Parental Involvement Educational Outcomes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parental Involvement Educational Outcomes - Essay Example A good example provided is parental education a socio-economic status. Schneider, Keesler and Morlock state that research confirms that students whose parents completed higher education levels performed better academically. This is because the parents have set a standard for their children; therefore, children work hard to attain an equivalent of or more than their parents’ achievements. Berthelsen supports the idea that the academic achievement and social adjustments of many children depends on the parent’s expectation on the child’s academic achievement. Berthelsen states that the involvement of families and schools in a child’s academic progress guarantees higher achievements in school. Schneider, Keesler and Morlock consider the relation between family structure and children learning. According to the authors children in single parent families most times experience negative developmental outcomes. This is due to the huge parental responsibilities burdened on the single parent. This limits the time the parent spends with the children. As a result, this affects the children’s learning and social skill. Barbara, Keesler, and Morlock explain that the emotional involvement and interaction of both parents does affect a child’s emotional growth, and cognitive development (Schneider, Keesler, and Morlock, 2010). According to Schneider, Keesler and Morlock (2010) parental action determines a child’s cognitive and social development. The authors point that children who are securely attached to their parents or caregivers embody a sense of freedom when exploring their environment. Exploring allows a child to learn social skills, language skills and acquire a sense of responsibility On the other hand; abusive parents tend to lead their children into adopting an avoidant attachment behaviour, which prevents a child from discovering their surroundings. According to a report by Toronto public health department children who experience positive parenting

Con law 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Con law 4 - Essay Example The states cannot institute such a punishment because of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and most states are against such punishments. There have been two main aspects of consideration by the courts in defining such punishments; these are the amount of punishment and the method of punishment. The courts rely on the evolving standards of decency when considering the method of punishment. On the other hand, in considering the method of punishment the courts use the proportionality rule (Prison Conditions and the Deliberate Indifference Standards the Eighth Amendment, 2011). Over the years, there has been an extension of the Eighth Amendment to cover the conditions of the inmates’ confinement. However, the onus pressed the petitioner to prove that the officials were ‘deliberately indifferent’. Louisiana ex rel. Francis v Resweber 329 U.S 459 (1947) this case held that the petitioner had to show a reasonable intent on the part of the officer admini stering the punishment. Gregg v. Georgia 428 U.S 153 (1976) established the ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain’ standard. The consideration is whether the unnecessary pain inflicted was to serve as punishment and its proportionality to the crime committed. ‘Obduracy and wantonness’ was a key requirement in this standard. The Rhodes v. Chapman case caused the further development of the Gregg standard in 1981, which expanded the scope of the Eighth Amendment to include prison conditions. In Rhodes v. Chapman (452 U.S. 337, 1981) it held that prisoners being housed in double cells is not in contravention of the Eighth Amendment. The Courts were of the opinion that the Constitution does provide for the provision of comfortable prisons; and deprivation of life’s necessities are in violation of the Constitution. However, to double-cell an inmate with a chain smoker is unconstitutional, as was held in Helling v. McKinney (509 U.S. 25, 1993). The Cou rts held that a Nevada inmate, double celled with a chain smoker, had a right to seek a court action. This is because the situation exposed him to some health hazards that he could incur as a passive smoker. However, the courts subsequently offered a more lenient standard for the prisoners; this standard is familiar as the deliberate indifference standard (Eighth Amendment and Deliberate Indifference Standard for Prisoners, 2013). Deliberate Indifference Standard Estelle v. gamble 429, U.S 97 (1976), was the first case in which the courts discussed this standard. Generally, deliberate indifference seems to people as the blatant but conscious disregard of a person’s consequences in relation to his actions or omissions. Negligence on the part of the officials is not a requirement. The court uses it in determining whether an officer has in one way or the other contravened the civil rights of an inmate. The first attempt by the courts to define this standard was made in Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994). The test has three parts: the first requirement is a substantial or excessive risk of injury to the inmate. This requirement is heavily dependent on the facts of the case presented in court. An example of such a case is Willis v. Baldwin, 70 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir. 1995), where the courts ruled that an exposure to asbestos in a prison constituted a substantial risk of harm. The second requirement is actual knowledge of the risk by the official. Obviousness of the

MS A.S.Thafeni Essay Example for Free

