Football Academies Child protection Essay

Key factors of an enhanced Centre of Excellence and Football Academies  Child protection  All staff to be screened and registered  Each centre to designate a member of staff responsible form child  Protection and awareness training  Development of child protection policy  Limitation on numbers of Centres of excellence per club  Grievance procedure  Agreed football calendar including 36 in-service training for all staff  Staff to be required to maintain personal CPD portfolios  Guide lines to parents with regard to registration, educational needs etc  Player coach ratios  Mandatory coaching for goal keepers. PROVISIONS FOR MALE AND FEMALE COMPETITORS Football has always been the people’s game; because anyone can play it almost anywhere- you just need a ball and some friends. For anyone wanting to play football seriously there are opportunities to take part in football across the country. The levels of football opportunities available will vary from 5a-side leagues played indoor or outdoor after work right up to 11a-side competitive leagues played usually at weekends.  Football is now officially the biggest women’s and girls sport in England. Research has shown that girls who want to play sport want to play football but just because you didn’t play when you were young doesn’t mean you can’t play now. There are over 800 women’s teams playing 11a-side competitive football every week throughout the August-May season. One of the reasons people get involved is because the equipment is so cheap. All you need a pair of shin pads, a pair of boots and the club usually supply the kit. If you want to get involved in football call the local rate line which will tell you of the teams available in your area and how you can join them. Call 0845 310 8555. PROVISIONS FOR DISABLED PARTICIPANTS There are currently six England squads for disabled participants. These are:  Blind-these people are classified according to their level of sight. Game is played on a solid surface. The football contains ball bearings so the players can hear the ball  Partially sighted-Players who have little sight in their eyes. Games played indoors with a size 4 ball, which doesn’t bounce, as much as the normal ones Deaf and hearing impaired-Average hearing loss of 55 decibels in the better ear. Players must not wear hearing aids  Cerebral palsy-Players must be ambulant. 7a-side, 2 halves of 30 mins  Learning disabilities- players must have an intellectual disability (IQ below 75)  Amputee-outfield either above or below the knee single amputees and goalkeepers are single arm amputees  The teams all receive official England kit, a physio a fully trained technical adviser and money towards travel costs for attending European and World champion ships.  The aim of this is to see EVERYONE have the chance to play football even if they have a disability it doesn’t stop them taking part in a separate game. CONCLUSION Overall I believe that the F.A. is doing nearly everything in its power to develop the game of football throughout the country and give just about everyone that wants a chance to play the option to participate. They are doing this through their initiatives for disabled and normal players and have made rule adaptations to fit their level sport. Although they are doing a lot, I believe they could do more by developing more courses for people who want to get involved with the more teaching side of football and make the option open for anyone who wants to attend a course i.e. coaching or referees easy access to areas close to home where they can participate.

Quikr vs Olx

SWOT ANALYSIS TEMPLATE Before you sit down to plan the future of your club’s marketing activities, you need to take stock of where your club is now and why you are there. One useful way to get a clear picture of where your club currently sits is by using a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. By using the SWOT analysis you can identify where your club stands in the market, which provides a useful launch pad for making future marketing plans. Take the time to work through the SWOT process carefully and you will have a clearer idea of: The things your club does well, and the things you need to improve on (strengths and opportunities). †¢ What types of competition exist for your club and which ones can be defended (strengths and threats) †¢ Whether your club needs to change the product itself to protect from outside influences (weaknesses and threats) †¢ Which issues your club needs to make as its priorities (weaknesses a nd opportunities). Strengths When you look at the strengths, concentrate on the club itself and whether it can achieve the outcomes you want.Examples of strengths include: †¢ Strong financial base. †¢ Strong local need for your product, many new members, etc. †¢ Group of skilled volunteers. †¢ Support from local businesses, politicians, etc. †¢ Well-equipped clubhouse. †¢ Committee is well-structured, enthusiastic, capable, etc. Weaknesses Weaknesses often appear as the direct opposite of the strengths listed above and include: †¢ Weak financial base. †¢ Diminishing need or desire for your product, fewer new members, etc. †¢ Few volunteers. †¢ No support from local businesses, politicians, etc. Out of date ill equipped clubhouse. †¢ Committee is poorly structured, overworked, disinterested, etc. Opportunities Opportunities refer to the possibilities of new growth because of the changes in the external environment and can include such things as: †¢ Promotion of sport by government authorities, e. g. renewed ‘Push Play† campaign. †¢ New population of potential users moving into the area, e. g. with children. †¢ Grants by local and national government to encourage sport and recreation. †¢ Organisations looking to sponsor local activities. Seasonal interest in particular sports, e. g cricket in summer, football in winter. †¢ International or national interests the activity your club is involved in, e. g Commonwealth or Olympic Games. †¢ Promotion of your activity to a different age group or gender e. g. lawn bowls to teenagers, rugby to girls. Threats As with strengths and weaknesses, the threats are often very similar to the opportunities. Examples of threats include: †¢ Traditional sponsors of sport and recreation changing the way they spend their sponsorship dollars. Seasonal interest in particular sports or activities which is in direct competition with your o wn, e. g. competing codes of Rugby. †¢ Promotion of sport to different age groups or gender which competes with your club’s interest e. g. ballet and soccer for girls. †¢ Other interests including television, video games, school activities, part-time work for teenagers, and so on. †¢ Time related issues for example, competition for volunteers time, longer working hours, both parents working – children unable to attend, limited available free time for both children and parents. Other organisations with better facilities. †¢ Lack of knowledge and interest in your product. A SWOT Analysis should be drawn up to look like this: |Internal |STRENGTHS |WEAKNESSES | |Factors |Vision : simple and quick |Not having international experience, therefore diversification | |(Things about |Strong funding |might be a problem at later stage. |your club) |Experienced partners: Norwest Venture Partners brings in a lot of |No acquisition till date as a result OLX has s urpassed quikr. | | |experience |Employee base is very low: Need to increase the sales force and| | |Horizontal rather than vertical |target other opportunity to increase market share. | |Customer Centric, not just technology centric : Free missed call | | | |Investment in analytics, mobile platforms | | |External |OPPORTUNITIES |THREATS | |Factors |Internet penetration(10%) is bound to increase |Low entry barrier | |(Things |Internet surfing through mobiles has surpassed PC. Competitors have international experience and deep pockets. | |outside of |Mobile base is huge and recently they have introduced a missed call |Zero switching cost. | |your club) |feature. |Intense Competiton | | |Cloud computing (SaaS, PaaS) could be useful in reducing the cost. | | | |Network Effects | | It’s a great idea to draw this up on a whiteboard or large piece of paper and use as a brainstorming base at a committee meeting.

Benefits and limitations of airport security scanners1 Essay

Benefits and limitations of airport security scanners Introduction                   The security and welfare of people is very important in a society. In order to ensure that people are secure and safe, some measures may be employed although they may be controversial. The example of airport security scans represents such a circumstance. The full body scanners are used detect objects that are on the body of an individual for security reasons without requiring the individual to remove their clothes or have physical contact with the device. Statistics indicate that as of December 2013 an estimated 740 scanners (full body scanners) these devices were in use at more than 150 airports in the United States (TSA). They are effective in identifying suspicious objects that a person may be carrying. However, there are concerns whether use of the full body actual really is a necessary precaution or a practice that invades the privacy of travelers.                   The devices are effective in detecting suspicious objects that may be concealed including both metallic and non-metallic objects. As opposed to metal detectors which identify objects that are made of metallic materials, the scanners used in airports detect both metal and non-metallic objects. They uncover objects that a physical pat-down would reveal but fail to be identified by a metal detector such as chemical explosives and plastic explosives. The device therefore performs the function of both a metal detector and a physical pat-down in revealing various dangerous devices at airports. People who have sinister motives or who desire to break the law by moving illegal items through airports would therefore not be able to succeed in perpetuating their plans because of the presence of the scanners. The primary objective of the scanners is hence achieved and safety of passengers as well as national security is secured.                   The fact that it performs the duties of both a physical pat-down and a metal detector means that the device facilitates time saving and is cost effective (TSA). Regardless of the high costs incurred in purchasing and installing it, the device would replace two security guards responsible for physical pat-downs (one guard for each gender). The airport using the device would hence save on wages for two people and less time would be consumed compared to the time used during a physical pat-down.                   Physical pat-downs are considered by various people to be intrusive and full body scanners provide a better alternative that is not as intrusive as pat-downs and that is more thorough. However, since they still examine the body of an individual in-depth, they still make people to feel that their privacy has been invaded. In order to further protect the privacy of people undergoing such scans, screeners are located in a different room from the individual where they can view images without exposing the identity of the person undergoing the scan (Tessler). In addition, security officers entering the viewing room are not allowed to enter with mobile phones, cameras or any gadgets that can take images and store or transmit them (Tessler). Still, fears remain that such images may be stored and used in other platforms such as uploading them to the internet. Authorities provide counterarguments such as the assertion that functions that are responsible for storag e or transmission are not active but rather that they are disabled prior to the installation of these devices in airports. This, though, does not overrule the possibility of technicians managing to enable such functions. Furthermore, it is not quite clear the reason behind inclusion of such functions in the device yet they get disabled prior to installation.                   The costly nature of full body scanners is a major limitation that raises the costs of startup for people wishing to enter the aviation industry. Much as they are costly, they fail to reveal objects that are hidden in body cavities and are not capable of revealing objects that are of low density. It is therefore apparent that full body scanner despite of the significant popularity they have gained in combating security threats and illegal practices are incapable of combating drug smuggling that is executed through concealment of drugs in body cavities (Tessler).                   Full body scanners create a potential for harassment or embarrassment of specific groups of people. The device can detect medical equipment that may be connected to body parts such as catheters and it may necessitate further examination to confirm the identity of the object detected (Gartner et al). This would embarrass the victim who would feel that they have been singled out because of their medical condition. Transgender people are also susceptible to such embarrassment as the scanners are capable of detecting prosthetics such as testicles and breasts and the need may arise to further examine individuals whose images indicate the presence of both breasts and testicles as one of the two body features may be an improvised tool to conceal weapons, drugs or other illegal objects or objects not allowed through airport security (Gartner et al). Conclusion                   Full body scanners are recommended to improve airport security and only few loopholes are existent like the inability to detect objects in body cavities. Although much criticism has been directed at the devices, much of it is only based on assumptions and not factual information. On the contrary, the benefits of the device are validated by real life examples therefore full body scanners are largely beneficial. References Gartner M., Heyl M., Holstein A. and Thewalt A. What can the ‘naked’ scanner really see? Bild. 22 July 2010. Web. 8 April 2014 Tessler, Joelle. Airport full-body scanners have benefits, and limits. The Denver Post. 31 December 2009. Web. 8 April 2014 Transportation Security Administration, TSA. Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). 12 February 2014. Web. 8 April 2014 Source document

