The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 26~27

Twenty-six Val and Gabe entered the bar, then stepped out of the doorway and stood by the blinking pinball machine while their eyes adjusted to the darkness. Val wrinkled her nose at the hangover smell of stale beer and cigarettes; Gabe squinted at the sticky floor, looking for signs of interesting wild life. Morning was the darkest part of a day at the Head of the Slug Saloon. It was so dark that the dingy confines of the bar seemed to suck light in from the street every time someone opened the door, causing the daytime regu-lars to cringe and hiss as if a touch of sunshine might vaporize them on their stools. Mavis moved behind the bar with a grim, if wobbly, determin-ation, drinking coffee from a gar-goyle-green mug while a Tarryton extra long dangled from her lips, dropping long ashes down the front of her sweater like the smoking turds of tiny ghost poodles. She went about setting up shots of cheap bourbon at the empty curve of the bar, lining them up like soldiers before a firing squad. Every two or three minutes an old man would enter the bar, bent over and wearing baggy pants – leaning on a four-point cane or the last hope of a painless death – and climb onto one of the empty stools to wrap an arthritic claw around a shot glass and raise it to his lips. The shots wer e nursed, not tossed back, and by the time Mavis had finished her first cup of coffee, the curve of the bar looked like the queue to hell: crooked, wheezing geezers all in a row. Refreshments while you wait? The Reaper will see you now. Occasionally, one of the shots would sit untouched, the stool empty, and Mavis would let an hour pass before sliding the shot down to the next daytime regular and calling Theo to track down her truant. Most often, the ambulance would slide in and out of town as quiet as a vulture riding a thermal, and Mavis would get the news when Theo cracked the door, shook his head, and moved on. â€Å"Hey, cheer up,† Mavis would say. â€Å"You got a free drink out of it, didn't you? That stool won't be empty for long.† There had always been daytime regulars, there always would be. Her new crop started coming in around 9 A.M., younger men who bathed and shaved every third day and spent their days around her snooker table, drinking cheap drafts and keeping a laser focus on the green felt lest they get a glimpse of their lives. Where once were wives and jobs, now were dreams of glorious shots and clever strategies. When their dreams and eyesight faded, they filled the stools at the end of the bar with the day-time regulars. Ironically, the aura of despair that hung over the day-time regulars gave Mavis the closest thing to a thrill she'd felt since she last whacked a cop with her Louisville Slugger. As she pulled the bottle of Old Tennis Shoes from the well and poured it down the bar to refill their shot glasses, a bolt of electric loathing would shoot up her spine and she would scamper back to the other end of the bar and stand there breathless until her stereo pacemakers brought her heartbeat back down from redline. It was like tweaking death's nose, sticking a KICK ME sign on the head of a cobra and getting away with it. Gabe and Val watched this ritual without moving from their spot by the pinball machine. Val was cautious, just waiting for the right moment to move to the bar and ask if Theo had called. Gabe was, as usual, just being socially awkward. Mavis retreated to her spot by the coffeepot, presumably out of death's reach, and called down to the couple. â€Å"You two want something to drink, or you just window-shopping?† Gabe led them down the bar. â€Å"Two coffees please.† He looked quickly to Val for her approval, but she was fixated on Catfish, who was seated across from Mavis near the end of the bar. Just beyond him was another man, an incredibly gaunt gentleman whose skin was so white it appeared translucent under the haze of Mavis's cigarette smoke. â€Å"Hello, uh, Mr. Fish,† Val said. Catfish, who was staring at the bottom of a shot glass, looked up and forced a smile through a face betraying hangdog sorrow. â€Å"It's Jefferson,† he said. â€Å"Catfish is my first name.† â€Å"Sorry,† Val said. Mavis made a mental note of the new couple. She recognized Gabe, he'd been in with Theophilus Crowe a number of times, but the woman was a new face to her. She put the two coffees in front of Gabe and Val. â€Å"Mavis Sand,† Mavis said, but she didn't offer her hand. For years she'd avoided shaking hands because the grip often hurt her arthritis. Now, with her new titanium joints and levers, she had to be careful not to crush the delicate phalanges of her customers. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Gabe said. â€Å"Mavis, this is Dr. Valerie Riordan. She has a psychiatric practice here in town.† Mavis stepped back and Val could see the apparatus in the woman's eye focusing – when the light from over the snooker table caught it right, the eye appeared to glow red. â€Å"Pleased,† Mavis said. â€Å"You know Howard Phillips?† Mavis nodded to the gaunt man at the end of the bar. â€Å"H.P.,† Gabe added, nodding to Howard. â€Å"Of H.P.'s Cafe.† Howard Phillips might have been forty, or sixty, or seventy, or he might have died young for all the animation in his face. He wore a black suit out of the nineteenth century, right down to the button shoes, and he was nursing a glass of Guinness Stout, although he didn't look as if he'd had any caloric intake for months. Val said, â€Å"We just came from your restaurant. Lovely place.† Without changing expression, Howard said, â€Å"As a psychiatrist, does it bother you that Jung was a Nazi sympathizer?† He had a flat, upper-class British accent, and Val felt vaguely as if she'd just been spat upon. â€Å"Ray of sunshine, Howard is,† Mavis said. â€Å"Looks like death, don't he?† Howard cleared his throat and said, â€Å"Mavis has come to mock death, since most of her mortal parts have been replaced with machinery.† Mavis leaned into Gabe and Val as if guarding a secret, even as she raised her voice to make sure Howard could hear. â€Å"He's been cranky for some ten years now – and drunk most of that time.† â€Å"I had hoped to develop a laudanum habit in the tradition of Byron and Shelley,† Howard said, â€Å"but procurement of the substance is, to say the least, difficult.† â€Å"Yeah, that month you drank Nyquil on the rocks didn't help either. He'd drop off at the bar stool sittin' straight up, sit there asleep sometimes for four hours, then wake up and finish his drink. I have to say, though, Howard, you never coughed once.† Again Mavis leaned into the bar. â€Å"He pretends to have consumption sometimes.† â€Å"I'm sure the good doctor is not interested in the particulars of my substance abuse, Mavis.† â€Å"Actually,† Gabe said, â€Å"we're just waiting for a call from Theo.† â€Å"And I think I'd prefer a Bloody Mary to coffee,† Val said. â€Å"Ya'll ain't goin to talk me into chasin no monster, so don't even try,† Catfish said. â€Å"I got the Blues on me and I got some drinkin to do.† â€Å"Don't be a wuss, Catfish,† Mavis said as she mixed Val's cocktail. â€Å"Monsters are no big deal. Howard and me got one, huh, Howard?† â€Å"Walk in the proverbial park,† Howard said. Catfish, Val, and Gabe just stared at Howard, waiting. Mavis said, â€Å"Course your drinking started right after the last one, didn't it?† â€Å"Nonstop,† Howard said. Theo It occurred to Theo, as he tried to keep a safe distance from the sheriff's Caddy turning into the ranch, that he had never been trained in the proper procedure for tailing someone. He'd never really followed anyone. Well, there was a sixth-month period in the seventies when he had followed the Grateful Dead around the country but with them, you just followed the trail of tie-dye and didn't have to worry about them killing you if they found out you were behind them. He also realized that he had no idea why, exactly, he was following Burton, except that it seemed more aggressive than curling into a ball and dying of worry. The black Caddy turned through a cattle gate onto the section of the ranch adjacent the ocean. Theo slowed to a stop under a line of eucalyptus trees beside the ranch road, keeping the sheriff in sight between the tree trunks. The grassy marine terrace that dropped to the shoreline was too open to go onto without Burton noticing. He would have to let the Caddy pass over the next hill, nearly half a mile off the road, before he dared follow. Theo watched the Caddy bump over the deep ruts in the road, the front wheels throwing up mud as it climbed the hill, and suddenly he regretted not having driven the red four-wheel-drive truck. The rear-wheel-drive Mercedes might not be able to follow much farther. When the Caddy topped the hill, Theo pulled out and gunned the Mer-cedes through the cattle gate and into the field. Tall grass thrashed at the underside of the big German car as rocks and holes jarred Theo and threw Skinner around like a toy. Momentum carried them up the side of the first hill. As they approached the crest, Theo let off the gas. The Mercedes settled to a stop. When he applied the gas again, the back wheels of the Mercedes dug into the mud, stuck. Theo left Skinner and the keys in the car and ran to the top of the hill. He could see more than a mile in every direction, east to some rock outcrop-pings by the tree line, west to the ocean, and across the marine terrace to the north, which curved around the coastline and out of sight. South, well, he'd come from the south. Nothing there but his cabin and beyond that the crank lab. What he could not see was the black Cadillac. He checked the battery in his cell phone and both pistols to see that they were loaded, then he set out on foot toward the rocks. It was the only place the Caddy could have gotten out of sight. Burton had to be there. Twenty minutes later he stood at the base of the rock outcroppings, sweating and trying to catch his breath. At least maybe he'd get some lung capacity