The Impact Of Social Media Marketing Essay

The Impact Of Social Media Marketing Essay This assignment discussing about the impact of social media on the way businesses are conducted today in terms of technological, economical, political and cultural exchanges brought about by these form of modern communication. As we know this modern communication platform giving impact to businesses today. We dont have any control to social media because this platform giving users freedom to express their opinions, experiences or anything that they wants. Social media providing big opportunity to organization to build better relation with clients and providing real one to one communication. Customers are now become more particular about with whom and from where they are buying products or services. One of the main reason why businesses must use social media is because their competition using this platform daily as marketing strategy. Customers and future customers also using that. Case study on giant restaurant McDonalds showing that even big companies also unable to control the power of social media. Wildfire ROI Survey 2011 survey shows that, marketers admits social media helping them to increase brand awareness and increasing customer relation. Businesses that directly interacting with customers should use social media to increase their revenue and increase the brand awareness. Many organizations now start using internal social network which connects their employees all around the world. For example, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Restaurants have more then 460 outlets in America using internal social network to make sure daily operation getting much better and they become one of the famous restaurant in America. The number one world retailer who have more then 2.2 million employees in 2012, Wal-Mart using social media platform to streamline supply chains and manage the stocks and inventories more efficiently to reduce the product price. Any products related to social media also helping boost the world economy. Products like laptops, iPads, iPhones, headphone, headset and so on which used by customers to access social media received very high demand. Thousands of companies worldwide involved in offering social media services offers thousands of jobs opportunity. Some Fail Stories of Businesses when Using Social Media is Netflix where they are one of the top internet subscription service for watching movies and TV programs from any countries lost 800,000 customers because avoid listening to customers feedback form social media. Example of Success Companies because of Social Media is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines where successfully enjoy with meet and seat campaign which let the passengers choose the seatmate before board the plane. As a conclusion, Social media promising a lot of opportunities and challenges, so organization must prepare themselves to facing this. What is Social Media? Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein describe social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Social Media contains two words. The first one is Social which means interaction, sharing and so on. Another word is Media where to say that social media is a medium for publication. Social media contains a lot of tools and applications which let the users express their opinion, publish articles, sharing videos and so on easily. Social Media Landscape The chart below shows the social media network landscape. There have a lot of different tools and services which allow users to do almost anything that they want. For publishing articles, opinions, news and so on there have blogs, wikis and citizen journalism portals. Twitter is for Micro publication. There have thousands of website that allow users to share videos, pictures, links, music, slideshows and product reviews. Websites like YouTube.com, FlickR and so on are some of the popular sites. To make discussion and sharing ideas or even making complaint about any companies, there have forums, video forums, instant messaging and VoIP. Social Media also allow us to watch world live tv programs or even live football from anywhere in the world. There also have platforms for virtual words, social gaming and MMO. The most popular network on internet is Social Networks like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and so on that connecting anybody from anywhere. According to Edison Research Survey in 2012 (the only providers of exit polling information for ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox, NBC, The AP and most of newspapers worldwide) says that, more then half American has created profile in any Social Networking websites. Edison Research Survey in 2012 also shows that nearly two thirds of social networkers are using social sites daily. Social Media History Social Media history began in 1969 when CompuServe Company offers internet services for public using dial-up technology in United States. Then in 1979 Usenet become first bulletin board which connects Duke University and University of North Carolina. The development process continuously moving until Tripod introduced online community for college students and young adults in 1992. In 1997 there have more then one million sites on the internet including social media sites like AOL Instant Messenger. Frindster become biggest social networking site in 2002 with more then 3 million users. In 2003 Myspace, Frindster clone site launched and LinkedIn also launched their business-oriented social networking site for professionals. In 2004 Facebook started their operation which offers networking opportunity for Harvard College. YouTube come to the world in 2005 and give excitements to the world with video sharing features. In 2011 social media can be accessed from anywhere in the world and beco me one of the important thing in our life. Thousands of sites offers social media services in 2012 and all this sites very flexible and can be accessed through many different devices. Companies are now forced to use social media to make sure their brand always in customers mind. Social Media Influence According to Sir Andrew Likierman, London Business School Dean, social media has completely disrupted the way businesses assess their performance. This statement is completely true because social media not longer an option but is a must especially companies that dealing straightly with customers. Some business can completely avoid thinking about social media like wholesalers because they just dealing with another business. Since social media become more power, organization facing difficulties to measure their performance. They must have specific strategy for social media or even companies could have one special unit that handle feedbacks and responses from user. Any negative feedbacks should grab attention and they have to discuss on how to react with any negative comments. Any negative response from customers will be there on net forever. No way to remove that and because of that, companies that avoid think about social media will lose some customers. Customers are now become more particular about with whom and from where they are buying products or services. They willing to make online search before making any purchase decision especially for expensive items. Since internet is now more conveniently searchable through smart phones, customer can make search in just a minutes. Thats why companies must have social media presence and put some attention to manage customer response and try to convincing them that the business is reputable and trusted. Social media providing big opportunity to organization to build better relation with clients and providing real one to one communication. There have no better advertising then word of mouth. Satisfied customers surely will share to their friends in their social network about their experiences with a particular company. If one person shares their experience to his 400 Facebook friends, and that friends spread that news to their friends, the information moves extremely fast. If a video uploa ded in YouTube with attracting title like Think Twice before you eat XXX, this video surely will grab thousands or even millions of social medial users. With Share function available almost in any site, in just a second we can share anything to social media community. One of the main reason that we must use social media is because our competition using that daily as marketing strategy. If we not use mean we loosing customers. Emarketer says in 2011, the Facebook advertising revenue estimated at 3.8 billion dollar and can increase to 5.2 billion dollar in 2012. What does it mean?, this numbers shows that a lot of businesses using social media to make advertising. A lot of businesses have social media networks account. As a result, competitors are forced to make online presence. They have no option, make appearance in social media or you will lose customers. Another big reason why a business should using social media because their customers and future customers using it. A lot of people have at lease one social media account like Facebook, YouTube and so on. A business should present their brand where customers are. Traditionally we can see people open shops at crowd places like in shopping mall and so on. The same case here where a business should present in crowd place like social media. Million of people using that every day. You didnt show mean, the competitor getting stronger. According to McKinsey, organization that using social media able to increase 50 percent customers satisfaction. They also able to catch 48 percent in business lead and the most important is, their profit increase 24 percent. Case Study (McDonalds) I would like to discuss about, what are the impacts of Social Media to one of the worlds popular fast food giant company McDonalds. If we search the word McDonalds on YouTube.com (one of the top video sharing site), there have 124,000 results. Among this results we can found that, thousand of results that showing bad thing about McDonalds. Some of the video titles are: Video with title McDonalds horror got more then 4.2 million views with 8,859 likes. Hundred of the viewers commented on this video and one of the comment is I think I  »Ã‚ ¿dont want to eat french fries from McD again which got more then one thousand likes. This video showing about McDonalds foods and why some of their food takes long time to spoil. This is how now days people using social media to express their opinions and sharing bad thing about any brands. They are now having power which can influence other people behaviors. People who watching this video then surely with spread this to their friends, relations and so on. This is real challenge to McDonalds and most of companies. Some competitor also may misuse social media to spreading bad thing about their competitors company. Any people can upload videos showing bad thing about their competitors company and they also may set specific campaign to putting them down. Nobody can stop this kind of behaviors and activities. As response, I see McDonalds showing some effort to explain questions that asked by viewers. McDonalds uploaded some response video. One of the video titles is Behind the scenes at a McDonalds photo shoot (with 7 million views and more then 17,000 likes) which explains answers to questions asked by viewers. McDonalds realized the impact of videos uploaded by their customers to their business. If McDonalds didnt do anything as response to videos that showing bad things about them, surely this will impact their business performance and lost huge amount of customers. I found that McDonalds still didnt answer many more questions asked by customer through social media. They only answer some of them and huge amount of videos still havent have any answer. In January 2012, McDonalds launched Twitter campaign with hashtag #McDStories which let the customers to post nostalgic stories and their experiences with Happy Meals (one of the famous meal sold by McDonalds). As response, customers start to share bad stories about Happy Meals like customer service, food quality. One of their post is just got a terrible burger thats been there four hours. This is one of the fail campaign by McDonalds. As a lesson we must understand that social media offering big opportunity and big risk. Peoples perception and feedbacks is uncontrollable. Companies should have some contingency plan which can be used if any problem happens. Even worlds big giant restaurant also unable to control the social media. Measuring the Business Impact of Social Media (Wildfire ROI Survey 2011) Social media is a long term strategy which falls under advertising and public relation investment. When social media combined with other marketing strategies, a particular brand will always at peoples mind. In November 2011, Wildfire (a division of Google) who is worlds largest social media marketing software providers, involved in ROI survey. This survey conducted to over 700 marketers from number of countries. This survey shows that, marketers admit social media helping them to increase brand awareness and increasing customer relations. Over 97% of marketers believes that social media marketing campaign increasing their business performance. As a long time strategy they also want to increase social media spending. This survey also shows that (see figure 3), social media have power to growing brand awareness and able to increasing sales and partnerships. 41% marketers agreed that this media able to reducing cost that will result in revenue increase. 