Tone Analysis of Poems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 23

Tone Analysis of Poems - Essay Example The two poems taken for discussion are Phillis Wheatley’s On Being Brought from Africa to America and William Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper. The analysis of these two poems is done by identifying the tone of voice in each of the poems by concentrating on the specific words that the poet chooses to set the mood of the poem and to express his/her attitude regarding the subject. Phillis Wheatley’s On Being Brought from Africa to America addresses the society’s prejudices about perceiving the notion of race, religion, and identity. The poem is written in a satirical tone, expressing the poet’s mixed attitudes of gratefulness and resentment towards the society. Wheatley starts the poem with a grateful attitude from her personal experiences of Christian salvation and enlightenment of soul; nevertheless, she abruptly turns the poem’s tone into a satirical one, condemning the cultural norms of racism. The poem’s ironic tone can be seen in her personification of ‘mercy’ as a kind owner or Savior who had brought her from the Pagan land. The poet posits a plosive style in using the word ‘Pagan land’ to depict the land as a place of benighted souls. Similarly, she uses words like ‘benighted soul’, ‘sable race’, ‘scornful eye’, and ‘diabolic die’ to portray the society’s dark impression of black people and their land. The poet also expresses a sarcastic tone by comparing slavery and redemption as a grateful act of her oppressors. â€Å"Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.† The word choices like â€Å"Pagan†, â€Å"Saviour†, â€Å"Christians†, and â€Å"Cain† are allusions to biblical scriptures, providing theological implications to the subject matter of racism. The usage of biblical simile, â€Å"Black as Cain† depicts the association of sin with black color.  

Treatment of the Kurdish Population by the Iraqi Regime

Treatment of the Kurdish Population by the Iraqi Regime Factors Explaining the Treatment of the Kurdish Population by the Iraqi Regime under Saddam Hussein RESEARCH PLAN The goal of the dissertation is to ascertain the leading factor(s) of Saddam Hussein and his Ba’athist party’s brutal treatment of Iraqi Kurds. Argued by many to be a case of attempted genocide, the primary instance the dissertation will examine is the Iraqi Anfal Campaign, which took place between 1986 and 1989. Aims of the dissertation will be to 1) establish the provocations that culminated in the attempted genocide of the Iraqi Kurds regardless of the degree of Kurdish culpability, 2) place the genocide in a larger historical context, and 3) evaluate the internal and external political context in which the genocide occurred. Secondary objectives to be met in the dissertation will be the paralleling of the Iraqi Kurdish tragedy to those of other minorities in the post-colonial Middle East, as well as the twinning of the context in which Kurds were massacred in Iraq with the contexts in which other minorities were treated. Groups included in the secondary examination will be Kurds in Turkey as well as Armenians in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The tertiary and final objective of the dissertation will be the examination of the treatment of other minorities in contrast to that of the Kurds, including Kurds in Iran as well as Armenian expatriates in Iran. From a religious standpoint, an overwhelming majority of the Kurds share a religion and history in common with the Arab Iraqi Sunni. Kurds, Kurdish culture, and Kurdish historical figures are integrated into the Sunni Arab conscience, evidenced by the reverence of the legendary warrior Salah Al-Din (Saladin) as well as Hussein’s own widely reputed claim to be the latest incarnation of said figure. It is concluded hence that the oppression and mass murder of the Kurds was not due to a religious difference, but rather a political and theocratic distinction that separated the Kurds from their Sunni Arab compatriots in a time when dissension was promptly and violently put down. Texts evaluating the context of the Kurdish murders will be Viva Bartkus’ The Dynamic of Secession and Robert Gellately’s The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective. Evaluations of the Iraqi political climate prior to and immediately following the 1991 Gulf War will refer t o Robert Freedman’s The Middle East After Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait, while proof of the murders as a genocide over a mere neutralization of an uprising will be provided by Samuel Totten’s Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. By dissecting and compartmentalizing the dissertation into three distinct parts, maintenance of a concrete timetable of progress becomes simpler. Moreover, data compilation, comparison, and evaluation is made simpler when done in small, focused spurts as opposed to a myriad of topics and ideas. The intricacies of the politics involved in the Anfal Campaign warrant a multi-dimensional, non-partisan examination of the attempted genocide. Mere dismissal of the atrocity as an act by a mindless, brutal despot brings no insight to the event; as a corollary, mankind can make no progress without a clear-cut rationalization of the brutality. LEARNING TO DATE The most prevalent strengths apparent are in data filtering and acquisition. There is strong variety in the array of sources, all of which contribute to the multiple vantages of the dissertation. A particular strength that was made of use was the ability to separate media accounts from scholarly logs. With the amount of media bias so prevalently established in Europe and America (polarized both in favor of and against the ongoing American occupation of Iraq), objective sources are difficult to identify. Immediate weaknesses include the inability to initially grasp the political motives and framework within which the Anfal Campaign of 1986-1989 was executed. Unlike multi-ethnic states such as the former Yugoslavia in which ethnicity and religion contributed to a larger problem, the Iraqi quandary of national unity and the factors contributing to the oppression of the Kurds including collusion between religious leaders inside Iraq and international rivals of the secular Ba’athis t regime. Bartkus writes that past Kurdish leaders were funded by â€Å"the shah of Iran, Mossad, and the CIA† who â€Å"provided arms and advisers† in matters of secession and general rebellion[1]. Following the debilitating Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, â€Å"the Kurds attempted to use opportunity† to â€Å"gain control over their own territory†[2]. According to Bartkus, Hussein launched the beginnings of the Anfal Campaign, â€Å"razing some 5,000 Kurdish villages [in] response† to the uprising, inicluding â€Å"the 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja† that â€Å"killed over 5,000 people and forced several hundred thousand to seek refuge in turkey or Iran†[3]. According to Bartkus, several Iraqi Kurdish â€Å"pashmergas attempted to liberate Kurdish towns in March 1991, directly after Iraq’s defeat in the Gulf War,† hence again exploiting Iraqi military debilitation to bolster the argument that Kurdish secession and Iraqi repression is an ongoing conflict (Ibid). The Kurdish oppression at the hands of Hussein’s regime have more in common with the plight of the Armenians at the turn of the Great War (WWI), where upon the landing of European forces at â€Å"Gallipoli, Turkish authorities began a process of repression of internal communities—Armenian communities, numbering perhaps 2 million† throughout the Ottoman Empire[4]. The dissertation has several similarities to other assignments undertaken, particularly in the organization of the paper and its focus around a stated set of arguments and the elaboration of said arguments throughout the paper. The basic formula of block quoting and argumentation is applicable and accurately employed in the extrapolation of theories postulated and later proven. Where the original dissertation proposal entailed several suggested concepts including religious and political postulations, it did not refute the claims in a compare-and-contrast method of research. This research plan includes rebuttals of popular notions concerning the Kurdish oppressions as well as support of more varying conclusions. For example, while the oppression of Kurds is linked to ethnic differences, there was no formulation of the argument that such rebellions were common in the Middle East, especially under the Ottoman and later Turkish governments, who, as former rulers of modern-day Iraq, faced problems with Kurds throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Mainstream schools of thought such as Freeman’s collection of essays have begun to point out the struggle of largely pro-Islamist Kurds against imposed Ba’athist secularism, a remnant from the days of the Pan-Arab Nationalist movement of the 1960s vis-à  -vis Hafiz al-Assad’s â€Å"brutal suppression of the Muslim Brothers in 1983†[5]. PROGRESS TO-DATE While all data has been collected and documented for the primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives, the next step in the dissertation’s completion that warrants progress is the organization of specific arguments in such a way as to correlate all objectives in a logical manner. The oppression of Kurds is a multi-faceted topic, as are the parallel events including Kurdish oppression outside Iraq in Turkey, Syria, and to an extent neighboring Iran. More difficult a correlation is the recently-contested status of the Armenian Genocide of 1914. The Armenian-Turkish and Kurdish-Iraqi oppressions share much in common that they could warrant the creation of an entirely separate dissertation. A growing problem in the integration of the Armenian Genocide is deciding which facts to include. Aspects of Armenian oppression in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish government can be used to both parallel and contrast the Kurdish-Iraqi conflict. Furthermore, the existence of both Armenian and Kurd ish integrated populations into Iran begs the question of the relevance of external Kurdish land disputes. Historic Kurdistan would cut into several states outside Iraq, warranting the validity of mentioning the history of Kurdish secessionism in the region. In keeping focused and on-topic, several key points have been removed from the original introduction. First, the schism in Islamic theology between Sunni and Shi’a is omitted from the latest draft. While it is an important facet of internal Iraqi politics, the frailty of the Sunni-Shi’a population contingent has nothing to do with Kurdish mass murders unless it is mentioned in the context of Iraqi national unity. Before 1940, modern-day Iraq never existed. The Ottomans separated Iraq into cantons, including but not limited to the modern-day provinces comprising Iraq today. No single ethnic group comprising Iraq today has ever lead a unified Iraq; Saladin integrated the â€Å"Land of the Two Rivers† into an empire spanning Egypt, Syria, Israel, and Palestine, while the Ottomans assigned separate governors to Shi’a-dominant, Sunni-dominant, and Kurdish-dominant regions. The frailty of Iraqi cohesion is the only reason one might mention the different Islamic theologies, and even then it would warrant only a passing thought. A more pertinent focus would be on the drawing of post-colonial borders and its effect on nationalism. If Islamist schools of government are a necessity to mention, it should be intimated that Kurds are largely pro-theocracy and anti-secularism, while Iraq’s Arab Muslims populations are torn between theocracy (Shi’a and Sunni alike) and the familiarity of the Pan-Arab Nationalist Ba’ath Party. An additional revision has been the introduction of Iran as a major contrarian party to Iraq in its treatment of Kurds, despite its being ethnically different from Kurds as well as religiously opposite the Sunnis as the world’s only existing Shiite theocracy. WORKS CITED Bartkus, Viva Ona. (1999) The Dynamic of Secession. Cambridge: Cambridge U P. Freedman, Robert Owen. (1993) The Middle East After Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait. Gainesville: U of Florida P. Gellately, Robert and Ben Kiernan. (2003) The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge U P. Totten, Samuel. (2004) Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts. New York: Routledge P. BIBLIOGRAPHY Crano, W. D., Brewer, M. B. 2002. Principles and Methods of Social Research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. www.fas.org, 2006 online source. Retrieved November 2, 2006 Kazemzadeh, M. 1998. Thinking the Unthinkable: Solving the Problem of Saddam Hussein for Good. Middle East Policy, 1(1), 73-86. Kelsay, J. 1993. Islam and War: A Study in Comparative Ethics (1st ed.). Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=26085894 Murdock, D, 2004, â€Å"Saddam Hussein’s Philanthropy of Terror† Retrieved October 23, 2006 from www.husseinandterror.com Palys, T., Lowman, J. 2001. Social Research with Eyes Wide Shut: The Limited Confidentiality Dilemma. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 43(2), 255. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=5001041487 Ragin, C, 1994, Constructing Social Research, Pine Forge Pr, ISBN: 0803990219 Rezun, M. 1992. Saddam Husseins Gulf Wars: Ambivalent Stakes in the Middle East. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=107022508 Simons, G. 1996. Iraq From Sumer to Saddam (Second ed.). Basingstoke: Macmillan. Retrieved October 25, 2006, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=od=97576434 Zinger, I., Wichmann, C., Gendreau, P. 2001. Legal and Ethical Obligations in Social Research: The Limited Confidentiality Requirement. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 43(2), 269. Weinrich, N.K., 1996 Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Social Marketing Research, Social-Marketing.com, Retrieved October 21, 2006 from www.social-marketing.com/research.html Footnotes [1] Bartkus 1999, p. 65 [2] Ibid [3] Ibid [4] Gellately and Kiernan 2003, p. 207 [5] Freedman 1993, p. 279

