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    Role Play

    We’re outside in a queue, my family and I, about twenty people ahead of us, along an ancient rod-iron fence protecting one of those perfectly manicured Disneyland garden beds. Behind us come the occasional screams from the Matterhorn, a perfunctory sound that’s been added to my memory after the fact, like a laugh track on…

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    Finding the Best vs Making the Best of It

    It’s a typical scene, a husband and wife trying to choose a restaurant for dinner. I don’t remember what it was like before the smartphone. I assume my wife and I would’ve gone out with spears and stalked the nearest wooly mammoth. I can’t remember. These days it’s a little more exhausting. The paradox of…

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    Insidious Nature of Push Notifications

    The train is the common metaphor for the concept of thought- a speeding, shimmering train of thought that barrels through your mind day and night. And of course, because it’s my voice that sings this inner dialogue, I must be driving the train. Consistent meditation begins to alter your perception of how thought exists, what…

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    The Anxiety of an Open Day

    There is an immense comfort in being buried under a pile of work, completely smothered by a warm blanket of tasks to accomplish. Some latent desire for authoritarianism makes me want to point to my calendar and see it all spelled out- here’s sixteen hours of chores that people need from me. Things people need…

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    Empty Moments

    Waiting for the eggs to finish cooking – open the news and check in on the entire world. Going out to walk the dog – grab the headphones and listen to a podcast. While the barista makes your coffee – check your email and delete a few unwanted promotional offers. Your daughter steps out of…

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    Charlotte’s Web

    Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into fall- the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change. In the course of one year, new spring to dying winter, Charlotte’s Web explores the feelings that come with facing our own mortality. I’ve been reading it…

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    Camera Carousel

    I stood next to my daughters as they rode in circles on a carousel. It was the ultimate forced move into helicopter parenting- I’m required to stand there in case my two year old gets thrown from a plaster panda bear, even though she’s four feet off the ground, affixed with a massive leather strap,…

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    How to Start a New Project

    Starting new projects is fun. A new beginning is adventurous, a journey into the unknown. I consider it a day wasted if I haven’t spent at least a few minutes imagining the start of some new project, new idea, maybe even a new life. Unless of course we’re talking about something public. Something shared. Something…

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    Solving Math Problems with Math Problems

    To a man with a hammer, everything is a nail. To a math professor who sees the need for more female math students, everything is a math problem. The context of her article- there are not enough females in STEM- and the core of her argument- that this comes from an institutional lack of confidence…

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    Ongoing Website Maintenance

    Websites are like cars. I don’t build my own car- heck I don’t even change my own oil- but it doesn’t mean I don’t drive one. I just trust the professionals to keep it running. At a certain point, if your car isn’t making regular visits to a professional for upkeep and maintenance, you’ll find…