I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve found myself walking around some foreign city, knowing neither the language nor the currency, and staring into the coupled conversations of comfortable coffeehouse confines. How’s that for alliteration? The steam on the windows, the flirtatious curled lips of young women and the puffed up chests [...]

Following weeks of feverish media speculation, Sparky and Oso Productions, makers of the wildly successful Sparky and Oso Podcast, have made it known to high level investors that they are in the process of re-branding. The podcasting, dancing, shit-talking, and chess-playing duo will reincorporate as Sparshles and Oso Productions. Investors greeted the unofficial announcement enthusiastically. [...]

In May I spoke on a small panel at the annual conference of the International Communications Association. Organized by Seeta Peña Gangadharan and chaired by Benjamin de Cleen, the idea was to have the researchers and academics hear directly from those involved in “alternative content production” (alternative to what? I ask.).
The panel went well and [...]

Itzpapalotl on Dia de los Muertos in San Francisco’s dirty-hipster neighborhood, the Mission. (The translation and re-conjugation of verbs is my own doing.)
The Day of the Dead, in my neighborhood, is practically the only day in which being Mexican is cool; just as cool as having a fixed-gear bike or having seen the Infidels before [...]

It’s Friday. You know what that means - less blabber more biting lips while bobbing the head.
Today’s podcast: a shoutout to all the fellow fellows (and ladies) who leave the ringer off.

English translation of Nathan’s video, “San Juan Chamula.”
Most of you know Rosario as Nathan Gibbs‘ photogenic, angelic wife.
Then there are the rest of us who have actually met her.
Hiyo!! Just kidding, Enanita. She is actually as sweet as she looks. But she can be a hard-ass too. Check out the above video to see how [...]

Maybe it was 3 a.m. and you were a teenager talking for hours on the phone with your significant other. Or maybe it was a heart-to-heart with one of your parents. Or maybe it just erupted out of nowhere with a friend or even a complete stranger while having a cup of coffee or going [...]

To all and any people who read this blog from either this side or that side of the Bay, I’ll be the opening act next Tuesday for the Notorious G.U.N. … N. (AKA Gunner) who will be facilitating a workshop on software for non-profits. Here’s the blurb:
How to Find Software for Your Nonprofit with Allen [...]

So, what exactly are you doing now for Global Voices?
This is the question that keeps coming up. The one I’ve been meaning to write about since May and have somehow never gotten around to. It is a story that starts in the spring of 2005 while riding my bicycle up San Diego’s coast highway. My [...]

Japan: Two Degrees from Terror
Here’s a surefire way of damaging your political career in Japan: mention that a friend of a friend of yours is a member of al-Qaeda. That admission by newly appointed justice minister, Hatoyama Kunio, has created a storm of controversy throughout the country. But in this era of global hyper-connectedness, where [...]