Category: Blog

Musings on what matters to us.

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Nucleo Corona: Youth Orchestra and Chorus For Social Change

The Louis Armstrong Recreation Center in Queens, New York was brimming with kids lugging cellos and other musical instruments twice their size. But the kids weren’t complaining. In fact it was quite the opposite, the kids were racing ahead of their parents to get to work. They were performing at the Museo del Barrio the next day and had less than two hours to rehearse.

It is understandable to see kids get excited on the playing field, but in a rehearsal hall to practice violin and french horn?  What is the secret?

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NYT’s Tom Friedman Recommends Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

New York Times Columnist, Tom Friedman recently delivered the keynote address at the Special Libraries Association Conference in Philadelphia.
The conference focuses on how libraries, governments, companies and individuals use new technologies to gather and disseminate information.
Friedman recommends Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address as required viewing.  He says the video is one of the best examples of how to approach the process of an innovative life.
Job’s encourages the students to find their passion, but where he diverges from the standard graduation commencement platitudes is when he tells the students to not waste time, they will not be young forever and they will die.  Quite refreshing in this death phobic society, but there is a lot more in Jobs’ speech and notes from Friedman’s recent talk.
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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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