Monday, December 30, 2019

Famous People - 1427 Words

Rosa Parks is widely known as the African-American woman who refused to get off her seat on a bus. She did not want to forfeit her seat in order for a white individual to replace her. She was arrested and taken into custody against her will, just because she felt the need to stay on the seat she felt she rightfully deserved. On December 1st, 1955, according to history, Rosa Parks was tired and exhausted from a long day of work. In fact, under different circumstances, she would have probably given up her seat willingly to a child or elderly person. But at this point in history, Parks was tired of the treatment she and other African-Americans received everyday of their lives. This included racism, segregation, prejudice and the Jim Crow laws†¦show more content†¦It has prevented other up-and-coming computer software entrepreneurs to rethink their approaches. Because of his ambitiousness, Gates has been able to keep his hold on the computer software industry by not letting othe r companies grab hold of what he worked so long and hard to create and establish. Gates changed the world positively and negatively. On the positive aspect, he has helped regular, working-class people use a basic computer. Even if you are not in a working environment, you can still manage to use the computer with general knowledge of the Microsoft programs. Negatively, he has contributed to the laziness of people. Now, with a click of a button, you can access everything from Microsoft Word to Microsoft Internet Explorer without having to leave the comfort of your own home or office. Actual books and journals have taken a back seat to the convenience of double clicking. Regardless of the influence Gates has had positively and negatively, one cannot ignore the fact that he has changed our world. Through his company, he has managed to revitalize people and their view of computers. Without Gates, the world would be extremely different because I would not be writing this paper right now. We live in such a fast-paced world that we are always looking to minimize our efforts and time management skills. Gates has single-handedly created a second world in the eyes of many people; he has affectedShow MoreRelatedAre Famous People Treated Unfairly by the Media? Should They Be Given More Privacy, or Is the Price of Their Fame an Invasion Into Their Private Lives?810 Words   |  4 PagesAre famous people treated unfairly by the media? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives? Many girls want to be as beautiful as Paris Hilton and many boys want to be as popular as David Beckham. Who doesn’t want to be a celebrity? They have all the things that common people can dream of, fans, designer clothes, luxurious cars, and the list goes on. Their lavish style of living keeps them in the eye of public and media. As a resultRead Morefamous people1742 Words   |  7 Pagespresident’s Mexican War landgrab gave us California, Texas, and the Southwest. 51 Margaret Sanger The ardent champion of birth control—and of the sexual freedom that came with it. 52 Joseph Smith The founder of Mormonism, America’s most famous homegrown faith. 53 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Known as â€Å"The Great Dissenter,† he wrote Supreme Court opinions that continue to shape American jurisprudence. 54 Bill Gates The Rockefeller of the Information Age, in business and philanthropyRead MoreFamous Role Model : Famous People As Role Models1057 Words   |  5 PagesSteven Korossy Mr. Montgomery English 4 12-13-17 Famous Role Models People look up to famous people as role models from athletes to celebrities. Famous people get looked up to and looked at their accomplishments in their life. It has been set that some are judged and some are liked. â€Å" A role model exemplifies behaviors and qualities that will lead a person†(Holley). The quote from Eileen really gives a good example on what role models really do. Role models are everywhere and they keep being lookedRead MoreFamous German People Essay3261 Words   |  14 PagesGermania’s land as their own. In 9 AD Arminius took over control of 3 military units. Later that year Arminius led his units into battle to try to defeat the Roman Army. Arminius lost over 20,000 men in this three day battle. This battle is very famous and is known as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Arminius’ name comes from the Latin based word, Armenium, which means vivid blue, he would have been called blue eyes. Although Arminius lost a lot of men in that battle, he managed to hold offRead MoreThe Vanity of Celebrity Fame: Sunset Boulevard and Celebrity Reality Shows2371 Words   |  10 Pagesof celebrities than their usual images - either corrupted by the encircling media, overloads oneself with self-indulgence, or just mocks celebrity in a broad spectrum. Such media items empower and impresses the audience by perceiving celebrities as people who pay the price of privacy to gain well knowness, signifying the vanity of stardom from the commonly accepted images. Sunset Boulevard is macabre movie designed for mature audiences who would be able to acknowledge the emptiness of a fallen celebrityRead MoreEssay on Some of the Famous people in History1094 Words   |  5 PagesHitler died at the age of 56 and he lived in modern times. Hitler was a German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. Hitler was at the center of Nazi Germany, World War II and the Holocaust. Hitler is known for being one of the most evil people to ever live. Hitler attended a public school in his town but he refused to follow the school’s discipline policy. Hitler took singing lessons and sung in the church and even considered becoming a priest. After his father died he finished theRead MoreEssay about Almost Famous: Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll1503 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"I’m a golden god,† Russell