Hi! Welcome to Verde Smoke

As most of you’ve heard, I’m happy to be back in Boston/Somerville and working with my old family at the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network (ICCN). I feel very privileged to take over the work of the long-time Knowledge Manager, Patricia Diaz. As the new lead on knowledge management, I’ll be documenting local youth development and digital media instruction practice, training new coordinators & staff, managing the online community, the Village (a social network where youth members meet and post their digital media projects), and supporting local affiliate and new partners within the international Network…all out of their office at the Museum of Science, Boston.

To give you a little background, the Clubhouse learning approach is designed to empower youth from all backgrounds to become more capable, creative, and confident learners. This approach is grounded in research from the fields of education, developmental and social psychology, cognitive science, and youth development. It builds on research on the role of affect and motivation in the learning process, the importance of social context, and the interplay between individual and community development. It leverages new technologies to support new types of learning experiences and engage youth. Read more at http://www.computerclubhouse.org/content/learning-model. I also referenced these theories quite a bit in my masters thesis research.

So next week, I’m heading off to Phoenix and Tucson AZ to meet the Coordinators in my new region, the lovely SouthWest USA at our regional meeting. I also got to catch up with my MIT Media Lab Lifelong Kindergarten peeps, and get into some of the new things they’re exploring with bringing Scratch software into the physical world, so I can bring some learning out to AZ with me. I have to say, Lego Education WeDo kits are damn fun….play my game to see!

Danielle’s Friendly Gator Remix with Lego WeDo & Scratch from Danielle Martin on Vimeo.

Lincoln Memorial Women

So I’m a klutz. But I do it big. A few weeks ago, I was preparing to leave Washington DC by going out with a good friend of mine who also loves photography and architecture to take some photos of the DC monuments.

The MLK Stance

We walked all around the Mall, hitting all the big monuments including the new MLK during the day. But we figured, it’d look more dramatic at night, so we walked all the way around the basin, to the Jefferson to loop back.

Jefferson Dusk

I tell my friend E this story as we walk about this weird dream I had the night before where my Dad kidnaps me and makes me throw my iPhone in water. [I dropped an iPhone accidentally in the toilet a few years ago and am now a bit irrational about it falling in water again.]

FDR Memorial Fireside Chat

In between, is the FDR memorial, which I’d never seen before. It’s relatively new and not as famous. But really cool, especially at night, because it’s a serious of organic fountains surrounded by these rock formations and statues of folks in breadlines and other dramatic poses.

On the walls are all these FDR quotes, etched into the rock like commandments. So we got really into trying to capture this mood, of strong words and strong belief in country and supporting the common man….we split up.

I got really into trying to capture just the words “I HATE WAR” on one of the walls. I’m all close up, crouching down, backing up, with my digital SLR. I get so into it, I’m not paying attention at all that I’m alone and where I am. I think I’ve got a good shot but I need it a little wider. I back up. I back up, ass first, down into a 3 ft deep part of the beautiful rock formation fountain.

I fall in, up to my neck in rushing water.

Luckily, I’m smart enough to keep one arm, holding my camera, out of the water. I guffaw and squeal. No one comes. I climb out of the fountain, soaked, and realize, my phone is in my bag over my shoulder. I dump all my shit out on the ground looking for my phone. My friend E finally shows up, says all he heard was me guffawing and says, “Wait, why are you wet?” I say “I fell into the fountain dude, but where the hell is my phone?” He says, “In your front pocket”. And there it was.

It actually was fine, but I had to go in the park bathroom, strip down to my undies, and wring out my jeans and tank top and try to dry them in the oldest hand dryer I’ve ever seen. I am never approached by any staff of the park.

We then have to walk like 2 miles back to the downtown to catch the train, me soaked and him laughing at the fact that I can’t touch anything to myself so I’m walkin like a zombie and shivering.  We stop at MLK Memorial again, I manage to get a few incredible shots, even though every time I kneel or crouch, my jeans constrict and drip.  I get to the train, say goodbye to E, and my phone starts working again. I am that soaked person on the train, smelling a bit of wet dog, on a perfectly dry night.

