My 2 cents: Good from a "projection of power" standpoint, bad from a generating new ideas, new battle plans & strategies angle.
Don't get me wrong, its hard to ignore the fact the a convention full of people, who, not but a couple of years ago, were mistakenly thought to be a bunch basement shut-ins taking time off from Dungeons and Dragons and ComicCon to share themselves with the world, could summon the most powerful Democratic politicians in America to appear before them. That is an impressive feat in and of itself.
But less we run the risk of becoming the stale, static pillars of insider political power we seek to change, we must keep our eye on the ball.
One of the most fascinating conversations I had was with Zack Exley about his "Revolution in Jesusland" project. And it made me think...
Jesus was an architect of radical social change, not a pundit. And what an architect has that a pundit doesn't is a blueprint. That's what I felt was the missing link in Austin.
The sheer number of topics and panels each day was breathtaking: around 40-50 different subjects were discussed for somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour a piece. Just enough time to give people a brush stroke look at a topic, not enough time to get substantive. So you got to hear about what some people are doing, but not how you could do it.
Topics ranged from "War Pundits" to "Emerging Trends in Health Care Online". There was a little something there for everyone, but a lot for no one. It's like old Mark Penn learned the hard way: you can't micro-slice your way to the goal line.
An impressive gathering of such bright, revolutionary thinkers, and political activists should yield more actionable ideas than I believe was the case this year
I've been a creative person for as long as I can remember. But taking the leap from creating something for yourself to creating something for other people is not always easy. That's why I really enjoyed this short video from "This American Life" producer, Ira Glass about:
"having the tenacity to get better at the creative work you’reWatch the video, it's worth a few minutes of your time (especially if you're trying to figure out whether or not you should be spending another minute on whatever it is you're working on).
passionate about — even through the times when you know what you’re making isn’t as good as you’d like."
(via 43 folders, Lifehacker, & Josh Levey's Shared Items)
Lucia and I spent the 4th of July in Woodstock, Vermont. Woodstock has a very lovely small town feel to it. The whole community of 3,500 +/- people turns out to celebrate all major holidays, from Memorial Day, to the local High School graduation.
It's a place where you know all your neighbors and love it.
Every year for the 4th, the town gathers at Woodstock Junior High & High School for the annual fireworks display.We took Guapo this year and it about scarred the bejesus out of him.
For your convenience, I've condensed 30 minutes worth of fireworks into around 60 seconds of video.
Enjoy!
This is just a quick catch-up/catch-all post.
Democracy Now?
I was in Austin for the Texas Democratic Convention (footage below) June 5, 6, & 7. A unique experience for sure. I left early on Saturday evening so I could make a wedding in Houston. My biggest regret? Driving through Luling and Lockhardt and not stopping for some famous smoke house bbq.
Lucia, Claudia and I hit the Art-O-Matic show in DC on June 14th. It's a good event with lots of local music, art and culture. This year they took over a multi-story yet-to-be-finished-out office building for the show. There was some great 3D graffiti art, and a band, whose name escapes me, that looked like a bunch of soccer dads who snuck out of the house during a family BBQ, but could jam the funk like nobody's business.
Show me the money
I just figured out you could set up a fundraising page on Obama's site. So if you are planning on, or have thought about, giving money to the campaign you can do so below and help me reach my goal.
Democracy Now?
I was in Austin for the Texas Democratic Convention (footage below) June 5, 6, & 7. A unique experience for sure. I left early on Saturday evening so I could make a wedding in Houston. My biggest regret? Driving through Luling and Lockhardt and not stopping for some famous smoke house bbq.
Art-O-Matic
Show me the money
I just figured out you could set up a fundraising page on Obama's site. So if you are planning on, or have thought about, giving money to the campaign you can do so below and help me reach my goal.
Bronx Bombers
We spent a great weekend in New York (June 20-22), enjoying some Brooklyn rooftop views, always creative street art, and a Yankees game in the old stadium (complete with torrential downpour).
Out and about in DC (and damn is it hot)
We hit the Silver Springs Crafty Bastards Saturday June 28th for a good three hours in temperatures upwards of 90˚ and change. Bought some great posters, clothes, and misc. Ran into old friends, days away from having their first baby, and finished off the long day with a pre-thunder storm martini at the Chi Cha Lounge.
Cinema
And finally we saw two great movies this weekend, War Inc. and Mongol.
