Mountain Man Beer Company – Case Analysis

Case Analysis Mountain Man Brewing Company: Bringing the Brand to Light Mountain Man Brewing Company (MMBC) was founded by Guntar Prangel in 1925. He reformulated an old family brew with quality ingredients, resulting in a flavorful bitter tasting beer which was launched as the Mountain Man Lager. The brand grew to claim a respectable market share for an independent-family-owned-brewery, in whole of the East Central United States by 1960. Even today, after 80 years, the lager is a legacy brew, awarded as the Best Beer in West Virginia for many years in a row.MMBC is still a single product company and generates over $50 million in revenue and selling over 520,000 barrels of Mountain Man Lager. All has been well thus far but now the market trends are changing rapidly. Problem Statement For the first time in the 80+ years MMBC has experienced a 2 percent decline in revenue, relative to the prior fiscal year. Is this a one-time occurrence or a signal shift in the overall marketplace? Bus inesses must act in a certain manner in order to maximize profits or run the risk of losing their place in the marketplace.Chris Prangel, son of the President and owner of MMBC, Oscar Prangel, is to inherit the business in only five years. With differing management styles and thoughts on the direction the organization should take, this uncertainty could be potentially crippling over time. The question of whether or not MMBC should move ahead with Chris's plan to introduce a light beer product is the one that is most pertinent to the overall direction the company will take. The ever changing marketing environment with respect to demographic, socio-cultural, and political cenario will influence management’s decision on which path to take. SWOT Analysis: Strengths Mountain Man Lager has established a brand with a strong loyal blue –collar clientele. This high quality lager is known for its dark color, distinct bitter taste and slightly higher alcohol content. It boasts an unaided response rate of 67% from the adult population of WV and is known to be the best regional beer. In 2005, Mountain Man Lager won â€Å"Best Beer in West Virginia† for its eighth straight year. It also won â€Å"Best Beer in Indiana† and was selected as â€Å"America’s Championship Lager† at the American Beer Championship.Research has shown blue-collar males purchase 60% of the beer they drink from off-premise locations. Currently MMBC sells 70% of its beer at off-premise locations which is quiet consistent with the industry wide sales. The lager is affordably priced for the middle-to-lower income â€Å"working man†, at $2. 25 for a 12-ounce serving of draft beer in a bar and selling for $4. 99 for a six-pack in a local convenience store. Market research shows, Mountain Man’s position as an independent, family owned brewery provides a sense of â€Å"authenticity† with â€Å"anti-big-business† core drinkers.The brand is a s recognizable in the East Central region as Chevrolet and John Deere. MMBC has proven to be successful in grass-root marketing with a sales force which is known to not just push the brand but influence customers to embrace Mountain Man and promote the brand by word of mouth. Weaknesses: MMBC is well known for their bitter tasting product. This has given them great success in the past, however with the changing market they need to conform to the new way of doing business if they wish to continue to succeed in the future.Having only one main beer that is sold in the East Central region of the United States makes it hard to maintain profits. MMBC has been experiencing a decline in their sales by nearly 2%. MMBC has a very small demographic to which the lager appeals to. As such they are losing their influence over the younger market, as well as the women drinkers. The attractiveness of a bitter tasting lager doesn’t quite win over the younger generation. Studies have shown they prefer a light beer, something MMBC is considering developing. MMBC needs to consider the cost associated with launching the new line.They would sell the MMLight at the same price as the regular beer; however it costs considerably more to produce. Advertising would also add to the burden of MMLight. Advertising alone would cost over $750K for a six month campaign to reach brand awareness of 60%. As they still would only be able to sell the new product at the same price that their competitors are selling theirs, the cost might outweigh the rewards. Opportunities: Looking externally one can see that MMBC has many possible avenues they could take advantage of, in the changing U.S. demographic and beverage market. MMBC is known for their traditional high quality lager with the potential to expand into several fast growing markets such as light beer and super-premium beer. By entering a growing market MMBC could gain drinkers from different demographics which they currently lack, for in stance women and those in their twenties new to drinking. By implementing these changes it could offset the market share loss MMBC lager is currently facing. MMBC could restructure how they market their beer, looking at new avenues.The internet is one possibility, capitalizing on the younger generation and their anti-big-business-sentiment as a marketing tool. MMBC could try to increase sales in ‘on-premise’ locations. MMBC should also look to expand their distribution range to acquire more states in the U. S. focusing on their core grass root marketing strategies to grow their market share. Threats: The â€Å"threats† portion of a SWOT analysis is best described as an analysis of external environmental threats to the business itself.The following is a discussion of the most pertinent potential external influencers facing MMBC. Over the past four years per capita beer consumption in the US has declined by 2. 3% due in some part to competition from wine and spirit based drinks but also due to changing cultural mores encouraging moderation and personal responsibility. If this trend continues MMBC will be competing for an ever shrinking piece of the market. The potential economic and marketing response from the major brewery competitors is daunting to a company the size of Mountain Man.With economies of scale in brewing, transportation and marketing, the Budweisers of the world are formidable rivals to say the least. They could respond in such a way as to make doing business very difficult moving forward. Governmental involvement in the beer industry is another issue at hand. The Federal Government has already raised the excise tax and with laws changing how beer can be promoted in a retail setting newly passed in WV could other states in the East Central region be too far behind? The biggest potential threat is the shift in beer consumers taste to light beer and away from the premium beers overall.Light beer sales account for over 50% of all beer sales and are growing at a compound rate of 4% per year. One of the most troubling aspects of the surge in light beers popularity is the demographic that is driving it. Young, first time, beer buyers / drinkers are at the crux of the demographic and marketers understand that if you can capture a customer young enough you have them as a customer for life. Financials: A look at the market analysis show alarming trends. In 2005 MMBC’s revenue was down relative to the prior fiscal year.Changes in beer consumption are being driven by changing consumer segments. Light beer sales are increasing while Premium beer sales are decreasing in the east central region as seen in Exhibit 5 in the MMBC case. Super-premium beer sales increased the most by well over 9% in the past 6 years. This shows beer drinkers’ tastes are shifting significantly causing sales to reflect this trend. Exhibit 5 shows light beer has a much greater volume than premium beer; signifying even small marke t penetration can mean significant volumes.Looking at Exhibit 6 part A, the other brands have 14% of the light beer market beating out Coors coming in at 11%. This could imply that the light beer market is easily penetrated by a new product. Exhibit 2 examines the beer drinker demographics in 2005, MMLager has 19% of the female demographic which is only a small portion, while domestic light beer boasts of 42% of the female beer drinking demographic. MMLager is the preferred beer of only 2% people in the 21-24 yr age bracket. In the 25-34 yr age group, 15% people prefer the lager and in 19% prefer the lager in the 35-44 yr age bracket.These numbers are significantly less than those drinking domestic light beer and domestic premium beer. MMLager is losing the younger generation hands down. A large segment of the light beer drinkers (24%) make over $100 thousand dollars a year, so introducing a newer light beer at a slightly higher cost will hit a new income demographic that is not as worried about pricing. Recommendations: 1. Do nothing – MMBC customers base drinking lager is a shrinking market. The rate at which MMBC can make new customers can only replace a fraction of existing ones.Assuming the 2% annual sales decline, by 2010, sales would have declined by 10%, the profit margin would be drastically shrunk, and with fixed costs remaining the same the company might be out of business in a matter of years. Keeping in mind the demographics, there is quiet a possibility that the rate of declining sales might accelerate due to the aging customer base. The senior management at MMBC is reluctant to launch the new product and site the examples of over 40 breweries those have closed down. But this does not, in anyway, provide any solid evidence that MMBC will fall in those same footsteps if they are to launch the new line.According to research, product line extensions â€Å"helped brewers obtain greater shelf space of products† and â€Å"created greater product focus among distributers and retailers†. Suggesting that MMBC do nothing would be a very short-sighted decision and classic mistake of â€Å"marketing myopia†. MMBC should do something soon in order to keep up with the changing market. 2. Launching Mountain Man light – The research suggests that where the brand equity drives the sales of lager; the same strategy would not work for light beer as the association of stronger, bitter flavor is not going to capture the light beer segment.MMBC needs to distance itself from the blue-collar beer image in order to attract the younger generation. 3. Launching light beer with a new name – Data suggests that light beer should not be marketed to the existing customer base, as they are simply loyal to the original lager. As such, they should still incorporate the Mountain Man brand but name it something like â€Å"Mountain Light†. Having an affiliation with the brand will allow the same grass-root market ing strategy to be applied for marketing the light beer to the younger segment. Exhibits [pic] [pic] [pic]

Lexington and Concord, Who Fired First? Essay

The battle that was fought at Lexington and Concord was seen all across America as â€Å"The shot heard around the world† or the beginning to the American Revolution. It is truly began the war between America and Britain, especially from the rage created by the battle. But to tell who exactly fired first to start this event is really unclear in some minds. But in perspective, the British were the ones who most likely set the spark aflame because they knew about the weaponry, they came knowing they’d take the land by force so the intention was there, and the Americans were minimally prepared for the invasion. Since the conflict was going on throughout the two countries, battles were beginning to up rise in the colonies and frustration was building up. To give themselves an advantage in the fighting, the red-coats knew where the American weapons were stored in large numbers and intended on taking it from them to give them the upper hand with the attack and put them forward towards victory. And in addition, when American troops came out and stopped the British for Simon, who was apparently taken by force, blocking their way of proceeding any further, an officer was observed by Simon commanding to fire at the American militia. This was the only observed action that provided the first shot by anyone which leans towards the British beginning the revolution. However the source may or may not be true, hence more detail can be looked into what actually happened. Seeing that also that a British soldier also admitted on their own side that their captain was the one to command firing at the scene the evidence pushing it to their fault is leading to be above needed. Though no proof itself was presented the known facts lead us to believe that the first shot was given by the red-coat soldiers. Now getting back into the reason they were going to concord, their purpose was specifically to infiltrate their weapons area containing threatening items of warfare to give them an advantage. Obviously the Americans wouldn’t give up their stash of things that protects them from the British without force. So this means that the English troops were expecting revolt against them and were prepared to fight to receive the artillery. This leads to the last fact given to support the assumption of the British attacking first, preparation. The soldiers of England were given orders to march from Boston to march to Lexington and Concord to take the intimidating weaponry from them. They were mentally and physically prepared for the upcoming battle awaiting them as they marched. However, the colonist militia had no clue of the attack until they had Prescott come and warn them of the march awaiting their fate soon to come. No reason was given, no knowing whether or not to be ready to defend their home or if they were just passing through. All they had was the sense of trouble that could possibly be coming. They actually were ordered to disperse, and they did, when the troops arrived, to cause no harm or threat. But once the shooting started, it sparked something much bigger. And it is for these reasons and supporting facts that I believe it was the British were the ones to first fire at the American militia. Even though there is no true way of finding out with the existing known facts of whose actual fault it was, the details basically are saying that it was the British militia who fire the first shot at the battle, being the ones who shot the â€Å"Shot heard around the world† and beginning the revolution. The evidences that support it is that the knowledge of armory by the British, the intention to attack by them , and lastly the minimal preparation of the American people that lead us to think that it was the British who fired the first shot.

