Giving 17 its moment.
In psychological experiments where people are asked to pick a random number between 1 and 20, 17 is chosen far more than any other number. This happens so much that 17 has come to be known as the least random number. A valid Sudoku puzzle cannot be made with fewer than 17 clues. A traditional […]
4 Questions from Fiskars.
I grew up in a house of scissors. We had little kid scissors, dad’s big metal office scissors, huge shears in the garage, craft scissor, junk drawer scissors, kitchen scissors, mom’s hair cutting scissors, and the orange handled Fiskars – both straight and ‘pinking’ style. And we knew better than to use the orange ‘sewing […]
In Defense of Bridges.
I don’t think I really knew what a bridge was until I was learning the guitar and my friend Mike would give me the lyrics to songs he was teaching me in long hand with his very neatly written “Verse” and “Chorus” and “Bridge.” In a song, a bridge is usually a section that provides […]
Olly Olly Oxen Nope (the fish follow-up!)
Exactly a year ago, I wrote about a childhood game of hide and seek – and about a belief I wanted to let go of: “I can’t change.” To make it tangible (and a little silly), I gave myself a goal:Learn to like seafood. More specifically: become the kind of person who doesn’t automatically say […]
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 […]
Yellow Brick and Red Utah Sandstone.
Photo by Jacob Barlow A few Sundays ago, I sat quietly in a red sandstone tabernacle built in 1909. The pews curve in the balcony and behind the pulpit sits a huge pipe organ. The woodwork is intricate and warm. It wasn’t my first time in that building – but it was the first time […]
Those noisy upstairs neighbors
For 18 years of my single life, I lived on the bottom floor of a two-story, six-unit condo complex. It was the first home I purchased, and I loved it. I chose the bottom floor because it made it easy to take my dog out for her walks. The only catch? I was at the […]
Scouty Scout and 5 whole years.
My past has some pieces I’ve put away. I don’t have dark hair and bangs any more. I no longer sew clothes, work on math equations, go camping, or ride road bikes. I don’t still sell cupcakes, raft rivers, teach cookie camps, or run races. I’m not currently teaching school or living in New York […]
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 […]
What if we asked ourselves better questions?
In a recent study by Patricia Chen, Carol Dweck, and others, participants were asked these 6 questions: The researchers were trying to figure out why some people are more likely to take a strategic stance toward their goals and if this tendency (which they call a ‘strategic mindset’) can be cultivated. They differentiated a strategic […]
