Identity Burn Out and the Digital You
Yesterday I was looking back at some old blog posts from 2002, my first year of blogging. At the time blogging platforms were next to nonexistent, so I took to pasting my posts onto webpages like a dork. In 2007 I shifted to WordPress, and in 2008 my book RenGen: The Rise of the Renaissance Generation was published. It forecast the power...
Getting to Your Essence: A Lesson from Buckminster Fuller
Recognizing what makes us a whole person at our core should feel natural, but it so often eludes us in rocky times. Tuning into your innermost essence can help you navigate the next chapter of your life, and make the difference you need to make. For decades, I’ve drawn inspiration from the life and work of the late R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983)....
What Makes Content Delicious? 4 Key Ingredients
Like so many days during COVID, I was out of ideas for what to make for dinner. That’s how I discovered that my cherished copy of a NYT Cooking special insert was missing from its usual place. It’s a collection of “no-fail” recipes from food contributor Sam Sifton. Breaking the mold, each is written tersely as non-recipes—a simple set of instructions with...
A New Book Makes the Case for a Better Internet
Book review: Joanne McNeil’s debut book delivers a valuable history of the internet while advocating for a fresh future. Lurking: How a Person Became a User by art critic and digital culturist Joanne McNeil is full of fresh insights into how the internet has brought us together and torn us apart. Throughout the book McNeil’s humanity is palpable—she’s rooting for the user—but...
In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb. Why Spring Needs to Last.
Spring changes everything here in the Midwest. We shed our woolens and heavy coats. Everywhere you look it’s a riot of green. And I find myself wanting to hold onto the cool nights and subtle charms of hummingbirds before it all gets too overheated. The truth is that in most places, spring has gotten so abbreviated that it’s barely a blip. Some...