When Dee Dee Bridgewater learned that she would become a 2017 NEA Jazz Master, a series of thoughts and feelings flooded her mind. “It was so far out of my orbit and just my whole sphere of thinking,” she said in a conversation at NPR this spring, hours before she formally received her award.

    She's 66-far from retirement age in jazz, and on the extreme forward edge of the NEA Jazz Masters people. So she was aware of her relative youth in the field She also recognized that there haven't been many women in the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters: fewer than 20, out of 145. That idea led her to reflect on her predecessors (前任): legendary singers like Betty Carter* who was seated back in 1992, and Abbey Lincoln, who received the nod in 2003.

    Bridgewater sought inspiration and advice from both Carter and Lincoln, as she recalls in this period of Jazz Night, which features music recorded during the season opener for Jazz at Lincoln Center. On a program called “Songs of Freedom”, organized by drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., Bridgewater sang material associated with Lincoln as well as Nina Simone: an extremely angry song of the civil rights movement, like “Mississippi Goddam”.

    A separate concert, “Songs We Love”, found Bridgewater singing less politically charged (but still exciting) fare like “St. James Infirmary”, which appears on her most recent album. In words as well as music, this period reveals how seriously Bridgewater takes that responsibility, seeing as how it connects to her own experience in the jazz lineage. But maybe “seriously” isn't the right word when it comes to Dee Dee, whose effervescence (欢腾) shines through even in a reflective mood. Join her here for a while; she's excellent company, no more or less so now that mastery is officially a part of her resume.

    Scientists have recreated a 1985 study of birds in Peru that shows climate change is pushing them from their natural environment. Thirty years ago, researchers studied more than 400 kinds of birds living on a mountainside in Peru. In 2017, researchers looked again at the bird populations. They found that almost all had moved to higher places in the mountain. Almost all had decreased in size. And, the scientists say at least eight bird groups that move to the higher altitude had died out completely.

    Mark Urban, director of the Center of Biological Risk at the University of Connecticut, said this recent study was the first to prove that rising temperatures and moving to avoid them can lead to extinction.

    In 1985, Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and a team of scientists established a camp alongside a river running down a mountainside in southeastern Peru. He wanted to document where tropical bird groups lived. His team spent several weeks using nets to catch and release birds. They kept detailed notes of birds they caught, saw or heard. In 2016, Fitzpatrick passed his notes, photos and other records to Benjamin Freeman. Freeman who has been researching tropical birds for more than 10 years set out in August and September of 2017 to copy Fitzpatrick's study. His team used the same methods, searching the same places in the same time of year.

    Freeman said that the birds moved an average of 98 meters further up the mountain, believing that temperature is the main cause of the birds' movement. Fitzpatrick noted that birds used to living in areas with little temperature change might be especially at risk because of climate change. He said, "We should expect that what's happening on this mountain top is happening more generally in the Andes, and other tropical mountain ranges."

    America's businesses are getting older and fatter, while many new businesses are dying in infancy.

    A study last month by the Brookings Institution found that the proportion of older firms has grown steadily over several decades, while the survival rate of new companies has fallen. In addition, young people are starting companies at a sharply lower rate than in the past.

    A new report from the National Association of Manufacturers shows a major cause: The cost of obeying government regulations has risen to more than $2 trillion (12.26 trillion yuan) annually, or 12 percent of the GDP, and this cost falls disproportionately on smaller, newer businesses.

    It's risky, difficult and expensive to start a business, and getting more so. Governments are imposing various new rules on a seemingly daily basis: health insurance, minimum wage increases and, most recently in California, compulsory paid sick days for even hourly employees. These regulations shift huge social welfare costs directly onto often-struggling small businesses, while being proportionally much less costly for larger companies.

This is partly an unintended issue of resources—established companies can cope with new costs more easily—but it's also deliberate. For instance, big insurance companies got a seat at the table to help write Obama care, but less politically powerful firms—like medical device manufacturers—got squeezed.

    Mature, successful corporations can employ ex-lawmakers with connections, distribute campaign contributions and even write regulations for themselves. They are also more likely to want to protect steady revenue streams than revolutionize their industry.

Major companies that have been so ill-managed they would otherwise collapse—airlines, car companies and banks—stagger(蹒跚)on because politicians ride to the rescue with bags of taxpayer money.

    The genius of our unique system of government is the determination to protect and defend the rights of the individual over the rights of the nation. As such, the rise of a well-connected oligarchy(寡头政治)that protects big business at the expense of small business, and the established over the new, is opposite to American ideals.

Income inequalitywhich is directly caused by faulty government policy—is being promoted as the reason to impose more of that bad policy. But let's be perfectly clear, we do not have a free market but one where government picks winners and losers through regulations and financial aids.

    Politics is, and always has been, about balancing competing interests seeking to benefit themselves, and that's as it should be, but the force of government should never be used to reduce competition, kill innovation or support and extend artificial monopolies(垄断)by harming the consumer, the taxpayer and the economy. Policy must breed our new and small businesses or see the as-yet undreamed of innovations that could be our bright future die in infancy.

The Amazon Clipper

    Join the Amazon Clipper for an exciting journey through the world's most plentiful river and largest typical jungle. The river is surely an excellent way to get to know the complex secrets of the Amazon rainforest.

    Day 01 Wednesday: Departure

    The boat departs from the Tropical Experience Hotel at 11:30 am. Once on board, you'll be introduced to the staff and to your room. The hotel will be ready to serve some delicious food for lunch. You'll then navigate towards the Pagodao River.

    Day 02 Thursday: Amazon

    In the morning you'll have a hike in the forest with a specialist guide. You'll have the chance to know the local vegetation(植物) ,as well as spend some time with a native family. You'll see how they prepare manioc (树薯) flour, very typical of the Amazon dietary culture. You'll then sail through Anavilhanas, the largest fresh water archipelago (群岛)in the world.

    Day 03 Friday: Amazon

    Today you'll sail to Praia Grande or another white sand beach. Hopefully there will be some time to swim! Then, you'll take a canoe trip on Lake Acajatuba, to observe the typical vegetation. Then, you'll stop at Paricatuba to see some abandoned buildings from the rubber growing age.

    If you make a list of the top ten most challenging jobs in the world, chances are that being a teacher will not make the cut. Let's think about their complex task millions of educators face each day as they try to teach a group of often unfriendly, disorderly kids into intelligent, well-rounded individuals. That surely has to be the toughest job in the world, especially taking into consideration that there is no promotion waiting for them even if they are wildly successful!

    What if these all-important individuals that we often take for granted disappear from our lives? That was what Project Ed and Participant Media's teaching campaign asked filmmakers of all ages to envision for their recently-held contest.

    Their short films were called "A World without Teachers", whose intention was to inspire more young people to become teachers. However, the 62 amazing video submissions (提交物) also serve as a reminder of how terrible things would be if we didn't have these selfless individuals guiding us through life. What was interesting is that even the youngest contestants didn't accept the idea that there's no person to tell them what to do.

    High-school student Savannah Wakefield considered if art as we know today would have been different without teachers. Would C. Monet have discovered his talent for impressionism?

    Miles Horst won the 1,000-dollar prize for the best adult submission, lie pictures n world where teachers are replaced by a "brain box". Youth group winner Marina Barham's video describes a fact we all know but often forget. Teachers don't just teach; they inspire—something that no electronic device, no matter how smart, can do!

    So the next time you think your teacher is being "troublesome" for trying to channel you in the right direction, imagine a life without him/her.