Are Dogs Getting the Attention They Deserve? Essay -- Symbols Wealth A

Are Dogs Getting the Attention They Deserve? It used to be that you could tell just about how poor a family was by how many dogs they had. If they had one, they were probably doing all right, two dogs meant that the couple were dog lovers, but if a citizen kept three, you could begin to suspect he didn’t own much else. What type of dogs these were also lead people to believe their social status in society. (Hoagland, 1995) Would this lead people to believe that this is true? In my opinion, No it does not. In Edward Hoagland’s â€Å"Dogs, and the Tug of Life†, he describes the significance of dogs in our lives, both as social symbols and as reminders of why dogs are taken for granted. He explains why having a dog is giving people the wrong impression and how people need to know the true significance. Are dogs a symbol of social status? Hoagland wholeheartedly agrees with this argument, as stated in the first paragraph, as well some people do too. I, personally, would have to agree with this term of being a social status. Dogs have always been part of many homes. But nobody stops to think that the kind of dog one owns, signifies what type of lifestyle that person lives. This bit of information is incorrect. Just because a family is wealthy, does not mean they are spending lots of money on high class dogs. Who’s to say they aren’t taking in every stray dog that mosies up to their house? Maybe richer people do more with their dog, such as spend lots of money on grooming, feeding, and showing off, but it doesn’t mean the dog is always a pure bred, one of a kind. People are beginning to take dogs for granted. They feel that it is just an animal with no feelings and don’t consider what kind of role a dog really ... ...er of dogs owned and the income of the family have nothing to do with each other. For the most part, Hoagland’s argument was very informative and significant. It is agreed that people are trying to use dogs as a sign of social status, but people who know the real meaning of having a dog, know this is incorrect and falsely justified. Dogs are being taken for granted, and people need to realize the importance of why they have dogs as pets. Dogs are more than lazy animals, dumb creatures, or ways of showing off to others. Dogs don’t help with social status, rather they help with companionship, loyalty, trust, and a bodyguard. In my opinion, dogs don’t help determine how poor or wealthy a family is. Maybe people spend lots or little money on a dog, but that just depends on what type of people they are, not what type the dog is. Nothing more, nothing less.

Gambling in Baseball :: Essays Papers

Gambling in Baseball What has changed the way America’s pastime is looked at forever and prompt worldwide discussion? Joe Jackson and his seven teammates changed the face of baseball forever during the intimate scandal of 1919. No other time in baseball history did Americans question the state of the game. Pete Rose had also brought a debate like no other before in baseball. Since his banishment in 1989 the country has been split on the issue. Gambling by these men and others has caused great problems in baseball. The game of baseball has been destroyed by gambling. Gambling will forever be a part of American’s pastime. As soon as the New York Knickerbockers organized in 1845 and started competing against other teams, spectators were betting on the outcome (Fleitz 190). In the mid 1800’s, speculations of gambling had reached the news. Three men of the New York Mutuals were banned from baseball for taking $100 each to throw a game to the Brooklyn Eckfords; nevertheless, the men were reinstated within a few years (Rielly 110). The next few decades only had been occasionally marred by gambling scandals. The Black Sox scandal of 1919 rocked the sports world and brought up even more scandals. Baseball’s gambling problems were not always bookies looking for that prized fight; it sometimes involved the role models of the game. Several owners had been linked to the 1919 scandal. Charles Stoneham of the Giants and Arnold Rothstein of the Dodgers were believed to play an important part of the scam (Lieb 189). Base ball slowly rid itself of gambling until the last big scandal hit in the name of Rose. Gambling has been a part of baseball ever since the start and will continue to tarnish the game whenever it is brought up. Baseball has been through lots of adversity throughout the years. Strikes, wars and corruption have given the game a black eye but nothing has hurt the integrity of the game more than gambling. Having baseball played honestly is the most important part of baseball and doubting the integrity can cause serious harm to the game.

