Vampire Academy Chapter 10

TEN â€Å"EXCUSE ME, MR. NAGY? I CANT really concentrate with Lissa and Rose passing notes over there.† Mia was attempting to distract attention from herself – as well as from her inability to answer Mr. Nagy's question – and it was ruining what had otherwise been a promising day. A few of the fox rumors still circulated, but most people wanted to talk about Christian attacking Ralf. I still hadn't cleared Christian of the fox incident – I was pretty sure he was psycho enough to have done it as some crazy sign of affection for Lissa – but whatever his motives, he had shifted the attention off her, just as he'd said. Mr. Nagy legendary for his ability to humiliate students by reading notes aloud, homed in on us like a missile. He snatched the note away, and the excited class settled in for a full reading. I swallowed my groan, trying to look as blank and unconcerned as possible. Beside me, Lissa looked like she wanted to die. â€Å"My, my,† he said, looking the note over. â€Å"If only students would write this much in their essays. One of you has considerably worse writing than the other, so forgive me if I get anything wrong here.† He cleared his throat. † ? ®So, I saw J last night,' begins the person with bad handwriting, to which the response is, ? ®What happened,' followed by no fewer than five question marks. Understandable, since sometimes one – let alone four – just won't get the point across, eh?† The class laughed, and I noticed Mia throwing me a particularly mean smile. â€Å"The first speaker responds: ? ®What do you think happened? We hooked up in one of the empty lounges.' â€Å" Mr. Nagy glanced up after hearing some more giggles in the room. His British accent only added to the hilarity. â€Å"May I assume by this reaction that the use of ? ®hook up' pertains to the more recent, shall we say, carnal application of the term than the tamer one I grew up with?† More snickers ensued. Straightening up, I said boldly, â€Å"Yes, sir, Mr. Nagy. That would be correct, sir.† A number of people in the class laughed outright. â€Å"Thank you for that confirmation, Miss Hathaway. Now, where was I? Ah yes, the other speaker then asks, ? ®How was it?' The response is, ? ®Good,' punctuated with a smiley face to confirm said adjective. Well. I suppose kudos are in order for the mysterious J, hmmm? ? ®So, like, how far did you guys go?' Uh, ladies,† said Mr. Nagy, â€Å"I do hope this doesn't surpass a PG rating. ? ®Not very. We got caught.' And again, we are shown the severity of the situation, this time through the use of a not-smiling face. ? ®What happened?' ? ®Dimitri showed up. He threw Jesse out and then bitched me out.' â€Å" The class lost it, both from hearing Mr. Nagy say â€Å"bitched† and from finally getting some participants named. â€Å"Why, Mr. Zeklos, are you the aforementioned J? The one who earned a smiley face from the sloppy writer?† Jesse's face turned beet red, but he didn't look entirely displeased at having his exploits made known in front of his friends. He'd kept what had happened a secret thus far – including the blood talk – because I suspected Dimitri had scared the hell out of him. â€Å"Well, while I applaud a good misadventure as much as the next teacher whose time is utterly wasted, do remind your ? ®friends' in the future that my class is not a chat room.† He tossed the paper back on to Lissa's desk. â€Å"Miss Hathaway, it seems there's no feasible way to punish you, since you're already maxed out on penalties around here. Ergo, you, Miss Dragomir, will serve two detentions instead of one on behalf of your friend. Stay here when the bell rings, please.† After class, Jesse found me, an uneasy look on his face. â€Å"Hey, um, about that note†¦you know I didn't have anything to do with that. If Belikov finds out about it†¦you'll tell him? I mean, you'll let him know I didn't – â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, yeah,† I interrupted him. â€Å"Don't worry, you're safe.† Standing with me, Lissa watched him walk out of the room. Thinking of how easily Dimitri had thrown him around – and of his apparent cowardice – I couldn't help but remark, â€Å"You know, Jesse's suddenly not as hot as I used to think.† She only laughed. â€Å"You'd better go. I've got desks to wash.† I left her, heading back for my dorm. As I did, I passed a number of students gathered in small clusters outside the building. I regarded them wistfully, wishing I had the free time to socialize. â€Å"No, it's true,† I heard a confident voice say. Camille Conta. Beautiful and popular, from one of the most prestigious families in the Conta clan. She and Lissa had sort of been friends before we left, in the uneasy way two powerful forces keep an eye on each other. â€Å"They, like, clean toilets or something.† â€Å"Oh my God,† her friend said. â€Å"I'd die if I was Mia.† I smiled. Apparently Jesse had spread some of the stories I'd told him last night. Unfortunately, the next overheard conversation shattered my victory. † – heard it was still alive. Like, twitching on her bed.† â€Å"That is so gross. Why would they just leave it there?† â€Å"I don't know. Why kill it in the first place?† â€Å"You think Ralf was right? That she and Rose did it to get kicked – â€Å" They saw me and shut up. Scowling, I skulked off across the quadrangle. Still alive, still alive. I'd refused to let Lissa talk about the similarities between the fox and what had happened two years ago. I didn't want to believe they were connected, and I certainly didn't want her to either. But I hadn't been able to stop thinking about that incident, not only because it was chilling, but because it really did remind me of what had just happened in her room. We had been out in the woods near campus one evening, having skipped out on our last class. I'd traded a pair of cute, rhinestone-studded sandals to Abby Badica for a bottle of peach schnapps – desperate, yes, but you did what you had to in Montana – which she'd somehow gotten hold of. Lissa had shaken her head in disapproval when I suggested cutting class to go put the bottle out of its misery, but she'd come along anyway. Like always. We found an old log to sit on near a scummy green marsh. A half-moon cast a tiny sliver of light on us, but it was more than enough for vampires and half-vampires to see by. Passing the bottle back and forth, I grilled her on Aaron. She'd fessed up that the two of them had had sex the weekend before, and I felt a surge of jealousy that she'd been the one to have sex first. â€Å"So what was it like?† She shrugged and took another drink. â€Å"I don't know. It wasn't anything.† â€Å"What do you mean it wasn't anything? Didn't the earth move or the planets align or something?† â€Å"No,† she said, smothering a laugh. â€Å"Of course not.† I didn't really get why that should be funny, but I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. This was around the time the bond had begun forming, and her emotions were starting to creep into me now and then. I held up the bottle and glared at it. â€Å"I don't think this stuff is working.† â€Å"That's because there's barely any alcohol in – â€Å" The sound of something moving in the brush came from nearby. I immediately shot up, putting my body between her and the noise. â€Å"It's some animal,† she said when a minute went by in silence. That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. The school's wards kept out Strigoi, but wild animals often wandered into the outskirts of campus, posing their own threats. Bears. Cougars. â€Å"Come on,† I told her. â€Å"Let's head back.† We hadn't gone very far when I heard something moving again, and someone stepped out into our path. â€Å"Ladies.† Ms. Karp. We froze, and whatever quick reactions I'd shown back by the marsh disappeared as I delayed a few moments in hiding the bottle behind my back. A half-smile crossed her face, and she held out her hand. Sheepishly, I gave the bottle to her, and she tucked it under her arm. She turned without another word, and we followed, knowing there would be consequences to deal with. â€Å"You think no one notices when half a class is gone?† she asked after a little while. â€Å"Half a class?† â€Å"A few of you apparently chose today to skip. Must be the nice weather. Spring fever.† Lissa and I trudged along. I'd never been comfortable around Ms. Karp since the time she'd healed my hands. Her weird, paranoid behavior had taken on a strange quality to me – a lot stranger than before. Scary, even. And lately I couldn't look at her without seeing those marks by her forehead. Her deep red hair usually covered them but not always. Sometimes there were new marks; sometimes the old ones faded to nothing. A weird fluttering noise sounded to my right. We all stopped. â€Å"One of your classmates, I imagine,† murmured Ms. Karp, turning toward the sound. But when we reached the spot, we found a large black bird lying on the on the ground. Birds – and most animals – didn't do anything for me, but even I had to admire its sleek feathers and fierce beak. It could probably peck someone's eyes out in thirty seconds – if it weren't obviously dying. With a last, halfhearted shake, the bird finally went still. â€Å"What is that? Is it a crow?† I asked. â€Å"Too big,† said Ms. Karp. â€Å"It's a raven.† â€Å"Is it dead?† asked Lissa. I peered at it. â€Å"Yeah. Definitely dead. Don't touch it.† â€Å"Probably attacked by another bird,† observed Ms. Karp. â€Å"They fight over territory and resources sometimes.† Lissa knelt down, compassion on her face. I wasn't surprised, since she'd always had a thing for animals. She'd lectured me for days after I'd instigated the infamous hamster-and-hermit-crab fight. I'd viewed the fight as a testing of worthy opponents. She'd seen it as animal cruelty. Transfixed, she reached toward the raven. â€Å"Liss!† I exclaimed, horrified. â€Å"It's probably got a disease.† But her hand moved out like she hadn't even heard me. Ms. Karp stood there like a statue, her white face looking like a ghost's. Lissa's fingers stroked the raven's wings. â€Å"Liss,† I repeated, starting to move toward her, to pull her back. Suddenly, a strange sensation flooded through my head, a sweetness that was beautiful and full of life. The feeling was so intense, it stopped me in my tracks. Then the raven moved. Lissa gave a small scream and snatched her hand back. We both stared wide-eyed. The raven flapped its wings, slowly trying to right itself and stand up. When it managed to do so, it turned toward us, fixing Lissa with a look that seemed too intelligent for a bird, its eyes held hers, and I couldn't read her reaction through the bond. At long last, the raven broke the gaze and lifted into the air, strong wings carrying it away. Wind stirring the leaves was the only sound left. â€Å"Oh my God,† breathed Lissa. â€Å"What just happened?† â€Å"Hell if I know,† I said, hiding my stark terror. Ms. Karp strode forward and grabbed Lissa's arm, forcefully turning her so that they faced each other. I was there in a flash, ready to take action if Crazy Karp tried anything, though even I had qualms about taking down a teacher. â€Å"Nothing happened,† said Ms. Karp in an urgent voice, her eyes wild-looking. â€Å"Do you hear me? Nothing. And you can't tell anyone – anyone – about what you saw. Both of you. Promise me. Promise me you won't ever talk about this again.† Lissa and I exchanged uneasy glances. â€Å"Okay† she croaked out. Ms. Karp's grip relaxed a little. â€Å"And don't ever do it again. If you do, they'll find out. They'll try to find you.† She turned to me. â€Å"You can't let her do it. Not ever again.† On the quad, outside my dorm, someone was saying my name. â€Å"Hey, Rose? I've called you, like, a hundred times.† I forgot about Ms. Karp and the raven and glanced over at Mason, who had apparently started walking with me toward the dorm while I was off in la-la land. â€Å"Sorry,† I mumbled. â€Å"I'm out of it. Just†¦um, tired.† â€Å"Too much excitement last night?† I gave him a narrow-eyed look. â€Å"Nothing I couldn't handle.† â€Å"I guess,† he laughed, though he didn't exactly sound amused. â€Å"Sounds like Jesse couldn't handle it.† â€Å"He did okay.† â€Å"If you say so. But personally, I think you've got bad taste.† I stopped walking. â€Å"And I don't think it's any of your business.† He looked away angrily. â€Å"You made it the whole class's business.† â€Å"Hey, I didn't do that on purpose.† â€Å"Would've happened anyway. Jesse's got a big mouth.† â€Å"He wouldn't have told.† â€Å"Yeah,† said Mason. â€Å"Because he's so cute and has such an important family.† â€Å"Stop being an idiot,† I snapped. â€Å"And why do you even care? Jealous I'm not doing it with you?† His flush grew, going all the way to the roots of his red hair. â€Å"I just don't like hearing people talk shit about you, that's all. There are a lot of nasty jokes going around. They're calling you a slut.† â€Å"I don't care what they call me.† â€Å"Oh, yeah. You're really tough. You don't need anyone.† I stopped. â€Å"I don't. I'm one of the best novices in this fucking place. I don't need you acting all gallant and coming to my defense. Don't treat me like I'm some helpless girl.† I turned around and kept walking, but he caught up to me easily. The woes of being five-seven. â€Å"Look†¦I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just worried about you.† I gave a harsh laugh. â€Å"I'm serious. Wait†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he began. â€Å"I, uh, did something for you. Sort of. I went to the library last night and tried to look up St. Vladimir,† I stopped again. â€Å"You did?† â€Å"Yeah, but there wasn't much on Anna. All the books were kind of generic. Just talked about him healing people, bringing them back from the edge of death.† That last part hit a nerve. â€Å"Was†¦was there anything else?† I stammered. He shook his head. â€Å"No. You probably need some primary sources, but we don't have any here.† â€Å"Primary what?† He scoffed, a smile breaking over his face. â€Å"Do you do anything but pass notes? We just talked about them the other day in Andrews' class. They're books from the actual time period you want to study. Secondary ones are written by people living today. You'll get better information if you find something written by the guy himself. Or someone who actually knew him.† â€Å"Huh. Okay. What are you, like, a boy genius now?† Mason gave me a light punch in the arm. â€Å"I pay attention, that's all. You're so oblivious. You miss all sorts of things.† He smiled nervously. â€Å"And look†¦I really am sorry about what I said. I was just – â€Å" Jealous, I realized. I could see it in his eyes. How had I never noticed this before? He was crazy about me. I guess I really was oblivious. â€Å"It's all right, Mase. Forget about it.† I smiled. â€Å"And thanks for looking that stuff up.† He smiled back, and I went inside, sad that I didn't feel the same way about him.

