Plane to Vancouver/China

Tuesday January 5, 2010

9:30 AM EST EN ROUTE - Hello web world! Greetings again from 36000 feet in the air over middle of nowhere Canada!

I am currently en route to Beijing by way of Vancouver and am just under half the way through my first flight of 5 hours. In Vancouver I will be boarding a plane that Leah and I, after twenty minutes of calculating, estimate to be about 10 hours long. Not too bad. All in all we should be spending over 25 hours in transit and will be arriving around 4:00 PM in Beijing, 1:00: AM Toronto time.

That is if my calculations are correct, which, at this stage, I would hesitate to bet even a pencil from the pencil machine in Mr. Ancypa’s office on.

Thus far I have been jamming to the XM Country channel (awesome), and grazing a book recommended to me by my friend Jason called “Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norell” – a thousand page fantasy novel about magicians in early 19^th century England – which has managed to grab my attention fifty pages in, makes me feel good about bringing such a lunk of a book with me to a different continent!

In other news, I AM GOING TO CHINA, and I have no idea what to expect or what to do or say when I get there! We are being greeted by two in-country representatives from Free the Children and will be staying in a hostel recommended by the Lonely Planet travel guide. I am excited. Those of you who spent some time up north with me the past couple of weeks will know that I have been attempting to learn a few phrases in Mandarin to help me once I land. I am sure it will come to no surprise to any of you that when I tried them out with my Chinese roommate Xin, the blank stare I received back reminded me of a student being called upon to answer a question about a book that he never read. Fortunately, after I translated back into English what I was trying to get across she kindly helped me with my intonation and even taught me a few more, which, at the moment seem to escape me. Oh well, Bu shi – right Uncle Marty?

Now, perhaps to the most pressing question on your mind, what the heck am I doing in China?? The short answer, “speaking to elementary school kids” doesn’t seem to cut it for most people. As some of you may know, my speaking tour called “Think We” is sponsored by Disney’s Club Penguin. As a way for them to further their already generous philanthropic contributions in the countries they operate, they have decided to add a speaking tour to travel to English speaking schools in these countries in efforts to engage the youth through active and charitable lifestyles. That is where Leah and I come in.

To be honest, we have no idea what to expect. We are going to schools with “a high level of English” but Leah and I are preparing for a loose interpretation of that statement and are in the process of slowing down and making clearer our current presentation.

Thus far, we have five schools confirmed, and will be in the country for 25 days (returning the 30^th). We expect to have additional schools confirm while we are there and potentially could see up to 12! That has been the nature of our tour so far – finding out sometimes merely days prior to an engagement – and fortunately is also what we have been preparing for since September. It also leaves us with the opportunity to do some sightseeing - an activity which Leah has more experience than me and which we both eagerly anticipate.

I think I will end it here and attempt to write some e-mails that I need to catch up with. Maybe I will pick this up again on the longer flight, maybe I won’t. Either way, you won’t see this at least until I touch down in Beijing! Zài Jiàn!

We Day Madness!

Hello friends and family!

It has been a very long time since I have written and there is so much new to say that I am just going to quickly spew some verbal vomit all over this page in hopes that you can pick some of it up. After that disgusting metaphor… here goes…

I have my tour! My tour is called "Think We!" and it is sponsored by Disney's Club Penguin – which is a safe online environment for elementary school kids. It features penguin characters and moderators so that children are not subject to inappropriate content. My tour partner's name is Leah and she and I have spent the past month and a half or so gathering information and putting together our hour-long keynote address to be delivered to our main audience of elementary school children. It has been a considerably difficult task for myself as I have not been in a disciplined elementary school atmosphere for quite some time and I am learning to re-familiarize myself with school rules as well as re-learn how to deliver a presentation to a younger audience. Although it has been challenging, I definitely have found it rewarding and I am excited to put it to use at our first scheduled gig shortly after our second "We Day".

For those of you who don't know what a "We Day" is, it is essentially an event that Free the Children puts on to help inspire youth to commit themselves to acts of social justice throughout the coming school year. I just arrived back in Toronto from a trip to Vancouver where we held our first of three We Days. In attendance (and on the stage) at the Vancouver We Day was: His Holiness The Dali Lama (Big hit, the Lama), Sarah McLachlan , Jane Goodall, Mia Farrow, K'Naan, and Jason Mraz, along with my roommate Spencer West and several other Free the Children speakers.

