arrange • compose • conduct
I have so much trouble playing digital chess. For a reason that I’m sure cognitive scientists could explain, the two-dimensional top-view of the chess board makes me into a significantly poorer chess player. As I see it, there are two solutions to this challenge. First, as current chess masters have […]
It seems like a daily experience that I hear someone say, “Oh, I just could never get _____.” I want to shout, we are built to learn! We are learning machines! Sure, someone might learn something more efficiently or quickly than you, someone else might have more aptitude than you […]
Trans Day of Visibility falls on March 31 every year. It’s a day to put the needs and challenges of our trans family members, friends, students, colleagues, and neighbors to the front of our minds. In the lead up to TDOV, there are many events that fall under the category […]
“Remember, one piece is bound to be your least favorite piece in the repertoire. And also remember that it is almost certainly someone else’s most favorite.” In a loose, conversational rehearsal, sometimes singers can trash their least favorite piece. They might have the best of intentions, but it always feels […]
Sometimes when we learn a new skill, we can act as if we’re scared, even when we don’t think we are. I made homemade noodles for Sunday dinner, and remarked how I am much less scared of working with them than I used to be. The thing is, I wouldn’t […]
One of the most poignant songs I know, “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” is a meditation on lost love penned in 1955 by Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf. The title is a loose reference to T.S. Eliot’s “April is the cruelest month.” For me, one year on, […]
I heard this conversation on the latest episode of the wonderful and uplifting Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast. Casper ter Kuile: In some ways you might get more out of reading the same thing 100 times, than out of reading 100 things once. […] Stephanie Paulsell: Absolutely. I […]
Systematized education, pre-pandemic, tended to operate with a simple mindset: deliver course information as quickly as possible. The pandemic only increased that: with the decrease in in-person school hours last year and this, many teachers (and many administrators) feel it necessary to double the pace to make sure all course […]
I memorized pi to a couple of hundred digits in high school. I did it by repeatedly typing it into my calculator during math class, after I’d finished the assigned problems. An informational poster about pi, with a border comprising about 300 digits, was my source. There is no particular […]
As my daughter is getting ready to head to the bus stop in the morning, here’s the questions I ask: Do you have your mask? Yes.Do you have your water bottle? Yes.Do you have your computer? Yes.Do you have your lunch? Yes.Shoes? Snow pants? Coat? Yes. Yes. Yes. Sounds like […]