The eNotes Blog Watch the Worlds Longest Book DominoChain

Watch the Worlds Longest Book DominoChain Last month the public library of very own hometown, Seattle, broke the world record for the worlds longest book domino chain. Check it out! It took twenty-seven volunteers, seven hours, and five attempts in all, but on May 31st at approximately 11pm the Seattle Public Library successfully toppled 2,131 books, domino style. The awesome number of books used allowed the library staff to get creative with the pathway, too, as books climbed ramps, scaled stairs, and at one point spilled across the floor to spell READ in giant letters. The books truly seem to have a life of their own  as they bypass scenes like a couple sharing a picnic and a woman reading on the beach. In truth, these books were actually given a second life, as all of them had been retired and donated to the library. Now that theyve had their moment in the spotlight, though, all should find a new home, thanks to the librarys ingenious way of getting the books back out there for public consumption: Books used in the record-setting event can be purchased at upcoming Friends of The Seattle Public Library book sales. Each book will have a special sticker identifying that it helped set the book domino world record, as well as the Web address so the book buyer can watch the video. Hopefully this attention-grabbing kickoff to the Seattle Public Librarys summer reading program will have a domino effect on the popularity of reading worldwide. Kudos to the two college students who masterminded the entire event:  Laura DAsaro and  Luke Greenway of Harvard University and Middlebury College.

Top Five Tips on Revising Essays

Top Five Tips on Revising Essays Top Five Tips on Revising Essays Since it is important to rewrite and revise your work, there are several stages required to work your way toward perfection. Below are suggestions and techniques to use when rewriting and revising your work. #1 The Whole Paper Examine the entire essay to determine if it has made its point to the audience and has conveyed the desired message. Try to look at your paper from the reader’s point of view. A few quick checks: Make sure your paper is spaced according to instructions Share the essay with someone who unfamiliar with the topic and get feedback Do additional, needed research If necessary, save the strong paragraphs in a separate file and start over #2 Paragraph Revisions After that first stage, ensure your essay is well organized and each paragraph communicates its intended message. Make the essay cohesive and each paragraph consistent with its topic or subheading. #3 Sentence Construction Double-check sentence constructions. Before handing in an essay, an author must check spelling and correct grammatical errors: Sentences should remind the reader of the essay’s theme Sentences vary in length Edit too-long or run-on sentences Correct any language (grammatical) errors Run a spell check on your essay and check for missing words Capitalization and correct citation are also priorities If you need assistance with essay writing, professional knowledge and expertise can come in handy. At , we deliver custom well-researched essays and help with what you’ve already written. Contact us with your questions at 1-800-573-0840 or email: sales@masterwriter.ca.

Shaping the foundation of racial independence through social Assignment

Shaping the foundation of racial independence through social revolution - Assignment Example This essay discusses that for hundreds of years, blacks and other minority races were considered as little more than speaking animals to the elite aristocracy, unable to be in the ranks of polite or civilized society, not allowed to seek education, and certainly not allowed to hold important or political offices. The racial inequality in this standardized caste system is such that it hinders social evolution as a whole by accepting as custom that people of a different skin color hold less value than those of white descent. With that said, a close look will be taken into the social revolution that sparked racial equality during the War of Independence between 1808 and 1824 in Spanish America to illustrate the role of minorities and the significant power they attained by refusing to further be defined by the color of their skin. There are at least three leading arguments proposed by George Reid Andrew, John Lynch, and Marixa Lasso that expound upon how the minority races took strides i n shaping the revolutionary efforts for racial equality by abolishing the caste system as well as illustrating how the elite reacted to the activism and consequent construction of the newly defined nation-states. To begin with, George Reid Andrew’s Afro-Latin America entitled â€Å"Our New Citizens, the Blacks: The Politics of Freedom, 1810-1890,† notes that â€Å"at the same time that the slaves were using the openings created by the independence wars to pursue freedom and emancipation, free blacks and mulattoes were capitalizing on wartime conditions to strike down the colonial racial laws.