Negative Effects of Tv on Family Life Essays

Negative Effects of Tv on Family Life Essays Negative Effects of Tv on Family Life Essay Negative Effects of Tv on Family Life Essay Negative Effects of TV The television has many effects on family life and the individual, causing family bonds to unravel and the individual to become naive of their surroundings. The TV keeps one hooked for hours on end, causing family relationships to diminish and personal relationships to weaken. Not only does the TV seem to be a good alternative to conversations and interactions amongst one another, but it also helps to create a gap between the fictional world of TV and reality. Since the invention of the home television, it has become a crucial part in everyday household life. Children spend less time with family, because it is simply easier to sit down and be entertained by the TV. †The time spent next to it [the TV] exceeds the amount of time spent together with any other family member. † (Wattermann) Watching TV has a major effect on the way a child communicates with other family members and friends, distancing them from real-world situations and problems. Parents spend long hours working and want an effective suppressant for their children. Contemporary parents work a lot, but when they come back home they are not eager to spend time with their child†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wattermann) Even adults fall into the attraction of taking themselves out of their childs’ life, in order to relax or gain the free time they long desire. The effect the TV has on the family has been negative in comparison to the original intention of bringing the TV into t he home, back in the 1940s. The depiction of the family watching TV together has changed, and now with multiply TVs present in a home, the separation and disfunction of the family has increased. TV also has a negative effect on the individual, because it takes away from potential relationships and also promotes bad behavior and aggressions as seen on violent television shows. What is being watched on television has the potential to influencing negative behavior, within the child or even adult. In an article from the AAP or the American Association of Pediatrics, it was noted that, â€Å"Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. † (Pediatrics Vol. 108 No. ) The violence seen on TV, can lead to violent acts later on. Individuals are affected by what they see on TV and can be influenced by the suggestive nature that is described in almost every TV program. â€Å"Even in G-rated, animated movies and DVDs, violence is common† (Boyse, RN). The TV violence has an effect on people and children of all ages, and even though some programs are education al and beneficial for the development and growth of the child, there are so many other programs going on at the same time that contradict the idea of â€Å"good TV†. Television watching also has a major impact on the self-image one has of themself. The TV paints a false image of what the normal and accepted person should look like. The person watching, therefore gets sucked into the mindset that they have to be like the well-toned models seen on tv, this creates many different problems. Insecurities within the individual flourish and they are constantly bombarded with images of how they should be, in order to fit into today’s society. While watching constant images of healthy women and men makes some people immediately jump off the couch and start their â€Å"cardio routine† some sit back and envy what they simply will never have. Ironically, this leads to eating disorders and obesity. â€Å"People, who spend hours and hours in front of the TV sets, are under very high risk of becoming overweight and obese. † (API Heathline) Either way, false advertisement of the way someone should be perceived has a negative effect on the viewer. In general, the content on TV impacts who were are and who we want to become in order to fit into society. Another factor involved in television watching, is the amount and the persistence of commercials. Commercials make up a majority of television air time, trying to influence people to spend time and resources on products and new inventions that will make you better fit into society. For example, food commercials are constantly influencing people to make new recipes or to go to the newest most delicious restaurant in town. Other commercials such as the shopping channel become appealing to the older audience who are alone and constantly craving new things. This leads to hording and other disorders, including the addiction of television watching in itself. Commercials and news articles also persuade people in terms of politics, economic issues, and social influences therefore inducting the one-way nature of the viewers. If people constantly go to the TV for current updates on news and other current events then it deters the need to communicate with one another and create the social relationships needed to have a cohesive balance in life. Another problem that arises with TV is the effect it has on one psychologically. Kids spend many hours in front of the TV, especially over long periods of isolation. Some adults can argue that the constant atching of television is the beginning of a new age of addiction. â€Å"Studies about negative effects of television addiction show the TV addicts’ people through its tranquilizing numbing affect, causing them to relax, become drowsy, and then desire to watch more TV. † (Parenting-Healthy-Children) Watching TV seems to have the same effects that habit- forming narcotics have on the indi vidual. When watching hours upon hours of TV, one is quickly relaxed and put into a state of obliviousness to the outside world, therefore having similar effects of mind altering drugs. TV watching has many effects on the viewer and can lead to many social and personal problems. Family relationships, individual self- consciousness, and violent/ inappropriate subject matter all lead to the conclusion that too much television can be harmful to our society. TV is readily available to every one of all ages, and the majority of the material is geared toward a more mature audience. Over time, TV has changed dramatically from mostly family-oriented TV programs to programs geared to different age groups, in order to attract different audiences. Children and TV: The Negative Effects of Television.   Children and TV: The Negative Effects of Television. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Media Violence.   Media Violence. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Bad Effects Of Watching Too Much TV | Academic Programs International a Health Line. Academic Programs International Health Line Bad Effects Of Watching Too Much TV Comments. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. The Negative Effe cts of Television Addiction and Computer Addiction.   The Negative Effects of TelevisionAddiction and Computer Addiction. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

Van Doesburg and the International Avante