So I tweet to the world that I hate war, but I hate dark fountains more.

After my unintentional dip in FDR memorial fountain

Today, I led part 2 of a webinar on social media messaging for digital literacy efforts, hosted by One Community’s Connect Your Community BTOP project in OH.  Below are my presentation…recording of the full webinar coming soon on http://vimeo.com/channels/connectcommunity.

PS – Go to my older post for part 1, including a recording of the webinar! http://verdesmoke.com/2011/09/storytelling-social-media-a-webinar/

Today we ask you to help get the media to cover Saturdays Youth Town Hall as much as they cover the murders and other negative actions in our MA communities. Tomorrow we have several hundred “Young Agents of Change” coming together to discuss how they will make a difference in their community. Send the alert below to you media outlets and share as part of your status update.

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Event Advisory

Event Media Contact
Greta Teller; Teller Marketing Solutions
(e) GTeller@TellerMarketingSolutions.com
(m) 860.712.3124

Eric Thomas, the Hip Hop Preacher, Highlights 2011 Town Hall Leadership Event.

MassHousing and Masslmpact Bring Massachusetts’ Students Together at Harvard Law School on October 22nd to Engage Youth as Agents of Change in Their Communities.

What: 2011 Town Hall

Beginning at 8:30am, the format of the day will open and close with keynote speaker, Eric Thomas, the nationally-renowned hip hop preacher. Thomas is a motivational speaker known for his engagingly personal approach with messages that are both dynamic & inspiring speaking to youth and adults alike.

Produced by AbekaM, the 2011 Town Hall is an event open to those ages 13-18 who live in major urban cities across Massachusetts. Through a series of conversations and breakout sessions held during the day, this event hopes to encourage youth leaders by raising the bar of expectations set for young people. Topics that will be covered include strategies to overcome the challenges of education, violence and poverty and raise the expectations of youth to create future leaders. To date there are more than 350 registered.

The event is hosted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, is sponsored by MassHousing and Masslmpact
When: Saturday, October 22nd, 8:30am-3:00pm / Book Signing 3:30-4:30pm
Where: Harvard University Law School at 1563 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, MA
Who: Eric Thomas, Keynote Speaker

300+ youth (age 13-18 y/0) from throughout Massachusetts, Participants

**Media will have opportunity to interview Eric Thomas on Friday, October 21st. Please send all requests to Greta Teller at GTeller@TellerMarketingS0lutions.com by Wednesday, 10/19.

About MassHousing
MassHousing. the state’s affordable housing bank, supports the creation, preservation and long-term viability of affordable homeownership and rental housing opportunities for Massachusetts residents with modest incomes. MassHousing is a self sustaining agency and does not use taxpayer dollars in its programs. For more information, visit www.MassHousing.com.

About Eric Thomas
Eric Thomas is a nationally—renown speaker, educator, author, activist and minister who delivers a high energy message about living up to your full potential and greatness and how to break the cycles of crime, hopelessness and despair that many face daily. Known for his engagingly personal approach, his messages are both dynamic & inspiring. Eric has electrified audiences ranging
from Fortune 500 companies to urban educators, collegiate athletic programs and inner city youth development agencies with the message of his own life’s struggles and the principles, insights and strategies he used to overcome them. For more information, visit www.ETTheHipHopPreacher.corn.

About AhekaM
AbekaM’s mission is to create sustainable partnerships in support of local models of social change for under-served families and communities traditionally excluded from resource rich experiences. AbekaM envisions a world where multi—sector relationships unleash and mobilize the necessary resources to renew, amplify and protect the gifts in our target communities and for the people
who live within them. For more information, visit www.AbekaM.org.

Last week, I volunteered to lead a webinar on social media messaging for digital literacy efforts, hosted by One Community’s Connect Your Community BTOP project in OH.  Below are my presentation and a recording of the full webinar also posted on http://vimeo.com/channels/connectcommunity

Social Media & Storytelling from Angela Siefer on Vimeo.

