2021
February
11
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

February 11, 2021
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Yvonne Zipp
Features Editor

Henry Darby is famous for pulling all-nighters. 

The North Charleston High School principal stocks shelves at a South Carolina Walmart from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. three nights a week – finishing just in time for school. He took the job to help his students, some of whom didn’t have enough to eat – and because, he told reporters, he couldn’t bear to ask his teachers and staff to dig any deeper in their own pockets. His mother and grandmother taught him, “Whatever your hands find to do, do that in helping others,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper

Mr. Darby’s plan was to quietly work and donate his paychecks to teens and their families, but a student spotted him on his first night. After The Post and Courier wrote about his willingness to go without sleep to help the teenagers in his care, Mr. Darby has found himself able to help on a larger scale: Walmart donated $50,000, and two GoFundMe accounts have raised about $200,000. 

This week, Gov. Henry McMaster awarded Mr. Darby the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor. “Principal Darby personifies the best of South Carolina, a selfless person who goes above and beyond for others,” the governor said. 

Some critics point out that calling stories like Mr. Darby’s “good news” overlooks a crucial fact: Educators shouldn’t have to have superhuman endurance, and children shouldn’t be going hungry. 

For his part, Mr. Darby has focused on helping his community and the students he loves.

As he told CNN, “They are my children.”


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Demonstrators display placards accusing China of supporting Myanmar's military during a protest against the recent coup outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, Feb. 11, 2021. Large crowds again defied a ban on protests, despite officers' use of force.
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Difference-maker

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The Youth FORWARD Team, a version of an intervention program developed by Theresa Betancourt (sixth from left), is seen here in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 2018. The program focuses on family and community supports as an important part of healing.

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Tahar Rahim stars as Mohamedou Ould Slahi in “The Mauritanian,” which is based on Slahi’s 2015 memoir, “Guantánamo Diary.”

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Italian economist Mario Draghi in 2019 when he stepped down as head of the European Central Bank

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A butterfly stands out among incense sticks at a home-industry factory, ahead of Lunar New Year, in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 10, 2021.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today! Come back tomorrow: Francine Kiefer is looking at how California’s pandemic woes have led to a growing recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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2021
February
11
Thursday
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