Ninive Calegari and Dave Eggers’ 826 National provides free, one-on-one, teacher-aided writing workshops for public school students across the country. The program even collects the students’ work, and publishes them on their website. To see some of our favorites, click HERE.

Dave Eggers, Miranda July, and Jonah Lehrer talk about the whole tortured artist thing on a panel dedicated to art and creativity. What makes artists like Boy Dylan and Pablo Picasso so lastingly creative? Jonah says it’s something called “GRIT.”

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Happy Johnson volunteered to drive a five-ton emergency response vehicle, leading a team of people who had travelled from disparate cities across America to help rebuild New Orleans. “It was that experience that not only changed my life, but showed me the importance of who we are as a society and what we care most about.”

(Go right to 2:21 to 8:33 for Happy. Dave Eggers follows.)