† 1.† Andrew makes an important distinction in his discourse of the minority groups as he defines the separation also felt by the slaves and the free blacks and mulattoes in that even in a minority situation where camaraderie would have ensured political success, still the priorities differed. Even though they shared an ethnicity and were similarly oppressed within the caste system, still they fought the same battle separately. Luckily, this dissention didn’t hinder the social revolution because as â€Å"nineteenth-century jurist Peridigao Malheiro described slavery [was] ‘a volcano†¦a bomb ready to explode with the first spark,’ and slave rebellion was most likely, he noted, during periods when the free population was divided by internal disputes and conflict2.† In this, the minorities held power they might not even have known to exist because the caste system was ready for collapse; it was only a matter of time. Essentially, the caste system in Spanish America was one dictated from birth and based purely upon the color of one’s skin. This meant that no one could ever move above their caste (unless they were a woman and lucky enough to marry a man of lighter skin tone), and that those in the elite levels held ultimate control over society because they were granted certain inalienable assets and power. In pe rhaps the most poignant definition of the inherent impact the caste system held over those in the lower castes, Andrew cites a satirical poem from a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro â€Å"about a planter’s efforts to hire newly freed libertos to work on his plantation3.† In the poem, â€Å"the writer leaves no doubt of the damage done to these former slaves by slavery: the liberto’s crippled condition, his shortness of breath4,† and finally, his refusal to be defined by the color of his skin when being directly referred to as ‘black.’ In comparison, in an excerpt from John Lynch’s The Spanish American Revolutions 1808-1826 entitled â€Å"Revolution in the Rio de la Plata,† Lynch highlights that, pressed by economic expansion and cracks within the current aristocratic mores, revolutionaries made decisive militant advances and found leadership under Pedro Domingo Murillo and Jose Antonio Medina. The minorities created an official annou ncement that â€Å"now [was] the time to organize a new system of government, founded upon the interests of our country which is

The Patriot Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Patriot Act - Essay Example As the discussion declares the Patriot Act is potentially capable of doing much good than harm if timely and adequate amendments are made in the controversial, meaningless and potentially harmful provisions of the Patriot Act. This research stresses that with the world rapidly transmuting into a global village, diversity is on the rise, more than ever in human history and with it has popped up problem of intolerance of each other’s values, beliefs and principles. When this lack of tolerance augments at an alarming pace, bigger social and cultural issues erupt paving way for greater and deadly consequences. One such consequence was the September 11 incident that completely shook people up, due to mass destruction that it caused and thus compelled both the public sector and the private sector to re-evaluate the nation’s homeland security systems and the potential threats to the same. On the same account, the government of the United States of America the SAFETY Act â€Å"as part of the Homeland Security Act to encourage potential manufacturers or sellers of anti-terrorism technologies (ATTs) to develop and sell technologies that could reduce the risk or mitigate the effects of large-scale terr orist events by limiting legal liabilities that might otherwise be faced by such developers and sellers for injuries and losses sustained in an act of terrorism†. This SAFETY Act however, has caused much turmoil and debate among social strata thereby creating two distinct sides to the Patriot Act, one of the proponents while the other of the opponents.

