1 . “This will never do.” I kept telling my husband as he set the table one Thanksgiving. I wanted everything to be _________, because my parents would come. Criticisms from my childhood _________ rang in my mind. So whenever my parents visited us, I _________ myself for more faultfinding. The unhealthy pursuit of perfection _________ the joy from our celebration. Gradually I _________ the reason for Thanksgiving, and I found myself, like my parents, _________ people around me.

Then luckily, I read from a book, “Too much criticism hurts; necessary praise helps. Put your praise of someone in _________ so that the person can save and read it.”

So the next Thanksgiving, I _________ to my husband and my son, “We’re each going to write a message saying what we _________ about one of us.” Despite their eye-rolling, we soon finished and exchanged our __________. My son sat up straighter after __________ what his father had written about him. And I felt so uplifted myself when I read “I am proud of your cooking.” That was a life-changing __________. Since then my family has the __________ and we do it year-round―not just the fourth Thursday of November.

I no longer just focus on finding fault with others. I’m more __________ how I can help the people around me feel loved and appreciated. Especially in writing, because behind every __________ is the power of love.

3 . China’s top animator Tian Xiaopeng and his animation studio announced that they will be producing the much-anticipated live action film, The Three-Body Problem, based on the award-winning sci-fi novel by Chinese writer Liu Cixin.

Tian created China’s 3-D animation milestone Monkey King: Hero Is Back in 2015. It grossed (获利) 956 million yuan in China, becoming the highest-grossing Chinese animation in the country’s film history at that time. It had held the record until 2019 when it got broken by Coloroom Pictures Ne Zha that grossed more than five billion yuan.

Book fans of The Three-Body Problem had mixed reactions after hearing about Tian’s involvement. Some expressed doubt about a studio that specializes in animation making a live-action movie. Others also argued that the universe described in the novel is too big and complicated for any filmmakers to portray on big screens. But some seemed optimistic about the new adaption, noting the impressive track record of Tian’s previous works.

The book series talks about how human beings respond to alien invasion. It was published in China between 2006 and 2010, and sold more than one million copies. The first book in the series was awarded the Chinese Science Fiction Galaxy Award in 2006. In 2014, an English translation of the first book by Chinese-American author Ken Liu, titled The Three-Body Problem, was published. A year later, Liu Cixin became the first Asian author to win the Hugo Award, the highest honor in science fiction and fantasy writing.

The book series has developed various art and entertainment forms, including stage dramas and radio shows. During Spring Festival in 2019, Guo Fan’s The Wandering Earth, a film also based on a novel by Liu Cixin, had made over 4.6 billion yuan at the box office domestically. It ignited huge public interest in the film project of The Three-Body Problem.

4 . When Mark Twain visited Florence (佛罗伦萨) in 1867, he dutifully visited the city’s museums, churches, and tombs. But as he stood by the Arno, he began to sense the Italians’ insistence that it was a river, not a stream. “They all call it a river, and they honestly think it is a river, do these dark and bloody Florentines,” he complained, “I might enter Florence under happier circumstances a month hence and find it all beautiful, all attractive. But I do not care to think of it now, at all.”

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable outside your home culture. Feelings of discomfort, dislocation, and overload among travelers are referred to by many as “culture shock.” But Susan Goldstein, a professor at the University of Redlands says, “ Though the term has existed for many years, ‘Culture shock’ implies a dramatic, unexpected, negative event. Though many travelers will experience such challenges, a real sense of ‘shock’ is untypical. So untypical that many researchers no longer use the term.”

It was the vivid description of culture shock by Canadian researcher Oberg, written in 1960 in response to his own multicultural experiences, that won over audiences. The researcher spoke of the adjustment process as “an occupational disease of people who have suddenly been transplanted abroad” — a “disease” that progressed from a honeymoon phase, through rejecting the new environment, to finally adjusting fully to it. By the 1970s many researchers adopted the idea that, like physical illnesses, culture shock progressed through a remarkably consistent and universal set of stages.

