MacArthur Fellows Announced

This is the week. Twenty-five gifted individuals get a call that can change their lives, or at the very least acknowledge their passions:

“The call can be life-changing, coming as it does out of the blue and offering highly creative women and men the gift of time and the unfettered opportunity to explore, create, and contribute,” said Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation.

The MacArthur Fellowships strike a chord with me. They recognize deserving individuals and in many cases give them breathing room to pursue their work. Work, by the way, that spans a spectrum of disciplines. And oh yes, they represent a pile of cash -- a half-mil per recipient.

Here they are -- the 2005 MacArthur Fellows.