I spent a semester living and studying in Tokyo, Japan last fall. While there, I  blogged, photographed and videotaped my experiences for the pilot season of an online-only show by NBC called JYA, Junior Year Abroad.

I just got word from the show’s producer that it has been posted on a new NBC  digital media Web site, Hulu.com.

Through it, major media companies can license the content.

As result, today AOL has done just that, posting my videos, in addition to those of the other cast members. See it here.Check out my most popular video, chronicling my scaling Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest peak, on my own, on a whim, unprepared.

Carol Ann Campbell, one of Philadelphia’s super delegates and a city Democratic committee cog, has endorsed Barack Obama after a conversation with the candidate’s wife, the Associated Press is reporting.

Previously, the former City Councilwoman had said she wouldn’t endorse either candidate before it came time to cast her vote (assuming it will be necessary) in order that she not burn bridges. Her mind was changed by a 90 minute conversation with Michelle Obama, Barack’s wife who is just about charming everyone in sight.

Indeed, it was generally considered that Campbell was a Clinton supporter before the conversation, according to the LA Times. As previously posted, the tide is surely turning on the Democratic side of things.

Are you having difficulty understanding why Barack Obama is soaring and Hillary Clinton is drowning in Democratic Party primaries and caucuses all of sudden? Do you love to watch politicians dance or talk about the importance of dance education? Well, boy, do I have a post for you.

See, I have summed up the recent dynamic in the Democratic Party through something we all understand… dancing.

Online searches for Barack and Hillary dancing come up with two distinctly different interpretations ensue. Seriously, watch, you’ll get it.

Can we call it? Probably not, but it seems like Senator Barack Obama is the Democratic Party candidate of the people. Obama is on the cover of the Economist, the authoritative  international news magazine, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign seems to be swinging wildly.

The trouble may be that this surge has come too late. If Obama fails to reach the delegate count he needs to win his party’s nomination before the end of the primaries in June, the whole process gets thrown to super delegates, 796 Democratic Party machinists, who most analysts think would be more likely to support Hillary than the average voter.

All that said, much is made of polls that suggest Obama has a better chance of John McCain, who has all but taken the Republican nomination. Indeed, if Hillary can be vilified, McCain, for his part, sure can piss of Christian conservatives and other right wing elements.

Obama comes out the cleanest in today’s standings, but, as noted in most every news source, the reason he comes out the cleanest – less of a voting record, focus on ‘hope’ – may also be his downfall – inexperienced and impractical.

A friend showed me an absolute gem on YouTube. In the 1970s, a narrator apparently recorded an alternate voice over for a public service announcement about AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

The Temple News is trying to add more video content to our coverage. Check this video by Chief Copy Editor Chris Stover and his partner in crime LeAnne Matlach, Assistant News Editor, on Progress Plaza, the country’s first black owned shopping mall. It abuts Temple University’s Main Campus and is going through a regeneration.

By Christopher Wink | Feb. 16, 2008

Mike came to me.

The platform at City Hall station doesn’t afford much room to maneuver.

Before I knew his name, I knew he was Puerto Rican and friendly, with a bag of CDs and dirt under fingernails that needed attention by anyone’s standards.

After we formally introduced ourselves, he let me on in a secret.

“I just tell people I’m Puerto Rican, man,” Mike told me in the privacy of a crowded car on the Broad Street Line. “So, I don’t get jumped. I’m as white as you.”

And that laugh. The giggle of the deranged.

More »

Interview and article prepared for the Philadelphia Business Journal, as filed yesterday, without edits, to run in next Friday’s edition. In 2003, a Bucks County counselor told Dianne E. Reed something she foundstartling.“She told me, ‘these kids are getting angrier,” Reed said.Five years later and fresh off a three year bid as budget director under former Mayor John F. Street, Reed wants to do something about it.In late January, she became the executive director of the Corporate Alliance for Drug Education, a 21-year-old nonprofit based in Old City that focuses on school-based behavioral prevention initiatives.The group trains and dispatches prevention specialists to work in select schools as ‘import teachers,’ speaking to students, as young as kindergarten, about drug refusal strategies and conflict resolution, among other things.“We’re helping kids accept and develop coping skills,” she said.She is eager to leverage her sizable experience to enact change in Philadelphia. Before her role as budget director, Reed spent almost a decade leading the Pennsylvania Economy League. Before that, she worked in the Philadelphia offices of KPMG for eight years.“I have the big picture,” she said. “I have seen how high levels of government implement prevention methods.”At its peak, CADE had 18 specialists working in schools. Now the group is down to nine. Reed hopes to increase that total again and spread throughout the region.State Representative Dwight Evans (D-Phila) last week secured a $50,000 grant so the organization could place specialists in schools in the neighborhoods of Cobbs Creek and Point Breeze for the remainder of the school year.She wants to more actively pursue corporate activity in CADE.On April 10, CADE is hosting a fundraiser and awards ceremony in conjunction with the Franklin Institute’s Star Wars exhibit. The night will include a reception, silent and live auctions, a buffet and an awards presentation.It’s an event to raise money so Reed and CADE can help the kids.

The previous post was on Michael Nutter appearing on ABC’s ‘World News Tonight‘ with Charlie Gibson on Wednesday. In it, Gibson mentioned video of Nutter rapping on his inauguration night. Check that video out below and be amazed. He doesn’t even embarrass himself. Seriously.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was on ABC’s ‘World News Tonight’ with Charlie Gibson, as I posted earlier. See a portion of it below.