History of Balinese Dancing Art

Music and dance were known to people for a long time. At first, dance would be used in religious ceremonies and rituals, for example, to call out the rain in the dry season and in some instances, before going hunting, to bring good luck and a rich catch. Our ancestors believed that they would please the spirits and the higher forces of nature, thus they will be sent whatever it is they needed in abundance.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on History of Balinese Dancing Art specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Balinese dancing is one of the oldest types of dancing. Bali, an Indonesian island, has become a tourist attraction where people from all over the world come to see the unique dance. It is very influential on a person and there is no other medium quite like it that can have such a significant effect on a person. Especially, Balinese dance is meant to touch the deepest parts of the human soul. It can raise the mood a nd make it light or depress it and have a negative influence on the psyche of a person. Comparing to other types of art, which can be made and put on a wall or stored in a museum, a dance only exists while it is made. To make it even more unique, Balinese dancers incorporate a lot of hand gestures and movements of the legs and body. Every part of a person seems to be doing its separate dance but altogether, it creates a unit where the center is the emotion and connection to a higher force (Spies 2001). Balinese dancing is learned from a very early age. Children start learning within a family by first observing their parents and mimicking the movements. As it is a traditional dance of the culture, a lot of Indonesians are well aware of the dance and its importance. The learning process is one of the unique features of the whole dance. It is not done in private, on the contrary, the practices take place in a public place where neighbors, friends and people from the community come and watch. Their views are an important part of the learning process, and if there is a mistake made, they will point it out. This teaches the student to be used to an audience but also, to the criticism of the profession. It is interesting that the Balinese dancing culture understands that only through humiliation and public display students can reach perfection. Another significant teaching technique is that students learn by observing their teacher. There are no mirrors, so the only way for them to learn proper movements is the close interaction with the teacher. At first, a student stands behind their teacher and repeats the moves. Then, the teacher will go behind the student and make physical contact. In this way, the teacher moves the student’s arms and legs making sure of the correct placement. It is important to mention that each teacher has their original way of style and movements. As such, some teachers become more demanded than others, and people come from distant loc ations to be taught by a particular teacher (Gold 2004).Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Balinese dancing is a form of theatre that comes to life through dancing. It is a show between the certain music style, illusory dancing and acting. The gestures and the emotion on the dancer’s face are authentic to the culture and the rituals that have existed for centuries. The unique musical instruments add to the traditional dancing and are also considered a part of the ritual to the Gods. Religion has always been an intricate part of the Bali culture where a person’s life is a battle between the good and evil spirits. This means that a person becomes connected with their dance and costume in the closest way. The representation of the spirit must be emotional and heartfelt. When an individual is doing the dance, they must feel the energy that is radiating through their body and so, transfer it to the surrounding people and nature. For each particular type of activity there is a specific dance. Religious dance greatly differs from a dance before a hunt or the calling out of weather (Ness 1992). Even though a single person can perform a dance and hypnotize the audience, a large group of people performing the same moves is even more enchanting. Due to the fact that the dance is learned from such a young age, dancers become extremely experienced in the movements and the synchronization becomes almost perfect. As a matter of fact, it is one of the key characteristics of the dance. Even when dancers turn away from each other, they are able to perform the exact same movements, with a specific height of an elbow, foot extension or finger movement. The music that is played helps in a great way because it contains sound cues that allow people to quickly and unnoticeably adjust in case they lost the rhythm (Merkle 2012). Another form of Balinese dancing is called â€Å"Topeng†. This is when a dancer or several are wearing special masks. Usually, these are of different types and have many kinds of emotions expressed on the mask. It is never taken off during a performance, and it is meant to symbolize ancestral roots and rituals. The general theme of the masked dancing is connected to the kings that ruled a long time ago. It is very closely linked with the history of the people, and this is why it is appreciated even more than other types of Balinese dancing. Humor is often involved as one of the key aspects of the performance.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on History of Balinese Dancing Art specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Even though some events that are acted out relate to the ancient past, humor is still incorporated. This type of mixing of time and cultures adds greater uniqueness to the dance and the people performing and watching. The dancers have different r oles within the setting, some are wise and philosophize about life while others are clowns who run around the stage and contrast the other characters. The masks are made from wood, and the process is considered an art form in and of itself. Painting the masks and applying specific emotions is a very long process which requires high level of skill. It is rather interesting to note that the paint is made from all natural products, which adds even more connection to the nature and the spiritual world (Gold 2004). As such, Balinese dancing is one of the most original ones in the world. Indonesian Balinese dancers have kept their popularity to the modern day. It stays an important part of the culture as the future generations continue to respect and transfer the legacy of the ancestors. Works Cited Gold, Lisa. Music in Bali. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Merkle, Margarete. Bali: Magical Dances. Berlin, Germany: Epubli, 2012. Print. Ness, Sally. Body, Movement, and C ulture. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. Print. Spies, Walter. Dance Drama in Bali. London, England: Tuttle Publishing, 2001. Print.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on History of Balinese Dancing Art was written and submitted by user Edgar Reed to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

televison sending the wrong message part two essays

televison sending the wrong message part two essays From what I've experienced from hours in front of this controlling box, I have learned very little compared to real life experiences. But what else could be easier than to relax on a nice soft couch, and push a button? The television business has gotten attention from us all. From the classroom, the home and the workplace, the television industry has us right where they want us. We pay the high prices monthly. Television watching is a necessity in most people's live. Available to all, a cable network for the people. Why do people sit around and watch this? Not all television shows are "bad". Educational shows are found daily on many channels at my house. The issue to many is appropriate television for the children. Once a child has been to a friend's house, he or she has most likely played outside, played with toys, colored a picture, and watched TV. Cable TV, with its wide variety of channel topics, has changed the way children and adults live their lives. Where as before, years ago, television was not available to all like it is today. Americans would read books and newspapers and listen to the radio. Living in a new millenium, people of this country are spoiled with technology. The television is the leading piece that Americans own. There are seven televisions in my home currently. There are five people living in my house. I don't know what to say. An older brother coming home with little sisters watching his show creates no other feelings but perhaps disappointment and disgust. The television is hardly regulated; thus many influences began to pour upon society and fuse into the slow process of change which resulted in the characteristics of our present day society. The television took America from an organized and uniform nation, transforming it into a somewhat disarray of mixed thoughts, different attitudes and new understandings. The statistics on television in the average Americans' lif ...

