【推荐2】Elaine Su shared her experience of asking her neighbors to put up Lunar New Year decorations, helping her two-year-old son experience the festival as part of the large community. In a neighbourhood mostly consisting of non-Chinese residents, more than half of the households complied the tradition as well.

Interviewing her for the story provoked my own memories of celebrating Lunar New Year. The holiday was a big deal for me as a kid growing up in Jiangsu.

Legend says the holiday originated with the fight against a mythical beast called Nian, who came down from the mountains to hunt people on New Year’s Eve. Villagers discovered that Nian feared the colour red, candle light and loud noise. So they began to decorate with the vibrant hue, light their homes with lanterns and set off firecrackers to prevent its return.

On New Year’s Eve, my family would come together to celebrate with food prepared by my grandma. Moments before the countdown, the sound of firecrackers would fill every corner of our apartment and the celebrations continued into the next day.

For breakfast, we would eat yuan xiao, a kind of glutinous rice ball, which symbolizes the idea of reunion. Then, it was off to visit my grandparents, who were already awaiting us and my other extended family with lucky money and more traditional delicacy!

My favourite part of the holiday came after the adults were playing mahjong. My cousins and I were finally freed from our parents. With all the lucky money, we hit the streets and bought more snacks and more firecrackers!

Having immigrated to Canada for years, I further lost touch with my Chinese culture as I gradually dived into my new life in a new country. Maybe it’s time for me, like her, to reclaim Lunar New Year.

【推荐3】The HISTORY Channel series Alone drops contestants into some of the planet’s most punishing environments, with a bare minimum of clothing, safety and survival gear. In their battle against the elements, contestants are forced to use their fitness, their courage and their creativity to become true survivalists.

Few people choose to be thrown into such extreme situations, but those who do have usually stumbled into some immense bad luck. Just check out one of the famous real-life survival stories:

Mauro Prosperi is an Italian police officer who gained worldwide fame after getting lost in the Sahara Desert in 1994. A keen athlete and long-distance runner, Mauro took part in the 1994 Marathon of the Sands in Morocco, a six-day-long endurance race in one of the driest and barren environments on the planet.

During the race, a sandstorm caused Prosperi, then 39 years old, married and father to three children, to become disoriented. One day after going off track, he found himself in an abandoned Muslim temple in Algeria. In order to survive, he killed and ate bats. For liquid, he was forced to drink his own waste, lick dew off of rocks and suck moisture out of his wet wipes.

Assuming he would never be found, he cut his wrists with a pen knife from his supplies. However, it was such a dry heat that the wounds thickened and concreted, and he was forced to go back into the desert and attempt to find help.

For nine days he walked through the desert and ate insects and cold-blooded animals. Finally, he found a small village. From there he was flown to a hospital, where doctors said his liver had almost completely failed.

Having traveled 180 miles in all, Prosperi lost 35 pounds in body weight during his severe suffering in the desert; it took several months before he could eat solid food again. But he has remained an enthusiastic runner and even returned and completed the race in 2012.

【推荐1】Since Neolithic (新石器时代的) times, sculpture has been considered the privilege of men as it was assumed that women were not suited for the hard manual labor required in sculpting stone, carving wood, or working in metal. It has been only during the twentieth-century that women sculptors have been recognized as major artists, and it has been in the United States that women sculptors have shown the greatest originality and creative power. By far the most outstanding of these women is Louis Nevelson, who in the eyes of many critics is the most original female artist alive today. One famous and influential critic Hilton Kramer, said of her work, “For myself, I think Ms. Nevelson succeeds where the painters often fail.”

Her works have been compared to the Cubist (立体主义的) constructions of Picasso, the surrealistic (超现实主义的) objects of Miro and the Merzhau of Schwitters. And she would be the first to admit that she has been influenced by all of these, as well as by African sculpture, and by Native American and pre-Columbian art. Nevelson says, “I have always wanted to show the world that art is everywhere, except that it has to pass through a creative mind.”

