Equal opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Equal opportunities - Essay Example bility on service providers to promote good gender equality policies and processes as opposed to leaving the responsibility to individuals to challenge discriminatory practice - practices that, wittingly or unwittingly, have continued 30 years after the introduction of the sex equality legalisation. Let us have a look at how different legislative bodies have enacted / enacting regulatory frameworks to improve the gender equality in work places: Greater London Authority Welsh Development Agency Scottish Executive City of Birmingham Council North West Region West Midlands Police Authority Greater London Authority (GLA) Gender equality in GLA has been clearly set out from the start, with important issues of the process already in motion. It is exceptional in that the organization doesn't suffer the history of disadvantage found in the many of public sector bodies, and can therefore work on gender equality can go ahead without the traditional constraints. The public duty on gender equality in GLA makes required arrangements with regard to the principle that there should be equality for all. Its strategy for equality for women attempts that the organisation reflects the entire local community at all strata. The mainstreaming of gender equality has been found to be considerably easier in a newly created public body with equalities as a dimension of officer responsibilities. The GLA advocates: * A common approach for performance indicators on equalities * Clear equalities targets to measure performance * Equalities indicators integrated into the best value process These recommendations have streamlined the policies and practices that have helped the GLA become an exemplary employer that reflects the equalities programme for the population of London. This is visible in all... Gender equality in GLA has been clearly set out from the start, with important issues of the process already in motion. It is exceptional in that the organization doesn't suffer the history of disadvantage found in the many of public sector bodies, and can therefore work on gender equality can go ahead without the traditional constraints. The public duty on gender equality in GLA makes required arrangements with regard to the principle that there should be equality for all. Its strategy for equality for women attempts that the organisation reflects the entire local community at all strata. The mainstreaming of gender equality has been found to be considerably easier in a newly created public body with equalities as a dimension of officer responsibilities. This is visible in all functional bodies that include the Metropolitan Police, London Transport, the Fire Service and the London Development Agency.

Von Mangoldt function Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Von Mangoldt function - Essay Example There are various functions that relates to the Von function. Some of the functions that relates to the Von function is the mobius function, the divisor function and the phi function amongst others. In number theory, the phi function φ(n), is a part of the arithmetic function that counts the n totatives, that is, the positive integers that are less than or equal to n that are mainly prime to n. If n is a positive integer, then φ(n) is the integer number k in the range 1 ≠¤ k ≠¤ n for which the biggest common divisor gcd (n,k)=1. The totient function refers to a multiplicative function that means that where two numbers n and m are relatively prim, then φ(mn)  =  Ãâ€ (m)φ(n). The Euler’s product formula states A divisor function is also a part of the arithmetic function linked to the integer divisors. When denoted as the divisor function, it states the integer divisors number. It comes out as a remarkable identities involving relationships with the Eisenstein series and Riemann zeta function of modular forms. A linked formula is the divisor summatory function that like the name is the sum exceeding the divisor function. The Von function is related to the divisor function through the summatory function. The subsequent chebyshey function ψ(x) is the summatory function associated with the von Mangoldt function: There are various aspects that surround the Von function. Many questions have been asked as to whether the Von function is multiplicative. The von function is one of the most significant arithmetic function that cannot be classified as additive or multiplicative. An arithmetic function a is said to be completely additive if a (mn) = a (m) + a (n) for all the natural numbers m and n. An arithmetic function is attributed to be completely multiplicative if a (mn) = a (m) a (n) for all the natural numbers m and n. Two whole numbers n and m are referred to as comprise if their greatest common divisor equals 1, meaning that there

Evolution Vs Creationism Debate