94% respondents ranked Facebook as one of their biggest social marketing platform which giving more value to their campaign. Facebook giving more new customers, have high conversion rate and increased customers loyalty. As a summary of this survey we can see that social media changing how we doing business today. Businesses that directly interacting with customers should use social media to increase their revenue and increase the brand awareness. Day to day, social media getting more complex and businesses should start a set long term social media strategy. Big companies can use this media to improve their customer service because they can keep on eye on customers behaviors and react fast. The Impact of Social Media on the Way Businesses are Conducted Today Technological Impact Many organizations now start using internal social network which connects their employees all around the world. For example, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Restaurants have more then 460 outlets in America. They are using internal social network which look similar like Facebook to teach their employees and managers about the recipes and how to make them fast. They are no more using traditional ways like send out bunch of books to each outlet. They are also no more waiting for feedback when store visit by headquarters and so on. Any problems that occur in any outlet get fast response from headquarters in just in few minutes. Everything becomes more easy and fast with internal social networks. Managers communicate with other managers in other outlet through chat or video conversation function. More exiting news is, they are creating burgers according to customers feedback in social media. As a result, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers becomes one of the famous restaurants in America. More and more companies are now using social media technology to speed up the business process and make sure every job done effectively. The number one world retailer who have more then 2.2 million employees in 2012, Wal-Mart using social media platform to streamline supply chains and manage the stocks and inventories more efficiently to reduce the product price. Many banks in America using social media to reduce cost for processing mortgages. SupeValu is one of the company who have number of supermarket chains in America using Yammer (enterprise social network software) to connect all 11,000 executives and store managers. They created 1000 groups in that network to discuss about challenges and discussing new ideas. All store managers are in one group where discussing problems and ideas. Another group of supervisors discussing problem related to their controls. This method is more cost effective rather then holding meeting where participated by all managers. According to McKinsey Co. Survey, they found that two-third of big companies in United States are now using web 2.0 application like internal social networks or blogs, 50% increase from year 2008. 90% of this companies admit that, this new communication way improved their operation and the process getting much faster. Eric Lesser, one of the Director at IBMs Institute for Business Value, said that social media make the communication between the worlds professionals with various skills to sharing ideas and solving problems easily. Social media technology moving extremely fast. This forcing company to have dynamic team which can learn new thing much faster. The software related to social media updated more regularly. The team must always ready anytime to facing new challenges. They must understand the most effective way to use social media which can bring good result for the company. All this pushing companies to spend more and have specific budget. Social media increased the number of internet users worldwide. From 2008 to 2012 the world internet users increased by 30% according to BBC. This forced internet service providers to finding new ways to speedup the internet connection. This to make sure all business activities can be done much faster, cheaper and in more effective way. Now we can use 4G and Fiber Optic network to send out emails or any services just in second. Conversation thought Skype becomes more comfort without any interruption. More and more companies using latest technology for communicate with other people. This is another good impact of social media. Economical Impact Social media helped businesses to create product which have high demand and according to customers needs. Customer giving feedbacks which helped many companies to develop their products and services. Companies like Dell using ideas from customers to creating and improving their products. One of the example is created backlit keyboards which is more suitable when working on airplanes. Companies who creating products according to customers needs surely will help boost the economy because high demand to that products. Any products related to social media also helping boost the world economy. Products like laptops, iPads, iPhones, headphone, headset and so on which used by customers to access social media received very high demand. Meg Whitman who is CEO of HP, says that in the past 2 years the sales for their laptops increased to more then 60%. The dramatic increase mainly because of impact of social media. More and more people using social media now and devices such as laptops receive high demand. Apple, Inc also admits that the sales for their hot product iPad received high demand as a result of social media. Social media also created job opportunities which can help the economy. Social media created thousands of jobs opportunities. Facebook has more then 2,000 employees, Twitter has 300 employees and Groupon employed more then 4,500 workers. This only some figures, there have thousands of companies worldwide involved in offering social media services which offer thousands of jobs opportunity. World economy increased and unemployment rate decreased. Business associated with facebook created 232,000 new job opportunity in Europe in 2012 according to the news published by CNN. Social media also created new industry where many people able to make income online. Many people are now enjoying income from home and helped house wifes to generate income to helping their husband while take care of their children at home. Social media contributed many benefits to the economy but there also have some negative impact. Entertainment industry especially film industry affected by social media. Film makers invest million of dollars to make movies. Thought social media sites like You Tube or any file sharing sites, any people can enjoy new movies at no cost. Even though industry players took some actions to reduce the impact, but they unable to stop this activity totally. Political Impact Many country leaders are now encouraging people to use social media. One of the greatest example is Malaysian Prime Ministers, Najib Tun Razak. He has more then one million Facebook fans as well as Tweeter. He sharing a lot of information though his network about his daily activity and so on. As a result, many companies start using social media especially Facebook on their daily operation. Most of businesses in Malaysia have Facebook ID. If we go deeper about the impact of social media in Malaysia, we can see Lynas Corporation project. Lynas project is from Australian company Lynas Corporation. This company supplies rare earths for many businesses. Many opposition political parties in Malaysia shows protects against this project because they believe this project provide danger for local environments. Malaysian citizen shows protect against this project thought social media. Facebook and many other social networks filled with feedback about this project. As a result government took some action to explain to citizen about this project and promise to evaluate back the existence of this project in Malaysia. This in one of the example showing clearly how social media impact governments decision and businesses. Cultural Exchanges Impact Social media highly impact most of business aspect. Now many businesses especially who have big number of employees start using internal social networking utilities which makes communication among them made simple. According to research made by Garner, in 2014 it assumed that more then 20 percent of businesses will use internal social networking utilities which will replace email communication now. With internal communication social network, any latest activities by company and so on will known by their employees much faster. Social media impact on human resource process from recruitment, development, career management, mentoring and so on. For example, LinkedIn is a social networking site for peoples in professional occupations. This site has more then 140 million members. Many organizations using this site to search for real talent peoples. Many HR departments using LinkedIn nowadays for recruitment where this site offer many tools that can be used to view full profile and so on. Companies also posting jobs at this site. This site opens new way to search for talented professionals. Professionals enjoy sharing their experiences on this site. Social media sites also used by companies to evaluate their employees and future employees. For example, after Human Resource department conducted interview for job openings, they will search candidate details through social network sites such as Facebook to examine whether that candidate suitable or not or has any bad things about them. This is one of the way how human resource department are now evaluate their candidate. Social networks like Facebook extremely giving big impact to world culture. We could have friends from many countries and communication with them able us to understand about their culture. Businesses now try to explore new markets. Companies like KFC and McDonalds try to localize some of their foods. Using customers feedback from social network, these companies try to add some local foods from that particular country together with their main menus. Nasi Ayam which is one of the Malaysia local foods available at KFC. They also try to add foods from other countries to local market. Social media useful to trading companies. If they found Iranian drink getting popular in Malaysia, they start importing these drinks to be sold at Malaysia. The ideas are come from customers feedback from social media. Now we can enjoy foods and dresses which belongs to other culture available at local market. Some disadvantages of social media to companies is, social media will give negative impact to workers productivity. Employees may wasting time to engage with their friends rather then doing the work that they should do. Now days we can see many employees using social network in office hours especially when their bosses are not around. Some Fail Stories of Businesses When Using Social Media Netflix is one of the top internet subscription service for watching movies and TV programs from any country. They have more then 27 million subscribers in America, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. When they increased their monthly subscription price, customers showed their protection through social media with more then 82,000 negative comments. Next month they lost 800,000 customers. As we can see companies can use social media as one of the platform to evaluate whether any decision that they made which is relating to customers. Any negative response must get fast attention from organization. In 2012, giant car maker Toyota launched Camry Effect Campaign on Twitter to promote Camry. They has created number of Twitter account. This campaign is designed for directly communicate with users but what happen is, big number of users start to accuse Toyota because bombarding and spamming then with many unsolicited messages. As response Toyota suspended their accounts. Until now this campaign well known as fails campaign. The main problem with this campaign is, not because Toyota Spamming then but the content of the messages that they send out is not attracting. They also are sending same messages content over and over. They are only sending promotional messages which not help to build relationship with users. Example of Success Companies because of Social Media KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in well known as one of the largest airlines in the world. They able to attract future customers in unique ways and convert them as paying customers. They really clear about what customer wants and they believe customers paying for journey. They started social media in 2009, after some failure they come out with very controversial successful idea. They made join venture with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and so on and created tool which can help passengers to choose seatmate before board the plane. This campaign named meet and seat. After passengers choose the seat mate, they can communicate with them using social networks like Facebook before they meet at flight. This one of the great idea KLM where utilizing social media and give ultimate experience to their passenger. Disadvantage of Social Media for Business A successful online presence especially in social media, a company needs an experienced team which can improve companies reputation. Social media becomes unique and able to drive a lot of sales when they engage with their customers. This mean they have to reply messages, comments and so on. Pushing sales without engaging with customers or not respond to negative feedback will damage the companies reputation. We also must produce new contents and always find out ways to overcome to any negative feedback. There have thousands of sites in social media which can be used to our business benefit. Is not easy for evaluate which site we should pay attention more and which site gives real value for investments. Return on Investment evaluation process is not an easy with social media. Wrong online presence strategy will damage the companies reputation and put them at a viral social disadvantages. Any mistake they make in front of thousand of fans or social media members will result in big reputation impact. So we must careful when perform social media campaign. Using social media marketing and advertising campaign could be more time consuming because we have to watch out every activity that we should do and engaging with people. Advantage of Social Media for Business The advertising cost is much more cheaper then traditional advertising and promotional activities. Social media also gives full value for every penny we spend. Traditional advertising only show the brand to the customer but with social media we can build long term relationship through Like function and can get their email address for send future emails. Future customer able to find our brand through many channels like sharing activities, news, search engine search result and so on which give us free advertising. Social media can bring huge amount of traffic to our content especially when that content grabbing their attention. This what we can call free traffic or free customers. Social media allows customers to express their experiences to others. A satisfies customers surely can bring another new customer though sharing experience activity. This also able to motivates companies to do the best as they can because consumers are now have freedom to express their views and feedback without any blocks. Companies will improve their products and services to customers. Conclusion Social media gives deep impact to the business world today from small companies to big giant companies. Social media landscape is big and the system and technology continuously growing and changing everyday. Companies who using and presented in social media enjoying big benefits. Some companies received negative impact. Social media not longer an option but is a must especially companies that dealing straightly with customers. Social media promising a lot of opportunities and challenges, so organization must prepare themselves to facing this.

