SELECTED ESSAYS
Essays about the systems we inherit, the stories we tell about them, and what happens when people try to change them. Alongside those arguments are reflections from my work in software, design and worldbuilding, where abstract ideas become practical.
The world around us
Politics, class, culture and technology, and the structures that determine whose lives, labour and ideas are valued.
SYSTEMS AND CULTURE · 2024
Defying Anti-Life
Why people who resist oppressive systems are so often recast as villains, and what that reveals about a culture that prizes control over compassion.
ECONOMICS AND VALUE · 2026
What Is Financial Derangement Syndrome?
A name for the belief that only what can be priced has value, and an examination of what that logic does to organisations and society.
WEALTH AND POWER · 2025
The Birds and the Diamond Mountain
A systems myth about billionaires, wealth and the older structures of ownership and inequality that persist through the people who appear to command them.
POLITICS AND COMMUNITY · 2025
5 Things Progressives Keep Getting Wrong
A candid critique of where progressive politics loses ground, from appealing to power brokers to neglecting durable community power.
QUEER LIFE AND CLASS · 2025
Queer Class Exclusion
A personal examination of how money, status and access have fractured queer solidarity and left parts of the community behind.
OPEN SOURCE · 2020
Open Source: The Peaceful Revolution
Why free and open source software matters as more than an engineering model: a peaceful, collective alternative to closed ownership.
Retrospectives
Longer views on projects, methods and lessons gathered through building software, stories and an independent studio.
WORLDBUILDING AND SYSTEMS · 2026
Behind the Prologue: Writing About Systems
A companion essay to the Langenium Prologue about WERP as an allegory for human systems, their recurring failures and our responsibility as stewards.
LANGENIUM · 2025
Langenium 2012–2025 Retrospective
Thirteen years of building and rebuilding an online world, and the technical, creative and personal lessons that gave the project its mature point of view.
CRAFT AND PROCESS · 2025
Gardening Taught Me How to Be a Better Programmer
What trial, observation, feedback loops and working with living constraints taught me about becoming a more patient and adaptive programmer.
STATIC PUBLISHING · 2020
Looking Phugly, Feeling Stylus
A look back at Kettlefish, static publishing and a Pug and Stylus workflow shaped by financial constraints and the need for fast, resilient websites.
INDEPENDENT WORK · 2020
SEO, eCommerce and Presence: Oh My!
A reflection on self-employment, burnout and the attempt to build sustainable income through publishing, commerce and an independent web presence.
MANIFOLD · 2017
Creating Good Tools for a Brave New World
The early thinking behind Manifold: designing a hybrid 2D/3D tool around the actual production constraints of a small independent studio.
Keep exploring
These are selected essays. The archive also includes personal writing, practical guides and shorter reflections.