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East Coast Braces for Hurricane Earl; Parent Participation Needed; Eco-Friendly Fashion; Analysis of Mideast Peace Talks; "Breaking Night"

Aired September 02, 2010 - 14:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: CNN is your hurricane headquarters, tracking Hurricane Earl by the second. We have just receive word minutes ago it's been downgraded again to a Category 3 storm. We have seen this show before. Hang on a second.

It's still very powerful. It's packing winds of 125 miles an hour. It's expected to sideswipe coastal North Carolina tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Let me give you some perspective.

Larger than the state of California, hurricane warnings now extend all the way up the Eastern Seaboard to Massachusetts. The next few hours are crucial to determining what is happening with this. That's why officials are urging people along North Carolina's Outer Banks to heed the warning and leave.

Many are doing just that. Here's a live look from Kitty Hawk in Dare County.

That county expanded a mandatory evacuation today for tourists to leave as Earl approaches. While many are leaving, others plan to ride out the storm. They're boarding up their homes and their businesses.

Some folks have been stocking up on groceries. One of the fastest-selling items, water. High demand leaving behind some empty shelves.

And some airlines are also taking action. AirTran, American, Continental, Delta, waving rescheduling fees for travelers flying to and from cities along the Eastern Seaboard this Labor Day weekend, which also marks the end of the summer travel season.

Meteorologist Chad Myers in the CNN hurricane headquarters.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Listen, attention, parents. Your participation is needed to fix our schools. The choice is yours -- make or break your child's future. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: "Fix Our Schools." Those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week. We've sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis in America. Most importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children so much more than they are getting now.

Parental involvement is a crucial part of a child's education. Unfortunately, there are a lot of parents out there who are not actively involved in their child's education. Some schools are going to desperate measures to change that.

In Delaware, one school district proposing paying parents if they participate in certain school events like parent-teacher conferences because attendance from parents is so low. Money would go into a college savings account for their child. In St. Louis, a local organization is offering parents cash if they enroll their kids in a certain public school, and parents must attend at least three parent- teacher meetings.

OK, this is a problem. This is a big problem. How can we get more parents actively involved in their child's education?

Joining me now is Eva Moskowitz. She is the founder and CEO of the Success Charter Network. And Natasha Shannon, a parent advocate whose kids go to one of Eva's charter schools and is the founding member of Harlem Parents United.

Welcome to both of you. Thank you for being here.

I just had a conversation with Randi Weingarten of the American Teachers Federation, and one of the things that we do really hold teachers very responsible for, our kids' education. But parenting and -- school is more complicated than it was when I was growing up. Parenting is just so important when it comes to helping your kids get through school.

Natasha, tell me about your role and how you deal with parents and the involvement that they have in their kids' education.

NATASHA SHANNON, FOUNDER, HARLEM PARENTS UNITED: Well, for myself and Harlem Success Academy, my daughters are in a program where we're made to be involved and we're told in the beginning that it's a contract. It's a union between myself as a parent and all of our scholars. And so there's work that we're able to do by working together.

We're involved in regular communication with the teachers. We have the teachers' phone numbers. We get out, we march, we protest, we write letters to our local senators. We do whatever it takes to get what our children need at Harlem Success.

VELSHI: OK. So it sounds like there are two ways of looking at parental involvement, Eva. One is things like that, communication with the school, that type of thing. And then there's the stuff that you do at home.

Are they correlated? What kind of involvement do you need parents to have for kids in your charter school network to be successful?

EVA MOSKOWITZ, FOUNDER & CEO, SUCCESS CHARTER NETWORK: Well, first, your promise is absolutely correct. You cannot have a successful school without high levels of parental involvement. And obviously parents come to schools with different time constraints and so forth. But every parent loves their child and wants the best for their child.

I'm the mother of three, so this is a direct experience for me and my own children. But you need to make parental involvement easy and you need to explain to parents why it's so critical.

So we tell our parents, we can't educate your children without you. We are partners. We need to do this together.

