February 2012
51 posts
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"It was for the veterans' 'got your 6' campaign"
If you watched the Oscars with an obnoxiously scrutinizing eye like I did and read all of the follow-up fashion reports, you might have heard some buzz about one of my favorite men in Hollywood, Tom Hanks. He was wearing a metallic number 6 pin on his lapel, and the only explanation his publicist gave was that “It was for the veterans’ ‘got your 6’ campaign.” Nobody...
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Orange Street, Cranberry Street, Pineapple Street
I never knew why downtown Brooklyn had streets named after yummy things, but not I know it’s because of Miss Middagh. Miss Middagh’s family, who immigrated to the area when it was still New Amsterdam in 1652, was very influential in the area. She didn’t like that her wealthy neighbors were so arrogant as to name the streets they lived on after themselves, so, she tore the street...
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Here's the form to register to vote in NYC →
I have always voted absentee in CT because in all honesty (and at risk of embarrassment), registering to vote in a new place wasn’t transparent to me. I don’t have a NY driver’s license, but it seems like it doesn’t matter. That also shouldn’t have been an excuse to be less civically engaged than is our duty as citizens. If you had the same silly question I did of how...
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12 free ebooks on nonprofits, social media, and... →
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Take my grantwriting class!
Does the idea of writing a grant make you cringe and procrastinate in any way possible? Do you want to suggest projects at your nonprofit but don’t know how you’ll raise the funding to execute? Do you have basic writing skills but don’t know how to string together an appealing narrative? Take the fear out of grantwriting and feel more confident bringing thoughtful ideas to fruition!
In...
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“Failure is great. It’s really scary, but it’s totally worth it, because you...”
– Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter
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OUR TIME translates the news
41% of Americans believe that young adults have been hit the hardest by the recession.
Only a third of 18-34 year olds rate their financial situation as “excellent” or “good.”
Young adults working full time have median weekly earnings of $448, about 6 percent less than in 2007.
Why we should care: The prospects for our generation appear bleak, with income declining, high joblessness,...
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“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working...”
– Henry Ford
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“Taking time away from work and our digital devices improves our health, our...”
– A well-articulated article from Wharton tackles this truth and related question head on in a fascinating discussion of where employees’ addiction to ‘crackberrys’ comes from and how we should wean ourselves off of the screen and work mode. Well worth a read.
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YouTube Seeks to Improve Nonprofit Videos →
YouTube in recent weeks has turned its focus to helping nonprofits create more powerful, effective videos, with a new “playbook” guide and a chance to participate in a one-day video boot camp in San Francisco.
The free 24-page guide, “YouTube for Good,” helps nonprofits devise attention-grabbing names and code their videos’ descriptions to make them more visible to search engines,tell...
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I was on a Canadian radio show because of a neat...
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Facebook Profiles: Accurate Indicator of Job... →
A new study from the Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University looked into how Facebook personality corresponds to work performance. Facebook-savvy HR researchers graded a sample of profiles according to the so-called Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) and then six month later, compared...
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A Gmail Story (Miracle)
Earlier today, it said Inbox (798). It now, clearly, is EMPTY. See?
It’s not to say I hadn’t read those 798, but I would mark them unread instead of because it’s what my eyes were used to. OY!
I probably could (and should) do a second round of deleting and not just archiving, but I’m in the black!
Going forward, I want to use and and more often as soon as emails...
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Interview with Susan Rodriguez of the North...
After receiving the invitation to the March 2 free and amazingly fun-sounding gallery opening called “The Great Painted Paw Brigade” in Haverstraw, NY, I had to learn more. Susan Rodriguez, the Secretary and Director of the sponsoring North Rockland Rowing Club, talked to me about the art, the nonprofit, and the city.
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Jen Bokoff: Why cats and dogs as a fundraiser?...
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Forget Networking. How to Be a Connector. →
This is what I do. I should probably bring it to some sort of scale someday. If you need connecting, I’m your girl.
[That statement alone is the downside of being a connector; we exhaust ourselves with completely sincere offers and then all of the requests and ideas come at once. But I’ve accepted that and love it anyway.]
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“Ultimately, deepening our character is about who we can become as much as what...”
– Joshua Troderma
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Interview: Rachael Goodman-Williams, Founder,...
I had the privilege to interview Rachael Goodman-Williams who founded And It Was Wrong, a website devoted to collecting and sharing women’s experiences with sexual assault. I was drawn to the poignant simplicity and comforting rawness of the website, and the fact of its mere existence. A storytelling class that I’m currently taking has made me realize very quickly that certain themes...
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Cultural Touchstones
Jen: You know. 'All That'. They did the Goodburger thing. That's where 'Welcome to Goodburger, home of the Goodburger, can I take your orrrrder' comes from.
