【推荐2】It’s time to sign up for Kids Bowl Free 2023!

Dates range from center to center and state to state. The center my family signed up for starts from May 3rd but I saw a couple of centers in Pennsylvania and South Carolina that had start dates in APRIL!

Be sure the kids are signed up for Kids Bowl Free 2023.

The Kids Bowl Free 2023 program is not specific to a certain chain of bowling alleys (保龄球场). You can find a participating center near you. Kids (under 15 years old) can get TWO free games EVERY DAY at a participating center. Most places will require a bowling shoe rental-not included in the program.

But wait! That’s not all!

You can also sign up teens and adults for a summer pass for $39.95. Up to 4 people get two games every day during the summer with the family pass so that the whole family can bowl every day!

USE CODE: HOT25 on the Family Pass page * to save 25%! Making it just $29.95!

If the code HOT25 doesn’t work, when it asks if you want to sign up for the Family Pass, find the tiny “No Thanks” button and click it. When you do that, you’ll be offered a discount code!

Shoe rental not included.

Save even more on your kids bowl free when you don’t have to rent shoes! Search Ebay for bowling shoes and get a great deal! I got us each a pair for this year and if we bowl 6 times our shoe cost will be less than if we rented shoes 6 times. And with our own shoes, we can go more often!

【推荐3】Andrew is a teenager from Germany, studying in Garden School. He is very interested in Chinese classic novels. He wants to buy some to read but he doesn’t know what to choose. Therefore, he asked his classmates to recommend some and he has made a list according to their recommendations.

【推荐1】Recently, the harrowing farewell message appeared on the Internet, just three short sentences. “We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.” It was signed “Fatemah”, the mother of Bana, a 7-year-old Syrian girl who got more than 200,000 Twitter followers as she and her family have documented their struggle to survive in war-ravaged Aleppo. And then, Bana’s Twitter account was abruptly deleted.

More than seventy years after a Dutch teenager penned the diary recording her family’s life hiding from the Nazis, Bana has become the Anne Frank of the Syrian civil war.

So when Bana’s online presence disappeared, her followers tweeted anxiously under the hashtag WherelsBana. Was this the end of her story? There was a sense of urgency and helplessness. Then, next afternoon, the account suddenly reappeared. Fatemah tweeted a bad message, “Under attack. Nowhere to go, every minute feels like death. Pray for us.” They were alive; their story continued.

It wasn’t the first time that the family had tweeted from the edge of death.

Several days later, another message arrived from Aleppo, more hopeful this time. Bana tweeted, “I am getting better without medicine with too much bombing. I miss you.” Then hours passed, and Bana’s account was silent as her followers tweeted prayers. The world watched on screens, waiting for her name to reappear.

【推荐2】Chinese social media was a buzz with praise for war correspondent Chen Huihui who reported from the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene, Chen has been reporting live from the battlefield since October 9th.

Chen’s reports have provided a realistic and complex view of the conflict, earning her widespread respect and admiration from netizens on Weibo. Many compared her deed to a “heroic act” for fearlessly facing the situation.

One netizen expressed admiration for war reporters covering the Israel-Palestine conflict, stating: “I admire the war reporters covering the Israel-Palestine conflict; truly admirable, they are reporting and directing the gunfire and bombardment every day. Salute!”

As the Israeli army entered Gaza and began ground battle, Chen Huihui shared her firsthand accounts of the situation. On November 11th, an emotional video emerged of a father crying out in sorrow after his three children were killed by Israel ’ s bombardment. This heart-broken image led netizens to express their sympathy for the people affected by the conflict.

The Weibo netizens remained great support and respect for journalists like Chen Huihui who are putting their lives on the line to report from the front lines. As a Spanish parliamentarian named Mayster condemned Israel for committing war crimes, Chinese social media users praised journalists who bring attention to the realities and cruelty of war.

As another netizen put it: “War correspondents are often not individuals but representatives of national images. Only when reporters are closer to the guns can they feel more deeply the cruelty of war, know true casualties, and understand the distinction between justice and injustice.”

Chen Huihui’s courageous reporting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has earned her widespread praise on Chinese social media. Her bravery and devotion to providing realistic coverage of the complex situation have inspired admiration among netizens who value journalists like her who are committed to throwing light on important global issues.

【推荐3】Just this morning, my 11-year-old son shared with me a “really sad dream”. Keep in mind that this is from a boy who watches very little war news, who rarely hears his parents talk of war, who has no relatives personally involved in the war. The dream went something like this:

All the fifth-grade boys from his school were soldiers in the war. Dylan and my son were on the Ukrainian side. Alex and others were fighting together with the Russians. These and other friends were found on both sides of the conflict, but none of them wanted to kill each other. They were actually trying to help and protect one another. Then a Russian soldier who was not someone the boys knew attacked Dylan. Alex and Andrew tried to warn Dylan and stop the attack, but it was too late. Dylan died. And it was very sad.

Besides the emotional power of the distant war expressing itself in my son’s life, what impressed me about his dream was that there were good people fighting on both sides. Is that an 11-year-old’s myth, or could it really be true? I affirmed (肯定) his concern for all the people directly involved in the war, all of which was pretty much in line with what the experts advise.

My son doesn’t get much news exposure from television, vastly preferring kid entertainment when he has a choice. And that’s. just as well. In fact, limiting children’s media exposure to war is one of the key suggestions the experts make.

However, there are questions and concerns. For weeks, my son has been praying daily that we will not go to war. Now he prays the war will end soon, and that people will not get hurt or killed. A few days ago, he voiced the almost casual question, “Will the war come to Oklahoma?” I answered no, and we agreed that we are fortunate to be far from the war. And yet, I think my son already understands that disaster — including the intentional horror of terrorism — can happen anywhere, like New York, Washington or even Oklahoma City. But still, that’s hardly the same as living with a daily personal fear or expectation of war reaching your home.

Tonight I kissed my boy goodnight and put him to bed, as again he prayed that God would help the war to end soon. I wonder how many more nights he will have to say that prayer…