Sometimes, an idea is so good that everyone around can’t help but pitch in. Take the story of stone soup, a folktale about a traveler who convinces an entire village to create a feast out of nothing but a stone and a pot of water. It begins with skepticism, but with a little charm and some shared curiosity, the villagers contribute their carrots, onions, and spices. What starts as a trick becomes a celebration, a collaborative act of creation.
October 7th, 2023, was a day of tragedy, horror, and unfathomable loss. Everyone has their own way of carrying the weight of that day. Many people turn to memorials like the Nova Exhibition, which has been traveling from city to city, offering a raw, unflinching portrayal of the attack on the festival. Some colleagues from work attended, and I considered joining them. But even the video clips of the exhibition were enough to wake me up with nightmares. I knew I needed to find a different way to connect with what happened.
“You’re not wrong, but you’re not 100% right either.”
– Wise words from my boss Joshua Feldman
Imagine this scenario: A facilitator walks into an office to mediate a conflict between a boss and her employees. She begins optimistically: “This is a safe space. Share how you feel. There are no wrong answers.”
One employee jumps right in. “I feel like I work for a huge SOB with impossible demands.”
The boss barely pauses before replying. “I feel like my people are lazy, always looking for an excuse to leave early.”
For many nerds like me, The Big Bang Theory felt like more than just a TV show — it felt like validation. Unlike countless other sitcoms where nerdy characters were relegated to sidekicks or punchlines, this series placed them firmly at the center. It celebrated the quirks and passions that define nerd culture: an unabashed love of sci-fi, comic books, and video games, alongside the social awkwardness and intellectual curiosity that often accompany them. This wasn’t a world where debates about Star Wars continuity or the ethics of time travel were niche obsessions — here, they became full-fledged storylines.
If a nerd is someone whose every word and deed are predicated on the belief that appearing smart is more important than getting laid, then They Might Be Giants are, in fact, nerds: their music doesn’t sell sex; it sells smart-kid whimsy. Arty, melodic, and well wrought in a formal way, it bristles with wordplay and musical ideas. — Azerrad, Michael. “Urban Legends.” The New Yorker, August 12, 2002.
Friday night, Ari and I went with my high school friend Michelle and her husband to the They Might Be Giants concert at Kings Theater. It was an awesome experience, seeing so many middle-aged nerds getting together to celebrate the original nerd rock band. It’s like everyone took a night away from their crossword puzzles and board games to belt out songs about the capital of Turkey.
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A Year of Living Mindfully
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t look around once in a while, you could miss it.
—Ferris Bueller
There’s so much going on. My kids are growing up so fast, and I’m desperately trying to keep up with the whirlwind of changes in the world, especially with AI. Like many people, I feel this constant temptation to do more, more, more—thinking that if I can just be a little more productive, I can get ahead of all of this change and find happiness.
I’m pissed. Bestselling nonfiction books have been lying to me. I know I shouldn’t care so much about this, but these books hold an odd level of cachet in our world. Books like those by Steven Levitt (Freakonomics) or Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers) have ideas that I used to take seriously. But seem to go viral throughout culture, shaping the way we think and talk about the world.
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Yale Needs Women
This year, Yale honored Constance L. Royster ’72, the second Black woman to receive the Yale Medal (as far as I can tell), the university’s highest alumni honor. Ms. Royster was celebrated for her extraordinary contributions to Yale—her dedication, her advocacy, and her unwavering commitment to building a stronger, more inclusive community.
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Befriending My Inner Venom
I recently watched the movie Venom and couldn’t help but notice the fascinating psychological dynamic at play—Venom embodies Eddie’s selfish inner self—in Freud’s words, his id. On the surface, it’s a story about a guy being consumed by an alien symbiote. But beneath the humor and the high-octane action lies a deeper exploration of human nature. Venom isn’t just an alien parasite; he’s a metaphor for the inner selfishness inside us—the raw, untamed instincts that often feel unwelcome but are undeniably part of who we are.
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Why ChatGPT Didn’t Brush Its Teeth
As much as we’d like to believe we’re guided by pure logic, the truth is far messier: we’re not rational beings; we’re rationalizing beings. Our decisions aren’t always born of reason but are often retroactively dressed up in it. We make choices based on feelings, impulses, or half-formed desires, and then we craft stories to make those choices seem deliberate. It’s not dishonesty; it’s our mind’s way of stitching together coherence from chaos. And that’s okay. The goal isn’t to stop this process—it’s part of what makes us human. But when we pause to question our justifications, we open the door to understanding ourselves better: what we value, what we fear, and who we’re striving to become.
This tendency isn’t just a quirk of adulthood—it’s alive and well in kids, too, though with far less polish.
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