back, now that he wasn't smoking pot anymore. He bent over with his hands on his knees and scanned the rocks for any movement. These were no gentle sedimentary rocks formed over centuries of settling seas. These craggy bastards looked like gray teeth that had been thrust up through the earth's crust by the violent burp of a volcano and the rasping shift of a fault line. Lichen and seagull crap covered their surfaces and here and there a creosote bush or cypress tried to gain a foothold in the cracks. There was supposed to be a cave around here somewhere, but Theo had never seen it, and he doubted that it was big enough to park a Cadillac in. He stayed low, moving around the edge of the rocks, expecting to see the flash of a black fender at every turn. He drew his service revolver and led around each turn with the barrel of the gun, then changed his strategy. That was like broadcasting a warning. He bent over double before peeking around the next corner, figuring that if Burton heard him or was waiting, he would be aiming high. The vastness of what Theo didn't know about surveillance and combat techniques seemed to be expanding with every step. He just wasn't a sneaky guy. He skirted a narrow path between two fanglike towers of rock. As he prepared to take a quick peek around the next turn, his foot slipped, sending a pile of rocks skittering down the hill like broken glass. He stopped and held his breath, listening for the sound of a reaction somewhere in the rocks. There was only the crashing surf in the distance and a low whistle of coastal wind. He ventured a quick glance around the rock and before he could pull back, the metallic click of a gun cocking behind his head sounded like icicles being driven into his spine. Molly Molly was sorting through the piles of clothing the pilgrims had left by the cave entrance. She had come up with two hundred and fifty-eight dollars in cash, a stack of Gold Cards, and more than a dozen vials of antidepressants. A voice in her head said, â€Å"You haven't seen this many meds since you were on the lock-down ward. They have a lot of gall calling you crazy.† The narrator was back, and Molly wasn't at all happy about it. For the last few days, her thinking had been incredibly clear. â€Å"Yeah, you're helping a lot with my mental health self-image,† she said to the narrator. â€Å"I liked it better when it was just me and Steve.† None of the pilgrims seemed to notice that Molly was talking to herself. They were all in some trancelike state, stark naked, seated in a semicircle around Steve, who lay in the back of the cave, where it was dark, with his head tucked under his forelegs, flashing sullen colors across his flanks: olive drab, rust, and blue so dark that it appeared more like an afterimage on the back of the eyelid than an actual color. â€Å"Oh yeah, you and Steve,† the narrator said snidely. â€Å"There's a healthy couple – the two greatest has-beens of all time. He's sulking, and you're robbing people who are even nuttier than you are. Now you're going to feed them to old lizard lick over there.† â€Å"Am not.† â€Å"Looks like none of these people has had any sun or exercise since high school gym class. Except for that guy who came in Birkenstocks, and he has that Gandhi-tan vegetarian starvation stare that looks like he'd slaughter a whole kindergarten for a Pink's foot-long with sauer-kraut. You feel okay about making them strip and prostrate themselves before the big guy?† â€Å"I thought it would make them go away.† â€Å"The lizard is using you.† â€Å"We care about each other. Now just shut up. I'm trying to think.† â€Å"Oh, like you've been thinking so far.† Molly shook her head violently to try and dislodge the narrator from her mind. Her hair whipped about her face and shoulders and stood out in a wild mess. The narrator was quiet. Molly pulled a compact out of one of the pilgrims' purses and looked at herself in the mirror. She certainly couldn't have looked much crazier. She braced for the narrator's comment, but it didn't come. She tried to get in touch with the warm feeling that had been running through her since Steve had appeared, but it just wasn't there. Maybe the pilgrims were using up his energy. Maybe the magic had just passed. She remembered sitting on a deck in Malibu, waiting for a producer who had just made love to her, only to have his Hispanic maid show up with a glass of wine and an apology that â€Å"The mister had to go to the studio, he very sorry, you call him next week please.† Molly had really liked the guy. She'd broken her foot kicking his spare Ferrari as she left and had to eat painkillers through the filming of her next movie, which eventually put her in detox. She never heard from the producer again. That was being used. This was different. â€Å"Right,† said the narrator sarcastically. â€Å"Shhhhh,† Molly said. She heard someone scuffling on the rocks outside the cave. She snatched up the assault rifle and waited just inside the cave mouth. Twenty-seven Val Val was wishing she had a video recorder to preserve the gargantuan lie that Mavis Sand and Howard Phillips had been telling over the last hour. According to them, ten years ago the village of Pine Cove had been visited by a demon from hell, and only through the combined effort of a handful of drunks were they able to banish the demon whence it came. It was a magnificent delusion, and Val thought that she could at least get an aca-demic paper on shared psychosis out of it. Being around Gabe had ignited her enthusiasm for research. When Mavis and Howard wrapped up their story, Catfish started in with his tale of being pursued through the bayou by a sea monster. Soon Gabe and Val were spouting the details of Gabe's theory that the monster had evolved the ability to affect the brain chemistry of its prey. Tipsy after a few Bloody Marys and taken by the momentum of the tale, Val confessed her replacement of Pine Cove's supply of antidepressants with placebos. Even as she unburdened herself, Val realized that her and Gabe's stories were no more credible than the fairy tale Mavis and Howard had just told. â€Å"That Winston Krauss is a weasel,† Mavis said. â€Å"Comes in here every day acting like his shit don't stink, then overcharges the whole town for something they ain't even gettin. Should'a known he was a fish-fucker.† â€Å"That's in strictest confidence,† Val said. â€Å"I shouldn't have mentioned it.† Mavis cackled. â€Å"Well, it ain't like I'm gonna run tell Sheriff Burton on you. He's weasel with a capital Weas. Besides, girl, you increased my business by eighty percent when you took the wackos off their drugs. And I thought it was old Mopey down there.† Mavis shot a bionic thumb toward Catfish. The Bluesman put down his drink. â€Å"Hey!† Gabe said, â€Å"So you believe that there really is a sea monster on that ranch?† â€Å"What reason would you have to lie?† said Howard. â€Å"It would seem that Mr. Fish is an eyewitness as well.† â€Å"Jefferson,† Catfish said. â€Å"Catfish Jefferson.† â€Å"Shut up, you chickenshit,† Mavis spat. â€Å"You could have helped Theo when he asked you. What's that boy think he's doing following that sheriff out to the ranch anyway? It's not like he can do anything.† Gabe said, â€Å"We don't know. He just left and told us to come here and wait for his call.† â€Å"Ya'll some heartless souls,† Catfish said. â€Å"I lost me a good woman because of all this.† â€Å"She's smarter than she looks,† Mavis said. â€Å"Theo has my Mercedes,† Val added, feeling out of place even as she said it. Suddenly she felt more ashamed of looking down on these people than she did about all of her professional indiscretions. â€Å"I'm getting worried,† said Gabe. â€Å"It's been over an hour.† â€Å"I don't suppose you thought about calling him?† Mavis asked. â€Å"You have his cell phone number?† Gabe asked. â€Å"He's the constable. It's not like he's unlisted.† â€Å"I suppose I should have thought of that,† said Howard. Mavis shook her head and one of her false eyelashes sprung up like a snare trap. â€Å"What, you three got thirty years of college between you and not enough smarts to dial a phone without a blueprint?† â€Å"Astute observation,† Howard said. â€Å"I ain't got no college,† Catfish said. â€Å"Well, cheers to you for being just naturally stupid,† Mavis said, picking up the phone. The daytime regulars at the end of the bar had snapped out of their malaise to have a laugh at Catfish. There's nothing quite so satisfying to the desperate as having someone to look down on. Theo The gun barrel was pushed so hard into the spot behind Theo's ear that he thought he could hear bone cracking. Burton reached around and took the .357 and tossed it aside, then he took the automatic from Theo's waistband and did the same. â€Å"On the ground, facedown.† Burton kicked Theo's feet out from under him, then put his knee in the constable's back and handcuffed him. Theo could taste blood where his lip had split hitting the rock. He turned his head to the side, raking his cheek on some lichen. He was terrified. Every muscle in his body ached with the need to run. Burton smacked him across the back of the head with his pistol, not hard enough to knock him out, but when the white-hot light of the blow faded, Theo could feel blood oozing into his right ear. â€Å"You fucking stoner. How dare you fuck with my business?† â€Å"What business?† Theo said, hoping ignorance might buy his life. â€Å"I saw your car at the lab, Crowe. The last time I talked to Leander he was on his way to see you. Now where is he?† â€Å"I don't know.† The pistol smacked Theo on the other side of the head. â€Å"I don't fucking know!† Theo shrieked. â€Å"He was at the lab, then he was gone. I didn't see him leave.† â€Å"I don't care if he's alive or dead, Crowe. And it doesn't make any difference to you either. But I need to know. Did you kill him? Did he run? What?† â€Å"I think he's dead.† â€Å"You think?† Theo could feel Burton rearing back to hit him again. â€Å"No! He's dead. He's dead. I know it.† â€Å"What happened?