Learning is Change

The Testament of Ann Lee

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Purpose is in short supply. Belief not so much. When you match purpose with belief, you often times get magic. And yet, when you confuse the two, you often find tragedy.

Purpose is something that fulfills you. It is a kind of accomplishment in and of itself. Because that fulfillment is often with your hands and with your heart. If you are  for yourself, for the love of it, for what it can bring. Careful woodwork or well prepared sushi. A well understood instrument that is caressed into song.

But, marry that purpose. The kind that stretches fingers and makes motion. Marry it with belief, the kind that is so strident that all else falls away in the face of it. There you will find life changing magic that fells trees and moves people across continents.

Ann Lee had that kind of marriage. At least according to her testimony as told through the lens of 2026 film. Her shaker belief met the purpose of salvation and every single house and family and chair and floorboard she touched showed that purpose and the belief behind it.

But, what I saw... the transcendent nature of quaking in the face of god. I saw in her conviction, the humanity that it requires to believe together. To love together. To dance together.

Sometimes when you do a thing with enough purpose and belief, it opens you up to an awakening. To a rebirth. To something that cannot be reproduced or manufactured. It is only available to those who witness it. It is a spiritual encounter. An ability to notice and name the divine.

I do not want to be a conduit for the almighty. But, I do miss the community that makes the almighty possible. It is only in those meeting rooms that the divine exists. It is only when people are there to give voice to it that it has power. I miss those people, the purpose, and the belief.

An Honest Encounter With Death

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An honest encounter with death is not something I am prepared for, most of the time.

When the actress I only knew from The Crown, a former queen in my eyes, said that she was sorry that the rabbit died, that her hawk was to blame, but so are we all. We are to blame for our own deaths. We are to blame for one another's deaths. Responsible for them.

And more important still, we are all going to die. And that knowledge is why we do almost everything we do. The transient nature of who we are, and why we are here is never so very far away. It is why we are so obsessed with being right. With making it harder for others, when we could just shut the fuck up.

But, when you face it. When you see yourself as you are for the majority of your non-existence, as a dead man, you know that it has been an honest encounter. You don't have to pretend that it won't happen, because you already know.

And then it is not about my death, the one that I find the least likely. It is about my father's death, the one that already happened. And my mother's death, the one that is still yet to come. The one that seems far away, but ever nearer. Theirs is the generation that is next, or that is present. And yet, it doesn't always work that way. Death is never so clean cut. It never quite follows the natural order, even for a natural process.

I do not wish for death. Not for myself and not for others, and yet it is such a constant companion that it is hard to do anything other than greet it as it is all around you. It isn't just in the hospital as the death rattle hit for my grandmother. When my father stopped me in the middle of a story to listen to the very last breath. When I heard the wet in and out, the subtle ache that was longing to let go.

When I was in the bed next to my father. Knowing that it was hours and not days. When he asked me, "Am I dying." And I told him, "not now, but soon." He knew I was telling the truth. He knew it was a conclusion, a restating of the thesis of his life. And none of the trailing sentences mattered that much. The time he would spend on the bedside commode. The time I would spend cleaning him up. Trying to care for him even a tiny amount as he had cared for me.

And he had cared for me. From beginning to end. And then death took him. And we were left, watching the TV in the waiting room as more and more people came to say goodbye. As every faculty he had left him, one by one. The thoughts, the words, the breathing.

My father is dead. And I will never have another. And I will do the same to my sons. I will leave them. Perhaps in a hospital bed, and perhaps in the middle of the night. But, odds are that each of them will say something just as I said something for my father. It is absurd. It is nonsense to leave this place. With all of its magic and consciousness.

And I do not envy them the eulogy. But, I do wish I could hear it. The fortunate part is that just like my father, I know that I am loved.

A New Way To Blog

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I have fully given up on running my own server. After 20 years of "owning" my own space online, I have finally moved everything over to running it on Github as static files. This is both far less complicated and far more interesting for this moment in time. I want to be able to manipulate all of my content via API. I want to be able to build things on top of it and pull it a whole bunch of different ways without needing Wordpress' permission to do so.


However, I did need to make sure that the full 20 years of Learning is Change was preserved, and for the most part, it is. I still need to figure out RSS feeds if I want to keep on making those work, but for now I'm pretty satisfied with the fact that after about a day of tinkering with Claude.AI, I was able to re-write the entire function of posting new content and updating all of the category, tag, yearly, and monthly archive pages while preserving silly things like breadcrumbs and navigation. This is the first post in the new format, and I think it looks rather nice. 


I also can upload pictures and do fancy formatting. Because I have relied upon Wordpress for so many years, I really haven't thought about just what I could make this blog and my own writing space be. But, now that they are just dumb HTML files, I can do pretty much anything I want. Here is to the future of Learningischange.com. May it become exactly what it always should be, a reflection of who I am in this moment in time. In November 2025, I wrote over 50,000 words. (Hint: I'm The Laserdisc Leftist on this list.)