We are putting on our second We Day here in Toronto on Monday and we are expecting a crowd of about 16,000 youth who get to MISS SCHOOL and come to participate in this pretty hip event. While the lineup in Toronto isn't AS incredible as that of Vancouver, it is still pretty impressive: Robert Kennedy Junior, the cast of Degrassi, Elie Wiesel, and Justin Bieber are among the list of presenters.

It has been pretty hectic around the office for the past couple of weeks as the majority of our staff has committed much of their time to putting these events on. I was assigned to the "Honoured Guests" team in Vancouver and was responsible for entertaining some of the presenting sponsors of the event including entrepreneur and We Day Chair Lorne Segal and some of his very influential friends from all over the world including Texas and … Italy! I was able to practice my Italian with some of them! It was great. In my suite as well were representatives from the Brooke Wade Foundation (including Mr. Wade himself) and from Environmental Packaging Technologies. I even got to meet the Mayor of Vancouver who will be in office for THE OLYMPICS! Heyooo!

In Toronto I'll be on the Seating, Parking and Transportation team where it will be my responsibility to help direct 300+ school buses and students into the Air Canada Centre all before our 9:00 start time. We have acquired the help of about 600 volunteers spread throughout the building and my tour partner Leah has the unenviable job of coordinating and organizing where they belong. This weekend for me will be spent mostly at the venue where I'll be organizing our group of volunteers and arranging where they belong and then helping out where I am needed – other teams will definitely be needing assistance in preparation for our ONE load in day on Sunday.

This whole production has been incredibly educational to be a part of. Despite our job descriptions ranging from website design to tour speaking to marketing, we have all shifted roles to help put on this incredible "rock concert" for social change along with over 20 other celebratory events and dinners scheduled throughout the several days. Despite the average age of our office being about 24 years old, we have managed to carry out this event with impressive professionalism. Of course there have been some minor hiccups (The Dalai Lama arrived a half hour early and wanted to speak longer, registration table issues, curtains falling minutes before an event, etc.) and many stressful moments, much of the finished product has come across smooth and polished. It has been exciting to be a part of and (knock on wood) I hope Toronto's We Day goes as smooth as Vancouver's.

In other news, I have had some time to see a good deal of Toronto on the weekends – I met K'Naan one weekend, I went to the Canadian National Exhibition and saw Pitbull with a friend from U of M, I was introduced to the Canadian rock band Blue Rodeo and attended one of their concerts, and every weekend I have been to the Sports Centre Café to watch college football (GO BLUE!) and the Tigers and now HOCKEY when I get a chance. Wings play today in Sweden!!

I am root root rooting for the Tigers… if they don't win the division it's a shame. And I hope to come back home to Michigan next weekend as it is Canadian Thanksgiving and I'll have a four day weekend! I need to connect with Leah though and we need to figure out what our schedule is like so that we are prepared enough to go on the road as soon as I get back.

Lastly, Leah and I intend to blog often throughout our tour and perhaps create another blog specifically for our tour experiences. We are very excited about the opportunity for travel that this tour presents to us and know that we are going to meet very interesting and exciting people all over the world. I look forward to hearing from you and I hope write soon about the success of our second We Day!

Week Three

Hello again!

Wow! It's incredible to think that I am already beginning week three here! Time flies when you are (busy and) having fun, I guess – And man have I been (busy and) having fun…

I am beginning to get the hang of the structure of the organization and each day I feel more and more comfortable with the ideas/concepts we are trying to relay. Yesterday after work we put on a "Free Stuff Giveaway" at a local park. Here is the story... In order to get the hang of facilitating discussions throughout the summer we practice our facilitation techniques on each other. One of our modules calls for groups to “Take Action” so in the spirit of participating and actually doing what we encourage other people to do, we had different groups create action plans and then carry them out. The group I joined was already well underway and had decided to collect “stuff” from staff that they don’t want or won’t use anymore and we brought it to the park after work for anyone to take. It turned out to be a huge success.
While in the park we met randomly with a youth group that was giving away free food and water for the same “just because” reason. It worked out incredibly. The park that we went to was full of … characters… and it was a very good opportunity for me to practice explaining our organization to many people who have never heard of it before – including some of the world’s biggest skeptics – even though we were really just there to give away free stuff. It turns out I am not half bad at explaining our concept and design (to help show people that they are capable of making significant positive impacts on the world around them) and that with some help and fine tuning I may even be able to bring it to people all over the world! With that note…

I Found out what my Tour is!! And that deserves its own post…

So Steve moved to Toronto, eh?

These Canadians really do like "eh", it's funny.

Hello friends and family!

