Classis Book Club for Home-schooled Teens

★ Sign up at Librarian's 1st Floor Reference Desk.

★ Free books for first 15 teens who sign up for each title. If you are unable to attend the activity, please return the book to Teen Librarian so she can give the book to another teen.

Classics for Home-schooled Teens

Fridays, 1:00~2:00 pm, Library Room 215

January 23: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

February 20: Antigone by Sophocles

March 20: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

April 24: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

For information contact Teen Librarian Elise Sheppard, elise.i.sheppard@lonestar.edu, 281-290-5248.

5th Annual Prom-dress Give-away

Lone Star College — CYEAIR BRANCH LIBRARY'S PROM CLOSET

Your dress is free for you to keep.

If you Need a Prom Dress

Contact the Youth Service Specialist at your school/ Contact Prom Closet organizers directly:

LSC-CF Teen Librarian Elise Sheppard at 281-290-5248, elise.i.sheppard@lonestar.edu

LSC-CF Friends of the Library President Nancy Flanakin at meaford8510@vahoo.com

Saturday dates to get a dress:

(Other dates by appointment only — contact Elise or Nancy)

Prom Dresses Needed!

Dresses & accessories needed: All dress sizes 0 — 26

Accessories: Shoes, handbags, jewelry, hair pieces, shawls, etc.

Perfect condition: Clean, undamaged, beautiful

Delivery instructions:

Take donations to Lone Star College — CyFair Branch Library Circulation/Customer Service Desk anytime the library is open.

    For more and more young Chinese professionals, the first day back at work after the Lunar New Year holiday is the day they quit.

   The period after the Lunar New Year holiday, also known as Spring Festival, often sees Chinese workers on the move. This year, the number looking for new opportunities is supposed to be especially high.

    Mr. Zhu, a 27-year-old Beijing native, is one of the young workers looking for a better deal. “Salary is a big concern for me and I need a job that pays more, and my department can't provide good career development for me,” he said.

    An online survey by Zhaopin.com, a leading job-hunting website, provides further details on why China's young white-collar workers are so keen to move on.

    Low salaries are the biggest concern for 62% of the job-hunters, and overtime and a wide mismatch between low salaries and high housing costs are also the complaints. Two-thirds of them said they had to work at home after office hours, and a full 95% said they felt they were under heavy pressure because of the housing payment or rent.

    The survey also found that what was seen as a “good job” has changed. For the generation born in the 1970s, high salary and status is the key. For the generation born after 1980, work-life balance and respect in the office are also important.

    Zhao Bin, a 28-year-old woman who earns over 7,000 yuan a month working at a public relations company in Shanghai, said she would wait until the Lunar New Year to change her job. “My salary is OK for me, but I am working like crazy. So I want to find something comfortable, like being an English teacher in training schools.”

    It was another frustrating day. I came home from school, changed my clothes and got ready for work. I worked at a local restaurant in town.

    I went to work feeling down. It's the same thing over and over again, dealing with customers who complain about their food—how the piece of pie that they are served is too big or too small. Three elderly ladies walked in and sat by the windows. I was working since 5:00 pm. and we were quite busy. But these elderly women were watching me as I was working really hard to make sure every table was clean and ready for the next customers.

    When they were finished with their meals, I took their plates back to the kitchen. They talked to me for a while about school, how I was doing, which grade I was in and what I planned to do in the future.

    As they were leaving, they walked past me and one of them said to me in a confident and gentle voice, "You are going places." They left the restaurant and I was pretty much in awe. I had tears in my eyes, because they gave me a reason to believe in myself. They picked my spirits up from being down and out and gave me a reason to keep on working hard and to give it my all.

    "Hey, Bruno! Great to see you again, man!" Zeca shouted. "Come over here and meet the boys." But before Bruno could move he was frisked by two guards. He cringed as the men searched his body for hidden guns, knives or other weapons.

    "He's clean, boss," one of the men shouted out.

