A little thank you – and something new.
In 2018, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania set out to understand how social norms shift – how real change happens, not just in theory, but in groups of people living real lives. They designed an experiment where participants were asked to label a simple image. But midway through the task, a small group of […]
Elisha Otis and building some safety.
According to Mark Crawford, writing for The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Elisha Graves Otis was born in 1811, the youngest of six children. At age 20, Otis made a rough living as a wagon driver and carpenter – work that proved too demanding for his health to sustain for long. At age 27, he […]
The weird noise or the nail.
Photo by Bernd Dittrich It would usually start the same way. A student would raise their hand, look at me with frustrated eyes, and say those five words every math teacher dreads: “I just don’t get it.” It seriously happened almost daily – every summer, in every summer school math class I ever taught. And […]
Advice for Andrea – at 16.
This week, my nieces Andrea and Claire both turned sixteen! Sixteen is one of those ages that feels like such a big deal, even if it doesn’t come with any clear instructions. It’s a mix of new freedoms, new responsibilities, and honestly, a lot of unknowns. Most of my career was spent with 15- to […]
It was always him – and kairos.
We often think that readiness is what we need to achieve before something good can happen. We try to “get ready” for school or a trip, a job or a move, love, success, healing, etc.. But readiness alone doesn’t always lead to fulfillment – because timing matters just as much. There’s a term in ancient […]
Your Natural Love Language.
For being a relatively healthy person overall, I have actually had a lot of surgeries. Some of them I categorize as “let’s dig around and fix some things up” – i.e. ovarian cysts, meniscus tear, hole in my heart, etc. – and some I categorize and “let’s just get this thing out of there” – […]
Emily’s bar and a different kind of contagion.
My friend Emily has worked in the bar industry for almost 20 years. She has worked in a half a dozen different bars and knows more about bar culture than anyone I know. At 5’ 2” and less than 100 lbs. soaking wet, you would not look at her and think that she could break […]
Red, Dad, and Blue – and Utah’s Holy War.
I grew up in a split home. No, not that kind of split. Let me explain. There’s a college rivalry in our state that dates back – depending on who you ask – at least to 1922, maybe earlier. We’re talking over A HUNDRED YEARS. It’s the face-off between the University of Utah and Brigham […]
Aunt Judi and being bold.
Dictionary.com defines the word BOLD this way: My Aunt Judi embodied the word bold. She was the kind of person you noticed right away. She had a personality that filled the room, a big, colorful energy that was impossible to ignore. In a world where people often hold back or second-guess themselves, she stood out because she […]
Seeing ourselves through others’ eyes.
Several of my youngest clients are heading back to school in the next couple weeks. The topics we’ve discussed in our sessions have revolved around their class schedules and their friend groups and will they or won’t they like their teachers and who will they sit with at lunch and should they try out for […]
