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Cultural Appropriation and Invitation
Culture is a fundamental facet of identity. We all have culture(s) we identify with. But what counts as cultural appropriation is nuanced. Most of the time — bu...
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Creating a Career Narrative
If it’s been awhile since you’ve updated your resume, it can be hard to know where to start. Today, I want to share the process that helped me convert 15 years ...
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How we journal
Back in the aughts, one of the ubiquitous personal productivity blogs recommend couple’s journals. The idea was that a couple have a journal that they share, ex...
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Generative conflict builds trust
Generative conflict — collaborative debate(https://medium.com/@komorama/debate-should-be-collaborative-not-combative-185ff37f1d34) as one of my mentors calls it...
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My abortion, redux
It is time to once again share my abortion experience. This is my baby Flora. I loved her. I love her. I aborted her. My husband and I held her until her body ...
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What’s the critical theory in critical race theory?
Starting with the caveat that I am rather sympathetic to the actual curriculum associated with proposals for teaching critical race theory in schools, I think i...
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The Tyranny of the Objective
I recently finished reading Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25670869-why-greatness-cannot-be-planned). The basic thesis is t...
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Social Media: The Uncanny Valley of Relationships
Here’s a conundrum: social media helps us get to know each other just well enough to dislike each other. Many of the people we interact with on social media ar...
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The Challenge of Imperfection
Preface: Contains major spoilers for Bridgerton season 1, discussion of nonconsensual sex, and minor spoilers of Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey. There i...
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Design is inevitable
Any human system where what one person does can affect another is designed. That does not mean it is designed well, intentionally, or holistically but it is, in...
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Monetary System Tweaks
A thing I’m thinking about (inspired by Doughnut Economics): In the US, we think of money as being made by the Treasury Department. We worry, rightly, about inc...
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Be well
Maybe some folks here will find something useful in this (slightly edited) message I sent to my team. We’re one month into the new year. We had a break. And fo...
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Fitness varies by the job
In Understanding the Process of Economic Change(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/750671.Understanding_the_Process_of_Economic_Change) Douglas North observed ...
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A Concept to Know: Nebulosity
Often, a debate is not only about which conclusions about a topic are correct. It is as much, or more, about defining the topic itself. Yet we are rarely able ...
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Moral expectations and the social contract
In The Expectations of Morality, Gregory F. Mellema develops the idea of moral expectations. (I didn’t think the book was great(https://www.goodreads.com/review...
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Architectures and Change
Modular Flexibility One of the many important ideas in The Origin of Wealth by Eric D. Beinhocker is that the shape of most systems can be thought of as module...
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Boundary Maintenance and Culture
Cultural appropriation is a topic I come back to regularly. Not all examples of cultural borrowing constitute cultural appropriation. Yet there are some example...
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Sunlight Is the Best Fertilizer
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” When bad behavior goes unchecked, it will grow and fester in secret. By exposing bad behavior, the system will be forced t...
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You vs Context
Note: Rob Hansen, the host of the original conversation below (but not the person making the objection, posted a thoughtful response to this(https://nsrllookup....
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Know Thyself
Most people want to change in some way, but how do we understand who we currently are? One popular approach is the life narrative. We look back on our whole li...
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The intersection of sex and gender
First, the caveat: This is neither a critique nor a defense of J.K. Rowling’s recent commentary on Twitter (link(https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/126938251...
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Facts and Narratives
Originally published on Medium on May 13, 2020. One of the most important skills to cultivate if you want to be an effective leader across groups with multiple...
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Musings on Omnipotence & Modernity
I’ve heard it said that theodicy — the problem of how an all powerful God allows pain, suffering, evil — is a modern problem. (Modern in the sense of a Christia...
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Developing an Architectural North Star for a Tech Stack
Originally published on Medium on January 8, 2020. One of the scenarios that drives me crazy as an owner of a complex and complicated tech stack is this: we wa...
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Close the Threads!
Originally published on Medium on November 21, 2019. Don’t underestimate the power of closing open threads of thought and action. Things that aren’t closed out...
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The Inequity of Public(ish) Education
Originally published on Medium on September 13, 2019. Yesterday we had curriculum night at our daughter’s elementary school. All-in-all, I liked what I heard. ...
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Comparative Advantage as a Distribution Principle
Originally published on Medium on June 26, 2019. Comparative advantage(https://fs.blog/2009/08/should-tiger-woods-mow-his-own-lawn-the-principles-of-comparativ...
