Tar Heel of the Week:Mike Wiley knows how easy it is for the mind to distort things.

Tar Heel of the Week:When Todd Miller founded the N.C. Coastal Federation in 1982, he used a back bedroom as an office and had a $20,000 foundation grant. Today, the nonprofit environmental group has a $1.4 million annual operating budget, a staff of 18 and about 8,000 dues-paying members in Eastern North Carolina and the Triangle.

Tar Heel of the Week:Five years ago, Bouna Ndiaye was listening to National Public Radio when he heard a gloomy report about malaria killing people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tar Heel of the Week:Granted face time with Supreme Court justices, first ladies and a U.S. senator, Betty Debnam Hunt has enjoyed the kind of access that inspires the respect, if not outright envy, of other journalists.

Tar Heel of the Week: Are you glad Carolina Beach doesn't look like Myrtle Beach? Thank Milton Heath.

Tar Heel of the Week:The quality handiwork of Greek tailor Apostolos Avramidis -- better known as "Tolly" -- is legend among customers in downtown Raleigh.

Tar Heels of the Week:As pioneers in the field of raising oysters, Jim and Bonnie Swartzenberg have helped draw attention to the need to protect coastal water quality.

Tar Heels of the Week:Jan Burger and Donovan Zimmerman want to change the world. So they build puppets. Spider-size puppets, people-size puppets and puppets as tall as houses, all bearing big messages.

Tar Heel of the Week:For close to a decade, Mark Pearce fought to help poor people buy homes, battling predatory lending and lenders' bias against some neighborhoods.

Tar Heel of the Week:Terry Sullivan worked on laws that set the foundation for government ethics rules, revived the death penalty and bolstered the state's reputation as a bank-friendly state.

Tar Heel of the Week: For most of her 60 years, Jean Kelly was hardly an activist. She taught school, reared three children and managed rental properties in her hometown of Selma.

Tar Heel of the Week: A year or so ago, the Rev. Melvin Whitley went to war against love roses.

Tar Heel of the Week:As a medical student, Anthony Fleg is at the center of the latest wave of rebellion against the pharmaceutical industry's cozy ties to doctors, hospitals and medical schools.

Tar Heel of the Week:Debbie Antonelli believes in women's basketball and in the power of hope. Basketball has been her life; hope has helped her create a niche for herself.

Tar Heel of the Week:Calla and Gerald Wright's mission is to give parents the tools they need to navigate through a large school system such as Wake County's

Tar Heel of the Week:5th-generation farmer led way in selling directly to customers.

Tar Heel of the Week: The best way Dave Genova knows to get teenagers to look inward -- deep within, where prejudices and insecurities lurk -- is to take them outside.