Dear Friends and Fans,

The National Service Ride will begin at my alma mater in New York State.

As the book introduction says: “Often, the longest of journeys circles back to the place where it all started, where the traveler discovers something that was there all along but awaited validation by experience.” On the 5th of May, he will do just that – closing one circle to open another.

Beginning at my alma mater that afternoon at Washingtonville High School, the native of New York’s Lower Hudson Valley who recently returned to settle there for the first time since he graduated in 1978 will begin another journey around the United States – this time to pass on what I’ve learned about citizenship, service, and engagement in and beyond America and take the book’s broad-based message on the road

Open to anyone to join for as long as they like, from Cinco de Mayo to the 4th of July, the Ride follows a clockwise path around the United States. Stopping at venues including Atlanta, GA, Houston, TX, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, Denver, CO, Chicago, IL, and a number of smaller towns and cities in between, it features interactive discussions in schools, bookstores, and other places for Americans who have served and sacrificed in all walks of life to tell their stories to younger audiences, in order to encourage them to community, public, and national service and promote a dialogue of national unity, as well as help pass the baton of generational leadership.

A list of venues can be found on the project website, continuously updated this month and connected up with routes likewise to be listed, until the Ride starts. Holshek will tweet updates and specifics on meeting points and times for take-off as the Ride progresses.

The intent of Ride fits perfectly with the intent of the Service Year Alliance and other partners. Chaired by retired Army General Stan McChrystal, the Service Year Alliance envisions a future in which a year of full-time national service is a cultural expectation, a common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American. It is the leading effort in the United States to improve citizenship by giving every young person the opportunity to serve in one of an array of areas, including health, poverty, conservation, or education. By encouraging young people to do good work and solve problems starting in their own communities, they also become better Americans.

Additional among a growing coalition of partners include the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, dedicated to helping American youth learn more about citizenship, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and the United Nations Association – National Capital Area, which is arranging most of the venues. GoodWorld, a highly acclaimed crowdfunding initiative for non-profits that has gained the attention of the President of the United States and Forbes magazine, is another. Its unique social-media based platform enables small, personal donations to hundreds of non-profit charity and advocacy organizations of choice – by simply using the hashtag: #donate.

The Service Year Alliance, GoodWorld, and the other partners provide clear ideas and pathways for young citizens to join or contribute to the Ride’s partner or other service organizations, as well as for older folks to help them take their own journey to find out who they are and what they’re about through service to others.

Remember: I’m not asking for donations. The Ride, in fact, is not funded by anyone or anything other than book sales – in keeping with the project’s theme of community-basing, crowdsourcing, and bottom-up change. It’s not so much about power to the people as the power of the people. So spread the word.

This is going to be as big as people want it to be. Perhaps we’ll do it every year – not just because there’s an election this year, but because, as I say in the book, America is in and of itself a journey. We’ll start off in the hundreds, perhaps the thousands, and see how big a dent we can make in this universe of ours.

Find out more on the project website (www.nationalserviceride.net) and through associated social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; hash tags: #TravelswithHarley and #NationalServiceRide.

And spread the word!

Thanks.

Best,

Chris

Dear Friends and Followers,

Two major non-profit organizations have joined the growing coalition of organizational partners of the National Service Ride – the Service Year Alliance and GoodWorld.

The Service Year Alliance, under the aegis of the Aspen Institute’s Franklin Project, pulls together a powerful coalition of scores of community, public, and national service organizations headed up by the recently merged National Conference on Citizenship, ServiceNation, and Voices for National Service. Chaired by retired Army General Stan McChrystal, the Service Year Alliance envisions a future in which a year of full-time national service is a cultural expectation, a common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American. It is the leading effort in the United States to improve citizenship by giving every young person the opportunity to serve in one of an array of areas, including health, poverty, conservation, or education.

