Vietnam War Memorial - Powerful Granite Essays - National Mall

Vietnam War Memorial - Powerful Granite At the age of twenty one, a female undergraduate at Yale University named Maya Lin submitted her design for the Vietnam Memorial. Her idea for the memorial was extremely unique and controversial. After long discussions by a panel, it was chosen for construction. The design that she submitted was one that was very different in comparison to other memorials, and it was one that has a tendency to leave a lot of questions on the minds of the visitors. On the face of the memorial there is a list of all those who died or are missing in the order by which they were lost. It could seem to some one who did not understand the incident that the monument honors only those lost, but that is incorrect. Maya Lin?s design formed into the most unique memorial structure of its kind, which honors all who served in the Vietnam War (Colliers 23: 137). The official name given to the monument was the Vietnam Veterans memorial. In this name alone it is clear that it was not erected for the sole purpose of honoring only those who were lost in the conflict. The term KIA was the abbreviation used for those people who were killed in action, and these people represent 47,000 of the 58,000 names on the wall. The other 11,000 were soldiers who died from crashes, snake bites, illnesses, and other non-combat related deaths (Olson 227). There is no distinction made between the two groups on the monument. The structure is a v-shaped polished granite slab that unlike other monuments has no message of honor or patriotism. All of those subjects are left to the thoughts of the beholder. People often find therapy in locating the name of a companion or a loved one. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is by far the most emotional moving war monument in Washington, and that alone makes it very unique(Collier?s 138). In comparison with other monuments, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is vastly different. A point of comparison could be the Marine Corps War Memorial, otherwise known as the Iwo Jima monument. This monument is a sculpture of three soldiers risking their lives to keep the American flag flying. The structure has a deep sense of understood patriotism and there is a great deal of honor that is also associated with it. Unlike the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Iwo Jima monument is a tribute only to the Marines who served in World War Two. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has no such message of honor and courage, but rather an atmosphere that causes visitors to reflect on the conflict (Colliers 138-139). The only monument that is similar the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the memorial to Ulysses S. Grant. It is located at the foot of the capital and has no clear cut meaning. There is no political message that can be taken away from Grant?s memorial. It neither glorifies war nor possesses an antiwar message, and there is no moral lesson that can be taken away from this monument (Colliers 138). One of the great things about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is that it allows the public to form its own opinion of the conflict with out forcing a political message. It is because of this ambiguity that the monument is so unique. Unlike other monuments, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial can not be seen from a distance. One must commit to see it, and then walk down to it. This is just the opposite of other monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial which were created to show the men on a higher God-like platform. Also, it is not at all uncommon to find men and women alike weeping at the base of the monument (Colliers 138-139) Cynics could argue and say they morn only for their loved ones, and were not moved by the power of the monument, but this is not always the case. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is an experience that affects thousands of people daily, and changes the lives of almost as many. This is a characteristic that no other war monument in the country seems to posses. The first inscription on the

Free Essays on Wizards Of The Coast

Introduction Corporate Description In 1997 Wizards of the Coast was a privately held company, best known for the world’s number one selling adventure trading-card game, Magic: The Gathering. Founded in 1990 by Peter Adkison and several other young professionals, and bolstered by the success of Magic, the company has grown into the largest adventure gaming company in the world. The idea behind the game is to combine a fantasy-playing concept with a trading card format, where players can buy and sell collectible cards, similar to baseball cards. Wizards released Magic in 1993 and it was an instant success. Since then, an entire sub-culture has developed, where those who play the game do it as more of a hobby than simply a card game, dedicating a significant amount of time and money. In order to distribute their product, Wizards had initially built a widespread network of small hobby, game, and comic shops. Along with their popularity, they have since expanded into larger chain stores such as Toys â€Å"R† Us, Barnes and Noble, and Target. Likewise, the design and manufacture of the game initially started small with a single source supplier, but has grown significantly in order to be able to keep up with demand. Until the late 90’s, the success enjoyed by Wizards had been founded solely in the popularity of Magic and related â€Å"spin-off† products. To add breadth to their product line, and to reduce competition, Wizards solidified its position in the adventure gaming market by acquiring two of its most significant competitors- 1) Five Rings Publishing and 2) TSR (the creators of Dungeons and Dragons). Vision Peter Adkison's vision for Wizards of the Coast was to establish games as a fun entertainment choice for people of all ages. (wizards.com/whatis/main.asp?x=founder) Strategy Because Wizards of the Coast is only in one business, its corporate and business strategies are identical. They consist of the ... Free Essays on Wizards Of The Coast Free Essays on Wizards Of The Coast Introduction Corporate Description In 1997 Wizards of the Coast was a privately held company, best known for the world’s number one selling adventure trading-card game, Magic: The Gathering. Founded in 1990 by Peter Adkison and several other young professionals, and bolstered by the success of Magic, the company has grown into the largest adventure gaming company in the world. The idea behind the game is to combine a fantasy-playing concept with a trading card format, where players can buy and sell collectible cards, similar to baseball cards. Wizards released Magic in 1993 and it was an instant success. Since then, an entire sub-culture has developed, where those who play the game do it as more of a hobby than simply a card game, dedicating a significant amount of time and money. In order to distribute their product, Wizards had initially built a widespread network of small hobby, game, and comic shops. Along with their popularity, they have since expanded into larger chain stores such as Toys â€Å"R† Us, Barnes and Noble, and Target. Likewise, the design and manufacture of the game initially started small with a single source supplier, but has grown significantly in order to be able to keep up with demand. Until the late 90’s, the success enjoyed by Wizards had been founded solely in the popularity of Magic and related â€Å"spin-off† products. To add breadth to their product line, and to reduce competition, Wizards solidified its position in the adventure gaming market by acquiring two of its most significant competitors- 1) Five Rings Publishing and 2) TSR (the creators of Dungeons and Dragons). Vision Peter Adkison's vision for Wizards of the Coast was to establish games as a fun entertainment choice for people of all ages. (wizards.com/whatis/main.asp?x=founder) Strategy Because Wizards of the Coast is only in one business, its corporate and business strategies are identical. They consist of the ...

