Marketing Plan for Shiseido Essay Example for Free

Marketing Plan for Shiseido Essay One hundred and forty years ago, Arinobu Fukuhara built on his experience working as chief pharmacist at a navy hospital to establish Shiseido, Japan’s first Western-style pharmacy in the Ginza district of Tokyo. Concerned about the inferior medications then available to the public, he aspired to separate medical care and pharmaceutical dispensing in Japan. Shiseido’s first president, Shinzo Fukuhara, led Shiseido into the cosmetics business in 1897. The only cosmetics sold in Japan at that time, powder and lipstick, were simply for altering appearance. Dissatisfied with the status quo, Shiseido brought a fresh perspective to cosmetics (n.d.). They formulated their products like pharmaceuticals because they strongly believed that the true value of cosmetics was in achieving healthy, beautiful skin. Based on this belief, Shiseido has developed with an unwavering philosophical commitment to high quality, innovation and authentic value. Millions of people have come to know and trust the Shiseido name as a result. The origin of the company name â€Å"Shiseido† is a passage from the Chinese classic, I Ching (The Book of Changes): â€Å"praise the virtues of the great Earth, which nurtures new life and brings forth new values.† Shiseido puts the intent of this passage into practice by discovering and creating new value. This is our founding spirit, and it continues unbroken as Our Mission, Shiseido’s raison d’à ªtre (Annual report 2012). Having started out as a pharmacy, it wasn’t until 1915 that Shiseido changed direction and committed to the cosmetics industry. The move was masterminded by Shinzo Fukuhara, the third son of Arinobu Fukuhara and the company’s first president. †¨ An experienced photographer, Shinzo Fukuhara combined artistry with high quality manufacturing, underpinned by the very latest in research and development, to establish Shiseido as a unique presence in the cosmetics industry (n.d.). The beginnings of Shiseido’s corporate philosophy As part of the transition from a family business to a more corporate setup, in 1921 Shiseido set out Shiseido’s Five Principles as the foundation of its corporate philosophy and activities as a company. These went on to form the basis of Shiseido’s Corporate Philosophy in 1989. Having undergone a number of changes since then, this finally evolved into, a new corporate philosophy reflecting the Shiseido Group’s internat ional operations and diverse brand portfolio, in 2011. Establishing a global production network With production facilities already up and running in areas such as North America and Taiwan, as well as in Japan, in 1991 Shiseido opened its first production facility in Europe, thereby establishing a truly global production network. Operations later got underway at a factory in Beijing in 1993 as Shiseido made its first steps towards expanding operations in the Chinese market. In 2010, the company commenced operations at a factory in Vietnam, as part of a concerted effort to tap into new growth in the so-called â€Å"masstige† market (n.d.). Reviewing a description of the market including the economic system to be targeted in this marketing plan, it has been found that Thai woman are interested in new products to whiten their intimate areas. Fair skin is a symbol of opportunity, success and status. There are already skin-whitening pills and diet supplements claiming to pick up where the cosmetics leave off. But this is the first time that a vaginal whitening wash has hit the Thai market (Hodal, 2012). Asian skin ages different than others, instead of Asians being concerned with fine lines and wrinkles, Asians worry about dark spots. Using pale Korean and Japanese pop stars as illustrations, Thai womens magazines are full of fair-skinned Asians promoting products that promise to whiten, lighten and boost the complexion, with slogans such as Show off your aura and Get to know the miracle of white skin. Fair-skinned actors and singers dominate the media nearly all over the Asia-Pacific region, where the skin-lightening indu stry is expected to reach $2bn this year with the fastest growing markets in China and India (Hodal, 2012). Shiseido has been at the forefront of skin-brightening research since launching the lotion Hydrogen Peroxide Cucumber in 1917 (Annual report 2012). They have developed about one-third of the active skin-brightening ingredients used in Japanese cosmetics. Shiseido is concentrating on aging research so that people can grow older beautifully. There are three key aspects in conducting research: functionality that creates healthy, beautiful skin; sensitivity and sensations such as pleasant usability, scent, color and beauty methods; and most important, safety that allows consumers to use their products worry free. In Thailand, Shiseido needs to grow existing products and embrace its brand value. They need to use the foundation they have built to generate solid growth in Thailand. Shiseido will continue to shift through fundamental reforms in order to invest for growth, and will implement fresh initiatives. According to their website, Shiseido has always embraced innovation, progress and challenge. The only way that Shiseido can evolve is by integrating its growing strengths to continuously create new and richer value in new markets. They should see the Asian culture as a future growth driver, and should therefore put their focus on commercials and in-store visuals to build the reputation of the Shiseido brand. They should also consider