The Next Industrial Revolution

The Next Industrial Revolution depicts the ideas of Michael Braungart and William McDonough in their attempts to transform the relationship between business and the environment or nature. The two have worked with the leading corporations such as Nike and Ford in redesigning their products, processes and buildings to meet the environmental needs. The two observe that a beneficial economic growth must conform to nature’s rule.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Next Industrial Revolution specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The idea is to present beneficial economic growth by taking care of nature. Therefore, The Next Industrial Revolution depicts economic scenarios that inspire business people to consider environmental matters seriously. Likewise, they must also realign their current institutions and businesses to conform to the rule of nature and reconsider the current business actions, consumers, and the pub lic to enhance a new and a sustainable relationship with nature (Sarandon 2002). Authors of Green to Gold, Esty and Winston note â€Å"the economy and the environment deeply intertwine with each other† (Esty and Winston 11). This is the same idea the movie presents. The authors explore some of the paradigm shift in successful companies and how these companies are shifting their methods of conducting business and environmental relations. At the same time, they also highlight how organisations are focusing profit growth, and cost reduction, increasing market share with the environmental sustainability. Modern corporations face several challenges in relation to sustainability of the environment. Consequently, firms have begun to implement environmental changes in their value chains. These changes include customers’ demands for environmental friendly products, responses to depletion of resources, concerns for waste disposals, safeguarding of brand names, and reduce the cos t associated with the environmental lawsuits. Modern organizations must meet the varied demand of their customers in order to keep their position in the marketplaces. This calls for responsibility not only for corporate firms, but also for end-users of their products. Organizations of today must adopt a strategy of sustainability to guide their success. As both Esty and Winston and the film depict, organizations must put their business and environment their top priorities. Thus, the top management of firms must formulate such policies for employees to adopt. Henry Ford clearly demonstrated this principle through his writings that â€Å"You must get the most out of the power, out of the material, and out of the time†. These principles created lean and clean operating procedures in Ford Motors. Top management must also resist any attempts to block changes that enhance environmental sustainability. A company’s stand on environmental conservation may damage its reputation among stakeholders and possibly attract lawsuit from environmentalists. Therefore, Gold to Green and The Next Industrial Revolution encourage organizations to adopt sustainable strategies in their pursuit for business.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Next Industrial Revolution shows that organizations that have adopted environmental protection strategies are constantly redesigning their services and products, and supply chains to fit the needs of nature. Therefore, sustainability becomes a part of organizational culture, and promotional strategies meant to drive revenue growth. Organizations that have adopted nature demands as a part of their corporate culture have found new markets and increased their business revenue. In other words, environmental sustainability efforts have created new markets, and new consumers that constantly need environmental friendly products. Th ese firms also save resources in terms of efficiency, waste reduction, product design, risk reduction, and cut in expenses but ultimately increase their revenues and profit. Marketing conditions such as environmental policies, ever increasing costs of energy and raw material, growing global population and intensive use of limited resources influence the conditions of contemporary companies in production of goods and services. In addition, factors such as globalization, rapid developments in IT, products innovations and evolving market requirements control companies’ decisions on productions regarding environmental sustainability. Sustainable developments focus on how companies can meet the demands of today’s consumer without interfering with the future generations. The concept of green solutions emanates from the ecological changes and processes that have occurred in the economy and society. Sustainable economy requires innovative products and processes in value chains and networks linked to the natural environment. Sustainable development follows the value chain from the product manufacturer to customer and proceeds up to the final stage of disposal of products and handling of materials in the processes of lifecycles. Decisions regarding the planning and design of products and processes form part of the integrated value chain in sustainable development. This implies that technical, economic and ecological perspectives must be incorporated into one approach. An organization, which ignores incorporating its green agenda in its marketing strategy, does not have the interests of its stakeholders. This is because by creating social and environmental values, sustainability marketing strives to create and increase consumers’ values. The idea of sustainability marketing focuses on consumers’ needs and wants. Companies try to develop sustainable products to provide solutions to modern customers through products value, prices, distributions, and promotion to the target groups. Organizations must reconsider current actions of businesses, consumers, and the public to enhance a new, sustainable relationship with nature. This will create a situation whereby organizational prosperity will continue, and economic activities will increase. Sustainability or eco-efficiency aims at changing organizations from consuming and wasting trends witnessed in the past into a system that inculcate environmental concerns, consumers’ needs, and economic. Most organizations consider sustainability as the business strategy for change.