My friend Clint performed this song with legendary, old-school New Orleans jazz men Preservation Hall Jazz Band and shot this video for it in 2005–before Hurricane Katrina.
He said “I want the world to see something coming out of New Orleans that is positive, fun and happy. THIS is why me and my friends came back home after the storm. For the good times.”
One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte said, “It’s an education project, not a laptop project.” I encourage you to read about the project. Its goals are ambitious and its path has been long and sometimes bumpy, but they’ve reached a big milestone: they’re now manufacturing inexpensive, durable, connectable, efficient laptops to help educate children in the developing world. Color me inspired.
To support and raise awareness about their work, they’ve got a special giving program just in time for the holidays called “give one, get one.” It’s simple: spend $399 (~$425 after tax and shipping) and they send one laptop to a child in the developing world on your behalf and send you another one for you to give to a child in need in your life. I can’t wait to give one of my very own! Bonus: $200 is tax deductible.
Help kids learn, feel good about yourself AND get a tax break. Merry Christmas, indeed.
Susie and I waded thru the copious photos we took and posted our favorites to my Flickr site. Damn, we had some times. I’ll post some stories here soon enough.
