Life of Usain Bolt Essay

Jamaican sprinter Usain St.Leo Bolt was born in Trelawny, Jamaica on August 21, 1986; to Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt. His siblings are a sister named Sherine and a brother named Sadeeki. Since a young age, Bolt was fascinated with sports such as cricket and football or soccer. He attended Waldensia Primary School and William Knibb High School. While at Waldensia School, Bolt was honored as the fastest runner over 100 m. When he entered William Knibb High School, his cricket coach, impressed by his height and speed, insisted that he should try track and field events. Dwayne Barrett and Pablo McNeil, a former 100 m Olympic athlete, guided him about improving his athletic abilities. In 2001, Bolt won his first silver medal in the 200 meters with a time of 22.04 seconds at the annual high school championships. Bolt displayed his personal best of 48.28 seconds in the 400 meters and won a silver medal at the 2001 CARIFTA Games, a Caribbean regional event. He also finished the 200 meters in 21.81 seconds and achieved a silver medal. Bolt’s debut in a world level competition was at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. He did not qualify for the finals of the 200m event, but he set his personal best of 21.73 seconds. He set the record of 20.61 seconds and 47.12 seconds finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships. Bolt moved to Kingston with the support of P.J. Patterson, the Prime Minister of Jamaica then, who saw the potential that Bolt possessed as an athlete. At the age of 15, Bolt won one gold and two silver medals at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston. He was a subject of attraction due to his exceptional height of 6’5†³ and his extraordinary performance. He set his new personal best of 20.16 seconds in the 200 m. Bolt also displayed an amazing performance in the Jamaican sprint relay team, achieving two silver medals. He set national junior records in the 4Ãâ€"400 m and 4Ãâ€"100 m relays by finishing in 3:04.06 minutes and 39.15 seconds, respectively. He won a gold medal at the 2003 World Youth Championships and set a new record of 20.40 seconds in the 200 m. In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke the records in both the 400 and 200 meters, with 45.30 seconds and 20.25 seconds. Usain Bolt became a professional athlete in 2004 under the guidance of his  new coach Fitz Coleman. He started with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda, where he was the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds and broke the world junior record, previously held by Roy Martin. Bolt lost the opportunity to compete in the 2004 World Junior Championships due to a hamstring injury. However, he was selected for the Jamaican Olympic Squad, but was eliminated in the first round of the 200 meters due to a leg injury. However, in 2005, Bolt got a fresh start under the guidance of his new coach Glen Mills. He scored the season’s best finish of 19.99 seconds for the 200 meters at the London’s Crystal Palace in July, of the same year. Bolt reached the top five on the world rankings in 2005 and 2006. He set his new personal best at the 2006 Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, setting the record time of 19.88 seconds. Bolt got his first major world medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany. He won a bronze medal by finishing in a time of 20.10 seconds. He achieved his first senior international silver medal in the IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece. In 2007, he finished the 200 m in 19.75 seconds at the Jamaican Championships and broke the record of Don Quarrie by 0.11 seconds. He won silver medals in the 200 m and 4Ãâ€"100 m relay at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. On May 31, 2008, Bolt established a new world record at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York. He r an the 100 m event in 9.72 seconds and broke an earlier record of 9.74 seconds set by Powell. After winning the 100 m, the 200 m and, along with his Jamaica teammates, the 4Ãâ€"100 m relay, all in world-record times, Usain Bolt scaled unpredicted heights in the 2009 Berlin World Championships, making a new 100 m world record of 9.58 seconds. He also broke his own 200 m record made in 2008 by 0.11 seconds, this time bringing it down to 19.19 seconds. Due to his remarkable performance; he was also honored as the IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2008 and 2009. Although he could not make any new world records in 2010, Bolt comfortably won the 2010 IAAF Diamond League. Bolt wanted to break the 300 m record set by Michael Johnson in the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, but he could not do so due to an injury in his Achilles tendon. After the recovery from the injury, which took a month, he came back to track and field and comfortably won the 100 m at the Athletissima meeting in  Lausanne. He also defeated Asafa Powell in Paris at the Meeting Areva. However, he lost the race to Tyson Gay at the 100 m finals at the DN Galan. In the 2011 Daegu World Championships, Bolt was disqualified in the 100 meters finals because of a false start. He won the 200 meters in 19.40 s. He also won a gold medal in the 4Ãâ€"100 meters relay, setting the world record of 37.04 s, along with teammates Yohan Blake, Michael Frater, and Nesta Carter. In the months leading up to the 2012 London Olympics, Bolt was widely criticized for supposedly not taking the competition seriously. After being beat the top spot at the Jamaican trials by Yohan Blake, there was widespread doubt over Bolt’s ability to defend his 2008 titles. Bolt later said that losing to Blake was a wake-up call just before the Olympics and it helped him â€Å"get his head in the game†. At the London Olympics, Bolt made history by becoming the first athlete to defend both the 100 m and 200 m Olympic titles, in addition to the 4Ãâ€"100 m relay, as part of the Jamaican team. The closest anyone had ever come to that achievement was Carl Lewis, who won the 100 m and the 200 m in the 1984 Olympics, and the 100 m in 1988. Bolt is well known for his completely honest interviews as well as his speed records. After winning the gold medal in the 2012 Olympics 100 m, among widespread doubts about his fitness and attitude, he said to his critics, â€Å"All they can do is talk. I said it on the track†. In the same Olympics, he won the 200 m gold and then declared that he â€Å"is now a legend†, a claim refutable by few.

Morals & Ethics in Cartoons

The Comic that I recall was Hank Ketchum’s Dennis the Menace strip in a newspaper. Although I could not find it to reprint, the memory stays with me perfectly. Alice, Dennis’ mother was folding laundry when Dennis cries out from the kitchen â€Å"Mom! Does the peanut butter go on the bread before or after you put it in the toaster? † The next window shows Alice looking a bit troubled as Dennis cries out again. â€Å"Never mind† he yellsThe laundry gets tossed into the air and Alice makes the turn to go into the kitchen but Dennis calls out again. â€Å"Don’t come in here. † Dennis needs help but doesn’t want to ask. The moral dilemma here is that if he calls his mom to help, then he faces getting into trouble. If she stays out, he might be able to rectify the situation. Although he tried to do something for himself he ended up screwing it up as usual. The mistake is obvious but the problem is subtle.We don’t really know what is happening in the kitchen but it puts our mind to work. Maybe he dropped the peanut butter covered bread on the floor and wants time to clean it up. Maybe he is trying to make his mom a surprise sandwich and doesn’t want her to help or to see. For whatever the purpose, the reader is drawn into the many possibilities of mistakes this young character is capable of. Conclusion The lesson in the end is that he should have asked for help before getting himself into this situation.I think young readers can see this as well in that they can relate to Dennis because they have been in similar learning experiences. Is this an accurate portrayal of modern life? Unequivocally yes! The amount of troubles my own kids have gotten into and the stories about my nieces and nephews can be inspiration for Hank Ketchum. Seldom is this writer’s work ever over the top. His creativity is aligned with reality which makes the strip even more humorous by drawing us in to a relationship of believa bility.References Sally T. Alders, â€Å"Dennis The Menace†; The Kosmix Community

Compare and contrast obama and mc cain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Compare and contrast obama and mc cain - Essay Example President Obama went to high school in Hawaii, and attended college at Columbia University in New York. At Columbia, Barack attained his B.A. in political science with a specialization in International Relations. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) Later on, after being a community organizer for awhile on the South Side of Chicago—helping Blacks, Latinos, and whites in the midst of an economic crisis due to steel mill closures—Barack decided to attend law school. Barack matriculated to Harvard Law School in 1988. He was selected as the first Black student to become the head of the Harvard Law Review. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) For twelve years, Barack was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago; for seven years, he was appointed state legislator in the Illinois Senate; and finally, for four years, Barack was a U.S. Senator for Illinois. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir that the President wrote telling about the time from the beginning of his life in Hawaii up until his entry into Harvard Law School. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) This book told about the challenges he had growing up in a household, where his father was a Kenyan and his white mother from Kansas raised him. In his next book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Obama based his work on a speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and also was inspired by a sermon of his then-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) It was at the Convention that Obama first rose to national prominence, where there was talk of him becoming a Presidential contender. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) John McCain, like Obama, had a very solid educational background. McCain, like his father and grandfather, followed his male antecedents into the service of the Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. (Wikipedia 2009, 1) McCain, also a strong writer, having written five books. His book titles are as

Strategic Consulting in Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Consulting in Practice - Essay Example Moreover, it faces competition from other grocery stores that are situated around it who may offer lower prices for similar goods and therefore have stronger bargaining power. In order to come up with our analysis, we have utilized many sources that provide all the important information for the business plan. First, Fresh Green Grocers has actively engaged customers through interviewing them on what their current experience is and what should be done in order that the business serves them better. The business also relies on the feedback of the customers after they have bought the goods or the products from the grocery store. Fresh Green Grocers also relies on the social media such as Facebook and Twitter and other forum that are meant to relay the experience that a person has after buying the grocery from their store. Fresh Green Grocers can exploit its strengths and opportunities, which include the fact that it is conveniently situated in areas, which are densely populated and experience high human traffic and the fact that its products are priced affordably. It also provides a variety of produce, which are derived from several suppliers within its roll of suppliers. The store also offers their customers fresh produce that are packaged in environmental friendly papers and containers that ensure that they do not perish within the shortest time. The weaknesses include the fact that some customers fail to give the desired feedback to the store, which is important for the improvement of service delivery while those that give feedback may lie. The store has also not established an effective marketing strategy to market the product as shown by the clear lack of a viable marketing mix. Fresh Green Grocers also experiences challenges in refrigerating or properly preserving some of its produce as it deals mostly in perishable groceries. Further, the store faces challenges in having constant and continuous supply of the groceries to be offered for sale. The

Blue Cross Mistake Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Blue Cross Mistake - Case Study Example lans, pre-existing conditions plan and other services that include case management, health lifestyle programs and medical coverage policies (BCBSRI, n.d). In April 2010 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Company were faced with a crisis in which personal information that belongs to approximately twelve thousand BlueCHiP for Medicare members of the company was accidentally contained in a filing cabinet that was donated to a local non- profit organization. The filing cabinet was among other office furniture that was donated to this local organization. This information was sensitive as it contained Medicare Health surveys that included names, contact information, social security data, Medicare identification numbers and other medical information which is not supposed to be in the public domain. The local non-profit organization reported the presence of the information in the office equipment that was donated to them. This prompted a quick investigation into the problem. The company notified the appropriate authorities of the problem including the Medicare members. This was not just enough to handle the above incident. In ensuring that the information was not misused by any other party that got access to it, the company is offering free credit monitoring, assistance in identity theft protection and an Identity protection guarantee for a year. On the other hand to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident the company was forced to take disciplinary action for all the employees who failed to adhere to the company’s guidelines on information handling (BCBSRI, n.d). The company took the necessary steps in ensuring that the information was not compromised as a result of the breach. In my opinion the steps that the company took were swift and effective in handling the incident. The company made a good choice by informing the relevant authorities and the affected members of the data breach. This is a good sign as they took responsibility of their mess. By offering the

