Since 1984,Philadelphia has been cleaning up its act.One by one,graffiti（涂鸦）covered walls are being changed into outdoor art.So far,more than 1,800 murals（壁画）have been painted.Philadelphia now has more murals than any other American city.

    The walls that were once ugly with graffiti are now covered with beautiful pictures of historical heroes and modern art, thanks to the Mural Arts Program(MAP).Its work makes schools and public places attractive,and its citizens very proud.The program began as part of Philadelphia's Anti-Graffiti Network.Jane Golden is the MAP's artistic director."When people ask me what our program is about,"she says,"I answer them with one word: hope." Each year, the MAP offers youth art programs and workshops.Some onetime graffiti writers even help paint MAP murals.

    The MAP's work,says Golden,is all about developing a sense of community（社区）.When a neighborhood requests a mural,the MAP works with the people there to develop a message.Some messages have been "Safe Streets,"Love and Care," and "Peace Walk".

    The MAP receives up to 50 requests for murals each week. Last year, the workers painted 140 murals."The making of a mural enters people's collective memory as an extraordinary, pleasant moment in neighborhood history," says Golden, who began as a muralist in Los Angeles.

    My family recently did our first major road trip, traveling from our Maryland home to Disney World in Florida. Though we're no strangers to travel, a trip of this length was a new experience for us with three children. What helped us enjoy our trip so much? Our schedule, of course! So keeping a schedule when you travel can help make your trip a success.

    Don't sleep the day away.

    I know you're on vacation. The kids have a break from school, and you're excited to be out of the office. Let everyone sleep for a bit, but still make it a point to rise at a reasonable hour and get active to start the day. Not only will you see and do more on your trip, but it will make it easier to eat regularly, get the kids down at nap time (午觉), and then go to bed without a struggle.

    Eat regularly.

    Time is easy to go by while you're running through a theme park, or exploring (考察) a museum. Be prepared for meals because hungry kids are often quick to turn into a headache for you. Pack a snack and drink bag and make sure to stop regularly for a bite to eat while you're out. Keeping a regular meal schedule can help everyone keep up their energy and enjoy the day.

    Take a nap.

    Does your baby take a daily nap? Naps are very important for baby's development. They also help little ones to pick up their strength, or vacations can be exhausting (疲惫的) for little minds and bodies.

    Go to bed at a reasonable hour.

    Everyone can get tired out on vacation. Don't allow anyone to stay up late every night. Mom, dad, and kids are all sure to be miserable if they don't get enough sleep. If bedtime gets delayed (推迟), adjust your travel plans accordingly.

    These days, North Kickapoo Street in Shawnee, Oklahoma, is a four-lane road leading out to the highway, and lined with all kinds of places to eat and shop. But in the mid-1950s, it was just a gravel(砂砾) country road, the perfect place for our daddies to teach us how to drive.

We didn't have driver's education at Shawnee High School. We were on our own. Mom took me to pick up an instruction handbook. I was the oldest of my friends, so we were excited at the prospect of a whole new world opening up. We'd have freedom to get around. Best of all, we could go to the Starlite Drive—In theater on 50-cents-a-carload night. We'd have it made.

    Mom let me back our 1949 Ford out of the garage a few times to get used to the clutch (离合器) and gearshift (变速排挡杆). I got familiar with the motion but was hardly ready for my road test.

    Finally, the day came for Daddy to give me a real lesson. He drove out to the end of the paved section of Kickapoo Street and across to where the gravel started. My daddy had come from a family of 10, and they had been farmers in a poor area in Oklahoma. There was only one way to do things, and that was the right way.

Praises were rare, so when he expressed his approval it was special. I didn't want to experience his glare if I ground the clutch or the car shook as I tried to get it going.

    I took a deep breath, slowly let out the clutch, pushed the stick into second gear, eased down the road, and then carefully moved into third gear. He had me stop and repeat the procedure two or three more times until I came to the end of the section. I was feeling pretty good as I came to a stop and looked to Daddy for approval.

He glared at me and then barked, “You've been driving, haven't you?” He must have thought I'd been practicing in somebody else's car. I quickly explained that my training was all done on the Ford.

    That was 60 years ago. I can still see the nod he gave me when he said, "Well, you did a good job."

    David Rees runs a truly distinctive business. He charges customers $15 to shar pen their pencils to perfections, using a variety of tools.

    I know what you're thinking — is this a joke? The 39-year-old gets asked that question a lot. To clarify everything, he even created a special section on his website telling everyone he's actually providing a real service.

    You can supply your own pencil or you can have Rees sharpen one of his own favorite 2B pencils. After that, he mails it to you in a display tube with the shavings in a separate bag, and an authentic certificate which just happens to mention the pencil is so sharp as to be a dangerous object.

    To achieve the desired result, the master sharpener uses all kinds of tools, including general sandpapers, pocket knives and even a special $450 sharpening machine. "It depends on what the customer wants to use his/her pencil for," he says. "That determines the most appropriate pencil-sharpening technique.