Evolution Vs Creationism Debate The question of our origin is probably one of the oldest and most controversial issues in the entire history of science. Is man only a written creation greater than in many religious texts, or is man merely another creature that has developed from nature? One of the main themes for this dilemma is the limitation that exists in our universe to be in a position either to measure one of these theories because of insufficient skills or to validate them. Discussion Scientists have proven in thousands of ways and even convinced the Supreme Court of the United States in 1986 to oppose the teaching of the Bible in the word of science. Not everyone knows that Charles Darwin was meant to be a priest, when he began his studies at Cambridge. The Church of England honored him by burying him near the church of Westminster Abby near Isaac Newton. Many scientists held strong religious beliefs, but they called the Genesis creation story as did Newton in 1681 to Thomas Barnett: As to Moses he described realities in a language artificially adapted to ye sense of ye vulgar. Where natural causes are at hand God uses them as instruments in his works, but I do not think them sufficient for ye creation (Von Sydow, pp. 141-156) Many religions find logic in the premise that science should only explain the limitations of natural laws of creation that God might have to use. Divine intervention cannot be used to explain many scientific theories, including evolution, biology, and physics, although many religions try to use it to justify the inconsistencies between science and religion. Proponents of creationism tend to distort science to make their case, and it is not uncommon to find that they distort even their own beliefs in the process. However, opponents do not all necessarily suggest atheism in evolution either. Many tend to give more flexibility to God in the tools that he used to create as well as the timeline. Scientists have convinced the Supreme Court of the United States in 1986 to oppose the teaching of the Bible as science. In the first trial many religious groups sued the state of Arkansas to ban the theory of scientific creationism because this provision allows the penetration of specific religious doctrines into schools. (Ospovat, pp. 243-6) Judge William Overton wrote in 1982 that this is clearly an effort to introduce the biblical version of creation into the curriculum of the schools. Evidence to establish the definition of scientific creationism is the first 11 chapters of Genesis. The proposed concept is simply acceptance of the fundamentalist version of Genesis. Creationists do not support their beliefs by collecting data, collecting also conflicting scientific data, and ultimately reaching a conclusion. Instead, they take literally what is written in Genesis and try to find a scientific support, whether reasonable to the scientific community or not. The theory of evolution t hrough the cycle of data and theories that were before the scientific community for decades. The arguments presented by creationists are not based on new scientific evidence. (Kent, Carolyn and Daily, pp. 108-12) To best understand the theory of evolution, is is helpful to examine a few examples why the scientific decision making process has led scientists to accept the theory of evolution as opposed to scientific creationism. Scientists are attacking a problem by inventing a number of hypotheses educated guesses. They then test these theories to try to refute their own predictions in several independent observations. After making these observations, the scientists abandon or edit changes in their predictions. Due to the fossils available and science proving their origins and ages, scientists have been able to all but prove their theories regarding evolution. Many new scientific theories were coming to light when evolution was first brought to the forefront of modern thinking, but other scientific theories were also very popular at the time that it passed. For example, Newtons theories about gravity was a significant theory that was gaining round at the same time as evolution, and they possi bly gave each other the ability to flourish. Few scientists believe that the theory of evolution explains everything about our creation. Scientists are constantly searching to further their knowledge and expand on the theories they hold, and evolution does not include the source of the universe. The general theory of evolution claims that all life is closely related and has one common ancestor consisting of multiple or single cells. Many processes, including random differences between animals of the same sex, are also caused by the natural selection of successful variations, new forms and numerous amounts of species evolving over time. (Van Wyhe, pp. 11-13) Creationists do not have clearly formulated models of the theory of creation science but the conventional view can be found from a July 1980 summary of the Journal of the Institute for Creation: Acts and Facts. Acts and facts according to the article presented theory is the same as the literal interpretation of Genesis. It is understood that the Institute for Creation science is very clear in this area: The only way we can discover the true age of the earth is God going to tell us himself. Because he told us very clearly in the Bible that it is several thousand years and nothing more is to be discussed. This is supposed to close the book for all the basic questions about the chronology of the Earth. To support it they use a variety of dating methods and processes based on their level of error. For example, many of them use periodic processes that scientists do not find to be supportive of their beliefs. Similarly, events cannot be used to assess periodic age of the earth. Many places on earth show the progression of earth int he layers of soil that have been deposited over time and created fossils. Creationists explain this evidence away as being placed by God to test their faith. Another indication is the presence of radioactive isotopes in rocks. Each of them shows that the earth was created some time ago. But of the 48 