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the performance management Dissertation

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the performance management system of Riyadh City Council - Dissertation Example Data Analysis 44 3.10 Methodological Limitations 45 3.11 Conclusion 46 Chapter 4- Results and Discussion 4.1 Introduction 48 4.2 Results 48 4.3 Discussion 76 Chapter 5- Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusions 86 5.2. Recommendations 90 References 93 List of Tables and Figures Table 1. Demographic characteristics: Level of measurement, categories and codes 37 Table 2. Objectives, hypotheses, and statistical tests. 37 Table 3. Frequency and percentage distribution for gender. 48 Table 4. Frequency and percentage distribution for age. 48 Table 5. Frequency and percentage distribution for years of service. 49 Table 6. Frequency and percentage distribution for position. 49 Table 7. Means and standard deviations: Agency relations. 50 Table 8. Means and standard deviations: Resource utilisation. 51 Table 9. Means and standard deviations: Inimitable. 53 Table 10. Means and standard deviations: Non-substitutable. 54 Table 11. Means and standard deviations: Competence. 55 Table 12. Mea ns and standard deviations: Firm specificity. 56 Table 13. Means and standard deviations: Relevant resources. 56 Table 14. Means and standard deviations: Utilisation of resources. 57 Table 15. Means and standard deviations: Acquisition. 59 Table 16. Means and standard deviations: Development. 59 Table 17. Means and standard deviations: Configuration. 60 Table 18. Means and standard deviations: Innovation. 61 Table 19. Means and standard deviations: Technology. 61 Table 20. Means and standard deviations: Dynamic capability. 62 Table 21. Means and standard deviations: Performance attainment. 63 Table 22. Means and standard deviations: Individual commitment. 64 Table 23. Means and standard deviations: Processes satisfaction. 65 Table 24. Means and standard deviations: Goal setting. 65 Table... Performance management is primarily known to be a process that encourages collaboration for the members of the local administration. For the RCC, they have encountered a number of concerns that must be addressed though performance management standards and practises. For instance, they have experienced problems with improving the methods for keeping up with rapid changes such as civilizational shifts or new lifestyles among community members (Al-Nuaim 2001). To consider services for health, safety, and security, housing plans, and preservation of the environment and historical sites has become a challenge for Riyadh’s local administrators. Moreover, most often, the public’s opinion on the policies implemented by the City Council as well as on the implementation of projects and activities, and the performance of the governing body, has created difficulties for mayors and the rest of the administration in developing their community (Al Riyadh 2004). Because of these, the R CC has aimed to boost their performance by focusing on the capability of their workforce, enhancing their projects by being consistent with the community’s needs, and providing their administration with the necessary procedural and managerial specialisations. One weak point that the local city councils in Riyadh has demonstrated is that they are not very capable of integrating various departments for planning and implementation, hence, reducing their likelihood for accomplishing main goals.

Regulating Units Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Regulating Units - Essay Example A valve positioner is a device which exactly positions a control valve to the required position as per the signal given to it. Positioner senses the valve opening through a position feedback link connected to valve. Controlled external supply air to positioner provides power to positioner to position a valve. A globe valve is that in which inlet and outlet openings are arranged in several ways to suit varying requirements of flow. It can give straight flow, angular flow and cross flow. The major application is to get good flow control. Picture below: Ball valves are stop valves that use a ball to stop or start the flow of fluid. When operated, the ball rotates to a point where the hole through the ball is in line with the valve body inlet and outlet. Picture below: Gate valves are used when a straight-line flow of fluid and minimum restric ­tion is desired. The part that either stops or allows flow through the valve acts somewhat like the opening or closing of a gate and is called, the gate. Butterfly valves are used in a variety of systems aboard ship. These valves can be used effectively in freshwater and saltwater. It consists of a butterfly disc which when rotated determines the flow of liquid through it. It is used for Good flow control at high capacities. Valve positioners compare a control signal to a valve actuator’s position and move the actuator accordingly. The most modern valves come with following specifications. Deadband -

Brief Management Analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Brief Management Analysis - Term Paper Example Managed care organizations usually operate as business entities, to make sure that the limited resources are effectively utilized. The original aim of managed care was to stress on the safeguarding of health of the population instead of carrying out expensive interventions once the health of citizens had already been compromised (Risk, 2009). The expression ‘managed care’ speaks for a group of different arrangements that are still being amended and improved for the most part. Four factors are involved in the funding as well as delivery of health care options to the population. These include the suppliers of care, the consumers of the services, the procurer of the care, and the insurer who compensates for care. The expression ‘managed care’ may also be taken to mean preferred provider organizations (PPOs), health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and utilization review. The preferred provider organization (PPO), which works in league with healthcare providers , is responsible for providing covered services for a reasonable fee. Health care providers who operate under definite contracts are identified as ‘preferred providers’. ... The health maintenance organization also provides all the health-care services that are insured at a fixed price in the premium fee. The healthcare consumer has the option of adding co-payments when interested in making office visits as well as other healthcare services. HMOs are also in charge of delivering healthcare through the communication networks built formed among providers. Utilization review refers to the process of assessing the care that is supplied to individual consumers (Kongstvedt, 2009). Utilization review has been utilized broadly in prepaid health-care measures as well as fee-for-service indemnity. Its main objective is to reduce healthcare costs while also enhancing the quality of healthcare. Managed care organizations have historically included the implementation of different prevention initiatives (Risk, 2009). Many MNOs utilize quality improvement and internal performance-measurement systems like the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) to test and improve thei r services. Managed care organizations have become a principal source of health care for publicly funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid as well as the recipients of employer-funded care. In addition, MCOs stand for systems of organized care that usually concentrate on given social groups and are responsible for supporting objectives like prevention activities. The Managed Care Working Group has been at the fore front of proposing recommendations that can foster the integration into managed care of prevention practices. Cost Containment Cost containment proposals have an effect on health care systems through numerous ways. In the first place, cost containment can change the quality of care that

Target Market Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Target Market - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that market segmentation is an aspect that the business as identified as a strategy of marketing. The business will divide its market using the following considerations. First, it would consider consumer behavior, second it would consider geographical factors, and lastly, it would consider psychographic factors. Variables for segmentation within the target market include age, income, and occupation of the people, gender, lifestyle, values or interests. The consumer responds to a product after considering various factors, which include benefits, derived from the product. The target population for the product would active age (15 to 35 years). The data about the population of UAE indicate that the ratio of male to female stands at 2.75. The above information reflects the statistics of the nation recorded in 2009. The assumption is that the population has not yielded greater changes. The data indicated that the population grows at 3.055 %. It is important to note that women product consumption differs from the male. The idea of the age bracket is to design product strategies that will respond to the target population. The target population proves viable to the company product because of their consumption behavior. Economic status our target market indicates that rugged beverage cooler would fetch more in the market because of the response that the product anticipates to get. Male dominates the target market for the product. Survey of the market shows that male counterpart commands the economy. This attributes offers a competitive advantage for the product because it would dictate the buying patterns. The target age 15 to 35 displays leisure characteristics, which is very crucial for the product viability.

Management of Financial Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management of Financial Institutions - Essay Example Surely, the central bank is part of the financial institution. It is the British government's financial authority for it hands out periodic currency resources and also controls the supply of credit and holds the reserves of other banks while it sells new securities in behalf of the British government. The other financial institutions include, foundations, non-depository financial institutions, trust companies and others. Many companies use the financial institutions in their daily business transactions. Therefore, the companies being serviced by the financial institutions above can choose which financial institution to use. One of the criteria for choosing is the services that they offer. The following paragraphs discusses the factors affecting financial institution. The contextual environment is often approached covers many areas of business. These areas include technology, the economy, the nature of government, social attitudes and, of course, competitive forces all affect the climate in which business operates. For, the contextual environment sets the context for business to exist and it creates a climate of change with the five areas mentioned here. Technology. Technology. New technological developments in the financial institutions result in advanced production processes. Harvey Jones(2006) wrote that online banking had definitely changed from a minority sport into a mainstream race at astonishing speed. Almost every financial institution, from the biggest in terms of assets in the banking sector to the smallest local building society has brought business transactions between the purchasers and the sellers at split second speed. With the advent of the automatic teller machines, the time needed to transfer funds has been decreased. People will just carry the ATM plastic to withdraw money at midnight or during holidays Moreover, one out of every five British citizen have their banking transactions online through the internet starting in the year 2005. This was the finding of Lloyds TSB. The number of online bankers have dramatically increased until our current time period 2007. Present studies show that young customers between the ages of 45 to 54 years of age to do their jobs through the internet comfortably and safely. are increasingly comfortable managing their finances over the web. Forgotten, depositors and person withdrawing money from the banks would have get a number from bank personnel and wait until their number had been called before depositing or withdrawing their money. The advent of the automatic teller machines has allowed bank withdrawals even at midnight or the wee hours of the morning and on Sundays and holidays. On line banking services include payment of statement of accounts and other bills, getting the bank statement printout, money transfer to another person very far away and management of bank debits. Economy. general economic conditions and trends(Mcrae, 2007) must be taken into account when considering an organisation's activities. Mathew Scott(2003) stated Kevin Cohee, chairman and CEO of OneUnited Bank, looks at One Lincoln Street in Boston's financial district, he sees his vision for the future of black-owned

