Sunday, September 12, 2010  As back-to-school season gets into full swing, Houston students who aren't back can expect an early morning knock on the door. It might be the mayor, the superintendent, or a group of volunteers showing up at the door, and they'll know exactly which credits a student needs and a variety of options for how to get them. "For too long a lot of these young people have felt no one cared about them," says Houston Superintendent Terry Grier. "What [the day] symbolizes is that we do care about you and that your high school education is absolutely essential to your future, and to the future of Houston, Texas, and the country." Since the program began, Houston's dropout rate has dropped and other schools are following suit. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, September 11, 2010 9/11 Day of Service  September 11 is a loaded day. It marks the ninth anniversary of the World Trade Center bombings in New York City, the 103rd birthday of Gandhi's concept of Satyagraha ("clinging to truth" in Sanskrit), as well as 117 years after Swami Vivekenanda's stunning speech on interfaith dialogue at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. This year, 9/11 also coincides with Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holiday that marks the conclusion of Ramadan. Today there will be prayers, vigils, moments of silence. There will be large rallies and intimate family memorials. And there will be service. For many, 9/11 has become a day to volunteer, and organizers of social media have spearheaded a new website - 911dayofservice.org - to facilitate the process. Having engaged 300,000 people from 165 countries during last year's 9/11, the website mobilizes and reflects the growing movement of volunteerism. Read More >>
back to top Friday, September 10, 2010 The Success of Failure  These days, it seems like new technologies are cropping up around every corner we turn. Hardly a month goes by without the announcement of some new and exciting media project or application. A new web tool or project may be exciting, but Christian Madera reminds us that for each new app or initiative that gets launched, there are probably dozens that failed, or never even fully began. And it is in these failures where great potential lies. Nonprofit MobileActive noticed that failure really wasn't getting the recognition it deserved. So they invented a model for airing the success of failure: FailFaires. These informal gathering bring people together to share past projects, outcomes, and reasons for failure. By chiseling away the stigmas of failing, FailFaires increase transparency, openness, and valuable yet humble insights into the process of innovation. Read More >>
back to top Thursday, September 9, 2010 Technology that Empowers  In today's era of high technology and endless information, in a culture where cell phones, computers and the internet seem to infuse every corners of our lives, "79 percent of the people on our planet digitally are excluded," reveals Ashoka Fellow Rodrigo Baggio. Armed with the vision to empower low-income youth with computer skills, Baggio founded CDI: The Center for Digital Inclusion. Starting from one of the most dangerous, poverty-stricken communities of Brazil, Baggio and his team have spearheaded a technological and cultural transformation across 13 countries. Teens who were once headed for gangs and drugs have found new outlets for their energies: making videos about social issues. "I never thought I had a future in front of me," says Wanderson da Silva Skrock who, at fourteen, was dealing drugs. "I believe you can rescue someone, even from the very bottom," the now CDI teacher states. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, September 8, 2010 Boost Creativity with a Power Nap  If you see a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle or a student dozing in the library, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. Conversely, the more hours we spend awake, the more sluggish our minds become. In a recent sleep study, participants who napped performed noticeably better and actually improved their capacity to learn. Researchers suggest that napping digests and clears information in the brain's hippocampus, where fact-based memories are temporarily stored. It's like clearing your inbox, describes lead investigator Matthew Walker, "It's as though the email inbox in your hippocampus is full, and until you sleep and clear out those fact emails, you're not going to receive any more mail." Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Pasta for All  It all started when his mother came to visit from Italy. Before then, Bruno Serato, owner of an upscale restaurant in California, admits he had a pretty carefree life- hosting and hobnobbing with Orange Country's most rich and famous. At the time, Serato was on the board of the local Boys and Girls Club, and thought his mother would like to see it. During the visit, he informed her that the club serves a lot of homeless children who sometimes go hungry. Grabbing his arm, she exclaimed, "Why don't you feed them pasta?!" So he did. And he did it again the next night. And again every weeknight for the past five years. Now, Bruno serves 150 meals a night to his favorite "customers." It was "the biggest gift of my life," he sums up. Read More >>
