Symbolism Great Gatsby free essay sample

The Great Gatsby, is about Jay Gatsby and his quest for his own American dream, the love of his life, Daisy. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man who moves in next door to Gatsby and becomes friends with him. The Great Gatsby has three main themes. These are materialism and wealth, the american dream and appearance and reality. Fitzgerald has used symbolism and theme along with other techniques to enhance these themes along with the readers enjoyment of the novel. One symbol used by Fitzgerald is the green light. Green is the colour of hope, but also the colour of envy, and it first appears when Gatsby stares out across the bay towards a green light at the end of the dock. â€Å"a single green light, minute and far away†. Later the reader finds out that this light stands on Daisy Buchanan’s dock. In the context of the novel this green light represents Gatsby’s hope to meet Daisy again and a chance to win her back. We will write a custom essay sample on Symbolism Great Gatsby or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"Gatsby believed in the green light†. I think the green light is an effective symbol and it cleverly represents Gatsby’s longing for Daisy. Another clever symbol used in the Great Gatsby is that of the Valley of Ashes. It is first introduced in chapter two, the valley of ashes represents the moral and social decay that results from the uncontrolled search for wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with thought for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the troubles of the poor, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result. I think the Valley of Ashes is another effective use of symbolism and it helps to emphasise the theme of materialism and wealth as it represents the social decay between the rich and the poor. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the Valley of Ashes. â€Å"The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic -their retinas one yard high†. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society’s morals, though the novel never makes this point explicitly. They could also be a symbol of the conscience of American society itself. I think that the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg emphasise one of the main themes in the novel which is the decline of the American dream although they could also be said to represent the theme of materialism and wealth. F. Scott Fitzgerald has also used names as a major symbol in The Great Gatsby. The name Daisy is and example of this. A daisy is a tiny flower; it is small and extremely delicate. The colours of a daisy also suggest innocence; the daisy is white and gold, very angelic. Myrtle’s name is also symbolic. A myrtle is a sturdy herb although it is still beautiful it is not delicate like a daisy. These two names reflect the women they have been given too and Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism is very effective in this case. Overall F. Scott Fitzgerald has used symbolism in his novel very effectively. The use of symbolism has helped my appreciation of the novel as it adds layers. The use of symbolism is also allowing Fitzgerald to comment on society through his novels. Symbolism has also helped to emphasise the main themes of the novel.

