Language & Literature

How Did the Penguin Get its Name?

These days, we all know what a penguin looks like. Even if you haven’t seen a real, live penguin, I’m sure you have seen pictures, perhaps watched them in a film. It seems strange to think that people in Europe had no idea they existed for so many centuries! Perhaps you have wondered about that part of history.

Read More...

Art & History

Who Was Maya Angelou?

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, in St Louis, Missouri, in 1928. Her brother could not pronounce her name properly and called her Maya, the name that she came to be known by.
She had a difficult childhood – after suffering abuse when she was eight years old, she stopped talking for five years.  She later wrote her autobiography, describing overcoming her childhood trauma, and growing up in the segregated south of USA – when people of colour and white people were not allowed to mix. She was committed to the civil rights movement, which aimed to break the segregation and allow people to live freely.

Read More...

Sports

The British Skeleton Team – Sliding to Victory

skeleton olympic

How would you like to slide down a very steep and winding track of ice on something very similar to a tea tray at around 140km per hour? Yes, no, maybe. Well, there are people out there who can and do want to. And what’s more, they’re really rather good at it.
 Alongside Bobsleigh and Luge, the Skeleton is one of three sliding sports that take place on artificially refrigerated ice tracks. It’s a really white knuckle experience as each skeleton athlete pushes their sled one handed away from the start before lying down with their face first as they travel the track, using their shoulders, knees and toes for steering.

Read More...

Home, Health & Style

Living With Rosie – My Child Has Special Needs

Rosie wrote an article last week for Jump! Mag, telling us about her life on a farm. What you did not know when you read that piece, is that Rosie has special needs. Her mother explains how it is to live with a child with special needs.

 

I believe that you know immediately after giving birth that your child is different somehow.

As they grow, you notice that some milestones are different from the ones that your other children had and you silently chide yourself for comparing them.

Slower with walking, not speaking, unusual behaviour, unusual reactions to noise or red food.

You live with it every day and it becomes normal behaviour to you and your family, you adapt to the child’s needs and try to help them make sense of all that their jumbled up senses bring them.

Read More...