My Oldest Son’s Last Week of High School

I remember blogging on this very site when I was turning 25 and I was about to have my first child. I remember the goals I had for myself then. Write a book, record a record, have a first child, and continue my graduate school education.

I got exactly one of them completed by the time that my oldest will graduate from high school. And that was him being born. I succeeded in making it through his whole K-12 education, even though I didn’t make it through my own higher learning. I succeeded in imparting to him a love of music, even if I wasn’t able to continue making new music past his birth. I was able to write notes and messages and posts and pages, but never a book. Still, his story is far more compelling than any novel or memoir might have been.

Someone told me recently that your child graduating high school was a success for the whole family. That it took a lot more work than just the individual effort by the child themselves or by the parents either. And while I have always scoffed at the “It takes a village” of it all, it is nonetheless true. It is nonetheless a fully realized nugget of wisdom.

And this village of suburbs and of punks in the city. This village of music and movies and books and random people on the internet. This village of many days spent in his room making meaning all his own.

It is an accomplishment. Graduating from high school. It is a success of an incredible kind. Especially now. Especially in 2025.

When he was born, I really thought that having a kid graduate in 2025 would mean something. That number was somehow special in my mind. And as it turns out, it was special, but not for the cosmic reasons that I had originally given to it. It is special because he is special. It is special because of just how much we have gone through together in order to get to this point.

All experience is just a period of transition from one state to another. This transition to adulthood, to life after high school has been hard fought and hard won. I am so proud of him for making it. I am proud of myself for being here when he does. I am proud of this village for helping him to survive and to make the next transition one that he is capable of making.

I love him dearly, and I wish him the best Last Week of his life (so far).

I may not have written a book, recorded an album, or gotten a masters. But, I do have a son. And he is graduating high school. I want for nothing.

A Blogging Device

I have always wanted a blogging device. A “computer” for lack of a better term that could only do one thing: Blog. I wanted the ability to write at a moment’s notice and post to my blog without any of the friction of having to login or make changes to the formatting. I just wanted to write.
And that is why I have been so enamored with the Freewrite. It is a tool unlike any other that I have come across. It is a single tasker. A device with comfort and speed in mind. It lacks almost all of the features that would make it “better.” There is no way to move the cursor to anywhere other than the end of the story. What is happening “right now.”

At least on my version, this is how it works. The newer versions have added cursor support. They have added the ability to see folders of files, navigation of settings. And while these things would make the device more user friendly, they would make it less like the device that I actually want in my life.
I want the fewest features possible. I want it just to take the letters that I type into it and display them on the screen. The fact that it connects to wifi and let’s me sync to the cloud or send a version of the draft to an email address is all gravy. It is nonessential for getting ideas out and for translating thought into words on a digital page.

And that is all that I ever wanted in a blog. The ability to share my words. The ability to post into the ether, scream into the void. Because it is the scream that matters, not the amplification.

So, I finally found my solution. The blogging device. And I will attempt to describe the setup without the aid of any HTML or formatting that a typewritter could not handle.

  1. Write something awesome on my Freewrite.
  2. Put a special hashtag that only I knew at the bottom.
  3. Press the “send” button on the Freewrite.

That’s it. The whole draft gets posted to my blog within a few minutes.

How is this sorcery done, you might ask?

Well, it is a pretty simply process of taking the default email that is generated by Freewrite and sent to my email address and then having Gmail use a filter to look for the special hashtag I have set. Once it finds the hashtag within one of my drafts, it shoots the email off to an account I have set up to post to my blog.

Then the Postie WordPress plugin takes over. It checks the email account I have set up to post to the blog and strips out any attachments or formatting that don’t work for a blog post. And it just posts it, at the exact date and time of when I pressed the “send” button on my device. It is elegant and it is incredibly fun.

So fun that I think I am going to do it right now!

On Not Reading the News

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I used to read the news. At all times of the day and night. I used to perseverate upon every new headline and breaking story. For years I did this. And I wasn’t really sure how to stop. I knew that it wasn’t healthy for me. I knew that it wasn’t “life affirming” or giving me much hope for the future, and yet I did it. Constantly.

For a long time I thought I did it because I wanted to know what other people think, but that wasn’t quite the truth. Instead, I read the news religiously because I wanted to know what I thought. I wanted to see all of the takes on the day’s information and simply understand it enough to form a coherent opinion. And yet, these coherent opinions didn’t make me happy. They didn’t bring new relationships into my life or deepen the ones that I already have. Rather, these coherent opinions crowded out my days.

