As a reporter who has been to some of the toughest places on earth, Karen Day would be the first to admit that sometimes it can be hard to make a difference. In this uplifting talk, Karen Day uses women's prisons and wilted arugula to show how why and how we give.

Karen Day is prone to dangerous enthusiasms and making a habit of ignoring the punitive warnings of military dictators, religious extremists, political pedagogues and her four children. Consequently, her career experience includes house arrest in Myanmar, lunch with Dr. Anthrax in pre-war Baghdad, fashion reprimands from an Afghan warlord in Kandahar and happy hour with the Dalai Lama and Richard Gere in Manhattan. Day has reported from Cuba, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq and 11 countries in Africa for numerous publications, including Marie Claire, O Magazine, Mother Jones and The LA Times. Her independently-produced reports have aired on NBC Nightly News, CNN and BBC. She has been the author and co-author on several books and has directed and produced 11 documentary films. She is the accidental founder of Afghan Women Justice Project which provides literacy teachers and school supplies for thousands of women and children incarcerated for moral crimes in prisons throughout Afghanistan.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx