own. The way I envision my classroom is that as you walk in the door you see art and picture of children playing and eating and doing different thing that supports the area such as dramatic play would be children in doctor jackets or something in that nature. The classroom has warm colors around it for each season. Each area of the classroom would be label with such as blocks would be block area, art, dramatic play, water area, science, literacy, etc. The children cubbies are label with their name and picture so they are able to recognize themselves. The library has age appropriate books for the children. The classroom should off the children art and learning. If there is a theme in the classroom the room will represent that specific theme. Each child is at a table that is color coded that will identify each table as a group, each table seats about 3-4 students depending on the class size. Each child has a portfolio so children are able to see their progress throughout the year. The classroom is based on play and material and the children have a teacher child relationship. While planning the curriculum I will provide free play that will allow children their individually time to choose an area of involvement (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). An effective curriculum children should be active and engaged, the goals are clear and shared by all, evidence based, the valued content is learned through investigation, play, and focused, intentional teaching (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). The curriculum builds on prior learning and experiences and is comprehensive and most important benefit the needs of the children (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). Curriculum should be planned around the developmental needs of the children in my classroom (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). Curriculum will builds upon what children already know and are able to do to enable them to connect new concepts and skills. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) urges that as a teacher my curriculum is thoughtfully planned, challenging, engaging, developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, comprehensive and likely to promote positive outcome for all children (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). While planning the curriculum I will provide free play that will allow children their individually time to choose an area of involvement (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). The experiences should be developed to help the young children in the classroom to help improve their skills in problem solving, thinking, reasoning, and creating (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). The National Association for the Education of Young Children states that high quality, developmentally appropriate programs should be available for all children. A separate statement of the NAEYC divides the concept of appropriateness into two aspects: age appropriateness and individual appropriateness. Philosophies that reflect how I envision my classroom and curriculum are Friedrich Froebel. Friedrich Froebel was a German educator of the nineteenth century who developed an Idealist philosophy of early childhood education. He established kindergarten and education for four and five-year-old children. Kindergarten is now a part of education worldwide. Friedrich Froebel was born in the small town of Oberwiessbach, Germany in 1782. His mother died when he was a baby (Froebel, 2011). His father remarried, but Froebel never liked his stepmother. His feeling of rejection and isolation remained with him for life. This had a strong effect on his theory of early childhood education. He believed the kindergarten teacher should be loving, kind and motherly (Froebel, 2011). Froebel studied at the University of Jena for a short time. In 1805, while studying architecture in Frankfurt, he was persuaded to become a teacher by the model school at Frankfurt. Friedrich Froebel changed the way we think about early childhood education. He designed balls, wooden blocks, tiles, sticks and rings to demonstrate that children learn by playing. Known around the world as the Froebel Gifts , these objects were an important part of his Kindergarten (Froebel, 2011). Froebel also included in his kindergarten philosophy the study and nuture of plants in a garden for stimulating children’s interest in nature. He felt it was important for children to grow up in harmony with nature. The Froebel Gifts have been widely imitated and adapted by educators and toys makers. Because of Froebel my classroom will have the right material to that I am able to teach my children with the right material so they can play and learn at the same time. He felt that the teacher should be loving caring and motherly and I feel that I am that way in the classroom as well. â€Å"Treat peoples how you want to be treated† and that’s how I feel as a teacher. Treat other children how I would want my children to be treated. Having that motherly character can also make it easier for a child to be more comfortable in the classroom especially if it the first time being away from the parents. Being that Froebel knew what it was like losing his mother and not liking his stepmother he knew what it was like to feel neglect and isolated so he incorporated that in with teaching and realized that no child should ever feel that way. Froebel’s kindergarten used free play, games, songs, stories, and crafts to stimulate imagination while developing physical and motor skill. In most classrooms free play is welcomed as well as games, stories, songs, and craft that will encourage children motor skills as well as solving problems. The kindergarten program was designed to meet children’s needs for physical activity, sensory awareness, creative expression, exploration of ideas and concepts, the pleasure of singing, and the experience of living among others. His educational approach was for â€Å"self-activity,† the idea that allowed the child to be led by his own interests and to freely explore them. Children are more independent and they want to explore new things on their own. Children become aware of numbers early in life, because of daily experience involve various use of numbers. Math is more than learning about numbers and how to add, subtract multiply and divide (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics suggests 10 curriculum standards. The standards provide a guide in mathematics curriculum planning ; content standard are numbers and operation, algebra, geometry, measurements, and data analysis and probability. The process standards are problem solving reasoning and proof, communication, connection and representation (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). The standard gives an overview of math content and process for prekindergarten through the second grade(Eliason, Jenkins 2012). While teaching math to the children I will also incorporate promotes such as blocks, legos, cheerios, etc so that the children are able to see what they are doing visually . At the end of the year children will be able to understands one-to-one correspondence, sorts and classifies objects according to common characteristics, recognize and create patterns. (e.g. red, blue, red, blue or boy, girl, boy, girl), understand simple bar graphs and interpret how they help us gather information, count to 100, identify and print numbers 1-20, identify and draw basic shapes such as rectangle, square, circle and triangle. Reading is a communicative art that involves recognizing and understanding words(Eliason, Jenkins 2012). Children cannot read with understanding and comprehension something they don’t have the background knowledge about. Learning to read takes time, patience, desire, and readiness (Eliason, Jenkins 2012). Kindergarten is a year of discovery in reading and literacy. Child will learn to recognize simple words in print, including his own name and those of his classmates. Letter-sound correspondence, phonemic awareness, sight words recognition, rhyming and words families and concepts about print are the areas in which your child will expand his knowledge this year. By the end of the year some kindergartners will even be reading a little bit. Kindergarten science explores topics that are meaningful to students and can be applied to everyday life. Children will learn about good health habits, including nutrition and an introduction to dental hygiene. Children will spend time learning the process of inquiry as we learn about the five senses. Children will be able to collect information , observation, and data record information while exploring science projects. We will observe outside, take field trips, walks, and be able to talk about what we see. We will explore cause and effect. Science will be integrated into everyday activities including cooking projects Fine Arts are any art form. For example, painting, sculpture, architecture, drawing, or engraving that is considered to have purely aesthetic value (Encarta, 2004). The arts can open the minds of students in ways mere reading and writing will never be able to accomplish. Teaching through arts helps students experience concepts rather than simply discussing or reading it or have it read to them. This approach is consistent with educational theories that highlight the importance of reaching multiple learning styles or intelligences (Jacobs, 1999, p. 2). By working through the arts, instead of about the arts, the students’ educational experience will be achieved in a different way than just teaching the standard style of learning. Education of art helps students develop creativity, self-expression, analytical skills, discipline, cross-cultural understandings, and a heightened appreciation for the arts† and that â€Å"students who develop artistic expression and creative problem solving skills are more like to succeed in school. An activity that I would teach would be fine art such would be painting. Friedrich Froebel, the father of kindergarten, believed that young children should be involved in both making their own art and enjoying the art of others. Children will have a sheet of paper and would be able to pick two different colors out of four. I would allow them to chose if they want to finger paint, or use a paint brush. Once children have made their decision they would be able to self express.. Washington state standard for Art is through dance, music, theatre, and visual arts provide detailed recommendations and guidance for K–12 arts education. These documents include: Washington State K–12 Arts Learning Standards (one document encompassing all four arts disciplines—dance, music, theatre, and visual arts). Another activity would be science. We would see how long it takes an ice cube to melt. The Washington State K-12 Science Standards is a detailed document describing what all students are expected to know and be able to do at each level of our educational system in the area of science. The purpose of these standards is to provide strong support for students, parents, teachers, and the broader community by guiding the alignment of the school curriculum, instruction, and assessment at local and state levels. To accomplish this purpose it is essential to use this document in the following ways: Those responsible for curriculum alignment should refer to this document in selecting or developing instructional materials that enable students to acquire core conceptual knowledge and abilities in science. Those responsible for assessment alignment at the local and state levels should refer to this document in selecting and/or developing assessment tools and rubrics that measure student achievement of the core content in these standards. Those responsible for instructional alignment should refer to this document in designing classroom instruction and professional development of teachers to ensure that achieving these core content standards is a priority. It is also important to point out what the standards. In conclusion early childhood program should provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process. References. â€Å"Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) – Biography, Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy, The Kindergarten Curriculum, Diffusion of the Kindergarten. † Education Encyclopedia. StateUniversity. com. < http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html > 21 Dec. 2010. Froebel. (2011, April 04). † Education Encyclopedia. StateUniversity. com. < http://education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. html > 21 Dec. 2010. Eliason, C. F. , Jenkins, L. (2012). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (9th ed. ). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Cluff, D. (2005, October 6). The Importance of Fine Arts in the Classroom. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from http://ezinearticles. com/? The-Importance-of-Fine-Arts-in-the-Classroom&id=80061.

Avocado Leaf Plasticity Essay Example for Free

Avocado Leaf Plasticity Essay INTRODUCTION: Phenotypic plasticity, or differing phenotypes from one genotype in different environmental conditions, is a way for sessile organisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Valladares et al., 2007). Plasticity was expected to be abundant, however, it did not occur as often in nature due to resource limitations and environmental stress (Valladares et al., 2007). An experiment by Matos tested the phenotypic plasticity to light availability in shade and sun leaves of coffee trees (Matos et al. , 2009). Their research indicated that â€Å"compared [to] sun leaves, shade leaves had a lower stomatal density, a thinner palisade mesophyll, a higher specific leaf area, and improved light capture†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Matos et al., 2009). The sun leaves were described as â€Å"generally thicker with an enhanced quantity of palisade mesophyll† (Matos et al., 2009). Our objective was the presence of phenotypic plasticity in avocado trees based on the differences in the morphology of shade and sun leaves. In our study, we asked whether there is a difference in surface area, length-to-width ratio, mass, specific leaf mass, and color between shade leaves and sun leaves in avocado trees. We hypothesized that there would be no significant differences in surface area, length-to-width ratio, mass, specific leaf mass, and color between shade leaves and sun leaves. METHODS: We collected our seventy samples of avocado tree (Persea americana) leaves, in equal amounts of sun and shade leaves, at an avocado tree grove located north of Building 3 and University Drive at Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday, October 24, 2013 at 9:00 am. They were randomly and interspersedly collected throughout the grove. We split the grove into five areas, split into five teams of two, and was assigned to one of the five areas. Each team picked a number for the trees in their region and a random number was selected from a random number table to select a tree corresponding to that number. A random number table was used to pick the corresponding quadrant, branch, and leaf.  This process was done twice on each tree in the understory for shade leaves, and in the canopy for sun leaves. Each leaf was measured for its surface area, length-to-width ratio, mass, specific leaf mass, and color. Surface area was measured by a leaf area meter in squared centimeters. Length-to-width ratio was measured by measuring the length (vertically along the bridge of the leaf) and the width (horizontally on the widest part of the leaf) with a ruler in centimeters, and dividing the length by the width. Mass was calculated by a balance in grams. Specific leaf mass (thickness) was measured by dividing the mass by its surface area in grams per squared centimeter. Color was measured by having three reference leaves provided by the instructor, indicating light (L), medium (M), and dark (D) leaves and compared our collected leaves. After recording all of the data, these data were then input into a statistical program called StatCat to determine normality through a normality test. The data for surface area, length-to-width ratio, mass, and specific leaf mass for sun and shade leaves were both normal, therefore, we chose a paired sample t-test for all of them. A normality test was not needed for color for sun and shade leaves due to it being a nominal scale data. The number of light, medium, and dark shade leaves were tallied up according to color, and the same was done for the sun leaves. A contingency table was made in Excel, and used in StatCat to test our hypothesis. The paired sample t-tests were also done through StatCat, which then gave us the appropriate results to test our hypotheses. RESULTS: Shade leaves had a significantly larger surface area than sun leaves (t = -3.7313, P = 0.00069; Table 1). Shade leaves had a significantly larger length-to-width ratio than sun leaves (t = -2.7162, P = 0.01031). Shade leaves had no significant difference in mass than sun leaves (t = -1.4871, P = 0.1462). Shade leaves had a significantly smaller specific leaf mass than sun leaves (t = 5.82093, P = 1.5Ãâ€"10-6). Shade leaves were significantly darker than sun leaves (X2 = 18.417, P = 0.0001). Avocado Leaf Plasticity. (2018, Oct 27).

Importance of Ice in Developing Coastal Communities Article

Importance of Ice in Developing Coastal Communities - Article Example For an ice business to be set up, the company should understand first the area whether it is sometimes affected by the disaster and the magnitude of the disaster. If such areas are prone to be affected by disaster, the company should store the product in excess so that when the disaster strikes, they will have enough products to satisfy the extra demand. In a disaster, approximately 10 lb of ice is required per person. Which means if 5, 000n people are affected by a hurricane it means 50,000 lb of ice is required. For product preservation such as pharmaceutical or fish preservatives, 30 lbs of ice per cubic meter is required. This constant demand will keep the demand at a stable rate. To reach the customers, the company should promote the product through advertising the product in through the media such as newspapers, ads, fliers in remote areas, and TV commercials. The company should also offer discounts to products sold at recreation facilities and promoting it at introductory pric e. Ice preserved medicines are pharmaceutical products such as vaccines and temperature sensitive clinical trial medicines that should be stored in places between 20C and 80C ensure their quality is not compromised. Products manufactured from plasma and red blood cell components detached from whole blood for transfusion also require extra care during storage to prevent them from spoiling as a result of high temperature. For quality of medical products to be maintained, all medicine needs to be stored and handled with guidelines from the manufacturer. The World Health Organization advocates for special storage conditions such as the need for ice preservation to ensure correct storage for refrigerated medicines. Manufacturers must be directed by good manufacturing practice in their production, storage and transportation and it is vital that medical facilities within the developing world handle temperature sensitive medicines as required to provide a

Violence and Its Impact Upon Adolescents Research Paper - 1

Violence and Its Impact Upon Adolescents - Research Paper Example , this can potentially have some very dire effects on them it is critically important to â€Å"establish exactly what is violence, the different forms that adolescent violence can potentially take, and the varied effects of violence on adolescents.† According to The term violence first appeared in French at around the beginning of the thirteenth century and was essentially used to characterize a brutal and quick-tempered person. It was also used to describe to indicate a power relationship that is aimed at constraining or subjecting another person. Over the centuries that followed, violence was given a fundamental role by western civilizations where on one had it was seen to quite fiercely denounce the excesses of violence and openly declared it to be illegitimate, However, on the other hand, Western civilization was also seen to give violence a rather elevated position where it was legitimized so as to validate the actions of knights who were forced to shed blood in the noble defense of the orphans and widows as well as defend the just causes of the Christian kings against the Infidels, and trouble makers (Muchembled 7-9). The brutality of all human relations was accepted as being a universal social language in addition to its being considered to be absolutely normal and quite necessary in most western societies up until the seventeenth century. While cultural ideals might have gradually evolved over time, violence is seen to still play a prominent role in modern society and equally affects people of all ages hailing from the different walks of life. The violence perpetrated against the young people is found to be particularly worrying as it can significantly affect their future development and negatively impact the future human society. The Transactional Model of Development: This development model is seen to greatly emphasize the importance of the roles that are seen to be played by both the environment and the child in the determination of the child’s

Reputation and Privacy Issues in Distributed Computing Research Proposal

Reputation and Privacy Issues in Distributed Computing - Research Proposal Example However, researchers like Katsikas argue that the domain attained an independent identity only during the past 20 years and that there is a wide scope for further research and development (126). While current distributed models are capable of delivering high-speed, on-demand services via a shared pool of resources and can operate with minimal interaction or management, such recent advances have introduced several more dimensions into factors like privacy and data security that are critical when sharing information. Thus, distributed computing is widely regarded as a new programming paradigm that needs further research for better flexibility together with the identification and resolution of all outstanding issues related to information privacy and reputation (Katsikas 54). The proposed study aims to analyze and understand some of these issues and provide some useful solutions that may be incorporated in future implementations of distributed systems. The reasons for undertaking this r esearch and the necessity to understand this specific segment of distributed computing is elaborated in the subsequent sections. ... e element of trust that cannot be controlled by networks themselves becomes a crucial factor and is necessary for authorized and meaningful interaction among users (Hubner 195). Thus, the proper sharing of information across distributed networks is a challenge to network designers and engineers. Petkovic notes that the question of data privacy i.e., how to share information with accurate representation while maintaining privacy and designated delivery is one of the major questions currently being explored by researchers (187). While many studies have devised effective solutions that tackle privacy or reputation (trust) related issues, Subramanian argues that most of these have explored only a specific area (92). Thus, there is not much insight when it comes to evaluating both privacy and trust related methodologies that are capable of collectively solving the overall problem of proper information sharing. Questions remain on the robustness of current privacy framework and trust model s and the extent to which they can cope with a varying range of attacks. Dubitsky adds that existing techniques are not capable of utilizing any human characteristics or transcending beyond the use of trust as a validation of rules (165). The rapid surge in the use of mobile devices in distributed computing has introduced another important complexity into the equation besides raising new issues on reusable identity, ad-hoc access and transient communication. The growth of social networking over the past 5-6 years has also raised questions on the validity of identities and trust. Umar further adds that in a decentralized environment such as in distributed computing, human involvement is prone to introducing challenges in areas like human-computer interaction (HCI) (86). These

House of Representatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

House of Representatives - Essay Example Although it is necessary to be active within the campaign as a means of maintaining notoriety and engaging with the stakeholders at home, seeking to spend two large a share of time on the campaign trail opens up a distinct vulnerability within the reelection campaign itself. In such a way, the opponent is able to point to the fact that the representative is somehow shirking his or her duties and not being present at the job and votes for which he/she is paid for. In such a way, even if it disproportional level of time to spend seeking to listen to and gain stakeholder feedback with regards to the campaign trail, such a tactic and easily backfire upon the representative due to the fact that missed votes and lack of participation within the House of Representatives has the potential to lead the voter to understand that the particular representative in question does not value or take very seriously their role within the process of representation. As a function of this reality, the best strategy to pursue is with regards to seeking to adequately balance the amount of time is spent on the campaign trail as well as serving within the House of Representatives. ... As a function of proving to the populace that they value and take seriously their role, it is the responsibility of the representative to also seek to engage with stakeholders while on the campaign trail as a means of listening to, identifying, and seeking to ameliorate their specific concerns rather than merely campaigning in seeking to generate votes for a future term. †¢ b. What issues might you emphasize over the next few months as you campaign and give speeches on the House floor? How are these issues related to your constituency, their demographics, and their values? Give at least three examples. (20 points, 300 words) Ultimately, the question of what issues to support and few months prior to election is ultimately an issue of visibility. In such a way, the representative is able to make themselves known on both a nationwide in domestic platform as a prominent advocate of values that resonates with the populace that they represent. Although this technically should be pract iced at each and every juncture of a House of Representatives member’s career, it cannot and should not be ignored in the final few months leading up to an election. One of the current issues that is bound to generate a degree of residence, whether for or against, is the issue of gun control. In such a way, if the representative seeks a liberalization of current gun control measures, they can of course rely upon the Bill of Rights, various political action groups, and social conservatives as a means of providing a level of residence with regards to this particular topic. Conversely, if they seek to support a further level of gun control as a means of averting violence within the United States, they can

You guys have to write through order instruction Assignment

You guys have to write through order instruction - Assignment Example Some of the questions that could be raised from the support given by Kiev are how the country could provide enough money to get military airplanes and helicopters against the countries in the east which were against the European Union, yet it had amassed huge debts and was on the brink of civil war. The film could also be interpreted as a western imperialism in that there was massive influence of the west. There were billions of dollars that were paid from the United States to help Ukraine pay back Russia for the deliveries of gas for the country. According to some journalists, the United States believed that they could buy their way out problems by using money. They believed that they could gain more friends by helping the ailing nations financially (Taddonio). By not mentioning the help that the United States was not mentioned, the film could have been more critical. Instead, it only painted the picture of a warring poor nation which could hardly support themselves throughout the war. The movie could do better if it had been more critical. Taddonio, Patrice. Tuesday on FRONTLINE: â€Å"Battle Zones: Ukraine & Syria. 22 May 2012. 23 January 2015.

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Globalization - Essay Example Misunderstandings are common, and these can have serious consequences ranging from the failure of business operations to the needless suffering of individuals caught in a culture far removed from that of their birth, and even to war and destruction when nations fail to come to a workable understanding of each other’s aspirations. This paper examines two ways in which communication theory and cultural studies can be helpful in preventing cross-cultural miscommunication. The first is the discipline’s potential to clarify and explain the role of ritual in human interactions, and this is explored using the example of health services which have to operate in one particular culture, but deal with clients from multiple different cultures. The second is the process that can be called â€Å"clarification of values† which underpins intercultural understanding, and this is explored using example of business relations between China and the Western world which includes Europe and America. The paper aims therefore to demonstrate on a small and then on a larger scale, the value of two aspects of communication theory and cultural studies in the modern world. ... Such extreme distinctions underpinned ideologies like colonialism and slavery which privileged white, western ideas above other types of culture. In the twentieth century, studies such as those of Adorno and Horkheimer observed the cataclysmic world wars, the horrors of Fascism, and the rise of capitalist consumerism and rightly concluded that Western culture was capable of untold atrocities. This brought into question all the former assumptions about the superiority of Western elitist cultural assumptions. They concluded that the alliance of financial interests with cultural expression had resulted in a commodification of culture into what amounts to an industry. The effects of this were seen as negative, dragging culture down into a lowest common denominator and marketing it to make money: â€Å"The result is the circle of manipulation and retroactive need in which the unity of the system grows ever stronger.† (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1999, p. 33) In a way this line of thinki ng can be seen as reaction against the elitist view of culture that had prevailed in the previous century. More recent cultural theorists have formulated a more positive view of culture, seeing it as a multi-faceted quality of human behaviour that is far from unified, and holds the promise of continued development and renewal due to the interaction of many different cultures. The work of bel hooks, for example, redefines the complacent elitism of dominant beliefs in America at the time of the civil rights movement as â€Å"white supremacist capitalist patriarchy† (hooks, 1999, p. 235) and promotes the ideal of â€Å"cultural diversity† (hooks, 1999, p. 239) which instead of supporting dominant

Project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Project 2 - Essay Example Yourprops was working needs to be informed of the search for them to make the necessary arrangement and final approval. Documentation of the permission is critical since it will help inform the subjects about the authority (Vacca, 2005). The documentation should be done in a manner that is transparent in term of the needed elements such as the date and signatories. There should be no cases of impersonation. The documented authority should be genuine and just. The reason for these virtues on the document is to facilitate a smooth search process void of suspicions. This case scenario will provide the requisite material evidence that can be trusted in the process of investigation. From the photo of Mr. Yourprops, the primary items that are attributed to the digital evidence include the thumb drive USB, the western digital hard disk, and a voice recorder. These items are used for storage of digital information and it implies that the investigation process will rely on the content in these items. Forensic investigation of digital information is a complex process; however, with the presence of the listed items, the requisite information will be retrieved. In the case of the USB, the information continued in it might be of that extracted from either the laptop or the disk. In essence, the USB acts as a secondary storage. There is a possibility that the information that is needed is in the disk and deleted from the primary storage, which is the laptop or the thumb disk. In the event that the files that are in the USB are not found in either of the primary sources, it will imply that, the information had been deleted. The fact that the information will be missing i n the primary source and found in the secondary source, it will provide a lead in the investigation process. The process of collecting the items needs to be procedural in the

Symbolism Used in James Joyces Dubliners Essay Example for Free

Symbolism Used in James Joyces Dubliners Essay Symbolism is a powerful tool used by people every day to force people to look past the obvious and find the deeper meaning. Symbolism is used by authors, musicians, priests, and many others. James Joyce, a well-known Irish author, uses symbolism repeatedly throughout his collection of short stories published in 1916. In these stories, titled Dubliners, Joyce uses symbolism not only to enhance the stories, but to also show the hidden, underlying message of each story without coming out and saying it directly. Joyce’s stories are centered on the problems of Dublin and through his use of symbolism Joyce is able to focus attention on what problem each story is addressing. James Joyce, author of Dubliners, uses symbolism effectively to enhance the stories. The first story in Dubliners deals with the problems of the Catholic Church. â€Å"The Sisters† is about a priest, Father Flynn, who goes crazy because of the incredible stress placed on him by the rule-centered church. A note publicly announcing the priest’s death read â€Å"July 1st, 1895 The Rev. James Flynn (Formerly of S. Catherine’s Church, Meath Street), aged sixty-five years. R. I. P. † (Joyce 4). Joyce associates Father Flynn with S. Catherine’s Church because St. Catherine was torn apart physically and Father Flynn was torn apart mentally, because of the rules and strict guidelines he was expected to uphold. Making this connection enhances the story because it shows the reader that if the priest can’t handle the rules placed on him by the church, how was an average person supposed to. The date is also symbolic because July 1st is The Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Christ. The breaking of the chalice during Mass was the cause of his death. Fr. Flynn’s sister said â€Å"It was that chalice he broke. That was the beginning of it†¦That affected his mind† (9-10). At his wake the priest his holding the chalice in his hands, which symbolized the evil church was the cause of this man’s death and reiterating the main theme of the story. â€Å"An Encounter† is the next story and its major theme is appearance versus reality, meaning things are not always what they seem. The story is about a few boy’s decision to play hooky from school in order to have an adventure. The boys meet an old man who is nice on the outside, but is actually very evil. Just before the boys come across the old man on their adventure â€Å"the sun went in behind some clouds†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (16). The sunny, innocent day turns dark symbolizing that something bad is about to happen. Joyce uses the weather in many of his stories to foreshadow events that are about to happen. This technique adds to the stories because it helps the reader know that something is about to happen and as a result they pay closer attention to what it is that Joyce is referring to. When the boys meet the old man he was â€Å"dressed in a suit of greenish-black†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (16) and had a â€Å"pair of bottle-green eyes† (19). Green is the color of Ireland and Joyce associates it with evil. By making a connection between the color of Ireland and the evil old pedophile, Joyce is really associating the evilness with all of Ireland, which is the major theme of Dubliners. Joyce is very good at giving hints about certain characters. For example, when the boys were talking with the pedophile they noticed â€Å"he had great gaps in his mouth between his yellow teeth† (17) and being gap toothed symbolized someone who was sexually promiscuous. Techniques used by Joyce, changing the weather and the man being gap-toothed, all enhance the stories because they provide hidden information that brings to light the themes of each story. In the next story, â€Å"Araby†, the major theme is infatuation versus love. Joyce begins the story by informing his readers that â€Å"North Richmond Street, being blind† (21) was the street the boy’s school was on. The term ‘blind’ is referring to the street, meaning it was a dead-end street, but it also has a different, deeper meaning. Joyce uses the word to also describe the boy’s feelings towards a girl and to his dead-end relationship with the girl he is infatuated with. From the opening sentence Joyce gives his readers and idea of what to expect from his stories. Examining the term gives a deeper meaning that enhances the story. At the boy’s home, â€Å"The wild garden behind the house contained a central apple tree and a†¦rusty bicycle pump† (21). The apple-tree symbolizes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, self-deception followed by self-knowledge. The bicycle pump symbolizes the kid’s pumped up, full of hot air, fascination with the girl and then being deflated. The apple tree and bicycle pump are clues to the outcome of the story. The boy also discovers three important and symbolic books in his house. The Abbot is about the worship of a special lady, The Devout Communicant is about worship and The Memoirs of Vidocq is a detective story that usually ends with the truth being revealed. All three stories are hinting at what will happen to the boy at the end of the story. The boy goes to Araby, a market of goods from all over the world, to buy the girl a gift in order to prove his love to her, but when he finally gets there the market’s closing in ten minutes. The boy â€Å"heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out† (27). Joyce frequently uses light to symbolize an epiphany or realization. In this case, the boy realizes the girl does not really have feelings for him as he had convinced himself to believe. The light provides the reader with the moment the boy finally realizes he was â€Å"a creature driven and derided by vanity† (28). The light is the changing from self-deception to self-knowledge. â€Å"Eveline† is the story of a girl who is torn between leaving to start a new life and staying in Dublin with her father. In her home was a â€Å"broken harmonium† (30), which is used by Joyce to symbolize there is no harmony in Eveline’s home because of her drunken, abusive father. A photograph of a priest â€Å"hung on the wall above the broken harmonium† (30). Whenever Eveline would ask her father about him he used to say, â€Å"He is in Melbourne now† (30). The priest is symbolic because he was able to do what Eveline can’t, escape Ireland. While waiting for the man she is leaving with Eveline â€Å"could hear a street organ playing†¦remind her of the promise to her mother, her promise to keep the home together as long as she could† (30-31). The organ playing reminds Eveline of her mother and she does not want â€Å"that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness† (31). She knows that she must escape with Frank, but when it comes time to get on the boat â€Å"she gripped both hands at the iron railing† (34). The symbolism of Eveline holding on the metal bars paints a clear picture of someone in jail; trapped in Ireland. Next is the story, titled â€Å"Two Gallants†, of two arrogant men who have no respect for women and only use them as a means to their happiness. Joyce uses symbolism in the story to talk about the poor treatment of Ireland and also the poor treatment of these girls by the two men, Corley and Lenehan. Before the two men met up with the innocent girl the weather changed from a nice day to cloudy, symbolic of something bad that is about to take place. At one point during the story when the men were walking down the road â€Å"a harpist stood in the roadway, playing to a little ring of listeners†¦His harp too, heedless that her coverings had fallen about her knees, seemed weary alike of the eyes of strangers and of her masters hands† (48). The harp is symbol associated by the people of Ireland with their country. The term ‘strangers’ was a code word used by the Irish for the British. The quote is making reference to the rape of the harp by saying it was â€Å"unaware that her coverings had fallen about her knees† (48). Joyce is talking about the rape of Ireland by the British, but he is also describing the girls being played, like the harp, by Corley and Lenehan. The symbolism connected with the harp helps uncover Joyce’s feelings towards Britain and the many men of Ireland who act as Corley and Lenehan do. Without the symbolism of the harp we would have never known about Joyce’s feelings towards these important topics. The title, â€Å"Two Gallants†, is also important. The term gallant means to be brave, courteous, and chivalrous, but in the story Corley and Lenehan don’t act as two gallants should. Joyce does this on purpose because most men of Dublin act as Corley and Lenehan do, and Joyce wants us to know that these two men, and the men of Dublin, did not treat women with respect, as one should. â€Å"Ivy Day In the Committee Room† deals with Irish politics. Ivy is an evergreen and symbolizes loyalty to Ireland and loyalty to the ideas of Parnell. The poem read by Joe Henchy at the end of the story, titled â€Å"The Death of Parnell† (131), makes the connection to what the title is referring to. In the poem, Parnell is described as Ireland’s â€Å"Uncrowned King† (131). It goes on to read â€Å"Shame on the coward caitiff hands/ That smote their Lord of with a kiss/ Betrayed him to the rabble-rout/ Of fawning priests – no friends of his† (132). That part of the poem is talking about how Parnell was thrown out by his own people. By saying the people â€Å"smote their Lord with a kiss† (132), the poem is making a clear connection between the people of Ireland and Judas, the betrayer of Jesus. The title, â€Å"Ivy Day In the Committee Room†, is describing the loyalty to Ireland, and Parnell, by a few remaining people. The title gives a clue to what the story is about, but it’s not until the end when Joe Henchy reads his poem that we know exactly what the title is referring to. Both the title and the poem take the short story from being good to great. The symbolism used in the title is reveled at the end and again shows Joyce’s feelings toward the Irish, in this case the government. The poem enhances the story because its not until the poem is read that we become aware of what the title is actually referring to. Clay† is a sad story about a woman, Maria, who is old and unattractive. It is Hallows Eve and everyone is participating in games. One of the games played involves being blindfolded and led up to a table with four saucers. The saucer’s contained a prayer book, a ring, water, or clay and symbolized something that was to happen in the future. The prayer book meant a life of the church, a ring symbolized marriage, water represented a voyage or journey and clay was symbolic of death. When it was Maria’s turn, she symbolically picked clay. Joyce writes, â€Å"She felt a soft wet substance with her fingers and was surprised that nobody spoke or took off her bandage† (101). The clay symbolizes death and so â€Å"Maria understood that it was wrong that time and so she had to do it over again: and this time she got the prayer book† (101). Because the clay symbolized death and the prayer book symbolized a life in the church, Maria was to live the remaining years of her life with nobody and eventually die alone. The title enhances the story because at first it is unclear what clay actually means, but at the end of the story it all comes together. At the end of the story Maria is singing â€Å"I Dreamt that I Dwelt, and when she came to the second verse she sang again† (102) the first verse. Maria unconsciously skipping the second verse of the song symbolizes her life of loneliness and shows that she has given up on dreaming about love. Maria has accepted her fate and no longer believes that maybe someday she will find love. In conclusion, Dubliners was written by James Joyce to show the problems with Dublin. Joyce uses symbolism to illuminate the themes of the story. Throughout the stories the symbolism helps explain and reinforce the themes of each story.