AIG Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

AIG - Case Study Example The risk management division at AIG knew very well of the risks they were taking but still they carried on with this unstable, fraudulent yet lucrative opportunity. In the end, the company almost got to the brink of bankruptcy. Greed and negligence led AIG to be a part of the derivative business. The derivatives are risky investments and many wise investors avoid these instruments because of their highly unpredictable nature as well as the loopholes for exploiting them through scams and frauds. This payment comes in the form of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). Before the crisis began these instruments were in huge demand because they were offering higher returns than other bonds that had the same credit ratings. Therefore, speculators as well as investors heavily purchase these instruments from insurers such as AIG. Before the crisis the US financial market was going through bullish trends and it appeared improbable for bond issuers to go through bankruptcy (Xinzi, 2013). Hence, CDS seemed the most lucrative selling financial tools for collecting premiums. By the end of 2007 the CDS contract grew to about $60 trillion and there was no doubt that when the times were good CDS were generating huge reve nues for AIG (Xinzi, 2013). In addition, many banks and underwriters of CDS covered their short positions in one instrument while staying long in other CDS (Xinzi, 2013). AIG did not play on both sides of the trade (Xinzi, 2013). The unethical side of AIGs derivative business was not to fully cover the insurance it was providing. When the risk management is underwriting the risks they should keep track of the companys resources in case they have to pay the claim. The company was not oblivion about the risky nature of the securities it was insuring. The management only considered the quarterly premium that kept coming in. In other words AIG failed

Researched Personal Argument on pro-hunting Essay

Researched Personal Argument on pro-hunting - Essay Example Their argument with regard to this controversial activity of hunting is that a legal solution will ensure that people will no longer rely on hunting for a living. This will have been as a result of it being made impossible to continue hunting under animal protection by legal intervention. Thus, forbidding hunting using legal channels, as is being seen from the point of view of the urban onlookers, is seen to shed light to a brighter future of the wild animals. This is, especially, for those animals which have been hunting targets for the human beings. There exists, also, another perception which is from a slightly different point of view from the previously mentioned one above. This is the one in which the legal intervention is seen as the beginning of a journey towards a complex system of causal activities which will indefinitely continue with the seeking of wild animals’ liberation from the oppression by human being hunters. These activities referred to in this former statem ent are such those that will probably ensure that the human being activities within the environment affect it in a positive ways. First in the list of these activities according to Harvey is the replacement ways of modern agriculture which are unkind and damaging the environment with better ones (Par. 21). Harvey also suggests the employment of an entirely new form of land management (par. 21). Activities which would also bring harmony between those residing in the town and the rest of the population in the other parts of the country are also part of the causal activities which would unfold once the legal employment of protecting wildlife from human being hunters is established. However, this perspective of resolving the issue between hunters, the hunted and the environment has elicited varied criticism. Being also inclined to the opinion of the critics of Harvey’s argument, I tend not to support the establishment of

Technology and the Teacher PowerPoint Presentation

Technology and the Teacher - PowerPoint Presentation Example With every new advancement in technological tools they tend to become even more interactive and attractive for their users. These tools are immensely effective in the classroom. It is expected that each of the tools would enhance the delivery of lecture on the instructor’s side and would enable ease of understanding on the side of the student. Acting as a helping hand for the teacher, these tools aide in delivering the concept with the help of embedded techniques within them that may practically be impossible for the teacher to deliver personally or merely with the use of hand. The speed and flexibility associated with computers enables the representation and comprehension of concepts via digital imaging. The student dragging and clicking the mouse and the digital response that the learning software generates invokes the understanding and responses of the students themselves. The ability to zoom in on images, rotation of figures and embedding of animated characteristic features like avatars etcetera enable imagination of the students to extend way beyond the written text and conventional methods of teaching. The ability of digital tools to scale real world objects into many forms is one of their major advantages. The manner in which digital classroom tools encompass a variety of information within themselves that practically has limitless boundaries enables the transmission of a large variety of information in much less time duration. The plan to manage technology tools like Prezi in the classroom is to use it in combination with the verbal lectures that are directly transmitted to the students. Prezi is designed to be a cloud based software application that enables the creation of presentations on a virtual canvas. As an example a lesson plan about teaching the concept behind â€Å"The Water Cycle† is attached at the following

Drug trade between Mexico and the United states Essay

Drug trade between Mexico and the United states - Essay Example a Frequently asked questions style with a series of questions such as who are the major players, â€Å"What are the risks of using soldiers in the fight instead of police?† and â€Å"What progress has President Calderà ³n made dismantling cartels?† Border scholars have on the whole rejected the claim that the U.S.–Mexico border has been dissolved by late modern crossborder migrations of capital, people, and practices. This article proposes that border policing in the wake of September 11, 2001, surfaces the long-standing relative incoherence of U.S. geopolitical and geoeconomic practice. The author describes the border as a security/economy nexus in U.S. statecraft. This article examines the militarization and transnationalization of the U.S. war on drugs as a liberal technique for identifying populations that must be governed in other ways. It begins by placing its relationship with the rise of the penal state in the context of neoliberalism in the U.S., then examines the geopolitics of its transnationalization in context of neoliberal governance in the Americas, and finishes by examining some of the empirical outcomes of this articulation between neoliberalization and punitive illiberalization in the Americas. It presents political geographical research that links globalization and criminalization and maps out the geographically particular and historically continuous ways in the context of the war on drugs. This is the official website of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). It has accurate information about drug trafficking in each U.S. state. It also provides government press releases and the official view of the U.S. Government on the border situation and the role of drug trafficking and the cartels in its policing. This website traces the history of the drug trafficking between Mexico and the U. S. from 1998-2009. It also identifies the attempts that both countries are making to stop this war. It provides links to hundreds of other articles on the

The Hollow Earth Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Hollow Earth - Research Paper Example This theory is supported with an example of sea which can move across the sides of the holes or a traveler would be move over the other side of the hole just like an insect, which crawls over the top of a glass from one side to another, while being unaware of its surroundings. Richard Bernard, a researcher, justifies the theory by saying that the aircraft pilots are unable to see the holes because they are misguided by the compasses, which they carry, into believing that they are just crossing one of the two poles, instead of going into the inner crust of the earth. He says that the compasses are following the magnetic rim of the holes. And that these pilots never actually fly over the poles, which are in fact the centers of a given holes. Raymond’s’ claim was supported by a statement by Admiral Byrd, which goes like this "I'd like to see that land beyond the Pole. That area beyond the Pole is the Great Unknown." (the hollow earth, 2010) People who believe that the Eart h is hollow are tend to believe the following The concept of a North Pole and a South Pole is not real. They are in reality wide openings of up to 1400 meters leading to the interior of the Earth, which is hollow. (Rodney, 2010) The central sun heats up the interior of the Earth, and the temperature of the interior sphere remains around 76 degrees Fahrenheit, which is neither cold nor hot. (Raymond, 1991) A large population is living in the inner surface of the Earth, the land on the other side of the holes at the poles. They are believed to be there, since the continents of Atlantis and Lemuria sank. This civilization is thought to be way more advanced than our own and the invention of flying saucers is attributed to them. A popular conspiracy theory extends the contact of this civilization with the U.S army, and they are taking advantage from the vast knowledge possessed by that civilization. (Billie & Woodard, 2008) So the focus of this research is to analyze the belief held by p eople about the Earth being hollow. First these three beliefs would be would be examined in a more detail, their origins and practicality, or lack of it, would be judged. In the end the contradictory concepts would be discussed and in the conclusion reason would be given about the validity of this weird belief. Origins and Supporters of the Belief The exact amount of people who do believe in the theory that Earth is hollow is not known. But this much is known that its not a high percentage of population with these believes. There is a bunch of people who have formed a group and call themselves the "Flat-Earth Society". (Childress & Raymond, 2009) There is another group, equally vocal, who believe that the earth is hollow. Several years ago, a group of "believers" informed a member of the Geophysical Institute staff that there was an opening to the center of the earth in the Alaska Range, and that this was an entry and exit point for flying saucers. (Robbins, 2003) Origins This theor y originated from the mind of a British astronomer, Edmund Halley, he was the first to come up the theory that earth might consist of several concentric spheres, each placed inside one another like concentric spheres. He further stated that the two inner most spheres have diameters matching that of Venus or Mars, while suggesting that the solid inner most core is as big as planet Mercury. The inner spheres rotate at different speed than

Critically discuss the empirical evidence that there are sex Essay - 1

Critically discuss the empirical evidence that there are sex differences in intelligence - Essay Example Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do. (p.13) The complex factors that affect intelligence have fascinated researchers over the years, with the belief that gender plays a significant role in cognitive abilities. In an effort to settle controversies concerning gender and intelligence, empirical researches in the fields of psychology and learning have made attempts to identify how the two sexes perform in certain cognitive tasks. Based on the results of the standardized measures in cognitive batteries, increasing evidence from various studies confirm that men’s functioning and women’s functioning are in fact different. A study conducted by Jackson and Rushton (2005) investigated the sex differences in general mental ability. A Scholastic Assessment Test was given to 100,000 high school graduates where results showed that the male samples performed better with an average IQ score of 3.63 higher than the females. This finding was consistent with other factors across groups such as gender differences in gene ral mental ability for participants from different socioeconomic levels and ethnic groups. Likewise, the British Journal of Psychology published the findings of a study made by Lyn and Irwing (2005) on a big sample of university men and women. The controversial research that aroused public attention indicated that based on IQ, men’s average scores were higher between 3.3 and 5.0 than women. While outcomes of these research studies have favored the male sample, results of other studies revealed that although both male and females vary on average in how competently they function on different skill tests, cognitive skills are actually equally distributed between them (Halpern, D.,Benbow, C., Geary, D., Gur, R., Hyde, J., and Gernsbacher,M., 2007). For instance, women are likely to achieve higher scores on specific verbal

