Here's one of my favorite stretches of the Five Boro Bike Tour, the leg that runs through Central Park. Getting to this point involves a somewhat frustrating crawl up fifth Avenue, with lots of starts and stops along the way. Everyone is anxious to get on the tour, knowing that they've got 40 more miles…
Category: Travel
The 2010 Five Boro Bike Tour: An incredible ride through a fantastic city
Today was the 33rd annual Five Boro Bike Tour, the largest group biking event in the country at 32,000 riders. Crossing into all five boroughs of the city of New York, it's a wonderful celebration of New York and biking that brings together a wide assortment of bike enthusiasts, from little kids to grey-haired cyclists….
My Bike Commute redux: cruising through Fort Greene (video)
As requested by Tony, here's a non-sped up version of one part of my bike commute. This is through the prettiest part of my commute: Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It's somewhat bittersweet, since I lived in that neighborhood for a couple of years, and still miss it a bit. Gotta love the tree lined streets and…
My Talk on Youth Learning Networks at the WebWise Conference in Denver (video)
The organizers of the excellent Webwise conference that I attended last month in Denver have recently posted to the web videos from the event. While there, I spoke on a panel on "Creating Connections and Promoting Networks" focused on the challenges and opportunities of using new media to transform user experience and provide a network…
Headed to Charlotte, NC April 8 for a UNCF Forum on Digital Media & Learning
I'm happy to announce that next Thursday, April 8, I will be speaking on a panel on digital media and learning at the Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sponsored by the UNCF (United Negro College Fund), the purpose of the forum is to "to look into what these new technologies mean for…
Service Learning, Social Media & the Lost Boys of Sudan: the 2010 National Service Learning Conference
From March 24-27, Global Kids teen leader Mayank and I got to travel to San Jose, California to participate in the National Service Learning Conference along with 2,000+ other young people and educators from around the country. Sponsored by the National Youth Leadership Council, the NSLC is a very impressively run annual gathering focused on…
What Being Stuck in the Denver Airport Taught Me about Kindness
My message this morning at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting: Over the past few days, I have spent way too many hours in airports. I was traveling to San Jose, California with a teenager so that we could give a presentation at a youth conference there. Our flight plans unfortunately had us flying through Denver, which was…
“Bayanihan”: To Be a Hero for Another
My father was recently in the Philippines and came back with some presents for my sister and I. This is a small painting he brought back for me called Bayanihan. Here's where the word comes from, as it was described on the back of the painting: The origin of the term bayanihan can be traced…
Google Shows Me How to Bike from My House to My Mom’s (Brooklyn to San Francisco)
I decided to check out how extensive is the new "bicycle directions" tool on Google Maps by putting in my address in Brooklyn and having it plot a bike route from there to my mom's house in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here's what Google suggested. I find it super useful to know that if…
A Tour of “Embrace” at the Denver Art Museum (video)
While at the WebWise conference in Denver, I briefly played hookey to check out the "Embrace" exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. The DAM commissioned 17 artists to create artwork directly on the walls of the Hamilton wing of the museum. What resulted was an eclectic and funky exploration of space, angles and movement. I…