Okay, so welcome back everyone to our final practical session. In that session, our main idea would be to go through basic workflow, how we usually work with the protein systems and starting from that PDB structure which usually almost the same as you could download from the PDB file, could make a protein system and then convert it, then make a normal classical MDE equilibration and then convert it to QMM and calculate some properties for that. So let's, I will go, ah yes, also in that session, we will go through the, how you can set up the non-standard CP2K parameters. The one which for example, Holly told you about in a previous session, yeah, like using DFTD3 corrections using non-standard basis set and plane wave cutoffs. So I will show you, I will give you an idea how it should be done on the example of calculation of absorption spectra for the EJFP protein. Okay, so let's just go through the basic workflow which you usually, which one usually apply when you do in some KMM simulations. So in reality, what you do, you first start with some input structure, usually it crystallographic structure, sometimes ZMR structure, sometimes it's cryo-M structure, whatever. So you start from some coordinates, then what you should do, usually it's from PDB4, PDB data bank. Or if it's membrane, you will membrane yourself for example, but first of all, what you should do, you should treat your PDB file. So you should add any missing residues, you should check the protonation states of your histidines for example, you should then prepare your, define box size in which you want to solve this here or how you want to calculate this. Then you need to basically do PDB2GMX to generate Rommax topology. So of course you need, for any non-standard residue you will need parameters, like for chromophore in that case, you need parameters for standard residue. So and after that, you basically will get a working system, but I suppose that as almost all of you are, well know what Rommax it is, so you can go through the steps yourself and you are going through that in your usual life. And on the next stage, you perform your MD, classical MD simulations. So you do first energy minimization, then you do equilibration, then you do usually production run. That's how usually they work for MD, for classical MDs working. And then you can do whatever you want. So then you can do a FEP calculation or a replica exchange or whatever to such confirmations. Okay, but then how then to switch to QMM?  So in the index file, you need to define the group which will be your QM atoms. Then you need to put that MDV parameter switch I showed you already yesterday. Or there is another option, which we'll talk about today. You can also provide an external CP2K input instead of the automatically generated one. And then you can use whatever parameters of CP2K1. So and with that, you can perform QMM calculations. So in geometry optimizations, like a computational spectra doing QMM molecular dynamics like porno and Heimer dynamics in such case and calculating some properties like charges, social spectra, that's all. Okay, so here today we'll work with a system called TGFP. So what is TGFP? It stands for enhanced green fluorescent protein. So it's a mutant of the wild type green fluorescent protein which have cell like border or so higher fluorescence intensity. It's one of the first mutant which has been made for that. And usually if you're talking today about some GFP labeled proteins in the biology, usually they are labeled with that EGFP instead of wild type GFP. But nevertheless, so the crystal structures that have been solved already a long time ago and it is available in several variants in the PDB data bank. I have two, just one of them. The one, the most complete one. And inside that protein, there is no standard residue called chromophore which can absorb light and then fluoresce. Yeah, these with very distinct green fluorescence. So this residue, yeah, the cold chromophore and this is a, it's formed by after catalytic reaction between glycine, tyrosine and in that case, I think it ran in. So it's some after catalytic reaction but you can read about that how it works but it's not so easy. Okay, but anyway, this non-standard residue can absorb light. And what we want to do in our final exercise, we want to calculate that first spectra of that protein in solution using the EGFP. But first we need to make a suitable model for that. So, and that's why I suggest you to start with exercise five steps from one to five. So in steps one to five, you will perform basically the first buildup of your system from the PDB file. And then you will do the molecular or mechanical equilibration of that. So first you will do energy minimization with classical force fields. And then you do NVK run one and a second only but it should be okay for that system. And yeah, so please do that. And once you've done that, please rise your hands. Once you submit the second one, the second once you submit the NVT molecular dynamical trajectory because it will take some time for it to calculate. Why does this happen? Because probably you have incorrect charges for the chromophore, for example, in that case because charges of the chromophore could be parameterized as such they are nonzero in total for the chromophore atoms. So usually when you parameterize some amino acid residues you have a zero or plus one or minus one charge for the whole residue. And that is your constraint. Yeah, but in that kind of system it depends how you parameterize that constant that residue. So for example, this chromophore which I showed in the balls here, it is a minus one charge. But I think in the force field that some of that charges on that atoms will be non minus one. No, no, no, this could be, but it's very rare. But it depends if you have a very small deviation from the charge then it's probably just rounding graphs of your scripts with the issue convert. But if it's not, then it is probably that you are missing some parameters for some residues in another force field. And what happens that basically this, for example, zero solid, it's a top automatically zero charge on that kind of standard residues and that's why you see some integers just. Yes, usually you need to check your charges in the parameters so that they will be integer because you don't have, you cannot have an integer charge in classical usually this means that something went wrong. In QMM however, you can see that, you could see that as you saw yesterday. Just checking that we don't expect that minimization convert just complete one thousand steps. Yes, it should not converge. We don't need, you don't need usually to wait for convergence. Minimization in case of classical MDE, its main idea is that your bonds angles and the hydrals will be more or less in the right, in the correct average value. You'll have more correct average value so that once the MDE will start, they will not, it will not break your system into the parts. Sometimes it's also happens when you use constraints for production run, if you use it with constraints, then usually if you do not do minimization beforehand, your constraints will start complaining and it will blow up your system. So minimization needed just for, so that your starting structure for MDE will be more or less in the right, in a with the correct bonds length and angles. Yes. So for example, that's why in that, also in that exercise, you start your MDE equilibrium with the optimization trajectory. So you're starting with the last frame of optimization. So basically that's the idea that you first optimize then you do a equilibration and here on and then you do production and here on. Why do we set option during salutation shell 10? Okay, it's one of the options how you can fill up your system. So if you are familiar with Gromax GMX Salvate tool, so shell 10 means that the Gromax will salvate the system such there will be at least 10, oh, not please, but how it's called. So it will try to salvate your system, which is protein in that case with a range of 10 nanometers. But if that 10 nanometers will go over the box of course sites, because our box here is 10 nanometers by 10 nanometers by 10 nanometers, then it will cut it. So it just a way how you can salvate the whole box. That's how I usually do it. There is a hundreds of way how you can do it. But with that shell option, probably the easiest way how you can. So it's basically the radius in which it will add a solvent around your system, but it is not bigger than your box size. Yes. And no, no, no, it's not specific. It's just how I'm usually doing, but you can do it whatever you want. You can do it even in VMD. You can salvate and you generate items in VMD and then just pass it to the Chromax, PDV to JMX. Yes, that system, but just how the Chromax works. Okay. I see that many people have already managed to do so. So let's continue. I will put back your hands. Okay. So now we will switch our system to KMM. Once the calibration for you is finished, I will check quick. Okay. I see that some people are still running. Okay. But no, anyway, wait until your job, equilibration or classical will finish and then continue. But so for the MTV parameters, we will use the following parameters for initial KMM equilibration again run. We will do first a short KMM equilibration again. So our KMM group will be KMM items, but in that case, you will need to generate index value yourself. So our KMM group will be that items, which I highlighted here. So it is the one which is both here. So it's Chromax for basically items. It's not a big system, but still. So and the chart shows that system as I already told it's minus one. So this is a new one. And the multiplicity is again one. So you can look into that parameters in the MDP file and respect the MDP file. But first let's start doing step six to nine in the step number six. I suppose you will need to generate index file. Yes. And this is how you define that. You also can check yourself if you render the Conf.Grow file that these items are actually Chromax for items. Note that they may be, they may have index plus minus one depending on the starting index of the first item. In your particular program, for example, I don't remember. In VMD they will have index minus one because VMD starts indexes from zero. Chromax starts indexes from one. So, but you can render them in VMD or PyMol and basically check that indeed these items which are set as a QM items in the make and index utility is that items which I showed you. I had to rename my QM items group in index. Yeah, the group you will create will be called A underscore and number range of items. Then you need to rename it to QM items. That's what the second line is doing. When you do name, name 18 QM items, you rename it to QM items. Or you can leave it like that and then put that index name into the MP file. It's up to you. It's up to you. What is also important here, I'm getting 19 items in my index. Let me check. I guess it should be a 18. Yeah, correct, it's 18 items. But do not forget to rename it to QM items. So, idea is that this charge, the Chromax warning you that after the transfer in topology to the from purely classical amount to QM amount, you don't have a zero charge in the total system. The total system is already half a thousand zero charge now. Why? Because the QM sum of charges of the QM item is not classical charges on the QM items is not necessarily should be the same as your QM charge. That minus one. For example, in that case, it's something like minus 75 or minus 74 and seven. And that's why it warns you that you have access 0.25.3 charge. How it suggests that usually how it should be done, how it dealt with. Usually it is suggested that this excess charge and also Chromax prints on the next line that you have, you consider to redistribute that excess charge onto the nearby MM items. And that's actually what you need to do. So basically you can modify the charge of that nearby items here and there, such that they will be increased or decreased by the number. So that's the total charge of the system will be again zero. Only you can do that, but in reality it is not so important because the charge is really small. And usually no one care about that, but sometimes it can be important. For example, if you do a membrane system, it's even the membrane. So that's why the Chromax just suggests you how much excess charge you have and how you should be, but how you should redistributed itself up to you. You can even leave it like that. So another problem is that there is no unique solution how you should redistributed. So everyone is doing it like how they want mostly. Yes, that's why it warms you. But for example, if your total charge of your Chromatoms was zero, like yesterday in still