Can You Motivate The Unmotivated A case study of male university

Can You Motivate The Unmotivated A of male university students in Saudi Arabia - Case Study Example Students in Saudi Arabia are faced with a lot of problems studying in a language other than their first language (L1). This phenomenon has introduced the rule of ‘No Arabic Speaking’ in the Saudi Arabia where students are prohibited from the use of L1 in everyday classroom activities, as the teachers and proponents of this rule believe that the active use of L1 may inhibit the proper and quick learning of L2. This leads to poor motivation in those students and difficulties in learning and acquiring the second language in its true spirit. So the question tends to be whether the restricted use of L1 assists in or inhibits the proper acquisition and learning of the second language, in short if it is an asset or a liability. This paper sheds some light on the motivation theories and their application with respect to the problem in discussion, and tries to review the monolingual practices in order to help such students in developing positive attitudes towards the target langu age, so that they can be highly motivated to acquire L2 in its true meaning thereby enabling them to lay a firm foundation for speaking and writing in L2. In order to evaluate the issue under consideration, we will first look at the recent research works and studies about L2 motivation as a second language (in a foreign environment) or foreign language (in a native English-speaking country). For the analysis of the problem I have selected a few articles, journals, and other related literary documents to accumulate knowledge and to establish well-grounded theoretical context and conceptual framework for the paper. So this paper can also serve as a comprehensive summary of the relevant studies which comprise, for example Cle ´ment & Gardner, 2001;... Hence, instead of restating what has already been very well described in the articles and journals selected for the anthology, I have tried to evaluate the answers to the question under study from various standpoints, highlighting their importance and trying to establish the connections with other approaches to the problem. In trying to understand the acquisition of L2 as a language we need to see it not just as a subject, but as a deeply social and cultural event; and that’s what makes language learning different from other academic subjects. The elements of language learning as a subject include the understanding of lexical terms, vocabulary and grammatical rules; whereas it is also socially bound requiring the language learner to integrate several elements of the culture of the second language (Gardner, 1979 and Williams, 1994). L2 motivation researchers have widely supported this approach, which has led to the inclusion of social and cultural dimension in the language lear ning and studies. This has also introduced the concepts of multiculturalism, language globalization, power relations between different cultures and social groups in the study of L2 motivation. This, in fact, also explains why it was the social psychologists who first initiated the researches into L2 motivation. The first comprehensive study of L2 motivated was initiated by Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert in 1972. They viewed language learning as a means of reconciling differences between different cultures and social groups. According to them, for intercultural communication and association to take place, â€Å"motivation† to learn the language of others is the primary driving

Spelling Errors With Grade Nine Students English Language Essay

Spelling Errors With Grade Nine Students English Language Essay The main goal of this study was to go beyond the general awareness that spelling is a problem for Grade 9 at Abdel Rahman Aldhakhel School students. Its purpose is to identify more specifically the kinds of spelling difficulties they have. In addition, the purpose of the study was to determine the most common types of spelling errors made by those students who were in the ninth grades. In addition, the purpose of the study is to determine the main difficulties that face students in spelling. Also, It attempted to determine the causes of the spelling errors with those students and how could we solve them. This study was limited to data obtained from a spelling test given to students in Abdel- Rahman Aldakhel School C2. There were 45 ninth grade students. They were all male students. Their ages were between 15 to 17 years old. The data were collected from questionnaires given to different teachers. They were six males and four females. The result was that most students committed at least one error in this test. The types of errors committed by the largest number of learners were omission, insertions, and substitution. Also, the most type of difficulty for students was silent letters. It was a problem for 38 students of 45 (84.4%). Also, way of writing sound /z/ and ways of writing sound /s/ were a problem for them. Most of teachers agreed that the spelling errors might affect the students learning process. The researcher tried to find the best strategies that teachers and parents can follow to improve their childrens spelling. Also, He mentioned the best activities that teachers can use in classes to reduce spelling errors with those learners. Also, the researcher focused on spelling errors in order to find out the common spelling errors and the best strategies to overcome them. Introduction English as a second language is an easy language to start learning, because it is related to our language Arabic. That means English and Arabic share some elements. Sometimes the same word (how to say it) like Alcohol. However, you will face some difficulties when you learn it. English is different from Arabic in the way of