A Comma (or Its Absence) Can Change a Sentences Message

A Comma (or Its Absence) Can Change a Sentences Message A Comma (or Its Absence) Can Change a Sentence’s Message A Comma (or Its Absence) Can Change a Sentence’s Message By Mark Nichol Writers are divided in opinion about punctuating introductory words or phrases- and often, they are at war with themselves with the topic. Even adherents of open punctuation will generally insert a comma after an adverb, whether it is transitional, like however, or descriptive, like suddenly, and will follow even a brief modifying phrase such as â€Å"according to the study† or â€Å"contrary to popular belief† with pausing punctuation. But somewhere in between- in the case of a short opening phrase like â€Å"last year† or â€Å"in retrospect†- many people believe a comma setting the phrase off from the sentence’s main clause is unnecessary. For consistency, I advocate generally using a comma regardless of the phrase’s length, but even though I am a close-punctuation adherent, I realize there are exceptions. Consider the use of please, for example. Read this sentence: â€Å"Please sit down.† Now, read this one. â€Å"Please, sit down.† Did you read them differently? I hope so. The intent behind each statement is distinct: â€Å"Please sit down† is an imperative barely tempered by a courtesy term; the person to whom the statement is delivered is expected to comply. By contrast, â€Å"Please, sit down† is an entreaty; the speaker sincerely hopes that the other person will accept the invitation. There’s a difference, too, between â€Å"Of course you would say whatever you thought I wanted to hear† and â€Å"Of course, you would say whatever you thought I wanted to hear.† The first sentence is delivered with some heat; the speaker’s tone is wounded and derisive. The second statement, by contrast, is more measured and reflective. These examples are more subtle than when one decides whether one should punctuate, for example, â€Å"In time you will understand why I acted as I did†: You either agree with me that if one is to punctuate a more extensive introductory phrase (â€Å"When you have time to reflect, you will understand why I acted as I did†)- and most writers will choose to do so- it’s only logical to treat a more concise opening phrase the same way (otherwise, where does one draw the line?), or you don’t agree. But sometimes, what a sentence communicates changes with the mere insertion or omission of a comma, and the writer should be sensitive to such nuances to help the reader read between the lines. Todays video: Calls to Action Pluralizing Compound Nouns Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesYay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other AcclamationsEnglish Grammar 101: Sentences, Clauses and Phrases

The Affordalbe Care Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Affordalbe Care Act - Research Paper Example every citizen has the right to obtain affordable and dependable health care, which is the responsibility of the Federal government to make sure efficient provision of the service. The notion encouraged him to fight for legislation the Affordable care act. Obama’s ideologies on health care is founded on believe that the insurance companies unrestrained authority to influence care, and patient insurance have left many Americans uninsured and underinsured (Phillips 20). In accordance with the new law commonly termed as â€Å"Obama care,† Obama believes that American citizens are geared towards the provision of a health care system that is secure. The scheme entails Americans receiving health insurance through employers to make citizens coverage reasonable and secure. The scheme permits individuals with pre-existing conditions the capability to get preventative care with no payment of deductibles and co-pays. Additionally, Obama states the new law would eradicate insurance overpayments and fraud cases in Medicare together with Medicaid systems, which would save people a lot of money. This move permitted Obama to ensure the expansion of health care provision to many people who would have been insured, but now enjoy coverage on their parents’ scheme until they reach 26years of age. The Affordable Care Act offers seniors similar benefits that would need individuals earning more than $200,000, to make contributions to the Medicare Trust Fund beginning starting in 2013. When evaluated the health care visions in the past and the current are noticeably

Research about the Radiation Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Research about the Radiation Safety - Essay Example This paper aims at discussing radiation and its safety, how radiation can be measured, how it affects the lives of human beings and how these negative effects can be reduced. Radiation is majorly categorized into either non-ionizing or ionizing radiation. This classification is done in accordance to whether the radiation ionizes or does not ionize common compound matter. A radiation that ionizes ordinary chemical matter is referred to as ionizing radiation while that that does not cause ionization to chemical matter is known as non-ionizing radiation. The term radiation is under various circumstances used in referring to ionizing radiations. The most common forms of ionizing radiation are X-rays and gamma rays (Gale and Lax 123). However, radiation might also be used in referring to non-ionizing radiations such as microwaves, radio waves, heat, or visible light. During radiation, wave radiate or particles travel away from the source in every direction. This characteristic enables a t echnique of physical units and measurements applicable in both ionizing and non-ionizing radiations (Pettigrew 98). Both forms of radiation’s power trail an inverse-square law that relates to its source’s distance. This is because of the fact that both types of radiation tend to expand as they travel through space. This law only applies when the radiation is travelling in a vacuum. Radiation with the required high energy has the capability of knocking electrons off atoms thus creating ions. As much as both types of radiations can be dangerous to living organisms, ionizing radiation is by far more dangerous per unit of energy deposited. This is because even the powers from law ionizing radiations have the capability of causing DNA damage in living things. Because the cells of living things and DNA in the cell can be negatively affected by the ionization, then this type of radiation can easily lead to higher chances of getting cancer. Given that a single living cell cons ists of billions of atoms, only a small fraction of the atoms will be affected by radiation with low powers (Gale and Lax 187). Therefore, the possibility of cancer being caused by ionizing radiation on the amount of radiation that has been absorbed and the sensitivity of the tissue or organism. Particles and photons the energy of more than 10 electron volts (eV) should be referred to as ionizing. Beta particles, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays, and alpha particles have enough energy that can ionize atoms. Free electrons can also be ionizing due to their ability have attraction with matter. Free electrons might occur as a result of ionization. Ionizing radiations originate from X-ray tubes, radioactive materials, particle accelerators, and some also naturally exist in the environment. Ionizing radiation is usually invisible and cannot be easily detected by any of the other four human senses. This is the reason as to why the equipment like Geiger counters are always needed to detect the presence of ionizing radiations. Ionizing radiation can be might lead to the production of some visible light when they interact with matter, as experienced during radio-luminescence and Cherenkov radiation ionizing radiation can be used in many ways in the field of medicine but can be a health hazard if not used in an appropriate way (Kudriashov 145). Exposing someone to ionizing radiation can result to the damage of his/ her living tissues. Higher doses of exposure to

The concept of national identity

The concept of national identity In recent years, due to the expansion of modernism and modernisation on a global scale, there have been developments at cultural and structural levels, resulting in a change in national identity and making the study of nationalism and national identity an important topic in social science. These studies are often concerned with the complex and contradictory nature of cultural identities and the role of communications media in the development and reconfiguration of those identities. This essay will attempt to define the terms nation and national identity and discuss how far these concepts relate directly to geographical location and/or political boundaries. It will look at the relationship between the media and national identity and explore its extensiveness and what it means for the concept of national identity itself. Additionally, the issue of whether national identities are real or perceived will be addressed as well as whether the concept, or indeed, the experience of national identity is a media-dependent phenomenon. Other issues that will be discusses include the elements that may contribute to an individuals sense of national identity and what an absence of (national) media would mean for the concept of national identity and the sense of belonging to a particular nation. Many scholars would agree that the concepts of nation, nationality and nationalism have all proved difficult to define and analyse. Anderson (1991) notes that while nationalism has had significant influence on the modern world, plausible theory about it is conspicuously meagre (p.54). Seton-Watson (1997) concludes that while no scientific definition of the nation can be devised, the phenomenon has existed and exists (p.5). Even Nairn (1975) remarks that the theory of nationalism represents Marxisms great historical failure. But even this confession is somewhat misleading, in so far as it can be taken to imply the regrettable outcome of a long, self-conscious search for theoretical clarity (p. 3). Although there is little consensus regarding the forces responsible for its manifestation, most theorists on nationalism believe it to be an essentially modern phenomenon, appearing in the late eighteenth century in Europe and North America. Three theorists stand out in the genealogical debate over nationalism. Hobsbawm (1990) defined nationalism as the popular realisation of political rights in a sovereign state. A populace linked itself to a limited national territory and was embodied through a centralised government, an event he believed first occurred during the French Revolution. If nationalism was a modern invention, so were nations: the nation-state was the result, rather than the origin, of a nationalist discourse (Hobsbawm, 1990, p.28). Gellner (1983) adopted an economically reductionist