band case, still band neutral molecule and both all atoms have zero sum of classical charge from zero, then it will be zero excess charge, of course. But it's usually happens in the protein systems when you break your bones and that's a new total charge should be not zero. Okay, so let's continue. Let's continue. So as the outcome of your QMD equilibration, I should have something like that. So this is just a render of the trajectory over 100 femtoseconds. Yeah, this is a temperature. So it's not really well-equilibrated or maybe to break more, but we don't have much time to do that today. But if you look at it like in several picoseconds, for sure. Okay, let's finish with it seems like it's going to run like 30 minutes. Who is going to run 30 minutes? I'm sorry. This one? No, it should not. If it tries to run for 30 minutes, then ah, spec, but QMM spec is the next steps. Yeah, you're already doing the exercise six. Yes, it will run approximately that. So exercise six, how we want to modify, we want to use non-standard in our system. We want to go with the spectrum of that system. It should just equilibrate it. And we want to, how we want to do it, we want to use the EFT. And to do that, you should modify CP2K input. So how it should be done in general, instead of that, you use a QMM method called input. And then you need to provide the additional string, which is called QMM QMM input file. And it should be a name of the CP2K input file in the same directory as the key parents will be. So in that case, you can provide whatever options you want in that file. And just remember that this file should still be, should still represent the same system. So it's better to use a reference CP2K to generate it by the interface and modify it and then provide here. Because then you will have no problem with the system. Okay, so this is our objective. So now we want to calculate absorption spectra. How we want to do this? We will do the molecular dynamic trajectory. And along that trajectory on each step, we will calculate also excitation energies using TDDFT. And then we convolve that excitation energies into spectra. So how you should do this? Please do the steps one to five of the exercise six. So here it is a simple, simplest case, how you modify your input file. You basically copy already the input file, which have been generated in the previous equilibration run with PDB also.  So you can also change here basis set. You can also change here cut-offs. You can also change here. You can also add here dispersion corrections if you want. You can also even change here to the bit relief if you want. So whatever you want to do, you can do like that. But here we just add a property section. We will add a property section to calculate which informs us to keep on each, during the after the calculation of the force to also perform TDDFT calculation for five states, excited states with my e to the power of minus three convergence of like in electron of the excitation of energy. It is also easy to run simulation from excited state of the molecule in the QM part of the case. Well, with that kind of things, yes, you can, but what you should be warned, yes, you can, but for now interface does not support surface hopping dynamics of course, so you can deactivate. So you will be stuck in one state always. Yeah, but in practice with that, yes, using non-standard parameters, you also calculate the gradient of the excited state. If you know how to do it in CPTK for TDDFT and then you can perform dynamics on that excited state using that non-standard input and perform optimization of that excited state. So, for example, if you want, yeah, okay, please. Once you will run the spec, that spectra calculation will take quite some time, over 20 minutes as already have been noted by the people. And yeah, probably we can discuss a bit further what will happen. And next, it seems like you are reading wrong because, ah, yeah, yeah, it's an error. Yeah, I saw your thing. Yeah, of course here, because you are providing the external input as the gromax does not know that your QM system have minus one charge. So how you can solve that, you need to add this again into the MP file, this QMMM, QM charge, equal to minus one option into the MP file and then it should be correct. Yeah, I need to think about how to fix this. Probably it should not print at all that warning if you're providing external input because then it's up to you how you do this. Yeah, indeed, sorry for that. Actually I need to write it down because in that case indeed the output was a bit confusing. Yes, that needs to be fixed in the future versions. Yes, I will write this. Yes, probably just never mind about this. This is just an error, not an error, but inconsistency for now because it's alpha version. Yeah, if you provide your own output file or input file then the gromax basically should not complain about this kind of stuff. Because when it's up to you, it doesn't know what is a charge of your QM system. Okay, you will still have a time to finish whatever you want. Here I just want you to show what we're gonna do next after how we can walk to the actual spectra from our simulations. So this is how your MDP file looks like. So yeah, here you add this external input file. And how we want to calculate the absorption spectra of your system in the following way. So if you do a less on that output file, you can search for it and find that kind of things, that kind of tables after each step, after each calculation of energy. So this is a result of the TDD calculation. Basically, this is a state's number, excited state number. So we request five states, so there is five states. This is excitation energies of that in the electron walls and this is a transition dipole from the ground state and this is a completeness later strength, which is just a function of excitation energy and transition dipole moment. And states, I don't know, typically several states, like five to 10 will be fine. Yeah, I mean, the energy of individual states is not dependent on how much states you requested. It's just a completeness of spectra will be different. Okay, so and those later strengths and using that two parameters, this one, this and this, you can convolve the absorption spectra. Yeah, okay. So here, how we will do that? First, we will grab out of this output file, the column number one, two, three and seven, yeah, so column three and seven, okay. Using the Oc tool, it's a bit of the bar scripting, so everyone who know what it is, probably already understand what it is doing. And we'll create this, you'll create a file excitations, which will contain or adjust only this and these parts of your output file. So, oops, is this missing something? Yeah, so do basically step seven. I think this is excitation generation. I guess. And after you've done that, it's pretty easy. I mean, just one option. So if you look into that excitation file, there will be a two columns, first is excitation energy, second is slater strength. Grip from that output file. So first one here is excitation energy of electron volts, second is a slater strength with some arbitrary units. It's actually unitless, but yeah. Okay, so now how we will deal with that, so how we'll control the spectrum. We will use Gaussian functions. So we'll basically, in each point of that energy, we'll place a Gaussian function with the heights equal to the slater strength and with the energy equal to this one and with sigma, it is some parameter, it's just a half width of your Gaussian. It will be 0.1 electron volt. Why? Because typically the TDDFT gives you a 0.1 to 0.3 EV error and yeah, 0.1 is just a less meaningful number for that. So yeah, so here is what we can do. So here is UVF, so here it is. E is your final energy which you want to convolve. So this is just a parameter as it's just like X and you want to convolve that I function. So it is done in step four eight. So you need to module load Cray Python to use the Python actually on the Archer so do not forget to do that. And then you can convolve your spectra. So first parameter is your name of your file with excitation. Second parameter is, I will show you probably here. So first parameter is file with excitation which you just generated. Second is a sigma in electron volts, 0.1. And then there is minimum and maximum energies in electron volts between which you want to calculate the spectrum. So basically the boundaries of the spectra. So after doing this, it will be generated a spec.xvg file which you still can open with any software you want. I mean, in a way you don't need necessary to wait until the QMM spec run will finish. So after 10 minutes, there will already like 20 to 30 frames which from which you can put some spectra. But yeah, basically you can do it at any point. But what is very important that if you look into the results that after approximately 100 femtoseconds which I generated like yesterday or several days ago. In my case, in your case, it might be different but the spectra looks like that. So you see that there is really two bumps. However, if you extend your sampling and you increase and you calculate the spectra over 3,000 frames. So after the three-picker second simulation it will stabilize and it will be always like that. So in reality, this is like one huge bump and a small shoulder on the side due to the higher excited states. So basically this is one peak, usually main peak and this is a side peak or from a stool from the higher excited state. Also it should be noted that this peak is not very well reproduced the experimental peak but this is mostly a problem of the EDFT for really reproducing exactly the experimental peak. Usually if you're doing this EDFT, you need to shift it. So you basically need to apply. Now you need to check what is the experimental peak here and you need to apply that shift to get it correct. However, the EDFT is generally not so suitable to reproduce from the scratch the exact spectra. There is much more elaborated methods to do so. But what you can do is the shape of the spectra and you can reproduce very well the shape of the spectra and you can very well reproduce the, for example, if the EDFT you quite well could reproduce the what's called stock shift. So basically the difference between excitation and absorption of the mission spectra. Okay, so I think for today this kind of tutorial is finished. So what I want to kind of inform you that we have already calling noticed the best practice guide for that non-standard parameters for all the K2K parameters relevant to the biological KMM. So the second one, there was already a workshop which you can about the, usage of the KMM in real for real scientists, from real scientists, yeah. There was series of webinars which you can pick up in the, which are available through the YouTube channel. So you can see how the people are using the KMM in the real job and the examples of that. Also the CP2K, for example, there's a couple of people who are using it was here giving the talks. And what I want to you also kind of promote is the Excel YouTube channel where you can find a lot of interesting stuff and a lot of interesting webinars regarding the modeling of biological systems, not with KMM, but with anything, yeah. Not only with KMM, but with many of other stuff. So yeah, from that I think we are kind of finished. Yeah, so any questions? Yes, so the question is, what is the minimum solution type for an accurate spectral question? How it depends a lot on the system. I can say yes, so how I suggest you to do it. So first of all, you will need to do a long equilibration run with classical MN. So basically do like tens of nanoseconds yet to be sure that your system is equilibrated. Then from that 10 nanosecond, like let's say 10 to 100 nanosecond trajectory, yeah. Then from that trajectory, I will suggest you to pick up frames each several nanoseconds. And from that frames start a KMM trajectory like we done today. And do that trajectory for several hundred seconds and gather the spectra from them and then convolve the spectra over your system. So starting from several MN structures from which you do the KMM simulations and from which you convolve the final spectrum. So basically put all everything into one slide. Why you need a long MTC equilibration? Because typically your protein could live in several conformations. And transfer time between this transition, time between these conformations could be in nanoseconds or even 100 nanoseconds time scale and you never know. And they could have a bit different spectra. So that's why you need a long classical MDA equilibration sampling. And from that sampling you then pick up frames from which you start KMM simulation and convolve spectra. Yes, so in that you need to have a good sampling, yes.