writing the letters and the way of pronouncing. Many students make more mistakes in spelling. That maybe because the spelling of word may not show the exact pronunciation (way of saying) of it. This is because English words come from many different sources. In addition, sometimes the word is too long to keep it or it is similar to another word. Therefore, that, some students mix them. Spelling errors are the most common type of mistake in the written work of English learners. Spelling is a particular problem because of the differences in the writing systems of Arabic and English. In addition, it is because in English the relationship between sounds and writing are not regular. The researcher focused on spelling errors in order to find out the common spelling errors and the best strategies to overcome them. Statement of the problem The students in grade nine at Abdel Rahman Aldakhel School face difficulty in spelling. They make many mistakes in their writings. They committed many mistakes in their exams and in their homework therefore that will affect their learning process. When they write a paragraph or an essay, they feel worry of those spelling mistakes. So, the researcher did this research to find the best ways to overcome those spelling errors and to know the best strategies that teachers and parents can follow to reduce spelling errors with those learners. Significant This research is very important for many reasons. First, it will determine the different types of spelling errors. Also, it will determine the different kinds of errors. Third, it will help both students and teachers to overcome those spelling errors in the future. In addition, it will help the teacher to choose the best ways to teach spelling for students. Term of Definitions 1- Transfer refers to the effect of native language on the learning of second language. 2- Overgeneralization is common process in native language and second language in which the students extend the use of a grammatical rule of linguistic item beyond its accepted uses. 3- A communication strategy means to express meanings using the words and grammar. Addition is the addition of unnecessary letters to a word. 2- Omission is the omission of a letter or letters from a word. 3- Substitution is the substitution of a letter or letters for the correct letters. 4- Inversion is the arranging of the correct letters in the wrong order in a word. 5- Miscellaneous is spelling which in no way resemble the word. Review of literature Spelling defined as the learners ability to write words correctly from memory. Effective writing depends on effective spelling. Understanding learners spelling difficulties can help teachers support the development of learners writing. Good spelling is a goal to the students in his writing. The student who cannot spell has a very difficult time in converting his ideas to others. His thoughts are broken by inability to spell words. The misspelled words will take the mind of the reader away from the meaning of the message. So, spelling is necessary for communication. Errors made by second language learners are classified into two groups, interlingual and interlingual errors. First, Interlingual errors are those that result from language transfer and caused by the learners native language. Some researchers hypothesized that errors in the second language are caused by the interference of the students native language. Such errors reflect the students inability to separate native language and second language. Other researchers pointed out that students errors in second language are caused by several things. These include transfer, overgeneralization and communication strategies. Transfer refers to the effect of native language on the learning of second language. In transfer, some patterns are borrowed from native language. In Overgeneralization, patterns may be extended from second language by analogy. Overgeneralization is common process in native language and second language in which the students extend the use of a grammatical rule of linguistic i tem beyond its accepted uses, generally by making words or structures follow a more regular pattern. A communication strategy means to express meanings using the words and grammar, which are already known. Intralingual errors are those, which result from faulty learning of second language, rather than from language transfer. Phenix (2001) believes that spelling difficulties with learners can be divided into two groups. First, linguistic, which are related to the nature of the language. Second, personal, which are related to the different stages of development learners go through. Phenix (2001) describes these stages as follows: First, pre-phonetic, learners use a mixture of pictures, signs, shapes and letters. Second, semi-phonetic, learners use letter names to represent the sounds. Third, phonetic stage, learners use known sounds to write words and they become aware of word boundaries and leave spaces between words. Fourth, visual learners use most letters correctly, if not in the right order; they use vowels in every syllable. Fifth, mature which means that learners use a full range of strategies to spell words and they are able to make analogies from known spelling patterns; they are able to recognize incorrect spellings. There are many studies done on spelling errors and the different kinds of errors and different types of difficulties. Snowball did a study on spelling errors and the main kinds of spelling errors. She listed six different kinds of spelling errors. She said that it is not enough to know that the students have misspelled words but she finds it useful to analyze the different types of error students are making and then provide relevance teaching based on that knowledge. She listed some common types of spelling errors based on his study and the best strategies to