approach, deeming nationalism a necessary function of industrialisation. He argued that because industry required skilled labour, a common vernacular, and high rates of literacy, the need developed for a national high culture promoted by a state run educational system. Simultaneously, the old agrarian order faded away and societal anonymity replaced provincial distinctness, facilitating the creation of a homogeneous national cul ture. Like Hobsbawm, Gellner sought to dispel teleological notions of the nation as eternal and reiterated that national was a modern invention, created in response to the needs of a new economic system, even it represented itself as a natural, historical phenomenon. The theory of the nation as invention was taken further by Anderson (1983), who saw nationalism as a process of imagining communities. Nation-states are imagined because members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each live the image of their communion (Anderson, 1983, p.15). He argued that the decline of universal religious paradigms and the rise in print capitalism allowed for this cultural construction to flourish in eighteenth century. The mass consumption of newspapers and novels enforced a common vernacular, linked a populace to urban centres, and encouraged common participation in a shared imagined culture. Anderson (1983) implied that the reformation of the printing press did more to encourage nationalism than did the advent of industrialisation. Despite their differences, all three of these prominent theoreticians identified nationalism, and by association the nation-state, as a phenomenon of the last few centuries. It has therefore been suggested that time, is not the most useful tool for categorising nationalism or national identity. While nationalism is dependent on a variety of historical factors, it has been noted that national identity cannot be labelled as embryonic nationalism because not all national identities function within nations. Estel (2002) describes national identity as a special case of collective identity: This does not mean an objective, i.e. systemic, connection built by human beings, but its interpretation by the members of that collective hence it must be socially shared, the binding knowledge being the key factor. National identity then means a socially shared and binding knowledge in the form of an officially prevailing conception of itself in a certain nation being imparted through certain institutions (p.108). As many have asserted to, the concept of national identity is complex, and its intensity, character and origins vary with time and place. Smith (1991) argues that identity operates on two levels, the individual and the collective which are often confused in discussions of ethnic and national identity. Collective identities are composed of individual members they are not reducible to an aggregate of individuals sharing a particular cultural trait. Similarly, from a description of the elements one cannot read off the probable actions and dispositions of individual members, only the kinds of contexts and constraints within which they operate (p.130). He adds that the broadest subtype of collective cultural identities is the ethnie or ethnic community. Connor (1993) agrees: If we look at todays countries, many of them seem to build their perceived internal similarity on a premise of shared ethnicity. A subconscious belief in the groups separate origin and evolution is an important ingredient of national psychology. This belief in the groups separate origin and evolution is the basis of ethnic identity, and ethnic identity seems to constitute the core of nations (p.377). Ethnic communities are characterised by a perception of similarity among members, stemming from a perception of kinship (a blood relationship), and a simultaneous perception of difference from other ethnic communities (Eriksen, 1993, p.12). They have a common collective name, a collective historical memory, common cultural traits, a homeland, a myth of common descent, and a strong sense of internal solidarity. This element of fictive kinship, which is at the heart of ethnic affiliation, is also at the heart of feelings of nationhood (Smith, 1991, pp. 21-22). As Connor (1993) suggests, it is not what is but what people perceive as is which determines the extent of national feeling. The nation-as-a-family metaphor is not a rational feeling, but rather an emotive one; it is a bond beyond reason appealing not to the brain but to the blood (Connor, 1993, p.384). Das and Harindranath (2006) suggests that even in the absence of an ethnically homogenous population, nations rely on the idea o f an over arching ethnic bond to emphasise the difference from non-members and to join all members into a national community (p.11). National identity, to whatever degree it exists, is constituted by the interlacing forces of history and collective choice (Parekh, 1994). It is a dynamic structure of affiliation, with strong foundations in the past but susceptible to change in the future. Nations base their claim to statehood on assumptions of a shared cultural heritage, which are in turn most often based on assumptions of shared ethnicity. The latter assumption has less to do with a reality of common ethnicity than with a myth of common ethnicity which is cast over multi-ethnic communities to turn them into politicised national communities (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.12). Most modern nation states are multi-ethic, making it difficult to define one unified conception of national identity among all members. Throughout the early modern period, the character and intensity of national identity varied widely from place to place. The idea of the unity of a nation-state could come either from its cultural or political unity. Sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe was the location of the formation of nation states. In England, France, Spain and Sweden, the dominant ethnic community incorporated outlaying regions and ethnicities into a dominant ethnic culture through the use of bureaucratic, centralised state machinery. Employing fiscal, judicial, military and administrative processes it welded together often disparate populations into a single ethnic community based on the cultural heritage of the dominant core (Smith, 1991, p.68). This is what Smith (1991) identifies the dominant ethnie model which is present in countries like Burma where the dominant Burmese ethnic community has heavily influenced the formation and the nature of the state of Burma (now known as Myanmar), rather than the Ka ren, Shan or Mon ethnic groups. Other cultures continue to flourish but the identity of the emerging political community is shaped by the historic culture of its dominant ethnie. The construction of the nation here becomes a process of reconstructing the ethnic core and integrating the culture with the requirements of the modern state and with the aspirations of minority communities. Non-dominant cultures are then relegated to the position of minority cultures (Smith, 1991, pp.110-111). Smith (1991) also notes that there are some multi-ethnic states where discrepancy in inter-ethnic power is marginal enough to allow for a state along the lines of the supra-ethnic model, where the emphasis is on political rather cultural unity (p. 112). However, Das and Harindranath (2006) states the success of this model is debatable as representative examples are few and far between (p.13). Such cases might include the Nigerian case, where the attempt to build a supra-ethnic state resulted in the concentration of power in the hands of three major ethic groups (out of the existing 250 groups) rather than any one. As Connor (1993, p.375) argues, a people who are politically and culturally pre-eminent in a state (even though other groups are present in significant numbers) tend to equate the entire country with their own ethnic homeland, and to perceive the state as an extension of their particular ethnic group. Oommen (1990) suggests that once a multi-ethnic or poly-ethnic state emer ges it becomes a reality-in-itself. The coexistence and interaction between the different nations or ethnic groups produce certain emergent properties which give a new meaning and a collective self-identification to the constituent units (p.35). This collective self-identification of a people with a nation-state according to Das and Harindranath (2006) is their national identity. Tying a nation together is a deep network of common institutions: a military, a common economy, a common legal system, a common administrative infrastructure, and a variety of shared institutions transport, communications, public utilities and banks among others. At a more visible level are the overt makers of national identity, the political symbols that set one nation-state apart from others: a name, flag, national emblem, national language, common currency (p. 16). These are invented traditions which soon acquire the feel of antiquity but are in fact usually of recent origin (Hobsbawn and Ranger, 1983). The formation of such identification involves dimensions of unity and permanence (Melucci, in Schlesinger, 1991, p.154). The latter suggests that the nation has to be seen as persisting through time, well into the past and future; it has to be seen as beyond time (Connor, 1993, p.382). Such an imagining of the nation as beyond time, according to Das and Harindranath (2006) takes national identity partly into the realm of non-rational, making it an emotional identification rather than an intellectual one. The issue of creating certain uniformity within nation-states and the process of nation-building then comes to the forefront and most nations look to the media to play its part in the construct of a national culture and a national community. Why the media? Das and Harindranath (2006) explains that considering how much of our knowledge of the world comes from mediated communication, either through people or through the mass media, this is likely to be a primary source of influence on our structures of identification since we cannot accomplish very abstract levels of identification (as with a nation-state) by exclusive reliance on our own direct lived experience or face to face communication of others (p.18). Media have typically been institutional products of nations and, as such, play a fundamental role in their maintenance (Anderson, 1983, pp. 24-25). In most countries national broadcasting in the early forms (especially before its commercialisation, when it could not afford the str atification of its audience), has made possible the transformations of individual activities (dramas, performances, etc) into fictions of collective national life for millions of individuals who may never interact with one another. It is a fact that nation-states must have a measure of common culture and civic ideology, a set of common understandings