Van Doesburg and the International Avante Introduction The Tate Exhibit, by assembling international works and works in many media, demonstrates, to the less enthusiastic, the exhibit designer’s message that the Avante-Garde was a legitimate and wide ranging movement, and one which reverberates in its effects even today. Styles such as Neo-Plasticism, are Elementarism are examined, but the most colorful is Dada.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Dadaism elicits different responses from different viewers, from the trivial, irritating, or enraging, to the profoundly liberating, and has done so since it was launched on the world. Given its anti-establishment history, and the continuing debate over whether it is really art, its glorification at the Tate is ironic. The Tate show can help demonstrate Dada’s impact on today’s design and our definitions of art. Some examples from real life include: the teaching of art to kids, stained glass in contemporary sacred spaces, home furnishings, music teaching and making. A sampling of the styles the show features includes De Stijl, Dadaism, Elementarism, and Neo-Plasticism. The multi-national selection of artists range from the biggies such as Arp and Mondrian, and obscure ones as well, with a strong Dutch presence and funding support. The media displayed are wide ranging, and reflect the intention of the Avant-Garde’s proponents to overturn old art norms and make art and design accessible to the masses. Works are arranged such that the orthogonals and diagonals are sited at either end, and artists, crafts, and disciplines affected by the Avante-Garde are on display in between. Van Doesburg’s drawings of exploded architectural detail are missing from the exhibit. Photos of the artists enrich our understanding of the human background to the art. Merchandise in th e stores is well-displayed and offers customers a chance to wear their intellectual bona fides on their blouse. The Tate has offered a selection of lectures and other fora for viewer education. The arrangement of the exhibit helps to make the point that the Avant-Garde was more than artistic crankiness or mental disorder. Conclusion: The ongoing debate over whether the works of the Avante-Garde are really art is not by any means resolved. However, the ideas of the Avante-Garde certainly liberated the making of art to our benefit today.Advertising Looking for essay on architecture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The design ideas we see around us are deeply affected by their work. The exhibit reveals the international scope of the Avante-Garde, and highlights the connections between the Avante-Garde and what we see around us on a regular basis. Van Doesburg’s legacy is worth remembering. This Section is not Par t of the Assigned Project The following is the list of questions originally posed by the instructor for consideration, not an essay. This is set up as a checklist to allow the customer to reassure themselves that all the questions have been addressed, and to facilitate communication across the language barrier with the customer. Since the topic is an art exhibit, and secondary sources are not exhaustive, many of these answers are inferences rather than based on direct personal observation, which would have been the ideal way of responding to the questions Who organized the exhibition? Vicente Toldi, Tate Director Who curated it? Gladys Fabre, independent curator Who sponsored it? Tate Patrons, Tate International Council, The Van Doesburg Exhibition Supporters Group, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dedalus Foundation, Inc, Mondriaan Foundation, Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation (Straver Foundation), SNS Reaal Fond Who designed it? Vicente Toldi, presumably, since no other person is mentioned. Who is it intended audience? Possibly anyone who may not have thought very much about the impact of the Avante-Garde, or who is not an avid art fan is the target. What are the aims of the exhibition? Based on the artists and works chosen; the aim is to display works not often seen, to display works by lesser known artists, and to show a wide range of media that were affected by the ideas of the Avante-Garde. What is its central argument? You can see evidence of how these artists succeeded in overturning much of what went before when you look around you at design, art, and art instruction today, and see their influence. What current debates or topical issues does the exhibition engage with? Is this stuff truly ART? What underlying assumptions are communicated by the choice of exhibits and form of display? The form of display seems to assume mostly non-disabled viewers assumes that people walking on their own two feet and looking with good vision are viewin g the works. It also assumes that the viewer has not seen previously ephemera and crafts from the same period, objects which reflect similar design ideas. Is it successful in terms of fulfilling the aims of the organizers? It has been well reviewed for the most part in terms of demonstrating why lesser known names in the Avante-Garde should be studied and remembered, and documenting the enduring influence of these ideas. What if anything is excluded from its central narrative? Not sure – maybe politics, but not sure, but one reviewer mentioned the absence of certain Van Doesburg architectural drawings. How is the exhibition organized (by theme, designer, chronologically, other)? Orthogonals are sited at one end and diagonals at the other, with other materials in between that were influenced by the artistic dialogue going on at the time. How are the artifacts contextualized (i.e., through info panels, labels, graphics, catalogue, etc.)? Not sure, but there seem to be labels wi th substantial information. There are lectures and talks as well, and a workshop for a hand-on project. Is the design of the exhibition appropriate for its subject matter? It sounds like it, but not sure. Does the Tate exhibit provide an educational experience, and how does it achieve this? Lectures, talks, hands-on projects, contribute to background education. Is there a shop specifically devoted to merchandise supporting the exhibition, and how much space does it occupy in relation to the exhibits? Yes, but not sure how much space is allocated – the interactive map did not seem to specify the shop footage. What kinds of products does the shop sell, and how are they merchandised? Typical, not terribly innovative; items meet the need for items to signal the consumer’s intellectual identity, or â€Å"brand†. End of explanatory notes to customer Outline Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World 1. Introduction: The Tate Exhibit, by assembling international works and works in many media, demonstrates, to the less enthusiastic, the exhibit designer’s message that the Avante-Garde was wide ranging and reverberates in its effects even today. 2. Background of Dadaism as a confusing off-shoot of the Avante-Garde a. The meaning of the word b. The reaction of the contemporary gallery visitors c. How Dada was viewed at the time d. Irony of an anti-establishment movement being displayed in Tate 3. The Tate show can help demonstrate Dada’s impact on today’s design and definition of art: examples a. Teaching of art to kids b. Stained glass c. Home furnishings d. Music making 4. Sampling of styles the show includes a. De Stijl b. Dadaism c. Elementarism d. Neo-Plasticism 5. Artists included a. Many works from off-shore b. Strong Dutch representation and sponsorship support 6. Media included a. Wide range of artistic disciplines b. Reflect the intention to make art accessible even to the oppressed 7. A rrangement of works a. Orthogonals and diagonals at either end b. Artists affected by these in display in between c. Crafts and disciplines affected on display in between d. Drawings of exploded architectural detail missing from exhibit e. Photos enrich understanding of the human background to the art Conclusion The ongoing debate over whether the works of the Avante-Garde are really art is not by any means resolved. However, the ideas of the Avante-Garde certainly liberated the making of art to our benefit today. The design ideas we see around us are deeply affected by their work. The exhibit reveals the international scope of the Avante-Garde, and highlights the connections between the Avante-Garde and what we see around us on a regular basis.