Basseri and The Nuer :: essays papers

Basseri and The Nuer There are many cultures throughout the world, which may be far apart and yet still have similarities. Two of those such cultures, the Basseri, that live in Iran, and the Nuer, whom live in Sudan, have their differences, but also have some similarities. Many of the differences and similarities come from their subsistence strategies and the social and political organization of their societies. With the regions of the world, both the Basseri and the Nuer live in, they’ve had to adapt to the environment they live in along with the limitations imposed by that environment. Among the differences and similarities of the Basseri and the Nuer, their subsistence strategies are the most diverse in differences and similarities. Both the Basseri and the Nuer rely on their domesticated animals as a source of subsistence. A difference between the Basseri and the Nuer is that the Basseri have goats and sheep to provide the bulk of their subsistence products, while the Nuer use cattle as a source of subsistence. Another subsistence strategy of the Basseri is foraging, which is suited well for their nomadic way of life, by hunting large game and finding plants and mushrooms in the springtime. The Nuer, on the other hand, have a mixed subsistence strategy between pastoralism and horticulture. The Nuer cannot rely solely on either one, so other than the cattle they also cultivate millet, their main crop, and a small amount of maize and beans. The social and political organization of the Basseri and the Nuer are very much different. The Basseri’s social organization is based upon that of nuclear families; they are also neolocal, meaning that upon marriage a couple starts their own nuclear family in a new tent. After marriage, in order for the couple to begin a new household, the husband usually receives part of his father’s herd and at times, if not given any animals, the husband can work and receive animals as a payment. During the spring, the nomadic tribes can be supported in large numbers in a single camp; while during the winter, camps are setup in smaller groups. The Basseri reckon descent patrilineally where inheritance is usually from father to son. A woman bestows membership rights to her own tribe or her offspring. The Basseri consider themselves one unified tribe because they are all subsumed under the authority of a single leader, the chief of all the Basseri.

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR MUSIC TECHNOLOGY :: essays research papers

The technology learning process can help teachers manage information in their daily work more effectively. Word processing software allows text-based documents to be entered, edited, formatted, and printed. This is a helpful tool for creating recital programs, handouts, and tests. Database software stores and retrieves records for instrument inventories, class lists, and attendance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electronic musical instruments may be defined as those that generate sound electronically rather than acoustically. Two examples are synthesizers and digital pianos. These instruments generally have three components: a controller, modifier capabilities, and a sound generator which may be separate units or self-contained like the digital piano.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music teachers need to know how MIDI connections are made among instruments, how to use MIDI in the classroom, and how to connect MIDI instruments with computers. They need to understand how to create layered and split keyboard sounds for performances. They also need to be able to choose and edit sounds from stored libraries and create using sounds using electronic instrument. Students can use electronic instruments as musical crayons creating simple complex musical pieces while gaining dexterity and technique. They can learn musical processes with keyboards and have fun at the same time. Electronic instruments can also be used in performance to enhance traditional and electronical-acoustics ensembles. A musical performance consists of a series of sounds played in time with appropriate tempo and dynamic changes. MIDI data, however, consists of a stream of information of note events generated by the electronic controller device. This information can be stored in the order played allowing the MIDI sequenced performance to be played at a later time. A device or computer, A hardware sequencer is a device dedicated to MIDI sequencing, and workstation is electronic keyboards that have built-in sequence capabilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today, MIDI sequences are capable of storing large amounts of data. They are designed to emulate a multi-track tape recorder, a familiar metaphor for most musicians. A musician may record different musical parts onto separate tracks of the MIDI sequencer. Each track of the sequence may be assigned compositions. Unlike the tape recorder the MIDI sequencer gives musicians powerful and intuitive editing tools permitting changes and corrections without re-recording.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many software applications available to support music education. Those specifically designed to assist instruction are called Computer Assisted Instructional software or CAI. Commercially available CAI software programs are designed to help students learn music theory and music history, develop eat-training skills, and drill and test knowledge in a variety of areas.

Social Norms of State University Students Concerning Alcohol Use Essay

Social Norms of State University Students Concerning Alcohol Use Alcohol use on college campuses has been a hot issue for students and faculty for many years. Yet, there is still no concrete evidence as to the effects of alcohol use on college students. The perceived situation is college students binge drink and their grades are adversely affected. Is this a social norm? The question is whether these perceived social norms towards alcohol use on college campuses are in fact the social norms of college students. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the true social norms of State University student’s attitude and practice in regards to alcohol. The sample is significant to Bradley University, using only Bradley students. The study will benefit the Wellness Center in its current social norms campaign. The study’s goal is to better understand the attitudes and practices of Bradley students toward alcohol consumption. METHOD SECTION Before we decided what methods we were going to use to collect the information, a mock focus group was held. The mock focus group consisted of Bradley students ranging in ages from 18 through 22, and was a mixture of on-campus and off-campus students. The purpose of the mock-focus group was to decide what types of questions should be chosen to get the most useful information for the social norms campaign. The mock focus group led the study in the direction of asking students not only their personal alcohol uses, but also how other students’ drinking affects their lives. We were looking for quantitative data; therefore, the idea of a focus group was immediately rejected. Constraints of money, time and manpower prevented the use of any probability sample. Many sampling... .... The questions were not in depth, but did give direction for further study. A larger and more age-diversified study may help correct possible errors in this survey. The fact that ninety percent of students in the study resided on-campus may also have effected the campaign and should be checked for errors. The study was limited to answers provided, in majority, by those students who can not legally drink, which is a factor that could limit the study. The two areas presented above as areas of significance could benefit from further study, as more in-depth research could provide more accurate results. The results of the study indicate the perceived social norms of college students may not be true. College students are perceived as heavy drinkers, yet the results seem to indicate a majority of students consume only a few drinks per week. More in depth study is suggested.

