Relationship in Cousin Kate Essay Example for Free

Relationship in Cousin Kate Essay The crisp summer air filled the local park, the sun burning down, everyone wanted some fresh air-the park was packed. A young couple lounging on the fresh grass having a barbecue, the juicy aroma of sausages floated through the park, making everyone hungry. Across from the couple parked precariously on an old patch of grass was an ancient ice-cream van. The old, decrepit van had been in the family for years, paint peeling, bodywork rusting, the ice-cream van was fit for the dump, but as if transfixed, everyone in the local park was swarming to the van, tired parents, bored teenagers-everyone needed some refreshment. The ice-cream van driver a sweaty OAP, looking worn and fed up, his eyes scanning the crowd,hoping for some refuge from the swarm of impatient customer. Beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, handing out melting ice-creams laden with sprinkles, the summer heat was all too much. Close to the van was a young mother, struggling to control her two troublesome toddlers fighting with their younger sibling,sitting in a rather worn looking pram. Her oldest child, seemingly unaware, was clicking away on her phone. Baby crying, mother screaming, she was quickly attracting the attention of passers-by. The young mother was trying to explain to her children she had no money for ice-cream. Tired and confused she attempted to calm down her noisy children, stopping to pick up her crying toddler who had just fallen over, whilst trying to make a run for it towards the trees;she narrowly missed being trampled by a passing runner and his personal trainer. The sweaty, runner, looked nervously around the park, his eyes longingly glancing towards the ice-cream van, licking his lips, wishing he could gulp down an ice-cold can of coke. Rather large in comparison to his personal trainer- a young, fit female. He was finding it hard to keep up, begging her to slow down. Tiredly trying to tug-down his sweat-drenched West Ham t-shirt he came to a stop, collapsing right in the middle of the worn patch of grass, a group of boisterous boys were playing a rowdy game of football. Out of the usual gang playing football, one boy was already perched on a nearby bench being comforted by his concerned mother, clumsily dabbing anaemic looking antiseptic onto his rather badly grazed knee. Other players were taking a break, sitting on patches of grass licking rapidly melting ice-creams, whilst watching the carnage occuring on the pathetic looking pitch. One over-excited boy lobs the battered ball towards a passing couple, hand in hand the old couple quicken their pace, retreating from the brutal match. The old couple carry on along the path, leaning on their walking sticks for support. The old lady’s dress softly flaps in the wind, exposing her swollen feet clad in thick socks with sandals. Their aged faces crinkling into smiles as they watch the sunset. Their eyes wide through their magnifying-glass shaped spectacles. The local park is gradually cloaked in datrkness, the park slowly clears, until all you can hear is the gentle laughter ringing from the late night barbecues and midnight strollers. Wandering through the park, engulfed by my thick coat, I stare around me with disgust. The once green and beautiful park is now grey and boring; damaged by youths. However, the park is the place where I can just come and think: its quiet and peaceful and I feel free; away from the bustle and noise of the city. There is a chill breeze in the air, therefore most people are inside their warm houses, clustering round their coal fires, but this is when I like it best. To me, wrapped up in layers and scarves, it only feels fresh, not cold and I can think better when Im alone. I stare at the climbing frame, once bright and colourful with a shiny slide, but now the only colour is the dull rusty red of the metal and the black of the graffiti covering it. My eyes glaze over while I reminisce about happier times spent on the climbing frame, and how I used to fly through the air, aided by the monkey bars, just like a chimpanzee swinging through a tree. The trees in the park creak and groan as the wind picks up. Leaves rustle at my feet and my hair is whipped around my raw face by unseen hands. I disappear inside my warm jacket and spy the swings over in the corner. As I sit on the only swing not broken by vandals, one gloved hand entwined round the chain, and my feet scuffing at the tarmac, I gently propel myself forward and back in gentle rhythm. I am lost in my own world. Absent-mindedly my free hand delves deep into the mystery of my pocket and finds a single, solitary chocolate truffle. I unwrap the