† Theo tried to think of a plausible explanation, something that would buy him a minute, a few more seconds even, but he couldn't clear his head. â€Å"I'm not sure,† he said. â€Å"I?CI heard gunfire. I was in the shed. When I came out, he was gone.† â€Å"Then how do you know he's dead?† Theo couldn't see any advantage to telling Burton that Molly had told him. Burton would track her down and put her in the same shallow grave that he was going to end up in. â€Å"Fuck you,† Theo said. â€Å"Figure it out.† The pistol whipped across the back of Theo's head and he nearly passed out this time. He heard a ringing in his ears, but a second later he realized that it wasn't in his ears at all. His cell phone was ringing in his shirt pocket. Burton rolled him over and put the barrel of the gun on Theo's right eyelid. â€Å"We're going to answer this, Crowe. And if you fuck up, the calling party is going to hear a very loud disconnect.† The sheriff bent down until his face was almost touching Theo's and reached for the phone. Suddenly a series of deafening explosions went off a few feet away and bullets whined off the rocks like angry wasps. Burton rolled off Theo and into a shallow crevice just below them. Theo felt someone grab his collar and pull him to his feet. Before he could see who it was, a dozen hands closed on him and dragged him out of the sun. He fell hard on his back and the gunfire stopped. His phone was still ringing. A cloud of bats was swirling above him. He looked up to see Molly Michon standing over him with a smoking assault rifle, and in that second, she looked like what he had always ima-gined an avenging angel might look like, except for the six naked white guys standing behind her. â€Å"Hi, Theo,† she said. â€Å"Hi, Molly.† Molly pointed to the phone in his shirt pocket with the barrel of her rifle. â€Å"You want me to get that?† â€Å"Yeah, it might be important,† Theo said. There was a gunshot and a bullet whined off the edge of the cave entrance and ricocheted into the darkness. Theo could feel the roar that rose up out of the back of the cave vibrating in his ribs. The Sheriff Burton reached over the edge of the crevice and fired a shot in the general direction of the cave, then braced himself for return fire from the AK-47, but instead he heard a roaring that sounded like someone had dropped the entire cast of The Lion King in a deep fryer. Burton was not a coward, not by any means, but a man would have to be insane not to be frightened by that noise. Too much weirdness, too fast. A woman in a leather bikini and thigh-high boots firing an AK-47 while six naked guys dragged Crowe into a cave. He needed time to regroup, call in backup, drink a fifth of Glenlivet. It seemed safe here for the time being. As long as he didn't move, no one could get a firing angle on him without making a target of himself. He pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket, then paused, trying to figure out who to call. A general officer-in-trouble call could bring anyone, and the last thing he needed was television helicopters hovering around. Besides, his goal wasn't to arrest the suspects, he needed them silenced for good. He could call in the guys from the crank lab, if he could get hold of them, but the vision of a bunch of untrained illegal immigrants running around on this hill with automatic weapons didn't seem like the best strategy either. He had to call SWAT, but only his guys. Eight of the twenty men on the SWAT team were in his pocket. Again, he couldn't go through dispatch. They'd have to be called in on private lines. He dialed the number that rang into the information center deep in the basement of the county justice building. The Spider picked up on the first ring. â€Å"Nailsworth.† â€Å"It's Burton. Listen, don't talk. Call Lopez, Sheridan, Miller, Morales, O'Hara, Crumb, Connelly, and LeMay. Tell them to come in full SWAT to the Beer Bar Ranch north of Pine Cove, the northern access road. There's a cave here. Pull up whatever maps you need and give them directions. Do not use open channels. They are not to log in or report to anyone where they are going. There are at least two suspects in the cave with automatic weapons. I'm pinned down about ten yards from the west-facing entrance. Have them meet south of the rocks, they'll see them, then have Sheridan call me. No aircraft. Find out if there's another entrance to this cave. I need everyone in place ASAP. Can you do it?† â€Å"Of course,† the Spider said. â€Å"It's going to take them a minimum of forty minutes, maybe more if I can't find them all.† Burton could hear the Spider's fat fingers blazing on his keyboard already. â€Å"Send whoever you can find. Tell them to come in separate cars. Tell them to avoid sirens if possible on the way up, definitely once they hit the ranch.† â€Å"Do you have descriptions of the suspects?† â€Å"It's Theophilus Crowe and a woman, five-eight, one twenty, twenty-five to forty years old, gray hair, wearing a leather bikini.† â€Å"Twenty-five to forty? Pretty specific,† the Spider said sarcastically. â€Å"Fuck you, Nailsworth. How many women do you think are running around these hills wearing a leather bikini and shooting an AK? Call me when they are on the way.† Burton disconnected and checked the battery on the phone. It would last. Since the roaring sound had come from the cave, it had been quiet, but he didn't dare peek over the edge of the crevice. â€Å"Crowe!† he shouted. â€Å"It's not too late to work this out!† Theo The naked guys were standing over Theo, wearing dazed smiles, as if they'd all just shared a big pipe of opium. â€Å"Jesus, was that it?† Theo asked, Steve's roar still ringing in his ears. â€Å"Him,† Molly corrected, holding up a finger to shush Theo as she pressed the answer button on his phone. â€Å"Hello,† she said into the phone. â€Å"None of your business. Who is this?† She covered the mouthpiece and said, â€Å"It's Gabe.† â€Å"Tell him I'm okay. Ask him where he is.† â€Å"Theo says he's okay. Where are you?† She listened for a second, then covered the mouthpiece again. â€Å"He's at the Slug.† â€Å"Tell him I'll call him right back.† â€Å"He'll call you back.† She disconnected and tossed the phone in the pile of clothing by the door. Theo looked up at the naked guys. He thought he recognized a couple of them, but didn't want to acknowledge that he did. â€Å"Would you guys back off a little?† Theo said. They didn't move. Theo looked at Molly. â€Å"Can you tell them to go somewhere? They're making me nervous.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Molly, I don't know if you've notice, but all these guys are in a – a state of arousal.† â€Å"Maybe they're just glad to see you.† â€Å"Would you tell them to back off, please?† Molly motioned for the naked guys to move away. â€Å"Go. Go. Back to the back of the cave, guys. Go. Go. Go.† She poked at a couple of them with the assault rifle. Slowly they turned and ambled farther back into the cave. â€Å"What in the hell is wrong with them?† â€Å"What do you mean, wrong? They're acting like all guys do, they're just being more honest about it.† â€Å"Molly, seriously, what did you do to them?† â€Å"I didn't do anything. That's how they've been acting since they saw Steve back there.† Theo looked to the back of the cave, but could only see the partially lit backs of a group of people sitting on the cave floor. â€Å"It's like they're in a trance or something.† â€Å"Yeah, isn't it cool? They came to help me get you when I asked, though. So they're not total zombies. I'm, like, in charge.† Blood was dripping out of Theo's scalp, matting his hair and leaving spots on his shirt. â€Å"That's great, Molly. Could you get these handcuffs off me?† â€Å"I was going to ask you about those. Every time I see you, you're in handcuffs. Do you have a fetish or something?† â€Å"Please, Molly, there's a key in my front pocket.† â€Å"He gave you the key?† â€Å"It's my key.† â€Å"I see,† Molly said with a knowing smile. â€Å"Handcuffs all use the same key, Molly. Please help me get out of these.† She knelt and reached into his pocket, keeping her eyes locked on his through the process. His head throbbed when he rolled over so she could get to the cuffs. As she pulled them off, they heard Burton call from outside. â€Å"Crowe! It's not too late to work this out!† Once his hands were free, Theo threw his arms around Molly and pulled her close. She dropped her rifle and returned his embrace. Another roar emanated from the back of the cave. A couple of the pilgrims shrieked and Molly let go of Theo and stood up, gazing back into the darkness. â€Å"It's okay, Steve,† she said. â€Å"What in the hell was that?† Burton shouted from outside. â€Å"That was Steve,† Molly shouted back. â€Å"You were asking what happened to Joseph Leander. Well, that was it. Steve ate him.† â€Å"How many of you are in there?† Burton asked. Molly looked around. â€Å"A bunch.† â€Å"Who in the hell are you?† â€Å"I am Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland.† She shot a silly grin at Theo, who was trying to follow what was going on up here, while listening to some disturbing stirring noises going on in the back of the cave. â€Å"What do you want?† Burton asked. Without a beat, Molly said, â€Å"Ten percent of the gross on all my films, retroactive fifteen years, an industrial-strength weed-whacker with gas, and world peace.† â€Å"Seriously. We can work this out.† â€Å"Okay. I want sixty peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a couple of gallons of Diet Coke, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She turned to Theo, â€Å"You want anything?† Theo shrugged. Hell, as long as they were stalling. â€Å"A new Volvo station wagon.† â€Å"And a new Volvo station wagon,† Molly shouted. â€Å"And we want it with two cup holders, you bastard, or the deal's off.† She turned and beamed at Theo. â€Å"Nice touch.† â€Å"You deserve it,† Molly said. Suddenly her eyes went wide as she looked past Theo. â€Å"No, Steve!† she screamed. Theo rolled over to see a huge pair of jaws descending over him.

