The Latest

A True Broad

No one ever accused Ellen Barkin of playing the part of a shrinking violet…and the world is better for it.

Customized Classics

Remember when you felt like you were Jane Eyre? You related to every single emotion and thought Bronte wrote? Give yourself a mildly narcissistic boost by actually becoming the main character.

Dancing On My Own

It’s safe to say the world would be a better place, if we all felt the exhilaration one gets listening to this song more often.

Shapeshifters

Canada’s favorite son Sam Roberts tells us what we all know, but don’t like to admit.

The Wayfaring Band

The Wayfaring Band organizes road trips and getaways for special needs children and young adults. There isn’t a more joyful and inspiring Instagram feed out there.

Yes, Please

Poehler talks SNL, Parks and Rec, and the power of recognizing and embracing your ‘currency’.

Cowbird

A site that allows you to create and share your story, and view what others have to say without ads and other nonsense.

Freedom ’90!

You know the feeling when you want soundtrack when you enter the room? This song is the perfect accompaniment to making an entrance.

A Photographer Found

The mystery of the nanny turned photographer remains, but her startling images of people in New York and Chicago provide vivid images of individual life.

Changing My Mind

Zadie Smith’s book of essays from 2009 can be described as a simple collection of musings, reviews and observations, but they paint a vivid portrait of Smith – and prove the 21st Century adage, ‘you are what you like.’

Live Like a Mighty River

Hughes might be more well-known for his troubled marriage with Sylvia Plath, but this letter encouraging his son to embrace his ‘childish self’ is a thing of beauty and filled with advice we should all follow.

Sontag on Activism

Susan Sontag is known for her writing, but after experiencing harrowing conditions in Sarajevo in the 90’s, she found a different way to exercise her intellect in activism.

San Francisco B.C.

Remember that scene from Saturday Night Fever when Travolta walks down the street to the BeeGees? David Berman’s Silver Jews brings the same swagger to give you a little confidence for your next strut.

Taken for Granted

We take for granted the many things our brain does so easily, this look at one man’s brain after an accident shows how quickly even identity can be lost.

The Lazarus Project

Aleksander Hemon weaves an unsolved mystery and coming of age story into an impossibly beautiful tale of finding one’s roots.

Dummy Land

A dispatch from a convention of ventriloquists that is both hilarious and enlightening.

Brave

Have you belted out a song today? If the answer is no, start with this ditty by Sara Bareilles. It’s infectious.

Ramadan in Yemen

An intimate look at a culture and time that often gets lost in headlines and politics. In 1993, photographer Max Pam built a beautiful portrait of Yemeni Muslims during the holiest of months.

Kodachrome

Paul Simon’s take on nostalgia is surprisingly open and cheerful. His reflections are on point no matter where you find yourself in life.

The Boz

In this episode of the ESPN series, Brian Bosworth finds the up and downs of the reality that you are who you pretend to be.

Serial

This ingenious podcast is impossible to resist and a tremendous exercise in perception… not to mention storytelling.

Angelou Remembered

Not even the most notable of voices was born fully formed, sometimes you have to find it. Poet Maya Angelou went through years of silence after a horrific rape before she discovered what she wanted to say.

Pieces of a Man

Gil Scott-Heron was a writer and poet before he started recording music, and that fact is evident in this heartbreaking song. Money is a material thing, but it’s consequences run far more deep.

Never Is a Promise

Fiona Apple is a master at depicting the complex inner voice of someone at odds with themselves and others. She cuts an image in such stark relief that you feel almost ruined after hearing it.

Against the Grain

Hillary Biscay believed in herself when no one else would and went from being a terrible age-group swimmer to a world-class professional athlete.

Magical Thinking

New research enlightens the possibilities of the magical thinking that remains even as we are long into adulthood.

Herzog

So much of how we feel is dictated by our disappointment in ourselves and in others. It has never been captured better than in Saul Bellow’s award winning novel.

Down by the Water

The Decemberists get help from Peter Buck and Gillian Welch to give some solid advice: “if you can be all dolled up in gabardine you are ok by us.”

The Pretender

Faking it ’til you make it or pathological liar? Either way, we’ve all pretended at some point. Jackson Browne just happened to be better at making a catchy song about it.

Starter Chateau

What would you do if you bought a little chateau in France and started to restore it? Blog about it? Well, that’s what this couple is doing.

Hypnotized

Do you own a yacht? Need a soundtrack for the bathroom of the upscale restaurant you own? Put this on the playlist.

Currency

The great podcast series ‘How Stuff Works’ breaks down currency – what it is, how it works and why we should care.

Wonder Women

Debora Spar gives good insights into the strife caused by women trying to do it all and why it rarely equates to satisfaction for anyone.

The Power of Habit

An easy to digest look at our reasons for doing all the strange things we do on a daily basis at home and at work.

The Circle

Since you are looking at this on your smart phone, you are only a step away from the future in this paranoid tale from Dave Eggers.

Simple Truth

Data and this thing called ‘science’ prove that money doesn’t bring us the pleasure we think it does. Maybe we should value it less?

The 4-Hour Workweek

Maybe we’ve been doing it all wrong? Productivity might not have to mean 14-hour days and being surgically attached to your smartphone. Taking time to rethink how and why we are doing what were doing is always a good thing.

Moguls on Success

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates give great advice about being smart and planning retirement…but, then again, it’s easier when you’re a billionaire.

Must Be a Devil

There are times when things both annoy and inspire – Diplo found that very sweet spot in this song.

Community

Commerce defines what businesses succeed in our communities, but as things close down, is the community itself lost?

An Awesome World

Children’s book author Dallas Clayton learned firsthand that sometimes you have to do what you love and wait for the rest of the world to catch up.

David and Goliath

Malcolm Gladwell dissects the power of the underdog throughout history. Don’t lose faith when you’re feeling the odds are against you – you’ve got more going for you than you think.