A few weeks ago, my friend Dave asked me to write a recommendation for his son, Ryan. Ryan had applied to be part of the People to People Student Ambassador Program. For some reason, he thought one coming from me would carry some value. Fortunately for Ryan, that plan didn't backfire. :)
I think the best way to sum up would be to simply share my recommendation letter with you:
It is my pleasure to recommend Ryan to your program. When I was asked, I was honored to write this letter for him. But, the reality is anyone who knows Ryan would write you something similar.
I met Ryan approximately 7 years ago, and was immediately impressed with his very high level of intelligence. He was only 6 or 7 at the time, but he handled himself very maturely and was able to participate in conversations fluidly and cogently even at that time. I left that first meeting with him thinking "that kid's going to do some great things!"
As I've watched him grow, he's matured into a fine young man who is inquisitive and talented. His level of empathy and leadership has truly shown since the birth of his younger brother, whom he very patiently teaches and works with regularly. I have no doubt that, thanks to Ryan's mentorship, I will one day be writing a similar letter for little Daniel.
Since I became the licensee for TEDxRochester, Ryan's father has brought him to every event. One would think a 12 year old boy (as he was at the time of the first event) would be uncomfortable in such an environment, surrounded by nothing but adults. But, not Ryan. He thought nothing of walking up to City Council members, business leaders, community leaders, researchers, etc and just struck up conversations left and right. After every event, I always get numerous people asking me "who was that kid?"
In closing, as much as I believe Ryan will benefit from being a part of your program, I also believe the program will benefit from having him.
The reason for this post is that we're now at the hard part...raising funds. Ryan needs about $7000 to make this dream come true and I'd like to see that happen. I know all too well the horrors of fundraising and so am reaching out to my community of friends and partners to assist. This first fundraising, though is an easy one: he's asking folks to donate their returnable bottles and cans and he'll use the funds from that. If you're willing to donate, message me privately and we'll work out the logistics.
Thank you!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
The Irresistible Ingress
I first stumbled upon the cancerous conspiracy when a baneful video overtook my browsing feed. It was a communication, but it wasn't for me. It spoke of a detestable malevolence that was being unleashed on our world and of those who were conspiring with it. It also made mention of those who were raising their fists in defiance of whatever cackling, squamous fiends were seeking entrance to our world, but only in passing.
Within moments, I started my research. What a fool I was! Since it concerned eldritch terrors beyond our comprehension, I started of course with Necronom.com. I won't go into how I was granted a login to that dread site. Suffice it to say my college years were a time of degenerate experimentation, and better consigned to the dusty, far reaches of my memory. The only evidence of the foul acts I committed in my quest for hidden lore remain within the jabbering chaos that comprise my dreams.
Alas, that accursed digital tome was of no value to my search! Oh, how I wish I was possessed of greater alacrity and could have recorded that feed. Even now, it fades from my mind like some living thing making recollection of its secrets harder and harder to achieve. Of this, I am certain; the dread symbol I saw within was unlike any charm I've ever laid eyes on. It was not the Elder Sign, or any of its ken, but the angles within angles seemed... familiar, but still alien. And, for one who has researched the darkest of knowledge, that is saying much.
My research, however, did uncover one name: Brandon Badger. As ever a contrived nom de plume as ever I'd heard, but it was the only lead I had. I tracked him to the Niantic Project, although that proved to be a dead end as well. No record in any registry I could find, not even an address! The unctuous marketing drivel that was their website left me, in a way, with even less insight than I had before visiting it. The remorseless, conscious thing behind that vague prose was obviously adept at obfuscation.
These failures, however, only fueled my desire to delve into deeper and more obscene fathomage. It was far too easy to find this scant information, and experience has taught that when one finds the first breadcrumbs that the destination is worth finding the rest of the path. So, oblivious to my better judgement, I began scouring the more aphotic reaches of the Internet. Chat room after chat room, dread forum after dread forum, my persistence lead me nowhere except deeper into repugnant frustration.
