It feels different now, doesn’t it. It shouldn’t — thousands of people are dying every day. More than 67,000 have died in the U.S. alone, and 245,000 worldwide. But contemporary capitalism has an extraordinary capacity to subsume tragedy: it depends on growth, and on movement, neither of which can happen during the sort of societal paralysis that would be appropriate during this time. Not only, of course, because people are dying — but in order to stem the spread. And so (at least some of us) relax into a sort of short-term amnesia. You want things to be the way things were, you want

Anne Truitt’s advice against immediately judging artists: Don’t have to bring them in for a landing or send them away, just let them circle.

I think flowers enjoy their solitude … I think sprinklers annoy them.

You don’t have to know everything about a topic to write a book on it. You just have to be very interested in something and keep your audience in mind. ​ Technical books don’t have to be written in order. If you have a strong outline, you can hop to some other part of it if you are feeling stuck on the bit you are working on.

What are you seeing from your industry/work that is very clear to you but not obvious to people outside of your world?

I honestly don’t know. All I know is that once an estranged parent dies, there’s often little left but second guesses. My life in many ways has been defined in opposition to my father. It’s a story I’ve heard from others with an estranged parent.

Writing these updates feels like trying to describe a state that's receding from me, like painting a sky full of stars that are already dead. ​ The best online interactions I've had don't try to recreate the past, but start with the premise of disembodiment.

Forecasts rely on knowing when something will occur. Expectations are an acknowledgment of what’s likely to occur without professing insight into when it will happen.

maybe we should allow people to say they’re just not a math person, and maybe we should find ways they can still support and appreciate math without feeling like they need a Ph.D.

The exterior urban environment has unintentionally decoupled from the economy, and to spend time outdoors in these conditions is to re-establish a more direct relationship to space that normally extracts value from us at every turn.

A story about our first year, some fun numbers, and a look to what’s ahead

Because starting means imperfection. It means trying and sometimes (maybe even frequently) failing. It means sometimes re-reading your own words one day, month, year later and thinking “how in the hell did I ever think that was an acceptable sentence” and not taking that as an invitation to stop.

another thing I love about poetry: it’s ability to change meaning

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My unmothered bird, dropped from the sky like a millstone. …the swell of new growth

let the person kiss the mask instead.

A crystal sheet Below, an enormous secret lake, like gladness. and worn by thousands and thousands of other women reminds you of yourself when you are not even sure what that is Mesh of thunder above. Soon I won’t be at arm’s length.

If you think you're not an expert in something, you are probably wrong.A simple concept may convince you: I call it the ladder of expertise.Many view Experts as separate from Novices. Like Go

A blog can still stand as a separate place to develop an individual voice. But what if a blog could also exist as a Twitter account of sorts?

the current mode of team-based mathematics is a relatively new phenomenon. “Mathematics used to be a much more individual activity,” Minsky said. “Maybe in the next year or so, we’ll be back to some solo projects.”

If I had The Sads, I could pull up this list and sink down into the sensory details of, say, that strong hit of pine scent you randomly get on a hiking trail.