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How to Make the Audio in Your Projects Sound Better

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How to Make the Audio in Your Projects Sound Better

Tired of tinny sound, echoes, inaudible dialogue or just bad audio in your home recording efforts? The popularity of social-media video and podcasts has led to a variety of affordable microphones, software and other tools for creating better-quality audio for personal projects. Even if you don’t plan to start a podcast, understanding digital audio a bit more can make other tasks like recording Grandma’s stories for a family-history archive or adding a narration track to your vacation videos sound much cleaner.

Here’s an overview.

Just about every laptop includes a microphone for videoconferencing and audio calls, but the fidelity can be lacking. An external microphone that plugs into your computer’s USB port gives you much better sound quality. Logitech’s Yeti ($130) and the Shure MV5 ($99) are two models recommended by Wirecutter, the product review site owned by The New York Times. (Setup is usually simple, but if you plug in the mic and nothing happens, make sure the new hardware is selected in the computer’s sound input settings.)

An external microphone, like the Yeti, connects to the computer through the USB port.Credit…J.D. Biersdorfer

Recording on a smartphone is standard for social-media video and audio. The phone’s own headset microphone and earphones may work in some situations. If you need an external mic, say, to clip to an interview subject’s shirt, you have options. RØDE makes phone-friendly external microphones, and Amazon sells a wide variety from different companies, most for less than $100. (Given the ever-changing ports on smartphones these days, make sure the mic you like will connect to your phone properly.)

If your new microphone does not seem to be working after you plug it into the computer, check your system’s sound settings to make sure the new mic is selected as the input source.Credit…Apple

Digital voice recorders — with USB connectivity so you can transfer the recordings — are another option, although the inexpensive models probably won’t sound that great. Wirecutter recommends the $190 Sony UX560. The Zoom Corporation makes a number of hand-held recorders designed for professional use, including the $120 H1n-VP model.

A good pair of headphones can also come in handy during the recording and editing process, as can a quiet room free of echoes and background noise.

For capturing quick recordings like spontaneous stories from toddlers, the app from your phone maker — like Apple’s Voice Memos, Google’s Android Recorder and Samsung’s Voice Recorder — can work. Plenty of third-party recording apps are available as well, including the free Dolby On for Android and iOS.

Riverside has tools for long-distance interviews; speakers can see each other in a video-chat window, and the software records each person directly on his or her phone or computer. The separate tracks are uploaded to a server after the session, so you don’t have to worry about a slow internet connection causing glitchy audio during recording — as can happen when directly recording audio or video conferences. Riverside ($15 a month; a free trial is available) works in a browser and has its own mobile apps. Zencastr is a similar service for browsers but currently offers only an iOS app.

You can also record audio directly onto your computer. Subscription programs like Adobe Audition ($21 a month) and Avid Pro Tools (starting at $10 a month) are designed for professionals, but if you’re just starting out, free software can do the job. Audacity for Windows, Mac and Linux and Apple’s GarageBand software for Mac and iOS are two options; Apple’s free iMovie program can record voice-over narration for videos you have created.

When you open a sound file in an editing program, the audio data is visually displayed as a series of waveforms. Bigger, denser waves represent a lot of sound, while smaller waves or flat lines depict the quieter or silent parts of the recording. You edit the file by adjusting these waveforms.

Editing can be a complex process, but taking the time to work on your recordings allows you to whittle down a recorded conversation to just the important parts or clip out disruptions like the dog barking in the middle of your narration. Among other things, you can also adjust the volume of the speakers within the recording, add music or filter out persistent noise like the hum of an air-conditioner.

It may feel overwhelming, but you can find help and learning guides for most programs online. Audacity and GarageBand have instructions and tutorials geared toward beginners, and the latter even supplies pop-up tips to help you understand the program’s controls.

Audio editing has a learning curve, but the availability of relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use hardware and software lets you dive in without breaking the bank — and sound all the better for it.

What Role Should Young People Play in the Fight Against Climate Change?