College Students Essay Example for Free

College Students Essay The number of international students enrolled in U. S. institutions has grown by 23 percent in the last five years. This is because the international community recognizes education in the U. S. All credit is given to University administrators who make sure that the courses students take are rigorous and prepares them for the real world ahead of them. The only problem is that Universities make students take some courses that are irrelevant to their major, thereby wasting precious time and money. Engineering is one of the most popular majors offered in United States’ Universities. It is a gateway to job opportunities but most Universities waste student’s time by forcing them to take classes that are not engineering related during their first two years of college. In most Universities, students majoring in Engineering have to take classes like fine art, government, history etc. Instead of giving these students specific courses that would prepare them for the rigorous work of engineering and reduce the time they would spend in school, Universities rather choose to introduce them to broader aspect of college, forcing them to take classes they do not need and increasing the time, they spend in college. Higher Institutions increase the time and courses college students have to take, because the more classes they take the more money the University pockets. They use this method to rip students off, thereby making college expenses ridiculously high and almost unpayable for some students. Education is not supposed to be costly, but student’s bank accounts are constantly punished by greed and bad decision making by University officials. This is why most American students abstain from furthering their educations in higher institutions after high school. The cost scares some of them, and they do not see the need to spend all their money on education. Universities should not scare Americans away from Higher Institutions by making them take classes that would dry up their bank accounts and waste their time. Instead they should give them the privilege of going to intern after high school and come back to take only the courses they need for their major. This saves students valuable time, money, and at the same time makes college more attractive to those Americans who have shunned Higher education because of the cost. When students are given the opportunity of interning before they choose their path in life, they not only get an idea of what they will wake up to every morning, but they also gain experience. This makes the courses and classes they would take later on a lot easier and understandable to them. The experience they gain from interning gives them a sense of direction on whether to continue in that career or if they should do something more profiting and interesting to them. . In order for us to get more Americans into college and reduce the competition coming from the international community, higher institutions need to make college more affordable and more meaningful for students. To make Universities affordable, students should be allowed to do all those classes that are required but relevant to a student’s major in high school. After graduation, students should have the opportunity of choosing between being an intern in their desired field for a year, before registering for that major, or going the normal route of wasting time taking classes they do not need.

Impact of Technology on Trade

Impact of Technology on Trade Technology plays a crucial role in the development of countries. It is very important both for developed countries and developing countries as technology progress will enable countries to be more competitive in the global market. Thus progress in technology helps countries to develop the economy and strengthens their trading positions in the competitive global market (Sabir, 2010). With the development of technology, high-tech products will become the major players in international trade. The traditional primary products and ordinary manufacturing goods will account for less in the international trade business than before. In order to illustrate the impact of technology on trade and development for the country, this essay will take South Korea, a developed country and the Samsung products as example to analyze the way the technology influences the countrys development and its trade. Technology development in South Korea The development of technology can decide the future of the country in terms of its economy growth and its position in the international community. South Korea, as all we know, is a lively example in the technology research and development. Forty years ago, South Korea was still a laggard agricultural country and was empty in science technology fields. However, during 40 years endeavor, South Korea has made outstanding performance and achievements in the technology development. Its innovation capability is improved a lot and the distance to developed countries regarding the technology aspect is becoming closer. Since 1970s and 1980s, the science technology policies of South Korea have been gradually shifted from introduction imitation model to self-development and innovation (Viotti, 2002). Therefore, since then, high-tech projects, such as sophisticated electronics, new materials, semiconductors, precision chemistry etc. have been developed rapidly in South Korea. That Semi-conduc tors enterprises, such as Samsung, can successfully compete in the international semiconductor market can not separate from the independent technological innovation. Thanks to the technology progress, South Korea has made great development in economy. As we know, economy and technology are two essentials which can not be separated from each other for the country. The progress of technology will promote the development of the countrys economy, meanwhile, economy growth will enable the country more capital to the technology research. From the experience of developed countries, their fast development in economy can not be separated from their progress in technology. Technology is becoming the core for the developed countries (Hausmann and Rodrik, 2003). Impact of technology on trade and economy growth Economic development of South Korea started in 1950s and achieved a take-off in economy growth in 1960s. In the initial stage, South Korea applied inward economy growth strategy; however, since 1962 the country began to implement an export-oriented economy development strategy. South Korea is severely dependent on the external markets since its internal market is very limited. The country is highly focused on the export business to create foreign exchange and import the scarce resources. With the development in high-technology fields, South Korea has realized to increase the exports of the high-tech products which have successfully contributed to a rapid economic growth for the country. South Korea has achieved a considerable growth in its GNP from 87 USD in 1962 to 10 936 USD in 2001. This is close to the highly-developed countries. Among the exporting volumes, the high-tech products are increasing year by year. In 1988, the high-tech products accounted for 15.97% of the total expor ting volume. In 1999, the high-tech products reached to 32.2% (Kwon, 2010). The progress in technology has greatly helped South Korea in achieving good result in the global trade market and resulted in a great growth in GDP and its overall economy. Samsung Electronic is a typical successful example in the research and development of technology for South Korea or even for the whole Asian countries. Many technological and electronic manufacturers in Asian countries are trying to learning from Samsung Company. Samsung Electronic Company has made great contribution to South Koreas economic development. Samsung has got its white goods and other products such as mobile phones famous in the global marketplace. In 2000, the export amount of Samsung Electronic has reached to 18.6 billion US dollars which accounted for 11 percent of the total exporting value. In 2004, Samsung has made a breakthrough of 50 billion US dollars of exporting value and accounted for 21% of the total export value in South Korea (Kang and Jin, 2006). The reason why Samsung products can take a great market share in the global trade market is highly dependent on the technology progress. Take Samsung mobile phone as example, with the continuous innovation and progr ess made in the technological field, Samsung mobile phone is now become one of the leading mobile brands in the world. It has already posed a threat to Nokia and Motorolas leading positions in the global mobile phone market (Uimonen, 2000). Facing the fierce competition environment in the global mobile phone market, Samsung mobile phone maintains its strategy to position high-end products for the people with certain consuming capability. High-end products need high-technology to support and continuous improvement in the technology innovation to maintain the high price. Therefore, Samsung never stops its technology research and contributes considerable amount of money into new technology research and innovation every year. Besides the mobile phone area, Samsung is also making efforts to expand its other electronic products with high technology, such as TV, LED, refrigerator, and other white goods in the global markets (Bonaglia, Goldstein and Mathews, 2007). Of course, China is its l argest trading partner and Samsung products have covered a relatively large market share in China. Conclusion In conclusion, technology progress is the major power and source to speed up the development of the social economy for a country. Nowadays, as peace and development are the major theme for the international communities, high-technology is attached great importance in boosting the economy growth for a country. At the same time, under the globalization trend, the development of technology will help the country to be more competitive in the global trade market thus to boost the countrys economy development.

