"You spent half your life trying to turn the other half around"

Welcome to the second issue of the Mostly Invisible newsletter. This is a monthly email to share some timely thoughts and what I've worked on in the last month. I do hope that you enjoy it.

Everyone I know is on tilt, all the time. This has obviously been the case for a while now - I’d say a decade at this point - but 2026, a year that is only 91 days old, has pushed us all to the brink. People are worried about everything: their families, their jobs, their finances, their health, their security, their safety, their country, their mental stability, their ability to make it through all this. I try to remember, constantly, that everyone I interact with in my life is dealing with this in one way or another. They’re going through it right now. We all are.

Like everybody else, I’m just trying to keep my bearings: to keep myself and the people around me as sane and level as possible. I’m trying to keep my cool. I am not always successful at this, but I am trying. If you were to run into me on the street, I hope that you would think I was being at least somewhat successful.

It is, as I suspect it is for you, a constant battle. But I’m finding little ways to keep my head above water; strategies that I find helpful. I don’t know if they will work for you, but they are (mostly) working for me; to keep my wits, to keep my face from melting off, during this specific time.

On some evenings, I retreat to my home office, slip on some over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones, and listen to classical music. Apple’s Classical Music and Radio app provides a unique and specialized lens into your Apple Music account. I recline in my chair, close my eyes, and listen to the layered music. I’m no musical expert, but I enjoy the complex themes and the history in the art. Occasionally, I’ll read the beautiful, synchronized listening guide to the piece, but usually I just get lost in the music for an hour or two.

I’ve been systematically working my way through Beethoven’s nine symphonies. His compositions are wonderful and learning about his life has been especially compelling.

In 1802, as it became clear that his hearing wouldn't improve and only get worse, Beethoven retreated to the village of Heiligenstadt on the outskirts of Vienna and wrote a letter to his brothers, which he never sent and was only found in his effects after he died. This letter has become known as the Heiligenstadt Testament, and in it, Beethoven writes how close he came to suicide at the realization of his deafness, but he resolves in the end that he must continue living for and through his music. We are so lucky he did.

I find myself coming back to his famous Ninth Symphony during my evening retreats. Listen here if you like:

Not only was this the first time a choir had been used in a symphony, but the words they are singing are very significant. Beethoven takes a poem by the German poet Friedrich Schiller called An die Freude, Ode to Joy, a jubilant expression of the brother and sisterhood of mankind, of how humanity is at its best when we see the commonalities in each other and not the differences.

Even after his turbulent life of tragedy, contemplation of suicide, social reclusion, and a disability dreaded by any musician, in one of his last great works, Beethoven wants to tell the people of the world that he finds joy in humanity and that we should too.

Take care of yourself. Take care of others too.

Here is a numerical breakdown of all the things I wrote this month, in order of what I believe to be their quality.

1. Lego blocks and iron suits, Mostly Invisible. My first post about my approach to engineering work. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

2. Capitalism and the principle stack, Mostly Invisible. Capitalism is not a moral system - it isn't supposed to be one. But you are. Act accordingly.

3. The stack of your principles, Mostly Invisible. Your principle stack is not a statement of intent. It's a record of choices. Know the difference.

4. The Blue Norther comes to Virginia, Mostly Invisible. It went from 75°F to the 30s in a single March morning. A classic cold front - and a rare Mid-Atlantic cousin of the Great Plains' Blue Norther.

5. The stack beneath your principles, Mostly Invisible. Most maxims float free of their origins. Trace them back and you find a stack: a mental model, a truth it surfaces, and an action that follows.

Championship banners hung along the western side of Fenway Park. Facing north on Jersey Street, Boston, Massachusetts, on August 9, 2025.

Best,

BK