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Van Doesburg and the International Avante-Garde: Constructing a New World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The current exhibit at the Tate Mo dern brings a host of objects together from a variety of artists, countries, and media, and styles that fall under the general category of the Avante-Garde (Dadaism, Neo-Plasticism, Elementarism, Constructivism, and Art Concret). This impressive assemblage demonstrates the multi-national nature of the Avante-Garde in its time of inception. The exhibit also provides ample basis for considering (even by those who do not live and die by art ) the wide ranging and long lasting impact on the lives of people today of the ideas fermenting in the first decades of the 20th century, even the chaotic and self-negating ideas of Dadaism. Dada is a word that can be understood differently, depending on one’s role, and where one is standing. To a proud papa, it is, he hopes, the first word spoken by a beloved toddler. To a current music aficionado, it is the name of a band (dada home page). As pointed out by Tristan Tzara, a poet and essayist of the early 1900’, the word also describe s the tail of a holy cow, among the  « Kru Negroes  » (an archaic and now offensive term for an indigenous tribe in what is today called Liberia ), mother and a cube in Italian dialect, and a nurse and hobby horse in Russian, as well as in his native tongue, Romanian. However, Tzara declares in his Dada Manifesto 1918,  « The magic of a word – Dada – which has brought journalists to the gates of a world unforeseen, is of no importance to us.  »(Tzara, Dada Manifesto 1918). This paradoxical statement, and so many others, is typical of the deliberately confusing, transgressive, and challenging utterances of Tzara, ne Samuel Rosenstock, a key articulator of Dadaism. To current enthusiastic visitors to museums of modern art, the name Dada is shorthand for a sidebar to the Avante-Garde, art as goofball antic, art as thumb to nose, but also, art as something that might be easily mistaken for a bin to accommodate one’s litter, or an attractively mounted fire e xtinguisher. On the other hand, to those visitors who have been dragged along by their special art fan, Dada may very well be a reason they say they think that avant-garde art is a crock. Advertising Looking for essay on architecture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Why, they ask plaintively, don’t we just bring our rubbish to the museum and leave it here in a neat pile – who would know the difference? What sort, they ask angrily, of prat would pay good money for such stuff? Doesn’t our kid draw something just as good? Where is the cafà ©, they ask in desperation, and, more importantly, how soon may we leave? These public reactions are not novel, nor, if we are to believe their own writings, would they necessarily have been unwelcome to the first promoters of the Dada movement. The Dadaists were in reaction against just about everything . In return, they were regarded with less than approval by their contemporaries, and they knew it, and made fun of this phenomenon. In light of how disparaged they were by the art world in the first decades of the 1900’s, and especially in light of how deeply they criticized the art establishment, they might be turning in their graves at the thought of the large current exhibit at th e Tate Modern (running through May). Or, perhaps, the thought might tickle them, especially the application of Theo Van Doesburg’s colorful geometries to towels, totes and magnets in the gift shop . If a Dadaist were resurrected today, he might gleefully pluck a tea towel from the gift shop and display it as art, not because of the pattern, but as an object chosen by him, placed out of its usual context as an article of clothing, titled with whatever whimsical thought occurred, put on display, and therefore constituting ART. There would certainly be ample precedent! The submission, without comment, of a fountain, to an art show, an act of artistic anarchy attributed to Marcel Duchamp, is practically legendary. But back to the weary, less than excited visitor, wondering why on earth they should be learning about this stuff. (The museum is indeed offering a lecture series, even for the deaf, curators’ talks, and an opportunity to create a hands-on project to help both the confused and the rapt). Why should he/ she be interested at all? Art historians, on one end of the interest spectrum, are the converted, the choir, to whom it is unnecessary to preach. In answer to this question, they can point to direct lines of influence from the Dadaism of the 1910s and 1920s to the Neo-Dadaism of the post-World War II period, and well known and important names like Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns (Craft), and, it could be asserted, Andy Warhol. In another direction, connections can be drawn to Surrealism (Craft 4), a movement with its own flock of current artistic offspring, particularly in film, and animation. However, at the other end of the spectrum of interest and expertise, even the uninitiated among us can identify Dada’s impact in our lives. A swift peek into the chaos and happily self-defined art creations being crafted from re-cycled materials at the nearest grammar school would offer an answer to that question . Also of interest would be a tour of a suburban modern church building . Or take a walk-through of the wall and floor coverings department of a home store . Finally, check out GarageBand, a piece of software that allows kids to assemble music from a file of pre-recorded sound samples (Garageband). All these cultural phenomena seem to be influenced by the ideas of Dadaism. The show at the Tate may, in light of this, assist those who would preferentially spend at least some of their Sunday afternoons watching Manchester United rather than getting sore feet at galleries, to draw meaningful connections between Dadaism and current trends and manifestations of the arts, and design. The current Tate Modern show, taking up half of the fourth level of the museum, does not merely cover Dadaism. It also encompasses the movement that was one of Van Doesburg’s numerous other artistic life pursuits: among them, the ultimate in geometric abstraction, wherein any reference to the human body or realism of any sor t was anathema. Van Doesburg’s ideas on this and other isms of the day were expressed in his editorship of De Stijl, a magazine as well as the name of a style, and through peripatetic lectures and conferences (Mawer). He and Piet Mondrian espoused simplifying art to a series of geometric elements. Even this was subject to disagreement: the two colleagues split off into Elementarism (diagonals allowed) and the horizontal and vertical axes of Dutch Neo-Plasticism, a rarified movement (orthogonal horizontals and verticals only) of which Mondrian eventually found himself the only votary; (Darwent). The show includes many works on loan from elsewhere. This means that many pieces have never been seen in the UK, especially those by Theodore Van Doesburg. There is a largely Dutch roster of sponsors , which may have helped in the acquisition of so many Van Doesburg pieces. Alternatively, perhaps the inclusion of these rarely-seen works was a cunning appeal to Dutch chauvinism for r ecruiting support from Dutch funders. This strong representation from other collections may be the reason so many of the 350 items are not imaged digitally for later, more leisurely examination. In any case, the range of countries represented certainly highlights the message forcefully that the Avante -Garde was an international movement, with plenty of cross pollination among artistic communities. The Tate’s director, Vicente Todolà ­, has made a point of mounting several previous exhibits focusing on other features of Modernism (The Tate Modern Museum), perhaps as a means of ensuring the development of a future visitor base. If an audience is not raised up in the knowledge and appreciate of the arts, they will not support the arts. Gladys Fabre, an independent curator, has brought together works in a variety of media and genres. She has assembled the big names in Dada, De Stijl, and the Avante- Garde: Piet Mondrian, Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp; names that even the uninf ormed might recognize. She has included, as well, less well known artists whose work was influenced, or had an influence on, De Stijl, such as Francis Picabia, Lszlà ³ Moholy-Nagy, Gerrit Rietveld, Sophie Taeuber, and Kurt Schwitters. A full range of media are represented. They include traditional painting and drawings, and sculpture. This latter is defined, as in the case of the aluminum and wood robot-like Mechanical Dancing Figure, by the less familiar Vilmos Husz, or the chunky blue vaguely android figure Construction within a Sphere, by the equally under-exposed Georges Vantongerloo, by the whimsy of Dadaism. Ms. Fabre has also included less expected examples of designs that came out of the movement such as typeface, architectural interiors (for example, the explosion of color blocks on the ceiling of the University Hall, in Amsterdam, or the rocking Aubette dance space from Strasbourg), and furniture designs (such as the sculpturally limpid but uncomfortable-appearing Gerrit Reitvald chair, and the modern-looking leather and metal chairs). There are also publications, posters (one mysterious one features the letters HELI), stained glass (such as the emblematic and endlessly copied windows for the De Lange house), music, and film (The Tate Modern Museum). This assemblage of objects from all along the spectrum from utilitarian objects to fine, arts, is reminiscent of the vertical integration of some consumer products and manufacturers (the Apple company is one example, Mattel’s Barbie range could be another) wherein products for all uses and levels of complexity are produced under one corporate umbrella and with a solitary design vision. The wealth and diversity of material demonstrates that the Avante-Garde was a thoroughgoing attempt – utilizing art and design to overturn everything that went before. Considering that in 1918 the world had just endured the soul-searing destruction of a global war, there was revolution abroad, influenza s talked the world, and women were still wearing corsets, there was plenty to complain about. The devotees of De Stijl felt that the earlier century’s efforts to portray reality in an increasingly abstracted fashion (Impressionism, Cubism, and Expressionism, for example) never quite broke free of the reality that persisted as the subject. Somehow, even the gradual uncoupling of painting and sculpture from strict realism came in for withering scorn from the Van Doesburg cabal (Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry). The proponents of De Stijl wanted to bring the healing and uplifting benefits of liberated and accessible art and design to the oppressed and the deracinated (Darwent) . In our own era, entrepreneurs such as Terence Conran, and corporations such as IKEA have adopted the notion of good-design-for-all to great and profitable effect. The exhibit is arranged such that Mondrian’s orthogonal statements are at one e nd. These are largely color blocks, very familiar, unthreatening, in various sizes and proportions. They are so accustomed an idiom that one feels one has seen them before, even if the particular piece is clearly an import. Van Doesburg’s paintings in his Counter Proposal series are at the other end of the exhibit. These works, such as Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1930, resemble Mondrians, but rotated by some 45 degrees, and sometimes disordered a bit. These paintings submit diagonals as an alternative to the grid (the â€Å"counter† proposal). They can remind the viewer of a close-up of the bathroom floor tiles, seen a bit too close for comfort during an episode of stomach upset. However, anyone who has ever installed floor coverings on the diagonal to stretch the visual space in a tiny room truly owes Van Doesburg a debt of gratitude for opening up a new direction and making the off-kilter seem like an inevitable option. These are serene paintings which add co lor and form without insisting on the viewer’s involvement, but they reward closer attention as well. The rooms in between bear testimony to the vast array of apparently unrelated design and craft specialties that De Stijl affected, and, by extension, the design ideas we see applied these days. As an example of lasting effect, the rationalized typography design that Van Doesburg innovated (letters fitting in a square, with no lower case letters), can be seen as enabling the development of machine readable typefaces today. The software called Wordle, which makes a graphic out of any block of text, highlighting words and phrases that repeat often, seems to be a direct descendant of Van Doesburg’s experiments with poster art (Feinberg). As an example of how De Stijl helped to break down boundaries between artistic disciplines, and the constraints of any one medium, the exhibit includes film clips animating Plasticist and Elementarist painting (Darwent). Simon Mawer of Th e Guardian faults the exhibit for not including drawings of collaborative architectural projects created with Cornelis van Eesteren. These sound fascinating: the drawings are exploded into three dimensions. Contemporary architects prize such drawings as the best and highest journeyman examples of their craft – it would indeed have been interesting to see how Van Doesburg handled this technique. The exhibit has been reviewed with differing responses. The impersonality of De Stijl leaves some viewers unmoved (Sooke). However, there is agreement that this is a welcome chance to see works that are not often brought together. There is also agreement that the inclusion of art and design that was influenced by ideas promulgated by Van Doesburg opens up that period to our view, and the wealth of photographs put a human face on this often austere art. The photos document the relationships that underpinned the life of these artists, especially their lovers and wives. It is interesting to learn, for example, that Nellie Van Doesburg participated in the performance art pieces that Kurt Schwitters and Van Doesburg mounted around Europe, and that Sophie Taueber was married to Jean Arp, and that they all collaborated on the design of Strasbourg’s Aubette building (Mawer). There has been an ongoing debate regarding the seriousness and validity of the Avante-Garde since it was born. The apparent simplicity and the lack of craft of some of its most famous products leave the impression that there is nothing going on artistically. This debate is not over. Viewers, especially hoi polloi are still asking whether this is really art. It is not clear that this exhibit will answer that question finally for everyone. However, the clever choices that have been made, and the co-location of works that are different in media but related in idea, help to make the point that the concepts of the Avante-Garde had an impact across Europe, and in many different fields. The specific s of the style of De Stijl (austerity, abstraction, the straight lines of the Bauhaus, on which Van Doesburg aimed to have an impact) may still not be to everyone’s