Index and FAQ
Index
This is an index of other posts. The FAQ is at the bottom of this post.
First my project. I went through a hard patch. As a result I realized many things. Some are about myself. Some are about how people work. And some have to do with society at large. My project is my attempt to organize my thoughts and feelings around this.
It is mostly for myself. But I hope that others find it interesting.
Graduating Down a Rabbit Hole - Why I’m starting this blog.
My feelings about public school were released by my son’s graduation. This lead me to many realizations. Talking about them in this blog helps me process them.Too Important To Be Able To Think - Making mistakes about what we care about.
We are least able to be rational about what we feel is most important. This often makes us worse at what we most care about. This made me a worse husband and father. Many other examples exist.About Mental Pain - Understanding how we react.
Mental pain can cause us to not think well. This looks at some of our major responses. Namely fight, flight, laughter and compliance.
I have started going to Toastmasters. I sometimes give talks on topics related to my project. When I do, I post them here.
Use Simple Language - How to be understandable.
We do not have a sense of how complex our language is. So we don’t realize when we won’t be understood.
FAQ
Why are the latest posts behind a subscription? I am publishing posts in paid form as I write them, for editing and feedback. I then make them free when I’m happy with them.
Why do you sometimes take breaks? I’ve decided that I’m writing this mostly for me. So when life pulls me away, I will take a break. But this won’t go away. So I’ll always come back.
Why use a pseudonym? I would like to tell my story, but protect the privacy of people that I love. My son has been through enough already. I don’t want to add to it.
Why are you writing this? Attempting to organize my thoughts has been cathartic for me. My hope is that it will help others. If even one person saves themselves the kinds of experiences that I’ve been through, that will be a success.
I think your writing would be better if you did ___! Please send suggestions to rationaldino@gmail.com.
What was your biggest surprise while writing this? The importance of simplifying my writing. By keeping everything at a grade 7 reading level or below, I became far more understandable. I also was forced to clarify my thinking a lot. In the end I said more, with fewer words. I couldn’t have done this without automated readability checkers.