Ben Cuan

This one might be the most important. Creative research is all about collecting the dots. It’s more common to think of “connecting the dots” but the truth is that you can’t connect the dots you can’t see. And we can only hold a tiny number of things in our brains at once. So a space for collecting (and organizing) the dots is a crucial foundation... See more

an American daydream

these days, I feel like I’m always being houndedby the urgency of the present. I am happy, but I could be happier. My life is rich, but it could be richer. My weeks have gotten increasingly regimented, each day a tightly packed grid of rainbow-colored calendar blocks. I want to have and do it all. If I don’t spend my days well, what will become of... See more

In other words, writing as identity. And identity formation is hard! It requires a great deal of invisible labor and discipline. In fact, the common thread among friends I admire for their precise and elegant writing is their absurdly dogged work ethic.

The third and deepest kinds of friendship, according to Aristotle, are friendships of virtue . That is, you like a person because of their character. They might be fun, they might be useful, but even if they aren’t, you like them anyway.