Alex Dobrenko

I’m writing from San Salvador, El Salvador, where I teach a workshop for journalists and journalism students. I love living and working in Spanish, so teaching in El Salvador is a true joy. My students are curious, empathetic, and tenacious. My goal is to be energetically present for them and to share what moves me to do the kind of work that I do.... See more

There are people who never become openly enraged at dinner parties but I am probably not interested in knowing them. I love telling people stories about me getting upset at dinner parties. Here is one:

In other words, instead of “one app to rule them all,” which was never realistic and is getting even less so, we’ll have dedicated “capture apps”( like Evernote) that specialize only in capturing and organizing content, alongside other kinds of apps (like Obsidian, Tana, and Mem) that specialize in distilling and expressing new ideas.

But in '43 two people from our factory were arrested and one was decapitated. They had listened to English radio stations and transcribed the broadcasts on a typewriter and passed it on. This was discovered because of the typed copy. The typewriter was identified and the owner, he was one of our mechanics, his name was Zur, he was beheaded. The... See more

When I feel paralyzed by fear, I do this:

1. Write down my specific fear


2. Ask “what’s the worst that could happen?”


3. Ask “could I survive that?”


4. Take ONE small action today

That’s it. Just one step forward.