Families, no matter the culture or heritage, pass stories down to their children. It’s the way we teach them about their traditions, their culture and their forbearers. My children learn a bit about their father’s side of the family each time we travel to see them in France. A bit of the language has started to seep in, and my 5-year-old daughter has become quite the fan of foie gras and pungent Roquefort cheese. My 9-year-old son was completely enraptured hearing the story of his great-grandfather who fought for the French Resistance in World War II. And so I’ve wondered, When will it be …

  What does a rebel warlord in Uganda and central Africa have to do with YOU here in Metro New York? Once you watch the video to the right, your may have a completely different answer to that question. And when you answer it at the end of this column, you'll find that the power to change the world may rest with you — simply at the touch of a button. Perhaps you’ve heard about the “Kony 2012” campaign. Most likely some of your Facebook friends linked to a video about Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the world’s biggest criminal, who’s being sought for capture and …

This is a story of luck, and this is a story of heart. This is a story of a little girl in Africa, not yet one year old, who has suffered so much already in her short life. This is the story of one woman on the other side of the world, who set off a chain reaction that moved a mountain to help that little girl. This is the story of the angels here on earth who came together—with the help of coincidence, serendipity and sheer will—to do pure good. An email heard ‘round the world In a million years, documentary filmmaker Megan Smith-Harris never imagined she’d be waiting at airport arrivals at …

I’m more than a number, my family is greater than a statistic. We are the face of unemployment. I first wrote about our experience shortly after my husband was laid off. That was 14 months ago. Unfortunately, we’re still in the same boat. Both of my Patch columns, “From the Driver’s Seat” and “Patch In,” are written from a very personal perspective. In writing about the layoff, I tried to give a glimpse of what it felt like and what we were going through. I couldn’t claim to be opining from my perspective each week if I didn’t really give readers an honest account and the true context of my …

My children have had great teachers, and they’ve also had one really not-so-great teacher. We saw right away the impact each kind had on our kids’ performance in the moment. Thanks to some researchers at Harvard and Columbia, now we know the good ones are going to help our children earn more money and have a better chance at professional success when they’re all grown up. Recent research and hard data backs up the hope for our children’s future — when they have great teachers. So why are we arguing about what we pay good teachers? Somewhere along the way, we’ve diverted the argument away from…