Killing Chickens free essay sample

Betrayal and loneliness are two of the hardest emotions to encounter in life. Nevertheless, at some point everyone will experience and be forced to deal with them. This is made even harder when they are caused by someone you love and trust. In Meredith Hall’s â€Å"Killing Chickens†, she uses various literary devices such as metaphor, simile, and imagery as she processes her husband’s affair and describes having to kill chickens. Hall’s literary nonfiction is based on the happenings of a specific day that was truly hard to handle after being deceived by ones she loved: I was killing chickens. It was my 38th birthday. My brother had chosen that morning to tell me that he had caught his wife – my best friend, Ashley – in bed with my husband a year before. I had absorbed the rumors with suspicions about other women for 10 years, but this one, I knew, was going to break us. We will write a custom essay sample on Killing Chickens or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When I roared upstairs and confronted John, he told me to go fuck myself, ran downstairs and jumped into the truck. Our sons, Sam and Ben, were making a surprise for me at the table; they stood behind me silently in the kitchen door while John gunned the truck out of the yard (5). This passage helps us understand the present situation in Hall’s life. She found out that her husband is cheating on her and does not show any signs of regret or remorse. In addition, her brother had known for a year and had chosen her birthday to tell her that he found her husband cheating. Lastly, her best friend was whom her husband was cheating with. In these few sentences, the betrayal she feels is made clear. She also explains the reason for having to do such a horrific task that her husband would usually do. Throughout â€Å"Killing Chickens† Hall identifies her children, her husband, and the chickens. One quote the author uses is â€Å"It’s all right. Everything is going to be all right. Shh, Silly, shh (7). † The way she is consoling the chickens right before she is about to kill them is the same way she is reassuring her children that everything will be all right: â€Å"’I’m coming in,’ I called in a false singsong voice from the kitchen door. ‘Better hide my surprise. ’† Just as Hall identifies the chickens and her children, she explains, â€Å"I turned her on her floppy neck again and again. Corkscrewing her breathing tube, struggling to end the gasping. † Just as Hall is making many attempts to kill the chicken, she is unable to do it until it finally gives in. This is the same way her husband has been treating her for the past ten years with all the rumors and suspicions until finally she reached a breaking point. The author uses a number of different literary devices to describe the hardship she feels such as metaphor, simile, and imagery. The author revels that her life and the chickens are not very different. â€Å"I felt her body break deep inside my own chest† (6). The way the chicken has to be killed after being loved for so long is the same way Hall feels about being with her husband for so long and then having him cheat on her and leave her. â€Å"Guilt and fear tugged me like an undertow† (7). The chickens are being killed by the one that loved them and in the same way; Hall is killed by the one she loved: her husband. The author uses a numerous number of vivid imagery to describe the struggle she is going through with her husband leaving and her having to kill the chickens. â€Å"Her shiny black beak opened and closed, opened and closed† (5). The rumors and suspicions that the author’s husband was cheating on her would come and go, until it reached a breaking point with her best friend Ashley. â€Å"I tucked her wings tight against her heaving body, couched over her, and covered her flailing head with my glove hand. Holding her neck hard against the chicken coop, I took a breath, set something deep and hard inside my heart and twisted her head† (5). Symbolizes Hall’s husband as he secretly has affairs with other women while his wife does not know, and then her brother tells her of the crushing news that her husband was with her best friend. As the nonfiction progresses, it is clear that the author is starting to let the realization of what has really happened set in and see that she is going to overcome this bump in her life. â€Å"I wanted to call someone, to call my mother or my sister. Yesterday I would have called Ashley†¦Instead I brought in three loads of wood and put them in the box John had left empty† (7). ‘Know what? †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ I said. ‘Know what I want to do? Let us just stay here and have our own little party. Just us†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (7). You can tell that she is not going to let anything stop her and that she is going to continue to do the chores and keep taking care of her children no matter what. As the excerpt ends, you can start to visualize the author has overcome her tragedy. â€Å"Tomorrow morning, I thought I have to run over the garden and go to the dump. Tomorrow morning, I have to call a lawyer. I have to figure out what to say to Sam and Benjamin. I have to put Ben’s sculpture on the mantel and put some main in Sam’s holder on the desk. I have to clean out the coop and spread fresh shavings† (8). Hall is not going to let her husband slow her down and she expresses that clearly in the last paragraph. Hall’s literary nonfiction teaches the readers the lesson that no matter how hard life can get, there is always something to keep you going. In the story, the author takes us through a firsthand look of how she was able to overcome betrayal and loneliness and move on with her life with what is most important to her: her children.

Is Marketing For Introverts Unlock Your Potential

Is Marketing For Introverts Unlock Your Potential Always a shy child, my mother approached me during my high school career and informed me that I was to send in an application to the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership seminar. â€Å"I don’t want to go to that,† I informed her. â€Å"There will be lots of people I don’t know there.† â€Å"That’s precisely why you should go,† she said. And I did go. My mother knows half of the state of North Dakota, and is completely unafraid to approach them for a chat. I look down at the ground when I walk and hope no one will try to start a conversation. Clearly, we are different creatures. Back then, I was both introverted and shy, though I have (mostly) outgrown shyness through such things asyouth leadership seminars. However, the introversion- the desire to be alone much of the time- remains. And that’s perfectly OK. Introversion kind of took on a life of its own in recent years, partly thanks to the book â€Å"The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking† and its associated TED talk  by Susan Cain. Social media feeds were flooded with people proud to lay claim to their introversion, glad to have found a spokesperson so they didn’t have to say it. There’s even a website dedicated to the â€Å"Quiet Revolution†, people who aren’t much for talking who live in a world where noise and constant speech is both common and rewarded. â€Å"Why are all the introverts on social media?† my friend asked, when I pointed out this trend wave. â€Å"Wouldn’t that be the last place to be?† â€Å"That’s a good question.† Is Marketing For Introverts? Insider Advice To Unlock Your Potential Introversion 101 Being introverted is not the same as being shy. When my mom encouraged me to attend youth events, do public speaking in 4-H, and anything to get me used to communicating with people, she was trying to help me get over being shy. Shyness can be a crippling problem, but introversion is not. Introverts aren’t weird, awkward, social nerds, too serious, shy- those are all negatives. Introverts simply need and are energized by being alone. Introversion is, in the most pared down definition, getting more energy by not being around people. Introverts get more energy by not being around people. Here's how it works for #marketing.Introverts have a limited energy account when it comes to being around people, and when it’s used up, they are exhausted on all levels. They need to go away and be by themselves and recharge. According to Psychology Today, if you... Like being by yourself. Think and create better by yourself and not in groups. Lead best when your followers are self-starters. Are reluctant to volunteer or get involved in groups and be in the spotlight. (People looking at you, talking to and about you? Just no.) Are constantly being asked what your opinion is. (Because you seldom volunteer it, unlike extroverts who specialize in sharing their opinion.) Wear headphones or create barriers between you and others when out in public. (If you’re like me, you carry a book around to read because you like to read, and it also keeps people from talking to you most of the time.) Avoid angry or upset people. (Confrontation? Just no.) Get way more calls and emails than you receive. (Unless your job forces you to participate). Don’t initiate small talk and don’t want to chat casually when encountering other people. ...you are an introvert. More or less. There are always exceptions to how people shake out, but it’s a good general list of introverted qualities. Not everyone is an extrovert or an introvert; some of you are ambiverts. You have a bit of both going on. Take The Test: Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Take the online test to find out. The Requirements Of Content Marketing For Introverts What does the world of content marketing require, particularly from the vantage point of an introvert? 1. There will be marketing. I can never sell my own stuff. â€Å"That’s a nice painting, Julie. Is it for sale? I’d like to buy it.† And then I somehow manage to apologize for the painting existing and apologize for it being for sale. If the silence is sufficiently awkward, I may apologize for apologizing. Marketing is not second nature to me. I want Magic Sales, whose unicorn customers buy silently and with neither pursuit nor question of the seller, crossing my palm with silver and going on their way without trying to extrapolate a pound of conversation from me. #ContentMarketing requires people, talking, selling. Here's how to handle it as an introvert.Magic Sales are not marketing. Even blue moons whisper of their rarity. Traditional marketing means you have to go out and find people, talk to them to figure out what they want, and then figure out how to sell based on that. Or, if it is inbound marketing, you must start the conversation on your blog or social account, and then be prepared to talk and sell when people come to you. Either way, there’s going to be people, talking, and selling. Hard stuff for introverts. 