A typical day for a cabin crew on a long haul flight Essay Example for Free

A typical day for a cabin crew on a long haul flight Essay This report will acknowledge you about a typical day for a cabin crew on a long haul flight. Of course it may vary time to time because all airlines are different.  The night before the flight, as a cabin crew, you must pack your suitcase for the flight and to know what clothes you should bring, you should check the weather in the destination you are flying to. You must make sure your uniform is clean and neat, you bring all documents with you and it is very important to review SEP questions before going to the pre-flight briefing. Also you must check your airline website where you will find information about your position (e.g Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4) and other flight info such as departure time, flight number, estimated duration of the flight and crew information. Another important thing is to decide how you are going to get to the airport and how much time it will take you to get there, so you will not be late. Pre-flight briefing All cabin crew members will have a meeting with their ISM, senior crew and other cabin crew members before the flight. During this meeting you will be given information about the flight, your role on the aircraft, information about meals and drinks, if there are any passengers who need extra assistance and also you will be asked some health and safety questions. Before boarding Before boarding you must make sure you have all important documents such as ID card and passport with you. Once you are on board, you must do a full safety check of a cabin to make sure nothing suspicious has been left onboard and also check if all safety equipment (such as first aid kit, PBE) is on place and correct. Check if there are enough meals and supplies for the number of passengers onboard. Finally check the toilets for security and that they are stocked up with necessities. When you finished, you must do a report to crew that you have finished all checks. PAX boarding When boarding for passengers started, cabin crew must greet the passengers, check their boarding passes, direct them to their seat and help them find space for their luggage. Passengers must put their hand luggage in the overhead compartment or under their seat. If the luggage is too heavy it must be put in the cargo. After boarding on the aircraft finished, it is time to do a safety demo, where you let the passengers know how to use their seatbelt, oxygen mask and life jacket and also to inform them where the floor lighting is that will guide them to the nearest exit. After that you do your final checks and you must ensure that all luggage is correctly stowed away, seatbelts are fastened and the cabin is ‘secure’. When you will receive a message from a captain, cabin crew must take their seat for take-off. After take-off Once the aircraft is airborne and the seatbelt signs have been switched off, you can start the in-flight service. This will differ from airline to airline and depending on whether all items are sold or are free as part of the service. You must prepare for cocktail service, put you meals and food on the trolley. Also, the service will be different if your airline has business or first class. During this time, you will also check the toilets for security and cleanliness and also deal with any passenger enquiries or first aid. Also during the long haul flight you will be given some time to rest. Landing and disembark PAX When it is time to land, once again you will do checks that all seatbelts are fastened and all luggage is stowed and cabin is ‘secure’ and ready for a safe landing. Once this is complete is time to return to your crew seat. Once all passengers have left the aircraft, you must do a cabin safety check to make sure that passenger did not leave their documents, mobile phones or any valuable stuff onboard. It is important to do this check to make sure that nothing suspicious has been left onboard. Also you cabin crew must complete some documentation, such as cash summary and flight report. Summary After reading this report you will have an idea of how looks like a typical day for a cabin crew on a long haul flight.

Competitive advantage of Nations

Competitive advantage of Nations INTRODUCTION â€Å"The Competitive Advantage of Nations† was written by Professor Michael Porter in 1990 and it includes a new theory about the prosperity of national and regional competitiveness according to their economic resources. The president of USA, Ronald Regan supports his ideas by giving him an appointment and the book was analyzed and followed by many different countries government as an economic policy. National success is not heritage, it is created. The classical economics indicators are not sufficient to develop the counties economy such as natural resources, labour power, interest rates. In todays competitive business world, the target of all big firms is to take advantages against their rivals. Strong and aggressive domestic competition between the companies bring benefit to the firms because todays international market is very wild and relentless. The ability of innovate and upgrade of an industry play very significant role to provide nations competitiveness. That is to say, a nations competitiveness is based on the creativity and the power of doing new product in an industry. (Michael Porter, 2008) Nations have very important role during the globalization period on the world. One of the most significant issue is to create, improve and assimilation of knowledge in process of developing nation. Because of the differences in national properties such as their structure of economy, culture, history and institutions, a country can not be success in all industries. At the end of the period, nations prosperity is occurred in a particular industry depending as their national environments and dynamics. (Michael Porter, 2008) According to sovereign thought, the most powerful subjects which affect the determination process of competitiveness are labour costs, interest rates, exchange rates and economies of scale. In todays market, the most popular words for the companies are merger, alliance, strategic partnership, collaboration and supranational. (Michael Porter, 2008) A multinational enterprise is a company that tries to be active all over the world trade market independently from any country or nation. (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor, 2008) PORTER DIAMOND OF NATIONAL ADVANTAGES The aims of international trade in classical theories introduce that competitive advantage of nation depend on the factor endowments which comes from the past. The factor endowments cover land, natural resources, labor, and size of the local population. Michael E. Porter has presented new factors that affect the national competitiveness. Some of the new advanced endowments that Porter submits are skilled labor, a strong technology and knowledge base government support, and culture. Porter used a diagram, when he illustrates the determinants of national advantages, which is called Porters diamond. Porters Diamond Diagram The characteristic properties of diamond and the diamond as a whole the diamond contents that lead to a national comparative advantage. These contents are: 1- the availability of resources and skills, 2- information that companies use to make decision which way to keep on those resources and skills, 3- the individual goals of firms 4- the ability of innovation and investment in companies The explanations of diamond point are in below: * Factor Conditions: A country constitutes its own ideal factors such as the knowledge and technology base. The capacity of upgrade and distribution of factors are more important than the stock of factors at a given time period. And the last thing is, the drawback of producing a innovation which is based on the local situation. In contrast if there is a condition such as labor shortage or scarce raw materials push firms to improve new methods, and this innovation provide benefits to nation in international market. * Demand Conditions: When the foreign market is smaller than the local one for a specific product, local firms pay all their attention to this product than do the other markets, leading to a competitive advantage when the local firms begins exporting the product. More demanding provides national advantage and a powerful, trend-setting local also provide the local firms to lead global trend. * Related and Supporting Industries: When intermediate industries are competitive, firms provide cost effective and innovative inputs. It is a strengthened effect when the supplier and competitor is the same firm in the global market. * Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry: Company strategy is affected by local situation. These strategic and structural differences help the nations firms to choose which types of industries they will excel. In Porters Five Forces model, low rivalry made an industry attractive. In this process firms should be innovate and improve themselves because of the local rivalry in long run. However, in general situation, firms refer less rivalry in competitive market. Sites; Michael E. Porter, On Competition, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998. Pride, Hughes, Kapoor, Business, Houghton Mifflin Company, 9th, 2008 http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=biofacEmId=mporter http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/global/diamond/ http://www.themanager.org/models/diamond.htm