Jamaican Creole vs Standard English Essay

As we can see, this is not the situation in Jamaican Creole. Case is always demonstrated by position. Any pronoun before the verb is the subject, and after the verb it is either the direct or indirect object. Other features to note are the lack of gender and absence of nominative and accusative case forms. Also lacking in Jamaican Creole are possessive pronouns like my, your, his, her, its, our, their. To demonstrate possession, Jamaican Creole either has the simple pronoun directly in front of a noun, (for example ‘my book’ would be ‘mi buk’), or adds the prefix fi-, (as in ‘fi-mi buk’ also meaning ‘my book’). Plural Marking Plural marking in Standard English is a hodgepodge of different forms borrowed and assimilated from many languages. The original Old English way of making plurals was either the addition of -n or -en or the changing of the vowel sound, as it is for Modern German. Those original Old English plural markers surviv e in a few Modern English words. For example child/children, man/men, ox/oxen, foot/feet. The Norman French way of making plurals was to add an -s, -es or an -x. Only the first two forms were borrowed into English at first, producing forms like hand/hands, eye/eyes, bus/buses. Recently the -x ending had been borrowed for words like bureau/bureaux, adieu/adieux, chateau/chateaux, but it is pronounced as if the x were an s. During the renaissance, Classical Latin and Classical Greek became fashionable, and although being extinct languages, they added a great deal both to the grammar and vocabulary of the English language, particularly in the fields of science and invention. Plurals produced at this period of time include datum/data, octopus/octopi, medium/media, index/indices, helix/helices, matrix/matrices. These plural forms cause the  most confusion not just to foreign speakers but also to a lot of people who speak English as their first language. Plural marking in Jamaican Creole is much more logical and easier to learn. In fact Jamaican Creole behaves like Japanese for the most part in that it does not generally mark the plural of nouns. To indicate plurality, animate nouns (and sometimes other nouns to be stressed) are followed by the suffix -dem. This produces structures such as ‘di uman-dem’ or ‘di pikni-dem’ meaning ‘the women’ and ‘the children’ respectively. Tracing roots of Jamaican CreoleThe unique vocabulary and grammar of Jamaican Creole did not just simply spring up as an easy way for plantation slaves from different tribes to talk to one another. Many words, phrases, and structures have an interesting etymology. (Etymology is a linguistic term for the history of the development of a word). In Middle English, there was a distinction between singular ‘thou’, and plural ‘you’. This distinction has been almost completely erased apart from in some North Yorkshire dialects where the singular form ‘tha’ is still used. E.g. ‘tha’s nice’ means ‘you are nice’. In some English dialects an attempt has even been made to replace the missing pronoun. In Southern States of America ‘y’all’ is used; in Scouser (a dialect found in Liverpool) ‘youse’ or is used; and a common form in London is ‘you-lot’. In Jamaican Creole, the pronoun ‘oonu’ is found and this is similar to the form it has in modern Igbo (spoken in Nigeria) which was the most likely donor language. Forms of the pronoun (such as uno, unu, unoo) can be found in widely scattered parts of Africa in the Nubian and Nilotic language families and even as far as the Negrito languages of Malaysia. The word ‘seh’ as in ‘im tel mi seh†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (he told me that†¦) has similar origins. Wo w!!! Another interesting word commonly used is ‘pikni’, meaning ‘child’. The word was borrowed originally form Portuguese ‘picaninni’. Prior to British dominance, it was used by Portuguese masters to refer to black slaves, who picked up the word and began using it to refer to their own children. In Jamaica today, despite its innocent original meaning (child), it has acquired a pejorative connotation because of its history in Jamaica. Two more interesting words that have spread across the English speaking world, but have their origins in Jamaica, are ‘buddy’ and ‘cuss’. These was a mispronunciations of ‘brother’ and ‘curse’ respectively. The first recorded use of ‘buddy’ was in 17; whereas the word ‘cuss’ is a word that has entered our vocabulary only since the  late 1940s. The difference in age of these terms shows how much influence Jamaican Creole has on the English speaking world, The word ‘buddy’ is even found in the Oxford English Dictionary and ‘cuss’ is used so much among the younger generation in particular, that it is only a matter of time before it too is added to the OED. in view of the popularity of fashionable culture and music forms that have their origin in Jamaica Jamaican Creole is likely to continue to have considerable influence of English as a global language, but should it be classed as a dialect of English or should it have official recognition as a language in its own right? Language Standardisation. There are more salient differences between Jamaican Creole and English than there are between Swedish and Norwegian, yet the latter are classed as two separate distinct languages. Swedish and Norwegian people have almost no difficulty understanding one another, whereas some Englishmen will not have a clue what a Jamaican is saying. Similar cases are Czech and Slovakian, and Punjabi and Urdu, of which the spoken form is the same but only the written form is different. Many people who have stated that saying ‘mi de a di paak’ as opposed to ‘I am in the park’, sounds childish, are completely ignorant of the fact that ‘mi/me’ is a common indigenous Niger-Kongo form of the first person pronoun. I would have been easy for early Jamaicans learning this strange alian language, to continue using ‘mi’ in that position rather than switching to ‘I’. Also the English at that time didn’t exactly have schools and colleges to te ach blacks the proper way of forming the first person singular nominative pronoun.

