I'm totally exhausted and braindead, but I had an absolutely fantastic time dancing with the ThrillerNYC group in the Halloween parade as one of the boogie-ing zombies. It's such a wonderfully open and friendly dance group, presided over by Bridget, Severine and many, many other volunteers. Thanks, ThrillerNYC, for organizing such a kick ass dance…
Rundown of Halloween Swing Parties in NYC (updated)
I plan on again rocking the Halloween Parade as a zombie with the gigantic Thriller group. But afterwards I'm going to want to get some more dancing on. This Halloween there is a huge assortment of swing dancing parties going on all over the city. Which is awesome! Here's a quick rundown of what I…
What the heck is the OpenSimulator Project?
I am posting this more for my own edification because I didn't really get what OpenSim was before. OpenSimulator, as I understand it, is a open source BSD-licensed virtual environment server that enables individuals and institutions to "roll their own" virtual world that can connect to various OpenSim platforms or exist on its own walled…
Fun Prezi presentation about the new Yehoodi.com website!
I just finished preparing a video presentation about the new Yehoodi.com, complete with the classic Yehoodi song created by Spuds several years ago. I hope you like it! Created using the awesome prezi zoom-a-rific, web-based presentation tool, you can see the original prezi version of the slideshow after the jump…
B-boying in Brooklyn: Free breaking practice at the Bushwick Hylan Community Center
Last night I finally made it to one of these breaking practice spots that b-girl Monica keeps telling me about. On Mondays and Wednesdays (for now, at least) there is a free breaking class and practice session at the Bushwick Hylan Community Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When I arrived, the staff directed me to a…
Celebrating 11 years of Yehoodi & new Yehoodi 3.0 website this Thursday at Frim Fram!
I am excited to announce that this Thursday, October 22, Yehoodi.com, the swing dance website I help run, will be celebrating our eleventh year of operation. So we are throwing an extra special Frim Fram Jam swing dance this Thursday featuring all of your favorite Yehoodistrators! The incomparable Manu "Spuds" Smith will be spinning songs…
Thoughts on balance and the Spirit
I had a lot of really interesting conversations with Quakers this weekend on the subject of "Balance," which was the theme of the retreat I was attending. I wanted to capture some of the best bits of insight here so I can come back to it later. Imbalance and Fear We talked about what makes…
Finding balance with the Brooklyn Quakers at the Powell House Retreat Center
I just got back from the Powell House retreat center in upstate New York, joining 40-some Quakers from the Brooklyn Friends Meeting. It was a relaxing and spiritually recharging weekend among some very deep souls. I'm fairly new to Brooklyn Meeting, having only started attending a couple of years ago. So going on a weekend…
Quaking and Swinging: Teaching Quakers how to social dance
This weekend I am up in Old Chatham, New York at the Powell House retreat center for the annual retreat of my spiritual community, the Friends Meeting of Brooklyn. Tonight I taught a small group of Quakers the basics of social dance both as a fun activity and to deepen their understanding about the concept…
Reframing social media for non-early adopters
Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping facilitate an all-day training on social media for educators and nonprofits at the Global Kids offices, as part of our regular professional development services. It's always fun to talk with an eager and open group of folks about social media, particularly if they have no particular background in…