back to top Monday, September 6, 2010 Faith, the Two-Legged Dog  There are some things you have to see to believe, and Faith is one of those. She's a labrador-chow mix born without one front leg and another that was severely deformed and then removed. What's truly amazing about Faith is that, despite having only her two hind legs, she can still walk! In fact, she's lived almost her entire life on those two legs. Something of a celebrity, Faith appeared on Oprah a few years ago, and she's even an honorary sergeant. The US Army gave her the title because she's helped disabled veterans trying to overcome injuries, even donning a military jacket when she visits bases or hospitals. "She shows what can be achieved against great odds," remarks her owner, Jude Stringfellow. Read More >>
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From a Brazilian fisherman to a Chinese shopkeeper, from a German performer to an Afghan farmer, all answered the same questions about their fears, dreams, ordeals, hopes: "Who are you? What have you learned from your parents? What does love mean to you?" A project of "Earth From Above" photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand, 6 Billion Others weaves together video portraits of lives across the globe. Each face is strikingly different. Each answer is remarkably human. Emerging from Bertrand's quest "to learn to live together," these vignettes capture the stunning diversity of mankind while unleashing the universal nature of humanity. [ 
There is an elderly man who lives up the street from us. He has no one to shovel his driveway. he is a bit of a miser so most people aren't so inclined to help. One day, I don't know who did it, but someone used the snow on his driveway to make a whole bunch of smiling and waving snowmen on his lawn. As my son and I were walking by, I could hear him grumbling. "What's the problem?" I asked. He complained that someone had trespassed on his lawn and made a bunch of snowmen. My son, not knowing what 'trespass' meant, assumed it was a good thing. "Wow, sir, that's the biggest bestest present I've ever seen!" Innocently, he turned to me and asked, "Could we have someone 'trespass' on our lawn too?"... [ 
Recently divorced Mike Hannigan was in a grocery store looking for spaghetti sauce when he came across Newman's Own for the first time. Discovering that all the profits of the competitively priced brand were donated to charity made something to click for the office products company manager. "As a consumer I wasn't making any sacrifice," he says. "Use business as a tool to accomplish a community goal - it made perfect sense." Becoming philanthropic isn't just a nice thing to do when business is booming. Donating time and resources can be an essential part of a sustainable business strategy. Alyssa Danigelis offers insights on how to integrate nonprofit projects into your for-profit venture, and how doing so might just benefit everyone. [ 
In the exhibit hall of Washington D.C.'s U.S. State Department, there's a new art exhibit that paints foreign relations in a whole new light. The subjects are orphan children from Thailand. Ben Schumaker calls this "The Memory Project." What began in a spare bedroom at Shumaker's parent's house is now a full time venture that has delivered about 25,000 portraits to orphans in 31 different countries around the world. Most of these children have never had an image of themselves. And it's not just those orphans who've benefited. One viewer says the boy in the picture reminded her of her little brother. Another remarks, "You can just tell by looking at their faces what they've been through sometimes." They have learned compassion. To Ben, that's a word worth a thousand pictures. [ 
Sometimes, things need to be just so. Most of the time though, good (not great) is good enough. This doesn't mean you are settling for second best or short-changing yourself you're being realistic, because people are imperfect. At the Association of Psychological Science Convention this year, one of the most compelling studies came from Prem Fry, PhD, professor of psychology at Trinity Western University. Her study of older adults found a 51 percent reduced life expectancy for perfectionists over non-perfectionists. Our worlds are fraught with imperfections, but instead of worrying over them, how about we try embracing them instead.
What can we learn about ourselves when we let go of our fear of loneliness? With this fun, quirky video, filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis show us how to ease into loneliness- starting in easy places like the bathroom or coffee shop, turning off our cell phone security blankets, honoring the things we like to do by ourselves-as we learn to enjoy it and nurture ourselves with it. [ 