truffle slowly, so as not to damage the shiny wrapper. It has a wonderfully rich smell that only chocolate has and the creamy centre of the truffle warms my frozen insides as it makes its journey to my stomach. The roundabout is twirling through the wind in the distance, but I cant see it. I am entranced. I cant tear my eyes away from the wrapper fluttering in my hands. Its iridescent quality is making me feel tranquil and serene. My eyes swim in and out of focus as my vision is replaced by one from a long time ago. Parts of Goole have been flooded following heavy rain. Firefighters were called to the East Riding Council offices in Church Street after the building was struck by lightning. Emergency services said flooding was localised and advised people to check the Environment Agency website for the latest flood warnings. At present the Met Office is forecasting Hull will escape the rain this evening (Thursday). However, heavy rain is forecast for the city and county from mid-morning tomorrow (Friday). John Skidmore, head of streetscene services at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: We have been alerted by the Met Office of heavy rain which will arrive on the east coast at 7am and move across the entire region which could lead to potential flooding issues. We have suspended all grounds, highway and street sweeping operations tomorrow so we have staff available should we need to activate any emergency plans. We will have staff at locations across the East Riding letting us know how heavy the rainfall is and if there are any areas of localised flooding so we can deploy services where we need them quickly. The rain is predicted to arrive on the east coast at 7am and move out of the area early afternoon. Driving conditions in tomorrow morning’s rush hour could be potentially hazardous due to surface water. I would urge drivers to allow extra time for their journey and drive accordingly. South Yorkshire’s public organisations have been widely praised for keeping people safe after last summer’s unprecedented floods. Now a new report aims to ensure any future flood would be met with an even better response for the people of South Yorkshire. The â€Å"Final Report on the Flooding of Summer 2007† highlights how the investment in emergency planning over the last decade proved its worth in ensuring that the response was of a high standard. Tragically, two people lost their lives in the early stages of the flooding, but the number of casualties would have been much higher had the response of emergency services, and other partners, not been so well co-ordinated. The report has been produced by South Yorkshire’s Local Resilience Forum (LRF), a high-level partnership of the area’s emergency services, local authorities, health authorities and other key partner agencies. The 13-page report praises the â€Å"prompt action by responding organisations† to keep people safe, and notes that effective recovery planning meant there has been â€Å"no large dislocation of communities to areas outside of the county as has happened elsewhere. The report also looks at areas of the response which provide lessons to be learned in the event of any future flood. The ‘Gold’ command which led the partnership’s response â€Å"proved effective in managing rapidly unfolding events such as the potential collapse of the dam at Ulley Reservoir,† but several improvements to the way that command structure operated have been identified. Steps are also being taken to improve the flood warning systems to provide a quicker indication that flooding might be on its way. Action is already under way to address 26 key recommendations, some of which provide an overlap with the recommendations of the national interim Pitt Report, which was published on 17th December 2007. The Environment Agency is already planning to install additional flood warning equipment to the north and west of Sheffield. A new, specially-designed ‘Gold’ command location is also being developed in the county. This means that in any future flooding – or similar major emergency South Yorkshire’s response will be informed not only by training exercises, but by improvements developed from real-life events. Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, chair of the South Yorkshire LRF, said: â€Å"The flooding of summer 2007 led to a tremendous response by everyone involved, which demonstrated the value of all the planning and training that has taken place for many years. â€Å"However, no amount of foresight could have fully prepared us for such an unprecedented situation. It is right that we now reflect on the things we would do better in any future flooding events, as well as the excellent work which took place last summer. †