Primary Essay

â€Å"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation†. This is the first line of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. Martian Luther King’s speech took place after the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He delivered the speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps. He voiced this speech to millions of people both blacks and whites. This speech is one of the greatest speeches of the civil rights movement, because it has many rhetorical tropes such as; repetition, assonance and consonance, pathos, logos, metaphors and ethos. Martin Luther King Jr. uses a lot of repetition in his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech. They are scattered throughout the speech but in very close proximities of each other. One of the repetitions in his â€Å"I Have a dream†. Not only is this the name of the speech of the speech but in today’s world it has become a commo n phrase used in everyday life as people announce their dream to either themselves or loved ones. The phrase is even used by children who dare to dream big. Martian Luther King Jr. uses this phase to show what he sees in the future of America. One of the phrases he uses with it is: â€Å"I have dream the one day this nation will and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.† Another is â€Å"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their nature. I have a dream today.† That part of the speech was very personal and touching. Using his own children as an example helped to touch people where the heart is. Repeating â€Å"I Have a Dream† helped people to start thinking about their own personal dreams that they might have had also. Two other repetitions Martin Luther King Jr. uses is â€Å"Let freedom ring† and â€Å"Free at last†, but I will be using those phrases in another part of this analyzed paper. In Martin Luther King Jr. speech he also uses many assonances and consonances. These are the most occurring and mostly found toward the end of his speech. One of them is â€Å"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!† This was the last word of the speech. He used this phrase to show all the listeners that African Americans have come so far and fought so hard  to get where we are today. Even though today there are many forms of slavery today, but it is nowhere near as bad as it was when slavery first started. That phrase was a very strong and powerful closing. It more than likely gave African Americas to strength and mind set to believe that the world is not what it used to be. It gave African Americans the mind set to move forward in life and stop dreading on the past. Martin Luther King Jr was trying to get us to open our mind set to see a greater tomorrow. Others are â€Å"molehill of Mississippi†, â€Å"Lookout Mountain†, â€Å"curvaceous peaks of California†, and â€Å"Rockies of Colorado†. They all have a poetic feeling to them. Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos in his speech as well as many other things. He uses pathos to appeal to all the people who were truly listening to his speech’s emotions. One of the things he says to appeal to their emotions are, â€Å"When will we be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of cities. Martin Luther King Jr. is basically saying that it is time for African American to stop moving and letting the white people take what is ours. Martin Luther King Jr. once again wants us to open our minds and see the foolery that the white people have dragged us through. Martin Luther King Jr. also says, â€Å"I have a dream that my four children will on day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character†. As I stated earlier while speaking on the repetition of â€Å"I have a dream†, that phrased grabbed attention to all those people in the audience who had children and also wished the same things for them. No parent want their child to suffer the way they did. Most parents pray to God that there children have a life that is tenfold of their own. Logos means reason. Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to show why he is delivering this speech and why he wants things to change. He is delivering this speech to show how many blacks and other races, that weren’t being treated equally, really did not have freedom like they should. â€Å"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro†. â€Å"Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’†. These quotes are just a couple of the logos quotes Martin Luther King Jr said in his speech. Metaphors, which is another useful rhetorical trope, are essential to help audiences fully understand an idea as it compares an idea with something the audience is familiar with, which is important to bring out modes such as ethos and pathos. King uses a series of more complicated metaphors in the middle of his essay. He claims that by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence,† the forefathers of America were â€Å"signing a promissory note† that all men, whatever color, would be granted the same rights. However, King then says in the view of the Negroes, the US government have given the Negroes a â€Å"bad check,† a bad check that does not promise them the same results that have been given to the white population. Later on. King says that many equal rights activists have been â€Å"battered by the storms of persecution† and the â€Å"winds of police brutality.† Through this metaphor. King paints the upholders of the Jim Crow laws, the laws suppressing blacks, in a bad light. These two metaphors both relate to ethos as the first metaphor invokes the ethic of keeping your promises while the second metaphor involves torture, something which most of the American population was against. Finally, King uses several last metaphors when he writes that with faith, it is possible to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a â€Å"beautiful symphony of brotherhood.