Mary Ellen Mark

The term ‘photography’ originated from the Greek words â€Å"drawing with light† (Grundberg, 2005). None could be a more apt name for this human creation. Indeed, when it flourished in the early 19th century, we have finally discovered a way to draw upon light and use it to freeze the ups and downs of our curious race. The photographers among us have taken pictures of scientific advancements and artistic marvels, of the great men and women that had greatly influenced our society, of sleepy villages and breathtaking vistas, of family life, and of anything else that appeals to our desire to immortalize the parts of our existence. We have realized that photography is a useful hobby.But others find photography more than just a pastime. They are the ones who not only capture a moment, but also, more important, shed light to those few living beneath the cracks in society. Such photographers, for instance, would go to any war-torn country, where they will document the st ruggles of child soldiers and the people trapped in war, so that hopefully politicians would lend a sympathetic ear, or a sensitive heart.And still other photographers would go to any undocumented region around the world to erase the bigotry and scorn with which so-called social outcasts—like prostitutes—are treated. Diane Arbus, a renowned American photographer, once said, â€Å"There are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them†. We have much to learn from the kind of societies we, as a whole, have made—and through photography we could make a difference.Mary Ellen Mark, a photographer herself, embodies the same guiding principle in her line of work. She believes in the richness of humanity, no matter where it is found. Despite the lucrative promise in her kind of work, which some of her contemporaries enjoy, Mark often gets out of the corporate world and plunges into a more intimate one, to the kind of places where even taking a picture of a bystander might endanger her own life.Yet she is willing to trade her safety for the story she gleans from the people around her. Many times, in 1978, while attempting to photograph the prostitutes of Falkland Road, Bombay, Mark have had to endure verbal insults and cascades of garbage thrown by people who felt threatened by her (Long, 2000). Others might call her style of photojournalism reckless, if not suicidal, but Mark trusts people, and they to her in return. She has had a great journey so far, and she’ll definitely not stop.More than thirty years had passed in her noble career. But, like every altruistic person who had chosen to get out of the rat-race, Mark’s career started somewhat ordinarily, her revelation still at a distance. In the 1960’s she began the long climb upwards to building a career, working for distinguished magazines such as Look and Life. A somewhat glamorous job compared to what she is doing right now. Yet even at that time she was alre ady perfecting her photojournalism as she composed rich photo essays for both news and fashion periodicals. And her clients was impressive—Esquire, Holiday, The New York Times, Magazine, Vogue, and many others.1965 was the year in which she finally got the chance to get out of the restrictive office space. Mark received a Fulbright Scholarship, which she used promptly as a stepping stone to travel for two years in various countries such as Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, and England (Long, 2000). She was slowly removing the chains that bound her to just one place, a kind of freedom that would serve her later on.Within the same decade Mark began using her camera to illuminate the unseen-forgotten-neglected-prejudiced parts of society. Her viewpoint of things was changing. This time, instead of wallowing in glamour and news, she was immersing herself in the troubles of others—the transvestites, pro-women and anti-war demonstrators, and others which have often got less fro m the same society to which they give much of their empty cries for equality, justice, and understanding, and acceptance.She was in the frontlines, and she documented it all using her camera. â€Å"What I want to do more than anything is acknowledge their existence,† she once said. One is considered a courteous host if one acknowledges the presence of another. But Mary Ellen Mark, even as she was building a career, was more than just a courteous person. More than that. In fact, by acknowledging the existence of those around her, she was actually empowering them, putting them in focus and perspective, in the same way that a microscope examines the germs on a crucible—although in this case she was examining the wounds in society. Her camera became her metaphorical extended eye, one that opens her understanding. And with understanding she would also discover compassion.Production stills, used in Hollywood movies, came next in line for her. The work itself suited her photo journalism—on one hand she was taking pictures; on the other hand, telling the meaning behind the pictures. When she took stills of Milos Forman’s One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest, a film that was shot in an actual mental hospital, Mark delved deep into the minds of the deeply troubled. The year was 1973. Eventually, to bring herself closer to the patients, Mary Ellen Mark befriended the hospital’s director (Long, 2000).â€Å"I've just always been interested in mental health, mental illness,† she once said. But her interest didn’t border on a morbid fascination; she just did it out of her passion for her line of work. And instead of portraying the patients as an insane collective with no cure, Mark valued their individuality, their unique personalities that still hide beneath the deranged mask (Long, 2000).That is one of her styles, her believing that not all things appear exactly as they are in photographs. She believes something will appear aside fr om what she believes to be real. Her belief is itself a style, for she incorporates it into her work. She may take a picture of a smiling child, for instance, and yet not know what the child really feels; she might not know that the child may be hiding a sadness deep within. Nevertheless, she still takes pictures because part of her sees—whether consciously or subconsciously—a certain kinship with strangers, a human being seeing herself in others. And if that were the case, then perhaps one could even say that her style is more spiritual than personal, a way to find a place for herself in this world.To her, every person in the picture is a raconteur. A rodeo cowboy may appear masculine, but deep inside he tells a story of his struggles to maintain that machismo image, if only to bring food on to his family table. Or a female patient in a mental hospital may appear incapable of focusing on to anything and is merely limited to mumblings, but the clarity in her eyes or th e pose at which her photo was taken suggest otherwise. Stories—each of us has a story to tell, and one of the ways to telling it is through photographs.Mary Ellen Mark knows this well. Therefore, another of her style is to let her subjects tell their own stories, the attention away from her. â€Å"There's nothing much interesting about me; what’s interesting is the person I'm photographing, and that’s what I try to show,† she once said. The end result, of course, is pictures that show vividly the stories of people, who seem to leap out of the paper, telling â€Å"Look at my story† to viewers. Mark’s photographs show the humanity in every human being, no matter where the photo was taken (Fulton).Mary Ellen Mark also loves showing the ironies of life and its participants. Yet another of her style, which she has applied when she made a photo-essay of 8 different traveling circuses (Long, 2000). She focused on the outfits’ characters, the runners of the show—the animals and the bizarre attractions such as the dwarf and the contortionists. For the first time in her life, she felt young again, a woman transported into a magical world. She beheld everything as though she were watching it through the eyes of an infant. She described it aptly: â€Å"It was full of ironies, often humorous and sometimes sad, beautiful and ugly, loving and at times cruel, but always human.†Life is full of colors, each unique unto itself. A painter or photographer blends these rich colors to great effect, oftentimes combining the real with the surreal. But even some painters and photographers do put away their color palettes at times. And why shouldn’t they? After all, is it not true that the richness of colors can cause a sensory overload, too? Ellen Mark is such a person who thinks so. By using a black-and-white palette in her pictures, she enlarges the parts of life and reality that are often overlooked. In most of he r pictures, for instance, everything is made clearer by the lack of a rich palette, like a brief pause in life. The viewer then sees things that were once buried under colors.It is akin to the Zen concept of less is more—in this case, the lack of too many colors tells more story about the place, things, and people in the photographs. Mark once took pictures of the kind of life that goes on inside a home for the sick and the dying. Here, she stripped all the salient information brought about by clashing colors, and instead brought out quite extremely the shocking details of the metal cots, the emaciated bodies, and the human fancies in agony (Long, 2000).Mary Ellen Mark is as unique as the characters in her photographs. But some couldn’t help comparing her style to that of Diane Arbus. Both women enlarge life by reducing the colors to black-and-white; both sympathize with those living outside the accepted circles in society. But perhaps the thing that separates Mary Ell en Mark from her predecessor is her love of life, her constant looking forward to living. And it is perhaps for this same reason that she will continue acknowledging the existence of others—whereas Diane Arbus had already surrendered, after committing suicide in 1971 (Grundberg, 2005). Mark is now continuing where Arbus had left off.Fulton, Marianne (2000?). Mary Ellen Mark: Some Thoughts.Retrieved on May 30, 2007 fromdigitaljournalist.org/issue9903/mark01.htmGrundberg, Andy (2005). â€Å"Diane Arbus.† Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2006.Grundberg, Andy (2005). â€Å"Photography.† Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2005. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2006.  © 1993-2005 Microsoft CorporationLong, Andrew (2000). Brilliant Careers.Retrieved on May 30, 2007 from

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Assignment Example The weak dollar also shows that people do not have confidence in the United States government to be fiscally responsible. There are benefits to a weak dollar. One of the benefits is that it makes American exports more affordable for the rest of the world. A weak dollar can cause American companies that export lots of their goods to dramatically increase their profits. The problem with the weak dollar is that importing things from other countries is more expensive. This is very troubling for countries such as Canada and China that do a tremendous amount of trade with the United States. Both countries try to keep their currency exchanges with the United States in a position that favors their exports to America, but this is difficult to do and slightly illegal (but China still does it). The Turkish government on 1/1/2005 revalued the Turkish Lira. 1,000,000 of the old Lira would equal 1 of the New Turkish Lira. The transition went rather well, but did result in some strange prices for c onsumers. Some credit card banks did not get their computers reprogrammed promptly, resulting in abnormally high prices for common goods. These mistakes were sorted out between the consumers and the banks.

Analysis of the TV Shows Friends and How I Met Your Mother Essay

Analysis of the TV Shows Friends and How I Met Your Mother - Essay Example As far as friendships go this group has it very tightly knit. They live the life in New York City and never seem to want for money even though they are rarely seen working. They seem to spend most of their time just hanging out together and sipping coffee, having the heart to heart talks or just getting into one sort of hijinks after another. Just as in the real world, these group of friends somehow end up dating one another and eventually, one or two they have highly successful hookups. However, that is not to say that the show takes relationships lightly because it is, after all, a comedy show. It was the way that they handled the seriousness of these relationships in a light manner that set this show apart from the others in their time slot. That is the characteristic that made the show and its characters special. Friends was a ground breaking show during its era. It had all the common characters from everyday life that the viewers could identify with. The men were comprised of the â€Å"looking for love† kind, the career women, the players, and the spaced out friends who are always good to hang out with when you need a good laugh. Everybody knew somebody who was exactly like Monica, Chandler, Rachel, or Joey. The show helped the term â€Å"extended family† and take it a whole new level. Friends showed everyone that family need not be confined solely to the relations based upon blood and direct DNA. They are the people that we connect with on a level that we would not even normally connect on with our own family.

Lab report Finite Elements Analysis of Beam Structural Element Essay

Lab report Finite Elements Analysis of Beam Structural Element - Essay Example The ANSYS Workbench Platform is simulation software used to conduct an analysis or to solve a broad scope of engineering design optimization, computer software development, and mathematical problems. The success of innovative engineering designs can be attributed to the ability to test objects for performance through computer generated applications. The applications allow designers to forecast the success and dependability of a design before it is used in the real world. ANSYS software was created to improve ‘speed, cost effectiveness, and innovation’ (ANSYS, 2013). According to its designers, ANSYS software ‘enables organizations to predict with confidence that their products will thrive in the real world’ (ANSYS, 2013). The ANSYS Workbench platform is the framework for a suite of advanced engineering simulation technology (ANSYS, 2013). The Workbench enables Simulation Driven Product Development with the following components: The objectives for the study include recognizing the scope of Finite Element Applications by creating engineering elements using simulation software. It will also provide experience using the ANSYS platform. A mesh created for Finite Elements possesses a tetrahedral, a pyramid, hexahedra, or a prism. For this study, the hexahedra is used. The mesh for the beam consists of rectangles and triangles. (See attachment) The Bending moment was as expected for the size of the slab. The deflection was also in a normal range. When the beam bends, it loses its original shape and develops internal stress. Compression occurs inside the curve of the beam; and tension occurs on the outer side. In the past, testing the density of materials was much more complicated. Technology has broadened the capabilities for engineers to analyze stress and the composition of materials. CAD applications have provided design concepts for engineers for years. However, the simulations available today such as ANSYS

Electronic and Mobile Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Electronic and Mobile Commerce - Essay Example Today, managing an online business is much easier than managing conventional businesses because various legal and economic factors affect the progress of conventional businesses. The shift towards online businesses is based on multiple factors some of which include complex legal requirements in starting conventional type businesses, decreased rate of employment, and rapidly progressing economy. The rate of unemployment is increasing in every part of the world these days and the salaries are also not big enough to meet daily expenses of life. Therefore, along with the move of established companies towards mobile commerce, more and more individuals are also focusing towards internet businesses in order to earn a respectable income. Considering these benefits of online businesses, almost every big or small company aims to make an online presence. Let us now discuss what established companies need to do more to make a shift towards mobile commerce. ... earching the functional cope of required initiatives, they need to work out the sustainability features of all benefits that they may get from shifting towards online business. The last step is to prioritize the initiatives in order to develop a proper mobile commerce strategy regarding what to be done and in which sequence. Technology, service, market, and brand are four key positional factors that companies need to analyze while developing a successful mobile commerce strategy (Watson, Berthon, Pitt, & Zinkhan, 2008). Having discussed the plan for established companies to shift towards mobile commerce, let us now discuss some main components that play the most significant and primary role in running an online business successfully. 1. Internet Internet is the main component of mobile commerce without which the aim of running a business online cannot be achieved. Internet helps companies in reaching international markets, as well as in introducing products to a broad range of local and foreign customers. At present, internet has become one of the extensively used technologies that companies use to reach success in a very short span of time. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay, and Groupon are some of the main examples of companies that have achieved a reputable name in online business sector. 2. Website Website is another main component of mobile commerce. A company aiming to go online needs to develop a well-organized and fully functional website to make people aware of its products and services. A good website plays the role of a stepping-stone towards the success of a company because it is the only way people can view the business and products of the company. A website not only makes customer aware of a company’s business but also serves as a key marketing agent for

