What is this blog about?
My wheelhouse is mostly writing, psychology, and operations—but I certainly don’t hesitate to share my views on other topics! I also occasionally publish original fiction, poetry, personal essays, and other miscellanea. You can find archives organized by post category below.
Who are you?
I support operations at Open Philanthropy, a San Francisco–based philanthropic funder and advisor. In the past, I have worked at the Yale Child Study Center and taught English at the high school and undergraduate levels.
Here’s a video of me at eighteen (when I peaked) playing trombone with my foot for a college application:
Why is this blog called “The Elbow”?
Two reasons: 1) Peter Elbow, and 2) nudges. (More details in this overview.)
How frequent are posts?
I aim to put something out 3-5 times/month.
Of these, one is a list of quotes I like. (Think of this like other blogs’ roundups of links or recommendations—but more evergreen/impressionistic.) If you want, you can opt to receive just regular posts, or just the quotes series, under your subscription settings.
Help! Where should I start?
These are the three posts that people seem to find most insightful:
Twenty Things I Learned in My Twenties — exactly what it sounds like (and a decent sampler of the blog in general!)
Symmetrical Hypocrisy — a takedown, of a certain type of takedown
Building Middlementum — some strategies for maintaining motivation through long projects
These are the three posts that people seem to find most moving and/or entertaining:
A Quick Goodbye — a portrait of my grandparents
Sticky — reminiscing about some middle school shenanigans
Eustace — a quite short story on some quite big questions
Is there a way to view posts organized by topic/format?
Indeed there is! I tag every post with up to three labels I feel best describe it, using these categories:
Quotes I like [can also be (un)subscribed to as its own section of the newsletter]
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
