On Friday, March 6, I'm participating in Global Kids annual Scholarship Fundraiser Dance-A-Thon. I will be squaring off against some of our high school youth in a dance off to raise money (anything for a cause!) This Dance-a-Thon will raise much needed funds for scholarships for our Global Kids Leaders who will attend college this…
Grooving to Sharon Jones and Dap Kings in Times Square last night!
Last night, a bunch of friends and I caught Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the swank Nokia Theater in Times Square. Sharon and the band played a mix of their last two albums, several awesome new songs that they are still working on, as well as amazing covers of Sam Cooke and Gladys…
Need examples of poetry about political and social change
On Monday I am helping lead a workshop on "Global Arts for Social Change" with fifty-some Global Kids youth at a retreat in upstate New York. (See the full video I prepared for this here.) We've got a great bunch of kids, so I'm expecting some awesome dancing, street art, spoken word, drumming and other…
Christina on the sex appeal of librarians
I don't think I've mentioned my smart, lovely friend Christina's awesome new blog "Stacked." She is chronicling her adventures as she works toward her goal of reading 100 books in a year. She has a recent entry on the nerdy sexiness of librarians that's a great read: Nothing like the conservative nerd-girl to get a…
Date this New Yorker: I’m in TimeOut New York!
Through the recommendation of a friend, I was selected to be among 100 other single New Yorkers in the February 12 edition of TimeOut New York. You can see my profile here. Thanks, TONY! Thanks to those of you who advised me on what to wear. Luckily I did not wear my battle armor or…
Global Art for Social Change: from Banksy to Korean B-boys (video)
For an upcoming Global Kids retreat, I’m helping organize a workshop on “Global Arts for Social Change” with some other trainers. As part of the session, we wanted to show our teens some examples of various forms of art related to activism and civic engagement. So I threw together this compilation reel of different forms…
Free lifecoach sessions for social entrepreneurs and do-gooders!
My lovely friend Kim is embarking on a new career as a lifecoach, and she is offering three sessions per month for free for social entrepreneurs, i.e. professionals involved in some social good activity. I've been seeing a lifecoach for the past couple of months and have gotten a lot out of it personally and…
Machinima “book trailer” for thriller novel Cemetery Street (video)
My friends at Ill Clan studios produced this sweet little machinima as a "book trailer" for the young adult thriller novel Cemetery Street by Brenda Seabrooke. Produced in Second Life, it's an interesting marketing tactic to attract new readers in the YouTube era. In related news, Ill Clan's "Tiny Nation" series has been accepted for…
Intellagirl talks about her study of 80 virtual worlds and online games tomorrow
Just got word that Sarah "Intellagirl" Robbins will be speaking on "Games and Virtual Worlds in Education: MMORPGs, MUVEs, Games…What's the difference?" at Indiana University Bloomington tomorrow, February 10, at 12pm EST. People can attend remotely using Adobe Connect at this link and log in as a guest. Here's the description: Today there are over…
Auto-tune: Music, manipulation and the authentic experience
There's a really interesting discussion in the comments section of Gizmodo about the use of "Auto-tune" technology to modify and correct the vocals of pop artists on their albums. The most notorious user of Auto-tune is hip-hop artist T-Pain. But according to Time magazine the modern recording industry uses Auto-tune for pretty much every album….