501derful.org
I was excited to come to the PUSH conference, hoping to be "wowed" and moved like I had been at Pop!Tech a few years back. I was going to the conference as a scout, to see if we at ACS should send more people to PUSH next year.
Well, getting to the conference was truly a trying experience. Due to construction and closed highway entrance ramps, my usual 15 minute trip to the Atlanta airport became 45 minutes, and, in spite of a delayed flight, the long security lines and my terminal being D2 – at the end of the fifth terminal of six – I was officially the last person to board the plane, arriving at the gate as they announced boarding was closed. In Minneapolis, I needed to find an ATM, then a taxi, which was much more complicated than I expected, but I ended up at my hotel and ultimately at the Walker Art Center, 20 minutes late for the opening of the conference.
I walked in the auditorium in the dark, stumbled to a seat, and was treated to two performances – part one of four of Jenni Wolfson’s show based on her experience in war-torn Africa called Rash, and the music of Dan Wilson, grammy award-winning songwriter and member of the band Semisonics. Both were terrific. If you know the song “Closing Time” by the Semisonics, go look up the story behind the song. It’s amazing.
Then there was a social gathering where I met Dan Olson, a blogger for Wired at geekdad.com, and here’s what he posted about the first night. I also met Stephanie Kinnunen, who with her husband founded their magazine NEED. The slogan of the magazine is “We are not out to save the world, but to tell the stories of those who do.”
Day 1 of PUSH 2008, despite my crazy travel experience during the second half of Father’s Day, had certainly piqued my interest in both the conference and it’s attendees. Stay tuned for more.
