About

Full disclosure up front: this site is not a resume.  You can find my resume on linkedIn if you’re interested. If you’re googling me as part of a recruitment process or because you’re interested in me as a consultant, everything you’re looking for will be there.

For anyone who’s left, this is just a good old fashioned personal blog – a loose collection of ideas I’ve had over the years.

As for what you’ll find here, I have been involved in social justice movements for most of my life and am particularly interested in ways to make businesses more equitable and break down barriers of class, gender, race, and ability that disenfranchise people and carry tremendous opportunity costs for all involved. It is my firm belief that an equitable workplace is a more productive one and that social justice has a positive ROI.  I also think a lot about parenting, being the best dad I can is my most important life goal.  On a personal level, I’m  interested in history, fiction, motorcycles, innovative designs, interesting and elegant code,  music, home brewing, permaculture, blacksmithing, architecture, gardening, cooking, rpgs, and good conversation with intelligent people. Blog posts may address all of those or none.

I hope you enjoy what you find.

Cheers,
Jed

Toddler plays pathfinder

It’s an open secret that I am, to put it delicately, a gigantic nerd. One of the few pastimes that has survived becoming a father is the occasional session of Pathfinder (a D&D-based roleplaying adventure game) that I play with friends. One of the essential tools to maintain sanity is to find humor in the daily chaos of raising tiny humans; and the trail of chaos and destruction my 15 month old son leaves behind would make any fantasy adventurer proud. Heck, some of the stuff he does would be downright useful on a fantasy battlefield!

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Agent of Chaos: A Toddler Prestige class for Pathfinder

The person who stops

Let me tell you a story, but be warned it may break your heart.

A father goes back to Utah where he grew up to show his three year old daughter the beauty of the high desert. As they are driving, the car breaks down. He goes to call a tow truck but his cell phone has no signal. He’s worried, but is hopeful someone would stop – after all they are in the middle of mormon country where people are famously friendly and the road is far from deserted with a car every 1-5 minutes.

He tries to flag down a car for an hour to get help. Lots of people slow down and look… but then they see a brown man and keep going. No one stops.

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The person who Stops

It can be hard wondering what each day will bring in this crazy world. All I know is that if I plant flowers, there’s a good chance that the new day will bring at least a little more beauty and a little less stress.

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Fields of Gold

I’ve been thinking a lot about the wave of recent laws criminalizing abortion. Despite all the memes from my liberal friends, framing the issue as men oppressing women is simply not backed up by data. 40% of female voters in america are pro-life (compared to 43% of male voters) and many of the most dedicated pro-life activists are female. That includes Kay Ivey, the Governor of Alabama who just signed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.

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On being Pro-Choice, in deed as well as name

My son was born almost 11 months ago and is just starting to walk on his own.  Seeing him learn to stand on his own feet and the look of sheer glee on his face as explores his world is  magical.  Watching him and his big sister become more and more themselves is basically the best thing in my world.  I think most parents experience something similar, having kids gives us a chance to see the world through new eyes and experience familiar things for the first time once again. (more…)

KPI’s for Life: Adding Beauty

Several people have messaged me asking me for my recommendations for the upcoming election. Here’s my slate so far:

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2018 California Primary Endorsements