I’ve never crossed paths with Jane, but I have been following her career with interest over the past few years. She was involved in designing the I Love Bees alternate reality game (ARG), and has since gone on to develop a number of innovative ARGS such as World Without Oil and other online games. Now she is on the front page of CNN, talking about the positive impact that video games can have on the world.
Via Northside News, RVAFoodie, and Epicuriosity: Enoteca Sogna, the locally-owned Italian restaurant that was unceremoniously booted from its digs on West Broad Street has settled on a new home here in Bellevue. Word on the foodie grapevine is that the restaurant will make its new home in a leased space on Bellevue Ave. According to [...]
Wanda Jackson put on a pretty good show last night at Shenanigan’s Pub here in Richmond. The Lustre Kings warmed the crowd up and also served as Wanda’s backing band. She performed all of her hits—Hard Headed Woman, Mean, Mean Man, Let’s Have a Party, Fujiyama Mama—as well as a few covers, including her recently [...]
Richmond.com has a profile of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson, who is performing tonight tomorrow night (sorry) right down the street from me at Shenanigan’s Pub. Now 73, Wanda has an impressive rock-n-roll pedigree. Jackson, often referred to as The Queen (or The First Lady) of Rockabilly, began her career in the [...]

Ever since moving to Northside Richmond, Elaine and I, and our dog Dewey, have really missed what used to be a daily trip to the dog park on Forest Hill Ave. Soon after we moved here, I began asking around to see if there were any plans to build a dog park in the area. [...]

Last Sunday, Elaine and I went to see Harry Shearer speak at the Byrd Theater. He was there to raise funds for WRIR, Richmond’s independent radio station, and to give a short talk before introducing the movie, This is Spinal Tap, in which he plays mutton-chopped, cucumber-endowed bassist Derek Smalls. Shearer took to the stage [...]
There is a great profile of my friend Tim McCready’s new furniture making school, Foxwedge School of Craft, in today’s RT-D. I know Tim primarily through his music, most recently, his band Timothy Bailey and the Humans. So it is interesting for me to read about this other side of him–the craftsman, local business owner, [...]

On Tuesday I straggled back to Richmond late after attending the Effective Transitions conference in Providence, Rhode Island. This is the first year I’ve been to this conference, sponsored by the National College Transitions Network (NCTN). It has grown from a regional (New England) gathering into a national conference, with over 400 people from over [...]
OK, OK. I have to make it clear that I am less susceptible to “cutesy” videos than most people: giggling babies, clumsy kittens gettin-inta-trouble, sleeping puppies, etc. But for some reason, this video took an immediate hold on me. Anyone who has met me knows I have a very large, very soft spot for hound [...]

I am looking forward to finishing up the report The Power of Technology to Transform Adult Learning, released a few days ago by The Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL). In it, the report’s main author, Mary McCain, makes a number of recommendations, including: the establishment of a national web portal for adult [...]