Sanibel Journal

My longtime Casper, Wyoming, friend Neil J. Short is almost 62 and does not put in an inordinate amount of time on exercise. But he's passionate about the benefits of daily exercise, as he shows clearly in this conversation we had today in my living room in Denver.  Neil couldn't possibly have been talking to someone less involved in outdoor exercise, but even I am convinced that there is no denyi...

Mark J. Penn , Hillary Clinton's chief strategist in the 2008 campaign and the author of Microtrends , spoke on April 25, 2009 at the Sheraton Commander Hotel in Cambridge before a lunch organized by The Harvard Crimson , the university's daily newspaper, of which Penn is an alumnus. This is a recording of his talk and the wide-ranging Q&A afterward.  

Kevin Rafferty talks about his documentary, "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29" before a screening of the film at the Denver Film Society 's Starz Theatre in Denver on April 14, 2009.  With audience Q&A after the screening. I was a freshman at Harvard on November 23, 1968, the day of a legendary football game between Harvard and Yale.  Rafferty's loving attention to the details of that game and the charac...

Ron Lyle of Denver, a retired heavyweight boxer who fought Muhammad Ali in 1975, visited  his alma mater, Manual High School , on February 10, 2009, to talk with students working on the school magazine, Boom .  This is the unedited recording of the conversation, featuring Lyle's heartfelt encouragement of the kids to experience the rewards of focus and commitment in any endeavor.

This is an interview I did today (January 19, 2009) with Jason L. Owens, volunteer manager for Volunteers of America - Colorado.  I was inspired to check out VOA as part of President-Elect Obama's call to service on Martin Luther King Day.  VOA is one of 5,000 organizations where volunteers signed up to help today.   Obama himself did some painting today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Jason g...

My wife and I attended a "house party" organized by the Obama campaign, one of 4,000 such events held across the country this past weekend.  Ours was held at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and featured an introductory talk by Marshall Ganz .    

My college friend Ben Beach , editor of The Wilderness Society's Wilderness Magazine, never misses a Harvard-Yale football game and always holds a tailgate barbecue before the game.  In this podcast Ben talks about the hard-to-define pleasure he gets from this regularity, and he and I remember the most famous Harvard-Yale game in the 125-year history of the classic, 1968's version which ended in a...

My wife Darlene, a quilter, today helped me think through the talk I'll give this weekend in Billings, Montana, about Internet technology and the arts.  She looks for tools that help her do things, not a lot of personality and ego.  Good advice for this podcaster! (She's also looking for a good video podcast about quilting, so please leave her any tips in the comments.) The workshops are being pre...

We've seen a lot of Barack Obama here in Colorado in recent weeks. But Sunday's event was the biggest anywhere in the country so far -- well over 100,000 people at Civic Center Park. This episode is a soundscape of the rally and ends with Darlene making yet another phone call in search of volunteers to help get out the vote in this crucial battleground state.  Click here for a video of the last fe...

Interviews at the Cambridge Boat Club on October 14, 2008, with four leaders of the Head of the Charles Regatta , a massive rowing event on the Charles River in Cambridge this coming weekend.  You'll hear from Pete Peterson, the chief referree/umpire; John Romain, cochair manager of the Starting Line; Tom Martin, treasurer, and Mark Bober, cochair of emergency services. The regatta takes place thi...

Barack Obama this week returned to Colorado for a speech at Mountain Range High School in Westminster.  My wife and I arrived at the school at about 5 a.m., which put us in line for a seat upgrade at the last minute and a terrific view of the candidate.  His arrival in the arena was delayed by late-breaking events in Washington, D.C., where the House of Representatives shocked everyone by defeatin...

This episode of m podcast comprises excerpts from Barack Obama's speech September 16, 2008 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.  I was there with a friend of ours, Tish, from Wyoming, who had an exciting moment at the end of the event.  Also included are reactions to the talk by some of those in attendance, including myself. The New York Times coverage of the Golden speech is here...

Albert Maruggi , my well-connected Republican Twitter friend who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, has great insights into the convention going on in his hometown this week.  Albert was a key GOP staffer when Dan Quayle was chosen as Bush I's VP, so his memories are good preparation for tonight's big speech by Gov. Sarah Palin.  In this telephone interview today, he also tells why watching Palin is a...

Chris Lopez, communications director for the 2008 Denver Host Committee , took time out of a VERY busy day today to preview what's ahead in Denver once the Democratic National Convention gets under way this weekend.  He seemed remarkably serene, and he was optimistic that the convention's protests will be peaceful and full of the good energy of democracy.  Me too! UPDATE: I forgot to include the f...

Interview on August 19, 2008 with Chris Lopez - .mp3 version.

This is the mp3 version of this week's Audio Pod Chronicles interview with Jeff Cutler.

Writer and podcaster Jeff Cutler was one of the only Boston Media Makers without a device feeding him information from the Internet at our meeting on Sunday, August 3, 2008, at Doyle's Cafe in Jamaica Plain.  It turns out his laptop was in the shop.   This prompted him to lead a lively discussion among the 22 of us at the meeting about how much we depend on being connected at all times to the Inte...

mp3 version of today's Audio Pod Chronicles, "PodCampers Pick Podcasts."

At PodCamp Boston 3 this past weekend, I asked 12 happy campers to identify their favorite podcasts.  Here is what they came up with: Sarah Vela - Push My Follow , You Look Nice Today . Chris Cavallari - Nature Stories , Little Bit of Nonsense . Robert Blatt - Let's Go Out Tonight , twentyhood Doug Haslam - For Immediate Release , Inside PR , 10th Wonder Amrita Chandra - Ricky Gervais David Fisher...

mp3 version of Episode 62, A dilly of a Denver Police Commander.

Denver Police Commander Debra Dillly heads District 6, the core downtown area.  On July 8, 2008 she addressed a meeting of homeowners from three downtown condominium buildings, including the one I live in. She gave the best overview I've heard so far of what it's really going to be like in my neighborhood August 25-28 when the Democratic National Convention comes to town.  Now I will how to tell O...

mp3 version of Episode 61, Breakfast of Videos.

Social Media Breakfast 8 , hosted by Bryan Person and Bob Collins June 24, 2008 at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, Mass., was all about video.  An audience of nearly 100 heard excellent presentations from Larry Lawfer of YourStorys.com and Jeff Glasson of PerkettPR.com and two other presentations excerpted in this episode of the Audio Pod Chronicles.  Those two were by recent Emerson College student...

MP3 version of this week's podcast.