The Plastic Pink Flamingo :: Literary Analysis, Jennifer Price

Since the 1930's, plastic pink flamingos have been a trendy statement piece at hotels and in yards across the country. Jennifer Price, the author of "The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History", uses tone, satire, and diction to show her view on United States culture. Price's view is that United States culture is flashy, cocky, and that Americans tend to try and stand out to get attention. "The pink flamingo splashed into the fifties market, it staked" (Price lines 1-2). Plastic flamingos are unable to splash like real flamingos, therefore Price is demonstrating satire. Also, the plastic flamingos are staked into the ground. "Americans had been flocking to Florida" (Price line 4) is humorous because the Americans flocking to the southern east coast like flamingos. The plastic pink flamingo became "synonymous with wealth and pizzazz"(Price line7-8). After the Great depression and the war, Americans had a lot of pride for their country, and this was one way of showing it. "This was a little ironic, since Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction in Florida" (Price lines 13-14). Price may be putting down American because Americans tend to follow the crowd and copy what everyone else is doing. The flamingo could be a metaphor of how Americans are followers and do not come up with their own ideas. The plastic pink flamingo gave an "extra fillip of boldness" (Price line 20). The flamingo was a way for Americans to stand out in the crowd and be noticed. Americans were flashy, cocky, and maybe even a little bit conceited. "And the Flamingo was pink- a second and commensurate claim to boldness" (Price lines 30-31). American culture is very flashy and bold. By being bold and flashy, it makes Americans stand out from the crowd and be noticed. Pink was the thing to have, it showed wealth and status. "The hues were forward-looking rather than old-fashioned" (Price lines 36-37). The pink flamingos were a way for the Americans to show pride after World War II. The plastic flamingos were the Americans' way of coming back out after the Depression and the war. They are the symbol that marks the beginning of a new era. "Even a real flamingo is brighter that anything else around it" (Price lines 48-49). The Americans wanted to be recognized after the war and show their pride for their country. The flamingo was a symbol of status and power.

Edgar Allen Poe: A great American Icon :: essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe’s unique, fearless and morbid writing style has influenced literature throughout the world. He was once titled the "master of the macabre" (Buranelli, 57). One of the aspects in his life with which he struggled was social isolation. He used this as a topic in a number of poems and short stories. Poe's life was also filled with periods of fear and irrationality. He had a very sensitive side when it came to the female gender, any woman he was ever close to died at an early age. Another of his major battles, actually the only one he really lost, was his struggle with alcoholism. Of all these topics, Poe's favorites were the death of a beautiful woman, a feeling, which he knew all too well, and the general topic of death. Edgar Allan Poe endured a very difficult life and this is evident in his literary style. Suffering through several periods of fear and irrationality during his life, Poe included those experiences in many of his more famous works. One of these periods involved experiences in joining the army in order to get away from his foster father after the death of his foster mother (Buranelli, 13). These periods of fear and irrationality were the cause of his misfortune and poor social status. His peers for these episodes looked him down upon. Poe expressed this theme throughout almost all of his short stories and poems. "Many of his stories exhibited abnormal states of mind and are constructed in terms of a single mad obsession†(Buranelli, 28). His insane ways made his work stand out from the normal short story, or poem. He was able to twist his stories and poems around in a way that almost seemed real, and was definitely intriguing. An example of this could be found in the â€Å"Black Cat†(Harrison, 257). The character took the eyes out of the first cat and then killed it. After that he proceeded to "accidentally" kill his wife with an ax, and bury her in a wall. Another example of Poe's insanity demonstrated within his works was located in â€Å"The Tell Tale Heart† (Harrison, 555), where Edgar stalked a man and eventually killed him. He then dismembered the body, took out his heart, and buried the man under the house. He later confessed to the police because he believed he could hear the heartbeat of the man.

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 11. The Two Things At The Very Top …

11. The Two Things At The Very Top Of My Things-I-Never-Want-To-Do List Sam started moving the others into formation while i was still on the ground. Embry and Quil were at my sides, waiting for me to recover and take the point. I could feel the drive, the need, to get on my feet and lead them. The compulsion grew, and I fought it uselessly, cringing on the ground where I was. Embry whined quietly in my ear. He didn't want to think the words, afraid that he would bring me to Sam's attention again. I felt his wordless plea for me to get up, for me to get this over with and be done with it. There was fear in the pack, not so much for self but for the whole. We couldn't imagine that we would all make it out alive tonight. Which brothers would we lose? Which minds would leave us forever? Which grieving families would we be consoling in the morning? My mind began to work with theirs, to think in unison, as we dealt with these fears. Automatically, I pushed up from the ground and shook out my coat. Embry and Quil huffed in relief. Quil touched his nose to my side once. Their minds were filled with our challenge, our assignment. We remembered together the nights we'd watched the Cullens practicing for the fight with the newborns. Emmett Cullen was strongest, but Jasper would be the bigger problem. He moved like a lightning strike – power and speed and death rolled into one. How many centuries' experience did he have? Enough that all the other Cullens looked to him for guidance. take point, if you want flank, Quil offered. There was more excitement in his mind than most of the others. When Quil had watched Jasper's instruction those nights, he'd been dying to test his skill against the vampire's. For him, this would be a contest. Even knowing it was his life on the line, he saw it that way. Paul was like that, too, and the kids who had never been in battle, Collin and Brady. Seth probably would've been the same – if the opponents were not his friends. Jake?Quil nudged me. How do you want to roll? I just shook my head, t couldn't concentrate – the compulsion to follow orders felt like puppet strings hooked intoall of my muscles. One foot forward, now another. Seth was dragging behind Collin and Brady – Leah had assumed point there. She ignored Seth while planning with the others, and I could see that she'd rather leave him out of the fight.There was a maternal edge to her feelings for her younger brother. She wished Sam would send him home. Seth didn't register Leah's doubts. He was adjusting to the puppet strings, too. Maybe if you stopped resisting†¦,Embry whispered. Just focus on our part. The big ones. We can take them down. We own them!Quil was working himself up – like a pep talk before a big game. I could see how easy it would be – to think about nothing more than my part. It wasn't hard to imaging attacking Jasper and Emmett. We'd been close to that before. I'd thought of them as enemies for a very long time. I could do that now again. I just had to forget that they were protecting the same thing I would protect. I had to forget the reason why I might want them to win†¦. Jake,Embry warned. Keep your head in the game. My feet moved sluggishly, pulling against the drag of the strings. There's no point fighting it,Embry whispered again. He was right. I would end up doing what Sam wanted, if he was willing to push it. And he was. Obviously. There was a good reason for the Alpha's authority. Even a pack as strong as ours wasn't much of a force without a leader. We had to move together, to think together, in order to be effective. And that required the body to have a head. So what if Sam was wrong now? There was nothing anyone could do. No one could dispute his decision. Except. And there it was – a thought I'd never, never wanted to have. But now, with my legs all tied up in strings, I recognized the exception with relief – more than relief, with a fierce joy. No one could dispute the Alpha's decision – except for me. I hadn't earned anything. But there were things that had been born in me, things that I'd left unclaimed. I'd never wanted to lead the pack. I didn't want to do it now. I didn't want the responsibility for all our fates resting on my shoulders. Sam was better at that than I would ever be. But he was wrong tonight. And I had not been born to kneel to him. The bonds fell off my body the second that I embraced my birthright. I could feel it gathering in me, both a freedomand also a strange, hollow power.Hollow because an Alpha's power came from his pack, and I had no pack. For a second, loneliness overwhelmed me. I had no pack now. But I was straight and strong as I walked to where Sam stood, planning with Paul and Jared. He turned at the sound of my advance, and his black eyes narrowed. A/o, I told him again. He heard it right away, heard the choice that I'd made in the sound of the Alpha voice in my thoughts. He jumped