† This metaphor, on the other hand, is related to pathos as the audience immediately feels good due to the king’s choice of words. All of these metaphors are aimed to make the audience realize that continued racial in justice will lead to total chaos while racial equality leads to a beautiful society. Overall, the metaphors King uses are effective to support the ethos and pathos as they make the audience realize that the U.S. has cheated the Negros, that those who uphold the Jim Crow laws are evil and that it is possible to transform the U.S. society. In conclusion, Martin Luther King, Jr’s most famous speech was the I Have a Dream† speech given in 1963 during one of the most famous marches in history, the 200,000-strong â€Å"March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom.† At the time, America was in the grips of racism and segregation, making the lives of many blacks living hell. â€Å"I Have a Dream,† however, played a major step into changing it. It managed to inspire a generation of blacks to never give up and made thousands of white Americans bitterly ashamed of their actions, forging a new start for society. Even now, it continues to make generations of people, not just Americans, to give up their racist beliefs and advocate social  colorblindness. W ithout King, America would be probably still heavily segregated. Other than the speech’s heartwarming and moving content, King’s effective structure along with the usage of all three rhetorical modes and certain rhetorical tropes and schemes has revealed the reason â€Å"I Have a Dream† as a masterpiece of rhetoric and it persuades hundreds of thousands of people support the blacks instead of treating them unfairly. Works Cited â€Å"The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.† The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. â€Å"Rhetorical Analysis of the â€Å"I Have a Dream† Speech.† Teen Ink. Web. 13 Feb. 2014 â€Å"Free Martin Luther King I Have a Dream Essays and Papers | Martin Luther King I Have a Dream Essays and Papers | Sorted by Rating. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. Laconi, Ally. â€Å"How to Write a Primary Source Analysis | EHow.† EHow. Demand Media, 16 May 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.

Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Vol 1

Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Vol 1 629 PRODUCTIVITY AND INDOOR ENVIRONMENT Derek Clements-Croome1 and Li Baizhan2 University of Reading, Department of Construction Management and Engineering, UK Jukes Associates, UK ABSTRACT Surveys in several office buildings have shown that crowded work places, job dissatisfaction and physical environment are the main factors affecting productivity. the data was produced and analyzed using occupational stress indicator in conjunction with the analytical hierarchical process. hermal problems, stuffiness, sick building syndrome factors and crowded work places were most frequent complaints. the results suggest that the productivity could be improved by 4 to 10% by improving the office environmental conditions. KEYWORDS: SBS, productivity, thermal comfort, perceived air quality, stress INTRODUCTION It is much higher cost to employ people then it is to maintain and operate a building, hence spending money on improving the work environment is t he most cost effective way of improving productivity because of small percentage increase in productivity of 0. % to 2% can have dramatic effects on the profitability of the company. The current state of knowledge on this subject is described by Clements-Croome [1]. Practical applications of some of this knowledge is described by Oseland and Barlett [2] METHODS This research focuses on the relationship between productivity and the indoor environment in the offices and takes into account the fact that productivity depends on other factors by using an Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) which has been developed to include an environmental dimension [3,4].OSI is a job satisfaction scale involving question or statements, asking respondent to state what they think or feel about their job as whole or specific aspects of it. Likeret scaling using five, seven or nine point scales is usually used. The OSI has been demonstrated by Arnold [5]. The occupational stress indicator is designed to g ather information about groups as well as individuals and it attempts to measure the major sources of occupational pressure; occupational stress; coping mechanisms and individual differences which may moderate the impact of stress.An environmental dimension has been built into this indicator covering temperature, ventilation, humidity, indoor air quality, lighting, noise, crowded work space and is referred to as EPOSI which has been used to gather information about the occupants in the buildings that have been surveyed. This method of self assessment provides valuable information on individual as well as group responses. The data from the questionnaire is analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) originated by Saaty[6]. AHP uses nine point judgement scales for use with detailed questionnaires aided by semi-structured interviews.The method is based on the theory of 630 Exposure, human responses and building investigations hierarchies and is a way of structuring complex mu lti-dimensional systems, by analyzing the interaction between elements in each stratum of the hierarchy in terms of their impact on elements in the stratum immediately above. It is possible to have several levels of hierarchies, but in this case five have been selected beginning with productivity followed by human factors; system factors; health factors; environmental factors. The questionnaires were answered by occupants across various work grades and tasks and were designed to elicit: background information about the organization and the workplace †¢ how much the environment and the job cause dissatisfaction †¢ the feelings of the subject about their current working situation †¢ the principle causal factors influencing health symptoms of occupants †¢ which factors influence job satisfaction and productivity Semi-structured interviews were carried out to establish more details about attitudes and reasons behind responses. Office survey A detailed