focusing on local customer needs, promote seasonal cosmetic changes and realize their customers purchasing behavior. People use the Internet to acquire information by themselves and comparison shop beyond category boundaries (Annual report 2012). Shiseido needs to recognize and accommodate to these major changes in the market by taking on the challenge of a new business model that could increases regular users of products by bringing together their existing store-based sales with business and direct marketing using the Internet. I want Shiseido to build direct relationships with customers and use them to steadily deliver the value they generate. I would also like to see Shiseido grow from the cosmetics business by providing total beauty solutions. The key to success for Shiseido lies in offering a suite of products targeted at a wide range of customers, but with special emphasis on the growing luxury and natural sector. There are several reasons behind the growth in high-end cosmetics: the expansion of new markets in Russia and Asia; changing social norms that make the wearing of makeup more acceptable; celebrity worship; promotion within fashion magazines; improvements in the technology that creates makeup; the influence of mass retailers that can offer lower prices, and raising affluence. As makeup becomes less expensive, better and more accessible, more women have moved away from older brands of makeup and skincare in search of higher-quality new products and more exclusivity. Works Cited (n.d.). Retrieved from http://group.shiseido.com/company/info/index.htmlThere are no sources in the current document. Annual report 2012. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://group.shiseido.com/ir/library/annual/pdf/2012/anu00001.pdf Hodal, K. (2012, 11 23). Thailands skin-whitening craze reaches womans intimate areas. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/23/thailand-vaginal-whitening-wash

The Importance Of Translating Messages

The Importance Of Translating Messages One of the main concerns of translation studies is the problem of accuracy: how much freedom the translator is allowed when interpreting a text from one language into another; whether he/she has to concentrate on the content or on the atmosphere of the piece of literature. In this paper, by comparing and contrasting the theory of Noam Chomsky (as presented in Syntactic Structures, 1957) and the one emerging from it by Eugene A. Nida (in Toward a Science of Translating, 1964), the core message of a text will be proven to be one the most important features. First of all, according to Edwin Gentzler (1993), despite the fact that Chomskys work was not specifically meant to be a part of translation studies, Nida adopted several aspects of it into his own, as, in the words of Gentzler (1993), Chomsky was literally a Godsend for Nida (p. 46) literally, because the main field of Nidas research involved the translation of the Bible. To get a clearer impression about their theories, it is essential to become familiar with them. As Gentzler (1993) points out, Noam Chomsky was more interested in the rules and structures of grammar than deep structures. His theory involves three levels of conceptualization: (1) a base component made up of phrase structure rules that generate (2) a deep structure, which in turn is changed, via transformational rules into (3) a surface structure (Gentzler, 1993: 46). This concept was significantly altered in Nidas adaptation. As Snell-Hornby (1988) describes him, in the United States the most influential scholar was undoubtedly Eugene A. Nida (p. 14) who was originally engaged in the invention of a methodology for Bible translations in order to help missionaries deliver the core message of the book. According to Gentzler (1993), he was appalled by nineteenth-century tendencies of preferring literal translation to the meaning. As cited in Gentzler (1993), he claimed that the words [of the American Standard Version of the Bible] may be English, but the grammar is not; and the sense is quite lacking (p. 45). To solve the problem, he took Chomskys theory and, to make it fit into his own invention, simplified it by omitting the first component. In this way, he created a system from generative grammar exclusively for translation practice, and it became quite popular. As Gentzler (1993) points out, both Chomskys and Nidas model agree on a deep, coherent, and unified entity which is the same in every language, and only changes in the surface structure, i.e. when presented in different languages (p. 46). However, the two theories take disparate ways in analysing the core: Chomsky is more concerned about universal rules of grammar and universal lexical forms, whereas Nida tends to discover an original divine message (Gentzler, 1993: 47). Despite the religious undertone, Nidas viewpoint seems more relevant for translation studies than Chomskys: it is the exact interpretation of the message that should be considered as priority, not the pursuit of creating sentences in the target language grammatically as close as possible to the ones in the original text but then again, Chomskys model has not been developed for the field Nida uses it. Actually, as mentioned by Gentzler (1993), Nida ventures further into the matter, and states that the core message is so important that it must be delivered in any case even by sacrificing the original sentences to bend them to the needs of the cultural peculiarities of the target language. For instance, he translates the phrase Lamb of God as Seal of God for Eskimo