【推荐2】Chris Smith looked like any other young boy in his class: thick hair, a wide smile, and playing sports. By all appearances, life for Chris was the same as it was for a hundred other boys in the small town where he grew up, except for the constant evictions (驱赶), and eventually being homeless.

Chris’ father was reckless (鲁莽的) with finances and dishonest in business. His mother tried her best to run the home until Chris’ little brother drowned (溺亡), then his father went to prison, and finally the family fell apart.

“My mom shut down emotionally. Everything got worse,” Chris remembers. Then she was gone and ran away from home without telling Chris. He did the best he could, sleeping on his newly married sister’s sofa. “They didn’t have much money, and I know it was a burden to take me in at 17 years old, I was going to drop out from high school and make it on my own.”

But Chris’ history teacher had different ideas. When Chris’ study began to go down, she cornered him. “You’re the smartest kid in the class,” she told him. “If you don’t graduate, you’re going to regret it.”

“School was my safe place,” Chris says. School also offered him heat and food. It became the closest thing to home he could find, compared to his father’s old truck that became his bed and his study space. He remembers his hair freezing onto the window in the winter.

When graduation came, Chris earned a full scholarship to college and graduated in the top 10 of his class. When it’s time to apply for medical residencies, Chris set his sights high. He applied for residencies around the country and included the No. 1 program in the nation: Johns Hopkins. And then the letter came. Chris was in.

“I didn’t really think I had a chance. But I had learned to give everything my best shot. Life is never fair. But if you don’t give up, you will give yourself a better chance to make it,” Chris says.

【推荐3】Are you terrified of what’s to come in the future? What if we don’t get into our dream schools?   What’s plan B? So much is on our 17-to 18-year-old minds. I didn’t exactly create aback up plan. I just adapted to every new situation I was put in.Here’s how my life didn’t go as planned, but I’m happier than ever.

In the year of 2016, I went into my dream school—Washington State University, where I’d beat tending school to study engineering. I visited my future school after I was already accepted. It was a school away from a major city. Cold feet came over me and I backed out of the school just before orientation (适应). This was a tough decision, but my heart wasn’t in it.When your heart isn’t in it, all you need to do is adjust.

My mom and I went to the Army recruiter’s (征兵人员的) office, where I enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Engineer. I’d never had a firm grasp of my identity from high school, so attending a military boot camp gave me a clean slate (新的开始), where I could become the person I wanted to be. When I came back home as an Army Engineer, I became one of the most confident people in my household. Everything seemed to be going to a plan that I had barely thought out. By the time I returned home in July of 2017 from Engineer training, I decided to enroll in my local community college. I had no high expectations for how community college would go. Turns out that my college was one of the best in the area and had a very diverse group of people from high schools I’d never interacted with. The people I met through clubs and classes at community college were beyond amazing people. I have friends for life.

I would not be where I am today without taking so many risks. I am grateful to my supportive parents and enlightening friends.

【推荐2】I had a great time producing a short film with my other crew members, immersing (使沉浸) myself in the scene, the light and shadow seen through the camera lens, and the warmth of intimate friendship.

Through a short film festival at our school our crew decided to develop a simple story focusing on friendship, growth and hospice (临终的) care. The story was set around Christmas Eve where two kids arc assigned to accompany a terminally ill kid during her last few days. There were conflicts and tears, but finally, the kids became close friends on Christmas Day, which was just before the ill kid passed away. We expected it to be a warm story mixed with a little sorrow and planned to name it Merry Christmas.

Things weren’t so easy at first. We were able to use a crew member’s house for shooting but it was far from the city. We experienced technical problems, among others. It was the middle of winter, and emotional collapses (崩溃) of our actors were wearing our patience thin. Pale light, snow and the nervous excitement of telling ghost stories accompanied our night scene shooting.

As usual, I adjusted the camera to produce the best image,   specially designed with the director to achieve the desired effect. I held the camera in one hand and the spotlight in the other till midnight to finish our night scene.

As we decorated the tiny Christmas tree and looked at each other’s dizzy faces in the warm light, we couldn’t help swallowing up the dessert the host family offered before making the other cakes and fruits for our props (道具). We made jokes about the look of the giant spotlight -- it was like a huge shiny umbrella. We somehow felt closer to the characters in the film, experiencing what they experience -- leisurely chatting about films and songs in the quietness of night and forming a special connection with each other.

Through this experience, I realized that making short films is not only about creating art, but also about creating shared stories and bonds that last a lifetime.

【推荐3】A waitress who lost her job during the coronavirus pandemic has kick-started her own career as a business woman and baker. She turned one of her lockdown hobbies into a business that brings her a lot of money.

Mona Route, 27, was let go from her server job at an airport in Melbourne, Australia, when COVID-19 hit in March 2020, and the new-found time on her hands left her feeling “so bored”. With nothing else to do, Mona decided to take up baking as a hobby to pass the time and soon found herself trying out experimental dessert recipes—which eventually led her to start her own cookie business.

Mona’s various cookie recipes became her “cheat meal” when she was on her mission to lose weight, and the massive snacks are made up of baked cookie dough (面团) that surrounds a sweet filling. The cookies quickly became a hit with her family and friends, and when her dad suggested she start selling the sweet treats, the woman set up Mona’s Treats with 15 unique cookie flavors to choose from.

The keen baker created an account on the Internet and spent 282 on ingredients for her first industrial-sized batch. At first, Mona was selling around 30 to 40 cookies a month, but she now has a monthly average of 450 orders—leaving her waking up at 2 am to keep up with demand. During the height of lockdown, Mona was selling as many as 700 cookies a month. Mona currently makes an impressive 1,700 every month from selling cookies in addition to her main occupation, and has turned over 14,000 since she started up.

The cook, who runs her business from her parents’ kitchen, is even hoping to transition into baking full-time when she can reach 1,500 orders a month. She said, “Hopefully one day I can do this in a commercial kitchen.”