Can we have an equitable, democratic society if only some of us can claim their space? And is a society where everyone is heard equally necessarily better?

Kites have something innocent, something that reminds of childhood and endless summers. Our relationship with the wind made visible in a fun way. Can we give it a voice too? During this writing huddle, we claim space for childhood joy, while drafting our energy vows to the next generation.

Does love need to be liberated? If so, from what? The phrase ‘free love’ may be associated with mid to late 20th century hippies, but has its origins as a philosophy in religious movements which are thousands of years old. Since then, thinkers have come and gone asking how love can be made more free, and what we need to do to make it so.

Horrible people have made wonderful art. Or is it? Do the failings of an artist in their life, whether personal or professional, have anything to do with how we should relate to their art? If so, how should we treat art made by those who have done vile, even unspeakable things?

It’s easy to say that water is important, the earth is covered in it, we’re made of it, and so on. But how should water’s importance be managed? Their significance is not just historical and political but also conceptual and cultural. Rivers and the management of their floods marked civilization’s early advances in Mesopotamia. The […]

If you’re reading this, you were born. So, now what? Are you going to keep this cycle going? Would you really do that to someone, create them? If so, why? If not, why not?

Is peace just an absence of war, or is it a way of life? How can we learn to live peacefully? Some have theorized that peacefulness is a virtue, like courage or open-mindedness. Others think peace does not have a chance in a world where war is always a viable strategy.

Do you believe in monsters? Perhaps in our disenchanted age the category seems archaic. We no longer fear vampires, ghouls, or dragons. What about serial killers, predators, war criminals, and those that we often call monstrous? Does it help us to understand our world to keep this category, for some things so especially scary and perhaps evil?

TU Delft is composed of tens of thousands of people, academic staff, administrative staff, technical, facilities, and maintenance workers, not to mention students, visiting researchers, and the birds outside Alma.

But what is TU Delft? Is it just a university? If so, what kind? How could we and should we describe it, and what can we learn when we try?

Having fun, zoning out, seeking thrills, admiring beautiful things, learning, festivity, exercise, and Netflix are all contenders for ways to spend our free time. Sometimes we do a few at once. There’s hundreds of ways to spend our free time, but are some better than others?