Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days, but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.

    If I have learned anything in my 16 years, it is that communication is very important, both when you disagree and when you get along. With any relationship, you need to let other person know how you are feeling. If you are not able to communicate, you drift apart()疏远). When you are mad at your parents, or anyone else, not talking to them doesn't solve anything.

Communication begins with the concerns of another. It means that you can't just come home from school, go up to your room and ignore everyone. Even if you just say "Hi", and see how their day was for five minutes, it is better than nothing.

If you looked up the word "communication" in a dictionary, it would say "the exchange of ideas, the conveyance（表达）of information, correspondence （通信）, means of communication: a letter or a message". To maintain (保持) a good relationship, you must keep communication strong. Let people know how you feel, even if it's just by writing a note.

    When dealing with parents, you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent. If you are trying to make them see something as you see it, tell them that you'll listen to what they have to say, but ask them politely to listen to you. Yelling or walking away only makes the situation worse.

    This is an example: one night, Sophie went to a street party with her friends. She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks, but she didn't feel she could just ask to go home. That would be rude. After all, they had been nice enough to take her along with them. Needless to say, she was late getting home. Her parents were mad at first, but when Sophie explained why she was late, they weren't as mad and let the incident go. Communication is the key factor here. If Sophie's parents had not been willing to listen, Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.

    Communication isn't a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie's, telling the other person how you feel and listening is the key factor to communication.

    Both honeybees and ants are social insects that live in groups called colonies. They survive by means of their collective intelligence. Their decision-making power is distributed throughout the group; that is, no one ant or bee makes decisions for the group. Instead, they work together. As Deborah M. Gordon, a biologist at Stanford University, says," Ants aren't smart. Ant colonies are."

    The same is true for bee colonies. Although bees and ants are quite different physically, they have a lot in common in terms of their social behavior. Specifically, honeybees and ants have similar roles within the colony, both have communication systems, and both have the capacity for learning.

    Ants communicate by using chemicals called pheromones, which can alert others to danger or to a food source. For example, when worker ants find a promising source, they let the rest of the colony know how to find it by leaving a trail of pheromones on the way back to the colony. The other ants pick up the message using their sense of smell. Bees, on the other hand, use movement to communicate with each other. Worker bees send messages to each other by means of a "dance". Different speeds and movements send different messages. For example, when worker bees called scouts go out to find a new home for the colony, they return and do a dance for the other worker bees that indicates the location of the new home and how suitable it is. The faster the scouts dance, the better the new location is.

    Honeybees and ants are both capable of learning. One Chinese study found that bees can be trained to learn and remember a route to a food source. The researchers also found that bees can be taught to recognize hidden objects and use the concepts of "sameness" and" difference" to accomplish certain tasks. Ants take this one step further. Recent American research has shown that ants not only have the ability to learn, but also can teach their foraging skills to other younger ants.

They observed that older ants accompany young ants in search of food and teach them the route and how to avoid obstacles.

    As we can see, the social behavior of honeybees and ants is quite similar. Both coordinate complex actions and accomplish crucial survival tasks by cooperating in groups consisting of many individuals. Unintelligent as they may be as individuals, as groups they often show amazing brilliance as they go about their everyday activities.

    When we do the same movements with our bodies over and over again, we overuse some muscles. And that overuse can lead to strain(紧张)and injury. Sometimes those problems can come from doing sports. But exercise experts say they are now seeing another cause for muscle problems: hand-held technology devices(设备).

    Staring down at your phone or tablet for long periods of time puts great tension on your neck and spine(脊椎). Many people who use tech devices also bend their shoulders forward. Experts say this posture(姿势)puts strain on the entire upper body. Muscle strain linked to hand-held technology has become such a common condition that it now has a name: tech neck.

    Kimberly Fielding, an exercise teacher in New York City, explains that constantly looking down at our devices creates an unnatural bend in our spine. This can cause nerve pain and other problems. “A lot of the curves of the neck can change, so instead of the neck spine going inward, the curve can be a little bit different and it causes nerve pain and disc herniation(椎间盘突出)and different muscle tension headaches — different things that really can reduce quality of life.”

    Fielding created a class to directly solve the problem of tech neck. The class uses different exercises to release tension in the upper body and strengthen back and neck muscles. Fielding says these exercises may feel uncomfortable in the beginning because the neck muscles may have become weak.

    However, you don't need to take a class like Fielding's. You can take simple steps to improve tech neck. For a quick fix, hold your phone at eye level. At the same time, take breaks from using your technology by standing up and stretching your legs often. Also, give your eyes a break by closing them throughout the day.

