The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 29

I will not die – not again, Elena thought furiously as she writhed in pain, the invisible vise clamping down even harder on her. Bonnie fel to the grass, even paler than before, clutching her stomach in a mirror image of Elena. It cannot take me! And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the deafening roar ceased and the crushing pain lifted. Elena col apsed to the ground, air whooshing back into her lungs. It's finished grinding bones to make its bread, Elena thought semihysterical y, and almost giggled. Bonnie gasped loudly, letting out a smal sob. â€Å"What was that?† Elena asked her. Bonnie shook her head. â€Å"It felt like something was getting pul ed out of us,† she said, panting. â€Å"I felt it before, too, right before you showed up.† â€Å"That pul ing feeling.† Elena grimaced, her mind whirling. â€Å"I think it's the phantom. Damon says that it wants to drain our power. That must be how it does it.† Bonnie was staring at her, her mouth just a tiny bit open. Her pink tongue darted out and licked her lips. â€Å"Damon says?† she said. She frowned anxiously. â€Å"Damon's dead, Elena.† â€Å"No, he's alive. The star bal brought him back after we'd already left the Dark Moon. I found out after the phantom took you.† Bonnie made a little noise, a sort of eep! that reminded Elena of a bunny, of something soft and smal and surprised. Al the blood drained out of her face, leaving her usual y faint freckles vivid spots against the white of her cheeks. She pressed shaking hands to her mouth, staring at Elena with huge dark eyes. â€Å"Listen, Bonnie,† Elena said fiercely. â€Å"Nobody else knows this yet. Nobody but you and me, Bonnie. Damon wanted to keep it a secret until he could figure out the right way to come back. So we need to keep quiet about it.† Bonnie nodded, stil gaping. The color was rushing back into her cheeks, and she looked like she was caught between joy and total confusion. Glancing over her shoulder, Elena noticed that there was something in the grass at the foot of a rosebush beyond Bonnie, something motionless and white. A chil went through her as she was reminded of Caleb's body at the foot of the monument in the graveyard. â€Å"What's that?† she asked sharply. Bonnie's expression tipped over into confusion. Elena brushed past her and walked toward it, squinting in the sunlight. When she got close enough, Elena saw with amazement that it was Matt, lying stil and silent beneath the rosebush. A sprinkle of black petals was scattered across his chest. As she came close to him, Matt's eyes twitched – she could see them moving rapidly back and forth under the lids, as if he was having an intense dream – and then flew open as he took in a long, rattling gulp of air. His pale blue eyes met hers. â€Å"Elena!† He gasped. He hitched himself up onto his elbows and looked past her. â€Å"Bonnie! Thank God! Are you okay? Where are we?† â€Å"The phantom caught us, brought us to the Nether World, and is using us to make itself more powerful,† Elena said succinctly. â€Å"How do you feel?† â€Å"A little startled,† Matt joked in a weak voice. He looked around, then licked his lips nervously. â€Å"Huh, so this is the Nether World? It's nicer than I'd pictured from your descriptions. Shouldn't the sky be red? And where are al the vampires and demons?† He looked at Elena and Bonnie sternly. â€Å"Were you guys tel ing the truth about everything that happened to you here? Because this place seems pretty nice for a Hel dimension, what with al the roses and everything.† Elena stared at him. It's possible too many weird things have happened to us. Then she noticed the hint of panic on Matt's face. He wasn't unnatural y blase about what was going on; he was just being brave, whistling to keep up their spirits in this newest danger. â€Å"Wel , we wanted to impress you,† she joked back with a tremulous smile, then quickly got down to business. â€Å"What was going on when you were back home?† she asked him. â€Å"Um,† Matt said, â€Å"Stefan and Meredith were questioning Caleb about how he summoned the phantom.† â€Å"Caleb's not responsible for the phantom,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"It fol owed us home when we were here before. We have to get home right away so we can tel them they're dealing with one of the Original ones. It'l be much more difficult for us to get rid of than an ordinary one.† Matt looked at Bonnie questioningly. â€Å"How does she know this?† â€Å"Wel ,† Bonnie said, with a hint of the glee she always got from gossip, â€Å"apparently Damon told her. He's alive and she saw him!† So much for keeping Damon's secret, Bonnie, Elena thought, rol ing her eyes. Stil , it didn't real y matter if Matt knew. He wasn't the one Damon was keeping the secret from, and he wasn't likely to be able to tel Stefan anytime soon. Elena tuned out Matt's exclamations of wonder and Bonnie's explanations as she scanned the area around them. Sunshine. Rosebushes. Rosebushes. Sunshine. Grass. Clear blue sky. Al the same, in every direction. Wherever she looked, velvety black perfect blooms nodded serenely in a clear midday sun. The bushes were al the same, down to the number and positions of the roses on each one and the distances between them. Even the stems of grass were uniform – al stopping at the same height. The sun hadn't moved since she'd arrived. It al seemed like it should be lovely and relaxing, but after a few minutes the sameness became unnerving. â€Å"There was a gate,† she told Bonnie and Matt. â€Å"When we were looking into this field from the Gatehouse of the Seven Treasures. There was a way in from there, so there must be a way to get out to there. We just have to find it.† They had begun to clamber to their feet when, without warning, the sharp tugging pain struck again. Elena clutched her stomach. Bonnie lost her balance and fel back to a sitting position on the ground, her eyes clenched shut. Matt gave a choked-off exclamation and gasped. â€Å"What is that?