Yesterday, I had the privilege of taking a class with Eric Fenn, choreographer of the innovative "urban contemporary" dance troupe Loose Change. Combining house, popping, waving, and breaking with modern dance, martial arts and ocassionally, swing, Loose Change has been a pioneer in the dance fusion movement for 20 years. I've long been a fan…
Pics from My Trip to Bali
In retrospect, I should have taken my digital SLR for my first tript to Bali. Doh. But overall I'm pretty happy with how my pictures came out taken just with my iPhone4. Of course, it's a gorgeous tropical island, so it's easy to take a good shot. Just shoot a lot and edit later. But…
Living the Good Life in Bali
I just got home from a really lovely and restful holiday in Bali, a long-due vacation. I met up there with my friends David and Kim, who were in the last week of their yearlong round-the-world trip that I have been enviously following online. We were joined by Dave and Kim's other friends Karen, Orley…
Hip-hop Meets Nutcracker in latest LXD Dance Piece (video)
Just when I had pretty much given up on the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers project, they come out with this totally charming and wonderful short video, "Matched". Striking visuals, amazing dancing, and well-filmed — just what drew me to the franchise in the first place before the poor writing and acting nearly killed it for…
Balinese Spirituality and Terrorism
So one of the amazing things about being in Bali is how omnipresent their spirituality is. You litreally can't take two steps anywhere without nearly crushing a small offering on the ground in front of a store or a hotel. The offerings typically have some flowers, fruit and a cookie or cracker in a tiny…
Quakers, Participatory Culture, and Our Mission in the World
A few weeks ago, I went to a really interesting talk by Wess Daniels on Quakers and mission at the lovely Friends Church of Berkeley. Wess is a doctoral student and a released minister from Camas Friends Church in Washington. I really had not idea what to expect, other than the fact that a cross-section…
The Story about Not Scuba Diving
So this was supposed to be the blog post where I tell you about all the amazing things I saw in my first scuba dive, from a lovely resort in Northern Bali. It didn't quite work out that way, but I still learned something important about myself. Yesterday, my travel group met up at a…
Off to Bali for a Week!
Just a quick check-in from the Taipei airport, where I have a layover before the last leg of my flight to Bali, Indonesia. I will be vacationing in Bali with my friends David and Kim for a week, taking in the sites, sunning at the beach, and hopefully snorkeling / scuba diving. I might even…
TechSoup Global Contributors’ Summit: 250 Leaders Strategize on Using Tech to Address Global Problems
For the past two days I've been at the TechSoup Global Contributors' Summit at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, California. It's a really interesting gathering of a select couple hundred TechSoup partners, NGOs, tech industry folks and funders talking about how to connect the best technology tools to support the most worthwhile social causes. …
Breaking Class with Drew Looner at Athletic Playground: Pushing Your Body and Your Mind
Although I was pretty tired from the two day conference I just got back from, I decided to head out to catch B-boy Drew Looner's breaking class at Athletic Playground in Emeryville. Athletic Playground is a small and friendly space where they teach all manner of athletic pursuits from gymnatics to parkour, acro-yoga, and something…