Current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people Essay

Identify the current legislations, guidelines, policies and procedures for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people including e-safety. Legislation covering child protection can be divided into two main categories : civil law and criminal law. The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 – This is an older piece of legislation of which some parts are still in forced today. It includes a list of offences against children, these are referred to as Schedule One offences. The Children Act 1989 –The current child protection system is based on the Children Act 1989. The introduction of this act was intended to be the most compressive and far reaching reform in child law in parliamentary history. The main aim of this law is to ensure that the welfare of a child is always considered as the most important factor when making any decisions about the upbringing of a child. The act also considers the thought and feelings of the child in a situation and bases decisions on whether the outcome would be better or worse for the child. It introduced the concept of parental responsibility. Two guidance documents are available to help professionals to identify children that may be at risks and the steps to take to help prevent this occurring. These documents are intended to be used with The Children Act 1989. The first is called, Guidance on interagency cooperation under the Children Act 1989, which was first published in 1991. The second which was published in 2000 was titled The Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families. Below are listed the variations of the policy throughout the UK. Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004 – This is the current guidance for Wales. The Children Order 1995 – Northern Ireland. The Children Act 1995 – Scotland. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 – This includes the right for a child to be protected from abuse, the right to express their views and have them listen to and the right to care and services for disabled children or children living away from home. The Human Rights Act 1998 – This protects the rights of all human beings, in the eyes of the law children are seen as human beings and therefore the Human Rights act covers their rights as well. The Education Act 2002 – This was introduced to ensure that a schools governing body and LEA make arrangements for the safeguarding and welfare of children. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 – This expands on the Children Act 1989 by including domestic violence in the definition of harm. The Children Act 2004 – This new act didn’t replace or amend the Children Act 1989, instead it set out the process for integrating services to children. Further acts that followed the 2004 Children Act include – The Children and Adoption Act 2006, Children and Young Persons Act 2008, The Boarders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. Legislation to protect children from adults that pose a risk. The 1997 Sex Offenders Act – Requires sex offenders to have their names and addresses added to the sex offenders register. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 – This was introduced to update the legislation relating to offences against children. It included the offences of grooming, abuse of position of trust and trafficking. Further policies include – The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. E-Safety A School’s e-Safety Policy reflects the importance it places on the safe use of information systems and electronic communications. e-Safety encompasses not only Internet technologies but also electronic communications via mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology. * E-Safety concerns safeguarding children and young people in the digital world. * E-Safety emphasises learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way. * E-Safety is less about restriction and more about education about the risks as well as the benefits so we can feel confident online. * E-Safety is concerned with supporting children and young people to develop safer online behaviours both in and out of school. The Internet is an unmanaged, open communications channel. The World Wide Web, email, blogs and social networks all transmit information using the Internet’s communication infrastructure internationally at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource used by millions of people every day. Some of the material on the Internet is published for an adult audience and can include violent and adult content. Information on weapons, crime and racism may also be unsuitable for children and young people to access. Pupils need to develop critical skills to evaluate online material and learn that publishing personal information could compromise their security and that of others. Schools have a duty of care to enable pupils to use on-line systems safely. Schools need to protect themselves from legal challenge and ensure that staff work within the boundaries of professional behaviour. The law is catching up with Internet developments: for example it is an offence to store images showing child abuse and to use email, text or instant messaging (IM) to ‘groom’ children. Schools can help protect themselves by making it clear to pupils, staff and visitors that the use of school equipment for inappropriate reasons is â€Å"unauthorised† and ensure an Acceptable Use Policy is in place. E-Safety training is an essential element of staff induction and part of an on-going CPD programme. However, schools should be aware that a disclaimer is not sufficient to protect a school from a claim of personal injury and the school needs to ensure that all reasonable actions have been taken and measures put in place to protect users. Legally an educational institutions e-safety policy ties into multiple laws and legislation.

Enron: What Caused the Ethical Collapse

It is not easy to find one single person, who can be blamed for the collapse of Enron, because there was so many players in so many levels. We can’t find one responsible person, but there are many person who shared the blame for the scandal that turned Enron into the ultimate poster child for fraudulent accounting practices, and caused one of the largest bankruptcies in the us history. The key people involved internally at Enron were the executives, Kenneth Lay (Chairman and CEO), Jeffrey Skilling (President and CEO), and Andrew Fastow (CFO). They built up a highly successful company, but soon they began to divert funds into phony investments, and cashed their own stocks, while the price was still high. From October 1999 to November 2001, Lay sold a total 1. 8 million shares for $101 million. Altogether, 29 Enron officers pocketed $1. 2billion from selling Enron shares, while unsuspecting employees went broke. Simultaneously, while this was going on, more than half of employees’ 401(k) savings, or about $1. 2 billion, were invested in Enron stock, which were rendered worthless. The chairman sent an email to the workers: the company had â€Å"never been stronger† and its future growth â€Å"has never been more certain†, so most of the workers held their stocks, because nobody could foresee what was about to happen. In Texas, the Teachers Retirement system lost $35. 7 million in Enron stock, In Florida; the pension fund for teachers, state employees, and county workers bought 7 million shares of Enron stock (the fund that covers 650,000 workers and 150,000 retirees estimate they lost $306 million). In the end millions in 401(k) savings were lost. Enron was hiding massive losses by using their strategy of â€Å"mark to market† accounting. Fastow was also found by an internal Enron investigation to have secretly made $30 million from managing one of these partnerships. Outside of the company, Arthur Andersen, the gigantic accounting firm responsible for Enron’s accounting and outside auditing, also shares some blame for the scandal. In theory, companies can't get away with cooking their books because honest, independent accounting firms are looking over their shoulders, protecting the public. In the case of Enron, however, Arthur Andersen failed at their duties. Four days before Enron reported a staggering loss of $618 million for the third quarter of 2001, one of Andersen's top lawyers sent out a memo ordering his staff to shred all Enron-related audit documents. Dvid Duncan got the maximum sentence for his crimes is ten years. redit rating agencys: Credit rating agencies like Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch failed to inform investors how risky buying a company’s bonds might be, failed to spot any problems with Enron until the company was nearly bankrupt, only downgrading its bonds on 28 November 2001. t S&P and Fitch told a Fortune reporter they had no idea how Enron made its money. The lack of regulations, and the good relations with the White House, allowed Enron to have major influ ence over policy in America. On economic policy, Enron wanted complete deregulation with no government interference. They got it. On energy policy, Enron wanted no caps on electricity prices in California. They got it. On tax policy, Enron wanted elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax. They got it. In the end these policies created the perfect environment for their unethical games. The ultimate example occurred throughout the year 2000 during the California Electricity Crisis. The Enron traders exported the cheap electricity from California to another state and later they take it back and sold it for a higher price. This causes 42 billion losses in California in three years.

Free Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Free Trade - Essay Example e with the organizations of developed world since they have access to better technological tools that allow them to produce goods and services in much cost effective manner. Free trade discourages a nation to attain self-sufficiency since the nation only produces those goods and services that they can produce in a much effective and efficient manner as compared to producers of other nations. Free trade is only healthy when both the importing and exporting countries have not levied trade restrictions. 2. Government may restrict free trade with the use of tariffs which refers to the imposition of taxes on the amount of goods that can be imported. Government can restrict import by imposing quotas which are restrictions on the quantity of a particular good or service that can be imported. They may provide subsidies such as tax benefits to exporters. The government may adopt these policies for several economic and political reasons. They may do so in order to motivate industries to develop and produce locally and this in turn will benefit the local economy (Jones, 2001). They may impose these restrictions to provide support to industries that have just been set up within a nation. They may do so in order to correct the issue of balance of payment which may be created due to excess of imports over

Discussion Questions VI Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Discussion Questions VI - Essay Example Market segmentation is a division of the population of consumers into identifiable segments. So within each segment are people with shared characteristics. This makes it easier to identify their needs and wants and identify market opportunities, as the purpose of a segmentation system is to target consumers better. This can affect the product, price, promotion and place in the marketing strategy. One of the determinants of the effectiveness of such an approach is the homogeneity of the segment in terms of consumer behavior. â€Å"The process by which managers make decisions about segmentation in the international consumer market† (Craft, 2004) is therefore an important part of the strategy of segmentation. Segmentation can be made along geographic, demographic, economic, technological or cultural lines. Multinational and global market challenges in any segment must be faced with strategic planning considerations. We shall discuss these in relation to segmentation based on cultural differences and analyze product branding, advertising and promotion for different cultural segments with rationale and examples. A segmentation system based on culture divides consumers according to their customs and traditions, language, beliefs, values, religion, and so on. Subcultures can also be a consideration for further precise segmentation. These aims affect strategic planning considerations involving â€Å"market demographics, sales channels, operational implementation, and adaptable approaches to niche markets currently being served or targeted.† (Bauman, 2002) Planning enables the decision makers to see greater opportunities arising out of the non-traditional core markets. It also makes them evaluate their core competencies, skill sets, product development, competitive advantages, and so on. This then also has implications â€Å"for functional tasks such as the sales planning and advertising† (Dix, 2002) and product branding. Product branding in China presents a

Challenges, solutions, benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Challenges, solutions, benefits - Essay Example The reason for the many complications in patient’s condition is the inability of staff to recognize significant changes on the physical condition of the patient: breathing, skin colour, etc. In 2004, the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI), in line with its 100,000 lives campaign, â€Å"encouraged American hospitals to implement rapid response teams (RRTs) (20). The major purpose of RRT is to preclude the possibility of deaths outside the intensive care unit (ICU) by â€Å"providing a resource team that can be called to a patient’s bedside† (21) all the time. As a matter of fact, a patient’s baseline condition starts to aggravate for an average 6.5 hours before a much more critical situation could occur; and what is more interesting is that 70% of these conditions can be prevented. The early detection of the possible signs of attacks by an RRT could do a lot to reduce the number of deaths and the rate of transferring patient to higher levels of care . RRT intervention has contributed to 50% decrease on the number of cardiac arrest cases outside the intensive care unit; the rate of transfer of patient to the ICU was decreased by 58%; and deaths due to operative complications were reduced to 37%. An RRT is an immediate response team that may be composed of the following: (1) physician and nurse; (2) intensivist and respiratory therapist; (3) physician assistant alone; (4) a critical care nurse and respiratory therapist; or (5) a clinical specialist alone.

