Biographical information:

• Better World Scout (that's why I'm here ;^)

Community Technology Strategist

Syndicated columnist for Canada's largest radio and television network

Took a u-turn from a lucrative private technology practice in the mid-nineties straight into largely unpaid community capacity building assisted by technology.

• collecting people+ideas >> building bridges >> slaying community dragons

Passionate steward on behalf of kids at risk and various ambassadors of community uplift. Africa remains a central motif in most things that call me. Truly believe, as Peter Drucker and Alan Kay both imagine, that "the best way to predict the future is to invent it".

Think Pam and Pierre have a powerful candle on this by asking the following question: "How do we get more and more people to discover their own power to make good things happen?"

My omidyar.net groups:

Projects that Capture My Soul ...

Each of these groups is being cultivated by some of the friends and allies I respect most ...

• Broadening the Death Penalty Dialogue (Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking")
• The Global Classroom Connection (Will Glennon who founded the "Random Acts of Kindness" revolution)
• Epidemic of Health (Tom Munnecke's and Heather Ion Wood's work with the late Jonas Salk)
• December 1st (helping Oscar-nominated documentarist, Bob Bilheimer, and Survivor, winner Ethan Zohn, end HIV/AIDS)

Other Discourses I'm Passionate About ...

• Active Stories: Role Models and Mentors
• Uplift Academy
• GivingSpace

and ...

http://www.omidyar.net/user/u954 082727/groupmemberlist

Academics:

• Univeristy of Western Ontario, Journalism/Social Work
• also taught an MBA course there at the National Management Research & Development Institute

Career:

• syndicated computer columnist with CBC Radio Canada
• community technology strategist (serving both communities defined by geography, and those with shared goals and values)
• keynote speaker
• freelance writer
• soundtrack composer

Calling:

• bridge builder and connector
• passionate advocate for kids at risk
• storytelling in all it's forms (written, music, photography, art)
• deeply curious explorer of community champions and capacity building

Passions:

• tinkering under the hood of humanity
• to be in the presence of great thinkers, compassionate hearts and good friends
• to take risks and dream big
• to be in the service of children and disenfranchised souls
• to learn something new each day
• punch-buggy, free jellybeans, digging in the telegarden, purple crayons, chasing tornadoes, commnunity superheroes, the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, long thoughts, living out loud

The Viewing Room

View "Bono" online >> View the transcript here >> Bono talks about why and how his own life changed.

View "A Closer Walk" online >> View a photo gallery of images from "A Closer Walk" >> Click here to act in Canada >>

Favourite Elevators:

• saying thank-you ...

• Sister Helen Prejean -- the "Death Penalty Nun", and author of "Dead Man Walking"

• TomSpeak -- a primer to the Universe of Uplift and making a Better World!

• Electric Explorers Summer Camp -- engaging kids in "digital storytelling" with a "better world" approach. Connecting them with "Big-Kids-in-Residence" who share tools and tricks from their own real-world careers.

• Board of Directors and committees for various non-profit organizations. Latest piece of serendipity: began assisting with Grassroot Soccer this April. They use professional soccer players as "player educators" to deliver a really innovative educational AIDS program for youth in Africa. The program was started by Ethan Zohn (winner of Survivor: Africa), in partnership with Dr. Tommy Clark (pediatric intern and educator), Kirk Friedrich, and Methembe Ndlovu. (common link: they were all pro soccer players with the Highlanders in Zimbabwe at one point). Some of the most incredibly passionate and compassionate people I've ever met in my life. http://www.grassrootsoccer.org Ask me about it ...

• The Big Hug project I've launched to raise money for the purchase of "couple-friendly" beds for palliative care units in hospitals. No one should die without their life-partner's arms around them, especially because we haven't figured out how to make a bariatric hospital bed big enough to enable this. My mom's six-year journey with breast cancer ended last year in a very painful way, and I'm determined to make that path easier for other people like her, and their mates, through this project. Go ahead and ask me about it ...
• Producing Benefit CDs for various programs working with kids at risk (cancer, child abuse); coordination Grammy and Academy Award winning music artists, and some from Lilith Fair, to produce top-quality CDs, all who donated their work
• spreading the meme

Head Candy:

So I'll start here: my books, the things that I covet most, to the extent that there are things that I covet. (Okay, so I do covet chocolate, and cherry lifesavers, and maybe sushi ... maybe a lot, but I'm not about to let that derail my train of thought, because that's another list, and this is not.)

The books. From the very earliest moments in our lives as explorers, they are our portals. They are our gateway to the world, and to the universe, and to the delicious nooks and crannies of our very own soul. They are a collective footprint for who we are, and what we believe, and how comitted we may be to expanding our horizons through sometimes disparate points of view. They allow us to change our world to something grand and worth having at times when it feels it is not. They challenge us to be daring, and brave, and hungry. They tickle long, sweet veins of curiousity and exquisite, 3-day-long thoughts that plant themselves like tendrils in the fertile soil of our conscience and soul.

So here's my window. It's a small place to start, but full of rich and daring adventures that I've completely loved. Perhaps they will move you too ...

click here to begin exploring

Cuisine:

Japanese (esp. sushi), Mediterranean (Monsignor Joe's falafel, kibbi & stuffed grape leaves), French (served at Auberge du Petite Prince), hearty vegetarian (cook it for my son), Chocolate (with a capital "C"). cherry lifesavers and Kernels' double-dipped carmel corn, marizipan, mom's home cooking (which I miss horribly since she passed away much too soon after a 6 year journey with cancer last year)

Comments

• DON the IDEA GUY, Fri, 20 Aug 2004 20:27:20 PDT

You rock. ;) ~DON

Boy Sue, the big hug project really got to me. I'm glad to know you.