They stopped me from having time to read any long work of fiction. They halted my ability to see other people as anything other than someone playing for the Red team or the Blue team. They made me disregard the fact that we are all just trying to survive in a modern world filled with infinite distractions. My opinions about the news, even more than the news itself, were the reason why I couldn’t sleep at night. They are the reason why I was considering moving to a different country. They are the reason why I was so incredibly angry all the time.

But, I’m not reading the news right now. At least, not most of the time. I read a single article about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. I read a single newsletter analysis on the dismissal of the confidential documents case in Florida. I watched a single video of Jon Stewart attempting to explain the madness that was the RNC.

I haven’t scrolled Twitter or Threads. I haven’t looked at TikTok or Instagram Reels. I haven’t looked up the latest poll numbers or tried to wade into the waters of “will he or won’t he” drop out of the race (Joe Biden, if that wasn’t clear). I haven’t tried to learn more about the ways in which the wind is blowing or about any number of tragedies happening around the world.

And I have, thus far, successfully convinced myself that doing this isn’t putting my head in the sand.

I am not reading the news and I am not forming coherent opinions about it because it was slowly killing me. I was dying from the exposure to the constant stream of information. I was drowning in the flood of hot takes and factoids that only seem to matter for the moment during which they have been uttered. I was filling all of the small moments of my life with little doses of poison, building up more tolerance to take more and more inside me.

And I don’t want to die, at least not like that. So, I will engage when I able and when I can actually do something good for myself and others. I will absolutely vote and volunteer my time. I still plan to work as an Election Judge this November (having had an incredible time doing so for the primary just a few weeks ago). I will still engage with my kids or my partner or my friends as they try to sort out their own political conundrums.

But, I will not be reading the news. I will not be consuming every word of commentary from the curated sources that I have been building for years. Not because there aren’t things worth fighting for in this election and not because I want to just “let whatever happens happen.” No, I will not be reading the news because it isn’t good for me. Not healthy and not valuable.

I am living in a post-news world, and for the moment, it feels kind of okay. Who knew?

Go for a Walk

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My nightly walk.

I have taken to walking our dog at night after the temperature dips just enough to make the evening air inviting. I started trying to listen to podcasts during my constitutional, but I found that I was just getting angry or tired, so I switched to music that I know and love.

As Petey or Bleachers or Ben Kweller blast in my headphones, I’m struck by just how incredible it is to feel in control of all of my limbs. To walk, to breathe, and to see the beauty that is all around me. Even if it is just suburbia. Even if the moment is politically fraught. Even if there are plenty of things to worry about in my family or my work. The nightly walk is enough.

It is enough to show me that there is still so much of existence that feels achingly perfect. I would say that it feels like a miracle, but I don’t believe in miracles. It is more than that. More than just some unexplainable mystery, it feels so quintessentially human. Like, I am most myself, most human while I am perambulating upon this small bit of soil.

And all I have to do is notice and appreciate. So I do.

The Path Not Taken

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I am such an enormous fan of the work that John and Hank Green are doing to help democratize education. From Crash Course to Study Hall, they are constantly looking for ways to make engaging learning opportunities for the broadest group of people possible.

And then they drop something like this video. In it, Hank is interviewing another of the most prolific creators in the world of online video and fantasy storytelling, Brennan Lee Mulligan. But, the interview is mostly about the paths that Brennan took through his educational journey.

The best part about hearing this story is knowing just how unconventional it is, and yet just how successful he has become in spite of (or, because of) his unconventional approach to learning and growth. His story is deeply resonant. He was a precocious kid. He tried to power through his education and leverage the “official paths” laid out for him by others. But, he also started camps and led small groups of people in his roleplaying efforts. He interned and bartended. He won $50,000 on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” He started writing for one part of College Humor and then became a much bigger part of it.

It is the story of paths taken and choices made. He would do things differently if he could, but he doesn’t regret his choices. All of the things he has done up to this point have made him into the man he is today. That is a startlingly refreshing take.

We are all the sum total of our paths not taken. We have branched off infinitely until we find ourselves here. You don’t get to see what the other branches would have had in store for us, but we do get to enjoy the view from this idiosyncratic perch. It is a spot that no one else could have found. And it should be celebrated.

I encourage you to watch this interview and to understand that your journey is just as precarious as it is precious. You may not be Brennan Lee Mulligan, but you are someone with just as many decisions and just as many paths not taken. We should embrace the diversity of life within your own story, and we can learn as much as we can from others as we do so.

Summer Camp in 2024

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Super Smash Bros. camp

Every summer, our children are out of school. And yet, I am not out of work over the summer. You can see the problem this poses for getting work done.

So, every summer, our kids are involved in various “camps” and “activities” that will help me to get work done. This summer is a little different because our 15 and 17 year old boys are both fully engaged by work (Lifeguard and Art Camp counselor, respectively). So, the only activities we must organize ourselves are camps for our 10 year old.