Reflecive journal inspired by different kinds of media practices and Essay

Reflecive journal inspired by different kinds of media practices and ideas related to my module - Essay Example It is regarded as a recent style as such mechanical potential is very newly set so that low cost and extensive execution can be performed. It allows the effective use of space and potential by allowing various functions to be executed on an individual device. Convergence further has two wider ranges of description and they are technological convergence and media convergence (Arenaza, 2010). Technological convergence is the procedure in which the prevailing machinery that integrates in to new configurations that bring about various kinds of applications and media. Recent appliances and machinery generally manage a particular instruction or to execute some primary jobs (Wise Geek, 2014). Technological convergence allows different devices to collaborate with a broader arrangement of media kinds. With technological improvement, brand new versions of the devices may compromise extra characteristics which were not available in the previous one (Techopedia, 2014). Media convergence is the fact that includes the linkage of communication and information technologies, media material and computer systems. Media convergence is the immediate result of the digitalization of media content and the fame of the Internet. It alters prominent organizations, services and work execution and allows absolutely new designs of content to appear (Flew, 2014). Such advancements can be used both ways either for the good or for the bad. The good is always appreciated by the people and especially the government as it makes their work easier while the bad is always criticized by the people and especially the government as it increases their work to maintain law and order. To make sure that media is not being used for the bad, governments make rules and regulations which restrict the media to a certain limits and ensure that the limits are not being crossed. The communication and media organizations are now few of the major industries of the society. After the

Violence Against Women In India Essay Example for Free

Violence Against Women In India Essay On December 16, a 23 year-old woman in Delhi, was gang-raped and almost left for death by six men in a moving bus. More shocking this was the 636th rape in Delhi in 2012, according to the â€Å"reported† figures available with the National Crime Records Bureau. In Bangalore, two days after the Delhi rape, a girl was pulled into a shop in her own neighbourhood and raped by the owner, while his friends kept watch. India was never very safe for women, but of late there seems to be a flagrant disrespect that is governed neither by societal nor legal norms. It seems to be simply up to the men to perpetrate violence and for women to safeguard themselves as best as they can. The police are too biased to be effective. Tehelka magazine’s sting operation in April on senior police officials in Delhi-NCR, revealed that more than half chose to blame rape victims. ‘Unless a woman is fully covered from head to toe at all times, she wants men to rape her’, declared Arjun Singh, SHO of Surajpur Police Station. With such attitudes, it is not surprising that victims are reluctant to enter our police stations and that most attacks go unreported. Technology also assaults our senses every hour. Mobiles share salacious details while TV stations broadcast them like prime time entertainment, instead of using the space to condemn or discuss such matters seriously, thus becoming active participants in gender injustice. Social divides These crimes against women are part of a wider change where reactionary forces are becoming dominant. Globalization seems to have narrowed the space available for women even further by creating economic and social divides that provoke a conservative backlash from those who feel left out. According to eminent Kannada writer Vaidehi, violence against women is as old as the Mahabharata. But the rapid changes in our society seem to be escalating the scale of this violence. Says William Dalrymple in the introduction to his fascinating book, Nine Lives, â€Å"The speed of development is breathtaking: the sort of construction that would take 25 years in Britain, comes up here in five months. So extraordinary is all this that it is easy to overlook the fragility and unevenness of the boom. Within twenty minutes of leaving the Gurgaon headquarters of Microsoft or Google Asia, cars and trucks are beginning to give way to camel and bullock carts. This is a very different India indeed.