Thesis-driven essay supported by close reading Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thesis-driven supported by close reading - Essay Example is also a social and political commentary on the historical position of black people in the United States at that time and as such the book offers a wider commentary beyond the personal experience of one boy. The social commentary talks to us about racism, inequality, slavery, violence and oppression. The personal commentary tells us about hunger, the human spirit, coming of age and the development of strategies to find a way to survive as a black boy growing into a man in the racist America of the time. At the time of writing â€Å"Black Boy† Wright was also influenced by other writers such as James Joyce (1922), who also used their writing as a means for self-analysis. In an atmosphere of awareness of Freud and Freud’s thinking around the human condition and behavior, Wright shows us much of his inner world through symbols in the external world and the other characters in his wider life, that is, beyond his immediate family. â€Å"Black Boy† has many central themes including coming of age, rites of passage, violence, oppression, morals, values and loneliness to name a few. However, in this paper I am focusing on the theme of hunger, Wrights personal experiences of hunger, hunger on an emotional level, and educational level and a physical level. To quote: "Once again I knew hunger, biting hunger, hunger that made my body aimlessly restless, hunger that kept me on edge, that made my temper flare, hunger that made hate leap out of my heart like the dart of a serpents tongue, hunger that created in me odd cravings" (Wright. 119). Holding in mind the influence of Freud in Wrights accounts I am curious about the symbolism surrounding food and nurturance and the lack of food and nurturance. This leads me into a consideration of Wrights relationship with his mother and father. I am aware this paper is to focus on relationships beyond the immediate family but it is essential to offer some beginning to his early relationships in order to look at the meanings and

Semiotic OR discourse analysis of a magazine advertisement OR TV Essay

Semiotic OR discourse analysis of a magazine advertisement OR TV advertisement - Essay Example Semiotic OR discourse analysis of a magazine advertisement OR TV advertisement It can develop ergonomic design in circumstances where it is vital to make certain that individuals can work together more efficiently with their surroundings, whether it is on a big magnitude, as in structural design, or on a small extent, for instance, the arrangement of images and colours in images. Semiotic Analysis of the Dark Knight’s Advertisement This advertisement has the villain of the movie, rather than the hero. The viewers can easily recognize the Joker through his trademarks - his dark trench coat, the bright red lipstick, his mystifying and concealed face, the worn hang gloves, plus his seaweed green hair. However, the most prominent indicator that this is the Joker is that he has shown scribbling his catchphrase, â€Å"Why So Serious?† in the advertisement. By further exploring the picture, one gets the impression that he is inside or around the city. It is quite a dull day, with immense fog that makes visibility difficult. The townscape in the backdrop is hardly noticeable, and it appears to be very far away. The focus drops directly on the Joker himself. His body posture as well as the position of his fingers appears disorderly and strange. The smile that he is drawing with the red paint - or maybe blood - connotes that the Joker might not be a completely normal person. The fog in the image is an apparent indicator. It smudges and alters the vision, making it tougher to make out something or to recognize somebody (Leeuwen & Jawet, p. 94). The fog in the advertisement is a sign of the Joker’s lack of identity. Despite the fact that the fog is helpful in bringing the Joker into focus, it also helps in smudging his facial features, as well as a great deal of his coat. It makes the Joker appears as if he is a part of the fog; and as a result, the indicator draws attention to the reality that the Joker lacks identity. Advertisers use fog to highlight another point, which is gloominess. The shadowy, grumpy colours along with the fog bordering the image imply that it is a dull and murky situation (Mitry, p. 104). This is rather simple to observe. The gloominess itself is the sign of the personality of the Joker. There is a murkiness that encloses him, a sense of malevolence. Exactly similar to the time when something does not look correct on a dull day, something does not look normal with the Joker. It can be assumed that the gloominess itself is a representation for the Joker. The dull shade of blue in addition to foggy depiction is a sign of a threatening feeling of trouble (Lacey, p. 72). This is mainly because of the connotation of the â€Å"shower scene† that has publicized in various horror movies showing a barely visible hand behind the shower curtain or fogged glass surrounded by the mist. At some point, the picture of the Joker standing there connotes that he is in fact waiting outside a window, or even in your own house. He seems to be a psychopath who has been coming up for you. Another in dicator in this advertisement is the utilization of the Joker’s hands. His fingers are crooked and twisted. This depicts two things. First, he is not totally in control of his personal behaviour. This is a representation that he is psychological instable. Secondly, it reveals that he is suspicious as well as unreliable. It seems that his hands as well as fingers

Quality Management in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Quality Management in Business - Essay Example Under this principle, the business will adopt a pricing strategy that suits the quality of their product. Another definition of quality states that quality is the process of satisfying the customer’s implied and stated needs. This is where the business creates products in accordance to the needs and expectations of the customers. The business would carry out market researches and consider what kind of products and services are being expected by the customers, and then the quality of the products will be determined. The levels of quality and pricing strategies also depend on the needs of the customers. For example if the customer is ready to use a product of high quality and high price, the business will produce only high quality products, but if there are customers who want to spend less and compromise on quality, then the business will produce the same product with varying levels of quality (Black, 2011, p. 736). Another definition states that quality is the combination of process power and people power. It is linked to the efficiency in production and the improvement of processes. It may also include the technical processes, designs, engineering and management processes. The features and characteristics of the tools and materials provided by the suppliers also include in the quality of the product. In manufacturing businesses, quality can be regarded as the process which is free from defects, delays and deficiencies. The quality assurance processes include all activities that prevent, detect and remove all the defects that tend to occur in between the business processes. The processes include several steps to ensure that the delivery of products and services is being carried out efficiently. The steps include plan, do, check and act. In the plan stage, the business has to ensure that a plan is made in an order keeping in consideration all the processes, activities and methods to be used. The next step is doing, where

Listening Essay Example for Free

Listening Essay The skill of listening is a talent that many people disregard or take for granted. Not many people realize that the way to find the window into the soul of another is not through any of the other senses except the sense of hearing. By listening to another person and allowing that person to bare his or her soul, one can learn so much more about another and arrive at a better, deeper and more complete understanding of who the person really is. The intricacies of the soul are revealed when one actually listens to another. While all of the other senses have their own advantages, it is only the sense of hearing that allows a person to know how another person is feeling. It is the only sense that allows a person to find out what is happening in another part of the world. It can actually see farther than our eyes and allow us to know accurately what goes on in other places. All the senses of the human body are designed to do one thing, receive input that the brain will eventually process. The listening, as a manner of exercising the sense of hearing, is a manner by which a person is able to gain input with regard to his surroundings and more importantly other people. People communicate mainly through speech. While there are some traits, feelings, emotions and thoughts that can be conveyed through other means, the primary mode of communicating still remains to be through speech and the only way of understanding speech is by listening. Communication is the method by which people interact with others. It involves not only an exchange of ideas but also involves a certain degree of trust or confidence. That is the reason why listening is so relevant because it allows people to communicate with each other. Speaking is but one part of the communication process. The other part is listening. There is certainly no doubt that listening is a skill that many people are capable of doing but is sadly something that not everyone does. While most humans are equipped with the sense of hearing, there are still those who can hear but cannot listen. They may be able to hear every single word that has been said to them but they cannot always be considered as listening. The next question that must be asked is how one can actually listen or become a better listener. Listening is not simply nodding one’s head and hearing what another person is saying but requires that a person actually pay careful attention to the words of another. It requires that the listener to do more than just absorb whatever the speaker has to say but in certain instances requires that the listener react in such a way as to encourage the speaker to bring out more. Listening is a way of reassuring the speaker that there is somebody for him to talk to who listens to him. It is a way of communicating various feelings to another person without the use of words. In order to become a good listener or to develop one’s listening skills, it is not important that the person is genuinely interested in the other or what the other has to say since the purpose of communication and listening is indeed to come to a better understanding of another person. The thing that is required in order to develop good listening skills is in being able to know when to simply just â€Å"shut up and listen. There is a certain timing that is needed in listening because listening may often be confused with boredom or disinterest by certain people. One has to know when to simply just nod one’s head or smile instead of opening one’s mouth to say something. This is the most important step at becoming a good listener. It is hard to imagine a world where nobody actually listened or paid any attention to other people. It would probably be a sad world filled with the endless monologue from the unending conversations of people who have nobody to listen to them. The people of the world would arguably be much sadder too since there would be nobody to listen to their problems or help them vent their frustrations. It is not hard to see just how important the skill of listening is. It is also thankfully not hard to become a better listener. The next time somebody says something, try not to respond right away. Think, learn and feel first and by doing do listening to what the other has to say. If man had learned this skill earlier, think of all the wars and bloodshed that mankind could have avoided by simply listening to what the other had to say.

Genetically Modified Foods Essay Example for Free

Genetically Modified Foods Essay In the world, many people are not getting the balanced amount of nutrition-needed daily. There are many vitamin deficiencies that can lead to illnesses, malnutrition, and death. However, biotechnology has made this pandemic decrease through genetically modified foods. Many people think that these foods are unhealthy for people, and they are harmful. They think that this type of food is untraditional. I believe that genetically modified foods are good for countries that have high malnutrition rates. They are also good to help preserve food against pesticides. The purpose of this essay is to show how genetically modified foods are good for countries with malnutrition. Genetically modified foods are food that has received a segment of DNA or genes from another organism through biotechnology engineering. Biotechnology is the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, and etc. The most commonly known genetically modified food is golden rice. Golden rice is engineered to contain a higher amount of vitamin A to improve the health of unskilled laborers in undeveloped countries. Golden rice is mainly used in Asian countries or countries whose staple food is rice. Originally, rice doesn’t have a high amount of vitamin A, and in those countries there are high amounts of deficiency in Vitamin A. Vitamin A plays a significant role for healthy vision, strong bones, supple skin, normal cell regeneration, reproduction, and helps the immune system fend off infections. A deficiency in Vitamin A can result in eye diseases such as Nyctalopia (night blindness), Xerophthalmia (dry eye syndrome) , and/or total blindness. Golden rice is enhanced with multiple DNA, including DNA from daffodils. Also, this rice has a higher amount of beta-carotene. In my opinion, golden rice is good for undeveloped countries whose staple is rice because this rice contains DNA from another plant. Therefore, it doesn’t have a lot of chemicals that could eventually be harmful to people’s body. There are more foods that are genetically modified such as corn, potatoes, soybeans, squash, canola, flax, and tomatoes. Corn and potatoes are modified with a gene to produce an endotoxin. An endotoxin is a toxic substance produced and stored within the plant tissue. This endotoxin protects these vegetables from corn-borer pest and the potato beetle. Likewise, soybeans can be modified with a gene from a bacterium to make it herbicide resistant. A herbicide is a type of pesticide that is used to kill unwanted plants, such as weeds. This can keep vegetables safe from harmful insects. These insects can destroy or make the vegetable harmful for digestion. Some people may say that genetically modified foods are untraditional. However, many foods that are used today are modified. The genes of many plants have been modified so much over the years that they are embedded into the DNA of the plant. Cross breeding was the first forms of modifying food through genetics. Since cross breeding was discovered, it was a large part of agricultural processes. Therefore, many vegetables, whether organic or not, have been modified somewhere down the history line of that vegetable. In conclusion, many people feel that genetically modified foods are not a traditional or healthy way to eat. However, genetically modified foods can help undeveloped countries become healthier and prevent some vitamin deficiencies, such as Vitamin A deficiency. Many vegetables are modified to help prevent them from their common pest and enemy-like plants. Also, throughout the years many plants have undergone minor genetic changes. These changes are used in vegetables today to help make them healthier and keep them fresher longer. This can make the world a healthier and better place.

