Vivekananda (born Narendranath Datta) was an Indian Hindu monk who played an instrumental role in the introduction of the Indian philosophy of Vedanta to the Western world. He is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the late 19th century. He was a major […]
Bomb explosions were, sadly, not an unusual occurrence in Baghdad. And yet after a car packed with explosives detonated in the busy Mansour district in 2015, killing 10 people and injuring 27, something very unusual happened. Karim Wasfi, the renowned conductor of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, showed up just as soldiers and police were […]
Born in December of 1950, Paul Franklin Watson is a Canadian environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct action group focused on marine conservation. Watson’s pro-Earth, pro-environment & pro-animal activist career began when he joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing in 1969. He was thereafter an early and influential […]
Born in 1915, Alan Watts was a British-born philosopher, writer, and speaker. He was best known as a re-interpreter of Eastern philosophy for those living in or having intimate ties with the West. Even in his early years at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, it became clear that Watts disliked all religious outlooks that he felt were […]
Steve Wheen (a.k.a. The Pothole Gardener) is a radical gardener on a miniature scale. Essentially, Steve altruistically & anonymously creates miniature gardens in the unlikeliest of urban spaces — potholes, cracks in sidewalks, borders of footpaths, beside curbs etc. His micro-gardens were born out of frustration with both the potholes he encountered in the roads […]
Born in September of 1928, Elie Wiesel is a Romanian-born Jewish-American professor and political activist. He is the author of 57 books, including “Night”, a work based on his personal experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. Indeed, the first image below is of the Buchenwald barracks that housed Wiesel […]
For more than 20 years, Dr. Jim Withers has taken his medical practice to the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by offering free, quality health care to the homeless. Originally, to win their trust, Withers used to walk the streets dressed like a homeless person — rubbing dirt in his hair and muddying up his […]
One of the most respected Jedi Masters in galactic history, Yoda — especially in his later, Muppetesque years — was known for his penetrating wisdom, childlike sense of Humor and Peace-full ways. “Always in motion, the future is … Grave danger you are in, [because] impatient, you are … You must train yourself to let […]
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh) was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced millions of Indians and westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga. His book, Autobiography of a Yogi remains a spiritual masterpiece and was included in the 100 best spiritual books of the 21st century. In 1917, Yogananda began […]
Born in 1970, Yourofsky is an American animal rights activist. Over 20 years ago, after a behind-the-scenes visit to a circus partially awakened him to the immense suffering that humans were inflicting upon the animal kingdom, Gary wanted to know more — especially about the treatment of the animals whose flesh he ate and whose […]
Howard Zinn was an American historian, political science professor (Boston University), playwright, and social activist. While witing extensively about the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, and the labor history of the United States, Zinn penned more than twenty books — including his best-selling, immensely insightful, and highly influential A People’s History of the United […]
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