This is a monumental boost to the National Service Ride project. The intent of Ride fits perfectly with the intent of Service Year Alliance – to promote citizenship, service, and engagement in and beyond America. By encouraging young people to do good work and solve problems starting in their own communities, they also become better Americans and the whole country improves.”

GoodWorld, in turn, is a highly acclaimed crowdfunding initiative for non-profits that has gained the attention of the President of the United States and Forbes magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. It’s unique social-media based platform allows individuals to make small donations to hundreds of non-profit charity and advocacy organizations of their choice, large and small, already registered with this micro-financing engine – by simply using the hash tag: #donate.

It’s a perfect way for enabling especially younger people to pick up on one of the Ride’s action points to support their favorite community, public, or national service organizations. Both the Service Year Alliance and GoodWorld provide clear pathways for young citizens to join or contribute to the Ride’s partner or other service organizations, but equally importantly, to take their own journey to find out who they are and what they’re about through service to others.

Open to anyone to join for as long as they like, the National Service Ride, from Cinco de Mayo to the 4th of July, follows a clockwise path around the U.S. At venues to be announced by early April, it features interactive discussions in schools and other places for Americans who have served and sacrificed in all walks of life to tell their stories, in order to promote a dialogue of national unity, as well as help pass the baton of generational leadership.

Find out more on the project website (www.nationalserviceride.net) and through associated social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest; hash tags: #TravelswithHarley and #NationalServiceRide.

Please spread the word, plug Travels with Harley (on Goodreads and elsewhere) so that I can fund this great project!

Thanks!

Best,

Chris

Hello, again, Everyone!

When I told you in my last update the wheels were starting to roll, I wasn’t kidding:

• Travels with Harley – Journeys in Search of Personal and National Identity is now available through the usual means – in addition to Inkshares, there’s Amazon, Barnes & Noble, whatever. (If your bookstore doesn’t have a copy on-hand, then ask them to order some.) Don’t forget to give it a plug/review on any one of those sites or on Goodreads!

• We’re on the radio: You can hear why I’m leading the National Service Ride on America’s most listened-to public radio station – WNYC Radio’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” or listen to me talk with Steve and Walt about how I came to the idea of the National Service Ride on “The Hog Radio Show” (starting the 15th minute)

• We’re on the blogosphere: You can also read signature book excerpts in The Huffington Post – “Identity and the Future of America” and Foreign Policy – “Of Humans and Hardware”

• If you’re in the New York area, you can join a discussion on the book at Beekman Bar & Books: 889 1st Ave, New York, New York 10022 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on February 19th

• If you’re in the Washington, DC area, you can come to the book launch at the Alliance for Peacebuilding, 1800 Mass. Ave, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC 20036 from 4:30-6:00 pm on February 23rd.

I’ll be posting more information on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as on the project website: www.nationalserviceride.net

Stay tuned and spread the word!

Best,

Chris

Hello!

Publication of Travels with Harley is just around the corner - Tuesday, February 9th!

For those who pre-ordered, I hope you got a chance to take a look. Regardless, as a backer of the book and, more importantly, its message about citizenship, service, and global engagement, please take a moment to give it a plug on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other places Inkshares has distributed the book.

And, of course, on social media - Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

It would help me greatly as the media campaign opens up shortly with an interview on "The Hog Radio Show," an online radio show out of Seattle, WA for motorcycle enthusiasts, and for my appearance on WNYC Radio’s "The Brian Lehrer Show" in New York the morning the book comes out on the 9th.

I’ll also be making the rounds at schools, bookstores, think tanks and other places in the New York, Washington, and Boston areas over the next three months leading up to cross-country National Service Ride from Cinco de Mayo to the 4th of July.

In addition, blogs, book reviews, and articles related to the project will start to appear in Foreign Policy, The Huffington Post, and other publications.

Besides social media, you’ll be able to keep track of all this now at a single source - the new project website: www.nationalserviceride.net. You’ll also find media appearances and articles posted there for your convenience, as well as links to all the above.

The wheels are really starting to roll now, so stay in touch!

All the best,

Chris