This week, I had the incredible priviledge of speaking at Saint Joseph's University to three hundred college kids getting ready to spend their spring break in the Appalachian Mountains. The students will venture into one of ten towns in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia as part of an immersion program, where they get to lend a helping hand and experience life in these rural communities. As it turns out, one of the newest sites for this year's service project is my hometown: Pulaski, Virginia.

So when SJU asked me to come speak about growing up in Appalachia, I turned to my photos, letters from home, and a few good reads for inspiration. Ultimately, I came away with four major topics: mountains, hometown, family, and mission. Each holds a special place in my heart...

• Mountains: environment defines Virginia. The mountains and rivers influence everything in our state, from train routes and farming to folk art and bluegrass music.
• Hometown: community defines Pulaski. While not a mining town, Pulaski shares an important part in the history of coal that still impacts school, church, recreation, and neighborhood life.
• Family: values define the Booker Family. I am who I am today because of Mom, Dad, and my brother David!
• Mission: service defines me. From rural Virginia to Camden, NJ, New York City, and Nicaragua, I'm passionate about walking alongside people in need (and you should be too!).

I wanted to provide my slides and notes, especially for my friends at SJU, so you can enjoy the photos and stories I shared in my presentation.

Download the slides (14mb PDF)

Thanks to Matt, Mary, Jeff, and everyone at St. Joe's for welcoming me into your community. Can't wait to hear about the Appalachian experience this year! Thanks to Cheri, Pam, and Kathy for helping me prepare for the talk. And special thanks to Mom for helping me track down some old photos.

OK, I know what you might be thinking. February probably seems like a strange time to write-up a retrospective, but I have two good reasons. The holidays were stupid crazy: this is quite literarly the first time I can come up for air. This month also marks the tenth anniversary of the Student Information Network, the revolutionary college network I help start. My experience paving the road for an era of social networking continues to impact the way I think about community and its important presence on the web.

So I thought it'd be worth taking a look back what defined 2007 for me... both online and offline. My freelance work has taken off like gangbusters, and I'm grateful for the many relationships and rich conversations that come from these projects. What projects, you ask? Here's a few stats I compiled...

15253 emails
527 photos
365 blog entries
100 email newsletters
32 videos
10 posters
7 websites in 5 languages
4 myspace layouts
3 postcards
2 music cds
1 rarely used bed

I've also been blessed to join friends and family around the world in some incredible adventures over the past year. Far from comprehensive, here's some highlights worth sharing...

• Learning to ride the waves alongside pro surfers in Florida
• Laughing and playing with kids living in a trash dump in Nicaragua
• Watching my brother, David, fly helicopters on a windy morning in Alabama
• Dancing my feet off at a beautiful wedding and cross-country tour in southern Brazil
• Celebrating a five year reunion at my alma mater
• Filming a soon-to-be-released music video in the heart of Times Square
• Singing with 20,000 of my new best friends at Madison Square Garden
• Helping the Museum create a virtual field trip to the Moon
• Moving from Lower Manhattan to Park Slope in Brooklyn
• Road-tripping to Niagara Falls and points northward
• Partying with good friends and great causes

What a year! I can only dream of what comes next... stay tuned! Eph 3:20