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What Role Should Young People Play in the Fight Against Climate Change?

In June, a group of young people in Montana won a landmark lawsuit related to climate change when, for the first time in the United States, a judge ruled that the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil fuel projects was unconstitutional. Youth-led climate litigation is moving forward in other states too — and elsewhere around the world. With these lawsuits, along with social media activism and protests, Gen Z is making its voice heard.

How concerned are you about the planet? What role do you think young people should play in the fight against climate change? To what extent do you think your generation has any power to make a difference?

In “With TikTok and Lawsuits, Gen Z Takes on Climate Change,” David Gelles writes:

As Kaliko Teruya was coming home from her hula lesson on Aug. 8, her father called. The apartment in Lahaina was gone, he said, and he was running for his life.

He was trying to escape the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century, an inferno in Hawaii fueled by powerful winds from a faraway hurricane and barely hindered by the state’s weak defenses against natural disasters.

Her father survived. But for Kaliko, 13, the destruction of the past week has reinforced her commitment to a cause that is coming to define her generation.

“The fire was made so much worse due to climate change,” she said. “How many more natural disasters have to happen before grown-ups realize the urgency?”

Like a growing number of young people, Kaliko is engaged in efforts to raise awareness about global warming and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, last year she and 13 other young people, age 9 to 18, sued their home state, Hawaii, over its use of fossil fuels.

With active lawsuits in five states, TikTok videos that mix humor and outrage, and marches in the streets, it’s a movement that is seeking to shape policy, sway elections and shift a narrative that its proponents say too often emphasizes climate catastrophes instead of the need to make the planet healthier and cleaner.

Young climate activists in the United States have not yet had the same impact of their counterparts in Europe, where Greta Thunberg has galvanized a generation. But during a summer of record heat, choking wildfire smoke and now a hurricane bearing down on Los Angeles, American teenagers and 20-somethings concerned about the planet are increasingly being taken seriously.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • A 2021 survey of people ages 16 to 25 in 10 countries found that three-quarters of the participants were frightened of the future. More than half said that humanity was doomed. Do you agree with those sentiments? How concerned are you about climate change? Why?

  • Are you or your friends trying to create a healthier planet? In what ways?

  • Have you heard about the lawsuits that young people are filing, like the one in Montana, to help shape climate policy? Do these actions inspire confidence in you that young people can make a difference? Why, or why not?

  • Badge Busse, 15, a plaintiff in the Montana case, said, “The fact that kids are taking this action is incredible. But it’s sad that it had to come to us. We’re the last resort.” What is your response to that?

  • What role do you think young people should play in the fight against climate change?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

What Small Moments From Your Life Do You Think About Often?

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What Small Moments From Your Life Do You Think About Often?

Cast Doubt

Left arm wrapped in a bright yellow cast, I marched into my first-grade classroom, brandishing my shattered wrist for all to see.

“Can I sign it?”

For the next three weeks, I was a celebrity. Elected line leader, I paraded my troops across campus, signatures and doodles adorning my casted arm. But it turns out, I wasn’t the celebrity: the cast was.

Castless, I asked Molly, the prettiest girl in class, what she thought about my now-splinted arm.

“Your breath smells like barf.”

To the back of the line I went, with the rest of the W’s, X’s and Y’s.

— Adam Xu, 16, Saratoga High School, Saratoga, Calif.

Impromptu Party

Beyoncé blasting through the phone, the midday pajama party is in full force. My sister and I jump, jig, gyrate. Our feet stir an earthquake — this time the downstairs-neighbors have surely had enough. “Aye!!!” Notes spill from my mouth, reverberating off the bedroom walls. My sis hits a mean nae-nae; I mirror it. “GURL! Turn this up!”

A knock on the door. Suddenly, I’ve become a statue mid-two-step. Wide eyes locking, we scramble to hit pause. We’re deers in headlights — frozen and bracing for impact. Mom’s stern face peers through the crack. “Y’all playing Queen B and I wasn’t invited!?”