language, since for the Eskimos, the seal is the animal equivalent of the lamb in regards of sacrifice (Snell-Hornby, 1988: 19). It is one of his techniques of adjustment (Chesterman, 2005: 20). For him, it is not the sign that matters, but the response to the sign (Gentzler, 1993: 53), because as long as it makes people behave the way God wants them to, his interpretation is correct, regardless the changes in the text. He calls this kind of translation faithful, which is somewhat ironical, since the word has traditionally [] been reserved for literal translations (Gentzler, 1993: 58). However, since he privileges the me aning above the form, it fits into his theory quite well. Gentzler (1993) mentions another difference between Chomskys and Nidas model: the methodology. Although Chomsky agrees with the crucial role of the core or deep structure, it is antithetic to his views to execute such practices that Nida does who demolishes the sentences into deep structure, carries it into the target language, and then finally, uses it to rebuild the sentences in the target language. It is true that in regards of the method described above, Nida clearly diverges from Chomsky, but translation-wise, it seems rather efficient (like the example with the Eskimos). There is one aspect in which Gentzler (1993) clearly disagrees with Nida: he claims that Nidas advices for translators to agree with or even admire the original author of the text is a considerably dangerous one, because they could fall prey to the so-called intentional fallacy (p. 57). Unfortunately, his fears seem valid: however beneficiary it is to understand the tiniest subtleties of the writer as a translator, one should rather not let his/her very self and opinions flow excessively into the work of another person, since he/she is only a chain which connects the original text and the translation. Too much self-identification may result in the alteration of the core message. In conclusion, it can be clearly seen that, according to the theory of Eugene A. Nida, in order to present a text to a language whose speakers live in a completely different culture than the speakers of the source language, a translator is permitted to take liberations when interpreting the sentences. Naturally, the occasions at which the cultural gap between the nations is so vast that between English and Eskimo occur quite rarely, but the subtleties are always present when a text is translated from one language to another and even one mistranslated word can cause tragedies. References: Chesterman, A. (2005). Problems With Strategies. In K. Kà ¡roly à . Fà ³ris (Eds.), New Trends in Translation Studies (pp. 17-28). Budapest: Akadà ©miai Kiadà ³. Gentzler, E. (1993). Contemporary Translation Theories. London: Routledge. Shell-Hornby, M. (1988). Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

An examination of the sonnet from Petrarch to Browning. Essay -- Engli

An examination of the sonnet from Petrarch to Browning. A sonnet is a poem, which traditionally contains the subject of love. The creator of the sonnet was a man named Francesco Petrarca who was usually referred to as Petrarch. Petrarch wrote many of his sonnets based upon himself, and his lover, Laura. The conventional format of a sonnet contains fourteen lines, and is segregated to illustrate two arguments. Every sonnet takes the conventional format of fourteen lines, although the way the arguments are split up, may be different. For example, Petrarch and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet both take the format of an octave and a sestet, whereas Shakespeare's sonnet takes the format of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The arguments usually comprise of love juxtaposed against its opposite. For example, love versus hate, and love versus death. I have chosen to compare three sonnets. I will compare the subject of their sonnet, the form of the sonnet, and the way that they depict their argument in their sonnet. For example, how they have set out the sonnet, and their use of language. I have chosen to compare, Petrarch's, "XLL," and Shakespeare's, "Sonnet 138," and Barrett Browning's, "XLIII." The three sonnets that I have selected all contain the subject of love, but do not compose of the same aspect of love. The subject of, "Sonnet XXL," is about a woman named Laura, with whom the author Francesco Petrarch fell deeply in love with, even though she did not return his affections. Shakespeare's, "Sonnet 138," is about the experience of being in love. He writes from a masculine perspective, describing his lover as, "Unchaste, unfaithful, and dishonest." Elizabeth Barrett Browning's, "Sonnet XLIII,"... ...ar the most exceptional sonnet out of the three that I have chosen. I think this because of his motivating subject, and the way he has used different techniques of language and imagery. I think that his sonnet depicts the subject of love very well. Petrarch's sonnet was the second best sonnet out of the three, again for its subject. I felt that it didn't compose of the same ingredients as Shakespeare's sonnet, and it didn't contain as many uses of language and imagery as Shakespeare's did. I found that Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet was not as good as the other two because of the way she used very little language and imagery, and because of the way that her subject was constant throughout the sonnet. All three sonnets portrayed their subject well, and used many techniques such as imagery and rhyme, which helped the reader understand each sonnet more.

