By FRANK BRUNI
BEFORE millions of television viewers, under the dewy and beneficent gaze of Oprah Winfrey, the two of them traded moony glances. They held hands. They spoke the language of sonnets and torch songs.
“It was like an arrow was shot through my heart,” one said, describing an early meeting. “I felt weak at the [...]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Any time anyone tells you that a dream is impossible, any time you’re discouraged by impossible challenges, just mutter this mantra: Tererai Trent.
Of all the people earning university degrees this year, perhaps the most remarkable story belongs to Tererai (pronounced TEH-reh-rye), a middle-aged woman who is one of my heroes. She is [...]

By JAN HOFFMAN

BY now, most high school dress codes have just about done away with the guesswork.
Girls: no midriff-baring blouses, stiletto heels, miniskirts.
Boys: no sagging pants, muscle shirts.
But do the math.
“Rules” + “teenager” = “challenges.”
If the skirt is an acceptable length, can a boy wear it?
Can a girl attend her prom in a tuxedo?
In recent [...]

Interview by Alan Davidson
It is a glorious San Francisco day. I zip along the Golden Gate Bridge in a metallic blue Mustang convertible. The sun warms my face and arms as the winter breeze whips around me, a delightful reprieve from the sultry humidity I’ve left behind in Houston. The San Francisco Bay shimmers [...]

What if the world embodied its highest potential? What would it look like? As the structures of modern society crumble, this video contemplates a set of unexamined assumptions that form the very basis of our civilization. In a beautifully shot 25-minute retrospective, it asks us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves–and [...]