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 7. UNEXPECTED

The line of black advanced on me through the shroud-like mist. I could see their dark ruby eyes glinting with desire, lusting for the kill. Their lips pulled back over their sharp, wet teeth – some to snarl, some to smile. I heard the child behind me whimper, but I couldn't turn to look at him. Though I was desperate to be sure that he was safe, I could not afford any lapse in focus now. They ghosted closer, their black robes billowing slightly with the movement. I saw their hands curl into bone-colored claws. They started to drift apart, angling to come at us from all sides. We were surrounded. We were going to die. And then, like a burst of light from a flash, the whole scene was different. Yet nothing changed – the Volturi still stalked toward us, poised to kill. All that really changed was how the picture looked to me. Suddenly, I was hungry for it. I tvanfec/them to charge. The panic changed to bloodlust as I crouched forward, a smile on my face, and a growl ripped through my bared teeth. I jolted upright, shocked out of the dream. The room was black. It was also steamy hot. Sweat matted my hair at the temples and rolled down my throat. I groped the warm sheets and found them empty. â€Å"Edward?† Just then, my fingers encountered something smooth and flat and stiff. One sheet of paper, folded in half. I took the note with me and felt my way across the room to the light switch. The outside of the note was addressed to Mrs. Cullen. I'm hoping you won't wake and notice my absence, but, if you should, I'll be back very soon. I've just gone to the mainland to hunt Go back to sleep and I'll be here when you wake again. I love you. I sighed. We'd been here about two weeks now, so I should have been expecting that he would have to leave, but I hadn't been thinking about time. We seemed to exist outside of time here, just drifting along in a perfect state. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I felt absolutely wide awake, though the clock on the dresser said it was after one. I knew i would never be able to sleep as hot and sticky as I felt. Not to mention the fact that if I shut off the light and closed my eyes, I was sure to see those prowling black figures in my head. I got up and wandered aimlessly through the dark house, flipping on lights. It felt so big and empty without Edward there. Different. I ended up in the kitchen and decided that maybe comfort food was what I needed. I poked around in the fridge until I found all the ingredients for fried chicken. The popping and sizzling of the chicken in the pan was a nice, homey sound; I felt less nervous while it filled the silence. It smelled so good that I started eating it right out of the pan, burning my tongue in the process. By the fifth or sixth bite, though, it had cooled enough for me to taste it. My chewing slowed. Was there something off about the flavor? I checked the meat, and it was white all the way through, but I wondered if it was completely done. I took another experimental bite; I chewed twice. Ugh – definitely bad. I jumped up to spit it into the sink. Suddenly, the chicken-and-oil smell was revolting. I took the whole plate and shook it into the garbage, then opened the windows to chase away the scent. A coolish breeze had picked up outside. It felt good on my skin. I was abruptly exhausted, but i didn't want to go back to the hot room. So I opened more windows in the TV room and lay on the couch right beneath them. I turned on the same movie we'd watched the other day and quickly fell asleep to the bright opening song. When I opened my eyes again, the sun was halfway up the sky, but it was not the light that woke me. Cool arms were around me, pulling me against him. At the same time, a sudden pain twisted in my stomach, almost like the aftershock of catching a punch in the gut. Tm sorry,† Edward was murmuring as he wiped a wintry hand across my clammy forehead. â€Å"So much for thoroughness. I didn't think about how hot you would be with me gone. I'll have an air conditioner installed before I leave again.† I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. â€Å"Excuse me!† I gasped, struggling to get free of his arms. He dropped his hold automatically. â€Å"Bella?† I streaked for the bathroom with my hand clamped over my mouth. I felt so horrible that I didn't even care – at first – that he was with me while I crouched over the toilet and was violently sick. â€Å"Bella? What's wrong?† I couldn't answer yet. He held me anxiously, keeping my hair out of my face, waiting till I could breathe again. â€Å"Damn rancid chicken,† I moaned. â€Å"Are you all right?† His voice was strained. â€Å"Fine,† I panted. â€Å"It's just food poisoning. You don't need to see this. Go away.† â€Å"Not likely,Bella.† â€Å"Go away,† I moaned again, struggling to get up so I could rinse my mouth out. He helped me gently, ignoring the weak shoves I aimed at him. After my mouth was clean, he carried me to the bed and sat me down carefully, supporting me with his arms. â€Å"Food poisoning?† â€Å"Yeah,† I croaked. â€Å"I made some chicken last night. It tasted off, so I threw it out. But I ate a few bites first.† He put a cold hand on my forehead. It felt nice. â€Å"How do you feel now?† I thought about that for a moment. The nausea had passed as suddenly as it had come, and I felt like I did any other morning. â€Å"Pretty normal. A little hungry, actually.† He made me wait an hour and keep down a big glass of water before he fried me some eggs. I felt perfectly normal, just a little tired from being up in the middle of the night. He put onCNN – we'd been so out of touch, world war three could have broken out and we wouldn't have known – and I lounged drowsily across his lap. I got bored with the news and twisted around to kiss him. Just like this morning, a sharp pain hit my stomach when I moved. I lurched away from him, my hand tight over my mouth. I knew I'd never make it to the bathroom this time, so I ran to the kitchen sink. He held my hair again. â€Å"Maybe we should go back to Rio, see a doctor,† he suggested anxiously when I was rinsing my mouth afterward. I shook my head and edged toward the hallway. Doctors meant needles. â€Å"I'll be fine right after I brush my teeth.† When my mouth tasted better, I searched through my suitcase for the little first-aid kit Alice had packed for me, full of human things like bandages and painkillers and – my object now – Pepto-Bismol. Maybe I could settle my stomach and calm Edward down. But before I found the Pepto, I happened across something else that Alice had packed for me. I picked up the small blue box and stared at it in my hand for a long moment, forgetting everything else. Then I started counting in my head. Once. Twice. Again. Theknock startled me; the little box fell back into the suitcase. â€Å"Are you well?† Edward asked through the door. â€Å"Did you get sick again?† â€Å"Yes and no,† I said, but my voice sounded strangled. â€Å"Bella? Can I please come in?† Worriedly now. â€Å"O†¦ kay?† He came in and appraised my position, sitting cross-legged on the floor by the suitcase, and my expression, blank and staring. He sat next to me, his hand going to my forehead at once. â€Å"What's wrong?† â€Å"How many days has it been since the wedding?† I whispered. â€Å"Seventeen,† he answered automatically. â€Å"Bella, what is it?† I was counting again. I held up a finger, cautioning him to wait, and mouthed the numbers to myself. I'd been wrong about the days before. We'd been here longer than I'd thought. I started over again. â€Å"Bella!† he whispered urgently. â€Å"I'm losing my mind over here.† I tried to swallow. It didn't work. So I reached into the suitcase and fumbled around until I found the little blue box of tampons again. I held them up silently. He stared at me in confusion. â€Å"What? Are you trying to pass this illness off as PMS?† â€Å"No,† I managed to choke out. â€Å"No, Edward. I'm trying to tell you that my period is five days late.† His facial expression didn't change. It was like I hadn't spoken. â€Å"I don't think I have food poisoning,† I added. He didn't respond. He had turned into a sculpture. â€Å"The dreams,† I mumbled to myself in a flat voice. â€Å"Sleeping so much. The crying. All that food. Oh. Oh. Oh† Edward's stare seemed glassy, as if he couldn't see me anymore. Reflexively, almost involuntarily, my hand dropped to my stomach. â€Å"Oh!† I squeaked again. I lurched to my feet, slipping out of Edward's unmoving hands. I'd never changed out of the little silk shorts and camisole I'd worn to bed. I yanked the blue fabric out of the way and stared at my stomach. â€Å"Impossible,† I whispered. I had absolutely no experience with pregnancy or babies or any part of that world, but I wasn't an idiot. I'd seen enough movies and TV shows to know that this wasn't how it worked. I was only five days late. If I was pregnant, my body wouldn't even have registered that fact. I would not have morning sickness. I would not have changed my eating or sleeping habits. And I most definitely would not have a small but defined bump sticking out between my hips. I twisted my torso back and forth, examining it from every angle, as if it would disappear in exactly the right light. I ran my fingers over the subtle bulge, surprised by how rock hard it felt under my skin. â€Å"Impossible,† I said again, because, bulge or no bulge, period or no period (and there was definitely no period, though I'd never been late a day in my life), there was no way I could be pregnant The only person I'd ever had sex with was a vampire, for crying out loud. A vampire who was still frozen on the floor with no sign of ever moving again. So there had to be some other explanation, then. Something wrong with me. A strange South American disease with all the signs of pregnancy, only accelerated†¦ And then I remembered something – a morning of internet research that seemed a lifetime ago now. Sitting at the old desk in my room at Charlie's house with gray light glowing dully through the window, staring at my ancient, wheezing computer, reading avidly through a web-site called â€Å"Vampires A-Z.† It had been less than twenty-four hours since Jacob Black, trying to entertain me with the Quileute legends he didn't believe in yet, had told me that Edward was a vampire. I'd scanned anxiously through the first entries on the site, which was dedicated to vampire myths around the world. The Filipino Danag, the Hebrew Estrie, the Romanian Varacolaci, the Italian Stregoni benefici (a legend actually based on my new father-in-law's early exploits with the Volturi, not that I'd known anything about that at the time)†¦ I'd paid less and less attention as the stories had grown more and more implausible. I only remembered vague bits of the later entries. They mostly seemed like excuses dreamed up to explain things like infant mortality rates – and infidelity. No, honey, I'm not having an affair! That sexy woman you saw sneaking out of the house was an evil succubus. I'm lucky I escaped with my life! (Of course, with what I knew now about Tanya and her sisters, I suspected that some of those excuses had been nothing but fact.) There had been one for the ladies, too. How can you accuse me of cheating on you – just because you've come home from a two-year sea voyage and I'm pregnant? It was the incubus. He hypnotized me with his myst ical vampire powers†¦. That had been part of the definition of the incubus – the ability to father children with his hapless prey. I shook my head, dazed. But†¦ I thought of Esme and especially Rosalie. Vampires couldn't have children. If it were possible, Rosalie would have found a way by now. The incubus myth was nothing but a fable. Except that†¦ well, there was a difference. Of course Rosalie could not conceive a child, because she was frozen in the state in which she passed from human to inhuman. Totally unchanging. And human women's bodies had to change to bear children. The constant change of a monthly cycle for one thing, and then the bigger changes needed to accommodate a growing child. Rosalie's body couldn't change. But mine could. Mine did. I touched the bump on my stomach that had not been there yesterday. And human men – well, they pretty much stayed the same from puberty to death. I remembered a random bit of trivia, gleaned from who knows where: Charlie Chaplin was in his seventies when he fathered his youngest child. Men had no such thing as child-bearing years or cycles of fertility. Of course, how would anyone know if vampire men could father children, when their partners were not able? What vampire on earth would have the restraint necessary to test the theory with a human woman? Or the inclination? I could think of only one. Part of my head was sorting through fact and memory and speculation, while the other half – the part that controlled the ability to move even the smallest muscles – was stunned beyond the capacity for normal operations. I couldn't move my lips to speak, though I wanted to ask Edward to please explain to me what was going on. I needed to go back to where he sat, to touch him, but my body wouldn't follow instructions. I could only stare at my shocked eyes in the mirror, my fingers gingerly pressed against the swelling on my torso. And then, like in my vivid nightmare last night, the scene abruptly transformed. Everything I saw in the mirror looked completely different, though nothing actually was different. What happened to change everything was that a soft little nudge bumped my hand – from inside my body. In the same moment, Edward's phone rang, shrill and demanding. Neither of us moved. It rang again and again. I tried to tune it out while I pressed my fingers to my stomach, waiting. In the mirror my expression was no longer bewildered – it was wondering now. I barely noticed when the strange, silent tears started streaming down my cheeks. The phone kept ringing. I wished Edward would answer it – I was having a moment. Possibly the biggest of my life. Ring! Ring! Ring! Finally, the annoyance broke through everything else. I got down on my knees next to Edward – I found myself moving more carefully, a thousand times more aware of the way each motion felt – and patted his pockets until I found the phone. I half-expected him to thaw out and answer it himself, but he was perfectly still. I recognized the number, and I could easily guess why she was calling. â€Å"Hi, Alice,† I said. My voice wasn't much better than before. I cleared my throat. â€Å"Bella? Bella, areyou okay?† â€Å"Yeah. Urn. Is Carlisle there?† â€Å"He is. What's the problem?† â€Å"I'm not†¦ one hundred percent†¦ sure___† â€Å"Is Edward all right?† she asked warily. She called Carlisle's name away from the phone and then demanded, â€Å"Why didn't he pick up the phone?† before I could answer her first question. â€Å"I'm not sure.