I just got home from an exhausting, amazing weekend in Houston for the Southwest Lindyfest, put on by the Houston Swing Dance Society. Lindyfest, now in its 13th year, is one of the most successful lindy hop camps in the country, drawing hundreds of swing dance enthusiasts from all over the US. The four day …
Category: Travel
Pappas: Tasty, cheap Texas-style barbecue in Houston
People know that I'm pretty passionate about really good barbecue. While in Houston for the Southwest Lindyfest, I got to have dinner at one of the many Pappas barbecue establishments in the city. For a chain restaurant, it's surprisingly good 'cue at a reasonable price. My buddy Eli and I shared the 3-pound special, which…
WebWise 2009: Museums and libraries pursuing the innovative edge in a digital age
From February 25-27, I had the opportunity to go to the WebWise conference in Washington DC, an annual gathering of 300-some professionals from libraries and museums to discuss how to keep their cultural institutions relevant in the digital age. It was great getting to hear from some of the leading museums and libraries in America…
WebWise Conference in DC: Reinventing Libraries and Museums in the Digital Age
I'm currently in Washington DC again for the WebWise Conference at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. Webwise is an annual gathering of around 300 librarians and museum staff from around the United States discussing and debating how their institutions should respond to technological changes in the Digital Age. I will be staffing a booth…
Talking about Digital Learning at UC Irvine
To the right is a picture from the John Wayne International Airport in Santa Ana, California, where I flew in this afternoon. I'm at UC Irvine with Rafi for a MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning grantees meeting. We're joining a bunch of super smart people who are conducting a wide range of research, field…
The Global Kids Retreat: Spoken Word and B-boying with 60 Teens in the Woods
On Monday, I got to spend some quality time with 60-some teenagers in our Global Kids programs from around New York City — kids who we call our “GK Leaders.” Normally being stuck in the woods with 60 teens sounds more like a bad horror movie rather than a fun time to me. But this…
Witnessing history with 2 million Americans in the National Mall
At 4am on Tuesday, some obnoxious chiming noise woke me with a start. For a minute or so I was completely disoriented: Where am I? Why am I up this early? Whose bed is this? Then it all came in like a jolt: it’s Inauguration Day! I leapt out of bed and started getting ready…
“Continuing the Dream of Dr. King” with spoken word, drum, and hip-hop violin
I have gotten around to uploading some more video from the past couple of days in DC for the presidential inauguration festivities. One of the coolest events I attended was a multi-arts celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at the National Cathedral called "Continuing the Dream." About 1,000 people gathered for a series of spirited…
Barack celebrated, Bush booed on National Mall (video)
Here’s my video of the exact moment when Obama was sworn into office on the US Capitol steps, from my cheap seats on the National Mall. Such a moving, powerful moment for the two million or so of us on the grounds of the Mall. By contrast, check out the video of the crowd reaction…
My pics from the Obama Inauguration from the very chilly National Mall!
Here’s my mostly unedited photoset from today’s incredible inauguration of Barack Obama from the National Mall in Washington DC. It was an amazing moment in history, which I’m not in any condition to write much about now since the feeling in my extremities is just starting to return from nearly 10 hours in the freezing…