The Patriot Act Essay -- Terrorism Government Patriot Act Essays

The Patriot Act After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 our country underwent a change that has drastically affected the fundamental values that our founding fathers instilled in this country. Since that tragic day in September the aftermath of the attacks has started to implicate our Civil Liberties that in this country we hold so dear. Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act on October 5th, 2001. This act expanded the surveillance powers of domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. The controversy that must be discussed is whether or not this legislation fully or in part has violated the Constitution and/or endangered our civil liberties in any way. John Kerry former presidential candidate is opposed to the patriot act stating ?We are a nation of laws and liberties, not of a knock in the night. So it is time to end the era of John Ashcroft. That starts with replacing the Patriot Act with a new l aw that protects our people and our liberties at the same time.? John Kerry is right in suggesting that the patriot act is thinning our freedoms. Those who feel the patriot act is going to protect us from harm fail to see the dark side of the legislation which is relinquishing us of our rights guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The USA Patriot Act or the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 is a US legislative law enacted in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. The bill passed 98-1 in the United States Senate, and 356-66 in the United States House of Representatives; Senator Russ Feingold cast the Senate's lone dissenting vote. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on October 26, 2001. Assistant attorney general Viet D. Dinh was the chief architect of the act. In the article written by Michelle Malkin titled ?Antiterrorism Legislation Will Make America Safer? Malkin defends although unpopular the USA Patriot Act has allowed law enforcement to make America safer from terrorists. She Maintains that the act has already thwarted further acts of terror by helping law enforcement break up terror cells, convict people guilty of terror-related crimes, and prevent foreign criminals an d terrorists from entering the United S... ...mines the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. There was obviously some concern about this by Congress, which is the reason that the Patriot Act was sunset at five years. One day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center President Bush vowed, ?We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.? Unfortunately, by becoming an aggressive advocate of the Patriot Act, the President is doing just that. During Bush?s State of the Union speech, he emphasized that a key role of our government was to protect us from foreign terrorists. However, if the Bush Administration continues to advocate such measures as the Patriot Act, then an important question is raised: Who will protect us from our own government? I conclude my stance with a quote from Senator Russel Feingold the sole senator who voted in opposition to the USA Patriot Act, Feingold passionately states ?Preserving our freedom is one of the main reasons that we are now engaged in this new war against terrorism. We will lose that war without firing a shot if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people.?

Guidance of Young Children Essay -- Elementary Eduacation

My prior understanding of discipline was uneducated and inaccurate. I was certain that discipline was related to punishment and the goal was to have a particular unwanted behavior to cease. A child that required discipline would be singled out, scolded, forced to perform a chore or action, such as sit for a time out, or the child would have something taken away, such as television or toys. As a child, I grew up in a household with parents who were primarily authoritative. They tended to be fair; however they did use punishment through "grounding", which generally meant that we were not able to engage in fun for set period of time. Other times, we were instructed to perform some sort of labor of their choice, such as washing my Dad's car. I rarely misbehaved in school due to the fact that I was extremely shy, so I lacked the need for negative discipline however I can clearly recall other children being told put their heads down, sit in the back of the room or move to the hallway when the teacher would become exhausted with their continuous misbehavior. I became aware that many people including the parents of students still validate these tainted forms of discipline and may require some edification on the behalf of the teacher to discover more appropriate methods of discipline (EDC, personal communication, October 13, 2011). As my education with the childcare field strengthens, I have discovered that guidance is the appropriate method to be used to reach the goal of harmony in the classroom. "Guidance means creating a positive learning environment for each child in the group" (Gartrell, 2004, p. 21) With the use of guidance and a democratic classroom, children feel important and have greater respect for their teacher, whi... ...ng, and walking in safe, open areas while also providing children with the ability to safely push, pull, roll, and climb (Marion, 2012, p. 108). Younger children are just developing their gross motor skills and tend to fall or bump themselves, so furniture must be safe and low to the ground. Because the children in a daycare are so young, there is a higher risk of injury if the environment is not accommodating. In a school classroom, the majority children are sturdier, have more advanced gross motors skills, as well as prior knowledge about certain dangers, so while precautions have to be taken, they are not as extreme. Bibliography Gartrell, D. (2004). The power of guidance, teaching social-emotional skills in early childhood classrooms. Belmont, CA: Delmar Marion, M. (2012). Guidance of young children. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Colonising Within the Marriage in Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea Essay

Colonising Within the Marriage in Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea      Ã‚   Jean Rhys' complex text, Wide Sargasso Sea, came about as an attempt to re-invent an identity for Rochester's mad wife, Bertha Mason, in Jane Eyre, as Rhys felt that Bronte had totally misrepresented Creole women and the West Indies: 'why should she think Creole women are lunatics and all that? What a shame to make Rochester's wife, Bertha, the awful madwoman, and I immediately thought I'd write a story as it might really have been.' (Jean Rhys: the West Indian Novels, p144).   It is clear that Rhys wanted to reclaim a voice and a subjectivity for Bertha, the silenced Creole, and to subvert the assumptions made by the Victorian text.   She does so with startling results.   In her quest to re-instate Bertha's identity, Rhys raises issues such as the problems of colonisation, gender relations and racial issues.   She explores the themes of displacement, Creolisation and miscegenation.   However, the aim of this essay is to look at the marriage contract within the tex t,   its effects on the participants' sense of selfhood and its comparisons with the colonial encounter. The marriage contract, for Rhys, is ultimately cast as a colonial encounter in the novel.   However, the problem of displacement and a shaky sense of one's own identity are already well established in the first part of the text, long before the marriage takes place.   It seems that Rhys wants to bring the problems of the Creole existence to the fore at the very beginning of the novel, and lay emphasis on Antoinette's feelings of alienation: the white Creoles are neither part of the black slave community or accepted as European either (a lack of belonging that Rhys knew all too well):   'they say when... ...ys 109)   physically displaces her, splitting her from the West Indies and any connection with a self image: 'there is no looking-glass here and I don't know what I am like now...what am I doing in this place and who am I?' (WSS 117).   At this point in the novel, Rochester's role as coloniser and Antoinette's as colonised within the marriage are fully realised.   Rochester, in the position of power, has successfully taken possession of Antoinette's wealth, property and identity.   Antoinette, stripped of all three, has made the transition from Rhys' text to the imperial construction of the mad woman in the attic of Jane Eyre. Works Cited: Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. London: Penguin, 1997. Howells, Coral Ann. Jean Rhys. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1991. O'Connor, Teresa F. Jean Rhys: The West Indian Novels. New York: New York University Press, 1986.

