“It takes a very long time to become young.” – Pablo Picasso

It’s kind of funny —I am an eighteen year old boy who should be basking in what’s left of my youth, but I feel like I am a middle aged man with nothing but repetition left in life.

Wake up. Go to school. Go to work. Do homework. Eat. Shower. Sleep. Repeat. Continue reading »

I’ve thought about what to write in this email ever since I signed up to the list, and to selected this early in the list is both awesome and a little frightening, because I don’t really feel ready. Nevertheless, this is my contribution, and it will hopefully be of some kind of use you!

When I got the mail about being selected, the first thing I had to do was to decide what I wanted to write about. Should I tell a story? Write about my life and ambitions? Tell about the company I am starting? Why I think my education is awesome? Or why I love developing for Android? Continue reading »

Hello. Because you are a friend I’ve just not met yet, I’m writing this so that we might be a little closer. In this email I will:

1. Tell you a little about what work’s been like for me lately.
2. Choose and present to you some rad radio. I love NPR. I am a walking pledge drive. I am not paid by National Public Radio. They don’t know who I am. So great is my love for it, though, that I’m sending the love along to all y’all. In some ways the segments I mention below are like the beginners version of radio– Radiolab and TAL are classic NPR staples–but in other ways I feel that they represent the absolute finest in radio listening pleasure.
3. Say a couple things that need to be said. Continue reading »

Hi fellow ListServians!

In 1987, I was at a civil rights march in Cumming, GA (Brotherhood March II). I was grabbed by a coordinator towards the end- I was told to flank the woman next to me who was with a child in a stroller; there were people on the ridge next to us throwing rocks and bottles and screaming obscenities. As I tried to turn my body into a shield I directly faced these people screaming the most hateful and violent words I have ever heard uttered. I thought I had understood racism and prejudice. I understood nothing. Continue reading »

Today’s question: What IF?

What IF you could make an impact?

What IF we could end hunger?

What IF there was enough food on the planet RIGHT NOW to feed every human being?

Well, there is. And we can end hunger. Fascinating, right!? The generation being born right now is the first in our history that may see the basic needs of every human being met. Continue reading »

My father-in-law is pretty right wing. He’s all about the Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, Tea Party and Ann Coulter. He rants on about immigrants, taxes and President Obama. He sends my husband and me crazy emails with “facts” about various minority groups, how universal healthcare will doom America to socialism, why we need to drug test poor folks on welfare, that sort of thing. We generally avoid engaging with him about all this stuff. Continue reading »

Make a difference. Donate a dollar, recycle a bottle, love someone, hold a door open, acknowledge another’s achievements, give a hug or an opportunity to someone else. We are all a part of this world together. Tonight, look at the moon (something that we all share) and know that someone else is looking at it too, thinking of you and hoping that what she wrote has inspired you to do something positive.

I’m going to tell you about an inspirational person. He loved to push himself to the limits, the sports he loved were always ones where he could use his brain, expeditions, climbing, bouldering, kayaking, orienteering, he maintained his nerdy ways. Continue reading »