help them overcome them. The First kind is spelling by sound only like photo, foto. The second kind is not hearing sounds in words like, library, library. Third, confusing about homophones like tow, too, to. Fourth, shaky grasp of suffix and prefix rules like stopt, stopped. Fifth, lack of attention to the order of letters in words like, brid, bird. Finally, knowing to spell, but not to caring like, for some students, the proble m is not a lack of spelling skill but confusion about the importance of spelling correctly. Teachers should be careful when dealing with those kinds of errors. She listed some strategies that teachers can follow for overall correction. First, teachers should ask them what ideas they are using when they spell. Then, he should use their answers as a starting point to clear up confusion. Second, when analyzing or correcting spelling mistakes, they should keep in mind the appropriate expectations for the age and experience of the writer. Third, they should be sure to point out the many good strategies that they observe in students spelling. Then, they should encourage their students by using phrases like these, I like the way you try unknown words, I see that you know how to spell many high-frequency words, I see that you are learning how to use common spelling patterns and I notice that you care about your audience and so you have proofread your writing. (Snowball, 1997) There are four types of spelling errors that learners of English commonly make. These are omissions and it means leaving letters out, substitutions, which means replacing letters with incorrect ones, transpositions, which means reversing the position of letters, and additions /insertion, which means including extra letters.( clements, 1971) It is very important to teach students the best strategies to learn words and to check spelling of words they have written. Teachers and parents are alike need to incorporate teaching strategies for learning words and strategies for teaching spelling into all curricula. Sarah Malburg (2009) mentioned some strategies that can parents do to improve their children spelling as the following: Parents can help in teaching spelling to their children. They should sit with their children at home for a fixed amount of time in order to teach or learn spellings of words. In addition, they can put the common words on different items at home. Children will look at the word daily and they will try to establish the relationship of words and their use in daily life. In addition, they can use hide and seek technique for teaching word spellings to their children. They can make the child look at the word, say the word, hide the word with one hand behind the back, then have them write and say the word and then check it. Parents can close the eyes of their children with their hands; tell them to visualize a picture of the word in their heads. They can tell the child to trace the letters in the air with eyes closed. Then, they tell the child to open their eyes and write t he word on the paper. In addition, they can tell the child to check the spelling with the word in the book. They also can teach children about group words. Parents should encourage children to make associations of words with similar patterns e.g. other, brother, mother etc. There are some strategies that can teachers do to improve their students spelling as the following. The teacher should teach spelling strategies in the classroom. While teaching, the teacher should say the word slowly and students should listen carefully. Then he should write the word clearly, syllable-by-syllable on the blackboard. Then, he should write the similar sounding words on the blackboard e.g. bead, dead, read, bread etc. The teacher should teach students about listening to the order of sounds in a word. In addition, he should teach students about the derivations of different words from the base word e.g. sign, signal, resign etc. this will help children in the formation of new words by adding prefixes and suffixes. Teacher should teach dictionary skills to his students. He should explain alphabetical order and use different word endings under the base word e.g. bank, banking etc. Ù†¦Ãƒâ„¢Ã¢â‚¬   ØلكØ ªÃƒËœÃƒËœÃ‚ ¨ There are six common ways that can teacher follow in teaching spelling for learners and they are called Six Research- Based Techniques. First, careful word selection, you cannot pain a picture without the pain, and you cannot teach spelling without words. So, teachers should be careful when choosing words and they should agree that the words are suitable for their students. Second, using a pretest-study-posttest format, administrating a pretest is an efficient way to individualize spelling. In the pretest, each writer in classroom quickly and easily demonstrates whether or not he or she knows the words or patterns in the weeks unit of study. Third, use a self-correction technique, follow self-correction technique like, Find a partner and take the test, ask your partner to read your words and tell you if there are any words he does not know (how to say). Then, say the words for him, write the word on a piece of paper. when you complete your list, witch roles Fourth, teach children How to study unknown words. A system technique for learning the correct spelling of words is by using a combination of auditory, visual, kinesthetic and tactile procedures. You have to follow look, say, write technique. Fifth, use spelling Games: using games in teaching students is a useful way because to attract the students attention. Many students like games and it will be an affective way to teach them by using games. Sixth is word sorting like, using pocket chart. Methodology In order to know the common spelling errors and their causes, the researcher chooses spelling errors as a topic of my research. Then, he started to collect the