Engineer | Mentor | Athlete | Advocate

Multicolored containers by Håkan Dahlström. CC License Systems Design has long been a fascination of mine. Whether that is technical, sociological, or philosophical—how do we codify that which we value and want to streamline and how does that impact those who don’t neatly fit into that mould. As I started my technical career building out website UIs, the topic of universal design captivated me. How are accessibility measures for some, appreciated by the many? Clear curb cuts serve those who rely on wheeled transport—wheelchairs, medical scooters, and more—but they also help parents with strollers, someone pulling a wagon full of supplies, and me pushing one of those small carts to get groceries. ...

You know those someday maybe projects, that sit in a doom pile in the mind while waiting to finally be discarded or surge in importance? One of my projects was finally consolidating two blogging platforms into one. I had previously built a portfolio site with Gatsby way back in the day—like 7 years ago when I mainly focused on front-end engineering. It had a bunch of technical and human skills posts that had largely been dormant since 2021. However, the posts about TypeScript utility types still drive a lot of traffic to this day. I started writing again last year and wanted something that I could get up and running without having to worry about managing dependencies and fiddling with all of the little things. That was a quick way for me to get stuck in the minutiae, and not actually write. The content was also less technical, so I decided to separate it and spin up a Substack account. ...

Things don’t always make sense. People are impacted by painful circumstances differently. They manifest in different ways. Our communities still come together. We create space for each other. We don’t rank trauma. We recharge in our solidarity, and we keep on pushing forward. It’s how we survive. It’s how we begin to thrive. It’s not fair at all. Things don’t always make sense. We are still stronger together. We can’t let them tear that away from us. ...

Fiddlehead fern. ©Skyler Lemay 2024 I remember being in a High School youth group, almost always more comfortable talking with the other girls. Then we would break up into gender segregated discussion groups for whatever the topic was at the time. We were reading some religious treatise around gender norms. It was written by a wife and her husband, each writing their own book. Supposedly, it was a call to action of how best to model our gender the “way god intended.” I didn’t get any of the discussions of how to be a man. I remember going up to the leader and asking if I could hang out with the girls, and being told that it wasn’t a possibility. They were my friends. We talked about life. I didn’t like being stuck in a group of boys. It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. ...

Purple and Blue Liquid Abstract Illustration by Anni Roenkae. CC License Fluidity Unpredictable undercurrents Filled with emotions and perspectives Don’t cling to past assumptions Nor assume that the present is final Water evaporates Condenses and accumulates Before renewing the Earth With her gift of life There are so many manifestations Nonetheless they remain water Life’s experiences are vast Not easily contained or defined When given a new perspective Do we remain stoic Refusing to adapt Constantly seeking to control Or do we examine the current And see where it takes us next ...