and aspirations, sentiments and ideas that bind the population together in their homeland. The major agencies through which this socialisation is carried out are the mass education system and the mass media (Smith, 1991, p.11). Das and Harindranath (2006) notes: National identity has been an underlying theme in communications research since the 1950s, when new technologies were linking the world with their ever-increasing reach into diverse global populations. At that time, these technologies were held up as a panacea for the ills of underdevelopment researchers such as Schramm and Lerner eagerly endorsed the view that judicious deployment of Western media products in the Third World would help bring to them the benefits of western progress and development (p.18). Sreberny (2008) points out, this idea and model of development was criticised for equating development with the West. The media/cultural imperialism theory, which gained impetus from such criticism, argues that the excessive flow of media products from West to East of from North to South leads to the erosion of national cultures in the non-Western world, resulting eventually in a homogenised world in the image of the west. Melucci (1989) disagreed with this theory as well: To simply be aware of something is not to identify with it; identification comes from the making of an emotional investment, an investment which enables a group of people to recognise themselves in each other, and to feel a similarity with other members of a group. In addition to being aware of the existence of nation-states therefore, I must also be aware that there are many of them, that the one I live in is different from the others, and that I belong to a particular one because of my similarity with others of that nation-state. I can then be said to possess a national identity. My identity is therefore not just Indian but equally not French, not Thai (p.17). Today, national media are participating in the two processes of national identity building. Firstly, as tellers of national myths, (especially in times of crises, rapid social change or external threat), as engravers of national symbols upon the nations memory, and presenters of national rituals (elections, celebrations, etc), they work in the direction of emphasising the similarities among the group members. For media producers, the prominence of national identity in the media content is encouraged by the knowledge that they are constructing news for a national audience with which they share national membership (Entman, 1991; Rivenburgh, 1999). Secondly, as a primary domain of the public sphere, the media produce and reinforce the relational opposition of us and the others. One of the areas of media content to which such nationalist discourse today is very high, is news and especially the coverage of foreign affairs. Comparative international news research shows the significant role of the media in perpetuating a world view that consistently favours the home nation perspective on world affairs (Rivenburgh, 1999). Discrepant perceptions of world affairs largely emanate from different cultural and political values held by groups with different national identities enhanced by national media coverage (Rivenburgh, 1991, p.1). The media play a significant role in collapsing the experience of distance by creating a global simultaneity, rendering events across the world into nightly news broadcast into our living rooms. Media coverage of crisis events may not only affect public opinion but may increasingly provide policy makers with vital information to determine lines of foreign policy and diplomatic initiatives (Sreberny, 2008). Additionally, At the start of the 21st century, more and more people lived in mediatised societies where our understanding of local, national and international political, economic and cultural issues is framed by and through the media and other cultural industries. While we need to be wary of collapsing cultural issues into technological developments, it is nonetheless true that the global spread of media has raised a host of new questions about our identities, about our relations with others and about our understanding of the world (Sreberny, 2008, p.10). One prominent pattern that emerges in the images of nationhood is the definition of national and anti-national by the media, the normal and abnormal, the good and the bad. Such delineation is important especially in nation states characterised by diversity (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.19). Scannell and Cardiff (1991) illustrate such a definition in the British case showing how the BBC treated British music as essentially synonymous with English music while the music of Scotland, Wales and Ireland was marginalised. This case clearly illustrated how the media contribute to the articulation of the identity of the dominant ethnic group in a multi-ethnic nation-state. New forms of communications and media such as the internet have made it possible for those individuals living outside of their respective nations to still maintain a sense of national identity. The internet can be a very important vehicle for the transmission of ideas concerning a national identity, particularly for those people who have lost or left their homeland. The internet provides a special type of community with a very strong common feeling national communities without a nation. People scattered all over the world regardless of they are from still have succeeded in maintaining a national identity without a nation state. While this used to take place in physical places, the internet and other forms of new media offers different possibilities for these communities, for they can now organise worldwide, reach new members and communicate with these members more often. The websites visited and used by these communities form more than a virtual nation. Their aim is to construct a true nation and it is done by presenting users with sites that are as complete and historic as possible as all varieties of news and information can be found on the internet. The mass media thus engender a we-feeling, a feeling of family, among the community, providing continual opportunities for identification with the na tion. The media enable entire populations to participate in the everyday life of a country-wide community, uniting individual members of the national family into a shared political and cultural rubric (Chaney, 1998, p. 249). It is equally important to note that agencies of socialisation such as the media can also be harnessed to divisive purposes which might have the consequence of impeding the construction of a national identity or of undermining the force of one or more elements of the symbolic repertoire of nationalistic ideology (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.19). In some cases, nationalist views and provocative views have provoked some of the worlds worst massacres. One such example is when RTLM (the Hutu radio/television station in Rwanda) played an inciting and aggravating role in the massacre of the Tutsis by repeatedly broadcasting messages in which Tutsis were slandered and ridiculed and depicted as despicable. On another continent, media in former Yugoslavia have played a significant role in creating an environment of ethnic hate and xenophobia that contributed towards the pre-conditions for savage ethnic wars. While these may be extreme cases, the simple fact of establishing the homogenising tendency of national media is not an adequate base from which to conclude that audiences are homogenised and that advocacy does not always med acceptance. In cases where the national image promoted by the media is not accepted it does meet with resistance from sections of the populations. While some resistance is severe as in the cases of Rwanda and Yugoslavia other populations use organised forms of resistance where the groups in a nation state who are not part of mainstream culture find peaceful ways of asserting their own identities. One such example is the Ernabella Video and Television (EVTV) project in Australia. It was established by leaders of the Ernabella aboriginal community in 1983 as a video project intended to record the local culture, which was fading away with the decline of their previously nomadic lifestyle. It was also a reaction to outside media which local leaders saw as a negative influence on their community. EVTV developed into a television channel by which aboriginals recorded and rediscovered their culture, and it simultaneously enabled them to construct a pan-aboriginal identity among the dispersed aboriginal populations of Australia. It was the discovery and assertion of ethnic aboriginal identity which they actively used to reduce the pote ntial homogenisation influence of mainstream Australian culture depicted on national television (Batty, 1993). Another form of resistance is through readings where the argument here is that media audiences interact with media texts in extremely complex ways. Studies have uncovered significant differences in the way audiences from different backgrounds produce diverse readings of an episode of a soap opera, suggesting that social identities affect interpretation of media messages (Ang, 1990). Media texts can therefore no longer be thought of as binding each member of the audience evenly into a particular interpretation; the meaning of the text, rather, is open to negotiation between the text and the viewer. Differences in interpretation are not, however, the result of a failure of communication, but are rather the results of differences in the lived experiences and mental words of audiences. Where cultural realities are different, there is a likelihood of different interpretations (Jensen, 1987, p.31). In conclusion, although the established literature lacks firm evidence of individual level media effects it nevertheless suggests with some confidence that there is a strong, positive tie between media consumption and individual level national belonging. Drawing largely on historical and textual analysis methods, the claim has been established that the media have been foundational over the past three centuries in the shaping, distribution and institutionalisation of identities. The classic texts on nationalism repeatedly argue that the media have played a key role in nation building and that the idea of a one-culture-for-all does not work and attempts at enculturation of diverse people into a mainstream culture are inevitably resisted through social movements at the peripheries of the mainstream (Das and Harindranath, 2006, p.21). Martin- Barbero (1993) further suggests that communication is a field in which these battles over identity are fought out. The media is therefore the site where states explore routes to uniformity within their nations and are simultaneously the site which assists non-mainstream groups to explore and announce their distinctiveness.