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Next Industrial Revolution specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Environmental pundits have stressed the importance of sustainability for organizations that want to remain competitive, successful and sustainable. In fact, some analysts predict that it would be impossible for some organizations to conduct business if they do not respond to the rules of nature. Organizations must add value by consuming fewer resources, release low amount of wastes, and sustain the environment. Past trends indicate that sustainability is gaining recognition among industries. A number of organizations are increasingly committing themselves to sustaining the environment such as Walt Disney, UPS, and Johnson Johnson, among others. Most of these organizations adopt the using and recycling methods to sustain nature. This trend is also gaining acceptance in both homes and workplaces because it has both eco-friendly and economic advantages. Reduction in energy consumptions, resource use, pollution, and wastes will translate into economic benefits for the value chains. This sense of eco-efficiency and sustainability of the environment has reduced fearful concerns for the future. Organizations and the public admire sustainability as a well-intended idea. However, the challenge is that is sustainability a life -long strategy for a success. Therefore, organizations that focus primarily on the profits may have challenges in implementation of a sustainability agenda into their corporate cultures. We are relying on organizations that caused the problem to bring changes in environmental conservation. These industries will slowly and persistently continue depleting resources, and make environmental conservation efforts illusions. Works Cited Esty, Daniel and Andrew Winston. Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, Build Competitive Advantage. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. Print. The Next Industrial Revolution. Dir. William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Perf. Susan Sarandon. Earthome Productions, 2002. Film.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on The Next Industrial Revolution was written and submitted by user Kenley Walter to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Modern Indo-English Poetry Essays

Modern Indo-English Poetry Essays Modern Indo-English Poetry Paper Modern Indo-English Poetry Paper Sita and Jagadhya Uma are the ideal representative of Indian womanhood and offer an opportunity to the poetess to reveal the mysterious feminine nature. Toru’s intimate feelings are expressed through them. Sarojini Naidu or the Bharat Kokila is the most lyrical woman poet of India. She made more definite contribution to Indian English Poetry. Her poetry reflects her involvement with Indian life. She is an epitome of Indian womanhood and commands respect from the younger generation as an intrepid freedom fighter. She said about herself: The lyric child had grown into the lyric woman. All the instincts of her awakening womanhood for the intoxication of love and the joy of life were deeply interfused with the more urgent need of the poet’s soul. For a perfect sympathy with its incommunicable vision its subtle and inexpressible thoughts. In her poems like â€Å"Indian Love Song†, ‘Village Song’, ‘Pardanashin’ and ‘Indian Dancers’, she has portrayed the life of Indian Woman of different sects where women are seen dancing enjoying and involved in the thoughts of their lovers. Kamla Das in her poetry carries the theme of independence in her . Another luminary poetess Gauri Deshpande shows different feminine sensitivity; full of events, baffling, sensuous and captivating. Lakshmi Kannan, a bilingual writer in Tamil and English is a well known signature of Indian English Poetry. Lakshmi Kannan, a bilingual writer in Tamil and English is a well known signature of Indian English Poetry. The poetry of Anna Sujata Modayil is poetry of experience and an insight into life. As such, it does not remain isolated from the global trends and can be corroborated by the fact that it has incorporated itself the manifestations of the feminist movements that swept through Europe, America, Canada, and Australia since 1960s. At the same time in India appeared the poetry of Kamla Das , Eunice de Souza , Mamta Kalia, Tara Patel , Imtiaz Kalia, Gauri Deshpande , Suniti Namjoshi,Gauri Pant, Lakshmi Kannan, Vimla Rao,Meena Alexander, Margaret Chatterjee, Charmayne D’Souza , Mamta Kalia, Sujata Bhatt etc. Tejdeep Menka Shivdasni and a few other women poets who not only totally upset the phallogocentric discourse of Indian English poetry by introducing in it a new array of thematic contents in new voices, but relate their experiences in their art from a broad spectrum of styles. Kamla Das is one of pioneering post-independence Indian English poets who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of modern Indian English poetry. Menka Shivadasni’s poetry hold together a private world of chaotic emotions through its logical development and its strikingly imaginative icons. Sujata Bhatt born in India and educated in the United States, now living in Germany has been shaped by cross-cutural experiences as reflected in her three collections. These and many more recent women poets bring out the conflict of gender through the Indian female psyche in its interaction and correlation with the male psyche. Written in a personal and confessional style, their poetry acts as a social document because they themselves are victims and agents of social change. In the twilight zone in which the creative mind dwells, there is a natural feminine ability to turn inwards, to accept intuition and tenderness as values long with the gentle sensitivity to one’s natural environment and to the latent communications among human beings which mobilize the feelings and imageries and bring forth the new feminine voices creating new terrains. Female bonding in literature has thus taken a variety of forms, the agenda being common,women need to come together and call into question all the diverse strategies of patriarchy.

