In the spring of 2020 when schools across the United States were forced to close due to the novel coronavirus, teachers were celebrated for their… Read More »Teachers Who Have Gone Above and Beyond During the Pandemic
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. The first Bessie I read about was famed aviator Bessie Coleman. Then I discovered motorcyclist Bessie Stringfield and blues… Read More »TBT: Famous Bessies in American History
Super Awesome Kids™ Even More Super Awesome Kids™ Woodworking for Food It’s time for another round of Super Awesome Kids™ and the super awesome things… Read More »Super Awesome Kids™ Volume III
Historian and Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson has kept me (and tens of thousands of others) sane this year. I don’t watch the news,… Read More »Heather Cox Richardson Keeps Us Sane
New Orleans, Louisiana, has been plagued by gun violence for decades. Murders in the city have trended downward in recent years, with 2019 seeing the… Read More »Trumpets Are Better Than Guns
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. On August 6, 1926, 20-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel—and she did… Read More »TBT: First Woman to Swim Across the English Channel
NYC local news site Gothamist just shared a beautiful drone video created by @mingomatic. In the video, a drone captures the eight Black Lives Matter… Read More »Black Lives Matter: Art Worth Sharing
I knew I wanted to share this story after it went viral last month, but I didn’t know how best to present it. Two men—strangers—saved… Read More »What Makes a Hero: Courageous Actions Save Two Children
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, New York state was hit especially hard. Although New York wasn’t the first… Read More »New York State Repays Coronavirus Kindness
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. The 2020 edition of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week starts August 9, and to continue this week’s animals theme (and… Read More »TBT: Dr. Eugenie Clark, the Shark Lady
While researching amazing animal artists, I came across amazing animal artists…who are actually animals. Clearly this justified an entire post dedicated to animal artists—of the… Read More »Animals Who Create Amazing Artwork
I’ve been needing more light-hearted content in my life, so this week it’s all animals, all the time. Today’s theme: Super Awesome Artists™ who make… Read More »Artists Who Create Amazing Animal Artwork
A lot of people don’t like squirrels. They are, after all, disease-ridden rodents that destroy bird feeders, dig up gardens, dash maniacally through street traffic,… Read More »Super Awesome Squirrels™ and the People Who Love Them
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. I recently found out that the abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy was an ancestor of a friend of mine. I… Read More »TBT: Abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy
Are you running out of ideas to keep yourself and/or your kids occupied? Are you social distancing at home (yay!) but missing the organized activities… Read More »Sleepathome Camp (Activities for Kids and Adults)
Moms can be a lot of things—caretakers, chefs, CEOs, chemists, cardiologists, cosmetologists—and those are just the ‘C’s! But regardless of their profession (paid or otherwise),… Read More »Activist Moms Don’t Mess Around
While researching articles and profiles to feature in last week’s post, We Failed Our Most Essential, I came across many excellent articles featuring first-hand accounts… Read More »In Their Own Words: Essential Workers Share Their Stories
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. After an incredibly sad week spent reading hundreds of obituaries of Americans who died of COVID-19 (and sharing their… Read More »TBT: The Father of Immunology
This is Part Four of a Four-Part Series Honoring the Lives We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part One: Ten Awesome People We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part… Read More »We Failed Our Most Essential
This is Part Three of a Four-Part Series Honoring the Lives We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part One: Ten Awesome People We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part… Read More »Kids We’ve Lost to COVID-19
This is Part Two of a Four-Part Series Honoring the Lives We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part One: Ten Awesome People We’ve Lost to COVID-19 Part… Read More »We Continue to Mourn Needless Deaths
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. On April 1, 1884 Florence Aby Blanchfield was born in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, as the fourth of eight children.… Read More »TBT: First Female Army Officer
File this under things I would never do but totally respect. Ultramarathoner Corey Cappelloni missed his Nana. Ninty-eight-year-old Ruth Andres was quarantining at the Allied… Read More »Long-Distance Runner Runs 220 Miles to Visit Grandma