† â€Å"Bella,what's going on? I just saw – â€Å" â€Å"What did you see?† There was a silence. â€Å"Here's Carlisle,† she finally said. It felt like ice water had been injected in my veins. If Alice had seen a vision of me with a green-eyed, angel-faced child in my arms, she would have answered me, wouldn't she? While I waited through the split second it took for Carlisle to speak, the vision I'd imagined for Alice danced behind my lids. A tiny, beautiful little baby, even more beautiful than the boy in my dream – a tiny Edward in my arms. Warmth shot through my veins, chasing the ice away. â€Å"Bella, it's Carlisle. What's going on?† â€Å"I – † I wasn't sure how to answer. Would he laugh at my conclusions, tell me I was crazy? Was I just having another colorful dream? â€Å"I'm a little worried about Edward†¦. Can vampires go into shock?† â€Å"Has he been harmed?† Carlisle's voice was suddenly urgent. â€Å"No, no,† I assured him. â€Å"Just†¦ taken by surprise.† â€Å"I don't understand, Bella.† â€Å"I think†¦ well, I think that†¦ maybe†¦ I might be †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I took a deep breath. â€Å"Pregnant.† As if to back me up, there was another tiny nudge in my abdomen. My hand flew to my stomach. After a long pause, Carlisle's medical training kicked in. â€Å"When was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?† â€Å"Sixteen days before the wedding.† I'd done the mental math thoroughly enough just before to be able to answer with certainty. â€Å"How do you feel?† â€Å"Weird,† I told him, and my voice broke. Another trickle of tears dribbled down my cheeks. â€Å"This is going to sound crazy – look, I know it's way too early for any of this. Maybe I am crazy. But I'm having bizarre dreams and eating all the time and crying and throwing up and†¦ and†¦ I swear something moved inside me just now.† Edward's head snapped up. I sighed in relief. Edward held his hand out for the phone, his face white and hard. â€Å"Urn, I think Edward wants to talk to you.† â€Å"Put him on,† Carlisle said in a strained voice. Not entirely sure that Edward could talk, I put the phone in his outstretched hand. He pressed it to his ear. â€Å"Is it possible?† he whispered. He listened for a long time, staring blankly at nothing. â€Å"And Bella?† he asked. His arm wrapped around me as he spoke, pulling me close into his side. He listened for what seemed like a long time and then said, â€Å"Yes. Yes, I will.† He pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the â€Å"end† button. Right away, he dialed a new number. â€Å"What did Carlisle say?† I asked impatiently. Edward answered in a lifeless voice. â€Å"He thinks you're pregnant.† The words sent a warm shiver down my spine. The little nudger fluttered inside me. â€Å"Who are you calling now?† I asked as he put the phone back to his ear. â€Å"The airport. We're going home.† Edward was on the phone for more than an hour without a break. I guessed that he was arranging our flight home, but I couldn't be sure because he wasn't speaking English. It sounded like he was arguing; he spoke through his teeth a lot. While he argued, he packed. He whirled around the room like an angry tornado, leaving order rather than destruction in his path. He threw a set of my clothes on the bed without looking at them, so I assumed it was time for me to get dressed. He continued with his argument while I changed, gesturing with sudden, agitated movements. When I could no longer bear the violent energy radiating out of him, I quietly left the room. His manic concentration made me sick to my stomach – not like the morning sickness, just uncomfortable. I would wait somewhere else for his mood to pass. I couldn't talk to this icy, focused Edward who honestly frightened me a little. Once again, I ended up in the kitchen. There was a bag of pretzels in the cupboard. I started chewing on them absently, staring out the window at the sand and rocks and trees and ocean, everything glittering in the sun. Someone nudged me. â€Å"I know,† I said. â€Å"I don't want to go, either.† I stared out the window for a moment, but the nudger didn't respond. â€Å"I don't understand,† i whispered. â€Å"What is wrong here?† Surprising, absolutely. Astonishing, even. But wrong? No. So why was Edward so furious? He was the one who had actually wished out loud for a shotgun wedding. I tried to reason through it. Maybe it wasn't so confusing that Edward wanted us to go home right away. He'd want Carlisle to check me out, make sure my assumption was right – though there was absolutely no doubt in my head at this point. Probably they'd want to figure out why I was already so pregnant, with the bump and the nudging and all of that. That wasn't normal. Once I thought of this, I was sure I had it. He must be so worried about the baby. I hadn't gotten around to freaking out yet. My brain worked slower than his – it was still stuck marveling over the picture it had conjured up before: the tiny child with Edward's eyes – green, as his had been when he was human – lying fair and beautiful in my arms. I hoped he would have Edward's face exactly, with no interference from mine. It was funny how abruptly and entirely necessary this vision had become. From that first little touch, the whole world had shifted. Where before there was just one thing i could not live without, now there were two. There was no division – my love was not split between them now; it wasn't like that. It was more like my heart had grown, swollen up to twice its size in that moment. All that extra space, already filled. The increase was almost dizzying. I'd never really understood Rosalie's pain and resentment before. I'd never imagined myself a mother, never wanted that. It had been a piece of cake to promise Edward that I didn't care about giving up children for him, because I truly didn't. Children, in the abstract, had never appealed to me. They seemed to be loud creatures, often dripping some form of goo. I'd never had much to do with them. When I'd dreamed of Renee providing me with a brother, I'd always imagined an older brother. Someone to take care of me, rather than the other way around. This child, Edward's child, was a whole different story. I wanted him like I wanted air to breathe. Not a choice – a necessity. Maybe I just had a really bad imagination. Maybe that was why I'd been unable to imagine that I would like being married until after I already was – unable to see that I would want a baby until after one was already coming†¦. As I put my hand on my stomach, waiting for the next nudge, tears streaked down my cheeks again. â€Å"Bella?† I turned, made wary by the tone of his voice. It was too cold, too careful. His face matched his voice, empty and hard. And then he saw that I was crying. â€Å"Bella!† Hecrossed the room in a flash and put his hands on my face. â€Å"Are you in pain?† â€Å"No, no – â€Å" He pulled me against his chest. â€Å"Don't be afraid. We'll be home in sixteen hours. You'll be fine. Carlisle will be ready when we get there. We'll take care of this, and you'll be fine, you'll be fine.† â€Å"Take care of this? What do you mean?† He leaned away and looked me in the eye. â€Å"We're going to get that thing out before it can hurt any part of you. Don't be scared. I wont let it hurt you.† â€Å"That thing?† Igasped. He looked sharply away from me, toward the front door. â€Å"Dammit! I forgot Gustavo was due today. HI get rid of him and be right back.† He darted out of the room. I clutched the counter for support. My knees were wobbly. Edward had just called my little nudger a thing. He said Carlisle would get it out. â€Å"No,† I whispered. I'd gotten it wrong before. He didn't care about the baby atall. He wanted to hurt him. The beautiful picture in my head shifted abruptly, changed into something dark. My pretty baby crying, my weak arms not enough to protect him†¦. What could I do? Would I be able to reason with them? What if I couldn't? Did this explain Alice's strange silence on the phone? Is that what she'd seen? Edward and Carlisle killing that pale, perfect child before he could live? â€Å"No,† I whispered again, my voice stronger. That could not be. I would not allow it. I heard Edward speaking Portuguese again. Arguing again. His voice got closer, and I heard him grunt in exasperation. Then I heard another voice, low and timid. A woman's voice. He came into the kitchen ahead of her and went straight to me. He wiped the tears from my cheeks and murmured in my ear through the thin, hard line of his lips. â€Å"She's insisting on leaving the food she brought – she made us dinner.† If he had been less tense, less furious, I knew he would have rolled his eyes. â€Å"It's an excuse – she wants to make sure I haven't killed you yet.† His voice went ice cold at the end. Kaure edged nervously around the corner with a covered dish in her hands. I wished I could speak Portuguese, or that my Spanish was less rudimentary, so that I could try to thank this woman who had dared to anger a vampire just to check on me. Her eyes flickered between the two of us. I saw her measuring thecolor in my face, the moisture in my eyes. Mumbling something I didn't understand, she put the dish on the counter. Edward snapped something at her; I'd never heard him be so impolite before. She turned to go, and the whirling motion of her long skirt wafted the smell of the food into my face. It was strong – onions and fish. I gagged and whirled for the sink. I felt Edward's hands on my forehead and heard his soothing murmur through the roaring in my ears. His hands disappeared for a second, and I heard the refrigerator slam shut. Mercifully, the smell disappeared with the sound, and Edward's hands were cooling my clammy face again. It was over quickly. I rinsed my mouth in the tap while he caressed the side of my face. There was a tentative little nudge in my womb. It's okay. We're okay,I thought toward the bump. Edward turned me around, pulling me into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder. My hands, instinctively, folded over my stomach. I heard a little gasp and I looked up. The woman was still there, hesitating in the doorway with her hands half-outstretched as if she had been looking for some way to help. Her eyes were locked on my hands, popping wide with shock. Her mouth hung open. Then Edward gasped, too, and he suddenly turned to face the woman, pushing me slightly behind his body. His arm wrapped across my torso, like he was holding me back. Suddenly, Kaure was shouting at him – loudly, furiously, her unintelligible words flying across the room like knives. She raised her tiny fist in the air and took two steps forward, shaking it at him. Despite her ferocity, it was easy to see the terror in her eyes. Edward stepped toward her, too, and I clutched at his arm, frightened for the woman. But when he interrupted her tirade, his voice took me by surprise, especially considering how sharp he'd been with her when she wasn't screeching at him. It was low now; it was pleading. Not only that, but the sound was different, more guttural, the cadence off. I didn't think he was speaking Portuguese anymore. For a moment, the woman stared at him in wonder, and then her eyes narrowed as she barked out a long question in the same alien tongue. I watched as his face grew sad and serious, and he nodded once. She took a quick step back and crossed herself. He reached out to her, gesturing toward me and then resting his hand against my cheek. She replied angrily again, waving her hands accusingly toward him, and then gestured to him. When she finished, he pleaded again with the same low, urgent voice. Her expression changed – she stared at him with doubt plain on her face as he spoke, her eyes repeatedly flashing to my confused face. He stopped speaking, and she seemed to be deliberating something. She looked back and forth between the two of us, and then, unconsciously it seemed, took a step forward. She made a motion with her hands, miming a shape like a balloon jutting out from her stomach. I started – did her legends of the predatory blood-drinker include this? Could she possibly know something about what was growing inside me? She walked a few steps forward deliberately this time and asked a few brief questions, which he responded to tensely. Then he became the questioner – one quick query. She hesitated and then slowly shook her head. When he spoke again, his voice was so agonized that I looked up at him in shock. His face was drawn with pain. In answer, she walked slowly forward until she was close enough to lay her small hand on top of mine, over my stomach. She spoke one word in Portuguese. â€Å"Morte,†she sighed quietly. Then she turned, her shoulders bent as if the conversation had aged her, and left the room. I knew enough Spanish for that one. Edward was frozen again, staring after her with the tortured expression fixed on his face. A few moments later, I heard a boat's engine putter to life and then fade into the distance. Edward did not move until I started for the bathroom. Then his hand caught my shoulder. â€Å"Where are you going?† His voice was a whisper of pain. â€Å"To brush my teeth again.† â€Å"Don't worry about what she said. It's nothing but legends, old lies for the sake of entertainment.† â€Å"I didn't understand anything,† I told him, though it wasn't entirely true. As if I could discount something because it was a legend. My life was circled by legend on every side. They were all true. â€Å"I packed your toothbrush. I'll get it for you.† He walked ahead of me to the bedroom. â€Å"Are we leaving soon?† I called after him. â€Å"As soon as you're done.† He waited for my toothbrush to repack it, pacing silently around the bedroom. I handed it to him when I was finished. â€Å"I'll get the bags into the boat.† â€Å"Edward – â€Å" He turned back. â€Å"Yes?† I hesitated, trying to think of some way to get a few seconds alone. â€Å"Could you†¦ pack some of the food? You know, in case I get hungry again.† â€Å"Of course,† he said, his eyes suddenly soft. â€Å"Don't worry about anything. We'll get to Carlisle in just a few hours, really. This will all be over soon.† I nodded, not trusting my voice. He turned and left the room, one big suitcase in each hand. I whirled and scooped up the phone he'd left on the counter. It was very unlike him to forget things – to forget that Gustavo was coming, to leave his phone lying here. He was so stressed he was barely himself. I flipped it open and scrolled through the preprogrammed numbers. I was glad he had the sound turned off, afraid that he would catch me. Would he be at the boat now? Or back already? Would he hear me from the kitchen if I whispered? I found the number I wanted, one I had never called before in my life. I pressed the â€Å"send† button and crossed my fingers. â€Å"Hello?† the voice like golden wind chimes answered. â€Å"Rosalie?† I whispered. â€Å"It's Bella. Please. You have to help me.†