Warbling and Garbling

Warbling and Garbling Warbling and Garbling Warbling and Garbling By Maeve Maddox I thought I knew the meaning of warble and garble. If asked to define them, Id say that warble means to sing melodiously and garble means to distort spoken words, or to distort the sense of something written. These definitions from the OED suggest that Im on the right track: warble: v. intr. To modulate the voice in singing; to sing with trills and quavers. In later use †¦ to sing softly and sweetly, in a birdlike manner; often merely a jocose substitute for sing. garble: v. To make selections from with a (usually unfair or mischievous) purpose; to mutilate (a statement, writing, etc.) with a view to misrepresentation. A singer might warble a song. A sound transmission might become garbled. A translator might garble a work in translation, or a sentence might become garbled when transcribed or digitalized. The words can still be found used with the meanings I recognize: Connie Francis warbles the hit title tune [Where the Boys Are]. Russias Mr. Trololo†¦may warble across America: The clip, which features Khil wordlessly warbling his way through a track †¦ has been viewed several million times on YouTube†¦ Some writers seem to be using warble when they mean garble: the person†¦proved your point with their warbled comment†¦it was difficult to even follow their train of thought the whole table began singing a warbled but hearty version of the song My head is full of warbled wordswords that don’t quite form the pictures because they are so outlandish. Sometimes warble and garble occur in tandem: Like some vamp from a bygone era, Connie Chung, the former CBS and CNN anchorwoman warbled and garbled - it cant be called singing - a farewell†¦ She [a court defendant] calls into question the violation of her constitutional right to have the proceedings interpreted when she says that she has been advised that the presiding officer warbled and garbled some interpretation to her. The process of digitalizing audio and video seems to have revived another meaning of warble in a sense that the OED labels obsolete: to vibrate, quiver; to wobble: Im wondering if people know how a lot of the warbled/warped sounds ala Boards Of Canada/Warp Records is achieved? I am just embarking on the ripping of old cassettes and the first one I popped into my deck today is warbled beyond repair. I convert a lot of old time radio shows to mp3s so I probably notice it more, but once you go below a certain level of kps, you start to get a warbled quality to the audio. [or should that be garbled?] And then there are the uses embedded in language whose overall meaning I can only guess at: When i tried to open an avi file with gxine, the picture was warbled and i got an error message I did what you suggested and it is better. The bounce to .wav played fine in the workspace. I open itunes imported the .wav then made an mp3 version in itunes. It was not as good as the .wav thinner sounding but none of the warbling like you were tweaking a flanger. Anybody know what a flanger is? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them)What is Dative Case?Types of Ignorance

Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 19

Music - Essay Example This is the aspect that distinguishes different artists. There are different genres of music with each having a unique history and features that define it (Patel 182). The preference for each of the genres is also considered as a way of self expression because the different genres convey varying emotions. Emotions that are expressed through music can be categorized into two groups. There are both negative and positive emotions depending on the type of mood that the emotions cause. For example, emotions such as happiness and love are expressed differently from negative emotions such as anger, resentment, grief and remorse. When students are seeking to express any of these emotions in their music, they must be aware that their gestures, body movements, facial expressions, tone variations, tempo and mode of the music as well as the accompanying instruments should be used to enhance the emotions to be expressed. When expressing negative emotions such as resentment and grief, a slow tempo is preferred. On the other end, fast tempo signifies happiness or positive emotions when used in a song (96). In a more specific way, students can use music to express emotions that define their experience as students. For example, students who are victims of bullying can use music to express the anger, resentment and the pain associated with bullying. Evidently, bullying is one of the terrible experiences that students have to handle. Such deep emotions can be expressed effectively using music as long as the student chooses the right features in conformity to the emotions being expressed. Other students have experienced the adverse effects of divorce and can rely on music to narrate their experience (300). One of the highly expressive music genres is the blues category which has its roots in African Americans who served as slaves. A close analysis of different features of the blues category can help students develop