Biography of Artemisia I, Queen of Halicarnassus

Biography of Artemisia I, Queen of Halicarnassus Artemisia I of Halicarnassus (~520–460 BCE) was the ruler of the city of Halicarnassus at the time of the Persian Wars (499–449 BCE), As a Carian colony of Persia, Halicarnassus fought against the Greeks. The Greek historian Herodotus (484–425  BCE) was also a Carian, and he was born in that city during Artemisias rule. Her story was recorded by Herodotus and appears in the Histories, written in the mid-450s BCE. Known For: Ruler of Halicarnassus, naval commander in the Persian WarsBorn: ~520 BCE, HalicarnassusParents: Lygadimis and unknown Cretan motherDied: ~460 BCESpouse: Unnamed husbandChildren: Pisindelis INotable Quote: If thou art hasty to fight, I tremble lest the defeat of thy sea force bring harm likewise to thy land army. Early Life Artemisia was born probably about 520 BCE in Halicarnassus, near todays Bodrum, Turkey. Halicarnassus was the capital of the Carian satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian empire in Asia Minor during the reign of Darius I (ruled 522–486 BCE). She was a member of the Lygdamid  dynasty (520–450 BCE) of rulers in the city, as the daughter of Lygadimis, a Carian, and his wife, a woman (unnamed by Herodotus) from the Greek island of Crete. Artemisia inherited her throne from her husband, whose name is not known, during the rule of the Persian emperor Xerxes I, also known as Xerxes the Great (ruled 486–465 BC). Her kingdom included the city of Halicarnassus and the nearby islands of Cos, Calymnos, and Nisyros. Artemisia I had at least one son, Pisindelis, who ruled Halicarnassus after her between ~460–450 BCE. Persian Wars When Xerxes went to war against Greece (480–479 BCE), Artemisia was the only woman among his commanders. She brought five ships of the 70 total sent to battle, and those five ships were forces with a reputation for ferocity and valor. Herodotus suggests that Xerxes selected Artemisia to lead a squadron to embarrass the Greeks, and indeed, when they heard about it, the Greeks offered a reward of 10,000 drachmas (about three years wages for a workman) for capturing Artemisia. No one succeeded in claiming the prize. After winning the battle at Thermopylae in August of 480 BCE, Xerxes sent Mardonius to talk to each of his naval commanders separately about the upcoming battle of Salamis. Artemisia was the only one who advised against a sea battle, suggesting that Xerxes instead wait offshore for what she saw as the inevitable retreat or attack the Peloponnese on shore. She was quite blunt about their chances against the Greek armada, saying that the rest of the Persian naval commanders- Egyptians, Cypriots, Cilicians, and Pamphylians- were not up to the challenge. While he was pleased that she provided a separate viewpoint, Xerxes ignored her advice, choosing to follow the majority opinion. Battle of Salamis During the battle, Artemisias found her flagship was being chased by an Athenian vessel and had no chance of escape. She rammed a friendly vessel which was commanded by the Calyndians and their king Damasithymos; the ship sank with all hands. The Athenian, confused by her actions, assumed she was either a Greek ship or a deserter, and left Artemisias ship to chase others. Had the Greek commander realized who he was chasing, and recalled the price on her head, he would not have changed course. No one from the Calyndian ship survived, and Xerxes was impressed at her nerve and daring, saying My men have become women, and my women, men. After the failure at Salamis, Xerxes abandoned his invasion of Greece- and Artemisia is credited with persuading him to make this decision. As a reward, Xerxes sent her to Ephesus to take care of his illegitimate sons.   Beyond Herodotus That is all that Herodotus had to say about Artemisia. Other early references to Artemisia include the 5th century CE Greek physician Thessalus who spoke of her as a cowardly pirate; and the Greek playwright Aristophanes, who used her as a symbol of a strong and uppity warrior woman in his comic plays Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae, equating her with the Amazons.   Later writers were generally approving, including Polyaenus, the 2nd century CE Macedonian author of Stratagems in War, and Justin, the 2nd century Roman empire historian. Photius, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinopole, described a legend depicting Artemisia as having fallen hopelessly in love with a younger man from Abydos, and jumping off a cliff to cure the unrequited passion. Whether her death was as glamorous and romantic as that described by Photius, she was probably dead when her son Pisindelis took over the rule of Halicarnassus. Archaeological evidence of Artemisias relationship with Xerxes was discovered in the ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus by British archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton when he excavated there in 1857. The Mausoleum itself was built by Artemisia II to honor her husband Mausolus between 353–350 BCE, but the alabaster jar is inscribed with the signature of Xerxes I, in Old Persian, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Elamite.  The presence of this jar in this location strongly suggests it was given by Xerxes to Artemisia I and passed down to her descendants who buried it at the Mausoleum. Sources A Jar with the Name of King Xerxes. Livius, October 26, 2018.Falkner, Caroline L. Artemesia in Herodotus. Diotima, 2001.  Halsall, Paul Herodotus: Artemisia at Salamis, 480 BCE. Ancient History Sourcebook, Fordham University, 1998.  Munson, Rosaria Vignolo. Artemisia in Herodotus. Classical Antiquity 7.1 (1988): 91-106. Print.Rawlinson, George (transl). Herodotus, The History. New York: Dutton Co., 1862.Strauss, Barry. The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece- and Western Civilization. New York: Simon Schuster, 2004.

Computers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Computers - Essay Example This essay is an evaluation of computer networks dedicated to laptop desktop connection. Data communication is the transfer of information from the sender to the receiver through a communication medium. The most common media for this process include cables, air/waves and satellite etc. Telephone communication starts with the sender initiating a connection by dialing the recipient’s number from his data transmission equipment (DTE) (Harte and Ofrane 2006). Once he does this, the call passes through either a public switched network (PSTN) or a private branch exchange (PBX) depending on the nature of the call. A PBX is a telephone switching exchange that is dedicated to controlling telephone communication within a company or an organization. It connects calls within the company by providing extensions to calls that originate from various offices instead of hiring lines for every department. It also connects calls to outside networks. A PSTN connects local and international calls, in a large network structure that is not restricted to a specific subscriber or organization (Harte and Ofrane 2006). Once the call is switched to his address, the receiver is alerted and to complete the connection, he has to switch on his DTE to start transmission. Telephone switching companies also offer internet connection services through their satellites which act as gateways to wide area networks. This connection involves transmission of digital signals through analog transmitting lines. For this to occur, modems are connected on both ends of the transmission for the purpose of modulating (converting digital signals into analog) the signals from the sending machine and demodulating (converting analog signals back into digital form) signals on the receiving machine (Hennesy 2006). This is because computers only understand digitized information which is in binary form i.e. 1s& 0s A