More Than Just a Dead Moth Essay

Annie Dillard wrote an essay, â€Å"Death of a Moth,† which is from her book, Holy the Firm. Dillard’s essay, â€Å"Death of a Moth,† starts off with the author talking about a couple of dead moths behind her toilet in her bathroom. Then Dillard starts reminiscing about an encounter she had with a moth on a camping trip she took by herself in Virginia. While Dillard was reading a book, a moth flew into her tent and into her candle’s flame and burned. Then, Dillard starts analyzing the burning moth and starts taking notes on it in her journal. From the events of that camping trip, Dillard wrote the essay â€Å"Death of a Moth†. The reason Dillard wrote journals on the burning moth and devoted an essay on the moth is because she gained a lot of insight from the burning moth. One of the many things that Annie Dillard saw in the dying moth was a theme of life. â€Å"†¦a saffron yellow flame that robed her to the ground like any immolating monk. † (Dillard 4) Back around the 1960’s, monks would set themselves on fire to go against government oppression. The theme that Dillard saw in the moth was from every loss came a gain. When the monks would set themselves on fire, it would draw attention from the world. So, from the death of the monk, which was the loss, came the attention of the world to what was going on, and that was the gain. Another example of the theme of loss and gain that Annie Dillard saw in the burning moth was connected to herself. On this camping trip, Dillard was reading book The Day on Fire which inspired her to be a writer when she was sixteen. Dillard was hoping that reading the book would re-inspire her to want to be a writer again because she wasn’t as motivated to write. While Dillard was reading the book, a moth flew into her candlelight and burned for a long time. The death of the moth happens to be what inspired Dillard, â€Å"†¦while I read by her light, kindled. † (4) So, the theme of loss and gain was shown here again, where the death of the moth was the loss and Dillard being re-inspired was the gain. The last thing Annie Dillard saw in the dead moth was the value of something after death. Even though the moth was dead, it was serving a purpose, a role after its death. And then this moth-essence, this spectacular skeleton, began to act as a wick. She kept burning†¦. She burned for two hours. † (4) No matter how small something is, it will always serve a purpose, especially after it death. The moth served a small physical purpose after its death by give of a light, but it also served a much bigger purpose for Dillard, which was it re-inspired her to write again. Also, Dillard wants to do the same thing with herself and her writings when she passes away. Dillard wants people to read her works so that her legacy, her flame will keep on burning. The reason Dillard wrote journals on the burning moth and devoted an essay on the moth is because she gained a lot of insight from the burning moth. From the burning moth Dillard saw a theme of life, the theme of loss and gain in more than one way. Another thing Dillard understood from the dying moth that after something dies, it has a role. So, did Annie Dillard waste her time when she wrote this essay devoted to a moth? Dillard did not waste her time when she wrote this essay because she saw things in the burning moth that most people wouldn’t have seen and so, she shared what she saw and the insight she had learned from the moth.

Late Bloomers

At the first hint of labor, she is rushed to the hospital with fear and excitement. Hours of painful contractions take over her body but the knowledge of soon meeting her unborn child keeps her hanging on. After delivery she holds her newborn son in her arms. She does not know until years later how dependent upon her this child will become. Josh does not respond well to sounds or faces but the doctor's test his hearing and find nothing wrong. A few years later this mother notices that her son is a â€Å"late bloomer† when he has not yet learned to walk or attempt to talk. His appearance is like other children his age but his abilities are limited. Josh is unable to point to objects or hold his arms out for love. He pushes away from affection wanting to be left alone to play with his toy cars. Josh finds fun in flapping his arms and laughing, usually at inappropriate times. School has come but still Josh does not speak. When he begins to speak, he talks in a repetitive babbling manner that is impossible to understand. He fears school and unknown faces. When he arrives home from school, he is repetitive in movement and activities. Josh paces the floor in circular motions and at times bangs his head on the floor. Josh does poor in school because he fails to pay attention. He has poor eye contact and is often seen with his hands over his ears. By this time, his mother has realized that he is not a â€Å"late bloomer†, something is wrong with her child. After many tests and observations, Josh is diagnosed with autism, a disease that is not curable. He will live with this social disability for the rest of his life. Josh's mother is concerned that she is to blame for his disability. She consults her doctor about the cause of this disease. It is possible that viruses and genetics have a role in Josh's autism but neurological damage is most likely. Depending upon the severity of Josh's disability he may or may not be able to care for himself in the future. He is totally dependent upon his mother for his basic needs in life. The above story is a typical scenario of a child with autism. â€Å"Autism is a severe developmental disorder characterized by profound language delay and extreme social withdrawal (San Jose Mercury News). Autism affects normal development of the brain having to do with social interactions and verbal skills. Autistic people usually have a hard time relating to the outside world. They are often described as being in an ice block. The cause of autism is still undetermined but, researchers from all over the world are devoting time and energy into finding the cause. Neurological damage can occur in any child for any number of reasons. This is why autism is so hard to diagnose and treat. This disease can affect anyone and any race. Neurological damage can be caused by many things part of the everyday life, such as vaccines. Due to a 273% autism increase in the last ten years in California, the U.S. Department of Education launched a research study. â€Å"It was decided to target mothers who had received a live virus vaccine after the age of 16, whether or not they had an autistic child.† (Yazbak, F. Edward, MD, FAAP 1999) The conjecture was that antibodies which the child had received from it's mother had some how mixed with the vaccine to create autistic results. Mothers received the vaccine to meet requirements for higher education; work related vaccines, or failure to react to previous vaccines. Two hundred forty parents of autistic children and mothers who had received vaccines were studied. Seven studies are discussed in ‘Autism: Is there a vaccine connection?' â€Å"Six out of seven children (85%) who resulted from these pregnancies were diagnosed with autism, and the seventh, (case 1) whose mother received a measles vaccine, exhibits symptoms which suggest autistic spectrum† (Yazbak, F. Edward, MD, FAAP 1999). Research is still being conducted on vaccines given to pregnant women and how the vaccines effect the unborn child. Other cases of autism are being researched, as neurological technology is becoming available. Genetics, for example, are being scanned for flaws and pictures are being taken of the brains in progress. â€Å"Phenylketonuria (a brain disease) is a purely genetic disease that can cause mental retardation† (Cook, Jr., Edwin H. 1999). If it is found early in childhood, dietary therapy can prevent this disease. It is possible autism may be treated the same way, but because this theory and many others are new, funding and research just begun. Secretion is also a therapy that can help with autism. â€Å"It is one of the hormones that controls digestion† (Lloyd, John Wills 1998). Secretion is emitted into the empty stomach by cells in the digestive system to stimulate the liver and stomach to produce enzymes that aide to digestion, and fluids that neutralize the acidity of the intestines. Pituitary adenylate cyclase activation polypeptide (PACAP) is also used. PACAP, a peptide that is used to medicate disease such as ulcers, but has a side effect of suppressing membranes which cause autistic children to act abnormal has been found. When given to rats, delayed reactions were seen in response to loud noises and open spaces. When children received secretion, their eye contact improved and alertness and expressive language were seen (Horvath, Stefanatos, Sokolski, Wachtel, Nabor & Tildon, 1998). The Tomatis Method is a much different approach. The aim of the Tomatis Method is to develop or reestablish communication when it had been lost or impaired using the ear and its various functions (Sollier, Pierre 1996) Tomatis treats the child not the disease. This treatment is not a cure; it is only used to improve the lives of autistic children. Sixty percent of the children treated show improvements, such as clearer speech, more eye contact, and interaction with other children and teacher. Parents have been reported that Tomatis Method speeds up other therapies and makes life easier. Like all treatments, there are good and bad days. Some days the children revert to their own world and again become recluses. Tomatis has found a new way to retrieve these children. To reestablished communication, Tomatis focuses on the vestibule, the inner part of the ear. â€Å"There is not one single muscle of the body, including the muscles of the eyes, that is not under control of the vestibular system† (Sollier, Pierre 1996). When the sensory input does not run smoothly the child becomes bombarded with information. The confusion of the information causes the child to withdraw into his own world to protect himself. Tomatis points out that hearing and listening are two different things. Autistic children cannot focus on the correct information coming into his senses. All of us hear background noise, but choose to focus on bits of information that are important to us. An autistic child does not have the ability to listen, he may hear cars pass by on the street below and all the other back ground noises. Autistic children ‘space out† or enter into their own world to escape the confusion of the outside world. By creating an easier way for autistic children to decipher information, the desire to speak is found. To do this, conducted research in which children listen to their mother's voice. â€Å"He electronically filtered her voice, to match the sounds heard in the womb† (Sollier, Pierre 1996). The children began to bond with people around them. It is known that a mother's voice sooths children, and since autistic children live in fear its natural that Tomatis uses the mother's voice to sooth those fears. As technology becomes available many therapies will be created to improve the life of autistic children, but the best way to improve the child's life is to educate their care providers. Autism is an incurable disease estimated to occur in 1 in 500 people (Centers for Disease and Prevention 1997). Learning the symptoms and signs of autism is the first step in education and improved care for autistic children. Signs of autism may be detected as soon as infancy. Some signs include: 1. Arching his/her back to avoid touch 2. Failure to anticipate being picked up Years ago parents did not live the burden of with autism. Most children were put away in asylums to be left in their own world, because they were not understood. These children spent their lives not knowing any other world than their own. Today with the technology we have, we can enter into the child's world and bring him back to our own. This can all be done with education and technology.

