The Holocaust Survivor Who Forgave the Nazis
In this beautifully animated film, Holocaust survivor Eva Kor tells the powerful story of her time in Auschwitz, where she, along with her twin sister Miriam, were used as human guinea pigs, subjected to horrific experiments. Years later, feeling the need to free herself from the horrors of the past, Eva wrote a letter of forgiveness to a Nazi doctor, who agreed to accompany her to Auschwitz. When... posted on Jul 17 2020, 3,474 reads

Iris Murdoch on Storytelling & Why Art is Essential to Democracy
"A good society contains many different artists doing many different things. A bad society coerces artists because it knows that they can reveal all kinds of truths." This post from Brain Pickings shares more of Iris Murdoch's lucid views on storytelling, art and healthy democracy.... posted on Jul 16 2020, 5,856 reads

Designing Schools of the Future
"We are building a state-of-the-art Formula 1 engine in the body of an old, broken-down Buick, and wondering why the car won't go."While pedagogical methods have advanced tremendously in recent decades, the shape of our learning spaces has not. Think: rooms filled with desks in rows all facing front, in an environment directly counter to contemporary progressive learning styles. Seeking to remedy ... posted on Jul 15 2020, 4,112 reads

Big Picture Competition: Celebrating Earth's Diversity
Now in its seventh year, BigPicture encourages photographers from around the world to contribute their work to a competition that both celebrates and illustrates the rich diversity of life on Earth, and inspires action to protect and conserve it through the power of imagery. Take a look at the gallery of stunning images from this year's winners, and learn more about the photographers here.... posted on Jul 14 2020, 18,010 reads

Freedom in Prison: The Story of My Great-Grandfather
Aryae Coopersmith recounts the moving story of his great-grandfather Shmuel, a Talmud scholar who was forced war front in Bosnia-Herzegovinae. When it was discovered he didn't have the makings of a soldier in him, he was given prison guard duty instead. "How was Shmuel, a naive young kid who knew nothing about prisons, going to run a prison full of battle-scarred soldiers? He offered the prisoners... posted on Jul 13 2020, 6,505 reads

Hood Feminism: A Call For Solidarity
"In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger and violence, along with incisive commentary on politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of... posted on Jul 12 2020, 3,744 reads

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
In 2002 Thom Bond was a successful environmental engineer, passionate about designing smart buildings that used alternative energy. Then he chanced upon Marshall Rosenberg's landmark book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. "By the time I read Chapter 1, it hit me that I had found what I was looking for...A set of concepts and ideas to be able to move through conflict." Thom realized ins... posted on Jul 11 2020, 8,013 reads

Empathy vs Sympathy
Empathy and sympathy are not just two different approaches to confronting the emotional challenges of others; they are diametrically opposite responses in many important ways. Sympathy places another's problems at a distance from us, places us in a position of superiority, and "drives separation", says the film's narrator, Dr. Bren Brown. Empathy, on the other hand, requires that one internalize t... posted on Jul 10 2020, 4,100 reads

We Have to Talk: A Checklist for Difficult Conversations
"There are dozens of books on the topic of difficult, crucial, challenging, fierce, important conversations. Those times when you know you should talk to someone, but you don't. Maybe you've tried and it went badly. Or maybe you fear that talking will only make the situation worse. Still, you feel stuck, and you'd like to free up that stuck energy for more useful purposes." Judy Ringer is a confli... posted on Jul 09 2020, 26,347 reads

Robin Wall Kimmerer on the Language of Animacy
In the English language, we reserve the pronouns of personhood for humans-- he, she, they--and not for animals, plants, and landscapes. Yet in many of Americas indigenous languages, such barriers are dissolved, and so, too, is the sense of distance between human and nonhuman. Orion editor Helen Whybrow speaks with Robin Wall Kimmerer, a speaker of Potawatomi and an enrolled member in the Citizen B... posted on Jul 08 2020, 5,268 reads