I'm hosting an event at the White House--tomorrow! It's part of the Champions of Change series, this one focusing on "tech inclusion" which was the focus of a White House conference earlier this year. It will be streamed live at whitehouse.gov/live 2pm ET Wednesday 31 July. Yeah, I'm kind of freaking out over this, and I'd love your suggestions for questions to ask.
December 15, 2012 to January 8, 2013 I left all email and social media. It was 25 days of relative digital quiet, and I loved it. The experience was so profound, I wrote about it for Fast Company. The piece launches online this week, and is accompanied by related stories and Twitter activity around the hashtag #UNPLUG.
Here's a more digestible version I and my colleagues at Cultivated Wit made for Tapestry.
Update: here's an audio performance I posted to SoundCloud
Oh, and they made me the cover of their July/August 2013 issue which hits newsstands June 25 and looks a little something like this:
Actually, the cover looks looks exactly like this.
I haven't been on Melissa Harris-Perry's show in a while, and I got to join a great panel talking black film.
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Momma was a rollin stone
I can't think of too many single images that best capture the journeying spirit of Arnita Lorraine Thurston. She was a traveler to the end and beyond, through the clearing at the end of the path.
This photo was taken in Iowa on one of our mother's last big journeys. She had finally made her way west in a move to Washington State. My sister and I caravanned with her in a cross-country drive, and had a love-filled and charmed stop in Iowa.
A few weeks ago, I returned to Iowa for a show at Iowa State. The student assigned to bring me from the airport and I got to talking, and I mentioned this epic family road trip and the organic farm and restaurant we stumbled across outside of Waukee, Iowa. The student not only knew who I was talking about but knew the man himself, L.T.
I was saddened to hear that L.T. had recently had a stroke, and the fate of his business remains unclear to me, but on this day I choose to remember the joy he brought three hopeful and open travelers from DC as they journeyed together into the future.
Miss you ma.
A few weeks ago, Twitter comrade James Propa said he saw my image on a roadside advert in Uganda. I asked for a photo because, to my knowledge, I have not made any arrangements to sell my face in order to sell any products in Uganda. James responded last week.
If you know anyone who can help get to the bottom of this, let me know in the comments or via the contact page. Maybe I'll be up for a Ugandan Clio Award!
It's been a few years since I've regularly hosted a show (puppies on a hovercraft!), and I'm excited to get back in the recurring video saddle. My company, Cultivated Wit, this week announced we're doing a web series with AOL called Funded. It's about successfully crowdfunded businesses in the U.S.
Got tips? Let us know.
Sure looks that way from the iTunes store :)
Yesterday's episode of TWiT was one of my favorites featuring Joshua Topolsky (founder of The Verge) and Brian Brushwood (of NSFW and Scam School Confidential) and of course, Mr. Leo Laporte.
@baratunde looking good on iTunes twitter.com/ShAdOwXPR/stat…
— Eng. Jorge Santana(@ShAdOwXPR) April 2, 2013
I attended the TED conference this year for the first time, and they asked me to curate a set of books. The request looked like this:
A guest curator is a TEDster with incredible talent who we know will enhance our attendees' experience by adding a carefully chosen list of books to our own bookstore selections. Last year, the books from guest curators became an instant hit; from Bill Gates to Chee Pearlman to Shonda Rhimes, curators represent a wide variety of disciplines and walks of life. Every bookstore shopper will see your sign and section, and TEDsters will be incredibly curious about what titles you have chosen.
A guest curator is a TEDster with incredible talent who we know will enhance our attendees' experience by adding a carefully chosen list of books to our own bookstore selections. Last year, the books from guest curators became an instant hit; from Bill Gates to Chee Pearlman to Shonda Rhimes, curators represent a wide variety of disciplines and walks of life. Every bookstore shopper will see your sign and section, and TEDsters will be incredibly curious about what titles you have chosen.
Here's the form I submitted. (Note: I make money if you buy the books through the links I provide. Amazon affiliate type thing. If you don't want me to profit from my curatorial labors, you can get the books through another link, but just know that it makes you a slighly annoying person!).
Your name: Baratunde Thurston
Your title & organization, as you would like it to be displayed on your curator profile: Founder of Cultivated Wit. Author of How To Be Black
A 2-3 sentence biography: Baratunde is a comedian, writer, speaker, advisor, eater, lover, and taxpayer. He is the founder of the creative digital technology company Cultivated Wit, served as Director of Digital for The Onion, writes the monthly back page column for Fast Company and is a director's fellow at the MIT Media Lab. His book, How To Be Black, is a New York Times Best Seller. He's been black for over 30 years.
2-3 sentences on your book curation philosophy: All of the books on this list have affected the way I see the world in an at least semi-permanent fashion. They’ve turned me into that guy that won’t shut up to his friends about that idea he just read. And, they were all written using some sort of word processing software.