† And it is this different India – whether in Karnataka or Maharashtra or Haryana that the new India needs to comprehend rather than ignore. Sharat Chandra Srivastava, violinist who performed at the GirlCott show, feels the mutual mistrust comes from the replacing of community norms by a highly individualised society. Agrees Sufi musician Rabbi Shergill, â€Å"I wish there were more neutral cultural spaces where the two (worlds) could’ve interacted a little more naturally. Gurgaon had a functioning society before we got there. The malls, pubs, multiplexes just seemed to look down on it; it seemed to grudge people their draw in the great lottery of life. You don’t just barge into someone’s house and act all loud. I’d like to see the discourse move to the countryside where the eve-teasers come from and start a genuine dialogue. â€Å"What do you dislike about us?† But before dialogue can emerge, basic safety needs to be in place, with secure public transport, and open, well-lit public spaces. Gurgaon shows a horrific crime graph and its Mahatma Gandhi Road, connecting the many malls and swanky housing estates, is now called the Rape Mile. Women returning from work carry pepper spray; the streets are dimly lit and deserted by evening. Only 3,286 cops cover the vast urban sprawl. And nobody takes responsibility when anything goes wrong. Says Richa Dubey, who initiated the successful Gurgaon GirlCott campaign in April, â€Å"We are trying to get back a sense of collective responsibility. This is where we live and work, we all need to work to make it safe.† The GirlCott, provoked by the kidnapping of a Sahara Mall employee on her way home, decided to hit the commercial complexes where it hurt by a â€Å"no safety, no money† shopping boycott, and firmly put the spotlight on how the urban dream of Gurgaon had turned into a nightmare for its working professionals. A host of citizens and organisations including Whypoll (maps unsafe places), Breakthrough (Bell Bajao), Indian Institute for Human Settlements, and Jagori, came together at GirlCott and are now working on a long-term plan for safety. As the Citizens Collective Against Sexual Assault says, Women have a right to be safe – In homes, on streets, in buses and in workplaces.

The SPAMEX system. :: Computer Science

The SPAMEX system. 1. Introduction The SPAMEX system proposed by SCABB is outlined in the attached letter. I hope to suggest a suitable software process model for the development of the SPAMEX system in the following document. 2. The 'Waterfall' Model The waterfall model consists of several stages of the development life-cycle, each of which are completed in turn. The first stage in applying this model to the development of the SPAMEX system would be to document the system concept and identify the system requirements. After analysing these requirements, one would break the system into pieces, for example; TIP user interface, customer database etc. Each of these components (or subsystems) now require detailed design before the coding can take place. After each of the components has been tested and debugged individually, they can be integrated to form part of the whole SPAMEX system. The system as a whole can now be tested and deployed although requiring ongoing maintenance. The waterfall model was the first of its kind and is still widely used. It allows documented evidence of progress as each stage must be approved and 'signed off' before the next stage is undertaken. This should appeal to SCABB since they have access to these documents and can track the progress of the development of their software. It would also benefit the project manager, who would be able to ensure consistency in the quality of the software and manage accordingly his investments in time and money. The model also allows the various stages of the development to be overlapped in accordance with the wishes of SCABB. This is particularly useful in this case as the current brief presented by SCABB is not to the detail required by the developer. Further meetings between both parties would be essential and ongoing changes in requirements will be inevitable. However, such iterations are not possible without significant investments in time and money from both the developer and SCABB. As we can see, one of the main characteristics of the waterfall model is that commitments be made for each stage early on and each one must be completed and 'signed off' before the next is undertaken. Many problems may arise from this when applied to the SPAMEX system. For example, instability and other coding problems may not be discovered until the testing of the whole system. In such cases re-design may be required, which is very problematic because from the very beginning, this model assumes feasibility before implementation. The waterfall model works well when requirements are stable and well defined, the present SPAMEX brief is somewhat vague and specific details may only be attained through extensive client-developer interaction.

