My Path to Success

The dynamic evolution of W.S. Merwin's verse -- allied with his accomplishments as translator, essayist and environmentalist -- have made him the most admired and imitated of American poets. He published his first volume of verse at age 24 and soon won acclaim for an impressive mastery of classical verse technique, combined with a vivid appreciation of animal life and the natural world. Merwin embraced the use of more colloquial language and contemporary themes in the 1960s, advocating experimentation in his influential essay, "On Open Form." When his book, The Carrier of Ladders, won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Merwin took the occasion to voice his opposition to the Vietnam War. His poetry in the following decades increasingly reflected his passionate antiwar convictions. Long celebrated as an outstanding translator of Latin, French, Spanish and Italian literature, his attention turned to the poetry of China, Japan and India. For many years, he has lived on the island of Maui in Hawaii and much of his poetry is suffused with the mythology and natural beauty of the islands. The meditative simplicity of his later work reflects his growing involvement with Buddhism and the philosophy of deep ecology. Fifty years of his poetry were collected in Migration: Selected Poems 1951-2001, a volume honored with the National Book Award. Thirty-eight years after winning his first Pulitzer, W.S. Merwin received a second Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 2008 volume The Shadow of Sirius. In 2010 he was named Poet Laureate of the United States. In this podcast, recorded at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, the poet exhorts the Academy's student delegates to pursue their individual aspirations without fear of the collective judgments of society.

"If somebody gave me a hundred feet of film, I made a movie out of it." When George Lucas was attending USC Film School he didn't even need a hundred feet. While still a student, he turned 32 feet of 16 millimeter film into a one-minute animated short that not only won awards at festivals nationwide, but set a new standard for animated films. He's been making motion picture history ever since, creating many of the most popular films in motion picture history, including the phenomenally successful Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Today, George Lucas is Chairman of the Board of Lucasfilm Ltd., parent company of LucasArts Entertainment Company and Lucas Digital Ltd. Lucasfilm's THX division has changed the way we hear films in movie theaters and at home. LucasArts Entertainment Company is a leading international developer of entertainment software. Lucas Digital Ltd., which indcludes Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, is the leading visual effects and post-production company in the industry. No man comes as close to representing the art, technology, and business of the movie industry as George Lucas. His clarity of vision as storyteller and mythmaker, his zeal for innovation, and his leadership in forging a new relationship between entertainment and technology, has revolutionized the art of motion pictures.

Hailed as the greatest team player on the greatest team of all time, Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics in the longest championship streak in U.S. sports history. With a flair for defense never before seen on a basketball court, allied with an uncanny ability to excel under pressure and an indomitable will to win, Russell dominated the game of basketball from his earliest days as a student athlete to his triumphant career in the pros. As captain of the Boston Celtics, he led the team to nine championships, including the unsurpassed streak of eight consecutive wins. In 1967, he succeeded the legendary Red Auerbach as the team's head coach, becoming the first African American to coach a major league sports team in the United States. Serving as a player-coach, without an assistant, he guided the Celtics to two additional championships. Bill Russell achieved this unprecedented record while facing down the incessant harassment and prejudice that hounded African Americans in the 1950s and '60s. His courage and dignity in overcoming these obstacles have been an inspiration to all Americans. In this podcast, recorded at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, the Hall of Famer speaks less of his accomplishments on the basketball court than of his achievements as a father.

Twice a week, millions of readers of The New York Times turn to Nicholas Kristof's column for firsthand insights into breaking news from around the world. His travels as a reporter have taken him to 140 countries, including multiple visits to hot spots such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In the course of his travels he has survived wars, plane crashes, malaria, and in Indonesia, a mob carrying human heads on pikes. He first joined the Times as an economics correspondent and has since served as the paper's bureau chief in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing and as managing editor of the Sunday Times. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, shared the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for their coverage of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in China. Week after week, Kristof uses his column to illuminate issues of poverty, global health, and human rights violations. He believes in doing more than writing about the abuses he uncovers, personally intervening to buy the freedom of two enslaved women in Cambodia. The Pulitzer committee cited his eyewitness coverage of the ongoing genocide in Darfur in awarding him a second prize, for Distinguished Commentary, in 2006. In this podcast, recorded at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Nicholas Kristof recounts his travels through the world's conflict zones, and his difficult effort to free two young women from slavery in Cambodia.

