No Handouts: Kiva Co-founder Jessica Jackley Talks About Poverty, Money, and Love
In her recent TED Talk, the wonderfully upbeat Jessica Jackley explains the motivations that led her to start KIVA, and tells us why the unique connections created between lenders and lendees separates microfinance from traditional charity. What makes microfinance different? Respect and love.... Continue Reading →Maureen Dowd Calls Patti Smith's Memoir, Just Kids, "Achingly Beautiful"
Lavin speaker Patti Smith, as I’m sure you’ve heard, won the 2010 National Book Award for Non-Fiction in November. In her acceptance speech, Patti implored us to not give up on the book as a physical object: “There is nothing in our material world more beautiful.” Patti won for Just Kids, a memoir... Continue Reading →Can This Man Stop the Next AIDS? The New Yorker Profiles Nathan Wolfe
Nathan Wolfe is working to thwart the next worldwide pandemic before it strikes. This week, The New Yorker profiles Wolfe as part of its 2010 World Changers issue. (Nathan was also a 2009 Rolling Stone Agent of Change—you can start to see a pattern emerge.) According to The New Yorker, Nathan looks... Continue Reading →
John Maeda: Art + Science = Innovation
We stumbled upon some of John Maeda’s classic design work today, over at Fast Company. One of the world’s most famous designers, and ever prescient, John’s been preaching some form of “design thinking” for many years now. As a keynote speaker, and as President of the Rhode Island School of Design,... Continue Reading →
Daron Acemoglu is the 88th Most Influential Thinker on the Planet
MIT economist Daron Acemoglu has been named to Foreign Policy’s list of 100 Global Thinkers, for “showing that freedom is about more than markets.” In their write-up, the FP editors stop just short of saying he will one day win a Nobel — a not unlikely outcome given that he’s already won the John... Continue Reading →
Kwame Anthony Appiah: "Why I Nominated Liu Xiaobo"
In Oslo today, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to writer Liu Xiaobo, who was unable to attend the ceremonies due to his ongoing imprisonment by the Chinese government. An empty chair sat on stage, pointedly, representing his absence. Below is an excerpt from a much-circulated letter that... Continue Reading →