information from different sources. First, he observed his classes (Grade 9/4 and 9/1) at Abdel-Rahman Al-Dakhel School. The participants were 45 boys. The learners were aged 15-17. The boys were in two classes of 23 and 22. He observed the students while they were writing in class, their writing in the exams and he found some spelling mistakes. In addition, he took four workbooks. Then, he searched about the spelling errors in their writing in their workbooks. Next, he analyzed the results. I searched in the internet about some information that helped me in analyzing the results. In addition, I interviewed some teachers at Abdel-Rahman Al-Dakhel School. I asked them about the common spelling errors and the reasons that make students spell wrong. Finally, I wrote the report. Data were collected through spelling tests administered to these learners. Also, data were collected through interviewing some English teachers. I choose 10 words. The learners in each class were given a copy of their ten words to study the day before the test. This figure shows that most of the teachers agree with that spelling errors may affect students learning process. In addition, some of them said that they agree with that spelling errors affect students learning. Some teachers dont agree with this point. They said that it does not affect students learning. This figure shows that some teachers were agree with that reading stories or books help students to limit spelling errors. However, some of them were not agree at all with this point. They said that students cannot limit spelling errors by reading stories and books only. They have to follow a plan to solve this problem and there are some steps they can follow to reduce spelling errors. This figure shows that all the teacher were agree with that teaching way plays a major role to improve students spelling. So, the teachers should focus more in their teaching ways to reduce spelling errors with students or to improve spelling with those students. This figure shows that most teachers were agree with this point. They said that improving students spelling helps them to improve their language. Most teachers arguer with this point and they said that it is not enough to teach them the phonetics to reduce spelling errors or to improve their spelling. There are some ways that they have to follow to improve their spelling. Most students committed at least one error in this test. The types of errors committed by the largest number of learners were omission, insertions, and substitution, while errors of transposition were present in the work of smaller proportions of learners. Some students did well in the test and they were seven students. Substitution was the most types of errors that students fell in with 84.4%. In addition, Omission was one of the most types of errors with 84.4%. Some students committed two mistakes in one word, (omission and substitution), like bul instead of pull. So, as the researches approved that substitution and omission are the most common type of errors that Arab learners make. This figure shows that the most type of difficulty for students was silent letters. It was a problem for 38 students of 45 (84.4%). Most of them wrote nock instead of knock because they spell words by sounds only. In addition, way of writing sound /z/ and ways of writing sound /s/ were a big problem for them. Some students wrote z instead of s like noz. There are other mistakes done by those students like writing b instead of p and that problem because they are not hearing sounds in words. The number of the students who did not make any errors and they did not have difficulties were 15.5% only. Discussion: Through these tables, the researcher noticed that the students faces difficulty in spelling and that of course will affect the learning process. He tried to know the reasons and how can a teacher help students to solve their problems. He think that the reasons are first, the way of teaching because most teachers dont care about spelling and they care only about speaking, so the students can read the word but they cant spell it. The second reason that some students when they learn any new word, they do not try to spell it and they dont practice to write or use it. The third reason is that most students dont read English magazines, books or newspapers which are important to know the words and the spelling of them. The Fourth reason is that most students cant differentiate between the C and S, C and K. The fifth reason is that most students writes what they hear like writing Z instead of s. The last reason that most words in English have silent syllables like light, know, bought, listenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦act. Recommendations for students: Students should follow a plan to solve this problem. Students should use the unit list of words to study the words carefully. Students should read books and magazines. Students should practice writing the difficult words at home many times in order to remember the words correctly. Students should listen to the words carefully and try to differentiate between different sounds of letters. Students students Recommendations for teachers: Teachers should Recommendations for curriculum designers: CONCLUSION The research showed that some students faced problems in learning second language. They are facing problem in spelling more than verbal skills. The researcher showed the common spelling errors and how the teacher can solve them to improve students. In my opinion, there should be a special class that focuses on reading and writing for improving spelling skills. That will make the teachers care more about spelling. We recommend that Education College should provide teachers with training courses in developing strategies to improve spelling skills. In conclusion, learning language requires many inputs.