2. There may be teams. Team and group work is common for content marketing. Teams for writing, for editing, for planning, for idea generation. We talk about teams on this blog all the time. Unfortunately, introverts don’t shine in these kinds of group settings. Being surrounded by people tires them, much less people talking. They don’t fight for their right to be heard, because they are working hard at conserving their energy instead of burning through it, and just being in a room with other people is sapping it. Brainstorming, in particular, can be frustrating because introverts often fall silent as extroverts run roughshod over the room. For this reason, I tend to use individual brainstorming techniques  more in my own work than in groups. But teamwork, unless you are a solo blogger, is inevitable. I usually tried to take a break after a meeting, or get off by myself to recharge so I could process the discussion I just heard. Or, if you know the meeting is about brainstorming ideas, for example, do your own brainstorming ahead of time, write it down, and bring it with you. Introvert marketer? Know your strengths and find time to work by yourself.In other words, you can’t get away from working in teams, but you can make the most of your alone time both by taking advantage of when you’re creatively best and by planning in alone time to recharge. Some people will see you as unfriendly, weird, or â€Å"not a team player† but you are not responsible for that. Lock an extrovert in a room by themselves constantly, and see how well they produce. It’s the same thing. You know your strengths. Find ways to sneak them in, even between group activities. 3. There will be questions. Content marketing is about conversation, and that’s tough for introverts. It’s not that introverts are bumbling and inept conversationalists. On the contrary, introverts often have many good things to say because they spend a lot of time thinking instead of talking all the time. So introversion and being slow or less inclined to talk instantly should never be taken as a sign of a lack of intelligence. I love to have deep conversations with a limited handful of friends during specific settings and times after which I will go home and become quiet. Introverts seem as if they aren’t always â€Å"on† even though the truth is that we’re â€Å"on† but sometimes turn down the volume. Introverts are  'on' but sometimes turn down the volume.But when you are successful with your content marketing, there is a steady flow of conversation coming your way, from readers and fans. And not all of them are forgiving if you take a day or week to respond. This is tough for introverts. We know what we have to do (instant response!) and we know what we can do (delayed response, and not all at once). I don’t always hop in and answer social media and blog comments instantaneously. It’s not that I don’t want to thank people, or answer questions, but I can’t always handle it. I have to set aside time, and then mentally prepare myself to dive in for a short while before I’m worn out. There will always be people who want instant response, and those introverts may not be able to please all the time. However, you can make up for that by always being genuine and real in your responses, using first names of people, answering their questions, encouraging or sincerely complimenting their ideas. I like to think that delayed sincerity is better than instant insincerity. And if an introvert is forced to respond instantly, the depleted energy means insincerity will quite often surface. 4. There is a need for written words. Introverts often (not always, but often) excel at the written word. If you’re like me, you don’t talk much, but instead live a life inside your head, finding that writing is your chosen method of communicating. You can clearly articulate your thoughts much better in the written word than in the spoken word. Writing, after all, is a solitary activity. It doesn’t matter if you’re surrounded by people; when it comes to making it happen, it’s you and the blank page. Good news: Content marketing needs written words. For the introverts who excel at writing, there is a place for them in #contentmarketing.Sometimes I am amazed by the need to help people clarify ideas and show them how to make written blog posts happen. If you’re used to being alone, and you’re familiar with that time being the point when your mind kicks into highest gear, such issues don’t exist. Yes, there are the mechanics of it to deal with (editing, grammar, logic, etc.), but the struggle to come up with the ideas that fuel the words is much less. If you’re an introvert by struggling with writing, go with freeform and stream of consciousness approaches to your writing, simply typing out whatever it is you’re thinking. Because you are thinking. You can clean the randomness out of the copy later. What’s An Introvert To Do? You can’t change the expected norms for content marketing, a realm that seems to be filled with lots of energetic extroverted folks, but you can find a way to exist and not burn out. Extroverts may not appreciate your approach, but if you want to do content marketing for the long haul, you can’t run yourself into the ground. 1. Recharge regularly. You have to recharge. Go offline, get off of social media. Do something. Get away from the conversation and get some quiet time alone to recharge. I’m particularly absent from my clients and professional social media accounts during the weekend. I periodically remove social apps from my phone. I go for walks, and set aside a day to do â€Å"analog† projects like art or reading. That’s how I get through the week. 2. Do the math. If you blog more and post on social media more, you get more conversation back. That’s the goal of content marketing, isn’t it? That’s the formula you hear about, right? That’s what success is? Maybe. Unless you can’t handle it. You’d be better off writing and generating content with a return you can handle than not. Don’t publish two blog posts a day if you can’t handle the conversational upkeep. Don’t post 15 times a day on social media if you can’t handle the engagement. 3. Write when you’re alone. Writing when you’re being interrupted by team members or other people will be reflected in your final copy. Write when you’re alone. Try to arrange the option to have a room for yourself (if you’re in an open office) or some hours to work from home. You have a legitimate reason: You do your best work alone. Don’t they want your best work? Introvert?  Work alone. You have a good reason: It's when you do your best work.4. Inject time into conversation. Introverts aren’t slow-witted, but some of us prefer to slow communication down to allow for thought. Those who thrive on fast-talking, instant communication are not going to like you for doing it, but that is not the concern. Do what you can do. Responding quickly in an energy deficit is a dangerous policy, and can lead to rash or formulaic responses. One of the reasons I like paper snail mail is that it forces time into the conversation equation. Writing, mailing, waiting, opening, responding- these all take time. Weeks, often. I can write long letters, and don’t even mind letters from people I don’t know, because I can communicate in writing and use the large time gaps to recoup energy for the next round. Email, text messages, social messages, phone calls- these demand immediate response. If you don’t respond right away, all kinds of social interpretations and anxiety  seems to happen. â€Å"Are you angry with me?† â€Å"Are you ignoring me?!† â€Å"You can’t stick your head in the sand.† â€Å"You’re being unprofessional.† â€Å"This is a high speed world. I need you to respond.† â€Å"Why aren’t you interested in what I have to say?† â€Å"Please return my call ASAP. This is important.† (Important to whom?) How fun it is to get an email or message, and then another in an hour, and then the next day...soon the whole thing has escalated and I don’t even know how to respond at this point when the only reason I didn’t respond initially wasn’t to be a jerk, but because I was recouping my energy and thinking of what I would say. If you meet an aggressive person demanding response, perhaps you might consider a couple I use: â€Å"I am thinking about this and will get back to you later.† â€Å"Thanks for the email. I am not interested at this time.† â€Å"I won’t commit to anything on the phone. I need to think about it. What is your email address?† In this way, I acknowledge the communication, but I don’t have to respond until I’m able. I don’t answer emails for work on the weekend. I don’t answer an email before thinking about the answer for at least a day or so, particularly if it is for business or professional reasons and it is a new client I am not familiar with. I don’t pick up the phone if I don’t recognize the number, using voicemail to slow that conversation down. If someone is pushy on the phone, I end the conversation and transfer it to a written medium (often email) where I can think and communicate clearly and slow things down. In other words, I’m injecting time into conversations because it’s what I need. I refuse to be wrangled into someone else’s preferred communication style if they are asking me for a response. My response comes wrapped in its own style, just as their request was wrapped in their style. Blog posts and articles that purport to tell you how to force people to respond  in a timely manner make my skin crawl. I shudder to think of a world where the demand to respond has to be instant or you’ll face an onslaught of follow-up emails, calls, and other sorts of pestering or accusations. Inject time into conversations if you feel your stress level rising and your energy depleting. Make Content Marketing  Work For An Introvert Like You This may sound a bit harsh, particularly if you’re not firmly in the introvert camp. But if you are, you know the weariness that you feel at the end of a day of being around and talking to people. If it is OK for extroverts to constantly recharge, the same should be said of introverts. You introverts have great skills, and in some ways are well-suited to content marketing. By simply protecting your time, energy, and creative core, you will be able to do well for a long time in this industry instead of suffering from burnout. There are more extroverts in the world, but you belong in that world, too. No apologies.