As some of you may or may not know, I picked up and took off to Toronto last week for a two year stint with an organization called Me to We.

What the heck is Me to We you ask? Well, I am still in the process of figuring that out, but Me to We is considered a social enterprise - we sell books, music, a domestically made line of clothes, workshops, and tour speakers (me!) all with the objective of teaching the everyday citizen how they can make a difference in the world they live in through a variety of different mediums. We help them to examine their passions, think about what needs to be done, and then teach them to tools to go about doing it.

Furthermore, 50% of the proceeds made from all of the Me to We products go towards offsetting the already low administrative costs of their sister organization Free the Children - an organization that I used to be a part of at St. Joan and whose primary objective is empowering youth to help their peers throughout the world - specifically those in third world countries who are forced or sold into labor markets and rarely properly compensated for their work. Still with me?? Basically, thanks to Me to We when my mom and her 5th graders at St. Joan raise $500 in a garage sale, ALL of that money will go directly to the children in need.

Our main goal is to help people to realize their social potential. And to switch from an attitude of "Me" thinking to a collective "We" attitude. (I think the idea came from our generation being dubbed the "Me generation" and we refuse to accept that).

So I arrived last week after some border crossing issues (apparently Canadians don't like foreigners coming in to take their jobs) and I have had three full days on the job. The people here - my coworkers - are incredible. I woke up every day excited to go in to the office and find out what crazy things they are going to throw at me. My first couple of days consisted of: a Global Leadership Council (where I played the part of St. Joan of Arc amidst a table of Einstein, Ghandi, Socrates, etc attempting to create a new world order), a series of workshops and team building exercises which I might be using in my presentations, I was introduced to the producer of Hotel Rwanda, gave my own "I have a dream" speech (which revolved around baseball), annnnd flow charts of stress levels measured in the shots of alcohol you are going to want to take.

The atmosphere in the office is incredible - the energy level is so high I am going to need an injection of caffeine or something similar every hour just to keep up. The "organization" of the organization would make my organizational study friends uncomfortably proud: It is basically orchestrated chaos. The driving factor is the blatant desire and will of all the employees to take initiative and accomplish what needs to be done regardless of the obstacles. It appears to be chaotic, but in the end it turns out to be a well-oiled machine. One is free to stop what they are doing and jump to something else if it is more pressing, deadlines are more like guidelines and are usually always met.

It's a concept that when I try to explain it most people would say to me: Steve, that's good in theory but life doesn't work that way... But the fact that it DOES work here is a great testament to the quality of people working here and the underlying "core values" that are plastered in every room throughout the buildings.

Alright if you made it this far, first of all, Thanks :-). Secondly, the city of Toronto is awesome. I live in a spot called Cabbagetown on the east side of the city (about a 20 minute walk to the Eaton Center). There are people EVERYWHERE (which makes sense in a big city I guess) and some of them are crazy - I had a door-to-door hobo knock on my door and ask me for a Looney. I wish I had a mirror to give him.

I have already seen a Blue Jays game (they lost to the Red Sox 4-1 on Friday) and I went to "Hip Hop Karaoke" which quite possibly was one of the funniest things I have seen maybe in my life. Picture a white, world of warcraft playing, four-eyed, engineerd singing hardcore gangsta rap. Yeah I know it's tough - I didn't think it was possible until I saw it with my own two eyes. Funny thing was they were usually pretty good! It was hilarious.

I have found that the workers here despite (or perhaps IN spite) of their heavy weekly workloads enjoy indulging in a drink or two on the weekends - an activity I can certainly support.

In the coming weeks my main priority will be to write my speech(es) and figure out A. who my partner is going to be and B. what tour I am going to be a part of. I really don't have a say in either of those two things but the speech I have free reign over.

The second week of August I will be taking part in the "Academy" where I will be a student learning leadership skills and action plans along with over 200-300 students mostly from Toronto. This is put on by both Free the Children and Me to We. Come September I should be on tour (crazy, right?) and then it's off and running.

OOOK... that should be enough for now. I hope you are able to see how excited I am about this opportunity and I am very happy I was able to stick it out and find something I can throw my back behind. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)

I already know that these next two years are going to be full of crazy times, incredible people, and great stories. I can't wait to get goin'!

I love and miss you all, PLEASE write back.. I would love to hear what everyone is up to and how ya'll are doing! God bless America!

Love,
Steve

PS - I have an unlimited International Texting Plan! My phone number is (647) 884-3219. I realize that most people don't have this type of plan but if you send me your numbers I just may send you a random text letting you know I'm still alive :- )


K bye.

