Friday
September 4, 2026
Autumn · 5 entries
The Read
thatalexguy.devI don’t know what to do on a computer anymore.A software developer describes losing the creative spark that drove his lifelong computing hobby. AI tools have made problem-solving feel pointless, leaving him staring at his desktop unsure what to do, mourning the loss of a core part of his identity since age twelve.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
thatalexguy.devThe 3DS is the greatest handheld of all timeA personal essay praising the Nintendo 3DS XL as the greatest handheld console due to its vast game library spanning multiple generations, portability, customization options, and convenience features like suspend mode. The author chose it over larger devices for travel and uses it regularly instead✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50The Listen
Code SwitchWe’re Miseducated on Lauryn HillA rare three-way conversation that moves past Lauryn Hill mythology to actually interrogate how Black female genius gets pathologized — the lateness, the 'crazy,' the disappearance — with archival tape that lets Hill speak for herself at her most unguarded.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50
The DailyThe Intertwined Legacies of Gloria Steinem and Dolly PartonA meditation on how feminism needed two faces — the explicit organizer and the joyful embodier — told through one writer's honest reckoning with why she found Dolly Parton more accessible than Gloria Steinem as a child. The diner-jukebox ending is perfect.✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50**Thesis:** COVID-19 didn't break yoga culture—it exposed which systems were resilient and which were dysfunctional, revealing the path toward more agentic, distributed practice.
Pandemic as systems stress test: structure reveals true function under pressure
Four years later: some communities collapsed, others discovered deeper self-practice capacity
**Body 1: Financial Collapse — Who Survived and Why**
Studios that closed: no reserves, high fixed costs, single-teacher dependency
Studios that survived: cash cushions, flexible costs, diversified income, distributed teaching
**Body 2: Community Dissolution and Reformation**
What was lost: geographic dispersion, teacher exodus, ruptured relationships
What emerged: online networks, self-practice capacity, distributed/hybrid models
**Body 3: The Forced Experiment in Self-Practice**
Some collapsed without external structure (dependence, not capacity, was revealed)
Others deepened: intrinsic motivation, self-trust, new non-authoritarian relationship to teachers
**Conclusion: Now Is the Time**
Losses (studios, teachers, practitioners, touch) are real and grievable
Gains (distributed knowledge, agency, exposed weaknesses) create opportunity
Choice ahead: rebuild toward open-source, agentic practice or drift back to dysfunction
Pandemic as systems stress test: structure reveals true function under pressure
Four years later: some communities collapsed, others discovered deeper self-practice capacity
**Body 1: Financial Collapse — Who Survived and Why**
Studios that closed: no reserves, high fixed costs, single-teacher dependency
Studios that survived: cash cushions, flexible costs, diversified income, distributed teaching
**Body 2: Community Dissolution and Reformation**
What was lost: geographic dispersion, teacher exodus, ruptured relationships
What emerged: online networks, self-practice capacity, distributed/hybrid models
**Body 3: The Forced Experiment in Self-Practice**
Some collapsed without external structure (dependence, not capacity, was revealed)
Others deepened: intrinsic motivation, self-trust, new non-authoritarian relationship to teachers
**Conclusion: Now Is the Time**
Losses (studios, teachers, practitioners, touch) are real and grievable
Gains (distributed knowledge, agency, exposed weaknesses) create opportunity
Choice ahead: rebuild toward open-source, agentic practice or drift back to dysfunction
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