We're not going to ask you to fund-raise, but we're going to ask you to support your child's academic development. And that means make sure to get your child to school on time every single day, and to check that the homework is done.

If you sign that the homework is done, we expect that you've looked at it. You don't need to do the homework for your child, but you do need to make sure that you have a quiet place so your homework is done.

VELSHI: Right.

And Natasha, I guess this becomes a critical area -- knowing that your child has homework, knowing what has to be done, making sure that they're kind of organized about the whole thing.

What happens when your kids are having trouble learning and the parent is just not well enough equipped to help them with the math or the English or whatever it is they're learning?

SHANNON: I have a phone number for each of my daughter's teachers. So at Harlem Success, they've supplied us with a teacher list.

I'm able to contact that teacher directly and say I'm having a problem with this, can you please help me understand it? Can you explain it to me? They'll be able to go over by phone all the day's lessons to help me understand what my child should be doing.

Anonda (ph) struggles with some of her homework, and at times I find that I have to call a teacher more often. That's never a problem. They reach out to me. They respond to me quickly.

They help me through those problems and they help me understand what Anonda (ph) should be doing. Anonda (ph) struggles, and all the things that I couldn't get from a regular public school here in New York City, things that they weren't offering to me, I was able to find at Harlem Success Academy.

VELSHI: Eva, the fact that the parents you're dealing with, parents like Natasha, have kids in a charter school means that they have worked hard to get their kid into there, they've recognized this. Can you have the kind of deal that you have with parents in your charter school network, parents like Natasha, that a non-charter public school can have with their parents? In other words, does this work because you have charter schools?

MOSKOWITZ: I don't think so. I mean, a charter school is just another kind of public school. It's free from the bureaucracy of management. We're free from some of the work rules of the union contract. But the premise that parents need to be invited into the school and made partners in a child's education can happen any place, anytime, anywhere, as long as the school is deeply committed to parental involvement.

You know, you have some parents who it comes more natural. Other parents you have to inspire.

And so we do parent meetings. What is the obstacle to getting your child on time? Sometimes it's the lack of a stroller and so it's hard to catch that bus. Sometimes it's a matter of setting your alarm clock 10 minutes early.

You have to be partners with your parents and make sure that you are providing the support and you are considering parental convenience. So we have meetings on Saturdays, because if you have meetings at 3:00, not every working parent can make that meeting. So we're always thinking about parental convenience.

VELSHI: Thank you to both of you.

Eva Moskowitz is the founder and the CEO of Success Charter Network. Natasha Shannon is a parent advocate and the founder of Harlem Parents United.

Thanks to both of you.

One simple thing to save the environment with style -- how you can look good by going green.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Wardrobe recycling. Do not throw your old coats away. Put them to good news. That's the idea behind a company in New York.

Stephanie Elam has our "One Simple Thing."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ask New Yorkers how they get rid of clothes they don't want anymore and you're likely to get the same answer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just threw them in the trash.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything went in the garbage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stuff that wasn't wearable, I would just throw away.

ELAM: It turns out, textiles make up about six percent of New York City's waste a year.

ADAM BARUCHOWITZ, WEARABLE COLLECTIONS CLOTHING RECYCLING CO: That amounts to about 386 million pounds of textiles heading towards our waste stream. And that's a pretty significant amount that actually can be reused for other purposes.

ELAM: Wearable Collections is helping New Yorkers cut that number down.

BARUCHOWITZ: We try to make it as easy as possible for New Yorkers to recycle their clothing. We try make it as easy for them to recycle clothing as it is to recycle their cans, bottles and newspapers.

ELAM: The company's bins collect fabric and clothes in about 150 apartment buildings across the city.

(on camera): How much do you get on a daily basis for that?

BARUCHOWITZ: Anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 pounds.

ELAM: Some Banana Republic jeans here that look perfectly fine. I mean they're like really good quality. Somebody could wear these.

BARUCHOWITZ: I'm like a whiz. Somebody will wear these again. That's a fine quality.