Bad Odor and Bio-filtration Solutions

Bad Odor and Bio-filtration Solutions Mikhail Kachmazo v UQ: How have microbes solved a local or global problem? The specific problem or issue: Sewage and industrial plants situated near residential areas can produce unpleasant odors making it difficult to live there. Explain the problem: The sewage plants near residential areas can be a subject to the social and environmental problems if these facilities produce unpleasant odors. The causes of the odors are generally the inorganic and volatile organic compounds which result from bio filtration and from the sewer of industrial waste. There are different types of volatile organic compounds that are emitted as a result of bio filtration like 2-butanone, ÃŽ ±-pinene, tetrachloroethylene, dimethyl disulfide, ÃŽ ²-pinene, limonene, phenol and benzoic acid. One of the main culprits for the bad odor are sulphur compounds which are relatively less in concentration but play significant role in odor causing factors.[5] Explain how science is helping, or has helped, to solve t he problem: Bad odor from sewage water is a major environmental issue worldwide. Bad odor from sewage water is an indicator of possible health risk therefore governments spend a lot of money on treating the sewage water and unpleasant odor. Science has played a major role in solving this problem biologically as well as chemically. Following are several methods to treat sewage water and odor from this water. Bio filtration Thermal Oxidation Chemical Thermal oxidation burns the odor causing compounds directly or indirectly. Bio filtration on the other hand oxidizes the odor causing compounds by using microbes. Microbes like Pseudomonas Putida that are used in this technique have been significant in treating sewage water and bad odor in an efficient, safe and inexpensive way. [4] How it works: Bio-filtration is quite an innovative technology to control pollutants. It helps to eliminate malodorous gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of low concentrations. The mos t common design of a bio-filter is just an ordinary big box. Some of them can be very big, others can be quite small. A bio-filter’s main function is to bring microorganisms together with pollutants in an air stream. The bio-filter which has the breeding material for the microorganisms is placed inside the box. The â€Å"biofilm†, which is a layer of moisture where the microorganisms live, can be found around the particles of filter media. When the bio-filtration process takes place, the operators pump the polluted stream of air through the bio-filter, so that the filter media absorbs the pollutants. The bio-filter diffuses the contaminated gas and sends it onto the biofilm that absorbs it. The pollutants are then degraded by the microorganisms. The metabolic products of this process are carbon dioxide and water as well as the produced energy. The chemical formula of this process caused by oxidation is: Volatile Organic Pollutant + O2 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   CO2 + H2O + Heat + M icrobial Biomass [3] Effectiveness of this technique: This technique is very efficient and it has plenty of advantages over the traditional methods of pollutants. First of all, one of the major conditions for traditional methods is high temperature, however when it comes to bio-filtration the technicians can use low temperatures, thus the whole process becomes cost effective, because there are no costs of combustion. Moreover it is safer than traditional methods because combustion is a dangerous process. Secondly, the maintenance cost of bio-filtration is much lower than traditional methods. According to a research conducted by Pinchin Environmental Group Canada, this technology is more than 95% efficient and environmentally friendly because the whole process can be done in an absolutely natural way. [1]

Cramond report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cramond report - Coursework Example The plausible reason for this could be differential deposition by the varied compositions of the shore water. Point Estimate Upper CL Lower CL Salinity East Wednesday 32.4 32.9 31.9 Salinity West Wednesday 21 24.3 17.7 Salinity East Friday 32 33.9 31.1 Salinity West Friday 25.2 28.7 21.7 Based on the nature of sediments present a large number of varied species could be present on either side of the causeway. An analysis of the number of species growing at both the sites on each day was also done to further enhance the assessment. The east sand and west mud were analyzed for macrofauna and lugworms. Macrofauna comprise of the shallow water communities that live on or in sediment, or attached to hard substrates majorly living in marine, estuarine or freshwater environments. Annelid worms, bivalves, gastropods, crustaceans, tunicates, and insect larvae are some of the most commonly encountered macrofauna in estuarine and coastal areas. Lugworms are present as coiled castings on the beac h during low tides and are otherwise rarely seen as they dig into the sand. East Sand Wednesday West Mud Wednesday East Sand Friday West Mud Friday Shellfish - cockles 6 0 0 0 Shellfish - Macoma 0 33 30 11 Shellfish - winkles 0 6 0 1 Crustaceans - Corophium 17 41 0 244 Crustaceans - shrimps 2 20 0 1 Ragworms 21 29 21 56 Sandmason worms 0 0 26 0 Other polychaete worms 7 5 23 17 Amongst the macrofauna the species considered were Shellfish – cockles, Shellfish – Macoma, Shellfish – winkles, Crustaceans – Corophium, Crustaceans – shrimps, Ragworms, Sandmason worms and some other polychaete worms (data shown in table 2). Ragworms were the most uniformly present organisms on all days and in all salinity conditions indicating their non-specific nature of growth. Shellfish – cockles, Sandmason worms and Shellfish – winkles on the other hand had a very specific nature of abundance indicating their high sensitivity to even the slightest change in salinity conditions. Shellfish – cockles were less abundant (only 6 in number) and found only on the East Sand and that too only on Wednesday. Sandmason worms grew abundantly in the East sand on Friday only. Shellfish – winkles grew scarcely on West Mud on Wednesday and hardly grew on the West Mud on Friday with only 1 organism found that day. Shellfish – Macoma were found to grow on both the east sand and west mud and were dependant only on the salinity conditions present. They were able to grow on salinity estimates of up to 32 only. Crustaceans – Corophium was unable to tolerate high saline conditions and they grew on the east sand on Wednesday but died by the next day. However, their growth on the west mud was very favorable as they grew fairly well on Wednesday and their growth increased exponentially by the following day as they were found to reach a number of 244 from 41 the previous day. Other polychaete worms like the Ragworms grew on both the places in all days but their abundance was highest on the east sand on Friday. Lugworms were counted during as late as possible in the low tide period as they are otherwise very rarely found on the beach. Raw lugworm counts were scarce ranging from 0-5 only. Lugworms were present scarcely on the west mud on Wednesday but became nil by Friday probably due to change in salinity conditions. Similar pattern of abundance was seen on the east mud as

A Good Impression of True Christianity Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A Good Impression of True Christianity - Article Example After spending time in regular prayer and meditation, Christians will eventually put to practice what they learn from God’s Word along with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. They will be â€Å"doers† of the Word and not â€Å"hearers† only for as the Bible says: â€Å"Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of God.† Christians begin to practice what they preach by putting to action what they learn in their daily devotion and Bible Study. Finally, when more time is spent on prayer and meditation, people begin to spend less time finding faults in others and begin to love each other as real brothers and sisters in the Lord. In doing so, they refrain from backbiting that usually results in quarreling. The church will then become a â€Å"home† for the weary and brokenhearted. It will become a safe refuge from life’s trials and difficulties. If Christians follow these suggestions individually and as a congregation of born-again believers in Christ, the community will respect it and even be drawn to be part of it. What the world needs is a dynamic loving church that nurtures and understands not one that judges and bites. If Christians follow these suggestions individually and as a congregation of born-again believers in

Proposition 39 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Proposition 39 - Essay Example The organizations against this proposition are the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and Friends for Saving California Jobs. As a supporter of Proposition Number 39, the â€Å"Tax Treatment for Multistate Businesses. Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Funding. Initiative Statute,† this proposition is good for the State of California because it will result to significant tax revenues that will fund a sustainable approach to development, a development that will provide additional employment and extra funds for education. Numerous firms, organizations, business people, and individuals are in support of Proposition 39 because they know that its contribution to the increase in tax revenues is fair and will benefit the state in general. At present, California requires additional funds to finance its increasing public costs. Lawrence reports that California’s tax revenues primarily go to the â€Å"Big Three,† specifically education, human rights, and cor rections (235). With a high number of school-age population, California needs more funds, without necessarily burdening ordinary taxpayers. This proposition taxes the rich, where the money will benefit the entire state, including the taxed large businesses. State law presently allows the majority of multistate businesses to choose one of two methods to determine the amount of their income associated with California and taxable by the state: â€Å"1) Three-Factor Method and 2) Single-Sales Method† (â€Å"Analysis by the Legislative Analyst† 68-69). Multistate businesses are normally allowed to select the method that is most beneficial to them for tax purposes. Proposition 39 decrees that multistate businesses would no longer choose the method for determining their state taxable income that is most beneficial for them (â€Å"Analysis† 69). Instead, many multistate businesses would have to establish their California taxable income using the single sales factor meth od. Businesses that operate only in California would not be affected (â€Å"Analysis† 69). According to â€Å"Analysis by the Legislative Analyst,† this policy measure would raise $1 billion of additional tax revenues from 2013 (70). Around fifty percent of the revenues would then fund clean and energy efficiency programs: â€Å"For a five-year period (2013–14 through 2017–18), about half of the additional revenues—$500 million to $550 million annually—would be transferred to the Clean Energy Job Creation Fund to support energy efficiency and alternative energy projects† (â€Å"Analysis† 71). With significant funds for clean and green energy, the state will experience a cleaner atmosphere and more efficient public facilities. Aside from funding clean and green projects, the tax revenues will go to education budget increases. As the analyst of the proposition said: â€Å"For 2018–19 and beyond, the guarantee likely would be higher by at least $500 million†¦The exact portion of the revenue raised that would go to schools in any particular year would depend upon various factors† (â€Å"Analysis† 71). Lawrence reminds Californians that the state needs to build more schools and hire more teachers, while improving the curriculum (235). It cannot do so without an injection of additional funds that will not hurt common taxpayers. Proposition 39 will tax the rich companies, but these taxes will not go to waste because they will fund the long-term educational needs of Californians. While education is important,