taste. The merchandising of the exhibit, on the other hand, is readily accessible. An exit shop, that relatively new marketing method of extracting funds from visitor wallets, imprints the cheerful Van Doesburg diagonals on any flat, or near flat, surface (tea towels, totes, key tags, mugs, magnets, notebooks, bags), and offers books documenting the exhibit, displayed tastefully against a sober, receding, industrial gray background. This venue is supplemented by offerings in the main museum shop. In a decade when the identity of self is defined by the brands one carries or wears, perhaps toting one’s trainers and exercise kit in a Van Doesburg-emblazoned bag, or drinking one’s cocoa from a similarly decorated beaker seems a legitimate means of proclaiming one’s intellectual bent. â€Å"You should want to marry me (or hire me, or be friends with me) because I have slogged through this intellectually challenging exhibit â€Å", trumpets the merchandise. A much coveted related sales item is a set of Dadaist poetry generators: a pre-selected collection of individual words mounted on magnet backing whose arrangement ad libitum allows people to create their own Dada-style poem on their refrigerator door (Tzara, To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry). Happily, the overturning of the 19th century insistence on an imitation of nature (which effectively excluded from the practice of art anyone who was not a good draftsperson), has spawned a whole new style of art teachers, whose young students joyously create something, anything; confident in their belief (directly attributable to Van Doesburg and his companions) that if they call it art, IT IS, by gosh, ART. Reflecting this same joyous anarchy, Catherine Craft notes that Robert Mot herwell, the essential biographer of the Avante-Garde, observed that Dada had given health and new life to painting in Europe (Craft 3-4). There is also a practical inheritance, e.g., typefaces which even a computer can read. The geographic distribution and inter-connectedness of the Avante-Garde are presented forcefully in the exhibit, and it is accessible both to the fan and the less than rapt. Van Doesburg well deserves this resurrection from oblivion. I. The catalogue of ideas, institutions, religions, and behaviors, to name a few, that Dada revolts against, is expressed here by Tristan Tzara: â€Å"The beginnings of Dada were not the beginnings of an art, but of a disgust. Disgust with the magnificence of philosophers who for 3ooo years have been explaining everything to us (what for? ), disgust with the pretensions of these artists-Gods-representatives-on-earth, disgust with passion and with real pathological wickedness where it was not worth the bother; disgust with a false form of domination and restriction *en masse*, that accentuates rather than appeases mans instinct of domination, disgust with all the catalogued categories, with the false prophets who are nothing but a front for the interests of money, pride, disease, disgust with the lieutenants of a mercantile art made to order according to a few infantile laws, disgust with the divorce of good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly (for why is it more estimable to be red rather than green, to the left rather than the right, to be large or small?). Disgust finally with the Jesuitical dialectic which can explain everything and fill peoples minds with oblique and obtuse ideas without any physiological basis or ethnic roots, all this by means of blinding artifice and ignoble charlatans promises. â€Å"(Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) II. This impatience with art as it used to be was verbalized by Tristan Tzara in the following almost l ucid quote: â€Å"We dont accept any theories. Weve had enough of the cubist and futurist academies: laboratories of formal ideas†¦ Cubism was born out of a simple manner of looking at objects: Cezanne painted a cup twenty centimetres lower than his eyes, the cubists look at it from above, others complicate its appearance by cutting a vertical section through it and soberly placing it to one side. (Im not forgetting the creators, nor the seminal reasons of unformed matter that they rendered definitive.) The futurist sees the same cup in movement, a succession of objects side by side, mischievously embellished by a few guide-lines. This doesnt stop the canvas being either a good or a bad painting destined to form an investment for intellectual capital. The new painter creates a world whose elements are also its means, a sober, definitive, irrefutable work. The new artist protests: he no longer paints (symbolic and illusionistic reproduction) but creates directly in stone, wood, iron, tin, rocks, or locomotive structures capable of being spun in all directions by the limpid wind of the momentary sensation. Every pictorial or plastic work is unnecessaryA painting is the art of making two lines, which have been geometrically observed to be parallel, meet on a canvas, before our eyes, in the reality of a world that has been transposed according to new conditions and possibilities. This world is neither specified nor defined in the work, it belongs, in its innumerable variations, to the spectator. For its creator it has neither cause nor theory. Order = disorder; ego = non?ego; affirmation = negation: the supreme radiations of an absolute art. Absolute in the purity of its cosmic and regulated chaos, eternal in that globule that is a second which has no duration, no breath, no light and no control. I appreciate an old work for its novelty. It is only contrast that links us to the past.(Tzara, Dada Does Not Mean Anything, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) III. Tristan Tzara offered the following straightforward instruction, in poetic format. He could also have mentioned that choosing several different articles with different typefaces would add a certain decorative fillip to the randomly generated poem: To Make a Dadist Poem Take a newspaper. Take some scissors. Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem. Cut out the article. Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag. Shake gently. Next take out each cutting one after the other. Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag. The poem will resemble you. And there you are an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.† (Tzara, To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) (sic) Resources (Modern Dime Sized Coins of the World: Liberia) â€Å"I dont have to tell you that for the general public and for you, the refined public, a Dadaist is the equivalent of a leper. But that is only a manner of speaking. When these same people get close to us, they treat us with that remnant of elegance that comes from their old habit of belief in progress. At ten yards distance, hatred begins again. If you ask me why, I wont be able to tell you.† (Tzara, Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry) The size of gift shops has begun to rival exhibits in many museums; The Metropolitan has several and at least one off-site. This indicates just how tenuous are the traditional sources of support for museums’ operations, now seldom covered by admission sales. In an article assumed to be by Marcel Duchamp, the author defends the appropriateness for inclusion of a fountain in an art show, as follows: â€Å"He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view created a new thought for that object.