Two of my favorite things to photograph: The city of Immokalee and religious practices. This day was the best.

A procession along a path of alfombras, religious art murals, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on the Sunday closest to the feast of Corpus Christi.      

I had the insane opportunity to spend two weeks in Thailand. I spent the first week working and visually collaborating with my 3 incredibly talented best friends, and then we spent the second week exploring this fantastic country. 

I ate (too much) phenomenal food, kissed an elephant, was blessed by a monk in a temple on top of a mountain, snorkeled with some of the most beautiful fish, learned a couple words in Thai, walked more miles than I can count and got very lost, laughed more than I could handle (and cried a little), met some very kind people, and I learned so much about the world outside of my little bubble.

The colors, textures, sounds and smells of this country are enough to put you in to sensory overload real quick. I spent the entire two weeks feeling perfectly overwhelmed and wonderfully way out of my comfort zone.

For my two badass mommas on Mother’s Day: Thank you for teaching me that treating people with kindness and acceptance is always most important. Thank you for always bailing me out when I fail to be a responsible adult. Thank you for teaching me to never let someone tell me I can’t do something. Thank you for giving me three of the coolest siblings on the planet. Thank you for showing me what kind of marriage I want to have. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to do work that makes an impact in the world - both of you are literally changing the world with your work and leaving a legacy that is bigger than yourselves and I can only hope that I can make half the difference with my work as you both have with yours. You are my heroes. Thank you for always making me work for the things I want to accomplish and being my biggest cheerleaders. Thank you for being two badass women that I look up to and admire more than anyone I know. Thank you for being the kind of moms that I have always been able to come to about literally anything. Thank you for always pushing me to do what scares me and instilling in me a sense of fearlessness and idealism. Thank you for teaching me how to always love myself. Thank you for being hilarious and spontaneous and adventurous. Thank you for always accepting whoever I wanted to be in the world and whatever I wanted to do with my life. Thank you for being my moms.

Walter is 23 years old, has Autism, and lives at home with his mother and stepfather. After realizing there were no resources available for adults with Autism in Naples, Walter’s parents, Debby and Terry, decided to take matters in to their own hands. They are working to build a co-housing community in Naples for people with Autism and their families, through their non-profit organization Adonis Autism.

People like Walter and his parents, who dedicate their time to trying to make a difference in other people’s lives, and who just want to love, give, and share with the people around them, help keep light in the world where there can be so much dark.

Read the written story here.

When Kate Talano launched her week-long sustainability challenge for fellow students in honor of Earth Day, she said she imagined a handful of kids getting moderately excited and maybe sticking a note to a bin that says “recycle.” 

 But what started as a class project has grown into a competition that has students building solar panel microwaves and recycling bins made out of recyclable materials, and desiging window pulley systems for plants.

Talano is a junior at Seacrest Country Day School. In honor of Earth Day this year, Talano’s health teacher, Christin Palumbo, challenged her to create a week-long curriculum to teach middle school students about sustainability.

So Talano created a competition in which the middle schoolers are divided into nine groups to compete in activities such as “greenifying” their classrooms and building recycle bins for the school. The students are awarded “green points” based on how sustainable their ideas are. 

Last semester, Talano attended Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki as a part of a select group of high school juniors studying environmental issues while working on and living off the land in Maine. 

“We explored the relationship between humans and the natural world,” Talano said. 

After returning to Naples this semester, Talano wanted to share what she had learned about sustainability. 

“This experience was life changing for me and inspired me to give back to my local community,” she said. “I have dedicated my time in trying to educate and inspire others about the importance of sustainability.” 

This semester at Seacrest, Talano has started a sustainability club called “Green Team,” and made presentations to other students about why it matters to be green. She will be co-teaching an environmental issues class next year.

Some moments beyond the action.

These sweet Little League players got a new T-ball field. Read about it!

Lely High School junior Sophia Torres received a $20,000 scholarship from Chipotle for an essay she wrote titled “Two-Minute Sacrifice.” Read about it here.