Modern research, however, suggests that the experiences of adaptation are individual, not universal. “People will have their ups and downs, but for the most part, they will become increasingly comfortable and competent over time,” Goldstein says. And while many connect the causes of culture shock to the host culture itself, an individual’s internal expectations and differences are just as important.

As for Mark Twain, the moody author was able to ride out his feelings of upset and dislocation while traveling. He eventually finished out his European tour - and in his bestselling travel memoir The Innocents Abroad, famously remarked that travel is “fatal to prejudice and narrow-mindedness.” With the right attitude - and the willingness to seek help if you need it - it’s more than likely that you, too, can adapt and grow in new settings, building new memories-and toughness - with each new stamp in your passport.

6 . Science on Wheels travels across Washington bringing engaging STEM programming to grades K-8 with a focus on interactive and hands-on programs that bring the joy of scientific exploration to life and enable learners to see themselves in STEM.

Registration now! Open for 2024-2025 school year!   

PROGRAM OFFERINGS LOGISTICS

*Funding is available for qualifying schools, libraries, and community groups.

**Some partial-day programming is available regionally with additional travel fees. Inquire for more info.

Programs are designed to support current science standards and arouse curiosity and a love of exploration and experimentation in students. We have a series of classes for each age group for each theme. Pacific Science Center educators bring all of the activity materials for these programs, but schools will need to provide tables.

8 . When it comes to becoming eco-conscious, many people choose to start with something simple: recycling. But it’s not as simple as everyone seems to believe.

Indeed, the desire for some people to recycle can lead to ill-informed decisions about what can and cannot be recycled, and non-recyclable objects are accidentally put into the recycling bin. The practice is what is known as wishcycling.

Wishcycling boils down to the idea that just about anything can be recycled, and that if you put it into a recycling bin, those who are responsible for it will find a way to recycle it. This is obviously not true, because, despite everything that you’ve been told by the media, not everything is recyclable.

Small non-recyclable objects that are attached to recyclables are generally acceptable. For example, glue and tape attached to paper will be removed in the recycling process without any trouble. But improperly recycling broken eyeglasses, plastic shopping bags, food waste and greasy(油渍)pizza boxes could cause problems to the recycling process.

The objects in the recycling bin are typically sorted by machines at recycling centers, not people. These complex machines are designed to separate plastics, paper, and other recyclables. If something is thrown into the bin that shouldn’t be there, it could end up damaging the machine, which means the recycling center could lose time and money every time people decide to wishcycle. Sometimes, a non-recyclable object is able to sneak(溜)past these sorting machines. If this happens, the non-recyclable object ends up in a load of recyclables that will be sold for the recycling center to make a profit. However, having just one non-recyclable thing mixed in can pollute the entire load of recyclables, which has to be thrown away.

So what you as a consumer need to do is make your own recycling practice most functional. The best way is to educate yourself. There are certain general rules when it comes to recycling that everyone should know.

9 . Windy City Harvest Farm Tours

Visit one of the Windy City Harvest farm sites and learn more about our program. We offer different tours which include information about the program history, job-training mission, and growing practices. All profits from the tour fees help fund the education of the city.

North Lawndale Farm

This farm site is located on the west side of Chicago on a 1/5-acre (英亩) lot. It has been a training site since our programme was launched in 2003. Currently this space can serve up to 20 people at a time.

McCormick Place Farm

It is a 3/5-acre rooftop farm at McCormick Place West in cooperation with Savor Chicago, the food service team for McCormick Place. Produce grown on the rooftop farm is harvested and then delivered directly to Savor Chicago. This 12-year-old farm is a sought-after training site for WCH program participants.

Washington Park Farm

Established in 2012, Washington Park Farm is a major job-training center. Located on the east of Chicago Park District, this 3/4-acre site hosts up to 25 participants during the growing season.

Reservation is required. Provide payment in the form of check or money order payable to Windy City Harvest or in cash upon your arrival at the tour site except Washington Park Farm. For groups interested in visiting two or more farm sites during the tour, an additional fee will apply. It’s important to note that tour groups should arrange for their own transportation.