Hammond shouts from a roof top as he is about to jump off into a pool from a bad acid trip. The iconic rock-n-roll scene of inflated egos and strung out rock stars. However, this is a rare occurrence in Almost Famous. It is a story of a boy, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), becoming a man while learning about the rock-n-roll culture with his only true friend, his tape recorder. William, age fifteen, is traveling with the band Stillwater to interview them for a RollingRead MoreFamous Amos12788 Words   |  52 Pages1. Executive Summary Famous Amos is one of the most recognizable cookie brands in the world and its products are positioned as premium quality. Initiated by Wally Amos in 1975, the brand currently belongs to the Kellogg Company and is available in most parts of the world. However, it remains alien to China and this report is dedicated to Famous Amos’ entry into Shanghai. Its products include bite-sized chocolate cookies, sandwiched cookies and muffins that come in various flavors. Apart fromRead MoreCelebrities and Paparazzi Essay979 Words   |  4 PagesDid you know that being famous can be for better or worse? Even though it had been proven a tremendous number of times that being famous can be dangerous people still aspire to be famous. This paper will tell you about the ups and downs that famous people have, as well as the economics trials and tribulations of being famous. What is the cost of a celebrity time and privacy? â€Å"Celebrities chose to be publicized. People say that some celebrities even purposely tell paparazzi where their location isRead MoreEssay on Most Famous Work and the People Who Discovered Them548 Words   |  3 PagesMost famous work Edward Witten is most known for proving the string theory using a mathematical equation. Werner Heisenberg’s research in 1943 became the base from which the string theory grew from. Yoichiro Nambu, Holger Bech Nielsen, and Leonard Susskind first had the idea of string theory in 1970, but the scientific community lost interest quickly. Due to the discovery of quantum chromodynamics, John. H Schwarz and Joel Scherk where able to study boson (elementary particle) patterns and found

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Sociology - Class - 1826 Words

Major Essay Critically evaluate both Karl Marx’s and Max Weber’s theories of social class. How do these theories contribute, if at all, to an understanding of the class structure of Australian society? It is important for us to understand how our society became what it is today, thus understanding how we interact with each other and what affect an individual’s social class status has on their life chances, employment, social interaction and other key factors that will affect their life. There are currently a great number of theories that are available to explain social class and aspects relating to the interaction of these classes. There are two main theories that most of the others have been built on, these two theories come from†¦show more content†¦Thus the inherent structure, which capitalism has created within the society, would ultimately result in it being overthrown by the ‘working class’. He predicts, that when this occurs, there will be a change to a communist social structure where the means of production are no longer owned by a small percentage of the population, but the collective of the society owns it. Although in the past the only time that capitalist societies have broken down, was when the society was about to enter capitalism. It has not occurred regularly in a mature capitalist society as the structures of capitalism are working effectively to prevent this from occurring[6]. Weber defines the different classes though their economical relationships but unlike Marx, Weber believed that there are more then two important classes that need to be taken into account to understand the workings of society, some of these classes are broken down to other strata, which still have an important effect on social interaction. Within these class categories, class situations are further differentiated according to the type of property that is usable for production and what services it can provide for the market.[7] Weber has identified three types of class that he believes is essential to the understandings of social phenomenon, these are: The property class- determined byShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On Sociology And Sociology Class1524 Words   |  7 Pagessimilarities and differences on their views of what sociology is. I interviewed two females and three males. The ages from the interviewee’s ranged from 19 to 56. All of my respondent’s in this research were white. The five respondents had a different socioeconomic status. One of the respondents is still in school, and does not work at the moment, so I listed her as a low socioeconomic class. I interviewed both of my parents, and they are at a middle class standing. Also, I interviewed my girlfriend’sRead MoreSociology Of The Family Class947 Words   |  4 Pages This Sociology of the Family class has been an eye-opening experience. My views of the United States have been impacted by an objective comparison of t heir policies to those of other nations. I have learned that my own experiences growing up impacted me beyond how they did directly at the time they happened. Finally, the most dramatic of all was seeing how my own socialization has impacted the way I viewed the world. It is not unusual for a patriotic American to say that the United States isRead MoreSocial Class Theory And Political Sociology1303 Words   |  6 PagesGiddens 2001 ). There are three major theoretical frameworks in political sociology—pluralist, elite theory, and social-class perspectives. Classic pluralist see power held by a variety of groups in society; some of which are more powerful than others.The diverse and competing interests of different groups is the basis for