#ryan bradshaw

One of the benefits of being able to teach in a college classroom is the amount of autonomy and academic freedom given to discuss topics.  So when I told my class one day that we were going to talk about marshmallows they gave me a funny look.

The marshmallow is interesting itself: what it’s made from, how it’s made, how many tons American’s consume each year, and there’s even an annual marshmall…

Revisiting Blue Eye, Brown Eye

“Prejudice is the emotional commitment of ignorance.” – Nathan Rutstein

If you’ve never seen the film on Jane Elliott’s experiment titled, Blue Eye, Brown Eye, then you are really in for an eye-opening experience (pun intended).  In brief, the teacher, Mrs. Elliott, demonstrates how prejudice can significantly alter the emotional, academic, and mental states of elementary students.

She does this…

It never fails.  Somewhere between one and fours times per year… I forget my belt.  And I go the rest of the day with this awkwardness in the back of my mind thinking, “Everyone notices I forgot my belt and they are pointing at me.”  When that is the last thing people are thinking when they see me.  Truth be told, I doubt anyone has ever really noticed or cared.  I usually have 37 things on my…

Intelligent and Successful and Rich

I’m smiling as I write this.  I’m smiling because people have these associations that are somewhat programmed (don’t worry, I do too).

Let me start with a few examples:

Janie rides a rollercoaster and has fun. She associates rides with being fun and therefore all rides must be fun.

Bobby likes grapes. He associates the positive experience with all fruit and therefore all fruit must be good.

Sally…

Adversity and Systemic Anomalies

Think about great leaders throughout history.  It certainly possible to be a great leader during times when conditions are optimal.  No wars.  No struggle.  No adversity.

But, adversity is when history labels great leaders.  Those that overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in defiance of the status quo to stand for change, sometimes at the cost of their very lives.

Adversity creates leadership…

You Can Feel It

There’s a change coming.  It’s in the air.  You can feel it.

When I was younger I always thought I would be the way I was.  My thinking was, “I’ve always been me, I’ll never change.”  But, I have changed.  I’ve grown and with growth comes change.

It’s nice to always think about change in terms of a positive, but sometimes change is for the worse.  It would be great to always write about the…

The Little Computer That Could

For the past six years I’ve been a Mac person.  I just jumped in one day and made the transition and – like many Mac users – I fell in love.  My MacBook was easily the best computer I’ve ever owned.

But then it crashed.

I plan to get another Mac in the near future but until then I needed something to do my daily writing and other online applications.  In the meantime I bought the cheapest…