MS A.S.Thafeni Essay 1. How did I engage myself with the group? Deciding which group or organization to engage with was not easy for me. I had to play around with some ideas and think which one because we have plenty of them around here. In my community we have Trauma Center, FAMSA; we also have lay counselors who are making a difference in more informal way. However deciding how to approach one of them wasn’t easy at all. I felt anxious every time I had to make a choice. I reflected to one of my experiences I encountered long time ago when I relocated to another country (Angola) for three years. When I had to meet different people, different culture, language and so forth. It was totally new environment for me and I had to adjust very fast. The first step I took was to make an appointment with one nurse in charge in our local clinic to authorize me to do my observation in the clinic with the help of my nephew who was employed at the clinic. She agreed. I also went to FAMSA and try to negotiate my entry there as person who needs help, unfortunately, they were not in that day. Then I decided to engage with the group located in my clinic where I got permission. . I learned lay counselors are in attempt to bring change in our community. Targeted members are those patients who visit or come to clinic on a daily basis for various reasons. The group meets during the week (Monday to Friday) at 8am – 10pm. The establishment of the group was two years ago because the concern some few community members had. It seems it has been started by local community members who were concerned about certain issues that affect people. They felt that buy working together as community would bring a difference and enhance life of other people. They also thought that this group will bring some changes in their homes and to community as a whole. This awareness program is not static, new members are introduced daily, weekly and monthly as the group is informal. The program compels no one to stay, people do have right to choice and freedom and it’s being respected by everyone. The goal of this program is to make the people aware of some disease and illness that affect us and consciously and unconsciously. I understand since this program started two years ago, it has been successful. People show interests  and others report that there has been a radical change in their lives as now they know the importance of taking their treatment especially on time, completing the treatment, eating healthy, exercising, teenage pregnancy decreased as youth now know how to protect themselves against the diseases, abortions decreased and so forth. This kind of reports is what kept the program alive. I also understand this program reached so many people every month as they count approximately 300 to 400 monthly. Again they hope that in the long run the community will be better, HIV/AIDS, TB, Teenage pregnancy will be decreased by 50%. What made them certain is that in 2012 when this program commenced within six to seven months, TB and HIV/AIDS was combated seriously and clinic reported that 2% less/ reduced. I also learned that people wants to be taught with the language they understand so that they can participate fully about the things affect their lives on the daily basis. I came to know the group because I am also a community member who also uses the facilities available to my community such as the clinic. Most of the time when I visited my clinic I used to see people entering certain door and I asked a friend who was sitting next to me and also as I have mentioned above I have a nephew who is employed there about the group and she explained to me. Initially, I never give myself time to join or to be interested in whatever they are doing but studying this module made me to be interested in the group. My nephew who works at the clinic helped me to enter the space by introducing me to the nurse in charge. I made appointment with appointment with the nurse. I had to make an appointment because for me it indicated respect as I wouldn’t just enter as I please in the group without permission. I had five minutes with the nurse and explain who I am? What do I want to do? Why, How? When? And after that she gave me permission. What is important I  indicated that whatever I am going to observe here is strictly confidential; it’s only for my assignment purpose. The nurse introduced me to the facilitator who was facilitating the group and I was highly accepted as part of the family but as an observer. The main area of focus is to teach or  make the community members aware about various issues that affect them on the daily basis. Issues such as Teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, TB, STI’s, etc. They also focused on teaching morality because they believe good morality will result in reduced mortality. 2. I had few assumptions before engaging in the context. Assumption 1- The Environment= the environment should be conducive so that members should be comfortable. Assumption 2-The group share common interest. Assumption 3- They group should share common problem. Assumption 4- They must have open communication. Assumption 5 They should have solution to their problem. Assumption 6 – Decisions are made collectively. All these assumptions are only based on my observations that are not confirmed. I was also aware that even though they form a group but they are still unique individuals with their unique experiences (proposition 1 2). These unique experiences will bring change to their lives. I also believed that as a group they have collective knowledge, skills and potential. The only thing that is required is the facilitator to release that potential resource. Aspects pertaining to the social context as well as social issues that the group is grappling with or the challenges the group is facing are denial and distortions about the disease such as HIV/AIDS. Some member of the group came with the interesting aspect that HIV/Aids caused by super natural causes. It is caused by people casting a spell over you (bewitched) (boloi- South Sotho). Some will say the disease can be cured, they know the traditional healers who cured somebody. Some will say its indication  of ancestors calling. Some claims that they don’t have food in order for them to take treatment. Because of these challenges the program had to be adjusted a little bit to accommodate