Chapter 25 The Egg and the Eye

Harry had no idea how long a bath he would need to work out the secret of the golden egg, he decided to do it at night, when he would be able to take as much time as he wanted. Reluctant though he was to accept more favors from Cedric, he also decided to use the prefects' bathroom; far fewer people were allowed in there, so it was much less likely that he would be disturbed. Harry planned his excursion carefully, because he had been caught out of bed and out-of-bounds by Filch the caretaker in the middle of the night once before, and had no desire to repeat the experience. The Invisibility Cloak would, of course, be essential, and as an added precaution, Harry thought he would take the Marauders Map, which, next to the cloak, was the most useful aid to rule-breaking Harry owned. The map showed the whole of Hogwarts, including its many shortcuts and secret passageways and, most important of all, it revealed the people inside the castle as minuscule, labeled dots, moving around the corridors, so that Harry would be forewarned if somebody was approaching the bathroom. On Thursday night, Harry sneaked up to bed, put on the cloak, crept back downstairs, and, just as he had done on the night when Hagrid had shown him the dragons, waited for the portrait hole to open. This time it was Ron who waited outside to give the Fat Lady the password (â€Å"banana fritters†), â€Å"Good luck,† Ron muttered, climbing into the room as Harry crept out past him. It was awkward moving under the cloak tonight, because Harry had the heavy egg under one arm and the map held in front of his nose with the other. However, the moonlit corridors were empty and silent, and by checking the map at strategic intervals, Harry was able to ensure that he wouldn't run into anyone he wanted to avoid. When he reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, he located the right door, leaned close to it, and muttered the password, â€Å"Pine fresh,† just as Cedric had told him. The door creaked open. Harry slipped inside, bolted the door behind him, and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, looking around. His immediate reaction was that it would be worth becoming a prefect just to be able to use this bathroom. It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored. Harry moved forward, looking around, his footsteps echoing off the walls. Magnificent though the bathroom was – and quite keen though he was to try out a few of those taps – now he was here he couldn't quite suppress the feeling that Cedric might have been having him on. How on earth was this supposed to help solve the mystery of the egg? Nevertheless, he put one of the Huffy towels, the cloak, the map, and the egg at the side of the swimming-pool-sized bath, then knelt down and turned on a few of the taps. He could tell at once that they carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed with the water, though it wasn't bubble bath as Harry had ever experienced it. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that Harry thought it would have supported his weight if he'd cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water. Harry amused himself for awhile turning the taps on and off, particularly enjoying the effect of one whose jet bounced off the surface of the water in large arcs. Then, when the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, Harry turned off all the taps, pulled off his pajamas, slippers, and dressing gown, and slid into the water. It was so deep that his feet barely touched the bottom, and he actually did a couple of lengths before swimming back to the side and treading water, staring at the egg. Highly enjoyable though it was to swim in hot and foamy water with clouds of different-colored steam wafting all around him, no stroke of brilliance came to him, no sudden burst of understanding. Harry stretched out his arms, lifted the egg in his wet hands, and opened it. The wailing, screeching sound filled the bathroom, echoing and reverberating off the marble walls, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as ever, if not more so with all the echoes. He snapped it shut again, worried that the sound would attract Filch, wondering whether that hadn't been Cedric's plan – and then, making him jump so badly that he dropped the egg, which clattered away across the bathroom floor, someone spoke. â€Å"I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you.† Harry had swallowed a considerable amount of bubbles in shock. He stood up, sputtering, and saw the ghost of a very glum-looking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps. It was Moaning Myrtle, who was usually to be heard sobbing in the S-bend of a toilet three floors below. â€Å"Myrtle!† Harry said in outrage, â€Å"I'm – I'm not wearing anything!† The foam was so dense that this hardly mattered, but he had a nasty feeling that Myrtle had been spying on him from out of one of the taps ever since he had arrived. â€Å"I closed my eyes when you got in,† she said, blinking at him through her thick spectacles. â€Å"You haven't been to see me for ages.† â€Å"Yeah†¦well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Harry, bending his knees slightly, just to make absolutely sure Myrtle couldn't see anything but his head, â€Å"I'm not supposed to come into your bathroom, am I? It's a girls' one.† â€Å"You didn't used to care,† said Myrtle miserably. â€Å"You used to be in there all the time.† This was true, though only because Harry, Ron, and Hermione had found Myrtle's out-of-order toilets a convenient place to brew Polyjuice Potion in secret – a forbidden potion that had turned him and Ron into living replicas of Crabbe and Goyle for an hour, so that they could sneak into the Slytherin common room. â€Å"I got told off for going in there.† said Harry, which was half-true; Percy had once caught him coming out of Myrtles bathroom. â€Å"I thought I'd better not come back after that.† â€Å"Oh†¦I see†¦Ã¢â‚¬  said Myrtle, picking at a spot on her chin in a morose sort of way. â€Å"Well†¦anyway†¦I'd try the egg in the water. That's what Cedric Diggory did.† â€Å"Have you been spying on him too?† said Harry indignantly. â€Å"What d'you do, sneak up here in the evenings to watch the prefects take baths?† â€Å"Sometimes,† said Myrtle, rather slyly, â€Å"but I've never come out to speak to anyone before.† â€Å"I'm honored,† said Harry darkly. â€Å"You keep your eyes shut!† He made sure Myrtle had her glasses well covered before hoisting himself out of the bath, wrapping the towel firmly around his waist, and going to retrieve the egg. Once he was back in the water, Myrtle peered through her fingers and said, â€Å"Go on, then†¦open it under the water!† Harry lowered the egg beneath the foamy surface and opened it†¦and this time, it did not wail. A gurgling song was coming out of it, a song whose words he couldnt distinguish through the water. â€Å"You need to put your head under too,† said Myrtle, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying bossing him around. â€Å"Go on!† Harry took a great breath and slid under the surface – and now, sitting on the marble bottom of the bubble-filled bath, he heard a chorus of eerie voices singing to him from the open egg in his hands: â€Å"Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you re searching, ponder this: Wove taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour– the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it wont come back† Harry let himself float back upward and broke the bubbly surface, shaking his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Hear it?† said Myrtle. â€Å"Yeah†¦'Come seek us where our voices sound†¦' and if I need persuading†¦hang on, I need to listen again†¦.† He sank back beneath the water. It took three more underwater renditions of the egg's song before Harry had it memorized; then he trod water for a while, thinking hard, while Myrtle sat and watched him. â€Å"I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground†¦.