Author: Craig Constantine

Social with Damien Puddle →

Published April 6, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 6  ·  

Social with Damien Puddle

What insights can be gained about the culture, practice, and academic study of Parkour?

The conversation explores how Parkour evolved into a subject of academic research and its broader cultural implications.

I just got so interested in Parkour that I tried to spin every single project of any kind that I did, towards Parkour. Because I realized there was no— there’s hardly any research written about it at all.

~ Damien Puddle (3:50)

The conversation covers the cultural and academic dimensions of Parkour, including its growth as a global practice. Parkour’s physical techniques are explored, particularly how they contribute to biomechanical understanding and injury prevention. This ties into broader academic efforts to document and analyze Parkour, positioning it as a boundary object uniting diverse interpretations.

Attention is given to the social and philosophical aspects of Parkour. These include its global adoption, differences in regional practices, and how practitioners perceive and engage with the discipline. The conversation concludes with reflections on the broader significance of Parkour as both a personal journey and a collective cultural phenomenon.

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Authenticity with Aaradhya Tiwari →

Published April 6, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 6

How do personal approaches to podcasting, storytelling, and authenticity evolve over time and influence podcast production?

A storyteller shares insights on transitioning from solo episodes to engaging interviews.

If it’s not the real me— If it’s not something I love to do, then it won’t be authentic enough to actually go forward with it.

~ Aaradhya Tiwari (8:46)

The conversation explores the evolution of podcasting as a personal and creative medium. Aaradhya reflects on the transition from solo episodes to guest interviews, emphasizing the challenge of overcoming initial fears of rejection and the perfectionist tendencies that often accompany such projects. The importance of authenticity in podcasting is a recurring theme, with a focus on how genuine connections and natural conversations enhance the listening experience.

A mindfulness approach to creativity also features prominently. Observing daily life and being present in the moment are identified as essential practices for sparking creativity and storytelling. The discussion also touches on navigating differences in perspectives during interviews and how such exchanges can enrich a podcaster’s understanding and production quality.

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Belonging →

Published April 6, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 6  ·  

The second meaning of the word belong has to do with being an owner: Something belongs to me. To belong to a community is to act as a creator and co-owner of that community. What I consider mine I will build and nurture. The work, then, is to seek in our communities a wider and deeper sense of emotional ownership and communal ownership. It means fostering among all of a community’s citizens a sense of ownership and accountability, both in their relationship and in what they actually control.

~ Peter Block

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Rhyming →

Published April 6, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 6

There comes a moment in doing your reading where new work begins to rhyme. When you start to see the connections. When you understand who influenced the person you’re engaging with right now.

~ Seth Godin from, On doing the reading

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I find it difficult to figure out when to shift from empty-cup, learn-everything mode into the mastery mode. Godin’s insight about “rhyming” strikes me as a great test. In the beginning of some new learning adventure, everything is new and everything is surprising. The idea of noticing when a lot of things start to rhyme… of noticing when you can tell who or what influenced this thing you’re currently studying… that is when you notice that you have shifted into the mastery level of practice. Mastery does not—not by a long shot!—mean you are done. It’s more like the point where the airplane pivots and leaps into the sky: Now I am ready to begin my own journey.

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Folly →

Published April 5, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 5  ·  

What a ridiculous thing it is to trouble ourselves about taking the only step that is to deliver us from all trouble! As our birth brought us the birth of all things, so in our death is the death of all things included. And therefore to lament that we shall not be alive a hundred years hence, is the same folly as to be sorry we were not alive a hundred years ago.

~ Michel de Montaigne

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Nope nope nope →

Published April 5, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 5

The History of Philosophy is an interactive tool enabling users to dig into a visual timeline of 2,500 years of philosophical thought and discover lines of agreement and divergence.

~ Ahmed Kabil from, The History of (Western) Philosophy

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I glanced at this when it appeared in my RSS feed and I had two simultaneous thoughts: “Wow, I should really dig into—” And, “RUN AWAY!” Because, this is exactly the sort of maximally complicated data visualization that I would create.

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Time and strength [are] limited →

Published April 4, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 4  ·  , ,

One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.

~ Arthur Schopenhauer

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What we seem to have forgotten →

Published April 4, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 4

Here is what we seem to have forgotten: America is not some finished work or failed project but an ongoing experiment. And it is an experiment that, by design, will never end. If parts of the machine are broken, then the responsibility of citizens is to fix the machine—not throw it away.

~ James Mattis from, The Enemy Within

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I’ll just drop that there.

…and I’ll go on to add that it’s interesting how, through loops and curly-Q’s, I often find myself at the same place. There’s a copy of The American Idea: The Best of The Atlantic Monthly in my currently-reading stack.

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Connection →

Published April 3, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 3  ·  

To act on whatever our intentions might be to make the world better requires something more than individual action It requires, in almost every case, people who may have little connection with each other, or who may even be on opposite sides of a question, to decide to come together for some common good.

~ Peter Block

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Seek to learn →

Published April 3, 2022  ·  All posts on Apr 3  ·  

Embracing a growth mindset means to get pleasure out of changing for the better (inward rewarding) instead of getting pleasure in being praised (outward rewarding.) […] to seek as many opportunities to learn as possible is the most reliable long-term growth strategy.

~ Sönke Ahrens from, How to Take Smart Notes

Ahrens of course discusses, and gives credit where credit is due, to Carol Dweck’s ideas. (See Dweck’s, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.) Her comment about “reliable long-term growth strategy” struck me as insightful. Her use of, “most reliable,” is an understatement. What other strategy would even be reliable?

If I want to grow, I need to learn. If I want to learn, I need to maximize those opportunities.

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