Catching Up With the Bullying Expert Mary Gordon Mary Gordon is a Canadian expert on child development and the founder of Roots of Empathy, a classroom program adopted in 10 countries that has been shown to reduce cruelty and bullying. The program involves periodically taking infants to elementary schools where students become attached to the babies and learn to empathize, ultimately raising their emotional and social consciousness. READING I just picked up a new book called "On the Up," by Nikki and Rob Wilson, which is an amazing, inspirational story of social entrepreneurs in Africa. It shows some completely off-the-wall ways of dealing with intransigent problems in Africa. One of the stories I love is about the "rat man." What this fellow does is, he uses rats to sense land mines. Ha! Who knew rats could find land mines? A companion book is "Rippling," by Beverly Schwartz, which is also about social entrepreneurs. It's such a compendium of hope because it shows such unique and disparate ways of tackling profound social challenges in positive, optimistic, effective ways. LISTENING I'm listening a lot to Mary Black. She's quietly famous within the borders of Ireland. She's got a very modern Annie Lennox kind of voice but she bends a traditional air. She's not singing the I.R.A. songs, she's singing the songs that are contemporary folk but they're not frothy; they're not granola. They're lyrical ballads. In my early life, I was a professional folk singer. I used to sing on the national television and radio in Canada. Nobody knows that - but now I've said it, haven't I? I'm strictly a shower singer at the minute. WATCHING My weakness is "American Idol." My husband thinks it's ridiculous. But I am so inspired by those young people who are singing their guts out. It's not their voices so much, it's that they want something so desperately that they're on the cusp of tears all the time. It's terribly uplifting to me because if a person has the capacity to feel passion for something, they can commit passionately and care deeply about other things. EATING There's this family-run Korean place not far from where we live called 100% Korean. They recognize you when you come in and are so happy to have you. It's got harsh lighting and uncomfortable seats, but it's so comfortable to be there. My favorite dish is bibimbap, which is composed of various vegetables, steamed and pickled, and meat toppings over a bed of rice.