Manhattan Project :: essays research papers

Manhattan Project II. The Race for the Bomb The theoretical possibility that an explosion could be brought about by atomic fission became known in 1939, the year that war broke out in Europe. Scientists discovered then that uranium atoms can fission when struck by neutrons to split other atoms in a chain reaction, releasing large amounts of energy. Two Hungarian physicists who had recently emigrated to the United States, Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner, alerted the US government to the possibility of an atomic bomb. Along with Albert Einstein, they wrote a letter to President Roosevelt warning that Nazi Germany might also be working towards a uranium bomb; many of the important discoveries in atomic physics had been made at German universities. Roosevelt responded by setting up an advisory committee on uranium in October 1939. Under the aegis of this committee, American scientists at several centres examined the problem. The uranium that fissions is an isotope, a variation of an element that is chemically indistinguishable but different in its atomic structure. It is uranium-235, which constitutes only 0.7 per cent of uranium. Scientists questioned whether significant quantities could ever be separated. Much of the initial work was done at Columbia University in New York, and the military direction was from an office in Manhattan. This was located in the Manhattan Engineering District, and the whole programme became the Manhattan Project, under the command of Major General Leslie Groves. Meanwhile, in Britain, two immigrant physicists, the Austrian Otto Frisch and the German Rudolf Peierls, decided that an atomic explosion using uranium-235 was a practical possibility. They alerted the British authorities in early 1940 with a memorandum showing how such a bomb could be produced. After more studies, the British government set up a project to build an atomic bomb. The United States and Britain exchanged information on weapons developments. British progress towards an atomic bomb convinced American scientists in the summer of 1941 that it could be done, and spurred on their work. In November 1941 a committee of scientists recommended that the United States embark on an all-out research programme, and President Roosevelt gave the go-ahead the following January.

Importance of Partheon

One of the most well known places in Greece would be the Athenian Acropolis, where the Parthenon resides. Built in dedication to the Greek Goddess Athena, the current temple was constructed after the original temple was destroyed in the Second Persian Invasion in 480 B. C. The Parthenon is a most prominent figure in Classical Greek history, designed by Callicrates and Ictinus with the supervision of Phidias over the order of Pericles to show the wealth and the extravagance the Athenian power was capable of. Though in restoration, its value becomes clear ooking at its sculptures and realizing the extensive history it holds.Being over 2000 years old, the history of the temple is astronomical. Just by looking at it, the affects of an ancient battle and rule are clear. Construction began in 447 B. C. , and ended in 438 B. C. The Parthenon was purely a temple to Athena, up till the 4th century. The building held many treasures, the most magnificent being a statue of Athena in full armor h olding Nike, Goddess of Victory, made purely of ivory and gold. This statue was lost and eventually destroyed in the 5th century, Athens now eing a province of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century, the building was turned into a Christian church.It remained this way for around 250 years, the actual structure remaining intact, but with most sculptures of the Greek Gods destroyed. Then it was the Ottomans' who took control, and turned the temple into a mosque. Under their control, it was maintained, until the 17th century. 1678 was when the Parthenon took a direct shot from mortar fire from the Venetians, and since the building was being used as a store for gunpowder, a huge explosion occurred, leaving most of the destruction visible today. The Venetians soon took control and took whatever they could from the structure, and wrecking the rest, leaving it nearly empty.Whatever was left was then taken by the British in 1801. We can only tell what the sculptures and depictions look like t oday thanks to a Flemish artist, Jacques Carrey who made drawings in 1674. Restoration for the broken and worn building started in 1975. While the Parthenon will never look like it did centuries ago, we are now doing our best to restore it. Not only can you see the outcomes of historical events on the Parthenon, but mportant events and figures of Greek mythology are a part of, and used to be what the Parthenon was for.Just about all of the pieces involving their mythology are lost, but the ones we know of give us more knowledge on the subject. From the art left by Jacques Carry, we see the birth of Athena, which whom the temple was built for, on the East Pediment. The setting is dawn, as we see horses at the South end rising up Helios, and horses at the north end tired and fatigued. We can picture the main gods around Zeus, with Hephaestus and Hera near. Hephaestus was the one to strike Zeus's head, splitting it, after complaining of headache, giving forth to Athena in full armor.Th en there's the West Pediment, showing the aftermath of the fight between Athena and Poseidon over Attica, the region of Athens. Hermes and Nike are on the side with Athena, while Iris and Aphrodite are on the side with Poseidon. Both are moving away from the center of the pediment where Zeus threw down a thunderbolt, pediments tell of major events in mythology evolving Athena. The Parthenon has survived through time, and it tells quite a tale on Ancient Greece. It has been part of major events in history evolving Greece, and shows us important events in mythology.When we look at what the structure holds and gives to us, it's importance becomes clear. Not only is a marvel to look at, but shows us what Athens had been capable on. It has survived, but not without wounds, though steps are being taken to finally get the temple to what it used to be over 2,000 years ago. Short Essay Ancient Greece, architecture wise, is most well-known for its astounding temples. Having an important role in their religion, they were most wide-spread. The Parthenon is one of the best well-known temples, built for the Goddess Athena.Temples such as the Parthenon were very common, held an important spot in Ancient Greece, and is simply an amazing work of art. From the details of the columns to the frieze, the Parthenon was, and still is a testament to the beauty of Ancient Greek architecture. Located in Athens, the Parthenon stands on top of The Acropolis. There are actually many acropolises, but the one holding the Parthenon has its special title for its significance. There are many temples dedicated to gods, such as the Temple of Aphaea, the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Temple of Zeus.Temples are what Greek architecture is best known for, so it should be no surprise that they were fairly common. They were used as a place of sanctuary and of religious purposes. The Parthenon had its place as being built for Athena, for Athens success during that time. Not only did they serve a religi ous purpose, but a way to show power. No ordinary city would build such a work of art, you needed money and power. It also did show how artsy and amazing artists some Greeks were, you could look at the olumns and see very fine details, from the drawings you can see the realistic look of the statues placed inside, and outside the building.The fact that these very lifelike sculptures were crafted and moved without the machinery we have today is unbelievable. From the pediments, you see important bits of mythology play out before you, and from the ruins you can see the affects of time and destruction. No other work of art can hold as much history as the Parthenon has, it's been through the time of the Ancient Greece to the 21st century, all the way gathering scars from new rule and battles. I think the whole building itself is astonishing, but also very informal.While the building currently is nothing compared to what it looked like when finished long ago, knowing it is being restored lets us know this magnificent work of art has not been forgotten. The Parthenon holds a spot in Greek history, and serves its purpose in their ancient religion. While temples like it are common, none are as well known, or hold as much of a historical significance. It's a beautiful structure to behold, mostly when it is completely rebuilt. It's overall a stunning building, very fitting of a Goddesses place of worship.