Choices – creative writing

Life is full of choices. Kelly, my best friend, made many choices; life altering choices. It sculpted the rest of her entire life. I, Karmen, was standing by her. Whatever happened to her. She was the only girl I had ever known who had the ability to hurt me, make me cry, make me loathe her, but still deep down, let me love her. Of course in this day and age some mocked our friendship; perceived it as something more. However, only we knew what we meant to each other. She was my life; she was like a sister to me. Our friendship undeniably was not the easiest, but whose is? Despite all of this, I loved Kelly Mainers more than anything in my life. Let me start from the beginning. Seven years to the day, I met Kelly. It was a cloudless day, at the beginning of September, it was apparent by the looks on everyone's faces that none of us wanted to be there. The weather was showing no signs of cooling, so it felt like we were attending school in the middle of summer. I noticed this girl waving her parents good bye at the gates of Whitmore Girls. She had a thought provoking face. Long brown hair outlined her heart shaped face, and her vivid bright green eyes were the focus. She caught me staring and smiled, I did the same. We were eleven and young, fresh out of junior school, we just thought of each other as people to talk to. After a while our friendship deepened. We had instantly clicked. Neither of us had brothers or sisters, so we filled that void in each other's lives. We were mocked at school for constantly being together. No one would ever catch us without the other, and when they did, they knew something serious must be happening. The years passed, as we grew older, our friendship grew stronger. However, at around 15, gradually our personalities began to differ. Kelly was into boys, make-up and clothes, whereas I was into music, food and television. We still conversed, but the spark that we had encountered at the beginning of our friendship just was not there anymore. We did not feel the need to be around each other constantly. It was sad, and we both had noticed it, but we did not let it jeopardise the little communication we had left with each other. We both acquired more friends outside our own friendship, which in a way helped me, but not Kelly. Kelly's new friends influenced her in a way that I can only describe as detrimental. I was inclined to call them the â€Å"Shriek† crew, due to their incessant screeching whenever they spotted a member of the opposite sex. They turned Kelly into mini clones of themselves, which I am sure you can guess, was not a good thing. After much deliberation, one Saturday at the beginning of the summer holidays, 15 and free, I gave in and agreed to go out with Kelly. I usually tried to avoid doing this in case one of the â€Å"shriek† crew decided to tag along. After a long time, it was just the two of us. Looking back, it was the last time that Kelly and I had spent some real quality time together. We spent that whole afternoon just talking. We caught up on everything, I felt like I was getting to know her all over again. She had changed a lot, but deep down I knew she was still Kelly. The Kelly I ‘chose' to be my best friend all those years ago. I had had one of the best days of my life, so obviously something had to come and spoil it. Just our luck, it was Karl, Karl Daniels. It was obvious to anyone who laid their eyes on him that he was good looking. Consequently, this boy was classed as Whitmore Boys finest specimen. I can still recall the effect that Karl had on Kelly and me when we first saw him. We were walking and I noticed him first. I stopped dead in my tracks; he literally took my breath away, all clichis aside. He had an utterly captivating face. After this day, Karl became the focus of all our attention. He was the type of boy that girls lusted after and a select few actually got. Some spent their lives throwing themselves at him. I had personally fawned over Karl for quite some time. However, soon his effect on me died down. Kelly, on the other hand, had a completely different take on this. As she grew older, her lust for him grew stronger. It was seven o'clock, and Kelly and I were still out and about on our â€Å"Bonding Session† when Karl called out to us, â€Å"So, you two wana come my way? † I scowled quietly. Kelly, right on cue, giggled and tossed her hair. She had switched into flirting mode. â€Å"Hey Karl, you all right? † Kelly simpered, as a wide slow grin spread over her perfect features. â€Å"Uh-huh, so what you saying? You two guna come? It's this massive party down at my yard, love it if you could be there,† Karl replied. Blatantly he was only asking me to come along out of politeness. This was a regular occurrence: the guys chat Kelly up whilst I sit on the by lines watching, and assume the nickname ‘moody bitch'. Nothing new there. Kelly looked pleadingly at me, and I gave her one of my ‘don't even think of asking me, you know what my answer is, do what the hell you want' looks. She seemed displeased. â€Å"Karl, I'd love to come you know that, but it looks like my friend isn't in the party mood, and would rather I didn't go, sorry,† Kelly stated. My heart went out to her, she had fancied this boy for ages and she was doing this all for me. However, Karl, being a boy, persisted further, â€Å"What? She your mum now? Who says you have to go with her? You can come with me girl. Trust, you'll have fun with me too! † Karl responded winking at her. That small insignificant gesture made Kelly's mind up instantaneously. With a few rushed apologies she sauntered off, arms linked with the â€Å"sex god† of year 11. She had picked Karl over me, a twinge of pain swept through my body. I was aware she fancied him but she could have at least tried to persuade me to accompany her. Little did she know that going to the party would change the course of her whole life; she could do nothing to stop it. It was the first day back to school from the summer holidays. I was late, and was darting around trying to get to my new form room. I had not spoken to Kelly for four weeks since that day she chose Karl over me. Neither of us had bothered to pick up the phone to each other during this time. However, Kelly was the kind of girl I tended to call a sporadic caller, i. e. they only call when they want something! Personally, I thought it should be Kelly's duty to do this especially as she was the one that left me that serene Saturday. Things like this rarely traversed Kelly's mind. My mobile bleeped and said â€Å"four messages received†. All of them were from Kelly begging me to find her in the school toilets. As usual, Kelly called and I ran to her side. I made a slight detour on the way to my form room and found Kelly sitting on a toilet. The door was ajar, and I found Kelly crying hysterically. I was at a complete loss. I did not know what to do; why was she so upset? Kelly's sobbing ceased momentarily, whilst she urged herself to talk, â€Å"Karmen, I have something to tell you and please don't interrupt me for once, I just want to come out with it†¦ I'm pregnant. † I was gaping at her; it was like a bombshell. Kelly looked so vulnerable; I wanted to reach out and hug her. Suddenly something snapped in me; I could not put my finger on it but in a space of a second, everything had changed. Something was stopping me reaching out and touching my best friend. Why? She again burst into full-fledged tears and I just could not bring myself to console her, it was impossible. I tried to reach out and touch her arm but it was as if an invisible string was holding me back, making me keep my distance from her. I am not sure why this piece of news had such an effect on me. I think it was because deep down I wanted Kelly to realise for herself that the people that she hung out with were wrong for her. The old Kelly would not just up and leave and go out with a boy that she hardly knew. â€Å"The eyes are the windows to your soul,† Kelly had said to me five years ago. Until now, I had never understood what she meant, but she was right. When I was staring into her eyes, I could feel every facet of emotion she had in her. I was scared for Kelly. What would her destiny be 15 and expecting? â€Å"Whose baby is it then? † I asked, mentally running through the string of boys that we were acquainted with. Karl's,† she replied with a sniff. I studied her face intent on getting the truth, but Kelly made this task very easy for me – â€Å"Look Karmen, I don't see the point in being in denial, Karl raped me ok? I know what you're going to say ‘I told you, you shouldn't have gone with him in the first place blah blah blah'. I know i t was entirely my fault and I know you think it is to. We were making our way to the party and he was being so nice. Treating me well. Before I was drunk at the party, I didn't really know anyone, so I hung around with him. One thing led to another and was kissing him, nothing more. I went and hung out with some of the â€Å"shriek† crew and that was all right. Then a couple of hours later, Karl came up to me. His breath stank of alcohol and he tried to kiss me. I pushed him away. However, in the end I just could not help it, I liked him so much and I gave in to temptation. I was in his room and we were just talking,† Kelly again broke down into tears, I let her cry it out, but she started to talk again. â€Å"I am an idiot I was kinda drunk; I didn't even know what I was doing, let alone when, where and how. I doubt I even enjoyed it. I mean I liked him yeah, but not enough to do something like that with him. I don't know, I lost my virginity to him and I didn't even want to. He was so rough, and his eyes were evil. It was as if a different Karl had taken over. He wasn't the same sweet, innocent faced boy that I had fancied for so long. I am such a mess, and I am so sorry I didn't ring you. I did not know what to do with myself; I've been a nervous wreck. Seriously Karmen, as a mate, I need to know that you'll be here, right beside me. † What could I say? After hearing all that, the invisible string that was holding me back let go. Apart from anything else, I managed to give her some degree of solace. I doubt I alleviated any of her pain but I did my best. Something that really bugged me was the fact that she did not seem too bothered about Karl raping her. Rape, the dictionary defines it as a) if a man rapes a woman, he violently forces her to have sex with him against her will b) rape is the act or crime of raping a woman. The next day, Kelly talked for two hours straight, and I just listened. Listened to what she had to say and how she felt. It was her time and not mine. I came out of it feeling different. Different as in doubtful but not once did Kelly speak about how she had been violated by Karl. I thought a lot over the next few days. I recalled all the conversations that Kelly and I had had about Karl (which was quite a few). All the evidence pointed to the fact that Kelly wanted this to happen. Not that it was pre-meditated or anything, more that she wasn't bothered about the fact that she had been violated and her virginity had been lost to a terrible crime like rape. It would make sense, I mean she had always fancied him, and I was positive that her feelings for him were more physical than anything else. She was not so much upset about the fact that he raped her, more the fact that she was pregnant. I mean obviously the suspicions that I had were not rock solid, but they felt right. A few months passed, I consciously distanced myself from Kelly. Not that she had noticed, of course. She got a lot of teasing when her bump started to become prominent, but those people soon refrained from this when she began coming out with her version of the ‘truth'. She was basking in the glory of being one of the only girls to lose their virginity in year 11. However, what she called basking, I called bragging. She was bragging that she had had sex with Karl. What was she? Did she not realise what she was saying? I only caught snippets of her conversations but I was quite sure what I had heard was true. Kelly was claiming to the rest of the class that Karl did not rape her, but that she was the consenting party in this. This just consolidated my suspicions. My best friend was a liar. â€Å"Yeah, I know. He looked too buff that night. He was so sweet. I'm glad my first time was with him,† I heard Kelly say. Since when had rapists been sweet? It was not that I was eavesdropping; more determination determined to unveil the truth. â€Å"Seriously! Yeah I heard from someone that you got off with him that night! How was it? You're such a lucky bitch, us lot would all kill to be with Karl! † the unknown gossip hungry girl said. â€Å"Look, I ain't the type of girl who kisses and tells you know! You wana know what went on, you have to ask him,† clearly Kelly was avoiding the question. So, did