&you

Do one thing every day that scares you

“Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”

– e. e. cummings

Illustration by Jaime Robles

Wish it, Do it

About 9 years ago I moved to the suburban desert region of Eastern Washington State. I had moved to this area, somewhat begrudgingly, to support my husband’s career. Although I planned to make the best of it while we lived here, I pretty much wrote it off as a place where I would never find the connection, culture, and fulfillment that I had experienced living in New York City.

Shortly after we bought our first house, I went for a long meandering walk to explore my new neighborhood and came upon a garage sale. I’ve always had a weakness for treasure hunting, so I popped in to see what I could find. I was just about to leave empty handed when I noticed a box of beautifully hand painted wooden signs sitting on the floor. I thumbed past an assortment of “home sweet home”-esque messages when I encountered a sign whose message stopped me cold. It said, “Wish it, Do it.”

I excitedly bought the sign and spent the entire walk home trying to make sense of the message. I realized that I wasn’t doing anyone any good sitting around wishing for the connection, culture, and fulfillment of my life in New York. If I wanted connection, I needed to connect to people. If I wanted culture, I needed to look for it and create it. If I wanted fulfillment, I needed to figure out what that meant for me, and make it happen.

Fast forward 9 years. “Wish it, Do it.” has become my motto, and I display the sign in my office as a constant reminder. I have unearthed a wealth of culture in this little corner of the world, and have connected with a group of individuals who are as passionate as I am about making this area an amazing place to live. I’m slowly realizing what fulfillment means for me, and that this fulfillment should come from my own endeavors, regardless of where I live.

Wide Awake – A heavy sleeper’s guide to getting up in the morning

by Sarah Bray

Sarah Bray’s post has resonates with a lot of us on the team. Wide Awake is a unique outlook on how “often, the problem isn’t the problem, but it’s a symptom of a bigger problem”. She explains her journey of exploring how to create healthly habits.

Get Talky behind your firewall now!

by Peter Saint-Andre

Peter Saint-Andre’s blog post explains how thrilled we are to share with you and your team, Talky On-Premises. Taking the same ultra-simple experience you’ve come to love for video chat over the Internet, and moves it in-house.

Five books to make you a better human and teammate

by Karolina Szczur

Karolina Szczur’s recent blog post shares five publications that changed how we work, shed a light on a range of social issues and made us better humans. Reading is good for the soul and these books will surely inspire you to be a better you.

Hello &yetConf

&yetConf isn’t about us—it’s about what &yet is about—the things we care about, believe in, and aspire to be.

As we’ve pursued bringing back RealtimeConf for 2015 and worked hard on some of the ridiculous creative things we have in store, the more we really felt constrained by the name. We really want to make something greater than RealtimeConf in all elements, and we don’t want to be held back. Ultimately, we see conferences as a unique art form and we want to create an event unrestrained in its expression.

&yetConf is about the intersections of technology with humanity, meaning and ethics. It's for people who believe the world should be better and are determined to make it so.

WE WANT YOU THERE BECAUSE WE <3 YOU
Request a Ticket or buy a diversity supporter ticket.

Over to you

Marcy Sutton is adding more classes for Girl Develop It Seattle, where she co-organizes and teaches.
Sandro Olivieri posted a great article on Medium, A Father’s Position Paper Or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Technology”.

Ed Finkler has been working hard on his campaign to change how we talk about mental health in the tech community: Open Source Mental Illness.
TheAlphaNerd is helping organize dimsum.js in both SF and Seattle. He's also gearing up for a new meet up in SF called waffle.js.

&you?

What’s something you made happen recently?

Let us know what you’ve been up to and we’ll share it in a future dispatch (just reply to this email).

<&, your friendly neighborhood>