ELAM: Fine quality jacket there.

BARUCHOWITZ: Actually --

ELAM: And a skirt as well.

(voice-over): It also collects textiles at various one-off collections like these green markets.

BARRY SEAGER, CLOTHING RECYCLER: If I had to go 40 blocks out of my way or even 10 blocks out of my way I probably wouldn't donate. It's just too much trouble to go.

ELAM: Everything is then sold to a sorting facility and they give 20 percent of their gross proceeds to partnering charities.

BARUCHOWITZ: We're creating money from used clothing.

On any given month I could write checks to 10 to 20 charities. The checks are anywhere from $50 to $300, $400.

ELAM: From there, some of the clothes are reused as second-hand apparel. Some are turned into rags and the rest is shredded into fibers for things like carpet padding, seat cushioning and insulation, a renewed purpose for stuff that otherwise would clog landfills. BARUCHOWITZ: We can't act as if there's just an unlimited amount of resource; this is for everyone to get involved in. We're all going to either reap the rewards of consciousness or we're going to pay the penalty of not being conscious together.

ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed on Hurricane Earl and what is going on.

We just got an update that it has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane. We started the day with a Category 3. It was upgraded to a 4.

It's packing a punch of 125 miles an hour, and it has not made its turn to the right that Chad was talking about. So at the moment, we are still looking at it skirting, sideswiping North Carolina, and there are hurricane and tropical storm warnings all the way up to Maine.

That is the cone of uncertainty that you're looking at. It does show -- you see that "3" there? It shows that it will sustain at a 3, and then go down to a 2, and go down to a 1.

But the bottom line is the storm has been unpredictable in its behavior. We will continue to follow that.

Richard Quest is up next for a little Q&A. Today we're going to hash it out on whether it's a good time to buy a home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD QUEST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Around the world and around the United States, this is "Q&A."

Ali, once again, it's time for you and me to go head to head. Who knows the most?

VELSHI: Richard, this is the part of the week I love the best. Every Thursday you and I are going to go head to head around the world to talk business, travel, and innovation. Nothing is off limits.

Today we're tackling housing. We've got a question on Twitter. Is it a good time to buy?

We've got 60 seconds each. You went first last week, so it's my time to go.

Let's start the clock. Sixty seconds right now.

Is a house a good investment?

Well, maybe the question, Richard, should be, is a house a good investment or is it shelter and a place to live? The answer is often both.

But think about it. Over history, property has been a great alternative to more traditional types of investments like stocks and mutual funds and things like that. But over those last few years, where stocks haven't done well, mutual funds haven't done well, neither has housing.

The median price of a single family home in the United States, the kind that most people buy, is down $40,000 over the last few years. About $184,000.

Now, you've got to decide, investment or a place to live? At $140,000, if you're one of these people who doesn't have to put any money down on a house, that's one thing. But you often have to put down, let's say, 30 percent.

Over the 30 years, even if you get a great low interest rate of 4.5 percent, money invested would have been better off outside of that house than in that house. So you've got to depend on that property appreciating.

I'm not sure that it is a better thing to do to buy a house than to just live in it -- Richard.

(BUZZER)

QUEST: Oh, Ali. Ali, now let's have another go with this one properly. All right. Here we go.

Give me a minute on the clock.

Confucius says it was the -- you can tell the strength of a nation it's derived from the integrity of its houses. If that is the case, then we are all in deep trouble indeed, because figures in the United Kingdom today show that house prices stagnated for the last two months in a row. The recovery that we had seen earlier in the year has clearly petered out, and that is causing great cause for concern.

Ali is wrong, wrong when he says that housing would have done better than stocks. If you look at an investment, $100 invested at the beginning of the last century would be worth far more in the market than that same $100 invested in property.

The long and short of it is, property today may be safe, but it's not the recovery it was. A house is still a home.

(BUZZER)

VELSHI: All right. We'll agree on that part, Richard.

