Ancient giza Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ancient giza - Research Paper Example The pyramid is believed to have been built as a tomb for one Egyptian Pharaoh whose name was Khufu. This explains the name Pyramid of Khufu. The name is translated as Cheops in Greek language and this also explains why the pyramid is also known as Pyramid of Cheops. Khufu was a pharaoh in the fourth dynasty. How pyramids were built. Pyramids were normally built from quarry stones. One of the major challenges faced by the Egyptians during early pyramid building was the mobility of the huge rocks as well as other raw materials. The illustrations from the Djehutihoep of the twelfth dynasty show an alabaster statue being pulled by around one hundred and seventy two people. It is estimated that the statue was about sixty tons heavy. It further estimated that one rock block required about forty five workers to move a block of about sixteen thousand three hundred kilogram (Penn State University 23). The Symbolism of Pyramids The shape of pyramids in early Egypt are said to have been symboli c. They are believed to have been representing primordial mound. The early Egyptians believed that the earth had been created from the primordial mound. The shape itself was believed to be a representation of the sunrays. For this reason most pyramids were from high polished and reflective white limestone. The purpose of this was to give the pyramid a shiny look like the sun. Some pyramids were given names that give them a sunny description. For instance, the pyramid at Senwosret in El-Lalun was formed named as Senwosret is shining. While it is generally accepted that the pyramids were general burial monuments, there have been continued disagreement about the particular theological foundational principles surrounded them. One of the theories is that they had been designed as a form of "resurrection machine.† The mummies in the pyramids were actually thought to continue with their lives (Lehner 84). The Egyptians had believed that the dark area brought by the night sky which th e stars appeared around was a heaven gate way. There was a sharp pointed end at the top of the pyramid. This has been believed to suggest that the pyramids were actually a way to send the demised pharaohs to the gods through this opening. Most of the Egyptian pyramids were located on or closer to the banks of river Nile. Most of these pyramids were found on the West of river Nile. This was where the sun normally set. This is said to have a symbol of representation of the demise of the pharaoh to be buried in that pyramid. This can be logically attributed that Nile was an important source of raw materials. The alluvial soil from the river banks as well as the proximity to a large quantity of water. Most of the Egyptian is desert and therefore proximity too water for such heavy construction is very important. The ancient Egypt had an elaborate and complex form of civilization. In fact the civilization from ancient Egypt is said to have influenced civilization in other parts of the wor ld. Although Arabic is the currently widely spoken language the Egyptian language was an indigenous language that was spoken during the ancient. They even had laws (Shupak 103). The language can be evidence from the specific kind of writing that existed in the ancient Egypt. The writings are known as the hieroglyphics. These writings were normally preserved on reeds, papyrus reeds. The Egyptian language kept evolving. The Coptic language was a stage of the

If all states were democratic, would we ever go to war Essay

If all states were democratic, would we ever go to war - Essay Example In this report, we are to discuss the Democratic Peace Theory in detail, while also arguing for and against the ideologies published. Many researchers have throughout taken examples and tried to prove that democracy might not be in the end the substantial basis that led to the decline in wars. However, there are still many more researchers that have inevitably proven that democracy or conversion to democracy did indeed reduce the chances of the democratic going on wars. While the reasons underlying are several, we are here to discuss exactly this. Many nations have believed in democracy, many have converted, while several others are attempting to convert further on. What is the basis of this conversion and is this the right step to take for any converting nation? Is there an intermediate state and are there factors that actually lead to reduction in aggressive behavior or actions by nations on the path to democracy? Then again, what is democracy and how will we define wars. The main motive behind this paper is to explain all these questions. So let us begin our tryst with the understanding of Democratic Peace Theory (DPT), undertaking all possible arguments withheld by researchers before. In his essay, Perpetual Peace, Immanuel Kant cited his belief that nations on a republican path will be more inclined towards peace; hence, either not warring at all or minimizing the war to extent. According to him, being constitutional republic was one of the immaculate conditions for nations in order for peace to prevail. He also cited that people following the republican view would never agree to go on war, unless they do so in self defense. Keeping this in mind, he further suggested that in order for the peace to reside in the world, it is extremely important that all nations become republic. This was the view in the eighteenth century, when republic was

The hippocratic oath

The hippocratic oath This is the scenario: You are terminally ill, all medical treatments acceptable to you have been exhausted, and the suffering in its different forms is unbearable. Because the illness is serious, you recognize that your life is drawing to a close. Euthanasia comes to mind as a way of release. The dilemma is awesome. But it has to be faced. Should you battle on, take the pain, endure the indignity, and await the inevitable end, which may be days, weeks, or months away? Or should you take control of the situation and resort to some form of euthanasia, which in its modern-language definition has come to mean help with a good death? (Humphry, 1) The aforementioned circumstance is one that millions of people meet in the United States each year; despite the worlds advanced medical technologies, no one has discovered cures for diseases such as cancer or AIDS. Euthanasia is when a doctor intentionally kills a person by the administration of drugs at that persons voluntary and competent reque st. Physician assisted suicide is when a doctor intentionally helps a patient to commit