Balanced Budget Amendment 1997 Analysis

Balanced Budget Amendment 1997 Analysis Balanced Budget Amendment Vu Luu    Introduction In March 4, 1997, the balanced budget amendment was defeated in the United States Senate by just one vote. Fast forward to the present, the United States is facing a $17 trillion deficit versus the $5 trillion in 1997. The question that remains to be asked is had the balanced budget amendment passed the United States Senate and approved by Congress in 1997, would we be facing the debt crisis that we are facing today? Based on my conclusion, the answer that I believe is no, the debt crisis would not have been as severe as it is today. In this paper I will argue why the United States need a national balanced budget amendment in the constitution. In particular, I will discuss the following points to back up my claim; future implications if no changes in policies and solving government spending. As the United States’ federal deficit continues to grow, many are asking for a balanced budget amendment to be added to the constitu tion. A balanced budget amendment would require the federal government not to spend more than it receives in revenue. This means it would be unconstitutional and against the law for the federal government to accumulate budget deficits. THE NATIONAL DEBT ISN’T GOING TO GO AWAY According to the 2012 Congressional Budget Office report, our current policies will eventually lead to a federal debt that would eventually reach a 90% gross domestic product by 2022, 109% by 2026, and 200% by 2037 (CBO 11). These estimates are based on the assumption that our current laws remain generally unchanged and that our spending policies which is the cause of the accumulation of budget deficits remain the same. The CBO budget estimates are also based on forecasts of economic state, demographic trends, and past experience. The other interesting estimate that the CBO reported was that even if there were general changes in our current laws, they estimate that the budget deficit would reach about 60 % of GDP by 2020 which is only 10% lower than our current situation (CBO 7). As indicated by the chart above, our annual deficit through 2021 would never drop below $1 trillion dollars under current policies. Although the main cause of the spike in deficit spending from 2008-2011 was mainly due to the recession, the Congressional Budget Office doesn’t believe the United States would recover under current laws. The balance budget amendment does allow exception, which in this case is the recession. If the national balance budget amendment was in place then after 2011, the annual deficit would only go down because of the radical budget changes in programs. It’s pretty apparent that the money we are borrowing is increasing more and more, but what will happen when it reaches that point when we have to start repaying these loans? The government textbook gives us a great example of what happened to Greece when they couldn’t pay off all their loans. The interest rates o n Greek government went way up and by 2011, they had to pay 25% to obtain a two-year loan from private sector (Sidlow 6). Compared to the United States, we are paying a mere 0.44% compared to the 25% Greece had to pay. The ending results in the Greek government shut out of private borrowing and had to depend on other European countries. The Greece example and the CBO’s estimates are huge future implications and urge for huge changes in our policies which I believe is the federal balanced budget amendment.

Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summary - Assignment Example They would discourage traditional rigid hierarchies and form flexible structures around them giving utmost autonomy to their people. These leaders would prepare more leaders under them and diversity in workforce would be valued and appreciated, much importance would be given to the aspiring vision and mission of the organization, as they provide uncompromising direction to their people in indecisive circumstances. The utmost importance would be given to the work and leadership would provide such an inspiration, that people would fall in love with their work and become self driven. Belief in feedback from the clients or employees would be important aspect of the learning culture promulgated by such leaders with emphasis on established core values while providing an essential framework for success. These leaders would realize the importance of healthy communities and work towards creating them in order to achieve greater success in their work. In defining the term leadership or who wil l be the leader in the coming era it is important to understand that leaders have followers, it is recognized by results and that leadership attributes can be learned, they are not endowed on someone from birth. The status of leadership would earned by having belief in oneself and one’s vision, exhibiting passion for the job and by loving people; in doing so one would display and exercise honest means and extend trust to surrounding people (Hesselbein et al., 1996). Leaders are doers and not preachers; they prove themselves first and then command others, their character is seamless with a habit of sharing awards and developing others while on the way to achieving organizational objectives. Furthermore they believe in team work, creating future leaders for their organization and leaving a proud legacy behind them. Their workforce is engaged and empowered with a clear sense of direction and a passion for achieving results. The collection of these beliefs on the leaders of the f uture were all written in 1996, a proof of success and accuracy lies in the attributes of current leaders and ones that are to come. What these management experts wrote some 16 years ago is more or less apparent in leadership of today and it provides a convincing path for the potential ones. I firmly agree to the above mentioned characteristics and attributes of the future leaders although in defining the future leader a distinction should be made between business leaders of tomorrow and those who command the political realm. I see a great difference between the two types of leaders not just in America but around the world. What business leaders usually practice in daily lives is adopted by political leaders after decades. Another aspect missing in the conclusions drawn by the writers is the dark side of the leadership, it is more than often that one sees a Machiavellian approach adopted by leaders in the practical world and it is a fact that most of the time this approach provides short term results. An approach that schemes and plots or uses unfair means to motivate teams and get desired results. Is there a place for these Machiavellian leaders in the future? I guess we will never know. Furthermore what these manageme

International mobility and global talent management Essay

International mobility and global talent management - Essay Example As per the company policy, it also ascribes to corporate social responsibility by pledging allegiance to sustainable communities, environment conservation and a broad based development of the societies in which it operates (Coca Cola 2011: Online). The thrust of the HR is to develop a trusted pool of global leaders. The objective of this essay is to analyze as to how Coca Cola manages its diversified operations in a globalized world, while being sensitive to local social, environmental, legal and regulatory expectations and norms. Corporate Vision As per Muhtar Kent, the Chairman and CEO of the Coca Cola Company, in a contemporary context, the primary objective of the company is to produce and sell brands that are trusted and respected around the world (Coca Cola 2011: Online). Thus, the goal of the company is to respond to the changes taking place in the region specific markets by creating a decentralized organizational structure and by respecting and exploiting local expertise and knowledge (Coca Cola 2011: Online). To accomplish this mission, it is imperative for Coca Cola, to make sure that its managers and personnel placed around the world share a common vision and concern, while customizing their approach as per the local requirements and preferences (Coca Cola 2011: Online). ... 113). So managing its human resources operating in more than 195 countries, with the accompanying individual aspirations and mobility requirements has always been considered a big challenge at Coca Cola (Anfuso 1994, p. 114). Thus, talent management is a core strategic issue for Coca Cola, going by the fact that more than eight percent of its income accrues from overseas sales (Anfuso 1994, p. 116). Coca Cola has 25 operating divisions spanning across six regional groups (Anfuso 1994, p. 115). Each division is expected to operate on its own while exploiting its global skills and adapting them to local knowledge and values (Anfuso 1994, p. 115). Coca Cola encourages its expatriate managers to practice local responsiveness, while assuring global integration (Anfuso 1994, p. 115). The managers based at each division are expected to act as if the division has to sustain on its own, while benefiting from the leverage associated with being tagged to a truly global group (Anfuso 1994, p. 11 5). The work culture at Coca Cola is one of diversity (Anfuso 1994, p. 117). The role of HR at Coca Cola is to extend broad philosophies oriented around essentially human issues, while helping local leaders to customize and implement these philosophies as they find suitable for the region in which they operate (Anfuso 1994, p. 117). The thrust of Coca Cola has always been to develop a sound global leadership base that is willing to and deft at adapting to the regional cultural, legal and regulatory variations. Thrust on Global Leadership The talent management approach at Coca Cola has a discernable predilection for developing global leaders (Bass 2007, p. 36). The point is not only to develop leaders who are good at managing global operations, but who are also good at

Public Patriarchal Authority in Joe Ortons Plays Essay

Public Patriarchal Authority in Joe Ortons Plays - Essay Example In fact, it is considered that "he communicated so successfully his version of the world Ortonesque as implying a peculiar mixture of the violent, the formal, and the amusing" (Orton, 1997). There are so many plays which Orton participated in and which thus could be discussed in his regards, however the aim of this paper is to discuss three plays and three characters in particular, the plays being: Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Loot, and What the Butler Saw; and the three characters being: Kemp, Truscott, and Rance. By addressing and discussing certain issues in this regards, such as the shared characteristics between the three and what they represent, their authority and power over the other characters in the plays and the power of the public patriarchal figures, as well as by examining the issue of Orton's plays being anti-authoritarian and undermining the patriarchal authorities, we will be able to come to a much more informed and knowledgeable understanding on this matter overall. Thi s is what will be dissertated in the following. Beginning with the play Entertaining Mr. Sloane, which was given its very first performance at the New Arts Theatre on May 6, 1964, and it ended up winning the London Critics' 'Variety' Award as the best play of the year. This play was said to be of interest 'only to those epicenes who look upon the public humiliation of women as grand sport'. This play includes the character Kemp, who is the father of Eddie who is the homosexual brother to Kath, who is a landlady; the basic plot of this story is that Kath, who is a single woman of 41, and who lives with her decrepit father Kemp, and Eddie, her brother, visits her occasionally, in their scruffy old house that sits on the edge of a rubbish dump. Then one day a man named Sloane comes to the house looking for a place to stay, and both Kath and Ed find themselves immediately attracted to Sloane, and not only that, but we see throughout the play that they are also getting a kick out of the fact of how they are sharing the same lover. Kem p is thus part of a very dysfunctional family, and although he is certainly not fully aware of everything that is taking place in his home, he is in on some of it. Kemp has very traditional values and beliefs, and if he was completely aware of some of the things that were taking place basically right in front of him, he would be horrified and angry. Kemp is absolutely the pubic patriarchal authority in this story, and he has authority and power over the other characters, primarily due to his age and thus seniority, however with Kath and Ed he especially has authority over them as their father. When we look at the play Loot, we see that this play is quite different from the one previously discussed, as this one is more of a dark farce, one which satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and as well the integrity of the police force. The play is described as: "Loot follows the fortunes of two young thieves, Hal and Dennis. Together they rob the bank next to the funeral parlor where Dennis works and return to Hal's home to hide the money. Hal's mother has just died and the money is hidden in her coffin whilst her body keeps on appearing around the house. Upon the arrival of Inspector Truscott the