2-3 sentences on EACH selection you make, to be displayed on small tents on top of each selection
The Power Broker, by Robert Caro
This is the story of an activist empowered and then corrupted by his effective pursuit of power, and it should be mandatory reading for anyone who claims to be a New Yorker. Robert Moses, who built more public works than many pharaohs combined, was a visionary, a genius, and an asshole. I’m still not sure whether the lesson is that absolute power corrupts or that everything would be ok if we limited absolute power to those with whom I agree.
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
This is one of those books you read knowing it will upset you, and yet you read it anyway because the truth has a draw all its own. Simply put: the drug war is the U.S.’s latest version of a racial caste system that uses the label “felon” to enable discrimination we would otherwise find deplorable. For maximum disgust and indignation, pairs well with the documentary, “The Central Park Five.”
Some Of My Best Friends Are Black, by Tanner Colby
A white man named “Tanner” wrote this book about the failure of integration in the United States. Looking at education, housing, church, and advertising, the author finds that we are as effectively segregated as ever, and that much of the U.S.’s disparate racial performance outcomes aren’t happenstance but were engineered. I blurbed this book, therefore it is awesome.
Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
One of the most imaginative works of fiction I’ve ever read. This book changed the way I see the world of my dreams and my waking hours. After this, read another one of his books, “The Scar.”
Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention, by Manning Marable
An amazing portrait of a force of a man. Even more than “The Autobiography Of Malcolm X,” this book made Malcolm X feel like a human being with whom I could identify.
Daemon, by Daniel Suarez
One of the most terrifying techno-thrillers due to the fact that it was written by a computer security expert, this book could also be called, “This Is Why We’re Fucked.” One way to divine the future is to scan the latest “trend report” from a research or consulting firm. The other is to read this book and see how our future could play out in a most dramatic fashion.
The Company, by Robert Littell
It’s a “fictionalized” account of the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. Yeah, right. Everything in this book is true!
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Must. Have. Spice.
Gang Leader For A Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh
A sociologist all but moves into a Chicago housing project to live among, study, and briefly manage a gang. Call it “the immersion method” of graduate study. More academics (and the policies they inspire) would benefit from leaving the ivory tower for the project tower, but maybe minus the actual running the gang part.
Illusions: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach
This book comes closest to a favorite song in that I’m always excited to read it again and again. A schoolmate of mine handed this book to me in the Spring of 1996, and I’ve read it at least every other year since.
The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead
There are two schools of elevator inspection in early 20th century New York City: the empiricists, who use advanced instrumentation, and the intuitionists, who rely on gut and tactile feeling. The best intuitionist in the game is a black woman. This book is full of win.
Behind The Kitchen Door, by Saru Jayaraman
What good is your locally grown, grass-fed and serenaded beef if the people who prepare it are abused? This book makes the compelling case that our definition of sustainable food must also include restaurant workers who are among the fastest growing, lowest paid categories of workers in the United States. More than merely upsetting you with facts, this book lays out a path toward solutions and will inspire you to act.
Horns, by Joe Hill
I might categorize this as “playful horror.” A man starts to grow devil-like horns, and people confess their worst sins to him. Hilarity ensues.
Read this fucking book.
Please do not include your own book as part of your selections. However, DO tell us what your book is so that we may include it in the bookstore.
My book is “How To Be Black”
As a bonus for readers of this blog, I also recommend Writing My Wrongs by Shaka Senghor. Shaka is one of my fellow Director's Fellows at the MIT Media Lab. He's not the typical nerd school fellow. Shaka served 19 years in prison for murder. Here's what he writes about that and this book:
Writing about my wrongs was the first of many steps that I took to atone for taking a man's life. Through the transformative power of writing, I accepted responsibility for my decisions and have used my experience to help others avoid the path that I took in my youth. This is my story and it is my hope that by Writing My Wrongs, I can help others right their wrongs.
Years ago for my first SXSW, I downloaded a massive set of MP3s Salon had put together including music from every music act showcasing in Austin. I missed the music fest this year but didn't want to miss the music, so I compared my two favorite music services to see who could get me closest to the action.
First up, Spotify.
I searched for SXSW 2013 and got this beautiful list of playlists. The problem: I have no idea who made these playlists or how they are sorted. The only way to find this out is to click on the playlist image. That's a lot of clicking.
Verdict: boo.
Next up: Rdio
Ah, this is much better. Not only does it show the full title of the playlists and who made it, but I actually didn't have to click at all. Even getting to the Spotify screen above required me to click through to "Show All Results" then click again on "See All" next to the playlists that result.
Rdio is all, "Are these the playlists you're looking for?"
Why yes, yes they are.
Verdict: yay.