Says Gwyneth Sutherlin:

Another Mother’s Day Gift

In my family of siblings and half siblings, mothers, step-mothers, and mothers-in-law, I estimate that during the collective thirty-plus years of celebrating Mother’s Day we’ve come up with nearly 200 gift ideas. Undoubtedly, there have been some repeats. This is the time when my siblings and I begin brainstorming, and each year it gets harder to come up with something that feels fresh or useful or at least not completely lame. It is time to take things to the next level.

This year to celebrate Mother’s Day, we celebrate all mothers. By supporting a local organization that will help another mother achieve self-sufficiency and let her be the best mother she can be– the kind of mother your mom was for you– you will show the deepest kind of love and respect for the magnificent role mothers play in all our lives. Some organizations are happy for a monetary donation in your mother’s name, others have a wish list of items to set up a new household, and some are thrilled if you can spare some time to volunteer. (Quality time with mom! All the best places for brunch are booked anyway.) Below are just a handful of the hundreds of organizations working hard to help, so please look towards your own community for others that advocate for women, shelter children, and nurture families helping their dreams grow.

And remember the struggle to provide a home and raise a family doesn’t stop after one day, so your gift is welcome anytime. These organizations and the individuals they serve can become part of your family, part of your tradition. Go back for Father’s day! (more…)

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“Where am I Wearing?” chronicles Kelsey Timmerman’s adventures across the globe to find out more about where his clothes were made and what the people were like that made the clothes.
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Celebrate the 200th birthday of President #16 at Connor Prairie with the foremost Lincoln impersonator
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Newly published author G. Jordan Lyons has realistic expectations for his literary debut. “I’m sure it will have all the mistakes of a first novel,” he says. “I think I’ll get better – I’m only 19.” Let’s try not to smack him around too much, the book is supposed to be very good.

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Join filmmaker Bob Compton for a screening of his documentary “2 Million Minutes.” The film takes a look at how three countries - China, India and the United States - prepare their students for the future. The title refers to the amount of time students have in their 4 years of high school.

When: Tuesday May 19, film at 9:00 AM, discussion at 10:00
Where: IUPUI Campus Center Room: 450 420 University Blvd. Indianapolis, IN 46202

So what’s going on at this event?
Bob Compton is a venture capitalist with a Harvard Business School degree. He became interested in making a film comparing educational systems based on his interaction with Chinese and Indian business partners. The film follows six high school seniors, including two from Carmel, and two each from China and India, as they navigate their final year of high school and make plans for the future. The documentary presents great contrasts in the lifestyles and educational habits of the students from Indiana compared to those from the up-and-coming economies of India and China. The name of the film comes from the number of minutes in four years of high school. The film has received considerable praise and criticism for its representation of U.S. education compared to the emerging countries. Some education organizations have said the comparison is not valid since the U.S. commits to educating all while India and China promote only the best students.

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Jonas Salk believed that it is possible to create an epidemic of health and what Bill Moyers termed “the science of hope” by evoking from each of us vitality and engagement. Heather Wood Ion worked with Dr. Salk for the last seven years of his life on the methods to establish a grassroots movement toward an epidemic of health. She will examine how generosity impacts health, what nurtures us, and what we do to make our lives fulfilling.
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A renewed national discussion and debate about the role and future of nuclear weapons is underway in the United States. President Obama and a bipartisan group of respected foreign policy statesmen argue that the United States should embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and take urgent, yet practical, measured steps to reduce the nuclear threat. Is this crazy or what?
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At certain points in the history of medicine, dramatic shifts have occurred in the way physicians see patients. For example, at one point, the idea that physicians should directly inspect the inner anatomy of the human body was highly controversial. The same can be said for the idea that postmortem anatomy could shed light on disease. In this presentation, we examine some of the most remarkable of these breakthroughs, with a view to understanding their impact on medicine today and the direction it is likely to take in the future.
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