Villalve Qualitative Article :: Article Review

I had some trouble determining which of the two articles that I read would be most beneficial for the class to read. The quantitative piece on Chinese learners of English fit very well with the course. It exemplified the word recognition view of reading that we have discussed and addressed themes and theoretical frameworks (common underlying proficiency, contrastive analysis, the monolingual perspective) that have come up on many occasions in our class. In the end however I chose the qualitative article from Villalve. My primary justification for this is that the article is so different from the readings we have done in class that I feel it has something more unique to contribute. The primary focus of the article was to consider diverse literacy practices in detail and also to look at approaches to inquiry, learning, and meaning making. In order to do this, Villalve took a case study approach to look at two 17 year-old bilingual Latina students during their last year of high school. These students were involved in an ongoing senior writing project that entailed collecting information from a diverse set of resources, collaborating with other students and school faculty, and finally submitting a thesis and making a final presentation. From this it is clear that one of the primary ways that this article differs from much of what our class has read so far is the age of the students involved. Relatively little data seems to exist on literacy practices of high school bilinguals and this is one reason I feel this article has something to offer the class. Another somewhat unique feature of this article relative to much of the other work we have looked at is the research paradigm and theoretical framework for the work. In terms of Mertens research paradigms, this article fits both into a constructivist and transformative frame. The reliance on the work of Fairclough (2001) and others and the concern with broad societal level discourse practices set this article apart from other pieces we have read. Also, in terms of the theoretical frames, Villalve utilizes an ecological approach to frame her data collection and analysis. For this she makes use of Barton (1994) in particular to define her 3-part framework for data analysis. Her 3 levels of analysis are hierarchical and start from the level of language as artifact (physical samples of writing etc.) From this she moves up to 2 larger frames of interaction and imagination and finally systems and contexts.

Act 3 the Crucible

Act III- Irony During Act III of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller; the central way that Miller depicts the corruption rooted within Salem is through the usage of the literary device, irony. The usage of personal pronouns within this work of literature seems to indicate a sense of power that the citizens have, versus the power found within the unknown. Parris says the following in order to encourage Mary Warren to cast out the devil, â€Å" Cast the devil out! Look him in the face! Trample him! We’ll save you, Mary, only stand fast against him and† (109).The usage of the pronoun ‘We’ll’ gives the reader a sense of authority that is held by the high officials in Salem. Irony is plainly evoked because the entire idea of the trails is to test the limits of the spiritual world within the town of Salem. The usage of personal pronouns reflects the flaws that seem to fuel these trials. The controversial topic of god rooted within these trials is ironic in the sense that doing the right thing could potentially be life threatening. Mary Warren proclaims that she loves god, after announcing her devilish pact, and says, â€Å" No, I love God; I go your way no more.I love God, I bless God. Abby, Abby, I’ll never hurt you more† (110). Salem becomes so deeply rooted in lies that the idea of god becomes clouded for those who try to seek the right thing. The choice between life and death, right and wrong, becomes diluted, making the right decisions punishable. No matter what is confessed, someone will either have to live with making the wrong decision, or die because a right decision was made. The figurative device of irony becomes reoccurring during act three in order to further show the reader the corrupt practices that are happening in Salem.

Analysis Of John Paul Lederach s The Moral Imagination

John Paul Lederach’s The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace goes could only have been written by someone who had spent many years in the field of conflict management. With its underlying focus of the essence of peacebuilding, it looks far beyond what one may learn in any textbook or seminar. While the first 8 chapters of the text are ripe with areas for further analysis, here I will focus only on theme, found in one chapter, in the interest of brevity. In chapter 2 of The Moral Imagination we are introduced to real life micro-case studies. The cases aim to help the reader understand how people experiencing violent conflict throughout the world have worked to â€Å"transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our community,† building on Lederach’s statement on why the book was written. That being said, we can see that Lederach is operating under the assumption that current day peacebuilding and conflict management is not working as well a s it should. It is clear that he thinks there is something more that needs to be involved in current strategies and models. He believes we must move from looking at actors in a conflict as separate involved parties and instead view parties as â€Å"a web of relationships which include our enemies.† This requires a shift in thinking for those in thefield of peacebuilding and for those involved in the conflict, but in making this shift, we can look at conflicts as existing within our communities rather than between our