Arts And Smarts
For years, arts advocates have been pleas, stressing the intangible benefits of the arts at a time when many Americans are preoccupied with a market-driven culture of entertainment, and schools are consumed with meeting federal standards. Art brings joy, these advocates say, or it evokes our humanity, or, in the words of my 10-year-old daughter, "It cools kids down after all the other hard stuff t... posted on Oct 31 2009, 4,927 reads

Lawyer Heads to a Classroom
Tom Dunn spent twenty years working hard to get convicts off death row. However, several decades of grueling work and compounding health problems forced Mr. Dunn to leave behind the high-stress world of litigation. Instead of spending the rest of his life relaxing on a beach, though, he immediately signed up for Teach for America. Mr. Dunn, in his years of working with criminal law, recognized a c... posted on Oct 26 2009, 2,303 reads

Finding Perfection in the Unexpected
"On a recent afternoon, I went to a pottery shop outside of Tokyo and happened to meet the head potter who had stopped by to check on her staff. After looking around the shop, I asked the potter if she had a few minutes to chat and explain her work to me. The first thing she talked about was how a potter never knew what was going to wind up coming out of the kiln. "Each kiln opening," she said, "w... posted on Oct 25 2009, 4,157 reads

The Coach Who Never Played to Win
Smack-dab in the heart of America, amid rolling fields of wheat and soybeans -- high school football coach Roger Barta glanced at his notes as he stood among the sea of players gathered before him. 'We don't talk about winning and losing. We talk about getting a little better every day, about being the best we can be, about being a team. And when we do that, winning and losing take care of themsel... posted on Oct 24 2009, 5,074 reads

The World Map of Happiness
Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at Leicester University's School of Psychology, produced the first ever 'world map of happiness' with Denmark, Switzerland, Austria taking the top three spots. "There is increasing political interest in using measures of happiness as a national indicator in conjunction with measures of wealth," he added. A recent BBC survey found that 81% of the pop... posted on Oct 23 2009, 5,392 reads

Outpouring of Volunteerism in the Media
Discerning TV viewers might notice a recurrent theme on their favorite shows this week. The doctors on ABC's "Private Practice" give homeless teens free checkups. On NBC's "30 Rock," Kenneth Parcell tries to adopt every dog at a shelter. And two characters on CBS' "Numb3rs" discuss joining Big Brothers Big Sisters. The outpouring of volunteerism is no coincidence. Rather than just "running a bun... posted on Oct 21 2009, 2,721 reads

Upwardly Global: Helping Immigrant Professionals
In Vietnam, Mai Le worked as a doctor, a low-paid but respected position requiring years of training. However since arriving in San Jose in 1999, she has worked as a census taker, one of the many immigrant professionals who find their experience and education do not count here. Although Le is determined to practice medicine again, she's less certain about how to sell herself in resumes and intervi... posted on Oct 11 2009, 1,489 reads

Angels in the Dust
In South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, the longtime government practice of culling -- killing adult elephants to control herd sizes -- tore apart the complex social fabric of elephant culture, a fabric that is not unlike that of the traditionally close-knit African village. As a result, orphaned elephants grew up exhibiting unusually violent behavior, such as attacking and goring rhinos. But... posted on Oct 10 2009, 2,496 reads

Touched by Tragedy, and Paying It Forward
Last July, April DeSerre's world was turned upside down when she lost her father, her home, and all of her family's possessions in a fire. Immediately following that life-changing event, though, DeSerre also experienced something else: generosity. A year later, DeSerre and her family are on the road to recovery. And now, she wants to help others whose lives have been affected by fire do the same... posted on Oct 05 2009, 2,561 reads

Delivering Furniture, Discovering Destiny
"I've been riding around with this guy for a month and a half and he's my full blooded brother," Randy said shaking his head. It reads like something out of a movie. Two men delivering furniture for the same company, constantly being told by customers how much they look like brothers, until one day they discover the truth: that they are indeed brothers who were raised by different families in adj... posted on Sep 26 2009, 2,919 reads