Waldseemller map Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Waldseemller map - Article Example r maps recorded in the 1500s such as Henricus Martellus or Martin Behaim maps that used the Geography (Ptolemy) and the Caveri planisphere, the Waldseemà ¼ller 1507 map gets right most of the mapping of the world mapping and tells us much about European knowledge of the world in the early sixteenth century. While the other maps during that time are ambiguous in representing the eastern coastline for Asia and Europe, the Waldseemà ¼ller 1507 map gets right by making a distinction those coastline from the American coastline (Hessler 63).The Waldseemà ¼ller map designates the existence of the trans-Atlantic region in Spain and the Asian Ptolemy as displayed on the Behaim globe representation in 1492. The Waldseemà ¼ller map of 1507 is today credited basically as the mother of all the other maps we use today as it has been used as a credible source for those maps. Waldseemà ¼ller’s world map is an important product of research effort that spans from the sixteen century. It was developed using resourceful data gathered during the era of the Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages between 1501 and 1502. Waldseemà ¼ller christened the "American" land in recognition of Vespucci’s data by uncovering a new continent namely America as a result of the Columbus voyages and other late fifteen century explorers (Hessler 75). The Waldseemà ¼ller’s map therefore, supported Vespucci’s revolutionary concept by portraying the New World. This is what the map tells us about European knowledge of the world in the early sixteenth because prior to it, the separate continent which the map represents was unknown to the Europeans. The map was the first manuscript that was printed clearly depicting a separate Western Hemisphere which it distinct from the Pacific Ocean and the African coastline (Hessler 76). The map gets all these aspects right and represents a huge spring forward in knowledge across Europe and it forever changed the European understanding which still remains today that the world is

An Analysis on the Design Phase of Euro Shuttle Wagons Project Essay

An Analysis on the Design Phase of Euro Shuttle Wagons Project - Essay Example Euro tunnel shuttle service is a shuttle transport service that expresses street vehicle by rail through the channel tunnel. The wagons used for the shuttle have a large loading capacity.The Tunnel project usually has a very tight timescale and heavy liquidated damages (LDs) linked with delays and so this one. Eurotunnel’s success rate is dependent on the timeframe of the tunnel being finished and ready to start its operations in particular season, otherwise, interest payments would start to devastate the profit of the project.There are many aspects of design, construction and operation of the Euro Channel Tunnel Wagons project that needs approval from the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), a body of British and French civil servants. The main focus of project manager during development phase of the project is and should be on safety, defence, security and environmental issues, as IGC takes these issues as criteria to evaluate the performance of channel tunnel project.The saf ety clause was not clearly defined at the start of the project and was later gradually defined; this was not only because of the unfamiliarity of tunnel channel to safety regulators but also because of the allegation of events such as the UK Kings Cross Fire in November 1987. Due to lack of safety, changes are required to meet IGC considerations and the effect of those changes was not only delays but it also had impacted on other related elements of the project and characteristics of the product, and on the image of TML.