ACCOUNTING ASSIGNMENT Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ACCOUNTING - Assignment Example The following suggestions are discussed in depth in this report. We are under budget on revenue and over budget on expenses. This means that we are under budget on the profit. We do not have a balance sheet and the accounts on our Profit & Loss report are general accounts at best. There is no record of what types of appointments the customers are requesting instead we know the quantity of them but not the quality of the appointments. We have a retail area that accounts for a small percentage of the revenue. We do not know how long customers are here for their appointments so instead we guess at it. We do not suffer from seasonality therefore we have a steady stream of clients coming in all year round. This opens up a great opportunity for us to track repeat customers as well as new customers. We have the privilege of having great name recognition within the community which helps us to get repeat business. We also do not have any direct competition and this helps us to constantly keep a steady flow of customers coming through the doors. Our main weakness starts with our inability to track our clients and our personnel. We do not know what type of massage our customers want until they are in the room with one of our therapists. This makes it difficult to decide which types of massage to offer and not offer. It also makes it difficult to determine prices for each type of massage. We have the opportunity to cross sell our customers if we were to improve our methods of reporting information. Our retail sales could increase if we were to focus in on our customers’ needs by keeping better records of each one and what they request while they are here. We could also use this information for marketing any new services. We need to have a better grasp on the budget. Our numbers are way off and we need to get a better idea of what our projections should be. Our projections should be based off our prior year along with some growth

Inclusion Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Inclusion Policy - Essay Example The vision of the policy I to ensure that all the children and young people have a sense of being part of the local community they belong to. It also aims at having all the children educated and can easily access education within their local community unless otherwise. With a target of children ranging form 0-19 (25) years, the participation of their parent and children are crucial in achieving successful implementation of the policy ( Halvorsen & Neary ,2001) .The absence of an inclusion policy may deprive some students of there rights to fully benefit from the education system due to a number of factors (Hampshire County Council 2009). There are children who are disadvantaged in various capacities, have physical disability, encounter learning difficulties and require special attention to achieve their full potential in education and life. The inclusion policy lays a big role in ensuring that the problems faced by this group of children are adequately addresses. Inclusive education, according to its most basic definition, means that students with disabilities are supported in chronologically age-appropriate general education classes in their home schools and receive the specialized instructions delineated by their individualized education programs (IEP's) within the context of the core curriculum and general class activities ( Halvorsen & Neary,2001). According to the policy teachers and parents should be in a position to identify such children and plan for individualized education program that addresses the needs of the child. The purpose of having inclusive education policies is to ensure that the needs of all children are included in the curriculums guiding education. Inclusion policies came to be as a result of inequalities in education sector. These inequalities were in form of gender, racial and disability. For example some white dominated schools did not allow admission of children from minority groups such as the blacks, and if such children were admit ted their life at school would be made unbearable preventing them from achieving their full potential in education. More over, physically or emotionally disabled children were not provided with the adequate attention they required from them to catch up with other children in the class leaving them to lag behind and perform poorly in class (Woodward, 2000). There were great disparities in enrollment, retention and performances between the genders. The reason for the disparity was that during enrollment the most parents did not see the reason for educating the girl child. In addition the girl child was discouraged form undertaking science related subjects and the boys were equally discouraged from taking art based subjects leading to an in imbalance between the girls and boys in the specific subject areas .On the other hand most children with disabilities were being discriminated and they had no right to education like any other child. Inclusion policies were made so that all children would get a chance to access education despite their race, gender or disability (Fazal & Lingard, 2010). Critique of the inclusion policy The policy does not clearly mention the efforts to be taken by Walsall Primary school to cater for children who are discriminated upon because of their disability, gender and racial orientations. The policy talks about an environment where children are valued, respected and their confidence built from a strong partnership with their parents (Woodward, 2000) . Even though this policy sounds good, there is a notable gap in terms of provisions for

Los Angeles urban economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Los Angeles urban economy - Essay Example Riverside County’s main city is the city of Riverside. The city is located 53 miles eastwards of Los Angeles, in southeast California. The department of public works in the city of Riverside provides solid waste collection services in the city. The waste collection services were organized by this department through various policies (City of Riverside, 1). The local policy, over time, the city policy of waste management has been dynamic in its mode of operation. In 1992, the policy stipulated that trash collection was reduced to once per week from twice a week, but it now incorporates the collection of green wastes once a week. Over time the policy has changed to improve waste collection, in 1994 the municipal code required that all projects provide enough space and collect recyclable waste. Solid waste service, this division of the public works department was mandated to provide integral waste management services in a manner that is cost effective. The division was basically mandated to collect, dispose and recycle solid wastes from every resident (The Friday Flyer, 1). Source reduction, this program of the public work was charged with management of waste reduction thus managing waste in its all diversities. This was achieved by formulation of workshop that advised participants accordingly. The division has also encouraged its residents to recycle grass as a reduction strategy. This program is however conducted by placing of all trash in the recycling cart and trash was also placed in bags before loading to carts in instances that the cart is damaged; a contact number was given a public number through which the city council was contacted for replacement. The city authority sol bag tags at efficient prices of $2 at the city hall, these bags were used for purposes of filled trash carbs. This bag tags were each less than 40 gallons. Trash that was out of the carb

The Charlie Hebdo shooting by Muslim Extremists Essay

The Charlie Hebdo shooting by Muslim Extremists - Essay Example It is common for people to get shaken after such an attack (Là ©vy A11). However, France has shown a lot of unity in dealing with this attack as everyone is concerned and more than ever, they want unity resolved. Some extremists have twisted the entire issue to show that there is war between Europe and the Muslims but this is not the case. Getting the killers may be a difficult task since they can easily cross the borders but reinforcing the wrong ideas will only do more harm than good to the people in France (Dockterman N). I feel that France is vulnerable to more attacks similar to the Charlie Hebdo attack and the root to the problem should be addressed. Before the shooting took place, France was already a fragile state with high unemployment rates, and so many French born individuals who are youths and feel that they do not have any opportunities. Therefore, it is important that the root problems are addressed as a step to finding the solution to the attacks. Making Muslims feel they are wanted will only create fear and enmity between individuals as explained in (â€Å"Why We Are All Charlie Hebdo†