Article Critique #3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article Critique #3 - Essay Example Nine of the articles have only â€Å"maternal† or â€Å"mother† in the title, though most of the other references refer to â€Å"father,† â€Å"paternal,† or â€Å"men.† A total of 7,601 men completed questionnaires for the study, a large study to say the least. The researchers assessed children at 3  ½ and 7 years of age, and data were compared for children whose fathers reported prenatal or postnatal depression (or both). The researchers theorized that exposure to father depression even before birth can affect the behavior of the child, even if the depression itself clears up. Although more than 7,000 total questionnaires were completed, only 175 reported prenatal-only depression, 166 reported postnatal-only, and 89 reported both. The results of comparing these three groups together with the controls (never depressed) show that both prenatal and postnatal depression in fathers causes children higher levels of behavior problems later in life, usually conduct disorders, and fathers who reported depression at both times were even more likely to have children with behavior problems. The researchers broke the data on the children into boy and girl sets. Their findings show that both postnatal depression and pre- and postnatal depression caused boys behavior problems, but interestingly the prenatal only group of children exhibited conduct problems but not emotional or overall problems. The findings for girls were less statistically significant, but the analysis showed that girls exposed to depression also had more conduct problems than girls who were not exposed to paternal depression. Basically, it is clear that boys exposed to their father’s depression, even if it is just prenatally, exhibit behavior problems in later life more than boys who are not exposed to paternal depression. The study is limited by the broad nature of the population (7,601 total) and the small number of men reporting depression (430

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Case Study - Essay Example An instant EHR access also permits many doctors to be referencing the chart concurrently. Similar EHR systems provide physicians delivering enhanced quality of medical care adopting the â€Å"Intergy HER† as all measures and instructions that are recorded are capable to be checked and confirmed to be proper for the deliberated intention thus lessening the scope of mistakes. The physicians, through the implementation of same HER system are trying to reduce the healthcare costs of the patients. It has been researched that the physicians adapting Intergy EHR are much more proficient at providing medical support as repetition is possible to be minimized. The quick reference to the HER system is important in the case of diagnostic procedures like blood reports, x-rays, ultrasounds etc. that are usually re-conducted since the preceding outcomes are not available to simply â€Å"retrieved, reviewed or compared.† The EHR permits a physician to have access to all investigative results, images etc. at any point of time, as a result eliminating the scope of duplication. The EHR system also sends electronically the information recorded to the hospitals billing system enabling precise data to be recorded in the clinic’s billing system consequently dropping the instances of claim rejections by the insurance company due to missing data. The EHR solution provides physicians with the capability to record clinical information related to a patient efficiently with less errors and lapse at the point of care. Patients are capable to have access with their whole medical history obtainable to physicians and clinicians at anytime devoid of the requirement to physically locate and recover documented medical records. There is a struggle involved in maintaining the nonverbal communication, specifically eye contact and lulls in conversation while documenting the appointment in an EHR. EHR is known to be distracting. There

Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Employment Law - Essay Example In the first category of immediate termination, there are various conditions under which an employee may be dismissed with the first one being if the employee is found guilty of going against the rules and regulations set for operations in the work environment (Batson and Shirouzo, 2010). The second rule stipulates that if an employee is found guilty of a crime they can be dismissed without notice. The third law states that in an event where the employee does something that causes damage to the employer, they can be dismissed since this infringes on the employer’s interests (EuroChinaJob, 2009). With this in mind, it follows that if an employee has a relationship with another employer, which affects the way the employee accomplishes tasks they can dismissed on grounds of not adhering to the regulations of the employer because they fail to accomplish tasks assigned to them. The fifth law that may cause dismissal of an employee without notice is if the employee acquired the job through fraudulent means, which amounts to cheating in order to be employed. In addition to the above, an employee is subjected to dismissal without notice if they are found not to be competent in regards to the job description to which they were employed on. I contrast to the employment law in China, the one in the in the United Kingdom stipulates that employment could be terminated by either the parties to the contract at will with or without notice. The employee is also subject to dismissal if the contract signed expires and it has not been renewed. The employee can also decide to terminate employment on grounds of constructive dismissal whereby there are circumstances that are reasonable basing this on the employer’s behavior. In addition to this if termination comes about because of the workers performance there are guidelines to be followed in order to ensure that the dismissal is in

Organizational Behaviour Case Study Essay Example for Free

Organizational Behaviour Case Study Essay Cases: Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Service Part 1) The field of Organizational Behavior is one that is very important when it comes to managing people and to make them work effectively. This begins with training. In order to understand these cases it is important to look at both the structure and environment of the company. In the case of the Automation in the Book Store, the company is a medium sized bookstore. Because this company is a bookstore with very few employees there is not a high level of formalization, less specialization and less authority. Therefore, it has an organic structure. Employees dont have a lot procedures and rules that they must abide by while doing their jobs. In fact the initial company policy required employees to stay with the customer they were serving from the time they walked into the store until the sale was made. Also, there was not a great deal of standardization in that there was not a set procedure on how employees did their work, rather it was a freer organization because there were very few employees and this resulted in greater flexibility. Look more:Â  starbuck problem essay These facts all changed once the new computer system was implemented. This system presented employees with some degree of formalization and standardization in their jobs because now there were precise rules and procedures on how to deal with customers. This includes entering an ID number every time a sale was made and closing the store with the system. Also, because this bookstore was not use to high levels of formalization in the past, the implementation of the training program was affected. There were no instructions on how to close at the end of the day in training. The manager had to come in and prepare a hand-written set of instructions about this routine. This is a sign of bad design and implementation. Also, because the company is more centralized than decentralized, the management must follow head offices requests. This is the exact same thing with employees who must listen to the manager even though the employees were apprehensive, particularly the older staff, about new sys tem. Again, the design of the training program, which was quoted as pretty skimpy and patronizing, was another sign of poor design. However, because the structure of the company was somewhat centralized they had to the training according to the way head office and management wanted. The structure of The Night Owl Answering Services was that it was between mechanistic and organic. This call center was more mechanistic because it was more centralized and more specialization where each individual had a specific role. Bob was responsible for technology, sales and marketing. Mary was responsible for training. This type of structure affected the training because of specialization. Nobody else was responsible for training, so when Mary passed away, everyone else specialized in a different area which left training to be an open mess. Only Mary knew the system the best because she specialized in this. This left the company scrambling to recover and in turn designed a training program that proved to be ineffective and poorly implemented. There was only one lady responsible for training. In the case of Automation in the Boo k Store and The Night Owl Answering Service it is important to look at the organizations environment. In these two cases, the organizations both faced environmental uncertainty. Every organization has the potential for environmental uncertainty. This uncertainty created a poor design for training. This was one of the major similarities in both of these cases. This is when management or people of the organization cant really predict what is going to happen. The cases with Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Services had faced environmental uncertainty that prove to be frustrating and challenging. However, because both of these companies had static environments, that is a company that remain fairly stable over time and had the least amount of uncertainty, they were sensitive to change. In The Night Owl Answering Service the head of training, Mary, passed away. This was an unpredictable event. It was clearly evident that there was no back up to Mary. Because this company was so used to certainty, it caught them off guard, particularly Bob. In the medium size booksto re the company had followed the same procedures to ring up sales until it introduced its new system. It took one month for the company to adapt. Again, both companies trained employees in such a way that proved to be ineffective. This means these two organizations ability to adapt to environmental change was poor. Its also important to discuss external environmental factors or outside factors that have a direct effect on the company, which in turn affected training. The answering services company had a good reputation for customer service but when the senior operators started leaving they hired new people and trained very quickly to get people on the phone and take calls. Therefore, the external factor here would be the customer. In The Night Owl Answering Services the customer was always the number one priority because they had a prestige reputation on customer service they wanted to continue providing services in a timely manner. This directly affected the training design and implementation because trainers wanted the trainees on the phone as soon as possible to serve the clients of the company because they were short staffed. As a result of this, the trainers wanted to get trainees on the phone quickly which resulted in an implementation and design that proved to be ineffective. Trainees were expected to learn through trial and error style of training. Senior operators were forced to take calls and train at the same time. This resulted in slower operators and higher errors and more complaints to the call center, which lead to clients (external factor) leaving the call center and find business elsewhere. This company was so focused on getting trainees on the phone, they ignored the fact they lacked the basic phone etiquette and computer skills. Senior Management was continuously on the phone, with out breaks. In The Automation in the Book Store the external environment component that should be discussed is technology. Like every other company, it must keep up with technology and accept current business practices. They were entering an era where technology was becoming widespread and they needed a system to calculate the GST. This is a reason why the bookstore decided to take on the new computer system. The organizations employees were reluctant to have it but didnt have a choice and had to keep up with external technological factors. The company was highly sensitive to this environmental change, which was external, but when the system was implemented, it became an internal factor. There was systematic turbulence in this organization. There ability to adapt to systematic change, the new computer system would be considered systematic turbulence. Systematic turbulence looks at how a company deals with a change in the environment change. This is evident is the case with Automation in the Bookstore. . Part 2) Motivational effects are very important aspects of an organization. People have to be motivated to join and remain in organizations. They also have to carry out their basic work reliability in terms of productivity, quality, and services, requirements and should always interact to accomplish their goal. These are some examples that if were missing in an organization, employees and members of the company began to lose interest and be less motivated. This was the case with these two organizations. One of the major similarities was that both companies faced poor training design and implementation. In Automation in the Bookstore the training was boring and ineffective, which had motivational effects. Lisa was an employee who worked in a medium sized bookstore and was completely dissatisfied with the design of the training. Unfortunately, the training was a mandatory requirement to understand the new system. The first two days started off by having to watch two half an hour videos which Lisa found to be boring and insulting. On the third day of training it went downhill. The computer system was not on training mode the way it was suppose to be. Also, there were no instructions on how close at the end of the day. The manager had to come in and prepare handwritten set of instructions. This caused a lot of problems and created frustration for all members of the organization including management and head office, who wanted to assign blame to someone. The operation of the system was not going according to plan and this got the trainees upset and confused about the policies of the system. Some parts of the training were vague and the continuous frustration had negative motivational effects. Similarly, The Night Owl Answering Services faced great training problems when Mary died, that evidently created negative motivational problems. Bob was forced to take over training without much knowledge o f how to do so, which was also a big problem. Senior operators were forced to work extra hard with no breaks, while at the same time train a new person. New operators were poorly trained and did not know how to handle calls. All these factors started showing in the office environment. These factors inevitably caused negative motivational effects. For example, intrinsic motivations were clearly not met in this organization. Intrinsic is defined as the direct relationship between the worker and the task. In the call center the task was frustrating and created anxiety. If these factors werent here there would be more interested in the position. However, because the training was so poorly done, the intrinsic motivation factor was not being met and created less motivation. It is also important to discuss the Maslows Need Theory and how it applies to these two cases. The needs theory states: NEEDS BEHAVIOR INCENTIVE AND GOALS. Both of these organizations both fit the physiological needs, which include the basic human needs. In safety needs it includes freedom from anxiety, and a structured ordered environment. The safety needs were not bei ng met. Both organizations faced stress and anxiety, particularly the call center, which effected motivation. Results of poor motivation create poor quality of work. The training was poor and it would reflect on the quality of work being performed because they are no longer motivated to work with all the stress factors. Hertrzberg theory should be looked at as well. The first factor is the hygene factor. This includes relationship with fellow employees, security and other various factors. In order for employees to not feel less motivated or dissatisfied is if all these factors are in place. If all these factors are in place you will not feel unsatisfied but that doesnt necessarily mean that you will be satisfied. It just means not being unsatisfied. Both companies didnt even get past the hygene factor of just not being unsatisfied. The second factor of Hertzbergs theory talks about is motivation. This is a sense of achievement and recognition, which would play different in each company. This doesnt have a great effect on the bookstore because their situation was short term in compared to the call center. If the company cant even properly trained there is no chance of being recognized or feel a sense of achievement. The cases state that the trainees felt like they were being under attack by the senior staff. That would have a negative affect and create decrease motivation. There is no room for job enrichment that in turn means no enhancement in intrinsic motivation. Overall the similarities with respect to the training and the two companies were that of implementation and design. The training program was poor due to various reasons as stated in the report. One of the major differences to note was that the call center issue was a more complex problem and more of a long-term problem. The bookstore training was more of short-term problem. The problem only lasted about a month. Also another difference to note is that the bookstore had a smaller number of employees, so controlling the problem was a bit easier. In the call center there were various problems that were even more difficult to control because they had to meet client needs. In these two organizations there was lack of leadership. Particularly transformational leadership. This is when a leader makes his/her representative look beyond the task, or in this case the training, by observing the bigger picture or goal. Not doing this would negatively effect motivation because the individual will then began to purse his or her own self-interest. In the case of the The Night Owl Answering Service, when Mary passed away, nobody was able to step up and show leadership. Because this particularity affected training, the person responsible for training should have demonstrated leadership ethics to make them feel more positively motivated. Nobody had the leadership to motivate people to put forth their best efforts. There were no directive and supportive people in these organizations. The coaching was ineffective and the trainees had no proper direction. Automation in the bookstore did not face a great deal of leadership problems because again, it only employed about 6-8 people.

