Plaza Luis Cabrera, Roma Book Recommendations The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride A human skeleton is found at the bottom of a well in 1972 in Pottstown, PA. An investigation ensues but Hurricane Agnes abruptly destroys the town and any evidence of the crime. The story travels back in time to the 1930s when blacks and Jews lived together in a tense harmony. The origins of the crime are revealed through the community's interconnected stories. The book is an inspiring reminder...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Ajusco National Park with a view of Mexico City (down in the valley beneath the blanket of smog) 2024 midpoint goal check-in Maybe it's because I'm cruising onto the back nine of life, but in recent years I have gained a far greater appreciation for the fast passage of time. Always less of it, gone too fast, but if we're lucky we learn to enjoy it more. Case in point: 2024, which we are roughly halfway done with. An apt time (after hyperventilating) to review goals set at the beginning of the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Views from Luis Barragán's backyard at Casa Pedregal What about the cobbler's kids? The cognitive bias is all too pervasive. A marketer who grows her clients’ businesses 2-3x, but struggles to write a blog for herself. The career coach who guides his clients to take big risks, is stuck. A therapist who brings couples closer feels estranged from her partner. It's so pervasive there's a proverb dating back several hundred years lamenting how the cobbler's kids have no shoes. Since the beginning...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
After a short hiatus, noticed by few, I'm bringing back the Sunday newsletter. When I started writing it almost two years ago, soon after moving to Mexico City, the newsletter was my way of ritualizing a more consistent writing habit (while also getting more comfortable sharing that writing publicly). The writing gravitated toward an expression of the things that interest me most, namely the ways in which we become better versions of ourselves. So here's to getting back on track with that....
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Popocatépetl (Popo) doing its thing The Myth of Normalcy "...the real reduced beyond recognition into the ideal, an ideal too narrow and symmetry-bound to account for the spacious, uneven, gloriously shambolic reality of being what we are." -- Maria Popova I love this entire essay by Maria Popova, but especially that first line. She's writing about Alain de Botton's the myth of normalcy in which he expounds upon a type of cultural tyranny whereby humans are conditioned to view life's...
5 months ago • 2 min read
Casa ITESO in Guadalajara Things to Share: February is for resolutions Our stories should promote slow change 6 questions to ask at the midpoint of your career February is for resolutions A friend forwarded this article after we shared January updates on our respective 2024 goals. At first glance it seems tongue and cheek. What better month – the shortest one – to get started in earnest on your ambitious New Year’s resolutions? We come roaring out of the gates in January with big intentions...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Plaza Luis Cabrera, Roma Things to Share: Nice vs Kind A method for first drafts Nice vs Kind In a recent coaching session the distinction between nice and kind came up as a lens for approaching uncomfortable conversations. My client felt resistance toward providing tough feedback because she perceived that it might result in hurt feelings and a tense conversation. On the surface the words are similar, maybe even often direct synonyms, but the difference can be profound. Being nice refers to...
6 months ago • 3 min read
National Museum of Anthropology Things to Share: Favorite books I read in 2023 Annual review templates Favorite Books 2023 edition I finished 41 books in 2023. Below, in no particular order, were my favorite reads and rereads: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. A novella in short vignettes about a falling marriage told from the wife's perspective. The vignettes are standalone prose that also merge into the overall arc of the story. My review. Self-Help by Lorrie Moore. One of my all-time...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Valle de Bravo Things to Share: Toni Morrison's 'Site of Memory' Asking questions for clarity Valle de Bravo Toni Morrison's 'Site of Memory' Morrison's essay, Site of Memory, is an accompaniment to her novel Beloved, and it explains the process she underwent to excavate truth and imagination from the brutally disappeared history of slavery accounts. It's also included in a excellent collection, called Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. The essay reveals the lengths to which...
8 months ago • 5 min read