Big Thoughts, Human-sized Canvas
“That’s a good thing,” the assistant told me. “When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”
That lesson has struck with me my whole life. When you…
“Be supportive,” my mom said. “If you love her, support her.”
And so I did that. I spent that week teaching, hanging out in an office up the hall from Jai. I stopped by a couple of times, however, just to see if she was all right. “I just…
Earnestness is highly underestimated. It comes from the core, while hip is trying to impress you with the surface.
“Hip” people love parodies. But there’s no such thing as a timeless parody, is there? I have more respect for the…
The film explains that when Kirk was a cadet, he reprogrammed the simulation because “he didn’t believe in the no-win scenario.”
Over the years, some of my sophisticated academic…
Though I’ve always had a healthy sense of self, I knew this lecture needed more than just bravado. I asked myself: “What do I, alone, truly have to offer?”
And then, there in that waiting room, I suddenly knew…
I flashed a giant image of the CT scans of my liver onto the screen. The slide was headlined “The Elephant in the Room,” and I had helpfully inserted red arrows pointing to each of the individual tumors.
I let the slide linger, so the audience could follow the arrows…
I understand the arguments about how the billions of dollars spent to put men on the moon could have been used to fight poverty and hunger on Earth. But, look, I’m a scientist who sees inspiration as the ultimate tool for doing good.
When you use money to fight poverty, it can…