isotopes have a half-life of from one thousand to one hundred million years, many have to stay here in large quantities. In samples isolated for thousands of years, only three of these isotopes remained minimal. Because both layers of calcium and radioactive decay are well-known science, you can use them to date fossils and rocks accurately and consistently. For example, FA Olsen studied the sediments 40 million years along the Newark Basin in New Jersey and found a correlation between the isotopic dating and the dates given by record rainfall. He found a substantial link between variations of precipitation resulting in a layer of crusts movement. He found this with cycles of 12,000, 25,000, 44,000, 100,000 and 400,000 years. (Von Sydow, pp. 141-156) This variation can explain the discrepancies discovered between fossils that have been carbon dated to different periods within the same or nearby layers. Creationists use the discrepancies as evidence that science is incorrect, but science again prevails to prove its worth. Conclusion Science is not always perfect and is always changing based on new discoveries. Theories that were once believed in the absolute truth, have now been shown to be false, whereas, the theories that were ridiculed in the past, are discovered to be true later. So what does this mean for us as human beings to interpret the scientific findings and adapt them to our beliefs? We can only follow our hearts and minds, although all people will never agree on what they believe. The creationist theory is wholeheartedly believed by many, while believers of evolution see it as nonsense. As a believer of evolution, it is hard to understand why creationists continue to hold their beliefs beyond the science that seems to prove evolution, but each person will choose their own beliefs and what they perceive to be fact. Work Cited Bowden, Malcolm. Science vs. Evolution. London, England: Sovereign Publications, 1991, pp. 19-24. Campbell, Neil A., Reece, Jane B. and Simon, Eric J. Essential Biology with Physiology. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings, 2007, pp. 36-8 Kent, Allen, Hall, Carolyn M. and Daily, Jay E. Encyclopedia of Library and Information, 2008. Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James. Introduction to the Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: Penguin Group, 2006, pp. 108-12 Browne, E. Janet. Charles Darwin Voyaging. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995, pp. 96. Von Sydow, Momme. Darwin A Christian Undermining Christianity? On Self-Undermining Dynamics of Ideas Between Belief and Science. in Knight. David M.; Eddy, Matthew D., Science and Beliefs: From Natural Philosophy to Natural Science, 1700-1900, Burlington: Ashgate, 2005, pp. 141-156 Van Wyhe, John. Darwin: The Story of the Man and His Theories of Evolution. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd, 2007, pp. 11-13. Ospovat, Dov. The Development of Darwins Theory: Natural History, Natural Theology, and Natural Selection 1838-1859. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 243-6.

The Case For Christianity, The Worlds Last Night :: essays research papers

I. Introduction II. Brief Biographical Information III. The Case for Christianity - Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe IV. The Problem with Pain - Divine Omnipotence V. The World's Last Night - The Efficacy of Prayer VI. Conclusion A Critique of C. S. Lewis "A Relativist said, 'The world does not exist, England does not exist, Oxford does not exist and I am confident that I do not Exist!' When Lewis was asked to reply, he stood up and said, 'How am I to talk to a man who's not there?'" - C. S. Lewis: A Biography Clive Staples Lewis was born, in 1898, in Belfast. C. S. Lewis was educated at various schools in England. In 1914, Lewis began studying Latin, Greek, French, German and Italian under the private tuition of W. T. Kirkpatrick. He then moved to Oxford where his studies were interrupted by World War I (1917). Two years later he was back in Oxford resuming his studies. In 1924, Lewis was "elected" to teach Literature and Language at Magdalen College, Oxford and remained there till 1954. During this time period in his life, Lewis wrote the majority of his work. Lewis moved to Cambridge for the remainder of his life teaching Medieval and Renaissance Literature.1 C. S. Lewis was a man dedicated to the pursuit of truth who" believed in argument, in disputation, and in the dialectic of Reason. . ."2 He began his pursuit of truth as an atheist and ended up as a Christian. His works the Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity dealt with issues he struggled with. Mere Christianity consists of three separate radio broadcasts. One of the broadcasts was titled The Case For Christianity. In The Case For Christianity, Lewis discussed two crucial topics in his apologetic defense of Christianity. They were the "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe" and "What Christians Believe". This critique will address the first chapter. "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe", can be broken into three parts. The first deals with moral law and its existence. The second addresses the idea of a power or mind behind the universe, who, is intensely interested in right conduct. Also that this power or God is good. Good as in the area of truth, not soft and sympathetic. The third point moves to Christianity, its attributes and why it was necessary for the long" round-about" approach .