A Dirty Job Chapter 8

8 A STREETCAR NAMED CONFUSION Into the breech of the Castro district Charlie Asher charged, an antique sword-cane from the store on the van seat beside him, his jaw set like a bayonet, his visage a study in fearsome intensity. Half a block, half a block, half of a block onward – into the Valley of Overpriced Juice Bars and Outlandish Hair Highlights – rode the righteous Beta Male. And woe be unto the foolish ne'er-do-well who had dared to fuck with this secondhand death dealer, for his raggedy life would be fast for the bargain table. There's going to be a showdown in Gay Town, Charlie thought, and I am gunning for justice. Well, not really gunning – since he had a sword concealed in a walking stick, not a gun – more of a poking for justice – which didn't really have the avenging angel connotation he was looking for – he was mad, and ready to kick ass, that's all. So, you know, just watch out. (Coincidentally, Poking for Justice was the title currently second in popularity at Castro Video Rentals, closely edging out A Star Is Born: The Director's Cut, and outranked only by Cops Without Pants, which was number one with a bullwhip.) Charlie turned off Market Street and just around the corner on Noe Street he saw it: Fresh Music, the sign done in blocky, Craftsman-style stained glass, and he felt the hair at the back of his neck bristle and an urgency in his bladder. His body had gone into fight-or-flight mode, and for the second time in a week, he was going against his Beta Male nature and choosing to fight. Well, so be it, he thought. So be it. He would confront his tormentor and lay him low, as soon as he found a parking place – which he didn't. He circled the block, cutting between cafs and bars, both of which were in abundance in the Castro. He drove up and down the side streets, lined with rows of immaculately kept (exorbitantly priced) Victorians and found no quarter for his trusty steed. After a half hour of orbiting the neighborhood, he headed back uptown and found a spot in a parking garage in the Fillmore, then took the antique streetcar back down Market Street to the Castro. A cute little green, Italian-made antique streetcar, with oak benches, brass railings, and mahogany window frames – a charming brass bell and a top speed of about twenty miles per hour: this is how Charlie Asher charged into battle. He tried to imagine a horde of Huns hanging off the sides, waving wicked blades and firing arrows as they passed the murals in the Mission district, perhaps Viking raiders, shields fastened to the sides of the car, a great drum pounding as they rowed in to pillage the antique shops, the leather bars, the sushi bars, the leather sushi bars (don't ask), and the art galleries, in the Castro. And here, even Charlie's formidable imagination failed him. He got off the car at Castro and Market and walked back a block to Fresh Music, then paused outside the shop, wondering what in the hell he was going to do now. What if the caller had just borrowed the phone? What if he stormed in screaming and threatening, and there was just some confused kid behind the counter? But then he looked in the door, and there, standing behind the counter, all alone, was an extraordinarily tall black man dressed completely in mint green, and at that point Charlie lost his mind. â€Å"You killed her,† Charlie screamed as he stormed by the racks of CDs toward the man in mint. He drew the sword as he ran, or tried to, hoping to bring it out in a single fluid movement from the cane sheath and across the throat of Rachel's killer. But the sword-cane had been in the back of Charlie's shop for a long time, and except for three times when Lily's friend Abby tried to leave with it (once trying to buy it, when Charlie refused to sell it to her, then twice trying to steal it), the sword hadn't been drawn in years. The little brass stud that you pushed to release the blade had stuck, so when Charlie delivered the deathblow, he swung the entire cane, which was heavier – and slower – than the sword would have been. The man in mint green – quick for his size – ducked, and Charlie took out an entire row of Judy Garland CDs, lost his balance, bounced off the counter, spun around, and again tried for the single draw-and-cut move that he had seen so many times in samurai movies, and had practiced so many times in his head on the way here. This time the sword came free of the scabbard and slashed a deadly arch three feet in front of the man in mint, completely decapitating a life-sized cutout of Barbra Streisand. â€Å"That is un-unfucking called for!† thundered the tall man. As Charlie recovered his balance for a backhand slash, he saw something large and dark coming down over him and recognized it at the last instant, as the antique cash register slammed down on his head. There was a flash, a ding, and everything got dark and gooey. When Charlie came to, he was tied to a chair in the back room of the record store, which looked remarkably like the back room of his own store, except all the stacked boxes were full of records and CDs instead of all variety of used jetsam. The tall black man was standing over him, and Charlie thought at first that he might be turning to mist or smoke, but then he realized it was just that his vision was going wavy, and then pain lit up the inside of his head like a strobe light. â€Å"Ouch.† â€Å"How's your neck?† asked the tall man. â€Å"Does your neck feel broken? Can you feel your feet?† â€Å"Go ahead, kill me, you fucking coward,† said Charlie, bucking around in the chair, trying to lunge at his captor and feeling a little like the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail after his arms and legs had been hacked off. If this guy took one step closer, Charlie could head-butt him in the nads, he was sure of it. The tall man stomped on Charlie's toes, a size-eighteen glove-leather loafer driven by two hundred and seventy pounds of death and used-record dealer. â€Å"Ouch!