Euthanasia: The Debate

Euthanasia: The Debate The term euthanasia is originated from the Greek meaning well death. In the past, the term has often been used in English literature as a welcome way to depart quietly and well from life. Today, however, the connotation has been altered and the most commonly understood meaning of the word has become the practice of ending life in a painless manner mercy killing. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Modern English, the definition of euthanasia refers to the act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment. As such, in definition, the term euthanasia is defined as a legally approved and medically assisted mercy killing. However, in most countries, any practice of euthanasia is illegal no matter it is supported by the medical professionals or not. This then leads one to consider two fundamental questions regarding euthanasia. First, is euthanasia ethical? Second, depending on the answer of the first question, should euthanasia be legalized? The question as to whether euthanasia is ethical or unethical has been in debate over the years, from Jack Kevorkian, an euthanasia activist assisting at least 130 patients to their ends, to the 2006 Supreme Court ruling on Oregons Death with Dignity Act. Many professionals in different fields such as philosophers, scientists, religious leaders, lawyers, doctors have been debating over the issues of right to die and dignity of human life. Decision whether to consider euthanasia as an ethical or non-ethical conduct depends on individual; however, one may set three fundamental questions as their guidelines to ascertain their beliefs and understand opposing viewpoints. 1. Is it ever right for another person to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is in severe pain or enduring other suffering? 2. If euthanasia is sometimes right, under what circumstances is it right? 3. Is there any m oral difference between killing someone and letting them die? Taking above three questions into consideration, I came to a conclusion that euthanasia is the compassionate choice and thus should be supported by the same constitutional safeguards that secure such rights as marriage, procreation, etc. The best way to live and die is to do so deliberately, autonomously, in a way that enables us to view our lives as our own creations. Such freedom includes nothing less than the right to define ones own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life. Michael J. Sandel Euthanasia is an individuals right to choose, and that the government should not take that away from anyone no matter the case. Person who owns and lives a life should have the priority to decide what to do with his or her life; it is a gift and the government should not take part in making decisions regarding moral and/or religious matters. Every individual has a choice central to pers onal dignity and autonomy. This then leads to the second assertion that euthanasia is an ethical conduct that helps patient to acquire natural death. Throughout the centuries, human beings have enabled themselves to prolong their lives through the use of newly developed vaccination and life-supporting machines. Humans are the only mammals who expand their life cycles relying on technology. However, in most of cases where euthanasia is conducted, patients are suffering from terminal illnesses and incurable diseases which technology cannot cure but can only sustain the lives of patients. If the technology fails to cure the disease but only functions to relieve the pain, it is natural to let go of dying one as happens in nature Social Pressure Then, to draw answer for the second question: should euthanasia be legalized?, one should comprehend the concepts of two different types of euthanasia. The first form of euthanasia is the voluntary euthanasia due to severe pain caused from terminally incurable illness, or if the patient has no hope of recovery according to the opinions of doctors, or if the patient wishes to relieve the financial and psychological burden on patients family, the patient could make a voluntary decision to terminate his or her life. As such, this form of euthanasia is also referred as euthanasia by consent. In the context of international laws, voluntary euthanasia has the least controversies. The first controversy is whether the patient is mentally competent to make a desired decision. As the patient is situated in extreme circumstance, he or she may have difficulty in making rational choices whether to receive euthanasia or not. Prepossessed with the desire to avoid any more suffering, patient may la ck a thorough understanding of the consequence of euthanasia definitive death. Thus, although patient may be willing to request for euthanasia, request may not reflect patients authentic thoughts. However, if euthanasia is carried under scrupulous procedures patients desire for euthanasia must be consistent and strong for certain period of time, constant medical assessment on the patients mental status, etc it would be easy to prove or disprove whether the patient is mentally competent or not. Social pressure is another controversial issue that can affect the patients decision. For many people, they do not want to be a burden on their loved ones when they become weak, incapable of looking after themselves and approach death. According to the perspective of the patient, dying can be a tiring and expensive process upon family members who by reason of law and custom, have to support the patient as well as their own livings. However, this social pressure can again be related to the i ssue of mental competence. If the patient is mentally competent, fully acknowledging factors of social pressure and how those affect ones decision, this should not be an issue of controversy. Thus, the government should not question or to disprove a patients voluntary decision to proceed euthanasia, if he or she is officially proven to be mentally competent. Last but least, some religions prohibit any form of suicide, and most people consider euthanasia as an indirect form of suicide. However, since not all shares the same religion and thus beliefs, some religion may allow euthanasia; thus peoples beliefs promoting euthanasia must not be prevented by the government since it is very contradictory if government advocates freedom of religion but prohibits euthanasia by consent for reasons of religious beliefs. This is comparable to demanding a patient to accept a particular religion and its beliefs. Involuntary euthanasia is the second form of euthanasia due to patients incapability t o make decision (patient is in a coma, have severe brain damage, or have mental disabilities to a very severe extent), decisions regarding euthanasia, must be made by friends, family or doctors of patients in order to bring the most beneficial course of treatment. As such, this form of euthanasia is often referred as euthanasia without consent. In comparison to voluntary euthanasia, this form is definitely more complicated. In most of the cases, people who make the decisions friends, family members, doctors do not agree either among themselves or even with the patient. For instance, judging that any means to protract the life of patient would be redundant in the future, doctors may strongly advocate euthanasia. On the other hand, patients acquaintance family members, friends may be more familiar with the patients moral and ethical values and disagree with euthanasia as an ultimate mean to end ones life. Moreover, patients inability to communicate causes a further uncertainty. As most countries view euthanasia as an illegal medical practice, governments in most countries do not have any policies or laws indicating who has the final decision to terminate patients life. Therefore, in order to reduce any confusion, the government should not intervene to prohibit euthanasia prohibition of euthanasia completely ignores some views of people but should intervene to legalize euthanasia so that choices whether to conduct euthanasia or not can be left among patients associates. Then, by establishing laws as to who should be prioritized in making decisions for patient, patients may have greater chance to pass their opinions about euthanasia through acquaintance whereas government banning could only bring one outcome which may be less desirable to some patients. In this day and age, most countries have been very hypocritical regarding issues of euthanasia. Constitutions in most countries reject the notion/concept of human euthanasia while accepting animal euthanasia in most cases. On one hand, governments argue that euthanasia neglects the dignity of human life: Accepting euthanasia would replace the equality-of-human-life ethic with a utilitarian and nihilistic death culture that views the intentional ending of certain human lives as an appropriate and necessary answer to lifes most difficult challenges the dire consequences that would flow from such a radical shift in morality are profound and disturbing. Wesley Smith. JD, International Anti Euthanasia Task Force At the same time, on the other hand, the governments prohibiting euthanasia accept animal euthanasia. They seek to secure dignity of human life but not dignity of other living beings. For instance, in most countries, animal owners and veterinarians have primary decisions to put down the lives of animal and there are no moral or legal issues against these acts. No complicated procedure is taken and the voices of animal owner and veterinarians humans are dominant. On the other han d, vague efforts have been put in to recognize the feelings of animal ignorance. Some may view euthanasia as murder, assisted suicide or mercy killing. However, no matter what forms that euthanasia takes, I believe that the primary decision whether to practice euthanasia or not should be given to the individual patients rather than the governments. Individuals must have decisions to live or die.

Work Overload :: essays research papers fc

This paper will examine the common organizational stressor known as work overload. To begin, the stressor will first be defined and explained in terms of its causes. The paper will then focus on how to deal with the stressor by suggesting a variety of organizational approaches. Individuals who have specialized training in the field of work overload will then be introduced. Unique approaches designed by these professionals as a method of dealing with work overload will be examined. The paper will conclude by describing how scientific literature and research might be of assistance to the specialists.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Having too much to do with too little time to do it is a common perception in the workplace. This problem, often referred to as work or role overload, can be caused by a variety of factors. Things such as unrealistic deadlines, lack of appropriate break periods, and increasingly heightened expectations are common causes of work-related stress that exist throughout a wide variety of occupations (Shimazu & Kosugi, 2003). Other harmful factors that are related to work overload include rapid change, disordered multitasking, uncertainty, and interruptions during work. While it is possible for many hours of concentration on a well-defined job to have a positive effect on a person’s mental state, it is also possible for less than an hour of chaos in the workplace to have a hazardous effect on a person’s health (Zohar, 1999).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People who serve as managers and supervisors are most susceptible to work overload. One potential explanation for this is the open-ended nature of the managerial job (Johns & Saks, 2001). The difficulties encountered when trying to juggle the demands of superiors with the needs of subordinates has the potential to provoke a lot of stress. Different personality types can also result in different ways of handling a heavy workload. For example, research indicates that introverts have notably different coping mechanisms for stress than extroverts (Dormann & Zapf, 2002). These mechanisms can vary in effectiveness when handling organizational stressors such as work overload. Another factor that relates to how people are influenced by heavy workloads is sex. For males, work stress is more strongly related to concerns about roles in the power structure of an organization, whereas female employees experience more severe stress when a conflict exists between job requirement s and family relationships (Vagg, Spielberger, & Wasala, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Early warning signs of work overload include headaches, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, short temper, upset stomach, and low job satisfaction (Dormann & Zapf, 2002).

Does Quantum Mechanics Force us to give up Determinism? :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Does Quantum Mechanics Force us to give up Determinism? 1. Definition of terms and endeavor 1.1 Unpredictability versus Indeterminacy Consider a pendulum and assume we describe its state s(t) at time t solely by the position of its bob . For simplicity suppose also that time is quantized in multiples of the basic time unit 1. If kept unperturbed, the pendulum’s motion is periodic ; thus any state s(t) will be be achieved infinitely many times. Assume for instance that s(t1)=s(t2). Does this imply s(t1+1)=s(t2+1) ? Clearly, there can be no such implication, since we do not know the velocity of the bob at the two times in question. Therefore, the system as described here is indeterministic. We might, however, imagine a description of the state in terms of more parameters ; with respect to this more extensive characterization the system might turn out to be deterministic. In that case, if we were given the parameters q1,q2, q3,...qn-1 qn,we would be able to predict the state s(q1,q2, q3,...qn-1 qn, t+1) at time t+1 from our knowledge of the state s(q1,q2, q3,...qn-1 qn,t) at time t. 1.2 The difficulty of establishing non-determinism The example illustrates the difference between unpredictability and non-determinism. If insufficiently characterized, the pendulum’s motion is unpredictable. However, this does not preclude the existence of a complete description s(q1,q2, q3,...qn-1 qn,t) of the pendulum’s states that will make the system deterministic. Unfortunately this means that it is very difficult to prove that a system is truly non-deterministic. Proving that a process is deterministic requires the more straightforward (though possibly very difficult) task of specifying the complete set of descriptive parameters for a state together with the rules by which we can obtain one state from the preceding ; proving that a process is non-deterministic, however, requires us to prove that no such complete description and set of rules can be found, whether in practice or in theory. Due to this difficulty, our philosophy of physics professor would be unlikely to ask his students to write an essay discussing whether or not the world behaves deterministically, or, whether or not an accurate deterministic description of the world could be found. What we can discuss, is whether or not, given some theory X, the acceptance of X as a correct description of the world entails that the world described by this theory X behaves deterministically. 1.3 Assumptions made All discussion in this essay is based on the assumption that we take