Disability and rehabilitation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Disability and rehabilitation - Essay Example The primary parts of the research presented are the title and the abstract. These parts need to present a view on the main contents of the research undertaken. The title specifically is the part that can identify the main focus of the study and even the methods used to arrive at the results which are stated in a single statement. The title of the study presents the parameters that are included such as the quality of life and the oxygen consumption of the CHF patients. These are used for the determination of the effect of physical training. Additional information specifically the method of research used e.g. randomization is important in the title. Another pertinent part that needs to give and overview of the research process undertaken is the abstract. It is comparable to a summary of the study presented in a manner similar to the organization of the paper itself. The indication of the parts in a structured abstract can be considered ideal on the basis of the readers’ ease in finding information.The main aim is the assessment of the QoL and oxygen consumption to be able to gauge the effects of physical training to patients of CHF. The said parameters had been assessed through the study of a population of men with the condition referred to as ischaemic CHF which had been randomized into groups of different set ups with varying levels of physical training.

English Intensive Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

English Intensive Writing - Essay Example The game Call of Duty seems to be an FPS game that includes a lot of violence with a background of World War II, but it is really about the portrayal of justice and how the United States thinks that they are a righteous power. The task of visualizing World War II has recently been taken up by new media, particularly video games, which include Call of Duty. This has therefore created new social and political perspectives of the war other than what movies like Pearl Harbor or Saving Private Ryan would naturally point out to. World War II games features military combat. Nevertheless, more than this, the World War II game has somehow become a â€Å"resilient formula and an important way that the cultural memory of the war was activated for a growing segment of the population† (Allison 183). Thus, such games have somehow illustrated a justified military force where the United States acted as the savior of the world. One more quality of Call of Duty and other World War II shooter games is the fact that the player can take the role of â€Å"an American paratrooper, a British Special Forces operative, and a Russian tank commander,† thus adding an element of equality to the game, or the idea that other countries, like Great Britain and Russia, believed in America’s cause during World War II (â€Å"Exclusive First Look†). The fact that one can play more than just being an American soldier in Call of Duty somehow instills in the minds of those exposed to the game that other countries have consented to the war that America has fought long and hard. The cooperation of other countries especially powerful countries like Great Britain and Russia somehow lends to the idea that America indeed fought a worthwhile war and was therefore justified in its mission of bringing justice to the world. This makes Call of Duty similarly worthwhile, and this makes this particular shooter game highly instrumental in instilling in everyone who plays it the idea that America was the

Women in Hinduism, contemporary women in Hinduism Essay

Women in Hinduism, contemporary women in Hinduism - Essay Example However, Hinduism is an old religion and like everything that has survived through the ages, Hinduism suffers from rots of unacceptable orthodox practices. One of them, amongst superstition and elaborate ceremonies, is blatant inconsideration of women in the Hindu society. Hinduism seems to have little respect for women compared to men1. Women suffer from many orthodox malpractices. Hinduism opposes the role of women and does not recognize their role in society. So deep is this inconsideration that people misinterpret the scriptures those govern Hinduism and Hindus. Even so, the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures â€Å"Vedas† according to many prominent â€Å"pundits† negates women’s importance and role in society2. Hindu religion is plagued with practices that undermine the respect that a woman reserves the rights to receive not just from her near and dear ones, but the society as well. Many of these practices still exist in the Indian Hindu society today. In as much Hindu women were despised in the traditional society, they are slowly participating in economic, political and social process in the modern society. In ancient times, Hindus were conservative people who observed many malpractices that degraded the image and role of women in the society. One of these malpractices included the purdah or the veil system. Married women were not allowed to show their faces to the outside world, only their husbands or children. The purdah system works even today. Another malpractice that was followed by conservative Hindus in ancient times was â€Å"sati.† The practice of sati placed women below men and denied them access to any privileges including education3. In addition to the lowered prestige of women, the Sati system demanded that the widow of man should be burnt in the holy pyre that burnt her husband’s corpse. Child marriage was rampant in ancient India and incidences of child marriage still occur at many places in India. Wid ows were treated as lesser than animals. Through the pages of history, it is evident the status and respect for women was disregarded in all societies, especially all the ancient ones. Women faced a lot of discrimination at the hands of men in the name of tradition or religion. Women rulers would find opposition from male members of the ruling class on the basis of gender pride, even if the ruler proved herself as a capable one. There are numerous examples like the burning of Joan of Arc at the stakes that speak volumes of sheer disregard for female ingenuity and talent. Nonetheless, Hindu women suffered a lot due to their own Holy Scriptures, religion and traditions. Hindu women were dehumanized more in comparison to traditional Muslim, African and Christian women. Muslim female rulers and influential women find larger number in history than Hindus. An example of female rule from the African culture is the story of Cleopatra who rose to absolute power in Egypt while the Romans foug ht their wars for power. Hinduism as a religion does not recognize the fundamental rights for women. The interpretation of the â€Å"Vedas† the ancient scriptures of Hindus paints a hostile attitude towards women in all spheres. The Scripture claims that women are inhuman and have no civil rights4. These interpretations placed women in subordination to men and mandated that women should serve them. The â€Å"pati-parmeshwar† dictum, also a part of the Sati practice, followed widely in the Hindu culture is a direct example of glorification of the husband as a â€Å"God†. This practice dictated the subordination of the wife to the husband and the husband’s full rights over his wife, from physical to psychological aspects. Dowry

The One That Works Best Essay Example for Free

The One That Works Best Essay There are a lot of factors that influence how one grasps information. Each and every person is unique in their ability, interest and background knowledge and it is safe to assume that there is a preferred style of learning that works best for them. The common styles of learning are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic but a style can be determines in further depth through many different evaluations. I have learned a few things about myself and my own personal learning style which I will share with you in this essay. There are three basic learning styles which are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Visual learners retain information best through visual aids such as graphs, pictures, films and demonstrations. Auditory learners absorb the most from hearing the material through lectures or oral discussions. The last of the three is Kinesthetic learners who learns best through physical demonstrations rather than seeing or hearing. Based on the completion of Learning Style Inventory (Bixler, 2010), I have determined I am a Kinesthetic learner also known as a tactile learner. My preference of learning is through a hands-on method. When I reflect on my study habits I found that this is true. I retain information better through moving, doing or touching. How can I make this learning style work best for me? I can make studying a more physical task. Instead of sitting down and reading I could stand, or snack while listening to lectures. Playing music in the background is something I often do and is also a useful habit to acquire for kinesthetic learners. One of the down falls of being a tactile learner is that I am easily distracted but allowing myself frequent study breaks will help with staying on track with any assignment. Through the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (Felder Soloman, n.d.), I have determined that I am not only a well-rounded learner but I also have very strong learning preferences that may affect my grasp on content. My results reflected that I am an active learner. I use a â€Å"Let’s try it out and see how it works,† study mentality. The questionnaire also reflected that when it comes to sensing and intuition I am a little bit of both. I like learning facts as well as theories. I have discovered through this questionnaire that  I am also well rounded when it comes to being a visual and verbal learner. Visual and verbal learning is the primary method of learning in today’s school system. I believe I reflected being fairly balanced in both because this is the learning style I’ve known based on the teaching style offered. Last, the questionnaire showed me that I am a sequential learner as well as a global learner. This result is accurate because different topics require a different way to complete or learn them whether it is step by step or absorbing bits and pieces to get the big picture. I have always known that I learned things better through hands-on experience. After taking both evaluations I realized I actually prefer many different learning styles but I am predominately a kinesthetic or active learner. I am sure this has changed many time based on my situation. Understanding what style works best for me is the first step in success. Being a physical learner will make taking online classes a bit difficult because online learning isn’t a hands-on kind of learning environment. My style may change throughout this course based on the situation or I will adapt my current learning style to somehow work with this environment. Throughout life we evolve and adapt to the different situations we are put in. This type of evolution occurs when it comes to our learning styles. As learners we adapt to the learning environment because it is more likely that our learning style will change before the teaching style changes. Every individual has a preferred learning style that works best for them based on their current situation. Each and every one of us is different and every different person has a different situation from the other which brings us to the conclusion that everyone has a different learning style. References Bixler, B. (2010). Learning style inventory. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm Felder, R. M., Soloman, B. A. (n.d.). Index of learning styles. Retrieved from http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html Reiner, C. Willingham, D. (2010). The myth of learning styles. Retrieved from http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/September-October%202010/the-myth-of-learning-full.html

