Sunday, June 6, 2010 Running for Orphans  Ever seen a nun run 50 miles in her full habit? This Spring, Sister Mary Beth Lloyd, 61, teamed up with ultra-runner Lisa Smith Batchen to run 50 miles in 50 states. The Cause? To help children orphaned by AIDS. "Every 14 seconds a new child-headed household is formed," Lloyd explains. Since 1995, the sister has directed a worldwide mission that educations and offers skills training to women, at-risk girls, and orphans in Albania, Brazil, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and India. "She empowered these children to care for themselves and their siblings with tremendous results," says Mayor Pasquale Menna of Red Bank, NJ. In one case, Lloyd gave 6 eggs to one young boy who now runs a farm with 500 chickens and provides education for his siblings. "She's an ordinary woman doing extraordinary things," Menna concludes. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, June 5, 2010 The Encore Generation  The idea that many workers reaching their mid and late 60s think they are too young to retire and - particularly in the wake of the recession - may have no choice but to keep working, is not particularly new. But with growing evidence of a demographic wrench being thrown into the classic arc of the life course - essentially a bonus decade or three added to the average life span over the last century - researchers are now exploring an entirely new developmental stage for people ages 55-75, and they are challenging the notion that these years are marked by mental and emotional decline. In fact, surveys show that many Americans approaching retirement want to continue working past traditional retirement age and have a strong desire to remain productive and set new goals. Many plan to continue either full time or part time work into their 70s, and a substantial number work into their 80s! Read More >>
back to top Friday, June 4, 2010 It Starts with a Seed  The seed of the idea, Satish Vijaykumar recalls, started as something tiny and simple: "One day I was just sitting and thinking about how the average Indian is always worrying about something, but we don't do anything." One thing that sounded doable to the young man of Mumbai, India was to pool together rupees with friends, buy a few saplings, and plant them. "It's the least I could do," he thought. Now called "The Sapling Project," Vijaykumar and his friends' tree-planting movement has delivered over 1,200 trees and involved roughly 700 people people, with plans to plant 10,000 trees in Mumbai, preferably before the monsoons. In a city that loses 3,000-4,000 trees a month due to development, Vijaykumar's "little act" has rather large ripples. They've even been asked to share their experience with people in Kenya and Zimbabwe! Read More >>
back to top Thursday, June 3, 2010 Longevity in Relationships: 10 Tips  What's the secret to a successful, long-lasting relationship? After the initial 'Honeymoon Phase,' why is it that we might find ourselves increasingly impatient, resentful, jealous, or annoyed by our once blissful relationship? Upon ending her 17-year marriage, New York Times Well Blog columnist Tara Parker-Pope seeks out the answers in her book, "For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage". Subtle things like planning together, learning to "fight productively," celebrating the small stuff, or being aware of body language can make all the difference. Whether you think of your significant other as your soul mate, partner, husband, or wife, Parker-Pope offers insights to help you strengthen your most profound relationship in life. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, June 2, 2010 Moral Life of Babies  Not long ago, Paul Bloom watched a 1-year-old boy take justice into his own hands. On a quest to discover the nature of morality, Bloom and his fellow researchers are exploring the moral lives of babies for the answer. While it may seem like babies are helpless, ignorant, and undisciplined, recent studies at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center indicates that, even in the first year of life, some sense of good and bad is bred in the bone. In a study in which children watch a puppet steal a ball from two others, Bloom watched the 1-year-old boy punish the wrong-doing puppet. "Babies possess certain moral foundations - the capacity and willingness to judge the actions of others, some sense of justice, gut responses to altruism and nastiness. Regardless of how smart we are, if we didn't start with this basic apparatus, we would be nothing more than amoral agents," Bloom concludes. Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Adventurer leaves NY Career to Walk Across the US  I don't suppose you've watched 'Forest Gump,' Ron Struzynski chuckles as he watches 30-year-old Matt Green set up a tent for the evening. Green, previously an New York City civil engineer, finds himself in Wisconsin tonight, after embarking on a 6-month walk across the U.S. in late March. In these uncertain times, most of us cling to the things that make us feel secure. Those who have jobs give thanks. We hug our children a little tighter. We wait - and hope - for better times. So when someone like Matt Green comes along, we shake our heads a little and wonder. Who is this young man, bearded and weather-worn, pushing a cart down a country road, mile after mile? And why would he abandon a solid career to walk all the way across the United States? "Good question," Green agrees, and he goes on to note, "Playing it safe isn't really that safe. If you do that, you miss out on a lot of the great things life has to offer." Read More >>