Histology Detective and Brains Cape Essay Example for Free

Histology Detective and Brains Cape Essay This case study focuses on the identification of metastatic tissues — cells that are â€Å"out of place† causing tumors elsewhere in the body. Name the cells you identified in this sample of lung tissue and the main characteristics that you can use to distinguish them. From the observation of the sample there are variety of cells which can be identified as melanocytes. The main characteristics that can be used in distinguishing them is their attachment to the stratified squamous epithelial tissue. Moreover, they are larger and darker compared to the surrounding calls. Melanocytes are densely packed and have only one nucleus. How did you use the main characteristics of different tissues that you learned in your lecture and lab sections as the basis for identifying those cells responsible for the tumor? I applied my histology knowledge from my lectures in distinguishing the features of different cells. I had knowledge on how melanocytes and the natural cells look like on a slide hence it was very easy distinguishing and describing the cells. The cells under observations were abnormal from their look. They were larger in size, darker in color and round. Moreover. Their nucleus were larger compared to the other nucleus of the normal cells and has less cytoplasm. The melanocytes on the slide is always darker compared to the normal cells. According to Garbe et al (2010), there exists significant differences between the tumor cells and the native cells since the tumor cells are widespread in the extracellular fluid, are larger, much darker and more so cube shaped. On the other hand, the native cells are packed densely, smaller, and elongated. In addition to the information in the case presentation (including the web sites contained in the case itself), what other information did you find to determine the identity of the cells and whether one type of cell had migrated from elsewhere in the body? Where did you find this information? What does each of these additional items contribute to the solution of the case? For example, the item contains data from specific tests, trials, or experiments, or presents analyses that can be used to understand the main issues in this case. The article â€Å"Diagnosis and treatment of melanoma: European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline† provided experimental illustrating melanoma components. This affirmed that native cells can be differentiated from the invasive cells by features such as arrangement, form and color. The study used histology in identifying the invasive cells from the non-invasive ones (Garbe et al, 2010). In the NIH article, â€Å"Diagnosis and treatment of early melanoma,† majorly the study was based on histology. The study distinguished fully developed melanoma and the early melanoma by categorizing their histological features. Moreover, they identified melanoma stages and different types of melanoma with application of histology (NIH et al, 1992). In the third study, researcher physicians in two universities in three different melanoma cases of various origins in the body. However, all the characteristics of the abnormal cells were distinguished to be melanocytes. The identified abnormal features of the cells are similar to the ones in this case study, hence proving that the abnormal cells observed in the lung tissue were melanocytes (Sonda et al, 2008). What other findings or information in this case are consistent with the information you located? Name those similarities in each of your additional resources. How do these resources apply what you have learned about identifying tissues and cells histologically? From the article I reviewed, there was similarity with the case study in many areas. First, all the studies and the case used a similar method in diagnosing melanoma. They applied the cells histological characteristics in determining their status whether they are noninvasive or invasive cells. The characteristics identified helped in classification of the cells and in determining their origin. What findings or information in each of the additional resources are not consistent with the findings in this case? Name those differences in each of your additional resources. How do these resources apply what you have learned about identifying tissues and cells histologically? In the article â€Å"Diagnosis and treatment of early melanoma,† the study asserted that the cells making melanoma were the stratified melanoma epithelium (NIH et al, 1992). This contradicts the results of the case If your proposed resolution of the case is correct, what other observations might we expect to find in this case? Other observations we might find include metastasis of the tumor to other organs hence the patients could suffer from other compounded problems like neurological problems, digestion and bleeding. Give your solution to this case and, on a scale of 1–5, rate how confident you are in your conclusions in questions 1 and 2 I would rate my confidence at 5 out of 5 because of the observable characteristics of melanoma In considering your resolution and level of confidence level from question 8, describe how you located the information you used in this case. To begin the search, I started with the most comprehensive data base that is Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (NINAH) (Kennedy 2009). The search then continued to search engines such as British Nursing Index, MEDLINE. Moreover PubMed and NCBI were other major search engines which assisted some of the relevant articles. These search engines were used because they contained most of the peer review articles and books. To limit and narrow down the search for articles, internal searches of the databases was used by inserting full length of texts and searching the relevant articles from the list of journals displayed. Moreover, I limited myself to the current articles of up to 5 years What you might do differently if you had it to do over again? For example, would you use different resources and strategies? Different information?First, I would use different relevant articles to make companions of different studies. Moreover, I would try using group work to get opinions and arguments of different group member. References Garbe, C., Peris, K., Hauschild, A., Saiag, P., Middleton, M., Spatz, A., Grob, J. J., Eggermont, A. (January 01, 2010). Diagnosis and treatment of melanoma: European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline. European Journal of Cancer, 46, 2, 270-283. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19959353Kennedy, J. R. (2009). Library research guide to education: illustrated search strategy and sources. Ann Arbor, Mich, Pierian Press.NIH Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Melanoma, National Institutes of Health (U.S.). (1992). Diagnosis and treatment of early melanoma. Bethesda, Md: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, Office of Medical Applications of Research. Retrieved from http://consensus.nih.gov/1992/1992Melanoma088html.htmSonda, Vemon K., MD, Zager, Jonathan S., MD, Messiana, Jane L., MD. Hemonc today. (2008, Oct 10). Retrieved from http://www.hemonctoday.com/article.aspx?rid= 37772 Source document

Strategy For Sustainable Competitive Advantage Management Essay

Strategy For Sustainable Competitive Advantage Management Essay Every organizations corporate strategies are focused at developing a sustainable competitive advantage that will allow the company to continuously maintain and improve the enterprises competitiveness in the industry it is in. This enables the organization to stand strong despite competition or saturation of the market over a long time. An organizations competitive advantage is said to exist if customers perceive the firms product or as superiors or better than that of its competitors. There are various sources of competitive advantage in organization. These sources revolve around an organization internal environment (Dess et al, 2005). Dyer and Singh (Oct 2005), point out technology as one of the sources of competitive advantage to an enterprise. If the company technology is superior to those of its competitors, then the company can offer quality services and better product at cost effective prices thus retaining its customers for a long time. Its infrastructure like machinery and other production facility likewise can position the company more competitively if they super than the competitors. Human resource is one of the tools of competitive advantage. When a companys employees understand and are committed to the vision and objectives of the organization, they will become agents of success in the company. The employees will always be devoted to making the vision and identity stronger for the stakeholders, the customers and themselves (Oliver, 1997). The quality and the uniqueness of the companys products can also be a source of competitive advantage. If customers prefer the companys products or services because of specific qualities such as style, taste, ingredients, comfort, production methods e.g. organic or inorganic then the organization t can utilize this loyalty for strategic purposes. The location of the company could also be a competitive advantage. Companies operating closer to their customers, suppliers or raw materials can be more competitive than their counterparts in the same industries (Dyer Singh, Oct 2005). Structural, leadership, and cultural considerations while expanding its global operations Leadership Leadership is one of the most fundamental tools for Wal-Marts long-term competitive strategy for. The corporate executives of the organization are critically responsible for the direction and successful operations of the all the companys units. According to Wood (2004), the knowledge economy is proving to be the most valuable and efficient approach for leadership founded strong organizational values that promote constancy in innovation and motivation across all unites of the firm units. The leaders must harness their skills and abilities to lead with their intellect, aligned to the Wal-Marts corporate mission and vision. The leaders must think innovatively about how the company can create a sustained business value even as it enters others foreign markets. The entire corporate leadership must search for synergies and pursue possible successes at the corporate level for new opportunities for growth and expansion (Soderquist, 2005). Cultural The Wal-Marts organizational  culture is another of the key competitive advantages. If the company is able to build and maintain a culture that promotes and appreciates innovativeness, commitment, Wal-Mart is strategically positioned for success. Dyer and Singh, (Oct 2005) describes corporate culture as term that refers to a collective behavior of people seen in the perspective of shared corporate of vision goals, work language, symbols, beliefs,  habits and systems. Interwoven with the company procedures and technologies, each person including the new employees contributes to this cultures own uniqueness and composition. The corporate culture includes moral, social, and behavioral norms. Structural When entering a new market, corporate bureaucracies often mar smooth expansion programs. Bureaucracy delays implementation of strategies thus becoming a competitive disadvantage. To avoids this situation, Wal-Mart structure of administration and procedures will needs constant review to check any unnecessary or irrelevant procedure that like become obstacles to smooth and successful expansion of company. As the business continues to grow larger and larger, leadership and administration get further. Wal-Mart, management must keep constant battles to keep bureaucracy at bay. They need to regularly scrutinize all branches departments to ensure that feedback mechanisms are affective as possible (Soderquist, 2005). Wal-Mart needs to audit its procedures and structural operations when expanding its Global growths, in order to the negative impact of possible bureaucracies. Decision-making should be process need to be made as short as possible. Marketing and operational tactics to execute this strategy With the considerations of leadership, cultural and structural factors, Wal-Mart like any other company ought to come up with supportive marketing and operational programs that execute the competitive strategies. Combining effective marketing programs with its internal strengths such as innovations and leadership, advantage that is more competitive can be created. For retail chain store such as Wal-Mart, it is important that marketing strategies are consistent to the overall strategies and goals of the company. According to Wood (2004), effective marketing strategies will present the products and services offered as delivering the required benefits to consumers making them purchase repeatedly that products or service. The marketing strategies should not only be consistent with the overall strategy while expanding to other global markets, but also meet the demands of the level of competition in each market. While developing these strategies therefore, Wal-Mart therefore must factor in demands for effective product positioning; the nature of each of the markets it is entering, and the levels of competition with which the organization has to contend. The successful of branding of Wal-Mart franchises and branches has been one of the best sustainable differentiating strategies required of any effective marketing program. Like branding, the, the support marketing programs must be difficult for competitors to match the applied strategies (Oliver, 1997). Positioning as one of the important strategies that can be utilized to create and sustain Wal-Marts competitive strategy involves identifying the targets markets and clearly positioning the brands, their retails stores in those markets. One of the methods the organization can use is the marketing mix, which entails use of the 4Ps to influences consumer behavior in favor of Wal-Mart Stores. Market segmentation and discriminations is another possible positioning strategy. In the methods, the company will avoid standardizing their brands in totality, but rather customizing them to suit the cultural, economic, or legal requirements in those markets (Wood, 2004). Revised organizational chart for Wal-Mart Stores Where: CEO:-Chief Executive Officer/president CFO:-Chief Finance officer COO:-Chief Operation Officer

Analyzing Sacrifices Within Literature

Analyzing Sacrifices Within Literature One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything, except a good reputation. Oscar Wilde said, during the time of great Plague where many people are dying instantly and he intended that now a days people die but the people will never forget what it is to be living with the infection. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, death of the characters is also similar to a plague that spreads all across and eventually they pass away. Many human beings lose their lives each day as a result of their own self-centered wrong doing; there are others whose deaths are an end result of manipulation from the royalty. The authentic tragedy of Hamlet is not that of Hamlet or his own family but of Polonius family deaths because they sacrificed their lives and were the innocent who were involved in order to make justice for king Hamlet. Sacrifice might end suffering but, causes more pain to the others who cared and loved you. Once a child dies he/she might forget they existed in this world but, the parents of the children will be devastated by the pain that caused them for the rest of their lives and will remember them forever. Gandhis death was one of the heartbreaking histories in mankind. His work has been never forgotten, people still remember the pain he suffered to achieve the goal that he aimed for. Hamlets death not only caused the pain to his best friend but also changed the Fortinbras point of view on the war. He realized that not only there are soldiers in war but, also they are in everyday life and that they try anything and everything to help others or to succeed in their own goal. In hamlet the character Ophelia, she kills herself by drowning underwater. Ophelilas suicide devastated her brothers heart filled with so much sorrow and anger. Her death not only influenced his brother but also Hamlets mothe r Gertude because she wanted Ophelia to be her daughter in law as Gertrude says I hopd thou shouldst have been my Hamlets wife (5.1.233). Malcom X use to say Just because the heartbeat stop that doesnt mean that all memories and feelings for the dead would go away. Gandhis significance on sacrifice is The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him. He said a sacrifice cannot be ended in sadness but it can be changed if the person receives peace from it. Innocent people died in Hamlet to give peace to King Hamlets ghost and to hamlet, so that he can make peace with his revenge. At the end of the play Hamlet knew he is going to die, this is obvious on several occasions where Hamlet illustrates to others that he just wanted to end his life of the treacheries. Sure, Hamlets actions throughout the play make him seem mad, but in reality, this madness was just a tactic of his in his plan to get revenge for his fathers wrongful death and justice. Contrary to accepted belief, the tragedy connected with Hamlet is not just about Hamlet or his own family. It is, however, about the sacrifices that the Polonius family has gave, whose deaths are not the result of any sins they omit but by their mortal manipulated by Hamlet and Claudius for explanations they are unaware of. Although the death of Polonius family stands out as being for the most part tragic, many other characters in the play are killed as well. In fact, the death of a character in Hamlet almost becomes commonplace near the end of the play. Perhaps Hamlet had never been taught killing out of anger was wrong, maybe he thought it was the punishment his Uncle deserved. Maybe the most important thing though is to be at peace with yourself, be happy with yourself, and with your actions. This above all: to thine own self be true (1.3.84), that is all that you can hope for from Hamlet; that he was above all else, true to himself.