Poverty in the World Essay

Many third world countries are faced by the challenges of poverty and unproductivity of land. The survival of the people who live in such nations depends mostly on aid from developed countries. There is a fact about the developed countries that needs to be addressed before the aid is delivered to the poverty stricken nations. The developed countries have gained that title due to the fact that they are way too ahead in terms of technology and industrialization. The returns they get from both domestic and foreign trade are redirected on further investment. Incase other nations faced by catastrophes; these returns are used to cover those in need of help. The intervention by these developed nations is a form of quick measures to calming situations down. Back at home, it is funny how the citizens from such nations struggle to make ends meet. Once foreign help is delivered to the nations that are faced by natural, human, or climatic catastrophes the people living in those countries assume that the aid comes from very rich countries. The truth of the matter of foreign aid is that once help is delivered from a certain country be it in form of money or food there are strings attached. If one country demands for help from another, there are possibilities that the national debt of that nation grows. On the other hand, if the help is in form of a donation through the international organizations it is likely that the help addressed the issue at hand and not the future. Going back to the issue of foreign aid and reduction of poverty; two crucial elements come to play. These include the issue being addressed and the type of aid being delivered. Foreign aid is mostly volunteered to suffering nations by developed nations. In other times, organizations and NGOs take responsibility to raise money that can be used to provide for the suffering lot. By assessing the nature of the issue that is being addressed, it can be told whether the form of aid aids in reducing poverty. Looking at the situation at the horn of Africa, the type of help that is being delivered to the starving communities in that region is food and medical supplies. Looking closely at the matter and others similar to that, it will be found out that foreign aid is not a form of borrowed capital but rather a last option. Foreign Aid cannot reduce poverty due to five reasons associated with the problems and the nature of help. First, foreign aid is delivered to rescue and not to prevent; second, it is given when the situation is almost escalating out of proportion; third, nations or parties that require foreign aid are marginalized and the living conditions don’t allow for any form of secondary benefit from the aid; fourth, starvation and disease outbreaks are mostly the problems requiring foreign aid to address the issue quickly; and finally, the nature of aid cannot be invested neither can it be used while other resources are redirected to other activities. The above reasons make foreign aid seem like some form of nutritional therapy’ whose importance is lengthening the period of survival as one witnesses the problems. The US and other nations have been donating relief food and vaccination to African nations and some Asian nations as well for a long time. However, it the aid is form of funds the situation changes from aid to assistance that requires repaying as times advances. Foreign aid d oes not come to the poor in form of basic needs but rather basic rescue. It would be otherwise if foreign aid was in form of compulsory jobs for the poor or mandatory quality education.

Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Essay

Since its publication in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, has generated a variety of interpretations. Originally viewed to be a ghost story, it has been regarded as gothic literature, science fiction, a statement on postpartum depression, having Victorian patriarchal attitudes and a journey into the depths of mental illness. More controversial, but curiously overlooked is the topic of the rest cure’ and whether Gilman’s associations are fact or fiction. Evidence supports Charlotte Gilman may have misrepresented the Weir Mitchell Rest Cure, and pokes more holes in The Yellow Wallpaper.† The story’s female character is suffering from â€Å"temporary nervous depression a slight hysterical(1) tendency,† and prescribed a rest cure. The treatment enforced absolute bed rest, forbade physical, mental or social activities and required total isolation from family and friends. Eventually the lack of stimulation and complete solitude only added to the desolation, and pushed her to the brink of insanity. The Yellow Wallpaper was based on Gilman’s personal experience with postpartum depression and treatment received by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, pioneer of the Rest Cure. The parallels between her experiences and those of the story are noticeable, as are implications of late nineteenth-century patriarchal and medical attitudes toward women, during that time. As a fictional story, and nothing else, The Yellow Wallpaper depicts a postpartum woman driven to psychosis by an inept doctor who is also her husband. However, as a fictional autobiography, it is read as an â€Å"indictment of the nineteenth-century medical profession and its patriarchal attitudes.† After the 1973 reissue of The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman directly criticizes Mitchell’s treatment, saying, â€Å"the real purpose of the story was to reach Dr. S Weir Mitchell, and convince him of the error of his ways.† She claimed his rest cure brought her â€Å"perilously near to losing [her] mind.† Mitchell’s â€Å"errors† by many accounts, far surpass his medical therapies alone. A tenacious male-chauvinist, by today’s standards, he was vehemently opposed to women voting, and strongly against higher education. He felt it got in the way of being good wives and mothers, saying â€Å"there had better be none of it.† Women’s â€Å"finest nobleness† according to Mitchell, was â€Å"to be homeful for others.†

Phoneme Confusion Essay

An understanding of why students often confuse the phonemes /b/ and /d/ begins with understanding the fundamental difference between a phoneme and a grapheme. The term â€Å"phoneme† refers to a basic sound found within a language, such as the sounds that are represented by the letters /b/ and /d/. The grapheme represents the actual symbol used to denote those sounds (Reutzel & Cooter, 2004). In most Indo-European languages, the initial sounds of the words â€Å"ball† and â€Å"dog† are represented by these same symbols /b/ and /d/. The problem that children usually have with these sounds lies not in their confusion of the actual sounds or phonemes, but in the similarities between the two graphemes used to represent them (Goldstein, 2007). The problem that children usually have is in figuring out which sound goes with which letter—not actually in differentiating the sounds themselves (Macauslan & Quinn, 1976). This can be ascertained because it is often the case that children who make the mistake of mixing up the two sounds by reading usually manage to speak without replacing either phoneme with the other (Goldstein, 2007). It is usually the case, therefore, that the problem lies with the visual aspect of the grapheme itself. The letters /b/ and /d/ are both very similarly constructed: each is made up of a circle with a stick attached. When trying to differentiate between /b/ and /d/, children forget which side the stick should be on. Even in the phonologically aware child, each symbol sometimes succeeds in calling to mind both the sounds associated with the two letters (Goldstein, 2007). However, the child has a problem assigning the correct sound to the proper letter not because of an inherent â€Å"reading† problem, but because of an inability to properly orient the form of the letter in order to make the decision (Macauslan & Quinn, 1976). There as several formal and informal methods of dealing with this form of confusion. One method is simply to teach the letters separately. By teaching the phoneme-grapheme /b/ initially, the student is allowed to become thoroughly familiar with the letter and its formation. This familiarity will also extend itself to the sound or phoneme that is to be associated with it. Once the student can distinguish that this (b) is the letter â€Å"b† (â€Å"bee†), then that child will be less likely to confuse it with the other. Then, one it is established that the child knows /b/ and can distinguish it from all other letters and forms, the phoneme/grapheme /d/ can be introduced. Other methods of dealing with this issue exist to deal with a confusion that has already surfaced. Some teachers use mnemonic devices such as the formation