The Reason of Enlightenment Essay Example for Free

The Reason of Enlightenment Essay Society today is in a paradox. Everything is infected with sameness and repetition. Every sensual experience of the individual is subjected to standardization. Acceptance is the key in success as the capitalist mode of production continually influences behaviour of the individual as well as society as a whole. The capitalist mode of production becomes a powerful tool in manipulating the masses as well as affecting the creative process of human consciousness. What matters for most cultural industries is not the creativity of products or mere understanding but rather a passive acceptance and monetary return. Society is the subject of the industry as it continually addresses the consumer’s concerns rather than society dictating the flow of the industry. Because of the industry’s ‘customized’ goods, society has no room for imagination, creativity, and understanding since these products already fit the ideal description. The culture industry also delimits the aesthetic aspect of human nature as the arts are also subjected to production and return of profit. The essence of art and creativity is lost and also become mere products of the industry. In Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s Dialectics of Enlightenment, the thinkers present a Social Critical Theory of the contemporary society and the adverse ideologies brought about by science, empiricism, and reason, all of which are products of the age of enlightenment. The Development of Critical Theory It is essential to mention the development of Social Critical Theory in lieu of the viewpoint that Adorno and Horkheimer used in their attempt to criticise the false notions brought about by the change in culture and the industry. Social Critical Theory has its roots from the Marxist ideologies that openly criticises the capitalism ideology (Ray 1993: ix). Marxism suggests that there is an imbalance with the structural social class as it is marginally separated by two polar opposites in society: the abusive bourgeoisie, and the proletariat or the working class. Marxist doctrine states that man’s essence is himself, and labour, which is the power to create, is merely an extension. At the presence of labour and society, man becomes a necessity or a commodity. If a poor man who has no material wealth, becomes a mere commodity at the presence of labour and exchanges the only thing he has – his essence. Man becomes for sale, while the rich get richer as they continue to capitalize on the plight of the poor man’s essence. From the Marxist doctrines, this social theory eventually separated into two – the revisionist and orthodox Marxist ideologies which retain the ideals of Marxism but differ in method. Marxist revisionist proposes a bloody revolution for the complete eradication of social classes (Ray 1992). Critical theory attempts to dig deeper into other existing binaries of ideologies and subvert them in such a way that the meta-narratives becomes petite. The rise of the Frankfurt school slightly deviated from the idea of criticising social norms but instead focused on the idea of the Enlightenment which paved the way for the development of science and technology. Frankfurt school thinkers such as Adorno and Horkheimer tackled the idea of the Enlightenment as a false notion in the development of society. The Frankfurt school of thought argues that essence and originality are lost as consumers are placidly fed with the same objects that satisfy them temporarily. The mass-produced products and ideas are transforming society into technocracy and docility – that society’s happiness is based on mass happiness rather than individual and subjective satisfaction. Science and technology ultimately enshrines efficiency and affectivity that dominate political governance so that we see a society ruled by technocrats. The industry forms culture rather than culture forming the industry. Critical Theory plays a significant part on the idea of how society aims to live life everyday. Critical theory also provides an opportunity to criticise fallacious social norms and allows the chance for discourse (Ray 1992). Adorno and Horkheimer In view of Adorno and Horkheimer’s The Dialectics of Enlightenment, the authors offer a clear and definitive implication of the 18th century Enlightenment movement and how it suppressed society in terms of ideologies and production. Enlightenment is understood as the advance of thought that aims to liberate human beings from â€Å"fear and installing them as Masters† (Adorno 1997: 1). This concept also shares similar ideas with Immanuel Kant’s summation of the Enlightenment during the 18th century. â€Å"Dare to Think! † was the banner of reason during those time (Ray 1992: 5). Reason should be used in order to individuate man, to dispel myth, to rid of fear of intellectual docility, and to provide the ability to know. Reason became the main weapon for this intellectual movement, as it attempted to break away from the mystical, dogmatic, and mythological foundations of knowledge. Adorno argues that the Enlightenment’s program was â€Å"to dispel myths, to overthrow fantasy with knowledge† (1997: 1). The formation of reason was a complete deviation from the rebirth of philosophical explorations of the Renaissance, which gave emphasis on the use of classical philosophy from Plato, Aristotle, and such. Enlightenment and reason were the foremost tenets of the movement and arguably countered the use of myth and mysticism as the basis of human knowledge. Reason led to the development of empiricism and science, the systematized thought of acquiring knowledge through observation, experimentation and synthesis. Knowledge, acquired through such methods, establishes man as the master of nature. However, Adorno states that this knowledge is abused by man himself as â€Å"knowledge, which is power, knows no limits, either in its enslavement of creation or in its deference to worldly masters† (1997: 2). Technology is the essence of such knowledge as it aims to manipulate concept into method and exploitation. To Adorno, technology does not provide concepts, ideas, or the simple joy of understanding, but rather suppresses the individual to docility. Further, Adorno explains the nature of Enlightenment as a movement dispelling the myths of old. As observed from the pre-Platonic and classical philosophers themselves, they were the ones who pioneered the use of reason or logos as the truthful method of acquiring knowledge rather than basing on mythological narration. As the development of reason became the foundation of science, man discarded meaning to be replaced by formula, causal rules, and probability. The obsession on the use of empirical basis as a method of acquiring universal truths led to the false formation of an industry that not only caters to the need of its consumers but also subjects them into docile and content buyers that guarantee success through monetary return (Ray 1992). The Culture industry, in essence, is the product of the false notion of Enlightenment and reason. Everything has to be proven in order to be verifiable and accepted. Laws, beliefs, and thinking are systematized; they are now bound to the governing laws of reason and empirical knowledge. Though the movement still has its positive effects on development, and the start of a radical change in thinking has definitely brought about breakthroughs in modern science and technology, it also has an adverse effect on society. Adorno suggests: â€Å"For culture now impresses the same stamp on everything† (1997: 120). This widespread movement also relates to the culture industry, where everything loses its individuality for the sake of standardization and acceptance in return for economic benefits of the industry. The whole world is passed through the filter of the culture industry. Everything is affected by such change. The formation of the industry in our context has becoming the mould in which culture is formed and trimmed. Things that had once an aesthetic value lose their real sheen and become mere cliches. Today, our actions fall under what we know as popular and will serve the general purpose of the culture industry: mass producing in order for the economy to function properly (Adorno, 1992: 8). The standardization of things that are produced in order to serve the general interest of the public is quite ironic. The public, which is supposed to be the providers in the economy, become the subjects of the industry itself. In turn, the industry is the big shot boss that makes use of every need of the employee in order to bloom. Society is then the false blood that gives life to the industry, which continues to exploit every aspect of our need, in order to grow and develop an unbreakable barrier in which our supposed-to-be powerful freedom may never break. By continuing to patronize what the industry keeps on producing, it then forms consciousness of popularity — the general idea that the mass accepts. â€Å"It is claimed that standards were based in the first place on consumer’s needs, and for that reason were accepted with so little resistance† (Adorno 1997: 100). The cycle continuous; from fashion trends, food, lifestyle, music, and the arts, these modes of expressions has fallen to this false notion of culture. It loses its identity to become a standard among the people that once used to uphold its individual essence. â€Å"The familiar experience of the moviegoer, who perceives the street outside as a continuation of the film he has just left, because the film seeks strictly to reproduce the world of everyday perception has become the guideline for production† (Adorno 1997: 99). What the people want to see is the continuation of the reality he lives in but only decreased to a lighter note as a means of escape from the hustle and bustle of the corporate world. Entertainment has become a means of escape. The only escape from the work process in the factory and office is through entertainment. Amusement then becomes boring, since to be amusing, it must cost no effort to think. The spectator must need no thoughts of his own. Amusement is then a mindless reel of farce that acts as a distraction from reality. It has no real meaning because the spectator does not need meaning in order to be distracted from the pressure of everyday work (Adorno 1997: ). The same goes with films. â€Å"Film denies its audience any dimension in which the mind might roam freely in imagination† (Adorno 1997: 100). Movies present an alternate reality as a means of escape from the business of the industry. Man, tired from work, resorts to amusement and film to produce a necessitated concept of another reality. That it presents the ideal world inside the theatre and the moviegoer is presented with reality after the film is finished. Thus, films in our context today serve as a basis of lifestyle. From the alternate reality presented by the movies, human behaviour is influenced through an unconscious effort of influence. The industry, apart from the standardized goods and ideologies, also feed the only retribution of man from the pressure of material capitalism. Ideas and concepts are also manipulated to standardization. Thus, placidity is not also applied in the individual’s actions but also to the natural system of consciousness and thought. The ultimate purpose then is for benefit and popularity rather than the art of making a movie. That is why the formation of indie (independent) films attempts to break from such typical notions of Hollywood movies in order to preserve the real essence of movie-making. However, in comparison to major blockbuster films, indie films never achieved the same level of popularity and income even though the indie directors and producers never intended for their movie to be even recognized. That is because such actions are against what is generally accepted and popular. The Madness of Music As a student of music himself, Adorno characterizes the notions brought about the effect of the culture industry with regard the arts, especially on music. He characterizes popular music from serious music. Music is defined as the arrangement and accordance to its form and arrangement. To Adorno, classical music is considered as serious music, for it strictly follows the laws from which they are based and made. The rigidity in the discipline makes the composition itself bound to the parameters of perfection; hence, music is a masterpiece. It follows time signature, tempo, harmony, tone construction, etc. that when such composition is first heard, it is appreciated as a whole and even more appreciated when the parts are examined specifically. On the other hand, the distinction between serious music and popular music lies within its formative structure. Popular music, based on the culture industry’s precepts, capitalizes on standardization. Pop music is predictable upon close observation. Its predictability lies with its musical structure. At first, it may fool the listener of its catchy and creative theme, but, contrary to serious music when parts are examined specifically, its harmonics are built on simple and almost simplistic tone structure that it cannot be left alone without the other. The essence of the music is lost as it lacks the qualities of a ‘serious’ music that may have otherwise refined its colour (Adorno 1997: 104). In our present context, the rise of the music industry has become the ambition for most music artists today. Songs are composed in order to gain widespread popularity, especially among the youth. If we are to look closely at each band’s composition and harmony of their songs, it has rather simple arrangement of chords and repetition of melody from the start up until the beginning. The flimsy form of the music is compensated by the loud execution and performance of their songs and electrifying guitar solos in order to cover up the repetition. It lacks creativity and limits the music to only a few chords. Plus, such simplicity is also the key of some rock bands of not ‘making it’ or not enduring an imprint of legacy from their music. They only enjoy a brief period of popularity that does not leave a lasting impression on the target audience they wish to capture. Standardization extends from the most general features to the most specific ones. Pop music is refined to suit the untrained ear of the masses. It is also mass-produced in order for the artist and the recording company to achieve its benefits. In order for people to like it, music is arranged which is appealing to the public, for music, the same with art, cannot be reproduced without any guarantee of economic remuneration. Novelty and creative are not emphasized since novelty cannot be applied to what is already standard and generally accepted by the people. It is also a form of entertainment and escape; simplified and catchy so as to serve a distraction rather than stimulating oneself in Symphonies or Sonatas (Adorno 1997: 101). Ultimately, for Adorno, the main point of the critique is focused on the development of the individual’s creative tendencies – especially on the arts. According to Witkin, Adorno did not give a blatant connotation that to appreciate art means sophistication in the individual’s part but rather the use of the arts as perpetuated in the industry. â€Å"However, it was not skill or talent that mattered to him, here, but the interests it served and the use to which it was put† (Witkin 2003: 2). As the age of Enlightenment ushered in the development of science, the process of acquiring knowledge developed from a mystical and contextual approach to an empirical and experiential process. Ironically, enlightenment meant that the individual is self-aware of his or her own actions and liberated of fear from the human consciousness. However, as science led the way to the development of newer systems of thought, it produced the development of media (film, music, print) that became ‘standard’ products of consumption. To Adorno and Horkheimer, society becomes placid consumers to these forms; music becomes ‘popular’ and depends on record-breaking sales in order to sell. Films present an alternative to reality, distracting the individual from the bustle of the industry as a means of escape, and print/visual media becomes accessible to all. What the culture industry produces consequently influences behaviour. Standardization in the culture industry meant that the process of invention and innovation is in lieu with the needs of society. What society wants, the industry produces. Freedom, according to the Dialectics of Enlightenment, is sacrificed, as consumers are ‘tamed’ into cooperation. Thus, the industry thrives on income and profit, without any thought or conscience. For the industry, it does not matter for the products to be morally or ethically acceptable as long as the consumer accepts it and benefits the industry in turn. Contemporary Critique The pioneering efforts of Adorno and Horkheimer in the critique of the culture industry gave rise to the formation of contemporary theories on the said subject. On the subject of the culture industry’s critique, David Hesmondhalgh provides a technical explanation of the processes the culture industry undergoes. His arguments retain the critique presented by Adorno but focus more on the shift changes and patterns of continuity in the cultural industries. Hesmondhalgh presents a different viewpoint on Adorno’s subject, as he attempts to bridge the cultural industry as a main distributor of information as well as an unconscious influence over society. Today, cultural industries have changed radically. â€Å"The largest companies no longer specialise in a particular cultural industry such as film, publishing, television, or recording; they now operate across a number of different cultural industries† (Hesmondhalgh 2002: 1). The scope of the cultural industry is not anymore specified into one criterion of the arts; rather, through the development of technology and information systems, the industry now focuses on print, media, and information through the internet, publications, etc. However, contrary to Adorno’s viewpoint, the cultural industries and the goods that it produces, according Hesmondhalgh, are â€Å"complex, ambivalent, and contested† (2002: 3). He argues that the text and information disseminated by the industry do not adhere to the doctrine of capitalism or structured domination. In addition, Hesmondhalgh also differs from the arguments presented by Adorno that the culture industry subjects consumers into passivity, wherein there is no room for the imagination to play. Adorno gives importance to the deeper aesthetic appreciation of art, which he differentiated into ‘serious’ and ‘popular’. For Hesmondhalgh however, there is still creativity in the cultural industry: â€Å"The invention and/or performances of stories, songs, images, poems, jokes, and so on, in no matter what technological form, involves a particular type of creativity – the manipulation of symbols for the purposes of entertainment, information and perhaps even, enlightenment† (2002: 4). Further, he separates art into symbolic creativity and artists into symbol creators and these different kinds of artists reflect the extremities of society in which they live in (2002: 4) Paradoxical Ideology In the Dialectics of Enlightenment, society has this unanswered and unnoticed threat growing in the background. The industry and the generally ‘popular’ things are becoming the basis of everyday life. Adorno and Horkheimer suggest that popular culture is like a â€Å"factory producing standardized cultural goods to manipulate the masses into passivity; the easy pleasures available through consumption of popular culture make people docile and content, no matter how difficult their economic circumstances† (Adorno 1997: n. p. ). The different viewpoints presented by contemporary thinkers support the arguments presented by Adorno, contradict them, or simply expound the different ideologies and applying it into a more modern perspective. Hesmondhalgh especially notes the cultural industry’s motivation in cultivating imagination and creativity for there is still creativity through innovation of new ideas and symbols even though they ultimately influence society in the end. However, the main idea still exists — that the culture industry is a by-product of the Enlightenment and the capitalist mode of production. Hesmondhalgh’s arguments still present the ideas of capitalist multinational corporations that manipulate symbols in order to disseminate such into society. His use of the term ‘symbols’, instead of ‘art’, necessarily perpetuates his notion on manipulation of ideas. Art is essentially the expression of human nature, but in the culture industry, essence does not exist. Thus, Hesmondhalgh’s arguments necessarily imply that symbolism is still creativity, although on a much lower scale. Capitalist companies, especially in modern scenarios, not only manipulate art but also communication and the media. For Hesmondhalgh, the control of the cultural industries over text and information are more pronounced than ever (2002: 7) Thus, the cultural industry’s shift change of scope has greatly differed from Adorno’s time, yet still maintains the capitalist coercive nature. What remains is that society’s needs are still catered by the culture industry. Furthermore, it is claimed that standards produced by the culture industry are based on consumers needs, and that is why accepted with little or no resistance at all. â€Å"The result is the circle of manipulation and retroactive need in which the unity of the system grows ever stronger. No mention is made of the fact that the basis on which technology acquires power over society is the power of those whose economic holds over society is greatest. A technological rationale is the rationale of domination itself. It is the coercive nature of society alienated from itself† (Adorno 1997: 121). The capitalist structure still maintains its firm hold over society as it influences behaviour through catering specific needs of its consumers while transcending a different level of consumerism. The essence of human expression is lost through standardization of art, music, film, and such. Society becomes docile, leaving no room for imagination, and the culture industry grows because of this ignorance. References Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (1997) Dialectic of Enlightenment. London: Verso. Curran, J. (1979) Mass Communication and Society. Beverly Hills, California: Sage. Garnham, N. (1990) Capitalism and Communication: Global Culture and the Economics of Information. London: Sage Publications Garnham, N. (2000) Emancipation, the Media, and Modernity: Arguments About the Media and Social Theory Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hesmondhalgh, D. (2002) The Cultural Industries London: Sage. Martin-Barbero, J. (1993) Communication, Culture and Hegemony: From the Media to Mediations. London: SAGE Publications. McGuigan, J. (1996) Culture and the Public Sphere. London: Routledge. Miege, B. (1989) The Capitalization of Cultural Production. New York: International. Ray, L. (1993). Rethinking Critical Theory : Emancipation in the Age of Global Social Movements. London: Sage. Witkin, R. (2003) Adorno on Popular Culture. London: Routledge.

