Last Sunday, the Albert Lea Tribune ran on its front page a feature titled “40 Books That Changed Our Lives … and could change yours,” written by local book reviewers Angie Barker and Amanda Lester. You should read it. These women know their books.

Full disclosure: Half of that tandem is married to me. The other half is a good friend and colleague. Shout out!

As I read through their list, I realized two of the books will be part of the curriculum I work with as a high school teacher this year. Junior-level English students read “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, while sophomores experience “Night” by Elie Wiesel.

With the school year on the horizon, this list reminded me why most days I feel like I have the greatest job on the planet. Not only am I required to read significant literature, but also I have the unique opportunity to discuss that literature with teens. Great literature, in the right hands, is like a playbook full of ideas on how to improve yourself, but even more importantly how to improve the world around you.

But I must admit, my bias is toward young people. Naturally, their energy is unmatched, but even more impressive is their as-yet-untrampled spirit. The belief that they, accompanied by an ever-burgeoning bushel of knowledge, can exact change in the lives of others.

Part of my teaching load includes journalism as a form of writing. One of the journalistic creeds is “give a voice to the voiceless.” In other words, write about those who maybe don’t have the means to make their message heard. Or write about someone who performs altruistic acts of kindness. But whatever you write about, please don’t let it be another prima dona pop star celebrity break-up or famous athlete accidentally shooting themselves in the foot with a handgun they had concealed in the waistband of their sweatpants.

There are some writers who seek out stories that matter, stories that make a difference, that inspire their readers to impact positive change. Thanks to the Internet, we have access to so much great writing without ever spending a penny or without a single tree being cut down for printing. Some are big-time newspaper columnists. Others are bloggers. All these writers are difference makers in my mind, just like many of the youth who sit before me every day at school.

MinnPost.com: A Thoughtful Approach To News

www.minnpost.com

With the world of major metro daily newspapers in limbo, many of the best writers carrying the biggest salaries are being dumped. That’s certainly been true at the two biggest Minnesota papers, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and St. Paul Pioneer Press. Well, one little startup has been the benefactor of those sheddings. MinnPost.com has some of my personal favorite journalists working for it, most of whom made names for themselves in Minnesota. Names such as Doug Grow, David Brauer, Steve Aschburner, Chuck Haga, Joe Kimball, Sharon Schmickle, Judith Bates Yorger, Jay Weiner and Jim Walsh. They keep you informed without some of the constraints generally put on traditional journalists.

The Extraordinary Ordinary

www.theextraordinaryordinary.blogspot.com

An important read on a completely different level from Kristof, but certainly about issues much closer to home for many. Heather King is a “Mommy Blogger.” She writes about her daily happenings as a stay-at-home mother, which in my opinion is the hardest job available. I was shocked at how moved I was by just about every blog entry. She has a writing style that elicits the feeling she’s not necessarily writing for you, the audience, but just to write. Just to record her thoughts. And yet, it is so much more than that. If you have children and haven’t read this blog, then you have about a year’s worth of catching up to do. Heck, I don’t have children and I’m a regular reader. That’s how good it is.

Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

www.nytimes.com (go to opinion and click on columnists)

Kristof focuses much of his energy on uncovering human injustices. The world may never have known about the genocide happening in Darfur, Sudan, if not for Kristof. His latest pet project was the mistreatment of women in some countries, where teenage girls are stolen from their families and forced to work in brothels. His swath on the Web is wide, with access to his columns, his blog, “On the Ground,” plus access via Facebook, Twitter and his YouTube videos.

My High School Journalism: The World’s Largest Host of Teen Generated News

my.hsj.org

As it boasts, it is the home for 3,102 teen news sites. One of the 3,102 sites it hosts is the Ahlahasa homepage, Albert Lea High School’s student newspaper (shameless plug: I am the adviser). But, truly, I try to stop by the My High School Journalism site weekly, as it is chock-full of exquisitely written human interest stories and hard-hitting journalism. They have what is referred to as a National Edition, which is a compilation of all the top stories from around the nation from each week. A panel of professional journalists decides the weekly content. From time to time you’ll see an Ahlahasa story on the National Edition.

The beauty of the World Wide Web is its endlessness. These happen to be a few sites I visit regularly in my attempt to be informed. Information is power. Use it. Take it in. But, above all, be a smart information consumer. Know your sources, whatever they are, and make sure they are trustworthy. I trust the Albert Lea Tribune, so I read the Tribune daily. But no one source should become your sole information avenue. After all, it’s humans putting all that information into words, and to be human is to be imperfect. But being imperfect shouldn’t stop anyone from becoming informed, and then using that information in making a difference.

Albert Lea resident Riley Worth is a member of Paths to Peace.