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Ben Arnon
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Ben Arnon offers social commentary on a wide array of topics, covering politics, digital media, culture and society. Ben has worked in media for over 14 years at companies that include Jersey Films, Universal Pictures, Universal Music Group, Yahoo! Media, and Blue State Digital. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York and works for social media marketing firm, Wildfire, which is a division of Google (www.wildfireapp.com).

Originally from White Plains, New York, Ben earned a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Ben completed an Honors thesis at Emory entitled 'Packaging Racial Identities: Market Segmentation in the U.S. Recorded Music Industry,' which examines the ways in which race has historically been utilized in the production, distribution and marketing of recorded music. He later received an MBA in General Management from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California.

Ben also represented the 36th Congressional District of California as a Delegate for Barack Obama in 2008.

Please feel free to contact Ben at: benarnon@gmail.com

Blog Entries by Ben Arnon

2016 Showdown: Hillary vs. Biden

(12) Comments | Posted November 12, 2012 | 1:00 PM

The 2012 presidential election has just ended, so of course that means it's officially time to begin speculating about the 2016 election. As I was thinking about the Democratic field the other day, I realized that once campaigning begins in full force in early 2014, President Obama will find himself...

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My Conversation With an Astronaut

(6) Comments | Posted September 11, 2012 | 4:58 PM

Recently I had the privilege of speaking with an astronaut. Tom Marshburn has been with NASA for more than 16 years and has performed three spacewalks for a total of 18 hours and 59 minutes of Extravehicular Activity (EVA). Tom is currently...

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Crowd-funding: The Future of Indie Film?

(0) Comments | Posted March 30, 2012 | 8:10 PM

Aspiring filmmakers have always struggled to find a way to get their projects made, from racking-up credit card bills to persuading investors that their film is the next Paranormal Activity. When that film is only 10 minutes long, it's especially hard. Just ask NYC-based filmmaker Jim McMahon:

"I'm...

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Erie BayHawks: The True Symbol of Linsanity

(2) Comments | Posted February 27, 2012 | 5:24 PM

Last week, Spike Lee donned Jeremy Lin's Palo Alto High School and Harvard jerseys during two consecutive Knicks games. These jerseys certainly serve as symbols of the roots of the journey that has brought Lin from benchwarmer to Linsanity mega-stardom. But there is another jersey that...

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Dedicating the Dream: A Journey from MLK's Birth Place to the Nation's Capital

(1) Comments | Posted August 12, 2011 | 5:51 PM

On August 28, 2011, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial will be unveiled and dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, DC. This date happens to be the 48th anniversary of Dr. King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech, which served as one of the...

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All Squared Up

(0) Comments | Posted May 27, 2010 | 4:29 PM

I had the opportunity to try out Square this evening while attending a Tech Crunch: Disrupt party at the NYC office of charity:water. In this picture below, I'm making a donation to charity:water on Jack Dorsey's iPhone as

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Jean-Marc Koumoué of United Nations Returns to Haiti (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted May 25, 2010 | 1:53 PM

Jean-Marc Koumoué, of the Ivory Coast, has spent the past six years based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti working as Protocol Unit Supervisor for the United Nations. He reported directly to the late U.N. mission chief in Haiti, Hedi Annabi. Jean-Marc is one of very few United Nations...

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Movie Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop

(4) Comments | Posted May 9, 2010 | 4:14 PM

My favorite documentary film of the year thus far is Exit Through the Gift Shop. I'm not even sure if it can completely be called a documentary but it certainly captivated my attention. Fascinating and quite comedic, the film features remarkable behind-the-scenes footage of many of the most...

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A Foursquare Graduation: Jeremy Arnon's Interview with Tristan Walker

(1) Comments | Posted April 26, 2010 | 12:16 PM

My brother, Jeremy Arnon (@jeremyarnon), recently interviewed Tristan Walker, who serves as VP of Business Development at the uber-popular startup Foursquare. Below is Jeremy's interview.

Business school is a grind, especially at a top-tier school such as Stanford. When I first met Tristan, I was shocked...
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On Measuring the Cost of Health Care Reform

(15) Comments | Posted March 30, 2010 | 4:04 PM

Several months ago, completely by chance, I found myself seated on a plane ride from Washington, DC to Atlanta directly next to a very staunch conservative Congressman from Georgia. We had a fascinating conversation. Though I have strong left-leaning opinions, I decided mainly to ask him questions and to listen...