From New America and Slate, I'm Bridget Schulte, and this is Better Life Lab. I want to travel back in time to a date that, for me at least, has kind of lived in infamy, July 23rd, 2007. That's when productivity wizard Merlin Mann took the stage at Google and gave an influential tech talk. He called it Inbox Zero. The single practice that I think could really change your life starting today is to process to zero. Process to zero every time you check your email. You never check your email without processing. A lot of people get really good at checking email and they don't always get so good at doing anything about it. Such an appealing idea, right? But Inbox Zero became kind of an obsession for me, and I never got there. Actually, it's worse. I got there once. I actually wrote a story about having 23,768 emails in my inbox that I did get down to zero. Only I didn't do anything else. And then the next morning, there was about another 23,000 emails of everybody responding to all the emails I sent. It was crushing. So 12 years later, I am still struggling with the idea of Inbox Zero. And I finally realized I needed to confront my demons. I needed to have it out with Merlin Mann himself. So first of all, thank you so much for agreeing to talk with me. And I'm not quite sure if I should say this from the outset, but I kind of hate you. Join the club. You came up with the idea of Inbox Zero as sort of the ultimate nirvana, the utopia that we all need to get to in this crazy making world of email. Is that what I did? You know, I believed you. Did you read it? Did you really read it? Well, I listened to your Google talk that you gave in 2007. And I just want to say I have spent the entire night not going to bed, just intent on cleaning out my inbox, getting to Inbox Zero, to look up and see that it was 7 a.m. and it was time to get up and start the day. This is going to be a very interesting call. Because you're doing it wrong, Bridget. That's not what it's for. Okay, well good, because yeah, I still haven't written my second book because I'm so focused on cleaning out my damn inbox. Let's not worry about Inbox Zero so much, but let's see what we can do to help you. We can get you out of this situation and focused on the stuff you'd really like to be doing. If you have time to check email, you have time to do something with that email. Otherwise, you shouldn't even bother checking. And a lot of times that's deleting it. It's archiving it. It's just not doing anything at all. It could be a short response, but I have to get it out of the way straight ahead. Inbox Zero does not mean sitting in your inbox all day and get rid of email. That's quite the opposite of what I said, let alone intended. It's been willfully misperceived and kind of it's a fun joke now. But the truth of it is that the real zero is how much of your mind is on email. Oh, I like that. When you're trying to do your actual work. And I wouldn't begin to say that that's a simple or easy problem to solve, but there are ways to do it no matter what solution you come up with. It's going to take a change of your own attitude and then a very mindful attempt to set yourself to having the life that you want to have rather than feeling led around by a bunch of bits and bytes on the computer. I mean, I like that idea that what you're talking about is almost like mindset zero. The name is really to me is very inconsequential. Your problem is that you have let this inbox become a source of anxiety by accepting this as an input that you're going to treat in a given way. Anything that is an inbox in your life and that could be your email. It could be Slack. It could be a person in your life. Anything that you are responsible for taking care of and doing something about necessarily contains things that are unknown. Very likely contains things that are undefined. And then on top of it all contains things that are incomplete. And if you think about that crazy idea for a minute, you're going to let this thing run your life. You would not put up with a cutlery drawer that sometimes had a Wolverine in it. How could you how could you run your life out of something where it literally anybody can put anything in there.  So I mean, it's fine. I'm glad people like the idea. It's a cute name. I kind of at this point regret ever saying it. All everyone to do is help myself and help other people get their brain out of this idea that they had to be controlled by this thing, that they basically people would essentially have a second job, which was just doing their email. Right. But this input is never ending. And I think, you know, like what you're talking about, that it's crazy making the Wolverine and the cutlery drawer. But I think a lot of us are living with the Wolverine and the drawer. I mean, if you look at some of the research like Bain and Company, they've looked at sort of how in particular knowledge workers who really need email and use email and how they work. And they'll spend, I think between emails and meetings, the average middle manager spends only six hours a week on sort of concentrated, important, meaningful work. So I would argue that the Wolverine is like running roughshod over all of us. And so how do we need to shift the way we think? Well, a lot of it is an expectations game. It's a question of the expectations that you perceive coming from other people and the expectations that you have of yourself. There's no tip, trick, life hack, anything that's going to help you unless you get down to addressing how you look at this input in your life and what you're committed to doing about it. Part of the problem here is when I say those expectations, like how do we deal with our colleagues? What expectation do we create with them? What is the culture of our team, our company, our organization? Is this sustainable for everybody? Is this where we want to be doing that? And, you know, I think a lot of it is a reluctance to realize that you can't do everything. And nobody likes to let other people down. Nobody likes to say no. Nobody likes to be obdurate or tardy. It makes us feel bad. We feel bad about ourselves. We feel like we're being disrespectful of others. But, let's say, for example, you're a manager.  But if you're somebody who's a developer or you're somebody who's an engineer, it's difficult for me to understand how you could tolerate spending that much time. You're responding. Guess what? You're building an expectation. You're saying to somebody, my time is so up for grabs that I'll stop whatever I'm doing and take care of it. And there are times when that's like with you. I think I responded to your emails pretty quickly. You know why? Because I look at my email once and I'm done. I think I pretty quickly said, let's schedule this right now. We didn't have 17 different exchanges about needing to go out and have a cup of coffee and talk about it. There's action. That is a very practical approach, but it's all underpinned by a philosophical difference in the way that you choose to look at any input in your life. And I think that's difficult for people. It's especially difficult when you feel like you're the only one who's having trouble holding up your end. So what are you going to do?  I just don't think it's a smart way to live. Yeah, so interesting though. You're talking about that sense of feeling badly, that that's a really human notion. The behavioral scientist, Dan Arelli, the way he described email, it's like when somebody taps you on the shoulder, what are you going to do? You're not going to turn around. You know that there's something that feels sort of very rude if we ignore all of that stuff in there. And yet on the flip side, like you say, if you respond to everything, then you've just made everybody else's priorities your agenda. And it varies so much by team, by vocation, something I learned very early on being very strident about this position that you shouldn't spend all your time in email. Well, a lot of people, especially sort of low to middle level people in an organization would say, well, if I don't check my email, my boss is going to think that I'm not working, that I'm not responding quickly enough. So there is another part of this that I do want to underscore, which is it depends on what is okay with your team and your group. I know that's not an easy conversation to have, but I don't know if, you know, email, there's lots of other avenues now. To be honest, I have to say for years, I feel like the thing that has overtaken email is the most maddening thing is meetings. But there are things like Slack. There are so many different ways you can choose to communicate with more precision and brevity. And I think when teams have an opportunity to greatly improve the culture of how they work together, when they explore tools that are there to solve a problem, rather than just open the passage to its largest aperture, there's a reason your house has a door.   It's your house. But that expectation is so different. You would think it's weird if a vacuum salesman shows up at two in the morning. But in this case, anybody's allowed to bug you about anything and how often have you gotten that email, that email that's basically some kind of tragic information stew where there might be one bit of meat in the penultimate paragraph. And it's your job to go in there, like some kind of forensic scientist and find out what they're asking about. There's no magic wand that's going to make this go away. And guess what? This is going to be the rest of your life. You need to get a healthy attitude about what you're able to do, what you're going to commit to do, and that will still let you be a wholesome and healthy person without feeling like you're 100% available to 100% of the world, 100% of the time. So as Merlin Mann was telling me all this, I realized that some sort of fluffy little air bubbles were forming over my head, like in cartoons. Those little thought bubbles filled with ampersands and exclamation points and number signs. I just wanted to stop to freeze our conversation. And I wished I could have someone else there listening over my shoulder, like a friendly genie. Now, of course, you can't do this sort of thing in real life, but sometimes on this podcast, I do get to use my magic wand. The voice I really wished I could hear belongs to Amy Westervelt. Hello. Amy's a busy freelance writer. She writes for The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and she just can't afford to waste time on email. I love his take on email, actually. But I feel like it's really funny because I feel like he has all the same reasons for inbox zero that I have for like inbox 100,000. Which is like that, yeah, you can't let someone's need to send you an email at 2 a.m. dictate, like, we know how you're going to structure your day. I'm impressed by his ability to sort of like train people not to send him email. I feel like I have the same approach as him as a recipient of email, but I have not successfully dissuaded people from continuing to send me lots of emails. So one of the things he talked about is that it really depends on your context. He's in more of the tech and IT world, and so maybe those are emails that are very action items. I did, I sent him an email over the weekend. It's just like, what if there's something that you need to think about? Like I have so much stuff that's still sitting in my inbox because I'm not sure what I want to do. You know, I need to think about it. And his response, which actually came within 10 minutes is like, it goes on a to-do list. It doesn't say the inbox.  What do you do with those things that you're not sure what you want to do with and you need to think about, and maybe they're not like immediate action items? Yeah, see, I kind of treat my email inbox like a filing system, and I feel like I can imagine Merlin cringing at that. But I do.  