a democratic equilibrium. These groups compete with each other to maximise their influence. No one group or class is able to dominate all other groups because of checks and balancesRead More Manifest and Latent Functions of Taking Sociology Class862 Words   |  3 Pagessocial pattern† (Macionis, 2013, p. 13). An intended consequence of taking a sociology course and completing the sociology course would be to earn my final credits towards my bachelor’s degree in biology; moreover this is goin g to be my last semester, and I will cap out on the total amount of credits required for a bachelor’s degree with no further provision of financial aid. Another manifest function of taking sociology class would be to prepare myself for the MCAT (which is a medical college admissionsRead MoreIn This Class I Have Learned That Sociology Is Everywhere.1227 Words   |  5 PagesIn this class I have learned that sociology is everywhere. I got a better understanding of how our life chances and shape by social structure and how it could have affected our self and society. We get understand where the people come from and understanding of behaviors and struggles of other people. We all watch movies right? Well in the movies they also replicate and show the understand of sociology even the movies that are base on true story. I watched two different movies such as â€Å"Stand and Deliver†Read MoreNursing Sociology : How Class Affects Health Essay1816 Words   |  8 PagesTitle: How Socio Economic Class Affects Health. Module : SHN 123 Word Count: 2118 Student Number : 558601 Inequalities in health between social groups have long been a dominant feature of British Society. Evidence suggests that people in the lower social scale suffer from ill health more than the middle and upper classes. This essay aims to address the reasons for this trend by primarily looking at evidence found in the Black Report, Acheson Report and the Marmot Review and by evaluating theRead MoreSociology-Social Class1065 Words   |  5 Pagesabout the ‘bad things’ that we deal with in our society. Two bad things that are extremely pressing in society today are the growing gap in the social class system and gender inequality. Both social class problems and gender inequality affect the way members of our society live their daily lives but are commonly overlooked or underestimated. Social Class is a way of categorizing households into groups of similar occupations, education levels and general income levels. The gap between the rich and theRead MoreSociology: Did Class Die?1760 Words   |  8 Pagesthe stamp of class leaves only a faint impression on people’s lives. Before checking whether this statement is true or not, the definition of â€Å"class† should be fathomed first. In a broad sense, social class is a collection of similarly placed individuals from a certain social group, who not only share common interests, but also similar lifestyle and cultural identities (Giddens, 2009: 458). Another key phrase supposed to be clear is the â€Å"faint impression†, which indicates that the class system nowRead MoreSociology : Social Relationship, Development And Function Of Human Society986 Words   |  4 PagesSociology is the study of social relationship, development and function of human society. Throughout the course of sociology you can lean many things about your society and even your self. Sociology will change the way you look at life and might be able to reflect on future designs or ideas. When enrolling in sociology you will be able to have a set of skills to see sociology, have the knowledge of sociology, and have values of sociology. By having skills, knowledge, and values you will be able understandRead MoreScience Majored Students Life At Queens College885 Words   |  4 Pagesnot know what their major is, I can precise it based on their study materials. The Remsen hall is the most important locale to in this fieldwork since it is a building for science majored students. I can observe what they do in their lecture and lab class. Moreover, there is the chemistry department. Thus, I can observe the interaction of students and advisors. I firstly went the student library since the library is more comprehensive place than Remsen hall. I slowly look around the library from downstairs

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Spirit Bound Chapter Sixteen Free Essays

I DIDN’T HAVE A PRECISE count of how many Strigoi were with Dimitri’s group. So much of what I’d seen through Lissa had been blurred with confusion and terror. The guardians, knowing we were expected, had simply had to make a best guess about how many to send. We will write a custom essay sample on Spirit Bound Chapter Sixteen or any similar topic only for you Order Now Hans had hoped overwhelming force would make up for us losing the element of surprise. He’d dispatched as many guardians as he could reasonably clear from the Court. Admittedly, the Court was protected by wards, but it still couldn’t be left entirely undefended. Having the new grads there had helped. Most of them had been left behind, allowing the seasoned guardians to go on our hunting party. That left us with forty or so. It was as unusual as large groups of Strigoi banding together. Guardians were usually sent out in pairs, maybe groups of three at most, with Moroi families. This large of a force had the potential to bring about a battle rivaling that of the Academy attack. Knowing that sneaking through the dark wouldn’t work, Hans stopped our convoy a little ways from the warehouse the Strigoi were holed up at. The building was situated on a service road cutting off from the highway. It was an industrial area, hardly a deserted path in the woods, but all the businesses and factories were shut down this late at night. I stepped out of the SUV, letting the warm evening wrap around me. It was humid, and the moisture in the air felt especially oppressive when I was already smothered with fear. Standing beside the road, I felt no nausea. Dimitri hadn’t posted Strigoi this far, which meant our arrival was still–kind of–a surprise. Hans walked over to me, and I gave him the best estimate I could on the situation, based on my limited information. â€Å"But you can find Vasilisa?