When I was in 8th grade, my family in a small town in Vermont hosted an exchange student from Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona, unbeknownst to me at the time, is the capital of a region called Catalonia, which, for as long as the romance languages all broke off from Latin, has spoken its own language, called … Continue reading Learning an Endangered Language: Catalan Immersion and Why Language Diversity Matters
Tag: personal essay
Reflections on Zafón’s Angel’s Game, Holiday’s Canvas Strategy, and How I Knew I Was Blunting My Creative Soul
“Don’t worry about credit… be a canvas for other people to paint on,” Ryan Holiday writes in his essay The Canvas Strategy. I still remember reading it my senior year of high school in the pages of Ego Is The Enemy, lying on the couch in my parent's living room. It wasn’t just that I … Continue reading Reflections on Zafón’s Angel’s Game, Holiday’s Canvas Strategy, and How I Knew I Was Blunting My Creative Soul
How to Learn a Language in 203 Easy Steps (What They Don’t Teach in School)
First, your dad won’t teach you, even though Spanish is his first language. You’ll hear him use it with his parents, your grandparents, who you can hardly communicate with. Your grandfather, who you call “Ito” because you won’t be able to say “abuelito,” will drive with you and your dad to all of your sports … Continue reading How to Learn a Language in 203 Easy Steps (What They Don’t Teach in School)
April 2022 Newsletter: How Word Choice Influences Policy and The Power of Personal Essays
Note: This originally appeared in newsletter form. I send these out monthly to my list. If you'd like to receive emails like this that will help you become a better reader, learner, and thinker, then subscribe here. Wow. Here we are. We did it. An email list. This is the inaugural email. Let’s get right … Continue reading April 2022 Newsletter: How Word Choice Influences Policy and The Power of Personal Essays
Of Dragons and Dreams: My Battles with Envy
Look, it’s easy for me to write what I’m excited to share. Like learning a language in a month by talking to topless women, or getting an internship with my childhood hero. This isn’t like that. It was hard to write, it’s harder to read back, and it’ll be even harder to admit to those … Continue reading Of Dragons and Dreams: My Battles with Envy
David William Rosales 