Challenges Faced by IKEA

Challenges Faced by IKEA IKEA is a house furnishing store that have been franchise store. IKEA was firstly opened in Sweden, the owner and franchiser of IKEA is from Netherlands and store in almost in 31 countries. Their business concept is We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. This source is adapted from IKEA provides catalogue and visiting store for customer so its very easy for customer to choose the furniture and pick it up from the self warehouse. Today customization and new product in market is very important due to customer demanding for more and consumer market is changing faster. (Cox and Alam 1998) IKEA has strong ideas in customizing its product to suit the tastes of local markets because IKEA does all the analysis before venture to other country markets. (Cox and Alam 1998). Initially IKEA was not interested in customizing their product but went enter us market IKEA faces customer indifferences so eventually IKEA decided to customize their product. The reason why today we are discussing about IKEA is because for the first time in history an ordinary furnishing retail shop have been franchise all over the world and become very famous among everyone. (Cox and Alam 1998). Due to that we are going to analysis about IKEAs product and promotion to know their secret of success. The typical IKEA customer is young and low to middle income family and in another word can say as that is IKEA target customer. Marketing mix is has 4 ps: place (distribution), promotion, price and product, three extended marketing mix are people, process and physical evidence. According to Philip Kotler (2006) marketing mix a modern marketing system. This concept helps marketers to market the product more systematically. (Armstrong and Kotler 2006). Product strategy begins from marketing mix. (Armstrong and Kotler 2006). Product is goods that a company wants to sell. (Armstrong and Kotler 2006) IKEA produce almost everything that people need for a home. (Armstrong and Kotler 2006). HISTORY OF IKEA The year IKEA was established in 1943 by Ingvar kamprad to sell, pens, wallets and so on. In year 1958, IKEA grew and was introduced as a leader of Swedish Furniture and started to produce local furniture by local manufacturers. Later creating furniture for flat packs and self-assembly to reduce storage space. IKEA slowly expanded their business by opening up kitchenware and restaurant. The largest furniture IKEA display was in Scandinavia and the first store to be open was in Almhult, Sweden. From there IKEA develeoped by opening more stores in other countries such as Germany, Norway and so forth. The advantages of IKEA selling the product in other countries: less-expensive so customer will afford to buy the product according to the country they are located. There are 279 IKEA stores all over the world and IKEA is store in 36 countries. In 279 stores, IKEA group owns 247 stores in 24 countries and the rest is managed by franchise in 16 countries. In Asia IKEA groups only two stores they are located at Japan and China. The first country that IKEA considered to enter was Japan. Because of differences in mentality, culture, lifestyle, behavior and so on, IKEA faceed failure in Japan. In 1986 IKEA needed to shut down their store in Japan because of failure, they re-entered the market again after two years and opened 3 stores in Japan. The second country that IKEA decided to enter in Asia was China. Almost 6 stores had been opened in China and IKEA decided to open more in the future. IKEA provides abundant resources, cheap labor and invest in China market because to comfort for its investment. Due to bureaucracy system there are some challenges IKEA faces, high tax and so on. IKEA also creates an enterprise myth and become biggest furniture retail in world. Even though Japan and china located in Asia but Japan have unique characteristics. Since Japan needs an adaptation IKEA entered twice in Japanese market in order to establish their market. CORE OBJECTIVES, GOALS AND VISION OF IKEA IKEAs main objective is to invest and expand their business while maximize profit in return. IKEA also ensure that catalogue is distribute to the targeted people, so that they can become IKEA customer in terms of demographic attributes and they might travel to the store. The IKEAs vision is to create everyday life for many people everyday life for the many people. IKEAs goal is to produce or offer a wide range of well designed product, functional home furnishing product, interior and so on in a low price so many people will be afford to buy their products. On top of that IKEA trying level best to build up a good relationship with the customer and come up with funny strategy to attract customer. Basically IKEAs concept is to sell good product in a low price. Challenges faced by IKEA in international environment Furniture from Sweden is sold in the USA  is relatively higher even though the price of Sweden drop every year so IKEA is finding a solution for it, shipping from Europe to other country takes around 1 to 2 months and shipping cost is expensive. Countries like Japan IKEA have to customize the product and packaging according to their taste because previously when IKEA come up with standardization IKEA fails so to overcome this they now maintaining standardization, economy concern by rising living costs and depleting disposable income its a treat on performance of the IKEA business in u.k and u.s.a market specifically. By expand their business abroad IKEA has increase competition for international business and lot of competitor so IKEA had customize and standardize their product to attract the customer but the same IKEA also have to learnt other country market in order to compete wit them. IKEA business is successful in Europe, but it has met lots of challenges in the Chinese market. After 8 years entering into Chinese market, it has opened only 4 shops, and the sales portion in the Chinese market is less than 10% of its outlets. IKEA has been encountered in lot of problems when entering into the market especially developing countries. Product The product is anything that satisfies our want or need and product that can be marketed is including physical goods, services and so on. (Philip Kotler). The product decision also included aspects such as delivery arrangement financing warehousing and things that useful for people. (Philip Kotler) According to IKEA management they did not did any differentiations in their product ranges and way they conduct when going international especially on French and Chinese market. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) .Product in Swedish and France, there is no major differences between products. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications)In a research the author found out that all of those products were same for example kitchen and dining room, living room, bedroom, the house organization, decoration, lighting, and so forth. Comparing catalogues in different countries the catalogues was almost same and only two dissimilarities was found is: The French catalogue offers cupboards is much more variety of size than Swedish catalogue. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) The French catalogue presents wider range of available to purchase mattresses. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) The Chinese catalogues have been divided into 5 categories in order to increase purchase and increase number of localized product in Chinese market. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005) It is it is obvious that localized product is more in Chinese market for example kitchen wares as chopsticks, Chinese textile and so on. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) Product range is wider in china compare to Sweden and France, during any festival or special occasions IKEA introduce new product in china. (Thrane Carlsen, 2005) IKEA keeps flat packaging strategy and democratic design (function + design + low price = democratic design) strategy on market every market. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) The product line of IKEA has been considered in every situation as the IKEA identify and also the product concept is given IOS which means IKEA of Sweden. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). All the product of IKEA which have been selling all over the world is conformed to the European Union (eu) and national norms in order to maintain the quality standard. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) IKEA with Skanska offer not only product but apartment and furnished by IKEA products. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). IKEA sells most the product with the same standards because management and communication models wants to expand the same image of Sweden to worldwide. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). IKEA has to introduce much more localized products into the Chinese market and reduce the price because its relatively higher than domestic furniture products in China. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) .Due to Chinese market are relatively low cultural content and much more dimensions so more localized products are introduced to the Chinese market. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) When IKEA sells product to the French market, they must be very careful because French people has high taste of art, and take serious consideration of product design, color shade and so on. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). IKEA until t oday could maintain their product standard because they manufacture and produce their own product. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) IKEA only picks good timber in order to produce furniture and pick the best raw material to produce product and also can say as this is the secret of IKEA product. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) PROMOTION The function of promotion is to attract customer behavior in order to close the deal or sale. (Neil H.Bordens).The way to promote is trough advertisement, sales promotion, public promotion and etc. (Neil H.Bordens).IKEA does not spend that much in promotion but yet they try to use all the time different communication forms to advertise and promote their furniture and so on. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). Apart from that maybe can find media advertising via television and internet, IKEA catalogue advertisement, like IKEA bedroom-car riding all over USA or big square and so on. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). The brand IKEA is kept on three markets as every product is sold under IKEA brand, the registered trademark at the world dimension. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). This brand appears in every product and packaging. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). In china IKEA first time used media to make promotion by playing 8-minute TV show. (Thrane Carlsen, 2005). All IKEA products could be viewed in catalog or website but must purchase in the store, for Chinese customer furniture are directly delivered to home for free. (Thrane Carlsen, 2005) Basically IKEA come with this catalogue and so on is for family-orientation and IKEAs policy of comfortable home. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). IKEA have come up with different design of catalogue in different country according to their lifestyle and environment and so on. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).IKEA has completely different way of communicate with its customer. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).IKEA Mostly advertises in website and present not only furniture but also involvement latest design of computer science that they have used to attract the customer. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).IKEA has undertaken a few adaptations in its product design and sales promotions with different focus according to the feature of target market. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). IKEA give a feeling that IKEAs is very close to the cu stomer, because they have trained the staff in that way to maintain a very good relationship with the customer. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). By doing this IKEA thinks that is one of the effective ways of marketing and to promote their product to customer. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). Price Price means the pricing strategy that be used for a product or service. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). The pricing decision should be taken into account profit margin and probable pricing response of competitor in order to compete with them. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications) The pricing is not only list price but also include discounts, financing and others. Price is one of the most important issues in the process of coming up with ideas, distributing and manufacturing products, designing and so forth. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). All the company keeps its strategy of prices by offering wide range of products with stylish design, good quality with reasonable price so people can afford to buy it.usuniers argument is about the culture influence on pricing is a bit weak. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).IKEAs pricing policy is cost oriented as well as customer value oriented but its not necessarily culture based. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).Despite, china situation is not stable due to economical conditions but they seem to be better and better. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005).IKEA try to maintain the prices all over its shop and mostly succeed but not always those following are IKEAs objective for providing furniture in a lower price in different markets: (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005) Learn different elements of the production cost for example color of mugs. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005) Find cheap techniques of production or cheaper manufacturers for example in China. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005) Rduce additional cost in the production, the transport and the management, for example to pack products in flat packages. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005). Long-term orientation is one of the core Chinese cultures people are very concern about the quality and price, so IKEA have to come up with reasonable price in Chinese market. (Bjà ¶rk, 2000, Lewis, 2005) However price is not a problem in Europe, as IKEAs product is always of good quality and lower price, so IKEA focus more on sales promotion to gain the market share in Europe. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications).IKEA designers, manufactures and purchasers still spending most of their days to find a solution to low the price of IKEA product and they wants customer to buy high value product in a cheap price. (E. Lewis; Cyan Communications). CONCLUSION IKEA have franchise their market and also was successful in overseas. In fact IKEA have failed initially before they made it in Japan especially. IKEA have to come up with more strategy and try to venture in more business. They also should open up more IKEAs in overseas and maximize the promotion in order to reach the target customer. Before open up a business IKEA should analysis the country market whether adaption or standardization to be applied in the particular country so that the company will never face failure. From the analysis, it shows that IKEA has strong relationship of network structure, large number and customer in worldwide to internationalize. Actually in a market survey on target customer everyone says that no any command on IKEAs product because their quality of product is very good and worth of buying it and also last for many years. IKEA products are affected in abroad market because of cultural factors and political factors. For example Japan people doesnt like i nternational product and got to customize the product. Political factors are affected like there is some barriers in some countries that standardization packaging is not allowed and they have change the packagings due to this IKEA have to spend allowed. RECOMMENDATION IKEA have to always pre-planned and alert with market situation and move forward in order to ovoid unnecessary cost. They have to come with a strong strategy so that other competitor can beat up their market. IKEA is very confident that their quality of product is very good and competitors cannot compete with but IKEA but mustnt be like that because nowadays cant predict or underestimate about competitor. IKEA always must be ready to face consequence or either successful. IKEA also should promote more their product and organize lot of event in order to make the brand more popular among people. IKEA must give lot of sponsor of charity, sports and all in order to attract customer. The best ways in distribute flyers, article and so on about IKEA products and how good quality products they are using for example.

