The Average Freshman
In Steve Leslie's dorm room at Miami University, there are bunk beds, posters of Led Zeppelin and the Simpsons, and an inflatable palm tree. There's also a plug for every outlet. They power the color TV, stereo, compact disc and DVD players, video game player, desktop computer and laptop, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave oven and two fans. Then there are rechargers for a cell phone, hand-... posted on Nov 22, 1301 reads

The Cellist of Sarajevo
On May 27,1992, a bakery in Sarajevo was making bread and distributing it to a long line of war-shattered people stretched out into the street. Suddenly a shell fell directly into the middle of the line, killing 22 people instantly. Not far away lived a 37-year old musician named Vedran Smailovic, who before the war he had been the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera— But when he saw the car... posted on Jan 25, 1945 reads

Compassionate Listening
The Compassionate Listening Project (CLP) is succeeding at cultivating peace in areas of the world where militarism and violence have completely failed. Inspired by the work of Gene Knudsen Hoffman and Thich Nhat Hanh, CLP has been working side-by-side with Israelis and Palestinians in modeling respectful listening as a path toward friendship that transcends political, religious, and ethnic bound... posted on Jan 28, 1199 reads

Giving Gives
Mitch Joel, 33, has a philosophy that has guided how he runs his life and his business. “There are people who can give and those who must receive,” he says. “I’m damn grateful that I’m one of the people who can give.” Joel, a partner in Twist Image, a Montreal marketing and communications firm, spends about one-third of his workday giving his time and efforts to the community. “My bu... posted on Feb 5, 1310 reads

Engineers Without Borders
The Mayan village of San Pablo in Belize had no electricity, no running water, no sanitation, and since most villagers worked on the local banana plantation the duty of hand-carrying drinking and irrigation water to the village from a nearby river fell to the children. That was until University of Colorado civil engineering professor Dr. Bernard Amadei and his students designed, funded, and built ... posted on Feb 23, 1000 reads

City Repair
In Portland, Oregon, on the corner of 47th and Ivan, are a park and a sauna built and maintained by neighborhood residents. On 18th and Clinton are a one-room sanctuary for contemplation and an oven for baking bread. Led by architect Mark Lakeman, City Repair Project has motivated more than a thousand people to transform urban intersections into community spaces that foster commerce, reduce crime... posted on Mar 17, 1292 reads

Marriage
Since 1973, Dr. John Gottman has studied what he calls the "masters and disasters" of marriage. Ordinary people from the general public took part in long-term studies, and Dr. Gottman learned what makes marriages fail, what makes them succeed, and what can make marriages a source of great meaning. By examining partners’ heart rates, facial expressions, and how they talk about their relationship ... posted on Mar 19, 2170 reads

One Giant Leap
Grammy winning artists Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman were equipped solely with a digital video camera, a laptop and a vision - to capture and weave together a unique fusion of sound, image and spoken word from some of the world's most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers and to explore 'The Unity in the Diversity'. The result is 1 Giant Leap, an extraordinary movie that capture... posted on May 27, 949 reads

Heritage
Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are important to preserve as both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration, which is why the UN created the World Heritage Program. The program identifies and protects places as unique and diverse as the wilds of East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of... posted on Jul 27, 1560 reads

Interrelated Structures of Reality
Cameron Sinclair is co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, a non-profit that seeks architecture solutions to humanitarian crises and brings design services to communities in need. For the last six years his team has initiated and implemented many programs including housing ideas for returning refugees in Kosovo; mobile health clinics to combat HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa; and mine clearance p... posted on Mar 28, 1022 reads

Soccer Balls for a Better Future
He'd won 4 Olympic Golds, broken 11 world records, and was 25. So he retires?! Speed skater Johann Olav Koss had a much deeper outlook. “You’re very focused on yourself, you’re very narrow-minded and your world is limited. At a certain point you want to see the greater meaning—the greater whole.” And so he went to Eritrea with a plane full of soccer balls, a week after President Afewerki... posted on May 5, 1549 reads

One Woman's Artistic Gift
On her countryside farm in Salt Lake City, Kazaih raises goats. And paints. "I paint people I can relate to and the wildlife and countryside I love," the 58 year old says. In 2002, Kaziah sent a note to a Gloria Johnson to see if she could do a portrait of her son, an Army private who died in an ambush in Iraq. Gloria agreed, and Kaziah's portrait moved her to tears. Kaziah continued her humanitar... posted on Nov 10, 3483 reads

A Family Globetrotting For A Better World
Worried about the future we leave behind for our children? So were this French couple who decided to do something about it. Laurent and Marie de Cherrisey packed their bags and their five kids, aged between 5 and 11, and set off on an around-the-world trip that took them to 14 countries, where they interacted with extraordinary people who testify, through the initiatives they have taken, that toda... posted on May 19, 2045 reads