Womens’ Liberation Movement Notes

The Women's Liberation Movement AKA: Women's Lib Feminist Movement or Women's Rights Movement â€Å"Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings† -women fighting male power structure Women, you may be feminist if you: -had lots of choices after high school -had the option of college/grad school -have a career/job and family -plan to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer (professional) -support fair work salary for any work -workplace is free of sexual discrimination -participate in women's sports -go to a woman doctor -vote in any political race -run for any political office intend to use daycare -can get a divorce (custody) -â€Å"You have the choose of wearing jeans and tennis shoes instead of a girdle and heels† â€Å"man is not the enemy here but the fellow victim† -Betty Friedan -If civil rights are denied by somebody, it affects everybody Men, you may be feminist if you: -are in college or have had other opportunities because of mom's good job to cont ribute to income -mom had support services to help raise you/siblings -have a content, stay at home mom -have ever been asked out by a girl (or paid) Understand and Appreciate Art -How is it put together? What do I personally bring? -Where did it come from? (Context) The First Wave of Feminism 1848-1920 -Women's Rights Convention *Seneca Falls, NY: July 19-20, 1848 -19th Amendment *ratified June 26, 1920 *voting day: November 2, 1920 Second Wave of Feminism 1960s-70s State of Women's Rights in 1848 by Custom and/or Law -Economic *could not buy/sell property *could not enter into contracts without husband's consent *actually seen as property -Social *no recourse to spousal abuse *no divorce without husband's consent *few custody rights over kids *could not go out in public alone Educational *denied any education *denied education in math, language *most could not go to college *could not enter the professions (law, engineering) *some women attended â€Å"female seminars† or â €Å"academies† to become teachers; once they were married, however, they were fired -Political *could not serve on a jury *could not testify in a case (too emotional, not trustworthy) *could not vote (not smart, too delicate, â€Å"vote like husband†) Lizzy Borden: acquitted by a jury of 12 men: â€Å"not guilty† of killing her two parents â€Å"Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks.When she saw what she had done She gave her father forty-one. † The Birth of the Women's Movement -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention with their husbands in London; they were denied seats because they were women -The women reunited at a tea party at the McKlintock House in July 1848 (Seneca Falls, NY) and decided on a convention -Stanton mostly wrote the â€Å"The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments† *†We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal† List of Grievances -never exercised the right to vote he made her morally, an irresponsible being -in the eye of the law, married women were â€Å"dead† -denied right to education -denied divorce rights -demeaned to second-class citizens Women's Rights Convention, July 19-20, 1848 -300 men and women gathered at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Seneca Falls, NY -Ratification of their Declaration -Fight over the 11th amendment (suffrage) -Frederick Douglass (great orator, ex-slave, equivalent to Malcolm X) fought for women's rights at the convention: compared value of women as lesser than animals in society Video Clip Notes: Not for Ourselves Alone- Seneca Falls narrations from female historians reflecting -procession of women to Seneca Falls -July 19, only women attended; July 20, open to all (over 300 men and women) -Lucretia's husband was asked to lead (the women were nervous because they never spoke in public) -men decried women of their rights -68 men and women signed their Decl aration -11 new conditions, only 10 were passed; still no right to vote -â€Å"The right to vote is ours. Have it we must, use it we will† -Stanton -â€Å"Without the vote, women would be unable to change the laws that hurt them† -Douglass The Suffrage Movement Susan B. Anthony (died 1906) *Last public words: â€Å"Failure is impossible† *One of four women and 2 modern women to be on money -Carrie Chapman Catt -Alice Paul â€Å"Iron Jawed Angels† (film) -women jailed for fighting for suffrage The End of the First Wave -Ratification of the 19th Amendment, June 29, 1920 Sufragette: women (1920s) who fought for women's rights Video Clip Notes -Interview with Ruth Dyk (98 yrs. old): mom was a suffragette -Interview with Ethel Hall (100 yrs. old) -more than 8 million women voted -14 years for women to vote since Declaration Stanton and Anthony did not get to vote because they died One Step Forward, Two Steps Back -Some improvement -loss of â€Å"steam† -Great Depression (â€Å"Migrant Mother† iconic Great Depression photo taken by Dorothy Lange, 1936) â€Å"We Can Do It! † World War II : The 1940s -women take over â€Å"masculine jobs† to help win the war -â€Å"if you've used an electric mixer in your kitchen, you can learn to run a drill press† -â€Å"Rosie the Riveter† represented a lot of women; iconic poster by J. Howard Miller -6 million women became Rosie's -â€Å"Rosie the Riveter† by the Four Vagabonds (song) Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jane Baker) was a Rosie working with planes, when a photographer saw her and took army photos -Fannie Lou Hamer: sharecropper who became a significant voting rights and civil rights activist Rush to the Altar mid-late 1940s -soldiers come home, women go home, men take back the jobs Marriage rate: 1948- 16. 4%; 2008- 7. 1% Traditional Housewives (Suburbs) 1950s -normalcy after the war -traditional families/sex roles -PhT (Putting Husband Through) and Mrs. degrees (women going to college to find a husband) -the ideal of the housewife â€Å"the feminine mystique† Video Clip Notes: â€Å"Why Study Home Economics† (University of Kansas) -â€Å"I'm going to need to know† -â€Å".. homemaker the rest of my life† -we're going to get married, no choice -Counselor: â€Å"Home Ec training teaches you how to be a better homemaker† Ultimate Goal: Marriage and Family -regardless of education -TV Show â€Å"Leave it to Beaver† portrayed traditional family roles -TV was new in the 50s: what messages were TV shows sending to men and women? -â€Å"Drop the Mop† song (â€Å"Equal jobs and educational opportunities†) The Winds of Discontent (late 50s, early 60s) legal job discrimination -1/3 women working outside of home (low paying jobs, laid off first, â€Å"glass ceiling†) -After WWII, new technology -Airline jobs- as soon as a stewardess got married, she was fired; wasn't the same for pilots (only could be male) -teaching was considered the â€Å"best job† (others were secretaries, but no professions) -Lorena Weeks: Used 1964 legislation to fight the legal discrimination at work *operated switchboards under bad hours and low pay Dissatisfied Housewives -Betty Friedan â€Å"voice of dissatisfied housewives† -Wrote â€Å"The Feminine Mystique† (1953)Video Clip Notes -K. Foley: working wife/mother *frozen opportunities and lack of jobs -Dust Roady: earned college degree in 1950, wanted to be a pilot, denied position and only offered to be a stewardess Video Clip Notes: Eastern Airlines commercial -discriminatory and demeaning towards female (stewardesses) -they were fired at age 32, versus male pilots being fired at age 60 -Friedan challenged the identity of women in her book; â€Å".. cannot find herself in a house† -not all women bought her message, however -Jacqui Ceball â€Å"it wasn't us, it was society†The President's Commiss ion on the Status of Women 1961 -JFK's presidency: women were paid $0. 59 for every $1 men were paid -2008: women were paid $0. 77 for every $1 men were paid -low, unequal pay -poor job opportunities -quotas in professional schools (only a certain number of women) -lack of social services -TV show â€Å"All in the Family† – wage disparity (Archie was the husband) -60s: some nuns got rid of their habits (changes in the church) â€Å"The personal is political† -social restrictions *†men only† and â€Å"women only† public places women were isolated in their own homes- they couldn't meet up and talk -this issue lead to â€Å"Consciousness Raising Groups,† where women could talk about anything in privacy without men or children -battered women's shelters -contraceptive rights, including abortion (Roe V. Wade) -rape laws -Before Second Wave Feminism, issues such as abusive relationships were â€Å"personal problems,† not â€Å"society 's problem† -However, feminists argued that society needs to be involved with solving these problems Video Clip Notes -Women try to enter men's bar â€Å"women are people,† â€Å"start all over† (black and whites, men and women)Video Clip Notes â€Å"Second-Class Citizens† -60s: in some states, women needed husband's cosign to get a credit card -70s: women would not be interrupted during consciousness raising group meetings -women's strike â€Å"don't iron while the strike is hot† The Mid 60s-70s -Civil Rights Act 1964 banned discrimination (race and gender) -National Organization for Women (NOW) 1966 *created by Betty Friedan; still one of the largest poetical organizations for women's rights today *aimed at men too (better for them) *not all feminists of 60s agreed with her (like MLK vs Malcolm X)Miss America Protest 1968 -Guerrilla theatre Video Clip Notes -March on Washington 1963 -led to critical victory for minorities and women: LBJ signs Civi l Rights Act -Lorena Weeks cited the Civil RIghts Act to fight *it took 5 years and an appeal to the Supreme Court, but she got the job she wanted -Women in white robes praying â€Å"Mother, Daughter, Holy Granddaughter† -to feminists: Miss America Pageant was epitome of â€Å"ideal woman† -female protestors threw bras, girdles, makeup, and heels in trash -Shirley Chisholm: equal pay and equal opportunities in stock market: feminismWomen's Liberation: â€Å"I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar† -Helen Reddy -Politics -Legal System -Wall Street -Media -Medicine -Arts -Sports -Pop Culure -ALL AREAS â€Å"The Feminine Mystique,† or Betty, Tina, Mrs. Robinson, and all those other housewives Betty Friedan 1921-2006 -Smith College 1942 -Wife, mother, housewife, writer, feminist leader -â€Å"The Feminist Mystique† -Worked as a journalist in 50s, but got fired when she got pregnant; she then did free-lance magazine work from home How did the Feminist Mystique get sta rted? -â€Å"McCall's† magazine â€Å"women's† magazine that catered to women's issues; asked Friedan to write a piece *Friedan interviewed women she graduated with and asked them â€Å"What has been your experience as a woman? † -The initial title of the article was to be â€Å"The Togetherness Woman† (the happy, ideal, traditional woman) -Smith College's Class of 1942 15th reunion What did McCall's expect to find? -ideal 50s women -high levels of satisfaction and happiness -LIFE Magazine, December 1956: â€Å"ideal American woman†¦white, middle-class, frivolous, spoiled, beautiful, boy crazy.. † Ideal 50s Woman -Feminine -Delicate Not intellectual -Compliant -Content -Him-focused -Family-focused -House-focused Video Clip Notes -Christian Dior set standards for fashion trends during wartime -Hourglass figure, girdles and slim shapes with big bust -â€Å"feminine, sexy† -Contestants had to peel potatoes and make a bed in Miss America Pa geant Barbie -invented in 1959 -commercial doll (doll $3, clothes $1-5) -Mattel International Video Clip Notes: Xerox commercial -first machine in 1959 -take-off on Marilyn Monroe, ditzy secetary -overall message: â€Å"So easy a woman can do it† A Housewife's Day -PTA meetings Shopping -Seeing her friends -In her kitchen What did Friedan's survey actually find? -discontent, unhappy -unexplained fatigue and physical illness -prescription drug use sky rocketed *3 years: 1. 2 million pounds of Miltown (tranquilizer) had been taken by women (mid 50s) -lack of interest in the world or hope for the future -went beyond her college peers She found that for women†¦. -College graduate rates: 60% drop out (PhT) -Marriage rates up, age down (average 20yrs and dropping in late 50s) -Skyrocketing birthrate -Labor Market: 1/3 working; nonprofessional â€Å"jobs† Politics: Congress- more in 40s than in the 50s What did Friedan conclude? -Women suffer from â€Å"the problem that has no name† *The housewife's â€Å"blight† (doctors used these terms, even) -Psychological problem: lack of identity -Trapped in a dilemma *Homemaker lifestyle that was the envy of many but not fulfilling, especially to the educated woman -McCall's denied Friedan's magazine Article (editors were men) What is the Feminine Mystique? -Post WWII ideology that a woman can and should only be fulfilled as a housewife and mother -Resistance: sickness, abnormality Intentionally pervasive throughout society -Fight back against Feminine Mystique is the Women's Lib Movement What did Friedan do? -Wrote â€Å"the Feminine Mystique† (1963) *†scream of pain† -Changed the course of history -Became a pioneer of the Second Wave -Remember: Susan B. Anthony was a pioneer of the First Wave Possible â€Å"Why? † Theories -nation's need to return to pre-war â€Å"normalcy†? -â€Å"Artificial Buoyancy† idea that in society, there are people who feel the y want to be on top, meaning some have to sink to the bottom (men vs. omen) -need for a consumer class with time and desire to shop The Freudian â€Å"Why† Theory -Sigmund Freud: Father of psychology and psychiatry -Anatomy is destiny *Women are anatomically built to be mothers -â€Å"Normal female traits are receptivity and passivity†¦a willingness to accept dependence. † -Freud is a â€Å"male chauvinist pig† -Shulamith Firestone coined this phrase Friedan's Conclusion: All the theories are true -The Feminine Mystique is pervasive in society and it is the result of an intentional conspiracy by the male-dominated society to keep things male-dominated The Stepford Wives Sci-fi book by Ira Levin: men find a way to turn their wives into robots (ideal 50s woman) -Movies: 1975- thriller; 2004- spoof (credits show many different shots to send his message) The Graduate (1967) -#7 American Film Institute: Best movie of all time -Book written by Charles Webb- gradu ated from William College then wrote it -Ann Bancroft (who inspired Professor Loughran to act very young) played â€Å"Mrs. Robinson,† an unhappy housewife -Dustin Hoffman plays â€Å"Benjamin,† a discontent college graduate; actor was originally supposed to be tall and attractive, like Robert Redford -Katharine Ross Music: Simon and Garfunkel wrote the theme song, which was originally supposed to be â€Å"Mrs. Roosevelt† -Director: Mike Nichols Video Clip Notes â€Å"the Graduate† -Scene begins after Ben's graduation party -Mrs. Robinson resorts to alcohol and music -â€Å"Mrs. Robinson you're trying to seduce me† Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) -Comedy of manners: making fun of a certain segment of society -exploring dangers of Feminine Mystique in a humorous way -Making fun of upper, affluent lifestyles of these people Early Days of TV -1939 World Fair -Rapid expansion *Post WWII leisure *Better technology Better programming -Content *news, dram a, variety shows *live broadcast *advertising 1955: Fort Wayne, Indiana -Social Lives -Education -Business -Church TV and Politics -JFK AKA â€Å"TV President† -TV was live in the 60s *death of Lee Harvey Oswald was aired 1950s/60s TV: A Man's World â€Å"Women's lives are so dull†¦ they don't need TV shows† â€Å"women can make decisions in comedies.. † -Norman Felton, MGM Executive Producer -Madelyn Martin, writer for â€Å"Lucy† shows Television's Portrayal of Women (according to Friedan) -boring -jealous -inept -foolish -dependent -weak -silly -spoiled -materialistic â€Å"I Married Joan† (1954 Daytime TV Show) *Joan Davis (like Lucille Ball) *†Mrs. Bradley Stevens† (married to judge_ Marlo Thomas: Arts Hero -Personal Life *Born 1937 *Daughter of Danny Thomas (comedy â€Å"Danny Thomas Show†) *grew up privileged *wife/stepmother Phil Donaghue (precursor to Oprah, similar talk show) *didn't want to get married *saw mistre atment of women firsthand in acting industry *wanted to be an actress, and was concerned about making it on her own Acting -TV Series: That Girl, among others -Film -Theater Writing -Free to Be†¦You and Me (healthier children's book) *books, CDs, and TV specialsOther -Producer -Speaker -Awards: Lucy Award (outstanding women in TV), Emmy, Golden Globe, Grammy *same as Sidney Poiter: not about winning, but making a difference That Girl -September 1966 -First show about a single woman -Force behind the show *scripts *clothes -Production aspects -end of season, she had a boyfriend on the show, the producer wanted them to marry but she said â€Å"Hell no! † Making a Difference -Advocate for women's rights *The Ms. Foundation for Women -St. Jude's Children's (Cancer) Research Hospital *Her dad founded this in 1960 Janis wanted what med had- everything Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. † Janis Joplin: first female rockstar -wanted to be equal with men -she wanted a personal life -From Port Arthur, TX; always wrote letters and kept in touch with her family -Dated musician Country Joe McDonald -Wanted a career, broke with the band â€Å"Big Brother†and went successfully solo -Died of heroine overdose -Made it okay for a woman to create her own kind of beauty -made it possible for women to have any type of career -1995: inducted into Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame -Helped women reach for the starts -inspired female rockstars