† he said slowly. â€Å"Er†¦who could that be?† â€Å"Slow, aren't you?† He had never seen Moaning Myrtle so cheerful, apart from the day when a dose of PolyJuice Potion had given Hermione the hairy face and tail of a cat. Harry stared around the bathroom, thinking†¦if the voices could only be heard underwater, then it made sense for them to belong to underwater creatures. He ran this theory past Myrtle, who smirked at him. â€Å"Well, thats what Diggory thought,† she said. â€Å"He lay there talking to himself for ages about it. Ages and ages†¦nearly all the bubbles had gone†¦.† â€Å"Underwater†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry said slowly. â€Å"Myrtle†¦what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?† â€Å"Oh all sorts,† she said. â€Å"I sometimes go down there†¦sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it†¦.† Trying not to think about Moaning Myrtle zooming down a pipe to the lake with the contents of a toilet. Harry said, â€Å"Well, does anything in there have a human voice? Hang on -â€Å" Harry's eyes had fallen on the picture of the snoozing mermaid on the wall. â€Å"Myrtle, there aren't merpeople in there, are there?† â€Å"Oooh, very good,† she said, her thick glasses twinkling, â€Å"it took Diggory much longer than that! And that was with her awake too† – Myrtle jerked her head toward the mermaid with an expression of great dislike on her glum face – â€Å"giggling and showing off and flashing her fins†¦.† â€Å"Thats it, isn't it?† said Harry excitedly. â€Å"The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and†¦and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But he suddenly realized what he was saying, and he felt the excitement drain out of him as though someone had just pulled a plug in his stomach. He wasn't a very good swimmer; he'd never had much practice. Dudley had had lessons in his youth, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, no doubt hoping that Harry would drown one day, hadn't bothered to give him any. A couple of lengths of this bath were all very well, but that lake was very large, and very deep†¦and merpeople would surely live right at the bottom†¦. â€Å"Myrtle,† Harry said slowly, â€Å"how am I supposed to breathe?† At this, Myrtle's eyes filled with sudden tears again. â€Å"Tactless!† she muttered, groping in her robes for a handkerchief. â€Å"What's tactless?† said Harry, bewildered. â€Å"Talking about breathing in front of me!† she said shrilly, and her voice echoed loudly around the bathroom. â€Å"When I can't†¦when I haven't†¦not for ages†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She buried her face in her handkerchief and sniffed loudly. Harry remembered how touchy Myrtle had always been about being dead, but none of the other ghosts he knew made such a fuss about it. â€Å"Sorry,† he said impatiently. â€Å"I didn't mean – I just forgot†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yes, very easy to forget Myrtle's dead,† said Myrtle, gulping, looking at him out of swollen eyes. â€Å"Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours and hours to find my body – I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom – Are you in here again, sulking, Myrtle?' she said, ‘because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you -‘ And then she saw my body†¦ooooh, she didn't forget it until her dying day, I made sure of that†¦followed her around and reminded her, I did. I remember at her brother's wedding -â€Å" But Harry wasn't listening; he was thinking about the merpeople's song again. â€Å"We've taken what you II sorely miss.† That sounded as though they were going to steal something of his, something he had to get back. What were they going to take? â€Å"-and then, of course, she went to the Ministry of Magic to stop me stalking her, so I had to come back here and live in my toilet.† â€Å"Good,† said Harry vaguely. â€Å"Well, I'm a lot further on than I was†¦.Shut your eyes again, will you? I'm getting out.† He retrieved the egg from the bottom of the bath, climbed out, dried himself, and pulled on his pajamas and dressing gown again. â€Å"Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?† Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak. â€Å"Er†¦I'll try,† Harry said, though privately thinking the only way he'd be visiting Myrtle's bathroom again was if every other toilet in the castle got blocked. â€Å"See you. Myrtle†¦thanks for your help.† â€Å"Bye, ‘bye,† she said gloomily, and as Harry put on the Invisibllity Cloak he saw her zoom back up the tap. Out in the dark corridor, Harry examined the Marauders Map to check that the coast was still clear. Yes, the dots belonging to Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were safely in their office†¦nothing else seemed to be moving apart from Peeves, though he was bouncing around the trophy room on the floor above†¦.Harry had taken his first step back toward Gryffindor Tower when something else on the map caught his eye†¦something distinctly odd. Peeves was not the only thing that was moving. A single dot was flitting around a room in the bottom left-hand corner – Snape's office. But the dot wasn't labeled â€Å"Severus Snape†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦it was Bartemius Crouch. Harry stared at the dot. Mr. Crouch was supposed to be too ill to go to work or to come to the Yule Ball – so what was he doing, sneaking into Hogwarts at one o'clock in the morning? Harry watched closely as the dot moved around and around the room, pausing here and there†¦. Harry hesitated, thinking†¦and then his curiosity got the better of him. He turned and set off in the opposite direction toward the nearest staircase. He was going to see what Crouch was up to. Harry walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, though the faces in some of the portraits still turned curiously at the squeak of a floorboard, the rustle of his pajamas. He crept along the corridor below, pushed aside a tapestry about halfway along, and proceeded down a narrower staircase, a shortcut that would take him down two floors. He kept glancing down at the map, wondering†¦It just didn't seem in character, somehow, for correct, law-abiding Mr. Crouch to be sneaking around somebody else's office this late at night†¦. And then, halfway down the staircase, not thinking about what he was doing, not concentrating on anything but the peculiar behavior of Mr. Crouch, Harry's leg suddenly sank right through the trick step Neville always forgot to jump. He gave an ungainly wobble, and the golden egg, still damp from the bath, slipped from under his arm. He lurched forward to try and catch it, but too late; the egg fell down the long staircase with a bang as loud as a bass drum on every step – the Invisibility Cloak slipped – Harry snatched at it, and the Marauder's Map fluttered out of his hand and slid down six stairs, where, sunk in the step to above his knee, he couldn't reach it. The golden egg fell through the tapestry at the bottom of the staircase, burst open, and began wailing loudly in the corridor below. Harry pulled out his wand and struggled to touch the Marauder's Map, to wipe it blank, but it was too far away to reach – Pulling the cloak back over himself Harry straightened up, listening hard with his eyes screwed up with fear†¦and, almost immediately – â€Å"PEEVES!† It was the unmistakable hunting cry of Filch the caretaker. Harry could hear his rapid, shuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, his wheezy voice raised in fury. â€Å"What's this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you? I'll have you, Peeves, I'll have you, you'll†¦and what is this?