Suffering in Harriet Wilsons Our Nig Essay -- essays research papers

Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig is a novel that presents the harshness of racial prejudice during the 19th century combined with the traumas of abandonment. The story of Frado, a once free-spirited mulatto girl abandoned by her white mother, unfolds as she develops into a woman. She is faced with all the abuse and torment that Mrs. Belmont, the antagonist, could subject her to. Still she survives to obtain her freedom. Through the events and the accounts of Frado’s life the reader is left with a painful reality of the lives of indentured servants. Though the novel is not told from Frado’s perspective, her story becomes more sympathizing and sentimental from a third person narrative. Wilson uses her supporting characters to express Frado’s emotions and to show her development. Through her style, the reader becomes more aware of the Belmont family and society’s prejudices through how they react to Frado’s suffering. For instance Aunt Abby, one of the more sympathizing characters, says â€Å"we found a seat under a shady tree, and there I took the opportunity to combat the notions she seemed to entertain respecting the loneliness of her condition and want of sympathizing friends† (54). While Aunt Abby makes an effort to console Frado, there is no real sympathy in her words. They are mechanical and rehearsed. Aunt Abby does not genuinely care for Frado but she does pity her situation. Unlike Aunt Abby, James offers a more sincere regard for Frado. He buys her a puppy and often protects her from his mother’s brutal thrashings. He even intends to bring her home with him to live. He does not possess the indifference of his father or the cowardice of his sister, Jane. Being one of the few characters who emits a genuine aura of concern James i... ...mont’s but is sadly disappointed by her unfortunate state in the end of the novel. Slave narratives are not meant to be uplifting but this story brings depressive reading to a whole new level. Frado’s story is one of unrelenting abuse and pain. Through Wilson’s style the reader understands every point of view and especially the views of prejudice and racism. The title â€Å"Our Nig† relates one of the most insulting realities of Frado’s existence. She was property in a sense. Her labor and her efforts were equated to those of a horse that could be broken when necessary. Frado’s encounters and relationships further distinguish this novel from other slave narratives. This story shows what society and what the human spirit is capable of. People can cause the immense suffering of others but People can also rise up from the depths of despair and overcome great obstacles.

Chile - The Pinochet Era :: American America History

Chile - The Pinochet Era Background: Salvador Allende Gossens was elected the first Marxist president of Chile in 1970. He governed Chile from 1970 until 1973, the year of his death. The Allende government was not very successful. It approved sharp increases in the minimum wage whilst attempting to prevent price increases in consumer goods, in an effort to end Chile's economic slump. This resulted in disaster for the country, as inflation soared, strikes became common and opposition towards the Allende government increased. This led to a violent coup on September 11, 1973, in which military authorities, led by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, took power over Chile. Allende was killed during this attack. This period in Chile's history put an end to many years of democratic rule in Chile. It also had dramatic and life-changing effects on Chileans, as at least ten percent of the population, or approximately two hundred thousand people, were affected by repressive situations. These situations included arrests, threats, a relative in prison, killed or "disappeared", and expulsion for political reasons from the place of work or university. Main Focus of Research: On the 11th of September 1973, the Chilean armed forces staged a coup d'etat, in which president Allende was killed. A junta was installed which was composed of three generals and an admiral. It was led by the new president, General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. Pinochet not only took control of the government, but also of the military. Many thousands of people died in the fighting which erupted between those in support of and those in opposition to the junta. Soon Pinochet emerged as the dominant figure and the rest of the junta acted as a sort of legislature. During a short period, General Pinochet received support of many people, political parties and other nations, as they believed that the dictatorship of Pinochet would restore the status quo as it had been before 1970. It was not long before these supporters realised that the military officers in power had different objectives, including the repression of all left wing and centre political forces. The junta imprisoned, killed and tortured its opponents; dissolved congress; put limitations on the press; and banned political parties. An intelligence service known as DINA was established shortly after the coup. They kept secret detention centres where political prisoners were tortured, murdered or brutalised. A private enterprise economy was installed. The policies of Pinochet's government encouraged the development of free enterprise and a new entrepreneurial class, and resulted in an increase in exports of fruit, forestry and sea products, stabilising the economy.

Marriage and family class Essay

There are many different factors of communication in relationships. One of the most often asked questions about communication is how one achieves mutual communication in any type of a relationship. People sometimes feel that communication makes a better marriage. Many people often wonder how to reconnect with their partner after communication has stopped. Body language or non verbal communication plays a major role in communication. These are some the topics that will be discussed in this research paper. Mutual communication is achieved when both partners in a relationship can effectively listen and communicate their feelings with one another. Some say that this is the basis for a healthy long lasting relationship. There are many skills a good listener has to have. Some of which are easier to express than others are. The most important of which is expressing empathy (De Jong). In mutual communication both partners should make eye contact with one another. Usually when one makes eye contact it shows that they are paying attention to what the other person is saying to them at the time. When mutually communicating neither partner should send destructive messages. Destructive messages include but are not limited to ordering, threatening, lecturing, and ridiculing (Lauer). Destructive messages lead to conflict and not resolution. When one person sends a destructive message to the listener the listener more than likely will get discouraged and that will make the situation worse. Ordering and threatening lead to more of a power struggle rather than to effective communication. There are many  different styles of a poor listener. There are people who fake the fact that they are listening when their mind is in another place. For example John is making it seem like he is listening to his wife Julie when in fact he is thinking about his golf game the next day. There are people who interrupt. Interrupting decreases mutual communication. There are also people who can intellectually listen and carry on a conversation. An example of an intellectual listener is Jessica. Jessica has just told her friend Jake about her new teacher at her college. She tells Jake what he taught and the manner in which he taught it. Jessica is clearly giving Jake non verbal cues that should lead him to believe that she has a romantic interest in the new teacher. Jake does not pick up on the cues but criticizes the style that the teacher uses to teach his classes. Some people say that communication makes a better marriage. Everyday conversations increase satisfaction by offering a broad range of topics to be discussed. Usually in a marriage, when everyday conversation increases happiness, and the partners often laugh more together. Everyday conversation also allows the couple to talk about their interests and the happenings of their day in a relaxed and calm setting. When you have good communication in a marriage, conflicts are often calmly discussed. People in a marriage are self disclosed. Self disclosure is defined as the honest revealing of ones self to another. Self disclosure increases intimacy and marital satisfaction (Lahey). Partners who are in a married situation often feel the need to communicate their feelings and ideas to keep their marriage open, happy, and healthy. The main reason for breakup of marriages is a lack of communication (Stark). The cause for the lack of communication most often is that people do not know how to properly communicate with one another especially in a conflict situation where they do not agree on a point. Sometimes it takes someone from a neutral point of view to point this fact out to couples, who are having problems in the relationship. Most often the couple will not realize that they have a problem unless an outside source points it out to them. This could help them or create more conflict with in the relationship. If there is a problem, and there is no communication between the two partners in the relationship the problem will  grow. However, if there is good communication the problem has potential to be resolved and to possibly never reoccur (De Jong). It is also important, to effectively communicate, to maintain the boundaries. Maintaining boundaries is the separation of home life from work life. If you bring your work life into your home life discussions, it is more than likely that you will get distracted from the topic at hand (Stark). Some people bring their work life home it creates jealousy. Jealousy is also a leading cause of breakups in a relationship (Laurer). When people effectively communicate in a married relationship, exchange and role equity are heightened. Exchange equity, for example is the female being the primary bread winner and the male staying home. Role equity, is sharing the chores of the house as well as the duties of the head of the house. Partners in a married relationship may have different opinions about role and exchange equity. Some people feel that the female should stay home and be a traditional house wife. For example the woman would do the dishes, laundry, and take care of the children. Some people feel that both the male and female should be able to go to work and have a career. Effective communication in a marriage about these kinds of feelings can solve many future problems in a rational and timely manner (Lauer). Therefore, if there is ample problem solving and good communication, in a marriage it will generally be a healthier, happier, more satisfying marriage. Body language or non-verbal communication is said to be used between 50-80 percent in a relationship. Women use non-verbal cues or body language more often than males do. Non verbal cues froe example are the position in which a person is sitting, the expression on ones face, or the amount of eye contact that they are making. If you have an open posture, and are leaning in towards the speaker, you are giving off good body language. If you are sitting with your arms crossed, and a closed posture then you are giving off bad body language. Women also tend to read into body language and the meanings behind it more than men (Lauer). Women tend to read body language on a more emotional level than men do. For example women tend to see when someone has a romantic interest in another where as men do not see that. Partners, generally speaking, in a good relationship should be able to read  the other partners body language and know what they want to say without them always having to verbalize their thoughts. Body language can tell your partner what you are thinking without actually having to say it. I decided on this particular topic for a few reasons. The first of which is that I have seen a lot of friends and family who have been in relationships that did not last and wanted to figure out why that was. The second reason was because I thought it could help me in my future relationship(s), and to help me from making the same mistakes that I have in the past or that others have made. Another reason that I chose this topic is because I am also interested in being a counselor and counselors need to be able to have good communication with their clients. Another reason is because counselors need to be able to understand, in some sense, where their clients are coming from and to be able to help in any way possible. One good analogy that I found one day while surfing the internet was this: â€Å"If you were to be in thorough and complete communication with a car and a road, you would certainly have no difficulty driving that car. But if you are in only partial communication with the car and in no communication with the road, it is fairly certain that an accident will occur.† This was said by Ronald Hubbard who is an expert in the field of scientology. He deals mainly with the realm of communication. That quote really inspired me to look into the realm of communication further. I wanted to know what effects that it had on a relationship and / or a marriage. Just an ending piece of advice: The best problem solving agent is honest open and effective problem solving. Works Cited DeJong, Peter. Interviewing for Solutions, 2nd Edition. California: Wadsworth Group, 2002. Hubbard, Ronald. www.standardtraining.com Church of Scientology International: 2000-2002. Lahey, Benjamin B., Psychology: an introduction, 7th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001. Laurer, Robert H. and Lauer, Jeanette C., Marriage and Family, 4th Edition. Chicago: Brown & Benchmark, 2000. Stark, Rodney. Sociology, 8th Edition. Wadsworth Group, 2001.