In Bethesda, Maryland, a Super Awesome Kid™, 16-year-old Henry Sowells, is keeping busy with a brand-new hobby that lets him donate his proceeds to charity.… Read More »Woodworking for Food
One of the great human tragedies of the COVID-19 pandemic (other than economic suffering and the devastating loss of health and life) is the increased… Read More »Helping Domestic Violence Survivors
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. “I was trying to make people united and angry. I was known as the angriest man in the world,… Read More »TBT: Larry Kramer: Activist, Writer, Revolutionary
Although unemployment insurance claims have fallen in recent weeks, 47 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March. In pre-pandemic days, millions of families… Read More »Feeding the Body and the Soul
Today, I read an article on The Creative Independent titled “How to Think Differently About Doing Good as a Creative Person” by artist and technologist… Read More »How to Level Up Your Super Awesomeness™
In early May I took a long walk in my neighborhood for the first time since the pandemic came to Brooklyn, and I saw my… Read More »A Rainbow Connection
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. Like many people around the world, I first learned about the brilliant NASA engineer Mary Jackson in 2017 when… Read More »TBT: Mary Jackson, NASA’s First Black Female Engineer
If you are an organ donor or if you have donated the organs of a loved one lost too soon, you are an awesome person.… Read More »Organ Donor Family Saves Man—Twice
When summertime rolls around, many teachers and parents worry about the summer slide—a loss of academic proficiency when students in America lose, on average, 20%… Read More »Bringing Books to Kids in Need This Summer
On March 24, 2020, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was officially postponed due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. The Games, originally scheduled for July… Read More »Simone Biles: Still Incredible
As a white woman raised in the south, I was never taught about the history of Juneteenth, the “oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending… Read More »TBT: The History of Juneteenth
Older generations love to complain about “kids these days”—they always have, and they probably always will. But even amid the hardships of a pandemic, academic… Read More »Even More Super Awesome Kids™
On January 23rd, 2017, the Cracked Podcast released episode #162: 9 Creepy Real Murders with special guests Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. After their Cracked… Read More »“Exactly Right” for What the World Needs Now
Italian street artist CIBO (Italian for “food”) is doing more than making the streets of Italy a little more colorful—and mouth-watering. Since 2008, CIBO (aka:… Read More »Italian Street Artist Transforms Hate into Food Murals
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. Dr. Kathy Sullivan first made history in 1984, and on June 7, 2020, she did it again. Kathryn D.… Read More »TBT: From 140 Miles Above Earth to 7 Miles Under the Ocean
Not everyone who supports the Black Lives Matter movement is able to join the protesters in the streets—and that’s okay. We all have different abilities… Read More »How To Help Protestors Fight for Justice
The United States is opening back up, but it will be a long time before things are “normal” again. Over the past several months, the… Read More »Reconnecting the Old-Fashioned Way
Remember Captain Tom Moore? Or should I say, Capt. SIR Tom Moore? Or should I say, Colonel Sir Tom Moore? He’s the delightful then-99-year-old veteran… Read More »Inspired by Captain Tom Moore
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. When it comes to American History, the United States has routinely failed to teach its citizens the unvarnished truth.… Read More »TBT: A People’s History of the United States
The pandemic has been especially brutal for people of color who are getting sick and dying at disproportionate rates while also suffering more of the… Read More »How To Support Black-Owned Businesses in the United States
“Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot… Read More »Resources in the Fight for Racial Justice
Most parents would agree that it’s a scary and difficult time to raise kids. There are valid concerns about the pandemic will affect children long-term—physically,… Read More »Super Awesome Kids™
TBT: Super Awesome People™ in History. “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when… Read More »TBT: 59 Years Ago, Amnesty International Began
Earlier this month I shared ten of the funniest and most inspired viral videos and collaborations to come out of the pandemic. Many creative folks… Read More »More Viral Distractions to Survive the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has kept most of us close to home, and many people have used their restricted mobility as an opportunity to connect with… Read More »Corny Jokes, Messages of Hope, and Wine Ninjas