A Book That Changed My Life Essay

We have to admit that some great books have the power to heal our souls and make us better people. Around The World in Eighty Days is just such a book to me. This book is a fiction story written by a French writer, Jules Verne. In this story, an Englishman, Phileas Fogg and his new French valet Passepartout attempt to travel around the world within eighty days just because he had a huge wager with his friends at the club. Mr Fogg wants to prove his contention that one can travel around the world in only eighty days. During their journey around the world, they met many friends and faced tons of challenges and difficulties. Besides the interesting and vivid plot of the story, this inspiring book has taught me three things when facing difficulties in life: never give up, caring others, and do something meaningful in life. First of all, of the many things that I learned from this book, one of them is overcoming difficulties. Traveling around the world in eighty days is a daydream for many persons but Mr Fogg made it successfully because he insisted and did not give up. Even though this book is a fiction, from the author’s perspective, the tools that we need for success is perseverance. Throughout the whole book, I learned that there are many difficult problems we need to be confronted with in our real life. But if you try hard to conquer it and you may find a way to be success. Therefore by the end of the book I decided to study a very tough course that I never studied before. I was really interested in this course and I want to challenge myself. Many friends laughed at me about my impulsion. But I never regret this decision. Instead, I thought it was the best decision of my life because I learned a lot from that tough process. People in the world usually like to criticize and judge others. By l earning from Mr Fogg, I realized that I should not care of those criticisms. Finally, I passed this tough course with my effort. I think it is this book makes me a much stronger person. Secondly, this book also made me understand it is more important for us to give than to receive. In the story, Mr Fogg is a very punctual and serious Englishman. And after he fights with Indian  in America, he found that his valet Passepartout was missing. Other people asked Fogg to hurry on with his journey because of the wager, but Mr Fogg refused to continue his journey without his valet. At that moment, Mr Fogg has shown his humanity and kindness. I was impressed about Mr Fogg’s selfless personality to his companion. I realized that sometimes I am a little bit self-centered. Therefore I need to be more considerate of the needs and feelings of the other people. Indeed, this book has totally changed my personality traits from a person with a negative life attitude and a little self-centered to a person with a positive life attitude, and a considerate heart. Last but not least, this book stimulates my mind to start thinking in a different way. In the story, Mr Fogg was a typical Englishman who was stubborn, punctual and serious. But he finally realized that the essence of life should be more colorful and meaningful. People need to try different ways of life. I remembered that when I was taking Asian American class, the professor told me that 99% of the people are living in a pretty boring life. They go to the same restaurant every day, sitting in the same seats and ordering the same food. If you jump out of the box and try something new or think in a different way, you will get totally new experiences and ideas that may surprise you. Mr Fogg was just a normal people before his great journey, until one day he made a bet with his friends in the club. And he did what he boasted and finally became a hero. I realized that I did nothing meaningful in my past life. So I decided to do something which can make my life more challenging and meaning ful. I joined couple of volunteer work and groups. Through that process, I gained both new life experiences and happiness. It is true that some books can greatly change our life. I learned many valuable personalities from Mr Fogg such as determination, perseverance, and selflessness. It also taught me that I need to think in a different way and do something meaningful in my life. Overall, this inspiring book has altered my behavior and changed my mind. I highly recommend this great book.

Communication and Language Needs Wishes Essay

Show how to find out an individual communication and language needs wishes and preferences Finding out the way an individual prefers to communicate can be done in two ways: direct or indirect. The talk of these individuals is very slow and intentional. They do not like loud, fast, and excessively aggressive talk. In addition, they concentrate more on the facts and figures, rather than just assumptions. If you are in conversation with an indirect communicator, you need to understand that you should have proof for backing up your suggestions, answers, and views. Individuals who are direct talk more clamorously and rapidly than indirect communicators. They take risks easily, are aggressively self-assured, and are related to ‘type A’ personalities. If you are in conversation with a direct communicator, just ensure that you get to the point straightaway, be confident about what you say, provide solid instances of your achievements, and be alert when you talk. The direct method is by speaking to the services users on face to face or asking questions, observing what they say and how they say The Indirect method: is by reading through the services users record and their care plan or by speaking their relatives and also inquiring from their colleagues. . 2.2 demonstrate communication methods that meet an individual communication need wishes and preferences. Written communications, lip reading and body language method for these individual that cannot hear. And also verbal and non verbal communication to an individual who can hear or see. Verbal and touch for Braille individual who is blind but not deaf. 2.3 Show how and when to seek advice about communication Seek advise by speaking to the line manager or professional bodies like nurse, doctors and colleagues if you do not understand what your service user saying or in looking unwell. If you cannot find or understand the records of your services users already provided to them seek advice from the team manager or colleagues. 3.1idenfiy barriers to affective communication There are reasons that can hinder affective communication. For example Poor health and mental health the main barrier to affective communication is being ill makes it difficult for people to effectively express them and and confidences and self esteem. Background: Clients with chronic and terminal disease frequently do not talk to their physicians about end-of-life care. Interventions to improve this communication have generally been unsuccessful, suggesting that important barriers to this communication must exist Culture and family affects the way people use the method of communication for example eye contact may not be as common in some culture as in others may be interpreted differently. Aggression: being aggressive while communicating makes diffuclt to express your point and to be listened and it applies to both the clients and the carer. Emtonalil diffuclties:when people experience a break up in long term relationship or receive news about death of loved ones they may become confused or uncontrollably upset and this

Gaining Wisdom Through Suffering Essay

Wisdom is a difficult thing to define and understand. It’s easily recognized when people have experienced it. Wisdom is a tricky thing to obtain. Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment. King Lear was foolish in the beginning of the play, but in the end he gained wisdom from his mistakes. Morrie from Tuesdays with Morrie was wise in the beginning of the book and became wiser in the end. Through suffering King Lear and Morrie obtained wisdom. ?At the beginning of the play, Lear was a selfish man. Power was very important to him. Suffering turned Lear from a selfish man wanted to be treated as a king without having the responsibilities that come with running a kingdom, to a man that comes to realize his morals and values. Lear gave away his kingdom to Gonerial and Regan but still wanted the same status and power of king. Lear gained wisdom through his mistakes of banishing his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Lear comes to the realization of his foolishness in act three. For instance, â€Å"Let thunder rumble! Let lightning spit fire! The rain, the wind, the thunder and lightning are not my daughters. Nature, I don’t accuse your weather of unkindness. I never gave a kingdom or raised you as my child, and you don’t owe me any obedience. † Here King Lear is coming to terms of his mistake of giving away his kingdom to the wrong people. He then goes on â€Å"So go ahead and have your terrifying fun. Here I am, your slave a poor, sick, weak, hated, old man. But I can still accuse you of kowtowing, taking my daughter’s side, against me, ancient as I am. Oh, it’s foul! In this scene Lear is in the storm with Kent and the fool. In this act the king is turning from an arrogant man to a noble man. It takes king Lear a complete breakdown to realize his mistake. ?Next, Lear gained wisdom through insanity and the cruelness of his to eldest daughters. For example, his eldest daughter Gonerial humiliates his loyal messenger Kent. Lear is telling kent his own flesh and blood would never commit such an act. â€Å"They durst not do’t. They could not, would not do’t. ‘Tis worse than murder to do upon respect such violent outrage. Resolve me with all modest haste which way thou mightst deserve or they impose this usage, coming from us. † (II iv 16-20). In this scene Kent was telling the king how his own daughter betrayed him. Lear is astonished that they would want to humiliate him and is realizing he is losing his status as king. ?Morrie also gains wisdom through suffering. In addition, Morrie was wise from the start but through his sickness he gained more wisdom. Morrie says to Mitch, â€Å"Truth is Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. (Albom 82). Morrie learned to accept his sickness and that he is going to die. Once he learned to accept it he was able to live. He lives his life to the fullest he realized little things that you should be taking advantage of. Morrie used aphorisms to say how he lived his life. One of the aphorisms he told Mitch was, â€Å"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. † (Albom 18). You forget about everything that doesn’t matter and you just learn how to live life. His illness helped him to gain wisdom and to live life the fullest. ? Lastly, Morrie embraces his life. In order to gain wisdom one must experience suffering. Morries suffering from ALS caused him to grow weaker physically; however, it made him a stronger person mentally and emotionally. Furthermore, Morrie says, â€Å"Don’t assume it’s too late to get involved. † (Albom 18). This quote shows us that even though Morrie had a sickness taking his life away, he still made a difference for other people. He didn’t lie around pitying himself. Morrie embraced his life rather than fearing life. By way of example, Morries tells Mitch, â€Å"Mitch, I embrace aging† (Albom 118). This means he isn’t afraid of growing old, he embraces the years of life he has left. In conclusion, despite being very different in both characters and beliefs, both King Lear and Morrie acquire wisdom through suffering. Wisdom is comes when someone experiences it. Wisdom is the quality of having good judgement, knowledge, and having experienced hardships. Wisdom is hard to understand.