Last Sacrifice Chapter Four

AND WHEN I SAY THEY blew up, I mean they blew up. Flames and smoke unfurled like petals from a newly opened flower as those poor monarchs exploded into pieces of rock. For a moment, I was stunned. It was like watching an action movie, the explosion cracking the air and shaking the ground. Then, guardian training kicked in. Critical observation and calculation took over. I immediately noticed that the bulk of the statue's material blew toward the outer sides of the garden. Small stone pieces and dust rained down on the funeral procession, but no large chunks of rock hit Lissa or anyone standing nearby. Assuming the statues had not spontaneously combusted, whoever had blown them up had done so in a precise way. The logistics aside, huge billowing pillars of flame are still pretty scary. Chaos broke loose as everyone tried to get away. Only, they all took different routes, so collisions and entanglements occurred. Even the pallbearers set down their precious burden and took off. Ambrose was the last to do so, his mouth agape and eyes w ide as he stared at Tatiana, but another look at the statues sent him off into the mob. A few guardians tried to keep order, herding people back down the funeral path, but it didn't do a lot of good. Everyone was out for themselves, too terrified and panicked to think reasonably. Well, everyone except for Lissa. To my surprise, she wasn't surprised. She had been expecting the explosion. She didn't run right away, despite people pushing past and shoving her aside. She stood rooted where she'd been when the statues blew up, studying them and the wreckage they'd caused. In particular, she seemed concerned about anyone in the crowd who might have been hurt by the blasts. But, no. As I'd already observed, there seemed to be no injuries. And if there were, it was going to be because of the stampede. Satisfied, Lissa turned and began walking away with the others. (Well, she was walking; they were running). She'd only gone a little distance when she saw a huge group of guardians hurrying toward the church, faces grim. Some of them stopped to aid those escaping the destruction, but most of the guardians were on their way to the blast site to see what had happened. Lissa paused again, causing the guy behind her to slam into her back, but she barely felt the impact. She intently watched the guardians, taking note of how many there were, and then moved on once more. Her hidden thoughts were starting to unravel. Finally, I began to see pieces of the plan she'd kept hidden from me. She was pleased. Nervous, too. But overall, she felt– A commotion back at the jail snapped me into my own mind. The usual quiet of the holding area had shattered and was now filled with grunts and exclamations. I leapt up from where I'd been sitting and pressed against the bars, straining to see what was happening. Was this building about to explode too? My cell only faced a wall in the hallway, with no view of the rest of the corridor or its entrance. I did, however, see the guardians who usually stood at the hall's far end come tearing past me, toward whatever altercation was occurring. I didn't know what this meant for me and braced for anything, friend or foe. For all I knew, there could be some political fringe group launching attacks on the Court to make a statement against the Moroi government. Peering around the cell, I swore silently, wishing I had anything to defend myself. The closest I had was Abe's book, which was no good at all. If he was the badass he pretended to be, he really would have slipped a file into it. Or gotten me something bigger, like War and Peace. The scuffling died down and footsteps thundered toward me. Clenching my fists, I took a few steps back, ready to defend myself against anyone. â€Å"Anyone' turned out to be Eddie Castile. And Mikhail Tanner. Friendly faces were not what I had expected. Eddie was a longtime friend from St. Vladimir's, another new guardian like me and someone who'd stuck by me through a lot of misadventures, including the Victor Dashkov prison break. Mikhail was older than us, mid-twenties, and had helped us restore Dimitri in the hopes that Sonya Karp–a woman Mikhail had loved who had turned Strigoi–might be saved as well. I glanced back and forth between the two guys' faces. â€Å"What's going on?' I demanded. â€Å"Nice to see you too,' said Eddie. He was sweating and keyed up with battle fervor, a few purple marks on his face showing he'd met someone's fist tonight. In his hand was a weapon I'd seen in the guardians' arsenal: a baton-type thing used to incapacitate people without killing them. But Mikhail held something much more valuable: the keycard and mechanical key to open my cell. My friends were staging a prison break. Unbelievable. Crazy was usually my specialty. â€Å"Did you guys †¦' I frowned. The thought of escape filled me with joy, but the logistics were sobering. Clearly, they'd been responsible for the fight with my guards that I'd just heard. Getting down here in the first place wasn't that easy either. â€Å"Did you two just take on every guardian in this building?' Mikhail finished unlocking the door, and I didn't waste any time in hurrying out. After feeling so oppressed and smothered for days, it was like stepping onto a mountain ledge, wind and space all around me. â€Å"Rose, there are no guardians in this building. Well, maybe one. And these guys.' Eddie gestured in the direction of the earlier fight, where I assumed my guards lay unconscious. Surely my friends hadn't killed anyone. â€Å"The rest of the guardians are all checking out the explosion,' I realized. Pieces began coming together–including Lissa's lack of surprise over the commotion. â€Å"Oh no. You had Christian blow up ancient Moroi artifacts.' â€Å"Of course not,' said Eddie. He seemed shocked that I would have suggested such an atrocity. â€Å"Other fire users would be able to tell if he did.' â€Å"Well, that's something,' I said. I should have had more faith in their sanity. Or maybe not. â€Å"We used C4,' explained Mikhail. â€Å"Where on earth did you–‘ My tongue locked up when I saw who was standing at the end of the hallway. Dimitri. Not knowing how he was during my imprisonment had been frustrating. Christian and Tasha's report had been only a tease. Well, here was the answer. Dimitri stood near the hall's entrance in all his six-foot-seven glory, as imperious and intimidating as any god. His sharp brown eyes assessed everything in an instant, and his strong, lean body was tensed and ready for any threat. The look on his face was so focused, so filled with passion, that I couldn't believe anyone ever could have thought he was a Strigoi. Dimitri burned with life and energy. In fact, looking at him now, I was again reminded of how he'd stood up for me at my arrest. He wore that same expression. Really, it was the same one I'd seen countless times. It was the one people feared and admired. It was the one I had loved. â€Å"You're here too?' I tried reminding myself that my muddled romantic history wasn't the most important thing in the world for a change. â€Å"Aren't you under house arrest?' â€Å"He escaped,' said Eddie slyly. I caught the real meaning: he and Mikhail had helped Dimitri escape. â€Å"It's what people would expect some violent probably-still-a- Strigoi guy to do, right?' â€Å"You'd also expect him to come bust you out,' added Mikhail, playing along with the game. â€Å"Especially considering how he fought for you last week. Really, everyone is going to think he busted you out alone. Not with us.' Dimitri said nothing. His eyes, while still carefully watching our surroundings, were also assessing me. He was making sure I was okay and uninjured. He looked relieved that I was. â€Å"Come on,' Dimitri finally said. â€Å"We don't have much time.' That was an understatement, but there was one thing bugging me about my friends' â€Å"brilliant' plan. â€Å"There's no way they'll think he did it alone!' I exclaimed, realizing what Mikhail was getting at. They were setting Dimitri up as the culprit in this escape. I gestured to the unconscious guardians at our feet. â€Å"They saw your faces.' â€Å"Not really,' a new voice said. â€Å"Not after a little spirit-induced amnesia. By the time they wake up, the only person they'll remember seeing will be that unstable Russian guy. No offense.' â€Å"None taken,' said Dimitri, as Adrian stepped through the doorway. I stared, trying not to gape. There they were together, the two men in my life. Adrian hardly looked like he could jump into a fistfight, but he was as alert and serious as the other fighters here. His lovely eyes were clear and full of the cunning I knew they could possess when he really tried. That's when it hit me: he showed no sign of intoxication whatsoever. Had what I'd seen the other day been a ruse? Or had he forced himself to take control? Either way, I felt a slow grin creeping over my face. â€Å"Lissa lied to your mom earlier,' I said. â€Å"You're supposed to be passed out drunk somewhere.' He rewarded me with one of his cynical smiles. â€Å"Well, yes, that would probably be the smarter–and more enjoyable–thing to be doing right now. And hopefully, that's what everyone thinks I'm doing.' â€Å"We need to go,' said Dimitri, growing agitated. We turned toward him. Our jokes vanished. That attitude I'd noticed about Dimitri, the one that said he could do anything and would always lead you to victory, made people want to follow him unconditionally. The expressions on Mikhail and Eddie's faces–as they grew serious–showed that was exactly how they felt. It seemed natural to me too. Even Adrian looked like he believed in Dimitri, and in that moment, I admired Adrian for putting aside any jealousy–and also for risking himself like this. Especially since Adrian had made it clear on more than one occasion he didn't want to be involved with any dangerous adventures or use his spirit in a covert way. In Las Vegas, for example, he'd simply accompanied us in an observer's role. Of course, he'd also been drunk most of the time, but that probably made no difference. I took a few steps forward, but Adrian suddenly held out a hand to stop me. â€Å"Wait– before you go with us, you need to know something.' Dimitri started to protest, eyes glinting with impatience. â€Å"She does,' argued Adrian, meeting Dimitri's gaze squarely. â€Å"Rose, if you escape †¦ you're more or less confirming your guilt. You'll be a fugitive. If the guardians find you, they aren't going to need a trial or sentence to kill you on sight.' Four sets of eyes rested on me as the full meaning sank in. If I ran now and was caught, I was dead for sure. If I stayed, I had the slim chance that in my short time before trial, we might find evidence to save me. It wasn't impossible. But if nothing turned up, I was also most certainly dead. Either option was a gamble. Either one had the strong possibility of me not surviving. Adrian looked as conflicted as I felt. We both knew I didn't have any good choices. He was simply worried and wanted me to know what I was risking. Dimitri, however †¦ for him, there was no debate. I could see it all over his face. He was an advocate of rules and doing the proper thing. But in this case? With such bad odds? It was better to risk living as a fugitive, and if death came, better to face it fighting. My death will not be penciled in on someone's calendar. â€Å"Let's go,' I said. We hurried out of the building, anxious to get moving with the plan. I couldn't help but comment to Adrian, â€Å"You've got to be using a lot of spirit to pull off all those illusions on the guards.' â€Å"I am,' he agreed. â€Å"And I don't really have the power to do it for very long. Lissa could probably make a dozen guardians think they'd seen ghosts. Me? I can barely make a few forget Eddie and Mikhail. That's why there had to be someone they remembered to attract the attention, and Dimitri's the ideal scapegoat.' â€Å"Well, thank you.' I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. As warmth flowed between us, I didn't bother telling him I was a long way from being free yet. It would diminish his heroics. We had a lot of obstacles ahead, but I still appreciated him stepping up like this and respecting my decision to go along with the escape plan. Adrian shot me a sidelong glance. â€Å"Yeah, well, I'm supposed to be crazy, right?' A flash of affection shone in his eyes. â€Å"And there isn't much I wouldn't do for you. The stupider, the better.' We emerged to the main floor, and I saw that Eddie had been right about guardian security. The halls and rooms were virtually deserted. Without a second glance, we hurried outdoors, and the fresh air seemed to renew my energy. â€Å"Now what?' I asked my rescuers. â€Å"Now we take you to the getaway car,' said Eddie. The garages weren't far, but they weren't close either. â€Å"That's a lot of open ground to cover,' I said. I didn't bring up the obvious problem: me being killed if spotted. â€Å"I'm using spirit to keep us all vague and nondescript,' said Adrian. More testing of his magic. He couldn't handle much more. â€Å"People won't recognize us unless they stop and stare directly at us.' â€Å"Which they probably won't,' said Mikhail. â€Å"If anyone even notices us at all. Everyone's too worried about themselves to pay much attention to others in all this chaos.' Looking around outside, I could see he was right. The jail building was far from the church, but by now, people who'd been near the blast had made their way to this part of Court. Some were running into their residences. Some were seeking guardians, hoping for protection. And some †¦ some were going the same direction we were, toward the garages. â€Å"People are freaked out enough to actually try to leave Court,' I realized. Our group was moving as fast as we could with Adrian, who wasn't in the shame shape as dhampirs. â€Å"The garages will be crowded.' Both official Court vehicles and visiting guests parked in the same area. â€Å"That could help us,' said Mikhail. â€Å"More chaos.' With so many distractions in my own reality, I couldn't plunge completely into Lissa's. A light brush of the bond found her safe, over in the palace. â€Å"What's Lissa doing during all of this?' I asked. Believe me, I was glad she wasn't involved with this busting-me-out-of-jail madness. But, as Adrian had noted, her ability with spirit could have gone much farther than his here. And now, looking back on it all, it was obvious she had known about this plan. That had been her secret. â€Å"Lissa needs to stay innocent. She can't be linked to any