back a half step with a shocked yelp. Jacob? What have you done? I won't follow you, Sam. Not for something so wrong. He stared at me, stunned. You would†¦ you would choose your enemies over your family? They aren't – I shook my head, clearing it – they aren't our enemies. They never have been. Until I really thought about destroying them, thought it through, I didn't see that. This isn't about them,he snarled at me. This is about Bella. She has never been the one for you, she has never chosen you, but you continue to destroy your life for her! They were hard words, but true words. I sucked in a big gulp of air, breathing them in. Maybe you're right. But you're going to destroy the pack over her, Sam. No matter how many of them survive tonight, they will always have murder on their hands. We have to protect our families! I know what you've decided, Sam. But you don't decide for me, not anymore. Jacob – you can't turn your back on the tribe. I heard the double echo of his Alpha command, but it was weightless this time. It no longer applied to me. He clenched his jaw, trying to force me to respond to his words. I stared into his furious eyes. Ephraim Black's son was not born to follow Levi Uley's. Is this it, then, JacobBlack? His hackles rose and his muzzle pulled back from his teeth. Paul and Jared snarled and bristled at his sides. Even if you can defeat me, the pack will never follow you! Now jerked back, a surprised whine escaping my throat. Defeat you? I'm not going to fight you, Sam. Then what's your plan? I'm not stepping aside so that you can protect the vampire spawn at the tribe's expense. I'm not telling you to step aside. If you order them to follow you – never take anyone's will away from him. His tail whipped back and forth as he recoiled from the judgment in my words. Then he took a step forward so that we were toe to toe, his exposed teeth inches from mine. I hadn't noticed till this moment that I'd grown taller than him. There cannot be more than one Alpha. The pack has chosen me. Will you rip us apart tonight? Will you turn on your brothers? Or will you end this insanity and join us again?Every word was layered with command, but it couldn't touch me. Alpha blood ran undiluted in my veins. Icould see why there was never more than one Alpha male in a pack. My body was responding to the challenge. I could feel the instinct to defend my claim rising in me. The primitive core of my wolf-self tensed for the battle of supremacy. I focusedall my energy to control that reaction. I would not fall into a pointless, destructive fight with Sam. He was my brother still, even though I was rejecting him. There is only one Alpha for this pack. I'm not contesting that I'm just choosing to go my own way. Do you belong to acoven now, Jacob? I flinched. don't know, Sam. But I do know this – He shrunk back as he felt the weight of the Alpha in my tone. It affected him more than his touched me. Because I had been born to lead him. will stand between you and the Cullens. I won't just watch while the pack kills innocent – it was hard to apply that word to vampires, but it was true – people. The pack is better than that. Lead them in the right direction, Sam. I turned my back on him, and a chorus of howls tore into the air around me. Digging my nails into the earth, I raced away from the uproar I'd caused. I didn't have much time. At least Leah was the only one with a prayer of outrunning me, and I had a head start. The howling faded with the distance, and I took comfort as the sound continued to rip apart the quiet night. They weren't after me yet. I had to warn the Cullens before the pack could get it together and stop me. If the Cullens were prepared,it might give Sam a reason to rethink this before it was too late. I sprinted toward the white house Istill hated, leaving my home behindme. Home didn't belong to me anymore. I'd turned my back on it. Today had begun like any other day. Made it home from patrol with the rainy sunrise, breakfast with Billy and Rachel, bad TV, bickering withPaul†¦ How did it change so completely, turn all surreal? How did everything get messed up and twisted so that I was here now, all alone, an unwilling Alpha, cut off from my brothers, choosing vampires over them? The sound I'd been fearing interrupted my dazed thoughts – it was the soft impact of big paws against the ground, chasing after me. I threw myself forward, rocketing through the black forest. I just had to get close enough so that Edward could hear the warning in my head. Leah wouldn't be able to stop me alone. And then I caught the mood of the thoughts behind me. Not anger, but enthusiasm. Not chasing†¦ but following. My stride broke. I staggered two steps before it evened out again. Wait up. My legs aren't as long as yours. SETH! What do you think you're DOING? GO HOME! He didn't answer, but I could feel his excitement as he kept right on after me. I could see through his eyes as he could see through mine. The night scene was bleak for me – fullof despair. For him, it was hopeful. I hadn't realized I was slowing down, but suddenly he was on my flank, running in position beside me. am not joking, Seth! This is no place for you. Get out of here. The gangly tan wolf snorted. I've got your back, Jacob. I think you're right. And I'm not going to stand behind Sam when – Oh yes you are the hell going to stand behind Sam! Get your furry butt back to La Push and do what Sam tells you to do. No. Go, Seth! Is that anorder. Jacob? His question brought me up short. I skidded to a halt, my nails gouging furrows in the mud. I'm not ordering anyone to do anything. I'm just telling you what you already know. He plopped down on his haunches beside me. tell you what I know – I know that it's awful quiet. Haven't you noticed? I blinked. My tail swished nervously as I realized what he was thinking underneath the words. It wasn't quiet in one sense. Howls still filled the air, far away in the west. They haven't phased back,Seth said. I knew that. The pack would be on red alert now. They would be using the mind link to see all sides clearly. But I couldn't hear what they were thinking. I could only hear Seth. No one else. Looks to me like separate packs aren't linked. Huh. Guess there was no reason for our fathers to know that before. ‘Cause there was no reason for separate packs before. Never enough wolves for two. Wow. It'sreally quiet. Sort of eerie. But also kinda nice, don't you think? I bet it was easier, like this, for Ephraim and Quil and Levi. Not such a babble with just three. Or just two. Shut up, Seth. Yes, sir. Stop that! There are not two packs. There is THE pack, and then there is me. That's all. So you can go home now. If there aren't two packs, then why can we hear each other and not the rest? I think that when you turned your back on Sam, that was a pretty significant move. A change. And when I followed you away, I think that was significant, too. You've got a point,I conceded. But what can change can change right back. He got up and started trotting toward the east. No time to argue about it now. We should be moving right along before Sam†¦ He was right about that part. There was no time for this argument. Ifell into a run again, not pushing myself quite as hard. Seth stayed on my heels, holding the Second's traditional place on my right flank. can run somewhere else, he thought, his nose dipping a little. didn't follow you because I was after a promotion. Run wherever you want. Makes no difference to me. There was no sound of pursuit, but we both stepped it up a little at the same time. I was worried now. If I couldn't tap into the pack's mind, it was going to make this more difficult. I'd have no more advance warning of attack than the Cullens. We'll run patrols,Seth suggested. And what do we do if the pack challenges us?My eyes tightened. Attack our brothers? Your sister? No – we sound the alarm and fall back. Good answer. But then what? I don't think†¦ I know,he agreed. Less confident now. don't think I can fight them, either. But they won't be any happier with the idea of attacking us than we are with attacking them. That might be enough to stop them right there. Pius, there're only eight of them now. Stop being so†¦Took me a minute to decide on the right word. Optimistic. It's getting on my nerves. No problem. You want me to be all doom and gloom, or just shut up? Just shut up. Can do. Really? Doesn't seem like it. He was finally quiet. And then we were across the road and moving through the forest that ringed the Cullens' house. Could Edward hear us yet? Maybe we should be thinking something like,'We come in peace.† Go for it Edward?He called the name tentatively. Edward, you there? Okay, now I feel kinda stupid. You sound stupid, too. Think he can hear us? We were less than a mile out now. think so. Hey, Edward. If you can hear me – circle the wagons, bloodsucker. You've got a problem. We've got a problem, Seth corrected. Then we broke through the trees into the big lawn. The house was dark, but not empty. Edward stood on the porch between Emmett and Jasper. They were snow white in the pale light. â€Å"Jacob? Seth? What's going on?† I slowed and then paced back a few steps. The smell was so sharp through this nose that it felt like it was honestly burning me. Seth whined quietly, hesitating, and then he fell back behind me. To answer Edward's question, I let my mind run over the confrontation with Sam, moving through it backward. Seth thought with me, filling in the gaps, showing the scene from another angle. We stopped when we got to the part about the â€Å"abomination,† because Edward hissed furiously and leaped off the porch. â€Å"They want to kill Bella?