Road Landscape Depictions

Inspired by quiet rural roads and grand, open landscapes, artist Grant Haffner creates vibrant neon depictions of sprawling vistas bursting with bright color.

Gifts for Gifted Children

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Children at a Puppet Theatre, Paris, 1963

Each summer I teach creative writing classes at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. It’s a wonderful job for many reasons: my colleagues are uniformly, eccentrically brilliant, I’ve taught at campuses all over the country, from Los Angeles to the U.S. Virgin Islands

The Alpine Lakes And Waterfalls of Jiuzhaigou

The Jiuzhaigou Valley, located at the foot of the snow-capped Minshan Mountain, in the north of Sichuan province, China, is a place of exceptional beauty. A nature reserve and a national park, Jiuzhaigou is known for its spectacular jagged alpine mountains, coniferous forests, blue, green and turquoise-colored lakes, waterfalls, limestone terraces, caves and other beautiful features.

Why Silence is So Good For Your Brain

We live in a loud and distracting world, where silence is increasingly difficult to come by and that may be negatively affecting our health.

In fact, a 2011 World Health Organization report called noise pollution a “modern plague,” concluding that “there is overwhelming evidence that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.”

This Unique New Bookstore is Filled With Optical Illusions

A new bookstore has recently opened in Hangzhou, China, and the inside is kind of amazing to see.

The store is located just above the main plaza, within the commercial center of Star Avenue, in the Binjiang District, and adjacent to Qiantang River.

Just… B

B hopeful, B happy, B cheerful, B kind,
B busy of body, B modest of mind,
B earnest, B truthful, B firm and B fair…
B watchful, B ready, B open, B frank,
B manly to all men, whatever B their rank,
B just and B generous, B honest, B wise…
B temperate, B steadfast, to anger B slow.