And wouldn’t you know it, he had some ideas about the kinds of camps he wanted this year. While there are still plenty of soccer, swimming, nature, and other sports camps. One of the activities that he is most excited about is a camp that is dedicated to playing Super Smash Bros. with other excited tweens.

So, I wanted to spend a little time reflecting upon that choice.

Super Smash Bros. is a game full of animated fighting that is anything but violent. It is silly. It is strange. But, most of all, it is entertaining. It is something that you can play or watch and enjoy just as much. It is fun to root for (or against!) your friends and it is easy to get caught up in the lore of each of the characters (of which many come from other Nintendo properties with huge followings).

For each day of this 5-day long camp, our 10-year-old plays a video game for three hours. It is something we would typically not do at home. While we don’t have hard and fast rules about screen time, we don’t tend to let any of our kids play video games for multiple hours in a row. And yet, I don’t have any issues with our son doing just that within this setting.

I think that is because of just how collaborative he is within this environment. Much like he is when he is playing soccer or jumping on a trampoline, he is almost constantly talking while he is playing the game. In fact, I observed a significant amount of conversation before, during, and after each match. There was good-natured trash talk and genuine question asking. There was competitive conversation and team-building words of encouragement. I believe this is why it makes sense for the camp to exist.

My 10 year old needs more opportunities to be with people he doesn’t (previously) know, engaged in a collaborative effort. That is the core of what a summer activity is all about, and this one fits the bill perfectly. The “screen time” required for the activity is superfluous. It is about the community that he has built that will last beyond the week. We know each of the kids usernames to keep it going even after the summer is over, which is not something I can say for any sports camp he has enjoyed.

Writing to Have Written

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Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

I deeply believe in the idea that no one actually wants to write a book.

They want to HAVE WRITTEN a book.

They want the destination more than the process. They want the comfort and resolution that comes from having completed the work. They do not revel the toil. They do not want the discomfort that comes from unresolved characters or un-researched topics.

And when I say them, I really mean me too. I too do not want the process to be so daunting and to cause so much frustration and to feel like it will never end. I too will shy away from large projects, knowing that they are very likely never to reach their conclusion.

And yet, the writing process is where the best bits of learning are. They it is were the most compelling art lives. It is also where the joy of figuring out who you are can be found. And so, I must trust that somewhere in there, a final work will reside. That there will be enough love and wonder and growth in the middle to help guide the way to the end.

You see: I am in process.

Of writing a book. Of starting a podcast. Of saving a marriage. Of going on international travel. Of building a life.

I want to HAVE LIVED. But, I also want to BE ALIVE.

Don’t Look Away.

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I am glad that I don’t live in a war-zone. I’m glad that I cannot hear shelling outside of my home. I’m grateful that I am not packing up my family and having to travel across the border of my home nation to venture into a future that is completely uncertain, relying upon strangers for kindness and for life-giving aid.

It is my privilege to live in such a place: to be born into a insulated world in which war happens “somewhere else.”

Within that privilege, I have two options:

  1. To act as if everyone has my experience, as if the war either doesn’t exist or at the very least will not impact me directly. I can choose to turn away and ignore the war that has made millions of refugees and killed thousands of soldiers and civilians alike. I can choose, in my privilege, to devalue those lives and inflate my own worth as a result.
  2. I can look right into the heart of war and see my fellow humans being killed, understanding that I am them and they are me. I can make it known to others that I believe in solidarity and in the global community. I can choose, in my privilege, to use the power that has been given to me as a white, male, American to demand change, for justice in the face of war-crimes, and for peace for my family in Ukraine (whether a blood relation exists or not).

It may be rather obvious which one I would like to choose (hint: it is #2).

And yet, I find myself gravitating toward #1 throughout the day. I forget for whole minutes at a time that people are being killed around the clock. I find myself ignoring the full scope of the war and its immediate implications for whole continents of people. This is when my privilege shows most clearly, across my unbloodied clothes and powered and heated home.

So, how do I remind myself of the ongoing tragedy that must be grappled with? I look to those who are closest to the war, and I try to see what they see.

The best way I have found to do this is by following the Associated Press photography collections, which are now a daily set of the most important and powerful vignettes on the war and its immediate impacts upon the environment and the people of Ukraine.

While I am not entirely sure of the right way to cite these images (I’m linking and providing attribution), I will state from the outset that I am in no way claiming that they are mine. Rather, I am using them in order to not “look away.” I want to face these atrocities and use the power of these images to galvanize support for those uprooted by an unjust war.

