Insights

Write on the internet.

Find or create a

third place.

Pick up the phone.

Join niche interest groups.

Live, don't lurk.

Embrace candid culture.

Put people you care about on the calendar.

Don't play near black holes.

Meet people at farmers markets.

Learn to communicate.

Make wobbly things. Subscribe to local events calendars.

Learn to win friends.

Learn to feel.

Em... See more

I used to think speed equaled competence. If you’re a motivated student, you may find yourself on the “accelerated” track. Instead of learning things that challenge you, you are simply rushed through the curriculum, “covering” concepts at a faster rate than your peers. Since I transitioned to homeschool, I never move on from a problem or subject be... See more

Books that are “representative,” that are more easily “absorbed,” undermine the main reason to read them: to push readers beyond themselves in uncomfortable and productive ways.

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”

Like human happiness, teenage happiness does not flourish when everyone has the freedom to live just as they please. Where there is neither order nor necessity in life—no constraints, no inhibitions, no discomfort—life becomes both relaxing and boring, as American philosopher Allan Bloom notes. A soft imprisonment.

You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.