† he asked. I nodded. â€Å"As soon as I’m in the building, the bond will lead me straight to her.† He turned, staring off into the night as cars sped by on the nearby highway. â€Å"If they’re already waiting outside, they’ll smell and hear us long before we see them.† Passing headlights briefly illuminated his face, which was lined in thought. â€Å"You said there are three layers of Strigoi?† â€Å"As far as I could tell. There are some on Lissa and Christian, then some outside.† I paused, trying to think what Dimitri would do in this situation. Surely I knew him well enough, even as a Strigoi, to calculate his strategy. â€Å"Then another layer inside the building–before you get to the storage room.† I didn’t know this for certain, but I didn’t tell Hans. The assumption was made on my own instincts, drawn from what I would do and what I thought Dimitri would do. I figured it would be best if Hans planned for three waves of Strigoi. And that’s exactly what he did. â€Å"Then we go in with three groups. You’ll lead the group going in for the extraction. Another team will accompany yours and eventually split off. They’ll fight whoever’s right inside, letting your group head for the captives.† It sounded so†¦ militaristic. Extraction. Captives. And me†¦ a team leader. It made sense with the bond, but always in the past, they’d simply used my knowledge and left me on the sidelines. Welcome to being a guardian, Rose. At school, we’d conducted all sorts of exercises, running as many different Strigoi scenarios as our instructors could dream up. Yet, as I stared up at the warehouse, all of those drills seemed like playacting, a game that could in no way measure up to what I was about to face. For half a second, the responsibility of it all seemed daunting, but I quickly shoved aside such concerns. This was what I had been trained to do, what I had been born to do. My own fears didn’t matter. They come first. Time to prove it. â€Å"What are we going to do since we can’t sneak up on them?† I asked. Hans had a point about the Strigoi detecting us in advance. An almost mischievous smile flickered on his face, and he explained his plan to the group while also dividing us into our teams. His approach tactic was bold and reckless. My kind of plan. And like that, we were off. An outsider analyzing us might have said we were on a suicide mission. Maybe we were. It honestly didn’t matter. The guardians wouldn’t abandon the last Dragomir. And I wouldn’t have abandoned Lissa even if there were a million Dragomirs. So, with sneaking having been ruled out, Hans opted for a full-on attack. Our group loaded back into the eight SUVs and tore off down the street at illegal speeds. We took up the entire width of the road, gambling on no oncoming traffic. Two SUVs led the charge side by side, then two rows of three. We shot to the end of the road, came to a halt with screeching tires at the front of the warehouse, and spilled out of our cars. If slow stealth wasn’t an option, we’d gain surprise by going fast and furious. Some of the Strigoi were indeed surprised. Clearly, they’d seen our approach, but it had happened so fast that they’d had only a little time to react. Of course, when you were as fast and deadly as Strigoi, a little time was all you needed. A group of them surged at us, and Hans’s â€Å"outside team† charged back, those guardians putting themselves between my group and the other going inside. The Moroi fire users had been assigned to the outside group, for fear of setting the building on fire if they went inside. My team moved around the battle, inevitably running into a few Strigoi who hadn’t fallen to the first team’s distraction. With well-practiced determination, I ignored the nausea sweeping through me from being this close to Strigoi. Hans had strictly ordered me not to stop unless any Strigoi were directly in my path, and he and another guardian were beside me to cover any threats that might come at me. He wanted nothing to delay me from leading them to Lissa and Christian. We fought our way into the warehouse, entering a dingy hall blocked by Strigoi. I’d been right in my guess that Dimitri would have layers of security. A bottleneck formed in the small space, and for a few moments things were chaotic. Lissa was so close. It was like she was calling to me, and I burned with impatience as I waited for the hall to clear. My team was in the back, letting the other group do the fighting. I saw Strigoi and guardians alike fall and tried not to let it distract me. Fight now, grieve later. Lissa and Christian. I had to focus on them. â€Å"There,† said Hans, tugging my arm. A gap had formed ahead of us. There were still plenty of Strigoi, but they were distracted enough that my companions and I slipped through. We took off down the hall, which opened into a large empty space that made up the warehouse’s heart. A few pieces of trash and debris were all that was left of the goods once stored here. Doors led off of the room, but now I didn’t need the bond to tell me where Lissa was. Three Strigoi stood guard outside a doorway. So. Four layers of security. Dimitri had one-upped me. It didn’t matter. My group had ten people. The Strigoi snarled, bracing in anticipation as we charged them. Through an unspoken signal, half of my group engaged them. The rest of us busted down the door. Despite my intense focus on reaching Lissa and Christian, one tiny thought had always been dancing in the back of my brain. Dimitri. I hadn’t seen Dimitri in any of the Strigoi we’d encountered. With my full attention on our attackers, I hadn’t slipped into Lissa’s head to verify the situation, but I felt totally confident that he