part of the escape or explosion,' replied Dimitri, eyes fixed ahead on his goal. His tone was firm. He still regarded her as his savior. â€Å"She has to keep herself visible with the other royals. So does Christian.' He almost smiled. Almost. â€Å"Those two would certainly be my first suspects if something exploded.' â€Å"But the guardians won't suspect them once they realize the blast wasn't caused by magic,' I mused. Mikhail's earlier words returned to me. â€Å"And hey, where did you guys get a hold of C4? Military grade explosives are kind of extreme, even for you.' No one answered me because three guardians suddenly leapt out into our path. Apparently, they weren't all out at the church. Dimitri and I surged ahead of our group, moving as one, just as we always had in battle together. Adrian had said the illusion he'd stretched over our group wouldn't hold if anyone was facing us directly. I wanted to make sure Dimitri and I were the first line of contact with these guardians, in the hopes they wouldn't recognize the others behind us. I threw myself into the fight without hesitation, defensive instincts kicking in. But in those milliseconds, the reality of what I was doing truly sank in. I'd fought guardians before and always felt guilty about it. I'd taken on the ones at Tarasov Prison, as well as the queen's guard during my arrest. I hadn't really known any of them, though. Just realizing they were my colleagues had been bad enough †¦ but now? Now I was facing one of the most difficult challenges in my life, as small as it seemed. After all, three guardians were an easy match for me and Dimitri. The problem was–I knew these guardians. Two of them I'd run into quite a bit after graduation. They worked at Court and had always been kind to me. The third guardian wasn't just someone I knew–she was a friend. Meredith, one of the few girls in my class at St. Vladimir's. I saw the flash of uneasiness in her eyes, a sentiment mirroring my own. This felt wrong to her too. But, she was a guardian now, and like me, she had had duty drilled into her throughout her life. She believed I was a criminal. She could see I was free and in attack mode. Procedure dictated she take me down, and honestly, I wouldn't have expected anything less. It's what I would have done had our roles been reversed. This was life and death. Dimitri was on the other two guys, as fast and badass as ever. Meredith and I went for each other. At first, she tried to knock me down by virtue of her weight, probably in the hopes of pinning me down until backup could help grab me. Only, I was stronger. She should have known that. How many times had we sparred in the school's gym? I'd almost always won. And this was no game, no practice drill. I pushed back at her attack, punching her on the side of her jaw and desperately praying I didn't break anything. She kept moving through the pain, but–again–I was superior. I caught a hold of her shoulders and threw her down. Her head hit hard, but she remained conscious. I didn't know whether to be grateful or not. Maintaining my grip, I put her in a chokehold, waiting until her eyes closed. I released as soon as I was sure she was out, my heart twisting in my chest. Glancing over, I saw Dimitri had also taken down his opponents. Our group kept moving as though nothing had happened, but I glanced at Eddie, knowing there was grief on my face. He looked pained too but sought to reassure me as we hurried along. â€Å"You did what you had to,' he said. â€Å"She'll be okay. Banged up, but okay.' â€Å"I hit her hard.' â€Å"The medics can deal with concussions. Hell, how many did we get in practice?' I hoped he was right. The lines between right and wrong were getting confusing. The one good thing, I supposed, was that Meredith had been so occupied by the sight of me that she probably hadn't noticed Eddie and the others. They'd held back from the fight, hopefully keeping on Adrian's veil of spirit while Dimitri and I took the attention. We finally reached the garages, which were indeed more crowded than usual. Some Moroi had already driven off. One royal was hysterical because her driver had her car's keys, and she didn't know where he was. She was shouting to passers-by to see if anyone could hotwire the car for her. Dimitri led us purposefully forward, never wavering. He knew exactly where we were going. There had been a lot of planning, I realized. Most of which had probably happened yesterday. Why had Lissa obscured it from me? Wouldn't it have been better for me to have a heads-up on the plan? We scurried through the people, heading toward the garage on the very farthest side. There, sitting just outside of it and seemingly ready to go, was a drab gray Honda Civic. A man stood near it, arms crossed as he examined the windshield. Hearing our approach, he turned around. â€Å"Abe!' I exclaimed. My illustrious father turned and gave me one of those charming smiles that could lure the unwary to their doom. â€Å"What are you doing here?' demanded Dimitri. â€Å"You'll be on the list of suspects too! You were supposed to stay back with the others.' Abe shrugged. He looked remarkably unconcerned at Dimitri's angry expression. I wouldn't have wanted that fury directed at me. â€Å"Vasilisa will make sure a few people at the palace swear they saw me there during suspicious times.' He turned his dark eyes toward me. â€Å"Besides, I couldn't leave without telling you goodbye, could I?' I shook my head in exasperation. â€Å"Was this all part of your plan as my lawyer? I don't recall explosive escapes being part of legal training.' â€Å"Well, I'm sure it wasn't part of Damon Tarus's legal training.' Abe's smile never wavered. â€Å"I told you, Rose. You will never face execution–or even a trial, if I can help it.' He paused. â€Å"Which, of course, I can.' I hesitated, glancing toward the car. Dimitri stood by it with a set of keys, looking impatient. Adrian's words echoed in my memory. â€Å"If I run, it's just going to make me seem that much more guilty.' â€Å"They already think you're guilty,' said Abe. â€Å"You wasting away in that cell won't change that. This just ensures we now have more time to do what we need to without your execution looming over us.' â€Å"And what are you going to do exactly?' â€Å"Prove you're innocent,' said Adrian. â€Å"Or, well, that you didn't kill my aunt. I've known for a while you aren't all that innocent.' â€Å"What, are you guys going to destroy the evidence?' I asked, ignoring the dig. â€Å"No,' said Eddie. â€Å"We have to find who really did kill her.' â€Å"You guys shouldn't be involved with that, now that I'm free. It's my problem. Isn't that why you got me out?' â€Å"It's a problem you can't solve while you're at Court,' said Abe. â€Å"We need you gone and safe.' â€Å"Yeah, but I–‘ â€Å"We're wasting time arguing,' said Dimitri. His gaze fell on the other garages. The crowds were still chaotic, too busy with their own fears to notice us yet. That didn't affect Dimitri's concern. He handed me a silver stake, and I didn't question the reasons. It was a weapon, something I couldn't turn down. â€Å"I know everything looks disorganized, but you'll be amazed at how quickly the guardians will restore order. And when they do, they're going to lock this place down.' â€Å"They don't need to,' I said slowly, my mind spinning. â€Å"We're already going to have trouble going out of Court. We'll be stopped–if we can even get to the gate. There are going to be cars lined up for miles!' â€Å"Ah, well,' said Abe, idly studying his fingertips. â€Å"I have it on good authority there's going to be a new â€Å"gate' opening up soon over on the south side of the wall.' The truth dawned on me. â€Å"Oh lord. You're the one who's been doling out C4.' â€Å"You make it sound so easy,' he said with a frown. â€Å"That stuff's hard to get a hold of.' Dimitri's patience was at an end. â€Å"All of you: Rose needs to leave now. She's in danger. I'll drag her out if I have to.' â€Å"You don't have to go with me,' I shot back, kind of offended at the presumption. Memories of our recent arguments emerged, of Dimitri saying he couldn't love me and didn't even want to be friends. â€Å"I'll take care of myself. No one else needs to get in trouble. Give me the keys.' Instead, Dimitri gave me one of those rueful looks that said he thought I was being utterly ridiculous. We could have been back in class at St. Vladimir's Academy. â€Å"Rose, I can't really get in any more trouble. Someone has to be responsible for helping you, and I'm the best choice.' I wasn't so sure of that. If Tatiana really had made progress in convincing people Dimitri wasn't a threat, this escapade would ruin it all. â€Å"Go,' said Eddie, surprising me with a quick hug. â€Å"We'll be in touch through Lissa.' I realized then that I was fighting a losing battle with this group. It really was time to leave. I hugged Mikhail too, murmuring in his ear, â€Å"Thank you. Thank you so much for your help. I swear, we'll find her. We'll find Sonya.' He gave me that sad smile of his and didn't reply. Adrian was the hardest to leave behind. I could tell it was difficult for him too, no matter how relaxed his grin seemed. He couldn't be happy about me going off with Dimitri. Our hug lasted a little bit longer than the others, and he gave me a soft, brief kiss on the lips. I almost felt like crying after how brave he'd been tonight. I wished he could go with me but knew he'd be safer here. â€Å"Adrian, thank you for–‘ He held up his hand. â€Å"It's not goodbye, little dhampir. I'll see you in your dreams.' â€Å"If you stay sober enough.' He winked. â€Å"For you I just might.' A loud booming noise interrupted us, and we saw a flash of light off to my right. People near the other garages screamed. â€Å"There, you see?' asked Abe, quite pleased with himself. â€Å"A new gate. Perfect timing.' I gave him a reluctant hug too and was surprised when he didn't pull back right away. He smiled at me †¦ fondly. â€Å"Ah, my daughter,' he said. â€Å"Eighteen, and already you've been accused of murder, aided felons, and acquired a death count higher than most guardians will ever see.' He paused. â€Å"I couldn't be prouder.' I rolled my eyes. â€Å"Goodbye, old man. And thanks.' I didn't bother asking him about the â€Å"felons' part. Abe wasn't stupid. After I'd asked him about a prison that had later been breeched, he'd probably figured out who was behind Victor Dashkov's escape. And like that, Dimitri and I were in the car, speeding off toward Abe's â€Å"new gate.' I regretted not being able to say goodbye to Lissa. We were never truly apart with the bond, but it couldn't take the place of face-to-face communication. Still, it was worth it to know she would be safe and free of any connection to my escape. I hoped. Like always, Dimitri drove, which I still thought was totally unfair. It had been one thing when I was his student, but now? Wouldn't he ever give up that wheel? This didn't seem like the time to discuss it, though–particularly since I didn't plan on us staying together much longer. A few people had come out to see where the wall had blown up, but no one official had surfaced yet. Dimitri raced through the gap as impressively as Eddie had when he'd driven through Tarasov Prison's gate, only the Civic didn't handle the bumpy, grassy terrain as well as the SUV in Alaska. The problem with making your own exit was that it didn't come with an actual road. Even that was beyond Abe. â€Å"Why is our getaway car a Civic?' I asked. â€Å"It's not really great for off-roading.' Dimitri didn't look at me but continued navigating over the rough ground toward a more drivable area. â€Å"Because Civics are one of the most common cars out there and don't attract attention. And this should be the only off-roading we do. Once we hit a freeway, we're putting as much distance between us and Court as we can–before abandoning the car, of course.' â€Å"Abandon–‘ I shook my head, letting it go. We reached a dirt road that felt like the smoothest surface on earth after that jolting start. â€Å"Look, now that we're out of there, I want you to know that I mean it: you don't have to come with me. I appreciate your help in the escape. Really. But hanging out with me won't do you any favors. They'll be hunting for me more than you. If you take off, you can live somewhere around humans and not be treated like a lab animal. You might even be able to slink back to Court. Tasha would put up a fight for you.' Dimitri didn't answer for a long time. It drove me crazy. I wasn't the kind of person who handled silence well. It made me want to chatter and fill the void. Plus, the longer I sat there, the more it hit me that I was alone with Dimitri. Like, really and truly alone for the first time since he'd become a dhampir. I felt like a fool, but in spite of the dangers we still risked †¦ well, I was still overwhelmed by him. There was something so powerful about his presence. Even when he made me angry, I still found him attractive. Maybe the adrenaline pounding through me was addling my brain. Whatever it was, I was consumed by more than just his physical aspects–though they were certainly distracting. The hair, the face, his closeness to me, his scent †¦ I felt it all, and it made my blood burn. But the inner Dimitri–the Dimitri who'd just led a small army through a prison break–captivated me just as much. It took me a moment to realize why this was so powerful: I was seeing the old Dimitri again, the one I'd worried was gone forever. He wasn't. He was back. At long last, Dimitri replied, â€Å"I'm not leaving you. None of your Rose-logic arguments are going to work. And if you try to get away from me, I'll just find you.' I didn't doubt he could, which just made the situation more confusing. â€Å"But why? I don't want you with me.' I still felt a lingering attraction for him, yes, but that didn't change the fact that he had hurt me in breaking things off between us. He had rejected me, and I needed to harden my heart, particularly if I wanted to move on with Adrian. Clearing my name and leading a normal life seemed far away right now, but if it happened, I wanted to be able to return to Adrian with open arms. â€Å"It doesn't matter what you want,' he said. â€Å"Or what I want.' Ouch. â€Å"Lissa asked me to protect you.' â€Å"Hey, I don't need anyone to–‘ â€Å"And,' he continued, â€Å"I meant what I said to her. I swore I'd serve her and help her for the rest of my life, anything she asks. If she wants me to be your bodyguard, then that's what I'll be.' He gave me a dangerous look. â€Å"There's no way you're getting rid of me anytime soon.'