Commentary of a Passage Taken from ” the Comfort of the Strangers “ Essay

The passage taken from â€Å"The Comfort of Strangers â€Å"by Ian McEwan essentially describes the want of two sisters Eva and Maria to look beautiful and furthermore the denial of their parents towards the girls’ desires. It is written in the third person i.e. the omniscient. The passage conveys few symbols: Beauty through the want of the sisters to look gorgeous ie. lipsticks, mascaras make up etc. , The truth and honesty through the confession of the boy. Owing to the fact that, when cosmetics are used they don’t illustrate the true face or beauty of the person they also symbolize the deceptiveness of appearances. The main centralized theme in this passage is deception. The girls lay trust on their brother for not disclosing whatever they did in the absence of the elders. But, conversely, we see that the boy divulges every action of his sisters. Furthermore, there are a couple of primary themes: childishness in the first paragraph and tension of the girls that their parents would return soon. We see that passage gradually passes from the afternoon to later in the afternoon and then to the dinner. So, it is chronological. The passage, when observed started with an exclamation and a question as well. â€Å"So! Did my sisters hate me?† – This paints a picture of the dubiousness, the author is having about whether his sisters in the future will lay trust on him or not. The Speaker in the passage is Robert – the young brother of the teen girls. At first he seems to be tranquil characters – moving comfortably with his sisters. But in the last part we observe a friction developed between him and his sisters. This passage can be humorous to the audience especially to kids who do not have any kind of desires as such of the sisters mentioned in the passage. The way the sisters have been cheated can be funny. In contrary to the humour, the passage can also generate a sense of discontent in the reader’s mind as the sisters had been cheated and their actions have been disclosed which they wish for. The passage is set in house. The situation in the first can be said to normal as elements of love and relationship can be observed. Ironically , as the day advances into the afternoon and into the evening a large variance is observed. The tension of the girls and the seriousness when they are blamed can be discerned. Along with this sad atmosphere created when the girls are blamed , when the first part is carefully swot up it can be noticed that a pleasant mood is indicated. Initially, in the passage, we see that the author uses they, them and their frequently. Hence repetition is observed. In the later part the author addresses the sisters to look like American film stars, thus using metaphor. The whole passage can create empathy in the minds of the readers – especially in adult girls towards the two sisters.  ¶As a consequence there are a lot of images produced in the reader’s mind. The girls waving their arms in the air to dry their nails and the metaphorical image – Girls addressed as the American film stars. Imagery, especially in this passage explains the frame or the situation much more in detail. Every action returns to its source – it may take very short time or even aeons . The confession had alienated the author from his sisters. His actions left him pondering whether his sisters will again lay trust on him in the future.