was still inside the room. He would have stayed with her, knowing I would come. He would be waiting to face me. One of them dies tonight. Lissa or Dimitri. Having reached our goal, I no longer needed extra protection. Hans pulled out his stake on the first Strigoi he encountered, pushing past me and jumping into the fray. The rest of my group did likewise. We poured into the room, and if I thought there’d been chaos earlier, it was nothing compared to what we faced. All of us–guardians and Strigoi–just barely fit inside the room, which meant we were fighting in very, very close quarters. A female Strigoi–the one Dimitri had slapped earlier–came at me. I fought on autopilot, barely aware of my stake piercing her heart. In this room, full of shouting and death and colliding, there were only three people in the world that mattered to me now: Lissa, Christian, and Dimitri. I’d found him at last. Dimitri was with my two friends against the far wall. No one was fighting him. He stood with arms crossed, a king surveying his kingdom as his soldiers battled the enemy. His eyes fell on me, his expression amused and expectant. This was where it would end. We both knew it. I shoved my way through the crowd, dodging Strigoi. My colleagues pushed into the fray beside me, dispatching whom-ever stood in my way. I left them to their fight, moving toward my objective. All of this, everything happening, had led to this moment: the final showdown between Dimitri and me. â€Å"You’re beautiful in battle,† said Dimitri. His cold voice carried to me clearly, even above the roar of combat. â€Å"Like an avenging angel come to deliver the justice of heaven.† â€Å"Funny,† I said, shifting my hold on the stake. â€Å"That is kind of why I’m here.† â€Å"Angels fall, Rose.† I’d almost reached him. Through the bond, I felt a brief surge of pain from Lissa. A burning. No one was harming her yet, but when I saw her arms move out of the corner of my eye, I realized what had happened. Christian had done what she’d asked: He’d burned her ropes. I saw her move to untie him in return, and then my attention shifted back to Dimitri. If Lissa and Christian were free, then so much the better. It would make their escape easier, once we cleared out the Strigoi. If we cleared out the Strigoi. â€Å"You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get me here,† I told Dimitri. â€Å"A lot of people are going to die–yours and mine.† He shrugged, unconcerned. I was almost there. In front of me, a guardian battled a bald Strigoi. That lack of hair was not attractive with his chalk white skin. I moved around them. â€Å"It doesn’t matter,† said Dimitri. He tensed as I approached. â€Å"None of them matter. If they die, then they obviously aren’t worthy.† â€Å"Prey and predator,† I murmured, recalling what he’d said to me while holding me prisoner. I’d reached him. No one stood between us now. This was different from our past fights, where we’d had lots of room to size each other up and plan our attacks. We were still crammed into the room, and in keeping our distance from the others, we’d closed the gap between us. That was a disadvantage for me. Strigoi outmatched guardians physically; extra room helped us compensate with more maneuverability. I didn’t need to maneuver quite yet, though. Dimitri was trying to wait me out, wanting me to make the first move. He kept a good position, though, one that blocked me from getting a clear shot on his heart. I could do some damage if I cut him elsewhere with the stake, but he would likely get a hit in on me that would be packed with power in this proximity. So I tried to wait him out as well. â€Å"All this death is because of you, you know,† he said. â€Å"If you’d let me awaken you†¦ let us be together†¦ well, none of this would have happened. We’d still be in Russia, in each other’s arms, and all of your friends here would be safe. None of them would have died. It’s your fault.† â€Å"And what about the people I’d have to kill in Russia?† I demanded. He’d shifted his weight a little. Was that an opening? â€Å"They wouldn’t be safe if I–â€Å" A crashing sound off to my left startled me. Christian, now freed, had just slammed his chair into a Strigoi engaged with a guardian. The Strigoi shrugged Christian off like a fly. Christian flew backward, slamming into a wall and landing on the floor with a slightly stunned look. In spite of myself, I spared him a glance and saw Lissa running to his side. And so help me, she had a stake in her hand. How she’d managed that, I had no idea. Maybe she’d picked it up from a fallen guardian. Maybe none of the Strigoi had thought to search her when she came in. After all, why on earth would a Moroi be carrying a stake? â€Å"Stop it! Stay out of the way!† I yelled at them, turning back to Dimitri. Letting those two distract me had cost me. Realizing Dimitri was about to attack, I managed to dodge without even seeing what he was doing. It turned out he’d been reaching for my neck, and my imprecise evasion had spared me the full damage. Still, his hand caught me on the shoulder, knocking me back almost as far as Christian had gone. Unlike my friend, though, I had years of training that had taught me to recover from something like that. I’d honed a lot of balance and recovery skills. I staggered only a little, then quickly regained my footing. I could only pray Christian and Lissa would listen to me and not do anything stupid. My attention had to stay on Dimitri, or I’d get myself killed. And if I died, Lissa and Christian died for sure. My impression while fighting our way inside had been that the guardians outnumbered the Strigoi, though that meant little sometimes. Still, I had to hope my colleagues would finish our foes off, leaving me to do what I had to do. Dimitri laughed at my dodge. â€Å"I’d be impressed if that wasn’t something a ten-year-old could do. Now your friends†¦ well, they’re also fighting at a ten-year-old level. And for Moroi? That’s actually pretty good.