“If you are wittier than you are handsome, avoid loud clubs” and other lessons on being a man.
My experience taking the 10-month LEADERSHIP Philadelphia core class
LEADERSHIP Philadelphia is a more than 50 year old civic society development nonprofit that has been the model for similar groups around the country. Among its programs, its furthest reaching is the annual Core Class, which selectively takes 110 mostly mid-career candidates from corporate, philanthropic, institutional and community groups and takes them through a 10-month program about Philadelphia, leadership and civil society.
Since 1993, Liz Dow, the well-connected, well-regarded, clear leader has been the nonprofit’s executive director, and I was blessed to come to know her in the past three years. It’s through that very meaningful relationship, with someone whom I have come to consider a confidant, that I was offered the chance to apply for and be accepted into the 2013 Core Class.
As the next class gets settled, I wanted to digest what I learned from the experience.
Continue reading My experience taking the 10-month LEADERSHIP Philadelphia core class
Phone Bloks: reduce electronic waste by making hardware more adaptable
Reduce electronic waste by making hardware more adaptable:
Baltimore City Council’s first hearing on innovation economy; our role in it
The largest event we helped organize during the second annual Baltimore Innovation Week was our opening party that drew 1,000 people to Penn Station Plaza in partnership with the Gathering food trucks and Station North Arts and Entertainment Inc.
The party activated a public space, as seen in the above photo from the event’s beginning, widened the reach of a narrow technology community and brought about other partnerships. It was fun and exciting and big.
But likely the event with bigger direct impact was the small Baltimore City Council hearing we helped launch with District 7 Councilman Nick Mosby, the first ever city council hearing dedicated to the innovation economy in Baltimore.
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I profiled Kensington Blues photographer Jeff Stockbridge
I profiled Kensington Blues photoblog creator Jeff Stockbridge:
“I’m used to photographing what is illusive, things that are hidden. In Kensington, there were women on every corner making eyes at me, a single man in a sedan driving the avenue.”
Four years later, launching new WordPress theme
Four years after first independently hosting my personal site here, I’ve made the first design switch.
I’ll go from the still sleek OneRoom design, with a WordPress plugin to improve mobile reading, to an updated responsive design ‘Displace’ from Anton Kulakov. Thanks Anton!
Continue reading Four years later, launching new WordPress theme
5 transit ideas I want all cities to embrace
I like cities and I like transit.
Continue reading 5 transit ideas I want all cities to embrace
Rules of online reporting
What the web is creating is a world in which the details can be erased but nothing is forgotten. It is a distinct change from when only that of broad interest could make it to the widely distributed vehicles of traditional media.
It was with that in mind that I told a reporter of mine earlier this year one of the golden rules of online news — take screenshots first, ask questions later — after something we were reporting on was removed from a source website. Reminding her of that prompted other rules that came to mind and after sharing them still others came to mind.
Porn star as reporter
The adult entertainment industry has long been lauded for being a leader in embracing the impact of the web and technology on its business model. So much so that the comparisons between porn and the news industry have long been made, both in the rush online and the balance between paid content and mass traffic.
But those industry assessments lack the focus of how the the individual reporter is so much like the porn star of today too.
My 10,000th day alive is a reminder to make excuses for elaborate festivities
You have to take every opportunity to celebrate that you can.
In June, I crossed the 10,000th day of my life — June 10th to be exact. In August, after two years of living together, my good friend Patrick, who also crossed a similar mark, was moving out of my home.
To celebrate, he and I had a weekend of celebration. We joked it was our roommate bucket list.
On Friday night, we had a trashy liquor party, where we had more than 20 people over to drink the leftover booze we’ve had in our home for years.
On Saturday, after brunch, chess in the park, basketball, pizza and the Phillies at the Piazza, a mini bar crawl, ending with city-wide specials at the Handle Bar and gambling at Sugarhouse Casino, all while wearing suits of course.
Then, on Sunday, we played paintball.
Check out our full itinerary here.
What became clear was that this was an act of merrymaking by way of any excuse to actually do the thing.