Iris Grace & Thula: A Girl & Her Cat
Iris Grace Halmshaw, is an extraordinary 5-year-old British girl who was diagnosed with autism three years ago. In the first few years of her life she barely communicated. Painting proved to be an unexpected outlet, and her ethereal creations stunned not just her family, but the art world at large. "While Iris has been painting for more than 18 months now, a new friend joined her family just befo... posted on May 14 2016, 19,996 reads

7 Lessons About Finding the Work You Were Meant to Do
"Finding your calling -- it's not passive," [StoryCorps founder Dave Isay] says. "When people have found their calling, they've made tough decisions and sacrifices in order to do the work they were meant to do."In other words, you don't just "find" your calling -- you have to fight for it. And it's worth the fight. "People who've found their calling have a fire about them," says Isay, the winner o... posted on May 13 2016, 17,446 reads

The Woman Who Rescued Over 200 Sloths
"Monique Pool first fell in love with sloths when she took in an orphan from a rescue centre. Since then many sloths have spent time in her home on their way back to the forest -- but even she found it hard to cope when she had to rescue 200 at once. It all began in 2005 when Pool lost her dog, a mongrel called Sciolo, and called the Suriname Animal Protection Society to see if they'd found it. Th... posted on May 12 2016, 6,681 reads

We Are All Criminals
Emily Baxter is a public defender, turned policy maker, turned storyteller with an unusual cause. As founder of the nonprofit, "We Are All Criminals" she invites everyday people to anonymously share stories of crimes and misdemeanors that they were never caught or charged for. Through sharing personal experiences, her work seeks to inspire empathy and ignite social change. The project is gaining ... posted on May 11 2016, 13,034 reads

Moina Shaiq's Meet A Muslim Initiative
Moina Shaiq has lived in the United States for close on four decades. This mother and grandmother is also a tireless community activist. The tragic shootings in Paris and San Bernadino brought home to her the widespread misunderstandings that surrounded the Islamic faith. So she decided to do something about it. She placed a "Meet a Muslim" ad in a local paper, inviting people to come spend an hou... posted on May 10 2016, 15,594 reads

Grafitti Grandma
Most people have a negative image of graffiti and "tagging." However, there are a group of grandmas and a few grandpas in Lisbon, Portugal, who are encouraged to create street art through workshops given by an organization called Lata 65. This video is a tribute to one of the "crew." Meet Lusa Corteso, a graffiti grandma who never let age impede her imaginative spirit. ... posted on May 09 2016, 4,347 reads

Pronounce a Silent Blessing
"I think that the best way to discover what pronouncing blessings is all about is to pronounce a few. The practice itself will teach you what you need to know. Start with anything you like. Even a stick lying on the ground will do. The first thing to do is to pay attention to it. [...] The more aware you become, the more blessings you will find." This beautiful passage reawakens us to the power of... posted on May 08 2016, 16,939 reads

How Imaginative Storytelling Expands Our Scope of the Possible
""We must always take sides," Elie Wiesel urged in his spectacular Nobel Prize acceptance speech. "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." And yet part of the human tragedy is that despite our best intentions and our most ardent ideals, we often lull ourselves into neutrality in the face of injustice -- be it out of fear for our own... posted on May 07 2016, 9,667 reads

Yoo-Mi Lee: Giving the Gift of Time
Yoo-Mi Lee's family moved from Korea to Uganda. Six years later they immigrated to the Bronx. She was 12. Graduating from Cornell, she ended up by happenstance on Wall Street. Executing trades, glued to three video screens, working three phones and keeping up with the ticker tape, she was headed for a seat at George Soros' currency desk. Then she walked away from the world of Big Money. "I decided... posted on May 06 2016, 4,345 reads

The Strange Beautiful Side of Death
"Its no surprise to anyone who knows my family well (or perhaps anyone who has a teenage daughter themselves) that growing up, my mom and I had a strained relationship.Simply put, she insisted that I sit at the table for dinner, go to bed at nine, periodically clean my room and go to church. She ran the whole house, had a full time job, and was frequently stressed. My dad, on the other hand, seeme... posted on May 05 2016, 24,292 reads