† Charlie hopped his chair in a little circle of pain. â€Å"Goddammit! Ouch!† â€Å"So you do have feeling in your feet?† â€Å"Get it over with. Go ahead.† Charlie stretched his neck as if offering his throat to be cut – his strategy was to lure his captor into range, then sever the tall man's femoral artery with his teeth, then gloat as the blood coursed all over his mint-green slacks onto the floor. Charlie would laugh long and sinister as he watched the life drain out of the evil bastard, then he would hop his chair out to the street and onto the streetcar at Market, transfer to the number forty-one bus at Van Ness, hop off at Columbus, and hop the two blocks home, where someone would untie him. He had a plan – and a bus pass with four more days left on it – so this son of a bitch had picked the wrong guy to fuck with. â€Å"I have no intention of killing you, Charlie,† said the tall man, keeping a safe distance. â€Å"I'm sorry I had to hit you with the register. You didn't really leave me any options.† â€Å"You could have tasted the fatal sting of my blade!† Charlie glanced around for his sword-cane, just in case the guy had left it within reach. â€Å"Yeah, sure, there was that one, but I thought I'd go with the one without the stains and the funeral.† Charlie strained against his bonds, which he realized now were plastic shopping bags. â€Å"You're messing with Death, you know? I am Death.† â€Å"Yeah, I know.† â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Sure.† The tall man spun another wooden chair around and sat on it reversed, facing Charlie. His knees were up at the level of his elbows and he looked like a great green tree frog, crouched to pounce on an insect. Charlie noticed for the first time that he had golden eyes, stark and striking in contrast to his dark skin. â€Å"So am I,† said the evil mint-green frog guy. â€Å"You? You're Death?† â€Å"A Death, not THE Death. I don't think there is a THE Death. Not anymore, anyway.† Charlie couldn't grasp it, so he struggled and wobbled until the tall man had to reach out and steady him to keep him from toppling over. â€Å"You killed Rachel.† â€Å"I did not.† â€Å"I saw you there.† â€Å"Yes, you did. That's a problem. Will you please stop thrashing around?† He shook Charlie's chair. â€Å"But I wasn't instrumental in Rachel's death. That's not what we do, not anymore, anyway. Didn't you even look at the book?† â€Å"What book? You said something about a book on the phone.† â€Å"The Great Big Book of Death. I sent it to your shop. I told a woman at the counter that I was sending it, and I got delivery confirmation, so I know it got there.† â€Å"What woman – Lily? She's not a woman, she's a kid.† â€Å"No, this was a woman about your age, with New Wave hair.† â€Å"Jane? No. She didn't say anything, and I didn't get any book.† â€Å"Oh, shit. That explains why they've been showing up. You didn't even know.† â€Å"Who? What? They?† Mint Green Death sighed heavily. â€Å"I guess we're going to be here awhile. I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want some?† â€Å"Sure, try to lull me into a false sense of security, then spring.† â€Å"You're tied the fuck up, motherfucker, I don't need to lull you into shit. You've been fucking with the fabric of human existence and someone needed to shut your ass down.† â€Å"Oh, sure, go black on me. Play the ethnic card.† Mint Green climbed to his feet and headed toward the door to the shop. â€Å"You want cream?† â€Å"And two sugars, please,† Charlie said. This is really cool, why are you giving it back?† said Abby Normal. Abby was Lily's best friend, and they were sitting on the floor in the back room of Asher's Secondhand, looking through The Great Big Book of Death. Abby's real name was Alison, but she would no longer tolerate the ignominy of what she called her â€Å"daylight-slave name.† Everyone had been much more responsive to calling her by her chosen name than they had been to Lily's, Darquewillow Elventhing, which you always had to spell for people. â€Å"Turns out it's Asher, not me,† Lily said. â€Å"He'll be really pissed if he finds out I took it. And he's Death now, I guess, so I could get in trouble.† â€Å"Are you going to tell him you had the book?† Abby scratched the silver spider stud in her eyebrow; it was a fresh piercing and still healing and she couldn't stop messing with it. Abby, like Lily, was dressed all in black, boots to hair, the difference being that she had a black-widow's red hourglass on the front of her black T-shirt and she was thinner and more waiflike in her affected creepiness. â€Å"No. I'll just say it got misfiled. That happens a lot here.† â€Å"How long did you think it was you?† â€Å"Like a month.† â€Å"What about the dreams and the names and stuff it talks about, you didn't have any of that, right?† â€Å"I thought I was just growing into my powers. I made a lot of lists of people I wanted gone.† â€Å"Yeah, I do that. And you just found out yesterday that it was Asher?† â€Å"Yeah,† said Lily. â€Å"That sucks,† said Abby. â€Å"Life sucks,† said Lily. â€Å"So, what now?† asked Abby. â€Å"Junior college?† They both nodded, woefully, and looked into the depths of their respective nail polishes to avoid sharing the humiliation of one of them having gone from dark demigod to local loser in an instant. They lived their lives hoping for something grand and dark and supernatural to happen, so when it had, they took it more in stride than was probably healthy. Fear, after all, is a survival mechanism. â€Å"So all these things are soul objects?† asked Abby, as cheerfully as her integrity would allow. She waved to the piles of stuff Charlie had marked with â€Å"Do Not Sell† signs. â€Å"There's like a person's soul in there?