back to top Monday, May 31, 2010 Money Giveth, Money Taketh Away  The idea that money does not buy happiness has been around for centuries, but now scientists have shown for the first time that even the thought of money reduces satisfaction in the simple pleasures of life. In two experiments, conducted by scientists at the University of Liege in Belgium, the subject's "savoring" ability -- the feeling of positive emotions such as contentment, gratitude, joy, awe or excitement during an experience -- was measured and shown to be lower when the thought of money was introduced vs. the control, without a money primer. Read More >>
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"It was pure adrenaline, I didn't think about it. I knew if the car stayed on him, he was going to die." And just like that, a life was saved. Off-duty Wayland Police Officer Tyler Castagno was in his truck in traffic when he saw a cyclist go by. Suddenly a car ahead turned to the right to enter a driveway, knocking the cyclist over and pulling him under the car. While his fiancee called 911, Castagno tried to lift the car from on top of the cyclist, and succeeded after some other bystanders joined the Herculean effort.... [ 
When a piece of art consisting of a porcelain brick arrived on the desk of key government officials during what is now known as the "California Water Wars" nobody knew it would change the course of environmental history. Years later, one of those officials, then head of California's Resource Agency, recounted how a gift of artwork moved his heart, and rippled out to move the hearts of the people of California. Ultimately the landmark legal case to protect the Sierra's Mono Lake prevailed and set important precedent for protection of natural resources. But how many people know the behind-the-scenes story of the brick that turned the tides when hope could not be found? Behold, the power of art! [ 
Happiness increases with age, surveys say! A recent Gallup poll asked 340,000 people across the United States questions ranging from age and gender, health, personal finances, emotions, and general well-being. They found that negative emotions like worry and sadness drop off after age 50, about the same time happiness sets in. Overall, the trends show that young adults start out feeling pretty good, transition into the twists and turns of adult life, and come out happy and satisfied as they grow into old age. So the next time you discover a new wrinkle or grey hair, celebrate! Maybe ignorance isn't so blissful after all. [ 
As an infant, Bharti Kumari was abandoned at a railway station in Bihar, one of India's poorest states. Now, at 12 years-old, she is the head teacher at a school in Kusmbhara, her adopted village. Under the shade of a mango tree every morning and evening, she teaches Hindi, English, and math to 50 village children who would otherwise receive no education. In between, she attends a state school in Akhodhi Gola, a two mile walk away. Dressed proudly in her school uniform, she passes on the knowledge gleaned from her lessons to her fellow village children, aged 4-10. What motivates her? The answer is simple: "This is what I love doing," she smiles. [ 
As many great companies do, this one started in a dorm room. Yet the light-bulb idea that emerged from these tight living quarters was... collecting trash? TerraCycle, founded by Tom Szaky, is a company that "upcycles" waste into affordable, eco-friendly products ranging from worm-waste fertilizer to messenger bags and school supplies. A company that has mobilized over 10 million people to collect trash, diverted over 1.9 billion units of waste from landfills, boasted a revenue of $7.5 million, and donated $1 billion to schools and nonprofits, Terracycle's road to success was a result of hard work, persistence, and the courage to take risks. A college drop-out with nothing but a firm belief in his vision, Szasky recalls, "In those early days, no one returned my phone calls. I would literally be laughed at when I tried to call retailers to sell them my fertilizer." But today, nothing is impossible. Szaky resolves, "I hope in five years from now there will be a TerraCycle upcycling bin in every school, church, and retail location in America!" [ 
During the school year, Mondays in Peach County are for trips to grandma's house and hanging out at the neighborhood community center. Don't bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off. The rural Georgian community is one of more than 120 school districts across the country where students attend school for just four days a week, a cost-saving tactic gaining popularity among cash-strapped districts struggling to make ends meet. "It was that or lay off 39 teachers the week before school started," said Superintendent Susan Clark. The results? Test scores went up. So did attendance. And the graduation rate will be more than 80 percent for the first time in years. "Teachers tell me they're more focused because they've had time to prepare. They don't have kids sleeping in class on Tuesday." Clark explains. "Everything has taken on a laser-light focus." [ 
