Transplanted

My blog is named Transplanted because, when I created it, I felt uprooted. I had moved from Wisconsin to New York, had visited several countries with NYU, including a summer session in Dublin, and was preparing for a semester abroad in France. I wanted to document my experiences as a citizen of the world, as someone whose roots were spread from WI, was studying in NY, had lived in Dublin, and was preparing to live in France.

Lately though, I've had so much homework and so many meetings that my "world" has been my desk, my books, and my bed. With Thanksgiving coming around the corner, and Christmas soon after, my time will free up a little and this blog can go back to its basic function, to show that one's home is where he makes it, and that more than one physical place can still be home. To show cool experiences and interesting moments of my life wherever I am backed up by everywhere I've been.

You, my readers, can expect continued music posts and posts on whatever's going on in my journalism courses, but you can expect more experiential posts with pictures from my life in New York and elsewhere. Cheers!

Tuesday Tunes: Matt Wertz

I found this song in my iTunes over the weekend, it's a little old but good. I like the simple lyrics and acoustic guitar. Matt Wertz's "Red Meets Blue," for me, really captures the feelings of a beginning relationship, of the sweet and simple love and admiration of something fresh and yearning for more. Enjoy!

A New Way to Look at Time

For about $1000 (or free, keep reading...) you can buy QLOCKTWO by Biegurt + Funk, it's a pretty slick clock that forces you to read the time. "It is a quarter to nine," or "It is ten after three."

The secret, though, is that a dot in each corner also lights up, so that 1:18 would read as "it is a quarter past one" with three dots lit up. Before the half hour passes, you add the dots to the time. After the half hour, you subtract them. This means that 1:48 will read "it is ten to one" with two dots lit up. This makes the first half hour go by slower than real time and the second half hour go by faster because a casual glance at the clock would probably mean you aren't adding or subtracting the dots.

The best part is that everyone can enjoy this eloquent, almost time-bending clock. Developer David Trejo, who I will soon be profiling for his work on mixest.com, created a virtual version that anyone can access on an internet connection.

FastCompany profiled the clock today, but I know I've seen it before, either way, they get credit for motivating this post, though they didn't link to David's version which the makers of QLOCKTWO seem to have called a "nice Application with JQuery and CSS!"

Meet Nick Troiano from myImpact

http://bit.ly/bUynVu (pic credit)

Nick Troiano is from Milford, PA and is attending Georgetown University. This 21-year-old entrepreneur and his friend Chris Golden started MyImpact.org to help volunteers record, share and track their impact on Twitter.

Is myImpact important? 

Yes! There is a large body of research that indicates a platform like myImpact can help with volunteer recruitment and retention. Our goal is to use new technology and social media to engage more Americans in citizen service, increase the effectiveness of service programs and demonstrate that service is a solution to systemic national problems. 

Twenty years

(This is another poem I found in an old notebook)

Twenty years from womb

burst out crying, burst out small and red

began to grow and walk and humanize

learned to talk an harmonize.

Always in its warm, protective shadow

I remained.

Stumbling forward hands and feet first

mouth open and eyes in wonder

I wandered knowing always how to return

to that safe, sound spot

where, against the howls,

I could remain.

And now, twenty years from womb

from remaining and leaving, I have returned.

What I found, where I discovered, who I am

returned to you to share these things.

In disgust you turn away, close your eyes.

Once refusing to see, I can no longer ignore

that twenty years from womb

I've escaped your tomb.