suicide by providing drugs for self-administration at that persons voluntary and competent request. The euthanasia of humans probably dates back to the beginning of time but the earliest mention of it can be noted in the Hippocratic Oath. The use of the Hippocratic Oath has continued since it was adopted by those in the medical profession but not all types of euthanasia are openly linked to doctors. Uses in colonial America, Europe during the Holocaust, and even most cases in modern society today do not involve direct contact by a doctor. The Hippocratic Oath was written between 400 and 300 B.C. The exact date is not known because the work is likely not that of Hippocrates; many professors and higher scholars who taught in that era took the works of their pupils and submitted them as their own. This oath is only mentioned in accordance when speaking about euthanasia because it is the first document essentially discerning the act of euthanasia. Hippocrates stated I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. In the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath, this has been translated to I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I ma ke a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art. Around the 1970s, many medical schools in America and other countries chose to abandon the use of the Hippocratic oath as part of their ceremony for graduation so many doctors who treat patients now have no idea what the oath is comprised of. The old Hippocratic Oath is no longer suitable for modern times and is, therefore, subject to a variety of interpretations. Depending on the individual, such oaths may be perceived critical to the way in which a particular physician perceives himself or herself, or it may be seen as another rite of passage, important in form but unimportant in detail. Even, however, if it is believed to be merely a symbolic rite of passage that does not become a part of what an individual thinks he/she is, it does constitute a public avowal and a public pledge. These oaths almost invariably promise, above all, fealty to ones actual or potential patients and to work for their good regardless of religion or lack thereof, race, ethnicity, gender, party or socioeconomic considerations. It is said to be freely taken and not to have been coerced (Loewy, 1). This being said, most doctors assume that it is morally wrong to kill a patient no matter their medical history or the oath they took at the time of their completion of medical school. When confronted with the concept of human euthanasia, countless people would say that they would want their family member alleviated of pain when in the process of death, so why not provide a catalyst in the process of dying by early euthanization instead of letting them experience misery for a longer period? The main question when speaking of physician assisted suicide, or even suicide for medical reasons, is: should it be conducted? From The Arguments for Euthanasia, Past U.S. and British advocates typically adduced the same four arguments used today to justify euthanasia: 1) It is a human right born of self-determination; 2) it would produce more good than harm, mainly through pain relief; 3) there is no substantive distinction between active euthanasia and the withdrawal of the life-sustaining medical interventions; and 4) its legalization would not produce deleterious consequence. As Eugene Debs and Dr. Millard claimed in 1913 and 1931, respectively, patients have a right to con trol the manner of their death and, more specifically, terminally ill patients have the right to a quick and painless death with physicians help (Emanuel, 3). Overall, Eugene Debs and Dr. Millard were correct in their beliefs at the time but as the world has become industrialized, so have the reasons developed for which euthanasia should be legalized. As stated before, the natural extension of patient rights and alleviation of suffering of terminally ill patients are key points; however, now we can see reasons such as minimization of health care costs when it does not aid in the betterment of the patient. Emanuel brings up another great factor in his Arguments for Euthanasia passage when he mentions a passage from A. Bach-Medico-Legal Congress, There are also cases in which the ending of human life by physicians is not only morally right, but an act of humanity. I refer to cases of absolutely incurable, fatal and agonizing disease or condition, where death is certain and necessarily attended by excruciating pain, when it is the wish of the victim that a deadly drug should be administered to end his life and terminate his irremediable suffering (Emanuel, 3). Many people have written letters and provided in depth stories as to why they think suicide by the terminally ill is justified. Before Carol Bernstein Ferry took her own life in 2001, she wrote a letter explaining her decision in the hopes that it would contribute to an understanding of euthanasia. That is why I am writing this letter, explaining why I choose to take active steps to end my life rather than waiting for death to come gradually. With his letter I also want to make it clear that, although I have the support and tacit agreement of my children and close friends, no one but myself will take the steps that cause death. If is unfortunate that I must say this; our laws are at a destructive point just now, so if anyone other than myself actually causes my death, that person will be liable to convictio n as a felon. What an absurdity! To help someone facing a time-whether short or long-of pain and distress, whose death coming bit by bit can cause major sorrow and anxiety to family and friends, not to mention the medical help, quite useless, that must be expended in order to maintain a bearable level of pain-that this sensible deed can be construed a crime is a blot on tour legal system and on our power of thought (Ferry, 8). Many in government either feel very negatively towards Ferrys attitude or are afraid to express their true feelings on the subject as the opposite spectrum of the euthanasia debate-negatives of legalization-is broached. Any of the types of physician assisted suicide, whether it be direct (as in the doctor being present) or indirect (as in the doctor prescribing enough medication to overdose) can be construed as homicide, although it would technically be hard to tell in the case of indirect assistance since many of the amounts of medicine that terminally ill pa tients take can cause an overdose simply by accident. Much weight is placed on the Hippocratic injunction to do no harm. It has been asserted that sanctioning physician-assisted suicide would give doctors as license to kill, and physicians who accede to such requests have been branded by some as murderers. This is both illogical and inflammatory. Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment-for example, disconnecting a ventilator at a patients request-is accepted by society, yet this requires a more definitive act by a physician than prescribing a medication that a patient has requested and is free to take or not, as he or she sees fit. Why should the latter be perceived as doing harm when the former is not (Rogatz, 31)? When articulating on the subject of euthanasia, most people present the fact that advanced medical technology has made it possible to increase human life span and treat patients in pain as in The Ethics of Euthanasia, It is argued that requests for assisted suicide come largely from patients who havent received adequate pain control or who are clinically depressed and havent been properly diagnosed or treated. There is no question that proper management of such conditions would significantly reduce the number of patients who consider suicide.However, treatable pain is not the only reason, or even the most common reason, why patients seek to end their lives. Severe body wasting, intractable vomiting, urinary and bowel incontinence, immobility, and total dependence are recognized as more important than pain in the desire for hastened death (Rogatz, 31). This stated, the more dependent people become upon their family or people employed to care for them, the more they know that their lives are ready to be over. At this point in time, many people who wish to die can simply have themselves removed from whatever machines may be extending their lives though this rarely leads to an immediate death and causes numerous patients to suffer if doctors will not p rescribe medication for pain treatment. It is argued that requests for assisted suicide are not frequent enough to warrant changing the law. Interestingly, some physicians say they have rarely, if ever, received such requests, while others say they have often received requests. This is a curious discrepancy, but I think it can be explained: the patient who seeks help with suicide will cautiously test a physicians receptivity to the idea and simply wont approach a physician who is unreceptive. Thus, there are two subsets of physicians in this situation: those who are open to the idea of assisted suicide and those who arent (Rogatz, 31). This seems to be a trend among authors who loom along the offenses of being protagonists in the line of PAS because Humphry and Clement also mention the decline of the doctor-patient relationship early in their book. Societal changes and discretionary abuses within the medical community have led to a distrust of the medical profession and a decline in the doctor-patient relationship. This deterioration of confidence is yet another force of activism that has propelled PAS to its current mainstream status. The elements of trust that existed before World War II were strong enough to legitimize a paternalistic attitude on the part of the doctor. But when trust diminished, so did the publics willingness to accept the doctors authority. Patient autonomy, spurred on by the rights culture of the 1960, increased, and with it came further acceptance of the right-to-die movementOpinion surveys have, over the years, inquired into the degree of confidence that Americans have in various institutions including congress, the press, universities, and the medical profession. The declines have been dramatic and nowhere more pronounced than in medicine. Looking at confidence in medicine from 1966-1994, the numbers speak for themselves: seventy-three percent (1966), forty-three percent (1975), thirty-five percent (1985), and twenty-three percent (19 94) (Clement, 35). Granted the studies are quite a bit dated, this was the most up-to-date information when the book was published, and is still the most correctly represented data used today. It is often argued that once we open the door physician-assisted suicide, we will find ourselves on a slippery slope

Free Essays on The Stranger (The Outsider): Freedom and Death :: Camus Stranger Essays

Freedom and Death in The Stranger (The Outsider)  Ã‚      In The Stranger (The Outsider), as in all Camus’ works, Camus’ views on freedom and death – one dependent on the other – are major themes. For Camus, freedom arises in awareness of one’s life, the every-moment life, an intense glorious life that needs no redeeming, no regrets, no tears. Death is unjustifiable, absurd; it is but a reintegration into the cosmos for a â€Å"free† man. Until a person reaches this awareness, life, like death, is absurd, and indeed, generically, life remains absurd, though each individual’s life can be valuable and meaningful to him. In a sense, The Stranger is a parable of Camus’ philosophy, with emphasis on that which is required for freedom. Meursault, hero of The Stranger, is not a person one would be apt to meet in reality in this respect; Meursault does not achieve the awakening of consciousness, so essential to freedom and to living Camus’ philosophy until the very end of the book, yet h e has lived his entire life in according with the morality of Camus’ philosophy. His equivalent in the Christian philosophy would be an irreligious person whose homeland has never encountered Christianity who, upon having it explained by a missionary, realizes he has never sinned. What is the morality, the qualities necessary for freedom, which Meursault manifested? First, the ruling trait of his character is his passion for the absolute truth. While in Meursault this takes the form of a truth of being and feeling, it is still the truth necessary to the conquest of the self or of the world. This passion is so profound that it obtains even when denying it might save his life. Second, and not unrelated to the first, is Meursault’s acceptance of nature as what it is and nothing more, his rejection of the supernatural, including any god. Actually, â€Å"rejection† of God is not accurate until later when he is challenged to accept the concept; Meursault simply has ne ver considered God and religion worthwhile pursuing. The natural makes sense; the supernatural doesn’t. It follows that death to Meursault also is what it is naturally; the end of life, cessation, and that is all. Third, and logically following, Meursault lives entirely in the present. The past is past and dwelling upon it in any mood is simply a waste of the present. As to the future, the ultimate future is death; to sacrifice the present to the future is equivalent to sacrificing life to death.

