Writing
- culture
from this morning's journal entry on culture
- Some reflections on "Markets on the Periphery", aliveness, competition, and food popups
Some scattered reflections foreign street markets and their similarity to the food popup scene in my backyard.
- Ghosts of Bombay
Katherine shared an irksomely amusing observation with me recently. A number of people have corrected her when she uses the name Bombay instead of Mumbai. My suggestion to her was to respond to such feedback with, "Sorry but I know more than you." Of course, the reason she uses Bombay and not the temporally accurate Mumbai is because I do. We were having this conversation with our friend Shuba, another Detroiter from Bombay, while she was on a break during her Sunday shift at Coriander Kitchen
- Recipes | Ammumma's garam masala
My grandmother (ammumma)'s garam masala recipe
- Lost in translation (Punch)
On the origin of the word punch
- Identity / frame
A meandering meditation on the power of unchecked identity
- Detroit
A poem about Detroit
- The "metaverse" is not the "metaverse"
Viewing the contemporary conversation on the "metaverse" through the dystopian lens of Snow Crash.
- Memes, cooperation, and performance art
Observing the importance of memes and performance art in large scale human cooperation
- On kings
Thoughts on nurturing a curious, earnest, emotionally aware masculinity
- Zoning and land use in Japan
As I've been thinking more about spaces [https://www.rahulshankar.com/default-spaces/] I'm trying to get smarter about how zoning and land use is structured in the United States and different parts of the world. If I had to define zoning, it would be something like this – > The legal apparatus or guidelines that regulate what property owners (individual home owners, developers, etc.) can and cannot do with their property. The starting principles and consequently legal specifics of zoning
- Default spaces
We don't spend enough time thinking about the spaces where we spend the majority of our lives. At least not in ways that demonstrate agency and autonomy. Cities, schools, offices, homes, vehicles, department stores, malls. Most of these end up being default choices resulting in a lot of time spent in default spaces. You might argue that we do think a lot about some of these, especially our homes, but even those choices end up being default or default adjacent. A majority of the people I kn
- Peloton, gaming, and original storytelling
Storytelling and Peloton’s future opportunity in gaming and exclusive content. Peloton is a company that has been part of the 2020 COVID-influenced tech zeitgeist. Like most others in this realm, the company is an example of a good product that has seen a growth spike much faster than most expected. After spending a couple of months with my Peloton and observing the broader media landscape they participate in, here are three reflections on Peloton and how they have opportunities in the world o