From Farmworker to Neurosurgeon
The life of Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, a former illegal immigrant, may sound like a movie script, but it is no fiction. Twenty years ago, he hopped a border fence from Mexico into the United States and became a migrant farmworker. From there, to community college to a UC Berkeley scholarship, to Harvard Medical School, 38-year-old Dr. Q, as he is known, is now a neurosurgeon and professor at Johns... posted on Nov 28 2007, 3,118 reads

The Generous Car Salesman
Car salesmen get called a lot of things. "Living saint" is rarely one of them. And yet a Chevy dealer from Oregon just might be the exception. His name is Korry Holtzlander. "There are no bad men. There are no bad men on the planet," Holtzlander says, "There're just those who are lost." Last December, Holtzlander found a homeless man sleeping in one of the cars on his lot. But instead of giving h... posted on Nov 27 2007, 3,336 reads

The Best Dollar I Ever Spent
"I am a resource officer at a school district. Last year I met one little boy in particular to whom my heart just went out. He would talk to me every single day, and always seemed to have a smile on his face. He had a problem with stuttering. It's really hard sometimes to understand what he is saying, although he loves to tell you big tales! Well, this morning, I was talking to a couple teachers... posted on Nov 18 2007, 4,026 reads

Consultant Becomes Waffleman
A former IBM consultant has shelved his suit and six-figure salary to sell Belgian waffles around the city from a yellow mobile food truck. Thomas DeGeest, 37, of Chelsea, said a heart-to-heart talk with his wife last year made him trade in his corporate life for an apron, a set of waffle irons and a "Wafels and Dinges" truck. "A waffle makes people smile," DeGeest said.... posted on Nov 16 2007, 2,910 reads

Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement
If it had been a different day, just a few weeks earlier, Captain Cheri Maples would have arrested the man without a second thought. He'd already threatened her and was refusing to hand his daughter over to his ex-wife after a weekend visitation. But on this day, shortly after returning home from a meditation retreat, the Wisconsin policewoman tried another tack. "This guy was huge, a lot bigger... posted on Nov 08 2007, 2,101 reads

Around the World and Bach
You wouldn't know it by looking at the man in the t-shirt standing on the street corner, but if you listen, it's easy to tell that David Juritz is a world class musician. He's just traded in concert halls for street corners. The violinist left his London home on June 9 and has since traveled the globe as a street performer, raising money to fund music education for some of the world's poorest chi... posted on Oct 26 2007, 2,554 reads

The Good Morning Man
A man who stands in a busy downtown intersection holding out a handmade sign will usually provoke a singular reaction. And that reaction is no reaction -- as in: ignore, overlook ... get out of the way, I have to get to work. But neither motorists nor pedestrians could ignore the man in the pale blue shirt and bright white sneakers yesterday morning. He wasn't asking for anything. Instead he had s... posted on Oct 22 2007, 3,388 reads

Immigrant Gardeners Become Philanthropists
Catalino Tapia came to the United States at age 20 with $6 in his pocket. He worked hard, as a baker and a machine operator, and eventually started his own gardening business. He and his wife bought a home and raised their two sons, putting the eldest through college. Though he never studied beyond sixth grade, Tapia was so inspired to see his son, Noel, graduate from UC Berkeley that he decided t... posted on Oct 21 2007, 2,138 reads

An Unforgettable Walk Through The Slums
"This work is just a drop in the ocean," Jayesh Patel observes."But a teardrop of compassion changes everything." So says the founder of an organization catering expressly to the 4500 residents of a slum community in Ahmedabad, India. In a remarkable walking interview, shot in the slums with a man who has never before agreed to appear on-camera, Patel shares a simple philosophy: give everything to... posted on Oct 18 2007, 4,040 reads

Mike's Handcarved Canes
Mike Hunter, 56, was diagnosed seven years ago with multiple sclerosis. It progressed faster than he thought it would and his sales job had to end when his weakening legs collapsed under him at airports. When he no longer could walk without using a cane, Hunter didn't like the options for sale and decided to make one. He gathered branches, took them back to his home and began to carve and sand and... posted on Oct 10 2007, 4,279 reads