† â€Å"According to the book,† said Lily. â€Å"Asher says he can see them glow.† â€Å"I like the red Converse All Stars.† â€Å"Take them, they're yours,† said Lily. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yeah,† Lily said. She took the All Stars off the shelf and held them out. â€Å"He'll never miss them.† â€Å"Cool. I have the perfect pair of red fishnets I can wear with them.† â€Å"They probably have the soul of some sweaty jock in them,† Lily said. â€Å"He may worship at my feet,† said Abby, doing a pirouette and an arabesque (remnants, along with an eating disorder, of ten years of ballet lessons). So I'm like a Santa's Helper of Death?!† Charlie said, waving his coffee cup. The tall man had untied his one arm so he could drink his coffee, and Charlie was baptizing the stockroom floor with French roast with every gesture. Mr. Fresh frowned. â€Å"What in the hell are you talking about, Asher?† Fresh felt bad about hitting Charlie Asher with a cash register and tying him up, and now he was wondering if the blow hadn't caused some sort of brain damage. â€Å"I'm talking about the Santa at Macy's, Fresh. When you're a kid, and you notice that the Santa Claus at Macy's has a fake beard, and that there are at least six Salvation Army Santas working Union Square, you ask your parents about it and they tell you that the real Santa is in the North Pole, and he's really busy, so all these other guys are Santa's helpers, who are out helping him with his work. That's what you're saying, that we're Santa's helpers to Death?† Mr. Fresh had been standing by his desk, but now he sat down again across from Charlie so he could look him in the eye. Very softly he said, â€Å"Charlie, you know that that's not true now, right? I mean about Santa's helpers and all?† â€Å"Of course I know that there's no Santa Claus. I'm using it as a metaphor, you tool.† Mr. Fresh took this opportunity to reach out and smack Charlie upside the head. Then immediately regretted it. â€Å"Hey!† Charlie put down his cup and rubbed one of his receding-hairline inlets, which was going red from the blow. â€Å"Rude,† said Mr. Fresh. â€Å"Let's not be rude.† â€Å"So you're saying that there is a Santa?† Charlie said, cringing in anticipation of another smack. â€Å"Oh my God, how deep does this conspiracy go?† â€Å"No, there's no goddamn Santa. I'm just saying that I don't know what we are. I don't know if there is a big Death with a capital D, although the book hints that there used to be. I'm just saying that there are many of us, a dozen that I know of right here in the city – all of us picking up soul vessels and seeing that they get into the right hands.† â€Å"And that's based on someone randomly coming into your shop and buying a record?† Then Charlie's eyes went wide as it hit him. â€Å"Rachel's Sarah McLachlan CD. You took it?† â€Å"Yes.† Fresh looked at the floor, not because he was ashamed, but to avoid seeing the pain in Charlie Asher's eyes. â€Å"Where is it? I want to see it,† said Charlie. â€Å"I sold it.† â€Å"To who? Find it. I want Rachel back.† â€Å"I don't know. To a woman. I didn't get her name, but I'm sure it was meant for her. You'll be able to tell.† â€Å"I will? Why will I?† he asked. â€Å"Why me? I don't want to kill people.† â€Å"We don't kill people, Mr. Asher. That's a misconception. We simply facilitate the ascendance of the soul.† â€Å"Well, one guy died because I said something to him, and another had a heart attack because of something I did. A death that results from your actions is basically killing someone, unless you're a politician, right? So why me? I'm not that highly skilled at bullshit. So why me?† Mr. Fresh considered what Charlie was saying, and felt like something sinister had crawled up his spine. In all his years, he didn't remember ever having his actions directly result in someone's death, nor had he heard of it happening with the other Death Merchants. Of course you occasionally showed up at the time when the person was passing, but not often, and never as a cause. â€Å"Well?† Charlie said. Mr. Fresh shrugged. â€Å"Because you saw me. Surely you've noticed that no one sees you when you're out to get a soul vessel.† â€Å"I've never gone out to get a soul vessel.† â€Å"Yes, you have, and you will, at least you should be. You need to get with the program, Mr. Asher.† â€Å"Yeah, so you said. So you're – uh – we're invisible when we're out getting these soul vessels?† â€Å"Not invisible, so to speak, it's just that no one sees us. You can go right into people's homes and they'll never notice you standing right beside them, but if you speak to someone on the street they'll see you, waitresses will take your order, cabs will stop for you – well, not me, I'm black, but, you know, they would. It's sort of a will thing, I think. I've tested it. Animals can see us, by the way. You'll want to watch out for dogs when you're retrieving a vessel.† â€Å"So that's how you got to be a – what do they call us?† â€Å"Death Merchants.† â€Å"Get out. Really?† â€Å"It's not in the book. I came up with it.† â€Å"It's very cool.† â€Å"Thanks.† Mr. Fresh smiled, relieved for a moment not to be thinking about the gravity of Charlie's unique transition to Death Merchant. â€Å"Actually, I think it's a character from an album cover, guy behind a cash register, eyes glowing red, but I didn't know that when I came up with it.† â€Å"Well, it makes perfect sense.† â€Å"Yeah, I thought so,† said Mr. Fresh. â€Å"More coffee?† â€Å"Please.† Charlie held out his empty cup. â€Å"So, someone saw you. That's how you became a Death Merchant?