Flashing Palely in the Margins
When someone cuts down a tree, somebody else has to plant a new one Apr 02
This is what is keeping me afloat as we cope with a political and social environment that is so bent on destruction of what we hold dear: that one day, we will have the chance to restore, and to build again, and build better. And it’s that thought, that aspiration to create things that will help people and build community and make lives better, that I carry with me through all the tumult we have now.
A few nice things Mar 20
A few snippets from the week gone by involving ice cream, birdsong, bubbles; Nowruz, and a whole lot more.
Walk-and-talk Mar 13
A walking meeting is not just a way for me to accumulate more steps in my pedometer. It's also a way for me to experience the content of the meeting with new context, to literally ground myself and surround myself with life.
What is your work? Mar 13
When was the last time you asked yourself about the work? What is your work now?
A bit of anger, a bit of sadness, a bit of wondering where this is all going Mar 07
As part of the recent tumult in US politics, Trump/Musk/DOGE recently laid off all the staff at 18F, essentially shuttering the agency and with it destroying years of digital experience in government.
Forty-three Feb 26
February is the cruelest month, but it is also filled with kindness.
On the precarious situation of the civil service Feb 16
I recently read an interesting look at how the stable, impartial civil service was created, and how it was different from the partial, ever-changing system of government workers before it—and how it’s slowly being dismantled by the Trump administration.
Life in weeks Feb 14
It’s so easy for a week to fly by without really feeling like we’ve fully lived it. If we only have four thousand of them, there’s an important impetus to live each one with intention.
Water slide Feb 04
It had been almost 30 years since I last went on a water slide.
Recommitting to handwriting Feb 04
I don’t write in cursive anymore. I still do a ton of writing by hand—postcards and letters and even notes from work and life—but I inevitably write in block letters because they are easier and more comfortable, and mostly because I have fallen out of practice writing in cursive and don’t really know how to do it well anymore.
Demotion Jan 22
This week, I returned to my job working in employee experience and organizational culture after six months of managing a team of talent and operations professionals. And I am relieved.
Re-entering Jan 09
There are always things that can change to make things easier, to make the everyday more fulfilling. A period of reentry puts those things in perspective.
Snippets at the end of the year Dec 22
This is most likely the last update I’ll be posting until 2025 — I’ll be spending the rest of the year celebrating with family and friends and thinking fondly about everyone that I love.
Maa Dec 11
When I was young, still living in New York, I would often wake from my sleep, deep in the middle of the night, and wake up my grandmother.
On the way to the bus stop Nov 07
On weekday mornings, early enough that the sun is still creeping up past the horizon, we bundle up in our jackets, grab the backpack, and walk to the bus stop.
Ask me what I am writing Oct 23
If you do see me or correspond, feel free to ask me: are you writing? What are you writing about?
First day of school Sep 05
School started this week, and I haven’t been this nervous or excited in decades.
Cold water Jun 25
I’ve been thinking about “truths” I tell myself, about the narrative I construct about the things I like and do not like, the things I do and do not do, the way I am and am not.
Asparagus season May 23
There is an asparagus farm a stone’s throw away from our house, and every spring, I’m so thankful that it’s there.
On poetry May 08
Some time ago, someone asked me why I share poems on my website and newsletter when poetry is so easily accessible everywhere else.
There are mountains Apr 17
We can see the snowy peaks of mountains rising up above the buildings, providing a majestic backdrop to the city that can't be ignored.
Grieving over what was lost Apr 04
These past few weeks, I’ve been grieving. With a stroke of a pen, the Ontario Digital Service, an organization I helped conceive of and build from scratch, was effectively erased from existence.
Distraction-free Mar 07
It can be daunting to be bored (though I’d argue that being alone with your ruminations is anything but boring) in a world engineered to keep us distracted and busy.
Omakase (forty-two) Feb 28
In an omakase, every course is one bite, and in that bite, an opportunity to not only wow you with the quality of the fish and the flavors of the composition, but also to impress you with the immense mastery of craft needed to create a piece that is delicious, intricate, and visually stunning.
Recoding America Feb 22
Reading Jennifer Pahlka’s Recoding America was a perfect reminder of why I do the work I do. Pahlka provides a number of examples of how thinking differently about the way we deliver services leads to better outcomes for people, and how thinking differently requires having digital talent inside government.
Podcasting and the open web Feb 08
I have long been awed by an amazing thing: podcasting doesn’t belong to anyone. Anyone can start a podcast, anyone can share a podcast, anyone can subscribe to a podcast. Podcasts are for everyone, without consideration of platform or application.
Remember Jan 17
I laugh and tell people that I have a bad memory, but perhaps I am not working hard enough at remembering.
In the snow Jan 12
I didn’t grow up with an appreciation for winter. Ever since I was a child, I found it too cold, too uncomfortable, too desolate of a season.
Eight years ago Nov 08
Eight years ago, if you were to have asked me what my life would look like in eight years, there are very few things I would have guessed right.
The change of the seasons Sep 28
Autumn has arrived. Change is on its way.
Sounds of summer Jul 20
More and more these days, I’m making it a point to take out my AirPods and listen to the world as it rushes by.
Tell your friends you love them Jun 07
Tell your friends you love them when you can. You never know when you may not be able to say it again.
When ChatGPT takes my job May 08
As someone who does a lot of writing for work, whether that be in briefing notes or presentation decks or memos or just in Slack, I’ve long thought about what it would mean if a machine could do my writing better than I could.
Looking for delight Apr 04
Every day, I look for the little moments of joy, the little bits of delight that cross my path.
Forty-one Mar 02
Forty-one is about gaining an understanding of what it means to be entering the middle of your life. It is a year when you stop marvelling at the milestone and instead start thinking about what is yet to be unveiled—and start preparing for what life will look like in the coming years.
Dining at restaurants with children Feb 17
Taking our daughter to a restaurant is not only an opportunity for her to learn what it like to live with others, but also to have collective, social experiences that enrich her life.
How will you afford to spend your final years of life? Feb 12
Dying at home has become a luxury not many can afford: it often requires the kind of round-the-clock care that is not possible for immediate family members and their life situations, and can be extremely expensive when outside help is brought in.
Stop and pause Feb 10
Whatever happened to the “stop” button for audio/video?
Tennis lesson Feb 02
During our recent vacation, I decided to take a beginner’s tennis lesson. I had taken a tennis lesson years before, when I was younger and spryer, but everything I learned in that lesson had already left me. I was starting fresh and anew.
Thinking a little bit about snow Jan 09
These days, when I think of the snow, I think of snowdrifts and slush. Perhaps I need to find a tray and go sledding; perhaps I need to get in a snowsuit and make snow angels.