【推荐1】Artist Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell clearly remembers the day in high school when the teacher asked her to write about her family history. She saw that it was impossible to answer the questions “Who am I?” and “Where did I come from?”

Nzinga Terrell told VOA about her childhood memories.“So the white kids were able to get up and talk about hundreds of years of their background. And there was me and one other black kid in the class who could go back to a plantation in Virginia and that’s it.” She talked about her family’s history. “My people were brought here on the bottom of a ship. And they were sold and they were re-named.My dad’s side of the family took the last name of the job that they had,which is butlers. My mom’s side of the family took the last name of the plantation that owned them.”

Today,she and her husband, artist James Terrell, explore that identity in their work. Their new exhibit of paintings is called “Born at the Bottom of the Ship.” The show recently opened at the Center for the Arts in Manassas, Virginia.

Over the generations, Africans became African Americans with a new culture, and Nzinga Terrell includes different parts of that story in her art. There are things that look like African cloth and design and things that make you think of American culture and clothing.

James Terrell’s style is more abstract. “Mami Wata”, the first painting visitors see in the new exhibit, shows a woman rising from the ocean. Terrell explains the painting.“Mami Wata is a goddess of the sea...There’s no light going through;there’s not a lot of colour being seen, as opposed to the other ones. So, it’s just showing the time of the slaves being brought to America.”

But the artist says he also likes to play with colour.Growing up, Terrell attended a church with coloured glass in many windows. Because of that experience, he learned how light goes through the windows. He makes lines in his painting that look like the lines between pieces of coloured glass in the church windows.

Terrell’s works show how he sees himself as an African American. Visitors to the art exhibit say they see themselves and their family members in the works.

【推荐3】Not every parent looks at education in the same light. Some prefer the public school approach, while other parents would rather take their child`s learning experience into their own hands at home.

Reports state there has been a 75 percent increase in homeschooling in the US since 1999. Over two million American children are homeschooled now. Parents can tailor(定做) their children' s classes, environment and schedule in order to fit the needs of the family, which is very convenient.

There is a dark side to this educational freedom, though. Homeschooling is completely legal, but in most states parents are only required to sign a paper expressing their intention to homeschool their child. It is only when there is doubt of misconduct or mistreatment that officials will look more into the authenticity(可靠性) of the level of education and care of the child within the home.

Blindly trusting parents to give their kids a proper learning experience at home without any outside intervention (干预) is putting children at risk for losing out on a basic standard education. There is no confirmed statistic that shows homeschooled children do any better in study than those in public and private schools. A study in 2013, in fact, showed homeschoolers can be at a disadvantage and pointed out a serious educational gap.

Homeschooling can also create more opportunities for mistreatment in households that struggle with home violence. One frightening case in particular involved 10-year-old Raashanai Jones, who was found dead in her home, where her mother was supposed to be providing a safe haven and a basic education for her. Raashanai was 55 pounds, and neighbors didn't even know she existed because they had never seen her outside.

Many times when there is a problem with a child, whether it being mental, physical or educational, teachers and peers are the first to take notice. Taking this opportunity away from the child without giving back is a huge harm to the child and the community at large.