Lounging by the poolside last summer vacation, I thought nothing could disturb the tranquil ambience of lapping water and the steady heat of the sun. With Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams in my hands and cabana music wafting over from the beachside snack shack down the road, life felt paradisiacal. Then it came: the dissonant sound of my father’s smartphone, buzzing on the chaise nearby. Not again . [...]
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA Technology is at it again, folks. Exciting new advancements in GPS and mobile phone technology for the blind and visually impaired are in development and hitting the commercial marketplace. British company OwnFone launched the world’s first Braille mobile phone in Australia this year. Unlike most cell phones on the market today, this one offers a simplified design for its [...]
Who doesn’t love a nonsensical word or expression? Whether it be What’s your damage?, the popular ’80s phrase used to show annoyance with your friends; da bomb!, the go-to expression for ’90s kids used to describe anything cool; or bro hug, a term the current generation coined for when two guys warmly embrace, society loves creating new language to heighten its expressiveness. Most times, when I [...]
Throughout middle school and high school, I was an avid contributor to and reader of numerous social writing websites. My ambition then was mostly to write about my favorite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and some original short stories—emphasis on short. Whatever I wrote, though, I aimed to write well and make enjoyable for anyone who happened to stumble across it online. That’s [...]
When my siblings and I were younger, we had a huge tub of Legos we’d amassed from birthdays and holidays. We would spread out all the Legos across my brothers’ room, sifting through them for exactly the pieces we needed for our creations—the wheels and chassis were always hotly contested, because even a combination airplane/restaurant/castle could be made infinitely cooler if it could also roll [...]
When I think back to my childhood, I can usually come up with a handful of memories that have stayed with me through the years: spinning on the tire swing in my grandma’s backyard, the time my family and I drove 530 miles to reach Big Bend National Park, or the time my brothers and I were certain our babysitter had unknowingly swallowed [...]
According to political scientist Robert Putnam, successful democracies rely on strong social networks. In his 1993 book Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions In Modern Italy, Putnam analyzes the regional governments of Italy, positing that prosperous institutions have strong social networks, whereas less successful institutions have weak social networks. Strong social networks, he reasons, promote trust between citizens, thus strengthening the democracy. Now, a more recently published [...]
The world is constantly moving toward an overwhelmingly technological future. Every day, there is a new high-tech innovation or breakthrough—it’s rather exciting to be living in the forefront of the Information Age. With the way technology seems to be incorporating itself into everyday life, it’s essential that schools and classrooms become more equipped with digital-based curricula and devices. To get the ball rolling, in [...]
On stage, Dr. Rupal Patel is a commanding presence. She speaks clearly and passionately about her work. Patel is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology at Northeastern University and the creator of the VocaliD project. She leads a team of researchers that is developing a system to create personalized synthetic voices for people with speech impairments, called target talkers by the folks at [...]
Lincoln Logs, Legos, Tinkertoys, K’Nex, GoldieBlox. While we may associate these names with simple creative outlets for children, more adults are seeing the opportunity to teach kids about engineering beginning at an early age. With the recent increased focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), new programs are emerging to keep students engaged in these subjects throughout their academic careers, beginning as early as elementary school. [...]