— Alexander Wu, 17, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering, New York, N.Y.

Baby Tim

6 p.m.: The words “I dare you” were muttered at an empty park. 6:05 p.m.: I slid my legs into a baby swing. 6:15 p.m.: My friends and I laughed hysterically as my legs dangled. 6:30 p.m.: I was stuck. 7 p.m.: No one called for a parent in fear of stark punishment. 7:30 p.m.: My legs became red and numb, but we finally called a parent. 8 p.m.: The fire truck arrived with baby oil and bolt cutters. 8:15 p.m.: Freedom. Four years later: My friends still call me “Baby Tim.”

— Timothy, 15, Derry Area High School, Derry, Pa.

Imperial System

When my family and I hurriedly left Shanghai for Boston, I only had a day to say goodbye to my boyfriend. The torment of a three-month long lockdown lingered. After he let me cry into his shoulder for hours, he said, “Y’know that America still uses the imperial system, right?” I laughed and said yes. We were supposed to graduate together, go to prom together, have dates by the Bund together. But I never imagined my first love ending like this: watching his figure shrink from my car window, the distance between us growing from meters to miles.

— Jessica Zhang, 17, Northfield Mount Hermon, Mount Hermon, Mass.

Skydiving

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Skydiving

How adventurous are you? Do you seek out new experiences, thrills and challenges, or are you happier with more familiar and safer activities?

Dorothy Hoffner, born in 1918, had survived both the Spanish flu and Covid pandemics, as well as her first skydiving attempt at age 100. On Oct. 1, at 104, she broke the world record for oldest person in the world to skydive.

The Times writes:

Did she feel nervous? “No,” she said in an interview Monday.

Was she aware that she would be likely to break the Guinness World Record for oldest person in the world to skydive? “Had no idea.”

Strapped to an instructor, Ms. Hoffner jumped off the plane, soaked in views of curly river streams and square patches of land, and made history as she touched down in Ottawa, describing the downward ride as “wonderful” to a small crowd who had gathered to congratulate her.

Would you describe yourself as a thrill-seeker, risk-taker or adventurer? Do extreme feats, physical or otherwise, excite or terrify you? What is the most daring thing you have ever done?

What’s something adventurous you always wanted to do, but we’re too afraid to try? Does Ms. Hoffner’s bravery inspire you to try it?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about Ms. Hoffner’s daredevilry and watch a video of her record-setting skydive.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

Word of the Day: interlocutor

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Word of the Day: interlocutor

The word interlocutor has appeared in 42 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 17 in the Opinion essay “Debate Doesn’t Have to Be Divisive” by Peter Coy:

There are good debates and bad debates. The bad ones are like the argument sketch from the old British television show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” A man who has paid to have an argument complains that his interlocutor is simply contradicting him. “Argument is an intellectual process,” he insists. “Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.” The interlocutor responds, “No, it isn’t.”

Can you correctly use the word interlocutor in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how interlocutor can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Should Students Let ChatGPT Help Them Write Their College Essays?

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Should Students Let ChatGPT Help Them Write Their College Essays?

Teachers: We also have a lesson plan that accompanies this Student Opinion forum.

Are you working on a college application essay? Have you sought help from an adult? How about from an A.I. chatbot like ChatGPT or Bard? Were either useful? If so, how?

The New York Times recently published two articles about the questions these new tools are raising for the college process. One explores how A.I. chatbots are upending essay-writing. The other details what happened when a reporter fed application questions from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth to different bots.

Here’s how the first article, “Ban or Embrace? Colleges Wrestle With A.I.-Generated Admissions Essays,” explains what’s going on:

The personal essay has long been a staple of the application process at elite colleges, not to mention a bane for generations of high school students. Admissions officers have often employed applicants’ essays as a lens into their unique character, pluck, potential and ability to handle adversity. As a result, some former students say they felt tremendous pressure to develop, or at least concoct, a singular personal writing voice.