† Elena waited for the pain to fade again before she answered him. Her knees were wobbling. She felt dizzy and sick. â€Å"Another reason we need to get out of here,† she said. â€Å"The phantom's using us to increase its power. I think it needs us here to do that. And if we don't find the gate soon, we might be too weak to make it home.† She looked around again, the uniformity almost dizzying. Each rosebush was centered in a smal circular bed of richlooking dark loam. Between these circles, the grass of the field was velvety smooth, like the lawn of an English manor house or a real y good golf course. â€Å"Okay,† Elena said, and took a deep, calming breath. â€Å"Let's spread out and look careful y. We'l stay about ten feet apart from one another and go from one end of this rose garden to the other, searching. Look around careful y – anything that's at al different from the rest of the field could be the clue we need to find the way out.† â€Å"We're going to search the whole field?† Bonnie asked, sounding dismayed. â€Å"It's huge.† â€Å"We'l just do one little bit at a time,† Elena said encouragingly. They started in a spread-out line, gazing intently back and forth, up and down. At first there was only the silence of focused concentration as they searched. There was no sign of a gate. Step by step through the field, nothing changed. Endless rows of identical rosebushes stretched in al directions, spaced about three feet from one another, enough room between them for one person to easily pass. The eternal midday sun beat down uncomfortably on the tops of their heads, and Elena wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. The scent of roses hung heavily in the warm air; at first Elena had found it pleasant, but now it was nauseating, like a too-sweet perfume. The perfect stalks of grass bent under her feet, then sprang up again, uncrushed, as if she had never passed. â€Å"I wish there were a breeze,† Bonnie complained. â€Å"But I don't think the wind ever blows here.† â€Å"This field must come to an end sometime,† Elena said desperately. â€Å"It can't just go on forever.† There was a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, though, that suggested to her that maybe it could go on forever. This wasn't her world, after al . The rules were different here. â€Å"So where's Damon now?† Bonnie asked suddenly. She wasn't looking at Elena. She was keeping up the same steady pace, the same careful, systematic gaze. But there was a note of strain in her voice, and Elena broke her own search to glance at her quickly. Then one possible answer to Bonnie's question hit Elena and she stopped dead. â€Å"That's it!† she said. â€Å"Bonnie, Matt, I think Damon might be here. Or not here, not in the rose garden, but somewhere in the Nether World, in the Dark Dimension.† They looked at her blankly. â€Å"Damon was going to try to come here to look for the phantom,† Elena explained. â€Å"He thought it fol owed us home from here when we came back to our own world, so this is probably where he'd start searching for its physical body. The last time I saw him, he told me that he thought he would be able to fight it better from here, where it came from. If he is here, maybe he can help us get back to Fel ‘s Church.† Damon, please be here somewhere. Please help us, she begged silently. Just then, something caught her eye. Ahead of them, between two rosebushes that looked just the same as any other two rosebushes in the garden, there was the slightest shift, the tiniest distortion. It looked like the heat shimmer that would sometimes appear over the highway on the hottest, most stil days of summer as the sun's rays bounced off the asphalt. No asphalt here to radiate back the sun's heat. But something had to be causing that shimmer. Unless she was imagining it. Were her eyes playing tricks on her, showing her a mirage among the rosebushes? â€Å"Do you see that?† she asked the others. â€Å"Over there, just a little to the right?† They stopped and peered careful y. â€Å"Maybe?† Bonnie said hesitantly. â€Å"I think so,† Matt said. â€Å"Like hot air rising, right?† â€Å"Right,† Elena said. She frowned, estimating the distance. Maybe fifteen feet. â€Å"We should take it at a run,† she said. â€Å"In case we have any trouble getting through. There might be some kind of barrier we have to break to get out. I don't think hesitating wil help us.† â€Å"Let's hold hands,† Bonnie suggested nervously. â€Å"I don't want to lose you guys.† Elena didn't take her eyes off the shimmer in the air. If she lost it, she'd never find it again, not with the sameness of everything in here. Once they got turned around, they'd never be able to tel this spot from any other. They al three took one another's hands, staring at the smal distortion that they hoped was a gate. Bonnie was in the middle and she clutched Elena's left hand with her thin, warm fingers. â€Å"One, two, three, go,† Bonnie said, and then they were running. They stumbled over the grass, wove between rosebushes. The space between the bushes was barely wide enough for three to run abreast, and a thorny branch caught in Elena's hair. She couldn't let go of Bonnie and she couldn't stop, so she just yanked her head forward despite the eye-wateringly painful tug on her hair and kept running, leaving a tangle of hair hanging from a bush behind her. Then they were at the shimmer between the bushes. Close up, it was even harder to see, and Elena would have doubted that they were at the right spot except for the change in the temperature. It might have looked like a heat shimmer from a distance, but it was as cold and bracing as a mountain lake, despite the warm sun right above them. â€Å"Don't stop!† Elena shouted. And they plunged into the coldness. In an instant, everything went black, as if someone had switched off the sun. Elena felt herself fal ing and clung desperately to Bonnie's hand. Damon! she cried silently. Help me!

Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn was one of the greatest female composers to have ever lived. She was born on November 14th, 1805 in Hamburg, Germany. Fanny was a romantic composer and, though only few were published in her life, she composed over 500 works including lieder and piano pieces (Stanton, 1984). Fanny was the oldest of four children and the sister of the well-known composer Felix Mendelssohn, with whom she was very close to (Estrella, 2011). Her grandfather was Moses Mendelssohn, a very popular philosopher of the time (Estrella, 2011). Fanny was extremely talented from childhood, but unfortunately was limited due to the negative attitudes toward women in musical professions of the time (Estrella, 2011). As a child, Fanny was trained on the piano by her mother. She once performed twenty four preludes from Johann Sebastian Bach’s â€Å"Well-tempered Clavier† from memory (Stanton, 1984). She was also influenced when she began to study under other composers. In 1816, Fanny began to compose with Marie Bigot in Paris. Later, in 1818, she went on to study composition under Carl Friedrich Zelter (Estrella, 2011). She wrote over 200 lieders, including the famous â€Å"Swan Song† (Estrella, 2011). She also wrote over 200 fugues, preludes, and sonatas. Later in her life, she began to write choral music, including the famous cantata â€Å"Oratorium nach den Bildern der Bibel† (Estrella, 2011). There are many interesting facts to be learned about Fanny as well. It is rumored that when Felix, her brother, played for Queen Victoria, the queen was very impressed. The Queen went on to say that her favorite was â€Å"Italien,† which Felix admitted was the work of Fanny (â€Å"Essentials of Music Composers†, 2011). Fanny was also extremely close to her brother, Felix. Felix idolized Fanny and would seek her out for musical advice and approval on his own compositions (FMH, 2009). In fact, when Fanny passed away in 1847, it is said that Felix later became depressed and passed away six months later (Estrella, 2011). In 1829, Fanny married Wilhelm Hensel, a successful artist and painter (Stanton, 1984). They had one son together, Sebastian, whom they named after Fanny’s favorite composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (Estrella, 2011). Fanny’s musical talent matched, if not surpassed that of her brother’s, but even if Fanny had wanted to pursue a career in music it would have been nearly impossible. Societal attitudes of the time prevented women from holding professions in music. Even her father discouraged her. In an 1820 letter to Fanny, he tells her that, while music could be a career for Felix, â€Å"for you it can and must only be an ornament, never the basis of your being and doing. FMH, 2009). † He encouraged her to take on the more â€Å"conventional† role of staying at home and bearing children. A year later, Fanny married Wilhelm Hensel. She did take on the acceptable role of women at the time, but still continued to compose over 400 more works (FMH, 2009). On May 1847, after rehearsing her brother’s cantata â€Å"Die erste Walpurgisnacht † for a performance, Fanny collapsed and passed away at the age of forty-one, due to a stroke. Fortunately, she lived long enough to experience changing attitudes towards women in musical professions, which aided in a number of her works having appeared in print, and thus allowed her to fulfill her goals of being seen as a serious composer (FMH, 2009). Since Fanny was one of the first female composers to ever have work published, she set a precedent for the emergence of women into a male-dominated profession (FMH, 2009). Much of Fanny’s work is unknown because most of her music was not published, but it is very apparent that Fanny Mendelssohn was and still is one of the most notable and talented female composers of all time.