Myths and narratives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Myths and narratives - Essay Example It goes on to explain the intricacies of the friendship between the two people, where they are a rock to each other in good times, especially when they are both enjoying and experiencing success. However, there comes time when one of them, labeled as a law breaker, makes a mistake and breaks the law, which threatens the friendship as the law-abiding friend tries to stay away from helping his friend. When the time of trial comes for the law breaker, he is sentenced to death, and because of his love for his law-abiding friend he frames him so that they are sentenced together and die together. This forms the basis of The Water Ghost narrative, which holds on to the ones it loves so that it is not left lonely in the next world. The story bears a common moral of not abandoning friends in time of needs as their love for those who abandon them could force them to take drastic measures against them leading to regrettable consequences. A critical look into the story shows that this is a rathe r uncommon occurrence as the law-breaking friend should leave the law-abiding one as he did nothing wrong. Instead, he frames him for wrongs that he did leading altogether to a paradoxical teaching and moral of friendship. However, listeners of the myth should pay attention to the intricacies of friendship and how friendships can ruin lives, even though with well-intended actions. A good highlight of this one is the way that the law-breaker frames the law abiding friend into serving a similar sentence with him despite being innocent. On the other hand, the same story shows the demerits of not meeting the expectations of friends when they are in difficult situations in spite of their actions. As such, the law abiding friend distances himself from the law breaker so that he is not implicated, but then again he gets framed to serve a similar sentence for breaking their beautiful friendship. The effectiveness of the events depicted in this story are applicable in many scenarios, especia lly when communicating a moral or social convention towards handling friendships in tight situations. As a result, the lesson acts as a guide to ward off bad friends and create awareness of different types of friendships as well as how much some friends are capable of ensuring the safety of their friends. It, however, fails in one aspect, which is that of helping with decision making towards friendships as it only portrays the positive and negative meaning of friendship likely to lead to not having any friends. At the same time the story also justifies irrational behavior in friendships. Narratives serve a crucial part in the delivery of information, where they are easily remembered by the audience, thus, bringing the concept closer to the audience (Calavera, 2008). In addition, narratives and storytelling such as the one above allow to pass concepts in fun ways and the ones that can easily be related to by the audience because stories are great ways of passing time and delivering c ommunication to the intended parties. Communication of a lesson in the form of a story is apparently different based on the evidence from studies which shows a higher level of captivation and arousal of interest as compared to the boredom brought about by following the rigid rules. These rules form a framework for resistance, while storytelling breaks away from the monotonous instruction of what should be done and that which should not. So,

McDonalds Corporation :: GCSE Business Marketing BTEC Coursework

McDonalds Resturant From just one restaurant in San Bernadino, California, run by two brothers, McDonald’s has grown to become the best known and most popular fast food restaurant chain in the world. The first McDonald’s opened in 1948. The franchising operations soon became McDonald’s Corporation in 1955. As most of the world now knows McDonald’s as the home of the Big MAC, the first restaurants had a slightly different main menu item, hot dogs. Ray Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers, Mac and Dick, for $2.7 Million in cash in 1961. Kroc’s prototype store in Des Plaines, Illinois, is now a museum. Also in 1961, Kroc opened Hamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant, in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. By 1963, McDonald’s was selling a million hamburgers a day. The company went public in 1965. In 1967 the opened their first international restaurant in Canada. In 1971, McDonald’s restaurants opened in Europe and Australia. Their signature â€Å"Big MAC† wasn’t introduced until 1968 and the first â€Å"drive-thru† McDonald’s was opened in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975. About half of McDonald’s sales were accounted to â€Å"drive-thru’s† in the late 1990’s. Their â€Å"winning† strategy has remained an unchanged through the years. It provides quality food and fast service, in a clean environment at an affordable price. It has been noticed throughout the running of McDonald’s that they tend to market to the eyes of children with Ronald McDonald as their notorious â€Å"spokesclown† that is recognized by 96% of American children. Also, in 1998, McDonald’s signed a long-term deal with the Walt Disney Company to include Disney merchandise as giveaways in its Happy Meals. The â€Å"Made for you† concept menu was also introduced in 1998. It was introduced to revamp kitchens and promote sandwiches made especially for the consumer. This was to keep food fresher. It is a computer based production system. McDonald’s developed the software itself. The new system will also replace the â€Å"batch† method where food is often made before the consumer enters the restaurant. In 1998, McDonald’s, in order to remain strong, tested the â€Å"McDonald’s Big Xtras† or â€Å"MBX† which was a potential hit. The â€Å"MBX† was a 4.5-ounce burger launched mainly to compete with Burger King’s â€Å"Whopper†. It was also reminiscent of the1980s â€Å"McDLT†, In ’98; they also brought back the â€Å"Filet-O-Fish† which in 1996 had been replaced by â€Å"Fish Filet Deluxe†. On a promotion basis, they offered novelty sandwiches, like â€Å"Cheddar Melt† and the â€Å"McRib†.