But new A.I. tools threaten to recast the college application essay as a kind of generic cake mix, which high school students may simply lard or spice up to reflect their own tastes, interests and experiences — casting doubt on the legitimacy of applicants’ writing samples as authentic, individualized admissions yardsticks.

The piece continues:

Some teachers said they were troubled by the idea of students using A.I. tools to produce college essay themes and texts for deeper reasons: Outsourcing writing to bots could hinder students from developing important critical thinking and storytelling skills.

“Part of the process of the college essay is finding your writing voice through all of that drafting and revising,” said Susan Barber, an Advanced Placement English literature teacher at Midtown High School, a public school in Atlanta. “And I think that’s something that ChatGPT would be robbing them of.”

In August, Ms. Barber assigned her 12th-grade students to write college essays. This week, she held class discussions about ChatGPT, cautioning students that using A.I. chatbots to generate ideas or writing could make their college essays sound too generic. She advised them to focus more on their personal views and voices.

Other educators said they hoped the A.I. tools might have a democratizing effect. Wealthier high school students, these experts noted, often have access to resources — alumni parents, family friends, paid writing coaches — to help them brainstorm, draft and edit their college admissions essays. ChatGPT could play a similar role for students who lack such resources, they said, especially those at large high schools where overworked college counselors have little time for individualized essay coaching.

The second article, “We Used A.I. to Write Essays for Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Here’s How It Went,” includes this example:

Dartmouth requires applicants to explain why they want to attend the college.

I primed the A.I. chatbots by asking them to write in the voice of a high school senior who was hoping to double major at Dartmouth in computer science and biology.

HuggingChat churned out text with trite words and phrases — “passion,” “meaningful impact,” “rigorous academic programs” — that seemed to me like the kind of stilted formal language a high school student might imagine a college admissions reviewer would want to read.

How I Went from Quality Assurance Intern to DEI Program Manager

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How I Went from Quality Assurance Intern to DEI Program Manager

Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life.

Today’s story is from Neiko Lampkin, a 28-year-old DEI Program Manager at the cybersecurity company Expel, living in Alexandria, Virginia. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here.

Why I chose to learn to code

“Back in January of 2018 I enrolled in a year-long workforce development program called Year Up. The way that the program works, you study for the first six months and then the six months following they partner you with one of their corporate sponsors for a six-month internship. Prior to Year Up, I had done a lot of retail and food service jobs.

I had never heard of the company Expel before, but I was brought on to be a Quality Assurance Intern, so I was testing our workbench platform and building out an automated test suite. I got there on the first day and I realized, I’m not exactly sure how to do my job here. Over the course of a month, I started to understand how the business operates, but still didn’t have those technical skills needed to effectively perform my position at that time.

Learn something new for free

With full transparency, I went to my manager and shared with her that I was experiencing a little bit of impostor syndrome and that I felt like the skills gap between what I needed to effectively perform my job and what I brought to the internship just wasn’t there. She encouraged me to look into coding boot camps and online platforms that offered coding skills workshops. I came across Codecademy, and I started taking some of the courses. That was really the first time that programming began to stick with me.”

How I made time to learn

“They allotted me time during the internship to study Codecademy and go through the courses. I also spent a little bit of time outside of the internship working on it because I was eager to learn. Because the internship was only six months, I wanted to learn it as soon as I could, that way I could transition from being an intern who’s still learning the skills to being an intern performing the skills.”

How I saved up money to switch careers

“My manager saw the progress I made over a few weeks, and shortly after, I shared that I was interested in the Codecademy Pro paths, which are more costly. I told her, ‘I’m committed to being here, I want to convert this internship into a full-time position. If there’s a way that we can deduct the cost of the intensive* from the stipend that I was being paid through the workforce development program, I’d be willing to do that.’ We were able to work out a plan to make that happen.”

Did you know you can ask your company to pay for you to take our courses?

Here’s how to approach your employer about paying for professional development. Be sure to browse all of our plans to find one that fits your goals.