Red Smith: More Than Just a Sportswriter Essay

There is truly no person that has ever deserved to be called a writer more than Red Smith. As a man who loved and believed in the art of writing, he once stated, â€Å"All you do is sit down and open a vein and bleed it out drop by drop† (Schmuhl xx). Even more, he was a hardworking and dedicated man that put his all into each piece of literature, despite the constant and restraining deadlines placed on him. His dedication was never more evident than when he stated, â€Å"I made up my mind that every time I sat down to a typewriter I would slash my veins and bleed and that I’d try to make each word dance† (Schmuhl xx). Furthermore, his work far exceeded the stigmas placed on sports writing at the time, since he cared more about the literature than the subject matter. This is all evident in his essay, â€Å"When I Was an Athlete,† in which he discusses what it was like to try to get out of gym class as a freshman in college. Red Smith’s background, experiences, and writing style propelled him to be one of the greatest sportswriters of all time. Red Smith’s background helps explain his current position as one of the best sportswriters to ever pick up a pen. Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1927 and wasted no time signing on as a reporter. After working for the Milwaukee Sentinel, Smith took a job as a sportswriter for the St. Louis Star-Times. He went on to write for the Philadelphia Record for nine years, which allowed him to further hone his skills as a writer. Finally in 1945, Smith began his critically acclaimed column, â€Å"Views of Sport† in the New York Herald Tribune. This would all culminate in his 1956 victory of the coveted Grantland Rice Memorial Award for outstanding sports writing and a Pulitzer Prize in 1976, which he claimed was one of the two achievements he would like to be remembered for according to Schmuhl. Smith ? ally joined the staff of the New York Times in 1972, where he continued writing his famed and beloved sports columns (Britannica Encyclopedia). Smith, considered to be one of the most literate and colorful sportswriters of all time, developed a keen writing style during his early years in the business. He delved into the worlds of football, baseball, boxing, and horse racing in his writing. According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, Smith’s â€Å"literary craftsmanship, humorous and iconoclastic approach, and deep knowledge of sports made him of the of the United States’ most popular sportswriters† and he managed to shake the heavy argon used in most sportswriting, while maintaining his popularity. He even became a consultant on usage for many dictionaries and encyclopedias due to his precise use of the English language (Britannica Encyclopedia). All these attributes led Smith to becoming a better writer. While Smith may have had an illustrious career writing about sports, that wasn’t even his ? rst passion. Smith put it plainly, â€Å"I never had any soaring ambition to be a sportswriter, per se. I wanted to be a newspaper man, and came to realize I didn’t really care which side of the paper I worked on† (Schmuhl xvi). Robert Schmuhl further shows that Red’s passion was rooted in more than just sports through the quote, â€Å"Journalism was his passion rather than sports, a viewpoint that never changed† (xvi). This passion for writing explains why his work is more literate than the norm for sports writing and deviates from the regular jargon found in newspapers. Furthermore, this helped him gain wide popularity, since his works weren’t just catered to people who watched sports. His work ethic also put in him in a position to become a great writer. Since he was a perfectionist who was always looking for the perfect phrase or metaphor, his columns could take upwards of six hours to write (Schmuhl xx). Smith was also one of the last reporters to leave the press box and when he wasn’t at work, he would spend long hours in his home of? ce, to which he referred to as â€Å"The Sweat Shop† or â€Å"The Torture Chamber† (Schmuhl xx). When Smith worked in Philadelphia, he was writing columns seven days a week and even ? ling event stories, and this work came with little relief as he worked for the Record for nine years (Schmuhl xvi). However, this work did not come without reward. Stanley Woodward, the sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune, called Smith with a job opportunity (Schmuhl xvi). Woodward viewed him as â€Å"the greatest of all sports writers, by which I mean he is better than all the ancients as well as the modems† (Schmuhl xvi). His move to New York allowed him to reach a wider audience and it wouldn’t be possible without his undying work ethic. While his background and experiences show how he was able to write luminously, his writing is what truly shot him to the top of his ? eld. The brilliance in his work was never more evident than his essay, â€Å"When I Was an Athlete†. In this essay, he pulled together all of the great things that Smith is known for, most notably his humor, strong sense of perspective, and use of metaphors and similes. The essay deviates from his norm of writing about other people in sports, and instead discusses his own sports experience. He offers an interesting story about how he didn’t like gym class his freshman year at Notre Dame University, so in order to not have to go to the classes, he joined the track team. Playing it off like he