† he snarled flatly. Emmett and Jasper, not having heard the first part of the conversation, took his inflectionless question for a statement. They were right next to him in a flash, teeth exposed as they moved on us. Hey, now,Seth thought, backing away. â€Å"Em, Jazz – not theml The others. The pack is coming.† Emmett and Jasper rocked back on their heels; Emmett turned to Edward while Jasper kept his eyes locked on us. â€Å"What's their problem?† Emmett demanded. â€Å"The same one as mine,† Edward hissed. â€Å"But they have their own plan to handle it. Get the others. Call Carlisle! He and Esme have to get back here now.† I whined uneasily. They were separated. â€Å"They aren't far,† Edward said in the same dead voice as before. I'm going to go take a look,Seth said. Run the western perimeter. â€Å"Will you be in danger, Seth?† Edward asked. Seth and I exchanged a glance. Don't think so,we thought together. And then I added, But maybe I should go. Just in case†¦ They'll be less likely to challenge me,Seth pointed out. I'm just a kid to them. You're just a kid to me, kid. I'm outta here. You need to coordinate with the Cullens. He wheeled and darted into the darkness. I wasn't going to order Seth around, so I let him go. Edward and I stood facing each other in the dark meadow, i could hear Emmett muttering into his phone. Jasper was watching the place where Seth had vanished into the woods. Alice appeared on the porch and then, after staring at me with anxious eyes for a long moment, she flitted to Jasper's side. I guessed that Rosalie was inside with Bella. Still guarding her – from the wrong dangers. â€Å"This isn't the first time I've owed you my gratitude, Jacob,† Edward whispered. â€Å"I would never have asked for this from you.† I thought of what he'd asked me for earlier today. When it came to Bella, there were no lines he wouldn't cross. Yeah, you would. He thought about it and then nodded. â€Å"I suppose you're right about that.† I sighed heavily. Well, this isn't the first time that I didn't do it for you. â€Å"Right,† he murmured. Sorry I didn't do any good today. Told you she wouldn't listen to me. â€Å"I know. I never really believed she would. But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  You had to try. I get it. She any better? His voice and eyes went hollow. â€Å"Worse,† he breathed. I didn't want to let that word sink in. I was grateful when Alice spoke. â€Å"Jacob, would you mind switching forms?† Alice asked. â€Å"I want to know what's going on.† I shook my head at the same time Edward answered. â€Å"He needs to stay linked to Seth.† â€Å"Well, then would you be so kind as to tell me what's happening?† He explained in clipped, emotionless sentences. â€Å"The pack thinks Bella's become a problem. They foresee potential danger from the†¦ from what she's carrying. They feel it's their duty to remove that danger. Jacob and Seth disbanded from the pack to warn us. The rest are planning to attack tonight.† Alice hissed, leaning away from me. Emmett and Jasper exchanged a glance, and then their eyes ranged across the trees. Nobody out here,Seth reported. All's quiet on the western front They may go around. I'll make a loop. â€Å"Carlisle and Esme are on their way,† Emmett said. â€Å"Twenty minutes, tops.† â€Å"We should take up a defensive position,† Jasper said. Edward nodded. â€Å"Let's get inside.† run perimeter with Seth. If I get too far for you to hear my head, listen for my howl. â€Å"Iwill.† They backed into the house, eyes flickering everywhere. Before they were inside, I turned and ran toward the west. I'm still not finding much,Seth told me. take half the circle. Move fast – we don't want them to have a chance to sneak past us. Seth lurched forward in a sudden burst of speed. We ran in silence, and the minutes passed. I listened to the noises around him, double-checking his judgment. Hey – something coming up fast!he warned me after fifteen minutes of silence. On my way! Hold your position – don't think it's the pack. It sounds different. Seth – But he caught the approaching scent on the breeze, and I read it in his mind. Vampire. Bet it's Carlisle. Seth, fall back. It might be someone else. No, it's them. I recognize the scent Hold up, I'm going to phase to explain it to them. Seth, I don't think – But he was gone. Anxiously, I raced along the western border. Wouldn't it be just peachy if I couldn't take care of Seth for one freaking night? What if something happened to him on my watch? Leah would shred me into kibble. At least the kid kept it short. It wasn't two minutes later when I felt him in my head again. Yep, Carlisle and Esme. Boy, were they surprised to see me! They're probably inside by now. Carlisle said thanks. He's a good guy. Yeah. That's one of the reasons why we're right about this. Hope so. Why're you so down, Jake? I'll bet Sam won't bring the pack tonight. He's not going to launch a suicide mission. I sighed. It didn't seem to matter, either way. Oh. This isn't about Sam so much, is it? I made the turn at the end of my patrol. I caught Seth's scent where he'd turned last. We weren't leaving any gaps. You think Bella's going to die anyway,Seth whispered. Yeah, she is. Poor Edward. He must be crazy. Literally. Edward's name brought other memories boiling to the surface. Seth read them in astonishment. And then he was howling. Oh, man! No way! You did notThat just plain oT sucks rocks, Jacob! And you know it, too! I can't believe you said you'd kill him. What is that? You have to tell him no. Shut up, shut up, you idiot! They're going to think the pack is coming! Oops!He cut off mid-howl. I wheeled and started loping in toward the house. Just keep out of this, Seth. Take the whole circle for now. Seth seethed and I ignored him. False alarm, false alarm,I thoughtas I ran closer in. Sorry. Seth is young. He forgets things. No one's attacking. False alarm. When I got to the meadow, I could see Edward staring out of a dark window. I ran in, wanting to be sure he got the message. There's nothing out there – you got that? He nodded once. This would be a lot easier if the communication wasn't one way. Then again, I was kinda glad I wasn't in his head. He looked over his shoulder, back into the house, and I saw a shudder run through his whole frame. He waved me away without looking in my direction again and then moved out of my view. What's going on? Like I was going to get an answer. I sat very still in the meadow and listened. With these ears, I could almost hear SetlYs soft footfalls, miles out into the forest. It was easy to hear every sound inside the dark house. â€Å"It was a false alarm,† Edward was explaining in that dead voice, just repeating what I'd told him. â€Å"Seth was upset about something else, and he forgot we were listening for a signal. He's very young.† â€Å"Nice to have toddlers guarding the fort,† a deeper voice grumbled. Emmett, I thought. â€Å"They've done us a great service tonight, Emmett,† Carlisle said. â€Å"At great personal sacrifice.† â€Å"Yeah, I know. I'm just jealous. Wish I was out there.† â€Å"Seth doesn't think Sam will attack now,† Edward said mechanically. â€Å"Not with us forewarned, and lacking two members of the pack.† â€Å"What does Jacob think?† Carlisle asked. â€Å"He'snot as optimistic.† No one spoke. There was a quiet dripping sound that I couldn't place. I heard their low breathing – and I could separateBella's from the rest. It was harsher, labored. It hitched and broke in strange rhythms. I could hear her heart. It seemed†¦ too fast. I paced it against my own heartbeat, but I wasn't sure if that was any measure. It wasn't like I was normal. â€Å"Don't touch her! You'll wake her up,† Rosalie whispered. Someone sighed. â€Å"Rosalie,† Carlisle murmured. â€Å"Don't start with me, Carlisle. We let you have your way earlier, but that's all we're allowing.† It seemed like Rosalie and Bella were both talking in plurals now. Like they'd formed a pack of their own. I paced quietly in front of the house. Each pass brought me a little closer. The dark windows were like a TV set running in some dull waiting room – it was impossible to keep my eyes off them for long. A few more minutes, a few more passes, and my fur was brushing the side of the porch as I paced. I couldsee up through the windows – see the top of the walls and the ceiling, the unlit chandelier that hung there. I was tall enough thatall I would have to do was stretch my neck a little†¦ and maybe one paw up on the edge of the porch†¦. I peeked into the big, open front room, expecting to see something very similar to the scene this afternoon. But it had changed so much that I was confused at first. For a second I thought I'd gotten the wrong room. The glass wall was gone – it looked like metal now. And the furniture was all dragged out of the way, withBella curled up awkwardly on a narrow bed in the center of the open space. Not a normal bed – one with rails like in a hospital. Also like a hospital were the monitors strapped to her body, the tubes stuck into her skin. The lights on the monitors flashed, but there was no sound. The dripping noise was from the IV plugged into her arm – some fluid that was thick and white, not clear. She choked a little in her uneasy sleep, and both Edward and Rosalie moved in to hover over her. Her body jerked, and she whimpered. Rosalie smoothed her hand across Bella's forehead. Edward's body stiffened – his back was to me, but his expression must have been something to see, because Emmett wrenched himself between them before there was time to blink. He held his hands up to Edward. â€Å"Not tonight, Edward. We've got other things to worry about.† Edward turned away from them, and he was the burning man again. His eyes met mine for one moment, and then I dropped back to all fours. I ran back into the dark forest, running to join Seth, running away from what was behind me. Worse. Yes, she was worse.

