It’s easy believing that Islam is a religion of peace. After all, our Muslim friends and neighbors share a similar way of life, and share our values. Imams visit our churches (and vice versa) to share common bonds of humanity.

The attacks in America on September 11th ignited an era of extreme reaction, still reverberating today.

Alfred Steiglitz led the photography fine art movement in the United States and became renowned internationally for his advocacy, as well as his photographs.

The little girl who was shot point blank by the Taliban as she rode a bus home from school in Pakistan is now a sixteen-year-old Nobel Prize winner.

For inspiration, there’s nothing quite like hearing John F. Kennedy. If you’re an artist, or simply appreciate art, listen to this 1963 SPEECH that JFK delivered at Amherst College, Massachusetts, honoring the poet Robert Frost.

The Bush era calls for continuing reflection, not the least of which, about the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques implemented by the CIA to break down detainees during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The complex arguments for and against the program are clarified in this stirring 2009 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now five years old, this video is as fresh as ever.

The entire country of South Africa seems to be united in mourning with the passing of their “father,” Nelson Mandela. Mandela’s life, decency and leadership skills recall what we’ve all heard about keeping the courage of our convictions. This was a person who encountered and withstood severe pressures along the way to become the towering figure we know him as today.

Independence Day invites reverence for our founders, as well as our freedoms. Somewhat under the radar is one poignant story concerning two of them: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. They each signed the Declaration of Independence, were political friends turned political enemies, and both died the same year –on the same exact day, which happened to be July 4th.

We are so used to the socio-political matters of the Middle East, we seldom stop to wonder about its artists and creators. This must-see blog is refreshingly devoted to brilliant artists, curators and exhibitions from Abu Dhabi and Amman to Tehran and Zurich.

The Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom was awarded to 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, whose blog for the BBC earned her a bullet in the head from the Taliban in Pakistan. I found an amazing VIDEO of her story, and how her father’s school stood strong in the Swat Valley, while living under the terror of the Taliban.