was a decent mile runner, he managed to acquire a spot on the team. When it was ? ally time to run at a meet, he ran so poorly that other runners were actually lapping him, and his merciful coach decided to cut him a break and tell him to hit the showers. Afterwards he decided to ditch track and not go to gym class either, but he was able to skate by with gym attendance due to the gym teacher’s negligence with record keeping. He was still marked down with good attendance by the time swimming came around. Swimming, unlike regular gym, wouldn’t have been an issue for Smith, but his friend didn’t know how to swim so he asked Red to help him out and take the test for him. Since the instructor didn’t know either of the two, Smith signed in with the wrong name and passed the test for his friend. However, when it was time for Red to take the test for himself, which he planned to take after everyone else was done; the swimming supervisor told him that he had already passed. Thus, Smith thought he wasn’t going to get any kind of credit for gym, but since the swim instructor gave over everyone on the roster for the swim tests, which gave everyone a passing grade, he was able to get away with not properly participating in gym class. Smith concludes his experience with freshman gym in â€Å"When I was an Athlete†, â€Å"So there I was. I had ducked out of gym class, I had failed as a runner, and I had not passed the swimming test in my own name. I had no right whatever to a gym credit but I got it because that instructor simply turned in all the names on his roster and everybody passed. I don’t know why I should still hate him. But I do. † (Schmuhl 57). Smith took a difficult experience and turned it into a humorous essay filled with similes, metaphors, and all the style a reader can ask for, proving that he truly is a prolific writer. The story and picture that Smith paints with his funny anecdote about his gym experiences show that he was able to transcend simple sports reporting and tell a story. His ability to capture the reader’s attention and take him or her on a journey is what set him aside from other journalists of his time. All of this goes back to the fact that he wanted to be a writer more than he wanted to be sports journalist. Moreover, this essay proves that he had a vast reach in his writing abilities and was not just stymied to the doldrums that sometimes encompass regular sports reporting. Smith’s ability to tell a story was one of the biggest reasons for his popularity and is what set him apart from the pack of sportswriters. Smith’s writing was also varied and interesting due to his allusion to others. Rather than simply beginning with his own thesis or introduction, in this particular essay, Smith decided to give a quote from another writer who wrote about a similar experience. This helps capture the reader’s attention and introduce the topic in a more interesting manner. The quote from his essay, â€Å"When I Was an Athlete†, demonstrates how he quoted someone else to introduce his own topic: â€Å"‘Also, in order to pass gymnasium (and you had to pass it to graduate), you had to learn to swim if you didn’t know how. I don’t like the swimming pool, I didn’t like swimming, and I didn’t like the swimming instructor, and after all these years, I still don’t. I never swam, but I passed my gym work anyway, by having another student give my gymnasium number (978) and swim across the pool in my place. ’† (Schmuhl 54). This connection to James Thurber’s quote provides a nice and smooth way to get into his topic. Smith even goes as far as to discuss how the quote gave way to this piece, â€Å"I don’t know how many times I read this passage in James Thurber’s account of his hard times at Ohio State before I related it to my own trials as a freshman at Notre Dame† (Schmuhl 54). This insight gives readers more to sink their teeth into and perpetuates Smith’s strengths as a writer. Red Smith also went off on brief tangents, which allowed him to establish a conversational voice and make his writing more interesting. At multiple times in this essay, Smith began to discuss other experiences that didn’t directly correspond with the original subject matter. For example, when he was discussing his experience at his track meet, he told the reader about how some people were laughing in the stands. With the conversational transition of â€Å"perhaps I should explain that† he began to discuss how close he was to the people he roomed with and then brought his original story back with the transition â€Å"the point is† (Schmuhl 55). This provides yet another interesting story about his life and it gives readers an opportunity to better understand the situation, but more importantly it allows readers to feel like they are in a conversation because of the voice and tone created by Smith. Smith also deviated from the central issue when he began to discuss his former experiences with swimming when he was much younger as he writes, â€Å"I’d been swimming since I was six or seven. When I was a kid in Green Bay, Wisconsin it was a point of pride to be the first chump in the water in any year. † (Schmuhl 56). Here he didn’t provide the same types of transitions, which allowed the reader to understand the change in topic. After giving some background information, Smith then goes back to his story and begin to discuss how he took the swimming test for his friend. These tangents allow for a more interesting and involved reading