these challenges. The members will somewhere somehow include God and super naturals in their discussions, for an example, a woman was taught about the HIV/AIDS illness, how we contact it and so forth, and she also made her inputs that in the Bible all these illnesses where predicted, therefore its not a miracle. During my observation I realized that people are struggling to relate with the  environment also with one another. For an example, during the session the group members were afraid to talk their hearts out. I can assume that members know each other perhaps as a neighbor, friend. Therefore, their friendship or neighbor relationship deprived them freely participation in the group as one will think that what others will do or say or one doesn’t want others to know about his /her business or issues the one struggling with. According to part two of the study Guide – The ‘cracked’ landscape Society in crisis. I have realized that people are not aware that they are not alone, they are not individuals. They failed to cherish the idea of ‘motho ke motho ka batho ba bang’ – ‘Humanity’. They still isolate themselves, still have negative thinking that no one can help them and yet they don’t realize that this behavior is abnormal as it makes us to live like animals – where we should be on a look out everyday – who says what, to w hom? In what manner? This behavior also creates tension between the people, create hunger, poverty, violence, discrimination (Study Guide for PYC3705:24). Our society is broken into smaller pieces. However, As I was observing this group I realized positive things about the members. Even though disclosing in public is not their way of life but they do need help. I saw this after the first session ended. Some of them wanted private dialogue with the facilitator. Others shared their experiences with others in private. That private conversation gave them hope and less despair and that allowed development among the group itself. The second session – the following day I saw different group than  yesterday in terms of enthusiasm, energy. The dialogue was just open and free and that also helped other to open up. I heared other member of the group says â€Å"Ka ikutlwa ke fodile† – â€Å"She now feels better or healed†. That where I learned that talking or opening up indeed heals and assist the government cost on medicine. I think the are some similarities and differences I have observed with regard to what constitute a counseling setting. Why I am saying this is because firstly, as I have mentioned above about the well reception I received from the group and the counselors. This indicated positive regard for others  Unconditional positive regard is one of the climate that the counselor should create so that people should feel accepted, and that how I felt. As I observed the counselor/ facilitator’s. According to study guide for PYC3705:40, explains that unconditional positive regard is being present is the basis from which people can explore thoughts, feelings and experiences. This is what I saw from the lay counselor. That is reason why members of the group were able to express their feelings about the HIV/AIDS issues. Even though members introduced their knowledge about traditional healers who can treat various illnesses, she was non – judgmental, she showed warmth through body langu age – used posture, maintained eye contact and that indicated one of the values that she should have – Respect. Secondly, she created the safe environment (proposition 17). She allowed the group members to be themselves. She let them to deal with the issues they felt strong about e.g. (What do you guys want us to talk about today?). She let them to self determine (proposition 4). She never judged them. She respected every one’s ideas. She listens to each and every one of them. She was attending every member of the group. The lay counselors even though they conduct counseling informally as they have no formal training in psychology , like Mrs. Bengu in the study guide for PYC3705 they provide emotional support in the community in collaboration with others. What I also observed in this group is ‘Confidentiality’. We know that this is a dilemma. One member in the group requested that what they discussed in there it should end there. She herself she doesn’t want to hear her problems outside that group. If her request is not respected, then she will be very disappointed. All members including the facilitator agreed on that and made promise to one another that they will be confidential. This indicated the unity of the group (proposition 3). The differences I saw was lay counselor couldn’t recognize the discrepancies between what the member was saying and how was said or behaved. She was just accepting what ever the member said. Two, non-verbal communication, what the member was communicating through her body language e.g. member is communicating something but she puts hands on her mouth. She doesn’t use minimal encouragers, open question paraphrasing and so forth. The lack of attentiveness skill. According to (Grobler and  Schenck 2009:46), attentiveness is the way in which the facilitator orientates him or herself physically and psychologically towards the clients. However, the counselor will answer her phone during the session with the client without apologies. This is the evidence that I have conducted a proper research. As I have mentioned earlier the group is located in my local clinic and is informal, is not registered, the counselors are not qualified or trained. Therefore, they make use of the pamphlets available in the clinic such as Drug-resistant, TB and HIV and TB in the Workplace. REFERENCES Grobler, H. Schenck, R. 2009. Person centred facilitation. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press Modutla, K. Semenya, B. 2010. Only study Guide for Transformative counseling encounters. University of South Africa. Louw, H. 2008-2010. Only study guide for Participatory community development in social work and the social service professions. University of South Africa.

