Fort Negrita Blog

While most of Atlanta was preparing for a 'snow storm' I took another route and focused on a more severe storm 'climate change'. Everyday I am committed to the well being of Earth. IDK why I chose such a big commitment, but it's mine and I'm owning it. I'm sharing my highlights from Friday the 6th because it was such a great day to be in West End Atlanta. I started the day at Orange Moon completing my application for Georgia Tech's Environmental Planning program. I'm making the connection between policies, human behaviors and predictions for climate change. Then I...

It's that time again, when central Florida's major news channels do their inaugural Manatee Awareness Month story. The news anchor starts by talking about the sea's most gentle animal and how the momma manatees are so cute with their calves, they visit a wildlife conservationist that gives tips on how to protect them and suggested places for visiting manatees. The science behind manatees' annual trek to the warm springs of central Florida is a habit of survival. Manatees (like us!) are mammals and are at risk of hypothermia when their bodies get too cold. They spend most of their lives...

(Click here for photo album.) Traveling to Austin for SXSWEco was one of the highlights of my year. What I didn't realize until after attending the conference was that some of the biggest impressions on my life including: watching Bill Nye the Science Guy as a child, reading The Upcycle three years ago and my forever relationship with hip hop all shaped my role as an environmentalist. MEETING PEOPLE One of the best things about conferences is the people that you get to meet. In the average 27k days a human lives we only have a couple to meet with...

OK, I’m starting this post with a PSA to check out my Instagram stories within the next 10 hours. It has some snippets from probably one of the best presentations I’ve ever watched! One of the best parts of a rap concert is the energy. Hands waving in the air, people blurting out lyrics, hype men jumping around the stage, the boom bap, the screwed chops, the bounce beat; these things light up concerts, and if the rapper weren't a great performer it would be wack. As for Michael Ford's Hip Hop Architecture presentation at SXSWEco, his content was great,...

Monday, I spent the entire day volunteering at the registration desk at SXSWEco. Here’s why. I’m notorious for volunteering at festivals. It’s the best way to attend a conference your press to go to while saving hundreds of dollars. Sure, I have to pay for a plane ticket and lodging, but I also get access to the the same workshops and sessions that paid attendees have access to. Nonetheless, it was a long day, so not much outside of answering “there’s no such thing as stupid questions” questions. But I did get a chance to hangout at Congress Ave bridge...