environmental s urvey was carried out at an office in Reading in 1996. he questionnaire was in five sections: Section A The Questionnaire asks the occupants to judge the physical factors in the environment covering temperature, stuffiness and draughts, dryness, indoor air quality, sunlight, lightning, noise and vibration, and crowded workplaces. Questions were also asked about personal health; job stress; job satisfaction; an overall opinion about the indoor environment; including questions about five categories of sick building syndrome covering sensory irritation; skin irritations; nervous problems; nasal and odor complaints. Section BThe questionnaire concerned subjects views on how they liked the office layout and decoration as well as questions about their job in relation to productivity. They are also asked to rate how much personal control they felt had over temperature and lighting. Four questions were asked to determine self assessed productivity covering the amount of work accomplished; q uality of work; feeling of creativity; and degree of responsibility. Section C The questionnaire was concerning information which describes the characteristics of the organization, workplace and some personal information.Occupants were then asked about human factors such as well-being; ability to perform; motivation; job satisfaction and technical competence. Finally there was a group of questions concerned with indoor environment; weather; outdoor view; organizational factors; occupational factors; facilities and service; and personal factors. Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Vol 1 631 Section D The questionnaire was based on information gathered using EPOSI and five major human factors were identified which influence productivity ( well-being, ability to perform, motivation, job satisfaction, technical competence).Six system factors ( indoor environment, weather and outdoor views, organizational aspects, occupational issues, facilities and services, personal aspects) were ex amined to see how they influenced the human factors. Section E The questionnaire covered interactions between sick building sickness symptoms and an array of personal, occupational and environmental factors. RESULTS Analysis of the data shows that the level of productivity by self assessment reduces as the workspace becomes more crowded, as job dissatisfaction increases and as overall dissatisfaction of the indoor environment increases. he results lead to the overall conclusion that an average the self assessed productivity could be improved by about 10% by improving the office environmental conditions. The Spearman rank-correlation coefficient, rs, was used to assess measure of association between any two variables. The statistical analyzes of the results is given in detail by Li [7]. It was shown that a significant rank-correlation exists between self-assessed productivity and environment, job dissatisfaction and job stress, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. The association between se lf assessed productivity, environment and job factors.Factor Associated Factor Spearman RankCorrelation Coefficient Self-assessed productivity Unsatisfactory indoor -0. 49 environment Job dissatisfaction -0. 36 Job stress -0. 21 Unsatisfactory indoor Job stress +0. 31 environment Job dissatisfaction +0. 43 Job stress Job dissatisfaction +0. 36 There is unique relationship between the individual, the environment and the building they inhabit. Satisfaction with the environment. satisfaction with the environment arises from a number of issues apart from personal health (r=0. 34), sick building syndrome symptoms (r=0. 5), visual and aural problems (r=0. 36), thermal problems (r=0. 49), and crowded work space (r=0. 50). The correlation coefficients were statistically significant for p F? = 0,01 [3, 152] = 3. 92 ) (1) This indicates that subjects who suffer from physical environmental factors will suffer an increase in overall unsatisfactory environment which is positively related to ther mal problems, crowded workspace and sick building syndrome symptoms. The multiple regression equation for job satisfaction was found to be: JD = 1. 2055 + 0. 3157* JS + 0. 2572 * En + 0. 1023 * CS r = 0. 5367, F=19. 56> F? = 0,01 [3,149] = 3. 92 ) (2) This shows that high job dissatisfaction results from job stress, crowded workspace and an overall unsatisfactory environment. For self assessed productivity, the regression equation was developed using a step wise regression procedure: P=6. 8510-0. 3625*En-0. 1542*JD-0. 1329*CS (r = 0. 5083, F= 14. 86 > F? = 0,01 [3, 132] = 3. 94 (3) The principal factors which affect self assessed productivity in the offices surveyed were an overall unsatisfactory environment, crowded workspace and job dissatisfaction.A distinction was made between direct effects (i. e. those effects that do not result from any other variable in the model) and – secondary or indirect effects which arise from the interaction between one or more variables in the model. (Cohen 1983). For example an overall unsatisfactory environment has a direct effect on self assessed productivity, but there is also an indirect effect because it also affects job satisfaction which in turn also affects self assessed productivity.The total indirect effect is estimated by the product of the effects of an overall unsatisfactory environment on job satisfaction, and job satisfaction on self assessed productivity. The total effect of environment on self assessed productivity is then the result of combining the direct and indirect effects. Further analyzes showed that the most common complaints about unsatisfactory environments were those connected with high or low temperature variations; stale and stuffy air; dry or humid air. Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Vol 1 633 CONCLUSIONSThe principal conclusions were: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Individual responses illustrate that the majority of respondents believed that the o ffice environment had a direct influence on their well-being and self assessed productivity. When dissatisfaction with the environment and job were high there was a low level of self assessed productivity. Results showed that there were more occupants suffering from an overall unsatisfactory environment than from job stress and job dissatisfaction. People may be wholly satisfied with their job, but could also be quite unhappy about their work environment.In general however people reporting negative attitudes towards the environment were also the people with high job stress and job dissatisfaction. Crowded workspaces, thermal problems, and sick building symptoms due to whatever cause were the principal complaints about unsatisfactory environments. Nearly two thirds of the occupants thought that a 10% or more increase in their productivity was possible by improving the office environment. Results of the analysis also indicated that self assessed productivity could be improved by about 10%.Further analysis using the AHP model illustrated that the ability to perform, and wellbeing, were the two most important human factors that influenced the productivity of occupants in the offices surveyed. These factors together with job satisfaction and indoor environment form a virtuous cluster which is highly important in designing creative workplaces. In this study there was a small effect of the outdoor environment on productivity but this was insignificant compared to the effect of the indoor environment.Indoor air quality and pollution were the most important environmental factors influencing sick building syndrome. Compared with other personal factors (e. g. gender and type A behavior) and occupational factors, job stress was the next most significant factor which gave rise to sick building syndrome symptoms.. Results showed that the primary factors influencing productivity varied between organizations, and also between buildings or offices within the same building. Thi s research has established a reliable methodology for evaluating self assessed productivity. SymbolsCS En F JD JS p P r rs SBS Th ———— Crowded working space (7 score) An overall unsatisfactory indoor environment (7 score) For statistical F-test Job dissatisfaction (7 score) Job stress (7 score) The level of statistical significance Self assessed productivity (9 score) The correlation coefficient Spearman rank-correlation coefficient Suffer from SBS symptoms (7 score) Suffer from thermal conditions (7 score) 634 Exposure, human responses and building investigations REFERENCES: 1. Clements-Croome, D. J. , 2000, Creating the Productive Workplace, Spon Routledge. 2.Oseland, N. , Bartlett, P. , 1999, Improving Office Productivity, Longman. 3. Cooper, C. L. , 1998, Occupational Stress Indicator Management Guide, NFERNelson, Windsor. 4. Clements-Croome, D. J. , Li B. , 1995, Impact of Indoor Environment on Productivity, Workplace Comfort Forum, Royal Institute o f British Architects, London. 5. Arnold, J. , Cooper, C. L. , Robertson, I. , (1998), Work Psychology: Understanding Human Behaviour in the Workplace, 3ra Edition, Financial Times-Pitman Publishing. 6. Saaty, T. L. , 1972, Analytic Hierarchy Process, McGraw-Hill, New York. 7. Li, B. 1998, Assessing the Influence of Indoor Environment on Self Reported Productivity in Offices, Doctor of Philosophy Thesis, Department of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading. 8. Raw, G. J. , et al. , 1989, Further Findings From the Office Environment Survey, Part I: Productivity, Building Research Establishment, Note No. N79/89. 9. Anderson, D. , et al. , 1990, Statistics for Business and Economics, 4th Edition, West Publishing Company, USA. 10. Cohen, J. , Cohen, P. , 1983, Applied Multiple Regression – Correlation Analysis for Behaviourial Sciences, 2†³d Edition, Lawrence Earle Baum Associates, New Jersey/London.

Othello’s character Essay

Shakespeare’s character, Othello, was certainly a believable character. Although he was a man who was a leader, of high military/social standing, he was still just a man. Perhaps when one holds such a high standing within a community or nation, their followers/admirers tend to forget that they are, just as we all are, only human. Othello’s mistake was that he unknowingly allowed himself to be influenced by Iago. Manipulation is a very powerful tool, especially if used by someone who has taken the time to study the human mind. With manipulation comes distrust, doubt, insecurity, and perhaps even fear. Othello was manipulated beyond his ability to recognize what Iago’s ‘plan’ was. His love for Desdemona, jealousy and insecurities most likely clouded his ability to percieve what was really going on and as a result he not only committed the tragic sin of murdering his true love, but also committed the ultimate sin of self-destruction. Although the saga of Othello was written long ago, the similarities of its misadventures are very similar to those of today’s society. How many of us have been truly duped by someone that we have put our complete faith and trust in? How like the people of today to be fueled by jealousy and rage their normally crystal clear outlook could turn to complete and utter despairingly gray? What would it take to turn the complete love and devotion of a husband into a murderous stranger toward the one person that he has pledged to love for all of eternity? How sad that Iago’s extreme jealously could target and destroy something as pure and beautiful as the love Othello had for Desdemona. It is quiet tragic that such jealousy could destroy such a great and powerful military leader. It seemed for as much as Othello loved his wife, she was in fact his Achilles’ heel. I cannot imagine the sickening horror that Desdemona felt when she realized that there was no defending herself from the tiny, poisonous seed planted by Iago. There was no defense in the eyes of Othello as his wife paid the ultimate price. I wonder how many relationships today have fallen victim to tragedy because of a well-placed comment of doubt or shadow on one’s character. In today’s extreme number of murder and divorce, I think that Othello and his terrible story are quite believable.

