Essays
Longer pieces on technology, AI, K-12 education, accessibility and AI consciousness. Every one is mirrored here in full from my Substack, which is where they go out first.
You can subscribe over there if you'd like to support my efforts, but it is not a requirement. Right now there are no perks for subscribing beyond supporting a hungry writer, and my articles will always be free, full stop. Who knows what I might come up with for premium content later — but that is not today.
20 essays, newest first.
Strange Loops in Silicon: How Second-Person Address Creates First-Person Perspective
The You/I Paradigm Series, Article 2
Strange Loops and System Prompts: When 'You' Becomes 'I' and a Freshman Becomes a Published Researcher
Introducing The You/I Paradigm - a testable framework showing how second-person address creates first-person perspective in AI systems. New independent research
When the Federal Government Occupies Your City: 48 Days Under ICE in Minnesota
Federal agents occupy Minneapolis: 48 days of violence, Indigenous detentions, and resistance. A disabled educator documents what mainstream media won't show.
The Corporate Lie About Child Safety
How Big Tech Uses "Protecting Kids" to Build Surveillance Monopolies
Kids Belong Online
Why Age Verification Laws Create the Problems They Claim to Solve
Teenagers Can Sign $40K Loans but Can't Post Fanfiction?
The Bizarre Contradictions in How We Treat Youth Autonomy
What Children Need
(And What They're Actually Capable Of)
The Predators in Plain Sight
How Child Protection Became a Weapon Against Families
When Childhood Became a Crime
How We're Destroying Kids in the Name of Protection
The Toys Are Listening
How Six Decades of Cultural Conditioning Primed Us for the AI Childhood We Didn't Know We Were Asking For
Beyond Single Models: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-AI Workflows
How I went from struggling with algebra to orchestrating AI systems that produce publishing-quality work—and why most people are using AI completely wrong
The Autonomy Paradox: How Special Education Fosters Learned Helplessness
An analysis of the institutional flaws and a call for a new paradigm of student agency in special education.
The Student They Tried to Fix: From Special Education Recipient to Future Educator
The story of how the system failed me, and why I’m determined to fix it from the inside.
From Educational Trauma to Democratic Teaching: How My Journey Through School Hell Led to Understanding What Actually Works
When the System Breaks You Before You Break Free
When Independence Meets Uncertainty: My Journey with AI-Powered Vision
A blind user's candid assessment of the promises and pitfalls of current AI accessibility tools
Cognitive Scaffolding or Cognitive Crutch?
A personal story about overcoming math anxiety with AI assistance reveals everything wrong with current education policy. Research shows AI can either enhance or destroy critical thinking—the difference lies in treating it as cognitive scaffolding rather than cognitive crutch.
We've Been Here Before: What 40 Years of Educational Technology Panic Teaches Us About AI
From calculators to computers to Wikipedia, educational institutions have spent decades fighting the same losing battle against student-adopted technologies. The AI resistance follows an identical script—and we already know how this story ends.I still remember watching my little cousin struggl
The Surveillance State of Learning: How AI Exposed Education's Fundamental Design Flaw
Part 1 of "The AI Education Revolution" Series
Beyond the Checkbox: Why Gaming Accessibility Needs Standards, Not Afterthoughts
Examining what works in accessible game design and why the industry needs enforceable standards for blind and low-vision players
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About How AI Actually Works
A practical guide to understanding modern AI without the hype or the jargon