Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Photo of the day

Looks lovely even through the lens of an iphone

Final Free Minds

Look at that crowd!

Tuesday was my last Write Night as Volunteer Coordinator at Free Minds. We had a spectacular turn out at our new GW location. Over the past 2+ years, I've seen Write Night morph from 8 friends in a church kitchen writing feedback on poems to over 50 people in a university lecture hall and a database of over 600 volunteers.  The feedback our volunteers write to our poets gives them concrete evidence that they have a support system (no matter how small, distant or different they may be) who believe that they can contribute positively to the community. 

While I think everything Free Minds does is wonderful, I've been most impressed by their relatively new initiative of hiring their members who have returned to the community to do outreach and violence prevention with youth (often like themselves) that are most vulnerable to getting swept up in the system. We need more programs like this!!!

Free Minds family

Tara, the co-founder and executive director, made me promise in front of all 50 volunteers that I would bring Free Minds to Ohio. Cincinnati, ya ready? 

New volunteer coordinator Seana, me and the amazing (and crazy!) Tara.

Philly

This is my favorite artwork by Philadelphia born artist David Guinn.

This weekend I took a much overdue trip to Philadelphia. Philly is such a cool city, I had an amazing time touring murals, seeing museums and making random friends along the way. 

Did you know Philly has over 3400 murals? The Mural Arts Program is the largest public art program in the country. Better yet many (not all) of the murals engage in social justice, promoting themes of equality and painted by incarcerated individuals and other marginalized groups. Here are some more photos

And no trip would be complete without seeing the Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

Can you spot the Mondrian? Hint: there is only one.

Summer 2013

Summer as a teacher is consistently amazing.  This year a few summer highlights include:

Cincinnati: I started the summer off right with an extended visit to Cincinnati to spend quality time with friends and family.  It was awesome to exchange crazy stories (donkey baseball?), play new games (including one with diplomatic skeletons), and explore changing neighborhoods the city (OTR anyone?).

Me & Mom

And no trip to Cincinnati would be complete without at least one trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum.

CAM, special shout out to Jim Dine

Master Chef: Master chef may be a bit of an exaggeration, but after finding out I have fructose malabsorption, I spent much of the summer researching and relearning how to cook (and more importantly bake) from scratch.

Prepping for blueberry and rhubarb crisps

Mayan Riviera:  Este verano en Mexico, me gusto aprender sobre los sitios arquelogicos, ver las bonitas playas y practicar hablando español (I hope this is comprehensible). 

Gorgeous Tulum

As usual, it was all too short but fantastic nonetheless.  Here's hoping that the school year is just as great!