I would like to do my paper on the way different genders are educated Research

I would like to do my on the way different genders are educated and learn differently - Research Paper Example In modern western societies gender is something which is flexible and is worked at by individuals in a social context: â€Å"an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct†¦ Rather than as a property of individuals we perceive gender as an emergent feature of social situations.† (West and Zimmerman, 1987, p. 126) One very important social institution for the â€Å"doing† of gender in this way is the education system. This paper examines the way that different genders are educated differently and explores why they learn differently and achieve different outcomes. In classical and medieval times formal education was reserved mainly for men, and women were restricted to domestic training and preparation for marriage. Theories why this was the case range from kind of biological determinism based on hunter-gatherer job distribution to political power struggles in which the patriarchs used superior physical strength to apportion most of the privileges to the mselves. The stereotyping of girls as passive and nurturing and boys as active and combative comes from this kind of reasoning. In families and in nursery schools boys certainly display a general tendency to play with mechanical toys, while girls tend to choose dolls and clothes, largely because these choices are reinforced by parents and teachers, and opposite choices are often frowned upon. This is the power of socialization at work which sets up unspoken gender â€Å"norms† for boys and girls. With the arrival of feminism in the twentieth century many educators actively began to work against this stereotyping and it became clear that when equal opportunity and support is given for free choices, there is a far less clear distinction between boys’ and girls’ behavior. (Butler, 1999) Some studies point out that brain differences between males and females have been observed, (Gurian and Stevens, 2011, 43) and that these mimic the classic spatial awareness ability of boys and communicative prowess of girls. It is not entirely clear, however, whether these differences are innate, or whether they are learned during early childhood. Certainly the socialization of children is very important in the way that they perceive gender, both in terms of themselves, and in terms of the range of choices available to them in their lives. Boys and girls learn different ways of talking, and of behaving, and this predisposes them to particular subjects later in life. (Hall and Bucholtz, 1995, 5-12) After a period of intensive support for women in education, the situation of exclusion has been removed, and in fact the worry for modern society is now the under-representation of boys and men in education. It is estimated that in 2007 â€Å"the gender gap will reach 2-3 million, with 9.2 million women enrolled in U.S. colleges compared with 6.9 million men.† (Lopez, 2003, p. 2) The ratio in some minority ethnic groups is likely to show an even greater imbal ance than this. It may be that such trends are due to factors in contemporary society, such as the effect of feminism on the education world, and the way that teaching and assessment methods have changed to favour homework and continuous assessment, for example, instead of final unseen examination. The underperformance of boys may also be due to a crisis in the way that masculinity is perceived: men are expected to relinquish their superior position in

Effective Team and Performance Management Essay - 11

Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example The paper is focused on the interpersonal relationship in the company. It proves that self-awareness of employees helps to increase effectiveness of the team management. The work describes how to develop self-awareness of employees. Some of the techniques include relationship orientation, soft skills, soliciting feedbacks, asking good questions, listening without justification etc. The author shows that relationship orientation revolves around safety, understanding, trust, sensitivity, and respect. â€Å"Soft skill† are usually heard skills that effect relationships at the work place. Consequently, employees will tent to feel that they are free in their attitudes and behaviors hence this can bring mutual respect. The work enumerates the three key tasks for the team leadership: supporting and coaching the team to succeed, maintaining and building a team as a performing unit, and lastly, creating a condition that will enable the team to embark on its work. The paper is supplied with the diagrams that illustrate the leadership skills in an organizational relationship. It provides the description of McGregor’s theory x and y as well as skills characteristics of theory x manager and y manager. The author concludes that interpersonal relationship is very essential in any given team or organization since this in one way or another that leads to either success or failure in organizational goals. It is important for one to evaluate oneself thoroughly in order to be self-aware so that to be able to manipulate those who are near correctly.

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations | Analysis

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations | Analysis CDM 2007 – An Analysis Abstract This paper discusses the CDM 2007 regulations promulgated by the UK government that came into effect in April 2007. The new regulations made several changes to the CDM regulations of 1994, however it can still be debated if these will be able to bring about a radical change to the health and safety condition in the UK construction industry, and this is specifically the question under discussion in this paper. Keywords: Construction, CDM, UK 1.  Introduction The construction industry in United Kingdom employs about 7% of the country’s total workforce, but accounts for over 25% of fatal injuries and 16% of the major accidents (Bennett and Gilbertson, 2007). This makes improvements in health and safety conditions at the work place a priority for the government and the industry both. Health and safety requirements at construction sites are specified by the Council Directive 1992/57/EEC. Its management requirements were enforced in the UK through the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM 94) and its practical health, safety and welfare measures mainly by the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (CHSW). Despite the enforcement of CDM 1994, there have been concerns that the regulations were only promoting wasteful bureaucracy and red-tape that put unnecessary burden on businesses and were actually failing to deliver on ensuring effective health and safety management. Several non-legislative rem edies such as informal guidance from the Chief Inspector of Construction (through Nattrass Letter, 1995) and revision of CDM 94’s supporting approved code of practice in 2001 by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) were used to rectify the situation but did not proved very useful (Anderson, 2007). In 2002, the industry’s attitude to the health and safety regime was gauged through a major consultative exercise. The feedback from the industry showed support for the principles of CDM 94 but revealed wide-spread dissatisfaction with their implementation procedures in the regulations which were perceived as difficult to understand and inflexible (Mann, 2007). The consultation identified the need of making the duties of clients more proportionate to their level of influence and argued that the role of Planning Supervisor has been ineffective in ensuring health and safety at the construction sites. It was acknowledged that the health and safety record of the industry was nei ther morally acceptable nor economically viable. The consultation stressed on taking the ownership and providing leadership along with setting ambitious targets from improvement. HSE promised to play its role by re-examining the legislation and its approach towards enforcing regulation to make sure that they reflected the objectives (Murphy, 2007). The following conclusions were drawn from the industry’s response on these issues: Earlier initiatives had not achieved the desired change in the industry’s approach; The CDM principles were generally supported, but the paperwork burden needed to be reduced as a lot of compliance effort was being wasted; and There was a desire for a set of clear, simple, unambiguous and practical legislation (and supporting guidance) for the industry, which should remain focused on the underlying objective of saving life, avoiding injuries and maintaining health (Bennett and Gilbertson, 2007). In the light of these findings, proposals were developed to improve the CDM 94 regulations over a period of 3 years by HSE and an industry-working group established under the Health and Safety Commission’s (HSC) Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC). Widespread consultations were made and over 300 responses were taken into consideration to the formal discussion document issues in 2002 along with the HSE’s experience with the existing Regulations. 400 responses were also considered during the public consultation that occurred over 4 months during summer 2005 (Murphy, 2007). Following public consultation, the revised proposals were finally approved by CONIAC and by the HSC. These bodies represent all stakeholders including employer, employee and other interests (Anderson, 2007). Relevant Government Departments for example Prime Minister’s Panel on Regulatory Accountability were also consulted throughout and their agreement to the proposals was obtained by early 2005. New CDM regulations were therefore drafted together with the supporting Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), developed in line with Better Regulation principles. These aim to reduce construction accidents and ill health by: Being flexible and accommodating the wide range of contractual arrangements to be found in the construction industry; Emphasising the need to plan and manage work rather than the bureaucracy associated with it; Emphasising the communication and co-ordination advantages of duty holders working in integrated teams; and Simplifying the way duty holders assess competence (Murphy, 2007). The new CDM regulations, known as CDM 2007 were enforced on April 6, 2007. The following section discusses they changes they brought to the CDM 94. It will be followed by the evaluation of their costs and benefits while the last section will conclude the paper. 2.  CDM 2007 In April 2007, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (also known as the CDM Regulations 2007) replaced CDM Regulation 1994. The new regulations were applied to all construction and property contracts/projects held after 6th April 2007 and started impacting the major health and safety issues and rules in construction (Manion, 2007). Some of the major insinuations for companies in property and construction business include: For ongoing projects few transitional provisions will be introduced. All the construction clients will be required to do such arrangements which insure health and safety. For all projects starting after 6th April 2007 clients’ agent will not be allowed. Clients will make a declaration the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of how long contractors will be given to plan and prepare for construction work; â€Å"CDM co-ordinators will replace planning supervisors The Client will be known as the principal contractor or CDM co-ordinator for time in which appointments have not been made of another person. Clients and duty holders will have more responsibilities (Manion, 2007). Here we discuss the key constituents of the CDM 2007 regulations and the changes these have brought to the Health and Safety and the role and responsibilities it assigns to different stakeholders. 