17 Amazing Scholarships for Moms and Single Mothers

17 Amazing Scholarships for Moms and Single Mothers SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Mothers and single mothers have it harder when trying to get a college education. In addition to balancing a full academic course load, they are also responsible for feeding, clothing, and financially supporting their children. Studies suggest that up to 60% of families headed by single mothers are living in poverty- which makes the idea of spending money on education even more difficult to fathom. Fortunately, there are multiplecompanies who want to help moms and single moms improve their situations through education. Read on to see a list of scholarships directly aimed at mothers who are pursuing higher education. Who Are These Scholarships For? Many organizations want to help mothers get back into the classroom. They believethat if moms are getting college degrees,thenthey will be able to get better jobsand eventually be able toprovide morefor their families. There is a lot of help out there for mothers and single mothers who are ready to put in some hard work. Use this article as a starting point to explore some of the opportunities out there for moms to return to school. I have split the scholarships into two categories: Scholarships for moms returning to college after a break Scholarships for single mothers However, if you're serious about funding your education, don't stop there. There are many other scholarships available that are not aimed specifically at moms, but that mothers who are pursuing degrees can and should still apply for. They're discussed in more detail at the end of this article. Scholarships for Women Returning to School These scholarships are for students who are returning to school after taking a break. If you're fresh out of high school, these are not for you! AARP Foundation Women’s Scholarship This scholarship is aimed at women aged 50+ who want to go back to school. Awards range from $500 to $5,000 and are given to around 350 people every year. Winners must enroll in an accredited university within six months of winning the scholarship. Applicants will have to write a short essay about their educational goals and significant obstacles that they have overcome. AAUW Virginia Beach Branch Scholarship Students who are residents of Virginia Beach and at least 23 years old may apply for this scholarship. You should currently be enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution and have returned to school after being away. You should have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants must write a short essay about their career goals and special circumstances. At least one award of $500 will be given. Arizona BPW Foundation Annual Scholarship The Arizona Business and Professional Women's Foundation gives out several scholarships aimed at women who are returning to school to better their career prospects. Applicants must attend a community college or trade school in Arizona and will need to write an essay about their career goals and financial situation. The application deadline is December 10th. Award amount varies. BK Krenzer Reentry Scholarship This scholarship is awarded by the Society of Women Engineers to a non-traditional student who has re-entered education after a break. Students should be studying any kind of engineering and may be college freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors. The award is for $3,250. Dr. Wynetta A Frazier Sister to Sister Scholarship This scholarship is aimed at African American women who are either returning to school after a break or who are starting college for the first time following a break after high school because of family responsibilities or other personal demands. Applicants must be able to confirm acceptance into a college or university to pursue a BA degree, must be at least 21 years of age, and need to write an essay on a given topic. Two awards of $500 will be given. Emerge Scholarship Emerge Scholarships are aimed at non-traditional women students who are going back to school after a break. Applicants must be residents of Georgia who are planning to study in Georgia, be at least 25 years of age, and must express their career and life goals in the application. The number of awards given varies every year; last year 14 were given. The award amount ranges between $2,000 and $5,000. Executive Women International Scholarship EWI offers the Adult Students in Scholastic Transition Scholarship (ASIST) for adults who are facing economic, social, or physical challenges and are looking to improve their lives through education. Students must first apply through local chapters, and then chapter winners will be entered to win at the corporate level. Corporate level scholarships are for amounts ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. There are 13 winners. Jeannette Ranking Women’s Scholarship This scholarship is aimed at women who are 35 years of age or older, low-income, US citizens or permanent residents, and are pursuing their first bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or technical degree. Selection will be based on applicants'stated goals and plans for reaching them, and how theyplan to use theireducation to give back to the community. The award amount is around $2,000. Non-Traditional Student Scholarship Applicants must be members of The American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, or Sons of the American Legion. Applicants should be non-traditional students returning to the classroom after a period of interruption, or be starting education at a later point in life. Winners will be selected based on need, academic achievement, character and leadership, and personal goals. A $2,000 scholarship is awarded in every Auxiliary geographic division. The deadline is March 1st. P.E.O. Program for Continuing Education This grant is intended for women whose educations have been interrupted and who want to return to school to complete a degree or certification. Applicants should be citizens of the USA or Canada and be studying in one of those countries. They should have had at least 24 consecutive months as a non-student in their adult lives and be within two years of completing their desired educational program. Awards are up to $3,000. Society of Women Engineers Olive Lynn Salembier Scholarship and Mary V. Munger Memorial Scholarship Applicants must be members of the Society of Women Engineers and must have been out of the engineering workforce and school for at least two years prior to re-entry. The Olive Lynn Salmbier scholarship awards $2,000 and the Mary V. Munger Scholarship awards $3,000. Scholarships for Single Mothers These scholarships are specifically aimed at single mothers. Helping Hands for Single Moms This scholarship is designed for low-income single mothers who are earning a college degree. Applicants should have US citizenship and live in Maricopa County or the Phoenix metropolitan area. They must also be legally single and not living with a partner, be registered in college with a GPA of at least 2.8, carry at least a 9-credit-per-semester course load, and have at least one child under the age of . The award amount varies. The Patsy Takemoto Mink Education Foundation This Foundation offers five scholarships for moms every year to women who are at least 17 years oldandare mothers with minor children. Applicants should be pursuing an Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, or a vocational degree or certificate, and be low-income. Awards are up to $5,000. WISP: Change Your World Scholarship Applicants must be women who are direct survivors of an abusive partner. You must have been separated from the abusive partner for at least one year. Special consideration will be given to women who plan to use their educations to further the rights of other women and girls. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers Single Mother Scholarship Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers offers two $1,000 scholarships to single mothers who are looking to go back to school to improve their living circumstances. Applicants must write a 500+ word essay on the advantages of going back to school while caring for their children. They should explain how motherhood has prepared them for the challenges of being a student. Live Your Dream Awards Program These scholarships are for women who provide primary financial support for themselves and their dependents and have overcome obstacles such as poverty, domestic violence, or drug and alcohol abuse. Applicants should have financial need and live within a Soroptimist International member territory. Local-level award amounts vary; local award winners become eligible for regional awards of $3,000 or $5,000, and regional award winners are eligible to win international-level awards of $10,000. The application is open August 1st-November 15th of each year. Ford Opportunity Scholarship The Ford Family Foundation offers scholarships to assist single parents in pursuing a bachelor’s degree. They recognize that as the head of household and without the support of a partner, single parents face many challenges that most students do not face. Applicants must be single parents of dependent children and live in Oregon or Siskiyou County, California. Up to 50 students receive scholarships every year. The scholarships cover 90% of the student’s costs that are not covered by other resources, generally ranging between $1,000 and $25,000. If you're looking for moreways to fund your education, there are many other scholarships available. Read on to learn about some of your other options and how to apply to them. How to Find Other Scholarships No matter what you are studyingor where you plan on attending school, you will likely be eligible for scholarships beyond those that are just for mothers. Finding and applying to these other scholarships is a great way to increase the amount of money you have for school. A good place to start is by looking into scholarships for the areas you want to focus your studies on. Almost all disciplines have a number of scholarships available. Furthermore, if you have chosen to pursue a field in which women are traditionally underrepresented, such as the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math), you will find that there are scholarships specifically set aside for women in these areas. Next, try searching for scholarships that relate to your interests, hobbies, or special circumstances. For example, there are a number of weird, random scholarships out there for people who happen to have certain last names or characteristics (like being left-handed), and there are even more scholarships for people who have more conventional qualities, such as an interest in art or music. Keep searching until you come up with a long list of scholarships that you can apply to. Now that you know about your different options read on to learn how to win these scholarships! How to Win Scholarships Rule 1: Applyto Multiple Scholarships Keep in mind that many scholarships are competitive, meaning there are hundreds- or thousands- of people applying for them. You can greatly increase your chances of winning a scholarship or two by applying for a large number of scholarships.We recommend applying to anywhere between five and 30 scholarships. Rule 2: Be Meticulous Follow the required instructions for every essay and question. Pay particular attention to supporting documents that you will need to send with your applications, and keep on top of deadlines. As mothers, you're short enough on free time as it is- don't make it worse by spending time on incomplete or incorrect applications that will get you nowhere! Rule 3: Keep Applying Don't stop applying for scholarships just because you're in your second, third, or fourth year of college. In fact, there are many scholarships out there that are aimed specifically at students in the final yearsof their education. If you're able to continue bringing in new money sources throughout your academic career, you will end up with much less debt when you graduate. Rule 4: Find Other Support Keep an eye out for any other support that will help you. For example, some parents are eligible for government grants while they're studying. You will likely find that you are not the only parent at your school- see if you can coordinate childcare with others so that you can get the most for your money. Also, see if your school offers any special aid or discounts for parents to provide their children with safe housing and hot meals. You may be surprised by how much your university or college will want to lend a helping hand! What's Next? Now that you know about scholarships for moms, take a chance to learn about other scholarships and how to apply for college. If you want to apply to some great scholarships not listed above, check out our guides to theNational Merit Scholarship,McDonald's Scholarship, andTylenol Scholarship. Did you know that sometimes getting a scholarship is as easy as applying to your school of choice? Check out thislist of schools that automatically offer scholarships based on grades and test scores. Need a letter of recommendation for a scholarship? Here's how to get one. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Essay Example

