A Hero Twice Over
When Michael Keenan ran into a burning building to save a dog -- a dog that didn't even belong to him in a home where he didn't live -- he ended up saving a life, but also ended up in serious condition with only a 50% chance of survival. Friends and family weren't surprised: he had already proven himself a hero six years earlier when he jumped into San Francisco Bay to save two strangers who had d... posted on Feb 13, 2230 reads

365 Days, 365 Plays
Some writers are congenitally prolific. But even Suzan-Lori Parks sometimes thinks she's taken that tendency a little too far. In 2003, Parks decided to write a play for every day of a year, and went on to craft more than 365 miniscripts that ranged in length from three lines to three pages. And then the dramatist made another decision: Persuade theater communities nationwide to produce all 365 sc... posted on Feb 23, 2089 reads

My Life As A Child
What does life look like through a child’s eyes? "My Life as a Child" is a six-part documentary series with that very premise, providing video cameras to 20 children in a diverse group from around America. The result is an unusual marriage of YouTube sensibility and professional filmmaking, a video collage of 21st century American childhood. The series includes portraits of Tina, a 9-year-old Hu... posted on Feb 27, 2729 reads

Maisie's Six Million Cans
Maisie DeVore, a senior citizen of Eskridge, Kansas, spent 30 years single-handedly raising enough money to build a community swimming pool. Each week, she would drive the back roads and gather aluminum cans and deliver them to a recycling facility. Can by can, year after year, she raised the necessary $100,000. Says Maisie, "If you get involved, you can do more than you thought you could."... posted on Mar 6, 3920 reads

Overcoming the Bystander Tendency
We've all found ourselves in these situations: when we’ve driven past a car stranded by the side of the road, assuming another driver would pull over to help. We witness a problem, consider some kind of positive action, then respond by doing ... nothing. Something holds us back. We remain bystanders. Why don't we help in these situations? Why do we sometimes put our moral instincts in shackles? ... posted on Mar 12, 2854 reads

19-year-old Tackles Global Blindness
Six years ago, 19-year-old college sophomore Jennifer Staple started "Unite for Sight", a nonprofit with a staff of one: herself. It began with the recruitment of a few fellow Yale University students to join her mission against blindness among the homeless of New Haven, Conn., and has since burgeoned into the recruitment of thousands worldwide. From her dorm room on the Stanford campus where sheâ... posted on Mar 13, 2244 reads

Work That Makes You Come Alive
John Chen has bungee-jumped from 120-foot-high bridges, walked over 40 feet of red-hot coals and parachuted from a plane. What was his scariest feat? "Trying to figure out how to leave Microsoft," he says. The software-design program manager finally quit the technology giant in mid-1999. Now, Chen, a self-described experiential educator, leads individuals on life-changing adventures -- such as cli... posted on Mar 16, 3357 reads

Taiwan's Butterfly Freeway
Taiwan will cordon off part of a highway to create a safe passage for a huge seasonal migration of milkweed butterflies in the coming days, a highways official said Saturday. The butterflies -- indigenous to Taiwan -- migrate in late March from the south to the north, where they lay eggs. The young butterflies then fly south in November to a warm mountain valley near Kaohsiung to escape the winter... posted on Mar 27, 3508 reads

Habits For A Fit Brain
The best brain workout has two daily components: learning and aerobics. Scientists have long known about the first part. "The brain is like a computer, a learning machine that comes with hardware," says Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. "Education and cognitive stimulation upgrades the software." Education seems to be the m... posted on Mar 28, 3728 reads

Lessons From A Dyslexic CEO
As a student, Paul Orfalea had always had trouble with words, so he focused instead on people. Kinkos, the mega copy centre chain store he started, is testimony to his inspiring ability to turn the disability of dysexia into an asset. Through his tremendous people skills, and really paying attention to the things that matter, Orfalea grew Kinkos into a household brand. He says, "My favorite questi... posted on Apr 21, 2664 reads