Succubus on Top CHAPTER 18

â€Å"That's not funny,† I said. â€Å"Seems like a reasonable question.† I looked at him and then wrapped my arms around myself. â€Å"Is that all you're going to say?† â€Å"I†¦I don't really know what else to say.† â€Å"This is the part where you yell at me.† His eyebrows rose. â€Å"Oh, I see. I didn't know this was already scripted out. â€Å" â€Å"That's not what†¦look. I slept with someone else. And not just slept. I didn't have to do it†¦not the way I have to with humans. You get that, right?† â€Å"Yes,† he said, still dead calm. â€Å"And I wasn't drunk or anything. Tipsy maybe, but still in control of my senses.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So aren't you mad?† â€Å"Stunned is the dominant emotion at the moment. Finding out someone impersonated you is almost more troubling than the sex part.† â€Å"He didn't impersonate you, perse†¦I mean, I knew it was him.† â€Å"I know. But it's still weird.† When he fell silent again, I could only stare with incredulity. He caught my look and retuned it. â€Å"What do you want?† This time he did sound annoyed, almost angry. â€Å"Do you want me to be mad? Will that like†¦punish you or something? Is that what you want?† I said nothing and realized that was exactly what I wanted. I had read a book once where a guy accidentally killed a girl while driving drunk. His powerful family had managed to keep him out of jail, and he'd hated it. He'd wanted the cleansing catharsis of real punishment, of paying for his crimes. Right now, I needed the same thing. â€Å"I deserve it,† I told Seth. His voice was cold. â€Å"Well, I'm not going to give it to you right now. You can't dictate what I feel. Sorry.† My mouth started to drop open, unsure what to do with this turn of events. The ringing of my cell phone interrupted my rumination. I glanced at my purse, then let the phone go to voice mail. A moment later, it rang again. â€Å"You should answer it,† Seth told me. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I wanted to crawl into a hole. But I got the phone and read the display. No one I recognized. Sometimes that was Jerome. If I didn't answer, the demon was likely to teleport on over, and that was quite possibly the only thing that could make this scenario worse. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said softly to Seth, just before I answered. I didn't know if I was apologizing for the interruption or what I'd done with Bastien. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Hey, Georgina. This is Wyatt.† It took me a moment. From Doug's band. â€Å"Hey, how's it going?† â€Å"Bad. I didn't know who else to call. I'm at the hospital with Doug. â€Å" My heart stopped. â€Å"Oh my God. What happened?† â€Å"He, uh, took some pills.† â€Å"What kind of pills?† â€Å"Not sure. But he took a whole bottle of them.† Wyatt's news spurred Seth and me to action. It was funny how tragedy could override anger. Whatever unresolved issues ensnared us, we put them on hold as I drove us downtown. Wyatt had briefly told the rest of the story as I'd left my apartment at a run. Alec hadn't come through with his latest shipment. Doug had crashed again, plunging into that frightening darkness I'd observed before. Wyatt didn't entirely know what had triggered the overdose. He blamed everything from a suicidal urge to a desperate attempt at recapturing the high through other means. The emergency room had pumped his stomach, and the doctor said he was okay for now, but he hadn't yet regained consciousness. Wyatt had called me because Doug had no family here, and no one knew how to contact the ones who lived out of town. Corey and Min were there when we arrived. They elaborated a bit more for us and said there was no change in Doug's condition. Seth stayed silent, but I could tell he was as concerned as I was. I asked if I could see Doug, and a nurse told me I could. I entered the room alone and found him asleep, hooked up to tubes and a bleeping machine. I had watched medical technology change over the years, from leeches to defibrillators, but that didn't mean I felt comfortable with any of it. Machines that kept people alive rubbed me the wrong way. They weren't natural, even if they did good. â€Å"Oh, Doug,† I murmured, sitting at his bedside. His skin was pale, his hand cold and clammy. The bleeping machine registered a steady heartbeat, so that was something. None of the other readouts meant anything to me. I watched him, feeling helpless. Mortals, I thought, were fragile things, and there was nothing I could do about that. Many, many years ago, Bastien and I had worked at a dance hall in Paris. Dancers in those days were almost always prostitutes too, but I hadn't minded. The opportunity had provided me with both succubus energy and monetary income. Bastien had been a bouncer and ostensibly my lover. This allowed him to sing my praises, bolstering my reputation and sending me a large clientele. â€Å"There's a young man who shows up every night,† the incubus told me one day. â€Å"He has ‘virgin' stamped all over him, but he's rich too. I've talked to him a few times. He doesn't like the idea of paying for sex, but he's completely obsessed with you.