Women †Giving Life to the World and the Gods :: Philosophy Essays

Women – Giving Life to the World and the Gods Artemis, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Isis, Anahit, Astarte, and Minerva were all names attributed to the Great Goddess at the temple-city of Ephesus. It was in this city in the year AD 431 that a council of the Christian church was held to determine and make law on the subject of the Mother of the Christ, Mary. During the five centuries since Christianity’s birth the matter as to whether Mary’s conception had literally been of God remained unsettled. Some believed that it was indeed a virgin birth while others held that Christ was a normally conceived child who had become "endowed by God upon baptism in the river Jordan" (Campbell 60). In the year AD 431 in the Near East in the city of Ephesus, greatest of the Great Goddess’s temple-cities, Mary the mother of Jesus Christ was lawfully acknowledged to have been literally impregnated by God. It was then that she was formally proclaimed Theokotos, or God-Bearer (Campbell 60). The concept of the Virgin Birth is not isolated to this one explicit utterance made in Ephesus. It permeates every mythology and religion known to man. In Teutonic myth all of the Valkyries and Heroes were children of the gods in the mortal strain. In Greek and Roman mythology the figure of Zeus (or Jupiter) sired several children by mortals, with Perseus and Hercules being two of his more illustrious sons. In fact, virgin birth was so common that the British usurper Vortigern (of the Authurian mythos), in an attempt to make his troublesome collapsing tower remain standing, was advised by his astrologers to find a child " born without a mortal father" with whose blood he could bathe his tower’s cornerstone. So Vortigern sent messengers throughout the land to find one, as though such children were in abundance. They returned with Merlin, who was indeed the son of no mortal father (Bulfinch 389). In the Bible, too, we can find other instances of virgin births (or facsimiles thereof). Isaac was the son of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was far past the age of child- bearing (Genesis 17:16- 19, 18:9- 15, 21:1- 2). The famous Samson was the son of Manoah’s unnamed wife who had never before given birth to a child (Judges 13). The most curious of these, though, is the reference to Emmanuel: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1:23). Women – Giving Life to the World and the Gods :: Philosophy Essays Women – Giving Life to the World and the Gods Artemis, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Isis, Anahit, Astarte, and Minerva were all names attributed to the Great Goddess at the temple-city of Ephesus. It was in this city in the year AD 431 that a council of the Christian church was held to determine and make law on the subject of the Mother of the Christ, Mary. During the five centuries since Christianity’s birth the matter as to whether Mary’s conception had literally been of God remained unsettled. Some believed that it was indeed a virgin birth while others held that Christ was a normally conceived child who had become "endowed by God upon baptism in the river Jordan" (Campbell 60). In the year AD 431 in the Near East in the city of Ephesus, greatest of the Great Goddess’s temple-cities, Mary the mother of Jesus Christ was lawfully acknowledged to have been literally impregnated by God. It was then that she was formally proclaimed Theokotos, or God-Bearer (Campbell 60). The concept of the Virgin Birth is not isolated to this one explicit utterance made in Ephesus. It permeates every mythology and religion known to man. In Teutonic myth all of the Valkyries and Heroes were children of the gods in the mortal strain. In Greek and Roman mythology the figure of Zeus (or Jupiter) sired several children by mortals, with Perseus and Hercules being two of his more illustrious sons. In fact, virgin birth was so common that the British usurper Vortigern (of the Authurian mythos), in an attempt to make his troublesome collapsing tower remain standing, was advised by his astrologers to find a child " born without a mortal father" with whose blood he could bathe his tower’s cornerstone. So Vortigern sent messengers throughout the land to find one, as though such children were in abundance. They returned with Merlin, who was indeed the son of no mortal father (Bulfinch 389). In the Bible, too, we can find other instances of virgin births (or facsimiles thereof). Isaac was the son of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who was far past the age of child- bearing (Genesis 17:16- 19, 18:9- 15, 21:1- 2). The famous Samson was the son of Manoah’s unnamed wife who had never before given birth to a child (Judges 13). The most curious of these, though, is the reference to Emmanuel: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matthew 1:23).