Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Submissions: Tell Us About Your Nontraditional Education

Check out the submissions from people who completed a college education in less-than-expected ways.

Good Is
By Good IsNov 22, 2010
Good Is
See Full Bio

The submissions are in for our nontraditional education story project. These are our five favorites, out of the many of you who submitted. But we would like to thank everyone who participated. Your stories are truly inspiring. We'll be announcing the winners next week.



projectseducationcollegegates foundationcommunity college

The Latest

Amanda Seyfried and Joni Mitchell
Culture

Amanda Seyfried shocks Jimmy Fallon audience with cover of Joni Mitchell’s 'California'

orchestra playing
Humor

Orchestra teacher receives scam call during class and has her students scare them off in the best way

woman looking up toward the sky; earth from space
Science

New MIT study says 'quantified proof' Earth's ozone layer is healing

More For You

Old people dancing

You're not getting older, you're getting better.

Photo credit: Canva

Seniors reveal the 5 things that make getting old better than being young

There is one constant that happens the longer you stay alive: you get old. No matter the facial creams, exercise, diet, and pills that show up to promise otherwise, the longer you get to live on this planet, the older you will become. But getting old isn’t as bad as you may think. In fact, you might look forward to it.

Sure, you’ll likely be slower and lose some hair on your scalp while your body grows new ones elsewhere, but there are some perks to getting old that come along with the negative. The older folks on Reddit shared the best parts about being old, and experts have some insight into what makes getting old great.

Keep ReadingShow less
Theresa Malkiel

Theresa Malkiel

commons.wikimedia.org

How International Women’s Day reforms history, with roots from one Jewish immigrant

When I first pitched this story, I thought it would be interesting to share an informative biographical sketch of the woman who ideated what was at first called Woman’s Day in the United States. Women's Day was originally celebrated the last Sunday in February--and became the forerunner to global phenomenon International Women’s Day, now celebrated March 8. It also became a lesson in why we celebrate it and celebrate Women’s History Month.

This woman was Theresa Serber Malkiel. According to the Jewish Women’s Archive, she was “the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist Party” in the United States. For decades, she advocated for women’s suffrage, women’s labor rights, and women’s rights to participate in the Socialist Party. She wrote a work of fiction in 1910 called The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker that was considered one of the inciting influences to factory and labor reform in the U.S. (you can read it online here) and was published a year before the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. With her husband, she co-founded The New York Call, a Socialist newspaper, and wrote extensively for it and at least once contributed to The New York Times. In her later years, she advocated for women’s education and even ran for New York State Assembly (it’s reported that she "lost by a small margin").

Keep ReadingShow less
social media post with scientists

AMU is offering a lifeline to American scientists who want to continue their research.

Photo credit: LinkedIn/Canva

French university offers jobs to American scientists afraid of government censorship

As the current federal government in the U.S. has been freezing or cutting funding for several research grants, a French university has stepped in with an offer for American scientists. Aix Marseille University (AMU) is offering a program for them to continue projects that have been compromised or cut off.

“The program is called ‘Safe Place for Science,’ and will provide 15 million Euros in funding for some 15 researchers over a 3-year period,” said Clara Bufi, a spokesperson for Aix Marseille University, in an interview with 404 Media. “It targets, but is not limited to, climate and environment, health, and human and social sciences.”

Keep ReadingShow less
The Four Magic Phrases to Use When You’re Stopped by the Cops
Knowing your rights when navigating the unbalance of power in any given police traffic stop.
Image from YouTube video.

The Four Magic Phrases to Use When You’re Stopped by the Cops

Whether it's a traffic stop that turns into "We smell something in your car" or a "driving while black" situation, you have rights when you're pulled over, and it's for the best if you actually use them.

So how does this work, anyway? Well, you have rights when you're pulled over. These have been established via case law, and ultimately, some stem from the Constitution itself. In order, here are the magic phrases, along with some graphics to help you remember.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ultra-difficult color test is so hard only 1 percent of people can get a perfect score
red yellow and green paper
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Ultra-difficult color test is so hard only 1 percent of people can get a perfect score

Lenstore, a UK-based eye care company, has created an ultra-difficult color test that’s so challenging, the retailer says that less than 1% of the first 2,000 people who took it got a perfect ten out of ten. The test involves distinguishing between different hues of the same color and putting the colors in the correct order on the spectrum.

Lenstore says that women fair better than men on the test. Females scored an average of 57.7%, while men obtained an average of 53.8%. These results closely mirror the current scientific data on sex and color perception.

