One of the most honored and respected writ-ers of the twentieth century, Eudora Weltywas born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi,where she lived most of her life and where shedied in 2001. Her first book, A Curtain ofGreen (1941), is a collection of short stories.Although she went on to become a successfulwriter of novels, essays, and book reviews,among other genres (as well as a publishedphotographer), she is most often remembered as a master of the short story. In 1980, Welty was awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty was published in 1982. Her other best-known works in- clude a collection of essays, The Eye of the Story (1975); her auto- biography, One Writer’s Beginnings (1984); and a collection of book reviews and essays, The Writer’s Eye (1994). Welty’s novel The Optimist’s Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973, and in 1999 the Library of Congress published two collec- tions of her work: Welty: Collected Novels and Welty: Collected Essays and Memoirs.Welty’s description of the corner store, taken from an essay in The Eye of the Story about growing up in Jackson, recalls for many readers the neighborhood store in the town or city where they grew up. As you read, pay attention to the effect Welty’s spatial arrangement of descriptive details has on the dominant impression of the store.our Little Store rose right up from the sidewalk; standing in a street 1 of family houses, it alone hadn’t any yard in front, any tree or flower bed. It was a plain frame building covered over with brick. Abovethe door, a little railed porch ran across on an upstairs level and four windows with shades were looking out. But I didn’t catch on to those.Running in out of the sun, you met what seemed total obscurity 2 inside. There were almost tangible smells—licorice recently sucked in a child’s cheek, dill pickle brine1 that had leaked through a paper sack ina fresh trail across the wooden floor, ammonia-loaded ice that had been hoisted from wet croker sacks2 and slammed into the icebox3 with its sweet butter at the door, and perhaps the smell of still untrapped mice.Then through the motes of cracker dust, cornmeal dust, the Gold 3 Dust of the Gold Dust Twins that the floor had been swept out with,the realities emerged. Shelves climbed to high reach all the way around, set out with not too much of any one thing but a lot of things—lard, molasses, vinegar, starch, matches, kerosene, Octagon soap (about a year’s worth of octagon-shaped coupons cut out and saved brought a signet ring4 addressed to you in the mail). It was upto you to remember what you came for, while your eye traveled from cans of sardines to tin whistles to ice-cream salt to harmonicas to fly- paper (over your head, batting around on a thread beneath the bladesof the ceiling fan, stuck with its testimonial catch).Its confusion may have been in the eye of its beholder. Enchantment 4 is cast upon you by all those things you weren’t supposed to have need for, to lure you close to wooden tops you’d outgrown, boys’ marbles and agates in little net pouches, small rubber balls that wouldn’t bounce straight, frail, frazzly kite string, clay bubble pipes that would snapoff in your teeth, the stiffest scissors. You could contemplate those long narrow boxes of sparklers gathering dust while you waited for itto be the Fourth of July or Christmas, and noisemakers in the shapeof tin frogs for somebody’s birthday party you hadn’t been invited to yet, and see that they were all marvelous.You might not have even looked for Mr. Sessions when he came 5 around his store cheese (as big as a doll’s house) and in front of the counter looking for you. When you’d finally asked him for, and1brine: salty water used to preserve or pickle food.2croker sacks: sacks or bags made of burlap, a coarse, woven fabric.3icebox: a wooden box or cupboard that held ice in a lower compartment to cool a second compartment above it, which was used for storing perishable food.4signet ring: a ring bearing an official-looking seal.Welty / The Corner Store 403404 CHAPTER 15–DESCRIPTIONreceived from him in its paper bag, whatever single thing it was that you had been sent for, the nickel that was left over was yours to spend.Down at a child’s eye level, inside those glass jars with mouths in 6 their sides through which the grocer could run his scoop or a child’s hand might be invited to reach for a choice, were wineballs, all-day suckers, gumdrops, peppermints. Making a row under the glass of a counter were the Tootsie Rolls, Hershey bars, Goo Goo Clusters, Baby Ruths. And whatever was the name of those pastilles that came stacked in a cardboard cylinder with a cardboard lid? They were thin and dry, about the size of tiddledy-winks,5 and in the shape of twisted rosettes. A kind of chocolate dust came out with them when you shook them out in your hand. Were they chocolate? I’d say, rather, they were brown. They didn’t taste of anything at all, unless it was wood. Their attraction was the number you got for a nickel.Making up your mind, you circled the store around and around, 7 around the pickle barrel, around the tower of Crackerjack boxes; Mr. Sessions had built it for us himself on top of a packing case like a house of cards.If it seemed too hot for Crackerjacks, I might get a cold drink. Mr. 8 Sessions might have already stationed himself by the cold-drinks barrel, like a mind reader. Deep in ice water that looked black as ink, murky shapes—that would come up as Coca-Colas, Orange Crushes, and vari- ous flavors of pop—were all swimming around together. When you gavethe word, Mr. Sessions plunged his bare arm in to the elbow and fished out your choice, first try. I favored a locally bottled concoction called Lake’s Celery. (What else could it be called? It was made by a Mr. Lake out of celery. It was a popular drink here for years but was not known universally, as I found out when I arrived in New York and ordered onein the Astor bar.) You drank on the premises, with feet set wide apart to miss the