Recently, for one of my applications, I had to compile a portfolio of my experience doing evaluation or assessment projects.  Here’s a few of the highlights:

In preparation for guest facilitating a webinar on Friday for the Connect Your Community BTOP digital literacy program in OH, I decided to take a stab at digifying drawing a diagram I’ve adapted over the past couple years to explain elements of a good story.  This simple animation of a diagram I usually draw as I present during workshops on media storytelling and messaging for nonprofits and youth media production.  I developed this visualization originally for a youth digital storytelling workshop with deaf middle school girls, while serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Transmission Project.  It’s based loosely on the Center for Digital Storytelling and Creative Narrations facilitators’ guides on narrative theory and scriptwriting for personal stories.   I found the song on the beta Dig.ccmixter.org: ”Modestly_Rude” from  by Nobuo3000.

I had a tremendous amount of fun getting to know San Fran this weekend by participating in the GAFFTA Summer of Smart Hackathon (#sfsos).  I met some dynamic foodies, local activists, designers, Code for America fellows, and fellow media/tech geeks who all care about creating new ways to engage local residents using civic data.  The theme was “PUBLIC HEALTH, FOOD, NUTRITION, AND URBAN AGRICULTURE” and I luckily ended up in a group that had two community organizers from Southeast Food Access project in the Hunter’s Point and Bayview neighborhoods, who were struggling to find an accessible way to do store assessments almost exactly like the ones I did in Springfield back in 2007 as part of a MIT DUSP practicum course.

The Transmission Project was unfortunately informed this spring that AmeriCorps*VISTA will not be renewing funding for the Digital Arts Service Corps. My friends close its virtual doors this week. The Project created a Legacy site where alumni could share stories. Here’s what I posted a few months ago:

I came to VISTA from a different place than most of my colleagues – I jumped at a chance to expand my experience as an experienced youth educator, to serve with a program that encompasses a nationwide scope and unique partnerships with academia and respected community tech and media membership organizations. And after a quick year of documenting and expanding those relationships, I also got a chance to lead and to bring my ideas to unique digital storytelling train-the-trainer workshops with fellow VISTAs, youth development professionals, and community activists. But in all of this, the best part of my service was becoming “teacher.” One of the trainings I was able to organize was comprised of housing development staff from Roxbury and Dorchester, many of which supported youth programs or tenant organizations. These people are constantly pushing residents and youth to amplify their voice, to make an example of their experience, to take a stand. But my digital storytelling workshop gave them a hands-on chance to explore their own experience, to learn instead of teaching, to put their own voice in the forefront for once and be recognized for their often deeply personal reasons for doing the work. In years since, I still get greeted as “my teacher” by these amazing individuals, when I learned so much from just hanging out with them for three short days and witnessing the power of telling their stories. THAT’s the beauty of my VISTA experience: my service taught me that a teacher must first respect how much he/she can really learn from students, and I’ve brought that kernel of truth into every facilitation experience I’ve had ever since.

I’m excited to announce the great short documentary by Digital Expressions‘ Jamodi Robinson is now live and DVDs are in the mail! This video summarizes when Jamodi & I co-facilitated an advanced video production and storytelling workshop with Digital Connectors teens from all of the Boston programs. The day-long event was sponsored by One Economy and MassIMPACT and hosted by Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center’s Comcast Digital Connectors program.

DigiCon Media Bootcamp 2011

DigiCon Media Camp, sponsored locally by MassIMPACT, was an intensive day-long youth training, where OE Staff, local instructors and volunteers will worked with selected participants from multiple local Digital Connector programs to complete a high quality video storytelling, production, and editing curriculum.

Location: Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Inc. (BCNC) 38 Ash Street, Boston, MA
Date: May 21, 2011, 10-5pm
Attendees: 10 youth; 7 adults, representing the two Comcast match programs & one adopted: BCNC, Salesian BGC, SMS Housing, and CTIA sponsored BCYF.

See photos from the event on the Digital Connectors Flickr stream.