That will do it for that part of the conversation. But it is time -- by the way, you didn't really comment on my prop.

It is time to go head to head. I don't know over the last few weeks whether we're tied or I'm ahead of you, but "The Voice" has got some questions to see which one of us knows more about this stuff. I don't have my bell with me. I just realized after to listening to yours, I don't have mine. So I'm just going to make a buzzing noise.

THE VOICE: Gentlemen, hello. "The Voice" is in the house and ready for another round of "Q&A."

But the question is, are you two ready?

VELSHI: We are.

THE VOICE: Then let's get right to it.

According to the Global Property Guide, what country had the biggest fall in new home prices last quarter, adjusted for inflation, of course? A, the U.S.; B, Iceland; C, Ireland; or D, Bulgaria?

VELSHI: Buzz.

THE VOICE: All right. I'll take that, Ali. Go.

VELSHI: Iceland.

THE VOICE: Wrong.

Richard, would you care to weigh in?

QUEST: Yes. I'm going to go for Ireland.

THE VOICE: Richard, you are exactly right.

(BELL)

THE VOICE: On the board early.

Ireland saw home prices drop nearly 16 percent. The U.S. was down about 3.3 percent. The U.K. was up nearly 6 percent.

Richard takes the first question.

Question number two: According to the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey -- and that's a mouthful -- which of these cities is least, least affordable? A, Vancouver; B, Sidney; C, Honolulu; or D, Bournemouth in the U.K.?

(BELL)

THE VOICE: Was that you, Ali?

VELSHI: Yes.

THE VOICE: OK. Go for it.

VELSHI: C, Honolulu.

THE VOICE: I'm sorry. That's wrong. Richard, would you care to weigh in and make it 2 and 0?

VELSHI: I think it's a trick question. I think it's Bournemouth.

QUEST: Yes, I think it's Bournemouth, but I think Bournemouth, it might just be third. I'm going to go for Bournemouth.

(BELL)

(BUZZER)

THE VOICE: Richard, I'm sorry, but you're wrong.

QUEST: Vancouver.

THE VOICE: And we thought we would get you on that question. Yes, you're right. The correct answer is Vancouver. The average price of a single family home there is a whopping $540,000.

And as for the U.K. and Bournemouth, you might think London would be the least affordable place there, but it's actually the sleepily seaside town of Bournemouth.

Richard, you still lead, 1-0.

Question three: In which country is the world's most expensive private home? A, the U.S.; B, the U.K.; C, France; or D, India?

Anybody?

(BELL)

THE VOICE: Ali, go for it.

VELSHI: I can't say I know, and I think the U.S. is too obvious an answer. So because of that, I'm going to go for India.

THE VOICE: And Ali, you would be right. And you tie this round at 1-1.

The most expensive home is in Mumbai, worth around $2 billion. It's owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, fifth on Forbes' billionaires list. And get this -- it's 27 stories tall and has a 150-car garage.

Now, that sounds like a lot, but there's one problem. Mr. Ambani reportedly has 168 cars, just like you, Ali.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Thank you, Voice.

QUEST: All right.

Listen, Ali, you and I have got problems. "The Voice" has got delusions of grandeur --

VELSHI: I think so.

QUEST: -- intending to take over before you and I are finished.

That will do it for this week.

Remember, each of us is here Thursdays.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," 18:00 GMT.

VELSHI: And in the CNN NEWSROOM, 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Keep the topics coming our blog. In fact, today's topic came in a tweet from LauratheExPat. So, tweet with the hash tag CNNQ&A, or log on to CNN.com/Q&B, and CNN.com/ali. Your idea could be what we're talking about next week.

Have a good one, Richard.

QUEST: Have a good one.

VELSHI: We've got some promising new developments in the Mideast peace talks happening right now in Washington. We know this much, the two sides will keep on talking to some people. That's a success. I'll bring you up to speed when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Signs of progress in the first direct Mideast peace talks in almost two years. U.S. special envoy George Mitchell, former senator says Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas will get together again September 14 and 15 in the region and meet every two weeks thereafter.