Filipino Women Writers and Jose Garcia Villa Essay

Estrella D. Alfon (July 18, 1917 – December 28, 1983) was a well-known prolific Filipina author who wrote in English. Because of continued poor health, she could manage only an A. A. degree from the University of the Philippines. She then became a member of the U. P. writers club and earned and was given the privileged post of National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U. P. Creative Writing Center. She died in the year 1983 at the age of 66. Estrella Alfon was born in Cebu City in 1917. Unlike other writers of her time, she did not come from the intelligentsia. Her parents were shopkeepers in Cebu. [1] She attended college, and studied medicine. When she was mistakenly diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanitarium, she resigned from her pre-medical education, and left with an Associate of Arts degree. Alfon has several children: Alan Rivera, Esmeralda â€Å"Mimi† Rivera, Brian Alfon, Estrella â€Å"Twinkie† Alfon, and Rita â€Å"Daday† Alfon (deceased). She has 10 grandchildren. Her youngest daughter, was a stewardess for Saudi Arabian Airlines, and was part of the Flight 163 crew on August 19, 1980, when an in-flight fire forced the aircraft to land in Riyadh. A delayed evacuation resulted in the death of everyone aboard the flight. Alfon died on December 28, 1983, following a heart attack suffered on-stage during Awards night of the Manila Film Festival. Professional She was a student in Cebu when she first published her short stories, in periodicals such as Graphic Weekly Magazine, Philippine Magazine, and the Sunday Tribune. She was a storywriter, playwright, and journalist. In spite of being a proud Cebuana, she wrote almost exclusively in English. She published her first story, â€Å"Grey Confetti†, in the Graphic in 1935. She was the only female member of the Veronicans, an avant garde group of writers in the 1930s led by Francisco Arcellana and H. R. Ocampo, she was also regarded as their muse. The Veronicans are recognized as the first group of Filipino writers to write almost exclusively in English and were formed prior to the World War II. She is also reportedly the most prolific Filipina writer prior to World War II. She was a regular contributor to Manila-based national magazines, she had several stories cited in Jose Garcia Villa’s annual honor rolls. Alfon was one writer who unashamedly drew from her own real-life experiences. In some stories, the first-person narrator is â€Å"Estrella† or â€Å"Esther. † She is not just a writer, but one who consciously refers to her act of writing the stories. In other stories, Alfon is still easily identifiable in her first-person reminiscences of the past: evacuation during the Japanese occupation; estrangement from a husband; life after the war. In the Espeleta stories, Alfon uses the editorial â€Å"we† to indicate that as a member of that community, she shares their feelings and responses towards the incidents in the story. But she sometimes slips back to being a first-person narrator. The impression is that although she shares the sentiments of her neighbors, she is still a distinct personality who detaches herself from the scene in order to understand it better. This device of separating herself as narrator from the other characters is contained within the larger strategy of ? distantiation? that of the writer from her strongly autobiographical material. – Thelma E. Arambulo| †| In the 1950s, her short story, â€Å"Fairy Tale for the City†, was condemned by the Catholic League of the Philippines as being â€Å"obscene†. [3] She was even brought to court on these charges. While many of her fellow writers did stand by her, many did not. These events hurt her deeply. [1] In spite of having only an A. A. degree, she was eventually appointed as a professor of Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines, Manila. She was a member of the U. P. Writers Club, she held the National Fellowship in Fiction post at the U. P. Creative Writing Center in 1979. [5] She would also serve on the Philippine Board of Tourism in the 1970s. Stories * Magnificence and Other Stories (1960) * Stories of Estrella Alfon (1994) (published posthumously) * Servant Girl (short story) * English Jose Garcia Villa Jose Garcia Villa (August 5, 1908 – February 7, 1997) was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973 as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced the â€Å"reversed consonance rime scheme† in writing poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especiallycommas, which made him known as the Comma Poet. He used the penname Doveglion (derived from â€Å"Dove, Eagle, Lion†), based on the characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by another poet e. e. cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa. Villa was born on August 5, 1908, in Manila’s Singalong district. His parents were Simeon Villa (a personal physician of Emilio Aguinaldo, the founding President of the First Philippine Republic) and Guia Garcia (a wealthy landowner). He graduated from the University of the Philippines Integrated School and the University of the Philippines High School in 1925. Villa enrolled on a Pre-Medical course in the University of the Philippines, but then switched to Pre-Law course. However, he realized that his true passion was in the arts. Villa first tried painting, but then turned into creative writing after reading Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Writing career Villa’s tart poetic style was considered too aggressive at that time. In 1929 he published Man Songs, a series of erotic poems, which the administrators in UP found too bold and was even fined Philippine peso for obscenity by the Manila Court of First Instance. In that same year, Villa won Best Story of the Year from Philippine Free Press magazine for Mir-I-Nisa. He also received P1,000 prize money, which he used to migrate to the United States. He enrolled at the University of New Mexico, wherein he was one of the founders of Clay, a mimeograph literary magazine. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and pursued post-graduate work at Columbia University. Villa had gradually caught the attention of the country’s literary circles, one of the few Asians to do so at that time. After the publication of Footnote to Youth in 1933, Villa switched from writing prose to poetry, and published only a handful of works until 1942. During the release of Have Come, Am Here in 1942, he introduced a new rhyming scheme called â€Å"reversed consonance† wherein, according to Villa: â€Å"The last sounded consonants of the last syllable, or the last principal consonant of a word, are reversed for the corresponding rhyme. Thus, a rhyme for near would be run; or rain, green, reign. † In 1949, Villa presented a poetic style he called â€Å"comma poems†, wherein commas are placed after every word. In the preface of Volume Two, he wrote: â€Å"The commas are an integral and essential part of the medium: regulating the poem’s verbal density and time movement: enabling each word to attain a fuller tonal value, and the line movement to become more measures. Villa worked as an associate editor for New Directions Publishing in New York City between 1949 to 1951, and then became director of poetry workshop at City College of New York from 1952 to 1960. He then left the literary scene and concentrated on teaching, first lecturing in The New School. The New School for Social Research from 1964 to 1973, as well as conducting poetry workshops in his apartment. Villa was also a cultural attache to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations from 1952 to 1963, and an adviser on cultural affairs to the President of the Philippines beginning 1968. Death On February 5, 1997, at the age of 88, Jose was found in a coma in his New York apartment and was rushed to St. Vincent Hospital in the Greenwich area. His death two days later was attributed to â€Å"cerebral stroke and multilobar pneumonia†. He was buried on February 10 in St. John’s Cemetery in New York, wearing a Barong Tagalog. Personal In 1946 Villa married Rosemarie Lamb, with whom he has two sons, Randy and Lance. They annulled ten years later. He also has three grandchildren. Works As an editor, Villa first published Philippine Short Stories: Best 25 Short Stories of 1928 in 1929, an anthology of Filipino short stories written in English literature English that were mostly published in the literary magazine Philippine Free Press for that year. It is the second anthology to have been published in the Philippines, after Philippine Love Stories by editor Paz Marquez-Benitez in 1927. His first collection of short stories that he has written were published under the title Footnote to Youth: Tales of the Philippines and Others in 1933; while in 1939, Villa publishedMany Voices, his first collection poems, followed by Poems by Doveglion in 1941. Other collections of poems include Have Come, Am Here (1942), Volume Two (194 in that year when he edited. The Doveglion Book of Philippine Poetry in English from 1910. Three years later, he released a follow-up for The Portable Villa entitled The Essential Villa. Villa, however, went under â€Å"self-exile† after the 1960s, even though he was nominated for several major literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. This was perhaps because of oppositions between his formalism (literature)formalist style and the advocates of proletarian literature who misjudged him as a petty bourgeois. Villa only â€Å"resurfaced† in 1993 with an anthology entitled Charlie Chan Is Dead, which was edited by Jessica Hagedorn Several reprints of Villa’s past works were done, including Appasionata: Poems in Praise of Love in 1979, A Parliament of Giraffes (a collection of Villa’s poems for young readers, with Tagalog language Tagalog translation provided by Larry Francia), and The Anchored Angel: Selected Writings by Villa that was edited by Eileen Tabios with a foreword provided by Hagedorn (both in 1999). Among his popular poems include When I Was No Bigger Than A Huge, an example of his â€Å"comma poems†, and The Emperor’s New Sonnet (a part of Have Come, Am Here) which is basically a blank sheet of paper. Paz Marquez Benitez She was Born in 1894 in Lucena City, Quezon. Marquez – Benitez authored the first Filipino modern English language short story, Dead Stars, published in the Philippine Herald in 1925. Born into the prominent Marquez family of Quezon province, she was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education system which used English as the medium of instruction. She graduated high school in Tayabas High School now, Quezon National High School and college from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. â€Å"Marquez†Benitez. She was a member of the first freshman class of the University of the Philippines, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. Two years after graduation, she married UP College of Education Dean Francisco Benitez with whom she had four children. Marquez-Benitez later became a teacher at the University of the Philippines, who taught short-story writing and had become an influential figure to many Filipino writers in the English language, such as Loreto Paras-Sulit, Paz M. Latorena Arturo Belleza Rotor,Bienvenido N. Santos and Francisco Arcellana. The annually held Paz Marquez-Benitez Lectures in the Philippines honors her memory by focusing on the contribution of Filipino women writers to Philippine Literature in the English language. Though she only had one more published short story after â€Å"Dead Stars† entitled â€Å"A Night In The Hills†, she made her mark in Philippine literature because her work is considered the first modern Philippine short story. For Marquez-Benitez, writing was a lifelong occupation. In 1919 she founded â€Å"Woman’s Home Journal†, the first women’s magazine in the country. Also in the same year, she and other six women who were prominent members of Manila’s social elites, namely Clara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Francisca Tirona Benitez, Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera, and Socorro Marquez Zaballero, founded the Philippine Women’s College now Philippine Women’s University. â€Å"Filipino Love Stories†, reportedly the first anthology of Philippine stories in English by Filipinos, was compiled in 1928 by Marquez-Benitez from the works of her students. When her husband died in 1951, she took over as editor of the Philippine Journal of Education at UP. She held the editorial post for over two decades. In 1995, her daughter, Virginia Benitez-Licuanan wrote her biography, â€Å"Paz Marquez-Benitez: One Woman’s Life, Letters, and Writings. â€Å"

The Vampire Diaries: The Fury Chapter Eleven

