What Works

I live for people explaining how they approach analysis and critique. I desperately want to know how other people think about things so I can learn to think in new ways. I want a compelling intellectual or journalistic project, but I also want to know how it was conceived and executed.
I hope you enjoy hearing that kind of behind-the-scenes, too, because that's exactly what this episode is. It's a case study that I shared with the last cohort of Making Sense, my 8-week program for turning "Wait, what?!" moments into compelling content, explaining how an article I published last year came together. You'll hear just how messy the process (and why working through it is worth it).
Footnotes:
Read the article version of this episode.
Check out Mia Sato's article about dupes for The Verge and her TikTok video explaining how she approached the topic.
"Drafting Towards the Status Quo" on What Works
“Wait, What?!” on What Works
Learn more about Making Sense!

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So a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded Final Cut Pro and committed to learning how to use it. Despite logging hundreds, if not thousands, of hours in other video editing software, this is a big challenge. I took some time to reflect on how I make sense of learning a new skill like this—because learning new skills is an essential component of navigating the 21st-century economy.
Footnotes:
Read the essay version of this episode here.
The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles
"Apple Creator Studio is launching to take on Adobe" on The Verge
Registration for Making Sense, an 8-week workshop series on turning "Wait, what?!" moments into compelling content, is open for registration. Program starts March 24. Learn more: whatworks.fyi/makingsense

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You’re going along, minding your own business, and then it hits you: “Wait, what?!” Your expectation or assumption bumps against the facts. Things aren’t the way you thought they were. It’s not always a life-altering surprise. It might be something tiny—just enough of a shock to make you rethink what you thought you knew.
Today, how we resolve those “Wait, what?!” moments.
I’m kicking off my 8-week workshop series, Making Sense, on March 24. This program walks you through the sensemaking process and takes you step by step through applying it to a media-making project. By the end of the 8 weeks, you’ll have made significant progress on your project and have an effective process you can use over and over again to create more compelling content.
Registration for Making Sense is now open. To learn more and enroll go to: whatworks.fyi/making-sense

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It's no secret that one of my, let's say, special interests is higher education. The reasons for this are at least threefold. First, I have a kid heading off to college next year. Second, I have past regrets and future fantasies about the academy. And third, the world of work and the realm of education overlap in myriad ways.

Work and education have always had a close relationship. Access to education influences access to different types of work. New forms of work influence how we organize and deliver education.
I've been talking about doing an episode or a series on the intersection of higher ed and work for... years now. Today, finally, I have an initial installment in what I hope is an ongoing, if nonsequential, look at how these two pillars of modern life influence each other.
Joining me to share both her professional insight and her personal journey is Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, a historian of education and the host of the American Campus Podcast.
Footnotes:
Read an edited transcript of this conversation.
Learn more about Lauren Lassabe Shepherd.
Resistance from the Right by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born by Nancy Fraser
"Adjunct professors deserve professional development" by Anna Conway and Thomas Tobin at Insight Higher Ed
"An Army of Temps: AFT Adjunct Faculty Quality of Work/Life Report" 
"The Secret Lives of Adjunct Professors" by Gila Berryman at Elle
Justice Lewis Power Jr. and the Powell Memo on Wikipedia
More about futurist Bryan Alexander
More about Indigenous studies scholar Sandy Grande
Check out the American Campus Podcast:
Mentioned in the Episode:"The peak and decline of US higher ed with Bryan Alexander"
"How to get a job at Harvard in 1860 with prabhdeep kehal"

A few personal favorites:"Christianity, manhood, and college football with Hunter M. Hampton"
"The college bookstore racket with Katya Schwenk"
"The history of federal student loans with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer"

(00:00) - Rethinking Higher Ed for the 21st-Century Economy with Lauren Lassabe Shepherd

(00:03) - Cold Open

(00:42) - Intro

(53:31) - Outro

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A brief meditation on grief at the loss of one's future self and how often that loss passes unacknowledged.
Footnotes:
Read the essay version of this episode.
“10:00 am” (Season 1, Episode 4) The Pitt on HBO
“Ho’oponopono” on Wikipedia
Unlearning with Hannah Arendt by Marie Luise Knott
The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
More from Tara:
Blank Slate is a guide to rethinking your business for sustainability.
Making Sense is an 8-workshop on creating compelling media through sensemaking. New cohort starts March 24. Registration opens on February 12. Learn more!

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