I would say about like 30% of my inbox is things that I was like, oh, that could be an idea for a story at some point. And granted, I have things that I thought about like 10 years ago that are still in my inbox. So that's probably not the most efficient thing. But I don't have like a neat and tidy alternate filing system to keep track of things, and so it has sort of become kind of a tracking system slash like insane Rolodex. Insane Rolodex. You know, one of the reasons that I wanted to talk with you about this is because I stress out about it, you know, and it pollutes my brain and it seems like on every week when I do sort of a brain dump, like what's the stuff I want to get to this week? I always have email clean out, email clean back, inbox clean out, and I obviously never get to it and it bugs me, it really bothers me. So you may have inbox 100,000, but it doesn't bother you. But so what I want to know is how did you get there? Because was there a time when you were also sort of bugged by having all the stuff in there that you couldn't get to all the time? Yeah, yeah, I definitely was worried about it and I was worried about that and like organizing my desktop and I had this time in my life where I was the sole provider for a family of four as a freelancer. So like every hour that I work has to generate a certain amount of income because it also costs me money to work because I have childcare costs. Oh wow, right, yeah. So I had to get just very sort of militant about is this going to generate dollars at the end of this hour and that kind of like broke my fever of email concern because I was just like, okay, that I need to respond to because that's someone who I'm going to invoice next week or that's an editor that is going to give me an assignment that's going to generate X amount of dollars. My husband is like kind of an efficiency expert guy and I know it can be handy.  Like I'm a creative person. I don't do spreadsheet, you know? So was there spreadsheet around email? I mean, did he have kind of a productivity system around his email? It's more of like how you're structuring your day in general. So like you have to pick your priorities for each day and each week and those two things combined kind of helped me to yeah, just sort of not care that my email inbox was getting super, super cluttered. And now it's like I really, really genuinely don't care. There was a moment where I was really overwhelmed and the email was just pouring in this kind of like raging river, if you will. And I finally to my horror found out like in two days that I'd actually promised to be in three different places in three different cities at the very same time. So I think maybe that's part of what fuels that fear is that you just get overwhelmed and you can't remember. I wonder if it's, is it fear that we're going to miss out that really keeps driving us to check all the time. And I think so. I think that is a big part of it. And then also, you know, you get into that thing sometimes of like when you're expecting or wanting a particular email and you're like hitting that refresh. Oh yeah, I've been there. Yeah. But then I kind of just came to the conclusion that if something is really important, the person will call me. I've had people tweet at me on Twitter is for some reason like I'm easier to reach on there. Well, and it's funny that you talk about Twitter because that's actually how I found you in the first place. It's like anybody else deal with like hashtag email overload.  It's like I have 33,000 unread emails in my inbox. Does that count? And if you recall, like all of our communication has been over Twitter, I have not emailed you once. That's true. It's true. Yeah. So let's go back to that conversation with Merlin Mann who more than a decade ago, somewhat to his own regret coined the term inbox zero. You know, since the mid to late 90s, since email became an inexpensive and very, I would say almost a very democratic thing. Long before Twitter, it was pretty neat that I could write an email to Jack Clugman and say, hey, I really liked you on the odd couple. Did you do that? Did you do it? Of course I did. I had a whole book of addresses of famous celebrities. That's awesome. But did he respond to you? He didn't. He's a very busy guy. But here's another part of this, though, is that you could receive some very ill-formed, poorly thought out, non-actionable stuff from just about anybody. And I think that can make you feel like a little bit nuts. I mean, I got on the internet in 1993 and it was just a little Telnet program to get on the internet. And email was a joy. It was so fun to basically be talking to my friend who went to Oxford and I'd write to him and he'd write back. But the expectations were so different then. Back then, to get on the internet, you had to be at a computer with a modem or a hard-wired connection. And basically it was like going to mass to go to your email. You went to email and you did the email and then you went back to your job and there was absolutely zero expectation. You'd be able to do anything about it right then. Use of facts for something important like that. Just that that really changed. Like I say, it's not costly. It's easy for people to have. And in the absence of a culture that guides people toward what is okay and not, it becomes the Wild West. How often have you gotten that email that's CC to 25 people and nobody does anything about it? Or they spend their day running around. Yeah, so... All the time, all the time, all the time. I have all kinds of thoughts on how to write a good subject line, how to write a good short email that'll get action from people or get a response from people. How to make it easy for people. Have lots of thoughts on that. What I don't have a solution for is how to stop billions of strangers from having access to you in a way that you have no control over. Only you can decide how you're going to govern that. It's interesting. I was looking to see who researched email. I wanted to see is there some expert that I could talk to. Like what's the proper way to think about emails? Since it's driving all of us crazy. And I came across some, some of the research that's been done is sort of in the computer science field itself. And the bottom line was, wow, email's a real problem. We need more research. It's like nobody knows what the answer is. So did you come to some kind of breaking point where you're like, there is no answer. I got to come up with something different. I feel like I have little sort of flash bulb memories of the evolution of the web and the internet. 95 is when I started making web pages and doing web work. But you know, when we got the graphical web in 94, it felt like a big deal. When AOL started offering internet access, that became a big deal. By the late 90s for me, so much more of my work was being conducted via email. Another thing that came in the side door that we can't forget, because it feels like a solved problem now was what people call spam, basically unsolicited commercial email. It became really trying. Those things all came together to make it very difficult. And I have to say at that same time, I don't have a particular breaking point, but I do know that if you're having dozens or hundreds of individual conversations, I hope to Christ it's with people that you really like and treasure, because that is a way to see your whole life just go out the window. So, you know, for me it was just that I saw myself and my friends, I saw people feeling like they had a second job. They had the job that they got the pay stuff for. And then they had the job which was taking care of email. This is still true today for people like teachers. I can't imagine how my kid's teacher keeps up with it all. I think it's true for just about everybody. Most people do feel like they've got a second job. Like what led you to that moment, you know, to get you to that speech in 2007 at Google where you kind of lay out inbox zero that then has just taken over the world rightly or wrongly? Well, the two words have. I'm not sure people have actually learned much about the ideas, but well, you know, there's one thing I feel like I should mention. I'll touch the third rail here and say there's also an element of privilege to this which is that the ability to get to decide how you're going to deal with email is almost a class issue in some ways. Yeah, definitely. It's certainly at least a hierarchical issue. It's a power issue, yeah. Over the years I've become very interested in how culture works inside of companies and I still really feel like at best the culture of your group is going to be defined by the most powerful people through two things. Basically what they reward and what they tolerate. I don't mean to sound like a guru, but I really believe this. If you, people very clearly see rewards, they see somebody, like maybe that person gets a private office or that person has something other people don't have, but they also see what's tolerated. And that's the Soto Voce kind of like the grace note through most companies. He's like, wow, that guy with the Corvette or the Ferrari or whatever, boy, he sure gets away with double parking and coming late to meetings. And that sends a signal to everybody on the team, again, what do we reward, what do we tolerate. And I don't know if that's something that most managers take as seriously as they should. And if you tolerate the idea of people sending terrible emails, then you're going to have to deal with the problem of people receiving terribly. Well, I think the research... There's not much we can do about what we receive. It's really about it's what people send. That's the problem. And the research shows that a lot of leaders send these after-hour emails because we tend to not only tolerate but definitely reward people who seem to be working all the time. And there's really interesting research that shows that the mere anticipation of an after-hour email from your supervisor or your boss creates more stress than actually getting that email. And so it puts everybody in the state of being in this kind of constant vigilance, like this fear. There's this readiness. Yeah, exactly.   But let's go back to you. I still want to figure out, like, so how did you get to, like, inbox zero? And then I want to know, where are you now and how many emails do you have in your inbox? What do you think about that? Well, the irony of this is that it's actually a weirdly inbox zero-esque approach that I have to this, which is I have control of very, very few things in the world and extremely limited energy, like everybody else.  Just spending a huge amount of time trying to re-explain something that, A, was meant to be useful to people and, B, has been just so broadly misunderstood. I'm not but heard about it. I'm just exhausted by it. It's just, it's become, it's become such a millstone that this, you know, 12-year-old idea is something that I'm supposed to constantly re-defend, even though people can't be troubled to listen to what I was actually trying to offer. Inbox zero does not mean you always keep your inbox empty. It means you're an adult. You've got big boy or big girl pants and you can make decisions about how you conduct yourself. Whatever your situation is, if you've accepted that input, that is now something you have to take care of in a responsible way. And if you have to spend eight hours a day doing email, then that's your job now. I don't know another way to slice that that's more kind or honest, but the truth is, if that's your job, well then something's got to change or you have to put on your resume that you're an email doer. That's the only way I know around it. So you talked about some of this research, so a woman at Microsoft years ago, Linda Stone, used to talk about something called email apnea where supposedly people will actually hold their breath when they're doing their email. Really? Being this very heightened state. Wow.  