2.1  Notifiable or non-Notifiable projects The differentiation between â€Å"notifiable and non- notifiable construction projects still exist in CDM Regulations 2007. For all Notifiable projects HSE should receive a notice of the project. In new regulation there is slight change in criteria for notification of a project.According to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 a modifiable project is one which is involve more than 30 days and 500 person days of construction work. The current change is applicable on projects that will involve this amount of work however more marginal/smaller construction projects are subject to the full range of duties (Bennett and Gilbertson, 2007). Another important point is that if a construction project has already been notified to HSE under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994, there is no need to give another notice under 2007 Regulations. The 2007 CDM Regulations also list the duties that apply to all projects, and additional duties that only apply to Notifiable projects. 2.2  Duty holders In the new CDM 2007 Regulations the duty holders will remain the same. The stakeholders will be: Contractors or sub-contractors for construction projects. Clients, this includes commercial purchasers of constriction, people involved in engineering works and other construction services. Designers, the people who prepare and modify the construction designs. Principal Contractors, normally the main contractors of construction project. CDM co-ordinators, previously known as planning supervisors (formerly planning supervisors) (Manion, 2007). In some construction and building projects, it is possible that one duty holder performs more than one role e.g. design and build contractor can be the principal contractor, or a designer, or a CDM co-ordinator, or a commercial purchases. 2.3  General Duties Each stakeholder in a construction project require to follow a specific duty however the core duty of every party is to co-operate and co-ordinate with each other. Generally in relation to health and safety issues, every person involved in a particular project will co-operate with other duty holders involved in construction work on same or adjacent sites. In 2007 CDM Regulations the requirements of co-operating with duty holders working on adjoining sites are new and some time can be difficult to achieve. However the results expected are very good, therefore these should be follow (Anderson, 2007). According to CDM 2007 each duty holder involved in a construction project is required to co-ordinate their activates from a health and safety perspective. At all duty sites, duty holders will be required to take into consideration the general principal of prevention. These principles include evaluating and battling risks at source, avoiding risks, adapting technical progress and giving collective protective measures priority over individual measures (Manion, 2007). The general duties of each duty holder at construction site are: 2.3.1  The Clients Duties New CDM Regulation 2007 has increased the emphasis on the client to ensure health and safety compliance. In many construction projects clients will use experience professional to help them perform their duties. Under the CDM Regulations 1994, clients were allowed to hand over their duties to an agent, however they will not be able to use the services any such agents for all new projects after 6th April 2007. However if there is a construction site where a client is using agent to perform these services, under the transitional provisions/period, agents will still be allowed to continue in that role for existing projects until 5 April 2012 if the agent agrees to assume the duties of a client under the CDM Regulations 2007.However it is important that clients check all arrangements with their agents (Anderson, 2007). Many developers have many subsidiary companies or do joint ventures with their partners or funders. In such cases there can be more than one duty holder fitting the description of client. According to new CDM 2007 Regulations one client should be nominated to fulfil the client duties and the nominee must meet the new requirements. These duties include: In-place the project management arrangements for health and safety. Check that for workers enough welfare facilities are in-place. Ensure that adequate time is given to the principal contractor to plan and prepare for work. Provide all the information related to health and safety in its possession. Ensure that the health and safety files and any information that should be kept under the asbestos regulation are revised regularly. To ensure that before the work starts the CDM Regulations complies with principal contractor construction phase plan. This replaces the health and safety plan (Topping, 2007). According to new CDM 2007 regulations, whenever a building is sold client must provide health and safety file to the purchaser and ensure that purchases knows the nature of the purpose of the file. The health and safety files can relate to more than one project, site or structure, and is subject to the condition that the information relevant to each part project, site or structure can be easily identified (Manion, 2007). 2.3.2  The Client Appointments As soon as client knows sufficient about project to select a suitable person, and a feasible initial design or other preparation work has been commenced, the key responsibility of Client now is to appoint a CDM co-ordinator. This appointment should be in-writing and until the time these appointments are made the client is believed to fulfil this role. At many construction sites the planning supervisors are appointed much earlier than CDM co-ordinators. Clients also have responsibility to take reasonable steps to ensure that parties they appoint are competent enough to comply with the relevant duties (HOL, 2007). There are detailed guidance in ACOP for assessing competence. No party it ought to accept an appointment unless it is competent to handle it. In existing construction projects the planning supervisor will automatically become the CDM co-ordinator and the principal contractor remain in place unless different appointments are made. To comply with Construction (Design and Manage ment) Regulations 2007 clients got time till 5th April 2008 to check the capability of CDM co-ordinator and principal contractor and CDM co-ordinators and principal contractors also got the same time to ensure and improve their own competence in this field (Topping, 2007). 2.3.3  The CDM co-ordinator The CDM 2007 places the CDM Co-ordinator at the heart of the project to help to ensure co-operation and co-ordination and that all duty holders share the information required by the CDM Regulations. It is also responsible to advice and assist the client to discharge the clients duties (e.g. advice on assessing competence and on the project management arrangements to be put in place). The CDM co-ordinator is responsible for preparing (if not done), reviewing and updating the health and safety file and submitting notices of the project to the HSE. It will be interesting to watch the interactions between the project manager and the CDM co-ordinator in terms of how each role is carried out in practice as the role of CDM co-ordinator is introduced only recently in the CDM 2007 regulations (Webb, 2008). 2.3.4  Designers The CDM 2007 does not radically change the scope of duties of the designers but expresses them in clearer terms.The role of designers is emphasised by HSE because they are involved in the project from early to final stages and their initial decision affect the health and safety during the construction phase and for end use of the structure. The main duty assigned to designer is to ensure avoidance of foreseeable risks to health and safety of any person carrying out construction work or using the structure/building post completion. If designers appointed on a British project are foreign residents, the person commissioning the design is responsible for ensuring compliance with designers duties. Careful consideration should be given as to how to manage this risk when appointing a foreign designer or off-shoring design work (Dunne, 2007). 2.3. 5 Principal contractors and contractors As far as the contractors are concerned, the feedback obtained at the consultation sessions suggested that the principal contractor and contractor provisions worked well under the CDM regulations 1994, therefore HSE did not seek to radically depart from them.The regulations make principal contractor responsible for the health and safety during the construction phase of the project.This requires the principal contractor to co-operate and co-ordinate with others, provide welfare facilities, direct its contractors and to check that suitable site inductions, information and training is given to workers. The principal contractor is also obliged to inform its contractors of the minimum time which will be given for planning and preparation for construction work. The contractors duties largely complement those of the principal contractor so that health and safety requirements are observed throughout the contractual chain. The provisions requiring worker engagement in relation to health and s afety matters are also increased in scope (Coulter, 2007). The changes in the roles and responsibilities of all concerned have been discussed above, however the main focus in the CDM 2007 is to make those with the greatest control and influence over a project, namely the project team and the client, responsible for health and safety. The regulations also introduce a new role of co-ordinator in place of the planning supervisor who will be appointed by the client. The co-ordinator will be required to identify and extract all information required to secure the health and safety of anyone engaged in construction work. The other big change is that ultimate responsibility and consequently, liability for health and safety rests with the client for all construction projects. While the client can delegate the duties under the regulations, for example to the co-ordinator, it nonetheless retains liability for complying with the regulations (Anderson, 2008). 