A recurring memory:

I was in the first class of Cultural Foundations at N.Y.U. London. The Professor was discussing the syllabus and expectations for the rest of the semester. He presented a dilemma he thought most of us would encounter at least once in the semester as freshmen: that we would have to choose between going out to a party or stay in and do the readings. He reenacted a hypothetical conversation between two students, emphasizing the temptation and the allure of going out and having fun. He warned us we would encounter many more of those moments in our lives.

He was right.

I choose to swim. I choose to get quality sleep. I choose the 9pm bedtime. I choose the repetitive healthy meals. I choose the boring routine.

Choosing to do the readings has served me well.

This summer I did my first trip to Fire Island Pines to volunteer for the annual Pines Party —a weekend-long celebration on the beach and private house parties.

Where have I been all this time? Why did I self rejected from even doing a day trip? I am already 31 years old and I had rejected myself from paradise for so many years. The mind plays funny tricks…

One of the highlights of that trip was going to a house party near dusk. It offered its guests an open deck overlooking the Great South Bay. What a view! And the music! The DJ, playing over the deck, with the bay as her acoustical backdrop. The sun, perched over the horizon, was the disco ball.

At some point, a bevy of swans emerged from the horizon, waltzing towards us, as if entranced with the music, only to continue waltzing towards that magical sun, setting on the mainland.

I often wonder where would I be had I trusted myself more and ignored what the naysayers say. It is a lesson to learn and relearn to have the courage to become the person you want to become. To take action. To build. To create. To experiment. To fail. To try again. To fail again. To try again. To overcome.

Hoy comienza la cuarta década. Tengo unas ganas enormes de hacer cambios en la trayectoria en la que me encuentro. Veo mi futuro por el cañón de una escopeta. Bendito el retorno de Saturno. Es tiempo de escuchar mi voz interior, de no desperdiciar esa tolerancia al riesgo que trae la juventud. Es tiempo de pausar y reflexionar. Quizâs viajar por un rato, o cambiar de carrera, moverme a otro continente, iniciar nuevos proyectos, aprender una nueva lengua, hacer nuevos amigos, o descubrir nuevas pasiones. El reloj se acelera y me reuso vivir una vida de potencial desperdiciado. Le temo a la mediocridad. Le temo a la complacencia aprendida. Le temo a la blandeza de la aceptación. Me reuso a la conformidad que trae la paz interna y equanimidad.

Si el objetivo de esta existencia es de encontrar paz rumbo a la santidad y liberación del mundo terrenal —qué aburrido. La iluminación espiritual apaga la flama de la pasión. Hay mucha riqueza en la realidad por descubrir y compartir.

Cualquier novela o historia requiere de personajes imperfectos con personalidades defectuosas para hacerla interesante.

Una vida sin (drama) no vale la pena vivirla. Por alguna razón Sócrates, el sabio de los sabios, eligió ser el tabano social de Atenas.

Bienvenido sea la abundancia, drama, e intriga.

Alexis de Tocqueville named his 1835 book “Democracy in America”, not “American Democracy.” I think he did it intentionally. As if he knew that democracy is rare and precious, not exceptional or inevitable, much less inherent to a nation or city-state. He has been proven right.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an interactive tool that allows you to play with visible absorption spectrum curves and see how the geometry and distribution of single or multiple curves affect the resulting color? Can the same color be produced from different combinations of curves?

Something similar should be applied for particle size distribution curves, where you see the effect on the distribution of particles in a virtual two-dimensional cross section.

Someone needs to code and implement this. It would help enliven the inanimate textbook graphs .

David Hume once asserted that “reason is the slave of passions.” I think he is right. Nietschze’s Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy of intellect and pleasure, of self-restraint and disinhibition, of prudence and folly, is not a binary choice, nor a uni-dimensional spectrum. These may reinforce. Reasoning begins with curiosity, and ends with boring blandness. Curiosity is the eros of the mind.

The next time you want to write, figure out what makes you angry and use that as fuel for sound reasoning.

I’m reflecting on different ways of instruction. Some of my intellectual heroes have a knack at lecturing. When they are at their best, they teach their students how to arouse their curiosity within a disciplined scaffolding. Among these are Richard Feynman, Timothy Snyder, Vincent Scully, Salman Kahn, and Michael Sandel.

I describe their lecturing style as follows, starting with a non-starter.

“I’m just here for the pay” TA

• Relies heavily on over-saturated slides. The slides speak for themselves. Pure recitation of text.
• Visuals are low resolution and/or pulled down from the internet, makes the lecturer look careless or uninterested
• Relies heavily on notes.
• Usually speaks in monotone, does not seem to enjoy himself.

Richard Feynman

Feynman is the real deal. His passion on the subjects he instructs is contagious. He believes in his students. Listening to his lectures makes you fall in love with physics. How does he do it?

• Draws on a chalkboard
• Dresses for the job

Tim Snyder

• Teaches with no slides. Eye contact with the audience.
• Speaks with his body (hand gestures to illustrate and enliven his speech). Manages to transmit bodies of knowledge
• Teaches without notes. It feels almost like a stream-of-consciousness. Makes connections from seemingly disparate topics in real-time.
• Uses simple and funny real-world analogies so that his audience “get it”
• Sprinkles lecture with clever jokes. Treats the subject seriously, but does not take himself seriously.
• Simplifies complex ideas and builds from first principles of logic

Vincent Scully

• Teaches without notes, lets his emotion and passion overflow his speech
• low tech (a slide projector and stick to point out)
• Uses photographs, no text
• Best way to learn is by “absorbing” his slides, no note-taking
• His cadence reinforces the severity of his subject

Salman Kahn method

Salman Kahn of Kahn Academy. I always admired his humility and low-tech approach to instructing. This creates a psychological safety net where students feel there are no stupid questions. The most complex explanations often flow from deceptively simple questions: why is the sky blue?

• Starts from scratch. Draws on a digital chalkboard. Makes a connection between your brain and his by seeing in real-time him how he begins with first principles to develop complex ideas.
• Uses color strategically to enhance the absorption of his diagrams

What I want my instruction to be:

• AI-proof by teaching skills that cannot be replaced
• Develop an intuitiveness on materials.
• Hit all the concepts in the hierarchical list through a story or narrative way so it doesn’t feel like a linear/. mechanical progression
• Have the hierarchy as a skeleton on the side
• Energy pockets as a fuel for finding things out on your own

There is this feeling of digital burnout from having so many calendars (Google, Outlook, Apple) and so many passwords, and data being stored in multiple browsers. I trust Safari more than Chrome, but the browsing data does not transfer to Microsoft’s Edge when working on my work computer. Files are scattered in OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive, and countless flash drives. So many systems to keep up. It is exhausting! Can we please return to pen and paper, snail mail, and physical folders?

Today I spent the afternoon cleaning and patching the walls of my bathroom and bedroom in preparation for the primer coat. You learn a hell of a lot about architecture and conservation by doing stuff like fixing your home.

Cleaning the walls, one becomes intimate with the apartment’s imperfections : the crooked wall indicating settling of the house, the holes of bygone nails that used to support artwork of a past tenant , the cracks from the expansion and contraction of the season, the blistering of paint from a hot-water heater.

The putty knife demands specific hand postures. A paint layer will not fill cracks beyond 1/16” and open windows help flush VOCs from the air.