Where You Could Be

"Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing."

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 09:09:42 -0700

“Story is something moving, something happening, something or somebody changing.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin, in Steering the Craft, via Cabinet of Wonders

"When I was 15 I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the..."

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 10:59:38 -0800

“

When I was 15 I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.

And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”

And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.

”

- threerings, responding to a letter from Kurt Vonnegut

"“What is poetry?” I asked. He laid the wilted petals in his palm. “Listen to Mother play. She..."

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 11:04:25 -0700

“

“What is poetry?” I asked.

He laid the wilted petals in his palm. “Listen to Mother play. She practices and practices a piece, and sometimes a magic thing happens and it seems the music starts to breathe. It sends a shiver through you. You can’t explain it, really; it’s a mystery. Well, when words do that, we call it poetry.”

”

- Michael Bedard, Emily

It doesn’t matter if you think you did a good job or not. That’s not the question. The ONLY...

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 21:20:58 -0800

It doesn’t matter if you think you did a good job or not. That’s not the question. The ONLY question you need to ask at the end of your first adventure is “do I want to run games?” If the answer is yes, then keep running games. If the answer is no, stop. But don’t even think about whether you did good or not.

—Scott Rehm

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Mon, 24 Jul 2017 16:09:18 -0700

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Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:37:52 -0700

By Saul Steinberg, via Zach Lieberman’s Eyeo 2015 talk

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:34:24 -0700

By Saul Steinberg, via Zach Lieberman’s Eyeo 2015 talk

—Christopher Alexander, in the foreword of Richard P....

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 04:42:38 -0700

—Christopher Alexander, in the foreword of Richard P. Gabriel’s Patterns of Software

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders...."

Tue, 12 Jul 2016 09:08:48 -0700

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, via Hypatia Text Protocol

"Emotional commitment is a key to achieving mastery."

Wed, 04 May 2016 16:18:38 -0700

“Emotional commitment is a key to achieving mastery.”

- Michael Nielsen

"Do not walk in the footsteps of the sages. Instead, seek what they sought."

Sat, 02 Jan 2016 15:10:19 -0800

“Do not walk in the footsteps of the sages. Instead, seek what they sought.”

- Unknown (via Karsten Schmidt)

"Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands..."

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 21:43:18 -0800

“Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling but start. Start and don’t stop. Start where you are, with what you have. Just … start.”

- Ijeoma Umebinyuo

"By leaning on correctness, it was possible to alleviate the burden of decision."

Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:13:00 -0800

“By leaning on correctness, it was possible to alleviate the burden of decision.”

- Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form

"The complexity of the problem will defeat us unless we find a simple way of writing it down."

Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:32:00 -0800

“The complexity of the problem will defeat us unless we find a simple way of writing it down.”

- Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form

"The producers didn’t own screws, they owned machines for making screws, so you might as well..."

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 21:45:45 -0700

“The producers didn’t own screws, they owned machines for making screws, so you might as well design everything from scratch.”

- Clay Shirky

"The engineering lens presupposes two things: first, that the world is full of problems. And second,..."

Wed, 01 Oct 2014 23:58:50 -0700

“The engineering lens presupposes two things: first, that the world is full of problems. And second, that they can be solved.”

- Mel Chua, What Is Engineering

"Socratic education isn’t available anymore"

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:01:34 -0700

“Socratic education isn’t available anymore”

- Steve Jobs, in a 1985 Playboy interview

"What are the most important problems in your field? Are you working on one of them? Why not?"

Sat, 21 Jun 2014 22:55:09 -0700

“

What are the most important problems in your field?

Are you working on one of them?

Why not?

”

- Richard Hamming, You and Your Research

"I’ve just come to realize that, we’re only here briefly. And while I’m here, I..."

Wed, 30 Apr 2014 18:06:00 -0700

“I’ve just come to realize that, we’re only here briefly. And while I’m here, I wanna allow myself joy. So fuck it.”

- Amy, in Her

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Tue, 18 Mar 2014 21:57:33 -0700