A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Essay Example A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Paper A Room with a View Close Contextual Analysis Paper ‘A Room with a View’ – Close textual Analysis p. 105-107 Throughout the whole of the novel the theme of light and dark is constantly reoccurring and is openly present within this extract: ‘thinking of the old man who had enabled her to see the lights dancing in the Arno’, this metaphor gives the reader an insight to how Lucy is desperate for the freedom of her own independence which the lights clearly symbolise. The passage begins with ‘‘The Curtains parted. ’’ This gives the reader an impression of a theatrical entrance, to then introduce Cecil appears to the reader as somewhat of a disappointment; ‘‘Cecil’s first movement was one of irritation. ’’ It is symbolic as this idea of parting the curtains draws in on the continuous contrasting theme of Lucy’s fight with restriction and her will for freedom. As the curtains part Lucy is being exposed to more of the freedom she is so desperate to gain. Cecil’s action ‘‘of irritation’’ is not in correlation with the previous images of independence and liberty. ‘Irritation’ implies to the reader that Cecil is not comfortable almost awkward in his current situation and acting ill-tempered, which shows immediately to the reader how opposite Lucy and Cecil are for one another and how ill-fitting a marriage between them would be. The idea of Cecil ‘‘parting the curtains’’ subsequently becomes ironic as his own actions associate him with darkness rather than with the light that we as the reader attach Lucy to. Previously in the novel there are other references to windows in a similar context; ‘Come away from the window, dear’, Showing Miss Bartlett’s concern and restraint of Lucy becoming exposed to the freedom she desires. The next passage starts ‘ Light entered. ’ showing instantaneously a new positive outlook. Giving a beautiful, elegant description of a ‘terrace, with trees each side of it, and on it a little rustic seat and two flower beds†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Forster lulls you into a false sense of optimism, ‘Lucy, who was in the little seat, seemed on the edge of a green magic carpet which hovered†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This reminds the reader of Lucy’s purity and innocence using the fairy tale symbolism ‘‘of a green magic carpet’’. The whole metaphor of Lucy is cleverly constructed illustrating the idea of Lucy ‘hovering’ and ‘on the edge’ as to show her half way between her own personal discovery and the iddle class society that is so desperate to keep drawing her back in. In contrast the reader discovers that throughout the novel whenever Cecil appears dreams dissolve and reality is re-established; ‘†¦hovered in the air above the tremulous world. Cecil entered. ’ All imagination is lost. All the beauty and el egance of the paragraph is destroyed by this simple, blunt statement. Once more you see Cecil is portrayed in a negative sense, reserved, bold in some way starched, too conventional, the complete opposite of what Lucy wants making the idea of an engagement between them seem inconceivable. Even a simple embrace is an arduous task for him, he feels compelled to follow convention and displays a complete lack of spontaneity and passion; ‘Up to now I have never kissed you†¦Then I ask you – may I now? ’ Although in a different context, Cecil is still capable with little effort to ruin a perfectly romantic moment. Forster shows Cecil’s belief of his own self-importance clearly with his introduction along with his high position within society in the novel, ‘Cecil must at once be described. Comparing Cecil to a ‘Gothic statue’ gives an impression of power but a cold exterior. His character is a complete contradiction to that of Lucy’s. ‘He was medieval’, yet she is trying so hard to progress forward in time. ‘Medieval’ suggests that he is welded to tradition and very conservative which would hold her back, keeping Lucy away from her ‘view’. As the description of Cecil continues he becomes more pompous, ‘And a head that was tilted a little higher than the usual level of vision’, creates an image that Cecil calculates his self worth to be much higher than most. Cecil’s character is very dissimilar to that of George. He is depicted as free-thinking, ‘He stepped quickly forward and kissed her’, tolerant and willing to admit to his human failings; ‘I nearly fainted myself’, This illustrates to the reader that George Emerson is clearly a better choice for Lucy in comparison to Cecil who would only be keeping Lucy from the freedom she is so desperately in need of. The incessant medieval metaphoric descriptions of Cecil become an anomaly against the image of the renaissance. Comparing the images of ‘the gothic statue which implies celibacy’ and ‘the Greek statue which implies fruition’ is a hidden way of contrasting Cecil and George Emerson. ‘The end of the middles ages’, Forster cleverly uses historical imagery to give a sense of how society moves forward. Within Lucy’s current society she has moved on from medieval tradition as depicted by Cecil’s stereotypical middle class character. Lucy’s social circle could not create a finer choice than Cecil as he fits the marital ideal, but Lucy is not society and to the reader the only acceptable choice for her is George Emerson. Mrs Honeychurch enters the scene appearing excitable and seeming to over-act her interest, ‘Oh Cecil, Oh Cecil, do tell me’. This does not seem typical of Mrs Honeychurch’s general conduct; she has previously come across very differently regularly criticising her son Freddy; ‘Why shouldn’t my permission be asked? What do you know about Lucy or girls or anything? ’ However with Cecil she completely lets her guard down because she is trying so desperately to make him feel ‘as one of the family’. This is ironic as she does not treat her own son in this manner. She seems genuinely thrilled by the idea of her only daughter marrying a man of such high standard within society. Love and romance was not included in the idea of a good marriage, money and status were the key factors. Any possible romance that may have been associated with the idea of Cecil’s and Lucy’s engagement disappears when Cecil answers, ‘She has accepted me’. His answer is completely monosyllabic and he does not remotely seem overjoyed by her acceptance, maybe slightly content but that’s all the emotion you can find in his response. Cecil regularly answers or asks questions in a similar tone, like the staged kiss between him and Lucy where he asks ‘then I ask you – may I now? ’ Where in both situations the encounters seems awkward which are reinforced by his actions, ‘shifting his eyes to the ceiling’, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. Cecil is an authority figure but this is not how you would expect him to be with his fiance. He acts very causally in comparison to what people stereotype the enouncement of an engagement to be, ‘‘I say Lucy! Called Cecil, for conversation seemed to flag. ’’ This is very ironic that Lucy is hardly involved in this scene yet it’s her engagement that’s being enounced something that will charge the pattern of her life entirely yet she is completely uninvolved. He commands Lucy not asks her, ‘Would you take them into the garden and tell Mrs Honeychurch all about it? His tone comes across very patronising and not respectful at all. Cecil acts as though he is dismissing a child rather than asking his fiance a question. ‘I shall have our children educated just like Lucy. Bring them up among honest country folk, send them to Italy for subtlety, and then – not till then – let them come to London. ’ His patronising tone is constant, he talks as if she is not in the room and as though she no right to an opinion of her own, even on such an important matter as her children. ‘As if taking orders’, Forster makes this clear showing his control complex to be unhealthy it is not free or liberating. Although Lucy’s life would be different in marriage to Cecil, in reality it would only be another type of enclosure. The last line of the passage ‘They passed into the sunlight’ reengages the idea of light. Creating the image of light falling when Lucy is distanced from Cecil, shows how Cecil will only contribute to the darker parts of her life and will not contribute to Lucy’s self discovery and liberty. This further highlights the mismatch between the two people. It clearly accentuates the reasons as to why she should not marry a man with these characteristics. These faults in a man would be the cause of her own self destruction and personal downfall.

Character Analysis of Hermia and Her Father

Character Analysis of Hermia and Her Father To deepen your understanding of William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream, here is a character analysis of Hermia and her father. Hermia, Believer in True Love Hermia is a feisty young lady who knows what she wants and does whatever she can to get it. She is even prepared to give up her family and way of life to marry Lysander, agreeing to elope with him into the forest. However, she is still a lady and ensures that nothing untoward goes on between them. She keeps her integrity by asking him to sleep away from her: â€Å"But gentle friend, for love and courtesy/Lie further off in humane modesty† (Act 2, Scene 2). Hermia assures her best friend, Helena, that she is not interested in Demetrius, but Helena is insecure about her looks in comparison with her friend and this somewhat affects their friendship: â€Å"Through Athens, I am thought as fair as she./But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so?† (Act 1, Scene 1) Hermia wishes the best for her friend and wants Demetrius to love Helena: â€Å"As you on him, Demetrius dote on you† (Act 1, Scene 1). However, when the fairies have intervened and both Demetrius and Lysander are in love with Helena, Hermia gets very upset and angry with her friend: â€Å"O me, you juggler, you canker blossom/You thief of love- what have you come by night/And stol’n my loves heart from him† (Act 3, Scene 2). Hermia is again compelled to fight for her love and is willing to fight her friend: â€Å"Let me come to her† (Act 3, Scene 2). Helena confirms that Hermia is a feisty character when she observes, â€Å"O, when she is angry she is keen and shrewd!/She was a vixen when she went to school./And though she is little, she is fierce† (Act 3, Scene 2). Hermia continues to defend Lysander even when he has told her that he no longer loves her. She is concerned that he and Demetrius will fight, and she says, â€Å"Heavens shield Lysander if they mean a fray† (Act 3, Scene 3). This demonstrates her unerring love for Lysander, which drives the plot forward. All ends happily for Hermia, but we do see aspects of her character that could be her downfall if the narrative were different. Hermia is determined, feisty, and occasionally aggressive, which reminds us that she is Egeus’ daughter, but we admire her steadfastness and faithfulness to Lysander. Headstrong Egeus Egeus father is domineering and overbearing to Hermia. He acts as a foil to the fair and even-handed Theseus. His proposal to bring the full force of the law on his daughter- the penalty of death for disobeying his orders- demonstrates this. â€Å"I beg the ancient privilege of Athens/As she is mine, I may dispose of her- /Which shall be either to this gentleman/Or to her death- according to our law/Immediately provided in that case† (Act 1, Scene 1). He has decided, for his own reasons, that he wants Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of her true love, Lysander. We are unsure of his motivation, as both men are presented as eligible; neither one has more prospects or money than the other, so we can only assume that Egeus simply wants his daughter to obey him so he can have his own way. Hermias happiness appears to be of little consequence to him. Theseus, Duke of Athens, placates Egeus and gives Hermia time to decide. Thus, the problem is resolved as the story unfolds, though this is no real comfort to Egeus. In the end, Hermia gets her way and Egeus has to go along with it; Theseus and the others happily accept the resolution, and Demetrius is no longer interested in his daughter. However, Egeus remains a difficult character, and  the story  ends happily only due to intervention by the fairies. Had they not been involved, its possible that Egeus would have gone ahead and executed his own daughter had she disobeyed him. Fortunately, the story is a comedy, not a tragedy.

