Better Humans

What this is about

What do you write about?

I freeze — the way I used to freeze at cocktail parties, when people shook hands and announced themselves. I am a lawyer. I am a biologist. I am a statistician. And earlier, much younger, when they asked what music I liked. I could see the cage with my name on it.

I think I write about humans behind systems. Sometimes the system is the entire United Nations. Sometimes one institution within it. Sometimes the system is global health, sometimes it is something more local, an education framework, a community, a courtyard. Sometimes the system is my family, my marriage, my gender.

But I’d rather not pin it down further.

I am a person, not a brand. And this whole pressure to niche yourself, to become a tidy little category — it has a cost. One I was never really willing to pay.

So: no lane. Just me, paying attention. If that sounds like something you’d want in your inbox once a week (more or less), subscribe — at your own risk.

If you would like, you can sign up for a paid subscription. There is no exclusive tier, no secret content. Everything I write, everyone can read. Paying just means I get to do more of this, and less of the other things. It’s a way of saying: I see the work behind this, keep going. That’s all. And it means a lot.

— Tania