Alvin Irby, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher, was at a barbershop when he saw one of his former students sitting in the shop with a bored look on his face. That's when Irby realized that by pairing barbershops and books, he might be able to inspire young black boys to read.

    Four years ago, he launched Barbershop Books as a way to not just get books into the hands of young black boys, but to also create community reading spaces in a place where kids go frequently. Since its inception in 2013, the program has created kid-friendly reading spaces in 50 barbershops in 12 states throughout the United States.

    Irby isn't the first person to see the connection between barbers and books and boys. Hair stylist Courtney Holmes, launched a program a few years ago offering free haircuts to kids as long as they read to him while he cuts their hair.

    That's the kind of environment that Irby wants to promote with his program. The reading spaces created by Barbershop Books help to spark an interest in books by showing kids that reading is about more than just spelling and vocabulary skills, it's about making reading a low-stress activity that can help them relax, laugh and have fun.

    “Our belief is that if we can create positive reading experiences early and often for young black boys, then they will choose to read for fun because they will identify as a reader,” Irby noted, adding, “This is really what Barbershop Books is about, getting young black boys to say three words: I'm a reader.”

Irby's idea is catching on, and it will continue to spread thanks in part to the National Book Foundation. Barbershop Books recently won the organization's 2017 Innovations in Reading prize, which is given to Programs that use reading to make a social impact.

    When it comes to bringing up children, everybody agrees that it is not an easy task. Every parent watches eagerly the child's acquisition (学会) of each new skill — the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing. It is often tempting (吸引人的) to hurry the child beyond his natural learning speed, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of worry in the child. This might happen at any stage. A baby might be forced to learn something too early. A young child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads. On the other hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning chances, he loses his natural enthusiasm for life and his desire to find out new things for himself.

    Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children. Some may be especially strict in money matters. Others are strict with the time of coming home at night or being on time for meals. In general, the controls show the needs of the parents and values (价值观) of society as much as the children's own happiness.

    When it comes to the development of moral standards (道德标准) in the growing child, consistency (前后一致性) is very important in parental teaching. To say "No" to a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality (道德). Also, parents should realize that "example is better than precept". If they are not sincere and do not practice what they preach (说教), their children may grow confused and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent cheated.

    A sudden realization of a big difference between their parents' principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment.

    Photos of eight-year-old Wang Fuman, nicknamed by “Snowflake Boy” in Yun Nan, shared by his principal on Tuesday, showed the boy has a red face from the low temperatures and apparently did not wear enough clothes to keep warm. He also suffered from frostbite. He stood alone with his white hair and eyebrows while other classmates behind were clearly amused and laughing. The picture drew widespread attention around the whole world. Many netizens (网民) were sympathetic to the boy's difficulties, with many Mircoblog users giving comments under the report.

    Just after the report, a donation of 100,000 yuan was sent to his Primary School. Constantly, help still pours in for the Chinese boy. But the local authorities call on others to pay attention to other similar rural areas and give them timely aid. In China, there are still so many children just like Fuman living by himself with parents migrating to cities to make a living.

    The clock always seems to be ticking rather too fast in the doctor's office and the queue of patients outside the door seems to be pressing rather too hard. Some say it's high time for the model of short, sharp one-to-one appointments to give way to shared medical appointments (SMAs共享医疗预约).

    SMAs are doctor-patient visits in which a group of patients receive patient education and counseling (咨询), physical examination and medical support in a group setting. Typically SMAs are designed to have one or more doctors attend to a group of patients who share a common illness or medical condition. In contrast to one-to-one visits, SMAS provide a longer appointment time-frame as well as the opportunity for patients to have improved access to their physicians and meanwhile pick up additional information and support from peers.

    However, doctors who have pioneered the shared appointment approach report that there are significant challenges involved. Dr. Sumego, director of shared medical appointments, Cleveland Clinic, identifies culture change as the most significant challenge. Physicians and nurses are trained in a model of personal service and privacy; the SMA approach is a fundamental challenge to those fixed ideas. They need shared goals and a way of testing the innovation against agreed standards. Dr. Sumego says, "The physicians may be worried about the possible chaos and efficiencies that are marketed. They also have to make the patients understand what their appointment is, and what the expectation is."

    "So, if an organization was looking to start shared medical appointments, I would advise them to start the buy-in from a few champion physicians, develop the work-flow and develop some experience. Provide some support behind what that best practice should look like. Create some standards so that, as the concept spreads, you can employ that experience to start the next shared medical appointments and the next."

    If Confucius (孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. We'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out. While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

    But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

    In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy (哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

    So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.  Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West. As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

Two women going on a journey to green their city is the best way to describe the founders of Utility, Portland's low-waste and reuse company. It started in January 2019 and opened its first retail shop in April. Its founders, Rebecca Rottman and Nadine Appenbrink, are deeply committed to sustainability and supporters of zero waste.

They started Utility as a second job for both and as a personal journey, looking for clean products that didn't come in plastic. Their goal is to reduce the amount of single-use plastics by allowing people to bring their own reusable containers when they buy environmental friendly home and personal care items.

Every week the women teamed up with local stores to sell their goods and to refill products for returning customers. Now they are operating only online for pickup or local delivery in the Portland area. It is really easy, the company said. Just shop online and choose a container. Then select pickup or delivery. The products include all-natural dish bar soap and a wide variety of plastic-free kitchen tools.

While not completely zero waste, Utility is striving to get extremely close. Appenbrink said, "We are all on a journey. And we want to be as approachable as possible. Utility is to raise awareness about this lifestyle." They are focused on careful growth because Utility will never ship products because of the carbon footprint involved in shipping.

There are zero waste stores in other communities, like Clean Kilo in Birmingham UK, but they are real brick and mortar (实体的) buildings. Utility's concept is so simple that it can be followed almost anywhere. Zero waste markets are the way to the circular economy that is needed to stop plastic waste, reduce our carbon footprint and have a sustainable future.