† â€Å"No, that's how you became one. I think that you may, uh – † Fresh didn't want to mislead this poor guy, but on the other hand he didn't actually know what had happened. â€Å"I think you may be different from the rest of us. No one saw me. I was working security for a casino in Vegas when that went sour for me – I have a problem with authority, I'm told – so I came to San Francisco and opened this shop, started dealing in used records and CDs, mostly jazz at first. After a while it just started happening: the glowing soul vessels, people coming in with them, finding them at estate sales. I don't know why or how, it just did, and I didn't say anything about it to anyone. Then the book came in the mail.† â€Å"The book again. Don't you have a copy around?† â€Å"There's only one copy. At least that I know of.† â€Å"And you just mailed it out?† â€Å"I sent it certified mail!† Fresh boomed. â€Å"Someone at your store signed for it. I think I did my part.† â€Å"Okay, sorry, go on.† â€Å"Anyway, when I got to the Castro it was a very sad place. The only guys you saw on the street were very old or very young, all the ones in the middle were either dead or sick with HIV, walking with canes, towing oxygen cylinders. Death was everywhere. It's like there needed to be a soul way station, and I was here, trading records. Then the book showed up in the mail. There were a lot of souls coming in. For those first few years I was picking up vessels every day, sometimes two or three times a day. You'd be surprised how many gay men have their souls in their music.† â€Å"Have you sold them all?† â€Å"No. They come in, they go out. There's always some inventory.† â€Å"But how can you be sure the right person gets the right soul?† â€Å"Not my problem, is it?† Mr. Fresh shrugged. He'd worried about it at first, but it seemed to all happen as it should, and he'd gotten into the rhythm of trusting whatever mechanism or power was behind all of this. â€Å"Well, if that's your attitude, why do it at all? I don't want this job. I have a job, and a kid.† â€Å"You have to do it. Believe me, after I got the book, I tried not doing it. We all did. At least the ones I've talked to did. I'm guessing you've already seen what happens if you don't. You'll start hearing the voices, then the shades start coming. The book calls them Underworlders.† â€Å"The giant ravens? Them?† â€Å"They were just indistinct shadows and voices until you showed up. There's something going on. Starting with you, and continuing with you. You let them get a soul vessel, didn't you?† â€Å"Me? You said there's a bunch of Death Merchants.† â€Å"The others know better. It was you. You fucked up. I thought I saw one flying over earlier in the week. Then today, I was out walking, and the voices were bad. Really bad. That's when I called you. It was you, wasn't it?† Charlie nodded. â€Å"I didn't know. How could I know?† â€Å"So they got one?† â€Å"Two,† Charlie said. â€Å"A hand came out of the sewer. It was my first day.† â€Å"Well, that's it,† said Fresh, cradling his head in his hands. â€Å"We are most certainly fucked now.† â€Å"You don't know that,† Charlie said, trying to look on the bright side. â€Å"We could have been fucked before. I mean, we run secondhand stores for dead people, that's sort of a definition of fucked.† Mr. Fresh looked up. â€Å"The book says if we don't do our jobs everything could go dark, become like the Underworld. I don't know what the Underworld is like, Mr. Asher, but I've caught some of the road show from there a couple of times, and I'm not interested in finding out. How 'bout you?† â€Å"Maybe it's Oakland,† Charlie said. â€Å"What's Oakland?† â€Å"The Underworld.† â€Å"Oakland is not the Underworld!† Mr. Fresh leapt to his feet; he was not a violent man, you really didn't have to be when you were his size, but – â€Å"The Tenderloin?† Charlie suggested. â€Å"Don't make me smack you. Neither of us wants that, do we, Mr. Asher?† Charlie shook his head. â€Å"I've seen the ravens,† Charlie said, â€Å"but I haven't heard any voices. What voices?† â€Å"They talk to you when you're on the street. Sometimes you'll hear a voice coming out of a heating vent, a downspout, sometimes a storm drain. It's them, all right. Female voices, taunting. I've gone years without hearing them, I'll almost forget, then I'll be going to pick up a vessel, and one will call to me. I used to phone the other merchants, ask them if they'd done something, but we stopped that right away.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because that's part of what we think brings them up. We're not supposed to have any contact. It took us a while to figure that out. I had only found six of the merchants in the city back then, and we were having lunch once a week, talking about what we knew, comparing notes – that's when we saw the first of the shades. In fact, just to be safe, this will be the last time that you and I have contact.† Mr. Fresh shrugged again and began to untie Charlie's bonds, thinking: It all changed that day at the hospital. This guy has changed everything, and I'm sending him out like a lamb to the slaughter – or maybe he's the one to do the slaughtering. This guy might be the one – â€Å"Wait, I don't know anything,† Charlie pleaded. â€Å"You can't just send me out to do this without more background. What about my daughter? How do I know who to sell the souls to?† He was panicked and trying to ask all the questions before he was set free. â€Å"What are the numbers after the names? Do you get the names like that? How long do I have to do this before I can retire. Why are you always dressed in mint green?† As Mr. Fresh untied one ankle, Charlie was trying to tie the other back to the chair. â€Å"My name,† said Mr. Fresh. â€Å"Pardon?† Charlie stopped tying himself up. â€Å"I dress in mint green because of my first name. It's Minty.† Charlie completely forgot what he was worried about. â€Å"Minty? Your name is Minty Fresh?† Charlie appeared to be trying to stifle a sneeze, but then snorted an explosive laugh. Then ducked.