Examining Media Discourse And The Amounts Of Crime Criminology Essay

Examining Media Discourse And The Amounts Of Crime Criminology Essay Media discourse is sutured with crime. Crime consumes an enormous amount of media space as both entertainment and news. Much of our information about the nature and extend of crime comes to us via the secondary source of media. We should expect then, that as distributors of social knowledge, they play a significant role in our perception and understanding of the boundaries between order and disorder. (Surette, 1998: 11) Because of the importance of media in everyday life, the study of crime and the media becomes a vital concern of sociology and media studies. Since media has the ability to interpret and give meaning to events through dramatization, this places it at the pinnacle of all social institutions in its ability to shape perception and reactions of its readership. It has been criticized over years by enormous sociologist that media is responsible for fomenting moral sensibilities and anxieties about crime and disorder. (Cohen, 1963; Young, 1971; Hall, 1978; Reiner, 1997; Munice:2001) The media manufactured of news (Cohen and Young, 1973/1981), created moral panics (Cohen, 1973) and fear of crime (Gerbner et al: 1980; Carlson: 1985) about folk devils, stigmatized outsiders, and amplified their deviance (Young, 1971) thus legitimating the drift to a law and order society (Hall et al, 1978) and a more authoritarian style of policing the crisis. (ibid.) In this assignment, I will discuss how and why these consequences of representation of crime are develop, and how they will affect the society. Fear of crime: In recent years policy debates have focused increasingly on fear of crime as an issue as serious s crime itself. As Home Office working party noted that fear of crime as an issue of social concern; it has to be taken as seriously as crime prevention and reduction. (Home Office, 1989: ii) When the media representation of crime is compared to real world crime as measured by official crime statistics, it appears that the media images exaggerate the probability of danger. This is said to cultivate a misleading view of the world based on unnecessary anxiety about levels of risk form violent crime. According to the BCS 1983, people are concerned most about those crimes which they are least likely to experience. (Hough and Mayhew 1983:23) The BCS data show a discrepancy between peoples fear of being a victim and their chances of being that victim. (Reiner 1997: 210; Munice, 2001: 59; Hewitt, 1995: 19) This has engendered a debate about why there should be such a disparity between the perception of risk and the actual risk. Most commonly, the media are accused of exaggerating the risk of crime, representing an image of the world which is scary and mean, (Carlson 1985) (Sparks 1992: Chapter 1) which lead to publics fear of crime in an unreasonable fashion. (Reiner 1997: 199) Most analyses of newspaper crime reporting have been concerned with the potentially distorted impression is created by the high proportion of reports of violent crimes. Ditton and Duffy (1983) analyzed the crime content of three Scottish newspapers concludes that the proportion of violent and sexual crimes are far more than those reported in the official statistics. (Ditton and Duffy, 1983) Many British studies also showed the same pattern of over representation of violent and interpersonal crimes. The risks of crime as portrayed by the media are both quantitatively and qualitatively more serious than the official statistically recorded picture.  [1]   Although media representation of crime is biased and they present crime in an exaggerated way, we cannot simply conclude that fear of crime is associated with media presentation of crime. The reason why people can be easily influenced by media is because they are lack of knowledge about crime. It is rare for people to experience or witness crime. Therefore, they need to rely on media as source of information to understand crime and use it as a guideline in assessing probability of being a victim. Furthermore, people are tended to use a simplistic way and the most available information to make assessment without reviewing other alternative source before they make judgment, this can lead to people use newspaper and television as source of information to understand crime and construct perceptions of crime. (Williams and Dickinson, 1993: 36) Base on these assumptions, it is sensible to say that medias representation of crime do have influence peoples perception about crime. The media biases associated with public misperceptions argument is confirmed by the study of relationship between newspaper crime reporting and fear of crime by Williams and Dickinson and 1996 BCS. According to Williams and Dickinson, there was a significant relationship between reading newspapers with more emphasis on violence crime and measure of fearfulness expressed in a survey. This association survived control by a number of demographical variables. (William and Dickinson, 1993) Thus, the research concludes that readers of those newspapers that report crime in the most dramatic and salient fashion have the highest levels of fear of crime. (William and Dickinson, 1993) Moreover, in the 1996 British Crime Survey, Hough and Roberts also concluded that there are some strong associations have been found between media biases representation and public misperceptions. (Hough and Roberts, 1996) These study both evident the media have direct influence on constructing fear of crime. The news media may constitute biased perception of crime, however, some scholars have a controversial view on the association between media representations and its effects. Increasingly, it is acknowledged that media representations are unlikely to be received passively, but rather interpreted by an active audiences but as one element in their lived experience. (Ericson, 1991; Livingstone, 1996, Reiner, 1997) Many studies show that the media is not the crucial agent in accounting for fear of crime, increasingly, it is more widely accepted that demographic factors such as age, sex, class, background, level of education, area of residence are significant determinants of anxiety about crime and violence. (Gunter, 1987; Sparks, 1992; Ericson, 1991: 287; Schlesinger and Tumber, 1994: 188) Crawford and his fellows (1990) also support such argument that fear does indeed accord to peoples real life circumstances. It may be generated by any number of personal, cultural or environmental factor s. Box et al also concur with Crawfords opinion, he further suggested that fear of crime depends on an interactive complex of vulnerability, environmental conditions, personal knowledge of crime, confidence (or lack of ) confidence in the police. (Munice, 2001: 59) Since there are many factors can affect the perception of crime, we should bear in mind that fear of crime is extraneous, generated by social and personal factors other than risk of crime per se. Moreover, we should remain alive to ability of the public to differentiate and interpret the information they receive. Though there is evidence concerning media partiality and distortion, it cannot by any mean be assumed that media representation are always received uncritically. (Munice, 2001: 62) The issue of media effect on perceptions of crime remains controversial. It is because of the difficulties in rigorously establishing straightforward casual relationships between images and effects. (Reiner, 1997: 191) Since the association between tow factors are remain unknown, it is plausible to conclude that media may have influence on perception of crime. What is more important about the issue of fear of crime is not whether it has any rational basis or it is solely cultivated by media, but rather how far its emotiveness as a topic can be used for ulterior and political motives. (Munice, 2001: 62) Moral Panic: During the 60s to 70s, the British public was riveted by magnified coverage of highly unusual crime stories of violence crime committed by youth that turned into what some news outlets described as an all too familiar story. Rather than providing context, the medias labeling of these youth violence as symptom of social decline has tended to exacerbate peoples moral sensibilities about youth violence. The result is that misdirected public policy is being generated to increase social control, even though the real threat is minimal. Study of Mod and Rockers by Cohen: The first systematic empirical study of a moral panic in the UK was Stanley Cohens research on the social reaction to the Mod and Rockers disturbance of 1964. (Cohen 1973b) (Munice, 2001: 50) A group of youths broke out sabotage in the seaside resort of Clacton over the Easter bank holiday in 1964. The events were to receive front page outrage in the national press. The media spoke out of a day of terror of youngsters who beat up entire town. Youth were described as organized gangs who deliberately caused trouble by acting aggressively towards local residents and destroyed a great deal of public property. In Cohens research, however, found no evidence of any structured gangs within that area, thus, the total amount of serious violence and vandalism was not as great as media described. (Cohen, 1973) According to the Cohens analyses, it is obvious that media have exaggerated the seriousness of the Clacton event, in terms of criteria such as the number taking part, the number involved in violence and the amount and effects of any damage or violence. Such distortion took place primarily in terms of the mode and style of presentation characteristics of most crime reporting: the sensational headlines, the melodramatic vocabulary and the deliberate heightening of those elements in the story considered as news. (Cohen, 1973) The frequent use of misleading headlines and vocabulary like riot, beat up the town, attack, screaming mob which were discrepant with the actual story and left an image of a besieged town from which innocent holidaymakers were fleeing to escape a marauding mob. Medias distorted reporting not only exaggerated the seriousness of the initial events in 1964 but also amplified the youth deviance. The incessant news coverage of Mod and Rockers initiated a wider public concern, youth are labeled as a symptom of social decline. They are portrayed as being outside the central core values of our consensual society and as posing a particular threat to society. (Cohen, 1981: 273) Once youths have been identified with negative labeling, they will believe themselves to be more deviant and segregating out from the community, which will create a greater risk of long term social disorder. Thus, overreaction of the police and general public will contribute to further polarization between youth and the society. As a result, more crime would be committed by stigmatize group and lead to less tolerance of deviants by conforming groups.(McRobbie and Thornton,1995: 561) (Munice, 2001: 52) As Cohen shows in Mod and Rocker study, The continuing disturbance attracted more news coverage would increase police activity and further public concern. Media exaggerate the problem can give rise to local events seem ones of pressing national concern, and an index of decline of morality standards, which obliged the police to step up their surveillance. Consequently, the stepping up of controls lead to further marginalization and stigmatization of deviants which, in turn, lead to more calls for police action and into a deviancy amplification spiral. (McLaughlin, 2001: 176) Study of Mugging by Hall et al Hall et al (1978) reused the concept the moral panic in identifying a series of major social problems to do with permissiveness, vandals, student radicals and so on, culminating with the moral panic of mugging. Hall and others revealed that the media make use of moral panics to both define and distort social problems was fleshed out into a general critique of the medias construction of social reality. (Munice, 2001: 52) In Halls study of mugging in Policing the crisis, the media regarded mugging not as a particular type of robbery but rather a general social crisis and rising crime. (Hall et al., 1978: 66) The media presented mugging as a new and rapidly growing phenomenon. In fact, the crime was not new, only the label was, and official statistics did not support the view that it was growing rapidly, however, with a name for the crime now in existence old offenses were categorized as such, creating the impression of growth. The medias generated new category of crime created the impression of a crime wave, it further whipped up a moral panic around the issue which served to legitimate an increase in punitive measures; they conclude that the media played a key role in developing and maintaining the pressure for law and order measures-for example, police mugging squads and heavy sentences. (Munice, 2001:52-53) (Hewitt, 1995: 17) In this regard, moral panic can strengthen the powers of state control an d enabling law and order to be promoted without cognizance of the social divisions and conflicts which produce deviance and political dissent. (Munice, 2001: 55) It is not just a new category of crime has been defined by media, the media misrepresentation of crime also stigmatize the black youth as the cause of mugging without further explaining the structural reason of the crime, like poverty, social deprivation and class and racial inequality. (Munice, 2001:53) This ready application of stereotypes in mugging crime reporting portray crime in a way to be depicted in terms of a basic confrontation between the symbolic forces of good and evil. The process of deprivation and modes of social organization are rarely provided. (Chibnall, 1977: 79) As Hall concluded, crime reports tend to undo the complexities of crime by constructing a number of easy categories into which each type of crime can be placed. (Hall et al, 1978:13-15) (Munice, 2001: 47) After the analyses of issue of moral panic or fear of crime, there is one common element between two consequences of media representation of crime-both are generated by the media biased representation of crime. In order to investigate cases of apparent moral panic and fear of crime, it is necessary to understand how news is developed and the structural relationship between media and source of crime stories. The element of newsworthiness: The media appear to be involve in a continual search for the new unusual and dramatic. This is what makes the news. Under the market model (Cohen and Young, 1981), because of the business concern, news content needs to be generated and filtered primarily through reporter sense of newsworthiness to produce what makes a good story that their audience wants to know about in order to engage audiences and increase readership. The core elements of these are immediacy, dramatization, personalization, titillation and novertly. (Chibnall, 1977:22-45; Hall et al., 1978; Ericson et al., 1991) Thus, there are five sets of informal rules  [2]  of relevancy which govern the professional imperatives of popular journalism: these are visible and spectacular acts, sexual or political connotations, graphic presentation, individual pathology and deterrence and repression. (Chibnall, 1977: 77-79) These rules help us to understand how news values are structured and explain why there is a predominant e mphasis on violent offences. Organizational pressures: Besides the element of newsworthiness, there are a variety of concrete organizational pressures, for example, the periodicity, or timing, of the events and how they match the scheduling needs of the agency, cost effectiveness and efficiency, all these factors not only determine what is reported, they also lead to an unintended consequences- that is bolstering the law and order. (Reiner, 1997: 142) For example, numerous police personnel are available and willing to provide comments about an incident, which resulting in frequent citation of police sources in all types of crime stories. (Chermak, 1995: 38) Thus, court cases are frequently used by media, because lots of newsworthy cases are expected to recur regularly, therefore, court cases are an economic use of reporting resources. (Reiner, 1997: 221) Because police and courts resources are easily accessible and constantly available, media become more habitually rely on them as the main source of news information, and over time, the s tructural dependence of media on between criminal justice bureaucracies will be established, which permits the institutional definers to establish the primary interpretation of the topic in question. (Hall et al, 1978: 58; Chibnall 1977: chaps. 3, 6; Schlesinger and Tumber 1993) The notion of impartiality and the use of accredited source: The notion of impartiality and the news source used by journalists are the crucial reason to explain media biased representation of crime and the tendency towards institutional definers ideology. (Hall, 1981: 341-343) The media reporting is underwritten by the notions of impartiality, balance and objectivity. (Hall et al., 1981: 341) The practical pressures of constantly working against the clock and the professional demands of impartiality and credibility resulted in constant use of accredited representative of major criminal justice institutions- the police, the courts and the Home Office as the main source of news. These institutional representative agents are accredited because they are in a position to provide initial definitions or primary interpretation of crime and locate them within the context of a continuing crime problem. Because they control over material and mental resources, which news media have little direct access to, and their domination of the major institutions o f society, this classs definitions of the social world provide the basic rationale for those institutions which protect and reproduce their way of life. This control of mental resources ensures that theirs are the most powerful and universal of the available definitions of the social world. (Hall, 1981: 343) As a result, these rules which are originally aim to preserve the impartiality of media turn media as an apparatus to reproduce the definitions and ideology of primary definers. The study of Crimewatch UK-case illustration of relationship between Media and source of crime news The study of Crimewatch UK by Schlesinger and Tumber (1993) is a modern example to illustrate the above argument. The production team of Crimewatch UK has heavily used the information provided by the criminal justice institutions as the main source of crime stories. It is partly because of the notion of cost effectiveness, more importantly, it is because they want to make the program as documentary reconstruction rather than merely a crime drama without a realistic and documentary basis. (Schlesinger and Tumber, 1993: 24) However, the police as the source of crime stories broadly define the terms of reference within which Crimewatch UK may operate. It can be shown by the two basic ground rules of productions requested by the police in exchange for information: first, anything filmed would be embargoed and could not be used again unless the force involved gave its permission, and second, the police must reveal all the known facts and their suspicions to the Crimewatch team. (Schlesing er and Tumber, 1993: 23) Although the production team exercise editorial judgment over how the cases that they reconstruct are to be presented in television terms in order to maintain their impartiality, it is inevitable that their decisions are still within the criminal justice bureaucracies defined framework. (Schlesinger and Tumber, 1993: 30) From the above analyses, we can see how the notion of impartiality lead to the use of accredited source, and how the source provider- the criminal justice institutions turn a documentary program into the polices public relations program to reproduce the definitions of primary definers. Furthermore, this study also demonstrated the asymmetrical relationship between the news and source of information. Journalists are always in an inferior negotiating position in the negotiation process regarding to the definition and presentation of crime. News media are constrained to sacrifice their relationship with the police personnel because they fear losing information access. Reporters rarely challenge the police perspective because of the information police can provide. As what Chibnall described, The reporter who cannot get information is out of a job, whereas the policeman who retains it is not. (Chibnall, 1977: 155) This asymmetrical relationship between media and the source is evidently demonstrated in the case of Crimewatch study. Since the production team is heavily dependent upon the police to provide information of crime cases, they realize that if the police do not provide such information, the program can never be successfully produced. Therefore, editorial judgmen t is limited and the presentation of crime stories are constrained within the polices basic grounded rules and their defined framework. Representation of crime and definition of criminal justice bureaucracies Most commonly, the media are accused of exaggerating the risk of crime, representing an image of the world which is scary and mean, creating crime waves in order to cultivate moral sensibilities and fear among the society. However, such argument ignores the significant influence of the source of crime and overestimates the representation power of the media. It is important to understand that the power to construct social reality rests not merely with media, but also with those who can control the medias raw materials for news-the criminal justice institutions. (Fishman, 1981: 136) Crime news is mutually determined by journalists, whose image of crime is shaped by police concerns and by police, whose concerns with crime are influenced by media practices. However, if criminal justice bureaucracies are not cooperative in providing relevant information as requested by media, media would not have sufficient resource to form crime waves and representation of crime will be changed. In this regard, criminal justice institutions are the crucial determinant to define what is produced and presented. Journalists convey an image of crime wholly accord with the police departments notion of serious crime and social order as orchestrating with criminal justice institutions. Therefore, as long as the routine source for crime news is criminal justice institutions, the presses are inevitable to reinforce the crime definition from criminal justice institutions. Representation of crime and social control According to hegemony theorists, media are regarded as a secondary definer to orchestrate with dominants consent by actively intervening in the space of public opinion and social consciousness through the use of highly emotive and rhetorical language. This exaggerated way of presentation has a effect of requiring that something has to be done about it. Thus, the impartiality notions of media can be served to objectify a public issue. That is, the publicizing of an issue in the media can serve as an independent opinion to a real issue of public concern rather than merely official information or a direct projection of the governments ideology. In this regard, media can be leveraged as a public agenda setting function to translate primary definers definition of crime into a public issue. (Hall et al., 1981: 346) Once the prolonged public agenda concern in particular crime is formed, moral sensibilities and anxiety are cultivated among society, the press can help to legitimate and reinfo rce the actions of the primary definer by bringing their own independent arguments to bear on the public in support of the actions proposed; or it can bring pressure to bear on the primary definers by summoning up public opinion in support of its own views that stronger measures are needed. (Hall et al., 1981: 348) In late 1976, a great deal of publicity and anxiety was generated over an apparent crime wave against the elderly in New York, which led to the setup of a police sponsored community deference program. However, the official statistics did not support the view that violent crime against elderly was rapidly growing at the same time as the media were reporting a crime surge. The US sociologist Mark Fishman used this example to demonstrate the above argument. According to Fishman, the police do play a crucial role in reinforcing journalistically to produce concern about crime waves by selecting further incidents for reporters based on what has been covered before. Furthermore, the police are in a position to intimate perceptions of a crime wave themselves by the way in which they select crime incidents for their press release. (Fishman, 1981) In this regard, media play an orchestrating role to present what is defined by the police in order to create crime wave, the widespread of news cove rage cultivated anxiety among society, as a result, like what we have concluded above, media in respond to public opinion to pressure the police in order to increase social control by forming the deference program. In this case, the initiation of social control can be legitimated as the reaction of the criminal justice institutions to the public opinion Newspaper reports are disproportionately concentrated on violent crimes, even it seems they are not deliberately focus on this particular category of crime due to medias organizational pressures and code of practice, however, as what I have discussed above, without the source of news provided by criminal justice institutions, crime stories can never be formed. Therefore, the criminal justice institutions are also responsible to affect the media representation of crime by manipulating the source of information. Criminal justice institutions and media can generate fear by providing same kind of crimes persistently in epidemic proportions. For instance, media will suddenly focus on crimes that they had previously ignored and report them to the public. (E.g. mugging and violent crimes against elderly) (Fishman, 1976). In this regard, criminal justice institutions and media are both responsible for exaggerating the magnitude of the problem to sustain public attention for prolonged periods , as a result, fear and moral sensibilities can be instilled. What is important to recognition that moral panic and fear of crime are the first link in a spiral of events leading to the maintenance of law in society by legitimize rule through coercion and the general exercise of authority. The sudden defining and focusing of the historically recurring event of street crime have created the impression of a crime wave, this provides government with the justification to introduce repressive legislation in order to increase its control among the society. (Munice, 2001: 53) Since fearful people are more dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and hard line postures. They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities and other anxieties. (Signorielli 1990:102) (Reiner, 1997: 217) Consequently, the report of crime waves will produce public pressure to call for tough authoritative institutional control, public support can be mustered to institute formal sanctions. The study of Mod and Rocker by Stanley Cohen and the study of muggers by Stuart Hall and his fellows both demonstrate medias exaggeration of crime risks is claimed to increase political support for authoritarian solutions to a crisis of law and order which is largely the creation of media misrepresentation of crime. Media act in a role to stigmatize young Afro-Caribbean as folk devils and generate moral panic in order to created social conditions of consent for the construction of a society more focused towards law and order. The government uncontrollable and structural causes of social unrest can be overlooked, when the public gaze is fixed by stigmatizing young Afro-Caribbean as visual symbols of what was wrong in society, with the increase of social control measures initiated by the government. As a result, the threats of society seems to be eliminated by social and legislative action; the tough punitive measures can be legitimized to control the unstable social environment, the l egitimacy of the government can be reassured by providing public a image of strong government and strong leadership. (Cohen, 1973; Munice, 2001: 52; McRobbie and Thornton, 1995: 562, Hewitt, 1995: 12-16) The media not only exaggerate crimes, on the other hand, they portray the criminal justice bureaucracies, especially the police in a positive light. Routine news reporting about police and crime has a public relations function for police, promoting organizational and occupational ideologies. (Ericson, 1991: 224) The news media dramatize the polices routine works and give the police a ceremonial force. This has promotional value for the police, because it often shows them to be quite effective in fighting crime. (Marsh 1988) (Ericson, 1991:224) Several researchers have examined the relationship between news and police personnel (Chibnall, 1977; Ericson, Baranek and Chan, 1989; Fishman, 1980; Hall et al., 1978) . Most ethnographic research concludes that the police determine what is presented in the news, and describe news media as conduits for police ideology (Chibnall, 1977; Fishman, 1980; Hall et al., 1978) Police frame crime stories in a self promoting way to exaggerate their effectiveness by compiling statistics on performance measures such as the number of offences as well as arrest data. Furthermore, the police can decide when story information should be released, limiting access to reports and diverting attentions from specific events, in order to manipulate medias representation of crime and criminal justice. The US sociologist Chermaks media contend analysis study (Chermak, 1995) and Roshiers study in the UK  [3]  both evident that (Schlesinger and Tumber, reading list: 186) criminal justice bureaucracies, espe cially the police can manipulate the medias representation of crime and criminal justice system by manipulating information in order to provide a favorable image of police and strengthen the states legitimacy. Furthermore, it has been also suggested by Carlson (1985) that such biased representation of criminal justice bureaucracies can lead to support of more social control. He claims to show that heavier television viewers are comparatively ill-informed about legal process; they have a propensity to believe that the police are effective in combating crime and support. As a result, heavy viewers are tended to support more social control. (Sparks 1992, , Ericson, 1991: 283) Criticism of hegemony and Halls theory: The theory of hegemony has been criticized by many scholars that it has paid inadequate attention to the communication process. They argued that the hegemony theory supporters have been characterized by a tendency to treat media as homogeneous, this largely ignores the distinctiveness of particular media and the ways in which such media are internally differentiated. (Schlesinger et al., 1990: 96-97; Ericson et al, 1991) It has been suggested by Ericson et al that there are systematic variations between the presentations of crime in different media and markets.(Ericson et al, 1991) This is partly because of they have different variants to political and professional journalistic ideology according to patterns of ownership and perceived audience. There are interconnected with differences in technological resources, budge

