On my mind this Monday morning, a story from my grandfather about the meaning of work: Grampa spent his career at GE back when that was a thing. He was an inventor with an insatiably restless mind. At one point, GE was building a huge new factory. Grampa was one of the earliest to move […]
I’ve got a weekend to-do list as long as my arm but I’ve also got something to say about the slow death-by-a-thousand-cuts of so many aspects of the minimum wage, unemployment, and direct aid pieces of the American Rescue Plan in Congress and I’m just gonna make time for it, hope you will too, here […]
I’m about to keep it really real, friends. This is the antibiotic I was given yesterday, to treat the infected spot where my skin picking and hair pulling unfortunately collided a few weeks ago via a pair of tweezers. If you think that’s shocking or gross, don’t worry, I’m fine. For me, this is normal. […]
Twelve years. A day, and forever. Not sure which. But it does, finally, feel like enough distance that I can bear to go back and find the eulogy I wrote for his funeral. It was the best I could do to build a memorial for him at the time. Turns out, it still brings him […]
2 days ago, I made an impulse turn from my usual path and found myself on a posh Newport Beach street that I’ve never biked before. The homes are mostly walled off, except the ones that are in the process of being torn down and rebuilt even swankier. So I only saw a few local […]
You guys. I just saw it so clearly it took my breath away. The pattern is, there is no pattern. Walk with me here for a sec: We’ve got a holiday today, so I’m on an extra-leisurely coffeewalk. Thinking about the sine wave hum of anxiety that backgrounds my existence, and how it’s based in […]
Short rant ahead so listen up: 1. I am a lifelong coward. Conflict averse like you wouldn’t believe. People angry at me feels like death. 2. Offhand I can think of no fewer than three occasions when I have deliberately risked my career on a principle. Including once where I actually torpedoed my own job […]
My college classmates group is all abuzz over the Cabinet confirmations of a couple of our alums, and it is triggering me right in the Shoulds, big time. Because that’s what it seems like so many of my classmates are: Big Time. Now, it’s a huge school, so I’m not implying I’m BFFs with these […]
Welp, today is my birthday. Looking back, 48 was quite a year by the numbers: Left my office in L.A. on March 11 and never went back Voted twice (I mean the primary and the general, what’d you think I meant?) Beat one big scary bully with my brain and my ability to build strong […]
Wanna do something nice for me on my birthday this MLK weekend? Give me one minute of your time to really read Dr. King’s quote about “white moderates” below. Then give me just one more minute where you reflect on today’s voices calling for supposed “unity” — yes, including President-Elect Biden. Is Dr. King’s daughter, […]