I was at a workshop a couple weeks ago, and there was an organized dinner one evening where we went to a restaurant and ordered off a pre-planned fixed menu. While chatting before ordering, a couple locals mentioned that the restaurant was known for its mac’n’cheese, which was not on the fixed menu. So when […]
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
Amazon link In honor of MLK Day (a day late), I wrote up my summary of The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, a book that makes the case that King’s dream of racial equality in the United States is still very far away. The thesis of the book is that after Jim Crow laws […]
Ways of responding
My friend and I were talking about how to respond to events like the election or other adverse events in life where you don’t get what you want. She suggested that there were a few categories of responses, which we labeled as follows: Helpless: Shrug your shoulders and say “That’s just the way the world […]
2016 Year in Review
After I pushed my limits physically and mentally last year, this year was a much quieter year – let’s call it the Year of Recovery. The big event for me personally in 2016 was that I had a traumatic bike crash on May 3rd. I was on a morning ride with some faster guys, and […]
Turning the page
I haven’t posted since the US election, as it didn’t feel right to engage with the abstract self-design questions I’ve been pondering without acknowledging the change in the world that I live in. Trump’s election was a shock to me. I saw the possibility (even 538’s models had him at a 1-in-3 chance on election […]
Camp Calm and meditation
I’ve been curious about meditation for years, but could never find a way to get started. It seemed both too easy (“I just sit there?”) and too intimidating (“empty my mind? become one with the universe?”). Earlier this year, my therapist recommended meditation to help address a challenge I was facing. I tried the Headspace […]
Scott Adams, bullying and power
Scott Adams, the creator of the cartoon Dilbert, has been a fascinating and disturbing person to read throughout this election cycle. His posts last year where he picked Trump to win the Republican nomination were interesting to me to see what persuasion techniques he observed Trump using. However, his more recent posts where he is […]
Thinking like a Futurist with Jane McGonigal
[n.b. I added a MailChimp subscription link to the sidebar if you want to get email notifications of posts rather than depending on RSS, Facebook or Twitter to see when I update] I’ve been a fan of Jane McGonigal for a decade, after being introduced to her via her Cruel 2 B Kind game in […]
Choosing Utility over Truth
I have previously discussed on this blog my skepticism about the existence of a single Truth. I’ve been reminded of that in several recent conversations, so I thought I’d revisit that idea again. The most recent example was a conversation on Facebook where a friend linked to a debunking of learning styles, showing that students […]
Design thinking for the self
As you can probably tell from recent posts on gratitude, generosity, and choosing action, I have been thinking a lot about the kind of person I want to be recently. This is partly inspired by me co-leading a session at Up to All of Us on how to change the world by first changing yourself. […]