    Zeca introduced all the members of his gang, including the man who worked inside the printer's who was going to steal the exams. He then explained all the details of the plan. It seemed foolproof and nothing could go wrong.

    They all shook hands and quickly left.

    Bruno's heart was beating fast. He was anxious to get away from the gang and phone Clara. He raced down the hill. Then he stopped at the bottom and looked behind him. It was clear, no one was following him. He took out his phone and called Clara.

    "Hey, Clara. Listen." He was out of breath, panting heavily. "Everything went according to plan. To my plan, of course, not Zeca's!" he added, laughing excitedly.

……

    "This is amazing!" the police officer said, smiling broadly, as he looked at Bruno and Clara, who were sitting in front of him at the police station. "Well done! How did you manage to come up with such a brilliant idea?"

    "Thanks. I guess it was kind of clever." Bruno answered, acknowledging the compliment with a polite smile. He felt slightly embarrassed. "Believe it or not, the idea just popped into my head while I was taking a shower. I remembered I saw an advert once on the Internet for special spy-camera sunglasses. They have a tiny, hidden, built-in video recorder. Here they're only used by detectives and law enforcement agencies, but anybody can buy them on the Internet."

    When Bruno talked to Clara before his meeting with Zeca's gang, they both agreed it would be wrong to steal the exams, and help Zeca sell them to other people. But Bruno had worked out an ingenious plan to dounle-cross Zeca and stay out of trouble himself.

    First of all, he had wisely agreed to go along with Zeca's plan, and go to the meeting with the gang of thieves. When he arrived at the hideout, they frisked him for hidden weapons, but no one ever imagined that Bruno was wearing sunglasses with a tiny built-in camera. Bruno had secretly videoed the entire meeting, making sure he had taken close-up shots of all the gang members. Their conversations with all the details of their plan had also been recorded.

    Then, as soon as he was sure that he wasn't being followed, he phoned Clara and together they went to the police with the camera and told them the whole story.

    "Thanks to this evidence we can finally catch Zeca and his entire gang red-handed," the police officer continued. "But we need you and Clara to help us. It's very important that you both continue to act as if nothing has happened. You must play along with whatever Zeca wants. We'll be following your every move from now on. Just do everything Zeca tells you to, OK?"

    The police then went to the printer's and spoke to the owner. He agreed to co-operate and they installed some hidden cameras there, too. The day of the theft they saw the thief copy the exam papers on Closed Circuit Television(闭路电视), but they did not arrest him yet.

    Then they waited until Zeca made the next move.

    Though pigs may never fly, a two-year-old pig in Franschhoek, South Africa is proving they sure can paint! Meet Pigcasso, the world's first known pig artist whose masterpieces are selling for thousands of dollars to benefit Farm Sanctuary S. A. , Africa's only registered shelter for rescued farm animals.

    Joanne Lefson, who saved Pigcasso from a slaughterhouse(屠宰场) two years ago, discovered the animal's artistic talent accidentally. The South African activist says, of the numerous toys presented to keep the then four-week-old piglet entertained, it was the paintbrushes that seemed to attract her the most. "They were the only thing she didn't eat," Lefson quips.

    The rescuer decided to present the pig with canvas and paint and see what happened. To her delight, Pigcasso began creating works of art that can best be described as "abstract expressionism". Now weighing a hefty(重量）450 pounds, the celebrated pig, who loves to paint the area's scenic landscapes, has a dedicated "studio" at Farm Sanctuary S.A. where she resides. Lefson says, "I do not force her to paint. She paints when she wants to."

    Pigcasso's artwork, which has thus far been sold online, is currently on display at Cape Town's picturesque Victoria ~ Alfred Waterfront. Dubbed "Oink", the pop-up exhibition will run through March 5before heading to London-Paris-Berlin, and Amsterdam. Lefson says its main aim is to highlight the effect of animal agriculture on the planet and inspire change.

    While Pigcasso is the first pig and first nonhuman to headline an exhibition, she is not the first animal to create masterpieces. Elephants, sea lions, and even penguins have shown similar artistic talent--in exchange for some treats, of course!