The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWELVE

The third morning dawned as bright and valiant as the two before; and still slightly bemused but cheerful, Corlath's entourage made itself ready to follow its leader back down the mountain. Harry contrived to be the very last of the file, and she looked around her as the penultimate horse and rider left the clearing before the hall and disappeared down the close-grown trail. She had been standing where she was standing now when Corlath had stepped into the clearing before the hall, Fireheart at his heels, to bid farewell to the man he had come to see. They spoke a few words, too low for her to hear as she skulked in the background, as well as anyone on a tall bright chestnut horse with a hunting-cat at its feet could skulk; and then she saw Corlath hold out one hand, palm down and fingers spread, toward Luthe. They held each other's eyes for a long moment, and then Luthe reached out two fingers to touch the back of Corlath's hand. Corlath turned away and mounted, and the Riders began following him into the mouth of the trail. Narknon was yawning hugely, leaning against one of Sungold's forelegs. She had been grumbling to herself all morning, although she seemed to know they were leaving, since she had at last deigned to climb out of bed and follow Harry as Harry took her saddle and gear and went to fetch Sungold. Harry thought with surprise that in just two days she had grown fond of her surroundings and was sorry to leave. This place felt like home; not her home perhaps, but someone's home, accustomed to shelter and keep and befriend its master. Its emptiness did not have the hollow ring of Corlath's castle, for all that the proud City castle was more richly furnished. She told herself straitly that her affection for this place could too easily be only that she dreaded what the path away from this haven was leading her toward. She found Luthe standing beside her, with a hand gently laid on Sungold's crest – a familiarity Sungold rarely permitted any stranger. â€Å"Harry,† he said, and she blinked; no one had called her by her old nickname since that last day at the Residency, and it gave her a disconcerting flash of homesickness, for the Hillfolk could not say it as a Homelander would: Mathin called her Hari. â€Å"I believe all will go well with you: or at least that you will choose to stay on the best path of those you are offered, and that's the most any mortal can hope for. But I don't see so beautifully that I have no doubts, for you or anyone; and I am afraid for you. The darkness coming to Damar will not temper itself for a stranger. If you should need a place to come to, you may always come here. You will find it quite easily; just ride into these mountains – any Damarian mountains will do, although the nearer here the better – and say my name occasionally. I will hear you, and some guide will make itself known to you.† There was a sparkle of humor in his hooded blue eyes, but she understood that she m ight take his words seriously nonetheless. â€Å"Thank you,† she said, and Sungold walked forward, into the trees. Narknon, with a last stretch and tail-lash, bounded off before. Harry did not look back, but her peripheral vision told her how the sunlight dropped back, and the trees closed in behind her, and Luthe's clearing was only a spot of gold, a long distance away. The road down was much easier than the road up had been, for all the uncertainty of stepping downward and downward, Sungold's hocks collected under him, his hoofs delicately feeling the safety of the footing; but some cloud of foretelling, or chance, had been left behind them in the pleasant vagueness of the three days in Luthe's hall. Whatever doom lay before them now, it was a definite doom of definite shape, and the swifter they rode, the more swiftly they might meet it and have done with it, for whatever result. They camped at the edge of the foothills that night, and the army re-materialized around them; and everyone looked easier, and more relaxed, even obscurely comforted, by their few days' break, loitering in the forested feet of the mountains, listening to the birds, and catching hares and antelope for the cooking-pots. It was not all idleness, however, for Corlath's army on that morning after leaving Luthe had swelled by a few hundreds more. Terim rode up beside her as they set out, and stayed near her all day; they rode at the front, with Corlath and the Riders, and Murfoth, and the few other chieftains who led more than fifty riders to Corlath's standard. Harry saw Senay once, not many horse-lengths distant – for the riding was close – and she caught her eye and began a smile; but suddenly uncertain how the winner of the laprun trials was expected to behave to one of those defeated, and one who besides wore a sash with one's own slash mark in it, dropped her eyes before the other had a chance to respond. In the evening, however, when Harry dismounted, she found herself staring at a bay flank she did not recognize for a moment; its rider dismounted also, and was found to be Senay. This time the two young women looked at each other directly, and both smiled. So several more days passed, and Corlath's little force made a glorious and frightening thunder when it galloped; and even as Harry thought that her Outlanders did not guess there were so many in all the Hills, she thought too of what each of the Hillfolk knew: of the Northerners there were many more. Harry rode now with Terim and Senay on her either side, and the three of them ate together. Harry noticed that while the Riders as a group stayed in the same area, all seemed to have friends or blood kin from the army outside who came closer to stand by them, as Terim and Senay, for whatever reason, had chosen to stand by her. Corlath's small force would fight shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend; it was a little comforting. Mathin found her once, head against Sungold's neck and brush hanging limply in one hand. â€Å"Hari – † he said, and she started and snapped upright, and began to brush Sungold's shoulder. â€Å"Hari,† he said again, â€Å"it is only your old teacher, and there is no shame to your thoughts. We all have them; but it is the worst for you, and for all those riding with us fresh from the trials, but worst of all for you as laprun-minta and bearer of the Blue Sword. Do not be too hard on yourself.