† â€Å"Yeah, well, we’ll see what your assessment is when I kill you,† I told him. I made a small feint to test how much he was paying attention. He sidestepped with hardly any notice at all, as graceful as a dancer. â€Å"You can’t, Rose. Haven’t you figured that out by now? Haven’t you seen it? You can’t defeat me. You can’t kill me. Even if you could, you can’t bring yourself to do it. You’ll hesitate. Again.† No, I wouldn’t. That’s what he didn’t realize. He’d made a mistake bringing Lissa here. She increased the stakes–no pun intended–on everything. She was here. She was real. Her life was on the line, and for that†¦ for that, I wouldn’t hesitate. Dimitri must have grown tired of waiting for me. He leapt out, hand again going for my neck. And again I evaded, letting my shoulder take the brunt of the hit. This time he held on to my shoulder. He jerked me toward him, triumph flaring in those red eyes. In the sort of space we were in, this was probably all he needed to kill me. He had what he wanted. Apparently, though, he wasn’t the only one who wanted me. Another Strigoi, maybe thinking he’d help Dimitri, pushed toward us and reached for me. Dimitri bared his fangs, giving the other Strigoi a look of pure hatred and fury. â€Å"Mine!† Dimitri hissed, hitting the other Strigoi in a way that he had clearly not expected. And that was my opening. Dimitri’s brief distraction had caused him to loosen his grip on me. That same close proximity which made him so lethal to me now made me just as dangerous. I was by his chest, by his heart, and I had my stake in hand. I’ll never be able to say for sure just how long the next series of events took. In some ways, it felt like only one heartbeat passed. At the same moment, it was as though we were frozen in time. Like the entire world had stopped. My stake was moving toward him, and as Dimitri’s eyes fell on me once more, I think he finally believed I would kill him. I was not hesitating. This was happening. My stake was there– And then it wasn’t. Something hit me hard on my right side, pushing me away from Dimitri and ruining my shot. I stumbled, barely avoiding hitting anyone. While I always tried to be vigilant regarding all things around me in a fight, I’d let my guard down in that direction. The Strigoi and guardians were on my left. The wall–and Lissa and Christian–were on my right. And it was Lissa and Christian who had shoved me out of the way. I think Dimitri was as astonished as I was. He was also equally astonished when Lissa came toward him with that stake in her hand. And like lightning through the bond, I read what she had very, very carefully kept from me the last day: She had managed to charm the stake with spirit. It was the reason she’d been so keyed up during her last stake-practice session with Grant and Serena. Knowing she had the tool she needed had fueled her desire to use it. Her hiding all of that information from me was a feat on par with charming the stake. Not that it mattered right now. Charmed stake or no, she couldn’t get near Dimitri. He knew it too, and his surprise immediately changed to delighted amusement–almost indulgent, like the way one watches a child do something adorable. Lissa’s attack was awkward. She wasn’t fast enough. She wasn’t strong enough. â€Å"No!† I screamed, leaping toward them, though pretty certain I wasn’t going to be fast enough either. Suddenly, a blazing wall of heat and flame appeared before me, and I barely had the presence of mind to back up. That fire had shot up from the floor, forming a ring around Dimitri that kept me from him. It was disorienting, but only for a moment. I knew Christian’s handiwork. â€Å"Stop it!† I didn’t know what to do, if I should attack Christian or leap into the fire. â€Å"You’ll burn us all alive!† The fire was fairly controlled–Christian had that much skill–but in a room this size, even a controlled fire was deadly. Even the other Strigoi backed away. The flames were closing in on Dimitri, growing tighter and tighter. I heard him scream, could see the look of agony, even through the fire. It began to consume his coat, and smoke poured out from the blaze. Some instinct told me I needed to stop this†¦ and yet, what did it matter? I’d come to kill him. Did it matter if someone else did it for me? And that’s when I noticed Lissa was still on the offensive. Dimitri was distracted, screaming as the flames wrapped around him. I was screaming too†¦ for him, for her†¦ it’s hard to say. Lissa’s arm shot through the flames, and again, pain surged through the bond–pain that dwarfed the earlier singe from Christian burning her ropes. Yet she kept going, ignoring the fiery agony. Her alignment was right. She had the stake aimed at the heart. The stake went in, piercing him. Well, kind of. Just like when she’d practiced with the pillow, she didn’t quite have the strength to get the stake where it needed to go. I felt her steel herself, felt her summon up every ounce of strength she had. Throwing her full weight into it, she shoved again, using both hands. The stake went in further. Still not enough. This delay would have cost her her life in a normal situation. This was not a normal situation. Dimitri had no means to block her, not with the fire slowly eating him. He did manage a small struggle that loosened the stake, undoing what little progress she’d made. Grimacing, she tried again, pushing the stake back to its former position. Still, it wasn’t enough. I came to my senses then, knowing I needed to stop this. Lissa was going to burn herself up if she kept trying to stake him. She lacked the skill. Either I needed to stake him or we just needed to let the fire finish him off. I moved forward. Lissa caught sight of me in her periphery and sent out a blast of compulsion at me. No! Let me do this! The command hit me hard, an invisible wall that made me come to a halt. I stood there dazed, both from the compulsion itself and the