Author: jay.c

Documentary Filmmaker, senior digital content producer and teacher with a passion for using storytelling to educate people on healthcare, culture, arts, education, equality, human rights and more.
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Wired Senior Writer, Steven Levy, On His Latest Book About Google

Steven Levy, Wired Senior Writer, and recent author of In The Plex How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, spoke at the Roeliff Jansen Library in Hillsdale, NY.  Many in the audience were concerned about privacy issues, and when they use gmail, ads on the side of the page would reflect their email content.   But is Google the Orwellian Big Brother that tracks your inner thoughts and will soon rob you of your soul?  Many beg to differ.  Highlights from the talk include Google‘s foray into China, Steve Jobs, and a short video interview on what surprised Levy most about Google.  Continue reading “Wired Senior Writer, Steven Levy, On His Latest Book About Google”

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Leon Smith: A Life Of Art

 

Bright pink trees, a floating birthday cake in a pond and a shingled Studebaker are just three of the many memorable visions created by sculptor, Leon Smith, 78, of Ancramdale, NY.

Sculptor, Leon Smith

A sensibility somewhere between Willy Wonka meets David Lynch, Smith has created a mind-altering dream world enjoyed by all ages.  Smith Hill, his brain child he created with his muse and wife, Elaine, has about 100 sculptures spread over more than 100 acres.

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Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School Addresses “Toughing It Out in Afghanistan”

Should the US start pulling their troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 leaving only a small peace-keeping force of 20,000 in 2014? Or should we stay in Afghanistan providing assistance until the Afghans don’t need us  anymore? By setting a time line do the U.S. and NATO signal to the Afghan people that we are not committed to their development or security? If that is the case, are we creating an opportunity for the insurgency to wait patiently to once again, continue to wreak havoc on the war-ravaged country?
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To Build a Nation: Kosovo, Behind the Lens #1

To Build a Nation: Kosovo, Behind the Lens examines the human effects of international interventions in war-ravaged Kosovo, more than five years after the war.

Although Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb 17, 2008, the time leading up to that was filled with frustration and impatience for all parties. This short project exposed the limbo that permeated throughout the province in 2003 and 2004 leading up to it’s independence. Exposing a few of the many complexities inherent in nation-building, and as American commitments multiply, it was time to examine closely the experience to date of one of these experiments, the 1999 US-led NATO intervention in Kosovo. Kosovo’s post-war experience provides powerful insights into the critical steps and missteps encountered in the nation-building experiment, and serves as a valuable lens for viewing the potential success or failure of other such experiments. Kosovo’s progress to date can teach us about the limits of externally-imposed agendas, and draw our attention to the critical need for home-grown solutions.
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