Who am I to write about poetry? It's like Shakespeare in some senses. I know I should like it, but I don't know how. The language is foreign, and I don’t understand the concepts as maybe others do. Believe me, I've tried. And some poetry clicks with me. Yet, I still feel insecure about the writing form. After listening to the Conversations With Tyler episode with Harvard English professor and Poetry In America host, Elisa New, I now feel less insecure.
Read MoreThere's a moment in the CWT episode with Ezra Klein, where Klein talks about his perspective of Silicon Valley. He explains that the Silicon Valley model is about coming up with 20 ideas knowing only two of them will work. Klein doesn't favor this approach (always), opting for a better understanding of the problem before generating solutions (I lean this way too). In explaining his thoughts, Klein mentions Chesteron's Fence without further explanation. I had no idea what Chesterton's Fence was, so I followed the link to learn more.
Read MoreThere’s a lot of fascinating stuff in the Conversations With Tyler episode with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. But, what stood out the most to me was his concerns about exposing children to screens too early. I know that there’s a lot of back and forth about the effects of screens. A few days ago, I saw a New York Times article claiming that they’re not as bad as we make them out to be. Still, I lean toward the side of concern. The Screens of Good assignment that I give to sophomore designers in my user-centered design lecture is proof that position. Ross Douthat shares that concern and has a solution. Real-life.
Read More“There’s an Alfred North Whitehead quote that he said: “Sometimes I give a student an A or B instead of a C or a D because they’ll earn it 20 years from now.” A good teacher will lodge education in a student’s mind that may not bear fruit for 10, 15 years.” - Quote by Hollis Robin
Read More“It’s only through this exposure that you can learn how wrong most of your intuitions are and preconceptions are. I can tell it to them till they are blue in the face to not let themselves be guided by what seems obvious to them. But until they’ve confronted what they think is obvious to something entirely different, then it’s not clear.” - Esther Duflo
Read MoreI confided in a dear friend and fellow designer recently about how I get a weird feeling in my stomach when a potential client emails or calls me. I’m never excited. I compare it to how I felt playing baseball as a teenager. The older I got, the more I dreaded playing baseball. Before games, I would pray for a rain out. I didn’t enjoy the game and it didn’t help that I was terribly afraid of getting hit by a pitch, or a line drive. For my teammates, it all seemed to come naturally. For me, I would have rather stayed home and played Final Fantasy IV.
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