realization that she’d used it on me. It only took a moment for me to shake it off. She was too distracted to put her full power into the order, and I was pretty compulsion-resistant anyway. Yet, that slight delay had stopped me from reaching her. Lissa seized her last chance, knowing she’d get no other. One more time, fighting through the fire’s searing pain, she threw everything she had into shoving the stake all the way into Dimitri’s heart. Her strike was still awkward, still requiring a little more wiggling and pushing than the clean hit a trained guardian would make. Clumsy or not, the stake finally made it. It pierced his heart. And as it did, I felt magic flood our bond, the familiar magic I’d felt so many times when she performed a healing. Except†¦ this was a hundred times more powerful than anything I’d ever felt before. It froze me up as neatly as her compulsion had. I felt as though all of my nerves were exploding, like I’d just been struck by lightning. White light suddenly burst out around her, a light that dwarfed the fire’s brightness. It was like someone had dropped the sun into the middle of that room. I cried out, my hand rising instinctively to shield my eyes as I stepped backward. From the sounds in the room, everyone else was having a similar reaction. For a moment, it was as if there was no bond anymore. I felt nothing from Lissa–no pain, no magic. The bond was as colorless and empty as the white light filling the room. The power she’d used had over-flooded and overwhelmed our bond, numbing it. Then the light simply disappeared. No fade-out. Just†¦ gone in an eye blink. Like a switch had been flipped. There was silence in the room, save for a few murmurings of discomfort and confusion. That light must have been toxic to sensitive Strigoi eyes. It was hard enough for me. Starbursts danced in my sight. I couldn’t focus on anything as the afterimage of that brilliance burned across my vision. At last–with a little squinting–I could vaguely see again. The fire was gone, though black smudges on the wall and ceiling marked its presence, as did some lingering smoke. By my estimation, there should have been a lot more damage. I could spare no time for that miracle, though, because there was another one taking place in front of me. Not just a miracle. A fairy tale. Lissa and Dimitri were both on the floor. Their clothes were burned and singed. Angry red and pink patches marked her beautiful skin from where the fire had hit hardest. Her hands and wrists were particularly bad. I could see spots of blood where the flames had actually burned some of her skin away. Third-degree burns, if I was recalling my physiology classes correctly. Yet she seemed to feel no pain, nor did the burns affect her hands’ movement. She was stroking Dimitri’s hair. While she sat in some semblance of an upright position, he was in an ungainly sprawl. His head rested in her lap, and she was running her fingers through his hair in a gentle, repetitive motion–like one does to comfort a child or even an animal. Her face, even marred with the fire’s terrible damage, was radiant and filled with compassion. Dimitri had called me an avenging angel, but she was an angel of mercy as she gazed down at him and crooned soothing, nonsense words. With the state of his clothes and what I’d seen in the fire, I’d expected him to be burned to a crisp–some sort of blackened, skeletal nightmare. Yet when he shifted his head, giving me my first full view of his face, I saw that he was completely unharmed. No burns marked his skin–skin that was as warm and tanned as it had been the first day I’d met him. I caught only a glimpse of his eyes before he buried his face against Lissa’s knee. I saw endless depths of brown, the depths I’d fallen into so many times. No red rings. Dimitri†¦ was not a Strigoi. And he was weeping. How to cite Spirit Bound Chapter Sixteen, Essay examples

Friday, December 6, 2019

Concepts of Divorce Essay Example For Students

Concepts of Divorce Essay Is marriage no more than the result of voluntary agreements between two private individuals? Is the lack of detail concerning marriage arrangements causing all the divorce debates? Does divorce cause problems or solve them? Why is marriage such a religious experience and divorce such a legal experience?Why do marriages take place under the eyes of God while divorces take place under the eyes of the law?I believe that it was because of my parents’ divorce that I have chosen to tackle such a controversial topic. In many ways, I am in search of my own opinion. My parents divorced through the no-fault system. My dad decided it was time to move on to another life I guess. The no-fault divorce is a form of divorce granted without blame being sought or established. Sometimes, I try to think of how my life would have turned out if they were still together. I wonder if life would be any better. However, there are other days when I thank God for putting me through such troubling times; without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. What troubles me with marriage/divorce issues is that one is dealt with while the other lies on the floor. Today, we discuss marriage, and we discuss divorce, but never both at the same time. Should we push premarital counseling, or should we make divorce harder? Why must we discuss one or the other and not both? There are so many questions concerning marriage and divorce, and that is why I’m writing to you. I hope to answer some questions you may have. Though you may not form an opinion about no-fault divorce, you should finish this article with a little satisfaction, knowing that you’ve seen both sides of the issue. There are many people who have spoken out about no-fault divorce and family relationships, but I will focus on two. In â€Å"The Divorce Debate,† Maggie Gallagher, a scholar at the Institute for American Values, tries to answer the question: â€Å"What, if anything, can we do about the fact that at least half of our marriages fail?