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Why ethics should supplement long term thinking. — Industrial lightbulbs dangled in the hallway as we walked up the concrete stairs. Random puddles dotted the floor from unseen leaks from above. In front of me, a giant sign read “Floor 8”, as employees in hardhats hustled down the stairs past me, rushing to address some unseen crisis. My…

Their infiltrative and durable nature could someday improve our quality of life through engineering. — Cockroaches have made their way into my life, against my will, and to great inconvenience. Three years ago, my girlfriend cried into the phone for me to come over, “Please…please…it is twitching on my kitchen floor.” She sounded like a hostage. …

The story of every “thing” we own and how it informs our nesting decisions. — As my hands pushed the ceiling hatch upward, the ladder beneath me suddenly wobbled. My heart caught in my throat as I reached down to stabilize it. Thankfully, there wouldn’t be an early trip to the ER that day, but it was a reminder that gravity is real, and watching. …

How classism and racism are pushing beach access out of reach for many. — My earliest steps were practiced on the sands of Cocoa Beach, Florida. At every turn of my childhood, there remains a beach-infused moment that is enshrouded in nostalgia. I graduated high school in Virginia Beach, and spent my 20s in Coronado, California, only a block away from the cold Pacific…

Why you should resist instant conclusions born of inconvenience. — Nothing struck me as off when I first met Richard. I was walking my usual route through our suburban neighborhood, which was filled with a colorful mix of brick homes, and shaded by a dense canopy of southern live oaks. “Hey! You live just behind me, right?” Richard said with…

Exploring the problematic theory of ash and aerosol coming to solve our problems. — My biggest frustration with conservative friends and family isn’t that they are conservative. I can accept and understand many of their positions, and even agree with a few of them. But I struggle to understand how many of them don’t buy in fully on global warming. Climate change shouldn’t be…

How Cirque-du-Soleil's warm-up crew brought me and my partner out of the pits. — I stood on a black circular stage at Cirque Du Soleil and not by my own doing. The day prior, my then-partner Becky and I had fought vociferously. There’d been a long-standing dispute that boiled over into us raising our voices at each other. We were both young, emotional, and…

Achieving harmony over one of the most common domestic squabbles. — Laura crawled into bed beside me at 10:00 PM, the approximate time we wind down each night. After a moment, she turned her head toward me and said “I don’t want to admit to this, but last night, I got hot.” I smiled and said, “Well I’ll be darned.” This…