This was the scene this morning. Netanyahu, Abbas, entering the Benjamin Franklin room at the U.S. State Department with Secretary of State Clinton in the middle, literally and figuratively. What are they talking about? Primarily borders. I'll have more on that in about a minute. Also, Israeli settlements in the West Bankand the plight of Palestinian refugee. The leaders spoke briefly with reporters before they got down to business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: President Abbas, I'm fully aware and I respect your people's desire for sovereignty. I'm convinced that it's possible to reconcile that desire with Israel's need for security.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT OF PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): Once again, we want to state our commitment to follow on all our engagements, including security and ending enticements. And we call on the Israeli government to move forward with its commitment to end all settlement activities and completely lift the embargo over the Gaza Strip. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: President Obama tried to get the talks off on the right foot with one-one-one meetings yesterday at the White House and a joint appearance later with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan. Last night, they all sat around the same table for a private White House dinner.

Other U.S. presidents have tried to add Mideast peace to their legacies. After a break, I'll talk with the former chief spokesman for George W. Bush. Ari Fleischer right here in New York with me. When we come back, we'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Before today, high-level negotiators had tried eight times since 1979 to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. Eight times they failed with tragic results.

Ari Fleischer was part of that history, as George W. Bush's first White House press secretary joins me now to share his experience and insights. Ari, good to see you again.

Let's talk a little bit about this. First of all, are you hopeful? The measure of success for these meetings today was that there would be another meeting. They announced their going to have another meeting in two weeks.

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, of course, I'm hopeful. But that really isn't the right issue. Who isn't hopeful? I have low expectations.

And I think the core problem is, is there anybody in power to actually deliver peace for the Palestinians? That is forever been the issue here. We're going back ten years now --

VELSHI: Explain what you mean by that. Clearly, there's a representative of the Palestinians here, Mahmoud Abbasand the Palestinian negotiating team. What are you're saying, that they don't have the potency back home to implement whatever is negotiated?

FLEISCHER: That's exactly right, Ali. The issue with Mahmoud Abbas, who is a good man, a good heart, he wants peace, he is cut from a different cloth, is that he's seen as weak by the Palestinian people. I question how many followers he has, indeed, among people in the West Bank.

I don't know that he has the strength. If he were able to do what a Sadat or a King Hussein of Jordan and Sadat of Egypt did, to actually make peace, whether he would be able to keep his job. He doesn't have the people of the West Bank behind him, and I'm not sure the people of the West Bank want peace.

He does. He wants peace. But he's not strong enough to deliver the people. VELSHI: I spoke to two journalists this morning, one Israeli journalist, one Palestinian journalist. The Palestinian journalist said to me said he thinks that Benjamin Netanyahu is not going to be able to come back in Israel because of the coalition he's got, the right-leaning coalition he's got. If he cuts any deals he's going to have political trouble at home. So, this is kind of interesting, that there are two views of who can actually execute peace if they make a decision.

FLEISCHER: Well, I just disagree with that point of view. I think Netanyahu, it's the Nixon Goes to China theory. Nixon was strong enough to have relations with China. A Democrat could not have back in 1970s. I think it's the same with Israel now. Netanyahu is man of tough, hawk background. He actually is the type who can make peace with Abbas and the Palestinians.

VELSHI: And that's actually been the history in Israel. It's the hawks who have been able to get to the table -

FLEISCHER: The hawks married up with strong, Arab leaders.

VELSHI: Yes.

FLEISCHER: Anwar Sadat had courage. Anwar Sadat was able and ready to be a leader. Peace was made. King Hussein of Jordan, peace was made. Israel has shown that it is ready, willing and able to make peace. The question is, are the Palestinians able to make peace?

VELSHI: Talk about the relationship -- President Bush had a very good relationship with his Israeli counterparts. President Obama has had what is described as a rocky relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is largely - Israel is largely thought of a friend of the United States. How much is this going to help or impede?