6-Year-Old Pumps it Up
6-year-old Ryan Hreljac listened intently as his teacher talked about how without access to clean water, people become ill and sometimes even die. "Every penny helps," the teacher said, explaining that a penny buys a pencil, "and $70 pays for a well." Ryan ran home and begged his parents for $70. They told him to earn it through extra chores, and so while his brothers played, Ryan cleaned for two ... posted on May 30, 3631 reads

All for Books, Books for All
At 34, John Wood was a Microsoft millionaire and head of business development in China. Then he took an interesting step -- he quit. Determined to find the "second act" of his adult life, Wood began a trekking expedition in Nepal where he saw firsthand poverty and lack of opportunity. When he got home Wood cashed out $50,000 worth of shares and started Room to Read, now a $10 million organization ... posted on Jun 25, 1419 reads

Six Degrees of Interconnection
When searching for a job or solving difficult problems at work, we routinely make use of our social connections. When making decisions about restaurants to visit, or tech stocks to buy, we pay attention to the advice and actions of friends. And when our computer gets infected by the latest virus, our contacts are the ones most at risk. At the heart of it all is a network of relationships through w... posted on Jun 29, 2622 reads

Doctors from Inner-city Give Back
Thirteen years ago three African-American teenagers made a pact to raise themselves out of their tough inner-city neighborhood in New Jersey and become doctors -- together. Like their peers, they came from poor, single-parent homes in urban neighborhoods where survival, not scholastic success, was the priority. Today Samson, George and Remeck have each overcome wide-ranging obstacles to fulfill th... posted on Jul 5, 2217 reads

How To Grow A Chair
It’s called arborsculpture, and Richard Reames has been doing it for years. He plants trees in patterns, and uses bending and grafting techniques to form the saplings into benches, staircases, sculptures, and an assortment of other amazing living things. After decades of studying trees, his latest project is to build a village of living tree houses with living furniture, in Japan. He adds, "Th... posted on Jul 24, 3382 reads

Man Lifts Car to Save Boy
Tom Boyle and his wife were leaving a shopping center when they saw a young man pinned underneath a car and shrieking for help. "As soon as I get to the car, the boy is just screaming his head off, and I could tell he was in a lot of pain," Boyle said. His fatherly instincts kicked in, and adrenalin rushing, Boyle did the only thing he could do: he lifted the car! "As I was lifting the front end o... posted on Aug 18, 2097 reads

Generosity -- A Strategy for Survival
Helena Cronin, 64, philosopher, social scientist, and Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the London School of Economics, has a different take on the survival of the fittest: "Look carefully at nature, and you will find that it doesn't always seem short, brutish, and savage. Animals are strikingly unselfish.” Cronin offers a way of coping with shared adversi... posted on Aug 31, 2763 reads

From Me Generation to Re-Generation
Retirement years have long been marked by withdrawal, entitlement and the pursuit of leisure. But all that is changing now with a generation that's 60-and-still-raring-to-go. The emerging model embraces personal growth, giving back and continued employment. These hallmarks of the new retirement have the potential to reshape the economy and society to everyone's benefit. The challenge is not, as ma... posted on Oct 20, 1894 reads

Healing Through Acceptance of Pain
When he was 29, Steven Hayes had the first of a series of panic attacks. Today, at 57, he hasn't had a panic attack in a decade, and is a well-known psychologist and author of 27 books. "Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life", is his most recent work. Its first sentence is: "People suffer." But in a radical departure from traditional cognitive therapy, Hayes and other top researchers are focusing ... posted on Nov 7, 3624 reads

Trading In PhDs For Village Life
Dhirendra and Smita were both professors of engineering who traded in their classroom careers for a shovel and hoe. In 1983, the couple moved to a small tribal village in India and built a new house and lifestyle. No electricity, no vehicles, no running water. Instead they would work on farms, eat fresh, pesticide-free produce, drink their own cow's milk, and live with the rhythms of nature. Event... posted on Nov 2, 2300 reads

Oprah's Favorite Giveaway
Over the years, television's Oprah Winfrey has given away everything from cars and homes to cookies and sweaters on her show. But last week, she gave away a different sort of gift -- the gift of giving. Every member of Oprah's audience received $1,000 and a Sony DVD Handycam, with one catch: the more than 300 audience members were told they had to use the money for a good cause. "You're going to o... posted on Nov 6, 3683 reads

A Man Who Sees Beauty In Lepers
Born in a village in 1914, Baba Amte spent formative years with Gandhi, Tagore, and other luminaries, using those experiences to dive into a colorful odyssey -- to conquer his own fears and expand the notion of justice and peace through innovative experiments. Much of Baba Amte’s life has been dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients at a time when the disease was incurable. ... posted on Dec 2, 1611 reads