Keep ReadingShow less
A sick person sitting on their couch

Scientists have made a potential breakthrough, discovering a new part of the human immune system.

Photo credit: Canva

Scientists discover a new part of the human immune system that could cure superbugs

Scientists in Israel have discovered a new part of the human immune system, shedding light on a potential "untapped source of natural antibiotics." The research focuses on protaesomes, structures inside cells that, according to the Israel Cancer Research Fund, essentially function as "cellular garbage cans," helping remove "unwanted or damaged proteins and helping the immune system recognize harmful invaders and cancer cells."

Now, as detailed in the scientific journal Nature and illuminated by the BBC, the new study has "addressed a question that remained unanswered for decades," showing that proteasomes can detect bacteria in cells—and then use old proteins as defense against that bacteria."

Keep ReadingShow less
Actor Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon speaking at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con

www.flickr.com

Kyra Sedgwick reveals the hilariously cringe pickup line Kevin Bacon once tried out on her

Even the most beautiful relationships can have a rocky start. Kevin Bacon and his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, made the news recently for their Vanity FairOscars party glow-ups, where they each posted adorable photo slideshows and videos on Instagram. On Kevin's page, he simply wrote "date night" as the description for a gorgeous picture of himself with Kyra, dressed to the nines in a black-and-white Prabal Gurung dress.

Kyra captioned her similar photo (though now outside), "Going out on a school night!" But it was an Instagram Reel that really captured their magic. With the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun" as background music, it shows Kyra displaying a table of beauty products, and her glam squad circling her with hair extensions, bronzer, smoky-eye shadows, and lint rollers for the dress. Cut to: Kevin in shorts, casually solving a jigsaw puzzle.

She continues with nails, earrings, you name it, and then back to Kevin, who is now further along on his puzzle, revealing that it's of our Solar System. But in the final shot, after all that primping on her end, the result is the same. Both Kyra and Kevin look fabulous.

Their delightful connection has caused old interviews to resurface from a time when it wasn't exactly love at first sight. At least, not for Kyra. (Kevin, on the other hand, was immediately smitten.)

According to a piece on Ranker, "What Famous Couples Who Met Their Spouses on Set Said About Them," Lauren Glen compiled a list of quotes from celebrity couples when they first met.

In a 2008 interview with Redbook, Kyra remembers, "He definitely wasn’t my type. In fact, I vividly remember looking at his butt when he walked away after we first met and thinking, 'Well, I guess some girls like that.'" She then adds, "And now it's one of my favorite parts of his anatomy! That's probably too much information!"

Kyra Sedgwick sitting outside near a poolKyra Sedgwick www.flickr.com

But here's the cringe part: In an interview with Conan O'Brien, Kyra shares a story of a scene she and Kevin had to film together wherein he gives her a massage. She claims Kevin then said, "You know you're really tight. Have you ever had a massage? You should make an appointment to go see [this masseuse], and you know, it just so happens the massage room is in the gym, and if I happen to be finished with my workout when you're finished with your massage, maybe we can get dinner?” To which Kyra thought, "Yeah, sure, that's not going to happen. I'm not going to tell him when my massage is." Conan then replied, "Worst line ever."

Kevin, for his part, felt the exact opposite. In an interview he gave in 2011 on CNN, when asked if he knew she was "the one," he shares, "I found her, you know, really very beautiful and sexy and aloof. And I was just immediately in love with her, and she was just immediately put off by me."

Actor Kevin BaconKevin Bacon by David Shankboneen.m.wikipedia.org

But Kevin didn’t give up, obviously, and Kyra knew he was her "person" soon after. The two have continued to inspire couples for decades, proving one can go from cringe to crave very quickly.

And the best part is that their love still seems to be easy like Sunday morning. In 2018, HuffPost notednoted that Kevin once told Good Housekeeping, "Being with Kyra is so natural for me; it's the easiest aspect of my life. I know that I don't need a beach or room service to be happy."

Keep ReadingShow less
Jerry Parkin and his chair

Jerry's memory will be honored at his local Burger King.

Photo credit: @kare11

Minnesota Burger King workers bring a heartwarming gift to 91-year-old customer's funeral

The family of 91-year-old Jerry Parkin knew that dear friends would come and pay their respects at his funeral, but were initially puzzled when the morning staff of a local Burger King restaurant showed up. And they didn’t show up empty handed.

“Someone came into the kitchen at church and said, ‘The whole crew of Burger King is here, and they brought a chair,’” said Jenny Olsen, Jerry’s surviving daughter, to News Channel 7 WJHG. “I said, ‘What?’”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025