Word: self-taught
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That's what motivated Carlos Watson to found the highly successful college-prep program Achiever.com Watson's self-taught grandmother, the granddaughter of slaves in Jackson, Miss., graduated from college and was followed by her six siblings, seven children and 19 grandchildren. "There's a real belief in college in my family," Watson says. With the help of school districts around the country, he recruits at-risk students--most of whom hadn't thought of college--for an intensive online course that covers nailing the SATs, applications and scholarships. Result: 85% of Achiever.com students...
Call it cyberjihad. With his nubby oatmeal sweater, blue jeans and easy smile, Malek Hussein might seem more at home sipping a latte in Seattle than sugary tea in Beirut's Shi'ite Muslim stronghold. But the 38-year-old self-taught Webmaster is holed up in a secret office where the Lebanese Islamic group Hizballah operates an Internet site that blasts propaganda against Israel. With a four-person staff, Hussein is fending off a hacker assault launched by Israelis. "They're going after us!" proclaims Hussein, who loads software designed to deflect the bulk messages that become e-mail...
...choreographers who have risen to the top tend to be self-taught. Landon, 34, a native of Lancaster, Calif., dropped out of junior college and worked as a Laker girl before getting her start in videos. The Bronx-born Henson, 28, says he "never actually trained anywhere...I used to watch music videos on TV and imitate what I saw." And Robinson, 29, from Little Rock, Ark., says, "The clubs are my classroom...
...planner's dream: dams to harness central India's Narmada River. But Medha Patkar, a young, largely self-taught activist, was appalled by the price: huge amounts of land swamped, half a million villagers displaced and a lush river basin ruined. Leading hunger strikes, enduring beatings and vowing to drown herself in a flooded area, she got the World Bank to withdraw support of the key Sardar Sarovar dam and scared off investors from a second major dam. But the Indian government persists with the project, and Patkar fights...
...come down here because I enjoy connecting with people. This is my labor of love, this music. When I am playing and I see people reacting and feeling my music, that is the ultimate high," he describes. "I come down here to spread love, music, and positive vibes." The self-taught musician narrates a true story in which his music moved a woman deeply in the tunnels. After noticing that she had let four or five trains pass by, Wright finally stopped and talked to the woman only to discover that the sobbing passenger was in a joyful sorrow--apparently...