Thoughtical | Raised By Turtles

Learning to Read

3 Nov 2015 (updated 14 Nov, 2019)

We talk about “learning to read” as if it’s something we do and is done. As in “when did he learn to read?” But I’m 52 and still learning to read. In this article I recount my meetings with extraordinary readers and what goes into truly learning to read.

Sarah’s Watch

26 Oct 2015 (updated 21 Dec, 2022)

A man awakes in a cell with nothing but a watch that won’t even truly tell him the time. And secondarily, an experiment in writing using the Hemmingway App

Best Jeremiah Johnson Quotes

11 Dec 2012 (updated 14 Jun, 2020)

I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this film, but not enough. Words to live by. The quotes that guided me from childhood into adulthood. You might be asking me whether it was worth the trouble to put this together. Ha? What trouble?

If that response means nothing to you, go watch the movie, then come back here.

Three Things the Real World Can Learn from the Ivory Tower

18 Apr 2012 (updated 14 Nov, 2019)

Supposedly, the Ivory Tower has nothing to teach business people, but here are three lessons business could learn by looking a bit more closely.

Uniformity, creativity and the employee handbook

4 Nov 2011 (updated 14 Nov, 2019)

George Hartzog, the greatest leader of National Park Service understood that creativity can be crushed in the name of “standards.” He killed the employee handbooks and set his people free.

Six Essential Skills Scholars Can Learn from Copywriters

23 Mar 2010 (updated 14 Nov, 2019)

Most people in academia learn a style of writing that is great for precision, but terrible for persuasion, and those habits are deadly when it comes time procure grants, fellowships and jobs.

Getting Things Done by Making Slacking Hurt

21 Nov 2009 (updated 14 Nov, 2019)

At a certain point this year I found myself frustrated and feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere on several different projects, while at the same time feeling like I was working too much and not having enough fun. I needed motivation, and I needed priorities. I came up with something that helps me with both […]

Personal Favorites

Improved Roads (thoughts on the loss of wild places)
A Theory of Dryer Crimes (fiction in which Jason turns out to be an asshole)
The Forgetoir (a new literary form to replace the memoir)
The Faithful Couple (a poem about long-term love)
Curriculum Vitae (a poem about learning to live)
Best Jeremiah Johnson Quotes (the only post to appear on both the "favorites" list and the "most popular" list, because JJ is a movie to live by)
Ice Cream For Dinner (imaginary high school graduation speech; my chance to tell young people to stop listening to the lies of their elders)
The Boy Behind the Couch (reading Susan Cain and my secret life as an introvert)
How To Tell Tom from Las Vegas (my friends get this, others may not)
Sarah's Watch (fiction fragment and experiment in writing with Hemingway App)
Learning to Read (and what makes a great reader).
You Can Always Yell Later (a life lesson from my mom on getting what you want and making the world better)
I’d Like to Add You to My Network. Some of these Linked in connection options are getting scary (humor, I think).
Six Essential Skills that Marketers Can Teach Academics (for scholars who write grants and apply for fellowships, please stop aiming the gun at your foot).