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Who Sent the Original Retweet?

(3) Comments | Posted January 6, 2010 | 4:36 PM

Retweeting is a Twitter convention created by users. Likewise, many other Twitter conventions, such as the #hashtag, were also created by users. Because of its speed of delivery and its potential reach, retweets are fast becoming the most viral way to spread ideas in human history.

The founders of Twitter...

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Do American Taxpayers Receive Dividends on Repaid TARP Funds?

(9) Comments | Posted December 21, 2009 | 4:45 PM

In no way do I profess to be an expert on the topic of TARP and government bailouts. For that matter, I don't think many people in the entire country, even leading economists and political scientists, can make that claim. I offer this post merely as an observation about a...

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A Family Gathers

(0) Comments | Posted June 29, 2009 | 11:58 AM

With July 4th right around the corner, many families across America are getting ready for family reunions. Every year, my family meets in Maine during the 4th of July. This year, however, we're organizing a bigger family reunion than we've ever done in the past.

Well over 100 cousins are...

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City of God's Son: A Hip-Hop Soundscape

(2) Comments | Posted January 13, 2009 | 10:45 AM

I was recently chatting with a very talented filmmaker/video artist named Kenzo Hakuta about his newest project, entitled City of God's Son (COGS). He is releasing the music for the project on January 13th at www.cityofgodson.com. Kenzo is the apprentice of world-renowned video artist Nam June Paik and...

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Politics Meets Brand Design: The Story of Obama's Campaign Logo

(12) Comments | Posted December 18, 2008 | 11:16 AM

2008-12-18-Obamacampaignlogo08.gif

Historically, political campaign logos have been rather simple, typically consisting of the candidate's name and some splashy colors. Perhaps a wavy line has augmented the candidate's name and a variety of fonts have been used as differentiators. The Obama campaign logo represents a...

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Memo To David Plouffe

(0) Comments | Posted November 18, 2008 | 8:02 PM

Memo to: David Plouffe, Obama For America Campaign Manager

Memo from: Obama's Army of Grassroots Organizers

Re: DNC Leadership
----------------------------------------

Dear David,

You have incredible options on the table for sure. The world is literally your oyster. There is talk about you taking the Senate seat vacated by Vice...

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Anthony David: The Soul of Michelle Obama's iPod

(3) Comments | Posted November 4, 2008 | 6:46 PM

2008-10-30-AnthonyDavidAceyDeucyalbumcover.JPG
Anthony David, an Atlanta-based neo-soul artist, recently released his first major label album entitled Acey Deucy. David's album is the first release from Soulbird Music, a new venture from Universal Republic Records and multi-Grammy winning artist/songwriter India.Arie.

I first...

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John C. Reilly, Flea, Shepard Fairey, Miri Ben-Ari, Russell Simmons, Marc Ecko, MC Yogi (Obama-Inspired VIDEOS)

(5) Comments | Posted October 24, 2008 | 10:30 AM

There has been a tremendous amount of art and music inspired by Barack Obama's message of Hope and Change. Last week I chronicled the story of Shepard Fairey's Obama 'Hope' poster. Today I bring you the latest work from Fairey -- "Vote For Change" viral video postcards. In...

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Obama Raises $150 Million in September: "Thank You, Sarah Palin!"

(22) Comments | Posted October 19, 2008 | 9:17 PM

I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank Sarah Palin for single-handedly contributing $70-80 million to Barack Obama's campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America during the month of September. That is my estimate of how much of the $150 million raised by Barack Obama's...

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How the Obama "Hope" Poster Reached a Tipping Point and Became a Cultural Phenomenon: An Interview With the Artist Shepard Fairey

(24) Comments | Posted October 13, 2008 | 1:39 PM

2008-10-11-BarackisHope.jpg

The large majority of people reading this post have seen this image before. This iconic image of Barack Obama, adorned on posters, stickers, clothing and more, was created by Los Angeles-based, contemporary street artist Shepard Fairey. This image has become a...

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