And Mongol depicts the rise of young Genghis Khan to power. It definitely worth the $7 (even if it does romanticize him to the extreme). The Times AO Scott calls it:
Out and about in DC (and damn is it hot)
Cinema
And finally we saw two great movies this weekend, War Inc. and Mongol.
War Inc. is a hilarious John Cusak film taking aim at the commercialization
of warfare, complete with tanks sporting pharmaceutical ads. The Times called it:
"...gonzo moviemaking with a bleeding heart. A satirical farce that wants to be "Dr. Strangelove" for the age of terrorism, it is a zany, nihilistic free-for-all that goes soft."
"...a big, ponderous epic, its beautifully composed landscape shots punctuated by thundering hooves and bloody, slow-motion battle sequences."-Over and Out ®
Skyrocketing energy costs coming on the heels of Al Gore successfully resurrecting the global warming issue has many of us thinking about what we can do to save money and help the environment (not to mention improve our national security and combat poverty, but thats a whole 'nother ball of wax).
My wife Lucia -- an architect -- was green before green was cool. She's working on a green mixed use development in Houston. And she helped design the new green roof at the UH college of architecture. So she's been a big motivator for me.
I pulled the graphic above from a recent MIT report that concluded:
"even the people with the lowest incomes in the U.S. emit twice more carbon than the average people on Earth"In my job in Congress, we've been dealing with ways to address the energy crisis and global warming for some time. But in addition to spending time on this issue from a "macro" policy making perspective, I really thought it was important to highlight practical, day to day things we could do to reduce our carbon footprints.
You can start by getting a sense for what your footprint is using one of these calculators.
To keep it simple, I'm attacking 3 broad categories in my life to start with: trash, chemicals, & energy
Continue reading My Carbon "Big Foot" has got to go....
While I was reading the paper yesterday, I came across a story detailing how Cindy McCain (wife of John) was divesting of mutual fund holdings with large capitol investments in companies doing business with Sudan.
This was a big issue since her husband, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, has called for sanctions against Sudan (a gross violator of human rights, and practitioner of state sanctioned genocide) multiple times.
I was about to move on to the next article, until I spotted the name of the fund -- the American Funds Europacific Growth fund -- and realized that Lucia and I held shares in it as well.
So obviously we want to get out of this fund right away and into another one that is as not as conflicted. Better yet, we are thinking about taking it a step further: it's not enough to just do no wrong, we want to invest in things that are doing right.
A quick search on "Socially Responsible Investing" turned up results geared toward people who have causes like the environment or God in mind when investing. About.com had this:
Is your money going to Sudan? Now is a good time to find out using this tool.
This was a big issue since her husband, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, has called for sanctions against Sudan (a gross violator of human rights, and practitioner of state sanctioned genocide) multiple times.
I was about to move on to the next article, until I spotted the name of the fund -- the American Funds Europacific Growth fund -- and realized that Lucia and I held shares in it as well.
So obviously we want to get out of this fund right away and into another one that is as not as conflicted. Better yet, we are thinking about taking it a step further: it's not enough to just do no wrong, we want to invest in things that are doing right.
A quick search on "Socially Responsible Investing" turned up results geared toward people who have causes like the environment or God in mind when investing. About.com had this:
"Light Green Advisors provides investment funds and information on companies that have proven track records for earth-friendly policies. On the same note, Greenmoney.com provides a substantial list of companies that are involved in operations to reduce pollution, convert waste into usable products, and clean up the environment."We'll be doing a lot of homework on this to make sure we get our money into the right vehicle. But I can only hope that in the meantime, the attention Cindy McCain's actions have brought to mutual funds investing in Sudan will help bring pressure to bare on fund managers to quit propping up tyrannical regimes.
Is your money going to Sudan? Now is a good time to find out using this tool.
Our little man makes the DC-ist for the 3rd time!
Just found out our efforts around MillerTV and the AskGeorge campaign will be featured in an upcoming book about politics and technology co-written by mobilevoter.org and Rock The Vote titled, "Mobilizing Generation 2.0", which is due out this April. available on Amazon
This is when the political bug really bit me.
I was featured in this week's National Journal cover story, "The New Washington". And as expected, as soon as the magazine hit capitol hill offices, the hazing ensued. It' my fault really. I was asking for it by wearing a purple scarf to the photo shoot.
The two best comments are below, followed by my requisite re-edit of the picture:
"Justin tries out his future career as a bohemian scarf model"
"That or Purple Rain homage. You're one ugly bike away from you and David purifying yourselves in the waters of Lake Minnetonka."