You know, you're in battle and you get shot with an arrow, but then how do you feel and then how do you feel about how you feel? Because I do think there is kind of a meta level of cognition where most of the worst emotions, sort of the seven dwarfs of bad emotions that we walk around with are how we feel about how we feel, which sounds real woo-woo, but I find that to be very true because that's the part that you decided to add to this mixture. So how do you feel about your email now and how do you feel about how you feel about your email? Oh, it's so easy. It's so easy because I get less. People are terrified to email me. It would be awesome. Well, I did. If you remember, I tweeted at you first. I didn't email you because I didn't know how to find your email address. I mean, the system's working. Yeah. Let me put it to you this way. Your mail at home, right? You probably got a mailbox at home. Once a day, you get mail in there. Can you imagine going back to your mailbox when you already know what's in there and just looking at it all again? It's mental. You would never, I mean, what are you going to do?  Like, who would do that?  Amy? Amy? Amy? Amy Westervelt? Can you help me out here? I don't know. I don't. I also kind of like dislike this whole idea where people just act like sending an email is actually doing something, you know, to his point about if your job is doing email. I was chuckling about I feel like a lot of people get into that and pretty soon it's been like six hours where they're just responding to emails and they feel like they've done something, but they still have like their actual job to do after that. And I don't know. I feel like ever since I kind of stopped caring about email, I definitely feel much more productive. I like wrote a book and started a company in the same year and I swear to God a big part of it is just not doing email that much. That's that is awesome. I realize that a lot of people really do have to respond to particular types of people, you know, if it's a boss or whatever. And that I'm in a position where I sort of mostly work for myself, although it kind of also feels like I work for a hundred different people. So, you know, but I do. I don't know. I feel like if you set that precedent with people of like, oh, like, I have a couple of people that I interact with, for example, who only check their email like at two particular times a day. And so I know that if I don't hear back from them right away, it might be a day and that's fine. And I also know there are other ways to reach them more urgently if I need to. So I'm personally trying to work on being more of that type of person where like, it's not just that I ignore emails and I'm hard to reach. It's like, there are multiple different ways to reach me depending on what it is you're trying to accomplish. Could you do that? Could you just check your email, you know, a couple of times a day? I don't think I could. That's the thing is like, I get sucked in too much, I feel like, when I sometimes, you know, I just search my email. I don't even look at the first page of the inbox because I don't want to get dragged into something that is not on my list for the day. It's so interesting because I was looking at research. I wanted to try to understand like, you know, behavioral science behind email and, you know, what it says is like, huh, our brain is wired for novelty. So your brain is constantly excited and thrilled at the notion of checking email. There might be something new, but that there was this really interesting study where they took two different groups of people and one checked their email all the time as usual. And, you know, the research shows that sometimes we're just checking hundreds of times a day and I am probably guilty of that if I actually counted it up and the other, they were held to that two or three times a day and what they've found is that the people who checked their email fewer times were actually much less stressed out and much happier. So it sounds like... That tracks. That tracks. Yeah. So how do you, how do you do that?  I have to go back. It's like I'm constantly putting my bills into freezer. You know, how do you deal with that? The sort of really practical way I deal with it is that I don't open my email on my computer when I'm doing other work and I leave my phone in the car if I'm like doing work or whatever because otherwise I will. It's very easy, right? To just like be in line waiting for something and like, see if anything's coming here. You know? It's not even just the time that it takes. It takes my focus away from the thing I was doing and then it takes me another like extra 10 minutes to regain that focus and it doesn't really deliver any value for wreaking all that havoc on my day. Sometimes I'll leave my phone in another room if I'm doing work or whatever too because even if I don't open the email on my computer I might be tempted to like grab my phone and look at it on there. You know? So yeah, I try to like outsmart myself. That was Amy Westervelt. She's a health, tech and business writer. Her work appears in The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal and Amy also wrote a book Forget Having It All How America Messed Up Motherhood and How to Fix It. Earlier we heard from Merlin Mann. He's a blogger, productivity guru, podcaster and to be honest a very good sport. Merlin co-hosts To Do Friday and Reconcilable Differences and way back in 2007 shortly after Steve Jobs introduced the very first iPhone Merlin Mann coined the term inbox zero. For more resources on working healthier including how to think differently about email and focus not on the inbox but on what's important visit us online at newamerica.org Click on the link for Better Life Lab. Better Life Lab is produced by New America in partnership with Slate. It's a collaboration with Ideas 42 supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The producer of Better Life Lab is David Schulman. Hailey Swinson provides our research assistance. Thanks so much for joining me for our podcast about the art and science of living a full and healthy life. From New America's Better Life Lab I'm Bridget Schulte.


and Chief Academic Officer here at Fairfield.  Father Von Arks, esteemed members of the faculty, staff, university administrators, students, and most especially members of the class of 2020, welcome to the 14th Annual Fall 1st Year Academic Gathering. Prize for the invocation, which will be offered by the rector of the Fairfield Jesuit community, Reverend Michael Tunney of the Society of Jesus. And please remain standing for the singing of the National Anthem and Fairfield Alma Mater by the members of the University Glee Club under the direction of Dr. Carol Ann Maxwell, conductor accompanied by Ms. Beth Palmer. Father Tunney? Thank you, Dr. Bavington. We pause and recall that we are always in the presence of our God. All humans, by nature, desire to know. That's very well put. Aristotle was right to say so. Would you agree? Even more, though, than our desire to know, it is also true that we desire to do bring these two together. The desire to know and the choice to act, particularly for the sake of the common good, is a lifelong endeavor. How fortunate that at Fairfield University, all of us, brand new first years, upper class students and veteran learners alike can strengthen our capacities for critical thinking, for careful reading, for logical and persuasive writing, for articulate speech, and for stretching our moral imaginations. Why? So that we too, like a mashup of St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Mary Oliver, can each take our great desires and make a plan to do something beautiful with our one wild and precious life. Oh God, right here on the cusp of the Fairfield class of 2020's academic launch, hear our prayers. As you look upon us and walk alongside us, bless us with the profound knowledge that will lead us to defining insights. Bless us with the earnest impulses to do great things with our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. Bless our faiths, all of our defiantly inspired faith traditions and human ideals, so we will live together in peace. You who once filled Robert Bellarmine, our Jesuit university's patron saint with wisdom and goodness.  Grant us too, all that we pray for, all that we desire to achieve. May our thoughts, our words, our deeds always give you glory. Amen. St. Robert Bellarmine, pray for us. Father Tony, and thank you, Dr. Maxwell and Ms. Palmer. Please be seated. To renew the university, to welcome our members and to celebrate new beginnings. For the class of 2020, this is an important time in your life, and you have chosen well to join the Fairfield University community. As a Jesuit institution, we are committed to educating the whole person, cura personalis, the mind, the body, and the spirit. You will have the opportunity to work with amazing faculty, delving into new ways of thinking, developing new ideas, and be getting the process of discerning who you will become. You will learn from and with faculty, staff, and students both in and outside of the classroom. New students today, most of you, will discover that we are a warm and welcoming community, and returning students will help to make it so, especially as they take up new positions of leadership in the many on-campus clubs and organizations that give vibrancy to our common life. I encourage you to move out of your comfort zone. Try new experiences. Join a club, or a team, or a service organization. There's much to choose from. All of your experiences, both in and outside of the classroom, are part of your education and help you to become women and men in the service of others. Over the next months and years, you will discover that learning takes place not only on campus, but in Fairfield, in Bridgeport, New York City, Florence, Madrid, Managua, Bolivia. The entire world is your learning laboratory and within reach, waiting to be discovered. Seize these opportunities, and welcome to Fairfield. I am now pleased to invite Dr. Karen Pellegrino, the Dean of Enrollment, to present the Class of 2020 to the President of Fairfield University, the Reverend Jeffrey P. Von Arks of the Society of Jesus. Karen? On behalf of the staff of the Office of Undergraduate Admission, we welcome you to Fairfield University. Father Von Arks, the Admission Office has been privileged to work with these young women and men throughout the admission process. I am pleased to present them for matriculation into Fairfield University as members of the Class of 2020. I entrust them to your care for the next four years. Thank you, Dr. Pellegrino. On behalf of the university, I welcome the Class of 2020, and I encourage each of you to join with us in this intellectual, social, and spiritual journey over the next four years. Thank you, Father Von Arks. I am now pleased to welcome Zoe Ferrante, President of the Fairfield University Student Association to offer her welcome to the Class of 2020 and to lead the class in the recitation of the University Honor Code. Zoe? Thank you, Dr. Barrington. Hello, and good evening. On behalf of the Fairfield University undergraduate community, I wanna welcome you. By coming to Fairfield University, you've made the decision to join an incredible group of students. And over the next four years, you will have the most enjoyable and rewarding time spent together. This is your time to make your lifelong friends, your time to work towards a future, and your time to grow into the young professionals that will make your family and friends proud. I can't stand up here and tell you it'll be easy, but I will tell you that the challenge is worth it. And if you take a chance to look around, you will see that you are not in this