Ask a New Yorker: Hello, What do you do? (By chance I bumped into Rocketboom at Union Square. In a previous interview I spoke to Amanda Congdon, the first anchor of the show before Joanne took over. Now we have two Rocketboom Uberchics! Sorry, I was not in my top interviewing prowess mode and asked the same question twice that I asked Amanda) so what’s Rocketboom?
Joanne: I do many things. One of those being, hosting a video blog called Rocketboom.com
Ask a New Yorker: O.K., So what’s Rocketboom?
Joann: Rocketboom is a video blog. We post online news everyday. It’s internet culture, stuff that’s going on around the world. It’s quirky stuff that comes to our attention that we enjoy and that we want to share, all those good things.
Ask a New Yorker: Great. Have you received your flu shot?
Joann: I don’t believe in the flu shot.
Ask a New Yorker: Why not?
Joann: I don’t really believe the flu is something that you need a shot for. I believe there are many other ways to not get the flu. (laughter) So I don’t believe in it in the first place.
Ask a New Yorker: Have you finished your shopping for the holidays?
Joanne: I don’t shop for the holidays. (Laughter)
Ask a NewYorker: No Flu shots. No shopping for the holidays. Interesting. Do you knit?
Joanne: Nope.
Ask a New Yorker: Do you exchange gifts for the holidays? My friend Bruce piped in with this question.
Joanne: You know, here’s the deal: I’m trying to reduce my carbon foot prints. So I decided I’m not going to travel and visit my family. It’s also expensive to travel this time of year. And traveling would require going to France, to England, to the Caribbean and Australia. Because I have family all over the place so that would be a really huge carbon foot print.
Ask a New Yorker: Carbon foot print? (Again Bruce to the rescue….”Using too much carbon fuels” Connect the foot prints Kennedy.)
Joanne: Using too many fossil fuels, taking airplanes. I’ve had to travel a lot this year for Rocketboom. So I decided I’ve done enough for the environment in terms of being on airplanes and traveling around. And of course there will be planes taking off whether or not I get on them. But it’s just for me, so I’m not going to travel. I’m not going to buy holiday gifts. I’m not going to knit. I’m not going to take flue shots. Yet I still have a few weeks left to figure out what I will be doing.
Ask a New Yorker: O.K! What are you shooting today?
Joanne: We did something back in July that was in the spirit of trading and having a really human connection with somebody. It just takes a few minutes. It’s like this: I’ve got something and do you have something that you want to give me in exchange for what I’m prepared to give you? So we did that back in July here in Union Square and it went really, really well. People were very generous. We ended having a truly wonderful reaction from people. So we’re going to do that again today. So what we ended up with from that first trade, we put it on eBay. Somebody bought it for $187.00. We donated the money to Red Cross. So what I have in my hand is a receipt for Red Cross for $187.00 that’s tax deductible, because it was given to a charity. So I’m going to try to find somebody who wants to have it and will see what they give me as a trade (see Rocketboom vlog for Dec. 1).
Ask a New Yorker: Good luck. Well, it appears that you have your work cut out for you. I do have $187 dollars of Ask a New Yorker t shirts ranging from Gum Splotches, Fresh Kills and A Fifty Point Guide to Peeing in New York to trade. This would be great and you could wear them on Rocketboom. This would truly reflect the spirit you trying to find. No? Yes.