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Cultural infringement
Originally published on Medium on June 11, 2019. I have a narrow definition of cultural appropriation(https://medium.com/@erika.rs/inspiration-or-appropriation...
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Increase your credibility with this one trick!
Originally published on April 26, 2019. Why take time to try to really understand what someone is saying? It increases your credibility. Let’s start by clarif...
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Abortion: some complexities
Originally published on Medium on January 3, 2019. This post is about my views on the morality of abortion. I strongly support access to safe and legal abortio...
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Hurray, hurray, we did okay!
Originally published on Medium on December 29, 2018. Background: I spent about 7 years working on one of the backends that powered, among other things, part of...
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Why I cannot support Kavanaugh’s nomination
Originally published on Medium on October 6, 2018. Over on Google+ Robert Hansen gracefully offered an opportunity(https://plus.google.com/+RobertHansen75/post...
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Inspiration or appropriation?
Originally published on Google+ on October 5, 2018. A couple months ago I synthesized ideas that stuck in my head after reading articles about cultural appropr...
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Foxes and Hedgehogs
Originally published on Medium on September 15, 2018. Adapted from here(https://pixabay.com/en/play-doh-animals-clay-animals-cat-3629084/) with my skills (or l...
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Success and -isms
Originally published on Medium on August 18, 2018. Source(https://pixabay.com/en/squad-man-group-group-together-3370836/) I read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In at ...
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I think, perhaps, this might be useful
Source(https://pixabay.com/en/sparrows-sparrows-family-birds-2759978/) Originally published on Medium on July 27, 2018. Common advice says that if you want to...
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O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!
Originally published on Medium on July 27, 2018. Photo by Vince Fleming(https://unsplash.com/photos/Vmr8bGURExo?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_con...
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Summary: A Model of Reference-Dependent Preferences
Originally published on Medium on July 13, 2018. Source(https://pixabay.com/en/black-coffee-coffee-cup-desk-drink-2847957/) The paper “A Model of Reference-De...
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Uncomfortable Parallels
Originally published on Medium on July 1, 2018. Source: me First, the caveat. I’m a fan of thoughtful gun control proposals. I want them to be effective and c...
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Leaders should use caveated language
I was writing a comment at work this morning, and I realized that, as a TLM, I end up intentionally using the sort of caveated language that, earlier in my care...
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Ethics for humans
Originally published on Medium on May 11, 2018. Source(https://pixabay.com/en/unknown-think-contemplate-thought-1769656/) How do we actually do ethics? Do we ...
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Act, - act in the living Present!
Originally published on Medium on May 2, 2018. Source(https://pixabay.com/en/ballerina-ballet-dancer-dancer-3055155/) The goal of ethics feels obvious… until ...
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Respectfully yours
Originally published on Medium on April 20, 2018. I considered making this a part of my G+ post wishing peace upon Barbara Bush after her death, but it was not...
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Nonbinary != Neutral
Originally published on Medium on March 23, 2018 Source(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_TransGender-Symbol_black-and-white.svg) We’re learning that ...
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People are talkin’, talkin’ ‘bout people
Originally published on Medium on March 19, 2018. Source(https://pixabay.com/en/feedback-confirming-businessmen-2990424/) In my last essay(https://medium.com/...
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Can utility help us decide?
Originally published on Medium on March 14, 2018. I sum up my feelings about utilitarianism this way: utilitarianism is good ethics but bad morals. First off,...
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Comparative utility
Originally published on Medium on Mar 9, 2018. In ethical arguments, doing good and preventing harm are often treated symmetrically. All else being equal, doin...
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Free as in speech or free as in…$5, please
Free as in speech or free as in…$5, please Originally published on Medium on March 9, 2018. Is it ever okay to refuse service to another person because doing ...
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A review of “Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings”
In preparation for the reread, I read <i>Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings</i> by Mary Henley Rubio. During Montgomery’s life and for many decades after,...
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Why is Maud so enduring?
Remember, this blog is full of spoilers. Today’s post contains very minor spoilers for AnneofGreenGables and EmilyofNewMoon and a moderately substantial spoiler...
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Reflections on “Caritas in veritate”
Originally published on LiveJournal in August 2009. Lightly edited from the original. Pt 1: Introduction This is the first in a 10 part series on “Caritas in...