alone. Not too long ago, I was sitting in your seat, but the Class of 2017, watching the former student body president give his speech, and I remember thinking to myself, holy cow, I made it. I'm in college, and it's gonna be pretty cool. And it is. And like me, I bet you all applied to some other schools than just Fairfield. And I'm sure you had opportunities and options knocking on your door. But we all chose to walk through the door that led us to Fairfield University. I was asked to give you a few remarks of advice now that I'm approaching the G-word graduation, and as you are approaching the next best years. My first advice to give you is to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. So this is the time to try new things. Put yourself out there. Take a class you never knew existed. Sit with someone you don't know and barone. Start an intramural sport league in a sport you've never played, and leave your bedroom door open. Coming to Fairfield my freshman year with no one from my high school, uncomfortable was all around me. By experimenting with classes, I not only found a major in communication, but I also found a love for applied ethics and marketing, which I now double minor in. By propping my freshman Jokes door open, I not only was able to meet everyone on my floor, but also form friendships that would later translate into roommates down at the beach. Everyone right now is a little uncomfortable. I'm sure you've already played icebreakers that made you giggle or roll your eyes and had some awkward interactions, but soon this will become more comfortable and you will form your own Fairfield family of friends. Now there's a book about managing your future, and it's called Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. I apologize for the spoiler alert because now I'm about to give away the story. But in this book there are three mice who every day follow the same path in a maze to get to their piece of cheese.  The second day the first mouse decides to try a new path and he goes on and on and then finds the cheese while the other two mice keep returning to the same path. Now after a week or so, the second and third mice continue onto the same path and they continue to go home hungry while the first mouse is able to enjoy the cheese that he finds on his new paths. After a while, the second mouse who is now starving decides it's time for him to finally try a new path. And in searching through the maze, he meets the first mouse and is guided to the cheese and now can eat. While the third mouse on the other hand still believes that the cheese will appear in the same spot that it had before. However, as he continues to take the same path, it will eventually starve itself. Now I'm sharing the story with you to tell you a story of change. See, each of us will experience change and we'll deal with it differently. Some will constantly be quick to follow change in our environment and some may reluctantly move on driven by necessity. Nonetheless, in search of something new or exciting, while those who remain behind are doomed to failure. So my second piece of advice for you is that the only constant is change and I encourage you to embrace that change. Whether you have a plan or no plan, do not plan on losing your mind over it. See, just as the mice in the book, your path may change and change again and again and that's not a bad thing. If your major isn't for you, that's okay.  If your friends change, that's okay too. Sometimes you just mesh well with other people which isn't a bad thing, it's a sign of you maturing and finding people that make you the best you here at Fairfield. Throughout my Fairfield years, I've been uncomfortable. I've moved with the change and it's not always easy or what I've wanted to do but in the process, I've met the most amazing people and I have created unforgettable moments. I put myself out there. I ran for Senate year after year and now stand before you as president. I started my own radio show and now have a part time job at the radio station. I know that my time here at Fairfield would not have been as successful if I didn't fail or feel awkward playing ice breakers. So now I challenge you to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and to change your path to find your cheese, especially if it's on top of pizza. So now I want to thank you and I want to wish you a successful year and remind you to always stay classy stags. And now, will the members of the class of 2020 please stand and join me in reciting the university honor code which can be found on the back of your program. I understand that any violation of academic activity is entire community and undermines the trust which the discovery and communication of knowledge depends. Therefore, as a member of the Fairfield University community, I hereby pledge to uphold and maintain these standards of academic honesty and integrity. Thank you, you may be seated. Thank you, Zoe. Father Von Arks from the Society of Jesus will now introduce our convocation speaker. Father Von Arks. I together with the faculty, staff and administration look forward to engaging with you the class of 2020, the newest members of the Fairfield University community. At Fairfield, we are committed to fostering a strong sense of community where learning establishes the foundation for your future. Friendships are more profound and experiences are long lasting. Our undergraduate and graduate students will become your friends and support system and our rich academic community provides the opportunity to turn your interests into careers that will serve others. As you begin your time at Fairfield, we are pleased that Dr. Sara Brill, professor of philosophy, will further explore our commitment to you. Dr. Brill completed her BA degree cum laude at Trinity University. Following this, she earned a PhD in philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University with an emphasis on ancient philosophy, ancient medicine and 19th and 20th century European philosophy. During her time at Penn State, she was awarded a doctoral fellowship and teaching assistantship. And during her doctoral studies, Dr. Brill was also awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for study in Freiburg, Germany. Her scholarship includes numerous articles and prestigious journals in the field of philosophy and several book chapters. She is the author of Plato on the Limits of Human Life, published in 2013 by Indiana University Press and co-editor of a forthcoming book, Antiquities Beyond Humanism, currently under contract with Oxford University Press. In progress is her latest monograph, Aristotle on the Concept of Shared Life. Dr. Brill was the 2014 awardee for Distinguished Teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences. A portion of that award citation states, her learning environment is characterized by trust and mutual support, openness and intellectual integrity. Her classroom is a learning community in which students feel safe to examine their own assumptions and beliefs. Dr. Brill, a professor of philosophy has also served as director of the Classical Studies Program and as associate director of the Humanities Institute at Fairfield University, making her an excellent choice for our featured keynote address at this year's convocation. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Sarah Brill. Good afternoon and welcome President Von Arks, Provost Babington, members of the platform party, cornerstone faculty, guests, and most importantly, members of the Fairfield class of 2020. Yeah. On behalf of the faculty, staff and administration, we are delighted to welcome you here today to celebrate the start of your first year at Fairfield. So I'd like to begin with a story. It's an ancient story and the version I want to talk about is from the Greek tragedy in Escalus's play entitled The Suppliance. Near the end of the first episode of this play, Escalus composes a question vital to the life of any democracy. The question is asked by the leader of the chorus, a group of Egyptian women who have fled to the Greek city of Argos seeking protection from forced marriage to their cousins. And the question is addressed to Pulascos, king of the Argives. The stakes of their request for protection are high. The unwanted suitors are on their way, heavily armed and ready to take what they see as theirs by force if necessary. Unwilling to exercise his power as king without consent of the people, Pulascos agrees to attempt to persuade the people himself. While this is happening, he asks the women to move from the altar of Zeus to an open grove for their own protection. It is this move, this move from divinely protected sacred space to public shared space that prompts the chorus leader to ask, how can a space that is open to all protect me? The women are right to be concerned. Within the power structure from which they are fleeing, a space open to all means a space in which all have access to each, a space of danger for some and an arena for the exercise of the power to seize for others. And it is freedom from seizure, an ancient Greek that word is asulia or asylum, that the women seek. Pulascos' resolution to the women's request provides Escalus with the opportunity to celebrate a fundamental institution of democracy. And it provides us with the earliest recorded depiction of a vote, which the playwright describes in terms that illuminate the nature of ancient investment in the practice. I'll quote Escalus here. Argos voted as one person. This is not something scratched on tablets or sealed on scrolls. It is the plain speech of a free tongue. The chorus leader's question, how can a space that is open to all protect me lays bare the conditions of democracy in a profound way? We can hear in it a deep awareness of the relation between how we bear the weight of political life and the fragility of embodied existence. Will we be safe here in this shared and open space created by human agreement? So what does all of this have to do with you? Well, look around. Here you are in this space, having left the confines of home to be somewhere new. This space is open, but it is not empty.  Some of you probably feel perfectly comfortable with this and are excited. Some of you are completely freaked out. I can see it on your faces. All of you are wondering if it's going to rain. Most of you are thirsty and many of you are still wondering who on earth Escalus is. Fifth century Greek tragedy and yes, it will be on the test. I have a secret for you. In your time at Fairfield, you will have many amazing classes, meet many amazing professors and do many amazing things. But the people who will probably make the biggest impact on your lives are the ones you are sitting with right now, the ones you will meet in the library, in the dining hall, on the quad. In a very real way, you will make this place for each other.  