What if you could sit down with the visionaries in Ode and ask them a question, face to face, maybe one you’ve longed to ask for a while?

Ode is stepping off the page and into the future with a program bursting with elements you won’t find elsewhere.

Join us on February 1, 2012 as the CEO of the world’s largest online bank, Arkadi Kuhlmann, outlines an approach to using money to build a better society that he believes will deliver both individuals and companies to the global future we seek.

After interviewing Boswinkel, Ode founder Jurriaan Kamp—who has written widely about complementary health—was so intrigued by biophoton therapy, Boswinkel’s method of healing cells with light, that he persuaded the unconventional practitioner to make a rare U.S. appearance to demonstrate and discuss his work.

This offering is characteristic of Ode. We’re building a passionately independent multimedia company as a platform for stories about acts of courage and creativity that are changing our world. These stories need to be heard because they inspire us to create change.

Even though the initial intensity of the March 11 disaster has subsided, many people still feel a deep tugging to help Japanese disaster victims. Since that subtle pull is strong and persistent, people are finding very creative ways to bring hope and healing to this part of the world.

Three efforts in particular have found their way to me. The first is an offer by a caring individual and his family. The second is an Australian concern called Wishes on Wings. And the third is an American project named 500 Frogs.

Ode columnist David Servan-Schreiber died on the evening of Sunday, July 24. He was 50. A professor of psychiatry in the US and France, Servan-Schreiber wrote the bestselling Anticancer: A New Way of Life and The Instinct to Heal, both read around the world. In his latest book, published in June in France as On peut se dire au revoir plusieurs fois (“We Can Say Goodbye Several Times”), he faced his impending death. He had been writing his monthly Ode column since 2007.

Although my main job is in a university, I also teach privately. My favorite of those lessons is an advanced English class for adults. I have been teaching them for many years, so we have become good friends. Since they are well educated and talkative, I always try to introduce topics that will enable them to think deeply and to express themselves freely.

Recently I found the following story by Pema Chödrön in a lovely magazine called Fellowship in Prayer. It is a clear, seemingly simple tale about life as seen from a Buddhist perspective. I added questions (in red), which the students were to discuss one by one as they worked their way through the story. I was curious to hear their thoughts because this piece was written by an American Buddhist for a western audience. And sure enough, I learned a lot from my class the day we studied this tale.

So of course you know how once something enters your conscious awareness, you see it everywhere. You will not be surprised that Brazil is showing up all over my reality. Here’s a wonderful story about women in a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro broadcasting peace.