3. Discussion The costs and benefits of enforcing new regulations need to be seen in the context of their social and economic effect on the society. In a Regulatory Impact Assessment done by HAS, the costs and benefits of CDM 2007 were discussed by examining the previous 10 years of accident data. The accident records of the industry are the basic unit used to benchmark the cost and benefits (Topping, 2007). Table 1: Number of fatal injuries to workers and members of the public 1996/97 to 2004/05 (Topping, 2007) Table 2: Number of major injuries to workers and non-fatal injuries to members of the  public 1996/97 to 2004/05 (Topping, 2007) The construction industry in UK is highly fragmented, has no entry threshold, itinerant and casualised. As mentioned before, the industry employs 7% of the working population and accounts for 8% of UK GDP, but accounts for 25% of fatal injuries and 16% of the major accidents. Construction work is inherently hazardous and the risks associated with these hazards are difficult to manage due to the constantly changing nature of the working environment. Tables 1 and 2 provide the number of fatal and non-fatal but major injuries in the industry from 1996 to 2005. The data is broken up by employees, self-employed and members of public affected by the incidents. The total present value cost of injuries and ill-health, including minor and non-injury accidents in the construction sector is estimated at  £13.8 billion to  £17.7 billion over the 10 year appraisal period (Topping, 2007). This means that any reduction in the number of incidents has direct impact on not only human but also on e conomic cost. Strict economic cost benefit analysis would however consider the savings gained through implementing CDM 2007 (by reducing the accidents) minus the costs incurred on enforcing/implementing CDM 2007 regulations. Here we therefore look into the costs associated with implementing CDM 2007 and the overall savings due to reduction in accidents (Webb, 2008). The compliance with changed duties essentially requires two sets of costs to be incurred. Firstly, there will be a cost associated with familiarisation with the changed duties. Secondly, there will be costs associated with the carrying out of the changed duties (Thame, 2007). There are four main groups that will be required to familiarise themselves with the proposed Regulations: contractors, designers, co-ordinators and clients. However the whole exercise is intended to reduce the chances for accidents. The data gathered from various pilot projects where CDM 2007 was implemented demonstrated the pilot projects were: More predictable in terms of cost and time; More productive than the industry average; Safer; Had less impact on the environment; and Achieved higher customer satisfaction (Dunne, 2007). If the whole construction industry (including non-notifiable projects) achieves the same results as the pilot projects then project costs could potentially fall by 6%. Improved client leadership, respect for people, measurement and monitoring of performance and greater supply chain integration are all key themes of the revised CDM 2007 package, and it is therefore likely that some of the productivity gains shown on the demonstration projects would be expected to accrue from the proposed changes in the Regulations. There is not an exact match between the changes in the Regulations and those trialled at the demonstration projects, and therefore it is not appropriate to assume that the full 6% productivity gains would flow from the changes. If it is assumed that implementation of the proposed Regulations leads to a 3% reduction in project costs for projects where there is currently insufficient attention by clients, designers and contractors to planning, managing and monitoring then th e present value cost saving from reduced project costs for all projects over the 10 year appraisal period is between  £1.0 billion and  £2.9 billion over the 10 year appraisal period. It is therefore quite clear that even by the measure of strict economic parameters, the benefits of CDM 2007 far out weigh its costs (Topping, 2007). Therefore the CDM 2007 regulations have been well received by most stakeholders. The industry professional bodies, employees unions, employers, concerned government departments and general public (Brindley, 2007). Industry experts see it as a major change in health and safety regulations since 1994, as John Malins, associate at law firm Davies Arnold Cooper puts it: †¦ (They are) the most radical change to construction health and safety legislation since 1994, the year when the existing CDM regulations came into effect, he further adds: Contractors, employers and designers would be wise to review their obligations now, warns Malins. Any projects straddling the April 2007 effective date will be subject to the new regulations, which apply to all construction projects lasting more than 30 days or involving more than 500 person days of construction work. Another expert in construction law, Ken Salmon of Mace Jones also suggests that new regulations have radically changed the way Health and Safety Executive decides who is responsible for the safe procurement and management of building projects and for accidents. The new regulations thus aim to reduce the number of accidents on building sites from around 4,700 currently per year. The biggest impact of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007 is on companies or individuals (the clients) who commission new buildings, even if they have no direct role in the work. Before CDM 2007, if an accident happened, such as a crane toppling over on a building site, it was considered contractors, designers or managers responsibility, however with the new regulations, those who pay for the building works will also be in the frame (Anderson, 2008). Many companies may mistakenly believe there is not much new in these revised regulations but they would be wrong. Everything is different the definition of construction, for instance, will change to include demolition and dismantling†¦. and most importantly, a client will not be able to hide behind its agent if something goes wrong. If he knows or should have known of deficiencies in the procurement, design, management or construction process, he will have a duty to do something about it and be at risk if he fails. Failing to comply or breaches of Health Safety Welfare law is punishable following a conviction in the Crown Court with unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment (Brindley, 2007). Deansgate Law firm Pannone’s partner in the construction team, Sean McCay highlighted the costs of complying with CDM 2007, however he also believes that new regulations make it much more dangerous for the project team to start work without ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations and it therefore is a welcome change from the situation in the past: Such enhanced regulation, and presumably scrutiny, is highly likely to come at a price leading to increased project costs as a consequence of, for example, the necessary legal and other professional support required to ensure the correct application and implementation of the Regulations. Under the new regulations the end-user client has many more responsibilities which cannot be delegated, and the practice of starting work prior to full planning, resourcing and documentation could become legally as well as physically dangerous for all concerned. (Dunne, 2007) However, despite its intended benefits, there has been some criticism on CDM 2007 as well as the whole approach of the government and society towards the health and safety at construction sites. It is argued that despite providing very comprehensive health and safety systems and referring to good codes of practice, CDM regulations have â€Å"sucked† the feeling of responsibility away from individuals. The responsibility for ensuring health and safety should not be something imposed by the government, rather it should be something that all members of the society support and share as they all want to be able to about all aspects of their lives safely and productively. It therefore should even be important when no body is around to monitor. The Health and Safety Executive therefore should work more on creating awareness among the stakeholders and in general public and try to change the culture rather than producing plethora of documents on the issue. This point of view therefore emphasises on the change in culture where health and safety is not only seen as complying a code of conduct but is actually taken as a personal responsibility and of great human benefit (Coulter, 2007). Another criticism is that the new regulations with enhanced responsibilities on client may take the focus away from the contractors. According to this argument the safety in construction begins and ends on site, and it is entirely the responsibility of the contractors’ management, therefore the designers should not be restrained by petty regulations.The kind of issues involved in safety on site such as falls from heights, adequate means of access, safe working platforms, tidiness, traffic and machine management, falling objects and so on, need not to be compromised by another impenetrable layer of bureaucracy and mountain of paper. The site safety adviser should spend 95% of his or her time on site, not form filling (Brindley, 2007; Coulter, 2007). There are also some question marks on the actual implementation of regulations. The effective enforcement of the legislation on construction health and safety issues is as important as the law itself. It is perfectly obvious that it is of little worth having laws that no one knows about and that no one enforces. It might be a little less obvious that if the law is too complex, difficult to understand or even incomprehensible in layman’s terms then it might be, in effect, ignored. In occupational health and safety terms the one and only objective of any health and safety legislation is the prevention of accidents and cases of ill health within the work environment, and to that end there has to be good law backed up with effective, sensible and accountable enforcement (Anderson, 2008). The critics therefore suggest that despite changes in the law itself and to the process of its implementation, no changes have been made in the way it will be enforced and therefore some attention must also be given on ensuring that it is enforced across the board literally and in spirit. 4.  