Things to Do in Atlanta This Weekend

    Start the year off by experiencing something new this weekend! Here are our favorite events picked for this weekend.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra at Spivey Hall, Saturday

    The music of Glenn Miller has an unusual sound. Combine that with the perfect sound affects at Spivey Hall, and you get a concert that is sure to have your toes tapping. And really, who doesn't love Challanooga Choo Choo?

Garden Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Saturday

    This is the last night for this annual light show at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. It is particularly unusual that the magical sound of frogs in the conservatory(温室) is not from a recording. That magic is coming from the real frogs that live there. If it's no too crowded, stop along the way, close your eyes and just listen.

    Children's Workshop: Egyptian Hieroglyphs(象形文字), Saturday

   Does your child dream of becoming a historian when he grows up? If you answer “yes”, you will want to take him to the Michael C. Carlos Museum. Participants will learn how to read and write ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs from Egyptologist Annie Shanley. Children will have an opportunity to discover the meaning of hieroglyphs on tomb reliefs and statues.

Colin Mochrie at Dad's Garage Theatre, Saturday and Sunday

    Set the tone for a great 2017 with laughter. Colin Mochrie comes to Dad's Garage Theatre and brings his lightning-quick creativity and humor.

    If you want to look at all the events happening this weekend, check out our full events calendar.

    “A good book might clarify something you knew little about, transform your world view, or move you in ways you didn't think possible. The Soul of an Octopus(章鱼)delivers on all three, ”the magazine New Scientist commented.

    After writing about birds, pigs and tigers, US naturalist Sy Montgomery decided to choose these many-footed animals as the subject of her latest book, The Soul of an Octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness.

    “Here is animal with poisonous liquid like a snake，a beak(喙)like a parrot，and ink like an old-fashioned pen. It can weigh as much as a man and extend as long as a car, yet it can pour its baggy; boneless body through an opening the size of all orange. It can change color and shape. It has a tongue covered with teeth. It can taste with its skin.” Montgomery explained to the National Geographic on why octopuses inspired her.

    What Montgomery is able to show in The Soul of an Octopus is that octopuses are creatures who exhibit personality, intelligence and emotion, despite having nervous systems completely different from our own. She uses different experiments to show that they possess consciousness as well as individual personalities. For example, based on her research, she finds out that Octavia, an octopus caught in the wild, is friendly and good at multi-tasking. And Kali, another octopus，who has been living at the New England Aquarium, is playful and loves exploring.

    Montgomery is a good storyteller. Through her study of, and communication with, these extraordinary creatures she shares what she learns from both science and her experiences. Her skillful writing presents facts together with personal description, which makes the book very informative but easy to read.

    The following is a timetable in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

    Inside Out is one of my favorite Disney / Pixar movies. The story is about a young girl named Riley who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family and how she deals with her emotions (情感) through the move. These five emotions in Riley's brain are Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust (厌恶) and Sadness. These emotions play a very important role in her life. I can understand because I am an 11-year-old girl and I am very in touch with my emotions and pre-teen feelings.

    The film is extremely beautiful and you couldn't ask for better direction from Pete Doctor. The use of the right colors for the characters is great. For example, Joy is yellow, Sadness is blue, Disgust is green, Fear is purple and Anger of course is red. Sadness plays a main role in the story and it makes me wonder why we are told not to be sad. I think it's important to be sad when the time comes. The end of the movie pretty much got me and the whole audience (观众) (families, couples and even elderly people) in tears and I cried very hard.

    I recommend (推荐) this movie for anyone from 8 to 18 because it has enough joy in it for younger kids to like it even though it does have some sad moments. I believe that adults will like it too. And I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it connects to an older audience even though it is designed for a younger audience. I think younger children can see this, but a parent would have to explain some things to them after the movie.

    In this Pennsylvania city, Pittsburgh is shrinking but getting wealthier. Since 2000, its population has declined by 95,000 while its income per capita (人均) has shot up 24 percent. The trend is taking hold in many other cities, like Buffalo in New York, Providence in Rhode Island and New Orleans.

    Some of these areas have created more high-paying jobs in energy, health care or education. Others have managed to reshape their producing industry for a new economy. Higher-paying jobs have a greater effect because they create demand for additional services. "The story in Pittsburgh is very positive, and other areas are looking at it as an example of the transformation that might be possible,” said Guhan Venkatu, who wrote an economic history of the area called “Rust and Renewal” for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

    Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have helped bring tech jobs and innovation(革新) to the area by sponsoring tech centers that help graduates start companies without moving to Silicon Valley or San Francisco. This has helped keep Pittsburgh's educated young population growing even as the entire population in the city has dropped.

    Pittsburgh has more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs than other shrinking cities, about 80, 000 or 7% of all jobs. STEM jobs add productivity and income growth to the area. Manufacturers of high-tech medical equipment in the Pittsburgh area also have doubled employment in the last 10 years.

    However, some experts question whether growing income per capita can really make up for a declining population. According to Patrick Adler, a researcher at the University of Toronto, population loss does matter if it means lower-skilled workers have fled because of a lack of opportunity. What's more, high-paying jobs in education and health care can disappear if the population declines too greatly. So it'd be wise to find ways to increase the population.

    About 30 years ago, I left Cuba for the United States with my son. After getting settled finally in Brunswick, New Jersey, I enrolled (注册) my son in kindergarten. Several weeks later, my son's teacher asked me to meet him at his office.

    In the teacher's office, and exchange of greetings was followed by his questions: "Is your son mentally retarded (弱智的)? Does he suffer from any kind of mental disability?"

    Was he talking about my wonderful Scola? No, no, it can't be. What a helpless, lonely moment! I told him that Scola was a quiet, sweet little boy, instead. I asked him why he was asking me all these questions.

    My son could not follow the teacher's directions, he told me, and thus, Scola was disrupting the class. Didn't he know my son did not speak English yet? He was angry: "Why hasn't your son been taught to speak English? Don't you speak English at home?"

    No, I didn't speak English at home, I replied. I was sure my son would learn English in a couple of months, and I didn't want him to forget his native language. Well, wrong answer!

    What kind of person would not speak in English to her son at home and at all times? "Are you one of those people who come to this country to save dollars and sent them back to their country, never wanting to be a part of this society?"

    Needless to say, I tried to tell him I was not one of "those people." Then he told me the meeting was over, and I left.

    As I had expected, my son learned to speak English fluently before the school year was over. He went on to graduate from college and got a job, earning close to six figures. He travels widely and leads a well-adjusted, contented life. And he has benefited from being bilingual (双语的).

    Speaking more than one language allows people to communicate with others; it teaches people about other cultures and other places- something very basic and obviously lacking in the "educator" I met in New Jersey.