experience. Smith was also a master at using literary devices to paint a vivid picture and to make his writing more interesting. As James Kilpatrick said, â€Å"He had a nice hand for simile and metaphor,† and this essay was no different (Schmuhl 45). However, not only did Smith bring in similes and metaphors, he also made them humorous, which makes the picture he paints with his words all the more interesting. An example that truly embodies Red Smith is the quote from â€Å"When I Was an Athlete† in which he combines his famous use of similes and humor, â€Å"Then, faced with the intolerable prospect of resuming my place in the formation and, on command, rising on my toes and flapping my arms like a buzzard trying to take off, I read the fine print in the college catalogue† (Schmuhl 54). Furthermore, he was able to use personification to bring the reader into his own mind and perception of events. He used the phrase â€Å"the gun barked† to describe how his race started at the meet (Schmuhl 55). This shows how he didn’t exactly want to be there and even how he felt out of place. It makes the reader feel as though he was being forced to start the race because when a person is barked at, it doesn’t bring up pleasant thoughts. His uses of metaphors, similes, and personification all bring more flare to his writing and bring people into the situation. As noted by James Kilpatrick, Red Smith had a keen sense of perspective in his writing (Schmuhl 45). Perhaps this is never more evident than in his essay, â€Å"When I Was an Athlete†. Throughout the entire essay, Smith gives extensive point of view and thoughts from his own perspective. The readers get a sense that they are in Smith’s shoes going through the experience. Smith exemplifies his skill for showing the reader the situation from his own eyes when he discusses his run at the meet, â€Å"For a while I was alone. Then the short-handicap runners moved up, ran with me briefly, and went on. Pretty soon Kennedy and Nulty passed, and I was alone again. But not for long. Here ame the eager ones pouring past, with a full lap on me. † (Schmuhl 55). Through this quote it is clear that Smith was a master at using perspective to make the reader see and feel the situation as he did. Smith’s use of perspective makes his essays more enjoyable to read and was also a factor for Smith transcending the simplicities of sports reporting and becoming a tremendous writer. Smith also gave extensive detail in his writing. His detail also allowed the reader to jump into the scene with Smith and feel the same things, while painting a clearer picture of the events. The quote of, â€Å"For lunch I had pork chops with applesauce, mashed potatoes, green peas, salad, several glasses of milk, and pie a la mode,† shows how Smith’s vivid memory gave the reader more information about the situation (Schmuhl 55). However, all these details about the food he ate weren’t quite as frivolous as they may have seemed, since he would later bring it up that he tasted the food as he struggled through his run and later became sick and threw up his extravagant lunch. This shows Smith’s genius in his writing because he gave information that may seem excessive at first, but later the reader is reminded of its importance. Smith’s attention to detail propelled him to the top of the sportswriting field. Red Smith was a great writer and critically acclaimed as one of the best of all time. His numerous awards testify to his long lasting excellence as more than just a sports journalist, but as a writer in every sense of the word. None of it would be possible if it weren’t for his background and ability to produce great works such as â€Å"When I Was an Athlete†. Intangibles that range from his work ethic all the way to his ability to use the perfect metaphors make him one of the greatest writers to ever grace a piece of paper.

Affect of team sport on children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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The World in which You Live Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The World in which You Live - Essay Example When Orwell called for international control over nuclear activities back in 1945 and how this had been addressed since then, nothing much had ever really changed. This is why I am admittedly among those who have a pessimistic view of the future. We are as dumbfounded today as we are before of the reality that nuclear warfare may bring. Of course, gone are the days of the Cold War with Russia and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR had been torn to pieces. The world is still divided according to economic prowess coupled by military sophistication between the rich and the poor. Day by day this divide is only growing and growing but the growth of China will bring forth a very exciting development. This is something that had been unwittingly mentioned by Orwell, â€Å"The haggling as to where the frontiers are to be drawn is still going on, and will continue for some years, and the third of the three super-states--East Asia, dominated by China--is still potential rat her than actual† (par. 7). Aside from aspects within the control of man, there is also the natural that proves to be a more pressing problem. Preparation is the key as there are various threats that proliferate in man’s everyday existence. The incessant disasters that have struck recently are only the beginning of what is in store in the coming years.

Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management - Research Paper Example Each department may have some specific functions assigned to them. For example, IT department always focus more on the IT functions of the company whereas HR department concentrates on recruitment, retention and development of manpower necessary for the organization. Because of the huge differences in the nature of the jobs undertaken, each department may work in a particular manner within the organizational framework. In other words, it is difficult for the HR department to function same way like the IT department. Management styles and work schedules in both these departments could be different even though these departments are functioning in the same organization. This paper briefly analyses the differences between managing an IT department and a HR/Personnel department in an organization. According to Kahuna (n. d), â€Å"an IT department is just like an army, which needs a good and functional command system†. In his opinion, apart from the talented employees, an IT department requires suitable leadership that is capable of completing the job in time. He has also pointed out that â€Å"slapping a title on someone and thrusting them into fire is no more effective in leading employees in an IT department (Kahuna, p.1). Many of the IT professionals, working in IT departments may have good technical skills, but many of them don’t have good management skills. It is not necessary that a good computer programmer or a system administrator might be a good manager. Organizations, when they appoint professionals for the IT department, focus only on the technical skills of the person rather than his management skills. But, most of the IT jobs require good management skills also apart from the technical skills. For example, teamwork is encouraged in IT departments nowadays. In order to function effectively in a team, an IT professional needs good

Read-only Participants Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Read-only Participants - Article Example From the report it is clear that some of the researches that show the indispensable nature of constant communication when undertaking online modules. As such, the study concluded that professors and facilitators who participates and interacts with online scholars prevent them from frustrations and abandoning their course. Additionally, better cognitive results occur when learners engage and form an implicit community of learners. The growth of a community majorly depends on online interaction with their facilitator and peers. Learner perseverance, satisfaction, and cognitive outcomes characterize the creation of a virtual learning community. As the essay stresses modules requiring discussion forums permit a studious proactive contact with the professor and fellow scholars. In this case, this kind of learning enriches and facilitates the online teaching and learning environment by generating queries and replies of elevated critical thinking skills. The article, furthermore, identifies the third feature that we must regard when improving communication skills during online courses forums. In this, creating rapport and wholesome interaction enhances the online learning environment. This leads to a supportive interaction that provides substantial feedbacks to the questions formulated by instructors and fellow scholars. The article points out serious repercussions due to lack of effective communication within the online section. In this case, the research indicates the module completion of the module will face challenges that will bring down the grade.

Associated Effects of Beach Grooming on Intertidal Organisms Essay

Associated Effects of Beach Grooming on Intertidal Organisms - Essay Example The importance of measuring the macrofauna that is evident inside large kelp wracks ensures the survival or extinction of many species that flourish within the macrofauna community. Such specimens as hopper, work+Poly and crab are the subject of this paper and their capacity to flourish in numbers in either a groomed or ungroomed sandy beach. The kelp wracks provide an immense macro- and micro-organism breading ground along with sustainable features necessary to fulfill their existence. These numbers were inputted via t-test and produced outputs for their mean variance and their percentages equivalent to the groomed and ungroomed beach. The first of two samples was taken in the early morning prior to any grooming and a second sample was completed in the early afternoon along the transects that ran perpendicular to the line formed by the water's edge. Each sample consisted of a shovel full of sand and the organisms in it. The sand was then sieved in order to count all the organisms in each of the samples and was recorded on the data sheet. The t-tests and analysis/graphs are at the end of this report. There was some wrack present in the first sample and very little in the second sample. The transect continued on for the prescribed 30m long zone and 5m shoreward of the berm and was run down towards the water. Each sample was taken at every 2-meter transect line and to preserve the area after testing, each hole was filled in after data was collected. Discussion The goal of this research is to enter into discussion the three areas respecting the sandy beach ecosystem. These include patterns of Zonation, density and species diversity and the association of sandy beach invertebrate in ungroomed and groomed sand beaches. Pattern of Zonation Dahl (1952) identified three different zones attributed to the "amount of tidal inundation: 1) subterrestial fringe (Talitrid-Ocypodid belt); midlittoral zone (Cirolanid isopods); and the sub-littoral fringe (rich and varied fauna)" (Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Sandy Beaches, 2006). It has been found that an additional zone should be added for beaches in central California, called "swash zone" (MBNMS, 2006) and the following figure is relative to the fauna zone as outlined by Dahl: Figure 1. Faunal zonation on the Moss Landing beach. From Oakden and Nybakken 1977. source: http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov/sitechar/images/beachf3.gif Many of the meiofauna species which inhabit the interstitial spaces between the sand grains are impacted by the actual sand grain size and depending on the tidal fluctuations that are present to either remove large or small parts of the tidal silt. This impacts the collectivity of the interstitial fauna. Many people who don't understand the communities which are present within both the silt layers and the content of the sand for feeding and breeding purposes need to understand that beach grooming has a large ecological impact on the macrofauna culture. Measure the association of sandy beach invertebrates and kelp wrack A study completed by the National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park measured the invertebrates found within the kelp wrack in 1999 in samplings found at nine different sites characteristic of "core transects to measure infauna, point-contact transect to measure macrophyte wrack" in an effort to gauge the level of these communities.