    Some customers buy pencils as inspirational symbols while others buy them because of their special memories of classic 2B pencils.

    $15 to have a pencil sharpened is a bit expensive though, right? You're not the only one who feels that way, and David's unique business has really angered lots of people, who talk of inequality in America, saying it is so insane for the wealthy to pay $15 to sharpen a pencil. But others will say, "This is just our urge to put an end to the welfare state because new ideas arise along with the business."

    David admits his trade is sort of unusual. But there are those who actually value his service, as proven by the over 500 orders he has gotten.

    Reuel Tolkien (1892－1973), the British linguist, writer. He created a fantasy novel "The Lord of the Rings" the well­known trilogy (三部曲).

    Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. When he was 4 years old, his father died and his family moved back to England. Tolkien graduated from Oxford University when he was 23 years old, and participated in the First World War. During the war, Tolkien suffered from "trench fever" and stayed in the hospital until the end of World War Ⅰ. It was the days in the hospital that he began his writing career first.

    After the war, Tolkien became a linguist. He was an editor of the "New English Dictionary" of 1918－1920. However, he was more researching into Anglo­Saxon language which makes his extensive contacts in Britain and the Nordic spread all over the folklore and mythology.

    In 1937, Tolkien completed his first work "The Hobbit". Although this was a fairy tale, it was also suitable for adults to read. Because of good sales, the publisher Allen & Unwin convinced Tolkien to write its sequel. This encouraged Tolkien to complete his most famous works the epic (史诗) trilogy "The Lord of the Rings". The works of writing went on for almost a year with the support from his good friend Lewis.

    At the beginning "The Lord of the Rings" was similar works for children, but after that writing style quickly became serious and dark. "The Lord of the Rings" was one of the most popular literary works in the 20th century in terms of sales and readers' evaluation. Tolkien's influence is important, for the success of "The Lord of the Rings" makes the fantasy novels of this literature genre (体裁) develop rapidly.

    A story posted by The New York Post Monday tells the tale of Katrina Holte, a Hillsboro woman who quit her job to cosplay a 1950s housewife.

    Let me start by expressing admiration to Holte for using her 2019 freedoms to follow her 1950s dreams. Everyone should be so lucky as to get to decide what they wear and how they spend their time. That's the future our foremothers fought for.

    But as much fun as I am sure she is having living a vintage (复古的) life, which literally includes watching shows like "I Love Lucy" and listening to vinyl recordings (刻录碟片), I think it's important to remember that being a 1950s housewife was actually totally awful, and something our grandmothers and mothers fought against.

    For example, once I called my grandma and asked her for her recipe for Cloud Biscuits, these delicious biscuits she used to make that we would cover with butter and homemade raspberry jam on Thanksgiving.

    "Why would you want that?" she said. "Go to the store. Go to the freezer section. Buy some pre-made biscuits and put them in the oven."

    She straight-up refused to give me the recipe, because it was hard and took a long time to make. In her mind, it was a waste of time.

    Getting off the phone, it occurred to me that spending every day of your life serving a husband and five children wasn't fun at all. And then there are the grandchildren who eventually come along demanding Cloud Biscuits, a whole new expanded set of people to feed.

    She was basically a slave to those hungry mouths, cooking scratch meals three times a day.

    When she wasn't trapped in the kitchen, she had to keep the house clean, make sure she looked good enough to be socially acceptable, and make sure her kids and husband looked good enough to be socially acceptable. And she had no days off.

    I know my grandma loves her kids and her grandkids, her husband and the life she led, but man, it must have been a lot of thankless, mindless labor.

    No wonder everyone went all-in on processed foods when they came around. Imagine the nice break something like a microwave dinner would give a woman working, unpaid, for her family every single day?

    I also had another grandma. She was a scholar who helped found the Center for the Study of Women in Society at University of Oregon. She was a pioneering second-wave feminist who wrote books, gave lectures and traveled the world.

    But, she did all of that after divorcing my grandpa, when most of her kids were out of the house. Back then, in the 1950s and the 1960s, there was no illusion about women "having it all". How could that even possibly happen? If you were taking care of a family, waiting on your husband, you had no time to follow your dreams, unless you made that your dream.

    A lot of women took that approach. We call it Stockholm Syndrome now.

    And of course, these women I am talking about are upper-middle-class white women. Romanticizing the 1950s is especially disgusting when you think about how women of color and poor women were treated back then, and the lack of education and choices available to them.

    Because the women in this country demanded something approaching equality, Holte has the chance to live out her fantasy. Not every woman in America is so lucky.

    We still don't have pay equality and in many states, we still don't have autonomy over our own bodies. Poor women and women of color still lack the opportunities of their wealthy and white peers.

    And while it's getting better, women are still expected to be responsible for the emotional labor of running a household and raising the children.

    But at least we can get jobs. At least we don't have to sew our own clothes, wear a full face of makeup every day and spend hours making Cloud Biscuits some ungrateful kid will wolf down, barely remembering to say thank you.