Elena watched Mr. Smallwood's rifle bounce across the grass. She enjoyed the expression on his face as he spun around, looking for what had grabbed it. And she felt the flare of Damon's approval from across the pool of light, fierce and hot like the pride of a wolf for its cub's first kill. But when she glimpsed Stefan lying on the ground, she forgot everything else. White fury took her breath away, and she started toward him. â€Å"Everybody stop! Just stop everything, right where you are!† The shout was borne toward them along with the sound of tires squealing. Alaric Saltzman's car nearly spun out as it turned into the staff parking lot and screeched to a halt, and Alaric leaped from the car almost before it stopped moving. â€Å"What's going on here?† he demanded, striding toward the men. At the shout, Elena had pulled back automatically into the shadows. Now, she looked at the men's faces as they turned toward him. Besides Mr. Smallwood, she recognized Mr. Forbes and Mr. Bennett, Vickie Bennett's father. The others must be the fathers of the other guys who'd been with Tyler in the Quonset hut, she thought. It was one of the strangers who answered the question, in a drawl that couldn't quite hide the nervousness underneath. â€Å"Well now, we just got a little tired of waiting any longer. We decided to speed things up a bit.† The wolf growled, a low rumbling that rose to a chainsaw snarl. All the men flinched back, and Alaric's eyes showed white as he noticed the animal for the first time. There was another sound, softer and continuous, coming from a figure huddled next to one of the cars. Caroline Forbes was whimpering over and over, â€Å"They said they just wanted to talk to him. They didn't tell me what they were going to do.† Alaric, with one eye on the wolf, gestured toward her. â€Å"And you were going to let her see this? A young girl? Do you realize the psychological damage that could do?† â€Å"What about the psychological damage when her throat gets ripped out?† Mr. Forbes returned, and there were shouts of agreement. â€Å"That's what we're worried about.† â€Å"Then you'd better worry about getting the right man,† Alaric said. â€Å"Caroline,† he added, turning toward the girl, â€Å"I want you to think, Caroline. We didn't get to finish your sessions. I know when we left off you thought you recognized Stefan. But, are you absolutely positive it was him? Could it have been somebody else, somebody who resembled him?† Caroline straightened, bracing herself against the car and raising a tear-stained face. She looked at Stefan, who was just sitting up, and then at Alaric. â€Å"I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Think, Caroline. You have to be absolutely certain. Is there someone else it could have been, like-â€Å" â€Å"Like that guy who calls himself Damon Smith,† came Meredith's voice. She was standing beside Alaric's car, a slim shadow. â€Å"You remember him, Caroline? He came to Alaric's first party. He looks like Stefan in some ways.† â€Å"Like that guy who calls himself Damon Smith,† came Meredith's voice. She was standing beside Alaric's car, a slim shadow. â€Å"You remember him, Caroline? He came to Alaric's first party. He looks like Stefan in some ways.† â€Å"Yes†¦ it could have been, I suppose. Everything happened so fast†¦ but it could have been.† â€Å"And you really can't be sure which it was?† Alaric said. â€Å"No†¦ not absolutely sure.† â€Å"There,† said Alaric. â€Å"I told you she needed more sessions, that we couldn't be certain of anything yet. She's still very confused.† He was walking, carefully, toward Stefan. Elena realized that the wolf had withdrawn back into the shadows. She could see it, but the men probably couldn't. Its disappearance made them more aggressive. â€Å"What are you talking about? Who is this Smith? I've never seen him.† â€Å"But your daughter Vickie probably has, Mr. Bennett,† Alaric said. â€Å"That may come out in my next session with her. We'll talk about it tomorrow; it can wait that long. Right now I think I'd better take Stefan to a hospital.† There was discomforted shifting among some of the men. â€Å"Oh, certainly, and while we're waiting anything could happen,† began Mr. Smallwood. â€Å"Any time, anywhere-â€Å" â€Å"So you're just going to take the law into your own hands, then?† Alaric said. His voice sharpened. â€Å"Whether you've got the right suspect or not. Where's your evidence this boy has supernatural powers? What's your proof? How much of a fight did he even put up?† â€Å"There's a wolf around somewhere who put up plenty of fight,† Mr. Smallwood said, red-faced. â€Å"Maybe they're in it together.† â€Å"I don't see any wolf. I saw a dog. Maybe one of the dogs that got out of quarantine. But what's that got to do with it? I'm telling you that in my professional opinion you've got the wrong man.† The men were wavering, but there was still some doubt in their faces. Meredith spoke up. â€Å"I think you should know that there've been vampire attacks in this county before,† she said. â€Å"A long time before Stefan came here. My grandfather was a victim. Maybe some of you have heard about that.† She looked across at Caroline. That was the end of it. Elena could see the men exchanging uneasy glances and backing toward their cars. Suddenly they all seemed eager to be somewhere else. Mr. Smallwood was one who stayed behind to say, â€Å"You said we'd talk about this tomorrow, Saltzman. I want to hear what my son says the next time he's hypnotized.† Caroline's father collected her and got in his car fast, muttering something about this all being a mistake and nobody taking it too seriously. â€Å"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?† He moved away from Alaric's supporting arm. â€Å"Somebody hit me from behind while I was talking to Caroline. I'll be all right-now.† He shot a glance at Alaric. â€Å"Thanks. Why?† â€Å"He's on our side,† said Bonnie, joining them. â€Å"I told you. Oh, Stefan, are you really okay? I thought I was going to faint there for a minute. They weren't serious. I mean, they couldn't really have been serious. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Serious or not, I don't think we should stay here,† said Meredith. â€Å"Does Stefan really need a hospital?† â€Å"No,† Stefan said, as Elena anxiously examined the cut on his head. â€Å"I just need rest. Somewhere to sit down.† â€Å"I've got my keys. Let's go to the history room,† Alaric said. Bonnie was looking around the shadows apprehensively. â€Å"The wolf, too?† she said, and then jumped as a shadow coalesced and became Damon. â€Å"What wolf?† he said. Stefan turned slightly, wincing. â€Å"Thank you, too,† he said unemotionally. But Stefan's eyes lingered on his brother with something like puzzlement as they walked to the school building. In the hallway, Elena pulled him aside. â€Å"Stefan, why didn't you notice them coming up behind you? Why were you so weak?† Stefan shook his head evasively, and she added, â€Å"When did you feed last? Stefan, when? You always make some excuse when I'm around. What are you trying to do to yourself?† â€Å"I'm all right,† he said. â€Å"Really, Elena. I'll hunt later.