Words & Tricks » Archive
World’s greatest people make wishes, blow out candles at TED conference
The breathtakingly self-aggrandizing and expensive TED Conference is going on right now in Monterey, California. Owned by The Sapling Foundation, a private 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established by Chris Anderson in 1996, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. With a moniker like that, is it any wonder that it looms large online? It began as a conference to bring together individuals from those three industries. Now, it’s staff members devote themselves to “spreading ideas.” According to the TED website, “the conference brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers.” … Read entire article »
Filed under: News
Minneapolis Star Tribune wins multimedia journalism award
The Newspaper Association of America gave the Minneapolis Star Tribune a Digital Edge award for Most Innovative Multimedia Storytelling in 2007 for the paper’s piece A People Torn. The story explores the experience of Liberian immigrants in their home country and in Minnesota. This is particularly interesting to me, because I’m currently working in my free time as an Editorial Intern for the Minnesota Literacy Council. There are three of us who volunteer our time to put together this year’s book, which compiles entries from the various literacy programs in the state. Many of the adult learners are immigrants, and many of those are Liberian. I’ve been incredibly moved by the stories that many of these adult learners share. They are often strikingly honest about their experience as refugees. Stay tuned to … Read entire article »
Filed under: News
An Ode to Sue Boyer
Years ago, when my father was cleaning out his parents’ house, he came across his childhood Boy Scouts of America handbook. When I found the book myself, I relished it as an artifact of the days when Scouting meant adventure. My own Girl Scout experiences didn’t look at all like cooking over an open flame, tying slipknots and devising outdoor showers with pails and sticks. Mine looked like Sue and Jean, our homely Scout leaders, cutting ice cream into equal rectangles we could enjoy while the other girls made fun of me in the elementary school cafeteria. And it is with the same childlike reverence that I recently finished reading Abbie Hoffman’s 1971 classic, Steal This Book. Though the good old days were not as they seemed, the book still possesses … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Last night’s eclipse: An artistic interpretation
Last night some friends and I took a chilly (-5.1 °F / -20.6 °C) trip to the top of a nearby golf course at about 9 pm to see what all the lunar eclipse hubbub was about. Well, with the naked eye it was a bit lackluster, I thought. However, Amber brought her incredibly awesome camera and, sans tripod, snapped several very cool photos. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arts