Conclusion The paper reviewed the changes to the CDM regulations with specific focus on changes to the Health and Safety regulations. It can be learnt from the above discussion that the changes in the policy include: simplified trigger for formal appointments and preparation of plans; clarification of designer duties; Remittances for Developing Countries | Research Proposal Remittances for Developing Countries | Research Proposal Background Remittance is a major source of external funding for developing nations. It has been an important source of migrant workers in countries suffering from labour shortage, and it also helps these countries in building up their foreign exchange reserve that help them to meet the balance of payments and help stabilize the value of the local currency against the US dollar. It is almost inflow from developed to developing countries have received great attention among academician and policymakers, because that transfers in form of remittances undertaken by migrant workers to their countries of origin increased substantially in the last decades. The data had reported by World Bank in 2012, remittances flows to developing countries have more than quadrupled since 2000. Global remittances, including those to high-income countries, are estimated to have reached $529 billion in 2012, compared to $132 billion in 2000. Developing countries is the largest share of remittances receiving. In year 2012 , developing countries to receive it over 400 billion US dollar, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year and are expected to increase at an annual average rate of 8.8 percent in the next three years. They are also forecast to reach $468 billion in 2014 and $515 billion in 2015 of all flow to developing countries. Remittances generally reduce the level and severity of poverty, typically leading to: higher human capital accumulation; greater health and education expenditures; better access to information and communication technologies; improved access to formal financial sector services; enhanced  small business  investment; more entrepreneurship; better preparedness for adverse shocks such as droughts, flooding, earthquakes and cyclones; and essentially reduced child labor. International labor organization had estimated that remittances sent home by migrants to developing countries are equivalent to more than three times the size of official development assistance and can have profound implications for development and human welfare. Remittances can contribute to lowering poverty and building human and financial capital for the poor. However the enormous amount of matter, amount of money that migrant workers sent home is only 13% of the income of such workers receive. This means that the in come of the remaining 87% of migrant workers to remain in the host country. It is approximately 1 trillion, so that migrant workers have greatly helped boost the economy of the destination country. Asian countries is the most important source of migrant workers, because most of countries are in the rank of top remittance recipients countries in the world (by the top recipients of officially recorded remittances in 2012) show that: India has become the largest recipient of global remittances, received $70 billion, and then China $66 billion, the Philippines $24 billion, Pakistan $14 billion, Bangladesh $14 billion, Vietnam $10 billion, and Lebanon $7 billion. However, as a share of GDP, remittances were larger in smaller and lower income countries; top recipients relative to GDP in Asian countries were Tajikistan (47%), Kyrgyz Republic (29%) and Nepal (22%). Research problem During the last three decades, remittances have become an important source of economic growth in many developing countries, especially in Asian countries. However, there are lots of literatures on how remittances impact to economic growth of receiving countries, but the result of them studies are conflicting. For instance, some academicians believe that workers’ remittances have positive effect on economic growth of recipient countries (de Haas. 2005; Pradhan, et al. 2008; Fayissa Nsiah. 2010; 2011; Khan, et al. 2012). Adding more scholars to explain that why remittances have positive effect on economic growth. There are lots of studies to explain that remittances help households move out ofpoverty (Adams,2003), lower mortalityrates (Kanaiaupuni,1998)and increase educationaland housing spending (Adams, 2005). Moreover, empirical studies show that remittances can stimulate economic activity and motivate entrepreneurial communities (Durand et al, 1996 and Woodruff and Zenteno, 2007). According to Buch et al (2002), remittances can influence economic growth directly orindirectly. However, the degree of the latter channel strongly depends on supporting governmental policies and a supporting economic environment for investment activities. There are some recent empirical studies that have analyzed the relation between workers’ remittances and growth. Giuliano and Ruiz-Arranz (2005) find a positive effect of remittances on growth, specifically for countries with lowerfinancial development. Ziesemer (2007) proposes a savings channel that relates remittances with growth. He finds that remittances have a positive impact on growth, due to the ability to increase saving rates in countries with a per capita income of less than US $1200. On the other hand, other scholars highlight that workers’ remittances have also negative impact on economic growth of origin countries (Jongwanich, 2007; Karagoz, 2009; Barajas, et al. 2009; Ahmed, 2010; Edwards, 2010; Rao Hassan, 2011). For these scholars, there is no causal relationship between remittances and economic growth of developing economies. The reason why those workers’ remittances have no a positive effect on economic growth, these finding may lie in the difficulty of disentangling the complicated links between remittances and economic growth. According to a study covers up to 113 countries over the period 1970-1998. This empirical had studied by Chami et al (2005) found that international remittances actually have a negative and significant effect on economic growth. Because of remittances do not serve as capital for economic development, but rather as a type of compensation for countries with poor economic outcome. However, in a similar study covering up to 101 countries for the period 1970-2003 had studied by Spatafara (2005). The author found that cautions that identifying the impact of remittances on these and other outcomes may be complicated by the problem of reverse causation, that is, remittances may both influence and be influenced themselves by economic growth, investment and education. In the literature it is sometimes argued that international remittances may harm economic growth by leading to real currency appreciation and a loss of competitiveness in tradable goods. This empirical had studied b Lopez et al (2007), the result show that’s large scale remittances do lead to significant real exchange rate appreciation, which means that a 1% increase in the remittances to GDP ratio would lead to a real effective exchange rate appreciation of between 18 and 24 percent. As discussed above, previous studies have propounded different results based upon different theoretical and empirical setups. However, in the same empirical study there is also different in the result, even though using the same theories. Like the empirical evidence from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka had studied by Siddque et al (2010), they found that growth in remittances does lead to economic growth in Bangladesh; In India, there seems to be no causal relationship between growth in remittances and economic growth; but in Sri Lanka the result show that economic growth influences growth in remittances and likewise. So, it is difficult for one to conclude on the growth effects of remittances, especially in a region like Asian countries. This paper focuses on the impact of remittances on economic growth in Asian countries. There is a need to examine the growth effect of remittances and answer the research question that follows: â€Å"How do remittances impact to economic growth of some selected sending countries in Asia?† Hypothesis of the study To investigate that how remittances impact to economic growth of recipient countries in Asia? I determine some of hypothesis to guide in this study follows: Remittances have a positive impact on economic growth while a positive and statistically significant coefficient of remittances. This means that an increase in the amounts of remittances will result in increased to economic growth. Remittances have a negative impact on economic growth while the statistical value has a negative and significant coefficient of remittances. This means that an increase in remittances will result in lower economic growth. A statistically insignificant coefficient of remittances indicates that remittances do not have significant direct growth effect. Otherwise, each the positive or negative impact of remittances on economic growth will be depressed. Significant of the research According to the previous studies of remittances, there are many scholars have been studied on the relationship between remittances and economic growth in developing countries in general, especially in Asian countries, has not been enough studied. Because most of researchers have not been only studied in Asian countries, there are some mix together between Asian countries and the other countries. Fayissa Nsiah (2011) estimated the macroeconomic impact of remittances and some control variables such as openness of the economy, capital/labor ratio, and economic freedom on the economic growth of African, Asian, and Latin American-Caribbean countries. Although Abdullaev (2011) investigated the potential impact of workers’ remittances on long-term economic growth of recipient countries in selected Asian and Former Soviet Union countries. Some of empirical had studied specific only one country in Asia. For instance, Khan et al. (2012) investigated the impact of worker remittance on economic growth of Pakistan while Cooray (2012) examined the impact of migrant remittances on economic growth in south Asia. Very little has been done in the empirical studies analyze the workers’ remittances in Asian countries, but the goal of them studies on relationship between remittances are different. The reason that is, Asia is a region that is characteristic in its. There are different on migration and remittances inflow patterns. Some of the available literatures on remittance in Asian countries is not fully focused on the growth effect of remittances. Jongwanich (2007) analyzed the impact of workers’ remittances on poverty in developing Asia and the pacific countries while Katsushi et al (2011) analyzed of remittances, growth and poverty evidence from Asian countries. Vargas Silva et al (2009) examined the potential of remittances for promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in Asian countries. Limited research has been undertaken from with this in consideration hence, previous literature has developed some theoretical and empirical understanding in this regards by considering the individual link between remittances and growth respectively. This paper intends to combine these two channels in a single framework and try to examine the relationship between remittances and economic growth in Asian countries by employing panel data estimation tools and methodology distinguish it from prior studies that had challenges in handling endogeneity between remittances and economic growth of period from 1990-2011 in 12 countries namely Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand and Yemen Republic. Because these countries have remained an important source of expatriate worker and the number of expatriate has increased significantly over the years. Thus, these 12 countries offer a unique opportunity to examine the linkages between remittances and economic growth. Structure of the research The organization of the paper is as follows. Chapter 2 provides a review of selected literature on the growth effect and remittances; Chapter 3 describes a background for the countries of interested; Chapter 4 specifies of the research methodology, data and model specification while Chapter 5 presents empirical analysis for both the fixed and random effects regression accounting for both the country and time effects and some of diagnostic test results; and the final Chapter conclusion of research finding.

