What does this ( ~ ) mean??

Jane addams's memoir, twenty years at hull-house, describes her work with

Unit testactivelike sparkling stars strewn across the night sky.their brilliance catching the corner of my eye,making me slow down, just to look at them a little longer.in my awe of the sheer beauty of merely broken glass,i couldn't but thinkhow someone else's tragedycould be so beautiful to me.source: t., jennifer. "irony." teen ink. teen ink, n.d. web. cjuly 2011.the poem is an example ofexternal conflictinternal conflictdramatic ironysituational ironymark this and returnsave and exitsubmit

What qualification does paul f. covington have that makes him a good fit for the position at h. t lloyd and sons?