The shootings in Buffalo and Texas have wrecked me – and I can’t keep watching the same old arguments fly by in screenshotted tweets in Instagram stories. It’s all so predictable and isn’t going to change anything. And that makes this grief feel worse. This thought keeps pinging around in my head and it won’t… Continue reading The Gun is Fear
The Next Step in Representation
My youngest is in the process of graduating from high school, and I’ve got all kinds of feelings about it, so I’ve been escaping to comfort TV and rewatching The Great Pottery Throwdown from start to finish. In season four, they “promoted” kiln man Rich to host (he’s delightful) and replaced him as the kiln… Continue reading The Next Step in Representation
A Small Part
No matter how much one may love the world as a whole, one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it. Where we live and who we live there with define the terms of our relationship to the world and to humanity. We thus come again to the… Continue reading A Small Part
Say No to Takes
You are not compelled to form any opinion about this matter before you, nor to disturb your peace of mind at all. Things in themselves have no power to extort a verdict from you. Marcus Aurelius
To Be Undaunted
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. Rabbi Tarfon in 70CE
On Anger
I read this harrowing essay about being a woman on the internet at lunch today and it got me thinking (which is a sure sign of a good essay). It reminded me of this episode of Plain English where he talked to Dan Pink about regret. The host makes a joke about how he’s wasted… Continue reading On Anger
Climbing Mountains or Digging Coal
I was talking to my manager today about what I want to do, specifically about how much of my time I want to spend coding and I came up with a new metaphor! Coding, especially in Ruby, isn’t the same challenge it used to be. Do I still like it? Sure, it’s fun, and I… Continue reading Climbing Mountains or Digging Coal
Meh, Humbug
I’ve been feeling pretty blah about the holidays, and I think Josh Marshall gets to the core of it. I’m just tired of COVID, tired of the constant debate, unknowns, the raging of morons, the lack of common sense and shared sacrifice, of not knowing if I’m doing enough to protect myself and my family,… Continue reading Meh, Humbug
A Quick Friday Thought on Soft Power
I was talking to someone today about soft power, and an hour of me giving advice and workshopping things came down to: Build trust by working in the open and asking people for feedback. Praise them for their contributions, often. Talk to people and ask their preferred work style, and respect it. You build trust… Continue reading A Quick Friday Thought on Soft Power
Coming Out
Two years ago, I wrote about our kids coming out. Well, it’s National Coming Out Day again and I have stuff to talk about. That last post was about preparing for your kid coming out to you, but I think it’s worth preparing ourselves for anyone we care about coming out to us – because… Continue reading Coming Out