It was only then that the frighteningly malevolent implications of this connivance began to dawn on me. Even Google, in its acumen and knowledge, seems to have not eluded without taint. Every search either lead to no new insight or worse...to some aberrantly-bestial carnality for which no appropriate age limit could be applied to spare the hapless viewer from permanent scarring.
Thus, this missive. No matter how obsequious in my tenebrous investigation I was, I gleaned no more trace of Niantic or this Badger personage. Whatever conformation their apparently many-tentacled organization takes, it remains adroitly concealed. Ingress to their shadowy coterie can only be secured by parlaying according to their precepts. By placing this document unconcealed on the Internet, I am declaring my intendment to engage in their sacrilegious pursuit. I am powerless to resist my own cupidity for obscene enlightenment.
If my countenance be forever lost to this world, tell my wife and daughters that I loved them. If I am successful, my remaining time will not be my own.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Leadership Rochester: Program Day #1
It's been a while since I've had a chance to really update this blog, and those who know me know why; involved in far too much stuff! Most recently, I've been accepted into the 2013 class of Leadership Rochester. This group takes local leaders and introduces them to not only the problems facing our area in a personal way, but also introduces them to those in the community who are working to make things better. The class is made up of a two day retreat wherein you spend the first day meeting your fellow classmates and then spend the second day participating in a simulated society exercise. After, one day a month is spent engaged in community issues and solutions.
I'm not going to tell anything about that second day of the retreat, as it should remain a surprise to everyone who has the opportunity to attend!
So, instead, I'll tell you about the first program day, Getting Grounded. The class was divided up into multiple teams who each took different routes around the city to get a better picture of our community. My team scored the City's Sectors 4 & 5, which comprise a significant portion of the 19th Ward (where I lived for 15 years) and the entirety of the Inner Loop. We started the day meeting up at the Downtown Presbyterian Church . We were given our driving directions for the day and then let loose onto the City!
Our first task was to stop and check out some new, very expensive homes being built downtown. These homes are located near the Plymouth Avenue area inside the loop and will be going for upwards of $250,000. Not a small chunk of change for the area they're in! The idea, I believe, in pointing these out was to showcase how there is an uptick in the number of people moving back into the City each year. They're not moving into cheap homes, though.
From there, we took a brief driving tour of the Corn Hill section of town. Although I've driven past it a thousand times, and have eaten at the restaurants in Corn Hill Landing dozens of times, I never really took the time to head back behind Nathaniel's to see what was back there. Turns out, that's a shame as there are some truly beautiful streets with amazing and diverse architecture!
Once we'd completed our circuit, we headed back downtown to get to our next stop, the Rundel Library, to meet up with city planner, Tom Hack. I'm ashamed to admit that having lived in Rochester for 18 years, I'd never actually stepped foot into the Rundel. But, then, since I'm a seriously digital-type person, I honestly haven't spent much time in libraries, period, over the last 20-25 years. I'm glad we had to stop in because the Rundel is a beautiful building!
And, what brought us to the library? Well, Tom Hack, as I said! He spent a goodly amount of time chatting with us about plans that are in the pipeline and wishlist for the City. He explained about the "watering" of Broad Street, which would essentially close off that street in a way that pays homage to the fact that it was once part of the Erie Canal. I'd heard about this plan before and always thought it was a stupid idea, but after seeing the full presentation, I'm VERY impressed! It really fits in with the RocCity 2.0 walkable downtown concepts!
Was that the only reason we were meeting up with Tom? Nope. Tom was also there to take us into...the subway tunnels!! For those who don't know, Rochester once had a subway, but it's been abandoned for about 60 years. I'll spare you the background, though. TEDxRochester 2012 speaker, Mike Governdale does a much better job of it on his blog, RochesterSubway.com. I've been wanting to get down into the tunnels for quite some time, so I was stoked when I found out my team would get that opportunity!