Warm Weather & Basketball Fever

GROSSE POINTE -

Hey all!

Well, it is now March and I am still living at home in a basement that floods every time it rains. I guess if you asked me last October if I expected to still be here in March I probably would have said "I hope not" but in all actuality it is working out pretty to my advantage. My mom still cooks for me and we get in mean games of Euchre basically everyday. Also, Metro Detroit is the best place to be come this time of year for two reasons in particular: Weather and Sports.

After a long winter of cold and raininess, when the sun starts to peak out from behind the clouds it's as if God is waking up from hibernation and saying "Alright, let's play some ball". I have been able to go out and toss the baseball and football around a couple times, while at the same time watching absurd amounts of hometown sports. Currently, the GPN Girls Varsity team is on it's way to the State Quarterfinals after winning the Regionals last night. The boys Varsity play GP South for the District title tonight. Meanwhile, Michigan looks like a tournament-bound team while my brother and MSU are a potential number 1 seed in the NCAA Tourney.
-Could it be any better?! -

Of course...

The Red Wings are number 1 in the Western Conference and the Pistons have been on a roll since A.I. hurt his back. Not to mention the TIGERS have been playing down in Lakeland, and there is constant talk about the Lion's first round draft pick this year... which inevitably they will probably butcher -but that's ok! We can talk about them!

-Wow, Steve, that's great! What more could you ask for??-

Well I don't need to ask! Michigan Men's hockey is ranked #3 in the country and St. Patrick's day is next week, followed by the greatest weekend in sports - the opening round of the NCAA tournament (which I need not remind you, ends with the Final Four in Detroit).

Needless to say, life here is pretty exciting. My brother and sis have been in and out because they are on spring break and I hope to go visit them soon. Betsy is pretty busy with school and work while Billy boy is busy with the MSU squad as they are making their run. Hopefully I will be able to jet up to the Riverhouse soon in order to buckle down and get some work done. Like my shirt says - Life is good.

Get at me and let me know how you're doing!

Cheers!

Stevo

Coach, you goin' all Coach Carter on us?

GROSSE POINTE –

Hey all!

La vita continua here in Grosse Pointe as I am now 23 years young. Crazy isn’t it? For my birthday my family took myself, my godparents (and JD), my buddy Bryan, and my grandma out to Buddy’s Pizza to celebrate. It was a grand ol’ time. My main birthday present was four tickets to go to see A Bronx Tale at the Fisher Theatre. It was a play in one act by one man (Chazz Palmenteri)! Ross from high school, Cat from Padova, and Jenny from Florence all lucked out and got to come with me. We had a pregame spritz (naturally) a postgame venture to Fishbones and then capped off the night (late) with another spritz at the house. All in all a very fun night.

As some of you may know, I am now an assistant coach for the boys’ freshman basketball team up at Grosse Pointe North. I am coaching with my longtime buddy and basketball teammate, Bryan Bennett. We are learning with the kids on how to coach but fortunately it appears pretty obvious to us what the kids need to work on (basically everything - including academics). We have started off 0-2 with losses to De La Salle and Detroit Community. While we weren’t surprised about the loss to DLS, we played Detroit Community to the bitter end, falling 40-43. We are excited about our game Friday (today) 4:30 , at Chippewa Valley – you should come!

Unfortunately, I missed the game vs. Detroit Community yesterday because I was meeting a potential employer in Canada (exciting!). The meeting went well and I hope that a position might open up in the near future. In the meantime I am going to continue coaching and hopefully start substitute teaching while actively carrying on my job search. This weekend I am planning a trip to Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo to see some friends before they all go home for Christmas. I am hoping to get to the DIA for an art exhibit sometime soon, and really enjoy what Detroit has to offer during Christmas – it’s a lot!

Keep in touch let me know what ya’ll are up to… Go Norsemen!

STEVO

Change? What Change?

In the past week or so there has been a lot of talk about the “Change” that President-Elect Barack Obama will bring to the White House. But what is this “change” they speak of? What actually is the significance of Barack Obama being elected President of the United States? It may come as a surprise to some, but Obama’s victory signals more than just a change in office – it secures the United States’ position as the most important and influential country in the world. It is a resounding declaration by the American people that they are willing and capable of carrying that burden.

It’s a New Day…

As polls closed across the country on November 4th, America sang a song in unison led by the young senator from Illinois. America sang loudly that they weren’t happy with the current situation and that something needed to be done. Despite commonly held mistrust and doubt in the political system, a man emerged through the rubble virtually unscathed by political corruption, silencing critics of the system, and with an unmistakable mission of clearing out the mess left in his hands.