A Dirty Job Chapter 27

â€Å"So, checking your appointments?† she said. â€Å"You must be feeling optimistic about how things will go.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not really.† Lily was smitten. He was beautiful and morose – like a great brown man-gift from the gods. â€Å"How bad can it be?† Lily said, pulling the appointment book out of his hand and flipping through the pages. She stopped on today’s date. â€Å"Why is Asher’s name in here?† she asked. Minty hung his head. â€Å"He said you’ve known all about us for a while.† â€Å"Yeah, but – † She looked at the name again and the realization of what she was seeing was like a punch in the chest. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?† Minty nodded slowly, not looking at her. â€Å"When did this name show up?† Lily asked. â€Å"It wasn’t there an hour ago.† â€Å"Well, fucksocks,† she said, sitting down on the bar stool next to the big man. â€Å"Yeah,† said Minty Fresh. He put his arm around her shoulders. With Charlie pulling on the legs of the bobcat guy (who was doing some impressive screaming considering he had prototype vocal cords) and the squirrel people dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to extricate their lieutenant from the jaws of the bug-eyed fury with only a few snags in his Beefeater’s costume. â€Å"Down, Bummer,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just chill.† He didn’t know if chill was an official dog command, but it should be. Bummer snorted and backed away from the surrounding crowd of squirrel people. â€Å"Not one of us,† said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not one of us.† â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his pocket that he’d brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it out to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor I’d look out for you.† Bummer trotted over to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, then turned to face down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not one of us. Not one of us,† chanted Bob. â€Å"Stop that,† Charlie said. â€Å"You can’t get a mob chant going, Bob, you’re the only one with a voice box.† â€Å"Oh yeah.† Bob let his chanting trail off. â€Å"Well, he’s not one of us,† he added in his defense. â€Å"He is now,† Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the Underworld?† Bummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew exactly what was being asked of him, but if he was going to find the strength to carry on, he was going to need the other half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a higher, four-foot pipe, stopped, barked, then took off down the pipe. â€Å"Follow him,† Charlie said. After an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved along. Soon they were moving in caves, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a dull, shadowy light. Charlie had read enough about the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere under the financial district, which was mostly built on Gold Rush landfill, so there would be nothing as old-looking or as solid as these caves. Bummer kept on, leading them down one fork or another without the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave opened up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlie’s flashlight and headlamp beams, but the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the luminous stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth black lake. In the middle of the lake, probably two hundred yards away, stood a great black sailing ship – tall-masted like a Spanish galleon – red, pulsating light coming from the cabin windows in the rear, a single lantern lighting the deck. Charlie had heard that whole ships had been buried in the debris during the Gold Rush, but they wouldn’t have been left preserved like this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rising – and he realized that this was just a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took o ver. Bummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air. Charlie saw movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black outline of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the right place. Charlie handed his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the pistol. â€Å"We’re going to need a boat,† Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can find something we can make a raft from.† The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlie’s flashlight, scanning the rocks for useful flotsam. Bummer growled, tossed his head like he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he thought Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still only in water up to his shoulder. Charlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water – that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only about six inches of water. â€Å"Uh, Bob,† Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. We’re walking. Everyone quiet.† He unsheathed his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The railings were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the mooring cleats were human pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasn’t exactly sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he found himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers. â€Å"We’re fucked,† said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them. â€Å"We’re not fucked,† Charlie said. â€Å"We just need someone to climb up there and throw us a rope.† There was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the little crowd – this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century French dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit – the ruffles and the coat – actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire. â€Å"You can do it?† Charlie asked the lizard guy. He held out his hands and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little creature caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the gunwale. Minutes passed, and Charlie found himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope splashed down next to him, he leapt two feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream. â€Å"Nice,† said Bob. â€Å"You first, then,† Charlie said, testing the rope to see if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was about three feet over his head before he tucked the sword-cane down inside the Lexan plate strapped over his back and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water balloons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he might really be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail. He swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was flesh and goo glowing dull red, running down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater. â€Å"Want some, lover?† she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.† At the breakfast bar in Charlie’s apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldn’t we tell them?† â€Å"They don’t all know about us. About this.† Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.† â€Å"Then shouldn’t we tell her?† Minty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlie’s sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I don’t think that would serve any purpose right now.† â€Å"He’s a good guy,† Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the roll on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went raccoon on her again. â€Å"I know,† Minty said. â€Å"He’s my friend.† As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him. â€Å"Hey, do you have a car?† she asked. â€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.† â€Å"Can we go for a ride?† Without any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his back and snapped it down on the Morrigan’s wrist. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, across the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to wrench it from Charlie’s grasp. He let her – pulled the sword free, then drove it into her solar plexus so hard that his fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers. â€Å"Miss me?† she asked. He rolled away just as she slashed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from taking off his hand. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger. He saw light coming from a door that must have led to the cabin at the aft of the ship – that same red glow – and he realized that it had to be coming from the soul vessels. Rachel’s soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant raven dropped in front of him and spread her wings out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it steady as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman – but the wings and talons remained in bird form. â€Å"New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to come here.† Charlie pulled the trigger. Flame shot a foot out of the barrel and he felt as if someone had hit him in the palm with a hammer. He thought he had aimed right between her eyes, but the bullet had ripped through her neck, taking half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the raven body flailed its wings at him. Charlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the raven was coming down on him. This one caught her in the center of the chest and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof. The ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and hit them with drumsticks – a long, painful, high-pitched wail. He barely heard the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging behind him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck. Charlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing. He hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like he’d been hit by a bus. He couldn’t breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath. â€Å"So, how’s it going so far?† asked the bobcat guy, about two feet from Charlie’s head. â€Å"Good,† Charlie said. â€Å"They’re running scared.† There was a big chunk bitten out of the middle of Bob’s torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby. â€Å"You’ll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.† â€Å"Good,† Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he might have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigan’s claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasn’t bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?† â€Å"Not the two you shot. We don’t know where the one you stuck with your sword went.† â€Å"I don’t know if I can make it up that rope again,† Charlie said. â€Å"That may not be a _roblem,† Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether. Charlie took the pistol from Bob and climbed to his feet, nearly fell, then steadied himself and backed away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people scattered around him. Bummer let loose with a fusillade of angry yapping. The demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream rising in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a shark and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green. â€Å"Soul stealer,† it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie. â€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldn’t it?† Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus.† The demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to bring up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He turned back and roared. Charlie could smell the creature’s breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was shrill cheering from above. Charlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demon’s chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked. Charlie backed up a few more steps and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. Then he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed forward and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip. The demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet. Charlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his hands shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh. â€Å"Well done, Meat!† came a female voice from above. Charlie looked up quickly, but then back to the bullheaded demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demon’s chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shatter into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down. The Morrigan landed on three sides of him. Each had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds. â€Å"That was excellent, lover,† said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognized her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demon’s body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.† â€Å"That was well done, Meat,† said the one to Charlie’s right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one he’d blasted up onto the cabin roof. â€Å"You guys do bounce back with a certain Wile E. Coyote charm,† Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place. â€Å"He’s so sweet,† said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.† â€Å"Sounds good to me,† said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided. Charlie saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound below his chest plate. â€Å"Yes, darling,† said hand job, â€Å"I’m afraid Nemain did nick you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.† â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† Charlie said. The Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke. The Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demon’s horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?† she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demon’s throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing twenty feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship. The Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"We’ll be right with you, darling. I’m Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus – or we will be in a minute.† The Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and swept in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demon’s jaws continued to snap at the air. â€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,† Macha said. â€Å"Yeah, your turn,† said Nemain, baring her claws. Macha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face. â€Å"Wait a minute,† said Babd. The other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demon’s corpse. â€Å"We never got to finish.† She took one step before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if she’d had a bungee cord attached to her ankle. The screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and chaos – he couldn’t follow what was happening. His eyes wouldn’t focus. He looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A small hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigan’s head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars. Charlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, baby,† Charlie said. Now he could see what was happening – the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching. Sophie raised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vaporized into a spray of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been frozen in the middle of a fireworks display. â€Å"You shouldn’t be here, honey,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yes, I should,† Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. I’m the Luminatus.† â€Å"You†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah,† she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of All Death and Darkness voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old. The hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched. â€Å"No, honey,† Charlie said. Sophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others – the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire. â€Å"Let’s go home, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.† He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he’d retrieved from the ship’s cabin. â€Å"Is this it?† Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie. He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?† â€Å"Yeah. Let’s go home, Daddy.† Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld. Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car. A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† Audrey said. â€Å"Did Sophie tell you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"They grow up so fast,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah.† Audrey smiled. â€Å"I got this.† He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light. Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Let’s put that over here where you can keep an eye on it.† As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Audrey.† Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?† She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, it’s me,† she said. â€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn’t it happen then?† â€Å"I guess I wasn’t ready then.† Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,† he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate. â€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.† â€Å"I’m glad,† Audrey said. â€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.† â€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.† â€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.† â€Å"Yes,† Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a wonderful imagination.† â€Å"I think,† said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.† â€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,† Audrey said. â€Å"With big tits,† Charlie added, his back arching in pain. â€Å"Of course, baby,† Audrey said. â€Å"I love you, Audrey.† â€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.† Then Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), beloved of Audrey, Death Merchant and purveyor of fine vintage clothing and accessories, took his last breath, and died. Audrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"He’s gone, Sophie.† Sophie put her hand on Charlie’s forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† she said. EPILOGUE THE GIRLS Things settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. Jane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-dozen times over the years. Nevertheless, they were happy and there was always laughter in their home. Sophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and beautiful woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her. THE SHOPKEEPERS While Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his belief had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became renowned around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the Jazz and Gourmet Pizza Place in North Beach in the building that had once housed Asher’s Secondhand. As for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep mistrust for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly loyal to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer. RIVERA Inspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. He’d worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, unexplainable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when he’d been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt as if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early retirement and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books. So he was somewhat pleased when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his mailbox to find a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book – what looked like a very rare and bizarre children’s book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now You’re Death: Here’s What You’ll Need. THE EMPEROR The Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion – while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet – could outrun a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota. AUDREY Audrey continued her work at the Buddhist center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she also took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were remarkable instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the p’howa of undying. She didn’t give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least that’s how she was feeling as she looked over her latest masterpiece in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizard’s star embroidered on it in gold thread. â€Å"It’s only temporary, until we find someone,† Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.† â€Å"No, I don’t. I’m only fourteen inches tall.† â€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.† He opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.† A Dirty Job Chapter 27 â€Å"So, checking your appointments?† she said. â€Å"You must be feeling optimistic about how things will go.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not really.† Lily was smitten. He was beautiful and morose – like a great brown man-gift from the gods. â€Å"How bad can it be?† Lily said, pulling the appointment book out of his hand and flipping through the pages. She stopped on today’s date. â€Å"Why is Asher’s name in here?† she asked. Minty hung his head. â€Å"He said you’ve known all about us for a while.† â€Å"Yeah, but – † She looked at the name again and the realization of what she was seeing was like a punch in the chest. â€Å"This is that book? This is your date book for that?† Minty nodded slowly, not looking at her. â€Å"When did this name show up?† Lily asked. â€Å"It wasn’t there an hour ago.† â€Å"Well, fucksocks,† she said, sitting down on the bar stool next to the big man. â€Å"Yeah,† said Minty Fresh. He put his arm around her shoulders. With Charlie pulling on the legs of the bobcat guy (who was doing some impressive screaming considering he had prototype vocal cords) and the squirrel people dog-piling onto the Boston terrier, they were eventually able to extricate their lieutenant from the jaws of the bug-eyed fury with only a few snags in his Beefeater’s costume. â€Å"Down, Bummer,† Charlie said. â€Å"Just chill.† He didn’t know if chill was an official dog command, but it should be. Bummer snorted and backed away from the surrounding crowd of squirrel people. â€Å"Not one of us,† said the bobcat guy, pointing at Bummer. â€Å"Not one of us.† â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. He pulled a beef jerky from his pocket that he’d brought for emergency rations, tore off a hunk, and held it out to Bummer. â€Å"Come on, buddy. I told the Emperor I’d look out for you.† Bummer trotted over to Charlie and took the beef jerky from him, then turned to face down the squirrel people as he chewed. The squirrel people made clicking noises and brandished their weapons. â€Å"Not one of us. Not one of us,† chanted Bob. â€Å"Stop that,† Charlie said. â€Å"You can’t get a mob chant going, Bob, you’re the only one with a voice box.† â€Å"Oh yeah.† Bob let his chanting trail off. â€Å"Well, he’s not one of us,† he added in his defense. â€Å"He is now,† Charlie said. To Bummer he said, â€Å"Can you lead us to the Underworld?† Bummer looked up at Charlie as if he knew exactly what was being asked of him, but if he was going to find the strength to carry on, he was going to need the other half of that beef jerky. Charlie gave it to him and Bummer immediately jumped up to a higher, four-foot pipe, stopped, barked, then took off down the pipe. â€Å"Follow him,† Charlie said. After an hour following Bummer through the sewers, the pipes gave way to tunnels that got bigger as they moved along. Soon they were moving in caves, with high ceilings and stalactites in the ceiling that glowed in various colors, illuminating their way with a dull, shadowy light. Charlie had read enough about the geology of the area to know that these caves were not natural to the city. He guessed that they were somewhere under the financial district, which was mostly built on Gold Rush landfill, so there would be nothing as old-looking or as solid as these caves. Bummer kept on, leading them down one fork or another without the slightest hesitation, until suddenly the cave opened up into a massive grotto. The chamber was so large that it simply swallowed up Charlie’s flashlight and headlamp beams, but the ceiling, which was several hundred feet high, was lined with the luminous stalactites that reflected red, green, and purple in a mirror-smooth black lake. In the middle of the lake, probably two hundred yards away, stood a great black sailing ship – tall-masted like a Spanish galleon – red, pulsating light coming from the cabin windows in the rear, a single lantern lighting the deck. Charlie had heard that whole ships had been buried in the debris during the Gold Rush, but they wouldn’t have been left preserved like this. Things had changed, these caves were all the result of the Underworld rising – and he realized that this was just a hint of what was going to happen to the City if the Underworlders took o ver. Bummer barked and the sharp report echoed around the grotto, sending a cloud of bats into the air. Charlie saw movement on the deck of the ship, the blue-black outline of a woman, and he knew that Bummer had led them to the right place. Charlie handed his flashlight to Bob and set his sword-cane on the cave floor. He drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster, checked that there was a round in the chamber, cocked the hammer, then reset the safety and reholstered the pistol. â€Å"We’re going to need a boat,† Charlie said to Bob. â€Å"See if you guys can find something we can make a raft from.† The bobcat guy started down the shore with Charlie’s flashlight, scanning the rocks for useful flotsam. Bummer growled, tossed his head like he had ear mites or perhaps to indicate that he thought Charlie was insane, and ran out into the lake. Fifty yards away he was still only in water up to his shoulder. Charlie looked at the black ship and realized that it was sitting way, way too high out of the water – that, in fact, it was sitting with its hull on the bottom in only about six inches of water. â€Å"Uh, Bob,† Charlie said. â€Å"Forget the boat. We’re walking. Everyone quiet.† He unsheathed his sword and sloshed onward. As they approached the ship they could make out details in its construction. The railings were fashioned from leg bones lashed together, the mooring cleats were human pelvises. The lantern on the deck was, in fact, a human skull. Charlie wasn’t exactly sure how his powers as Luminatus were going to manifest themselves, but as they reached the hull of the ship he found himself very much wishing it would happen soon, and that levitation would be one of the powers. â€Å"We’re fucked,† said Bob, looking up at the black hull curving above them. â€Å"We’re not fucked,† Charlie said. â€Å"We just need someone to climb up there and throw us a rope.† There was some milling around amid the squirrel people, then a lone figure stepped out of the little crowd – this one appeared to be a nineteenth-century French dandy with the head of a monitor lizard. His outfit – the ruffles and the coat – actually reminded Charlie of pictures that Lily had shown him of Charles Baudelaire. â€Å"You can do it?† Charlie asked the lizard guy. He held out his hands and lifted one foot out of the water. Squirrel paws. Charlie lifted the lizard guy as high as he could up to the hull, and the little creature caught ahold in the black wood, then scurried up the side of the ship and over the gunwale. Minutes passed, and Charlie found himself listening hard for some hint as to what was going on above. When the thick rope splashed down next to him, he leapt two feet in the air and barely contained blasting out a full-blown man-scream. â€Å"Nice,† said Bob. â€Å"You first, then,† Charlie said, testing the rope to see if it would hold his weight. He waited until the bobcat guy was about three feet over his head before he tucked the sword-cane down inside the Lexan plate strapped over his back and started the climb himself. By the time he was three-quarters of the way up the rope, he felt as if his biceps were going to pop like water balloons and he entwined his motocross boot into the rope to rest. As if being granted a second wind by the gods, his biceps relaxed and when he resumed climbing he felt as if he might really be gaining his power as the Luminatus. When he reached the railing, he grabbed one of the bone mooring cleats and swung himself up until he sat straddling the rail. He swung around and his headlamp caught the black shine in her eyes. She was holding the bobcat guy like an ear of corn, her claw driven through his skull, pinning his jaw shut. There was flesh and goo glowing dull red, running down her face and over her breasts as she tore another bite out of the Beefeater. â€Å"Want some, lover?† she said. â€Å"Tastes like ham.† At the breakfast bar in Charlie’s apartment, Lily said, â€Å"Shouldn’t we tell them?† â€Å"They don’t all know about us. About this.† Minty held the date book. â€Å"Just Audrey.† â€Å"Then shouldn’t we tell her?† Minty looked at Audrey, who was sitting on the couch entwined in a sleepy pile with Charlie’s sister and one of the hellhounds, looking very content. â€Å"No, I don’t think that would serve any purpose right now.† â€Å"He’s a good guy,† Lily said. She snatched a paper towel off the roll on the counter and dabbed her eyes before her mascara went raccoon on her again. â€Å"I know,† Minty said. â€Å"He’s my friend.† As he said it, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to where Sophie was staring up at him. â€Å"Hey, do you have a car?† she asked. â€Å"Yes, I do, Sophie.† â€Å"Can we go for a ride?† Without any hesitation, Charlie whipped the sword-cane out of his back and snapped it down on the Morrigan’s wrist. She lost her grip on the bobcat guy, who bolted, screaming, across the deck and over the opposite railing. The Morrigan grabbed the sword-cane and tried to wrench it from Charlie’s grasp. He let her – pulled the sword free, then drove it into her solar plexus so hard that his fist connected with her ribs and the blade came out her back, sinking into the wooden hull of the lifeboat she was reclining against. For a split second his face was an inch from hers. â€Å"Miss me?† she asked. He rolled away just as she slashed at him. He got his forearm up just in time to deflect the blow away from his face, the thick Lexan plate on his forearm stopping the claws from taking off his hand. She lunged for him, but the sword kept her pinned to the boat. Charlie ran down the deck away from her as she screeched in anger. He saw light coming from a door that must have led to the cabin at the aft of the ship – that same red glow – and he realized that it had to be coming from the soul vessels. Rachel’s soul could still be in there. He was only a step from the hatch when the giant raven dropped in front of him and spread her wings out across the deck, as if trying to block the whole end of the ship. He backpedaled and drew the Desert Eagle from the shoulder holster. He tried to hold it steady as he clicked off the safety. The Raven snapped at him and he leapt back. The beak then pulled back, changed, bubbled into the face of a woman – but the wings and talons remained in bird form. â€Å"New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"How brave of you to come here.† Charlie pulled the trigger. Flame shot a foot out of the barrel and he felt as if someone had hit him in the palm with a hammer. He thought he had aimed right between her eyes, but the bullet had ripped through her neck, taking half of the black flesh with it. Her head lolled to the side and the raven body flailed its wings at him. Charlie fell backward onto the deck, but pulled the pistol up and fired again as the raven was coming down on him. This one caught her in the center of the chest and sent her flying backward, up onto the cabin roof. The ringing in his ears felt like someone had driven tuning forks into his head and hit them with drumsticks – a long, painful, high-pitched wail. He barely heard the shriek from his left as another Morrigan dropped out of the rigging behind him. He rolled to the railing and brought the gun up just as she slashed at his face. The gun and his forearm pad absorbed most of the blow, but the Desert Eagle was knocked from his grasp and slid down the deck. Charlie did a somersault to his feet and ran after the gun. Nemain flicked her claws at his back and he heard the sizzle as the poison strafed the Lexan pad down his spine and burned onto the deck on either side of him. He dove for the pistol and tried to roll and come up with it pointed at his attacker, but he misjudged and came up with the back of his knees against the bone railing. She leapt, claws first, and hit him in the chest just as he fired the Desert Eagle and he was driven backward over the railing. He hit flat on the water. The air exploded from his body and he felt like he’d been hit by a bus. He couldn’t breathe, but he could see, he could feel his limbs, and after a couple of seconds of gasping, he finally caught a breath. â€Å"So, how’s it going so far?† asked the bobcat guy, about two feet from Charlie’s head. â€Å"Good,† Charlie said. â€Å"They’re running scared.