Differences between American and European Cultures in Daisy Miller Essa

Daisy Miller starts out in a hotel in Vevey, Switzerland when a gentleman named Winterbourne meets Daisy, a young, beautiful American girl traveling through Europe. Daisy, her younger brother Randolph and her mother, Mrs. Miller, are traveling all over Europe while her father is home in Schenectady, New York. While Daisy is in Europe, she does not accept European ideas to be her own. Winterbourne, to the contrary, has been living in Europe since he left America when he was younger. Winterbourne takes a strong liking to Daisy even though his aunt, Mrs. Costello, does not approve of him even speaking to Daisy. Winterbourne claims that Daisy is an innocent person, but his aunt believes she is too common and not refined enough for him. Winterbourne and Daisy spend much time together, and even had a date at a close by castle named Chillon. Winterbourne then returns to Geneva where he is studying, but agrees to visit Daisy again that winter in Rome. When winter comes around Winterbourne goes to Rome to visit Daisy. While Winterbourne was away Daisy met a suitor named Mr. Giovanelli. Later, when a mutual friend named Mrs. Walker throws a party, Daisy arrives with Giovanelli. Mrs. Walker does not approve of Daisy being seen in public with all of these men and makes the decision to stop speaking to Daisy. Daisy is not happy about Mrs. Walker snubbing her, but still continues to be with Giovanelli. Daisy continues to be with Giovanelli even while Winterbourne is visiting. Winterbour...

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Conflict Between Barbarism and Reason in Lord of the Flies      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a carefully constructed fable that was, in Golding's words, "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature." (Grigson 189). The novel shows a group of English boys reverting to savagery on a Pacific island. The book deals with the conflict between humanity's inner barbarism on one side, and the civilizing influence of reason on the other.    Each of the two characters I have chosen to contrast and compare is presented in the novel as the most influential representative of each of the two sides. Jack, the chief of the hunters, representing the hidden human passion and almost animal cruelty, and Ralph, with Piggy and a few other children, who is representing human common sense. When the reader enters the book, they find the whole group of the boys on a small island after they had been evacuated from their hometown and after their plain had crashed leaving them on the island with no grown-ups.    At the beginning of the book the position of Jack and Ralph is more or less equal. They are both well-conditioned boys of school age, who find themselves on a lonely island with some other boys of various age, but not older than themselves. They share similar opinions about their situation and its solution. They both want to be rescued and taken home. They both realise that there are a lot of things they must do to survive on the island until all of them get rescued. And lastly, they both are dominant types, but yet at the beginning of the novel they both acknowledge each other's authority and behave to each other in a friendly way.    At the return Ralph found himself alone... ... Epstein, E.L. "Notes on Lord of the Flies." Lord of the Flies. U.S.A.: Puntnum Publishing Group, 1954. 185-90. Fitzgerald, John F. and John R. Kayser. "Golding's Lord of the Flies: Pride as Original Sin." Studies in the Novel 24 (1992): 78-88. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. U.S.A.: Puntnum Publishing Group, 1954. Golding, William. "Lord of the Flies as Fable." Readings on Lord of the Flies. Ed. Bruno Leone. Sand Diego: Green Haven Press, 1997. 88-97. Houston, Daryl L. 1995 "Golding's themes" taken from http://www.lookup.com/Homepages/95416/golding.html The Concise Encyclopedia Of Modern World Literature (1963) ,edited by Geoffrey Grigson, New York, Hawthorn Books Inc., pg. 189-190 Woodward, Kathleen. "The Case for Strict Law and Order." Readings on Lord of the Flies. Ed. Bruno Leone. Sand Diego: Green Haven Press, 1997. 88-97.   

