The Present
The Present, based on a comic strip by Brazilian artist Fabio Coala, is a 2014 graduation short from the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. After a very successful festival circuit, running in over 180 film festivals and winning more than 50 awards, the creators of the film have decided to share The Pres... posted on Sep 04 2016, 7,178 reads

Martin Levya: Don't Ever Give Up
Martin Leyva did time for robbery but knew when he walked out of Chino State Prison he would never come back. He would transform his life. In a remarkable story, a blend of perseverance and the world opening up to show him his path, Leyva used his troubled past to become a beacon of hope for others in similar situations. He says, "The whole process [working with youth] feeds my fire for social jus... posted on Sep 03 2016, 13,895 reads

Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile
When the dotcom bubble burst, hotelier Chip Conley went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that success comes from what you count.... posted on Sep 02 2016, 27,208 reads

Reclaiming Friendship
Is friendship indispensable or have we corroded its meaning by applying the word too often when we mean 'acquaintance' or colleague? C.S. Lewis believed that friendship, "like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself ... has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival." Maria Popova examines the meaning of friendship in detail, and concludes that, at leas... posted on Sep 01 2016, 14,986 reads

The Loneliness of the Modern Nomad
Author Kira Newman shares insights from Melody Warnick's new book, "This Is Where You Belong," where Warnick chronicles her own journey toward "place attachment," a series of research-backed experiments and practices designed to make one love where one lives... posted on Aug 31 2016, 15,325 reads

Running as Spiritual Practice
"For the Summer Olympics, we explore a topic our listeners have called out as a passionate force and a connector across all kinds of boundaries in American culture: running. Not just as exercise, or as a merely physical pursuit, but running as a source of bonding between parents and children and friends; running as an interplay between competition and contemplation; running and body image and surv... posted on Aug 30 2016, 10,898 reads

Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community
Whether we know it or not, like it or not, honor it or not, we are embedded in community. Whether we think of ourselves as biological creatures or spiritual beings or both, the truth remains: we were created in and for a complex ecology of relatedness, and without it we wither and die. This simple fact has critical implications: community is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received. Whe... posted on Aug 29 2016, 29,010 reads

They & The Emotional Weight of Words
"Language is the space in which we carve a place for ourselves, where we demand to be seen. A reflection point for culture, community, and family to acknowledge our existence on our terms." For many, the pronouns 'he' and 'she' are limiting and do not adequately express their identity. "The entire lexicon for how we understand gender is shifting. For many of us, it can be a weighty, disorienting e... posted on Aug 28 2016, 6,058 reads

The Left Shoe
Remember the joy of a new pair of shoes? This beautiful film, based on a story attributed to Gandhi's life, depicts the lives of two boys. It is the first film by then, 20-year old filmmaker, Sarah Rozik, and won the Jury's special award in the short film category at the 2014 Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival.... posted on Aug 26 2016, 6,673 reads

To All Artists Known and Unknown
"The radiant little man died at the Art Institute. I knew he was homeless and hanging out at the school, but I was unaware that he was living there. He died of exposure over Christmas break, and when he was found beneath a concrete overhang on the Jones Street side of the school, they found a number of sketchbooks in a backpack." From artist Richard Bergers beautiful reflection on the life and wor... posted on Aug 25 2016, 4,199 reads