JOYENGINE: cause sharing is cool

Disclaimer: Appreciation for language will be needed over the coming months for my joyengine blog entries.

My mention of Martin Heidegger this week provides a nice transition into explaining the intended pattern behind the content I post.

Simply put, cross-cultural understanding is enhanced when people speak more than one language. Its always the folks who fear multi-lingual traits that embrace xenophobia, driven by ignorance more than anything else.

Given globalization trends doesn’t it make sense for more of us in the United States to be familiar with other languages? Do you know anyone who’s ever been at a disadvantage for speaking more than one language? Ever hear the story of how Charles de Gaulle was impressed with Jackie Kennedy’s French skills?

I am fortunate to know Spanish, essentially it was my first language. Me Anglish es limited…My mother encouraged me to learn Deutsch beginning in the 5th grade, and in college I added Portuguese to the mix. Still, I really can’t understand French very well and feel, given the chance, Italian is close at hand. Oh, and I totally think if you listen to Japanese carefully, one starts to hear familiar Spanish sounding tones.

No wonder why Alberto Fujimoro was effective in becoming president of Peru…

Must admit, the coolest experience for me at the DNC last summer was recognizing and speaking with Alejandro Toledo, ex-President of Peru. The guy was in the nosebleed seats of Mile High in front of our crew. He couldn’t believe I was able to identify him.

This was possible for two reasons. First, I spoke Spanish and initiated conversation with his group, and secondly remembered reading NYTimes coverage of his campaign in 2001. Plus I had conversations with a Peruvian friend about his candidacy. So yes it pays to speak, read and write in English…

Subject matters covered won’t be original, but promises to be unique. I’ll try to include stuff that has subtitles, but if the content merits omissions, so be it. Not going to translate. This blog has global readers, who I think will respond well to this project coming from Colorado, the state with a Spanish name.

Seeing how diverse the youth generation has become gives hope that linguas will be a part of our country’s future. Hopefully you’ll enjoy, cause I’ve got a lot of ideas for this experiment…

Wonder what kind of food Tom Tancredo likes to eat?

I was fortunate enough to witness Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in person during the DNC event at Mile High Stadium. My brother did video work for the DNC all week and hooked us up with floor passes that granted us access almost everywhere. We even went inside Mile High stadium to see all of the production trucks and the private offices for the major networks. We shared the floor with the media, major news networks, and the delegates. I met a lot of interesting people.

Mile High was electric, especially when Obama spoke!

Below are the photos that I took. It was a truly unbelievable experience.

I photographed Sam Donaldson during the day at Obama’s DNC acceptance speech at Mile High stadium…and this is what he was doing.

The DNC had a lot to offer above and beyond politics. A lot of parties and concerts took place last week in Denver. On Wednesday I went to the free mid-afternoon Rage Against the Machine show that took place at the Denver Coliseum for Iraq Veterans Against the War. RAGE always puts on a great show but this has to be the best RAGE concerts I have seen to date. After the show the band led thousands of concert-goers in a “march for peace” to the Pepsi Center.

I headed over to the Manifest Hope Art Gallery after RAGE and met Shepard Fairey (who was extremely nice in person). That was really amazing.

Then Wednesday night I checked out the free Public Enemy show at the Boulder Theater. The original line up was in the house and they performed their historic album “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” from start to finish. Flavor Flav was on point.

The Manifest Hope Gallery opened to the press yesterday. The amount of amazing art is staggering and we HIGHLY recommend you get your butt down there.  The show opened to the public today and will be running until Wed.  The gallery unfortunately shuts down at 5pm so you’ll have to make it a day trip.

We’ve compiled a short preview of the show to get your ass motivated.  Check it out!

With the DNC coming to Denver this month, the mile high city has become the center of attention. With the spotlight on Denver and the metro area, the city has become the topic of infinite conversation, media coverage and of course subject of New York Times’ reviews. An article in Sunday’s Times smashed Denver. The article titled, 36 Hours in Denver, was accompanied with several ridiculous photos. It was almost as if the Times never made it out to Denver, but instead looked up wagons and cowboys on a stock photo website. Here are a few quotes from the article:

“…you can practically see from one end to the other, it’s that flat…”

“…While you’re waiting, familiarize yourself with local issues by watching the zipper that rings The Rocky Mountain News building near Cleveland Place: ‘Wolves Now Under State Protection … Bison Slaughter Probe May End Next Week … Police: Angry Husband Kills Cat …’”

“…There’s no getting around Denver’s culinary specialty, red meat, the starring attraction at Old West-themed barbecue joints all over town. Be grateful that about the only species not represented in the form of taxidermy on the walls (or the menu)…”

“…The best of Denver night life can be found near the city’s roots in Larimer Square in LoDo, where gold was first discovered in Colorado in the 1850s. Now the closest thing to gold around here is more likely to come in a bottle of Cuervo…”

“…The Denver Art Museum’s two-year-old jutting addition designed by Daniel Libeskind looks like an Imperial Cruiser from “Star Wars,” and once you are inside, the vertigo-inducing floor plan will make you long to get your feet back on earth…”

An actual photo from the Times’ article.

To give Denver credit, it was not the Molly Brown House, or the discovery of gold in the 1850s that made the growing city the ultimate choise for the DNC. I Have to admit the writting is quite witty. Regardless, we’re up in the Republic of Boulder and make no claims to either side.