Oscar Chess v Williams, the facts, reasoning and appeal

Oscar Chess v Williams, the facts, reasoning and appeal Oscar Chess Ltd v Williams [1957] 1 ALL ER 325 What were the material facts of the case and the legal issues on which the appeal was based? In June 1955, the defendant sold to the plaintiff, who were motor dealers, a second-hand Morris motor car for  £290, this sum being credited to the defendant on the purchase of a new car through the dealers. The car sold to the dealers had been obtained by the defendant’s mother in 1954 under a hire-purchase contract, and was shown in the registration book to have been first registered in 1948. There had been five changes of ownership between 1948 and 1954. The defendant, who honestly believed that the car was a 1948 model, described it as such to the salesman who acted for the plaintiffs in the matter and showed the salesman the registration book. The salesman, who had frequently been given lifts in the car, also believed that it was a 1948 model, and the purchase price of  £290 was calculated on this basis. In January 1956, the plaintiffs sent the chassis and engine numbers of the car to the manufacturers and were informed by them that the car was a 1939 model. If the pl aintiffs had known at the time of the purchase that the car was a 1939 model, they would have paid only  £175 for it. In an action brought by them against the defendant eight months after the sale the plaintiffs claimed the sum of  £115 as damages for breach of warranty, either on the basis that it had been a condition,[1] i.e. an essential term, of the contract that the car was a 1948 model or that there had been a collateral warranty that it was. The judge at trial awarded the plaintiffs  £115 in damages based on his finding that the defendant had breached an essential term of the contract, i.e. a condition, that the Morris car was a 1948 model. Consequently, the trial judge did not go on to consider the alternative claim on a warranty. Upon appeal by the defendant, the crucial issue for the Court of Appeal was whether the defendant’s statement that the car was a 1948 model was a binding promise (i.e. a contractual term) or only an innocent misrepresentation. If it was an innocent misrepresentation, the respondent would not be entitled to any remedy. What was the reasoning behind the trial judge’s decision to award damages to the plaintiffs? At trial, the plaintiffs claimed the sum of  £115 in damages from the defendant, representing the difference in value between a 1939 Morris car and a 1948 Morris car. The evidence submitted at trial to determine whether the defendant gave a binding promise to the salesman that the car was made in 1948 was limited. During examination-in-chief, the salesman stated: â€Å"He offered me a 1948 10 hp Morris in part exchange. He produced the registration book.† In cross-examination, he said: â€Å"I had often had lifts in the defendant’s car. I thought it looked like a 1948 model. I checked up in the registration book.† The salesman’s evidence was accepted, aided by the fact that the defendant did not go into the witness-box to contradict it. On those facts alone, counsel for the plaintiffs submitted that the defendant’s representation that the car was a 1948 model was an essential term of the contract, i.e. a condition. The trial judge agreed with this and stated that defendant had promised that the car was a 1948 car and that there was a breach of this promise. He said that the allowance of  £290 was made by the salesman â€Å"on the assumption that the Morris was a 1948 model†, and that â€Å"†¦this assumption was fundamental to the contract, a condition which, if not satisfied, would have caused him to rescind the contract if he had known it to be unsatisfied before the property in the Morris car passed to his principles.† In short, one of the terms of the deal was that the car was guaranteed to be a 1948 model. Breach of this promise would entitle the dealer to damages. Based on this finding, the trial judge awarded  £115 in damages to the plaintiffs. Why did the Court of Appeal overrule the trial judge’s decision and what was the difference in approach adopted by the Court of Appeal? The Court of Appeal refused to get bogged down in a technical differential analysis of the legal definitions of â€Å"condition† and â€Å"warranty†, as the trial judge had done, because it was far too late for the buyer to reject the car. He could only claim damages at best. Indeed, in the Court’s leading judgment, Denning LJ stated that the trial judge was so concerned with the legal definitions of â€Å"condition† and â€Å"warranty† that he failed to address the crucial issue of whether the defendant’s statement was a term of the contract at all. To get damages, it was necessary to show that the description of the car was a promise or term of the contract. Denning LJ used slightly different language. He used the word warranty but he explained that he was not using the word in its technical legal sense but, instead, was using it in its popular sense as one word to describe a promise. As he pointed out, the crucial question in this case was : was it a binding promise [i.e. a term of the contract] or only an innocent misrepresentation? If it was only an innocent misrepresentation, then the dealer would not be entitled to any remedy in the circumstances of this case. This then leads to the question: how do you know if it was a promise? Denning LJ stated that whether the appellant’s statement was intended to be a promise (i.e. a contractual term) could only be addressed by taking into account all the evidence of the case and the conduct of the parties throughout their dealings.[2] He went on to state that the objective test for determining a promise is by applying the standard of the ‘intelligent bystander’ and, based on this test, he concluded that the statement by the appellant as to the age of the car was not intended as a promise. After all, given that the appellant only became the owner after several changes in ownership, he must have been relying on what was stated in the registration book. It is unlikely that such a person would warrant the year of manufacture. The most that he would do would be to state his belief, and then produce the registration book in verification of it. In these circumstances, according to Lord De nning, the intelligent bystander would say that the seller did not intend to bind himself so as to warrant that the car was a 1948 model. The most he would do would be to state his belief. What did the Court of Appeal say about the trial judge’s application of the earlier decisions in Heilbut2 and Routledge[3]to the present case? In finding in favour of the appellant, Denning LJ made reference to the case of Heilbut in which the House of Lords used the word â€Å"warranty† in its ordinary meaning of a binding promise. He stressed that, in Heilbut, Lord Moulton made it clear that â€Å"The intention of the parties can only be deduced from the totality of the evidence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In other words, to determine whether a statement was intended as a contractual warranty, it is necessary to evaluate the overall conduct of the parties, not just their thoughts. However, the trial judge did not adopt this approach and distinguished Heilbut and Routledge on the basis that, in those cases, there was a written memorandum of the