Conceptualization of the study Essay Example for Free

Conceptualization of the study Essay Traditionally since its inception, The Black Church in America has been a symbol of unity in the black community. In times of crisis it has cut across various religious positions and has served as a spiritual base camp for blacks in America for many years. It has also played a role in community participation, social activities and provided care for the sick and a place of refuge for the poor. During the civil rights movement the black community looked to the church leaders as an instrument that could effect change for their social conditions. During that time, black church leaders were influential to many of the social changes that we partake of today. Any important institution of society will have a number of roles and functions, and thus, an impact upon its membership. The Black church is no exception. In his study of the Black church, distinguished social scientist E. Franklin Frazier included a chapter, â€Å"The Black Church: Nation within a Nation,† in which he saw the church as an â€Å"agency of social control,’’ as an â€Å"economic cooperative,’’ as an â€Å"educational institution,’’ as an â€Å"arena of political life,’’ and as a â€Å"refuge in a hostile white world: (Frazier, 1964). These functions—political, economic, social, and security—all attest to the secular scope of the Black church. Some students of the Black church have supported this view of the church’s secular function. An example is Joseph Washington, Jr. (1964), referring to the work of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an extension of the religious role of the church into the civil rights area. Although Washington viewed King’s philosophy as a perversion of the uses of Christian theology, and tended to view this activity as negative, his rationale was based on a lack of emphasis on theology in the Black church. Other writers have tended to support the view that, the function of the Black church was not so much to foster the spiritual growth of its members by its adherence to and development of the normal Christian theology of the church, as it was to serve their spiritually-related secular needs. St. Clair Drake and Horace Cayton, for instance, say in their study of the Black church in Chicago in the 1930’s: The Negro Church is ostensibly a â€Å"religious organization,’’ but Bronzeville expects it, too, to â€Å"advance the race. † Negro Baptists think of their congregation as a â€Å"Race Church,† and their leaders concern themselves with such matters as fighting the job ceiling and demanding equal economic opportunity as well as â€Å"serving the Lord. † (Drake and Cayton, 1970 Pg 167). Kelly Miller also says that the Black church â€Å" was not yet able to formulate a theological statement of its doctrine,’’ that it broke from the white church and â€Å"decided to go worship God under its own fig tree,† and in so doing, developed a distinctive orientation (Miller, 1968). Others, however, such as Gayraud S. Wilmore and James Cone, built on the Drake and Cayton notion of the Black church as a â€Å"race church. † They outlined the tendency of the Black church to be responsive to the dominant forces in the Black community by pointing to the compatibility between the â€Å"Blackness† of the church and the dominant ideologies—such as Black power—in the community (Wilmore, 1973; Cone, 1969). Assuming these notions are true, it should be possible to test a theory of the responsiveness of the Black Church. Learning more about the function of the Black church is made urgent by the increased necessity for it to be responsive to the social needs of the Black community. The nature of these social needs is made urgent by the many new problems, of this age. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND PURPOSE Today’s Problems which relate to the role of the church in secular activities is in its relationship to black families. The number of black families headed by black females has continued to rise over the years verses other ethnic groups. This dramatic rise may be attributed to an increase in babies born out of wedlock, divorce and separations, all of which have more serious underlying causes, and which also have ramifications on the ability to maintain adequate income for provisional needs. The church formerly was the home for many entire extended families in the Black community; as such, it played a role in establishing standards of conduct; legitimizing births, marriages, and deaths; educating and caring for children; and counseling married individuals. Consequently, the church was a resource center for the Black family, and played a role in its survival. If there are now new pressures on the family which—in addition to employment-related difficulties—threaten the survival of the family, it is also worthwhile to assess the modern role of the church and the extent to which it provides services to meet these new needs. In light of the current problems facing the Black community, it is appropriate and necessary that a new assessment be made of the various institutions within the community which played a role in its progress. PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY The purpose of this study is to ascertain the present-day role of the Black church as a community institution, particularly with respect to the views of the church’s leadership, membership, and individuals in the community. To what extent, if any, does the church leadership believe that the Black church should be involved in the community? How do church members perceive the scope of the church as it relates to non-secular activities? And to what extent do residents, especially non-church members, view the church as a community resource? IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY 1. To gain insight of how church leaders and members, perceive the role of the Black church in the 21st Century. 2. To understand the communities view of what role the church should play in the political, social and economic activities of the community. 3. To define to what extent the black church will sponsor religious and secular programs. ASSUMPTIONS This study was prepared based upon the following assumptions: 1. To assist the church in bridging the gap and being more effective in its mission to serve through its activities. 2. To broaden the awareness of church leaders and members on the needs of the black community it serves. 3. To demonstrate to local leaders the contributions the black church has to offer for the welfare of its citizens. 4. To identify church programs that shows potential for future community growth. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The study will be limited in the following way: 1. The primary focus of this study is to identify the impact of the black church in the community in which it exists. DEFINITION OF TERMS The following terms are defined to clarify their meaning in the context of study: Culture: The acquired knowledge, traits and symbols of a society Community: A group of people living in the same locally and under the same government. Secular: Not specifically relating to religion or to a religious body. METHOD OF STUDY This action research study will utilize action research, implementing quantitative research techniques. Quantitative research was selected for this study because it generates the comprehensive data needed for verification of results. ACTION RESEARCH The primary research method selected for this study is action research, because action research is concerned with improving a specific situation. Isaac and Michael validated the appropriateness of action research by confirming that it provides an organized structure to develop new skills or new approaches and so to solve problems with direct application to the classroom or working world setting. They suggested an orderly framework for problem solving and new developments that are superior to the impressionistic, fragmentary approach that typifies developments in education (1974, 13-30). Lewin, however, is credited with developing the term action research in 1944. He described the method as a cyclic operation in which the researcher is a participant in the process rather than a disinterested observer. The following steps are included in an action research study: (1) a planning or conceptualization step; (2) research or a fact-finding step; (3) an evaluation step; and (4) an execution step (1948, 34-36) Fermin and Levin in 1975 further described the research design as a preliminary and flexible strategy of investigation strategy of investigation or plan of action. The research is aimed at discovering â€Å"why,† and as a result, focuses centrally upon explaining social or political phenomena with answers of a theoretical nature. The research operates at a fuller or higher level of description, which includes making rational statements containing reasons or causes for behavior. Borg argued that action research design has as the chief benefit (1) a practical solution to a problem that may lead to a permanent improvement in the research environment; (2) it is the most appropriate method when practical significance is required rather than statistical and (3) the applicability of the finds are immediate and often of permanent improvement (1963, 319-322). QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Isaac and Michael described quantitative research as allowing the researcher to formulate research questions or hypotheses and then to test each under controlled conditions. They decided its greatest merit is the convincing nature of hard data collected that can speak for itself (1974, 354-355). PROCEDURES To conduct this study, the following actions will be taken regarding each of the objectives: First objective: To identify and report the desired behaviors required for future Christian education leaders. 1. The literature of the field will be reviewed in the following areas: (a) Biblical context, (b) Church History, and (c) contemporary ministry. 2. The findings of the literature will be reported in chapter 2. Second objective: To validate the behaviors identified in the literature review. In order for the inventory of behaviors to be comprehensive, Flanagan stated that it is necessary to obtain a sufficiently representative sample (1949, 343). a) The degree of mutuality existing among the behaviors reported will be identified with respect to the different clusters. b) The number of behaviors will continue to be reduced by combining similar behaviors and writing new descriptions without regard for specific categories. c) The final inventory of administrative behaviors will be produced by the researcher. 2. The findings of the inventory of behaviors will be reported in chapter 3. Third objective: To make appropriate recommendations on the selection and training of future education administrators. 1. The study, including the findings of objectives 1 and 2 will be reviewed and summarized. 2. Appropriate conclusions will be drawn. 3. Specific recommendation which emerge from the study will be made, including suggestions for utilization of the competency areas recommended by the study, and suggestions for further research. 4. The summary, conclusions, and recommendation including check list will be reported in chapter 4. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The study will be organized into four chapters in accordance with the Action Research, as table 1 displays. TABLE 1 Organization of the study based on action research Action Research Steps Chapters 1 2 3 4 Planning/Conceptualization X Fact Finding X X X Evaluation X Chapter 1 has stated the problem and purpose, explained the importance of the study, and stated the method. Chapter 2 will survey the literature to identify and report behaviors required to effectively analyze the characteristics of the church leaders, church members and surrounding neighborhood. Chapter 3 will report the validated behaviors for the role of the church. Chapter 4 will review and summarized the study, offer appropriate conclusion and discuss recommendations for change and future study. CHAPTER 2 CHARACTERISTICS We expect every church planter either black or white to be a good leader. Everyone else who knows about leader and his ministry, even including his group people expect it too. This is truly right no matter who a church planter is, may be any man or woman, may be a minister having both in church and outside of the church jobs. He may be a permanent pastor. Every church planter must enquire about his personality by self-questioning in such a personal way so that obtaining answers can help him to be sure about his decision and can help him to find out his true calling these answer can also help planter to know his future as a leader of his group. Our own understanding taught us about good leaders and leadership which we learned by working with different leaders. These leaders are the ones that people have known, read or watched about them. A successful leader has four elements including organization second program third morale and forth leadership. The greatest of four is leadership. Although morale is condition of mind and character that shows the person is brave. It also includes ability to do things with full trust on your self. The organizational element is based on morale followers; program of a church goes where the leadership goes. People have studied different kinds of leaders in secular history and in the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ is their example as a true leader in Christian service. In the Bible God chose many people as leaders in His work for example Abraham, Noah, Nehemiah, Joseph, Paul and Daniel. Whenever the God leads anyone to think, about going into the Christian ministry he must look for a person who could demonstrate Him, what His person really used to be. A question also rises of what does God require of that person as His leader? And what it takes to be a good leader? The needed qualities of a Christian leader or a church planter should be as the Joseph had he even became a picture or copy of Jesus Christ. Josephs acts and character were good qualities for a church leader any church leader with these characteristics will definitely have success. â€Å"It is vital that counselors who collaborate with African American congregations understand that titles and the values assigned to them can be very important in the Black church and within many African American families. Counselors who do not use the formal titles of ministers, church leaders, older church members, and members who have earned doctoral degrees run the risk of hampered rapport. † (2005, 147) The God selected some of His people to be prophets, apostles, pastors, missionaries, and teachers, so that His people would be taught to serve and would become strong. This will carry on until we are united on accepting the Son of God by our faith. All the church has realized the need for leadership; they spend a big part of their life with the life of the church. People often think about the job of church leaders without attempting to connect their roles to the nature and purpose of the church. It means that church leaders become functionaries rather than ministers and become organization maintainers rather than church mission leader. But true black church leader as a person is that who uses his gifts to facilitate others in ministry, and then making suggestions and observations for implications to church. TESTIMONY OF PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH GOD When we talk about a church leader having a testimony, it proofs that God is with the leader and leader is with God. A church leader seeks a leadership ministry in Gods service and discusses his personal experience in the Christ. Sharing of a Christian testimony with others in public is the result of that personal experience. â€Å"The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian† (Genesis 39:2) Private and public life of a church leader, as a Christian, supports his testimony and influences others to become Christian. People expect church leader to be person who follows words and prayers of God. A church leader demonstrates people by giving example of personal closeness to God in his private and public. People judge their weaknesses with the help of purposeful Christian testimony of the leader. A church leader witnesses for Christ through his hands, lips, works and entire life. STRONG CERTAINTY AS A CHURCH LEADER Certainty represents freedom and surety of fact from doubt. It means a church leader is ahead of all other people sent by God. A church leader has a sense of call to be Gods leader so it gives him a special desire for leadership ministry. It also gives him a deep faith that God has His hands in his progress. It helps in making him sure that God wants him to be a church leader. â€Å"†¦. God sent me ahead of you†¦.. to preserve for you a remnant on earth †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. it was not you who sent me here, but God† (Gen 45. 