Our recruiting process isn’t an automated one. We read every application. Most candidates have a strong resume and transcript. What often sets candidates apart is the cover letter. So here are three Dos and three Don’ts, very much of in the spirit of being helpful.

Tech and VCRamanan RaghavendranNovember 23, 2020FellowsComment

Reading Confucius in Translation: Something New This Way Comes

Decades ago the issue of “translation effects” came to lodge in my brain, in the course of reading Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy. During the course of an ongoing learning journey, I read The Analects of Confucius in translation. I wrote a paper in response, and this essay captures the main points of that paper minus all the citations :).

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranNovember 1, 2020MLAComment

On Trump: Election Post (We Can Do Better)

I have occasionally posted on social media about the Trump presidency, but haven’t felt moved to write something longer. I am doing so now because I feel it is important to “stand up and be counted” before the elections.

OddmentsRamanan RaghavendranOctober 19, 2020PoliticsComment

On Reading Virgil and Sophocles

I read Antigone and the Aeneid (well, the first half of it) in consecutive weeks and a few thoughts occurred to me about parallel threads between both works.

Books and MusicRamanan RaghavendranOctober 18, 2020MLAComment

On First Looking Into Fagles' Homer

This past week I read The Odyssey, in Robert Fagles’ translation, and felt a bit like “stout Cortez” staring at the Pacific (note: I am not stout. At least not right now). In reading this brilliant translation from the Greek — with an introduction by Bernard Knox that is worth the price of admission in itself — I realized how much I had missed.

Books and Music, OddmentsRamanan RaghavendranSeptember 25, 2020MLAComment

On Foucault

In my Twitter header is a quote by Michel Foucault, whose influence on me which has been substantial. A friend asked me about the quote, and I haven’t written a stand-alone piece on Foucault, so here are three brief thoughts.

SocietyRamanan RaghavendranSeptember 20, 2020FoucaultComment

A Lesson from Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is an ancient Sumerian epic, the oldest literature known. I found myself reading it recently, in the Foster translation, as part of a learning journey. I engaged slightly grudgingly with the text and emerged very moved.

OddmentsRamanan RaghavendranSeptember 17, 2020MLAComment

On Belonging

Modern life doesn’t present the same opportunities for belonging that existed in generations past. It is a defining characteristic of our age. But belonging is an elemental human need, and in the modern world, we have to be very “intentional” about finding it.

Society, PennRamanan RaghavendranSeptember 12, 2020BehaviorComment

The Bay Area and The Climate Crisis: What Six Local Counties Are Doing

The table at the end of this post, which can be sorted and filtered, lays out goals and actions regarding climate and the environment for six Bay Area counties: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Marin.

ClimateRamanan RaghavendranAugust 2, 2020GovernmentComment