Education foundation Essay

Christian missionaries played a vital role in the introduction and development of Western education in Kenya. These missionaries began their activities here in the second half of the 19th Century. Although their main aim in coming to Africa was to Christianize a ‘dark and savage’ continent, the provision of rudimentary education was found inevitable. Missionaries had found out that, by having the ability to read the Bible and the hymn book, the early convert would be a valuable asset in getting more of one’s neighbours to Christianity. It would then appear, the role of Christian missionaries in providing western education to Africans was not by design but accidental. Should this assumption be correct, the entire phenomenon of western education as introduced and provided by Christian missionaries was flawed. In that case, they were to offer an improper education for as long as they were in control all by themselves. From 1895 Kenya became a colonial enclave of Britain up to 1920. Kenya was referred to as the East Africa Protectorate. The construction of a railway line from Mombasa in 1895 to Kisumu in 1901 was a boom for both missionary and colonial government activities. Missionaries were able to spread out faster by opening more centres in the interior. On the other hand, the colonial administration was able to pacify resistant African groups. Regrettably for indigenous people too, the railway line also saw the in-flaw of European settlers and Asian groups. These aliens were to change the development of events to the disadvantage of Kenyan locals. Missionary spread out Inspired by the desire to embrace as many adherents as they could, Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries moved to almost all accessible and habitable regions in Kenya. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) led in this ambitious crusade. From 1844 John Ludwig Krapf of CMS began to explore the East African Coast and was joined in 1846 by Johan Rebman. They established their first mission station at RabaiMpya, among the Rabai people, near Mombasa. Later the CMS operated a station in Taita in 1895. Other CMS  centres were started in the following places: Kahuruko (1901); Weithaga (1903); Kahuhia (1906); Mahiga (1908); Embu (1910) etc. A branch of the CMS also entered Western Kenya from Uganda and in 1903 had set up a mission station at Maseno. Holy Ghost Fathers set in at Mombasa in 1890 and a year later was also stationed at Bura. They got themselves a station in Nairobi in 1899. Their counterparts, the Consolata Fathers opened stations at Kiambu (1902), Limuru (1903) and Mang’u (1906). Roman Catholics also entered Kenya from Uganda and soon established centres at Kisumu (1903) and later at Mumias and Kakamega. Other missionary groups that were pivotal in the spread to various parts of the country were: Evangelical Lutheran Mission of Leipzig (from Germany); African Inland Mission; church of Scotland; Friends African Mission (Quakers); Church of God Mission, the Nilotic Independent Mission, the Seventh Day Adventists and the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. Although with other unbecoming consequences for indigenous people the multiplicity of Christian church denominations stirred a rivalry that became a catalyst in the spread of churches and schools. Every other group scrambled for a sphere of influence. On the whole, by 1920 Christian missionary groups had ‘stuck out their necks’ as important players in the spread of western influences among indigenous people. By 1918, there were 16 missionary bodies active in the country. Roman Catholics and CMS had the largest proportion of schools for Africans. Between them, they controlled 46 station schools and 261 village schools. Mission Education Basically, the purpose behind the establishment of mission stations and schools was to spread Christianity. The provision of education for other ends was therefore secondary to missionaries. Education was only used as a facility for evangelisation. The curriculum of mission schools was largely religious. Out of this experience, these schools have been referred to as prayer houses. These institutions only taught Christianity. While strongly inclined to offering religious education, a number of factors forced mission schools to include other curricula. First, Africans strongly resented religious education. In a number of cases, students staged strikes and demonstrations to demand for a more secure curriculum. Boys in Mumias at the Mill Hill Fathers schools staged a strike in 1912. Second, the colonial government urged the missions to include industrial education in their curricula. Third, the circumstantial imperatives of the day necessitated the inclusion of other courses such as industrial education. Missionaries, as well as the colonial administration needed skilled labour to construct buildings, make furniture inter alia. Religious education alone could not produce such manpower. Out of this development therefore, although mission education was largely basic, it had to offer the 3Rs, religious education and industrial training. The method of instruction was by rote learning. Learners were supposed to memorize and recite whatever they were taught. Missionaries, above all, offered an education that was elementary and designed to keep Africans in their subordinate place i. e. being servants of Europeans. Their educational orientation, in general emphasized the spiritual value of hard work and the principles of evangelical Christianity with an aim of producing hard working Christians. There were two types of schools. There was the village/bush/out-schools. These were feeder schools to the second type – the central mission school. Village schools offered very rudimentary education. They were under the direction of African catechists. On the other hand, central schools were intended to offer additional curricula. In this case, vocational training in teaching and nursing etc abounded. Vocational training was largely a preserve of the bright students. All said of mission education, by 1920, though many learning institutions had been established; only a handful would pass the litmus test for quality. In the western part of Kenya, only three centres and developed substantial primary school programmes. These were mission schools at Kaimosi, Maseno and Yala. The same were true of central Kenya with centres at Kabete, Kahuhia, Kikuyu, Tumutumu, Kabaa and Nyeri as main contenders. At the coast full-fledged primary school courses which other elementary schools of the time were not offering. This education did not go beyond six years. The recipients of such a number of years were very few. Whatever missionary activity in education this time, it should be understood that a number of factors influence their orientation, working and results/outcomes. For instance, due to misconceptions by European anthropologists of the nature of Africans, missionaries were prejudiced in their interaction with Africans. Africans suffered in this interaction and so did their education. Africans were of three categories: stupid, average and intelligent. On the part of missionaries, a majority of them were not professional educators and therefore they tried out what they did not know. A look at the curricula during their training reveals no does of professional training in teaching whatsoever (Anderson, 1970: 25). Besides, in their bid to expand educational activities they were always curtailed by meagre financial resources. More-so, the colonial government’s policy dictated certain centres that they could hardly achieve and, in the course of ‘playing the tune of the caller’, stumbled. Regrettably for Africans, they were the ones who received all the results of these missionary education mishaps. The lessons learnt by Africans from this unfortunate state of their education were to be instrumental in advocating for schools of their own, if not government-managed, from the 1920s onwards. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN EDUCATION IN COLONIAL KENYA UPTO 1920 Between 1895 and 1911, the involvement of the colonial government in the establishment and development of educational opportunities for the indigenous Kenyans was minimal. At this time, the government was more concerned with the pacification of the ethnic groups and inculcating in them a proper respect for the European interpretation of law and order. However, when the colonial administration got involved in education, this sector was seen as a potential source of a better and more efficient labour force. In this official thinking, through education Kenya would move fast into becoming self-sufficient. The government also wanted indigenous people to be given an education that would help it put into operation its doctrine of indirect rule through chiefs and headmen. These needs of the colonial administration for African education did concur with those of the Europeans settler community. The settlers needed an enlightened labour force that was capable of taking instructions both as house servants and farm workers. But more significantly, settlers relied on both the missionaries and colonial government for African educational development to offer the ‘right’ kind of education, whereas the colonial government was to control its level. Educational progress during the early period of colonial rule was directed more by the force of circumstances rather than be deliberate and well developed policy. In many cases, the policy that was laid down failed to meet practical needs. More often, policy was frustrated by the conflicting interests of the administrators, the settlers, the missionaries and with time, African interests. One can then observe if the development of African education in colonial Kenya, it was an unending struggle between conflicting interest groups. The first worthy involvement by the colonial government in educational development was in 1911. A department of education was set up with a Director, James R. Orr, at its helm. The Director was charged with the responsibility of the formulation of educational policy, its implementation and administration in general. The creation of this department followed a report on education in the East African Protectorate produced in 1909 by Prof. Nelson Frazer, a seasoned Briton on educational matters in India. He had been appointed as Educational Advisor to the British colonial enclaves of East Africa by the colonial office in London. With such an official capacity, Frazer’s report was taken seriously and its proposals followed. One of the lasting legacies of the Frazer Report was the recommendation that education in Kenya be developed along racial lines. African education rested at the bottom of a hierarchy that saw Arab/Asian and European education take prominence in that ascending order. This bottom position  meant that little could be achieved for indigenous Kenyans in terms of educational development. Indeed, throughout the colonial period, African education was treated as an education for the third class citizens. Frazer’s report also encouraged the teaching of technical/industrial education in African school to the chagrin of Africans who saw this as a play to keep them out of mainstream social, economic and political development. But for Frazer, such as education would help the government get more Africans with appropriate technical skills and thereby replace the expensive Asian artisans. Above all, technical education for many Africans was hoped to foster economic development fir the colony. It would then become self-sufficient. The colonial governments thrust into educational development can also be seen in the system of grants to mission schools that offered industrial education. Through the Department of Education, the government gave out grants on the basis of results. In other words, the more the candidates and the better their results in industrial subjects, the more certain a school would be of a government grant. Although for some time this measure was resisted by the missionaries, claiming that the government was overstretching its jurisdiction and that this education was costly, by 1912 industrial training in basic skills in smithing, carpentry, agriculture and even typing had started in many schools. Although the third way in which the colonial government got involved in educational development failed disastrously in its experimental schools at Kitui in 1909 for sons of chiefs and headmen, in 1913 the first official government African school was set up in Machakos. This was a central technical/teacher training school around which a system of village schools developed. The latter served as feeder schools to the former. With the progress of time, into the last half of the 2nd decade of the 20th Century, the government found it imperative to constitute an educational commission. This commission was to collect and collate the various views of the stakeholders on African education. Under the chairmanship of J. W. Barth, the Education commission of East Africa Protectorate of 1918 was required to, among other terms, â€Å"inquire into and report o the extent to which education should immediately be introduced among the native population throughout the protectorate. The report of the 1919 on African education did not offer anything to be applauded by Africans. It was observed that African education continue to emphasize technical/industrial training. This education had also to be religious/Christian but significantly, missionaries were to continue as the main providers of African education. Settler opinion was strongly opposed to the use of English in African schools. On the whole, these recommendations by the Report having been accepted by the colonial government clearly demonstrated where its learning was on the direction that African educations to follow. In general, we can observe, by the close of 1920, the colonial government had become yet another match-maker in the game of African education. Through the Department of Education and subsequently the outcome of the Education commission of 1918, the administration had begun to lay down policy guidelines on which future developments were to be aligned. Note that, this commission was the very first official organ that sought comprehensive information from people on the development of western education in colonial Kenya since 1895. Together with the Frazer Report of 1909, they formed the basis of education until 1949 when the Beecher Report was issued. AFRICAN INITIATIVES IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN COLONIAL KENYA Indigenous Kenyans were actively involved in the development of their education during the colonial period. This participation was inevitable given the racial differentiation in educational development recommended by the Fraser Report of 1909. Although Africans began their own initiatives in the development of education as early as 1910, large scale developments were noticeable from the 1930s onwards. African initiatives in the development of their education can be distinguished in two separate approaches. There was the African independent schools movement and the Local Native Councils school movement. Though, by Kenya’s independence, the independent schools had been closed down for political reasons. As part of the African initiatives in the development of education, they had proved a notable success. In many ways, African initiatives in educational development had compelled the colonial administrative to give African education substantial attention. Independent School Movement The origins of the AIS movement began in 1910. This followed the breakaway by African Christians from missionary control. John Owalo, an adherent of various missionary groups in Nyanza and an experienced CMS school teacher, formed the LUO NOMIYA MISSION in 1910. Later on, this mission built churches and schools free from European missionary control. African independent schools movement was more pronounced in Central Kenya. This movement took root in the 1930s. An association KISA was formed in 1934 to run schools. A splinter group, KKEA, emerged soon thereafter and was more conservative and did not favour links with the colonial