† â€Å"Do you promise?† â€Å"I promise.† It didn't occur to Elena at the moment that they hadn't agreed on what â€Å"later† meant. She allowed him to lead her on down the hall. The history room looked different at night to Elena's eyes. There was a strange atmosphere about it, as if the lights were too bright. Just now all the students' desks were shoved out of the way, and five chairs were pulled up to Alaric's desk. Alaric, who'd just finished arranging the furniture, urged Stefan into his own padded chair. â€Å"Okay, why don't the rest of you take a seat.† They just looked at him. After a moment Bonnie sank down into a chair, but Elena stood by Stefan, Damon continued to lounge halfway between the group and the door, and Meredith pushed some papers to the center of Alaric's desk and perched on the corner. â€Å"Well,† said Elena. Everyone looked at everyone else. Elena picked up a piece of cotton from the first-aid kit she'd grabbed at the door and began dabbing Stefan's head with it. â€Å"I think it's time for that explanation,† she said. â€Å"Right. Yes. Well, you all seemed to have guessed I'm not a history teacher†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"In the first five minutes,† Stefan said. His voice was quiet and dangerous, and with a jolt Elena realized it reminded her of Damon's. â€Å"So what are you?† Alaric made an apologetic gesture and said almost diffidently, â€Å"A psychologist. Not the couch kind,† he added hastily as the rest of them exchanged looks. â€Å"I'm a researcher, an experimental psychologist. From Duke University. You know, where the ESP experiments were started.† â€Å"The ones where they make you guess what's on the card without looking at it?† Bonnie asked. â€Å"Yes, well, it's gone a bit beyond that now, of course. Not that I wouldn't love to test you with Rhine cards, especially when you're in one of those trances.† Alaric's face lit with scientific inquiry. Then he cleared his throat and went on. â€Å"But-ah-as I was saying. It started a couple of years ago when I did a paper on parapsychology. I wasn't trying to prove supernatural powers existed, I just wanted to study what their psychological effect is on the people who have them. Bonnie, here, is a case in point.† Alaric's voice took on a lecturer's tone. â€Å"What does it do to her, mentally, emotionally, to have to deal with these powers?† â€Å"It's awful,† Bonnie interrupted vehemently. â€Å"I don't want them anymore. I hate them.† â€Å"Well, there you see,† Alaric said. â€Å"You'd have made a great case study. My problem was that I couldn't find anybody with real psychic powers to examine. There were plenty of fakers, all right-crystal healers, dowsers, channelers, you name it. But I couldn't find anything genuine until I got a tip from a friend in the police department. â€Å"There was this woman down in South Carolina who claimed she'd been bitten by a vampire, and since then she was having psychic nightmares. By that time I was so used to fakes I expected her to turn out to be one, too. But she wasn't, at least not about being bitten. I never could prove she was really psychic.† â€Å"How could you be sure she'd been bitten?† Elena asked. â€Å"There was medical evidence. Traces of saliva in her wounds that were similar to human saliva-but not quite the same. It contained an anticoagulatory agent similar to that found in the saliva of leeches†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Alaric caught himself and hurried on. â€Å"Anyway, I was sure. And that was how it started. Once I was convinced something had really happened to the woman, I started to look up other cases like hers. There weren't a lot of them, but they were out there. People who'd encountered vampires. â€Å"But you've never actually seen a vampire,† Elena interrupted. â€Å"Until now, I mean. Is that right?† â€Å"Well-no. Not in the flesh, as it were. But I've written monographs†¦ and things.† His voice trailed off. Elena bit her lip. â€Å"What were you doing with the dogs?† she asked. â€Å"At the church, when you were waving your hands at them.† â€Å"Oh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Alaric looked embarrassed. â€Å"I've picked up a few things here and there, you know. That was a spell an old mountain man showed me for fending off evil. I thought it might work.† â€Å"You've got a lot to learn,† said Damon. â€Å"Obviously,† Alaric said stiffly. Then he grimaced. â€Å"Actually, I figured that out right after I got here. Your principal, Brian Newcastle, had heard of me. He knew about the studies I do. When Tanner was killed and Dr. Feinberg found no blood in the body and lacerations made by teeth in the neck†¦ well, they gave me a call. I thought it could be a big break for me-a case with the vampire still in the area. The only problem was that once I got here I realized they expected me to take care of the vampire. They didn't know I'd dealt only with the victims before. And†¦ well, maybe I was in over my head. But I did my best to justify their confidence-â€Å" â€Å"You faked it,† Elena accused. â€Å"That was what you were doing when I heard you talking to them at your house about finding our supposed lair and all that. You were just winging it.† â€Å"Well, not completely,† Alaric said. â€Å"Theoretically, I am an expert.† Then he did a double take. â€Å"What do you mean, when you heard me talking to them?† â€Å"While you were out searching for a lair, she was sleeping in your attic,† Damon informed him dryly. Alaric opened his mouth and then shut it again. â€Å"What I'd like to know is how Meredith comes into all this,† Stefan said. He wasn't smiling. Meredith, who had been gazing thoughtfully at the jumble of papers on Alaric's desk during all this, looked up. She spoke evenly, without emotion. â€Å"I recognized him, you see. I couldn't remember where I'd seen him at first, because it was almost three years ago. Then I realized it was at Granddad's hospital. What I told those men was the truth, Stefan. My grandfather was attacked by a vampire.† There was a little silence and then Meredith went on. â€Å"It happened a long time ago, before I was born. He wasn't badly hurt by it, but he never really got well. He became†¦ well, sort of like Vickie, only more violent. It got so that they were afraid he'd harm himself, or somebody else. So they took him to a hospital, a place he'd be safe.† ago, before I was born. He wasn't badly hurt by it, but he never really got well. He became†¦ well, sort of like Vickie, only more violent. It got so that they were afraid he'd harm himself, or somebody else. So they took him to a hospital, a place he'd be safe.