People
Creating a Community Cookbook

David Quinn definitely knows what's cooking. In fact, he probably gave you the recipe.

Quinn, a high school English teacher from Seattle, Washington, oversees the Internet's number one food Website, allrecipes.com. Quinn's site offers more than 20,000 recipes for novice cooks and gourmet chefs alike. The site also includes nutritional information, meal plans, coupons, and cooking tutorials. With more than 3 million unique visitors each month, allrecipes.com sees more traffic than sites for Martha Stewart and the Food Network.

"We're a community cookbook," Quinn says.

Quinn's food empire started in 1997 with a single Website, cookierecipe.com, which he and his partners designed so their wives could trade cookie recipes. That site won Yahoo's site of the day and site of the month awards. The Seattle Times named cookierecipe.com the best free Website of 1997.

Visitors to the site also wanted to exchange recipes for other treats. Quinn and his associates responded with cakerecipe.com, pierecipe.com, and breadrecipe.com. In 1998, the group merged all of the sites into allrecipes.com.

"We just listened to the users," Quinn says. "We weren't thinking 'let's make lots of money.' We were thinking 'let's build this really cool product.'"

Allrecipes.com now includes recipes for appetizers, soups, and entrees, as well as desserts. Users also can link to recipes developed by the company's partners, including Kraft, Hershey's, and Betty Crocker.

--Kristen Loschert

Riding for Research

When Delaware NEA members Charlie Michels and Mike Firch started cycling together six years ago, they never expected to go on a search for an AIDS vaccine. But during the past two years, the two educators have raised more than $22,000 for AIDS vaccine research by participating in benefit bike rides.

"When Charlie and I decided to do this, it was a way to help promote what seemed to be an underdog," says Firch (shown here right), a guidance counselor at Seaford High School. "Something for AIDS vaccines doesn't get a lot of support or attention."

Michels, a technology education teacher at Chipman Middle School, agrees. "It's not that this cause is any more important, it just caught our attention, and we jumped in with both feet."

The two friends completed their first benefit ride in August 2000 when they rode 510 miles across Alaska. Last year, Firch completed a second AIDS vaccine ride in Montana. This summer, they spent two days riding across Delaware to promote the cause.

Both Firch and Michels ride several times a week and lift weights to prepare for their marathon rides. But the emotional demands of the benefit rides far outweigh the physical ones, they say.

"When I first went to Alaska I thought I was going there to ride a bike for a wonderful cause," says Firch. "But when I was there I experienced a spiritual, emotional, and physical sensation that continues to move through me on a daily basis."

Michels draws strength from fellow riders. "You might be at the end of a long climb, and there's a dozen riders at the top cheering you on," he says. "The trick is to take that feeling and bring it back home."

--Kristen Loschert

Teacher at Sea

When Dana Tomlinson boarded the Ka'imimoana as part of the Teacher at Sea program, she wanted to act like "a fly on the wall," silently observing the ship's 30-member crew. But Tomlinson, a sixth-grade teacher in San Diego, California, quickly became a part of the team, helping with the various experiments conducted on the ship.

Tomlinson first learned about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Teacher at Sea program from a fellow teacher. When she saw that one of the voyages traveled to the Galapagos Islands, Tomlinson was hooked. She always had dreamed of visiting the islands, a dream she fulfilled at the end of her voyage.

During her month-long trip, Tomlinson taught students around the world about the data scientists gathered on weather disturbances in the Pacific. During live Web broadcasts, Tomlinson interviewed crew members and explained to students the importance of the scientists' research. She answered students' questions by e-mail and posted a daily log and digital pictures on her Website.

"I was taught how to use different devices aboard the ship and, to me, that was the ultimate hands-on experience," Tomlinson says. "My whole experience was great, and teachers should definitely try and do it once, because it is a real-life laboratory and you learn so much every day."

--Urmila Subramanyam

Passing on the Art of Story

To retired elementary teacher Judy Wolfman, of York, Pennsylvania, storytelling is the quickest way to teach creative writing. But it wasn't a lesson she learned right away.

"During my teaching years I really struggled to get students to write stories about themselves," explains Wolfman, an NEA-Retired member. "I would teach them all the basics of writing, but when it came time to put pen to paper, they just couldn't do it--until I made a change that made the difference."

Wolfman began using her skills as a budding storyteller and children's author to help students discover their own creative talents. "I learned that many of my students in my inner city school came from an oral tradition where stories were handed down," says Wolfman. "That's when I knew storytelling might be a way to reach them."

Wolfman gathered stories, added some activities, and students began to respond. She let students develop their own stories as well, by giving them prompts, beginning sentences, and characters to use.

Since retiring in 1993, Wolfman has taken her lessons on the road. She now gives creative writing and storytelling workshops to students and teachers.

--Anita Merina

Tennessee Coin Celebrates Music

In June 2000, Tennessee member Shawn Stookey had his fourth- through eighth-grade art classes create sketches for the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarters Program. Stookey created his own drawing as an example for the students at Lakeview School in New Johnsonville. When the students sent their submissions to the coin commission, Stookey added his sketch to the pile, not thinking much of it.

By April 2001, the Fine Arts Commission of Tennessee had selected his drawing from more than 1,000 submissions as the design for the state quarter. After the governor approved the design, the state unveiled its quarter at a January reception to honor Stookey's work.

His theme for the coin weaves together Tennessee's musical heritage. The design includes a trumpet (for the blues of Memphis), a guitar (representing the Grand Ole Opry), and a violin over a songbook (signifying bluegrass). The U.S. Mint modified Stookey's original sketch, but he doesn't mind the changes. They make the design more dynamic, he says.

Stookey admits that people don't always believe he designed the quarter. "They kind of look at me for a second and are like, 'yeah right,' and I have tell them it really was mine," Stookey says.

--Urmila Subramanyam