History of Exxon Mobil Essay

Founded by John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) in 1870, The Exxon Corporation developed from another oil company giant, which is Standard Oil Company. Reported monopoly of Standard oil over the oil industry in the early twentieth century proceeded to succession of criticism from politicians and even journalists. However, Exxon still remains the third largest company in the United States and reportedly to be the seventh largest in the world. (Fortune, April 28, 1997). It was Rockefeller anticipated a big potential of refining Pennsylvania crude oil. However internal combustion engines were not yet fully developed a substitute can be used which is kerosene to fuel lanterns. When Standard Oil was formed, it integrated all of the docks, railroad cars, warehouses, lumber resources, and other facilities it needed into its operations. Lucrative deals with railroads were made and that drove smaller refiners out of business. (Sampson, A. , 1975) Around 1878 when Rockefeller and partner Henry Flagler (1830-1913) were in control of most of the nation’s oil refining business. Because of its booming business in oil industry, Rockefeller’s was considered one of the five wealthiest men in the country. (Nevins, A. , 1953) In 1882 Rockefeller and his associates established the first trust in the United States, which consolidated all of Standard Oil Company’s assets in the states under the New York Company, in which Rockefeller was the major shareholder. (Nevins, A. , 1953) Standard Oil began producing, refining and distributing oil in 1880’s. Overseas trade had begun mostly in kerosene to Great Britain. The trust encountered challenges with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, followed by an 1892 Ohio Supreme Court decision which forbade the trust to operate Standard of Ohio. The company then moved its base of its operations to New Jersey, which in 1899 became home to Standard Oil of New Jersey, or Jersey Standard. Jersey Standard later became Exxon Corporation (Wall, B. , 1988) In the 1920’s, as the supply of crude oil began shifting its way from the United States and Latin America to the Middle East, Jersey Standard and other companies effectively used the same monopolistic practices that John D.  Rockefeller had used; Standard Oil exploited its rich resources in Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. This made oil prices stayed low and the United States and Europe became extremely dependent on oil fuels for industry and automobiles. (Nevins, A. , 1953) The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed to protect the interests of the producing countries and this led to Jersey Standard sought other sources of crude oil. The company discovered oil fields in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay and in the North Sea. Around the same time, in 1972, Standard Oil of New Jersey officially changed its name to Exxon Corporation. (Wall, B. , 1988) As the OPEC-induced oil shortage depleted much of Exxon’s reserves made them experience financial difficulties; and a lot of people suffered from this cause. In 1989 when a drunk Captain of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, doing immeasurable damage to the wildlife and to the company’s public image. Eleven million gallons of oil spilled in the Alaskan harbor this made Exxon lost a share of the world oil market to its competitor, Royal Dutch/Shell in 1990. However this didn’t stopped Exxon’s business when they agreed to a $15 billion development of three oil wells in Russia. (Clarke, 1997) Overall, Exxon started in the United States, which started as a regional marketer of kerosene that evolved to the biggest publicly traded petroleum and petrochemical project in the world. Their best known brand names are Exxon, Esso and Mobil. Such products that drive modern transportation, power cities, lubricate industry and provide petrochemical building blocks that lead to thousands of consumer goods.