† The news pleased me, and when Bastien pointed out the gentleman, I made a lot of eye contact with him throughout the performance. Sure enough, a manservant of his discretely solicited me on behalf of his employer afterward, and I hurried to prepare myself backstage. â€Å"Josephine,† called a voice beside me. I turned and saw another dancer, an especial friend of mine named Dominique. â€Å"Hey,† I told her, grinning. â€Å"I have a nice prospect I've got to get to.† Her grim face made me pause. â€Å"What's wrong?† Dominique was small and blond, with an almost waifish appearance that made her look like she wasn't getting enough to eat. That wasn't a surprise, however. None of us in that profession ever got enough to eat. â€Å"Josephine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she murmured, blue eyes wide. â€Å"I need your help. I think†¦I think I'm pregnant.† I stopped in my tracks. â€Å"Are you sure?† â€Å"Pretty sure. I†¦I don't know what to do. I need this job. You know I do.† I nodded. From the wings, Jean – the man who took cuts from our liaisons – yelled at me to hurry up and meet my young man. I gave Dominique a quick hug. â€Å"I have to go do this. I'll find you later, okay? We'll figure something out.† But I never really got a later. The young man, Etienne, proved to be adorable. He was much younger than my apparent age, and engaged to be married. He was torn on the issue of sex. Part of him felt he needed to be pure for his bride; the other part wanted to be experienced on his wedding night. That was the part that won out, the part that brought him to my bed and gave me the succubus bonus of both a moral corruption and an energy yield. He resented me for both my lifestyle and my hold over him, but that didn't stop him from coming back every day for the next few weeks. â€Å"I hate you for this,† he told me one day after we'd been together. He lay back against the sheets, in a sweaty, postcoital repose. I stood near the bed, putting my clothes on while he watched. â€Å"Marry me.† I laughed out loud, tossing my hair – then honey blond and curly – over one shoulder. He flushed angrily. He had dark eyes and hair and a perennially brooding look. â€Å"Is that funny?† â€Å"Only because you hate me in one breath and love me in the other.† I smiled as I laced up my undergarments. â€Å"I suppose there are a lot of marriages like that.† â€Å"Not everything's a joke,† he said. â€Å"Maybe not,† I agreed. â€Å"But this comes pretty close.† â€Å"Are you turning me down?† I pulled my dress over my head. â€Å"Of course I am. You have no idea what you're asking. It's ridiculous.† â€Å"You treat me like I'm a child sometimes,† he declared, sitting up straighten â€Å"You're not that much older than me. You have no right to act so wise†¦especially since you're a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I grinned at him. â€Å"A whore?† He had the grace to look embarrassed. â€Å"And that, sweeting, is the problem. Never mind your family's scandalized reaction. Even if we managed to pull it off, you'd never get over that. You'd spend the rest of our marriage – which would probably be short-lived – obsessing about all the men I'd been with. Wondering if one of them had been better. Wondering if I'd done something with them that you thought was new and novel with you.† Angry, he stood up and pulled on his pants. â€Å"I would have thought you'd be grateful.† â€Å"Flattered,† I said coldly, â€Å"but nothing more.† That wasn't entirely true. The truth was, despite his youthful certainty and mood swings, I liked Etienne. A lot. Something about him appealed to me. Maybe it was because all that emotionality and pride came from an artistic nature. He painted as a hobby. There it was again, my unfortunate obsession with creative men. Luckily, at that time in my life, I had enough sense to avoid deep entanglements with humans. â€Å"I wish you could choose who you love,† he said bitterly. â€Å"Because I wouldn't choose you, you know. But, here we are. I can't stop thinking about you. I feel like there's some pull to you I can't fight.