Sydney's Earth Hour
Citizens of Sydney, both businesses and individuals, were invited to turn off their lights for just one hour, Earth Hour -- 7.30pm to 8.30pm on March 31st 2007 -- as a sign of their commitment to reduce global warming. Estimates were that more than 2 million Sydney residents joined Earth Hour, causing a 10.2% drop in energy usage across Sydney, according to Energy Australia. Furthermore, more than... posted on Apr 6, 2722 reads

The Story of Johnny the Bagger
Johnny the Bagger -- an unforgettable true story about a young man with Down Syndrome who changes the culture of a grocery store by being creative and giving his customers more than they expect. When Johnny finds a way to put his own personal signature of care on every interaction, his inspired action ripples out in unexpected and inspiring ways. Watch the video here.... posted on Apr 17, 20634 reads

13 Child Jurors & Their Verdict
Last week, new jury members, Hannah Taylor, 11, from Canada, and Rakesh Kumar, 12, from India, took part in their first jury meeting to select the 2007 recipient of the World's Children's Prize. Hannah is a child crusader for the homeless and Rakesh is a former child slave. This year they joined 13 other children from around the world to decide who would receive one of the world's most prestigious... posted on Apr 18, 3499 reads

Smiles Per Hour in Australia
In a bid to create a more harmonious society, Port Phillip, Australia, is putting up road signs indicating a street's smiles per hour! The city has been using volunteers to find out how often people smile at those who pass them in the street. It then put up signs that look like speed limits, but tell pedestrians that they are in, for example, a "10 smiles per hour zone." Mayor Janet Bolitho says t... posted on Apr 24, 2049 reads

A Governor's Food Stamp Challenge
If Gov. Ted Kulongoski seems a little sluggish this week, he's got an excuse: he couldn't afford coffee. He has $21 to buy a week's worth of food -- the same amount that the state's average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries. Kulongoski is taking the weeklong challenge to raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget. A mother of three who went on foo... posted on Apr 27, 1429 reads

A Story of Healing
Interplast was the first humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery for children with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries in developing countries. In 1997, a film crew accompanied an Interplast volunteer surgical team to Vietnam. The filmmakers donated their services to document the team’s experiences and produce “A Story of Healing,� which earned the 1997 Academy... posted on Jul 29, 2381 reads

A College Graduate ... At 95
Nola Ochs is not your everyday student. When she graduates on May 12, at the ripe age of 95, she'll be the world's oldest person to be awarded a college degree. Ochs didn't plan it that way. She just loved to learn, first as a teenager, then as a teacher at a one-room school, and later as a farm wife and mother. At 5-foot-2, her white hair pulled into a bun, she walks purposefully down hallways to... posted on Apr 29, 2161 reads

Free Encyclopaedia Makes Its Mark
One of the extraordinary stories of the Internet age is that of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit. This radical and rapidly growing publication, which includes close to 4 million entries, is now a much-used resource. "One of the biggest problems of the digital divide is the cost of access to information," says Jimmy Wales, 40, the visionary founder of Wikipedia. "We seek ... posted on May 1, 2313 reads

A 13-Year Old's Novel Achievement
Nancy Yi Fan, now an eighth-grader, was too young to know she was breaking every rule in the book when she e-mailed her first manuscript directly to the president and CEO of HarperCollins. "I was being quite bold thinking I had nothing to lose," says Nancy. "I thought, maybe she will give me some advice." Instead, CEO Jane Friedman, gave her a contract, passing Fan's allegorical story about warrin... posted on May 14, 1956 reads

From Illiteracy to News Reporting
Byron Pitts was chatting with students at a Harlem charter school the day before a recent visit by President Bush, when the CBS correspondent had a realization: they viewed him as just another empty suit who couldn't possibly understand their problems. Little did they know. "When I was your age," he told them, "I couldn't read." CBS correspondent Byron Pitts, reporting from the Middle East in 2003... posted on May 10, 1942 reads