Creating A Web Of Giving
Thanks to San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva.org, with just a few clicks of the mouse, most everyone can become a microfinancier. At Kiva.org, a schoolteacher in Kansas can partner with, say, an expert seamstress in countries like Kenya, Mexico and Ecuador to jump-start a tailor shop. And that's only the tip of the possibility iceberg. Founders Matthew and Jessica Flannery came up with the idea fo... posted on Feb 10, 2500 reads

Kids Worldwide Help Orphan Chimps
Orphaned chimpanzees in Africa will get a new place to rest their heads thanks to the remarkable efforts of hundreds of young people: Third graders in Los Angeles raised $430 selling hand-crafted necklaces; Youth at a zoo in Sweden raised $1,500; 8 year-old Brandon collected jars of "chimp change" totaling $319.26 from local students at Eastern Illinois University. All of them were members of Jane... posted on Dec 28, 3001 reads

The Impact of Gratitude
In an experimental comparison, people who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events. Psychologists Robert Emmons at the University of California at Davis, and Michael McCullough, at the University of Miami, foremost researchers o... posted on Jan 10, 4549 reads

MLK's Influence On You
Almost 40 years after his death, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his vision continue to provide hope and inspiration to the world. Marian Wright Edelman -- activist and winner of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism -- offers reflections on her mentor's life and message based on their friendship. In this article, Edelman lends insight into King's definition of service, and encourage... posted on Jan 16, 1695 reads

Peru's Home of Miracles
When Alan and Marie Patton lost their son, Chandler, they decided to do something special in his memory: the couple moved from Colorado to an old hacienda in the Sacred Valley of Peru where they adopted 29 kids! Casa de Milagros (House of Miracles), as they named their house, is an extraordinary children's home near historic Machu Piccu, Peru. The home seeks to heal the mind, body and spirit of ma... posted on Jan 22, 3361 reads

America's Nicest Homeless Shelter
A space defined by its generosity, the Wellspring House near Boston is 350 years old -- and beautifully restored. "The floorboards are original, the fireplace is original, the central beams are original," says Nancy Schwoyer. "In some ways it is a bed and breakfast, isn't it? It's just that it's a bed and breakfast for homeless families." Schwoyer runs Wellspring -- easily America's nicest homeles... posted on Feb 3, 2106 reads

$15 Music Video
Popular singer Sarah McLachlan asked what her video budget could buy, and found the answer in unexpected places. The result was this unique video, highlighting with graphics and music the normal costs of producing a contemporary video and alternate ways that money could be spent. For instance, the hair and makeup expenses for a video shoot would cost about $5,000 for a day in Los Angeles. Or, that... posted on Feb 25, 4303 reads

Freedom Writers
Nothing could have prepared Erin Gruwell for her first day of teaching at Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. A recent college graduate, Erin landed her first job only to discover many of her students had been deemed "unteachable". As teenagers living in a racially divided urban community, they were already hardened by first-hand exposure to gang violence, juvenile detention, and drugs. Gruwe... posted on Mar 11, 2370 reads

Doctor Inspires Service To Ethiopia
The average life expectancy in Ethiopia is forty years; yet, the ratio of physicians to population remains 1:100,000. As a child growing up in a rural village in Ethiopia, Ingida Asfaw dreamed of becoming a doctor. Carrying his family's hopes and dreams, he traveled to the United States aboard a cargo ship in 1958, arriving at age 16 with little money and only a small suitcase. He attended college... posted on Apr 1, 2399 reads

Miracle Worker for the Children
Raised by a single mother on public assistance in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood, Dr. Gloria WilderBraithwaite grew up much like the children she treats today. And still Gloria worked her way through Howard University and Georgetown Medical School, fired by the desire to help others. For the past 14 years, she has been riding in a blue van bringing medical care where it is needed the most by people... posted on Apr 16, 3932 reads

What Babies Know & We Don't
Babies might seem a bit dim in their first six months of life, but researchers are getting smarter about what babies know, and the results are surprising. Soon after birth, infants are keen and sophisticated generalists, capable of seeing details in the world that are visible to some other animals but invisible to adults, older children and even slightly older infants. Here are just a few of the m... posted on May 31, 3790 reads

Teenage Hero of Dhaka's Slums
By age 18, Doly Akter's work in the slums of Bangladesh to help improve health and education has been widely praised, even earning her the chance to speak at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Although born in an area with problems in health and education, Doly's mother saved hard and sent her daughter to school. Doly, in turn, starting serving the neighborhood. Two years ago, she an... posted on Jun 29, 3178 reads