of the letter with the hand. By holding the middle finger and the thumb together while allowing the forefinger to stand straight up, one can approximate the formation of /b/ on the left hand and /d/ on the right. By assigning a name to each formation such as â€Å"bull† to the left and â€Å"dog† to the right, the child might be prompted to remember which letter goes with each sound by listening to the onset of each word. It may also be helpful to point out the similarity between the lower and upper-case B’s. By reminding the student that the lower-case /b/ is merely a â€Å"B† with the upper semicircle missing, it might serve to remind him/her which letter corresponds with what sound. However, this may not prove generally helpful at the early ages, at which stage children are often likely to reverse all letters (including uppercase B) without readily noticing the difference. The child who is phonologically aware may still demonstrate confusion of the phonemes represented by the symbols /b/ and /d/ because of the similarity in the appearance of the two. These children may be otherwise quite able to perform the psychological and physical actions necessary to become good readers. However, such otherwise good readers may persist in confusing the two for quite a few years. The problem is not usually a great one and may be overcome using several mnemonic devices that serve to reinforce the distinction in the appearance of the two graphemes.    References Goldstein, E. B. (2007). Cognitive psychology: connecting mind, research and everyday   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   experience. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Macauslan, A. & V. Quinn. (1976). â€Å"The rotation of confusable letters in the writing of depressed children.† Child: Care, Health and Development. 2(6): 379-386. Reutzel, D. R. & R. B. Cooter. (2004). The essentials of teaching children to read: what every    teacher needs to know. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Frostbite Chapter 7

Seven I ANGRILY PUSHED THROUGH THE double doors that led into the Moroi dorm. Snow swirled in behind me, and a few people lingering on the main floor glanced up upon my entrance. Not surprisingly, several of them did double takes. Swallowing, I forced myself not to react. It would be okay. No need to freak out. Novices got injured all the time. It was actually rarer not to get injured. Admittedly, this was a more noticeable injury than most, but I could live with it until it healed, right? And it wasn't like anyone would know how I'd received it. â€Å"Hey Rose, is it true your own mother punched you?† I froze. I'd know that taunting soprano voice anywhere. Turning slowly, I looked into the deep blue eyes of Mia Rinaldi. Curly blond hair framed a face that might have been cute if not for the malicious smirk on it. A year younger than us, Mia'd taken on Lissa (and me by default) in a war to see who could tear apart the other's life most quicklya war, I should add, that she started. It had involved her stealing Lissa's ex-boyfrienddespite the fact Lissa had decided in the end she didn't want himand the spreading of all sorts of rumors. Admittedly, Mia's hatred hadn't been entirely unjustified. Lissa's older brother, Andrewho had been killed in the same car accident that technically â€Å"killed† mehad used Mia pretty badly when she was a freshman. If she weren't such a bitch now, I would have felt sorry for her. It had been wrong of him, and while I could understand her anger, I don't know that it was fair of her to take that out on Lissa in the way she did. Lissa and I had technically won the war in the end, but Mia had inexplicably bounced back. She didn't run with the same elite that she once had, but she had rebuilt a small contingent of friends. Malicious or not, strong leaders always attract followers. I'd found that about 90 percent of the time, the most effective response was to ignore her. But we had just crossed over to the other 10 percent, because it's impossible to ignore someone announcing to the world that your mother just punched youeven if it was true. I stopped walking and turned around. Mia stood near a vending machine, knowing she'd drawn me out. I didn't bother asking how she'd found out about my mother giving me the black eye. Things rarely stayed secret around here. When she caught full sight of my face, her eyes widened in unabashed delight. â€Å"Wow. Talk about a face only a mother could love.† Ha. Cute. From anyone else, I would have applauded the joke. â€Å"Well, you're the expert on face injury,† I said. â€Å"How's your nose?† Mia's icy smile twitched a little, but she didn't back down. I'd broken her nose about a month agoat a school dance of all placesand while the nose had since healed, it now sat just the tiniest bit askew. Plastic surgery could probably fix it up, but from my understanding of her family's finances, that wasn't possible just now. â€Å"It's better,† she replied primly. â€Å"Fortunately, it was only broken by a psychopathic whore and not anyone actually related to me.† I gave her my best psychopathic smile. â€Å"Too bad. Family members hit you by accident. Psychopathic whores tend to come back for more.