The Long Road to Recovery

The Long Road to Recovery, From a Hopeless State of Mind and Body Michael A White ENG 211 Professor Geoff Pope March 14, 2010 The Long Road to Recovery 2 The Long Road to Recovery, From a Hopeless State of Mind and Body Alcoholism and the disease of addiction have been viewed in two strong yet completely different ends of the spectrum for as long as men and women have been losing control of how much and when they drink. One end of the spectrum is the immoralist point of view, which claims the â€Å"alcoholic as not having morals† (Gary, 1999).When describing alcoholics, they have also been known to call them â€Å"sinful† or â€Å"moral weaklings† (Gary, 1999). Throughout history, the alcoholic has been ridiculed, as described by Gary Stofle in the article â€Å"The Morality of Alcoholism†: â€Å"Society has ascribed to these views as evidenced by the fact that alcoholics have been jailed just for being alcoholics in the past. At worst, alcoholics have be en killed or left to die because of society's views and from a lack of knowledge concerning treatment of alcoholism as well. At best, alcoholics have been laughed at, scorned, pitied and/or run out of town† (1999).These views of the alcoholic have caused a great many to relapse, and even die, when all that was needed was a little understanding of the disease. The biggest problem with holding this view of addiction is that it can be potentially fatal for the alcoholic of The Long Road to Recovery 3 my caliber. The other end of the spectrum that I hold to be truer, yet still don’t agree completely with, is the view of the Amoralist. â€Å"The alcoholic must also understand that he is not responsible for the things he said or did when he was drinking.The physical addiction controlled his behavior, and because he is powerless over the addiction, he cannot be held responsible for it† (Gary, 1999). My purpose in this essay is give my first-hand experience of the pain a nd despair that the disease of alcoholism can cause, and how if you are willing to do whatever it takes to end the pain and the suffering, anyone can be relieved from the same hopeless state of mind and body as I was. My name is Mike and I am an alcoholic. I am responsible for the things that I have done while being loaded.What makes me an alcoholic is that when I drink, I don’t know how much I will drink, or what I will end up doing while I am loaded; what I mean by that is when I consume alcohol or any other drug, I release my addiction all over again, and I am at the mercy of it. I lose my power of choice, between doing the right things and the wrong things. When I am loaded, there are only three places that I can end up: jails, institutions, and death. The Long Road to Recovery 4 There are three main stages regarding the disease of addictioncolon the early stage, the middle stage, and the end stage.C. H. Angel writes, â€Å"During the early stage of alcoholism an individ ual becomes more dependent upon alcohol. If a person has a stressful day, alcohol will be consumed to alter his or her mood. Alcohol is used to relieve stress on a regular basis† (2007). I remember this stage clearly, this is when I was just trying to â€Å"fit in† and be one of the â€Å"cool kids† when I still had the power to control whether or not I got drunk. (Keep in mind that when you cross from stage to stage, there is an imaginary line that you cross.You don’t know when you are about to approach it, or even when you have crossed it, but it comes and then it goes. ) The middle stage is â€Å"the point where a person desires alcohol more intensely. A person starts drinking more alcohol at one sitting. The person clearly starts losing control over his or her drinking† (Angel, 2007). When I got to this point in my life, my thoughts and actions were controlled by alcohol and drugs; just about all my actions were consumed with the thoughts of usi ng. What I mean by that is everything I did I always had thoughts of when and where was I going to get my next fix.The Long Road to Recovery 5 Angel describes the end stage as â€Å"the individual is obsessed with drinking. The individual drinks to the exclusion of all other people and all other aspects of his or her life. The individual's problems with alcohol are apparent to everyone around that person. The mental, emotional and physical health of the individual erodes rapidly in the end stage. Serious problems are present all around: physical health, mental health, financial, inter-personal relationships, financial and legal† (2007). When I hit this stage, my life, and my family’s life got turned upside down.I couldn’t hold down a job, nor did I want to, I had been to jail countless times, my family wanted nothing to do with me, and my children, didn’t even know who I really was. I myself didn’t even know who I really was. But for the grace of a loving god, and a magic place of Alcoholics Anonymous, I was able to gain control over my addiction, and I was relieved from a hopeless state of mind and body. What my life was like I am not exactly sure as to why I became an alcoholic, and I might not ever know why I was afflicted with a disease that there is no known cure.But the fact remains; I am, and I will always be one, and I am ok with it. I had a mother who The Long Road to Recovery 6 loved me dearly, and a step father who, as long as I could remember, always made me fight for his approval, attention, and even his love. I am not saying that he didn’t love me or anything of the sorts. But I always felt like I was in a competition with my sister (who is biologically his) to get a piece of him all to myself. I grew up never meeting my biological father, and still to this day I have never met him, and now it is too late, because he has been dead for a couple of years now.My mother isn’t an alcoholic, but my biolo gical father did lose his battle with his disease of addiction in 2004, so the only thing that I could safely assume is that I got the gene from him, but since he is gone I will never know for sure. For the most I had a good childhood, nothing to traumatic ever really happened to me, I lived a sheltered, uneventful life. I lived in my childhood home with my parents up till the day that I graduated from high school in 1997. I was always surrounded by people who loved, and cared for me. So I don’t completely understand where I went wrong.When I hit my bottom, I had been battling my addiction for many years. I had been in jail over and over again. â€Å"For those suffering from the disease of alcoholism it seems to be an almost universal truth that before things can get The Long Road to Recovery 7 better, they have to get worse — sometimes a lot worse† (Buddy, 2009). That was completely true for me; every incident by itself was never enough to stop doing what I was doing. Buddy writes, â€Å"Alcoholism is a progressive disease; there comes a point at which even the most dedicated drunk decides that there just might be a problem.Alcoholism does not stay in one place. It doesn’t hit a certain stage and then level off. It keeps deepening, affecting him physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. On all of those levels he keeps getting worse until finally he hits bottom† (2009). Then after years of abuse, to me and my family, it all came to a head. On October 2, 2002, my house got raided for the manufacturing of methamphetaminescomma and that was the end of life as I knew it. As a result of the house getting raided, my kids got taken away from me, and placed with my parents, because I had failed them miserably as a father. Warped lives of blameless children† is what my sponsor used to tell me; and, boy, was he right about that. My daughter was a year old and my son was two months old when they were taken away from me, becau se I was a danger to them. It is only by the grace of a loving god that nothing had happened to them that I couldn’t repair. The Long Road to Recovery 8 As a result of mine and my ex-wife’s addiction, my son is autistic. He is high functioning, yet he is still autistic, so the poor decisions that I had made, will affect him for his whole life.I spent 110 days in county jail, till I was released from jail on February 26, 2003. Even after I was released from jail, I still continued to drink and use drugs, until I quit trying to mask the pain that I felt, and tried to do something about the pain I had caused. So on March 20, 2003, I quit trying to control my life, cause my best decisions got me into the situation that I was in, from that day to this one, I have not taken a drug or a drink to hide any longer. What life is like nowWhen I quit trying to control my life, and let someone else take control, my life got better, I am not saying that it got better overnight, but i t got better. On June 6, 2003, I was checked into impatient treatment at a place called American Behavioral Health Systems, in Spokane Washington. That is when I started to get control of my demons that I had been struggling with for such a long time. That is where I had learned about myself, and my disease of addiction. I spent 3 months there working on the things that brought my life crashing down around me. The Long Road to Recovery 9While I was in treatment, I took responsibility for my actions, and the damaged that I caused. I quit trying to blame my circumstance on the people around me, and I came to the realization that all of the things that went on in my life, had one common denominator, and that was me. Once I found out what made me tick, what I wanted out of life, and how drugs and alcohol played a detrimental role in ever attaining any of those things. I learned what I needed to do to get all of the things that I wanted out of life and most importantly how I could do it without drugs and alcohol.Too much personal testimony for this research-related paper. While in treatment, I started to repair some of the damages that I had put my children and my family through. In most cases, it took time to heal the wounds. As for my children, I had supervised visits with them, while they still lived with my parents. Once I had completed impatient treatment, and moved to Yakima, I had visits with them once a week till, on February 2004, after 18 months of living with my parents, they came to live with me again. The only reason that they were able to do that was because I was no longer a anger to them. The day they came back to me was the greatest day ever. I have to admit, that I was really scared about the whole deal, because I wasn’t sure how to be a father, a sober The Long Road to Recovery 10 father. Then I came to the realization, that when I was loaded I wasn’t a father anyways. Today, I repair the damage that I have caused by not creating an ymore pain. I am the best father that I can be to my children today, and as long as I don’t get loaded today, they will never have seen me or remember seeing me loaded.As for going to jail, I haven’t been back since the last time that I got out in 2003. I took me to get clean, to realize that the only time that I had ever gone to jail was because of drugs and alcohol. So for today, I am a single father of three beautiful children, who love me with all of their hearts, no matter what I have done in the past. They know what I have done, because I don’t lie or hide who I was from them. They know that I have made mistakes, and they have forgiven me, and they love and accept me for who I am, and not who I was.If you think that you might know someone, who is suffering from the disease of addiction, as outlined in the DSM-lV (Burge & Schneider, 1999) The Long Road to Recovery 11 1. Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school or home (e. g. , repeated absences or poor work performance related to alcohol use; alcohol-related absences, suspensions or expulsions from school; neglect of children household) 2. Recurrent alcohol use in situations in which it is physically hazardous 3. (e. g. driving an automobile or operating a machine when impaired by alcohol use) 4. Recurrent alcohol-related legal problems (e. g. , arrests for alcohol-related disorderly conduct) 5. Continued alcohol use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the alcohol (e. g. , arguments with spouse about consequences of intoxication, physical fights) If you see any of these signs, don’t be afraid that you are going to hurt their feelings, because it is not about sparing their feelings, it about saving their life.The Long Road to Recovery 12 The most important thing before an alcoholic can be approached is that they show signs of a readiness to change. If the signs are not there, any attempts to make them change will fail. The readiness to change doesn’t just happen, it takes time, and the time that I talk about is presented in steps. â€Å"Precontemplation (not ready for change), contemplation (ambivalence about change), preparation (planning for change), action (the act of change) and maintenance (maintaining the new behavior)† (Burge, Schneider, 1999).Not everybody stays off of drugs and alcohol on their first try. Relapse is common in the recovery process. This usually occurs when the alcoholic doesn’t feel as if he or she had a problem. But if they are truly an alcoholic, they will eventually realize that they are, and they will ask for help. There are many places that a person can get help to solve the problems of addictions. You can go to impatient treatment, outpatient treatment, or just go straight to the rooms of alcoholics anonymous. Here is a list of some places where you can go in Washington for hel p: Good! 1.American Behavioral Health Systems, residential treatment services are The Long Road to Recovery 13 located in the Spokane Valley at 12715 E. Mission Avenue, Spokane Valley, Washington, 99216, www. abhsinc. net 2. Schick Shadel Hospital 12101 Ambaum Blvd. S. W. Seattle, Washington 98146, Tel: 1-866-938-6280 3. Sundown M. Ranch, 2280 State Route 821 Yakima, WA 98901-8302 (509) 457-0990, www. sundown. org My recovery from the disease of addiction was long and painful for me, but there is no comparison, nor would it be fair to compare the pain that I went through to the pain that the people in my life felt.The wreckage that I caused has taken a long time to repair, and I will continue on this road as long as I repair the damage that I have caused and don’t slip back into active addiction. If it wasn’t for the grace of a loving god, and the magical place of Alcoholics Anonymous, I would be able to be a father to my three wonderful children, be a son to my mother , or be a productive member of today’s society. The Long Road to Recovery14 References Gary, S. (1999). The morality of alcoholism. Retrieved Feb 28, 2010, from mentalhelp. et Angel C. H. (2007) period Alcoholism stages-understanding the progression of the disease of alcoholism. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2010, from ezinearticles. com/? Alcoholism†¦ Progression-of-the-Disease-of-Alcoholism Buddy T. (2009)period Hitting bottom, usually it must get worse before it gets better. Retrieved, Feb. 28, 2010 from About. com Burge, S. K. , and Schneider, F. D. , (1999) Alcohol related problems: Recognition and intervention. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2010, from www. aafp. org B- 86/100 = 129/150

American Pageant. Essay

Over time, there have been many different modifications to facilitate transportation and the economy. The transcontinental railroad is one factor that introduced the American indusrty. This immense industry turned into an even greater business and touched from coast to coast. Because of the railroads, urbanization and industrialization grew although the corruptions with scandals came as well. The nation was in a time of spurring even higher from starting in 1865. Before the railroads, the population was more scattered around farming areas. As the railroads grew, urbanization also expanded and began gathering around the railroads.Because the government gave a significant amount of land grants, the railroad companies, which were able to choose alternative mile-square sections, had much land that they did not use to build their railroads. President Grover Cleveland gave the unclaimed portions for land settlement in 1887. Although this was seen as the â€Å"giveaway† of land, the government ended up benefiting with long-term preferential rates for postal service and military traffic; the railroad corporations could also sell the land at an average of three dollars an acre.With new railroads in placed, people moved beside them and brought in business for the railroads and towns which gave the railroads another source of profit. Immigration also started uprising, with the Chinese and Irish working on the railroads. As the railroads traveled across the country, it gave the nation a way to get products or people across the country. Food and materials traveled to all from farms to towns and cities. People found it easier to move across the country; urbanization grew throughout the whole country rather than being scattered among the farms.The railroads were built because of industrialization and expanded it even further. As the railroad network snaked around the country, the economic growth did as well. The locomotives touched coast to coast offering what each sid e of the country had for the other. The west had many wealthy resources and the east had many workers. Raw materials traveled back and forth as so did the finished goods afterwards, such as steel for the generation of more railroads. The United States soon became the largest integrated national market in the world.As the railroads grew there was more demand for raw supplies from different parts of the country. The steel and wood for the railroads impacted greatly the forestry and mining industry while the coal industry also grew to power the trains; new factories and industries were built and powered to load more onto the new railroads. Millionaires greatly benefited from this, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt who was one of the most profitable amongst the new aristocracy. As the railroads expanded, so did industrialization, which made the United States economy one of the best that it has had over history.Although the effects of the railroads were mostly positive, there was the negative aspect of corruption and scandals came as well. Congress commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad, which the company received huge sums of money and land to build tracks. What the government did not know was that the corporation had frauds which were known as the Credit Mobilier; insiders from the construction company had reaped twenty-three million dollars in profits. Jay Gould was many of those who also executed many robberies. For nearly thirty years he gained money from the stocks of Erie, the Kansas Pacific, and the Texas and Pacific.One of the many different ways these million-dollar-thieves manipulated was â€Å"stock watering†. Originally coming from the definition of bloating up a cow to sell for more, the stock promoters were doing this but with the economy and stocks. The railroad stock promoters inflated their claims about a given line’s assets and profitability and sold stocks and bonds much higher than the railroad’s actual value. Railroad managers where therefore forced to charge much higher and compete against each other in order to pay the exaggerated financial obligations. In the midst of all the scandal, the Vanderbilt’s were involved as well.As many railroaders, they had to fight and bribe for rights. As long as there were railroads, and with their many positive effects, there was also corruption, competition, and scandal. The building of the transcontinental railroads changed the American economy immensely. It has changed the nation as a whole and spurred with a new way of supply and demand traveling all over the country. The new web of steel brought up urbanization, industrialization and corruption with scandals as well. The transcontinental railroads brought the country together with a new form of economy.

A Business Marketing Plan: Hunger Solution & Training Company Essay

Introduction This paper contains a marketing plan of a small production company that is earmarked to be established in Gardnerville, the suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, my country of origin. The business which is to be named â€Å"Hunger Solution & Training Company† derived its name from the decade-long civil war that existed in Liberia that resulted into most of the citizens and other nationals of this country being internally displaced. These people which comprise of men, women, children, and other nationals, moved into the small capital of the country and its suburbs, making it very congested in terms of population. Others fled into neighboring countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Guinea, and Togo. Due to the high rate of unemployment, most of the domestic farmers and others who were engaged in other businesses for survivals are unable to afford two or three sumptuous meals a day, leaving them and their children poor and hungry. Hunger Solution & Training Company is a not-for-profit Cassava-Powder Production Company founded on January 13, 2012. The Company produces cassava powder, a food that is widely consumed by 99% of the Liberian population in the country. Since cassava is a major crop in the country and there is a growing demand from its consuming public, the purpose of this Company is to cater to this hunger need of the growing number of the Liberian populace as well as those who are unemployed. The company will distribute its product to neighboring Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo who are users of this product and also hosting most of the Liberian citizens as refugees. The Company will also train and empower local farmers to re-use their farmlands, engage in large-scale farming, and make them to bring their produce to the company to be changed into cassava powder for marketing and distribution. Cassava Powder or cassava is the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics. It is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for around 500 million people. It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava (Faintuch Ceccenello, I. I., 2011). In Ghana, cassava Powder can be made into (fufu) and consumed with all kinds of soup: palm-butter soup, pepper soup, okra soup, and etcetera. In Liberia, cassava can be used to in different ways; it is made into fufu, farina, first solid food for babies, as well as achekeh. It can be used with many ingredients that add up to nourish the body. As you delve deeper into the paper, you will read about the strategies used to explain the product in terms of its primary characteristics, service component, and how it can be used for enhancement. You will read how the product can be expanded to product line with regards to the depth and breadth of the line. You have an insight of how the core business may change in response to industry and market changes and how this product can create an image in the mind of its consumers and entrepreneurs. You will further read about domestic and global product branding, pricing, and distribution strategies for cassava powder product and training initiated by Hunger Solution & Training Company. Further discussion will determine, detail, and examine how these branding, pricing, and distribution strategies support the cassava product and training services of the Company. A distribution channel will also be highlighted analyzing and identifying the wholesaler, retailer, and distributor relationship. If the strategy will be considered push or pull, it will be justified through the rationale that will be outlined in the paper. As you will advance further, you will discern how the distribution strategy fits the product and training aspect of the Company with regards to service, target market, and the Company’s overall marketing strategy. The Company will ensure that its product and training are essential to the needs of the Liberian consuming public as well as their manpower development. You will also read about the Company’s advertising strategy and how this approach will bring into line the Company’s marketing goals. It will be determined how effectively the advertising will be measured and how the different promotional strategies relevant to the Company advertising will be utilized. Further discussion will establish the best marketing research approach used to measure customer satisfaction with the Company’s product (cassava powder) and training service initiated to train farmer in implementing large-scale farming. It will be explained how gaps in customer expectations and experiences will be addressed by the marketing wing of the Company, using the high knowledge and proficiency of experienced and well-schooled people in marketing management. Type of Product and its Primary Characteristics This marketing plan will also engulf vision of the company, its mission statement, product and services, and underlying factor of the business. The plans will also contain a vivid description of the company in terms of its business product as well as SWOT analysis to