Last week I caught up with a former high school student who happened to be in San Diego, California for a visit. Now a twenty-something graduate assistant and student finding her way in the world, we spent the day discussing travel wishes, living in new cities, dreams, opportunities, and how learning should be fun.

Are you planning an extraordinary vacation – wanting something different from the norm - out of this world family holidays? Short of jetting off into space, you’ve got some research ahead of you. But let me suggest something that will be remembered forever, marked down in family lore, and be magical, to boot – stay in a castle.

Yes. A castle. How cool is that?!

Everyone has bias. Pre-conceived notions affect individual lives as well as the way in which individuals operate within a system; bias affects the life you are interacting with. Officer Darren Wilson worked in a system where he was entitled to the rights to reinforce the racial bias. Ferguson will go down in the history books as our generation’s civil rights movement. Although there is a heated debate over Wilson’s indictment, I believe the bigger issue is the structural problem of bias in America’s criminal justice system.

Sugar Land, 20 miles southwest of Houston, is poised to receive more than 10,000 food and wine lovers this week. The 12th Annual Sugar Land Wine & Food Affair kicks off Wednesday, April 8 and runs through Sunday, April 12.

Premium wines, only 400 bottles shy of 3,000, will be swirled, savored, and paired with delicious samplings of haute cuisine prepared by nearly 100 Texas, national, and international celebrity chefs representing some of the region’s best restaurants.

Amazon Student Field Reporter Project: We’ve enlisted the help of several students to share their 2015 Amazon experiences with us. Over the coming months we will regularly feature their posts, photos, and reflections – letting them tell their amazing stories of the Amazon and its impact on their lives! 

I think that nobody can stay unmoved by Asun's Art. Her etchings, drawings paintings draw you into a dreamworld, where nature is untouched and innocent, mysterious and magical.

At the same time Asun's delicate paintings witness to the rigor, if not cruelty of nature. they testify that this is a "hard world for little things" ...