    Sam Allred suffers from a rare and incurable kidney (肾脏)disease. One day, when his sister was playing a song repeatedly, Sam sang along. His sister thought it was funny so she recorded it and posted the video online. The video—and Sam—became a hit. Only 8 years old at that time, he couldn't have expected the response.

    "(The television show) The Doctors called and wanted me on their show so they paid for me to go to California," says Sam, now 13,"and we got to stay in a hotel where all the movie stars stayed."

    During that visit to California, Angle Allred, Sam's mother, had an idea about Sam writing a children's book. Together, she and Sam wrote Opening Hearts, which tells Sam's experience of living with a chronic (慢性的) illness.

    "I wrote the book to teach people to be kinder to people," Sam says.

    Moreover, Sam wanted to send pillows to sick children staying in hospitals around the country to make their stay more comfortable, an idea that came from a time when he was in the hospital.

    "A few kind boys came in with pillows and they gave me one and it meant a lot to me that someone cared about kids in the hospital," says Sam.

    Angie thought of starting a nonprofit organization to provide a way for people to contribute money to realize Sam's ideas. She named the nonprofit organization Kindness for Kids.

    Since then, Sam has taken pillows to children staying at Providence Hospital in Anchorage.

    Sam's father, Scott Allred, owns a small business that contracts (承包) shipping services with FedEx Ground. He asked the company for help.

    "FedEx Ground learned about Sam's pillow project, "says Erin Truxal, manager of public relations for FedEx Ground. "We thought, 'What a perfect way for us to get involved.'"

    The company provided shipping services for Sam to ship about 5,000 pillows to hospitals.

    Sam wants to send more pillows to all of the children's hospitals in every state. His goal is simple: Kids in the hospital as happy as they were before they got sick.

    A while back I caught a news report on something called couch surfing and the network of trusting souls who make this phenomenon possible. They offer to put up travelers free of charge and help them on their ways. At first, it sounded unbelievable. I mean, inviting strangers into one's home for one or two nights? Give me a break.

    However, I was intrigued. I decided to find it out. The only way to truly learn about this phenomenon was to dive in. So I planned a trip to Finland, a country I've always wanted to explore. I would couch surf at every stop there.

    If ever any anxiety existed when stepping into the unknown, it disappeared when my first host met me at the train station. Ari looked like my idea of a typical Finn: tall and blue-eyed. Finns were also supposed to be famously reserved (寡言少语的). Ari was anything but. He was a live wire, giving me a warm welcome and walking with me to his apartment, where he showed me the sleeper sofa, served me tea, and engaged me in warm conversations. He also handed me a key to come and go as I pleased.

    If this was what couch surfing was all about—trust and friendship—then I had gotten off to a good start. As I boarded my next train to continue my journey, I began to think about this couch-surfing idea. What encouraged these people to open their homes to strangers? I concluded that there was a desire to lend a hand to like-minded folks who might enrich their own lives.

    Seven cities in 14 days. Seven hosts. Seven new friends. If couch surfing taught me anything, it's this: Most people are good and generous. Where will couch surfing take me next? Who knows? But I can't wait to find out.

    Join us for an exciting day of music at the UNI Dome with the Panther Marching Band!

    Band Day is perfect for high school band students in grades 9—12. Come and join us for an outstanding, positive and friendly musical and social experience for high school band students! We hope you'll enjoy the fellowship with other band students throughout the state and the fantastic performances of bands!

    Directors who wish to bring their full bands or a smaller group of band students should find this to be an easy and fun event to organize and attend! Individual students who wish to participate as single performers are strongly encouraged to attend! You'll have a chance to meet our fantastic students and perform in a friendly and welcoming environment!

    Date: November 9

    Music: A link to download music will be included in your confirmation email after you register.

    Music will be available at that link no later than September 1.

Registration:

    Band directors registering full bands or groups of students from the same band should register here: https：//bands, uni.edu/band-day-group-registration

    Individual students registering independently may register here: https //bands,uni.edu/panther-band- day-individual-registration

    Cost: $ 10. 00 per student includes: admission to the game, pizza dinner, music and a Band Day T-Shirt.

    Notes:

    We've changed our payment method to improve the registration process. Individual students must pay using a credit card at the time of registration. Band directors may either pay with credit card or mail a check made out to Panther Marching Band.

    Final deadline for registration submissions is Monday, October 14.

    Due to space limitations, band/individual students may be limited to a first-reply basis.