† There was a big chunk bitten out of the middle of Bob’s torso, and his Beefeater uniform was in tatters, but otherwise he seemed in good spirits. He was holding the Desert Eagle cradled in his arms like a baby. â€Å"You’ll likely need this. That last shot connected, by the way. You took off about half of her skull.† â€Å"Good,† Charlie said, still having a little trouble catching his breath. He felt a searing pain in his chest and thought he might have broken a rib. He sat up and looked at his chest plate. The Morrigan’s claws had raked the front of it, but in one spot he could see where a claw had slipped under the plate and into his chest. He wasn’t bleeding badly, but he was bleeding, and it hurt like hell. â€Å"Are they still coming?† â€Å"Not the two you shot. We don’t know where the one you stuck with your sword went.† â€Å"I don’t know if I can make it up that rope again,† Charlie said. â€Å"That may not be a _roblem,† Bob said. He was looking up to the ceiling of the grotto, where a whirlwind of squeaking bats was spiraling around the mast, but above them was beating the wings of another creature altogether. Charlie took the pistol from Bob and climbed to his feet, nearly fell, then steadied himself and backed away from the hull of the ship. The squirrel people scattered around him. Bummer let loose with a fusillade of angry yapping. The demon hit the water about thirty feet away. Charlie felt a scream rising in his throat but fought it down. The thing was nearly ten feet tall, with a wingspan of thirty feet. Its head was as big as a beer keg, and it appeared to have the shape and horns of a bull, except for the jaws, which were predatory, lined with teeth, like a cross between a shark and a lion. Its eyes were gleaming green. â€Å"Soul stealer,† it growled. It folded its wings into two high points behind its back, and stepped toward Charlie. â€Å"Well, that would be you, wouldn’t it?† Charlie said, a little breathless still. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus.† The demon stopped. Charlie took the hesitation to bring up the pistol and fire. The shot took the demon high in the shoulder and spun him to the side. He turned back and roared. Charlie could smell the creature’s breath, like rotting meat, wash over him. He backed up and fired again, his hand numb now from the recoil of the big pistol. The shot knocked the demon back a step. There was shrill cheering from above. Charlie fired again and again. The slugs opened craters in the demon’s chest. He wavered, then fell to his knees. Charlie aimed and pulled the trigger again. The gun clicked. Charlie backed up a few more steps and tried to remember what Minty had shown him about reloading. He managed to hit a button that released the clip from the pistol, which plopped into the water. Then he unsnapped one of the pouches under his arm to retrieve an extra clip. It slipped out and fell into the lake as well. Bob and a couple of the squirrel people splashed forward and started diving beneath the water, looking for the clip. The demon roared again, unfurled his wings, and, in one great flap, pulled himself to his feet. Charlie unsnapped the second clip and, with his hands shaking, managed to fit it into the bottom of the Desert Eagle. The demon crouched, as if to leap. Charlie jacked a shell into the chamber and fired at the same time. The demon fell forward as the huge slug took a chunk out of his thigh. â€Å"Well done, Meat!† came a female voice from above. Charlie looked up quickly, but then back to the bullheaded demon, who was on his feet again. Then he braced his wrist and fired, and again, walking forward, pumping bullets into the demon’s chest with each step, feeling any second as if his wrist would just shatter into pieces from the recoil, until the hammer clicked on an empty chamber. He stopped, just five feet away from the demon when it fell over, facefirst into the water. Charlie dropped the Desert Eagle and fell to his knees. The grotto seemed to be tilting before him, his vision tunneling down. The Morrigan landed on three sides of him. Each had a glowing soul vessel in her claw and was rubbing it on her wounds. â€Å"That was excellent, lover,† said the raven woman standing closest to the fallen demon. Charlie recognized her from the alley. The stab wound his sword had made in her stomach healed over as he watched. She kicked the bullheaded demon’s body. â€Å"See, I told you that guns suck.† â€Å"That was well done, Meat,† said the one to Charlie’s right. Her neck was still knitting back together. She was the one he’d blasted up onto the cabin roof. â€Å"You guys do bounce back with a certain Wile E. Coyote charm,† Charlie said. He grinned, feeling drunk now, like he was watching all this from another place. â€Å"He’s so sweet,† said the hand-job harpy. â€Å"I could just eat him up.† â€Å"Sounds good to me,† said the Morrigan to his left, whose head was still a little lopsided. Charlie saw the venom dripping from her claws, then looked to the wound below his chest plate. â€Å"Yes, darling,† said hand job, â€Å"I’m afraid Nemain did nick you. You really are quite the warrior to have lasted this long.† â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† Charlie said. The Morrigan laughed, the one in front of Charlie did a little dance step. As she did, the bullheaded demon lifted his head from the water. â€Å"I’m the Luminatus,† said the demon, black goo and water running between his teeth as he spoke. The Morrigan stopped dancing, grabbed one of the demon’s horns, then pulled his head back. â€Å"You think?† she said. Then she plunged her claws into the demon’s throat. He rolled and threw her off, sending her sailing twenty feet in the air to smash into the hull of the ship. The Morrigan behind Charlie patted his head as she passed. â€Å"We’ll be right with you, darling. I’m Macha, by the way, and we are the Luminatus – or we will be in a minute.† The Morrigan fell on the bullheaded demon, taking great chunks of flesh and bone off his body with each slash of their talons. Two took to the air and swept in, taking swipes at the demon, who flailed at them, sometimes connecting, but too weakened from the gunshots to fight effectively. In two minutes it was finished, and most of the flesh had been flayed from it. Macha held his head by the horns like she was holding the handlebars of a motorcycle, even as the demon’s jaws continued to snap at the air. â€Å"Your turn, soul stealer,† Macha said. â€Å"Yeah, your turn,† said Nemain, baring her claws. Macha held the demon head out in front of her, driving it at Charlie. He backed away as the teeth snapped inches from his face. â€Å"Wait a minute,† said Babd. The other two stopped and turned to their sister, who stood over what was left of the demon’s corpse. â€Å"We never got to finish.† She took one step before something hit her like a ball of darkness, knocking her out of sight. Charlie looked at the demon head coming at him, then there was a loud smack and Macha was yanked to the side as if she’d had a bungee cord attached to her ankle. The screeching started again and Charlie could see the Morrigan being whipped around in the darkness, splashing, and chaos – he couldn’t follow what was happening. His eyes wouldn’t focus. He looked to Nemain, who was now coming at him with her claws dripping venom. A small hand appeared at the edge of his vision and the Morrigan’s head exploded into what looked like a thousand stars. Charlie looked to where the hand had appeared before his eyes. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Hi, baby,† Charlie said. Now he could see what was happening – the hellhounds were tearing at the Morrigan. One of them broke, jumped into the air and unfurled her wings, then dove at Sophie, screeching. Sophie raised her hand as if she was waving bye-bye and the Morrigan vaporized into a spray of black goo. The souls, thousands of them, that she had consumed over the millennia, floated into the air, red lights that circled the grotto, making the whole huge chamber appear to have been frozen in the middle of a fireworks display. â€Å"You shouldn’t be here, honey,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yes, I should,† Sophie said. â€Å"I had to fix this, send them all back. I’m the Luminatus.† â€Å"You†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah,† she said matter-of-factly, in that Master of All Death and Darkness voice that is so irritating in a six-year-old. The hellhounds were both on the remaining Morrigan now, tearing her in half as Charlie watched. â€Å"No, honey,† Charlie said. Sophie raised her hand and Babd was vaporized like the others – the captured souls rose like embers from a bonfire. â€Å"Let’s go home, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"No,† Charlie said, barely able to hold up his head. â€Å"We have something we have to get.† He lurched forward and one of the hellhounds was there to brace him. The whole army of squirrel people was coming around the bow of the ship, each carrying a glowing soul vessel he’d retrieved from the ship’s cabin. â€Å"Is this it?† Sophie said. She took a CD from Bob and handed it to Charlie. He turned it in his hands and hugged it to his chest. â€Å"You know what this is, honey?† â€Å"Yeah. Let’s go home, Daddy.† Charlie fell over the back of Alvin. Sophie and the squirrel people steadied him until they were out of the Underworld. Minty Fresh carried Charlie to the car. A doctor had come and gone. When Charlie came to he was on his bed at home and Audrey was wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† Audrey said. â€Å"Did Sophie tell you?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"They grow up so fast,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah.† Audrey smiled. â€Å"I got this.† He reached behind his chest plate and pulled out the Sarah McLachlan CD that pulsated with red light. Audrey nodded and reached out for the disc. â€Å"Let’s put that over here where you can keep an eye on it.† As soon as her fingers touched the plastic case the light went out and Audrey shuddered. â€Å"Oh my,† she said. â€Å"Audrey.† Charlie tried to sit up, but was forced back down by the pain. â€Å"Ouch. Audrey, what happened? Did they get it? Did they take her soul?† She was looking at her chest, then looked up at Charlie, tears in her eyes. â€Å"No, Charlie, it’s me,† she said. â€Å"But you had touched that before, that night in the pantry. Why didn’t it happen then?† â€Å"I guess I wasn’t ready then.† Charlie took her hand and squeezed it, then squeezed it much harder than he intended as a wave of pain washed through him. â€Å"Goddammit,† he said. He was panting now, breathing like he might hyperventilate. â€Å"I thought it was all dark, Audrey. All the spiritual stuff was spooky. You made me see.† â€Å"I’m glad,† Audrey said. â€Å"Makes me think I should have slept with a poet so I could have understood the way the world can be distilled into words.† â€Å"Yes. I think you have the soul of a poet, Charlie.† â€Å"I should have made love with a painter, too, so I could feel the wave of a brushstroke, so I could absorb her colors and textures and really see.† â€Å"Yes,† Audrey said, brushing at his hair with her fingers. â€Å"You have such a wonderful imagination.† â€Å"I think,† said Charlie, his voice going higher as he breathed harder, â€Å"I should have bedded a scientist so I would understand the mechanics of the world, felt them right down to my spine.† â€Å"Yes, so you could feel the world,† Audrey said. â€Å"With big tits,† Charlie added, his back arching in pain. â€Å"Of course, baby,† Audrey said. â€Å"I love you, Audrey.† â€Å"I know, Charlie. I love you, too.† Then Charlie Asher, Beta Male, husband to Rachel, brother to Jane, father to Sophie (the Luminatus, who held dominion over Death), beloved of Audrey, Death Merchant and purveyor of fine vintage clothing and accessories, took his last breath, and died. Audrey looked up to see Sophie come into the room. â€Å"He’s gone, Sophie.† Sophie put her hand on Charlie’s forehead. â€Å"Bye, Daddy,† she said. EPILOGUE THE GIRLS Things settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. Jane and Cassie were married in a civil ceremony that was dissolved and sanctioned a half-dozen times over the years. Nevertheless, they were happy and there was always laughter in their home. Sophie went home to live with her Aunties Jane and Cassandra. She would grow to be a tall and beautiful woman, and eventually take her place as the Luminatus, but until then, she went to school and played with her puppies and had a fairly wonderful time as she waited for her daddy to come get her. THE SHOPKEEPERS While Minty Fresh had believed in the adage that in every moment there is a crisis, his belief had been somewhat academic until he started seeing Lily Severo, when it became very practical indeed. Life jumped up several steps for him on the interesting scale, to the point where the Death Merchant part of his existence became the more prosaic of his pursuits. They became renowned around town, the giant in pastels always in company with the short, Gothic chef, but the City really stood up and took notice when they opened up the Jazz and Gourmet Pizza Place in North Beach in the building that had once housed Asher’s Secondhand. As for Ray Macy, Inspector Rivera set him up with a lady pawnbroker from the Fillmore named Carrie Lang, and they hit it off almost immediately, having in common a love of detective movies and handguns, as well as a deep mistrust for most of humanity. Ray fell deeply in love, and true to his Beta Male nature, was doggedly loyal to her, although he always secretly suspected her of being a serial killer. RIVERA Inspector Alphonse Rivera has spent most of his life trying to change his life. He’d worked in a half-dozen different police departments, in a dozen different capacities, and although he was very good at being a cop, he always seemed to be trying to get out. After the debacle with the Death Merchants and the strange, unexplainable things that had gone on around it, he was simply exhausted. There had been a brief time when he’d been able to leave police work and open a rare-book store, and he felt as if that might have been the only time he had ever truly been happy. Now, at age forty-nine, he was ready to try it again: take an early retirement and just read and live in a calm, unevent-filled world of books. So he was somewhat pleased when, two weeks after the death of Charlie Asher, he went to his mailbox to find a substantial envelope that could only be a book. It was like an omen, he thought as he sat down at his kitchen table to open the package. It was a book – what looked like a very rare and bizarre children’s book. He opened it and turned to the first chapter. So Now You’re Death: Here’s What You’ll Need. THE EMPEROR The Emperor enjoyed a happy reunion with his troops and went on to rule benevolently over San Francisco to the end of his days. For leading Charlie into the Underworld, and for his boundless courage, the Luminatus gave Bummer the strength and durability of a hellhound. It would fall to the Emperor to explain how his now all-black companion – while he never weighed more than seven pounds soaking wet – could outrun a cheetah and chew the tires off a Toyota. AUDREY Audrey continued her work at the Buddhist center and did costuming for a local theater group, but she also took a volunteer job with hospice, where she helped people to the other side as she had done for so long in Tibet. The hospice position also, however, gave her access to bodies that had been recently vacated by their souls, and she used these opportunities to cycle the squirrel people back into the human flow of birth and rebirth. And for a while, there were remarkable instances of people recovering from terminal illness in the City, as she exercised the p’howa of undying. She didn’t give up her work with the squirrel people altogether, however, as it was a skill she had come to over a long time and a lot of work, and it could still be extraordinarily rewarding. At least that’s how she was feeling as she looked over her latest masterpiece in the meditation room of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. He had the face of a crocodile – sixty-eight spiked teeth, and eyes that gleamed like black glass beads. His hands were the claws of a raptor, the wicked black nails encrusted with dried blood. His feet were webbed like those of a waterbird, with claws for digging prey from the mud. He wore a purple silk robe, trimmed in sable, and a matching hat with a wizard’s star embroidered on it in gold thread. â€Å"It’s only temporary, until we find someone,† Audrey said. â€Å"But take my word for it, you look great.† â€Å"No, I don’t. I’m only fourteen inches tall.† â€Å"Yeah, but I gave you a ten-inch schlong.† He opened his robe and looked down. â€Å"Wow, would you look at that,† Charlie said. â€Å"Nice.†