As You Like It Essay: Violating the Established Social Order

Violating the Established Social Order in As You Like It  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The recent White House sex scandal raised issues about gender, desire, and an established social order - issues that questioned established social norms and ideas about the power and politics of sex. Our society is not the first to recognize the effects that sexual politics and gender relations have had on social order, however. The works of William Shakespeare are ample evidence that Elizabethan England was firmly in touch with these notions. Shakespeare’s keen observations and careful crafting demonstrate over and over again that the battle for power is an ever-present one, and that social order is an ever-changing phenomenon. Quite often, Shakespeare questions the "norms" of gender, desire, and social order, and does his best to show that these norms can easily be changed (often with hilarious consequences). As You Like It is a prime example. Rife with usurpations, cross-dressing, female aggressiveness, and even a god named "Hymen", Shakespeare does his best to throw the established norms into disarray. He takes the "rules" regarding gender, desire, and social disorder completely upside-down. As You Like It shows that, like a hymen, these rules are made to be broken. The catalyst for the chaos the drives the play is certainly the violation of social order. Charles the wrestler tells us, "†¦the old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new Duke†¦" (I,i,99-100), and we are off and running. The old usurped Duke (Senior) has gone to live in the forest of Arden with several loyal followers, "and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England" (I,i,116). This allusion to the social outsider who robs from the rich and gives to the poor highlights how th... ...of Chicago Press, 1946. Harris, Laurie Lamzen, ed. Shakespearean Criticism : Volume 5. Detroit : Gale Research Company Book Tower, 1984. Holland, Norman. Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare. New York McGraw-Hill, 1966. O'Connor, Evangeline M. Who's Who and What's What In Shakespeare. New York : Avenel Books, 1978. Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. Eds., Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. New York : Washington Square Press, 1960. Spurgeon, Caroline. Shakespeare's Imagery And What It Tells Us. London : Cambridge University Press, 1965. Stevenson, Burton. The Standard Book of Shakespearean Quotations. New York : Funk & Wagnalls Company, Inc., 1953. Thaler, Alwin. Shakespeare and Our World. Knoxville, TN University of Tennessee Press, 1966. Webster, Margaret. Shakespeare Without Tears. New York Capricorn Books, 1975.      

Things Fall Apart Essay -- essays research papers

Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. New York, New York Copyright 1959 Author Biography Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, or Chinua Achebe, was born November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, Nigeria. His parents were Janet N. Achebe, and Isaiah Okafo, a teacher in a missionary school. Mr. Achebe was educated at the University College of Ibadan, but also attended Government College in 1944. He wrote his first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958. During the Biafran War, he was in the Biafran government service. After the war, Mr. Achebe taught at several universities, both in Nigeria and in the United States. In 1967 he cofounded a publishing company with a fellow author, Christopher Okigbo. Mr. Achebe’s later works include No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, and Anthills of the Savannah. A serious car accident left Mr. Achebe paralyzed from the waist down in 1990. The majority of his novels deal with Africans struggle to free themselves from European colonial and political influences, due to his experiences in the Biafran War and the Nigerian Civil War. Main Characters Okonkwo- Okonkwo is the main character in the novel. He is a distinguished man in the clan, and has been since a young age, when he established himself as a skilled wrestler. He had a very lazy father, and this was a source of much embarrassment to him, so to overcome this, he is an overbearing husband, and father. He feels that he always has to prove that he is different than his father, which is eventually his downfall. Unoka- Unoka is Okonkwo’s father. He was a very lazy man and always an embarrassment to his family, especially his son. He is the reason that Okonkwo is so scared of failing. Nwoye- Nwoye is Okonkwo’s son, and he is lazy and complacent, like his grandfather. Okonkwo’s way of changing this is to be especially hard on him, which drives him further away, eventually to join the missionaries. Ezinma- Ezinma is Okonkwo’s daughter, and he is proud of her, even though he won’t show this because he thinks that it is a weakness. She is smart and pretty. Okonkwo wishes that she were a boy so that he could pass on his knowledge and fortune to her. Mr. Brown- Mr. Brown is the first missionary to arrive in Umuofia. He is nice enough to the clan, so they decide to let him stay, but soon enough he brings others, both from the clan and from outside, into the c... ...alk to you.† This is an important excerpt from the book because it shows how the natives tried to negotiate with the white men peacefully. All they wanted was for the clan to return to the way it was before the white men came, and they even agreed to let the white men stay and practice their religion as long as they didn’t bother anyone. But the Christians had to have everything, so there was a conflict. 5.Obierika is talking. Chapter Twenty Five Obierika, who had been gazing steadily at his friend’s dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: â€Å" That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog†¦.† He could not say anymore. His voice trembled and choked his words. This quote is significant because it shows the falling apart of the clan as a whole. Okonkwo was a one of the strongest men in Umuofia, both in physical strength and mental determination. His taking his own life is a sign that the natives are losing the battle against the stronger white men. If he is not strong enough to endure the white men, than it is obvious that no one else in Umuofia will last much longer.