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said gently, surprised at the small ache in my heart. â€Å"Wait until you're married. Your wife will make you forget all about me.† â€Å"No. She doesn't even compare.† â€Å"Plain?† Egotistical of me, perhaps, but I heard it a lot. â€Å"Boring,† he replied. Then I'd heard a scream, a bloodcurdling, horror-filled scream. I forgot all about Etienne and tore out of the small, dank room. Down the hall I ran until I found a congregation of people and the source of distress. It was Dominique. She sprawled over a narrow pallet, lying in blood. â€Å"My God,† I gasped, kneeling beside her. â€Å"What happened?† But I already knew. I didn't need the forthcoming explanation from the other dancers. I had neglected her pleas for help a couple weeks ago, caught up in my own whirlwind romance. So she had sought her own solution, as so many lower-class women often did. Unfortunately, there were no machines or sanitizing in those days. An abortion was a dangerous, often deadly, business. â€Å"Oh God,† I said again. I had never lost the need to appeal to my creator, despite my theoretical renouncement. I clutched her hand, not knowing what to do. A half-dressed Etienne appeared in the crowd. I looked up at him desperately. â€Å"You have to go get a doctor. Please.† Whatever injured pride he harbored over my rejection, he couldn't refuse me in that moment. I saw him make motions to leave, but Bastien grabbed his arm. â€Å"No, it doesn't matter.† To me he said: â€Å"She's gone, Fleur .† I looked at Dominique's young face. Her skin was pale, eyes blank and glazed over as they stared at nothing. I knew I should close them, but suddenly I didn't want to touch her. I dropped her hand, slowly backing up, staring in horror. It was by no means the first time I'd seen a dead body, but something struck me about it then I'd never really considered with such shocking clarity. One moment she was here, the next she wasn't. Oh, the difference one heartbeat could make. The stink of mortality hung in the air, painting the awful truth about humans. How short their lives were. And fragile. They were like paper dolls among us, turning to ash in the blink of an eye. How many had I seen come and go in over a millennium? How many had I seen pass from infancy to a gray-haired death? The stink of mortality. It threatened to overwhelm the room. How could no one else sense it? I hated it†¦and I feared it. Feeling suffocated, I backed up further. Both Bastien and Etienne reached for me in some fumbling attempt at comfort, but I wanted none of it. Dominique, barely out of childhood, had just bled her life away in front of me. What fragile things humans were. I had to get out of there before I became sick. I turned from those who would console me and ran away. â€Å"What fragile things humans are,† I murmured to Doug. The feeling that welled up within me now as I sat beside him was not sorrow or despair. It was anger. White-hot anger. Humans were fragile, but some of them were still in my care. And whether that was foolish or not on my part, I could not shirk my duty. Doug was one of my humans. And someone had nearly cut his time short. I stood up, gave his hand a last squeeze, and strode out of the room. From the shocked glances Corey, Min, and Wyatt gave me, I must have looked terrifying. I hit the pause button on my righteous fury when I noticed something. â€Å"Where's Seth?† â€Å"He said he had to go,† said Corey. â€Å"He left you this.† He handed me a scrap of paper with Seth's scrawled writing. Thetis, I'll talk to you later. I stared at it, suddenly feeling nothing. I went numb. My mind would not allow me to focus on Seth just then. I crumpled the paper up, said good-bye to the band, and left the hospital. When I reached the lobby, I took out my cell phone and dialed. â€Å"Alec? This is Georgina.† â€Å"Hey, Georgina!† I heard the anxious note in his voice. Almost desperate. â€Å"You were right,† I began, hoping I sounded anxious too. â€Å"You were right. I need more. Now. Tonight. Can you do it?† â€Å"Yes,† he said. There was palpable relief in his voice. â€Å"Absolutely I can do it.† We set up a meeting spot immediately. It couldn't be too soon for me. I'd been on an emotional roller coaster in the last twenty-four hours, and I was about to take it out on Alec. I couldn't wait. The fact that he seemed so eager for it was icing on the cake. â€Å"Oh, hey, Georgina?† he asked, just before we disconnected. â€Å"Yeah?† His voice sounded strange; I couldn't decipher the emotion. â€Å"You have no idea how glad I am you called.†