Media and Democracy Essay

In 1990, the Americans faced a situation that badly calls for their attention. An all out war against Saddam Hussein and the country he governs named Iraq was the argument being raised by the Bush Administration to his people. The administration needs the support of the public and it is when they decided to make propagandas that may affect the decisions of the people. While sensationalizing news and even opinions about wars and things connected to these acts, people are drawn closer into being deceived and this news may cause them conflicts in developing their own side of the story. Furthermore, with the use of media, journalism and press releases, a major impact is formed that can affect the opinion of the public or the majority which can somehow be very threatening to the outcome, conclusion or result of the battle and the cause being fought for by both sides. During the Gulf War that lasted from 1990 to 1991, media, propagandas and press releases played a big role in forming the opinion of the people of the United States of America about the suggested war against Iraq proposed by the Bush Administration which resulted to an attack against Saddam Hussein and Iraq in a wider, different picture. Related Literature Before finally opening the discussion about the media censorship during the Gulf War, how about we first talk about the group, people and terms involved in the whole sharing of ideas and construction of a this research. War as the key topic that will connect media, public and the incident together will allow us to understand how important the participation of media during the Gulf War years was to the United States of America and at the same time, how it affected the both Iraq and Kuwait. War Defined A three-letter word that can change the whole story of our entire history, war is more like a problem, a conflict made to destroy not just places but also human lives. It is commonly described as a dangerous act and a conflict that would mostly cause problems and loss of human lives. However, the word â€Å"War† is a term that serves various meanings and uses. It could be a figure of speech which creates an allusion to serious strife, campaigns and even struggles. In so many ways, the word, vague as it is can be is used in identifying a certain issue or incident like â€Å"war on terrorism†, â€Å"class wars† and other occurrences that could definitely be understood easily with the presence of the word â€Å"war†. In Merriam-Webster Dictionary, War is defined as (1)’ a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations’, (2) ‘a period of such armed conflict’, and (3) ‘State of War which corresponds to the art or science of warfare like the weapons, equipment used in war, soldiers and equipped soldiers ready for the war’ . It is also the ‘struggle or the competition between opposing forces or for a particular end’. Although the word is used in many ways, the usual aim of war is to ‘overthrow the enemy’ which ‘does not always imply the complete conquest of the enemy’s country’. Media Defined There had been several definitions of media. People refer to means or medium of communication as media too. Talking in general, it ‘refers to various means of communication’ which stands for ‘television, newspaper and radio’. At the same time, Media is also a ‘collective noun for the press or news reporting agencies’. The same definition of media as a term is also used by Paul Hawken in his book to characterize the word. While this author mentioned the same purpose of media which is to identify the medium and tools used for communication, he also insisted that media ‘is a term that also applies to those people whose profession it is to discover, report and communicate information and news to the public’. Furthermore, we now understand that media is a term used to describe both the medium used in communication and the people who we also call press. They serve as our ears and eyes about what is happening in our surroundings. Through their news, reports and discoveries, we learn from them the truth and the reality. However, the role of media although is very essential in the lives of the people, in the existence of humanity and truth can also be misused and mislead us from the certainties. History of Gulf War It is said that the Gulf War, also referred to as the Second Gulf War is unique compared to other wars happened in the history of this century, probably in the rest of human race account and existence. In so many ways, this war has several features that make it different from other armed conflicts in the whole world. Compared to the Second World War and Vietnam War, there had been several, much more bombs thrown to the enemy country than the amount of explosives used to destroy Vietnam. Also, the treatment of media towards the incident is more intense compared to how they reported their coverage during the World War II and the War in Vietnam. On the second day of August in 1990, Iraq made a move to invade Kuwait. Kuwait, a small democratic country rich in oil and produces the needed amount of the United States of America. This incident of 1990 is not the first in the history of Kuwait. It was the third conflict between Iraq and Kuwait in just one century. The first one was in July 1897 and the second one was in June 1961. Aside from these two, there is also a semi-crisis between the two countries which happened in March 1939. These account of events show that the two countries had been rivals for a long time already and the conflict between them only grows bigger as the years pass by. The Complaints of