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Municipality

noun: municipality; plural noun: municipalities a city or town that has corporate status and local government A municipality is a city administrative division, which has powers of self-government. The term is also used to refer to the governing body of a city. A municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state to a small village. In the United States, “municipality” is usually understood as a city, town, village formed by municipal charter from the state as a municipal corporation. Each November, elections are held in the United States. In some years, citizens vote in federal elections where members of Congress are elected. In some years, there is a Presidential election and in some years, municipal elections are held. 2015 is a year when municipal elections are conducted. Municipal elections are held to elect the people who will lead cities, which are often referred to as municipalities. Municipal elections vary from city to city, but there are three common types: local representative at-large, district or a mixed-system, which combines at-large and district representation. At-Large At-large members are elected to serve the same constituency, which is the population of the city as a whole. At-large election proponents favor having council members elected by the entire city because: • Council members in an at-large system can be more impartial, rise above the limited perspective of a single district and concern themselves with the problems of the whole community. • Better-qualified individuals are elected to the council because the candidate pool is larger. However, at-large elections can weaken the representation of particular groups, especially if the group does not have a citywide base of operations or is an ethnic or racial group concentrated in a specific ward. At-large elections tend to be popular in small cities and more affluent areas. District District elections select a single council member from a corresponding geographical section of the city, called a district or ward. District election proponents favor having council members elected to represent individual wards because: • District elections give all legitimate groups, especially those with a geographic base, a better chance of being represented on the city council, especially minority groups. • District council members are more sensitive to the small but important problems of their constituents, like waste disposal. • District elections may improve citizen participation because councilmen who represent a specific district may be more responsive to their constituency.

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Come Out and Play

Come Out and Play – Bomba

Here’s how to play: • First one person should be chosen to be “it.” • Everyone else should form a circle around the “it” person. • The player in the middle should close their eyes and count silently to themselves. • The players in the circle should pass (not throw the ball) around the circle. • When the “it” player reaches 10, he or she should raise one arm. • When the “it” player reaches 20, he or she should raise the other. • When he or she reaches 30, the player should yell “Bomba” and clap. • Whoever is holding the ball when “Bomba” is yelled must sit down with their legs straight out in front of them. • The game starts again, but this time players must jump over the sitting person’s legs to pass the ball. • Only jump over one person’s legs at a time. • As the game continues, it gets more difficult to pass the ball because more people will be sitting down. • The last player standing wins and becomes the new “it” player. Bomba is similar to the American game hot potato. It can be played inside or outside and the only equipment needed is a ball. At least five people should play, but there is no limit on how big the group of players can be. It is important that the space is open and can easily fit all of the players in the circle sitting with enough room to jump in between them.

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Around The World

Around the world – November 2015

Pennsylvania Bacon Fest People will have a party for almost anything. In Easton, Pennsylvania, folks are proud to celebrate one of their favorite foods: Bacon!!! The Pennsylvania Bacon Fest has grown into one of the region’s most popular events. With more than 100 vendors and a ton of musical acts performing on eight stages, the two-day festival attracts more than 50,000 people each year. The festival runs at the same time as the Easton Farmers’ Market — which happens to be the oldest, continuously operating open-air market in the country — offering local, sustainable, fresh organic bread, produce, cheese, meat and more. So it’s no surprise that one of the aspects of this festival that makes it so unusual is its mission. The goal of Bacon Fest is to promote local, sustainable farms, farm-to-table food and restaurants and, of course, bacon! While there, you can taste bacon candy or try your hand at making a unique BLT. You can also eat bacon ice cream and sample some great bacon cupcakes!! Before you eat all of that, you may want to run in the Racin’ Bacon 5K. Easton is serious about their bacon. How about you? Journalists’ Day in China On Nov. 8, Journalists’ Day will be celebrated in the People’s Republic of China. Although it was only recognized in 1999, it’s roots go back to 1934, to commemorate a reporter who was prosecuted for writing an investigative report criticizing the government. Some people find it odd that China, which controls its media, would have this holiday. China is ranked very poorly in the Press Freedom Index, usually ranking in the five worst countries for journalism. On Chinese Journalists’ Day, Chinese reporters are congratulated on their work by their supervisors and government officials. Unfortunately, they do not get a day off. It is a working holiday. Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is the kick-off to the biggest holiday season in America. Many events occur on Thanksgiving that signal the beginning of the Christmas season. But that wasn’t always the case. The first Thanksgiving didn’t have parades and marching bands. Instead it was a celebration of survival. Throughout that first brutal winter in the colonies, most of the people remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as American’s “first Thanksgiving”—although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time—the festival lasted for three days. While no record exists of the historic banquet’s exact menu, we know that there were no pies, cakes or other desserts because the colonists’ sugar supply was gone!