contract, before which words were used by one party inducing the other party to enter into the contract. Denning LJ stated that there was no need to distinguish between written and oral statements in the present case because the purchase was not recorded in writing at all but, instead, it was necessary to look at the overall conduct of the parties in order to ascertain intention. Hodson LJ, in accordance with Denning LJ, felt that the Routledge decision should not be distinguished from the present case because, in his opinion, the court in the Routledge case did not base its decision on the distinction between words used before the conclusion of the contract and words used at the time of the contract. He felt that this distinction was a fine point and had no bearing in the current case. Instead, Hodson LJ concurred with Denning LJ and stated that it was necessary to follow the principle in Heilbut and assess the overall conduct of the parties in order to ascertain contractual intention. Morris LJ (dissenting), on the other hand, supported the reasoning of the trial judge and felt that the judge was correct to distinguish Routledge from the current case. He specified three grounds for the distinction: (i) in the present case there was a statement made at the time of the transaction; (ii) there was no written contract; and (iii) although there was no contract, there was an invoice addressed to the appellant which expressly described the car as a â€Å"1948 Morris 10 Saloon†. He felt that the fact that the invoice specifically referred to the year 1948 was sufficient evidence that it was intended to be a contractual term. What is the significance of the respective parties’ special knowledge of the subject-matter of the contract? How has this been applied in this and subsequent cases? Another influential factor in this case was that the person making the statement (i.e. the appellant) was a non-expert when compared with the dealer who was the recipient of the statement and, presumably, an expert. According to Denning LJ, the respondents, rather than simply relying on the year stated in the log-book, could quite easily have checked it at the time of sale by taking the engine number and chassis number and writing to the manufacturers. They only did so eight months after the sale. Given that the respondents were experts, Denning LJ felt that this delay in making the check could not be excused, particularly because the innocent appellant produced to them all the evidence which he had (namely, the registration book). The appellant, as a private seller, had no special knowledge and had relied on the car’s registration book for his belief. The respondents, as experts, were in a position to discover the truth of the statement prior to contract. Hodson LJ agreed wit h this point and stated that the appellant was stating an opinion on a matter of which he had no special knowledge, whereas the respondent could have been expected to have an opinion and to exercise its judgment. This tends to support the view that the non-expert would be unlikely to be promising something which was in the other partys area of expertise, and therefore strengthens the proposition that the appellant’s statement was indeed a representation and not a contractual term. The significance of a parties â€Å"special knowledge† was considered by the Court of Appeal in the subsequent case of Dick Bentley Productions and Another v Harold Smith (Motors) Ltd.[4] In that case, a car dealer stated that a car had an engine which had done only 20,000 miles. This was in fact untrue. The buyer sought damages alleging breach of contract. However, in that instance, the statement was treated as a term of the contract. The apparent distinction between the Dick Bentley case and the Oscar Chess case is the status of the person making the statement. A private seller did not have the special knowledge which indicated an intention that the statement be treated as a contractually binding promise, but a car dealer did. This distinction led Lord Denning MR to suggest in Dick Bentley that the presence of fault was the basis for the distinction. However, it seems wrong to suggest that fault is the only test, and arguably what Lord Denning was stating was simply that the obligation broken was an obligation to exercise reasonable care and skill. The true test ought therefore to be that the dealer was in a better position to discover the truth and therefore impliedly took personal responsibility for the truth of statements made. Why did dissenting Judge Morris LJ disagree with the conclusion of the majority of the Court of Appeal? Morris LJ disagreed with the findings of Denning LJ and Hodson LJ and felt that the appellant’s statement that the car was a 1948 model was a fundamental term of the contract, i.e. a contractual condition. What persuaded Lord Morris was that the car was described in the invoice specifically as a 1948 Morris. The dealer did not get any such thing and so, according to Lord Morris, there was a breach. He arrived at this conclusion based on his assertion that the respondent’s promise to pay the appellant  £290 for the car (a figure arrived at by reference to the value of 1948 cars) was the consequence (i.e. a counterpart) of a term of the contract that the particular car was a 1948 model. Thus, Morris LJ felt that the application of the so-called ‘importance attached’ test rendered the appellant’s statement a term of the contract for sale as opposed to a mere representation. In other words, Morris LJ believed that the appellant’s statement relat ed to a vitally important matter: it described the subject-matter of the contract then being made, and directed the parties to, and was the basis of, their agreement as to the price to be paid or credited to the respondent. He made reference to the words used by Scott LJ in Couchman v Hill[5] and stated that, in his opinion, the appellant’s statement was â€Å"an item in [the] description† of what was being sold and that it constituted a substantial ingredient in the identity of the thing sold. Whereas Denning LJ felt that the trial judge was unnecessarily bogged down with the technical legal translation of â€Å"condition† and â€Å"warranty†, Morris LJ stressed that he saw no need to depart from the original verdict because he could not see that the trial judge in any way misdirected himself or misapplied any principle of law. Bibliography Cases Consulted Oscar Chess Ltd v Williams [1957] 1 ALL ER 325 (CA); Dick Bentley Productions and Another v Harold Smith (Motors) Ltd [1965] 2 All ER 65 (CA); Couchman v Hill [1947] 1 All ER 103 (KB); Heilbut, Symons Co v Buckleton [1913] AC 30 (HL); Routledge v McKay [1954] 1 All ER 855 (CA). Legislation Consulted Sale of Goods Act 1893 (22 Halsbury’s Statutes (2nd Edition) 991). Text Consulted Poole, J. – Textbook on Contract Law (6th Edition), Blackstone Press (2001), pp155-6; Poole, J. – Casebook on Contract (4th Edition), Blackstone Press (1999), pp249 and 252-4. 1 Footnotes [1] Under section 11 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893 (22 Halsbury’s Statutes (2nd Edition) 991), the plaintiffs would have been entitled to treat such a condition as a contractual warranty, breach of which would give rise to an action for damages. [2] Heilbut, Symons Co v Buckleton [1913] AC 30 (HL). [3] [1954] 1 All ER 855 (CA). [4] [1965] 2 All ER 65 (CA). [5] [1947] 1 All ER 103 (KB).