FLEISCHER: I think at the end - let's say that this starts to become a successful negotiation. People are really down to the final brass, emotional tacts becomes very important because the Israeli people, and their prime minister are going to say, will the United States have our back if things go wrong? And that becomes a trust issue. If they don't believe Barack Obama will have their back, Israel will not take final steps --

VELSHI: What do you think (INAUDIBLE) right now?

FLEISCHER: I think right now, Israel is open minded about it. They're hoping they can make progress. I think, like the Americans, they're doubtful. They've seen this happen before. After all, Palestinians in 1999 and 2000 when Bill Clinton was president, they had their chance to have 95 percent of the West Bank. Wasn't good enough. And they didn't want to make peace.

That's why the fundamental issue is, are they ready, willing and able to accept Israel? I think that's an open question for many Palestinians.

VELSHI: Talk about it on the other side -- America makes great noises about the friendship between America and Israel. Do -- can Palestinians see America has an honest broker in these negotiations?

FLEISCHER: It's tough for them. I recognize that, because the United States has historically been on the side of Israel for, I think, the right reasons. The right moral reasons and the right strategic reasons. Israel is a democracy, they're an ally, a friend of ours. Israel didn't celebrate in their streets when September 11 happened. Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah to celebrate the September 11 attacks in our country.

So, we have had an historical bias towards Israel. But it can make it harder for the Palestinians, and I recognize that. But it's also a bias the United States should continue to have. It's the right bias to have.

VELSHI: In that case, can the United States -- look, does the United States need to be the broker? In other words, can there be peace if the United States isn't the honest broker?

FLEISCHER: I don't think there could be peace without a broker, and the United States uniquely can be that broker. But way beyond us there, there can't be peace unless Israel and the Palestinians want to make peace. That's still the fundamental starting point. This will be tested now for - could be a year-long process. We'll see.

I just -- at the end of the day, I still have huge questions about the Palestinian commitment to actually crossing the line, making peace with Israel. Because Mahmoud Abbas is not an Anwar Sadat. He's not a King Hussein.

VELSHI: So, you believe he wants peace? You believe that he's coming to the table with the right agenda. Your concern is can he sell it --

FLEISCHER: Ali, I've sat in meetings with Mahmoud Abbas. And (INAUDIBLE) with Ariel Sharon. And when Abbas walked into the room, Ariel Sharon stood up and hugged him.

Mahmoud Abbas is a man of peace. He's genuine, he is different, he wants it. The question is, is he strong enough to do some of that for many, many Palestinians would be terribly unpopular. "Recognize Israel, the Jewish state." That's the real question of leadership.

He wants it. I don't know that he's strong enough to deliver it.

VELSHI: Does it matter to security in the world? When you were -- when President Bush was in office and you were his spokesman, I think would argue that it was more important in that day, because it was really key to peace in the region and peace elsewhere. And ten years before that, it was even more important.

Today, global peace doesn't seem to depend as much on Israel and Palestine getting together and getting along with each other.

FLEISCHER: Well, we're just in a lull, thankfully.

It will eternally be important. There are other major issues to, of course, Iran, and whether they get nuclear weapons. And they're going to try to do that regardless of whether peace is made. That's a wholly different, bigger problem.

But you don't have to think back too far, 2006, the shooting war with Hezbollah when missiles were being launched and Israel had to evacuate a quarter of its country.

It's calm now. The economies both the West Bank and Israel are good, thankfully, for both places. But it's always a tender box. Hezbollah and Hamas on Israel's borders. Iranian agents really is what they are. It can always go up. And then all of a sudden, the flash point resumes.

VELSHI: So, in other words, we've got to stick to this.

FLEISCHER: Absolutely. It never goes away.

VELSHI: All right. Good to see you, as always. Thank you.

FLEISCHER: My pleasure, Ali.

VELSHI: Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary.