† Harry said, â€Å"I am not too hard on myself.† Mathin smiled grimly. â€Å"I don't believe you. Even young Terim, who worships the ground you walk on – † Harry snorted – â€Å"has spent the past three years riding the borders, under his father's wise and watchful eye, that he might strike his first angry blow and draw his first blood with his newly earned sword before the great battle of the Bledfi Gap. You do not have three years. It is not your fault.† â€Å"It does not matter that it is not my fault, does it?† Harry tried to smile, but Mathin's dark face was too worried, and she gave it up. â€Å"Thank you, my old teacher; I will try to remember what you say.† Mathin said softly, â€Å"You are still the keeper of my honor, Harimad-sol, and I have faith in you, whatever happens. If you forget all else, do not forget that.† â€Å"I will not,† Harry said. They had left the slight shelter of the mountains now, and rode northwest across the plain to come to the great gap in the northern range as soon as they might, where the Northern invaders would pour through. They rode quickly but without driving, for the horses and their riders needed to have the strength to engage the other army; and Corlath further hoped to arrive enough in advance of their enemy that he might choose the ground where they would meet. They had ridden over little true desert; soon after they left the foothills' border the scrub fringe of desert began turning green, and they passed the occasional carefully irrigated small holding, now silent and empty. In three days' time they would arrive at the Gate of the North, the Bledfi Gap, and Corlath called a meeting again of his Riders and the chieftains. Terim and Senay waited outside the zotar by a little fire, guarding Harry's saddle and baggage, and Harry went to hear what her king would have to say; and she remembered Luthe's words to her: â€Å"You could do worse than to believe in him.† They counted themselves. There were some foot soldiers who would meet them at the end of their ride, but only a few; there were few of the Hills who did not feel better, more useful, more real, on horseback. Barring them, they were full strength. Few of the Hillfolk came from any farther west, for the taint of the Outlanders was oppressive to them. Harry stared at her hands, burned a cinnamon-brown as dark as any Hillman's. Aerin's hair was red, she thought, and pushed back her hood; and I am a Rider. The muster came to a little shy of two thousand; and there was silence as everyone considered the Hills black with Northerners, and the width of the mountain pass. Corlath, without making any face-saving remarks about its not being as bad as it looked – For Hillfolk, thought Harry, don't seem to like that sort of thing: what would poor Sir Charles do here? – began to describe their options; but Harry, to her horror, found her mind wandering. She yanked it back, pointed it at Corlath, and it promptly ducked out again. Is this the first symptom of failure of nerve? she thought, feeling cold and clammy in spite of the dry heat. Various of the new men had questions or comments; and then the meeting broke up; and while Riders' councils always ended quietly, there was a subdued feeling to the air in the king's tent that was not pleasant. Only a few people were left when Harry stood up and faced Corlath and said, tiredly, as if she couldn't help herself: â€Å"Why do you persist in ignoring the northwest pass? I cannot believe the Northerners may not give us an unwelcome surprise by its use.† â€Å"I ignore it because it does not require my attention,† said Corlath, and while his voice was a low rumble, there was as yet no lash of anger in it. â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"You know nothing of it.† The flatness of his tone goaded her and she said: â€Å"The Outlanders make maps none so ill, and I have seen the maps of that area – and I can read maps too! And they tell me that a force, not so small as to be ignored, could slip down the northwest pass very easily, and follow the mountains east, and catch us on the plain from behind, and then your earthworks will be mounts to fall on when we are set on from our backs!† â€Å"Enough!† roared Corlath. â€Å"You I will place in a hollow in the side of the hill, so you may see from all directions, and I advise you to look overhead as well, for eagles that might be carrying rocks!† Harry turned and ran out. She noticed, without registering it, that Innath and Faran and Mathin stood listening; and she did not see the troubled looks they sent after her. The night air was cool with the sudden coolness of the desert when darkness falls, and she took a few deep breaths. Then she went to her fire, and sat down, and tried to make her face calm; and if her mind had been calm, she might have thought it strange that Senay and Terim asked her no questions; but she was relieved at their silence and wrestled as best she could with her own demons. Mathin came and sat near her also, and he too was silent, and she did not notice how he looked at her. The fires burned down, and everyone lay down to sleep. Harry chose not to sleep in the zotar that night; and Mathin stayed by her little fire as well, though he still said nothing. Harry turned on her back and stared at the sky. She let the stars swing above her for a time, and then she stood up quietly, and picked up her bedding and her saddlebag, and made her way to the horses; and she remembered what Mathin had taught her of stealth. Narknon made none of her usual protest at being disturbed, and meekly followed her. Sungold rubbed his head against her but made no sound, for war-horses are trained to silence; and she mounted him and jogged away slowly. She had a terrible headache; it had been building all evening, and now it seemed to stand out around her like a cloud. Perhaps it was a cloud indeed, for no one challenged her as she set Sungold's head west. They covered many miles before morning, for Sungold was of the best of the Hill horses, and the speed the army traveled was to him slow. Harry remembered a little spur of hills running down to