Infrastructure is incredibly difficult to create, as it is a public good that can only be carried out by having the support the populace. And yet, anyone can destroy Infrastructure. You can take a country back to the 19th century in a hurry. Getting them to the 21st, is far harder

Death is inevitable. And yet, not like this. Watching the smoke billowing from someone else’s death (likely, many others) as you watch your own loved one be buried is an unfathomable reality.

All artifice is gone. These lives are laid bare, their appliances hanging on by their power cords. When Ginsberg wrote, “Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs,” he did not mean for them to be blown apart by bombs. He was asking for us to open ourselves up to what happens when we get rid of these barriers between us. And yet, all that I see when we blow up these barriers is that we are all vulnerable and lost. That is the difference between the empowerment Ginsburg spoke of and the oppression that Putin offers.

This life matters, too. She isn’t just a casualty of war. She had a whole other life, one filled with purpose. And now, it has been cut short. But, that is too passive to describe the tragedy of her death. She was killed by men who believe she is the price to pay for conquest.

The price is too high.

Formal education stops in a war-zone. Kids still learn things (see below), but they do not learn what their teachers intended or even what they wanted. Children want safety and to be nurtured in their curiosity. These children will receive neither. They are not less deserving than your children.

This is the first war for which I have seen cell phone videos and photos. Clearly, other wars have featured these pervasive devices, but I have not been privy to them. The juxtaposition of the modern technology in the palm of your hand while the whole world is crumbling around you is astounding.

Steve Jobs famously said that computers are like a “Bicycle for the mind.” And yet, when all you have left is a bicycle and riding has become treacherous, you walk beside it or carry it along. It is no longer a means of conveyance when the world has crashed down around you. We should be able to ride our bicycles down the street. We should be able to put our “bicycles for the mind” to the collective effort of ensuring that everyone can do just that.

Children will sleep through pretty much anything, including war. We, however, cannot sleep through this.

I hate guns. I hate what they can do and I hate what they represent. And yet, in this environment, guns are a practical tool for survival. This child is learning that first-hand. It isn’t okay.

You can hold a portal to the world in your hands. You can grasp freedom through the screen. You can connect with those who want to help, and those who wish you harm. These tools have made the war possible. These tools are the ones that will end the war too.

We haven’t figure out how to use our phones yet, at least not really. We haven’t figured out how the internet will bring us back from this, but I trust that the medium that let’s us share the truth in black and white and lies in technicolor will be the same one that holds a mirror up to ourselves. We will see who we are, and whether or not we are worth saving.

What did he die for? What will his death mean to us?

I hope it will mean not looking away. I hope it will mean that we will amplify his death until it is a cacophony of pain and righteous anger, too loud to ignore. I hope it will mean we stop allowing power-hungry leaders to dictate the terms of survival and society. I hope it means we are all going to choose option #2.

The Best Case Scenario

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I heard multiple experts this weekend proclaiming that a “tactical nuclear weapon” was a likely outcome for Putin, especially if he believes he is losing the war in Ukraine. There was a fire at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after Putin’s forces attacked it. More than 1.5 million people have fled the war zone and are now refugees in need of care and protection. These are the terrifying realities of a global war that will impact us whether we like it or not. But, wars are not merely made up of worst case scenarios and doomsday proclamations.

Rather, the war in Ukraine has fundamentally reorganized power structures that were long entrenched, causing thousands to protest against injustice and the lack of a voice in the political machinations of their homeland. It has presented models of modern leadership to the world that have inspired both support and solidarity. It has spurred multiple nations to apply for inclusion in the European Union, building a stronger international coalition for combatting economic and political upheaval. These are all reminders that any conflict is a mixed bag of fear-inducing realities and hope-inspiring reactions.

But, what if modern war took a different middle path? What if instead of leaning heavily into fear of nuclear fallout, we came together and saw the way modern society, accelerated by democratizing technology, has re-engineered what was possible to build during a time of war? What if the best case scenario were on the table, if we only could articulate it and start to pursue it together?

So, I wanted to take a stab at laying out the Case, the Best Case for how this war might progress. I don’t know that we will get everything on this list, but if others are laying out the case for Nuclear war, perhaps there is room for a counter argument, an anti-totalitarian future with both shared wins and shared sacrifice.