Kindergarten Legend Retires
That Rosie Hymerling is not exhausted at the end of her kindergarten teaching day at Tatem Elementary is miraculous. Consider: In a recent span of seven hours, she did a somersault, jumped rope, wore a Cat in the Hat costume, broke into spontaneous song several times, donned a wig, gave dozens of kisses, held children on her lap, brokered peace treaties among fractious 5-year-olds, and listened to... posted on May 18, 2751 reads

A Toddler's Dance On Tibetan Art
Eight Tibetan monks spent two days crosslegged on the floor at Union Station, leaning over to meticulously create an intricate colored sand design as an expression of their Buddhist faith. And then, within seconds, their work was destroyed by a toddler. After the monks had finished their labors for the day on Tuesday, a woman with her small child visited the post office inside Union Station. The c... posted on May 26, 3290 reads

Karma Tycoon: Incubating Compassion
A New York-based nonprofit is hoping to strike a philanthropic spark with Karma Tycoon, a new online game for teenagers and a creation of the non-profit DoSomething.org. The idea was to put a twist on popular video games in which players try to maximize profit in order to amass wealth. "Why not create a game that maximizes karma in order to make the world a better place?" asks Aria Finger of Do So... posted on Jun 3, 2071 reads

A Beautiful Mind
"Done." Andrew Engel has spent nearly 12 years in college, working gradually, steadily for the chance to utter that word. The moment came last week, when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County senior completed his final course requirements for a degree. As Engel walked across the campus of emerald grass and boxy buildings, he allowed the joy of accomplishment to consume him. That way, the mo... posted on Jun 1, 2168 reads

The Value of Outlandish Ideas
"When I founded The Body Shop I just wanted a means to support myself and my two daughters. When I applied for a loan to start a small shop in1976, the man behind the desk looked as if I’d asked him to shave his head. A woman? Running a business? How preposterous, he obviously thought. My company went on to show how business can be done differently worldwide, proving that women can indeed run su... posted on Jun 7, 3044 reads

Shift Happens
"Did you know?" begins this elegant exploration of the exponential rate at which our technology is expanding. "That if MySpace were a country, it would be the 11th largest in the world? That the Top 10 Jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't exist in 2004? That the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet?" A timely invitation to re-visit many of o... posted on Jun 4, 3424 reads

To The Class Of 2007: Listen To Your Hearts
It's that season again -– time for college seniors to gather for one final lecture. This spring, graduation speakers touched on the need for respect and the joy of collaboration. Here's a sampling of some of the wisdom dispensed to the Class of 2007 from a diverse group of celebrities including politicians, activists and rock musicians across the country.... posted on Jun 12, 2817 reads

History Lessons For A Disinterested Daughter
Erica Williams Connell was an admitted "mediocre student", hating the isolation that came with being the daughter of Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, Eric Williams. She still isn't sure what prompted her, during one of their frequent father-daughter chats, to make an unusual request: "When you die," a then-14-year-old Erica told her father, "I would like your books and papers." In 1981, after... posted on Jun 15, 3472 reads

Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job
The gang member closest to Father Gregory Boyle hurls himself onto the priest like a bodyguard, and after two long minutes, the barrage of gunshots stops. On these streets of East Los Angeles, California, it's proof that the priest has deep respect from the gangs. Boyle earned that honor by coming up with a practical way to offer hope to residents -- giving them jobs. Fifteen years ago, he created... posted on Jul 2, 2134 reads

What Does It Mean To Have Soul?
Whether it’s soul music or soul food or finding one’s soul mate, the intangible quality commonly referred to as soul moves like a powerful undercurrent in contemporary culture. What does it mean to be a living, breathing manifestation of this ineffable and yet most compelling dimension of human life? What does it mean to have soul? Andrew Cohen, founder of What Is Enlightenment? magazine poses... posted on Jul 12, 4025 reads