Balances Of Values And Academiic Freedom Of Inquiry Essay -- essays re

Balances of Values and Academiic Freedom of Inquiry Dear Mr. R. Kirby Godsey,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the process of life we face many challenges and many crossroads. We have many choices and many decisions to make. In making these decisions we must keep in mind the moral values our parents have taught us since we were born. Those Christian values should guide our lives and the choices we make. These same values should also guide at school as well. In our pursuit of knowledge, we should keep these values in mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In our never-ending road of learning, we are granted with many academic freedoms. We have the freedom to question and try to learn new ideas. We also have the freedom to disagree with the material presented to us. We can disagree and voice our opinions, but in an orderly fashion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In exercising those freedoms, we should do so with maturity and responsibility. As students, we are responsible for learning all the content of any course we study. We are free to take exception to the views or information presented to us, and we are free to reserve judgment about matters of opinions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes, in our quest for knowledge, there becomes a conflict between our beliefs we are accustomed to and the material presented to us. When there is a difference, we should not ignore the idea or block it out. We should feel free to learn and question new ideas. Just because we learn somet...

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 20

â€Å"Ohhhh.† Bonnie melted back into the bucket seat. â€Å"It was like†¦kapow! Zap! Zowie! Like†¦fireworks.† â€Å"You're smirking.† â€Å"I am not smirking,† Bonnie said with dignity. â€Å"I am smiling in fond remembrance. Besides – â€Å" â€Å"Besides, if you hadn't Called him, we'd still be stuck in that horror of a room. Thank you, Bonnie. You saved us.† Abruptly Meredith was at her most serious and sincere. â€Å"I guess Elena was maybe right when she said he didn't hate all humans,† Bonnie said slowly. â€Å"But, you know, I just realized. I couldn't see his aura at all. All I could see was black: smooth hard black, like a shell around him.† â€Å"Maybe that's how he protects himself. He makes a shell so no one can see inside.† â€Å"Maybe,† Bonnie said, but there was worried note in her voice. â€Å"And what about that message from Elena?† â€Å"It says that Tami Bryce is definitely acting strangely and that she and Matt are going out to check out the Old Wood.† â€Å"Maybe that's who they're going to meet – Damon, I mean. At 4:44, like he said. Too bad we can't call her.† â€Å"I know,† Meredith said grimly. Everyone in Fell's Church knew that there was no reception in the Old Wood or the cemetery area. â€Å"But go ahead and try anyway.† Bonnie did, and as usual got a no-service message. She shook her head. â€Å"No good. They must already be in the woods.† â€Å"Well, what she wants is for us to go ahead and get a look at Isobel Saitou – you know, because she's Jim Bryce's girlfriend.† Meredith made a turn. â€Å"That reminds me, Bonnie: did you get a look atCaroline's aura? Do you think she has one of those things – inside her?† â€Å"I guess so. I saw her aura, and yuck, I never want to see it again. She used to be a kind of deep bronzy-green, but now she's muddy brown with black lightning zigzagging all through. I don't know if that means one of those things was inside her, but she sure didn't mind cuddling up to them!† Bonnie shuddered. â€Å"Okay,† Meredith said soothingly. â€Å"I know what I would say if I had to make a guess – and if you're going to be sick, I'll stop.† Bonnie gulped. â€Å"I'm all right. But we're seriously going to Isobel Saitou's house?† â€Å"We're very seriously going there. As a matter of fact, we're almost there. Let's just brush our hair, take a few deep breaths, and get it over with. How well do you know her?† â€Å"Well, she's smart. We didn't have any classes together. But we both got out of athletics at the same time – she had a jumpy heart or something, and I used to get that terrible asthma†¦.† â€Å"From any exertion except dancing, which you could keep up all night,† Meredith said dryly. â€Å"I don't know her very well at all. What's she like?† â€Å"Well, nice. Looks a bit like you, except Asian. Shorter than you – Elena's height, but skinnier. Sort of pretty. A little shy – the quiet type, you know. Sort of hard to get to know. And†¦nice.† â€Å"Shy and quiet and nice sounds good to me.† â€Å"Me, too,† Bonnie said, pressing her sweaty hands together between her knees. What sounded even better, she thought, was for Isobel to be not at home. However, there were several cars parked in front of the Saitou house. Bonnie and Meredith knocked on the door hesitantly, mindful of what had happened the last time they had done this. It was Jim Bryce who answered, a tall, lanky boy who hadn't filled out yet and stooped a bit. What Bonnie found amazing was the change in his face as he recognized Meredith. When he'd answered he'd looked awful; his face white under a medium tan, his body somehow crumpled. When he saw Meredith, some of the color came to his cheeks and he seemed to†¦well, to smooth out like a piece of paper. He stood taller. Meredith didn't say a word. She just stepped forward and put her arms around him. He clutched at her as if he was afraid she'd run away, and buried his face in her dark hair. â€Å"Meredith.† â€Å"Just breathe, Jim. Breathe.† â€Å"You don't know what it's been like. My parents left because my great-grandpa's really sick – I think he's dying. And then Tami – Tami – â€Å" â€Å"Tell me slowly. And keep breathing.† â€Å"She threw knives, Meredith. Butcher knives. She got me in the leg here.† Jim plucked at his jeans to show a small slit of a hole in the fabric over the lower part of one thigh. â€Å"Have you had a tetanus shot recently?† Meredith was at her most efficient. â€Å"No, but it's not really a big cut. It's a puncture wound, mainly.† â€Å"Those are exactly the kind that are most dangerous. You need to call Dr. Alpert right away.† Old Dr. Alpert was an institution in Fell's Church: a doctor who even made house calls, in a country where carrying around a little black bag and stethoscope was pretty much unheard-of behavior. â€Å"Ican't . I can't leave†¦.† Jim jerked his head backward toward the interior of the house as if he couldn't bring himself to say a name. Bonnie tugged at Meredith's sleeve. â€Å"I have a very bad feeling about this,† she hissed. Meredith turned back to Jim. â€Å"You mean Isobel? Where areher parents?† â€Å"Isa-chan, I mean Isobel, I just call her Isa-chan, you know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's all right,† said Meredith. â€Å"Just say what comes naturally. Go on.† â€Å"Well, Isa-chan only has her grandma, and Grandma Saitou doesn't even come downstairs much. I made her lunch a while ago and she thought I was – Isobel's father. She gets†¦confused.† Meredith glanced at Bonnie, and said, â€Å"And Isobel? Is she confused, too?† Jim shut his eyes, looking utterly miserable. â€Å"I wish you'd go in and, well, just talk to her.† Bonnie's bad feeling was only getting worse. She really couldn't stand another scare like the one at Caroline's house – and she certainly didn't have the strength to Call again, even if Damon weren't in a hurry to get somewhere. But Meredith knew all this, and Meredith was giving her the sort of look that couldn't be denied. It also promised that Meredith would protect Bonnie, no matter what. â€Å"Is she hurting anybody? Isobel?† Bonnie heard herself ask as they crossed through the kitchen and toward a bedroom at the end of the hallway. She could hardly hear Jim's whispered, â€Å"Yeah.† And then, as Bonnie groaned internally, he added, â€Å"Herself.