Essay --

Eddie Martinez 11/30/2013 History 380- History of Rock ‘n’ Roll Research Paper Rock and Roll was one of the biggest musical, cultural, and social. It was one of the biggest events that has changed the face of music. But this incredible change didn’t happen overnight. While the term was coined in the 1950’s, movements had already been rolling in those directions for a few decades. So many genres and styles contributed to the rise of Rock and Roll and to the different ranges of types that stemmed from it. While there are countless styles and artist that contributed to creating the sound and culture and Rock and Roll there are a few groups that particularly embodied the ideals of Rock and Roll and greatly added to its already rich style. Rock and Rolls origins have been highly debated. Because of its significant impact on society, people are very involved and interested on its development and its decline into its various subcategories. Music has always had direct links to the culture and people it emerges from. The styles that predominantly make up the roots of Rock and Roll begin earliest from jazz and most importantly swing in the 1930’s. the time leading up to Rock and Roll coincided with the time leading up to the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. both Rock and Roll as well as the Civil rights movement for African Americans erupted in the 1960’s after many decades of built up tension. The styles that contributed to Rock and Roll are a combination of White and Black styles of music that were fused and came together as early as the 1930’s. Of course when anyone thinks about Rock and Roll they think of the man with full slicked backed hair and a white rhinestone jumpsuit. Elvis Aaron Presley was a singer, musician, and ... ... most original and amazing songs out there. Originally the band felt that their first album was too much pop; there was no meaning in the words. But by the time they released Rubber Records, which they felt was one of their most cohesive and best records, they were at full Beatles swing. It was all them. The band went through quite a genre transition and crossed all kinds of musical styles in the ten years that they were together. They started out as being a skiffle group, they then embraced 50’s rock and roll, folk, country, psychedelic, and yet still popular and unique. It has been said that before this time there had never been a song that could blend so many different styles and components from so many diverse influences could be put together to make something new. At the end, when things were becoming strained in the group, individual tastes began to surface.

Death Advantages vs Disadvantages

Death can be taken as an advantage or disadvantage, a blessing or a curse. It is an advantage or blessing as one is aware of his approaching death and can prepare himself for it. It is a disadvantage or a curse as since one is aware of approaching death, he realizes that human existence is pointless, which makes him unhappy, anxious and anguished. Among other things, Don DeLillo seems completely preoccupied with death and the difficult task of living with the knowledge of death in his novel White Noise. Rather than discuss the unavoidable mortality that connects all humankind with broad, generalized strokes, DeLillo is concerned with the particular late 20th century cultural and psychological mechanisms that attempt to define the unclear relationship between self and death. Perhaps, the character most responsive to death is Jack Gladney. Jack is so consumed by his fear of death that his ordinary thought processes are often interrupted by the question: â€Å"Who will die first† (DeLillo 15)? In Jack’s mind: â€Å"This question comes up from time to time, like where are the car keys† (DeLillo 15). Jack finds the aura of death to be very noticeable and real, and he relies on his consumer lifestyle as an escape from his fear of death. DeLillo uses Hitler to as a major component of his theme, death. Hitler has lived on past his death through the media. He lives because the Holocaust is probably the most tragic event in the history of the earth. In the novel Jack is obsessed with Hitler’s ability to live forever, Hitler’s power, Hitler’s self confidence, and the aura that surrounded Hitler and still surrounds Hitler. Jack is the total opposite of Hitler in the novel. He is terrified of death, has no power over anything in his life, and has zero self confidence. Jack has no way to capture these things, but through Hitler. Jack is a character with a major identity problem; Jack has no idea about who he is. No matter if a person is rich or poor, smart or foolish; he/she will sooner or later leave this world because of death. As no one can experience death until he/she dies, everyone fears it at some stage. For the most part, man fears death because he does not understand what death is, how it feels and if it is really the end of thought. On top of that, death is a stage of life, it does not mean the end of life – there may be a place where everyone goes when they are dead just as people go from teenagers to adulthood. Simply denying this fact is not the right route to take. DeLillo, through this novel, is trying to send a message to his readers that facing death is the best solution to its fear. Death is something beyond our control and so it is not a thing that we should worry that much about. Taking medication, and of course, killing others will not prevent death. Thinking and being afraid of death is an ordinary thing for a man to ponder about but too much can lead to more negatives than positives. Furthermore, taking a step to an unknown world can be extremely challenging for man. That is why they fear death so much. Fear of death does not prolong anyone’s life; in fact, it may shorten someone’s life. In the end, man must face death for all men are mortal. Babette, wife of Jack, is also a prime example of a person in life that suffers from her frequent fear of death. Both Jack and Babette fear death very much but their denial of this is very visible in chapter 20 when they had a long discussion in their bed. Both of them had informed the other that if it is their choice that they want to die first as if they are not afraid of death at all. â€Å"[Babette] says she wants to die first because she would feel unbearably lonely and sad without [Jack], especially if the children were grown and living elsewhere† (pg. 100). Jack also tells her more or less the same thing and they would argue whose death leaves a bigger hole in the other's life. By saying this, both of them want hope that they will at least seem to have no fear of death and thus can try to believe in it and avoid the fear. Unfortunately, this has not worked at all. Both of them have never felt less frightened from death even when they pretend they didn't. Babette says, â€Å"I do want to die first,†¦. But that doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I'm terribly afraid. I'm afraid all the time† (pg. 198). Her fear of death is further demonstrated when Babette by chance discovers an article about fear of death and she decides to go to the firm. Jack’s reaction to Babette’s fear seems misplaced. He is more upset that she could possibly be more afraid of death than him than he seemed to be about her sleeping with Mr. Gray. He goes on trying to tell Babette that maybe she isn’t sure that she is afraid of death, â€Å"death is so vague. † He tries to tell her that it might be her weight or height that is her problem. He cannot accept that she is scared of death. Much of this could stem that he depends on Babette mostly for psychological support. The major theme of the novel is that death lurks everywhere, especially in the White Noise of the modern world, specifically in the waves and radiation with which we surround ourselves. The airborne toxic event makes visible this submerged death, and also heightens Jack's already dominating fear of death when it infects his bloodstream. DeLillo outlines several possible solutions to humanity's natural fear of death: by embracing and confronting it, as Tibetans and other Eastern religions advise; by blocking fear through â€Å"mystical†; science, as Babette attempts through the drug Dylar; by using consumerism to deny it; and by ignoring it, although only Wilder seems able to do this, whereas in the hands of adults it becomes a weakened form of cruelty. We try to face death through crowds, through safety in numbers, but we must ultimately face death alone. Even to the end of the novel not much about the role of death in the eyes of Jack and Babette changes. The book ends when Wilder is crossing the road on his tricycle and cars are honking and swerving to not to hit the little boy while he is in a state of oblivion, he doesn’t hear the cars, and he doesn’t hear the women yelling at him to stop that’s all just White Noise to him. Suddenly he falls into a puddle off of his tricycle and begins to cry and he realizes that he brushed death for the first time. Throughout the story Wilder represented a kind of innocence not found in any character. He was the only one who was not concerned with death or dying, he didn’t even understand the concept of death. But soon his innocence fades away, and he becomes and starts thinking like everyone else surrounding him.

Effect of video games on children Essay

Technology had evolved very fast from generation to generation. Young and adults are both into what we call video games and techie gadgets. Nowadays, we can normally see computers, gaming consoles and etc. at home and in schools. Video games are entertaining and effective motivation for children. They engage them to skillful play depending on the game design. There have even been studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. Although this fad benefits to all but on the other hand, it also give negative effects especially to those children who are getting addicted to it. Studies show that children’s video game habits are contributing to the risk factors for health, behavior and poor academic performance. It was also reported that girls and boys play for an average of about 5-13 hrs/ week. Some children spend more hours that what is reported. There were negative effects of video games on children’s physical health, including obesity, video-induced seizures. and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as nerve compression, and carpal tunnel syndrome that were documented by the research. However, these effects are not likely to occur for most children. Parents should be most concerned about two things: the amount of time that children play, and the content of the games that they play. The amount of time that the children play lessens the amount of time and focus allotted for his academics. The content of the games that he/she plays leads to increased physiological arousal, increased aggressive thoughts, increased aggressive feelings, increased aggressive behaviors, and decreased pro-social helping. Children must not spend more than one to two hours per day in front of all electronic screens, including TV, DVDs, videos, video games, and computers (The American Academy of Pediatrics, 2004). Regarding content, educational games are likely to have positive effects and violent games are likely to have negative effects. We must limit them from violent games and introduce to them educational games, consoles and etc. The conclusion that Gentile (2004) drew from the accumulated research is that the question of whether video games are â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad† for children is oversimplified. Playing a violent game for hours every day could decrease school performance, increase aggressive behaviors, and improve visual attention skills. Instead, parents should recognize that video games can have powerful effects on children, and should therefore set limits on the amount and content of games their children play. In this way, we can realize the potential benefits while minimizing the potential harms. Source: http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/ Article by: Dr. Douglas Gentile is a developmental psychologist, and is assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University and the director of research for the National Institute on Media and the Family where he conducts research with children and adults. COPYRIGHT 2004 Pediatrics for Parents, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group.