A Symphony Conductor Gives Back
Meet Luis Szaran, a famous musician and social entrepreneur who has dedicated himself to helping redeem the lives of poor and neglected children through music. As the son of a Paraguayan farmer, and one of eight children, Szaran rose from humble beginnings to become the conductor of Paraguay's national symphony. With a lifelong passion for music and with a desire to give back, Szaran set up the So... posted on Aug 8, 3323 reads

Education By Design
Ten years ago, if an architect said he was designing a green school, most people would have assumed he had decided to paint the facade a pleasant shade of sage. But now it’s 2007, and "green schools" are part of a growing movement that is changing the environments in which students learn -- and has parents clamoring to get their children on waiting lists. This is the business of sustainable scho... posted on Aug 27, 1593 reads

The Clothesline Makes A Comeback
At last count, in 2005, there were 88 million dryers in the US. Annually, each dryer consumes 1,079 kilowatt hours of energy per household, creating 2,224 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions. Concerned about global warming and her family's energy consumption, Michelle Baker wanted to hang her wash outside. She scoured stores for a clothesline durable enough to withstand Vermont winters and came bac... posted on Aug 30, 2871 reads

Time To Be A Witness
Two years into his retirement from the U.S. Forest Service, Jim Lockyer is still too busy painting and doing volunteer work to spend the kind of time he'd like on another favorite pastime: recording outdoor sights and sounds in his nature journal. So at journaling workshops in the Philadelphia area and beyond, the Delaware County artist and naturalist urges his students to do as he says, not as he... posted on Sep 6, 2212 reads

Argentina Shoe Drop
Blake Mycoskie wanted to get away from it all. After founding and running four businesses and losing by a sliver on The Amazing Race, he escaped last January to Argentina, where he learned to sail, dance the tango and play competitive polo. He also visited impoverished villages where few, if any, children had shoes. "I was sitting on a field on a farm one day, and I had an epiphany," says Mycoskie... posted on Sep 8, 2901 reads

A Father Teaches Non-Violence
"I was 16 years old and living with my parents 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies. One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was ... posted on Sep 21, 4215 reads

Bill Clinton & My Commitment
Bill Clinton recently introduced MyCommitment.org, a new initiative which aims to provide all people with the resources to take action and make a real change in their communities and around the world. The website is inspired by the idea that as global citizens, we all have the unprecedented ability to help others achieve their dreams and realize a better future. Anyone -- regardless of age, incom... posted on Sep 30, 3650 reads

Wired For Leadership?
When participants in a trial at Arizona State University were asked to think about the future, levels of brain activity varied significantly between those considered visionaries and non-visionaries. Visionaries showed much higher levels of brain activity than non-visionaries in areas of the brain associated with visual processing and organization of information. The visionary leaders had more effi... posted on Oct 1, 2277 reads

Secrets of the Very Very Old
Any centenarian in the US today has lived to see eighteen presidents serve the United States through two World Wars, the civil rights and womens' liberation movements and the rise and eventual fall of Communism. If s/he worked on a farm, s/he saw the progression from horses to tractors, and a Model T tooted its way down the street. S/he is older than the Empire State Building, bubble gum and Micke... posted on Oct 9, 4480 reads

Art as Attention to Living
"works & conversations," a unique gift-economy art magazine that showcases a series of profound and deeply personal interviews with artists from all walks of life, talks with former museum photographer Nick Hlobeczy. Editor Richard Whittaker’s shared exploration with Hlobeczy pushes and redefines the boundaries of art, bringing it seamlessly into an attention to living. Among other things, the t... posted on Oct 13, 2340 reads

Dying Homeless Man's Lesson in Humanity
A homeless man with a few months left to live and his caregivers have formed an unusual bond. Patrick Conway, with virtually nothing to his name turned out to have a lot to offer others. And in return, Conway, who'd always hated hospitals,is beginning to understand how love and compassion can enter a man's life in unforeseen ways. Dr. Melissa Mattison calls Conway "a breath of fresh air...There he... posted on Nov 2, 3345 reads

My Vision of a Compassion Future
Last week, the Dalai Lama received the highest civilian award in the United States -- the Congressional Gold Medal -- with recognition by the President and members of both the Republican and Democratic party members. As the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama has been a courageous and steadfast voice of support for fundamental human rights, particularly the right to freedom ... posted on Oct 27, 1992 reads

Reading Reinvented
It is a more reliable storage device than a hard disk drive, and it sports a sleek user interface. (No instruction manual or "For Dummies" guide needed.) And, it is instant-on and requires no batteries. Many people think it is so perfect an invention that it can't be improved upon, and react with indignation at any implication to the contrary. "The book," says Jeff Bezos, 43, the CEO of Internet ... posted on Dec 3, 2869 reads