Iraq According to Suzanne Murdico, there are three complaints that Iraq issued over its neighboring country which is Kuwait. Although some of the complaints of Iraq over Kuwait concerns the past events wherein both countries were involved. One among the several disputes was the money that Iraq borrowed from Kuwait which was used as payment for the Iran-Iraq War. Secondly dispute is concerned with the oil being produced by Kuwait. Since Kuwait, though small country can produce oil that is demanded by the oil market which even angered Saddam Hussein and accused them of producing oil more than the allowed amount as stated by Organization of Petroleum Exporting. The third dispute is about the border between the Iraq and Kuwait territories wherein there is enormous oil. The disputes between Kuwait and Iraq became the same reasons why the latter invaded Kuwait. In June 8, 1991, a victory parade was held in Washington. After almost a year of conflict, the United States of America was able to â€Å"save† Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. Media Coverage of the Gulf War As Dilip Hiro said in his book â€Å"Desert Shield to Desert Storm† the Gulf War had its share of popularity. Media coverage during the Persian Gulf War or the Second Gulf War can never be compared to the exposure given to World War II and Vietnam War. Censorship Media and People Media and the Gulf War Censorship during the Gulf War Western coverage of the Gulf War Demonizing Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein had been an ally of the United States of America for almost a decade before the former invaded Kuwait, an oil producing country which supplies the U. S. within eight years, Hussein, a dictator was able to kill 150,000 Iranians and around 13,000 Iraqis. There had been complaints coming from international human rights group about these killings but being an ally of both Reagan and Bush, he was not given enough attention for punishment. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, April Glaspie, Ambassador of the United States of America asked the media to allow the appearance of Hussein in television even for a few minutes. In this case, Hussein will have the chance to explain himself and also Iraq to the public. These words of the Ambassador served as a hint for Hussein that U. S. sympathizes with him and Iraq. He thought that if he will invade Kuwait, U. S. will not see it as a crime. However, the Bush Administration thought that Hussein’s crime is serious and it is not just killing refugees but it threatens the oil supply already. In 1979, Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s new leader took his post and changed the story of their country. A man with sheer desire for wealth and power, Fiske’s Argument Conclusion Incidents happen for a reason. Nothing exists without its motives and everything; all things in life have its purpose. At first we may find it absurd, crazy and foolish but in the end, what happened will be the biggest story we would want to uncover for the truth. War is a very huge word made by people dominating the entire world. While some people and probably most of the people prefer to have peace in the world rather than endless bloodsheds everywhere, others, especially those who have personal biases and some individual agendas over certain things that concern themselves and some other people existing in their world. Although the word is used in different situations and contains diverse meaning, war is still a word that is very dangerous to the innocent ones. In 1990, media and war finally met to destroy innocent lives and at the same time to hate each other. A story of destroying a nation and manipulating the emotions, feelings and opinion of the greater majority, the gulf war of 1990 was one of the tragic stories for the exercise of freedom of speech. In times of war and conflict between two opposing parties, the opinion of the people involved is very important that it may either serve as a better result or it may complicate things more. One of the most helpful tools in telling the truth, probably the mirror of reality is the media. However, Media and War became best of friends in some cases that together, these two may promote a fight worth dying for or may destroy lives of innocent people. Their companionship most of the time does not mean that they do help each other but because with the use of media, one side of the face of the war will win. Persuasion and propagandas helped a lot in promoting the means that the opposing parties were fighting for. In so many ways, media was both a tool in persuading the people of the United States of America to go in the war with Bush towards Saddam Hussein and at the same time was a battered medium of communication, a means that was used to tell a lie and to mandate what the people should feel. Bibliography Atkinson, Rick. Crusade the Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1993 Center for Media and Democracy. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, Chapter 10: How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf. Retrieved January 19, 2009 from http://www. prwatch. org/books/tsigfy10. html Clausewitz, C. , Graham, J. , Natusch, F. , and Willmot, L. On War. Wordsworth Edition. 1997, page 351. Dinstein, Yoram. War, Aggression and Self-defence 4th Edition. Cambridge University Press. 2005, page 3. Hawken, Paul. Blessed Unrest. Viking. 2007, page 267. Hiro, Dilip. Deset Shield to Desert Storm. iUniverse, 2003, page 4 Media. In TechTerms. com, Retrieved January 19, 2009 from http://www. techterms. com/definition/media Murdico, Suzanne J. The Gulf War. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2004, page 11. War. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/war