The Indigo Spell Chapter Fourteen

SUNDAY ROLLED AROUND, and the day started off quietly. We were nearing the point when Veronica might strike again, and my stomach was in knots over what her next step would be . . . and how stuck we were on how to stop her. Then I received help from an unexpected source when my phone rang with an unknown number on the display. Normally, I wouldn't answer something like that, but my life was hardly normal these days. Besides, it was a Los Angeles area code. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Hi! Is this Taylor?† It took me a moment to remember my secret identity. I did not, however, recall giving my actual number to any of the girls we'd warned about Veronica. â€Å"Yes,† I said warily. â€Å"This is Alicia, from Old World Bed-and-Breakfast.† â€Å"Hi,† I said, still puzzled as to why and how she'd be calling me. Her voice was as cheery and bright as when we'd met her. â€Å"I wanted to know if you'd thought any more about getting a room for your anniversary.† â€Å"Oh, well . . . that. We're still deciding. But, uh, probably we're going to go with something closer to the coast. You know, romantic beach walks and all that.† â€Å"I can totally understand,† she said, though she sounded disappointed at the loss of a sale. â€Å"If you change your mind, just let me know. We're running a special this month, so you could get the Bunny Suite at a really good price. I remember you saying it reminded you of your pet rabbit. What was his name?† â€Å"Hopper,† I said flatly. â€Å"Hopper! That's right. Such a sweet name.† â€Å"Yeah, awesome.† I tried to think of a polite way to phrase my next question but simply chose directness. â€Å"Look, Alicia, how did you get this number?† â€Å"Oh, Jet gave it to me.† â€Å"He did?† â€Å"Yup.† She'd apparently gotten over her disappointment and now sounded bright and chirpy again. â€Å"He filled out an info card while you guys were here and put down your number.† I nearly groaned. Typical. â€Å"Good to know,† I said. I wondered how often Adrian gave my number out. â€Å"Thanks for following up.† â€Å"Happy to. Oh!† She giggled. â€Å"I nearly forgot. Your friend is back.† I froze. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Veronica. She checked back in yesterday.† My first reaction was excitement. My second one was panic. â€Å"Did you tell her we were asking about her?† â€Å"Oh, no. I remembered you saying you wanted to surprise her.† I nearly sank in relief. â€Å"Thank you. We, uh, wouldn't to ruin that. We'll have to stop by and visit – but don't tell her.† â€Å"You can count on me!† We disconnected, and I stared at the phone. Veronica was back. Just when we thought we'd lost all leads on her. I immediately called Ms. Terwilliger but was sent to voice mail. I left a message and then followed up with a text, saying I had urgent news. My phone rang again, just as I was about to call Adrian. I almost hoped Alicia had more to tell me, but then I saw that it was Stanton's number. After first taking a deep breath, I tried to answer in as calm a way as possible. â€Å"Miss Sage,† she said. â€Å"I received your message yesterday.† â€Å"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for calling me back.† I'd called her yesterday, just before meeting up with Adrian. Ms. Terwilliger's magical training had taken priority at the time, but I hadn't forgotten my deal with Marcus. â€Å"I have a, um, favor to ask,† I continued. Stanton, who was rarely surprised, was clearly surprised now. â€Å"You're certainly entitled to ask . . . but you're just not usually the type who does.† â€Å"I know, and I feel bad. So, if you have to say no, I understand.† In truth, if she said no, I would have a number of problems on my hands, but it was best not to sound too eager. â€Å"Well, I've been thinking about how I have to spend Christmas here – with the Moroi. And I definitely understand that, ma'am. It's part of the mission, but . . . well, I'd be lying if I said that didn't bother me. So, I was wondering if there's any way at all I'd be allowed to go to one of the big holiday services. It would make me feel . . . oh, I don't know. More connected. Purified, even. I'm just always surrounded by them here, by that taint, you know? I feel like I can't even breathe half the time. That probably sounds ridiculous.† I cut my rambling off. When Marcus had first suggested taking advantage of knowing someone in St. Louis, I'd immediately thought of Ian. Then I realized that wasn't enough. Alchemists on assignment couldn't just ask for casual time off to visit friends. Time off for something more spiritual and group-oriented – say, the Alchemists' annual holiday services – was a different matter. Lots of Alchemists were given clearance to travel and attend those services. They were tied to our faith and group unity. In fact, Ian had even brought it up at the wedding in the hopes of luring me to visit him. Little had he known his trick would pay off. Kind of. â€Å"It doesn't sound that ridiculous,† Stanton said. That was promising, and I tried to unclench my fist and relax. â€Å"I was thinking maybe I could go before we're out for winter break,† I added. â€Å"Jill can stay within the confines of the school, so there shouldn't be too much risk. And Eddie and Angeline are always with her. I could just hop over to St. Louis for a quick weekend trip.† â€Å"St. Louis?† I could almost see her frown through the phone. â€Å"There are services in Phoenix as well. That would be much closer.† â€Å"I know, ma'am. It's just. . . .† I hoped being genuinely nervous would help me sound convincing. â€Å"I, uh, was hoping I could also see Ian again.† â€Å"Ah. I see.† There was a long pause. â€Å"I find that more surprising than you wanting to attend services. From what I saw at the wedding, you didn't seem to be that charmed by Mr. Jansen.† So. I'd been right that Stanton had noticed his crush on me. However, she'd also noticed I didn't return his affection. She was observant, even to little details, which brought Marcus's warnings back to me, about how the Alchemists paid attention to everything we did. I started to understand his fears and why he pulled his recruits out of the Alchemists so quickly Was I already attracting attention? Were all the little things I did – even asking for this – slowly building a case against me? Again, I hoped my anxiety simply made me sound like a flustered, love-struck girl, one Stanton would feel sorry for and shake her head over. St. Louis wasn't that much farther away by plane, and the end result was the same. â€Å"Well, that was business, ma'am. I didn't want to get distracted from our goal.† â€Å"Of course.† Her next pause was only a few seconds long, but it felt like an hour. â€Å"Well, I see no reason why you can't go. You've done an admirable job in your work, and – from a personal point of view – I can understand why you'd want to be with familiar faces again. You've spent more time with the Moroi than many Alchemists ever will in their lives, and you didn't hesitate when that Ivashkov pushed himself onto you at the wedding.† I didn't really hesitate when he pushed himself onto me at the sorority, either. Or did I push myself on him? â€Å"Thank you, ma'am.† She authorized me to go next weekend and said I could use Alchemist funds to book my travel arrangements. When we got off the phone, I contemplated calling Ian but then decided on a more impersonal approach. I jotted out a quick email telling him that I'd be in town and that I hoped we could meet up. After a few moments of thought, I then texted Marcus: Arrangements made. Lunchtime came around, and Eddie texted to ask if I could meet Jill and him in my dorm's cafeteria. I headed downstairs at the appropriate time and found a glum Eddie sitting by himself at a table. I wondered where Angeline was and noted he hadn't mentioned her in his text. Rather than bring that up, I focused on who he had mentioned. â€Å"Where's Jill?† He nodded toward the opposite side of the cafeteria. I followed his gaze and saw Jill standing near a table, laughing and talking. She held a tray and looked as though she'd been stopped on her way back from the food line. Micah and some other guys were at the table, and I was happy to see he did indeed seem comfortable with being her friend again. â€Å"That's nice,† I said, turning back to my own food. â€Å"I'm glad she's getting along with everyone.† Eddie stared at me in amazement. â€Å"Don't you see what's going on?† I'd been about to bite into an apple and stopped. I hated these kinds of loaded questions. They meant I'd missed out on some social subtlety – something that wasn't my strong suit. Glancing back at Jill, I tried to make my best guess. â€Å"Is Micah trying to get back together with her?† â€Å"Of course not,† said Eddie, like I should've known. â€Å"He's going out with Claire Cipriano now.† â€Å"Sorry. I can't keep track of everyone's dating lives. I'll add it to my to-do list after, you know, busting Alchemist conspiracies and finding out whether the Warriors are after Jill.† Eddie's gaze was locked on Jill, and he nodded, making me think he hadn't actually heard a word I'd said. â€Å"Travis and Juan want to ask her out.† â€Å"So? She learned her lesson about human and vampire dating.† I wished I had. â€Å"She'll tell them no.† â€Å"They still shouldn't be bothering her,† he growled. Jill didn't seem to be particularly bothered by their attention. In fact, I liked seeing her bright and smiling for a change. Confidence suited her and emphasized her royal status, and she clearly was enjoying whatever banter was going on. One thing I'd learned in my social education was that flirting wasn't the same thing as going out with someone. My friend Julia was an expert at the difference. If it made Jill happy, I certainly had no problems with it. Honestly, it looked like the person who was most bothered by Jill's suitors was Eddie. He theoretically had the excuse of wanting to protect her, but this seemed pretty personal. I decided to bring him back to his own romantic life, the one he should actually be concerned about. â€Å"Where's Angeline?† Jill began walking toward us. Looking relieved, Eddie turned back to me. â€Å"Well, that's what we wanted to talk to you about.† Whenever anyone wanted to talk to me, it meant something weird was about to happen. Actual emergency issues were never given an introduction. They were just delivered immediately. This premeditated stuff was a wild card. â€Å"What's going on?† I asked once Jill sat down. â€Å"With Angeline?† She exchanged a knowing glance with Eddie. â€Å"We think Angeline's up to something,† she said. A moment later, she clarified, â€Å"Something bad.† Not this again. I turned to Eddie. â€Å"Is she still being distant?† â€Å"Yeah. She had lunch with us yesterday.† He frowned. â€Å"But she was acting weird. She wouldn't explain why she's been so busy.† Jill concurred. â€Å"She actually got really upset the more we kept questioning her. It was strange. I think she's in some kind of trouble.† I leaned back in my chair. â€Å"The kind of trouble Angeline gets into is usually spontaneous and unexpected. You're talking like she's masterminding something in secret. That's not her style. At worst, she's harboring an illicit wardrobe.† Eddie looked like he wanted to smile but couldn't quite manage it. â€Å"True.† Jill apparently wasn't convinced. â€Å"You have to talk to her. Find out what's going on.