How long it took me to land a job

“Six months later, once that internship was over, they decided to bring me on full time as a Software Engineer in Test.”

How I got in the door

“Codecademy was really one of the first programs that helped me retain the concepts that I struggled with learning. It was also one of the tools that was instrumental in me being able to convert that internship into a full-time position.”

I wish I knew that I didn’t have to compare myself to anyone else and that everyone’s journey is different.

Neiko Lampkin

DEI Program Manager at Expel

How I nailed the interview

“I think there were just certain intangibles that they saw in me and appreciated. One was having that learner spirit, constantly wanting to learn, investing in learning, and really being committed to understanding how to do the role. If I’m being completely honest, they probably could have hired someone with more technical skills than I had at that time. A lot of the soft skills that I brought to the job were some of the things that made them feel very confident in my ability to continue to learn, perform, and grow within the role. I also had a desire to build relationships with a lot of people there and make the company better.”

How I evaluated the offer

“What really made me not even have to second guess the offer was just their culture and commitment to taking care of their customers and their employees. It’s something that I think is shown through the way leadership handles running our organization; they’re very transparent.

[Expel] has been instrumental in helping me develop psychological safety, because I was entirely new to this space. When I got to Expel, it seemed like everyone knew way more than I did. Being able to admit mistakes or failures and learn from those things has created a culture where, if I do fail, I can feel comfortable having a conversation about it.”

How I switched from engineering to DEI work

“There were a few experiences that solidified the way I want to grow my career. Going through Year Up, I was able to develop strong connections and relationships with people who came from many different backgrounds and lived experiences who faced so many challenges in obtaining career opportunities. That was something that I wanted to change.

Another experience was when I attended the conference AfroTech back in 2019, the first year that I was working at Expel. I remember being in the expo room where they had all of these companies who were recruiting at AfroTech, and they had their Black ERGs present and all of these things. It was a very welcoming experience for me, and it was the first time I felt sense of belonging in this space. Leaving the conference, it was clear to me that this was something that I wanted to cultivate moving forward.

I did software engineering for about a year and a half, and I really enjoyed the challenges that came with being a software tester. It enabled me to collaborate with multiple teams and really get to know the product. I realized after doing some reflecting that I was just a lot more passionate about solving people problems, specifically focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion work.

My manager was fully supportive of me shifting careers, so she went to the leadership team to figure out how they could build out a role or support that interest in any way possible. Now I’m the Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Program Manager at Expel. While I’m no longer doing programming, it was a doorway into limitless opportunities.”

What I wish I knew before I started learning

“I wish I knew it was okay to not know everything. I put a lot of internal pressure on myself to know everything and I created unnecessary anxiety for myself. I felt like even though I was an intern, I had to compete with some of the Junior Engineers that I worked with who went the traditional four-year degree route. I wish I knew that I didn’t have to compare myself to anyone else and that everyone’s journey is different. Just take it a day at a time and focus on learning and getting better.”

Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests.

Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community.

You applied and you’re waiting to hear back. What now?

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You applied and you’re waiting to hear back. What now?

After finishing up our resume series and before we dive into our next, let’s take a pause and talk about one of the more difficult periods of the job search: the in-between.

The in-between is the collection of passive moments after you’ve done what you can do and the only thing left is to wait and maintain faith that eventually someone will see the potential in you that you know is there. There’s only so much you can control; the in-between is not one of them.

The in-between can be a space of discomfort. The longer it lasts, the more feelings of defeat may start creeping in. You’re never alone here. And you may even see updates from others in your network, sharing their own experience of the too-long search, along with a collection of supportive and empathetic comments from digital passersby.

But while it’s nice to feel less alone, it’s never really enough, is it?

During these times of transition, when uncertainty begins to settle in, there are ways to reignite your drive. Here are some ideas for empowering yourself when you’re feeling stuck in the in-between.

Make something fun.

Eventually, you are going to get a job. But right now, in the in-between, you have this unexpected open space to use your skills in whatever way you want to use them. So choose fun! Remind yourself why you pursued these skills in the first place, and how good it can feel to use them when the stakes are low.

