• Articles about the demiurge for a philosophy assignment. Fascinating to see the evolution of the demiurge through the ages, from Plato’s formless and benevolent craftsmen, to the malevolent lion-serpent creator of the material world for the gnostics, then back to a more benevolent being emanating from the One in Plotinus’s hierarchy. The demiurge was a shape-shifter, we can see it as a proxy for understanding various groups’ and philosopher’s beliefs about the world at a given time.
• Papers and articles about irredentism and various sources on the Armenia and Azerbaijan conflict for a policy memo assignment.
  • Zeroing in on a very specific case study and exploring the history of this particular conflict helped me understand some of the bigger concepts in my international affairs class (the impacts of a shift from unipolarity to multipolarity, aftermath of the USSR’s dissolution, the balancing role of a regional hegemon, irredentism in action (when a state annexes the territory of another state based on claims of ethnic ties), etc).
• The House Beyond Your Sky - Benjamin Rosenbaum - short story from Strange Horizons
  • I like the concept of a library of virtual universes, reminds me of learning about toy universes and parent universes in my metaphysics elective a while ago.
  • The “God” of the worlds was grappling with guilt and grief watching his creations struggle —interesting character arc/internal conflict
• discovered Etymoline
• The Innovation Fallacy *In the U.S.-Chinese Tech Race, Diffusion Matters More Than Invention -*Jeffrey Ding - article in Foreign Affairs (reading for international affairs class)
• Answering Your Worldbuilding Questions - Brandon Sanderson
  • fictional histories are best explained with a visual cue (ex: the story animations from Deathly Hallows with narration, morphing tattoos in Moana)
• Dark Creature, Dream Her - short story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies
  • imaginative concept of being stuck in a creature’s mind composed of dream worlds inspired by one’s memories, desires, fears. Memorable lines:
    • opening: “The dark inside the landscape of the creature’s mind was vast and never-ending. If a moon had ever shined here, it had long since been swallowed.”
    • hint at how to escape: "There was always a way out of the winding pathways of a mörkirra’s mind. It showed up as a flaw in the fabric of reality, some detail conspicuously out of place.”
  • elements of fiction at play: a character with a capacity to make a decision (Zeni could have left the mind but stayed for Solvei), raising of stakes (Solvei needs to get back to the real world or her sister will die in child birth), Zeni’s motivations and character weaved in (her feelings of inferiority to her perfect golden sister, manifesting in a fake house illusion where she is forgotten, her guilt at being the reason her and Solvei are stuck in the mind), turning points, change, and progress (ending on a different emotional tone of optimism, making progress in the narrative towards escaping the mind of the creature). lots of vivid world building and sensory images.
• The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction Introduction
• “Rappaccini's Daughter” - short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction
• The Reductive Seduction of Other People’s Problems - an essay by Courtney Martin
  • a reality check on aspects of the culture of social entrepreneurship in the West; be wary of glamorizing and oversimplifying problem solving abroad, even if well-intentioned.
    • “But don’t go because you’ve fallen in love with solvability. Go because you’ve fallen in love with complexity.”
• Who is al-Jahiz? - Assassin’s Creed Mirage - Let’s Talk Religion Channel