The tenets of The Best Case Scenario resulting from the War in Ukraine:

  • We learn from our whole, unvarnished, history.
    • We don’t try to ban books or teaching certain subjects that make some uncomfortable. We don’t try to whitewash wars or use whataboutism to justify our own actions. We embrace the messy negotiations of progress and help to build a more equitable world.
  • Our strength comes from sustained collective action, not isolation and handwringing.
    • The collective action of supporting Ukrainian civilians has been inspiring. We must have the resolve to sustain that action. We must build upon temporary humanitarian action with systems to support democracies and fledgling movements toward freedom. It is not enough to simply stop a war. We are in a global community. Isolation is impossible.
  • Telling the truth to one another is the hallmark of both our personal and political discourse.
    • We all make decisions based upon the information at our disposal. And yet, some information is demonstrably false. We must be open to being wrong, to changing our minds, and to correcting the record when we find ourselves lacking. We must be honest about who we are and what we want. It is the only way forward.
  • We protect the vulnerable, using Empathy without the need for Affinity.
    • The stories of non-white refugees from Ukraine being turned away (or having extremely long wait times) from the borders of neighboring countries are heartbreaking and totally expected. And yet, Empathy is available for all. For Roma, for Africans, and for all foreign born Ukrainians. We don’t need to see ourselves in those seeking refuge. We must simply see humanity and know that we must act.
  • Our agility of decision-making is not hampered by infighting. We pull in the same direction because our broad interests and values have the power to unify.
    • War is wrong. Killing, especially for such a terrible reason as annexing a sovereign country, is never justified. Surely, that can bind us together. And while we are together, we must agree on the other values of freedom and democracy for all. Our disagreements about how to support should not stop us from supporting at all.
  • Coalition building is not weakness and Tyranny is not strength.
    • The world has come together in opposition to Russia and in support of a caring leader who will not leave his people. We can no longer hold “strong men” up as the model to emulate. It is an outdated and immoral way to govern. Let’s move away from it with every step we take.
  • Our policies meet the moment, for both the urgent and the globally important.
    • Higher gas prices are one of the hallmarks of high demand and low supply. We cannot solve the problem of lack of access to cheap energy by leaning into the system that has gotten us here. We must solve for global war and for global warming. It is not either/or, it is both/and.
  • Mutually-assured prosperity is our daily practice.
    • Nuclear war is not inevitable. Neither is kindness. If both are a choice, why would we choose destruction? Why would we go out of our way to create these artificial barriers between us? Why would we allow ourselves to hate when we have better options available?

I know this is an extremely tall order, and I don’t think this Best Case Scenario is the obvious result of the war. And yet, when I see the world rally together in a matter of weeks to dismantle a dictator and aid an ally, I see what is possible. It must also be possible to come together for more than just stopping a war, though. It must be possible to come together for the sake of one another.

The world order that existed on February 23, 2022 no longer exists.

There is a new one being created right now. Let’s make it better. Let’s try for The Best Case Scenario.

The Best Video Essays of All Time (IMO)

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The video essay is not a brand new art form and it wasn’t created from scratch by YouTube’s algorithmic interest in long-form video that increases “watch time.” People have been constructing commentaries on popular culture and on “important works of art” since there was culture popular enough to be commented upon by others. And yet, the video essay as it exists today has grown into a community of thinkers and writers who have transformed the consumption of media into an urgent and participatory act.

As one Wellesley College film studies course puts it, the Video Essay is the result of the following process:

  1. The student watches an audio-visual artifact, a film;
    • [Or book, piece of news media, poem, painting, etc.]
  2. She then reads [more] about it, discusses it with her peers and the professor in class [or people online]; and this ‘translates’ the experience of film watching into a verbal register;
    • [i.e., speaking her own opinions to others about the work]
  3. In the wake of her readings and discussions, the student then writes a script of sorts where she envisions arguing AUDIOVISUALLY the points she would argue in a conventional paper. This in turn forces her to to foresee how to couch verbal arguments within an audio-visual format;
    • [It is the audio and visual elements that do a great deal of the persuasion and therefore, it isn’t just coming up with the argument, but rather coming up with the plan for how the argument will be laid out visually to achieve the greatest impact.]
  4. The student then selects the images she needs to substantiate her argument and transfers them into an editing application
    • [These visual elements can be direct references of the work itself or entirely new visuals and audio elements that help to prove her point or further make meaning for her audience.]
  5. A dialogical process of a peculiar kind then must take place, namely the process of going back and forth between the written script with its logically formulated ideas and its ideal translation into another ‘idiom,’ that of audio-visuality. Words and ideas must somehow be transmuted into images and sounds, inter-titles and voice-overs, musical soundtracks and split-screens for comparison purposes. It is an INTERMEDIAL exercise that forces the student’s mind to shuttle back and forth between two forms of communication, two forms of thinking, thus proving that the moving image is a form-that-thinks.
    • [Such a process is the modern act of responding to digital media, and is therefore the primary tool we have for understanding our world.]

I believe that this process of observing, reacting with others, building a cohesive thought, gathering media to prove that thought, and then creating a trans-media representation of that thought is the work not just of Video Essayists. Rather, it is the work of meme artists, of journalists, of TikTok personalities, and of every person on social media that is attempting to understand the barrage of information that is too voluminous to understand without some kind of means to process it.

