A Lifetime of Favors
Woody Davis was the kind of neighbor every community wishes they had. Throughout his lifetime in the small town of Corbett, Oregon, Woody used his jack-of-all-trades skills doing favors for people -- "thousands of good deeds." He took care of their needs on his own initiative, without ever asking anything for himself. Diagnosed with ALS, Woody faced what he bravely called "dying slowly". But the t... posted on Oct 07 2012, 4,733 reads

Why We Stink At At Taking Breaks
"I've been curious to understand why so many of us are so awful at taking breaks. What is it about our cultural conditioning as adults that prevent us from stepping away from our seemingly-important tasks in order to briefly recharge? Certainly, we're presented with adequate opportunities to pause when we don't want to: red lights, traffic jams, lines at the grocery store and at the bank. For many... posted on Oct 06 2012, 13,863 reads

9 Simple Steps to Improve Your Health
"Ask a centenarian the secret ingredients to a long and healthy life and you aren't likely to hear "doctors, drugs, and fad diets." We all know that there's more to our overall well-being than treating symptoms or the occasional replacement of a part. The good news is that scientists in various fields are discovering ever more ways we can keep ourselves healthy without expensive medication and com... posted on Oct 05 2012, 70,643 reads

A Schoolbag Full of Love
"My daughter, Emma (in 7th grade), started back to school last week. There is a young boy in her class (call him Jake) who is quite overweight. He is treated very badly by other kids and even by the teachers. For several nights this week Emma came home from school upset about the fact that Jake gets picked on so much. She also mentioned that he had no school supplies as his family could not afford... posted on Oct 04 2012, 6,554 reads

In Praise of Melancholy
"Eighty-four percent of Americans claim to be happy, a statistic that Wake Forest University English professor Eric G. Wilson finds "strange at best, troubling at worst." With a litany of self-help books, pills and plastic surgery to feed an addiction to happiness, he says, "It's now easier than ever before to live a trouble-free life, to smooth out the rough edges, to hide the darkness." In his r... posted on Oct 03 2012, 6,809 reads

Students Step Up the Kindness
How amazing would it be to start the first day of school receiving random acts of kindness from your fellow students? Last year, a hundred students at Kansas State huddled early in the morning to see just how they could pool their time, money and creativity to surprise (and perhaps shock!) their fellow students with unexpected generosity. From a welcome applause to paying for meals to wowing a dri... posted on Oct 02 2012, 3,231 reads

The Habit of Starting
"The biggest reason people fail at creating and sticking to new habits is that they don't keep doing it. That seems obvious: if you don't keep doing a habit, it won't really become a habit. So what's the solution to this obvious problem? Find a way to keep doing it. When you look at it this way, the key to forming a habit is not how much you do of the habit each day (exercise for 30 minutes, write... posted on Oct 01 2012, 22,832 reads

Dolphin Murals: An Artist Turns Activist
"After watching a documentary about the annual slaughter of dolphins that takes place in Taiji, Japan, Filipino artist and environmental activist AG Sano was so overcome with emotion that he quit his job and dedicated himself to giving life back to these dolphins, one painted wall at a time... Twenty months later, a spontaneous reaction fuelled by one man's anger and sadness has evolved into an aw... posted on Sep 30 2012, 6,417 reads

Reporting Poverty: Interview with Katherine Boo
While covering poverty and social welfare for the Washington Post in 1993, Katherine Boo was commissioned to write a magazine profile of the new vice president. For most reporters, such an assignment would signal entry into the big leagues. Social issues are regarded as a beat journalists cover until they are deemed important enough to interview politicians, bureaucrats, people of power. "In journ... posted on Sep 29 2012, 4,803 reads

No Greater Joy: Photos from Around the World
Steve McCurry is an American photojournalist best known for "Afghan Girl" a haunting photograph of his that first appeared in National Geographic. Of his work he says, "Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person's face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landsc... posted on Sep 28 2012, 52,419 reads