†(Duchamp) This could be considered a summary statement of the criteria for Dadaist art. Observe how the teacher encourages the kids to call whatever they put together, whatever they create, whatever they assemble, ART. Look at the geometric stained glass which graces so many contemporary church windows; even decades after Van Doesburg and Mondrian are gone from the scene. Equally; the geometric Mondrianization of patterns is evident everywhere in home furnishings. Art is what you choose to call art; a Dada principle! It is hard not to imagine that a high fiber diet and some yoghurt, or an anti-depressant, might have soothed these anal-compulsive-seeming obsessions just as effectively. Tate Patrons, Tate International Council, The Van Doesburg Exhibition Supporters Group, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dedalus Foundation, Inc, Mondriaan Foundation, Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation (Straver Founda tion), SNS Reaal Fond (The Tate Modern Museum). It should be noted that there was a distinct political (or sometimes anti-political) thread in the passions of the Avante-Garde, which did not always endear the movement to establishment institutions (Craft 3). Van Doesburg’s use of â€Å"solomite†, a building material made of straw, is a striking foreshadowing of the whole sustainability movement in home design today (Mawer). Bibliography Craft, Catherine. New York Dada? Looking Back After a Second World War, lecture given September 9, 2006. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://media.moma.org/audio/2006/pub_prog/spec_exhib/Dada/MOMA_RepresentingDadatalk.pdf. dada home page. 2010. 11 March 2010 http://dadatheband.com/. Darwent, Charles. Well-chosen works show how De Stijl – The Style – movement led to a revolution in European art that still resonates today: Van Doesburg the International Avant-Garde, Tate Modern, London. 2010. 11 March 2010 independent.co.uk/arts-en tertainment/art/reviews/van-doesburgthe-international-avantgarde-tate-modern-london-1891448.html. Duchamp, Marcel. Dissent and Disorder-Selected Essays on Dadaism. Harrison, C. and Wood,P. Art in Theory. Trans. Ralph Mannheim. London: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. 250-275. Feinberg, Jonathan. Wordle: Beautiful Word Clouds. 2010. 12 March 2010 wordle.net/. Garageband. 2010. 10 March 2010 apple.com/ilife/garageband/. Mawer, Simon. Theo van Doesburg: Forgotten artist of the avant garde. 23 January 2010. 11 March 2010 guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jan/23/theo-van-doesburg-avant-garde-tate. Modern Dime Sized Coins of the World: Liberia. 2010. 10 March 2010 http://dewardt.net/dimebook/Liberia.pdf. Sooke, Alastair. Tate Moderns new exhibition about the Dutch art movement De Stijl leaves Alastair Sooke feeling a little cold: Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde at Tate Modern, review. 11 March 2010. 11 March 2010 telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturecritics/alastairsooke/7130547/Van-Do esburg-and-the-International-Avant-Garde-at-Tate-Modern-review.html. Tzara, Tristan. Dada Does Not Mean Anything, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 11 March 2010 arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. Tzara, Tristan. Dada Manifesto 1918. Motherwell, Robert, and Arp, Jean. The Dada Painters and Poets. Trans. Ralph Mannheim. New York: Wittenborn, Schultz, 1970. 76-82. - . Lecture on Dada, 1922, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 10 March 2010 arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. - . To Make A Dadist Poem, reprinted in Tristan Tzara: Biography, DADAism, and Poetry. 2010. 11 March 2010 arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/dada/Tristan-Tzara.html. Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: About the Exhibition. 2010. 10 March 2010 tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/vandoesburg/default.shtm.

How sovereign nation bankruptcies differ from private company Essay

How sovereign nation bankruptcies differ from private company bankruptcies, and does a default on domestic debt differ from a default on foreign debt - Essay Example 86). Consider the way that the British defaulted on war debts to the Americans (Mead, 2002). Most of the industrialized nations have defaulted on debt. Spain defaulted thirteen times over four centuries! Indeed, â€Å"French finance minister Abbe Terray... even opined that governments should default at least once every hundred years†... (Reinhart and Rogoff, 2009, p. 87). This indicates two things about public debt. First of all: Default on public debt is nearly omnipresent. This is because the debtors in question are themselves likely to be permanent institutions, based on the logic of the European nation-state system, and are borrowing from other states, who are also permanent institutions. Yet the defaulting rate on private loans is nowhere near 100%. Second, enforcement of public debt is highly politicized and uneven. Britains war debts were excused; Germanys werent (Mead, 2002). Most private debt is treated relatively evenly: One is loaned money and one has to pay it back, no matter who one is. We can also see from this that this uneven enforcement can give countries an incentive to default that is not present in the domestic economy. It is hard to enforce across country lines. And, of course, the access to enforcement varies. If the US defaulted on a loan to China, they could use their military power to prevent enforcement. If Nigeria defaulted on a loan to the United States, the matter would be entirely different. Another difference is that, while private debt is based on an individual familys economic situations or the micro-economy of a region, public debt is often based on entire market institutions and trends ( Reinhart and Rogoff, 2009, p. 87-89). Capital inflows or growth often precede defaults, due to large amounts of debt being taken on due to the belief that â€Å"this time will be different†. Individual families or companies do not tend to behave this way. Countries do. Since 1800, public debt

The Value of Hosting Events as a Destination Development Strategy Assignment - 11

The Value of Hosting Events as a Destination Development Strategy - Assignment Example The business sector portion comprising of those people whom go to go to function, or the one to be inspired to go to event if it is hosted away from home. In the field of tourism, the expression "event" is utilised to portray the diverse classifications of events, a considerable lot of which may have singular recognizable viewpoints. It incorporates events from the Olympic Games as the uber-event to little events, for example, local festivals (Hall 2002). The request of occasions is to a great extent of a limited time apportioning and different in nature. In the occasions business today the sort of occasions can be requested by size and scale, and are typically done in a going with way. Be that as it may, events can likewise be ordered by reason and the inspiration driving either holding or going to the event, not to the specific area to which they have a place. Much attention will be paid to the value of hosting events as a strategy for developing destination. It is regularly put on the economic effect mostly in light of the way the coordinators of the occasion and government must meet spending arrangement targets and to legitimize the cost, and to some degree in light of the fact that these impacts are slightest requesting to study. Huge duty to the monetary impact assessment is a cost that happens after an occasion (Chalip 2005). Diverse methods can be used to study the monetary impacts of occasions. The paper will address the way that tourism can empower gathering pride as visitors visit the spot that is, as it ought to be. All around presented towns and all that much kept up workplaces for visitors offer them to feel some help with inviting and can add to the sentiment gathering pride.