Al-Anon Observation Paper -- Twelve-Step Meeting Observation Paper

Alcoholism is as prevalent in my family, as blood is in our veins. When previously asked to observe 12-step groups, I ritualistically flocked to Alcoholics Anonymous, without consideration of the possibility that other groups had any potential to make an impact on me. I always pride myself in my ability to identify as an individual that is not ensnared in alcoholism, but unfortunately am an individual that was highly tormented by alcoholism. Through observation of the group and how it processed, as well as identifying how I felt as a new attendee, I was able to understand why self-help, support groups are so vital for individuals in recovery. I finally realized, I too am in recovery. I attended Al-Anon meetings on Sundays at St. Matthew Episcopal Church. The meetings began at 11:45am, and were held until 1:00pm, which was contingent on the progress of each small group. I was in attendance beginning January 19th, with attendance on January 26th, and February 2nd. The groups first met in one room together, and then broke into smaller groups to process. The initial meeting room is a nursery room in the church. It had a lot of natural lighting from the windows, and was decorated in children’s religious artwork. The room was far too small for all of the attendees. There was an average of thirty-five attendees at each meeting. Many times people who came late had to stand outside the doorway and listen in, because the room was literally overflowing with people. There were never enough chairs, which forced some individuals to stand, until the large group, broke into small groups. The group itself was entirely made up of middle age, Caucasians. There was an average of about thirty-five attendees each week. The average age of the gr... ...http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/6/5/348.full Gifford, S. (2011). Differences Between Outpatient and Inpatient Treatment Programs. Psych Central. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/lib/differences-between-outpatient-and-inpatient-treatment-programs/0007531 Galanter, M., M.D. (2008). Spirituality, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Alcoholics Anonymous. PsychiatryOnline. Retrieved from http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=100364 Peele, S., PhD. (2004, August). Is AA's loss psychology's gain? American Psychological Association. Vol. 35 NO. 7 pp. 86 Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/jn.aspx McGovern, M. P., PhD, & Carroll, K. M., PhD. (2003). Evidence- base Practices for Substance Use Disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Retrieved from http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dcare/pdfs/fp/McGovernMark-Evidence-BasedPractices.pdf