Teaser

The Baltimore Buzz

via Confetta on FlickrEubie Blake's tune "Baltimore Buzz" as performed by the Shuffle Along Orchestra in 1921. One nugget from a first look at the Library of Congress' amazing new National Jukebox.

Rabindranath Tagore Sesquicentennial

Today is the birthday of Rabindranath Tagore. Here's a favorite passage from his work:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.
Where knowledge is free.
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls.
Where words come out from the depth of truth.
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.
Where the mind is led forward by Thee
Into ever-widening thought and action.
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

What I'm up to these days

This blog has been even quieter than I feared.  That's partly because I've been busy helping put together CreateBaltimore.  It's a "barcamp" or "unconference" for members of the arts and tech communities in Baltimore.  Nearly two hundred people have signed up to attend, so I think we've hit a nerve.  

I've also been producing the TummelVision podcast and helping in various ways behind the scenes. Heather, Kevin, and Deb have fostered some great conversations with fascinating guests.  I've been learning a lot about tech, social interaction, and networked culture.

Bethanne Patrick and I have also been developing a podcast.  Bethanne has gathered an incredibly active group of global book-lovers around, of all things, a Twitter hashtag - #FridayReads.  It turns out that Twitter is a great way to trade recommendations and engage in conversations about reading things substantially longer than 140 characters.  We're creating a live and recorded audio/video podcast to enrich and grow the community Bethanne has fostered.

I think my own online arts and culture projects are going to be heating up soon as well.  It is past time for me to post and publicize some great stuff I've been working on for The New Modern.  

Where are the girl superheroes?

There really is an appalling shortage of girl superheroes. I knew that in theory before we had a daughter, but bedtime storytelling needs have made it glaringly obvious.

On the plus side, we've invented Iron Girl, Super Piya, Brave Captain Piya of the Sea of a Thousand Islands, etc.

If only Joss Whedon could invent a superheroine who doesn't suffer horribly and die.