Why Personal Home?

I liked the idea of making a personal website, but was never a big fan of sharing my thoughts and life. I have a need to be alone, be separated, be isolated. It felt safe.

But it began to show signs of stagnation. It started to feel like a show - a magic show, if you will. A show where I don’t exist as a self, but a performer, exerting power over others, but not myself.

It’s great to stand on the stage, but have I talked to the stage? Do I know what it feels? Do I see what it is? Nah, I kinda just step on it and do what a magician does to the folks watching. But the stage matters. The stage is beyond a showman. It is beyond a show, it outlasts the acts. It is what carries what’s shown, but also, more importantly, what is. Perhaps talk to the stage, it has quite a character, you will love it.

So hopefully this is the stage, and writing here - even if I am fumbling - is how I listen to it. I am terrible, terrible at writing long and coherent content. I am naturally an impulsive thinker. Having a site that people have access forces me to practice writing in length and structure my thoughts, which becomes more useful as I build my cognitive framework. Hopefully what you are reading right now is the worst you can find on this site. But if not, let me know, no hard feelings ;)

Also, progress tracking is good. Always.

How this site works

Everything in this site is a "page", but some pages are born bigger than the rest. And they are called "frameworks".

There is no difference of kind. A framework is just a special page that marks my attempt to synthesize my understanding of a subject matter in a structural way. It is a cognitive construct that reveals how we connect the nodes and form a representation of the world.

This site is organized by frameworks. In the navigation bar, you can see some bigger "frameworks" that I chose to structure this site with. You may also use "Graph" to see the link between pages in a visual manner.

In some pages, you can see a timeline button in the navigation bar. That is how I record changes in my mind, which, arguably, is much more important than the substance. You can access past versions of a page there.

I hope you enjoy reading some of my stuff!

How Can You Interact?

• Any comments are welcomed. You can do so by highlighting the text and clicking the comment button - just like how you would do in a Google Doc.
• You can talk to me. I am guessing we know each other, if you have access to this site. Even if you don't, feel free to reach out.
• If you find one of my projects interesting and want to learn more / join my team. Feel free to contact me, or drop me an email at muxiaol@middlebury.edu.