The Importance of Bedtime Stories
A good story doesn't cost a penny, but it can be more memorable than a pricey toy. A ritual of sharing stories between a parent and child can create a bond that lingers for a lifetime, said Jay O'Callahan of Massachusetts, a nationally known storyteller who got his start telling made-up tales to his kids. "It's a real gift," he said. "The simplest, loveliest gift of time, attention and imagination... posted on Jul 9, 1593 reads

Dare To Care
"It's Saturday night in the Paris métro. Two friends, Etienne and Sophie, are on their way to dinner. After sitting down in the crowded train, they discover the body of a homeless man curled up at their feet. How did he get there? How long has he been lying there? Is he dead? They look around: Everyone avoids looking at the body. Nobody has any idea how to handle this situation. Etienne and S... posted on Jul 25, 4413 reads

The New French Revolution
About a dozen people pedaled bicycles up the Champs-Elysees on Sunday as onlookers cheered. These were not the leading riders of the Tour de France racing toward the finish line, but American tourists testing this city’s new communal bike program. More than 10,600 of the hefty gray bicycles became available for modest rental prices on Sunday at 750 self-service docking stations that provide ac... posted on Jul 19, 1961 reads

The Barber Who Loved Books
Fueled by a lifelong love of literature -- which began as a child when he sneaked a pre-dawn peek at his neighbor's newspaper –- Rueben Martinez decided it would be his mission to raise the literacy rate among Hispanics. He got the idea to open a bookstore inside his barbershop in 1993, after customers repeatedly borrowed his collection of 200 books. The store took on a life of its own, expandin... posted on Jul 23, 1556 reads

The Work Of Half The Sky
Like thousands of parents who adopt children from China every year Jenny Bowen left the country haunted -- thinking about all the young girls left behind in the overcrowded orphanages. With help from like-minded adoptive parents, Bowen formed Half the Sky Foundation. Named after the Chinese adage, "Women hold up half the sky," the Berkeley- based group of volunteers now numbers in the thousands na... posted on Jul 22, 1687 reads

What Foundations Learn From Failure
Among the reports on a coffee table in the Carnegie Corporation’s reception area is one on the foundation’s efforts to help Zimbabwe overhaul its Constitution and government. It gets straight to the point: “This is the anatomy of a grant that failed.� Just a few years ago, it would have been astonishing for a foundation, particularly one as traditional as Carnegie, to publicize a failure. ... posted on Jul 27, 2117 reads

The Year Without Toilet Paper
Welcome to Walden Pond, Fifth Avenue style. Colin Beavan, 43, a writer of historical nonfiction, and Michelle Conlin, 39, a senior writer at Business Week, are four months into a yearlong lifestyle experiment they call No Impact. Its rules are evolving, as Mr. Beavan will tell you, but to date include eating only food (organically) grown within a 250-mile radius of Manhattan; (mostly) no shopping ... posted on Aug 4, 3054 reads

Neurosurgeon Gives $20 Million for Village
He was born into the "untouchable" caste in India, so poor that he didn't wear his first pair of shoes until he went to medical school. Then he came to America, where he made millions as a New York neurosurgeon, once owning a Rolls-Royce, five Mercedes-Benzes and an airplane. But Kumar Bahuleyan felt empty. He reflected on his poverty-stricken background, seeing three siblings all die from drinkin... posted on Aug 3, 2893 reads

A Gardener's Gift
“A few casual remarks first brought the little city park to my attention. I’d meant to check it out, but now several weeks had passed and I still hadn’t made the trip over to San Francisco. The day I found it, after poring over a city map with a magnifying glass, the sky was overcast. My first glimpse into the park revealed a crowd of wooden sculptures integrated into the landscaping. Making... posted on Aug 10, 2510 reads

Your Stories Of The Good Life
What does the good life mean to you? Yes! magazine asked that same question to some of its readers and the responses they got covered everything from sharing food, helping neighbors, raising a child, honoring other religions, and being present with someone who is dying. This inspiring article is a compilation of real-life answers to this question.... posted on Aug 11, 2911 reads