They need you in order to be. They only continue to exist if you breathe life into them and they will change if you change them. Whether you seek to affirm them or change them, both efforts require you to question them, to put the tradition you encounter into question, to, as Robert Frost suggests, go behind the father's saying. This is all to say that you will make the spaces here open or closed, safe or unsafe, familiar or strange. You will be the ones to answer how a space that is open to all can strengthen and support one another. This secret extends beyond your life at Fairfield. Your stewardship of public places and things doesn't end with your time here, nor does it stop at the border of Benson, Barlow and Round Hill Roads. We live in a world that is increasingly without walls and whose borders are porous, permeable, fluid, much like the identities of those who occupy them. Now look, walls are not necessarily bad things. Some walls are great, like the wall separating one bathroom stall from the other. That's a good wall. In terms of creating space, walls are pretty effective. But more often than not, as Wendy Brown points out, the wall serves to divide and to respond to desires that need to be questioned rather than fulfilled. Like the walls, restaurant owners in the American South were required by law to put up, to segregate their clientele. Walls of no less than seven feet tall, according to one statute. Most of the time, walls fail to live up to the expectations placed on them. Worse than that, if in the wrong hands, walls can feed expectations that are unreasonable, unfair, and even damaging. Claiming the right to put up a wall, whether to wall in or to wall out, can feed the worst impulses of human nature. In a particularly dramatic moment in his text entitled The Politics, Aristotle describes in some detail the systematic erosion of trust, friendship, frank speech, and economic security that is essential to a tyranny, and the fear, isolation, paranoia, and poverty that replace them. In Aristotle's analysis, a tyranny thrives off of the dismantling of social bonds, that is, the institutions and qualities that allow humans to share their lives with one another. It is this very aspect that assures the instability of the tyranny and that marks out in negative form what is essential to a recognizably human life. For while the division of labor secures human survival, it is the ability and desire to perform our most cherished tasks with one another, to share these aspects of our lives that is essential for the living well at which political life aims. Or, as the theorist Emma Césaire put it, it is not the head of a civilization that begins to rot first, it is the heart. Be big-hearted citizens. Avoid the forces of isolation and insularity, of fear and distrust, of narrowness and division. Avoid the impulses of territorialism, greed, and stendiness. Keep in mind, as Gloria Anzaldúa reminds us, the skin of the earth is seamless. The sea cannot be fenced. So let's dig deeper and talk about a few other walls. In her welcome address to you at orientation, Provost Babington spoke about interdisciplinarity, the effort to work between the divisions of academic disciplines, to replace walls with fluid borders. But what does this really mean? Well, it means that at Fairfield, we will teach you to see how painting makes geometry visible, how music makes math audible, how behind every great political movement is the ability to imagine the world as otherwise than it is, and how behind every great moment of faith is the ability to find love for a world as it is, damaged though it may be. This will not happen immediately, and it may require sitting through some classes you would not normally take and might not even initially want to take. But as you grow and change, so will your desires and interests. And you may very well find that the class you were dreading has become your favorite. I say this because as a philosophy professor, I may very well be teaching one of the classes you are dreading to take. But here's why we ask you to take these classes. At their best, philosophy and the other humanities put the human into question. This means several things. It means thinking about what makes humans human, what, if anything, is essentially human, how we might differ from other animals, and how we don't. And acknowledging, grappling with, taking seriously the human capacity to inflict pain, to cause suffering, to radically fail at collective life is an essential part of this practice. As is recognizing the ability shared across a spectrum of animals to provide solace and comfort, care, and support. Fred Rogers, whom some of us of a certain age know as the beloved childhood Mr. Rogers, told reporters once that when he was a child and saw something in the world or on TV that upset him, his mother comforted him by telling him to look for the helpers. Because he said, if you look for the helpers, you will know that there is hope. Putting the human into question also means asking oneself, who am I as human? That is, acknowledging that I am a question, that I am never complete, that I am underway. Toward where, toward what? Our failure to ask these kinds of questions out of fear or complacency or what have you creates the conditions for the kinds of deeds that might very well make us the worst animals of all. And so we could dig deeper still and consider the walls we construct around our most cherished beliefs. I would imagine that for a great many of us, the belief that we most cling to and cherish, the belief that we fortify and surround with the largest wall is the belief that we are good. And it's worth asking ourselves, what evidence do we have for this belief? What fears have we withstood? What temptations have we overpowered? What kindness have we shown? Who have we listened to? Who have we learned from? Who have we defended? Who have we loved? Who have we helped? But, and this is equally important, you do not have to do this work alone. You should not do this work alone. You cannot do this work alone. It is only in our bonds and attachment to others that we emerge, even as questions. It is love that holds and keeps us in this world and it is love that creates meaning. Four years from now, you will again convene in this open space.  And you could ask yourselves, how have I spent this time? What spaces have I created for myself and others? Or better yet, you could ask this of each other. And so now I need to ask you to do me a favor. So I want you to take that note card that was attached to your program and something to write with. If you don't have a pen, no worries, someone next to you probably does, so borrow one. So write at the top of the index card your name and then take a second right now and write the names of the people sitting to the left and the right of you. That may mean you have to ask them their names and that's fine, go ahead and take a minute to do that right now. When you leave, give your card to your NSL. We will hold these names for you and four years from now remind you of them so you can seek those people out and learn from one another what you have done, what you have learned and who you have become. For now, wait until the end of convocation then go home, get some food, get some rest and get ready for class tomorrow. Who knows what you will learn and what you will do? Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you, Dr. Brill. We will now have the presentation of the class gift to the members of the class of 2020 by Bridget Balfiore. Bridget? Class of 2020, welcome to Fairfield University. By choosing to attend Fairfield University, you have begun a four year journey that will challenge your limits, open your mind to new experiences and drive you closer to achieving your dreams. In your choice to come to Fairfield and connect with our community, break through obstacles, gain new experiences, possess great knowledge and form lifelong friendships you have already accepted the gift we are about to give you. The gift for the class of 2020 is a rock. I imagine many of you are thinking, a rock, really? Why couldn't I get stag bucks or a Fairfield gift card? While those are very practical gifts, this rock is much more meaningful. It connects not only to your common reading but also to what it means to live in a community, especially Fairfield University's community. This rock represents the broken piece of a wall and it can serve as a constant reminder that barriers exclude and hinder so many people from new opportunities, friendships, knowledge and much more.  Walls divide, they create animosity, sadness, separation and sometimes war. You must remember their dangers and more importantly, you must remember that you are capable of creating light in a world that sometimes often can seem dark. The university has thus give to do this rock to signify the knowledge you all hold about the dangers of walls as well as the strength you possess to break through these barriers that seem to have always existed. This rock should serve as a reminder that you are already breaking walls as you meet new people, find new experiences and acquire new knowledge. It should serve as a reminder that you are here to make differences and be catalysts for change. This is the beginning of a wonderful journey where you can develop relationships with classmates and mentors, find the courage to overcome difficult obstacles and succeed at reaching your goals. These next four years are your moment. Let this gift remind you that you control your experience as a stag. You have the opportunity to meet new people, to remain motivated and to accomplish goals every day. You have the opportunity for so many wonderful moments, ones that you will cherish for the rest of your life. You just need to be receptive and open to them. We hope you keep this gift as a token to remind yourself that you have the ability to make these next four years amazing. In the poem by Gloria Anzaldua, she writes, but the skin of the earth is seamless. The sea cannot be fenced. So too must you break through these barriers and in doing so you will accomplish great things.  And with that, I wish you all the best of luck as you embark on this exciting journey. Thank you. Thank you, Bridget. Now I would like to invite the Reverend David Spollett, Protestant chaplain to the podium to pronounce the benediction. Reverend Spollett. Please stand. This is an afternoon, a moment of hope. Father Von Axe, Provost Babington, Dr. Brill, everybody who has spoken has noted, not only the great potential of the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, physical development of the next four years, but the compassion that undergirds that. The compassion that's essential for a community of learners to live together and trust, to try new things. This is a great opportunity for you, and I'm gonna pronounce the benediction and then we'll be done. So that's really helpful. Spirit of God, we ask that you orient all of our actions in this coming year of learning and of growth by your inspirations. Carry by your gracious assistance the students of the class of 2020 and all those who will work and live with them, teach and learn with them so that every word and work of ours may always begin with you and through you be happily ended. We beg of you to remove anything that would separate and divide us from each other and especially from you and your intentions for us. Remove anything that is unworthy of our attention or attachment so that we may be conscious of your presence in every moment, knowing, trusting, loving, possessing you. With Ignatius we pray that you will take and receive our liberty, our intellect, our memory, our understanding, our place in the social order, all the facts of our daily living, our entire life and will. We give them all to you. We engage now ourselves, students and teachers, parents and staff, friends and companions in life with you. To you we return it all, do with it what you will. Make the members of the class of 2020 make all of us the men and women you dream we might become and so inspire and instruct our hearts and minds that we may truly serve you in the world to become women and men who live for others. Amen. Thank you, Reverend Spollett. Before we bring the academic gathering to a close I want to express thanks to the members of the academic gathering committee and the staff from the offices of the Dean of Students and Director of Student Engagement for this exciting and inspiring academic gathering which celebrates the beginning of the intellectual, spiritual and cultural journey for the class of 2020 and the university community. The university wide academic gathering is now officially concluded. Students from the class of 2020 please accept their gift and lead the recessional. Please remain in your seats until the platform party recesses. Thank you.