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What’s It Like To be

Translator

Please tell our readers a little bit about yourself. My name is Corinne McKay, and I’m a French to English translator in Boulder, Colorado. French was always my favorite subject in school, and I was lucky to have really good teachers who helped me get better at it! When I was in high school, my French teacher even took our entire French class on an exchange program to Paris for three weeks, and that’s when I really decided that I wanted to do a job that involved French. I got my bachelor’s degree in English and French, and during my junior year of college I went to school in Grenoble, France, in a program where I lived with a host family (who didn’t speak a word of English) and took all of my classes in French. After that, I got my master’s in French Literature from Boston College and worked as a high school French teacher for several years. I loved teaching, but when my daughter was born in 2002, I wanted to find a job where I could work from home and use French. That’s when I started my own freelance translation business, and 13 years later, I still love it! What does a translator do? Translators change written words from one language to another. Lots of people confuse translators with interpreters, who work with spoken words or sign language; so now you know (unlike a lot of journalists and radio newscasters!) that the phrase, “Speaking through a translator…” is incorrect, because translators don’t speak…they write! Translators usually work in only one “direction,” into their native language. So for example I only translate from French into English. Interpreters usually work in both directions, for example from English into Spanish and from Spanish into English. What kind of training does it take to be a translator? To be a translator, you need to have near-native skills in your foreign language. Some translators learn their foreign language in school, while others learn it from speaking a language other than English at home—that’s called being a heritage speaker, for example if you speak Spanish at home with your family, but speak English at school. Most translators have at least a bachelor’s degree, which could be in a foreign language or could be in another subject, and lots of translators also have a master’s degree or higher. Translators can be certified by the American Translators Association; if they pass the certification exam, they can put “CT” (Certified Translator) after their name. Translators also specialize: for example there are translators who specialize in translating scientific documents, or legal documents, or computer software, or the manuals that go with medical devices. So, lots of translators also have additional training or work experience in their specializations. When/How did you know you wanted to be a translator? I’ve loved French ever since I started taking it in middle school. In high school, I even used to translate French poems for fun (maybe a strange idea of fun, but I loved it!). When I went to school in France, I did a translation internship where I translated part of a French business school textbook, and that’s when I really decided that someday, I wanted to be a translator. Why is this work important/how does it apply to everyday life for most people? Whether you realize it or not, you probably read translations almost everyday. Books are a good example: I bet that almost anyone reading this magazine has read the fairy tales “Cinderella,” “Hansel and Gretel” or “Little Red Riding Hood.” They were originally written in German, so we can only read them in English thanks to the work of translators. If you buy Chinese tea, Italian tomato sauce or French cheese, and you don’t speak Chinese, Italian or French, you can only read the label because a translator translated it. And if American companies want to sell their products in other countries, they hire translators to translate everything from websites to product labels to patents to legal contracts. It’s actually hard to think of an example of something that would never be translated! What is a typical day like for you? Translators work with clients all over the world, which means that we often have clients in other time zones. I live in the Mountain time zone, so by the time I get up around 7 in the morning, it’s 3 in the afternoon for my clients in France and Switzerland. So, I check my e-mail as soon as I get up, so that I can write back to my European clients before they leave the office. I used to work at home, but now I work in a co-working office where you can rent a desk so that you don’t have to work from home alone. So after I have breakfast with my family, I’ll ride my bike to my office and spend most of the rest of the day translating. I spent most of this summer translating two books (a murder mystery and a mountaineering memoir), but mostly I translate for public health projects in West Africa and Haiti, and for businesses that work with clients in French-speaking countries. What do you most enjoy about your work? Being a translator is a great job if you love to read, write and learn about new things. The other day, someone said to me, “Translators know stuff that nobody else knows!” and it’s kind of true. Here are some things I’ve learned by translating about them: Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, has the world’s largest vacuum-powered garbage disposal system (yes…instead of garbage trucks, they have huge tubes that suck the garbage underground!); Switzerland has four official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansch), but the country with the most official languages is Zimbabwe, which has 16; the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair, and was never meant to be permanent. It was supposed to be demolished in 1909, but the French decided to save it because…