† Isobel's room was just what you'd expect from a quiet and studious girl. At least one side was. The other side looked as if a tidal wave had picked everything up and thrown it down again randomly. Isobel was sitting in the middle of this mess like a spider on a web. But that wasn't what made Bonnie's gut churn. It was what Isobel was doing. She had laid out beside her what looked a lot like Mrs. Flowers' kit for cleaning out wounds, but she wasn't healing anything. She was piercing herself. She had already done her lip, her nose, one eyebrow, and her ears, many times. Blood was dripping from all these places, dripping and falling onto the unmade sheets of her bed. Bonnie saw all that as Isobel looked up at them with a frown, except that the frown was only half there. On the pierced side, the eyebrow didn't move at all. Her aura was shattered orange with black lashings through it. Bonnie knew, all at once, that she was going to be sick. She knew it with the deep knowledge that overcame all embarrassment and which sent her flying to a wastebasket she didn't even remember seeing. Thank God, it had a white plastic bag lining it, she thought, and then she was completely occupied for a few minutes. Her ears recorded a voice, even as she was thinking she was glad she hadn't had lunch. â€Å"My God,are you crazy ? Isobel, what have you done to yourself? Don't you know the kind of infections you can get†¦the veins you can hit†¦the muscles you can paralyze†¦? I think you've already pierced the muscle in your eyebrow – and you shouldn't still be bleeding unless you've hit veins or arteries.† Bonnie retched dryly into the wastebasket, and spat. And just then she heard a meaty thud. She looked up, half knowing what she would see. But it still was a shock. Meredith was doubled over from what must have been a punch in the stomach. The next thing Bonnie knew, she was beside Meredith. â€Å"Oh, my God, did shestab you?† A stab wound†¦deep enough into the abdomen†¦ Meredith clearly couldn't get her breath. From somewhere a bit of advice from her sister Mary, the nurse, floated into Bonnie's mind. Bonnie pounded with both fists on Meredith's back, and suddenly Meredith took a huge gulp of air. â€Å"Thanks,† she was saying weakly, but Bonnie was already dragging her away, away from the laughing Isobel and a collection of the world's longest nails and the rubbing alcohol and other things that she had on a breakfast tray beside her. Bonnie got to the door and almost collided with Jim, who had a wet washcloth in his hand. For her, she supposed. Or maybe for Isobel. All Bonnie was interested in was making Meredith pull up her top to make absolutely, positively sure that there were no holes in her. â€Å"I got it – out of her hand – before she punched me,† Meredith said, still breathing painfully as Bonnie anxiously scanned the area above her low-rise jeans. â€Å"I'll have a bruise, that's all.† â€Å"She hit you, too?† Jim said in dismay. Except that he didn't say it. He whispered it. You poor guy, Bonnie thought, finally satisfied that Meredith wasn't perforated. What with Caroline and your sister Tami and your girlfriend, you don't have the first idea of what's going on. How could you? And if we told you, you'd just think we were two more crazy girls. â€Å"Jimmy, youhave to call Dr. Alpert right away, and then I think they're going to have to go to the hospital in Ridgemont. Isobel's already done permanent damage to herself – God knows how much.All those piercings are almost certainly going to be infected. When did she start this?† â€Å"Um, well†¦she first started acting weird after Caroline came to see her.† â€Å"Caroline!† Bonnie blurted, confused. â€Å"Was she crawling?† Jim gave her a look. â€Å"Huh?† â€Å"Never mind Bonnie; she was joking,† Meredith said easily. â€Å"Jimmy, you don't have to tell us about Caroline if you don't want to. We – well, we know she was over at your house.† â€Å"Doeseverybody know?† Jim asked miserably. â€Å"No. Just Matt, and he only told us so that somebody could go check on your little sister.† Jim looked guilty and stricken at once. The words poured out of him as if they'd been bottled up and now the cork was out of the bottle. â€Å"I don't know what's going on anymore. All I can tell you is what happened. It was a couple days ago – late evening,† Jim said. â€Å"Caroline came over, and – I mean, I never even had a crush on her. It's like, sure, she's good-looking, and my parents were away and all, but I never thought I was the kind of guy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Never mind that now. Just tell us about Caroline and Isobel.† â€Å"Well, Caroline came over wearing this outfit that was – well, the top was practically transparent. And she just – she said, did I want to dance and it was, like, slow dancing and she – she, like,seduced me. That's the truth. And the next morning she left – just about the time Matt came. That was the day before yesterday. And then I noticed Tami acting – crazy. Nothing I could do would stop her. And then I got a phone call from Isa-chan and – I've never heard her so hysterical. Caroline must have gone straight from my house to her house. Isa-chan said she was going to kill herself. And so I ran over here. I had to get away from Tami anyway because me being there at home just seemed to make it worse.† Bonnie looked at Meredith and knew that they were both thinking the same thing:and somewhere in there, both Caroline and Tami propositioned Matt, too. â€Å"Caroline must have told her everything.† Jim gulped. â€Å"Isa-chan and I haven't – we were waiting, you know? But all Isa-chan would say to me was that I was going to be sorry. ;;You'll be sorry; just wait and see,' over and over and over. And, God, Iam sorry.† â€Å"Well, now you can stop being sorry and start calling the doctor. Rightnow , Jimmy.† Meredith gave him a swat on the behind. â€Å"And then you need to call your parents. Don't give me those big brown puppy-dog eyes. You're over eighteen; I don't know what they can do to you for leaving Tami alone all this time.† â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"But me no buts. Imean it, Jimmy.† Then she did what Bonnie knew she would, but was dreading. She approached Isobel again. Isobel's head was down; she was pinching her navel with one hand. In the other, she held a long, shining nail. Before Meredith could even speak, Isobel said, â€Å"So you're in on it, too. I heard the way you called him  ¡Ã‚ ®Jimmy.' You're all trying to take him away from me. All you bitches are trying to hurt me.Yurusenai! Zettai yurusenai! â€Å" â€Å"Isobel! Don't! Can't you see that you're hurtingyourself ?† â€Å"I'm only hurting myself to take away the pain. You're the one who's really doing it, you know. You're pricking me with needles inside.† Bonnie jumped inside her own skin, but not just because Isobel suddenly gave a vicious thrust of the nail. She felt heat sweep up into her cheeks. Her heart began to pound even faster than it was already going. Trying to keep one eye on Meredith, she pulled her mobile phone out of her back pocket where she'd stashed it after the visit to Caroline's house. Still with half her attention on Meredith, she went on the Internet and rapidly entered just two search words. Then, as she made a couple of selections from her hits, she realized that she could never absorb all the information in a week, much less a few minutes. But at least she had a start. Just now, Meredith was backing away from Isobel. She put her mouth close to Bonnie's ear and whispered, â€Å"I think we're just antagonizing her. Did you get a good look at her aura?† Bonnie nodded. â€Å"Then we probably should leave the room, at least.† Bonnie nodded again. â€Å"Were you trying to call Matt and Elena?† Meredith was eyeing the mobile phone. Bonnie shook her head and turned the phone so Meredith could see her two search words. Meredith stared, then lifted dark eyes to Bonnie's in a kind of horrified recognition. Salem witches.