Of the many unpleasant emotions we can experience, fear may top the list. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Fear can also keep us from pursuing the things in life that really matter — like following our dreams, and developing important relationships. I have some ideas, though, of how to be free from fear.

Experience fear.

I used to be very afraid of speaking in front of people. I would get sweaty palms and my stomach would be so tied up that I wouldn't be able to eat. However, each time I spoke, I noticed afterwards that it wasn't that bad. Things I fear are never as bad in reality as I make them out in my mind. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Create space.

    The first and most important step to being fearless is to create some space between ourselves and the emotion of fear. This isn't accomplished by ignoring the fear, or trying to talk ourselves out of it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. In fact, a recent research shows that by simply admitting the emotion we actually begin to reverse the "fight or flight(逃避)" response in the body.

Control the breath and feel the fear.

    Once we acknowledge the presence of fear, the second step is to control the breathing so that it becomes slower and gentler. We try to make the breath just a little bit longer, and feel how fear manifests(展现) in the body. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    With practice, we can create enough space between us and the emotion of fear so that we're able to replace a fearful thought with a positive one. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. For instance, before I get up to speak in front of a group of people, I imagine that the audience is positively impressed by what I say and that I manage to complete the speech successfully.

    When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.

    It goes like this: You can't take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We'd take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn't like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom's friend was waiting to give us a ride home — our first car ride of the day.

    The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal(多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence — the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.

    Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox — and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.

    On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where's the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?

    I'm writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn't try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.

    Nature Nurtures Farm plans to organize some charity activities in this summer. It hopes to teach young people about charity. The farm wants to get about 30,000 dollars through these activities. They will use the money to improve the public water system in the city. Here is the information about these activities.

    Farm Festival

    Time: July 18th, 9 am--4 pm

    Place: Nature Nurtures Farm

    Admission: 10 dollars for anyone 5 or older

    Other: You can enjoy music, feed farm animals, visit the fruit garden and take     pictures.

    Art show

    Time: July 18th, 2 pm--5 pm

    Place: State Capital Museum

    Admission: Free

    Other: 67 works of art will be here. You can buy any one of them, the money will go to the city public water system.

    Mentoring program

    Time: August 7th, 10 am--3 pm

    Place: Nature Nurtures Farm

    Admission: Free

    Other: Teens aged from 7 to 18 can join the program. Children with problems in helping others can get help from this program.

    In many American schools the holiday celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is used as an opportunity to teach children about his life and legacy. But in too many of those same schools, Black children's extraordinary talents are still being wasted today. Nearly three-quarters of Black fourth and eighth grade public school students cannot read or compute at grade level. Black students made up only 18 percent of students in public schools in 2009-2010 but were 40 percent of students who received one or more out-of-school suspensions (暂被停学). A Black public school student is suspended every four seconds. Black students are more than twice as likely to drop out of school as White students. Each school day 763 Black high school students drop out.

    So I applaud the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice for their recent action to address harmful school discipline policies that push so many thousands of black children out of school each year and into the juvenile (青少年) justice and adult prison pipeline. If the education system is to do its part in replacing it with a cradle to college, career and success pipeline, we must end the current practice where children in the greatest need are suspended from school mostly for nonviolent offenses.

    These resources, officially known as "guidance," will help schools and districts meet their legal responsibility to protect students from discrimination (歧视) on the basis of race, color or national origin as required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As we recognize the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and so many other important hard-won victories in the Civil Rights Movement this year, we must remember those victories could be lost without meaningful enforcement of the laws advocates fought so hard to win half a century ago.

    While the guidance does not prohibit (禁止) schools or districts from using any particular nondiscriminatory policy, it does call into question some policies that have historically excluded Black students and are of questionable educational value including "zero tolerance" discipline policies which require mandatory (强制的) consequences for certain infractions (违反), and policies that prevent students from returning to school after completion of a court sentence.

    Information of the new guidance recommendations is available at this government website for almost every school and district in the country. Check your own school district now to see whether the discipline policy is focused on creating a positive school climate and preventing misbehavior, whether consequences are clear, appropriate and consistent, and whether there is a commitment to fairness in the application of discipline.

    No one can deny that buttons are an important clothing device. But, can they rise to the level of art? Organizers of an exhibit in New York City think so.

    Peter Souleo Wright organized “The Button Show” at Rush Arts Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Eleven artists used the small, ordinary objects to create sculptures, portraits and wearable art. Some of the works are political, some are personal and others are just fun.

    Wright said each artist reimagines and repurposes the buttons to make art. “What I tried to do with this show,” he said, “was to look at artists who were promoting that level of craft.”

    He said he wanted the button art to be comparable to a painting “because of the amount of detail and precision in the work.”

    Artist Beau McCall produced “A Harlem Hangover”. It looks like a wine bottle that fell over on a table. A stream of connected red buttons hand over the side, like wine flowing down. Similar red button form a small pool on the floor.

    McCall layers buttons of different shapes and sizes to create the bottle. The stitching that holds them together is also part of the artistic design.

    For San Francisco-based artist Lisa Kokin, buttons are highly personal. After her father died in 2001, she created a portrait of him using only buttons. That memorial to her father led to other button portraits, including those of activists Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.

    Others use buttons for details. Artist Amalia Amaki of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, placed them on and around old photographs. Los Angeles artist Camilla Taylor attached buttons to three large sculptures that look like headless animals with long, narrow legs.

    “The Button Show” ends at March 12. The Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation paid for the exhibition. The foundation was created in 1995 by the Simmons brothers: artist Danny, hip-hop producer Russell and rapper Rev. Run. The foundation seeks to bring the arts to urban youth and to provide support for new artists.

Swimming and English Learning

    Can you swim? Do you like swimming? Yes? Well, how can you learn to swim? I think the best way is to go into the water and learn. I'm afraid you'll never learn to swim just by reading books about swimming or looking at others swimming. It's the same with the English study. We must practice, practice and practice.

    Listening and speaking are very important for beginners. The children in English-speaking countries first listen to others. Then they try to imitate and speak. We can listen to English programs on radio. You may just understand a few words. It doesn't matter. Just be relaxed, try to catch every word.

    Somebody may be a good listener. But he dare not speak. He's afraid of making mistakes. You know we sometimes make mistakes when we speak Chinese. Don't be afraid. We must be brave. If you really want to learn English well, you must try to speak with everyone so long as he knows English. Whether you know him or not is not important when there's nobody to talk with, you can talk to yourself in English. It's interesting and also a good way to practice your spoken English. Remember, the more you speak, the fewer mistakes you'll make.

    Reading and writing are more important for senior school students. First we must choose the books we're interested in. A lot of reading will improve your language sense. This is the most important.

    Keep writing English diaries. We can also write English articles. You may even post them to English magazines. Don't be afraid of failure. Failure is the mother of success.

    Easier said than done. Well, let's do more practice from now on. I'm sure you'll learn English well in this way.