【推荐1】The person who set the course of my life was a school teacher named Marjorie Hurd. When I stepped off a ship in New York Harbor in 1949, I was a nine-year-old war refugee, who had lost his mother and was coming to live with the father he did not know. My mother, Eleni Gatzoyiannis, had been imprisoned and shot for sending my sisters and me to freedom.

I was thirteen years old when I entered Chandler Junior High. Shortly after I arrived, I was told to select a hobby to pursue during “club hours.” The idea of hobbies and clubs made no sense to my immigrant ears, but I decided to follow the prettiest girl in my class. She led me into the presence of Miss Hurd, the school newspaper adviser and English teacher.

A tough woman with salt-and-pepper hair and determined eyes, Miss Hurd had no patience with lazy bones. She drilled us in grammar,assigned stories for us to read and discuss, and eventually taught us how to put out a newspaper. Her introduction to the literary wealth of Greece gave me a new perspective on my war-torn homeland, making me proud of my origins. Her efforts inspired me to understand the logic and structure of the English language. Owing to her inspiration, during my next twenty-five years, I became a journalist by profession.

Miss Hurd retired at the age of 62. By then, she had taught for a total of 41 years. Even after her retirement, she continually made a project of unwilling students in whom she spied a spark of potential. The students were mainly from the most troubled homes, yet she alternately bullied and charmed them with her own special brand of tough love, until the spark caught fire.

Miss Hurd was the one who directed my grief and pain into writing. But for Miss Hurd, I wouldn’t have become a reporter. She was the catalyst that sent me into journalism and indirectly caused all the good things that came after.

【推荐2】When a Houston dad found out his eight-year-old son was being bullied, he didn’t get mad at the classmate who teased him. Instead, he talked with the so-called bully and realized that the boy was struggling, too.

Aubrey Fontenot’s son, Jordan, told him a boy named Tamarion was teasing him. Fontenot decided to sit down with his son and Tamarion to understand what was going on, and something unexpected happened.

Tamarion told Fontenot he was being teased at school, too. “I asked, ‘By who? You are big. You are huge. Who is teasing you?’” the father said. “He said, ‘Just all the other kids, man. They are making fun of me.’” Fontenot learned that Tamarion was getting teased for his clothes and shoes — his clothes and shoes were old and dirty. Fontenot then spoke to the boy’s mother. “She kind of confirmed it,” Fontenot said. “And she said, ‘That’s the kind of situation.’”

He felt sympathetic to the young boy and wanted to help. So he asked Tamarion’s mom if he could take her son to do some shopping.

Fontenot posted videos of their trip to the mall on social media and they went viral. Tamarion eventually smiled, and then the two were laughing and singing together on their shopping trip. Just as if he were taking his own son to do some shopping, Fontenot got Tamarion new clothes and shoes, and shared words of wisdom with him.

Then, the dad united the two boys. He said it was awkward at first — just a day earlier, they didn’t get along well at school. But the two classmates started playing sports games together and soon became friends. It was not just about the clothes and shoes. Tamarion gained a friend in Jordan, and a mentor in his dad. Fontenot said he was also bullied when he was a child, so he knew it was important to listen to Tamarion’s story. He chose kindness instead of anger and brought the two boys together. “I wouldn’t say that was the goal, but that was the reward,” Fontenot said.

【推荐2】What makes a book a good read? It is a great question, but there's no easy answer!

    1    There are so many styles and types of books. This is because people have different likes. For fun, go and read the 1-star Amazon reviews of your favorite popular book. Many people hate it and can't finish it!    2    Maybe, it depends on your preferences. Art is highly subjective.

There are certainly many good books on writing and story structure, but they're more general guides than step-by-step guides. Since books have no hidden parts (all the words are there on the page), it's necessary to study the books you and others think are good reads and ask,”    3    ”

Most serious writers have early readers who read drafts and provide their opinions    4    They learn which parts aren't as good as they think. And then they rewrite the drafts. A good read is usually the result of many improvements of a bad one.

One difficulty in writing is that it is hard to find people who can give useful opinions beyond “I like it” or “I hate it.” .    5    . And you have to try to be willing to listen to things that you don't want to hear. At the same time, be glad to make changes to a draft based on what you learned.

【推荐1】The Truth Can Set You Free

I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn’t been paying attention，and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit.

“Can I see your license and registration?” the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him，and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver’s license.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Are you with the army?”

“No, I’m not,” I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn’t had time to reregister yet.

“So what brings you here?”

He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. “Well, officer,” I said, “since you’ve asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We’ve moved down here to be close to my wife’s family.”

“So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. “You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good.” He was obviously thinking: “Either this guy is pulling one big fat lie on me, or he’s telling the truth.” He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest.

‘‘Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors (肿瘤) are on the inside. ”And then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars.

He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn’t taking this any further. He handed me back my license. “Do me a favor,” he said, “Slow down from now on.”

The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes (金发美女) who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen.

【推荐2】Quality time with my dad

When I tell people I wrote a book with my dad, they usually say, “It must be nice to think of the legacy (遗产) you created with someone who means so much to you.”

This was a beautiful idea, but it was not the way I, or my dad, ever thought about the cooperation.Though we created something we’re proud of, “nice” is not the word either of us uses to describe the process.

“It was more confrontation(对抗) than cooperation,” my dad likes to say.I agree.When we landed a book deal，we began a writing journey that was more difficult than either of us had expected，but also far more rewarding.

For almost three years.we met once or twice a week at my parents*house and talked daily to plan and outline each chapter.After these meetings，one of us would write a rough draft that the other would build on.I wanted the book to focus on positive vices (不良习惯):such as moderate (适度的) chocolate. However, my dad felt the book should include chapters dealing with things like walking and spending time with family. Eventually, I saw it his way.He said the book was about more than just good vices.It was about encouraging people to enjoy life in healthy ways.

Writing this book was a reminder that our family members share not only our faults but also our strengths. My dad is smart, funny, critical and caring.He has a strong passion for the truth.I hope I share these great qualities. For this book, he researched each topic with an enthusiasm I’d never seen from him, and he insisted that we constantly question and critically analyze every piece of information- even our own conclusions.He was determined to cooperate on a book, not because he couldn’t write one on his own, but because he believed that we could create than we something better together than we could alone.

I’m not sure if our cooperation led to better writing, but it led to a better writing experience.Writing this book was difficult, sometimes more difficult than past projects, but it was never lonely.