government. In essence, the AIS movement in this region spread fast resulting in the establishment of many schools. By 1939 these schools had a pupil population of 29, 964. In fact, by 1952 when the AIS were all closed down, their number was about 200 with a learner population of over 40,000. The epitome of the African independent school movement can be discerned in the establishment of Githunguri Teachers College in 1939. This shows that the movement had itself well entrenched that it was able to train its own teachers among other concerns. It is important to note that, the AIS movement was motivated largely by African aspirations on what type of education they thought appropriate. Africans also clamoured for freedom of choice and preservation of their cultural value. European missionary education was largely religious and vocational. Yet Africans wanted academic education. European missionaries wanted Africans to discard their traditions and this was unacceptable rightfully, to traditional African elders despite the fact that some had been converted to Christianity. Note also that, the African Independent Schools did not necessarily abandon the curriculum existing in the other schools. From 1936 these schools accepted to follow government curriculum. They only tried to fill in gaps. In fact the Government allowed AIS teachers to train at missions and government training institutions. Local Native Councils Schools African initiatives in educational development also received a boost with the establishment of the Local Native Councils in 1924. These councils were empowered among other activities to vote funds for educational purposes at elementary and primary school levels. A door had therefore been opened, so it seemed, for Africans to direct the course of their development in education. The colonial administration guided the LNCs in their endeavour to promote African educational opportunities. The LNCs were required to collect up-to 200,000/= to put up a school and have a further 26,000/= for the institution’s annual maintenance. The LNCs were also advised to refer to the intended institutions as Government African Schools (GAS). The 1930s saw many of the LNCs establish their schools. Kakamega GAS enrolled its first pupils in 1932. Kagumo GAS followed in 1933 and Kisii GAS in 1935. Note that these schools were intended to offer primary ‘C’ level of education i. e. standard IV to VI when they started. However, they had to lower their requirements due to unavailability of candidates. Although the Government desired that the curriculum for these schools emphasize industrial/vocational education, Africans generally supported literary and higher education for their children. Indeed, given the power of the African voice, the 1935 African Primary School syllabus de-emphasized technical/vocational education. African’s seriousness in the development of these schools is clearly seen in the fact that the three K schools were full primary institutions by 1938 i. e.offered PS Exam at end of standard VI. In 1946 they had grown into junior secondary schools. Before 1963, Kakamega and Kisii were preparing students for the Higher School Certificate Examination i. e. the basic university entry requirement at the time. The role of the LNCs in the advancement of African education during the colonial epoch was very prominent. Statistics show that these schools quickly outpaced the mission schools in examination results. For example, in the 1939 PS Examination, Kakamega alone had 8 passes compared to 4 from all mission primary schools in North Nyanza. Kagumo had 15 passes compared to 10 from all mission schools in the region. Many LNCs got encouraged and established their own schools. By 1945 LNC schools were 66. These schools had better terms of service for teachers than most mission schools. Conclusion From these two examples of African initiatives in the development of education in colonial Kenya, we can appropriately claim that Africans played an important role in promoting education. Africans, in the context of political, social and economic imperatives of that period, knew what type of education was necessary. Essentially it is their effort that compelled the colonial administration to institute appropriate regulations for the education sector. By the time of independence, indigenous Kenyans had vividly known the role of western education in their progress. They had also seen what results emerged from collective effort. Indeed through the AIS and LNC schools, the roots of the ‘Harambee movement’ in the development of the nation had found their depth. TECHNICAL/VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN COLONIAL KENYA Introduction Technical or vocational education can be defined in various ways. UNESCO (1984) defines this education as one that involves, â€Å"in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practice, skills and the knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life†. Omulando and Shiundu (1992) define technical education as â€Å"instruction in any subject which leads to production in industry, agriculture, trade and commerce†. Whatever definition, any reference to this type of education essentially connotes instruction in subjects that are largely practice/manual, outdoor, equipment-intensive, etc. In Kenya’s main-stream, education today includes subjects such as – Art and Crafts, Home Science, Agriculture, Business Education and Industrial Education. In the classification of the present 8-4-4 education system for the secondary school cycle, these subjects are in groups IV and V. In group IV are Home Science, Art, Agriculture, Electricity, Woodwork, Metal work, Building and Construction, Power Mechanics and Drawing and Design. Group V subjects include: Music, French, German, Arabic, Accounting, Commerce, Typing and Economics. Origins From the onset of Western education in Kenya, technical education was conceived and designed as the most suitable education for the indigenous people. A manual-based education for Africans was deemed appropriate due to a number of reasons. Among these reasons were the following: 1. Africans were of a low human species with a level of learning remarkably different from and inferior to that of the average European. In this case, Africans were well suited to menial and tedious occupations such as farming and unskilled labour provided that they could be taught to overcome their natural laziness. 2. Technical education as seen by the European Settlers would go along way in getting a critical mass of indigenous people with appropriate artisan skills that would render the hiring of the expensive Asian artisans redundant. On the part of Christian Missionaries, such an education for the Africans would lead to their self-sufficiency at the mission centres. 3. Non-academic education for Africans was found most suitable for it would make them passive and thereby being non-rebellious. Literary education offered elsewhere in British colonies had resulted in ‘unfortunate’ experiences for the colonists and this did not need to be repeated. Development Concerted effort by the colonial government to entrench technical education in African schools was begun shortly after 1911. Experimental grants were offered to some mission schools for the teaching of technical/vocational subjects. These grants-in-aid were given on the basis of student results. Through this effort by 1912, industrial training in basic skills such as smithing, carpentry, agriculture and typing had begun to take shape. The colonial government in 1913 set up her first African school at Machakos to offer both industrial and teacher training. The emphasis on technical/industrial education for indigenous people in Kenya received a major boost from the Phelps-Stokes Commission of 1924. This was an education commission set forth by the Colonial Office in London. Although largely reiterating the recommendations of the 1919 Education Commission of the East African Protectorate, the Phelps-Stokes Commission urged that education be adapted to the needs of the individual and the community. It believed that industrial training must provide the basis of African education in Kenya. For a people who were primarily land cultivators and animal keepers, agricultural education was considered an integral component of industrial/ vocational/ technical education. The colonial government found it prudent to establish more schools for Africans with an industrial/technical/vocational bias in this period. Some of the schools established included the Native Industrial Depot – Kabete (1924), Jeanes School – Kabete (1925), Coast Technical School – Waa (1921), Government School – Kapsabet (1925) and Maasai School – Kajiado (1926). Apart from the Jeanes School and Native Industrial Depot both at Kabete, the rest of the schools offered industrial education suited to their location. For example, the Maasai school at Narok emphasized more of animal husbandry and animal skin curing. More-so, the Kabete educational institutions offered technical education to people/learners who already had had exposure to technical education elsewhere. These institutions offered training on a national level. The curriculum of technical education in colonial Kenya, for Africans, was very simplistic. This was largely for reasons alluded to earlier. At the Jeanes school for instance, male teachers were taught songs, Swahili, Physical training and games, Religious and moral education, simple hygiene and sanitation, first-aid on fractures, cuts, burns, dysentery, pneumonia, plague and malaria, simple agriculture including ploughing, curing of animal skins and hides, the silk industry, black-smithing and tin-smithing. In essence, these courses were deemed basic for Africans’ sustenance. No provision was made for thorough in-depth study of the subjects. Although steps were put in place to emphasize technical education in African schools, by 1940 no commendable large-scale progress was in sight. In the case of Agriculture education, for example, whereas a committee in 1928 is on record to have recommended that agriculture be made compulsory and examinable in all rural schools of all grades, nothing was put to practice in this regard by 1940. Instead of Agriculture, Nature study took over as a school subject. This take-over meant that agricultural skills were only to be demonstrated in the school garden. Agriculture thus became non-compulsory in African schools. The Beecher Report (1949), otherwise referred to as the African Education Commission, decried/lambasted the minimal developments realized in technical education. One of the weaknesses noted was teachers’ lack of conviction and knowledge or training to facilitate the inculcation of the right attitude in students towards technical education. Most significant about the Report was its recommendation that, at primary school level due to the tender ages of the learners, no formal agricultural education be taught. Instead, schools were to encourage in learners a correct attitude towards agricultural labour and an appreciation of the significance of land. In order for technical education to thrive, the Report recommended, inter alia, constant supervision of the teachers’ attitude and encouragement of resolute partnership between schools and the relevant administrative departments. Although graduates of this education made an impact in their communities, on the whole, African did not receive this type of education with open arms. Political, educational and socio-economic reasons contributed to this cold  reception. Africans felt that it was a European ploy to teach them practical subjects so that they could remain inferior and their subordinates. This education as seen as mediocre and it hampered African political advancement. It is important to note that, in Asian and European schools in the colony no kind of technical education offered in African schools was taught. This difference concretized the African suspicion of the type of education given to them. Educationally, technical education failed since the syllabus lacked flexibility. More often, the syllabi made little provision for regional variations and thereby some programmes virtually failed. The co-operation sought between departments of Agriculture, Veterinary and Education was inadequate and sometimes contradictory. For example, visits by Agricultural Officers to schools hardly materialized. School calendar was sometimes not in consonance with peak times of agricultural activity. Education officers on their part sometimes lacked the necessary knowledge and even for the specialists they had little or no interest. Teachers often used extra work on the farm or in the workshop as a form of punishment. Some subjects, particularly Agriculture and Carpentry were not examinable at primary school level. This did not motivate learners to show seriousness. Furthermore, in cases where technical subjects failed to feature at secondary school level, learners hardly wanted to study them at the lower level. Technical education also failed due to what African viewed as proper education. Basically, Africans only saw academic education as the epitome of their children going to school. This meant that, nobody was enthusiastic about the success of technical education. Schooling was only meaningful if learners gained literary academic education. Socio-economic problems also hampered the success of technical education. It was not easy to acquire funds for purchase of farm and workshop equipment, leave alone acquiring farming land for schools. Since many schools did not receive government grants, they had to rely on local communities for their day-to-day running. However, the envisaged assistance was hard to come by particularly when the projects were for technical education. Parents decried the inclusion of this education in the curriculum and therefore could hardly contribute money to schools for their development. The colonial government’s policy on the growing of cash crops also served as an impediment to the flourishing of vocational education. Africans were not allowed to grow cash crops. Being allowed to grow subsistence crops alone could not easily lead to the much-needed economic empowerment for Africans. In such a situation, Africans saw no need of giving agricultural educational any seriousness. The lack of demand for people with industrial education skills in the labour market also went along way in curtailing the success of technical education. At this moment, white-collar jobs were more appealing. To secure such opportunities one needed to have had academic education. This scenario quickly reflected itself in learners’ choices of schools subjects. Technical subjects were rarely their priority. From the foregoing, technical/vocational education had very minimal chances for success. As political independence drew nearer in the early 1960s, more emphasis in education shifted towards academic education. Technical and vocational education only got prominence sometime into the independence era. This was mainly after 1970. Post-primary and secondary school and technical institutions sprouted in various parts of the country. Among these institutions were Village Youth Polytechnics and Institutes of Science and Technology. Technical/vocational education today is offered in a myriad of institutions ranging from those in mainstream education system to those organized by government ministries, churches and other NGOs. Conclusion Technical/vocational/industrial education in Kenya was originally conceived as an education of the social inferiors. This conception for a long time guided the development of this education. Policy stipulations for this education were founded on misconceptions. Besides, there was an unrealistic design for this education’s development. Out of this disposition, learners as well as teachers hardly gave the subject serious attention. This scenario meant that even after fifty years or more in operation, little meaningful results had been realized by 1963. The climax of this failure neglect can be discerned in the fact that, technical education was almost entirely disregarded in the education system conceived of immediately after Kenya’s independence.