† Threatening physical violence against her was usually a pretty sound tactic, but we had too many people around right now for that to be a legitimate concern for her. And Mia knew it. Not that I was above attacking someone in this kind of settinghell, I'd done it lots of timesbut I was trying to work on my impulse control lately. â€Å"Doesn't look like much of an accident to me,† she said. â€Å"Don't you guys have rules about face punches? I mean, that looks really far out of bounds.† I opened my mouth to tell her off, but nothing came out. She had a point. My injury was far out of bounds; in that sort of combat, you aren't supposed to hit above the neck. This was way above that forbidden line. Mia saw my hesitation, and it was like Christmas morning had come a week early for her. Until that moment, I don't think there'd ever been a time in our antagonistic relationship in which she'd rendered me speechless. â€Å"Ladies,† came a stern, female voice. The Moroi attending the front desk leaned over it and fixed us with a sharp look. â€Å"This is a lobby, not a lounge. Either go upstairs or go outside.† For a moment, breaking Mia's nose again sounded like the best idea in the worldto hell with detention or suspension. After a deep breath, I decided retreat was my most dignified action now. I stalked off toward the stairs leading up to the girls' dorm. Over my shoulder, I heard Mia call, â€Å"Don't worry, Rose. It'll go away. Besides, it's not your face guys are interested in.† Thirty seconds later, I beat on Lissa's door so hard, it was a wonder my fist didn't go through the wood. She opened it slowly and peered around. â€Å"Is it just you out here? I thought there was an army at theoh my God.† Her eyebrows shot up when she noticed the left side of my face. â€Å"What happened?† â€Å"You haven't heard already? You're probably the only one in the school who hasn't,† I grumbled. â€Å"Just let me in.† Sprawling on her bed, I told her about the day's events. She was properly appalled. â€Å"I heard you'd been hurt, but I figured it was one of your normal things,† she said. I stared up at the spackled ceiling, feeling miserable. â€Å"The worst part is, Mia was right. It wasn't an accident.† â€Å"What, you're saying your mom did it on purpose?† When I didn't answer, Lissa's voice turned incredulous. â€Å"Come on, she wouldn't do that. No way.† â€Å"Why? Because she's perfect Janine Hathaway, master of controlling her temper? The thing is, she's also perfect Janine Hathaway, master of fighting and controlling her actions. One way or another, she slipped up.† â€Å"Yeah, well,† said Lissa, â€Å"I think her stumbling and missing her punch is more likely than her doing it on purpose. She'd have to really lose her temper.† â€Å"Well, she was talking to me. That's enough to make anyone lose their temper. And I accused her of sleeping with my dad because he was the soundest evolutionary choice.† â€Å"Rose,† groaned Lissa. â€Å"You kind of left out that part in your recap. Why'd you say that to her?† â€Å"Because it's probably true.† â€Å"But you had to know it'd upset her. Why do you keep provoking her? Why can't you just make peace with her?† I sat upright. â€Å"Make peace with her? She gave me a black eye. Probably on purpose! How do I make peace with someone like that?† Lissa just shook her head and walked over to the mirror to check her makeup. The feelings coming through our bond were ones of frustration and exasperation. Lingering in the back was a bit of anticipation, too. I had the patience to examine her carefully, now that I'd finished my venting. She had on a silky lavender shirt and a knee-length black skirt. Her long hair had the kind of smooth perfection only achieved by spending an hour of your life on it with a hair dryer and flat iron. â€Å"You look nice. What's up?† Her feelings shifted slightly, her irritation with me dimming a little. â€Å"I'm meeting Christian soon.† For a few minutes there, it had felt like the old days with Lissa and me. Just us, hanging out and talking. Her mention of Christian, as well as the realization that she'd have to leave me soon for him, stirred up dark feelings in my chest†¦feelings I had to reluctantly admit were jealousy. Naturally, I didn't let on to that. â€Å"Wow. What'd he do to deserve that? Rescue orphans from a burning building? If so, you might want to make sure he didn't set the building on fire in the first place.† Christian's element was fire. It was fitting since it was the most destructive one. Laughing, she turned from the mirror and noticed me gently touching my swollen face with my fingers. Her smile turned kind. â€Å"It doesn't look that bad.† â€Å"Whatever. I can tell when you're lying, you know. And Dr. Olendzki says it'll be even worse tomorrow.† I lay back down on the bed. â€Å"There probably isn't enough concealer in the world to cover this, is there? Tasha and I'll have to invest in some Phantom of the Opera-style masks.† She sighed and sat on the bed near me. â€Å"Too bad I can't just heal it.† I smiled. â€Å"That would be nice.† The compulsion and charisma brought on by spirit were great, but really, healing was her coolest ability. The range of things she could achieve was staggering. Lissa was also thinking about what spirit could do. â€Å"I wish there were some other way to control the spirit †¦ in a way that still let me use the magic†¦.