Major Component Agencies of the Dhs Essay Example for Free

Major Component Agencies of the Dhs Essay This paper will discuss what are the major component agencies of DHS and their primary functions. Major Component Agencies of the DHS Major agencies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are; The Directorate for National Protection and Programs, The Science and Technology Directorate, The Office of Health Affairs, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), The Office of Investigations, The Office of Detention and Removal Operations, The Federal Protective Service, The Office of Intelligence, The Office of Intelligence and Analysis, The Office of Operations Coordination, The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, The Transportation Administration (TSA), The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), The Citizenship and Immigration Services, The Coast Guard, and The Secret Service. Their Primary Functions The Directorate for National Protection and Programs has five divisions that work to advance the DHS’s risk-reduction mission. The primary development and research arm of the department belongs to the Science and Technology Directorate. The Office of Health Affairs coordinates all medical activities to ensure appropriate preparation for the response to incidents having medical significance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident, administers the National Flood Insurance Program, and prepares the nation for hazards. The CBP prevents terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States. They are responsible for protecting U. S. borders, while simultaneously facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. The largest investigative arm of DHS is ICE. They are responsible for identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities both in the nation’s borders and in economic, infrastructure security, and transportation. The Office of Investigations investigates a wide range of international and domestic activities that violate customs laws and immigration and threatens national security. The department who is ensures the departure from the United States of all illegal aliens through the fair enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws is the Office of Detention and Removal Operations. The Federal Protective Service is responsible for securing, ensuring a safe environment, and policing in which federal agencies can conduct their business at more than 8,800 federal facilities nationwide. Collecting, analyzing, and disseminating strategic and tactical intelligence data belongs to the Office of Intelligence. The Office of Intelligence and Analysis is responsible for using information and intelligence from multiple sources to identify and assess current and future threats to the U. S. The responsibility for monitoring the security of the U. S. on a daily basis and coordinating activities within the department and with governors, law enforcement partners, DHS advisors, and critical infrastructure operators in all fifty states and more than fifty major urban areas nationwide falls under the Office of Operations Coordination. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office works to enhance the nuclear detection efforts of federal, tribal, states, territorial, and local governments and the private sector and to ensure a coordinated response to such threats. This department protects the nation’s transportation systems. In addition, agents also inspect air carrier operations to the United States, fly air marshal missions, assess security of airports overseas, and training overseas security personnel is TSA. The FLETC provides career–long training to law enforcement professionals to help them fulfill their responsibilities safely and proficiently. The Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for the administration of immigration and naturalization adjudication functions and the establishment of immigration service’s policies and priorities. This department is also consider a military department, which protects the public, the environment, and U. S. economic interests in the nation’s ports, along the coast, on international waters, on its waterways, or in any maritime region as required to support national security. Finally, we have the Secret Service who protects the president and other high-level officials and investigates counterfeiting and other financial crimes, identity theft, computer fraud, including financial institution fraud, and computer-based attacks on our nation’s financial, banking, and telecommunications infrastructure. Final Thoughts The Department of Homeland Security was activated in January 2003 from the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to help combat terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the United States. An outline is provided of what happened when the DHS was formed. Our lives in the United States as we knew it, has forever been changed since 9-1-1. We still have a long way to go to become more aware and secure, but it is not impossible. There are still many loopholes to tackle, red tape to cut, and the lack of proper equipment and training which still needs to be addressed on a continuous basis. On March 1, 2003, the DHS absorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Service and assumed its duties. By doing this, it divided the enforcement and services functions into two separate and new agencies: ICE and Citizenship and Immigration Services. The investigative divisions and intelligence gathering units of the INS and Customs Service were merged forming Homeland Security Investigations. Additionally, the border enforcement functions of the INS, including the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service were consolidated into a new agency under DHS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Creation of DHS, n.d.). References Creation-department-homeland-security, n.d. Retrieved on 1215/2012 from http://www.dhs.gov/creation-department-homeland-security Peak, K. J., 2012. Policing America challenges and best practices. Retrieved on 12/15/2012 from Chapter Two, Pages 44-48.

Essay --

Violence The television media is so strong and important in today’s world that it is considered to be the most important aspect of a country’s infrastructure. It is widely believed that those countries that control the television media and other forms of mass media control the whole world as they have control over the power to express their own opinion as well as that of others. In today’s world wars are not only fought in the battlefields but also on the media. The one who is strongest and most efficient in this regard has the highest chance of victory. Though the military power and strategic planning of the leaders are more important as they play the key role, but when it comes to get the favor of the international community on your argument and to form a positive opinion about yourself, media is the most powerful tool. It also helps in keeping the morale of your own public and soldiers high and to create confusion and a situation of chaos among the people of your opponent. These were the strong and aggressive media campaigns during the Second World War and recently in the gulf war that contributed to a considerable level brought success to the U.S forces. The U.S media fully backed the policies of the government and followed the strategies defined by them. Realizing the importance of the media many of the other countries started giving attention in the development of this sector. â€Å"No one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance. For the purposes of this report, however, we have chosen the definition of terrorism contained in Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(d). That statute contains the following definitions: The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated ag... ...nts to live. That was made for CNN, but the reporting was lousy, with incompetent people (beautiful people are not necessarily smart), who stated such inane things that it was confounding. Not ONE cried. In fact, I've seen several reporters in France on the border of smiling: ah, finally the Americans got struck! This is the essence of the so-called anti-globalization people. It was deserved as Americans pretend to rule the world, wasn't it? If you find that you feel anxious or stressed after watching a news program, if you feel you cannot turn off the television or partake in recreational activities, or if you have trouble sleeping, you may want to contemplate confining the amount and type of media coverage that you are viewing. Works Cited Definitions Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000 April 24, 2003, http://www.fattyboombatty.com/2000terrorismreport.htm

Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 11

The mist rose up around my feet as I walked toward the willow tree. The sun was quickly setting, but I could still make out a shadowy figure nestled between the roots. I glanced again. It was Rosalyn, her party dress shimmering in the weak light. Bile rose in my throat. How could she be here? She was buried, her body six feet underground at the Mystic Falls cemetery. As I walked closer, steeling my courage and grasping the knife in my pocket, I noticed her lifeless eyes reflecting the verdant leaves above. Her dark curls stuck to her clammy forehead. And her neck wasn't torn out at all. Instead, her neck displayed only two neat little holes, the size of shodding nails. As if guided by an unseen hand, I fell to my knees next to her body. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I whispered, staring at the cracked earth below. Then I raised my eyes and froze in horror. Because it wasn't Rosalyn's body at all. It was Katherine's. A small smile curved her rosebud lips, as if she were simply dreaming. I fought the urge to scream. I would not let Katherine die! But as I reached toward her wounds, she sat straight up. Her visage morphed, her dark curls faded to blond, and her eyes glowed red. I started backward. â€Å"It's your fault!† The words cut through the still night, the tone hollow and otherworldly. The voice belonged neither to Katherine nor Rosalyn–but to a demon. I screamed, gripping my penknife and slicing it into the night air. The demon lunged forward and clutched my neck. It lowered its sharpened canines to my skin, and everything faded to black†¦. I woke up in a cold sweat, sitting upright. A crow cawed outside; in the distance, I could hear children playing. Sunbeams were dappled along my white bedspread, and a dinner tray was sitting on my desk. It was daylight. I was in my own bed. A dream. I remembered the funeral, the ride from the church, my exhaustion as I climbed the stairs to my bedroom. It had just been a dream, a product of too much emotion and stimulation today. A dream, I reminded myself again, willing my heart to stop pounding. I took a long gulp of water straight from the pitcher on the nightstand. My brain slowly stilled, but my heart continued to race and my hands still felt clammy. Because it wasn't a dream, or at least not like any dream I'd ever had before. It was as if demons were invading my mind, and I was no longer sure what was real or what thoughts to trust. I stood up, trying to shake off the nightmare, and wandered downstairs. I took the back steps so as not to cross paths with Cordelia in the kitchen. She'd been taking good care of me, just as when I had been a child in mourning for my mother, but something about her watchful gaze made me nervous. I knew she'd heard me call out for Katherine, and I fervently hoped she wasn't telling ta les to the servants. I walked into Father's study and glanced at his shelves, finding myself drawn yet again to the Shakespeare section. Saturday seemed like a lifetime ago. Still, the candle in the silver candlestick holder was exactly where Katherine and I had left it, and The Mysteries of Mystic Falls was still on the chair. If I closed my eyes, I could almost smell lemon. I shook that thought away and hastily picked out a volume of Macbeth, a play about jealousy and love and betrayal and death, which suited my mood perfectly. I forced myself to sit on the leather club chair and glance at the words, forced myself to turn the pages. Maybe that's what I needed in order to proceed with the rest of my life. If I just kept forcing myself to take action, maybe I'd finally get over the guilt and sadness and fear I'd been carrying with me since Rosalyn's death. Just then, I heard a knock on the door. â€Å"Father's not here,† I called, hoping whoever it was would go away. â€Å"Sir Stefan?† Alfred's voice called. â€Å"It's a visitor.† â€Å"No, thank you,† I replied. It was probably Sheriff Forbes again. He'd already come by four or five times, speaking to Damon and Father. So far I'd managed to beg off the visits. I couldn't stand the thought of telling him–telling anyone –where I'd been at the time of the attack. â€Å"The visitor is quite insistent,† Alfred called. â€Å"So are you,† I muttered under my breath as I strode to the door and opened it. â€Å"She's in the sitting room,† Alfred said, turning on his heel. â€Å"Wait!† I said. She. Could it be †¦ Katherine? My heart quickened despite itself. â€Å"Sir?† Alfred asked, mid-step. â€Å"I'll be there.† Frantically, I splashed water from the basin in the corner on my face and used my hands to smooth my hair back from my forehead. My eyes still looked hooded, and tiny vessels had broken, reddening the whites, but there was nothing more I could do to make me look, let alone feel, more like myself. I strode purposefully into the parlor. For an instant, my heart fell with disappointment. Instead of Katherine, sitting on the red velvet wingback chair in the corner was her maid, Emily. She had a chair in the corner was her maid, Emily. She had a basket of flowers on her lap and held a daisy to her nose, as if she didn't have a care in the world. â€Å"Hello,† I said formally, already trying to come up with a way to politely excuse myself. â€Å"Mr. Salvatore.† Emily stood up and half- curtseyed. She wore a simple white eyelet dress and bonnet, and her dark skin was smooth and unlined. â€Å"My mistress and I join you in your sorrows. She asked that I give you this,† she said, proffering the basket toward me. â€Å"Thank you,† I said, taking the basket. I absentmindedly put a sprig of lilac to my nose and inhaled. â€Å"I'd use these in your healing, rather than Cordelia's concoctions,† Emily said. â€Å"How did you know about that?† I wondered. â€Å"Servants talk. But I fear that whatever Cordelia's feeding you may be doing you more harm than good.† She plucked a few blossoms from the basket, twining them into a bouquet. â€Å"Daisies, magnolias, and bleeding heart will help you heal.† â€Å"And pansies for thoughts?† I asked, remembering a quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet. As soon as I said it, I realized it was a foolish statement. How would an uneducated servant girl possibly know what I was speaking of? But Emily simply smiled. â€Å"No pansies, although my mistress did mention your love of Shakespeare.† She reached into the basket and broke off a sprig of lilac, which she then pushed gently into my buttonhole. I held the basket up and inhaled. It smelled like flowers, but there was something else: the intoxicating aroma that I'd only experienced when I was near Katherine. I inhaled again, feeling the confusion and darkness of the past few days slowly fade. â€Å"I know everything's very strange right now,† Emily said, breaking my reverie. â€Å"But my mistress only wishes the best for you.† She nodded toward the couch, as if inviting me to sit down. Obediently, I sat and stared at her. She was remarkably beautiful and carried herself with a type of grace I'd never seen before. Her movements and manners were so deliberate that watching her was like watching a painting come to life. â€Å"She would like to see you,† Emily said after a moment. The second the words left her lips, I realized that could never be. As I sat there, in the daylight of the parlor, with another person rather than being lost in my own thoughts, everything clicked into focus. I was a widower, and my duty now was to mourn Rosalyn, not to mourn my schoolboy fantasy of love with Katherine. Besides, Katherine was a beautiful orphan with no friends or relations. It would never work–could never work. â€Å"I did see her. At Rosalyn's †¦ at the funeral,† I said stiffly. â€Å"That's hardly a social call,† Emily pointed out. â€Å"She'd like to see you. Somewhere private. When you're ready,† she added quickly. I knew what I had to say, what the only proper thing to say was, but the words were hard to form. â€Å"I will see, but in my current condition, I'm afraid I'm probably not in the best mood to go walking. Please send your mistress my regrets, although she will not want for company. I know my brother will go wherever she wishes,† I said, the words heavy on my tongue. â€Å"Y es. She is quite fond of Damon.† Emily gathered her skirts and stood up. I stood up as well and felt, even though I towered a head taller, that she was somehow more powerful than me. It was an odd yet not altogether unpleasant feeling. â€Å"But you can't argue with true love.† With that she swept out the door and across the grounds, the daisy in her hair scattering its petals into the wind.