Models with Disabilities: It is tempting to think that the fashion industry only wants models with “perfect” bodies by someone’s standard or another. But there is an effort to bring attention to those who do not fit the mold. An interesting case in point is Daisy-May Demetre, a double amputee (both legs), who was the first such model to walk at New York Fashion Week. There is plenty on the net on this charming girl, but you can start here, here and here.

Fighting the Blight: It has been generally regarded as bad when children skip school. However, when the quality of one’s environment is on the line, who is to say which is a better use of one’s time? Thailand’s Ralyn Satidtanasarn, 12, known by her nickname Lilly, calls herself a “Kid at war” while trying to make some headway by fishing out garbage in a filthy canal near where she lives. The problem of plastic pollution is particularly acute in Thailand where people use, on the average, 12 times more of the material than someone living in the European Union. Unable to get her government to take some kind of legal action, she has taken her cause to the people who actually distribute the ubiquitous plastic bags. You can read her story here.