Lord of the Flies :: essays papers

Lord of the Flies Artificial Restraints in Lord of the Flies "GOLDING PUTS SO MANY ARTIFICIAL RESTRAINTS ON HIS STORY IN ORDER TO EMPHASISE HIS POINT, THAT THE WHOLE THING COMES OUT TOO NEATLY AND, IN FACT, REDUCES THE POWER OF HIS MESSAGE." I think that, while the boys experience immense bad luck due to the author, the story still proves its point. It is still possible though, that the bad luck of the boys could have been experienced in real life. I think that without this bad luck, the point of the story wouldn’t be as great, because without the restraint’s Golding placed on the boys, life on the island would have been too easy for the boys. The major constraint that Golding puts on the boys is the personality clash between Jack and Ralph. From the beginning, when Ralph is elected leader, Jack hates Ralph, and towards the end of the book, the feeling becomes mutual. Without Jack and Ralph’s problems, life would have been easy, and the ‘darkness of man’s heart’ would not have been conveyed to the reader. Jack shows ‘the darkness’ and if he and Ralph had just been friends, there would never have been an opportunity for Jack to show this darkness which lurked beneath the surface. Golding also uses the dead pilot conveniently against the boys - the way in which he is caught in the trees just in the right position to be caught by the wind and look like the beast and the way the wind picks up after Simon has let him down from the trees and carries him out to sea, so that the other boys cannot see that it wasn’t a beast. The author uses the boy’s fear against them, and although this could possibly happen in the situation, Golding uses it as a weapon against them, their morale and their companionship. I think that the boys split up and go to Jack because of the fear - he can kill the beast, he can get them meat, and if they ever get upset, he can start a dance and all will be fine.

Sociology Essay -- Sociology Essays

Sociology is a field which developed over a millennia ago, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it came into the fore as a bona fide social science, in need of its own classification apart from other social sciences. Sociology, 'the study of the process of companionship';(pg.396, Ambercrombie,Hill,Turner), is a discipline, which is not exclusively independent in and of its self, yet borrows from many other disciplines such as: history, geography, and anthropology. 'American sociology is fundamentally analytical and empirical; it proposes to examine the way of life of individuals in the societies … prefers to explain institutions and structures in terms of the behavior of individuals and the goals, mental states, and motives which determine the behavior of members of various social groups (pg.5,Aron).'; A specialization within Sociology is social stratification. This segment of sociology attempts to deal with the structures of any given society and ones' relationship with the institution. 'Social stratification means that inequality has been hardened or institutionalized, and there is a system of social relationships that determines who gets what, and why (pg.11, Kerbo).'; Through various paradigms, and theories we are able to come to a better understanding of social stratification. The paradigm that is most rational to my understanding of social stratification is the critical-conflict. In this paradigm the state embodies the interests of the "common citizen," and mediates between primitive human desires and the rational need for freedom and well being. Conflict theorists view that definitions of norms and values are also a source of conflict over who has the right to create laws and justice. As a consequence, not only behavior but also power relationships become important topics to study. Unlike the structural-functionalist view of society, which views harmony as the basis of order, conflict theorists see conflict as the natural state of social existence. Despite their critical examination of power relations, conflict theorists tend to accept the fundamental existing social arrangements, and instead of arguing for new social systems tend to argue for rearrangement of existing relations. 'This paradigm (critical-conflict) shares with the uncritical-conflict paradigm an image or model of society that considers conflict and... ...ack the essential tools such as: family name, wealth, and networking opportunities. These tools are utilized to gain access to the training necessary to achieve in a meritocracy like the United States. As the Upper Class and the Corporate Class wonder why those on the bottom are not able to 'pull themselves up by their boot straps'; and find solutions to their social, political, and economic predicament. The people on the bottom are screaming the solutions yet the Upper Class and Corporate Class are turning a deaf ear. Bibliography 1.) Abercrombie, Nicholas; Hill, Stephen; and Turner, Bryan S. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. Penguin Books.London: 1984 2.) Aron, Raymond, Main Currents In Sociological Thought. Anchor Books: 1968. 3.) Campbell, Ken. Http://cst.colorado.edu/psn/Marx/bio/Marx-karl/Granat/z.Html March 1,1999. 4.) Kerbo, Harold R., Social Stratification and Inequality: Class Conflict in Historical and Comparative Perspective. McGraw-Hill Companies,Inc. New York: 1996. 5.) McLellan, David., Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Oxford University Press: 1979. 6.) Tumin, M.,'; Some principles of stratification: A critical analysis.'; American Sociological Review, New York:1954