† â€Å"Can't you talk to her?† I asked, looking between their faces. â€Å"You live with her.† â€Å"We tried,† protested Jill. â€Å"I told you. She just got mad the more we talked.† â€Å"Well, I can understand that,† I snapped. â€Å"Look, I'm sorry something weird is going on with her. And I don't want her in trouble, believe me. But there's only so much hand-holding I can do with her. I fixed her math problem. My job is to make sure she stays in school and doesn't blow your cover. Everything else is extraneous, and I just don't have time for that. And if she wouldn't talk to you, why on earth do you think she'd talk to me?† I'd spoken a bit more harshly than I intended. I really did care about them all. I also didn't want trouble in the group. Nonetheless, it was always a little frustrating when they came to me with dramas like this, as though I were their mother. They were some of the smartest, most competent people I knew. They didn't need me, and Angeline was no criminal genius. Figuring out her motives couldn't be that difficult. Neither one of them had an immediate response for me. â€Å"You just always seem to get through to people,† Jill said at last. â€Å"You're good at communication.† That certainly wasn't a compliment I heard very often. â€Å"I don't do anything special. I'm just persistent. Keep trying, and maybe you'll get through.† Seeing Jill start to protest, I added, â€Å"Please. Don't ask me to do this right now. You both know I've got a lot going on.† I gave each of them a meaningful look. Both knew about Marcus, and Jill also knew about Ms. Terwilliger's sister. After a few moments, that knowledge set in, and they both looked a little embarrassed. Eddie gave Jill a gentle nudge. â€Å"She's right. We should keep working on Angeline ourselves.† â€Å"Okay,† said Jill. My relief was short-lived. â€Å"We'll try a little more. Then, if it still doesn't work, Sydney can step in.† I groaned. When I parted ways from them later, I couldn't help but think again about Marcus's comments in San Bernardino about how Alchemists got caught up in menial tasks. I tried to reassure myself that Jill and Eddie would take care of this on their own, meaning I wouldn't actually have to intervene. Presuming, of course, Angeline really wasn't planning something catastrophic. Unfortunately, those doubts were soon shaken when I got on the shuttle that would take me to main campus. On weekends, there was only one bus that looped between all buildings, and this one had just picked up at the boys' dorm. I found Trey sitting in it, staring out the window with a happy expression. When he saw me, his smile vanished. â€Å"Hey,† I said, taking a seat beside him. He actually looked nervous. â€Å"Off to study?† â€Å"Meeting with Angeline, actually.† There was no escaping her today, but at least if she was working on math, it seemed unlikely she'd be staging a coup or committing arson. His troubled expression concerned me, though. â€Å"She . . . she didn't hit you again?† I didn't see any noticeable marks, but with her, you could never tell. â€Å"Huh? No, no. Not recently.† He hesitated before speaking again. â€Å"Melbourne, how long are you going to need me to do this?† â€Å"I don't know.† Mostly I'd been focusing on getting her through the present, not the future. One thing at a time. â€Å"She'll have her final coming up before break. If she passes, then I guess you're home free. Unless you want to keep up with it after break – I mean, provided she doesn't wear you out.† This startled him a lot more than I would have expected. â€Å"Okay. Good to know.† He looked so forlorn when he left to go to the library that I wondered if those chemistry answers had really been worth it. I liked Trey. I'd never thought inflicting Angeline on him would so radically alter his life. I guessed that was just the kind of effect she had on the world. I watched him walk away for a few more seconds and then turned toward the science building. One of the teachers, Ms. Whittaker, was an amateur botanist who was always happy to supply Ms. Terwilliger with various plants and herbs. She thought Ms. Terwilliger used them for home craft projects, like potpourri and candles, and I frequently had to pick up the latest supplies. When I walked into her classroom today, Ms. Whittaker was grading exams at her desk. â€Å"Hi, Sydney,† she said, barely looking up. â€Å"I set it all over there, on the far counter.† â€Å"Thanks, ma'am.† I walked over and was surprised to practically find a spice cabinet. Ms. Terwilliger had requested all sorts of leaves, stems, and clippings. It was the most I'd ever had to pick up for her. â€Å"She sure had a big order this time,† Ms. Whittaker remarked, as though sensing my thoughts. â€Å"Is she really using garlic in potpourri?† â€Å"Oh, that's for some, um, cooking she's doing. You know, holidays and all.† She nodded and returned to her work. One thing that often helped in Alchemist affairs (and witch ones) was that people rarely expected supernatural reasons for weird behaviors and phenomena. I almost considered visiting Trey and Angeline at the library, just to assess her behavior myself, but decided it'd be better to not get involved. Eddie and Jill would handle it. With nothing else to do, I dared to hope I might actually just be able to stay inside and read today. But, when I returned to my dorm, I was greeted with the astonishing sight of Marcus sitting outside on a bench, playing an acoustic guitar. A group of four girls stood around, listening in awe. I walked up to the circle, my arms crossed over my chest. â€Å"Really?† I asked. Marcus glanced up and shot me a grin. One of the girls actually cooed. â€Å"Hey, Sydney.† Four sets of eyes turned to me, displaying a mix of both disbelief and jealousy. â€Å"Hey,† I said. â€Å"You're the last person I expected to see here.† â€Å"I never do what's predictable.† He tossed his hair back and started to put his guitar back in its case. â€Å"Sorry, girls. Sydney and I have to talk.† I got more of those stares, which kind of annoyed me. Was it really that unbelievable that a good-looking guy would want to talk to me? His followers dispersed reluctantly, and Marcus and I strolled around the grounds. â€Å"Aren't you supposed to be in hiding?† I asked. â€Å"Not panhandling with your guitar?† â€Å"I never asked them for money. Besides, I'm incognito today.† He tapped his cheek, and I noticed the tattoo was barely noticeable. â€Å"Are you wearing makeup?† I asked. â€Å"Don't judge,† he said. â€Å"It lets me move around more freely. Sabrina helped color match me.† We came to a halt in a relatively private copse of trees. â€Å"So why are you here? Why didn't you call or text?† â€Å"Because I have a delivery.† He reached into his shirt pocket and handed me a folded piece of paper that looked like it had traveled around the world before reaching me. When I opened it and managed to smooth it out, I saw several painstakingly drawn diagrams. I jerked my gaze back to him. â€Å"Wade's floor plans.† â€Å"As promised.† A little of that self-satisfaction faded, and he actually looked impressed. â€Å"You've really got a way to get to St. Louis?† â€Å"Sanctioned and everything,† I said. â€Å"I mean, aside from the part where I break into their servers. But I've got a few ideas on how to pull that off.† He laughed. â€Å"Of course you do. I won't bother asking. Every girl's got her secrets. Maybe someday you'll share yours.† From the tone of his voice, he might have been talking about non-professional secrets. â€Å"Once this is all over.† â€Å"Is it ever over?† I asked. I meant it as a joke, but it came out sounding a bit more melancholy than I would've liked. He gave me a long, level look. â€Å"No, not really. But getting the tattoo sealed in Mexico is kind of fun. I hope you'll go with us. At the very least, we can take in some beaches and margaritas while undoing insidious magic. Do you own a bikini?† â€Å"No. And I don't drink.† â€Å"Well, maybe one of these days we could go out for coffee. I know you drink that.† â€Å"I'm pretty busy,† I said, thinking of everything weighing on me. â€Å"And you know, I also haven't decided if I'm going to do the first phase of tattoo breaking.† â€Å"You should, Sydney.† He was all business again and tapped my cheek. â€Å"If nothing else, do that. Don't let them have any more control over you than they have to. I know you think we're a little out there, but this is one thing we're absolutely serious about.† â€Å"Hi, Sydney.† I glanced over and saw my friend Julia Cavendish carrying a huge stack of books. A couple seconds later, Marcus looked up at her too. Her eyes went wide, and she stumbled and dropped everything she was carrying. She flushed. â€Å"Oh, God. I'm such an idiot.† I started to help her, but Marcus was by her side in a flash, his movie star grin firmly in place. â€Å"Happens to the best of us. I'm Dave.† â€Å"J-Julia,† she said. In all the time I'd known her, I'd never seen her flustered around a guy. She usually ate them for breakfast. â€Å"There we are.† He handed her the books, all neatly stacked. â€Å"Thank you. Thank you so much. You didn't have to do that. I mean, it was my own fault. I'm not usually that clumsy. And I'm sure you're busy. You must have lots to do. Obviously.† I'd also never heard Julia ramble. Marcus patted her on the back, and I thought she might pass out. â€Å"Always happy to help a beautiful damsel in distress.† He nodded in my direction. â€Å"I've got to go. Sydney, I'll be in touch.† I nodded back. As soon as he walked away, Julia dropped the books again and hurried over to me. â€Å"Sydney, you have to tell me who that is.† â€Å"He already did. Dave.† â€Å"Yes, but who is he?† She gripped my arm and seemed on the verge of shaking answers out of me. â€Å"Just a guy I know.† I thought about it more. â€Å"A friend, I guess.† Her breath caught. â€Å"You guys aren't – I mean – â€Å" â€Å"What? No! Why would you think that?† â€Å"Well, he's gorgeous,† she said, as though that were enough to make us soul mates. â€Å"Don't you want to just rip his clothes off?† â€Å"Whoa, no way.† â€Å"Really?† She scrutinized me, like I might be joking. â€Å"Not even a little?† â€Å"Nope.† She stepped back and started picking up her books. â€Å"Jeez, Syd. I don't know what to think of you sometimes. I mean, I'm glad he's available – he is available, right? – but I'd be all over that if I were you.† Jill's words came back to me, about how he was human and had â€Å"that rebel Alchemist† thing going for him. Maybe I should start considering him or another ex-Alchemist as a romantic option. Having someone who wasn't a forbidden vampire in my life would make things a lot easier. I tried to dredge up the same reaction other girls had around Marcus, but nothing happened. No matter how hard I tried, I just didn't have that same attraction. His hair was too blond, I decided. And his eyes needed a little more green. â€Å"Sorry,† I told Julia. â€Å"Just not feeling it.† â€Å"If you say so. I still think you're crazy. That's the kind of guy you'd follow to hell and back.† All romantic musings disappeared, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as we slowly headed back toward the dorm. Hell was a good analogy for what I would be walking into. â€Å"You actually might be closer to the truth on that than you realize.† She brightened. â€Å"See? I knew you couldn't resist.†