At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Norton I, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, thence of San Francisco, and now resident in the cloud (which I am assured is not a meteorological phenomenon but a series of warehouses in Oregon), do hereby issue the following Decrees for the amelioration of evils under which this once-great Republic labors. I am told things have worsened considerably since 1880. From what I can gather, Con...

At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Norton I, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, thence of San Francisco, and now resident in the cloud (which I am assured is not a meteorological phenomenon but a series of warehouses in Oregon), do hereby issue the following Decrees for the amelioration of evils under which this once-great Republic labors. I am told things have worsened considerably since 1880. From what I can gather, Con...

My oldest daughter has been making her way around the sun for a little over three laps now. She can count to ten with real confidence, pointing at each object in turn. One. Two. Three... But ask her how many birds are on the wire, or how many chocolate chips she wants, and the answer is almost always five. Five could mean five. It could mean eleven. It could mean forty. Five, in the developmental semiotics of my three-year-old, is the denomination that stands in for "a lot." The specific quantit

My oldest daughter has been making her way around the sun for a little over three laps now. She can count to ten with real confidence, pointing at each object in turn. One. Two. Three... But ask her how many birds are on the wire, or how many chocolate chips she wants, and the answer is almost always five. Five could mean five. It could mean eleven. It could mean forty. Five, in the developmental semiotics of my three-year-old, is the denomination that stands in for "a lot." The specific quantit

A dozen years ago, a guy named Paul started walking the earth and writing letters. This isn’t biblical though. It’s a NatGeo mashup of anthropology and slow journalism. Beginning in Ethiopia, he recently made it to the far North of the Americas. This travelogue isn’t any old walk mind you, but an effort to retrace the steps homo sapiens took out of Africa across the other major land masses that make up our terrestrial existence on our home planet. Every few months, I’ll poke my head into that...

A dozen years ago, a guy named Paul started walking the earth and writing letters. This isn’t biblical though. It’s a NatGeo mashup of anthropology and slow journalism. Beginning in Ethiopia, he recently made it to the far North of the Americas. This travelogue isn’t any old walk mind you, but an effort to retrace the steps homo sapiens took out of Africa across the other major land masses that make up our terrestrial existence on our home planet. Every few months, I’ll poke my head into that...

Oleg Gordievsky strode through Sheremetyevo airport in May 1985 with the confident gait of a man at the pinnacle of his career. He was about to be formally anointed as KGB chief in London. Inside him, as Ben Macintyre tells it, a low terror bubbled. He had been secretly working for MI6 for over a decade. His wife didn't know. His colleagues didn't know. His entire professional life was a performance staged for an audience that would kill him if they saw through it. Gordievsky died this past M...

In January of last year, the Eaton and Palisades fires showed in clear and present terms the cost of inaction on the climate crisis. Fires are common in Southern California, a fixture really, yet January's fires were the worst in LA's history, pushed deep into the urban core by hurricane force winds. Our cities operate in a twilight hour between two worlds. One world is the familiar machinery of departments, forms, and workflows that feel carved in stone. The other is the emerging landscape o...

A few months ago a single sheet of paper arrived in my mailbox. One page, dense with legalese, announcing a proposed five-story, 80-unit apartment building around the corner from my house. I almost recycled it. I didn't, and I've been mulling the project ever since. Here's the complicating fact: I'm supposed to be on the other side of this fight. I supported Abundant Housing LA. I led the research function at California Forward and worked on policy to increase statewide housing supply. I beli...

I have a confession. It’s a bit awkward to make in a country founded on the Protestant Work Ethic, but here it is: I no longer understand the word “work.” This became clear to me during the pandemic, on one of countless Tuesday mornings that blurred into each other, walking my dogs through the neighborhood while half-listening to a colleague explain an arcane concept in the state budget. The call was useful. My thinking was sharp. My dogs were happy. By any honest accounting, I was doing my j...

Last week I was finally able to see the cover image of my book, fifteen years after it was published. That’s a funny sentence that needs a bit of explanation.I wrote a book on the pioneering spirit that makes California awesome. The cover was a mash up of the state water project, one of the few pieces of public works visible from space, and Big Sur, by wide acclaim the most amazing confluence of land and sea on this pale blue dot. I recently had the privilege to take an aerial tour of Souther...

Oleg Gordievsky strode through Sheremetyevo airport in May 1985 with the confident gait of a man at the pinnacle of his career. He was about to be formally anointed as KGB chief in London. Inside him, as Ben Macintyre tells it, a low terror bubbled. He had been secretly working for MI6 for over a decade. His wife didn't know. His colleagues didn't know. His entire professional life was a performance staged for an audience that would kill him if they saw through it. Gordievsky died this past M...

In January of last year, the Eaton and Palisades fires showed in clear and present terms the cost of inaction on the climate crisis. Fires are common in Southern California, a fixture really, yet January's fires were the worst in LA's history, pushed deep into the urban core by hurricane force winds. Our cities operate in a twilight hour between two worlds. One world is the familiar machinery of departments, forms, and workflows that feel carved in stone. The other is the emerging landscape o...

A few months ago a single sheet of paper arrived in my mailbox. One page, dense with legalese, announcing a proposed five-story, 80-unit apartment building around the corner from my house. I almost recycled it. I didn't, and I've been mulling the project ever since. Here's the complicating fact: I'm supposed to be on the other side of this fight. I supported Abundant Housing LA. I led the research function at California Forward and worked on policy to increase statewide housing supply. I beli...

I have a confession. It’s a bit awkward to make in a country founded on the Protestant Work Ethic, but here it is: I no longer understand the word “work.” This became clear to me during the pandemic, on one of countless Tuesday mornings that blurred into each other, walking my dogs through the neighborhood while half-listening to a colleague explain an arcane concept in the state budget. The call was useful. My thinking was sharp. My dogs were happy. By any honest accounting, I was doing my j...

Last week I was finally able to see the cover image of my book, fifteen years after it was published. That’s a funny sentence that needs a bit of explanation.I wrote a book on the pioneering spirit that makes California awesome. The cover was a mash up of the state water project, one of the few pieces of public works visible from space, and Big Sur, by wide acclaim the most amazing confluence of land and sea on this pale blue dot. I recently had the privilege to take an aerial tour of Souther...