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 11

11. Being the Chronicles of Abby Normal, Pathetic Failure to All Creatures Great and Small I have failed as a minion, a girlfriend, and a human being in general, and that doesn't even count Biology 102, which I am still totally failing despite actually going to class twice. The Countess has been gone for like a week, and no one has seen her or the vampyre Flood. I've gone looking for them, mainly when I'm supposed to be at school. I don't even know where to look. I kind of walk around asking people if they've seen a totally hawt redhead and they either hurry away really fast or, in the case of one guy, who I suspect was a pimp, offered me a thousand dollars to bring her to him if I found her. Then he offered me a job, because he said, â€Å"Johns go for that skinny Lolita shit.† And I was all, â€Å"Oh, that's very flattering, sir. Thank you. Once I find my friend I will bring her back and we'll both be happy to service the disgusting choads of creepy strangers and hand you all of our money along with any self-worth we might have left.† And he was all, â€Å"You do that, little momma. You do that.† Which is just another reason that I need to find the Countess and beg her forgiveness, because my new phone has video and I can't wait to post a clip on my blog of Jody scattering bloody pimp parts all over the Tenderloin. (The Countess has lectured me about respecting myself and how a woman must never sacrifice her dignity to a man unless he gives her jewelry or is a smoking hottie and has a job, so I think there will at least be broken bones and a beating of many colors.) Evidently there's a shortage of hookers and homeless people in the City, it was on the Chronicle's Web site. They reported it like it was a good thing, VICE ARRESTS DOWN or something, and another article about homeless shelters having plenty of room for the first time, ever. OMFG! They're kitty treats, you douche nozzles! That's why I refused to be on the school paper. Journalists are oblivious to the obvious and they won't even let you say fuck. ‘Kayso, when I finally got back to the love lair, the windows were all boarded up with plywood and Foo and Jared had like alphabetized all of the rats and had them stacked up and labeled and whatnot. So, I, like, ran into Foo's arms and kissed him a good long time, then I looked around and I was all: â€Å"They're dead. Our loft is full of dead rats.† And Jared is all, â€Å"Not dead. Undead.† So to Foo I'm all, â€Å"‘Splain, s'il vous plaà ®t.† And Foo's like, â€Å"It's amazing, Abby. You just have to inject them with a little vampyre blood and it turns them, but not until you kill them. It took us a while to figure that out.† â€Å"So you killed all these rats?† â€Å"I did,† goes Jared. â€Å"It made me sad, but I'm okay with it now. Science.† â€Å"How?† And Foo says, â€Å"Potassium chloride.† At the exact same time Jared says, â€Å"With a hammer.† And Jared gets all big scared anime eyes and is like, â€Å"Yeah, potassium chloride. That's what I meant.† And I'm all, â€Å"You have been killing and vamping rats while the Countess and Tommy are lost and the whole city is papered with missing cat flyers, and like Chet and his minions are eating all the homeless and probably the hookers?† And they were like, â€Å"Well-yeah.† â€Å"And I had to work and go to class,† says Foo. â€Å"And polish my car.† And Jared's all, â€Å"And we've been making sunlight jackets for those two cops, which takes like a million little wires.† And he, like, points to our coffee table, which is the only surface that doesn't have cages full of dead rats, and there's not even jackets there, just, like, jacket-shaped nets of wire with little glass beads all over them. And I'm all, â€Å"Cops can't wear those. They look like robot lingerie.† And Jared is all, â€Å"Trs cool, non?† â€Å"No!† I go. â€Å"And do not further endorken the French language by wrapping your disgusting penis port around it. You'll ruin the whole language before I even learn enough to express my deep despair and dark desires en franà §ais, you rat smasher.† ‘Kay, I know that was a little harsh, but I was angry, and in my defense, I was grinding Foo's leg a little when I said â€Å"dark desires,† so I said it with love. Foo's all, â€Å"We didn't have time to actually get jackets. They need to be leather and they're expensive.† So it's clear that despite his mad ninja science skills, even my beloved Foo cannot be left without female supervision. But he has been going home lately, and his parents are a bad influence on him. So I'm like, â€Å"I got this. I'll go see Lily.† Lily is my backup BFF. She used to be my BFF, but at the same time I met Lord Flood and the Countess, Lily got a book in the mail at her work, which is Asher's Secondhand, and it convinced her that she is Death, so I'm all, â€Å"Whatever, ho.† And she was all, â€Å"Free to live my own nightmare, skank.