When the hipsters co-opt your lifestyle

“Where did you get this?” Seana’s man-friend says to me, nervously pawing the Klein tools bag that I’m using as a purse. “You didn’t buy it at Urban Outfitters or something did you?” “No. I stole it from S who bought it at the hardware store.” He lets out a billowing sigh, “Well, that’s a… Continue reading When the hipsters co-opt your lifestyle

Growing Up Half Ass[yrian] Zine

The much-anticipated zine is here! Okay, maybe you haven’t heard anything about it, but it is here. We have compiled some of our favorite blog posts and created a zine about growing up half-Assyrian and half-white. We made some drawings with watercolors based on our childhood photos and rewrote the stories on our grandmother’s typewriter.… Continue reading Growing Up Half Ass[yrian] Zine

Between the Lines: Listening with a Tarof Ear

With a background in anthropology and a family of immigrants, I like to think that I’m pretty good at understanding people. For folks who grew up with tarof we’re going to say things differently than say, plain white people from the Bay Area. But I’ve realized that even though I should be listening with different… Continue reading Between the Lines: Listening with a Tarof Ear

Thinking on Microinteractions

I just read Dan Saffer’s Microinteractions: Designing with details a great, straight-forward approach to thinking about design details in any given user experience design. It got me thinking about my own UX preferences as well as past pleasant and painful interactions. But first, “What the heck is a microinteraction?” you might be asking yourself. It… Continue reading Thinking on Microinteractions

Pink is for Boys and Blue is for Girls

This is how it used to be for much of history. It is really only within the last 60 years that it flipped. If you look at the many Jesus-y paintings from the Medieval or Renaissance eras, for instance the Annunciation paintings, you will see the Virgin Mary usually wears blue and Jesus or the… Continue reading Pink is for Boys and Blue is for Girls

Feeding Expectations

I’m a terrible hostess. I hardly invite friends over to my place. When I do I get so distracted by their presence that I’m barely able to ask how their grandma’s been doing lately and pour a beer at the same time. My meals are haphazard and I never have the right condiments. I invited… Continue reading Feeding Expectations

Quilting: The Opposite of Instant Gratification

I subscribe to hundreds of blogs, mostly design and art blogs. I will see about 300 blog posts a day, a few per second. Next, next, next. The image overload is mind altering. I usually tell myself I will look at them for inspiration but most likely I will end up feeling bad about myself… Continue reading Quilting: The Opposite of Instant Gratification

Why This Anthropologist Loves (and is frustrated by) Design(-ers)*

*Warning. This is a guise to promote the app, Design School Cheats, which I helped create with the lovely and talented Cara Oba and Kyle Oba of the design shop, Pas de Chocolat. At this time, it would be appropriate to visit iTunes and download it. The first section “LOOK” (like a designer) is free.… Continue reading Why This Anthropologist Loves (and is frustrated by) Design(-ers)*

synchronize: what we are all doing at the same time

I watched a tiny piece of Christian Marclay’s The Clock at SF MoMA last week. From 4:37 – 5:05 pm or so. If you’re like me and had not heard of the work before, he (and most likely an army of unpaid interns) stitched together thousands of movie clips that reference time and matched each… Continue reading synchronize: what we are all doing at the same time