The Importance Of Knowledge Management Management Essay

The Importance Of Knowledge Management Management Essay Knowledge is quite distinct from data and information in nature. Data includes facts, observations, or perceptions which may or may not be true. Information, according to is the content that represents analyzed data. Knowledge is defined in an area as justified true beliefs about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area. The skills required for effective knowledge management are to identify, generate, acquire, diffuse and capture the most valuable benefits of knowledge that sets up a strategic advantage to the organizations. Knowledge life cycle consists of: creation, mobilization, diffusion and commoditization to explain the early emerging knowledge to it maturity. INTRODUCTION The knowledge has been created more and more nowadays. The important of knowledge management is recognized and effectively implement by many organizations. In this brief essay, I will explain the differences between knowledge and information. After that, there will be the discussion of the importance of knowledge management in the organization as well as how effective knowledge management can create competitive advantage for the organization. Also, the essay explains the skills required to effectively implement knowledge management process in the workplace through the explanation of knowledge life cycle. NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE According to Fernandez (2004), to define knowledge, we need to distinguish it from data and information. Although they are sometimes used interchangeably, knowledge is quite distinct from data and information in nature. Firstly, data includes facts, observations, or perceptions which may or may not be true. By itself, data shows the raw numbers or assertions and may therefore be devoid of context, meaning, or intent. However, it can be easily captured, stored, and communicated using electronic or other media (Fernadez, 2004). For example, the schedule of movies will be show in a day, or observation of number of left-handers in a group of people illustrates data. Information, according to Dalkir (2005), is the content that represents analyzed data. Also, Fernandez (2004) defined information as a subset of data, which only includes those data that possess context, relevance, and purpose. It means that information manipulates raw data to obtain a more meaningful indication of trends or patterns in the data. For example, for the cinema director, the numbers indicating the daily sold tickets (in dollars, quality, or percentage of daily sales) of each movie are considered information. So, the director can use such information to make decisions concerning pricing and extra or cancel some movie shows. According to Fernandez (2004), there are two different ways to distinguish knowledge from data and information. The first one considers knowledge to be at highest level in a hierarchy with information at the middle level, and data to be at the lowest level. By this view, knowledge refers to information that enables action and decisions, or information with direction. Although, knowledge is the richest and deepest of the three, and is consequently also the most valuable, it is intrinsically similar to information and data. In the more complete perspective way, according to which knowledge is intrinsically different form information, knowledge is defined in an area as justified true beliefs about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area (Nonaka, 1994). For example, the daily sold tickets can be used, along with other information such as information on the pop corns and soft drinks sold at the cinema, to compute the total revenue. The relationship between the information is an example of knowledge. Hence, as what I understand, knowledge is how people get information from data, or more valuable information from less valuable information. THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Knowledge management was defined by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as the process of applying a systematic approach to the capture, structure, management, and dissemination of knowledge throughout an organization in order to work faster, reuse best practices, and reduce cost of rework from project to project. It means that Knowledge management is the logical process that helps people to use knowledge effectively and efficiently. There are 4 business drivers that make knowledge management become important and increase in application for today according to Dalkir (2005). Firstly, the globalization of business means that the expansion of organization to global with multisite, multilingual, and multicultural in nature. The expansion results in the more complex work environment that all organizations have to face because of the increase in the number of subjective knowledge items. The second driver is the leaner organization. As the required work environment, people need to work faster and smarter as knowledge worker to adopting an increased pace and workload. Another business driver is the corporate amnesia. This driver explains that people as a workforce is no longer expect to spend entire work life with the same organization which will create problems of knowledge continuity for the organization and places continuous learning demands on the knowledge worker. Finally, technological advances make people more con nected. The advances in information technology not only have made connectivity ubiquitous but have radically changed expectations, which workers are expected to be on at all times. Base on the importance of the knowledge management, all organizations need to develop a suitable and effective approach to manage their knowledge. By doing so, they will get many benefits to create competitive advantages. At first, effective knowledge management approach will provide many benefits to each individual employees of the organization. It helps the employees in doing their job and save time through better decision making and problem solving. It builds a sense of community bonds within the organization and helps people to keep up to date. It also provides challenges and opportunities for employees to contribute. The effective approach also brings benefits to organization. It helps drive strategy for organization, solves problems more quickly, and diffuses best practices. Also, it improves knowledge embedded in products and services. It cross-fertilizes ideas and increases opportunities for innovation. In addition, it enables organizations to stay ahead of the competition be tter, and builds organizational memory. Therefore, in my point of view, knowledge management is essential for all type of business nowadays. With an effective knowledge management, the organization can facilitate collaboration and help knowledge worker connected. It also helps organization in making decision base on complete, valid and well interpreted data, information, and knowledge. LEADERSHIP AND THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO EFFECTIVELY IMPLEMENT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES IN THE WORKPLACE Nowadays, most of organizations realize that the important of managing knowledge effectively. For doing so, they need to be always able to identify, generate, acquire, diffuse and capture the most valuable benefits of knowledge that sets up a strategic advantage to themselves. It also needs to have the ability to differentiate the information, which is digitizable, and true knowledge assets, which can only exist with in the context of an intelligent system (Dalkir, 2005). To be able to clearly understand the requirements for effectively