Here are some examples:

  • Interested in social media marketing? Share your gardening hobby with the world on TikTok.
  • Aspiring data analyst? Create a spreadsheet to track your TV habit.
  • Going into web development? Build a website dedicated to the joys of the color yellow.

To come up with your own idea, all you need to do is combine your skill with something else you like. It doesn’t have to be profound; it just has to feel good.

Plus, if you like the thing you make for fun, you can incorporate it into your resume or portfolio. This can be a nice way to demonstrate workplace skills like creativity and innovation alongside your sought-after technical skills.

Learn something completely different.

Once you have a solid resume and adaptable cover letter template, the job application process can feel tedious. Pull yourself out of the monotony by activating a different part of your brain. Learn something new.

There are chemical benefits to learning—if you haven’t taken Learning How to Learn yet, this is a good course to start understanding what’s happening in your brain when you learn. (And it’s free.) But more importantly, those brain benefits can activate mood benefits.

Learning feels good. It’s a confidence builder and it’s a way to gain a new perspective on the world around you. When you learn something new in one subject, you’ll likely start making new connections in completely different areas.

Restore your brain with a wildcard course. There are plenty of hidden gems on Coursera. Here are some recommendations:

Set boundaries.

Looking for a new job can feel like a full-time job in itself. The difference is, when you’re job searching, there aren’t always clear milestones suggesting that you take a step back and focus on something else. There are always more job sites to check out, more applications to send, and more people to network with. There’s also more life to live outside of your job search.

The tenets of maintaining a healthful work-life balance hold true even when your work is to find work, and setting boundaries to guide your job search is one way you can invite more balance into your daily routine.

Your boundaries can be anything that feel right for you. Perhaps you want to send a certain number of job applications per day, schedule one networking meeting every week, or stop checking your email after 7 p.m. every day. You may experience some trial and error as you figure out your boundaries, but it tends to be worth the effort.

This feels like a good time to mention The Science of Well-Being from Yale University. Another popular free course, this one explores happiness and how to achieve it from a psychological standpoint.

That’s all for this week. If you’re struggling with the in-between, we’re rooting for you. If you have tips for staying positive, please share them in the comments. Next week, we’re going to start our series on high-income skills and explore how you can incorporate them into your professional toolkit. See you then.

Free October 2023 Wallpaper & Instagram quote

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Free October 2023 Wallpaper & Instagram quote

Free October 2023 Wallpaper & Instagram quote

Free October 2023 wallpaper is here!

With October here, it’s the perfect time to add some spookiness to your screen. So for this month’s free wallpaper, I’ve got just the thing for you – a navy mystical theme that’s perfect for the season. It’s not too over the top with skulls, pumpkins, and bats, so it’s a great choice if you want something a bit more subtle.

Each wallpaper download from October 2023 includes the following:

  • Desktop wallpaper x3 (plain, with the calendar, and with a quote)
  • Phone wallpaper x3 (plain, with the calendar and with a quote)
  • Tablet wallpaper
  • Instagram ready quote
October's wallpaper phone preview

Quote for October 2023

Going after what you want and achieving your dreams is an important part of finding happiness and success. It means taking risks, staying determined, and never giving up on what you’re passionate about. Yes, overcoming obstacles that come your way can be hard, but the payoff is priceless. Remember that your dreams are totally within your grasp, and with some hard work and perseverance, you can make them come true. So don’t wait any longer – go out there and chase your dreams until you catch them!

Follow Your Dreams and Make it Happen - October's Quote

Follow Your Dreams and Make it Happen

P.S the square image is also included as a larger file in the download package below! Feel free to post it on your Instagram.

October Wallpaper preview on various devices

Looking for more? Check our previous wallpapers!

You can get three different desktop options with the free download – one that has a calendar, one without the calendar, and another with a quote. Additionally, there’s a wallpaper available for tablets, and three phone options too. You’ll also find an Instagram-ready square that features the weekly quote.

