Humanity

Attending Festivals Can Increase Connection to Humanity, Study Shows

Many a Burning Man attendee has been known to wax rhapsodic about their experiences communing in the desert. And that type of passion is well documented throughout history — sociologist Émile Durkheim called the self-transcending effects of mass gatherings “collective effervescence.” Now, a study out of Yale suggests that the transformative impact of festivals persists […]

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Young woman with blonde hair is dancing with her friends in a performance tent at a music festival. She has her arms outstretched and is watching the performance.

Cookie Company CEO With Down Syndrome Is Creating Jobs for People With Disabilities

Humanity / 3 min. read

Collette Divitto isn’t allowing a disability to hold her back from accomplishing her dreams. The entrepreneur, who was born in 1990 with Down syndrome, is the CEO and founder of Collettey’s Cookies — a successful cookie company that’s on a mission to create jobs for people with disabilities. “I was not only determined to show

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Instacart Shopper Saved Elderly Man’s Life After Noticing Propane Leak on Delivery

Humanity / 2 min. read

“If you see something, say something.” That mindset is what saved the lives of two people, all thanks to Jessica Higgs — an Instacart delivery driver who listened to her intuition. In an emotional video shared on her TikTik account back in February, Higgs explained that while she was delivering groceries to an elderly man’s

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Students’ Letter Writing Campaign Successfully Boosts Animal Shelter Adoptions

Culture, Humanity / 2 min. read

By putting pencil (and crayon) to paper, an elementary school class honed their creative writing and drawing skills while also helping some overlooked shelter pets find adoptive homes. Second-grade teacher Kensey Jones was mulling over new writing assignment ideas for her students at St. Michael’s Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia. Jones had become a volunteer

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Meet the Carpet Cleaner Who Speaks 24 Languages — And Had MIT Study His Brain

Culture, Humanity / 2 min. read

Vaughn Smith was bilingual from a young age, learning English from his father and Spanish from his Mexican mother. As he grew up, though, languages began to captivate him, and he soon took on many more tongues. Now age 46, he speaks 24 languages and has a basic understanding or some familiarity with 21 others.

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Carpet cleaner Vaughn Smith wears a beanie and looks at camera with a small smile in front of a wall featuring different written languages

British Woman Closes Her Seaside Hotel to Tourists to House Ukrainian Refugees

Humanity / 2 min. read

A community of care, compassion, and hope has blossomed at The Seaward Hotel in Weston-super-Mare, England, which is currently home to 22 Ukrainian refugees. Following a pandemic closure, the seaside hotel only saw a small return of visitors since it reopened. So when Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine in February, owner Nitsa Michael and

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The Seaward hotel on a sunny day with plants and chairs out front

13-Year-Old Makes History as She’s Accepted Into Med School: “I’ve Worked So Hard to Live My Dreams”

Culture, Humanity / 3 min. read

At 13 years old, Alena Analeigh has already achieved more than your average adult — she was the youngest-ever NASA intern, she’s a triple major undergraduate enrolled at Arizona State University and Oakwood University, and she’s the founder of Black Stem Girl, a program dedicated to providing girls of color access to STEM programs and

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Alena Aleigh smiles and looks at the camera with arms crossed in a white lab coat

How One Teacher Uses an Empty Chair as an Inspiring Lesson of Inclusion

Humanity / 3 min. read

Great teachers have the power to create vivid memories from our youth that we carry with us into adulthood. But one middle school teacher in Montclair, New Jersey, has been using a memory from his own childhood to share an important lesson about empathy and acceptance. When Daniel Gill was 9 and living in New

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Back view of a male student on a class at high school.

Divers Rescue Woman’s 100-Year-Old Wedding Ring From River: “A Total Miracle”

Humanity / 3 min. read

While it’s often said that not all heroes wear capes, a few in the vicinity of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, do wear scuba tanks, as Emma Lyon can attest. On May 7, Lyon was attending a regatta and had been cheering on a local race participant with such enthusiasm that the ring

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lush greenery and small boats line the River Great Ouse

Woman “Addicted” to Giving Back Donates More Than Half of Her Lottery Fortune

Culture, Humanity / 2 min. read

Frances Connolly can’t get enough of giving. The 55-year-old in Hartlepool, England, won 115 million pounds (about $144 million in USD at the time) in the lottery in 2019, and she’s already given over half of it away to friends, family, and charities. Connolly has set up two organizations in the years since her and

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