The Environment and Human Health Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Environment and Human Health - Coursework Example This can lower the concentration of oxygen to a level that is immediately dangerous for human health; (2) Frostbite. Solid carbon dioxide is always below -78 oC at regular atmospheric pressure, regardless of the air temperature. Handling this material for more than a second or two without proper protection can cause serious blisters, and other unwanted effects. Carbon dioxide gas released from a steel cylinder, such as a fire extinguisher, causes similar effects; and (3) Kidney damage or coma. This is caused by a disturbance in chemical equilibrium of the carbonate buffer. When carbon dioxide concentrations increase or decrease, causing the equilibrium to be disturbed, a life threatening situation may occur† (Lenntech, 2009, par. 29). b. Environmental Impact of Tire Discard The Tire Conversion Technologies (2008) indicated that the environmental impact of discarded tires range from â€Å"the aesthetic (ugly piles of tires stockpiled on a parcel of land) to the hazardous (poten tial for fire and toxic chemicals from smoke) to public health concerns (carelessly discarded tires are an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes)† (par. 1). ... However, if recycled, tires are proven to be beneficial to the environment as it has been validated to give at most seven times carbon reduction and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions. c. Chinese to Attempt to Control High Air Pollution in Beijing for 2008 Olympics Howard (2008) reported in The Daily Green in his article entitled â€Å"China’s Olympic-Sized Clean Air Plan† that â€Å"Beijing is further cracking down on pollution by yanking cars off the roads, expanding mass transit and staggering work hours† (par. 1). Details from the report indicated that of 3.3 million private car owners in the city, scheduling depending on the last digit of the owners’ plate numbers would be allowed on the road alternately, odd or even. Working hours for employees have been staggered and more public buses, totaling an additional 2,000 would ply the city, in conjunction with â€Å"improved bus routes, extended the hours of operation for mass transit, opened a new subway and light-rail line and banned the dirtiest freight trucks. Also, many of the buildings for the Olympics are being built with green features† (Howard, 2008, par. 4). The report confirms the acknowledgement of the China government and the Olympic promoters for the need to control high air pollution in Beijing and therefore resorted to drastic and immediate methods to curb pollution, hopefully, not only in the short term, but in the long run. 2. a. International and Intranational Water Conflicts A report authored by Shamir, a contribution from UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme to the World Water Assessment Programme contained relevant information that provides examples of international and intranational water conflicts. One conflict exists between India, Nepal and Bangladesh

Economics for Lawyers (Law and Economics) Essay

Economics for Lawyers (Law and Economics) - Essay Example This is not the case in real interactions between firms. In order to dissect the concept further it would be pertinent to explore different points of views on the firm and its unique position in the market. The views of Coase, Penrose and finally Richardson will be explored in this paper in order to see how firms interact to form market structures and how these structures require the assistance of the law. 2. Defining The Firm Within the perspective of business, a firm can simply be seen as an organisation that is involved in the provision of goods and services or a combination of both to consumers1. Here it must be kept in mind that the work of such an organisation is determined by market consumption otherwise this definition would fit other organisations as well such as military organisations and the like. Therefore, the actions of a firm can be seen as being driven through competition in the market that requires the efforts of a team. Another major consideration to look into over here is the basic unit that composes the domain of economic activities. Firms are conglomerations of people who are geared to a common purpose namely the creation of economic value. In themselves, firms are actually composed of individuals and so individuals must be the basic unit of economic activity. ... This idea has been espoused by Coase who adds another dimension to hiring the services of other individuals. 2.1. Coase’s Ideas on The Nature of the Firm The earliest ideas as to why firms exist in an economy were presented by Coase2 in his article The Nature of the Firm (1937). It was recognised well before Coase’s ideas that firms existed but there had been little investigation into their need for existence. There was a visible change in emphasis of the dominant economic theory after the First World War. Analysis tended to shift from the level of industry (which relied in large part on market analysis) to the level of individual firms. This move can be attributed to a change in thinking over perfect competition. Previously perfect competition was seen as an effective model to delineate how firms behaved. Up till this point in time the emphasis of the economic theory had been to study the markets in order to understand their behaviour. There had been little work on und erstanding reasons as to why firms existed. In themselves, markets are guided Coase holds that in a perfect market, that is efficient, it would make sense to contract out services rather than hiring people. In Coase’s time the traditional theory of economics provided that entities that were best at providing goods or services were already providing these goods and services because the market was efficient. This would then have the implication that any entrepreneur looking for goods and services would tend to contract out goods and services to the best providers3. However, the actual market practice was just the opposite – entrepreneurs looked to hire people instead of contracting out services. It is only in recent years that outsourcing has

Tennessee and Progressivism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Tennessee and Progressivism - Essay Example In 1892, Knights of Labor, Farmers’ Alliance, and National Colored Farmers’ Alliance formed the Populists, people’s party. In the same year, African-American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett criticizes lynching and advocates for an end to racial discrimination in her passionate writing. In 1894, Booker T. Washington proposed that the state makes social equality and civil rights of blacks as important as economic advancement. Spanish-American war resulted into creation of National Consumers League. In 1909, liberal whites and African Americans formed a national association that advocated the advancement of colored people (NAACP). The association aimed at promoting racial justice, as well as civil rights. Similarly, Dr. Charles A. Eastman and others formed Society of American Indians organization to advocate Indians rights. The year 1912 saw establishment of US Children’s Bureau. The final landmark in the social justice came in 1920 when the Nineteenth Amendm ent guaranteed the right to vote to women (Sarat and Thomas 364). Notably, the struggle to ratify the nineteenth amendment began in

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Performance Management - Essay Example Performance management systems make use of the fact that performance is increased on the part of all concerned and there is no shortfall as concerns to commitment, dedication and devotion when at work. What this performance management system does is to ensure that the right people get the bonuses, incentives and so on as well as point out the ones who have fallen short on the company’s expectations over a period of time. This would help in giving them rewards and incentives which will eventually make one and all happy at the end. Also this will continue their desire to achieve more and more within a specified period of time and thus come into the good books of the company. In return, they can be given all these rewards so that they could be encouraged in line with their work attitudes. Moreover, the people who lag behind with regards to their work schedules and dedication levels will stand up and take notice and thus would want to be counted as the effective and efficient ones within the company as well. The role of organizations in the maintenance of these systems is also very paramount. The difference from the annual appraisals and so on lies in the fact that the traditional manner of doing things relies more on the basis of paper work where a lot of time, effort and money is rather wasted to state the least. The role played by the organizations in advancing their performance management systems is immense since a lot of the population depends on them for their needs and wants. This is met in a fair manner courtesy the E-government initiative adopted by several different companies and organizations. All such innovations which help and facilitate the related process must indeed be given thumbs up since these try to solve the miseries of the people and it is because of these people that the performance management systems are put into place originally. This further pinpoints the fact that the deployment of an efficient performance management

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 41

Case Study Example To the larger investors and stakeholders, the management should have informed them earlier with plans and strategies for ensuring that they (investor) would not lose their investments. The larger stakeholders control the public image and therefore should be given much consideration (Miller, 2005). In management, the answers are not different. If the management learned of the impending wine shortage six months, it would give them ample time to select the higher, middle and lower investors. Upon identification, the management would prepare time and strategies for convincing the investors that everything would be okay (Miller, 2005). Investors are afraid of shocks that, with carefully analyzed strategies, they can be convinced that absorbing the shocks is the management’s responsibility that they must ensure to protect their investments. Making the announcement of a potential loss of profits and investments, especially to investors and stakeholders, is always a headache to the management. The best way of action and making of such an announcement is communicating and talking to different groups privately before letting the information out to the public. The stakeholders of the company must know the truth. However, the management must ensure they have a careful strategy of acting to such an impending shortage to ensure that the stakeholders continue investing and supporting the company. To the outside stakeholders, the message should be a different one; it should be competition as usual. Going into detail for outside stakeholders would lead to also informing the competitors of the company’s struggles and strategies that the management cannot afford (Miller, 2005). I think Mondavi Winery’s handling of the new analyst was very poor. The management did not offer all the necessary information to the analyst for his analysis. If he had all the needed information, Solomon smith would not have upgraded the company to a ‘buy’. Mr.

Ethics in Professional Societies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in Professional Societies - Essay Example In any professional sphere, it is relevant to follow ethical principles and not only to work. Ethical principles have a different power in comparison with laws. Thus, laws can regulate or not, support or not some ethical principles. For example, from the perspective of medical ethics, abortion is unethical deed. It is a life interruption. In accordance with laws in many countries abortion is a legal issue. Nevertheless, Civil Rights Law in America propagates ethical and legal commitment. In one way or another, but the modern society requires ethical regulations in any profession. Still, the conditions of underdeveloped professional ethics among engineers cannot be denied. The fact that medical ethics is more developed cannot be denied as well. Still, the necessity of ethical principle following in these both spheres is an inarguable fact. Ethical principle relevance in the medical professional society usually concerns how medicals should ethically behave when they deal with the issue s concerning life and death. The most known ethical code of behavior for medicals is the Oath of Hippocrates. Currently, the American Medical Association has introduced bioethics. It covers such issues as pharmacy, nursing, social work and so on. Therefore, we can claim that for the American Medical Association ethical principles following in all spheres and aspects of medicine are of crucial importance1. It goes another way in the professional society of engineers. ... eering and Technology, a specific nature of ethics in engineering encompasses the following issues: â€Å"public safety; bribery and fraud; environmental protection; fairness; honesty in research and testing conflicts of interest†2. The necessity to develop code of ethics for engineers in accordance with the specific nature of the field of their activity can be explained by the following facts: the decisions made by engineers can cause a negative impact on public’s health; moral implications are of high importance for engineers. In such a way, it is necessary to support legally the development of ethical principles for engineers: the latter would think critically and independently about different moral issues; moral thinking would be incorporated in the professional engineering practice. In accordance with the research project â€Å"Ethics in Engineering†: â€Å"ethical problems in engineering are often complex and involve conflicting ethical principles. Enginee rs must be able to intelligently resolve these conflicts and reach a defensible decision†3. Therefore, engineers are not considered in the modern society as technicians, they are intelligent individuals with the ability to morally and ethically behave and think. Ethical principles of engineering in comparison with other professions There are numerous complexities within the professional field of engineers. These professionals are not self-employed and usually work for large corporations. Moreover, there is a lack of respect paid to engineers in comparison with medicals 4and they also do not have such high payments as physicians or lawyers do. Engineering professional society is not as well developed as the professional society of medicals (AMA) or as the professional association of lawyers (ABA)5. Therefore,

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 41

Case Study Example To the larger investors and stakeholders, the management should have informed them earlier with plans and strategies for ensuring that they (investor) would not lose their investments. The larger stakeholders control the public image and therefore should be given much consideration (Miller, 2005). In management, the answers are not different. If the management learned of the impending wine shortage six months, it would give them ample time to select the higher, middle and lower investors. Upon identification, the management would prepare time and strategies for convincing the investors that everything would be okay (Miller, 2005). Investors are afraid of shocks that, with carefully analyzed strategies, they can be convinced that absorbing the shocks is the management’s responsibility that they must ensure to protect their investments. Making the announcement of a potential loss of profits and investments, especially to investors and stakeholders, is always a headache to the management. The best way of action and making of such an announcement is communicating and talking to different groups privately before letting the information out to the public. The stakeholders of the company must know the truth. However, the management must ensure they have a careful strategy of acting to such an impending shortage to ensure that the stakeholders continue investing and supporting the company. To the outside stakeholders, the message should be a different one; it should be competition as usual. Going into detail for outside stakeholders would lead to also informing the competitors of the company’s struggles and strategies that the management cannot afford (Miller, 2005). I think Mondavi Winery’s handling of the new analyst was very poor. The management did not offer all the necessary information to the analyst for his analysis. If he had all the needed information, Solomon smith would not have upgraded the company to a ‘buy’. Mr.

