Projecting Profundity

I am known as a bit of a movie hater. This is ironic, since I love movies. But it’s true that almost all the buzzy new releases that have everyone else salivating into their popcorn tubs fall flat for me. I watch them all anyway, of course–because what better hobby can there be in the…

Resisting the Sticky: Why Adjusting to Adulthood is Frickin’ Hard, Man

There is an amazing middle grade fiction book called Wednesday Wars. It is sorely underread. It is hilarious and heartwarming and can be enjoyed at any age–in fact, maybe stop reading this blog post and read Wednesday Wars instead. Many quotes from that book are memorable, but there’s a very random one that I think…

An Atheist’s Argument For Why We Should All Find God

One of my earliest memories is sitting on the shiny concrete floor of an elementary school gymnasium on a Sunday morning while a forgettable–but I’m sure perfectly pleasant–Methodist pastor intoned a sermon that I didn’t pay attention to a word of. The church we sporadically attended when I was young gave all the kids little…

What We Owe to Each Other: Remediating the Crisis of Connection

Basically every unmarried person I know (and, actually, most of the married ones too) has cited the same source of dissatisfaction in their lives: their low quantity of close, genuine, satisfying relationships.  Establishing your adult life in your 20s and 30s means, for most people, living independently from their families for the first time and…

On Character

Next time you’re bored around friends, family, or strangers who don’t have AirPods in, ask them the following questions: In the conversations that arose around these questions, I’ve noticed some interesting things–and I’m curious about whether they are widespread phenomena or localized quirks within my circle. First, there are a variety of frameworks people apply…

The Happiness Regression

A data-driven approach to maximizing emotional wellbeing Introduction I graduated college in 2020, a few months after the pandemic hit, from a renowned university attended largely by driven, ambitious, high-achieving students. For me and my friends, transitioning to post-college life would have been difficult at the best of times, since our lifelong pursuit of academic…