implement knowledge management processes in the workplace, we may discuss the knowledge life cycle and strategies in each stages of the cycle. KNOWLEDGE LIFE CYCLE: Base on the research of Birmingham and Sheehan (2002), knowledge has a life cycle. Their study had showed that new knowledge is born as uncertainty thing, and it form into shape as it is tested, matures through implementation in reality, is diffused to a growing user, and finally becomes broadly understood and recognize as common practice. The knowledge can process through four stages of knowledge life cycle: creation, mobilization, diffusion and commoditization. Creation: At this stage, knowledge first appears in someoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s head as an idea. In fact, no one can fully understand the idea or emerging knowledge, even if person creating it. In doing business, the suitable strategy in this early stage is to test the idea on its commercial viability. To encourage this activity, organizations need to create an environment which requires adjustments in the following areas: Informal Knowledge System: the organizations can lay out their space in an open plan that has many common areas, give their employees time to experiment, and provide resources for training programs and conferences in order to grow up knowledge effectively. Information Technology Systems: technology should be considered to connect people who have interest at highly specialized internet forums rather than to codify and store emerging knowledge. Human Resources: organizations regularly create knowledge should hire people in using new knowledge for critical feedback. External Relationship: the contact with external customers and suppliers will encourage the experimental of new idea. Mobilization: In this stage, knowledge continues to be improved, and the organization will extract more value from it. To achieve it, organizations need to mobilize knowledge internally and keep it away from outsiders. There are approaches for doing that: Informal Knowledge System: the organization can encourage the internal transferences among employees by building an internal network. Information Technology Systems: the IT should focus on technology that can enable the informal transfer of knowledge, and the system need to make it possible for adding comments on the subject from users. Human Resources: thinkers, doers, mavericks and pragmatists are needed in order to fully transform new ideas into valuable knowledge. External Relationships: it is still important to maintain strong relationship with customers and other partners in this stage. Diffusion: In this diffusion stage, the organizations will accept the leakage of knowledge, and no longer try to keep the knowledge under wraps. They will spread out the knowledge by selling it to outsiders. Again, the managers should consider following approaches in this stage: Informal Knowledge Systems: knowledge in this stage will be disseminated widely and quickly, which requires a system that focuses on training employees and encourage their use. Information Technology Systems: an extensive knowledge database will be useful for the organization during this stage. The competitive advantages will stem from the ease of access to information. Human Resources: customer consultants will be needed in this stage, so that they can work with customers and recognize the value of applying the knowledge to customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ problems. External Relationship: organizations should focus on building strong customers relationship by their services, and using their brand to create the differences with other competitors. Commoditization: The organizations concentrate on managing knowledge that is already well known. The basic knowledge has been completely diffused. However, there are many opportunities to extract value from current knowledge to generate one in this stage. The approached to extract value as follow: Informal Knowledge Systems: in this stage, the use of formal knowledge systems will be more valuable than the informal one. The systems will help the organization to supply the best practices that can add value to well developed processes, and encourage new ways of commercializing existing knowledge. Information Technology Systems: organizations should develop effective search engines and retrieval systems because of the significant volume of documents that have gathered overtime. Human Resources: it is similar to the requirements of the diffusion stage. However, the demand for the knowledge may decline the demand for the jobs will be reduced. It is better to use the contract employees to solve this problem. CONCLUSION Base on my research, knowledge is much different from data and information. It is how people use data to crate valuable information and from less valuable information to more valuable one. In other words, knowledge in an area can be defined as justified true belief about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area. Every organization needs to implement effectively its knowledge management processes due to four important drivers. By doing so, it will bring many benefits to the business as well as the individual employees. The organizations need to understand the knowledge life cycle in order to manage the knowledge. The cycle comprises four stages, which are creation, mobilization, diffusion, and commoditization, points out the essential skill needs to effectively implement knowledge management process.

moralhf Moral Choices in Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Huckleberry Finn - Moral Choices There were many heroes in the literature that has been read. Many have been courageous and showed their character through tough times. Through these tough times they were forced to make important decisions and this is where you get the real idea of who is deserved to be called a hero. The most influential though of all these was Huckleberry Finn. Through the innocence of childhood he is able to break through the societal pressures that are brought on him and do right. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn you meet a rebellious young teen named Huck Finn. Huck is not your everyday hero especially in the beginning of the novel but slowly through the story his mature, responsible side comes out and he shows that he truly is the epitome of a hero. Huck is forced to make many crucial decisions, which could get him in serious trouble if not get him killed. Huck has natural intelligence, has street smarts, which are helpful along his adventure, and is assertive. Huck has always had to rely on himself to get through things because he is from the lowest levels of white society and his dad is known more or less as the `town drunk." So when Huck fakes his death and runs away to live on an island he is faced with yet another problem, which revolves around the controversial issue of the time of racism. While living on the island he meets Jim who was a slave but Huck soon learns that he has ran off and now in the process of making his way up north to Canada. Here Huck is faced along with his first tough decision, to go with Jim and help him, or just go and tell the officials of a runaway slave and get the reward. Huck reluctantly joins Jim and promises him to get him to free land for the sake of a good adventure but he still feels guilty to be conversing with a runaway slave let alone help him escape. Along the way Huck has many challenges, which are just like this one. This is truly remarkable for a child to be able to break away from the influence of society and go with his heart and do what is right especially when it was considered wrong.

