Jungle Bloggers

David P. Kronmiller, Editor-In-Chief
Notes from the Jungle
Joyce Chen Blogging from New York.
Tharuna Devchand Blogging from South Africa.
Sarah Jawaid
Blogging from Washington, D.C.
J Lampinen
Our resident comic strip, Congo & Steve
Jeremy Olsen
Director of Development and occasional commentator.
Dan Rickabus
On things musical.

Plus past staff and guest writers, including J Day, Scott Martin, and Bronson Picket.

New home, old home.

This is our new home. For past video, audio, and blogs, you can still visit:
the previous incarnation of the Avocado Jungle.
February 26, 2010, at 2:04 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | Music | Music In Our House | Videos | audio interview | music tracks | music video / /

Music In HIS House: Dan Rickabus

Here’s a video from uke-rocker (?!) Dan Rickabus. His smooth-yet-gritty voice and his big, ukelele-glazed rock sensibilities are very easy on the ears.

May 26, 2009, at 6:58 pm — Arts and Culture | Audio | Interviews | Music | Music In Our House | Videos | audio interview | music tracks | music video | video interview / /

Music In Our House welcomes Lightning Inside You

A performance in my home by the band Lightning Inside You. Also: Jeremy Olsen interviews the band, and we share a track from their EP.

May 26, 2009, at 12:53 pm — Art | Arts and Culture | Audio | Interviews | audio interview / / /

The art of Joe Vaux

"Flood" by Joe Vaux; 12" x 16"; acrylic on wood.Jeremy Olsen of The Avocado Jungle conducts an interview with Joe Vaux, whose acrylics on wood surfaces simultaneously evoke both children’s nightmares and dark metaphors for very grown-up truths.

April 20, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Audio | Blogs | Interviews | audio interview / / / / / /

Finding the Role Model in All of Us: an interview with Brian Center, Executive Director of A Better L.A.

I interview Brian Center, executive director of A Better L.A., a community improvement group whose mission is to transform communities that struggle with violence, and whose approach is to identify the important players and resources, bring them all to the table to talk and plan, and then teach people within a troubled community to make use of these resources for themselves and change their own situations for the better. I recommend listening to this inspiring interview about people accomplishing incredible things simply because they hold the belief that it can be done. If you only have time for highlights, I’ve transcribed some of my favorite excerpts and added a little commentary.

March 18, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Arts and Culture | Interviews | Music | Music In Our House | Videos | audio interview | music tracks | music video / / /

Music In Our House welcomes Nathan Schafer

Nathan Schafer performs “You Did” from his EP A Lapse in my home for our series “Music In Our House.” Jeremy Olsen conducts an interview, and we’ve also got a track straight from the CD for you.

March 16, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Audio | Blogs | Interviews | audio interview /

Well Educated People

I took this week’s theme for The Avocado Jungle and styled it into the question, “Is education part of the solution to almost every problem the world faces?” Then I began asking teachers and former teachers. Last time I wrote it was middle school music teacher Ria Kubota. This entry I’m sharing two strikingly similar [...]

March 10, 2009, at 12:00 pm — Audio | Blogs | Interviews | audio interview /

Teaching the Right Things

I took this week’s theme for The Avocado Jungle and styled it into the question, “Is education part of the solution to almost every problem the world faces?” Then I asked a great friend and great teacher, Ria Kubota, that very question. I got a wonderfully unexpected and insightful answer, even with a restless infant [...]