Listen, I've got a great story for you coming up. She went from homeless teen to Harvard coed, but she never forgot where she came from. Now, she's putting food on the table for the most needy children in America. Liz Murray is our "Mission Possible." You have got to hear her story. It's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Before I introduce you to today's "Mission Possible," I want to tell you about the phrase "breaking night." It is urban slang for staying up through the night until the sun rises.

Keep that in mind as I tell you about Liz Murray. Homeless at the age of 15. She lived on the streets through high school. This could have had a very bad ending. But Liz ended up winning a full scholarship to Harvard University, where she graduated from. "Breaking Night" is her story.

Liz Murray joins me now. Liz, why "Breaking Night" is it the title of your book? Staying up till the sun comes up?

LIZ MURRAY, FORMER HOMELESS PERSON AND AUTHOR: Well, I didn't know what to title the book at first. But when I came to the chapter where I wrote about homelessness, I actually didn't really qualify myself as homeless for a long time. I just used the slang saying in the Bronx and actually urban America, which is, you stay up all night. And when the sky is pitch black, at the first hint of sun, you know you've broken night.

And it just seemed appropriate, because well, in so many senses I was breaking through all the darkness in my life.

VELSHI: Give us a thumbnail picture. It's quite remarkable to hear your story -

MURRAY: Thank you

VELSHI: -- your parents and how you ended up homeless. Tell us a bit about this.

MURRAY: My parents, they partied a lot in the '70s. They were hippies. They got addicted to drugs. And my sister and I grew up in the Bronx in the aftermath of what happened when that party scene was over. And they contracted HIV; they both got sick. We had to fend fur ourselves.

VELSHI: And how did you get to school? How did you manage being in school and being homeless?

MURRAY: I mean, there's the logistical side of it, and the quick answer is my friends. I have the most amazing friends. And they took care of me. But some nights, I would sleep on the train or the park.

But inside there was something else. There was really a choice that I had to make at some point that this wasn't going to be my life, and actually I could make decisions about my future that did not have to be based on my past.

So, I decided to go back to school. I would sleep on the train, I'd sleep in hallways. I'd sleep in my friend's house. And one way or another, I would inch myself forward, one assignment at a time, one choice at a time until I turned around and I had carved out an entirely different life for myself.

VELSHI: How did you end up at Harvard?

MURRAY: Well, I didn't know that was going to happen. I just knew at some point - I mean, I think there's two ways to look at it, right? You can look at what was created out of this mindset, and you can look at the choice themselves.

I ended up at Harvard, I can tell you right off the bat, my community helped me in a big way. My teachers were fantastic. There's a nonprofit called The Door downtown that helped me tremendously.

But also inside -- I guess at some point, I think people believe that so much of life is out of their control. And there are some things, like the weather, you know, disease, disaster strikes. But I believe that we have so much more say about what happens to us, so much more say. And once you realize that, anything is possible.

VELSHI: You now - look, I'm trying to compress a big story into a short amount of time.

MURRAY: Sure. Yes.

VELSHI: You've got a book. It comes out on Tuesday. It's a magical read --

MURRAY: Thank you.

VELSHI: -- but tell me about this. You have now turned this around into something else, and you're providing -- tell me about this partnership you have with Blessings in a Backpack

MURRAY: Blessing in a Backpack is the most amazing organization. So, what we do with Blessings is -- founded by a man named Stan Curtis. He's an incredible man. And people notice basically that kids that grew up just the way that I had -- hungry, starving even, in this country -- would go home. They count on the school lunch during the week. And when there's nothing on Saturday or Sunday, they go home, and they go hungry.

So with Blessings in a Backpack, they get to take home a backpack filled with food every Friday, bring it back empty on Monday, and that creates a consistency in their life. We see a boost in grades and self-esteem.

So, with Blessings in a Backpack, what I'm doing is, I thought - "Breaking Night," I want to have this book do incredible things. It's a book and that's fantastic. But really my success, I'll measure it in how it creates opportunities for other people. And I said to myself, what am I going to do with Blessings?

