The roads between towns and cities are best viewed from above. | The connections made between bodies of knowledge are among the most satisfying parts of learning.

During this pandemic, I’ve had a lot of extra time on my hands. My schoolwork has been cut in half and I’m confined to my house for the vast majority of the time. It’s been hard in some ways, and so much of the future is uncertain.

However, this dramatic spike in free time has given me the opportunity to reflect on one of my favorite hobbies: learning. Through platforms like Youtube and Khan Academy and the internet itself, information has never been more democratized. When combined with this extra time on my hands, I can participate more in what is truly becoming a burgeoning community of learners around the world. These are people who are truly curious about the world around them. They have a relentless desire to know why. They collaborate and debate and discuss. They know that knowledge is among the greatest riches in the world, and they are dogged in their pursuit of it. 

Learning creates this sense of accomplishment and self-improvement which I find addictively satisfying. And now is the time to do it, now is the time to explore new things, to try something you’ve never tried before.

I hope to cultivate my own community–not just an audience–of learners. I want to learn new things and share those things I learn here. I want to facilitate discussions about these topics and make this an open-source project to the greatest extent that I can. This website will serve as the launching grounds for the documentation of my journeys in learning and in doing. 

I hope you’ll join me. 

-Jonathan Parker Bell

May 11, 2020.