Laughter really is the best medicine
Patch Adams, a physician and clown, considers humour and friendship part of the cure in any healing process. That's why he wants to build his own hospital.Tijn Touber | June 2004 issue WHO? Patch Adams WHAT? The Gesundheit Institute, a hospital where doctors and patients treat each other as friends Read More...
Open borders need open arms
People's natural mistrust of strangers plays a big role in the immigration debate. Let's acknowledge that and then seek better ways to accept foreigners. Ode Editors | April 2007 issue Answering an appeal for open borders - such as the one made by Philippe Legrain in this issue of Ode (see Let them Read More...
A massive outbreak of peace
New peacemakers have emerged in the 21st century. They're not political leaders. They're not savvy diplomats. They're people like you. Marco Visscher and Michael Gleich | June 2006 Read More...
A new style of superpower
India is emerging as one of the powers of the 21st century. Yet Indian novelist Pankaj Mishra says it will progress on its own terms, reinventing the whole notion of modernity in the process. Pankaj Mishra | May 2006 issue In India late last year, a senior police officer appeared at a court hearing Read More...
The war at home
A new documentary investigates why the U.S. invaded Iraq Jay Walljasper | May 2006 Read More...
Beware of the white man
Filmmaker Michael Moore is certain that most of the world's problems are caused by whites: 'Every time I see a white man coming towards me, I get nervous.'Michael Moore | June 2003 issue I don’t know what it is, but every time I see a white guy walking toward me, I tense up. My heart starts Read More...
An unlikely hero
Risking her life, Mukhtar Mai envisions a better future for womenKim Ridley | March 2006 issue Mukhtar Mai has transformed personal trauma into a global wake-up call for women’s rights in Pakistan. After surviving a gang rape ordered by the local tribal council to punish her family for an offense Read More...
Let peace and justice ring
In Africa, cell phones call for social change Andi McDaniel | April 2006 Read More...
A bridge not too far
The path to peace runs right past our enemies Jay Walljasper | April 2006 issue One of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe, at least from a geopolitical perspective, is why America is so fixated on enemies. No other nation on Earth has faced so few threats from the outside. There’s not Read More...
The instinct to save the planet
Do the million grassroots green and social organizations work as an immune system that's working to stop injustice and pollution? Paul Hawken on the biggest movement in the history of humankind that has come just on time. Paul Hawken| May 2007 issue Over the past 15 years, I have given nearly one Read More...