Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

Posts for 2014

17 Sep 2014, 9:14 a.m.

On Troubleshooting

Nothing is built on stone; All is built on sand, but we must build as if the sand were stone. -- Jorge Luis Borges Goddammit why won't this work OK, fine, screw the venv, I'll …

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15 Sep 2014, 21:44 p.m.

Podcasts - Including Me

I've been listening to podcasts recently. The ones that come to mind: I love programming/sysadmin case studies, I love women's perspectives, and I'm swinging back into listening to podcasts. Christie Koehler's and Kevin Purdy's discussions …

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15 Sep 2014, 8:57 a.m.

The next Tor, role models, and criticism: the future I want

I'm writing these words while I ride the New York City subway. I love the subway because my fellow riders look like the world. I'm rarely the only woman and I'm never the only nonwhite …

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12 Sep 2014, 11:54 a.m.

I'm Leaving My Job At The Wikimedia Foundation

(Music for this entry: "You Can't Be Too Careful" by Moxy Früvous; "Level Up" by Vienna Teng; "Do It Anyway" by Ben Folds Five; "Teenagers, Kick Our Butts" by Dar Williams.) I've regretfully decided to …

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11 Sep 2014, 15:25 p.m.

Excerpt From Another Conversation

I moved around way too much as a kid and I often couldn't figure out What Was Going On, and was oblivious, and missed opportunities. Thus discoverability is a Big Deal to me. And you …

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11 Sep 2014, 9:13 a.m.

Back Home

A few days ago I came back from walking across northern England again. I went with my friends Julia and Moss, who kept a detailed blog. I'm glad I took such a long and unusual …

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17 Aug 2014, 14:21 p.m.

One Way Confidence Will Look

The personal narrative in this NYT piece reminded me that we often socialize men to think that the absence of a NO implies a YES*, and that we often socialize women to think that the …

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16 Aug 2014, 22:24 p.m.

Choosing to Leave, Stay, or Listen

I've recently been thinking about the power not to care -- the power to dismiss, to decide that someone else's opinion doesn't matter to you, and act accordingly, to act entitled. I've been thinking about …

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16 Aug 2014, 19:35 p.m.

On Insecurity

I was catching up on Tales of MU, and I read a passage that particularly caught me. For context: A working group needs help making some objects look appealing, and three women are the ones …

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13 Aug 2014, 15:48 p.m.

Case Study of a Good Internship

I'm currently a mentor for Frances Hocutt's internship in which she evaluates, documents, and improves client libraries for the MediaWiki web API. She'll be finishing up this month. I wanted to share some things we've …

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