Video essays are just the purest form of this way of understanding, and I love them for that. I love watching the finished product of this process. It is simultaneously poignant and persuasive. It causes me to see the original artwork or moment in time that is being commented upon as having context. It encourages me to see the world more complexly and be okay with the muddy nature of modern society. The Video Essay is, for lack of a better term, truly modern art. Sure, it might be post-post-modern too, but given that it is the process we are all doing as a natural part of our day as consumers of content and “havers of opinions,” I want to celebrate the Video Essay as the Art Form of Now.

And these are my favorite representations of Now:

Spaceship You – CGP Grey created this Video Essay in direct response to the initial lockdown orders and the feeling of anchorlessness that many felt in their wake. The media that Spaceship You was commenting on was ‘the whole of society’ needing to reorganize itself around a new problem, the ongoing and ever worsening pandemic. It was a critique of ”survival skills” that were for a different era. We didn’t need to know how to stock up on food or prepare for the oncoming apocalypse. Rather, we needed a way to deal with the onslaught of bad news of 2020 and the isolation that social distancing ensured. In that way, Spaceship You is a time capsule of a Video Essay. It was critiquing a moment in time, but the lessons of what we learned in the early pandemic I believe will far outlast our memory of staying home, ordering in, and generally trying to wait out the worst of the unknown.

If There Are No Pics, Did It Happen? – Until Idea Channel stopped posting new videos in 2017, it was reliably one of the best places to find new Video Essays which critiqued the exact kinds of things I was most interested in: the ways in which the internet has influenced our society. Whether that was critiquing post-modern masterpieces like Community or simply questioning one of the internet’s strongest beliefs (pics or it didn’t happen), Mike Rugnetta built a strong approach toward questioning the media landscape. In this particular piece, he helps us all to question our need to validate our own experiences with pictures and our further need to share them with others to prove that we are worthy of love and attention.

In Search of a Flat Earth – In my favorite example of a Video Essay that claims to be about one thing (flat earthers), while really being about something entirely different (Qanon ideology), Dan Olson expertly builds the case that the Qanon community is, in their own incomprehensible way, trying to make sense of the complexity of modern life. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I can unequivocally state that the final line in the video is the most satisfying conclusion to any video essay. There isn’t any other work that earns “the prestige” more than this does. Please watch.

The Cruel Optimism of Steven Pinker – There is nothing quite like a Video Essay for helping to re-contextualize an author or a work in a brand new way. For me, there is no better representation of this than the way I have come to understand Steven Pinker after watching this work of scathing critique.

Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed – Seeing as how this podcast-turned-book (The Anthropocene Reviewed) was literally written as a series of essays, it is hard to frame this as a true “Video Essay.” However, I believe that the way this essay comments on a piece of media, the classic song Auld Lang Syne, demonstrates just how adaptable this model of modern critique can be. We can comment on the despair of the world while still bringing hope to the table. Definitely worth a watch/listen.

Why is Gen Z Humor So Weird? – While I do not believe the humor is strictly generational, this video essay makes the case that the always-on nature of the ways Gen Z grew up have made for a distinct brand of humor that is both post-ironic and self-referential. By watching this, I became for more adept at understanding my children’s preferred method of simply repeating lines from the most ridiculous TikTok video they can find.

Sony MiniDisc: The (Not) Forgotten Audio Format That (Never) Failed – As you can tell by the title, this video essay is attempting to reframe a technology in our collective consciousness. Rather than commenting on a particular piece of media, this style of video is rather digging into the media format itself. I find these deep dives into our past (whether you personally experienced MiniDisc or not) and seeing what it might mean for modern life to be entirely satisfying. Your mileage may vary depending on your ability to get past some of the nerdier bits.

Wes Anderson: Breaking Formality | Deconstructing Funny – I feel like Wes Anderson is a filmmaker built for the Video Essay. His particular style of ”everything just right” is exactly what a video essayist is trying to construct in their argument. In this video, though, we go deeper and try to understand the ways in which Anderson uses juxtaposition of order and chaos to create humor. It is an attempt to appreciate the media through a different lens, and it is effective in its precision for doing so.

Human Test Regarding Your Creativity – No list of Video Essays would be complete without at least one entry for Ze Frank. As the ”grandfather of online video,” his work played a pivotal role in forging what Video Essays could become. In this instance, he critiques the very notion of creativity and what it means to be human. Ze Frank places seemingly nonsensical images next to incredibly earnest questions. It is partially existential yearning and partially a description of everyday life. Minus the small ad for coffee in the middle, it is a perfect Video Essay filled with nothing but questions that seemingly make more of a statement than stating the conclusion outright would.

What This Photo Doesn’t Show – While not technically another John Green video, it does feature his wonderful and resonant voice for social critique. This video takes a photographic work of art and explodes it so that we can see the true context in which it was created. This historical approach is not always present in Video Essays, but I appreciate the level of depth that it requires.

