Tuesdays With Morrie
"Morrie Schwartz who was a favorite college professor of mine back at Brandeis University in Boston. He and I were very close. I took every class he offered over four years. When I graduated, I lost touch with him for sixteen years until one night I happened to catch the Nightline program and I saw Morrie talking to Ted Koppel about what it is like to die. That's the first I learned that Morrie ha... posted on Oct 18 2008, 3,694 reads

Why We Travel
"Every day is a journey," wrote Basho, "and the journey itself is home." If the great Japanese poet hadn't penned that line more than 300 years ago, we might easily attribute it to Pico Iyer, a journalist who writes ostensibly about travel, but is more interested in the humanity it reveals. "Travel doesn't interest me," Iyer says, "except as a handy way to undertake explorations that are fundament... posted on Oct 15 2008, 3,628 reads

Pune's Unusual Doorstep Schools
72-year-old Rajni Paranjpe is helping educate hundreds of children at, of all places, various construction sites in Pune and Mumbai. Two decades ago, Paranjpe had often wondered how to educate the kids of construction workers who have to travel from one site to another with their parents. That's when she was had the idea of taking the school right to the site. Paranjpe came up with the first Door ... posted on Oct 11 2008, 2,330 reads

Alex's Lemonade Stand
In 2000, a 4 year old cancer patient named Alexandra "Alex" Scott announced a seemingly simple idea -- she was holding a lemonade stand to raise money to help "her doctors" find a cure for kids with cancer. The idea was put into action by Alex and her older brother, Patrick, on their front lawn in July of 2000. For the next four years, despite her deteriorating health, Alex held an annual lemonade... posted on Oct 10 2008, 2,506 reads

Sons of Lwala
When residents of a tiny Kenyan village sold their chickens and cattle to buy Milton Ochieng's $900 plane ticket to Dartmouth College, they told him they wanted something in return. Eight years later, he's a medical school graduate preparing for his residency. In his home village of Lwala, a clinic he and younger brother Fred established serves about 100 patients a day. A documentary about their s... posted on Oct 07 2008, 3,879 reads

The Woman Who Gave Away College Educations
Oral Lee Brown is on a mission to get Oakland kids into college. It's a commitment she made on the spur of the moment two decades ago."I don't know where it came from, but in my wildest imagination I would never have been involved with kids," says Brown. In 1987 on the spur of the moment she promised a first grade class of 23 students a free college education. Brown isn't the only person to send k... posted on Oct 05 2008, 2,673 reads

A Dying Man's Dream Fulfilled
As the daylight hours began to fade, a strange group congregated on St. Paul's West Side. Minstrels with guitars and harps scampered quietly beside maidens with bells on. Cars slowed in wonderment. The sound of a tuning accordion could be faintly heard outside the window of Frank Tunison's home. He didn't have a clue Thursday evening that in minutes, a fantasy would come true. It began when Tuniso... posted on Oct 02 2008, 3,742 reads

Lance Armstrong's Newest Challenge
"Myself, my bicycle and my cause." With those words, Lance Armstrong, the greatest cyclist of his generation, announced on Wednesday that he's planning a comeback to competitive bike racing. But the cancer survivor has a greater goal than winning races -- he hopes to use the Livestrong Global Cancer Initiative he's launching to help meet the needs of cancer patients around the world. The campaign,... posted on Sep 30 2008, 1,819 reads

Will That Lady Be On The News?
"When I was about four of five, I was walking down the street with my Mum one day. Ahead of us, an elderly lady was walking slowly when suddenly she tripped and fell off the curb and couldn't get up. My Mum made a call to an ambulance to come help her and we waited with the old lady until they arrived. She thanked my Mum and we continued walking. I turned to my mother and asked, "Will that lady b... posted on Sep 29 2008, 3,199 reads

What Makes A Hero?
Patrick Burke had never wanted to follow in the footsteps of his firefighter dad and brother, but he jumped into an icy lake to rescue a 9-year-old and her father, whose all-terrain vehicle crashed through ice. "I'm not that type of heroic person," said Burke. "If you had heard that girl's voice . . . it was my daughter's voice." Experts say it makes sense that everyday heroes don't stop and think... posted on Sep 25 2008, 3,215 reads