Articles and essays on design, technology, and my POV of the world. For shorter bursts find me on Mastodon.
Etymology is a meaningful part of my profession. Especially when working on Information Architecture and information design. It isn’t always a factor when considering language usage, but it does come into play. In any case, for a grammar enthusiast like myself it’s super fun to dive into the etymology of any given word, rabbit holes and all.
Back in 2013 I gave a talk about design usability which included a slide about the then-new Tesla touchscreen dashboard. Everyone was super hyped about how cool it was, but I was there to ruin the party with my criticism about a lack of tactile feedback.
These are my girls. With the help of my skillful coaching partner, I’m trying to prepare them for the 2027 World Cup. And while their silly-putty faces may lead you to believe that we’re the Bad News Bears of soccer (we kind of are) they are complete badasses.
Not all of us are okay. Nor are we prepared to answer the question genuinely. The world is overwhelming in myriad ways. It feels like a betrayal to the pain and suffering felt deep in the soul to reply with “okay, thanks.”
In high school I was often found listening to records in my living room, air drumming, trying to reverse engineer what I was hearing on my favorite records. Mostly I was trying to learn records by Death, Metallica, Slayer, and Rush.
I think I was six, which would have made my brother four. We were avid fans of The Hulk TV series, starring Lou Ferrigno. My dad, like most 70s dads I suspect, had a crush on Lou because he was manly and buff. For my brother and me, though, we just loved that he was green, wore purple pants, and beat the shit out of bad guys for doing bad things.
Every once in a while this story resurfaces in conversation. It’s pretty cool, so I thought I would go ahead and write it down for posterity.
This is “Mrs. Smith.” She no longer goes by that name, but that’s what I called her when she was my World Literature teacher during my senior year of high school. I enjoyed coffee and conversation with her on the morning this photo was taken, after a series of interesting events. I want to share this story as a way to help us paint a picture of teachers that doesn’t include arming them for battle in schools. Because gun control isn’t just about the people pulling the triggers.
My entire being has been rife with emotion today. From the moment I witnessed the institutional murder of Alton Sterling, my lens of the day was dramatically altered. I waded through an endless stream of tweets and posts about bullshit that seems meaningless in the wake of yet another murder which is, really, a slow leak in the sea of American genocide.
Tonight I fired up a record I haven’t played in years. While listening, I quietly uttered the words “man, this is my favorite record,” which reminded me of the time when I realized the magnitude mindfulness has had on my life.