The impact of professional nursing education in quality of care

The impact of professional nursing education in quality of care INTRODUCTION: In the most basic sense, the current global nursing shortage is simply a widespread and dangerous lack of professional and skilled nurses who are needed to care for individual patients and the population as a whole. These causes include nurse short-staffing, inadequate resources for nursing research and education, the increasing complexity of health care and care technology, and the rapidly aging populations in developed nations. Because studies have shown that an inadequate quantity of professional nurses in clinical settings has a significant negative impact on patient outcomes, including mortality, the nursing shortage is literally taking lives, and impairing the health and wellbeing of many millions of the worlds people. It is a global public health crisis (ICN, 2004). There is a predicted shortfall of qualified nursing staff in both low and high-income countries. The growing shortage of health care workers has become an international challenge (Sorgaard, 2010). The authors believe that Saudi Arabia is not exempted to the current global nursing shortage due to lack of professional nurses. To understand the Saudi shortage in nurses, one has to understand the Saudi dependence on foreign nurses. Saudi education system has only focused on high paid, prosperous, and prestigious jobs like doctors, engineers, and lawyers and left basic yet complementary job as nursing way behind. This lack of attention to necessary and complementary jobs, has led the Saudi education system in creating less than 20 percent of the nursing staff working in Saudi today, which in return led into todays significant shortage in qualified and competent Saudi nurses and to high rate of foreign nurses (Aldossary, 2008). While the institute program in Saudi Arabia consists of nursing studies for three years and results in a diploma in nursing. The program prepares nurses to assume roles as technical nurses, considered by some to equate with that of a practical nurse in the Un ited States (Tumulty, 2001). In the United States, there are registered nurses (RNs) or Professional Nurses and practical nurses (PNs) or LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) / LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse), CNA(Certified Nurse Assistant) also called vocational nurses (VNs), or Practical Nurses. While registered nurses are able to perform certain duties or provide treatments that practical nurses cannot, such as administering blood, this is not what primarily sets them apart. The most notable difference is in the education they receive. As far as the scope of practice is concerned, each state has a separate nursing board which governs what nurses are legally able to do (Ellis Hartley, 2004). In the hospital setting, professional /registered nurses are often assigned a role to delegate tasks performed by LPNs and non-professional unlicensed assistive personnel such as nursing assistants (Ellis Hartley, 2004). Skilled nursing of a professional nurse is vital to the patient outcome (Gordon, 2005). But due to economic crisis and poverty, significant work must be done to have more professional nurses. Graduates, due to poverty and worldwide economic crisis prefer to have non-professional program to quickly acquire work due to the short courses offered in non-professional programs. (Turale, 2010). Therefore, the authors believe that whether a nurse is a professional or practical, all nurses must remember as what has been stated in nurses pledge by Florence Nightingale: I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling (American Nurses Association, 2010). II. BACKGROUND: The following different levels of Nursing Education gives us the background on the difference between a professional and vocational nurses: Nursing Assistants are defined by law as people who assist licensed nursing personnel in the provision of nursing care. The authorized duties for CNA or Certified Nursing Assistant include assisting with their clients daily living activities, such as bathing, dressing, transferring, ambulating, feeding, and toileting. CNAs also perform tasks such as measuring vital signs, positioning and range of motion. Their duties are limited to tasks commissary by the registered or licensed practical nurse in acute-care field. Their tasks such as vital signs, , assessing patients well-being, administering hygienic care, assisting with feeding, giving basic psychosocial care, and similar duties. Diploma degree are hospital based educational programs that provide a rich clinical experience for nursing students. These programs are often associated with colleges or universities. Baccalaureate degree programs located in senior colleges and universities and are generally four years in length. Masters p rograms provide specialized knowledge and skills that enable nurses to assume advanced roles in practice, education, administration, and research(NWJobs, 2010). The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is an advanced-level practice degree that focuses on the clinical aspects of nursing rather than academic research. The curriculum for the DNP degree generally includes advanced practice, leadership, and application of clinical research. The DNP is intended primarily to prepare registered nurses to become advanced practice nurses. Advanced practice roles in nursing include the nurse practitioner (NP), certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), certified nurse midwife (CNM), and the clinical nurse specialist (CNS). Nurse anesthetist programs may use the title Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) for their terminal degree (Dracup, 2005). According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), transitioning advance practice nursing programs from the graduate level to the doctoral level is a response to changes in health care delivery and emerging health care needs, additional knowledge or content areas have been identified by practicing nurses. In addition, the knowledge required to provide leadership in the discipline of nursing is so complex and rapidly changing that additional or doctoral level education is needed (Dracup, 2005). At the moment only fewer Saudi nurses had bachelor of science, masters or doctoral degree, but the government start to increase and expand. A lot of nursing continue lead degree will be graduated within few years to assume leadership position in the health field. The kingdom has a great need for well educated Saudi nurses (Tumulty, 2001). However, in recent years, questions have been raised about whether nursing is a profession or an occupation. This is important for nurses to consider for several reasons, starting from differentiating the terms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ºprofession and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ºoccupation, professional and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ºvocational nurse. An occupation is a job or a career, whereas a profession is a learned occupation that has a status of superiority and precedence within a division of work. In general terms, occupations require widely varying levels of training or education, varying levels of skill, and widely variable defined knowledge bases. Indeed, all professions are occupations, but not all occupation is profession (McEwen ,2007). Therefore based on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ºnursing as an occupation, a professional nurse is a healthcare professional who, in collaboration with other member of a healthcare team, is responsible for treatment, safety and recovery of acute or chronically ill individuals; health promotion, and maintenance within families, communities and population; and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a wide range of healthcare settings (Craven, 2009). Current shortfall in workforce and educational: The number of nurses currently in the workforce based on their educational preparation: those with undergraduate education (diploma, associate, baccalaureate degrees) and those with graduate education (masters and doctoral degrees) (Health Resources and Services Administration. Much higher number of nurses prepared at the diploma/associate degree level compared to all other categories and the relatively small number of nurses prepared with graduate degrees. The limited number of nurses prepared with graduate degrees presents a significant problem for educating future nurses and furthering effective nursing practice; masters-prepared clinicians are needed to teach and provide primary care, and doctoral faculty are needed to teach and conduct research. Without an adequate number of nurses prepared at the graduate level, we will be unable to educate enough nurses to meet the demands for care at all levels in the near future. Experts predict we will experience a nurse shortage of anywher e from 340,000 to more than 1 million by 2020; shortages will occur in hospitals, in nursing homes, in home health care, and community health centers (HRSA, 2010). Nurse shortage projections are based on the increase in anticipated demand for health care demands that are projected to increase dramatically due to our aging population and higher numbers of insured patients with access to care as a result of a reformed health care system (Wharton School, 2009). The percentage of the population 65 years or older steadily increases as the baby boomer generation approaches age 65; by 2030, 20% of the population will be above the age of 65, almost doubling the current rate of 12% (Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2008). Simultaneously, the demand for health services will increase as previously uninsured people gain access to health care insurance. Massachusetts, which recently increased the percentage of the insured population to 90%, has experienced significant primary care shortages (Cooney, 2008). As the population ages and health care resources become more strained, the focus and location of care delivery will need to change from acute care provided in hospitals to primary care, which includes disease management, care coordination, and prevention of disease delivered in community settings, in clinics, ambulatory care centers, and in the patients home. In the future, we will need many more advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and clinical specialists) to assume a greater responsibility for the delivery of health care IOM, 2008). Need for Education in nursing, Masters, Baccalaureate, and Doctoral: To design strategies that lead to an adequate nurse workforce, we first need to examine how nurses enter the workforce. The nursing profession is unique in its complicated mix of educational models, which is not only confusing to the public, legislators, nurses, and potential nursing students but also contributes to a lack of professional unity and professional recognition. As a result, nurses are fragmented in their interests and do not have the political clout of other professions when advocating for patients or better working conditions. The recognition of the need for baccalaureate nurse education is not new. In 1920, the Goldmark Report, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, proposed educating nurses in academic institutions along with other professionals, arguing that this would more adequately prepare nurses to meet the needs of society and improve the status of the nursing profession (Ellis Hartley, 2004). At that time, nurses were being educated in hospital-based diploma schools that continued to be the major provider of nursing education until associate degree programs began in the 1950s. Associate degree nursing education was proposed as a solution to a severe nursing shortage (Fondiller, 2001). In 2004, the American Organization of Nurse Executives (2004) argued for baccalaureate-level educational preparation for all future nurses. Furthermore, the baccalaureate degree was needed for nurses to function as an equal partner in patient care. Most recently, the Carnegie Foundation report, Educating Nurses: A Ca ll for Radical Transformation, called for significant changes in nursing education with the establishment of the baccalaureate degree for entry into professional nursing practice being a necessary first step. The report falls short however in recommending more of the same, by calling for the creation of a more seamless transition from ADN to BSN programs (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, Day, 