Close Reading Essay

Because if what people mean is: Can the love of lauguage be taught? Can a grft for storytelling be taught? thenthe enswer is no. Which may be why the’question is so often asked in a skeptical leng imFlying that, unlike the multiplication tables or the principles of auto mechanics, creativity can’t be tansmitted from teacher to student Lnagine Milton enrolling in a graduate program for help virh Paradire Lost,orKa{ka enduring d1s semirlsl in which his classmates irrforn. him thaq franklp they just don’t believe the part about the guywaking up one morning to find he’s a giant bug. VLrat confuses me is not the sensibleness of the question but tJre fact that, when addressed to me, it’s being asked of a writer who has taught writing, on and off, for almost twenty -What years. would it say about mq my students, and the hours’wete spent in the classroom if I said drat any attempt to teach the writing of fiction is a complete waste of timl? I should probably just go ahead and admit that lve been com mi tting criminal fraud. to f-l an creative *iting be taught? t ] rt† † r. â€Å"roo.6l† qu†Jtiorr, but no matter how -/ often I’ve been asked it, I never krrow guite what That’s the experience I describe, the answer I give to people who ask about teaching creative writing: A workshop can be usefirl. A good teacher can show you how to edit your work. The right dass can encourage you and form the basis of a community that will help and sustain you. But that dass, as helpful as it was, is not where I learned to write. *itirg ike most-maybe all-vriters, I learned to write by and, by example, from reading books. Instead I answer by recalling my owu most valuable experienee not as a teacher, but as a student in one of the few fietion workshops I have ever taken. This was in the 1970s, during ny brief careLr as a graduate student in medieval English literature, when I was allowed the indulgence of taling one fiction dass. Its generous teacher showed me, ,mong other things, how to line-edit my work For any writer, the abiJity to look at a sentetce and see what’s superfluous, what cen be altered revised, erpanded and, especially, cut, is bssential. It’s satisfring to see that sentence shrinl, snap into place, and ultimately emerge in a more polished form: clear, e conomical sharp. Meanwhile, my classmates were providing me with my first real audience. In that prehistory before mass photocopying enabled students to distribute manuscripts in advance, Irre read our work aloud. That year I was b†g*ning what would become my first novel Arld what made an important d. ifference to me was the attention I felt in the room as the others listened. I was very dncouraged by their eagerness to hear’more 8  Long before 6e idea of a writer’s conference was a glimmer in anyone’s eye writers learned by reading the work of their predecessors. They studied meter with Ovid, plot consuuction with Homer, comedy with Aristophanes; tl:ey honed their prose style by absorbing the lucid sentences of Montaigne and Samuel Johnson- And who could have asked for better teachexs: generous, uncriticel blessed with wisdom and genius, as endlessh forgiving as only the dead can be? Though writers have leamed from the masters. in a formal.  methodical way-Harrv Crews has described aking apart’a Graham Greene novel to see how many chapters it contained, how much time it covered how Greene handled pacin& tone, and point ofvieiv-the truth iS that this sort of education more often involves a kind of osmosis. A-fter I’ve written an essay in which lve quoted at length from great writers, so that fve had to copy out long passages of their work, I’ve noticed that my own work becomes, however briefly, just a little more fluenl In the ongoing process of becoming a writer, I read and reread the authors I most loved. I read for pleasure, firsg but also more aualytically, conscious of stylef of dicrion, of how sentences were formed and information was being conveyed, how the writer was structuring a plot, creating characters, employing detail and dialogue. And as’I wrotq I discovered that writing like reading, was done one word at a time, one punctuation mark at a ti-e. It reguired what a friend calls lputting every word on u-ial for its Lfe†, changing an adjective, cutting a phrase, removing a sqttrlna and putting the comma back in. I read closely, word by word, sentence by sentence, pondering each deceptively minor decision the writer had made. Arrd though I can’t recall every source of inspiration and instruction, I can remember the novels and stories that seemed to me revelations: wells of beauty and pleasure that were also textbooks? courses of private lessons in th†e term paper on the theme of blindness il Oedipus Rex and Kinglear. Newere supposed to go through the rwo tragedies and cirde every reference to eyes, light, darkness, and visiort then draw some conclusion on which we would assigned  a art of fiction. When I was a high school junio4 -our English teacher base our final essay. The exercise seemed to us dul! mechanical. We felt we were way beyond it AII of us knew that blindness played a starring role in both dramas StiL we liked our E. nglish teacher, and we wanted to please him. And searciing for everyrelevantword turned out to have ari enjoyable seasure-hunt aspect, a Were’s Waldo detective thrill. Once we started looking for eyes, we found them everywhere, glinting at us, winking from every page. Long