The Absolute Pleasure of the Rocky Horror Picture Show – Queer theory and critique is a rich vein of media criticism that is only aided by modern Video Essay conventions. Matt Baume’s understanding of Camp and his ability to create narrative significance around touchstone media for the queer community is on full display here. If you have never really understood “Rocky Horror” or its importance to ‘weirdos, goths, and other alternative types’ of kids, this is for you.

The Yellow Wallpaper: Crash Course Literature 407 – I could probably include all of the Crash Course as examples of ‘Peak Video Essay,’ but I am particularly drawn to Crash Course Literature because of my own affinity for literary criticism. The Yellow Wallpaper had a strong impact on me when I first read it, as I was looking for feminist works to help understand my world and the patriarchal structures that are ever-present. This Crash Course episode dives into some of the historical context for why this short story (of a bed-ridden woman who questions her sanity as she is forced to stay in a single room) was so important. Also, it is another way that I can sneak John Green into this list.

Tragedy In Comedy: Unraveling The Genius of Bo Burnham – Before Burnham’s pandemic masterpiece, Inside, was released in May of 2021, Bo Burnham’s genius was not yet well established. This Video Essay changed that for me. It let me understand where Burnham was headed, and just how impressive his type of introspection and “reflective practice” can be. Even though the video looks a little dated with inclusions of Louis CK as “establishing shots” for a type of comedian who pushes boundaries, the essay quickly moves on to what make Burnham such a unique voice. Ultimately it is a critique of modern culture, which any good Video Essay should be.

I Can’t Stop Watching Contagion – In the early parts of the pandemic, I felt absolutely trapped by the existential dread of knowing the world I knew was collapsing in on itself. I felt like all I could do was refresh twitter and watch movies. This is a very real representation of this time period, and is the best way I have found of understanding just what it was like in those initial moments. They feel so far away now in March of 2022, but in March of 2020, we knew nothing. We had no idea how bad things were going to get, and the only thing we could do is to watch Contagion and try to understand our mortality. Whenever I need a reminder of just how scared we all were, I watch this. And yes, I need to be reminded of it, because the “raw nerve” that the pandemic exposed is still very much there.

The Social Network: Sorkin, Structure, and Collaboration – This video essay is one of my favorite examples of the genre because of the direction of the first scene of the movie. It lays out the ways in which Sorkin’s writing, Eisenberg’s acting, and the college culture of the early 2000s became a perfect match for one another, making meaning out of an incredibly mundane conversation. In long works of video essay, you can forget single lines pretty easily. But, by studying the text in such great depth, as if it were poem, there is far more that can be understood about just why this white college-dropout would change the world.

Find the Hidden Opportunities – John Spencer is one of the only educators I know who understands video essays and their power. He has made visual storytelling into a teaching tool and one that resonates far beyond the confines of his own classrooms. His style of using hand drawn visuals mixed in with video excerpts shows that we are not limited to filming our critiques. We can comment on the world around us (or our given vocation) with whatever tools best suit us.

Casey Neistat: What You Don’t See – One of the best Video Essayists of all time is Casey Neistat. Although he would probably argue that his videos, when he was still making them regularly, were Vlogs. He even talks about them as Daily Vlogs much of the time. And yet, when you look at the vast majority of what he has made since March 2015, they are little movies. They are explainers of this life and of the world around him. They are critiques of his city and of the police. They are deep dives into the world of technology and the impact of wealth upon all parts of the art-making process. And the below video essay goes into all of that, but better, because it wasn’t made by Casey Neistat. Rather, it is done by one of my other favorite Video Essayists, The Nerdwriter. By having the distance that this Video Essay about a Video Essayist creates, you can actually appreciate the craft of both far more easily.

Additional Master Works of Video Essay:

Now that you have read a few hundred words on my favorite Video Essays and perhaps even watched a few of them, it is time to explore your own reactions to the media that saturates our world. Now, I’m not recommending that you hone your own video creation skills for years before releasing your own masterpiece of video essay. Rather, I am advocating that you make memes or share gifs or write blog posts or do something else that is, in fact, the same act of creation that video essayists do. I am saying that you are already a video essayist. You are already critiquing the movies you have seen or the books that you have read. You are a pioneer of the modern internet, and you are making meaning however you can.

But, I want you to keep going, and to feel like you are a part of this broader movement toward all of us making things as we consume. We are not merely consumers of media, we are makers of it, too. And the sooner we recognize that, the better stories we will be able to tell and the more sophisticated our understanding of the world will become.

So, as I said in 2014: We should tell the stories of us. In any way that we know how. And all of us, now, know video essays and we have the tools to create them, in our pockets.

[FYI, if you want to watch all 40 of these amazing video essays as a single playlist, here it is.]