† â€Å"Yeah,† I said. I understood her burning desire to do great things and help people. It radiated off of her. Hell, I would also have liked to have this eye cleared up in an instant rather than days. â€Å"I wish there were too.† She sighed again. â€Å"And there's more to me than just wishing I could heal and do other stuff with spirit. I also, well, just miss the magic. It's still there; it's just blocked off by the pills. It's burning inside of me. It wants me, and I want it. But there's a wall between us. You just can't imagine it.† â€Å"I can, actually.† It was true. Along with having a general sense for her feelings, I could sometimes also â€Å"slip into her.† It was hard to explain and ever harder to endure. When that happened, I could literally see through her eyes and feel what she experienced. During those times, I was her. Many times, I'd been in her head while she longed for the magic, and I'd felt the burning need she spoke of. She often woke up at night, yearning for the power she could no longer reach. â€Å"Oh yeah,† she said ruefully. â€Å"I forget about that sometimes.† A sense of bitterness filled her. It wasn't directed at me so much as it was the no-win nature of her situation. Anger sparked inside of her. She didn't like feeling helpless any more than I did. The anger and frustration intensified into something darker and uglier, something I didn't like. â€Å"Hey,† I said, touching her arm. â€Å"You okay?† She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. â€Å"I just hate it.† The intensity of her feelings reminded me of our conversation, the one we'd had just before I went to the Badica house. â€Å"You still feel like the pills might be weakening?† â€Å"I don't know. A little.† â€Å"Is it getting worse?† She shook her head. â€Å"No. I still can't use the magic. I feel closer to it†¦ but it's still blocked off.† â€Å"But you still†¦ your moods †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah †¦ they're acting up. But don't worry,† she said, seeing my face. â€Å"I'm not seeing things or trying to hurt myself.† â€Å"Good.† I was glad to hear it but still worried. Even if she still couldn't touch the magic, I didn't like the idea of her mental state slipping again. Desperately, I hoped the situation would just stabilize on its own. â€Å"I'm here,† I told her softly, holding her gaze. â€Å"If anything happens that's weird†¦you tell me, okay?† Like that, the dark feelings disappeared within her. As they did, I felt a weird ripple in the bond. I can't explain what it was, but I shuddered from the force. Lissa didn't notice. Her mood perked up again, and she smiled at me. â€Å"Thanks,† she said. â€Å"I will.† I smiled, happy to see her back to normal. We lapsed into silence, and for the briefest of moments, I wanted to pour my heart out to her. I'd had so much on my mind lately: my mother, Dimitri, and the Badica house. I'd been keeping those feelings locked up, and they were tearing me apart. Now, feeling so comfortable with Lissa for the first time in a long time, I finally felt that I could let her into my feelings for a change. Before I could open my mouth, I felt her thoughts suddenly shift. They became eager and nervous. She had something she wanted to tell me, something she'd been thinking about intently. So much for pouring my heart out. If she wanted to talk, I wouldn't burden her with my problems, so I pushed them aside and waited for her to speak. â€Å"I found something in my research with Ms. Carmack. Something strange†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh?† I asked, instantly curious. Moroi usually developed their specialized element during adolescence. After that, they were put into magic classes specific to that element. But as the only spirit user on record at the moment, Lissa didn't really have a class she could join. Most people believed she just hadn't specialized, but she and Ms. Carmackthe magic teacher at St. Vladimir'shad been meeting independently to learn what they could about spirit. They researched both current and old records, checking for clues that might lead to other spirit users, now that they knew some of the telltale signs: an inability to specialize, mental instability, etc. â€Å"I didn't find any confirmed spirit users, but I did find†¦reports of, um, unexplained phenomena.† I blinked in surprise. â€Å"What kind of stuff?† I asked, pondering what would count as â€Å"unexplained phenomena† for vampires. When she and I had lived with humans, we would have been considered unexplained phenomena. â€Å"They're scattered reports†¦but, like, I read this one about a guy who could make others see things that weren't there. He could get them to believe they were seeing monsters or other people or whatever.† â€Å"That could be compulsion.† â€Å"Really powerful compulsion. I couldn't do that, and I'm strongeror used to bein it than anyone we know. And that power comes from using spirit†¦.† â€Å"So,† I finished, â€Å"you think this illusion guy must have been a spirit user too.† She nodded. â€Å"Why not contact him and find out?