Barrio De Paz: Peace Town
"Everything in society tells us to distrust others. I think it's the other way around. We need to profoundly trust in those around us, in their potential and in who they are," the grandmotherly Nelsa Curbelo Cora says. In 1999, she walked into the violence infested city of Guayaquil, Ecuador to BE peace. Through her grassroot work, today, Guayaquil's most dangerous gangs have disarmed, agreed to a... posted on Aug 19, 2067 reads

The Generosity of Birds
Why do we help out our relatives when one of them needs a buck or a meal, and who gains the most from such acts of generosity? A tough question, but there are hints of answers in birds. A just-published study reports new insights into the evolution of altruistic behavior. It suggests that sometimes the greatest beneficiaries are neither those giving or receiving alms, but those whose main job is t... posted on Aug 28, 2247 reads

Meaning of Ubuntu
In the African culture, ubuntu is a word that speaks to our interconnectedness and the responsibility to each other that flows from our connection. 'I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am' is a good example of the 'self-in-community' foundation that gives rise to sayings in Zulu, such as umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu - 'It is through others that one attains selfhood.'... posted on Sep 3, 2995 reads

How Do We Understand Each Other?
Navigating the world’s linguistic babble has been one of the great feats of modern graphic design. Since early in the 20th century, when it became clear that visual signs could be used as detours around countless linguistic roadblocks, progressive designers have developed accessible graphic icons—mini-logos—to identify everything from restrooms to minefields. A little known fact about the p... posted on Sep 10, 1322 reads

Born Free Art School
He's walked the tightrope at a circus, worked the midnight shift in a silk factory, been part-time ragpicker and a fulltime beggar on the streets of Bangalore. A long CV for a 13-year-old but the past isn't what Nagaraj likes to talk about. Though he can still amaze you by sprinting across a parapet in true circus style, it's his skills with the brush that this blossoming artist is most keen to sh... posted on Sep 19, 2723 reads

Do You Realize?
"Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face? That we're floating in space? That happiness makes you cry?" So begins an unusual music video, shot with $3000, a plastic crown, a used video camera and a diverse handful of Los Angelans. Do You Realize? was released with no art work, no band, and no press release. Singer Gretchen Lieberum created this hauntingly beautiful, thought-provoking c... posted on Sep 22, 3605 reads

A 22,000 Mile Run
It is a strange sight to see: a woman running down a Pennsylvania’s Route 45 with a large cart in tow. 60-year-old Rosie Swale Pope has been running since she left her home in Wales nearly four years ago. Rosie, as she's called, is trying to raise awareness about the importance of being screened early for cancer. If you can save someone's life by reminding them to go for an early checkup that's... posted on Sep 26, 1868 reads

Golden Retriever Adopts Kitten
A stray kitten has found a new mother in a golden retriever, who began producing milk for the gray tabby after hearing its cries. The hungry kitten, found in an old tire at a concrete plant, refused to drink from a bottle and her rescuers feared she would die. That's when Honey, the family dog who hadn't given birth in 18 months, stepped in with her motherly instincts. “She started licking her a... posted on Oct 12, 5482 reads

A 4th Grader Gives A Dime
"In fourth grade we were suppose to bring in a dime for a folder to use in class. My parents were divorced and money was in short supply. Watching my mom fend off creditors, I did not have the nerve to ask her for a dime. When I got to school, I really wish I had asked my mother for the dime because everybody else in class had the dime ready on their desk for the teacher. I was embarrassed and fel... posted on Oct 29, 4847 reads

No E-mail Fridays
Scheduling a meeting? Send an e-mail. Need that report right away? Send an e-mail.The volume of e-mails has exploded in recent years with over 170 billion now being sent daily around the globe. That's two million every second. But many in business now worry this tool for easy communication is actually making it harder to communicate. Jay Ellison, executive vice president at U.S. Cellular decided ... posted on Oct 19, 3730 reads