Push Pull, Flowing into the Unknown

After 2 months of transitioning people into my job responsibilities and leaving to pursue an independent research sabbatical, I find myself smack dab in the midst of the unknown – no schedule, no structure, no playbook for right now. My relationship to the unknown can be a key determinant of wellness or anxiety right now….

Information has a shape

I was very fortunate to have a friend my senior year of high-school, now an architect, who dragged me to Art Club, looked me in the eye and said, “Everyone can draw” and left me with some pencils and paper. I am grateful for the connection because as a solitary, meditative activity, it provided a source of…

Traffic lights and implosion

This is a post-script to my traffic light post. I shared the  story earlier this summer while participating in RISD’s Institute for Design and Public Policy. It turns out the notion of taking the traffic light out of its context, from a corner in Fairfax, VA to a corner in Delhi, India to gain insights is…

Intersections, diversity and governance

Stopped at a traffic light, a man in his car perpendicular to me on the right came out cautiously even after the light turned green for him. I had been glancing at him earlier trying to gauge his body language and glean information on whether the light had changed on his side or not. This tells you how…

Embracing the problem, you solve it.

Two weeks ago, a friend told me a story about her husband building a squirrel feeder. She described how he sits back and watches the squirrels feeding on one feeder and the birds feeding on another when it hit me. “Wait a minute,” I said, “are you telling me that as a result of having…