2010). A large amount of empirical evidence exists to support a difference in performance and patient outcomes (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Silber, 2003; Estabrooks, Midodzi, Cummings, Ricker, Giovannetti, 2005; Kutney-Lee Aiken, 2008). In 1988, Johnson published a meta-analysis of 139 studies exploring the differences in associate and baccalaureate performance. These studies revealed significant differences between associated degree in nursing (ADN) and bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) nurses, with baccalaureate-prepared nurses demonstrating greater professional performance in the areas of communications skills, knowledge, problem solving, and professional role. In 2001, Goode and colleagues surveyed 80 chief nursing officers from academic medical centers to determine their perception of differences in nurse performance based on education level. Respondents reported that baccalaureate-prepared nurses demonstrate greater communication, coordination, and leadership skills; more professiona l behavior; and a greater focus on patient psychosocial care and patient teaching than associate-prepared nurses (Goode et al., 2001). Although estimates vary on the need for more health care providers in the future, there is agreement that a shortage of primary care providers currently exists in rural and other underserved areas (Kirch Vernon, 2008) and severe future shortages predicted in community health centers (National Association of Community Health Centers, Robert Graham Center, The George Washington University, 2008) and in the countrys more than 6,080 designated primary care shortage areas in the United States (HRSA, 2006). A major contributing factor to the current and future nurse shortage is the lack of nursing faculty available to educate nurses. The student demand for nursing education is currently at an all-time high, but a faculty shortage has created a severe bottleneck in nurse education, leaving nursing schools unable to meet the demands for education. An estimated 50,000 qualified applicants were turned away from baccalaureate nursing programs in 2008, primarily due to faculty shortages. Of the 84% of U.S. nursing schools in 2006-2007 attempting to hire new faculty, 79% reported difficultly in recruitment due to a lack of qualified candidates and the inability to offer competitive salaries (AACN, 2010). In their 2007 annual survey of colleges of nursing, the National League for Nursing (NLN) reported 1,900 unfilled faculty positions nationwide, an increase of 23% from the previous year in the number of full-time faculty vacancies and a disturbing trend in the shortage cycle (Kaufman, 2007). A n estimated 25,100 nurses have doctoral degrees, and their numbers are not increasing at the rate needed to meet demand. From 2003 through 2008, the number of nursing PhD graduates increased on average by about 31 new graduates each year. Disappointingly, enrollment in PhD nursing programs increased by only 0.1% or 3 students from the fall of 2007 to the fall of 2008 with the total doctoral student population in 2008 reaching 3,976 (AACN, 2010). Although academic education and professional qualification are but one aspect of clinical competence (the others being clinical skills and professionals attitudes), the change of nurse teaching from work-based apprenticeship to academic education and the parallel development of increasingly specialized nursing roles [58,59]) contribute to an alteration of what is considered to be necessary qualifications among nursing staff. This may cause additional strain on the substantial proportion of clinically oriented staff who lack formal (nursing) qualifications. We believe the importance of the present study lies in the focus it has on working conditions of sub professionals in acute psychiatry. As we have argued above, there is an increasing and probably worldwide lack of nursing staff in the health services and increased use of health care assistants is reported e.g.[30]. Although the evidence on a general level suggests that more use of less qualified staff will not be effective in all situations [60], due to what is said above it is increasingly important to recruit, retain and qualify also sub professionals, and a condition for this is the quality of their working environments. The important sourses of professional direction: Nursing Social policy statement (ANA), is an important document it describes the profession of nursing and its professional framework and tasks to society, the second nursing scope and standards of practice is also important has been developed by the (ANA), nursing standards which are authoritative by the profession by the profession wich the quality of practiced, service, or education can be evaluated quality patient care. The third code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements, this code is alist of provisions that makes explicit the primary goals, Values .fourth state boards of nursing one of the important sources of professional direction . A professional nurse is accountable for embracing professional values, maintaining professional values, maintaining competence, and maintenance and improvement of professional practice environments, also nurses is accountable for the outcomes of the nursing care. Increasd knowledge of germs and diseases, and increasd training of doctors, nurses needed to understand basic anatomy, parhophysiology, physiology, and epidemiology to provide better care. To carry out adoctors orders, and must have some degree of understanding of cause and effect of environment . Quality of Care: The quality of care can be more precisely described as seeking to achieve excellent standards of care. It includes assessing the appropriateness of medical tests and treatments and measures to improve personal health care consistently in all areas of medicine. Nurses professional socialization is recognized as an essential process of learning skills, attitudes and behaviors necessary to fulfill professional roles are also involved in evaluating and modifying the overall quality of care given to groups of clients. One of the essential parts of professional responsibility, nurses and all other health care providers work together as an interdisciplinary team concentrate on improving client care (Kozier, 2008). A divergence between demand and supply that is evidenced in insufficient nurse staffing with significant implications for patient quality is what Nursing profession faces continuously. Many believe this shortage of registered nurses is entrenched in long-standing problems related to the value and image of nursing and the limited role nursing has had in identifying priorities within health care delivery systems (AACN, 2010). Many institute graduates are relegated to functioning at a level barely above a nurse aide. Thus, the already scarce Saudi nurses are disadvantaged and underutilized. Saudi Arabia is increasing its proportion of indigenous nurses who will be able to deliver culturally appropriate high quality care (Aldossary, 2008). The author predicted shortfall of qualified nursing staff in both low and high-income countries. Restructured health care systems and social values has made lack of nursing personnel which concern for health care administrators, politicians and the nursing professions. The shortage in health care workers growing and has become an international challenge (Sorgaard,2010). One of the central professional self regulation is the ability to maintain and control a professional register. To this end self regulating professions, like nursing, have been responsible for controlling their register which is done through the setting of the standards to be achieved before entry is possible . In addition, the professions also have responsibility for the removal of practitioners who are considered unfit to practise (Unsworth, 2010). Outlines how quality of nursing care and good character are fundamental to practise as a nurse or midwife and how the overriding concern relates to safe practise and protection of the public. As such, good health is not to be interpreted as the absence of a particular condition or disease but rather that the individual is capable of safe and effective practise without supervision. The guidance also defines good character as relating to the persons conduct, behavior and attitude, as well as any convictions or cautions that are not considered compatible with professional registration and that might bring the profession into disrepute. (CHRE (2009) have recently reviewed the quality of care requirements of the all of the health profession regulators and they have recommended that the term good in relation quality of care should be amended within the legislation to ensure that this is not used by other bodies as a bar to entry into the professions. CHRE reaffirm the view held by the regu lators that considerations about health are restricted to whether the individuals health, with any necessary reasonable adjustments, would impair their fitness to practise. The notion of good character is based upon the requirement under the Code of Professional Conduct (NMC, 2008c) for nurses and midwives to be honest and trustworthy. For an individual to satisfy the good quality of nursing care character requirements, they must be capable of safe and effective practise without supervision. This is, therefore, the threshold set by the regulator for any action which may be taken against an individual student in terms of their conduct. If the students attitude, behavior, conduct (including convictions) or quality of care calls into question their ability to satisfy the requirements of the quality of care and good character then action may be required to investigate the allegations and to make a determination about whether the nurses would be capable of safe and effective practise wit hout supervision at some future point. The notion of good character has also been open to criticism not least because of difficulties in defining how a good character is measured (Sellman, 2007) and because the concept of being of good character is not transferable to potential registrants from within the European Union (CHRE, 2008a,b). The Nursing and Midwifery Council ( NMC) have produced a definition of impaired fitness to practise which relates to the suitability of the individual to remain on the professional register without restriction, if at all (NMC, 2004). Aim / Objective: To show the impact of professional nurses and nursing education that affect the quality of care for the patients. IV. Method: Literature review is considered a baseline tool that precedes the actual qualitative or quantitative research. In order to have a research, the researcher needs to read the related articles that have researched the topic. Data base research: Inclusive criteria: nursing articles, articles published after 2000, English language studies, primary sources Exclusion criteria: articles published before 2000, secondary sources Pubmed: Mesh terms: Professional, and Non-Professional Nurses, Occupation, Profession, Quality of Care Number of hits: The first hits 43. 17 abstracts were read and 17 articles were chosen. The second hits 273. 23 abstract were read and 26 articles were chosen. Total search publication articles were chosen and read completely is (43) that will be used by the author in literature review.19 of the chosen articles the authors will use in the results. V. Research Ethics: The authors should consider the research ethics in all processes and follow the Codes and Policies of research ethics including; Honesty in all scientific communications, report data, results, methods, procedures, and also the publication status. Competency, to maintain and improve our own professional competence through lifelong education and learning. Objectivity, disclose personal interests that may affect research. Respect for intellectual property, no plagiarism done by the authors (Resnik, 2010). The authors foundation from the article was clear and the researchers displayed respect for human dignity. The author did the job for searching by honest and professional way, without hidden or disappear any good or truth result (Polit Beck, 2008). VI. Relevance: The author conveyed the information through this research to increase awareness for the staff nurses about knowing the impact of professional nurses and the levels of nursing education in the quality of care for the patients. Level of nursing education acquired by a nurse has significant implications for patients quality of care and safety.