It lived up to expectations, too. I know it sounds stupid, but you have to understand that I rode the subway in Philadelphia every day when I was in high school. I never got the opportunity to see anything beyond the platforms and what flashed by as we zipped through the tunnels. I knew it was just going to be a dank, dark hole in the ground, but nonetheless I was glad to have finally gotten the chance. The first thing I noticed? A whole lot bigger than I'd thought! I've seen pics others have taken, but they're typically just of the Broad Street tunnel. There's so much more beyond that, and it was just creepy and cold and oh so neat.
The second thing, which was impossible to overlook, was the graffiti art everywhere. According to Tom, it changes from week to week, yet they've never actually seen anyone in there doing it. Each artist apparently gets a section to work on, and it appears almost as if there's a competition going on down there. Apparently, there's also folks who live in some parts, but we didn't get to meet any of those... :)
After leaving Tom, we continued on our tour. This time, we focused on the 19th Ward. We headed over to the Clara Barton school #2 where we met up with folks from Rochester Roots, a group that works with kids from the schools to farm fresh vegetables which are then sold at the St. Mary's public market. We got a tour of their facilities and greenhouse, but the real point of directing us here was to see the disparity in living conditions between here and Corn Hill just a short jaunt away on the other side of Ford Street. One really gets a sense of what the Occupy movement was about when you get dropped right into the midst of it all.
We then drove to the Boulder Coffee on Genesee Street to meet up with one of the directors of the 19th Ward Community Association. We chatted for a bit about what they're doing to increase the economic potential of that area, including getting the Brooks Landing project approved, funded and built. This has been a great boon to this community as it's driven money into a neighborhood that desperately needed it and the transformation is spectacular. We toured the area around the Staybridge Suites hotel which is just a gorgeous place to spend time.
From there we headed to lunch at Deli Sandros, a new deli representative of the revitalization of that community. Wonderful food, and if you get there an the Buffalo mac & cheese in on the menu that day, do NOT skip it!
At this point, we were WAAAY behind on schedule and so had to zip through the remainder of what we were supposed to see. But, on the whole, I think we got the point...there's a huge disparity in how people live in Rochester, but there's a lot of change happening that should lead to better things. We headed back to the church where we were greeted by a panel of community leaders. Each team then took a few minutes to create a presentation of what they experienced, and every one was so varied from every other. I think the one that was most interesting was the one that headed to Pittsford. Their tour started out visiting a trailer park! In Pittsford!
I learned a lot about our area in that fast-paced day, and have gained further appreciation of the hard working folks who are putting in the effort every day to make a difference in their community. I'm inspired by people like that, I suppose that has something to do with my doing TEDxRochester, and it energizes me to know there's so many people working to make Rochester a better place.
Tomorrow is program day #2: "Who takes care of whom", and about all I know is I'll be at the Open Door Mission at about 6am. So, that means coffee is #1 on the agenda!
I'm not going to tell anything about that second day of the retreat, as it should remain a surprise to everyone who has the opportunity to attend!
So, instead, I'll tell you about the first program day, Getting Grounded. The class was divided up into multiple teams who each took different routes around the city to get a better picture of our community. My team scored the City's Sectors 4 & 5, which comprise a significant portion of the 19th Ward (where I lived for 15 years) and the entirety of the Inner Loop. We started the day meeting up at the Downtown Presbyterian Church . We were given our driving directions for the day and then let loose onto the City!
Our first task was to stop and check out some new, very expensive homes being built downtown. These homes are located near the Plymouth Avenue area inside the loop and will be going for upwards of $250,000. Not a small chunk of change for the area they're in! The idea, I believe, in pointing these out was to showcase how there is an uptick in the number of people moving back into the City each year. They're not moving into cheap homes, though.
From there, we took a brief driving tour of the Corn Hill section of town. Although I've driven past it a thousand times, and have eaten at the restaurants in Corn Hill Landing dozens of times, I never really took the time to head back behind Nathaniel's to see what was back there. Turns out, that's a shame as there are some truly beautiful streets with amazing and diverse architecture!
