Little Big Things

You can't argue a child into loving books

Instead of fighting screens, a mother learned to wrap books in rituals her son would come to love and anticipate with joy.

Little Big Things

Non-transactional kindness: What schools should teach in the age of AI

If AI can increasingly handle memory (delete recall) and even analysis, schools must ask a deeper question: what remains uniquely human?

Little Big Things

Make way for the Al-Raj

Corrupt, self-serving and increasingly despised — what if politicians were simply replaced by AI?

Warm Takes

Why we run

From bucket list goals to Sunday morning long runs, a runner unpacks the strange appeal of voluntarily doing something so difficult again and again … and again.

Little Big Things

The need for generosity of listening

We spend a lot of time learning how not to offend. A cross-cultural communication expert argues we should spend more time learning how not to be offended.

Little Big Things

Your national dish is lying to you

From the croissant to ketchup, a tour of the surprising, border-crossing origin stories behind the dishes nations love to call their own — including one that traces back to Sumatra.

Little Big Things

Boredom is the new luxury

As the distraction economy steals our ability to think and focus, the most radical thing we can do could be nothing at all.

Warm Takes

The way we live

A personal reflection on Jakarta’s contradictions and unfinished ambitions — and why, despite all its failings, the city continues to ground us.

Little Big Things

Hindu epics in a Muslim majority nation

Nothing captures Indonesia's pluralism better than wayang kulit. This essay explains how the Ramayana and Mahabharata continue to shape the country’s society, politics, and everyday life.