A collection of thoughts while working at the intersection of data, design, and dialogue.
Doing Things for You Last month, I was speaking with a dear friend and mentor. He let me know he embarked on a PhD program. Now, this person is one to often post news and important happenings on LinkedIn, but this PhD program had nothing to do with his profession; it was not for career progression, rather personal enrichment. This led us to a conversation about the importance of doing things just…
Ten Years December 2015. I had just completed my first semester of college, during which I changed my major from general studies to communication studies with a new career goal of working in corporate communications or public relations. First things first, it was time to look for an internship. I had little on-paper to offer anyone, but I figured there would be no harm in applying, seeing how far…
Ranking My Classroom Activities This semester, I returned to the classroom as an adjunct professor, teaching two sections of Introduction to Communication—one online and one in-person. These two sections were taught quite differently due to the limitations of asynchronous learning. While my online class may not have had the opportunity to engage in classroom activities, my in-person class did and…
A Return to the Classroom This week marked the completion of my first semester as an adjunct professor at Northampton Community College, the institution where I began my educational journey ten years ago. I had the privilege of teaching two sections of Introduction to Communication—one online and one in-person. The decision to start teaching I had been toying with the idea of teaching for a few…
Efficiencies We have a lot of black walnut trees on our property. This time of year, the black walnuts fall, each slightly larger than a golf ball. At times, they pile so densely, you can't take a step without crushing one. It's not fun for your ankles, nor our dog's feet. Two years ago, we bought a Nut Wizard to help us harvest them, or at the very least, pick them up. We can easily collect close…
Second Drafts For the second time, I have written a complete first draft of a novel. My first novel was a project I had worked on for four years, finishing in December of 2022. It was strictly character-driven, bildungsroman in nature, and didn't revolve around a central plot. When I finished the first draft, I had it printed and I purchased a few red pens, preparing to edit and begin my second…
The Water being Exactly At Your Head This evening, the Data Visualization Society announced both the departure of its current executive director as well as its financial deficit of $35,000 . As the Managing Editor of Nightingale , the Journal of the Data Visualization Society, I have some thoughts. Firstly, a note on its leadership departure. I first met Christopher Laubenthal in February of 2024,…
Building a Virutal Library You don't always know where inspiration finds you, but sometimes it slaps you in the face. I've been a fan of Manu 's writing and projects for the past eight months or so, particularly his " People and Blogs " series. I've been slowly exiting social media for some time and this series helped reinvigorate my love of RSS feeds, independent blogs, and personal websites.…
Introducing Myself Last week, I was in a new room for the first time, introducing myself to more than a dozen unfamiliar faces. This wasn't for work—it was a social, though still professional, gathering of sorts—and introductions were happening individually. I was introducing myself over and over again, making small talk but also learning more about each individual over the course of 90 minutes.…
Enjoying the Quiet The month of April and most of May were busy—consistent weekends including dinners, a wedding, events, and overtime. To make up for it, we've used the past few weeks to take time for ourselves. We found a two-mile community walking path near our house, I've taken Victoria hiking for the first time on the Appalachian Trail, and we've tried to unplug as much as possible. I like to…
This is most likely the last piece of meta-blogging I'll do for a while. This site has been hosted and built using a number of sites and platforms. From 2015 - 2021, this site was hosted on WIX, with the designs mostly done by scratch using a blank template. This was fine for a while, I was more interested in the design aspect of web design, anyway. In 2021, I switched over to Webflow. This was a…
During your college years and early career, it’s hard to ignore an imaginary, internal clock. Constantly running in the back of your head; not always heard but surely felt. When trying to achieve certain goals, it’s hard not to feel the pressure of always fighting against time. There are expectations in internships to make an impression in the short time you have, getting a case study out of it if…
It’s been roughly one year since I took over as Managing Editor of Nightingale , the Journal of the Data Visualization Society . In that time, I’ve worked with more than 60 contributors to produce nearly 100 digital articles. Two things you should know about where I was one year prior to the time of writing this, when I first took the role over from the extremely talented Emily Barone : I had…
Teo posted about this topic following the 2024 election results, but I think it’s worth bringing up again. In an era where national news dominates so much of the online landscape, it’s easy to feel like every story has a direct impact on your life. Yet, the sheer scale of these issues—and the distance between us and the decision-makers—often makes national news feel abstract. That abstraction can…
“Where are you posting now?” “Did you join Bluesky? “Are you going to download RedNote?” In the past two weeks, I don’t think I have gone a day without the topic of online communities and/or the current state of social media being brought up. I’ve had conversations with people who have built online communities, and those who just enjoy being a part of them; in both cases, they’re seeing their…
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. Not to brag, but I was the only student in my elementary school to ever win the Best Writer Award more than twice. Maybe it’s the curriculum I followed through grade school, but there was always an emphasis of reading works of the greats—Hemingway, Steinbeck, Twain, Fitzgerald—and trying to be like them. I think a lot of writers may fall into this…
“Every question leads to new answers, new discoveries, and new smarter questions.” — Bill Nye I’ve previously written about how my career started in one place, and as I’ve explored new realms, I’ve unlocked new areas of interest. Starting off as a communications major in community college, I was fascinated with, theoretically, how people communicate and share stories with each other. This led me…