Free October 2023 Wallpaper & Instagram quote in mystical navy-gold theme

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY.

NOTE: This wallpaper is available as a free download through October 31, 2023 only. After that, a $5 download fee applies.

Looking for more?

Browse all wallpapers from this series.

How about a new design?

Since you just got a new wallpaper, consider updating your blog’s appearance with a fresh and modern look too! There are many different blog templates available that can make your page more enjoyable to read and navigate. Take some time to browse through them and see what catches your eye.

Blogger templates

WordPress Themes

Your voice matters!

If you have your favorite quotes and would like them to appear on the next free wallpaper, make sure to post them in the comments below or send us your ideas via email.

Enjoy!

What Misconceptions Do People Have About Where You Live?

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What Misconceptions Do People Have About Where You Live?

When you tell people where you’re from, how do they react? Do you think their view of the place is accurate? Or do they have it all wrong?

In “‘Are You OK?’ San Francisco Residents Say They Most Certainly Are.” Heather Knight writes about the California city’s foundering public image, and what the people who live there say it’s really like:

Soon after Karan Mathur arrived in Brooklyn for a new job last year, New Yorkers couldn’t wait to congratulate him for fleeing San Francisco.

He heard over and over about the abandoned downtown in his former city. The shuttered Nordstrom store that once anchored the retail core, but now symbolizes its decay. The people who stumble along the city’s sidewalks in a drug-fueled haze. The rampant car break-ins leaving puddles of shattered glass.

But that’s only part of San Francisco’s story, Mr. Mathur has been quick to respond. While the city faces disarray in parts of its grim core, he said he’s tried to offer a more complete picture beyond the crime footage that has gone viral on social media and the despair that has been highlighted in regular news reports.

“It’s like going to New York and spending your entire time in Times Square, and your takeaway is, every New Yorker is dressed like Cookie Monster,” Mr. Mathur said. He tells his neighbors that San Francisco as a whole remains stunning and its amenities world-class.

The article continues:

Like any city, San Francisco is a complicated place with many story lines. It has a property-crime epidemic, but low rates of violent crime. It has a homelessness crisis and is pleading with a federal court for more leeway to clear tent encampments, but according to the most recent homeless count, there was a 15 percent drop in the homeless population living on its sidewalks between 2019 and 2022. Its downtown recovery has been glacial, but its unemployment rate is low at 3.6 percent.

The city has a record-high 31 percent office vacancy rate, and some prominent retail departures have drawn attention. But optimists say they hope these trends will open up space in the city for artists, nonprofit groups and possibly colleges.

There is no way to positively spin the drug crisis; 84 people died of overdoses in August, putting the city on track to tally 845 drug deaths this year, the most on record.

But there are hopeful signs. Several new parks have opened in the city in recent years, including Tunnel Tops, where families flock on sunny weekends to picnic, stroll and take in views of the bay. The city has closed a couple of scenic thoroughfares to cars, most notably John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, where people can now bike, roller skate or play a weathered grand piano.

While downtown struggles, previously sleepy neighborhoods are thriving. Thousands of people packed Irving Street in the Sunset District this month for the inaugural Sunset Night Market, eating Asian delicacies and watching ballerinas dance in the road.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • How would you characterize the reputation of the place where you live? In other words, what do outsiders think it is like? How much of that perception is accurate, in your opinion?

  • What are some of the misconceptions people have about your town or city? If they were to share those with you, what would you say to correct them?

  • The article’s reporter writes, “Like any city, San Francisco is a complicated place with many story lines.” What are some of the “many story lines,” the good and the bad, of the place where you live?

  • The article includes an anecdote about a resident of one of San Francisco’s hardest-hit neighborhoods giving a walking tour aimed at providing a more “nuanced picture” of the place. Where would you take visitors to help them see what your hometown is really like, beyond the stereotype they may know, and why?

  • Do you like where you live? What are your favorite things about it? What ideas do you have for improving it?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

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