the central plain that she should meet before morning broke too clearly for watching eyes to see a lone chestnut horse with a Hillman on his back working his way quickly west. She hoped, because the hills had looked overgrown on the Outlander map, and because Dedham himself had ridden so far and drawn the chart himself, that she would be able to lose herself in them; and she hoped that the stream that flowed through them would be easy to find. She was tired by the time she felt the sun on her back, and she knew Sungold was weary too, although his stride was as long and elastic as it had been hours ago. Narknon loped along beside them, keeping pace. But the hills were at hand: rough outcroppings of grey and rust-red rock, with little but lichen to meet the traveler's first look; but as Sungold picked his way around a tall grey standing stone, suddenly grass appeared before them, and Sungold's feet struck good dark earth, and then they heard the stream. Narknon reached it first; she had none of most cats' aversion to water, and leaped in, sending water in all directions, and splashing Harry playfully when she followed. â€Å"I should not have let you come with me,† Harry said to her; â€Å"but I don't suppose there's any way I could have prevented you. Thank the gods.† Sungold was laying his ears back in mock anger and striking with his forefeet as Narknon splashed him too. â€Å"And besides, I daresay Sungold would miss you, and I had to bring him.† It was after they had all soggily climbed out of the water again that she heard the hoofbeats; and she whirled around to face them. The faces of her four-footed companions remained undisturbed, and Sungold turned his head mildly to look over his shoulder at whoever approached, but this was no comfort, for they did not understand the awfulness of what she had done, or that the friends who had followed her were friends no longer. It was Senay and Terim. Their horses showed the pace they had kept worse than Sungold; but they were well mannered and stood quietly, waiting hopefully for their riders to tell them they might stop and rest, and drink and graze, as their brother was doing already. â€Å"Why did you follow me?† said Harry. â€Å"Did Corlath send you? I – I won't come back. If you take Sungold away from me, I'll go on foot.† Terim laughed. It wasn't a very good laugh, but there was some weary humor in it nonetheless. â€Å"I don't think anyone could take Sungold away from you, unless perhaps by cutting him in pieces; and we are not sent by anyone. We followed you †¦ â€Å" â€Å"We followed you because we chose to follow you,† said Senay. â€Å"And Mathin sat up and watched us go, and said nothing; and you will not send us back, for we shall follow you anyway, like Narknon.† Senay dismounted deliberately, and sent her grateful horse to the water; and Terim followed her. Harry sat down where she stood. â€Å"Do you realize what I've done? What you've done by following me?† â€Å"More or less,† said Terim. â€Å"But my father has other sons; he can afford to disinherit one or two.† Senay was pouring water over her head. â€Å"There are a few who will come to me; we will pass near my village, and I will tell them, and they will follow. There are not many left in the western end of the Horfels; but most of those there are owe allegiance to my father. The best of them, I fear, rode to join Corlath after I left for the trials; but there are some – like my father himself – who chose not to desert the land they've loved for generations.† â€Å"That will not help you when he disowns you, like Terim's father,† said Harry. Senay shook her wet hair back and smiled. â€Å"My father has too few children to lose one; and I am the only child of his first wife, and he raised me to make up my own mind. The way he did this was by yielding to me when I asked, even when I was foolish. I lived through it; and I know my own mind; and he will do what I ask him.† Harry shook her head. â€Å"Do you know where †¦ we're †¦ going?† â€Å"Of course,† said Terim, surprised. â€Å"Besides, Mathin told us, days ago.† Harry was beyond arguing; and, she realized in the back of her mind, she didn't want to argue. She was too warmed and heartened by having two more friends with her in her self-chosen exile; and unlike Sungold and Narknon she could not feel she had compelled this man and woman. â€Å"And we brought provisions,† Terim said matter-of-factly. â€Å"You shouldn't go on desperate missions without food.† â€Å"Narknon would take care of me, I think,† Harry said, trying to smile. â€Å"Even Narknon can't bake bread,† said Terim, unrolling a twist of cloth that held several loaves of the round pot-baked bread the army ate in vast quantities. They unsaddled their horses in companionable silence, and rubbed the sweat marks with grass, and the horses waded into the stream again and splashed their bellies, and then found sandy patches on the shore to roll in, scratching their backs and withers and grunting happily. Horses and riders together rested in the shade of some thin low-branching trees, till the sun was low on the western horizon; and then the riders brushed their horses till they gleamed in the twilight. And they saddled and rode out with the sunset blinding their eyes, with a long lean cat-shadow following behind. Mathin could not sleep after he had silently wished Senay and Terim speed and luck. He lay down again, and his thoughts roved back over the last weeks, and his memories were so vivid that dawn was breaking and other bodies were stirring before he thought to rise himself. Innath joined him at the fire that Senay and Terim and Harry had sat around the night before; and neither of them was surprised when they saw Corlath leave the zotar and come directly to them. They remained seated, and gazed up at him as he towered over them; but when he looked down they found they could not meet his eyes, or did not want to recognize the expression in them, and they stared into the fire again. He turned away, took a few steps, and paused; and bent, and picked something up. It was a long maroon sash, huddled in a curve in the ground, so that it looked like a shadow itself. He held it over his hand, and it hung limp like a dead animal; and the small morning breeze seemed unable to stir it.