† Filch's footsteps halted; there was a clink of metal on metal and the wailing stopped – Filch had picked up the egg and closed it. Harry stood very still, one leg still Jammed tightly in the magical step, listening. Any moment now, Filch was going to pull aside the tapestry, expecting to see Peeves†¦and there would be no Peeves†¦but if he came up the stairs, he would spot the Marauder's Map†¦and Invisibility Cloak or not, the map would show â€Å"Harry Potter† standing exactly where he was. â€Å"Egg?† Filch said quietly at the foot of the stairs. â€Å"My sweet!† – Mrs. Norris was obviously with him – â€Å"This is a Triwizard clue! This belongs to a school champion!† Harry felt sick; his heart was hammering very fast – â€Å"PEEVES!† Filch roared gleefully. â€Å"You've been stealing!† He ripped back the tapestry below, and Harry saw his horrible, pouchy face and bulging, pale eyes staring up the dark and (to Filch) deserted staircase. â€Å"Hiding, are you?† he said softly. â€Å"I'm coming to get you, Peeves†¦.You've gone and stolen a Triwizard clue, Peeves†¦.Dumbledore'll have you out of here for this, you filthy, pilfering poltergeist†¦.† Filch started to climb the stairs, his scrawny, dust-colored cat at his heels. Mrs. Morris's lamp-like eyes, so very like her masters, were fixed directly upon Harry. He had had occasion before now to wonder whether the Invisibility Cloak worked on cats†¦.Sick with apprehension, he watched Filch drawing nearer and nearer in his old flannel dressing gown – he tried desperately to pull his trapped leg free, but it merely sank a few more inches – any second now, Filch was going to spot the map or walk right into him – â€Å"Filch? Whats going on?† Filch stopped a few steps below Harry and turned. At the foot of the stairs stood the only person who could make Harry's situation worse: Snape. He was wearing a long gray nightshirt and he looked livid. â€Å"Its Peeves, Professor,† Filch whispered malevolently. â€Å"He threw this egg down the stairs.† Snape climbed up the stairs quickly and stopped beside Filch. Harry gritted his teeth, convinced his loudly thumping heart would give him away at any second†¦. â€Å"Peeves?† said Snape softly, staring at the egg in Filch's hands. â€Å"But Peeves couldn't get into my office†¦.† â€Å"This egg was in your office. Professor?† â€Å"Of course not,† Snape snapped. â€Å"I heard banging and wailing -â€Å" â€Å"Yes, Professor, that was the egg -â€Å" â€Å"- I was coming to investigate -â€Å" â€Å"- Peeves threw it. Professor -â€Å" â€Å"- and when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody has been searching it!† But Peeves couldn't -â€Å" â€Å"I know he couldn't, Filch!† Snape snapped again. â€Å"I seal my office with a spell none but a wizard could break!† Snape looked up the stairs, straight through Harry, and then down into the corridor below. â€Å"I want you to come and help me search for the intruder, Filch.† â€Å"I – yes, Professor – but -â€Å" Filch looked yearningly up the stairs, right through Harry, who could see that he was very reluctant to forgo the chance of cornering Peeves. Go, Harry pleaded with him silently, go with Snape†¦go†¦Mrs. Norris was peering around Filch's legs†¦.Harry had the distinct impression that she could smell him†¦.Why had he filled that bath with so much perfumed foam? â€Å"The thing is, Professor,† said Filch plaintively, â€Å"the headmaster will have to listen to me this time. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of the castle once and for all -â€Å" â€Å"Filch, I don't give a damn about that wretched poltergeist; it's my office that's -â€Å" Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Snape stopped talking very abruptly. He and Filch both looked down at the foot of the stairs. Harry saw Mad-Eye Moody limp into sight through the narrow gap between their heads. Moody was wearing his old traveling cloak over his nightshirt and leaning on his staff as usual. â€Å"Pajama party, is it?† he growled up the stairs. â€Å"Professor Snape and I heard noises, Professor,† said Filch at once. â€Å"Peeves the Poltergeist, throwing things around as usual – and then Professor Snape discovered that someone had broken into his off -â€Å" â€Å"Shut up!† Snape hissed to Filch. Moody took a step closer to the foot of the stairs. Harry saw Moody's magical eye travel over Snape, and then, unmistakably, onto himself. Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. Moody could see through Invisibility Cloaks†¦he alone could see the full strangeness of the scene: Snape in his nightshirt, Filch clutching the egg, and he, Harry, trapped in the stairs behind them. Moody's lopsided gash of a mouth opened in surprise. For a few seconds, he and Harry stared straight into each other's eyes. Then Moody closed his mouth and turned his blue eye upon Snape again. â€Å"Did I hear that correctly, Snape?† he asked slowly. â€Å"Someone broke into your office?† â€Å"It is unimportant,† said Snape coldly. â€Å"On the contrary,† growled Moody, â€Å"it is very important. Who'd want to break into your office?† â€Å"A student, I daresay,† said Snape. Harry could see a vein flickering horribly on Snape's greasy temple. â€Å"It has happened before. Potion ingredients have gone missing from my private store cupboard†¦students attempting illicit mixtures, no doubt†¦.† â€Å"Reckon they were after potion ingredients, eh?† said Moody. â€Å"Not hiding anything else in your office, are you?† Harry saw the edge of Snape's sallow face turn a nasty brick color, the vein in his temple pulsing more rapidly. â€Å"You know I'm hiding nothing, Moody,† he said in a soft and dangerous voice, â€Å"as you've searched my office pretty thoroughly yourself.† Moody's face twisted into a smile. â€Å"Auror's privilege, Snape. Dumbledore told me to keep an eye -â€Å" â€Å"Dumbledore happens to trust me,† said Snape through clenched teeth. â€Å"I refuse to believe that he gave you orders to search my office!† â€Å"Course Dumbledore trusts you,† growled Moody. â€Å"Hes a trusting man, isn't he? Believes in second chances. But me – I say there are spots that don't come off, Snape. Spots that never come off, d'you know what I mean?† Snape suddenly did something very strange. He seized his left forearm convulsively with his right hand, as though something on it had hurt him. Moody laughed. â€Å"Get back to bed, Snape.† â€Å"You don't have the authority to send me anywhere!† Snape hissed, letting go of his arm as though angry with himself. â€Å"I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!† â€Å"Prowl away,† said Moody, but his voice was full of menace. â€Å"I look forward to meeting you in a dark corridor some time†¦.You've dropped something, by the way†¦.† With a stab of horror. Harry saw Moody point at the Marauders Map, still lying on the staircase six steps below him. As Snape and Filch both turned to look at it, Harry threw caution to the winds; he raised his arms under the cloak and waved furiously at Moody to attract his attention, mouthing â€Å"It's mine! Mine!† Snape had reached out for it, a horrible expression of dawning comprehension on his face – â€Å"Accio Parchment!† The map flew up into the air, slipped through Snape's outstretched fingers, and soared down the stairs into Moody's hand. â€Å"My mistake,† Moody said calmly. â€Å"It's mine – must've dropped it earlier -â€Å" But Snape's black eyes were darting from the egg in Filch's arms to the map in Moody's hand, and Harry could tell he was putting two and two together, as only Snape could†¦. â€Å"Potter,† he said quietly. â€Å"What's that?† said Moody calmly, folding up the map and pocketing it. â€Å"Potter!† Snape snarled, and he actually turned his head and stared right at the place where Harry was, as though he could suddenly see him. â€Å"That egg is Potters egg. That piece of parchment belongs to Potter. I have seen it before, I recognize it! Potter is here! Potter, in his Invisibility Cloak!† Snape stretched out his hands like a blind man and began to move up the stairs; Harry could have sworn his over-large nostrils were dilating, trying to sniff Harry out – trapped. Harry leaned backward, trying to avoid Snape's fingertips, but any moment now – â€Å"There's nothing there, Snape!