At the end of his junior year at the University of Tennessee, Peyton Manning found himself in an enviable position. The star quarterback of the Tennessee Volunteers had already acquired enough credits to graduate with honors and was certain to be the first pick in the 1997 NFL draft. He stunned the football world by passing up the chance to go pro at age 21, choosing instead to remain in school another year and continue his studies. When he graduated in 1998, he received Phi Beta Kappa honors and the coveted Sullivan Award as the nation's premier student athlete, a prize based on character and leadership as well as athletic performance. After joining the Indianapolis Colts as the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft, he shattered the league's records for passing and scoring. In his first nine seasons, Manning completed more passes, and threw for more yards and more touchdowns than any other player in a comparable span of time. In his 14 seasons with the Colts, he was named Most Valuable Player in the league four times, an NFL record, and has made 11 Pro Bowl appearances. He has also recorded four perfect games, another NFL record. In 2007, he led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI, winning Most Valuable Player honors in the championship contest. And yet, Peyton Manning considers his most important accomplishments to be those he has achieved off the field. In 1999, he established the PeyBack Foundation to open avenues of success to disadvantaged youth, providing leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk. As President of the Foundation, he is active in all major decisions concerning its initiatives. The Foundation supports programs in his hometown of New Orleans, in Tennessee where he went to college, and in Indianapolis, where he makes his home today. They include support for inner city sports programs, academic coaching, field trips for at-risk children, distributions of books, clothing and food for needy families, and individual grants to classroom teachers for special projects. This work has enabled Manning to touch the lives of thousands of young people. Now the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning has proven himself a leader both on and off the field.

At the end of his junior year at the University of Tennessee, Peyton Manning found himself in an enviable position. The star quarterback of the Tennessee Volunteers had already acquired enough credits to graduate with honors and was certain to be the first pick in the 1997 NFL draft. He stunned the football world by passing up the chance to go pro at age 21, choosing instead to remain in school another year and continue his studies. When he graduated in 1998, he received Phi Beta Kappa honors and the coveted Sullivan Award as the nation's premier student athlete, a prize based on character and leadership as well as athletic performance. After joining the Indianapolis Colts as the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft, he shattered the league's records for passing and scoring. In his first nine seasons, Manning completed more passes, and threw for more yards and more touchdowns than any other player in a comparable span of time. In his 14 seasons with the Colts, he was named Most Valuable Player in the league four times, an NFL record, and has made 11 Pro Bowl appearances. He has also recorded four perfect games, another NFL record. In 2007, he led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI, winning Most Valuable Player honors in the championship contest. And yet, Peyton Manning considers his most important accomplishments to be those he has achieved off the field. In 1999, he established the PeyBack Foundation to open avenues of success to disadvantaged youth, providing leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk. As President of the Foundation, he is active in all major decisions concerning its initiatives. The Foundation supports programs in his hometown of New Orleans, in Tennessee where he went to college, and in Indianapolis, where he makes his home today. They include support for inner city sports programs, academic coaching, field trips for at-risk children, distributions of books, clothing and food for needy families, and individual grants to classroom teachers for special projects. This work has enabled Manning to touch the lives of thousands of young people. Now the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Peyton Manning has proven himself a leader both on and off the field.

Nora Ephron (1941 - 2012) achieved international success as a director and writer of feature films, a field that had been effectively closed to women for over half a century. Her earlier work as a journalist and essayist had already won her a reputation for sharp-eyed social observation and sharp-tongued humor. It also introduced a distinctive approach to her favorite subjects: New York City, food, and the baffling ways of men and women in love. She was pregnant with her second child when her husband left her, and she found herself at home with two babies to take care of while trying to break into screenwriting. In 1983, her script for the film Silkwood was nominated for an Oscar, and her novel Heartburn, a comic fictionalization of the end of her marriage, became a bestseller. Ephron's original screenplay, When Harry Met Sally, solidified her reputation as a screenwriter, but she wanted something more. She made her name as a director with Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, runaway successes that established her as Hollywood's premier creator of modern romantic comedies. Her 2009 film Julie and Julia recounted the life of the author and television personality Julia Child, who introduced Americans to French cooking in the 1960s. Ephron's 2006 book of essays, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman, topped the New York Times hardcover best-seller list for over nine months. Although her subject was the aging process, her approach to the human condition remained unchanged. "When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you," she said. "But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it's your laugh."