The Indigo Spell Chapter Three

TRUE TO HIS WORD, Adrian made no other mention of the relationship – or lack thereof – between us. Every once in a while, though, I could swear I saw something in his eyes, something that brought back an echo of his proclamation about continuing to love me. Or maybe it was just his typical impertinence. A connecting flight and an hour-long car ride later, it was night by the time we finally reached the small resort town in the Pocono Mountains. Getting out of the car was a shock. December in Pennsylvania was very, very different from December in Palm Springs. Crisp, frigid air hit me, the kind that freezes your mouth and nose. A layer of fresh snow covered everything, glittering in the light of the same full moon that Ms. Terwilliger and I had worked magic by. The stars were out here in just as much force as the stark desert, though the cold air made them glitter in a sharper way. Adrian stayed in our hired car but leaned out as the driver handed me my small suitcase. â€Å"Need any help with that?† Adrian asked. His breath made a frosty cloud in the air. It was an uncharacteristic offer from him. â€Å"I'll be fine. Thanks, though. I take it you aren't staying here?† I nodded toward the bed-and-breakfast the car had stopped at. Adrian pointed down the road, toward a large, lit-up hotel perched on a hill. â€Å"Up there. That's where all the parties will be, if you're interested. They're probably just getting started.† I shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold. Moroi normally ran on a nocturnal schedule, starting their days around sunset. Those living among humans – like Adrian – had to adapt to a daytime schedule. But here, in a small town that must be bursting with Moroi guests, he'd have the chance to return to what was for him a more natural schedule. â€Å"Noted,† I said. A moment of awkwardness followed, but the temperature gave me an excuse for escape. â€Å"Well. I'd better get in where it's warm. Nice, uh, traveling with you.† He smiled. â€Å"You too, Sage. See you tomorrow.† The car door closed, and I suddenly felt lonely without him. They drove off toward the towering hotel. My bed-and-breakfast seemed tiny by comparison, but it was cute and in good shape. The Alchemists had booked me here precisely because they knew the Moroi guests would have other accommodations. Well, most of them. â€Å"Are you here for the wedding, dear?† asked the innkeeper as she checked me in. â€Å"We have some other guests staying with us as well.† I nodded as I signed my credit card slip. It was no surprise that there'd be overflow to this inn, but there'd be a lot less here than the other hotel. I'd make sure to lock my door. I trusted my friends in Palm Springs, but all other Moroi and dhampirs were questionable. Towns like this, and the inns within them, always seemed intended for couples on romantic getaways. My room was no exception. It had a California-king-size bed draped in a gauzy canopy, along with a heart-shaped Jacuzzi by the fireplace. It screamed love and romance, which brought Adrian back to my mind. I ignored it all as best I could and jotted out a quick text to Donna Stanton, a higher-ranking Alchemist who oversaw my assignment in Palm Springs. Arrived in Pocono Hollow. Checked into inn. Her response came quickly: Excellent. See you tomorrow. A second text followed a moment later: Lock your door. Stanton and one other Alchemist were invited to the wedding as well. But they were already on the East Coast and could simply travel here tomorrow. I envied them. Despite my uneasiness, I slept surprisingly well and dared to emerge for breakfast in the morning. I had no need to worry about Moroi, though. I was the only person eating in the sundrenched dining room. â€Å"How strange,† remarked the innkeeper as she delivered my coffee and eggs. â€Å"I know many of the guests were out late, but I thought at least a few might be here to eat.† Then, to emphasize the oddness of it all, she added, â€Å"After all, breakfast is complimentary.† The nocturnal Moroi, who were all still in bed, emboldened me to explore the town a little that day. Even though I'd prepared with boots and a heavy coat, the weather change was still a bit shocking. Palm Springs had made me soft. I soon called it an early day and spent the rest of the afternoon reading Ms. Terwilliger's book by the fire. I flew through the first section and even went on to the advanced one she'd told me to skip. Maybe it was the fact that it was forbidden, but I couldn't stop reading. The scope of what the book described was so gripping and consuming that I nearly jumped a foot in the air when I heard a knock at the door. I froze, wondering if some confused Moroi had mistaken my room for a friend's. Or, worse, for a feeder's. My phone suddenly chimed with a text message from Stanton: We're at your door. Sure enough, when I opened it, I found Stanton standing there – with Ian Jansen, an Alchemist the same age as me. His presence was a surprise. I hadn't seen Ian since he, Stanton, and I had been detained by Moroi for questioning in the escape of a dhampir fugitive. Back then, Ian had had an unwelcome crush on me. Judging from the dopey smile on his face when he saw me, things hadn't changed. I gestured them inside, making sure to lock the door when I closed it. Like me, both Alchemists had golden lily tattoos on their left cheeks. It was the sign of our order, tattoos infused with vampire blood that gave us quick healing and were magically designed to stop us from discussing Alchemist affairs with those who didn't know about them. Stanton arched an eyebrow at the heart-shaped tub and then settled into a chair by the fire. â€Å"No trouble getting here?† Aside from traveling with a good-looking vampire who thinks he's in love with me? â€Å"None,† I replied. I regarded Ian with a frown. â€Å"I didn't expect you to be here. I mean, I'm glad you are, but after last time . . .† I paused as something hit me. I looked around. â€Å"It's all of us. All of us that were, uh, under house arrest.† Stanton nodded. â€Å"It was decided that if we're going to foster good relations between our groups, the Moroi would start by making amends to the three of us specifically.† Ian scowled and crossed his arms, leaning against a wall. He had brown eyes, with matching brown hair that he wore in a neat haircut. â€Å"I don't want any ‘amends' from those monsters after what they did to us this summer. I can't even believe we're here! This place is crawling with them. Who knows what'll happen if one of them drinks too much champagne tonight and goes looking for a snack? Here we are, fresh humans.† I wanted to tell him that was ridiculous, but by Alchemist reasoning, it was a very legitimate concern. And, reminding myself that I didn't know most of the Moroi here, I realized perhaps his fears weren't that unfounded. â€Å"I guess we'll have to stick together,† I said. That was the wrong word choice, judging from Ian's happy smile. The Alchemists rarely had social time, and this was no exception. Stanton soon got us down to business, going over our plans for the wedding and what our purpose was here. A file folder provided background on Sonya and Mikhail, as though I knew nothing about them. My mission and history with Sonya were secret from other Alchemists, so, for Ian's sake, I had to nod along with everything as if it was as new to me as it was to him. â€Å"Festivities will probably last until almost sunrise,† said Stanton, gathering up her papers once she'd finished the briefing. â€Å"Ian and I will be departing then and will drop you off at the airport on our way out. You won't have to spend another night here.† Ian's face grew darkly protective. â€Å"You shouldn't have stayed here alone last night. You should have had someone to look after you.† â€Å"I can look after myself,† I snapped, a bit more harshly than I intended. Whether I liked it or not, Ms. Terwilliger's training had empowered me – literally and figuratively. That, and recent self-defense classes had taught me how to watch out for myself and my surroundings. Maybe Ian meant well, but I didn't like the idea of him – or anyone – thinking I needed coddling. â€Å"Miss Sage is quite well as you can see,† said Stanton dryly. Ian's crush had to be obvious to her, and it was equally obvious to me she had no use for such frivolity. Her gaze drifted to the window, which was glowing orange and red with the setting sun. â€Å"Well, then. It's nearly time. Shouldn't you be getting ready?† They had arrived in their dress clothes, but I still needed to prepare. They talked together while I got ready in the bathroom, but each time I emerged – to get a hairbrush or earrings or something else – I'd see Ian watching me with that sappy look. Great. This was not what I needed. The wedding was being held in the town's claim to fame: a huge, indoor garden that defied the wintry conditions outside. Sonya was a huge lover of plants and flowers, and this was pretty much her dream location for a wedding. The glass walls that composed the building were steamed from the drastic difference between inner and outer temperatures. The three of us stepped inside, into an entry area that was used to sell tickets during the greenhouse's normal operating hours. Here, at last, we found the Moroi that had been hidden to me in daylight. There were about two dozen of them milling around in this entryway, dressed in rich clothing and eerily beautiful with their slim, pale features. Some were ushers and other attendants, helping organize the event and guide guests into the atrium farther into the building. Most Moroi were simply ordinary guests stopping to sign the guest book or chat with friends and family they hadn't seen in a long time. Around the sides, dhampirs in neat black and white suits stood sentry, watchful for any sign of danger. Their presence reminded me of a far, far greater threat than some drunken Moroi mistaking us for feeders. Holding the event at night meant exposing us to attack by Strigoi. Strigoi were a very different type of vampire – so different, in fact, that I almost felt foolish being unnerved in this group. Strigoi were undead, made immortal by killing their victims, unlike the Moroi, who simply drank enough blood from human volunteers to sustain themselves. Strigoi were vicious, fast, and strong – and only came out at night. The sunlight that Moroi found simply uncomfortable was lethal to Strigoi. Strigoi made most of their kills on unwitting humans, but Moroi and dhampirs were their preferred food. An event like this – Moroi and dhampirs crammed into a small space – was practically like offering up a Strigoi buffet. Eyeing the guardian dhampirs, however, I knew any Strigoi would have a difficult task breaking into this event. Guardians trained hard their entire lives, honing skills to fight Strigoi. Seeing as the Moroi queen was attending this event, I suspected the security I'd seen so far didn't even begin to scratch the surface. A number of those gathered here stopped talking when they saw us. Not all Moroi knew about Alchemists or how we worked with their people. So, the attendance of three non-feeder humans was a bit of an oddity. Even those who knew about Alchemists were probably surprised to see us, given the formality of our relationship. Stanton was too experienced to let her unease show, but Ian openly made the Alchemist sign against evil as Moroi and dhampir eyes studied us. I did a pretty good job of keeping my cool but wished there was at least one familiar face in this crowd. â€Å"Miss Stanton?† A round-cheeked Moroi hurried forward. â€Å"I'm Colleen, the wedding coordinator. We spoke on the phone?† She extended a hand, and even tough Stanton hesitated before shaking it. â€Å"Yes, of course,† said Stanton, voice cool and proper. â€Å"Thank you for inviting us.† She introduced Ian and me. Colleen waved us toward the atrium's entry. â€Å"Come, come. We have your seats reserved. I'll take you there myself.† She swept us past the curious onlookers. As we entered the atrium, I stopped and momentarily forgot the vampires around us. The main greenhouse was magnificent. The ceiling was high and vaulted, made of that same steamed glass. A central area had been cleared and set with seats draped in flowers, very much like what you'd see at a human wedding. A dais at the front of the seating area was covered in more flowers and was obviously where the couple would take their vows. But it was the rest of the room that took my breath away. It was like we'd stepped into some tropical jungle. Trees and other plants heavy with brightly colored flowers lined the sides, filling the humid air with a perfume that was almost dizzying. Since there was no sunlight to light up the greenhouse, torches and candles had been cleverly placed throughout the greenery, casting a mysterious – yet still romantic – light on everything. I felt as though I'd stepped into some secret Amazonian ritual space. And of course, nearly hidden among the trees and bushes, black-clad guardians paced and kept watch on everything. Colleen led us to three seats on the right side of the seating area, marked with a RESERVED sign. They were about halfway back – not as esteemed a spot as family would get, of course, but enough to show that the Moroi thought highly of us and really were trying to undo the strained relationship caused by our detainment. â€Å"Can I get you anything?† Colleen asked. I realized now her exuberant energy was partially nervousness. We made her almost – but certainly not quite – as uneasy as she and the others made us. â€Å"Anything at all?† â€Å"We're fine,† said Stanton, speaking for all of us. â€Å"Thank you.† Colleen nodded eagerly. â€Å"Well, if you need anything – no matter how small – don't hesitate to ask. Simply grab one of the ushers, and they'll find me immediately.† She stood there a moment longer, wringing her hands. â€Å"I'd best check on the others. Remember – call if you need anything.† â€Å"What I need is to get out of here,† muttered Ian once she was gone. I said nothing, not trusting any response. If I reassured him we were safe, I'd be regarded with suspicion. Yet if I acted like our lives were in danger, I'd be lying. My views were somewhere in the middle of those extremes. Someone handed me a program, and Ian leaned a bit more closely than I would've liked in order to read over my shoulder. The program detailed a list of songs and readings as well as the members of the wedding party. I could tell from Ian's face that he was expecting to see â€Å"Unholy Bloodletting† right after the Corinthians reading. His next words affirmed as much. â€Å"They do a good job making it seem so normal, huh?† he asked, not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice. I was a bit surprised at how vicious his attitude was. I didn't remember him being quite this extreme last summer. â€Å"Like it's a real wedding or something.† He also wasn't regulating his volume, and I glanced around anxiously, making sure no one overheard. â€Å"So you're saying it's not a real wedding?† I whispered back. Ian shrugged but at least took the hint and lowered his voice. â€Å"With them? It doesn't matter. They don't have real families or real love. They're monsters.† It was ironic that he mentioned â€Å"real love† just then because at that moment, Adrian and his father were ushered to the opposite side of the atrium. Adrian was always a nice dresser, but I'd never seen him in anything so formal. I hated to admit it, but the look was great on him: a navy suit and vest that was nearly black paired with a pale blue shirt and blue-and-white-striped tie. It stood out from the more somber black and gray suits most men here were wearing, but not in an outlandish or tacky way. As I was studying him, Adrian glanced up and caught my eye. He smiled and gave me a small nod. I almost smiled back, but Stanton snapped me back to reality. I allowed him one last, lingering look, and then I turned away. â€Å"Mr. Jansen,† Stanton said in a stern voice. â€Å"Please keep your opinions to yourself. Regardless of their validity, we are guests here and will behave in a civilized way.† Ian nodded grudgingly, flushing slightly as he glanced in my direction – as if being so openly chastised might ruin his chances with me. He didn't have to worry, seeing as he didn't have any chance to begin with. Colleen sent an usher to check on us, and while he spoke to Stanton, Ian leaned toward me. â€Å"Am I the only one who thinks it's crazy that we're here?† He nodded toward Stanton. â€Å"She thinks this is okay but come on. They held us captive. It's unforgivable. Doesn't that make you mad?† I certainly hadn't liked it at the time, but I'd come to understand why it had happened. â€Å"I hate that they did that,† I lied, hoping it sounded convincing. â€Å"I'm angry every time I think of it.