What Happens After Attention
Years ago, when I had a 9-to-5 job, a coworker came into work excited because someone she knew had gone viral. “He has to figure out how to capitalize on…
Essays by Ryan Minic
AI Will Make You More Human Than Human
My uncle got his first computer when I was in middle school. This was the 90s. Back then, he wore White Zombie T-shirts every day. One of their biggest songs…
Defiance Pass: Disability as Social Leverage
You know how some people talk about having an N-word pass? It’s a cultural allowance where someone who isn’t black can say the word in certain circles without…
Expectation Arbitrage: The Upside of Being Underestimated
One of the things I’ve learned from having a disability is that people tend to underestimate you. When I was growing up, there were countless times when people…
The Skill of Facing Rejection
The first girl I ever asked out was in the 7th grade. It was at a school dance. For some reason, they always played Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” as the…
How I Think About Failure
I love the song “All I Do Is Win.” It’s got a catchy hook and underscores one of the central themes of American culture: We’re a society obsessed with winning.…
Self-Reliance in a Digital World
When I was four years old, I had surgery on my lower back. I spent months in the hospital and longer doing physical therapy. I hated physical therapy. As part…