I’m experimenting with the idea of giving a monthly update of how I’m doing and what I’m up to. Let’s see if it sticks! And if it doesn’t, then at least you’ve got a snapshot of January 2021. I worry that I do not have the writing skills to convey what I want to convey to a potentially infinite audience. When I speak candidly, I also want to be empathetic and fair. I’m confident I can do that when speaking to individuals because I can adjust to the audience – is this a friend from college? A student looking for advice? Another woman leader in tech who knows? What parts do I need to explain carefully, what parts can I wave off with shorthand language? It’s simpler in small groups. and how sometimes it’s not that they’re being a jerk to me, or vice versa; but we’re operating under different value systems. I’m thinking a lot about something my friend called “toxic positivity,” similar to ruinous empathy – an environment where if one tries to have difficult conversations, it’s viewed as being a bad actor. Conversations around e.g. a strategy not working, someone not having the right skillset for the task at hand, or needing to let people go, etc. being viewed as being vicious, rather than something necessary (and to be done with empathy and care). How unintentional toxicity can come from a person simply being in the wrong role, even when their intentions are pure.

While websites are really good for giving you a “presence” on the internet, I think they’re really powerful as tools not just to broadcast your identity, but to help you develop it. ​ The things that we’re all learning today are rich, multimedia, and hyperlinked. You need to be working in the appropriate medium to try and keep up with that. ​ The Recurse Center community has the Blaggerator, a RSS aggregator that creates topics in Zulip, that’s a really useful piece of community infrastructure. It basically gives you an audience for your writing that you know cares about the subject matter and shares your values.

In pandemic times, fears of waldenponding seem less applicable. It's not about building a new city or society, but a transient, protected retreat. (e.g. the Recurse Center). …It seems valuable to shield these sorts of endeavors from an environment that's increasingly hostile to knowledge work.

But remote RC is working, and it includes most of the best parts of RC because it includes the most important part: kind, thoughtful, curious people who are committed to becoming better programmers together.

As a team of only seven people operating solely off revenue and not VC funding, we are judicious about what we prioritize and focus on. Now, our priorities have been changed for us, and our new focus is clear: We must build an excellent, online-only version of RC.

One of my sisters, after having seen my pictures with a new outfit or after trying on makeup, said it was like watching me “bloom” into a new person. And i do feel like a completely different person than i was over the summer; those days feel impossibly far away now. ​ However, this kind of puts me between worlds: i’m hesitant to go back to my “old home”, but i still have yet to establish a “new home” of my own.

I think doing math professionally can be stifling as it can feel like you’re expected to know everything while staying collected. This blog is my outlet to do my best to grow as a mathematician while giving myself and others permission to be wrong, ignorant, and emotional about math!

Additionally, we want RC to be a place where everyone can focus their time and energy on becoming better programmers, not worrying that they don’t belong or feeling like they have to represent their entire race or gender because they’re in the extreme minority. We focus on diversity so Recursers can focus on programming.

A blog on the intersections of computer, history, and art. Plus some personal stories.

We describe RC as being self-directed and community-driven, but what do these terms actually mean?

“One of the things that makes RC unique is that everyone has the rare opportunity to take responsibility for and direct their own learning — from deciding what is important to them to what their goals are and how to achieve them. At the same time, RC is at its best when everyone is mindful and supportive of each other’s learning goals. Bifurcating our community into “Recursers” and “residents” does not help this.”