Using mostly thrown-away wooden objects like packing crates, broken pieces of furniture, and abandoned architectural ornaments, she makes architectural constructions of great beauty and power. Creating very freely, she glues and nails objects together, paints them black, or more rarely white or gold, and places them in boxes. These collections, walls, even entire environments create a mysterious, almost awe-inspiring atmosphere. Although she has refused to admit any symbolic or religious intention in her works, their three-dimensional grandeur (宏伟) and even their titles, such as Sky Cathedral and Night Cathedral, suggest such meanings.

【推荐2】For those who are deaf or have hearing loss, making and enjoying music can be a challenge. However, that hasn’t stopped Dame Evelyn Glennie from achieving success.

Scottish-born Dame Evelyn Glennie is one of the world’s most recognized percussionists (打击乐器乐手). However, she started going deaf at the age of eight due to a nerve disease. At 12, she totally lost her hearing.

At first, Glennie was desperate. But her percussion teacher at school taught her to feel particular notes. For example, she had to place her hands on a wall, and he would play two notes on two timpani. He would then ask her which was the higher note and where she felt the vibration. Through trials and errors, she managed to distinguish the pitch of notes by associating where on her body she feels the sound. Thanks to her perfect pitch and the fact that she performs barefoot, Evelyn “hears” the sound. Together with her lip-reading skills, and amazing musicianship, she has conquered any troubles and inconvenience caused by her impairment.

Till now, Glennie has performed with almost all the major orchestras (管弦乐队) globally. Besides classical music, she is famous for partnerships with pop and rock artists like Sting and Bjork. Glennie’s works has earned her over 100 music awards, including two Grammys. She even led 1,000 drummers in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

At the age of 58 this year, Glennie’s mission now is to “teach the world to listen” to improve communication by encouraging everyone to discover a new way of listening. “It’s important to grab on to any opportunity that comes your way, but you also need to create your own opportunities,” says Evelyn. “It’s a personal time to reflect on the impact you might have on other people as well. I don’t know if age plays a part in it, because I feel as though I haven’t really achieved very much and there’s still so much to do!”

【推荐3】Maria Martinez is remembered today as the maker of beautiful pottery (陶器) , Her pottery is in museums all over the world: The pots she made are black with shiny designs on them.

Maria Martinez was a Tewa Native American. She was born around 1887. As a young woman, Maria was known for fine pots she made. Maria and the other village women made pots for their families. They also sold pots to visitors. Compared to the pots made by the other women, young Maria’s were lovelier. But they were not outstanding. They were not the pots that would make the name Maria Martinez known around the world.

In 1908, some archaeologists came to Maria’s village. They finally found broken bits of pottery. The pots had belonged to a group of Native Americans who had lived there seven hundred years before. These finds changed Maria’s life.

One of the archaeologists showed Maria the pieces of broken pots. They were thinner than the pots Maria was making. They had an odd, shiny black finish (抛光) . He asked Maria if she could make such a pot. Maria said she would try.

Maria’s husband, Julian, helped her. First they had to find a way to make the wall of the pot thinner. Maria knew that the clay (黏土; 陶土) she was using would not work. A thin pot made out of that clay would crack (破裂) when it was fired. Maria ‘mixed different amounts of clay, sand, and. water. At last, she discovered a mix that would not crack.

Maria and Julian then had to find out how the shiny black finish had been made. They discovered that it took two steps. First, Maria began by polishing the dried clay surface of the pot. She used a smooth stone as her polishing tool. It was slow work. Then, when the pot was polished, she placed it in a fire that was built in a certain way. The fire and ashes worked their magic on the pot. Its finish was now shiny and black.

Maria and Julian had discovered the secrets of the early pottery makers. Then Maria produced many pots. Under Maria’s direction, her son and grandson are keeping the old ways alive just as Maria had done before them.