† â€Å"I know. I could have†¦ but I couldn't. The family's kept it a secret so long-or tried anyway. From what Caroline wrote in her diary, she'd obviously heard. The thing is, nobody ever believed Granddad's stories about the vampire. They just thought it was another of his delusions, and he had a lot of them. Even I didn't believe them†¦ until Stefan came. And then-I don't know, my mind started to put little things together. But I didn't really believe what I was thinking until you came back, Elena.† â€Å"I'm surprised you didn't hate me,† Elena said softly. â€Å"How could I? I know you, and I know Stefan. I know you're not evil.† Meredith didn't glance at Damon; he might as well not have been present for all the acknowledgment she gave him. â€Å"But when I remembered seeing Alaric talking to Granddad at the hospital I knew he wasn't, either. I just didn't know exactly how to get all of you together to prove it.† â€Å"I didn't recognize you, either,† Alaric said. â€Å"The old man had a different name- he's your mother's father, right? And I may have seen you hanging around the waiting room sometime, but you were just a kid with skinny legs then. You've changed,† he added appreciatively. Bonnie coughed, a pointed sound. Elena was trying to arrange things in her mind. â€Å"So what were those men doing out there with a stake if you didn't tell them to be?† â€Å"I had to ask Caroline's parents for permission to hypnotize her, of course. And I reported what I found to them. But if you're thinking I had anything to do with what happened tonight, you're wrong. I didn't even know about it.† â€Å"I've told him about what we've been doing, how we've been looking for the Other Power,† Meredith said. â€Å"And he wants to help.† â€Å"I said I might help,† Alaric said cautiously. â€Å"Wrong,† said Stefan. â€Å"You're either with us or against us. I'm grateful for what you did out there, talking to those men, but the fact remains that you started a lot of this trouble in the first place. Now you have to decide: are you on our side-or theirs?† Alaric looked around at each of them, at Meredith's steady gaze and Bonnie's raised eyebrows, at Elena kneeling on the floor and at Stefan's already-healing scalp. Then he turned to glance at Damon, who was leaning against the wall, dark and saturnine. â€Å"I'll help,† he said at last. â€Å"Hell, it's the ultimate case study.† â€Å"All right, then,† Elena said. â€Å"You're in. Now, what about Mr. Smallwood tomorrow? What if he wants you to hypnotize Tyler again?† â€Å"Wait,† said Stefan. â€Å"There shouldn't be a dance, not if there's any way to prevent it. You're on good terms with the principal; you can talk to the school board. Make them cancel it.† Alaric looked startled. â€Å"You think something's going to happen?† â€Å"Yes,† Stefan said. â€Å"Not just because of what's happened at the other public functions, but because something's building up. It's been building up all week; I can feel it.† â€Å"So can I,† Elena said. She hadn't realized it until that moment, but the tension she felt, the sense of urgency, was not just from inside her. It was outside, all around. It thickened the air. â€Å"Something's going to happen, Alaric. Alaric let out his breath in a soft whistle. â€Å"Well, I can try to convince them, but-I don't know. Your principal is dead set on keeping everything looking normal. And it isn't as if I can give any rational explanation for wanting to shut it down.† â€Å"Try hard,† Elena said. â€Å"I will. And meanwhile, maybe you should think about protecting yourself. If what Meredith says is right, then most of the attacks have been on you and people close to you. Your boyfriend got dropped in a well; your car got chased into the river; your memorial service was broken up. Meredith says even your little sister was threatened. If something's going to happen tomorrow, you might want to leave town.† It was Elena's turn to be startled. She had never thought of the attacks in that way, but it was true. She heard Stefan's indrawn breath and felt his fingers tighten on hers. â€Å"He's right,† Stefan said. â€Å"You should leave, Elena. I can stay here until-â€Å" â€Å"No. I'm not going without you. And,† Elena continued, slowly, thinking it out, â€Å"I'm not going anywhere until we find the Other Power and stop it.† She looked up at him earnestly, speaking quickly now. â€Å"Oh, Stefan, don't you see, nobody else even has a chance against it. Mr. Smallwood and his friends don't have a clue. Alaric thinks you can fight it by waving your hands at it. None of them know what they're up against. We're the only ones who can help.† She could see the resistance in Stefan's eyes and feel it in the tenor of his muscles. But as she kept on looking straight at him, she saw his objections fall one by one. For the simple reason that it was the truth, and Stefan hated lying. â€Å"All right,† he said at last, painfully. â€Å"But as soon as this is all over, we're leaving. I'm not having you stay in a town where vigilantes run around with stakes.† â€Å"Yes.† Elena returned the pressure of his fingers with hers. â€Å"Once this is all over, we'll go.† Stefan turned to Alaric. â€Å"And if there's no way to talk them out of having the dance tomorrow, I think we should keep an eye on it. If something does happen, we may be able to stop it before it gets out of hand.† Elena tilted a doubtful eye toward Bonnie. â€Å"Well†¦ it would mean missing the dance itself-for those of us who could have gone, I mean.† Bonnie drew herself up. â€Å"Oh, who cares about missing a dance?† she said indignantly. â€Å"What on earth does a dance matter to anyone?† â€Å"Right,† said Stefan gravely. â€Å"Then it's settled.† A spasm of pain seemed to overtake him and he winced, looking down. Elena was immediately concerned. â€Å"You need to get home and rest,† she said. â€Å"Alaric, can you drive us? It's not that far.† Stefan protested that he was perfectly able to walk, but in the end he gave in. At the boardinghouse, after Stefan and Damon had gotten out of the car, Elena leaned in Alaric's window for one last question. It had been gnawing at her mind ever since Alaric had told them his story. â€Å"About those people who'd encountered vampires,† she said. â€Å"Just what were the psychological effects? I mean, did they all go crazy or have nightmares? Were any of them okay?† â€Å"It depends on the individual,† Alaric said. â€Å"And with how many contacts they'd had, and what kind of contacts they were. But mostly just with the personality of the victim, with how well the individual mind can cope.† Elena nodded, and said nothing until the lights of Alaric's car had been swallowed by the snowy air. Then she turned to Stefan. â€Å"Matt.†