So this fall, I'll be going on a bus tour in parts of the Midwest and our mission is, as of September, we'll be feeding 38,000 children across America with Blessings. But with the bus tour, our vision is to raise that number to 50,000 children fed through Blessings in a Backpack, using the book as a vehicle to have that happen.

VELSHI: That is incredible. The book comes out on Tuesday. Really great read. Congratulations on all you've done. Thanks so much for the inspriation.

MURRAY: Thanks so much! And the book is available for preorder -

VELSHI: You can do it now.

MURRAY: -- in stores on Tuesday. You can go right now to get it. Right now, you can go to homelesstoharvard.com to get information as well.

VELSHI: Liz Murray is the author of "Breaking Night." She's the founder and director of Manifest Living. If you want more information on her and her work, go to CNN.com/ali. We will link the Web site homelesstoharvard on the Web site, and then you can buy the book.

All right. Middle East peace talks are dominating the conversation today in Washington. Coming up, senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joins me for "The Stakeout" with his take on how things have gone so far. He's the one that said success will be judged by whether there's another meting. There's going to be another meeting. When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: President Obama is at the center of the Middle East peace talks, even though he's not in the room today. The president welcomed the major players to the White House yesterday for a little talk and a big dinner.

Let me welcome our own player, who wasn't at the dinner, but he knows all about it. Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry.

Ed, I have to tell you, you're the one who planted in my mind the fact that, look, nobody think we're coming out of this thing with a peace treaty. But if they can agree to meet again, that will be deemed by some people a success. Moderate success, but a success.

That's what they came out with. There's a deal they will meet again September 14 and 15, and then every two weeks thereafter - unless it gets derailed. Tell me what your thoughts are.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESOPNDENT: Yes, absolutely. I had a key player in all of these negotiations tell me at the beginning of this process that we would know on Thursday whether or not it was a success. If there was a specific date attached to a second round of talks, but also secondly, if that second round of talks was going to be in the region.

Now they haven't made it official yet, whether it's going to be in the Mideast or not. But I'm told by officials close to these talks that the second round of talks that you mentioned, September 14 and 15, is very likely to be in Egypt.

That is significant why? Basically because the Israelis and Palestinians want to show that they can do this not on U.S. soil. That they don't have to have the U.S. president in their face pushing them along the entire process. He gave it a big push this week. It's the first time we saw, at least in public, President Obama taking such a hands-on role. But the fact that it's a second round of talks is coming, and that this wasn't just some - you know, yet another little bit of a talkfest. There's going to be more on September 14 and 15. It's in the region, away from the U.S.

Now, there may be U.S. officials, like Secretary of State Clinton on the sidelines. But the fact that it's going to be there in the region, and they're going to try to show they can stand on their own two feet, that's significant progress. They're still far from a treaty, but it's progress.

VELSHI: All right, Ed, and in this environment, with the history of success and failure in Mideast peace talks, we take progress if we can find it. Ed Henry, thanks very much doing "The Stakeout." I'll see you tomorrow. Ed is always with us -- a little earlier than this every day.

OK, amid a world filled with conflict, I want to send out a message of peace. I'm going to do that in my "XYZ."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it. There used to be a time, it seems like there was a simpler time, when tensions between Palestinians and Israelis seem to be at the heart of global unrest.

Sadly, the world is much more complex today, and solving the generational disputes between Israelis and Palestinians may not be enough to curb the global threat of religious extremism. But the Holy Land remains the most potent symbol of both peace and unrest. To Islam, to Judaism and to Christianity.

We saw a small sign of progress today as direct peace talks were launched at the State Department. Both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to keep talking. True, it may be yet another false start, or it may be a turning point. I'm going to choose turning point because I think we have to. I choose turning point for one simple reason. We need peace. In a world where building a house of worship becomes a national debate, in a world where it takes two hours to get through airplane security, it's time to choose peace.

That's my "XYZ" for now. Rick joins us now with RICK'S LIST.