Reflecting on life in college

This is a nice little account of how Harvard University is attempting to foster introspection in their students, by having them compare what they really value in life to what they need to do to get there, and how this may differ from how they actually spend their time.  I wish all education at all levels had a bit more of this, of making students really weigh what they want and believe in and make their lives more coherent with this.  Not just a few pilot groups at the nation's most elite university.

Poignant childhood romance

Here is an essay (accompanied by a video) written by a woman who was separated from her childhood boyfriend by the Bosnian war, and reunited with him sixteen years later.  It is so poignant and bittersweet, and hits me hard in this moment when my family is visiting Colombia for an extended period and I'm separated from the people I love.  My story is very different from the details of this author, but I have tasted in different proportions and combinations childhood, love, and the fear of violence.  So the essay really spoke to me.

Radically egalitarian entrepreneur

Here is an article about a tech startup owner that lowered his own salary in order to raise that of his employees.  Apparently this brought much consternation and censure from the business community at large.  To me such a reaction is another sign of the perverse commitment many in our society seem to have to inequality and injustice, almost extolling them as if they were virtues.  This inverted morality was also on display in the documentary video I linked to recently on inequality.