The current misuse of public choice theory does not falsify the basic observation that public policy is conducted by human beings, and many factors influence human beings besides the desire to serve the public interest. We must therefore design any system of regulation with appropriate limits and appropriate safeguards. To reject the philosophy that government is always the problem does not mean embracing the binary opposite that government is always the solution. To recognize the importance of public oversight of critical sectors of the economy does not require embracing central planning. To learn more, visit digitalplatformact.com to download the free book.


What is the cross? What happens on the cross? Some have said the cross was about a lion who tricks some queen with a ransom. Others have proclaimed the cross to be some sort of divine child abuse. Who knows exactly what took place during this mysterious event of the cross? Or perhaps it's possible that Isaiah was right and the cross is about community. Maybe the one bore the sins of the many to reveal to us how often the many refuse to bear the sins of the one.


A powerful verse, Psalm 139-23, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. There's something to be said of vulnerability toward God. And that's what this message is about. I am going to walk you through the Scripture. And as I do, I want you to examine yourself.  Don't hold back, be completely honest as we move through these truths, allow them to speak to you and not just to speak to you, but to correct you. I've found that sometimes in order to grow spiritually, I have to admit that I'm not where I need to be. In order to learn something new, sometimes I have to admit that what I thought I knew was wrong. This is an examination, a spiritual exam. And as we move through these points, measure your life against what the Scripture says and then ask the Holy Spirit to help you correct it. This is not a message of condemnation. This is a message of examination and correction. And we need to get honest now. We need to get real. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5, verse number 16. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under the obligation of the law of Moses. Now watch this. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. So there is this war between who you used to be and who you truly are now. The Spirit desires to do that which is godly. The sin nature desires to do that which is sinful. And if you're walking according to the Spirit, certain things will begin to surface in your life. You know, pressure doesn't create you. It reveals you. When something goes under pressure, the contents are revealed for what they actually are. You've heard the illustration that when God wants to produce oil in you or the anointing in you, that it's like unto the crushing of an olive because they would crush the olive in order to get the oil. But here's the reality. Were there no oil in the olive when the crushing would come, there would be no oil. In the same way, when pressures come against us in our lives, it reveals what's on the inside. It reveals what's really in there. So it's important that we examine ourselves so that when times of testing come, so that when pressures come, so that when the enemy attacks, we can produce that which is in us, the Spirit. Let's read these two verses again from Galatians chapter 5. I'm going to read verses 22 and 23 one more time. Listen to this. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience. Lord, please help me with that one. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things. The greatest demonstration that you are walking according to the Holy Spirit is not power, is not miracles, is not speaking in tongues, though those are wonderful demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's power. The primary way that you know that you're walking in the Holy Spirit, it's the character of Christ in you. What good does it do if you're speaking in tongues and then cussing people out? What good does it do if you're walking in power but have no patience for those who are weaker? What good does it do if you have authority and are able to perform miracles and drive out demons and operate in the gifts, but the people who are closest to you know you as a mean, spirited, moody, cranky, cynical, selfish individual. What good does it do to have power but not presence, to have gifts without glory, to have a form of godliness without the character of Christ? So the character of Christ is foremost love. Love at its core is selflessness. Love is not a feeling. Love is putting others before yourself. Love is prioritizing those around you. Love is a decision made in selflessness. Love is selflessness. Joy, do you project that joy in your everyday life or are you so spiritual that you have to always be so serious and moody? Now I'm not talking about personality types. I know some people that are very stoic, that's just their personality and that's not what I'm talking about here but you can be a serious person. You can have a stoic personality yet still carry the joy of the Lord.  There's no praise coming out of them. There's no praise coming out of them because there's no room because they're always complaining. How are you supposed to complain and praise at the same time? So is there joy being produced in your life? Do people see the joy of the Lord or do you make Christianity look miserable? Do you make it look like something that's unattractive? Do you make it look like something that's just one big chore after another? You need the joy of the Spirit in your life. You need to be overflowing with that joy and affecting others around you. Do you have peace? Or are you always freaking out and panicking at the first sign of trouble?  When you face issues in your life, do you become emotional and reckless? Do you begin to say things that you shouldn't say? Does your mind begin to spiral out of control or do you stay grounded on the foundation of the person of Christ? Do you find your firm footing in the promises of God? Are you able to approach the storm with confidence or do you freak out? Patience. This is one of the ones I pray the Lord helps me with. If any of these I'm struggling with, it's patience because I like to move fast. I like to get things done. I like to get on to the next thing. If I'm explaining something, I want to be able to explain it once and that's it and not have to explain it again. Patience is something I'm asking the Lord to help me in. Now I have some patience, but I could use more. Tell me in the comment section right now as I've read the Fruit of the Spirit to you, which one of these do you need the most work in? For me, it's patience. Next, we see kindness. Kindness, my goodness. Whatever happened to kindness in this world? People so mean with each other. Everyone's a Christian until they start driving. Everyone's kind until they're late. Everyone's in a good mood until they don't get what they want and then suddenly kindness goes out the door. God help us. Goodness. This is speaking of goodness itself, the intrinsic nature of God. Everything that is of God is good. Those good things that we enjoy. The positive things of life. Do you have that goodness in you? Faithfulness. This is talking about not just consistency, but reliability. Are you faithful and consistent and reliable? Or are you the person who texts, I'll be there, and then you decide to not go and you don't tell anyone and they're having to get a hold of you and no one can get in touch with you. You just, what do they call it? Ghost everyone. Oh yes, I'll help.  I'll be there and then you don't show up. Faithfulness is not just consistency, it's reliability. It's the character of Christ. Do you keep your word? The thing I was told by my father growing up is your word is your bond.   He's putting the full backing of everything that he has and is behind what he promised in the same way. When you give your word, your character backs that word.  Your word is only as good as your consistency and we need that faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of us are so rough around the edges. Some of us are so difficult to deal with. People don't want to even approach you about anything because they're afraid that you might not be in the right mood to be approached. Gentleness, self-control. Oh my goodness. Gentleness and self-control really go hand in hand because sometimes in order to be gentle, you have to have self-control. How do you disagree? How do you argue? Do you use gentleness or are you in the flesh?  Self-control, my goodness. This can have to do with anything and everything.  What are you putting in your body as far as your diet goes? What are you putting in your body as far as substances go? Are you self-controlled? Or do you demonstrate a lack of self-control? Now again, these are questions I'm asking and I am not asking these to condemn anyone. Look, I'm not someone who tries to offend people just because it makes for a better message. I'm telling you this because I love you. I'm asking you these questions because these are questions I have to ask myself too. I'm right there with you. I'm looking at these things going, Lord, I could really do better in all of these areas. All of us can be more like Jesus in some way. All of us need to be more like Jesus in more ways than one. So I'm not saying this to condemn you. I'm not asking these questions so that you walk away feeling condemned. I want you to ask these questions so these things can be corrected in our lives because this is an indicator to us. The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives and then it lists the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. That's the character of Christ. If you are not walking in the Spirit, you won't be seeing these things. Therefore, if you don't see these things, that's a sign to you, that's an indication that shows you, that reveals that maybe you're not walking with the Spirit like you should be. We all need to measure ourselves against the Scripture. We all need to measure ourselves against what the Bible says. That's the diagnosis. That's the verdict. These are the symptoms of walking in the flesh. What are the symptoms of walking in the flesh? Well, what's the opposite of love? It's selfishness. What's the opposite of joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and so forth? Those are the symptoms of a lack of the Spirit in your life or a lack of surrender to the Spirit. It's the primary sign that you're walking with the Holy Spirit is the character of Christ in you and we all put myself in there with you. Spirit family, I'm right there with you. We're all growing. We're all learning. I need more surrender in my life in these areas. So do you. And so we have to do these tune-ups, these check-ups because only one is perfect.