November 4th America proved its resilience and dedication to being THE leader of the free world by electing a man who understands the enormity of the task before him and with the intelligence and boldness to do what needs to be done. It is evident through his emphatic and well written speeches that Barack Obama understands what it means to be a true leader: one who not only inspires and encourages, but also demonstrates and explains how it should be done so that all can participate.

November 4th also revealed how America is a leader and innovator in technology and communications as his message reached millions of people through various types of cyber-mediums: Blogs, Family e-mails, YouTube songs and films, podcasts, Facebook applications and groups, Twitter updates, and, of course, conventional websites and news broadcasts.

Obama and his team had the foresight to use the various means presented by the Internet and were savvy enough to make them work to their advantage. Because of this, Obama was able to get his message of hope and change out to the schools of California, the cornfields of Iowa, the basements of New York and everywhere in between. And with a resounding “Yes we can” America stood by these time-tested beliefs as priorities, giving fear and doubt a middle finger and removing the stranglehold they have had in recent years.  

Yes We Can

More importantly the November 4th election signaled to the world that the United States is capable of making the changes necessary to remain a world power, and seeks to do what is considered right regardless of the cost. As a friend from Italy puts it: “It just goes to show that America is still way ahead of the rest of the world.”

There is no question that the road to recovery will be difficult, and that obstacles and critics exist, but by electing this particular man, the American people have proven that the American Dream still exists, that righteousness is colorblind, and that Americans are committed to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence regardless of uncomfortable and inconvenient, though necessary changes.

It goes to show that America is not as divided as previously suggested and has a desire to move forward and is capable of doing so. It’s a new day, America, finish your coffee and eggs and let’s go to work.

Weekend Warrior

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 -GROSSE POINTE

Hey everyone - Ciao a tutti!

It has been about 6 weeks since I have been back home and a lot has gone on.

First things first, I FOUND A JOB!  

Well, kind of.  My buddy Bryan asked me to assist him in coaching freshman boys basketball over at North this winter.  I am stoked.  I don't know how long I am going to be around as my job search has been anywhere BUT Detroit but I am hoping to get a little bit of the season under my belt.  It's coming up after all...

Other than that, my job search has been rather fruitless.  I have applied to jobs in New York, DC, Toronto, Switzerland, Vancouver, and Austria.  Haven't heard back from any.  I'm shootin' for the long shots right now hoping one of them bites (and soon), but I'm pretty confident it will happen in due time.  

Meanwhile I have been doing some travelin'...   So much so  I woke up yesterday in my own bed but had NO idea where I was or what time it was (could be because no light gets into the basement, but still).   It's been fun, I haven't spent a week in the same bed since early July.  Kinda crazy right?  You'd think it would get old but I really haven't tired of it... I think it's because my bed here gives me back aches.  

Let's see, Since I got back the week before Labor day I have been:

1. Up North

2. Ann Arbor

3. East Lansing

4. New York City

5. Ann Arbor

6. Ann Arbor

and 

7. Muncie, IN and Cincinnati

That about brings me up to this weekend where I am hoping to get back up north and then down to EL to celebrate my brothers' birthdays.  The only thing holding me back is good ol' St. Joan of Arc Homecoming on Saturday. I think I might stay for that, but I heard the trees up north are pretty....

Aside aside,  I have also got to do some pretty cool stuff since I have been back.. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of it all but here is a quick idea:

Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, The Big House (x2 and on the field - thanks Mike), Spartan Stadium, a Zucchero concert, a Boss concert, an Obama rally, the Red Wings banner raising ceremony/first game, Lafayette Coney Island on multiple occasions, dinner with Danielle Dipert, and canoed the heck out of the Au Sable.

It's OK to be jealous because all of those things are pretty sweet and lady luck has been my friend of late (bout my only lady friend but that's another story).  On top of it all I have been able to hang out with Dan the man, my grandparents, the Bennetts and a bunch of people that I haven't been able to for a couple of years.  Despite the fact that I don't have a "real job" I still consider my days productive.  Not to mention my music collection has been benefiting from the extra time.  

It's great keeping up with my friends, too.  In the past 24 hours I have caught up with friends from Paris, up and down Italy, 2 friends in Germany, one in Australia, one Croatian, and several good ol' Americanfolk spread throughout the US.  Life is good, thank God for the Internet.  

PLEASE leave a message and let me know what you are up to, it's great hearing from ya'll!  

Na zdravje!

Stevo