Essay about Creation vs Evolution - 2018 Words

Almost everyone wonders if the universe was created and how it was created. People also ask, â€Å"How did human originate?† This is an argument that has been fought for many years. Although there are several ideas, society mainly argues over two of them. The first idea is that man was created by God during his creation of the universe. This is the idea of creationism. It is supported by many religious people. Creationism is supported by religion. The second way that humans could have originated is through a process called evolution. Evolution is a theory proposed by scientists to explain the origin of all species. Because both explanations are theories, neither can be proven right or wrong. To make a decision on which theory is†¦show more content†¦The Brewer 3 organisms born with the advantages will have a better opportunity to survive and reproduce. During reproduction, the advantages may be inherited by the offspring. When this process occurs to many individuals within a species, the organisms with the advantages will have a higher frequency. This will be higher than that of the organisms without the advantages. Eventually the organisms will become an evolved population. The other population may survive or become extinct (â€Å"Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial† 7). The first scientist to introduce the theory of evolution was the Greek Anaximander in 520 BC. When the idea was proposed, it was not called evolution. Anaximander suggested that life began as slime and moved to drier places to develop. Until the nineteenth century, people thought only thought that each species was miraculously created out of nothing. Today, this idea is known as evolution. The main researcher of evolution was Charles Darwin. He was not well respected among others. He proposed his theory of evolution in the nineteenth century. He proposed that in each generation, a species contains individuals with characteristics varying slightly from average. These differences may be minor, but some give those individuals a better chance of surviving and reproducing. This will pass on the advantages to the offspring. That species may become extinct. Nevertheless, itsShow MoreRelatedControvery of Creation vs. Evolution in Inherit the Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee624 Words   |  3 PagesIn Inherit The Wind, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is about a big trial in a small town, and a controversial Creation versus Evolution debate. There are many characters with flamboyant and powerful personalities. Among them are: Matthew Harrison Brady, and Henry Drummond. Although all of these influential people are powerful, not all of them have the same amount of power, not only over other people, but over themselves as wel l. Matthew Harrison Brady is a very powerful, and revered man atRead MoreCreation Vs. Evolution : Creation Versus Evolution2016 Words   |  9 PagesCreation vs evolution Creation vs. evolution has been a very large debate for a long time. People have been debating whether or not evolution was fact or fiction ever since Charles Darwin published his theory of biological evolution in 1859 in his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, or as it is most commonly known On the Origin of Species. There are several different people in the world, each person having theirRead MoreEvolution Vs Creation Vs Evolution1395 Words   |  6 Pagescame first; the chicken or the egg?† Both evolution and creation make excellent counter-arguments against one another about how Earth came to be, and have also been argued against one another for many years. This paper will contain the topics of comparing evolution and creation; these topics are that they are both based on theories, Earth was one big continent, and natural selection. Along with those topics, there will be contrasts betw een evolution and creation; these topics will include chimpanzeesRead MoreEssay on Creation vs. Evolution1348 Words   |  6 PagesCreation vs. Evolution Ever since the publication of Charles Darwins The Origin of Species was published there has been an ongoing debate between science and religion. Scientists have formulated many theories as to the origins of man and to the creation of the earth, whereas religious groups have one main creation theory, based on the Genesis story of The Bible. 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What does the evidence say? Well in this paper I am writing in re gards to creation and what I learned and what I believe that is true evidence that God was the one that created us in his image, so here we go. In genesis 1:1 its tells us in the Beginning God created theRead MoreCreation vs Evolution Essay754 Words   |  4 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There are two different beliefs of how everything came to be. One is creation. Creationalists believe in what the Bible says which is that God created everything. Another is evolution. Evolutionalists believe that there was a quot;big bangquot; which brought forth everything. In this paper, Im going to give the arguments that prove evolution wrong. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of the main things that evolutionalists have a problem with is time. They say thatRead MoreEvolution Vs. Creation Essay1654 Words   |  7 PagesEvolution! The theory that every living organism has come from a lesser organism. A theory that claims humans have come from monkeys. This theory, is what’s being taught to our children in school. If a child asks a teacher about the theory of Creation, they are sure to get a response like, I’m not allowed to answer that question, or something along those lines, because schools are not allowed to teach on religious subjects. I guess schools think that evolution is the next best thing. I believeRead More Creation vs. Evolution Essay3066 Words   |  13 PagesCreation vs. Evolution Since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, there has been a continuous debate in the United States regarding evolution and creation. Recently, this debate has intensified throughout America over the issue of whether or not to include creationism in the public school curriculum either in conjunction with evolution or as a replacement for the theory. With such a volatile subject being argued, there are other issues that are brought up at theRead MoreThe Creation Vs. Evolution Debate1017 Words   |  5 PagesThe creation vs. evolution debate is a question of origins. How did we get here? Were we created or did we evolve randomly? Are we the product of purposeful intelligence or are we merely the end result of countless cosmic accidents? What does the evidence say? Well in this paper I am writing in regards to creation and what I learned and what I believe that is true evidence that God was the one that created us in his image, so here we go. In gen esis 1:1 its tells us in the Beginning God created the