Video Fun Inside Global Heritage Hall

BRISTOL, RI __ More camera testing. This time, I took some footage inside the new academic building as students hiked up and down the stairs.

Enjoy.



(Note to Facebook views: This application will NOT import video for some reason. Instead, hit the link to see the video. )

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iPhun with iPhoto

BRISTOL, RI __ Found some old Planet Forward photos lying around and crammed them into iPhoto and then exported them out and created the following movie.

Sorry, in advance, for the schmaltzy music.




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Embedding Video from Facebook

MIDDLETOWN, RI __ It appears as though Facebook has improved upon its video platform. Now in addition to being able to record little messages, you can also copy and embed those video messages in other places.

Here's proof:



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Camera testing Sony PMW-EX3

BRISTOL, RI __ Borrowed a professional-grade video camera from Sony this week called the PMW-EX3 and I'm noodling around with it to test the image quality.

As I was setting up outside our new academic building, Global Heritage Hall, I invited RWU President Roy Nirschel to speak about the building's opening.



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Grickle Gets Creepy

MIDDLETOWN, RI __ I spent most of my summer bouncing from hotel room to hotel room. The SECOND room in the following Grickle video has all the charm of the NYC youth hostel I shared with my MEPI scholars and many tourists from the French republic.



(Note to Facebook viewers: The Facebook software will not import video from my blog. Instead, click the link and read "Ode to Journalism.")

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MEPI Final Video

MIDDLETOWN, RI __




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MEPI Summer (and its closing)

MIDDLETOWN, RI __ It's been an impossibly busy summer as I'm sure you can tell by the lack of blog postings here. In May, with my Red Cross Lifeguard certification in hand, I was convinced I was going to be spending the summer days sitting in a tall Rhode Island beach chair staring out over the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, a light commitment -- to teach a little technology in the Middle East Partnership Initiative -- turned into a hard responsibility. This was the "Summer of MEPI."

Now, if you've been following my ramblings, you know that I spent LAST summer traveling with the MEPI scholars. Last year, I went with them to Boston, Plimouth Plantation and Milwaukee, Wisconsin before handing them back over to the State Department in Washington DC. This year's commitment was more rigorous.

We opened in DC and toured Rhode Island and Massachusetts before spending a week in New York City. From there, we returned to Rhode Island before flying off to Santa Fe, New Mexico. For me, Santa Fe was the best part of the trip simply because it was apparent that the MEPIs had learned to enjoy each other by then and were now including others -- specifically, the Santa Fe community -- in their circle.

As part of the Santa Fe trip, we handed the MEPIs over to host families. So they were with us during the days and off visiting with locals at night. Initially, I feared their response to the immersion program would be a series of whiny late-night phone calls; quite the opposite. The families in Santa Fe smothered them with love and affection.


At one particularly honest moment, one MEPI parent, Matt Winter, pulled me aside and said: "Whatever you need for these kids, just ask." To this, I offered a platitude: "You're already accepting them into your homes." And he responded with: "No, really. Whatever you need." I actually lost my breath.




(Now, I'm sure I could write a 1,000 more words about the Santa Fe experience, but I'm going to save that for later. Here's a taste: Much like in the style of the Spanish Conquistadors, I saw the real side of New Mexico as we traveled north from Santa Fe towards the Ghost Ranch; I'm certain Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján was also trading glances with Middle Eastern students and grooving on techno pop by Max Sedgley and the Torpedo Boyz as he rode East from the Pacific Ocean and into the dry hills surrounding the Colorado River valley.)

After a week in New Mexico, we returned to Washington for the final days of the MEPI tour, which -- in the past -- has been a drama-filled torrid of sustained goodbyes. Last summer, the MEPIs sat in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel sobbing for three days. This year, they were more at ease until the final hours, and then the crying began.

The evening before was the hardest: The State Department puts them all in a room in Chinatown, feeds them, and then allows each of the six MEPI host schools present video shows illustrating each tour. When the last one airs, the party breaks up and the MEPI program is pretty much over. That's when this MEPI group surprised me.

I tugged at the collar of my shirt and stood up to hug a few of the students goodbye. This is when Sadiq from Yemen came over to me. Like many of the other MEPIs, he was dressed in traditional Middle Eastern clothing. As he approached me, he removed his head-dress and draped this long linen cloth over my shoulders as he hugged me goodbye. I was unsure what to say to this gesture. Sometimes people just have a way of stealing into your heart.

Now, it was a crazy busy summer: I was in London, Wyoming, Idaho, Boston, New York City, Washington DC and Santa Fe. I'm sure I was gone just about every other week for the duration of it all.

In nine days, we're back in the classroom.

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