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Kids

Amur Leopard

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Felidae Genus: Panthera Species: Pardus Subspecies: Orientalis The Amur leopard is a species of leopard native to Russia and a small part of China. Unlike their cousins that relax in the open Savannahs of Africa, the Amur leopard has adapted to live in the temperate forests. They are the rarest big cat in the world. There are now conservation efforts trying to save the leopard from extinction like providing protected areas of forest for them to live in. So far these efforts seem to be successful. At one point there were only 35 Amur leopards left in the wild. Recently the population has risen to 57, but that is still a very small number. One of the biggest threats that they face is the loss of their habitat from logging and poaching for their beautiful fur coat. They are also known as the Far East leopard, the Manchurian leopard and the Korean leopard. 1. They usually live between 10-15 years in the wild. 2. They can carry three times their weigh up a tree. 3. They carry their prey up the tree so that other animals won’t try to steal their meal. 4. They hunt silka deer, hares, wild boar and badgers. 5. They can run up to 35 mph for sort distances. 6. Males weigh between 80 and 198 pounds. 7. Females weigh between 60 and 130 pounds. 8. Because they live in a colder climate the leopards grow long thick fur in the winter. 9. Their winter coats are very pale. 10. They hunt at night. 11. They can survive 12 to 25 days between catching prey. 12. Their habitat is near the intersection of Russia, China and Korea.

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Where in the World

South Korea

Korea is a 750 mile-long peninsula full of millions of people and beautiful cities. The peninsula is divided into two countries, North and South Korea. South Korea is a small nation full of large cities and beautiful mountains. It officially became a country on Aug. 15, 1948. It was occupied by Japan until the end of World War II. After the Korean War ended in 1953, the peninsula officially separated into North and South Korea. North Korea is a communist dictatorship but South Korea is now a successful democratic republic. Some Koreans still consider the Koreas a single nation because the Korean War never officially ended. Instead, the two nations are separated by a border that is strictly guarded on both sides with an empty stretch of land between them. There is still a lot of tension between North and South Korea. • Their currency is Won. • The capital is Seoul with a population of 10 million people. • The official language is Korean. • It is officially named the Republic of Korea. • Kimchi, or spicy pickled vegetables, is one of the most popular dishes in Korea. • There are 250 different kinds of Kimchi. • Four is considered an unlucky number. • The Korean alphabet is called Hangul. It has 10 vowels and 14 consonants. • Taekwondo, the Korean martial art, is the national sport. • Cabs are color coded for how experienced the driver is and how much they will cost. • It’s a tradition to eat seaweed soup on birthdays. • It is polite to take off shoes before going into someone’s home. • They eat with chopsticks, often made of metal. • Seoul translated into English means “capital.” • The Seoul underground railway system is the largest in the world. • Manners and being polite are very important to Korean culture.

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Weather

Blame It on El Nino

You might have heard weather forecasters on TV talking about El Niño. What is El Niño? How will it impact the weather where you live? Can you blame El Niño for snow days and bad weather? El Niño was originally recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America as the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean, occurring near the beginning of the year. El Niño means “the little boy” or “Christ child” in Spanish. This name was used for the tendency of the phenomenon to arrive around Christmas. El Niño doesn’t happen every year. But it’s here in 2015, according to forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The current El Niño has strengthened over the past few months, with a strong event likely during the late fall and early winter. When an El Niño develops, it can start a chain reaction in the atmosphere influencing the weather in places much farther away from the tropical equatorial Pacific Ocean, including the United States. Just like the tides roll in and out, our climate warms during the summer and cools during the winter. An El Niño is like changing the level of those tides in some places. Perhaps they come in a little higher or earlier now, getting you wet before you have a chance to move your beach blanket to higher ground. Meanwhile, heavy rains in the southern half of the U.S. may lead to flooding causing widespread damage to towns and communities. In addition, El Niño could elevate the risk for severe weather across the Southeast during winter. Above-average late fall to winter temperatures across the northern tier of the U.S. might mean a milder winter. Which might mean fewer snow days, if you live there. Tropical systems in the Atlantic are also suppressed, which means there is less of a chance of a storm hitting the eastern half of the country. It’s important to understand that a strong El Niño only favors these impacts, but doesn’t guarantee they will happen. Not every El Niño event leads to the same climate conditions. So don’t blame El Niño if you don’t like the weather. Bad weather happens every year— El Niño or not. Look at the map above to see how El Niño might impact your weather. It is projected to be warmer in the northern Plains, dryer in the Midwest and wetter in the South. In addition, strong El Niños are often associated with heavy winter rains across California, which could bring much needed moisture to a region devastated by drought. But if the rain comes too quickly and heavily, it could lead to damaging landslides.

