This is the bit that stood out to me in this very moving, thought-provoking post—“The level of discomfort or not-knowing that students can tolerate has taken (another) drastic free fall…AI has made everything so smooth, so easy, that it’s harder for them to stomach that discomfort”

@theiaconf.bsky.social always feels like a reunion - a time to see UX peeps I have known and admired from every era of my career, and to meet new folks who are keeping our practice alive. Grateful for the space to spend quality time, catch up, and learn from some super smart, passionate folks 💜

I saw an ossified squirrel on the sidewalk near the Liberty Bell. Never change, Philly.

I’m headed to Philly to once again peddle my wares (give a talk) at @theiaconf.bsky.social! This time, I’ll be talking about how UX can be twisted to harm users - and ways we can push back. #IAC26

So excited to help Mikel make this book available for a wider audience 💕

You have more in common with the people of Iran than you do with anyone in this administration, any member of the technocracy, anyone who is profiting from this war, or any billionaire. When you see Iranians forming human chains outside key infrastructure sites, you should feel a sense of kinship.

[Singing to dog] “Every girl’s crazy ‘bout a fart breath man” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwH9v0rS7Zg

Y’all ever think about how many hits Roxette had?

And that’s why you *always* check your spam folder (The notice that you are part of a class-action lawsuit will inevitably go there and your payout will either be $4.32 or SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS)

NEW CORPORATE JOB™️

It is my week off between jobs. #leisureposting

Y’all didn’t tell me about Bret and Demi going into the recording studio oh my GOD I’m mortified #slomw

“You can’t go a day without hearing a saxophone”

Ah yes, the two Lowe’s genders

A PSA for southerners in New England: you can reliably find Zapps and Golden Flake potato chips at Ocean State Job Lot. We love a regional potato chip!!

The confederate memorial park and the paper mill.

Calling all Dolly fans. The #DollyParton READ poster will no longer be available after April 16 when licensing ends. Get yours before it disappears. https://alastore.ala.org/content/dolly-parton-poster

It takes a certain kind of…narcissistic nihilism to look across the country at people self-organizing against something that is generally a fairly good material symbol of the intangible class warfare that has alienated them and say, “what a silly distraction from what *really* matters.” And yet…

Windows flung open, listening to the birds

This captures two of my big beefs with AI: (1) Writing is thinking. If you use AI to write, you are foreclosing your own thinking. (2) Sucking at something is the first step to getting better at something. The practice is the work. AI will only help you suck in a different and more depressing way.

Watching now. In my past life as a librarian, “freedom to read” was a given until all of a sudden it wasn’t. I don’t know these librarians personally, but I know them. Watching this feels like a sword through the heart.

This is all to say, if you are waffling on whether to go out and canvass, just go.

That feeling when you go out to canvass for mayor in Providence, RI, and the person you’re paired up with, who coincidentally lives in your neighborhood, knows your wife from when he dated her best friend in Athens, GA, 25 years ago

“Welllll, let me let ya go”

The dogs are demanding my penance for being gone all morning

Last-minute plug: World Information Architecture Day is tomorrow, March 7! These events attract UX folks of all types, from students to seasoned pros. US locations this year: New York, Des Moines, Nashville, Los Angeles, Philly, Columbus, and yes, Providence! luma.com/worldiaday

Update: after over a year of searching, the job that found me is a Director of UX position at a very large company here in RI. (Fam, don’t undersell yourselves!) It’s bittersweet to leave civic tech, *and* this is a really exciting move for me. Thanks y’all for supporting me through it. ❤️

“Make something weird and wonderful of your own, if you're so inclined.” I joined a web ring for the first time in 25 years, rebuilt my personal site from scratch, and recommitted to my love of RSS this year. Thrilled to see that, in 2026, the craft of web-making is alive and growing.

Blog entry: Why government software is so expensive. In my experience, there are four major reasons: outsourcing the whole thing, the pricing death spiral, funhouse-mirror price tags, and procurement processes that don't favor quality development.

My wife and I are watching every episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" in universe timeline order and it has been a load-bearing part of our ability to stay sane this winter. Recommend!

Bic Clic Stic and it's not even close

When the boss brought in that big new power loom, I was skeptical. He said once he got it running, we’d be out of a job, so when the boys started talking about breaking into the factory and smashing the thing, I was on board. Until, that is, I saw the funny tapestries it could make.

Anywho, there's no better time than now to put your ideas out there and invite other people to do things with you. Might as well try. You don't have to know everything before starting. You can just start.

perhaps I have made a mistake

February is once again proving that it is the longest month

I feel like maybe we should watch movies about people thriving in snowy places? Proof that it can be done? Requesting your silliest, off-the-wall, campy, not-stressful snow-life movie recommendations please

This has been a hell of a nor’easter in Rhode Island. I can’t even begin to capture how much freaking snow there is in our neighborhood in Providence. The street is a river of wavy, windswept snow mountains. At its shallowest, the snowfall is 22”. Drifts up to 5 feet. Never seen anything like it.

You, an individual, cannot "fix" the whole world. You can act at the scale of your life. You should act at the scale of your life.

Fascism is here and yet we insist on continuing to make things. Keep creating. It's so important. Do not let the fascists colonize your imagination or curtail your creativity.

I urge you to stop what you're doing and watch Alysa Liu's free skate from yesterday. I have never seen anything like this. I understand why sports writers are born now. I have never seen anyone as free from the burdens of this world as this pierced Oakland girl spinning to Donna Summers.

Need to share with y'all the southern delicacy "pear salad" which is canned pear halves with a huge dollop of mayo inside, some shredded cheddar and a maraschino cherry on top. Iceberg under it all if ya fancy

One year ago I made this "How to ask for users' gender" parody page in a fit of indignant rage about Trump's anti-trans executive order and the lightning speed with which previously inclusive government forms, in now requiring binary gender options, functionally erased the existence of trans people

"But what of the worker who begins their work a decade from now, who has been specialized to do nothing more than ask for something? What kind of people are we designing now?"

I was expecting the National Design Studio’s freedom.gov site to be some rag-rah patriotic pablum but this is somehow even more embarrassing for the organization and the nation www.reuters.com/world/us-pla...

I left Instagram and thus almost all of my consumption of video content 6 months ago, and I can slowly feel my brain rewiring. Highly recommend

“Is there a technology the left is excited about?” High-speed rail! MRNA vaccines! New cancer treatments! Solar and wind energy collection! Better and longer-range EVs! That wood that's harder than steel! New apples! Fibermaxxing! Buldak Swicy ramen! Muppets! Muppets are too a technology, shut up!

Starting my day with this and O M G

Gayest moment of the past week: my wife says, “I picked up this graphic memoir for you at the bookstore”, hands it to me, and the author is my ex-girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend

I saw a lot of beautiful, moving, strange, and utterly human art this week and, y’all, AI would NEVER

Striking, isn’t it, that every AI assistant with a human name has a female one right up until they invent one that’s there to help you code, and it is Claude