The term teddy bear originates from a pet name of a former United States president, namely Theodore Roosevelt, who was commonly known as Teddy, who during a bear hunting trip, refused to shoot a captured bear. This particular incident was immortalised in a political cartoon in the Washington Post which was seen by Morris Michtom, who went on to create a little stuffed bear and the rest is history.


There is no doubt that the humble teddy bear appeals to all ages, as is testified

I run. I don’t have a runner’s body. But I have the spirit. I am slow, but I’m a scrapper. I put on my sneakers and plug through the miles. At times, I am not as consistent as I’d like and right now, I am working out of my winter hibernation.

A little tired and about 25 minutes out, I rolled my ankle and my leg buckled. And in the most ungraceful manner, my feet went out from under me. My head and shoulders plunged forward toward the ground. My palms met the curb. Through no

No matter how old you get, or whatever may happen in your life, your mouth will always water at the thought of your mother's home cooking. I don't know what it is about home cooking--maybe it's all the memories--but there's nothing quite like eating your mother's cooking. Being away at school has amplified this feeling for me. Eating crappy dining hall food, or even my own semi-decent cooking, makes me yearn for the days where I had my mom cook dinner for me every night. When I go home for scho

Some years ago, in the fall of 2006 to be exact, I read a story that absolutely grabbed me. I can’t describe the feeling of being ‘grabbed’ by something you read about, but I can tell you that my reaction was immediate and of heartfelt urgency. A young girl, 12 at the time, was going through chemo treatment for leukemia at Children’s Hospital in the lower 48, a great distance from her home, familiar surroundings and the friends she knew. Thousands of lonely and scary miles from her life in

It’s a few days after Christmas and the playplace is swarming with parents and children. I’ve been here a few times before and it has, in fact, never been so busy. The layout of the facility is thrilling for kids. Numerous “pretend” areas all have their own sections: a supermarket, a veterinary office, a fire station, a costume shop, a bakery, etc. The back is filled with an indoor playground, complete with pretend tree house and twisty slide. Toys and play equipment litter the space and the ce

Hello All,

Stage of Life is proud to announce its latest endeavor - the development of the first mobile storytelling game! For the last three months, we have been putting our creative efforts into drafting Writing Race, a multiplayer story writing game for Apple iPhone where friends will collaboratively (or competitively) write a story together using their mobile phone.

Our idea to expand Stage of Life’s literacy initiative to the mobile realm began as some scribbling on

When I was 10 years old, I left my home in South Korea and came to the United States to go to school. I went to a boarding school in New England and had to be away from my parents and other family members who had to stay back in Korea. And looking back to the time when I was in fifth grade, I try to put myself in my parents' shoes and think what it was like for them to send their son away halfway across the globe by himself to live by his own.

I still don't know how they could do it

I think it will be good to write something light today. How about some aspects from my teaching days? I will tell you some general experiences of my long teaching carrier.

I really miss my school days as a teacher. At school, in my class, it was my natural habitat. I felt really at home with my pupils and the more I got to know them, and the more they got to know me, our good relation made the hours we spent together not only stressless but also very enjoyable. Not that I never had

1. Above All, She Wants Your Love This harkens back to a post I wrote a couple of months ago called “Love or Respect: Which Do You Prefer?” In this article I explained that men desire respect from their wives, and women desire love from their husbands. When a wife shows her husband less respect, he in turn shows her less love. And when a husband shows his wife less love, she in turn shows him less respect. And the vicious cycle repeats itself. Stop this prophecy before it becomes self-fulfilli

In our home, we often make up silly songs. It started before we had kids, so we can't blame it on the children, but we can blame it in our cats. When we adopted two cats from a rescue organization, somehow it seemed fitting that each should have a theme song (What can we say? We were wild and crazy back then!) When our kids arrived, each got his or her own baby theme song, usually a rendition of a more famous tune with the words changed. Some of those stuck, like the Elvis song for our second d