Take a few minutes to listen to my buddy and former colleague Rafi Santo in an interview for Purpos/ed talking about the "purpose of education." Rafi is described as a "new media & learning theorist, educator, technologist, activist, researcher, photographer, meditator, cook, [and] learner." Love it! Rafi states much more clearly than I ever could…
Teaching Teens about Citizen Science, Mobile Game Making, and California Ecology
You may have noticed that the volume of my posting here and elsewhere has been way down for the past couple of weeks. That's because I've been head-down, 100% focused on facilitating a teen summer intensive for the California Academy of Sciences. The summer intensive involved giving a group of 13 middle-school youth a…
Letting My Inner Queer Shine with the Freeplay Crew at the SF Pride Festival
Here's the Freeplay Hip-hop Dance Crew doing the latest incarnation of our piece "Turn Turn" at the 2012 San Francisco Pride Festival. We were proud to share the stage at the Asian & Pacific Islander Pavillion with many other awesome acts that day. This was my first SF Pride and I was totally blown…
Rik Takes It All Off
I've been bored of my hair for awhile and wanting a change, but not really sure of which direction to go. On Sunday, instead of my typical Tin-Tin cut, I asked my stylist Q to just take it all off. "For real?" he asked, surprised. "Yep, just number one all around," I replied. Just for…
See Freeplay Dance Crew at SF Pride 2012 on June 24
I'm excited to announce that this coming Sunday, June 24, as part of the San Francisco Pride festivities, my hip-hop crew Freeplay will be performing for the thousands of revelers. We will be performing at about 1:45pm on June 24 at the Asian & Pacific Island LGBT Pride stage, on the corner of Polk and…
A Jaw-dropping Disney Haunted House-inspired Routine by Academy of Villains (video)
Academy of Villains is one of the ill-est hip-hop troupes on the West Coast, hell, in the United States. Here they are tearing up the stage at Body Rock 2012 in San Diego last month. I love the Disneyland Haunted House inspired theme, the perfect music choices, and the ridiculous dancing. But nothing beats…
Visiting the Berkeley Friends Church and Christ-loving Quakers
Today I went to my first "programmed" Quaker Meeting for Worship, at the Berkeley Friends Church. There are many strains of Quakerism, only some fraction of which I am familiar with. One of the largest divisions among Quakers are between the "programmed" and "unprogrammed" Meetings for Worship. "Programmed" for Quakers refers to the kind of…
Baby Ostrich Chasing its “Mother” Tim at the Cal Academy
Here's your daily adorable-ness. A baby ostrich on its first exercise run outdoors chases Tim Steinmetz, resident ostrich (ratite) expert at the California Academy of Sciences. As their first and main caretaker, Tim functions as a mother figure for the ostriches, who are under the Academy's care for a short spell, as part of…
Support SF Gypsy Jazz Band Gaucho’s New CD “Part-Time Sweetheart” (UPDATED)
Gaucho is one of my favorite bands, period. Playing in the gypsy jazz tradition, Gaucho puts out an inspired, Django-esque groove that has been entertaining San Franciscans for years. Some of my favorite nights of dancing has been to Gaucho, who perform every Wednesday at Amnesia Bar in the Mission. Gaucho has a new CD…
Newt Crossing! First Visit to Mount Tamalpais
Yesterday, I and a colleague did a quick trip up to Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, to scout out the site of a bio-blitz we are organizing for a group of students later in the month. We were fortunate to come across a couple of what we think were rough-skinned newts just hanging out…