Jay: What is that, a catchphrase?
Jen: Yeah.
Jay: And why was it funny?
Jen: You know, now that I think about it…
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Announcing First Ever Brooklyn Neighborhood... →
The Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College and the Brooklyn Community Foundation are pleased to release the first ever Brooklyn Neighborhood Reports. Over 600 pages in total, each of the 19 new reports- one for each of the borough’s 18 Community Districts, and one for all of Brooklyn- include over 90 indicators that explore 9 different theme areas. Accompanying Data Tablesprovide...
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Friends who blog
If you like my blog, you’ll like these wonderful friends’ blogs below even more! Take a few minutes to check out their thoughtful content.
Allison Carly Chris Ian Jared Jeanine Jeannie Kat Ksenia Sam Steve Mystery Friend
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The Jen Bokoff
I’m lucky to have awesome friends who sometimes come cook me dinner and invent a drink for me.
Sam Hansen (who you can read things about here and here) created a drink just for me, which I present to you without further interruption for your consumption and enjoyment.
The Jen Bokoff 2 Oz rye 1 oz dry vermouth 1/2 oz ginger liqueur 4 dashes wormwood aromatic Shake with ice Pour and grate...
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Exclusive Interview with John Solo from the new...
I had the pleasure of interviewing John Solo, who plays Stan Klock in the new film Love Magical by babywolf productions. The film, shot in NYC, is the story of David Justice, an overly passionate man whose fear of love is standing in the way of his dream of becoming the greatest R&B songwriter in the history of the world.
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Jen Bokoff: In Love Magical, you play an...
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WatchLet’s Move: Jimmy Fallon and Michelle Obama
This promotional segment couldn’t be better if it tried. This initiative has phenomenal goals and strategy backed by a leader who practices what she preaches. So awesome.
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SCIENCE! Body systems out of whack. →
You’re running late for work and you can’t find your keys. What’s really annoying is that in your frantic search, you pick up and move them without realizing. This may be because the brain systems involved in the task are working at different speeds, with the system responsible for perception unable to keep pace.
Your brain’s out of sync.
(via wecreatenyc and New Scientist)
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How or Why Cars Erode Cities & Villages
Haverstraw, 1940
Another way to understand the destructive nature of cars on downtowns is the psychology that cars create amongst ‘motorists’ or those that regularly use cars to get around. As Americans became more and more reliant on cars to live their daily lives, they unknowingly gravitated toward shopping centers that were most convenient for their vehicle. The closer these motorists could...
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Behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite... →
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SUPER COOL interactive ecology map of NYC →
Learn what your favorite blocks and neighborhoods looked like before the land was developed.
Warning: Positively Addictive
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"Yes and" works a lot better than no.
I posted this to my Facebook wall last week and received many concurrent responses:
It really bothers me when people who don’t understand an idea or issue jump to “no” instead of asking the right questions to make informed decisions. Shutting down thoughtful ideas and not trying to understand the root of an issue is entirely counterproductive.
I’ve been seeing this...
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Downton Abbey Cast: What do they really look like? →
Mrs. Hughes, played by Phyllis Logan, actually looks like:
Check out the rest of the cast!
(I know, this is the rare pop culture post. But I’m on the Downton bandwagon like everyone else. Deal with it, and even better, start watching the show if you don’t already.)
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WatchThis fire grew really quickly from a garbage can in the 72nd street B/C subway station. It got super smokey. There were no fire extinguishers, and the attendant was on the other side. After contacting emergency people, the entire FDNY showed up.
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Mosaics + Rubiks Cubes and Voila! Art! →
Pete Fecteau created an incredible mosaic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. using 4300 Rubiks cubes. I love mosaics using different materials, and this mosaic in particular conveys a lot about challenges, mixing colors, and problem-solving. Read the exclusive interview from Everybody’s Invited! about his methodology and thought processes here.
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Exclusive: ThingCreatures Artwork
I love playful and affordable ($30!) artwork, and I’m pretty sure I found the next big thing in ThingCreatures, which portray enigmatic shadows of unknown creatures against their natural habitat’s brilliant background. With Arthur and Walter already spotted in the wild and available for purchase in multiple settings and colors, ThingCreatures are sure to sell like popcorn at a movie...
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Did You Know? Groundhogs do more than just predict...
This morning, Punxsutawney Phil predicted more winter (not so bad, considering the insanely mild winter we’ve had so far). Even though Phil should keep his job, other groundhogs have been contributing to science. New Scientist reports that because of a disease common in groundhogs that resembles the human hepatitis B, they are able to lend insight into possible liver cancer treatment and...
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