† In another article, â€Å"The Making of a Divorce Culture,† Barbara Dafoe Whitehead discusses the idea that, â€Å"Divorce has become an American way of life only as a result of recent and revolutionary change.†I was very turned-off by Gallagher’s article. First, it starts off with what the author thinks should be a shared assumption; the assumption stated that divorce is harmful for children. Not everyone believes that. She goes on by asking, â€Å"What†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦can we do?† Gallagher continues with her article by putting down other states because of their divorce stipulations. She says that they are not worki ng. Yes, she did back that statement up with information from Judith Wallerstein’s book, Second Chance, and statistics from the Journal of Marriage and Family, but they were buried between the many instances in which she shared the views of her opposition. The way she recognized the reasoning behind the â€Å"speedy spouse disposal† or â€Å"delayed backlash† was a nice touch. Unfortunately, Gallagher was so involved with trying to show the other side of things, she forgot to give the reasoning behind her own ideas. Through the entire article, she used negative words or phrases to express her feelings on divorce; they include: harmful, delayed backlash, speedy spouse removal, eliminating, marital wrongdoing, dissolve a marriage, bitter conflict, unhappy marriages, bleak times, punishments, messy and irrelevant, and torment. However, she never once suggested a solution for the problem of divorce. How can one argue with the ideas of others, if that person has no argument of their own?After reading the article, I was pretty confident that the author had not personally been through a divorce of her own. This alone, caused me to question her. I felt that a more personal article involving some of her own experiences would have been more convincing. I realized that she was writing with a logical approach, but I believe an emotional one would have been better. Divorce is a topic that touches every person in so many different ways. If the article would have reached to the heart, it would have been more persuasive. Though I am unhappy with the way the topic was approached, I am sure that the essay was not quickly written. Their was a lot of research involved in this article. Gallagher explained how different states came up with different solutions for divorce. She discussed the no-fault divorce and the waiting period before a divorce. Her statistic was a great bonus. Photosynthesis EssayWe have to decide what is more important to our society. Research shows that divorced women suffer a drop in income ranging on average from 30 percent to 70 percent. More than half of all female-headed households with children live in poverty, compared with only 10 percent of all other families with children. Medical experts say that men who divorce are to experience greater health problems and higher rates of suicide than married men. Are these things devastating to our society, or do we need to look at the other side of things? Without no-fault divorce, many people may become trapped in abusive relationships. There may be an increase in desertion. One spouse may be lead to use bribes or threats to win the consent of the other to end marriage, thus creating the return of blackmail under the old fault-based system. (Tyson 1-3)Maybe the topic isn’t the narrow one we perceive it to be. Maybe the topic evolves more around family itself. Midge Decter does an excellent job of discussing family in her article, â€Å"The Madness of the American Family.† She explains how a family compares with a rock, and not the Garden of Eden. A rock, can be far from a comfortable place to be. â€Å"But,† she says, â€Å"living on a rock keeps you out of the swamps†¦..The most dangerous of these swamps is a place of limitless and willfully defined individual freedom. The land of limitless freedom, as so many among us are now beginning to discover, turns out to be nothing other than the deep muck and mire of Self.† She continues, â€Å"The only escape from the swamp of Self is the instinctual and lifelong engagement in the fate of others.† Decter discusses how being in a family may not make you happy, but it makes you human. She goes on:â€Å"Together, marriage and parenthood are the rock on which human existence stands†¦.and No matter how ardently a young man and woman believe they wish to spend their lives with one another, and no matter how enthusiastically they greet the knowledge that they are to have a baby, they do not undertake either of these things in full knowledge of the commitment they are undertaking†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦they do not know that they are embarked upon a long, long, and sometimes arduous and even unpleasant journey.† (Decter 1-19)Marriage, family, and divorce, are three controversial topics that each person must deal with in their lifetime. The great thing about them is that we are each allowed to have our own opinions about them. Maybe you haven’t picked sides, and maybe you haven’t heard enough to make a stand, but hopefully this article has got you thinking. I myself have not yet chosen a position on the topic. No-fault divorce has such a complicated base. Each marital problem causes rise to newfound solutions concerning divorce. Every person comes up with their own opinions. Each state has its laws, its bills, and its proposals to solve the problems con cerning marriage and divorce. The nation finds such problems floating above its head, waiting for someone, or something, to take hold and decrease its power to control the people within it.Nevertheless, Dector reminds us not to get frustrated about such topics when she says, â€Å"All this should be a very simple matter; God knows, it’s been going on long enough. So why have we fallen into such a state of confusion?†