Carrie Chapter Eleven

Billy offered her a ride home from school one afternoon a week later and she accepted. He was what the other kids called a white-soxer or a machine-shop Chuck. Yet something about him excited her and now, lying drowsily in this illicit bed (but with an awakening sense of excitement and pleasurable fear), she thought it might have been his car – at least at the start. It was a million miles from the machine-stamped, anonymous vehicles of her fraternity dates with their ventless windows, fold-up steering wheels, and vaguely unpleasant smell of plastic scat covers and windshield solvent. Billy's car was old, dark, somehow sinister, the windshield was milky around the edges, as if a cataract was beginning to form. The seats were loose and unanchored. Beer bottles clicked and rolled in the back (her fraternity dates drank Budweiser; Billy and his friends drank Rheingold), and she had to place her feet around a huge, grease-clotted Craftsman toolkit without a lid. The tools inside were of many different makes, and she suspected that many of them were stolen. The car smelled of oil and gas. The sound of straight pipes came loudly and exhilaratingly through the thin floorboards. A row of dials slung under the dash registered amps, oil pressure, and tach (whatever that was). The back wheels were jacked and the hood seemed to point at the road. And of course he drove fast. On the third ride home one of the bald front tyres blew at sixty miles an hour, the car went into a screaming slide and she shrieked aloud, suddenly positive of her own death. An image of her broken, bloody corpse, thrown against the base of a telephone pole like a pile of rags, flashed through her mind like a tabloid photograph. Billy cursed and whipped the fuzz-covered steering wheel from side to side. They came to a stop on the left-hand shoulder, and when she got out of the car on knees that threatened to buckle at every step, she saw that they had left a looping trail of scorched rubber for seventy feet Billy was already opening the trunk, pulling out a jack and muttering to himself. Not a hair was out of place. He passed her, a cigarette already dangling from the corner of his mouth. ‘Bring that toolkit, babe.' She was flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and closed twice, like a beached fish, before she could get the words out. ‘I-I will not! You almost k-you-almost-you crazy bastard! Besides, it's dirty!' He turned around and looked at her, his eyes flat. ‘You bring it or I ain't taking you to the fuckin fights tomorrow night.' ‘I hate the fights!' She had never been, but her anger and outrage required absolutes. Her fraternity dates took her to rock concerts, which she hated. They always ended up next to someone who hadn't bathed in weeks. He shrugged, went back to the front end, and began jacking. She brought the toolkit, getting grease all over a brandnew sweater. He grunted without turning around. His teeshirt had pulled out of his jeans, and the flesh of his back was smooth, tanned, alive with muscles. It fascinated her, and she felt her tongue creep into the corner of her mouth. She helped him pull the tyre of the wheel, getting her hands black. The car rocked alarmingly on the jack, and the spare was down to the canvas in two places. When the job was finished and she got back in, there were heavy smears of grease across both the sweater and the expensive red skirt she was wearing. ‘If you think-‘ she began as he got behind the wheel. He slid across the seat and kissed her, his hands moving heavily on her, from waist to breasts. His breath was redolent of tobacco; there was the smell of Brylcreem and sweat. She broke it at last and stared down at herself, gasping for breath. The sweater was blotted with road grease and dirt now. Twenty-seven-fifty in Jordan Marsh and it was beyond anything but the garbage can. She was intensely, almost painfully excited. ‘How are you going to explain that?' he asked, and kissed her again. His mouth felt as if he might be grinning.' ‘Feel me,' she said in his car. ‘Feel me all over. Get me dirty.' He did. One nylon split like a gaping mouth. Her skirt, short to begin with, was pushed rudely up to her waist. He groped greedily, with no finesse at all. And something – perhaps that, perhaps the sudden brush with death – brought her to a sudden, jolting orgasm. She had gone to the fights with him. ‘Quarter to eight,' he said, and sat up in bed. He put on the lamp and began to dress, His body still fascinated her. She thought of last Monday night, and how it had been. He had (no) Tune enough to think of that later, maybe, when it would do something for her besides cause useless arousal. She swung her own legs over the edge of the bed and slid into gossamer panties. ‘Maybe it's a bad idea,' she said, not sure if she was testing him or herself. ‘Maybe we ought to just get back into bed and-‘ ‘It's a good idea,' he said, and a shadow of humour crossed his face. ‘Pig blood for a pig.' ‘What?' ‘Nothing. Come on. Get dressed.' She did, and when they left by the back stairs she could feel a large excitement blooming, like a rapacious and night-flowering vine, in her belly. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 45): You know, I'm not as sorry about all of it as people seem to think I should be. Not that they say it right out; they're the ones who always say how dreadfully sorry they are. That's usually just before they ask for my autograph. But they expect you to be sorry. They expect you to get weepy, to wear a lot of black, to drink a little too much or take drugs. They say things like: ‘Oh, it's such a shame. But you know what happened to her-‘ and blah, blah, blah. But sorry is the Kool-Aid of human emotions. It's what you say when you spill a cup of coffee or throw a gutterball when you're bowling with the girls in the league. True sorrow is as rare as true love. I'm not sorry that Tommy is dead any more. He seems too much like a daydream I once had. You probably think that's cruel, but there's been a lot of water under the bridge since Prom Night. And I'm not sorry for my appearance before The White Commission. I told the truth – as much of it as I knew. But I am sorry for Carrie. They've forgotten her, you know. They've made her into some kind of a symbol and forgotten that she was a human being, as real as you reading this, with hopes and dreams and blah, blah, blah. Useless to tell you that, I suppose. Nothing can change her back now from something made out of newsprint into a person. But she was, and she hurt. More than any of us probably know, she hurt. And so I'm sorry and I hope it was good for her, that prom. Until the terror began, I hope it was good and fine and wonderful and magic †¦ Tommy pulled into the parking lot beside the high school's new wing, let the motor idle for just a second, and then switched it of. Carrie sat on her side of the seat, holding her wrap around her bare shoulders. It suddenly seemed to her that she was living in a dream of hidden intentions and had just become aware of the fact. What could she be doing? She had left Momma alone. ‘Nervous?' He asked, and she jumped. ‘Yes.' He laughed and got out. She was about to open the door when he opened it for her. ‘Don't be nervous,' he mid. ‘You're like Galatea.' ‘Who?' ‘Galatea. We read about her in Mr Evers' class. She turned from a drudge into a beautiful woman and nobody even knew her.' She considered it. ‘I want them to know me,' she said finally. ‘I don't blame you. Come on.' George Dawson and Frieda Jason were standing by the Coke machine. Frieda was in an orange tulle concoction, and looked a little like a tuba. Donna Thibodeau was taking tickets at the door along with David Bracken. They were both National Honour Society members, part of Miss personal Gestapo, and they wore white slacks and red blazers – the school colours. Tina Blake and Norma Watson were handing out programmes and seating people inside according to their chart Both of them were dressed in black, and Carrie supposed they thought they were very chic, but to her they looked like cigarette girls in an old gangster movie. All of them turned to look at Tommy and Carrie when they came in, and for a moment there was a stiff, awkward silence. Carrie felt a strong urge to wet her lips and controlled it. Then George Dawson said: ‘Gawd, you look queer, Ross.' Tommy smiled. ‘When did you come out of the treetops, Bomba?' Dawson lurched forward with his fists up, and for a moment Carrie felt stark terror. In her keyed-up state, she came within an ace of picking George up and throwing him across the lobby. Then she realized it was an old game, often played, well-loved. The two of them sparred in a growing circle. Then George, who had been tagged twice in the ribs, began to gobble and yell:- ‘Kill them Congs! Get them Gooks! Pongee sticks! Tiger cages!' and Tommy collapsed his guard, laughing. ‘Don't let it bother you,' Frieda said, tilting her letteropener nose and strolling over. ‘If they kill each other, I'll dance with you.' ‘They look too stupid to kill,' Carrie ventured. ‘Like dinosaurs.' And when Frieda grinned, she felt something very old and rusty loosen inside her. A warmth came with At. Relief. Ease. ‘Where'd you buy your dress?' Frieda asked. ‘I love it.' ‘I made it.' ‘Made it?' Frieda's eyes opened in unaffected surprise. ‘No shit!' Carrie felt herself blushing furiously. ‘Yes I did. I †¦ I like to sew. I got the material at John's in Andover. The pattern is really quite easy.' ‘Come on,' George said to all of them in general. ‘Band's gonna start.' He rolled his eyes and went through a limber, satiric buck-and-wing. ‘Vibes, vibes, vibes. Us Gooks love them big Fender viyyybrations.' When they went in, George was doing impressions of Flash Bobby Pickett and mugging. Carrie was telling Freida about her dress, and Tommy was grinning, hands stuffed in his pockets. Spoiled the lines of his dinner jacket Sue would be telling him, but fuck it, it seems to be working. So far it was working fine. He and George and Frieda had less than two hours to live. From The Shadow Exploded (p. 132): The White Commission's stand on the trigger of the whole affair – two buckets of pig blood on a beam over the stage – seems to be overly weak and vacillating, even in light of the scant concrete proof. If one chooses to believe the hearsay evidence of Nolan's immediate circle of friends (and to be brutally frank, they do not seem intelligent enough to lie convincingly), then Nolan took this part of the conspiracy entirely out of Christine Hargensen's hands and acted on his own initiative †¦ He didn't talk when he drove; he liked to drive. The operation gave him a feeling of power that nothing could rival, not even fucking. The road unrolled before them in photographic blacks and whites, and the speedometer trembled just past seventy. He came from what the social workers called a broken home; his father had taken off after the failure of a badly managed gas-station venture when Billy was twelve, and his mother had four boyfriends at last count. Brucie was in greatest favour right now. He was a Seagram's 7 man. She was turning into one ugly bag, too. But the car: the car fed him power and glory from its own mystic lines of force. It made him someone to be reckoned with, someone with mana. It was not by accident that he had done most of his balling in the back seat. The car was his slave and his god. It gave, and it could take away. Billy had used it to take away many times. On long, sleepless nights when his mother and Brucie were fighting, Billy made popcorn and went out cruising for stray dogs. Some mornings he let the car roll, engine dead, into the garage he had constructed behind the house with its front bumper dripping. She knew his habits well enough by now and did not bother making conversation that would simply be ignored anyway. She sat beside him with one leg curled under her, gnawing a knuckle. The fights of the cars streaking past them on 302 gleamed softly in her hair, streaking it silver. He wondered how long she would last. Maybe not long after tonight. Somehow it had all led to this, even the early part, and when it was done the glue that had held them together would be thin and might dissolve, leaving them to wonder how it could have been in the first place. He thought she would start to look less like a goddess and more like the typical society bitch again, and that would make him want to belt her around a little. Or maybe a lot. Rub her nose in it. They breasted the Brickyard Hill and there was the high school below them, the parking lot filled with plump, glistening daddies' cars. He felt the familiar gorge of disgust and hate rise in his throat. We'll give them something (a night to remember) all right. We can do that. The classroom wings were dark and silent and deserted; the lobby was lit with a standard yellow glow, and the bank of glass that was the gymnasium's east side glowed with a soft, orangey light that was ethereal, almost ghostly. Again the bitter taste, and the urge to throw rocks. ‘I see the lights, I see the party fights,' he murmured. ‘Huh?' She turned to him, startled out of her own thoughts. ‘Nothing.' He touched the nape of her neck. ‘I think I'm gonna let you pull the string.' Billy did it by himself, because he knew perfectly well that he could trust nobody else. That had been a hard lesson, much harder than the ones they taught you in school, but he had learned it well. The boys who had gone with him to Henty's place the night before had not even known what he wanted the blood for. They probably suspected Chris was involved, but they could not even be sure of that. He drove to the school minutes after Thursday night had become Friday morning and cruised by twice to make sure it was deserted and neither of Chamberlain's two police cars was in the area. He drove into the parking lot with his lights off and swung around in back of the building. Further back, the football field glimmered beneath a thin membrane of ground fog. He opened the trunk and unlocked the ice chest. The blood had frozen solid, but that was all right. It would have the next twenty-four hours to thaw. He put the buckets on the ground, then got a number of tools from his kit. He stuck them in his back pocket and grabbed a brown bag from the seat. Screws clinked inside. He worked without hurry, with the easeful concentration of one who is unable to conceive of interruption. The gym where the dance was to be held was also the school auditorium, and the small row of windows looking toward where he had parked opened on the backstage storage area. He selected a flat tool with a spatulate end and slid it through the small jointure between the upper and lower panes of one window. It was a good tool. He had made it himself in the Chamberlain metal shop. He wriggled it until the window's slip lock came free. He pushed the window up and slid in. It was very dark. The predominant odour was of old paint from the Dramatic Club canvas flats. The gaunt shadows of Band Society music stands and instrument cases stood around like sentinels. Mr Downer's piano stood in one corner. Billy took a small flashlight out of the bag and made his way to the stage and stepped through the red velvet curtains. The gym floor, with its painted basketball lines and highly varnished surface, glimmered at him like an amber lagoon. He shone his light on the apron in front of the curtain. There, in ghostly chalk fines, someone had drawn the floor silhouette of the King and Queen thrones which would be placed the following day. Then the entire apron would be strewn with paper flowers †¦ why, Christ only knew. He craned his neck and shone the beam of his light up into the shadows. Overhead, girders crisscrossed in shadowy lines. The girders over the dance floor had been sheathed in crepe paper, but the arm directly over the apron hadn't been decorated. A short draw curtain obscured the girders up there, and they were invisible from the gym Floor. The draw curtain also hid a bank of lights that would highlight the gondola mural. Billy turned off the flashlight, walked to the left-hand edge of the apron, and mounted a steel-runged ladder bolted to the wall. The contents of his brown bag, which he had tucked into his shirt for safety, jingled with a strange, hollow jolliness in the deserted gymnasium. At the top of the ladder was a small platform. Now, as he faced outward toward the apron, the stage flies were to his right, the gym itself on his left. In the flies the Dramatic Club props were stored, some of them dating back to the 1920s. A bust of Pallas, used in some ancient dramatic version of Poe's ‘Me Raven,' stared at Billy with blind, floating eyes from atop a rusting bedspring Straight ahead, a steel girder ran out over the apron. Lights to be used against the mural were bolted to the bottom of it. He stepped out on to it and walked effortlessly, without fear, over the drop. He was humming a popular tune under his breath. The beam was inch-thick with dust, and he left long shuffling tracks. Halfway he stopped, dropped to his knees, and peered down. Yea. With the help of his light he could make out the chalk lines of the apron directly below. He made a soundless whistling. (bombs away) He X'd the precise spot in the dust, then beam-walked back to the platform. No one would be up here between now and the Ball; the lights that shone on, the mural and on the apron where the King and Queen would be crowned (they'll get crowned an right) were controlled from a box backstage. Anyone looking up from directly below would be blinded by those same lights. His arrangements would be noticed only if someone went up into the flies for something. He didn't believe anyone would. It was an acceptable risk. He opened the brown bag and took out a pair of Playtex rubber gloves, put them on, and then took out one of two small pulleys he had purchased yesterday. He had gotten them at a hardware store in Boxford, just to be safe. He popped a number of nails into his mouth like cigarettes and got the hammer. Still humming around his mouthful of nails, he fixed the pulley neatly in the corner above the platform. Beside it he fixed a small eyehole screw. He went back down the ladder, crossed backstage, and climbed another ladder not far from where he had come in. He was in the loft – sort of a catchall school attic. Here there were stacks of old yearbooks, moth-eaten athletic uniforms, and ancient textbooks that had been nibbled by mice. Looking left, he could shine his light over the stage flies and spotlight the pulley he had just put up. Turning right, cool night air played on his face, from a vent in the wall. Still humming, he took out the second pulley and nailed it up. He went back down, crawled out the window he had forced, and got the two buckets of pig blood. He had been about his business for a half hour, but it showed no signs of thawing. He picked the buckets up and walked back to the window, silhouetted in the darkness like a farmer coming back from the first milking. He lifted them inside and went in after. Beam-walking was easier with a bucket in each hand for balance. When he reached his dust-marked X, he put the buckets down, peered at the chalk marks on the apron once more, nodded, and walked back to the platform. He thought about wiping the buckets on his last trip out to them – Kenny's prints would be on them, Don's and Steve's as well – but it was better not to. Maybe they would have a little surprise on Saturday morning. The thought made his lips quirk. The last item in the bag was a coil of jute twine. He walked back out to the buckets and tied the handles of both with running slipknots. He threaded the screw, then the pulley. He threw the uncoiling twine across to the left, and then threaded that one. He probably would not have been amused to know that, in the gloom of the auditorium, covered and streaked with decades-old dust, grey kitties flying dreamily about his crow's nest hair, he looked like a hunched, half-mad Rube Goldberg intent upon creating the better mousetrap. He piled the slack twine on top of a stack of crates within reach of the vent. He climbed down for the last time and dusted off his hands. The thing was done. He looked out the window, then wriggled through and thumped to the ground. He closed the window, reinserted his jimmy, and closed the lock as far as he could. Then he went back to his car. Chris said chances were good that Tommy Ross and the White bitch would be the ones under the buckets; she had been doing a little quiet promoting among her friends That would be good, if it happened. But, for Billy, any of the others would be all right too. He was beginning to think that it would be all right if it was Chris herself. He drove away. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 48): Carrie went to see Tommy the day before the prom. She was waiting outside one of his classes and he said she looked really wretched, as if she thought he'd yell at her to stop hanging around and stop bugging him. She said she had to be in by eleven-thirty at the latest, or her momma would be worried. She said she wasn't going to spoil his time or anything, but it wouldn't be fair to worry her momma.