demonstrate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A market target segmentation of customers, strategic mission, and its foreign expansion will be made to give a clear picture how the business will implement its transactions in and out of the country. Vision Statement Hunger Solution & Training Company determines to provide its customers with cassava powder that will be used for food consumption and empower its local farmers and others to engage into re-using their farm lands for growing cassava that will be made into cassava powder and to carry out large-scale farming. Mission Statement The mission of Hunger Solution & Training Company is to provide cassava powder to its customers for consumption in a safe and quiet way. The Company will also empower local farmers by training them and others to re-use their farmlands for growing cassava crop that will be brought to the Company for cassava powder making. Foreign Market and Rationale Since the Company is ideally located in Gardnerville, the suburb of Monrovia, it has resolved to extend its operations to neighboring Ghana, Togo, and Nigeria respectively. The major reason for this extension emanates from that fact that most of the Liberians nationals that fled the decade-long civil war migrated to these countries as refugees and are unemployed, living on subsistent businesses. Besides, the people of these countries (Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo) widely use plantain powder product, yam powder product, and cassava powder product in various ways for consumption. Management Team The Company is run and managed by four persons: John Garven, General Manager, Vonyee Garven, Chief Financial Officer, and Immanuel Garven, Director for Training and Development. Devon Okoro is the Marketing manager, while 25 other workers work in various sectors of the company. Market Segment Hunger Solution & Training Company (HSTC) targets all sectors of people who are found in Monrovia and its suburbs. It also concentrates on those in the rural areas where there are enough land to carry out large-scale farming. It also targets other nationals like the Nigerians, Ghanaians, Togolese, as well as Hispanic populations who are consumers of this product and living in Liberia. The Company’s product will also cater to women, men, children as well as babies. Since the country is underdeveloped and indigent, many of its vast unemployed citizens live on less than an American dollar ($1.00 USD) per day. Besides, the civil fracas contributed largely to deplorable living conditions of its people. The Company also targets to train farmers who migrated from the rural areas of the country and displaced in Monrovia as a result the civil war, and those unemployed wanting to engage in large-scale farming. SWOT Analysis The spirit of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the company is defined relative to other providers in the market, and how the company can identify and capitalize on its strengths, weaknesses, as well as exploring opportunities that can boost the company capabilities and weaknesses that could lead to its collapse, if not worked upon ( Powerhouse Marketing Plans, 2004). In this regards, the following are considered as SWOT analysis of Hunger Solution & Training Company: Strengths: The Company is given several thousand acres of land by government and townspeople in many of the country’s rural towns and villages for large-scale farming. It has a lot of farming machines, like tractors, equipment for sloughing the land, etcetera. There are other tools necessary to enhance smooth farming. It also has volunteer workers who will work for six months without pay. The management team is skilled in the area of business and has the capability to trains others to be productive. The company has donors that cater to 75% of its financial needs. Due to its supportive concept of alleviating the government to reduce the high rate of illiteracy, it is being subsidized by government. Weaknesses: The Company does not have vehicles that are accessible to the bad road condition in terms of conveying its product into some parts of the rural areas as well as its neighboring countries. As the results goods are delayed. Most of its workers are not trained as distributing and operating agents. Opportunities There is an availability of donor organizations in the United States and other developed countries in alacrity to sponsor such venture. NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) are present in the countries wanting to sponsor companies that have such programs. Threats: Bad road condition during the rainy season thwarts the efforts of good delivery of the company’s products. Another disadvantage that is envisaged is government regulations and the willingness of the internally displaced people to go back and settle into their counties of origin. Industry Analysis It is researched and understood that business of this nature is most time not taken on by a minute group of entrepreneurs but rather the government, which creates the means for multiple sponsorship that vehemently reduce its high rate of unemployment and contribute largely to replenishing its economy. The chief food product (cassava product) is a good business that has a huge competitive advantage in other countries that have this product as their chief product of consumption. Form this research survey, it is noticed that there is a need for the establishment of this company in Liberia since the country has none. Products and Services The selection of this product and training by â€Å"Hunger Solution & Training Company† is contingent upon my desire to enable everyone to at least afford a day’s meal and to empower people who are unemployed to get a job to do. In this regards, the company is considered as â€Å"light in darkness† for the Liberian people. The product is to be consumed by all of the people of Liberia including children as young as five months and to the elderly as old as eighty-five years. It offers a very cheap price that even the long-time unemployed workers can afford. Marketing Product # 2 Type of Product and its Primary Characteristics The selection of this product (cassava powder) and training by â€Å"Hunger Solution & Training Company† is contingent upon the desire to enable everyone to at least afford a day’s meal and to empower people who are unemployed to get a job to do. In this regards, the company is considered as â€Å"light in darkness† for the Liberian people. The product is consumed by all of the people of Liberia including children young as five months and to the elderly as old as eighty-five years. It offers a cheap price that even the long-time unemployed workers can afford. Beside the training program that is to be initiated and implemented by this company, it would specialize in the production of cassava powder. This product can be made into dumplings, fufu, stews, and gravies. The powder can also be made into bread, and milky pudding, similar to rice pudding. The major specialty it would offer is to create a good taste of preference to all that would use it to satisfy their consumption needs. The company will adapt to the improvement of quality standards so that maximum satisfaction is assured. Due to this, the company will also experiment with other new tenets of flavor that will enrich the taste of the original product, which will be made available to its consumers. An example would be cassava bread, milky pudding, gravies, stews and dumplings. Service Component of the Product Since a product is simply a marketing offering, that can be tangible or intangible and satisfy the consumption wants of the consumers, a service component of a product is the means that is devised to create interest in the mind of the consumer to purchase the product. This can be achieved through advertising the product on electronic or print media, or creating the awareness for purchasing. However, since the company is the sole producer and distributor of this product, it becomes a priority for the company to motivate and satisfy the needs of its consumers. In order to successfully implement this, the company must probe into complaints and dissatisfaction that will ensue from its customers. They must be given first preference and their complaints must be perfectly dealt with to assure them that without them the company will not exist. They will also be given discount like (buy three get one free); this will help to entice more customers including window shoppers and will give the company edge over other competitors. For the training aspect, free six-week training will be made available to those customers who will make the highest purchase of the product. Hence, the type of product that will be marketed by my company will be cassava powder, a product made from grinding dried cassava. This finished product can be made into fufu and other nutritional dish that can satisfy one’s hunger needs. In this regards, the company will become the chief distributors to wholesalers and retailers. There will also be a store operated by the company that will also carry out these sales. This product is one of the best sources of carbohydrates, nutrients that are used to nourish the body. Expansion of the Product to Product Line and Its Depth and Breadth of the Line â€Å"Hunger Solution & Training Company† does not only operate in the production of cassava product at affordable low cost, but also provide Organic Health Care food categorized as dumpling, milky pudding, cassava bread, as well as stews and gravies. The company’s media house offers tangibility of information and theses nutritional products that will go along with its chief product, the cassava powder. The free six-week training program for customers who will make the highest purchases in one month is advantageous for people who will be ready to engage in large-scale farming. Core Business Response to Industry and Market Changes If there is a change in business which may be a drop in sale that may result from market changes, the company may initiate downsizing and create a frictional job until these determining factors of the business are improved. Besides this, opportunities to explore that will contribute to improving the condition of the company’s sales; even in worsening situation will be initiated. Extension of this business will be geared at exploring opportunities that will yield diversification and staunch economic benefits as well as exploring changes that will epitomize response to industry and market changes. Conclusion A good marketing plan involves the use of several ingredients that form the mechanisms in which a person should be fortified with the understanding of the elements of marketing, in order to make a good decision. It is tenets of the company’s vision and mission, foreign market and management team, as well as its market segment and SWOT analysis. A good marketing plan engulfs marketing product which is the bait and tool a company or business entity uses to satisfy the needs and wants of its customers; it is the prerogative of the company to make this product attractive and affordable. As it highlights the service component of the product and how it can be expanded into the product line through its breadth and depth, it pivots core business in response to market changes that will result into diversification and economic benefits. References: Faintuch Cecconello, I. I. (2011). Systemic inflammation, J. J., Bortolotto, L. A., Marques, P. C., Faintuch, J. J., Franà §a, J. I., & and carotid diameter in obese patients: pilot comparative study with flaxseed powder and cassava powder. Nutrition Hospitalaria, 26(1), 208-213. Falade, K. O., & Akingbala, J. O. (2011). Utilization of Cassava for Food. Food Reviews International, 27(1), 51-83. doi:10.1080/87559129.2010.518296 Felgate, M., Fearne, A., Di Falco, S., & Garcia Martinez, M. (2012). Using supermarket loyalty card data to analyse the impact of promotions. International Journal of Market Research, 54(2), 221-240. doi:10.2501/IJMR Johnson, W. (2004). Powerhouse Marketing Plans: 14 Outstanding Real-life Plans and What You Can Learn from Them to Supercharge Your Own Campaigns. AMACOM Là ¼dicke, M. (2006). A Theory of Marketing: Outline of a Social Systems Perspective. University Of St. Gallen, Business Dissertations, 1-204. Marketing & distribution in India. (2000). India Economic Studies, 77. McDonald, M. (2008). Malcolm McDonald on Marketing Planning: Understanding Marketing Plans and Strategy. Kogan Page. , 26(1), 208-213. M. E., M. M. (2006). Marketer of the Year: Wendy Clark. B To B, 91(14), 12.