drip, and gave him back his bottle and your nickel.But he didn’t hurry you off. A standing scale was by the door, 9 with a stack of iron weights and a brass slide on the balance arm, that would weigh you up to three hundred pounds. Mr. Sessions, whose hands were gentle and smelled of carbolic,6 would lift you up and set your feet on the platform, hold your loaf of bread for you, and taking his time while you stood still for him, he would make5tiddledy-winks: playing pieces from the game Tiddledy-Winks, flat and round in shape, the size of quarters (tiddledies) and dimes (winks).6carbolic: a sweet, musky-smelling chemical once used in soap.certain of what you weighed today. He could even remember what you weighed the last time, so you could subtract and announce how much you’d gained. That was goodbye.Which of the three patterns of organization does Welty use in this essay—chronological, spatial, or logical? If she uses more than one, where precisely does she use each type?In paragraph 2, Welty describes the smells that a person encoun- tered when entering the corner store. Why do you think she pre- sents these smells before giving any visual details of the inside of the store?What dominant impression does Welty create in her description of the corner store? (Glossary: Dominant Impression) How does she create this dominant impression?What impression of Mr. Sessions does Welty create? What details contribute to this impression? (Glossary: Details)Why does Welty place certain pieces of information in parentheses? What, if anything, does this information add to your understanding of the corner store? Might this information be left out? Explain.Comment on Welty’s ending. (Glossary: Beginnings and Endings) Is it too abrupt? Why or why not?

Mini Equity Research Report [WLO: 4] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4] Many investment banks employ analysts to write equity research reports on public companies to advise their clients on their stock investments. In many cases, an initial equity research report is 20 to 50 pages long! For this class, you will focus on only three of the many important sections typically included in an equity research report. Thankfully, your Mini Equity Research Report will be much shorter than those published by investment banks!  In Week 1, you chose a publicly traded company to use throughout this class for the Mini Equity Research Report. In the first section of the Mini Equity Research Report, you evaluate the historical financial performance of the company (Week 1). In the second section of the Mini Equity Research Report, you evaluate the company’s performance using common financial ratios, and you compare the company to the competitor’s performance with the same financial ratios (Week 2). Finally, in Sections 3 and 4 of the report, you develop a value for the company’s stock and compare your value to the current market price of the stock (Weeks 3 and 4). Based on the analysis you present in these four sections, you will develop your recommendation to buy, hold, or sell the stock of this company. It is very rare for one company to have only positive facts. Most companies have some good facts and some weak facts. In Sections 1 and 2 of the Mini Equity Research Report, you will analyze a variety of financial data for your selected company. As the equity analyst, it is your responsibility to combine the positive and negative facts into one recommendation (buy, hold, or sell). It is important to consider the importance of each fact and acknowledge that there is no perfect answer. Your recommendation should be based on the strength of the positive facts while recognizing the risks from the negative facts. This week, you will write the introduction (including your stock recommendation) and the conclusion of the Mini Equity Research Report. In addition, you will revise the four sections from the first four weeks of class and combine them into this Mini Equity Research Report. Finally, you will submit your final Appendices A, B, C, and D with the Mini Equity Research Report. Prepare: Prior to beginning work on this final project, Complete the Week 5 – Learning Activity: Understanding Cost of Capital. Review the feedback you have received on your assignments throughout this course. Locate and revise (if necessary) all of your assignments from Weeks 1 through 4. Write:  In your Mini Equity Research Report, Write an introduction. In your introduction, include the following: State the name of the company and a brief description of what it does. State the current market price per share and total market capitalization of the company. State two key historical financial performance facts about your company (you can ascertain this information from your Week 1 – Assignment 3, Section 1: Financial Statement Analysis). Categorize the overall financial performance as strong, neutral, or weak. Justify your assessment based on the key facts. Summarize (briefly) the ratio performance of the company. Categorize the overall ratio performance as strong, neutral, or weak. Justify your assessment based on the key facts. Determine the valuation conclusion based on the constant growth formula in Week 4, using the required rate of return derived from the CAPM. Determine your recommendation of buy, hold, or sell the stock of your chosen company. Include your revised Week 1 – Assignment 3, Section 1: Financial Statement Analysis. Include your revised Week 2 – Assignment 3, Section 2: Financial Ratio Analysis. Include your revised Week 3 – Assignment, Section 3: Dividend Analysis and Preliminary Valuation, Part 1: Dividend Analysis only Include your revised Week 4 – Assignment, Section 4: Valuation Conclusion. Write a conclusion. In your conclusion, include the following: Summarize the analysis that was completed for the Mini Equity Research Report. State your recommendation of buy, hold, or sell the stock of your chosen company. Summarize the key facts supporting your recommendation, including your concluded stock price. Include Appendices A, B, C and D.