Animal Farm Retold Essay example -- Creative Writing Essays

Animal Farm Retold Night had fallen on the animal farm, though no animal was sleeping peacefully. Sleep was impossible that evening, for in the morning it would be known who was destroying the farm and who killed the old leader. Once before the farm was in shambles, and the animals looked to their new leader, Freud, to save them again as he had once before. Freud was a beautiful pig, a prize-winning pig with snow-white skin and a large round belly. One day a Raven flew to where Freud was napping on the MacKenzie farm and whispered atrocities to him, whispered that he would kill his father and have piglets with his mother...and Freud was afraid. So Freud left home to make his mark on the world. Upon his travels, he heard of a farm where the farmer spent too much money trying to raise prize-winning pigs, neglecting all the other animals. Animal Farm, it was called. Freud traveled to Animal Farm with a purpose to set things right, and set things right he did. He made a deal with the farmer (Farmer Brown, as he was called); Farmer Brown would use Freud as his prize-winning pig, but take care of the other animals as well. Well, soon Animal Farm was saved, and Freud became their new leader, since the old leader, a large boar named Capità ¡n, had been slaughtered one day in the slaughterhouse (or so the sheep gossiped). Freud met a pretty lit tle pig on Animal Farm named Amalie, Capità ¡n's "widow", and had two little piglets with her. So Freud, Amalie, and Amalie's brother Jakob all ran Animal Farm together. And so the entire farm waited and watched for dawn. All the animals knew in their hearts that once more Freud would make Animal Farm prosperous, turn barren fields plentiful, turn dry soil moist, and turn low spirits sky-hig... ...r color is symbolic of the tragic element to â€Å"Animal Farm Retold,† just as in Oedipus. "Animal Farm Retold† was written to try and reveal the many complex mysteries hidden within the text of Oedipus and Freud's theories. These mysteries are endless, and countless numbers can be found between the two that have not been discussed. The main point, however, is the main principle behind both Oedipus, Freud, and Animal Farm; Man, although he may think himself good, is not good at all. He is tragically flawed. In Oedipus, Man tries to escape Fate, and brings Fate upon himself. In Animal Farm, Snowball was tragically idealistic and naà ¯ve, leading to his downfall. And in Freud's theories? Well, maybe Freud's theories don't have an obvious tragic flaw, other than the idea of wanting to fornicate with one's mother; but that's just a psychological theory....isn't it?

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 1

Damon Salvatore was lounging in midair, nominally supported by one branch of a†¦who knew the names of trees anyway? Who gave a damn? It was tall, it allowed him to peep into Caroline Forbes's third-story bedroom, and it made a comfy backrest. He lay back in the convenient tree fork, hands clasped together behind his head, one neatly booted leg dangling over thirty feet of empty space. He was comfortable as a cat, eyes half-closed as he watched. He was waiting for the magic moment of 4:44A.M . to arrive, when Caroline would perform her bizarre ritual. He'd already seen it twice and he was enthralled. Then he got a mosquito bite. Which was ridiculous because mosquitoes didn't prey on vampires. Their blood wasn't nutritious like human blood. But it certainly felt like a tiny mosquito bite on the back of his neck. He swiveled to see behind him, feeling the balmy summer night all around him – and saw nothing. The needles of some conifer. Nothing flying about. Nothing crawling on them. All right then. It must have been a conifer needle. But it certainly did hurt. And the pain got worse with time, not better. A suicidal bee? Damon felt the back of his neck carefully. No venom sack, no stinger. Just a tiny squishy lump that hurt. A moment later his attention was called back to the window. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on but he could feel the sudden buzzing of Power around the sleeping Caroline, like a high-tension wire. Several days ago, it had drawn him to this place, but once he'd arrived he couldn't seem to find the source. The clock ticked 4:40 and beeped an alarm. Caroline woke and swatted it across the room. Lucky girl, Damon thought, with wicked appreciation. If I were a rogue human instead of a vampire, then your virtue – presuming you've any left – might be in danger. Fortunately for you, I had to give up all that sort of thing nearly half a millennium ago. Damon flashed a smile at nothing in particular, held it for a twentieth of a second, and then turned it off, his black eyes going cold. He looked back into the open window. Yes†¦he'd always felt that his idiot younger brother Stefan didn't appreciate Caroline Forbes enough. There was no doubt that the girl was worth looking at: long, golden-brown limbs, a shapely body, and bronze-colored hair that fell around her face in waves. And then there was her mind. Naturally skewed, vengeful, spiteful. Delicious. For instance, if he wasn't mistaken, she was working with little voodoo dolls on her desk in there. Terrific. Damon liked to see the creative arts at work. The alien Power still buzzed, and still he couldn't get a fix on it. Was it inside – in thegirl ? Surely not. Caroline was hastily grabbing for what looked like a handful of silken green cobwebs. She stripped her T-shirt off and – almost too fast for the vampire eye to see – had herself dressed in lingerie that made her look like a jungle princess. She stared intently at her own reflection in a stand-alone full-length mirror. Now, whatcan you be waiting for, little girl? Damon wondered. Well – he might as well keep a low profile. There was a dark flutter, one ebony feather fell to the ground, and then there was nothing but an exceptionally large crow sitting in the tree. Damon watched intently from one bright bird-eye as Caroline moved forward suddenly as if she'd gotten an electric jolt, lips parted, her gaze on what seemed to be her own reflection. Then she smiled at it in greeting. Damon could pinpoint the source of Power now. It was inside the mirror. Not in the samedimension as the mirror, certainly, but contained inside it. Caroline was behaving – oddly. She tossed back her long bronze hair so that it fell in magnificent disarray down her back; she wet her lips and smiled as if at a lover. When she spoke, Damon could hear her quite clearly. â€Å"Thank you. But you're late today.† There was still no one but her in the bedroom, and Damon could hear no answer. But the lips of the Caroline in the mirror were not moving in synch with the real girl's lips. Bravo! he thought, always willing to appreciate a new trick on humans. Well done, whoever you are! Lip-reading the mirror girl's words, he caught something aboutsorry . Andlovely . Damon cocked his head. Caroline's reflection was saying, â€Å"†¦you don'thave to†¦after today.† The real Caroline answered huskily. â€Å"But what if I can't fool them?† And the reflection: â€Å"†¦have help. Don't worry, rest easy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Okay. And nobody will get, like,fatally hurt, right? I mean, we're not talking about death – forhumans .† The reflection: â€Å"Why should we†¦?† Damon smiled inwardly. How many times had he heard exchanges likethat before? As a spider himself, he knew: First you got your fly into the parlor; then you reassured her; and before she knew it, you could have anything from her, until you didn'tneed her any longer. And then – his black eyes glittered – it was time for a new fly. Now Caroline's hands were writhing in her lap. â€Å"Just as long as you really – you know. What you promised. You really mean it about loving me?† â€Å"†¦trust me. I'll take care of you – and your enemies, too. I've already begun†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Suddenly Caroline stretched, and it was a stretch that boys at Robert E. Lee High School would have paid to watch. â€Å"That's what I want to see,† she said. â€Å"I'm justso sick of hearing about Elena this, Stefan that†¦and now it's going to start all over.† Caroline broke off abruptly, as if someone had hung up on her on the phone and she'd only just realized it. For a moment her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. Then, slowly, she relaxed. Her eyes remained on the mirror, and one hand lifted until it was resting lightly on her stomach. She stared at it and slowly her features seemed to soften, to melt into an expression of apprehension and anxiety. But Damon hadn't taken his eyes off the mirror for an instant. Normal mirror, normal mirror, normal mirror – l era! Just at the last moment, as Caroline turned away, a flash of red. Flames? Now, whatcould be going on? he thought lazily, fluttering as he transformed from a sleek crow back into a drop-dead gorgeous young man lounging in a high branch of the tree. Certainly the mirror-creature wasn't from around Fell's Church. But it sounded as if it meant to make trouble for his brother, and a fragile, beautiful smile touched Damon's lips for a second. There was nothing he loved more than to watch self-righteous, sanctimonious, I'm-better-than-you-cos-I-don't-drink-human-blood Stefan get in trouble. The teenagers of Fell's Church – and some of the adults – regarded the tale of Stefan Salvatore and their local beauty Elena Gilbert as a modern Romeo-and-Juliet story. She had given her life to save his when they'd both been captured by a maniac, and afterward he had died of a broken heart. There were even whispers that Stefan had been notquite human†¦but something else. A demon lover that Elena had died to redeem. Damon knew the truth. Stefan was dead all right – but he had been dead for hundreds of years. And it was true that he was a vampire, but calling him a demon was like calling Tinkerbell armed and dangerous. Meanwhile Caroline couldn't seem to stop talking to an empty room. â€Å"Just you wait,† she whispered, walking over to the piles of untidy papers and books that littered her desk. She rummaged through the papers until she found a miniature video camera that had a green light shining at her like a single unblinking eye. Delicately, she connected the camera to her computer and began typing a password. Damon's eyesight was much better than a human's, and he could clearly see the tanned fingers with the long shining bronze nails:CFRULES . Caroline Forbes rules, he thought. Pitiful. Then she turned around, and Damon saw tears well up in her eyes. The next moment, unexpectedly, she was sobbing. She sat heavily on the bed, weeping and rocking herself back and forth, occasionally striking the mattress with a clenched fist. But mainly she just sobbed and sobbed. Damon was startled. But then custom took over and he murmured, â€Å"Caroline? Caroline, may I come in?† â€Å"What? Who?† She looked around frantically. â€Å"It's Damon. May I come in?