Nora Ephron (1941 - 2012) achieved international success as a director and writer of feature films, a field that had been effectively closed to women for over half a century. Her earlier work as a journalist and essayist had already won her a reputation for sharp-eyed social observation and sharp-tongued humor. It also introduced a distinctive approach to her favorite subjects: New York City, food, and the baffling ways of men and women in love. She was pregnant with her second child when her husband left her, and she found herself at home with two babies to take care of while trying to break into screenwriting. In 1983, her script for the film Silkwood was nominated for an Oscar, and her novel Heartburn, a comic fictionalization of the end of her marriage, became a bestseller. Ephron's original screenplay, When Harry Met Sally, solidified her reputation as a screenwriter, but she wanted something more. She made her name as a director with Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail, runaway successes that established her as Hollywood's premier creator of modern romantic comedies. Her 2009 film Julie and Julia recounted the life of the author and television personality Julia Child, who introduced Americans to French cooking in the 1960s. Ephron's 2006 book of essays, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman, topped the New York Times hardcover best-seller list for over nine months. Although her subject was the aging process, her approach to the human condition remained unchanged. "When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you," she said. "But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it's your laugh."

Andre Agassi was prepared, literally from the cradle, to be a tennis champion. His father, an Iranian immigrant and former Olympic boxer, had him hit thousands of balls a day. By age five, Andre was practicing with pros; at 16, he was a pro himself. Freed from his rigorous upbringing, he rebelled, deliberately outraging tennis traditionalists with his unconventional hairstyles and fashions. At the same time, he was overwhelming the competition with his inexhaustible endurance, exceptional timing and uncanny hand-eye coordination. He won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1992, and more titles followed quickly, but after finishing 1995 as the game's top-rated player, and triumphing at the 1996 Olympics, his career faltered. A recurring wrist injury and the beginnings of a serious back condition began to affect his game, while the tabloid press harried him relentlessly. Rigorous conditioning and iron discipline led to a breathtaking comeback at the end of the decade, and Agassi showed a deepened maturity in his conduct on and off the court. By 1999, he was once again the top-rated player in the world. Over the years, he played on three Davis Cup-winning U.S. teams, won all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Tennis Masters Cup, in addition to his Olympic Gold Medal. Other tennis players have won some combinations of these honors, but in the history of the sport, Andre Agassi is the only champion to have won all of them.He has also earned a reputation as the most socially engaged player in professional tennis. In 1994 he founded the Andre Agassi Charitable Association in his home town of Las Vegas, where he continues to live with his wife, fellow tennis star Steffi Graf, and their two children. His charitable projects there have included a tuition-free K-12 college preparatory school for at-risk youth, a special residence for the developmentally disabled, and the county's only residential facility for abused and neglected children. When Andre Agassi retired from professional tennis last year, he received an eight-minute standing ovation after his final match, and made a memorable speech to his fans. "You have given me your shoulders to stand upon to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you."

Arthur S. Golden is the author of Memoirs of a Geisha. Readers and critics were stunned that an American man -- a first-time novelist at that -- could so vividly create the internal life of a Japanese woman living the almost unimaginably alien and structured life of a traditional geisha in the years before and during World War II. Golden's accomplishment grew from years of painstaking research. "After six years of work and two completely separate drafts of a novel about a geisha, I passed my manuscript around and readers described it as dry. Being an analytical person, I developed a rational plan of attack. Step one: panic. Step two: figure out what went wrong. In the following week I realized I'd been afraid of the challenge I'd set, namely, to understand and describe the inner life of a fictional geisha. From fear, I'd kept a distance between myself and her. Now I could see the proper course to merge the two of us together - write the story in the first person - even if it meant throwing everything away and starting over. It was the most difficult moment of my career." Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Golden received a degree in art history from Harvard College, where he specialized in Japanese art, and a master's in Japanese history from Columbia University, where he also learned Mandarin Chinese. He spent a summer at Beijing University andrick then worked in Tokyo, where he became intrigued by the story of an acquaintance whose mother had been a geisha before her marriage. Golden returned to the United States and earned a master's in English from Boston University, but the young man's story, and his mother's, still preoccupied him, and he began work on a novel. When Golden first made up his mind to write a novel about a geisha, he read everything he could find on the subject, in English and in Japanese. After he had completed an 800-page draft of his novel, a longtime friend of his grandmother's introduced Golden to an actual retired geisha who was willing to discuss her past. He interviewed her at length, and when he was done, he threw away his manuscript and began again from scratch. His second draft attracted initial interest, but no publishers. It was only then, six years into his project, that Golden rewrote his story from the point of view of the woman herself. The resulting book spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller list; its dramatic plot and vivid characters evoked comparisons with Dickens. Arthur Golden lives with his wife and two children in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is now at work on a new book. In 2005, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment released the film version of Memoirs of a Geisha.