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Letter From Truman

October 2015 – Letter from Truman

Hi, Kids! Have you ever heard of the United Nations? It is an organization that includes countries from all over the world – 193 of them to be exact! Through the United Nations, these countries work together to make the the world a better place. Having 193 countries working together at anything is amazing, but I learned that there are many ways to defined what a country actually is. Read about it in the “Connections” section. Being able to understand each other is an important part of working together. How do you think all those countries work together when so many of them speak different languages? They use translators! Find out what a translator does in the “What’s It Like to Be…” section. I wonder what it would be like to see every one of the 193 countries that are members of the United Nations. It seems like that might take a while! Which country would you visit first?

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Space Place

Earth’s Cousin

By Katie McKissick National Aeronautics and Space Administration Since it’s always nice to make new friends, NASA is on the lookout for exoplanets. These are planets outside our solar system. They orbit a faraway star or float freely between stars. We’re especially curious about planets similar to Earth. In our vast universe, with countless galaxies, stars and planets, are there other planets like our own? Do they have living things we could never imagine? Are there other intelligent living things that are looking for us as we are looking for them? We don’t know! But we’d sure like to find out. The Kepler mission could possibly find such an exoplanet someday. The Kepler spacecraft orbits our sun just like Earth does. It scans the starry skies for faraway planets. It looks for distant stars that decrease in brightness as planets pass in front of them. So far Kepler has found 4,696 possible planets. Of those, 1,030 are definitely planets. Some of them are enormous gas giants like Jupiter, and some of them are small rocky planets like Earth. In July of this year, Kepler made a really amazing discovery. It found a nearly Earth-sized planet orbiting a nearly sun-like star in the habitable zone. That’s the sweet spot in a solar system. The habitable zone is the distance from a star where a planet might be the right temperature to have living things. Earth sits in the habitable zone of our own star, the sun. This newly discovered planet is named Kepler-452b It’s named after the star it orbits, which we call Kepler-452. Planet Kepler-452b is about one and a half times bigger than Earth, and it’s probably rocky like Earth. One year on Kepler-452b lasts 385 days, just a little bit longer than a year here on Earth. The star it orbits is bigger, brighter and older than our sun is. That means the planet is older too. Could there be life there? It’s hard to say. Kepler-452b is 1,400 light-years away. That means it takes light, which travels staggeringly fast, 1,400 years to get there. It also means that any communications between the planets would take 1,400 years to be received. So we won’t be sending any text messages to Kepler-452b just yet. But we’ll be watching from afar. This artist’s concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger in diameter.

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Kids

ABC Monsters

This DVD contains four stories that follow a crew of big, hairy and not too scary “monsters.” Twenty six cuddly ABC Monsters live within the walls of Capital Castle, each representing a letter of the alphabet. Should any of the monsters go missing for longer than a day, all the letters will be wiped clean from every book in Capital Town, so it’s very important to make sure that all the ABC Monsters are safely back in Alphabet Gardens before the sun goes down. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. The ABC Monsters are always curious and happy creatures so they tend to wander off from Alphabet Gardens and get lost in the process. KIDS FIRST! Reviewer, child development specialist Eli B. comments, “What a great DVD! This title offers singing, dancing, puzzles and lots of character/viewer interactions throughout the DVD. This DVD supports inquiry and problem solving. The viewer is prompted to participate in phonic skills and word building via puzzles, games and songs.The animation is clear and colorful and fun to watch. This title is all about learning the alphabet. Each episode is centered around a specific letter. Within that episode, there are fill in the blank word games, songs and repetition of phonics. Any child learning the alphabet would enjoy this DVD. This title is visually very appealing! The animation is great and the songs are original and fun. The DVD cover and box are colorful and have a raised image that makes it stand out.”

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