Baby Mei was curious, reaching out and touching the children she met in the class where she taught empathy. She was a serious baby, “a philosopher king”, says Mary Gordon, a baby who only smiled three times in the year…
#624 Babies teach empathy
Education
#623 An academic center focused on the greater good
The more we focus on what is right with the world, the more reasons we find to be hopeful. The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley is one of those reasons. GGSC is committed not only…
#621 Freshen your home with cow poo
Seriously, they want me to spray cow poo around my house after I’ve cooked something particularly malodorous? According to a post on Treehugger, that is exactly what Dwi Nailul Izzah and Rintya Aprianti Miki have in mind. The two bright…
#620 Invermere, the little town that could
Invermere, British Columbia, is like that little train engine of my childhood, the one that chugged uphill saying, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” That character knew “the secret” long before positive affirmations became…
#615 Youth’s simple invention saves lions
Lions were killing the Turere family’s cattle. Richard began looking after the livestock when he was only 9. Each day he would take them out to the field for grazing. In the evening he would pen them in the small…
#611 Ron Finley, gangsta gardener
Gangsters with shovels are spreading garden graffiti in the vacant spaces, parking strips (aka parkways) and yards of South Los Angeles. They are proud and defiant and even invite residents to steal their work. They are L.A. Green Grounds, a…
#609 They knit their way across Canada
Travel across Canada on VIA Rail, and you just might meet Dela Wilkins and Catherine Mick. They figured out a creative way to earn their train passage and share their passion at the same time. They knit. Wilkins and Mick…
#607 San Patrignano heals addicts with love
Drug addiction and marginalization bring them to San Patrignano. Love heals them. Their treatment is free “because love is a gift.” San Patrignano has been a beacon of hope since 1978. The therapeutic community was founded in Rimini by wealthy…
#599 Kindness is contagious
Coach Peter Morales was determined to put Mitchell Marcus into the game. Marcus is a special-needs student at Coronado High in El Paso, Texas. He has a passion for basketball and shines as a Coronado T-Birds manager. The whole T-Bird…
#592 Finland’s fear-free schools
They start school later, take a three-month summer break, have shorter school days, do little homework, and take few tests. Their teachers are well educated, highly respected, seldom evaluated, belong to a strong union, and take home average salaries. Their…
