In just a few short weeks, Americans are going to the polls to select the next President of the United States. At Global Kids we’re pretty obsessed with following the elections, staff members shouting out news, debating, joking, and sharing links all during the work day. It’s to be expected from an organization that is…
Category: Politics
Barack FTW 11/4! — Why Gamers Should Back Obama
I think it’s high time that people get past this notion of gamers as passive couch potatoes divorced from the world around them. I’ve seen gamers raise thousands of dollars for worthwhile causes like Penny Arcade’s "Child’s Play" charity and games for US troops overseas. Gamers can be ardent defenders of Net Freedom or even…
Why I’m voting Obama (a somewhat random list)
I should begin by saying that I have a good measure of respect for both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. I think they are both much better leaders of our nation than the current president. That said, I am voting Obama come November 4th. Here’s a somewhat random list of the reasons why:…
Global Kids’ teens registering New Yorkers on last day before Election 2008!
This just inspires the heck out of me. Here’s a group of 40-some Global Kids’ teens busting their butts to get New Yorkers registered to vote this afternoon in Union Square park. Today was the last day New Yorkers could register to vote in this critically important election year. Mad props to our Global Kids’…
Teens in Second Life debate the 2nd Obama/McCain debate
Tonight I organized, with the help of my colleagues Rafi and Joyce, a presidential debate watching party in Teen Second Life. We had a very good turnout of about 28 teens, several of whom stayed for the entire 90 minutes — which is asking a lot of a teenager on a school night. Pretty much…
State Department hosting Second Life event on education in virtual worlds this Thursday
This Thursday, October 9, I am honored to be participating in a panel discussion on "Education without Borders" sponsored by the United States Department of State. The panel will address how virtual worlds can be used to reach out to people "conquering issues of physical distance, nationality, and culture." The panelists for this event include:…
See what people are tweeting about the US Presidential candidates in Second Life
Kei Moana sent out news that the Capitol Hill sim in Second Life has installed a cool Twitter visualization tool that lets you see what different people are saying about the two US Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. (For those who don’t know, Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that many Second Life residents are enamoured with.)…
$2000 prize for best multimedia piece on a global issue
My friends at Citizens for Global Solutions tell me that they are launching another cool multimedia contest for the best artsy piece on a global issue. Submissions can be flash animation, spoken word,or digital video, so virtually any kind of activist / artist can submit something: It’s that time again! Calling all aspiring flash animation…
My avatar is an undecided voter, apparently
I logged into Second Life this morning to find that my avatar appears to be riding the fence about who he is voting for this coming November. Is Second Life in a Red State or a Blue State? Or just a confused state?
“The Breaks” play by Marc Bamuthi Joseph remixing all the elements of hip hop
Tonight my buddy Rafi and I saw "The Break/s", an amazing one-person play by Marc Bamuthi Joseph that mixes dance, spoken word, rap, turntablism, beatboxing and video art, all within a strong hip-hop framework. There’s a loose, dream-like narrative chronicling Joseph’s travels from Senegal to Paris to Tokyo to Havana as a hip-hop instructor, interweaved…