Tethers
A Saturday night of Gen X movies, the Kerouac and Ginsberg letters, and Sparta's Wiretap Scars. Some thoughts on how cutting the right tethers lets you sail higher.
Ben Skutnik
Assistant professor, human performance consultant, and nutrition coach. PhD in human performance. Reads only fiction.
Frustration
My classes are climbing Bloom's Taxonomy, and with that comes frustration in the literal sense. A thought exercise on the most important characteristic in a person.
Progress
It's advising season, and not every professor thinks students are worth the time. Notes on Stoner, a century of the same university problems, and why what some call progressive is simply empathy.
The long write
Being an athlete has shaped almost every pursuit I've taken on, so I'm training for writing the way I trained for a marathon. Weekday posts are the training runs. Sunday is the long run.
Yet
I teach with scaffolding and coach by leading people into the struggle. Writing here puts me on the other end of both, still building the confidence to just do the thing.
Fringe
I like finding challenges that make me question whether I could finish them, largely because there's no reason to. A case for stressing the system, by way of Point Break.
Relics
On my commute I work back through the scenes of my musical upbringing, from Lou Reed to Harvey Danger. Time to think backwards while the rest of life asks me to think forwards.
Talking practice
Growing up playing sports in rural Nebraska taught me what practice means. Now I'm taking daily reps at writing, about 500 words at a time.
Quality
How Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance made me ask whether I was chasing Truth or just trying to be right.
The hundred-dollar journal
When I was a kid, maybe eight or nine, I went to the school's book fair and I bought my first journal. It was hardcover and the design was a bunch of hundred dollar bills. Very mid-90's kid coded. I've always been a