Odyssey years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Odyssey years - Essay Example It describes the same as a wandering age (Brooks 2012). This is because it possesses a blur definition. It is a generation of mixed ideals. This exists in the articulation of trying to establish an identity out of a fading generation. This generation faces different contexts of evaluating their own direction. The writer accords notable instances out of the same. To begin with, the writer provides the example of careers. The odyssey age entails individuals that try various careers. This is because they are varied ways of self expression. A relevant example relates to the case of IT that has opened up many forms of careers. IT has also split traditional careers into technology oriented forms thereby suiting into the information vast age. Besides, the offices have transformed to include informal forms such as home offices. In their schooling, the members of the odyssey age go to school and take breaks from the same. This differs from the notion of having specific period of schooling. A member of this age can spend five years before deciding on a master’s degree. A more intriguing element relates to their social relationships. Such individuals are frantic in the sense that they can live with their respective families and friends at the same time. The consistent worry of parents has existed in the view that the odyssey age tends to be hesitant in starting up their families. This is because they believe in the traditional transformation from student life to adult responsibilities. This transition consumes unimaginable periods of five to seven years. This is coupled with the idea that these parents do not perceive a clear sense of articulation in their offspring’s life. It is vital to highlight that these arguments are propped by a profound sociological explanation. This is eminent in their delay of marriage, having children and attaining reasonable employment. In the previous age, individuals defined adulthood by common milestones. This entailed

Globalization Localization Product

Globalization Localization Product 1. The paradoxes of globalization vs. localisation and profitability vs. responsibility In todays continuously changing world, globalization is what every business, organization, and nation should seek and welcome as a positive change. However, many people are unaware of the main focus and meaning of globalization, especially in comparison to localization. A large number of people believe that globalization is just another common word used to refer to changes and differences that cannot be explained. Therefore, many different activities or changes are improperly labelled to be a part of or caused by globalization. Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local preferences. Ideally, a product or service is developed so that localization is relatively easy to achieve for example, by creating technical illustrations for manuals in which the text can easily be changed to another language. The process of first enabling a product to be localized and then localizing it for different national audiences is sometimes known as globalization. In localizing a product, in addition to language translation, such details as time zones, money, national holidays, local color sensitivities, product or service names, gender roles, and geographic examples must all be considered. A successfully localized service or product is one that appears to have been developed within the local culture. Globalization is also a term that refers to the process of global integration of the economies of nations by allowing the unrestricted flow of goods, services, investments and currencies between countries. The process of globalization has both positive and negative impacts on life at the individual and nationals levels. Globalization and localization are almost opposite concepts but can coexist. Globalization can briefly be defined as ‘something that affects and changes the traditional arrangements. It is a term that directly implies change and therefore is a continuous process over a long period of time as compared to quickly changing into a wanted or desirable end business system. Globalization, focusing on a narrower scale, refers to sequences that occur in ones mind or behaviour that lead to processes that evolve as people or organizations pursue their daily tasks in a hopeful attempt to accomplish their specific goals. Both globalization and localization have many costs and benefits, although not always considered when making decisions that significantly affect a group or countrys outcome. Two main benefits of globalization include it being a good way for a company to make more money and also initiate more openness between countries on the economic level. Moreover, other positive aspects of globalization include the increase in productivity and improvement in standards of living. On the other hand, the benefits of localization are more beneficial to a single state/country because it involves and allows a country to have its own specific national style of economic practices that reflect upon the countrys distinctiveness. The costs of globalization mainly comprise of giving up a countrys distinction of its politics, culture, economy where as costs of localization involve less trade and international investment. Although many people view a decrease in a countrys involvement with trade and investment as a benefit, in the long run it is a cost because it denies the country the ability to communicate with other countries and to increase its technology and status (by importing and learning about other countries products). An increase in trade would also allow a country to advertise its products and abilities and export items to different countries with high odds of making a profit. Another cost of localization is its evolution from the pressures that lead organizations to narrow their horizons and participate in dissimilar forms of behaviour not always accepted and approved by globally integrated countries. The costs of globalization are not weighed as heavily as those costs of localization because time wi ll override many of the unavoidable problems. Therefore, globalization cannot be stopped and as the political and cultural changes occur, organizations with strong economic performances will survive, succeed and replace those less productive. From an economic point of view, globalization focuses on the expansion of production and trade whereas localization focuses on more narrow and specific activities of consumers and producers. These two dynamics operate in all human activity from cultural and social to economic and political activities. From the social and cultural aspect, globalization attempts to extend its ideas and practices beyond its original and present setting whereas localization discourages new ideas, norms and practices. In addition, these two sets of dynamics are linked in a way that it seems every change in globalization causes a change in localization and vice versa. Todays world affairs and processes are greatly affected by the tensions between the different aspects and characteristics of globalization versus localization. In my opinion, the benefits of globalization discussed in this paper are far more important than its costs or the costs and benefits of localization. Although, localization and globalization will continue co-existing, globalization will continue to increasingly dominate over time because most countries are generally leading to and becoming more accepting of the idea of globalization. The benefits gained by globalization are the most important to peoples lives because it aides in the learning process of people expanding their horizons and understanding the benefits to countries, organizations, and groups working together. Although losing some part of ones national identity can be a disadvantage at times, the advantages of being able to work together and help each other in a globally integrated world are much more. It is widely known that for a business to be successful it needs to provide a good or service that is desired by the public and also to obtain a profit in providing said well or service. Now while these are the most important components to a successful business, they are not the only ones. The social responsibilities of a business include the following: environmental protection and preservation, employee safety and morale, product safety for the consumer. The financial manager must keep these three social responsibilities in mind when making any and all decisions. The purpose organizations should serve has been a puzzle for strategists over years. There are two perspectives from which this paradox could be viewed: shareholder value—profitability oriented and stakeholder value—focused on responsibility. According to the shareholder value perspective, each company is established to serve the purposes of their owners. In other words, an organization should focus on increase of its stock value through the implementation of profitable business strategies. Even though it might be in the interests of shareholders to treat stakeholders well, there is no moral obligation to do so. On the other hand, stakeholder value proponents argue that a company purpose should be seen as an agreement among shareholders, employees, banks, customers, suppliers, governments and community and an entity should orient on the interests and values of its stakeholders. Stakeholders value perspective assumes that an organization should serve the interests of all parties that can be influenced by its activities or are somehow involved into the company operations. Even though all stakeholders are interested in the company profitability, there are also other business areas on which stakeholders place high value such as quality is demanded by customers; job security, occupational safety, good working conditions are required by employees; prompt payments, shared risk taking, secure demand are preferred by suppliers. Therefore, maximizing shareholders value to the detriment of the other stakeholders interests would be unjust. That is the emphasis that major shareholders place on stock pric e appreciation and dividends must be balanced against the legitimate demands of other parties. The choice of the major company purpose—the reason for which an organization exists is the essential one because it defines what will be the company mission i.e. the business philosophy that should guide strategic choices i.e. who should ensure that the strategies pursued are in accordance with the mission. If the company purpose is clearly specified, it will give direction to the strategy process and influence the strategy content. Moreover, the values share by an organizations members may have an impact on strategic choices and thus the company mission. 2. Grupo Elektra analysis For analyzing the performance of Grupo Elektra one of the helpful techniques is to scan the internal and external environment of the company with application of the SWOT analysis at different stages of its development in a chronological order. Environmental factors internal to the company can be classified as strengths (S) and weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm are opportunities (O) and threats (T). The following is the SWOT analysis for Grupo Elektra. Internal environmental factors: STRENGTHS Grupo Elektra was the first Mexican manufacturer of TV sets that allowed introducing a new product at the market. Ricardo Salinas, Elektras new CEO, employed a group of talented and competent professional managers. As a result the company had a competitive advantage in future business development based on the excellent management team that allowed achieving quality levels with greater efficiency, while other competitors was based on the trial and error approach. The company profits were properly divided: for distribution to employees, for commercial reinvestment and the product/service development. This rational division of profits allowed further continuous development of the company accompanied with employees motivated to put much effort into there work. In 1995, the company had extended its service range (domestic wire transfer, extended warranty program, photo products and processing services, as well as saving accounts) that strengthened its position at the market. The distribution network was increased to more than 500 stores all over Mexico that made Elektras products more available to customers. With four different chains (Elektra, Bodega de Remates, Salinas y Rocha and The One) Grupo Elektra covered 87% of the Mexican population it means that the company was monopolistic. The business plan for the international expansion is made by Filiberto Jimenez in order to attack the main competitor La Curacao. The plan successfully worked and in 2001 La Curacao went bankrupt that allowed Elektra redouble companys position at the Latin America market. Elektra offered 20% lower prices than it closest competitor La Curacao that gave a possibility to deserve the customers loyalty. The major factor in Elektras success was the partnership with TV Azteca. The channel did not advertise any of Elektras competitors that allow company to create unique image and to be very effective with advertising efforts. Elektra had a huge media budget of $27 million per year and it was the largest advertiser in Mexico, in terms of airtime. The strategy followed by Elektra requires careful analyses before any merger or acquisition is made and any acquisition should result in the additional value to the whole company. The strong side of the Grupo Elektra management is a well prepared and experienced management team and motivating techniques applied to employees, people are allowed with freedom to express themselves. WEAKNESSES In the management of the company there is only one person, Alvaro Rodriguez, who makes final decisions. This limited decision power may lead to difficulties in further management of Elektra. The company has a problem with the production of cloth for the clothing chain The One. The production capacity was not enough, so there were the shortage of stock level, colors and sizes of cloths. The company is not concentrated on one kind of business, there are many business directions and not all of them are enough qualified. In El Salvador and the Dominican Republic the existed Elektras business model didnt work. The main source of companys income is financial services, such as credits. The Elektra tries to attract more and more people to live on a credit and to pay quite high interest rates. External environmental factors: OPPORTUNITIES Offering Elektras services internationally provided the opportunities to compete at the worldwide market. In year 2001 Grupo Elektra was already a well recognized in many countries. THREATS Evaluation of management and suggested solutions As SWOT analyses demonstrates strengths prevail over weaknesses in Elektra case that explains continuous prosperity and success of the company in the market. However, certain weaknesses still present and are better to be eliminated. First of all, the management is performed by a group of well prepared managers while the final decision is always made only by one person, while others are not informed what principles and criteria are followed in making decisions. It is a risky strategy since biases the success of the company toward the decision of Alvaro. Moreover, it will be rather difficult in the future to replace Alvaro Rodriguez with anyone who will be equally active, smart and so well informed about the business of the company. More people should participate in the decision making process in order to avoid subjectivity and provide necessary support to the next CEO if something happens to Alvaro Rodriguez. From one side, the Elektra system perpetuates such type of culture where lower-income groups owe their lives or earnings to a central figure in this case Elektra owner Ricardo Salinas Pliego. For example, Elektra employs 4,000 â€Å"investigators† so every potential credit client can be visited at home before a credit sale is approved. From another point of view, the Elektra gives the chance of purchasing new things immediately and it makes peoples life better.