before the idea of a writer’s conference was a glimmer in anyonds eye, writers leamed by reading their predecessors. Th*y studied meter with OYi{ plot construction with Homer, -omedy with Aristophanes. T’ong before the blinding of Oedipus or Gloucester, the language of vision and its opposite was prepariag us, consciously or uncousciously, for those violent mutilations. It asked us to consider what it meant to b6 dear-sighted or obtuse, short-sighted or prescieng to heed the signs and wamings, to see or deny what was right in front of one’s eyes. Teiresias, Oedipus, Goneril, Kent-all of them could be defined by the sincerity or falseness with which they mused or ranted on the subject of literal or metaphorical blindness. tacing those patterns and making those connections was fun. Like cracking a code that the playwright had em. bedded in the text, a riddle that existed just for me to decipher. I felt as if I were engaged in some intimate communication with dre writer, as if the ghosts of Sophodes and Shakespeare had been waiting patiendy all those centuries for a bookjsh  .attention to whatever each word or phrase is tr4nsmitti’. Word by word is how we learn to hear and then read† which seems only fitting, because that is how the books we are reading were written in the 6rst place. The more we read, the fasterwe can perform that magic trick of seeing how the letters have been combined into words that have meaning. The more we read, the more we comprehen{ the more likely we are to discover new ways to read, each one tailored to the reason why we are reading a particular book. At 6rsq the  thrill of our own brand-new expertise is all we ask or expect from Dick and Jane. But soon we begin to ask what else those marks on the page can give us. We begin to want information, entertainmeng invention, even truth and beauty. W’e concentrate; we skim, we skip words, put down the book and daydream, start over, and reread. We firrish a book and return to it years later to see what we might have Tissed, or the ways io which time and age have affected our understanding. As a child, I was drawn to the works of the great escapist chjldren’s writers. Especially if I could rerurn to my own bed in time to turn offtl:e lights,I Iiked trading my famiJiar sixteen-year-old to come along and fiad them. I believed that I was learning to read in a whole new way. But this was only pardy uue. Because in fact I was merely relearning to read in an old way that I had leamed; but forgotten. e all begin as close readers. Even before we learn to read, the process ofbeing read aloud to, and of listenirig, is one in which we are taking in one word after another, one phrase at a trme, in which we are payrng  world for the London of the four children whose nanny parachuted into their lives on her umbrella and who turned t}re mo$t routine shopping uip into a magical outing. I would have gladly followed the white rabbit down into the rabbit hole and had tea with the Mad Hatter. I loved novels in which children stepped through portals-a garden, a wardrobe-into an alternate uoiverse. Children love the imagination, with its kaleidoscopic possibilities and its protest against the way that children are always being told exacdy what’s true and false, what’s real and what’s illusion. Perhaps my taste in reading had something to do with the limitations I was discovering, day by day: the brick walls of time and space, science and probabfity, to say nothing of whatever messages I was picking. up from the culture. I liked novels with plucky heroines like Pippi Longstocking, the astringent Jane Eyre, and the daughters in Little Wonzw grls whose resourcefulness and intelligence donot automatically exclude them from the pleasures of male attention. Each word of these novels was a yellow brick ia the road to Oz. Some chapters I read and leread so as to repeat the dependable, out-of-body sensation of being someulzere ebe. I read addictively, constantly. On one-family vacation my father pleaded with me to close my book long enough to look at the Grand Canyon. I borrowed stacks of books from the public libraxy: novels, biographies, history anything that looked even remotely engaging. Along with pre-adolescence came a more pressing desire for escape. I read more widely, more indiscriminately, and mostly with an interest in how far a book could take me from my life and how long it could keep me there. Gone With rlze LVind Pearl Buck. Edna Ferber. f’at James Michener best-sellers with a dash of history sprinkled in to cool down the steamy love scenes between the Hawaiian girls and the missionaries, the geishas and the GIs. I also FtcTtoN rssuE 2006 lO THE ATLANTIC MoNTHLY appreciated these books for the often misieading nuggets of information they provided about sex in that innocent era, the 1950s. I turned the pages of these Page-turners as fast as I could. Reading was like eating alone, with that same element of bingeing. I was fortunate to have good teachers, and friend. s who  were also readers. The books I read bdcame more chal’ lenging, betterwritten, more substantial. Sieinbe& Camus. Hemingway, Fiugerald, TWain, Salingea Arrne Frank. Litde beatniks, my friends and I were passionate fans of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. We read . Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, and the proto-hippie classics of Herman Hesse, Carlos Castenada-Mary Poppiru for people who thought they’d outgrown the flying nanny. I-must have been vaguely aware of the power of language, but only dimly, and only as it applied to whatever effect the book was having on me.