† barked Moody, â€Å"but I'll be happy to tell the headmaster how quickly your mind jumped to Harry Potter!† â€Å"Meaning what?† Snape turned again to look at Moody, his hands still outstretched, inches from Harry's chest. â€Å"Meaning that Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in for that boy!† said Moody, limping nearer still to the foot of the stairs. â€Å"And so am I, Snape†¦very interested†¦.† The torchlight flickered across his mangled face, so that the scars, and the chunk missing from his nose, looked deeper and darker than ever. Snape was looking down at Moody, and Harry couldn't see the expression on his face. For a moment, nobody moved or said anything. Then Snape slowly lowered his hands. â€Å"I merely thought,† said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, â€Å"that if Potter was wandering around after hours again†¦it's an unfortunate habit of his†¦he should be stopped. For – for his own safety.† â€Å"Ah, I see,† said Moody softly. â€Å"Got Potter's best interests at heart, have you?† There was a pause. Snape and Moody were still staring at each other, Mrs. Norris gave a loud meow, still peering around Filch's legs, looking for the source of Harry's bubble-bath smell. â€Å"I think I will go back to bed,† Snape said curtly. â€Å"Best idea you've had all night,† said Moody. â€Å"Now, Filch, if you'll just give me that egg -â€Å" â€Å"No!† said Filch, clutching the egg as though it were his firstborn son. â€Å"Professor Moody, this is evidence of Peeves' treachery!† â€Å"It's the property of the champion he stole it from,† said Moody. Hand it over, now.† Snape swept downstairs and passed Moody without another word. Filch made a chirruping noise to Mrs. Norris, who stared blankly at Harry for a few more seconds before turning and following her master. Still breathing very fast. Harry heard Snape walking away down the corridor; Filch handed Moody the egg and disappeared from view too, muttering to Mrs. Norris. â€Å"Never mind. my sweet†¦we'll see Dumbledore in the morning†¦tell him what Peeves was up to†¦.† A door slammed. Harry was left staring down at Moody, who placed his staff on the bottommost stair and started to climb laboriously toward him, a dull clunk on every other step. â€Å"Close shave. Potter,† he muttered. â€Å"Yeah†¦I – er†¦thanks,† said Harry weakly. â€Å"What is this thing?† said Moody, drawing the Marauder's Map out of his pocket and unfolding it. â€Å"Map of Hogwarts,† said Harry, hoping Moody was going to pull him out of the staircase soon; his leg was really hurting him. â€Å"Merlins beard,† Moody whispered, staring at the map, his magical eye going haywire. â€Å"This†¦this is some map. Potter!† â€Å"Yeah, its†¦quite useful,† Harry said. His eyes were starting to water from the pain. â€Å"Er – Professor Moody, d'you think you could help me -?† â€Å"What? Oh! Yes†¦yes, of course†¦.† Moody took hold of Harry's arms and pulled; Harry's leg came free of the trick step, and he climbed onto the one above it. Moody was still gazing at the map. â€Å"Potter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  he said slowly, â€Å"you didn't happen, by any chance, to see who broke into Snape's office, did you? On this map, I mean?† â€Å"Er†¦yeah, I did†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Harry admitted. â€Å"It was Mr. Crouch.† Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He looked suddenly alarmed. â€Å"Crouch?† he said. â€Å"You're – you're sure. Potter?† â€Å"Positive,† said Harry. â€Å"Well, he's not here anymore,† said Moody, his eye still whizzing over the map. â€Å"Crouch†¦that's very – very interesting†¦.† He said nothing for almost a minute, still staring at the map. Harry could tell that this news meant something to Moody and very much wanted to know what it was. He wondered whether he dared ask. Moody scared him slightly†¦yet Moody had just helped him avoid an awful lot of trouble†¦. â€Å"Er†¦Professor Moody†¦why d'you reckon Mr. Crouch wanted to look around Snape's office?† Moody's magical eye left the map and fixed, quivering, upon Harry. It was a penetrating glare, and Harry had the impression that Moody was sizing him up, wondering whether to answer or not, or how much to tell him. â€Å"Put it this way. Potter,† Moody muttered finally, â€Å"they say old Mad-Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards†¦but I'm nothing – nothing – compared to Barty Crouch.† He continued to stare at the map. Harry was burning to know more. â€Å"Professor Moody?† he said again. â€Å"D'you think†¦could this have anything to do with†¦maybe Mr. Crouch thinks there's something going on†¦.† â€Å"Like what?† said Moody sharply. Harry wondered how much he dare say. He didn't want Moody to guess that he had a source of information outside Hogwarts; that might lead to tricky questions about Sirius. â€Å"I don't know,† Harry muttered, â€Å"odd stuffs been happening lately, hasn't it? It's been in the Daily Prophet†¦the Dark Mark at the World Cup, and the Death Eaters and everything†¦.† Both of Moody's mismatched eyes widened. â€Å"You're a sharp boy. Potter,† he said. His magical eye roved back to the Marauder's Map. â€Å"Crouch could be thinking along those lines,† he said slowly. â€Å"Very possible†¦there have been some funny rumors flying around lately – helped along by Rita Skeeter, of course. It's making a lot of people nervous, I reckon.† A grim smile twisted his lopsided mouth. â€Å"Oh if there's one thing I hate,† he muttered, more to himself than to Harry, and his magical eye was fixed on the left-hand corner of the map, â€Å"its a Death Eater who walked free†¦.† Harry stared at him. Could Moody possibly mean what Harry thought he meant? â€Å"And now I want to ask you a question. Potter,† said Moody in a more businesslike tone. Harry's heart sank; he had thought this was coming. Moody was going to ask where he had got this map, which was a very dubious magical object – and the story of how it had fallen into his hands incriminated not only him, but his own father, Fred and George Weasley, and Professor Lupin, their last Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Moody waved the map in front of Harry, who braced himself- â€Å"Can I borrow this?† â€Å"Oh!† said Harry. He was very fond of his map, but on the other hand, he was extremely relieved that Moody wasn't asking where he'd got it, and there was no doubt that he owed Moody a favor. â€Å"Yeah, okay.† â€Å"Good boy,† growled Moody. â€Å"I can make good use of this†¦this might be exactly what I've been looking for†¦.Right, bed, Potter, come on, now†¦.† They climbed to the top of the stairs together, Moody still examining the map as though it was a treasure the like of which he had never seen before. They walked in silence to the door of Moody's office, where he stopped and looked up at Harry. â€Å"You ever thought of a career as an Auror, Potter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, taken aback. â€Å"You want to consider it,† said Moody, nodding and looking at Harry thoughtfully. â€Å"Yes, indeed†¦and incidentally†¦I'm guessing you werent Just taking that egg for a walk tonight?† â€Å"Er – no,† said Harry, grinning. â€Å"I've been working out the clue.† Moody winked at him, his magical eye going haywire again. â€Å"Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas, Potter†¦.See you in the morning†¦.† He went back into his office, staring down at the Marauders Map again, and closed the door behind him. Harry walked slowly back to Gryffindor Tower, lost in thought about Snape, and Crouch, and what it all meant†¦.Why was Crouch pretending to be ill, if he could manage to get to Hogwarts when he wanted to? What did he think Snape was concealing in his office? And Moody thought he. Harry, ought to be an Auror! Interesting idea†¦but somehow. Harry thought, as he got quietly into his four-poster ten minutes later, the egg and the cloak now safely back in his trunk, he thought he'd like to check how scarred the rest of them were before he chose it as a career.