Analysis of Nike shoes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analysis of Nike shoes - Research Paper Example either orally introduced or written. In the following three scenarios, the terms may be inferred from a contract. (i) In fact- where the contract consists of no specific term but the signatories to contract must have in mind to be included in the same (ii) By law – the provisions contained in Sale of Goods Act 1979 (SOGA). (iii) BY customs followed by the contracting parties. Thus , there exists an implied term of any sale of product contract between a consumer and a commercial seller or between two commercial sellers themselves , that as per S.14 of SOGA , products sold are of reasonably suitable for their purpose and of satisfactory quality and as per S.1 of SOGA, products adhere with any available sample or any description. It is to be observed that a seller will be held accountable for infringement of these implicit terms. (Popat 2010: 319). Under SOGA, if a defective product has been supplied, then it would result in the basic infringement of contract and hence, the buyer can either seek damages or repayment of purchase price or to reject the product itself. As per s.14 of SOGA, the product should of satisfactory quality. ... In â€Å"Camell Laird & Co v The Manganese Bronze and Brass Co [1934] 402,† it was held that for supply of defective products, the seller was accountable under S.14 (1) of SOGA. (Popat 2010:391). In â€Å"Abouzaid v Mothercare (UK) Ltd†, claim for defective product was successful as the Court of Appeal held that product supplied was below the standard of safety of the public and hence was entitled to claim damages under CPA. However, in this case, the claim under tort of negligence was failed because it was not rationally predictable that the product would have caused such a harm or injury. (Rush & Ottley 2006:291). A consumer may bring a claim against supply of a defective product against the seller who sold the goods and in normal parlance, the seller of the products will claim from the manufacturer or the distributor. A single consumer can initiate such a claim individually and where a large number of consumers are affected, then group claim can be made. Normally, as there is no direct contractual remedy is available against the manufacturer for a consumer as there is no direct privity of contract between a consumer and the distributor or the manufacturer. Unless, if there is a contract of guarantee issued by the manufacturer, the consumer has no direct contractual remedy from a manufacturer or a distributor. If a manufacturer gives a guarantee, then it will be considered as a separate contract and will be implemented against the manufacturer. Further, the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 regulate any such guarantees. (Popat 2010:319). CONCLUSION It is advised that Matt’s parent has the right to demand damages or refund of money paid for Nike shoes from

Military Sciences 4 Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Military Sciences 4 Questions - Essay Example On the other side, the interim government in Afghanistan was helpless because it was facing a number of internal and external problems like corruption, illegal trade of opium, underdeveloped economy and security breach. At the same time, Taliban was seeking cooperation with al-Qaida and to subdue the interim government in Afghanistan. In National Defense Strategy document, the defense secretary (2008) makes clear that â€Å"Violent extremist movements such as al-Qaeda and its associates comprise a complex and urgent challenge† (p.2). As the Middle East (say, especially Afghanistan) is considered as the core of international terrorist plots, the national interest of the United States is at risk in this area. To be specific, the 9/11 incident proves that al-Qaida in Afghanistan is behind the global spread of terrorism. So, the U.S. government must deal with the grass root level reason behind the global spread of terrorism. Almost all the world nations face the problem of terrori sm and religious fundamentalism. In addition, the problem of terrorism can be dealt with military involvement because other ways prove ineffective. Our military involvement supports the vital national interest because the ultimate aim of the US forces in Afghanistan is to interrupt and dismantle the international terrorist groups which operate from Afghanistan. ... So, one can easily identify that the situation in Afghanistan is worse and US security is at risk. Besides, military involvement in this area aims to keep pressure upon the terrorist groups like Taliban and al-Qaida. In short, military involvement in Afghanistan is unavoidable because it supports the vital national interest of the United States. 2. The Department of Defense (DoD)’s tendency to focus on conventional conflicts is based upon the Cold War strategy. One can easily identify that this strategy is not practical and is impossible to implement in irregular wars. For instance, the international terrorist groups make use of irregular warfare and conventional warfare based upon military power cannot withstand the same. So, the 2008 National Defense Strategy (NDS) is vital to counterbalance DoD’s tendency to focus on conventional conflicts. Within this context, NDS aims to implement a number of measures. One can see that the NDS provides ample importance to long-term effort by confronting the challenges faced by conventional warfare, which proved to be ineffective. From a different angle of view, NDS’s aim to adopt innovation into the context of contingency planning, development of different forces, and intelligence work are utmost important to amalgamate innovation into DoD. In National Defense Strategy document, the defense secretary (2008) makes clear that â€Å"We must tailor deterrence to fit particular actors, situations, and forms of warfare† (p.12). Besides, the NDS is aware of the importance of irregular warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, irregular warfare tactics and partnership can be helpful to win wars in the Middle Eastern regions. One can see that NDS put forth innovative ideas to equip the security