† So we were cool. ‘Kayso, I took the 45 bus from the dead-ratted love lair to North Beach. Walking through Chinatown sort of creeps me out 'cause of all the Chinese grandmothers on the street, who I'm pretty sure are talking about me because they think I have ruined Foo with my Gothy-Anglo charms. Also, I get mad dim sum cravings for which I should someday seek treatment, or, like, snacks. ‘Kayso, at Asher's, Lily comes out from behind the counter and gives me a hug and a big kiss on my forehead (because she is taller than me in addition to having surplus boobage). And I'm like, â€Å"There's a big violet lip print on my forehead, huh?† And Lily goes, â€Å"Kiss of Death-get used to it, beyotch-matches your hair tips, trs cute.† So I'm all, â€Å"‘Kay.† It wasn't really the kiss of Death, but it did match my tips. Then I was all, â€Å"Lils, I need men's leather jackets in these sizes.† I gave her the note Foo wrote out with the sizes and cut and whatnot. And she was all, â€Å"WTF, Abs? Fifty long? You buying a jacket for an orca?† â€Å"Ginormous gay cop. You got it?† â€Å"Yeah. You wanna smoke a clove?† And I'm all, â€Å"Do you have enough violet lipstick?† Because smoking is, like, the worst for your lipstick and it did match my hair. And she's all, â€Å"Bitch, please.† Meaning, â€Å"Do I ever not have enough makeup?† Which is true, because Lily carries a PVC ROBOT PIRATES messenger bag you could hide a small kid in, only she carries beauty products. So I was all, â€Å"‘Kay.† So Lily and I went out the back door and stared at the Dumpster like it was the very abyss of our despair while we smoked. And I'm just getting ready to tell her about the love lair, and Foo, and vampyre kitties and all, because I've sort of been in boyfriend mode, so, like, out of contact, which Lily totally gets. And Lil's like, â€Å"So, the big gay cop have a Hispanic partner?† And I'm like, â€Å"Rivera and Cavuto. Crusty day dwellers, but Rivera kind of has a secret-agent vibe. You know them?† And Lily is all, â€Å"Yeah, they were here yesterday. Rivera wears expensive suits. Smells good, too. I'd do him.† And I'm like gagging. â€Å"Lils, he's like a thousand years old, and a cop. The Motherbot was getting squishy over him. OMG! You're disgusting!† â€Å"Shut up, I'm not saying I'd do him normal. I mean like zombie Apocalypse trapped in the mall right before we have to shoot each other to keep them from eating our brains and turning us to the undead-then I'd do him.† So I'm all, â€Å"Oh sure, then.† To make her feel better, because she doesn't have a BF and often oversluts to compensate, but I still thought it was disgusting. But to change the subject, I was all, â€Å"So what did they want?† â€Å"They were asking all kinds of irrelevant bullshit. Had I seen any strange cats, did I see the Emperor, or some redhead.† And I'm all, Fucksocks! Fucksocks! Fucksocks! inside. But on the outside I'm all chill and I'm like, â€Å"So, you like didn't know anything, right?† â€Å"No, Asher said a hot redhead came into the store the other night, and then I was on the cable car last night, going down to Max's Deli for a sammy, and I think I saw her going into the Fairmont Hotel. Like a crazy cape of long red curls I would slaughter puppies for.† â€Å"Red leather jacket?† â€Å"Sweet red leather jacket.† â€Å"You didn't tell them, did you?† And Lil's all, â€Å"Well, yeah.† And I was all, â€Å"You traitorous whore!† And I punched her in the shoulder. In my defense, you're supposed to tell your ex-BFF when you get fresh ink, so the screaming was completely over the top. I had no way of knowing that she had a new tattoo on that shoulder, so her punching me in the boob was totally uncalled for. So, I'm ouching trs loud and this Russian lady from upstairs peeks her head out the window and she's all, â€Å"Quiet please, is sounding like burning bear out there.† ‘Kayso, Lils and I start to laugh and say, â€Å"Like bear,† over and over again until the Russian lady slams the window shut, like bear. Then it comes back to me and I'm all, â€Å"Lils, I have to get those jackets and get to the Fairmont. I have to save the Countess.† And Lily is like, â€Å"‘Kay,† not even asking details, which is why I love her-she is so nihilist it's, like, not funny. ‘Kayso, I take the jackets and catch a cab to the Fairmont, which totally pisses off the cabbie because it's only like six blocks, but when I get to the hotel I'm all, â€Å"Fucksocks!† because I'm too late. JODY Falling asleep was one of the things Jody missed about being human. She missed the satisfied, tired feeling of falling into bed and drifting off in a dreamy twilight sea of dreams. In fact, since she'd turned, unless she'd just gone too long without feeding, she never even felt tired. On most mornings, unless she and Tommy had been making love, and they went out in each other's arms, she just found a relatively comfortable position and waited for the sun to rise and put her out. Maybe a flutter of an eyelid, lasting a second, then off like a light. The closest thing to a dream state she'd experienced as a vampire was when she'd gone to mist inside the bronze statue, and even then, the door into dreamland slammed shut at dawn. The constant alertness of being a vampire was, well, it was a bit irritating. Especially since she'd been searching the City for Tommy for a week, pushing her jumped-up senses to their limits, and had to return to the hotel every morning with nothing. Apparently, Tommy had limped down an alley and vanished. She'd checked everyplace in the City that she'd ever taken him, every place he'd ever been, as far as she knew, and still there was no evidence of his having been there. She'd hoped she would have some special vampire â€Å"sixth sense† to help her find him, like the old vampire who had turned her seemed to have had, but no. Now, she was returning to her room at the Fairmont for the seventh morning. And for the seventh morning she would put out the â€Å"Do Not Disturb† signs, lock the door, put on her sweats, drink a pouch of the blood she kept locked in a mini-cooler, brush her teeth, then crawl under the bed and go over a mental map of the City until dawn put her out. (Since she was technically dead at dawn, sleeping on top of a comfortable mattress was a dangerous luxury, and by climbing under the bed she put one more layer between her and sunlight, should a nosy maid somehow find a way into her room.) Part of her new pre-dawn ritual had been returning to the hotel a little later each morning; like the skydiver who will let himself fall closer and closer to earth before pulling the ripcord to boost the adrenaline rush just a little more. The last two mornings she'd just been entering the hotel when the alarm watch she wore, which was set to go off ten minutes before sunrise on any given day, based on an electronic almanac, had started beeping. She'd bought one for Tommy, too, and wondered if he was still wearing his. As she strode down California Street, she tried to remember if he'd been wearing it when they cut him out of the bronze shell. Two blocks from the Fairmont her alarm watch went off and she couldn't help but smile a little at the thrill. She picked up her pace, figuring that she'd still be safely inside her room with time to spare before sunup, but she might have to forgo the sweats and the blood snack. As she came up the steps into the lobby she smelled cigar, and Aramis cologne, and the combination sent an electric chill of alarm up her spine before she could identify the danger. Cops. Rivera and Cavuto. Rivera smelled of Aramis, Cavuto of cigars. She stopped, her boot heels skidding a little on the marble steps. There they were, both at the front desk, but a bellman was leading them to the elevator. He was taking them to her room. How? she thought. Doesn't matter. It was getting light. She checked her watch: three minutes to find shelter. She backed away from the door, out onto the sidewalk, then began to run. Normally she would have paced herself so someone didn't notice the redhead in boots and jeans running faster than an Olympic sprinter, but they'd just have to tell their friends and not be believed. She needed cover, now. She was a block and a half down Mason Street when she came to an alley. She'd survived her first night as a vampire under a Dumpster. Maybe she could survive the day inside one. But there was someone down there, the kitchen crew of a restaurant, outside smoking. On she ran. No alleys in the next two blocks, then a narrow space between buildings. Maybe she could shimmy down there and crawl in a basement window. She crawled on a narrow, plywood gate and had one foot down before a pit bull came storming down the corridor. She leapt out onto the sidewalk and started running again. What kind of psychopath uses a two-foot-wide space between buildings as a dog run? There should be laws. This was Nob Hill, all open, with wide boulevard streets, a once-grand neighborhood now made incredibly irritating to a vampire in need of shelter. She rounded the corner at Jackson Street, snapping a heel off her right boot as she did. She should have worn sneakers, she knew, but wearing the high, expensive leather boots made her feel a little like a superhero. It turned out that turning your ankle hurts like hell, even if you're a superhero. She was up on her toes now, running, limping toward Jackson Square, the oldest neighborhood in San Francisco that had survived the great quake and fire of 1906. There were all kinds of little cubbyholes and basement shops in the old brick buildings down there. One building even had the ribs of a sailing ship in its basement, a remnant built over when the Gold Rush left so many ships abandoned at the waterfront that the City literally expanded over them. One minute. The shadow of the Transamerica Pyramid was lying long across the neighborhood ahead like the needle of a deadly sundial. Jody did a final kick-sprint, snapping off her other boot heel as she did. She scanned the streets ahead for windows, doors, trying to sense movement inside, looking for stillness, privacy. There! On the left, a door below street level, the stair-case hidden by a wrought-iron railing covered in jasmine. Ten more steps and I'm there, she thought. She saw herself jumping the rail, shouldering through the door, and diving under the first thing that would shelter her from the light. She took the final three steps and leapt just as the sun broke the horizon. She went limp in the air, fell to the sidewalk, short of the stairwell, and skidded on her shoulder and face. As her eyes fluttered, the last thing she saw were a pair of orange socks right in front of her, then she went out and began to smolder in the sunlight.