Once we'd completed our circuit, we headed back downtown to get to our next stop, the Rundel Library, to meet up with city planner, Tom Hack. I'm ashamed to admit that having lived in Rochester for 18 years, I'd never actually stepped foot into the Rundel. But, then, since I'm a seriously digital-type person, I honestly haven't spent much time in libraries, period, over the last 20-25 years. I'm glad we had to stop in because the Rundel is a beautiful building!
And, what brought us to the library? Well, Tom Hack, as I said! He spent a goodly amount of time chatting with us about plans that are in the pipeline and wishlist for the City. He explained about the "watering" of Broad Street, which would essentially close off that street in a way that pays homage to the fact that it was once part of the Erie Canal. I'd heard about this plan before and always thought it was a stupid idea, but after seeing the full presentation, I'm VERY impressed! It really fits in with the RocCity 2.0 walkable downtown concepts!
Was that the only reason we were meeting up with Tom? Nope. Tom was also there to take us into...the subway tunnels!! For those who don't know, Rochester once had a subway, but it's been abandoned for about 60 years. I'll spare you the background, though. TEDxRochester 2012 speaker, Mike Governdale does a much better job of it on his blog, RochesterSubway.com. I've been wanting to get down into the tunnels for quite some time, so I was stoked when I found out my team would get that opportunity!
It lived up to expectations, too. I know it sounds stupid, but you have to understand that I rode the subway in Philadelphia every day when I was in high school. I never got the opportunity to see anything beyond the platforms and what flashed by as we zipped through the tunnels. I knew it was just going to be a dank, dark hole in the ground, but nonetheless I was glad to have finally gotten the chance. The first thing I noticed? A whole lot bigger than I'd thought! I've seen pics others have taken, but they're typically just of the Broad Street tunnel. There's so much more beyond that, and it was just creepy and cold and oh so neat.
The second thing, which was impossible to overlook, was the graffiti art everywhere. According to Tom, it changes from week to week, yet they've never actually seen anyone in there doing it. Each artist apparently gets a section to work on, and it appears almost as if there's a competition going on down there. Apparently, there's also folks who live in some parts, but we didn't get to meet any of those... :)
After leaving Tom, we continued on our tour. This time, we focused on the 19th Ward. We headed over to the Clara Barton school #2 where we met up with folks from Rochester Roots, a group that works with kids from the schools to farm fresh vegetables which are then sold at the St. Mary's public market. We got a tour of their facilities and greenhouse, but the real point of directing us here was to see the disparity in living conditions between here and Corn Hill just a short jaunt away on the other side of Ford Street. One really gets a sense of what the Occupy movement was about when you get dropped right into the midst of it all.
We then drove to the Boulder Coffee on Genesee Street to meet up with one of the directors of the 19th Ward Community Association. We chatted for a bit about what they're doing to increase the economic potential of that area, including getting the Brooks Landing project approved, funded and built. This has been a great boon to this community as it's driven money into a neighborhood that desperately needed it and the transformation is spectacular. We toured the area around the Staybridge Suites hotel which is just a gorgeous place to spend time.
From there we headed to lunch at Deli Sandros, a new deli representative of the revitalization of that community. Wonderful food, and if you get there an the Buffalo mac & cheese in on the menu that day, do NOT skip it!
At this point, we were WAAAY behind on schedule and so had to zip through the remainder of what we were supposed to see. But, on the whole, I think we got the point...there's a huge disparity in how people live in Rochester, but there's a lot of change happening that should lead to better things. We headed back to the church where we were greeted by a panel of community leaders. Each team then took a few minutes to create a presentation of what they experienced, and every one was so varied from every other. I think the one that was most interesting was the one that headed to Pittsford. Their tour started out visiting a trailer park! In Pittsford!
I learned a lot about our area in that fast-paced day, and have gained further appreciation of the hard working folks who are putting in the effort every day to make a difference in their community. I'm inspired by people like that, I suppose that has something to do with my doing TEDxRochester, and it energizes me to know there's so many people working to make Rochester a better place.
Tomorrow is program day #2: "Who takes care of whom", and about all I know is I'll be at the Open Door Mission at about 6am. So, that means coffee is #1 on the agenda!
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