† â€Å"Because there's no information listed! It's secret. And there are others just as strange. Like someone who could physically drain others. People standing nearby would get weak and lose all their strength. They'd pass out. And there was someone else who could stop things in midair when they were thrown at him.† Excitement lit up her features. â€Å"He could have been an air user,† I pointed out. â€Å"Maybe,† she said. I could feel the curiosity and excitement swirling through her. She desperately wanted to believe there were others out there like her. I smiled. â€Å"Who knew? Moroi have Roswell- and Area 51-type stuff. It's a wonder I'm not being studied somewhere to see if they can figure out the bond.† Lissa's speculative mood turned teasing. â€Å"I wish I could see into your mind sometimes. I'd like to know how you feel about Mason.† â€Å"He's my friend,† I said stoutly, surprised at the abrupt change in subject. â€Å"That's it.† She tsked. â€Å"You used to flirtand do other stuffwith any guy you could get your hands on.† â€Å"Hey!† I said, offended. â€Å"I wasn't that bad.† â€Å"Okay†¦maybe not. But you don't seem interested in guys anymore.† I was interested in guyswell, one guy. â€Å"Mason's really nice,† she continued. â€Å"And crazy about you.† â€Å"He is,† I agreed. I thought about Mason, about that brief moment when I'd thought he was sexy outside Stan's class. Plus, Mason was really funny, and we got along beautifully. He wasn't a bad prospect as far as boyfriends went. â€Å"You guys are a lot alike. You're both doing things you shouldn't.† I laughed. That was also true. I recalled Mason's eagerness to take on every Strigoi in the world. I might not be ready for thatdespite my outburst in the carbut I shared some of his recklessness. It might be time to give him a shot, I thought. Bantering with him was fun, and it had been a long time since I'd kissed anyone. Dimitri made my heart ache †¦ but, well, it wasn't like anything else was going on there. Lissa watched me appraisingly, like she knew what I was thinkingwell, aside from the Dimitri stuff. â€Å"I heard Meredith say you were an idiot for not going out with him. She said it's because you think you're too good for him.† â€Å"What! That's not true.† â€Å"Hey, I didn't say it. Anyway, she said she's thinking of going after him.† â€Å"Mason and Meredith?† I scoffed. â€Å"That's a disaster in the making. They have nothing in common.† It was petty, but I'd gotten used to Mason always doting on me. Suddenly, the thought of someone else getting him irked me. â€Å"You're possessive,† Lissa said, again guessing my thoughts. No wonder she got so annoyed at me reading her mind. â€Å"Only a little.† She laughed. â€Å"Rose, even if it's not Mason, you really should start dating again. There are lots of guys who would kill to go out with youguys who are actually nice.† I hadn't always made the best choices when it came to men. Once again, the urge to spill all my worries to her seized me. I'd been hesitant to tell her about Dimitri for so long, even though the secret burned inside of me. Sitting with her here reminded me that she was my best friend. I could tell her anything, and she wouldn't judge me. But, just like earlier, I lost the chance to tell her what was on my mind. She glanced over at her alarm clock and suddenly sprang up from the bed. â€Å"I'm late! I've got to meet Christian!† Joy filled her, underscored with a bit of nervous anticipation. Love. What could you do? I swallowed back the jealousy that started to raise its ugly head. Once again, Christian had taken her away from me. I wasn't going to be able to unburden myself tonight. Lissa and I left the dorm, and she practically sprinted away, promising we'd talk tomorrow. I wandered back to my own dorm. When I got to my room, I passed by my mirror and groaned when I saw my face. Dark purple surrounded my eye. In talking to Lissa, I'd almost forgotten about the whole incident with my mother. Stopping to get a closer look, I stared at my face. Maybe it was egotistical, but I knew I looked good. I wore a C-cup and had a body much coveted in a school where most of the girls were supermodel slim. And as I'd noted earlier, my face was pretty too. On a typical day, I was a nine around hereten on a very good one. But today? Yeah. I was practically in negative numbers. I was going to look fabulous for the ski trip. â€Å"My mom beat me up,† I informed my reflection. It looked back sympathetically. With a sigh, I decided I might as well get ready for bed. There was nothing else I wanted to do tonight, and maybe extra sleep would speed the healing. I went down the hall to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my hair. When I got back to my room, I slipped on my favorite pajamas, and the feel of soft flannel cheered me up a little. I was packing my backpack for the next day when a burst of emotion abruptly shot through my bond with Lissa. It caught me unaware and gave me no chance to fight it. It was like being knocked over by a hurricane-force wind, and suddenly, I was no longer looking at my backpack. I was â€Å"inside† Lissa, experiencing her world firsthand. And that's when things got awkward. Because Lissa was with Christian. And things were getting †¦ hot.