The invaluable weight of a mother's gifts

LIFESTYLE The invaluable weight of a mother's gifts Moms give us life and guide our dreams. Four contributors to the radio series This I Believe describe how ROBOTS The paralyzed marathoner with an incredible robot suit After 16 days and 55,000 steps, a British woman paralyzed from the chest down crosses the London Marathon finish line... with a little bionic help AMERICA'S EDUCATION CHALLENGE Should a teacher be fired for making students wear a doggie 'cone of shame'? Parents complain after a high school teacher makes misbehaving and tardy teens wear the conical collars vets put on animals PEOPLE+GOSSIP Celebrity weather reports: A video roundup Prince Charles tries his royal hand at delivering the forecast, joining the ranks of Steve Carell, Ellen DeGeneres, and other A-list weather desk crashers BOOKS Julia Alvarez's 6 favorite books The prolific novelist and poet lists several stories that inspired her as she wrote A Wedding in Haiti, her new memoir about cross-cultural friends ENVIRONMENT The Pacific Ocean's growing plastic problem About 1 in 10 fish in the Pacific are found to have bits of plastic in their stomachs, and the pollution predicament is only getting worse SUMMER MOVIES Dark Shadows: Did Tim Burton's campy tone switcharoo pay off? Movie-goers were shocked to learn that the director's adaptation of the '60s soap ditched its gothic style for cheeky laughs. And critics are divided SEE ALL CARTOONS Newser Gay marriage was born in... Oklahoma? SLATE Help! My mother keeps trying to talk me into plastic surgery Mental_floss 11 things music can cure Discovery News Photos: Marriage's bumpy history Salon 40% of teens think "birth control doesn't matter" The week's best photojournalism In some of the week's most astonishing images, a towering Marilyn statue comes down, a giant robot goes up, and a motorcyclist ferries explosively colorful lanterns         Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | privacy policy  Copyright © 2012 The Week, All rights reserved.