† Ian actually looked relieved enough to drop the topic. We sat in blessed silence as the atrium continued to fill up. By the time the ceremony was about ready to start, there must have been close to two hundred people in the room. I kept looking for familiar faces, but Adrian and his father were the only ones I knew. Then, at the last minute, a brightly clad figure came scurrying in. I groaned at the same time Stanton tsked with disapproval. Abe Mazur had just arrived. Whereas Adrian had made color work with formal wear in a stylish way, Abe used color to offend the sensibilities. To be fair, this was one of the more subdued ensembles I'd ever seen Abe don: a white suit with a bright, kiwi green shirt and paisley ascot. He wore his usual gold earrings, and the sheen of his black hair made me think he'd been hitting some hair oil pretty voraciously. Abe was a dubiously moral Moroi and also the father of my friend – and Adrian's former dhampir love – Rose Hathaway Abe made me nervous because I'd had some secret dealings with him in the past. He made Stanton nervous because he was a Moroi the Alchemists would never be able to control. Abe seated himself in the front row, earning a horrified look from Colleen the coordinator, who was supervising everything from the side of the room. My guess was that wasn't part of her seating chart. I heard a trumpet sound, and those sitting in the back suddenly fell to their knees. Like a wave, those seated in the rest of the rows began following suit. Stanton, Ian, and I all exchanged confused looks. Then I understood. â€Å"The queen,† I whispered. â€Å"The queen is coming.† I could see from Stanton's face that was not something she had considered. She had a split second to decide on protocol for this situation and how to maintain our â€Å"civilized† guest status. â€Å"We don't kneel,† she whispered back. â€Å"Stay where you are.† It was a valid call, seeing as we owed no fealty to the Moroi queen. Still, I felt flustered and conspicuous at being one of the only people in the room not kneeling. A moment later, a ringing voice declared, â€Å"Her Royal Majesty, Queen Vasilisa, first of her name.† Even Ian caught his breath in admiration as she entered. Vasilisa – or Lissa, as Adrian and Rose continually insisted I call her – was a picture of ethereal beauty. It was hard to believe she was the same age as me. She carried herself with a poise and regality that seemed ageless. Her tall, willowy body was graceful even among Moroi, and her platinum blond hair fell around her pale face like some otherworldly veil. Although dressed in a very modern lavender cocktail dress, she managed to wear it as though it were some grand Victorian ball gown. A black-haired guy with piercing blue eyes walked at her side. Her boyfriend, Christian Ozera, was always easy to spot, providing a dark contrast that worked perfectly with her lightness. Once the royal couple was seated in the front row – seeming very surprised to find Abe waiting for them there – the throng returned to their seats. An unseen cellist began to play, and everyone released a collective breath as we fell into the comfortable ritual of a wedding. â€Å"Amazing, isn't it?† Ian murmured in my ear. â€Å"How fragile her throne is. One slip, and they'd fall into chaos.† It was true, and it was why Jill's safety was so important. An old Moroi law said that a monarch had to possess one living family member in order to hold the throne. Jill was the only one left in Lissa's line. Those who opposed Lissa because of her age and beliefs had realized killing Jill would be easier than going after a queen. Many opposed the law and were trying to change it. In the meantime, the political fallout from Jill's assassination would be monumental. The Alchemists, whose job it was to keep the Moroi world hidden and protected , needed to prevent their society from falling into chaos. And on a slightly more personal level, I needed to prevent Jill's death because against all odds, I'd grown to care about her in the short time we'd been together. I shifted my mind from those grim thoughts and focused on the next stage of the wedding. Bridesmaids in deep green satin led the procession, and I wondered if Abe had been attempting to match them with his suit. If so, he'd failed. And there, I spotted my first friendly face, aside from Adrian. Rose Hathaway. It was no surprise she'd be a bridesmaid, seeing as she'd been responsible for the happy couple getting together. She'd inherited her father's dark hair and eyes and was the only dhampir among the bridesmaids. I didn't need to see the surprised looks of some of the guests to know that was pretty unorthodox. If Rose noticed or cared, she didn't show it. She walked proudly on, head held high and face glowing with happiness. With that humanlike dhampir appearance, she was shorter than her Moroi companions and had a more athletic build than the slender, small-chested Moroi. Rose had what was a very normal, very healthy body among humans. Yet when I compared myself to Moroi, I felt enormous. I knew it was ridiculous – especially since I wore a smaller size than Rose – but it was a hard feeling to shake. Adrian had recently had an unwelcome intervention with me, going so far as to claim I was on the verge of an eating disorder. I'd been outraged and told him to mind his own business . . . but ever since then, I'd taken a hard look at my behaviors. I now tried to eat more and had gained exactly one pound, something that had felt torturous and wrong until my friend Trey had recently commented that I was â€Å"looking pretty good these days.† It had reinforced the idea that a few more pounds wouldn't kill me and might actually be good for me. Not that I'd admit any of that to Adrian. We all stood when Sonya entered. She was glorious in ivory silk, with tiny white roses adorning her fiery hair. The queen had been magnificent, but there was a glow about Sonya that dwarfed even Lissa's beauty. Maybe it was just something inherent to brides. There was an air of love around Sonya that made her shine. I was surprised to feel a pang in my chest. Ian was probably disappointed when no bloodletting followed, but the ceremony was sweet and filled with emotion. I couldn't believe how stone-faced my Alchemist companions looked – I was on the verge of tears as the couple recited their vows. Even if Sonya and Mikhail hadn't been through hell to be together, this was the kind of ceremony that couldn't help but pull at the heartstrings. As I listened to them swear they'd love each other forever, I found my gaze drifting to Adrian. He didn't see me looking at him, but I could tell the ceremony was having the same effect on him. He was enraptured. It was a rare and sweet look for him, reminding me of the tortured artist that lived beneath the sarcasm. I liked that about Adrian – not the tortured part, but the way he could feel so deeply and then transform those emotions into art. I had feelings, just like anyone else, but that ability to express them into something creative was an area I would never, ever have expertise in. It wasn't in my nature. I sometimes gave him a hard time about his art, especially his more abstract pieces. Secretly, I regarded his skills with awe and loved the many facets of his personality. Meanwhile, I had to fight to keep my face blank, to look as though I was a normal Alchemist with no concern for unholy vampire events. Neither of my companions questioned me, so apparently I pulled it off. Maybe I had a future in poker. Sonya and Mikhail kissed, and the crowd erupted into cheers. They only got louder when he brazenly kissed her a second time – and then a third. The next stage of the festivities, the reception, was being held in the hotel where Adrian and most of the other Moroi were staying. Sonya and Mikhail left first, followed by the queen and other high-ranking royals. Stanton, Ian, and I waited patiently for our row to be dismissed so that we could line up for the limos that were ferrying guests the half mile to the hotel. It normally wouldn't have been that bad of a walk, even in heels, if not for the freezing temperature. Our turn came, and the three of us got into the back of a limo. â€Å"Now we just have to get through the reception,† said Ian as the driver shut our door. â€Å"At least we've got our own car.† Suddenly, the door opened, and Abe slid in beside me. â€Å"Room for one more?† He beamed at Stanton and me. â€Å"So nice to see you lovely ladies again. And you must be Ian. A pleasure.† Abe extended his hand. At first, it looked as though Ian wouldn't shake it, but a sharp look from Stanton dictated otherwise. Afterward, Ian kept looking at his hand as though he expected it to start smoking. The drive only took about five minutes, but I could tell from the other Alchemists' faces that it felt like five hours for them. â€Å"I think it's wonderful that you three were invited,† said Abe, perfectly at ease. â€Å"Considering how much we work together, we should have more of these pleasant interactions, don't you think? Perhaps you'll invite us to one of your weddings someday.† He winked at me. â€Å"I'm sure you have young men lining up for you.† Even Stanton couldn't keep a straight face. The look of horror in her expression said there were few things more profane than a vampire coming to a human wedding. She looked visibly relieved when we reached the hotel, but we weren't free of Abe yet. Some thoughtful person – probably Colleen – had put us at his table, probably thinking it would be nice to be seated with a Moroi we knew. Abe seemed to take great delight in the awkwardness his presence provided, but I had to admit, it was kind of refreshing to have someone who openly acknowledged the strained relations between us rather than pretending everything was okay. â€Å"There's no blood in that,† Abe told us when dinner was served. The three of us were hesitating over cutting into our chicken marsala, even me. â€Å"The only blood is in the drinks, and you have to actually ask for those at the bar. No one's going to sneak you something, and the feeders are being kept in another room.† Ian and Stanton still looked unconvinced. I decided I would be the brave one and began eating without any more hesitation. Maybe vampires were unnatural creatures, but they certainly had excellent taste in caterers. A moment later, the other Alchemists joined me, and even they had to admit the food was pretty good. When the plates were cleared, Ian bravely left for the bathroom, giving Stanton a brief opportunity to lean toward me for a hushed status report. â€Å"Everything was okay when you left?† Strained relationship or not, our mission to keep the Moroi stable hadn't changed. â€Å"Fine,† I said. â€Å"It's all quiet back there. No sign of trouble.† She didn't need to know about my own interpersonal drama. Keeping my tone casual, I asked, â€Å"Any news about the Warriors? Or Marcus Finch?† Stanton shook her head. â€Å"None. But I'll certainly let you know if we uncover anything.† I answered with a polite smile, seriously doubting her words. I hadn't always liked my Alchemist missions, but I'd spent most of my life following orders without question because I believed my superiors knew what was best and were acting for the greater good. Recent events now made me wonder about that. In thwarting some crazed vampire hunters who called themselves the Warriors of Light, Stanton had withheld information from me, citing that we were on a need-to-know basis. She had brushed it off, praising me for being a good Alchemist who understood such policy, but the incident had made me seethe with anger. I didn't want to be anyone's pawn. I could accept that fighting for a greater cause meant tough decisions, but I refused to be used or endangered because of â€Å"important† lies. I'd given my life over to the Alchemists, always believing what they did and told me was right. I'd thought I was important, that they would always look out for me. Now I didn't know. And yet . . . what could I do? I was sworn and sealed to the Alchemists. Whether I liked what they'd done to me or not, there was no way out, no way to question them. . . . At least, I'd thought that until I learned about Marcus Finch. I'd only found about him recently, after discovering he'd once crossed the Warriors of Light by helping a Moroi named Clarence. Although the Warriors usually only went after Strigoi, a rebel group had once decided to target Clarence. Marcus had stepped up and defended Clarence against the Warriors, convincing them to leave him alone. I'd almost believed Clarence was making up the story until I saw a picture of Marcus. And that was where things got really weird. Marcus seemed to have also crossed the Alchemists. In fact, Clarence and one of the Warriors had hinted that Marcus had at one time been an Alchemist – but was no longer. I hadn't believed it until I saw his picture. He didn't have a golden lily – but a large tribal-looking tattoo done in blue ink that was large enough to cover the golden one, if you were trying to hide it. Seeing that was life changing. I'd had no idea it was possible to tattoo over something so powerful. I certainly hadn't thought anyone could leave the Alchemists or that anyone would even want to, not with the way our purpose was drilled into us practically from birth. How could someone consider abandoning our missions? How could someone go rogue and just walk away from the Alchemists? What had happened that would make him want to do that? Had he had experiences similar to mine? And would they let him go? When I'd asked about him, Stanton claimed the Alchemists had no knowledge of Marcus, but I knew that was a lie. She didn't know I had his picture. His blue tattoo was big enough to cover a lily, and I'd seen metallic hints of one underneath, proving he had indeed once been one of us. And if he'd had the Alchemist mark, then they most certainly knew about him. They were covering him up, and that just intrigued me further. In fact, I was a little obsessed with him. Some instinct told me he was the key to my problems, that he could help me uncover the secrets and lies the Alchemists were telling me. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to find him. â€Å"It's important no one here knows what you're doing, so remember to be discreet,† Stanton added, like I needed to be reminded. A small crease appeared between her eyebrows. â€Å"I was particularly worried about that Ivashkov boy coming to this wedding. We can't let anyone know you two have more than a passing acquaintance. Little things like that could compromise our mission.† â€Å"Oh, no,† I said quickly. â€Å"You don't need to worry about Adrian. He understands how important our work is. He'd never do anything to compromise it.† Ian returned, and our discussion ended there. Dinner soon gave way to dancing. With the atmosphere more relaxed, a number of Moroi came over to introduce themselves to us. I felt nearly as popular as the bride and groom. Ian shook so many hands that he eventually became immune to it. And as uncomfortable as it was for my companions, I could tell this event was actually accomplishing its goal of smoothing relations between Alchemists and Moroi. Stanton and Ian were by no means ready to be best friends with any of them, but it was clear they were pleasantly surprised at how friendly and benign most of the guests seemed. â€Å"I'm glad we got this chance to be together,† Ian told me during a lull in our public relations. â€Å"It's so hard with our jobs, you know? I'm in St. Louis now, in the facility archives. Where do they have you?† Secrecy was key in Jill's protection. â€Å"I'm in the field, but I can't say where. You know how it is.† â€Å"Right, right. But you know, if you ever wanted to visit . . . I'd show you around.† His desperation was almost cute. â€Å"Like for a vacation?† â€Å"Well, yeah. Er, no.† He knew as well as I did that Alchemists didn't get vacations easily. â€Å"But, I mean, they're doing all the holiday services, you know. If you decide to come to one, well, let me know.† Alchemist priests always conducted special services around Christmas in our main facilities. Some Alchemist families made a point of going to them every year. I hadn't been to any in a while, not with the way my missions kept jumping around. â€Å"I'll keep that in mind.† There was a long pause, and his next words came haltingly. â€Å"I'd ask you to dance, you know. Except it wouldn't be right in this kind of unholy setting.† I gave him a stiff smile. â€Å"Of course. That, and we're here on business. We've got to focus on building good relationships with them.† Ian had started to respond when a familiar voice interrupted us. â€Å"Miss Sage?† We looked up and found Adrian standing above us, dashing in his shades of blue. His face was the picture of perfect politeness and restraint, meaning something disastrous was probably about to happen. â€Å"It's so nice to see you again,† he said. He spoke as though it had been a while, and I nodded in agreement. As I'd assured Stanton, Adrian knew too much familiarity between us might create a trail back to Jill. â€Å"Did I just hear you two talking about building good relationships?† I was tongue-tied, so Ian answered. â€Å"That's right. We're here to make things friendlier between our people.† His voice, however, was most decidedly unfriendly. Adrian nodded with all seriousness, like he hadn't noticed Ian's hostility. â€Å"I think it's a great idea. And I thought of something that would be an excellent gesture of our future together.† Adrian's expression was innocent, but there was a mischievous sparkle in his eye that I knew all too well. He held out his hand to me. â€Å"Would you like to dance?†