1 . I’ll always remember the first time I tried ballet. My mother was a dancer and I wanted nothing more than to be like her, but after making mistakes during my first class, I felt like I wanted to quit right away. However, I told my mom I couldn’t wait to dance again because it was only my first day.

Weeks passed and my dancing didn’t get any better. Then my dance teacher announced that we were going to perform in a show. I was scared of falling on my face in front of hundreds of people and disappointing my mom.

Even though I practiced hard for the show, I never quite got the hang of it. Finally, I went to my mom to tell her how I felt. She simply laughed and told me she would teach me all she knew about ballet.

My mom quickly discovered how bad at ballet I was, but she still taught me with the greatest patience, love and understanding. When I jumped and fell, she was there to catch me. When I lost my balance, she held me up. By the time the show arrived, I was as prepared as I could be.

The music began and my heart started to race. Breathing calmly, I began moving to the music without missing a step. When the music stopped, I ran off the stage and laughed in excitement.

My mom found me and gave me a huge hug, telling me how proud she was. I looked my mom in the eye and told her that there was no way this could have happened without her. Through this, I realized one important fact: My mom will always be there to catch me if I fall.

3 . Decades ago, I traveled alone for the first time in my life. The trip to Colorado was not for business or family reasons, but just to travel and ________.

As I prepared for it, I felt excited and ________ at the same time. Would it be fun? Would I be bored? Would I stay in bed all day or would I jump with excitement to do the next thing? I wasn’t ________. Little did I know that it was going to be so ________ a journey of self-discovery.

As a good wife and mom, for me, travel is always about the ________: Always thinking of who would ________ what. Because it’s about family time. But when travel ________, who would I connect with? What would I do? Well, I found that I got to do anything I ________!

While traveling, I met locals and also other ________. Honestly, I had conversations ________—on planes, while hiking, in restaurants.

It was quite a(n) ________ experience to meet a mom of 18 kids and hundreds of adopted kids, a cookie baker, and an internationally ranked marathon runner. The inspiring stories I discovered were ________ and nothing was like my wonderful and ________ life at home. I got to go rock climbing by myself, go hiking solo, and eat ________. And it was all ________, going smoothly. Actually, I felt surprisingly ________.

It was just me, my SUV and my backpack for a week. ________, it was a breath of fresh air that I didn’t ________ existed. It’s wonderful to be back home and know that possibilities are ________ and there is so much more out there to ________ and discover!

6 . The 2024 Peace Poetry Awards

The awards contest is to encourage people to explore peace and the human spirit. There are three age categories: Adult (19 & over), Youth (13-18), and Youth (12 & under). The yearly contest is open to people worldwide. Your poems must be unpublished, and in English.

Deadline

All entries must be submitted by July 1st. 2024.

Entry Fee

Adult (19 & over) — $15

Youth (13 - 18) — $5

Youth (12 & under) — no fee

Notes

1. You may submit up to three unpublished poems. At most 30 lines per poem.

2. Include name, address, email, telephone number, and age in the upper right-hand corner of each poem. For the Youth (12 & under) category, please also include your school’s name and your teacher’s name.

3. Title each poem.

4. Please keep copies of all entries as we will be unable to return them.

5. Email your entries to: cwarner@napf.org and Click here to pay your entry fee online; or send your entries and entry fee to Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1622 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Awards

Adult Winner — $1,000

Youth (13-18) Winner — $200

Youth (12 & under) Winner — $200

Winners will be announced by October 1st, 2024 on our website. Winners will be notified by email. Past years winning poems can be found here.

7 . For generations, we’ve spent the first third of our lives acquiring the college degrees we need to find jobs. These degrees are the stamps on our professional passports that pave the way for the remaining two-thirds of our journey. However, the future of work won’t be about college degrees, it’ll be about job skills.

According to the World Economic Forum, over one billion jobs, almost one-third of all jobs worldwide, are likely to be transformed by technology in the next decade. We’ve already seen this happen. Think of the apps you use to shop, track orders and simply stay informed. The stores need to keep them up and running at all hours, day after day, all year round, meaning they need those who can analyze and secure customer data.

In these and other similar situations, people are the organizing force making sure technology works the way we want it to. This means a quick rise in new kinds of digital jobs. According to the Forum’s Jobs of Tomorrow report, there’ll be a rapid influx of roles at the forefront of the data and AI economy, as well as new roles in engineering, cloud computing and product development. These jobs need talent with relevant skills, and importantly these skills can be learnt even by those without college degrees.

Shifting our focus from degrees to skills will mean transitioning (过渡) to always-on skills-based education and employment organizations that acknowledge not just certification but fitness-for-job and employment as outcomes. In recent years, several companies have focused on continuous learning for the workforce — the trend will become stronger.

When it comes to skills, employers look for more than just technical skills. Companies want people with an eye for detail, creative problem-solving skills, a collaborative mindset and an ability to handle complex issues. These also are skills that can be learnt. Anyhow, lifelong learners with ever relevant skills will be in greater demand in the workplace.

8 . In March 2022, I was recovering from an operation for breast cancer and going through a terrible time. I spent my days at home ________ everything to myself. Then one of my colleagues suggested ________, “Why don’t you pick a couple of days and go to Ireland and escape?” I ________ the tip.

The trip was fun, but when I got on the ________ to go home, I wasn’t feeling well. My plan was to sleep for the ________ journey, but the guy next to me looked ________, eager for a conversation because he had kind eyes.

“I had an operation,” I said ________. “I had breast cancer.” He paused for a moment and said, “What’s wrong with that? Breast cancer is just a small ________ of your life, like going to college or getting married.”

I could feel my eyes ________ up with tears.

“Don’t think too much of your problem,” he said. “Instead, think about how many people you could help.”

I had tears coming down my face, and said, “I can’t ________ I’m crying in front of you. I don’t ________ know you.”

“Look, you have a ________ in life,” he said. “You can either ________ your things deep in your pockets and take them to your grave (坟墓), or you can help someone.”

I’ve not been a very outgoing person, and except the few people who needed to know, I’d kept my illness ________. I didn’t want to be ________ as a defective (有缺陷的) person.

But this man, whose name was Ken Duane, showed me that my illness gave me ________, because it gave me the ability to ________ someone else’s load. I decided at that moment that I was going to try to help others by sharing my story ________, in the hope of inspiring those who were in the same or similar situation. Later that year, I talked about my illness and my ________ with Ken on air.

I am forever ________ that I never took a nap on the flight over the Atlantic.

9 . Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socializing and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories to produce heat.

Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice’s belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more. US researchers say that social excitement catalyzes weight loss by turning white fat into brown. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown fat burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown is extremely difficult, normally requiring long-term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body’s nervous system.

However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and they lost far more weight aver the course of the study than their “couch potato” fellows.

Study’s author, Dr Mattew During, whose team’s findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said “I’m still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs.” Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socializing, he added, “It’s not just a sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities.” Co-author Dr Lei Cao said, “Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it’s equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are vital.”

10 . What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt? Or is it the look on the recipient’s face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?

This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming, and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion (蒲公英) standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.

I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood, I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate.

Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad’s face as he unwrapped those black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame (框架), I knew I had given the perfect gift.