† he asked, his voice dripping with mock sympathy, simultaneously using mind control on her. All vampires had such powers of control over mortals. How great the Power was depended on many things: the vampire's diet (human blood was by far the most potent), the strength of the victim's will, the relationship between the vampire and the victim, the fluctuation of day and night – and so many other things that even Damon didn't begin to understand. He only knew when he felt his own Power quicken, as it was quickening now. And Caroline was waiting. â€Å"I can come in?† he said in his most musical, most beguiling voice, at the same time crushing Caroline's strong will under one much stronger. â€Å"Yes,† she answered, wiping her eyes quickly, apparently seeing nothing unusual in his entrance by a third-story window. Their eyes locked. â€Å"Come in, Damon.† She had issued the necessary invitation for a vampire. With one graceful motion he swung himself over the sill. The interior of her room smelled like perfumes – and not subtle ones. He felt really quite savage now – it was surprising the way the bloodfever had come on so suddenly, so irresistibly. His upper canines had extended to about half again their size, and their edges were razor-sharp. This was no time for conversation, for loitering around as he usually did. For a gourmet, half the pleasure was in the anticipation, sure, but right now he was inneed . He drew strongly on his Power to control the human brain and gave Caroline a dazzling smile. That was all it took. Caroline had been moving toward him; now she stopped. Her lips, partly open to ask a question, remained parted; and her pupils suddenly widened as if she were in a dark room, and then contracted and remained contracted. â€Å"I†¦I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she managed. â€Å"Ohhh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  There. She was his. And so easily, too. His fangs were throbbing with a kind of pleasurable pain, a tender soreness beckoning him to strike as quickly as the lunge of a cobra, to sink his teeth to the hilt in an artery. He was hungry – no,starving – and his whole body was burning with the urge to drink as deeply as he liked. After all, there were others to choose from if he drained this vessel dry. Carefully, never taking his eyes from hers, he lifted Caroline's head to expose her throat, with the sweet pulse throbbing in its hollow. It filled all his senses: the beating of her heart, the smell of the exotic blood just under the surface, dense and ripe and sweet. His head was spinning. He'd never been so excited, so eager – So eager that it gave him pause. After all, one girl was as good as another, right? What was different about this time? What waswrong with him? And then he knew. I'll have my own mind back, thank you. Suddenly Damon's intellect was icy cold; the sensual aura in which he'd been trapped frozen over instantly. He dropped Caroline's chin and stood very still. Hehad almost fallen under the influence of the thing that was using Caroline. It had been trying to snare him into breaking his word to Elena. And again, he could just barely sense a whisk of red in the mirror. It was one of those creatures drawn to the nova of Power that Fell's Church had become – he knew that. It had been using him, spurring him on, trying to get him to drain Caroline dry. To take all her blood, to kill a human, something he hadn't done since meeting Elena. Why? Coldly furious, he centered himself, and then probed in all directions with his mind to find the parasite. It should still be here; the mirror was only a portal for it to travel small distances. And it had been controlling him – him, Damon Salvatore – so it had to be very close indeed. Still, he could find nothing. That made him even angrier than before. Absently fingering the back of his neck, he sent a dark message: I will warn you once, and once only. Stay away from ME! He sent the thought out with a blast of Power that flashed like sheet lightning in his own senses. It ought to have knocked something dead nearby – from the roof, from the air, from a branch†¦maybe even from next door. Fromsomewhere , a creature should have plummeted to the ground, and he should have been able to sense it. But although Damon could feel clouds darkening above him in response to his mood, and the wind rubbing branches together outside, there was no falling body, no attempt at dying retaliation. He could find nothing close enough to have entered his thoughts, and nothing at a distance could be that strong. Damon might amuse himself sometimes by pretending to be vain, but underneath he had a cool and logical ability to analyze himself. He was strong. He knew that. As long as he kept himself well nourished and free of weakening sentiment, there were few creatures that could stand against him – at least in this plane. Two were right here in Fell's Church,a little mocking counterpoint in his mind said, but Damon shrugged that off disdainfully. Surely there could be no other vampire Elders nearby, or he would sense them. Ordinary vampires, yes, they were already flocking. But they were all too weak to enterhis mind. He was equally certain there was no creature within range that could challenge him. He would have sensed it as he sensed the blazing ley lines of uncanny magical power that formed a nexus under Fell's Church. He looked at Caroline again, still held motionless by the trance he'd put on her. She would come out of it gradually, none the worse for the experience – for whathe'd done to her, at least. He turned and, as gracefully as a panther, swung out of the window, onto the tree – and then dropped easily thirty feet to the ground.