5,7,8). His firm belief gives him inner faith and courage and helps him to go through hard times in his work by staying firmly on the job until finish it according to God’s order. He does his job with dignity and proud character and blessings of the God who asked him to lead and serve. â€Å"Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God† (Romans 1). The ministry requires church leaders to be certain of their calling as Gods leaders. INTEGRITY BEING A PART OF PERSONALITY Integrity is being truthful and honest. It also refers moral excellence and living and doing in a right manner. A church leader is true to him-self and keeps him-self pure and honorable. He knows the importance to keep integrity in front of God and people. Integrity as a needed quality for church leaders, and a church leader is free from any blame. He stands for God before his group and the people inside and outside of the church. A church planter makes a new church healthy when he has integrity in his private and public life. He knows how important it is for him to have authority as a leader, not only for just leadership but a church leader shows it in daily life. People need church leaders having integrity in their personality to teach them the difference between the right and wrong and help them choosing the right. DISTINCT CAPABILITIES When we talk about capabilities it represents fitness or ability. Distinct capability of a church leader enables him to do his job in a good manner wherever he serves people. Church leaders are good mentors they are wise and trusted persons who give advices. A church leader keeps on improving his talent by using his mentor and measuring obtaining results. People think that the greatest ability of a church leader is that, he depends only on God to avoid making mistakes in delivering his services to both God and people. Ability for church leading or planting is one of the parts of learnt talents of a church leader. USE OF AUTHORITY A church leader should use his authority properly which is given by the God and community. A church leader is not a good leader if no one is following him. People obey him because of his owning authority and their trust on his authority. Church leaders know above all else, that their power as a leader came from God. They receive authority and become God’s witnesses when the Holy Spirit appears on them. A church leader understands that his leadership power comes from the God and understands that those, whom he serves, give him authority as a leader. â€Å"A Christian does not forget that his leadership depends on responsibility that goes with authority† (2-corinthians-5:9) A church leader uses these blessings for establishing of the groups or churches, his position as a leader is to achieve success in carrying out Gods purpose. If a church leader uses his authority in a wrong or bad use then he will definitely suffer for his doings. The church leaders should not forget that their leaderships depend on responsibility and their authority goes with equal responsibility. It means they should be able to believe and precede these authorities in a reasonable manner. ACCOUNTABLE A church leader is responsible for using church assets and other resources in an appropriate manner – he should be accountable for himself. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, Im putting you in charge of the whole land of Egypt’ (Genesis 41:41). They trusted Joseph because of his self accountability. People who follow and support a church leader do not question about his plans for them. He opens his books for others to see and believes that honesty is a good policy. Church leaders spend their life on good and respected principles, the God and people expect that every church leader must have all of the qualities of Abraham, Noah, etc. A Church leader in leadership position is believed accountable and honest Christian leader. He needs to love the God’s messenger’s reports or reviews and do what they do. The reports or reviews help him to improve from good to a better leader. A church leader makes decisions according to religious possibilities; he accepts responsibility for the obtaining result of his decisions. People usually do not consider religious aspects in their routine they read religious books like open letters. A church leader knows how to make good decisions, he then lives with the decisions that he has made and accepts responsibility for his works. PLANS AND DIRECT ACTIONS A church leader knows how to plan and direct actions to avoid any mistakes being made. He formulates and deploys plans to achieve objectives – he directs the work accordingly until it finishes. He creates different questions in his mind; for example, what to do, why to do it, when to do it, how to do it, who to do, and how to finish it. A church leader’s plans are simple, people who work as group members and other people who follow him understand his plans clearly. He forms teams and give them duties so that they can work with authority and responsibility. He makes rules that people accept to follow. The God wants a church leader to share His vision with his team members and people. A good church leader knows how to put the God given plan into practice. A church leader is the person who influences his team members and leads team members to carry out the agreed objectives, by following the example of the Christ. People under him follow his way of life; a church leader gets people to act on church and mission goals, and he also ministers the need of people. A Church leader humbly realizes that he needs Gods help and needs it in developing good plans that will work for others. These working plans then successfully meet the desired goals. A church leader does not build plans for other people to merely honor them, but he does it for the good of his people with everlasting results. UNCHANGED LOYALTY A church leader demonstrates loyalty that never changes. A church leader is faithful to his promises and duties. He never finds fault in his job; people respect him as a man of God living among them. A church leader gives his life to Gods mission and purpose and spends his entire life doing it. Loyalty being a leadership quality, a church leader is always loyal to God and his people. A church leader needs loyalty to start and grow a church or group. A loyal church leader is the base of a healthy church to grow and a key element for a church to produce other churches. A church leader influences others in his ministry through his loyalty to Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord. A loyal church leader produces loyal members he starts and finishes his job with his team very well. A successful Christian leader is always keen and willing to work with a community or groups. He has a strong desire to develop community services together. USE OF GOD’S GIFTS God has gifted all people with different abilities and characteristics. Nowadays, this divine gift directs people to serve churches, as ushers, church school teachers, financial officers, directors of food pantries, youth leaders, and in so many other roles. It all starts with gifts, which can be utilized in a variety of ways. Gifts are given by the God to everyone. The God doesn’t limit the gifts to his people, so we shouldn’t limit leadership to others. The potential to lead by using gifts for enabling others in ministry does not requires intelligence, education, economic status, age, gender, or any other human distinction. â€Å"Children and youth, as well as adults, all are gifted. Women and men, boys and girls have all been gifted which they can use in leadership of a church. It does not mean, however, that everyone should be an administrator of a church†. Gifts are several and of different nature, the variety of these gifts is much greater than churches usually realize. There are many gifts beyond the gifts that are usually used in preaching, teaching, and committee work. If one is to use all God given gifts for his leadership within a church, he/she must discover that wide range of gifts, and welcome the spirit to employ them. It is not always an easy task for a human to identify gifts since gifts have strange way of hiding themselves, particularly from those people who hold them. God’s given gifts are so much a part of our personality that people not likely to think of them as gifts. For example, if a person is a good organizer, he must recognize this specialty and take it as a gift given by God. As God’s gifts are discovered by interacting with others. However, discovering gifts is not enough because many people use there gifts haphazardly, with no attention to their development. God’s given gift’s effectiveness can be significantly enhanced through intentional development of them. For example, if a person with natural painting ability can choose not to practice or take lessons and keep his ability as hobby and keeps his gift undefined from being fully utilized for service. The church leaders provide opportunities to people for training and development of Gods given gifts. They are intentional about using these gifts of children and youth in future leadership. The church leaders encourage their members to affirm and identify one another’s gifts. People discover and experiments their gifts in an atmosphere of acceptance provided by the church leader. A church leader expands his understanding in order to be comprehensive and not neglect people’s gifts. CHURCH LEADER ENABLES OTHERS A church leader uses his gifts to enable others to discover, develops, and use their God’s given gifts. A church leader truly enables other people helping them to become God‘s intended persons. This is not a true leadership to just manipulate others to act in a certain manner. A church leader puts aside his or own ego needs and coach others in such a way that help them blossom. The key function of a church leader is to facilitate others by helping them in discovering, developing, and effectively utilizing their God given gifts. Church leaders have five essential components to enable people. These are helping them to gain knowledge, encourage personal growth, assist them in working with others, aid in skill development, and provide appropriate settings. Here the term â€Å"Knowledge† is about information of the Christian traditions, quality Bible study, the nature and mission of the church, and the expert knowledge related to particular areas of services. The personal growth includes people growth as they develop awareness of giftedness, self knowledge, and understanding of purpose, which is firmly stable in a relationship with Jesus Christ. A church leader is able to work well with others; it is an essential element of the leadership. Skills development includes effective communication, managing small group, organization, and having healthy relationships with others that is beneficial for his ministry. A church leader gives importance to people using their gifts in such circumstance that improve potential of their success. The role of a church leader is not always immediate or direct. If a person who provides nurture to young children is providing early enabling for the leadership of others. Therefore, a church leader needs to be seen in his every task in terms of how it enables people for ministry. The Church leadership as a service may be a new perception for some people, so the church needs to have deep study that explores up Jesus’ own servant leadership model. A church leader must provide opportunities and safe places for members to develop and use their God given gifts. Discovering and developing God’s gifts for people is not an end in itself. The ministry for which people are gifted is on a large scale, taking its place within and outside a church, even extends throughout the God’s world. The black church is the one place in our community where people come together and pool their resources to better minister to the church and the community (1993, 54). There are mutual ministries among church members as accepting, loving, available, supportive, and accountable community of faith. Out of the church’s boundaries, church leaders respond to human need by teaching love and hope, empowering the powerless, uplifting the poor, restoring creation, confronting all that harms persons and creation, and reconciling persons to God and one another. People note different implications for churches because the growth of effective leaders is grounded in a churchs vision of its ministry, a declaration of that vision needs not only to be created, but also acted on. Churchs involvements within and outside of the church provides a map of leadership opportunities by providing a starting point for selecting and developing leaders. COMMUNITY BEHAVIOR African American spirituality has woven collectively the best of African Anglo cultures to creatively shape their own African American identity. While black peoples have not been socially, politically or economically free in the history, the practice of spirituality has facilitated the development of different forms of cultural and spiritual freedom by interpreting, transcending and embracing, the constraints of an oppressive culture. Furthermore, the development of their own beliefs, norms, forms, practices, and structures has given rise to a culture and life that is a distinctive form of human survival, existence, and, freedom most importantly. The black churches as the centers of freedom influenced the praxis of African-American spirituality. They have become safe places where blacks gathered to embrace their combined concerns as a community of faith. They have been the only institutions in the African American experience that has continued relative independence from the domesticating influence of white pressure and overlords. Some black churches consider may be the last place to see integration due to the need to maintain a power base not available to black people elsewhere. After reviewing some aspects of worship as the context for cultural and spiritual freedom, black preaching in and out sides of the black churches are one of the most powerful expressions of freedom for black people in America. The ability to produce a soul language that defines truth into systems of meaning gives power and purpose to black people. Subsequently, Black community successfully adopts and adapts the structures of the much larger culture for their own purpose this practice comes from a double consciousness or translating. African Americans translated the experience of one kind to that of another which leading them to freedom. Therefore, black people spirituality gave freedom to the spirit and mind that the external condition could not take away. The religious approach is due to a deep faith in the sacredness of life that reaffirmed a personal dignity in blacks which resulted in the practice of nonviolence and mercy. Black community determines themselves how they responded to oppression. Various forms expressing improvisation and innovation from black soul forces constituted black culture. These forms under the subtitles black music, literature, humor, folk tales, sports, art and dance; and their worship forms under the headings of prayer, shouting, healing, dancing, singing praising and instrumental music transformation, teaching and preaching. These forms express that what is true and valuable will be determined by black community itself and will subvert and defy attempts of the larger culture to discern.