Describe What Montessori Meant by New Education Essay

Dr Maria Montessori dedicated and committed her life into education of the children. She has witnessed through some years with wars and conflicts and she thought; through education this can be turned into peace to this world. Since the year 1907 Montessori name has been recognized in the education system. Even though it has been over a century to this date Montessori principles are as powerful as it was. Dr Maria Montessori has relied on her actual observations on children to develop her method of education. During these observations she has discovered that each child has their own urge to learn through their own way. She brought to light that children has an enormous ability which can be turned into positive energy and a new beginning. According to Dr Montessori; education should be aimed at human progress not only to gain knowledge. â€Å"It is the spirit of the child that can determine the course human progress and lead it perhaps even to a higher form of civilization. † (The Essential Montessori, Chapter 6, p. 64). Dr Maria Montessori believed in a natural process of education. There was a teacher oriented system in place and she did not believe this was focused on the child fully. She felt if we focused on child and observe them this would help us to understand the child. â€Å"Studying these children and their mutual relationships in an atmosphere of freedom, the true secrets of society come to be revealed. † (The Essential Montessori, Chapter 6, p. 64). Education should be in a natural way, children has every right to freedom to learn. Montessori thought we can give importance to every child with new education. She felt that the civilization had the wrong idea about children and this needed to be changed firstly. She believed that adults did not understand the children, this has led the education system to fail. According to Montessori; â€Å" the fundamental problem in education is not an educational problem at all : it is a social one. It consists in the establishment of a new and better relationship between the two great sections of society- children and adults. † (Maria Montessori Her Life And Work, Chapter XV p. 231) Montessori felt that the real problem consists in cementing a new relationship between children and adults and she realized something very wrong with the relationship. Montessori felt that in the past there was many revolution with regards to slaves, workers, women, peasants, child-labourers and so on. Limited to certain place and time. Where as the problem she saw between the adult and the child was universal and did not matter about race, religion etc. â€Å"Grace must build on nature†. (Maria Montessori Her Life And Work, Chapter 15 p. 233) Montessori felt that children needed to have child size classroom equipment. She has compared if adults were to be living in gigantic sized environment filled with gigantic sized equipments how uncomfortable it would be compare it to adult scale. The child should be left to gain his/hers self esteem. This would benefit him/her to have a confidence in himself and not to depend/rely on others in the future. Every child has got a natural power to develop himself. â€Å"Children decide on their actions under the prompting of natural laws†¦ Inner forces affect his choice, and if someone usurps the function of this guide, the child is prevented from developing either his will or his concentration.. a negative action is the interruption of work at fixed times in the daily program†. (The Essential Montessori, Chapter 6, p. 64). Montessori drew attention to how adult and children learn very differently. She has relied on her observations when she explained the differences. What he is able to do, he must do by himself. One of her biggest concern was that adults need to change the way they think about the needs of the child. Adult has reached the development and no longer will be developing where as child’s interactions with his surrounding is helping his development. The children could teach themselves and they can learn from their environment. Children work with a slower rhythm compare to adults. They can spend a very long time for example changing their shoes into slippers when they arrive at the nursery in the morning. While child is taking his shoes off parents/carers cannot help but taking over the action in order to get it finished and done with. They often lose their patience and complain that their child is taking such a long time! Or they cannot help but saying ‘Let me do that for you’. What adults expect is an adult speed from the children. Montessori says, â€Å" He is following a timetable like the most diligent scholar in the world- following it with the unshakable constancy of the stars in their courses. (Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, Chapter 8, p. 125). It is important that in order to help little children, adults firstly needs to learn to respect the rhythm of children. She stressed that children will repeat the same thing over and over. For example a child in the nursery picking the same book each time he is asked to choose a book for teacher to read to children. Another example of a child in the nursery who is choosing the very same practical life transferring water with a turkey baster activity each morning at the arrival of the nursery and going back to it though out the day. Montessori says â€Å" Now by the very boredom you have experienced in thus repeating and repeating this same exercise, you will be able to measure that imperious inner urge that drives the children to do the same thing. † (Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, Chapter 8, p. 129). Montessori believed that there are different periods in the course of the child’s development, corresponding to the different phases in the development of human body. These periods are from birth to six year of age. Differences does not change the learning type of mind. She observed that the impressions a child takes from his environment, not only to penetrate the mind, but they come to life since the child makes his own mental flesh in using the things that in his environment. She called this type of mind â€Å" The Absorbent Mind†. Montessori through her system of ‘new education’ aimed at using this real constructive energy to create a new world for humanity.