this mean she was raped? I mean at the beginning of the conversation, it sounded like she had wanted this to happen; am I right? However, towards the end, it was the complete opposite to that. I had concluded that if I was going to get my answers, there were two things that I needed to do and have a) courage and b) confront her. Eventually, I did muster up enough courage to confront her. The thought of Kelly hiding all her pain from people was hurting me. Did she not trust others with her secret? Obviously the paranoid side of me kicked in and I thought that maybe she had not been raped, and it was all a ploy to get attention from me. I mean we had grown apart but lying about something so serious, that was uncalled for. Therefore, the purpose of the conversation was to get the truth, the real truth from what they call the ‘horse's mouth'. In a way, deep down, at that time, I thought I knew the truth, I just needed to hear it for myself. Kelly, did Karl rape you or not? I don't understand, you came to me and told me that he had raped you, and at the very same time you're bragging to all your other friends that Karl had had sex with you. I'm sure you can see how I feel; I am confused and I can't help it you're sending me mixed messages. Were you raped or weren't you? Did you want him to? Is that why you went telling the whole year how you got off with him? You disgust me you know that; to even think that I spent time thinking of you, hoping it would all get better; whilst you're sitting here weaving all your lies. † She was silent. For once in her entire life, Kelly had no comeback for me. She had not taken her eyes off me for five minutes straight. None of us had uttered a word, just exchanged menacing looks. She offered me no explanation, and just before she walked off, she told me â€Å"Maybe if you came with me to the party this wouldn't have happened, you thought about that Karmen? † â€Å"Typical Kelly, can't face up to anything can you, so you shift the blame onto someone else. You've been found out and you can't handle it,† I shouted after her. I watched the back of my ‘best friend' as she walked away and realised we were the complete opposite of that. We had changed so much along the way; I hardly knew who she was anymore. I could not take it. Why should I have to be responsible for all the mistakes that she makes? She had the audacity to say that it was my fault she got pregnant because I didn't go to the party with her. I could not just be there at her disposal all the time, day in and day out. There was a time when I considered Kelly as my one and only best friend. I had moved on. This girl was some kind of alien to me. I was physically disgusted with her. I had considered her my own flesh and blood and now she was having a baby. The old Karmen would have stood by her, but not now, she was on her own. I had decided that I was going to make a stand for myself, see how she could handle her life without me. As evil as I must sound by saying this, it was all-true. My capricious friend had her comeuppance, and to some extent, I was glad. With hindsight, I regretted doing this. I did not realise how much my words had affected her, how much me not being there for her had done to her. A few short months after the confrontation, I had not heard or seen Kelly around. According to gossip, she had had a baby girl. Kelly's mum left countless messages for me on my answering machine everyday, begging me to come and visit her. Her last few messages started to become a bit more desperate and personal. Kelly had postnatal depression; she was rejecting the baby. That was Kelly all right; she could not face up to anything, not even something as serious as this. A few days after Kelly's mum's message about her postnatal depression, I received a letter from Kelly – Dear Karmen, Letters, don't you find they are the best form of communication? Remember when we used to write letters to each other day in and day out. I still have all of them you know, they mean so much to me, please don't ever forget that. This may be the last letter I will ever be writing, to you, or anyone else. Do you remember the first day of Whitmore? I smiled at you, you smiled back. From that moment onwards I knew that we were meant to be friends, we clicked you know? I knew that you were the only one like me in that hellhole. To this day, I stand by that comment. Do you remember the days when we were literally obsessed with Karl, and we spent the whole day looking for his house? Took us ages, but we persevered and found it. Since you have stopped talking to me, my whole world has literally crashed around me. Have you forgotten all the good times that we spent together? I haven't. I sat in bed last night, just thinking about all the times we've spent in each other's company; sitting on the terrace, contemplating on life. Those were some of the best days of my life. I miss that; in fact, I miss you. My life feels like nothing without you by my side. I know people were always commenting about how close we were for just friends, but was and still is true, we are more than friends. I consider you as a sister. I will be the first one to admit, that the â€Å"shriek† crew were some of the people that thought we were more than that. I told them otherwise. I stood up to them Karmen, that was something you always said I couldn't do. I found this in a book†¦ Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow Don't walk behind me, I may not lead Just walk beside me and be my friend When the whole Karl raping me thing happened, I didn't know what the hell to do. I felt so violated by him, but I couldn't tell anyone. Everyone had been at the party and seen what had happened, they all just thought I'd got a bit carried away and slept with him. But, it wasn't like that. You should have seen his face when he did it, it was so indelicate. I cried for days on end after it had happened. To make it worse, the â€Å"shriek† crew all assumed that I had wanted it to happen with him. Yes, I was physically attracted to Karl, but not to the extent that I felt I needed to lose my virginity to him. It stung when you insinuated that I had lied to you, when I had not. You confronted me that day and I blamed you for this happening to me, I realise I shouldn't have. It was your choice not to come with me, and now, looking back, I wished I had not gone either. As usual, I felt I needed someone to blame for my actions, but you weren't the one. All I wanted was for someone to tell me, â€Å"Kelly, it wasn't your fault†, but no one did. I thought I had to put up a front for the â€Å"shriek† crew. I didn't want to be known as the freak that was raped. Besides, I know them better than you do; they were overtly laughing that time when Chrissy got raped by that university guy. How would I tell them this? So, as usual to get out of it, I spun my intricate web of lies to get out of the predicament. I wasn't lying to you; you are the one person in my life I would never dream of deceiving. Karmen, I trust you with my life. Do you know what kept me going that day and night? No? That I could tell you and you could give me the support that I needed. I did not need the â€Å"shriek† crew if you were there by my side. Where were you Karmen? Where were you when I needed you most? I had my baby, where were you then? I called and called you for days on end, why didn't you ring me back? I love you so much, and the one time in my life I needed you, you just were not there. Was this some kind of punishment for the ways I've treated you in the past? I didn't deserve that. I had just been raped by a guy that I had fancied for ages and you were punishing me, I could not comprehend. When I told Karl that I was pregnant with his baby, he literally told me â€Å"Well, that's your fault, leave me alone and stop telling people the baby is mine. † Can you even begin to imagine how I felt? I had been raped by him. Foolishly, assuming that he had an iota of decency in him, he would help me; obviously he didn't. I rang you so you would know what I called my baby – Karmen. Do you know why I called her that? Because when baby Karmen grew up, I wanted her to be just like you. A strong, good person, not like her mother. I rejected baby Karmen, I had postnatal depression, and did you come and see me then? Numerous times my mum left messages on your phone for you to visit me, and did you? Did it cross your mind to talk to the girl that you spent the better part of you life with? I better cut to the chase; I know how you hate long letters. I can't take life anymore Karmen. I just cannot take it. It's such a mess, baby Karmen I did not and still do not want her, and I doubt I ever will. I love her, but I cannot outwardly show my love. How do you think that makes me feel? Every night she sits and cries and I can't go anywhere near her. I'm afraid of what I could potentially do to her. What Karl did to me affected me psychologically in a way I doubt anyone will ever understand. To some extent, not even I understand why I'm feeling this way. I don't think the true effect of the rape really hit me until after I had Karmen. Before that I had comprehended with the fact that I had been raped, I just had not had time to get over it. I'm a weak person Karmen, all this pressure I cannot deal with. Without you, I had no one to offload my worries and problems onto. No one to talk it all out with. Now you're not here for me, I don't see the point in living. I want to die. It's not just one of my phases, I've been feeling suicidal for quite some time. Only now have I built up the courage to do something about my life, and my choice is to end it. This is the last letter you will ever be receiving from me, and the last time you will be hearing from me in general. So, I just want to say – â€Å"You were like a sister to me Karmen, the child that my parents didn't have but always wanted. You are irreplaceable, and I know some other girl will take my place as your best friend. Being the kind hearted person that you are, you will be equally good to them as you were to me. I thank you so much for all you did for me in the time that I have known you. I love you Karmen, and whether I am dead or alive, nothing is going to change that. I am sorry I'm leaving it this way, I wish I didn't have to, but I feel I no longer have any other choice. Goodbye Karmen, I love you with all my heart. † Kelly x P. S. You always said that I have to be the one who the makes choices in my life. This is my choice. I choose not to be alive anymore. I chose to lie about Karl and all that. I control my life now that is what you always told me to do; I've done it Karmen. I have finally taken control of my life; it is all in my hands now. I read the letter; I was just numb and immobilised. My world had been instantly transformed. She had hung herself. As disrespectful as this must sound; I thought that if Kelly ever killed herself, she would take pills. However, she did not, she chose something that would hurt her, she did not take the easy way out for once. I mean hanging yourself is not exactly the most comfortable position. Kelly and I had both made many choices in our lives. Hers, however, were very drastic. It all started when she chose Karl over me. If she had not she probably would not be dead right now. The grief I was undergoing inside of me was overwhelming, all I could think of was â€Å"what if I had just gone with her to that party? † â€Å"What if I had just believed her and not confronted her that day? † â€Å"Returned all her phone calls†. All these questions were literally eating me alive. For the first time in my life, I felt guilty. It was terrible; it was like a wave of heat frequently swept over me. Every time this happened, I felt like being sick, I hated it; I wanted all this grief to go. The recollection of the letter brought tears to my eyes. What must she have been feeling when she wrote it? I was astounded †¦ she was gone, and I could not come to terms with it. The other day the â€Å"shriek† crew decided to confront me, they blamed me for her death. They are truly heartless. I had just lost a best friend and they were lecturing me about how I should not have ignored all her calls etc. What do they know? They were the downfall of Kelly, if she had just realised they were not the right sort of people she should have been hanging around with, she may have been alive at this moment in time. It was the day of her funeral. Kelly's parents were distraught; they could not fathom what made her do this. According to them, Kelly was always such a happy girl, and towards the end, she had shown no signs of feeling suicidal. Evidently, they were not the most observant parents. The last choice that I made concerning Kelly was to give the eulogy at her funeral. It was my last attempt to discern why, why I neglected her in the recent months. Then it came to me – it was my choice to.