In ancient Greece, actors on stage would portray the emotions of their characters by wearing masks that either expressed tragedy or comedy. Masks also allowed the same actor to play multiple roles in the same production. They weren’t permanent, nor wer…

It was raining, bringing the temperature down even more. We were on a multiday hike in Nepal, and leaving the warm mountain lodge to venture into the freezing weather was getting harder each morning. “Let’s go,”

In a film about a vigilante crime-fighting hero, the protagonist seems to be waging an impossible war. Not only is his city overrun with violence and theft, but he also discovers that the police force, court system, and public officials are corrupt. He…

Six-year-old Tiana clasped her hands. She prayed as she scanned the crowd, glancing toward the front door of the church. Her classmates waved at guests settling in for the Father’s Day concert.

In a letter dated September 13, 1943—five months after his imprisonment for opposing the Nazi regime—Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote his parents. He asked for books and paper. He thanked them for the ways they’d helped him, and said, “It’s a strange feeling …

One particularly catchy book promotion featured the auctioning of the chance for readers to have their name in print. Willing participants could pay to have their names used for a character in a bestselling author’s upcoming novel. The highest bidder i…

The British TV reality show Portrait Artist of the Year pits nine amateur painters against each other in creating portraits of a local celebrity. The images have to be completed in just four hours, which is condensed into the one-hour program. It’s fas…

At a large university, an artist painted ten stunning portraits of the men and women who keep the university running: those working in maintenance, food service, groundskeeping, and security. Moore said he wanted to paint them “in a position of power.”…

Lillie Cunningham is 110 years old, yet she isn’t reliant on a cane or walker. She does rely on Scripture, however, which she reads every morning and night—and attends church every Sunday. When she considers her life, she states, “I just always had fai…

Can you imagine sprinting as hard as you can possibly run . . . without being able to see? That’s what happens in Paralympic guide running. Blind runners compete with a guide, someone who runs alongside them step by step, connected by a short tether.