La liberté de lhomme :: essays research papers

Comme nous l'avons vu en classe, la science et la foi sont divisà ©s profondà ©ment dans notre socià ©tà ©. Les scientifiques rejettent, de faà §on assez gà ©nà ©rale tout ce dont touche à   la foi. De leur part, les religieux s'en prennent aux scientifiques pour leurs tentatives de tout expliquer de manià ¨re rationnelle et scientifique. Dans cet article, Pierre Karli essaie de mettre au point les diffà ©rences fondamentales dans le dà ©bat entre la science et la foi, tout en essayant de rapprocher les deux. Il traà ®te d'abord de la science et de la foi de faà §on catà ©gorique, oà ¹ il indique ce dont nous apporte chacun ainsi que les "collusions" dont il voit entre la foi et le pouvoir politique et entre la science et le pouvoir politique. Il saute ensuite vers une discussion de l'à ªtre humain et la question de l'"instinct d'agression" pour finalement tomber sur une discussion du dà ©bat autour de la libertà © de l'homme. Les diffà ©rences entre la science et la foi ont à ©tà © dà ©battues pendant longtemps. Les scientifiques rejettent toute notion d'un Dieu crà ©ateur, puisqu'ils sont incapables de prouver de faà §on concrà ¨te son existence. Les religieux critiquent les scientifiques de toujours rationaliser et d'essayer de tout mesurer. Par exemple, comment peut-on mesurer l'amour? Les scientifiques peuvent-ils tout de mà ªme nier l'existence de cette force, cette à ©motion? De la part des religieux et croyants, le cas est de mà ªme pour Dieu. Karli dit qu'on ne peut pas comparer ces deux aspects par contre, puisqu'ils ne sont pas semblables. Le problà ¨me se retrouve que les religieux se servent d'une approche religieuse pour examiner la science. De l'inverse pour les scientifiques à   l'à ©gard de la religion. Mais ces deux champs ne peuvent pas à ªtre examinà ©s de la mà ªme manià ¨re. C'est ici que provient les affrontements entre les deux. La science se sert de raison pour pouvoir dà ©crire, mesurer et dà ©montrer. Les scientifiques essaient de tout mesurer, dà ©crire et dà ©montrer, mais arrivent à   un mur lorsqu'ils regardent des aspects mystiques ou religieux. La science, elle, nous permet une meilleure connaissance du monde et de notre relation avec celle-ci. De son cà ´tà ©, la foi est "l'adà ©sion à   une và ©rità © rà ©và ©là ©e, donnà ©e entià ¨re dà ¨s le dà ©part, et qui rà ©pond à   un besoin de transcendence, d'absolu." (Karli, p. 138) Elle nous dit ce qu'on doit faire dans la vie pour doter celle-ci d'un sens, d'une raison d'à ªtre. Mais pour Karli, ces deux ne sont pas mutuellement exclusifs comme nous le ferait croire les participants des deux champs. Karli, comme d'autres thà ©ologiens et religieux(Teilhard de Chardin, l'abbà © Laflamme1 entre autres) essaie de reconcilier la science et la religion. La libertà © de l'homme :: essays research papers Comme nous l'avons vu en classe, la science et la foi sont divisà ©s profondà ©ment dans notre socià ©tà ©. Les scientifiques rejettent, de faà §on assez gà ©nà ©rale tout ce dont touche à   la foi. De leur part, les religieux s'en prennent aux scientifiques pour leurs tentatives de tout expliquer de manià ¨re rationnelle et scientifique. Dans cet article, Pierre Karli essaie de mettre au point les diffà ©rences fondamentales dans le dà ©bat entre la science et la foi, tout en essayant de rapprocher les deux. Il traà ®te d'abord de la science et de la foi de faà §on catà ©gorique, oà ¹ il indique ce dont nous apporte chacun ainsi que les "collusions" dont il voit entre la foi et le pouvoir politique et entre la science et le pouvoir politique. Il saute ensuite vers une discussion de l'à ªtre humain et la question de l'"instinct d'agression" pour finalement tomber sur une discussion du dà ©bat autour de la libertà © de l'homme. Les diffà ©rences entre la science et la foi ont à ©tà © dà ©battues pendant longtemps. Les scientifiques rejettent toute notion d'un Dieu crà ©ateur, puisqu'ils sont incapables de prouver de faà §on concrà ¨te son existence. Les religieux critiquent les scientifiques de toujours rationaliser et d'essayer de tout mesurer. Par exemple, comment peut-on mesurer l'amour? Les scientifiques peuvent-ils tout de mà ªme nier l'existence de cette force, cette à ©motion? De la part des religieux et croyants, le cas est de mà ªme pour Dieu. Karli dit qu'on ne peut pas comparer ces deux aspects par contre, puisqu'ils ne sont pas semblables. Le problà ¨me se retrouve que les religieux se servent d'une approche religieuse pour examiner la science. De l'inverse pour les scientifiques à   l'à ©gard de la religion. Mais ces deux champs ne peuvent pas à ªtre examinà ©s de la mà ªme manià ¨re. C'est ici que provient les affrontements entre les deux. La science se sert de raison pour pouvoir dà ©crire, mesurer et dà ©montrer. Les scientifiques essaient de tout mesurer, dà ©crire et dà ©montrer, mais arrivent à   un mur lorsqu'ils regardent des aspects mystiques ou religieux. La science, elle, nous permet une meilleure connaissance du monde et de notre relation avec celle-ci. De son cà ´tà ©, la foi est "l'adà ©sion à   une và ©rità © rà ©và ©là ©e, donnà ©e entià ¨re dà ¨s le dà ©part, et qui rà ©pond à   un besoin de transcendence, d'absolu." (Karli, p. 138) Elle nous dit ce qu'on doit faire dans la vie pour doter celle-ci d'un sens, d'une raison d'à ªtre. Mais pour Karli, ces deux ne sont pas mutuellement exclusifs comme nous le ferait croire les participants des deux champs. Karli, comme d'autres thà ©ologiens et religieux(Teilhard de Chardin, l'abbà © Laflamme1 entre autres) essaie de reconcilier la science et la religion.

Alcohol Fetish Essay -- Alcohol

As humans, we all yearn to be free, yet we are trapped by expectations, responsibilities and standards placed upon us by the modern world. Alcohol creates freedom and vulnerability for individuals oppressed by the dynamics and speed of everyday life especially in very developed ‘high class’ nations. Alcohol particularly creates this freedom for individuals in disenfranchised populations, where expectations from a foreign â€Å"sophisticated† ideology overwhelm the people of the once free nations. And because alcohol creates a free and youthful state of mind, it becomes fetishized. In order for one to defetishize alcohol, and drinking to escape from reality, one must look at their reality and question what reality they are escaping in the first place. In the paper, I first examine the history of alcohol in different cultures and societies. I then talk about how the type of culture a person lives in, whether it is sophisticated or more ‘third world’, re flects one’s relationship with alcohol. Sex and vulnerability also plays an important role in the fetishizing of alcohol in most communities; I observe this next and how it relates to individual’s overall creation of freedom. Lastly, I look at how individuals are better able to have fun, at all ages, when drinking. All in all proving that drinking alcohol creates a state of freedom for people who lack freedom because of their realities. The history of alcohol, unlike many other commodities on the market dates back very far into history. Each and every part of the world seems to have their own personal relationships with the popular beverage. Brewing of alcohol dates back to the beginning of written civilization, and possibly before. Ancient Babylonians, as well as the Ancient Egyptians ... ... Brave Heart, M., Chase, J., Elkins, J., & Altschul, D. B. (2011). Historical Trauma Among Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: Concepts, Research, and Clinical Considerations. Journal Of Psychoactive Drugs, 43(4), 282-290. doi:10.1080/02791072.2011.628913 Hanson, David J. Preventing Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol, Culture and Control. Wesport, CT: Praeger, 1995 Mohindra, K. S., Narayana, D. D., Anushreedha, S. S., & Haddad, S. (2011). Alcohol use and its consequences in South India: Views from a marginalized tribal population. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 117(1), 70-73. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.12.021 Yuan, N. P., Eaves, E. R., Koss, M. P., Polacca, M., Bletzer, K., & Goldman, D. (2010). â€Å"Alcohol is Something That Been With Us Like a Common Cold†: Community Perceptions of American Indian Drinking. Substance Use & Misuse, 45(12), 1909-1929. doi:10.3109/10826081003682115

Drama Comparison Essay

I am going to compare the scenes in which we have studied for She Stoops to Conquer and Guys and Dolls, I am going to discuss the similarities and differences between the two chosen sections. The sections that I am going to discuss are Act 1 scene 2 in Guys and Dolls, and In She Stoops to Conquer the section between Marlow and Miss Hardcastle as a maid. The time period that Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon is set is in the 1950’s, New York, this is shown through the accents of the characters on stage and also through costumes. In this scene Sky would be wearing a full suit and Sarah would be wearing an old Salvation Army suit. This is vastly different then She Stoops to conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, which is set in the 18th century, in the English countryside. The period is conveyed through costume, Marlow would be wearing breeches, and a cravat, a short jacket with a tail underneath wearing a colourful waistcoat the men would have long hair tied back with a ribbon. Miss Hardcastle would be wearing a maid’s outfit in this section; this would be a long brown dress with long sleeves and a square neck front and would also be wearing a white apron. They also convey this through language, which is Shakespearian. Another difference between them is that Guys and Dolls is a Musical and She Stoops to conquer is a restoration comed y. There are some major similarities between these two sections one of these is that its between a guy and a girl, and in both the guys are going for the girls. Even though this is a major similarity the woman react in different ways. In She Stoops to conquer Miss Hardcastle is playing ‘hard to get’ so actually does like Marlow but does not want him to take her to bed, whereas Sarah just does not like Sky and does not want to talk to him. Both of the girl’s reactions are similar in the way that they are both rude and talk back to the men, both woman are supposed to come through as being innocent. Another similarity is that it is both dramatic irony this is because in She Stoops everyone knows that the maid is actually Miss Hardcastle, and in Guys and Dolls everyone in the audience knows that Sarah and Sky are going to fall in love. The guys in both performances are bold, Sky asks Sarah to go to Havana with him and Marlow implies to Miss Hardcastle that he wants to go to bed with her. Both plays are also deceiving this is because Miss Hardcastle is pretending to be a maid to Marlow, and in Guys and Dolls Sky is only talking to Sarah because he has bet that he can take her to Havana. A difference between them is movement, in She Stoops to conquer the movements are very over exaggerated this is because at the time it was the fashion in theatre to do this, the audience would find these movements amusing and made the story easier to follow. In Guys and Dolls the movements are much more naturalistic in this scene and this also helps to convey the period. An example of over exaggerating in She Stoops is that when she meets Marlow for the first time she would do a big curtsy, but over the top this would be amusing for the audience because they would be able to see that she was trying too hard to act like a maid. A similarity between them too is that they both use the whole stage this is because in She Stoops the large movements make the actors use more space and in Guys and Dolls the actors use a lot of space because Sarah is almost trying to get away from Sky. The status of the characters is different, in She Stoops Marlow thinks that he has the higher status but Miss Hardcastle actually does I would show this by Marlow sitting down for quite a lot of it, showing he has a lower level. In Guys and Dolls the status changes at the start Sarah has the highest status but when she says ‘Isaiah’ the status changes and Sky then has the higher status. The set is different in both sections because of the different periods and the contexts. In She Stoops I would set it out as in a small area I would use a similar idea as what I saw in the production ‘Othello’ were the walls fluctuated according to the mood of the play. I think that this should be a very small space this would show intimacy towards the two characters. The furniture should be set out as rich 18th century home e.g. a chez lounge chair in deep red and oak tables. In Guys and Dolls I would have this in a big space this would show the emptiness of the room and also reflect how far Sky and Sarah were away from each other in class. The design of the room would be that with 10 rows of chairs and 5 seats horizontally across the front. The use of Lighting would be very different this is because in She Stoops it is older so the light would be in sepia, or the light dimmed like it was candlelight, this would convey the period and show that it was old. In Guys and Dolls the lights would be bright at colourful to show that it was exciting and have a happy mood. The Music in Guys and Dolls is similar in the way that it tells a part of the story, in She Stoops when we acted out when the music came on we would do movement to what would be happening next. The emotional impact of She Stoops is that the audience find it very amusing and there is tension because the audience do not know weather Miss Hardcastle will pull it off. In Guys and Dolls the audience find it funny because Sky is so persistent and will not take no for an answer this is similar because for both the audiences reaction should be to find it funny. In Conclusion I think that they are very similar and different in lots of ways they both have similar ideas about a boy trying to get a girl, but the way in which the girls react is different. The way in which I would set out each of the sections would be completely different because of the time period and the intensity of the characters. Overall they both use different techniques to show that they are different e.g. making gestures big.